SoccerWise - MLS Edition: USOC & Canadian Champ + Transfer Window News

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

With the domestic cup semifinals in the US and Canada behind us, Gass and Tom will recap the tournaments so far and give you a preview of the US Open Cup and Canadian Championship finals. They'll also cover the weekend's big stories in MLS with Leagues Cup in the rearview mirror. But, first, Tommy Scoops will give us his ideas for how MLS can better sync their transfer windows with the European calendar. He'll also take you into the Ice Cream Shop with updates on some transfer possibilities for US National Team players in Europe, as well as some late-stage outbound transfers in MLS. You can catch Soccerwise live on YouTube, Twitch and Twitter at 2pm ET every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! 6:57 LAFC-SEA USOC Recap 16:16 SKC USOC Final Berth Reaction 25:00 Canadian Championship Semifinal Review 35:25 Ice Cream Shop European Summer Transfer Window 35:41 Details Tanner Tessman's Lyon Transfer 44:10 Issues In US Soccer's Transfer Window Timing 55:35 MLS Weekend Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

What's up everybody welcome back to soccer wise David Goss Tom Bogert with you for this one as we run a little recap US Open Cup Canadian. Open Cup, Canadian Championship, semifinals. Tom, you're back into your wheelhouse with another transfer window you just invented so you could have more to do over the course of the year. And I'm getting ready to go see the tennis, as the gentlemanly and gentlewomanly people say. So we did a little bit of an earlier record today so that we could get it in so that i could get 12 hours of live tennis in over the course of the day i am going to be on the grounds of the u.s open on the outer courts just smelling and tasting the experience it's it's the greatest sporting event in the world that's what people say you're so cultured bro um i want to just riff for three minutes making fun of you for being high society but like i'm really jealous like open uh

the u.s open is something that i really want to to go to um i never i like only lived in the city for one year and then i was in hoboken which is right across the river for a few years after that and and um neither the pandemic happened and uh i never made it there and i'm very disappointed in myself for it but goss have you listened to do do you ever listen to Pablo Torre Finds Out? It's a really good podcast. He did one last year about the U.S. Open that apparently there is one specific court, Court 17, that smelled like weed all of the time, and they did an investigation into that. And apparently it has improved, and they did boots on the ground journalism. And they made a change in the world.

And now it smells like all the other courts. So just want you to be aware of that. You let me know what it smells like. I will give you an update. It wouldn't be shocking to me because Court 17 is on the edge of the grounds, which means people outside the grounds, their waft would come in to Court 17. I'm a big fan of court 17 alongside the grandstand. It's one of my two favorite courts at the U.S. I walked into a wheelhouse here.

I will be there a lot today. I've already got my schedule locked in. I'm already stoked about it. And we are excited about all of the people that joined us yesterday for our happy hour last night in through the first half of the Seattle LAFC US Open Cup game. So thank you to all of you out there who are our MVP level supporters. Thank you to everyone who came for that one. We appreciate Justin teaching us, educating us about hard Mountain Dew and the potential that exists there for Tom to accomplish two things he wants in life, both drinking and drinking Mountain Dew.

He can now fuse those things without actually having to do any extra work in making a Mountain Dew cocktail. And it was a big moment for you, and I feel disgusting just talking about it still. Yeah. The context here is that for our happy hour, instead of having an adult beverage, I figured it'd be fun to just have a radioactive colored mountain dew and that sparked about 25 minutes of conversation about how hard mountain dew and i was had a huge smile on my face the entire time and goss was just absolutely horrified and questioning every decision of our friendship and of our of our partnership on soccer wise here and i enjoyed every part of that too how uncomfortable you were i will um say

so laurie lindsey who has come on our show on the nwsl side she's one of the apple tv broadcasters one of the big people that covers nwsl the first time we met she rolled in with like a 32 ounce of mountain dew no way to the studio are you kidding me we were we were doing like i think it was a night of open cup games we had never met before and i was like i'm not gonna lie that's disgusting i have a specific play i'm not a huge soda drinker but like fine whatever do what you do i don't care mountain dew specifically feels more gross than other sodas yes so then when you made it blue yeah and then you talked about throwing alcohol in there it felt uh felt a little bit much for me but uh you know to each their own god's working on all of us we're

all finding our own path in the world can i just say as we move along laurie lindsey being the one that came in with a 32 ounce mountain dew is such a shock to me the fittest human being you've ever met yeah 100 and like i think was on american wart ninja warrior like and didn't even train for it just like he's capable of it she's the best man that is awesome that makes me like her even more and and and i didn't know that that was possible she's the best and laurie was on the call with chris whittingham for the u.s open cup semi-final lafc against seattle uh we'll dig into that one canadian championship the is it the european transfer window that's closing or is it the global trend like how what term am i supposed

to use yeah is azerbaijan's window still open is the philippines window still open that's how i blanket it i'll just say most like the top five leagues leagues close on Friday. And then there's a couple hangnails. So all the money turns off. Yeah, like Belgium is, I think, September 5th. But like in years past, like this happened, like Turkey's extends a little bit. But if you're in European competitions, I don't know what it is last year, but in years prior, it was like one day after. So even if like Turkey's window was open for an extra week after England's,

like Fenerbahce and Besiktas, like, whatever teams were playing in Europe, still had to adhere by the normal. Like, when Diego Rossi went from LAFC to Fenerbahce, like, that was a thing. Like, I was like, oh, like, this is, like, they don't know if they're going to be able to get it done in time. Like, why? There's six days left in Turkey's window. Like, tell him to take his time.

It's like, no, like. Because they have to register the player for you. Got it. Okay. So, like, technically, if they didn't do that in time, he could still be registered to play in the Turkish league but couldn't play in European competitions until the winter. Right.

So, all I have to say is your confusion is fair. Mexico's is open for, I believe, an extra week. And then there's a couple of random ones like that. I think Argentina was supposed to close two weeks ago and they just decided to keep it open. I don't know. Leave it open, man. Open door policy.

Stay open to the world. In all of that, we will discuss, of course, Tanner Tessman. Probably the best place kicker in Ligue 1 now. Probably the best in all of France with his ability off the tee. And now he is going to be a part of things in league on. So we'll talk about that and some other moves, some other stuff that you're working on in our ice cream shop. And then it's a pretty interesting weekend of MLS action.

Obviously we're getting into playoff push and all of that, but there's some big games coming up that I'm excited to talk about. So we'll dig into that as well before we get out of here for your labor day weekend in the united states everywhere else i don't know hopefully you all took off monday as well uh let's start with open cup and let's start out at starfire it was an incredible atmosphere as it always is for seattle open cup games it is the coolest thing i think in like american soccer lore right now, that Seattle hosts these games here no matter the stakes. In a semifinal, they're still hosting it in a place where you're just looking at the evergreen trees,

hanging over the goals, and it feels like anyone could just wander in off the street and watch this game. Obviously a place of great lore. Clint Dempsey tore up a notebook at this field. There's been some huge open cup moments because it's a meaningful competition for this club and their history. And it was not a good one for Seattle LAFC coming off the league's cup loss. They win one zero off a Dennis Buonga penalty kick in about the 82nd minute off a handball from a set piece. It was a Bogus shot that went off. I believe, Alex Roldan's hand.

