SoccerWise - James Rodríguez, Sporting KC & Another Wild MLS Weekend

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

James Rodríguez shines again for Minnesota United before a possible summer exit, while Sporting Kansas City hit a new low after a brutal loss in Portland. David Gass, Tom Bogert, and Matt Doyle break down another chaotic MLS weekend, including Vancouver’s rise in the Western Conference, Nashville’s comeback draw, and the latest USMNT discussion ahead of the 2026 World Cup.00:00 Intro 06:40 James Rodríguez & Minnesota United Future19:36 FC Dallas, Sam Sarver & Petar Musa26:30 Sporting Kansas City Disaster36:28 What Do We Make of Portland?40:03 Evander, Cincinnati & Charlotte Talk47:00 Nashville’s Comeback Draw50:53 New England Revolution Discussion58:25 Vancouver vs. San Jose Breakdown1:04:00 Midweek MLS Preview1:08:34 Gio Reyna & USMNT Discussion

What is up, everybody? And welcome back to soccer wise on a glorious Monday for you. The music is playing actually for real this time. If you are watching on YouTube or listening live, Doyle is dancing as usual. Doyle, how are you doing? Oh, man. A loaded question. Right on the top.

I don't know, man. I'm a guy in flux. I had trouble with this weekend. And we were talking about it in pre-show. Like it was a weird weekend of MLS action because of all the injuries, because of the short rest, because of the teams coming back from Concaf Champions Cup, disappointment once again, the free space. And I just felt unmoored. I felt adrift. And so no, I'm here on Monday morning with you guys to tether me back to Earth.

There are, there are two. I actualize all of it. Two answers to the question, how are you? good or fine. I just want to say, Doyle, I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. Doyle, I appreciate you being open with us. I think as Tom knows from a more professional background.

But as Tom knows from a more professional background, people like you, you don't really show even that true vulnerability up front. So I know where that pain is coming from. I know the fear that you've had about Joel and being out there in the world. Potentially, the big bad man who could take you down and scare you. And it's okay, Doyle. You don't have to be scared anymore. See you and guys are here.

The good guys are here and have saved you. You can feel free again. And that is why me and Tom are here. Tom, how are you doing? I'm doing great. Oh, really? Let's go, Nick. Same old Knicks back in the Eastern Conference finals.

NBA-Wise is back to start every show. Actually, everyone got a nice for free because the Knicks have about eight days off. That's what happens when you sweep your opponent. Because once you win three, you should win the fourth. That's what people try and do on the backside of that. So it was a delightful Mother's Day for me. I live in Miami, which means everyone assumes everyone has a kid. So my wife got a lot of Happy Mother's Day messages over the last two days.

People just handing her flowers. Yeah, because there's only one way for society to function, obviously. And then I went back and I watched, obviously, the New York Knicks become the parents of the Philadelphia 76ers and take over the building and all of that. But I will say in all honesty, one of our own Evan Cohen is graduating college this week. We're really proud of him, so happy for him.

I think his tweet graduated last weekend. He's graduating next weekend. He was in the building to watch the Philadelphia Union, lose the New England Revolution 2-1 up in Gillette. He is a huge union fan. And he did ask me before the series start. He said, can you do one minute about the Sixers for every game they win on soccer wise? And because he is graduating, I want to honor him for that.

So we'll immediately move on. because zero wins is zero minutes. But congratulations for real. Kevin, shout out to all of our Philly people. We have way too much Philly people in kickback. But I love Philly as a city. And that's why I wanted the Knicks to take ownership of it, as they have done. And I'm really, really proud of them.

So we could talk a little MLS Doyle. I know you wanted to. I, if you have not been following on Blue Sky, I've had an electric weekend in the Ligia. The Mexican playoffs are just as good as anything there is in sports. and it ended with a six to six tie between Club America and Puma. Aggregate tie. Yeah.

Three, three and two games. So crazy. Technically six goals were scored in each game. And we had Eduardo Seracho on to talk about Pumas a little bit two weeks ago on the first touch show. If you want to listen to that one. MLS is Pumas. It should be said. Pedro Vita running the show in central midfield with Cocoa Koura,

Oriel and Tuna, actually looking useful for the first. time in his entire career. Is that Puma now? Wow. As a wingback. And then off the bench. Got you got, got, good, good.

Off the bench, Tony Leone. Yeah, like, he was, he was one of the original. He's been playing for a while. Yeah,

he's like one of the original group of L.A.F.C. Academy. He was the L.A.F. Dual national. When they opened, which was he would have been a Galaxy player or a League of X player

if LAPC hadn't existed. And he is the first example of the lack of academy process. for L-AFC. Yeah. And now he's getting minutes. He's not a starter, but he's like,

what, 23, 24 years old, getting minutes for a Puma's team that was, I think, at or near the top of the Closera and are now into the semifinals. Vamos. Uriel and Tune is 28. He spent three years

between Europe and MLS. He's played for five different League of MQAQ's team. Yeah. He fits his role, though, which is if you're already good, he will make you better. If you are not good,

he will not be helpful. There's like one option for the way he can play, and that's all he brings. And then obviously, Alex and Dejas, two goals and an assist in the game, assists on a corner kick, penalty kick, and then like a brave header on the far post that ended up equalizing it,

which was awesome to see. I have been clamoring for him to make the U.S. men's national team. But we will talk more about the national team when we get to the end of the show every Monday. We hit on all the news to know from the weekend. And then on the second show of the week, me and Doyle dive deeper on the U.S.

Men's National team. We actually have a special episode coming out about that this week. So we're going to have a lot of U.S.M&T content for you as we get ready for the 26 World Cup. If you listen on Sirius Radio, thanks for being here. We always enjoy it. And if you're listening via podcasts or watching live, shout out to everyone there as well.

Do you think Andrew Weeby is listening on Sirius Radio? I think there's a real possibility as he goes between golf courses. I think he was getting flown to Tori Pines. Last time we talked. That was it. That was all I got. That was it. That was like that was dead air after that one.

Yeah. Because that's all it is. Living that we be lifestyle, man. Okay. Last note before we get into the best things we saw, make sure to subscribe to tactics, Free Zone, the newsletter by Matt Doyle. It gets you coming out of the weekend before you get this show in your ears. And then we've got power rankings coming up, which we are helping promote as well and all the other pieces.

every throughout the week, every single week. But let's start with the best things we saw. Let's dig in. Tommy, you got us first. Hamis Rodriguez is alive. What a weekend for Hamas Rodriguez as he's coming and soon to be going. So we came off the bench for Minnesota United on Sunday night. And he had two assists just immediately showing his quality.

He had reversed a one-no-deficent to a two-one lead. And while they were all celebrating former Loon, Christian Ramirez, came back and equalized for Austin. So that game ended to two, but the big story is Hamas Rodriguez. because McKellie Giannoni, our guy, plus myself, we both reported that Hamas Rodriguez will leave Wednesday night after Minnesota's game to join up with Columbia ahead of the World Cup, and that'll be his last game for Minnesota United.

From what sources told me, there was never a real expectation that this was going to be anything longer than June. The club were happy to work with him to let him leave a little bit earlier than they had to, because the whole reason he signed here was to get fit and prepare for the World Cup. And Minnesota was like, that would have been really poor form if we were like, no, you have to stick with us to play like a couple road games, you know, and keep you longer. The whole point of this was for him to get ready for the World Cup.

So they're happily letting him go to get ready for the World Cup. Hamas Rodriguez told Antonella after the game in Spanish that the talk about the rumors about him maybe retiring are like they are harmful to him for something to that effect. Hamas has a documentary out on Netflix. It premiered this week. He himself said it would be the most beautiful thing. to retire after the World Cup. So if we're wondering where those rumors came from. That rumor is harmful, Tom.

That rumor is harmful. When he was signing with Minnesota in the winter, I was hearing the rumbings of like, there's a probability or possibility that he just plays for six months and then retires. Like the option is moot because he probably might just retire this summer. And so that kind of aligns with what I was hearing. And then again, he said it himself.

