SoccerWise - MLS Edition: CCC Recap + Week 2 Preview w/Joe Lowery (Backheeled)

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

A big show with Joe Lowery (Backheeled) joining Tom & Gass to talk through all the best stories around MLS. First they run through what we have seen so far in CCC action for the MLS sides. Specifically how worried should we be for RSL coming off the defeat to Herediano and still searching for help up top. Next Joe & Tom give their biggest Week 1 reactions, and then they preview the weekend with the storylines they're most focused on. 6:00 RSL Loss & Striker Search29:00 Tom's Week 1 Reactions39:40 Week 2 Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Do you feel that tingling up your spine? That is the theme song to Soccer-ize. We are here on a Thursday to talk Major League Soccer and the man, the myth, the legend is back. We are here on a Thursday to talk Major League Soccer and the man the myth the legend is back Tommy scoops Back in the building for the first time in a week Senor CBS mr. Big time mr. Big TV is alongside us Tom. You feel good. I Feel good. What's going on boys? I feel great because we have Joe Larry of back yield with us for this episode as well Joe

I don't have a nickname like Scoops for you. Jolo. Do you have anything? Jolo. Yeah, Jolo gets tossed around occasionally. Mostly I'm going to ignore that question. Mostly just say I felt great. And then you said tingling down your spine and I thought I started to feel way, way worse.

That's just kind of where I'm at so far in the early stages. The first minute of this episode. It's good neuroses to bring to a show like this It is kind of our that's our theme like that's what we do here And so I'm glad I could get you there as fast as humanly possible Thanks for that. If you don't you should go read back yield because Joe is fantastic there It is the best platform to read about Major League Soccer USL covering all things national teams as well

Perfect place to recap your weekend with the weekend winners. Joy noticed I was not on that list as a weekend winner. Tom was, which made sense. So I just would like to, I would just like to figure out who we should be reaching out to over the course of the weeks to be like, how do we get ourselves in a potential weekend winner or any of the players or entities around major league soccer? Let them know where the, uh, where to slide the envelopes. Yeah, you're conveniently forgetting the losers half of

winners and losers, which I don't know if you're trying to paint yourself in that category. Shut I do. That's what we're going to end up. I do have I do like when I listen to every episode. I love this. You guys are doing great stuff. I do love when one of you is like clearly roasting the other and then there's oh, no, no, no, we're winning and losing as a team. That gets brought up as the retort every single time and it seems like it is never sincere. I'll work on getting you guys in, into the column.

I'll have my people reach out to your people, et cetera. That's how we function here. We win and lose as a squad. There was one or two parentheses that I was gonna text you about, which I forgot to, of like, this team got roasted in parentheses, rotated from midweek squads and champions. It's like, no, Joe, you gotta throw all the juice.

Come on, we need 110. Yeah, if you're wanting somebody, if you're wanting something, yeah, first of all, thanks for that flag, Tom. Good call on your part. Second of all, if you're wanting somebody to absolutely destroy RSL for losing to San Jose in an even XG game where they rotated their squad, backheel is just not for you. Like I'm just going to say that right now.

It's just probably not for you. And that's why backheel is for me because I don't really want that. Oh man, what a guy. And I appreciate it and I love it. Tom, you haven't been with me all week. I swapped in Matt Doyle. It was, I mean, it's hard to tell the difference between your basement, vibe and and Doyle's setup like it's basically one for one What were your three favorite parts of Tuesday's episode and what timestamps would you put on those?

I would probably say that I don't know 75 more than Fosse jokes I didn't know sending one text in the group chat in the morning was gonna be a referendum on my preparation So that was nice The other thing is, Gus, I said the day that morning, the morning of the show, Tuesday morning, I'm out of the house at two a.m. 5 a.m. commuting to CBS Studios. Respect. Love it. It's it's it's fun. But during the community get a little lonely. I was like, Oh, they're doing soccer wise today. I'm sad I can't be there. I said in several voice notes, just questions they had on the show.

None of them. The guys was like, This is good, this is funny, these weren't even as unhinged as I thought. And I said, I could go more unhinged if you want. And then I was listening to the show and I didn't hear the voice notes. So, it's a little disappointed about that. You want to talk about disappointed? Imagine opening up a voice memo that you're like, oh this is gonna be a call-in bit. I don't get a first time long time. Yes, you do I don't get a what are you talking about? I don't get a

No get out of here there was You didn't call me. You didn't call me the schmooze. We didn't get ethnic on a Tuesday night There was no WFAN energy to any of those calls it Collins. I honestly thought someone had kidnapped you. Gosh man, this is Tom from New Jersey. First time, long time. Uh... Uh... Uh... Uh...

I just wanted to know who did you think was the most impressive performance in week one? Okay, I'll hang up and listen. Thanks, bye. You thought you didn't hear the first time, long time there? What's up, guys? Uh, second time, long time listener. Uh, another question.

I just drove over the George Washington Bridge. So, you know, thinking about great leaders, you know, like George Washington, who led their team very well this weekend? I'll hang up and listen. Don't keep getting out of here. All right. Oh, Bluff has been calling.

Yeah. Wow. I'm gonna take a fat L on that one and say, Tom, I appreciate you. Thank I'm gonna take a fat L on that one and say Tom. I appreciate you Thank you for trying to be involved next week. We will do the Tom the Tom phone calls and call ins for here at soccer If you have not listened you can go back and listen to that show It's Matt oil where we did talk about Major League Soccer quite a bit and what we saw this weekend We're gonna get both of your thoughts on week one though

Coming up later in this episode. And then we're going to start to look forward to week two because the thing about MLS is after it kicks off, it continues to kick all the way until it finishes with MLS Cup. So we've got week two right around the corner. We're going to give you a little preview of that of sort of the teams we're all intrigued by and what we're going to be watching for. If you are watching live, feel free to throw the games you want to talk about in the chat.

Any questions you have, anything like that. And let's start though with CONCACF Champions Cup because it is our favorite time of year. It is chaos. It is Supriza legendary starting lineups. And it is the free space, which is disappointment. This time it was reserved for Rialt Salt Lake. RSL getting upset at home by Aridiano,

nil nil on the road down in Costa Rica. They come home, they get the opening goal, so they go up one zero and then it all proceeds to meltdown over the next 45 minutes. Blaming referees, some not blaming referees. Aridiano's the one who's moving on. RSL are knocked out early and obviously they qualified for this because of the standings last year. Last year is much different than this year

and where they stand right now. Joe, less specific to this game from what we've seen now across three games and what we expect coming into this season, how big of a step back have RSL taken? How worried are you about this group? I mean I was panicked and then Forster Ojago put the ball in the back of the net and all those fears just melted away what a response to Tom's report about RSO looking for number nine. Forster Ojago just going out there and banging goals in. He actually think he's a Patreon subscriber of ours so he's actually in the discord with Tom's ice cream shop as the only channel that he follows so every time Tom

tweets about a different number nine. Locked in in. He's absolutely... Will you got it? No, no, no. Absolutely not. Forster-Ojago, who I don't think is a bad player by the way. I think he can be a useful player for this team. But you're talking about where this team was last year and it has been one transfer window hit sort of after another for RSO. And I liked a lot of their business in the summer but there was just no way that you could reasonably rebound from moving Andres Gomez to Liga in that window to save your season. And RSL didn't save their season. They struggled through the last third quarter of the year.

They struggled in the playoffs and then they lose even more goal production so far in the winter. And this is the story of the challenge that these teams face trying to rebuild their squads in this window where RSL wanted to go out there and try to find talent, and you move Arango within the league, and maybe if you wanna go and find a striker from abroad in January, it's a little difficult to do that. And I love the idea that RSL are looking around

Major League Soccer to maybe find that next number nine. I think there's some really great names that would make a lot of sense, but this team is objectively worse at the nine from where they were for most of last year. They're objectively worse on the wing for where they were for most of last year. They're objectively worse on the wing for where they were for most of last year. And we still haven't seen like a really strong first choice 11 from this group so far because of balancing multiple competitions.

