SoccerWise - MLS Edition: Tom From Germany, Caps Perfection, USOC & USMNT Previews

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Tom has returned from his sojourn to East Germany to regale David with the tales of his travels & soccer stardom. Now that Tom is back they dig into the big storylines of the weekend, they talk about the USOC matches they're most looking forward to, and they preview the upcoming USMNT & CANMNT Nations League semifinals.2:08 Tom’s Germany Trip12:00 Vancouvers Perfect Start26:00 Miami’s Depth This Year34:18 San Diego vs Columbus Soccerfest42:22 USOC Round 1 Preview51:00 USMNT CNL Preview1:03:30 CANMNT CNL Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Scoop City back in the building. David Goss and Tommy Scoops are with you once again for Soccer Wise. Tom, I missed you for a whole week. It is a glorious week coming up. We've got CONCACAF Nations League. We've got the kickoff of the 2025 US Open Cup. We've got a bunch of MLS to talk about so much going on. And I miss you man. And I think everyone felt it. I love McKelley. McKelley's number one, but you're 1A. And that's how it stands. And I know he will hear that. That's very sweet because I was thinking, I was worried I needed to book a flight sooner once I saw McKelley was on again I was like, oh man, my job's in trouble here

It's like when though when the quarterback gets injured It was like Tyrod Taylor got stabbed by a doctor in his ribs that let the opening for Justin Herbert I was trying to make sure I wasn't Tyrod Taylor here. Is that any of that story true? Yeah, the doctor tried to give him an injection in his ribs and messed it up and gave him a rib injury He was supposed to be the Charger starting quarterback. And then they like the doctor injured him. And so Herbert got to start and never looked back. Yeah, we don't have a similar situation on this show.

Tommy Juarez staple. You're part of the DNA here, the fabric of what we do. Also, I try and avoid injections when I can as part of my job working around soccer wise just to make sure that exact situation. That's the reason why. Like that's that's the moment that pops in my head when I think about it. McKelley did a fantastic job. Thank you to McKelley for joining us. I believe he was in Atlanta for the Atlanta Miami game, which was fun. You can watch him, of course, on Apple TV on MLS season pass all year he will be back on this show Plenty we have plenty of friends for this show, but we like to be our core too It's a good week to get back to things as I said a big week of stuff going on The biggest being of course now that you've returned that you are fluent in German That is the title to our YouTube live show right now. I Googled it and I wrote Tom Sprechdeutsch.

So all I know how to say is this Sprechens English or no Sprechens Deutsch. So I normally when I travel to a foreign country, I like to genuinely try to learn at least a little bit of like, no thank you. Yes, please. No, I can't speak your language. I'm sorry. Excuse stuff like that I'm trying to learn Spanish right now like I'm I think six weeks into like a once a week class and I was like if I try to learn even yeah a handful of German words I'm gonna screw myself so I found

myself like walking around but because I was in a foreign country and my mind trying to learn Spanish of like ah like la sienda or like all those yento Or miss cool your go-to other thing when I can't speak English. Yep has been recalculated into one specific one Yep. Yeah, but thankfully English particularly in Germany is spoken everywhere even in Leipzig where it's like it's not you know, Berlin or Frankfurt or I don't know if Munich does to be fair So like Berlin and Frankfurt those are two international cities with a lot of like English. Still in Leipzig, a lot of people speak English. Surprisingly at like Red Bull Leipzig's facilities, which were really, really cool, I should say, both the stadium and the training facilities. At the training facility,

there is so much, almost everything's written in English. Like there are inspirational quotes around the training field. They're almost all English. It was like a Muhammad Ali quote, like a Vince Lombardi quote, stuff like that. And I was kind of like, why is that in English? And like, I don't, this isn't an official answer, but like one way it was explained to me is like, we have such an international team, like a lot of times, like the coaches will talk to players in English because more people here know English than like German. And then there's players in the locker room obviously extremely multilingual but like everybody's trying to learn German but like sometimes it's just easier to say things in English. I thought that was pretty fascinating too.

It is fascinating also because I've been around New York Red Bulls a ton where they use some German terms for pressing triggers so that if players do end up making it into the pipeline to Leipzig or to Salzburg, they already know them, which is funny that over there they're doing it in the other direction. I think most people at RB Leipzig would turn to you with two fingers and say, in this household, Vincent Boddy is a hero. So watch your back. That's a Fordham legend right there in the Bronx.

So you went over, you went to the Dortmund game then, right? Yeah, Leipzig vs. Dortmund, it was a really good game. The stadium is really nice, so just because it was, again the stadium looks beautiful, it's like from the photos and stuff that I'd seen before I went, and because it's Red Bull Leipzig and everything is obviously branded Red Bull, I thought that they just built the stadium in like, I don't know 2010 or yeah No, something like that. Like it was built in 2006 ahead of the the World Cup in Germany like before Red Bull existed in Leipzig and I think in soccer just all together and Like the the place itself had a ton of history which I wasn't aware of so the German FA was founded in Leipzig

The first German League champion was from Leipzig the lineage of that club doesn't go to Red in Leipzig. The first German league champion was from Leipzig. The lineage of that club doesn't go to Red Bull Leipzig. There are two other teams in the city. It's Locomotive Leipzig and Chemie Leipzig. Both of them are in the fourth tier right now. Lava Locomotive. That's some good Soviet era stuff right there. And again, it is East Germany. It is former, it is former communist East Germany. So locomotive Leipzig makes sense. I believe that the lineage of that club goes to locomotive Leipzig.

But anyway, all that is to say that there was, so that stadium when it was built, it was built on the same ground as a historic stadium in Leipzig that held like a hundred thousand fans. And when I was looking at the photos, it looked like nowhere Michigan plays football, where it's like, so it's a field, and then just, you know, 100,000 fans that just go out. And like the top row, you're probably insanely far away.

That's what it was like there, except they also had a track around the field. So they built the stadium within where the stands were, like a whole brand new stadium. And because it's like a historic site, the outside still has like the original foundation of where you would enter. So when you walk into the stadium, like depending on like where you come from, if you come from the front, you go through like the structure that's been there for generations and has

a lot of history. And when you're outside of the stadium, they still preserve some of the benches of the old stands. So I thought that was really fascinating because it's Red Bull, you know, they're this new thing. It's everything that has to do with modern stuff in Germany and everything else. And then the stadium looks really, really beautiful. But within it, there's still all this history, which I had no idea about.

Yeah, that is pretty cool. I've done a little of the reading on the German setup. It's always tough because they had multiple errors in wars. And so you had professionalism and lack of professionalism and then professionalism again. You obviously have the 50 plus one rule now. You had the split of the country. So there's like a lot,

it's one of the harder ones to follow from someone from the outside being like, oh yeah, these were the great teams. These were the errors that they were contended in. All that type of stuff. It's cool that you got on the ground and got to experience it. Are they interested in signing you?

Were the ability to see you train in person, was that enough to get the contract over the line? I did so they have the little like 360 touch thing, which is I think you've seen people, a lot of people have probably seen the videos on Instagram and social media. It's really cool. I got to do that and I did it in a sweater and nice pants and I crushed it.

I turned around and I didn't see anybody filming. I was very, very upset. There's no photographic evidence. I got a couple texts from my friend saying, because I put the picture of it on Instagram, and being like, oh my God, what do you mean you don't have video evidence? Were you bad? I was like, no. I turned and said, can somebody, somebody should film this.

I guess people thought I was kidding. And then I think I went 15 for 15 in passes. And the thing is you just hit it against the wall and then it goes like different targets. So you need to scan, you need 360. Granted, I think I took like one touch with my left foot, but still it was effective. And I turned around and when I saw nobody had a phone up,

I was like, devastated. But that's modern, like the great legacies of the game happen all through folklore, right? Think about the moments of like, oh yeah, Diego Maradona woke up, hungover, went and played this game with 11 amateurs on his team. So there were 12 players on the field against the Argentine national team.

