SoccerWise - MLS Coaching Changes & Summer of Soccer Storylines Presented by Soccer.com

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

David Gass, Tom Bogert, and Matt Doyle break down the Philadelphia Union reset, Portland's next chapter, and the biggest MLS storylines to watch this summer. They discuss the league's coaching landscape, Neymar and Casemiro's MLS links, LAFC's roster decisions, whether Real Salt Lake can keep Diego Luna and Xavier Gozo, and the biggest roster needs facing both New York clubs. Plus, they explain why they're buying stock in San Jose and San Diego and discuss what they need to see from the USMNT before the World Cup.0:00 Pork Roll, Taylor Ham & Soccer Culture9:01 Philadelphia Union Reset25:55 Portland Timbers Next Chapter41:04 The MLS Coaching Landscape50:14 Neymar and Casemiro to MLS?56:50 LAFC’s Next Move1:01:32 Can RSL Keep Luna and Gozo?1:04:10 NYCFC's DP Spot & Red Bulls' Defense1:13:11 Buying Stock in San Jose and San Diego1:21:03 USMNT’s Final Tune-Up

What's up, everyone. Welcome back to Soccer Wise. David Goss, Tommy Scoops and Matt Doyle with you live on a Thursday. We don't do this very often, but we're having a lot of fun with the lives over the last week. The chat's been humming. People have been hanging out. I think there's a little bit of a soccer tournament coming up over the next few weeks in the U.S. I think the vibes are pretty high. Tom, you've got what?

Is that Morristown, Montclair, whatever town I'm supposed to say that? The FCMommet, the FCMommis supporters jersey, the 732, got a little, little, uh, Taylorham pork roll, whatever you want to call it. So that's why we got that there. That's amazing. Michael Esau jumped five points just seeing that shirt, man. So I love it. I love, so I call it pork roll, right?

Because whenever I go to Jersey, I'm a tourist. I'm not a local. And I call it pork roll because that just makes more sense to me than calling it Taylor Ham, which I understand is actually just like the brand. Yeah, it's like a Kenex, right? Yeah. I got a pork or egg and cheese playing bagel with salt pepper ketchup this morning. And it's at the bagel shop I went to.

It was like pork oil pork oil cheese 850, Taylor ham egg and cheese 1050. Basically, it's a tax if you call it wrong. I just, all right. So first of all, I really respect that. I really respect that from central Jersey. Yeah. I just can't get over the ketchup thing. I can't because it's like you got hot sauce right there.

I'm a ketchup guy too, Tom. So don't worry about it. Oh, yeah. All right. Salt pepper ketchup is how you have to have boiling cheese. If I'm in New York and I'm getting a bacon egg and cheese, I'm getting it with hot sauce.

I'm not putting ketchup on that. So you have a little bit, you're a little bit civilized. Literally what's the difference, stop? I go with, because I, pork going and cheese,

salt pepper ketchup. It's like when my son starts to speak and starts to say his words, when he learns pork roll, it will be pork oil and cheese, salt pepper ketchup. Like, You can't like add or subtract things. Like that is just...

But if you put bacon on instead, it's so unsimilized to add ketchup that you can't possibly... I didn't say it was uncivilized. You said it was uncivilized. I said it was uncivilized condiment to add to that kind of sandwich. Yeah, it is completely something that covers all other flavors. And I like the flavor of ketchup. And that's what I need it. It's for children.

It's for children. 100%. I will say this one thing, though, as much as I love in New York bodega sandwich, and it is probably my wife's favorite thing. She, like, wants me to buy the tin foil so that I can make her sandwiches here and cut that and have it. That is actually civilized.

That's a great call by it. Yeah, then she feels like it's that. There is such a range of hot sauces, and you're not getting an answer. If you're in a bodega, you're like, what's the hot sauce? It's like hot sauce. But that's the charm. As it should be.

But there are some that you get that are not what I want for breakfast or not what I want at all. And so I got scared from some of that, and therefore I went ketchup, which is always a little bit safer. Today, I made my own, and I put both on. So if that makes you feel a little bit better. I got to say, not to make it political,

but, you know, little hot sauce in your bag, something you could do, bring your hot sauce with you. I don't even know how's that political. I don't even understand what just happened. It was a Hillary Clinton thing. Okay. 10 years ago.

Okay. While we're off the rails, we're just going to keep a moving. I'm like a child here, so I don't know your 19-19-19- I want to get something from the group. We're not, we're not, I want to get something from the group. I played mensly class night, and it was an uncompetitive game.

The team that was in our division, shouldn't be in our division. Sorry to them. We was out of hand. Philadelphia, be a union? We tried to be as respectful as possible by not running up the score. It still ended up, I think, 14 to 1. And this was, we tried hard to put our defenders in attacking spots and not go full tilt. There was a guy in the other team.

I saw him crouched over. He had his phone by the goal. And he was on the phone. Is this guy have like a business call that he needs? Bro, you're losing by 12 goals. Just go off the field and take the call. Turns out he was talking to a DoorDash driver because he ordered, I think 15 minutes in there

were like, this is miserable. I need to order beer for after the game. And this guy was talking to a DoorDash driver on the field. That feels like not a red card. You should just not be coming back to the league ever again after that. No, I respect that. Are you kidding me? Like that is that's a captain.

Well, yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That's fair. But like once he realized that there was no, you know, fuel for the post game, uh, debrief, he, it sounds like a leadership move to me. This is going to be like, somebody passed him the ball when he was on the phone. And I was like, do I close this guy down? This is kind of going to be like, Potch looking up into the crowd seeing Diego Luna being like,

can I still looks at his phone? Can I still call him? Can I still patch him through? Uh, I respect it. I respect taking on the, the responsibility as one individual as part of this team that's losing 14 to 1, uh, to go out. get there. So we've got a lot to talk about, so maybe we'll get into it at some point. There has been a firing of a head coach in both Portland and Philadelphia. Both we have alluded to

over the last few weeks. I think for sure the Portland one felt expected. But we got the news right after we got off over the last few days, as well as a change to the sporting structure in Philadelphia. So we'll talk about that. Then Tom is going to run us through some of the big storylines to watch for the summer coming up in Major League Soccer. So of course, summer of Tom. It will be be the transfer window and it is the ice cream shop will be open it'll be melting down tom's hand as he hangs out in sunny california and breaks news left and right from two a m through two a m and so we'll dig into a lot of the things that you should be watching for as we head into that break and then we will preview the u.s m&T game against senegal we'll talk a little bit about mariso pocettino and

potentially his italian future and everything else involved with that we are going to be doing a live game stream on Sunday coming out of the U.S. Senegal game. So we're going to start right as the game end. So it's scheduled for 530, assuming everything goes on time, or sorry, 3.30, we will be on around 530, myself and Doyle to break down what we saw and talk through it. I think that's going to be the most exciting show we've done so far, where it'll be, okay, now we're starting to see actual things. What is Potch trying to put together? And all of that, I'll still be BSing as I try and figure it out on this show. And based off my depth charts over the last few weeks, it's probably not going to go super well for me. And then we will be in Chicago. We are at the Germany-U.S. game as the send-off series.

So if you're going to be at the game, we will be doing a live show at Soccerhouse and pointing to a scarf in the background of my set that no one can see. And that will be a huge part of what we'll be doing. And we will continue to do our previews of all things around the U.S., which is sponsored by Soccer.com. We're really excited to be working with Soccer.com this summer. So if you buy your USM&T kit for the World Cup there or LTree, and you type kickback in to the promo codes, you will get a free goal club membership, which gets you points,

shipping stuff, bonuses, all that type of stuff. So make sure to go there if you're planning on getting your jersey. I've got mine already. I have to admit something. I had to record a video today. I put on a Mexico jersey for the first time in my life. So, yeah, that was an experience. Are you feeling like it opened your mind a little bit in your heart?

Or are you feeling a little bit filthy? So here's the thing. And it's always been something hard for me to express to people. I love League MX. Like I would argue that's the league I grew up understanding soccer through the most. Really? Yeah, because it was available to me. Like I got Red Bull games at the time Metro Stars on MSG.

I didn't have Fox Soccer Channel or any of that stuff. So watching League MX and then watching Pavel Pardo on Stuttgart and and Osorio or Salcedo on PSV, but watching League MX on Telemundo and Univision and whatever I got, that was like the first soccer consistently watched. I think the league is one of the best in the world. I think it's all underrated. I think the culture of the game there is underrated.

But to my core, I despise that green jersey and the eagle and the way anyone surrounding that team acts when that team is playing. So that didn't change for me in any way. but I am excited. The video I was making was about Julian Quinoes, who I think is going to be a breakout star in this World Cup as someone who I think people outside of our circles has not heard of him.

Does he play in the prem? He might be after this one. You never know because all the best players have to be there. And if they're not, can we find a way to sneak them in? But we have all of that content coming out for you. Follow us on First Touch. Make sure to go listen to our First Touch podcast as well. Well, let's start digging into the news.

And to do so, let's start in Philadelphia, where they have announced a new sporting structure and the release of Bradley Carnell. So John Shear has been named as sporting director. Shear has been with the union since 2018. He's worked in their sporting structure from a first team level, as well as in their academy, as an academy scout, and then the director of their academy as well as professional development, and then has been working as the interim sporting director as Ernst Tanner has stepped away.

Now, all of this, of course, is in light of the Guardian report from Pablo Maurer a year ago. that put together an endless list, it felt like, of abusive actions and language from Ernst Center, that put him on suspension and we've kind of been waiting in limbo since then. On top of that, the announcement comes with it that Bradley Cornell, who won coach of the year last year, and the supporter shield, has been let go from the club less than six months later, and that Ryan Richter, the current Philadelphia Union two coach, who's been with the club as well for six or seven years, will step in as interim coach right now.

Tom, it's been a little bit busy in Philly. Yeah, significant sporting structure changed for the club. Bradley Carnel has been on the hot seat for most of this year. Obviously, the start was putrid, and it has not really gotten better. Prior to losing six, four to enter Miami, they had scored four goals in 14 games. Sources say in the locker room that things were a little tense, kind of the players weren't all there for him. It is the same exact playbook that happened

to end his tenure with St. Louis City. It is almost like to the day how far into the second season that Bradley Carnell was let go by the clubs and it was a successful first season in St. Louis over perform expectations. And same thing in Philly. They did win the supporters.

