SoccerWise - La Liga Transfers & Travel, Philly-RBNY lovefest & Colorado Legends

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

La Liga is headed for our shores in more ways than one so David and Tom are here to talk about it all. They discuss what this means for soccer in America & potential transfers to Spain. They also break down the big doubleheader week of Philly vs Red Bulls & Colorado's soccer legends.8:40 La Liga Moving Games To The USA17:25 Ice Cream Shop Starting With Alex Freeman 21:45 Tani Oluwaseyi Potential La Liga Move25:20 Santi Moreno Moves To Fluminense33:00 Orlando & Seattle Win BIG42:00 Sonny Make His MLS Debut46:30 Philly Vs New York Red Bull Week1:01:30 Colorado 5-a-side

Hello everybody, and welcome back to soccer-wise, your favorite show, talking all things, MLS, NWSL, USL, national teams, Canadian championships, everything else under the sun. And apparently, being U.S.-based, we also are a main LaLiga source, which we will talk about, coming up as this show goes along. David Goss and Tommy Scoops back with you, Tom. How you doing? I'm doing good. I feel like your intro there started off like pretty low, low in voice and a little bit

low energy. And I think by the third word, you were back to normal. Boom. It was just great watching a little warm up and just the elite ones getting right to that level very quickly. It actually wasn't. It was all tactical like Buscettes to draw you in. The whole thing was a faint. And then I explode past you.

For anyone who has been following this show, and anyone who does that, thank you, in general, by the way. And anyone who's new, I don't know how you got here, but we're glad you're here. And anyone who has friends who they think would like this show, please send it to them. But if you were around last week, you'd know that I stumbled through a week on my janky computer because I poured a cup of coffee across my laptop.

Luckily, with the coverage that I have, I was able to get it fixed. It took about a week. So I received my laptop last Thursday evening, which is after we do all of our live shows so I wasn't able to be a part of that. I reset up my laptop over the course of night like the night it reloads

and red downloads all your information and all that type of stuff. I woke up the next morning, working perfectly, closed it, walked outside, drove my wife to work, parked the car, walked into a coffee shop, ordered a coffee and a pastry, sat down, opened my computer,

and the person bringing the coffee stumbles and pours the cup of coffee across my laptop. you called me and told me this and I was like this is a joke like I was like there's no way that this is real and you were like dude I'm gonna lose my mind like it was that it was that level of rage where you're talking just like concisely calmly and quietly you're like I'm gonna lose my mind and I'm like oh that's the scared that's much scarier than you screaming at me it is scarier it was that was post despondent for a while I sat in the coffee shop with the laptop flipped over so that it could leak out sitting next to me while I just sat there staring forward and like for an hour kind of did nothing. Then you go through these things where you were like, has this happened my whole life and I don't notice? Is this avoidable? Like what is happening? And I have a cup of coffee right here, which I just realized my, the thing that I had decided was that I would never have coffee

near my laptop. Didn't last very long. Luckily this time it was better. I went back to the Apple store. The person working at the Genius Bar. was the same person. Season tickets, bro. Season tickets. Where did I get my punch card? This is my seat. Excuse me.

Can you kick that guy out of my seat? I was sold after the 12th visit. I get a free Frosty, so I think I'm kind of close at this point. The guy comes over and he goes, I recognize your face. I know you. And like, I don't know, it's in the middle of downtown Miami. It's a pretty crowded place. I go, yeah, man.

I'm the coffee guy. He goes, oh, right. I go, and boy, do I have a story for you. I open the laptop. He goes, why does it smell like coffee again? And I'm like, no. It was wild, dude. It was wild.

But we have been hanging on, okay? So right now, I'm feeling a little bit better. And we can rock and roll with our next show. I'm excited for this one. It is our last show together this week. Because for the second half of this week, you are going to my favorite place in all of America. Do you want to tell the people what you're doing?

Yeah, I'll be in Yellowstone for my wife's 30th birthday. Flying out tomorrow, I can't wait. I was joking that I figured the over-under was like night one for me to be on Zillow being like, babe, come on. Like, there's a plot of land. Like, look, we don't have the money to really buy that, but definitely don't have money to, like, build a house there. But, like, we should just get it now, like, trying to talk her into that.

Oh, you could scoop anywhere. I'm already on Zillow. Like, today. I have not gone there yet, and I want to live there now. I would like for it to be stated on this show And we will get back to this next week We are a Grand Teton's based show We acknowledge the history of Yellowstone

The vastness of Yellowstone But we are super fans of Grand Teton As you get there, you'll understand That's basically like us saying like The U-17 team is the best U-17 team in the country So that's our team Basically when I was a Red Bulls 2 fan Never a Red Bulls 2 fan

That's actually what's happening Only 80s show sir But I can't wait I can't wait I've already sent to Goss and like a price point for two bedroom Maybe we get a little soccer-wise split action going on there And yeah I'm all in I can't wait And I learned how to use bear spray today

Just right because my thought was like You hit it you come up put your fists up With a little two piece, a little left jab, right hook And like we're good What you want to do is keep your right hand away from your chair what I learned Ron McGill I learned this from the Dan Levitard

show with Stu he's the Miami Zoo the guy who runs the Miami Zoo he's awesome he's like he's like dude you stand up

put your arms and go go hey bear hey bear and I'm like I don't even really think that that's gonna work for me at 5 foot 7

and then watching the like the bear spray thing the guy's just like casually he's just like yeah look can't put it in your bag

because people think that they'll have time you're not going to have time and I was like that's concerning and he goes you think

you're going to have time you're not If a grizzly bear's running at you And then I was like, if a grizzly bear is running at me, bro, it's over. I'm not 100%. I'm going to go, oh, my God. Like, I'm going to go, oh, God, oh God, oh, God. And then that's it.

Like, so it's like, now I know how to use this spray. That I'll have to buy when I get there. I'm sure that the surcharge will be very high. But I'll just tell my wife, I got it. And then hope that we don't encounter a bear. This is actually very timely because for our 50 states of soccer this week is Colorado, which is in a similar territory to this. We will get to our Colorado soccer players.

when we get later in the show, which we will start bringing up some names to get to our five aside, which we'll complete on Thursday on our live happy hour at 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kickback Committee YouTube page. We interviewed Marcelo Balboa because his number is being retired by the Colorado Rapids this week. He talked a little bit about Colorado soccer and all the vibes. He is also the nicest human being on the planet. So you should go listen to that interview. Susanna Fuller, my co-hosts on that show, and then we've got rotating cast alongside us. this week it was mark anthony k making his debut on the committee and there was actually a really fun conversation i had to ask cello like old players are bitter why are you not bitter and what's going on

and in that convo he actually sort of posed it to mark anthony k about his experience and it was really cool to sort of just be on a fly on the wall uh for some of that convo so you can go listen to that show as well but in all of this i went to grand titan back in 2021 i think and i drove up with my in-laws from Colorado was like an eight-hour drive epic and when we got there my wife found out about bear spray and bears and danger and all of that spent the rest of the trip obsessing about it so we bought a large amount of bear spray and then when we were approached by a bear me and my brother lot completely forgot about all of the things we had talked about and we stood there and said oh whoa how cool that bear is running towards us until right as it got to us that's when we realized and