No one knows it happened and he scored a hat trick and that's the greatest sporting moment of all time. That's what this is now for you. Not quite. Just you know again 14 or 15 for 15 and pass is under no pressure in a little controlled area. Pretty much the same thing. That's what we're talking about. I am jealous. I'm glad you had a great time. I will be open to negotiations when Leipzig does approach us about a potential transfer or loan or signing. It's pretty hard to replace you because I can't bring that much of an allocation money in to be able to try and build a replacement for it. But I'm open to trying and trying to figure it out.

And then we at some point have to get our soccer wise team on the field so that we can prove that Tom is the most accurate passer. Maybe we'll try and get him to team into US Open Cup one day. Maybe that will be the dream for how this whole project ends is one day we become a fully fledged club and we are able to function in US Open Cup.

How about that? I think that we would have a lot of cross recruitment of Sasha Clashen's, Dimmoy's, Menace and I think we're gonna we would have a lot of cross recruitment of Sasha questions, dim ways, menace, and I think we're going to lose out on a lot of those battles. So we're just going to be a much worse version of that. Yeah, it will inspire us. That is the point of US Open Cup. It will inspire us to overperform and all of that. We're going to talk about US Open Cup in a couple of moments. I think we're going to put together a special episode later this week to cover what we will have seen. I'm gonna try and get out to a couple of games.

Luckily, there are multiple teams in the South Florida area that are competing in US Open Cup, so I'm gonna try and get out there and watch some soccer in person to enjoy it and have fun and be in the nice weather and all of that, which is always a cool part of it. And of course, we've got Nations League coming up on Thursday.

So we're gonna preview that here because we're not gonna do the live show on Thursday. We're gonna come back Friday morning. We're gonna bring you that live show in reaction to what we saw Thursday night as well as previewing Sunday, which will be the final. And I am hoping it is the US against Canada, but whatever it is, we will talk about that.

That show will be a little bit earlier because I believe Tom's Local Bar opens for NCAA Tournament at exactly 11.45 on Friday. So I've got to get him out the door by 11.40 at a minimum. So we're going to start at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Friday on our YouTube page. If you want to watch live, if you listen as a podcast, it'll come out once we're done as well. And you'll have that to enjoy over the course of The weekend which is going to be a hectic one in the sports world

We could get Paige Becker's against juju walk-ins at some point I am all in on McNeese State, which I had never heard of before. Hell, yeah It is my Roman Empire and have you seen the videos? No, they're their team manage they're like If you watch all the people I watch on Instagram, which is the only way I follow college basketball I don't watch until NCAA tournament then I'm fully committed for like the first two weeks then depending on how I do I'm like in or out after that and sometimes I don't remember who got to the final four and McNeese State is one of these like they

Statistically wise they're one of the best teams in the country but they're a small school. They've got a team manager who's like I'm just gonna be honest looks like a combination of us. He walks the team out to the court every time wearing the biggest speaker you've ever seen and it's just bumping deep rap music and all of the players singing and dancing behind him He knows the words to every single song that's on and that's like basically their team mascot I'm so in now. I'm so in. And they've been so yeah, that is Sakurai's official team as of now

I don't know anything else about them. So if there's something bad I'm supposed to know about them I don't know don't tell me or tell me immediately one of the two. I gotta know so you can't be Somewhere in the middle where I keep talking about all of this. Yeah, before you're, while you're invested. Yeah. Let's dig into Major League Soccer and let's start with, of course, the best team in the world.

And there's only ever going to be one answer to this. When you talk about MLS and you're talking about the best giants of the region, you're talking about the Vancouver Whitecaps. You have been for years. If you haven't, you've been making mistakes, but you should be right now. They are the last perfect team in Major League Soccer. You weren't here last week for the victory of Vermont, right? I'm sure you were streaming it. I was two 30 in the morning. Very upset to miss that game, but I was listening back to the show and like listening to McKelley be like,

no, no, that's funny. God's good joke. Like you said that Vancouver are going to go through. You're like, no, listen to the episode. I did. I don't know how serious I was being in that episode. So I have to preface it with that. I think our move is to not put out a video from that episode is to release the transcript because that is fact. Yeah, the words were said. Putting it in the courtroom. I can't lie that I said it. that is fact yeah the word said put in the courtroom I can't lie that I said it my one my one quibble with Michele who I love infinitely he he was like I don't want to be prisoner of the moment and then was very much prisoner I this is an

incredible upset I'm not taking a single thing away from the Vancouver White Cops what an incredible performance and the players that they did it with to they still rotated through this it was incredible. Does even being prisoner of the moment of the last couple years a team from Haiti who could not play due to civil unrest in their country had to play a game against Austin in the Dominican at a stadium with a huge tree. Oh you're re-litigating whether this was the biggest upset ever? The biggest upset ever? The biggest upset in counter-cab history? Okay. I think that's disrespectful to the Vancouver White Caps.

Again, yes it was an upset. Monterey were favorites. But it's just like, I don't think that this does the White Caps justice. And again, this team from Haiti not just being outmatched by an MLS team in Austin FC, the political civil unrest, the country was in turmoil. They could not play. And they went to Austin and won. They beat Austin over two legs. Yeah, I wasn't ready for the Violette conversation. I'm not gonna lie.

I wasn't there mentally. You always gotta be. That should be your Roman Empire. Yeah, I always should be. Well, if you wanted to talk 2023 MLS Superdraft, I would have been there. If we were talking JC Nagando's draft class, all the way through to Andrew Privet,

which I spent an obscene amount of time reading through this morning, just triggered in my brain, then I would have been there. But that's I was not prepared for that. All of what you're saying is fair. I think part of well, obviously, it was prison at the moment. So part of the reaction was the fact that Ryan Gould is unavailable, right? How rare have we seen an MLS team do something like this or any team really do something like this and it's not like the talisman carried you that it wasn't like that elite piece was what got you over the top and whether the rest of the team was good enough to be there or not unsure and for Vancouver it was like they went all the way into their depth. They have traveled, they have won in MLS as well, which is part of why this is also incredible. And then they were able to get over the top against a team that is the highest or second

highest spending team in the region. And all of that stuff always continues to get bigger, right? What Monterey and America have spent in the last 12 months is more than what any league MX team has ever spent because those numbers continue to grow. And so that gets into it. We probably might end up down the road of how bad Austin FC was if we're doing the full debate and you want to like get the Will Ferrell out here and we just go for it with the debate master

and all the type of things. So yeah, maybe you're right. Either way, Vancouver are perfect. So they came off the back of that. Derailing the subject here. They came off the back of that and then they traveled away in MLS on a week where all the other teams from CCC struggled

even if they got wins. Like Miami, Miami went from Miami to Kingston, Jamaica, which is not that hectic of a trip for a series in which they were already leading. They were able to see out a 2-0 lead with players like Santi Morales getting on the field who aren't then gonna play in MLS. Then they went to Atlanta, so less travel and all of that.

And they were able to get a two-one win and eke it out. But like for Vancouver, they've gotta go from Canada down to Mexico, play at altitude, and then come and play at Dallas on the road, staying on the road I think is the way they did this because they were one of the late games on Wednesday night. And then they go and win there to be the last perfect team in Major League Soccer. It's beautiful. And this team, we had questions about them coming into the season because there's

a lot of unknowns. We liked the starting 11, didn't know exactly how it was going to look under a new coach. And then you worry about the depth. And this isn't a Vancouver-specific thing. This isn't every MLS team in CONCACF Champions Cup at the beginning of the season particularly with the added travel of like you said I think that's a good point because not all travel is created equal Vancouver couldn't be further away from some of these games like because they're tucked in the Pacific Northwest in Canada like this is another layer to what's impressive another layer of like you said with no

Ryan Gault with the lineup that they showed and you joked About it yourself that you you took a shot at Danny Rios who I defended when you made the joke and you were wrong I thought it was the other way around. No it wasn't you were like you can't win Against me. I did say that like Danny Rios. I said why not? I put you on my fantasy team. So don't worry. You're back. We're back so with all that being said like going to like The other side of this too is I'm very very disappointed in that Dallas result because we have expectations for them now That is a game where Monterey Vancouver going from Monterey to Dallas. They have all this You know

This is a very clear if Vancouver lost we'd still be talking about them incredibly positively because they would very much deserve it and they still win. They win 1-0 against Dallas it was a set piece goal in the second half. They were utterly dominant for about 55 minutes of this game. They should have scored an open play. Ali Ahmed, I believe it was Shaq Moore starting, ate his lunch, dominated on the left wing and allows Matias Laborda to start at left back. He can come inside. J.C. Nagando was unbelievable.