You can't take that away from them. In the front office, Ernst Tanner is on an administrative leave until June 1st. and I thought that it was obviously very telling that John Shear was named Sporting Director. Here's what I know on this situation. Ernst Tanner's contract is up at the end of the year. It was viewed by people around the league

before he was placed on administrative leave, that this could be it. His last contract, people kind of thought that as well, that he was, if he was going to stay with the club, maybe it was going to be more in an advisory role. That is still possible, though he has kind of been scrubbed from the Philadelphia Union's website. If you go to their technical staff, he's not there.

Again, it is John Shear, and this is just probably what would have happened in the winter, but it's happening now. Jay Sugarman and the Philadelphia Union did a press conference today. Jonathan Tannerwald had this quote from Jay Sugarman on whether Ernst Tanner will have a role within the organization after his contract expires. Quote, it's premature to talk about that. I need to see all the information that comes back from the restorative process. That is over on June 1st. He needs to be reinstated by the league, and he may have an advisory role with the team. If he wasn't going to, I think Jay Sugarman would have just said that.

So maybe it's a little bit reading between the lines. But all of that is to say, Ryan Richter interim head coach, they are going to go back to playing the kids more so even than they were. That was a sign of frustration. Kevin Sullivan's minutes, amongst other things, with Bradley Cornell in charge, a lot of chopping and changing. In Bradley Cornell's defense, the squad has not been very good. I think that they got a little too cute with how much they tried to overturn the roster this winter.

what I was told is Jacob Glesson didn't want to leave. I still don't understand why that happens. You can still promote youth players and have them develop well without it being just a U23 team. You can pay a few people and still have the identity of

we give opportunities to young players. So we'll see what happens in the summer for the Philadelphia Union. Their approach will not change, but maybe they won't bite off more than they can chew in one transfer in one of the future. And I rate John Shear very highly.

I know Ernst Tanner did. That's why he had been his number. number two for a bit now pretty much since Chris Albright left for FC Cincinnati. So there's good, that's good for your resume and that's a good vote of confidence. Ernst Tanner has done things in this front office when Albright was there and also when John Sheer was there and other people within. It is unbelievably difficult on this budget to continue to overturn the roster and be competitive.

Yeah. That is not something that should be taken for granted and is not an easy thing. They're going to keep trying to do it. and Jay Shogerman said as much today. Yeah. Jay Shigerman also said, and I think it was maybe Charlie Boehm, who reported this on Blue Sky, that they're going to keep the game model.

Jigerman said that part of the assessment that they made five, six years ago, was like, how can we keep bawling on a budget? And the game model is part of it. And I don't think that's incorrect, but what we saw this year is there was no plan B. When the game model wasn't working, when there wasn't complete buy-in, They had no way of adjusting it.

And the issue with that particular game model is if there's no buy-in, if you're a half-step slow to get pressure upfield, then that exposes the centerbacks. That exposes the high line. That concedes a ton of space to attack into. And it makes me think of what this team was in their last couple of years under Jim Curtin. Even when they missed the playoffs in 2024, they were actually evolving the game model a little bit so that they had other.

ways of playing. You think the 2022 team was they could high press. That was not the first club in their bag. The first club in their bag was actually sort of a mid-block ambush. And they used that to create space to attack into. It's what made

Michael Urra so effective running in behind. And a guy who amplified and had gravity even without the ball and that opened up space underneath and made Daniel Gosdog look like a $4 million dollar soccer player. That has been gone the past 18 months.

And with Bradley Carnell in charge, I don't think it was ever going to come back. I think it was all going to be we need 1,000% buy-in so that we could play at 1,000 miles in an hour. And if there's not that, then we're going to be the worst team in the league. And that's what they are heading into this break. It is going to be a long road back. I guess, Tom, what should expectations be short-term, long-term? like they are on track. I've said this many times

for the worst points per game in MLS history. So like the odds that they win something this year are low, how do you sort of scale and look at like what the work is to do? It's a good question because some of like the players that like Jacob Glessis became Jacob Glezzis like after some time. Jose Martinez, same thing. Like it wasn't necessarily immediate for all these guys. And the idea was well, Bruno Damiennion.

takes the next step. Donnell, John Jacques, and Lukach, okay, maybe they don't have the same centerbacks behind them or the same veteran. Okay, then they become the veterans that, you know, Jacob Glesness was. And Andre Blake is still there in the back, right? But losing Wagner, Glesniss, Ura, and, and Baribo, turned out to be too much. And I don't know how you create those pillars when things are going so poorly. Quinn Solvin is somebody who doesn't get talked about a lot right now because he's injured. I don't think that he would have a 15-point difference to this team, but they'd look a lot better if he was available.

So I think that'll help when he comes back at some point to summer or fall from his torn ACL. But like the centerbacks, like McCona, I don't know what's happened to him this year. He's going to the World Cup at least. And who knows if he's going to be here at the end of the summer or in six months or in 12 months. Like that is the model. but part of what made that easier to bring those players in and out was you had Kai Wagner at left back that was standing. Andre Blake, when he was at goalkeeper the year level, Andre Blake. You had Elliott and Glezzanis or whoever it was.

There was always a pillar and Jose Martinez in front of them that became Donnie Jean-Jacques. I think that they could use like a serious DP, and I mean serious in terms of them. Like they not like a four million dollar contract. Not Ezekiel Aladogne. Right. But even with Aladou, like, Like we, and I'll, like, when I say we, I'll put my hand up, like, it is factual to call him club record signing. I didn't do enough to say, like, hey, it's a U-22 initiative signing.

And like, like, like, we would have done for other teams of, yeah, we'll see what happens. And I don't think that they did well enough because they didn't have enough institutional knowledge around him and around that attack that like, oh, he's a club record signing, he's got to hit the ground running. But in reality, if this was like, I don't know, the revs, the revs aren't a crazy high spending team. He wouldn't, it would have been like, oh, they signed an interesting, you. 22, like, let's see what they can get out of him. So I think they need to recalibrate all of that, but they need to recreate. Like, so Ali Bedoya is excellent for, he still helps on the field and he's still excellent, obviously in the culture, the locker room, the intelligence.

He's not best 11, Ali Bedouillia in his prime. I don't know how the Philadelphia Union that's currently constructed get those players because they get those players and then in three years they become that or two years they become that. And then they're gone. And then they're going to be missing right now. Yeah. We're like, that's why I was so surprised. some like a couple of these players left.

I thought Glassness was going to be here for longer, but that was naive because they're always, we'll sell a year too early. He should have been the next Ali Bedoya. He should have been the guy who's on. He wanted to be from what I was told. You know, and to bring it back to the McCona point, last year at this time,

we all thought they're going to sell McConae for $10, 12 million dollars, right? And then you think about it, he was surrounded, as you said, by Kai Wagner on one side and Jakub-Glessness on the other side of him, and, you know, goalkeeper, of the year prime Andre Blake behind him and Jose Martinez in front of him and that is the setup to make

a $2 million centerback look like a $12 million center back and when you get rid of that setup you're putting so much more not just in terms of playing soccer but organizing an entire team on this kid and that's a way you make a $12 million centerback look like a $200,000 centerback and like I don't think they accounted for any of it. I think they got high on their own supply, right? And we've seen this happen. So many hits over the Ernst Tanner era. And he like he really clearly has an eye for talent.

But like they got high on that supply and they forgot what it's like to not just collect talent, but build a team. And that's why they are where they are. And like this isn't like it's much more difficult to do it on the union's budget where like why like I can't say enough that like they've overdone this raw. or like three times, three to a half times in the Ernst Tanner era. That's unbelievable. Like that should be widely celebrated. It's difficult to expect that.

You look at LEFC, I know that I'm going back like several eras. It was after that the Carlos Velas shield team where they had a lot of like U-20 U-20 World Cups stand. I was like, go get the Colombian and Ecuador U-20s, and like some of them worked. And then it was like, all right, we don't,

like we can trade walkers inmen. We can let go of Betty Failhobber, like a couple of guys like that. And then they missed the playoffs for the first time. And then the next year, it was Aaron Long, Ryan Hollingshead, and several other, like, Ilya Sands. Yeah. Kelman O'Cost.

And it was just like, okay. So sometimes, like, teams find, like, the line of, like, all right, like, we don't need to pay you because we'll just go do it again. And then they try to go, oh. So, like, I wonder if they had similar things, like this, like a year from now, if some of these guys hit, when Nathan Harriol, if they feel like he's leveled out and, like, he's a valuable. and he was like, hey, it's time for me to get a raise.

Are they going to give him a raise? Or are they going to trade him? I'm very curious. The lesson they should take from this is that you give him a raise and you keep a culture guy like that who could play three different spots around. There's just two different things that I think we need to push back or question a little bit here. Yeah, we know that the union do not spend a lot on salaries. They have spent a good amount in the transfer window over the past couple between

Alado Damiani, Anello, and Olavski. That's more than $10 million on attackers. And this attack, as you said, going into last weekend had four goals. That's one. And the other is, look, I really do believe what I said in terms of Ernst Tanner having an eye for talent. The Ernst Tanner era overlapped a lot with the Jim Curtin era. Most of those guys hit their peaks when Jim Curtin was the heck.

you know, they got Jose Martinez for basically free, and he turned into a best 11 caliber demon. Glesness, another one. Jack Elliott, who came from the draft, not to mention all of the academy kids like Brennan Aronson, who's going to, and, you know, Mark McKenzie going to the World Cup. So like... Interesting.

