SoccerWise - Griezmann Orlando Adventure, Texas Shootout, San Jose Credentials & Pressure Turning Up

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

A wild weekend is in the books with multiple six goal victories, five red cards, and a World Cup winner heading to the league. Matt Doyle (Tactics Free Zone) & Gass get together to talk through the best things they saw this weekend from the El Capitan shootout to San Jose's legitimacy win in Canada. Then they talk through Orlando's free fall and what the Antoine Griezmann addition could mean. Finally they look at some of the teams under big pressure after slow starts in Philly, Cincy, Portland & LA.7:33 Dallas Posses In Big Win + Santi Moreno Addition18:09 San Jose Are For Real28:22 Greizmann Headed To Orlando34:11 Nashville Lethal38:59 LAFC Set Shutout Streak46:39 RSL Shine In Must Watch Matchup vs San Diego52:51 What Is Going On With Chucky Lozano1:01:27 STL Bounce Back1:04:11 Chicago Knock Off Philly In The Pressure Derby1:08:53 Cincy Scrap Into A Potential Turnaround Win1:11:38 Portland & LAG

What's up, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Wise, our big Monday show off a massive weekend of domestic soccer. What we love to do here, come back, relive it all, and get back into the throes of red card mania for starters. Red cards across league in MLS and NWSL. I obviously watch both a lot. NWSL in two weeks has had five red cards across 16 games, which seems like a crazy rate. and MLS had like four this weekend, I think, alone. And almost all the teams that got the red card played better than the team they were playing against.

Doyle so make that make sense, I guess. I mean, there's just been a lot of it this year around the league. I think NYCFC, their first three or four games played this year. They were facing 10 men. And I know, like, I actually wrote about this in my newsletter, tacticsfreezone.com. I wrote about this in the newsletter about how you can't trust any of the underlying numbers yet. And you shouldn't after five games anyway. But like Charlotte in particular, they've played these two games now against 10 men.

And they're expected goals differential in the minutes that they've played against 10. Like they've battered these teams. It's like plus 3.52. And the rest of the season playing 11 v. 11, they're like minus 3.3. It's like, which is the real. Like, I tend to think that the team that can't do anything against 11 men that, like, drew a scoreless draw at home against Miami's next pro reserves. I think that's probably the real team. But you got to admit, they scored six goals on the Red Bulls this weekend, and that's not nothing.

So we're going to hit the best things we saw, which spoilers is going to be a lot of these big Western conference matches we saw. We're going to talk about Griesman. So Mike Spillane already in the chat saying, can't stay long. talks to me about Kriesman. We're going to talk about L.A.F.C.'s record that they set, which almost didn't happen. And it was like a real-time experience for everyone in the Discord, for sure, about, like, reliving that VAR and everything else there. And we are going to talk about some under pressure teams, which I think is something we're going to keep monitoring.

Charlotte, I think, was going to be on that list. They had scored four goals in four games. They scored six against the New York Red Bulls, but half of that was up a man. So I felt the need to bring that in. Also, also, I will say this. that number, what 3.52, you said, roughly, 4.5, is lower than Nashville's XG from this. I watched that game. And I was like, I watched it back. I watched a little bit live, but I went and watched it back and was watching.

And there's chances that aren't going in. And I'm like, I don't understand. I thought they scored five. Like, you know when you know what happened and you watch it and it doesn't really connect or make sense? I was like, there's no way. Surge is missing these chances and they score five. So then I was like, it was like two zero.

And I was like, I got to see what the XG is. on this game. It was 3.56 for Nashville. And that felt low. Unbelievable. That felt like if I like just watching that game, I had a mental tally above four. Well,

it helps that the opening goal should never have like not should never, but the XG on that's probably zero point zero zero zero zero. Yeah, it's a good point. It's a good point. Well, an insane game and what an insane performance. If you are listening to this show and you don't are ready now, subscribe to Tactics Free Zone.

So then you can get Doyle's column. It comes out every Sunday. It's how I close out my weekend. And then doing a little proofreading. Proof reading for you, which is bad. That's how we know things have gotten bad. If I have any grammatic correction. All right.

So in my, in my defense, Yukon was on. Okay. In the NCAA tournament, like, it was unprofessional of me. It won't happen again. But I have, I have an out. All right. like I'm going to use my mulligan. It's used.

It's done. It won't happen again. You know, everyone told me UCLA had a shot. I think I picked UCLA in every bracket. How did you do that? I don't know. Apparently it was a big 10 game and that's how they play.

It was going to be grinding out and slowed down. And I don't know. Doyle, I watched zero college basketball games this year. I have throughout the tournament consistently thrown like a $1 bet on a million games. I have watched zero of those games. And I keep coming back for more. But I am undefeated.

on the women's bracket, which is where I normally am much better. Yeah. Which I did not pick Yukon to win, as I said last week, though, in the whole thing. That's a trash decision. I know. Sarah Strong is going to wreck you. That's one of those brackets where everyone looks good until the final four because it's like, for the most part, everyone's picking the same brackets.

Yeah. And it's going to swing on basically one or two games. Did you pick South Carolina or Yukon? And that's going to like swing the whole thing. And then we'll go back to a one, you know, one point upset from the first round. But we've got a lot to talk about. Obviously, last week was fun. Open Cup, Concaf stuff.

If you haven't listened to it, really fun show with Charlie Bohm that came out Thursday late, where we recapped a lot of the wild stuff we saw. He is a sicko who's been in the content minds longer than me, but we both enjoy the same stuff. So it was really, really fun to do that show with him. We got a lot coming up over the next two weeks. U.S. men's national team, Canadian men's national team, are in camps. We've got UEFA World Cup playoffs, as well as the Intercontinental Playoff. that our own Conca Calf, Jamaica, and Suriname will be in.

So we will have coverage, preview coverage for you coming up for the first USA game in the next few days. And then we're going to come back around and we're going to be doing a post-Saturday USMNT Canadian Men's National Team show that will be a preview of the next Tuesday game. And then we're going to have a live preview show coming after that U.S. men's national team game next Tuesday in Atlanta against Portugal. I can't remember Belgian-Portugal. but I think Belgium's first and Portugal is second.

Because Portugal is unveiling the new Esteka against Mexico, which is cool. That's like a cool thing that's happening. I've never been to the Esteka, but it's kind of one of those like legendary places. And then Club of America gets to go home. So now whenever, what, Nashville is going to go in and beat them in ConccaGave, you could say they did it at the Esteka, which is the dream, I think, for every MLS team. But of course, our bread and butter covering MLSL. So we're going to be here doing all of that over the next two weeks.

Let's start with the best thing we saw on the weekend. It is not going to be Andrew Weeby's touch on the sideline. It was trash horrendous. Immediately the hand goes up. I'm sorry, are you playing third base right now at midfield, Andrew Weeby, at the Philadelphia, Chicago game? He's also not on this show because it's spring break. So he's with the kids hanging out doing weird Midwest stuff. The list of stuff he sent over was like,

Okay. I didn't realize the NASCAR race was later today. So he is not with us for this one. So Doyle, why don't you get us started? Well, I was just, I was happy that Weeby didn't shred his hamstring, reaching, and catching, twist an ankle without moving his feet. Yeah. Like, it could have gotten ugly. So I'm just, I'm happy he's healthy, though I'm a little bit embarrassed by like that whole

performance on the sideline. The best thing I saw was the Texas Derby between dialing. and Houston, and particularly Dallas's overall performance, except for like the five minute period in the first half when they collectively went into a fugue state and Houston looked like 2011 Barcelona. But like I have been on Dallas all year long and even had like some Dallas people getting at me

for having them too high in the power rankings. I was like, no, the defense is good. and we know what the forwards can be, and Eric Quill keeps saying the right things about how he wants the team to evolve. And a lot of coaches say that, to be clear, but Quill's background gave me enough confidence that he was going to actually do it.

