SoccerWise - MLS First Round Playoff Upset Rankings, Salary Release Nuggets + Tata Martino & MLS Openings

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

The first cycle of MLS playoffs are in the books finally! Tom & Gass jump in to recap what they saw and set the scale on who has the best chance to turn an upset. It is one of Soccerwise's favorite weeks of the year for two reasons as the MLSPA salary dumps are out alongside the playoffs so they dig through all the news. And finally the buzz around some of the biggest coach openings in MLS with Tata talking to Atlanta, STL picking up options, and more.5:00 NYCFC Away Win In Charlotte & Past Upsets13:10 MIN Long Throw Over SEA23:00 Cincy Surviving Hell For Now31:55 LAFC Veteran Steel Outlasts Austin45:10 Did Chicago Waste Their Chance In Philly49:10 More Belief In Portland Or Dallas?56:00 Sam Sarver Wins MLSNP MVP58:50 MLSPA Salary Dump Headlines1:10:00 Tata Martino Going Home To ATL?1:18:00 STL Lacking Sporting Direction1:22:20 RBNY Path Forward

We are rocking and rolling on a Thursday morning post a full round of MLS playoffs. It's soccer-wise with David Goss and Tommy Scoops. Back for another big one. We've got a lot to talk about from what we've seen so far over the last week. week. We've got MLS player salary dumps. We've got coaching rumors in Atlanta. We've got openings in St. Louis and New York Red Bulls. And Tom, the only thing that people want to know is how is the men's league playoffs going? Where are we at right now? Because I know right now my bracket is sitting on the edge with my picks.

Easy semifinal win last night, despite the fact that in warmups, I turned to my teammates and I feel structurally unwell. Like, it wasn't like sore. It wasn't like. Like, I have, like, a bum ankle or something. I was like, everything feels not quite right. Oh, we still gutted through it, though. Let's see. In this league, we have played 19 games. Okay.

19 wins. Over to two sessions. Yeah. You didn't have to tell me the second part. You just had to tell me how many games were played. I didn't need to know the record. We got the final next week. Can't wait for it.

But even though I wasn't at, I was still adequate, wasn't at my best. After the game, my college centerback, just turned 30 signing deals i got him in when we did our jerseys i bought an extra one and i did it on purpose with his number i sent it to him i was like bro whenever you want it the six is here for you bro this is like when the clippers put blake griffin's name in the rafters at free agency and then traded him like six months later to detroit i would i wouldn't trade him that's the thing and he knows it that's why because i got him to play last night and he goes i think i'm in for the winter it's like damn right you are the long game it all worked it's a great feeling it is a

great feeling. Edwin in the chat says had their co-ed playoff last night since St. Louis couldn't make it there. So Edwin, let us know how you did. I currently not playing in a league structure. I'm just pick up. So each game is a championship on its own. In the last game I played, I was telling you, we played 4 v4 instead of 5B5. It was. That's the that's the elite. That's a C-Suite mentality. It was 900,000 degrees. I sweat through everything. It rained, which made it hotter somehow. We went from up four goals to down three with two minutes to go. We equalize and then we lost on golden goal. But like at that point, it's not even a victory for them because they let us back in the game.

So emotionally we come out of it and we're cruising forward, which will be the story with some of the teams in Major League Soccer. There will be some teams I think that come out of the playoff series, even with a loss saying like, oh, we looked better. We could do something special going forward. Most of those teams would have to be lower seats. And right now, seven of the eight lower seats are trailing going into the second game. The lone road victory is NYCFC. So we're going to talk through every single series because we're excited. We want to.

We did some of it in the Monday show, but now we get to talk about every single game. And all of the teams will play over the course of this weekend. But we're going to do it in order of what we think has the highest probability of being an upset in the long term, which means these teams will be able to get a victory in game two and then go on the road and steal a victory outside of NYCFC and then as I said we'll talk about the mLS player salary dumps so give us your thoughts um give us any of the big topics you want us to hit there and then a little breaking news around tata martino over the last few days uh and there's some other job openings as well that we will get into but let's start with the playoffs

i have no idea why the LAFC Austin game was at Wednesday night at 730 p.m. Pacific time and 1030 local time. So it's been a long playoff experience from last Friday till now. Let's start in our upset rankings and let's talk about every single game and we start with NYCFC. Me and Tom went through these and made these together. The lone road

team to get a win, a 1-0 victory in Charlotte in the opening game that was on Tuesday night with I don't believe Dean Smith was super excited about having a Tuesday night. Did it love that. They didn't love that. Yeah, that seemed to be a conversation

You know what I didn't love? Sideways passes and terrorist soccer. So six in one hand, half a dozen in the other. Which game you're talking about? You're talking about Charlotte in that game. Okay, just making short because there's been a couple this week here and there. NYCFC gets the victory. Alonzo Martinez solo effort.

One of the best pure finishers in Major League Soccer. You don't often see that level of creativity and build up from him from as deep, but called his own number, gets the goal. And then NYCFC, I would say fairly comfortably, sees it out even with Charlotte applying numbers and putting pressure on what did you make of this game and what do you make of the potential for Charlotte to steal one now on the road right so to the overarching kind of point of our bit here like the this is the series that we feel has the most likelihood for the upset again it's four five so it's always going to be tight and NYCFC winning in charlotte

obviously makes us the clear answer and what I saw from this game it's just going to be it's going be a painfully obvious basic takeaway Alonso Martinez is awesome man like he should be viewed as one of the better strikers in MLS when I did our best 11s and stuff I think I had him on like my third team I don't know this guy has just been so consistently been one of the best

center forwards in the league and most of it got like you said he's one of the best finishes in the league the timing of his runs like everything he does off the ball and like the center forward stuff is what he's best at the goal he scored against Charlotte was a long run give me the ball I'm going to beat four players and roll it in

the bottom corner. That was a different type of goal than what he's, he scores bangers all the time, but mostly it's a couple, you know, two touches or whatever, right? Like, that kind of performance from him to give that kind of one-two punch with him and Nico Fernandez in that NYCFC attack with how good the kind of structure around them is. This is kind of what they were lacking or what he was lacking in terms of like service before Fernandez came here. Max Morales is obviously incredible and everything he does. It's just a joy to still watch him at this age. But having those two be your two leaders and Martinez being able to do more individually than he has in the past, man, like that was a special goal from a special player. And in the

playoffs, as long as you have the structure, the team balance and everything else around it, that frees up. Like those are like the basic opponents that you check before you go, okay, like you have that special player and attack. Like that's a playoff winning type player. And I think it's made me reassess where I thought NYCFC ceiling is because honestly with him having those moments this is a team that could challenge since you're Miami if they were to continue advancing this is a team that can challenge Philly in the next round if they get there this is the team that obviously was good enough to go on the road against Charlotte in this game one nothing is guaranteed for them to go through but this is an extremely positive sign and again like Alonzo

Martinez I cannot say enough positive things yeah that star quality is something that elevates this team. They are already one of the better defensive teams. And so they have the structure and the platform for, okay, one big moment can get them over the line in a big game. They can go on the road. They can sit deep. They can sort of sit in Matt Freese's lap if you need to and feel comfortable and confident. The other thing you see with this goal, and I think a few of the moments, which we had talked about going into it, was you had a Charlotte team without Zaha on the field because of the suspension that was overcompensating getting to follow into the attack because they had to.

I think they overcompensated getting both fullbacks into the attack and that the gaps would be there because where as good as Tim Riem is, he is on the other side of the age bracket that you'd like to be as a starting centerback. And I think you just see the head of steam that Alonzo Martinez is able to fall into that wing, pick up, and start attacking players at speed. And I think it's a really good IQ play from him. to say this is where the space is going to be. I'm going to go out wide rather than staying central.

And it was a gap that Charlotte had. And I think it was clearly worked on by NYCFC going into this game. The hope with Charlotte was like, okay, who else will step up in the attack? Leo Labata was not that guy. That was the hope and expectation. You were right. Yeah. I said on Toklamati or Kervin Vargas.

And both of them are not guys who are main options, right? When you bring support around Toklamati, he is not a, guy yet in his career who can take that pressure, beat one guy, suck in pressure, and then be able to play you out of it. Nor should that be the expectation, to be fair. Exactly. But you needed someone to do it. And it really, the game fell into, I think what we could have expected in advance, which

is, can you just throw enough numbers at the box that something pops through? And a Brant-Bronico run is able to pop up a second chance or a second ball or burn getting high, which allows Vargas to come inside. So now you have overwhelming numbers on a cross-exam. And that's really what it fell to for this Charlotte team. Goodwin had a good look laid on. I think he had a couple half chances. And all of those were dumped the ball in the box, numbers around the ball,

win a second ball and see if you can make something happen. And it's really unfortunate for a Charlotte team that's been really good this year. But this is who they are. Like they are reliant on Zaha. I think it's why there was so much angst about the fouls he's receiving and the suspension he had. And you saw it play out in this one where it just felt like they got more and more panicked as the game went along. And there wasn't a calm moment of, okay, we know we'll get one.