Sebastian Burrhalter's balling. I already looked it up. They play Chicago in like two weeks. So we're gonna get Sebastian versus Greg Burrhalter, which I forgot would be a thing in MLS. Sebastian Burrhalter's continued to get better at dominating. Pedro Vite is such a huge part of everything positive that's happened for them.

He had shown over the last two years that he can set tempo, he can take the ball under pressure, he can control things centrally. Now you're seeing more final third quality from him. And just his level of confidence, I think, makes life easier for an Ocampo to know I can make the overlapping run because we won't lose possession here.

Or if I make this run, I know he's going to find me because I know he's got his eyes up and he's looking for me and then Brian White pushing the whole thing in front of it. So there's so much to like about this team. They've got all the way into their depth to get these results. They've had to because of injuries.

They've had to because of the nature of the season and the speed of it. I mean you go and look across this weekend and Miles Robinson pulls up after 30 minutes and walks off the field playing in CONCACAF competition and MLS, little messy, withdraws from the Argentine national team, unavailable, trying to play across two competitions.

Like it is not easy. And for Vancouver to have done this and to have done it not by saying, we're gonna sell out, we're gonna start all 11 of our best 11 every game to start the year and see how far we can go They have balanced things. They have still gotten the results It's the best start in club history and I have some probably incorrect stats here to start talking about best starts in MLS history Go ahead. I can't wait. So I think the best start in MLS history from a wins point of view is 2012 Sporting Kansas City

seven straight wins. So if you go across more games after that, you can get to more points, but I believe that's the best win streak. If you don't include shutout victory or shootout victories I don't which I think is correct. So that I pretty sure is the best start Galaxy in 2010 had four straight wins and they went 12 unbeaten to start the year my and then I think you have 2019 LA FC mixed in there as well also didn't have the win streak to start things. Did have the streak across the first 10, 11 games.

Then you have the shutout teams, which is Galaxy 96. Eight straight wins, but some were shutouts. And then 98 started with a shutout win game one. And then they went on like a 10 game win streak. And DC United the same, had a shutout win, or shutout, shoot out win. I wrote S-O, that's my fault. That is completely an own goal,

Tiago Martin's level on that one to start. So right now Vancouver at four and O, they still have competition. So they play Chicago next week. That will be the Burrhalter bowl. Then they will play Toronto in an all Canadian game on the road. Then they come back into CONCACAF Champions Cup. So then midweek Pumas and then hosting Colorado and then midweek Pumas again.

I wish that we weren't playing through international breaks. Yeah. It is. That's why Daniel Rios is on my fantasy team. I don't know why in 2025 is still happening. I get the schedule congestion. And again, my first point of contention is just take away that the first round takes three weeks in MLS and bang, you get three extra weekends there to make up for the week. We're at a stage of the evolution of this league that should not be happening. And it devalues the regular season games because you're pretty much saying ah who cares you can be without ten players if you don't need to Vancouver are gonna be with that Ali Ahmed. I just kubas Pedro Vita and Brian White Ryan Gould could have been caught up to the national team wasn't injured like I think Chicago I'm looking at the official list of cops now Omari Glasgow and

Mari Glasgow having a great start to the season. Shout out to Omari Glasgow. I agree, I'm not taking that away, but that's even just four to one there. Yeah. Bamba will be there, I believe. Oh, Omari Glasgow is the only call-up for Chicago? That, according to MWSAGA.com,

and they're usually pretty correct. So, it's just unfortunate there too that it's not like anybody purposely had that, but just the, the golf between those two teams. Um, it's just, oh, it's just unfortunate for Vancouver. And again, like when you're sort of having this incredible magical starts of the season, like maybe this will just be even more lore that they play Chicago and without, you know, five of their whatever six, seven best players. But we'll see.

When you watch them play, and I think especially in the first half against Dallas, on a weekend where you watched Max Arfstein score his first goal of the year and play higher up the field and distribute from central midfield at times, you see the comparisons which is just if you tell players you believe in them and that they're going to get to be on the ball and that they are good enough and it's going to happen you start to see the confidence and flow. Brian White talked about having played so many games they've gotten into like a good flow state and you hear every player basically say I hate training I'd rather play games and they're playing the way that Jesper Sorensen wants so it's easy to

then watch tape on it and be like, this is good, this is what we want to do. And you just see, especially off the left side, because Ali Ahmed is so good in possession and he's so silky on the ball, but he has the athleticism to make defenders question themselves, their ability to play in and out of central spaces

and create pullback opportunities and create dangerous crossing opportunities. And then you got Brian White and Daniel Rios throwing their body around in a central area and making centerbacks miserable and making them question themselves. It has been really fun to watch. They have become must watch.

Like even Dallas, which is a brutal watch from a setup, because they have a fricking tarp across three sections that you are watching even if the crowd sounds good. This was still a must watch because of what Vancouver's done. Do you think they set the record? Say it right now or don't. No. I mean, that's a boring answer because that's just the obvious, right?

And I don't want to come off as a hater, but again again the fact that they're here right now is extremely impressive like that Dallas game that should have been a loss that should have been at least dropping points on the road against Dallas Dallas has everything to play for Vancouver again if they lost three nothing we wouldn't have criticized them for a minute. It would have been like yep standard. Yeah and like great that's great that you banked the wins already so I don't know this is all great looking at the chat from Zach Caps who Obvious like again. He's saying try having Orson Harbrone Shulte and Farsi called up Not the same thing very much Not the same thing to the players of Vancouver missing my overall point again is that no team should be playing but Columbus

trying to comparison shop on this one not no comparison and besides the point, because we were talking about the Vancouver Whitecaps streak, and I would love to see them at least go down swinging with their best players being available. But again, there shouldn't be any games during international breaks. And for Columbus too, they have a couple of DP spots open. They could be having more players that, you know, maybe they'd be on international duty too, but point remains. Vancouver have their hands completely completely tied there's nothing more they can do Columbus there's a lot more they can do.

Yeah absolutely we have an Atlanta fan in the chat as well talking about centerbacks because Stéan Griegerson I think got called up as did Luis Abram so they're going to be thin at that position. Also not the point I don't care which team has it the worst this week nobody should be playing. Also, also not the point. I don't I don't care which team has it the worst this week. Nobody No, I think it makes the point Tom. The point is a lot of teams have issues because you don't want to see games during these windows Miami Potentially will have messy available. I mean he's injured. So no, we don't know that doesn't mean that he's yes. It does

You don't pull out you don't put on international duty to play it, you know game five of the I don't know that doesn't mean that he's yes it does You don't pull out you don't put on international duty to play it You know game five of the oh, no, they're on a bye anyway. Oh, that's right. Yeah, there's 14 games this week We nailed this conversation. This is great. We're on point Why would you assume that he was gonna be available cuz it's messy dude and like who knows you think he'd skip? No, I don't why Argentina Brazil to play whoever that I don't but I also think if he woke up feeling like better than expected on a game day He'd be like no chance. No, I'm not sure. I don't need it. You get to be on the bench Well, you can't fly in at that point and do it. Okay, they were able to come back He had the opening goal against Atlanta to make it 1-1

It was a weird first half for Atlanta. Like they put Miami under a ton of pressure. They did a lot of the things you want to see them do and things they were not capable of doing. Last year in the playoffs, even with the win, with the way Brooks Lennon and Amador can stretch the field and now Latte Loth has a runner with them. Al Marrone pinching inside off that right side to open up space for Lennon,

but also to be a threat himself to go out on that wing. And then they continued to cough up the ball in their own defensive third. And you saw Guzan yelling about it and yelling about it and yelling about it. And then Messi counter presses, picks up the ball. And like from that moment on, it's, I don't know, not many players in the world are gonna do what he does.

