SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | Chucky to LA, Gozo to England & Leagues Cup

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

Chucky Lozano is reportedly headed to the LA Galaxy, Xavier Gozo is closing in on a move to Crystal Palace, and Leagues Cup is officially underway. David Gass and Tom Bogert break down the latest MLS transfer news, discuss Larry Berg being named the league's next commissioner.Then, Ben Wright and Valair Shabilla of SixOneFive Soccer, one of MLS's leading independent media outlets, join the show to discuss Soccerwise's new partnership with SixOneFive, how they built the outlet, Nashville's rise as a soccer city, and the biggest storylines from the opening week of Leagues Cup.Check out SixOneFive Soccer:https://www.sixonefivesoccer.com/0:00 Intro 6:52 Larry Berg Named New MLS Commissioner 17:34 Chucky Lozano to the LA Galaxy29:55 Xavier Gozo to Crystal Palace35:17 MLS Transfer Roundup43:32 SixOneFive Soccer Joins Soccerwise46:00 Nashville's Soccer Growth57:23 Leagues Cup Roundtable👍 Like • Subscribe • Listen • Follow🎧 Listen & follow Soccerwise on your favorite podcast app:https://soccerwise.captivate.fm/ 🎥 Watch full video episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@SoccerwiseHQ 🌐 Visit Kickback Soccer for more podcasts, news, and coverage:https://kickbacksoccer.com 📰 Subscribe to The Kickback newsletter:https://the-kickback.ghost.io 📲 Follow Soccerwise on social media:Instagram: SoccerwiseHQ https://www.instagram.com/soccerwisehq/ Instagram: SWWomenFC https://www.instagram.com/swwomenfcBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/soccerwisehq.bsky.social

Welcome to Soccer Wise, everyone, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you for a loaded episode. We have a big announcement coming up. We are going to have two great friends to join us to chat about that, as well as about the biggest tournament in the world in Leagues Cup. We've got the ice cream shop to open up as well, and we've got some big news around soccer-wise and Major League Soccer. Tom, the vote is in. It is official. you have been voted by the Ownerships groups

as the newest co-host at Soccer Wise. How do you feel? I don't know that this was a position I needed to re-earn. Is there like elections every year, every other year? Like, what's going on here, dude? It's just mainly we needed a new place to shoot you walking up the stairs with someone else. So we didn't have that shot. Yeah, we didn't have that shot anymore.

I have that shot. You have it? You had it in your back pocket? One of me. Yeah. walking up somebody's there asked me to are you serious it's a good photo yeah were you next to don I was alone

man see that's the problem we gotta get you alongside the people that you could be replacing Larry Berg has been named officially the new MLS commissioner to replace Don Garber he will take over on January at first there will be transition time Larry Berg's trying to take advantage of that

he tried to kick a couple questions over to Don as he got question upon being announced the new commissioner and he's like, I don't know. It's an awkward spot. Like, not for nothing. But Larry, no one's asking you what Don thinks. I think we've all asked Dom these questions for 20 years.

No, no, no. But like, I just won the vote to take over as a new commissioner. Now I'm here with the old commissioner, somebody who, as an owner of a club, he's worked very closely with. For sure. Certain he respects, and there's probably a relationship there. And then he has to be like,

here are all the things I would do differently now. While he's sitting there? Yeah. Let him do the interview by himself. Tom, this is how big time corporate America works. If you want to be the next, yeah, if you want to be the next CFO, you've got to be ready to lock in. Come on. You've seen Cicentian. No, I learned it on succession.

This is how it works. But he's not even warm. You're getting kidnapped in a Bulgarian hotel and you have to be ready to announce the next piece of news and sit alongside people. but it was a big day for Major League Soccer. So we'll chat a little bit about that. We will dig into the ice cream shop, some huge news out in California, around Chuki Lotsano, Zavier Goso's reported move

that could happen to Europe, which is obviously a big thing that we've all sort of been expecting, but hadn't heard a ton about. Some big other designated player moves, both into Major League Soccer and out of MLS in the Midwest, and some big additions that have gone official in Columbus and Houston. And then we are going to talk League's Cup. It has started.