Let's just continue to play our way. It was let's throw everything forward and try and create something out of nothing. And that's not really how this team is built. And it feels like hard to believe that NYCFC is going to lose two, you know, two straight games, including one at home. In saying that, it was a one goal gap. Like there's not a huge difference between these teams. And this is a Charlotte team that as well has been really, really good defense.

and Kalina's been one of the best goalkeepers in the league. So there's a lot to consider for this one. It's not cut and dry, I think, either way. But I would say going forward, my guess would be that NYCFC is the one moving on. Do you feel the same? Yeah. And again, that's just, you know, game state, series state. They're up one, nothing going back home.

They should, the home team and all these games are going to be favorites, particularly in like the four or five more so than anything else. So, yeah, they should be favored. and they have a huge opportunity. The other side of this is if Charlotte are able to go on the road and kind of return volley there, then it's like in an NBA series when the underdog is up 3-2 going home in game 6.

You better put them away in game 6 because you don't want to go back on the road for 7. What about my C&C? Yeah, there you go. A little World Series action. That's crazy. That's like the most baseball non-mats I've watched in 20 years, maybe. I'm all in.

I'm all in. Let's go up to Toronto for a celebration. wasn't the pitcher last night wasn't he in like he was in the college world series what 18 months ago and like single eight months ago no i think he was at east carolina i don't think he was in a college room like i think one of the things i saw in blue sky was like they he lost to like utsa or something last year in college baseball and now he's pitching in the world too um a little context to the potential that there might only be one upset in this first round so 2023 the first year that the mLS went to this format There was only one upset in this round. It was sporting Kansas City beating St. Louis as an 8-1 as the two rivals. Everything else went chalk. Last year was the crazy year. Last year, three of the four Eastern Conference series were upsets.

The only home team that helped serve was Orlando City as a 4-5. They did so over Charlotte, and they did so in two penalty kick shootouts. But you had Atlanta, of course, the famous upset against Miami. You had NYCFC upset Cincinnati, and the Red Bulls, the 7th. which then led to them going to the to MLS Cup and then you had one upset in the Western Conference so one the first year for the second year and where we currently stand right now potentially won again well so I the pushback I would say is I want to look back at like so I know the last year was crazy like how many of the road teams won

only two of the eight so again that that none of this is small sample size stuff but just losing heavily at home and the first first game doesn't doesn't mean that you're not going to get through no the potential still exists for these teams hope and and you would say hope it's the most dangerous thing you can give a person and the expectation would be the ones that finished closer are the ones that we had ranked a little bit higher starting with Seattle triple post in the penalty kick shootout talk about terrorism of the game Seattle fans just melting down on blue sky about the way Minnesota plays it was 80-20 possession through large stretches of this one.

I'm offended by how far the towel is allowed on the field to pick up the ball for long throw-ins. I can accept the long throw, but if the ball has bounced back into the field of play and box all takes the towel, runs onto the field to pick up the ball, it feels like we're doing a little bit much on all of that. Dan Sinclair once again, elevates his game at a big moment. Big chances for both teams. Danny Mosovsky could have won this twice.

Minnesota had their looks as well. What did you make of this matchup in game one? Yeah. Again, going to the individual side of things, Dane St. Clair, he's box office. That penalty shootout, but during the run of play, he was incredible. Looking kind of through the numbers right now,

just refreshing. Jackson Reagan had 105 passes completely. Yeah. Minnesota United had 185 as an entire team. I think that shows what happened. And, like, again, you look through that stuff, and it's kind of clear that, like, Jackson Reagan is good on the ball. Yymar had, you know, 55 passes completed.

And, like, the rest of the back, it was clear that Seattle wanted to build the game through Reagan. And I guess Minnesota were content to that rather than trying to eliminate them out of that. I'm curious if you think, all that matters for Minnesota is that they get game one. They win in penalties. It all worked. This is how they play. This is how they want to play. They did create a few.

few chances with transition and set pieces and stuff. This is their game model. This is their equation that they believe is the best chance to bring them to success, particularly without Yboa being able to start. They are lacking difference makers in attack. Are you worried of Minnesota's ability to replicate this in either game two or game three? And this is kind of one of those games where just ball didn't go in and Seattle are going to be fine? Or where do you stand in terms of what this portends?

game one towards two and possibly three. I think if you're Minnesota, you're not worried because the two big chances in Musavsky are a warning sign. And as the game went along, it got more ragged for Minnesota. I think they got close to what they want to do, which is can you minimize just the amount of things that happen in a soccer game, right? If you are trying to like sit deep, hold teams to shutouts and win on set pieces and long throws and all that type of stuff, you want the least amount of things to happen in

the soccer game and say like, okay, we'll get two chances, you get two chances, and we think we're going to finish them. And if we don't, we've got Dane St. Clair and PKs. This game didn't play out perfectly like that, but I don't come out of this game thinking that that's not something Minnesota can do over the course of the next two games, and they only need to get one. So I think Minnesota will still say, like, what we do works, it can work against this team. My guess is Yaboa will just be available for more and more minutes as the series goes along, came off the bench, played a little bit for them. That could be a huge boost for them.

Late in games, especially if they're able to take any leads, and Seattle has to push numbers forward, and he can give you transition opportunities the other way. So I think Minnesota, even with the underlying numbers, saying that Seattle, I think, was 2.4 XG for Seattle in a game that got shut out, which is crazy. And a lot of that is Musovsky's two inside the six. Like, those are chances that get finished.

Those are chances he finishes, right? He's got 14 goals this year. I still think there's opportunity. One of the things I noticed in this game, which I'm curious what Brian Schmetser does, is I thought Jordan Morris was really effective when he was out wide, and that's part of why Musovsky got the looks,

and I know he's a center forward, and I know he wants to be a center forward, and I know he's good there. It just feels like in this matchup, he might be able to help the team best from a wider position. I agree. And you don't have Pedro della Vega,

but you got to decide someone's moving around to make that move. And I don't know if Schmetser does that already. I think that's a really salient playing gosh. I completely agree, particularly with how these games are going to be played. Play Morris, like put Musovsky to occupy one of the three centerbacks or two of them, whatever, put him essentially. And Morris plays as like an inside forward off the right because you're getting the natural

width from Alex Rodon playing as a wingback winger. Rothrock goes off the left. Nuhu stays home. So you have your defensive structure there. And I think that just causes more problems. like Jordan Morris, what he's best at is dangerous in space. And like there's not going to be a lot of space, particularly if you put another forward around him, it's going to be much, much tighter.

But he's good enough to really make an impact there. And they did that at the end of the game. Again, I would really, really like them to start that way. If, if... You drop Jesus? That's the question. I'm like, I think you do. Yeah.

And that's a difficult conversation with Jesus Ferreira. But right now, it's not about difficult conversations. It's about doing whatever's best. the team to win. And then you can tell Jesus, like, hey, you're still going to be part of this game. You'll come in and make a difference in the second half. And again, hopefully from Seattle, if you were Brian Smetzer, you're hoping that, hey, this is what we need to do to get through and then reassess in the next round when they play

likely San Diego. Yeah. This is going to be a different game state. And we'll play kind of, I don't know, the whole point of the strength of this roster, of having so many quality players and so many players who are versatile to play different roles in areas. is the ability to change your 11 depending on your opponent

and I, if you're Jesus Ferreira, you don't like that, of course. Everybody wants to be starting. But they have like 15 to 17 starting quality players. Yeah. Particularly some of the ones that are injured right now, but like right now they have plenty of options.

And I think that one is their best route to success. And it comes to, I think, with Jordan, you're matched up against Romero a lot in this. There's space because Marcanic's like the guy going forward. And so you need to have the physicality to be able to battle with a guy who is more of a centerback,

but then Jordan has the speed when he gets turned to beat him one v.1. And that combination, it feels like, is the right call. Ryan Kent, there was hopes he would be available, doesn't make the game day roster. He could become available. I think a start is probably way too far ahead for him. But he is a natural wide player who could maybe take advantage of some of the spaces out there to help this Seattle team.

The other injury news is that Hassani Dotson gets you 20 plus minutes in this game. So again, for Minnesota, if you don't seal it this weekend, like, it's two now weeks you have where Dotson and Euboa can get more fit and be more available. And maybe that's the half percent they need to get over the line across these two games. However, whatever they give them and whatever it ends up being, Minnesota is one of the best atmospheres. Like, it's just, I'm glad they have home playoff games. It just was fun to watch. It looked like a playoff atmosphere. Like, it felt like it.

It was cold. It's, you know, under the lights. the stadium bounces. We are doing Minnesota as our 50 states of soccer this week. So we're going to have West Burdine on the happy hour, Blackheart, one of the best soccer bars in the country. And it's just amazing where this market has come from like, oh, I don't know if this is a soccer market to you know you're getting a good atmosphere.

They've got a women's semi-pro team that's selling out 5,000 people every single game. And like this is this team has a real shot and making an MLS cup run. I will still say in all of this, I think I picked. Seattle in one of the bracket challenges we did. And I don't feel worse about that. Like I still think this is a battle tested Seattle team. I don't think they come out of this

game thinking they can't. The PKs were wild. This is a wild PK experience. It hit the post three times across the two teams in a row. And then my guy Danny Barcelona pulls his strike wide. Danny Lava, it's brutal.