And like Guzan's not even upset that he gets chipped or cut or whatever it ends up being on the finish. It was in general just it felt like a big game. This was fun. You had the revenge factor. You have the crowd. You have Almiron being back Atlanta having some question marks. The speed of the game, the talent of the game. It was a really fun caper to the weekend.

Yeah, again, I've only gotten to catch some highlights of all of these games. I was flying back Sunday and obviously Saturday coming back from Leipzig versus Dortmund and then pretty much going to sleep not long after that. And like when I was able to open my laptop again back in my hotel, it was as the final whistle and L.A.F.C. Austin was coming and then there's that little gap before the 730 Eastern time game started. So I didn't get to watch anything live. But so prefacing that by not pretending like I watched 90 minutes of this game.

Yes, it was a big, like all the storylines leading into it of the playoff elimination last year, the new look at land United and Miami came in and got all three points. And I got to say, I'm really, really impressed by them to start the season. I was dubious. I had my question marks. Like, again, you never know exactly how the new signs are going to come in or exactly how long it's going to take the new head coach in Javier Mascherano. I wasn't really questioning his resume because it's really early into his coaching tenure. It could go either way. No, it wasn't perfect with the Argentine youth national team, but that wasn't something that was going to scare me away. But that

was a thing that people were asking. He's un unproven, he was bad or like underwhelming with the Argentine youth national team, he's never done a senior club job. All of that has been answered and they've been really, really good to start the season. And while like it's not right to say anything to the effect of like, wow, like blowing you away like because of how impressive Inter Miami is with all the stars and all the talent they have, but I wouldn't have been worried about them if they dropped points a handful of times to start the season and they haven't very much They are in first in the Eastern Conference with Everything they've dealt with a concave Champions Cup and so having additional games

Three red cards like all of the different ups and downs I think it's shown their depth. Like even in this game, no real true center backs you'd think available. Fafa Picot, who went down injured immediately when the season started. As a depth piece, he comes back in, he comes off the bench.

Allende and Segovia have been good ads as well. So it feels like there is a deeper team that can play the same style more often. And so when pieces come in and out and pieces have to be rested or injured or whatever it is It feels like they actually have a little right now so far It feels like they can have it have a little bit more of a flow that can continue from match to match and so to steal this one late once again and like There is no team better late in games than Miami

And I think a lot of that's the pressure they put you under over and over throughout a game. I think some of that's mental of teams being like, oh, we're there, okay, we're fine. And then turning off in these big moments, this one again, turning off on a set piece, you defend the second set piece, the camera wasn't even back from the replay

or the game wasn't even back from replay and Fafapico scores the goal and like that puts you in a bad spot and Atlanta not able to pull back and so Atlanta what one goal over the last three games it is for them it's been a tough run for them and their attack still trying to find their feet they did not have the most absurd comeback though Miami this weekend sporting Kansas City coming back from a 3-0 deficit against Minnesota. Have you seen Hassani Dotson's volley? Oh my god. I'm surprised that's still not traveling through the air. It's one of those that you watch someone else hit a ball and you feel the like good feeling

in your body of like oh you struck that so clean like I could feel it reverberate in my own leg Being like oh, that's the best feeling on the planet normally then it gets saved and you see the player do Nothing no one's gonna save that so it's not a sunny Dotson whips that one in Minnesota goes up 3-0 in the first half. I think the 46th minute was the final goal sporting Kansas City 0.56 XG to close the game and they tie 3-3 the whole season has been against them. It was a very fortunate comeback for them I thought Joe Larry talked a little bit in his weekend piece at back yield Which you should always go read of winners and losers about Daniel Shaller the effect he had on the team and changing the shape a little bit.

But this, it was really a fortunate finish for sporting Kansas City. And your hope is like, this is the thing that spurs on the rest of the year, because it has been a brutal start for this SKC team. And so to steal a point, however it comes, that's what you're hoping for. Otherwise you were going,

I think it was gonna be 10 straight losses across Major League Soccer from last year through this year which is a disgusting stat. Yeah so I just spin that positive down 3-0 that I think is much more likely to end 5-0 than 3-3 right so like given all the context everything else all the issues the vibes being down and just like oh god like here we go again losing again of course like of all the context, everything else, all the issues, the vibes being down and just like, Oh God, like here we go again, losing again. Of course. Like some like, of course the Sonny dots and ping is one in the top corner. Like Minnesota is a better team than Kansas city.

Oh my God. Like, yeah, no way back here. So I will say that fight. Um, so even outside of the technical, we can talk about, you know, he said the XG or the tactical, the technical, whatever that side, the mental side, I think is the most impressive of, you've lost 10 straight across all competitions dating back to last season.

This season has started awful, and you're down three nothing against a team that's better than you, and a team that's really difficult to play against, both by way of their structure and their energy. Really, really easy to fold at that point, and again, I'm surprised that they didn't, I'm surprised that any humans didn't.

So the way that they dug deep fought back and yeah you talk about the Yorvulic equalizer which is really great all of that's good and look I think that there's a lot more bad than good right now but you want to focus on the good and I think the days after that game in training and video sessions and in meetings I think you're hammering home those positive sides. We may have lost Tom there and now Tom is back. I have to say that immediately because then Tom gets mad at technology and then goes off the handle on technology.

So I have to make sure he knows he's here. I agree with everything you said for the Sporting Kansas City team and hopefully it leads to more. Jovalich gets the final goal in this one. I think you're seeing part of the limitations for him of he does not create his own goals. This is the same conversation we've had about Hugo Kipers, the same conversation we've had about Petar Moussa. Like there are a number of players in this league that are great players and great goal scorers. They are not ones who can create by themselves. And Jovalic,

I think, starved a little bit of the service he wants and he lives on. And even in this one, you get a half chance off a turnover from the other team, you turn, you turn it into a goal. That's what he's capable of. You just gotta get him into the spots. The game of the weekend that I think we were most excited for, we talked about as a neutral,

San Diego-Columbus, it delivered. San Diego gets their first home goal. They also go behind to a Columbus team coming off CONCACF Champions Cup loss who was flowing, who was playing the soccer they want to play. You get a red card, you get drama, you get all these things and Columbus pushed this San Diego team. Columbus dominated the first half. As I said, Max Arfsten started at the left wing spot, came inside, played basically central midfield 80% of the time. Dufsten started at the left wing spot, came inside, played basically central midfield 80% of the time.

Dwan Jones is basically playing left wing because it's Columbus and they just don't have any defenders on the field and there was a ton of creativity, a ton of options. The game was fast. It was really fun to watch. San Diego, then they figured it out. They come out of halftime, they bring in another central midfielder, they put Sandra Stryer a little higher even without that. I think dryer really reads the space Behind a team shape

Well when san diego playing possession and pull teams up like we saw it against the galaxy We saw it against st. Louis as well One of the best outlets for this team is dryer over the top And then he's able to make really good decisions at high speed, strike the ball really well at high speed, draws the red card in this game, helps them sort of create the free kick then as well. That leads to the goal. But I have to say, Columbus picks up a red card from Amundsen.

