SoccerWise - Ja-mania Rodriguez, SD CONCACAF Start, Top Moves Of The Offseason & More w/Joe Lowery(Backheeled)

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Well the ice cream shop is closed for a little (sorta) with Tom on dad duty. So Joe Lowery joins David for a big show. They revel in the addition of the Boy Star James Rodriguez to Minnesota United and figure out WHAT IS GOING ON! Then they dig through all the biggest moves since last show. They compliment Seattles development of Obed Vargas, weigh the improvements or lack there of Red Bulls, and what is going on with these failed medicals. Finally they go over Joe's favorites additions of the offseason so far.8:30 San Diego's Dominant CONCACAF Debut16:14 James Rodriguez Joining Minnesota26:47 Obed Vargas Development & Transfer To Atleti35:09 Red Bull Attacking DP Addition39:45 Carles Gil Extends His Time In New England42:15 Orlando CB Signing & NYCFC DP Fail Transfer Medicals45:45 Whitecaps Retool49:55 Crew Rotated CFs With JRR Sale & Thiare Trade52:45 Stephen Eustaqio's Potential Fit In LA & Bounga Transfers56:00 Joe's Favorite Offseason Moves Mamadou Fall, Robin Lod, Erik Thommy & Timo Werner

Welcome back to Soccer Wise, everyone. First live show in a little while. And I only do shows on Mountain Time now. It is David Goss and Joe Larry with you for a big episode, a lot to talk about. A lot of news and a lot going on. And so I needed a fellow Arizonan. And so we jumped on here and now we get to hang out. You say a lot of news.

We're doing just a full hour on Phoenix Rising, right? I mean, born and bred, Arizona Legends about to talk game. Like, I mean, what else could we even be talking about? You slice our arm and green chili just flows out of us. It's not really, it's not really our thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Mexico needs something, and so we let them have that, you know?

It's on every menu, and it seems to be a thing, even though you're saying it's not officially Arizona's thing. I mean, on every menu, like, I don't think you're going to find green chili at, like, at some Mexican places here, you will. I think a lot of them you won't. I don't know. Okay. Maybe I'm not going to the right spots. I'm not a big green chili guy, to be honest. I don't know that I am, but I do like, I think I'm moving towards it over as I age, as I progress.

I think I've been moving towards it more recently. And Michael Spillian says there's a lot in Colorado. I actually do know two people, one from Colorado, one from New Mexico, who have fought over green chili and like who has possession and who's better and whatnot. Wow. That's big. I'm not sure if I'm ready to wait into that. Like, I don't know if I'm qualified. You know, that sounds frightening.

You told me you were going to come on and drop takes, Joe. I thought there was going to be green chili takes. I'll say it. Green chili sucks. There we go. Is that what you wanted? There, it's done. Yeah, that is what I want.

Make sure to ratio him. Everyone come after him on blue sky and any other platform. I appreciate you being here, Joe. Everyone who doesn't already know, go read back yield. It is the best platform for articles about any soccer in North America, but especially MLS, USL. Is there anything you'd want to plug in there besides that? Yeah, I'm currently hip,

in our in-depth MLS season previews. It's going to be team by team. They're going to be very different from the ones out here on soccer-wise, which are also great. I very much did love the local perspective that you guys got last season. I'm looking forward to that again this year.

These will be very different, sort of, I guess, from a national perspective rather than getting some of the local flavor. But they're going to be an absurd number of words on the stupid number of teams that are in this league. It's a big project, and we've got a bunch of USL stuff coming out as well.

We're doing more of that this year than ever before. So I'm really excited. I think the stuff we do is good. there's really nothing else out there like it. And I think you should read it. I absolutely agree. I will tell you this. I've already recorded a couple of our previews.

And one of the categories that I hadn't included originally, which I might go back and start doing as I continue, is the what is the national media comment or like take that angers you the most? Oh, that's good. Because I did Austin already. And shout out to the North End podcast. That one will come out soon. Zach and E.

and they like started talking Faku Torres and they were like and we know that you and the other like nerds out there hate it and I was like you know this is actually a really good chance for people to air their grievances and sometimes I can make points and battle back and other times I'll be wrong so that might have to be an ad into all of this but we are doing our preview series as well already started up with a couple of the interviews we've got all the social videos that we're going to be pumping out via kickback and whatnot so go read back yield if you do not not go listen to Joel Soccer Show if you do not read everything that Joe writes in every other platform that he writes for as well. And the reason besides that I love Joe that he is here is because the scoop sprints has been born. Theo Bogart. So congratulations to Tom. Maasel Tav to him. We've said it like five times this week on different shows. But we are proud of him. We're excited for him. So he is off. I put that in quotes if you're listening because it feels like Thomas still broken like the last 20 stories around the MLS sphere. Yeah, I think, I imagine Theo was just born with like an iPhone in one hand and a,

I don't know, probably one in the other hand too, like one open to WhatsApp. Exactly. I mean, that's my understanding of how this went down. Like, I don't actually have proof of that, but that is some things that I've heard about all this. Tom's version of being off is maybe a little bit different for most of us. But I don't think, you know, sometimes you just can't turn it off, you know. And I've heard, I don't have any kids myself.

I've heard that when you have a newborn, like you have a lot. lot of time to be doing things. You just have to sort of be tied to your new child while you do them because they're not sleeping. And so you're not sleeping either. So this actually maybe is going to be Tom's most productive stretch ever. It's possible. So watch out front offices because you thought it was going to get easier. You thought it was going to get more simple. And it turns out that Tom's about to ratchet it up. And congratulations on, of course, the worth of Theo, the assumption here. And I haven't spoken to Tom about this. But the assumption in my mind is he is named after a great Theo. So I put a list together. You've got Theo Hernandez, great fullback. Currently, I think,

playing in Saudi Arabia, French international, Theo Walcott, one of the great attackers in England history, never really stayed at his peak long enough. But my assumption in all of this is that he is named after either Theo Corbinu, who is now a Tam attacker for Toronto FC, or Theo Bear, who people forget difference maker for the white caps as a transfer and has still been scoring goals in Switzerland. And I feel like Tom's so frustrated that people forget that he permanently imprinted it on the world with his son. You don't think this is tied at all to the Theo Corbino pronunciation debate that Doyle ended by just calling him absolute crap the other day, which I'll admit got me to absolutely laugh in the car. I think I could go either way. I'm fine to say

it's Theo Bear. I don't, I'm not fully swayed. I think Corbino might have the inside track, but it just depends on how the Bogart's approached all this. On a serious note, congratulations, Like that is so, so, so exciting. It's a really special thing. I'm stoked. And don't come back. Take all the time off. Yeah.

Take all the time off you want, Tom, but also come back to us. Right. Very, very soon. Okay, a couple of news notes before we get into crazy soccer news that I'm less interested in right now. MLS stadiums have been announced hosting the Olympic soccer coming up in 2028. Love the Olympics. Cannot wait for the Winter Olympics to start. I already have a fantasy team that I built.

my sister's company does it where you get $90 in each country has a dollar amount and you have to build your... Yeah, and then you get the total medals. So my focus was categories. Like South Korea, Germany, they're going to gold in different categories. That was my focus.

So I love an Olympics, excited about this. Don't care right now. Wouldn't be shocked if it changed between now and then as well. But it's from as far as NYCFC's new stadium to San Jose, San Diego. This is common. I saw some people react. This is what happens at every Olympics. My guess is it's because there are too many athletes to put in a village if you don't spread it out for basketball and soccer. So normally they are spread out and Old Trafford hosted in 2012.

Melbourne hosted back in 2000. So not uncommon there, but it's a village. It's not a city. Like let's not, you know, let's not make this into something it's not. We can't fit everybody in the village. It's just not going to happen. I would like to state that of course New York has to be involved. Greatest city in the world. I don't know that L.A. would be involved if a New York Olympic happened, but they're too scared to find out, so no one's willing to vote for it. You're too close to the West Coast to be firing off these takes right now. People are listening. Oh, I feel like I should be anti-California. They're invading us, Joe. There's too many Californians. We need more. We need less. Things used to be better when no one lived here. It was a barren

desert. Take me back. Take me back to those days. Speaking of Barron Desert, the Vancouver White Caps apparently are in a little bit of trouble. We've talked about this a lot on the show. Actual Schuster coming out and saying that they've had a lot of interest. Initially, when everyone's looked under the hood, there's been no interest or actual bids put together. I don't want to spend more time on this right now, one, because we don't know a ton about it. And two, it feels like actual Schuster and Don Garber are just using the media to try and play a game. And I don't want to play right now.

