SoccerWise - MLS Midweek Chaos & USMNT Roster Draft

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

First midweek games in Major League Soccer this season is in the books and it delivered. Tom & David sit down to revel in the madness that was four goal thrillers and goalkeeper heroics. They ask some big questions surrounding the NY teams and Austin. Then Matt Doyle joins the fray to continue the conversation on Daryl Dike's potential World Cup Chances, some call up controversy, and they draft the most likely late roster US Men's National Team pushes.5:38 Goalfests At NYC17:48 TFC Goalkeeper Tying Goals24:15 Orlando Smokes Charlotte FC26:35 Quakes Comeback & Austin Woes39:00 USMNT Segment With Matt Doyle39:30 Daryl Dike's World Cup Prospects49:10 Mexico Claims About Obed Vargas Call-ups52:00 Jackson Ragen No Calls56:00 Young Player USMNT WC Roster Draft

Welcome everybody back to Sock-Wise, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you for a midweek MLS action show. We've got a big one for you. It is mainly a podcast, so most of you can't see that Tom is pointing at his Nick's old school starter jacket logo. Right now, we are hoping for a bounce back night. The New York Mets won a game yesterday for the first time in 13 days after 12 straight losses. Anything is possible. How was the drought for you there? Did this feel like, you know, just a waterfall of purified water for you in the desert?

The way the first game of the series went, the Mets went up 3-0 on the last 5-3 was kind of the one where it was like, oh, this is the break. You know what? Now we could see. Now this one was just like, hey, we want a game. Like, it happened. So for all of the DC United fans out there, for the LA Galaxy fans out there, for the Atlanta United fans out there, for the Atlanta United fans out there. Not for them. Anything is possible.

Just continue to dream. and hope is there. We've got a big show coming up for you. We'll talk about everything we saw on a wild Wednesday night. Goalore, goalkeeper goals, hat tricks, MLS next pro players scoring goals, homegrown getting starts, all that type of stuff. And then we have, as we do every Thursday, Doyle will be joining me at the end of the episode for us to talk through some USM&T storylines.

We expand a little bit more on the Darrell D.K. conversation we started on Monday. We talked a little bit about maybe some inconsistencies and stories around call-ups, both from the Mexican national team side of things, as well as from the U.S. men's national team side. And then we get a little draft going of players that we think have a shot of maybe sneaking into the roster. Most of them, as you'd expect, young players in Major League Soccer

that we would put on the team. If you're listening on Sirius Radio, I'll tell you now, we're probably going to go a little bit long. So if you ever want to find the full show, you can search Soccerwise on Demand anywhere on the Sirius Radio player, or you can go and search anywhere you get your podcast. but we appreciate you listening here. Thank you for being with us on Channel 157.

Before we start, real quick, we wanted to give a shout to the Charity Bowl, which is something that one of our producers at Kickback, Douglas Reyes-Seroon, works for a show called The Shutdown Fullcast, where they run this charity bowl every year, where people donate in sort of honor of their schools, alumni groups. There are fake teams in there. I think Atlanta United, I've been told, actually has finished pretty high, as well. Like you sort of choose what you donate under and all the donations go to new American

pathways in the state of Georgia. It supports refugees moving to the United States when they first arrive and obviously I think is something very meaningful to us. They have raised in less than two days over a million dollars. They are pushing for two million dollars. So I mean a Kimes posting about it from the NFL draft stage and you see people talking about it all over online. So if you want to get involved, go over to edsb charitybowl.com. We will post it in the body of this podcast. We will put it on social media as well.

Shut down fullcast, anywhere on blue sky, you can find them. Examples of how you can donate. Apparently, Indiana alumni are donating $27.21 in honor of their 2721 victory in the national championship. Douglas, as a DC United season ticket holder, Womp, Womp, I believe, posted for every goal of the Atlantic Cup insanity on Wednesday night. So whatever inspires you, you could go based off red cards. If you're a San Diego of C fan, maybe you want to post for every Chris McFay.

Maybe you want to donate for every Chris McFay red card. Anything else in between. But we want to give a shout out there to the Charity Bowl. It closes up, I believe, Friday evening. So make sure to get over there and donate quickly and get involved for a good cause. Let's suck goals though. 4-4, Red Bulls, DC. Oh, that was the big game of the night.

False. That was the big game in the area. False. That was a big game of the window. False. Everything off the rails in midweek MLS. The first big midweek, we know Tom with the World Cup. We're going to get a lot of these this season.

We kind of know the story. You get some rotated lineups. You get some potentially homegrown or MLS next pro players, getting short-term opportunities, one-off opportunity. that wasn't really the case last night like it was pretty full groups but it was i think a little bit of the we don't have as much time to game playing we don't have as much time to come off the last game and get fit and teams just opened up and went crazy yeah i don't even know if you can put like uh something to tie them all together because there's just so much so much chaos and so many different things so

midweek MLS. You did that disappoint. Those were the early windows. Those two results, plus we're going to talk about the Toronto Philly 3-3 draw. By the way, Toronto, I thought my big knock on them was that they were going to be boring this year. And I'm as a good way to the team for all of the like, they've had a lot of bad stuff in the past with Insidion, but it was a lot of bad results, though it was not uninteresting. This year, they are definitely better. But man, was that wrong about them being boring?

Good Lord, those are a lot of crazy games. but starting with Red Bulls DC 4-4. Man, so DC hadn't scored in four MLS games coming into this one. They struggled to, like, enter the ball into the box. Like Ty Buribo seemed to be getting frustrated at lack of service as anybody would, let alone a DP center forward who makes his living based on scoring goals. But when you play the Red Bulls, I think my men's league team could get a couple of transition opportunities against his team.

if you go back and watch the highlights if you miss this game the Red Bulls play really beautiful soccer and some of their goals were great that Ruvul Cable goal was that you texted in the chat saying like did he just turn into Venetia's Jr? No, Doyle did because I put in

so Kate Cowell got dropped for this game which you know rotated midweek fine I have said a couple times I think Red Bulls for all the good they do a lot of it dies at Cade Cowell and Jorge Ruval Cabo's feet like they have been the two most underwhelming parts of this team outside of having you play centerback for this group.

So outside of that, like for all the good they create, I feel like a lot of it dies on those two wings. So I actually, after Kate Cowell, the lineup came out, I said do Jorge Ruval Cabo next. So Doyle waited 45 minutes for him to score a goal and then followed up for me. That's, as is typical, he likes to do guerrilla warfare, but he's always there when, when things are going, when they're going well. The Knicks finally lose and all of a sudden the gates to the, underneath the bridge that he lives in is somehow opens and he lumbers out with his troll like hammer and is able to find the way to send a message. But he has no internet service when the Celtics lose.

Boom, you got massive. This Red Bull, this Red Bull DC game, and by the way, like a quick tangent, while Ruvakov, I don't think is a DP winger, that's fine because he's not going to be a DP dexter. I think that there's a really good player. And this was even before yesterday. It's easy for me to say after that goal. I think he started so. But he moves really, really smoothly. When he's your, like, go-to winger, don't think that's great.

Forsberg is obviously going to be the high-us player in the attack. But I think Ruvilkova is absolutely a piece for the starting 11 moving forward. My issue is, I think him and Kate Cowell are very similar. And so I think both of them have speed to open up the game. I think both of them are a threat you have to consider. I don't really trust either of them coming inside. obviously this comes after Rueva Cabal came inside and scored two goals. But like, I do think his decision making has struggled in those moments.

And I don't think he's as comfortable. And K. Cowell, we know is not as comfortable, right? He wants to be in space. So that's the part. Dribbling out of bounds. Yeah, that's the part that lets me down a little where you see. When you come inside, guess what? Ronald Donkor's an option.