I've been enjoying watching the games. As you know, I have tickets to the game next Wednesday because I thought about tickets yesterday's game. It's next Wednesday. You missed a good one, man. I was thinking about you when I was watching. I literally turned on. I missed the first goal because it happens so fast.

And I was like, oh, crap. And then about 20 minutes later, lightning flashed in my window because I kind of am close to the stadiums. It was the same weather. And I was like, I made the right call by mistakenly buying tickets. to the wrong day. And it ended up being weather delayed. And it was like wild out. And the game finally finished. But Miami and Leon both won. So I have something to hold on to, which is, as of now, it's not a dead rubber match in that third game. Because I've realized that teams could be like fully

eliminated when you get to that point. So I'm hoping that they both at least get a tie in the next game to stay alive. But we'll talk about all the big highlights from League's Cup so far. And we will do so with our friends at 615 soccer, who we are officially announcing our partnership with today. Ben Wright and Valer Shabella, the two founders along with Chris Ivy at that platform. They are based at Nashville. They cover Nashville SC. They cover soccer in the Nashville area. And they and their team are incredible.

Like, the amount of work that they do, they've got someone at training every single week. They've got multiple people at games every single week. They're traveling for away games. They've got photographers on the ground. they are in the press conferences. It is the coverage that MLS fans deserve. And so we've been a huge fan of them from afar. They've both been on this show as guests.

Valer's done some work for us across all of our platforms, especially helping us cover the World Cup as he followed his native Iraq team around, as well as going and covering games in Atlanta with Ben. They are as good as it comes in soccer coverage, Tom. And we're really excited to just whatever it ends up being. we are really excited to be able to be working alongside them. Yeah, they're top class. And to your point, they deliver coverage that we all want for this league,

that we want this league to be taken seriously. We want people to care and they deliver that. And they were delivering that when they weren't sure if there was necessarily going to be an appetite or at least a monetary appetite. So credit to them for giving people really, really good stuff. They're so dedicated. There's no egos. They work hard.

They're smart, right? you just say a bunch of nice things. And as silly as it is, the people of Nashville showing that there is a market, there is like we want things that are good and smart and rational. And they showed up to support them. Ben and Valer both spoke to that. I was regularly speak to that. Sorry about their appreciation and love for the community that loves them back.

So it's a nice symbiotic relationship and both sides deserve each other. Nashville is a really good soccer market. They deserve serious people like Ben and Valer. and Ben and Valer are really good at what they do. They deserve a serious soccer market, so I love that. We are very fortunate to be partner with Soundar at Hart, who as well out in Seattle to incredible work. Again, consistently at games, at training, asking questions,

writing interesting pieces, thinking about the game, passionate about both the sport, the club, and the league. And we found another partner in 615 soccer that we're excited to bring on as well. So we'll be doing some crossover content, podcast. We'll be writing some pieces. for them. They will be posting across our social media accounts. If you don't already follow them and you follow us, you should go out and follow them. Because again, it's great MLS coverage. It's great soccer coverage. And you will see more of them no matter what as we work together. So they're going to join us in a little bit to chat all about that and sort of our excitement to start this partnership. But first, we do what we do best, baby. We talk about the big news. Let's start with Larry Berg. And then we will get into the ice.

scream shop. We have, if you haven't yet, go read Paul Tenorio's piece at the Athletic. Paul is as smart about this stuff as anyone. He happened to have already interviewed Larry Berg in writing The Messy Effect, which is a book that all of you should own and all of you should read if you care again about soccer in this region in which Paul wrote about the history of MLS, but also the future of MLS and what could shape it and what should shape it. And Larry Berg was pretty active.

in his thoughts and convos about what this league could be. And now he has officially been named the next commissioner. I have some quotes here from the piece that Paul wrote. Tom, we wrote, we talked about this on Monday because it really felt from everyone all of us talked to that it was moving in this direction. But I guess over the last few days since it's gone official, anything that stood out to you outside of the quotes I'm about to get?

