SoccerWise - Mailbag Special MTL Ownership, Gio Reyna MLS DP, USL vs MLS All-star Games + More

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

With national team in the review mirror Tom & David get a chance to open up the Soccerwise mailbag. They get to dig into all the wild questions you all have. If you want to get involved subscribe to our Patreon to get access to our discord where we host our mailbag.  9:10 Mailbag On The Saputos And Ownership In MLS23:55 Gio Reyna MLS DP?33:50 Has Roman Burke Been DP Level? Other MLS DP GKs?40:00 Houston Tarbell Replacements & New CB Signing46:13 Ever See An MLS vs USL All-star Game?50:30 Des Maine Menace ESPN 30 for 3059:45 Miami New Attacking Signing + Philly Preview1:05:42 Nashville vs FCC Preview  Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

What's up everybody and welcome back to SoccerWise David Goss. Tommy Scoops here for another big show with all of you in what has been a very fun week so far of coverage here. Fun maybe not the right word to use for the start of last show in which we talked about how sad the USMNT is but today Is opening day in baseball. We are not a baseball show, but Tom's got his local bars baseball jersey on He's got his mini bat. I've got my New York Mets Florida hat to show that I am the worst case scenario, which is a New Yorker in Florida and

We are hyped about that. We are ready to roll into what is going to be a fun episode. Tom, we're going to dig into the mailbag. Give the people what they've been yearning for in the Discord for so long. Yeah, man. I'm always just, I love a mailbag episode. There was so many times it felt like during the off season where we never got to it because there was just nonstop news and no room for it. So today we were looking at each other and was like, you know what today is? Today's mailbag day. Mailbag day. You had a conversation you got into. Those are good cuts. Just, you know, I think, I think last time we talked baseball, I explained how I always hit opposite field

and then we be sent like an essay in group chat being like, the reason is your top hand is too far off the barrel and you're like swinging through and it's like, OK, cool. This was when I was using a whiffle bat. far off the barrel and you're like swinging through and it's like, okay, cool. This was when I was using a whiffle bat. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Remember what this was about.

But I, but I do. Yeah, I do remember it coming up. Yeah, we're excited to dig into the mailbag. You had a conversation in the discord, which I only just found from yesterday where someone said pro rail will really only be established in the US when there is national high speed rail connecting the country. And then he followed up and said,

don't know about the pro rail thing, but would be stoked about the high rail thing. And I was like, are we talking public transportation right now? Cause I am electric. I was just juicing it. I saw that I was like, I totally agree. Whether or not we just need that for the people.

Pro-Road, that'd be an added bonus. I just want a high-speed train system across the country. Is that too much to ask for? I can't, for me to get from where I live down the Jersey Shore, I still have to drive to a train station, even where I could take a long bike. Then there's one train that goes 25 minutes to get to me like four miles. Then you have to switch there. And then another train that's supposed minutes to get to me like four miles. Then you have to switch there. And then another train that's supposed to take you to New York City. It's supposed to be an hour and 25 minutes, but it's never that quickly. So that's just to get to New York City, let alone I can't get to Philly from where I am.

And I'm not that far. Can you really not get you have to go? I have to drive. I would have to drive to a train station. Actually, I think I would just have to drive to Philly. We're like pretty much closer to Philly. This is how much he goes to Philly. To DC, I'd have to drive at least 40 minutes to get to a train station that'll take me to DC. Right. Because you

got to do Amtrak for that. No matter what, it's still a car ride. Yeah. I mean, think about the world we live in. You'd have 75, 120 professional soccer clubs across the country and you're just jumping on trains, connecting with all of them. It's our dream. It is what we would love to do. For me, I'm always like, Oh, I'll take the Brightline up to Orlando. And it's like, once you get there to get from the train station to the to any actual stadium or training ground or anything, that's its own adventure. So yeah, so I saw what I've heard of the Brightline. It can be a very harrowing experience. I know that the names I'm going to list, I don't think they're listening, but I'll shout them out anyway.

So my guys, Mike Ryan, Chris Whittingham, Stefano Fusaro, and all them boys. Again, I get a lot of updates on Brightline and Brightline, you know, wreaking havoc in South Florida. So just be careful, Goss. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, I would like to change the language on some of that, which is people who park on train tracks and people who drive through. Now, I almost got hit change the language on some of that, which is people who park on train tracks and people who drive through Now I almost got hit by the bright line. I don't know if i've told this story on the show

Did I have I told this did it veer onto the sidewalk? No, and you need to tell it No, i'm at fault in this as well. I guess You parked at the train track. Well, this is part of they they rolled out if anyone doesn't know the bright line is like Kind of a european style. Um high speed rail and not high speed but like high end style train it doesn't move very fast that I can guarantee you that they've built between Orlando and South Florida and I believe they're building one between LA and Vegas that they're going to be adding to as well and so they just built it and what where it crosses all the, it's just like they're figuring out still where to put the train track warners and where to keep cars away.

So there's an intersection in Miami that the train crosses. I was inside the intersection sitting at a red light and the warning bar comes down behind my car. What am I supposed to do? I'm at a red light and I wasn't even the only car inside of it. It wasn't like, oh, I was pulled up past the stop sign. I was behind a cement truck and in front of another car and the divider thing, why can't I, whatever it's called, the arm goes down behind the car behind me. Then the car in front of me starts backing up into me. So like now I'm squeezed in and the cement truck

at the front, zero worries, just sitting on the train tracks. And at the last second, it moved 15 inches to the right. And I swear the guy driving the car and the conductor of the train could have high fived how close they were. And the dude running the conductor of the train could have high-fived how close they were. And the dude running the cement truck did not care.

The train passes and just rolls through the intersection. Obviously running a red light at that point, which we all do, because it's all like, we've already survived enough. I'm not waiting at this red light to see what else comes down this train track. It was a wild experience. So it is a wild experience. I think the Bright Line hit a fire truck right before Christmas, which was a huge story here in Florida. So now you've all experienced that. Now you all know exactly the vibes for today's show. We're going to be digging

into the mailbag. It is going to be this. You look like Raleigh Fingers or something right now with the mustache. It's like an old school Dodgers jersey kind of looking thing like Brooklyn Dodgers and the mini bat just makes it even better. I look like I'm the dude that's in the bullpen that they just cut to like sitting near the closer. Yeah. Oh, it might bring it in. I'm always the third.

If we're winning by three runs, I'm not getting off the bench. But if we're down by seven, I'm coming in and eat up a couple innings. But a pack of big league Chu hates to see you coming Hates to see you coming you will terrorize that pack if you get the opportunity We are gonna do a little week in the bullpen Yeah, we're gonna do a little weekend preview coming up for you as well another good weekend of MLS action last weekend A little bit odd, of course with the international window I thought it was interesting when a fan messaged us

and sort of said, I pay for season tickets. I've already paid for this game. I didn't pay to go see a bunch of rotated players and a roster that doesn't matter. I think that is a totally fair complaint. And it is one of the issues in all of this. And I went back and looked at a lot of the lineups from this weekend and I watched a lot of the games

because I wanted to put together like, oh who like what young players got opportunities that were great. There was a lot of goalkeepers actually. Like a lot of young goalkeepers got in, a lot played well. Kolodi from FC Dallas, Boudry did for Colorado. Played well, maybe a little bit different. Not really his fault on the three goals. I think Andrew Rick got an opportunity for Philadelphia, a lot of goalkeepers, which is very odd just to see. There was not as many young players that I think got the opportunities on the field as I would have expected on a weekend like this.

