SoccerWise - Kevin De Bruyne Quiere Miami (how is it possible), Vancouver Stadium New Stadium & Big CCC Previews

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

It was a wild weekend the field in MLS with some big comebacks and masssive bounce back wins. But those don't even make the headlines! One of the greatest attacking players in history wants to move to MLS and the news has broken that Inter Miami holds KDB's Discovery Rights. On top of that the first place Vancouver Whitecaps who have already announced their intention to sell the club and now they have made serious moves on building a new soccer specific stadium. And of course the SW crew is stoked about the upcoming CCC quarterfinal second legs & some big weekend performances across the league.6:30 Kevin De Bruyne To Miami30:15 Thomas Mueller & Antoine Griezmann’s MLS Futures39:00 Whitecaps Stadium Developments & CCC Potential53:25 Mailbag on LAG Early Season Struggle & Greg Vanney’s Future1:03:20: MIA-LAFC Preview1:07:42 TFC Grinding At Miami1:12:50 SKC First Win Post Vermes1:18:00 San Diego Continue To Shine & Seattle Struggle1:23:10 Minnesota Continue To Win Against The Ball1:28:40 FCD Mailbag Question Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

I was just humming that and I actually didn't know what I was humming. That's how much it is imprinted in the back of my brain deep into my spinal cortex. It is the SoccerWise intro song because you're listening or watching live or watching later or listening later to SoccerWise David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you for what has turned out to be a massive show as there is news from coast to coast across Major League Soccer. We've got CONCACAF stuff coming up. Tom, it's a big one. It's always a big one, David Goss. That's what we're here for. It's non-stop big all the time Rocket fuel jet fuel. What's the jet fuel? Yeah, it's going this way. It's going in an upward trajectory

I think the key for this show for everyone to know before we dig in before we get involved is there is a lot of Arbitrary stuff we're gonna talk about. The fact that it is all arbitrary will piss Tom off to no end. And that, my friends, is how you create a good show. There's so many fucking hypotheticals about nonsense. But here we are. Yeah, I just, when you get to the nuts and bolts of like,

if you bring Diego Maradona back to life, but you do it before an international window opens, but you do it after a secondary transfer window closes, could you use general allocation money to complete a signature? And I think stuff like that is the stuff, that's the stuff that scholars and sages sit and they debate for generations for millennia

We're basically Plato and Socrates at this point Doing using nuts and bolts bolts to kick that off is so perfect like poetically because like nuts and bolts build real things that That we touch and use this is like the the scene in Wolf of Wall Street with the Matthew McConaughey characters Like none of its real man We don't build anything like the second you let them take their money out. It's real man In fairness I say that about very often when people ask. What do you do? I'm like well in reality nothing I think I was with a friend one time getting drinks and he's like what we do is for little kids like it's not real

And you're like that is for a kids. Like it's not real. And you're like, that is 100% accurate and absolutely true. But we love it. And we love being here with all of you. Once again, if you have not, you can subscribe to our Patreon, get you access to our Discord. We've got some really good mailbag questions out of the Discord that we're gonna drop into the show here today.

I apologize for there not being a weekend recap show yesterday, I will tell you 100% I thought I did it. I literally wrote the script. I went into the Podcast our podcast provider yesterday or this morning and was like, huh? Where's the show? Turns out I just never record it and never posted it So it was not there But I would love to continue to include posted it. So it was not there.

But I would love to continue to include a ton of mailbag stuff in there. The Discord was awesome as a place to sit and watch the games and hang out. I'm really, really enjoying it. It also gets you access to our depth charts, which can bring a little bit of sanity to some of these hypothetical conversations that we will continue to have, especially as we move into the summer period and into the next transfer windows. So go and subscribe there. And if you haven't yet, please rate and review the show, whether it's on YouTube, whether it's on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, it helps more people find us, which we are always in favor.

That's, that's a good little spiel. Two notes. One, on the depth charts, Doyle and I, we're talking, this is like the weird part of the seed not exactly now but like over the last few weeks it's like all right is this real is this lineup decision is this a decision or is this just a random thing that happens over 34 weeks so me and Doyle have been talking about continuing to tweak the depth charts hopefully we'll have more in the next you know couple weeks as we feel more and more strongly about what is real and what is just temporary

And then the other side of that guys I'm driving 502 a.m. I'm on I'm on I'm on the turnpike going to CBS this morning just refreshing like I Closed out my Spotify out was I was like I know got it and then I was like should I ask him if he's okay? Yeah, at 502 a.m. I was not okay So that would the answer would have firmly been no at that point. But yeah, it would have been a good question. Sometimes it happens. For example, I went and played pickup yesterday.

I played 5-e-6 for the first 10 minutes. Then this guy showed up in a number 23, David Beckham, Inter-Miami jersey, and Orlando City Shorts, and proceeded to stand on the field and not run on either side of the ball for the rest of the game. He thought he played pickup.

I would argue he did not. So there is those moments where sometimes the debate does happen, whether it's internally or externally. I turned him towards the end. It was like 95 degrees too. I played way too early in the day so the sun's fully up. It's a turf on like a second story. It was a thousand degrees.

And I was like, why did you even show up? He's like, I don't know. I go, just leave. It's pick up. He goes, I wish I could. I was like, who are you having this issue? Who has you in the sniper scope being like, don't run, but don't leave it was bizarre the fact that I was as Contained as I was was a miracle On top of all that and then as I left I called Sam Stachkal to yell at him Just as someone to outlet on he felt like a good spot to do it. Are you ready to dig in? Yeah, that's delightful and I'm proud of her said that like the the the pickup chirping at teammates and randoms That's always a tightrope that dude must have been

Abysmal not in technical quality just an abysmal pickup teammate or opponent. I yeah He was 100% a better soccer player than I was but was he more effective absolutely not no I'm giving you 110. I'm giving you 110%. He was giving you 6%. Meet me there. Yeah. And we were not going to meet in the middle on that number. And if we did, we still would have ended up getting smoked because that is not a very

high number if you meet in the middle on that one. Let's talk about the big story and the big name going around MLS circles right now. Tom has Broken his phone texting this name. Do you know how to spell it off the top of your head? Did you go KDB? Did you think this is a difficult name to spell? No, I'm just saying you got to keep typing it out and keep telling it out So I've rejected the tyranny that is autocorrect on my phone So there is nothing that auto populates because I'm a free thinker,

and that's why a lot of times I don't have the correct capitalization on things because I don't have the tyranny of auto-correct on my phone. Okay. I spell so poorly and my fingers are so fat that I've just trained my auto-correct into a bunch of incorrect words,

and it will auto-correct me from correct spellings back to incorrect spellings now. That's how the computers get you. So, there is a soccer player. His name is Kevin De Bruyne. He has played for Manchester City since 2015. That club is located in England. He is 33 years old.

He's also known as the captain of the Belgian national team. He has 19 trophies in his 10-year career with Manchester City, including one UEFA Champions League, six Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, five Leagues Cup and I don't know, Community Shields. I'm not going to get into that. Hold on, hold on, Leagues Cup, over League Cup. Yeah, fair. Well, the problem was I was going to actually say the name of it, but we have fighting sponsorships

in that. So we're not allowed to say Carabao because we have fighting sponsorships in that. So we're not allowed to say Carabao because we are actually sponsored by Reindeer. And so we're not allowed to mention it on this show. He also has been voted two time Premier League Player of the Year, six time UEFA Champions League Player of the Year and EPL Best 11. And he was in the Ballon d'Or voting top four, I think twice

in the last few years. He's got 109 caps, 30 goals in three World Cups for the Belgian national team. Has stated on his Instagram officially that he will not be returning to Manchester City at the end of this contract which ends on June 30th. Where will he go? We do not know. The reports and rumors now, Tom, have connected him to a small league in the Middle East known as Saudi Arabia, as well as one of our local favorites, a league we cover quite extensively called Major League Soccer. And Tom, take it from there. Am I co-hosting with AI Goss? Because we even got an angry pickup soccer story. So, Kevin De Bruyne, since our last show, two big updates. One, San Diego FC, I was able to report that pretty conclusively he's not going to be signing there. There were

preliminary talks between the two sides and it just wasn't something that really fit within San Diego's philosophy or probably the finances that they wanted to spend. From what I've been told is Kevin De Bruyne, obviously he's a legend. He should be asking for as much money as he can possibly get. The money in Saudi Arabia is probably mind blowing if he opens up to offers there. But something probably just under Lorenzo Insigne, definitely more than Sergio Busquets to make him the third ice-pade player in MLS would be reasonable. That's not something that San Diego really wanted to do.

So from there, I knew that San Diego renounced his discovery rights. I didn't know where. Wasn't Charlotte, wasn't Chicago. Tried a couple others that kind of made sense both in terms of finances and open DP spots. Turns out our good pal Paul Tenorio broke this news and I've been able to confirm this. Inter Miami have his discovery rights InterMiami who have no DP spots open. So the way this would work, if he were to sign in the summer, he would have to sign on a TAM deal, something like $800,000 when we were just talking about, you know, $12 to $15 million maybe. So this is a very interesting one. I was told that there has been no formal offer yet from Miami to Kevin De Bruyne. I guess it's still early in this case because he only announced that he was officially leaving Manchester City, what about a week ago? So

this is one that we're going to have more twists and turns, but for right now into Miami, have Kevin De Bruyne's discovery rights was essentially just means right to negotiate. It was a twist and a turn on that whole thing. I think his connection to MLS felt very obvious because we'd heard the connections to San Diego since San Diego had launched as his potential big name first ever designated player. It felt like the conversations were happening and were real already. So then as he comes back around and says, I'm no longer going to play at Man City, still 33 years old, has started in 21 games total across all comps this year two goals six assists still top 99th percentile in chance creation

non-penalty expected assists all that type of stuff He would be connected to San Diego again as you said doesn't exactly fit their budget It also probably right now they're coming from a place of confidence because they are awesome so they're probably not bending over backwards to restructure their entire identity of what they want to be as a spending team and a style and all that type of stuff not that he would break their style but all of that to sign him then you go and name the other teams where you're like all right here are the teams that we have seen go big game hunting. And Kevin De Bruyne is right now up there with as big game hunting as an MLS team can do at 33, still competitive with his resume and all of that. I think Chicago

feels like the most obvious one because we felt like the name ourself was slightly real. They've got the DP opening, they have the positional opening and they are trying to reset who they are and they have the money and they're the market. They are. It's one of the five biggest markets in the United States. It is a sports market that I think resonates around the world, especially for Europeans with the background with Michael Jordan, all of that. You walk into any European bar and they're like, Oh, did you know I'm a Chicago Bulls fan? And you're like, no, I guess I figured that part out. So there's like a ton that connects there.