So I'm still fairly high on ourselves floor at the moment. I don't think that maybe that's a bad take after they get bounced by a Costa Rican team whose nickname is L team by the way, which rules. And they get blown out by the sand. I know rules. I know right it's like it's like Brazil being the selection of what it is it's good. I don't know maybe that maybe that is a hot take there's just a lot of solid pieces in this team what they're missing is is the guys to actually make them a real threat. Yeah so on that front what I will say is so Chichorongo that was planned from the

beginning of the offseason and And how can I say this? The front office is not in the easiest position. And I think I'll just kind of leave it at that. And I understand the difficulties. I think that this window has created for them. On that end, they tried to bring in Elias Manuel from within the league as a bridge. Elias Manuel was viewed as the Anderson Julio replacement. He was always supposed to be a bridge

to hopefully a DP9 or another long-term answer, right? So the contingency plan falling apart while the main plan hasn't come together is the confluence of events that leaves them there where they're struggling. They want to bring in a center forward as soon as they can, as soon as they reasonably can. So hopefully this over March, rather than waiting until the end of the primary transfer window

on April 23rd or whatever. But that is absolutely the plan. They called around MLS and Duncan McGuire is somebody that they love. Orlando, not for sale, not negotiating, not saying a price, don't call me again. And then again, the other names like Brian White, Taneo Luise, Willie Agada. Of those players, Willie Agada is the only one of those three that would be reasonably able to be traded because Minnesota ain't trading Sonny and obviously Vancouver ain't trading Brian White.

I think Brian White just signed a contract extension like today or yesterday. So that would sort of look like they have no intention of moving him. And they didn't before that. I do want to be clear. I think I made it clear in my reporting, but just to say again, this is RSL calling other teams rather than negotiations. I'm sure the Brian White conversation was very quick and a very quick no thank you. This is real salt looking around the league.

Who can we maybe get? And it's like Jack McGlynn. We didn't think that Jack McGlynn was available for trade. You don't know until you ask. The list you say outside of white is the best non-starting center forwards in Major League Soccer, right? It's the same list I think all of us would come up with if we scroll through the depth charts and we're like, OK, who do we think is available?

I brought up Logan Farrington on Tuesday. I don't think he's available. But again, it's the same conversation of like if you trade for day on Yovlitch now You have to assume that people can call and ask about who is now your backup center forward and I think Duncan McGuire is an obvious one because of the amount of money invested that position and not being a starter If they don't get any of this done though, like this team's kind of in a bad spot Right now because as you said, Joe, like they haven't put together cohesive 11 match to match,

but it's hard to say what the strength is for this group at this point of the season. And I find it hard to believe that if it goes poorly to start and then there is no reinforcement, that then you're gonna build from that. Really quick, Joe, from the chat, SideQuest78 says, Sam Johnson is still a a free agent so if that does anything for you to change what you're about to say I'm sorry. That's a complete game change.

Thank you SideQuest for the preference. I mean that's that job done on that point. I think the strength of this squad is their structure first of all. I think they're one of the most detailed teams in terms of their their shapes and in terms of their tactical principles where they ever since last season started under Pablo Mastrone, I think that is something that keeps their floor high and it should be their chance creation too, right? Diego Luna was the bright spot of that game against San Jose. He looked good and RSL didn't look great giving him the rock. He helped create some really nice chances coming down on that right foot from the left half space. And you would imagine that Diego

Gonzalez is going to give you something this year, but we still don't really know. That should be the strength, along with Marchuk on the right side. What I'm curious, and Tom, maybe you have thoughts on this or David, you have some speculation on this as well. If RSL go out there and find a nine from within the league, what do they do with that DP spot? Where is the obvious need? They went out and signed Marchuk on the wing. They like him a lot. Where do you go with that spot? How do you improve the ceiling of this team? So that's kind of the quandary they're in if they are stuck and can't bring a db9 in right now

Then they they would want to pivot to the domestic market But then as you say that there's no obvious spot the problem is the one if you don't do it this window like I'm The problem is, if you don't do it this window, I'm strongly worried that Orsa won't be a playoff team because they will have played at least 24 games by the time the summer transfer window opens. And how much reasonably can a new center forward from outside of the league, again, if they're ready to go and ready to start on day one, maximum 10 games. And that's usually doubtful because deals don't come together that fast and visas don't come together that fast. and players that you're getting

from abroad are mostly coming out of season in the summer and they take time to ramp up so I think that's where the urgency is and and I agree with what the front office is trying to do and and again I want to say from things I know it's not the easiest at the moment so they're doing what they can but but Joe like that those three attacking midfielders and like Forster, Ajago, that should bridge them a few more weeks. Like the season is not going to be over if they don't sign somebody before April, but they're in a real bad spot if they don't sign somebody before the deadline. It would seem like to me the best use of that DP spot would be a public billboard that says we have an open DP spot who wants it for lease right like they're going to then enter into the Montreal Colorado Rapids conversation of is anyone else in a bad spot and does anyone else need help. you hope won't get into that because they've hopefully managed their offseason correctly and can set themselves up the only

One that flashes to me is like do the revs decide now? That Tomas chanclai is not going to be a DP for them going forward and they like Kanago And then maybe you can get a move done there where it's like That's quality talent that you don't have to go out and pay the full transfer fee for and all of that But otherwise most of the teams are already pretty set. Yeah. I would like to throw Amal Pellegrino into this conversation as well as forwards I would trade for. I don't know that he's a true center forward, but I don't know where he fits on that San Jose team.

And they're not gonna trade Joseph today. And they probably should have just done that as a swap plus the money for Chicho. What if they could get Chicho? I mean, it makes you think. I don't like Chunkalai a lot as a player, so I personally wouldn't go down that route, but I think you're 100% on the right track. You don't like the goal-scoring winger

who just likes to shoot from 47 yards out on weird angles? You know, I love that though. It's hard. No, I don't love that. My galaxy-brained idea that maybe isn't so galaxy-brained is if you're looking for a spot to improve this team, you go with a DP left winger and you change the possession rotations a little bit,

where right now it's Katranis who pushes forward on that left side and he is the width provider. I think there's a world in which you play somebody else, you probably play Sam Junquo or whatever at left back and he stays home and he's that third center back and you move Emeka and Nellie into the right back spot and you have him pinching the midfield.

I don't really think that any of this works, but if you need to find talent somewhere, I think left wing is the spot that could elevate the squad the most and maybe Pablo can figure out another way to get into that structure that he likes or maybe the structure changes. Or the other thing for them would just be, I assume what I'm seeing, Diego Luna is not on this team to kick off 2026. So you just try and get that work done earlier, whether it's a young DP or U22, but you could try and go a little bigger with a young DP

and do what you did with Marchuk last year and give them some time to develop and fit in. I don't know if Pablo would be a fan of that because I don't know how safe Pablo would feel at the end of this year if the season continues to go the way it has done early. But it is something to look out for. I think that number nine search, it feels like, Tom, I assume from the reporting you put together in the article you put out, that's kind of one of the biggest conversations left

in MLS roster building. Yeah. I mean, that's one of them. Let me just quickly interject to say Pablo Mastrani, like, if he's in trouble at the end of the season, I think that would be absolutely the wrong decision. I think that he's an excellent manager. I just wanted to get that there, but yeah.

I mean, it would be 18 months of poor performances if the year, I get it's week one. I'm not trying to do that. I'm just, that was the picture I was going to. Hashtag overreaction Monday, is that, are we gonna adopt that from like every single podcast or show that talks about the NFL where they just needed they just try to say strong takes that they don't want to say and be held

to but Marshall Falk was just telling me he thinks ourselves rotations in possession when Bodhi Hidalgo pinches forward are a little bit off and he would like for them to play through central midfield more often. So beyond Real Salt Lake center forward I think that's the most pressing need just given our conversation on this. But there's the Columbus crew and their DP number nine chase. What I keep being told repeatedly is like we want to sign the right player and not the other like right like you know Will Fernandes man like he's he's content right like he Imagine he would have banged the door down of East at all

To get somebody in anybody and if you really felt that way he's fine right now with essentially four attackers for the three spots and they scored four goals against Chicago Fire because They couldn't play out of the back really but they came off week one scoring four goals. So good for them That's a big one. Another one is the trade market. I haven't heard anything new on Hasani Dotson after his trade request in terms. So there's been offers, and Minnesota's rebuffed them. Colorado came. They were very interested.

