SoccerWise - MLS Picks Top 6 Most Intriguing Squads, Ibrahim To Wrexham, Kevin De Bruyne & Midweek Preview

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

In the midst of a third straight three game week Tom & David get together for a little MLS reset. The two of them pick three squads each that intrigue them right now (how does David win?!) Then the "Ice Cream Shop" is officially open once again as Tom hangs out with Ryan Reynolds & we get details on Kevin De Bruyne's future. Finally of course we preview a midweek slate of matches.6:30 Saturday Night Live Show Announcement10:35 San Diego Deep Dive17:45 Orlando Showing Their Credentials26:50 ATL Will They Or Won’t They29:00 Latte Lathe-Hagglund Collision35:18 San Jose Earthquakes The High Flying Show In MLS42:20 Sounders Coming On Strong48:30 Waiting On Charlotte52:40 Montreal Potential Sales Of Sunnisi Ibrahim & George Campbell56:40 Kevin De Bruyne Update59:40 Midweek MLS Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hello everybody and welcome back to Soccer Wise, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you for what is going to be a fantastic episode here today as we come out of a weekend of some pretty epic MLS action. We've got midweek coming up as well. Tom, we've got some cool stuff planned for later in the week that also may carry over into next week. Because you are going on a trip, I believe. I am indeed. I will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Don't think he nailed that accent. Maybe just leave it.

Accent? I was just saying Buenos Aires. Okay. Cha cha cha cha cha. Was that better? Yo también? That was my thing. My college soccer team was heavily Hispanic. And so if we're doing a jog or whatever, if they're talking in Spanish, I just like to be behind them and just go, ah, yo también. And just see if they turn to start speaking thinking it's another Spanish speaker.

And then the disappointment in the face when they'd see it's me that was one of My favorite things rather than learn Spanish that seemed like a really good tactic Yeah, they weren't super helpful in that. I think that they liked Telling us the wrong words the other the other gringos. Yeah, and obviously they held the lockbox on Spanish There's no way you could have learned it besides the 18 year old Tom Bogart. There was no chance I'm I went to Spain Actually went to Spain and played soccer for a couple weeks when I was in high school We did Spanish classes in the morning. We trained roughly three times a day

And the only word I learned coming out of it was lo siento because I was always talking in class So I get it. I just like giving you a hard time. I talking in class. So I get it. I just like giving you a hard time. I was taking Spanish classes and then the whole me buying a house thing squeezed time for other things like that. I don't really have much free time right now. So we still have my textbooks. You think I could learn it on the plane ride there? Maybe. So you're going for? Transfer Room. I'm hosting conference that Transfer Room is putting on. Be a bunch of clubs from all over the world, a bunch of MLS folks. And that's all cool. I'm excited.

It's at River Plate Stadium, which is going to be awesome. And I'm extremely excited to eat as much steak as my body can possibly handle. You should pour red wine on top of that so that it makes it a little bit easier to digest. Michael Scott? Yeah. But the red wine is phenomenal in Argentina. You also got to get a fuggazetti which is like it's kind of like Sicilian pizza but it's a white pie and it's just doused in like grilled onions so it's

like the onions are like in the crust and it's just a bunch of cheese. It's pretty. I've never been to Argentina. I've only been to the restaurants in Miami, but it's pretty good. Judging by this. Yeah. Judging by the watered down version. There's going to be plenty of Argentine representation there, both for people being there, some people I know. Plus my guy Nico Cantor has given me a bunch of recommendations that I'm looking forward to trying. I cannot wait.

Are you in the market to acquire or sell any players while you are there? I hope to just learn about them. No. Okay. This will be, but I have been to Buenos Aires when I was, have we talked about this on the show? Well, we've learned that Tab was a real guiding light for you in those times. Yeah.

Now again, I hope that I'm not in reruns already, but then I'll keep the watered down version of, that's what I learned without a shadow of a doubt. I was not going to be a professional soccer player. When we played River Plate's U-15 team, just a different species. They could not be the same human beings as we were. My God, they were all robots.

They were all perfect. I was like, oh, this is the level that actually goes professional. I get it. That's not me. The River like, oh, this is the level that that actually goes professional. Yeah, that's not me The River won like GA Cup like five years in a row or whatever It was the Simeone kids were in it Enzo Fernandez Julian Alvarez all of that and they were Yeah, they were machines also of the like captain of Rivers youth team was like already a full-fledged just adult and you're like, okay Cool, so that's possible at 16 years old. That seems like a weird thing to happen. And that's coming from someone who had a decent amount

of facial hair when I was captain of my U17 team as well. And yeah, there's no way I was capable of any of the things they are. I believe El Monumental they've redone and I think it averages the highest attendance in the world across the whole season because they sell out every game and it's like 80K and no one else does that consistently.

And the River fans I know in Miami have told me that a lot of times. So if it's not true, it's on them. And I would love for someone to notify me of that so that I can respond one time to them and be like, you're lying, you're a liar. And you've been a liar this entire time. If not, we'll see. We have some questions in the chat.

If we will be at TST. I will be at TST next week. I will be calling some of the games in the opening two days on the men's side of competition. So I will be on one of the back fields, locked in on my own. Feel free to come say hi to me. Once I figure out which field I'll be on,

I will let you know. And then I'll be wandering around, hanging out, come say hi to me. Once I figure out which field I'll be on, I will let you know and then I'll be wandering around hanging out watching some of the soccer. I've done it the last two years that it's existed. I think it's one of the most fun things that I've been around so I'm excited for anyone who has been a part of it before or hasn't that's going. I think you'll have a really fun time and it is like a unique experience where you've just got people wandering around hanging out watching soccer and it's a different form of soccer. The craziness I think is very enjoyable. I love any like big tournament of like, let's throw a bunch of stuff at you and you know, you're sort of just trying to like piece it all together versus the like

one game, one game, one game. It's like NCAA tournament style, which is always really, really fun for me. We've got some big convos to have. In this show, we are going to be talking about six of the clubs that intrigue us the most right now in Major League Soccer. So not the best clubs, but the ones that we are interested about,

the ones we think have really interesting things going on. We're gonna open up the ice cream shop, a little non-transfer window ice cream shop, as you've got some news related to your new relationship with Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds and one Kevin De Bruyne as well. And then we've got some midweek preview coming as there is a full slate of MLS games on Wednesday night once again. So we had midweek two weeks ago, last week was open cup, you get midweek once again.

This week, I will reiterate, which I will do at the end of the show, that it is absolutely absurd that Vancouver is playing in this midweek, but it is what it is. Let me, though, throw out one quick announcement, which is we're going to be doing a first ever live interaction show on Saturday night here at SoccerWise.

So we are gonna be live on our YouTube page. We are going to be running it through a platform that I will put out a link for that gives you the ability to log in, become one of the callers, join the show, ask questions, give your takes, whatever it is. Obviously, growing up on Long Island with my little radio when I'd go to sleep, I'm a huge WFAN fan, call in Sports Talk, Boston I lived in for four years. I don't

think there's any place that's better at this than Boston. And now I get the opportunity to do something that I think hasn't existed in the North American soccer sphere and I have always dreamed of. So we're going to do it as sort of a pilot this weekend. So that's gonna start at 7.15 PM Eastern time on Saturday, going into the 7.30 games. We will react to the early games, US women's national team at five as well. We're gonna have some guests join us so that I can guarantee at least someone comes on and talks to me.

