SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | 5 Biggest Transfer Needs In MLS + Alexis Sanchez & Josef Martinez Signings

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

With Leagues Cup still undecided Tom & David look to the transfer window. First they dig into the moves that have been made this week including Montreal's shocking signing of Chilean legend Alexis Sanchez. Then they lay out the five biggest needs left in MLS with the potential for clubs like Chicago, St Louis & Colorado to knock this window out of the park. Finally they talk through the best sites and sounds of Leagues Cup so far and look towards the return of the MLS weekend.8:40 "Ice Cream Shop" Alexis Sanchez Transfer18:44 Josef Martinez Heading To Columbus35:30 Top 5 Biggest Transfer Needs Across MLS1:04:14 Leagues Cup Musings And Weekend Preview

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Lines. David Goss and Tommy Eat Scoops here with you for a nice chill Thursday episode. Tom, we don't know what's going on in Leaks Cup. We don't know what's going to happen in the Campione's Cup next month, which I just found out about again. And now I'm super excited about. There's so much unknown in the world. But the one constant is we will be with you twice a week, every single week talking about the weirdest, nerdiest soccer stuff in the world. And this is a happy place. Yeah, this is the random transfer season that gets your juice just when you feel like maybe you're overstimulated by leagues cup games and still feeling the World Cup hangover and

the return to MLS and all there's games all the time, there's moves all the time, there's everything. And then it's just like, yeah, wait, did I have, did I hallucinate or did Montreal sign Alexis Sanchez? And it's just like, I'm so back. Montreal signing Sanchez. How about the fact that Houston Dynamo moved a designated player center forward? they don't want because he can't score

to a La Liga team. Are you kidding me? Like what is? It's like you were like, oh yeah, Ponzi's out. I'm like, okay, cool, it makes sense. And then it's Elche. It's like, what is going on? Imagine if the roles are reversed and the Houston Dynamo signed somebody from Spain that didn't have a goal.

And like the amount of like bro rel-truthers would be coming out of the woodworks of like a player they've never heard of to be like, oh, well, what a crap league. but it's like oh, Elche knows what they're doing. Elche's got it. Dude, this La Liga league,

by the way, in Spain, I don't know what people know about it. Yeah, it's pretty strong. There's a lot of good players there. So you should watch out. Nico Fernandez,

Marquo used to play there. Bryce Mendes used to play there. Like, come on, dude. Those are real players. That means that leaks for real. But the Bryce Mendes one is so good.

There's still people who are confused by like I was, I was on CBS Galazzo that we, doing a La Liga preview because I'm sure everybody wants to hear about me. My thoughts on the Lala Liga preview. Look at you, dude. But our, like a bullfighter. A Lala Liga expert, Phil Critcher Media,

he's lovely, he's fantastic. He was on with it for us and he goes like, I don't know, like, like Sociad came up and somebody said, and somebody spent us and he goes, yeah, wait a minute.

That happened when I was on vacation. How did the Columbus crew sign? What a signing? Like, what is so, like, so even the La Liga experts were like, wow, well done to the Columbus crew. And we've, we've seen it very quickly. And little does he know that Joseph Martinez

is coming through that door right now. Hide your chicken, hide your plates, hide your tables. Stuff's about to get real in Columbus. So we're going to talk, of course, about the ice cream shop on this show. We will not dig too deep on league's cut. Because as I mentioned, Thursday nights games will decide who goes through

and who doesn't. Thankfully, everything we said on the last show is correct. which is everyone who controlled their own destiny has dropped points or just straight up lost so far. Not going to lie. When we felt halfway decent on Monday about like, yeah, no, there will probably be some unknown's Thursday when we record. But like, I really think since he's going to win it, it was just like we thought three of the four teams might clinch by Thursday. It's like, ah, we'll have enough to talk about. And then no, we don't.

There's a lot of different permutations that can happen tonight in times of recording. But if you're listening to this on Friday, you already know. Yeah, who knows? We'll see where the dust settles when we get to the knockout rounds. A little less complicated is the League MX side of things. Leona's clinched. I believe Club America has clinched because they're in second place, but they're, they've only played two games.

I thought that was a bit because they're playing Austin in a few hours. They are, but I think they've already clenched because they're on six points. Yeah, because League MX sucks right now in Leagues Cup, which was the thing coming into this round, which is like, in theory, all these MLS teams could lose, but it probably won't happen because, one, none of these teams have anything to play for and two none of these teams have played well in this competition and then they all went out and what atlas they had at the time going to the Cincinnati game they were on zero points of the negative four goal differential they go they beat

Cincinnati uh Pachuca they were on a zero points negative three goal differential they go they beat Charlotte on the road um who did adlante beat oh they beat minnesota no sorry there is there has legitimately been, what's it, 18 teams. There was like 60 games over. Yeah, it was wild. Oh, nine days. So I loosely remember a lot of these things, but when we're just like, listen to them out,

I don't remember which Atlanta game we're talking about. So pretty much Leon, Club America, Toluca have all clinched and Cruz Azul will probably clinch tonight if they don't lose to Chicago. So if they tie, it doesn't matter what happens in the penalty get shootout. first of its kind, but they will probably move on to the next round. So we'll at least know that side of things. I went and saw Leon in person in Miami.

There was 14 Leon fans in the stadium. So big time representation. And John Romana, former horrendous Austin FC centerback, hug Lianno Messi. So it was a, you know, once in a lifetime experience for sure. But we'll talk about that more when we get to the league's cup. MLS returns this weekend. to a full slate of games. So Saturday,

a chunk of games, four games on Sunday. So everyone else plays on Saturday. And then on Sunday, there's two games at 6 p.m. Eastern time. And then we've got two rivalry games to close out the weekend. We've got Austin against Dallas, the earlier game, so around 830, I believe, and then Vancouver against Seattle. So that is someone to watch out for this weekend. And then, of course, we will be back on Monday reviewing all of it. I just wanted to check to make sure. So Saturday is a evening slate only. So 7.30 p.m. start times across the East Coast running through to the 1030 games. So no early games on Saturday for, you know, all of us to watch and pay attention to and enjoy together. In their defense, it is August. You can't have that many

afternoon games. That is true. You'd have to play most of them up in, I don't know, a place like Montreal where we're going to see. Or Atlanta like an indoor stadium. A big debut or an indoor stadium like Atlanta. If you're a listener at Serious Radio, thanks for being here. Welcome. We always enjoy having you here. I'm going to be on serious radio on Friday morning. Let's go. The Leagues Cup with

Adrian Heath, I believe, and I don't know who else, because I can't remember right now. So we will be there. Reminder, we have a couple new shows that we're going to be rolling out. We've got a big slate of shows next week. We'll do the MLS show. Matt Doyle will be back from his sojourn in northern

Spain. I think he hiked him out in very barefoot but we'll ask yeah that's what i think he mess are we entirely sure he's ever coming back because he threatens a few times of like i'm just going to buy a little villa yeah and then that's going to be it this might be time i think listen champagne socialist i think doyles all talk on that of like i just want a simple life you know i catch fish i eat fish everything tinned i don't need space you know classic european style he probably is like oh i don't even need a dryer i don't need air conditioning all of these things and then you know within a week

you know within a week Doyle is like get me out of here into the peak scale suburbs of New York there's no NBA league pass here yeah get me back to God's country I need to be within walking distance of a Lowe's movie theater I'm not going to go I just like to know that I could if I wanted

to okay so Doyle will join us again we'll have Jordan on Tuesday to talk all things NWSL. We're going to have our U.S. soccer show and we've got some interviews lined up. I sat down with Vanney Sartini for

like an hour and a half. Not all of it recorded. And it's the best hour and a half that I've had in my life. Don't tell anyone in my family. For a long time. He is one of one. Incredible. So going to chat with him. Just philosophy, coaching, his life,

his career and all that type of stuff. We're going to have this new long form interview show that we're going to be doing. So that's one of the ones that we clearly already have lined up. Okay. Let's dig into the ice cream shop. And let's start with Alexis Sanchez because this got hit right after we finished, I believe, on Monday, Tom. It has to be on the list of weirdest transfers you've ever worked on. Yeah. Yeah. CF Montreal signed Alexis Sanchez, who is the all-time leader in Chile, both in appearances and him goals. This is somebody I hope came to the league within a few years ago.