The successes that Tanner had as an executive, most of them, I think, can be at least partially, largely attributed to Jim Curtin as, head coach. And that's why, with all these jobs opening up around the league, I think Jim Curtin is going to be the first or second name you hear for most of them. I was going to mention on my side of things, because I cover the youth ranks, I've seen Ryan Richter's teams play a bunch. They've been the Philly style, Barging Darbo, who's one of the young prospects that people are very excited about, no longer in the Philly group. He won a youth championship with him. And so I think I know,

the Philly people really respect what Ryan Richter does. And it's a young coach, but I think this is a club that could lean that way. He was Jim Curtin's assistant after coming through the academy and then went down to coach the two teams. So I wouldn't be surprised if things turn around and go well, if he's the one who stays. And I will also say watching John Shear work in especially the youth space, a lot of the players we've seen the Anisaitis, Diego Rosios, who have left this club. I think they did right by a lot of those players.

there wasn't a clear pathway to get them to the next step that kind of wanted to move and they found ways to get them there. And I say that in saying, I do think these are two people who care about the atmosphere of like American soccer and the growth of the game and the club. And I think that's going to be a nice change for this club as well as I think it's a huge bonus for Major League Soccer to have people like that in positions of power. Joel, you mentioned Curtin and the phone calls. We obviously can't predict the future. Does Bradley Carnel get hired again? Like the resume is two great seasons and fired within months afterwards. It's a resume I literally, I mean, Caleb Porter doesn't even have this resume.

Like I have no idea what another club does looking at this. I wouldn't hire him because he's shown now he can't adjust when things start going even fractionally unwell. And that's what's tough. you know, it seems like he might be a good guy to have as an assistant. Certainly if you're a team that struggles defensively and struggles with understanding your pressing triggers, like he would probably help Atlanta United a whole hell of a lot if Tata hired him as a defensive coordinator, you know?

And like, there would be some work in terms of meshing Bradley Carnell's worldview with Tata Martino's worldview in terms of where you want to actually defend. But I like that we seem to have hit his ceiling with You know his time as a as an MLS head coach because like you know I'm gonna get political again in the words of w fool me once Shame on you fool me twice won't get fooled again But the ceiling is supporter shield the ceiling is winning a conference like that's the part of it kind of with an kind of with an asterisk right because like both those times he was taking over teams that did not have any other competitions

they were really competing in right the union played i think 15 fewer games than cincy and vancouver and miami last year and they won the shield by a point so it's like it's still a title and they were you know they deserved it they were right but like those are very specific circumstances in which you have success and i don't think it outweighs the fact that he doesn't have a plan B for how to play and he loses the locker room because he lost the locker room in a massive way in St. Louis. I don't think it was that ugly this time in Philly, but there wasn't buy-in. And if you don't get buy-in with this game model, the whole thing falls apart. Let's go to the next one, which is official coming out

right after our show, I believe, on Monday that the Portland Timbers have parted ways with Phil Neville. Neville joined the club in November of 23 for the 2024 season, went 10, 11, and 11 across his time there, qualified for the playoffs, obviously, and struggled in those playoff games, including the home away loss to the Vancouver White Caps the first time, but did set the single season club record for goals in 2024 with 65 goals. Tom, this wasn't a shock, but, you know, as you, I think, expected, it was this Monday after the final games before the World Cup break where these teams made the assessment. of where they're going forward.

Yeah, and I think that even if, so, Neville challenged his group nine point week in the last three games, I think if they got nine points, this still would have came. What I will say is the mutual respect from Neville front office and ownership

was really strong, and that's, I think, what they tried to give each other every chance to see if this was going to work. they again I have not seen as respectful of like a press release from a managerial change for like somebody who didn't win a championship

or had been there for a long time other than this you get quotes from the owner the general manager and the head coach the head coach doesn't always get no it doesn't always get a quote when sometimes at CF Montreal they do two lines like we've made a coaching change thank you for your service wish you best best of luck in the future and that's not like Montreal was the first one to come to mind because there's 75 examples for them

But, like, that's not abnormal. So I think that that speaks volume to, like, what he is as a man-manager and what he is as, like, somebody who works within the organization. The on-field product wasn't good enough. And that's why he's no longer the coach of this team. But where Portland goes from here is they're going to have a coaching search over this break. They did not name an interim head coach because if they get the guy that they want, the man or woman that they want, they would hire the team.

they don't feel like they need to hire an interim right now. I think that they're off for like two or three weeks, all the players and the coaching staff isn't even there. So they didn't hire an interim because they hope that they could have a head coach in place by the time that they come back. But that is not like a definite. They're going to have a wider net from what I was told that it's not definitely going to be somebody with MLS experience, not that it definitely won't be either.

But they feel like the process was pretty good that ended up with Phil Neville and they're trying to learn from that still and move forward. and for Phil Neville, I think you're going to hear his name for other coaching vacancies. Doyle's going to make a joke about this, but I think his name will be involved. There's seven vacancies or whatever it is right now.

I don't think this is the last that we've heard from Phil Neville. I mean, you see it from Inter Miami fans who were around and Portland fans of, he went out of his way to meet fans. He chatted, like, and to your point of what you said, Tom, like I think people like being around him and I think he cares about the clubs. he works at.

There's a pretty consistent stretch on the field, though, which disproves that he should be hired to be the head coach of your team. Doyland, maybe I've said it a couple times. I think a lot of this is blame on him. Also, you can only fire so many players at one time. I think there's more, to me, there's more broken in Portland than just Phil Neville. And I'd be surprised if it turns around heavily this season. I think I would be too.

I do like some of the moves that they've made over the past year. They're definitely trying to work to create more of an internal pathway for guys from the academy or Next Pro. I do give the front office credit. Like, look, the timbers have hired three coaches. The first one they, you know, grabbed from college. The second they grabbed from NASL and the third they grabbed. Four coaches. Was Gio?

John Spencer. Oh, that's right. He was he was expansion. Yeah. Yeah. Because Caleb was like a year and a half in. Right. But that's right.

Point does remain. Yeah. And then, you know, Phil Neville was in MLS retread. So they don't like, they, they've been admirably agnostic. And I think they've been really good about giving their coaches enough time and enough resources. Because, you know, Phil Neville got two different groups in. That first group with Cabacita and Event. was in like the DPs carried that team last year's team I think played better soccer overall but

didn't have those match winners this year at all just kind of fell apart they ended up on the same points per game he got I think 82 or 83 games with with Portland and like 82 or 83 games with Miami and they ended up on the exact same points per game so like like water kind of finds its level with him but to your point uh like there is stuff that needs needs to be fixed, but I don't look at that. I don't look at this, this org is one that is irreparably broken or can't succeed. I look at one where, you know, it was a DP heavy team in year one under Phil Neville, and he never got those parts to work together.

And in year two and three, it was not as DP dependent, but he never created a structure where the guys who were supposed to be carrying the team really could. and like okay that's what the new coach has to solve when when they come in it'll be interesting because i think you as you mentioned doyle they've they've gone a couple different routes in the process so far that they've brought in ned graver boy's been there for so long that it's hard to be like okay who else is in his soccer circle that you're going to lean back on like i don't think i mean Kyle beckerman's coaching in utah whatever Utah state so maybe i'm wrong about that I think Liam Ridgwell's name's been passed around has come back around.

I know they just let another assistant coach go who was part of, I believe, the group that Phil brought in. I think it just came out like a couple minutes ago. Oh, yeah. I don't know what that means, but yes. I don't know a lot of assistant coach's names off the bottom. We do have a number of Sounders fans in the chat who are advocating for Portland to rehire Phil Neville. So take that under her placement as well. but it just I guess one of the things to me,

and this has been a combo we've had for a couple of years, is like, what is Portland's place in modern major league soccer? And they went out and they spent big on Evander. And I think they nailed that signing. And then it feels like they wasted some of the money they got for it in DeCosta. But in that, it's like, okay, D.P.'s work or the other pieces work. It's never both together.

And I do think some of that is it feels like one of the thinner clubs in their organization and what they do. And I don't know that they have as much to lean on where it's like, while we're focused and getting the right DPs, we also have the right people in place to be going out and finding the MLS ready starters and the young players and the draft picks. It's like they'll hit on two of the four categories

every two years, but they don't get on all four. That's a remnant of the Gavin Wilkinson era. Probably. Like Gavin Wilkinson convinced them not to invest in the academy 15 years ago. Totally. But I then, how much of it is structural from top down in ownership and the way that they operate and the money that they have as MLS shifts and the Haslums and the, wow, I almost said the Bogerts

what I meant to say, the planks. Big smutty out there as they sort of push things even higher. And I think, you know, I just wonder what Portland is. Here's my hairbrained one, though. It is a unique club. It has this, like, you know, connection. And I know things didn't end great for this guy. with Toronto, but Bob Bradley.

We have heard that he has been in interviews that he wants to coach again. He cares passionately about the game. And I can't imagine anyone, I mean, the green bomber jacket in front of the Timbers Army. And for all his mistakes or lapses or whatever, he carries gravitas and he has a belief in the way the game should be played. The green bomber. Does that mean that the LASC stylist is coming with him to Portland? He doesn't need to.

He bought the jacket. Once he got the jacket, he didn't need to pay the stylist anymore. I agree. That's interesting. I think if you guys want to, when we go to the 10 things to watch for the MLS during the World Cup break, I'll start with the coaching carousel. If you guys want to throw out just dudes name and dudes here for potential vacancies,

because that'll be part of it. I already did my. Just one. Yeah. Just for all of them. Get it over. No, it's an interesting thought.

One more thing I'll say in Portland and with Neville, you remember when he was hired. it was like protests. How quickly he got the fans back on his side, I think speaks to him and also speaks to this fan base. Like this is an awesome job. And I like, from what I know in that process,

the fans were like the selling point for Phil Neville and like the structure with the club, but like that was a big selling point. So if you get a manager in, particularly one that can identify with fans well, obviously winning on the field and playing well on the field is more important that that,

help that goes, you could be a robot, you could be bad at making eye contact and bad at talking and the fans are going to love you all the same if you're winning games. But particularly in this club, in this market, that fan base can be an absolute asset. And I just, I hope that, and that's another reason why they try to give the same people runway for success. That's how I want soccer clubs and soccer to be. So I hope that that's somebody that comes in can embrace the fans. And again, honestly, that's a big selling point for this team. Do Wilfred Nancy or Jim Curtain? pick up the phone if Portland calls? I don't think Nonsei does.