So good. My goodness. Like, but those guys, if you want to connect with them, you have to be closer to them. But it works against D.C. United. So I don't know if that's a solution. Well, they were. the DC have been fine defensively because that they've sold out everything

and attack to be fine defensively. But you go back and again, if you haven't seen this game, watch the highlights because the Red Bulls create beautiful opportunities. And it's, it is difficult, but they make it look easy.

And it's like, wow, I love this is awesome. Watch the DC goals and a DC chances. It's like one pass and all of a sudden, everything is burned down. And it's one pass at midfield. It's incomprehensible.

No, don't have the personnel. The centerback pairing of Voladere and like I know Justin, Justin Che has been a normal story, but Dylan Nevis, again, Dylan Neas isn't a natural centerback. He can play right centerback in a back three. Justin Che is kind of the same thing. Volada is like the only natural centerback. Also when they signed Justin Che and I brought up, you were like, well, he's just kind of like, this is kind of taking a risk on a young guy. Like, they did not word that they signed Justin Chee as their lockdown starter. And therefore, his loss is the whole plan

gets thrown up. Like, this was kind of the plan. All of these guys would kind of rotate through and play this position. And that's bad. They've been, they're overturning the roster. I understand all of it. Jekiel Marshall Reddy, again, I liked that as a low risk play. But he's a guy who's been let go by like four teams, whether it was permanently or on loan.

Maddie Dos Santos has been a revelation. That's a 17-year-old left back from the academy. And he's like the most reliable player in defense. what I'm worried about though is you could pick let's say you know you get miles Robinson and and you get Mikael there's a lot of issues here defensively even if you got to pick your centerback pairing even if they were two guys who were super athletic even if they're two guys who have been in the defender of the year conversation before so I think that's my worry for the Red Bull and it's just way too easy I love the midfield trio so I wouldn't change it

It's not like I'd want them to have like an enforcer or just like a destroyer back there. That's then that somebody who just rolls the ball to Audrey Mametti or Ronald Donkorder possession. Like I don't think that's the answer, but I don't know what the answer is. And for all of that criticism, this is better than the depths of Gerhard Schrober torture chamber. Right. Like even it's tough to say that after they've conceded eight goals in four days to DC United and CF Montreal. all, but this is preferable. And I do think that there's a,

I think it's very easy to see that there's a long-term upside in the Michael Bradley ethos. I think when they have a more complete and more serious roster, particularly defensively, I am very curious to see if there are going to be tweaks to this kind of all-out attack because it is just way too easy to play through this team. On the flip side for DC United, put out the prompt asking for predictions on the LinkedIn post. we heard you period we listened period we came back stronger than ever that was my favorite one simple to the point listen when you're built out of history when you're built out of history you don't need anymore to speak to uh for dc yeah

vibe game uh red bulls in the end it's four game it's four goals conceded back to back games 18 goals in the last five games in mLS so not including the the u.s open cup game in there Yeah, none of that stuff is sustainable. And yet, there were only one of two teams in New York to concede four goals on Wednesday. FC Cincinnati walking wounded continues. Teenage Hadov goes down in like the opening 15 minutes in the starting lineup. So he has to come out. Elvis Powell checks in.

And NYCFC are like destroying this team. I watched this whole first half kind of like locked in. I thought it was the best game of the window. So I wanted to enjoy it. Fernandez Macau just looks way more comfortable. at the center forward position. So he's wheeling off, you know, he's pulling defenders in, wheeling off going over the top.

He's linking up with Maxi. Augustine Ojeda, I think there's still a little bit of finishing quality you're hoping for there. Same with Honest Wolfe. But a lot of danger in that attack. And this is felt like this game is over. Like, Dengue gets a goal out of nowhere. Good cross, good finish.

And it's like, okay, you know, one off chance for a good player. And I, I mean, Pascal Jansen's quotes after the game were, like, he sounded like a New York Mets coach. Like he was, you know, he's like, actually sounds like a Knicks coach. He was like, we just gave up on all of our fundamentals for the last 15 minutes of the game. The third goal, I think it was, came from a throw-in for Cincinnati where NYCFC just never got reset. Like ball goes out, everyone's kind of looking around.

All of a sudden, it's back in and it's an opportunity to score. And it's just stuff that how many years till they're over it? Like there's so many steps for NYCFC that they take. And then it feels like they take steps back at the same time. And the big one that we're waiting for is a team that consistently sets the tone in games. And that's in style, but also just in like performance. And this is dropping down to the level of your opponent off and on and dropping up. And this has been their issue now for years, but especially over the last year and a half under Pascal Janssen,

where the home numbers aren't good because that's when you dictate. You have to come out and take three points. And that's where I think this team has struggled. It's an interesting point because this team is built to do that. Like they should be very, very good at home and like kind of NYCFC teams the past. And even the like recent past, you don't even have to go all the way back to too too far. They have a team that's built to play with possession. And when it, go back to the St. Louis game earlier this month, felt like that they kind of dominated, dictated all of that.

St. Louis came in and said, all right, we're going to start Cordova and Petra because we're just going to try to make it as difficult as possible. NYCFC really dictated a game and then in stoppage time St. Louis get a soft equalizer soft defensively for NYCFCC like well done for the fight that St. Louis showed but this game too they give up two goals in stoppage time

one of which to homegrown teenage centerback shooting from 35 yards out or whatever was it was a fantastic goal from Sherela who was the second centerback to be sub done in this game so they started without no Miles Ramson no Matt Miasga as you said teenage had Debe goes, Nick Hagwin goes down in warm-ups.

So that's, right, that's three. Teenage Adebe goes down in the 20th minute, replaced by Elvis Powell. Elvis Powell plays 25 minutes and is replaced by Sherela at half-time. Cincinnati, I'm not smart enough to know the medical stuff, but I give them a pass for a lot of things. I'm worried about all of these injuries, man. Like, at some point, it- Have you done any reporting on the power station that was built next to the training grounds? But, like, I feel like, it's what it feels like.

This is three years in a row where I say it, where, like, I feel for Pat Noonan and his staff would Like, every game. It's like, how do you prepare for this? And like your team is built with a DP in defense, a max tan player in defense, a high tan player in Hedebe, and a U-22 initiative player in Giova Flores. Three of those four players are out. And you're like subbing in Elvis Powell to sub him out for Stefan Trin. Who is the worst consistent player in Major League Soccer?

Like all that being said, like this is, it's almost mirrors like since he's weekend where it's like, yeah, you should be disappointed. You conceded so many goals, and it feels like maybe you don't have any control over games, but like, man, this team fights. And coming back and scoring those two goals and stoppage time, we get the very, very best of a vander. He had a goal called off for a pretty soft foul. I mean, the one replay we got was from the parking lot, so maybe it wasn't soft. But it seemed to be soft, and I just hate any time that a really good goal is pulled off for tiki-tack foul. Same thing in the Atlanta, the Atlanta, New England game, by the way.

But, like, since he, like, they fought, like, it was the good and the bad of them. And I, like, struggled to, like, really kill them for this because, like, what are you supposed to do when you're down for centerbacks? And Roman Solentano, who we know to be a good goalkeeper, it's two games in a row. He's had numerous mistakes directly leading to goals. What do you coach out of that? And, like, it's just a run of form where, like, Seentano, I firmly believe he'll have a game where he stands on his head and he wins them points. This is the ebbs and flows of a full season. for me, you started with NYCFC, and I think that is more of the story.