I mean, last year he played for Seville in La Liga, four goals to assist in like 1,300 minutes. It's a random one. It's a random club to go to. I think it'll be fun. I don't know if I would have done it

if I was running a team, but I think it's going to be fun. I don't think it's a super high risk if we want to be optimistic and realistic, right? It's like they weren't going to go spend a $10 million fee on another DP. So in some ways, it's,

yeah, he's using a DP spot. So what? there's an option to extend. It's possible that option to extend isn't a DP. So like, hey, maybe it works out. Maybe he's playing 65% of the minutes and this is a good signing. It's certainly fun, right? I can't come up here and criticizing Montreal for not doing interesting things

or seemingly having like a congruent plan and then be like, well, actually, I don't want them to sign Alexis Sanchez either. So credit or credits do. They sign Alexis Sanchez. By one point of humor, they tease the signing. Yeah. And to the best of my knowledge, they didn't do it ironically. They didn't mean to give away so many details.

No, that can't be. That can't be 30 minutes. And so I thought I was like, it can't be Alexis Sanchez. They made that too obvious. Yeah. And then like I had heard from somebody like, dude, I'm like, I'm not just talking about the like video. Like I've heard from somebody.

It's Alexis Sanchez. And it indeed was because the video ended with Lucasaputo saying, he wants a phone call, he wants Alexis number 10, which. is what he's worn under the back of his shirt his entire career. There's no way that that was not on purpose. But there's no way. Alexis isn't the most unique name in global soccer, right?

No, not at all. Also, as crazy as this signing was, the moment you hear it's like, oh yeah, for sure, it's a 38-year-old free agent. You know what I mean? Like, you could go through the list of people named, Alexis and oh I literally clicked on

CF Montreal instead of Alexis Sanchez and the club is 33 years old and I was like is Alexis Sanchez 33 years old? Yeah he is not it's not hard to then get there of like oh for sure because Montreal also right they've signed big

international names on the back ends of their careers because Montreal is a great place to live it's not a hard set to people who especially have spent most of their careers in Europe. It's obviously not a hard sell to French speakers like Dragba, you know, tight air, other guys like that in the past. And so it's like not outside, but they're never in their prime and they're never like a player that you are like pulling away from another team.

And so if you told me, okay, deducted reasoning, that's fair. Yeah, I'm probably going to go to the free agent list first and see who's available. Alexis Sanchez would be the, if you know, hey, if I had, if we had to make a guess here, you're a wheel fortune style, I think you'd feel all right. He, um, he is one of the biggest names over the last decade and a half in the global game. He has 168 caps for Chile. It was a golden generation for the Chilean national team from roughly 2013 through 2016.

They won two Copa Americas. They went to the, uh, round of 16, I believe. it was at the 2014 World Cup. And obviously Balesa ran a lot of that. And Alexis Sanchez was the heart of it. And then made his name at Udnese to start Barcelona and Arsenal

kind of his peaks there in the middle from 2011 through 2018. And he's kind of been chasing it since. Which fair to him. Like when he left Arsenal in 2018, he was 30. Like that kind of, you know, he

was in his prime. but towards the end of it. And since then, he has bounced around through some big names Inter Milan, Manchester United, Marseille,

went back to an Acey, and then last year, he played in La Liga with Sevia, which I did not know. I would just like, hand to God, if you had given me

$100,000 to answer that question, I would have had no idea what team he played for. And it wasn't exactly the most successful year. Yeah. By the way, I don't think he's retired from Chile.

we might see him against the United States in about a month. Oh, okay. I don't know. I don't know that for sure. But I haven't seen a retirement post. Okay. And sorry, while we're going nostalgic, the, the Udinez era. Oh, my God.

That was one of my favorite teams, FIFA ultimate team. Yeah. For the wax of Sanchez and all damn boys at Udinez, it just brings, warms our heart seeing that old badge. The center forward was Antonio D. Natale. Yes. I'm pretty sure. In FIFA, he played left forward. Like it was a very since then it means Christmas or something. Does it? Uh, I mean, I'm the one who's got to figure out the Italian. Oh. Natale's Italian word for Christmas. Yeah. Because they'd call him like Mr. Christmas or something. I didn't understand it for a long time.

All right. We need to take a second to do guys name and dudes. Maricio Isla Juan Quadrado. Antonio Dean Italia, of course. Medi Benazia was on that 2010-11 team. Quadro Osamoa. Yeah. Wow. This was the squad and then it was Naples next where it was like when Kavani came through with Hansech.

Yeah. So, wow. Oh, wow. Now you're going to now you're going to start. Let's be real here. I'm sorry I didn't know the Italian word for Christmas and you know the name. Napoli. And then that was the next squad that I was in love with. I was telling you before we started. I watched those a Marineo documentary a little bit of it. And it's good throwback early 2000s.

Barclays. Barclays primarily. Barclays. Yeah. When Barclays was king. Okay. So Alexis Sanchez, four goals to assist in 28 appearances, 1,300 minutes for Sevilla.

I look through just the numbers. I think the worrying sign is over the back half of the year. He just didn't start games. You know, 1,300 minutes is not horrendous, but a lot of them were appearances off the bench. and when he started, they were 60 minutes. So you, at his age, you are not getting a guy who can carry you. The issue for Alexis Sanchez has been his physical abilities was something that set him apart.

Yeah. Technical, great ball striker, but it was he did everything at 150 miles per hour and he could go through a wall to get there. So as he's lost that, he has lost the ability to affect the game. and the question is at this point, coming into Montreal and playing an MLS for the first time, how much he can be a factor. Yeah, I mean, I think he'll have moments, man,

and I do think that there is upside here. And again, like, it's, you know, he'll take minutes from like Escobar, Wiki-Karmuna or Noah Street. Like, I'd rather that be Alexis Sanchez as a neutral, right? I think he'll play as like, they'll change the system a bit. Either he'll play as a out-and-out second forward or like a number 10.

I think he'll play centrally with like a freeish role in and around Prince Ousu. And you defend out of a 4-4-2. Prince Ousu runs defensively to try to cover flags. It's like he's not going to not cover ground, but obviously he'll, you don't sign him to be trying to pressing. So I think I'll be tuning in to check it out.

And I'm looking forward to his debut when it happens. And I don't have the highest of hopes, but this is, I don't, it's better. it's better than nothing. I'm like, I'm trying to like, but also not just like blindly be like,

everything is great all the time. Yeah. But like I do feel like I've criticized this team for, uh, in action. And then I don't also want to be like, well, actually don't do this either.

And this goes on top of. So this is where I will give the credit. They went out and got Sabios from New England to go alongside Brian Verre. It's going to give them an experience centerback pairing. Um, and Danny Pereira. Yeah. That's,

those are moves I like. I'm going to put you on the spot here. Pop quiz. Does Dagger Dan Thorhawson play for this team? He does not. I know this. He plays for San Diego. I saw this move come through one time on Reddit and was like, that's a thing that happened.