Why, you wouldn't. So Nansi, I'll start with him. Every piece of feedback I've gotten without speaking to Wilfred himself is Wilfred is focused on Europe. And I don't know if that means I'm focused on Europe until the L.A. Galaxy job comes open or the LFC, something like Miami, right? Like, I don't know if it's that blame, but I've talked to a number of people who have said, like, Nazi's focused on Europe.

And we've speculated on this, or educated speculation on what we all know about. this man in his mentality. I don't think that he wants his only European adventure to be, you know, two and a half weeks in a hotel in Glasgow with Celtic. You also assume that he doesn't, if he's not desperate, that he doesn't need to take one that he doesn't want. And with all the options out there, again, for all of what's cool about Portland, I don't think it pulls Wolfren Nancy to say, I'm going to move across the world and go take the shop. And I don't think it pulls Jim Curtin from the East Coast and saying like, okay, this is the one that I would take. Well, so Jim is, Jim Curtin is somebody that would make sense of like he, like, he's, like, and because he's a Philly guy, the connection with the fan base, I think he'd be a good fit for this team. And, and I don't believe that Jim Curtin wants, like, the CSO. Like, he could go into interviews right now and say, I want to be like the Greg Barclos CSO head coach. I don't think that he wants that. But I do know that after how things ended in Philly with him and Ernst Center, that's why he doesn't have that job. Like,

job anymore and Doyle what you were saying before of how symbiotic that uh partnership was it just sucks that by the end it was completely broken and that's why it was one or the other at by the end um i know that he cares deeply about who the the the gm is right who the sporting director is and i think i think that's more important than anything that in budget is more important than anything else but i will say that like ned grab a boy i think that they would work well together and i think jim curtain would be a fit all that being said it's not going to be jim curtain from what i know Tom did the whole thing first. All right, Tom.

But like, it was, I expect that because that was process right there. That was, that was not outcomes. That was process from Tom. He's showing his work. But the question was, what would he pick up the phone? And the answer is yes. Do you have, are you going to name dudes? All right.

So, all right, do you want me to transition? Are we going to the next segment? Yeah, we could. Oh, because this is our 10 things. That was a real smooth. Yeah, it was really. Nicely done, boys. to watch in the World Cup break.

Yeah, that was a good setup. You're just going to name dudes. Wait, by the way, speaking of naming dudes, because someone just put Gabrielle Heinzai in the chat. I didn't know Julian Caranza was on Nicaxa. Yeah, yeah, big time. He flamed out of that I knew. I just didn't realize he went to League MX on a permanent transfer.

Yeah. So I don't know. Okay, cool. Just had to say that. Anything else? No, it had to be said. three months later. You don't even follow me on Blue Sky.

We're asking you about that. All right. So we're getting to the World Cup break. We won't be talking much MLS for a while because the World Cup's coming and that's where we're going to be shifted on focus. I will still be covering MLS news as it comes up, but I hope it'll be slower because people will be focused on World Cup. And we will have, by the way, everything coming out of our on our Blue Sky as well and on Instagram. So we'll keep pushing. Yeah, so turn on notifications like I did for Tom.

That is the single most shocking thing you've ever told me. that you've turned on my blue. I didn't feel good about it, but like, I don't know. Doyle's on tilt right now. He thinks he has to root for the Knicks in the NBA finals.

He had a whole other thing going on that he couldn't figure out and was shifting his entire perception of everything. So yeah, he's on tilt. I will say because it's going to get bad again, but why we have a little reprieve

in Knicks games, poor Doyle, as the Knicks are closing out the cabs and me and Goss are just texting back and forth in all caps at all times and just saying unhinged things. we're not hearing from Doyle. I'm like, good for him, he put his phone down.

But I just, I sent a crazy voice note. And, like, again, we hadn't heard from Doyle, like, six hours. And then I got the little thing that said, like, Matt Doyle kept this. He keeps all of them, by the way, which I don't know what that's going to lead to you. I didn't even know I was doing that. You have to remember, I'm very old. I have no idea. He was like, yo, we see you, bro.

Yeah, yeah, why are you trying to hide? You can still get it. Like, the poor guy, like, listen to a voice note. And all of us, like, turn. No, Tom, when you put the Roy Williams dancing into the UNC locker, Jeffin, it's a Doyle's here. I play all of your voice notes for my wife and she thinks you guys are complete

morons. Completely more. She's like she's so disappointed in Goss because every time she sees Goss in person you guys talk about musical theater and she loves it. And then she hears the voice notes that you guys send to the group chat and she cannot believe this

you know it's worse than listening to that having to be in the room while I record them. Having my wife look over and I just go Landry shamit, dog Jose Alvarado dog Jordan Clarkson, I didn't even know he was a guard dog. I got to

get those two, I got to get Megan and Rebecca together for like some sort of support group who's been in misery. Emily and Mindy all right, Tom. So here we go. The 10 things, 10 of the things to watch for MLS as we hit the break. First is coaching carousel and we're going to go two ways.

The first one is the coaching carousel done spinning right now? I think so, but I don't know for sure. Like, we've already had seven changes this year. We're Thursday after the break. All these players and coaches, front office members, have gotten a little bit of time off. I know a lot of people are traveling. I'm assuming that we're done for right now.

But I just had to say, let's just make sure that it is because MLS has been crazy with coaching changes here again. We've had seven coaching changes. So on the other side of that, go out, do you? Is there anything? No, I was going to say, the ones who, who, who, jump to mind as who might be in trouble would be Robin Frazier, Greg Vanny, maybe Raphael Vicki, but I think he did enough over the final three games. I think all three of them are safe. I think also

Toronto. I think you give them a Mogan for all of the injuries. I feel. Packholm, Dottier is not a dog. He's got more, he's got more conference finals points in his career than Joe Allen Bede. So I like that. I like that. See, we have common ground there. Um, so I get, I think in Toronto and, and like, I hope that they get the time to just see what this team would look like for a few months as it's put. Because as it was finally put together, when Josh Sargent was finally signed, Georgia Mihalovich went out and like seven other starters went out. Um, there's a larger conversation to be had by people who are smarter than me with medical degrees on why does this keep happening? I don't, it's not a, it hasn't been a, let's sporting director Jason Hernandez thing. hasn't been a head coach Robin Preyzer thing.

I don't know where this all ends, but it's unfortunate that this keeps happening. So for that one, for Alley Galaxy Greg Vanity, they did just give him a contact extension, and I haven't heard anything that suggests that they would be looking to make a change then. And what was the other one?

Ricky, I think the same thing where, like, the front office knows that, like, they didn't give him an M-West Cup winning team. And, like, part of the, let's have patience with us, I'm assuming that they're going to have patience with the head coach. So all that being said, and you can't fire Tata,

because Tata already said, you should fire me, but you can't. So now you can't do it because he already said it. And like, I don't think that you should for any of those things. So anyway, so then the other part of this is who goes where? You named Jim Curt. Everybody should be calling him. Whether his contract to Philadelphia Union is up at the end of the year,

whether he still wants to wait until the end of the year, maybe, or not every team should be calling him. So some of the teams are open are Austin. It's Portland. It's Philadelphia now. I think Ryan Richter, again, they named him as interim when they didn't have to name an interim. Orlando, I've heard mix things on if they're kind of

focused on a new coach or focused on Perlman continuing with this team. So we'll kind of see Columbus. I think Laurent Guatua is going to get a run. So we'll see where all these end up. I assume Ulaflai gets the run in Montreal as well. Yeah, Montreal. That's the other one I missed.

And that's one that Kurt and Perahat. They wouldn't pick the phone up for Montreal. No, no. So we'll see kind of where these goes. But I think those are the names that I'm looking. at, but then again, like, this league is very interesting. Like, none of us were talking about Colorado Rapids, like, oh, they should go hire Matt Wells. And we didn't know who, like, there's so many candidates out there that we have no idea.

So here, one of the things that's wild and fascinating, I guess, as well is Minnesota went out and hired like four head coaches to be assistants under Cameron Knowles. So I think over the last years, I have said Danny Cruz's name consistently. Yeah. Obviously, he is not a head coach in Major League Soccer right now. so can you get him to come into an interview process? And then Josh Wolfe, I think, would end up an interview process is probably not in Austin, but otherwise,

because of the resume he has and the connections he has in the game and whatnot. So those are two that you assume most people are calling and checking in on. And I don't know if that pushes Minnesota to make a decision. I don't know that Minnesota has to make a decision. The whole thing was weird when it started. and it still feels weird now. Yeah. Some other candidates,

like Gio Savrerae say, I'm just going to keep on banging the drum for Gio. I've heard that Adrian Heath is still interested in coaching. Like Peter Vermease, we haven't talked about him at all, pretty much or much at all, since he left sporting Kansas City. Like, I know his coaching career isn't over

as far as I understand at least. So there's a lot of familiar names that I think can be out there for some of these decisions. And coaching carousel is just going to keep spinning. So I think that's very interesting. Austin F.C is the only front office job that's open. Those, I don't know if any others are going to come up by the end of the year. At the end of the year, I'm sure it will because that's just the nature of this world.

But I think that there's going to be a lot of interest there. And again, when we maybe have more than one open, we can talk about it. But Garth Lagerwe is a name that he left Atlanta United, focusing on his recovery or his treatment from cancer. I think that he's healthy enough to be interested or be available for jobs. And that makes me happy as hell because I think we all really, really like Garth and what he's done. And first and foremost, just happy that he's healthy enough for me to even be having these conversations. So again, and there's a lot of other front office people to talk about. One of the folks in the chat, Webhead, brings up a good point.

Are any of the available coaches holding out for U.S. men's national team post-Pochitino? Because the reporting has obviously, it's been obvious. since he took a job that he was on a two-year contract and gone. And so the national team job is going to open up as soon as the U.S. is eliminated from the World Cup. I would guess that Jim Curtin, Wilfrid Nancy, Oscar Parade, all the people we're talking about are people who will get interviewed for that job. And maybe for this cycle, it's a dual role with the Olympic team because the Olympics are in 2028 in Los Angeles. it kind of makes sense for the national team coach to I think maybe have more input than what we saw in in 2020 when the hell of the Olympics, 24, you know, last time through. So it could be sort of a

more all-encompassing position. It feels like after having Pocitino, maybe it's time to revert to guys who have had a little more domestic success and sensibility. that could open up something like B.J. Callahan ends up being the national team head coach and then Jim Curtin back fills in Nashville. A little bit of musical chairs in that way. No, it's an interesting thought. Again, with all respect to some of the other candidates, I think that that's more so just like Jim Curtin and maybe Wolfrennanci.