One quick point on NYCFC when you speak about controlling games. Maxim Rouse, 39 years old. The last, he has started every single MLS regular season game for this team starting September 11th, 2024. That's 48 games in a row. He's 39 years old. What a legend. LeBron James of Major League Soccer right now. Cincinnati, yeah, for me, it's not a storyline because it's like basically,

the reality now that they like don't have a full bench that they're forced into all these changes it's just as you said it's unfortunate but like it's become what we have to be used to um with this team and i know for n ycfc fans some clamorous for talus magno to finally get a start uh i think he's had one start in open cup and maybe one in mLS this season he got a goal laid on to they thought seal the game and then doesn't with uh vander getting the penalty kick in the 95th minute speaking of stoppage time equalizes. Jesus Christ. Let's go hit Toronto.

As you said, this was like, okay, Toronto, Philly, snooze, midweek, both teams struggling. We didn't know what Toronto would be this season. Philly goes up at the stroke of halftime. They go up to zero. Josh Sargent, I would say his best goal since he's been back. Like a true one of his two goals. Oh, because he forced an own goal on the other one. Yeah, yeah.

But it was like kind of one of the first times. it feels like he created his own shot. And most of what he's gotten has been like get on the end of stuff, which is fine. Those are strikers goals and you just need to score. So that gets it back to two. Who else but Kobe frickin' Franklin at this point? Another goal for him this week.

And then Nathan Harrell in the 89th minute off a corner kick, flicked on at the near post by DeGote, Alejandro Bedoya. So that puts it at 3-2. And then who else? But Luca Gavron with the equalizer. he comes out of goal. The initial ball is played in. It gets cleared out.

Of course, he recycles his run. Like, I think he thought about, like, oh, my God, transition defense. I need to sprint back to the goal. And then he saw they had the ball. And he, like, eight hard yards to sprint. And then he turned out, like, helped this moment. It was pretty.

It was literally a route as if he was prepared for it. BWP said it on 360s. He's like, well, that's actually pretty good movement. Like, recycles the run, reads the timing of the ball. And it's a legit. finish like he goes up for the header in the middle of the box flick on header um to to score it then he does he does what i would do he does all the celebrations he's like this is my one shot yeah this is my one chance i'm doing all of them you get knee slide and points and runs away and runs

two and all that type of stuff uh so 97th minute equalizer for toronto three three time this we actually had i believe we had three goalkeepers get contact on chances and last night. There was, I cannot remember. Oh, Michael Collodi had a header. Yeah, yeah. And then in the Houston game, right? Yes. I think Jonathan, not Jonathan bought. Ferry. Ferry came forward, which Houston ended up not scoring on the transition after that. They missed the goal with their shot. So yeah, it was a wild week. I mean, it was a show of what it was. But yeah, what a crazy moment. Man, again, going back to the Toronto point, they're like MLS after. to dark at usually 1 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon.

You said it best earlier this week. You're going to look at the matchup and think this seems boring. I'm not really thrilled about this. Everything is going to tell you that like, yeah, I could maybe miss this one. You know, hang out the family. Do some, do some productivity at Saturday at 1 in the afternoon. That is a mistake. Do not miss this team for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

They need to be picking up more points because they have this run-up home games before the World Cup. And I... It's really unfortunate that Georgia Milovitch is injured because I really do think, and while they're giving up a lot of goals, he's not going to be particularly useful there because he is a DP 10. You're paying him to attack, not to defend. But I do think that they'd be able to be picking up more points if they had that.

And I would love to see more of the chemistry with him and Josh Sargent. Like, they still don't have a complete team. For Philly, how many different ways can you get kicked in the balls to drop points? Like, it's just the gang tries. to win a game is what it feels like with Philadelphia. Just so tough. Yeah, got to defend better at the end, but, you know, what are you going to do? Tactical breakdown of this?

Like, what an incredible moment. Yeah, it's a lot of it's mental. And I think for a team that just is struggling to score, you get three and to concede is really bad on the Toronto point. So they have nine straight home games in this span. They've got three left. So this was sort of the midway point. They only have three.

Oh, my God. It's been that long already. It's been that long. already. They have drawn the last, let me just make sure I have this number correctly. They've drawn the last three in a row. So they drew Philly. They drew Austin

on the weekend where they had to come back. They drew Cincinnati at home. And then they had, of course, the come from behind 10-verse-9 win against Colorado, come from behind against Columbus as well. They're at 1.66 points per game at home, which is technically a playoff plate,

a playoff pace. But the three ties make it feel like it's not going in the right direction. They finish with Atlanta, one o'clock on Saturday, San Jose, and then enter Miami. Those are the last three of this homestand. So there's like I flip side. There's one side of like they're not losing, but you need three points in a lot of these. Like you're going to struggle on the road later in the season. I don't know the reality behind all this.

so they like are going away because of the World Cup, but all the away games are post World Cup. My assumption is they have to take these stands down. Like they play home up until the second to last game or third to last game before the World Cup. Then they come out of the World Cup on like a five game road trip. Yeah. That starts in July when BMO is not hosting anymore World Cup games.

So my guess is it has to be a construction thing or maybe another event got pushed in there, whatever it is. But this is not enough points. Like I'm saying it right now. if they continue on this pace at home, I think they'll miss the playoffs based off the way things are going. So something to worry about a little bit for Toronto going through this. And as I said,

that 1 PM game on Saturday, Tom mentioned it's must watch, just put on in the background. And every once in a while you'll tune into like a goalkeeper goal or a double red card or I don't know, a sky diver just comes out of the sky and into the middle of the game and hangs out with everyone. Yeah, exactly.

One more four goal game from the midweek Orlando dropping four. on Charlotte. They started two homegrowns in this game, including Justin Ellis at center forward. MLS Next Pro lone player, Ignacio Gomez came off the bench. I texted someone who's an Orlando fan during this game. I said, listen, no offense.

But the number one vibe I'm getting from this game is Charlotte's bad, not Orlando's great. It was one of those performances where I was like, this is probably a must points on the road. And Charlotte literally didn't show up for this game. There was an ojumong on the score sheet again, though. that feels nice more than ajemong the center back the warm blanket of an ajemong back um yeah for Orlando it was very interesting this was the first game where all three u22 brazilians started so that

was intriguing created the first goal Tiago down the line and otavio with the crazy volley yeah and then justin ellis starting um so they went with youth obviously robin hansen back is is integral to this team. It was like, like just looking, when Passellich comes back, obviously he's starting, how do you build on these vibes? Again, even if it is more to do with the opponent not being great than your performance, but there's something here. And obviously, if you're the coaching staff, you are trying to build upon this and take this into the next weeks. All, what, what the first half of the season is all about is don't be drowning when Griseman debuts. if the season is at least alive when greasman debuts,

it's going to feel a whole lot different if not, because he's going to be one of the best players in the league, but he is 35. You can't waste even half the season. Look at Toronto. We thought that within Sinia and Bernadiske, they were younger in prime. Guarantee it.

Maybe it's too big of a hole that they were dug in, but that's okay. We still have the next four years of these guaranteed contracts. And then that went from, we have the next four years positive, to we have the next four years derogatory because of how quickly everything fell apart of it. Not saying that that is on the table at all for Orlando,

but when Antoine Griseman is on the field, you have to be pushing for the playoffs. And this team has enough talent within it, even if they have to take a little bit of a step back in the first half of this season, try to work out some kinks. But this was integral. However you get the points,

whether it's taking advantage of a bad Charlotte performance or if they get a goalkeeper goal at some point at the end of the season, in one of these games, rather. Like that is the whole MO for Orlando is don't be drowned by the time Griesman debuts. Yeah, I think the clear example right now is don't play Martino Heda as the false nine. Greisman will obviously be the nine when he gets there and the way they play, whatever, they'll figure that out. Yeah.

But I think when he's not there, whether it's a Justin Ellis, whether Duncan McGuire can ever get healthy, whoever it is, it feels like has to be involved because you have to get the best out of O'Hada. and that seems to be the way to do it. San Jose saw all the four goals wins and said, I up you one. 5-1 come for a home, victory at home over Austin FC. They gave up an early goal on a completely self-inflicted mistake from Vieira. They proceed to put up 1.18 expected goals on five shots in the first half.

