SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | Cavan Sullivan & the Wild Wild West

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Cavan Sullivan is making his case for the USMNT after another jaw-dropping performance, St. Louis is the hottest team in MLS and the Western Conference race is getting interesting. David Gass, Matt Doyle and special guest Andrew Wiebe discuss the Shield race, a surging FC Dallas and some intriguing games on the docket for this week, including the U.S. Open Cup semifinals.0:00 Intro5:15 Soccerwise MLS Media Collective15:43 Rebirth of San Jose Earthquakes25:25 Sporting KC Gets A Win34:49 Cavan Sullivan is Cinema55:42 St. Louis Keeps Rolling1:08:28 Here Comes Dallas & Logan Farrington1:17:03 Nashville In the Shield Driver’s Seat1:21:53 Columbus vs. Orlando in Open Cup1:27:08 Open Cup Semis: Colorado vs. St. Louis1:33:43 Canadian Championship & Campeones CupFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Wise on a bright and sunny Monday morning in the world made by Kevin Sullivan that we are all proud to live in as old people who have been waiting for this day for such a long time. David Goss, alongside Matt Doyle, Tommy Scoops is still recovering from being an addict to his phone. So in his place is the original phone addict, the sentence text there, the tweet monster himself, Mr. Andrew Weeby. Hey, listen, I feel like over the last two years, it's not that I've been in rehab. It's maybe that I'm not putting my addiction on display for the world anywhere but the partners in soccer group chat. So it's not that I'm reformed. It's just that, you know, I'm keeping it under wraps a little bit. But I feel for Tommy, I hope he gets his stamina back very, very soon.

I can only imagine he's going to go from zero to 100 to zero back to 100. There's no way that Tom has a chill in the middle where he can be like relaxed to back. out-breaking. It's scatabot, bro. It's either head-down, crown of the helmet into a wall, or you literally can't play. Like, you can't walk, you can't do anything. There's nothing else. Can I give you a compliment, Dave? As I, you know, a long-time soccer-wise listener and first time and a long time back on the show, your ability to hit the drop with your intro has become elite. I feel at the beginning of soccer-wise, it was a little hit or miss, wasn't sure what kind of rhythm you were working with. And now I just know, I just, I know when you're going to come in. And it. It's like a warm podcasting blanket draped upon me every single time I listen to the show. The secret is that I paid someone who's actually good at editing. So that's all to Gregory. So I appreciate Gregory. This is all done in post.

Yeah. Oh, okay. I appreciate Gregory for making me better. As I feel like I spent many of years making you sound better. I was, no comment. No comment about your editing abilities on many shows past. So I feel like it is now owed to me as we go forward. But we've got a lot to talk about on this show.

as I mentioned, Kevin Sullivan's closed out Sunday night, putting on a star performance out in San Diego. So we're going to hit on that, and then we expect to have a U.S. Men's National Team roster, probably on Thursday. So we're going to give you live reaction to that here on this show. We're going to talk about whether or not Kevin should be part of it. Maybe I'll pull up some Brad Friedel quotes to see if we can get some old man yelling at clouds energy in here. It was painful to say the least. We also, of course, have Shield conversation as Nashville was. down in Miami alongside Andrew

Weeby, they were awed by his presence on the sideline for that one. And inspired, and inspired. And inspired. Late on, Sam Serge, specifically. Inspired by someone who looks like him. So you could see how... Broad brush. Broad brush coming from the Iguine brothers.

Geez. I hung out with Belair, by the way, this weekend. It was like, oh, yeah, all of us are the exact same person. There it is. So we'll talk about that. We'll talk about what it means in the Western Conference, Vancouver's Big Loss. San Jose and Houston making a run up the, sorry, San Jose and Dallas making a run up the standings in the Western Conference.

And we'll do the best things we saw as we do every single weekend. We, of course, are here on Sirius Radio. So if you're listening on Sirius, welcome. If we run a little bit long with We be in here, I doubt it'll happen. But if it does, you'll have to go listen to the rest of the show on the on-demand player or anywhere you get your podcast. And a reminder, as we do every single Monday, to make sure to subscribe to tactics, zone. Well, you will get the best MLS coverage from Mr. Matt Doyle himself. Doyle, anything to

plug? I mean, it was just a kind of an incredible weekend at the top of the league with Nashville and Miami in that game and then San Jose and Houston in the West and Austin suddenly charging. Like, just the time of year, and I feel like we talked about this a little last week, we're just you realize who the good teams are because of how they can grind results out. But then to see a team like Austin suddenly be six unbeaten and like really in the playoff race in the Western Conference, I was not prepared for that. So like I touched on all of it this week in the newsletter and, you know, we'll see what we see coming up over the next hour and a half as we pull it all apart.

And we're going to close out today's show with, of course, previews because we've got three semifinals. Yeah, three. This midweek, we've got U.S. Open Cup and then we've got Canadian Championship two MLS teams. I think Weeby wanted to do about 40 minutes on Forge and Supra facing off. Listen, the serious XM audience probably demands we do that right now, actually. When we get there, I've got a little nugget for you on Super, which is going to get you excited. There's also a Campione's Cup, which is in my home city. I will actually be there. Weeby will be there as well, so we'll talk about that.

we'll let we be sell it for us and then we will be back at the end of the week to talk about all of it and to get you ready for the weekend but before we dive in on the news in mLS we have our own news to drop on this monday so we are launching our soccer wise media collective with the help of our friends at continental tire we have seven founding partners all independent MLS media outlets and our goals to bring more attention to all the great local coverage happening in these MLS markets. We've also got some new segments, some new pieces that we're going to be working on alongside Continental Tire, including the Soccer Wise MLS Minute, which will be putting across the

podcast on all of those feeds and our drive to the playoffs segments, which we're going to be doing every Monday and Thursday as we head down the stretch and our big MLS playoff preview, which is one of our favorite shows every single year. and as MLS continues to add more playoff teams, it really just becomes a season preview for a second time at the end of the year. But we are so excited to have Continental Tire on board. It is a brand that all of us know fairly well

as we have worked on some shows that they have sponsored in the past, and it's great to be back together with them, and of course their focus and passion on local soccer and real storytellers in the soccer space. But I think the thing we're most excited about and something I've talked about with both of you, as well as other people,

for years now is sort of rebuilding the infrastructure of covering soccer at the local levels across MLS, across the U.S. and Canada. And Doyle, this collective gives us our first opportunity. We announced our sponsorship, our partnership with Soundar at Heart a few months ago. We've added Top in 90 and 615 soccer, and then we announced four more right here today, and we hope to continue to grow it. But this is something I know that's really important to us. Yeah, it's been important to me for a long, long time covering this league.

because trying to cover, God, when I started, it was 15 teams, right? When I started doing this professionally, it's 15 teams. And now we've doubled. And you just can't take in all of the information on your own. You need good local coverage. And as media, as the media landscape has kind of changed over the past quarter century, it ended up creating this opportunity for people who have a lot of talent. and sort of the drive to get out there and create not just blogs and newsletters and podcasts,

but also communities of fans who want to know more about their team, who treat it like it really, really matters because it does. And so as my role evolved in the past year, I became more and more reliant on these independent media outlets, not just so that I could do my column well, just so I could be prepared for this podcast every week, but also because I was jumping into the land of independent content creation myself. And so I leaned on people like Ben Wright at 615 and Jeremiah O'Shawn at Sounder at heart to sort of guide me and tell me what to look out for, what could come next, what platforms he used for tactics,

free zone like basic stuff so to be able to sort of knit it all together and start giving back a little bit and hopefully platforming voices even more like the guys that at top and do a great job blazing musket is one of the most insanely comprehensive websites in the world from us l2 through nwsl yeah yeah um so like like to be partnered with these guys and and to try to help them um reach a larger audience but then also to try to help make MLS and WS to turn local fans into fans of the league as a whole, I feel like that's been the work of my adult life. Like I feel like I've always treated MLS like football fans treat the NFL.

And there are more MLS fans out there who want to do that, but don't necessarily have the resources because the league has made it hard to cover itself for so long. And so hopefully we can bridge that gap. Yeah. Listen, I am cutely aware in the job that I'm doing right now of the difference between a national perspective and a local perspective. And I would just say I am so thankful every week to have most often a place to go check myself, a place to go take my sort of assumptions and my narratives and the things that

I've been thinking about and seeing and taking away from watching teams and sort of comparing that and Venn diagramming that to the people that are actually there, that are on the ground, that are asking questions of the players and the coaches that have thought of nothing of this team and every storyline around it and what every domino falling means for not just weeks or months or years, sometimes decades. And I just think about an institutional knowledge loss, not in the sense of just MLS, but society at large. And I thought a lot about it this weekend as Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald announced that she would no longer be with that publication and obviously no longer giving us this in-depth coverage of of Inter-Maiami. And I just sort of mourned. I was like, my God,

like what are we losing, not just in the sports space, but I think societally in every sort of space in terms of coverage, in terms of professional curiosity, in terms of passion, in terms of ethical reporting, like we are losing so much. And so I am just so immensely thankful for all the people that whether it's a passion play or whether it's their job or they're building something and trying to create outlets or keep outlets going and grow them,

that we have those folks that are putting that time and effort and energy into it because without that, we just lose so much of the richness that actually makes this stuff interesting, so much of the storytelling, so much of the insight. When you turn on a game and, you know,

like for instance, midweek, I watch the fire in Miami as I'm preparing for Walmart Saturday Showdown. And, you know, I've covered the fire recently, but the first thing I did was I went to Men in Red. And there were eight stories on the site where I was just like, my God, I have to read this. You know, you have 1,500 words on Noah Allen's perspective on making a move. You have the, you know, the ultimate update on André Franco's injury status, what he's been doing in training, what comes next. You have all these different little pieces of analysis that turned that game on Wednesday

night for me and it's like something to watch into like a, you know, not a soap opera, but, but something much closer to it where I was locked in on individuals and stories. lines and moments in the game. And, you know, I am, I am so immensely thankful for all those people. And I can just say that I have leaned on them. I mean, they have been in my crutch for two decades in this job. And so, you know, I'm thankful to them. I'm thankful of Continental Tire. You know, I'm sitting here with my extra time live water cup that I've had for use and using. I still, this is what I drink water with at home. You know, if you throw it back to what we've done before in the past, we'll throw up the extra time scarf right here. I was sweating as much as Griseman

when we took that phone. 100%, 100%, but I would just say, you know, just in a different way to all these creators and all these reporters and all these commentary folks, you know, Continental has been behind soccer for a long time and that's important. And so I celebrate all these people that are doing the work and helping me do my work. Yeah, I think, as you said, you know, we were very knowledgeable on Major League Soccer. We know a lot. We know a lot of people. There is no replacement for being all. the pulse of something 24-7. And part of that is understanding the market and the fan bases and the region and what things mean.

