SoccerWise - Live From Charlotte, NC!

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Soccerwise comes to you live from Charlotte, NC at Sycamore Brewery on the eve of Game 3 between Charlotte FC vs. New York City FC. David and Tom are joined by Zoran Krneta, CSO of Charlotte FC, Dean Smith, Charlotte FC Manager and MLS Play by Play commentator, Eric Krakauer.Sycamore Brewery: https://www.sycamorebrew.com/

Hello, hello, hello, everyone. You feel that in your bones? That is, there's an Air Lett-FC conversation because we are into the final game of the first round of the playoffs. It's Elimination Week, everyone. Do we feel good? Do we feel great? All right. I got it. Did you feel the vibes? I think that that was a clear good, not great.

Okay. That's how that felt to me. And I don't blame it. It's an elimination game. It's always there. And it's an elimination game. It's going to be the biggest game of the year. And it's coming up tomorrow night at Bank of America Stadium. We have a very cool situation here, which is the game is selling fast. Tickets are expensive. But if you come to the table on the second floor and you talk to Izzy and Claire, who are Off to our left, there are still $30 tickets available only here and only right now. So if you want to be a part of that, you can go and talk to Izzy and Claire, and if you're anywhere in the bar and you want to go to a playoff game, elimination game coming up on Friday night against NYCFC.

Boo! I got you guys, don't worry. Then you have to come here, and you have to come and talk to the two of them. I am David Goss. This is Tom Boger. We are the hosts of Soccer Wise, one of the National Major League Soccer. podcast, and when I say one of, I would say the only one. We are for sure the best. So one of one is the key that my parents have told me to always strive for. We love talking Charlotte FC. We

had Zoran Crenna on the show a few weeks ago. He is in the building as well, as is the head coach, Dean Smith. So if you want to say hi, you want to take a picture, you want to go hang out. Dino is here on the second floor out on the deck as well. Tom, we've got a lot to be excited about. You are going to be in the building tomorrow, Bank of America Stadium, as it all jumps and bounces, PEPOS, and everything else, what have you made so far of what we've seen in these first two games? I've seen, it's a classic playoff series. Both teams, I think, are very good.

It is a four or five. I thought it was going to be very tight. It has been. Everything has mattered. Every kick, every tackle, every fan in the building for both teams, to be fair. I was here, you were here as well for the inaugural home game in Charlotte. I was blown away by the support. I was blown away by just being around the city before the game.

A lot of times at some of these events, particularly the first. first one at a football stadium. It's a lot of soccer fans going, which is awesome. This was Charlotte FC fans from day one. I was back here for the home opener this year. That was electric. That was so much fun. They beat Atlanta. And now here we are waiting for a playoff game. My expectations are through the roof for this crowd. Friday night, a nice late game to come to. Two games already. We talked to Christiane and Kalina earlier today. He does not like NYCC. I don't know how all of you feel about that team. He has a very specific opinion. And he was very honest about it, which I appreciated from this.

The one nice thing of this three-game series, which we are not the biggest fans of, and putting games on Tuesday night to open the series, we are all not the biggest fans of as well. Although, I don't know, maybe 6 o'clock, 545 would have made it even worse, is that there is that tenacity. Like there is something there, and watching Kalina celebrate in front of the NYCFC fans at Yankee Stadium, a pretty iconic place to do it, shows that energy and shows those vibes. Yeah, and Christian Kalina, big personality, big time goalkeeper, for him to be doing that, to step up the way he did over this series in that shootout, to have that moment, that's celebration, those are the things that are going to live on, particularly if Charlotte are to continue advancing. But those moments in the MLS Cup playoffs, those are what it's all about.

It is so much fun. I love when a little bit of animosity builds up, and by the time we're at game three, like you said, hatred's here. I love the playoffs. I love public transit. I love breweries. This is like all my favorite things in one. place at one time and I am so happy that everyone is here. We will have some Q&A coming up a little bit later. So if anyone has some questions, think of them. You can come with us.

We've got Eric Crackhour in the building. Everyone knows and loves him. That was the best chair we're going to get. And we also have some other special guests. Do they want to come join us for 10 seconds or do they want to watch us and listen to us break down the game that they're going to coach and manage and set up? Zora. Do you doing a deal back there? What's going on? Tommy Scoops is always working. Tam centerback, breaking news from Tom Scoops. So we have this third game coming up. And I was on TV across Charlotte today, which was awesome.

Not a brag, just a fact. No big deal. And I was asked about what this game's going to be and what we expect and all of that. And I think the big moment that we talked about on our show is, with Wilfred Zaha available, but also at home, this should be the biggest performance for Charlotte of the three game series. Exactly. And Wilf is a big game player. You saw it in his debut for Charlotte. He knew the moment.

He was jet lagged. I don't even think he trained with the team. Maybe if he did, it was just a bit of a walkthrough. He showed up for that game. That was a lot of fun. I'm firmly expecting a big time Wilfred Zaha performance in game three tomorrow night. Yeah, it is going to be a key to the game.

NYCFC have done a good job, closing things down, making things difficult. They are not the most experienced team. So I've been a little surprised how clean they've been so far in this series. But I think the vibe I got from Kalina today is the expectation is that breaks. There's no way across three games that it holds. So he said, I don't know exactly how the goal is going to come, but the goal will come.