And it's not going in the rundown because I'm not talking about that. I pulled up our soccer wise depth charts, which you can get through the Discord via Patreon. And I like, I deleted him off of right back and center mid. And I forgot him as like the fourth right winger. I was like, I'm like 99% sure he doesn't play for this team, but like, let me just double check. Low key. I like the idea of him on San Diego.

I don't even know if he has played on San Diego so far. That part. You sound like experts. We do sound like experts. I did watch San Diego play a little bit last night. And he played 90 minutes. So I was pretty locked in that experience. Clearly.

Sergeant was playing on the other side. So maybe I was too, too, uh, in love with. with his game. Yeah, I think for Montreal, like they're a better team than they were at the start of the year. What this means, I have zero idea. I will give you this last piece of analysis

and we'll move on. Alexis Sanchez's avi in Instagram is of a lion. So you know he's for real. Eight goals and 800 minutes in coming. Yeah, you know he's for real. Okay, let's talk about fallen icons. Let's talk Joseph Martinez to the Columbus crew.

transition. Thank you. He is headed to the crew for the rest of this season and then there is an option for the team for the sprint season coming up. So Joseph will be available as of now. Most recently played with Cholos in League MX. Played is a little bit of a loose term, a little over 250 minutes. So far this season scored a bunch of goals for San Jose last year, scored a bunch of goals for Laurent Quartois at Montreal. Every time I feel like he came. really affect the game anymore. He puts up numbers. Now, some of those are PKs, but he does put up numbers. And I will say this, when you put this out there, my assumption is it's on a pretty low number. Wes and Mabu Ali's out for the year. You're not going to go out and replace him because your hope is he comes back

and he's the guy that he was. And you've already made the Diego Rossi replacement with Bryce Mendez. And I think this is probably a chunk of the minutes that Daniel Gazdog would be. getting at that position if he ends up moving on. Either way, I don't hate the move, but I spent a lot of time saying Chase Adams' name on the show. And it doesn't help a guy like him or Taha, I think, to have a veteran come in and soak up some of these minutes.

And they did sign Gonzalo Tapia from, I believe it was River Plate. No, Saul Paulo on loan for the Columbus crew. I think he's a nine, but I think this is the, like, Laurent Coutois, Wilfranci, where Bryce Mendez will be the 10. You can put any combo two of, you know, six different players. Like they don't need Jamal T.R. or Joseph Martinez or Chase Adams to play all just like any one of them, right? They could play with two others. So, yeah, I'm interested to see what it looks like.

But for Joseph, he scored a lot of goals, like you said, for San Jose. And in his, the last time he was in M.S., he scored 14 and 1,800 minutes. They couldn't defend at all when it was him and Chi-Orango in the field. But he had 11 goals in 13-100 minutes or, sorry, 13 goals. because of the playoffs in like 1,400 minutes. For Laurent Coutre, he's been training with the club for the past week. It was basically a trial. And they liked what they saw.

Laurent Couttswa was the one pushing this move. And he gets Joseph Martinez. And again, this is pretty low risk. And more goals isn't a bad thing. If Daniel Gossdog ends up leaving, like you kind of said, there's your new PKK taker. But yeah, this is, we'll see if he ends up sticking around. He's getting towards the Kai Kamara zone,

where it's just, you just just, assume it's going to be a six to 12 months stint everywhere he goes now. So even if he doesn't take around, that's fine. I know, I know he would have wanted to go back to Atlanta. Atlanta are currently looking for a set of forward. A different price range, of course. I think that would have been fun for nostalgia. But Joseph Martinez of Columbus crew, this team will create chances and he will score goals

when he gets chances. So that's a good fit, worried a bit defensively. But gosh, if it's not working off against the ball and it's like compromising the team shape and structure too much. He just won't play. Yeah. I think the biggest positive is that you have a guy in Laurent Quartois who has worked with him before.

He was the coach in Montreal when Joseph was there. I think without that, I wouldn't trust this because you have to know what you're getting into. And if no one had that experience before, then it would worry me a little. But otherwise, I go into what you said, which is there's really no harm in this. If it doesn't work out, it's fine. They play Montreal twice still this season. They don't play Atlanta again.

They don't play San Jose. So in the Kakamar experience of as Joseph starts to rack up the different clubs, what about Miami? Playing for your former teams. Oh yeah, I forgot he played for Miami. Actually, oh, they do play Miami, September 27. So he gets three homecoming games because they play Montreal twice. So not a bad schedule left for Columbus there with Montreal twice.

U.S. Open Cup semi-final, by the way, September 14. team. Yes. Columbus against Orlando City, St. Louis against Colorado, that has to be thought about as you look at the moves these teams make and like, for sure. What are they building for? What are they trying to do? All of these teams are two wins.

Those four teams are two wins away from winning a serious trophy. And the fans are super locked in. Like, I like love that because all these teams are everybody, but I mean, because Orlando won it a few years ago. Columbus has obviously had the success in Nazi, but particularly St. Louis and Colorado, it's like if I report a move that St. Louis made. It's like, hard or leaves, Colorado fans are like, all right, like, they, they won't have him for the Open Cup.

And the same thing with Harrington and some other stuff around Colorado from St. Louis fans, which I love because like that's a real trophy. It's an awesome experience. And the fans, like, I, that kind of caught me by surprise. I was like, what does the St. Louis fan care about? And I was like, oh, yeah, like, open cup semifinals. That's, that's sick. Like, that's how it should be.

That's how it should be. So Joseph will get an opportunity with the Columbus crew, at least through the end of this season. We mentioned it. Isico Al Ponce is leaving. Houston headed to La Liga somehow to Elche. Tom, this one doesn't surprise us because it felt from the way he played, from everything we had heard, and then even more importantly with the outlay for Duncan McGuire, that his time with this club was probably going to come to an end.

Yeah, no goals in 1,100 minutes this season for Ponce. Last year, he had 10 in about 2,600 minutes. Is he on my golden boot team? I don't even know, but I'm guessing he's on my golden boot team. that's the type of thing I'd do. For about a year, he was the team's club record signing. Just hasn't worked out. They went for a profile that was in his prime,

somebody who has had success in several different leagues for South America. And then into Europe, particularly in Greece, he's scoring a lot of goals. And sometimes it just doesn't work out. And he's going, he has played for L'I'd say before. What I know is the club did, he was part of the process in his departure, which little things that I always care about, rather than like, hey, we're going to get 100,000 more for you.

We're going to send you to blank, right? Like, they were collaborative. And I like to think that those things are good karma, things that come around for player care for other people. Regardless, it does open a DP spot. I don't know if they're going to add one. Maybe they'll add another attacking piece. Probably not.

Maybe DP, probably not. Like, it didn't, to juxtapose this with a Colorado conversation with Luke Tarrington, it was like, they're going to, like, do something. I don't know if Houston will. Because, as you said, they signed Duncan McGuire. That was the idea. that they knew that it was possible that Azigo Ponce was going to leave. And they got the Duncan McGuire done deal early, the deal done early.

And I think he fits really well. We'll see what else happens for the rest of the window. We both really like Jack McGlynn. There's always varying levels of interest in him. I don't know if there's anything that's serious or not. But like that's always something to consider as we get the last few weeks of the European transfer window. But the rest of the attack has got a lot of good players. Like with Duncan McGuire's your nine.