So we'll do that another time when it becomes more interesting to us. But let's talk real soccer games. San Diego, baby, welcome to Concaf. Not 12 minutes in, 15 minutes in, I'm like, I bet. San Diego's doing everything right. They're going to lose this game 1-0 against the run of play. Unreal goal. And then they come out in the second half and blitz Pumas,

who are having a good season and, of course, are a pretty big Mexican side. We, we chatted a bit with the guys from San Diego. That episode will come out in light, you know, with Concaf competition being the first one. but they sort of talked about how big a deal it was for a market that is so Liga MX aware to have a big name like Pumas come in. And I think you could feel it in the stadium. It felt like a mid-season game. It was packed.

It was energetic. From TV, you could feel as the energy ratcheted up, especially in the second half, you could feel the reaction to the fan base. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the game was sick. San Diego are unbelievably good. I mean, it's not like I'm talking to someone who picked the under on their points tally the other day. I mean, I can't imagine that that would have.

been you. I posted... It's always going to fall off. Yeah, it is. Yeah, of course, of course. I posted the XG from that game and I think I quote tweeted the soccer wise account and just said San Diego overlock. I'll be honest, didn't really understand the lock thing. Maybe I missed in the intro. Either way, I felt strong about it. It sounded like a cool thing to say. So I said, over lock. I mean, the Chick-Galazano stuff, it's still, I think, a really interesting drama for San Diego right now because I do think their ceiling is lower without a guy who can give them, you know, 18 goal contributions opposite of Anders Dreyer. I think that's a real thing.

At the same time, I think they're still going to be stupid good this new season. I think you said something to the effect, and I apologize, I have all the chance to just come in and dunk on you because I have listened to your show when you gave all these takes, right? And I know how hard it is to give these takes on all these teams. I think you said something, Goss, about, like, you know, teams have had a whole year to prep for this team and sort of figure them out. And obviously that's true.

They had like eight months by the end of last year, and they still couldn't figure out San Diego. You know, I just think this team is so well drilled in what they're doing. Maybe they face a little bit of some stiffer opposition, and teams will have some different approaches to take. I don't doubt that. But, man, they looked really good. However, this is going to look later on, I think it's going to look about like it did last year. This team is filthy good.

They know exactly who they want to be, and they just crushed out of the gates. Yeah, the pure belief in themselves, like, we assume it'll move to another competition, but we don't know that. So I think that was really exciting to see, as well as not having all the pieces perfectly together, Lewis Morgan, not available to you yet. Obviously, there's a whole lot right back, it seems like, and yet they continue to play the soccer they play, which is really, really big, because that's the whole DNA thing.

It's like it's what worked for Columbus. It's what worked for Vancouver. Guys, quote unquote, overperforming or performing at high levels because of the confidence, because of the belief, because of the style that they play, enjoying the game, all that type of stuff. And I think you saw it with guys stepping up out of MLS and X pro into a game against Pumas.

and like being uber confident to come off the wing and try and attack and create chances and all of that, which is really, really big for San Diego. The thing that's interesting, the comment about Chuki Lutano is, I guess what could come back to haunt them or would be frustrating is they've not filled other spots in terms of D.P. or U-22. They could just go get someone else and say whatever happens with Chuky is what happens. He's not going to play for this team. That's a fact. Like we know that at this point.

why not go get the replacement and up the ceiling of this team now why do you have to wait and choosing to wait i think if that's what bites them this season i think there should be some frustration of not pushing as hard as you can to be the best team in the league the region whatever you want to say yeah yeah and san diego's been pretty up front that, hey, we're not going to spend like LA. We're not going to spend like Miami when I was talking to Tyler Heaps, basically a year ago now ahead of the first season. He made that really clear. We're not going to go and spend like those teams are.

We're going to do things differently. And when we're seeing San Diego spend, and you know this better than I do, is beneath the first team, right? And that is going to be something that we see more and more of. They're just not going to do that. Like, they're just not going to be the team that says, oh, well, let's just go get another DP and we'll figure out the Chuky Lozana stuff later. There are teams in MLS that would.

Many of them are quite good. but I just don't know that San Diego is ever going to be that. And I'd be a little bit frustrated about that as a fan. But at the end of the day, I think you have to trust the ethos. And at the moment, trust basically everybody who's making any relevant decision there because they've gotten 98% of those things right so far. When they play that ball, when, you know, the ball's moving quickly and whether it's the fullback pinched in or the winger sitting in that half channel,

when they play that early curved ball to the far post with like six runners coming on, that's when this thing gets. going. And I think you saw in the first half a little bit of fear of I don't want to play that blind ball. I don't want us to get hit in transition. I don't want to be the reason we lose possession or make a mistake. And then you saw in the second half like they just went for it. And all of a sudden, Pumas is scrambling on the far post, even with Kailor Navas in goal time and time again. And that's where San Diego really starts to hit their form. Yeah, they're so good. Like they didn't look like there was really any drop from where they ended last year. I mean,

maybe there was a rise from where they ended last year because that was a pro, a pro, performance against the white caps to end their season. But really, it looked like they just picked up and continued from where they were before. And a lot of that makes sense because this is the same group effectively. I mean, there have been a couple ends, a couple of outs. But by and large, this is a team that understands exactly what needs to go down. And if you're good, continuity is a great thing. If you suck, I mean, it's a terrible thing.

But San Diego didn't suck last year. They were amazing. And they basically picked up right where they left off. You mentioned that hole it right back. Maybe. I don't know. I was going to talk a bit about this later on, although you told me to come up with three moves for a segment later.

I did more than that, so I do have some cover for this. Wilson Eisner starts it right back in that game. Who's that, you ask? Well, maybe you know because you're listening to this show. Maybe you don't. I don't know. He was with San Jose's next pro team last year and basically didn't get picked up into the first team roster.

And San Diego said, yep, well, some of that. And he started and looked great in this game. Like he looked super comfortable on the ball. He looked like he fit the system. San Diego's ability to pluck these fullbacks out of random places and have them basically immediately look like they understand what's going. on is mind-blowing to me. It is so impressive. If it's the Soccer Wiser episode from the other day, they're doing that, like that fullback thing of let's make this dude some young player on the right

side who we think is, you know, decent and young and cheap, let's get him in the team and we're not going to see any drop off and that's exactly what's happened. Man, I described something up about L.A.F.C. for one of our social hits and I brought a little bit of the smoke on like, look up on Bino, proof that there's kids in the academy would be nice if a club from L.A. could make some of that work. So you said Club from San Diego. We'll make it work. Got it. Yes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We'll make it work.

One team in Southern California is willing to commit to young players from maybe the hottest region of players in the country and maybe one of in the world. So 4-1, the win, not over. You go to Mexico City now for like two. Obviously, 4-1 is a safe and fairly comfortable lead, but not a guarantee. And we've seen crazier things in Concaf before. The winner of this will face off against Toluca, who have been just on an absolute tear over the last year, probably as tough a matchup as you can get. I would argue they are the best team that got to buy in the first round.

So not going to be an easy one. But again, what the guys from San Diego were saying of like this club trying to establish itself on the border in a region that Cholos has been the big team. And everyone is watching League Amex on Saturdays and Sundays. and that's sort of the reference point, this is a huge chance for this club and they seem to be ready to take care of it, at least from that first leg. All right, let's talk about the biggest piece of news

that's happened over the last seven days. I think we spent two weeks with Tom being like, I will not answer Hamas Rodriguez's questions because it's not a real thing. And people in the chat over and over again. Now, in fairness, all of the things he said it about are true, which is they did not, all the teams that were,

being asked about. We're not actually associated. I think it was Houston that kept coming up. Maybe it was Austin. One of those. It's Minnesota. When you think Hamas Rodriguez, when you think Colombian internationals, when you think World Cup, when you think that style and that flare, Joe, think about Minnesota. Yeah, Hamas hot dish Rodriguez, right? I mean, that's, we've all called him that forever. That's just who he is as a player. I mean, this might be, I've been thinking about this a lot. There have been some weird moves this offseason, some unexpected moves. This is, the most unexpected one. This is the weirdest one of all. It's not a surprise to me to see how I started where you guys landed in Major League Soccer. It is a surprise to me to see him land in

Minnesota. And it's making me shift a little bit. It's forced me to shift how I think about what Minnesota United are going to be this year. Because I think we all expected, and I talked with Khaled Alamad about this. I wrote about it for backhield. We expected some stylistic evolution from Minnesota once Eric Ramsey left. Kalita Alamad had sort of talked about it as, well, we have a short amount of time when he came in, you know, Eric Ramsey comes in late, I'm trying to build something to be competitive, well, we're going to play against the ball, and we're going to lean into set pieces

and do all these things that maybe take a little bit less time than the intricate possession stuff to gel. And we're going to be competitive that way, because also ownership, light paraphrasing, but only sort of light paraphrasing. Ownership's not going to support us on the first team roster, so we need to find budget guys. We're going to do that,

and we're going to play this against the ball, anti-socer sort of thing. Well, I think we all knew some change was coming because Khaled Alamad said as much. She told that to me. He's probably said that in other places as well. And so we knew there was going to be. be evolution with Cam Noles in this and Eric

Gramsie gone. Maybe the evolution is going to be more than I thought. I sort of thought this would look like them picking up, I don't know, 5% more possession on average, occasionally playing the ball in their own third and being a little bit more patient in the final third in possession. I don't know, man. I don't sign Hamas Rodriguez

if I'm only planning on doing some of those things or only planning on turning the dial one notch to the right. I sign Hamas Rodriguez because I want to try to get him to do stuff. So I don't know, man. I don't know what this is all going to look like, but it's making me think that there's going to be a little bit more change in Minnesota than I thought. So there are two main thoughts in my head.