You come off the bench. You touch the ball maybe once. And then you take a penalty. kick like i get you have specialists but that is tough him and julian gressel both subbed in did not touch the ball in regulation and both missed their penalties so maybe it's really hard to do that and maybe we should we should at least give at least give a like i i like the idea of making a change based on the potential for uh penalties don't do it in a situation where neither players are going to touch the ball i just think that that's unfair of the players uh shout out to julian gressel looking a little slim shady out there i love the new haircut

It made me happy, made me smile. I have a feeling, Suzanne, has some thoughts for Touchline Taylor. That's going to be coming at Kickback Committee next week when we talk all about this. Reminder, we've got our bracket challenge out there. So if you entered for MLS, you can win each league on its own, and you get some kickback soccer-wise gear for that. But if you want the grand prize, if you want the grand prize, which is $200 spending spree at Club of Your Choice, you have to enter all four leagues and be number one. And U.S.L Championship and U.S.L. League one, those brackets are open right now. So if you've entered, you'll get an email with those links.

We also have them across all of our socials on kickback and soccer-wise. So go there to enter. That gets you the opportunity to win across all four leagues. NWSL bracket will come next week. Same. You pick your tiers. You pick your team. You want to double the points on.

Game theory states you shouldn't pick one Knoxville in U.S. League one because it's the only one everyone else is picking. But shout out to my owls, baby. Union Omaha, looking to do it. once again. So those are open and you can go and become a part of those. Do you think we are talking Seattle, Minnesota game three when we get to next week? Yes. Okay. I agree. So this is one I'm excited to talk about again. This is one that I think will be one of the closest series we thought going into it and it still feels that way. Let's move to our next series, which I still feel

the same I did even though the result didn't go the way I expected. Columbus, FC Cincinnati. So I picked Columbus for the upset in this one. Cincinnati gets the one zero win at home. Denke fumbles the ball off for the line finally. Later on, I think it's the 78th minute to get the goal. But the point being, it wasn't the smooth, clean buildup. There was a decent chunk of chances. I know you were pretty impressed by Aikenake down the right wing, giving some opportunities. But overall, this felt very FC Cincinnati 2025. And we had the question, we had a comment on YouTube a week ago that was like,

oh, everyone else gets apologized for when they're not performing, guys are hurt, whatever, except Cincinnati. And it's like, Cincinnati's underlying numbers are so far off from what their production is that you have to continue to question it. And the performances remain the same.

And that's what it felt like in this game was like, this is not a cohesive Cincinnati team. Brenner and 10K and, and Evander are not playing off of each other. It's not making life easier for other guys, except for, I will say, Echinke was the one who was finding the gaps and was taking advantage of the defensive focus centrally.

Etzineke, he was just dangerous, so consistent. It seemed like whenever he got up to full speed, which he gets to very, very quickly, that tilts the field for Columbus having to respect that and worry about giving him too much space. when he was signed when i was talking to sources about this they were obviously like we're super excited about him we're signing that's why we like them just ease your expectations like it's a u22 initiative signing this isn't one where we're spending eight to ten million or like one of those like top of

the market u22s where the expectations should be even despite the age and all the issues that like when you're paying a premium they come in and they should be adapting pretty quickly again they were like we would love it it was more or less like if he gives us meaningful contributions in 2025, that's a bonus, because we think that he's a long-term signing and he's going to be very good, but we're not pressuring him immediately. Well, you can't drop him. He is so desperately important to this team right now, and I think we saw that in this game. That helps tilt the field, that helps give some space to the attackers.

I thought this was a much better performance than, like, I didn't think that this was typical 2025 since he of like, ah, it just doesn't quite look right. Yes, there's still room to go, but like, they were taking it to Columbus early in the game Columbus stabilized Columbus ended up getting a couple chances after it was nil-nil like they they worked themselves into the game but I thought since he was taking it to him early yeah and then by the second by like after Columbus had their spell in the second half thought that there was really you know Columbus never plays for I hope for PKs that's a wolf for not too a impossible's opinion right like but at that

moment I think another another manager set of fans would have been like man I hope we can hold on for pens and the goal when it came was well deserved it was a good ball to the back post to a vander um and it looked a little greedy coming in but if i i think that that was the result of a good sequence that just kind of like you said kind of got fumbled in over the goal line but it that i think was more indicative of something replicable than like oh they just kind of got lucky with a scroll in the box and denk i flicked it home like i don't know i i liked what i saw and i still think obito played eight minutes um again it's it's not going to be easy to get through this round because Columbus are very good, or they have the potential to be

good. They have a lot of good players, and we always will respect this team. If they are able to get through, as I expect them to, and again, as they are favored to, Obino-Roboto, you got to expect is going to be starting by the next round. I mean, it will be in a month. I think that that makes, like, that makes all of the difference in the world to me for this team. And again, Matt Miazgo should be back for that. So those are two crucial, crucial pieces to the team. and I thought this was a good performance and things are trending up. The one thing that stands out to me

is the connection between Denke and Brenner is like non-existent. Kind of, kind of. You said it right, between the three of them, I think there's a Vander and Brenner are combining a little bit. Yes. But the three of them all together,

like even a Vander with Denke, it still leaves something to be desired in terms of like the connection. And Brenner, to like the Alonzo Martinez conversation, does not create anything, but we'll finish things and his runs are not bad. Like he's pulling away, you know, when Denke gets the ball in the right channel,

Brenner is finding gaps and pulling away into the left channel or he's making runs across him. Smart movement. There is, and there are openings there. And then when Brenner gets the ball, it's similar and they're both calling their own number. And that is frustrating for, okay, what's the strength of this team? Can those three link up and create chances? And what it was when Brandon Vasquez was there and Lucho was there was that's what the case was, right? Like, there was a lot of times where since he didn't have to overcomit numbers

because those players could create chances on their own. Now, they all are still capable of creating chances on their own individually, Evander being the top of that list, Denke being second, but the peak for this team is it working together. And I think we're waiting for it to just like click. And one game, it's like, oh, there it is. Now it's working. They see it's working.

They're overcommitting into it, and it's better. I agree with you that the flow of the team was better in this game, but the connection between all of them still wasn't there. the other advantage for this team is Columbus looks off the pace offensively. And that's an individual's issue. That's Diego Rossi playing his first game in a month and not being the same guy. That's Lassilopalainen and Picard gets alongside him, which is a little bit different than Cucho or Wesa Mabu Ali or whatever the other options are.

And I think with Columbus, it's been the story all year. And the question is just if there's enough in that attack for them to get over the line. I don't think they were so far off that I would expect that they're not able to in a home game. I would like to see, I would not start Lassilopaline again. I guess that would be the easiest way for me to go about this. I would probably like to see Jason Russell Rogue at the start, even with as much as he struggled over the last few weeks. But it feels like Columbus probably needs to bring someone in as a center-forward option,

get Rosey out of that position a little more, but with finishers around him that can take advantage of the openings he creates. Yeah, you talk about the light attack, obviously in indictment that Daniel Godzog is coming off the bench. It's unfortunate. That doesn't work out. Jason Russell Rowe has fallen out of favor as well,

and that's where the front three ends up. Max Arsson, obviously, Rosie when Rosey's all good, like Max Arsson is the most important attacker in this team as currently constant. to get him alongside Rosie. I didn't see enough for them going forward. And it's just, no Wesse Mabel Alley is really unfortunate. Like, again, like, I still feel really safe and really confident in Cincinnati in the series, like I kind of did before it started. I thought Columbus looked fine, looked good in game one,

but it wasn't enough for me to shake any sort of my confidence in CINC. the one thing that flagged to me in this was Kubo is not as dangerous a threat and not as active on the left wing and Herrera was really high to the point where there were stretches of this game where I was like, is Stephen Marrera playing right wing back? Because the right side of the field for Columbus

stayed so high and Marrera was so involved, which I think is great for Columbus. Like I want that guy around the attack. I want to have that extra number. But for Cincinnati, they need to find a way to balance that out and make Columbus pay if that's the case. and, you know, they don't have Origano fully available, but is there someone that you can throw towards that left wing back spot?

Or can you get Kubo to push a little bit higher? Whatever it is, they need to be able to take advantage of that a little bit more. I pick Columbus in advance of this series to win. I come out of this game feeling fairly comfortable that Columbus will push it to three games in that they're right there, and the home field advantage in the atmosphere should be there for this team. Rossi should be another week fitter, another week closer.

Do you feel the other way? Yeah, like I said, I feel very, very confident, Sinti. Closing out in game two. Oh, no, I don't think that. I think that. I'm not, I think that they absolutely can. They've been, I trust this team to go on the road

and put in their performance, but listen, Columbus, with all of their histories and abilities, like, you got to give them the respect at home to make a stand. But, like, since he had 11 road wins, That was second only to San Diego, who had 12, who set the record for most road wins. So if there's a team in the playoffs that you wouldn't mind going on the road, it's... Yeah, for sure.