And I think that's the vibe that we've gotten as well. And I think that that is a smart way to look at it. And it's in taking away the emotion, just being like, hey, how many times throughout the season or any year would we be shut out three games in a row? What do you think the chances are? Right. And I thought that was really smart from Kalina,

and the chances are higher that a defensive performance continues that way because of how good this team is defensive, because of how good that goalkeeper is. So he's looking forward. He's like, yeah, all we need is And on the West, the four or five game also, a PK shootout in the first game, a bizarre game in the second. It just shows throughout the standings throughout the year that this is correct, which means

these two teams have very little to decide between them, which is why it's so big that Charlotte is going to be the home team in what we are hoping will be a sold-out Bank of America Stadium and the vibes will be very, very high. I hope everyone here will be in the building. Feels like they will be. And if you're not, come talk to Izzy and someone else who's. name I can't remember right now and Claire and also not just the tickets they got a lot of fun so for anybody who's not upstairs yet they have a lot of fun and cool stuff up here I keep buying

some of those coosies that there's a couple flags they got some good stuff over there so it's not just tickets so if you already have tickets you should still stop by all of its free giveaway except for Tom who's going to pay for it and no one knows why and no one knows out resell yeah that's absolutely the key when we talk about these games when we look at forward to these games we're talking about the lineup a lot we're going to have dean come say hi in a minute. We're not going to ask him. I don't really want to talk about my thoughts on the lineup when Dean did this here. I think you should do it. I think Dean would actually be really, really curious what you have to say. But in Charlotte, there's not a lot of questions, right? And that's

one of the advantages for this team, which is they know who they are. And at this point of the season, we just did an episode covering every game. We'll talk about some of them. Everyone has a lineup question mark, except this team. Yeah, you kind of know what you're getting. Like, unfortunately, without Pet, BL, that would be a major piece to have. But without him, that takes away a lot of questions in terms of how do you fit in three central midfielders or where do you put him or where does Zocco? So while there are a lot of I think deserving

starting level players in this team they've really settled in on the preferred starting 11 that they're going to live and die with here in the playoffs. The big controversy is this Archie Goodwin mustache. How elite is that mustache? Really good. It puts mine to shame. I'll tell you that much. How do you keep a mustache out of a starting lineup then? That's true. But he

comes in off the bench and then there's a lot of big moments that happen at the end of I'd rather be in at the finalist. I'd rather be in at the finalist then this audience was. Wow. Spoken like a true professional and a true adult. Okay. If Dean and Zern want to come say hi, we'd love to have you guys come up. I keep saying it. They'll make you absolutely not doing it. So we're going to have the general, the chief soccer officer and the head coach of these teams come say hi. We've got two microphones here for you. Zorin, yours won't go up as high as you'd like for it too. Yeah, we're done on our level.

Are you the tallest chief soccer officer in Major League Soccer? You were Will Coons, right? Yeah. I thought you guys, you're good. Yeah, I'm a nice to see. Yeah. Will. Yeah.

Are you offended that he's close to as tall as you? No, I'm, I'm happy that I gave him, sold him Mark, Marco Royce for cheap in the amount of money. You watched that on the on-side of a documentary. There's some good scenes. Dean, we were talking about a little bit. What's the vibe right now going into tomorrow? I, everybody's looking forward to it, you know. We'd have liked to have put in a better performance in the first game,

certainly in the first half, and got it done at the Yankee, but it brings you back here where he'll be a special night tonight if we go and get the result. What was that game, too, being able to go on the road facing an elimination game and stepping up the way that the boys did, particularly defensively, particularly with Kalina? Yeah, I think a lot of people make a big thing out of it,

but it's going to be an elimination game one way or another, isn't it? You know, so for one of the teams, So we knew that we could go there and take the game to them. I felt we did that, especially in the first half. And we knew we could bring it back here. That was the big thing. And there was a collective, it was a collective from the players that wanted to put right the first half against them at home.

For someone from England who maybe never thought you'd coach here, what's it like working at Yankee Stadium for an elimination game? Did you jog out with to the first base line? I made sure I had a quick run to first base if I could make it still, you know. Listen, I've been there to a baseball game and, you know, it was actually Yankees against the Red Sox this year. And for me, my son, Stagg Weekend. And, yeah, it's a great place to go and play baseball.

But it is what it is. And it's tough for them to, I mean, they've got the new stadium that's being built. It looks like I had a water. around City Field last week, because we stopped in Queens, and you can see it going up, and it looks like it's going to be fantastic for them. Man, you're doing like the full New York talk for you and everywhere. That's at Brooklyn Bridge after that. Yeah.

Zorn, for you, for a week like this, I mean, there's not as much you get to do. How big are the nerves? I mean, it's okay. I mean, this is a big, big game and big moment for us. It's a historic, if you like, but we've done everything we can. Dean and coaches done everything they can, the players know exactly what they need to do. So it's okay, to be honest, I'm not that stressed

as I would be during the season. This is it. This is a small margin game. We, you know, similar, as you just said earlier, the teams, not much between the two teams. And, you know, we'll see. I think it's a bank, $35,000, hopefully. So I think we're going to win.

That's it. So I know that this isn't obviously the first playoff run. You guys came pretty close last year. I know that you have some thoughts on the way that that series ended, but in general, since you've gotten here, I remember coming before the home debut for this club, when I was speaking to you, looking at the field, looking at the stadium,

and you were imagining probably nights like tomorrow night, right? These big games of consequence in the playoffs where you have your team and a raucous home crowd. Yeah, I mean, this is it. This is why they're all playing. This is why we all here. We all here for big games. You know, it's a, the league is long, the season is long, and, you know, this is why, you know, we want to kind of give the fans back to, for the, for they support the whole season.

It's a massive game for us, but also a massive game for them, a big game for the city as well. So I think we're ready. It's, it's fine. I mean, yeah, we're good. What's the message like today? The message is, you know, keep doing the right things, you know, what we've done to hurt them at their place, what we didn't do so well at our place. place, you know, just fine tuning, really, it's

there's not, there's only going to be tweaks of systems that you're going to do now. Both teams know each other pretty well. I think you know what you're going to get for both teams as well. Both quite strong defensively as well. You know, probably explains the lack of goals in both the games.