it almost crossed the street. A car honked. The bear ran the other way. And that's when I realized that I do not react well in nature situations. And it was a learning experience for me. So Tom, learn from my lessons or don't. Either way, I look forward to talking about all of this next week when you get back. We will be back next Tuesday because Tom is traveling on Monday. So we will bring you all your updates. Otherwise, it will be a testimonial show in honor of Tom, which I am happy to host and I will put together the normal cast of characters. Maybe I'll do it live from Jersey Shore. Maybe I'll travel in your honor. Yeah, that'd be beautiful. I'll sit on the beach just drinking Miller lights and just talking about the heydays of Tom and all the great things that

he did. Let's get into our show. We've got a lot of topics to discuss, but we're going to start on the news in my neck of the woods here in South Miami, or South Florida in Miami, in which the Spanish Federation's given its approval to a request from Barcelona and Villarreal to play a league match in Miami this season. So the RFEF executives voted to allow it to move forward so far. That does not mean it's done. Villarreal are due to host Barcelona on match day 17 in La La Liga, which would be December 20th, which is interesting because the Miami Dolphins, who suck, are hosting a game on December 21st. I assume that that's the better direction

because you don't need a ball to roll as flat for football as you do for soccer. But either way, I find that an interesting moment that will be occurring at Hard Rock Stadium. Somehow, I guess because soccer has ties, you could have four losers in the same building on the same weekend. This now has to move forward into UEFA.

The request goes to UEFA to begin procedures. And then all of this obviously is existing under FIFA, who has authorized this to be allowed coming off of the court case between relevant sports, FIFA, and U.S. soccer that was closed just a few months ago. So we don't know how this will actually end, but the idea right now is that La Liga, working to be able to play regular season games in foreign countries. And the first one they would do is here in the United States, in the cash cow, that is Miami. Tom, I wanted to sort of cover this for us. And I think with this platform, I think we've been able to like find unique angles to talk about a lot of these stories and try and bring some sense to it and whatnot. I talked to a couple of people about this and they all came back with the same thing. There is no deeper thing to cover here.

This is a money crash grab. It is openly being done by by relevant sports and Stephen Ross's organization. here in Florida as well as, of course, La Liga, Barcelona, Villarreal, and everyone else involved. And that is the case of what's happening. They just want to be first. They want to have a chance to expand their brands to make more money outside of the country. My assumption with the date on this is it goes into the Christmas break, and therefore there is some time to travel back and sort of relax a little bit, which is what we see for the NFL, trying to schedule buy weeks on the back end of their England trips going forward.

but this is not a shocking occurrence. It's a little surprising maybe how fast it is. And I think it sucks. But I'm not the only one who thinks that. So here's your platform. How big does your god have to be? How many zero? Like, is there ever, is there a fictional number that somebody be like,

you know what, I'm good. I don't need to try to squeeze every single last penny, every single last dollar out of consumers and fans and everything. And it's always short-term, over long term, right? I don't think that this will make the game more valuable because the more you lose, the games that are local, the support of the local, like La Liga,

Bundesliga, Premier League, MLS, like, all these leagues, a lot of these leagues are like, the atmosphere is great. Every game matters, less to an extent, MLS, I should drop that from there because of the nature of the season and the playoffs, right? In La Liga, in traditional European leagues, you play every team home in a way. That has been the backbone of this sport

since its inception that it became, you know, professionalized, right? You play home and away, everybody plays the same schedule, whoever has the most points wins. And now Villarreal is going to have a home game in Miami because they're going to get a little bit more money. And it's just so disappointing. Across all industries, really, you can flatten this out. It's all great.

Everything is great. Like you said, there is no deeper connection here. Real Madrid put out a statement opposing it. And part of that, I think, is game. and ship because... It's the most endearing part of this whole thing. Perez and the La Liga president hate each other. Tabas, hate each other.

But listen, if Real Madrid are calling you out for being too greedy, you should probably go straight to hell. I don't think that that's... I don't think that that's an exaggeration. Like, Real Madrid, who tried to start the Super League and probably tried to keep it going, the Real Madrid team, like, this team is not... They are as profit-driven as any club in the world.

And they're like, hey, maybe we shouldn't do this because of the home field advantage and stuff. And again, maybe this is just a cover for, no, no, no, we want to control this. And we want more money. And it probably is because everybody sucks everywhere. I agree with you. I don't think there is any altruism in this, same as there wasn't for PSG when they were against the Super League. Like, PSG just thought that it was a more savvy political play for them to be on that side of things than the other side of things. I think it's a little funny that La Liga is first to this.

Like, I understand they are trying to find ways to take over the mantle from the Premier League and establish themselves best going forward. I think we're, like, approaching an NFL situation of, like, there are going to be 15 soccer teams that are relevant. Bars and Real Madrid are going to be two of them. Villarreal is never going to be relevant outside of Spain, and most of these teams won't. And in the end, I think the Premier League will be better off for this rule coming, you know, being allowed and, like, the ground that La Liga is able to break here, I think we'll end up

hurting them more than helping them in the long run, but no one cares, as you said. Nothing matters. Everyone's trying to make their own play. I think people wonder from our point of view, we cover MLS very heavily, we talk USL, we cover NWSL, like, what's the point of view there? I think it hurts all of those entities. I think it's all of their own faults. Any moment that the Premier League or La Liga or Bundesliga or the Champions League, UEFA, whatever,

impinges on soccer fans in the U.S., that's now at this point with all the work that's been done that's on those leagues they can choose to spend at a higher level they can choose to compete with these teams in different ways if they want to they have chosen not to and the door has been opened up for the number one product that they can push going away which is yeah you can see it on tv but you don't get to see it in person you don't get to see it in competitive environments i do think there is an element of the golden goose being killed same as there is with ticket prices in york or it's like oh can we promote ticket prices it's like right but you make billions off global viewing because people like the atmospheres they watch

and if you push those fans out it's not great that's the same here i don't know that most people tune in to watch a hard rock stadium football game and like i think the boca fan showed in club world cup like you can make it a cool atmosphere it can be fun one-offs but it's not what people really sign up for it doesn't have the history it doesn't have the connection um but we should I'll see what happens, I guess, I don't know, maybe I'll be there if it ends up happening. Maybe. Maybe I'll just go protest outside in Tom's honor. Picket fans. With that picket fans, a picket line.

No, like, so the only thing that I disagree with what you said when you're like, I'm surprised that this happened so quickly, your escalator so quickly, I'm surprised that Tigris and Monterey didn't try to play in Houston the day after the thing was passed. Like, Liga-Mekis are going to have so many, the Mexican national team plays more games in America than anywhere else in the world. Yeah, that's true. Is there going to be a limit to how many times Club America, Tigres, Chivas, whoever, play in America? It might, like, you know, we've talked about, hey, is League's Cup just a hard-binger for MLS and League Amici's combining to make, you know, some once or something?

Yeah. Or is it just League Amici's are going to play half of Chivas' home games in America? Now you got me on the idea of, like, do they just build a stadium in El Paso? Well, honestly. Does Tigress and Monterey just split a stadium in El Paso and go and play there? Yeah, we have a lot of questions. Murray says over on non-league MX games in the Rose Bowl. I don't know what the, yeah, this feels like the like NIL type of thing where it's like it will be the Wild West and then it will get tamed down and end up somewhere.