No, because that's the most important part because we hadn't heard from him on the record before the vote. of course, like that would have been a little disrespectful, and it's not like this is something that was developing in the court of public opinion. What mattered most is the way that the two finalists convinced and positioned themselves with the owners, the voters. So it made sense that we hadn't heard from Larry Berg or the other finalists in that way. So the biggest takeaways are the quotes that you're going to read.

So I'll lay out for that. So Berg, inside the piece, he mentioned that over the last 40 years, he's missed whether it's on TV or in person, one, maybe two. U.S. men's national team games. So he said this about his passion for the national team has made youth development a focus of his and that it's an important part of the long-term solution around improving the on-field product.

Quote, we are every year developing more and more emerging stars, more and more contributors to the U.S. men's national team and the Canadian national team. He said youth development is an incredible opportunity. We have the clay, but I think we can continue to make it so much better. More minutes for younger players, more teams, quality at the right levels.

So that's really high on my list. He pointed to the success of the World Cup, and MLS's growing role with players in the tournament as important markers for owners, but also that it was yet another indicator around building the fan base. So Tom, a clear soccer idea here out the gate that he has clearly spent time talking about and thinking about.

I think there'll be some tongue-in-cheek lines from people because LASC, the club he owns, are not the best example of promoting youth talent, but they have developed great young, players, ones they've acquired and guys like Diego Rossi and Eddie Atuesta, and they've been Uber competitive in their time. And clearly, I think the exciting part for fans should be, this shows a decent finger on the pulse of what's going on around Major League Soccer.

Yeah. And even for like a broader perspective, while Larry Berg made his money in like finance, he was very clear about playing up his soccer fandom and his soccer appreciation. Don Garber, when he was named commissioner, he was viewed. as not a soccer guy because he wasn't a soccer guy by trade. He came from the NFL. He, I believe he said his first game that he attended his soccer was at the 94 World Cup.

And he joined MLS later that decade, I believe, before becoming the commissioner. All of that being said, Garber did a fantastic job. I'll keep reiterating it. The league does not exist today, if not for his leadership. But all that is to say is Larry Berg is not an outsider either to MLS or to the sport of soccer, which can give a,

another interesting set of viewpoints or maybe a different level of maybe aggression or maybe decision making or maybe being less conservative, right? Particularly at the end of the Don Garber era, that was the routine critique. And so somebody for Larry Berg to, it's very clear that he wanted to lay out like, I'm a soccer guy, but he's been with LFC since the beginning. He's been in these meetings in MLS since the beginning. He's been on the sporting committee. I don't know if it's been since the beginning, but it's been for a while. So he has a much more intimate view of all of this than Garber did when he took over. And of course, the leagues are, it's not recognizable 2000 MLS to 2027 MLS.

So it makes sense that this is different, but just I think it's worth pointing out the parallel, the different parallels of this situation. And obviously, LAFC, I think entered in an MLS 2.0, 3.0 period and has helped accelerate the league to the next. And I think you have to remember this is a club that's taken themselves seriously from day one that's become, I think, a global competitor. They went to the Club World Cup. They competed in ConcordaCath Champions Cups consistently getting to finals, getting to semifinals, leagues cup finals, all that type of stuff. They pack the building.

They are a factor in a major market. And I think this last quote that I have here sort of shows his acknowledgement of what's worked for them. and what the league needs to do. And I think it's good news for most people. So he said, MLS owners want progress even further in the fast pace, hypercompetitive global landscape. Quote,

this wouldn't be very interesting to me if a big part of the league was for status quo, said Burr. They're not. They want to move forward. They want change. How they do that change differs. Their priorities differ. People want to move this league forward and they want to lean in.

My job is to figure out the best way to do it. This was him sort of saying, in the context of the media deal and everything else. Like, what is the focus? And he came back to product. And when he says product, he means soccer. And so what, what? I'm sure you don't, Tom.

I'm sure you don't, as you cry over a Mohammed Salah, Tropson's bore video. I'm saying calling it, calling it product. I agreed. I fully agree with you. But the idea behind this is we have sort of always yelled from the sidelines because we have no power and no influence. You have to improve the soccer.