Again, I don't know exactly what either of them want in that. If Oscar Preha wanted to coach an Olympic team, I think that would be a conversation you have to have. I just don't think that it's a high-paying job. I yeah no 100% that would be like yeah okay I don't know what I want to do or maybe I don't want to do anything although now you probably have to live in Atlantis you can't live wherever you want I would not have him I would not make a phone call to him if I was US soccer about the head coach shop at this point in the cycle yeah so again we'll see on all of that I saw this joke on Twitter like after like the athletic did reporting that Pochitino met with A. I know we're going to talk about this later but somebody was like Great. He's doing everything he can to make sure U.S. soccer only hires MLS head coaches for the next 20 years. Like all these things that are coming out.

Sporting director leaves immediately before the World Cup for Saudi Arabia. That coach is taking meetings with A.C. Milan. By the way, taking meetings with people at A.C. Milan who have since been fired. Right. It's just tough all around. You know who wouldn't do that? BJ Callaghan. Right.

He's not the step coach. He's the coach that stepped up. although you got to wonder what it looks like if ac malon calls b j callahan like what's that experience going to be i think he'd pick up the phone jovon karowski got a contract extension with the lego of the with ac moulon's second team so that's how they're doing there you go real quick before you go into the next one if you're listening on serious radio we're going to run pretty long here with tom listing things and dudes naming dudes we're on track for a four out so search uh so search soccer wise on the on-demand player or anywhere you get your podcasts um but we're

appreciate you being here. We're doing a giveaway with American Outlaws. We're really excited to be partnered with them as their media arm for the World Cup. We're going to be giving away tickets to the U.S. Germany game in Chicago as part of our movement over the next year to give away tickets in the sports section at every single game on the men's and women's side to get first time fans in the building. And obviously we know how hard it is to get tickets for the World Cup for everyone. So if you're planning to be in the area or you'd like to be, make sure to follow us on social media so you can get access to that. So thank you to everyone listening on Sirius. And now if you're listening on podcast, Tom's about to start naming. Thanks.

All right. The second thing, this could be quick because we'll go specific on some of these players and the next two I have. Will there be any big name or high profile, high money world cup players that come to the United States and maybe it accelerates their views on the league and possibilities of where the career can go? You didn't even watch our roster. show. Doyle already named three and they're all American. I was talking about more of the international, the ones that like don't be like FC. Cincinnati, I'm going to talk about their like facilities. Like when they hosted the United States whenever their training facility opened,

several of the high profile players are like, whoa, this is incredible. Like they were even the ones who have an idea were kind of blown away. So you think about what the Red Bulls are hosting Brazil. Sincere has England or something? sporting Kansas City has a high-level team. Atlanta has Uzbekistan. Yeah. So, he got it.

Big laugh from Tom out of the game. I forgot what was the name of the center forward I played for Roma that he's like the Uzbek's like all-time leading score. Anyway, that could be a guy. And it's funny, they were, he almost signed with Atlanta as like option F when they were trying to go through DP forwards and then was like, you know what? Maybe we'll just hold this off right now. Anyway, it's a nice fit.

So what kind of players will be like, oh, this is better than I didn't expect it to be this good, this fast? Like, will any of the fruits of that labor be manifested this summer? I don't know, but I think it's an interesting thought. On that, we're talking about Namor talking about Cincinnati. Will that deal get done? Will this progress and Namor join Cincinnati? By the way, the Brazil national team doctor is doing press conferences right now. I had to take triple take because Namor has a new injury.

He's out for a couple weeks. But I didn't know that Brazil put their doctor in front of the press. Apparently the doctor, we did a piece about the 98 World Cup final. Apparently the doctor from that team where Ronaldo was in the hospital. Now all of a sudden he's starting when he wasn't starting. He was subpoenaed in the federal Congress to speak on the controversy that was Ronaldo's injury or non-injury all the way back in 1998.

So I don't think it's a good thing that their doctor is doing press conferences. That was my first thought. I was like, did the quote say this is the doctor? Because this is like, or is this an assistant coach quoting the doctor? Because it's not quality of it anyway. So is he going to go to FC Cincinnati?

Because if he does, unless that they do a creative Thomas Mueller, Rodrigo DePaul kind of deal, he's got to be a DP. Avander is doing all the celebrations for Namar to come. I'm going to go out of the limb here and say he's not going to be the one that leaves.

How wild would that be? Just got the big contract extension. Don't think he'd leave. I know that they only signed Kevin Deky a year and a half ago, but the process of elimination probably be him. So what would happen with his market in the summer? There was a couple European teams that reached out to Cincinnati in the winter.

They were not anywhere close on valuation, so no bids really got exchanged because Cincinnati made it clear like we think he's really good. We just signed him. We want to keep him. hey 20, you know, 20, 25 million. And well, like, that's when we'll start even picking up the phone. So what will happen there and Namar potentially come.

Doyle, are you about to ask whether I rate Kenji Mbobo Dem higher than Namar? Because yes, I do. I think Kenji Mimbobo Dem is a win. I didn't know his dad was a former professional whose nickname was magic. I just learned that. I just learned that just now. I like him even more. Apparently his dad was a big time player in, I don't know where he's from.

So that would have been more helpful. No, what I was going to ask you is three games. Three games. What I was going to ask you is over under 14 and a half career CCL goals for Kevin Dengay on Tigris against MLS teams over the next four years. Because as Tom's going through it, so I'm like, this is an easy thing next. Buy low cash out. And this guy's going to have to. No, no, no, no, no, no.

It goes back to yours into a brown liquor special after that one. That would just hit me right in my soul. My God. It won't be. won't be Tigress though it'll be Monterey and I would I would hammer the over at you can put it at 17 and a half he's gonna go to pull her go mass he's somehow going to score six on sporting Kansas City in like one game when they expand the tournament to 64 teams um so that I think that's interesting because FC Cincinnati they've been uncharacteristically bad defensively this year but very

entertaining when when Evander gets cooking um and Evander and Denke are finally developing a little bit of chemistry after seeming like they didn't know each other's names last year. So that's been nice. G. Mbobah, yeah. So his dad is the fourth all-time leading score in Cameroon history, affectionately known as Magic Amboma. That's incredible. Yeah.

He played for the Cameroon national team 57 times from 1995 to 2004. All right. Yeah. There you go. Hell yeah. And then his son played for the Dayton, Dayton flying or the Dayton. Dayton Flyers. Yeah.

Yeah. Go flying flies. Go flies. Other kind of big names, Casimir into Miami, as myself in Paul Tornore reported, that is happening. How much compensation will the LA Galaxy get?

What will it look like? Will there be scrutinizing of, wait, he's not a DP? Because that's the structure of the deal unless Bertrami leaves, which I'm not expecting. Shout out Kevin in the Discord. Shout out Kevin in the Discord.

It's going to be, he's Casamero is Brazil's captain Played the World Cup I don't come to Miami and that will change the complexion of this team and I'm very curious to see what that'll look like at the other end Agreed No further thoughts

I mean I feel like this one we've talked about a little bit Yeah that's true All right let's go to a fifth one Let me give a little justice for Eldor Shumoradov By the way that's the Uzbek Did you just come back to that? Well I had it when you said it but I didn't get it in And then the chat all blew up on it

And I was like well let's show the respect that. Well done, chat. Good job by you. Good job by you. Oh, I thought that was, you just wanted to name him. Yeah. Just did, I thought that you were, I thought you were coming in with a take there because just we, what, did his dad play for anybody? No, he plays for people. He's the one who's good. I know. I'm just saying, you had all the I love a familial, yeah, just wanted to make sure that we weren't, that we didn't leaving any

stones unturned. Um, the fifth one, LFC. So what will they do with a T-P's ball? Well, the Albert Martinez returned. There's reports that he's going to FC Cologne in Germany. I have not had that verified, but I've also had nobody telling me that it's not true. So we'll see what happens there. We all know that he's going to go to Europe at some point, whether it's this summer or within the next 12 months. And what happens with their DEP spot?

Eustaccio, I believe, said himself that he's going back to Porto this summer. Will LFC do anything for that or use a DEP spot on somebody else? I'm curious. what we've seen so far is that they just don't have the juice coming out of midfield to be a team that breaks down a low block. And part of this falls on Mark Dos Santos. So we did not name as one of the coaches who might be on the hot seat. And I really do think that's because it is too soon for him. I agree.

But he's a really conservative coach. If you look at the way he lines his team up, the wingers tend to be. kind of out on an island. And the idea is those guys create 1v1 or really 1 v2. And if you lose the ball in that situation, you have nine guys around who can then snuff out a counterattack. So it's really conservative in that way. You need something more than that.

It's ended up being sun dropping in from center for, even starting as a number 10 at times, which is not his forte. He's not getting the ball in good spots. So the number of times he and Denny Buong are connecting per game is down drastically compared to last year. The number of touches, Boong is getting in the left channel, not in the central channel. He's up like 40% year over year. So the connections are gone.

You need someone in that roster who can create those connections. You need a number 10. So I think it is absolutely the right idea to sell David Martinez. is invest that, the profits into a number 10 and be a team that has three DPs and three U-22s. It's not how John Thorrington prefers to build. He likes to have two U-22s and then four D for, sorry, two DPs and a four U-22 and then a ton of gam. But I think with the coach that he's chosen and with the weakness of this team obviously has, I think he's got to flip his usual script and I think they have to go out.

and get, you know, an elite playmaker this summer. And, like, that is going to be the job. And if they don't do that, I don't think they're an elite team in this league. I've gotten a lot of any time that I've reported on some of these coaching changes. Thank you to social media translate because it's a lot of Korean language make this change now

because all the Sun fans are not thrilled with how things are going for their star man, Sun Youngman. Let me just interrupt. To be fair, this is on him, right? Like, he is not getting the same amount of service. You tell them that. But he has, like, he has the worst finishing numbers in the league.