One, the answer to what you're saying in my mind, which is they don't really care. They're going to sell jerseys and they're going to sell tickets and they're going to sell sponsors. And like there's not a world if he's not a DP that you don't sign hummus Rodriguez. But I struggle to find the soccer advantage because if he plays well, he's probably not coming back after the world. up. If he plays poorly, then he plays poorly. And this kind of sucks for you. Like, I wonder in all of what you said, if there was a plan or if it was, hey, by the way, Hamas Rodriguez is, you know, searching around for a move. He's willing to take less to come play. And at that point, you're, you have the openings. You have the availability. You don't say no. But is this the grand plan? Is, you know,

to sign a 34 year old. And we don't know the contract yet. But I think we all assume that it's probably a very short-term deal, if not less than the year, just to get to the World Cup. And then he's probably gone. And so how much do you build around him because you can't restructure yourself and you're probably not getting a Hamas Rodriguez replacement after he ends up leaving unless there's the 2% chance that he loves it and it and it's all perfect and he wants to be there and blah, blah, blah, blah coming out of a World Cup? Well, here's the question, though, I guess.

Where does he go? Because Tom's obviously reported that it's going to be a short-term deal. at least through the World Cup. We don't know how short. It could be a six-month deal. I guess, yeah, it's about right. Six-month deal with six months after, and so it maybe does run the whole year.

I don't know what this is going to look like. This information is not out there yet. It doesn't really sound like anybody knows what this is going to look like outside of the very few people at the core of this deal. You know, like, where's, where's he going going to go next? He's already ended up in North America at Leon. Like, I don't know. Good World Cup is not going to bounce him back to a major league in Europe. I don't understand exactly where he's going to leverage this into.

that's another weird part of this deal. Yes. I think one option is... Retirement, maybe, I suppose. Yeah, right. One option is nowhere, and he just needed the spot to get through the World Cup. One option is Columbia. Originally, it was rumored he would go to junior before he went to Leon, I believe.

It would obviously be a pay cut, even if he is the highest paid player in Colombian League history. One would be his belief internally that, oh, if I play well at a World Cup, someone, you know, the thing you just said, which I agree with, will happen. Probably would disagree with and say, oh, I would. will end up back in La Liga or whatever. Or he doesn't know. But yes, I fully agree with all that and understand that. I guess the question then would be, does that, if all that happens, does that mean he says,

okay, then I'll stay in Minnesota? I don't know. But if you're Minnesota, you are at the front of the line in that situation. I say all of that and saying, I would do it too. Like, Hummus Rodriguez is fun. He's fun when he plays well. He's fun. The atmosphere around him.

He's a huge name. and this is like a one off opportunity for this team in MLS to be elevated globally and be part of this conversation. And when the World Cup starts, Thomas Rodriguez is going to start for Columbia. He's going to walk out there. And in the lineups, it's going to say Minnesota United Thomas Rodriguez. Like a lot of that stuff has value. I guess just looking through the lay on stuff and remembering back and whatnot, he wasn't a negative. He wasn't elite.

But he wasn't a negative. So I think if you can be structured behind him and cover ground for him, and I do think they have vertical options that can play off of him, that then you can create some situations where he can be a final pass guy. And maybe it is Volderama from 30 years ago, serving from a little bit deeper and playing through for you. But find it hard to believe that if we did this six weeks ago, and we asked Khalid Alamad, what's your plan that Hamas,

Rodriguez would even be in the deck that he would present. Because let's be real, it's not handwritten. He's doing it via deck. 100%. Yeah, Canva's getting a workout. Some good platforms getting a workout on that front. I mean, you talk about how much not being a negative. I think I'd even be a bit more charitable to him than that.

Even though he has bounced around, I believe it's six clubs in the last six years, that's a red flag for sure. I'm not trying to deny that. The dude did play minutes at Leone. He was basically there for a calendar year. He played 2,200 minutes, and he put up 12 non-penly goal contributions just in league play. I know he played in Leaks Cup because randomly I watched a Leon Columbus game and he was playing. So I know that happened.

So he played more than 2,200 minutes in the last calendar year. That's a season's worth of minutes. Let's say this last a year, which I don't know that any of us are really expecting. But if it was, that would be a great return. For a non-DP guy to give you that production in 2,200 minutes, any team in MLS would take that. Zero doubt about that in my mind. I would do this move as well. I really would.

Even though, and this is going to be a test from Minnesota, I think the big risk, is less about do we tailor our tactics to Hamas Riga's for six months for him to leave and then we're in a lurch. I don't know how big of a risk that really is. I don't think it's probably going to dramatically change what Minnesota already had planned. You can always go home to the long throw. There's always money in the banana. There's always money in the long throw, 100%. I'm more meant with my opening point, maybe I made it poorly, that I think I'm just recalibrating how much more progressive sort of Minnesota we're going to be tactically this year. Maybe I underrated that.

I think the risk. The risk is that culturally this is a problem where Minnesota have preached this whole thing of we're the underdogs, we're going to be gritty, and that's how we're going to play. And that's real. All of that's been true. And clearly players have bought into that to a certain extent. Maybe players were tired of that, and they said, hey, we want to go and evolve and we need a guy who's going to help us get there.

Or maybe they didn't. And I don't know which of those things is true, but it is undeniably a risk to say, hey, we're going to go rent Thomas Rodriguez for six months, change our team culture, change our team chemistry. and then he's going to go, and now we have to go play the most important games of our season. I don't know how that's going to go. I would still do this deal in a heartbeat. Yeah. I think what you say completely makes sense, and I think the safety in that, quote-unquote, is like,

he's probably gone soon, so if it goes poorly and all that happens, you can isolate him and push it out. But there, I read Robin Ludd's comments about joining Chicago and why he wanted to join in all of that, and clearly the contract was part of it, the amount of years and the safety. But, like, I don't know that it was enjoyable. to play on this Minnesota team. What did it let's say? I didn't read that yet.

He just said the style and the joy was what attracted him to Chicago. And he said they played us twice last year and to watch the way they played in possession. They had more fun than we did. Yeah, yeah, straight up. And like Soldier Field's not the middle of nowhere, but like it's not the best place to play in MLS right now.

And Robin Ludd basically was like, yeah, I would do anything to go get out of this. So he's a little bit of an exception because of the style of player he is, but not fully. And, you know, I think, think box all has sort of said the same of like we have to get different and part of that is the need to be successful and part of that is I think it was unenjoyable for the players in the team over the last year so in that move yes maybe hummus pulls them further faster than expected like you said

and maybe his joy sparks joy for some of these guys and um or maybe it was forced on them and now that hamas happens it pushes them a little bit further but the expectation would be they have to get some more possession in their game because guys are not going to be committed to this. And the ones that are are going to be the ones who are getting their one-off opportunity, but you're not going to have the ceiling that you want to have because guys like a Daniel O'Shea and a Robin Ludd, and they're not going to want to play in this and they're going to end up leaving as soon as they possibly can. So it's an interesting moment for Minnesota.