But we are in the space of like the NBA is going to start a league in Europe and NFL wants to put it as many games as they can. Why, yeah, why, you know, Euro League basketball, you know, they haven't had it of things, right? Like, like, why wouldn't we need to own everything everywhere always? Like, why wouldn't La Liga need to play here in League of Mekis and, you know, I'm sure Saudi Arabia are going to host a billion games and, and, and, and, or insert whatever country like yeah like why wouldn't everybody need to own everything right like why not

but it is called football so just remember that as it's happening to you so that's some of our thoughts on this thing that's happening it also ties into some of the transfers that are coming let's start in the ice cream shop we have one official move that you put out today but i think before we get there we're already on the la league of convo let's talk tanya o's shahy oh i thought you were going to Alex Freeman. But yeah. Oh, sorry. Yeah, let's do that one. Yeah, so Villareal, Alex Freeman, oh, the Villarreal leads the race, like, for personal terms, like, with Alex Freeman. Like, Alex Freeman wants to go to Villarreal, but, um. Because he wants to play in Miami, obviously. That's the dream. Um, but he also, like, he, so he has 18 months left on his Orlando contract.

They are not interested in signing a new deal. Uh, the club have a U-22 initiative contract extension offer on the table. That offers valid. They still hope that they're going to be able to sway him to extend that, doesn't look likely because I have a feeling Alex Freeman in his camp know what the number, you know, what the ballpark might be if he gets to sign for free, on a free transfer in 18 months at Villarreal. And again, that's a team that he sees his development going well. But he wants to stay in Orlando, at least for the next year. He's playing every single game. So the most ideal outcome is Villal Pay, you know, agrees a deal now. And he's loaned to Orlando or the deal doesn't go into effect until the summer of 26.

The longer this goes, the more likely it is that he just runs down his contract and leaves for free. So that's kind of where things are at. There are Premier League clubs that sources have told me, like, seriously in, and there would be bigger numbers, I'm assuming, you know, I'm not assuming, I know, than Villareal would be. But the player doesn't just want to take the highest offer somewhere else. It's like he likes the idea, they see the idea of the development and everything else with Villarreal. that seems like the most likely landing spot but again they haven't even bid directly to

Orlando everything has gone through intermediaries or the players camp right so that's kind of where Orlando is like they don't want to sell him on a cut rate deal but it's a tight rope to walk of well if there is no deal struck you're not going to get more in the winter if he doesn't sign a new contract it I think for Orlando we've talked about it already like the timeline is very obvious for them so their hope is to just get a little bit more I think play out of him and still get something on the transfer side. He's a special player, so it makes sense that clubs are looking at him with the way he has scaled his game already in thinking that he is capable of doing it going forward.

I think when you look at some of the signings in just the same position, it's been a pretty heavy one for MLS of outgoing players, Reggie Cannon, Sam Vines, George Bello, like, all these pieces. I think Alex Freeman's the best of all of them. For sure. I think he has the biggest profile. And I think he's already... Biggest is Brian Reynolds for me.

Yeah. And I think he's already... Sorry, Caleb Wiley, if we're talking like a left back. But like, right back to Pacific, this is the most talented potential exploiting. But he's more productive already than Brian Reynolds. Right, but Brian left at 18. Yeah, for sure. Or whatever it was.

But my point, but he ended up going for seven and a half million of Roma. Right. Like, so I think that's why Orlando are holding out, but like the contract situations were different. But again, like, I was just trying to emphasize Europe, but now we cut you off. So this is a great way of emphasizing it being a good teammate. I was trying to emphasize your point. point that like this this is the biggest kind of right back town coming out of the league since somebody who went to you know there was a bidding war between roma and eumences yeah and we said

it on the last i think when we talked about this the advantage for villarreal to signing him and loaning him back is that they get the deal done pre-world cup when his number could go up and the advantage for orlando is that they get something and still can have him play and i think for alex freeman it's being able to know what your future looks like so that you can plan and that it's not this unknown look at what happened to brian reynolds look at what's happening to Giorina, like you need to have a plan and have some stability, and I think that's the option for you. Real quick before we move on here is I went to close the article that I had open about the

Villarreal game, and it is a advertisement for NACA on FX, which is starring Eva Langoria, Reynolds Reynolds, Reynolds, and Rob Mack, who have taken over NACA similar to Rexham, Rexham, similar to Rexham. And I just would like to remind everyone that Orlando City. smoked that in the coxed team in the league's cup so if you want a superstar and a tv star his name is oscar pereja and if you call poppy maybe maybe you've got a shot at some viewership but otherwise get out of my face uh sticking with la liga uh Minnesota united have rejected a bid north of four million from a top half la lega club for Canadian international tani

Olosa, what I was told as bid just doesn't meet their valuation, rather than, like, you know, we're not going to sell. There is no, right? Like, so I think if the numbers got higher, they'd consider it. Obviously, they'd prefer to keep them for the winter, but they kind of understand what the situation is. And that's where things say, like Tanielosa, for, you know, north of $4 million, we'll see if another bid comes from this club, and there are two championship clubs that are interested in

Swansea City Press and North End. I don't know their finances super well, but I'm assuming that if, you know, if, you're North of $4 million, like that $5 million range is not enough. I don't see those two clubs in particular climbing over that valuation. But the Spanish club, perhaps. For Minnesota United, this is like a weird one because they are set in the position, but he has been phenomenal for them. I mean, he's a starter over Kelvin Yaboa for most of this season.

and they got they already let sang bingo it it feels like one where it's like you have to take the money when you get the opportunity this is the tajon buchanan thing all over again of like this you just you got a lot of ticket out of the draft i'm not taking away credit from these teams for scouting identifying helping develop these players although minnesota without less of a pipeline of like a two team like i think what patrick ojuman was able yeah fair but what patrick Gajumund did at Charlotte, maybe it felt a bit more purposeful than what Minnesota has done. But, like, you have to find where that ends, right? This is a player who has been undervalued in his career, and now he's got the opportunity to be valued.

The only thing I would throw in there is he is on the verge of being a starter for the national team going into the World Cup. And we're having this convo with all the U.S. players. It's the same with the Canadian players. Like, maybe going to a bigger league like La Liga is what gets him over the top as a starter. or if he's not playing, what's the difference then between him and Kyle Laren and the situation there or who promised David or whoever ends up in that field for Canada? So I think that has to be considered as well,

but I'd be surprised if Minnesota is able to convince him that it's the right move to stay, and then therefore you start getting into dangerous area of running down a contract and losing someone for nothing. He's on a contract through 27 with an option for 28, so that's not in this scenario. So that's part of why they're able to, to hold that for one.

Like, you know, they'll probably point to Patrick Ojamont, 8 million or wherever the deal ended up. Tejohn-Buchanan's the name of another guy who came through the draft. I don't think that that's an apt comparison because Buchanan was much younger and obviously a different profile. And then, you know, again, like Georgia Mihailvich going from Colorado to Toronto. Again, I don't think that that's an apt comparison. But if you're Minnesota, I'm using all of those numbers and saying this is why you need to come up.

I think Ojamong is probably the most obvious one. Yes, yes, yes. It doesn't feel like he has. the same buzz as the same ceiling as a player like i think ojemong you just watch him play and he can do things on the field that other players are incapable of but also olowashie is a little bit more polished already and then you look at things and you're like scoring goals in mLS at a better rate scoring for canada at a better rate like it's fair for them to say the line is ozumong and go from there but ojemong was his team's top signing in this off season and i'd be surprised

if most of these teams have that opening left to still make that signing. I would agree. Elsewhere in the ice cream shop, let's go with the official one, Santee Moreno. Portland Timbers have officially transferred Santee Moreno to Flaminense. Deal is worth around $6 million. So one of the things that helped to get this over the line, obviously just the offer increasing as it was.