The soccer has to get better. And the main driver to do that is monetary investment. And right now, one of the main drivers towards that is loosening of rules and allowing teams to be more flexible, letting the soccer people do their job at their best. And a lot of these answers pointed towards an agreement at least from an overall idea from Larry Berg. And I think it should be exciting for fans, as much as it can be an executive being exciting for fans, which I would be totally fair.

people said, I don't care, which is great, that he at least sees it in that direction. And that is at least going to be a major part of the conversation amongst the ownership group over his first year or so. Yeah. And for me, that's the most important aspect of his tenure, particularly the early days, is getting these roster rules finalized and over the line and not just in place by next summer, but, you know, maybe giving the teams enough of a run- White to plan for that rather than in the past the U-22 initiative was discussed and then

I don't want to give Miami passes, but they signed Matias Pellegrino assuming the salary would make them a U-22 initiative in the future. And then the U-22 initiative came out and a salary was too high. Of course, there was other things around Miami that Miami are to blame for. But that was just the first example that it came to mind of, let's give these teams a little bit of a runway. There was when they decoupled DPs and U-22s, I heard from a couple teams that were like, We signed a young DP because we thought we had to do to 3, U22s.

Right. Like I wish we knew this six months ago. Maybe we would have signed the same guy, but it would have been nice to know for sure. So that is 1A and 1B for me. The media rights deal is something that smarter people will be thinking about and plotting, but that's for three years from now. And things change in sports landscape, both on the field, but within boardrooms, within where does streaming go?

What's a new channel? Who's going to get more money? These deals with CBS Paramount for Warner Brothers. All these things are really big. And right now, if you're negotiating a meteorites deal, it's going to look different than if you're doing that for 20209. And particularly so, in my view, is if you open the spending better,

if you get these rules in place, see what the league looks like in terms of attendance, in terms of quality, in terms of TV ratings or streaming ratings, with the calendar flip, with some new rules, with some new players, then that informs how you discuss and how you negotiate the media rights deal. So that's why for me, it's got to get this.

This has to be the first and second and third priority. And Larry Burke talked about in all of the media he did over the last few days, how well MLS has done to build the in-stadium experience, to build the in-market relevance of the clubs, which is what I've said over and over. That's the spot that MLS has hit the home run on over the last 15 years, is the buildings they've built, the environments that have been created inside of that, which is a unique experience from other professional sports and from global soccer

because Champions League and Premier League and La Liga are not played in your backyard. And that to me, for MLS, that's the home run. And Larry Berg said, basically, we've done a great job with that. How do we now elevate that? Because then the next piece is, how do you amplify that? And the amplification is bringing people in via remote television broadcasts, all of that, to add to the growth and strength of that. And I do think, okay, the atmospheres are good.

The camera angles are good. The fields are good. Like all of that looks good. The soccer now needs to be good with that so that people, when they tune in, they're like, this is a fun product, and I want to be around this. So we'll continue to cover this as we learn more. As Larry Burke does more media, we will talk about it.

If any specific news comes out, of course, we're going to talk about it here at Soccer-wise. We are also covering the U.S. national teams in depth. We have our brand new show that's going to be every Wednesday so that we don't have to take the time here because this show's already going to go an hour and 40 minutes talking about MLS and Leagues Cup and commissioners and transfers and all of that. So we've got a space there. We did our first episode with some of our co-hosts. We had Walker Zimmerman and Brianna Pinto on and it was really fun. We just kind of chatted about soccer in America.

We talked about their World Cup experiences, where it goes now, Mariso Pochitino. But we talked about like what is the future of the game in the U.S. Really interesting to hear from two people who have lived. through it in a different way than us and obviously look back and have some interesting thoughts about the players they could have been as well as the environments and what's being built up around it. So I'd highly recommend going to listen to that one and we're going to be doing that every single week. But let's do what we love to do here. Tom, let's open up the ice cream shop. Let's talk about arguably the most insane thing you have put out on social media in the last year.