I don't know how close they came to signing him, but they ended up signing Josh D'Atencio. There's a couple other teams that made offers that Minnesota rejected. But the issue there is between Dotson's camp and the front office. So Dotson and Eric Ramsey, totally good. Dotson and his teammates, totally good.

So as long as he's there, he's going to keep playing, which I think is the best case scenario for a public trade request, right? The coach says the front office is a bad guy. The player can say, oh, it's not me, right? So the coach and the player and the teammates can all be like, all right, like we're good here Let everything else be noise Julian Gressel would be the other big one on the trade market because he's just not in the plans of Javier Mascherano Teams have called he wants to stay on the East Coast

We'll see where that one goes and the black box that is NYCFC. I expect them to make signings I just don't have any idea where or when. Joe, do you have a Hasani Dotson team that makes sense to you or that has popped up in your head? That is the best question I've ever been asked. Do I have a Hasani Dotson team that absolutely pops out to me? I guess the answer is no.

DC United maybe, but I feel like they've already stacked up in Central Midfield with Servania and... DC would be a talent play, which would be fine, which is like DC probably doesn't have enough talent and yet it's one of the few positions where they have some depth in Patola and Enau and you kind of would end up either three players who are not true attacking players, which maybe isn't that different from what it is now, or it opens you up to potentially other moves or cover or whatever He's a Seattle native. I just want to say that that'd be pretty cool. They got a 1.1 million He wants a new contract at a bigger number. How is this Seattle Sounders?

Yeah, it's not but it's just a fun thing to say it's it's not a it's one of those and Julian Gressel I think it's the same combo. It's not a knock on who they are as a player It's at the salary requests one has and one currently has, teams can't afford to use them as depth. So the question is like, where are they gonna go and be difference makers or starters? And Colorado was an obvious one for Dotson. That no longer stands.

I think Dallas pops up, although they just spent a bunch of money signing- St. Louis, maybe? Dallas for a team that was in for him. He would make a lot of sense for St. Louis for me. Yeah, I agree. I don't see them matching the contract expectations. And they also just traded Indy Vassal because they don't have enough minutes to spread around.

I know they're slightly different players, but they don't have a ton of minutes to spread around. Okay, I would like to throw out that we did have someone in the chat on Tuesday. We said week one top debutants and they said Hafa Cabrera, um, for, uh, RSL and said, even in conceding thought he looked good, even though they conceded four goals, which is a tough, tough angle to try and take. So respect to whoever was in the chat who said that. And I'm sorry we weren't able to get there. Uh, at the time, let's talk about Messi's magic a little bit more. Did it once again to SKC. Tom I know you were

super sold on this SKC team being a CONCACAF contender this year based off the build and the offseason and all of that. It sort of gets ripped out from under you right at the beginning and spoilers Messi still good at soccer. Yeah that was an obvious result given you know they came in with the lead Kansas City would be chasing the game. Miami should comfortably handle that tie and they did. They the broadcaster on the Champions Cup was saying it was like Louis Suarez after he scored the goal to make it three nothing on the day and four nothing on aggregate. It was like you know

Kansas City are playing really well and and you know Miami only have three shots except all three shots Except all three shots are goals so stuff. It's a tough spot to look at so yeah that was Straightforward I like I think that Miami played well I don't think that they played like crazy great, but like they played I thought very well It was really solid that was a professional performance. They did it early too. They were able to get A little bit of rest at the end there for Messi for Suarez for a couple other guys. Kansas City at home is a team that they should be beating easy. This is who we're viewing as one of the best teams in the league but not the best team in the league. That's a win and they did that. Job well done.

Well done in Miami. They will play Cavalier in the next round. Jamaican champions as well as... Get ready to learn Santos Jamaica, Lionel Messi! It is... I already got a text from one person being like, are we going to leg two? For this game. It's competitive. And it's in Jamaica! Exactly! If they're able to hang on in leg one, I might have to get a robot or something and see if I can get out to Kingston. They've already sold out! In Jamaica? Yeah! You think Messi's playing in Jamaica? I don't think we should I hope so as well it would be absolutely it would be absolutely amazing the other

qualifiers we have at this point Seattle Sounders move on against Antigua they will face off against Cruz Azul in the next round FC Cincinnati knocking off Matagua yesterday so it became 5-2 on aggregate. They will play Tigres in the next round, Eridiano by knocking off RSL will play against the LA Galaxy and then Chivas against Club America is one side of the bracket. The other side has LAFC against the Columbus Crew after LAFC beat the Colorado Rapids two days ago, a matchup we've never seen before. We do have to say right now there is an investigation going on about a potential racist incident happening during the match. Potential derogatory term. Derogatory term. Tom has, I didn't organize this correctly.

And I believe Colorado is going through a investigation with CONCACAF into the match and into what happened. It's something we hoped didn't happen. It's something you never want to hear be a part of the game. And it was a terrible moment in what was a really good two-legged series between the two teams, back and forth, tight. The Rapids right there on the edge of being good enough to get to this next stage and not quite able to do that in that matchup. So now we get LAFC against the Columbus crew for what, like the 13th time in the last two years? Like have these teams ever played each other before? Do they have any familiarity with each other at all? And the Rapids, I don't know. It feels like at this point

And the Rapids, I don't know, it feels like at this point, LAFC may be a step too far, but they're still waiting on Teddy Cudi Pietro. So Joe, give me like a ton of hype about how good the Rapids are going to be. I mean, I think they're going to be pretty good this year, especially if Zach Steffen is saving shots like he did against St. Louis or even like doing a quarter as much of that as he did in the first week of the regular season. I like this Rapids team. I don't love this Rapids team. I think they got better in the off season from where they ended last year. But if we think about where they were against the Galaxy in that series, and I know the Galaxy were really good

and that was probably a horrible matchup for Colorado, but man, they did not do anywhere near enough in the off season to be that. And it's not like I hold them to that standard because it's not like the front office has those kinds of resources. But as much as I love Josh Atensio and Awaziam, I'm a little less hot on Ian Murphy.

But like they added talent and I love KDP, HRO's game. Can I pronounce his last name? Apparently not, as I've just named. I love Teddy KDP. It just, I don't know, it just isn't enough for me. And if you ask me if I'm surprised that they didn't advance to the round of 16, the answer is no.

The moments where they were pushing for the goal and everything was a sideways and backwards pass was very tough because I still don't think what we saw in the playoffs last year was really them. They lost Georgie on the last day of the regular season. It seemed to be a drop off. So I think that was below who they truly were last last year and so and then they added talent as you said. I thought they were gonna take a step up and then to watch it be like Cole Bassett stuck in the attacking third every single moment the last 15 minutes was

Calvin Harris pushes the ball deeper into the attacking half plays Cole Bassett into the right side channel and it's a sideways or backwards pass to Laraz or whoever it was and they recycle possession and try it again. There was no urgency and there was no creativity in that final third and that's the type of stuff that as good as a lot of these pieces are it just costs money and that's one of the things they're not using. I get it. But the other side of this is

LAFC needed a scrappy tap in from Mark Delgado and a goal against the run of play in leg one off a set piece to be in this position. They went through on away goals. Colorado are right there. They are right like yes, they could use another piece. Hopefully Teddy Cootie Pietro will be it. But I'm much higher on this rapid steam than you guys are like I think what they've shown Over their first three competitive games this season. It's really strong

And yeah, you don't get moral victories for you know getting knocked out on away goals because you got knocked out But like we talked about the playoffs series against the galaxy. Yeah, like that was awful that's not as bad as they were and I think that they're better this year in general and Yeah, like that was awful. That's not as bad as they were. And I think that they're better this year in general. And like they looked, they could have went through very easily against LAFC. Like I have no worries about this team.

I think you are a higher on LAFC than I am. And that is part of the disconnect as well. Like, yeah, LAFC scrapped through. That's who LAFC are. That's who they were against Minnesota. And I think they're the third best team in the Western Conference. And so if Colorado's reality is that then it's okay it's what

they were last year right they were six seed last year a five seed six six seven seven yeah so okay they're getting knocked out by a team that I think is yeah third yeah thanks for making my thanks for making my point there as well but if I'm a Rapids fan like I'm gonna be excited about how it all goes together I love Josh Atencio in this team and if they do have the right attacking pieces and Cole Bassett doesn't have to play there I like the idea of Bassett breaking into the box like he does at his best and being able to change a defensive shape Because of his runs and because of his energy It's just picking that final ball that there still doesn't seem to be that personality

in the group and I don't think Cabral is. I will say for the 500th time, they're one of my five Johnny Russell teams. I don't know where Johnny Russell is right now. Like call me if you want to. Johnny, if you want to come on this show and talk about where you want to play in MLS, we would absolutely love to have you on Sacra-Wise.