So America to Cali is where Portland acquired Santy Morano from, and they had a 20% sell-on clause. like Portland stance the whole time is like whatever your number is that you put on paper like we don't care about the total we care about what the 80% valuation is it was like when the first offer was four billion they're like that's cool we get 3.2 million there's no chance so what I was told is that Portland are going to net north of five million from this deal because Fluminense and America to Cali found an agreement where America to Cali are only getting 10% of this fee and that was a creative solution that I think I was I think well done by both Portland and Fluminense on this one. Obviously, the club, as I said on the last show, we're not happy with how this is all played out. But I think after emotions leveled off a little bit that, you know, hey, if they get the reasonable offer, you know, yeah, we know, we don't want to set a precedent that anybody who gets upset if they just leave that we're going to do a deal. But like, this is a fair bid now and, you know, getting north of $5 million. And again, a player who's, I don't think he was bluffing when he said, I'm not coming back whether you sell me or not. So I think that this is the ideal outcome for everybody and the player himself.

like the Columbia national team coach told him you have a chance to make the World Cup if you take this move and you perform one of Lemonensee. I understand why he'd really want to do that. Did he handle it in the perfect way? Maybe not. But at the end of the day, he got his move. So well done for him.

That is like such a drastic call, which is he goes from not being in the national team to he could make the World Cup. I think it was like you have a better chance. Yeah, for sure. There was no promises there, but like that's a big carrot to dangle. Yeah, for sure.

And it's, you could argue the biggest club in South America. right now. So it makes sense that seeing him in that setting gives more confidence to a Colombian national team head coach. I've always enjoyed watching him play in this league, as we've said many, many times. This has been bubbling under the surface for a long time. It was assumed that it would end like this at some point, maybe a little bit sooner than we expected. Portland have put themselves in a pretty good spot to cover for it. So let's talk. Two more, I think we've got in here. Both very potential.

Yeah, let's do it. So New England Revolution are in negotiations with Maccabi Haifa for Israeli international forward, Dor Turgerman. I think their first bid was like 3.5 million. The Israeli club wants around 5.5. This would be U-22 initiative signing if they get it done. Players open in New England, but there are European clubs who want them. This is a really talented kid.

Speaking of Portland, if Portland didn't sign Kevin Kelsey, they were going to push all in to sign this player as the U-22 initiative center forward this winter. Obviously, they worked down the line with Kevin Kelsey, but when they were getting worried if a deal wasn't going to be struck, they were looking at their next target. So this is not the first time that this player's name is coming up in MLS circles. He's really talented.

I remember the first time I mentioned him about a potential Portland move, somebody who I trust when it comes to Israeli soccer and is, like, involved in some of this stuff, like texting me, it was just like, is that, like, how serious is that? And I was just like, I mean, it's real, you know, they're not anywhere down the line. The guy was just like, if any MLS club signs him, that's a huge deal because this kid is really, really,

good. And I'm just assuming he's going to go to, I don't know, Rangers or a Bundesliga club or a champion, you know what I mean? So that's kind of the level that I'm hearing about this kid's town. He's open to New England, but it's not one of those situations where he, you know, Wessem Abu Ali was like, I want to go to Columbus. I know that there are other offers. I want to go to Columbus. It's an open race here. So if a European team comes in with a better offer, if they get the deal agreed club to club, then, you know, we'll see. So this one still not, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it's like imminent or super or even necessarily like overwhelmingly likely, but they're in play.

Yeah. I felt the same when I saw this rumor come out as you just mentioned. So it's surprising to me, but it would be a big move for anyone to make the ad. The other one that we have in here is one that I find fascinating because I love MLS trades. There are so many players in MLS where I'm like, huh, they should be playing more. Could you find a spot? you put out there that a number of teams are asking questions about trade calendar i think into Miami should be one of them i think they should be considering playing trade calendar i don't know

if you saw the orlando game but ustari was playing centerback for half that game and louis muriel was like okay cool so this is what we're doing but miami is not one of them other teams have reached out and having conversations and i think it would be nice to see someone who was maybe it was a stretch that he was a goalkeeper of the year finalist but he was a top five goalkeeper two years ago in mLS he is entering the prime of his career i think it'd be cool for him to land at a team where he played yeah and it's got to be somewhere where where he's a starter or there's a plan for him to be the starter in the winter and so i think that's part of it right now too where like the there is not a huge surplus of demand for other teams like looking for starting goalkeepers

but I don't know where Houston was on this, by the way. Who knows, man. And so we'll kind of see. Like, there's a couple clubs that I heard that I can't confirm yet that, like, had a clear starter. And I don't know if that's, like, succession planning or if they were like, oh, if we can get Drake calendar like by low and he's a backup. He doesn't, he's a starting goalie in this league, right? It's pretty simple. And we'll see where this ends up.

I hope that it ends up with someone where he's either challenging or the plan is obvious for 2026 for him to be. the starter but we're not entirely sure i will say that like you look at somebody like and again maybe maybe there's a team that i don't know of that has a clear starter that he would that the team justifies better like i don't think al jess evisitch was anywhere near the issue in new england this year but it's it's it's it's a fact that matt turner is a better goalkeeper right it's not like they were desperately looking for a goalie that just came in so maybe there's a team out there that that i'm not considering that has a starting goalie but the club just believes great calendar is better. I don't know. We'll see where this ends. I will add Fafat P. Coe might be

another guy to look at you. I've heard the teams are vast around like he's not playing that much in Miami. We'll see. But it should be a busy final 10 days, 9 days, whatever's left in this window. I would say on calendar, there's just, yeah, there's not an obvious opening right now. And so all the names that come to mind for me are succession planning ones. Chicago Fire are one of those. Like, how long is Brady here for? And what's your plan after that? I think Minnesota should probably be one of those because Dane St. Clair could be a national team start at a World Cup in, you know, eight, nine months, and who's your starter after that?

And I don't think you'd want to make the calendar move now. But at the same time, if he's available at the right number, you probably want to take advantage of that and then figure out the rest of it later. San Jose has had an opening off and on. You never know. And obviously, he's from that area and played college soccer in that area. So I think there's a couple clubs, but none of them are straight. forward or clean moves, and I would assume Jade Callender doesn't want to put himself back in that

situation, but there are only X amount of teams in the league that exist. Speaking of Orlando and Miami, let's talk about the weekend that was a little bit before we get into the weird scheduling this week in which the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bull fans are going to get to know each other very, very well over the next few days. This weekend, we had the four Leaks Cup quarter finalists from MLS all play each other, which I think means we don't have to play the Leagues Cup anymore and it is officially decided. And both of them were blowouts. Orlando smoked Miami at home. I don't know if you've heard from Orlando fans, but Messi has never played a game in Orlando on the road. I don't know if any of them have ever mentioned that, but if it's

your first time hearing that, you're welcome for stepping up and bringing that to you. And then Seattle annihilated the L.A. Galaxy to close out the weekend in what was a very clear, you guys could maybe play in Mexico, but you can't play in MLS to a lot of the L.A. Galaxy players. The Orlando one, though, it was impressive. It has, we've now seen a couple moments for Orlando where they've had these real high moments. But I think you look at a game in which no messy, of course, but you still have Rodrigo DePaul coming into the team. So there's still a ton of talent on the field for Miami. And you have an Orlando team that when O'Heda is going and Possolich is dangerous and the way they played this weekend, they can contend at the top of the Eastern Conference. Exactly. And Luis Muriel playing really well.