The LA Galaxy are finalizing a deal to sign Chuki Lozano on loan from San Diego FC. Sources tell myself, I'm told it'll be a DP deal and it's a loan. So there's no guarantee for San Diego to open up their own DP spot, which I think is an important part of this. They could, but they'd have to buy out the remaining money that they're paying Chukki Lozano. The Galaxy are only paying less than half of his contract. He's one of the top earning players in the league. He has not played for San Diego all season. He's been training alone.

And the Galaxy looked into potentially signing him in the winter. So they did a lot of due diligence then. From what I was told, they spoke to, you know, players. They spoke to sporting executives, but they spoke to like lower level staff too. Like people are around the players every day who aren't viewed as the player's bosses. And they came away with where we want to give him a clean slate. We believe that he's motivated.

they've spoke with Shruki Lazzano. Obviously the San Diego State gave them permission to negotiate to speak with them to do their due deal since all of that to potentially find a deal. They did that in the winter. They did that earlier this summer. And now here as we said on August 6th,

I'm told a deal is being finalized. Just paperwork needs to be approved and unless that there's some crazy hurdle or something unforeseen, he's going to be an LA Galaxy player on loan. Yaki buys a DP spot. And Goss, this is the least interesting side of things but just to do the boring salary.

cap stuff. His money was his, even his DP hit was already bought down. So him being a designated player comes with a bigger tag, but he hits the salary cap lower. So if he was, if he was Max Tam and they had an open DP spot, I don't think that they'd have the allocation money to buy him down to his contract hit now. So those are just like little things here that I understand fans, frustration of why aren't we signing a different DP? But like Chiqui Lozano had 11 goals, 11 assists. So 22 goal contributions in 1900 minutes for San Diego last year for as disappointing as it ended up being off the field

when he was on the field he was productive so there's there's the sentiment around the club around the fans I should say is very negative and fans have every right to feel that way and I get why they would land that place but if we take a step back this is a guy

that's coming on loan and if it doesn't work out then he goes back to San Diego in four months the guy who's coming on loan who's one of the highest pay players in a league who when he was initially signed, the upside was, could this be San Diego's Carlos Velah? It didn't work out. He's obviously has his part of the blame for the off the field stuff with San Diego or the locker room stuff, you could say, of which I still don't have enough specifics. But the LA Galaxy are excited. They believe that he's ready to compete, that he's in a good mindset, and they obviously don't feel

that this is going to blow up the locker room or anything. Okay. No, I'm just to give you. like I wanted to lay at all that give your analysis, give your thoughts. Like, and I hope that I, it's obvious that they feel those ways because they're signing them, right? Like, yeah, that should go without saying, but I'm still saying it anyway. Honestly, my first thought is just, this is where the galaxy are at right now. Like, there's no risk because there's no guarantee of this season. This is very much a move that's like high upside, probably will blow up on you. Do you think it's probably?

So here's the other piece of the probable will blow up. He hasn't played soccer in seven months. So there's a world in which it takes him two months to get back. You know, he's now in preseason. He has been training every day. Like, I know, listen, you're totally, but I want to be clear. Even this week, as of Tuesday morning, he was at the San Diego's facility. For sure.

For sure. He is not coming off a vacation. But like, if it takes him, if you combined has to fit in with a new team with has to get his feet set. And then you add in the unknown, which is he just had a club built around. him that was rather pay him $10 million to not play for them, to then to let him play for them. There, if you think all of that is a bit of a gamble, the odds are that one of those fails on you, right? Like, that's just a lot of question marks.

So I'm not saying it's going to be because of his personality or because of the way he acts. I'm just saying there are so many reasons this could fail that the odds are it probably will. And I think it's sort of a reality of you're still in this weird holding pattern. You don't have Ricky Pooge. You don't have DPs that are like cornerstones of your club. With Peck out, Payne still is the only guy that this team's like, quote unquote, built around. Jow Klaus was a let's just sort of get again like this. Let's get a move done for now.

