SoccerWise - Michele Giannone On USMNT, Decision Day + Post Season MLS Awards

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Soccerwise legend Michele Giannone fills in for Tommy Scoops to kick off one of the biggest weeks of the year. They run through the top performers for the USMNT, as well as in the MLS 2025 season, and get ready for the final week of the season.8:45 ATX Clinch Playoff Spot What Is Their 2025 Season?16:44 Vancouver Top Of The West In Come From Behind Win23:50 What To Play For On Decision Day In The West39:12 What To Play For In The East48:00 Has Orlando City Regressed Over The Last Two Years?57:30 Post Season Awards COY, Newcomer, GKOY, DOY, Young Player & MVP1:221:22:30 USMNT & International Recap

What's up, everybody, welcome back to soccer-wise. David Goss, no tummy scoops today, but we have the legend to go. McKelly Giononi in the building. McKelle, no one else I could talk big MLS week. with than you. It is Decision Day coming up. We've got awards to talk about. Everything is happening. It's your favorite time of the year. It's my favorite time of the year. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited for the playoffs. I can't believe that the regular season is coming to a close. It's been a wonderful year, a great year. My first year with MLS and Apple TV, and it feels like yesterday.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but it feels like yesterday when I like stepped down of the train here in Stanford for the first time. in mid-February to start the taping and the recordings and with MLS to start the season. And now it's October, it's Decision Day. Yes, let's go. But first, I have a question. Okay. Because you're saying that nobody is best to talk with.

What happened? Where's Joe Lowry? Where's Matt Doyle? Listen. I feel like a lot of people cancel. No, never. Not even a single chance you were the first. ask the first person who canceled was tom tom was in schedule and tom goes i can't do it didn't realize i

you know i saw tom last week we had we had a we had a we had coffee and breakfast here in stanford after he was done with a connecticut meetup at connecticut meetup after he was done with morning foodie and it was great it's it's been a while since we saw each other we chatted for like an hour just having coffee and and just talking with tommy scoops i love him so yeah it was great um and And another thing, real quick, I wanted to, I sent you a text that day and Tom too. Like, I wanted to thank you. And I appreciate the way you guys talk about what happened on with Bradley Carnell in my interview postgame that day. So I really appreciate it.

You know, that's- You're always making news, McKelley. That's live TV. Sometimes things happen. I'm just going to say this. I understand both sides. I think you guys explain it, the pro side of me asking the question. I just want to give you a little bit of behind the scenes.

My question wasn't going to be about St. Louis. I made the mistake of mentioning St. Louis at the top of the question, and I need to be better on that. Bradley Carnell deserved for me to be better in that moment because clearly the moment was winning the Supporter Shield. my question was about basically did he ever thought he was going to be at that moment lifting the shield 18 months after what happened in San Luis

but I mentioned San Luis at the top of the question that triggered him a little bit and that was my fault and I should have done better there but I appreciate it I appreciated very much how you guys talk about it and like give another perspective because it was after the interview it was a weird kind of difficult 48, 72 hours for me in that sense.

I was hearing from all of people defending, attacking, both sides. So I just, I'm happy that you guys gave boys to that side of the story and defended my work, which I really appreciate you. Yeah. I just want to say that. I mean, we said it on the show. You do a better job than anyone else. And yeah, we all make mistakes in sometimes in the heat of the moment, the way we word things, what we go with.

I think the concept was going to be there, which is low to high, which is what we talked about of like the storyline is for Philadelphia, right? I assume Ernst Tanner got asked about Jim Curtin a thousand times after that game. That's not a positive to bring up when they win, but like these are the storylines. This is the sport. This is what makes people intrigued and interested in all of that. So I can't wait to see you on the sideline again. for Nashville, Miami. Yes, I'm going to be in Nashville for Decision Day.

Nashville, Miami. Of course, I mean, it's Miami, so that's by the fall. It's a big game. Well, you and Messi are best friends, right? Of course. You're the only one he talks to. Oh, actually, he spoke to with Andreas Aguja this year, so I don't have the exclusive anymore.

No, I'm really excited because I love BJ Callahan. You know, he's my, I have a really good relationship with him. I think he's done an incredible job. He's definitely a coach of him. the year candidate, let BJ cook from the Burrhalter coaching three. So, yeah, I'm really happy for him. I'm really happy for Nashville. We've got to remember that they didn't make the playoffs last year.

So having this Sam Surich explosion, having Honeymoogdardt playing on MVP level again, doing what Andina Hat is doing. I mean, it's just a great fan base, great stadium, great city, great everything. I'm really happy for BJ. and I mean, it's still a game that is going to be very important for the seating on the east and for the Golden Boot. I mean, obviously, Messi has the upper hand right now, but Sir Rich playing at home, he still has a chance, so it's going to be, it should be fun. Yeah, it should be a really good game. I think we didn't luck out on Decision Day. It's not going

to be as electric as it could be. There won't really be a lot of playoff spots up for grabs. There may not end up being a ton of movement, and the movement we see might be fifth to fourth or sorry six to fifth like not really changing your reality just changing your matchups um i will appreciate the deluge of all games at one time i always love that feeling and i wish it was less often like i wish it was rare and not every single saturday um but i think it's going be a really fun setup and then of course we go into the playoffs we get um the wild card games next week in the two conferences and then that leads straight into i believe friday starts the postseason actually. And from there, we get playoff games pretty much every day for a nice week

and a half to potentially two-week stretch, depending on how far some of these teams go. So you mentioned the awards. We're going to talk some awards coming up. Shout out to Vancouver for crushing it. They sent me a Danish-style turtleneck for Yesper Sorensen for Coach of the Year. I will probably wear it less often than I wear the Ryan Gould working MVP hat, living in Miami. as I do right now. That hat is front of the line rotation. The sweater,

that might be a little bit less often, but they are still one of the most creative clubs and they do a great job. We'll talk through a little bit first, all of the awards. Tom has come on here and yelled about voting before the season ends. We will not vote here. We are just saying where we stand right now

with one more game to go for everyone, just so he doesn't lose his mind when it comes back to the show on Thursday. I think we will have. Matt Doyle on on Thursday, by the way, for the show. We're going to revisit our preseason over underlines that we did. So Doyle set all the lines for all the teams. We're going to look back and see where he went right, where he went wrong, maybe a little bit why, and then where we went right and wrong in terms of what we chose

and where we landed. There is a lot that's really, really close. And then there's the Philadelphia's wing the supporter shield, which we are so far off on. And of course, the San Diego and all of that. the West, sort of from top to bottom, is the chaos conference. So we're going to dig into all of that. And, of course, we're going to talk to USM&T. Second game coming up tonight.

So kickback committee will be on tomorrow. We will have Brian Dunsteth with us to talk about everything he saw in the camp that was. Yeah, of course, on the desk now for TNT and, of course, Sirius Radio and Apple TV. He's the best. Dunny's the easiest guy to talk to in all of soccer. He's a great, sorry, he's a great person. he's my favorite color commentator in the game. He's so good, so good.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I could listen to him all day, and sometimes you can't, if you combine podcasts, radio, and game broadcasts. You can listen to Duny wall to wall. So we'll have him on, and we've got our other shows coming up, as I said. On Thursday, we'll dig into the games, really, for Decision Day,

and we'll do some game preview stuff and what we're going to see and all of that. But there was MLS action this weekend, and some of it was extremely important. was it the highest quality you could get in major league soccer i'm just going to say no i'm not even going to leave it as a question but it still mattered a ton there was two results especially that stuck out austin knocking off lafc at home one zero so they officially clinch their playoff spot and they clinch the sixth seat they cannot go higher they can't jump seattle and they cannot fall lower

portland incapable of jumping them so they've locked themselves into the postseason they get the 1-0 win at home against L.A.F.C. I'd say against the run of playing against the ball for the most part. But they remained in the game, stay dangerous. And Owen Wolf gets the goal who has led my big ball draft team to first place in the Austin FC League. I won on the backup, so you're required to draft an Austin player for every team. And then everything else is just General MLS. And I'm going to win off Owen Wolf, aka I'm the biggest Austin fan in the league of all Austin. FC podcast. So shout out to that for myself. I'm really proud of that and I'm really, really excited to see all of that end. But for Austin, McKelley, they clinch a playoff spot and they are able to make an Open Cup final. They host it. They don't win it. I think

overall, it's a weird season for Austin, but you have to call it a good season, I think. Absolutely. It's a good season, especially of what happened. You feel stronger about that than I do. Of course, a good season. I mean, let's start from the basic. If you, if you, you make the playoffs obviously depending of where you stand in the league as a club and as a team. For example, Columbus making the playoffs as a playing team is not a good season. No. For Austin, making the playoffs as a six in the West. And yes, the West, and you can see it on how the points are spread right now, it's not as tough as the East.

But you're making the playoffs. and after what happened last year it's a good step in the right direction with Austin at the end it's crazy to think that sadly for him obviously as a person as a player

the Brandon Vasquez's injury ended up being a silver lining for Nico Estevez and the team because I think Austin made a mistake at the beginning of the season how they plan their roster they signed two number nine Brandon Vasquez and Uzuni for a lot of money.