And that's what we saw in this game, right? This is a team that has been very low block encounter, long balls, set pieces, maybe a little bit of pressure. In this game, they were over 50% possession for the first time in almost a year. And they were actually higher possession in the first half playing 11 v. 11,

than they were in the second half playing 11 v. 10. But then over the final 15 minutes of the game, when they needed to have the ball and create stuff with it, they were actually able to do that. It wasn't perfect, right? And I'm not saying this is, you know, the caps or Wilford-Nanthierra crew, but it felt like a concrete step

against a pretty good team. in a game that matters to both of them. And I was happy to see it because the league is more interesting when there are more teams who are able to dictate the game. And that's what Dallas are trying to become. And I think they're a little bit closer to that team now than they were four days ago. Yeah, they came out.

And I mean, my first note on this game was Houston didn't show up. Like it was too easy for Dallas at the start. Turn it off after 15 minutes. For sure, which is what I did. and then I had to go back at half time. When it turned out it was three, two. But, you know, Dallas, I thought, came out with intent, but Houston let too much of it happen,

like knocked around the final third, all of that. And that's not even with the two goals. That's just like how simple the game was. And then Guillermo leads this comeback, which he's been special. The first goal is a bit of a gift, although it's a creative finish. Obviously, set piece, set piece. The third through ball, though, is like, awesome.

He comes all the way off the right wing. He comes to the left half channel. He plays it perfect English. knows the speed of a knolli like he knows where he wants to put it i think we talked about him like two weeks ago but he clearly is going to be a good signing for houston he's now got i think he's got ten gold contributions all together to start this season um he had two in the first day so that helps um as well so huge like moment for him i think for dallas one the fact that they reacted to that by playing their soccer is really really promising like they didn't panic they didn't go crazy

they didn't change everything that they do. And the second thing is, as you said, they have more possession. And that possession, I think, is allowing what was their weapon last year, which is wingbacks into the forwards, to still be dangerous. Because you look at this game, the way they draw you in and then Camungo is the switch into that channel is a huge factor for them. And that's their danger player. So you're still getting them in open space one v.

chances. You're just doing it through control possession in which you don't have to defend as often and you don't have to do it from as deep. I would like to see Musa and Farrington start together in all of this. They have not over the last two weeks. The reports this week were that it was because of a knock to Musa. But then he comes off the bench. And it's like the two goals that he's a part of, one is an own goal he forces. They are his perfect combination of touch, vision, soccer, IQ, and efficiency. and efficiency with him and Farrington is like body efficiency like they turn quicker their movements are more direct they don't take a step sideways so they're direct online and the first goal is just musa turns inside his defender he's never going to let his defender back in front of him bond doesn't really know it like no one knows what to do as he's charging that in your post and he creates the chaos and it's a special factor thing that when he's not on the field doesn't really exist which i think is that other step for them is like control the game control the ball but if they're going to score it's going to be because mooses around it a lot of the time yeah he's i mean you've you've been the number one petermousa fan in the world it seems and

and it's justified um he's he's he's absolutely uh propelling my uh golden boot draft team him and sam surridge uh to like stratospheric heights i'm just like leaving you guys are you are you do we know oh yeah i'm crushing you guys because i've got nico Fernando's Marquow, which feels pretty good. That's a good pick, but I don't think you're within 10 goals of me, buddy. You know, everything is pitch control, right? Whether we're talking about tactics or whether we're talking about a duel. And your point about Moose's body control and his balance to control the area around him is really well taken.

It's a well thought through point. And you saw it happen in real time on the own goal. Like on the the game winner is just him backpost isolated against a small like you know he's going to win that battle. I would choose almost any decent center forward in the league to win that battle. And that's something that Ben Olson has to look at because even playing 10 v. 11 late in the game, you cannot let your fullback get isolated like that. But the equalizer, the own goal, it was just like, oh, this is a special player making a special play. and like that's my head because it's Dallas my head immediately goes to like man

they're gonna have to turn down $20 billion offer for him so so obviously one of my complaints the whole year so far has been the fact that they haven't reinforced around him they haven't gone to get the lucho replacement which yeah lucho failed and they got out of it but valiant he's just a guy like he's a good little player but he's just a guy yeah he keeps the ball moving he's got a clean touch he doesn't really turn up feel that often he doesn't really attack defenders or space. Like that's the thing Dallas.

He can use space. He doesn't create space. So then we get the reports from Tom, I think, on Friday. And by the way, Tom is not gone. He's on paternity leave. This is his version of paternity leave. He still has to break stories because he can't turn it off and he can't help himself. And he will be back in April on this show.

We are very excited for that. Is that Santi Moreno is approaching a move to Dallas. We don't know the details. I would be surprised if it was a deep. deal. So my assumption is it's a Tam deal for anyone who doesn't remember long-time Portland Timbers player, arguably the best U-22 signing, like, out the gate that wasn't like a fake I want to play with messy U-22 signing, and then played with the Timbers for a while, was oddly in and out of teams at times when it felt like he was one of the best attackers in the group. And then he went down to Flumenense,

as everyone does, goes down to one of the three or four big Brazilian teams, struggles to play a little bit, and then a new MLS team gets lucky by getting them on the back end, as Mikhail scores a goal for Inter Miami this weekend. So that's the reports. Doyle, what do you make of him as a fit and sort of this move for Dallas? He's another guy who's kind of just a guy. He's not a centerpiece, right? He's a really good complimentary piece.

Really good might even be pushing it. Like he's maybe he's just good. I don't have anything against the idea of acquiring him, especially because I think Dallas have a ton of gam, but as high as I am on them after this performance, and we haven't even really touched on Farrington because my God, that first goal he scored was, like, it was a Dennis Bergkamp goal.

Look, I don't think that Santee Moreno is the type of talent that is going to close the gap between FC Dallas and Vancouver, or LASC, or LASC, or. Nashville or Miami, you know, the actual top of the league. I still think they need to go out and get that DP number 10. And they have the, they have the spot open to do it. So, um, I think I'm higher on Moreno than you. I've always been like I've always really liked Santee Moreno as a player.

I don't disagree that he's not, he's not a centerpiece. Like he's not. That's not what you're bringing in for, which is why to me, if he's a DP signing, it's a bit of a mess but seven goals nine assists uh in 24 three goals six assists in 23 seven goals six assists in 22 like he's that's just a guy that's the definition of just a guy on timbers teams that i mean some of them were okay but not you there wasn't great there wasn't a pet armusa to play to um i don't disagree that you know on all of that i think he i think he does attack defenders i think he is a little bit more dangerous than anyone else besides musa in this team i think the other

a nice thing about him is he can play out wide as a natural winger or he can play inside, which gives them a flexibility if they have to change their shape at times where now you have a true natural winger, it would probably end up being him and Camungo on two separate sides where you go into a back floor because of injuries or because maybe something isn't working or you have to for an opponent. And I think it's like a stopgap move of they have to make the 10 signing. I don't disagree with you. But in light of that, clearly with this in Valiente, it's like, well, what can we get done now to keep ourselves above water? And I would say, while this doesn't get them closer to those teams,

it separates the gap between them and the teams below them better. So if you're telling me, look at this game, that Houston's close to them, that the galaxy, that Minnesota, whatever that group is from, what do we want to say, six through 10 in the West, I think this pushes Dallas further away from them. I think it gives them more depth. I think it makes them probably more consistent.