And then the penalty kick called, upheld, and then Buonga puts it in the corner to get the 1-0 win. We did a little bit about LAFC's struggles to get over the line on Tuesday. You cannot deny, one, how monumental this victory was. Like, slightly rotated rotated lineup coming off that experience playing in a final on Sunday you now travel to play an away game in this atmosphere to be able to not just get over the line they were by far the better team throughout this game they dominated this game there wasn't really moments where it felt like they would lose you have

Morris put it in the back of the net in an offside position late to tie it that's the closest Seattle ever looked though like this was gutsy from LAFC and I think it was a big moment for their season yeah I agree for sure and now they're hosting another final so we go back to talking earlier in the week about how disappointing it is at LAFC or losing in finals or all you can't beat Columbus crew on the road well they're in another final and that is worth celebrating. They get to host it. They're going to be the favorite against supporting Kansas city. And like gutsy is the right word. Like that was a pretty big letdown.

It's probably unfair, but like, they put a lot into that league's cup finals. They're super intense game and obviously super disappointing for that team to lose. And then they go from Columbus to Seattle to go play an open cup semi-final at Starfire not at Lumen Field and against what should be a very motivated very hungry Seattle Sounders team to exact some sort of revenge from getting waxed in the League's Cup quarterfinal by LAFC a week earlier or whatever it was and as you said like LAFC with a better team they were deserved to go

through there was a couple moments in the first half where seattle scrambled really well defensively but like again this was lafc's game lafc they rotated a bit they didn't look like they just played a super intense final a few days and then traveled cross country a few days before and like i feel like i i'm saying similar things about lefc like time and time again but like i don't i don't want it to be lost this is abnormal this shouldn't be expected this was such a spot for a letdown for like a oh like we could make 100 excuses for why they didn't show up for this game or why seattle got through right and like it just didn't apply and lefc gets through and it's super impressive and they still have a chance to add to their trophy cabinet and they have a really great chance to do so at home against

sporting kent city in the final next month through about 55 minutes of this game i checked lafc were at 60 possession on the road you know against this seattle team as you said that would be pretty motivated for this one you look at the rotation for lafc and there are not a lot of teams that can rotate the pieces that they can rotate to bring in a tim tillman who has been in the national team conversation probably shouldn't have been but he's still up there as he would be a starter for pretty much any mls team kike lavera didn't start in the league's cup final he comes on obviously kai kamara has been very good this year um compost got the start in this one so they have the ability to do this that other teams don't there's a few

things going on here one is we have to compliment lafc and their ability to make these finals like that i said it about philly and i and i feel the same about lafc not because they're in the same situation philly obviously spend less than lafc and they've been hamstrung in other ways and continue to perform lafc have not been hamstrung in the same ways or have chosen themselves to do it but they've continued to perform in big moments and they've continued to make all these finals that is like alone impressive we have to talk about seattle here and say at some point they are who they said they were they are fifth or sixth in the west that puts them 12th or 13th in major league soccer they are in our minds one of the biggest teams in mls they have not been

that team for three years now and at some point we have to give that up in saying like oh how tough a win is it at seattle maybe it's not that tough a win at seattle anymore not like that's not the knock to lafc that's like we have to accept seattle's place in this league at some point and stop trying to push them into well if they get in they can make a run because you never want to play seattle that hasn't been true now since the 2021 CCL. Yeah, I think this is what we were talking about on Tuesday. Like, when we did the sports radio topic of who does this game mean more for. It was very clearly Seattle to me in that, like, you cannot fake or feign to be in this tier if you consistently cannot beat LAFC.

And, like, on this day, like, again, again, I think LAFC are the better team, but hey, they get a penalty, they score. It could have theoretically went either way because that can happen a lot in one-off games. But again, what is this? 10 games in a row they can't beat LAFC? I just don't have a ton more to say. No, you're right. They are very clearly

in that second tier. And this game for Seattle against Portland that we're going to talk about later that's coming up on the weekend that's low-key a pretty big game for like it's always a big game but like seattle kind of have to win one of these big games at some point soon right like so i'm totally with you like this isn't this isn't a contender but like i didn't think that they were last week like nothing last night changed my mind and so maybe like i'm not the right person to ask about this just because I just didn't think that they were this team.

I think that they're in a one-game sample size, like anything can happen, particularly in MLS. But it would take a whole lot for them to advance even a couple rounds, let alone to MLS Cup. The other thing I walked away from this game is I think LAFC are the best team in the Western Conference. I think they're favorites in the West. I think they might be the fourth best team in the East. There's a clear gap between the two conferences. And I think that's where you walk away from a

week in which LAFC lose to Columbus for the second time in a final in nine months. And you say, okay, this is their standing in this league. and then they go and pretty handily or easily beat Seattle in this moment in a semifinal on the road. And sort of how do you match those two things is they're sort of two different leagues they're playing in. They're two different setups. The Columbuses, Miamis, and Cincinnati's of the world are in one space, and I don't think the Galaxy are in that conversation.

I don't think anyone in the West is in that conversation. And with LAFC's inability to beat those teams in big moments, they have now pushed themselves below that. So there's no one in the West, I think, that gets into that conversation. Fortunately for them, the way the league is set up, it doesn't matter. They only need to win one game. And the possibility is they could do it at home or the Galaxy could do it at home if they made it to a final

because it's so tough to get out of the east um but that is something that i'm going to be watching over these last few weeks is sort of to see that gauge of where these two conferences stand and where the the hierarchy of these two conferences stand because you you know we get the question all the time i think i did a long thing about uh we had a mailbag question which if you want to be a part of the mailbag, join the Patreon. You get into the discord. You get there where someone asked me to match up every single team East versus West in their standings and play a playoff match and see which conference would win more. It's tough for me to say it wouldn't be the East right now.

Like even as you dig down into it and you go and look at Orlando in seventh, Charlotte in sixth, NYCFC in fifth. On the flip side, you've got Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle in those spots. Like you might take an Eastern Conference sweep there in those matchups. And that's ignoring the fact that the top four are clear victory for the East right now. And I think the three supporters shield favorites or pushers are going to be in the Eastern Conference coming up. And I think you saw that this week. You saw the difference basically through the, let's say, transitive property of LAFC playing in both of those setups and playing in both of those games. And Seattle now left to play for is just the regular season and their chance to try and make one last run with this. Pedro de la Vega came off the bench, wasn't able to make the difference. It's a directionless team right now, especially in that final third. And so there's still strength down the spine. As we said, they only concede one off a penalty, but never looked like winning, had no big chances in this game. A lower XG.