It's fun. I mean, we're going to put on every headline. They're going to put on every headline. Like, it's what you do. And I have to say, I was in Brazil and. 2014 with Columbia fans watching them play like I'm in the bag for hummus Rodriguez I'm fully sold I'm gonna watch every second like I'm here for all of it but if I ran a team I don't know that I would do it and it's why I refuse to run a team

because I just would run it however emotionally that I can not the only big move that's happened so let's hit a couple other big ones before we get to your 14 transfers that you like so far in the off season let's start with Obed Obed Vargas officially completes his transfer to Athletico Madrid. His contract was up at the end of the year so he could sign a pre-contract in the summer. So I thought any transfer that they could get is positive. There's some sell-on in there as well, which is huge because while the initial number is not massive for a guy who I believe is as good as any prospect that's come out of Major League Soccer and gone to Europe, the opportunity that he could play well at L'Hleti and move around in Europe at a high level or even drop down off that for a big number with the way the transfers go.

That could be the big payoff for the Seattle Sounders. But I think you've got to start with like, congrats to him, job well done by him and the club, that they understood the pathway and the progression, that they supported him, even with the injuries. They were able to get him to this point where he is on the verge of going to a World's Cup with Mexico. And now he gets to go play for his childhood team, which is one of the biggest in the world and one of the biggest in Spain. And it just feels like a good model of Seattle getting this right. Yeah, I think this is big for the Sounders who had already done a lot of work in their player pathway. I mean, I don't know that there is another club in MLS who's doing a better job than Seattle at finding players from all sorts of different ways, whether it's actual academy products and Obed Vargas fits into that bucket.

Even with him coming from Alaska, right? And I think most people know that story by now, whether it's draft picks or whether it's guys that they're sort of picking up as these reclamation projects through Next Pro and bringing those players through. By the way, Osazadee de Rosario, stock, buy it now. It's not that low because Osazai is a lot older than it. No, it's not that low, but people aren't talking about it, Moodoff. I'll put it that way. Whatever it is, the Sounders have done a good job of finding those players and helping

them move into the team. And they've done a better job of that than just about anybody else. And the next step sort of is, well, can we establish ourselves as a place for the truly elite players to come and go? Because we know they don't want to stay here. That's the reality of MLS right now. We know they want to go play in the Champions League. this is the first one of those.

And it's one of the best one of those ever in MLS. Really, I was thinking about this, and I talked about this on the Total Soccer show earlier this week. It's Alfonso-Davis to Byron, it's John Doreen to Aston Villa, and it's Obed Vargas to Athletica Madrid. In terms of clubs that young players are going to in MLS,

those are the three biggest moves in MLS history. Now, you can define biggest in different ways other than that, but this is a top-tier move to have a former MLS player representing your club in the Champions League and your club in La L'Liga and at the highest levels of the game is a big deal. And I think if you're a Seattle sounder,

in any form of that organization, you're taking a victory lap and a well-earned one on the back of this move. And to me, one of the keys to the way this progressed and the way they handled this was the timing and the way they moved Danny Lava and Josh Atensio out of that position as well. To understand that Obed was ready

and Obed needed the opportunities and to not clutter the position. And as a club, they got value off those guys, as well. Like what they traded Josh Tencio away for, what they sold Danny Labor for, that stuff that funds, whether it's the academy, or can fund other moves as well. But the understanding of the timing, the minutes that are available, and this was sort of what we talked about with Bobby and Doyle last week of how you set this up and how you allocate this. And this was one of those situations where we sort of had this amorphous, yes, just hold minutes at fullback and guys can

get chances to get on the pro field. And I sort of said, I don't know that I would consistently succession plan and say, okay, this kid is going to be the center forward for this team in three years. So we're not going to sign someone. But Obed is special. Tyler Adams is special. Like these guys are special enough that I think you do do that for them. And I think Seattle handled that really well while also doing what was best for Attencio and

Lava, which is going to look good for them as they recruit the next generation of players. and as they become hopefully a better youth developer or go out to find U-22 initiative signings or whatever. And as you said, for him to now put the Sounders up, you know, in Champions League games, in La Liga games and represent them at Athletico Venturi is massive. Also, there are reports. I don't think it's official that Diego Simeone is going to leave.

So you got to go play for Simeone. Like you got to get in the building now so that you get a chance to play for them. And this could elevate him into a starting spot at the World Cup. If he starts in Central Midfield with Mora, it's going to be crazy on his Mexico team. It's like the only thing that could get me to root for Mexico. It's Oben Borges and Joe Ercto Moras starting in central midfield, even if Edson-Alvarez is in there because I don't care about Edson-Alvarez as much.

So congrats to Obad and congrats to the Seattle Sounders. Job well done. And, you know, the Sounders have done what they're going to do. Hassani Dotson, free agent signing. If he gets back to pre-injury, it's a steal of a signing. It's like barely a downgrade. You know, like I'm an Obit Vars believer. I don't think, frankly, he was one of the absolute best young players in MLS.

I think there are players who are more talented than him that will have maybe even better careers than him. He's a very, very good young player. And I think he is a guy who could concede. I mean, if Athletical Madrid are signing Johnny Cardoso, Obed Vargas can play for Athletico Madrid. So that's on the table for him. I'm not trying to say it's not.

But that he goes and makes that move is a credit to him. But the sounders, I don't think we're going to see a huge drop. I just really, really don't. I like Dotson a lot. I like that they've gone out, whether it's from the Academy and Senator Brunel, whether it's Peckovich coming in, although I don't think we should have super high expectations for him just out of an abundance of caution.

They've planned for this already. Like they've already filled in these gaps. Can I do one, gosh, one more thing. I know you're about just transition us. Can I do one more thing on the youth development side? This is super nerdy, but it feels like it fits. I was talking with Craig Weibel for a piece that I wrote for Backgill last year about the Sounders roster.

And I mean, it's like one of the deepest rosters we've ever seen in MLS. It was an amazing team. And they had a good season, a really, really good season. And you were talking about clearing the way for Obed in midfield with moving Lava to the 10 sort of and moving Atensio out of the club. I think the sounders are so smart and how intentional they are about all of that stuff. And it doesn't just start at the first team level. For them, it starts in NextPro as well, where they really do use NextPro. I think maybe only two teams have ever had more Next Pro graduates play more minutes in the first team.

I butcher that. But they're using these guys more than anybody else. And Weibel said to me, we take basically our top two or three academy guys, along with some of these. these second chance players like Rothrock, Reagan, Adirisario, those guys. And they basically have then five or six players across those two buckets. And they toss them up on the board in their next pro setup or whatever. And then they try to figure, okay, well, what guys do we need coming down for the first team to get some minutes? And that's how they build their team.

But they don't build it with, okay, we really need to get, we need to get John Bell minutes this week. Like the top young kid we have at centerback can't play because we need to get Johnny Bell some time. Stuart Hawkins is his name, by the way. Yeah, there it is. Thank you. It's like we can't do that. We need to build it from the young guys first and then figure out how the old guys

fit around those players at that level, which I think is so obvious, but it's so good. And I don't know that everybody else is doing that, that it is about the development of the players that you think have these futures first and then filling in the veterans around them. I think it's special,

and it's another part of what's made the Sunderer's so good at this stuff. Two things since we're already here, and I'm throwing in one. I know that Seattle's a big city. I know Washington is a sizable population, but like screw anyone who says, oh, our market doesn't fit.

Like, Obed's from Alaska. Yeah, at the start for Seattle's Academy, they went out and recruited, Lava's from Vegas, they went to Florida, like all that type of stuff,

but everyone's from Washington now. And like, if they can do that, you can go out and get players from your region. I'm looking at the Portland Timbers specifically right now, but I'm pretending to be looking at everyone.

Like, there is talent in every area if you do enough to develop it. The other thing is, don't try and play kids only in X pro. Like, the reason it works, is because these kids are also training with Paul Rothrocks and whatever.

And it's like Paul Rothrock, when he's training with the two team, is not a superstar. But he's an adult. And he's been in big games before. And physically he can challenge these kids. And I hate the teams that try and treat NextPro. And two teams with, oh, yeah, we'll just play all our 17-year-olds, get smashed. And then they'll develop in three years. And they'll get there.