And then you are approaching that top five conversation. and if you can make the next move, you push into it. That's where I see this move, which if the numbers are right, I think is a fine move to make for this team, but it is not the we're going to win MLS Cup with Petter Moussa move, which I think we've all been waiting for and we would all hope for this season. All right, let's get into our next thing, best thing I saw, which is San Jose being for real.

I think we had two for real performances this weekend, both in the Western Conference, but we've talked about Arselle a bunch. So I want to go to San Jose to start. They play Vancouver. Vancouver's coming off two weeks with CCC stuff. They're playing, you know, coming off, having played quote unquote away at Seattle, which was in Spokane.

And a little bit of rotation, although not a ton, from this Vancouver team. And San Jose goes into their building. The Bolaroo goal is like special, unbelievable moment. It's going to be one of the goals of the year. It's not just the shot. How quickly he turns out of the initial challenge. So if you haven't seen it, it's a corner. kick pops out to the top of the box.

He's in a 50-50 and all of a sudden he cuts to the right and he's away into space. And I don't even, I've gone back and watched more, you can't even see the touch where he gets away. And then he doesn't need to be asked twice and he laces through it and the things accelerating as it hits the back of the net. It is like one of those that probably goes through the building and down a couple football fields if there's like sort of no resistance against it, which is a huge goal for them. But now over the course of a couple of weeks where Werner's been in and out of the

starting lineup, they've been a little bit less not reliant on him because they weren't at the beginning, but he was the difference maker. The defense is for real. And that is like the whole thing for them, which is you knew they'd score goals. You didn't know how many compared to last year. Preston Judd looks awesome. He should have had an assist in this game. He turns his man. And now he's starting to find space on the sides of the box to create for guys making runs. Jamar Ricketts misses a sitter on that one. If that's Timo Verner, that's probably a goal, but fine. But like that back line to stand up in Vancouver the way they did, that is a huge sign

for this team. I was higher on this team coming into the season than a lot of folks were. That I was for sure. Yeah. Well, it was for two reasons, right? Well, it was for the same reason. It was for defense, but in two parts. One was addition through subtraction.

I thought getting rid of Joseph and getting rid of Chichot Orongo was. only a good thing because these guys put nothing against the ball and when you can build through an opponent's front line so easily you're going to every single time put the midfield into a scramble and in the modern game nobody defends well consistently if you're scrambling it's just like it's axiomatic teams are too well drilled we like we haven't had the an analytics revolution in soccer but we have had a film study revolution if you like there's so much more film and it's so much better and it's so much better understood than it was, I think, even 10, 15 years ago, that team, like, if you're going to give teams that red carpet right into your central midfield,

you're screwed. They're going to rip you apart. That was a big part of it. And you look at the work Preston Judd and Ricketts and Asini Buddha and Warner when he's on and Nico Shakiris do against the ball. It's night and day compared to what the quakes were last year. And then the other thing is the back line, right? It's Daniel Muni, I think, in his third year, fourth year.

And then Reed Roberts in his second year. And Reed Roberts is kind of like a mini Tim Ream out there, left-footed, really comfortable on the ball. Should have given up a penalty, by the way. Still don't understand that call, but okay. Well, he got the ball first. Come on, mate. The whisper of a ball.

Yeah. The point is Bruce has always done this with domestic centerbacks. going all the way back to Eddie Pope, going back to what he had with the Red Bulls for a couple years, going back to what he did with the Galaxy, with A.J. DeLigarza and Omar Gonzalez. Sean Franklin. Sean Franklin,

doing what he did with Henry Kessler and with the Revs. Like he understands how to craft winning defenders out of, you know, white bread, corn fed, Big Ten American raw materials. And that's what he's got with this team, man. Like it, so it, he, he actually had interesting, really interesting, comments afterwards talking about like Vancouver is still a different level. We got the win. It's a great win.

Vancouver's a different level from us. Our goal is to make the playoffs. That's our goal. They have bigger stuff to aim for this year. And I thought that was, I thought that was really well put by Roos, but it just, this performance showed. that the gap between the quakes and the absolute top of the table is nowhere near as big as people, even optimistic people like myself, thought it was going to me.

Yeah, and I kept landing on the schedule early, supporting KC at home, Atlanta at home. They go to Philly, they win. Obviously, Philly are in trouble, but it's cross-country trip. That's a big one. Seattle, they didn't look out of their depth. They lose one zero, frustrating. They go to Vancouver. Yeah.

They're going to come out of the break with San Diego, SKC again. there's a weird like double on teams. I don't understand how that happens early in the season because I was looking at St. Louis's schedule. And then they have L.A.F.C. So they're going to have San Diego and L.A.F.C. in two of the three games coming out of the break. So we're going to learn a ton about whether Bruce is right.

Is there a gap between them in these top two or three teams? Vancouver on a Champions League week. Maybe that's sort of what they needed and that was the difference. I don't think so. But I still, it's really, really exciting to watch this team play. As you said, the centerbacks are huge. that's a massive part of what they're doing. And then there is a variety in chance creation for them.

There's a ton of transitional stuff. They're dangerous on set pieces. But as I said, there's moments where Judd finds space. He gets 1v1. He's the creator. Both the wide guys can be creators. Securus can find the pass from a little bit deeper if you need to. And then Timo Verner is a cheat code for them.

He creates chances 1V1 constantly. He probably should have had a goal in this game. I can't remember who it was that he, he was in transition and the ball never comes to him wide open in transition. It's like, come on, you don't always have to pass the team of Werner. But like, you should probably look for him. Not that one. Yes, you should have.

Yeah, he should probably look to him every once in a while in a transitional moment. So a huge, huge result for them. Let me just, just to put, you know, some sort of punctuation on what you were just talking about. You watch it and you can see it when they play, but it also is showing up in the data. The Quakes press is high and hope. as anybody in the league outside of Philly. And they are creating chances off of that. And not just, you know, guilt-ed, immediately getting into the final third, putting the ball in

the box chances, but also getting opponents out of their rhythm. So when they're building up, they're not able to be clean on the ball in midfield and creating chances out of that. And that's something the quakes absolutely did not have in their in their, in their locker last year. And then the other thing is Shakiras is really good at creating those 2V-1s

on the outside. So when the fullbacks do overlap, quakes start to look a little bit like the Sounders, last year Sounders anyway, in possession where they're getting to the end line. And then the question is, do they have enough quality

in the final ball? And that's where, my God, do they miss Christian Espinoza? Espenosa would be absolutely perfect for this team because he would put the ball on Werner's foot. like on the back post time and time and time again it's tough for a team where it's like oh they're having a great year let's talk about the most in that thing they've done which still massively

affects them um one other thing to point out unfortunate duan jones went down non-contact in this game he stayed down he seemed to immediately know it was bad um he's obviously a huge piece of this team i think emotionally like he's a leader in this group they're so young um and then as well as his ability to get to the end line, getting crosses cut inside sometimes. He's a really special player in this league. So hoping fingers crossed for the best for him, but that looked like a really bad situation towards the end of this game. Last best thing we saw, we was not here, so I filled in another one for him.

Walker Zimmerman with the kickback bump, baby, hosted his first show alongside Susanna on kickback committee last week. If you haven't listened to it, Go. I was excited to have Walker as a part of this. He was even better than I expected on that show, talking. NWSL at times talking about the experience of moving and what it means for a pro athlete as you sort of feed all these things together, talking about all of his friends that he watches. He was like, I don't have a European team.