Then they spend some time figuring out what they want to do. They decide they're going to bring Herrera on and slide pieces around to fill in at center back. Then Cherepko gets hit with the free kick in the face he's off the field doing concussion protocol and San Diego scores on the ensuing corner kick with no center backs on the field and nine players on the field for Columbus. I don't know that they get the result if the red card doesn't happen that doesn't mean they didn't deserve it that doesn't mean they didn't push the game. And they said after, we feel like we left points

on the board because you played up a man for a ton of minutes at home, 15, 20 minutes, whatever it was in the end. But it was an awesome soccer game. And I think San Diego came out of it where we hoped, which is they got punched in the mouth. They found ways to keep their identity but still be realistic to the soccer game.

And they continue to get results and stay towards the top of the Western Conference. Yeah. I preface what I'm about to say is four games is too soon to take make big takeaways from expected goals and stuff. But at this stage of the season they are second in MLS and expected goal difference at 3.7. It's only behind 3.8. It's only behind the Vancouver Whitecaps, and defensively they're really doing well. And part of that comes from defending through possession, like it reminds me a little bit of the Greg Burr-Altar national team in that part of the reason defense was so good is that they controlled space by having the ball. And that came at the expense of free-flowing attack, which it has at times for San Diego, probably more

than they would want to but I think my fears for this team coming into the season was the defensive side and okay They're gonna build out of the back Will we have growing pains of just a team that you know their first training session together was two months ago and Doing all these like that is more difficult to do You know like that's difficult no matter what style you're playing But particularly if you're trying to play out of the back and everything's on timing, everything is on knowing where your teammates are going to go and knowing the preferences.

Okay, he likes it on, you know, shade it towards his right foot when he's got pressure on his back or little stupid things like that. Versus like if they're playing a more high pressing, like that's just run your ass off. And yes, you need a lot of structural stuff to pressure together and optimize that way way but that's lower risk in terms of if you're a little bit gappy you can still drop the lines like I think my whole point here is that my worries for this team were how sharp is it going to look immediately because it's going to be difficult to do for any expansion team particularly the way they're playing in and it hasn't been so you hope that the the hardest piece of this is the

final third. We saw this with, you know, SC Dallas teams in the past, both under Luchi Gonzalez and Nico Estevez. We've seen this with Josh Wolff's Austin FC, and you kind of go on down the list of these teams that had some really good possession ideas in the defensive third, in the middle third, and it looks great. And those kind of patterns in the final third weren't quite coming together, and they never did come together for those teams

Particularly Austin when Sebastian Giuse wasn't widely over before me is XG. So that's the next step for San Diego But again, I think that I'd put them ahead of schedule right now Yeah, and to do it without Chucky as well, which is like that was supposed to be your one also Okay someone that can do something outside of the organization of the team to create chances and can put defenders further on their heels from reputation point of view so there's more free space to play in and you don't have that available to you a lot of the players who are playing are young pieces Luca Bombino got a start in this one on loan from LAFC one of the one of my favorite

Academy players in the US setup. Great. In the MLS next setup. And it's awesome to see him play. Willie at right back is my guy. Like love that he just goes by Willie. He puts players under pressure. He attacks. Patty McNair has been awesome.

And then in this one, Chris McVie read the space and was like, if no one steps to me, cause you don't want, cause you want me in possession, then I'm going to take space. And he started driving through midfield, creating chances like that as well. So as you said, they're ahead of schedule. The style they play should amplify any mistakes

and they've been so clean that you don't see them, which is really impressive. Like we're coming off a weekend NWSL behind. First week of the season, Houston's trying to do with something similar of like, recreate, they lost two-one on two goals, playing out of the back that were messy mistakes in the wrong similar of like recreate. They lost two-one on two goals playing out of the back that were messy mistakes in the wrong part of the field.

That's how it works. That's what happens. And that didn't happen, that hasn't happened for the San Diego team. So it's been really cool to watch for them. And it was a big result. Closeout, I don't know, just another thing to say from the weekend.

Charlotte, Patrick Oshigul gets the goal. Leo Labada with the opener. I mentioned already, Miles Robinson went off 30 minutes into this game Which is brutal to see them Flores picks up a red card on two yellow cards both fouls against Patrick Aja among his Sort of what he does to defenders you could see it sort of build for Flores I give a Vander some blame as well on the second yellow card a Vander and Ajamon go into a tackle Ajamon wins it starts dribbling upfield and a Vander just stops like foul him there

So your center back doesn't have to foul him next like you don't need to defend You don't even really need to run or work But you've got to have at least some game recognition Against the ball to be able to help your team. And this is a Cincinnati team right now that like needs someone to step up and have these moments to help bail them out. So they are pretty thin at centerback. My understanding is me Oz goes training, but they are saying he is still weeks away. Nick Hagelin is playing with the two team. So it's unbelievable.

Like it feels like this team hits on every centerback signing and yet they are always at this position. Part of that's because they want to play three ideally, but the other part is they seem to have some of the worst luck. And Patrick Augemon needed a goal. Going into national team, he needed a goal. Brian White got a big goal midweek in cocky calf competition.

He's going in with some confidence. They're both going to play. They're both going to be a part of this. We're going to talk to that Nations League in a moment,. They're both gonna play like they're both gonna be a part of this We're gonna talk to that Nations League in a moment But like they're both gonna be a part of this because there are not a ton of other options at these positions Pochettino is not bringing them into like experience the group He's bringing them in to be factors at the center forward position and it's the perfect way for Patrick Ojamont to go into that now exactly, it's been a difficult start to the season for Ajumont and Still getting the call up to the national team and again that comes with circumstances. He was not playing well enough to have like if there weren't

four injuries or whatever the number is but he still obviously showed enough in January. I like that Boach called him up because I was surprised that it was both him and Brian White. I'll get back to this in a minute But he did not start the season well to get a goal here. I think is very important for him Wasn't ready for you there my bad wasn't ready. I was already I was already ending my sentence while you were well You're that you're a German style high pressing So you don't really take any breaks and I'm trying to like sit on my heels and flow a little bit as we flow into A little US Open Cup So we have matches on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night.

Every game is streaming on the US soccer YouTube page. There are 8 million matches across all of this. I'm sure there's an exact number. It's probably 32. I should know that and I should know that and I don't and I'm going to stand by that and I don't really care. There are a lot of semi-professional teams that are playing obviously here in the first round, USL League One a part of it, some MLS Next Pro teams in it as well. There's a lot of fun stories.

I have two teams hosting here in Miami, so the two pro teams, Miami Inter Miami 2 and Miami FC are both hosting semi-professional squads. So I'm gonna try and get out and go watch some soccer. It's like not super clear if you're allowed to. Which is just classic US Open Cup. Just show up and be like, do you know who I am? Well, it's not clear what games the stadiums are in. And then whether they're open to fans and how you would access that. So that's gonna be an experience.

Walk in confidently wearing business casual. Yeah. And always with the team. Just go like the full college sports thing of like if you wear a jacket or a tie, you can walk on the field at any college sporting event. That's something to learn and know for everyone out there now that we've gone to NCAA tournament time.