For the game, they finished on 5.36 expected goals. They scored five. it was a 58th minute just to get the first one. They hit the post, which led to a corner kick that Jizinski put in. I don't even know who that is. I was going to say, I was going to admit it as well. I was like, I had to look him up. It's Jack Jizzynski, who sounds like maybe he worked at Apple back in the 80s,

but now also is playing professional soccer. Then they proceed to get a penalty kick, which Timo Werner puts away, which is pretty big. And then they just flood the box. everything's a chance. They scored in the 83rd, 85th, 89th, Useni Buddha creates one off a turnover for himself. And the man I picked up in my best ball league this week, Preston Judd with the brace, baby.

Let's go, Judd. Get Judd. I don't know. I got to come up with a nickname in there or something I can do. But this is like one of those now where we've shifted reality of like, this is kind of what you expect. And I think for San Jose, the big thing is they made a mistake. They go down one zero.

And nothing changed about the way they play. that's a very, very good point because when in the immediate aftermath of that mistake and then finished by Joseph Rosales, like Daniel got a piece of it. You didn't notice on the initial like did he deflected wide. Oh, no, that's in the goal. Okay, this is an Austin game where they get this. They take advantage of something. Now they're going to defend deep and it's going to be unfortunate. And like, of course San Jose might drop points after the weekend, a huge result against LASD. And as you said, even more than like the output, it was from that moment on and even before that because that was a complete one off that chance and goal for Austin. Before and after immediately, it was just San Joseo's air putting them to the sword. They had 37 shots.

Just a constant title wave of being in and around Austin's box. And the gates finally broke in the second half, particularly after the 80th minute when they put three more in. They created 10 big chances. Is this rock bottom for Austin FC over the last year? I don't even know. I don't even know what you do with that team. I think it has to be because at least last year they had the open cup stuff and they got while the performances weren't great.

It was still year one. It was still okay. The DPs are still figuring stuff out. Like this is a team that's lining up with Joseph Rosales as a winger. Well, they do have a lot of injuries, which is part of the hard conversation with the rock bottom of like are they going to lose themselves so much that when the player come back healthy it doesn't matter because not just from the standings but like from a cultural point of view it's already over but they've obviously brandon vaskis hasn't played the whole year

owen wolfe hasn't played the whole year danny perera is out i would argue those are their three most important players maybe faku torres in there as well and then jaden nelson's been hurt off and on which has led to joseph al salis starting at the wing where he has been looking like a fullback who plays that they were playing him here in preseason like i think this is a choice. But if Owen Wolf's healthy, you'd assume between him, Faku, and Nelson, those are your three, and Merton Zuni. You would assume, but I don't know for sure because the decisions with this team over the last year and a half. And so, yes, Owen Wolf, Danny Pereira, big, big misses. This team has spent so much money. Yeah. And I think for Kundo Torres is a good signing,

expensive though it may be. I think Braynor Vasquez was a good signing, expensive though it may be. What else? Yeah. I don't disagree with you on any of those points. And I think this is a team that's really tough to watch right now. Okay. I am proud of us for one thing. It took us a couple months. But I think that's soccer is being pretty consistently knowledgeable of that.

Messi plays all the freaking time. Yeah. He played 180 minutes across five days at altitude on the road. Absolutely absurd. Inter Miami go into what stadium, Tom? America first. and get a two zero win over rsl rsl came out of the gates flying gullivogi puts it in the back of the net salons is off on the second shot so that gets called back early on rsl i thought pushed this intermiamy team

i thought Diego luna had an awesome day he started three fights so already that's a star for me and he created everything for this team i think you see that mixture with him of like he could put his head down and try and dribble around and try and create space. But he also gets it off his foot most of the time quick enough that it doesn't feel like a solo show. Yeah. And there just wasn't the connection fully. He had one big chance that laid on that Gullivogi set him up, played him through.

He got stonewalled, I think, by Falcone on the one V1 dribble. That felt like a big opportunity. But overall, I thought a letdown from Gullivogi and Katronis in this game, I think there was a lot of opportunity for them to be aggressive where they were safe. I thought Catronus' decision-making and quality in the final third was really poor. My God. Yeah, the three or what,

three or four times he got put through into the box to cross, to square, to set someone up, and they were all like head down. I'm just going to try and play a ball across the six without finding any one. I'm going to shoot instead of passing to one of my attackers. Although on that one, I don't hate the, we're on a 4V1, the defender goes with a runner.

So I'm going to call my own number. He just did it seven yards before he had to. He made it a 25-yard shot instead of a 10-yard, like a 15-yard shot. And then he was, I don't know if the sub was planned or not, but the next time the ball went out of bounds, he was substituted out. Nice.

And then Gullivogia, I just thought it was so passive. Like he, he doesn't really want to go against numbers ever. So he always is going to hold up and pull back, even when he gets played through, it feels like. Does it really attack players on the dribble?

He wants these slip balls with runners around him. But even in those moments, I thought he cycled possession too many times for this team. against the Miami team that you're not going to shut out. Like you needed to go out and get your goals. The goal for Rodrigo de Paul is insane. That thing accelerates in the middle of its flight after it's already left his foot.

And then I don't know if you've heard, but Louis Suarez, bit of a goal score in his career. You know about that? Yeah, I know a little bit about that. I know something about that. What did you make of Miami setup? I know two games at altitude within five days.

They played with five natural defenders. And again, I don't believe that they had, like, the possession numbers were basically 50-50, which is like about 10 percentiles down from a normal Miami game. So is this more about altitude the last two games? Or is this, this is what Hoyos wants to do because I'm not, I'm not entirely sure what the answer is. Yeah, I think, so I think part of it on the Colorado side is game states. One, it's Colorado, right? They want the ball.

And two, you went ahead really early. So Colorado tried to take a lot of that game. and then you're doing a second game at altitude in this one. But yes, it feels more defensive from this team, right? It feels like it's going to fall on Mura and Allen to be like outlets. But in reality, you have four behind the ball at all times in this setup. And sometimes it's going to end up being five. And I think that's fine.

They created enough chances. Bertrami should have scored in this game at least once, if not twice. So I think if you're Miami, yeah, that's probably where you're going to find yourself, which is sort of what happened last year in the playoffs was like, okay, you know what? We're going to disconnect the team. We're good enough going forward that we don't need to throw numbers into it. And we're going to leave enough numbers behind the ball that we don't get exposed.

And they probably land somewhere in between. I don't know if Yonik Bright's back, maybe that changes of you trust him more to play both ways. So now you don't need as much safety on the back line. But yeah, I think this is probably what we're looking at for Inter Miami going forward. So my favorite part of the game, by the way, was they shot the three big names walking in. and they were looking at all the jerseys that Rassel has hung up of like Real Madrid and Manu. And there's like they walk by Boka and the way Suarez reacted of like didn't have a Boka. It's like he didn't have a Boka jersey in his future in his mind.

And then all of a sudden he got hit with it in Salt Lake City, baby. But I think an overall underwhelming moment for RSL of like they built towards this. They talked about how big it was in their minds. I think that's all fair. And I just couldn't get over the hump in terms of getting that first goal. I think going ahead would have changed everything for this game. Big road win from Minnesota. That was one of the ones we highlighted coming into it.

LAFC Colorado, super entertaining for a zero zero XG for LASC in the first half, though. Aaron Long returned. He got the start. He went 45 minutes. Awesome. That's big for this LASC team. And then Stephen Oostokio came off the bench in his return. So big loss on the weekend, but I think a big moment for them to continue to get some more depth in this squad.