They only spent like $25 million. Yeah, and if you add Buccotti, it's 30 million for the front tree. That's the idea that how they started the season with Buccotti Baskis and Uzzi playing on the outside. Uzzi is a number nine. And again, sadly, because of the Brandon Baskis injury for him, Uzuni now started playing the number nine position. And guess what?

he started scoring. Oh, my God. On number nine, playing the ninth position, he started playing better and scoring goals. I think after the Brandon Basket's injury, he scored like five goals in six games

immediately after that. And the team settled. Then you have Diego Rubio playing as a second striker, number 10, helping Uzuni. Then it also gave more freedom to Buccari. Obviously, players, like you mentioned,

like Owen Wolfe, made a huge step this season. I love Owen Wolf. I think he's a serious candidate to be, we're going to talk about this, like one of, if not the best, young player this year. He should be in the conversation. I know it's a super long shot,

but if we're taking an MVP from each team, in Austin is Owen Wolf without a doubt. Without a doubt. It's sometimes it's difficult, you know, when we are doing this job to separate friendships and what you feel about certain people when you have to analyze. I'm a really good friend with Ilya Sanchez,

and so I'm happy for him. He came to Austin and immediately became the captain. He hasn't had the best season of his career. I mean, he's getting up in age there, but he's been a good piece when he's been called to. I love Nico Steves. I reconnected with him after a long time, of covering him with the USM&T,

and we spoke a lot during All-Star, and that was just after the Brandon Basquez's injury, so he gave me a lot of insight, how they were planning the rest of the season without Brandon, and everything that he said came to fruition. And I'm really happy about them. So, yes, long story short, long answer short. I'm really happy for Austin,

and I really think it's a positive season, especially because how the way they started, and especially because after Brandon Baskets got injured, people thought it was going to be for the worst. So I think in general, you're right, which is like we can't get away from results matter. And for a team that didn't make the postseason last year, clinching a spot with a week to go, being at least six, so outside the wildcard spot, and going to an open cup final has to be considered a success. I think the problem in the big picture with what you're saying of like, okay, Ozuni sort of figured it out. I wouldn't say he's been elite, but he's been better as a center forward, is going into next year.

do you know what you're getting from Bukhari, Azuni, and Brandon Vasquez? And the answer is no. So that's where it's tough for me to judge this season is like they've gotten results, but I don't know that they've built the, they've put down the building blocks for like, this is the future.

Where I'd say like Chicago, I feel a little bit better of like, there's a plan. This was year one. I think this year they've at times underwhelmed. but then the assumption is it will build going next year. I think Portland you could probably say the same, although I don't feel great about that either.

And that, in that range of where this team sits, I think that Nashville, you definitely feel that way, right? Nashville, I think it's a safe bet that we'll all have them higher than where they finish this year, most likely, and our preseason rankings next year. And so that's the part with Austin that I think is hard. It's like you come out of this year, and is Bukario a legitimate chance career?

A consistent one. Can you fit Ozuni and Vasquez together? Can you get off of either of them if you're not going to? Like all of that I think is pretty tough. And I think all of that combines with is Nico Estevez, the guy who has a plan for this team, is Borrell, the guy who has a plan for this team. So I'm more split. A playoff run would help, right?

If they upset someone and go through to the second round, then you look at this team, you're like, oh, this is a good knockout team. And that becomes their identity. and that's who they end up being. But either way, I think to get the win this weekend at home is a huge moment. Let your fan celebrate, especially after the Open Cup final, that didn't go the way you'd like, where I actually thought they played better than I expected from a style point of view

and from like an aggression point of view. And so you give your fan base something to cheer about, something to be happy about, enjoy that moment, celebrate. And now you'll get a home playoff game. As much as I'm not a huge fan of the playoff system, I do appreciate the fact that every team, except the last wild card team if they lose will get one more game at home and fans get a chance to like know that they're potentially attending that game and celebrate players if that's what you

want to do celebrate the team like whatever that is as i've watched the last two weeks and it's not like okay this is definitely the last game for this team you're like okay that part is nice that fans have that mindset of like i'll be back and it'll be a big game it will be a must win game no matter or what at that point, and I think that's pretty big. So Austin, knocking off LASC, also changed a little bit of math here. So Vancouver moved into first place in the Western Conference this week with a 2-1 come from behind win against Orlando on the road. It was a bizarre game in the international break, two teams that have internationals.

So you already see two teams with major injuries that were a little bit thinner. Robin Janssen goes down like 10 minutes into this game. Kyle Smith, who is a fullback, excuse me goes from starting at center mid to shifting to centerback it is part of what has now been a fall apart for Orlando late into this season and could follow into the playoffs and then vancouver gets ryan galled on the field for the most minutes he's played again a depleted team starting ralph briso in central midfield and they've started these kids now on the wing and at centerback and then thomas muller helps them get over the top among some other players

I think it was the, like, perfect example, McKelley of why Yesper Sorensen's going to get talked about later of like the personnel literally did not matter. Vancouver goes out to win every single game this year and they've been able to do it more often than not. Absolutely. And I think this game showed why Vancouver, I believe, and we've talked about this early in the season

when they were making their Conca Champions run, how deep they are. And they added Thomas Miller and now they have Ryan Goldback. So I think they're poised to make a big run in the playoffs. And when you see the starting 11 that they put against Orlando, you still have Laborda, Tate Johnson, Perhalter, Sabi, Mueller, Daniel Rios, Ocampo, Takaoka in goal, of course, Halbuni, Badwall. I mean, this is a team that has depth on every single line.

You played without your two starting centerbacks. you play without your starting left back what they've been playing without their starting left back for over a few months now but Ted Johnson is a great replacement and he could be a starter on a lot of major league soccer teams you don't have Brian White

but Daniel Rios has been a supper sup during the whole year he's been great and on the wings you have so many options you didn't have Jaden Daniels but you have bad wall you didn't have Google us, but Berhalter is still there commanding the midfield. This

team is so deep, and now Ryan Gold is back. The rich got richer. I really love Vancouver. Again, we're going to talk about the awards, but I think and Coach of the Year, it's the most difficult for me right now.

I think there are several legitimate candidates. There are three candidates who would win it any other year. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, For me, there's four legitimate candidates. One obviously is going to win, and the other two, they could have won on any year. So I agree what you're saying.

If I have, I'm going to save it for later. But Sorensen, it's, yeah, it's, it will be tough not to vote for Sorensen right now. And you watch them play. Like you watch this game, right? You're on the road. It's maybe the second for this trip Vancouver can take. It's during the international break. They have been making up games.

so they have played more than most other teams over the last stretch. And then you name all the players they're missing, right? They're missing from the start of the year, both their starting centerbacks, both of which are internationals, Blackman has now pushed into the USM&T, Kubas, who's arguably their most important player, Gould coming back from injury, and then Brian White, their leading score for the last three years, all not available, Jane Nelson on top of that.

They go in, they have almost 70% possession in Orlando. They put up 2.4 XG to 0.0.000. 0.94. They dominate the game. Nine shots to three on target, two big chances. And like throughout the game, it feels like a game at best you're going to say, ah, Vancouver should have won and they're going to tie. And like Orlando's a legitimately good team. That's how much higher the level is with this Vancouver team.

And I just think this was another example this weekend, as you said, of like all that depth you named, that was not considered depth at the start of this year. These were not players that you could rely on. These were not players that were trusted, or some of them weren't players on MLS contracts yet. Like you're talking about guys on MLS Next Pro deals or supplemental roster deals who are not fully thought of as MLS players. And so everything they've done is impressive. The way the momentum has gone makes me feel like they have it in them for a playoff run. And I will say, Thomas Mueller, obviously the face of things, the biggest name they've ever signed, all of this.

But I think to me the big moment has just been the added energy. that he's brought at a time when the season could have dipped. And you look at the goal in this game, and maybe they should have scored four minutes earlier. Gaiese saves it on the line. We don't have goal line technology in MLS. So I don't know if it went in or not. And Thomas Mueller is right on top of it.

He thinks it did. Then he scores four minutes later to win the game. You don't think it went in? I think it did. Yeah. I think it probably did as well. But like the way he has played in these last two months since he's joined, It's just brought the energy, I think, back into the team.

And off the field, he's so fun and so engaging off the field. Like, and then the interview after the game, when he, like, hogs the reporter. It was so much fun. I don't know if you want to talk Orlando, because we're going to talk on when we talk the East, I think. But this is the game where I just get so frustrated with Orlando. It's infuriating the way they lost this game because it went back in time. of what I hate to see from Orlando and from Pareja and how they try to manage games

even though you have the talent and the offensive power to just close them out. But we can talk about them later. Let's just finish with Vancouver. Yeah, they've won one of their last six to close out this season has Orlando and what you're saying is subbing like 19 defenders in at every position to try and close the game out at home in this team.

But yes, everything Mueller has brought to this team, I think when you look at classic, champion conca champions teams high early season maybe that form maintains coming right out of it because you're still on that high it's july into august where it starts to drop and that's when mueller arrived and brought everything back up another level and i think people are excited to play with him i think they're excited to be around him as you said i think it's excited the fan base and the larger market which has brought people back in which has got the team back into the in energy and And it's helped them bridge this playing Canadian championship, making up games because of Conca champions and all of this moment where Vancouver's been able to steady something that, you know, I didn't know that they'd be able to get through.

They are now undefeated in their last nine. And five of those are wins. And that's with playing midweeks and everything else, the 7-0 Philly win, like all these things that have happened for this team. So Vancouver now is first place in the Western Conference. They control their own destiny as a chance to clinch that first place. They are three points ahead of San Diego with one game left to go. So, of course, any result for them would clinch that spot. It is already the best season in Vancouver history,

but I think they'd like to have that little cherry on top of at least saying we won the Western Conference. If Philadelphia were to lose, they would finish tight on points. Obviously, Phillies already clinched the shield. It would be another little feather in their cap for a club. that has zero history in any of this realm ever before. And that is the top of the Western Conference. So San Diego now sitting three points behind. LAFC, because of that loss, they're on 59 points.

So they're one behind San Diego and one ahead of Minnesota in that top four spot. So all those teams have clinched a home game. The question would be semifinals. So if LAFC were to jump or Minnesota, the two seed would obviously host in the next round. if you get there no matter what against the potential three-seat if every team were to win out at the top of the West. That huge gap then jumps you into the 5 through 7 band, Seattle or clinched in 5, Austin clinched in 6, Portland clenched in 7. And then we have what we have coming up this weekend, which is Dallas in 8th. The wild card spot is the home team on 41 points, RSL and 9th wildcard spot on the road in 40,

and then Colorado outside the playoffs on 40 as well in San Jose on 38 Dallas faces off against Vancouver in that final game RSL is on the road at St. Louis and Colorado is at home against L.AFC. McKelley, what do you make of what we're going to see here in this race for these final playoff spots or not if we're not calling wild card playoffs. And you forgot about San Jose. San Jose is still alive. I know. I was going to go into it. Then I got dissuaded. And then I got dissuaded. And then I know there's going to be a 40 second span on Saturday where it's like, oh, wait, San Jose's in right now. If everything stays the way it is, San Jose's in, and then it's going to go away right. Then San Jose are hosting Austin who have nothing to play for. So it's not a bad schedule for them, but they, of course, would need basically every team in front of them to lose.