So if you're in the live chat now, shoot me a message and we'll connect and we'll talk about all of this. Final piece on Concaf Champions Cup, Soprisa rolling out a legendary squad against Vancouver in the first leg. They will play the second leg later tonight so we don't have coverage of that for you. We will of course talk about it coming up next week. Vancouver's got a big game again this weekend as well, which we're gonna talk about in a moment. But Kendall Waston at the center forward position. It's what dreams are made of.

What? Center forward? Oh, you didn't know? Kendall Waston is one of the top center forwards in major league, in CONCACAF. Walkers and women's being called the next Kendall Waston. Hell yeah. He has been.

A David Guzman in midfield who looked more like me than you'd like for a professional soccer player out there. And a few other legends in this group one. It was Fidel Escobar. Fidel Escobar at center back, former Red Bull. And it was a great Saprissa side. One day I got to make it down to the purple monster as well

Let's dig into a little MLS week one Tom you have not been here as was noted for 15 minutes to open the show. So we're gonna do this once again We haven't gotten your thoughts What has been sort of rolling around the old noodle coming out of week one of Major League Soccer? Yeah, I'll just start with some of the biggest points that I took away is the teams that spent big money got immediate dividends. Emmanuel Lattes-Aidalot and Kevin Denke look incredible. Kevin Denke, we have more data points because he's played three competitive games.

He's scored in all three. He looks like an absolute monster, man. The timing of his runs in addition to just all of the physicals that jump off the screen, money well spent at the moment. That is exactly what you want in that profile and everything else. He was really great. So it was Manuel Lattelot, man. That win for Atlanta, they needed both those goals from him.

They needed everything that they got from him. I'm worried about them defensively. They have plenty of time to figure it out, but that seems going to be fun as hell right now with being open at the back, Manuel Lot Miguel Moron who didn't show his best Lexi Marantzuk those are kind of the two big ones that I took away I was expecting to see Philadelphia in that 4-triple-2 they scored on all four shots as you guys covered on this show on Tuesday so trying to figure out is this entirely repeatable? Like I think my favorite part about week one is we're all trying to figure it out and and okay what's a data point and what's a red

herring and there's going to be a result this weekend that we look back at probably even in like a month and be like well that was funny. How did that happen? Like why did why did this team hang around like somebody either good or bad? So it's it's interesting to try to figure out which is which it's like What was it let what was the last year Portland beat Colorado on opening day, right? It was like five zero What it was for it was for nothing after like 40 minutes And I think a lot of people who didn't watch Colorado for a while after that because they saw the game was like I've seen What I need to see they stink move on to something else But in reality, it was just a really bad game and they were a good team last year. So there's optimism

maybe for Portland to try to talk yourself into that. Like that was really bad against Vancouver again. But those are kind of the takeaways. And then lastly, San Diego, like that was the story of the weekend, man. New team debuts. It's always going to be, they looked really cohesive. Talking to Mikey Vars, talking to Tyler Heaps in Coachella, Joe, I know that you did as well. What Tyler Heaps could say to me is like, dude, like, this was, you know, two weeks before the season opener. We look like a real team. And like, this sounds like silly to say, it's like a mild point, but like, a few weeks ago was their first training session. And this team looks completely cohesive.

And this is a team that wants to play with the ball. The rotations need to be crisp Everything needs to work on timing and touches and everything and I was really impressed like even if they ended up drawing or losing The way that they were moving around like it looked really good and man what a day that was honors Dreier looked excellent Yeah, yeah, he looks phenomenal as that pinched in right winger I put out for back you earlier this week, Ben Wright and I did some power rankings where we ranked all the teams and we also talked about the teams themselves

and talked about their performances. And Dreier was, thinking about that San Diego game more, the standout player for them. I thought they had a lot of standout guys, but in a game where they barely created any real chances in the first 45, 55 minutes of that match, they did a good job of controlling the game defensively,

which Doyle talked about earlier this week. But when they needed somebody to play that last ball, it wasn't Chucky Lozano that looked like the dude to play that ball. It wasn't Lukidele Torre. It's not either one of their games. It was Anders Dreier, who was, who had a really promising profile coming over

from Anderlecht in the first place, and looked really good over in Belgium, for a good, but not quite like best in the Belgian league team, which I love that, like going after those tier of players where you're not just on such a stacked squad that your numbers are so inflated, but it's that like next group underneath that

where you're still on a good ball dominant team like San Diego wannabe. So the style fit is there, but you're still having to work for your actions in the final third. Dreier was the dude to hit that last through ball. Probably would have had a couple more that made the highlight reel, if not for Amirah Garces being the fastest human alive.

But Dreyer looks awesome. I was pleasantly surprised by San Diego. I'll tell us one more thing on that game since we're there. There's been a lot of San Diego chat, justifiably so, because it's an interesting talking point. They're a really fun team. I think they're gonna be an engaging watch basically all season long. It did stand out to me just how scrambled the galaxy were.

And then actually there's a sequence, I clipped this one too. There's a sequence, I think it's in like the eighth minute, something like that, where it's Edwin Cerreo on the ball, kind of on the left side of that defensive midfield pairing. And Gabriel Peck's making a run in behind. He doesn't get the ball. He's angry, throws up his hands. Lucas Sanabria, the new U-22 initiative number eight is on the other side of midfield He tries to make a run between the lines But then Marco Royce makes that exact same little run from his advanced position And so Sanabria starts backpedaling and in surreal is like waving his arms around like the conductor of a middle school orchestra

It's it's bad. It was really it was really bad. I trust Greg Vanni I trust the talent in this team to still be really good Not just like when Joseph Paintsle comes back or when Ricky Pooch comes back, before then, frankly, and there's a pretty soft schedule, I think, coming up for the Galaxy, if memory serves. I think they're gonna be fine, but there's more to do to make this team look fine

than I maybe thought there was. I don't think it's a huge time horizon to fix some of those things, but the Galaxy being super, super mediocre was not quite on my week one bingo card. Galaxy entered in Concacaf, so that will add to it. They go to Vancouver, they host St. Louis, they go to Portland, they go to Minnesota,

and then they host Orlando. That's March for them. Not the easiest run. Yeah, it's not, I think I was thinking of somebody else, but that's not like, it's not brutal. No, it's not brutal. And I think it's fair to have high expectations. I think to me it looked like everything fell in at the same time of like, oh, all of a sudden the recognition that Ricky's not there and this maestro and this conductor, along with new players playing in key areas like Sanabria centrally. And

on top of that, the Galaxy are hard to play against, but they are not unpredictable. And I actually don't think it was the worst matchup for San Diego in week one to be able to build your philosophy and your idea into how you think the 90 minutes will play out where a lot of other teams. OK, this is what the first 20 minutes look like. We have our script, but they're going to shift. And you saw it for Chicago against Columbus. right now. Marrera changes the positioning

He's picking up and Chicago hasn't built in the next few layers yet because they don't have enough time to get to okay How do we solve this on the fly? How do we change our shape and the galaxy are probably not one of the teams especially without Ricky that they're there and Payne still As well And so it felt like not the worst matchup for San Diego on top of how bad the LA galaxy looked. And in saying all of that, like it really was a one zero game in the 90th minute.

Yeah. Shout out to SanDiego.Football, by the way, who are on our pre-season preview. They are in the chat and they are at training right now for San Diego. And they will have audio from Mikey Various, Chucky, Dreyer, Lucas Delatory and Tomas Angel at the end of this. So you can go over there after this if you want to hear more about San Diego. Joe, any other big thoughts you want to hit on before we get into week two?