Yeah, they didn't create anything against Colorado, which is disappointing for this. They created a lot of stuff that, I mean, Chaffleburg had four crosses that were short, crosses that were openings and Bwanga hit two volleys into the crowd. That's fair, but still, I thought that LFC would be a great matchup against Colorado for the space that that could be left in transition. So I think well done by the rapids to eliminate that or at least less than that. and disappointing for LFC there. But with that defense and with those two stars, they could play like this for a month.

And it'd still be tough to really discount them. But you really want to see more with this team. And those were the early criticisms of LFC under Mark Dos Santos. They have been for a while under Steaderundalo. Team still wins. But again, I'd like to see a little bit more really quickly on Minnesota. I'm in Rodriguez's unused substitute. He's played a total of 30 minutes across eight MLS games.

Not shocked, not surprised. This isn't even working out as a warm up for Columbia, unless that he's really going to ramp up in the next month. But they should see if Anthony Markhanik is potentially available because he can give you a game changer for the Columbia national team. Last two games to note on from the midweek, weather delay in Columbus kind of ruined. I think a lot of the vibe around this game. Gosdaugh gets a goal. He's back. Two-one win for Columbus.

But the big news is Zhao Klaus out till at least after the World Cup break for the LA Galaxy off the injury that we saw. I believe it was Achilles from the weekend. so he's had the surgery already, so that unfortunately locked in for the galaxy. And then the last thing to note, Peyton Miller, game winner for the New England Revolution, two one win on the road against Atlanta United. I think Tata said after the game, if I didn't have the relationship I had with this club, I'd be fired tonight, but I do. And I was like, whoa.

Yeah, his best couple of press conferences have been so good. He looks miserable. So that's our midweek. Big weekend coming up of games. Copateas, as we be said, he'll be down in Austin. Minnesota hosting a big game as well. Cincinnati hosting the Baby Bowl, so that's a 7-7 game you're going to want to tune into. I'm DeMay Pilled, so St. Louis, San Jose is a vibe for me.

And then the big ones are the end of Saturday night. Seattle hosting Dallas and Vancouver hosting Colorado. We talked about this week for the Rapids. It was Inter Miami at Home, L.AFC on the road, and Vancouver on the road. They've only picked up one point so far. going to Vancouver for a win who didn't play midweek. Tough task. But if you want to show that your top half of the Western Conference,

you probably need four points out of these games. And so now you know what the operation has to be. Okay. Thank you to you, Tom. And let's jump over to Doyle right now. Well, every Thursday, we are talking U.S. Men's National Team as we head towards the 2026 World Cup. Because someone has to.

No one is. No one wants to talk about it. Quite honestly, that actually might be true. Yeah. And maybe at USSF, we are the only ones who are actually talking about the games and what's going on as people leave and go to do other things as we head towards the World Cup. So every week, we got Matt Doyle with us to do this a little bit on Monday and then more on the second show of the week. We're going to start digging a little more specific into opponents and what we expect to see on the field as we get towards the World Cup as it moves closer and closer over the next few weeks. But for this one, I wanted to start.

by going back to a conversation we started on Monday, which was one of those where I'm hosting, I'm making sure the show is live, I'm checking time codes. And I say a thing that maybe I don't love, and you guys jumped on me, which I appreciate. And it was about Darrell D.K.,

who I sort of brought up two weeks ago in the absence of Patrick Ajamong as he, as D.K. made his first return from injury, where I said, could be an option. Kind of felt like I was just doing a thing where I was like, I can name dudes. You know, there's options.

There's players. Make some guys. Yeah. And I will say from an emotional point of view, I think D.K. is a guy I would like to see on this team. Anytime I've been around him or watched him from afar, he seems like a great personality. I talked a little bit about the process that, um, that Patrick Gautumont went through in his career. And I think D.K. similar, you know, comes out of Oklahoma, a little bit unknown.

Didn't play in a pro academy. I know you're going to say this because of the Yukon connection. So do you want to do your thing? No, he went to University of Virginia. For sure. But are we still in a place where no pro academy into college soccer means that you are Tier A International Soccer Prospect? Well, I don't think he was a TRA international soccer prospect,

but there's a big difference between being state player of the year in Oklahoma, being the younger brother of a player who was, I think, an All-American at Notre Dame and was a draft pick. Oh, was he not a Yukon guy? I thought his brother was a Yukon guy. No, no, no, no, his brother was a Notre Dame guy. Okay, okay, sorry. Very vastly different from that Ajiman's track to the U.S. national team.

Nonetheless, impressive because, you know, D.K. was not earmarked for what he achieved, right? He was excellent in college, and then he came out of college, like after two months got Oscar Perejas Trust and kind of took the ball and ran with it from there and he was rookie of the year back when MLS still had rookie of the year so yes so he's he's had and he's had obviously a strong career but injuries have been a huge part of it so he's at west braham now came off the bench scored the goal on the weekend his first goal in 11 months and he only has two games left in the season west brom sit in a weird spot right now they're being investigated for financial unfair play whatever the hell it is spending more than they

had, which could relegate them. They should get city football groups lawyers on that because city football groups lawyers when it comes to beating investigations. A number one, man, a number one, but something tells me West Brown doesn't have the same kind of pool. It's a stats game. If you give me 126 cases and I hire 5,000 lawyers, my numbers game on top of each thing is perfect. It's the big tobacco. It's a big tobacco method. It's really, really positive. So two games left in the season, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday for Darrell D.K. I think in general, it's probably not enough to show everything on the field. So it feels like Doyle, it will come down to this half space of he shows well in these two games. And then it's enough that Pocitino is saying,

I need to fill this role specifically, right? It's exactly that. Pachitino looks at what Ajiman brought to the team, his ability to win the ball in the air, hold it up, occupied defenders, beat them physically and says, I need that archetype to choose from, you know, to bring in in the 65th minute in a game that we're chasing. And of the available options with Ajima on hurt, okay, I guess Darrell D.K. is the right guy. I would, I have a tough time imagining he would do that. I don't think it would be wrong if he did. I think D.K., his ability to do that exact job is really, really impressive. I mean, God, that just is the job and the championship.

And he's done it well. But he's also, he's really poor defensive center forward because his lateral movement isn't good. So he has a tough time keeping defenders in his cover shadow. And look, it is, we're talking about how he would fare tactics free zone end of the game. You know, so it's not necessarily you want to check every single box. But the guy you mentioned a month ago on the show, Logan Farrington actually does a lot of that, but is also an exceptional pressing forward on top of it. And we're talking about a time in the game where you want to create havoc.

So if I was going to choose, I would actually take. a look at Farrington first before I would take a look at Daryl D.K., but the truth is, I don't think he's probably going to take a look at either of them. The other question becomes, with 26 players, but an expanded World Cup, is there enough space to take a guy that you probably can't start? And that's partially because of where he's at physically, and partially that's where, as you mentioned, some of the flaws in their game of like, we've talked about it. If Poulistak's a false nine option, then even if you bring D.K., he's a,

he could be the fourth center forward if you needed to as a starter. Waya could be one as well. Like there are options there, but it still feels a little dangerous to bring a guy that you, if you're forced to, you're not happy having to put in that role. Yeah, that's a fair point. But it's a bigger issue if you're bringing 23 guys,

26. I actually do think you have the wiggle room to bring someone who you know you're never going to play more than 35 minutes. at the very most. And I think that's what Daryl D.K.'s role would be. I hope he scores four goals in the next two games. For sure. And then his awesome.

Yeah. And it's just like, and then you do, the funny part is the last game is May 2nd. So it'll be a month. Right. Or Pitch to just sit with it and try and figure out what to do with that. I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It would be an incredible story as he's like, I have never heard a bad word about Darrell Dike, the human.