You know, Valer, Chabilla, and Ben Wright were down here to cover the Nashville game against Miami. And we went out and got lunch. And it's like, I'm pretty knowledgeable about most things that go on. But I don't know the trials and tribulations of how long it took them to get Sam Surge over the line or what Taylor Washington means to the fan base or Daniel Lovitz or Jack May, right? And those are the context pieces that I know as a sports fan matter to me.

And I think both sides matter. I love listening to my Knicks coverage from my locals. And then I like when Zach Lowe drops in. And he has a different viewpoint because he's not as close to it and as connected until now when he's become a unclosited Knicks fan because everyone loves a Knicks now, which is annoying but fine, whatever. How do you feel about the fact that Mamdani's been able to fix every New York team except for the Mets? I think it's pretty on par. Yeah. I think it pretty much makes sense.

You're willing to make that trade, though. Yeah, 100%. But it is massive. And it's just, it's the color to which all of this is painted with. It is, you know, Paul Rothrock's comments and his personality that becomes a national story because Jeremiah and his group is there covering them day in and day out and knows these people and get stories from them. It's the breaking news coverage that comes as well.

But it really is like the color and the energy around so much of this. And it spurs fans. Like, as a fan, you just want. to be talking about your teams and you want the community aspect of it. And we provide some of it here, but we can't do 30 plus of them and we can't be on 24-7. And all of these people and all these different markets do it at such a high level. We mentioned sort of blazing musket what Seth McComers done over the years and the way he covers those teams and the knowledge he has and what he brings about, I've gotten to know Tony Sanchez out in San Diego, as San Diego has sort of built

into a soccer market from zero teams to three teams, and they're covering all of it, and they were out covering the World Cup as well. We all know Sam Jones and what he has helped build down in Atlanta. It's incredible stuff. And as you guys said, we can't do what we do without them. And I think fans are better off for all of them. And so we're just trying to make it a little bit easier.

We're trying to platform them a little bit. We are trying to reach out to their fan bases. if anyone's interested in joining us here, if it's your first time because you've come off the MLS Minute, welcome. We're nerds. We like to talk about this stuff. We talk about it way too much. And that's who we are.

And we're hoping to platform more people and just make it a little simpler to do what they do going forward. So if you're interested, obviously reach out. We're excited to continue to grow. And we're excited to move into sort of the playoff race now with Continental Tire alongside us and all of these different partners that we're going to be working with going forward. Let's start as we do on this show with the best things we saw on the weekend. And Doyle starts immediately with animal rivalry. Yeah.

Is it a rivalry? Come on. Come on. No, it's pretty one-sided, right? Like we had Squirrillo. I'm going to call him that because obviously he's just trying to copy Rekino. He stormed the field in Charlotte's 3-3 draw at FC Cincinnati. He didn't have the same sort of cultural cachet.

I don't think he stole the heart of the fan base the way Rakhineo did. Am I wrong about that? No, you're completely right. You're completely right. It's the lack of elusiveness. It's the lack of sort of like, you know, instinctive drive to. There are some players that just have the imagination. Yeah.

You know, to avoid capture. You know, he took himself out of the game. You know, he saw the tunnel and he thought, I just, you know, whereas Rikino was like, dragging, you would take me out of your dragging. You must jam a trash can over my head. And a guy with two towels got him to run off the field. It's just, you know, it's unbecoming of squirrels. But we also have to remember some of the great sports moments, it's the soundtrack as well.

And to not have Kaling Carr cheering him on on broadcast maybe has affected the moment a little bit. I thought Tony Husband did a pretty good job. It's just, you know, listen, the material wasn't there. The material's not there to work with. So I applaud Tony for his, for his efforts. But Squirrel did not, he did not deliver. He did not deliver. I can't give him the Eño.

Yeah, I think that's correct. So that's actually not the best thing that I saw. saw this weekend. The best thing I saw this weekend is kind of the rebirth of the San Jose earthquakes. Because we spent all summer wondering if this team was just going to go down the toilet completely after their 10 game start. It was a record 10 game start for the quakes. And it turns out that they were missing their best player. No, their best player was not Demo Verner, but it's actually Nika Shakiris. Since he's come back, they've looked like a different team.

They finally got their first win in a long time on Wednesday, that 3-2 at San Diego. Shakira, his first half was spectacular. He had a goal and two assists, Mr. Piquet as well. But he was everywhere. And then he wasn't quite as influential on the weekend against Houston. It was a 1-0 win. But he had the corner kick that ended up being the game's only goal. San Jose were completely playing through him.

Bruce Arena has actually changed. the formation to a 3, 4, 2, 1, and Shakiris is playing a sort of a right-sided 10, but they clear out that side entirely. They let him drop deep because he's actually better at linking play than he is as a playmaker in the final third. So they just put the entire game at his feet. And it's Bruce Arena's team. Bruce Arena has always been about his best players.

He, like, his tactics have been a reflection on how to use his best players. and I think it says a lot about how good Shakirius is that Bruce was like, okay, we got to just, he's back, let's build it around him. And it's worked. The quakes were on like, what, nine game winless skid. And now they're four unbeaten. They had a seven point week. They're back, I think, into the top four in the Western Conference.

And like two weeks ago, we were thrown dirt on the steam and saying it looks like they're never going to get, you know, get out of this slump. And they did it this week without team over. With just a cameo from Preston Judd, who was so key to what they were doing in the first half of the season. And it's not like Edward Lovin is still finding his place. I thought it was interesting against Houston. They played him deeper alongside Vieira as like a defensive midfielder,

but really as an orchestrator. And I think that there's something there in that, actually playing Lovin in that spot because one of the things that was killing the quakes was all the midfield turnovers. Well, if you have Louvin there, he's not going to turn the ball over. You can spend less time defending in transition. So all of it coming back together just as quickly as it fell apart.

Look, there's a reason Bruce is who he is, and he's won as much as he wants. He tends to figure these things out. So let me just ask you this, because as I looked at the, watch the highlights and look at the lineup and just think about Timo's role and where I've seen him at his best. It's generally in wide areas. It's generally one v one. It's coming inside at times, but he has not been as effective as I would have thought he would have been in those central spots.

Is it, is it, is it Bola Rue's spot from this game? Is he part of the two behind the forward? Like, it's not a wingback, is he? But I don't know.

Like, I don't think, I don't think that Bola Rue ends up being a starter. Um, or if he does, it's deeper playing alongside Luvon. Um,

but he, look, neither Shakiris nor Timo Verner is exactly an Ironman. But to your point, like, yeah, I think that Werner ends up playing as sort of a half-space merchant on the left, opposite, opposite, Shakuris.

The difference is, Shakiris is going to drop all the way deep to pick the ball up off the back line, whereas I think Werner's movement pattern will be more inside out to get into those wide spots. And you can end up seeing the left wingback for San Jose, whether it's Costa or Ricketts, actually making underlapping. Yes. Let me give you just an anecdote on that from literally being on the sideline watching that exact thing happen. I believe it was the Cali Classico at Stanford. And there were many times in that game where Warner is literally talking to the, I think it was Ricketts in that game and saying, hey, directing him, saying, hey, come inside, literally pointing to him and saying, occupy this space, come in, draw that opposing right back up the field and a little bit tight so that I can have space to be isolated.

So, yeah, I definitely see that. And then listen, if you have Benji Kekhanovich overlapping Nico Chikiris. It's the dream team for you. Tyler, you're cooking with gas there, like barbecue chicken. But I do think putting Kosta, quote-unquote, wingback for a little while was like trying to stop the bleeding of conceding soft goals. So part of that sternover stuff, the other side is if Sekechis and Werner are healthy and you don't need the additional number all the time, then Kosta can become that fourth member of the back line and you shifted across and Kekonovich or Ricketts are playing right. wing back and they're playing consistently high or maybe you even slide Usenibuta out there if

Preston Judd's healthy and it is this free role. I mean, watching whatever the hell Matt Polster played yesterday for the revs. Like there's options to move pieces in and out of that position and still maintain stability. If you got three to four centerback type guys out there that you trust. And I think there's a spot for that with San Jose. But the first half against Houston, the attacks just feel more sustained, right? It was we're going to steal it in transition. We're going to go. And when Werner's out there but Sechiris isn't it's that first chance which is pretty good but if they don't complete that chance then it goes and now there's like secondary opportunities where they can win the ball back keep it around the final third find second and third sort of holes to work into and I think

loving continues to be a pretty good part of that we'll talk about Kevin in a moment but is there any question if Securis is on this USMNT roster for you I mean he has to be right but he's like the prime person we're talking about in this game. Yeah, especially because Maricio Pachitino's talked about it in the context of the U23 team, right? And Shakiris is of an age where he is age eligible for the U23 team for the Olympics in a year and a half. Like he's going to be a starter on that team unless something goes horribly wrong. So yeah, he like he's earned it. If you look at, you know, any sort of impact metric like ASAs or footy or anything across the board, Shakira rates as literally one of the best tens in the league,

irrespective of age or, you know, country of origin, literally one of the best number tens in the league on both sides of the ball. And if that guy can't get into the national team, then what is the point of the national team? I have no response to that. The one thing I would just say is watching the quakes kind of like circle the toilet bowl for the last couple of months, what stood out is how often their centerbacks were isolated

in space and running backwards. And so when you start to talk about adding a leuven in there, I know we often are saying, okay, well, how's he going to orchestrate the attack? To me, it's just as much the point you were making about sustaining attacks and that when you don't turn it over after the first attempt, you are running straight backwards

because Bruce is still Bruce, and Bruce wants to, he wants to play on the front foot most of the time. He'll man mark you. He will press. He will send numbers up to field. He will kind of throw caution to the wind, you have to have some sort of governor on the field that can help prevent as many moments as possible and having three centerbacks also gives you the opportunity just to defend with numbers more. Yeah, well, it stood out against Houston in this game.