I think part of that is the youth national team. I was gonna say, yeah. Yeah, it's like, that's a crazy part on top of all of this. It's like, if you wanted to explain all of this out and be like yeah well we want to give more opportunities right we've created MLS next pro we want to give these players opportunities they just didn't get them because they were also not around the teams. Exactly like that's again I don't want to just do the same rant or monologue or conversation that we've already done it's just the the fan aspect of it of the season tickets and paying money like that's a good point that I didn't get so I think that like that's all rolled into like when you say okay like this game clearly matters less or we don't care as much because it's just okay to not have you know X amount of players for every team available so again, like you're telling your fans and you're telling the teams, ah, it's okay. Who cares, right? And squad rotation, stuff like

that happens. And like, that's not what this person is complaining about. This is like, you guys knew that several of these teams, you know, more so than some others are going to be severely hamstrung. And here's pay pay like pay the same rate and come to this game anyway and you need to be hey fan you don't get an international break i don't want to see your b team in the stands i want you to create the noise anyway so it's just it just sucks all around really and i think on squad rotation i think most fans would say like oh if we're winning and going deep in cocky cap champions cup and us openups and whatever and they rotate on the weekends. I think most fans would probably take that and be like, oh, this is a fun reason. This is positive. That's not what's happening there. But I also might

be wrong on that as well. Let's start into the mail back. Let's start with an interesting one from Grey Ghost who says, does MLS have a mechanism at all for dealing with problematic owners? Something really should be done about CF Montreal's Joey Saputo destroying MLS gains in Canada. In fact, looking at Toronto as well with this, what can MLS do to improve its presence in Canada? It also says, should it even attempt to, which I wasn't even going to add because it's to me an obvious yes of like, look at the soccer culture right now in Canada. Look at the soccer culture historically, Christine Sinclair, the greatest goal scorer in international history. I think it's a really fun

element of Major League Soccer to have these markets that have their own style and history and all of that. And you add into, you want MLS to be an international league. Well, one, having markets like a Montreal that speak French. So now you have already players and content and all that type of stuff that's coming out in other languages to connect to those parts of the world. And you are an international league. Like you literally play in multiple countries. So for sure it's worth it. It has been really, I think, devastating to watch what's happened in Canada the last four or five years because of the gains Toronto FC made. And I think inside of that, you create like a Dallas Cowboys situation, which was TFC got so big that when Montreal beat them, that was a good marketing

point. And that was a good testing point, Vancouver as well. And so I think everything grew together. And now it feels like a lot of it's fallen apart right as you're going into a World Cup that's going to be hosted, which is this huge moment. And we're not even talking about Alfonso Davies and his agent right now and Jesse Marsh and whatever. That's a whole different conversation in terms of the question about owners and mechanisms. Let, sorry, let me just interject because I thought that that's what you were saying, which should they even try to when I said no. Yeah, I thought that's what you were talking about, not just improving the game.

I didn't even hear you. So that's I would yes to the answer of that. I was talking about the owner side of things, not saying that no, they shouldn't care about Canada. They should very much care about Canada. So the question about Joey Saputo, we have you already sent this to me, Sophie and Bonanza in the chat as well, bringing this up. Joey Saputo.

I think the short answer well bringing this up. Joey Saputo, I think the short answer to this is no. Like Joey Saputo is running his team the way he wants to run his team. There are other ownership groups that I think people would throw in here around MLS that you would say don't run them the way fans would like them to run, but there is nothing incorrect about it. We did see in the RSL situation, which was now we're talking about things outside of just how you choose to run your team, but we're talking about legal issues. We're talking about the image of the league in terms of what it was connected to with all of that. I think it was the idea around

racism inside the club and all these other things that there was a mechanism for like every owner to come together and try and push. And I think in the end, they didn't even have to because a second ownership group was found and that's where you move the club off of, similar to what happened with Columbus. So the short answer is no, you can't, but this does also open up the door for us to talk about this,

which is so Joey Saputo did an interview in Italy. He did it in, I think French, maybe he did in Italian. I didn't actually consider that. I just put it into Google Translate and it worked. Assume Italian. Okay. I typed in French to English translation and it worked. So I kind of assumed it wasn't French. Now I can't find the translation here. I can't find where I put it. Oh, here it is. So Joey Seputo in talking about CF Montreal, he said that he believes he made the mistake that in leaving the CF Montreal presidency, he felt that he was too passionate about Montreal. And so he left the presidency

because he was heavily criticized. He's criticized in Montreal. My greatest weakness is that I care too much. And now he feels like he's criticized because he cares about Bologna more than he cares about Montreal. And he does that because the Montreal fans didn't want him to be engaged in Montreal. Then he goes on to say Montreal is a small market, sponsorships are difficult, as many corporate head carters are in Toronto. The team depends on ticket and jersey sales.

Their tickets are the cheapest in the league, their only way to sell tickets in the market. And he could spend a lot of money on players. Yes, but at some point you get tired of it and stop. So the philosophy must be to develop players and sell them. Fans must be patient. He also, I skipped over this one line he had where he talked about between the two clubs, people want to work for and are passionate about Bologna and CF Montreal that used to be the case, but that's no longer the case. We're all trying to find the guy who did it. Like what? Who's at fault here?

Let me, let me start with this. I appreciate that he came out and spoke. He took an interview. I want that to be congratulated because most of the time, owners, there is no obligation for an owner to go speak. So I appreciate that he did this and took some questions. And while I disagree with almost everything he said, I appreciate that he said it. And I want to start with that because transparency is good, answering questions is good, even if you disagree. Was this run through people for how should I present this case? I don't know that there's really anyone to run it through with how thin he has built

some of this organization. Like yes I could sign players but it gets old. Who does that, are you relating to anybody? Yeah, it like the the argument would be it's not financially viable Do we need to be a sustainable business and you just say that word sound and again like there's truth to that But just like meh, I got tired of it. I don't think that that's and that's a great answer The like What are more? What are my biggest weaknesses? Well, I care too much, I work too hard, and I'm too determined. Like what do you, it sounds like somebody trying to get an internship at like 18, 19

years old. Like I don't, I don't understand. And like, again, at least for you and I, again, I don't know what the fan sentiment is. The fans deserve more. I don't know. I don't think that they're being unreasonable in any way, but I'll just say for us What we were talking about was can you just sign somebody like Mikhail Ura and once every couple years? Can you just sign somebody like again? I don't know a three to five million dollar transfer fee for a DP or

Sign or reinvest what you got for Ismael Coney in George my highly bitch I think like if you want to say we want to develop players because you know big names don't want to come here which is also hard to say for a club that had Nacho Piatti and like got Jumaily to come in the door and like Had the- and again, T.A.R.I. on read to coach them. For sure Like so has had success in that side and has success not in the insignia way of like we're gonna blow you out of the water with money so you have to come here and then it's not sustainable but then you come off that you do create what he just said but then you didn't reinvest to build the club after that it felt like after they sold all these so they sold out the building a ton right a year and a half

at least a year where it was like the it was the hot ticket in town, Nante built this team, they were a winner, they went into the second round of the playoffs, all these other things. So you sold it out, then you sold the players for pretty good numbers for most of them. You basically spent nothing to acquire them, right? Georgie was an inside MLS move, Ismael Kone was assigning,

Kamal Miller was like 500,000 allocation money, Alistair Johnson as well. So it wasn't like, oh, well, we have to recoup all the money we outlaid to bring these pieces in. And then the team fell off a cliff after that because you didn't replace any of those pieces well. And you didn't understand the soccer side of things. I think that's the part that's a little bit scary with this is like, okay, so when he was involved, he's helping bring in Hernán Lasada post-nance,, where they play, like not understanding the soccer thing that's

happening there and what they've built. But then when he's away, the team can't invest because he doesn't care. And it clearly the budget that's laid out there is dependent on how interested he is and passionate about it. I can understand a little bit the sponsorship conversation because you're operating in a league where you are Canadian dollars against US dollars. It's a tough conversion rate. You are the smaller market in your country. But like there are billionaires in Montreal.