I just watch like Christian Polisic and then I'll watch like these other guys and you're like, oh, cool, so you're like friends of their run. That sounds like a fun thing to do. And then he is a huge fan of Survivor and Trader, which I didn't realize, like huge fan of Survivor. I think he probably has encyclopedic knowledge similar to Arswick Soccer where he's just rattling off stats about players. And I have not watched Survivor since season

one, so I had no idea what he's talking about. But you should go listen to that one. And then he comes off the back of that, starting alongside Josh Sargent for this team. They give up an early goal to Wesum Abu Ali and Columbus. They come from behind and then Walker Zimmerman scores. I think it was in the 83rd minute off a corner kick,

going to the near post. He flicks a header back to the FAR post and it becomes the 2-1 winner for Toronto. And you're welcome, Toronto. You're welcome. Walker as well. I texted Walker and told him that. He's like, fine, I'll take it. I don't care. For a guy who has scored a ton of goals and basically is a center forward, I don't really think it was us, but we'll take credit where we can. And congrats to Jonathan Osirio, 400th career appearance

for Toronto FC. He is Toronto. So a cool moment for him. And I thought Robin Frazier had some really cool comments about it in the locker room afterwards, which came out as a video. So it was not private. Thank you for being a part of it with this. Let's get into our headlines. And obviously, It's going to start with Antoine Griseman as Tom and everyone else reporting that he is on his way to Orlando to agree to a deal. I saw no details around this. I assume this is to come in the summer after athletic season, correct? Yes. Yep.

Yeah. So it's just finally getting it over the line. This is a thing we've talked about a million times. We talked about in L.A. We've talked about in Orlando. We thought it was done a month ago. We thought it was done two months ago. Now it seems to actually be done this time.

Is that fair to say? I mean, it seems like it. Tom's reporting it, so it's probably done. I don't think the reporting has been bad. I think Antoine Griseman has been inconsistent with his decision making. He's watching the magic play. They've been crap most of the year. Well, Anthony Blacks out.

It's really hurting my fantasy, too. They're a really good run right now. So, you know, up to sixth in the east. So he's like, all right, I'm in. I'm on board. That's what he's been waiting for. This is obviously a weird moment to do it. Orlando get thrashed in Nashville, as we said, off the top of the show.

They lose 5-0, and it was all for real, as we said with the underlying numbers. They fired their coach in Oscar Pereja already at this point of the season. They have one victory. It's over Montreal at home with the way the Red Bulls look. That loss looks even worse now to start. This is a team in a bad spot, and now Greensman finally is on board, and he comes into it. I don't want to underestimate what a big time talent can do. Like we have seen players like this revitalized groups and we have seen players like this be bigger maybe than we expected from the roles they've played in past spots.

But he doesn't play centerback and it feels like a huge responsibility for him to come in and turn this season around. Yeah. It's not like adding Thomas Mueller to last year's Vancouver team. You know, this is Orlando is one of the three worst teams in the league. they have needs up and down the entire roster. And Driesman has to be just a part of that. He can't be the centerpiece that fixes everything else. And like, I'm not even sure he can be the centerpiece that you bear in mind the most as you're rebuilding this roster because it's the entire roster that needs a rebuild.

And it has to be agnostic of the 35 year old, you know, second forward that you're adding in the summer. Like you have to have sort of a bigger picture view than that. And everybody, everybody has to be up for assessment from the new goalkeeper to the holdover wingers to the reconstituted central midfield, like all of it because none of it is, is working for Orlando. So I think the hope would be that he revitalizes a chunk of it. that as he comes in, Oheda and Posselich become more dangerous,

and that Atuesta and the other O'Hada become more efficient where... I don't think that... For what it's worth, I don't think that central midfield combo will ever work together. I don't think there's enough ball winning right there. You're preaching to the choir there, which is why I had this team in 10th or whatever in the preseason. But I think this is the best case scenario, which is you have to control games in possession. and in that control you have to score goals. And right now I think even if they did control games,

there's not the finishing there. And Greasman should help some of that, as well as the San Jose convo of he's played in one of the, he has been one of the best against the ball forwards in the world over the last 15 years. Now he's 35. He's going to be playing in Orlando. It's going to be 112 degrees and whatever.

But he has been that for most of his career. Yeah. I mean, he won't be a bad signing. I don't think. He's not going to take this roster and elevate it to something past decent. There needs to be so much more work done. And I think they need clearer eyes than they had this winter when they were adding pieces and choosing not to subtract others because, like I said, none of it's working.

And you could see it in the standings and you could see it on the field every single week at this point. Goalkeeper clearly is a huge hole for them. I feel like we've watched now four weeks where guys have come in as backup keepers for teams where it's shocking to me that a Jonathan Bond or Maxine Crapeau got contracts over them. And that's not just like San Diego. Like look at what Evan Loro did, even in giving up the goals they gave up of like, okay, this guy can play solidly. That's a huge hole. Robin Jensen will be back.

Their hope is before the World Cup break. But if not, as we've talked over and over, most of the season is post-World Cup. Cartagena, I think it's probably unfair to assess him as he will be a factor this season. So you assume going into whatever next window, there's a huge gap in central midfield. You probably try and make a move at goalkeeper as well. And if they can get those right, can you save the season? Can you be a team that's threatening going into the playoffs? And then on top of all of that, you wonder how much Griseman is a factor in a coaching search.

It shows the level of intent, which I think, a lot of coaches like, it's also a big thing to take over. Like, yeah, you will in theory, if you were to sign a coach coming out of the break, they would probably like have to start Antron Griseman in his first game and get him involved, which is just a lot to take on as you try and build a culture and a team that you want to. Pilato Amida, out of a job, just got let go by Sevia. Stop. Don't do that to Orlando fans.

Grisman would probably like it. I mean, you come from Zimione, like, yeah, let's marry. mark across the field. Let's just go crazy. So that's an option as well. And then we set it over and over. So Nashville come off beating Miami in Conccaf. And while it wasn't massive, there has been rotation. And I think you see the depth in this team. There are probably an option and a half at most positions for this team. And so what like BJ Callahan hasn't gone 11 changes. He can mix and match a few different partnerships in central midfield. You see what Reebaker Whiting brings at fullback, gives rotation to love it, gives an option

outside of Nahar. You look at what Madrigal has brought now. So now you've got, what, three to four of these attacking pieces that aren't the DPs that you can rotate through and a little bit from Wobin's bashes as well at the start of this season. I mean, they're doing it on both fronts. And they're changing. Slaughtered this team.

Yeah, they're changing tactically too, and that they never used to release their deep flying central midfielders to attack and to make those third fourth and runs into the body. Yeah, it's like, so there's growth not just in terms of, um, quality in the roster, but in terms of tactical flexibility and how they're going at teams and,

I mean, Orlando just got trucked and I expect Nashville to, to give Club America hell. Yeah. Um, they were better than Miami, you know, it wasn't by a ton,

but they were better than Miami by enough to, to go through. And that's not nothing, especially when you consider the history of these two teams and especially when you consider the chances that Nashville actually left on the table in that

first league, in the first leg, rather. Like they're not, they didn't advance to the quarter finals by accident. They got a real chance to win this thing. So Nashville comes out of the break on the road at Chicago. Then they go midweek against Club America. That's the

first leg at home. They then go on the road to Charlotte on the weekend. Then they go to Mexico City. Then they go straight to Atlanta. I think Charlotte is going to face Huntsville. Yeah. That is not going to be the first choice. Well, it's a regional rivalry, Huntsville against Charlotte.