Then as you started to knock the teams off, I think you said publicly, and I think it made a ton of sense that maybe it's NYCFC, like maybe they're the ones, especially with the CFG connection and the stadium opening. I have like harped on this many, many times. It feels like at some point they will have to do something slightly bigger to promote the fact that they're like going into a brand new soccer specific stadium and sort of re-announce themselves. And this felt slightly in line with that. And then, Paul Tonoreo reports that it is, Inter Miami, the team that is loaded with superstars and that kind of broke my brain after all of it.

Yeah, so first of all with NYCFC they don't need to be moving into a new stadium to just sign a really good really legendary player. Yeah, but they haven't done it so it felt like a reason to do it. Yeah, again, I agree like your thought process is correct. I was just saying that like, you know, it'd be nice for them to do that and they have the need both on the field, both in the budget and everything else. Anyway, so with Miami, yeah, it's very surprising. But again, I reread like Paul Tenorio when he reports and writes something, it is, he doesn't get things wrong. And like his wording is specific and that this aligns with kind of my reporting as well.

Like he was very specific to say it was discovery rights. It wasn't advanced talks or anything agreed or anything like that. It was discovery rights, which is obviously a significant piece of news, but he wasn't suggesting that it was about to be done or anything like that. So I think that's where I'm starting with on this because even so when like when Tenorio broke it, like I was like talking to somebody. I just I'm going to make fun of I almost never I was talking to somebody, I'm going to make fun of him. I was talking to somebody earlier today who speculated my image. That all just happened in your brain by yourself.

No, because I didn't mean it like that. But I was just like, kind of like, that doesn't make any sense. And then Sonorio reported it. I was like, oh, that's 100% true, because Sonorio reported it. The only DP in your heart is Paul Tonari. So like, I'm sure that there is interest to sign him. Obviously he's on Discovery for a reason. But this doesn't 100% guarantee that he's going to sign with Miami 1 or 2.

This doesn't mean it's Miami or Saudi. It doesn't mean that this is the only spot. And again, maybe that's how he's feeling now. Because again, the San Diego stuff started with De Bruyne's camp again, the San Diego stuff started with De Brayna's camp reaching out to San Diego around this time last year. And they were like, yeah, let's keep talking. Let's figure out the timeline.

I think our last De Brayna update when talks were continuing was probably October-ish. So they had already signed Chu Guzzano. They hadn't signed Andres Dreier yet. They knew that they wanted a DP winger. They were planning for two DPs, and that's where they're kind of sticking. But at that point, it was, the feeling was real that De Bruyne was going to stay at City for another year. So these talks would have been, it was like way in the future kind of thing.

And then now when they're talking like the last couple weeks of like, oh, like, no, this would might be for this. So like these have to get real now. So that's kind of all at play here I'm still trying to make sense of it for Miami and and like look I tweeted this it should go without saying If De Bruyne assigns a six-month contract for eight hundred thousand dollars and then all of a sudden in the winter He signs a two to three year deal for you know, 25 or 30 million don't like whatever overall, clearly DP numbers, right? The rest of the league will be very upset because while there's technically nothing

saying that you can't do that, you're not supposed to be allowed to do a contract that manipulates the DP spots like this, like the Galaxy did with slots on Ibrahimovic. Like, LAFC kind of almost did with Gareth Bale except then Gareth Bale retired between the the winter of Tam Then I think he was supposed to be a DP But then he retired you're not supposed to be able to do that and I know that other clubs would be rightly upset about it Yeah, so One thing we have not mentioned is my inter Miami has three designated players already. You only get three That's why we keep

talking about this as a tam deal so into Miami is locked into their three DPs Jordi Alba was a tam player the last few years when his option was picked up for this year he was elevated to a designated player we have not gotten the MLS player association salary numbers yet the dump there's two to three a year, though it has not occurred yet this season. So we don't know what number Jordi Alba is on. I don't, it can't be bought down. I know that 100% factually it cannot be bought down.

So in that scenario, whatever Kevin De Bruyne assigns cannot be DP level, so it is maxed out at $790 something thousand dollars, which can be paid out via allocation money because he's over the minimum budget charge and Inter Miami has plenty of allocation money to do that. It is also what it sounds like somewhere between 12 and 14 million dollars below what he wants to sign or expects. I guess you could say half, right? Because this deal would only really be for half the season so it ends up

coming out to six hundred and six point seven million dollars below what he would like to sign for the year. That is why the restriction exists. The way the deal is supposed to be structured in MLS is if there are escalators to move him into those places further in the contract it should be amortized across the deal. So if he were to sign a deal where he says, okay, I'll play year one for $797,000 and then year two for 15 million, in theory, his budget charge this year should be around $7 million because you'd break it out and you'd push it over the deal, which is why you would

have to end the deal. Now, he could sign a six month contract and have his contract end at the end of the year and then everyone's free to sign whatever they want after that and then the Zlatan example you bring up is what has already occurred which was he signed on a two-year deal. The two-year deal was at Tam Money. After the first year they ended the contract they made a new deal as a DP deal. It felt like it was already pretty known and set up but it was not officially done in sign so therefore it could not hit the books. There's a lot to go on here and there's a lot to talk about. There's we have a question in the chat

of like how he fits the team which I don't think is like unheard of. They will be off the charts, unbelievable in possession. Yannick Bright is going to need to purchase a second body to run around and try and cover ground for this team. I'm here to watch it go down. I'm here to see what it looks like. And it's obvious why you do it. The reasons you do it, one, are Kevin De Bruyne. I think Tom at some point will have to tweet,

dude, it's Kevin De Bruyne. And because none of the three DPs are on contract for next year. So if De Bruyne wants to come here and be around here for a little bit, you'd lock in the fact that he's a part of this going forward. And or you give yourself more optionality of the four of them. After this year, who still wants to play and who wants to be around the game and who wants to be a part of this. So you put yourself in the driver's seat with all of that. What it feels like would have to happen is De Bruyne

would have to take this crazy deal and maybe there is some conversation going on behind the scenes between the teams. I will say I think a lot of the angst I've seen from MLS fans across the league is like this is BS. I can't believe the league would let Inter Miami get away with this and I can't believe it would only happen for Inter Miami. It's a combo that we have come up every once in a while. It used to be about the galaxy. Then when Gareth Bale signed, it was about LAFC. Then when Jordi Alba was on a TAM deal,

it was about Inter Miami again. I say that in saying, those are three different teams that we're saying this about. If your team did this, there is space to operate. And I think it's fair to be frustrated as a fan, especially if you feel like you live in a market that Kevin De Bruyne wouldn't come and play for $800,000 or Gareth Bale wouldn't come and play for on a TAM deal. If you live in Denver or Cincinnati or Columbus or whatever it is, I understand that LA and Miami

are glamour markets, but they also are teams that are pushing themselves and they're opening up themselves globally as genuinely competitive teams with good structures and good setups that people also want to come and be a part of. So I think it's fair to complain. I also would look at your own owner in all of this. Like if Stan Kronke wants to sign four former Ballon d'Or finalists, I think that everyone would find a way to look the other way. And he doesn't want to, and the team doesn't do it, and therefore it doesn't happen. Would it happen in Denver? I don't know. But you don't even get the possibility if you don't try and do it.

And while there are teams that have tried to push rules, the LA Galaxy had to cut Giovanni dos Santos because they didn't get another DP spot. And because Giovanni dos Santos isn't worth it from a big overall point of view. I'm not saying there is a conversation that happens where it's like, this guy's big enough, so therefore we'll do it.

But if you don't let yourself even push that, then you're never gonna find out. And so that's like part of what's happening in all of this. Inter Miami have clearly set themselves up in a huge way. The other thing is they set themselves up financially because of the messy deal because of now being in the Club World Cup which is a bit of a favour. And as of right now, De Bruyne no matter what if he signed wouldn't be eligible to play in the Club World Cup for Inter Miami because because the signing he would be eligible starting at the end of july the tournaments earlier um because of all these things they're

bringing in enough money to spend enough money on this right this is the la dodgers they're going to keep spending money because they keep making money every time they spend money this is the golden state warriors like this is what happens when you push yourself to be really big and push yourself outside of this plus the new stadium opening up for Inter Miami. Those are some of the thoughts that come out in my head for all of this. We don't have a clear answer of how this ends. If you were guessing, do you think this is a play for $450,000 in allocation for someone else to come and try and get his rights?