You know, so, yeah, it's pretty much, you know, fine tuning. Are you watching to him at this point? I mean, we go over some of the some of the bits that we've done really well and how we feel we can hurt them

and show them bits of that and you know threats that they've got and how to defend that so yeah but not loads of it that's for sure when you talk to people about what's what it's like here I mean tomorrow is going to be the night right 32,000 whatever it is what do you tell people about the experience

last year for me against Orlando for the home game that was you know an elimination game as well and the crowd were up for it and they got us through it I know it was on penalties on the night. So we've had that experience. And, you know, we played Miami with a full lower ball. One three-nil, great performance.

And now, you know, we've got New York City now with a full lower bowl. So it's going to be some atmosphere tomorrow. How do you keep Archie Goodwin's mustache out of the starting lineup? I brought him a new comb for it, to be fair. Why don't you do that for me, guys? Well, should we start him? No, you shouldn't. Uh, Zoran, do you have a specific story about Tom that you hate and the time that he broke

news that you want to go through? We've had someone, we'd have someone call him a snitch on this show in a person. I have some stories with Tom, but it happened in the places where we have to stay there. I'm sorry. It's a, yeah, it happened in Coachella, a couple of stories. A pre-season, yeah. We're big Super Bowl fans. Yeah.

That was not only one or two beers that he consumed. No Sunday. as Tom places his latest beer down and it looks like they're going down well yeah it's a nervous stick it's a nervous stick all right any last message for everyone out here just a big thank you for everybody for the support that you've given us and I just have a big feeling that we'll be back at the bank after this game this season still all right you know looking at the other games and everything

I feel like a final at the bank would be Eastern Conference final will be amazing. So let's call for that. All right. Thank you so much. Good luck for joining us. Yeah. We got you up here finally. You can go sit in the back.

We'll talk about your team some more. You could get more tips off of Tom. Tom, do you have any new soccer advice for Dean as he walks away? I don't. They said that something we said wasn't the worst thing they've ever heard. So I feel like that's a compliment. We're getting applause. That's the bar that I aim for.

That is the bar that we aim for. Two great personalities in MLS. We had Zoran on the show a few weeks ago. It's amazing to hear their points of view from outside the league coming in, but really engaging with it, right? I think sometimes we have people we meet who are working in the league, come from outside the league, playing in the league, whatever it is. I had the same conversation with Kalina today.

Kalina watches more MLS than almost any MLS player I have ever met. And that's not someone who's from here, right? He's not watching his academy friends or his college kids. He loves the league. And I think both of them, it's really cool to hear their points of view. It is a great point. And again, those two are so accomplished in what they've done throughout their career, what they're doing now, of course.

And they love this league. They care about this league. They want this league to continue to grow. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with Zoron about rules and what we need to do. And, you know, I know from people around the league, he's somebody who's pushing, trying to push these things forward and trying to take off training wheels. And then Dean has been a great ambassador for the league for the club, super serious, obviously successful, everything else.

Like, these are, this is a well-run club with two good leaders for MLS. Yeah, and that is a big part of where this club is going and who they're going to be. Just to make sure, because Dean was growing. Everyone's going to be in the building tomorrow, right? All right, good. Everybody but gosh. I just want to make sure. My sister's getting married, so I will actually be stepping away tomorrow and will not be at the game.

Tom will be there. Can we get a Tom chant at the stadium? Is that a possibility? No. There we go. It's growing. It's growing. It's taking over. It's growing. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere. It's going to be an incredible game. It's going to start the weekend really, really well.

Five elimination games this weekend. And Dean brought up the experience with Orlando last year. And for them, they've been in the playoffs. They've not had the success they want. But it feels like that's the type of thing that gets you to an experience level where a lot of these NYCFC guys have not been there before. Exactly. There's not a lot of holdovers from that 21 Cup team. Just Maxie. Or the next 15 years. Yeah, it'll be here forever. What a player he is. know, but this is more standard in like traditional American sports than it is in MLS and

particularly because of how much player movement there is. But there is a real value to getting your playoff warts going through those battle tests and feeling the emotions of walking off the field against Orlando, questioning a referee's decision, thinking that watching the next game saying we would have won that game and we would have gone to cup, right? Like feeling those feelings and that anger and that just everything that comes with the playoff run, that helps build for the future, and we're here now. That's why I wasn't surprised that this team was able to go on the road and beat NYCFC because they've been battle tested.

They've been through these things. They're mentally resilient and tough. Hopefully that shows up tomorrow as well. It is, I think that that's an experience that they'll be able to lean on. Any specific X factor we should be talking about? I mean, it's boring. It's boring to just say Wilfred Zah, but it is Wilfred Zah. Like, I am, he is here for this reason.

He's performed in so many big games. Again, this year with Charlotte, but obviously throughout his career, this is what he's here for. Yeah. And again, I really imagine he knows the stage and he steps up when the lights are brightest. So those are my expectations. I'm going to go to the other wing and say Vargas. Yeah. Right?

Because he literally is an X factor. When he performs, the team performs. He has not been as consistent as a Zaha, but that's the gap they need. They're looking for something that takes you from the zero-zero's to that one-zero. And then Kalina is the other one just because if he stands. on his head, man, like, that gives you a lot of leeway. What's the nickname? Eric, what's his nickname? What's

Kalina's nickname? Yeah. There you. Eric wasn't even ready. I thought Eric was going to be locked on the word that we said. Thank you. I appreciate that. And it is real, and it has been the case so far in his time. In MLS, I talked to him about goalkeeper of the year,

won it last year, not this year, and amazing to see how locked in he was on all the stats and everything else. that's going on. Let's talk about the overall season. Eric, why don't you join us up here when you get a chance? Whenever you're done, hold the court, I don't want to get in your way here. No, no, no. You're talking about the TV board.