Worse than Simon Betcher, right? Like, he is getting chances. What's that? What, with the drive by? It is a perfect way to describe what is happening. It is the perfect description. If it's a drive-by from Simon Becher, there will be no injuries. Right?

Because nobody's going to get hit. Listen, you go to Google Translate and you reply to all the Korean fans that are putting up photos and asking questions about. I said that Messi was unjoyful on the previous show. And I've been taking all the slings and arrows from that one and I'm still here. I'm still standing. I bet you son's going to score 13 to 15 goals post World Cup. Yeah. So I'll take the under.

Okay. I think it'll be more. like nine or ten. It would still be a good close to the season for him, right? That would be 10 goals. I mean, it would be a goal every other game, right? Which is good, but I don't. Oh, fair.

Look, man, with Mark Dos Santos and that lack of midfield creativity, I just don't think they're going to get enough chances to him. And I don't think it's ever going to feel like it did last year down the stretch and even into the playoffs. And I think that there's going to be, there's going to be some upset LAAFC fans who, are speaking Korean, you know, Spanish, English, French, all of the above after this season. And I think that, look, it's one, like I said, it's too soon for the summer, but it's, it's on my radar.

All right. Number six, will Real Salt Lake keep Zavir Gozo and Diego Luna? Zabir Gozo has come out and said, I want to go to Europe this summer. Realty Salt Lake would very much prefer to keep them until the winter because they harken back to what was the year that they sold Andre's going? It was 24, right? Or is it 23? I think it was 24.

So they were flying going into the summer. Then Chichol Rongo got mysteriously suspended and Andres Gomez was sold to Stard Renee. And then they were average would be kind over the rest of the season. They just did not like that the first third first half like they were one of the best and most fun teams in league. And I think that's informing their stance here. I don't think it's just a negotiating play. Obviously if the money keeps going up and up and up. Eventually you have to acquiesce and do that deal.

I think it's more genuine of, hey, we don't want this to happen again where we were really good. And then we just completely take the wind out of our sales because they got to the first round that year. And nobody was taking them seriously. Whereas, like, in June, we were talking, is this going to be top three team in the West? What can they do in the playoffs?

But then they replaced him with like Marchuk. Like, wasn't that part of the problem? Well, I guess they blew up. Some random Australian. They had those two transfer windows, they just kept signed in Australia. And was that when Gonzales signed? Diego Gonzalez.

So they also struck out on every movie they made. But I think so first of all, with obviously Gozo is a homegrown. Dollar for dollar, you're not getting that replacement. Diego Luna is a U-22. It is. Giovia, baby. Lock it in. So, again, I know more about the Gozo situation right now.

Diego Luna always has interest in Europe. Always has interest in Mexico for sure. I'm not sure what is actionable, what bids will come, but obviously he's a very, he's a good player and he's at an age where bids are going to keep coming. And Real Salt Lake, everything from people I spoke with was after the, like, oh, it would say after the World Cup, we wanted to represent the World Cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. As a Real Salt Lake player, fortunately not happening. But the whole thing was like, we will, we want to keep him until then, and then we'll be more open to what happens. Maybe Potts will sign them at Asim a lot to replace Polisic. Um, yeah. And then goes. Diego Luna, dog.

you get it and then as I've reported Asad Villa remain like the favorite there I don't know what happened in turn of bids but I know that the price in January is not with the price today

because of how great he's been for Rial Salt Lake this season we'll see the push poll there but Rial Salt Lake are fun team a good team and are they going to keep those players and if they do sell them will they hit on their replacements

because this has just been a really excellent team we shall see the next one and YCSCFC have an open DP spot and they have Alonzo Martinez coming back at some point. I don't know what the timeline is towards ACL in November of last year. What will he look like in September or whatever as we get to the playoffs? I think that's a big question because I think this is a very good team that's lurking within consistency. And just are very clearly a couple guys down. I know Maxie Marales is out for the

season with the 20 ACL now. Does that change the math on what they want to do for that open DP spot? Again, if Alonzo Martinez comes back and they sign a DP like this team can be one of the best in East. My assumption is with Max, yeah. they'll try and replace him with the DP spot so that that player fits with Alonzo Martinez, right? Because wasn't that the fear the whole time with the Musa Sala deal was like, the player has to be able to then fit with Alonzo Martinez and not play center forward? And they struggled to find that spot. They've been okay on the wings.

So I don't know that they're going to go out and sign a big time player there. And it feels like get younger, get the 10, get that sort of central piece of the attack, who can add more goals to your team. So this is the annoying thing about city football. group, right? Because we all thought that when they came in as an expansion team with NYCFC, that it would be not just a pipeline of talent who maybe needed more seasoning to get to Manchester City, but also guys like, say, Bernardo Silva, who is finishing up a legendary career, still probably one of the best 10 or 15 midfielders in the entire world, 31 years old. And he's

leaving Manchester City. Well, he ain't coming here as the thing. He's saying, like, it's like Barcelona or event. Like that one, I don't pin. Like, if he was, if he was open and leaving Europe, they would have been in the country. I totally understand.

But my, but I wanted Europe, Tom, they're not going anywhere else. I wanted city football group to be sort of laying the groundwork for these kinds of guy. And 31 is not old in, in this era of soccer. Right?

We're seeing guys play at the highest level to mid-late 30s, like in, like, not just an MLS, but around the world. So I'm, I'm really frustrated that, look, he is the evolution of, of Maxime Morales, right? They're very similar players and how they see the game. Bernad of Silva is significantly better than Maxi Morales ever was. If you could, you could not create an upgrade for Maxi Morales in a lab that is better than this version of Bernad de Silva.

And there's just no chance that he's going to end up. up in Queens. It annoys. The other frustration... At least yet. The other frustration that I've had with all this, one is it's New York. So why, if you're going to sell any city to these people, it's that. Also, you've got the stadium opening up.

My dad's sending me pictures of the cube every time he goes and watch the Mets get smoked in person. Like you, when else are you going to do it? And that's what I've been saying for four years. I kept saying, oh, is this a spot for Buralter when he left U.S. of like, build something new, build something special. Like, could you be this outlier MLS Club with youth development? in the international pipeline in the biggest city

and let's just be real the greatest city on the planet maybe not might not be true but debatable so let me ask this do you think if if if if mLS was able to get bernardo silva tickets to a nix game to for in the finals and brought you two guys you know flanked him as sort of uh people who could sell the league the experience and living in the city like Is that a done deal? Yeah. I wouldn't be talking about living in the city

or MLS at a Knicks game with him. I'd be locked in. But that's part of the end up. He'll see that's the greatest, we'll see that with their greatest sports fans on the planet. Right. We were here with Jeffries and we were here with Tony Douglas and we were here with the other Landry,

Landry Fields, and we'll be here with you, Bernardo, in the future. And Landry Shammit. Damn right. Three more here to go. I'll pick up the pace. Can the Red Bull sign one, parentheses, he's one serious defender, hopefully two.

This team is desperate need for a boost in defense. They got the, they got the Colombian kid coming, right? It's a U-22 centerback. I don't think it's fair to expect him to have like a big big. Like, hopefully he will, but like, can't say it for sure. Is it too far to say the Red Bulls right now are kind of, you could draw connections to the first six months in Columbus under Wilford-Nazi

and the first six months in Cincinnati under Pat Noonan, before Matt Miazga joined Sinci that summer and made them from a fun, crazy team to a serious team, and when Rudy Camacho was the one that got signed by Columbus, I think particularly Columbus was in a more win-now spot than the Red Bulls are. The Red Bulls, I think, are, again, it's easy to say, well, like, Matt Miaska,

at one defender of the year. Like, that was an awesome signing by Cincinnati. That's a high bar for anybody for any signing, but like if they sign the right one anchor centerback, why couldn't they be a serious team? So it's a good point. And I like that optimism because I like the way the Red Bulls play under Michael Bradley.

The other thing, I feel like I should make this point here. Red Bulls, when Justin Shea is healthy and out there, have significantly lower goals allowed and significantly better defensive underlying numbers. It's not perfect. Yeah, Che is still a project, but this is a guy

who five years ago was considered a massive prospect. Yeah, he's been good. I mean, Bayern Munich. And he has not found the right place to sort of realize this potential, and it seems like that's happening now.

So, you know, adding another, like a real veteran defender, a Rudy Camacho type or a Miamazca type on top of that could really, really catapult the Red Bulls in the second half of the season

or catalyze, I guess I should say catapult, not necessarily a good connotation. Fling them over the wall into the moat. That's Ronald. Ronald Donkor is that going to win the ball back and then just glide there. Is Ronald Donkhor going to get sold this summer?

Because if I was running a team in Europe, I would drop $10 million on that guy in a second. He's so good, man. He's like, that's why, like I want his midfield trio of Audrey and Eddie Ronald Doncour and Emil Forsberg to just play together for at least six more months. Like it's one of my favorite groups in the league. Shout out.

Shout out Samuel in the chat. This is a banger of a take. I like it. If Justin Shea doesn't jump to Byron or Hoffenheim too early, he's on the U.S. Men's National Team roster this summer. I mean, I like that take a lot.

I mean, you have to look at the roster right now and like really ask the questions of perception versus where they're playing at what time in their careers. Some guys didn't take jumps early and then when as developed players, we have these players now who take jumps early, come back to MLS

and have good careers that are like forgotten. And then you've got like Seb Burrhalter whose jump was to go to Austin FC and ended up on Vancouver and makes it. And I think like one of the things I was processing while watching, because like for Mark McKenzie, the jump that ended up in league on

is I think one of the reasons he makes this roster. Austin trustee as well, right? Yeah. If he's playing for the Colorado Rapids, he's probably not on this team. And I wouldn't have said he would make this team when he left the league. Like I didn't think he looked like that type of player. There is like no clear through line of like this is the right pathway to take for players

whether it's coming through MLS academies or out of college. There is just like such a scatter shot of what works and what doesn't. Brian Reynolds like made. You can come back to summer. But he also might bump up in Europe in two years. if he, you know, he just won a title. So who net, you never know. And then all of a sudden he's back into the national team picture.