I digress. We'll see what the summer brings for Hamas and if he continues on. But it's not going to be in Minnesota. his option, his contract is to June 30th. You have to formally pick up that option by June 1st. And obviously Minnesota aren't going to do that if Hamas doesn't want them to do that. This was a short-term marriage and a bizarre one that seems like it's ending on a positive note. Let me ask you this.

If you were running Minnesota United and you sat down with Hamas after this performance, 25 minutes off the bench, completely changed the game. Still like, who was? in the world has better vision in the final third than he does. Like it's just messy, right? The only one in the world I can think of who actually has better vision is Leo Messi, end of list. Would you talk to Hamas and be like, you know what? Come back. Sign for a year, the rest of this season, and then the 27 sprint season will give you a DP contract. You don't have to play more than 30 minutes a game. Like we're just bring you off the bench to change games and that's it. And it's not just

that, but also for the Latino community in Minnesota, St. Paul, given what they, Minneapolis, St. Paul, given what they went through this winter, I think he has, like, I talked to West Burdine and Jeff Ruder about this, and they were saying, like, he has been sort of a symbol and like something for, for that whole community to rally around. I don't hate this idea of bringing him back as like a part-time player, DP. So there's a lot of different strands. On the face of it,

Hamas Rodriguez is better and shown more productive than the minutes he was given this year. It is very clear the coaching staff did not want the sign. Very abundantly. Cameron Knowles has asked about it, and he very professionally and politely diverts the subject every single time he's asked about Hotmus Rodriguez. They don't have a lot of communication.

What I've heard is that, like, that is what it is. The coaching staff didn't really want him, so he doesn't really play. So in theory, Doyle, Honestly, I think his quality and performances has warranted it the same way I thought that his quality and performances has warranted more minutes. Obviously, he's had some availability issues

with the hospitalization following the Columbia games at the international break. Like, that's not on the coaching staff. That's not on him. Just really unfortunate. But, like, if you're at, like, Hamas wouldn't do that because the coach doesn't want to play him. And if you're the front office, you don't do that

because the coach doesn't want to play it. Also, they are, so they have two. DPs, three U-22 initiative players right now. So if they were to bring him back on a D.P deal, it would lock them into that. And they couldn't be a two-four-two team, which... He's on like 200,000-inch. So I know your point, Doyle, in terms of just giving more money to try to get him to say. You could still do that up to like $1.8 million.

Right. But, well, all right, so then take that away. Would you pay him a maxed ham? I would if I was running a team. But if my head coach clearly, and I'm sure he's expressed as the front office, said, I don't want this player. And let me also be clear. Which head coach said that? Just checking. Let me be clear too, because there's been just a lot of like shots being taken at Homis on, you know, around my reporting, just looking at replies and quotes to like the tweet

and skeets. You still read the replies. Um, occasionally. Tom's actually offended about the rumors that were put out there that Tom put out there. So Tom put out there. So I want to set the record straight. People like have called them a diva. Is this the worst? All this stuff. I want to be clear. Like, I've heard from multiple people in and around the locker room. Like he's been nothing but a consummate pro. Even when he's been frustrated about not playing. It feels like consummate professional pro Will Trap probably feels the same because the two of them were buddies up at the top of the stairs. And then they came on together.

How adorable is that? Last chance for you're together. Listen, there is no negative to the signing because it didn't get in the way of anything else. No. And that was the point when it happened, which was it was short term, but it was also done at the end of the window in a way where Minnesota wasn't bringing anyone else in. Then you get the actual news on the number and it literally didn't stop them. Right? They could have signed a third DP. It would have had nothing to do with Hamez Rodriguez. What you're talking about, Doyle does then change a little bit because it fills, whether it's

salary cap spot or DP spot. If I was running a team, I wouldn't sign him. If I was running Minnesota, I would. Because I don't believe that they will fill that spot otherwise. And I don't believe they'll use the discretionary full money if they go two for two anyway. So if my best case, my worst case, is just not having Hamas or having him. Like, then I understand why you take him. And if he's willing to fit the role that he fit into, then like, okay, if he wants to play 30 minutes off the bench and when he games at the end, then great. But he's a hundred three minutes.

Yeah. I mean, obviously Cameron Knowles would have to buy into it. Go ahead, Tom. No, like, I think that you guys are being a little bit dismissive of, of his talent. Like, it may be the difference. sign him as a DP. I'm, it's gosses.

But you're saying, like, restricting him to 30 minutes, if he's in a situation where it's a 3,421, 3, 412, we understand that you're not going to press a ton.

What's the proof that he will play week in and week out from the last year plus? Guys don't get younger. In the last 10 years. Thank you. But I was trying to be a little bit nicer because he started some games for LEO.

If he's able to, like, when he's available, he should be starting. Like, he has the quality to be the focal point of an MLS attack attack while understanding that like you're probably defending with 10 people

just because he can, can't cover ground and he probably doesn't want to be much time. But that's where the conversation comes in, right? That's where it's like, look, we, we are aiming to become this type of team and you can help us get there. But what we can't do is build the team around you. Are you willing to come in and be a guy who comes off the bench for 30 minutes to change the game? Maybe to start the occasional game against the right opponent, but we're not going to build the team around you. And, you know, you're not going to be a 90 minutes player. If he says yes, if he's in, enjoyed his time. And obviously, the ship has sailed based upon everything you just said. I'm just

wondering, I'm thinking about it from a roster building perspective. And also on bigger picture for Minnesota, they're trying to evolve, right? They were what they were under Eric Ramsey last year. There are different and better team, frankly, under Cameron Knowles this year. But they still lack a little bit of juice in the attacking third when they're on the ball. And then Hamas comes in last night and does that. And it's like, oh, if we can get that for 25 minutes a game, then we're a different kind of team. Then we pose a different kind of threat. And I think that's something that Khaled El-Amad has to think about going into this summer. And certainly Cameron Knowles has to reassess his priors at the very least around, if not Hamas, that

archetype of player. And it goes back to, like, Vicente Sanchez was the first version of that 10 years ago for the Houston Dynamo. He would come off the bench. And this is legendary. For 25, this is why soccer wise exists. For 25 minutes a game. And he would just change games for that dynamo team. And then, of course, Ilseño did it for a couple of years. No, rapids.

Chente on the rapids is the one that I most associate to. Either way, he did it, right? But I think in most instances, it would be a waste of a DP slot. But if you look at what this team is trying to be, and the fact that they do need something to tide them over, as they evolve into that. I mean, I left last night thinking about that. I like watching, watching a player pass the ball like that and give,

like, he makes everybody in that attack 20% better. And like, that is, that is a superpower, man. That makes every signing you make look good and every young player you have level up. And if you have someone who could do that for a third of the time that you're actually playing soccer, uh, it's, there's a lot of value there. There's a lot of value there. for me to spin it forward to for me to spin it forward to like where this team is going they need more from wakine perera like he just hasn't given them enough this season um he's awesome though He is, but like he needs to be more consistent and more productive because he needs to be the guy.

He's trying to serve Kyle Duncan. Like there is a lot. There are holes on this team and there are weaknesses around all of that. I don't disagree. But so Hamas in what, 130 minutes. And if you go cumulative stats, fourth on the team and expected assistance, fourth in chances created. If you do that into per 90, which game states, small sample size, all of that's fair. He's like a million miles ahead of everybody else.

It's like seven and a half chances created per 90. Joaquin Prair is at two For your DP For a guy that you turned down A 7 million transfer offer And gave a new contract That's not enough For this style

You need somebody That's the heliocentric Chance Creator The guy that like When Kelvin your bow is supposed To be your best player That's not great If that's not great

When you have other role players That have to step up a level Because Joaquin Pereer disappears Or then reappears when there's a freak kick And he's really good I'm holding him to this higher standard Because I think he's really good They need more from him

if this iteration of the team and this group of the team is going to improve. No, last year wasn't fun for the players. We all know that. If they tried to play expansive under Eric Ramsey, there would have been a ceiling

because they didn't have some difference maker in the attack and that's supposed to be Joaquin Pereira. What if they tried to play soccer under Eric Ramsey? Okay, then they're a middling team in the Western Conference. Better team than last year.

They went further last year. I don't know. Well, they are currently sitting in the same spot. They're like fifth in the west. You put so much into like they play pretty soccer does not always equate to points. Mm-hmm. Okay. I mean, they're six three and three, dude.