I wouldn't say that that's the impetus behind this, but if that's where it ends up, it's a smart move, right? Like again, I genuinely believe, like I know that like Jorge Mas is on the record all the time saying we, if we, if our budget, like it'll be there if we want, like if there's a global star that wants to come kind of thing. Like he said that just when asked about Neymar, that that's kind of his normal response. When asked about spending, he is, he says this out loud and from what I'm told in those meetings and and Tenorio's reported this as well It's Jorge Mas pushing the other owners to try to increase the spending to remove restrictions

So I'm I totally believe all of this is true. It's whether or not they ended up signing them like at the end of the day De Bruyne needs to obviously agree to it. And look, he's made plenty of money in his career. But like, and I'll take another step back from myself and Ben Jacobs reporting MLS is his preference over Saudi Arabia. Yes, he could get more money in Saudi Arabia. No, he wouldn't have to worry about things like this. But he prefers to come here to Saudi Arabia. Not that that anything's decided. There's gonna be options in Europe I know that the Turkish clubs have expressed interest before I'm certain now is that his agents got a bunch of calls after it was

Officially announced that he was not coming back to Manchester City in the summer So it's not just Miami or bus or MLS or bus or whatever, right? That's all that but so for all this would require is if you can't write anything down and be legally binded to listen we're gonna give you 800,000 right now but don't worry next year it's gonna be 10 million or insert whatever number it is you still need to trust the team to follow through on that right like so that's that's another one right like going back to the our NBA brains like James Harden like that was like allegedly why he was so pissed at the Philadelphia 76ers I need the Kevin De Bruyne in China making the kids applaud when he calls

someone in the Miami front office a liar So look like I think that's kind of where I'm at with all this is that there are a lot of hypotheticals a lot of Ifs a lot of like alright How could they do this and then get around it like this way could could this happen could that happen like right now as far as I understand and there should people smarter than me trying to get to find loopholes right that work for clubs but as far as I understand the only way that this could happen this summer is if it's a TAM deal or like a non DP deal and then for him then like they can't have any

written agreement that there's a long-term big money contract that comes in the winter but you know they could wink wink agree to it and then deny it. So there's a lot to go here no I don't think this is just an allocation money play but again if it ends that way it's smart like if this ends with him signing for NYCFC and Miami getting 300,000 in allocation money It's just like that. That's a good way to increase your assets Yeah It's an it's a move. There's no reason not to play if you're inter Miami or be around I'm sorry, and not that's why I'm surprised San Diego renounced his rights. Yeah, I thought that they like they um, so M.O.S. teams now can hold five players on the

discovery list. San Diego started with seven as part of their expansion season because they had to sign 30 players. I don't know if they still have seven. If it is seven, I'm really surprised that they didn't have room somewhere to just hold Kevin De Bruyne. Except at some point It'll come push comes to shove. They would have to make an offer

Otherwise, they really only get what 50? Yeah, but my son dude if okay in that scenario And again, we're getting to two four into the weeds in that scenario Let's hypothetically say San Diego squats on his rights and just says okay We're not gonna sign it, but we know someone will and we're gonna get some money for that Yes, it's 50, fifty thousand we don't make uh... uh... objectionable uh... objectively real offers and essentially not writing one dollar on a piece of paper and getting money for it but if he's agreed to deal with and my cfc or

l a or miami or kansas city or whoever then you just right here for anyway and then he says i, I've already agreed with somebody else. And then that other team has to give you money. It was like Marco Royce basically, right? Yeah. Charlotte thought they were going to get him. They didn't. Galaxy did. They ended up with $450,000 all in of allocation, I think, for Marco Royce. That's not nothing. I mean,

San Diego's flush with allocation because they're an expansion team. Galaxy would love another $420,000 in allocation money if they could. But yeah, that's the whole point behind all of that. It also does still serve for the fact that the way the language is written on discovery rights and yes, ha ha ha, someone discovered Kevin De Bruyne, it's very obvious what it means and how it's set up. Not super clear how it works. Whether you can talk to them first and then sign a deal and then figure it out or you have to trade for the rights to then go talk to them. And you'd assume there's enough people connected to Kevin De Bruyne that there's enough conversations that can happen all over the world.

I do know that he's connected to the US. He comes here very often and has connections to friends and family, exactly, across the United States. I also, on the previous conversation of like, oh, we have someone in the chat saying like, can he come join SKC? Obviously joke, not gonna happen. But that's not a fact.

Like players don't grow up being like, oh, I wanna go live in Damaam, Saudi Arabia. Right? Money talks, opportunity talks. So I would always stress and urge the fact that all of the MLS owners are billionaires and if they want to spend money on this, all of these players would have a conversation. Would everyone do it? Probably not. But I can guarantee you a lot of these players that you went and talked to would be interested in living in these cities for a year or two and playing for these teams if those teams ponied up the money and

they don't. And not everyone's worth it all the time just because it's a big name. Correct. But like that is still out there and that opportunity still exists and we'll see what happens. I also throw out NYCFC is like seventh in the Eastern Conference in XG, maybe even lower than that. I don't know what's going on. I understand it's not part of their ethos, but this guy's leaving 10 years of city football group.

He wants to come to the United States. I don't know if you've heard of New York City. It's pretty damn nice. And it normally fits in to the idea of America that these players have of where they wanna live. And your attack is hinged around Maxi Morales. 38 years old. So it's not even like, well, we could never fit him in.

Like if Maxi's not on the field, NYCFC is toothless. And that has been the case, even when he's not played for the team for the last five years. It's an obvious place for him to land and to put him. I couldn't agree more. So I get I feel this is one of my strongest feelings of like, yeah, well, we want to be a youth development club.

Well, you don't run out of U23 team. You know what will help a young winger and a young forward Kevin De Bruyne. Fernandez got pulled off at halftime this weekend because they were struggling. That doesn't help his development. And listen, you throw in Mets season tickets and I think you get that deal done. Listen, you're coming to Queens next year? You better believe that everyone from my save season will be front row to see five straight wins for the New York Mets. You want to see Jose Syrian person that's the big opportunity that you get. Man,

you would have been last night I sat out on my back porch post pickup yelling at some random person I've never met. I had a bag of fresh peanuts had the Mets game on the radio while sunset in front of me. It was beautiful. I was living the dream man that's I'm legitimately jealous that I hope your phone was like away from you like that sounds delightful well I had the game on the phone so you'd have a real physical radio yeah but it was far enough Mets game kicks off kicks off first pitch in five minutes because it's so cold that they had to move the game three hours because it's so freezing cold I think it's like 25 degrees in Detroit where the Yankees play right now.

Which actually takes us to our next conversation because we're in Talk Stadiums and what they're like in cold places. Before we leave here though, real quick, we wanted to touch on Tomas Mueller and Antoine Griezmann because you have done more reporting around these two players. Mueller we've never really talked about on this show actually I don't think as it's like popped up and gone away around shows but not when we've been on. I find this connection very funny with the way it's played out and I will say why but give us the news first.

Yeah so Thomas Mueller is leaving Bayern Munich not by his choice he has been very clear to make that part of his announcements He thought he was gonna stay and I honestly feel bad for him because he's club one club legend anyway, leaving the club at the end of the season and He's been connected to MLS. This has been different. This has been like the Insert three random teams that usually start he hasn't been linked with into Miami yet to my knowledge and I'm shocked by that is pretty much all I need to say. So while I'm not ruling anything out and I just don't have any info on what his salary expectations are because that changes the discussion here quite a lot and exactly who is in for him. So LFC and Bayern Munich have a partnership

and all the reporting coming out of like the Bayern side is like Bayern wants them to go to LFC Well, do LFC get a choice in this and again not even to 100% say that they wouldn't because I can't say that with with complete knowledge They're not they're not juiced about how Olivier Giroud is doing Thomas Mueller doesn't quite fit a counter pressing 35% possession team Thomas Mueller doesn't quite fit a counter pressing 35% possession team So those are two hurdles. There was another club. He was linked with and I think he's been linked with like six

One of them laughed at me when I brought it up So that's what you say and I've been trying to ask around MLS of like but did they laugh in a German accent? Was that thing was that their coded way of saying maybe how do you how do you laugh in a German accent? Was that the was that their coded way of saying maybe how do you how do you laugh in a German accent? I don't need to I don't need to I don't need to have blows with the Germans once again You do you were just you just took a shot at Saudi so I don't know if you were yeah Well that one I'm fine with I mean those two are often on my list if you want a list of places I'm happy to go after um so I was trying to ask people around the league, like, hey, do you know what he's asking for? And I started with teams that I knew weren't going to be signing him because if you're really thinking about signing him, you're probably not telling me any of this information.

And they kind of had no idea. Here's the exact number we think he'd want based off our five conversations we asked for. But sometimes, like, look, it was pretty widely known what De Bruyne wanted or what expected or hoped for maybe. And that's the case for a lot of players. And maybe again, this is really fresh news. I'm trying to strike a balance of I haven't heard anything to confirm any interest, let

alone serious talks yet. But I can't say it's not going to happen. And two more points while I'm just rambling on this. I don't know what his salary expectations are. And at first glance, we've gotten kind of spoiled with, you know, a bail or a Chiellini or Royce or whatever, or maybe a De Bruyne coming on a non-DP deal. And it's like, oh, dude, maybe Thomas Mueller won't. And it's just like, oh, yeah, and Royce hasn't been perfect for the galaxy.

So probably that's what it'd be. Well, you know, Eric Maxim Super-Mozang got a DP deal with the Red Bulls. He came from Bayern, similar age, same age actually. And in his last two seasons with Bayern before coming to the Red Bulls, he had less minutes and less production than Mueller's had the last two seasons. So if you're in Mueller's camp- And before those two years, Thomas Mueller's one of the best goal scorers on the planet. Yeah, and like his creativity, I think, is what's going to help him age if you're making

the case for it. And Chupo Motec, I think, has been very good for the Red Bulls, right? And so if you're Mueller's agent, if you're Mueller, you'd be like, dude, like, that should be the market for me, not the Marco Royce number or whatever, right? So I have no idea is what I'm trying to say in terms of salary expectation and that changes the conversation a lot. I've been laughing to myself about this whole like, oh, Bayern and LAFC have a corporate partnership so therefore he's going to go sign with this team. I'm sorry, I don't know a situation where a former club has negotiated

a deal for a former player at a future club because of a corporate partnership. That's one of those things where it's like people are online with nothing to do and trying to create stuff. It's the most ridiculous reason. LAFC might sign Thomas Müller. It is not because they have a corporate partnership with Bayern Munich. I like Thomas Mueller as a player. He's a legend. He, as you said, his ability to find space and score goals will probably always be there. Also, the fact that the De Bruyne thing is called an Insigne number, the bar for being a successful DP at that line is pretty simple. I think all these guys are probably going to jump it if the if the comparison is in

Signe so It wouldn't be too bad But he seems like a tough one for a lot of teams to invest at that position Because you don't play through him. He doesn't dominate the game Most teams have already built out their rosters like it would have to be a team that has an open Dp spot in win now mode That's looking for someone to hit the ground running and that's it. I got one. I don't I get it. I don't have any intel on whether or not Chicago Fire open DP spot play possession based I've been saying for them to sign a DP 10. Yeah. Mulu plays as that second striker role. He had

like 21 assists two seasons ago yeah oh you'd play him as the DP 10 is what you're saying well he's not getting ahead of Kuypers right now Kuypers is shredding it yeah I kind of thought you put it as it as an old non-traditional I kind of thought you put him out on the right either way I don't I like the De Bruyne and move more than that for Chicago I don't disagree with you I still like them for a DP 10 and pushing Gutierrez out wide and letting him come off the wing and like have a little bit less pressure and be a little bit less focused. And Chicago, we've talked about them making a splash.