And then you have Bogus and Guillermo and Gierre. and McGlynn and Anali and whoever else that they're throwing when they go five wide in their attacking structure. It's not like it's screaming like, oh, you desperately need a DP 9 because you trade for Duncan McGuire and there was a pretty decent outlay. You want to give them a chance. And then it's like you're not going to sign the DP 10 because you have Boguys and McGlynn,

just signed the DP wing of Guillermo. Garame is really good. So it's not like an obvious attacking spot. So for me, like I wouldn't rush that decision on a DP or even like rush the necessity of it. but like if something comes up then they'll have the flexibility. I think if you asked me blind position, I would say probably a ground coverage center mid,

whether you call that a D mid or not, like a player who can sort of dictate the game a little bit, hit or miss for MLS teams when that they've been worth a DP in the past. But as you sort of laid out like Jack McGlynn and Duncan McGuire, your hope is going to give you borderline DP production on non-DP contracts. So the advantage there could be we basically have a name in only style DP, whether it's at centerback or D-Mid or center-mid that you could use. The other thing for Houston is they've got the D-P spot open now.

It might not be a bad spot to be in in Major League Soccer as the window starts to close with this last year with the cycle the way it is. It's a good point. A team sees an opportunistic move. They make it. And now the best example is the Hugo Kuyper is of like, we've got an opening. we'll take them right like is there does there end up being a player where another team is up against it late in the window it's a point it's just a shot at a guy that you already know can as production

i feel like that's a pretty good point tom so so i said i thought it's yeah man so i'm gonna throw it up there um but i i like a lot of this houston group right now gear may has been awesome i think with mcguire in the team full time we'll start to see the best of bogus i think the game just hasn't been vertical enough for him to like shine and he hasn't had runners with him and then can jack mcglin start to feed those guys um so if i'm a houston fan i'd be pretty excited and this is probably best case scenario to get off of it uh one more one that didn't happen and then we'll talk about three moves that are locked in um you put out the report that a bid for kevin denke came in to Cincinnati from holes is it from whole city whole city correct Lucas harrington maybe

whole city had a bit rejected by Cincinnati for kevin denk i'm told the bid was around 15 million plus 5 billion in add-ons. Dengk was signed for 16.1 million. So it's a non-starter if the guaranteed fee is less than that. I'm assuming, like, I don't know that there's a hard and fast price tag. I know last summer they were asking for a package of 25 million. I don't know if that's still the asking price. If I had a guess, 20 million guarantee is kind of where it starts.

And whole city, you got the Premier League money. That's not that far off. And so if they want to come back stronger, there's still time. I know Bettis has had interest since last year. I don't know if they can get to that $20 million figure, right? Like they spent, I think it ended up being 16 for Cucci Hernandez, who had a big resume in MLS. He all bets. Only scouts in Ohio.

But so like whole city, like that they have, they have the money if they want to make it happen. If it's 20 and chains and I don't know. I don't think that Cincinnati are like looking to farm offers, but like any other player at this time of the year, and they've had them now for a year and a half of like, all right, well, there gets to be a point where there is a number. and Allstate, I don't think are that far off it.

But right, like less than 16 million as a non-starter. I think less than 20 will be a non-starter, but I want to be clear. I don't know that for sure. I might be out of my mind. I would have taken it. I mean, I probably would have said to them, we got him for 16.1 last year.

You got to pay that. And I'm sure they would. Yeah. I would get out of the business if I could. Interesting. If I knew I'm getting my return back so I could use the money again, what like this could be a ridiculous statement we've seen guys in the past who have struggled a little bit to fit in you know he's put up numbers they just haven't felt consequential and the team is struggling so it's hard to fully put it on denke but we've talked over and over about the lack of connection between him and evander so if i get you know a cop out on this and i don't and then i don't I can go out and

use the money again. Like I would have taken it. So that's my reaction to this one. And I'd go sign Namar. To go sign Namar. Oscars out there still. Maybe. Listen,

I just watched Coppola Libid Jodaris. Hulk. He's 40. He still starts. Lock in watching Copa live. I love that. He's 40 years old. And he still starts.

So I've said he went to China, not MLS. Yeah. Well, don't worry. We're going to get into that in a little it as we go through moves that need to happen. But so that, yeah, that's,

that's well known, but this next wave of players where I'm like, why these guys not coming in the list. Okay. On the official news, A.C. Jackson will finally play for Minnesota United. He signed a homegrown deal with like a decade ago. I can't do the Aze Jackson excitement thing.

Again, I've already done it twice on two different teams, but I hope it works out because I think he's the exact soccer player that I like. The St. Louis has traded for to hear Reid Brown, who I'm a big fan of, came out of the Orlando Academy,

another homegrown. He could play it left center back in a back three. He could play it left wing back or most naturally left back. I think he's a national team future. Interesting. Yeah. I did when he was at the Youth Academy, but he hasn't made the jump.

And that doesn't mean it can't happen. Alex Freeman didn't either until she got the chance. So I think it's smart by St. Louis. And I think just the ceiling is high on this. This is the type of move. If you're St. Louis, you want to make. If I'm a St. Louis fan, I'm still annoyed that my academy players are not coming through in a city that is famous for it. That's fine. But you got to fill in that gap while you're working on rebuilding that.

And this is the type of player who can do it and then not hit the cap and give you the opportunity. And then the last one is Armindo Sieb. I'm kind of just going off a flyer on the pronunciation there. 23-year-old German Youth International at Bayern Munich, who has signed with L.A.F.C. came up through the Hoffenheim Academy, signed with Byron, spent a few years on loan in the second division, then moved to the second division, then came back to Byron,

went back out on loan, and now at 23 years old is headed to LAAFC. This is the most LAAFC move ever. They are out here, scouting levels we don't know for players who we will never see, and then the next time you hear about it will be the report that they're moving on. Thank you, thank you.

No, I mean, the difference here is he had like real minutes in like the two bonus league. He has good pedigree from Byron Youth Academy and he's had some loans. He was at Mainz last year. They have the partnership with Byron Munich as, as we know. I don't know enough about him other than seeing him in FM and trying to get him on loan all the time. Right. So this was a name you already knew. I knew that. I never seen his face because I don't think he had a picture in the game when I lived the last time I saw. But all that is to say is, is like, there's a real pedigree here.

And, like, LFC, you're in a good spot where they have so many, like, control players in Bwanga and Sun and Porchis and Tafari. And when Igor J-Zus comes back, like, I think that's a player that a lot of people forgot about. He was really good before he got hurt last year. Tillman, you run through all of their, like, key players that, like, if they don't do a thing, they're going to be one of the best teams in the league still. And sure, fans want another DP or they wanted Yustakio to stay.

and I'm not sure what they'll do over the next few weeks with that spot, but like this is somebody who could be a super talented player. Or like you said, Goss, it could be the early version of Christian Teo or the, who is the Romanian guy they signed last year?

I thought you were going to say, Chenquez Under. Changs-Undr, right? And guess what? They've been successful this entire time. The big one was who was the guy they signed with the Club World Cup money

from Club America? Dyl Rosen, who almost went to to Portland. Yeah, that was, that was the peak one where you're like, six weeks what is happening right now. Um, wheeling and dealing, brother. I will say in all of this, I watched probably about 260 seconds of this guy on highlights and everything he did, goals and assists were super LAFC. Everything was vertical. Everything was all right. Either, you know, creating pullbacks, scoring pullbacks, um, in transition or diagonal. runs across the shape of a team to be slipped through to then round the goalkeeper and finish.

So I can see where their attraction comes from. He will fit into the style that Son and Buonga and Davian Martinez, the style that they push for this team. All right. Let's talk about some moves that haven't happened, but moves we think need to happen. So we looked at a couple holes across major league soccer. And we're going to put together a list of five moves that we would like to see occur. and sort of the profiles that we would fill it with.

Not all of these are DPs, although a decent chunk are. And when you're listening to the show, maybe all five have already happened. So by the time the show comes out, they've all been secured. Let's start in Chicago, who have a game against Cruz Azul tonight. So whichever way that goes, we won't know. Robert Lewandowski obviously has arrived. They've played pretty well in Leagues Cup. They've given some young players a chance.