It's not far-fetched to think that that's going to happen. And I mean, you just said it. Vancouver is at home playing to win the West and having that number one seat through the playoffs, which is very important, right? Especially if you're going to, if you're potentially going to face an L.AFC on a conference final. So that's going to be a really tough game for Dallas to get the three points in Vancouver. Then when you see Salt Lake visiting St. Louis, that's where you can make a case that RSL, it's the best team situated to advance.

It's not crazy to think that they can go with Diego Luna coming back from the USM&T, hopefully healthy and getting three points in San Luis. And then Colorado at home against LASC. Again, LASC is motivated to get the second place. place in the West, I think that will be clutch if you have to face Minnesota or San Diego on a conference final, on a conference semifinal, because, for example, when we see the Home and Away records, L.AFC, it's the best home team in the West. And we already know we've been there at Bimo Stadium. I think it's arguably the best.

atmosphere when in major league soccer when bemo stadium is packed and and and the fans are are loud it's it's a it's a it's a true home field advantage yeah i will say that um so man i wouldn't be shocked if san jose makes it because i i think colorado and colorado and in Dallas are in trouble. So I agree with you. So for San Jose, one thing to remember is this will probably come down to a tiebreaker. So the first tiebreaker is total wins. San Jose has 10. So if they win this game this weekend, that would push to 11. So they'd move up to 41 points. If Dallas loses, they'll finish on 10 total wins. So San Jose in that scenario would jump Dallas. And then RSL currently are sitting on 12 wins if they draw and Colorado draws and everyone's tied all across

the board. Then you go down a goal differential, which San Jose is a better goal differential than Colorado and would have an even better one if they were to win this game. And they have more goals scored than literally everyone else. So that's the third tiebreaker if somehow it ends up there, which is kind of impossible because for them to tie these teams. RSL are in the best spot. RSL are playing the worst team. They control their own destiny. If they tie, they're probably in. I think it feels fairly safe to say that. Because if they tie and either Dallas or Colorado loses, they're in. And most likely not everyone's going to win of these four teams. So they're in the best spot going into this weekend. I've been impressed by Dallas, but it's clearly a

different challenge for them than it is for these other teams to go on the road and play a team that has everything to play for and has the momentum at their back and all of that. But it also sort of fits Dallas's style. Although in saying all that, I believe right now Petzar Musa is suspended for the game because of the red card in the last game, Logan Farmington. It's absurd.

I mean, it's dumb. I hate it. I hate it so much. I think, I'm glad that you mentioned Musa in Dallas. The craziest stat in Major League Soccer this year, it's

Dallas record after they saw Lucha Costa. Yeah. Since Lucho left, they've played 11 games. They've lost two times. Yeah. And the second loss was this past weekend. Right.

So now a Galaxy team, they beat the week before. Yeah, but the red card, the red card just modded everything, right? Yeah, yeah. And Peter Musa, I am seriously considering him, seriously considering him. Tom's going to kill you for saying this. What? Say it. no i mean i'm i'm gonna say first to put him in on my best 11 i'm not kidding and two like he should get

MVP votes this is what i said two weeks ago and let's go screamed at me because they're gonna finish why and they suck he's he's been incredible i agree with you preaching to the choir i mean what's the definition of most volleyball player thank you this is what i'm saying this is what i'm saying And that's why, and that was my discussion last year against Messi. For people that don't know, I voted for Kutro. I didn't vote Messi last year for MVP because we had on hand Miami record with Messi and Miami record without Messi. And the record without Messi was almost as good as Miami with Messi.

So it's not the best player award. is the most valuable player for your team Dallas without Peter Musa I mean they will be fighting for a spoon I just said it he's the best okay Tom this is for you

he's the best number nine with the ball at his feet he's so good with the ball he's like I always when I've described him like he's like Nicola Jokic on the NBA Musa is huge

he's a big man but with the ball on his feet he plays sometimes like a 10 which is why even when Lucho was there their best moments were when he set up lucho for gold and it's why him and Farrington are awesome I love together I love Musa man

I don't know what Tom was drinking that day but he's if he doesn't consider Musa as one of the two or three best number nine's in the game and a serious MVP content I don't know what to tell you because then we're losing what the most valuable player definition is. I agree with you. To be clear, I think MVPs are the worst trophies because we don't actually know the definition of what it means. And all of us are in chaos and no one can ever figure out what they're voting for and what it means.

I love that you started that by re-bringing up that you didn't vote for Messi last year. and you had to say it like as if you had done something illegal in the past and for people who didn't know you had to like make them aware of your past transgressions that's how intense that feeling was last year oh my god if you don't vote for messy you're a terrible person he played half this season what are we doing well he's got a pretty good shot at this year but this year I'm voting for him so which we will get into so I try to hold off dryer but the last two weeks it's just like damn it what Why are you playing against Atlanta?

Adrian Gagne in the chat brought up the is Ricky Pooge MVP then? Yes. Is he not the most valuable? I said that on a MLS 360 show like week 13 when the galaxy hasn't won anything. I said, guys, Ricky Pooch is the MVP of the league. And people were like laughing, like laughing at me, not not at the comment. And I said that's the definition of MVP. you remove the player and they're the worst team in the lake. It's crazy.

And I guess Lucho's award would be opposite. The moment he left Dallas became an elite team in Major League Soccer. If they hadn't had Lucho the whole year, they'd be pushing for the top of the West and potentially have a chance to win it. So that is our Western Conference set up right now. A lot to be decided. All of that really in the wild card conversation, a little bit at the top. But in general, this is what I said of the lack of like dramas.

is, okay, San Diego, L.A.F.C. Minnesota, they jump each other. That's still like we're talking matchup changes in the first round and two rounds out that mattering. But right now, the whole like, oh, you could go from wild card to home field advantage doesn't exist. And falling out of the playoffs is that real drama, which we will see at the end. I always think back to there was a year in which RSL didn't play on Decision Day. And they needed the Galaxy to lose at home to an eliminated Houston team for them to make the playoffs. And that happened. I think that was Laton's Galaxy team as well and it was the craziest moment I think

I've ever experienced an MLS. So RSA has a tendency to just be around the weird stuff that happens at the end of a season and now they go on the road to St. Louis in a situation where they're one of four teams vying for the final two wild card spots there. On the east side of things. No, give me your prediction.

Give me your prediction. Who's coming in? I'm going to say Dallas. Who's getting in the west. Yeah. Oh, my. I think Colorado. either ties or loses

but I would assume they tie or sorry they lose and I can see a spot where San Jose drops points because the way they play the game you can't be like oh we're up one zero Austin has nothing to play for it let's close it down they're incapable of that

so my guess would be there's all these moments there's all this wildness and we end with somehow Dallas and 8th and RSL in 9th what about you? definitely RSL. I think they're going to win in St. Louis, where I truly believe Dallas is going to get zero points in Vancouver.

I'm going to see San Jose. You just, I mean, you said it. Austin has nothing to play for, nothing, absolutely nothing. San Jose is at home. I think San Jose makes it because I don't think, I think LFC is going to play to win at Colorado, and they're going to win because I think that getting the two seat in the West

means a lot. You're getting Buanga back. You're getting son back. You're getting all the international players back. I know it's Colorado. I know it's the altitude. It's difficult, but Colorado hasn't been that strong this year at home. And yeah. I mean, if my math is not wrong, if San Jose, yeah, I think it's going to be. If San Jose wins and Colorado draws, San Jose would make the playoffs. And Dallas falls out.

I will say, yeah, so that's more points in my favor. So I will say RSL and San Jose, yes. Colorado is going to have this scoreboard watching to do, which is if Colorado draws and Dallas loses, Colorado's in. But if Colorado draws, Dallas loses, and San Jose wins, Colorado's out. So they're going to be the most, and I know they'll say they won't even pay attention, which is a lie. They're going to be the most like on off, turn it on, turn it off.

Obviously in their hope they'd be like, oh, we're 2.0. up in 25 minutes and we're just playing it out. But I don't really see that happening. And I just want to be a fan for a second. I think it would be more fun to have San Jose in the playoffs. Yeah, it would be more chaos. That to have a Dallas or Colorado. Forgive me, Colorado and Dallas fan.

But San Jose is just chaos every time, everywhere. And this is not Almeidas, Colorado. But still, it's Bruce Arena. It's Chicho. You know, it's Joseph. it, I mean, San Jose on paper, should be better. And they've been better than expected. They were like one of the best, one of the worst teams in major league season history last year.

So the job that Bruce Arena has done is being remarkable. But also you have players like the young kids, like Leroux, Shakiris. You have a great goalkeeper with Daniel. It's a fun team. And I think the playoffs will be more fun, even if it's just a playing game with San Jose than with Colorado and Dallas. again my apologies Colorado in Dallas no let me just my one counter on the neutral entertainment factor would be a Rocky Mountain Cup led by Luna and Paxson Aronson and like that could be fun

you could sell me on that one as well and obviously watching musa anytime play soccer is a positive but I would not want that game in Dallas because watching games at Dallas is the worst experience right now at some point they'll finish this stadium which has been finished for 20 years and it will be entertaining again. It is so brutal to watch. I cannot believe there's not a conversation of just flipping the cameras around to not face the empty stand that's under construction for an entire season or two after having a whole end empty last year as well.