It's been Lewandowski in the past, which clearly is not going to happen. I don't know that Tomas Mueller is that signing. And of course then everyone makes the Bastastian Swine-Sneiger connections and all of that. But like, I don't know, Bastian Swine-Sneiger playing in Bridgeview. It was like a completely different scenario, completely different setup and completely different club. So I'd be surprised if Tomas Mueller played in MLS quite honestly with the way this whole thing sets up. And it sounds like I'd be surprised if Anton Griezmann plays in MLS this year as well.

Yeah. So that is what we're trying to figure out. So LAFC, Antoine Griezmann, that connection has been made, reported it's all real, talks about everything. They signed Cengiz Under on loan until the summer for a reason. Griezmann was that reason. Griezmann, I believe, has been asked by Diego Simeone to stay another year and reports in Spain and the feeling that Ben Jacobs and I have gotten is that's something that he would do if Simeone wants him to. What I've been told as of a couple days ago, LAFC haven't been communicated anything, but that definitely throws a wrench in what's going to happen in the future.

So if you're LAFC, how much longer can you keep waiting? If this is a next winter thing, if this is like anything even beyond the summer, getting Che Guevara in for the first half of the season was a really big move. And maybe they can extend it. Maybe they both want to. Who knows? But there's so many variables. How long can you keep holding a DP spot open for a player? The last thing, thing by the way we didn't mention this on the DeBrona stuff and I'm

not saying anything that I know but we have seen in the past some teams start to operate one way and then the rule comes down later. We thought there'd be a fourth DP, the World Cup starts next year, MLS has talked constantly about we're going to try and take advantage and push things in whatever. You've talked about the owners like the Mosses who have tried to push internally and where that balance falls, we might be on the verge of two new owners, Vancouver and Salt Lake City but especially Vancouver could be a real changing point of like that is an owner who is heavily established and a loud voice in that conversation and on the low end of the spending convo.

And so maybe that shifts things a little. My point being, maybe some of these teams say, let's take a risk, let's push things and assume a fourth DP comes in or assume a fourth mechanism comes in, whether it's you can trade for a third DP spot, right? Teams that go two for two could trade that third DP spot. Whatever it is that happens, like I wouldn't be shocked if there was a change

in the next 12, six, 12, 18 months. And some teams may be just saying like, let's push all our eggs in and hope that it works out for us in the end. And that's another possibility. So maybe LAFC says, yeah, we're not gonna wait. We're gonna sign a third DP now. Griezmann, maybe he comes, maybe he doesn't.

We'll figure that out later when that happens and they can move on from there. Let's move into a Vancouver conversation. What I wrote in our rundown is Vancouver has some real main character energy this year. I put down a schedule of massive news that's come out of Vancouver since November 25th and it is basically at least once a month but it's basically every other week. November 25th, Vanni Sartini was fired. Kind of breaking news. Pretty surprising. Caught us all off guard. Pretty huge piece of news. Then, less than a month later on December 13th they announced their intention to sell the club. Exactly one month later they hired Jesper Sorensen. Two weeks later, Stuart Armstrong left for

England again. Caught us off all off guard. Their big DP signing the way that they were month later they hired Jesper Sorensen. Two weeks later, Stuart Armstrong left for England, again, caught us off all off guard. Their big DP signing, the way that they were going to get better. So then, they sit around and relax for a bit of a month. Then they wax Portland on opening weekend. Four days later they knock off Soprisa, which is no easy feat. Then five days later they knock off the reigning champions LA Galaxy. Then a week later they go and beat Montreal in an All Canada derby which turns them into the last remaining perfect team in MLS on March 9th. Three days later they beat Monterrey in Monterrey. I don't know that we ever read this stat out this way.

They were the second MLS team since 2008 to win a series in a second leg in Mexico in which they did not lead coming out of the first leg so tied or losing they are the second of 22 teams to have accomplished that they did that on March 12th then on April 2nd they drew Pumas at home in the first leg and now here on April 4th the news comes out that the club is officially in talks with the City of Vancouver to build a soccer-specific stadium at the PNE Fairgrounds, the Pacific National Mech exhibition site. The club confirmed with this statement, we can confirm that Whitecaps FC is currently in discussion with the City of Vancouver regarding the construction of a stadium at the PNE Fairgrounds site.

The club's ownership has always been clear on their goal of constructing a purpose-built stadium and the importance of a suitable venue to both fan experience and financial performance for any professional sports franchise. We look forward to continuing our constructive engagement with the City and appreciate the City's continued support for Vancouver's thriving soccer community. And oh yeah, tomorrow they go to pumas and they play in the second leg for a chance at a concav champions cup semi-final center stage baby the vancouver whitecaps they are the must talk story in mls one of my favorite stories of the year um there's a billion different directions to go into i'll take an unint uh mildly uninteresting one to start just just a little appetizer to go steward armstrong has zero goals and zero assists and 300 minutes for Sheffield Wednesday

Do you think he's regretting his decision of like and and the way that they painted it or he painted it was I? Want to have a chance to go back to the Premier League Sheffield Wednesday who finished like 20th last season in the championship They were 10th when he arrived the 13th now don't think we're gonna make it to the prim You know what you could be doing Stuart Armstrong They were 10th when he arrived, the 13th now. Don't think they're gonna make it to the Prim. You know what you could be doing, Stuart Armstrong? Crushing it with the Vancouver Whitecaps going to Pumas right now. I think he should be regretting it. Yeah, he can't do what Eddie Arocampo does.

He can't do what Pedro Vite does. He can't do what Daniel Rios does. He wouldn't even have a place in this team if he wanted to. In the chat it says Stuart who. That's exactly what I love to hear. On the stadium news. Obviously a mess. He literally just got subbed in. I don't know.

At 4 18 p.m. Eastern. He just got subbed into the game. Arsenal just scored in Champions League against Real Madrid at the same time. Declan Rice I think. The stadium news is huge. It is big for the biggest reason that it's exciting besides the fact that we might have another soccer specific stadium and a cool facility and venue and all of that. And we can talk about more of the specifics.

Is the fear from, let me look at the calendar, December 13th on has been that Vancouver White Caps will not be in Vancouver anymore. The fear was that there was not another ownership group that would want to come in and be a part of this and keep the club there. And that has been the underlying fear for every Whitecaps fan. It has then morphed into Montreal fans who have also had that fear, who have now sucked that energy

because of that and all of that. The assumption from the outside is building a new stadium makes it more attractive to keep the team in Vancouver because you would have some bit of a stronger tenant deal than what you have at BC Place where the team seems to lose a decent amount of money because they rent it, they don't get all of the money from concessions and everything and the facility is probably not ideal for soccer and that whatever deal is signed is connected with the city to the agreement that the club would stay.

And that the facility getting built would be on the premise that this team would then move into it and play MLS soccer in that facility. And I think that was a sigh of relief for so many Vancouver fans and for non Vancouver fans like me, because I don't want to see this team go anywhere. I agree.

That there was a step forward besides just we have all intention to keep this year. Yeah, this was a positive, really positive. It was out of nowhere. When the ownership put up, announced our intention to sail, like that's kind of where the fear went to. And you didn't know what was going to happen. And all of these ownership groups that, you know, across all sports, particularly North America, that tie things to a stadium and

try to get, you know, favor from the local governments in building a new stadium. And the fear was is that this would be, you know, Seattle supersonic sold to a group that said, Oh, no, no, we're going to stay and immediately left, right? Like so the Columbus crew. Yeah, like that probably would have been the better example. But I don't remember if pre court was saying that we don't have to really get this. I don't remember if he was even pre court loved Columbus. He was such a huge fan of Columbus.

He was that classic San Francisco tech who loved Columbus. So like, but so all those fears are real. And so for this to kind of come out of nowhere right like what a positive boost to an already incredible season that has like Every Vancouver White Cubs fan in their honest moments all this is surpassing expectations like Beating Monterey being top of the Western Conference doing it without Ryan Gould for the last month or however long it's been since he's getting injured Everything else that has come through this you look at all these other teams that are struggling with new coaches.

You know, St. Louis is one that comes to mind. You know, Dallas are figuring things out and you kind of go on down the list. And Swanson has just come in and immediately they're really, really good. So what a season it's been for Vancouver. I wish I had something more interesting to say than I just want to talk about this and smile and be like, this is an awesome story. So on the stadium side of things, their lease at BC Place ends this year. So that's been a conversation the whole time, which is what happens next. Do they extend the lease? Do they sign a new deal? Can they find a way to find a new building? Or, then the worry was, is this an easy out

to getting the team out? So that's where I think probably you had some acceleration in the conversations of like, okay, what's next? I'm not reporting anything. I'm just guessing from the outside. The assumption would be there's some sort of like cheap land swap deal here to build the building on cheap public land. I don't think this city is going to build the stadium. They manage and run BC Place. I don't think this city is going to build the stadium they manage and run BC Place I don't think the city feels like they need another stadium so that would fall on some ownership but the issue with BC Place is because you don't own the building one you host playoff games in other facilities in other countries

which is a terrible setup because you don't control the scheduling which is what happened last year with the home playoff game being in Portland. So you lose gate on stuff like that. You lose the opportunity to host more games. You lose the opportunity to manage the building and make money off other games like friendlies and whatever else. And you don't normally take as much of the game day revenue, which is like most teams, including an MLS, the majority of the money they make is still on gameday revenue because they are not the Premier League where it's broadcast rights and they're not the NBA. So you still need to make all your money on drinks and sodas and hotdogs and whatever

else and gameday gear and all that type of stuff, which you lose cuts of if you don't own the building. So that is a huge part of this. And a soccer specific setup would be cool. I like a lot of what I see in BC Place from afar. I think the energy in the building seems good. Obviously the turf's not ideal. We've got questions in the chat about a roof. I don't know. That's a huge question mark though.