So Peyton Miller, is he the next George Bello? Is that a good thing? Is he the next Caleb Wiley? Is that a good thing? Where is Caleb Wiley going to be playing in a year? Kevin Paredes. Kevin Paredes coming back to some? Kevin Paredes is a free agent.

What? I think because Wolfsport got relegated, I think what I saw was that he is allowed to leave. Does this mean I have to turn, do I have to turn, notifications on for David Goss's blue sky now? Is that what just happened? Is David the newsbreaker? If you do, you'll get stuff about divorce court. So prepare.

People really misread that tweet. They thought you were in some trouble. Oh, that I was in divorce court. No, it was on Fox while I was waiting for. Wolvesburg put up an official like from their team account. Like he was among like eight players who were not returning to the club. Right. So crazy. I mean, he's been hurt for two years, but he's got a lot of

I would take you back. Like, if I was DC United, I would be working to get Kevin Creda's back. Two more. San Jose earthquakes. Will they, what will they do in terms of additions? They will sign players. Will it be from USL? Will it be from elsewhere in MOS?

Or will it be with serious investment in money? It's a tricky spot because the club is up for sale. And they did spend like a good deal on salary to get Tim O'Verner in. So I'll give them that. But like, I don't know if I'd be expecting another one. but they do have like $5 million in game. So they've got plenty of room to maneuver and they're one of the best and most fun teams in the league

and they just need more depth and more quality to add to this group. Is this not a landing spot for Daniel Gostag if the crew want to work out something that potentially opens up in like it's it's cheaper for the crew to buy out Gazdag than it is to or sorry not to not buy out Gostag to kind of like work out something that opens up a DP slot

and gets him off the books. And the quakes get a guy who obviously hasn't produced in a year and a half, but he has produced a DP caliber levels before. And they have two open DP slots to do it. I'm shocked you didn't put your best friend Yvonne Jaime there. I mean, that would work too, but we all know the quakes aren't spending $5 million on transversee this stuff.

And so these are the things, like that's why like I was like, and ironically, like, tricky because I don't make sense. It's these kind of players that, like, need a solution. I would say if I'm San Jose, I would be lurking on all the moves where it feels like someone gets bump. Like, I'd be looking, I'd be talking to Miami about Yonik Bright, right? I'd be talking to Chicago about if Kuyper's comes in, whatever ends up shaking loose because of that.

Because I think this is a team that's five squad players short of being able to compete. And some of that could just be depth. And so it's not as much like, can you identify? the three impact players, it's like, can you deepen this roster so that when Nikod Sechiris comes back and Timo Werner comes back, they don't have to play three times a week for us to compete. Right. And so I think you're kind of like, can we get serious veterans and people who know how to win and all of that on good deals in the middle of the roster versus can we try and change something at the top? Yeah. And I think, but either way, or even if that bumps,

like Asini Buddha to like a lower role, like they need more bodies like you say, Gasson. I'm curious to see and they have room to go as high as they want, I'm going to set the expectations lower than that, but they need players and we'll see kind of what sliding scale. Sergio, Cardiva's available. So it's such a troy shirt. Yeah. It's not going to be another Timo Werner level signing coming for the quakes. We all know that.

I wouldn't assume so. Last one, San Diego designated player spot. They came out and said that they were going to add or wanted to add a DP this summer. Mosala will ownership just kind of make. that happen. If I had to guess, I'd still assume so I was going to Saudi Arabia. Be clear, that is with no, like, I'm not saying that with information. I'm saying just deducing the money that's going to come and, and what happens. Tom's tired of getting cursed at in Korean, he now wants to get cursed out in Arabic as well.

I can do that for you, Tom. I'm those ones I know. There you go. But so either way, that's something you're willing to pay for, let me know. Get you a PowerPoint deck by. COB. So we'll see what DP does or does not arrive this summer, but this is a team that is below the playoff line, but I think that this is a good team to buy stocking. Like 10th and 11th in the West is San Diego and Colorado.

I think those are teams to buy stock it. Tom doesn't have the chat open, so he doesn't know what's coming half the time. And me and Dahl are not even listening to time, and we're just watching the chat at this point. And some people, I agree with you about buying. stock in San Diego. I think they're, I think they're going to end up being very good the second

half of the season. I liked what I saw from Pedro Soma. Yeah, he's been good. Down the stretch, which they needed. They needed him to, to like kind of grab a role and make it his own. Now, it wasn't a huge sample size, but given the age of Tverskov and Godoy and the miles that this team's going to log, they need real answers. They need Valakari to be better. Valikari is pretty good. if he's going to have this much of a lift in terms of creative responsibilities out of Central. They need him to be better than pretty good. Either way, I do think that last year's highs

are probably beyond the grasp of what this team can do. Tom, if you had to pick, do you think Manu-Dua is on the team when August starts? It depends. I don't know if they've changed their evaluation of him because they set a really high price and the point was we want to keep them until the summer. And that's what we've priced them at.

This is, like we're telling teams if they ask, this is the number because we don't want the pits to come. I don't know if that's like a just gets the summer and figure it out. I mean, based off the first half of the year, the bids went away. So you're probably not in danger if you don't want to be. Well, I mean, the interest is still there. But you're point right,

it's not as if the price. would have gone up or he's had the first half of the year where teams would be like, all right, well, you quoted us 12.5 million in the winter, fine. So we'll see kind of what happens there. But this is a team that if the bids come in that are acceptable and at a time that is right, they will sell like that is going to be part of their model with the young players and moving them on. Too early to tell for me, honestly.

I don't have a good answer. All right. I was doing a Q&A. Actually, I think it was answering questions and comments on the newsletter on Tech's FreeZone. And one of them was if you could take any uncapped foreign player in MLS and just add them to this U.S. national team for the World Cup, who would it be? And to me, it's Manu Dua. Like, he would be, I think, a pretty easy choice.

That's a good call, man. Yeah. What a how long way is from citizenship? Make a couple calls, Tom. He does not have citizenship. The way Goss laughed, it was just like. No, it just felt like one of those things that we do in a comment. where it's like, yeah, he's not going to play for the U.S.,

but then also I'll be wrong in two years, so that would be nice. Hey, fingers crossed, he would be an instant starter for me. And I know he's struggled early this season, and he's had some moments. He's also had some great moments as well. I thought he showed, you know, real balls against Toluca, and this team ran out of gas real quick, which is not unexpected when you're juggling multiple competitions early in the season. And then everybody on the team getting red card every single game.

But I'm still as high on Manu Dua as I ever was. Like this kid is a talent. I have Eddie Tagseth on my list right now as I skim through teams to try and think of people. Is he not? He may have been called up. Well, I can't pay Patrick Yazbeck. So. Yeah, I wouldn't choose.

I mean, Yasbeck's a good player. Tagseth is fine. Yeah. I just, my thing is I would pick a Senate of mid, but also apparently based off Pachitino's comments today. he doesn't really need them so no yeah would be Gio Rain is starting at D-Mid yeah

Stu Holden put out his his 11 he's got Gio Ray and a starting at a double pivot with with Tyler Adams why is Tyler starting it seems disgusting why wouldn't it be like a Gio I don't know Gio peppy central midfield Gio Tio death

anyone could play central I was trying to nod this is a good because I'm done with my 10th thing good transition to got to go to the but like I was sitting in the press garbage in front row and like trying to not react to like you know who else can play center mid and I'll

I was like, oh, you've got to stop naming guys that don't. Okay, we're going to, yeah, let's talk a little bit. U.S. national team here. As I said on the top, soccer.com sponsoring all of our U.S. national team coverage. So we'll be doing a preview for every U.S. M&T game throughout the World Cup. We'll put those out on the Soccerwise podcast feed and the YouTube page probably two days before each game. We will then have reaction shows for each one. And we'll have a daily show.

We'll be talking about the U.S. consistently throughout. the and if you go to soccer.com and you buy a USM and T kit and you put in kickback you get a goal club membership but the comments Tom were you the one who asked Tyler Adams about the Knicks no okay um but I perked out immediately obviously wasn't I understand why people would think that that was me but it wasn't uh well you didn't do your job for us then because by the way something that I didn't like capture like and by the way I was like I'm tweeting that immediately, skeeting that immediately. One thing that didn't come up is the relationship between McKinney and Adams.

Like it's so powerful. It's so like they're just like funny. Like the way that they like McKinney particularly just ripping Tyler is very funny. And the way that that so went Pocitino to the press conference first. Then Tim Riem and Christian Pulitzer came in and adults. Yeah. And then it was Western McKinney and Tyler Adams. Just the vibes that just skyrocketed as like.

Is it brunswick? Brunson, Josh Hart vibes. Oh, I was going to say that, but I didn't, I didn't want to beat the two inside nicks there. But like, it was like, just like Tyler, out of like rolling his eyes. Anybody who listens to this podcast has accepted the fact that it's going to be very inside nicks for the next month. But then like, Tyrus is like, who do you? Who do you support? You're fake pants.

He goes, I don't watch Batman. Like just like immediately just like got him. Lesson seems like one of those that's hard to get after because he just doesn't care and rolls or roll. moving goalpost, bro. But I do think all of them have known each other since they're, what, 15? Right? Like, they were all in the residency together.

While we've focused on a lot of the citizens and the negative and like we're going to talk about Pochicino and A.C. Milan and, you know, people leaving and the vibes being bad, all this stuff. It was just so pure and like brought a smile to my face as they're just like,

just the casual moments between entry. Like, they did answer serious questions. They take their job super seriously. They weren't just talking on each other the whole time. But you could just feel it. And like, those are two guys that love each other and like are close. And they're the guys.

guys now, I think, I don't know if it was Jimmy Conrad or someone we did a show with one time. And I think we felt this from the outside, but they talked about like, you know, from 05 to 10, it was like Landon and Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley and Tim Howard. And it was like, if you weren't in the national team, it was really exciting and cool just to be called in to be around them, right? That was like, that was the dream. And it was from a soccer point of view, but from like a like hangout point of view. And now that group is, Tyler and Weston and Pulisic and, you know, Hajj right and Alex Indehas obviously grew up with them as well.