There is some money. If you run a good organization that people want to be associated to. It is amazing the things happen where people then want and come to be associated with you because you are something that is cool or up and coming or people are passionate about it. Montreal has a history. The Montreal Impact have a history in that city and they have a legacy. It is not some of these other MLS clubs that are already started battling uphill. Like they have a lot already in place and they've done nothing to

take advantage of it. And yeah, people in Bologna might like you more, but I don't know that that's really how this works. I don't. And then like again, like The hurdles that they have they're all true particularly We don't talk enough about and this is more towards Montreal and Vancouver just because Toronto is Has the ownership group it has and everything that they're in with sports like you know I'm speaking to people at Vancouver and they're like the you get paid in American dollars as an MLS player even if you're playing in Vancouver Montreal Toronto and like you get killed on that conversion rate for the clubs. So I understand these hurt and it makes it difficult. But once again, you and I aren't asking them to be into Miami 2.0.

We're not even asking them to be Orlando City. Like that's like I think that's a more sustainable model too. Like their wage bill isn't the highest, but they routinely spend money on transfers. And they spent big to get Fugundo Torres, they sold them for big, and then they immediately turned around and reinvested back in the team. So I think they got something like 16 million or 18 million for those three transfers of George Mohalovic, Ishmael Kone, and Alistair Johnson. You know, it would have been cool for a few million of those dollars to go back to the team like

FC Dallas, nobody confuses them with a big spending team. They spent a lot of money on Peter Musa. They spent a lot of money on Alan Velasco. They spent a lot of money to get Lucho Costa in the door like in terms of contract and fee. Why can't it be that? That's a sustainable business model. Why can't it be that? The left of presidency because he was heavily criticized for being too involved like That's a sustainable business model. Why can't it be that? Yeah the left the presidency because he was heavily criticized for being too involved like It seems pretty clear from the outside that Wilfred Nance left because of Joey Saputo's involvement. So like the report. Yeah, so like yeah Yeah, man

You pushed out the best thing that was happening for your club and the thing that could have made it sustainable All the things you just said that you want Wilfred Nance was the key to a lot of that. It basically fell into your lap and you weren't able to secure the bag and keep it organized. And so fans are right for that. Also, you want to be the face of something. You want to name something after yourself. Literally stadiums named after him. Then when you are bad, fans are going to be mad about it. Like just accept that. I'm wearing all my Mets gear and talking about Mets like, Uncle Steve gets the heat and he's yelling at fans sometimes too. And yeah, you got to like two fingers out Pauly style. So a lot of this I think is frustrating to read.

I think it's scary for fans in that it shows a lack of understanding for the things that it feels like there's a lack of understanding out there about. And we've gotten a few messages of like, what should the next coach be? Shouldn't be experienced MLS person. There are not a lot of head coaching jobs. So there's, you know, everyone will get involved in most interviews. But there are reasons that some teams don't get the high level options. Because if you have any stability, and let's just take the obvious one,

if you're Gio Savarese, we have talked about him a lot on the show with his background, his resume, his experience, are you really gonna move your life to go be involved in this thing that has shown to be volatile? And you will not have the support that you will have at other groups.

And so when Montreal is deciding who their next coach is, they can only decide from the options that are available to them. And they are not the same options that are available to every other MLS team because of their recent history or their long history, whichever one you want to choose. And so they're going to be picking from a different pool than probably what most other clubs will have. Because I don't think anyone will jump at this job. Yeah, and like, we're not that far removed. Like Remy Guard was a sizable hire for them. And like, it when they dismissed him, I did think I thought it was cool. I believe it was Saputo.

If not, it was whoever the club president was at the time was saying, look, what Remy has done to this club, how he's helped transform us, it's going to be felt. This is a sad day that it makes sense for all. They handled that well. He was still only there for two years, which I guess looking back, I thought it was much longer. Nice. But that was a real European test.

Like his resume, I thought that was a really good hire and well done to get that in the door. Thierry Henry was the same thing. Like yes, he didn't do great with Monaco, right? But like that was still at a time where it's like, oh my god, they got Thierry Henry. Like best case scenario here is he does well for a few years and then he's back in Europe.

And then he takes another job or whatever. So we're not that far removed from them being able to convince a couple of these guys and like Not to get too in the weeds about like the geosepharase a point. I Think that if this was last winter no chance But geo is interviewed for what like eight or nine jobs and has been either second choice or third choice in most of them Like they might get like, again, I don't I don't believe that they're actively looking, I do believe that they're going to give Marco Donadale some time again. That's what a Drevay said in his

press conference. But if they were to be looking, they could be in the mix for somebody like geo if geo is like, man, I just want to coach an MLS team. I don't care right now. Yeah. Yeah, that's what they have to hope for Marco Shilobam most recently managed grasshoppers 2024 in Switzerland. So the Swiss volcano is available once again, if they want to go back to an all time great in Montreal history and bring him in, they'd have to explain to him it's now called FC of Montreal and not the impact. But Marco Shilobam is available. So that's breaking news from Soc Rise is the only place you can get something like that and this is the coverage that we provide for you. Let's continue on here MLS box2box says if you were an MLS CSO

would you use a DP spot on Gio Reyna? Yes. Yes, I would. I don't know if this is the right fit for his career right now. And again, it all starts with his health and then getting minutes. He'd get minutes here and he'd be a central part of whatever team, which I think would be good. But again, it starts with his health and it starts with where he's comfortable. What about you guys? Are you saying that in a vacuum no matter what of like no

brainer he is 100% of DP and MLS for any team? Obviously, some teams have openings, some teams don't. But I'm just saying, interesting. I don't know that I feel that because if he was healthy and fit and training well, he would have been playing at Dortmund. He wasn't not getting minutes because he wasn't good enough, right? They kept trying to push him in there. And I think a lot of the issues that exist for him are ones that there's a lot of clubs that are not either capable of dealing with it, or they're in spaces in their club's history where it's not worth it.

Let's take FC Cincinnati, for example, like FC Cincinnati is in win now mode. I don't need whatever could happen with Gio Reyna to affect what I'm building. So to me, he makes sense, obviously, from a talent point of view, and he makes sense for some teams where it's like, we're in flyer territory. We can take a flyer because we're in this space or whatever.

There's one obvious team that popped up to me. I don't think that we're gonna say the same one, but I wanna Chicago Fire. No, that wasn't the one I was gonna say that wasn't the one I was gonna say at all Please. Oh, baby Tom that is like that is so good. They have a TV spot open Mike might get sold in the summer. So they're gonna have a need listen, man You put on the 1995 music you go back to North Jersey to back to St. Benedict's, get a reunion going. Let's patch this up. This is the most absurd thing

I've ever heard. Although mine would have sounded absurd if you hadn't said that. Welcome. I'm being a good team. Yeah. You're welcome. It is in the next month or two, if you assess that Ricky Pooj is not going to come back this year, you put him on the season ending injury list, you bring Gio Reyna in for the rest of this year so Gio can rehab himself, it fits your style. You also are in a situation where you're probably at this point the season's on a flyer. Like if Ricky Pooj isn't coming back, he's not going to get where you want it to be. And based on the points so far, he might already be there whether he is or isn't. And he will fit your style as well. And you get to throw him in as the 10

and or on the wing if pain still continues to be injured or whatever it is. And that was the one that popped up for me. I like that. I get I don't see because unless if there's a setback in Ricky Pooch's rehab and also the logistics of Dorman ain't loaning them, man. I know that they don't want to and they're not exactly asking for a hundred million dollars to transfer them out. So like the galaxy, it's not like they put in a transfer fee and then, okay, now we have 40Ps in the winter and then this doesn't fit well. A semi, A more serious one, NYCFC. So he came through their academy. I know that he's

... it's a unique situation because of who he is, the type of talent he was. His dad was the sporting director at the time. But he came through the NYCFC academy. He fits that playing style really well. It would be going back home to a team that again, he ended up signing his first professional contract with Dortmund rather than NYCFC. So I think that that'd be a cool story and they desperately need attacking town and another like Maxime Morales ain't gonna play forever. And I think they could play together and that system. So that's one that that would make sense to me as well.