I guess a couple of things that I'll smush into one big thought just as as I scan through the list of games sporting Kansas City I know we talked about them briefly already. I thought Manu Garcia looks really fun. Tom. I know you've tweeted about him a little bit as well He just brings energy to this SKC midfield and they really really needed that There's a moment against Austin and SKC lose that game to Austin where he just absolutely Destroys Ilya with a touch and then I think passes the ball around Danny Pereira and meets the ball on the other side which is just two things. It's one this Montenegro-Silla guy is pretty good and also maybe a double pivot of Danny Pereira and Ilié Sanchez isn't the most defensively solid thing in the world because it was a

4-4-2 for Austin which I didn't expect in that game. And the other take, another team that we've talked about super briefly is Columbus. And I had a little prediction for back here last year where I wrote after the crew were eliminated that, you know, maybe losing Cucho wouldn't be as big of a blow as losing Wilford Nance. And I think that take is, it's still, it's still ruminating. Like it's still, it's still working to find its footing, but I think it's, it's aged well through one game, which is always, you know, a caveat there. The Chicago fire did give them some goals, but I think it's aged well through one game, which is always a caveat there. The Chicago Fire did give them some goals, but man, Columbus made those adjustments

and looked really good. They didn't look like they missed Cucho in the way that I was afraid they would. They will miss him, there's no doubt about that, but the way this team moves the ball, Diego Rossi's better than we all remember him being, and hasn't really been that player for Columbus There was a lot of a lot to focus on for Chicago in that game but Columbus for the last 60 minutes looked a

Whole lot like the Columbus crew team that we've come to know and love in this league I did like Tom when you said well the two big holes are number nine for Columbus and RSL it's like RSL scored one goal across three games and This team scored four goals. You should try playing Chicago is what our associate is trying to do. Yeah, I don't know how much it would help because I assume if we threw San Jose last week out there against this Columbus team it would look a little different as well going both ways but I agree with you on Columbus. I will say this and I do I think I heard someone else say this.

I vividly remember watching the first Nance Columbus game at Philly and Columbus opened up and played Nance ball And they got crushed in the end and you I walked away from it being like they have it though Like Philly are at the peak right now. They are a cohesive unit that knows exactly who they are That felt a lot like this Chicago game for me of like there are a million ideas here A lot of the pieces will fit into it. They are just going up against a really tough week one, you know, grading scale here of like a Columbus team that's coming off multiple finals in the last two years and trophies and all of that, even losing Cucho.

And so for Chicago, I don't have a ton of worries there. And I have a ton of excitement actually, as long as you know, Sergio Orozell, it figures out like when there's pressure, it's probably a time to pick up the momentum a little and be a little bit more focused and take it a little bit more seriously which takes us into our week two. Reminder at the end of every weekend go to back yield. You get your weekend winners. You get your weekend losers. Joe has it all broken down for you. I know for all of us my first moment

I said this to Doyle on Tuesday at 735 was like, uh-oh every games happening at the exact same time So if you want to be like, ah what went on besides the game I watched go to back yield and check that out and you can do so at the end of week two which will have a Historic Sunday night soccer game to close things out in which the Houston Dynamo will host. Inter Miami I believe and you can see Andrew Weavey on the sideline for that one. And let's dig into what we're excited about watching this weekend. We can start with you Tom who I believe is getting the full royal treatment down in the Queen City. Yes Charlotte FC at LAND United this game is at 2 15 on Saturday afternoon. I can't wait. I'm going to be there. So obviously that it colors that I've been looking forward

to this game for a while. It's going to be Charlotte's home debut. It's going to be Wilfred Zaha's MLS debut. Second game for Moran Shook. Second game back for Al Miron. These are who I believe to be two of the four best teams in Eastern Conference Playing an early season game. There's gonna be issues between both sides as you know again again with it being Zaha's debut There's gonna be maybe there's gonna be issues there I don't know what we'll see kind of what issues or or problems or growing pains might come or he's just gonna be awesome Immediately maybe like Dan K was and Latte Lat. Atlanta still have defensive issues to figure out I think this is gonna be a fun game. It's gonna be a good game Like, Dan K was. And Latte Lot. Atlanta still have defensive issues to figure out.

I think this is going to be a fun game, it's going to be a good game. There's going to be a ton of fans in that building. When that building has... Like, I was at their first ever game. Excellent. It was beautiful. So much fun. The game itself was not fun. And the fans were bringing it all day, all night. I love the city of Charlotte. I can't wait to be at this

game I was at that game as well I don't remember it as much as you do because I was not working I was enjoying it do we know what the crowd is gonna be for Saturday I think it's is it 50 so they've had 60,000 think so I think it's gonna be 50,000 which is gonna be amazing and gonna be awesome I well obviously for Charlotte week one was a little bit of a stop start because Zaha wasn't available and you're going to Seattle which is a tough matchup. They gridded out a result. I think this is a cleaner matchup for them because Atlanta are transitional.

There is going to be a lot of open play in which you can go a little bit more direct and that feels like the right fit for this Charlotte team. I am thinking about an Eric Williamson fantasy pickup, but I'm in a league with other soccer wise listeners. I probably shouldn't say that. Can't be doing that on a live show pal. I know. But I think you are right that this is like the game of the weekend. Like this is going to be high stakes, high atmosphere. It is probably where my hope would be. This is the future of Charlotte Atlanta, right? These are two of the fan bases that make the teams feel big.

They are two ownership groups that have spent money, whether they've done it well or not over the last few years. And there's that little bit of regional rivalry. So this feels like it could be a really fun one this weekend. And I think it's like an awesome way to start the weekend with that early Saturday game. Historic, I think. 2.15 on Saturday.

That's a different time slot than what we had last week. We should try Saturday soccer. Do you guys ever think about Saturday afternoon soccer? More soccer. Play more soccer on Saturday and see what happens. Joe, what do you have? One of the games I'm really looking forward to, and we've done a decent bit on Chicago,

so I can also look at the other side a little bit, because I can make something interesting out of DC United. At least I can try. Let's see if these two rocks have any water in them. That's right. Benteke's forehead, yes. Benteke's forehead, that's interesting. The other thing that was interesting to me

about DC's opener against Toronto, that game ended 2-2, was not particularly well played. I know that will surprise 0% of people that listen to this show, because the listeners are very cultured and educated. The thing that surprised me about DC was that they were more intent on building from the back with like real passes where the ball

got to become acquainted with the grass a little bit instead of just been Techay's forehead. That was not really something that we saw much at all last year under Troy Lassane. And coming out of pre-season, dangers of reading too much into pre-season lineups that you see posted on social media. They were last year under Troy Lassane and coming out of preseason, dangers of reading too much in a preseason lineup that you see posted on social media, they were running lineups Troy Lassane with what like Jacob Murl and Dom Badge and Christian Menteke all in the same 11 and I thought okay he's just turning the dial even further towards

the right. I didn't think it would turn anymore but that wasn't really the case against Toronto. They actually did build some in that game and And you got to see Brendan Cervania play some nice little bounce passes out of midfield. And it all breaks down because Pirani is not very good at being a number 10. But like, there's more intrigue here. And then you toss Chicago into the equation,

who are by far the more interesting of these two teams to me, by the way. We've just done a lot on Chicago. Curious about what they do without Brian Gutierrez. I don't think they're gonna have Kiwame in this game yet, either, if memory serves. So they're gonna be light in central midfield. That might be okay because Jonathan Bomba looks like maybe the second coming of Denny Bawanga. That's from Arman Kefai who made that comparison first. I think there's a lot of Bawanga in how

Bomba plays. Chicago are super fun. Whether or not they're good, I don't know. Are they fun? Yeah. DC, are they good? Probably not. Are they fun? Maybe not.'re good I don't know are they fun yeah DC are they good probably not are they fun maybe not are they more interesting this year yeah there we go that's the pitch I'm done. We got all the way there at some point during it the Gutierrez loss is big obviously the two goals this weekend is a clear reason why but like it feels like for Bamba at least early on it's just simpler for him to get to the headline like he can get his one defender on skates and then decide what he wants to do he very rarely came inside to create

chances for himself you take Gutierrez out as a potential finisher there like I wouldn't be shocked if you just went to up top and you went Tom Barlow next to Kipers to make it easier for Bamba to just have two targets to play off of and create for and then Zinkernagel out on the other wing because if you take Gutierrez out I don't know who the second goal scorer is, right? I don't know who that option is following up Kipers and DC have the pieces centrally to track someone coming out of midfield if they're not special. MLSNEXT Pro MVP David Preba? Huh? Wasn't he injured? Wasn't that the whole thing around here?