Let's see if we can win some games. Let's make a playoff run. Let's see if we can be competitive while not hampering ourselves for the future. And that's what the Chuky deal feels like again. And you're going to sell jerseys. You're going to sell tickets. you're going to, I think, energize a fan base because

I would argue most. Well, if he comes on the field and plays, well, like most people, I think, are probably open to being a Chicolitan fan, although it's bizarre that it's San Diego to L.A. Galaxy. So there's not history behind that rivalry, but it's a weird, close move. A few things. I'll start with first.

I'm glad you brought up the Mexican star and the Los Angeles market. I want to be abundantly clear, that was not a motivation here. So whether you like or dislike the signing and most people dislike it, it's a bet on the field. It's not a marketing bet. And so I'm glad that you even mentioned that as part of the calculus because that was one of the things I forgot as I rambled.

Two, you talk about the rivalry. Yeah, I think that's very interesting. But for both sides, it ends up being a win-win because San Diego have been trying to get him out the door this year or try to move on. They're still paying the majority of the salary. So it's not as if the galaxy are taking, you know, air quote a problem off of their hand,

or I guess you could say that, but it's not as if $9 million are at galaxy, you're on the hook for all of that. So San Diego gets relief in some way and the galaxy get a player, but also San Diego aren't giving them away for free. So I understand the compromise here. One fun aspect,

the galaxy still play San Diego twice the season. Yes, it's a loan. And in Europe, it's, if you're lone from a team, you can't play against Airquote your parent club. That ain't, that ain't the deal here. Chuki Lozano is available to play against San Diego in both of these games and I got to tell you I can't wait. Yeah, that is fascinating. I hadn't really thought about

that. I didn't either. The last piece that I want to throw in there is a style fit, which is you threw the numbers out there, right? Chuki 11 goals, 9 assists in the regular season, I think ended up 11 and 11 across all comps. So had some production for San Diego. go real production. He is not a high usage guy. And one of the issues for L.A. is with Ricky out, the attack has never gone through anyone.

I think it's something Peck and Painesville have both struggled with. I think it was worse for Peck last year. I think this year he sort of assumed more of the role, came inside a little more. You played through him. But they're all guys who want to be the killer move off the ball, whether it's getting a through ball and scoring themselves, or getting a through ball or getting set up 1 v1,

getting to the end line and setting someone else up. And Chuky's like not exactly that guy either. So I'm just using Fott Mob here. Chuky had 59% touches last year in the player traits. For example, Philip Zincornaugles at 87%. Right? So like Zincornaugel is a wing 10. The attack goes through him. He's constantly involved.

He creates chances. He scores chances. Chuky is more in the model. of Peck and Painstill, where he is a bit more of a finisher and a 1B1 demon. It's good analysis. I think he can fit. I think all of that can be productive, but it's still this piece with L.A. There is no one who controls the heartbeat of the team.

Royce tries, but is not really that guy, whether it's anymore or ever. And Eric Tommy, it's a lot of responsibility to try and throw on him. So listen, what's the over under on goal inclusion? or goal contributions for the rest of this year for him. Where would you put it? Eight and a half? I'd go over on that, I think. So how many games do they have left?

Sorry, I'm trying to pull it up. They played 18 in league because they had the most coming into Leagues Cup. So they've got... They're 19. They've played 19. Yeah. So what? 14, 15 games left? Yeah, maybe 9.5 is a fair number.

Yeah. I think I'll take over. I think that that's... And would you have that as the line as, is it successful? Like, would it be that binary? Like, so I think there, honestly, I think I would take over. And I think in the end, they'll, everyone will feel like, okay, this was fine, but we're not going to continue it. I was going to ask, that was going to be my follow question.

I think there's a pretty good chance. He's, he's 10 goals combined. And they don't make the playoffs. Like, it doesn't elevate the team at a crazy level. And you could look at it and say, all right, he's the PEC replacement. And Ricky's coming back next year. and we want him playing off of him as, you know, a vertical threat and a chance finisher and all that stuff. I don't know what that number will look like.