The next game we have, the next series we have. Don't worry, we did not forget about Chicago. But we have Austin FC as the next most potential upset in our ranking. So fourth year on this list. They come off the 2-1 loss on the road late on Wednesday night, our most recent game. They go down 1-0 fairly early They come out of halftime With some more energy, some more pressure

They generate the equalizing goal And then Not that it was against the run of play But unfortunate of like The Buonga shot gets deflected Up and over Stover's head And lands for Ordaz Who You're not sure Zahn

Did you notice in the highlights Ordas taps it in And immediately puts his hands on his head Like oh my God I must have been off sides I fucked that up Oh my God Like the panic in Ordaz

his face and i think boulanga was shooting him looks like they're just going in like if you're off sides i'm going to lose like well there was not a celebration that's what i couldn't tell is was the oh no i'm off or was the oh no i stole a goal from bonga and like that's where the pecking order sits because i i would do the same where i tapped in i'd be like oh man no like it's your goal that that's my bad i just i have to be safe about it i'll take the goal bonus i believe it would be would have been bwanga's 100th career mLS or 100th career LAFC goal. I think McKellie put that on Blue Sky going into it.

He's on 99, which is perfect because he wears 99. It's nice. It all comes back around. I love a little bit of symmetry like that. I'd say, so the two things that out. One in the first half, I think this game played out as I expected. Austin sitting in a little bit, LAFC trying to threaten through Sun and Buonga and Sun dropping in, picking up the ball as they bypassed lines and trying to turn

an attack and play his wide guys in. Buonga knows better than I do, but the balance sometimes with when he goes quick to shoot 1v1 and when he holds up, I think he lost that times because there was a number of opportunities it felt like where, okay, it wasn't an easy 1v1, but he's one-on-one against Dessler. Like, I'd rather you lose that battle three quarters of the time, but the one time you win it be the goal, then pull back out and cycle around. Now the attack dies. now Austin has numbers behind the ball.

I felt like that was too often to me in the first half. But the big thing that stood out to me, and the reason Austin gets back in this game, and what I think is a real thing that they can look back on and try and take advantage of is that LAFC are playing in this five-man back line with two in central midfield, and they're going to press high, and Danny Pereira and Owen Wolf are two of the best players

in central midfield in the league on the half turn and dribbling in central areas. Danny Pereira is one of the best. He has been his whole career. that's where the goal comes from and that's where their best moments come from is they invite pressure and rather than bouncing the ball

or playing quickly he turns and if he beats the first man there is 35 yards of space for him to dribble into it's unfortunate that when he gets through that the runners off him are maybe not as effective as they could be hence the goal being a half chance deflected

half chance Owen Wolf pass to Gallagher and all of that but there is a clear avenue there of I think where Austin's success came from and I would say it's repeatable for sure yeah if if austin are going to do anything in this series it's coming from defensive unit obviously and the way that they're going to play but going forward it's it's prera breaking lines and owen wolf with the final touch and like you said that is exactly where the goal came from it was danny perrera busting forward and then it was owen wolf with just a really

calm and really smart little layoff for it's happened like the amount of players that panic in that situation and the amount of players that just see i'm six yards out i'm just going to try to poke it through and that's not necessarily the wrong move but owen wolf is seeing the game really really well and he kind of shapes up and then just rolls it across it like in hindsight after you watch a replay it's like oh that was so obvious i don't know how many players make that pass and olin wolf has just been so really really good this season it's been really fun to watch and it's it's unfair for him at this stage of the career and it's unfair given how much money that they spent on their front three Obviously, Vasquez is injured, but the other two are still there.

The other two are worth $20 million in transfer fees and a whole lot more in salary. It's unfair that we're talking about Owen Wolf and Danny Pereira and just overlooking the 12 and 8 million signings in Uzuni and Bukari. Because I don't trust them. I don't trust them at all. I don't think that they're going to be dangerous compared to Owen Wolf and Danny Pereira. Own Wolf a homegrown at Daniel Pereira, a super draft selection. So it's on two ends a compliment to bringing through your youth. and developing these two players and giving them trust and then a criticism of well you spent

$20 million and right now they're like the fourth and fifth people we're talking about after you know Brendan Heinzike like you know no I think that that's a fair complainant's exactly and it's nothing new to be fair like it's nothing new right but it's just it's just worth repeating when when we get to this point when we're looking at at denny blanga and son young men again those are two of the best players in the league son young men LFC were one of the few teams that were able to get that deal done right I'm not just suggesting that that awesome is, but I am suggesting you could have spent your money a little bit better than on the two DPs that were on the field. And it's totally fair to say, like, okay,

you come out of this game and we just said, like, can Pereira and Wolf lead them to victory in game two? And that's not where the responsibility should fall. And if you spend that money, like, we just got the MLS player salaries. Imagine this team had Zincernagel for one 19th of the price of an Ozuni. you could have a player who is a factor on their own, and you're drawing pressure for them in these two players. And that doesn't even go into, like, all the other guys that are good MLS players who could be a difference maker on this team.

They spent money for O'Brien, spent money, I mean, they're spending money on Robert Taylor, which was, like, a mid-season, okay, can we get something to work? I don't know how Cascante is still on this roster year after year. He is, like, the, oh, my God. He comes on late and you're like, oh, right, this guy. This guy still plays on this theme. Like, this is absolutely wild.

And there's a lot of pressure on these two guys. They are good enough to handle it. And I will be interested to see if LASC, there's a few options. One is they change their setup. They put a third man in midfield and they try and kill things there. The other is, can they play Seguer higher so that he's closer so that when they're pressing, if one of the two in Schwanier or. Delgado gets turned. He's a little bit closer to kill the momentum of the play before it gets to

they're driving at a back line. But for Austin, you need a Zuni and Bukari to be off the shoulder at those moments and they need to be dangerous. Otherwise, it won't matter. Like, I don't know that Wolf and Pereira can generate enough goal scoring chances out of this and enough finishing that it's get you over the line. But for Austin, they were closer in that game than I thought they've been in a while. I understand they've beat L.A.F.C. twice this season. They were odd circumstances. And they went to an open cup final.

This was a, I thought, a better performance than the Minnesota away game in the semifinals of the open cup for them. So I thought this was one of their best, especially that second half. And you saw it in the first half, like, Pereira dropping deep and being like, okay, I think I can turn on this defender and I think I can make something happen. But it's like, can they find enough support and help for them besides that? Shout out to Ryan Hollingshead for. like literally arguably being the most valuable player in major league soccer the number is coming

out so he's on $645,000 which is below the threshold right to be a tab what was it 640 what 642 something i think that's below yeah yeah he's like right below yeah and i put it out on blue sky last night but like he wanted to live in l a when he left dallas because he's from california and this is credit to lafc the environment they've created the training ground the experience the in-stadium experience, the trophies they push for, it's worthwhile for him to stay around. And he gets to play on the biggest stages in the biggest games. He gets bonuses from winning things.

But, like, he's happy. And this is something you can't say for every team where a guy in this scenario says, no, I want to stay. It's the same reason Roldan and Jordan want to be in Seattle, and it's why Seattle can continue to be successful year after year because you've created an environment, and this is off-field stuff. It's still money, but it's off-field stuff. that people care about being a part of and they want to be a part of.

And Hollingshead every year steps up in these moments because he is one of the best attacking fullbacks in the league. And he is an advantage to them because he is probably underpaid for what he performs across a salary cap. Yeah. And so I give L.A.F.C. a ton of credit. And it started with L.A.F.C. in the beginning, they had, you know, they had the Benny Fail Harbor. They had, you know, Mark Anthony K. Lee Wynn. They had, like, a lot of these, like, domestic bases. like mostly MLS proven, I know Mark Anthony Kay came from USO, but a lot of guys like this.

And then they kind of got intoxicated with the Sifuentes and the cheeky Palacios and the idea of, you know, insert any, you know, TAM level or low-level DP type of like European or South American signing. And they met, that was the only year they missed the playoffs. And there was other circumstances, Vela got hurt, right, all of this. And they very clearly identified, we swung too far in the other direction. And then the following offseason is when they got Hollings-Zaned Long and, again, a lot of other players that totaled a ton of MLS experience. So they kind of immediately were like, okay, like we got to bounce off a little bit too far. And then they swung back, and they've kept Long, and they've kept Hollingshead,

and they've looked around the league. And now even like they bring in Matthew Chonier, they bring in Frankie Amaya. And I know that Amaya hasn't really been a big factor in this team. They signed Jeremy Bobesian Free Agency. while the Denny Buonga, the Sunhung Man, the Plencia, sorry, Ugo-Lauris, you're kind of going down the list. They've gotten the balance so very right.

And that's a big credit to the team of, like, Arbed messes up a little bit, let's fine-tune it again, and continue to overturn this roster, and the processes are so good and so strong. And it goes to show that you need to look at every avenue of roster building. And you can't just go out and have this, like, you know, oh like I'm so good at scouting and identifying and making deals like I'm just you screw it like

Ryan Hong said like who are you I can go replace you right like think that's a ton of credit LAFC being like oh no like we need to uptick our value in some of these players that we had maybe overlooked for a year or two here and it's paying dividends so Austin now going home I think one of the unfortunate things we had a question in the chat about the quality of soccer and what we've seen and maybe it being underwhelming at times it being defensive do we put anything to it um i think it's the nature of a playoff anytime like nwsl was the same thing last year you get into the playoffs it's open and fun in the regular season and then all of a sudden it gets tight and like every chance matters people play at a different intensity level

this is one of the the series i'm scared about which is they just played a midweek game like for no reason so now they're going to play on short rest that tends to be lower quality soccer it is fair because it's happening to both of them but for us as a a neutral. They're going to play this game on what? I probably should have had. I assume this is the Sunday game. The games are all the time and also none of the time. Tom just so angry across the point. I'm just going to Sunday evening. Sunday evening. Great. And it's sick. Then we get Saturday games this Saturday after having

no, not only do we get Saturday games. They're simultaneous playoff games. Five. Yeah, but the two. And I'm in a wedding on Saturday. So that sucks for me. It's just unfortunate timing. But come on. Congratulations. You're getting married again? Groomsman. Sounds like you have time to watch MLS then. Sounds like you don't have any responsibilities. Portland, San Diego and FC Dallas, Vancouver kickoff simultaneous. Why?