And Houston, by the way, suddenly one winning five after that five game winning streak that had gotten them towards the top of the West. It was that San Jose always had five people back, Louvin, Vieira, and then the three centerbacks. Like they were not taking any risks, especially in that second half. I don't think that's the game Bruce would coach if he had his perfect team. But he's Bruce. He's always been pretty pragmatic about these things. And the pragmatic thing now is to, you know, to kind of play it safe with that back line and let the creators create. Especially against this dynamo group.

Yeah. Yep. Okay. Big result for San Jose. Big result for Houston as well in the Western Conference standings. We'll talk about more of that and a little bit. our drive to the playoffs. Weeby, let's stick in Kansas, baby. Let's go.

I was going to do a joke about the stuff. Quite honestly, I didn't watch the ad thing. I don't know what's going on with KU and Mizzou, and we don't have to do it. I do like Rock Chalk. I think Rock Chalk's cool. Hey, listen, we're on the right side of history. We've got like an awesome chant. You know, we've got a good little slogan going.

We just suck at football. So like any KU fan out there, like don't lie to me. You were in the same boat as me. You were ecstatic to get a pregame dub. because that was the only win we were getting. There was no chance that we were going to beat Missouri. There's absolutely zero percentage chance that we were going to win that game. So I was happy to at least put Missouri in their place early on

before they inevitably stuffed us in a locker, which they did. Hey, I have been in Kansas City for the last year, and I have seen both sides of this coin. I was here when the Wizards transitioned to sporting, when the stadium was built, when everything seemed to go right for sporting Kansas City. They were winning trophies. They were developing players.

Those guys were getting into the national team. It was like Peter Vermeis was Midas. Everything he touched turned to gold. But if you know the story of Midas, at some point, that becomes a curse. And Kansas City had been dealing with that curse for five years. So I know it's brief. I know it's a blip. I know it's one game.

It's one big goal from Andre Louise. But my God, did this club, did this squad, did this fan base need that moment? Just some sort of indication that what is being. built. What is being invested in? What is happening even in the in the the micro not even the macro could work. I mean that Andre lewis goal is I mean I just I take $18 million dollars manna from heaven like the fake with the right foot the cut back the finish with the left the result at home against lafc like I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this squad as I as I look at the names on the 11 from rafa wiki that this squad is

going to be one that returns Kansas City to any sort of promised land whatsoever. I don't believe that to be the case. There is still a lot of work to do and that has to, that is truly depressing, I think, for the fan base given the volume of moves and the money that has been spent. But Doyle, at some point, you need a reward, you need something, you just need a reason to chug a beer. Like, just to be like, we, we're not back, but we're not completely in the, in, you know, in our just yet and that was a huge moment and a huge 90 minutes from this team and if you saw you know i know like social media like we can do our instagram reporting but they put out the like locker room picture how many times this year has there been any reason for this group after a game to

get in front of a camera and smile yeah i think this is what four no this is five i mean seriously and so for a team that has has been flirting with and not just flirting like getting down on one knee for the worst record in mLS history you'll take it man you'll take it and louise looks like he truly has something special he he looks like a talent i am still shocked at how much space lafc was giving him like they did not seem to have him on the scouting report at all and they paid for it because uh you know he made the type of play that special players are uh are expected to make uh would you guys like to subscribe to wyat mirefax uh smash smash the button smash the button uh so shout out to to

Mike Cune of Casey's soccer journal, another great local source. I mean, the OGs in Kansas City covering both MLS and WSL, because he was the first one to pick up on this. But Wyatt Meyer, centerback second year pro. He was part of Nashville last year. They released him at the end of the season. I think there's a rant from like week four last year. I was like, Wyatt Meyer, he's the piece.

He keeps it all together. Oh, look at keeping his own receipts about. being correct. Yeah, I love Wyatt Meyer. But I think he was a center mid. There. Was he? No, he was a centerback coming out of college. No, I know. I think he played center mid last year for Nashville. Ben Wright or Valer will text in two minutes.

Well, anyway, the Cognito Collective will correct you, okay? That's not part of Wyatt Meyer facts. Just yeah. Wyatt Meyer facts, Kansas City are actually like a fringe playoff team when he goes 90 at center back this year. They are five wins, six losses, three. redraws all in league play. Overall, every other game,

which means games where Wyatt Meyer does not go 90 minutes at centerback, they are no wins, no draws, 11 losses. Stop. I have, like, I have never seen on-off splits like that from a centerback in MLS. The only one I could think that's close, it was like, remember Prime Diego Chara

that the Timbers did not win a game for like seven, years when he sat. Like, that is what Wyatt Meyer apparently means to sporting Kansas City. But to this point, like, there is a pretty narrow band of talent that

MLS teams can sort of choose from, unless you're spending big on a messy Levindowski, a greasman. Like, you have to have a good eye for talent and you have to know how to use that talent. And I've always maintained that domestic players tend to be underrated or underappreciated in that regard. And that might be what we're seeing here with Wyatt Meyer because Sporting Kansas City

has spent $30 million over the past two windows. And most of those guys have not hit. And right now, it looks like the keystone to any sort of competence going forward. Just like baseline functionality as an MLS team is this domestic. centerback that they got for free last winter. Now the question is, like, there are a variety of types of centerbacks in the world. There are some centerbacks who can take a bad team and help make them decent, but maybe don't have the skill set to take a decent team and help make them good, whether it's more comfort on the ball, the ability to play a high line, put out fires and space

for a team that wants to press. It's a different thing from just, being really good defensively in your own box and specifically on the near post. If you watch Wyatt Meyer player, he's really good as a near post defender. It's like Chad Marshall-esque. I don't know if, let's say, a year from now, Sporting Kansas City is the fifth best team in the Western Conference, six best team. I don't know if Wyatt Meyer is going to be able to translate his indispensability

to like that level of team and help make them into the fourth best team, the third best team. But what we've seen so far is that he was kind of a hidden gem. I've crushed Sporting Kansas City and their player acquisition and integration and development all year long. They deserve a round of applause for this one because they found someone for cheap. And when you get wins like that on the margins, it allows you to go big with other swings elsewhere in their roster. So well done to David Lee and Raphael Vicki and most importantly, Wyatt Meyer. I think Moises Mascar could turn out to be a very good centerback.

as well. It seems like a good partnership, right? He's shown signs. He's also had blips where you're like, oh, that isn't it. But, you know, listen, anybody in this team I think is going to have blips. Let me just throw out some information here because I know our very own Kaelin Carr is listening, and he would be ashamed if I was not to mention that Wyatt Thomas Meyer is a Berkeley, California. Born and raised boy, he is a Cal Bear, also a Project 510 guy. So Oakland Roots Reserve Team, this man is he is Berkeley born and bread baby he is he is from a long lineage of uh almost champions unlike kaelin car though Wyatt mire's not a luxury player you know he he actually gets stuck in does the dirty work we mean you buying a Wyatt jersey uh if they did Wyatt on the I mean listen Cameron Harper was obviously a huge heartthrob for my older son Cameron and I have not yet informed my younger son Wyatt he's gonna love these on off numbers

I'm the Wyatt Meyer theorem. But if there was to be a Wyatt jersey, we would snatch that up. It would be no hesitation purchase from the Weeby family. You should eliminate the name. You should just put the all and off numbers on a shirt and just have him wear that to school. You got to be able to custom, you know,

that could be the number. You have Wyatt and then what was it, five, six and three, Doyle? Yeah, yeah, five, six and three. I don't know if they have hyphens in like the, you know, in the number package. Maybe you can just do points per game. about that.

PPG? Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. That's the dream. For sporting Kansas City, not much to play for

for the rest of the year except for who's going to be a part of this next year and what are the pieces that you're trying to fit together. So really promising weekend, helped everyone else in the Western Conference

by beating L.A.FC, a little revenge for the open cup final last year, was it? Was it literally last year? Or was it two years ago? Nashville won the Open Cup last year. Oh, yeah. There's that.

And we're going to talk about the Open Cup coming up. in just a minute. For my thing, I got to go with the superstar. Mr. Kevin Sullivan does it once again, two goals on the weekend. It was kind of one of those where Vancouver lost to Austin. And, you know, I love Sunday night getting to bed, throw the game on TV and sort of fall asleep to it. And the ball comes across for the first goal for Kevin. And he, you know, he, whatever you want to call it, I call it Maj Hair, whatever you want to call it, with the flick on the back heel from like eight yards away.

And I was like, oh, he's just trying to keep the ball moving to the far post. And it slowly starts to trickle towards the actual post. And I like, shut up. Like, you know something special is coming. You jumped off your yellow couch and you were just like, oh, my God. Yeah. And who was on the far post? Was it?

I think it was a Lovsky. And that's a great shout out. Because I was like, don't do it. Don't do it, Milan. Don't do it. And you know, every part of his being was like, I should tap this. He was close. He was close.

I don't know if he purposely didn't. If the angle had pushed it out, he was, the foot was ready. No doubt. And instead, Kevin Sullivan gets the goal. Broadcast completely misses his celebration, pure energy. He goes to the corner. But he, you know, this is now, as he continues in major league soccer alone, he has six goals and five assists at 16 years old.

This team is on, so is it a nine game win streak now? Nine straight? I think it's 10 unbeaten. 10 unbeaten nine wins all in Major League Soccer. And they have now hurtled up the Eastern Conference standings. He had two goals in this game. He created a third. He has been the attacking outlet for this team.

I feel fairly confident in saying he's the best 16-year-old in MLS history for his team and for his production. And he might go down as the best teenager in MLS history. And I made the joke at the top about Brad Friedel. Some comments came out last week. Kavin was on a, I think he was on Alexi's podcast. And he talked about the Belgium game and said, oh, you know, I wish I'd been there. I felt like I could make a difference.