Whether it's because of schedule change or not. You have teams that can't host games to start the year because of weather and I don't know how Vancouver would figure that out and I don't know what you'd end up having. And then the last piece of this is it is a slight move in terms of location. And so it would probably change the fan base slightly. It moves you more suburban and less downtown,

but you could then try and push yourself even harder in those areas and try and get that fan engagement, you know, in that suburbs, in the Bunbury area, like all that type of stuff, rather than being in the downtown area where the stadium I think sits in a really cool place. But short of knocking it down, you're not going to have another building in that exact same place. So it is all really promising because it does really open up the door to this being a long term fix and being able to keep the team in the market as it deserves.

And then you put it on the back, as you said, of like an unbelievable season. They waxed Colorado this weekend. Once again, it's not getting results. They are outplaying their opponents in every single game and they're doing it against some of the best teams in the world or in the region. They did it against Monterey. They did it against Pumas quite clearly. The opportunity exists for them. They go on the road at 1-1 in the second leg of Cocktaff Champions Cup. The way goals are in effect. So right now they 100% need to score. They could tie at 1-1 and go to penalties or go to extra time. They could tie at 2-2 and win the whole thing.

Anything past that, but they do need to score a goal because of the Cocoa Carrasquilla goal laid on. I have not seen anything from them since that game that makes me worried about that. Sabi got a goal this weekend, which I thought was really cool for them. They continue to look dangerous. They continue to play their style and push the game.

The question is just travel altitude. How long can you can sustain it? And I think you're probably looking at a situation where you want to have scored in that opening 35 minutes to be able to at least play from that point of strength and not have to chase the game the whole time. Yeah. And another one to add on the list of, of worries or whatever, but but like how long can they do this without Ryan Gould I got some point like while

Teams can get by without their best player For all the nice things and all the great things we say about Ryan Gould and believe about Ryan Gould like at some point They're gonna be missing them and these big games You can be you can be Colorado you can play a game against around like an April MLS regular season game. It's fine. You can get by. It's all good. A concave champions Cup leg two on the road gets Pumas without Ryan Gould. Man, I would love this team in this situation with Ryan Gould on the field. Yeah, I haven't. I'm not going to doubt this team for a second given everything that they've done. And I do think that they can go to Mexico and get this result. Man, I would just feel much better about it if Ryan Gould was available

We haven't really seen Gould in this setup But the things we know about Ryan Gould are you assume at some point in this game You're gonna be against the ball You're gonna have to hit in transition because it's hard to play at altitude in Mexico City at a high level for 90 minutes And that's where Ryan Gould is the best on the team and he's one of the best in the league and that would have been a really nice feather in your cap and piece to have. Now in the possession game I think they can create enough chances without him when they step forward, when the numbers get high, when the fullbacks get into the attack, you know when Eddie Arcampo is flying forward and Vite comes inside and Nelson connects and like all of that I think will work but you can't do it in

Mexico for 90 minutes and it's the 30 to 45 minutes but you can't do it in Mexico for 90 minutes. And it's the 30 to 45 minutes that you can't do it where Ryan Gould would have been massive to have because of his exact skillset. And just like the quality of knowing you have your DP, you have your leader who can sort of carry you in tough moments. I think that's totally fair.

And I think we're gonna find out, but we have said it many times. Like if you want to set up Pumas away is not the hardest game you're going to get right now against the league mx opponent to put yourself in a semi-final against another MLS team and not have to go to Mexico a second time to make it to a concat final is like a huge opportunity and they continue to just play with confidence like you watch that Colorado game and Colorado's barely in the game. They couldn't get to Vancouver to press them, but yet Vancouver, you know, are going to

play in possession and Colorado, you know, are going to press and they were so fluid in their possession and they moved it so quickly and they're fluid enough in their movement in positioning. And so you have different players coming in and out of holes and gaps that Colorado couldn't get around the game and it was awesome to watch as exact type of performance you want to see going into this massive game. That game is going to be the first game on Wednesday night. So we have or second game sorry. So the final game of these quarterfinals that will be the game on Wednesday night.

We have LA Galaxy at T-Grace to kick off the quarterfinals later tonight. And then we have America at Cruze Azul at 0-0 as the second game. And then on Wednesday we start with LAFC at Inter Miami. And then we go to this Vancouver game. Tonight the game starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time I believe. USA Brazil women's national team game is at 10 30. So I am stoked. This is like the perfect setup for me. I So I am stoked. There's like the perfect setup for me. I'm not gonna lie. I love like a deluge of sports in my face. I love a big event. The open cup CCC thing was too much. I couldn't watch any of it. I ended up I wasn't stoked about that. It just I couldn't get locked into any of it. And so now tonight it's like

you get an hour and a half to watch galaxy if they're still alive I'm locked in with us on the second screen If not, you swap the screens you go in that direction So it's gonna be awesome and then the two games coming up tomorrow. I'm like out over the moon I don't know that I'll go to inter Miami because I want to watch the Pumas Vancouver game So I'm trying to decide there but for tonight tonight, the LA Galaxy go into this game at zero zero, again, away goals are in effect. So if the galaxy tie at any score line, not zero zero, they would go through and they were able to not concede at home against T-Grasse,

which is a bit of a compliment for this team. But to talk about the galaxy, we had a couple questions in the mailbag. So we're going to start with Jay Cascio here, here who says I'm an optimist about this Galaxy team but math just seems stacked against them at this point. How many more games can they go without a win before the playoffs are a pipe game? Right now probably need 1.7 points per the rest of the way to finish. Ninth it was followed up by a second question from one of our favorites who is currently named Greg Gordiola but has been named Greg Gany over the course of the time in our Discord who says, Greg Vanny's on the last year of his contract if the struggles of the galaxy continue and they miss the playoffs should the galaxy bring in a new manager and go in a different direction in 2026. It is not the ideal headspace

to be in going into a ConquerGraf Champions Cup quarterfinal But it is the reality right now for the LA Galaxy that these two questions sort of are more focused on how bad has it Got so let's start with the first one Yeah, the 1.7 points per game the rest of the way puts them on like 45 46 ish points and that makes sense Like when I was arena's 1.7. I was like that seems like a lot. Okay so where I'm sitting at and I'm gonna still be a little stubborn but we're getting to the point where this next four game stretch in MLS play I think is going to dictate what happens the rest of the season for this club. Home Houston at Austin, home Portland at Kansas City. If they come out of that without at least six points,

honestly, even more like you really, really start to get worried about the long term that the playoffs of the reigning champion LA Galaxy, we're seven games into the season. It's crazy. It's crazy to say, right? So that's on that one. And I'll pause that and let you dive into to where your thoughts but on the Vanny point they were in they have been in contract talks they want to extend they he wants to stay they were not close on contract expectations value length all that um Vanny's standpoint was I just won M1's cup I should be asking for everything or at least his camp I should say rather than putting it that on him because it's not like he's negotiating So that's the one end the galaxy side was yeah, and we would love to reward you

We want to keep you but you've also been here for four years and two of those years are very bad So maybe let's find some common ground. That's my that was my understanding of it coming into the season I'd tell you what Greg Vanny's negotiating point has not gotten stronger It's eroded pretty quickly So I don't know where things are as of today So that's gonna be one to watch and again with the contract being up at the end of the season I've talked about a Toronto. There's some interest in the winter man. There's some there's some interest in Toronto seeing if they could poach him So I don't know what to make of it right now

I'd still expect that they figure it out. But look, seven games winless to start the regular season. After you know, contract talks didn't get there over the winter after winning MLS Cup, right? The longer this drags on the more questions are going to be asked. So I think if we're if we're touching on that question, and the question was, should the Galaxy bring in a new manager and go in a different direction? My answer would be clearly no. In what you were just saying, I think there's a fair opening to say if Greg Vanny wants

to leave, he can. If he gets a bigger contract from a different team and he wants to go take on that project, that's fine. If I'm the LA Galaxy, I'm not in a rush to push him out the door. And if not everyone sat down together before the year started, and I feel strongly about this

because I said this to you a hundred times on this show of like, they should put Ricky Pooj on the season and the injury list, or accept the fact that it is not gonna be super competitive this year. But I also said every move they made in the off-season was to have a window over four years and not to win back-to-back MLS Cups. And that was the reality you were stuck in because of Ricky's injury and the timing of it, but like that's okay. So if you

sat down and had that convo before the year and then the results don't go your way immediately and you pivot from that, that is a bad way to manage a club. So you have to look at this and say what's our best chance of going back to MLS Cup and winning another trophy in this four-year span? And I think it's Greg Vaney being a part of this. I don't think the message has gotten tired. Greg Vaney's not very good at pivoting the team when they have major injuries. There are not MLS teams that are winning MLS Cups without a DP. So they could be better, but they were not going to be an MLS Cup favorite at this point

in the year. And then you add on to that, Payne still has been hurt, Yoshida is now hurt, Marco Royce has been hurt off and on. It has not been straightforward. They sold Jovovich right before the start of the season and like there can be questions and I think the contract stuff should probably land in a space of like we think this is where you're valued and that's fair of like not with the top end. He's not Wil Fernandes right? Wil Fernandes seems undefeated right now after selling Cucho Hernandez at the last second of the off season. I think Wil Fernandes is the best coach in the league. That's fine. That's fair to have. And you have other people who maybe you think the

importance to their team is high because it helps you recruit or it helps, you know, put you in a place that you need to be in, whether that's a Bruce Arena who now has two roles and whatever else and is trying to recreate a club and it's sort of built around him versus what Greg Vanni is. But like there's nothing about this team I think that should want to walk away from Greg Vanni as the head coach and I don't know who obviously would be the next to step up. So that would be my answer on that one. On the point side I don't love it because they don't really close the year. If you think like oh this team's gonna hit mid-August, right Ricky's gonna come back and that's when they're gonna be in their form. They don't really play

the teams at that point that I think they're going to be in direct competition with. So they kind of have to start to pull some points off teams now just to at least keep themselves steady. But I wouldn't be surprised with pain still back if it turns around and not in like a we're winning every game, but like we're getting wins and ties and not losses. Yeah so my only thing to quibble with in what you were saying was like for me MLS Cup is about just the probabilities being in your favor because it everything takes luck a little bit in a knockout type thing so with that being said no they're not gonna be favorite but if they can just not even tread water, just have a straw that's coming up from under the ocean, that they're not drowned by the time Ricky Pooch comes back that they can because they need to do whatever they could even just get under the cap to where they are Right now, but do do everything you can reasonably to just stay in the mix