Like, you have to be more thoughtful about it than that. And I don't know that most of the clubs have been that. So now that we got all of that off of our chest, let's talk Jorge Ruvalcaba getting a DP signing from Pumas to the New York Red Bulls. They had sort of promised that they would make a wing signing. They had promised that they would make another DP signing. This is like partially replacement for Lewis Morgan. It's partially just an addition to the club because they never filled the DP spot last year. And I think the immediate reaction is debatable on the phrase DP used alongside this name.

but what's sort of your reaction to this being the move the Red Bulls go for? I think it's a fine move. I mean, I'm not going to claim that I've watched a ton of this player at this stage, like actually any of this player. But he's got some decent numbers for Puma. So he put up decent numbers. He had 16 non-penal legal contributions in his last 3,000 minutes there. That's like basically a full season's worth a minute,

even though it was across a couple of seasons. I think that's reasonable production. Whether or not that's sustainable, I really don't know, because I'm not as familiar with him. But the reality is the Red Bulls needed. help in the attack. They spent all of last year like flirting with Timo Werner, which is hilarious, didn't get the move done, hamstrung themselves in the process. Eric Massim Chubamotting and Emil Forgemberg were productive last year. Forgeberg had like, they both had like 20-something

goal contributions or high teens, low 20s. They were quite good. It was just that they had Mohamed Sofo, who actually, I like a little bit, and Wiki Karmona, who I don't like it all, as their two-wingers. And those guys, you know, couldn't do anything for them in the final third. So the Red Bulls have other problems this year. I think defensively, I'm, I'm extremely worried about them. But they've addressed the attack, I think, in a suitable way this off season. By getting by getting Revo Kaba and by getting Cowell, who I'm like not that high on, but still he's going to be an improvement for them.

They're going to be better, and they helped a position of need with this DP spot. It made sense. All of this specific part of the Red Bulls I like. It's just they need to get a lot better. And that's the part that I'm not sure of right now, which is both these moves, does it take them a huge jump? I don't mind the idea of both these guys being runners off of Troopomoting and Emilio Forzburg. And so opening up space being vertical, those two can find you. You can play into

Chupamoteng's feet. And he can especially launch guys over his shoulder or hold a little bit of possession. And obviously Forzberg is good at that slip pass and then being the follow-up runner. It just doesn't feel like a change of reality. And I think that's what Red Bulls have sort of been approaching. And I have said with the cow will move like it doesn't feel like a change of style either. So I don't know how much better the Red Bulls got, but I guess it's nice to see them at least make the move early and not be sitting on this like Timo Verner and hoping and hoping and getting closed out at the end of the window. We did our over under show last week. We put it out and I talked way too long about Noah Ila and how much I liked him, which meant he was going to transfer immediately after we finished recording. He had Sir Bristol City where I believe Gerhard Struber is manager for something around two and a half.

million dollars. This again, you could go out and get a centerback, you could be a better team. I don't know that you're taking a jump, though, by losing your best centerback going into the season. Yeah, I mean, I think based on balance, the Red Bulls haven't gotten better this offseason. When you look at the entire, the way the roster is actually taking shape right now, now I'd be surprised if they didn't sign another centerback. So maybe I'll look silly when the reverse Noah Island happens to me.

But, I mean, you lost Carlos Cornell, who was, I think, I think he finished six. He's in the league for four full seasons, 21 to 25. He finished six in that entire time frame in goals saved above expected, according to American soccer analysis. He finished third last year behind Dan St. Clair, won goalkeeper of the year, and Sean Johnson, who moved to D.C.

He was elite last year, and he's largely been extremely good, one of the absolute best during his entire time in MLS. I'm a John McCarthy guy. I'm not really an Ethan Horvath guy. Neither one of those guys is Carlos Cornell. They've gotten worse at both centerback spots so far this offseason. and the midfield is a little unproven at this stage.

I love Don Corp. I really, really like him. I think he's going to be very good. Would not surprise me at all if he wins the top spot in 22 under 22. But there's just a lot of questions. At fullback, literally everywhere across the back five, including goalkeeper, I'm worried. And so I think you've gotten significantly worse than that part of the field and noticeably better in the attack. And I think that's probably a wash at the end of the day.

It is going to be an interesting offseason here for Red Bulls in terms of how Michael Bradley puts this all together. I know he's been starting to do some press conferences as the preseason has started. So we're going to tap into a couple of those and try and figure out what the ideas are for him in year one to improve this team. A couple of other news notes. I wanted to start with Carlos Heel signing a contract extension. It's through 2028 now. So a commitment from him to a club that has kind of let him down over the last year and a half, two years. That was with the signing of Caleb Porter.

that was with the commitment to Caleb Porter. And I think it's a huge sign for this club that he feels comfortable enough to say, okay, I believe in the direction. There's not a ton of movement for them in terms of the roster they built last year. So this is a real belief that Mitrovich can make a difference as the coach. There are some ads, a lot of these young players, Brooklyn Raines, guys like that. But this really is like a double down on at least the talent from last year. And I think it's huge for Carlos Heel to say,

Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Yeah, it is. I don't know that I agree with Carlos Hill agreeing with that. Like, I think my read on the REBS is a bit more pessimistic. I mean, they got Brooklyn Raines, God, so I know you love with your whole heart and think is just absolutely amazing. It has no flaws to his game. But, I mean, really, I'm just not seeing it with the REVs right now. Maybe they're this year's Vancouver.

Maybe not. Either way, it doesn't matter what I think. Getting Carlos Heel in your team for longer is good. So that is absolutely positive for the REBS. I'm glad Carlos Heel feels at home there. That's special, those connections between these best players. or any player in the markets that they're around and the people that they're around

are always, always special. So this is a total thumbs up. I just think they need more. And that Open D spot, D.P spot, I think, needs to be used like yesterday. Yeah. And it seems, though, like as a club, they are committed to doing things like that.

We don't know who the name is. We don't know how big it will be, but they have not left avenues to spend open over the last, what, four or five years, even if they've not empowered the right people to make those decisions. The other side of this, which I will say is this is not an example with the hummus herdering or stuff,

but it's like, this is why you get people in the building because there's probably a huge chunk of this that Carlos Teal's like, I live in Boston now. This is my life. Like my family's here. This is where I want to be. If I don't have to move, I won't force one. And like this is why you try to get people in. And if you run your club well, they will want to stay, even if maybe the results on the field

are not always perfect. And I think that's a pretty good sign for the revs of they've retooled a lot of this since Bruce Arena took over of just the way they operate internally, the way they function, the training ground, the academy, all that type of stuff. And it clearly has an effect on players and players are enjoying being around where that's not the story 10 years ago that we were talking about. It was the black hole spot that you ended up in when you had no other choice. Let's talk about a couple medicals that failed, which I didn't really realize was something that was happening in 2026 for players who are like playing currently. NYCFC, we talked about their

DP, what we thought addition in Musa Sala a couple weeks ago. And that, failed right on the verge of the transfer window closing in Europe. And then Orlando centerback, they were hoping addition in Dusan, Stoyanovich, which I'm not 100% sure on the pronunciation. And now I don't have to learn it because he failed his medical as well. So I appreciate that from him. These were two signings that I think we were very high on here, especially for me, the Orlando one of like, this has been the hole for three years with this team,

is just elevating at centerback alongside Jans and having that be a size. solid position that you can trust and rely on. And so this felt very big and in hand with bringing in a Brazilian U20 captain who I think you probably want to learn a little bit and not be a starter tomorrow. So these feel like two big hits. The NYCFC one's got some murky stuff around it, but I was really shocked when these two came through. Yeah, more on the NYC side for me, I suppose, than the Orlando side, just because it didn't,

it wasn't 100% clear to me because I'm not intimately familiar with Stanovich, whether he was going to play a ton right off the jump or how this was going to go down. Musa Silla was going to be the starting number nine for NYCFC this year. And they have a giant hole to replace an Alonzo Martinez. And the safe bet was that Silla wouldn't be totally replacing all of his production because Martinez scored a bunch of goals last year. And most players don't score as many goals as he did. So the logic leads me to think that regardless of who they replace him with, they're

still going to have a little bit of a dearth of production up top relative to where they were last year. But Silla was going to be that guy. And they clearly believed that he was going to be that guy. and now NYCFC still have to replace our starting number nine. I mean, at this point, they're probably not going to get that signing in before the season starts, right? Which is not the end of the world with how MLS is constructed. But it's not ideal if you're an NYCFC fan.

They basically take in two steps backward this offseason, maybe a little bit more than that, all things considered. It's tough sledding right now for NYCFC. I'm sure they'll grab somebody, and I'm sure that player will be pretty good because most of their players tend to be pretty good. But it's a tough one. And I think the key, as Tom sort of talked about, when they made this move, was the idea that Scylla could then play with Alonzo Martinez going forward, right? They are trying to find this profile of can replace for a year and then slide out wide and be comfortable after that and be productive. All of this comes in light of like the comments coming from Shalka are frustrated. It seems like there's some idea that New York was trying to renegotiate on the fee.

at the last minute after the medical actually had been passed. And then the claims that they are making is that. So then there's a little bit of dodginess on, well, did the medical actually fail? And obviously for NYCFC, their timeline is different than Shellco's because Shelko's window, just close to replace this guy 24, 48 hours ago, whatever it was where for NYCFC,

I mean, they could get him in the building the day before the window closed two months after the season starts. That would be less ideal. It would also be in line with everything in my CFC has ever done. and the fact that they really don't care about this timeline. So this is, as you said, a big one for this club. They were Eastern Conference finalists last year. They were the five seed.