Okay, let's dig into the east for a little bit. Not as much, as I said, up for grabs. The real conversation in the Eastern Conference is the spots four through seven. Philadelphia clinch number one, Cincinnati and Miami tied right behind them on 62. So that's that jostling for who would host if they faced off against each other in the conference semi-finals. Charlotte right now are on 56 points in fourth, NYCFC are on 56 points in fifth, Nashville on 54, so two points behind, and Orlando, three points behind that. Orlando, it would be tough for them. I don't even know that they could jump over Charlotte in NYCFC because of

total wins that it ended up at. But this is sort of the chaos that can ensue in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte are hosting Philly, which we thought would be, is this a shield decide or is this going to be, I think most people had this peg as the best game going into Decision Day from a little while ago. And then it has turned into maybe the least interesting because we have no idea who Philly will play and what they will look like. NYCFC plays Seattle, which is bizarre, cross conference at this time. You will be at Nashville, Miami, Nashville hosting, and then Orlando, after losing this home game 2-1 versus Vancouver, head to Toronto, who TFC are on this bizarre streak, the record tie streak in MLS history, broken finally by LAFC on that midweek, Wednesday night

game going into an international break because that's Major League Soccer when you get to the end of the season. And these are sort of the four teams jostling, which Chicago and Columbus right below them, in the wild card spots both of them have the ability to jump out of the wild card spot if a Orlando drops the proper amount of points Chicago could jump over in Nashville as well if that ends up happening so this is a fair amount of chaos inside of all of this McKellie you will be at what is probably going to be the golden boot decider on top of this we assumed that the golden boot would be decided this weekend because of the international break and Buonga and Messi missing their team's games last weekend and Surridge being off and

then going in. But Messi did the thing where he plays every soccer game that's ever been found. He played pickup on Thursday. He went and played in a co-ed championship on Friday. And then he showed up for an MLS game and scored twice on Saturday with all of the Argentine national team in the crowd. I mean, it's just funny. He's just, he's a, he's a, he's a cycle. He wants to play, like you said, every minute of every game. He doesn't never want to go out. He's potentially going to play minutes with Argentina tonight or today against Puerto Rico. Because that's what he did. He played with Miami. He stayed

he didn't face Venezuela. And because the game against Puerto Rico got moved from Chicago to Miami, now he's going to, he went to the Argentina national team yesterday. He's at camp and he's potentially going to see minus against Puerto Rico. He shouldn't, he shouldn't see Minos against Puerto Rico. Yeah. Leo. What is the experience he's gaining from playing a home Puerto Rico friendly in my end?

Leo, Leo, Leo, I can do this in Spanish if you want. Leo, listen to me. Rest, just get some rest. The playoffs are coming. What are you doing? He's a psycho. He's like Luis Suarez. He doesn't have knees, Luis Suarez, but he wants to play.

every minute. He's played every minute that he can, except when he's suspended for being an a-hole. But that's another discussion. Yeah, I mean, the West, it's crazy to think that Nashville and Orlando can still fall into the plane. I think that's fascinating because when you see the points, like we're talking Orlando and Nashville are on 54 points. Orlando is 53. We're talking about the West. Austin is six with 47. Like we're talking that Columbus, whose ninth in the East with 51, will be the sixth seed on the West,

just one point behind Seattle. So that's the difference between the two conferences. Like you said, Nashville, Miami. Nashville, Miami is a great game in the sense of seeding because if the season ended today, that will be a series, three-game series, Nashville, Miami will be amazing. but at home like the golden boot yes messy has the upper hand he's two goals above right now

but Nashville at home with Surich in a good position like I'm guessing Nashville internally have talked about this and maybe trying to get if there's a PKEh for Surich to take it instead of Muktar I think that's going to happen that that has been happening a lot yeah he's taken the last few that Muktar was missing everything but if there's a PK is going to be clearly Surridge, or the team is going to play more for Surridge, trying to give him that individual accolade. But it's going to be fun because, like you said, nothing is decided on the seating again. Both Nashville and Orlando could drop into the plane, which is crazy.

And yeah, it should be very, very fun. I'm super excited to be in Nashville. I'm going to be obviously on the pregame show, both in English and Spanish, Countdown and La Previa, and then on the Spanish broadcast. with Sammy Sadoff and Diego Valetti. So it's going to be super fun. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait.

It's going to be a great decision day, even though you said the shield is decided. So that took away a little bit of the excitement. But it's going to be fun. The Shield has decided like all the playoff spots in the East. They decided. So that takes away, you know,

the huge jeopardy of decision day is who's in who's out. And losing that is a lot. Now if, let's say Orlando starts. to trip up or Miami takes the lead the jump between being in for Nashville and Orlando and going to a wild card game

I think is pretty drastic so that brings a level of jeopardy and if Chicago let's say they jump up to six now we're back into that Austin conversation of like it's already probably a good season for Burrhalter in year one and we're going to talk about some of the newcomers of the year they've made some really good moves in the offseason

maybe not the ones we expected to be talking about at this point of the season but that is a huge part of what's going on for them. And then for these other teams, like, you know, for NYCFC, you have to think you're putting everything on the line in this one because a chance to jump into the home games. You get two home playoff games where they're played. I don't know.

Probably going to play one at MetLife, maybe play one at Rutgers. Like, who knows at this point is probably hell for the ops team to figure out when they're going to be home. And if not, how many games they're going to host for a team that doesn't own their own stadium yet. it would be chaotic to say the least. But I think that's a lot to play for and a lot of intrigue in all of those games. But the West is, I think, a little more interesting going into the final day of the season,

while the East has been more successful. And you mentioned it. Like that points number is just absolutely absurd. So you look at Columbus on 51 points in ninth right now, potentially could go on the road for a wild card game lose and have their season over. They would be in sixth in the West with a. chance to pass Seattle for fifth. Like that is a huge gap between the two conferences, four spots pretty much for every team

that they move up. But it is the case of what happens. We talked to Dan Lovitz about it a few weeks ago, and that's the reality. And sometimes that's what happens. The playoffs then, we will go in. I mentioned the wild card coming up. Then the best of three series. That will all happen before the next international break.

Then we will move into an international break at the end of November. World Cup qualifying massive that round because the draw. the first week of December. And so we're going to see the UEFA teams clinch. We'll see all of the playoffs pretty much. So you'll know who's in the intercontinental playoffs from Africa, from Asia as well. And then Kankakev will be closing up. So it's going to be a huge round of games. I say that in saying like, you're not keeping guys for that round. So it is going to be a factor, which is players for teams that are have a shot at MLS Cup are going to leave to go play for their international teams and come back

and have to get back in form or potentially get back into the flow of things and it's something to think about for all of these teams and it's going to be a huge factor in the playoffs. Let's jump into some of our awards and then we'll talk internationals, USM and T, as well as some U-20s. Just give me a second.

Give me a second because I have to rant about Orlando. Vamos. For a second. Pappy Pareja, what are we doing? Why are you losing that game at home against Vancouver? It was maddening and frustrating because we saw everything that I hated from Orlando before this season. Orlando, yes, you were successful.

You were getting to a playoffs. You won a U.S. Open Cup. But it's the old Orlando, old Oscar Pareja. We take the lead. We're 1-0 up and then we stop playing. We're going to defend this league and try to do everything in our power to just defend. and we forget about attacking when we have you still had ojeda on the field muriel on the field at west on the field at west had a terrible game against vancouver he i don't think he completed even like 70% of his passes he was awful and i'm saying this because of oscar but i have a good relationship with pereja i cover him when he was sholos coach when i was living and working in tijuana and covering that sholos team and at that that last tournament with sholos he was on the running a finalist with Greg Berhalter to take the USMNT job.

And then after Berhalter was named the USM&T job, he still wanted to get back into US soccer into the US, so that's where Orlando show up. If I'm not mistaken, I have to double-check this, but at least until a couple weeks ago, Orlando has the best goal contribution from older DPs in the league between Muriel, Ojeda, and Pasolich.

I think I'm correct, but I will have to double-check this and apologies if I'm not. Like if you take every team all their goal contributions for their DPs, Orlando, it's the best in the league between those three. And we've seen

Orlando all year when they are on the front foot, when they want to play offensively, they can't destroy teams. Again, you have a head on the field, you have Muriel on the field, you have a twist on the field,

yes, you don't have Pasolich, you don't have. Freeman. You get the injury at the beginning that you were mentioning with Johnson, and that's a handicap for the rest of the game, for sure. But I don't think Orlando had business losing that game against Vancouver at home the way they did. And now they put themselves in the situation where if they don't get the three points at Toronto, a difficult away game against a Toronto team that has been playing better, they have really. good players with Sifuentes, with Georgi, et cetera.

It's a difficult game, and you can find yourself on a playing game. When I spoke with Pareja during Leagues Cup, he told me this is the best Orlando city team that I've ever coach. This is, in his opinion, and in my opinion, and I think Miguel Gallardo, I don't think I know Miguel Gallardo or my colleague at MLS season past. He played in Orlando over 200 games with Orlando. This is the best Orlando City team on paper of all time. Yeah.

Pareja said to me during League's Cup on the record, this team is better than my Dallas that won the Supporters Shield. But if we don't get a title this year, everything goes to, you know where it goes, right? and having this team on a playing game it's just frustrating yeah it's frustrating because

they should be much better than they are and again I understand the east it's very hard but it's unexcusable that you lost that game I guess Vancouver you now have to win at Toronto again a very good difficult game

in my opinion and if you don't win you get into a plane and then on 90 minutes everything can happen and then you're out of the playoffs it's a disaster so i think from the emotion point of view i agree with you especially this weekend of like like we said you play for ties when you could play for wins like they play on the back foot you're home you don't have possession and there's way too many examples of that i think the pushback of like everything goes up in the air if

they're in a wild card they lose a wild card is let's say they lose a wild card this weekend. 53 points would be the second best regular season in Orlando history. It would be better than last year when they finished fourth. So like you don't control exactly the way the other teams are. And you could argue the 53 points this year is more impressive because they're playing in a tougher conference. The second thing is Cartagena, Arajo, Cabare are all out. Like you have no central midfielders on this team. Daggardan finished there, which when he signed, they told us he was a center mid then they played him at right back for two years now he's back in center mid and if kyle smith starts at centerback like that's a train wreck alongside like schlegel

who's already a question mark for every playoff game that you end up in i fully agree with you that it doesn't feel like this club has progressed over the last two years that they made the open cup final and it was the start of something and they haven't progressed past that i think you could argue with me that they haven't regressed though that like this because of the points total and where they end up in the injuries and that like every team you flip a player like faku torres it takes time posulch hasn't taken time and they're like ready to continue forward as this group and muriel they've gotten something out of that they've not regressed as a club and maybe that's a positive and maybe this is a resetting year because of you're losing torres