You have the playoff games, the whole thing. That's the thing we want to watch. That's the thing neutrals watch. That's the best part. These are both elimination games. That's the best part. Why would you put them on at the same time so it's harder to watch both of them? And yeah, so I do worry a little bit about quality.

in an LAFC Austin game. And that doesn't hurt coming off. Okay, I think there was a little anti-socer at times in that first leg between these two teams. LAFC under Toronto are who they are. He is stepping aside at the end of the season. I hope there's more soccer in them. I think Sun is a great starting point for that.

I think there's a lot of other quality in this team to start from. And we'll talk about Sun when we get into the salaries and all of that in a second. But like the scheduling on this is really, really frustrating on top of the scheduling of this. having been frustrating the entire time it is happening. Let's go to our next game. Finally, Chicago, Philadelphia. We obviously talked about the first leg in the Monday show.

So we broke down a little bit how these teams played and whatnot. Maybe a little surprising to people that a team, a series that went to a penalty kick shootout, we don't have Chicago higher on the list of upsets. Tom, what sort of was the feeling behind it for you? Yeah, I just think kind of, and this is probably unfair to Chicago, but it felt like that was their chance in game one. And also, Zincolanova is so very important to this team.

And respect to Philadelphia, right? And there's plenty of respect to L-AFC. Again, I just think that in this, like, NYCFC are obviously the clear one in this kind of rankings. Then Seattle, I think, is a clear two. And then I just think it's a big drop off for Columbus, Austin, Chicago. You could really argue any one of those three. wouldn't have, I wouldn't have a ton of pushback. So I think this is less about Chicago being like fifth in this than it is,

it's just in that tier with Columbus and awesome. Yeah, God. Nothing. You said, and like you're about to talk and you lean forward and then you just didn't have like you had something good. So I'm going to leave it to you. No, I didn't have anything good. We still don't know on Zinkernoggle.

That's what I was going to say. I was hoping, as I started to talk, I was like, what if there was an update that I just haven't seen yet? And I didn't feel 100% confident. Everything I'm seeing is he was. was, the report was he was in the gym at training. So wasn't out on the-off grind set, throwing the iron around, iron-sharp is iron.

Of course he's in the gym. So we don't have latest news on if he's available or not. We could only speculate on what Chicago chooses to do. I think it's pretty hard to believe that Brian Gutierrez isn't starting in the next game. So you have to figure out who's coming out of the team, if that's the case. does he play out on the wing? Do you change the look a little bit and make it sort of look like two up top

with Bamba alongside Kipers, which I actually really like because I think it gets Bamba into more open space. I think it allows him to vary his runs a little bit. And then you still have Gutierrez breaking out of midfield. You know you're going to get verticality from the wingbacks or full backs, whatever you end up calling it in this game

because they both get high, right? Gutman loves to play high at the field. I think Dean's a really good option, that as well. So I don't hate making this more of like a 5-3-2 with Gutierrez sitting in midfield. And I think it helps you probably control some of the game and play out a little bit easier while still having the vertical option. So I assume that something in Chicago's back pocket right now, if Zinkernagel's unavailable, even if he is available, he likes to play inside. Like it might end up looking very similar to that anyway. But there's no way you can't

have Gutierrez on the field, right? He scored. He scores the penalty. Like he's I said I couldn't agree more okay um for Philadelphia sorry for Philadelphia straightforward in this one you've got the opportunity like you went up to zero for a reason you let them back in but the feeling coming out of the first game and I think the celebrations post game was like all right we messed up and we still got the win yeah it's all there for us in this one um I think Oloski and Indy Vassalev scoring are phenomenal um like those are the guys they need. Obviously, the stars, the DPs, the center forwards need to score, but there's going to be so much defensive focus on them with the three centerbacks. It's the secondary

runners and to get them both goals and the way Olaski scored is massive. And I think that's what Philadelphia is going to try and lean on in the second leg. Next we had here, I mean, this is murderers row on the bottom three. And the murderers are not the teams I'm naming. They're going to be the ones who get dextered under the eye and then thrown into the Biscayne Bay or wherever he ends up putting them. We'll start with Nashville. Clearly, coming out of decision day, we had more confidence in Nashville. It was really bad in the first leg. We talked about it on Monday. But they have the best chance of the three, I think, which is, if we play our best game,

we'll win. I don't know that that's 100% true for Portland and Dallas because of the opponents they're playing and the quality they have. I don't know if that's the case for Nashville. I think if Nashville plays their best game, they win. I think that for Nashville against a lot of. of teams the way that Miami have handled them in their last two i don't know okay i think that's fully fair like they've put up eight goals in two games against them over the course of a week we talked about on monday i think there's a mental edge for this miami team rodrigo de paul's like doing his thing in this game at the pure shithousery levels which i respect the hell out of

I also would like to say We went to the game My wife was like Who should I know? What should I say? And I was like Well, Rodrigo de Paul is a hot boy So people like him

And she looked him up And was like, I'm unimpressed And that made me feel better Because I don't know Maybe I'm higher up in the rankings No Julian Carranza Against

How do you go to fall That I expected Evan Bush A sleeper pick in the In the Ryan household Over here So I felt pretty confident about that Just turn it out there

I said it on Monday I'll say it again Nashville needs to go for it. And by the way, Bongi had a Schaffelberg moment in their game. Oh, whoa, it's a breakaway. Oh, whoa. And then the Bambi on ice in the final seconds.

Jackson Reagan was like super honest about it after the game. Yeah, he was like, yeah, I probably should have done better there. But like he was buying me. I wasn't catching him, so I shoved him. Yeah, which I think Minnesota fans were pissed about and I think they should be. I respect the hell out of that answer. I love Jackson Reagan. Also, I'm pushing him in that moment too, right?

you know you're throwing a hand on him you're just trying to make it all of us are on everybody is everybody but like macania or maybe erin long like who can keep up with bongy in open space no no for sure and all of these chances come off mistakes but nashville had two of these chances to go ahead i don't know what the i've said this a few times i don't know what the vibe's going to be like like national fans have watched their team get battered in the last two weeks at home against this squad then they watch on the road it doesn't look better what is it but they have to go for it i think quosom has to start in this game. I don't know if wheels the next option for a guy to get a start, but it has to be more aggressive going forward. It has to be front foot. You have to push and score goals. You're

not going to sit in and beat this team. I don't know how many minutes he has in him. This feels like a Bruegman series. We said it last time. I don't know why he didn't get the start over Costa. Even if it's a situation where you push Yazbek maybe a little bit higher and bring Brugman in, but tell Yasback, like, okay, you are part of the attack. Your job is not to come back and cover. I think there could be something in there for them. Is there anything big that stands out to you that I'm missing before we move to the next one? No, but again, just for the sake of saying another obvious basic thing.

Messy has five goals and two assists in the last two games against Nashville. That's why I think even if Nashville throws their fastball and hits it 101, like on the corner, Messi can just smack that thing over the wall, you know? Hey, Spittini. No, you mute yourself, bro. Spadini, back him up. you're not backing him up on the cutoff throw? Tom, if they hit their fastball,

one-on-one on the corner, God, it couldn't have been any deeper of an analogy. Such a bro, dude, on that one. Let's go to our final two series. They're out west. We start with Portland. We argued a little bit over this one. I think you were higher on Portland than I was.

Let me just say the bottom two. Like, we're splitting hairs here. I don't think that there was realistically much of a chance for either of Dallas or Portland. I just think that you look at the games, the game models and the styles and I think that it's more likely that Vancouver just choke the hell out of any chance that Dallas have to even really

make an impact in transition or again, Dallas had zero shots in game one. And whereas Portland, again, I don't think that they are an actual threat to San Diego, but man, it was 2-1 and they had momentum, and then they still kind of had a chance or two after they went a man down on the road against San Diego.

I just think that there's more gaps for San Diego. Overall, a very small likelihood here. I want to be very clear, but if we're splitting hairs between seven and eight here, I think it's Portland ahead of Dallas. Yeah, you know that I, I think Dallas is one of those disappointing performances in the last game. I have no doubts about Vancouver. I think I picked them to go to MLS Cup from the Western Conference. But I thought Dallas would be more dangerous than what did they finish on zero point something XG.

I thought they would be more aggressive going forward. And so that's where for me, I would have pushed them higher of, I assume Farrington gets the start in this next game. They're going home. They've been pretty, I mean, they've been really good since the summer, at home especially. And then Portland also, not only do they not get the victory, they're going home in a way in which I actually think it exposes them more to San Diego because they have to open up and play a little more. And you have to do so without Jim or Forer, who will be unavailable for this game. So you probably bring Smith in there, but like it's a half step back for you.