I think Ruby's gonna join us, good friend of the show, some other interesting people that have either different teams they focus on or from different parts of the soccer world, whatever it is to come on and chat. But the whole point of doing it is for you to join us. So the first option is going to be to our highest level Patreon subscribers. I'm going to throw the link in there. It is free to get your ticket, even though it calls it a ticket. You just have to put your email in and then claim the ticket and it will be sent back

to you. And then you use that link to come into the show. And we're going to be on for a while. So as on Saturday, you know, if you're going to a game before or after, if you're at home watching on your own, if you're at a bar, whatever it is, you can watch, you can get into the chat. We'll be here on YouTube so you can jump into the chat and send us stuff and you can come on and talk. And I'm really really excited about this. You will be in, I don't know, Antarctica or whatever it is at the time.

But maybe one day then eventually we'll do one where we're on together and talking to everyone. Yeah, I'm disappointed to miss this one. The first one. I'll be at a wedding. Oh, that's what it is. It's tough. It's tough. I bet I'm gonna call from the dance floor. Jalen Brunson with the light up glasses on just doing the dance It is it's gonna be a blast I'm really looking forward to it and then we're gonna work out the kinks and hopefully roll it Out more consistently after that, but we will be live, as I said, once again on Saturday. So we're going to start promoting it. We're going to put the link into, um, for the subscribers first,

then we'll open it up as we get a little bit of closer for other people. And if you are on Saturday, just feeling like you got to talk about MLS feeling like you got to talk at coming out of the U S women's national team, you can call in and talk to us about NWSL, USL, USMNT, Canadian MNT, anything else that you want to talk about. We will be there for that as well. We will probably talk about some of these six teams that we're going to dive into here. Tom, we decided rather than go exactly into our takeouts from the weekend with the midweek coming a chance to sort of do a quick reset and talk about

Maybe some of the teams we don't talk about as often or that intrigue us We have decided to set this up as a draft therefore. I asked my main question, which is how do I wait? No, no, nobody decided to set this up as a draft The the actual wording was I pick a team and then you pick a team and then we talk about each team as we're picking them. Thought it was a draft. Just two dudes talking. Okay, cool. I accept that.

I will put a poll into the Discord afterwards and see who did better between the two of us and I am hoping that I come out on top and I'm expecting that I come out on top as well. I've got soccer that I'm playing tonight. The Knicks played tonight. So my competitive juices are flowing, Tom. I'm about to bury you in this general conversation that we're gonna have nicely. Why don't you, Tom, tell us your first team

that intrigues you the most right now? For me, San Diego FC, they are the team that I have had consistently enjoyed watching the most all season long, from the start to finish. There is a billion reasons why, starting with the intrigue of an expansion team, but the way that they're playing, the way that they've sustained it and particularly lately they're on a five game unbeaten run four wins.

The one time that dropped points was a game that they completely dominated sporting Kansas City, but drew a nil nil. This team, both the game model that we talk about and a lot of the times it becomes the team is the star kind of thing. But this team has so many individuals that I love watching that fit within the system. And I think that hitting both of those things is pretty rare, and for it to be so successful is also rare. So first of all, on the team success, on the team metrics, first in MLS and possession, first in MLS and field tilt. That tells you that it's not possession for possession's sake. It's possession with a purpose for driving forward. They're third in shots conceded, which I was surprised to see, and third in direct attacks, which I was also surprised to see because usually

when you have the ball so much and when you have such a domination field tilt, you don't have that many opportunities to have direct transition type attacks. But they're third in MLS in that. And on the individual front, Chuukki Lozano has been awesome since he recovered from an injury. Obviously that goal against the LA Galaxy this weekend was really great, him getting up and winning it. And he earned a recall to the Mexican national team, which, be honest, don't know why that took so long. And I've been talking to people from San Diego since they signed signed him about like we're just shocked that he's not within the mexico national team we know he wants to get back so i'm very happy to choose is on that is back

honors dryer has been fantastic when they signed him i was surprised at the fee was five billion i i kind of thought that like you know is this really how much you pay for the site yet what i was like why didn't somebody else in europe this season among mls attacking midfielders and wingers I just like that you're out here being like why did you guys do a good job?

Why doesn't something else to a better? Like are you messing with because like I was like is there like eight million in incentives about like if he plays ten games This season I was like why is this fee so they're like we are surprised too. Yeah He's 95th percentile non-penalty XG He's the 93rd percentile in expected assist which puts him in the 99th percentile in non-penalty XG. He's the 93rd percentile in expected assist, which puts him in the 99th percentile in non-pen expected goals plus expected assist. He's been one of the very best players in the league this season. And his malleability of taking control or like really, really being the outlet and the sole focus when Chukiluzano was injured really kind of put me onto him, but the way that he still fits with Chuky Lozano when he's here and all the other players in this team, like, I cannot say enough positive things about Andres Dreier and I'm just super interested to watch,

to talk about, and to read about San Diego FC right now. I totally agree with you. I think they are high on the list of like must watch. As we watch them game in and game out against different styles and different opponents You really see the commitment to what they want to do and it is a style of soccer that I enjoy watching I would say it's brave and that's like one of the things that stands out when you watch them play is like, oh my god They're trying to pass through this they're committed to what they're doing. They're continuing to push it even when the games against them They have had the dip in form over the season and come back to it. I think I sort of said this on the recap show, but I was sitting there on Saturday and thinking the like, okay, but the last piece is like, do they have the special, do they have a special

guy or a special moment creator that can get you over the top of like sometimes games are sort of going to fall even. I think Dreier is like that, but as a finisher, not as much of a pure creator himself. And so I think that will fall on Chucky is like if Chucky can be because there'll be moments where you need Cucho, right? Columbus getting you over the top is Cucho's ability to create something out of nothing. Diego Rossi doesn't really do that. You see what's happening to Columbus this year and that's a group that's been together longer and more cohesive than what San Diego is. And so that's like the last little question mark around all of this is, is Chuki that

guy if he's not, is there someone else, you know, is there someone who in an even game or a game against you going to break someone down, win a successful take on, break down a defense, have that pass? And I think there's a lot of like fits the system, half option guys, but that personality to do that something special is a little different. Andres Dreier is fourth in MLS and expected assists. He's got seven assists or seven primary assists, excuse me.

That is tied for second in MLS Is that not enough for you or he's in the 12th percentile and successful take-ons in MLS? And he's 50% past completion. I get that's not his game, but these are the When you are in knockout competition and the game gets tighter, right? A lot of what Andre's dryer does really well when he's not being a finisher, where I think he's elite, and a lot of that creation comes in open field and comes in transition moments. And I think what we saw from Minnesota last year in the playoffs, like, again, some of the top opponents, those chances don't exist. And maybe the game states don't exist as often.