So that's a pretty big, I think Atlanta would like to see Huntsville as well. I've wanted to see Thomas Williams and Adam Sippick get some minutes. So there you go. So it's reasonable in that, I mean, those are winnable MLS games. The question just, I don't think it's in, like, I don't know that there's that many places for this to come up where it's, what's the focus and what are you going to do, right? Nashville, they want one trophy ever. They won open cup last year. But like, you have a real shot at Shield. You have to feel that way right now. You're going into Club America to potentially then face a semi-final and final. Concaf is still far off. And we know Mike Jacobs understands what Concaf does to a team, right? The guy's lived his life in MLS. And, I as I compliment those tweaks I would say like it felt like leg one against Miami it was okay we got to rotate a little like court current gets to start like at no point in that Miami series it feel like BJ Callan threw all the chips in and we're like this is what the season will be defined by I don't know that they do that against club America either and I don't know if you can go down there and get the win if that's the case yeah I think I agree with the second part like they have to go all chips in to get past club America at this point in. Kanka Gaff Champions Cup I think it's worth it

I think this is what you play for for moments like this Club America is the biggest and most successful team in North American soccer history Like you don't Chances like this to go toe to toe to them And potentially eliminate them because this is not a great version of Club America

right now like This is kind of on a This is credibility On a silver platter And you have to go for it I love the shield. We all know where I've stood on the shield for 30 years. But like that has to take a back seat.

It just has to take a back seat. It just does. Yeah. I don't disagree with you, but also I'm a nerd for this thing and like it's what I care about. And I don't know that that's the case for everyone. The winner of Nashville America will play the winner of Tigris, Seattle because of Tegress. Did you choose the Nashville shirt purposely today? I just love this shirt.

It's a great share. But yeah, I'm always wrapping Nashville. I don't really have any connection to the city. I've only been there like twice for a very short amount of time, but I'm always a fan of it, and hopefully I'll get to go to an MLS Cup there or something big. Or a Kaki Kappa Champions League Final. I said this on the show last year.

I should have gone to L.A.F.C. Olive Hulense. That seems like a dream game, but I don't know if there's enough games maybe in Mexico on a week, I might find a way to wander around and be there. Okay. That's all for our convo there on Orlando. Nashville, let's get to L-AFC setting the record. They start the season with the longest shutout streak in MLS history.

They've got one lineup and they're going to play it. And whether you like it or not, you're getting the hits over and over again. Everyone made jokes about the rotation that would be coming out of the Al-Holense away game into Austin this week. And that was not the case. There's one or two moves that they make. They normally only move the young guys who seem like they should be playing all. the minutes like Ordaz and Dobby Martinez. How does Ordaz not even get off the bench in this game?

Mark Dos Santos, baby. And yet I'm following Happy Foot Sadfoot, who's mocking everyone for saying, how could you be mad at MDS? We're in first place. We're into the next round of Concaf. And now they've set the record for longest shutout streak to start a year. They did sell against Austin on the road.

No Owen Wolf long-term injury still. Brandon Vasquez working his way back. No Danny Pereira, no Jane and Nelson. So some real hits to Austin's ability to attack. And then Austin scores this goal from Myrto Ozuini that he's got the crown on, everyone's celebrating. He's back, baby. Albania's going to a World Cup, like the whole vibes. And then VAR wipes it off.

And watching that experience of everyone, I think a lot of non-LACC fans are like, okay, cool, let's end the streak thing. Let's stop talking about this. And then it like came back in after looking like it was out. And this game ends zero zero on this one. and I don't know, Doyle. I mean, we all keep saying, well, you're seeing them get tired.

You're seeing the issues, but until they actually fall off, we don't have the proof that Mark Dostentos is wrong. That's, okay. Got to put it some way. I watched Brendan Heinzike run down, sun hung me on a light breakaway.

So, I mean, there are other forms of proof besides losing a game, and that felt, that felt pretty stark. Look, man, they're leggy. They're not creating much with the ball like they were at the start of the year.

And opponent quality might have something to do with that, but still they haven't looked dangerous. I think like four of their last five goals have come from outside of the box, just like straight bangers. And that's great to have the talent to do that. You need to win games like that occasionally, but you can't rely on it again and again and again. Those types of goals dry up.

If you want to see evidence, look at FC Cincinnati, because it was a vander goal from outside of the box that got them to within one point of the supporter shield last year. He's not scoring those goals anymore. We're Cincinnati now. So they're not creating in the final third. They're not creating with the ball. The defense is awesome.

Tafari and Porteus and Seguera, and it's usually been Palencia. Like these guys are really good play. and Hugo Lurice is playing, I think, his best soccer since coming to MLS. So, like, there's a lot that is going right back there. Svonne Yeb was a brilliant signing, your guy, and Mark Delgado just forever. Like, there's all, but, like, holy crap, they're going to run. Like, the tank is already on empty.

I don't care that they haven't given up a goal yet. I don't care that they're currently atop the Western Conference standings. Like, they look gassed. rotate that team. Yeah. My guess would be if we sat down with John Thorrington, which this will never happen in this conversation. So like,

which one do you want to win, that they would pick Kunk again, which is fine. And I think there's a clear understanding for LACC of like, they can put together good runs late. They can be a threat. I don't know that the shield is the focus. That's the part that's weird about this.

Yeah. If that's the way you feel, then why did you just run out your first 11 on short rest? at Austin. And again, I'm making that up from outside, but like, it feels pretty obvious. For a club that's already won a shield, they've won MLS Cup. Like, I think maybe MLS Cup would be first, but like, you're not going to win MLS Cup in March. LAFC will be in the playoffs. There's no world that they look back and say, if we didn't get that one point in Austin on March 20th, we wouldn't have made the postseason. We wouldn't have a shot at this. And that's the part that's really

hard to comprehend as well as as as you go through Concaf, like that's the physical toll on the players. It's the travel to Costa Rica. It's now cruise Azul at altitude and the travel experience with that. It could be Toluca at altitude. Maybe it's the LA Galaxy if you get, I would straight up just say lucky at this point because the galaxy aren't very good and Toluca are very good. So like maybe you get lucky and that's the case. But if not, you're going to altitude twice coming off the longest trip in Kankiaf to all the way down to Costa Rica. And inside of all of that, Like you're throwing out your best team on the road against an Austin team that can't generate chances. There's a pretty good chance you tie this game zero zero if you have rotated.

Right. That's the part that I think is pretty frustrating for a lot of people watching this from afar. And as you said, like this team is very good. And it doesn't feel like that could be the case if you run them all into the ground where this could be a special season for this team as well. On the Austin side of things, it's tough. It doesn't really feel like it fits together. a lot, as we said, and like the big piece to me the whole time was Jaden Nelson. And I think you see it in the space Joseph Rosales gets. There is space out wide. There's space to run at defenders. There's

space to put in decent service. Rosales can't do most of that. If you put Nelson in those spots, you're a little bit more dangerous. But in all of that, you're acquiring a lot from this one piece who you're paying five guys more than him. And then he's supposed to be the one who's a difference maker. And now that he's out hurt, you see just a huge hole in Chance Crazy. soon for this team. Yeah, him and Wolf. And I'm going to reserve judgment on Austin one way or the other until we see those guys back. Because they were two different teams last year, the first half of the year. They just played on the counter. And, you know, the underlying numbers were good. And they, you know, smash and grab some wins. But then as they tried to become a little more ambitious with the ball,

the defense fell apart. And the team down the stretch, second half of the year, really. But then the stretching into the playoffs, they got trucked by L-AFC. So it's, I'm very much believe it when I see it from Austin. Like I need to see all the pieces together to believe this is anything more than just like another 45 point season with a very limited ceiling, but a relatively high floor because the defense is good and because Brad Stouver continues to be very good. That was something I was a little worried about at the end of last year. he he he like the final third of the season brad stuver was bad and this team could not this team cannot