It doesn't make Muscara's life a little bit harder, trying to get forward. And I said in the last game, I think if Pilcher gets the start again at right back, like that's a matchup, you have to win. And I don't think that gets easier if Jim or Forre is suspended for the second game. So there's two question marks there for me, but for Dallas, yeah, they were pretty unimpressive in the first game in a rematch at a stadium they had just won, which, yeah, there was a lot of game states that went into that. And as we said, Thomas Mueller is like, why would we be intimidated by this?

We were better than them down a man for the entire. game. They also will get Laborta back now. So that's huge for this Vancouver team. And they continue to get Galled a little bit healthier. They hope to get Brian White a little bit healthier. Congratulations to Tristan Blackman, defensive player, defender of the year in Major League Soccer. Well deserved for the performances. We talked about why I didn't vote for him and whatever. I don't question the decision at all. I think it's a great story for what Vancouver has built. Like to go into Major League Soccer and help guys elevate Tristan Black is the tip of the spear alongside Brian White of that.

Yeah, and like, I know, Tristan Blackman is, I don't know, he's long been a very good player in this league. So it's cool to watch him level up and get that recognition. I kind of assume that this was going to end with Glezzanus just because the most recognized center. Again, he's a defender of the year. He's really good on the team that conceded the fewest goals. That's usually most of the formula.

And again, he, Glessness would have been a deserving winner as well, but I'm very, very happy for Blackman. Came on this show, it was fun. so if you come on this show and you're fun there's a chance you'll win awards think about that for next year everyone who plays in major league soccer just think about that that's out there for you something to ponder excited for these next two games i think excited to see portland get another home playoff game this one finally on a weekend so maybe they can get a little bit of an atmosphere which was a complaint for the last game which i think was fair and made it as hard as possible real quick before we move on to salaries congratulations to sammy sarver mLS next pro MVP uh he's He's an all-time GA Cup legend in my GA Cup chats about the greatest tournament that's ever been played and is ever played with Columbus, which is why it was cool, Bradley Wright Phillips, who of course played in Columbus as he finished up his professional career, a bit of a mentor to Sammy Sarver in the academy before he went to Indiana, university, and scored a bunch of goals in college soccer, so he was the one who told him in the video, which was pretty cool to see. And North Texas continues to produce players for Dallas. it would be nice if they were then elevated to the first team and met with other talent that they could play around.

And it was cool that Sarver got the chance in the second game against Vancouver after drawing the PK in the first game. I would say I think it was a mistake. And I think Farrington at this point is more effective alongside Musa and we'll see what happens in the next game. But congrats to Sammy Sarver and Charlie Fiction, one of our soccer-wise dads who's big fan of his game

and what he can do and is a Hoosier as well. So loves all of that going in. Let's move to MLS player association salary dumps. So for anyone who doesn't know, this happens three times a year. Does that happen in preseason? No. So it happens twice a year. And this is the only time we actually are fully aware of the amount of money on player salaries.

So when they sign with teams for the most part, we're told now the contract length and the contract structure, aka it's a TAM deal, it's a DP deal. So we know the threshold it sits in. We still don't have full clarity. these comes out. This is part of the issue with Major League Soccer. It's not possible to cover it the way we cover the NFL and NBA of like, here's

every dollar in a salary cap, here's the triggers they're on, here's the options they have that could become more, here's the second apron, like all that stuff. It's not possible for us to cover this league in this way. We try as hard as we can. If you want to see a lot of this information written down, which I would highly recommend, subscribe

to our Patreon and get you access to our debt charts. We're updating those. Those have every player on a list. per team based off their salary, how far out their contracts go, option years, all that type of stuff, as well as how the team sets up, who's a DP, international spots, and all of that. It's the best resource I think out there if you want to understand what's going on in Major League Soccer, and we're going to talk about a lot of these teams in the offseason. Second note, I want to throw out there because I meant to say it 10 seconds ago.

I think next week, we probably, the teams that get eliminated, won't dig into. We'll do that in two weeks because there'll be an international break. We'll do full post-mortems on these teams, what their off-season will look like. Big things to know, potential coach firings, all these types of stuff. That probably won't happen next week. It will happen in two weeks as the entire round finishes and all of that. But Tom, the salary dump comes out. I know you're digging in.

I know you're scrolling through it. What were sort of the big headlines for you? Yeah, so particularly the one that comes out in the fall shows the sign of the summer signings. And the most interesting one was to see where Sun Jungman ended up. And Sun Jungman is just over 11 million in salary. that is he is now the second highest paid player in MLS behind Lino Messey who's around 20 million Lino Messie's new contract signed and announced this week, last week, whatever it was. That is not reflected in these numbers.

Any contract that was signed this year that doesn't go into effect until next season, which are most of these, if you're staying with the same team and getting a new contract, it's usually, if you sign it in June, it usually is for the following season because the money is usually doled out already on the salary cap regards those ones won't be reflected one of them that was was georgia mojavitch he left toronto uh he left uh colorado for toronto in in a eight million dollar cash for he's on 2.3 million in the salary i feel pretty safe in my assumption that that number's going to look higher next year different the thing to consider for summer signings is also how the deal is like pro rated and the guaranteed compensation is supposed to be for full year

but there's getting into the weeds and I don't feel 100% comfortable ruling anything like scientifically of this is absolutely a third of what he like he's only making a third of that depends on when the player is signed depends on all of these things Paxton Aronson who is the replacement of George Mihailovich and get Mahiovich left in part

because of getting that new contract and wanting to go to Toronto Paxon Aronson is on like 2.25 he's like 50, whatever that is it is not that much of a difference so I thought that was very interesting in terms of the outlay for Colorado. They spent every single penny, essentially, of that transfer fee that they got for Georgie to sign Paxon. And then the contract that Georgie got, the raise in Toronto, like Colorado ended up giving that to Pax. I think that's interesting. And I was pleasantly surprised where

that number ended up in terms of ambition and spend for Colorado, one of the teams that are the lower spending teams in the league. One that fans will rightfully not be thrilled about is Rodrigo DePaul's contract is listed at $3.7 million. That is well over the DP threshold. the discrepancy here in speaking to MLSPA and speaking to the league MLSPA included bonuses that will happen if and I'm using air quotes on if we know the purchase options and be picked up if DePaul's purchase options picked up there are some bonuses that come with that that is why that number is 3.7

what I was told is for this half season he's getting 1.5 million which keeps him under the DP threshold so again I understand why fans would be rightfully mad when they see that number coming out that he's $2 million over the DP threshold. But that's kind of that. The other interesting one for me? He is not, by the way, just to throw out there, because I think it's obviously a frustration for fans.

He is not the only player in this scenario. There are other players who we think either have front-loaded or back-loaded contracts where the team has a little more money this year and is like, okay, first year, we're going to give you $1.5 million. And then it's going to go down next year because they had cash left or the other way around. where, like, Thomas Mueller is going to make more next year than he does this year, even pro-rated because the contract is probably going to go up. And there are other players in this list who came on loan, like a Brenner, who took pay cuts.

If they were to come back, it would have to be on the next number, which is what DePaul is going to do next year, replacing Sergio Bousquet's as one of the DPs. Yeah, exactly. And again, Bousquet and Alba who are retiring. Those are two messy Alba and Bousquet, I believe, are three of the highest seven paid or something like that in the league and two of those are retiring de paul takes one deepie spot and then they'll have the other one which is something you already know one of the more interesting things for me was i had heard kind of what the asks were but the negotiations are like they're

up between milanoloski and san diego um and there was just a lot of misinformation or a misassumption it's not misinformation i like fans like yeah no no no obviously we shouldn't give him a deepie spot no he's not they're not asking for that right um but i didn't know exactly what this was going to land Malano Lasky's on $550,000. San Diego have done a billion things right in their roster building. Again, I think Tyler Heaps, that front office is, if not, executive of the year, top three, and that's not an argument. Milano Lovsky $550,000 feels like a no-brainer. I'm going to ask a dumb question.

Is that prorated half the year? I honestly don't know. Okay. I'm assuming that he's like, based on my knowledge, and conversations around these negotiations, I was expecting something around this range of like $5 to $600,000 as like the full year salary. Got it.

I think that's what it is. Well, obviously, no completely in April when they do this again for next year. But that's under the TAM threshold. Yeah. That's, again, I understand the small sample size, but like, let's say your worst fears happen and that this was just an unsustainable run

and it was great timing for the play. player that he had his best ever stretch when it was time for a contract. If you miss on that deal and he does not perform at all, $550,000 doesn't cripple you in any way. And he's a center forward. They should be asking for that. Like, I was surprised at the beginning, like when this happened and he left. And I think we had the signs that like, oh, Philly are giving the contract to the player

that teams were saying was asking for too much. Philly does not ever do that. It's always the other way around. Philly are cashiering Gossdog or trading Casper Shepail call where you're going down the list of 100 examples. Philly are not the team that comes in with the overpaying on a salary. So really, really well done by Philly there. And again, I'm still surprised at San Diego.

The other thing which my understanding is internally, the other teams know these numbers already. This dump does not occur for the teams. Like there is a back-end catalog which these numbers are put into that are seen internally. So just when everyone's like, Oh, they're probably having the same experience as us. They are aware of those numbers.