I think the thing that gets lost. So one, he didn't say I should have been there, right? It's confidence. He believes he can play at the highest level. He believes he can make a difference at the highest level. When you're around him, and I've covered him in person from his U-15 days on, there is extreme confidence, but it's not the superstar young athlete who's unaware of the reality around them. I think part of that is his family.

Like, he's part of a soccer great family. I think part of that's Quinn being on the team, like knocking him down when he needs to. I think a lot of that is what Philly has. built, which is you've got the guys like Alejandro Bedoya and other piece in that team who know to sort of welcome young players in, but also tell them to get in line when it's necessary. And I think you see it in his game, which is he doesn't take extra touches. He doesn't try and turn the game into his one v.1 situation. He keeps the game moving.

He understands where he can be a difference maker. And like, I don't like a single center forward because I don't like people who score goals. I like people who do their jobs and keep the ball moving. His job is to make things happen, but he's aware of that. and he understands that. And I think you see it at the end of the game where he's asked post game like about the feelings. And he brings up Malikyakuovich immediately,

who scored his first goal at the end of that game and is, you know, coming through the ranks alongside Kavin. I think he's the best center forward prospect I've seen since Ricardo Pepi out of the academy ranks. And I think he's going to be really special, both at club and national team level going forward. But, you know, he was open to talking about him as much as he was to talk about himself.

And he's not personally. perfect. He's 16 years old, but he's pretty freaking good at soccer. And I think he's got as good a head on his shoulders as any 16 year old who is this good possibly could be. And I think he's going to be part of the national team in three days or four days when we get this roster. Weevy. What impresses me the most with Kevin is how quickly he has adapted and thrived once he did get MLS opportunity. Because if you look back at the last couple years, the hype train was out of control. Like, it was crazy. But he just wasn't playing. And like, that's not something that, you know, he can control it to a certain degree, but he got 214 minutes last year. He got one start, all of 2025 in the league. You know,

this year, it's jumped up to 1,400 minutes. He's become indispensable. And to me, when I look at a young player and trajectory, it's like, how quickly can you figure out a level? And not just figure out in terms of how to be personally productive. Like, we're all going to yell about this back heel and beautiful English and his confidence and his aura and everything else. Like, I watch him, he plays in a Philadelphia Union team that does not allow you to be a pure luxury player.

Let me interrupt. I will not be talking about his aura. I just want to make that. Sure, okay, fine. Asdorl puts on his ninth beige green t-shirt of the week. Yeah, you pulled on the Brad Friedel costume real quick. He defends. He fights.

He fits into the overall ethos of what the Philadelphia Union are trying to build. This is not a kid that's walked out there and looked around at 16 and been like, hey, everybody else do the work for me because I'm more talented than you are with the ball at my feet, even though that is true, like at 16. And so when I look at Kevin Sullivan's progression, it's less so just like, whoa, pure technical ability, instincts, goal scoring ability, vision for both the final and the second ball before, because he's got 11 assists. And of course,

in the last week, we're sort of splitting that out. So it's both things. It's the way that he fits into a group that's built on graft, that's built on basically fighting people. And so I just, I saw it when he was a kid too, Dave.

I mean, I remember being on the sideline for, I think it was an MLS next All-Star or something like that. And he was more talented than everybody else, but he was also just meaner than everybody else and more determined and more will, to go into... Didn't he end that game by being like shout out, watch out world? Us young Americans are coming.

Yeah, but during that game, he was running through people. Like he was like, he was just, there was a determination, there was a self-belief, there was a like, I am going to be him in terms of on the ball, but I'm also going to be him in terms of a guy you don't want to see in space around you. And so am I going to anoint him as some national team solve all? No. Do I see a player that is showing things at 16? other players simply have not in this league? Yes. And I think that we should, we should not,

like, put them on the pedestal, but why is it that we always want to tear down our own? Like, from Christian Pulisic on, like, there is something in American soccer where we just want to, like, chip away, chip away, chip away, instead of, and they're like, well, why aren't we hyping up people so much? Well, why are we crapping on people so much? Like, you don't have to talk about somebody if you don't like them. You don't have to say, well, they're not there yet. We know that. He knows that. Like, that's what this whole, process is about is about building and stacking and getting to a point at 18 where maybe he could play for Manchester City and if he can't he can definitely impact another team in Europe or he can

certainly impact the USM&T. Like we are always trying to rush people along and I'm just happy to sit here and watch a 16 year old do his thing fit into a team and not just fit in like change their fortunes as part of this overall group that has done it. In the Claucera since since the World Cup break. Hell, yeah. By the way, this is like my faith. Oh, my God. This is like my fate.

I listen to the show in the car, and every time Doyle does it, I'm just like punching the end. I'm like, yeah, let's go. Vamos. He has been the best player in MLS. Oh, wow. I wasn't ready for that.

Okay. I mean, I'm trying to think of like somebody to challenge you with over the course of this time period. Grisemont, maybe I could challenge you with Grisemont. Yep. obviously messy is always going to right like that's the that's the easy one

there carlo holsa other obvious names like that carlos he'll be pretty awesome i gotta give i gotta give a shout out to sasha clestion who on 360 this weekend said that daniel edelman was the best player on st louis all year long you mean the kid who played in the academy

while he was coming while he was playing at red bull yeah got a goal this weekend too he did get a goal um yeah i i like Like, Kevin Sullivan has hit that level as a player where every time he gets on the ball. Like, first of all, you watch the game and you just turn your brain off hoping that the ball gets to him because he's going to do some cool shit with it. But then when he does the cool shit, it comes off way more often than it should. His, I did this in tactics free zone like a month and a half ago. His successful dribble percentage went up from like 35% before the break to, like, like, 70% after the rate?

He's just beating dudes 1v1 time and time again. He's now just automatically getting a second defender out there. Then when he does lose the ball to the point Weeby was making, he's winning it back. And we saw that early in this game against San Diego. I thought the broadcast did a really nice job of following him as he tracked back past midfield, tackled the ball midfield,

and then launched a union counterattack the other way. So he has these aspects to his game that are really mature. And honestly, that's what stood out to me about his game from the moment I first saw him. And I've told this story before, I think on the soccer-wise Discord back in 2021. So he was 11. A buddy of mine sent a 26-minute-long Kevin Sullivan highlight reel. And as a rule, I do not watch highlight reels for you. youth players because they're highlight reels. By definition, you're only going to see the good stuff.

It's mostly touches and stepovers and crap like that. But this guy was like, just watch this one. This kid is different and special. And he was. And what stood out to me was the way he found space if it was there, but also the way as an 11 year old, he was manipulating the two and three year older, three years older kids around him into losing track of him and thus creating space off the ball, which he would then take. He was always open. And that's now what we're seeing in MLS. And to that point, you watch the run he makes on the back heel goal. It's Ian Murphy, who's a pretty solid MLS defender, been around, you know, four years in this league now, I think, who's tracking him. Murphy looks at him. And as soon as Murphy looks at him,

Sullivan makes like he faints like he's going to go hard to the near post. And then so Murphy bites and he starts protecting the near post. And then as soon as Murphy looks away to get, you know, reoriented on the ball, Sullivan drifts back off to the six-yard spot. Like that is that is what Messi has done 500 times in his career for one-touch tap. It's just that understanding of how to set the defender up. to create space in the box is mature beyond his ears.

And then how to set the defender up to create space for your teammates. That is what we saw on the secondary assist because he takes an extra touch in midfield. And I think Danny Higginbotham on the call did a good job of explaining this how he wants to take that extra touch because he wants to bend the entire San Diego backline towards him. He wants to draw defenders towards him because he knows. knows that's going to open up the entire right flank for Frankie Westfield. And he does. And he lays in the perfect ball. And then it's the cross to the back post for, I think that was the Jacobovich goal. Those types of plays are not normal for a 16-year-old. Those are types of plays that a lot of

midfielders, a lot of playmakers, never entirely understand. And it's that mapping of the field and quick processing ability, married with the 1V1 ability and the sick first touch and all the highlight real stuff that we all enjoy so much, that makes them a Manchester City level prospect. And it's why, like, I genuinely think,

okay, he's not actually been the best player in MLS since the break. It's still, Leonel Messi. But below that messy tier, Kevin Sullivan is like right there with guys like Antoine. Griseman and even Daniel Edelman amongst the best players in the league and he like he is good enough he is ready he should be on the national team this coming camp if he's not then marisa

patitino has screwed up um for anyone listening to serious radio uh we're gonna go a little long now so you can hear the rest of the show on demand we're going to wax poetic about cabin and talk about the race of the playoffs so the big performances of the weekend as well as preview the u.s open cup semi-finals coming up. Weeby, do you want to talk about Pasachino-scuering? No, I just want to address the national team side and sort of the

the chorus of people that that are sort of like, oh, no, that's the entire point of the national team, right? Like if if you're saying like, oh, he needs to, like, not to put him down a peg, but like, he needs to sort of earn it, that's the whole point, right? He's earned it. He's earned it. That your play, that's what I'm saying, that your play earns

you a place there, and then you have to adapt and thrive at the level. Then it's on you. Yeah. It's on Kevin. Like, I don't know. To me, that's what gets me really frustrated is when people want to put up the roadblock before he gets in the environment. And it's like, well, do this and you will. Well, he did it. Okay, now put him in the environment. And if he doesn't thrive, then we can talk about whether or not he's ready for that environment. We are at the beginning of a four-year cycle into another World Cup. What is the beginning of this cycle for, if not to identify, begin to blood and begin to prepare the players that we think can impact the team at that level at the World Cup? now like what's the point of now then and to doyle's point he's earned it because he is better than the guys in major league soccer who would be called into this camp so he's done everything he needs to do on the field he's the logical selection as is neico securest because of the things you just said we'd be about the reality of you're building for the next four years you're building towards the

olympics you're building towards gold cups and copa americas and all of that but at the same time shouldn't the best performers in MLS have a road into the roster consistently, especially at positions of need. But right now, he is an attacking piece that doesn't really exist. Is he a man city star? I don't know. Is he a man city player of no idea? Why do we have to go there now?