You can just show up and be like, yeah. People won't ask. Like you don't have to say anything. If you have a jacket or a tie on, they'll be like, oh, he's with the team or he's with the team or he's with the broadcast. And now all of a sudden you and Cooper Flagg are hanging out and you're sitting on the

sideline trying to chop things up. We talked about it a little bit with McKelley last week. His Apple TV co-hosts are going, a lot of them are going to be playing for DeWine Menace. That game is coming up tomorrow night, I believe, right? They're playing against Sporting Kansas City too. And they've got a pretty strong 11 or 12 that they can put together. Yes. Yes. You want me to name them? I want you to give me your starting 11. I don't know. So let me just give the names Bradley Wright Phillips, Sasha Cleshian, Benny Failhaber,

Dax McCarty, Ozzy Alonzo, Justin Marum, Victor Ujoa, Matt Hedges, AJ De La Garza, Mikey Ambrose, Donnie Toya, and then there's a couple players I believe that are from the Des Moines team, Lucas Rosa, Kyle Owen, and Leroy Nguzi. What I was talking to last year, part of the difficulty is that this is a summer team. So normally when it's open cup time, they're like shambling to find anybody who's just around because a lot of people are playing college soccer Then they come home for the summer they play for Des Moines and gonna go back or whatever it is. So to say Just and their their US Open Cup roster it lists goalkeepers and then nobody so maybe we're gonna see Sasha in goal

But probably not. So for me, I don't know, like obviously, Hedges, De La Garza, Hedges at center back is I think is the obvious one. Then two out of three of De La Garza, Mikey Ambrose, Donnie Tullier, or maybe all four of them is the back line. But, Goss, how do you pick, how do you only pick a handful from the midfield of Sasha, Benny, Dax, Ozzy, Marum, and Uyala? I will say from my experience of playing with players who have played at that level, who are no longer playing at that level,

they all like to play center back because the game's in front of them and then they don't have to run as much. So it might be more competition which one gets to play center back and doesn't have to play in central midfield and run around and cover all the ground. The wide players is what I'm worried about. Justin Merrim will be out there, but then it's like, so I get, do you push Benny Falearber out wide so that you have a midfield trio of Sasha Dax and Ozzy? That's probably the move.

Yeah. And then he gets to pinch in and create and do whatever he wants. Talk about hitting a clean volley. If you're going to hit a clean volley, there's a little bit of space out wide. The juxtaposition of this team that I cannot wait to watch versus not just another team in this competition, but specifically an MLS Next Pro team. So it's specifically like the youngest, the young guys and the runners, the guys who are trying to make it into MLS into the top division and versus like the the Sasha's of Dax is

like all these guys that are you know hey we want to show these kids we still got it and we still just want to play so the juxtaposition of this game I think is gonna be very fun and I don't know how it's gonna go that's gonna be difficult to keep up with the legs but there's a scenario in which this team just possesses the hell out of the ball and also Dax and Ozzy in particular I think that they're gonna be able to kick keep and kick some young kids in the midfield. So I wouldn't be worried about that either. Are you worried about your performance for the New Jersey Alliance against Chattanooga Red Bulls?

I just assume you are automatically a part of that squad. The New Jersey Alliance, that's for sure. I am wearing an FC Moment hat. They're not in the competition at this moment. Wow. From checking the schedule, it's unfortunate. But, yeah, no. FC Motown is. They're playing this moment. I'm checking the schedules unfortunate, but um, yeah No town is they're playing Westchester. I'm not gonna for them. Yeah Westchester SC has played their first game ever

It is like a lot of legends from Charlotte Independence, which I love Connor McGlynn in Central Midfield Jack McGlynn's brother who's a fantastic soccer player on his own, right? So that Westchester team I think Tyler Adams is one of the co-owners and whatnot They I'm excited about that group so and I've been around FC Motown for a while So that's one of the ones I'm excited about but what I know New Jersey, and I don't know that you're like as familiar I don't know why you're not suiting up for the Long Island Rough Riders I grew up going to Rough Riders games long. I know writers are an unbelievable franchise I know Tony Mila played for the Long Island Rough Riders. I know this arm is you for the love for Long Island Rough Riders games. Long Island Rough Riders are an unbelievable franchise. Tony Miolla played for the Long Island Rough Riders. Chris Armas played for the Long Island Rough

Riders. It is one of the great franchises in history. That's why I'm saying. I wasn't saying that as a joke. I dare you assume that I was making fun of that. The reason that I'm not is just I'm taking a little bit of time to get back into my flow. I don't want them to not get the full experience. You know what I mean? Because I would only pick up, it would take seven minutes for me

to get a red card in that game. And I think I wanna be in more of a form that I can get there, you know? Yeah, of course, of course. You gotta earn that one. I wanna get the red card in the opening five minutes. That's the goal for what I'm doing. You couldn't catch up with anybody.

Yeah, they're playing Charlotte Independence. We've got Ford Madison playing against a team from Duluth, which is just incredible. There's a Soda City team. I think they're out of Columbia, South Carolina. That's a great name, and I'm stoked about that. In general, this round is like everything's streaming. You get fields that have every range of quality

and experience, and it's like pure March Madness. I love a big event when a thousand things are happening at the same time and you can just bounce around. So last year with like being around the Des Moines Madness, just the relationships and stuff and talking to those guys, their first win came on a field that the game was delayed because a lacrosse game on the field before them took longer than expected. And Sasha was like, this is, can I say it's the first time in my career something like

that's happened. It didn't really happen at Anderlecht. They weren't renting out the Anderlecht Stadium to a local lacrosse team that delayed anything. So magic of the cup. I can't wait. One of the big ones, Ballard FC is hosting Spokane Velocity. That's going to be really fun. You get a pro team going to the Seattle area. Ballard's had one of the best crowds in USL2 over the last few years.

So that's just like one of those fun matchups where you're like, this is one of the major reasons why you want to see this competition is you want these regional opportunities. You want to get these high tent, you know, these tent pole moments for some of the smaller teams to get to host in some really big settings or to host some of the bigger teams. Appalachian FC playing against one Knoxville again. They've come out with a special Squatchiest Jersey in America, which when you see it,

it's uncomfortable unless this is what you look like, then it's pretty normal. And so then it's okay and you can wear it and then you can wear it proud You should go online look at it go online buy one if you get a chance as well and Shout out to friend of the show Susanna Fuller whose husband is gonna be coaching. Let's go, Knoxville I believe they played one game two games so far one I think one game in the USL League one and now they're gonna play in US Open Cup Portland hearts of pine are making their debut in their match on Thursday night against a semi-pro team from the Massachusetts area So that's gonna be a really cool one to follow as well

So we're gonna be back on Thursday to talk us open cup what we've seen what we've enjoyed so far some of the best storylines all of what comes out from this first round of competition and then you have The rest of the USL Championship teams you have the MLS teams that are going to join as well So there's still 30 or 40 more teams that are going to be a part of this competition 16 MLS teams and then you've got the 24 teams from the USL Championship as well that are going to be a part of this competition. 16 MLS teams and then you've got the 2014 from the USL Championship as well that are going to be joining as it goes along. Let's talk Nations League because we already got into it a little bit. We've got the games coming up on Thursday night.

So 7 p.m. Eastern Time is USA against Panama. All of these are at SoFi Stadium in LA. So that's the opening game of the doubleheader. And then Canada against Mexico is scheduled for 1030, which will be a little bit pending penalty kick potential and all of that. But we'll kick off around that time as well. So you'd expect it to be somewhat loud at SoFi Stadium for a Canada, Mexico Nations League semi-final. That's just a shot in the dark for me guessing there. Let's start with USA against Panama. Like what's your number one thing?

What are you looking for expecting? Like what goes through your mind? I want to see a good performance. Like this isn't the first technically competitive game on the schedule for Mauricio Pochettino But this is a different level than then kind of the previous bits like like to get to this stage It's gonna be dip like Panama are a good team But it's a team that obviously the United States are expected to beat No other concrete team has won this tournament since it was created three for three for the USM and say Pochettino that that's the expectations and and this is a guy he would tell you the same thing right like dude is a winner He wants to be a winner like he knows that we're out here to win trophies and do his game so like the

obvious one is is the result and then obviously the performance comes with that and then more on the micro sense who starts who like this is again these are games of consequence they're not cope America it's not the World Cup right it's not World Cup qualifying but it's still games of consequence and something that I think this group is gonna have a lot of pride for there are a lot Of players that have been on all these iterations You know you look at like Pulisic, Weya, McKennie like these guys are gonna just be desperate to win this to Matt Turner So I think that there's gonna be a lot of pride in the group and I'm excited about that

Who are the combinations that Pochettino goes with in this first game and then hopefully into a final against Mexico or Canada So in like that's where I'm gonna be looking but again macro. It's about how does this team compete? How does this team perform? I Think all of that super fair. I think it's also interesting in the super basic I appreciate that you gave me a little inflection in your voice. I didn't say anything there I think it's also interesting in the context of Panama are a really good barometer. They have set the level right now, probably right outside the US and Canada, because I don't know that you can say Mexico with their performances, of what the best in CONCACAF is.