Just give yourself hope just give yourself that like Ricky's get like again, like you said with paint So pecs gonna look better. He's been like he's been bad this season been very disappointed by Gabriel Peck We were talking 22 million whatever for a transfer fee after his incredible debut season, and I was spending the whole off season saying, yeah, maybe we'll see another side of him with more responsibility. The side has been bad, and I hope that that improves. I think it'll improve, but even just with Peck and Payne still back, they're going to be better. But I can't just keep saying that, whereas like maybe the time that they're both fit and firing together they'll have you know five points and will be 11 games

into the season and that might be too late. So it is really really important to get a three points against Houston this weekend at home. Like at some point you have to start winning games. There are one of three teams that have not won a game this season. The other two are Toronto and Montreal. Montreal often played a home game in constant disarray and Toronto don't feel like piling on them right now but they're not exactly a good team. Yeah it um there's still work to do with the Galaxy but I my hope is that the plan had some of this in it and so therefore you're not going to come off the plan. In terms of the matchup against T-Gres

it's not the worst matchup in the world because T-Gres will let the Galaxy play in possession and so if the Galaxy are bold enough to try and step their lineup and play the soccer they want to play like they should have a lot of the ball they did in the first leg. They have not been super threatening in the final third and that's been their problem and Tris normally whether it's Ibanez or of course Jiniak for years whoever it is, Cordova, whoever pops up have match winners in big moments but if you're the galaxy the only path through to get this victory especially if Yoshida is out is having most of the ball and therefore trying to dampen their threat in your possession and I think that opportunity exists in this game, which is as good as it's gonna get for the galaxy. I will also say, they knock off Tigris here.

That is your, sort of your out to be like, oh, we made a CONCACAF Champions Cup run. We went to a semi-final. Maybe you contend, Cruisers All in Club America. Maybe you contend in the semi-final. That is sort of, we've talked about it with Open Cup in the past of like, this is another avenue to sort of get some confidence in the club and make people feel better and get fans off your back and whatever and so that could be a lifeline if they're able to

get that result. Let's move to Wednesday. LAFC up 1-0 going to Miami so no away goal for Miami. So Miami needs to score at a minimum and then obviously you understand how it works from there. I just remind you away goals are in effect because we are very not used to it anymore and people get confused and get lost. I was stoked about this game last week. I thought it was really fun. I think we should expect the same this week. LAFC have quite honestly did not watch a ton of that Houston game with the look on that field That was not really soccer. So I was not super engaged in that and LAFC have had their ups and downs in MLS play But I think they looked good. I think there's a clear avenue to success. Jeremy Obobese probably still out

So you assume you're gonna see Nathan Ordaz Against my guy Falcone who I think I realized what happened there. I think what happened is I keep forgetting the I on Darmiani for Philadelphia. And so then I, and then I- There's still more to Darmiani. Well, I'm at this point, I'm just in the episode of Happy Days

with all of my South American players on my own. And so I gave Falcone, who I think deserves the eye, the way he's played, the way he's played, he deserves that eye in there. In this household, we call him Falcone and he's a hero. I'm stoked about this game still. I think it's going to be so much fun. I think there's a conversation to have about if Segovia is the right match with the 3DPs. Basically, I think Segovia has looked better when Messi's not been there and I

think Allende's looked better when Messi has been there because Allende is more of a finisher and a runner. Segovia wants to come inside and play and it seems to crowd numbers a little bit but either way this is an Inter Miami team that's gonna create enough chances. And the question is just last gas defending and if LAFC can be dangerous on the other way. Exactly. I think this is going to come down to, like, I'll give a shout out to Doyle for his weekend

wrap up and he wrote this a couple of times, so maybe that's why it's fresh in my head. But this might honestly just come down to did ball go in for a Denny Belong a transition it's a kind of opportunity there will be chances whether he either finishes makes the right decision somebody else does if if LFC get a goal this makes it much more difficult for into Miami because then they have to score three they were very very capable of doing so but LFC are also very capable of making a game really difficult really frustrating and that I think that's gonna be the

difference as if LAFC can get that goal and there will be chances so that's what I'm watching how are they gonna handle Boulanga in in transition they I don't think that they're gonna do this but they've done this like against Columbus a few times they tried to put belong on the other wing because of Stephen Marrera. Yeah. So the idea here and again, Ching Azunda could do this as well or David Martinez or whoever's starting on that right wing spot, but Boulanga as like a go ahead, Jordi Alba, go forward. Go ahead. I'm going to stand up here still. And then when you guys lose the ball, they're going to be playing me through.

So I think that's something to watch again I don't think that they're gonna do it but David Martinez would be a better fit than Chang as under in that regard It's just tough because Belonger wants to finish on his right foot and in those moments you assume he's by himself Yes, and if he can't get to a right foot to score from that angle Do you lose the threat or is him running in enough of a threat that everyone panics and drops on him and like it probably still matters. It's a really good idea and it's something I would hope that it's like, all right, let's see 10 minutes, right?

At the 15th minute mark, we're under pressure a little, let's throw Blanga on that right side now. Let's see what Alba does. Let's see how it works, but you probably don't do it from the start. But like that's really the only few little questions in there for this LAFC team because it feels like the rest of the team picks itself for the most part. And like I think LAFC is a good scrambling defensive team. I think they get numbers around the ball pretty quickly because of their athleticism in central midfield at center back and are able to react to a

lot of those situations that Inter Miami puts you under. And so it's like, can you get a goal? Can you find that chance and find that ability? And like, Buonga has to be 2023 MLS Cup playoff Dennis Buonga. That's the only scenario, which is he will get 0.75 of a chance and he'll finish it. And that's what happened in Seattle that year. And that's what happened the whole run. If that's not the case, I don't see a path for them to get through. It was kind of the case for Toronto this weekend, which was like a really weird game. And it takes us to our weekend of MLS stuff to talk about before we finish up.

That was a fun game to close on. Toronto played like it was MLS Cup. They tried. They were good. They were legitimately good. They were legitimately good, but it was just effort. It wasn't like, oh my god, what flowing play, what possession. It was like, oh wow, they're throwing themselves in front of tackles. They're throwing themselves into the play. They are taking risks. Even Bernadesi going for the Olympicos was like, okay, you're trying to put the other team under pressure.

Shout out to Rosted and Gomez who were unbelievable in this game, like throwing themselves everywhere. Is it sustainable? Is it repeatable? Those are the questions that the people will be asking. The last time that Toronto and Miami played each other, we got one of the quotes, the passive regressive quotes of the year from John Herdman talking about Insinia, you know,

he couldn't give us a lot of minutes, but you know, yeah, he ran pretty quickly right after the final whistle to get Messi's jersey though, and just kind of like giving him crap. I was surprised to see him in the starting lineup. I know that they're strolling so much for creativity or anything and like here. Yeah, go ahead There's a couple moments where I was like, did he almost press? alright, but I was still watching a little more in the first half were like

Like and see they just pointed to like the goalkeeper or like a center back that wasn't moving and like Bernadette He's kind of like press and he was well my mom man's right here and I'm like, I'm gonna lose my mind watching this There's a moment where he's like in possession on the right sideline in their own defensive third I think it's the first half but maybe it was the second half. Little roulette. And and he wants to draw a foul So the play's over and he doesn't get fouled So then he just stops and then he turns and looks at the ref and like Miami's in on goal at that point And it's like Come on

It's repulsive don't come play pickup with me cuz don't even know what I'd be saying at that point He I think in this whole thing. He still didn't try like no didn't even I still don't see him and yet They still got their own result at my hair I was gonna make a job to text you guys like at some point in the first half would be like I am dying to see the like Endurance metrics like has he made a high intensity run once and then there was a point in the second half Where the broadcast was like, you know, he's Lee the leader in distance covered this game. I was like dude There's no way that's possible. And then I was like, well all the other central like there was you, you know, eight substitutions. It's like, all right, well, he's got the 15 extra minutes. But I was like, even still, bro, like, I don't doubt that that that is the stat, you know,

maybe we can quibble with the stat provider that we both know is that great. But I what I'm saying is even even if I don't doubt that that's true, the eye test wouldn't let my brain be like, no, that's true. It was like, I don't care what the numbers say. I don't doubt that that's true the eye test wouldn't let my brain be like no, that's true It was like I don't care what the numbers say. I don't care what the fact if this is factual I don't as like this doesn't add up I refuse like my brain and get over it and then there was the 3v2 break in like the 80th minute where the clear Pass for a goal scoring chance was to the left to Bernadeski and he played it to the right I think it was to the new signing Dominguez Yeah, yeah, and that was like what his second touch after the first one Yeah, and it and he played it into a cul-de-sac. Yes, there was nowhere

He was going in that spot and it blew up the attack and it was like, hmm Cuz they do interchange a decent amount they do play off each other It is kind of like whether they like each other or not off the field when they're playing they're kind of like we're kind of in this together but that was one of those moments we were like what else is going on here and If he plays that pass correctly and they win 2-1 like what is the feeling when you leave? We have a question about the penalty kick at the end I don't know I didn't get to see a replay because we watched messy walk up the tunnel for five minutes

Then we watched Insigne high five with the Moss brothers for 10 minutes. So I don't know if it was a penalty or not. I never really got to it. My favorite moment from this game came in pregame. MLS Countdown was interviewing Federico Bernadeski. Bradley Wright Phillips is starting a question and he's trying to ask a question of like, hey, like you're the most important player, the best player on this team. You know, what is that responsibility? You know, Hey, you guys haven't had a win. Like it was like, it was a, going to be a very good question. Um, and he sets it up with like, you know, when I watch you guys, you're the best player, I think you're the best player on the team.