And so you have to be able to do a little bit something else. And that's where the question mark will be for San Diego. But I can't really see that until they're in single knockout competition. I guess they're in the league's cup. League's cup is happening, right? Yeah, allegedly. And they are in it, weirdly, because I think they're in it because someone who's in it got pushed out. Vancouver requested to be in the Canadian Championship. Right. And they hit their limit on the amount of competition they can play in. Man, Vancouver, you could have won another thing if you had just played in all of them

with the way they're playing so far this season. But yeah, that would be the one thing that stands out. But I think Chuki scoring that goal, even though it's against a trash LA Galaxy team right now late on, I think those are the moments that I'm looking for still, just to see if they're capable of that. But they've shown depth now because they've trusted so many players

and they've given so many players opportunity. And I love seeing Luca Bombino on the field. He's one of my, he's been one of my favorite players in the youth ranks over the last few years. LAFC, what was your game plan with all of this? Like, he's been one of my favorite players in the youth ranks over the last few years. LAFC, what was your game plan with all of this? Like, he's been there. He's been an option for you. Verhoeven coming off the bench in this one, although shout out to my guy Willie, who got

hurt. Willie's one of my favorites in MLS and he would definitely be on my like, if I had to pick a team of guys I like. But yeah, this is a San Diego team. That's must watch all of the time Unfortunately at the end of the game there was a fight in the stands This is now two times that san diego has hosted an la team lafc and la galaxy another fight I don't know all the details around it. I do wonder a little snapdragon not a soccer specific stadium, maybe not built Um for this purpose like I know i've been around some of them where the away fans have a separate section and it's, you know, doesn't touch anything else.

And the way you come in and out of it is very organized where you don't have to go through anyone. Like I know Philadelphia set up that way. Maybe that's part of this issue. And I would hope that they'd be able to alleviate that, whatever it is. I hope we see less fights in the stands. That would be like a really cool thing going forward. I'm gonna go to my first team to trump you and then win this entire competition.

I'm gonna start with Orlando City. I know you wrote a little bit about them this week as well. They are the best attack in the Eastern Conference right now. They are overall from an expected goals and goal scoring point of view, the second best attack in Major Eastern Conference right now. They are overall from an expected goals and goal scoring point of view, the second best attack in Major League Soccer. And they are moving into the conversation

as one of the best defenses in the league as well. They've put together a ton of shutouts. A lot of that now has come over this last stretch of games. They have set their club record for an undefeated streak. If you take away the US Open Cup, it's been an unbelievable run for them. I talked a little bit yesterday about the balance that I think they're finding in pushing Freeman higher and playing Bricallo at that left back spot. One of the guys though

who's a huge part of this is Ivan Angulo. And I've joked for like years that Ivan Angulo is Oscar Brejja's dream player. He is a Colombian who plays like he played college soccer. Like throwing your body out there, athletic, puts everything on the line, clean in possession, but not super dangerous. He has, I don't want to say he's elevated his game, but I think they are now tapping into all of his best attributes,

where he's kind of a left wing back, but then there's so much focus on Pasalich and Ojeda that he comes across the field and picks up the ball and creates some dangerous Chances there's a ton to like about this team But he's just one of those guys that I've been really impressed by so far this season Yeah, so I really like this Orlando team and the question that I posed and when I was writing about them is is this is this team in the top tier in the Eastern Conference and For me, I say yes, and the Eastern Conference? And for me, I'd say yes.

And the only caveat I'd add is that I think that the top tier now is wider than I thought going into this season. Nine team top tier. And that's not a joke. Like that's, it's sick. It's awesome. So, but so like, I guess the way that I feel better about it

is in my head, it's Philly, Cincy, Orlando, Columbus, Miami. And I think that that's the top five. And Nashville is right there. Charlotte, if they get their crap together, is right there. I still think that there's a map for the Red Bulls that get there, but I'm done talking about that possibility. But so again, it is a crazy competitive Eastern Conference. And Orlando, to your point, it's not just that they're on an 11-game unbeaten runner

or whatever it is. It's that that started with a couple of wins against bad teams and then a ton of nil-nil draws. Yeah. At the beginning of the season, they were scoring goals that they were conceding like crazy. And then they were like, all right, we're going gonna set up shop or like we're gonna fix the defense and then they had four out of their five games They had no nills which is not sustainable either

I think over the last four or five weeks They found that balance and got to your point like Breccolo as that like elbow back at left back Do you remember when you said, you know, they needed a center back and he wasn't good enough and they should get rid of him Remember that? Yeah. Well, yeah, I was saying't good enough and they just get rid of him? 100%. Do you remember that? Well yeah, I was saying he's good and I think this makes a lot of sense. Well, fairness, you were still wrong because you said he was good enough at center back, doesn't even play that position. He doesn't play left back.

Get with the fluidity of modern football, mate. Obviously mate. Yeah, everyone's playing Johan Cruyff. It's elbow back. Shout out John Mueller for coming up with that term, I don't know, probably five years ago now. But anyway, yeah, like I think it is that balance. And Alex Freeman, him and Andy Nahar have been the two best right backs in Amalek's

this season. And they've weaponized that, they gave him the chance. He's earned everything. But like I do want to give credit to this team and finding more depth with like Trevay, Aswest is back now the attack I like I know it's very difficult for Oscar Bray to balance these players because the Luis Muriel Redemption story has been excellent and he's starting on merit and what he did to get him back in the team I thought was very impressive

Ramiro Enrique went into the season as a starter. You got to find him minutes and Duncan McQuire's Duncan McQuire You got to try to find him minutes. It's not easy to Rotate and juggle those guys, but I think he's done really well. I agree with you. I think he's handled this the forward room really, really well. He's made it a strength rather than it could be a weakness, right? Oh, it's a position where you run on confidence. Muriel's on the big contract. Duncan almost left, so you dump Enrique, but then he lose all value. Also, you're never fully healthy. You want to rotate the open cup thing again I bring up being a little unfortunate because like that would be a place to play these guys and I think it's a team deep enough

To content whatever that is. I think he's handled all that really well I think posse leaches an incredible inclusion But Martino Heda right now, I think is playing as well as any creative player has played under Oscar Preja since Marodias, I don't think anyone take I don't think anyone for Orlando has played this well as a pure creative 10 That as he has and that has opened up a different door Which is we don't have to throw huge numbers forward and commit all the time to create chances. That we can create chances out of either the flow of the game or in transition and we don't then have to be throwing both fullbacks in and both

center mids have to be making runs out of the central midfield and all of that. I think that's a lot of stuff that threw them off and he has been an incredible finisher as well. But I think he's reading the play of all the different forwards, right? Duncan McGuire is different than Muriel, who's different than Ramir Enrique. And then the optionality, I think, makes them really hard. You saw it in the Portland game, like on the goal. The sequence that leads to the goal is like nine chances in a 35 second span. It felt like watching the Knicks trying defensive rebound in a big game and like

everyone's attacking. It was shots, block shots, missed crosses that are then saved and kept in and then as Atoesta cuts it back Portland doesn't really know where it's going because you've got Muriel on the back post and you've got Pasilic coming inside and you've got Ojeda making a run and you have to try and account for all of it and something falls through the crack. So I think I agree with you. I think they're for real. I think this is the best team that Oscars had in Orlando and I think that gives them the opportunity to like push for a real Eastern Conference win. I just I want to applaud the ingenuity of the take to say, oh, hey, it has been the

best attacker on for Oscar since Mario Diaz sharing Mario Diaz his name made me happy And I think that's an excellent take I know that I'm higher on for Gundo for Cundo Torres than you are Yeah, but I think I think you're right. I mean on form he needs to sustain this obviously for the rest of the season But this isn't a blip man. We're 15 games in this. This is like he is who he is right now and Lip man, we're 15 games in this this is like he is who he is right now And I tried to pull up. Okay. What was Marv Diaz's best statistical season? I know that you cannot encapsulate his brilliance to just stats But I was curious and I went to the MLSaga.com page that just continues to let everybody down He doesn't have any stats on that page because why would he I was gonna say is it still loading it?