survive if brad stuver is anything less and excellent and so far this season he's been back to peak brad stuver i think he's third now all time and continuous starts in an mLS career uh louis roblis is obviously number one i don't know if romando or beckerman is two this is all is continuous not all time um but he's moved into some like pretty prestigious space with that one with his consistency of getting on the field and for the most part consistency in the way he's played. Okay, if you're listening to Sirius Radio, we're going to go a little bit long so you can jump over to the on-demand player to hear the full show or cert soccer wise anywhere you get your podcasts. Let's hit a couple of these big headlines and then we'll talk

some of the Saturday teams. But I want to start with, to me, the other like for real performance this weekend was RSL, even though they've done it for a couple weeks. And that San Diego RSL game is as good a game as we're going to see in MLS this season 2-2. I think for San Diego coming off the Champions League game that's big. Also, you had to play Manu Duo because he was suspended. You were going to play some of these other pieces anyway, so that kind of end up putting a full team out there. And there was this incredible tradeoff, 15 minutes segments of, okay, we're balling,

now you are. And it wasn't just, oh, we take our foot off the gas. It was these two teams, when they have the intent, when they're locked in, they're really hard to get around. It's hard to get the ball off them. And there's chance creation in that for both of them. And it was like awesome to watch as RSL continues to get healthier. The styles make fights aspect of this was awesome.

And R.S. like they kind of gave a masterclass on how to be a counter attacking transition team without being completely odious about it. Like they end up being really fun to watch. And part of that is just Zavir Gozo keeps elevating. almost by the week. And it's just like he's very clearly a special player. And he gives them a dynamism on and off the ball that most teams don't have.

And, you know, one of the principles for Pablo Mastroeni over the years, no matter what shape they've been playing, is to make the field big. They hit more long balls than almost anybody. They hit more switches than anybody, period. And now that they're playing sort of the 3,4, 2,1, with high and wide wingbacks,

one of which is Gozo. And the other one, Sanabria, is awesome as well. Yeah. Different kind of player. Yeah. Like more of a chance. Like goes with just a winger. Yeah.

It's like they are just devastating when they're able to make the, make the field big like that. And look, they were using San Diego's M.O. against them. San Diego, they will take chances with the ball. They will like San Diego first and foremost want to drag you upfield and then combine small passes and then get in behind you. If you don't take the bait, then they'll just steadily come up field

and leave space in behind them. And that's what we saw back and forth as you said in like these 15 minute segments as one team would have the initiative and then the other was. And it was so great. It was so great. And the thing that's really fun with this RSL group

is in what you talked about, the way they stretch you wide, is then whether it's Gula Vogi, whether it's Hezercani, now it will be Diego Luna a lot. They have space in that middle area where they play as tens. And Gula Vogi is interesting. He is like, I think we will see a space, non-messy conversation,

where he might be the most creative passer in the league. Like every part of the foot that he can hit a ball with to give the exact shape and speed he wants. But a lot of what makes him. He had one play last night where it looks. looked like they had him penned in. And he was able to turn in like the tightest little angle and then take an extra beat and then slide.

She's, I'm not even sure who it was. Slide him through. And it was like, oh. He turned out to the right and then got, I think it was salons through between the center. In a gap that didn't look like it existed. Yeah. He had one where he tried like a, he tried to lead someone that Manu, it got a touch to.

And it was like greatness on greatness where you're like, that pass doesn't exist. I don't even see that pass. He tries it. He almost hits it and then do a backtracking falling over. It gets a touch to it. But like, clearly Gula Vogue needs the channels to play in, and he wants to create. He doesn't seem like he's going to take guys on at pace as often. And it doesn't seem like the play's going to end on his feet.

And it feels like RSL's perfectly set up where they've got now. Solanz is an option to wheel off the back shoulder. I think Hezorkani as well, a second guy, making a run in, Gozo's runs off that right channel, that lets Gula Vogi sort of have options to create off of, and then all that space is there because you've got to go wide with them. And you have to go wide and you have to track Gozo. And like there is just a ton of space, whether it's in transition or in set plays, where it feels like for him to work, where I think back to last year where Diego Luna was

just from a standing position attacking set defenses that were fully lined up in front of him. It feels like a totally different world right now. and then Luna just coming back from injury, there was a moment yesterday where it's like, they're in transition, it hits Luna, he beats the first guy, he lays it off for Gula Vogi,

who immediately hits a blind ball into Gozo in the channel. And you're like, this thing is flowing from left to right and is going to be really dangerous. Yeah. And I think they've shown it already, right? Like they, and to be fair,

San Diego, we're coming off of that game at Toluca. They played at 8,200 feet or whatever it is, um, partially rotated squad. So it's not like it's the same principle that we were talking about with the quakes cap segment. I still think San Diego's a level above what RSL have to offer. But between what RSL's done now against the Sounders beating them a couple weeks ago,

which to be fair, they always do in Utah, but still. And going to San Diego and out playing them for the final 30 minutes and coming out of there with a 2-2 draw. They're close. They're close and they're coming. And San Diego is just much watch. anytime they're on the field. It's this, you know, Pellegrino's been a perfect addition to dryer. And he creates one.

He has a couple chances to score himself. He's super dangerous. I would love to see Lewis Morgan now. He gets to start in Toluca like, can you be healthy for a little bit and be a guy? Because it feels like another factor, whether it's him out on the run with dryer as two instead of one. Or if it's a whole new, well, when we're in deep, we can hit early and you can go by. yourself, it just would be another addition to this group. What is going on with Chucky Lozano?

How, like, how is this not a bigger, like, he's completely exiled? I haven't seen a single rumor about him ending up somewhere. No one's going to pay him what he makes. So there's, there's one choice left. San Diego made their choice. They announced he won't play for the team. So San Diego can't shift off that. Like, it's done.

And with the success they've had on the field, there's no world that they would at this point. So the only thing left the decision is, does Chuky want to play or not? If he doesn't want to play, he gets paid a ton of money to not play soccer. If he wants to play, then he can take some form of buyout and he can go play. That's the only thing left to happen. And like, there's no other, we don't really have this scenario often. So it's not an obvious timeline that we're going with. It's purely just on Chuky's life decision of like what he wants to do at this point.

It's a bizarre scenario. I think San Diego mishandled it by putting themselves in a corner. But like that we've, that was four stations ago. we don't really have a lot to go back to and do. And like, you know, maybe the proof will be in the pudding, which is there's a culture that they're building. And by saying this, it reestablished everyone else. Like, we value what we value.

And they put Toluca on the ropes and they beat Pumas. And they're going to be at the top of the Western Conference. So maybe in the end, that's what's, it will be worth it. I think they mishandled it then. And now at this point, there's only one thing left to wait for. it's crazy that they're this good with one hand tied, really more than one hand tied behind their back, because they only have one DP on this team, man.

Like they only have one guy who I would consider to be a high level match winner in this league. You know, provisional two if Lewis Morgan comes back and he's a 2022 or 2024 version of Lewis Morgan, but that's such a massive if. I like it it bothers me because when MLS teams are this good I always want them to go for it I always want them to to you know eat the eat the contract find a way out of it and go at another high level piece because chances like this don't come around all that often so here's

the other thing though they only have one U22 initiative player as we have listed so if you only have one do you trigger the two four two like do you still get the two if you, the two million in allocation if you want it, if you have the two DPs. You have to elect. My understanding is that the CSO has to elect. But if you elect to do it and you don't max out the four D.P spots, you still get the money for only having two DPs. Correct.