And as Bradley's like about to like, ask the question, like Bernadette, he just goes, thank you so much. Like you're better than Insinia. Like we need to stop. It is, it's one of theinia. We need to stop. I'm like, it's fair. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. It's one of the weirdest. The whole thing is bizarre. It is absolutely bizarre the way this whole thing has come out.

Great goal by Breda Despy. But your hope would be... Great goal. But yeah, unbelievable goal, unbelievable move, the chaos at the end. I mean, the play early when they had five times. Oh my God. They got cleared off the line, hit the post, all that type of stuff. Then the

Olympico chances at the end, the big opportunities at the end, the PK claim, all of that. Your hope is Robin Frazier comes back, puts the tape on and goes, if we play like this, we've got chances. And so I'm fascinated to see what it looks like this weekend for TFC, as well as for Sporting Kansas City. They got their first win in 13 matches in all competitions and obviously the first game without Peter Vermeese as head coach in 15 years or whatever it is and carries of Agnes first as head coach over st Louis so a little bit of a rivalry game we talked about it like could this be that lifeline like I just talked about the Galaxy of like a larger Bigger than just three points. They had the opportunity,

they get the two late goals from Jovalich. I had my weekend recap written up so I can just read and say, to me, it's Manu Garcia. That's the one who made this game. He sets up Jovalich's first goal. He's dangerous on the half turn. He slips this pass to his right where both defenders are coming from and they think they

have it closed down. That plays it through for Jovovich to his right foot where he's able to finish from even if it's a wide angle. And then the second goal is an unbelievable first time shot from Garcia but it's off the crossbar. And then Jovovich is able to bundle it in and like you don't have to be great because they weren't great in this game. Neither is St. Louis.

But they were finally able to get the breaks go their way. And in a week when you're trying to reset things, that's just what you need. Exactly. And that's a good point. St. Louis were wasteful with their chances. They've struggled mightily in attack. Part of that is, Toytard's been injured, no Edward Leuven. They've been a little bit in and out with their best 11 or potential best 11, but the other part of it is Olaf Melsberg's insistence on playing

every single center back in defense of midfield that he can possibly find and put them at wing back and wherever. But they were wasteful. And I don't even really care because for Kansas City, whether I wouldn't call this result lucky, but it could have went the other way. And that doesn't matter in any way because this was about resiliency. This was about putting together like the first step without Peter Vermeese. Carries of Agnan had a quote after the game about like, you know, these guys for the first time in a long time, like they like they, you know, we're not going to lose this game, which was interesting to me because I never, it's not like I ever really felt like, you

know, Vermeese really lost the locker room or whatever, but, you know, who knows. But I do think it's that thing we say, which is like, you can't fire the players, you can fire the coach. And as much as everyone's like, we want to win, every game matters. I think the, the microscope shifts where it's like, you are, if you lose this game, it is firmly what's wrong with you. And it's not, is Peter Vermeer making our decisions? Is it too long?

And I think that does change the experience for the players. Yeah, I think that's a great point too. And again, we'll see. I still don't think there's a playoff team. Maybe I'm gonna be wrong, but. No, I don't think so either. One point to look at is that first goal in particular, Manu Garcia, really nice little slip through

ball to Daniel Vlitsch goal. That is what modern investment and recruitment can get you in Major League Soccer. This is their second and third highest paid transfer fees in club history. They we said, like, I'm not gonna repeat everything we said from, you know, for me, even but like, that's still my contention. It was less about coaching and more about this team doesn't have enough top quality players and they haven't consistently enough refresh the group or You know put in that type of like financial ambition or even scouting ambition, right? Like again, you don't need to spend ten million dollars every single window or every single year on a single player whatever Right, but like it's not too much to ask to get a day on Jovovich or Mandukasija

Or just do it more than once every Kind of four-year one window every four years. So I think that's encouraging because Like those I still think that those two players are really really good signing They still don't have a defensive unit and maybe Zvagnin can scheme up something that can help paper over cracks and get you towards a playoff chase But that's kind of where I was like with with the with the resiliency and those two players stepping up in school and playing well. The goal comes at a point when Radoja has come on but not as the six Bartlett still playing the six Jake Davis goes to right back who's also coming inside and it feels like

as much defensive support as you're going to have centrally as you possibly can write like a right back who is happy to be inside is naturally a center mid with a guy who's been out of position, played the six, playing as the eight and then an genuine true six on the field and maybe that's a solution out of it. And I like what I've seen from Jensen Miller at center back. So I think that's also something that you should like. I will start this rumor myself with no connection to anything, but if I'm supporting Kansas City, if I'm FC Dallas, if I'm... Give me

another one. If I'm Houston maybe, I am calling Charlotte and being like, is Andrew privative starter? And if he's not, how much does that cost? There's just no chance. I can tell you. I'm just saying, didn't start this weekend and all these teams are absolutely Desperate at the center back. They would say what do you think about bill to them? I Would say I've heard of him and I look forward to watching him play for your team in the future and not That was a fun combo we should do more That was a fun combo. We should do more of these. No, role playing. Spicing up David Gunn.

Yeah, we... Get a little... I'll come in, I'll play this character, you'll play this character. Well, maybe next time we'll wear outfits. And that can change things up a little bit. Other... some other big stories from the weekend? San Diego Man. Do you want to read word for word we have written down? I don't think legally I'm allowed to.

But in the... in the vein that we just Area I wrote San Diego fuck this team can play they smoked Seattle with a second three goal first half after LAFC this weekend Watching them play through the press is so bold. It's rising to erotic level entertaining That feel so bold it's rising to erotic level entertaining. How did that feel? I'm not gonna be scared. Are you sweating? I'm not gonna be king shamed at this point in the show. We're an hour and 20 minutes in. If you're still listening to this, you've got a bigger problem than I do. Watching them play to their centerbacks on the edge of the box get pressed then play in to their six centrally to build from there is unbelievable. Seattle could never even get high enough to close them down because the second line of players didn't feel comfortable pressing up against the wingers

and that's where the outlet then came if you needed it and San Diego is so bold in the way they play. They played through it the whole game. And to do it now in backs back weeks against LAFC and Seattle, like they're both off to slow starts in MLS, at some point, this is it. They've beaten everyone. So you can't do a like, oh, I can't wait till I see them play into Miami and MLS Cup. OK, I think at that point, it's been a pretty good expansion,

yeah. No, they've been unbelievable. Saverikov has been so, so good. Valakari. I think has been really good Particularly like when he's playing as like a false nine, which isn't his main role Anders Dreier has been the star for me in the attack and then while we're all talking about that Guess what you could as on a going to assist just dominant in this game It's like, oh, yeah, like that's that's what we also have in the bag. So my big questions coming into the season were about

the I guess the midfield in transition, but more so if Hey, we're gonna play out of the back. We're gonna make mistakes Is it gonna be disjointed particularly early in the season for an expansion team? Is it gonna be like laughable not like laugh? Well, you know what I mean? Like it's really easy when things go bad when you play out of the bag It's really easy clip and make fun of because it looks stupid What is that gonna look like what's gonna happen? Well, they made a few mistakes and they don't care and then like I felt pretty good that they were gonna be

Like you know like you said hey if you get punched in the face Then what are you gonna you know you're gonna like I didn't think that they were gonna do that But I thought that there's gonna be more growing pains. There hasn't been it's been really really impressed I think that there's so so much credit due to gonna be more growing pains. There has been. It's been really, really impressive. I think that there's so, so much credit due to Mikey Vars and that coaching staff to get this team playing like this so quickly in an expansion season. Obviously the front office or some of the players, particularly Anders Dreier, like again, you and I could have said, Hey, Truckey Lozano, that's a pretty good idea. But a guy like Anders Dreier, like that, that's

a freaking excellent signing. Severikov, like again, he comes from from Mitchell and so there's help there. So they knew him like Tyler Heaps knew like from right to dream before San Diego, like obviously knew him very well. So they felt good about that. But like even looking at some of the lineups that they're having, like their back line looks almost nothing like what I expected it to in preseason. And the one of my worries was depth that center back like for most teams well Chris McVey's been very good. Patti McNair has been like uh somebody who can you know anchor a back line like yeah just somebody Godoy we've talked plenty about of like I thought he was going to be an

important rotational piece of this team well he's an important key starter and he's been really good he um he will be very attractive to the next expansion team because clearly Anabelle Godoy loves to get up for expansion season. So wherever it ends up being. Head coach of the Las Vegas MOS expansion club. Yeah. But yeah, as you said, they've been really impressive. The spine is really impressive.

It's a huge part of what they've done. Seattle had their chances in the first half, right? Like you said, the mistakes that were made, there was opportunities. I don't like Mnungu at center forward. I think it takes away the thing he's a lead at, which is one v one capability because he needs some space to operate and having a defender on his back already or turning centrally with multiple numbers around him. He didn't see the best of him. Jesus Ferreira just looks lost. Like he wasn't even running off the ball in this one. It was an Insigne-like performance from him. And like,

this is not a knock on the signing. I thought the move made so much sense. They got a DP level player for a non-DP, but he had a bad year last year and he's got to find a way to be effective if he's not in pure confidence and working hard off the ball and helping close down and press. That's the way that you do it. And that was Seattle's outlet for this game. And if he had gotten tighter and been quicker to his man, maybe you create chances or quicker when they want it back to get into the attack.