It doesn't work. Why would it Jesus just basic things dude Just like and we've been with I'm not gonna love units. I've refrained from giving them crap for this This has been like this all season You cannot trust what these sys numbers are and I'm about to go full euro and be like, that's fine I'm gonna go to other sites and just do primary assist but Maro Diaz says no stats available. So that's super sick Maro Diaz, I love that this became a part of this segment. It's just dude, it's just so minor league man. It's the league... could you go to NBA.com right now? You can find stats for anybody of all time. Yeah. And you know what would be good? If the stats on the

on the league's website worked for the podcast talking about the league twice a week. So I'm going to go to Transfer Market now because that's where I need to find Marlo Dias stats. His most productive season was, oh, that 2015 to 2016 run. 2015, he had 16 direct goal contributions in less than 2,000 minutes, 8 goals, 8 assists. And then the next season, he was 5 and 10 in like 2,200 minutes. Like, Martino Hayda has 8 goals, 3 assists right now, halfway through the year.

Like, he's on pace. So I think that's one to watch. And even though he's scored more than assists, I think, the reason I think this team is better is the way he's playing is not a replacement of Facundo Torres. That's posselej. So you've got like this other element on top where, I guess Nani is your best example of this that's happened for them in the time.

Oh, that's a great point. He was so singular. He was so good. For sure. But he was more create off the wing for himself and then, you know, try and really like affect the game from all parts of the field because he was naturally a winger and like that's what he did. Either way, this is why to me this Orlando team is interesting because it

feels different than the past few years. And every year I've always asked them to like prove something else after they sort of got into the like, okay, we're a real contender. We're a real factor. Similar, I think sort of your Red Bulls thing of like Red Bulls haven't done that. You know the pathway there. It hasn't been the case to me. Orlando has started to take that path and they can be a part of that elite conversation in the recent conference. I think for you, we're going to go to your next one. We're going to stick in the East. Yeah, we're going to stick in the East. We're going to go with Atlanta United. And what I'm interested in is was Sunday's win a one-off or a sign that things are

trending back in the right direction. So I've been calling or had been calling for I think three at the back and then some semblance of whether it's a 3-4-2-1 or a straight more a 3-5-2 with Almiron either as a second forward or an attacking midfielder or whatever. I just thought that that made the most sense. They have done it for a few games and this is their first win but I thought it really balanced the team. Jay Fortune like just needs to always play and I'm glad that kind of Ronnie Daga has been playing him and he kind of spoke to it I believe in the postgame press conference about

how good he's been how he's been he's like he's been our best player in the last you know five or six games and I think that's absolutely true. What I'm worried about of is this sustainable? You know what is what is a one-off what is a hey this was just a random game in a 34 game sample that's gonna happen or what was oh we're gonna look back and was that the turning point the good news is they got four goals didn't get anything from Miguel Moron or Emanuel Latelot so if you want to be optimistic you say oh cool once these two players and and part of the reason that the defensive structure but more so for forgetting your best players in best positions

is why I wanted to see this formation. So on the optimistic view, you say, oh, like they can only add to this and they're not gonna have to rely on either set pieces or Loba Genitse or whatever. The pessimistic view is how many games are you gonna win if Latte Latte and Miguel Moron aren't great? Like Latte Latte hasn't scored in nine, eight or nine games.

He hasn't scored since March 29th. Miguel Moron, I think, has won in his last eight or nine. So this team is not gonna be any good if neither of these guys figure it out. I'm still choosing to think that it's they're gonna be more good than bad. But again, this is not sustainable if they are not shouldering the load. Uh, I would assume 80% of our comments right now, because you've talked about LatteLoth multiple times, are that he should be suspended for 950 games and should never play an MLS again. I sort of gave... Oh, actually, Gutierrez was the next question. Oh, there you go. That's the other potential. Well, that one was a real red card.

That happened. I would say I gave a little bit yesterday. I don't think it's a red card. I understand the back angle looks a little different. I can't see well enough from that one. It's far away. I understand the results of the play is dramatic. Like Nick Hagelin cracked a rib which punctured his lung. That's far away. I understand the results of the play is dramatic. Like Nick Hagelin

cracked a rib which punctured his lung. That's super dangerous and I feel terrible for him and I hope he gets better soon. I don't think Laté Lat does anything wrong. I think Nick Hagelin tries to block him so that he can let Matt Miazga have more time to make the run. I think a million defenders have done it in the past and do it all the time and Lateloth has a right to his line that he's running to close down. If his elbow was brought up as a weapon, then that's fair. I don't think that that's what happens in that play. Do you have a take? I lean towards you. I don't think that like I think Lateloth should have been fouled. I don't think it's a red card. It is a gray area of like

We've just accepted in the game that center backs get to go out of their way make non non-soccer movements to try to block attackers Again, I feel for Nick Haglin seemed very very painful And he was doing something that is a that has just been accepted My larger point is I don't think that should just be accepted that defenders can just go five yards out of the way for no reason other than to block a player and then be like, oh, he got in my way.

So it's definitely not a red card for me, but again, lots of luck coming in with the force that he did. It's somewhere in the middle for me. And I just disagree with the conversation of how long should he suspend all that crowd. So the comments in the chat right now are the same as what's online which is he broke his rib Is that not a weapon? didn't

No, I don't think that the result means the intent was there and I don't think that the result means that the danger was there like it's a contact sport and people make contact and things happen and I know that not everyone breaks a rib. And so that doesn't always happen, but you have two players running at each other at full speed and one player stops and collides with the other player. And that doesn't mean that that one player is at fault. If there's footage of it that MLS finds

that proves us wrong, okay. I can fully understand that. Like I'm not saying I've looked into the soul of Emmanuel Latelat and guarantee that this is not what happened. But from the soccer I watched. Yeah, from the soccer I watched, while I watched the play live,

I said, oh, you know what Nick Hagelin's doing there? Like we all do. He's slowing himself up. He's trying to give Matt Miyazaki an extra half second to take a touch on an awkward ball, which turns out Miyazaki didn't need because he played it on first time. and then Hagelin gets collided with and He ends up going down and then the injury is much worse is what we find out later

Yeah, I don't know that that changes what happened in the play But we'll see if MLS decides to add any more to that one Obviously Hagelin getting hurt is brutal because he's been a really good piece. You saw the effect immediately Which I think Taylor talked about well on the broadcast of like that changed this game. I think Atlanta came out and played a little bit braver than normal. And by saying that, I mean, they have not just not been aggressive going forward. Felt this way about Charlotte this weekend too, who we're going to talk about in a little bit. Like a lot of a regular season is just intent. Are you going to play on the front foot? Are you going to try and create chances? You're gonna leave yourself exposed if you do that.