It's a tough performance for them in this big moment, as it was for Indianapolis in D11. I want to apologize for trying to make this exciting. I want to apologize for cursing you and for giving you the David Goss special. This is what all my teams do in these big moments. After, I believe, a two-hour and 44-minute weather delay, this game kicked off in Kansas City between Indy 11 and Sporting KC. Johnny Russell scored 14 minutes later. SKC had 70% possession in the first half. Augie Williams

had one look, but otherwise Indy 11 struggled to complete passes. They struggled to push SKC's offensive shape where they wanted it. And SKC scored the second in the 35th minute. And this game was just over, Tom. And we talked about SKC coming out of the Orlando game. They look the best they've looked all year. And Indy 11 just did not look up for this big moment. Yeah, I mean, look, it was a second-tier team

playing a top-division team. Again, you would say this in England, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, right? Like, it's no disrespect for Indy 11, but, like, this is how you should expect the game to play out if you're sporting Kansas City. So, good for them for doing it early, and, like, the longer these games go at nil-nil

the more doubt the more pressure the more uh-oh what's going on could they get a goal oh no my god they have a corner kick could this really be happening and that kind of starts to snowball so well done to SKC for getting it done early and like you see the quality of Johnny Russell he still has those moments man he's still a super fun player to watch like when it all kind of comes together like that that's an awesome goal that he scored and again like that's the difference between a designated player winger or i don't know if he's technically still at dp but you get my point right um versus a second tier team like that's a special moment that wasn't a pattern of play that wasn't an overwhelming team move that was oh 22 yards out johnny russell has a free space he's gonna take a touch and score

like well done skc like they did what they needed to do they didn't leave any questions it wasn't oh, 22 yards out, Johnny Russell has a free space. He's going to take a touch and score. Well done to SKC. They did what they needed to do. They didn't leave any questions. It wasn't a difficult game. It was pretty ho-hum, and they passed this test with flying colors. And again, a game that they should win, a game that they should have handled pretty easily, but should have does not always translate to it does,

particularly for the Sporting Kansas City season. So kudos where kudos are due. I went to the Soc wise depth charts and Johnny Russell is no longer a designated player Radoja is along with Shallowy and Alan Pulido uh Pulido got the start in this one which was good for this team as you said this team has match winners they've got talent it is all about their defensive ability and their defensive shape. Daniel Chalery, I think, scored his first goal in three months on the weekend. And then SKC was able to turn around and do it once again in this match, which is obviously huge. Then on Wednesday night, with LAFC's victory, Sporting Kansas City qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2025

because LAFC have already qualified via League's Cup with Seattle losing and KC making it to the final. They automatically received what is now the open spot because LAFC, even if they were to win the final, would not take up that spot. So Sporting Kansasansas city back where they belong baby back with the big dogs getting ready for a big taluka match in which they'll lose 7-0 and maybe get to see kiki olivera yeah they will see kiki olivera in in september true

that is true they will see him in the u.s. Open Cup final. It will be, we believe, September 24th or 25th. It will be at BMO in L.A. So LAFC, the chance to host a final and try and rewrite this history. It'll be their seventh final, I believe, in the last five years. They have only won one of them. That was MLS Cup at home. This is probably as good a chance as they've had besides that to be able to have your fans your supporters and you're playing a team in kansas city that currently is not a playoff team um is a big moment for skc things trending in the right direction

logan and dembe got his first start which is a big moment danny rosero back from injury as well i mentioned palito getting the start so a lot of of their injured pieces coming back if you had to pick here tom do they make another run like last year and sneak into the playoffs no i i just don't see it like i feel bad like going super negative after you know what should be a super positive day super positive week sporting kenton city gets to cup final but like i'm just gonna answer the question honestly no i don't think this team is very good and no i don't think that they're gonna make the playoffs i don't think it's that negative because i think it's the truth and i think it's definitely the reality uh that they're living in looking at their run-in towards the end of the year their next two games they go to red

bull in seattle they play colorado and minnesota they go to Red Bull in Seattle. They play Colorado and Minnesota. They head to St. Louis, and then they finish up with LAFC at home and Dallas on the road. I mean, if you're bad, everyone is good compared to you. So there are no easy games, and that's just like the reality. Last year was a surprise. And then last year we came out of it, and everyone said, oh, this is who they are. Like, this is the team. It's Johnny Russell. It's Alan Pulido. It's a team that controls the game, that has multiple goal

scoring options. This is Sporting Kansas City. And the first half of the year was sort of the anomaly. You can't say that anymore. Now, over the course of 18 months, they've played poorly for 14 of them. They've played well for four. you have to take the numbers there and say that that this is a team that it is outside of a playoff spot in major league soccer and now they would have to go on a crazy run to get in once again so i would be surprised if they did it if they win open cup it's their fifth open cup win it would tie them for first with some other you know legendary clubs i'm struggling to say i don't think it saves the season when I would say that for a lot of teams

because they've done it before, similar to I think what I'm about to talk about with Vancouver. It's a better year to have won a trophy for this club, but it just feels like nothing's changing with this team as they struggle. And I don't know how to put that together with, but but they're gonna win one of the available trophies to them yeah so i was about to ask you like does this make this season a success if they were to beat lafc in the final and you've kind of indicated no right yes great so i i would lean yes just because like again i totally agree with all of your points.

If they win against LFC, that doesn't mean things are fixed for next year. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect and it's going to be great. But what it does mean is you want hardware, even in a negative season in the league play, in League's Cup as well. I know that they got out of the group, but two out of three teams get out of the group, then they got murdered by Columbus.us um all that i think is all true but the way i would view the season if you come away with a trophy i think it's a success and i might sound hypocritical because i don't know if that's really the case for canadian championship while it's like that

like just based on the math if it's one out of three chance i think it's a little bit different and you know you could point to that there was eight senior MLS teams in this competition this year. So, yes, it was watered down in the Open Cup than it normally is. But I don't know. I just think that winning a trophy and winning this trophy is what makes the season, even calling it a success, it feels like strong.

But I would take winning a trophy and missing the playoffs and finishing seventh, getting bounced in the first round, and not doing anything in cup competitions because, like, cool, you finished seventh in the West. That's sweet. Like, enjoy your first-round exit. Yeah. Kevincho's in the chat right now trying to muster that energy.