But there is still one. big piece missing, Tom, that we wanted to look at. And I've been saying this since Greg Berlter took over. The DP number 10 is what I'm hoping Chicago Fire will bring in. They've had the spot open or the ability, like they had Andre Franco, I think listed as a DP last year, maybe regardless, they've had the ability to sign a DP for the last 18 months and they haven't yet. And they've been varying degrees of like solid or like interesting when Burlta first took over

and probably for the last 12 months, somewhere between good and. very good. And I think this team could take another level with the DP 10. Yandre Franco will be back with injury, but, and Robin Lode is in the team. And these are players that we like. Zincrenaeconego and Bamba, they can give

you creativity or Zincrenaecco can give more in both. Lomadowski's obviously going to give you a ton of goals. Inbuqazi's injured, that's unfortunate. But like, you look around the team and like, all right, like, this is kind of the time to like, if you're going to do the $12 million signing, like,

let's do it now because this team has a chance to win trophies. This team is very good. And the force multiplier that a DP 10 is in this league when you get it right, particularly in a Greg Berlter system, man. Like, I just think that there's a lot of growth here. And that would be the most consequential way to use this spot. And it doesn't need to be a big name. Like, I know that they wanted Gretzka earlier.

And they offered him a Tamteel earlier in the summer. But like it doesn't need to be a Gretzka. It could be, again, a $10 million signing from South America or France that maybe we haven't like we didn't know who the hell Denny Blanca was when he signed for L-AFC. So it doesn't need to just be a name or anything like that. But I really think like a killer number 10, which every team could say that. But this is a team that has the money, has the structure around this potential signing

and has a coach that would get the most out of him and a pretty good scouting network with that front office and everything else that they've done. Like I just feel like they are ripe to take up another level with the right, like, either rising or in prime signing here. Yeah, when Greg signed, we all kind of said like, well, whoever plays number nine for this team is going to score goals because Greg's Columbus teams created a ton of chances for their nines, Kai Kamara and Ola Kamara being the two biggest ones.

But the linchpin of that team was people, you go Ayn, which to your point was not a name. Obviously, his brother is. He was not a name when he came in. He did not, you know, he was not one of the highest paid players of his position. but he made the team go and we kind of always expected them to sign

not an exact replica, but the next level version. Now, I couldn't tell you if people came into MLS in 2026, if he would still be the same difference maker. Like I think to the moves that Dallas has made with Valiente and Santi Moreno where it's like, you know, experience South American players. Obviously Moreno a little different,

but he played here. Like decent pros. files, probably not that far off to what people he was when he came. That's not a difference maker, right? A Vander is a difference maker now. Right. But the question is. But in 2016, it was.

You know what I mean? For sure. So the question is what's Greg's step up of from Kai Kamara and Ola Kamara to Hugo Kuyper's, right? That was a $10 million gap in the money he could go out and spend. And that's what's always excited all of us is like, what's that player look like? And as you say, it doesn't need to be in name. Levantowski is the name.

Like, don't focus on Kevin DeBriana or Geretska or whatever. Focus on getting the guy. Dubrodo would be sick too. But like I'm just saying it doesn't need to just be, right? For sure. Sorry. Sorry. And they just, they, they have, I think what you would like, what I would like to see is this is a team that could be an MLS cup contender if they get this right this year. And they're going to open up a building soon and they're trying to reestablish who they are in the market.

And you're coming out of a World Cup. and the reason you got Levindowski is to get people to pay attention and to get people in the building. And if you want to give them the experience that they want, you have to contend. You've got to win some playoff series. You have to play big games. You would like to do so at home if possible. And all of that requires an addition in that central area. And I think if you get it right, it takes Bamba up a level.

It takes sinker-noggle up a level. Because in my mind, which is why I didn't love. of the Guretska move is rather than like a burst out of midfield second goal score, I want to see a guy who you play through and a guy who sets tempo and who gets you out of tight spaces and who gets Bamba into open space or can come and link up with Zincronagel and maybe allow Lewandowski to stay more central and not have to drop in as often. Like that's the profile. That's a style of player that I think this team could use, Carlos Heel being like the dream scenario of all of that, but that style of player instead of maybe, you know, a secondary goal

score out of that spot. Yeah. And Chicago are fourth in the east right now. They are one point behind New England in third. They have a game in hand. There's NYCFC, there's Cincinnati, and others that aren't that far behind them. Like, for me, this is the third best team in the East. And they can ensconce themselves in that position and they could go to challenge Miami and Nashville. But you talked about home playoff games. Obviously, everybody gets a participation in round one home game no matter what, even if you're a CF Montreal in 14th place. And maybe they'll play Atlanta United for an expanded playoff spot.

But regardless, like, if you get to the second round, you host that that single elimination game if you're in the top four. And that's, that's the goal, I think for Chicago this year. I think we definitely said that early in the season because this was the team that we felt was ready. And we were like, they could still sign a defeat number 10.

And as we keep waiting, and just one more point here, you talked about Valente or Santi Moreno. Like, that's, that's Andre Franco. or like Robin Lode like for sure like they're more in that bucket and and I want to see them go get like you said that the the the Hugo Kuypers of number tens or the Mbo Kaziz of number 10 right they just got serious money he was a you 22 but like that was a serious signing although Puso is the star of the team so you can't get good point you got it's good point we don't we need we need yeah you got to say for Puso and I hope Andre Franco hits the ground running because yeah just like brutal situation you sign him he tears you've been waiting for him so hopefully he is that point. So hopefully he is that point. He's got a big resume himself, but not at the level of what we're talking about. So Chicago DP number 10 was the top of our list for both of us. What we put down?

We pretty much agreed across these. So we're going to go. What? Yeah. We're so insincented. Yeah. We're the Paul brothers. Are they the ones who play doubles tennis?

Is that what their name is? The Williams sisters is what you should have gone for if you actually believed in us. We are not. No, I would know. Right. Come on. No, no your place as, as Marino would do. no no who you are come on

you have respect we put down for the second one we put new york red bulls any adult at centerback they they've given up the second most goals i believe in major league soccer so far they have started a range of players at centerback most of them are either playing out of position or are young players who are getting minutes for the first time so dylan nealist justin chay it's been a really tough spot for Red Bulls.

And Robert Voladere, who is not shown himself capable at an MLS level. And this field, this is the obvious fix for a team where they've got young players, they want to play in other positions. Fine. Don't cover them, right? Don't bring in pieces that could play above them. But you have to be able to show up that back line to an extent. And I think the profile is clearly a player who can cover ground over the top while you play

a high line and run some guys down and save some of these opportunities that Ethan Horvath's one on one on. Yes. It needs to be like in the Philly system of somebody who can cover space, but obviously somebody who can, who's comfortable enough on the ball. And those profiles are very, very difficult. That is the elusive. That's why Lucas Harrington is going to Hall City for up to $23 million because he's the A-list teenage profile for that. So I want to be clear, get that that's not perfect.

But you know what is less perfect? Starting fullbacks at centerback. and relying on a very young Colombian player to be the answer. The Red Bulls are fifth and am less than expected goals. It's really good. They're 29th in expected goals against. And like you said, they don't have a special goalkeeper. Even if they did, they'd still concede a ton of goals because of the quality chances.

They're a combination of easy to play through because the midfield is more about possession, which is cool. But then it's just been such a clear hole at centerback. and they have so they just transferred Gustav Bergerin to Lech Posnan or something.