Mr. Beggar. We're clapping for her, not for you. The only one of us that's wearing Charlotte FC gear, so you know he's one of our own. Let's give another applause, Aaron. Contractually obliged. Hello, everyone. Eric, how you do?

Good, good. It's good to see you guys. too. You know? It's great to be here. Yes. You were at the very first home game, were you, against the Galaxy? So were you? Yeah.

I was in the press box, capital jet. I would like for it to be known that I was there. I was in the upper deck. I bought my own tickets. The guy in front of me yelled about Ben Bender the entire time, which was epic. A lot of people did at the time. Yes. And I don't remember any of the rest of the night, which is why I love Charlotte.

I heard a stat when I was away. I got a delayed flight the next day trying to leave. I heard a stat at one of the local establishments The day of the Shawlott-FC home opener They sold more jello shots Than they have ever before on a single day Well, I've never heard that before That's an amazing statistic

Where's Tony? He needs to bring that out In the Comic State tomorrow Tony, you're welcome Tony's having too much fun over there He's not listening to anything Will, we'll put it on the radio Yeah, exactly Tony's soaking it all in

Tony husband, call him the game by the way Tony, one of the best So we're going to talk about the season that was, right? Fourth place, and this has been a conversation we've had all year. Context for everyone, fourth place this year, was almost better than it was to win the Eastern Conference last year. That's how much harder it was.

What was it like watching this team week in and week out, see the results, but then also see the standings fighting against them? I have to be careful with what I say, although they're not listening. So I can be completely honest. Well, there was a point in time when there was a little bit of concern because there was a dip in May and in June. But what's interesting about that is that if you heard Dean in press conferences and just from talking to him in the training facility, he was never worried about that. He always says never too high, never too low, and he was never too low. He was steady throughout that.

He said it was a game of fine margins, essentially, fine margins, my words. But I think from the outside, you had to be concerned because you saw other teams climbing up in the standings. although if you looked ahead into the schedule you saw that there was going to be a long run of home matches and over the last two years this team has been among the what top three in the league when it comes to home form so there was certainly optimism still as well what so what do you think clicked was it you know in part obviously in part the home run it is much it is much more advantageous to be playing at home in this league and across the world but what else kind of clicked i think the fact that they played so many games away from home was a detriment. And so when you got a win at home and then you looked at the calendar and you

saw, we have another game at home that improves confidence. So I think it had a lot to do with mentality. You know, I sat down with Dean Smith a couple of days ago. There was this sort of fireside chat without the fireside for the... Yeah, it's always a fire side when Eric Crack there was a fire side. I heard there was tea. There was tea. It was tea with Dean Smith. And I asked him about a way for him. Because, you know, You know, he's never made excuses for a way for him. He says, you know, when people talk about travel or distance, we're saying in good hotels, we have our own plane.

We don't have our own plane, but it's a charter flight. It'd be nice if we... Zoran probably has his own plane. Helicopter. Yeah, helicopter. But he talked about mentality the other day. Mentality when you go into away games. So I think that when you look at the fact that the team was doing well at home,

that has something to do with mentality as well. But, I mean, the fans, some of whom are here, that is an incredible place to play a home game. And, you know, the last couple of years working at MLS and traveling around the league and talking to players from other teams, they always mention the fact that coming to Charlotte is an intimidating place or off-striking place to play. Yeah, and I had this conversation on one of the shows I did this week about how Charlotte's been this difference maker.

I think when you look at the expansion list and where teams are, Charlotte is one where okay is there a soccer city no if you do things right every city's a soccer city people are big fans and you can get people in the building and have a great experience but that's credit to the club by the way

because right from its inception things like this right the club was reaching out to the fan base and that was consistent so there was already there was already a fan base pool it was about cultivating it when you have Sir Minty

the people guys that's the best thing that they did you're his fave I've been looking around the corner He probably doesn't know. You know how you have a picture of Serminti behind you? He's got a picture of you on his desk. It's unfortunately we got the B and C celebrities in Dino. It's not the A in Serminty.

Tom, Eric mentioned when this team came into the league, came into the league, started off and has slowly grown. Without knowing tomorrow fully what it is, what's the report card on where this team stands and what this season was? I think this season was extremely, important and it's one that I had high hopes for

and they absolutely deliver it. They have a really strong foundation again. I don't want to keep saying too many nice things about the guys who are here. It sounds like I'm kissing ass. I dare you not to. So they have that set up. So the foundation in the roster in the squad, Kalina is a guy. It's really good. They've done some

ambitious and good things with the second team. When I talk to people in Europe, when I talk to people around the league, crowd legacy is always the first or in the top tier of examples of this is a team that is ambitious with the second team they're trying to do good things

this is a soccer area that will produce a ton of professional they already have produced a ton of professional players but through the Charlotte FC Academy more will come it is not easy to do that as an expansion team it takes time and you're saying that by the way as Nifasha Benhamas is playing

in the under 17 World Cup and the US got their first win against Burkina Faso by the way Portugal doing very well as well. I just had to say that. But, you know, speaking of Crown Legacy, and this was something that Dean and I talked about the other day, when you have a secondary team or a reserve team or whatever you might call it, very often the onus is on winning. And there should be, you know, winning is a priority, right? But he mentioned the word education, right? The education of the player, preparing the player to make that step up into the first team. And we've seen that. It has been a

pipeline, right? You talk about Uri-Tavadshuant, Privat, Yurit, Yurit went to Croatia. Ajayana. So there are a lot of players who, because of that education, have an opportunity to step up into the first team and then deliver. And the other key with the

whole thing is, do you have a plan? Many teams are, oh, we'll do a little bit of this. We'll sign a U-22, we'll collect draft picks, we'll have homegrowns, and we'll push them through. Charlotte has a clear plan, and I think for me, we talk about this all the time on the show. Do you have a clear system and do you have a clear plan?