Okay. Because the other thing about this, like, they could go get you 22 initiative players. Like, there is other avenues for them to spend money in this. Or they could get a third D.P. Like, that's their choice. All of this is their choice. And they have, they have plenty. of gam, right?

So like they, look, the part of the reason that they have plumbed game is that, $4.2 million is what we have listed. They've done, Tyler keeps has done a really great job of managing this budget and, and making extra gam and not getting out over his skis. And like,

part of that is opting for the two four two build so that you have two million. So like, you know, he hasn't been a, like he hasn't been a spendthrift. Um, but like now you're into the, like,

I don't know. It just feels like the right time for them to make some big moves. But then again, maybe it's not. Let me ask you this. If you're San Jose and you need another winger, another high-level match winner, and I know Chuky's better on the left than the right, but you can play on the right. Yeah.

In this scenario, San Diego would have to accept some of the salary, right? Like you're not paying Chuky full if you're another. team are you i mean i probably wouldn't so i probably wouldn't i can give us all what we have reported here so chuky lotzano is on 7.6 million dollars yeah it's a lot guaranteed deal through 2028 so if you were to bring him if you were to cash for him or whatever which i would assume the casfer would be one dollar right or you get him on acquisition loan whatever um you would be on the hook for him through the 2028 season.

So this season and two more. That, to me, feels like too much. So I think San Diego has to eat some of it. I don't know if they'd be willing to. My assumption is they would. Because like what's the advantage to not at this point? San Jose was less in my wheelhouse of like, can freaking Colorado get a free big name player and have him play for a year or two?

Right? Kevin Cabral style, like, but with a ton of marketing around him. and I sort of thought more like it's got to be a bottom end of the league. If I was San Jose, I would wait for like a real player that I acquire that I want. I guess is my main answer around. The question though is like, is that going to happen given the ownership situation in San Jose? Whereas now, because we know San Jose is trying to sell. Right?

And there's stuff that's going on around the team that's important for them. and really useful for them to try to find a buyer. One of them is they can suddenly do 15 concerts a year now. And that's a huge revenue stream. You know what else would be a huge revenue stream? Getting a Mexican national team player for free. Like, all we have to do is eat his salary. Which.

And he's our player. The thing, though, is if you got a normal DP who could be a difference maker, the transfer fee and salary combined might still be cheaper than Chuky Litzano. Nika 4 in the chat says if San Diego eats his salary, it doesn't clear a D. spot. It would because in this scenario, they would quote unquote buy him out. The buyout agreement would be for a lower number. And the buyout agreement, I think this is Tom always says, this is what Joseph did with Atlanta and Miami. Then there's the built-in agreement for Chuky of, then I'm

going to go sign the deal for the rest of the money or whatever other money I want to be whole with that team. And that's the only way that you get to the negotiation where San Diego can get a quote-unquote deal if they want. And then when they do that, that spot becomes opened up because they've bought out that spot. San Diego could buy him out for everything. They'd have to pay $21 million to never play for them again. The other aspect of this is Chuky part of Elchrie. I think that's dead at this point.

Like we're in March. Two months ago, I said the same thing. He's got to want to play, right? He's got to want to make his way into the team. He's not coming into this camp. It feels like there's no world in which this guy gets out of this team, plays what six games in mLS and gets back into a world cup roster at this point how tree hasn't been great man no Brian gutierrez baby you know that's true we've got a we've got a juky lotsano at

home we don't need that one we've got the Kirkland brand version so i'm just looking at it he he played one two three he played five of their friendlies back in um back in autumn and it was all the same teams that the u.s played it was japan south korea or Uruguay and all that. And they were terrible. They got boot off the field against year. Yeah, they didn't win any of them. So that's not good.

And then they've played three. So, and obviously he hasn't been in any of the squads this year. They've played three of them. Now, it's Panama, Bolivia, in Iceland. So not murderers, bro. No. But they've won all three games. And just looking back at it, he hasn't really been, man, you got to kind of go back to the

22 cycle. Well, he was hurt. Like, that was the thing. In Europe, he was hurt. he was off and on. He couldn't stay healthy. Then he comes. He's hurt out the gate.

And then whatever else happened with San Diego. Now I will say this from what I've heard. What's happened in San Diego is what people across League of Mexico worried about with him, which is why there's no one jumping to say, I'll take him. Remember, Giovanni Dos Santos was on LA Galaxy. He was a fourth DP when they could only have three. They didn't know what to do with him. They ended up buying him out.

But every League of MX team was like we would take him, like we want him. No one is saying that about Chuky right now. Yeah, not even Pachuca. So he would need to revitalize his career. And that no one's going to pay him $21 million to do that. So he's got to find a solution in there on his own. And for San Diego, I guess if they continue to get the results, they're not going to panic to make the move and do something with it.

Okay, one more team to mention here. And then we're going to talk some under pressure teams before we get out of here. I got to St. Louis, two early playoff pick that I went with. I felt bad about it. They started the year Charlotte at home. to one. Then they had San Diego, Seattle, and L.A.F.C. Those are pretty good teams. Now they come from behind. They beat the revs. I still worry about goal scoring, but like Hartel's goal is maybe going to be the goal of the year. Even off the mistake, it is absurd. He strikes through it with like to create

the pace with the cut, but also to even try it off that bounce with Turner sort of off his line is insane. But it, Yon DeMé's team feels like they have a culture and like the way the ball moves, the way they connect. I don't know that the quality is there, but I'm excited about it. So now they play the revs, and every St. Louis fan is like attacking or coming at me on social being like,

you were right. Like now we play a bad team, finally, a team on our level. They now have at NYCFC at FC Dallas, and then they play at Seattle. First of all I don't understand why all these teams are playing the same team again, six weeks in,

and none of that is easy. So maybe the St. Louis take will die before it was ever even born. Let's talk about these under pressure teams before we get out of here. Charlotte probably will, would have been in this four goals on the year but six against the red bulls helps them get out of it i think three of them before the red card and then three of them two two before the red card

oh one was the free kick the red card was from the red card yeah and uh and the red bulls i mean red bull fans are going through it starting me at center back at this point probably doesn't feel like a basket scenario for this team uh and so charlotte gets the victory for that and maybe you in goal as well. Maybe. I'm not bad. I got reaction saves in there. You never know.

I mean, that's better than what they're getting currently. Sometimes I could surprise you. So the teams on this list, Philly, Cincinnati, Portland, and L.A. Galaxy. We'll do Portland, L.A. Galaxy,

obviously, together, because they played against each other. Let's start Philly, uh, have yet to win this season. They go to Club America. They put together a pretty good fight on the road. They almost find their way into the next round of the Conccaf.

They come home. They lose two one, uh, to Chicago, who have also, been a struggle in this one. What do you make of what you saw from Philly this weekend and if anything positive is coming? I think the real Philly is probably the version that we saw on the road at Club America, like a really energetic team, good defensively, doesn't have enough quality

and attack to hang, to beat the big boys, but they're not going to be an easy out. The performance that they put in this weekend against the fire, I think was just like, we left everything on the field on Wednesday in, at 7,200 feet, and we have nothing left in the tank, and they wilted in the second half, and that's not surprising at all.