And given what he's gone through with one. injury after another. It would be a wonderful story and some good vibes for a team that is really short on good vibes at this point in time. So, you know, let's hope he score six in the next two and forces his way out to the radar and who knows from there? He would be the second World Cup player in his family. His sister played for Nigeria at the 2015 Women's World Cup.

That's right. I remember that story now. Yeah. He is a little bit of... You're trying to convince me that he's some. off the radar talent that nobody knew about. Here's the thing. You're the problem in this conversation, which is you're the guy who legitimately talks about Logan Farrington making this team because you are the guy who watches

preseason. You're the guy who understands comedy. You're the one who brought up Logan Farrington. I agree. But my point is this. There were multiple years where you could have said Daryl D.K.'s name in connection to a national team and you everyone would have laughed at you except for you. Like if I had said it, everyone in the world would have laughed except you. You're the guy who watched Duncan McGuire in preseason. And you're like, I think this guy's pretty good. And listen, Kyle Laron to Darrell D.K., to Duncan McGuire, they have drafted really well at the center forward position in Orlando. You know, two of those guys are for sure international soccer players.

The third maybe could be if he could stay healthy and maybe nibble around the edges of a team. I think most people in the world were not looking at OKC Energy Academy, U23 player. to UVA to a World Cup. But it is not D3 college soccer to URI. You are correct. There are levels to this game, and it is not at that level of what Patrick Ozwin. Kidden, really quick,

I missed on Logan Farrington, because Logan Farrington, even in college, didn't score the type of one-touch finishes that I look for in the center forward, right? He didn't have those natural goal-scorings, his instincts, the types of goals that don't dry up. And even last year when he was very, very good last year, it was all stuff against

the ball or running into the channels. And he's still excellent at that. What's happened this year is he has added, obviously he went to the Petter Musa School of finishing. He's added those types of one touch finishes and that fox in the box stuff. and he's a very complete forward now, which is why last year, if you said Logan, Farrington,

I would have said, Dave, shut the hell up. This year he said, I was like, the light bulb went off. I was like, that actually kind of makes sense because he's checking those boxes now

that he didn't even know existed 12 months ago. Okay, let's talk a little bit more about, as you said, there are maybe two or three roster spots that won't have a ton of playing time. And there are options in those spots. I think culture is going to be a big part of it of who do you want to be.

around the team who do you want in these camps who do you want playing cards with everyone and hanging out for six weeks and all that type of stuff i think part of it is how do they affect the team if necessary what flexibility do they give you and we are a country in the past that brought julian green to a world's cup sometimes it is what's the future and where do these guys sit and i think we have spoken on this show specifically this segment over the last few weeks that there is probably a really strong middle ground right now of there are some guys who could make a difference now and could make a difference in the future. And there could be roster spots for these players.

But before we get into it, I want to talk about a former U.S. youth national team player who is now going to be going to the World Cup with Mexico. And I just, I had to bring this quote in because it's about Obed Vargas. And Andres Lillini, who is the director of youth national teams with Mexico, who sounds like he's looking for another job right now, and used to work with Pumas,

gave this article a week ago, two weeks ago, where he talked about how the Seattle Sounders denied call-ups to the Mexican youth national team for Obed Vargas when he was in Seattle. And the quotes kind of long, but the story is he says he sent the Sounders call-ups and they never notified Obed that he, when working with Pumas,

he identified Obed Vargas in the Champions League final. Wow, that's an incredible scouting. Scouting. I mean, are you kidding me? He's a 16-year-old, wow, who would have thought? biggest game on the continent played 77 minutes in the final one. And this guy found him in like a needle in the haystack. He said he called him up to youth national team.

Sounders told him the player wasn't going to come and denied the call up. He decided then to go around the team to the to the family. That's how you have to have these conversations. I made a meeting with the family. I spoke with his dad, his mom and his brother, who also plays. His brother is actually very good and in the Sounders Academy as well. Obed wasn't there because he was focused on Seattle. I explained the situation to them and that I wanted him,

that the decision was exclusively mine. I don't know what that means. He said they replied, coach, he's definitely going to play in the U20 World Cup with the United States because it's his dream. I told him that was perfect. We would talk after the World Cup.

Where do you have that conversation and come around and say, Seattle denied the call-up? Yeah. Sounds like Obed Vargas turned down the call-up through the club once he was notified that the call up had been put in. It is the most hilarious thing that's happened. And I just couldn't let this article die and not talk about it. And we hadn't talked about it on a different show.

I mean, it sounds like a guy spinning, right? It sounds like a guy who, you know, Obed Vargas is a story in Mexican soccer now because he did file that one-time switch. And he is playing for an Atlatico Madrid team that is into the Kaka-Kaf champions, or Kaka-Ka-Kef, UE Champions League semifinals. the lesser of the champions leagues obviously and so he wants to get his name associated with him and maybe find a new job out of it.

What I will say is the Sounders and a lot of MLS teams have a policy of we're not going to release our players for youth national team camps if they have significant first team games coming up and Obed was a significant part. He was a starter for a team that wants to win everything they can. And the same thing happened last year for Camp Cupcake in 2025 with Jackson Reagan. They like Maricio Pocetino called Jackson Reagan into that camp.

And the Sounders said, you can have him for the full camp and the first of the friendlies. But by the time that first friendly is over, we need him back because we're preparing for Conccaf Champions Cup. And Pach said no. And to me, that is bizarre. Because I thought the sound, like, the MLS teams are not required. It's not in FIFA International Day. No.

You are not required to release players for these camps. And the Sounders played nice. And they said, you could have them for the full camp and the first friendly. This is a million-dollar player who is intrinsic to everything that they're trying to do with that team. In a year, they're trying to win Cockcalf Champions Cup, and they are preparing for a Club World Cup in an unprecedented way that no one else had ever done before.

And Pocetino has never called Jackson Reagan back. Never called out of pettiness and spite. And what is the one position we are all scared to death about right now? Centerback. So I don't blame the Sounders either of these stories. Like they have, these are not guys. who are making $60,000 a year anymore and the chance to go to a camp

is a chance to change your life. Like Jackson Reagan makes a lot of money getting paid to play for the Seattle Sounders. And they were like willing to take a risk and let him go to that camp and said, we just need him back a little bit early because we have stuff to win. Pontchino says no.

And now we are short at centerback. So it bothers me a little bit the way that he has bothers me a lot the way he's approached it and with that said the obed vargas story doesn't surprise me at all because if you're obed vargas and you're starting professional games why would you want to go play friendlies for the mexican u20 national team it doesn't make any sense he also i think at that point would have had to file his one-time switch which he ended up doing he in the story he told his family told Lillini he would go to the U20 World Cup with the U.S.

He actually ended up not. He switched before and went to the U20 World Cup with Mexico, but it was a decision he had to make, which gets pushed, which, yeah, the whole thing is fascinating. I wish if I could do it John Moran, voice, I'd do the like we're good in the West, but we're good at centerback for Potch and Jackson Reagan. But let's talk about some of the guys who maybe could come to a World Cup. So we're going to do a little draft here, which is my favorite because it means I get a chance to win.

I never know how, but I get a chance to win. As a Mets fan, you got to take any chance you can to win, man. Stop, stop, stop. Don't even get me started. How's VJ. Edgombe doing? He was impressive. Good week. It was impressive.