Then you can go out and you can win against the margins by finding players that fit into that. First, we just want good soccer players. Isn't good enough. You know, Gus, I don't think there are many people, if any, that know more about this sort of player pathway than you do in this country. As I told, Rudy Wilder, who deserves a shout-out. Yeah, Woody, Woody, Doug Garney as well. You guys are legends, everybody who saw an FC. You know, I said we were talking about you today, and I called you a U.S.

soccer savant. And that's because you know, or nerd, not what I say. Okay, I'm nicer. And I think there's something to be said, not only about having a plan, but also understanding where you are in the pecking order in certain pecking orders. And one of them is market. What is your market? You guys did your show yesterday and I was listening to it. And you talked about Mark DeSanto sticking over potentially at LAFC and the fact that it doesn't matter who takes over. There's the market the team's already succeeded in many ways they can attract big stars maybe you can here maybe you can't but if you can't you still have big you still have a pathway for players and you have a plan to mitigate whether you're able to get a bona fide star or not and they were able to because

wilfrid zaha plays for charlotte fc yeah so so that i think that's what gives me the most optimism moving forward again you have the leadership in place but also this isn't a team that is only trying to take big swings on dPs or star or whatever or like let's see what we can outspend with ownership with the deeps pocket. No, like, they have the Academy up and running. They have utilized the Super Draft. They have, you know, they traded for players within the league. They go get a guy like Ashley Westwood.

Like, they are very diverse and eclectic in the way that they build a roster, which, again, this sounds obvious, but not all teams try to use every available pathway. Some teams think, okay, like, I can just do it with the Academy, or I can just do it with DPs or I can just do it with the collective. For me, Charlotte is at least trying in every one of those pillars. And not every year will every single one pay off,

right? Sometimes you're going to miss on a signing. Sometimes the academy is going to run dry for a year or two. But if you're firing all of them, the likelihood and the floor is raised. It increases your chance. By the way, a name that we haven't mentioned, Edon Toklamati. Yes. So he's brought over. He's playing for the Crown

Legacy. He moves up. Very quickly. Very quickly. scores 11 goals. And I remember talking to fans when Pachicajiman was initially rumored to be moving to another team. I would say reported. Mitch. I'd say reported. Matt.

I would say rumored. No, no. Okay, fine. Reported. But there was some... If it's in England, it's a rumor. There was some talk within the Queen City here that he could potentially move. And there was concern.

So who replaces him? You know, I'm lucky enough to go to training every once in a while when I'm giving permission. You know? I don't want to be shown up by you. And I remember watching Tokomani in the beginning and thinking, wow, there's something very special here. So when he hit the ground running, I wasn't necessarily surprised, but it speaks to what you were talking about. If you have a variety of ways to bring players into the first team in order to achieve success, he's one of those names that you need to focus on him and should, maybe, maybe, I know I'm biased,

should have been in the top three for a young player of the year. Let's not begin talking about Christian Kalina I already got that text You already got that text That's true Speaking of Pipeline We're going to talk a little bit about Offseason and what's coming up

And one of the big questions for this team is going to be centerback, right? Melanda's been one of the best in Major League Soccer He's been sold for a huge number Because it's a success of the team The question is what's next Am I on Andrew Privet Island With everyone else here?

Am I getting Andrew Privet love right now? Oh, six and sevens? Six and sevens of over there. Okay. That, to me, that's the answer, and that to me is an advantage, which is if you have a guy like that playing at that position, you can spend money in other spots, and you can build in other ways.

There are not a ton of huge question marks, though, as Tom Chugs' beer, but there are still ways that this team can get better going into next year. Yeah, for sure. Pepio is staying. Petio will be a DP. I think that is very... It wasn't obvious this time last year that they were going to be able to keep him.

Yeah. That was... He's an extra DP. Right. And you give credit to Olympiacos, you give credit to the club, you give credit to his camp as well. Everybody made that happen. That made the most sense. And now it's all going to pay off even further. So that wasn't a given. So now he stays. There should be, depends on what happens on the U-22 initiative front. There are optionalities with this team, but the core, for the most part, is locked in. Again, Melanda is leaving that. That's a big part. But that's part of the game. Ajumang in the summer, Malanda in the winter. That's a global football team that is in the food chain and the transfer market.

The way that you buy players from somewhere else, you're going to sell sometimes. So that's constant. There's a lot here that's going to continue here. That's really strong. Can I veer off course very quickly? Because you mentioned Pepiel and the fact that he's going to remain with the team. He is part of what I think is a really interesting subplot of Charlotte FC in 2025. He comes into the team.

And by the way, he told me last December that he wanted to stay. Yeah. We were chatting. He goes, I really want to stay. I hope he works out. So when you have a player who wants to remain at a club, that shows you that the club has done well by that player and that there is a greater chance of success because you want happy players in the place where they want to be. But if you think about it from a tactical point of view, he played what, 26 games, the last few games that he played.

I don't know if he was 100% healthy. I don't have that information. I hope I'm not breaking any news. It's going to get me fired. But he got... Did just say, Tom. Yeah. Tommy Scoops did it. Ten goals, 12 assists.

Yeah. Was on the team of the week. Yeah, yeah. All the time. All the time. Sorry, just to interject real quick, we were talking about the season that it ebbs and flows.