Any Sporting Kansas City fans out there, let us know what you think. Let us know what you think. Let us know your reactions. I mean, this is a nice other thing to think about because now you've got a month leading up into a final to be excited, to be focused on. You play that final and kind of straight into decision day pretty much. So maybe that's enough to sort of change the vibe around this group. And then you go into next year with a cocky calf spot but i think the frustrations we were getting from sporting fans earlier in the year mainly being that peter vermes has been in control of every aspect of this club it's a club that has descended in what they're capable of and none of that has changed i don't know that winning this changes that for everyone

after this one so that's something to look at that's something to think about going through this i think skc are off this weekend as well so a chance for them to get rested going into the stretch run in mls in canadian championship action tfc came in trailing 2-1 against forge they won 1-0 so they won on away goals at BMO. It was an oddly physical, maybe not oddly. These two teams don't like each other at this point. It has been made evident. There is some regional rivalry. Forts have come after this team, obviously winning that first leg.

Insigne gets the winner. After that, he runs over to the bench and he does this celebration. If you're not watching, you can go to YouTube and watch us, or maybe we'll clip it out and put it up. But he does a celebration of like clown that I'm listening to. Bobby Smear and Yoda said he did it to the bench because he had gotten in an argument with the bench off a tackle near the bench that he got in a little bit of a fight with one of the forge players.

And then he apparently turned and was saying some stuff. Smear noticed that it wasn't really directed at me um apparently john herdman didn't shake his hand after the game so some of it was probably directed at him we know obviously the drone rumors that we've heard now coming out of the first leg in hamilton as well so this game was pure canadian championship this is what you want to see get your timbits out get locked in and get ready for something like this um and tfc are able to hang on to the 1-0 victory they now will travel to vancouver who knocked off pacific 1-0 ryan gauld an early goal in this one 13th minute and unfortunately brian white gets hurt right after that he gets beamed in the face with

a ball his head hits the turf underneath him and he's immediately subbed off so we're hoping for the best for him and Demir Krylock came on in his place and Vancouver able to hang on 1-0 they were never really in doubt they were never really pressured by Pacific and now we get this matchup again I think this is three straight years of Toronto against Vancouver in the Canadian championship. Vancouver have won it twice. Can I do the thing? If John Herdman wins this, is this a good first year for him? If Vanni Sartini wins this, what does it mean for him three years in a row? First of all, I think we should reserve, like you should be noting when john herdman shakes the hand of the other team's coach like i feel like it's noteworthy when he does at this point because

the absence of it is not noteworthy because more often doesn't happen the assumption at this point shaking hand is does a new jersey handshake count where you just go and bump someone when you say f you see you thanksgiving um no yeah so like look i think that this would be like again like teams have different barometers or different stages of either rebuilds or builds or whatever you want to call it evolutions toronto fc if they win canadian championship and sneak into the playoffs like that's an a plus season from where we were sitting this time last year this was the lamest of lame duck teams last year it was a joke watching them

down the stretch when john herdman was named head coach over last fall but like when he was really taken over in the winter by the way it was so bad and john herdman was like oh i'm named head coach on august 30th or whatever it was i'm not gonna start until after the season i'm not taking these l's on my resume this isn't this ain't my team terry dunfield this is your team sorry bro uh and then they lost almost every game down the stretch where this team was looking in january february was oh my god they're gonna be 15th just this is just a transition year take your punches survive in advance you know be building towards something you know a positive year would have been hey we have something here we've gotten

a couple contracts off the books we have the semblance of um a core going forward or at least pieces that could be part of the core like if they were to win a trophy and make the playoffs that would be ahead of schedule in a transition year i think that'd be excellent when you go to vancouver like winning this would be really big for them as well, and getting back to the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Like, if they're in the CCC for 30 in a row, that's really impressive for Vancouver. Now, the difference between them and Toronto in this scenario is, like, it should be celebrated if they were to win this trophy,

but, like, Vancouver's season is going to be defined by if they win a playoff round. And that's just where they are in their evolution. And that's complimentary to them in the sense of like, yeah, their expectations are higher. They should be higher. Like, what are you building towards? And my fear and my critiques of this team all summer were, I just don't think that they're any,

like that they're anywhere close to the top tier in the West. And like, even the middle tier, Like, I have Colorado over them. Like, even we're being super critical of Seattle. If Seattle played Vancouver in a playoff series right now, who would you take? I think I'd take Seattle. Yeah. I don't know about that.

Okay. I think I'd be split 50-50. I don't know. Well, I guess it depends, like, which round, so who gets home games and whatnot. Right, right. If Vancouver got the home game, or two of three, which is ridiculous, I think I might take Vancouver. Yeah, I mean, well, true, fair, right?

And, like, home field plays. But, like, that's kind of my point is that, like, we were just crapping on Seattle and saying, like, you should not look at this. And it's like, I think that they're slightly ahead of Vancouver. And, again, like, that's kind of my point is that we were just crapping on Seattle and saying you should not look at this team. I think that they're slightly ahead of Vancouver. Again, that's easily argued. My whole point is that this is what this team has been for three years. Are they going to take the next step

or are they just going to continue to be like this? Same thing, taking the next step counts in the CONCACAF Champions Cup as well. Can they make a run there? I don't know. That's where I'm at with Vancouver. Winning a trophy should always be celebrated first and foremost i want to continue to come back to that because that's why we do this that's why we're all here but vancouver season is not defined by winning or losing the canadian championship final this year their season is defined by what they do or what they don't do in the playoffs

i think you're right and i think vancouver sort of said that two years ago where they were like this is a great first step saying first that means there's other steps following and it's not you're right. And I think Vancouver sort of said that two years ago where they were like, this is a great first step. Saying first step means there's other steps following and it's not you're not going to continue to just do that every year. And I think it goes in the in the CONCACAF qualifying part of it to the convo we had about Philly last week where it's like, do you even really need like you don't get a ton of money to get into this competition. You have failed to be competitive in that competition. Obviously, you want to put yourself on the biggest stages against the best teams, but for what end at some point for Vancouver? If you have no ability to contend at that level,

and you don't choose to make it a part of your season schedule in which you're going to put all your chips in and fight for the opportunities to get into a semi and a final yeah and again and i understand the logical intellectual path that comes down right but like it's like i was talking to doyle uh about this but with the colorado rapids on extra time on monday and after that conversation like it's obvious to me it's like yeah obviously you always want to play in championships like that's what i got a call from like another uh like a cso at another club they're like yeah i was listening to that they're like you know what what in the hell like why was that even a question right like

we all want to play in the champions yeah like we we like again like we get it like it's going to stretch our roster thin but it's like every single team is desperate for this like every team that has ambitions at least or even mild ambitions like you want to play in this competition so i understand the like conversation point of well will it harm the season like none of these teams are are thinking of it that way all these teams want to be in this competition because it's continental competition you get to play against the big teams and next week to play against the big teams from central america all this like yes it could come detriment to the beginning of your season next year but i a lot of these teams would rather try to figure it out than to be like ah well it's no big deal if we don't make it

i think detrimental to me is different from the fact that like they're not competitive sure like that's the part that's really hard with all of this is just not putting a competitive product on the field in these moments and like i don't know if that's season planning of like coming in and hitting the ground running verse okay we're slowly going to build for the year or if that's purely based on roster spend or like we're getting in the first round yeah for sure um but they got lafc and they lost six zero in 2023 so that's like not acceptable that's not competitive and that's not even who the team is in mls most of the time although they have had some crazy games against l i was gonna say not yet not against lafc it's like that's who they are yeah on the herdman side of things i think you

said it like from where they were a year ago this is where vancouver was three years ago this is year one of a project winning something in something in year one, bringing a trophy home, getting yourself into that competition, being able to get yourself on that stage, that's a big deal. This is a team that's locked in with Insigne and Bernadeschi. They might as well try and win things. There is no reason to say, like, this is a future build. Bernadeschi is on the books through 2027.