And they have done so in which you are seeing consistent performances under Tomas Christensen and a style. So like now we kind of can set, okay, how does the US react to a team that has their compact shape that Panama has, that has the confidence in possession that Panama has, that they has the ability to exploit overloads and hit you in big switches.

Like we know who Panama is, and we know what they've looked like in big games over the last three years, which has been stepping up to the level and letting other teams shoot themselves in the foot and being able to get through tough moments and get out the other side. And so in all of that, now we get to see

what does Pochettino do? What does he build into it? What are they seeing on tape that they're able to get to players to say, we think there are advantages here and there. We think if you're able to play quickly players to say we think there are advantages here and there we think if you're able to Play quickly through central midfield in our build out that then you can get on the other side of Annabel Godoy And then you could charge at the back line like there's space in all of this and I think

Watching the team play in that setting I think will be really interesting for like the first time because January camp wasn't really like that and Jamaica has been up and down with their performances and like This is a different style of game as well as the pressure you talked about in the environment and all of that And so I think all of that will be really fun to see and then what the players come out saying on the back end Whatever the result is of like how preparation was how the experience was to come into camp for a big game To do all the media to get on the field under pochettino for the first time ever and all of that We have the question in the chat already. Who do you think starts in goal?

I was gonna ask you like turn when the lineup comes out. What are you looking for first? Is that your number one question mark for position? no, because I understand the concerns of Matt Turner not playing but like His performances with the national team. There was a bit of a dip at a point, but I just trust him. I just trust him more than Schulte and Stefan. Stefan has had a fantastic start to the season for Colorado. And if this was two friendlies or if this was the earlier round for Nations League, I think you split the games and I think you give them both a chance. But I think for Nations League, Matt Turner has earned it throughout his body of

work. I know it's a different coaching staff, so maybe they don't feel beholden to that. But for me, it's Matt Turner. My number one question has to do more so with the midfield, I think. What is the shape? Is it going to be the 4-2-3-1, 4-2-3, or will it be more of a 3 at the back? I'm not totally sure. And then, you know, Johnny Cardoso is reportedly out of the squad due to an injury which is unfortunate because that was one I was looking at he's in incredible form with Real Betis

and how do you pick a handful of Todd Adams Johnny Moussa like I can weigh more on the wing right but if maybe that's a three at the back and he's playing wing right all of these things that was what I was more looking forward to I'm sure you're going to talk about Dagon Luna so I'll preemptively talk about Tanner Tessman. He's in a really really good way with Leon right now He's really settled in and he's thought he was starting Europa League games over in Imanja Matich like he is firmly a first-choice starter. Yeah, and With this national team. I think that he has a lot of upside that we aren't talking about because a lot of it's gone to Johnny Cardoso, I think Tanner Tessman is another option. I think

the Tanner Tessman fits next to Tyler Adams better than Johnny Cardoso does because they do different things. But so does Johnny and Tyler, right? I think that Johnny does a, I think Tyler's world-class traits are obviously in defensive transition and, and, and do like ground covering all that. Johnny Cardoso, if you look at his best performances with Real Betis, it's his defensive work, right? So I'd rather have Tanner Tessman next to Tyler Adams to have a better range of passing. The other piece about it is we've seen a million of these games, set pieces are going to be a factor. Set pieces are going to be a huge part of it. Tanner Tessman brings you a different element in that with his size and his athleticism.

And so that's another piece that you bring in and just, I think in terms of how you're weighing who you want in there. I will be stoked about Diego Luna. I don't know how much Diego Luna's gonna play. I think everyone's talking about it because we're all excited about it. And you also get excited about prospects

as they try and break in. But like you are talking about, I think for the most part, a very established group here. Like this is a healthier group than we've seen even with the center forward issues and some of the center back stuff and questions in goal, which by the way, I agree with you. I think to me it's less Matt Turner's earned it and more he hasn't lost it yet. Like even not playing in club, he hasn't done anything at national team that's lost it for him and he has continued to perform when not playing at club at the national team level. And so I think at some point you need something that forces him out to give someone you need someone to

give an injection and a rib and have a thing wherever we started this show is where we end it now for a way to uh and it's also at SoFi so it's perfect it's like basically the LA Chargers this whole thing comes full circle look at us right in a book right in a novel in the middle of the show. I think Luna obviously you're talking about a sub if you need a goal but I would be surprised if they're chasing the goal in this first game and then you get to the second game and you don't know what game states look like. So I would be surprised if he pushes Wayne if he does though it excites me for a million reasons. One being I love Diego Luna and I want to watch him play. Two, that means Mauricio Pochettino really gave him the shot in January, watched him play, has watched him

in MLS which has not been by the way against the best competition like RSL for all their struggles as a club have not played the top teams as they've opened this season up. The Seattle game may be the one outlier except it was a Seattle team in CONCACF Champions Cup. All of that as well. That means he's really taken account everything that's happened, which I think means the doors fully open for all of them. It has felt that way so far, but like now is our first chance to tangibly see it.

And we're going to see it with Brian White and Patrick Aujamong but that's injury related as well. Like if Diego Luna has earned some time on this team because of what's happened over the last four months and his career then like that's a huge showing from Mauricio Bochacino to say I'm watching everything and everyone has the opportunity. Yeah and like look with Diego Luna's on this squad ahead of Brendan Aaronson and ahead of Paxton Aaronson and ahead of I don't have a couple other options, but like particularly Brendan somebody that's been in this team Consistently over the years like Diego Luna is directly in ahead of Brendan Aaronson So it does show like you said that he's earned this and to your point of if he if he's getting actual real minutes

That would mean to me that that he's killing it in training so that would be another one another place I'm looking at is oh can I do huh can I do I was gonna ask you who like behind Josh sergeant and I know that this is a tainted Jerry pool here but behind Josh sergeant like do you see Ajaman or Brian White being kind of the first sub or whatever it is beyond that? I think it'll depend on the game. My my guess would be it's Ajaman right now. Like he was the starter in January. He The reason he is going to play here and the reason that people are so in love with him is what we saw this weekend He is for a player of his size who has pretty good holdup play. He's got a lead speed and

for a player of his size who has pretty good hold up play, he's got a lead speed and he can shoot with both feet and make decisions and cut players at that speed. And so if they are leading, he's like the perfect piece to come on and just finish the game off in transition. And then if you're trailing and you're dumping crosses into the box, he's also a huge option.

Brian White might have the advantage there because of what he does, but Ajamong's's not you're not concerned about all Jamal's ability to get on the end of crosses and all of that. So I think that's where he's probably a half step ahead as well as he has a brighter future because he's a little bit younger. And so if you're having that consideration in here as well, you should. But I would like to say how excited I am to see Josh Sargent be healthy and play center forward for this team. Josh Sargent's an unbelievable soccer player. He's showing what he can do as a finisher. He's showing what he can do in different positions. But like his ability

to drop off the front line and create and connect with wide players like a Christian, Pulisic and a Timothy Weah and whoever else it ends up being is like something we very rarely have seen in the United States. And so to have him finally be healthy in the prime of his career, scoring goals coming into a moment like this, like he hasn't really had it. Like he hasn't had the chance to be healthy

as a fully fledged professional and make a difference for the national team. And so I'm excited for him to get this opportunity. And then honestly, I don't even care who it is behind him Like I'm gonna be screaming my head off whether Brian White or Patrick OJEMON comes into this game Me too. Me too. I at that point on sergeant. I think that's that is the biggest picture thing I'm looking at just because so Copa America I think he would have been the starting center forward if he was available

It's like it an ankle injury again kind of came at the worst time. I was very surprised he was able to get himself fit enough to be on that roster. I just assumed that that's like so credit to him for that. But it is just unfortunate the timing that that continues to happen with these injuries and when he's unavailable. But like that was particularly a time where Baligan wasn't playing great at the club level. Like that spot that it seemed like Balgun had won, that ground was a little bit shakier, and Josh Sargent was in excellent form at that time as well. Even better right now. So getting to see him in this group unquestionably as long as he doesn't get an injury in training,

he is the starter and he is the guy that comes with both a boost to the player itself, but also a big responsibility. Like, hey dude, you're the nine. Go score goals or go have a good performance and if not kind of was something up but like this isn't like a man what I have to do to prove that I should be the guy I need to beat somebody I like no no like this is your time this is your spot and here's probably some upwards of 180 minutes like go ahead.