I would assume Houston's no longer available because they signed now a DP, right? So they'll have two and they have four U22s already. Which that would be another one that would have popped up for me. The last one, and it would be absurd if it happened, is Columbus. They've got open TP spots. He likes to play in possession. Wilford Nansay has done more with less in the past. You are always, and I think this is why to me it wasn't like a no brainer for every team

is he has not a good track record of being healthy. He does not have the best track record as a personality inside of a professional group. So like any team that's doing this has to be in a place where you're gonna take a risk because you feel like you need to. Because I think any team that's very stable with the group they have or confident in the group they have, it's not worth it.

And so you have to be in that spot. I would have thrown like a sporting Kansas City in it but they don't really, I don't think they have the space or the need at that position. It's a great question though. If you had to set odds on it, Tom, that he is playing for a new team next year and it's a major league soccer team or next season,

what would you put it out? A new team in general, I think it would be at like 95%. MOS, I really don't know. And again, like, I don't know if this is definitely the correct path through his career or not. I'm not saying it isn't, but I'm know if this is definitely the correct path through his career or not. I'm not saying it isn't, but I'm not saying it is either. There are some other ones where it's more obvious.

Like again, his level, like again, I know we talk about potential too much and talent too much, and then that becomes elusive, and then we're kind of just distracting ourselves from what's happening on the pitch, and how many different managers in Dortmund have not used them, and then thing with with Pochettino in this last window right like all that data aside like there still is like he

was regarded as one of the very best teenagers in the world right like so I would like to see him go somewhere else in Europe again it's got to be the right fit it's got to be somewhere where he fits the style and they're going to play him and it's not like one bad game is going to put him on the bench. I would rather that but like I don't think coming out well as would be a bad thing for his career. It's just I think that there's going to be teams in and around Europe, France, Spain, Italy that should be trying and will be trying. And I think that push comes to shove those would probably make more sense than NYCFC or something right? He's going to be playing for AEK Athens. I'm just talking about out there.

With Matthias Almeida? I don't think he fits that size. Or RS Thessaloniki. We had someone in the chat who says would Raina quote care wherever he goes in MLS? I love saying it. Would he buy into playing in MLS? It's a great question. I don't know. There's a really good chance not. But with him, it's like the same chance either way. He may not buy into playing anywhere he plays. Like that's he just, Murcio Pochettino said he's not fit when he's not unhealthy. He just has not trained at the level and pushed himself to be fit and physically capable of it. He got pushed out of the national team already at a World Cup because he was not training

at the level he had to so That's a question that you can't answer which is why again it is a risk But it's interesting it there was obviously that huge convo Which I think was part of where you started this of Greg Burrhalter national team players coming back for a World Cup There are not a lot that are super obvious in which they could be a DP level MLS player and Need a new club. Most are playing with their club teams. The problem right now is they're not performing with the national team.

He now pops up as the one which doesn't really make sense connected to that club. The next question here, I don't fully understand and I don't even know how we'll answer it and I don't even know if we will. Nick17 says, USMNT question, hypothetically, let's say dual nationals could be traded MLB or NFL style. How many dual nationals would you trade back to their nations that they're eligible for in order to get Jonathan David on the USMNT? For example, would you offer desk back to the Netherlands, Reina back to England, et

cetera? And how many? I think my answer is a lot of them. This is an insane question to ask. So I have to respect What is Canada getting? I have to respect and put on there. That's a really good question. Greenland?

I think where I net out is, yeah, Jonathan David would be cool on the U.S. National Team. That's what I mean. Yeah, Porsche, Porsche in your desk has just been injured first season. And it's like, what, I'm getting traded from my country? No, yeah, it'd be awesome to have Jonathan David. He's incredible again, born in New York. Gus, you, I feel like we haven't treged up this debate in a while.

He wasn't really involved with the US youth national teams, was he? Like, no, fuzzy on these details. No, I don't think he was. He was, he kind of came from outside the system. Like he wasn't even I I think, really Canadian national team. He never played in a pro setup. He played in like his local club in Ottawa, and then his coach helped him get to Europe. So he wasn't really youth national team, I think, that heavy. And it kind of always seemed like he was going to play for Canada. So that was kind of where I was going.

It's like, yeah, like this is good in the rear view. It's kind of like with Giorana and England. That was never a thing. He was always going to play for the United States. Dest was Dest or Moussa or Pepe or Balogun. Those are ones where multiple countries were trying it and not that England and some others weren't trying necessarily for Giorana. That wasn't a thing that that wasn't a dual national panic at all and again to my

Remembrance we just were like, oh wait, Jonathan. David was born in the United States. He's eligible Like why isn't why isn't he playing for the United States? Right? Like it wasn't so Correction for me is he was in under 15 camps with Canada and then played Canada youth national teams from the age of 14 through To the age of 18 when he went to get like there was never really yeah Yeah, it was never really connected. There was never really potential for it We could trade them to your bummer back if Canada wanted to do that. That would be an option as well I think we dance around this well enough without getting in trouble be an option as well. I think we dance around this well enough without getting in trouble.

We're just starting to push people in and out of countries. Yeah, I think that would never be a good one. St. Louis Unicorn says question for the mailbag. Has Berkey proven himself worthy of his DP contract? If he has, could more teams spend a designated player spot on an elite goalkeeper? Of course, that's Roman Berkey as the DP goalkeeper for St. Louis City SC. Two and a half years now, he was hurt this weekend. So unavailable, their shutout streak was broken after being on the verge of setting a record for shutout streaks to start a season. Obviously, first year, he was goalkeeper of the year. They were the top team in the Western Conference as an expansion team. Last year, a step down from a club point of view, and then this year looking to bounce back and they've done so so far on the strength of the backline. What

do you where do you net out as is he been worth it? And if it maybe changes the thinking for other teams? So I'm gonna take the easier path first and talk about what's already happened. He has been a DP level contributor to St. Louis City in two years and change at this club. He is the biggest reason on the field why they finished top of the Western Conference. Again, they had lucky finishing variants as well, But how far he outperformed expected goals minus goals, post shot on target versus goals, whatever it. All of those metrics, it's like, you know, again, Georgie Petrovich, Matt Turner, or

like the gold standards and that since that it's been tracked like since, you know, the late 2010s. Berkey was like, I didn't I didn't know if we were ever gonna see a couple players like that And I believe Berkey wasn't super far off. He so yes, he's been a DP level player In his MLS history. He's 34 right now He doesn't turn like this is his 34 season. He turns 35 in November and at that point He'll be 35 turning 36 the following November after the next season So this is his age 34. I'm kidding next year's his age 35 season

so What I'm saying is is I think a maxed ham deal Is fair at this stage. Yeah Both things I think are true here where he has been a DP level contributor, but this next contract, I don't know how, and I think it's made a lot of sense for St. Louis up to this point. I don't know how you pay, do a three year DP deal for 35, 36, 37 years. And I would hope that he would be, I think the fit's great between player and club.

I would hope that that would be good for him because he'd still be the highest paid keeper in the league. And like the other side of this is, where is the three million offer coming from? Who are you bidding against? Right. But you don't, again, it gets dicey because of how important he is to the team and how great he's been to like,

you can't do negotiations where you go just, hey, go find another offer. Like you can't be that crass, but at the end of the day, I don't think you can give a DP spot in the future. I echo most of what you've said. So 2023, he was number one in that category. You talked about post shot, expected goals versus goals conceded at 9.1.