Like, you are stuck in this. And they both played well this year. So why not continue to try and push things with them in this group and try and be competitive. And so, yeah, it would be nice for this team to win in year one. And I will say for the white caps, they have made this a huge moment over the last three years.

Like they get, they didn't for the semifinal, but they have built out the finals for big crowds, big atmospheres. They've made it feel like a big game and they have performed and if you do that in front of that crowd your hope is they keep coming back but the problem is if you keep bumping up against that next wall you're going to lose that momentum in your market i think that's what vancouver has been struggling with and that's been the question mark um but this is going to be a fun final once again it went to shootouts two years ago last year was montreal so that was my my bad That's what Vancouver has been struggling with. And that's been the question mark. But this is going to be a fun final.

Once again, it went to shootouts two years ago. Last year was Montreal. So that was my bad. Vancouver hosts Montreal last year. Two years ago, it was like the week I think Insigne signed. He went straight to Vancouver and they ended up going to a shootout. Bob Bradley was coach at the time. And it was a pretty electric game and a pretty electric atmosphere. and I think we'll be hoping for the same in this one.

TFC hosts DC United this weekend, and Vancouver play Austin this weekend, which I think will be a really fun game as well. This was Vancouver's first competitive game in 20 days because they lost in League's Cup, and my guess is they were matched up against LAFC in MLS play this weekend. And that one got moved. And so they didn't have an MLS game over the course of the weekend. And they were off for three weeks. Which is brutal.

And that's one of the really tough parts about League's Cup. And the way it is set up. Alright. Let's move into our favorite part of the show. Let's go into the ice cream shop. I'm already sweating. Even though it's like 10 o'clock in the morning here. The humidity just seeping through into me.

So cool me off here, Tom, and give us the scoops. Yeah, let's start with one that's done. Tanner Tessman officially signed with Lyon this week. I really love this move. I'll start with the details. $6 million euro transfer, so it's like 6.7 million US. Vinicia holding a 10 sell on as well this is venetia's club record sale and the only reason it wasn't double is because his

contract was expiring in a year so the idea was that he was going to leave this summer all part of like venetia were desperate to re-sign him to a new contract but like understood why he was ready to move on particularly with all the teams that were interested. I love the fit in Lyon because they really, really want him. They presented a plan in terms of, like, showing that desire and showing where he fits. Like, Nemanja Matic is on that team, so he can play with Matic, but, like, they're like, yeah, you're also, like, going to be his long-term successor kind of thing, right?

Like, so they see minutes now and in the future, and I think that he's going to fit in France very well. He had, you know, look, he could could have went so i'm trying to backtrack what's the best way there was a ton of teams like a lot of teams in italy in particular we've done a couple yeah but like so the interest was there like all that was real um but what what would happen is like inter milan agreed a fee with venezia and and any deal was contingent on him being loaned and particularly trying to push him to be like to stay at Venezia for another year Tessman like respectfully was like I don't I don't like if I'm leaving I want to leave and like I don't want to go on like sign for another team just go on loan somewhere else

anyway uh and that was a really big sticking point so that's where that one fell through Fiorentina and Roma were in for him Fiorentina agreed to terms with Venezia and like the way it was described to me is that like their contract offer was like a joke and then like when like Testman's camp countered they just never got a reply

and then all of a sudden they see like reports that they signed another center mid or something like that and same thing Roma was in but like kept dragging their feet and like opened the door for Lyon to come in and they sealed it really quickly so that's another like point in the pro column for Lyon is that like they were an adult professional serious club who said we want to sign you agreed a fee and then pretty quickly agreed personal terms with Tessman so like at the end of the window I'm sure it was tough for Tessman and how drawn out this has been and kind of start stop but like i think this is the best like i think this is significantly

better than him going into milan because one you'd be loaned out this season would like not going to be a starter for them immediately even next year if you come back so like kind of what happens your career there uh furiantina would have been cool but like they're always kind of instability and like i just really like this move to the loan. What do you think, Gus? I agree with you. This feels like a stable place to go. Top six or seven team consistently in France.

They're in Europa League as well, so they'll have extra matches for you to be able to get your opportunity to get in. Signing with a team and not being sent out on loan is, I think, ideal at this point, right? Tesman's gotten his minutes. He has gotten experience in Europe. So he is not at the spot where he just needs to get on the field. And now he goes to a place where he can be there and fight for his spot over the course

of the year. If he doesn't play this year, that's a different conversation. Now you open up the door next year and say, OK, maybe a loan makes sense at least half a year, something like that, to try and get some minutes. But get an opportunity to come into a club that wants you and fight for that spot and a club that I think has a clear cohesive style that he can fit into and play inside of so I agree with you I think this is an ideal finish for him and like this would be huge if Tanner Tessman ends up being a starter at Lyon week in and week out that is a massive jump for him in his career,

and that's a massive jump for the USMNT player pool. To have a player like that at that position, being able to get consistent minutes at that level would be a huge bonus. And this is, by the way, sort of what I talk about where I say don't talk about golden generations. There are a lot of good players all across the place that are finding their own paths in their careers and there is a lot of avenues right now for players to be successful i don't think tanner testman four years ago was the guy that you said

well the whole u.s men's national team hinges on him and in a year you could be saying this guy's a starter because he starts week in and week out for a high level league on side yeah i completely agree and like his career path of he spent only a season at dallas um he won minutes pretty straight away i remember talking to people at the club like before the season started it was like a day before they announced tanner tessman's like uh homegrown deal and i was like all right like tell me who's coming out of the second team that we should be that ass like legit like pro potential like mls potential it's like it's like dude it's tasman like people like i i

got that line from a couple people or just like the way that it was delivered it wasn't like ah you know maybe it was just like yeah no we want to talk about tennant tasman and then he quickly proved that he was good for mls and then the venetia move i didn't know if that was premature or not he didn't he wasn't playing a ton like he wasn't like a bench bench player in their serious season but like yeah he really blossomed when they went into Serie B and like particularly last year at a breakout season. So that's been, that's been really cool.