Yeah. They've been fine. It's coming over the bench this week and gave them a point. Like, do you think that this team is going to be very good this year? No, but I think they're better than the last year. I think they're set up better than last year to actually win different kinds of games and different kinds of ways. Negative two goal difference and sitting in fifth. Games not played on a spreadsheet, mate.

Come on, Tom. Be better. I would just like to say that. I know Hamas is from the center of the country, but if I was Hamas Rodriguez, I would call junior in Bahra and be like, what's the situation? What's the, what's the roster look like? Because I would play out my time in my home country where everyone thinks I'm a God, sitting on a beach and playing soccer. But that's just me. Uh, shout out to Christian Ramirez, scored against his former team. He is, I don't know, arguably the best center forward in Minnesota

United history. And he's arguable. Like, it's still absurd that this guy isn't, you know, 300 plus appearances with Minnesota United. One of the, one of the dumbest decisions of all time of any MLS team to let this guy go. Push him out the door. Let him go is not right to push him out the door. They had to push him through the door first. That was a mess. Like someone texted me about it yesterday.

I was like, I forgot about the, like, come up from USL and the late signing with him and Miguel Ibarra and all that stuff. And, you know, it was a mess from day one. But a two, two draw on this one, late action, late goals on Sunday. Let's talk about someone who per 90 is the best player in Major League Soccer, and that's Sammy Sarver. He is on two goals. He is 100% on Jersey rips as his goal celebration. And that's the only way a human being should ever celebrate a moment like scoring a goal.

He has come off the bench twice. He scored his second goal to seal the victory over RSL, rips off the shirt. He gets up into the crowd. That is already dangerous. That's the game is a thousand years old. He's leaping onto con. concrete with cleats on holding on to rickety things it doesn't matter he's there for the fans he's one of us he is born and raised in ohio but he loves dallas more than anything in the world

he loves frisco he loves frisco more than anything there's a zohy's kitchen down the street where else in the world can you find that you can't find a place like that on a strip mall anywhere else in the world and um yeah it was a big victory for fc dallas all on the counter um they let rsl sort of play into their hands. I would like to have seen more possession to see it out. I felt like they took on more pressure than they had to in the last 15, 20 minutes. And that is what I was hoping the progress from last year was. But when you got Sam Sarver on the bench, what does it matter?

You've got the secret weapon in your back pocket. And Eric Quill plays it at the perfect time. And he puts away the goal. But pure vibes from what, former MLS Next Pro golden boot winner? And Joel, you know MLS Next Pro finishers. They translate. I mean, they have. and Sam Sarver might be the latest iteration of that.

When you said Sam Sarver is one of us, I really thought you were talking about you and me being bald guys because someone needs to have the talk with Sam. He, like you can. You know, they say if you make the sides longer, it actually makes the middle less obvious that ain't there something there. Oh, my goodness.

Looks like a good, good, fun soccer player in this league. and but like that is that is thinning do you remember the moment like did somebody have a talk with you Dave oh great question look look man like it's time to do it I had two great people in my life I realized it was happening and I said it

to my sister my sister goes yeah 100% like not even not even like a wait not a moment like just savage and then I had a friend that I said to like no I think you're fine and I was like all right well then I'm definitely not because this person would lie to me. My sister would be uncomfortably truthful to me. And then it took me like 20 more years to figure it out after that.

Yeah, we got to put your sister in touch with Sam Sarver. Because it was a great moment for him, but all I could think is like, you got to, you got to pick that. His hero's BWP. Oh, there you go. He's got, he's got the model right there. That would actually be, that would actually be a good MLS 360 segment.

Ooh, the on air shave? Yeah. Sponsored by. Let him live. I let me just talk to The only one of us with hair Who is trying to defend I mean

On this one Doyle did anybody have a conversation with you And he'd to kick the question back to you My cousin's wife Made fun of me at Thanksgiving dinner And I was like oh Oh that's It's time

It's time to do that I was This was 25 years ago man So I was I was in my mid-20s That was that Sorry I'm sorry

I'm sorry We'll talk a little bit about Diego Luna later on because of the connections the U.S. men's national team. But on the Dallas side of things, Tom, last year I told you Petsar Musa should be in the MVP race. You're right at me for it and I was right. Well, yes, but like the non-messy category. Yeah, yeah, for sure. We're already in there.

So watching this game where he didn't score and they had, what, 25% possession, something in that region, my takeaway was like, this is the best forward to the league. he's just so very good and that's not a new thought it's not something that i just arrived at it's just even when he's not like directly scoring goals you can feel his presence everywhere and this guy is just so awesome and i'm glad that dallas are are picking up points and hopefully on the path to a better season so we can see him in more consequential games down the stretch and in the playoffs this is one of those games where i you know i was joking at the top of the show about feeling kind of unmoored by this weekend.

And this is one of the games where I felt that because I don't think this is anywhere near the final form of either of these two teams. You know, Logan Farrington is coming back from a little knock. He didn't play until like the final 10 minutes or so. We still don't have that number 10 for FC Dallas. I think unfortunately you do. Santosham Ray. No, I think.

But the problem, Doyle is the more goals he scores, the more they convince themselves. It's a fair point. I think he's got. like, that makes me feel worse. But then going against an RSL team that's really tried to evolve themselves into a buildup team, a build out from the back team this year, missing their three starting centerbacks and replace all three by guys who can't really pass. So of course, Dallas is just going to sit deep, wait for those midfield turnovers and kill RSL off of that.

And it's a good win from Dallas, especially because, because they got three goals without Musa having to go nuclear. But it's like, I don't know that this game, like, I'm having a hard time contextualizing this other than, hey, the home team got three points. Good work, Dallas. Move on to the next one. Yeah.

But that's what the regular season is sometimes across all sports, right? But like I like to think of things in terms of like the given pull and ebb and flow. And it's like this game had no. of that. It just kind of happened. And we move on to Wednesday night. Which is, by the way, Dallas hosting Vancouver. So a second opportunity where for them, this is a fine spot to be take three points as the home team and move on because you are picking up valuable points at the top of the Western Conference when maybe you are a different style of team or at least it gets you home feel advantage in the playoffs and an opportunity to play in front of half an empty building so that

construction can continue for another other seven years. It is so brutal to be like, This is the best game of the night. I cannot wait to turn this on. And you turn it on and it's just a shot of giant advertisements across the field. Gives you that MLS's back feeling, though, doesn't it? It does really give me that MLS is back feeling. So there's always that to look forward to. We'll talk.

Could be the Haanta Vivers version coming our way to something. We will talk Diego Luna a little bit more when we get to the USM&T at the end of the episode. But let's continue on here. when you ask this group the best thing you saw on the weekend, sometimes you get answers from Matt Doyle, which maybe you wouldn't expect in the phrasing, best thing you saw. Doyle, why don't you give it to us?

I'm just fully on board for Sporting Kansas City's pusher history. Sixth no loss to the timbers. They're now on track to concede. 97 goals. They have the worst expected goals total. They have the worst expected goals allowed total and worst, obviously, expected goal differential in the league. Nobody's ever hit the triple-cuit.

crown before. Um, and they are somehow getting worse every single week. This team has hit a level of bad that the original FC Cincinnati teams couldn't touch. They've hit a level of bad that the, the late Chivas RIP teams, uh, couldn't touch. Like that 2013 DC United team that ended up with what? 13 points on the season.

I think they would drop four on sports. on sporting Kansas City. Like it's impossible. Chatsmith put out a clip that I put in my newsletter this week of them just watching Portland. It was like a clip from the Simpsons men where they're just watching Portland

knocked the ball back and forth. Just like a level of incompetence that we have never seen from a team in MLS. And Tom hates underlying numbers, but I'm going to give them to them anyway. Use them all the time. The single season record for expected goal differential, for negative expected goal differential, and the American Soccer Analysis database is minus 0.83, which is set by Sporting Kansas City last year.

Oh, the really terrible Chivas USA team in 2013, I think it was, and the worst of the Cincinnati teams, which I want to say 2019, were both like minus 0.82. So really, really terrible. This sporting Kansas City team so far is minus 1.92. More than twice as bad by the underlying numbers as anything that we've seen in the advanced dance database, which goes back almost a decade and a half. And I'll tell you, I remember pretty well MLS in the two decades before that, and there was nothing like this.