So plus 9.1. Unbelievable. Daniel was number two at 7.3, and then it's a pretty big drop off and then last year he was number one as well or sorry number two behind Christian Colina 7.6 and then this year he's hanging around. I mean it's obviously early so you don't really want to dig into those numbers yet. So yeah his performance has been up there. I think one of the other things with this team is like were they going to spend it properly

somewhere else and I say over and over again, like goals cost money. And so if you're not going to go big, the middle ground in between on attacking players can be somewhat similar. And I think he's given them a face to the team. I think you see with Ben Lunt in there over the last week, like they lose something in and out of possession. Because I do think that's a big part for them is for a group that's kind of looked for purpose in possession. And Olaf Melberg has talked about that a lot this year of how poor they've been so far. I did think they have some I did think they had some good segments of play against Philly. Didn't help that Edward love got a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after

the play for no reason and putting them down. But he's been really, really impressive for them all over. I don't think it changes the thinking for most MLS teams because when you look at the other players around him, they are gettable off DP deals. And so I think if you're an MLS team, you're still, I think there's been a shift to more international goalkeepers for sure, right? When you talk about the list now, it's Kristen Kalina, Martin Paz, Danielle, like it is not as much don't even waste an international spot on a goalkeeper position because I think it feels like there's been a little bit of a gap in American goalkeepers or domestic goalkeepers.

There's been a few Canadian ones, Crepo,antamoss, Sirois, all of that. But I think right now, MLS teams have shifted to that, but it is TAM signings, high level players on your senior roster as well, not needing to go into that DP spot. So I don't think teams have shifted their thinking on that because of Berkey's performances. And like you said, I think it would be tough to extend him on that deal

for many reasons, one of which was when he was signed signed and if this were to happen two or three years ago Having low-end DPs had value because of the way you could work your roster now with the two four two setup To just make him a DP on the low end in name only Actually hurts you because you lose out on the $2 million in the extra U22 spot that you could use which for a team that's clearly not going to spend that crazy numbers like St. Louis that has more value right now than having someone on the end of the DP line where it used to be that you were actually looking for players like that so you could open up the U22 or the young designated player spending and open up the salary cap space. So it's shifted against him.

And like you mentioned, it's probably not a huge deal coming from outside of MLS for him. But he's been really fun to watch. And I think he's one of the cooler pieces of MLS. I had a blast talking to him at media marketing. Like he's a really interesting ad to Major League Soccer. On the goalkeeper side, Toti asks, with Tarbell doing his ACL, I didn't read it at first for that way,

do we expect Houston to sign another keeper? Could it be a potential landing spot for someone like Callender or is there focus elsewhere? This was asked right before the DP10 was officially signed. So now they have made that signing. We talked about it last week after you said it. And then like an hour and a half ago, they brought in Pablo Ortiz on loan,

a 24 year old Colombian centerback. He spent most of his career in Europe, a bunch of time I think with Midgetland, but has, is most recently and now on loan from Slovakia. So they've made an ad, I think in the attempt to replace Mikael. What do you think about for Houston at the goalkeeper position?

Yeah, I would expect them to. I'm assuming that they're going to try to get a starting level keeper, but at any rate, they need they just literally need another goalkeeper on the team at this point, just for training and games and stuff. Like, again, I think that Can I interest you in a Steve Clark? I've got one in the back That that's be I think that would be a tough one to come back. Well, I get out that would make sense Drake calendar is a name that's thrown out there like from what I was told that Drake calendar was is still expected Or like as far as they understand to be the starting keeper once he's a hundred percent fit But I don't know who starry hasn't been terrible and Ustari is close with Lionel Messi. Those are two things that go in the same direction.

And from a money standpoint, if you can get assets for Drake calendar, if the offer's there, if he's open to that, that would make sense, I think. I don't know what that market exactly would be. Beyond that, there are backups around the league that you can go. Again, I doubt that these teams would be willing to let a couple of these guys go, but I'd be immediately calling about

Stephon Cleveland in Austin, Nico Hagen in Columbus, even a guy like Zach McMath in Real Salt Lake, Evan Loro in Cincy, and then Sebastian Brezza in Montreal. I think it in somewhere between those six players, including, including counter, there's got to be a reasonable deal to be had.

One of the interesting ones, and I don't know what the thinking is inside the club around this, but Josh Cohen was brought in to be like a senior player and Brad Guzman has held that spot. Cohen is in the last year of his deal with an option for next year. Doesn't make a ton of money. And I think if you're Atlanta, you'd be a little worried about Brad Guzman at his age

and like injuries and whatnot. But Josh Cohen came here to start, came out of a Champions League team to start. And I do wonder if there's maybe a little bit of an opening there. I think all the names you mentioned are ones that make sense. Stefan Cleveland probably makes the most sense because he's been playing or he's been in training with Austin.

And when we seen him on the field at a senior level, he's been very good. Yeah. Like what he did in Seattle, I thought he was going to be the next Drake calendar, make a move, become a starter somewhere else and establish yourself as a starter. Drake calendar makes a ton of sense because he's clearly not playing. Luis Barraza is an interesting one because they've spent so much on Jun Hong that he's going to be the starter, but it also is a young goalkeeper. Do you really want to risk not having a true backup that you believe in? Having their Barraza would have been one

in the off season that you probably would have been one in the off season that you probably would have tried to make a move and go get. So it is odd, I think, right now, in that normally there's like a very clear backup that could be a starter around MLS that we're all talking about over and over again. And you're sort of waiting for them to find their spot. I don't think there is one right now.

I think it's Cleveland. I think it's Cleveland. But he had that chance and he went to a club where he was going to be a backup. So I don't know that anyone else in the league perceives him that way, which could be the opportunity for Houston to make the move. Yeah, well, I think going back to opportunity, that's the thing. It's funny. Like I talk to sources across the league or agents or whatever and be just talking about the game and being like, oh, who might be interested in the goalie? Honestly, nobody.

Most teams are set. I think that had more to do with availability of opportunity than, oh, we don't think that he's quite a starting keeper. Again, these are easier ones to say. Matt Friese was one that was obvious for a few years of that dude's going to be a starting level goalkeeper. Again, these are easier ones to say. Matt Friese was one that was obvious for a few years of, that dude's going to be a starting level goalkeeper. He probably is right now. He just needs the opportunity. Then he gets traded to NYCFC. Took him almost a full season before Nick Cushing let him start, and he was one of the best goalies

in the league last year. And then Brad Stover, when he left NYCFC to go to Austin, one of the best goalkeepers in the league so I think that like I'm not against like spending more money and then get like even going back to the Roman Berkey conversation like that's been a phenomenal time Yeah, but like I think when in doubt I just identify whoever I think are the best three to four backup goalkeepers MLS and trying to go get them because That's that's been such a fruitful avenue of roster building in this league's history and even as the league has continued to evolve into new tiers. The other one that I would say if you're not sure that you want to go out and

spend whatever I think JT Marsinkowski he's third he showed when he was healthy with San Jose that he could be an MLS starting goalkeeper and LA Galaxy are desperate for Allocation money. So if you're can give them a little bit, it's probably ends up being cheaper than a backup goalkeeper Either way, I would be surprised if Houston doesn't add anything as you said and then bringing in Pablo Ortiz makes sense for this team Mikael was like the big loss one of the big losses But it was so late in the window that they weren't really able to plan around it. As I have said, I really like what I've seen

from Awudesu, so I like him as an ad, but I think there was another injury this weekend and Steris either came in or out in the 25th minute, something like that. And so you could see wanting to have a little bit of depth, you get a player here on loan, so you get to see it for a little bit as well before you decide to make the transfer.

So it makes a lot of sense for this Houston team. StrangeLock says, question, what year will be the first MLS versus USL All-Star game? Never, literally never. Unless if there's a merger, and even at that, then you'd merge and it would cease to be MLS vs USL. Um, I- Yeah?