Yeah, that's fine. That's two years away. That's where I get, it's like, slow down. Put him in the environment. If he doesn't do well, guess who has an opportunity now to guide his career to help him develop, to show him what it is. It's not just Pochitino, it's all these other veterans

that have been in that environment for a long time. Like, let's see. Let's see if he adapts. Let's see if he thrives. I'll say it. There's no reason to think he won't be a Manchester City level player

at this point. Because if you look at what he's doing an MLS relative to the league and compare it to Alfonso Davies, he was the previous best teenager in league history. Alfonso Davies went straight from the white caps, which was a worst team at the time, and a worse version of MLV.

and walked into Bayern Munich within six months. You know, like that, that, that, and Kevin Sullivan

has been better at 16 than Alfonso Davies was at 17. So if he keeps on this path, there's no reason to think, but like, I'm just being hopeful, because if you look at the World Cup outside of Holland,

every man city player sucks for their national team because it's a machine that no one has a brain in. So I'm just hoping. And I'm not disagreeing with you. And I'm not sure where I sit on it, because I'm trying to wreck my brain for, for Alfonzo. Davies Vancouver White Caps memory but we were there yes we saw the first goal in DC I'm not going to

sit here and tell you that Kevin's playing very well Alfonso Davies was otherworldly in that moment for a worst team he was he was come on come on you know he was he was otherworldly I Kevin is they're very different players correct yeah correct they're very different players but like you don't often see sure wingers sure sure sure but individual moments of making grown men look like children and then running past them and then having the ability and technical quality to finish. Like I just don't want us to degrade anything that Alfonso Davies did. That's my only point. Yeah.

I'm not doing with that. I'm just going to point out the fact that Kevin Sullivan literally leads the league in secondary assists, which is not something that you expect from a guy who plays for a team that is almost strictly north-south and plays nominally on the wing. And it speaks to his ability to read the game, come inside, get the ball in that. central channel and then make the game big again for the union so that guys like Frankie Westfield on one side or Indy Vassalov on the other end up sliding that ball across the six yard box he's a technician out there he is a shister and

he's one of those players I think he's one of the four best prospects I've ever seen from the US and we've mostly gotten lucky with those guys playing big minutes and hopefully we get 15, 20 years of talking about Kevin Sullivan in the red, white, and blue, and hopefully that starts with this camp because he's earned it. Port one out for Paxton Pomicle, though, who was fourth on that list for him. It was not, but, by the way, it went out indeed. It goes 11 assists in 2018 for Davies.

I'm just saying he was, he was a crack. I'm not trying to knock anything. Fonzie has one thing that Kevin does in, which is Fonzie is in the 0.000000 0.01 percentile, whatever, 99.9 physically at his position, right? Like, Alfonso Davies could not know how to dribble and he would still be the fastest player on every field he steps on, which is a tool that a club like Byron can use, however they choose to, which kept him around, got him there, kept him around, and then he finds a different position because it fits him a little bit better.

And that tool was useful, but he couldn't control everything he was doing in MLS when he was there. And Gavin Ken, at a very young age, as Doyle talked about with the second assist, he manipulates the game and you can not play through him because Philly doesn't play through anyone, but you can play through him in a way that you couldn't and guarantee results with what Fonzie did. And that's part of the piece, by the way, on the back hill goal, like, is he trying to score? I don't know. His technical ability is so high that when he doesn't, isn't prepared for a moment, he can

execute special things. And that's the baseline of soccer players where we at times have missed with American players. Walker Zerman was on our show a few weeks ago and he was like, I don't know, maybe if I was in a pro academy at nine, technically I'd be a little bit better. That would be the only gap. Like he has the athleticism, the competitiveness, the experience, all those things. That's the only gap. And Kevin is a piece of, it's Philly. It's his family, right?

His grandfather, a soccer coach, his brothers, professional players. But all of that stuff, which is the last piece of culture that sometimes some of, our players don't get. And at the highest level, there could be moments where they can't figure out solutions, where they can't get out of trouble, where they can't create. And that's sort of the gap. Giorina obviously has most of that. Again, a soccer family and grew up around the ball and around the game has had other issues that have taken him away from sort of the greatness that he's capable of. It feels like Kavana's on that path and has the ability to get to the top of that that mountain in a way that very few players we've seen.

I mean, I saw people online talking about him versus Gozo. He's three years younger than Gozo. Yeah, I don't know. That's a crazy comparison to me. But Cozo is a multi-million dollar. Lost the plot if that's the way that we're talking about, these things. So I think we all expect to see him in the national team at the end of this week. We're going to have reaction shows around that roster drop as we get into it.

Let's hit our drive to the playoffs now and then we'll talk open cups. this is our drive to the playoff segment presented by Continental Tire, longtime partner and supporter of MLS and American Soccer. Weeby, I assume you have some Continental Reeds just deep in the memory bank. Do you still know the jingle? No, it's one of those things

probably mowing the lawn and it'll come to me. That's right, Tom. I take care of my own landscape. I will say we did our first MLS Minute this week and we were working on it. Shout out to Douglas for helping me out. We found music, what we wanted sound like, and I had the

break that we had in ETR stuck in my head of 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10. Whoever's voice it was. I don't think it was Morchridge at first. I don't think it was a hired voice actor that like, I think Nick went on and got a hired voice actor, but yes, the era of the break, also I was thinking about this other day,

the era of the intro music that I'm not, I don't know we had rights to that, but we just would play music like 15 seconds into every segment. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. One of my big joys, yeah, one of my big joys was picking, was picking songs, ripping them down, baby.

I mean, not ripping them down, doing it all legally without any sort of, any sort of copyright issues whatsoever. In light of that, now let's talk about our continental tire drive to the playoffs. And I think the most interesting conversation right now is around the Western Conference and sort of the fight for a home playoff seat. We'll talk about the Shield in a moment because we didn't in the best things we saw. But on the weekend, Vancouver and Houston both fall, sitting in first and second. Dallas moves up for a tie on 43 points with Houston. And San Jose and St. Louis are tied at fourth and fifth on 41 points, both of them jumping L.A.F.C. this weekend with their wins.

So St. Louis is the one, sorry, with eight straight wins. And they have been on an incredible run, 10 undefeated, whatever it is as well. And then San Jose bouncing back, as you said. Doyle, we talked about this last week. Who's for real? Who's not? These are three teams that we were pretty high on, sort of making their approach now at the top of the Western Conference.

Yeah, St. Louis is the hottest team in the league. And they obviously made a huge splash, both incoming and outgoing this summer, with the loss of Marcel Hartel, Best 11 playmaker, who I know Weeby is a big fan of. Every time you say it when I'm listening to the show, He was awesome. Yeah, he was great.

I don't know what you were talking about. I'm not disputing that. He's just not Best 11. Like, what are we talking about? I thought he was playing at a Best 11 caliber. And they went out and replaced him, partially with Carlo Holset, who's been really good. A similar player, not entirely one for one, a little bit more downhill. And then the other big acquisition this summer, obviously, it was Hoff Navarro.

And when they bought him, everyone thought, well, you're just going to plug him in up top in place of Simon Betcher. The worry I had about that was that Simon Becher is the best defensive center forward in the league. And that is a huge part of St. Louis's identity. He also does a lot of work shithousing, frankly, and a lot of work in terms of like linking, right? He runs the hard yards. Ruffin Navarro does that really, really well. But I was worried that putting Navarro up there and benching Becher would change the complexion. of the team and then bet you're complicated things

by getting on a goal scoring streak to the point where you couldn't take him out of the lineup. So then Yon DeMay, to his credit, just uses Hoff Navarro in the two line in the three, four, two, one. And what I conceive of as the old Diego Rossi role for Columbus, where it's like, okay, definitely not a winger, but you can drift out wide.

Not a number nine, but you could run through the lines and actually occupy the centerback. if you want, and you can definitely attack space and behind. Not a playmaker, but you're expected to drop in and operate in that half space. It's like you get to be whatever kind of attacker that you want to be. And the early returns on that, especially because Betcher and Navarro are changing, swapping positions the whole time, early returns on that are spectacular. And I didn't really see it coming that quickly.

to the point I said that I thought maybe St. Louis actually got worse because I rate Hartel that highly and Edward Lufin as well. Like those two guys were a huge part of why they started this unbeaten run. But men, with DeVarro in there and with that really rugged central midfield, this team looks great. Like this team is 100% for real. I don't know if they're going to make a long playoff run or not. But I think of all the teams chasing. in the white caps, I do think that this is the second best team in the Western Conference. I'm willing to put that stamp on them.

They rotated a little for this game too. Polvar steps in the central midfield, follow fall gets a start. They've got a big game this midweek coming up. So that's part of this. Like I assume the opportunity to win a U.S. Open Cup is as big as anything they're going to have this season. So I would assume there's some focus there that will add another game into this. But, Levy, this is, you love St. Louis. Lewis, and this is a big, big moment.

Listen, we can split the city in the club. We can do that. We can do that. But I'm a little bit surprised, Doyle, that you're surprised, given what I thought was sort of the best attribute of Navarro at Colorado was the fact that he wasn't just a sit-up top, be a nine all the time guy, that he was sort of a drifter, that he would, like, fall into deeper positions. And it wasn't necessarily playmaking, but it was like hold up with more purpose than just

bouncing the ball backwards. And so, like, I think Johan DeMay, what he's showing us this year is, one, an ability to use pieces that don't necessarily completely fit his vision to approximate that vision and get results. And then starting now with Corey, like Corey Ray, the ability to sort of really, really identify what the right profile is. And then through the club and the commitment and the financial investment there to go get that profile and not hesitate about it. And like, to me, that's so much of what St. Louis was missing for the first couple years was like an intentionality about the way they wanted to play, a partnership between manager and front office that was effective and like collaborative. And then just like overall ethos and vision that

lasted. Now, listen, we saw that in year one and it didn't, it sort of fell apart. I'm much less skeptical that we'll fall apart in this case. And I look back at Dumme's years in Columbus, and to me, that's where you start to see, like, what happens when that true synergy exists in terms of your tactical approach, your coach is a manager, and your front office's ability to scout, identify, and sign the players that truly fit with that vision. His time with, with, you know, obviously with Wilfred and with the front office that existed in that moment, led by Tim Bespecinko, I mean, to me, this is like the beginning of that synergy for St. Louis.