in this off season, you're losing some other big pieces in the off season coming into this year, and you've got to get players in, and it takes a little bit for them to get connected and all of that. So there's like a lot of data points in all of this. It goes back and forth. But then the other thing with them is every time they go the furthest is when they're at their work. Like when they're high seeds, they don't go far. When they're favorites, they don't make finals. And so maybe being in a playing game and like scrapping and playing against the ball and being a little,

seed is just who Oscar Brayas teams are and maybe that's where they end up at their best situation rather than being a home team and having to deal with that like remember how ugly the Charlotte series was last year remember how ugly the Nashville series was two years ago and so if that's the case and they're the away team then it looks a little bit better coming to this year but I think I think the frustration is fair I think this is a club that has to figure out where they're standing is in the current iteration of major league soccer and how they can be a leader in some of these spaces and not just another team where it's like oh we all went out and got a south american 10 and they're like we got o'heda heyta's good congratulations everyone went out and got

a northern european wide attacking player and just dryers great possilich is good like this kind of feels like the space orlando has ended up in and some of it's okay and some of it's not and uh i think it's fair to want more and i think Orlando fans have off and on i think a lot of people around them have so you're basically saying that they love the pain they love being they love being on a difficult situation which is which is crazy this orlando team again obviously they haven't regress it's a great season but once again by oscar pereja this is the best orlando team that i've ever coached we need to win a title it's a failure and i again i understand how hard it is is but with the numbers that DP has put up with the death that you have on midfield.

And I understand the Cartagena injury, but Atuessa and Araujo have been solid the whole year, especially Atwesta. Actually, Pareha told me that Atwec is the most important player. The Atuesta thing, by the way, the tough part about this is he's the most important, but he's also the one who needs the most help. And all the guys. And we saw it without Ararajo in this game. Right.

He played terrible. All the guys who help him are the ones that are hurt. And then Atuesta, I would argue, is worth. worse than if Atuesta was her in a Cartagena or Arajo is there. And you're like, okay, they can't really connect a ton of passes, but they can at least go east to west. With Atuesta, it's like, uh-oh, if there's no one covering for him, it's an open door down the middle of the field.

And I think that's what you saw for Vancouver. If Atwist is not playing, they're in trouble. If Atwrest is plain but doesn't have Araujo next to him, they're in trouble. So it's weird to explain it. But I'm just frustrated because I really like, Oscar. I really like the team. Ojeda is awesome. Muriel is awesome. Pasolich is awesome. Atuesta is great. And I mean, El Pulpo on goal, he's awesome. He came back to his true form this year.

And I think they, it's, again, I think it's a disaster if they end up in the playing game. But again, like you said, maybe that's the way they like it. We've also not gotten any news on Robin Yel. Johnson's injury. Yeah. So that will decide a lot as well of what their potential is going forward. I assume, let's dig into our awards, and Oscar Brea is not going to be one of your coaching of the year candidates.

You said there are a couple obvious ones. I have three clear ones down. I think you've got one more than me. Who are your coach of the year candidates? And is there anything this weekend that changes your mind in either direction? Yes. Yes. I think this is the hardest award to vote this year.

For me, the four candidates are obviously Sorensen, Varas, Carnell, and my fourth is going to be BJ Callahad. And I have a rule, and I understand that not a lot of people are going to comply by it or agree with it, because I'm a strong believer that for players' awards, only MLS should be considered. I don't agree with that when we're talking about coaches. Okay. I think when you talk about coaches,

you should add the other competitions because it puts more stress on the coach. So it's an advantage for a player because they have more games to put up numbers. Exactly. It's a disadvantage for a coach because they have more games to manage their roster three. Manage.

Yeah. It's well said. That's the way I see it. So obviously for me, for me, I will vote again. I agree with Tom and I agree with you. Nobody should vote before the decision day. I think that's a disservice to the league and the players and the coaches and the staff and everything involved. Right now I'm leaning Sorensen because of what, I mean, they're about to win the West.

And especially the run at Conca Calf and the Canadian Championship. So, I mean, what are we talking about? Again, putting the other competitions in favor of a coach, I think Sorensen should be the winner. And I think winning the West this Saturday will be the icing on the cake. So that's what I'm saying, that I may lean Vadas, is San Diego ends up winning the West, maybe? I don't know.

I understand what he's done speaks for itself I mean we're talking about the best expansion team of all time which is asinine we were expecting nothing from San Diego nothing

and whoever said that San Diego was even a playoff team or lying before the season I'm sorry but you are a liar lady or sir BJ Callahan front office

that did nothing for him this year nothing when you see the roster it's basically the same roster that didn't make the playoffs last yeah they added a couple players but awesome yazbeck gaston brookman we're not talking big time players and in harr but he samsurich was a i don't want to throw this word out but bus disappointing before this season he wasn't putting the numbers that a dp nine should have should put in he changed a system. I love what he did because he's coming from the U.S. soccer

Berhalter tree, which is very ingrained in the 433 that we see with Berhalter, we see Winnocin with Nikos Tevis, et cetera. And he started with the 433, but he said, this is not working. So he changed his philosophy, his way of playing. And that's a big kudos

to BJ Kalhan. Also winning U.S. Open Cup, again, competition, managing minutes, planning, dealing with scheduling, with players, et cetera. I think he should be a candidate, in my opinion. And of course, Bradley Carnell,

what he did winning the shield with Philadelphia speaks for itself. Fire from St. Louis 18 months ago, nobody gave anything to Philly this year. And when we talk about players' awards, not a lot of Philly players are in contention or discuss about it. and I think that speaks more in favor of what Bradley Carnell has done.

If Philly wins, they will finish 32 points better than they did last year, which was 37 points on the season. So they basically doubled their season this year in his first year with the team. It's really hard to ignore. And again, this is where we came into this saying, any other year, this is a clear win for Bradley Carnell. Mikey Varus will no matter what finish with the most wins in expansion team history, any other year that's a clear win, and then what Ypres Sorensen has done.

We've basically never seen a team compete in Conca Champions and regular season, and you add in the Canadian championship across those competitions at this higher level in MLS history. And they've done so without one of the highest spending rosters. And with some of the most travel and all the other things that they've had to cram in and all the multiple competitions and two-legging Canadian championships and all this type of stuff. I think it is really hard. I think it's interesting to say, like, okay,

if Sorensen finishes above Varus, can you really vote for Varus with all the competitions they've played? I think Joe came on this show two weeks ago and was like, we shouldn't overvalue expansion seasons anymore because it actually might be easier to build with the roster setups and all the mechanisms. And if he didn't say that, sorry for just putting that in his mouth.

and I thought it was Joe, maybe it was someone else. And I think a lot of that is like... I spoke to him about it. Oh, so it was him? Yeah, great. I think Joe, he said something... If he didn't say that, he said something very similar to it. Yeah, and I think that's fair, which is you're not stuck with bad salaries.

You get all this now without having... It has shifted in the post-expansion draft heavy roster build. When it used to be expansion draft based, it was worse because you were stuck giving the salaries and the contracts to players that you didn't decide on, and you had to draft those players. And I've talked to people who worked in expansion offices where they asked if they could skip because they didn't want to take players.

And the league was like, no, you have to take all the expansion picks. And they're like, we don't want these players. We don't want other people's players. That has now changed. So it's gotten a little easier. I will still say building an entire identity and ethos and culture from nothing is still something that should be applauded because you have literally nothing to fall back.

on and any team when the season goes against them you're falling back on veterans players who know each other players who are from your market like whatever it is an expansion team has none of that so i don't think you can step away from that i find it hard to watch the soccer on the field and look at everything and what you're saying and not vote yesper sorensen as of now so i'm going to wait for the weekend to see what happens and see where everything falls i don't know what would convince me out of that is the problem at this point. You know, Philly's already clinched the shield. Like, that's already there.

The three points, does that really change the reality? Varus has already clinched the best expansion season. That's already there. Does the three points change that reality? I don't think so. But it is really tough. I think the BJ Callahan shout is fair, but I don't think it ends up there. I want to say the year that most connects to this one was the year, it was 2022, I think,

where L-AFC, Philly, and Montreal finished all on equal points, and I think it was Nonse's first full season as head coach. And I voted Nonsei. I think Jim Curtin told everyone to vote Nonsei. Everyone voted for Jim Curtin. To Rundleau, of course, had turned that team around. That's probably the closest comp where you had, like, genuinely multiple options where you could say any other year they win, coach of the year.

And that was the year before St. Louis came in when Carnell led them to the top of the West. as an expansion team. Let's run through a couple of these other ones. Do you remember my coaching vote that year? No, what was it? We had a heated argument on a... Was it Pat Noonan? Phil Neville.

Oh, there you go. I was a fan of Phil Nevel's Inter-Miamy teams. They were underrated, considering they played literally without a DP so that they could leave a spot open. Go look the roster of that team. Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you. That, but that is not coach of the year. Look at the Montreal roster.

That is the, that, that team was not loaded. I will, the people that are probably telling that I'm crazy and an idiot. Just go look at that Miami roster. Just go look at it. They started Ryan Saylor and Amy Mubika as centerbacks on that team, which I think both of them could probably start a centerback right now. So, uh, there you go. We have in the chat here a Red Bull fan who says,

a shout for Pascal Janssen or did I miss you saying him. NYCFC could have gone second if they didn't lose to Philly the other day. I think that's a decent shout to throw in there, a team that was down, and he's brought them back up, he's brought solidity. I would say he hasn't done it. I mean, that's not better than Philly is the problem, right? For the jump that NYCFC has taken is not better than the jump, another team with a similar comp who's gone higher.

And you could argue it's probably spent less to put the roster together, even though NYCFC spends young, which is hard. in its own challenge and all of that. But I think for sure NYCFC feels like they're in a good place. From a coaching point of view, clearly supporting director leaving to go to Kansas City, which leads to another conversation, which we've had a little bit. Let's do some player award stuff. Let's do some of the easy ones.