On to the next one. Goss, I'm going to ask you, how's Christian Oliveira doing at Toluca? It's a big move. That's a big move in the landscape of the sport. It's why a lot of people are talking about it. It was super nice that they let him play

for lafc last night it was i thought that was actually really kind of them yeah it is um it it's my journalistic ethics to have to say in this moment that it's going to be a big transfer when it happens um so yeah christian olivera staying at LAFC. There's a reason why I haven't said anything about Mexican league window though. You said open another week. I mean, uh, so it's funny reading the reporting that's gone out like of Toluca are telling people that it's done, uh, just needs a medical. And then all of a sudden last night it was like, Oh, actually LAFC, um, asked for more money.

It's like, well, I thought you thought it was done. And so that doesn't compute. So just between that and Bogush, the Olivera one was a little different, because there was a lot of steam with that. Even I was confused, because I was asking sources, I was like, is this real?

Not saying that nothing's going to happen, but nothing's imminent. That's why he was playing regular big minutes in the League's Cup final and then obviously in this game as well. But the Bogush one It's like, that's why he was playing regular big minutes in the Leagues Cup final. And then, obviously, in this game as well. But the Bogus one is just like, oh, yeah, Celtic are interested in Mateus Bogus. And, like, I've got people asking me, it's just like, dude, do you guys think that Celtic has the money for Matty Bogus? Do you think that LAFC want to let him go right now at the end of the season when they cannot replace him? Like, use some deductive reasoning here.

And then coincidentally Celtic just signed a winger and attacking with something that affects. It's like, Oh, that was pretty clearly like Celtic. Oh, like, look,

we have another target over here. You should agree to our terms. Like that's like, this stuff happens all the time. And that's kind of all I wanted to point out with this. Did you, do you feel like you took your victory lap enough, or do you have a couple extra yards in you?

No, that's it. Okay. Can I actually say this? No. This is an exciting development for MLS that the fake mystery move is now outbound instead of inbound. Like, seriously.

It used to be, oh, well, I don't know, Steven Gerrard might sign in the mls so you if you want to offer him something it has to be bigger hence fake team and then we do an la connection the fact that it's the other direction where it's like oh you think we want your player for our europa league or champions league run well we might sign an LAFC player instead, so you better lower your offer. Hell yes. Let's go. That actually got me hyped. I am here for this.

Good spin. Thank you. I love where your head's at. PR through and through on this one. Justice for Major League Soccer fake outbound moves going forward. Sorry to Frankie Amaya for not being able to play with Kike Oliveira. I'm sure that's the whole reason that he went down there. Speaking of hacks, Tom, is Miguel Almiron going to Fulham?

I don't know. I mean, the reports are that they had, they're considering it, and then reports out of England today said that they're not going to make a move for Miguel Almiron. So it looks like Miguel Almiron is staying put at Newcastle. And what if MLS's transfer window was aligned with Europe's? Would Newcastle really turn down, like, again, the initial bid was $10 million plus, I believe,

$2 million in add-ons from Almiron for Charlotte. Would they really turn that down right now when it's clear that no other offers are coming in? Like, there's a real scenario in which Miguel Almiron is playing for Charlotte FC in, like, a week if in which mikhail marone is playing for charlotte fc in like a week if the transfer windows were aligned yeah uh you wrote this piece up i believe for give me sport we talked about a little bit on the show a few weeks ago while you were still working on it um and i i think the synopsis of what you came back with was not only would it be helpful

but it is very possible that yes u.s soccer could split the 16 weeks of windows that they have in a different way to make this work. Yeah, so MLS CSOs are really, really pushing for it. A lot of people I talk to on background and then quotes have come pouring out from Chris Albright, from Zoran Kreneta, from Kurt Schmidt, and David Lee. I spoke to before the window and he was kind of saying something similar, that this is a really big issue, and this is something that needs to be changed, and there was a lot of momentum for it to be changed. The league's official response to me was that they are working towards

finding a solution on this end to change the windows to be, so right now it's 12 weeks in the winter for the primary, four weeks for the summer, which is a secondary. That was my understanding of that's how it had to be. Your primary window had to be summer which is a secondary that has had was my understanding of that's how it had to be your primary window had to be 12 years before in recent years fifa had would allow teams to do an eight week primary and eight week secondary and again with all these rules it has to be under fifa so fifa stipulates that the transfer window can only be uh 16 weeks and fifa now stipulates their primary window has to be

at least eight weeks. So what you could do is a primary winter window of eight weeks, and then a secondary window of eight weeks, and that would solve this issue. So again, I was told that MLS is working towards this end, but it's not just an MLS decision. First of all, it would be a US soccer decision, as you indicated.S. soccer, when I requested a comment, said, like, you know, there's been no official proposal or anything, but, like, we would absolutely be open to this discussion, right? Like, it seemed like they weren't going to put up a fight. USL, same thing. Like, that's what they told me. Canadian Premier League already changed the window for the Canadian clubs this year. They kind of did it without MLS knowing. They did it without Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal being aware that it was in the works.

And that's why the Canadian transfer window closed a week before the American MLS clubs did. And that's what a big hurdle is going to be. That Canada Federation has to take into account what the Canadian Premier League wants. And that's fair. And I believe it would look like the Canadian Premier League wants. And that's fair. And I believe it would look like the Canadian Premier League wants it to close even earlier, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me because this league isn't exactly spending transfer fees at all, let alone, you know, multi-million dollar transfer fees, right? Like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal would do in theory.

Again, easy jokes here about Montreal and Vancouver to be made. But you get the point, right? So I hope that a solution is found. It's not tenable to be like, well, screw you Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. We're going to change it for the United States because it's better for a league. You can't have it closing on August 7th for Toronto, but September 2nd for Charlotte, right? That's just not fair.