The way that they play is super interesting to me. And like they absolutely dogwalk to Miami. Like this was not a couple lucky goals. Like you look at every, you know, first of all, first of form is the eye test. But, you know, you look at every advance number, every detail of this game outside of possession, which we know that that's not an obvious. are definite in terms that shows that you control. Like, where did you control the game? Like the shots, XG, even stupid things like corners, right? Like, they were awesome in this game. What I like is that, so if you look at the heat map,

both O'Heda and Posolich are higher up the field than Luis Moryale. So, like, I think that's the best way to use Morye is where he's like a nine and a half where he's dropping into those spaces. And when O'Heda is making those dangerous runs in behind, because I think that's more Patch Possolich's game. But, like, man, the way that O'Heda has fit in and the intelligence required to, like, do different roles. Like, again, when Ramiro Enrique is the center forward,

Oh, Heda's going to play different. O'Heda can drift wide, can come such. Like, he's just such a great player, man. And it's been so much fun to watch this explosion this season. And like you said, when those dudes are firing, they can beat anybody. They have chosen not to, though. And that's, like, the weird part about Orlando. they dropped results against Montreal and NYCFC at home.

Now they won at Columbus and then they beat Miami. They smoked Miami twice this season. One in Miami, one in Orlando. I think some of that is game states. Like I think Orlando still struggles breaking down low blocks and they are better against teams that open up a little bit more. That gives you Columbus and Miami. I think if you got into a playoffs right now,

you probably end up against teams who don't sit in a low block. like where they sit in the standings and so that's like something promising and hopeful for the postseason and then the other thing is they are kind of have been riding these hot streaks of whichever forward so Ramiro Enrique Luis Muriel whoever it is and

maybe when they get into the post season if it's the right guy at the right time it does not feel though that Orlando fully controls their own destiny in which if they play their best soccer they are going to win and that I think led into the frustration this season of it doesn't feel like they've progressed rest as a club. But at the same time, selling Fekundo Torres, selling some of the players they've

had, moving pieces on, and not taking a step back is not a terrible result for clubs, as we see for some of the other teams in MLS, that it can be a bit of a struggle. So I thought this was really fun to watch. As we mentioned, Ustari, for some reason, not for some reason, Luis Muriel clearly watched tape and saw that Ustari is playing high off his line and was in the game to take advantage of that, hit the post on one after Astari came off his line, I think attempted three shots from past 35 yards to try and beat the keeper. And then Louis Suarez was like, oh, cool, so we're doing that. And then he started doing it. Almost scored. And he did. He almost scored. Gaiese with an epic diving save, scrambling back onto his line. That's Gaiiase in a nutshell. You're going to get both

sides of that as the season goes along. But overall, a really strong performance. for this Orlando City team. And for Miami, I don't know that it's a worry. Like, they are my, they are messy dependent. Exactly. That was never going to change. Exactly, right. Like, again, like, both things can be true.

This is a really great, really impressive Orlando performance that if you're Miami, like, Messi didn't play. Like, it's the best player in the leagues, one of the best players in a world, like, one of the most influential as well. So, like, yeah, like, I think Orlando can beat Miami without Messi. But, like, if you're Miami, you just chalk it up, hey, man, long season. And, like, again, even, like, you were saying, a couple of those districts, supporting Orlando performances.

I know it's boring to point to, but just like, dude, it's a 34-game season plus, I don't know, 17 other games and other competitions for every homeless team. Like, it's July at that point. It's a long season, right? Like, you're going to lose at home to NYCFC sometimes. It gets random. On Miami's side of things, they do fall a little further behind on points per game for the shield race.

So that's because they have less games played, that's one of the things we're watching. Philadelphia drew this weekend, which we'll talk about coming. up so that kind of held the line for most people but miami currently uh are fourth on points per game in the league so they're sitting behind cincinnati san diego and philadelphia and in a moment like that you assume that they are going to take all the points at that rate that's not necessarily true uh and it's things it just makes things even more difficult for this miami team there's kind of only so much space that you can get on the west coast Seattle annihilating the la galaxy they were They were aggressive, and this is a L.A. Galaxy team that when the game is set and you see that against Tijuana, and I mean, the Santos game was an outlier. There was red cards and early goals and all that type of stuff, but they're okay in possession. They can move the ball. They can control game states a little bit. When that thing opens up, there are 47 players on the opposition team making runs is what it feels like against this LA Galaxy team. And the Seattle Sounders were happy to take advantage.

yeah so it's not a shock that seattle beat the galaxy on the road given what this season has been for the galaxy and for seattle the way in which they did it not just in the dominant scoreline and the dominant performance but there there's no jordan morris there's no albert rousanek there's no ryan kent in this game there's no jackson ragan um and but there is a snider brunel like that's where it's like oh my god like because Again, even dating as far back as Thursday when we were talking about this. I was like, we were talking about them for the, you know, in between the 19-minute Danny Musovsky rants from Noah that we talked about, like, I was saying that like, yeah, if Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnack and Ryan Kent,

none of them are going to be available for the next rounds of leagues called kiss that competition, goodbye. Well, I, the galaxy aren't at the bar here, but like the way that they played, I'm like, damn, maybe why not? And like, I think that's such a huge testament to Brian Schmetzer, to this group, to the front office and the second team for being able to like, oh, here's Snyder-Bernow. Oh, like, Danny Lave off the bench for 30 minutes. Yep, he was really good. Oh, Hayes-Ferreira, you can go from right wing to 10.

Danny moves out to get, know that we were all salivating over Osage de Rosario. Well, you can come play, score a couple goals. This team is just really, really good and really dynamic in their options, their optionality in both the 11 and where players play and what the system is. And I don't know, man, like this was really impressive. Today, League's Cup is spelled PDLV, Pedro de la Vega, baby, say his name. But no, the thing about Seattle and their two team is huge. Yeah, Hazes-Ferreira can go play center because Paul Rothrock starts on the right side.

And like, even in this game, Minungu comes on, De Rosario comes on, as you mentioned, Wosovsky. Seattle has consistently built one of the deepest rosters in MLS. It has been pushed this year, unfortunately, because of the injuries, to Ariola, now the injury, Jerusalem act Jordan and Morris is often on injury Yymar's injury like there's been a lot Stefan Fry there's been a lot of them for this team but in general they are competing still at the top of the West

because of the depth that they've created and I think that culture of like okay whoever is here we're still going to compete and a lot of that goes down to Roldon who shout out to the Roldon brothers a union once again their oldest brother is the athletic trainer for the L.A. Galaxy and then Alex and Christian of course playing on the field for Seattle

A big moment this weekend, Sun Yung Min, receiving a visa, which every other fan in MLS who roots for a team who signed a player who signed before Sun and has not played since is upset about. I will tell you this, we have no influence on that in any way. So sorry, but he was able to make his debut at Bridgeview, Illinois, the home of the game in North America. just poetic it's beautiful that again it wasn't in soldier field it was at bridgeview and get ready to learn MLS buddy for son young men his so the sequence that led to him

getting the winning the penalty that started with a breakneck attack from Chicago save scramble goal line clearance off the post past one pass from an oFC defender to midfielder long bought a son that was just In 35 seconds, the MLS experience. It was beautiful. And still watching him, like, again, we never had any, don't have any doubts of, like, he's still physically elite. Like, again, maybe he's not 27. He's not peak to Sun, but he's still pretty peak in terms of this athletic league.