That's all I got. I agree with you. I do think- Did you use the lawnmower in the yard? I didn't know there was a lawnmowing season. Can you hear it? Yeah, well I just heard it because you said it. I'm gonna go close the window. Uh, you heard it because you said it. Close the window.

You just have to get all the grass underneath the snow. That's like a key to keeping the lawn looking good. So I agree with you. It's not going to happen as an all-star game. The only reason something like that would happen is like both leagues combined are looking for a flashpoint moment to try and bring eyeballs in. And I think what the feeling is is MLS would rather not elevate USL if they don't have to for a moment like

that. They're willing to do it with League MX and that's why they've done it with the format of the All-Star game the way it is. I have seen a lot of convo over the last week or two with the Pro-Rail announcement about like what does this do? Does MLS create Pro-REL? Do they combine? I do think that it is more reasonable that it happens going forward if USL is able to successfully institute Pro-REL than without it. I think part of what Jose Bautista said to us of like, it will elevate the league, it will create more interest, it will create more

competition. That allows the league to then spend a little more on talent and get a little bit closer I don't think we're five years away from it I think we're 15 or 20 but I do think that door has opened a little bit more if USL actually is able to successfully implement this and then raise its profile because of it I know that the folks in USL are all saying the right thing of like they're not making this FUMLS we're going to overtake you. But if you're Major League Soccer doing a Major League Soccer All-Star game... Oh yeah, for sure. I was just taking that and going somewhere else and saying I think some of the discourse

I've seen that we haven't really talked about is I do think that door is slightly open for these leagues to end up being the same league. And I think that is how we'll see if this stuff works out over the next 15 or 20 years. A place where it's like, okay, this makes more sense. Everyone talks about the buy-ins and all that stuff. And it's like, where does that go? Well, that money isn't gone. You didn't just like give them San Diego didn't give him us five hundred million dollars

Which MLS then went and like spent on food and then the money no longer exists that money gets put back into clubs and exists Inside of the league and so it's not like oh we already paid this so we can't do anything else now You can't bring new teams in that's not exactly how that works But I'm not saying it's a guarantee. And yes, on the All-Star side of things, I believe it will never happen. I will say on opening day though, like I have talked a lot about the minor league feeling

and like these really good markets that can have good sports teams. If you're going to be in an ownership group, why are you gonna buy a single a baseball team and build a stadium and not buy a USL League 47, whatever term ends up being team that not only has the potential to jump into this thing, but plays in a US open cup or plays in a Jaeger Meister Cup. Like I think this should probably come sold me.

Yeah, I know. I knew you'd like that. We're probably going to do a Jaeger Meister Cup special here because I knew you'd be hyped about the Jägermeister. I just got to get you the machine that they have at bars to sit in your basement with you. When was the last time you took a Jägermeister shot? A really, really long time, but I've done the old person thing where I'm now in on everything

bitter and gross that I used to think was bad. So like I go and I drink for I just sip on for net now when I'm at a bar. And so I'm probably not that far away from thinking it's good by having not tried in a really, really long time. The Argentine restaurants here do not like when I ask they're like you want the Coca Cola in the for net, right? I'm like, no, no, I just want the for net. They're like, but how then you're going to taste the for now. You want the Coca-Cola in it.

I'm like, no, I think I'm okay. I think I know what I want, but I'm always open to new ideas. P.S. Sweens gives us an idea. It says long time first time. I don't know if it's been asked, but can the white noise of an isolated track of Tom Bogart be a patron tier? I'll hang up.

Relax. Let's take race out of it. Wow. Tom, listen, I know that you're going to be a patron. I know that you're Bogert be a patron tier. I'll hang up. Relax. Let's take race out of it. Wow. Tom, listen, I know that you and Jackie Robinson have had some really serious conversations recently based off how you're dressed and how you look. And if you are not watching via YouTube or you're not going back and watching on YouTube, whatever clips come out of this, you can go find it on our social media at soccer wise HQ on Instagram or

Blue sky or Twitter Tom looks exactly like he's playing baseball in an error about this I do not have right now a feed of just Tom's audio I can tell you though when you go in and edit I think Morgan actually was showing us your peaks last show When you were doing when you were doing a little bit of a rant on Montreal. We have a question that says, should there be a documentary about the menace sporting Kansas City 2 game from last week and who should narrate it? While thinking about the answer to that question, I'm going to hit a follow up we got in the mailbag from Rantzofast who wrote the opening narration script or the script for the teaser for this.

I'm gonna attempt to apply for this role. Hit me with the ESPN 30 for 30 music. ESPN 30 for 30 presents Menace on a Mission. What if I told you that AIDS is just a number, but experience is everything? In the heart of Iowa, where soccer dreams are usually reserved for the next generation, a group of forgotten legends laced up their boots for one last ride.

The Des Moines Menace, a club built on grit and passion, found themselves staring down a daunting U.S. Open Cup clash against Sporting Kansas City 2, a team full of young, hungry professionals looking to make a name for themselves. But when injuries and roster shortages threatened to derail the Menaces' cup run, a call was made. From retirement, from coaching gigs, from the quiet of suburban life, former MLS veterans answered. There wasn't just old pros looking for a kickabout.

There were battle-tested warriors who had seen it all, and on a cold Midwestern night, they defied time, defied the odds, and delivered a stunning 2-1 victory that sent shockwaves through American soccer. This is the story of the Menace's miracle of redemption, resilience, and the beautiful game reminding us that sometimes experience beats youth. Menace on a mission only on ESPN's 30 for 30. Well done, well done, well done. I ran so fast. Accidentally narrated by voice actor David Goss. Yeah, ran so fast. This feels a little AI-ish chat GPTS, so I would like to see the receipts on writing this but it is beautifully done.

I am very excited about this 30 for 30 to happen. Otherwise it has to be Gerard Butler because he played the goalie in that movie about the 1950 World Cup team 20 years ago. Even though he's Irish is he Irish? Think he might be Irish. I have a pretty strong history of watching every Gerard Butler movie that's ever been made Including one day where I watched like three of them in a row and they were all three the exact same movie And I was like this guy's really got the formula

So help me God if you're about to do any slandering of Den of Thieves or Den of Thieves 2 Pantera, I'm going to leave this zoom. Den of Thieves 2 and Den of Thieves Elite Movies. I'm not even slandering. What I'm saying is as I came through the experience of watching White House Down and then watch London Down and follow that up by watching Geostorms which is one of the greatest movies of all time. I was like this Jared Butler guy has a plan. He's got a situ- he knows how to handle a situation. So he would probably be the next pick after that. I don't know who else I would pick to to narrate one of these things. Last question in the mailbag unless you had a name you need to throw in. Desperately. No, I'm just thinking about

Gerard Butler as Big Nick reading this and and acting this out eating a donut in the hot zone Enough a crime scene and now I need that I can't think about anything else Last question is I spent hot fire who said did Eric Williamson really lose out on a starting spot to Bram Brannico Levi followed up Here with and I believe Levi's emoji or icon in our Discord is SirMinty, he was terrible in game one. Bronico has been a workhorse all season. To be fair, this happens every season. They try to replace him and Brandt outdoes them.

He's like the Weston McKinney of Charlotte FC, which I thought was a great line. I one time did a sit down interview with Jonathan Osorio where I read off every season the name of the European player that had brought in to replace him that he had then re-emerged over like Ben Wacheh Rue and all these other and I said what are those names mean to you and he goes great friends and I was like oh nice man I'm glad it went well for you. Bram Bronico in a similar situation scored the goal this weekend ripped the jersey off first half. Just pure vibes.