The amount of teams that go through these stretches where they just don't and it's like they're scared to attack and maybe there's a lack of cohesion and so you don't feel confident going forward. That's what Atlanta needs to be doing at this point because they have nothing else to lose and it felt like you saw that and maybe that comes because you're already leading 1-0 and there's a little bit of confidence and there's energy in the building, but whatever it was It was clearly a much better performance from them Yeah, so where do you stand? Do you think that this is a one-off or do you think that this is a sign that they're maybe not turning corner?

But at least turning a corner. I Find it hard to like be fully in on it. I think the problems that exist in central midfield are like part of the structure of the team. And so it's hard for me to say that this is gonna be a team that can really play two ways this season, or at this point of the season

with the way the roster is built, because you don't have coverage in that central area that can be both part of the attack competently and also defend. And that's sort both part of the attack competently and also defend and that's sort of feels like the gap they're missing in saying all of that you can still win games five four and lose games four two and play more open and my hope would be that there's something in there from this game that they take going forward and you start to see it. Orlando this weekend is an interesting one. Like we just said, they're

one of the best defenses in the league. There's a little bit of rivalry in there. I think we're going to learn a lot in three or sorry, that's on Saturday or on Wednesday. That's Wednesday. Yeah, I think we'll learn a lot from that game. So what we're going to it's a cop out for me, but their next five games, Orlando, Red Bulls, NYC, you see Columbus, Miami. This is make or break for the season or it might be make or break for Ronnie Dallas job I'm not not literal with that because I'd be really shocked honestly if they let go of him during this first season, but like

If you come out of this with a drawn for losses or some other really really bad outcome then It's a fair question to ask about his job security and what's going on with this team. They are already seven points below the playoff line. We're at that time of the season where we go from all of you in two games are there to like okay like if you don't put it together like like it's getting late early. If you don't put it together here before you know it this is gonna be 12 points and then it's like is this team good enough to make up that distance and the answer right now might be no

but I think the answer right now is more optimistic the way I view it because I like again, I just think that Al Marrone and lots a lot in particular just makes so much sense together and I think that the wingback like This system and the players are in and I like Derek Williams is quote this week into just like hey, man Like I liked that we got challenged I took it upon myself to be more physical to lead that way and and again like if nothing else that is what this team needs. Let's move to my next one, which is San Jose. I touched on Orlando who are the best attack in the east right now. San Jose are the best attack in the west.

They have the second worst defense in the west at the same time. They have the second worst defense in the West at the same time. This is the chaos team. And I talked about a little bit on the recap show on Monday. You watch this game. They come from two zero down, Preston Judd scores two goals off the bench. They go up three two and I watched it back afterwards to sort of check myself. Bruce Arena is making subs to hold onto a 3-2 lead. They are incapable of doing that right now. They can't control games through possession and they can't defend at a high enough level

1v1 or as a group to keep teams from scoring even though it's a deflected goal. And the only option there was to have tried to win that game 4-2 and like continue to push forward. So they are intriguing to me because they're competitive. I think they're a playoff team. They obviously have a strength. We will learn now over the next few weeks of the season if they can be formed into a fully cohesive, successful professional soccer team. Or if it's year one of this build and it's a bit of a gimmick and They just remain must watch because they can't close games at all Chaos FC vibes FC

Prusarina FC trying to make sure messy doesn't get a red card every time I watch this team. I'm happy with my decision Of course San Jose Houston played out to be three three. Yeah, right. They did right like what are we talking about? Um a Stat that's tough. There's no two ways around it. Um, Earl Edwards has faced 13 shots on target. He's conceded 10 goals Yeah so I think I Want to have more of a grandiose takeaway to your point right? Like it's a great question Is this a real team or is this just gonna be vibes FC? Yeah What can you do if if that's the case in your back line like?

They're one of those so I don't just say back line by the way cuz I mean a lot of it essential midfield Let me say I mean that literally in if your goalkeeper gives up ten goals Oh sure on target. What what can you learn about the midfield? Right like what like for me so like that's kind of where I'm stuck in my analysis of this team. Yeah, normally we talk back six. This I think you talk back seven, maybe back eight. That it's all like a bit of a save defensively. And I would throw in all of that. I don't think anymore Joseph Martinez, an elite pressing center forward. Don't know how much defensive work you're always getting from a Christian Espinoza or whatever rotations then of Chicharongo been in and out a bit, Amal Pellegrino, Useni Buddha, like all of these pieces. So I think it's a top-down problem for this team. I do look at this group and say

there's more attackers than spots. I would have liked to have already seen this happen. I would hope that going forward there's a move inside of MLS they could make where everyone else needs attackers and they need some solidity, whether it's in midfield or defense, they're gonna be one of those, like every time we get a, who would you trade in MLS? Who would you look at question?

I think I'm gonna be looking at this San Jose depth and say like, okay, is there a defensive midfielder or a true center back, another center back option out there who you could swap in for a Pellegrino or a Buda or whoever it is if a team's looking for an option there? And I think for San Jose, at this point, it's like just keep doing what you're good at. Hope you can win as many games as you can, 3-2 and 4-2, because there's no chance you're going to close up shop and be able to keep everything in front of you. I think for San Jose fans who cares?

It's been who cares for years and now it's fun and it's fairly successful. And in this Western Conference, it has the ability to contend for like a home playoff game because there are very few teams that have such a big strength that they can lean on. And so they're going to be a team I'm watching going forward saying, okay, can they start to add a little bit more to their game? I think you're going to start to get eye popping numbers where Christian Espinoza is going to enter an MVP conversation because I think he's going to put up what 20 plus goals and assists by the end of this season.

And that's without taking penalties, which you could add then in the penalties if he takes enough of them. Like, again, I think that's my favorite subplot for this team is that hardcore MLS fans know how great Christian Esamnoza has, and how consistent he's been for years. I think more people, like,

but he was on the worst team in the league last year He still put up numbers. He still put up good performances But you're not really gonna pay attention like by this time last year We were already stopping to pay attention in this team So I'm happy that the league is getting a better look at Christian Espinosa And he's gonna get the individual accolades that that should come that he deserves to come that aren't gonna come if you're bottom of the league San Jose are currently eighth right now

In the West three points off seven like they're not far off if they could fix some of these defensive issues They're not far off being towards the top six a fourth place. I UFC is four points ahead of them That's not that much like that's within touching distance San Jose since they ended hiatus wherever 2008 is when they were playing again They have finished better than sixth in their conference one time that was 2012 and That includes the times when there was you know nine teams in the Western wait all the gooney teams only finished higher than sixth in The West one time when they won the shield in 2012 that is why Like what's damn, poor Chris

Wanalasky, bro. Yeah, for sure. But like, 14th last year, 9th, 23, 14th, 10th, 8th, 8th, 12th, like, just being interesting, even if it comes at the cost of giving up, you know, the the the second worst XG against them in the league, Just being interesting and in the mix for the playoffs is a huge step forward. You see also, I think they're going to get better because I think as Dwan Jones gets more settled they get better. And that's all in the attack still. I don't know that he brings their defending off the charts in any way, but you saw in this game his ability to come inside of Espinosa gives you

a whole new element. He's two-footed because he's played left back for the last five years, so he can come inside and shoot or he can go to the end line and put it across like he did for Judge's first goal. And we're saying all of this without mentioning that Bo LaRue is the second best player in Major League Soccer behind Sash and Burr Halter. He's awesome. Three goals, five assists so far this year, I think, for him. That Bo LaRue is the second best player in Major League Soccer behind Scott Schumacher Halter. He's awesome.