Even the 99 Metro Stars, even the 2009 Red Bull, like none of them were as bad as what we're seeing week to week from this sporting Kansas City team. Let me remind everyone that they lost 3-0 to the Colorado Springs switchbacks in the U.S. Open Cup, which wouldn't, I assume, be a part of that data set? Correct. That's only in the full choice 11. Right. So 3-0 in another competition. This is going back the last month. So they beat the LA Galaxy on March 14th.

They've lost to the Rapids, 4-1 at home. They went to RSL and lost 3-1. They hosted San Jose and lost 3-1. That 3-0 to the Colorado Springs. They lost 30 to Vancouver. They lost 5-0 to Chicago. 1-1 draw with Seattle. What's up, Seattle?

The 6-0 loss now to Portland. And you're talking underlying numbers. Here's the scariest part. From Jeremy Peterman, who was in the building for Portland in this one, in the first half, they conceded four. four goals from 0.6 XG. So the XG wasn't even bad in this game, and they still conceded a ton of goals.

It was three shots on target and 12 box touches for Portland to score all of those goals. Four zero is what three in like a 10 minute span, and then they end up winning six zero. So even if you take away the data, that's just terrible. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Sporting Kansas City hitting rock bottom and how they got there. two weeks later they dug

they're still drilling man I honestly think that like Portland timbers there might have been a complete meltdown if they didn't pick up a result here it was a very important win for them again it was Kansas City comes that's three points or you know

either there's three a day training sessions or don't show up for training because there's no point at this point they are still in the bottom like five in expected goals on the season, this Portland team. And before this six-go output, they were in the bottom five,

I think, in total goal scored heading into the weekend, or something like that. My point is, this wasn't the Vancouver White Caps, the San Jose Earthquakes, national as C, into Miami, L-EFC. This was one of the teams

that are still, like, really poor in, like, expected goal difference as well themselves, and they were not creating much. They're still 27th and M-M-L-S and expected goal difference. Like, so Kansas City, it's not, it's not just another absolute humiliation.

It's that it came at the hands of another team that it was on the on the verge of a meltdown. Do they think that Victor Wenbanyama is the number one pick in the next super draft? Is that what this is about? Are they, yeah,

this is a, this is a tank for Darren Peterson. And, and this team, they, again, we're doing a little bit of reporting around the, like,

just trying to be fair as fair when I was writing about, hey, they hit rock bottom or what we thought was rock bottom. And I was going to say a lot of negative fair criticisms. calling around just to be fair and one they fully

they fully believe like look it shouldn't have been shouldn't be this bad we knew that we were gonna have a transition year and we knew that it was more important to have the flexibility and stuff and they don't have a scouting department all that they still they have six million in game

have they hired a scouting department they're doing that but like and I think Dave Daveley took over I think in like the fall of what fall he didn't like take over on January 19th he had months heading into the winter window.

And like Mike, Mike Burns was working at the club until a few weeks ago, right? Like, I don't know. This is, it didn't need to be this bad is where I sit right now. I defended the Rafa Vicky hire.

I mean, I don't. That's going to be an elf for you, man. We're going to find that clip. He also doesn't have the tools at his disposal, like, to be fair to him, like entering preseason, they had, I think, 18 players on a contract,

and like 12 of them were youth players. So, I don't think that he's covered himself in any glory and I'm sure this will be a quick turnover for him but like the roster build was so naive and I get it that it's much better to, it's better rather, to not sign anybody than to make a big mistake. Look at Atlanta United

and how many times that they tried to overturn the Ross doesn't matter how much money you throw at it. But like it did not need to be this bad and that's what's disappointing and even if like hey we can't we can't reliably spend key assets on players from abroad that we need to scout further and know further. You know MLS. Acquire a couple guys within the league.

Keep Daniel Shaleli. You didn't get that much money for him. Like this, it's, it's, it's, they're an embarrassment. We wouldn't, if they were just middlingly bad, we wouldn't be talking about them. And in fact, I'm sure we'd find positives to be like Daniel of Litch, absolute cornerstone to build around. Okay, we're starting to see some things. This is like the process sixers versus just like a run of the mill bad team.

No, this is like the Kings. Like, like, it's at least the process. Yeah, the process sixers at least had a process, right? This is, this does not seem like a process to me. The thing that worries me about Rafael Vicki, and I have this about a, from a couple of people in Chicago, Tom, to your point, you know the league, get players from around the league.

Raphael Vicki does not rate MLS players. And the other thing is like you said, they have youth players on the roster for coming into camp. and that made them naive. It made them especially naive because Rafael Elviki did not rate the Chicago fires youth players and did not want to play them. And we see what a mistake that was now under Greg Burhalter

the way he has been able to develop those guys into huge contributors. Well, Sporting Kansas City does not have nearly the talent base to pull from, but they need contributions from those guys even more. And so they've given the steering wheel to a coach who does not develop young players and does not rate MLS players and they're sitting on their game. Raphael Vicky was a really bad coach, really bad coach in Chicago.

That team did not look like they had any principles of play. And now he's looking even worse in Kansas City and that's only magnifying the talent deficit that they're dealing with. And I think it's just, it's inexcusable for any team to be anywhere near this bad, a third of the way into the same. season. Like, you've had time to at least understand where you want to get pressure to the ball.

I agree with 99% of what you said. I will say this. Jacob Bartlett's starting. Ian James is getting minutes. Jake Davis is playing. So, like, they are playing some of these young players that came into camp as a part of the team. It's not like they are only playing the Wyatt Myers of the world or the Kyle, I don't know why Kyle Smith's the name in my head of like, can we find a random adult who's just not a young player? They are playing. some of them and it's sporting Kansas City, the Academy's gotten better. It is still not elite. If it was me though,

the rest of this year, whatever allocation money I have for this year that I haven't used, I am sending out for any kid that sits on a bench for another MLS team that they don't want right now. Like, not, okay, fine, you don't want to use future allocation money, but like whatever you have left from this year, which I assume is a fair

amount, because you only sign 12 players in the off season, like you only have 15 rostered adults. I would go out there and say, like, any team that's in trouble, whatever allocation money you need, send me a young player, and I will put that player on my team. And if it doesn't work out, that's fine, because what the hell else are you doing with the rest of this season?

So that's what I would do if I was a sport of SCC. Portland, unfortunately, this is what happens when you beat sporting Kansas City as we end of talking about them the entire time. But for the Portland Timbers, they have moved to 12th in the Western Conference in a three-way tie with the Colorado Rapids and San Diego. So congratulations. Can I read you guys the film never? Trying to get out of this.

Hang on one second. If you're listening on Sirius, we're going to take a quick break. And then we'll be back with Doyle's Phil Neville quote. You can go. LAFC, we win. We lose at Minnesota. San Diego, we win. We lose at RSL.

And the RSL performance was a disgrace. And we win tonight with the performance. So it's ego. People have got to drop their egos and then just keep pushing forward. super proud of the performance and I've told them I want a 9 point week and nothing more, nothing less than that. And that means that every single one of them in there

have got to drop their egos. It's not about an individual. It's about the team. And I thought you saw a team tonight, a proper team. Is that not a weird message? He's fighting for his job. And that's a man under pressure. They have three games left before the World Cup break.

Montreal, at Montreal. all at Miami home to San Jose. I don't know if there's a point total that for sure saves the job, but having, you know, ending on a four-game winning streak if they were to, I think that's extremely unlikely, but that would be a good way to go into these meetings because Ned Grabavoid, the sporting director has said, like, when pressure is mounting on Neville earlier this year, pretty much said, hey, we want to get to the World Cup break, then we're going to reassess everything.