So one proposal that I had, you could make the window January 31st to March 27th, the primary window, and the secondary window July 8th to September 2nd. So that gets you an extra 10 days. And this year that was two or three games for every team for their signings to come in. But it also gets you to September 2nd because like Zoran Krenet has said this in an interview about like it'd be really beneficial too if we stayed open a day or two later than European League so for everybody who thought they were going to get a deadline day move that never materialized there's even better deals and

there's even more acceptance of like I think Creneta like talked about Chelsea it's like like what would they loan Raheem Sterling or something like that right like hypothetically speaking like after everything else is closed. And, like, that's the argument, and I'm firmly in favor of this, and it's just about whether or not all the agreements can be reached across the stakeholders that have to decide on this. The other thing in there as well is MLS, you can still sign free agents, but your roster building is not in a way in which you leave a spot open for a free agent. But if the window not in a way in which you leave a spot open for a free

agent but if the window closed in the big five leagues in europe and some of these other leagues or across uefa and you still have a day or two to sort of figure things out and say oh swiderski got an offer now we can go find this free agent or we can make another move or that offer didn't come in and we can see where our roster stands. It just gives you a little bit more flexibility, even in the free agent space to make a move that makes sense inside of your roster build. And if,

and going back to the bogus joke and like all of that, MLS has started to work its way into a space where even if it's not the first idea, clubs know that these players can come in and make a difference and they can look at things and say, we didn't get the center back. We wanted, what about miles Robinson? We didn't get the winger. We wanted, what about Mateusz Bogus or Kike Oliveira? And that's a spot where then you can upcharge, get a little bit of money,

especially for teams in the bottom half of MLS standings, where you look at it right now and say, we're not going to make an MLS Cup run. Can we make $8 million on a sale or $6 million on a sale and flip that for someone who we think can be a difference maker for us in the offseason coming up? You'd also add with the way the other leagues are set up, you don't need that space in the primary transfer window. Most moves in MLS primary transfer window have already been agreed

to before you get there and don't need that full open space to get done and you lose players for pre-season for a lot of times because it's open so long yeah no absolutely um like they don't need that month from march to april it's just kind of there if they because like hey we can have the window open for that like why not right like this year was a little different like Hernan Lopez went to San Jose like right before the deadline which was but like that's that's abnormal the typical cadence as you said is that things are done before that like it is very rare for a club record signing to be happening in mid-April like Cincinnati had to fight tooth and nail to let for Shakhtar to let Kevin Kelsey leave Kevin Kelsey played like 100 minutes for Shakhtar and it's Kelsey leave. Kevin Kelsey played like a hundred minutes for Shakhtar. And it's like,

well, we can't replace him because it's April. And it's like, replace what? The hundred minutes that he played in December. Yeah. Like, so it is like,

so not only do teams not plan for that, it's difficult to get deals over the line in April for, for signings. But yeah, it's, it's a big issue. I do hope that like, it seems like there's a lot of momentum for it to get changed.

And hopefully it does for 2025, but obviously nothing's guaranteed. we've still got 2024 here any last things we should be thinking about going into tomorrow yeah i'll be quick on a few of these um board myth have bid for dc united us youth international center back matai akimboni i was told that bid was well below uh dc's valuation but it was i think technically the first formal bid i don't know like bournemouth have been interested and and you know dc has been very aware that that bournemouth is is looking at matthias caboni if a deal were to get done agreed uh before the window closes tomorrow he would stay at dc for the rest of the season because he's 17 he turns 18 in

october that'd be super interesting another. Another DC United homegrown youth international, Kristen Fletcher. He is in England right now. He's doing his medical today on Thursday ahead of a loan move to Nottingham Forest. He'll, you know, 99.99% be with the second team and he'll start there. Like he was with Swansea second team last fall. He was excellent for them. So let's see if he can kind of do it with another move up because Nottingham Forest are in the top U21 league. So they'll play Liverpool U21s, Manchester City U21s, etc., etc. Big U21 games. Let's do live streams.

Let's do live watch-alongs for the U21 games. But, yeah, it's a super interesting player. And that would be a cool move. And we'll see if he can kind of make his way through. Nottingham or what else would happen after that. And the loan deal would have a cool move and we'll see if he can kind of make his way through. Not a number what else would happen after that. And the loan deal would have a purchase option. A couple others. Tyler Miller to Swansea. That's been agreed as far as I know but like work

permit. I don't know if it's likely or not. So we'll see what happens there. DC United, Swansea obviously have common ownership so that's the connection there. Swansea just not have enough goalkeepers and they're like we have one across the pond you can grab him it's very very interesting to me um and another one nick markanik the usl

championship gold runaway golden boot leader uh will join likely to join cd castellon a spanish second tier side in the winter i was told that their deal is very, very close, but he would stay with Charleston Battery for the rest of the season. He's one goal away from the USL Championship single-season goal record. He's got plenty of time to hit that. Again, he has 24 goals, second place in the Golden Boot Race, has 14, so it is a historic season for

Nick Markanek. And then lastly, I'm getting word, keep an eye, like a lot of these, oh, sorry, Caden Pierre to gank is something that's happening. Sorry, I forgot about that. That should be announced at some point soon, I'd imagine. A lot of these are smaller players or younger players, whatever, right? Like, I was told that there's a pretty senior significant player in MLS that a move could happen over the next 36 hours or whatever.

So, stay tuned to my Twitter if that kind of comes through. But, um, yeah, I was under the impression until late, late last night that this was just going to be, you know, Caden Pierre,

Christian Fletcher, Mattia Camboni. Like these are the deals I was going to be focusing on. Um, and there might be a significant one still to come, but we'll see. That is the ultimate cliffhanger from Tom boger to keep you on the edge of your seat uh i will say the nick markanich thing is cool like it's cool that charleston first of all

charleston battery have been unbelievable under ben pyramid like they won the championship last year this is going to be i think the third straight year they have a golden boot winner or the golden boot finalist uh they have continued to rotate those players in and out as well. So they've done a fantastic job. And this is a big sale to the Segunda team to be able to get that money. In the Discord, there's a bunch of conversation today about MLS teams. Should they be watching USL more and all of that? MLS teams know who Nick Markanich is, and they kind of know the price on what they're

spending on center forwards. It's not a guarantee that he would succeed. I think some of the things that has been good for him in USL is the change in physicality and speed of play. MLS is a unique league in that way. And just because someone's successful somewhere else doesn't mean they'd be successful there. And I think that's kind of one of these moves. And that's a lot of the success Charleston have had with the players they bring in, which is tough. But Fidel Barajas, it worked. Diego Luna, it worked.

So you have to go look at it player by player and piece by piece. Let's finish out. Oh, sorry. Sorry, I just want to add one more thing. C.D. Castellon, I forget what semblance of the ownership, but it's Haralabob? You know that name? The former Dallas Maverick front office? He's like a data wizard.

He's the one controlling this team. And he's using his analytics model. And so for that to come up as he identifies, or the model at least identifies Nick Markanik as excellent value and somebody whose stats and skills and abilities will translate from USL Championship

to the second tier in Spain. I think that's a super interesting subplot. And we'll see if that kind of helps pave the way for more, you know, in prime players to come from USL to go to Europe, like there's been several that have gone to lower leagues in England or elsewhere in Scandinavia, whatever, right? Like, that would be a super interesting additional pathway. Classic Tom. Games played on a spreadsheet. That's the only way he sees the sport is numbers, X's, and moving pieces and lines over and over. Let's talk the weekend.