Three goals, five assists so far this year I think for him. He's aggressive. He takes players on. He fills the right gaps. He reads the game really, really well coming out of midfield. The way it sort of opens up for you of like people are scrambling to stay with the runs of Ciccio and Joseph and to deal with the runs of Chizu and Joseph and to deal with the crosses and the movement of Christian Espinosa.

If you read the game well enough, you can find the gaps in all of that for you to take advantage. Bolaroos done that and at an unbelievable level. I think we have to have him on the show because he's like definitely a favorite of Sakawais. Okay, let's finish off with our last two teams so that everyone gets our rosters and then they can vote for who was the best or better at this. Tom, why don't you go with your next pick? Seattle Sounders is the team that I'm super interested in right now.

Without really paying so much attention, they've got one loss in their last eight games. Five of those are wins. All of a sudden, They're playing well. I know that they got loose loose Thresh by LAFC for nil along the way for their one loss But in this run like I get the game against Dallas and again like this this is on like the margins are so thin Couldn't believe that game was still nil nil until towards the end And I think what makes it interesting for me is so you talk about about Musa Zeus, I know Musavsky is injured right now. They need to play with a nine. Need to. And Jesus Frerrer at this time in his career is a nine and a half at best, if not just a straight

up 10 or playmaking winger. They look so much better when they had a nine on the field. And if this gets me to get into De Rosario lore I'm just about that too because I think that they're better with I I hope that Brian Schmetzer and and I I Understand continuing to give Jesus Frerra runs at the nine particularly with Morris and Muzofsky injured Yeah, but De Rosario if Muzofsky can't play the next game De Rosario has to be the night And then when Jordan Morris is back, it's obviously him. But this team is fun Question mark like they use the ball more and they're using it like in their field their second possession third and field till They're shooting more. They're so they're not just trying to walk it into the goal and they're defending With with urgency and Pedro de la Vega

I'm afraid to say out loud that he's looked good and I've enjoyed watching him because those words might have just hit his hamstring and tweaked it. I really like watching him play. I hope that he's through the worst of the injury issues because when he's buzzing around the way he has been the past couple weeks, like, this team could be special. And I think that they still can be special without that now Yanmar went down with an injury hamstring last game don't know how long he's gonna be out yeah that's gonna be brutal for the club world cup if he's

not back and or not a hundred percent by their opening game but this Seattle team is someone a team that I'm interested because I don't think we're talking about them very much rightfully so because they haven't been great this season. But I think we're getting to that time of the year where they go, oh, you know, Jaune, oh, it's May. It's almost June. All right. It's time to go up the table now. Like, and I hadn't even noticed that they've been on, you know, they've had one loss in the last eight. And so we were preparing for this podcast and I was like, oh, I'm really, I think it's gonna be fun to watch Seattle over the next few weeks.

Yeah, three points behind Minnesota in third place. So the potential to jump up the standings, they play against San Diego on Wednesday night who are in second place, four points ahead of them on equal games played. So like they could close that gap even more. I like that you talked about, like we know this with Seattle,

they kind of started to tend to come around this time. I thought this year would be different because of the Club World Cup. I thought you'd be in a bit more of a like, trying to get an early start. I mean, I don't know a deeper team that's been screwed by injuries. Like it has just been brutal of,

they did a lot of the right things in making MLS moves to get better to go get Paul Arreola and Jesus Ferrer and the way they've built Tacoma now that you're getting the productions from the Roth Rocks and the Moon Goos and guys like that. Musavsky again another veteran hasn't worked for a long time now you're starting to see the returns from that like they've built a deep group they are using that deep group to remain in the top of the Western Conference and doing so with a level of injuries

that a lot of MLS teams cannot sustain. So it's kind of like a compliment to them, but it's also underwhelming because it feels like a better roster. And I think that's sort of where they've fallen in this last month that you talked about. We're not really looking at them because it's, I picked them preseason

to win support issue. I thought they were that deep, that that good even with club world cup and what was gonna be necessary from them because I thought they'd have third and fourth options at some of the I mean coming into the year Danny Wachowski was what third at center forward so like that's something now if you look back and you say wow look how good they could be unfortunately though he has to play every single game because they've had injuries now he's hurt as as well. Yai Mar I think is one that they would really struggle to cover. Rusnak's been awesome in all of this. You talked about the shooting.

Rusnak's been really aggressive, which we don't always see from him. It's not always going to fall for you, but it then forces back lines to step a little quicker. It forces defensive midfielders to track you, which opens up space for an Obed Vargas or Christian Roldan. Or what we've seen, I think a lot of is one of the wingers coming inside and being a part of that. I think Kent's a really good add to all of this. We talked about him a bit last week. So yeah, there's depth. There's belief. I think that's one of the big things with this with Seattle always is like, I think there's few MLS clubs that step on the field all the time and think they should win

and believe they should. And while maybe not all of the Academy pieces is hit as quickly as I'd like, where they've put work in to make it happen, the Tacoma side of things is such a huge ad of like bringing these 23 and 24 year olds who can affect your team into the group. The Jesus Ferreira thing I think is really sad.

The thought this was the right fit, which is like, yeah, he's not perfect in any of these spots. Seattle's good at soccer. There's a lot of good soccer. That's kind of Christian Roldan. Roldan's not a winger. He's not a 10. He's not a six.

So he's kind of an eight at his best. Why? Because he can do a little bit of everything. And I thought Jesus Ferrer would be like an attacking version of that. In this group of like, if he's on the field with Morris, Morris can go out wide and create. So now you can come inside and score or you're outside.

But Alex Roldan can fill space. So now you can come inside and pick it up where you want to. I thought all of that would be perfect. And it hasn't been the case so far. And I think that's really unfortunate. I won't be shocked if it hits. Like I don't won't be shocked when it does because I think it's a matter of time and not whether or not he can be successful in this one.

Let me finish up here so we can get into the ice cream shop and I'm gonna finish with Charlotte. I know you've brought them up a few times. I say intrigued because you saw the top end this week. You knock off Columbus at home. You didn't just knock them off. Like you played them off the field in the opening half, and you did so in a way that I think made a ton of sense for Charlotte.