Just going in behind, causing havoc, winning a penalty. And then this game ending 2-2 is just a wild game. And Jonathan Bamba scoring first after Sun got on the field, Chicago, like, took control. And then Jonathan Bamba scores. just, man, it was a great 30-minute encapsulation of everything that's fun and frustrating about this league. It started in a great encapsulation of who L-AFC is, which is like, oh, there isn't really a chance creator on the field, and yet there's like 15 center mids on the field, like Timothy Tillman's starting on top of all these other players. Buonga was also on the

bench in this game. Everyone, I think, is pretty surprised that Sun won the penalty, but Buonga took it and I think that bodes well for the club going to first big dog eats first you don't want someone who's going to come in and just like demand everything and say I'm the only person here now and so I think that's pretty big for the team overall that that's the way that went fascinating though to see bonga also not starting this game and then going forward obviously son came off the bench played centrally like is that the decision going forward and how do they choose to use him that's going to be all big question marks but as you said to see him on the field his speed pops his touch pops like all of that is not going away uh and now it's just how

do you manage him out of technically his preseason into this season i will say i thought brian gutierrez looked very good in this game oh he was excellent he was excellent and like we need more of that he needs to have more good games because it has been a really underwhelming season from him and i think that's part of why chicago has struggled and i think it's fair to have expectations on his shoulders at this age and with the amount of play he's had and the support he now has. Like, yeah, in the past, too much was asked of him, but I don't think that's the case anymore. So those are some of the big results from the weekend, along with the two teams that we're going to be seeing on Wednesday night. So U.S. Open Cup action is returning on

Wednesday because of the weather-delayed game between the Philadelphia Union and the New York Red Bulls. So quarter-final action will be Wednesday night 7.30 p.m. Eastern time. I believe the game is on Paramount Plus, and it is going to be Philadelphia hosting the New York Red Bulls. Then, if you're thinking, I would love to see Philadelphia play the Red Bulls, but I just cannot make it work on Wednesday night. On Saturday at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Boy, do I have a game for you. The Philadelphia Union are playing the New York Red Bulls in an MLS regular season game

four days apart from playing in U.S. Open Cup. it is something that I enjoy heavily. I actually think this would have happened originally when they would have played. This was a Wednesday Saturday, Philly Red Bulls, and then the game got canceled on Wednesday. They were like, you know what? I love this idea so much. We got it again. And that's where we sit.

So let's set the stage first. Philadelphia 1-1 draw this weekend against TFC. I would say overall opportunity missed for Philadelphia. In the Shield race, I talked about it a bunch. Opportunity missed one of the worst teams in the league at home. I think so. Yeah, I think you say something that. Didn't play in Leagues Cup, had the rest,

everyone else pretty much dropped a result. Nashville got smoked in St. Louis, which was a bit of a curveball. San Diego got a win. Vancouver picks up an early red card in San Jose because the referee is the main reason we all tune in to watch and therefore the referees have to make sure

to be central to everything that's happened. So Vancouver dropped points, as we mentioned, Miami dropped points, Cincinnati, like everyone pretty much. much struggle this weekend. Philadelphia could not put things away against TFC at home. They got the early goal from Indy Vassilev. They thought they had a second goal when Tyberroibo got punched in the face. Poor Tyberrobo, man. Scoring a goal. And then the offside came for something that had happened earlier in the play as the set piece was served in.

Milan Alasky made his debut. George Amahilovich made his debut for TFC, but Philadelphia not able to get over the line, Tom. And so they come into this one coming off as we said. had a frustrating result yeah look man like we this you have to have to win this if you want to win the shield and this doesn't preclude them from winning the shield but this gives you some worry signs like again like i ran through it last week i i don't have the numbers in front of me now but it was pretty much they just beat all the teams they're supposed to be and that's how you win the shield more so than how you win in the playoffs um and that's a disappointing part for philly in this one again like everybody else dropped twice it seems like this weekend in the shield race other than there

is one team who didn't play why am i playing columbus didn't play because yes city field wasn't good enough we haven't made fun of my team see enough that that's no we have not their secondary stadium so they couldn't play at the primary stadium and their secondary stadium was like guys grass isn't good enough we can't have you guys kicking it more and so they had to have a game camp and i'm sure Columbus are thrilled about this after playing in the league's cup and all of the fixture congestion that that team has had for pretty much two straight years, but I digress. Yeah, Philly got to win that game. I feel bad for Tiberibo with that, that gets punched in the face on a goal.

It looks really painful and gets the goal chalked off after VAR. Pretty much nothing more painful, emotionally, and physically than that one. And you've got to win this game. I wish that I had better, deeper analysis. They did not put this team away, and that is the worry with Philly, and they're playing style, because a lot of times, they get the second goal, or they come back from behind, or they do get the winner in stop it time. And then other times, you're the superior team at home with a 1-0 lead for 86 minutes

or 80 minutes, whatever it was it, and you don't close it out. And they pushed the game like they tried to. They made now they have such depth that center forward. They made the double swap at center forward. So Damiani and, oh no, sorry, Ura and Ilowski came off the bench together in like the 60th, whatever minute. I thought they had chances. I thought they were dangerous. Obviously, I've talked about it.

I think the brakes out of central midfield are really, really dangerous for them. And Finn Sullivan continues to play at a really high level. And it's just one where maybe it doesn't fall for you, but you have to make sure that that stays in that game because this is a huge opportunity now. And every game going forward because of where they sit in the Shield race is super important. On the flip side for the New York Red Bulls, they come into this one off a dramatic 2-1 win over R.S. Xavier Gozo, who was our level up player of the week. two weeks ago here at Soccer Wise and kickback media scores in the opening three minutes,

gorgeously worked goal. Meg's the keeper, puts his team up one zero. RSL very comfortable in the whole first half of the game. Tim Parker comes off the bench at halftime, and I say that because I don't think that that is a coincidence. I think Horn has really struggled to settle in an MLS, and I think it has cratered a lot of what Red Bull do because there's a lack of confidence that the line has come coming behind you when they try to press and you see how suffocating the Red Bulls became in the

second half to RSL and how that completely shifts the game. Also, Emil Forsberg is going to get like 30 half chance moments in games and he's going to deliver one or two times. And if you take advantage of those, like you will score one or two goals. He's so good. If he gets the ball moving forward at any moment, he's so good. He's able to create the first goal. And then it gets fun, Tom. This is what we live for. You get a penalty kick, which, I don't even think was a penalty kick that was reviewed by VAR and brought in for the Red Bulls.