I think he was a max tan player for 800 800 minutes over the last year. No. That was an 8-100, that was a really nice parting gift from the previous sporting director just as as we all saw Adjima Medi. Like maybe not this, but we knew he was ready for minutes.

And it's like, you know what we should do? Sign a D-Mid that is very, is not going to be up to the task. But that represents possibility now because they can fill that salary cap spot and the international roster spot with a centerback. That needs to be the focus.

I'm sure it is, right? Like, that's not a groundbreaking thought, but like the window can't, they can't fail to bring in a serious center back before the window closes. They simply can't. Like this team, this team is in a good spot.

And hey, maybe Trouble Moteng leaves too when they have an open D.B spot. You do something else with that. Sign a centerback and like, we could be talking about this team differently. I don't know if they're in the range of, like, FC Cincinnati in their first year under noon it. It was like they were fun as hell,

but like four three games in their first half season. And then they signed Miyazia. And it was like, oh, shit, this is a good team. Same thing with Wilford-Nazi's Columbus crew. They traded for, they went from that to like,

oh shit, Rudy Camacho. Like, maybe they're like a serious team now. Then they went out of West Cup. I'm not even suggesting that, but like, it can't be Dylan Neillis and Justin Chay in a back four with, with Matt Edo Santos and Shalman. much ready as a fullback. It just can't be, man. And, and I will say in that, so Julian

Pazan 20 years old. So it's a ton of responsibility on his shoulders. If he's going to be a fair. It's not fair at all. Dylan Neillis is not a consistent starting centerback in major league soccer. And then Justin Chey, who I like, and I think has been good at times this season, Justin chain, his career has played more than 15 games once in a professional season. So he has played 11 games so far for Red Bulls because he missed a ton of time with injury. If he stays healthy, the assumption is he will start consistently for this team. It will probably be the most of the second most professional appearances in his career. And he hasn't always been a centerback.

So there is basically- No, he's only been in a back three, by the way. Yeah. And he's played right back at times or right wing back. So there is like you go into games with this group and there is almost like no one you trust at that position. And that seems fairly unsustainable for them. And as we mentioned, the numbers show it pretty clearly. Like if they were a average defense, they would be probably scraping at a top four spot in the Eastern Conference top five. And that's not the case right now. totally fine with all the other pieces. Love the young central midfielder's getting opportunity. I think Rubel Cabin and Cowell have settled. They fit the system. They're, you know, Julian Hall is getting the shot. He deserves it. They've rotated a little at left back. That's fine as well. But the centerback position has just not been dealt with for this club for a while now, by the way. Like they tried with, I can't remember the German veteran because now I got

Voliter's name in my head, whoever it was, who Alexander Hack. It was out of my God. Who was like borderline the worst starting centerback in major league soccer. But this has been like kind of a long time. Antris Reyes felt like a good piece for them. And then they moved him on to San Diego after the MLS Cup. So this is a huge need for Red Bulls. And whether it's from Europe or South America or Liga MX or whatever,

I'd be shocked if it was from inside of major league soccer because the outlay you need to put on a. starting quality centerback inside the league probably has to be over a million dollars in allocation money. Right. And there's not a ton of proof that Red Bulls are going to do that. Well, and like in their defense, like, I don't know, again, it's not groundbreaking that they could use a really good centerback, right?

They struggled to create cap space all winter to overturn the roster from Michael Bradley. They did a lot. I still think centerback should have been higher on the priority list, but like, it's not as if they're sitting on cap space and being like, well, we don't really want to sign it. We're like, we can't find the right one. So that's why the move for Bergerin to depart, that should help a lot. The next two we have on here are probably quick ones because we've talked about them a ton

as we've gone through the window. If you are listening on Sirius Radio, you're going to lose us now, which you never want to do. So you can just search soccer-wise on the on-demand player or anywhere you get your podcast and you can listen to the rest of the show there. We will talk a little about Leagues Cup. We will talk about the rest of these moves that we want to see as well. If you are not listening to Serious Radio, welcome to the inside club.

Welcome to the cool kids. We're going to keep going and talking about this. We have for the next two designated player number nine signings, and two that we've discussed already, Atlanta and St. Louis. For Atlanta, you wanted to point out two potential additions, both a designated player number nine and an exorcist who can come here and change the energy of this club. Would you like to talk about the exorcists out there, the market who could be available to Atlanta.

Yeah, I don't know if you need to go to Etsy. My wife definitely spent $10 getting the witch doctor, something to cast a spell of hope. I don't know. I tuned it out as you can clearly see. On the Belgian national team? I, for her, for one of her close friends to the hope that her baby would sleep more. And I thought that was very sweet because instead of wishing injury upon like the other. Because I would normally use a witch doctor to do a negative thing to the,

team my team's playing. Exactly. Watch out Philadelphia 76ers. I'm looking at you. No, we don't have to worry about them. Don't worry. Anyway, so these things are out there. And I think that they have the disposable income to do more than the $10 Etsy, which like maybe there's some sort of exercise that like I'm trying to just go through like season by season sign because it'd be fun to just put a list of the 10

players that they've tried to sign to replace Jeff Lorenowitz since he retired and tried to replace Arlington Nagvi since they traded him. And then even Stephen Alsatte was signed last year. Max Stan basically, but he's not, he's not training with the club, right? Like, they've been trying to get off Tristan Miyumba basically six months after they signed him. I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure Tristan Miyumba is on 99 career appearances for Atlanta. I was just trying to look that up. I think I saw somewhere in the like things to watch this weekend is he's on the verge of 100.

So he's got 82 in the regular season. He's got seven in the playoffs. So that's 89. and I assume the rest is open cup. I mean, Leaks Cup. Come on, dude. There's a league's cup. Obviously. Yeah. So it. Trismu,

me, Maha's played a hundred times for this. I've been trying to get rid of him. This is, I'm just going to, like a random sample. It's like, so Junior Alonzo, Paula Diaz, Muricio Amaro this, this summer. Early returns aren't great already. Stephen Alzate, Leo Afonzo was last. You think he's already gone. Enos Mihai.

Not great. Juan Barracal. I think he's gone. But you can't really be sure. because there's so many of the Pedro Amador. He looks good for a few games. He's gone. Alexi Moranchuk, we've been through that. Obviously, the Manuel Lotté, Lath,

but like Bartoslis, Stiongreens, Mumba, that was all one window. That's not that far in the past. Yakumakis came in, but then it was just like J.J. Perrata, remember him? Justin Garcia, S. Ephraim Morales, like was the homegrown, and he gets traded.

He's gone down the list, and it's just, constant and none of which significant or none of which that stuck. And then it's a constant cycle of we need to get rid of the signings that didn't work to bring in new signings. And now they're so log jammed that Stephen Elzate was here to replace Triss and Mewba who hadn't left yet. And now both of them are still on the same team. But now Alzate is higher in the pecking order of we need to get rid of them. And it's not for lack of trying.

It's not for lack of having smart people at the club, which is what makes it so difficult for me to explain. It's like Garth Lager was here, Chris Henderson, now Tata Martino. Tata Martino was the one who built, like, him with Garth Lagoway, the title winning team, the incredible success at the beginning of the time. Goddlaugaway is legitimately maybe the best sporting executive in league histories, at least on the Mount Rushmore. Chris Henderson is well respected. Demetrios, John, like, Spector, the Chief Scout, I know I'm forgetting people.

And they just miss on all of these and they have all of the money. I don't understand David Goss. That's why I need an exorcist, a witch doctor, something. this is the part of this I chose to pull out do you know where your goes Chiakumakis is going to play this season somewhere in Europe no no no no no he's in the Middle East is he's in uh is it is it

is it a guitar or is no it's UAE so you're pretty close yeah it's always soft when you get that one wrong it always hurts a little bit in the soul yeah what do you think Andrew Carlton's up to is he going to play in the WNBA or is he going to say he's going to play in the WNBA Please don't do this to me, Tom. Please don't.