So if I was a fan of the club after going through a lot of different. difficult moments and frustrating moments. I would look at this not just in terms of it's fun to win and we have some good players, but in terms of our trend line is looking really, really good for the short term, the midterm, and the long term because we have got the right people in place with the right relationships to push it forward.

Yohan DeMay to me, I mean, I know that right now that B.J. Callahan's probably running away with Coach of the Year. But Johan DeMay is knocking on that door real hard. and if I was the crew, I would be like looking around and saying like, why didn't we hire that guy? Like, why didn't we, why aren't we the ones with him on our sideline? Are you talking about Yonda May or Corey Ray? But no, to your point, I've viewed everything that St. Louis has done this year

through that crew lens. And the first thing I think of when it comes to the crew is, you know, those great crew teams under Wilfrid Nancy was the control they exerted over the game through central midfield. Now, they won the ball back really high as well, and they had this free-flowing attack, but it was mostly about pitch control to me. And I was, like, that's not who Chris Durkin is. That's not who Daniel Edelman is.

They are more about hard tackling North South soccer. And then now you look at Holsa, who is less about pitch control than Hartel or especially Louvenfer. And then you look at Rafah Navarro playing as a second forward or a half-space merchant, not much about pitch control, more about pure attack. So it's, they've, the thing I guess, a failure of imagination on my part was understanding how the system could work just as effectively or even arguably more effectively as they moved away from that pure uncut Wilfred Nancy ball into something, I guess, a little bit

more aggressive and sort of high pressing. And to your point, Weeby, the acquisitions that they make. made and the way that Dame has integrated them have actually led to them being a more high-octane team than even that crew

team was. But I think the next step is like, okay, can we see press resistance and change a pace in central midfield? They've shown it at times. There's no Darlington Nagby out there. And Darlington Nagby was a skeleton key against big teams and big games.

Which is credit to Yon DeMay as well. Because you can't come in and create, like, the crew era for Wilfred Natsi was not some, like, that was not a five, 10-year era. That was very much time and place, Cucho, Rossi, you know, Nagby, like, Marrera, all these critical pieces that made it all possible.

And so the thing that I would give Yon immense credit on is finding an approximation of what they did, but one that's suited to the pieces that they have. And again, it goes back to that, like, synergy between front office and manager of saying, okay, this is actually what we're capable of with the guys that we have. Let's build around these guys. Here's your sort of pillar.

Here are the guys that are going to stick around. And then let's be patient and let's be willing to make difficult changes to get what we think are the right pieces in. And I know it's early still. Like, this could all fall apart. But like that patience, I think, has to be lauded. And I know it was very hard in the moment. for St. Louis City.

But when the results come on the back end of it, then you have to sort of say, okay, like there was a plan here. It wasn't just like, we're broke and we're not going to spend. It was we're only going to spend on the guys that we think truly fit and truly allow us to push this project on. That's the part where it's like, we're all nerds from the outside.

We love process. We believe in it. We were probably going to believe in it no matter what at the end of this year. That's where the winning helps. Because now, very quickly, I think Corey Ray and his group and Yon Jomei, they have capital with the fan base. And they're, you know, a fan base that wanted some immediate changes to start the year. And it was really slow to come.

And now I think you can say, if you come out and say, hey, whatever it is, whether they sell a big player again in the future, whether it's a situation like Harder or Loven, I think if you say, trust us, we've got our targets. We're going to take care of business. We're going to build the best team for the long term. I think the fan base can believe in that because already very quickly, they have handled their business correctly, and they might be a top four team in the playoffs.

They might win a cup in year one, and that's a year in which they didn't really make moves, and there was frustration, and they kind of waited, and they waited for the right piece. And I even go to us. You know, I made fun of it last week or two weeks ago, when Dejan Yovalich got sold for $6 million,

that this was a club that had put $8 million on the table for Kuyper's. How is Yovalich moving for $6 million, and you're not in that conversation? Yovalch doesn't do most of the things we just talked about. Yovilich hangs up top and scores goals. So they didn't want to spend the money, or they didn't probably cleaner. They didn't want to spend the DP spot on a guy that didn't fit the system. And they were willing to hold out and wait for the one that they thought was the right piece.

And I get it with the Baham. He does a lot more things for your team. And they are things that fit in and they help strengthen the pieces around him and make their life better. Let's talk about these other two teams for a moment. We talked about San Jose for a while the run they're on. Dallas now putting together a nice run themselves. So it's three straight wins. This was their first home game since, you know, whenever,

or they played SKC last week. Sorry, this is their first week of home games. They've got two straight home games to go into the international break coming up. Three of their next four at home. So they host Austin this weekend. They host LAAFC the weekend after, and then we go into the international break. They come out with Charlotte on the road and Seattle.

at home. They are on 43 points. I do have my Eric Quill hat. Pull it down. That's not near low enough. No, but it's got a big enough head. That's the part of No, the part that's critical is that if we're doing an interview on, you can't see really eyebrows, maybe eyes, yeah, that's better. You guys, I put this hat on in Kusko and I said, oh, it's an Eric Quill hat. And the joke didn't land with the random woman from what and my wife. Yeah, it's sad. The global view. My God. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It sucked that that didn't exactly work for me. But we talked about.

Did you bring up Ron Ben-Hameen or no? We talked about Joaquin valiante on the last show, Doyle. He scores in this one. They win against Portland 2-1. It didn't change my opinion. You know, it was a good goal as part of a piece of what they are. I don't think he's the game changer in the moment. But there is not a super team behind Vancouver.

And I believe that Dallas on results can put up the best record to be a second-place team in the Western Conference. Yeah, so they have, what, 10 games left, and I think seven or eight of them are at home. Yeah. They had that long nine-game road trip. They just played three games in seven days. They took nine points from them. They have three more road games to close the year.

Yeah. So they have control of their own destiny. The difference is they're kind of doing it by the skin of their teeth right now. They're finding away. And what makes them better than I think last year's version of Dallas is that it's not just Petermousa and a low block. They are primarily a low block team. But as we saw with the opening goal against Portland, they're able to come up into the final third, get on the ball and still get runners in behind, whether it's, you know, Logan Farrington scoring a goal against Portland or last week it was Valiente running past Farrington into the box. So they're starting to be a little bit more dynamic with the ball.

The issue I have, we're 10 games left. I still don't know what their best lineup is. Yeah. Right? Like I think it's Musa and Farrington starting up top together, but they've been playing more with a back four than a back three. You want to have both Valiente and Santi Moreno out there. And Santiago hasn't been great, but he still adds value.

So there are like cruelt. things that Eric Quill needs to figure out down the stretch this year. But in terms of match winners, Moosa's obviously an elite one in MLS. Logan Farrington

Preach. Logan Farrington has proved to be one of the best all around Center Forge. Let me ask you this. I've been thinking about it for years honestly, but it's even more in focus now. I'm a GM of a different fill in the team, whatever it is. I come to you

Dallas and I say I'm offering you this number for a cash for what is a number realistically that would get Dallas to listen to that for Logan farrington for Logan farrington five million dollars i'm not really kidding because i think what you have to process here is replace his production for nowhere near the salary he's on like you're not going to get anyone anywhere close to his production for the same salary and then you also want to make money to be able to go out and spend on it i'm trying to find his contract exact situation so hang on one sec so he is on so he has an option for 2028 at 417 000 yeah they should they should give him a long-term deal yes i'm sure they're working yes correct um but he is he is one of the first players that i would go after if i was another c s o

but if i was dallas i would not be interested in in selling it because he's shown the ability to play up top and a two playing off of Musa or play as a one and he is one of the best defensive center forwards in the league and he does hold up play stuff. I made the point. Last week I put

out my predicted roster for the U.S. camp. If you're looking for a fourth center forward because obviously Baligan's going to be there, Pepi is going to be there and because it's partially a U23 cap, Julian Hall's going to be there. If you're looking for a fourth center forward, someone who

can sort of mimic the rugged hold-up play that we got from Pat Ajiman and Haji Wright. I think Farrington is the obvious choice right now. And he's very productive. In terms of goals and assists per 90 in MLS play, Kevin Sullivan is number one among domestic players. Logan Farrington is number two. And he has better underlines than Ajiman had last year before he got his first call. He's budget Rafa Navarro, is he not?

Like I think so yeah I think that's a great I mean like that's why watch him play I think about that a lot like and I also think that you know from a technical standpoint you might even there's moments where I'm like well actually Logan might be he might be ahead of him yeah yeah so um on the budget side Duncan McGuire is on nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Logan will be 25 in December he has earned he has earned a bigger deal there's just there's just no question for a million dollars which I think Dallas could give him because the way their contract set up, that's the one spot where it's, if it's another team that says, hey, we'll give him Max Tam and they're able to turn his eyes a little, then that's where Dallas would be pushed into making a move. And I don't know, look at some of these teams. Like, if you're SKC, you're going to go spend out, go out and spend all this money, do you not bring him in as a Max Tam Center forward and continue to blow out the wingerers

and the number 10s and Owen Wolf behind him and make him the guy that Houston wants Duncan McGuire to be, which is sitting in between all your DPs and just finishing chances and helping amplify their game. So I could see him move in that scenario, but I guess if I'm Dallas, I would just give him the contract. Whatever another team sort of offers underneath the table, I guess you could just match. There's also, and I don't think you can discount this. I often think that we do, or we just don't know it or understand it because we're not in the buildings. I think there's a true cultural component as well with Dallas's success and sort of the makeup of the group. And it's also Quill.

Like, I think Eric Quill is sort of the perfect manager in this moment for this group. By the way, John, CNCOLO 1-200 last week in the first. I was waiting for that. My bad. You think I wasn't locked in watching every second of it. They should have five. They should have five. But, like, I just think at this moment for Dallas, like, Quill is the perfect culture compliment.