As I said, a good weekend of games. We've got Cascadia Cup. You've got a Western Conference final rematch, LAFC against Houston, Charlotte against Atlanta. Nice little spice in that one down south. And then Columbus NYC FC, which I put down here because I actually thought this was the uh charlotte against atlanta nice little spice in that one down south and then columbus nyc fc which i put down here because i actually thought this was the best leagues cup game that i watched in total but i thought it was definitely the best game that columbus played uh i think that nyc fc hurts columbus in a way other teams in the east can't really their ability to play in tight spaces

and play through columbus's counter press that's what allows them to get out in transition more often. And people watch Columbus and they say, oh, they throw numbers forward, just play direct, they're weak physically, and you can beat them. LAFC weren't able to do that. And they are probably the best transition team in the league because Columbus counterpresses really well. They force the ball where they want to and their backline knows it's coming and their rest defense is very, very good. And so the ease, the better way to beat them, which most teams cannot do is to play first through that first line of counter pressure. And then you have numbers going in transition and then you can attack and create some more danger. NYCFC, if they had put their chances away, I think they would have won that game in Columbus

in leagues cup. And so this is the game that I'm tuned into. I think they would have won that game in Columbus in League's Cup. And so this is the game that I'm tuned into because I think it's going to be really fun to watch. Columbus somehow gets the win against Philadelphia. Midweek rotated team coming off, I assume, a decent amount of champagne and Ohio located beers that have been celebrated over the last three days. And they were still able to get the win at Philadelphia, this is going to be a much tougher test for this team. Yeah, but to your point is they'll probably have their first-choice 11 back ready to start.

So, again, the fact that they were able to get the three points against Philadelphia on the road, when a game that Philadelphia played well, just straight up they played well, those are the kind of results that keep you in a sports show race that, like, at the end of the season, it's not always how do you perform against Cincinnati, Miami, LAFC, the Galaxy. Like, not dropping those points is where the shield can be won or lost.

You look at Cincinnati. Like, Cincinnati, I think, lost their shield race right before the League Cup. They lost three straight games, none of which were to heavy hitters. I don't believe it was what? Chicago was one of those games? Sorry, I forgot. It was too many games. But you get my point.

Like, a three-game losing streak in June or early July, that upended their season. They beat Miami 6-1. And that's when it was like, oh, my God, here comes Cincinnati. They're going to take control of the shield. They proceeded to lose to Charlotte at home, Chicago at home, and at Red Bull. Thank you. So yeah, it wasn't as bad as I remember in terms of

the... Not great. Yeah, not great, obviously, but Cincinnati should be expecting to win every game at home, right? Again, that was only one team that was below the playoff line, but still, my point is that these are the games that trip you up in a sports year, right? So Columbus getting three points there is a huge boost.

They have two games at hand on Miami. They are ten points below. Games at hand is never a guarantee that you're going to win them, but even if they do, they would be four points below after that. So they need to pick up every single point possible because Lionel Messi is back in training and will return for Inter-Miami at some point soon. Ten points behind, two games at hand, and one head-to-head game.

So you could argue if you can take care of your own business, you could pick up nine points there, and you would need a gift from one other team to help you get over that line. You thought it would be Cincinnati last weekend. It wasn't, and that's going to be a huge question mark down the stretches if anyone else takes points off this Miami team. As you said, Messi back into training. So that's going to be one I'm going to be locked in on,

obviously based off our MLS watchability rankings, which we did last Thursday. So if you want to go back and listen to that, you can. We went through all 29 teams, where they stand in Tom's order, why, what we like watching about them, what we don't like. The big one we went in on was Portland. Like they were the big mover of they were second in our rankings and they are not that high in the standings. And damn, they proved us right this weekend.

4-4 game against St. Louis, trailing 2-0 and 4-2. They pick up a red card and then they come back and tie the game at 4-4. This game was off its rocker. And that's why Portland are fun to watch. They cannot defend, and their attacking talent is elite in Major League Soccer. Bro, that was the quintessential Portland Timbers 2024 game. The fact that they tied St. Louis 4-4, and again, an Evander free kick, an incredible individual moment of brilliance. Everything about this game was Portland Timbers 2024.

I think that they had north of 4.4 expected goals, which is more or less unheard of just by the nature of XG. They racked that up over 90 minutes. What a fever dream that game was, and long live the Portland Timbers. I'm sure that Phil Neville and the coaching staff, I'm sure that the fans would prefer that they were just a little bit better defensively. But enjoy it while it lasts.

They are creating 3.5 goal chances per game, second in Major League Soccer. They have been ridiculous to watch. I have long called Evander, my 2024 MLS MVP finalist. That was going back plus a year. He's got 12 goals, 15 assists assists tied for second in mls he's fifth in the league right now and goals chances created per 90 is there a world in which he actually gets into the final like conversation what does this team have to finish or what does he have to statistically finish for that to happen i think he's in the conversation he should be in the conversation right like why wouldn't he be uh can he finish top three top three that'll be tough

right because he just you know kucho should be there like chicho should be there look messi's gonna get the votes like whether he plays you know another game or not because that just is what it is uh christian batacchio at least be in the cut like he won't i don't think he would be top five but like these are some of the players luchoo calls i forgot about him polanga yeah so like it's gonna be very difficult because of how packed this uh mvp race is this year but like evander at the very least is firmly within this discussion and i can't wait to see how his season uh evolves and ends i assume felipe more is suspended off the red card from last game so it'll be interesting to see does mason toy get the start does jonathan rodriguez go up evolves and ends. I assume Felipe Morris suspended off the red card from last game.

So be interesting to see. Does Mason Toy get the start? Does Jonathan Rodriguez go up top? And of course, this game against Seattle. It's very simple to say this is a must win for Seattle. You mentioned in the Open Cup conversation like this is all they have left the regular season for your fan base. This is the only way you can bounce back is beat your rival, steady yourself in the league as well going forward. And the final big one that I mentioned for the weekend, LAFC against Houston, the Western Conference final rematch. You called Dennis Buonga a cyborg on Tuesday. He doesn't need to rest. He didn't rest again, played the full 90, scored the goal on a penalty kick.

So he will be on the field this weekend against Houston. That feels like an easy one to guarantee. But a Houston team that's playing good soccer, Miguel Ponce, into the side, this would be a really fun one for them, I think, to go out and win and sort of establish, like, we are different than we were last year and we're a legitimate contender this year and we should be treated as such. So this is a big match for Houston and a big opportunity for them as well. All right.

We're going to be back on Tuesday to recap it all. We're going to be back on Tuesday to talk through some of the big transfers that finish. Whoever Tom's mystery person is, we will know at that time and be able to talk it out. Tom, anything else before I let you go? No, that's about it. I will say that I hate myself for even doing the mystery thing.

It sounds like super hacky I hated it coming out uh but I figured uh that was worthwhile and we end on a high Tom hating himself we all love you and we love you all for listening thank you all have a great weekend and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.