The expectation should be that they're going to take a step. And it felt like with making this move early in the window that they had understood that and that that was sort of the goal this year was maybe to get a little more mature to give Pascal Jensen the tools he needs. It doesn't feel that way right now as we record this one on February 5th. Speaking of tools, Vancouver Whitecaps, It's been a lot of outbound. We've talked about a lot of players we like heading other places.

It feels like now they have finally figured out a couple pieces to replace. So Bruno Caycedo, U22 signing as an attacker from Barcelona in Ecuador comes in. And then Czech Sabale comes in from FC Mets, 26-year-old Senegalese International, who was at the Afcon, two appearances off the bench for the team that ended up winning Afcon. And I spent the last seven years with Mets bouncing between Ligon and League Du. but his biggest year was 15 goals for assists last year. And I think what's big for this is Vancouver has shown an ability to identify the right attackers who fit their system.

There's not huge expectations that these two players have to carry the squad, right? Fit into the group, especially if Brian White's healthy. You have Sabby. You have Thomas Mueller. Like the game is not on these guys' shoulders, but whatever they can give them to start the year is going to be a huge bonus for this squad. Yeah, 100%. And I think we might even still be sort of underrating.

at least one of these additions. Sabali, Sabali bagged 15 goals. And I think at four assists last year, and maybe only one of those goals was a penalty. So he put, here it is. He put up, according to FB. Ref,

16 non-penly goal contributions in League Da last year. He's played a thousand minutes in League of this year for a bad team, to be fair, and hasn't really produced much. But he's bounced back and forth, and last season was certainly his best year. His numbers were pretty legit in League Da. If this signing was happening outside of Vancouver, we'd be talking about this more, right?

Like if this was a Houston Dynamo signing, maybe that's a bad example. If a lot of MLS teams were grabbing this player, we would think, oh yeah, this is going to be a guy that plays real minutes for them. Like maybe even a high-tam sort of guy. I mean, like, it just seems that because it's Vancouver, it's kind of gotten buried.

I've never seen this do play, but his profile looks legit, looks very legit. We, I said to you before we got on this show, we're going to have a lot of data points to understand after this year what a league do, league on. low-end attacker and an MLS attacker look like because this is kind of the area, obviously the signing that R.S.L. just made of like, okay, this is the level of player and this is what's coming in. But I would like counter with like a Hugo Picard of, you know, not every player that

has come from these leagues has hit at a high level. And we have started to see more consistent players coming from here. But it's not a given that this is a player that will hit. In saying that, I trust the Vancouver White Cups more than I trust myself in evaluating any soccer players. Yeah, I mean, same here 100%. I'm already high on Kenji Cabrera, who they brought in last summer, I believe, from Peru. He's a really, really fun guy. I can play a little wider, can play in the half spaces. I mean, yes, you're right.

There have been a lot of misses for some of these guys. But I just pull up the list on transfer market of guys that have come in. Kevin Cabral from League Da, probably not. Bawanga, of course. Orohide, of course. Kubas, of course. Picard, probably not. Gregerson, good, but injured.

Owen Jen, don't know how to say. say it in Minnesota. I like him quite a bit. Jabari and Cincinnati. I mean, these are some good players. Jack came from from league. Most of these dudes are like good. No, most feels like an exaggeration. At least half, at least half. Okay. All right. Yeah, I'll take that at least half. 50-50 shot. And I would trust Vancouver to come out on the right side of that 50-50. I think that's fair. And also in saying all of that, there's not a ton of pressure. Like there is one spot open in the attack. If Ryan Gald is out for as long as we hope he's not.

It may end up being two spots. So there is like minutes that need to be filled, but they have options and they push guys through. And so, yes, I think it's fair to trust this club and to be excited about this signing. Also like spent a month with the Senegalese full national team playing with some of the best players in the world. And clearly is good enough to hang in that environment, which I think is pretty exciting for Vancouver team that is super young still, even with Thomas Mueller and whatever around. And he brings a little bit of that experience in there with them. hopefully it's a team playing in Vancouver still, which another conversation. Let's hit Columbus here, Jamal Chiar, heading over to replace Jason Russell Row.

So the Russell Road details $2.5 million plus add-ons to Toulouse. And then Chair joins 200,000 in allocation money with a potential 100,000 add-on, which is kind of nothing. I'm fine with this move for Columbus of, I think they've understood now, like they need guys who play some of these actual positions. it can't just be ambiguous attacker and they'll fill in wherever they are. And he was, I mean, he displaced Lataela for large stretches of last season, which is less of a compliment to him and more of an indictment in other places. But like, it's a fine move for Columbus to make to at least make sure that there's a experienced squad there for your new coach to take over.

Yeah, totally agree. I think Tiar is a good player. He was one of the more expensive backup nines in MLS. I did the math for the back-heeled preview. I think he was 43rd among strikers in salary last year guaranteed compensation. So it's not like he's making an absurd amount of money, but he's making more money than the average second striker on an MLS team. Atlanta want Wiggle Room to operate and they need Lottetalot to be good. And there's no reason why he's not going to get an entire season's worth of a minute.

He was the 43rd ranked page striker at 730K? I would have thought it would be higher. Yeah, I mean, it gets skewed a bit, I imagine, because some of the, I didn't actually go through and say, oh, well, this guy's actually a winner and push up my glasses. So I think there's a lot of DPs. There are a lot of DPs in there that sort of murk it up. But regardless, he's going to be a good ad for Columbus. Russell Roe, I think I had five goals for them last year.

I really like Russell Row, by the way. I think he'll do well in Liga. But Tierra, just raw production-wise, I think can replace that. I'm lost on Russell Row of like there's a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement. I like the idea of Columbus entrusting him. He has not performed, especially as a starter. He has made a difference off the beach. bench. We have never seen him perform as a starter. Maybe it comes in this move. It would be awesome for him.

You know, it would be huge for Canada if he hits. Like, I don't know, they have 15 strikers now, which is unbelievable to say after where this country was for 57 years before that on the international stage. But I'm glad he got the move. I'm glad Columbus got a decent chunk out of it. I would be surprised if, you know, he became a huge difference maker in Ligon. But, you know, we're learning a lot about League on in League due right now, clearly. For the two of us, FC Dallas picks up Jonathan Sierrawa, and they sold Martin Posse to IACs.

I assume Kalidi is the starter as of now. I like Jonathan Seirwa. Like, if he started games for me in MLS, I'm not worried about that. So I think it's a smart move for Dallas to bring him in. Elias Baez has signed with Atlanta. It's another young Argentine centerback for Tata. I'll trust that when I see it.

And then the LAAFC moves. which we haven't talked about on this show, because we haven't been back on. Stephen Oostakio reported to be heading for alone, at least, through the World Cup to this team. And then Denny Boulanga, the reports and rumors around him. But this is like L.A.F.C. to a T. Yeah.

You've got the openings. Just be available. People know where you are. They'll come find you. You assume Mark Dos Santos is some part of this connection, being Canadian himself, being a part of the CSA in the past and knowing everyone around there. But Stephen Mastakio is awesome. and it would completely change the way this LAFC team plays,

but I don't think that'd be an issue. So you've seen more of a stockier than me. Like, give me where he sits, just vague ballpark of best sixes and MLS. Like top 10? Is that better than that, lower than that? What do you think? I wouldn't call him a six.

I wouldn't assume he plays that for LAFC. Interesting. He'll basically be a 10 for them, is my assumption. Especially if it's a three-man midfield and it's Tillman and, you know, whoever else. And even if Schwanier is the one in there, like, Ustakio is ball possession. That's his great skill. He has an ability,

I think, to take the ball under pressure, to relieve that pressure, and as well, create chances immediately going the other way. And so I think for this L.A.F.C. team, like, even if it's a two-man midfield, whatever it is, I think he won't be the deeper one out of possession

more often for this team. He'll drop in and try and create. He'll be one of the best possession center mids in the league. There's a reason he worked his way in at Porto. Like he is legit on the ball. I go back to if anyone wants to watch highlights. There was a game they played Canada played at the Azteca without Jonathan David. And I think without Alfonso Davies that they almost won.