I don't know how much will be required to pay him. It feels like for San Diego, this is almost like, okay, the carrot, the stick didn't work. Here's the carrot. Like play some, decide you love playing soccer and then come back to us and tell us, yeah, I actually will take, you know, a buyout of some sort because I just want to be back on the field. Yeah. So we'll see on that. He wanted his family loves where they live.

And you could stay there. He didn't want to move his family. I was part of it. There was options. He was never interested in going back to Liga-Nike's. So the Galaxy is something that he really wanted. And I think that's also important when we're talking about the calculus of this. And gosh, your point, maybe it blows up, right?

And maybe I'm going to look really dumb for having optimism or taking an optimistic view on this. But honestly, like, there. There is a scenario. I don't know which would be more likely. I know how you feel which would be more likely, but there is a scenario in which it just didn't work out in San Diego. He was signed before Tyler Heaps was named Sporting Director, and he was signed before Mikey Veras was named head coach.

Mikey Verris, very good job in his first year. Like, I don't, he's still first year head coach. And that's, like, Chukuzano is a big personality to deal with. And, you know, what if, what if he was playing for Bruce Arena? right? And this is not me saying that Mike Uvaris are saying he were to blame it anyway. I want to be abundantly clear. Trujouizano, I'm certain that he

is not anywhere near blameless than this. And maybe in a few months, this will sound really dumb because it'll be clear that he was the problem. But there's another scenario where it's just like, hey, maybe they all didn't fit. It was a different vision that was when he was signed. And maybe under Greg Vanny,

somebody who's won trophies in this league, been a coach for a long time. Maybe, like, Ricky Pooch wasn't viewed as a big locker room guy when he left Barcelona. it wasn't quite the reputation that Chuky Luzano has right now, but it wasn't a super positive. He wasn't going to be viewed as a leader. And yeah, maybe it's Douglas Costa.

Maybe it is. Maybe it's Rinky pooch. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. It's going to be fun to watch either way. Definitely. It will be cool to have him play soccer.

It will be great to not have to talk about it as this thing around San Diego as well. But as you mentioned, they're not opening up the DP spot. So they are getting to save a little bit of money. but it feels like a chance to just sort of get rid of the distraction for a little while and then figure out a final I'm not going to say the word because I did this last time and Doyle got me in trouble a final ending for their tale at the end of this season. Let's talk about one of the most exciting pieces of news. Xavier Gossop, who has been arguably the best young player in Major League Soccer to start the year,

has been on a crazy tear. We sort of were beating the drum to see if he could sneak a spot in. The World Cup roster didn't happen. On top of that, you know, connected to something like that, you're always talking, okay, what's next for a guy like this? And Tom, you've got sort of, you've got the reporting for us. Crystal Palace is closing in on a deal to sign Zavir Gozo from Real Salt Lake. Per sources, this deal, I believe it's going to happen.

I don't have any finality on what the terms will be as well as far as an agreement between Salt Lake and Crystal Palace. what I was told was to expect something in the region of 15 million, probably including add-ons, and I don't know if that means 12 or that means 18, but something within that ballpark. Zabior Gozo was a man in demand. Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid tried to sign him in the winter. Asson Villa, let's say,

didn't appreciate the responsiveness or lack thereof from Real Salt Lake and ducked out of the race. Atletico Madrid, we're trying. I've heard this morning they were still trying to see if they could convince him over Crystal Palace but what I'm told is the expectation is Crystal Palace will wrap this deal.

There were clubs like Fion Nord, there were clubs like Anderleck that you would look at as the air quote stepping stone clubs and for a younger player, they got priced out man. When Athletico Madrid and Crystal Palace on Estabilla when some other teams like that with the spending power come in like there's kind of no contests and that's why I think now we'll see clubs like

Anderleck Club Rouge, Fionnord be even more insistent on can we sign Zavir Gozo 12 months ago right before he breaks out because when he breaks out, then the money is going to be too big. So Zavir Gozo looks like he's headed to Crystal Palace. Nothing is done as far as I know for sure right now, but several sources are expecting this to end that way.