So, was that message, was that quote for the players, or was it for Ned Grubb? Rabavoy and Merritt Paulson. I think for the players, but I mean, I'm open to different interpretations. Yeah, I interpreted the other way, which was like,

see, this is the problem. It's not the tactics. It's not the way they're deployed. It's the way they choose to play. And when they choose to play better, it's okay. And it's on them is kind of how it feels,

but I think it could be read in a couple different ways. This goes into a combo because I had some TFC friends text to me. TFC got smoked by Inter Miami this week. in front of a really large crowd because they have an extra stand now. After losing to Athletico, Ottawa, midweek, by the way. Yeah, of course. And don't worry, we'll talk Calgary Blizzard in a moment

because we're going to talk CF Montreal coming up. Just like, do we think there's going to be a red wedding of coaches in this World Cup break? Is this one-off opportunity to reset? Because I would have thought it happened already is the reason I'm asking, because I would have thought you would want to do the search process now and have the person start the day.

You don't think, yeah, they're all just doing this. process. Yes. Yeah. But, but like it got to your larger point of like hitting it's the second preseason opportunity. And and it's not as if de so, you know, at Real Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal, you know, 80% of the starters or whatever the number is will be at the World Cup. MOS clubs is not quite that. So you can have a large amount of players to work with. So your, your point is taken. I'm sure that there will be some time off. Let me say, I sure hope that there's going to be some time off for these players that aren't going to the World Cup here, at least at the beginning before kind of ramping back up. So maybe there will be a little bit of that time,

but that is a fair point. I just think that the games are just coming too thick and too fast. That is just like, Jesus, like survive in advance. Let's just get to the end of the tunnel. Make a decision. Well, that end of the tunnel is going quickly. There's another train. It's just another train at all times.

For the Portland Timbers. Okay, those are our headlines from the weekend. Let's hit a little bit of the top news as well. And then we'll get into some midweek stuff coming up and the national team. as well. But on the new side of things, I think we got to give a quick little golf clap for Evander. I mean, first of all, the free kick on the opening goal that Denke puts in is gorgeous. Curled into the top corner, Christian Kalina makes the save. And then it's only a couple minutes later. The second goal, if you haven't watched it, go check it out. He's on the edge of the box on the

right side. It comes into him with a little bit of space because Evander is so dangerous on the dribble. No one really wants to step to him because they don't want to get beat in that spot. and he picks his head up and he just chips the ball to the top corner on the far side. And like just an unbelievable finish. These are all things we know he's capable of. Many of the things he does, he is the only person who does them. We saw it from the moment he got to Portland.

We have seen it all the way through. Does it link up? Is it cohesive? Does it help the team win all the time? I don't know. But you got to tune in. It is must watch stuff, Tom, every time he's on the field.

I know that we can't totally trust emosaga.com stats. But according to them, six goals and no assist over the last. five games. So he's scorching hot at this moment. Yeah, that goal was just a beautiful encapsulation of all of the positives that you get with Evander. And beyond scoring over these last five games, I think he's been generally really, really good. He's been, I think, better in linking up all of the things around the 18. It is fun to watch this team in like, particularly when Evander's like really got it, which he, again, he has. He's on a scorcher, which he's one to do because he's one of the best players in this league when particularly like you watch them in the final third if anybody gets stuck

it's just like antenna like where's a vander and like it doesn't matter if he's got a guy in him it doesn't matter if he's facing away in a disadvantageous position it's i'm going to give him the ball because that's better than whatever else i could kind of come up with now it's he's the safety valve for everybody and more often than not when he's playing like this something good happens and that goal is just a moment of magic and us talking about it on a podcast isn't going to do it justice so if you're listening you haven't watched it please please please go seek out that goal after you finish listen to the full episode. We are required to...

You can do two things at once. Tom multitasking, pure energy. Cincinnati hosts Miami midweek. So a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, or no, Eastern Conference semifinal, sorry, in which Miami did the business. Again, Cincinnati, which

has been the story for the last two years for the Cincinnati team, they're starting to claw themselves out of a really bad start. I continue to be impressed by Donald Valenzuela and sort of the energy he brings into the team. I think Trulah has been really nice ad at the centerback position. He's very brave on the ball.

And the story with his brother is, was one of the leading goal scores an MLS next and MLS Next Pro. But I think he is actually the higher prospect, the younger brother. And his potential is national team stuff at the center back position. So it was a huge grab from Albright

and the Sinti crew to get them out of Philadelphia. Yeah. And then, well, no, you know, the two brothers are not from separate places, Tom. So yes, they're too. I'm saying that that that, but they didn't come through the Simsy Academy until late in their development. Yeah, it is a late ad for them.

Let's stick in the east before we go out west. Nashville coming off the highway. Should we not talk about the fact that Charlotte came back and actually got a point in this game? We can. We're going to talk about Tim Rame coming up. I think my issue with Charlotte is they look toothless. They gave up goals. They had to attack.

They came out of halftime. they scored on a set piece. They played with a little bit of energy and then it all settled back into a two-two final. Yeah. Like what feels different for this team? When they push numbers and are dangerous because they have to,

there is talent. There is no game model for them that says this is what we do and we're going to dominate you and we control games. It's individual talent or it's overwhelming pressure. Yeah. Is that not also true for Cincinnati?

it hasn't been true for Cincinnati for three years, where that's where it feels different now. So, like, yes, that's Cincinnati this year, but that hasn't been the case the whole time under Pat Noonan. It has been the case the whole time under Dean Smith, which is why I take less from it on the Charlotte side of things, if that's fair. Okay. I think that's fair.

I think that Newton himself would say he's a little concerned about the team's lack of control an inability to turn these types of performances into wins, even though they have turned things around since that disaster at LVilcon, it's like there needs to be more midfield control. And if you can't register midfield control against a team like Charlotte that doesn't really have a game model, as you said, then you got a ways to go. With Charlotte, I do want to say, at the very least,

they're doing this thing where they pull the wingers inside and then they get the the fullbacks really, really high. And that's their desperation ploy. And it's worked a couple of times now. But as Christian Kalina goes, so goes Charlotte, right? If he gets on a heater, they will look like a really good team. If he's struggling a little bit, which is the case now, then suddenly it's five winless and sinking down the standings.

That's just how it is. And I think that's kind of a condemnation of the roster build, but it's also a condemnation of Dean Smith as a manager. Like he's a very kind of high floor, low ceiling manager, which I think there's a mix there. Like when you look at some of the talent in this team and what they've chosen to do and where they've spent money at fullback from veteran guys coming over from England and that type of stuff, it feels like they've wasted a lot of energy resources on guys that aren't game changers and guys that aren't match winners in ways where other MLS teams. have an academy and a draft pick here and then they go higher money and then you've got a front three with Zincernoggle who's not a DP and it's like those are the options you can create if you don't spend five to eight hundred thousand on fullbacks who don't really change the game as individuals and have to have you throw everything forward to make a difference with them and I think there's a lot

of misses now Morris Ajamong looks great and they've had some hits as well in this team and I think you don't talk Lamati's great and he's at my golden boot team so I feel pretty good about that and I don't My basketball team has Preston Judds. You know, if you need goal scores, just like, hit me up and let me know. And I can help you out. If, by the way, you are listening currently on Sirius Radio, we're going to go a little bit longer. So we're going to leave you here. Thank you for listening.

Search soccer-wise on-demand or anywhere you get your podcast for the full episode. We're going to dig into the midweek action coming up. And then we're going to talk some U.S. men's national team before we get out of here. And that is my timer to remind me to have said that, which I did. So it was perfect timing on that one. Now, can we talk about Nashville, Doyle? Go for it. Nashville coming off the high and low of the Conca Calf midweek.

They go down to zero to Tom's DC United, D.C. United, D.C. just running all over the place. I had to put it on someone. So I chose it on you. I guess I could have just said Douglas. And then Nashville comes back. And I don't know. Maybe I'm rose-colored glasses right now because I'm like Landry Shamitz leading playoff sweeps and all that stuff. But this felt like hard to champion stuff where it was like Nashville clearly wasn't ready for the game.

They're missing three of their best players to injury. They rotated another three pieces. They were bad in the first half, as well as sloppy in one of the goals where it's set piece defending and how a tune are you and all of that stuff. And to come back in tie two, too, is kind of the type of result we've seen from a Vancouver last year. And some from some of these other teams that have handled this better where it felt like, okay, there's actually positives I'm going to take away for Nashville, which is they don't let go of the. rope and they have like a ton of belief in who they are. They were the only Concordia Champions Cup semi-finalist in either league to get a point this weekend.