I do want to see Eric Williamson get back on the field. I think he will. I think saying he was terrible game one is tough because they were bad game one. And I think he still has something to bring. But right now, the way that team set up, Bronico's job is to set the table for Westwood and then all the attacking pieces in front. Where Williamson is going to create a little bit more and that probably comes up as the season goes along and they figure out where Pepiel fully starts and sort of what that front four looks like.

Yeah, I think I would just move off of the premise. Like I don't think that Williamson was brought in to be a definite starter or even be ahead of Brant Brownico. Cause like Levi said, like it's like the West McKinney of short of state, like I think this was more so like the first year was like oh like one like coaches the same Dean Smith clearly values him like the other coaches did Too, but this was the front where I was like all right like he's a starter like Williamson is coming in to be rotation That's how I looked at it coming into the season at least and like you said the fit as well and the profile Bram Brownico makes more sense in this midfield So I I think that Williamson was a good addition

We both like him a lot as a player But I wasn't under any illusions that he was gonna come and immediately be starting every single game. I think that's Bronico He he was also brought in one because it was a really good deal to make it was like a hundred thousand allocation money Because he was available and at a time before Zaha was brought in where again Eric Williamson Gives you a little bit more spark a little bit more flair And so in a situation where that winger deal didn't happen Williamson's probably in the starting lineup They BLs playing out wide and like that's your attacking front four because he has the quality to affect the game in the attack Then once you get Zaha in, it changes the role

of your central midfielders and Bronico is still available for that. But it's also a long season. And so I'd expect for him to get in there at some point. Let's talk about the weekend coming up. We've got a big week of MLS action. I think I'm excited to see the top squads back out there so we can start to make some ideas about what teams look like. New England who were on a bye last week, they come back in must-win territory again at home looking to score a goal this time against the New York Red Bulls. At the same time to start off on Saturday at 2.30, Toronto and Vancouver face off. There is a sign that was put up over the highway going into Liberty Village of MLSC and it stands

for something about failure. I can't remember the... They make losing seem easy. There you go. So Toronto looking to turn the perception around. How about the Argonauts? How are the Argonauts doing? Was that one of his records?

I don't know. I haven't checked the Argonauts standings recently. Maybe they're going to look to sign Russell Wilson or one of those quarterbacks that's available. Vancouver, of course, trying to get back on to the win column, now getting most of their pieces back into the team after the international break. I did like what I saw from Derek Etienne against New York Red Bulls and Deandre Kerr, unbelievable header on the goal, would like to see Toronto play with a little bit of energy like that

more often. Colorado playing Charlotte at home trying to bounce back from the 3-0 loss they had. That's at 430 and then you get into the night of action on MLS and then on Sunday this decent a little bit decently spaced out. We got three 1030 kicks. We have four 830. We only have three 730s. I don't think that we had that at all. Like it was always at least four or five. Because you've got two games on Sunday and then what did I just I named three games on Saturday that are way from it. So you take those five games away. Sunday. I like this first game St. Louis against Austin at 215 on Sunday obviously hit a little bit because Edward Loven suspended with

the red card. But St. Louis coming back home as I said there were segments of play that I liked in the last game. Toychert was where a lot of the attack died. You just need final third quality from him and get my guy Jauklaus back into the team and then Portland hosts Houston at the end of the night. So another opportunity, another Texas team. I assume at some point Weeby'sby's gonna eat armadillo on air so something to tune in for even though this one's in Portland, uh, to see if he gets that armadillo jerky out of the bag on the broadcast. I put, yeah.

I said where's PETA? Yeah. They can't allow that to happen. They'll be there. I put down a couple of games that I thought were big ones to circle. The obvious one is Miami against Philadelphia. Philadelphia have been arguably the second best team in Major League Soccer so far.

Miami had the bye, but they are in the top three in the Eastern Conference as well. Philly going on the road to Miami. It is, I think, the biggest game of the weekend. I think it has the chance to be the most entertaining with watching the balance of what is Philly's youth and energy look like against Miami's seniority and quality and the two different styles of play.

It also gives us a chance to talk about this note, which is that Miami just brought in Alan Obondo, an 18 year old Ecuadorian youth international from what they are saying is Barca Ecuador on loan for the year. The reports are that Atletico Madrid has already acquired his rights and then somehow he is looped to Inter Miami for the rest of this year. It is in the vein of Segovia a bit and Allende another young versatile attacking piece to come in around the veterans. Yeah and they needed it. This is a center forward around the veterans. Yeah and they needed it. This is a center forward and Allende was probably or Leo Alfonso was like the center forward behind Luis Suarez and Obondo is like his highlight reel looks really good his profile looks really

good he's obviously very highly rated because I like the report was like a four million dollar deal to Atletico. That's that's big that's a big deal so I'm very excited to see him kind of take his first steps and this team has been really good at identifying, bringing in and either developing or giving a platform for young players to shine. So they deserve the benefit of the doubt in that regard. And that's something that I think it's talked about plenty,

but obviously we're gonna focus on Messi and Bousquet and Alba and Suarez but right alongside that is how great that they've been in development and identification of young players particularly from South America. So my hopes are high for Alan Abondo. It is I think one they're in a situation where it's like there's not a ton of wiggle room on the roster so it's talent that you're getting in otherwise you don't have that spot filled which makes a ton of sense. I think it's a player who gives a little bit more natural depth behind Luis Suarez. They really don't have a true backup center forward. That's what I'm saying. Like yeah if you asked me today my guess would be Allende would

play in there and I think that's okay for him but like this is a player who's more comfortable there but also then can go out on the wing and so gives you flexibility alongside Segovia And as you said they've hit it with these Segovia has been awesome so far He's kept them afloat at times as they will need to when a Messi's not available or at some point if they ever Rotate Suarez, which I guess he doesn't need to do Then you can bring in a player who, from what I've seen in Obanda, looks really, really talented and really, really dangerous.

Also, by the way, shout out to Andres, who is an Inter Miami fan who stopped me at the Miami Open to take a picture and chat. And he like apologized. He was like, sorry, I'm an Inter Miami fan. Like, I know you hate that. I don't hate that at all. I probably prefer the Inter Miami fans

based out of like Milan and London and like the ones I met in Cairo who are like, oh, you're from America and you like soccer. I'm an Inter Miami fan. I'm like, well, you're a messy fan, which again is also fine. But like this person, he was like, oh, I've been a fan since day one and just started rattling off like MLS, you know, we're talking about the Drake. We're talking about Brett Shaman. You don't have to do that. I am happy to talk to anyone about soccer who loves soccer anywhere I see them.

I have a ton of respect to anyone who's supporting their local club. So that makes a lot of sense to me. We spend a little less time talking about Miami. Other shows, we feel like there's a lot of place for that. And when they're interesting, we do talk about them. And I think we're going to be talking about them on Monday and Tuesday next week, because I think this is going to be a really interesting game. Because one of the things I've said about Miami over and over is like, you have to make a decision when you play them. And this was more last year than this year of, are you going to sit

all the way in? Are you going to open up and go after them? I think where teams get stuck with them is when you sit into a mid-block so you still have some gaps behind you, but you're not open enough that you can really put them under offensive pressure. And that's where I think teams get lost playing against Miami, where Philly, they're gonna go into the game,

they put a brick on the gas pedal, they tie it to the gas pedal, and then they're like, all right, let's go play soccer. And they're playing with so much confidence right now. And like, even on the St. Louis game, you were able to extend that a little bit. You got Darmy on some minutes. You were able to slide your midfield around

because you had to. And so now they're confident in their depth. And I think they're really confident with their first 11. So it's a fun game to go into. I totally agree. Very much looking forward to it for all the reasons you laid out. And again, just are they going to try to push the pedal to the metal?