Newcomer is clearly Andres Dreyer, because Undress Stryor is also an MVP finalist. The other names we had in here, Zincranagel for Chicago, who is like bordering on an MVP conversation as Well, we mentioned Possolich already, who's been phenomenal. I put in Shupimoting, okay, you could think he should have done well and he did do well, whatever that is. He still played well in his first season. Any other names that are missing that you think should be in there? For me, Thurskof, San Diego's captain.

He's on my best 11 that's not going to change for the season. Yeah, I think those are the names. Honestly, nothing comes to mind right now. You know, I have a soft spot for the defensive midfielder because that's one of the positions that I played when I was a kid. So I appreciate that when I was growing up when I used to play soccer competitively. So I appreciate how difficult that position is, probably the most difficult position on the field.

So, yeah, Thurzkov, I've been, and everyone that I've talked inside the San Diego organization just rites about him. And the way they rave about Thurskopf is, it's weird in the sense of like they rave about, obviously, Chucky. They rave obviously about Dreher, but it's like, yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, we knew who Chucky was. We weren't expecting Dreyer to be an MVP candidate, but we know we're getting a really good player. But Thurstkoff and being the captain and the leader on and off the field. Um, because being a captain, it's also what you do off the field in the locker room,

getting the group together and what he's done for San Diego as an expansion team helping Mike I Varas on the field. I think I will put Thursk up there too. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's fair. Like, it's dry. Yeah, it's drier by a landslide, which is wild again, because synchernagle and

posseous seasons would be obvious as well in past years. Uh, I didn't mention. McCona from Philadelphia. He signed us to the U-22 two years ago. He hadn't played in MLS until this year, which I think is still fair to bring in. I don't know that we really have a... I guess technically any player that comes up from MLS Next Pro or whatever

is in the running for a newcomer of the year, even though they're not an addition to the roster. That's one. And then I would put Davy DeCosta in the conversation. Shouldn't win it, but four goals, eight assists, came into the league late on, right, because of how long the Evander Lucho stuff took. And I think has been up to the level you'd hope for in year one. We debated this a little bit before the show started.

Is he a D.P? I think so. Is he an elite 10 in the Evander mold? No. But I think if you're trying to replace a player and you bring someone into MLS and they're that good, I think you've done well. And I think Portland's issues are bigger than him going. going forward goalkeeper of the year

do you want to give your finalists St. Clair Yeah I will put Takaoka too there And I will put I mean I want to say Gaiese But if I have to give you three I mean what Sean Johnson has done in Toronto It's crazy

Yeah, it's wild He has the best numbers by a mile in the league But his team is terrible Yeah and also a shout out to Saksethan although the season, the injury has, like, busted that. But I will vote Sinclair right now, yes. So one of the ones that's tough on this is Andre Blake, because they have the best defense in the league.

They won Supporter Shield. He's only played 20 times in MLS this year. So he probably, and he's not going to win it, and he's deserved to win it in the past, and he's won it. So I don't think anyone's complaining. He probably doesn't get in, but I would push him. him against Guy Ase and Kalina would be the other one.

And Kalina's had a bizarre season. He got benched. And then he turned into maybe the most important player in the league and helped lead them on a record-setting win streak. If they finish fourth, his numbers hold, I mean, AKA not giving up 12 goals this weekend. I think he'll probably end up as a finalist for this one as well. But I think Dane St. Clair is the right pick of like he's the most important

goalkeeper to the way his team plays, plus having the best season. plus where his team finishes, all that type of stuff, whatever you want to do with it. Young player, it's pretty close to the 22-202 list. I don't have like a ton of obvious players that I think are off of it. Like Finn Sermon's one who was ineligible, who's had a good year. I don't think he wins this award. I guess in this you could, if you try and bring an MVP convo in

of like who's the most valuable young player and how they affect their team, you could argue Quinn Sullivan or Chris Brady should be the winner. but it feels like Obed Vargas was 22-22 for a reason, and he's probably going to win this. I agree. The massive step that Over Vargas has made in Seattle this year, alongside with Christian Roldan, maybe the best duo midfield in the league besides Cuba's and Ember Halter, in my opinion, or what Thurzkov and Luca de la Torre have done in San Diego, I think, and we've got to remember, like, Ovet's so young, Steve.

Yeah. He's so young. He just played the U-20 World Cup for Mexico. He's so young and he's so mature. He's so smart. He's so down to earth. He's such a nice kid. I remember sitting down with him at the beginning of the season. We did like a special for MLS. Recapping the Concaf Champions League, what is called at that moment, in 2022 when they beat Pumas. when he steps on the field in place of joao of joao paulo on minute 23 he was middle of the of the first half 16 years old and he said i asked him was the first and he's so honest he's a kid um i asked him what were you thinking when you step on the field and he said my only thought was don't fuck this up don't fuck it up like that on camera um He deserves to make the jump to Europe very soon. He, of course, all the talk talking about him, it's been, well, he's going to come to Ligamechi. He now plays for Mexico.

Tigres, America. He doesn't want to go to Mexico. He's on the record on that. Of course, he says, I can't control what Seattle does. If Tigris comes with that. $50 million? 50 minute, yeah, or America. you cannot say to that

but if I have the preference I want to go to Europe I want to go to Europe that's what he wants to do and man Seattle is such a fun team when Seattle when everybody's healthy

Seattle has to be a big big contender and I think it's over it and he has you can make a guess of for Freeman and his goal contributions and the way Orlando plays with him not in vain he's on the USMNT now and he's probably most likely going to

beyond the World Cup roster, but amount of minutes, contributions, games over it, for me, it's number one. Yeah. Freeman up there for sure. I think... Makania? Yeah?

McCona. I think Jack McGlynn, because of how central he is to his team. I think Owen Wolf in a similar vein. Like they're talking about the seasons they had, Eli Feingold, a really good season. So... Luca Bombino.

Right, a good portion of the play. players on the U-22-2 list, like they play heavy minutes. So I think a lot of them are important to their teams and are factors, but a few of them are the, like, you know, chance. I mean, Quinn Sullivan, his injury is going to be a massive part of the conversation we have in the playoffs. I would argue he's the best chance creator on that team. Maybe Kai Wagner is, whatever.

That's how important he was to his shield winning team. And Chris Brady has been a lockdown defender. Okay. We have two more that we're going to talk about. Defender of the year, which I think is one of the toughest ones this year. It's hard to find the players on the teams that have performed on a high level. It's probably going to end up being Jakub-Glasness would be my guess. And McCona then gets mentioned as well because of how good Philadelphia has been,

and that's the reason they won. Who are your other players that you're thinking of in this conversation? I'm leaning towards Blackman, Vancouver right now. And again, that's something that can change on the same. decision day Vancouver is the best defense in the league right now black one has been the best defender on the best defense in the league so that has to count on on on a lot in my opinion and he's been the most consistent and that consistency took him to the to a USM&T very deservedly so I'll get a shout to box all yep what he's done with Minnesota again I'm voting Sinclair for as of now

I'm voting San Claire for best goalkeeper and I was reading a column from a Doyle, her a really good friend and the best in the business, I think it was like a couple months ago, and he was talking about how Minnesota absorbs pressure without Minnesota never wins the possession game. I think they average like 39%. They don't even make it to 40% average possession on a game, so they absorb a lot of pressure. That's why Sanclair has so many good numbers. But observing possession puts a lot of stress.

in the defense so that um those three centerbacks are really really good and and boxall being the captain and the leader i think that gives in a nod in my opinion i think for boxall as well you add in the throwins which i hate i don't like long throws i don't i have said this a million times i think it should be banned i don't think you shouldn't do it if it's in the rules you're allowed to do it i'm fine with doing it i don't think it should be in the rules the long throwings and the fact that almost the entire season, his partners have shifted and have been young. Like, he is the leader of the backline for a team that's built on that back line. And I wouldn't say as elite guys shielding for him in front of him as well.

And they have held up the entire season. And that's part of the award to Dane St. Clair. I think it's part of why Boxall should be a finalist for this one. Alex Freeman, we mentioned already. these are attacking numbers now, which never really works out. Adelson Malanda, I think, goes in this where he's had a bounce back year. He's been consistent. Ream finally has shifted into centerback but didn't play the whole year there.

Kalina went up and down, and yet Charlotte is probably going to be a top 14 in the east because of his play. And then Kai Wagner is the next one. He is the best chance creator on a shield winning team. They may finish with the best defense in the league. His numbers are always the top because he's the one who presses high and intercepts fast and all of that, which doesn't make you a good defender. It just is the role he plays. We have no evidence of fullbacks winning it.

I think this could be a year where one does in that there's not an obvious candidate at centerback. His team defensively has the numbers that people like, and he might be the, like, like star of the shield winning team as a fullback. And so that's a chance for someone to sneak into a spot that just never gets an opportunity before. Yeah. And you can always make the case for J.A. Martin Seattle.

That's a provincial one. So yeah, but I will say I've made that case a million times and it's never happened. And if it's never happened, it's not going to make it this year. I agree. I agree. I still remember I think he should have won by a landslide. on 2023 but yeah that's that was me too opinion and people don't like maybe we

we should apologize to the people we vote for for things because clearly it doesn't help them but I right now if I would have to like deliver my ballot right now I think I will Blackmun will be my yeah I think that's fair I think that makes sense and the final one here is MVP I tried I tried people I tried to

to make my case again in favor of Dreyer. I think Dreyer was going to be my pick until like a month ago, but it's messy. There's nothing we can do about it. And I mean, that sounds negative. So I apologize for my phrasing,

but it is the greatest. It's messy. You can argue it's the greatest season in MLS system. Unlike last season, when he didn't deserve the award, in my opinion, this year he does. He's played more.