Like, their club is going through, it's like a transition phase, right? Like, they had some failures in terms of what they were building, who they were building it with. okay you go to a guy who understands the core of what the club is and now you're going to send him on the road for half the summer and the building's going to be half complete and like i mean pharrington has to sign a five-year deal just to see the end of the construction agreed so it's only a seven year you're like how do you not you got to pay this off you gotta see the one you know that's why miami held on to noa allen for so long

instead of gamming him today he needed to see new stadium before they sent him off for the full three mills so i just think this team this team is not going to beat you other than musa like pure tallow wise right so So like I saw it in last year's playoffs and they weren't there. And we kind of saw that again against Vancouver recently where it's just like, oh, you don't quite have the, you don't have that gear. But to me, to your point, like they just keep, they're incrementally getting better. They're believing in themselves more.

And I would also just shout out one guy. I think Urugida is one of the most underrated players in the entire league. Like this team defensively is not exactly a lockdown team. But like he is, he is the one guy. If he's not in the lineup, I'm super concerned. if he is, I'm okay, and then you never know who's going to play next to him, basically. Is it going to be a Viaga? Is it a book?

Who's it going to be? Yeah. We talked about San Jose already. That's sort of the top of the Western Conference right now. I feel a little bad because we're not going to spend a long time on Nashville. This week, they had a huge result. They went to Miami. They were the better team over the course 90 plus minutes.

They got the draw, which is probably enough for them to clinch the shield in the end. That's not official yet, but they extend the lead to eight points. Vancouver's got one game in hand on them. Miami stays eight points behind now. And Vancouver has, of course, Canadian championship to play in. But we've talked a lot about Nashville, and I think we'll talk about them a lot more going forward. So we're not going to do as much on that one.

Zero concern about a way week with no wins. I think if you go to Miami and you're the better team over the course of 90 plus, and if Surge puts his chances away, you win that game. Yeah, but if you're okay to. If Messi does like messy baseline, and they probably lose the game. No? Did I lose internet?

I just heard of that. No, I think we've lost internet. Oh, okay, cool. Did I? Yeah. Can you, can you hear me? I think the Namar stands cut the wire a little bit. No, but like if Messi has hits what you would expect, like his baseline finishing ability is,

I think they, Miami win the game. Yeah, but same with Serge, no? I would say this. To a lesser degree. I would say this. I don't expect as much. For Nashville, they win the shield if they maintain. So I think going to a rival and maintaining and playing well is fine.

It's a good result. I'm not going to argue that. It's a bad week. Especially because Vancouver dropped points. I'm not sure I'll go so far as to say it was a bad week. Like they got two results on the road. It was their toughest stretch of the year. They did enough to maintain that supporter shield lead.

The two things I'll point out, they are no longer on track to break Miami's record for single season points total, which everybody was talking about a week. and a half ago, justifiably. They can still do it, but it's a little bit higher of a mountain to climb. And then I pulled apart the numbers for my column last night. They're spending less time on the ball than they did the first half of the year. And that's what the real issue is, not, you know, finishing or, you know, individual defense. They're more vulnerable because they're rushing through central midfield.

They're not taking their time to draw opponents to them and then play through them. And they're turning the ball over more, actually, because they're rushing. It's not bad, right? They're not a bad team. They're still a good team. But in the first half of the year, they were an excellent team, like literally one of the best that we've had in recent MLS memory at doing that. And I think that this is just accumulated fatigue over the course of the season for one. and for two, it's time of the year where teams are playing are playing with more desperation.

Yeah. Right. So the margin for error is a little bit thinner. And maybe Nashville, because they had that big lead in the shield standings, weren't quite as sharp or desperate going into this game. More tape, too, right? Like, you just have, there's a lot more time to understand and prepare for what this particular group is doing. Just quick, quick anecdotes. Sorry, let me just, can I just jump in there?

They also, Yazbex's now back. Saad has come in. So they do have other elements now, even though there's more tape on them. I didn't think it was Yazbex. No, I don't think he's looked good yet. I didn't think the level was at what we had seen previously with him. And he was frustrated on the sideline for this coming off. He was pretty frustrated with himself.

And he and BJ had a couple little moments where BJ is pretty frustrated. And the one anecdote I'll go to that just confirms what you're talking about, Doyle, is BJ just being on the side dying and screaming like, be patient, keep the ball. like be patient keep doing all. I wish I'd had that for my column. Weavy, I know you love a list. So Nashville, by the way. Now my internet's good.

I didn't hear any of that actually. And I probably will never hear it. So Weeby, Nashville hosts Chicago and Toronto to go into the international break. They then have Austin on the road, S.KC at home. Then they go to San Jose and Montreal. All of that spaced out. All of that against teams that have struggled for the most part over the last few weeks outside of San Jose.

On the flip side, Vancouver, because of the game in hand, which is great, they've got an added game. They go to Montreal this midweek for a Canadian championship. They would, if they win, add in another game on the Canadian championship side. They still have to go to St. Louis. They still have to go to altitude in Colorado. They have a tougher schedule. I assume we are not considering Miami a truceal contender, right?

I don't think so. No, no. If you can't win at home, I don't think there's any way in this league that you'll sniff the So it just feels like Nashville, they've got the easier schedule. They've got less to get to. They've done enough to maintain. Let's do our previews here. Let's talk Open Cup before we head out of here.

So Wednesday night, 7 p.m. Eastern time and 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. It starts with Columbus hosting Orlando. Columbus, the only of the four semifinalists to have lost this weekend. And I could have just said that going back for a really far time. Orlando comes in. Griseman has scored in five straight games. Columbus has lost seven of their last eight. eight in all competitions.

It was a one zero loss to Red Bull, New York this weekend. A pretty strong group for them of what they have capable to them. And Orlando comes in off a three zero win over TFC, five unbeaten with four wins. Weyby, as you think about this one, keys to the game, what you're thinking about in terms of this matchup of this magnitude. I mean, I think the key to the game is really just how you handle Antoine Griseman. Like, he really is at that level of all-around performer. for Orlando City and one of those signings that just you kind of knew it was gonna, that he wasn't going to be like that sort of disinterested like back end of the career DP,

like that he truly saw this moment in his life as like this massive opportunity, both professionally and personally. And for me right now it's like a joy to watch him cavort around Central Florida. And like what I now, all I want is for him to go do like one of those crazy swamp shows where like he's sticking his head in an alligator mouth. And like, these are the things that I think Antoine Grisman should be doing in addition to bawling out. So I'm curious to see how,

Lauren Simone and DeCru try to minimize his impact because he is bringing out the best in everyone around him. And I talked to Justin Alice a few weeks ago about the connection that they have. And he was like, look, it was instant. That's what Ellis told me. He's like, the moment this guy gets on the training field, he's like, first of all, he's so easy to play with.

Second of all, there was just something between us that worked. So I don't know how the crew are going to are going to handle that. Like I honestly don't. And he went to the Jags game this weekend. Did he? He's got pure.

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. He said, we need him on Friday night lights. Like, get him to high school football, baby. Like, what are we doing right now?

Him and Wilder Cartagena were on the field as Trevor Lawrence diced and sliced. Oh, good. Well done. Yeah. So to me, that's the key to the game. I am concerned about the crew.

I'd let you. Doyle diagnose their illness. I would say this. I'm concerned. A lot of the things Griesman does well, the best way to try and manipulate or slow it is to have really good centerback play and your spacing be good and holding high lines and holding correct off sides line. All this stuff that the crew are maybe the worst at in Major League Soccer. Like no one is a natural centerback.

The way they control space as a backline is as bad as anyone. And Doyle, I assume Griesman is just going to feast on that. I mean, I assume. so as well, him in Justin Ellis. I would almost start Daryl Dicay if I was Orlando just because I actually think that Columbus are better at controlling space in the final third than you're giving them credit for. They just suck defending in their own box. I don't think they would have any answer.

But I wouldn't chase guys into the box if I couldn't defend them. I would try and catch them. And then on the flip side, the crew have not been very good. in the other box all year long, other than like one little hot streak right after Laurent Courtois, not Simon, Weeby. Did I say Simon? You did.

Oh my God, I got Laurent on the brain, man. Yeah, took over his head coach. They just, they're a team that are doing a lot of the same stuff that they did so well a couple years ago. They're just not executing it like they used to. You know, I'm a big believer in systems and coaches. and player development, but ultimately top-end talent matters a lot as well.

Or mid-end talent. I think that's where it feels like for some of Columbus, it's guys out of position, it's guys uncomfortable. I mean, you talk about DK. He could physically control most of the matchups. He'd be in, and I assume Orlando will in central midfield as well. But outside of Yon-all-a-old, they are susceptible defensively, and Santiago-Reggues and Bryce Mendez are elite attacking players when they're on.

So this is not like a no opportunity for Columbus. And the whole season's here. Like this is the biggest game of the year for Columbus. This is all they have left. Where for Orlando, they've made the move up the playoffs. They have maybe a half eye on regular season stuff as well. I still think it's huge for Orlando too. I mean, think about if you're Orlando and your path to the Concaf Champions League.

Like with Grisman in this moment of your club, you still have O'Heda. Like I think that is critically important for them as well. Like this is not some like trophy laden team that we're talking about. And just one other point I want to make, even though Orlando have started getting results over the past month, they are still bad defensively. And as much as the crew have struggled, there is a very realistic outcome where the crew score four goals in this game.

Because Orlando will give you chances. This is the fun one, the second game. Colorado versus St. Louis 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. It's the Hoffnavarie Derby. Colorado will be watching. Because he's not allowed to play because he already played. He's cup tied. Yeah, he's kept tied. Which great. He'll have a front row at an altitude for this one. Obviously, St. Louis comes in off the big win. Hulse had a goal in that game as well. For Colorado, it was a one zero win over Montreal this weekend. So they have six straight home wins. All of them are shutouts over the last month and a half.

and Whitaker and Syed made their debuts off the bench. In this one, Paxson Aronson with the lone goal from the penalty kick spot. Doyle, I put on blue sky. I got Whitaker hyped. I got Whitaker max, whatever it is. He's big, which is kind of one of the things I look for with attacking players early of like, okay, maybe if he's not the most skilled, he could at least physically hang. He likes to come inside.

He looked pretty tricky. I don't know. If a guy dribbles one person, I'm in love for 15 minutes. So they got me, they got me snatch. But overall, I thought Colorado looked pretty good in this game. What do you make of this matchup, them being the home team, and sort of what they need to do to slow St. Louis? I mean, nobody's been able to slow St. Louis for months and months at this point.