So, yeah, this has been a tough spell for this Atlanta team. What do you think Marino's Moreno's up to? Maybe made even tougher. What happened to P.T. Martinez? He went back to River, right? Yeah, then I think he got hurt again. And I don't know where he plays now. I mean, some of this has to be cursed stuff to your point.

like Peter he's at Tigray in Argentina he left he left forever like this is a genius signing guy was South American player of the year so like in this frame because now my rant comes if we're talking Darwin Nunez if we're talking Breel and Polo let's go like one step further

I have this belief that the next step for MLS is the guys three years younger who can't get into some of these big teams who are looking for a spot. For example, on a decent amount of nights to fall asleep, I put like the night mode on my phone and I read the athletic. I read Tom's piece first. To put you to sleep? No, to get me set up. But then at some point, the athletic tells me,

oh, if you like this, you might like this. And it's this like 9,000 page running article about transfers that could happen. And you go through from Arsenal to Chelsea to Barcelona to everything. And there's like all these guys that Chelsea has to offload and all these people who are looking for spots and the like report is always like they might go to Galatasarai. It's like at some point, MLS has to tap into that space. And if it's going to be anyone, it's going to be Atlanta who plays in front of a ton of fans has a ton of money in a real genuine market that just hosted a World Cup semifinal. So like Nicholas Jackson or Gabrielle Martinelli or Josh freaking Xerxes like that's where I want us to be. I have

no reason to believe that any of those players would sign. I have no idea what the number would be. Martinelli, the report is Gallatinocassar. I put 45 million euros on the table. 45? Yeah, so you'd probably have to be. Also, Galatasar, have that money? No, they, they're, they are the more

respectable Botafogo. You put a number on the paper and then if they lose, you don't pay it. Nice. Well, I don't mind that way. Well, that's why Oseman is, is reportedly leaving Turkey after he loved it there. he hasn't been paid for like nine months. Where is he going?

I don't know. He should be going to Atlanta. He should be going to Major League Soccer. That's the players that should be coming into MLS. And I'm not going to stop beating this drum. After I did a whole thing about why I knew Mosala wouldn't come. But also, I'd rather see the energy put out for these guys than a Mosala or a Robert Levantowski. I'd rather see these players who can give you four to five years and you can build a club around than these guys who are,

much bigger names, which with much bigger marketing, but are towards end of their career. Now, the hope is... Memphis supplies available. Listen, I was talking about Memphis like seven years ago for Atlanta. This was the thing I was talking about. He went to Christians. He would not have been worse than Moranchuk. So we still would be in the same place right now.

But you would just have to pay for, I don't know, private drivers in a penthouse apartment or whatever. He wanted a lot of perks is what I heard. Yeah. Romello Locaku, it sounds like he is signing in. Turkey. So he is not on that list anymore for Atlanta. We know the two big names, Breelambollo and Darwin Nunez are the two. Nunez is linked with them. He's to tribes with Mosa. Official. I don't know if it's official, but I've seen that a lot. Reach out to your contacts on the Black Sea and see if they know what's going on.

Can we do a live show? When he signed? There? I would love to. I would absolutely love to do a live show on the Black Sea. I read a book about someone who biked the Silk Road, and they said the biking along the Black Sea was one of the most painful of the experience because something about the wind or something like that. I thought you'd say it was delightful. No, no, no. They said it was beautiful, but they said it was extremely intense and they were not prepared for it.

On the St. Louis side of things, this one's going to be a little bit different, but we know from the connections with Kuyper's, the reporting, and that they are looking inside of Major League Soccer, alongside looking out, and that they're willing to spend a chunk of money to get this player. So I think that puts a lot of options on the table. And I would be surprised if St. Louis hasn't filled this spot. Kuyper's was a really good idea in terms of pressing,

in terms of a guy who you can play into his feet, a little bit for these guys who are going to, you know, now it's going to be Holsa, it was Hartle, who are going to sort of operate around them. but the main piece you're looking for is just a true in-the-box finisher for the chances that they create. Yeah, yeah. Yolanda Mae's team creates chances. I like Holza.

I think that's going to be a good signing. Louvin is still there for now. I don't know how much longer that'll be. That'll be sad if and when he does leave. There have been contract talks, but no resolution. And it seems more likely that an exit could happen. But obviously, everything's all fluid. Regardless, they have good creative players and the system does a lot of creating for the team without having.

without needing necessarily like a true out and out, like Talismatic number 10, and they've been dying out for a center forward, and they tried to sign Hugo Kuypers, and like you said, I'd be very surprised if the window ends and they hadn't signed a DP9, and if they haven't,

then it'll be time to be critical, right? But I'm going to, I know the fans are getting impatient, and I don't blame them, right? But I do think by the end of the window, somebody will arrive, and hopefully that somebody better than Sergio Cordova, which at the time was, It's not as if that was a top target.

It was this is what we can do for short term better than nothing. And this would be the one to judge them on. And I hope something comes and I trust something will come. And this team is very good right now, or at least solid and strong. And like if Hosa hits the way I think he will and if they get a DP number nine, then all of a sudden this is a mid-level team in the playoff race in the West. They've underperformed their XG, not criminally.

There are other teams who would say they've. criminally underperformed their XG, a team like San Diego who would say that's the reason why they sit where they sit in the standings. But they are also a team that is not fully formed and you can't really afford to leave opportunities like that on the table. And so I think this would be one of the teams where if they could get this done, I think they could accelerate up the standings pretty quickly. I think you make life a lot easier as well for some of these younger players or new players who are trying to get comfortable with life. So that's the two number nines that we wanted to talk about. And let's finish off, Tom, with one more out of Colorado. Yeah, Colorado, I'm assuming a DP attacker.

If I had to guess, I'd feel pretty strongly that a winger is going to come no matter what. Matt Wells' system is predicated on wing play to break down low blocks. Like that's where the team kind of ends up. I was speaking with Porick Smith after the move for Lucas Harrington, the whole city and then a couple quotes that he said was like you know this is an opportunity we're not going to let slip they he seems really confident that so they're getting 17 million up front it doesn't need to be to the exact dollar but it's not as if okay 17 million you get 5 million to spend like they will be able to reinvest basically all of it into the team if the deal is right if the

profile is right they have been planning of course and back to front they've been really good particularly building out and dominating with the ball. They, I believe, are fourth an MLS, an average possession, despite having how many games with the red cards got, right? So that should tweak the possession. They're really good on the ball, and they've demonstrated that they're really good in the defensive third. They're really good getting into the final third.

And they struggle breaking down opponents when they get there. Wingers is a way, particularly in Matt Welles' a system, that will have the opportunity to shine. And if you get a special player, and I think that's where the resources would go. There are different permutations. Paxton Aronson is more of like an inside. He's more of like a finisher than maybe a chance creator.

They brought in another kind of number 10 chance creator to add to the rotation. So of Dante Sealy, still of Georgi Manungu, so of Havnavahu. Like there are pieces there, but they're going to need one or maybe two, or maybe there's going to be more changes in the attack to tie this team altogether and to piece all the good things that's happening in the first two-thirds with the final third. and like Loik Williams is the Lucas Harrington replace and they got to play I think two or three games together. That was fun. But like Lloyd Williams and Rob Holding, you're still going to be good defensively or at least you're going to have a strong centerback pairing.