And there are other pieces like Jedi who have been in this team for a really long time. But like it's their team and it's their vibes and they have to set the tone and everyone else kind of has to figure out how to work around that. And I think the hope is that what they learned four years ago like comes on now because last time I kept saying they're the youngest team at the World Cup. They are the seventh youngest average age roster at this World Cup too. They are still one of the youngest teams based off all the rosters that have come out so far. Yeah, yeah.

But, you know, the expectations are on their shoulders and as it should be. We're going to get to see them out on the field for the first time. And man, this is such a miracle of just we don't have to extrapolate. Like, I get these are friendlies coming up, Senegal in Germany. But we don't have to do the like, oh, well, six years ago with Tottenham, and Potch like this. So he took this friendly as an opportunity to do this. and maybe if they got a draw like this, it would be this.

It's like, finally, these are the players. We know the opponents that are coming up, and we're going to play soccer, and we're going to get to talk about it. And I think that's going to be really, really fun. And so the matchup against Senegal, Chris Richards won't be available. We know that coming out of the congratulations,

European Conference League Final champions, champions of Europe. Dreamed of winning that one as a child. In Birmingham, Alabama, that was all they talked about for a really long time. Otherwise, we expect it to be a fully complete team. So expectation there, I think, is Matt Freese and goal. The big one will be getting Sergenio Dest back into the team. I will assume it's going to be five in the back. And I don't really know what the midfield exactly looks like.

I went back through for an entire year. There was like one game where Tesman or Aidan Morris didn't start. And it was Johnny Cordoso who started in those games. games. There is not a single lineup that has played, and I only went back to the start to the start of the Gold Cup because the Gold Cup has guys that aren't on the team. There's not a single lineup that's played where all of the 11 players are in the World Cup roster. And part of that's unavoidable, right? Injuries, Cardoso, like, you don't control that. There's not a single lineup, though, that didn't have Tesman, Tristan Blackman, Daniel Luna, get a start in one of those

games. So no matter what, there is some learning experience that has to happen right now, and there is some like cohesion that has to occur on the fly. Well, the good news is that they changed seven starters from every single game and they changed 15 players it feels like from camp. So they're used to just completely new players all over the place at all times. So how many different combinations can there be left? Not to mention different tactical approaches and rotations. Like usually trying to get to that 325, 3223.

But last last set of friendlies in March, it was, I mean, it was a throwback to 15 years ago was one of the center midfielders dropping deep and splitting the two centerbacks and then both fullbacks would fly up. We hadn't seen that from the U.S. under Pachitino. The U.S. executed it poorly and then he executed Tanner Tessman and Aiden Morris for the poor execution. Previously it had been what like the sort of the flex back where the right, you know, fullback becomes a center back while the left fullback attacks.

Other times it was, you know, one of the fullbacks would step into midfield. So it's been kind of all over the place. And just my sincere hope for this game and for the Germany game is that whoever is on, well, first of all, two sincere hopes. We have as close to our best 11 as possible going at least an hour in both games. That's hope number one. And hope number two is that we have a clear and consistent structure. Like we're not going to out tactics the teams that were playing.

There's nothing hidden, nothing secret in this level of soccer. What you need to do is just have clarity for everybody on the field so that everybody knows what the rotations are so that we don't have a repeat of what happening against Belgium and Portugal. I want that clarity. I want that consistency. And I want to see execution at a high and repeatable level. please God who

it's a low bar everyone pick who do you think it doesn't feel like it we haven't fucking died for 15 years that wasn't a critique of you that was a critique of like

this is this these are things that should just have been when you're building towards one tournament particularly with the longevity that is not expected

from this staff and tenure there's just been so much tinkering and it's I don't have any faith that that's what

I think we're going to see 19 players get starts honestly like it'll over two games. But I hope I'm wrong. Who, who do you think starts in place of Richards in this game? I'm saying Miles Robinson.

Yeah, that feels right. I think it feels right. Freeman McKenzie trusting. That was, that was the back line against Turo-Raguay, which is obviously the U.S.'s finest hour under Potch. So you might be right about that. Yeah. Okay.

A lot to watch for in this game. As I said, we'll be, we'll have a live post game show from this one. that's going to be a lot of fun myself and Doyle sort of breaking down everything that we saw. I have Senegal. Are we sure it's going to be a lot of fun? You just you're promising, making promises that you can't necessarily keep. I'm excited to, as I said, be able to actually see the thing and talk about it and not have to do it in abstract. I have Senegal on the list of five dark courses that could win their first World Cup so I can understand the trepidation there.

And Germany is going to be a tough test as well. So obviously full respect on that side of things. but who knows? They beat Uruguay 5. Do you think they'll be really looking to bounce back from that crushing 3-0 loss they took in the African Cup of Nations final?

Dude, I was doing some sort of previewing content for this and I was like, oh, let me just check like what their lineup was in the final just to make sure that like my understanding the team is there. And like when I put it into Google, it was just like, Afcon final, Morocco 3, Senegal, and I was like, nope, absolutely not. I hope they bring the Afcon trophy to the World Cup.

No, it's under. Oh, my God, they absolutely should. It was in an army base right after. And then they did a parade, which was all a flex and I respected it. I love that. But if I was them, I would bring it to the World Cup and I would bring it down to like each game and have it sitting like on the sideline, especially if you end up playing Morocco in a knockout round, which would take a little while. It'd be fantastic. Oh, my God.

Yeah. I desperately want that. I didn't even know that that was. Yeah. It hadn't occurred to me. but like, yeah, that needs to happen. I can look at a bracket and see if it happens. Let's do, last thing is the reports coming out about Potch and Milan.

I know Tom hates America, hence he's like trying to destabilize it through all of these things. But what should people make? I think you guys have both kind of said. This was always the expectation. Well, so listen, the news here is Maricio Pocetino met with representatives at ASEM Milan last week. The people he met with have been fired. So now it's he's getting criticized. for this, and it turns out

it probably did. This is why I never meet with anyone. Because you never know when they're going to get fired. So, like, this is a week ago. I get that he, his contract's up after the World Cup. We've all been saying it feels like an open secret that he's not going to be here after this.

I understand that he needs to look out for his own future. Taking a meeting the week before a World Cup, before the World Cup camp opens, is terrible optics. Today, and his press cut, He's gotten more, like, ornery in Breton Press comments. Like, on Tuesday at the World Cup roster release, he, like, defended like, hell his, like, why, if I call players to tell them why that they weren't on the team, like, then it's me making it about myself. I don't think it's true, but at least he defended it.

At least he didn't come out and do nonsense. Today, the, I'm just going to read you, Paul Tenorio is in Atlanta, so is Henry Bush now for the athletic, and they are, they got to speak to J.T. Batson, who was like, Pocchiti, he didn't confirm or deny A.C.M. It's real. And it was kind of like, hey, Pocciino has been very transparent with that. More or less, we weren't finding out this from you. This is the first quote that Paul wrote from Pocetino. People that question my commitment are people that want to create some problems. You took a meeting with another club a week before the World Cup camp started.

That's not somebody else's fault. That's your fault. And this is the lead of Paul's story. I'm just going to, because he wrote it very well. Quote, U.S. Mets national team coach, Marisa Pochitino, first denied that he had met with A.C. Milan, then opened the door to that possibility that a meeting took place. At the end of a convoluted answer to a targeted line of question, he reiterated his commitment to the U.S. through the World Cup. And then a later quote, he goes, quote, do you think all the people that represent different coaches have no conversations with different clubs, question mark, for different reasons? Like, and then it ends up with, oh, you know, I'm open to an extension. We have full respect for USA.

but like he just went about don't question my commitment well don't do things that make it clear that like to have your commitment questioned okay i don't i i know i got nothing for it i know just for that he was always going to leave it is like the timing i guess is a little bit bad but like i don't know in the list of things that i'm concerned about with regards to maricio pochetino this one is well below tactical fuckery and lack of midfay. I think it's fair to be upset with the timing of how close it is that he's meeting. But if you know he's not coming back, he's looking for a job. And, you know, I'd be shocked if U.S. soccer didn't have a list of candidates that they're talking to, right?

So in theory, like all of that's going to happen as long as it doesn't get in the way of the job. But I could understand for people who feel like the Federation has stumbled a lot over the last few years, including their sporting director leaving to join Saudi Arabia six weeks ago, that this is another in a line of sort of the letdowns that you get. And the only thing that's going to fix it is results on the field. They got to go in and win some games. Let me leave you guys with this. If Morocco wins their group and Senegal finishes second,

they'd face off in the round of 16. So they'd have to win the round of 32 games. The way I have this set up right now, Morocco would have to beat Japan. Senegal would have to beat Ecuador, which, by the way, Unreal, like, quadrant and all this. Or flip side, if Senegal wins their group and Morocco finished a second, they could meet up in a quarterfinals, I believe. So it's all the table, baby. It's ready to go, and we are locked in for it.

We got a lot of World Cup coverage coming up for you. If you want to hear more about non-US teams, we've got our first touch page. We're doing news shows over there to keep you up to date on stuff. We're diving deep into a couple different teams. I'm sitting down with Ryan Hunt and Musa. tomorrow for us to do like a roundtable with the stadio group group that we have been partnering with just to get excited for the World Cup and talk about all the different things all the different potential matchups star players cities you know all those different things

as they come up and of course as I said soccer wise here will keep you locked in on USM&T we'll have USWNT coverage in their time in Brazil coming up the roster dropped me and Jordan talked about it yesterday and on social we'll be talking about all this stuff still so make sure to follow us on soccer wise woso, soccer wise HQ, HQ, HQ, first touch. And make sure you have your alerts on for Tom so that when he breaks the, summer time, the big news on you.

When he tells you where Brendan McSorley's going next, you don't have to wait to hear from your friends. You want to hear from the source first. So thank you to you to the chat. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.