Maybe that's where they're able to create chances and score. It 20, that's just not enough. The whole thing was pedestrian from him. It was like shocking that it was Jesus Ferreira. And that's scary for this team because of the situation they've been in. Where like on the flip side, give me 6% of Paul Rothrock's effort

inside of Jesus Ferreira. And like, we're talking Ball and Door at this point. So there's levels to this and that's somewhere that they need to go. As Seattle continues to try and find their feet in league play. Minnesota continues to hate the ball and love winning. So they won 2-1 at NYCFC. They scored a goal in the second minute. They're up 2-0 in the first half. And then Keaton Parks gets the late goal for NYCFC trying to fight back. But Minnesota, they are lethal in transition. This conversation will I think get stronger as

the year goes along of like if you don't have any of the ball, can you control playoff games enough to dictate the terms? And if not, this is where you get into like energy drink soccer, the struggles we've seen in the playoffs because you don't set the tone always in games and you can't decide the way it's played where Columbus will always make it a Columbus game because of the way they play soccer and what they do. I still love a lot of this from Minnesota. I think a lot of it's repeatable. I think the individual talents there, it's the central play. I think Joaquin Pereira, there's like huge up and downs in his performances. And I think that's

affected Ludd and that's affected a lot of the possession. But what a great starting point for this Minnesota team to be tied for second in the West right now and like still growing as a group. Yeah, 34% possession so far this season, which is very, very low. I don't have the same worries about this Minnesota team and maybe because I think that they have a very high floor. There's so much to like. There are gonna be questions about, can this be the MLS Cup winning thing? Can you do this?

You can control game with field tilt and everything else or everything. The first and long pass percentage, like share sorry like there the amount of passes they go forward first and attack speed second and direct attacks all of this stuff like like you said it's kind of about control and how can they control things like field tilt they're actually second last right now in MLS in the early part of the season so I guess I'd like to see that as like a little bit of evolution from them but I don't want them to lose the core of what they have

kind of structurally what they have in transition and what they have And like we know one speed go Yeah I'm just gonna off the rails here hit you with so Minnesota tied for second San Diego dominating We've already talked Vancouver in this show Columbus are undefeated right now without Cucho Who is your coach of the year if you had to vote today? Columbus are undefeated right now without Cucho. Who is your coach of the year if you had to vote today? Coach of the year after seven games in just the sources.

I'm just saying, is it a hundred percent? No question. A hundred percent after seven games. It's a fascinating one because I think what we've learned is like if you can do it with an expansion team it's pretty impressive. Yeah. Other people have to do more, but feels like Manse is proving that he is a better coach than maybe we even knew at this point. Eric Ramsey is kind of working with a lot of new pieces in a new way.

So this is gonna be an interesting, if this season goes this direction, it's gonna be a fascinating one and it's probably gonna end up being like top of the Western Conference is coach of the year So Columbus another 2-1 win for them Remaining undefeated along with Miami at the top of the Eastern Conference and we had a Celebration of the 30th season of Major League Soccer this weekend San Jose showed up DC lost their invite did not arrive

To the stadium and they lost like six to one they have conceded 12 goals in a three game span and have looked like the worst team in MLS after a four game undefeated streak i think to start the year not a lot of wins not a lot of great matchups in there but still better than what it's been and i don't really know where this dc team stands know where this DC team stands? Um, below the playoff line? That's, like, that's... I don't know, man, like... ...

The way that they're playing, it's just naive at this moment. It's a team that consistently last season was not good enough defensively, and kind of, like, they changed the system from the back three to more forward to back. Um, I just don't And he kind of like they changed the system from the back three to four at the back

I just don't understand why they're playing the way that they do and conceding six goals and Ole Miss San Jose like They're they're already the most goals conceded this year 70 goals conceded last year's third most in league like it was a credit to Christian Menteke for keeping them within the Playoff race until then but that hasn't been addressed so far this season through whether it's personnel or coaching decisions. So I don't know, man. I don't know what there is to say because I think we know what they are. This is what they are. You know what normally goes well in front of a firing squad?

A young international goalkeeper who has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He looked absolutely defeated. I think it was like the fourth goal or the fifth. I don't know what it was He just collapsed onto the ground and couldn't believe it was two players coming in unmarked on him Like it was wild on the flip side San Jose top-scoring team in the league right now So really fun start for them again. Don't know what the matchups have been whatever This is a team that has lost these games For them, again, don't know what the matchups have been, whatever, this is a team that has lost these games.

So for them to turn things around and have a set style and to have all of these attacking pieces having fun and confident and all that type of stuff, I still think they're soft centrally. That was the other team on my Andrew Pervet list. I still think they're soft centrally in midfield and at center back, but they're stronger than they were. And there are avenues out of this for them because they're so dangerous in the attack, AKA they can load numbers in there.

They can bring in a third center back, they can play, more holding midfielders, whatever that is, because right now the front three or four, if you had Pellegrino in, are able to do enough work. Let's close out on another good question from our mailbag in Discord. And I love these questions that are game specific for us to come out of the weekend and sort of speak to

FC Dallas Evan says during the second half of the FC Dallas for Atlanta game Dallas looked like a completely different team Can you break down what they did tactically to change the game and the impact that? KK Read it. I didn't put it in this Did had on the game most pegged him as a long-term investment, but it seems like he's paying immediate dividends. Also, they are good on the road. Is this real or fake? On the Kaikei conversation, he looked unbelievable coming off the bench in this game. Also, they promoted him as a destroying central midfielder, and he's back out here throwing backheels in

central areas at Atlanta alongside Lucho Acosta, making Lucho look like he's the defensive midfielder and Kaikei is attacking and making things happen and being super fun. I will say in watching this game, it wasn't actually just the second half. Pretty much from Almi Rowan's penalty kick on, Dallas stepped their line higher, which pulled their fullbacks higher, which created possession in Atlanta's half of the field. If you look at the defensive actions, their defensive actions all were higher up the field, basically from the 32nd or 3rd minute on. So it was like credit to the team that it was something they were able to put in play in the flow of the game and they were able to play a little bit higher. The other thing I

really liked with Kaiike coming on and them changing is they brought in Kamungo and Anderson Julio. And I think right now, Dallas is at their best when the two outside players are genuine threats over the top, so Musa can drop in and play with his feet. He's too good in possession to sit high and just wait for other players to create for him. And while it probably hurts his goal scoring numbers, which I did check

I'm second right now in the golden boot race because I have I had a ton of petar musa stock. Okay. I'm second It's fine. Is it really your first? It's a four goal difference. It's not a huge number I think he's too good on the ball to only be high and so you saw as the game progressed He dropped in more, he starts to find Julio and Kamungo over the top. Leo Chu can do some of that, you just know he's not going to finish it. Like we're at the point on the Leo Chu experience where it's like there's zero chance that ball's going in the back of the net. There is a chance with Kamungo and Julio. And

so I'm fine trying to play that out a little more for Dallas of like, let's see what we have But I think at this point, it's pretty well known They need to upgrade just like individually at center back But they have already taken steps forward and I think it's real that right now It seems sixth in the east west and like I think that's real. I think they're in that Space I think they have enough confidence that they'll be in every game they play in, and they have the potential to go on the road and beat pretty much anyone in MLS. Yeah, but the frustration is that it hasn't been consistent enough at home yet. I think that'll come with time, and I think part of this is-

And weather? Yeah, so Treads of God is honestly not a bad game. They've played like a couple cold rainy games where there's disadvantaged verse the That's fair. But so like with Lucho and Petra Musa and that attack Like I'm always gonna kind of bet on that and what it's about is figuring out the structure around it I think your point on having runners around those two guys is very very good I do like Anderson Julio for this team like I Again, I don't know if he can if he's consistent enough to play 2,600 minutes, but I think

it's really important the vertical threat he gives and, like you said, more of a hope that and more of a fear that he's actually going to score or make something happen with that chance. So I'm going to bet on this team for those, again, with Musa and Lucho as a starting point, and I'm betting that they're gonna figure out the details around it. Yeah, if Kaikei plays like this though, they've not had a piece centrally that can control the game. And it also unleashed Lucho to then be also a runner

because he kind of could leave that central area more often. And we've seen Lucho kind of be more of a finisher on this team because of the interchange with Musa than not. Atlanta by the way it still doesn't look good like they do not have a clear identity of how they play they cannot play without Muiumba in central midfield because they're too easy to play through then when they play with him they're not dangerous enough. Latte Loth looked really good in this game but like all of that was individual stuff none of it comes through the flow of the game They've needed a ball winner since Lorena with retired. Yeah

They just haven't gotten just unretired Jeff. Thank you Jeff wants to come back TST style. I mean like I like when it's fortune and Sleesh or fortune and click like or you know The the click sleese I like it in theory but watching it play out Not enough bite. There's not like they're both very very good players I don't think that they work in a double pivot and it was fine to make the move because Click was so cheap that like whatever it's a death. Yeah

Yeah, you're the assumption is not both them will be available the whole year, but they don't work together and no one else is elite alongside them. And that keeps them a step back. But I don't think you can watch the talent on this team and then watch the San Diegos of the world and all that and be like, there's not enough there. There is. I just, I don't think this team has clear patterns

of play and possession to dominate games. And so then they get on their heels and they get on their heels way too quickly I don't think this team has clear patterns of play and possession to dominate games. And so then they get on their heels and they get on their heels way too quickly and they do it at home against teams that they shouldn't be. Part of that's Elmiroan. Like, Miggy likes being transition. He's not ball dominant in. It makes it harder for him to break down in the final third.

But I, there still needs to be more of an idea for this team of what they want to be and what they want to do. For us here at SoccerWise, we know what we want to do. We want to keep talking about all of this stuff. I'll be back with Jordan tomorrow to help break down the US Women's National Team games, preview the weekend coming back for NWSL from the international break. We'll be back on Thursday to talk everything we saw on CONCACAF, keep updates on all of these stories going on around the league, and preview the weekend.

So thank you to all of you for watching live, thank you to all of you for listening, and we'll talk to you again very very soon.