Yeah he got I think he started one think it was the first ever Nations League but he was not informed he was not fully fit like it was the first ever Nations League, but he was not informed. He was not fully fit. Like it was not who he can be at his best and now he will be. So that's for the US. US against Panama, it's gonna be an awesome game. As I said at the start of this,

like Panama has found their feet at this level and they are impossible. They are hard to beat. They will not beat themselves. Like you have to stretch yourself and win. In the other game, cause we just got the question from Up The Loons about Canada, Canada will not beat themselves. Like you have to stretch yourself and win. In the other game, cause we just got the question from up the loons about Canada, Canada facing off against Mexico.

This is such a huge moment for both these programs. For Canada, they need like a in tournament tangible result to say we are at this level to compete at the world's cup, to compete, to go further than we did last time. They won qualifying, they have not won a competition. They got to the final two years ago in this, but they beat Panama in the semifinal because the U S and Mexico matched up. So to beat Mexico in LA, that is as big as it gets.

And Canada has had results like this. They've had performances like this. This is a huge chance to do it under Jesse Marsh in a big match. And so to do it here would be massive. And Mexico like they're looking to get right they're looking to prove that they have an opportunity next year because it has all gone wrong for this Mexico national team going into a World Cup that they are co-hosting alongside Canada and the US the question is who do we see in goal for Canada Maxime Craipaugh struggling to be the full-time starter for? Portland and on the flip side Dane Sinclair has been very special outside of the final 15 minutes against sporting Kansas City for this Minnesota team

Craypo has been the starter for Canada coming into this Dane Sinclair got opportunities in the last camp as well Who do you think gets the start here? Oh? I would lean Dane St. Clair. Just because of all the reasons you laid out, I wouldn't be surprised if Maxime Crippo is starting because of what, particularly, like his performances of the national team are gonna be unbelievable.

But I think at this stage, it's a different spot than the Matt Turner, Zach Steffen argument, just because I think that those are just two different things. And for me, I think it's going to be close, but I'd probably be leaning Dane St. Clair. There's not a bad answer in this, because I think you're talking about two players who have shown they're up for big moments. I say this all the time with Maxime Cripot, and I still feel it right now. He plays better in big games than he does in the regular season. Like he shows up in huge moments in club and in national team and so for that reason I would start him in this

game because I think he's been there a little bit more than Dane St. Clair. He started in MLS Cup finals. He's been there on the national team but Dane St. Clair started both games against Suriname in the last window. And if you're doing what I said about Matt Turner, he hasn't lost the spot. He hasn't done anything on the club level or on the national team level to lose the spot. And so that's the tough part. I still watch Minnesota and I don't think their line plays as high that Dane St. Clair

has shown that he is the true sweeper keeper if you need it where Maxime Crépeau has more experience in that so I would probably lean Max and my guess would be Dane St. Clair is the one who gets the start for this one it's one of the few questions for this Canada team because a lot of this other team picks itself right Alfonso Davies Jonathan David I think Kyle Lahren still has that spot right now. Stephen Asakio, like there's so much talent in this group. There's a few other spots up for grabs. I hope Ali Ahmed is in the conversation for one of those

because I think he's done enough. Jacob Schaffelberg is a guy who has not been playing. He's been a huge part of this team. Jesse Marz has to make a decision now of like, am I going to take club minutes and form or am I going to go with guys whose attributes fit my style? And we haven't really seen him be stuck with that yet. Yeah. I think that's interesting going also to the individual front. Like Daniel Jepsen

is here for his first appearances with Ken. I think that's really, really exciting. Like looking at the like forward forward, these attacking players, it's super exciting. It's gonna be difficult to get all of the minutes for them because, again, Kyle Aaron, Johnson, Davis, they're forwards, Tani Oluwase, I'm very much looking forward to this team, and they should be favorites against Mexico.

I know that it'll feel like a road game because of its insofi, and that's never easy, but the differences of where these two programs are like Canada and they carry themselves with the swagger that they should be the favorites and I know that that's how they're going to walk into that stadium and I think that those are a couple of the things that I'm mostly looking forward to here. Nika four says Promise David or Jebesson who has a bigger impact both of them are looking for their first gaps. Yeah I I would say Jebison as well, although Promise has been playing a ton. He's been with Union, Saint, whatever. I don't know. This is your part of the world

So I'm not as experienced Belgium, Germany all that All that area. That's exciting. That's exciting as well. I didn't mean to make that sound dismissive. No, no But I think I think Jebison's probably a step ahead and like will probably be that impact sub as a forward to get them The experience in minutes in a way that's manageable Attention this has been two weeks You can tell Like yeah, this Canada team is really good and they have a lot of like again man like just getting to have some of the guys that who have graduated through MLS and go back to Europe like

It's like seeing an old friend when you get to see Alistair Johnson again in Canadian colors getting to see moist bomb beta welcome back I miss you. How are you doing? How's France all that stuff right? It's part of the 2023 MLS super Jeff by the way moist bomb Tays on Buchanan back from injury. Now he's at Villarreal. We're gonna see Jacob Schaufelberger against Goss's curse get the This is like me with technology. It's you in the fire department. Well then he does the full announcement.

There you go. We'll be on site. We're taking lunch. They always tell you what time they're taking lunch. I appreciate that. Just go take lunch, it's okay. Maybe they're looking for people to say, hey, do you want some company for lunch? I don't need to know. So, on the list you were saying,

Ismael Kone is one that I am ecstatic to see. He has now finally found minutes on the club side. Matthew Schwannier, who of course is a favorite of the show, got the start in the last camp in central midfield. He has proven he can handle that spot. Kone gives you another dimension. It's just the reality. Ismael Kone has the ability to be the best player on the field, even with all of the talent available to Canada and Mexico. When he's on,

Jesse Morrison needs to find a way to like access that part of him. Cause if he does, that's the ceiling for Canada going forward. Um, but that I think is going to be one of those, do we go a little safer to start and then we bring Kone into the game? Or do we start with Kone and we see if we can get off to that fast start and we can open the game up knowing Jesse Marsh? He probably is going to go with the second one because he says you have to press life is what he always says. And if you haven't watched it yet, TSN did an awesome video with him

breaking down tape of Canada Their shape some big moments what they're trying to build. It's like 15 minutes. Jesse's very open with his tactics He always has been he's very good I think with young coaches trying to help them learn it and this is another example of it So I'd recommend everyone go and watch that any last thoughts for us before we get out of here Nothing looking forward to some open cups some international play, here we go. So reminder, we will be back on Friday, instead of Thursday live for this show,

myself and Jordan Angeley will be back tomorrow for our NWSL coverage off the first weekend of action, which was really fun that we got that one back. Then we will be back on Friday working on some special stuff for Thursday, Open Cup related, but that's where we will have all of your reactions for the Nations League games as well as the preview of the final, whoever it may be.

And we are back. Tom is back in the building, back in the country, ready to roll. Enjoy, as he said, all the Open Cup and Nations League. We'll talk to you again very, very soon.