Celtics. A good player. Yeah, for sure. So we're going to do a draft here of these young players who have made a difference in MLS so far who we think, and I would say this is a global thing. I don't know that there are other players. I mean, Damien Downs, maybe the one. There aren't really other players in Europe who,

having gotten shots or Mexico or South America. It's not like Cole Campbell is tearing it up right now. Exactly. So I will make this not an MLS specific convo. We just don't have any names probably on this that are not playing an MLS right now. And the other thing is, as I just said with TK, the runway here is for MLS players, which is still why I'm surprised more guys didn't come on loans. Yeah. Unis Musa specifically, but Josh Winder. Yeah, it surprised me that more guys weren't in December like, hey, can I go get five months of games. It didn't work out for Josh Sargent because his thing was a mess. And so it went the opposite where

he lost games because of all this. But it still surprises me that there wasn't more of those of literally just come to a team and say, hey, I'll fill in for, I mean, Hamas Rodriguez did it. Didn't work. But Hamas Rodriguez did it. Some other of the American players could have done it. So we'll do five each, I think, of these young players

who have broken through and that we would take into the World Cup and then my team can beat your team and then we can vote on it and all that type of stuff. But as it usually goes, I got a text last night from my cousin who's a Rockets fan who's like, this whole thing is just fucking ping pong balls. I'm done with this because of the Mavs and Spurs. As a Celtics fan, I will let you go first with the number one pick because you did nothing

to earn it and it is the entire thing is just luck. So to be clear, we are drafting five guys the likelihood, like the most likely to get a random call up and make the World Cup roster? Are we putting together a five-aside team? No, we're doing the call-up. I would say a mixture of most likely and that you think Phil's best as well. All right.

Like that you would call it. I appreciate you giving me the number one pick then because it's very obvious that it's Zevier-Gozo. Yeah. The guy we've already talked about on this, because his ability is a wide attacker to create gravity that opens up. pockets underneath, but then also to finish off plays with either foot, either scoring or

assisting. He's spectacular and he's consistent, right? Which is not something you usually associate with 18, 19 year olds, but he goes out there every single week and he wants that smoke. Like he wants to be the centerpiece. And I love that about him. Fantastic player. I think probably the easy number one choice here.

And one of the things I said when he first came through to the pro ranks, which kind of really stood out at the youth levels. I covered him, you 15s, you 17s. He's 511, pushing six foot. Like, so he's a factor on set pieces. He's a factor late in games. It was one of the things where when I first saw him play on the wing, I thought he was playing out of position as a center forward.

And, you know, RSL has a decent amount of talent in their youth ranks. And they were really, the teams he was a part of were really good teams. There are other, we've seen Luca Moisa. there are other really good players I think will push through especially at some of the fullback positions. And like when we talk about tactics free zone and latent games or whatever, he's not not a factor in those spots as well besides his speed, ability and transition, his finishing and clearly his like unwavering confidence in himself, which is all the stuff you're looking for.

He fits a couple different positions for this team as well. I'm going to go a little bit off here. I'm going to say Nico Securis next. I know we have talked about Julian Hall over and over again. I just, I think the success of the team has to be a factor because it shows the level of responsibility. I don't know how you watch that LAAFC game this weekend where he's playing against the best team in the league, the best defense in the league hands down. And he's taking risks and he's creating chances. And it's in the channels and it's quick passing.

It's on the half turn. Like it is true number 10 stuff with all of the pressing and work that he's doing as well. and it's all needs that this team still has in those positions. And it's a lot of shit that I'd love to have in training for six and a half weeks. I would love to have him nipping on some of these guys' ankles. You hear about the stories from Qatar and what Raina wasn't doing and the frustration and what Tyler Adams expects of his teammates and all this type of stuff. And I assume it's only on steroids with Pocitino.

Like, I want this guy around my team knowing that he could actually. make a difference on the field. And I think, again, a guy who has that unwavering confidence to do it. Who's the last U.S. number 10 to play this well for a team this good? Sasha Klesh. Yeah. Yeah. And well, who's the last young number 10, right?

I guess it would be, it would be Shakiris, I guess Brendan Aronson. When he was, Brendan Aronson at the same age was Best 11, though I thought that was. And then God, before that, I think you got to go back to Landon. Yeah, because you wouldn't say Jesus Ferreira because he was a nine, even though he was dropped in creating. And like Diego Luna was really good. I don't think Diego Luna was as good at 20 as Shakira has been so far this year. That RASL team wasn't as good either. It's not a lot.

He's in rarefied air already. Okay, my pick. My second pick is Julian Hall. You already mentioned his name. He knows where goals come from. He's really good at finding those spots. And he's also an excellent pressing forward. And I think Pachitino would love that to have a guy who just makes it unpleasant to try to build out.

Now, it doesn't always work. Just go back and watch the Red Bull game from this past weekend. But he's checking all the boxes. And honestly, Dave, how, how so? surprised, like on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is shocked, how surprised would you be if Ernie Stewart sold Ricardo Pepe this summer and then Toronto around? Yeah. Yeah, and not at all. Bought Julia. Yeah. Like a two? Yeah, pretty much. I would be shocked if Julian Hall's playing an MLS. Probably after this World Cup, if he starts next sprint season, it would be

incredible. That's how good he's been. And I think obviously Red Bull have the MO. I'm going to actually stick to that position because I do think that's where the openings are. And I'm going to say Darren Yappy. Oh.

Because similar, there's high pressing on that team, the brave nature of how they play through stuff. He has also shown positional flexibility this season, playing out on the wing a little and scoring goals from those positions. And we're talking again about late game, tactics free zone, blah, blah, blah.

He's been that for the rapids at times. and he has been a difference maker in those moments as well. I have watched him for a while. I think he's taken serious steps. I think he is going to be sort of an underrated piece that becomes a legitimate national team consistent conversation guy, which I didn't have pegged a year ago, and I think a lot of people are going to sleep on it.

If you have Haji Wright, and he's back and he's healthy and he's scoring goals again, is Darren Yapy not just duplicative? Because he's not a true setter forward in the way that Pat Ajiman, true center forward. He's not going to go get in the box and win that first ball, second ball stuff. Yeah, but he's going to chase a bunch of crap over the top

while you're trying to get back in the game and he is very comfortable. Yeah, he probably is, but what else am I getting? I don't trust other guys that I'm bringing in to this pool. to play at this level. So am I getting just a young, confident guy who will throw a double step over in every once in a while

and rip a shot to a far post? And that's not really the full pool of players for the U.S. Okay. Can I encourage someone to issue an executive order that naturalizes Manu Dua? Probably.

Probably. right now with the way things are set up. Yeah, probably. That would be, that would be the easy one. Sadly, there's no, there's no young center, but young domestic centerback pushing through. I like Christian Cups. Yeah, right?

I like Christian Cups a lot, but he's probably two years away. He's Chicago Fire Kid. Embalcaze, you could get him with him. Well, he's already captied, right? Yeah. Yeah. We're kind of going, we're going down

the list. I already moved to name into your list. I'm shocked you didn't just say it. So. I guess it's Peyton Miller. Okay. I want that. If he had been healthy the full season, I think it would have been a real conversation. I think that's the problem with him. The end line to end line engine that he's

that he showed has been, you know, his calling card. But I think what we've seen over the past couple weeks is a little bit more patience and quality in the final third. And I like that. And look, man, I'm not entirely convinced that Jedi Robinson is going to hold up physically. So getting a little bit of depth there would make some sense. And it has been a bad year for Max Arfston.

Like the, well, he's no longer playing the same position. For sure. It's been a bad year for him. As expected. And not there wasn't a ton of signs of like, okay, no, he'll figure it out at this level. And the turkey game or sorry, the Switzerland game last year was a huge. huge struggle for him. So now you're looking at, okay, like three of the five World Cup opponents we've played have been hard. And he doesn't get to play the position anymore in his club. So it's

like, all right, whatever, but he's on pure confidence. He's the best because he was the best chance creating wingback in MLS. And now he's a winger and he's good. He's not great. And this is sort of the limitations in why he got moved. And so I don't think it's a great setup from he played on the right side, almost the entire game last game or two games ago. I think it was. Um, I think it was right when Wesa Mabwe Ali got hurt. He moved over to the right side and played the whole time there. And he doesn't come inside a single time to score goals, which I think is his superpower, because if he stands up anyone in the world, he's got a shot to get to his right foot.