No, that's the uh, I thought that was the other guy. Maybe, then maybe. We're crushing this right now. So I'm glad we went in that direction. Tom, I hope you're right. And I hope I'm wrong and I have no idea what I'm talking about. No, you were right. I was wrong. That he's injured. Yeah, he like tore something. Like he's out for like a year. Oh yeah, they have a long injury list.

Yeah, nice. Well, and that's one of the things with Chicago right now is it's so early in this rebuild. The depth still isn't all the way there. And it's also hard when not all your off season pieces are ready to go either. It makes all this difficult. And that's one of the things that I've been thinking about

with San Diego some too, is another team that's in a different stage of their like not rebuilding cycle but restarting cycle. San Diego looked awesome What happens when it's when it's June and Luca de la Torre is on red card suspension and you know All of those things sort of happen over time Chicago I think are probably gonna feel that a little bit this week side quest having a great performance in the chat I forgot about this. So I'm tossing it to you Joe first What do you think of Fidel Barajas joining this DCT? Oh yeah, yeah super fun Does that interest you? Do you think that's a potential game changer for them? Yes to the first no to the second

I knew that was coming You laid it up for me all I had to do was just watch it go in the basket I think I think he's a really fun young player. I liked him with RSO. I liked him before he was in MLS with the Charleston battery. And I think it's a great pickup by DC United. Does sending Teddy KDP out the door and bringing in Fidel Barajas like make me feel awesome about what's happening in DC?

Probably not, but he's a fun player. And I think if Troy Lassane does want to be a coach just having a little bit more of the ball with this team this year, he's a guy who can honestly I think if Troy Lissane does want to be a coach just having a little bit more of the ball with this team this year, he's a guy who can honestly make a little bit of an impact. So I do really like that signing for DC. Yeah. It feels like at a point of the year where there's not a ton of ways to affect your team, Tom, this feels like a decent way to like bring in a little bit of talent and give yourself

a chance. And then you see what happens down the road. Yeah, it's good for all parties. Fidel is not playing in the Chivas first team, and DC United need a creative presence like Fidel Barajas. So if he gets playing time and they get a little creativity, they have the option to extend the loan. There isn't a hard and fast purchase option in the deal,

I don't believe, but what I was told via sources was the understanding is if everybody's happy, you know, hopefully we can find a deal here. So that's getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start with right now getting Fidel Brajas more minutes. He's an extremely talented young player and he's a little bit different than what some what DC has in their attacking ranks.

I'm going to go to my first big game of the weekend that I'm excited about. And of course, it's Minnesota against Montreal. Like if there was a game that was created and of course it's Minnesota against Montreal. Like if there was a game that was created for me it's Minnesota against Montreal. I love Kelvin Yoboa. Nothing about what I saw on Saturday makes me feel worse or different about this Minnesota team. I'm excited to see them play at home. I'm excited to see them play against a team that has worse defensive structure than LAFC.

I think what I was hearing and hoping is that Robin Lud was feeling under the weather and that was why he wasn't in the starting team. That would be a huge addition for this group because I thought Yoboa was a little bit too disconnected and then has to drop in deeper to start to create chances. But I find this Minnesota team fun to watch. Like I think they play the game up tempo. Carlos Harvey at right center back is like one of my favorite things that's going on in Major League Soccer right now.

And so they're enjoyable to watch and then Montreal are not going to kill the game. Right? Clearly they're going to open up, they're going to let teams play, they're going to try and play. It shifted at halftime for them when they went even younger and more of the pieces that I want to see play came on the field like a Bryce Duke in place of Fabian Herbers. Saliba was awesome making runs out of midfield as Prince went wide to create chances for this team and I have Kate and Clark on like all of my things.

I drafted him in my Austin fantasy podcast draft. I had him on my fantasy team. I might have him in the golden boot draft. Like I'm all there except for the performance on the field. So I would like to see that step up for him as well. But like, I think this is just gonna be a fun soccer game to watch and Montreal, it's gonna be like, where can you get a few points? Come back home at the end of this start

and just don't feel like the walls are caving in on you. It doesn't have to be five wins. It doesn't have to be sitting in the playoffs. You just have to be in a reasonable spot to say, okay, we have an identity. We know who we are. We're confident under Laurent Courtois in the soccer that we're playing.

And then you can go from there once you start to get some home games. None of these are easy away games to start with. At Atlanta, in Almiroland's return, now Minnesota in their home debut. But like, you gotta go play someone at some point in this one. Anyone have any thoughts that I left out there?

No, the one thing. The one thing that I'll add is, you talked about nothing making you feel boorish about Minnesota. And I think I agree with that. The thing that I'm watching for when I watch this team these days is, how does Joaquin Pereira look? He comes in and maybe part of this is influenced by the fact that when he's announced last year

Like he ends up on the roster profile occupying one of those DP spots from Minnesota and he's only making like 700 grand I mean if he was a tam player, you'd be like it was a solid fine performance. Nothing special. I'll take 700 grand to talk about soccer I'm not sure that's no money, but you're right. Like that's that's where we're at David is is he comes into this team as this, like, as this number 10 type is how he's kind of build. And he just hasn't been that player. He didn't pass the ball into the box a single time against the LA galaxy.

He had like three more passes of the ball than Bongi Huanglani at wingback. So I don't think this Minnesota team can create enough for Yaboa and you kind of talked about that with needing load in this team. But then the question is in this, in this three-5-2 that Ramsey wants to use, you can only get two of the three of Fasani Dotson and Lod and Pereira on the team on the field at the same time in front of that number six. And I don't know if you could run a Pereira Lod and will trap midfield. So that the

midfield is I think a big question mark honestly for this team right now because I think Robin Lod has to start. Does that mean you're leading Pereira who's making a decent chunk of change from Minnesota on the bench? That's the thing that I think is the most interesting bit about this team right now. Yeah. It's going to be interesting how it falls together as well with the Hasani Dots and stuff hanging there. Like you said, Tom, it doesn't affect whether he's being chosen or not with the coach, but

if you're Eric Ramsey, what are you going to build if you don't think it's going to be there? And how are you going to put that all together and sort of take the games that you have and make sure the minutes are meaningful if you think someone's out the door in a week or two or at some point on the season. Tom, let's do one more game each. Let's go to you first. Yeah, I'm going to do a snake draft. It's not though. Philadelphia Cincinnati. Oh yeah, I was supposed to go to Joe next because it wants us to think.

No, you might win this one, man. People are saying you can't win this draft. I think you can. All my hopes are on Caden Clark's shoulders. Just talk through it. Just tweet through it here. We're good. Philly Cincy. So like we were saying early in the show, Philly had a strong performance against Orlando Was that an outlier or was that what they're gonna be? So that's one. I'm very interested in seeing that Bruno Damiani Damiani, you know, according to Jonathan Tanwald is available for selection this weekend. I'm curious about that How does he get into the team? This is a high-scoring output. How are you gonna get a full selection?

five subs mate and So that's something else I'm looking at. Cincinnati and Philly have played extremely fun games since Albright and Noonan left Philly for Sincy. So I'm always looking forward to that. And Kevin Denke watch, a Vander watch, I'm always in for it. The only thing that gives me slight worry about this weekend game is since he played t-grace in the Champions Cup Next week can Denke start five games in the first 20 days same thing with Evander I'm not sure so maybe these players won't be in the starting lineup, but don't know that for sure

But that's the one caveat. I will say that that's the only thing that would hold me back from being extremely excited for this game Joe are you as sold on Philly as I am I guess depends on somebody you are I know I think I'm just making up for that I define sold because people had had Philly some people had them in the spoon race And I think I have them as like a fringe playoff team does fringe playoff team count as sold no I think fringe playoff team is what they were last year. And so then they're not, you're saying you don't think they're taking a step this year.

Oh man, I don't like being put in the corner. I don't know. I think they could be a little bit better than last year. I think they probably will be a little bit better than last year. Do I think that their two goals better than Orlando on the road? No, I don't think so.