Shupamoting tries to penenka it straight down the middle, straight into the goalkeeper's hands. So you're thinking, all right, this is R.S.L. It's game to win. Then, going forward, Kyle Duncan,

head locks Diego Luna slightly off the ball, not like fully, because it was like a giving go. tackles Luna Luna Luna gets called for a second

yellow card then on review Kyle Duncan is issued a red card but because it's a yellow card to Luna

that cannot be reviewed and therefore that yellow card still stands and it goes into a 10

on 10 matchup and which Shupa Motang goes I don't know full Diego Maradona

on the edge of the box beats Justin Glad gets taken down and then doesn't just

score it places penalty kick in the top quarter and the Red Bulls win this game to one. It was a wild affair end to end. I do think overall you see a Red Bull team that is coalescing when Shupamotting and Emile Forsberg are on the field in the attack. And I do think it lines up for a really, really entertaining quarterfinal matchup here in the Open Cup between these two teams. I would argue it is the best form both these teams have been in since maybe 2021 when they faced off in the playoffs and so it's going to be the best

Philly Union Red Bull game we have seen in a pretty long time I hope so and if it's not maybe it will be Saturday two twice at the Avalier two shots at it no so I you're bringing up Tropo Motein I think he's been good for the Red Bulls like I wouldn't say that this is like a oh my like Forsberg is still the lead guy but having Tropo Motein with him I think that's been an excellent signing for them because there was a lot of

questions from both of us about the price point and the DP Like, he's a DP fault. Like he's shown that this year, the Red Bulls should be vindicated. He's been really, really good. I don't know that I should be, I don't know that I should be included in your questioning. Okay, tell me why. I think they, I think that you should stand alone. I think I pretty clearly said he was going to score goals and he was going to be good,

but it was not the gap of what he was capable of to the best possible players you could get in that position was not huge, but that he was better than Dante Van Zier and that he made them a better team. and if they had Lewis Morgan, I think they would be an Eastern Conference contender right now. Congratulations. You were right on he's better than Dante Van Zier.

Like, don't revisit this history. Me, you were absolutely slamming this for, oh, he's a DP dude, stupid bet. Okay. And now you're trying to twist it as, well, actually, I said he's going to be better than Dante Van Zier, and I was right. Well, actually.

Yeah. Yes, five of his 15 goals were from the penalty spot. Guess what? Those goals still count all the same. His underlying numbers of, like, his non-panity XG is not great, but like a lot of other stuff is really good is, you know, first of all, first and foremost, games up playing a spreadsheet, made 15 goals, it's been important. But he's in the 83rd percentile among unless forwards in shot creating action, you know,

stuff like progressive passes received successful take-ons, which I was not expecting him to be in an elite level output for forwards in the league. He has been, and same thing with progressive passes. I thought he was going to do a lot, really good hold-up stuff, and I was worried about maybe he wouldn't quite do all the nine stuff. And again, the non-penalty XG number is worrying because that is pretty vastly below his non-penity goals numbers. But again, I'm not going to criticize the guy

because he's scoring penalties. Yeah, he is really quick with his first step and his touch is so clean. If you are football player, you know? Yeah, yeah, for sure. But if you're close to him, he'll beat you. I think that's where a lot of that one-v-one stuff comes from. And it's what you saw.

Glad closed him down. Like, yeah, he's not attacking. space to then attack a defender 1 v1, but if when the game's tight and closed in around the box, he's dangerous and he's creative, which is something that the Red Bulls have always lacked like all in. And then I think what you saw in this game is once they're on the front foot, now Rahim Edwards is like a factor in the attack. Kyle Duncan struggles 1V1 defending can be when he's not tackling people a game changer

going forward. If he would like to, by the way, the New York Giants, I think are trying out secondary players because they are horrendous, as are the New York Jets. I would not leave that out there. Well, your secondaries at least good. Yeah, I know. I just read an article about if you combine the two teams, if they'd even be competitive.

You wouldn't because it'd still be Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. But the dolphins are still worse. So there you go. My assumption is the Diego Luna Red card will probably be overturned. The only issue in all of it is, as he is being headlocked and tackled to the ground, he sort of tries to, I think, kind of swing. at Duncan to get him off of him. And that's the only thing I think would hold that up.

But as someone put into the chat here on YouTube live, when we appreciate everyone watching live, we love it, is that he will still be suspended on yellow card accumulation, even if the red card is rescinded. So he can't keep a good man down, even if you try, unless you try really hard. And then it turns out you can. For this Open Cup quarterfinals,

if Philadelphia wins, they travel to Nashville. If Red Bulls wins, they would host the semifinal. as we know, the winner of Minnesota, Austin, will host the U.S. Open Cup final. I think that's on September 31st or October 1st. October 1st. I knew it was on Yom Kippur, so I just had to remember what days that was. Or do you have to go? No, I do not believe so. But that's, you know, we'll get there when we get there. But, and so we're still waiting for those semifinals, obviously for this game to be decided.

My guess will be, it will be Philly on the front foot to open up the game. Phillies at home, they're going to attack. I think they're going to set the tempo of this game. And then the question for Red Bulls is defensively, can they hold up in those opening 15 or so minutes to settle? And then I think we see a pretty opening game back and forth, which I'm super excited for. This would be, man, like what a big win this could be for the Red Bulls for, again.

Like they've been disappointing. We talk about, you know, the Timo Verner, what is he coming? All those, again, the Red Bulls negotiate with the Red Bulls, the signed Team O'Vern. Like, right? Like, the vibes haven't been great. They are level, back level, on points with Chicago. Chicago is a game in hand. But the last playoff spot, so the playoff streak is not dead.

My ideal version of this team, I still refuse to believe is dead. Like, I just think it just makes so much sense they have such good play. Like, they have a lot of really good players. It just hasn't quite clicked. You know what would be really fun? Open Cup final. And beating Philly to get there would be a nice little cap. And maybe a nice way to put some momentum in the last part of the season here.

Gustav Bergman is going to debut at some point. What did we talk about visas? The Red Bulls are definitely one of the teams. that are looking at like, wow, that's really interesting. Rodrigo de Paul and Son could get their visas really quickly. And this guy we signed weeks ago, we still don't know. So I don't know, man. I'm still optimistic about the Red Bulls while being disappointed

with what their season has been to this point. But guess what? They were even worse at this point last year. This was when Forsberg was out and they just completely cratered. And like, you don't want to make a habit of all of that, but I have not given up on this team for 25. And tomorrow night is going to be a big, big deciding point. in the season.

Yeah, yeah. Big moment for both of these teams for Philadelphia. They're still trying to win one of these. They have been around it quite often. Of course, it was a large part of Jim Curtin's legacy, not able to get over the hump, and now they're hoping to do so in this one. And then we'll do it all over again on Saturday.

In Canadian Championship news, the Vancouver White Caps will play tomorrow in the semifinal. So I probably could have written down who they are playing against before I read this out, but I just got there quickly. they're playing forge it's unfortunate that they don't get to play toronto it is unfortunate they don't get to play toronto it's also this is a big game for you because i know the forge coach was one of the coaches you've been shortlisting for a lot of the mLS jobs over the last few weeks so uh this

is a big game that one's at tim hortons field so vancouver will host of course in the second leg uh the other game going on is athletico ottawa against vancouver fc the new team in the league Can I just say, I would never hear Tim Horton's feel to not smile. I think it's the most perfect thing in the world. Yeah, they throw timbits when they score. You know that? No. No, they don't.

I've got a lot to learn. Okay. You could have, if you just said, yeah, dude, check it out. Like, I would have believed that for the rest of my life. Just all of a sudden, Maple Serap shoots out of cannons behind the goal. Timbitt's flying in the air. I don't know what a timbid is either, so that helped. It's a Munchkin.