Like they will. But like, will they be able to really stretch and really bother Miami? Because what like the next evolution, I think, for Miami and this season, and I've really, really liked what I've seen under Javier Mascherano, it's being able to just control games and take away some of the variance that comes that that like Plague again why they lost against that land united in the playoffs and why they seemed so many times threatened to drop points and not Win the shield and then all of a sudden they break the record

But it felt like it was a high wire act so did like more control this year against Philly It's really difficult to control and because of the way they play The space is going vertical or like you can't really pass sideways against I mean, you know what I mean? So I think that's gonna be fascinating as well Noah Allen is playing for Greece. Did you see this? Yeah, love that. Did you report this? Are you the one who put it out? Okay didn't want to offend no I love that because we're talking about dual nationals and then we were talking about this game and young players and it popped in my head. I love the Ian Frey no Allen center rack pairing.

That's like probably one of my favorite things in MLS. The next game I had down here and feel free to jump in with other games if you want to. Nashville against FC Cincinnati. Nashville have had a really good run of form. They obviously went and beat Philly. They have played, I think most would argue some of the weaker teams at home in this run They'd be Portland at home They drew New England on the opening weekend and then they smashed a Montreal team that fired their coach and was on a five-game road trip

But two point nine one nine XG in that game against Montreal It took a little while for the final third stuff to be dangerous. It was a lot of possession in the middle third. No quassum for this game, which I think is a big loss for them. But then Alex Muel pops up with the opening goal playing off Sam Surridge. There is a lot of, I think right now, dynamic movement coming out of midfield off of Surridge or Honey Moogtar or whoever it is. And I'm interested to see it against a back five for this Cincinnati team of like, which center back is one, available and healthy and part of this team. And then two, who steps in and chases,

where can maybe Nashville find the gaps? Does Serge go out wide and try and fill the space that DeAndre Yedlin's leaving? Because Serge seems really comfortable out wide and likes to face up defenders and try and get to his right foot in those spots rather than only being a finisher that's trying to get on the end of crosses.

So I think there's a lot of different options, but I think this is one of those games where it's a really good test for a Nashville team that for them coming out of the last few years, just get the results, get points. It doesn't matter really what it looks like or who it's against, but this is one of those

where you could sort of put your name out in the league and say like, no, we're better than most people expected from us. Exactly. And then on the other side of that, Cincinnati, I'm looking at them, when are we going to see I wouldn't even necessarily be looking for 100% complete performance because of the injuries you're talking about in defense. But every game I want to see more from Evander Denke and oriano because my expectations for that attacking trio are absolutely sky-high And what can they do against actually like we haven't and they've obviously had Champions League

They've had you know, or Jano coming, you know holding out and the contract and a little bit of an injury Avander that all took a while because they were waiting on Lucho to leave denke thankfully his is He didn't have a concussion in preseason, but there was a few days he had to take off. So there's just been everything has been putting out fires, which I feel bad for Noonan and the staff because that was their entire 2024 season from day one, the injuries, the Blupensia situation, everything about Blupensia to be fair, the summer transfer window. The entire season was scrambling to put out

a fire. And it seems like they've kind of already had to do that this season when, like, my basis of picking them for the shield is, I'm like, they just, law of averages, they cannot possibly have that bad of injury luck this year. And I like, in addition to believing heavily in the talent, I really believe in this coaching staff and their ability to work with players, improve players and and be greater than the some of their parts and that their some of the parts are really high to begin with so it hasn't they haven't shown that their best performance probably

with a two-dozen home win against ronno you expect to win that game expect to win that game easily so always excited to be like i did this the week that they put it together since he got at n home to New England at DC So the next three games you would hope to see it over this stretch Yeah, you probably have to for this team if they want to do the things they want to do Didn't feel like a Vander and Orojano were on the same page in the Atlantic game. No Denke in that game So it changes the spacing a little bit, but you would like to see in a moment like that

Okay These two are working together and it felt like Origano every time Evander was to his left would turn and play deeper into the right towards Yedlin you could understand the comfort there like they've played together before they know each other but Evander started to look frustrated that the game wasn't coming closer to him and then it has been one of the weirdest things that's happened in Cincinnati is okay Sergio Santos they brought in kind of on a flyer see if he can fill some minutes he's terrible as a spot starter and Corey Baird has like forgotten how to play soccer since he got to Cincinnati another

move where I was like makes a ton of sense you're not looking for him to be a star but this is your whatever the award was former rookie of the year who has scored goals at two different clubs in Major League Soccer has played in some really big playoff games and gives them nothing as well. Alvis Powell the own goal in the last game I think Nick Hagelin went off with the questions about injuries as well so the back line is taking a beating and as you said the attack needs to sort of come to fruition and a lot of that has to be around Denke and Evander if they're going to be the team they want to be. And then the last one I put on here that I think had to be circle

and talked about for this weekend is San Diego against LAFC. We saw San Diego play the Galaxy in the opening weekend. They've been off to an incredible start. They are extremely depleted right now from a roster point of view. That was not international call-ups. That was mainly injuries, although Annabel Godoy will come back and they'll have some other pieces. And LAFC, I think, is an interesting test where they sit right now, which is when you look at what Austin did to this San Diego team, if you want a team that's going to hit you in transition

quickly and they're going to play into the space and they're going to play at high speed and they don't care if they're connecting passes like that's LAFC to a tee so you've got the Southern California rivalry for the first time between these two teams and at a really dangerous or interesting moment for San Diego. I agree my one big thing to watch in this game is transitions and what Austin did against San Diego was we're gonna just sit deep let you have the ball if we win it we're immediately playing trying to play through ball between your center backs to Vasquez and it worked really well and

That was the one concern I had for San Diego coming into the season That what's it gonna look like when they lose the ball with the house susceptible will they be in in defensive transition moments? Well, LAFC you're the best at MLS at that. And that's how they're probably going to play. That is how they're going to play. How are San Diego going to deal with that? What are the tweaks, if any, that Mikey Vars makes? Did the coaching staff look at the tape and say, okay, there was either a structural issue, or maybe we shouldn't be playing this pass into a dangerous spot in the middle third? Or is it like, you know what, only like there was a bad touch on the middle third or is it like you know what only like

there was a bad touch on the turnover for the first goal and then the second goal was this naive defending and not stopping a quick counter like do they view this as a structural thing that they need to tweak or just hey man there's 34 games in a season we're going to suck sometimes so and like there's going to be a couple mistakes so and and not even to say that they were awful in that game. It's just in those moments, really bad moments. So is it a structural thing or was it a one-off thing? And I think we're going to learn more, much more about that this weekend.

And with some of the pieces that were missing, if it's injuries, if the injuries are longer term, then that's dangerous. They'll get Panny McNair back. They'll get Annabel Godoy. I think those are two big ones for them. And I think that your hope is fixes some of that. Bombino got the start, a young piece, Pilcher as well.

So things looked more disorganized than we have seen for San Diego ever in MLS. It hasn't been very long. And so you're trying to clean up a lot of that for this squad. We will be back of course next week to break all this down for you. We'll have the recap show on Monday. We will be back live on Tuesday. Myself and Jordan Angeley, we broke

down the US women's national team in future camps roster yesterday. We talked Boston Legacy, the new name in NWSL and we talked about what we saw week one as well as the close of the international transfer window. So go listen to that show for all of your NWSL coverage as well. We'll be back live next week there on that side. And I believe US Open Cup is back next week. A ton of really, really fun matchups coming up. We saw Portland Arts of Pine. That was one of the fun ones. They're back out on the field. Westchester, I think is hosting Pancrypian Freedom, one of the local amateur squads. Huh? Easy for you to say. Pancrypian freedom, one of the local amateur squads. Huh?

Easy for you to say. Yeah, and I said it wrong too, after all of that. So a lot of fun, soccer to cover. We appreciate you all, for all of you for being here. If you wanna get involved in our Discord and get in our mail bag, sign up to our Patreon. It's in the YouTube page. It's on our podcasts as well as all our socials.

And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.