That's kind of where I am at the moment. Yes, I think that's fair. But if Rodrigo Schlegel plays center back, anything is possible. is game changed, baby Joe let's go to you next in the draft as we expected to and had planned to the distant order I'll take From an X pick. I'm gonna take San Diego against st Louis I feel like this is this probably is the game that I'm most excited about coming this weekend

Although the Charlotte Atlanta one is really good too Assuming assuming that Zaha is back and plays and all that stuff. San Diego were just so much fun. I don't know. I got dunked on promoting on blue sky that I was enjoying watching them. I guess I can't enjoy stuff when it doesn't immediately lead to shots. I thought their style was fun. I like watching the build from the back.

I'm curious to see how much st. Louis presses in this game. Lutz, Financier, what a quote over the off season about how he wants Olaf Melburg to help them move into St. Louis 2.0, which I guess I love that we get to do that with clubs now, right? Not just the league. We get to do it. And it only takes a year and a half to get to 2.0 from 1.0.

All the teams accelerate faster than the league. God, I mean, it's only natural. Of course. I want to see how much they press. They didn't press a ton against Colorado, but Colorado also aren't really like a pressable team because they don't care about letting you do that stuff. So I'm curious to see what the line of confrontation looks like and also some of the on-ball play.

Cause the other thing that Lutz said within that, you know, 2.0 sort of style is that they wanna be a bit better on the ball. And they didn't take a ton of care of the ball against Colorado in that game where they created a lot of chances, but I think only one other team in MLS played more long balls than they did in week one. So it was a lot of direct play into the two strikers that Marcel Hartel was playing underneath. I just want to see more of St. Louis. We don't really know exactly what this team looks like

in 2025 and getting to see them play at Snapdragon, the world's field, where every single sport and every single team on the planet plays at Snapdragon at least three times times a year i'm excited to see that game i think it's gonna be a fun atmosphere and i think san diego are gonna make their games fun more often than not what are you expecting from them this weekend joe from san diego yeah uh a win probably i don't know maybe i'm drinking too much of the kool-aid right now i thought that they looked good enough to be a real like as you said i think from from heaps like a real team like a real dangerous team The thing the thing that I am maybe most curious about

For San Diego is is like what Mikey Varas does with like with the final third play was that a oh We don't have any chance creators in this roster totally possible was. Was that a, we're afraid of the galaxy attacking us on the break, so we're gonna be conservative on purpose with our off ball movement and our positioning in possession and we're gonna be risk averse in that part of the field? Maybe, I don't really know. So I expect San Diego to be very much in this game.

I think they should be favored in this game and I wouldn't be surprised at all if they start the season with six points. Yep, I think that's fair. I also, you go into like, for the most part, teams and atmospheres like this and moments like this, there's that little extra 5% that elevates them and we saw some Lua. You sound so excited about it. Yeah, I know.

Because it feels like such a cliche thing to say and then you go back through it all and you're like, yup, one on their home debut, one on their home debut. Like, even for teams that I think are less of real soccer teams than San Diego and have less of an identity established out the gate, they still do that. I will say though, I don't know that St. Louis is the perfect matchup for all of that. And I was happy to see Simon Becher and Joe Klaus out there. One because I drafted Klaus in the golden boot. Draft being like, I don't even know if he's going to start at the last second. And two because I would like to in the Golden Boot draft being like I don't even know if he's gonna start at the

Last second and two because I would like to see the two of them play together Like I thought the few flashes of it last year we saw I thought fit for Joe Klaus like I think he's a He's unorthodox, but he's a high-level soccer player And I would like to see him have chances to both like Dropping create a little more and set up that year and then also be a finisher on the end of things but there's a numbers game in that midfield area and I don't know if there's enough spots there for him to get starts I I don't necessarily disagree I just feel stronger that

toy shirt Hardell and of center forward is the best attacking trio that this team has yeah yeah I would not be shocked by that all, and I wouldn't be surprised if it moves there as fast as possible or if it's there already this weekend. I will finish up with my final game for the weekend that I am looking at, and we're gonna watch all the games, and I'm gonna come back and do the weekend recap, and then we're gonna do all these shows, so don't know why I'm wording it that way,

but that's the way I win the draft, so that's how I have to. with the Colorado Rapids hosting FC Dallas. I'm like pretty in on Dallas. I don't know if they have the full spine set up and like, I learned nothing from the Houston game. It was a game on the road in a hurricane that was bad, but I think Petar Moussa is elite. I saw that at least of like he took his chance.

He showed his quality. I think the runners around him and Lucho make sense, whether it's Anderson Julio or Leo Chu or Kaminga. And I think they've taken some steps defensively to be at least more sound than they were and to not leak bad goals. I don't know how it all fits cohesively. Going to Colorado at altitude is probably not the best way but I think it'll be cleaner at least than what they experienced in Houston and I'm gonna keep watching this team these first few weeks. I would love to see Hasanidatsin end up there. They obviously made the move for the Grimio midfielder but he's 19 to come in. I thought it was for a centerback.

I'm still kind of waiting on that as well. But Dallas are like, similar to how you're talking about Chicago, Joe, and how you're talking about Charlotte, I think. Tom, they're one of those where it's like, I'm always watching them these first few weeks to see what it all looks like and how it all comes together. Any other thoughts from anyone? Yeah, I think this Dallas team is going to be very fun. I have a ton of intrigue around them as well. Again, Lucho Ocosta, Paynarmusa, sign me up. I don't need any more details. I'm in. So this game against Colorado, I think will be a better test for them than the Houston game. Like you said, like not entirely sure exactly what data points to take out because Houston

or team in transition, the weather, Lucho Oo Costa trained a handful of times before the first game, all of that, right? The nature of both of the goals by Dallas, the way that Houston kind of dominated the ball, but that's what you expected. So it's, again, this is one of those where I think in four weeks with the benefit of hindsight we're going to be like, oh, that was obvious. Like, oh, we should have known that was either real or fake in hindsight So this Colorado team I think will give you something more consistent to know like oh

That's how they stack up against a team that I'm expecting at least to safely be a playoff team Again, whether or not you guys agree, but I think that Colorado are a more formed team and you have less questions about them They're a better control in this game to be like, okay I get now I have a better sense of Dallas because I know what Colorado are. Gus, can I slightly derail us from my own selfish gain and hopefully that of the listeners as well? All right, cool.

I'm gonna take the Colorado Dallas one to go back to Dallas, Houston, and I'm gonna ask you a question about Houston because I wanna make sure that we got it in on the show. What we have on the rails is kind of what I wanna say. That's a great question. When you went falsetto, Tom, I think that's when it really sent us all the way.

It could have been in my DC thing. Honestly, it's hard to say. For Houston, the roster profiles came out today and Artur's listed as that second DP behind Ponce and he's not gonna be the DP for this team. My question is sort of similar with RSL. If we're talking about transfer dominoes to fall, RSL a team to watch Columbus,

a team to watch some trades within the league Houston talked about that DP 10 They haven't signed a DP 10 and they just lost their best center back Are they gonna add those two pieces in this window? Is that is that their goal? Is that gonna come later? What do you think the dynamo are right now? I don't know if it's gonna come this window No, I don't know. I think that I'm choosing to read into the Nikola Der side. I was going to say the same. This is the bridge and it's about to be March and the longer you go, and again, we're already probably at that stage.

If you're shopping in Europe, like if you're shopping in South America, there's transfer windows that are still open there. So that makes it different to get by. If you're shopping in Europe, which again, I know that they've cast a wide net, they have taken multiple scouting trips to Europe. You're't, you're not going to get somebody who's playing for their team. You're not. So the, the, the best case example was Daniel Gosdok. Philly and, and his, his team in Hungary agreed and the team in Hungary said when we were mathematically safe from relegation, we'll let he can leave. And then they kept losing. Like this was a team that shouldn't have been in the relegation battle and so Philly

like had to keep waiting but they eventually got him in and he was a really good starting so then the other side of it is Cincinnati last year they they shocked our and shocked ours probably in in a one-of-one and in difficulties to deal with Kevin Kelsey played like you know 300 minutes the entire season and it's April and they're like man we can't let this player leave he's too important to us since he's like he didn't he didn't come off the bench the last three games what are you talking about? So well if like three players get hurt between now and our next training session he will be. We've got 12 minutes this month

both for Kevin Kelsey. So like he needs to make sure he sees the field. I'm imagining Houston are running into that right now in negotiations. So with Ladero in, they know that they'll be fine right now. It's not plan A, but they'll be fine until the summer. And the hope is Ezekiel Ponce gives you more, because this time last year we had similar questions. Hector Herrera was injured, a couple other things were going on. Like again, Sebas Ferrero was still at the team, then he got injured, and then they didn't