Agents are having their own experience because they're not keyed in the same way. But the odd part with the Lasky always was he was owned by San Diego's parent company team. So like the transfer fee you wouldn't have thought would have been the issue because it's staying inside of it. So it was all on salary. And if it ends up being that this is the number, then that is a very, very odd thing to have occurred. Yeah. I agree. A couple more on my end. CF Montreal, despite signing a DP who was making $2 million in compensation,

are still easily the lowest paying salary team in the league. So congratulations again to Montreal. Philadelphia Union are tied for second lowest spending wage bill, and they won the Shield. I know that that's something that they take great, great pride in. I remember in 2020, from speaking to a couple people, there was a disappointment on the structure of, I believe it was like Jamiro Montero was like transfer fee that was like no no no our wage bill is lower than what it's being showed right now i was like i wanted to we wanted to win the shield and have the lowest wage

but it's just like a sense of pride like at that point so philadelphia again it's not enough positive can be said about what bradley carnell with the front office of the players all of them again they're 13.4 million is what their guaranteed compensation is like sun hung min is 11 million right right like philadelphia union are doing that is truly incredible United aren't far ahead of them. They're listed at 14.5, but with all of these, and San Diego's another example, like San Diego are only paying the senior minimum on Pellegrino and Cory Baird, and, but the MLSPA, what they care about getting out is what the player's being paid. It doesn't matter who's being paid. It's across the two teams. Right. So San Diego's

number is a little lower, and like, San Diego, like, Julian Gressel, they're paying only a fraction of that. Miami are holding the rest. So Minnesota are in like the bottom five and salary spend and they've had an awesome season. Toronto FC went from the second highest paid spending team in salary to the fourth, the fourth fewest. In a summer in which they added a DP and

a high-level Tamsat because they got rid of Insinia and Benedetti. Obviously, they are still paying them, like the ownership still is on the hook for that, but in terms of like their current roster and the salary outlay, they went from second highest to fourth lowest.

Stuff. it's a bizarre thing i i i wonder like where the debate then comes with the philly stuff of like just lift the salary cap if philly is spending so much less and winning now what's the difference like if you're a team like that what do you care and there's only more money in there for you to sell players internally and move players on i don't know it's interesting to me that there's low spending teams are doing well and that in any way that would be an argument the salary cap and not against it of like it clearly it doesn't really matter um the other thing that happens is now fans go through and see players that frustrate them and how much they make uh i would

argue randall at one point two million dollars is one of the worst contracts and let me just say that that he was bought out by nashville um dc are only paying the the senior man so i don't need to pile on to dc today okay fair uh but there are some names in here of players who are making big money for some teams there's a decent chunk of teams in the red bull dc revs category where it's the six to eight hundred thousand where you're getting nothing from some of these players and that's where it's like that should be a starter okay it doesn't have you don't have to hit it out of the park like a zinkernoggle where it's like i can't believe this right right but that has to be a good starter that can win you games every once in a while that does their job at a high level

and a lot of these guys are rotation players in those spots and that's where you look at teams where it's like okay maybe they didn't strike out on all the DP signings maybe they're not spending nine million dollars on a guy who's not very good but it's this middle of the roster stuff where if you're going oh for six there's no world in which you're competitive and i think that should be really frustrating for a lot of these teams one of the things we said is we don't know where the pro rated line lands for guys when they come in the league and what it stands for so like i went into look at like the west of abu alis and you know the big signings of the summer like where do they stand in comparison to the league, but we don't exactly know where that number sits.

So we'll learn a little bit more about that one when we get the next dump after this one. But a lot to go into here. We're going to talk about a bunch of it when we get into our offseason, you know, recaps and we'll learn, we'll know a lot more about a lot of these teams and where they stand. Three big stories we want to talk about here and them figuring out what next year looks like and who's on the roster and whatnot is St. Louis, Red Bulls, and, of course, Atlanta. The big report coming out, I think, after we were done with the show,

but we talked about it a little bit because the rumors and reports had started, rumors because it wasn't you yet. Then the reports occur, and obviously the capital Js at the athletic were able to get there. That Tata Martino is the frontrunner right now to be head coach once again for Atlanta United. Shocked isn't the right word to use, but I am very surprised by this. what do you make of this news and how maybe it happens and what it means for the club

yeah and I'll start too to just litigate what our report means like we say he's a clear front runner I would go as far to say I would be borderline stunned if he doesn't become the next head coach like something would have to go wrong as far as my understanding

for Tata Martino to not be the next head coach of Atlanta United it's an interesting one so they just brought back Miguel Moron last winter hasn't gone well Atlanta United were the second highest

spending team in the league in sorry third highest after LFC songs on third highest spending team in the league in salary one of the worst teams in the league

no team spent more money on transfer fees over the last summer and this winter over two windows span in league history than this team has they still have major

construction to do on this roster and Tata Martino is a proven winner in this league. I mean, obviously he has all the history he has in Atlanta. I'm worried about him sullying that legacy in Atlanta. I think it's going to be a difficult job to walk into. But Tata with what he's done in Miami, what he did in Atlanta, he's somebody who has earned at this stage of his career, a big say in player personnel. So while Garth Lagerway

is kind of leave of absence from the club, as he focuses on his treatment from cancer and obviously all of the best wishes to Garth Lagoe. Chris Henderson is a seat. so now and they have a pretty robust front office they have a lot of respected people tata martino is going to be as big a voice as anybody in what they do in the path forward for this team and again nothing is done nothing is agreed nothing assigned just to be careful but again something would have to go wrong as my understanding for him to not be the next head coach on the surface it's understandable right tata was really the face of the team when they came into the league he's the coach for Atlanta's most successful period

in the club's history. They are trying to get back there. He fits a lot of the things they are looking for. Understanding of MLS, past success in MLS, an ability to coach big names and big stars, which this team, as they spend big money, has expectation. He also has the relationship with Miguel El Miron. He also has a relationship with Chris Henderson in Miami.

I wasn't sure I would say that that ended positively for both Miami and the two individuals that I just mentioned. And they lost to Atlanta in the open round of the playoffs in an upset. And even when you just go back and look through the team and some of the signings they made, you know, Toto Aviles is a signing that you talked about being, affecting player personnel, right? Tata likes to go in and get young players from South America and experienced players, a lot of them coming from Mexico. And a lot of them have not worked out.

Franco Negri, another one that didn't really work out for them. you look in central midfield right they brought in rojas which fine whatever it was okay not great um stephen out like there there was a lot of players that felt like tata players in the intermiami team that were bad signings that was the case as well originally with atlanta some of them not all of them they hit the ball out of the park on the first round carlos carmona elite signing tito vialba elite signing what they got from assad on the contract style he was on elite and of course, Almi Rohn and Joseph, the center of it, it just doesn't feel progressive. And I don't know that it saves this.

Like, am I looking at it and saying, okay, Latte-Loth and Morancheck are going to turn it around because Tata's there? No. It kind of says to you, like, he's going to go out and get the next set of players. And I don't know that his hit rate is that high over the last few years as the league continues to progress and continues to change. And so I can understand, like, the morale side of things and the emotional side of things. It doesn't seem like a hard one to sell to Arthur Blank.

He might be one of the only coaches whose name he still remembers. Blank. Blank loves Martino. Yeah. He talked about it. I actually found a picture of me interviewing him after MLS Cup and then winning. And he was like, we have the best coach in the league. We think we have the best coach in the world.

He's one of the best coach. Like he talked about him constantly. So, yeah, it's not a hard one. And maybe if you're Chris Henderson, you look at things and you say, all right, things are a little bit in flux right now. Let's bring in someone where they can share the pressure with me. and there will be universal, you know, excitement that he's coming in. And then we'll figure out the rest going forward. But it's a club that's had a lot of misses.

I think Tata, as an individual, has had a lot of misses. And I don't know that it's a guarantee as much as maybe it would have been a few years ago that this makes sense at this point. I think that that's all fair. And I think part of that, too, is just the stink that's on Atlanta United right now and how many times we've fallen for hashtag Atlanta's back. before we move on to kind of the next team but like the defense here of Atlanta

like screw it let's just go get Tata again one like obviously all the success he's had in Atlanta Miami and throughout his entire career but just specifically within MLS. Somebody understands the league loves the league all that since he left they've tried the big European manager failed they've tried

the big time South American manager failed they've tried the hot rising assistant in MLS failed they've tried to go back and get an MLS proven MLS Cup winner, massive, embarrassing fail. So at some point, you throw your hands up and say, man, fuck it. Like, just go get on. I don't know, man.

Like, I say that completely lighthearted. I don't think the process is much, much deeper than that. But they've tried every other avenue here. Like, I don't know what it is. And so the one more point I wanted to say, Chris Henderson gave a press conference. And I haven't seen the word for work quote, but he's indicated that Moranchuk,

Lh-Salé-Lat and Al-Morone will be the DPs at the start of next season. Don't love to hear that. Don't love to hear that. And we'll see if if and when Tata takes over if he has some different opinions there.