L-EFC got smoked at home by Houston. Toluca got smoked by Pachuca and Tigris lost to the Chivas B team, right? Because most of Chivas players are already at Elthri National Team Camp. So I think it does say a lot about Nashville's resiliency. It says a lot about the depth they've built. I just wish that Bisha Callahan would drop the Honey Mukdar number nine, a false nine thing because that was the way they lined up with Hani as a false nine in kind of a 433.

And it wasn't great. And then the final 25 minutes aided by a red card to one of DFCs guys, Nashville was able to just grab the game and come right back into it. and they deserve to point. They're a really good team. They're nothing less than what we expected, which was for them to be one of the elite teams in the league so far and all year.

And so far they've lived up to that. So it is a top of the table clash coming up on Wednesday night, New England Revolution against Nashville SC, just as you all had it prepared preseason as everyone had it listed. Nashville currently on 24 points, first in the east, the revs on 22 points, second in the east, Inter Miami,

a worse points per game. So they're third in the east behind the New England Revolution right now. Tom, I know you want to talk Luis Moutenu before we moved on, so I want to give you your platform. I'm happy that he's able to start, and he looks pretty good.

I think we all took shots at the signing and time will tell if it was worth it or not, but credit for credits do and some positive performances and goals for Moutinio. The goal that he scored in particular, the movement on it, gave me real hope that he will have chemistry with Ty Barribo because Montiano was was sort of near post I mean corner of the 18 and he actually just turns

around and runs to the back post while I think is Jackson Hopkins crosses in front of him and makes a hard near post run which is of course Barribo loves to do and that confused Nashville's backline a little bit just enough for Muntiano to lose himself between the right back and Andy Nahar the right back and got himself an open header. It's like, okay, if that's how he moves in the box, I think it'll work really well with Buribo. That said, DC needs to find a way to get more open play chance creation onto the field. Like it can't all be crosses countertacks and set pieces.

Like there has to be, you know, a different note you can play at some point. So they're going up against the Rebs. The Rebs won 2-1 against the Philadelphia Union. As I said, second in the east. So it's seven unbeaten in MLS, not including Open Cup where they lost to Orlando. And they have, I believe they are undefeated at home in this run. Six games, six wins. Six games, six wins at home.

And they get the two one win. It's an 87th minute winner from Carlos Heel in this one against the union in the rain. Doyle. Matt Turner has been statistically one of the two best goalkeepers. It is the closest we've seen from him of his form. last since last time he played for the reps and they wrote him to a points record at the time besides that what have you seen from this team

and sort of what do you watch for in a matchup against Nashville so they're more organized defensively this year than they were obviously the past two years under under Caleb Porter they still have you know carlos heel is not the player he was five years ago but he's still really really good and they do get Luca Langoni at least forward

into good spots. And so they got a couple of match winners. They have defensive solidity and they have Turner erasing mistakes in net. What they don't do, though, is take any chances working off ball, making hard runs into the depth, releasing one of the eights to push forward. Like the only time they did that in the game this past weekend led to, I think, the first goal. You know, like they don't.

they don't play with conviction that having the ball means something good for them. And because of that, they don't actually create a lot of good chances. Norther do they create a lot of chances, period. So it feels like a team that's still stuck in third gear and really relying on their best players to get wins. And that has worked really well. And then you look at the schedule and you're like, oh, they've played maybe the easiest schedule in the league. but that also is the Eastern Conference, which is the tough part. Like I fully agree with you.

And that's been my reaction. And we've gotten messages from Rev's fans, which I think is totally fair of like, oh, why are you talking about us and, you know, check Iran and all of that, which if you're a Revs fan, great. They drew into Miami. That's like the big one that they throw up there. They beat Charlotte. They beat Atlanta. I believe they came from behind against Red Bulls, was it, to beat them as well.

And then this one is a win against Philadelphia, who are the reigning supporter shield winners. But like, yeah, they must be one of the best teams in the league then. Right. They're on one win. They beat Columbus. They beat D.C. United and they beat Montreal in this run. DC United might be their best win.

Exactly. And that's like where this is so hard. But if you're a rev stand, you shouldn't care. And it doesn't matter. And they didn't win these games in past years. Yes. And the reality of the East is we don't know if there is a test coming. And it might just be your top three team in these.

But this was Marco Mitcherich's M.O. as coach of the U.S. youth national teams. It was like they beat the teams they should be. And then they lost to the teams they should lose to. And like that's fine for where the revs have been coming from for the past two years. But as I like I am not, I'm convinced that the revs are much better than they were the past two years. I am not yet convinced that the revs are a top three, top four team in the Eastern Conference. In fact, I would bet against that outcome by the end of the year. Doyle, I think that's the best way to put it because on one hand,

like I want to say I don't think that this team is for real as a real contender, but that's moving the goalposts, right? Like, I don't want to indict them for the wins that they're picking up because as long as we're not getting, and I don't think the fans are either, to be fair, of like, oh my God, we are one of the best teams in the league. Because of the same. You should see their fans on Instagram, on the power rankings. Oh, my God, man.

Like, there's a whole different level. There's a whole different level of crazy. I did not know existed until soccer wise started posting my power ranking. Just this for Wild Revs fans and Instagram comments. Let's go. You are my people. So that's the thing. I don't want to move the goalposts and be like, yeah, no, they have 22 points after 11 games.

You know, they're not really that good because we all don't think they are really that good. But at the beginning of the season, I didn't think this was a playoff team. If this team makes a playoffs, even if it's in the wild card game, that is a fantastic improvement on the previous. years, not just because of how bad it was within the group with Caleb Porter as head coach. This team was completely overturned for Caleb Porter, missed the playoffs both seasons. Carlos Hill has taken, maybe thinly veiled shots would be making it seem too obvious. But he talks a lot about how different things are this year. It's like this weekend or before the game, he was like, yeah, the first thing started with the

mentality. Mentality is so much better. Like, it's the absence of what he's saying about the previous regime. Again, all of that being said, like, this is overwhelmingly positive. Yeah, they have more points than they probably totally deserve or more points than they will average out to at the end of the year. But this is a team that's a work in progress and just making the playoffs is a success because they're still going to move around this team. And banking these points right now gives you the room for if there's inevitably a bad month, that doesn't eliminate them from playoff competition the same way it would the last two years. Like a worse month than normal, I should say.

Tom, I have two questions for you. First of all, season long over under 53 and a half points for the refs. Okay. Wow, 51 and a half. I don't know. What does it matter? Okay. Fair enough.

Second, is there a way they can keep Matt Turner without having to use a T.P. Slot? Yes, I believe so. This conversation reminds me to do more reporting on it, but basically he's dead weight at Leone. Like, whatever the purchase option is, as long. as he'll take a contract for less than Max Sam and they can finesse with the purchase. This is like Leon, that deal was done by John Texer owner to owner and the sporting director didn't want it to happen at the time, couldn't do anything about it. And then after

they signed the contracts when John Texer left, they tried to legally get out of it. This is a sunk cost for them. So I don't think that they're going to demand a fee, a big fee, I should say. But I don't know. I'm going to do some reporting on it and get back to you. So New England hosting Nashville on Wednesday night. So a huge game there as I I said. We have said many times the Western Conference, where it stands right now, is better than the Eastern Conference. Not going to go full Mike and the Mad Dog on win-loss schedule here.

But between now and September 26th, New England plays three Western Conference teams. Minnesota next weekend at home, the LA Galaxy in Houston. They don't play L.A.FSI or Vancouver this year. They play Seattle and RSL in October. So the whole like, oh, when they play a good team, they just might not have to deal with that. It's just like Columbus and NYCFC and Atlanta and Toronto. So that, but that might be the case of things. Now, I would like to say, as Tom mentioned, like you can't move the goalposts,

you can't just like change what you already said. I had the revs down as my highest jump team in the 2026 season when we did our preseason rankings. I think I had them at like fifth in the east. So some of us know what we're talking about. So I wouldn't stress too hard to people listening to this that like maybe these guys are out of it and these guys have no idea what's going on. But that's going to be a huge game midweek.