have a center forward They're looking for a DP forward and they did enough. They were good. They did enough to hang on They need to do that again this year and I think that they're in a little bit of a worse spot Yeah, I say that because of Mikael leaving and I think that they were fine in the midfield I think that you could get by without a DP 10 right now with with creativity. I'm more worried about central defense The other hit on the creativity side and I agree agree with you, Tom, that was like when Lodero happened, I was like, ah, okay, if you were going to build the this is plan B

short term, how do we cover ourselves blah blah blah, it was try and get Nico Lodero to come onto the team and Jack McGlynn, because I do think Jack McGlynn takes different possession responsibilities away from a 10 and is a different style of player than Aceh Aceh in which he's doing some of that creativity for you. But it's those two young wingers that just still aren't available where you're like, you were allowed for this game and it's like Kowalchuk and Aliyu and there's just not enough. You are still in the reality of full back to full back to full back to full back and having five runners crashed to try and

create chances because you have to overload stuff because you don't have enough individual quality to break things apart. And like that's not going to be the case against every team. There's a reason they'll be in the playoff race because they play in a style that is different and for teams that aren't prepared and don't adjust and aren't ready for it, they're still gonna create chances and be dangerous

and I'm still gonna enjoy watching them. But I think if you don't have that pop from the wings and you have lost Coco Carrasquilla and you have lost Aceh Aceh, then I think you're in a really tough spot. And don't know what the like pathway is out for Houston. I think the upsetting part and we've talked about this a little bit is like they are now on a list of teams that have come up against the line and rather than invest to jump over the line, they have slowly eke their way back down to like rebuild the group.

This is the same conversation we were having about Philly. Philly was five years of it, but like they were Western Conference finalists and they come out of that and now two years later, you're missing the two best players from that team and you haven't fully replaced them as the season starts, which I think for Houston fans should be frustrating. And I know it has been for the ones who have reached out to us and been talking to us about

it so far. Any other teams that you want to find five connections to get to Joe? I think I did my five connections already. I was going to do Snapdragon to She Believes Cup because we didn't talk about it. Me and Jordan talked about the camp so far. Yesterday for a long time, so you can go listen to that. We also touched on the Portland Thorns, big injury concerns in San Diego as well. But Japan, taking the Shiba Leaves Cup.

I'm not shocked because this Japanese team is unbelievable and I would sign up to watch them any day of the week. There are threats in our Discord to just create a Japan women's national team channel so that we can just talk about that team and Not have to pretend we're talking about in the context of the u.s. Women's national team because they're so good Uh, but it wasn't shocking to see it. I still stand by my us could challenge for a world cup with a second team right now But probably shouldn't go up against japan in one of those finals any other uh, joe You want to hit me with a sheieves Cup thought before we're gone?

I mean, I think you have the correct take. Japan are awesome and Kat Mikario rules and the US is gonna be just fine. I guess you didn't say that part, but they will be just fine. One of the game I'm curious about is the Portland Austin game. Oh, is that in the She Believes Cup too?

They're playing at Snapdragon if you didn't hear. Yeah. I thought DeCosta looked really good for Portland in the second half. I mean the game was over. It was a waste. But Tom, do you want to despair? I'm sorry. No, please.

Kamal Miller, I look at him on a depth chart. I look at him on the field. I look at him with Canada and I'm like, that's a really good play. That's somebody who could be a really good defender. And then every single time I've watched him in Portland it's been but then what are we talking about like what what's the issue there because it's it feels like it's probably not a hundred percent on the player if that's the situation who who's fought with the red card I don't disagree with you but what I'm saying is

if he has played in structured teams and Copa Americas at high levels and played- Francisco Calvo is my counterpoint to where you're going. Do not Francisco Calvo, Kamal Miller right now. Don't do it. Oh, he's in Francisco Calvo territory? Okay. There he is. I'm gonna name 19 coaches that Phil Neville's in their territory right now,

and that this Portland structure is in as well. If I'm gonna break the tie, I'm going Team Tom on this. I feel like Kamal Miller, the ideas is consistently better than Kamau Miller, the reality. It's not just when you watch Portland, Tom, I think it's basically when Portland plays soccer period. But I thought DeCosta was really fun in that second half to stop this fight. I can't see you guys fighting. It's not good for you. And I think we could see some of Mirto Asuni in this game for Austin. I don't know how much, I don't know if it'll be from the start or not, but he just basically wasn't fully match fit.

It sounded like coming into the last game for Austin. So just seeing new DPs, we talked about Zaha maybe debuting. There'll be a first start probably in this for DaCosta. Portland still won't be at full strength because Rodriguez and Santi Moreno won't be in the lineup. So a lot of questions for them, but I'm hoping to see more talent on the field and for getting to see the new fun shiny stuff. I think that Portland Austin game will give us something. I will say look man the dumbest thing ever to say in week two of MLS to talk about pressure and stuff right it's a long

season. If Portland start the season two games at home against two teams who missed a team that missed the playoffs last year and another who went backwards after what we thought I could just probably just wrong about Vancouver but two home games against these two teams and it's not the galaxy lefc whatever if they come away with zero points be a lot of pressure moving forward on this team as usual high stakes week two major league soccer regular season games for context portland will go to Bashville for their next game and then they will come home to host the Galaxy. Then they would go to Colorado and then they host the Dynamo to close out the month of March and the pressure is on as of right now from the words of Tommy

Scoops. Thank you so much Joe for joining us. Appreciate having you here. Thanks for bringing a little sanity as well as a tiebreaker to some of this. This was so fun. Love the show. Love you guys. This was a blast. Go read Back Heel. It's incredible. Yeah. Climbing over each other to give the promo data. Yeah, Tom, you're the one who normally does promo stuff so why don't you just straight to the camera for a little bit and then I'll jump in after. I love Back Heel. Joe can access this. This is a joke and it says this.

I subscribe. I think Joe tried to- We're working on a docu-series if you guys haven't heard. I'm in. It's our favorite piece of content. Do you want to give us any Phoenix Rising juice before we get out of here? Pahmooda Kazantown, baby. Final preseason game tomorrow.

I'm going to be there. I'll be back on the broadcast this year. Is the team going to be good? I don't know. I'm not really sure. Isn't there an MLS name that I saw go there that I would be interested in or someone else big? Noble Akello is in the squad. I don't know if that's who you're talking about but that's my answer. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? The Canadian Paul Pogba right there folks. Noble Akello I had like my... I knew this

would do it for you. So if you don't you subscribe. You should subscribe to our page ground and get your access to our depth charts. I used to run my own depth charts for myself and I had Noble Akella one year where he trialed with three different teams as potential note big signing on all three teams depth charts because I think it was the Rebs, I think Minnesota and I think a third team that he played with in preseason and I was like Noble Akeelo could be a difference maker for this team. By this team you mean Phoenix Rising. Ooh, Dami and Rivera as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Colin Smith, if that name does anything for you. Nope, guess not. We're too deep in the weeds. Yeah, okay, I'm done. USL season coming up, we're gonna get a little preview action going for you here. You should go to back-heel though. I say it every show.

John Morrissey does an unbelievable job covering USL. it is one of the best pieces of content and coverage across soccer anywhere but especially in North America and I absolutely love it we have our end of us all coverage here that we were doing back hill is doing some as well and US women's national team and US men's national team as we head into I don't know Gold Cup and everything else that's going on. Tom you can see every morning on CBS golazo. Tom what's your what should we look forward to. So tomorrow Friday morning I'm going to have we're going to have a big MLS segment. I'll be looking at the weekend as well. More stuff like this. You get to see me on the TV talking MLS so please please check it out and then I'm back in all of next week.

I don't know exactly in what capacity, but I'll be on the show somewhere all week next week. That is what we are looking forward to. We are excited. Tom, what jersey are you wearing tomorrow? Is it after no spoilers? Tune in to find out. Tune in and find out.

And we'll be back here, of course, at Soccer Wise with all of your MLS, NWSL coverage, and everything else in. NWSL season preview coming next week. We'll have our weekend recap coming out of the MLS weekend once again. And then we are in and flying on two leagues, national teams and everything else in between. So thank you all for listening. you