He's been more valuable for his team. He has, he's going to finish with the most, goal contributions by a landslide. He's probably going to win the golden boot. Miami is going to be a top three team in the east, no matter what. So it's Lionel Messi. Someone just said Nagby for MVP, which would be great. Just give a lifetime award winner. On the golden boot list, Messi right now, two goals ahead of Buonga because of the two goals he scored this weekend. I think he will finish top of that. He also has 18 assists. Buonga 24 goals, Surge 23. I bet you

two of those three, if not all three of them end up on most MVP ballots. The final will probably be dry or messy and either Buonga or Surge. Honey Mukhtar probably deserves a shout and all of that as well. And then Evander is probably the other one who will get the bulk of the votes

and the top three will be some collection of those five or six players. And Messi will win it and he deserves to win it having the best season. All right. Let's finish out on a little national team and then we'll get out of here as I said, Thursday will be back. We will go game by game through Decision Day and what we're looking for

and what to expect and how we'll all play out. And we will revisit our over-unders to sort of give a big picture recap of some of these teams and the next week. We'll have our best 11s. I think Tom will have 13 of them teams all the way through into his MLS next pro best 11. I have mine. He's got to work hard. I got to find something for him to do on his free time.

and then we will have your wild card preview in there, and we will then go into our playoff previews, the series we know and all of that, we're going to bring in guests. It's going to be a ton of fun. This is the best part of the year, and I'm excited about Decision Day, but more Decision Day being over

and knowing some of these playoff matchups, because I think we have some really tasty potential matchups in here, especially with what we're saying with the East, you have some, like, first-round matchups that could be conference finals in the past. That'll be really, really good to watch, and the three games should give us an idea. of who the best team is on the national team side of things i was at the game u.s tight ecuador

one one down in austin canada lost one zero to australia a little bit of a heartbreak laid on there in that one now they sort of flip australia plays against the u.s tonight in denver uh or in commerce city whatever you want to call it canada plays in harrison new jersey against columbia who knocked off mexico four zero it's crazy that the champions the the giants of the region with their best 11 on the field got absolutely washed by a team with for the most part their best 11 and i would argue at home because mexico playing in the u.s is a home game but maybe we don't have to do that one although obed might be the oldest player in central midfield for the next 15 years as he plays alongside mora in that central midfield for the u.s game

oh how good is mora dude oh god from my sholos you wish you were covering cholos while he was coming through. I can't believe that kid is 16 years old. Now 17. Officially has turned 17. He's an adult now. Come on. He's so good. He's so good. It's insane. He's the best 17 year old old on the planet right now. How old is Yamal now? Yeah, no, I think Jamal is approaching 25. I think he's 19 right now. But he did a lot of stupid stuff when he was 17. Yes. But right now, Mora? the position he played like the way he plays center mid as a player who looks 30 years more than his age is absolutely unbelievable that's the part that's like crazy not just that he's like skilled and talented enough and physical enough to hang at that level it's like he's composed surrounded by players at all times and i'm gonna say something insane okay but we we have it wouldn't be the first time this show yes or i say it's insane stuff all the time but he reminds me and please understand what I'm saying because we have the career of this

player and he's one of the best of all time but he reminds me the way he plays the way he moves the way he controls the ball the way like you said and it's very important how he it looks like he moves in slow motion when the game is going a thousand miles per hour so he reminds me of two players when they were super young. Andres Iniesta and Zinedin Zidan. Again, look at the names that I'm throwing, please. The kid is 17. I'm just saying, just I had the fortune, and I think you too.

I watched Zinadine Zidand when he was a youngster just coming out of Bordeaux when he signed for Yuvre. And he wasn't this young. And Andres Ziniaz are coming out of Barcelona. just you have the ball on your feet and you're surrounded by five six players and the way or I mean if you want to take it a step a step way down like nagby gets out of trouble with the ball on the feet when you watch major league soccer those players that it looks that they're moving in slow motion and getting out of trouble but they're moving faster than the game it's

just it's difficult to explain or like a pedi in spain for example um it's it's i love mora hopefully he stays a healthy body and mind because again we don't we know how hard the mexican fans the mexican press are with the youngsters and how these kids then uh america goes to shoos and buys them for a lot of money and give them a salary triple what they will make in Europe and that they stayed in League MX forever and they don't make the jump. Hopefully that doesn't happen to him. So again, sorry, but I just love Mora. Yeah.

I love Mora. He is going to be the conversation in this region for a long time. And that is in a region that has a lot of special young players. Like Fonzi is still young. Jonathan David's young. Ismail Kone. Like, there's a lot of young players. Marcel Ruiz, Obed, Mora.

and I'm blanking right now. There's another Crucese player that is like 19-20. Mexico's future, it's pretty bright at midfield. Yes, at one position. I said at midfield. Yeah, I know. I said at midfield. The 4-0 lost to Columbia is still hanging around.

The U.S., the 1-1 tie against Ecuador, enter Valencia, will keep scoring goals until he's a thousand years old. I thought he retired like five years ago and then, he's still playing and oh well he's still playing okay and he still scores the same goals which is it's never a build up it's all by himself and yet he turns chris richards and he's able to put his foot through it and get it to the far post to make it one zero and i think the u.s for the most part responded pretty well like i think they tried to play through pressure i thought ecuador's pressure was really good i thought ream and miles looked uncomfortable trying to build out and that was a huge

factor early in the game in that the U.S. couldn't really play through Ecuador and then when they went direct, I think the wide attackers left Bolligan to alone. And so there wasn't really a ton of threat on the second level, except for when Bolligan was able to make something special happen by himself, which is not really in the system. And I think it's not something you want to completely rely on. But he's capable of it. And it's a huge thing for the U.S. Then I think as the game went along they started to find their feet get more comfortable um and i thought i thought malik tilman i thought aden morris i thought tanner testament i thought all of them were good i would say aden morris to me won the most more minutes out of this game because i just think there's not a lot of players in this

team that are both comfortable connecting passes even if they're not line breaking passes connecting and winning killing transition moments and winning the ball and so for me he's one that i was excited to see coming into it. I thought it was overall a strong performance for him. I think he deserves more opportunity coming out of this one. And I don't know that anyone centrally outside of Tyler has earned more minutes under Pochitino in my mind than him. Yeah, I agree with everything that you said. And obviously, I wasn't there. So it's sometimes difficult to analyze what you're saying and how the players move in a system, especially on a new system that the USM&D is implementing since the last two games with the three centerbacks and the way

Pocetino now wants to play with the team, which is, I think, finally, the best solution moving towards the club world, the World Cup. I think, but those type of players, I think you appreciate them more when you are in stadium watching it and you have the full picture that the old 22, like they say, in football terms, that watching on TV, but yeah, I agree. I think we're already, like, getting rid of layers and understanding certain patterns of what Pocetino wants now with the players that now seem to gain a step in competition, like, sadly because of injuries, but I think right now Balogun is a clear number nine. I'm saying sadly because of Ricardo Pepe, obviously. And because the other number nines haven't performed,

and I don't think they're going to get more opportunities. I think there's a point where now you see like Balogun is going to get moving forward the bulk of the minutes as the number nine. You know, like now the testing time, it's getting real short. So now you can see like Freeze is potentially going to be the goalkeeper. That's not going to change until some disaster happened. I think these, the three centerbacks, even though they didn't look great, are the three centerbacks that are potentially going to start for the U.S. on the World Cup,

Miles, RIM, and Richards, obviously. I think it's always been Richards plus 10 on the starting 11 for me. Well, at least Richards plus one, where they're playing two centerbacks, or now it's Richards plus two, whoever those two are. But I think RIM and Miles have the open hand there. Obviously, we know what where it brings. Obviously, we know what Pulisich brings. It was obviously sad that we couldn't see Christian Pulisage against a juggernaut like Ecuador.

Yeah. Ecuador is one of the best comeable teams. And Ecuador that, again, and here's where I zoom out and say to the fans, the U.S. wasn't as terrible in such a bad terrible situation as we thought during the summer or pre-gold cup. And now we're not as good as a team that ties Ecuador, because Ecuador was missing pieces, like their best player wasn't on the field. Moises Caesero, okay, yeah,

or best player wasn't on the field, Christian Puliswick. But again, Incapier wasn't there, too, a big, big piece for them. Tyler Adams wasn't there. Ecuador, Tyler Adams, wasn't there. So, but Ecuador is also like trying out things, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the World Cup.

So we got to take everything with a grain of salt, but definitely a much better USMNT team, a more cohesive team, think pochettino is finally finding the pieces and again i went before the gold cup when all this beef between pull the section and pochettino was was happening on the media and in front of us and it got really ugly in my opinion i think it should have never gone into the levels that it got publicly and i went into the with a shout-out to into a total soccer shows with joe laurie and and all the guys say it and out taylor shout out all the crew they have they have a they have a

They have a great show there. And I'm saying this, all this discussion is stupid. Like, I don't care. I don't care that Christian Pulitzer is not going to play Gold Cup. I don't care that Tim Wea, Western McKenia are not going to play in Gold Cup. This is dumb. Pochitino needs time. And Golkope is a great opportunity to find depth.

And he did. He found Matt Freeze in goal. He found Alex Freeman. He found Arsson. He found Diego Luna. I'm using found. Yeah, yeah. And not he discovered him.

Yeah. So we got to remember that. Yeah, we are fixated with the 11, with the starting 11. But for the World Cup, you need to fill 23 or 26. And we saw Berhalter make this mistake in Carter. We were all fixated with the starting 11. And the bench was a non-factor for the USMNT at the World Cup. We got to the Netherlands game with our midfield with Musa McKinney and Adams completely done.

They couldn't run. Just go watch the game. Tyler Adams was done. They couldn't chase anyone at that Netherlands. So we need Pocetino needed time and space to find those players that are going to give you depth. Now you can see on the bench of a USMNT, a Tillman, a Luna, right? even Christian Roll Down, Ada Morris, Tasman, those are solid and valid options that you have on the bench

that you didn't have in the past. So for that, I applaud Pocetino and what he did during the summer and other stuff that I really like too because I live and I cover the whole Berthalter era. I was there for almost, I will say, like, 99% of the camps. And by the end, especially Cop America, The players were too complacent with Greg. Like Berhalter gave them too much liberty.

And Pocetino had to come in and fight against these handicaps. No more golf. No more doing whatever you guys want. Right? And he has made that public. So that's what I'm talking comfortably about this. Because the players had a lot of liberties with Berthalter. And Pocetino had to fight against that.