They don't finish fourth without what Pepiel did at the beginning of the season. Yes. And like, it's a DP-level play. We would be talking, we are now, but like, if he was playing in the playoffs, We would be talking glowingly. Like when I'm talking about Zaha, it would have been Zaha and PEPA.

So I'm glad that this is coming up now because of how important he has been to this team this season. I think if he doesn't get hurt, he's got a chance to be in like the year-end season awards. I think so too. I think so too. And at the time, I don't remember exactly when he went down, but that was a Leaks Cup. Was a Leaks Cup? It was before All-Star. It was before All-Star.

And I thought that based on what he did, he could have been in the conversation as a lot of, an all-star pick. The problem is it was so top-heavy. There's so many tens. So many tens. So many stars. He should have rebranded as a left back. Yeah. But the point that I want to make about him, not necessarily about him, but the team, all of a sudden he goes down. He was such a crucial part, as you said,

to what happened. So when was that? Before Cincinnati, which was the league's cut break. A 1-0 win. By the way, that was a huge result. That 1-0 win against Cincinnati. the header from Toklomati for Wilf to score that goal. But that's a whole different matter. He goes down, you need to change the team.

How do you restructure the team to succeed? And I think that's where Dean Smith's pragmatism was really, really important. Not stuck to one particular way of playing, but figuring out how are you going to get the best out of the collective. Yeah, and there are a few teams. I mean, we're doing the conversations around MLS. Vancouver is like the one that has had injuries and maintained, where if you lose a player of that quality,

it's very hard for teams to maintain. You look at it, it's become more direct, it's become faster for them in the attack, and a lot of that is Zaha and Vargas are now the bulk of it and then its second runners coming out of midfield. Yeah, so I wanted, Eric, you're here all of the time, every game. What have you seen in the evolution of Zaha within this team and like maybe the subtle nuances of how he's found his best footing?

Well, I think one of the things is he had to get up to speed with the league. This is, every foreign player that I speak to always tells me that there's an adjustment period to MLS. It's very transitional, even though that's changing a little bit. It's very athletic. There are not many lulls. So I think players need to get used to that. But also, when PEP goes down, and this is my way of looking at it, I think he took even more responsibility upon himself to make it happen for the team, to get them through difficult periods. One of the things that perhaps he doesn't get credit for, he got 10 goals in Tennessee.

But when the team is under duress, he is always an option, and he's able to hold on to the ball. There's a reason why he gets fouled so often. It's not always in the attacking third. Does Wilfrid, Zaha, get fouled a lot? He's well aware of that statistic, apparently. But it's because he becomes an option when the team is against the ropes a little bit. Find him, he'll take the pressure off the team. So it was about sort of lifting his game when they needed him the most.

And that's important. Like, like, you're right. Like, we're going to talk about the goals he assists as we should. That, that's what the players are here for, and particularly at that level. Yeah. But the other side of it, too, is like, all right, we're in a tough moment.

You're in a tough spot. I'm always checking. I don't care if I got somebody on my back. Give me the ball. I'll bail you out. Have you seen him spin up close? You know, only on his debut, and I know he wasn't anywhere near 100%.

You know, I have a place where I stand during games. I stand right next to the var monitor. I got kicked out, right? You got kicked out. I try to stand with you. But wait a minute. Where's Woody? We worked on a better credential for you this time,

and you would have one, too, so you could be there. You'd prep like. I'm in the upper deck with my people. I stand there by the var monitor, because I like listening to conversations, and very often, Wilf is playing on that side. And the elite level with which he is able to turn his defenders, who are expecting him to turn,

but the way he steps on the ball and just spins either one way or the other, and almost always beats them. It's incredible. Before we finish up here, if anyone has any questions, we're going to take some questions because we want everyone to get involved. So if you have any questions, think of them.

We are going to have someone who works here who's going to help us out. I also want to hear your favorite moments from this season as well. This has been such a fun season for Charlotte, a lot of ups, particularly on that winning streak early season. I want to hear your favorite moments of this year. So if anyone has any questions, think about them now, and we'll get to you in a couple of minutes.

We have a mic right here. You could grab it. But it's not a wireless mic, so you can't go anywhere. I was going to say, you might have to be in this little radius. Well, I don't know. That's a pretty long lead. Okay, so let me ask you this. I'm not going to ask him because he's got the jacket on.

Winner loss, what's the grade of this season for Charlotte? What is tomorrow night? Plus, what is the viewpoint of where this club sits right now? So, I hate to do this. the thing where it's, oh, like, if you win, like, what if it's a penalty shootout? Like, it's such fine margins. You need a little bit of luck. I know that coaches, executives, they don't ever admit that because you want to be

able to control everything you control. So I'd feel weird, like, really changing the answer if, again, if it's a tight game tomorrow night and it doesn't go their way, I still think it's a B-plus. Because of the foundation laid for meeting expectations, the Eastern Conference is an absolute buzzsaw this year. And for them to finish fourth to have that historic winning run, absolutely bare minimum B plus that's easily

into the A if they get to the next round. So for context, because you guys know this league better than just about anybody, this is the toughest Eastern Conference we've ever seen. It's the toughest conference that I can remember. Yeah, it's the toughest conference we've seen outside of one year in the West

about 10 years ago. The top has been big, right? Montreal, Philly, making the run against L.A.F.C. in 2022. But not the depth that we're seeing this year, which is why to me that grade makes sense because last year was a good year for Charlotte.

Coming to this year, you don't know how it continues. Now we know the floor is fifth. The floor is fifth for this team. And if the team gets better, the conference isn't the same, we're talking home games, we're talking supporter shield race, which feels like a guarantee for this club, which was not the case 12 months ago, and it hadn't been in the past. And the club is trending in the right direction, right?