It's a Tim Horton's Munchkin. It's a great name. It's like one of my favorite things ever. It's incredible. Again, the lore builds, and maybe we just created a tradition, except then they're going to, security swiftly going to step in. So we are not recommending this. I want to be clear. Well, in Hamilton, no one will care. It's a blue-collar town. You're allowed to do what you want, as long as you're respectful. You might be close enough to the Canadian border at Yellowstone that you might be able to get a little Tim Horton's action in there. If someone knows better than us, please let us know.

Any Canadian listening, just like trying to plug their ears, like, please stop. there are Tim Hortons in the U.S. There is one, actually, at LaGuardia Airport. I thought you're going to say in Miami. It's like, that doesn't track at all. At the dumb train station, I will tell you this, which is hilarious. You'll appreciate this. Someone from Tampa said to me the other day, oh, Wawa is expanding.

It's opening in Tampa. And I was like, yeah, I've noticed they're in Florida. And they're like, well, it's a South Florida thing. It's just expanding West now. And I'm like, it is not. Wow. A South Florida thing. Wow.

That is extraordinarily tough. You should be like, yo, you know, that Kaffa Sita is actually a New York thing. What? Yeah, I should have said that. I didn't think to say that. I just said, you are an idiot. Yeah, no, I would have been fun. I probably just would have started laughing and, like, mumbling.

We are not up to our Pennsylvania and New Jersey state for the 50 states. We're excited for the week of soccer. I'll be back on Thursday without Tom to bring you all your coverage. Myself and Jordan back tomorrow with our NWSL talk. It's going to be a big weekend, of course. Kansas City against Orlando, one verse two. the rematch of last year's semifinal coming up, so we will chat all about that.

And congratulations once again to Marcelo Balboa, who will have his number retired, not his name in a ring of honor. The number 17 will never be worn again by a Colorado Rapids player. I don't know of a soccer player who has that. Like, that is obviously a very American sports thing. So I think it's pretty cool.

Cello was funny where he was like, yeah, that's why I picked a random number. If I picked five or nine or ten, they would never have done it. So I picked 17. He was completely kidding on that one. And he's one of the best people in all of soccer and one of the best people I've been lucky enough to come across.

So we're really excited for him. You can go listen to that conversation we had with him at the kickback committee. But it means it is Colorado Week here on our 50 states of soccer. We at Soccerwise put together our five asides of the best five players or the five players that fit together properly coming out of each state. We did it for Wisconsin last week. This one, we're going to lean on Jordan Angelique quite. a lot because she is much more knowledgeable than we are. If anyone has any names they want to

throw out there right now, feel free. It is going to be hard for any male player to get in this conversation. Sophia Wilson, Mal Swanson, and Lindsay Heaps are all from Colorado. That is like three of the four best players in the women's national team that just won a gold medal and three of the best players in the history of the country. One of the things that's interesting about this is like you have a lot of really good MLS players that have come out of Colorado. Connor Casey, probably the top of the list, although he was originally born in New Hampshire. I'm not the one judging any of this. So once again, everyone tell me, Ethan Horvath goes on this list.

A lot of really big players early in the MLS days, Todd Dunavitt, who has a bunch of MLS cups, Jebirovsky on this list, Bobby Burling, like, players who had good MLS careers. I am curious where do we feel like a Cole Bassett or a Sam Vines and maybe Vines is harder and Bassett's probably the better name to use Lines up already in these lists Yeah I mean your point of like it's gonna be really hard for men's platter Given like how much I didn't realize until like a few years ago

Just like what a hotbed that was for the US women's national team And like how cool like so many big big players have come from it It's pretty much just two youth clubs that produce all of them In Colorado Rush and Real Colorado interesting um yeah so it's going to be tough for men's players i don't think cold bass is quite there yet um i do have to shout out my guy stephen keel stephen keel is is is the absolute man and uh maybe if you get to watch him play with my men's league team you'll change your mind we'll see um he's currently he's currently on on the injured list for a little bit so trying to i i i'm getting men's league

kits for my team and i text a keel i was like listen man no um you know nothing contracts you I'll be getting here, but like, you were 22, I got, there's a 22 shirt in reserve. Just, you know, just saying whatever you want to come back. He's just like, that is good team management. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did that with a couple guys. Like, it's like him and a couple of like my former college teammates that are about to turn 30. You know, hypothetically speaking, you're a large, right? Like, I, you know, is your favorite number still five?

All right, cool. Tom, you always got to be thinking, you always got to be working. Deal, baby. Deal, baby. Shane O'Neill, a local. as well from Colorado. Griffin Dorsey, one that I think by the time he's done will probably be in this conversation. Yeah, it's a pretty good difference maker. So there are a lot of like good solid starters who have come out of there out of Colorado, which I think different than Wisconsin, where it was like,

you had Jay Demerite and Leslie Osborne. And then it felt like there was a big gap to like, yeah, could be, could be, could be, but not people who were playing games. in a game out. Another big one, which I think will, I think he's got a chance to get on this list is Nat Borchers, who won a lot of stuff in MLS. The way it's been explained to me in anyone who is more from Colorado than I am, he is from Durango, which is what it was termed to me as a different Colorado. Like that is the real Colorado, not the like Denver suburbs and not the prissy stuff that is like deep in in the southwest corner as you head towards i'm going to guess Arizona but maybe it's new mexico and if someone says utah i wouldn't be shocked either not knowing

that geography in that area uh at all so yeah those are some of the names we're starting out with as we said i think it's quite clear the three members of the u.s women's national team are going to be a part of this and then there's probably going to be a debate on those final two spots which i'm excited to do. So Jordan Angeley, who should be on this list, herself as a player. Legend. Will be with us tomorrow to have this conversation. And then we have the Happy Hour Show coming up on Thursday. We're going to have another special guest to talk about all of this with us. Jordan's going to join. Of course, Susanna's going to be on. And it is going to be a ton

of fun. Jay DeMert last week was legendary. He was incredible, dude. Oh, my God. I've appreciated all this time. Every story, maybe I was laughing. He could have just talked. solo the whole time and like without any of us saying a word and I would have been like please cook like take your ISO if I had known I would not have set up my microphone and I would have brought her beers and I would have just sat back and hung out one more thing to add if we're at the call I don't know if you had something prepared God I should ask you before saying this um for those of you who saw Susanna Collins Susanna Fuller announced that she was diagnosed with cancer um that hurts we love Suz I've literally never heard a single

bad word about her um she's an incredible professional at what she does best of the best she's a better human and um just getting that news is it's one of those that want to really kick kicking the balls for for us it hurts a lot and um we love suz suz is an absolute warrior there's um she's got a lot of support around her and she's got a lot of strength coming from within so um nothing but best wishes here and nothing to say but cancer sucks man and uh yeah suz is the best Yeah, it's the worst. Her diagnosis for now is very good, and we're very fortunate about that, and she has said that she wants to keep doing the show with us, and she wants to keep talking soccer, and she's better at what she does than both of us are, and so we're going to support her. Yeah, we're going to support her in any way that we can, and I know she really, really appreciates all of the outpouring of support since she has said it publicly last week, and we talked about it at the top of the show yesterday on kickback. community, but it means a lot. And I know for both of us, like, I think for some people, you feel

like we are these unknown faces, but the human connection of all of this and the soccer community that we've all built is really meaningful. And I know it means a lot to her in this time when she really needs it and she's leaning on it. So we are all one Knoxville fans now. We are required to be. I am rooting less against Liverpool than I normally do for the sake of her, not for you. Tom, have an unbelievable trip. Thank you to all of you for listening. We'll talk you all again very, very soon.