We've got a couple other big ones coming up. Just want to touch on San Jose, Vancouver before we get there. So Vancouver will go to Dallas this week and San Jose will go to Seattle. So this was the one we built up, you know, top of the table, top two teams in the West, huge matchup. Obviously, the injuries are a story with San Jose, but Preston Judd don't give him a second touch because he doesn't want it. He will literally sell it on eBay if you make it.

him have it. He scores the opener. And then Vancouver, they threw everything they had. Like we talked about Thomas Mueller available, Ryan Gould, all of that. But like everything that was available to them, they threw it at this team. They finally break through late on the Burrhalter goal. It ends 1-1, which feels kind of like a fair result. But I definitely think this game had the juice of like these are two teams that are going to be around all season. It wasn't a beautiful game, but it was like it was so well played in terms of like defensive structure and both teams completely owning how they wanted to try to play out that game and like nobody ever let their their foot off the gas. And you could see it in the Burrhalter goal, right? That's basically a demid, you know, making it a really in, yes, for Soranson called it optimistic run forward to get into the box and to score a striker's goal. And the caps are the best in the league at this about choosing when to release a guy, whether it's Burrhalter or one of the fullbacks, to suddenly be an attacker.

And they're so confident in their ability to retain possession and then to win the ball back quickly in those situations if they lose possession that their risks are higher reward and lower, you know, lower risk, you know, lower risk. lower potential penalty than just about anybody in the league. Against the team that's going to play a low block and try to kill you on the counter, you have to take those kinds of risks and they're so good at it. And it says a lot about them that they play this type of soccer even when Thomas Mueller and Ryan Gould,

who are their two best number 10s and two of their DPs, even when those guys are gone, even with Ronco Vesolinovich still not 100%. And Ralph Prysoe, you know, on the sidelines, like they're still out there. doing this type of work. Just a fantastic team and a special team. And San Jose don't have that kind of depth.

And so Bruce Arena just bruiserina did it up. Unbelievable. Two fullbacks playing wide midfield and just like Ossini Boda and Preston Jet up top and just like, all right, boys, you're going to run. And they buy in and they run their socks off. The supporter shield leading team, the front four that was listed today.

And I know it was a more of a fluid, you know, three in the back formation. but regardless the front four listed this weekend, Jamar Ricketts, Sennibuta, Paul Marie, Press, and Judd. Bruce is a wizard. So my big takeaway from this game was more about that injuries kind of robbed us of what literally should be one of the games of the year for people who are watching

of two of the best teams of, yeah, Timel Werner is a star, Thomas Moore is a star, but it's not about that. It's about how they play, how they match up, and the pieces that are there. Nico Chikiris is out, quote, a while. according to Bruce Arena, which does not sound good. Timo Verner, I think he said he hopes to get him back before the World Cup break. And then he said, or maybe shortly after the break, that sounds like not until after the break, right?

Because the break is a long one. If you're not ready for the first game, you're not. Honestly, I think we could all say, right? If you're San Jose, you don't even rush it. You've got three games before the break. This is what we said about the Open Cup. And then he started the first team in the Open Cup. And that's when he got hurt.

And then the next week. So that's what I'm saying. You would hope you'd learn from that. You'd hope. Did he need to learn? Like that, I think that's, like I think if he's available,

he's just going to play him? Well, so one of the issues is you've got the Open Cup quarter final between now and the break. That one's March, oh, that's right. So they play the Rapids on the road,

May 20th. They play Seattle midweek. Then they host Dallas and then they finish at Portland, but in that last week, so they play midweek back-to-back weeks now. Yeah. Going into the World Cup break. So it's a lot of games.

They are important games because they are, I think you could say two teams that might be in the running towards the top of the West against you. Definitely in Seattle, potentially in Dallas. And then, of course, this Open Cup, which one of the awkward things about talking about is like what you focus to that, the fruits of that come in September and October. And so where you stand right now, like what you put into that game and let's say you lose three to six points because of that maybe around it, how does that affect your supporter shield? But also, if you drop off the shield race, you'd love to be in an open.

Cup semi-final at the end of fall when you've got something to play for then and something to point to and maybe something to go push your ownership and say, actually, we need to reinvest this summer. Look how good we're doing. And we have the potential for a trophy. So it's like a very interesting thing to try and manage for the San Jose team. And even with the depth they showed in this game and the ability to contend, there are still eight pieces in this team that can't be taken out.

Like they can't change center back. They can't take Vieira out. Like to really compete against the Seattle or in an open cup quarter at Colorado, there are what, five to seven pieces that can't move out of this team? Yeah. So you have to start those guys in those games. And so then you're either shipping the other two or all of this is more Vancouver than I realized.

And someone I've never heard of is going to come off the bench and do something insane. Okay. For the rest of the midweek, so we've got Seattle, San Jose. And as I mentioned, Dallas, Vancouver, Cincinnati, Miami. an interesting one. And then, Joe, you had me put DC Chicago down. We've got an ace off here.

This is one of the ones that you're stoked about for Wednesday. I mean, it is, it's just a game that matters for seating in the Eastern Conference. We're at that point where you start thinking about long term. You know, DC United, we talked about a little bit. They're a team that plays against the ball. They're, you know, in a 4-4-2, whether or not Berebo's back and ready to go from the start in this one.

My guess is he'll come off the bench. for the final 30 minutes as opposed to the final five. But this is a team that's shown for the past month or so, basically since I pronounced them dead on this show, that they're not dead, and that the guys have actually bought in. And with Chicago, since I pronounce them,

Dark Horse Supporter Shield contenders, they've gone completely into the toilet. Greg Burhalter is playing a 4-4-2 with this team, and I don't really understand. unless this is like a dry run to see if Hugo Kuypers and Robert Levindowski can play together up top in some sort of lineup this summer if the Levinowski thing comes through. I'm kind of hoping it doesn't because I like the version of Chicago that we saw a month ago and that we saw last year very briefly before Andre Franco got her.

I want to see Andrei Franco come back and start dealing in central midfield. I want to see this team play with Kuyper's as a loan forward. And I'm going to see two dangerous wingers out there. Going to the four or two has made them a little bit soft in the middle. And the Red Bulls were able to just set up shop repeatedly in zone 14 and carve chances out of it. I'm taking the, I'm probably taking the Mia Culp on or the loss on Ruvulcaba. I'm not taking it on Cade Cowell. Come on.

I've watched it for five to eight years. not going to go there. Sparks are great. If Ruvil Kava comes inside, beats his man and scores goals, like this team will be fine. But that feels like a necessity for them where the chance creation outside of that is not that much. Also, let me ask this. Our other, well, if you were another team in MLS, would you be out asking for Shupimoting? You guys a DP who doesn't start? No.

I just think he does. I don't think he does. He's a nice player to bring off the bench. but I wouldn't want him on that salary. Would you want him in San Diego? I don't think so. I don't think. Club option for 27 is what his contract is at.

Yeah. So you'd get him for a year and a half if you wanted to. Or say like, hey, we're declining that option unless you want a different deal. Right. Well, then, yeah. It just again in the like, Hama's kind of like, he's already in the league. You know you can go and get him. You could probably figure out a price.

I don't know Red Bull's advantage to keeping him. So if I'm a team that needs center forward help and I don't need a guide to go out and reshape the next six years of my club, but like can I get a couple goals in the next five months? So is not... Or production, excuse me, not even goals, but yeah. Is the advantage not the fact that

he actually does seem to have been something of a mentor for Julian Hall? Like Julian Hall has spoken glowingly of Chupo Moting. Julian Hall speaks glowingly of everything. That guy's vibing life. But he, like it, look, we all know in sports that, um, the old pro mentoring the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the young hot shot is more fiction than not most times. But this, this time, it actually seems to be real from everything I've heard. So I, I don't know if I would be in a rush to move Chupomoting out, given, especially given the, Red Bulls. front office is not going to furnish this team with a brand new high level DP just because

we got off of chupimoting like it's not how red bull global has worked for 15 years yeah okay i think that's fair um so big big week coming up in mLS so all of those will be on wednesday me and tom will be back on thursday to dig into all of it with you react to everything we saw and then get you ready for another weekend of MLS action as we head towards the World Cup break. Speaking of, the U.S. men's national team is going to be at the World Cup. And that is what you call a transition, baby. Let's start with the biggest news of the weekend for Doyle.