And the entire game went through Ostaccio's feet. And it's like, oh, how do you survive at altitude with pollution? Like you control the game. And Oostokio's ability to fashion chances in games that are against him is impressive. And his composure on the ball is elite. So that's the excitement for me, which is L.AFC are going to play against the ball. We all know that. This could move them away from that slightly.

And if it doesn't, who's sending Bwanga and Son into space, a guy who's like really, really good at it. It's filthy. That's so, I mean, Schwanier was amazing at the six for them last year. I don't know if that was the plan all along or if they just kind of lucked into that a little bit. But regardless, I think he's absolutely above average starting six in MLS based off what we saw last year. if you get Oostokio and Delgado in front of him, I think I would keep Delgado when I'd move Tillman to the bench if I'm playing a three-man midfield.

And sort of how you described it is how LASC see it. That is filthy. I mean, that's just absolutely filthy. And he's only playing with two of those guys. Great. If you're playing with three of them, great. If you're playing with four of them, great. I mean, that is just, that's what you need for a long season like this.

And Estacio is, I totally agree. He's going to be above a lot of this level. He's a really, really good pickup. Doing the preview stuff. LafC have been in five finals in the last two years. include the Campione's Cup, which is kind of fake because you're automatically in the final because you want to think five finals, two years, one victory. Like, you know, there's that half gear more that LAFC have struggled to hit basically in the last two, three years since maybe

Carlos Vela has gone on and some of the other guys who are like big game performers for them. I don't think it's a knock on Bwanga because I think it's the support that's been there for him. but this feels like the half gear to me of like even sun alone for the full year this is the best team they've had to start a year in a little bit but this feels the like okay we're legitimate cup contenders we're legitimate contenders across everything and this is where you go to say Dennis Buonga like sorry not this year like we're too good to move you on at this point we had this conversation on TSS and so maybe this is bad because some some people have already heard it if you move on from Dennis Belonga oh Denny Boonga now you got me doing it um

If you were to move on from Denny Buwanga, would you rather have, let me phrase it this way, Deni Buonga or Petar Musa next to Sun Hungman? Because that might be a choice that you could make if you're L.A.F. Maybe the money isn't exactly the same whatever. The ownership doesn't care. If you could say, I want one of those in my team for the year 2026, who would you pick?

You know I'm in the bag for Pet Taramusa, but I'd probably... I am too. But I'd probably pick Buonga because I've seen it work. Yeah. I would be shocked if it didn't. work with Musa and Son, but I've already seen it work with Buonga. I've seen it work for him at a high level, and I've seen it work for the two of them together. The Musa side of it would be the part you'd convince me if, if let's say John Thornton wants to

make the move, and he goes to ownership, and he says, I don't know that a guy like Musa would be available internally for us in MLS if we don't make the move this year, right? That's the part you could convince me on, which is Musa's probably slightly, I mean, I've been rumoring him all over the place for a year and he told me no like he's probably slightly available because Dallas is not the most ambitious club and he already knows the league and is already settled and has already figured it out and the odds of that being available next year if you get another offer for Belonga not that that offer will be there necessarily with his age and all of that that's the part that I think you could maybe get me over the line with which is if

you're going to do it you do it now yeah I like I like that line of thinking I probably side with you I've still been waffling a little bit back and forth because we know what is it. It was Fluminense that came in with that $15 million offer for Buonga. And that's not nothing for a 31-year-old in Major League Soccer. Like, that's an insane amount of money. They make money off of it. Yeah, it's wild. It's absolutely wild to think about it.

I mean, people always say that. Sorry, that's just pet people of mind. People always say that and it's like, well, are you actually making money because you paid Buonga like a bunch of money every year? Anyway, I'm not going to do the math. But still, a point taken. It's like a crazy deal for Buonga. But the dude's amazing.

and that you actually seen it and you don't need to take one more risk with sun around. Yeah, I think you probably just try to hold everything together even if Bwanga says pay me more, you just pay the guy more. Okay, so Pat Armosa hasn't gone anywhere, so he can't be one of your favorite moves. Let's start with three here. Okay. Hit me with your favorite moves you've seen so far. So this is what happens to Weeby every time.

I understand it now. The list temptation is really strong. All right, let's start with Mamadu Fall, who you guys have talked about on this show a lot. I wrote a piece of the athletic back when he was in L-A-O-C saying that he could end up being one day the best defensive player to ever set foot in MLS, right? Like, not that he was going to be at the time, but that his potential was so great that as a centerback goes,

that's probably what I wrote, because Alfonso Davies existed. But as a centerback, he would be like, well, that guy played an MLS. Like, he started in two Champions League semifinals, you know? Like, I think he is so talented. Now, injuries have been a problem, a lack of continuity, has been a problem in his career. There are all sorts of reasons why he ends up in St. Louis now,

and that should make us cautious because he hasn't been what I thought he could be. And that's usually how this goes. But the dude is amazing on the ball. He can sweep things up in behind if Yohan DeMay wants to play with possession. And I would assume he does after the time he spent with Nancy and his own tactical ideas and Corey Ray coming into the front office and all these things. It sure seems like he's a perfect fit for everything that St. Louis want to do. The thing that kept me a little bit on fall and probably the reason why he did end up in MLS, at least for even a cup of coffee, even though it was longer than that, was that I think some of his defensive choices were a bit sketchy at times,

which is not uncommon for young centerbacks. But if that's a worry, and it is a little bit of a worry for me, I'll admit, it sounds like Domey is going to play with three in the back a whole bunch this year. And so at least you have some more cover that way as well. I think he's a tremendously talented player, maybe the highest upside player of any single player to join MLS this offseason, and he fits exactly what St. Louis want to do. I mean, that's two huge boxes checked.

Yeah. It makes a ton of sense. it's a good move from a front office and coaching staff that's been around the league that's seen what he can do, which I think gives you that confidence that maybe other people who are less familiar with him don't have. I think it's a lot of responsibility on some young centerbacks where the back three makes sense. I do think your cheat code could be, well, they can cover so much ground. You could play just two centerbacks and probably press pretty high and still be pretty composed. but that would take some time of it all being together for Yon DeMay to say,

okay, I believe in that and I can do it. But I think that could be the cheat code at the end of the year of like, wow, this St. Louis team can commit numbers as if they have three centerbacks, but they've only got two and there are higher numbers up the field and all of that. But I think it's a big one to be excited about. And I'll be interested to see him now a little bit more mature. Like what are the differences? What's the changes?

He played alongside Georgio O'Kiolini last time he played in MLS. So there's probably a bit more responsible. ability on your shoulders as a leader along the back line this time. Just a little bit. I am curious to see what's left for St. Louis this off season. I'd be shocked if they were done, though I am a big Simon Betcher guy. So, you know, whatever. We'll see where that goes.

Are you not? You're not. I am. I like him. I think Simon Betcher's parents probably wouldn't look at the Zeb chart and be like, yep, we're done. Yeah. Oh, no.

Yeah. That's valid. That's valid. All right. Moving me on to my next pick. These two players are the same, so I'm going to do them both. Robin Ludd moving to Chicago and Eric Tommy moving to the Galaxy. Tell me they're not the same.

They're the exact same player. They're not, but they're similar-ish. I think of them in the same way, where Ludd had the benefit of being on a Minnesota team that was probably a bit better, I suppose, at the end of his time there, than Tommy's in Kansas City. But for Chicago, it's a great pickup. We've had lots of time to talk about Robin Ludd, so I'll spend more of this on Eric Tommy.

I think Eric Tommy's just a straight-up upgrade over Diego Fugendez, who's a servant of the club, like a guy who clearly cared about being in L.A. hasn't resigned there. Maybe he's going to South America. don't know what's going to happen with Diego Fugundez, but it sure looks to me from where I said, like, Eric Tommy is the like for like replacement for Diego Fagundas. Or Tommy was, I think he was really good in Kansas City. I think he was really good in Kansas City.

Probably not DP good, and he doesn't need to be in the galaxy, even without Ricky Pooge. But if you're trying to fill a little bit of a chance creation void without Pooge, a little bit of a ball progression void without Pooge, that's probably the bigger one. And you don't trust Marker Royce to play soccer because why should you? Tommy's a great ad. A guy who knows a league, a guy who understands basically every part of. of what's going on in L.A. because he's observed it from afar. I think he's a phenomenal pickup.

I think he's just straight up a better soccer player than Diego Fugendez and Phil's an obvious need for them. They're just getting better one over one from where they were last year by adding him. I think the Galaxy did a really, really smart thing by grabbing Eric Tommy. Yeah, this was another one that came out after the Over Under show where I went under on the LA Galaxy and then it dropped that Eric Tommy was signing. And I've already heard it from Galaxy fans and I respect it. I agree with everything you said.