What they need is maybe not an overall an attack, but they need an overall in the attacking results. And maybe that's one player, but maybe that's more. Yeah, and you mentioned it. They've invested resources. The Dante Seeley trade was not a small trade. The Georgi Manungu trade was not a small trade. small trade. But if you're looking at, if that's the position they're focused on, they haven't gotten borderline DP production from either of those players. So if you're looking to fill those spots,

and I think it's fair to say, if we have a DP winger, we believe combined the other two can give us the production at one spot. But you still need to fill opposite them. And if you want to go to star player, it feels like that's the position left with the money you've already spent on Paxton in this team. I will say, though, right now, what I'm looking at, they are fifth in major league soccer and average possession. So I don't know how much I trust Tom, because he said fourth. I don't know if that guy knows ball. Um, based off all the other things we've said in this show, that's probably the least of the mistakes we will make. So those are the moves. We're not just watching out for it. We expect to

happen. Um, and those are ones that I think we'll be excited about if they do and we're hyper focused on over the next few weeks. But of course, Tom's a lot of course. There's a lot of hype is bleep. It's like, whoa, that came out of knowing. But Tom's going to be locked in on all of them. You should make sure to follow him on Blue Sky, um, on Instagram, everywhere else. And of course, jump into the Discord if you haven't already.

Okay. League's Cup. We don't really have a ton to talk about as I said, because we don't know who's going through. I was at the Miami game. So that's the thing that I'm going to say because I went to a second game. It's always fun, you know, had a Pacifico before, had a giant Miller in the, stadium. God intended. The public transportation in Miami is God awful. And I'm so excited. I literally live across the street from the train that takes you straight to the stadium. It was like a 16 minute wait to get there. Then on the way back before 10 o'clock even,

the night of a game, the first train only runs one station to then transfer to the second train because the first train is not running the full route. And then the second train pulls in, which is already a mystery because you can't see the screen. when the train's there. It's like a whole thing. And it ended up waiting like 14 minutes to be on schedule. Believe me. If you have a schedule that is 31 minutes spaced out coming out of a game

and out of a stadium, then you don't need to stay on schedule. You should be pulling out the moment people leave a stadium and fill a train. So that part upset me to sell the least. But it was pretty exciting because I got to see, I think, the best player in the league, Lovin's Delinios got the start again for Inter Miami. So that's three straight games in in Leaks Cup that he got the start. And, you know, no one beats their man as consistently as Loveland. That's just the way it is.

That's just the way it is? Yeah, he's my guy. So he's my favorite player in Major League Soccer now. And Lionel Messi came off the bench at halftime, which was very cool. So he was shown like on the big screen, coming out of the locker room, the players sort of warmed up and walked on the field. And he walked out and then stood at midfield. And they showed him like immediately.

And the place erupts. I mean, Miami had already scored in the game. And this was more intense and loud. So it was really, really cool. Obviously, he's going through a lot. His father passing away. When I saw that he was on the bench for the game because I came, I went with two friends who have never been before.

and they were like, do you think Messi's going to play? And when I saw him on the bench, I'm like, yeah, 100%. I say it over and over again. Lionel Messi loves playing soccer. There's like the only is the number one thing in his life. And there's the only way he thinks about it is being on the field. So he ends up coming in for the second half and everything he does is must watch. He completely changes the shape of your team, though.

It was wild. They didn't concede a chance in the first half. They have a goal within five minutes of the second half. You have a second goal pretty quickly as well. I'd say 80% of the time he touches the ball, he creates a true chance. And it's just like, it's a different high wire act. Like it's just a totally different sport. When he's on the field, Leon ended up winning 3-2, though.

It eliminates into Miami. Leon clinches their spot at the top of the League MX side of things. We mentioned it. So six-point teams that were coming into this round that controlled their own destiny. Columbus dropped one point after tying and winning in a shootout. Cincinnati lost the Atlas. Charlotte lost a Pachuca. Dallas lost at Toluca.

That one was late last night and we're still waiting for the other two teams. So the door was open for L-AFC and R-SL. R-SL took advantage. They destroyed a Juarez team who had everything to play for. And Sergei Solanz is fucking bawling, Tom. It is like wild watching. He's the thing St. Louis is looking for. He's what Atlanta's looking for.

Like, it is crazy. He's smooth. He's. He's fast. He connects play a little bit, but he finishes every opportunity he gets and is dangerous. So he is wild to watch. So I think RSL will probably get through. They did they clinch?

No, according to leekscup.com. What? Leaguescup.com. I didn't know that existed. But here's my. All right. I'm not even going to dig into this. I don't think they can.

Oh, yeah, because they can only fall as far as forth. That's why. So L-AFC have not clinched. L-A-F-C are scoreboard watching because L-A-F-C dropped the ball and only drew to a Kare-Rot-Rot team who had nothing to play for. Los Gios-Blancos, baby.

Suck on that one, L-A-FC. I have some notes of stuff we saw. Daryl Dicke scored, so that's cool. Love to see it. Love to see it. Love to see him back. Deflected goal. Did you see the second goal that Montez-Saint-Luzez-Luys scored?

stuff. It was stuff. I thought Greason was going to shoot from inside his own half. And on the angle that I saw, I don't understand where the Orlando player he was trying to pay. I thought that when he released the ball, I was like, oh, good pass. And then they panned out and nobody was there. No one's there.

Yeah. So in like the 93rd minute Orlando was winning 2.1. They needed to win by three goals to have a spot in the next round. So they had to push for goals anyway. San Luis is playing wild because they've got nothing to play for us. So they're trying to win. goalkeeper at midfield off his line loses the ball. Griesman picks it up.

So an open goal and Griesman squares it across the field on the ground. At midfield. As if you're playing to someone's feet and there's no one there. And San Luis picks up the ball, dribbles the other way, clips a ball to the far post, taking down, goal scored two to game. Like wild moment. Crazy. Crazy ending.

Orlando will no longer be playing Leaks Cup. Thanks to that one. Sam out of Cube has made his full return. to the Vancouver White Caps. It's been a year out with injuries, played a little bit with the Caps 2, played a little bit in Canadian Championship, now playing in Leagues Cup.

And Vancouver with nothing to play for, went down to Monterey, played Tigris at the El Volcan, and drew that 1-1, and went to penalty kick shootout. So for the only team in MLS with nothing to play for, congrats to them. Juterry got another start for LAFC,

pulled off at halftime. Wasn't totally his fault, but LAFC struggled to, to break down and he kind of turned it over in a couple spots, but he also looks super confident. And I think he could be a factor this season. So those are a couple of the notes from what happened. Obviously, a bunch of teams with nothing to play for, weird rotated teams on some of these. And we talked about all the other games on Monday. Major League Soccer, as I said, returns this weekend.

The two rivalry games on Sunday highlighted. Austin against FC Dallas in Seattle against Vancouver to close things out. so we are back into the regular season. League scop has a week off and then comes back midweek competition the following week. So for all those teams, they will still play in MLS normal games. And then they will go to midweek weekend competitions if you continue to progress. And we could end up semifinals the first time MLS teams and League of MX teams could play each other. Because you'll have four and four in the quarterfinals going forward.

Anything I missed? Nope. Hell, yes. Well, it was chaos, but it was fun. And we were glad you were all there for it. Is that Mello? Yeah, Mello just came in and walked out. Mello's like, are you guys are still doing this?

I thought you were going to be done like a hour ago. I usually have the door closed. He's probably what's going on. Nice. Gregory feels the same. Our editor who thought that this show would be done an hour ago as well. Thank you to Gregory for all your help. Thank you to Katie.

Big shout out to you, Tom. Excited to have the crew back together for the show. Next week, enjoy all the MLS. this weekend, enjoy all the end of your sale. We'll be on blue sky, we'll be on Instagram. So come join us there and we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.