Giorina is everything. We were promised Peyton Pritchard would be 32 minutes off the bench and a three, one loss. He scores in the 92nd minute, ball over the top, cut back to him, first time finished. It is his first club goal. this is the most I could find since January of 2025. He obviously has scored like nine times for a national team since then because that's the only time you ever plays. It's a joke, Tom. It was an exaggeration.

That's the joke. So Doyle, how great do you feel and how have you celebrated? I'm happy that at least one of our guys in Europe is playing and scoring. It's nice to see him, you know, nice to see him getting into the box. He was running a little bit, which isn't probably the case. Um, he's still the most talented guy in the pool. Uh, and if he, if he plays, you know, four more games and, and, you know, maybe gets a goal and an assist or two, I, I hope he'll be in the World Cup camp and maybe play his way into a role. But he's like, come on, late in a game, the U.S. is chasing a result.

You need someone to break down a deep back line. Is there someone else in the mix that you would rather have? Is it Jack McGlynn? Is it Nico Secure? because I thought that he was crowned two weeks ago on this show. Giorina scoring in stoppage time of a game that was already determined at 3-0, so they make it with 3-1. That is the most perfect encapsulation of all of the discourse around Giorina.

Listening to Doreal analyzed. So you're just completely out on him. I'm out on talking about it all. Like, I know that I'm not saying that we're spending a ton of time, but it's just like, yeah, he scored a garbage time goal, and we talk about hypothetical. He played 32 minutes actually may be more important than the goal. That's like to triple what he's done over the last five months. No, for sure.

That's the point. Yeah. That's the part that I think has people more excited than the actual goal. But the goal was an easy way to reference it. He has actually played more. I just wanted to pull it up exactly. Hamas Rodriguez has played more for Minnesota, I think. So he played 20 minutes last week.

He played 13 minutes the week before. He played 18 minutes the week before. He's ramping up. Come on. Yeah. I will say, Doyle listening to you talk about him was like when we did Markle Foltzer like Ben Simmons where he looked at the basket. He didn't shoot.

He'd look though and like you see his shoulders. They're starting to shift into play. There's a little bit of running and like he's engaged. That's kind of how it felt with that. Yeah. But listen, if Botch is going to make a decision either way, he'd rather see him play minutes than not. So that is a positive.

And as Doyle said, we are ramping up. Speaking of goal scores, Ricardo Pepi, a goal on an assist from Sir Gino Dest, who was set up by his mayor bar. Tarevich. So this is the full Monty on this one. Des was playing left back at the time. Deep Cross on the goal for Pepe. We talked about Sergenio Des for a while

on last week's show, me and Doyle breaking down how he fits into the team, what he would bring, how quickly he would come into it. So if you want to listen to that, go back to Thursday's show. And then a bunch of the negative news. So all the injury news we've gotten since the last show we've done.

Christian Pulisic, glute injury, unavailable for A.C. Milan in the game this weekend. Johnny carted off the field in training on Thursday for Athleti with a high grade right ankle sprain. So not a high ankle sprain, a high grade ankle sprain. And then Tanner Testman, Paulo Fonseca has said has been shut down for the rest of the league on season with a muscle strain.

The quote out of the article is it should not jeopardize his participation in the World Cup. I don't really know who said that except the article. So I don't know where that quote comes from. And these are three potential starters, probably two potential starters because Johnny and Testament are probably going for the same spot. And this is where we sit now in the World Cup cycle of like any trip, any hanging toenail or fingernail is World Cup participation in chalk. Anything to add on these?

No, I think Pulisic and Tesman are super minor and aren't to be worried about the Johnny one. uh, for sure is, um, because not even just like when exactly can he play again. It's like when will he look like himself? And that's a loaded question in and of itself because what he looks like for athletico Madrid versus what he looks like for the US national

team or two for things. And as you say, guys, this is a guy who could be a starter at the World Cup. I will say one thing working for him is that the group stage is so very long because of the expanded tournament. The final group stage game I think is June 25th. So that's like two months.

And with the squad of, 26. I don't think that this would jeopardize his participation of the World Cup. It's just really unfortunate for a guy who I think we keep on hoping to see more for with the national team and we're not going to see it in the lead up of the tournament or if we do, it'll be maybe a compromised version of himself depending on how quickly his ankle hears. So if that's the case, so Tim Marine returned from injury this weekend. That was great. An assist, a header to header assist. You'd love to see that header back across the box. That's real football. Yeah, real stuff. we mentioned the two assistants for Pochitino

going a couple MLS games this weekend. Jesus Perez took in the RSLFC Dallas game and the LAFC Houston game. Bangers only baby. You got to see Diego Luna cutting it up and then put it in a corner laid on against Dallas and then on the other side, the Jack McGillian stunner. First, the left-footed shot in transition from the top of the box of the far post and then the second opportunity first touch in the box. Come on, Doyle.

give it to me. Jack McVillan, he's got a shot at this. I mean, I think he obviously does. Pachitino seems to like him and he's a specialist, right? He can't defend at all because he can't move. But that left foot of his is, you know, I tweeted the highlight of the goal. I think this is the best ball striker the U.S. has ever produced. Right foot of the left foot, it doesn't matter. He's best ball striker of the U.S. has ever produced. And he repeatedly shows it both, on dead balls and from open play. And with 26 man roster, you do have room for a specialist. And with these guys dropping like flies, there suddenly seems like a little bit more room for Jack

McGlin, especially because he's not just a ball striker and he's not just a set piece guy, but he also can sort of crack open the game like in number 10 with his vision, both playing combos around the box and playing vaults. wonk balls out of the back when and if he drops deep. It's just he, because of that lack of physical ability, you have to protect him in a way that the same way you would protect Gio Raina, right? Where it's like, okay, he's not going to run, he's not going to tackle, he's not going to win the ball back.

So you can't get out over your skis pushing forward. So I totally agree with you. I guess one of the things I've been thinking about over the weekend is with the injuries occurring, does that make it more or less likely? because the less likely scenario is what Tom just said, which is, well, we think Testament or Johnny's going to get better. But when they're, so we're going to put them on the roster. But then in the games, they're not available, we need a like for like replacement rather

than, well, the last three spots on the roster don't matter. And let's put a big body to put in late. And a guy in Jack McGlynn, who's a specialist who will do this one thing for us. Like, it may threaten his spot because they need that role for an Aiden Morris and a Sebastian Boroughalter. and Christian rolled on and the next option to fill in if those guys don't come back healthy but are also still taking up a roster spot. I mean, I doubt it'll get to that.

I think that that punch probably sees it a little bit different in terms of just less like for like and more. Here's what he brings. Here's what I need. Yeah. In his toolbox, a lot of different options. And I will say for the 500th time, Alex Zendahas, playing in front of 60 plus thousand people, was the best player on the field in a high pressure game, had two goals and an assist, a corner kick, set piece service, that's always nice.

The header on the far post, ran the game, and then also steps up in a big moment in a penalty kick, which could be important in a knockout competition that has the highest stakes, maybe in the history of the men's national team over the next few weeks. So I will continue to beat that drum for Alex and Dejas. And I know Hazus Perez picked his trip this week based off what we say on this show. So we know the national team pool is coaching staff is big on their soccer wise. They message they like the NBA-wise stuff. They love the bear-wise stuff.

So anything science that we can get in there for all of them, we will try and do going forward. So we've got a couple more big shows coming up this week. We will talk NWSL, of course, coming out of the weekend with Jordan Angelie tomorrow. We have our week or our midweek reaction show and weekend previews. that we'll have on Thursday with me and Tom and then me and Doyler cooking up some special stuff on the national team side. We went in and broke down Paraguay, their history, what they're bringing to the tournament and what the matchup looks like in the last show last week for the US and the group stage. We will do the same with Australia. I believe it is this week because the

final game is Turkey in the group stage. So we get to dig in with the Aussies, which I always love to do. Our guy Milo Steganeck and everyone else. So thank you to all of you for listening. Thank you to you too for being here. Thank you to everyone in the chat hanging out with us. Always appreciate it. Always a good time. And I guess you just got to say Nixon 3, baby. We'll see you next time.