Every season has been an improvement on the last. The big question for me is, how do you replace Adil Malanda? Yes. There's no dollar-for-dollar replacement on the salary cap. Absolutely not. And I think that's a really important point. His name is Andrew Pryff. If you want to get somebody like a deal in Malanda, you have to pay for him, right?

Or you have to search, you know, wide and far. And it's unlikely. I still say I think Privitt's the best third center back in Major League Soccer. And for any team and Bill Tui Lola. And this is good because there's nobody more locked in on the best third center back in MLS. That is true. That term comes up a lot. You know, you know,

on privet when he this guy was a midfielder right so he has to he has to adapt to a new position he has to learn it the guy who made that move was Jose Tavage who was in the first coach of credit of FC Porto a rival of mine

we stopped talking so I think it's huge credit to the player that he's become as a centerback starting or third centerback whatever it is whatever you label him as but the point is He has a part to play undoubtedly. I saw the dog and I knew who it was.

Does anyone have any questions that they want to ask Tom? There you go. There was a question. We've got a microphone. I refuse to take questions, Tom. It's not an open forum for me. It's just for you. It's got a microphone right here.

Tell us your favorite moment of the season and then your question. Yeah, so my favorite moment this year was definitely the Miami game, the Pananka. Nice. We sit on that side. so that was pretty awesome. I guess my question would be defense for us last year was our calling card, right? This year when Byrne got hurt,

that changed our offense significantly. We signed Toffalo in the summer. He got hurt, came back. You can see he's starting to jive with the team. I think two wing backs is very important for our offense. So talking about Privet. Yeah. So Privet and Ream for next year,

is it worth spending on a DP? for a defender. It is not historically the best situation. I would lean, no. But here's what I would say. It's a good question. If you were telling me, because with MLS,

I always like to think of the collective, which is everyone has this pot, $5 million, 6 million plus DPs that you're spending. How do you allocate it? How can you move it around? If you are able to win against the cap with a privet starting at a high level and Tim Rine being who he is,

you could potentially go spend that money in central midfield. And then you make your team, I think, stronger overall. and you make their lives easier. And I think that's where I would say I need it or spend it over doing so at centerback. Because as I'm trying to debate with them over here,

I think you're still winning against the margins with Privat and Ream as your centerbacks. So what is interesting is Malana came on a U-22 initiative deal. There are so few U-22 initiative centerbacks because that's a position that you need time to mature. There are so few, if anybody else on the top of your head. Jibrozo Flores. Yeah, Jibrozo Flores and Adelso Malanza.

Yeah. That might be it. terms of so like that was Toronto probably signed some guy from England in the third division we've never heard of you can try to go back that way and we'll never play very likely so so so with BL being a DP

Zaha still here Abada here so that that speaks for your DP spots he'll I'm expecting him to be here well his loan continues through June so he'll start the year so so that means if if Abada would have to be the person to leave for even any

DP to come in and I'd be surprised if say Abada left and then it was a centerback that came rather than an attacker. But I will say the question is good in that. And it's fair to interrogate this too. I get annoyed when people are like, no, no, no. This is how you build an MLS roster and that's it. Like, there are so many different ways to be successful.

And what I was going to say is you've hit on U-22 so well with Toklamati and obviously what Vargas was. It opens the door to potential, which is, does a DP centerback get us over the top? It's what Portland did with Liam Ridgewell. Yes. Back in the day because they had against the cap and the attacking spots. but I think if you find that center rate that makes Westwood and Brant Bronico's life a little better

might be an easy way to do it. Thank you though. Love that. Love the Paneka shout. Do we have another question out there from anyone? That was a great moment. Hello. How are you doing? What are you? Favorite moment? Favorite moment. It's more recent.

It was Zaha giving the P.K. to Toclomadi to give Toglmati the hat trick. You called that. You called that on the show. Same match as well, which just shows how important that match was. Oh, shit, it was. Are you allowed to say that? I don't know. It was great to see kind of that camaraderie,

and also the fact that the first person that Toklamati went and celebrated with was Zaha. These are the things I love too. Me and Goss are looking at that all the time. My question for Mr. Scoops, have you reached out to Sir Minty to christen baby scoops? That's probably going to be named after Sir Menti, boy or girl? Perfect. Middle name.

It's kind of sneak down it in there. An actual question that I would have. That felt like an actual question. That's the only question. He touched on it a second ago. How do you feel about Abada's production this season? And do you think we're saying goodbye to him after this season ends? So I'm the person whose only thing has ever been named after me is being patient about foreign players coming into this league.

But he's past Goss theorem timing now with the other year. So I would be surprised. if he played for the team at the start of next year. Obviously, I was part here, and I'm saying what I'm saying. I'd be surprised, but I also, I see the quality. You see the straight line ability. You see when he gets in front of goal, the ideas. It is, does it fit with the rest of it?

Or is it too similar to some of the rest of it, where you want a little bit of variance? And so my guess would be that he finds another spot that makes sense for him, and the team finds someone else who maybe makes a little bit more sense. I would agree with that, too. And again, I'm sure that this is a guy who wants to be starting every game, like every player does.

So I think that that could make the most sense for everybody. I do think he's talented. I think God said it perfectly with... Like you see it. Does he fit right within, with the collection of this team? There are so many things that can go wrong with the signing. And that doesn't mean that the player is bad. It doesn't mean the team...

Sometimes it just doesn't quite work out. This hasn't quite worked out. Yeah, but it's a great question. Thank you for... Can I address the... Yeah, Eric's going to address this. If anyone else has a question, come up while Eric addresses with... The Zaha moment with Toclamati.