Bigger picture, though, they sold their three best players or three of their four best players, however you want to look at it, and did not adequately replace them, and that means there's pressure on the coach to come up with a plan B, and this is basically another,

St. Louis segment because St. Louis fans hate Bradley Carnell because he never had a plan B. He never had any way to make his team more than the sum of their parts other than run harder. Run harder. Like that was it. And that's what we're seeing from Philly. I think, look, we know that it's a resilient game model. The union are eventually going to score some goals and they are not going to go. no wins 34 losses and no draws i think they're probably going to end up being a a fringe playoff team in the eastern conference but the front office um and ownership made the decision this winter to chase short-term profit um over competitiveness in 2026 and that's where we're at yeah it's it yep um canv got a bunch of minutes has been good yakopovych continues to play right i thought i

I thought Kevin was great in, in Mexico against Club America. I thought he was their best chance. Don't worry. Charlie quoted you on the show on Thursday from Tactics Free Zone. You got your point in there. Don't worry about it, Doyle, you got there. I want to mention on the Chicago side of things. I thought Kuypers was awesome in this game.

He was great. This was maybe the best game I've seen him play. And it was activity outside of just in front of goal. He is creative in how he gets the goal, like on some of the mistakes. from Philly, I didn't think there was an immediate shot in there or a chance that he's able to get to. And then as he was more dangerous, he realized the pressure came to him and he's releasing the wide guys. And he's making runs to pull to pull interests. And I don't want to be annoying for Chicago fans, but my thought in this game was, man, if they signed Lewandowski and MLS team is

hitting the lottery in getting Kuypers, because he looks really, really good right now. And then on Bamba, I thought he was really underwhelming. And then he scores, like, I literally was going to put on blue sky what would you say you do here like he's not coming inside he's not creating chances he's not he had a i think a really open opportunity for a cross that he just completely misses but then he scores the goal on a really good finish holly salase should have scored one of the goals of the year um his touch was a little bit long and the one thing i would say about chicago i love robin lud but he is a dangerous for a possession player player and i think over the first 60 minutes of this game you are seeing a lack of

of a game breaker. And it doesn't have to be 11 of them. But it doesn't feel like there's one in this team that they create the chance by themselves outside of the flow of the game. And while Kuiper is sort of in what he does was able to create those, that feels to me right now like the limit on the Chicago team. Yeah. Look, Salatros has been disappointing the Swedish guy that they signed to play Central

Midfield. And I know they probably needed to make that signing, given them they were a little thin there. but also maybe they didn't. Maybe just ride with Sergio O'Rehill and give him minutes because he's just a ball mover too, and he had good moments. The other aspects that we should touch on here, Andrew Gutman back relieves some of the playmaking

or addresses some of the barrenness with regard to playmaking from this team because he is one of the best overlapping fullbacks in the league. And the other thing is a lot of the five, Sealing and Floor both determined by Che Davila. Like the first half, he was behind the play. And it's like, oh, this is the version of him that you're getting, then they could lose to anybody.

And then the second half, he was completely locked in. And maybe that was Philly losing their legs, right? Because they had just played a big game at 7,200 feet or whatever Mexico City is. Maybe the game slowed up. But we have seen this from him pretty consistently over the past year, where he's just like a completely different player from one half to the other. And like if Greg Burhalter can figure out how to get this guy at the same level, week after week after week,

the fire are going to be a really dangerous team if André Franco comes back healthy. Yep. Gutman fires that cross in for the opening goal. That thing is moving at a hundred miles per hour. Good luck for whoever has to put their head on the end of it, but Kipers will take it for the goal. Let's hit Cincinnati quick here because I think we've talked a lot about Cincinnati. They come from behind down a man against Montreal.

This game was like a bizarre, bizarre world version of a professional soccer game. Wiki Carmona, obviously the best attacker in the league, as we all expected. He scores from distance. Cincinnati works their way back in. And then Miles Robinson gets the red card, which leads to the PK, which makes it three, two. And then Cincinnati comes back and they win four to three down a man for 30 minutes. against Montreal at home. Ekinike was super involved in this game, which was huge for them.

And honestly, like, not to go full Bobby Warsh on this thing, but, like, maybe the most promising part of this game was, Dan Kay scores the winner and him and Evander celebrate together the whole time. It felt like they were a little more connected throughout this game, and maybe they hit a breaking point this week, where they were like, neither of us can do this by ourselves. But it's hard to take, like, a ton of new stuff from Cincinnati after something like this, except for from a cultural point of view.

they didn't give up like they have twice in the last two weeks. Yeah, that's, I think, I think that's the glass half full look at this from, from Cincinnati, because they could have, you know, coming off what happened against Tigris, they, they could have just, once they went down to 10 men, they could have just called it, right? And that would have been almost them calling it on their season and maybe even calling it on the Pat Newton era.

And it says something at least that they didn't. There's certainly a lot of talent, but I just look at their reactions against the ball. Like, any time possession is lost, there's four or five people standing around. And it's not just Evander and Dengay. It's Ayub Jabari, who hit the freaking lottery. How did this get this contract? My God. But, like, if you're not out there pressing trying to win the, like, what is your point?

And the gap between Jabari, and I know he scored a goal in this one, but the gap between Jabari and Tom Barlow is, huge and not in the direction you would think. And Obina de Voto being half the player he was three years ago. And the backline being completely like unattached and just like incoherent. It all looks so bad. And hopefully like nobody in the league needed this break more than Cincinnati does. Hopefully they can figure something out in film study and hopefully they can figure something out culturally and take whatever happened in the last 15 minutes and turn it into something

that is part of who this team is going forward. And if they don't do that, they're, their roadkill. Like, they're going to be, they're going to get treated the way Tigris treated them. Okay, I've got three minutes before I have to get out of here. Let's hit Portland Galaxy. Portland goes down a man. See the running, you know, recurrence in all of this. Kamal Miller gets the early red card in the 20th minute, I think it was. They proceed to tie one one. Galaxy few chances created once they went up. And Portland ends up looking kind of like the better team. But then images come out post game.

I mean, we're getting images of the bench sent to us of do they look defeated, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. I think that's a lot of guys that got stuffed off that aren't super stoked. And then Phil Neville being upset as he walked off the field. So it doesn't feel great right now for Portland. No, it doesn't feel great. I think that they haven't won since opening day. and like they actually played really well

the first 20 minutes of this game I think it was their best stretch of the year but part of that might just be because the galaxy are bad right the galaxy flew from Jamaica to play yeah and so like there there are some asterisks but you know these are two more teams that really need to use the international break

and try to figure out who they are and how to integrate the pieces they have into something more coherent because both of them are less than the whole is less than the sum of its parts. And it was, it was really, really disappointing to see the galaxy up a man for 70 minutes

and creating so little against the Portland team that has not been able to defend all year long. Yeah, I thought Anthony was the most dangerous player on either team, which there's a limit to what he, like he gets in dangerous spots. And there's not the final product. With the galaxy, what's bizarre is like,

Klaus has been good. And like, That's not the issue. The issue is the guys who were there already. It's a great assist from Marco Royce, but again, he doesn't pull the strings. He doesn't control the flow of the game. And it feels like there's not a game that Peck has played with him where he looks better than when he plays without him. And so this is a galaxy team. If they're not going to be great defensively, and they're probably not going to be great defensively, they might be good, but not great. They've got to be dangerous in the attack. And it just feels like it's been in third gear most of the season,

including Champions League where they ran it up against a team that was missing nine players when they went on the road and all of that. But we're going to revisit all of this. We've got some MLS talk we're going to be doing on Thursday. We've got, of course, U.S. men's national team and Canadian national team previews that we will do with those camps out. Maybe we'll talk about Jesse Marsh and all of that. And the experience he's gone through over the last few years.

But thank you to all of you for watching live with us and being in the chat. Thank you to all of you for listening. Doyle, thank you for being here, and we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.