That's how quick he is and how clean he is at that. And now he's just getting to the end line and putting in crosses. And Wesa Mabwee is not there. So no one's putting them away. And I don't know that any of that pops off the sheet for him. Where are you on Chase Adams? What do you mean? in terms of this conversation or in general, no, no, no, in terms of, like, the Westside,

Abu Ali is not going to be playing soccer again until 2027. Chase Adams is. Yeah, I would give him chances. I said this when the injury news came out. I was like, this is the version of the tank for an MLS team is like, play the kids, know what you have, maybe move off some tam spots that other winning now teams want for assets of some sort. I would play Taha more minutes than him, even though he's not as clean a fit with Diego Rosi. I think Taha's ceiling is as high as anyone.

I don't have Chase Adams in that conversation. But I would like to see him get opportunities. Everything I've seen of him is just very simple, but simple at his level and not things I've seen where it's like, oh, this guy has range that this is going to jump. So I think he can hang at a pro level very quickly where like Malik Yakupovych you watch and like, this guy's going to be the best player on the field

at every stage he plays at once he figures it out. um okay let me the well the name i thought you were going to say you didn't say so now that's kind of thrown me off and put me but i'll say i'll say i dream of meddy then yeah i literally had him on your list and i was shocked you didn't i've said it over and over i just think it's too much physicality to jump up to the international ranks but like all the things you said about julian hall are the same with memetti he plays on the front foot he takes the game he does all the things potch wants from a person and he's not the same player but you have the little bit of the model with Tyler Adams.

And I'm pretty sure Pottes is in love with one of those guys. So I'm sure he would be in love with the other one as well. Also, you need a little Staten Island energy on this team. Yeah. Like that's what you need. Okay. Mehdi fits with Tyler Adams. Yeah, 100%.

That's a fun thing. That's a fun thing to think about. It's like Tyler Adams, his superpower is his front foot defending and like creating those early turnovers. But because of the way the U.S. pool, has been he he's never really been fully unleashed like that because there's nobody who sits as a back point and allows Tyler to be almost like an eight like a destroying number eight Mehmeti in theory absolutely lets him do that um our buddy john parker called him the best

the best uh prospect uh any mLS academy has produced since uh since alfonzo Navy's, which is, that's pretty big. That is a, that is a, that is a pretty big one. Um, I don't think it's quite that level. Cause remember, Gio Raina was an MLS Academy prospect, but, um, you know, METI's not far off. Yeah. Chris Richards too.

I mean, some other guys who have come out and not played in a much. Yeah. Chris Richards is a little different one though, right? He, he, he had like a cup of coffee for. Okay. For, for, for Dallas. I didn't realize, sorry. I didn't realize you count for you.

You got over here. you have to really be dedicated to the program. Okay. Next one for me. Look, I'm just going to say it. Kevin Sullivan, he has taken a leap. Headline Matt Doyle. Kevin Sullivan has to be at the 2026.

Don't aggregate this. Don't aggregate this. Lock it in. Instagram. Blue sky everywhere. Every time he's on the field for Philly this year, he is tilting the pitch he's making stuff happen he's putting the ball on the feet of those tronco forwards that they bought who cannot complete a play he he is now really looking the part of

a high level kid um zero percent chance zero percent that he actually ends up on this role but if he did end up as you know in the julian green role as the final guy on the roster um I wouldn't hate that. He could hit that volley. End of the game. Ball derby. Right. Off his shin.

I like, the talent has always been there. And he has leveled up his speed of play last year because he really struggled with that in 2025. When he was getting cameos for the first team. Now when he's getting on the field for the first team, like he was the best player on the field against Kluw America. Yeah. And then Bradley Cardinal took him out. Incredible stuff. But yeah, that's my pick.

I'm going to say another guy who was good against Club America. I'm going to say Reed Baker Whiting. And I think this one is for all the reasons you talked about with Peyton Miller, but this one is like there's a chance he plays the three biggest games of his life between now and when this roster gets announced between Concaf semifinal and then a final with Nashville and the way they're playing. And if he shows he can hang in those games, he showed he could hang last year against some of the.

best teams in the world. I do think this one's actually like kind of more realistic where if Dest isn't healthy and you don't know about Jedi or someone else falls, unfortunate and like you have to fill in a spot. I mean, this is a guy who legitimately plays this position and he's going to be showing he can play it at a high level. And similar to how you said about Peyton Miller. So I put him in there. Okay, Doyle, last two. I think if Nymphasha Burchmus played for the Red Bulls, I think we would be talking about him in this conversation, the same way that we're talking, we started talking about Zavir Gozo.

I think he's that level of talent at least. If you look at the U-17 World Cup last autumn, he was every bit as good as Kevin Sullivan was. He's dominant in Next Pro. He finally got on the field for the first team this past week. He scored a goal in the Open Cup. I have no idea. I have no idea why he can't get minutes for Charlotte.

You know, Tom is going to send us the meme of Doyle. One conversation. Can I slam Charlotte for not playing Perchamas? Unreal. Okay, so is that your pick? That's my pick. Yeah. Okay, cool.

I don't even have anything to add to this. No, I mean, we produce so few elite winger talents. And here we have one, and he can't get, he's 18. It's not too young. Every other team in the league has 18-year-olds are putting out on the field. For whatever reason, he can't get on the field for Charlotte. Now, Tom has suggested that, I mean, he's reported that Byrd Munich are heavily involved. Birchamist turned 18, I think three days after the window closed.

So maybe the reason he's not playing is because there's some agreement between, the clubs and as soon as the summer window opens, Byron Munich is going to pay Charlotte a whole ton of money and out the door goes in Facha Bertramus. But man, I wish this kid was played every week at MLS

because he's a special talent. And if he was we would be clamoring for him to get a look with this U.S. national team that is creating nothing from those wide spots. Okay. I'm going to throw my last one in there and I'm going to say Frankie West

field. You just need a little bit of bullshit sometimes. And you need a kid from Philly who's just going to like rough stuff up. And Frankie, Frankie Haydick who can cross? Like that is a, that's like a really useful player architect. Yeah. The other names we had down here, take Johnson.

I considered he played at a high level. He just has not gotten a ton of minutes this year and it's probably a hard jump to make. Snyder Brunel, Matthew Corcoran and Luca Bombino. Those are the other ones I had down. So Corcoran, really good player has done really well in um kaga kaff champions cup i feel like he's a level below brunel yeah if

if he's got he's got a keaton park's career arc written on him of like this guy's going to be really good and he's never going to get his shot which is tough to say at this age like he's playing incredible at this age but it just feels like it's just like what is matthew corcoran do well kind of everything what does he do great nothing okay awesome gets on the field at a young age is he going to be the guy who shines at 25 and 26, I don't know. Although Parks has been. Well, I think that Snyder Brunel will. I think that Snyder Brunel is going to end up being not necessarily like a first choice

guy, like an Aidan Morris level guy for the national team. I think he's fantastic. It's just we're kind of loaded at central midfield, so neither of us is going to choose a central midfielder. Same thing kind of goes for Taha-ha-ha-Brun, who we both love. but like he's an eight and half and we got guys who play that position yeah and bombino it is like worst case scenario of like you are very specific to the way your team plays right now because you don't have a ton of pro experience and that's not how the u.s plays and like we're trying to find

a way for max arfston to get on the field and that guy's played in five cup finals and you've played in none and you play kind of the same way so it's probably a step away for him and it may not even end up being the U.S. if he doesn't get the chances and with the career arc he could have going forward. Okay, this is always a blast. We thought we didn't have a lot to talk about. Then it ends up being a nine-hour segment. So we look forward to doing it again next week.