There was a lot of direct play in the attack, but it was more often, it was played higher up the field, and it fits your talent pool really well. Columbus had some injuries. We'll talk about it when we get into our midweek preview for this Columbus group, but you get Ajamon two goals. Zaha shows his quality in the ball he plays for Ajamon. He gets a little bit of space dropping deeper. Clearly, Dean Smith is trying to generate the space he wants by getting Jaquille Marshall Ruddy

on the field at that left-back spot. We talked about it for a while of like, Tim Rhee makes them better defensively, but they're not elite defensively. Doesn't really help add to the attack as much. Where does it all fit together? Where does it all fit in? This feels the closest we've seen in the last year or so to like, or at least this season, of putting it all together. And yet, I don't trust it. Because every time I'm in on this, I feel like the next game they play in a deep block,

they concede good chances, they hope for something on the break and it doesn't happen. So yeah, but I'm still in on this game and even when I was critiquing Zaha last week, I still think that we're going to see more of their best version than what has been their worst, right? Like before this win, those five losses in a row was bad yeah in this game like you said like I know that they want to use the ball more which is good but going against Columbus I think that they played as well it wasn't just that they were sitting deep they were they Zaha led the team in touches I don't

I'm not gonna go back through every game log I doubt that's happened this year yeah like little things like that. Um, and again, it's a smaller sample size because they were against the ball so much, but getting him on the ball and getting him on the ball quicker and him dropped like the assist to Ajumang was world-class. Like that was a delightful pass and that's what he can be. That's what he should be. And I think that's what he's going to be, but it was a drop of the shoulder kind of beating a player, but having enough space to hit a decisive through ball rather than kind of beating a player, then take two, three more touches and then pass it sideways.

Like, I just liked what this game was so very much. Again, Pep Biel has been such a good player for this team this season. And this was what, like you said, this was what we all thought in theory what this team could be. Gonna defend well, again, giving up two goals but it's Columbus, right? Whatever. Gonna defend well, and then we're gonna have more special players in attack. And the idea of Zaha, Bial, Ajumang, and whether it's Abada or Vargas or whoever, that should be one of the best front fours in the league, it should be. And that's what they looked like against Columbus, I'm choosing to take that and maybe it's

just confirmation bias because again I keep saying this is what I thought that they were gonna be coming into the season and I still think it's what they're gonna be so it might just be confirmation bias but what they did yes this weekend I think is repeatable sustainable and who they are yeah we had someone in the chat say like didn't Columbus have injuries yeah they did Stephen Marrera went off early and Charlotte recognized that and attacked Yeah. We had someone in the chat say like, didn't Columbus have injuries? Yeah, they did. Stephen Morer went off early and Charlotte recognized that and attacked that space. That's what you should be doing.

That's the way you should be playing things out. I got to bring this back here because you mentioned Pep Biel. He's got four goals, seven assists. Alexey Moranchuk has one goal, two assists. Which one would you take? I'd take Pep Biel. Oh, okay. Cool. Cuz a year ago, I feel like we had this conversation one of us got lambasted I was in digging a fan question. Yeah, I think I think the response was Dude, it's Moranchuk. Was that what he said?

Okay, cool. I was just checking to make sure Charlotte Okay cool I was just checking to make sure Charlotte another big result now the question is can they continue on with that. Let's go into our ice cream shop and then we'll get into our midweek preview. Tommy scoops at the dais pre-transfer room where he can then scoop it out for everyone and whatever they need down in Argentina. Give me a little bit of pistachio to start. Well, I'll just, no, okay, I'm gonna run through two

and then we'll talk about different, I know, like, so, Rexam, ever heard of him, mate? Rexam leads a race to sign Sunusi Ibrahim from CF Montreal. For a TV show? I swear to God, somebody texted me and said, you know, he'd be really good for the show. We love him. Nice. Hell yeah. Hell yes. Get your headshots ready.

No bid yet. What I was told, myself and Ben Jacobs, something in the region of 300,000 or 500,000 fee would get it done Whether that's you know, it's at least 250 or 300 in guaranteed money and then maybe there's incentives Maybe there's whatever he had seven goals in like a thousand minutes last year. He's 22 years old I think he'd fit well in the jambo And he's played I think a total 50 minutes this season. Yeah, it's an obvious one. I think for Montreal if they do get this bid to take it. Another one that Ben Jacobs reported this morning I can confirm as well that George Campbell is in the sights of Bristol City. Still no bid there either. That I

believe the region with the asking would be you know 1 million to 1.5 million. I think that would make sense. I know that they're not the only team interested in George Campbell. He's a player that I think I'm on sickos love watching. I think he's a really good player. Yeah. Um, him going into the championship, I think it would be good for him to see how he does with the physical side of the game, because what he does kind of on the ball is super fun.

I don't know. It depends on what team would maybe let him do that or lean into that in England. But yeah, George Campbell is a guy that we should be watching this summer window. That's interesting because I thought Campbell was a guy that I think he's a good player. I think he's like starting center back in an MLS Cup team. I don't know that he's international, but I probably would have said this about Austin Trusty. And Trusty went over and like was able to survive at that level and was able to show that

there's a little bit more to his game. And I think some of that's like fit and some of that's comfort. I think George Campbell would fit that level really well. I think he's really good when the game's North South. It's a little bit more of the like side to side movement getting pulled around. Bro, throw it in the mix.

Like that's not the game he needs to deal with there. And I think he will actually thrive on a lot of that. As you said, the things he does well, I think will be enhanced. And I think especially off the ball, his defending fits that style really, really well. And we know Montreal is open for business. Like, if you're looking to get deals, it is wild that Senussi Ibrahim

and Mahalo Hapoku combined of zero goals this year. And like, if you're going to get anything for him, great. Right now, Veroni and Owusu is your top pairing. As it should be, yeah. And like, they look actually pretty good together. Yeah. And there are other options that you can go to if they're not healthy where it's like you're not hanging on to Ibrahim for anything Because that's not a necessity for the way your team is built and maybe it gets you More young players into those spots like a Vilsant or whatever which is what you want going forward anyway

So that makes a ton of sense and I think think though, he's a profile that also makes sense at that league. Like he's physical, he can hold up. He's able to at least get behind the back line and create some danger. We haven't seen the finishing consistently, but like feels like I thought he was going to be good in MLS. So I could understand other people watching his tape, looking at the data on him and being like, oh, this guy has more in him than what we've seen. It's hard to say that about a team that has only won one game. Like if it was there, you'd think they would have tried. And so I think that part's a little bit hard to come to. Now, give us the KDB update. Should I be getting my Nashville SC Kevin De Bruyne a jersey? Did you say Nashville? Yeah

It looks like he's going to Napoli and you can't really blame him This is not just reporting. This is Napoli's owner I believe at their title parade was giving an interview and was like just needs to be signed More or less was saying that like yeah, like De Bruyne is coming just needs to be signed more or less with saying that like yeah like De Bruyne is coming. Look dude, him going and I get it like Chicago offered more money but De Bruyne at 33 and now a year away from the World Cup going to the Serie A Champions in a league that is known for being a great home for veteran players because of the way the league is played. I can't blame him if he does indeed sign that contract

with not not play over Chicago Fire. Yeah, it seems like the speed of play there and the style fits him. As you said, if he wants to sort of keep himself in that combo for the World Cup, my assumption is he's Kevin De Bruyne. And if he's healthy and playing well, it wouldn't matter where he's playing.

He'd have an ability to get in that national team or he's not gonna play. Like, I don't know that that part really matters, but obviously it's his life. It's up to him. I think it's a little unfortunate because I think he could have been special and like it's one of these things where it's like, oh well, it's, you know, not super common to make this move. And it's like, right. Well, if you want to do it when it's common, then it's not interesting. Like doing something unique and different is why people notice these things and what makes it stand out.