I think he was borderline DP level when when he's on. And the thing to me that makes this a comfort is like, I think you kind of saw him play the role for SKC, even with as bad as the team was. He was the point of the attack. He was operating in zone 14. Like he was, you were playing through him.

He can deal with a couple defenders around him and still create chances. I think when he signed, the only thing I thought was I think he plays more than Marco Royce. And he's more effective than him. Like the Fogundas stuff, I agree with you in terms of the salary spot and obviously the spot in the depth chart, but we have Marco Royce as the starter in our depth charts. I don't.

I think Eric Tommy is going to be the main starter there. And I think that's good enough to elevate this team and maybe get Peck back to where he should be in pain still and get guys in the right spot. Because when Eric Tommy's been on with sporting Kansas City, he is a legitimate go-to player on an MLS field. He's not going to be the best player on the field most games, but he's good enough in that role. to win you a ton of games. Yeah, 100%. You mentioned Peck. I think Peck's going to be really good.

This year, RIPF, B.RF, of course, but he was still in the 84th percentile and non-penal XG plus XA last year among his positional peers. He was still really good. Yeah, yeah, right? Thanks, thanks for that. They just didn't see the ball hit the back of the net quite as much,

and they were injured terribly and they sucked. I mean, we know the whole story. I think Peck's going to be amazing this year again. I think he's going to be really, really good. Tommy's going to be part of that. Royce will probably be a slightly smaller part of that, though I think he'll be good when he's on the field because that's what he was last year.

I just like this move for the Galaxy. So that's the next one on my list. Ludd to Chicago makes a ton of sense. We've talked about it. The last one that I have on my list, really it would be Christian Espinoza to Nashville. But that happened so long ago, and I think we've all probably done it enough

that I want to take us to San Jose instead and say I'm like maybe irrationally high on the quakes right now. They still need one more piece. Again, Simon Becher's parents are going to say they need one more piece as well. I guess they're looking at depth charts, if that's the reality we're painting for ourselves. They're big depth chart family.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. They've got all of them. They've collected them all. I think Timovrunner is going to crush an MLS. The more I think about this, the more I think that Bruce Arena is going to sit this team a little bit deeper because they were a horrific pressing team last year, like comically bad. I don't, with respect to Bruce Arena, this is probably not the most respectful thing to say. I don't know that he knows how to coach a high press. He's probably not even the one doing it.

Either way, something didn't work last year at this stage. Something went wrong. And they couldn't press worth a can of beans. So if they sit deeper, like closer to the halfway mark and just play balls in behind a team of Vernon, ideally they get a 10 that allows them to do more when they can't just sit on their own half and go in attack from there. But Werner has the skill set to just destroy MLS centerbacks in transition and to really probably destroy them as an offball runner in the box as well. In San Jose, they get one more piece. Effectively, I think they have then replaced the pieces they lost, which is, I think it was 44 goal contributions between Chicho, between Joseph and between Espinoza. Preston Judd's going to be Joseph.

that's another one of my takes. If you get Timo Werner to be Chico, not going to provide the chance creation, but you know what I'm saying. Then you need a creator, whether that's a winger to do what Espinoza was sort of doing or whether it's a 10 to do what you wanted, Eran Lopez to do, but he's bad at soccer,

so he's not. Like, whatever it is, you need one more piece. And I think if the quakes find that piece, and their DP hits since arenas come in have been good, like they've identified good players. If they grab that third piece of the attacking puzzle of Jud, Werner, and this other mystery box, all the other pieces should be better this year, right?

All the young centerbacks, everything else. And Doyle maybe made some of this argument on the show the other day because I think he's high on them as well. But all the pieces I think are there for San Jose to absolutely be a playoff team at their floor this year. And I think Werner's going to score a lot of goals. I agree on being excited about it. Sounds like you agree so much. I don't agree on being one piece away.

I don't agree on the spine being there for this team. One piece away from something. Not one piece away from winning. I'm less cup. Yeah, yeah. No, for sure. I don't know that I think they're one piece away from being as good as they were last year. which wasn't good enough.

Like I would say, I think not that they've taken steps back, but like the backline wasn't good. And I don't think it's gotten better. Goalkeeping, I don't know that it's gotten better. I will, if they get the right DP 10 or creator, I will have more belief in that attack because for all the numbers they put up, I still never understood the combination of Chichot and Joseph.

And I never, I don't think that's what you're trying to replace, right? You are trying to make it more efficient and more dangerous. And on the Preston Judd stuff, was like yeah great like Joseph was kind of in the way half the time so I don't mind having someone who works hard and runs hard around Timo Werner I think in the I've said this a million times of like if it's Buxa Bo and Heel like Timo Verner's probably Buxa with a little bit more quality so then he can do some of what Gousava Bo did for you but you're still missing Carlos Heel and all of that

and because Werner's better it doesn't need to be Carlos Heel but it still needs to be a high level attacking player that can add. What I do agree with you on is I trust them to get it right if they spend the money. I'm curious with the way Chichot has gone if there is the money there because they outlaid to bring him in. Now obviously that was internal in the league in allocation money so it's different. And with him going on loan, there's no sale there. And Christian Espinoza left for free.

So it feels like there's a decent chunk of money that's left this club that hasn't been replaced in the players that have left. and I don't spend time with John Fisher. Everything I know from the outside, he sounds cheap and not the best sports owner. And Bruce Arena is very good at normally getting those guys to spend money. But like that's my question mark is, are we waiting for the signing to happen or is the signing to happen?

Let me ask you this. If they had signed Eric Tommy, would that have been enough for you? No, no, no, definitely, definitely not. I think they need one more like guy who was a chance to be elite at his position. Because I think about, we think about the quakes in totally different ways. Like, I think they need.

the 10 to get back, to get the attack back to where it was and like to have a chance to be really good. It sounds like you think they need the 10 and all of a sudden the whole team could be like a little bit better than it was last year. I think the 10 is like just to get the attack sorted out. I think the defense's improvement and continuity will naturally lift things. They didn't have to go out and add pieces. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But Floriani and Roberts are good defensive prospects. You get a full season of Duane Jones who had six assists last year by the assists or made up stat, whatever. But like that's, that's a lot. That's a lot. That's six assists in San Jose last year.

That's a serious player at right wing back who can actually be good and productive and reasonable for you. Bolaroo and a full season of Vieira next to him or maybe not, maybe he's a bust. I don't know. I think you're going to get natural improvement from all those guys. And probably even without the 10, you're going to be right where you were last year. Then you get the 10. All of a sudden, the attack is as good as it was.

And the defense was already going to be better. So that's how I view it. I could be totally wrong, but that's where I'm coming from. Yeah, this is, to me, this is one of the black box clubs. like as I'm planning previews when to do them. This is one where it's like I don't because again, is it one more move? Is that move going to happen? If that move happens, are they there?

I think this is one of the teams that I really struggle with. And so I think this is one that I'm going to be watching a lot the first few weeks to figure out where they stand and where they're at. And you talk about internal improvement. All the Nico Securis fans are screaming at us. That's probably mainly Matt Doyle. Maybe John Parker is a part of that. Securus is good. Yeah, he's good.

But yeah, they're all going to be screaming at us for. for their credit. Okay. I like all of those. I'm excited about all of that. As I was going through some moves when I told you, okay, this is what we should do, I was like, there's a lot that has happened.

Like there are going to be a lot of overhaul teams coming into the season and it's not going to stop anytime soon. So we are so glad that you were here to cover it with me. We'll have you back. We have, of course, Tom is going to be off for a little bit so you can,

if you miss him just read his tweets or his blue skies and he's sending me these messages of like best offseason move for each club as we do our previews and they are essays uh i think he's he's jonesing for a little podcasting so maybe he sneaks in uh at some point as well but go read back yield uh as you should excited for the previews to come out um read everything on there i am obviously a huge fan of the u sl coverage that is there as well i think john morse he's the best in the game doing that. So he's done a great job and I love everything that you write as well. Ben, right, all of it is all great stuff. So go there and of course listen to Total Soccer Show and all their MLS coverage and non-MLS coverage as well. So thank you once again to you, Joe, for being here.

Thanks, Cass. Thank you to all of you for listening, especially the ones who are here live in the chat with us. Shout out to Edwin Diaz, who's 34 years old playing three times a week. He says Hamas Rodriguez can still do it. I respect that. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.