And this is not me reporting on saying it. It's Pocetino saying it at every press conferences that or every media opportunity that he has ever had since he got to a Yosemante. And he was still, did you see the Instagram post that he shared on his story? I don't understand it. I think it's leaning towards that. That, hey, this is the way that I interpreted. Hey, see what happens when you give me time

and when I can apply the ways I do things here. That's why I think he was trying to imply. Now we have a system that we found. Now I think I found most of my players. Now I think I've ingrained in the minds of these players that no job is guaranteed. No, because your name, look at Yunus Musa. Who would have thought that we're going to get to the World Cup in 2026

and Yunus Musa wasn't going to be part of it? I don't know what's behind that decision. I think Musa, everything that I've heard during the Burrhalter years, talking with him on camera, off camera, he's a wonderful human being. He's a nice guy. He works hard. Maybe it's just a, maybe, I mean, you know, coaches are very weird in their choices. Maybe Pocetino doesn't like Musa.

Maybe Pocetino doesn't like Cardoso on the field. But who would have thought that we would. will get to the World Cup potentially without Musa on the squad. Not even, I'm not talking to starting 11. Yeah, yeah. On the 23 or 26 squad, which is, it's crazy. So I applaud Pocetino for the turnaround that he's done. And the ups and downs that he had to endure,

especially during the summer and all that policy saga, etc. Yeah, I think all that's fair. I think, um, I know my angst around the, gold cup was everything you're saying is right in a normal cycle and this wasn't a normal cycle and that's where it's like yeah for sure gold cups for finding depth but you don't have an a lot like he doesn't even have the 11 he doesn't have a lot of that stuff set in and like a chance to be around these guys but i i do think you watch this game and like take away all the soccer stuff we've just been waiting for a team to play on the front foot and try and win and like and if that did that is what

the Ecuador game felt like. I don't know if it felt that way on TV. It felt like that in the building. Like even the build out stuff, sometimes the U.S. gets stuck in these spaces where it's like, okay, we're going to build out this way. And it's like mechanical. And it's not to affect the game. And I do think most of the stuff on Friday felt like they were trying to win and trying to affect the game and reading the way the game was played and trying to match or outplay Ecuador's physicality or enthusiasm or whatever. And that hasn't been the case the whole time. And that's in a game without Pulisic and Tyler, which I think is really, really big. Yeah.

That's also mentality. No, 100%. It's all mentality. And I think that this game was the best I felt about that in a really long time for a U.S. team, like in two years maybe, for a U.S. team. I like Waya as a wingback. People can debate whether or not it was a back five. There is not a set moment. A game is not played in one setup the entire time.

There are phases of play. and every single formation shifts inside those phases. This was a back five. Way or coming off the wing, I like because he can choose when to come inside. You see how dangerous he is, though, when he skips inside, where now he's coming at players at full speed. He can see the whole field and make decisions. Or he's outside, and now he's one of the best 1 v1 players out wide,

and he's going to win his battles. So I don't mind him in that spot, but I was underwhelmed, as I said, by Robinson and Ream. And I don't know that you can play this setup if those are your three centerbacks. And I think that's one of the things they have to solve. I'd like to see McKenzie for a couple more minutes in this Australia game, which is coming up tonight. Last thing before we get out of here, you mentioned the Mexico, U-20s and Obed Vargas.

They lost two, I think it was Colombia, right? Spain. Argentina. Oh, they lost Argentina. Correct. They lost Argentina and the U.S. lost to Morocco in the U.S. So both of the team's runs have come to an end at the quarterfinals, which is something we've become used to.

I think for me it was one of the things that was hard to, like, jump on board with this team is, as I've said many times, I don't think there's a ton of elite international players in this group. I think the floor is really high, and there's a bunch of players who I could see being a factor for national teams, big time club players, going forward. And I don't think this group was any better than a lot of the groups that the U.S. has sent.

But it's a knockout tournament, and you're hoping does a bounce go your way. This game was extremely frustrated. for a number of reasons they dominated possession they dominated chances they gave up the losing goal on a long throw which wasn't the first one too Morocco had done it two or three times before and the first time I was like if I said out loud because I'm watching on my phone I said out loud if they give up a goal on a long throw I'm going to lose it and my wife's like what do you talk because I wasn't watching the game with her I just yelled this one random thing knowing that I was

going to be upset about this and then I think one of the big things people have latched on to and I don't think it's wrong, is Mitrovich choosing to play Benha as a false nine in this final game for the first time all tournament. Taha Bruin had played as a quote unquote false nine. I think some other games and Marco Zambrano is actually the only nine on this roster. It clearly is a position with a lack of depth for this team. So I don't know that there's a ton you could do, but Benha clearly is not that guy. He doesn't stretch the field. He doesn't occupy centerbacks.

I've said it a million times, a great goal score, blah, blah, blah. and that really hurt this team in their ability to pin Morocco in dangerous areas. They had no movement in front of the ball when they played it around the box throughout this game and it really landed on Can Gozo and Campbell

beat someone one v1 and create a moment? I would have hoped that that would have been the case once or twice and it wasn't. So the U-S. U-20s are going home at the quarterfinal round and that's all for us on the U-20 front. Well, I will add that

as an Italian here. Just chill with the win against Italy 3-0. It was embarrassing for Italy. Just chill. If you're a, if you know ball, like the youngsters say, I'm 41 years old. So I got, I got a, my, my language is not updated with the youth youngster. But if you know ball, you know that for Europeans,

this tournament doesn't mean anything. I'm sorry. And I don't put stock on the U-20, like you say. said is not the best show of talent around the world. In Europe, should be with their club right now. Listen to me. Yeah, I agree. Right now in Europe, if you know, again, like the Young Serse, if you know ball,

the best under 20 and under 21 European players are with the U-21. That's not something in the America continent. In Europe, the U-21, it's sometimes as important as the senior national team. Right now, while the U-20s were going on, the European U-21 qualifiers were going on. So all the best Italian players, all the best French players, all the best Portuguese players, All the best European players under 20, under 19, under 21 are with their U21 players. So yes, it was nice. They beat Italy.

Great. They beat France. Great. I don't think the best talent of those countries were displayed at the World Cup. Just if you know, you know. And I would throw out there. Kudos to the U.S. I'm not taking anything away from it. It's not their fault that France and Italy or the Europeans are.

showing up with lesser teams, but it is what it is. Kudos, I agree with you. They should have beat Morocco at least the first half. They should have been, they should have gone to a half time with the lead, at least. And like you said, it's just bad luck, maybe a bad decision by Mitrovich with the Kremaskian, the way he set up the team, the lack of death at the number nine position also. But I think this is, we've seen this from the team. Like we got to remember the U20 that had, um, that had team where that had, um, uh, uh, sergeant, I think was on that team.

Uh, I'm blanking the number 10 from Dallas, which, which I love sadly, the Paxton Pomechle. That team also made the quarterfinals. And I think that team, I believe was even better than, than, than this year's team. Um, but that's, I think that's, that's the level that we are at. right now. Now, I would say in all of this of like, I think Julian Hall's eligible for this team. I think Darren Yappy was eligible for this team. So for the U.S. as well, and I said this on the last three shows, the best players shouldn't have all come to this because playing meaningful professional soccer minutes is more important. And it used to be, I think, one of the most important reasons for the U20 World Cup for players in this region was to be seen internationally. That's not the

case anymore. Like people are watching MLS next bar. They're watching USL championship. They're watching USL League 1. Like if you're playing pro minutes, you're going to get seen. And so I think there was value for players. Again, in Europe, but they're not watching this tournament. I can tell you for a fact. They're not watching this tournament. Fine. Because the U-20s in Europe, they don't put the weight on it. The best U-20 players are with the U-21. And they're actually going with the national team. And now I think we're in a space where for a lot of the teams in this region, their best players are not going to this tournament as well because of where it fall fell and when it fell, in all of that, it would have been nice for the U.S. to make the semifinals.

Absolutely. It would have been fun to watch. I enjoyed watching this theme play. I thought they played really good soccer. But this is this conversation. We're going to have this a lot, I think, over the next few months on this show, because as the seasons come to close in North America, there's some bigger topics that we want to hit. One of them is the way the U.S. has taken.

a huge leap technically and a lot of that has come into the way the academy setup has built but then there is a feeling that there is a maybe lack of game awareness and ability to just go and win games outside of the system and this game felt like an example of that which was the system was working 70% of the way to dominate Morocco and then all of the BS went Morocco's way and Morocco scores on a counterattack on bizarre flick on after the long ball. They score on a long throw

and like every corner kick for the U.S. is a pull below the waist and whatever and all of that stuff. And some of it went in the U.S.'s favor. Like that's the reason they got the penalty kick. I think some of the U.S. players, I think Widener a large part of it, riled up some of the Morocco players and was able to get that. But

this is a game that you should win. This is a game that at the highest level and Argentina, Argentina wins in Italy, for the most part, in the past, would win. Like, this is the game where a blue blood wins, and you can't explain why. And when you go back and look at the bracket, and you're like, no, Japan was better on the day. No one remembers that and no one cares. The U.S. has very few examples of getting over that line.

And that's what you were hoping for in this tournament and didn't end up happening. And so I think that's a bigger conversation that will end up happening. But we've still got a lot to talk about on all fronts. the kelly have fun in nashville thank you for being here appreciate you being here always a blast to talk to talk no thank you it's always a blast when you send that text hey can you sub in tonight of course it's like anytime that that's the way i always replied and i always put a little hard reaction on your message on your list um yeah and i feel the love it's always fun because you know this is this is this is what we do this is our life this is our passion and yeah and it's

always fun doing it with friends we've got some awards that we will have to give away we've got some playoff games to preview we've got a lot else to talk about and of course kickback committee as I mentioned we'll have some national team conversation coming up tomorrow so we will have all of that out there follow us on everywhere on social media let us know what you're watching what you think who you're voting for who should win awards and I'm looking forward to all of it and we'll talk to you all again very very soon Thank you.