Yeah. It also flew in the face of the narrative that was being built in MLS circles about Zaha being a very selfish player. And I think that's what made it even more of a moment, right? Because most people would have wagered that Zaha would take that penalty. Instead, he gave it to Toclomade. And it wouldn't have, it's not like, if he took it, it wouldn't have been a controversy. It would have been like, yeah, Zaha takes a penalty. So that was him going out of his way.

And again, these are things that we love. He's charlittifying. His soul is becoming charlatans. He won everybody over that day. Let me tell you. I think he won everybody over when he signed. We've got to. That too.

We've got another question here. What's your tweets? What's your word? Can we add besides your favorite moment? You have a banner in this stadium. I need to go see that again tomorrow. Oh, yeah. We need another photo.

Your name, too. My name is Thomas. Nice to meet you. So my favorite moment of the year was the Zaha goal in Atlanta to take the lead. Hell yeah. We were down there. We had a thousand people at Atlanta. So that was my favorite moment of the season so far.

like in person seeing my first time going to Atlanta with the whole crew and everything is a good year to go while they are the worst team in MLS. Super nice fans though and pretty humble about it. So I guess my question is more

of a favorite atmosphere. I'm not going to put you on the spot to say Charlotte. But outside of Charlotte I guess, how do we compare to your other favorite atmosphere? You've been around more than I have so you go first unless you want time to think. No, no, no. I would say if you're asking comparison, it's equal. It feels big. It feels important. One of the things

I always say is like, does it feel minor league when you're around it? Do people feel like they care? And everything about Charlotte equals that. And one of the things that I was talking about someone this week when we talk about the age of expansions and where teams have gone is, I don't know that we thought that was possible within NFL stadium in a big city. And it feels real, right? You walk around the city, you see it. And so I think it's definitely equal to some of the big ones that I've experienced. Toronto when they were good to me is still one of the best LAFC, the 2022

MLS Cup. It felt like I was at the Lombinera as close as I will probably get until Eric brings me on the private plane with Soren and all of that I'm not allowed in anymore. But you know I went to the playoff game in Miami last weekend because I lived down there unfortunately

and it didn't feel big like it was good I mean it's great soccer it's little messy but it didn't feel big and I think what we see tomorrow night will feel big and it will feel big time and one of the exciting things I think about this market for me as an

external is we don't know what the ceiling is and some of the other ones even like a Portland which is elite oh my god yeah we're at the ceiling like it is what it is we don't know what Charlotte could be and I think that's where you see a Zaha come in at this point you hear the names that are continued to be connected

those will only grow because I think the market will only grow around it gossip's been to more games than I have so I would defer to Soccer. Tom likes breaking ears. He deferred everything that he says. Yeah, Charlotte.

And so I get to helicopter in for big games a lot of the times. So I'm always getting kind of like the best punch. Yeah. Again, being here for the home opener, the first one, and then being here for this year, those were two really elite atmospheres. Seattle MLS Cup 2019, I think, is the best I've been to. I wasn't at the 22 MLSC at I've seen.

Yeah. But I put Charlotte with the fans and the atmosphere. I put them up there in the top term. This isn't just pandering. This is, if we were talking about it on the show, not here. When we do the lists of, like, when people ask me these questions. Yeah, where should you go? And, like, this city, too, it's a gorgeous city.

It is so easy to get around. You go to the game and then you're walking through a park and... And that makes a huge difference. It really does, man. It really does, man. Dude, like, going on a plus cup last year. Yeah. Some people are staying in downtown L.A.,

games in Carson. Some people are staying in Manhattan Beach. It's just like everything is... Or even the office. star game just this this this uh this in austin yeah yeah it was also 115 degrees yeah it's true yeah but it's a great question thank you for asking do we have one more and this person is wearing a soccer right yeah it's not a plant this is the favorite favorite fan what's up uh favorite moment was beginning of the season uh deal some alanda tying the game in seattle that was a good one yeah we fill out for

the game great atmosphere oh nice as a men's elite champion what have twice do you give the boys for tomorrow to go and compete? So you missed the breaking news that we just put out on the show, which is that Tom lost last night, 1-0, and his men's league final. Tough. Was it the goalkeeper's fault again? No, it wasn't, it wasn't. 1-0, I'll tell you that.

So it's a great question. It's probably better for someone else. Relax. 19-19, that would snap the 19-game win-jury. What you do is you have to care about it so unreasonably and so uncomfortably that you're unhappy no matter what. Yes, yes, yes. And that you never fight somebody with nothing to lose.

That's how I go in every men's league game. There you go. Thank you. Best question we're going to have of the night. And if anyone would like to see that in play, for the rest of the night, you could just watch Tom. Yeah, just my mannerisms. I got to play with Eric Crackauer out of the All-Star game.

We played together. Yes, you did. Eric's a very, very good player. I knew that, and I was still impressed. What was also obvious is that we show we have pennies, and I turn around and Eric's got his shirt off just a pinion that can fit playing outside at a 110 degree weather in Austin

I packed light I packed light I also played in vans yeah he was still dicing people up in vans it was very impressive all right we are so thankful to Zorn and Dean for being here we're thankful to Charlotte FC for helping set this up we're thankful to all of you for being here thank you for the questions

my best moment in Charlotte of the season was this right here so thank you to all of you and we're going to hang out. Reminder, if you do not have ticket yet for the game or you know anyone who wants tickets, $30 tickets still available at the table next to us on the second floor. You've been sitting in the bar listening to this the whole time

and you're like, this sounds like the best thing I've ever heard. One, you're welcome. Two, listen to soccer wise. Three, go to the game tomorrow night. Go buy tickets next to us. Thank you to Eric as well. And we'll hang out with all of you right now. Thanks for coming, guys.

It's good to have you. You know,