But I thought at least Marnchuk was going to be moved out for a different reinforcement. If that's the case, man, Jesus Christ. I think there's no chance Al-Mirone's going anywhere now. Nope. Nope. And I don't think, and I think I would like this. I don't know how much lower Lottet-Lat's value you have to be that. So that's what

It's like, Marantuk is the obvious. This hasn't worked. Let's figure it out. And if he's back, man, I don't know. By the way, I realized as I was going through that list, I was like, I don't see the names, I think. I was looking at the wrong list for Inter Miami. So the signings are more like David Martinez, Nicholas Frere,

Marcelo Weingott, Mati Rojas. Federico Redondo, I don't know that that's a, I don't know. And again, inside of a club, you don't know who made these signings and who didn't, but a lot of them feel very tata, and they did not go super well. But I will say this, for any League MX Club who overpaid a slightly experienced South American center rack over the next six months, you've got your out right now because the way is taking them in on loan. So just line them up and it is on its way. Huge news, though, in Atlanta. Let's go to these other two openings that we wanted to discuss for St. Louis.

It starts with Sporting Director and then it goes to coach. They made their offseason roster announcements before they were required to. We know Berkey's been re-signed. they also made their roster triggers on options or not without a chief sporting director and without a coach. Yeah, it's probably not the process you want. And it's probably not the process you do when you publicly say things like,

I'm just here to be the president. I think it's stupid when business people try to control the football stuff. That's what Digo Gigliani said a couple months ago about St. Louis. Do you think John Hackworth was making the decision? No, it was Jaguarine. Everything that I've heard, since Lutz Fanninshiel was let go, was that Diego Gigliani privately within the club

and the fueling from outside the club is that he's going to be taking or wanting control of having, if not full control, a much larger say, in sporting matters. And that's, I think, what you look from the outside, it's obvious. When you give Roman Berkey a DP deal and then make the contract option decisions

a month before that they're due to be in and the CSO search has gone on. They've been at the final stage for a while. This has already been reported. Corey Ray is one of the finalists. Will Coons is not. That has been kind of... There was at least interest,

but he's not at this. As far as I understand, unless that there was a crazy change. The guy who's a sporting director of LA Galaxy? Yes. Yeah, there was interest from St. Louis. I'm interested, too, if Wilcoons wants to join soccer-wise.

Sporting director of soccer-wise? Yeah, there's interest on this side as well. So, Corey Ray, a couple other finalists, as far as I understand. John Hackworth is in the mix in some way. I wouldn't call him the favorite. I believe it's Corey Ray and another person who I would probably assume

it's going to be one of those two people. I would have expected a decision by now. So I preface when I say, I expect a decision like very soon. I would have already expected a decision by now. So I'm still kind of on red alert of figuring out when this is going to happen. It's got to happen ASAP.

It should happen ASAP. They've definitely done plenty of interviews and due diligence, everything, doing the process, right? So I'm assuming and expecting there to be news at some point soon, and we'll see where it goes. On the players' announcements, I don't think it's like outlandish to think that they wanted Berkey to come back and the contract's there. And like, if he's going to sign it, he's going to sign it. On the options that were exercised or not exercised, I think they're kind of, for the most part,

the ones everyone would do, right? The more of the higher paid players were not picked up. a lot of the player, you know, Miguel Perez, like guys like that. Yeah. The, the three big ones are Chris Durkin, Sang Ben Jong, and Zhao Klaus. Durkin, not for salary, but the fact that he's a U-22 initiative player. And by picking up his option, he remains a U-22 initiative player,

which is a arrow in your quiver that you can't use otherwise right now. Sang-bin, I think in general, maybe a little bit surprised that he's coming back, but they gave something up to get him. They gave up to $2 million to get him in the summer. Like, you don't pull the plug on that. And then the other one is Klaus, who's on $1.3 million. So it sits right on the DP line. He will be a DP unless they buy him down.

His availability has been up and down. He's also kind of a specific player. And that's where it's like, well, what's the system? What's the style? Like, does he fit that? And you're hurting yourself by the fact that you don't have answers to any of those questions. when you make these decisions. Rasmussam, Alfredo Morales,

like those guys were always going to get declined. Henry Kessler declined as well, an obvious one sitting over a million dollars. Huge option number. His option number was much bigger. 1.3 million is what we have listed at least. No, and like that's what the option number was much bigger. That's crazy.

He's in negotiations with the team about a potential extension would obviously be on a different style of contract. So, yeah, all of us is it's not wild. It's just like why, why, why, it like at a minimum just wait until the last day you have to do it and if you don't have feedback from anyone else then it is what it is but it's very very odd for st louis and i think unfortunate for a club that okay the hope was the process would get cleaned up a little bit as they've let some of these people go um lutz van and seal has been hired to run aberdeen in

scotland so he decode scottish football in a little bit and then uh they can all celebrate him on that side of things i wonder if he gets a lambourg what was the car that had a all the St. Louis stuff. He spent a year before the team actually happened driving around St. Louis, going to youth games and promoting them. And I think it was a Lamborghini that was covered in St. Louis stuff. But I cannot remember. Last one here

is Red Bulls. Tom. Yeah. Any update there? Nothing. So Julian de Guzman takes over his CSO. Yakin Schneider leaves. I've been critical of kind of his time here. So the club did say that it was a personal

thing. And Yon Schneider spoke. about why that is a serious cancer diagnosis for his wife, wishing obviously them all of the best. So Julian de Guzman will take over to CSO. Sandra Swartz is out as head coach, as we talked about. So we'll see kind of where this all develops and where it all goes. But yeah, I'm curious to see what happens. Julian de Guzman said at a press conference that they very much are planning to use that third DP spot, which is good. They were planning on it in the summer as well.

It unfortunately didn't happen with Timer Werner. I'd imagine that they're going to kick the tires again on that. but again like it simply simply cannot be team over or bust that is so very clear and we'll see where they go again they do still for all of the for all the criticisms that you and i have made about the season this roster some of the things a foundation that's around forsburg trouble moteng sean neilis daniel edelman if he stays daniel edelman as i've been as i've reported like their offers from within the league there's interest in europe like he's a guy that i think they can move particularly after they signed Bergen this summer.

But whether it's Edelman Stroud, Ronald Donkul or Bergen in the midfield, that's a good midfield group, Neuess in the back, Islet in the back, Carlos Cornell if he stays in goal, there are a lot of strong pieces. And if they're able to get some flexibility, get the right DP signing in, if Lewis Morgan is fit, again, I understand that that's a big if they're able to at least mitigate the risk that if Lewis Morgan misses time, that they'll have another option that can kind of play in his mold. all of these things, this is all doable in one winter. Very much so, particularly with the Open DP spot

and whatever they could get, say, for Edelman. And if they're able to, I don't know, I don't know what the appetite is for a club to use buyouts, hack wouldn't be a bad decision if they had the investment there and then that frees up a lot of money. So for all of the pessimism and correct criticism and fair criticism, there is optimism around the Red Bulls. With the right winter offseason, this could turn around immediately.

And I would say, you know, with Edelman and that move, like, they're super high on Audrey Mametti, who they're accelerating through the academy. So it would be, okay, we have the next, he's not ready to start, but like, you spend a little pro money on a veteran who can fill that spot for a little bit, or it's just Doncor alongside Stroud. And then you still have that, like, high-level prospect coming through, Julian Hall as well. So, like, it feels like they have the next generation pushing in, and they have a little flexibility then to say, do we move from one of these players to get money and cash today that we can use and then they will come through and they would be the next academy stars over the next three years plus Julian de Guzman his background is fascinating if anyone doesn't know his story that well like he left Canada at 16 years old at a time when Canadian soccer players didn't get opportunities

overseas it was like him and Dero were the two that pulled into big time European academies I think he was Marseille and D.Rowe was Inter Milan. And he and his brother went on to be two of the best players to ever come out of Canada. His brother chose to play for the Netherlands because he had eligibility there and ended up playing on Netherlands in, I think, multiple senior tournaments like Euros and World Cups. And Julian de Guzman played in La Liga at a time when, like, again, this stuff was not happening. Ended up coming back to Canada because he ended up signing with Toronto FC for a little bit as a DP, He finished an MLS and then went and basically ran the Ottawa Fury for like four years in U.S.L.

So he's got connections all over the world. That's why I think he ended up at Red Bull. I think he has some Red Bull connections that are people who are in the family. I think his nephew is like one of the top prospects at PSV I'd Noven. He is considered one of the top prospects. He's a U.S. Youth National team. He's been called into U.S. U.S. U.S. 18 camps. He's still connected in Europe.

So outside of Timo Verner is a Red Bull family, guy. I'm interested to see what Julian de Guzman's soccer background that he leans on in this moment is where he chooses to go if it is a bit more senior or veteran players that are coming into the club. And as you said, we hope the best for Yerhan Schneider and his family. As he heads back and as I said, if I had a job opening in MLS, I would interview Sandro Schwartz. I would be shocked if he doesn't get another opportunity in the MLS sphere if he wants to going forward. Okay. that's all for us i am jealous of the life right now of jackson duzich who says we started during his first class for the day and we're still going i love that you're hanging out in classes and just

crushing a little bit of soccer as learning and then you come back in and you get all the knowledge from us thank you to everyone who is in the chat here today is the best time of year we got salary dumps we've got playoffs all of that it's going to be a ton of fun we're going to be in the discord all weekend watching the games nwsl decision day on sunday as well right up against the MLS playoffs. So hang out and there with us. Sign up to our Patreon. If not, we'll see you on Blue Sky.

And we'll be back next week with all of your coverage. The MLS playoffs, USL Championship, USL League 1, NWSL, and everything else in between. Thank you.