So Kevin De Bruyne decides in two years he wants to come to MLS. I don't think that's super exciting for anyone. And I think that's where the interest came right now. And it felt like the right timing in the right place. I think unfortunate for Chicago, it sounds like they tried to do most things right to get this one over the line.

But yeah, Serie A champion, like everything about the Napoli atmosphere looks awesome. I would love to get this one over the line. But yeah, Serie A champion, like everything about the Napoli atmosphere looks awesome. I would love to go to a Napoli game. I would love to be around it. Lukaku's holding it down on the front line. Like all of it makes sense. And Napoli are trying to sign Jonathan David as well.

We'll see what happens over the next few weeks when he makes the decision. This is the quote from Napoli's president, Di Laurentiis. I really think Kevin O'Brunner will join us I'm told he already bought a beautiful house. I spoke to Katie B his wife his kid this morning. It's beautiful Then he goes done deal until contracts are signed. We must be careful Let's be careful dude good good choice good choice I'm on the phone with them selling them houses, but I'm not sure if they're coming. Whoa, whoa, whoa the deals

No, no, don't ask me that. We need to be careful until it's signed. So good interview there. That's hilarious. It is... they've been awesome, like the last 10 years, right? Pretty consistent. I guess this is different. Normally a player like this, you're talking a different echelon of teams, but Napoli,

I think, have moved into that echelon, so not sure how much it is. And obviously, if Lukaku's done it,, like you're kind of in a similar place, but I will watch him there. I will be less excited about it, but I don't think he did it for me. And for us at SoccerWise, I think he probably has a different fan base that he's looking to focus on with all of that. Okay. As the sun gets into my eyes late on here, let's talk a little MLS midweek action. We have some pretty good matchups, some really not great matchups,

which I think is one of those where it's gonna be like, oh, whoa, I didn't expect this. And all of a sudden FC Dallas puts up six on the road and then they suck you back in time. That's what they do. And we'll be back on Thursday. We're gonna do an early show on the earlier side on Thursday to get all your reactions as well as preview into the weekend. Some of the ones I noted though, Atlanta, Orlando, who we already talked about a bit in that one. And

my understanding is Doug Roberson has just put out that LatteLath will not have any additional punishment coming from the disciplinary committee. So that's the ruling from the referees and from whatever that committee is aligned set up with. I just assume it's Andrew Wiebe doing everything on the back of a napkin and then telling everyone what it should be. So that's one of the games to watch for I think. Columbus-Nashville. So the news out of Columbus was that Patrick Schulte went down with an injury in pregame. That was why he wasn't on the field against Charlotte. And then we saw Steven Marrera forced to come off about 15 minutes into the game, which was a huge factor in all of this.

This is a Columbus group that Nansi gets more out of plate pieces we don't expect than anyone, but also likes a tight roster. And so if you start to fault injuries, you are now going into places where players are playing that have not really been a part of things before. Yeah, I agree. I think that game is going to be super fun. Both of those teams are fun teams, they're good teams. We'll see what the lineups look like on both sides, but that's everyone I'm looking forward to at Lando Orlando for all the reasons that we've already covered. And then a game that we haven't talked about yet Cali classical

Yeah, San Jose that that's a 1015 kickoff Those games are always fun. Those what's the line? What's the line for total goals in that game? seven and a half I I don't care what number you put in front of me. It's gone over bro. The galaxy of sort of played better in front of me it's gone over bro. The Galaxy have sort of played better defensively over the last two games but against LAFC and San Diego. That felt like a really strong take yeah. Yeah I really felt confident about that one. They were good when they took a 2-0 lead against Philadelphia early in that game as well. Yeah there's clear holes with this group and it feels like San Diego could take advantage of them. I would argue

though that San Diego is a good matchup or sorry San Diego San Jose San Jose is a good matchup bro offensively just yeah everybody because it feels like they get pulled out of position there are gaps in the back line and Galaxy's problem right now is breaking down blocks and so feels like Gabrielle Peck can get into one-on-one spots painstain whether it's for Gundez I don't know Ramirez back into the team a bunch of different options so yeah this feels like an interesting one for the on the Columbus side of things I would say by the way Hagan started the whole League's Cup last year like he's really good he's a starting level keeper and he's gotten experience so I think for Columbus that's maybe a little

bit less of a step back also Schulte was part of the USMNT, which sucks for him because he now misses out on this camp. But it was time when you didn't actually expect to have him for Columbus. I don't I mean, it doesn't change the reality of missing one of the best keepers in the league. But I think it probably affects the way they've been planning for these next few weeks upcoming anyway. You mentioned the Cali Classico.

It's the best game out west. The other two games that I had to note Vancouver, Minnesota As I said, I would assume get ready to learn Vancouver to on this one Plus the white caps suspended for the final they yeah true Sebastian. Honestly, man burr halter and Ten Academy kids I tune in I'm in for it I want to you are that you are the, you are the, specifically you are the target market. 100%. Obviously put JC Nagando and Ralph Prieso in bubble wrap

and protect them. We got someone who put in the discord, I think it was, that said actual Schuster mentioned on an interview recently that they talked to Columbus about food poisoning issues at the final last year. That they're like doing their due diligence to try and avoid what happened. They obviously won't be there very long because you've got a midweek game. So the finals on Sunday, you play this on Wednesday night.

I assume they probably travel down on Thursday to try and start to get acclimated. You're not there that long. And it's obviously this one game knockout. Oh my God, this game is gonna be wild. We're gonna preview and chat about it on Thursday. I'm gonna do it as well on the Saturday live show that I'm doing because that game's on Sunday and you better really wanna be locked in on Sunday

for this one. It is gonna be awesome to watch, but for Minnesota, they're probably not playing all of the players that they see on tape very often in this game and then the other one that we already talked about both these teams with Seattle against San Diego as I said so it's the top of the Western Conference think a little bit of a proven game for San Diego for Seattle can you get yourself closer closer can you get any tighter Seattle so you said obviously this is they play San Diego here they in the next two games after this they have Minnesota and

Vancouver the top three teams in the West right now So and then they play PSG Athletico and Botafogo so it's like five games in a row against similar competition Yeah, exactly like did like after playing these three top Western. They'll be ready They're gonna play PSG is gonna be like dude like we're so much beyond this like yeah hundred percent is a joke Yeah, it's gonna to be easy for them. Okay. Thank you to all of you for joining us. Thank you, of course, to you, Tom.

Little note, we won't be live tomorrow. Jordan, I believe is actually on the call for one of these MLS games, so has some work to do, has some calls to make, and all of that type of stuff, but you can hear her. I think it's on the Fox broadcast, but I probably shouldn't make that up and throw it out there without knowing. But either way, we have more coming for you this week. We are gonna pre-record some stuff for next week,

some interviews, some other stuff as well, and then we're gonna try and bring as much live stuff as we can next week with everyone traveling and everyone all over the place. And of course, don't forget the live show on Saturday night. We're going to try and do it for three, four hours, whatever it is. I'm really excited about it. So get involved, get in the chat, send messages on blue sky, get into the discord.

If you don't already subscribe to the Patreon and of course sign up so that you can come in on the show, get on some calls and scream at me. Cause I would love nothing more. This is Tommy from Brick. Go Knicks and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.