I expect Colorado to come out and make it really physical. And that has been, that was their MO to start the season. They start picking up a lot of red cards. And I think they've had to dial it back. I expect them to dial it back up, though, because you know the reps aren't going to want to show a red card in a semifinal. So I think that this is going to be sort of ax handles and machetes at 10 bases rather than much soccer, at least to start out with.

But then the question is, can Colorado get into a rhythm on the ball? And they've struggled with that because they simply don't have a lot of good passers of the ball. But still, when they've been able to hit that gear, then they're able to get. their wingers, whether it's Whitaker, who starts and goes 90, perhaps in this one, or Georgie Minungu, or if it's Donovan Philip playing out why. When they get those wingers into those spots, like they have their patterns. They know exactly how they want to attack in the final third, and they create chances out of it. But, God, I feel weird saying this, but St. Louis, I think even on the road is probably the

favorite in this game. I think yeah no no doubt I just the issue for me with the rapids is they don't have end product like they will control games with the ball they may not be like they have incisive passing but they will have the ball I think their centerback pairing is pretty good rob holding had a blip recently but he's sort of corrected that and certainly at home they haven't had those issues to me their strength is like that defensive mill the dinner in and then the two centerbacks and then they can control games with the ball in the sense that the other team doesn't have the ball, but not that the other team is really threatened. If you go back to three months ago,

here's their goal scoring totals. 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 1,0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. And with that, we just unlock the code. Even with Rafa Navajo, they did not have the final product. And that is what is missing. And that's why this transfer window was so critical for them. I understand why they were just like,

I think we just kind of have to wipe it. I think we just kind of have to like clean the page and hope that a talent upgrade will give us what we need because we don't have an ability to go out and win games that aren't one-nothing games. Or like, I mean, they scored two goals once in the last three months. Is that, yeah, I believe that to be right. Yeah.

Outside of Open Cup play. So. It's on the physicality side, by the way, this weekend, Dante Sili came back with Montreal and was hacking dudes. And you're like, if you want to get the ethos of Colorado, the guy they traded away is out here just laying Paxson Aronson out. And it felt like a war. And that was in a regular season game.

So I can only imagine a cup semi-final. Miningu, I think he's gotten better as the years gone along getting to his spot. But they'll final decision making him and Yappy. That's like the huge gap with both of them. They get into good spots. They don't make the right decision or execute in that. final spot and the frustrating thing to me is that yappy was doing this last year he was getting to the right spots when he was playing as a center forward last and i think we're going to see again i think so as well

but i'm i'm a little worried that they went out and got another u22 center forward in in abu saiad yeah i that doesn't worry me to me it's yappi's job to be like i'm the dude like when rafa was there i was like okay well you're going to get you're going to get your spots and it makes sense that you were going to be cast in a different place. Like you just got to find you on the field. But he's gone, man. If you cannot beat out another U-22 guy, no matter how much money they spent on him, that's a you problem.

The assumption on timeline is he plays well. He's sold within a year. Right. And then Saeed plays well for another year. He's sold. It would be irresponsible to have not made that U-22 signing of Saeed, in my opinion, like long-term squad building ways. Yeah.

So Colorado's lost twice to St. Louis. Remember after the last game a month or so ago? Wells and DeMay got into it on the field as they walked off. Hell yeah. Good nature, Corey Ray had to try and break it up. So there's already juice there. St. Louis has controlled most of this for Colorado would be a historic moment. To get to a final, I didn't grab this number I should have.

I think St. Louis is the city with the most open cup victories overall, not to one team, just two teams that have played in that city. Obviously, you go back to the Hill in the 1950s and all of that. so this is like a competition that is pretty close to this club and if they could get to a final that'd be pretty special and if they could get to a final in their first year as this sort of triumbrate of control I don't know what phrase to use there I was trying to avoid final solution for Doyle so I was trying to figure out another way to use and boy I couldn't get there we something you wanted to say no I just think that like the St. Louis fans have been begging for their

club to truly care and invest in this tournament, like their entire existence. They're like, this is what matters. This is what we care about. Go try to win it. Put resources into it. Put time into it with your best players. And, you know, it's path time. Let's see if they can do it. We got to get out of here. Canadian Championship Montreal, Vancouver, tied at 1-1, going to Montreal for the second leg. Again, Montreal, most of what to play for this season is in this competition. So it's a big one for them. Vancouver have been the dominant force in this over the last five years. Forge and Supera the other game there, one, one, the thing I was going to drop for you, Weeby, I don't know if you saw Jack McInerney, apparently around training with Supra thinking about it.

I don't know what to say other than... You love a little Jack Matt Golds for. Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah. And Weeby, I'll let you close us out on this. This North American Cup Wednesday. I don't know what time sell us. Campione's Cup, Inter Miami against Cruz Azul. I mean, I think that's the sell, right? You're seeing two of the biggest clubs in the entire region go head to head for a trophy and I've been on the sideline for Campionis Cups

in the past and I remember distinctly last year in L.A. Like Toluca wanted to tear the galaxy's face off and then went out and basically did it in the second half from a physical standpoint and from just a shit housing standpoint as Doyle you know I did I can curse

on this show I guess. But I think you're going to see you're going to see some history there and obviously Messi's history against Cruz Azul is very memorable as his first goal. It's it's the moment that introduced him to the world in pink. Um, and Miami are in a moment right now where it's not, it's not flowing, man. And it's, it's a little bit weird with the, with the coaching. He is, Keeley Gunza, when's he going to get here with his visa? What is he the coach? Yeah. What, what, yeah, what, yeah, what does he have a contract? Yeah. Yeah. My

understanding is that the visa issues, they hope could be resolved this week and he could get there. But yeah, it's like purgatory right now for Inter Miami. Like, you know, I think it could go, either way for them. It could go heaven. Like this team has all the pieces to go do something special again. And it could be hell. It could follow apart. Why don't they play the Ecuadorian star centerback at centerback and play the Brazilian international center midfielder at center midfield and then maybe play someone like

Talasco Sogovia out on the wing. Does any of that math make sense? No. Okay. And playing Frisia Kisado, who is super talented. Yeah. So much. back was an own goal.

I still don't understand why they felt the need to sell Noah Allen or loan him out this summer. Like they could have gotten $3 million for him in January. And I think that like literally that move costs them two points this weekend because Noah Allen doesn't go to ground trying to cut out that pass. He keeps his feet. He contains Shaq Muhammad and he prevents that surge goal from ever happening. So, look, I've praised Miami a lot over the years for their roster management because they're so good at generating gam, but they jump the gun with this one and they put themselves in a tough spot where they really only have one left back on the roster and he is hurt all the time.

They're going to need Sergio Region against Cruz as well. One more point about why to watch this game. This could be Leonel Messi's final cup of any sort, right? There's no guarantee that they're going to make MLS Cup. there's no guarantee he's going to come back for the sprint season and beyond. Like, we are in the final days, how close to the end nobody really knows, but we are in the final days of Leonel Messi's career. And while I know that the whole Inter-Miami experience has rubbed some MLS. Sickos the wrong way,

he's still the greatest athlete I've ever seen in my entire life. No athlete has ever given me more joy than Lionel Messi has. watching this guy play is a one-of-one experience and watching him play with a trophy on the line. I mean, he treats Campione's Cup, Leagues Cup, U.S. Open Cup. He treats it all like it's the World Cup final. It's sick. Like, it's a pathology, but he's got it, and it's why he's won so much. And I know that I'll be watching this one.

It's a gift to all of us, man. Like, it's unbelievable. I just want you to know my hands. class behind me because I went to my respectful museum pose when Doyle started talking about the history of Messi, although no one performs at the highest moments like Usain Bolt. Can I just say on the Noah Allen thing? Because this is the place to nerd out on this stuff. Is it not possible that it seemed like opportunity was not at the same level for Noah that like if you look at his year by year splits, he's not an every game starter for this Miami group?

But if you're Miami, why do you care? That's fair. Like, oh yeah, you're sorry or you're you're pissed. You're not starting. every game, that's tough. Just go to all the media. Please go talk for us. And also I would say, because he hasn't been the start of the whole time, it's not like his value was going to drop if he wasn't the start of the rest of this year, because it would have been the reality of what he is.

But he would be a starter because everyone's hurt and that backline sucks. And they don't trust, they don't trust Kai Sado at left back. You can tell watching the game and being done it. Kaysedo doesn't trust himself at left back. No, they don't. He never stepped forward. He never took possession forward. He never filled the space.

And on top of the two points they dropped because of the foul and everything that Doyle mentioned, you've got Bertrami out of position. So Bertrami, all my texts every week are Bertah, Bertah, how does this guy play from the Miami fans? Doesn't fit, man. Because he's playing out of position and he's miserable. And also, maybe he's not that good. That part, I'm not sure about it as much.

Yeah, it doesn't fit. Can it last, Yenik Bright's a freaking baller. He's a joy, a joy to watch play. Shocked he's still on the. roster, but he is continuing to hold it down. On the flip side, Eric Lira, Charlie Rodriguez, some big time stars for Cruz Azul. So I will be there. I'm excited. I will probably be in the press box streaming the Open Cup, watching Campion Ace Cup and enjoying all of it and enjoying all the soccer. As I mentioned, we'll be back at the end of the week. We expect to have a USM&T roster

to break down. We will react to the Open Cup semifinals Canadian Championship. All of that. On the NWSL side, Houston Dash just let their coach go. And a bunch of other moves and news happening on top of some big results this weekend. So I'll be on with Jordan Angelou tomorrow to break all of that down. And we have our open mic show that is going every single week. Really excited for this week's show sat down with Paul Kennedy of Soccer, America. I grew up reading and his coverage. And we dug into the troves.

So we talked 70s, 80s, 90s, Bruce Arena at UVA. Bob Bradley as an assistant at UVA, some of the great Ethnic League teams. and U.S. Open Cups and national team moments and all of that. So I think you're going to enjoy that one, and we've got First Touch all week, Dispatch and Weekly. So we'll talk to you all again very, very soon, very excited about the collective launching. Thank you, Weeby, for being here to do it with us.

Doyle, as always, it's a pleasure, and we'll talk to you all again soon. Wait, wait, one more thing.