Yeah, I mean, if you're RSO, you are glad you weren't responsive in December because there's no way you're getting anything close to this number. Last year in MLS, he had four goals, three assists, in 31 appearances. this year he's got six goals, four assists in 16 appearances. So now is the time if you're going to sell. There's, I think Crystal Powell is a great spot. Based off this World Cup, you can tell that they are fantastic at their international scouting,

and they have a plan for everyone who comes in. They are not a big enough club to sign 27 guys and then start loaning them around, and they are a club that survives on their ability to sell. players, which means they have to develop players. I think goes those close to being ready to at least affect a team like that, whether it's off the bench or not, I'm not sure. But like, you know he's going to be a threat in the box. You know he's a great finisher as a far post-crasher.

You know he reads the pullback very well. You know he'll take guys on 1V1. So I think there's like a skill set that's ready to roll and be around the first team immediately. and then he'll need to, you know, he'll need to bulk up. He'll need to get accustomed to the speed and physicality of the league. Those are things that are true for any player, but based off the way he scaled his career so far, you have a lot of confidence that every time he takes a step up,

he finds the level pretty quickly, and he's able to accelerate himself and find ways to affect the game. So I think this is a great move for him. I think it's a really cool move. I think it's a good move for RSL. You now come back to the league is flipping the calendar, and this is why, because you're losing a great player in the middle of a really strong season, but you're probably in a spot where the number's probably not going up.

He obviously knows these offers are there and will be interested, and it could go sour if you don't make the move at the right time, and now's probably the right time. Gozo has made it clear publicly. I'm ready. I want to go to Europe this summer as well. So to your point, gosh, that wouldn't have gone over super well. Yeah.

it will mean they brought in saba lobshanica which i think was a smart like hey this guy's available in the league and he can fill minutes and maybe be you know a piece for us marchuk obviously hasn't worked out the way i thought it would even the loan didn't work then he comes back um but we did see at the start of the year two or three other young players from the academy who could maybe give you minutes and help you move the pieces around um is the assumption right now that luna will be here through the end of the season? That's a good question. I don't feel informed enough on this situation to

give a likelihood. It would be the big other piece. I think Luna's played great. I think he's played well as the season's gone along. He is the centerpiece of a lot of their attack. They could try and reconfigure some stuff to get Olatunji and

Solons on the field. So maybe the attack the shape changes a little if you don't feel like you haven't a replacement for Gozo who can be a difference maker. Like, that's another piece in there that you could find a way into the attack. More responsibility is going to be on Gullivogi's shoulders as well, who after starting really bright has struggled, I think, with the week-to-week responsibility travel.

Like, you could see the level drop from him rather than improve as he's gotten more used to the league. Okay, we talked last week or on the last show, Andres Luis. It sounds like they are finalizing the $18 million deal to sporting Kansas City. so it seems like that is going to be the big signing they make as Mohammed Sala goes to Trapsons Spore instead of sporting Kansas City. I know, right? Nailed that one.

I get why Kansas City isn't the perfect outlet for him and it would have been a whole lot of money and there could be debates on whether or not that was money well spent. The owner was planning it up, I would have loved Sala in the league. And I still, I don't want to sound like I'm just mad they didn't come down on. I still think for like Saudi or somewhere else. Like him going to like the fourth biggest club in Turkey because he wanted a multi-year deal to stay in Europe.

Like I don't know, man. Like he's such a legend. He's accomplished everything. Like I put this out on social media and someone was like, oh, you know, they play in the Europa League. Dude, it's most solid, man. Like he's won Champions League. Like the hell does he care about scoring a few more goals in Europa League?

Clearly he does. And all the power to him. He's earned this right. It's just when he wanted to stay in Europe, I thought this was going to mean Roma or something like that. And I'm not trying to shade the Turkish League, but it's just like, it's not even Bashikta,

Scala's Asa Sasserai and Fedrabate. It just, it just doesn't feel right, even though their kits are freaking beautiful. And if my mentions aren't overrun by Turkish fans angry at me for, for fair reasons, I might have to get a trabs kit, man.

It is, it is one of those clubs that every, like, five to eight years, they take, they take, like, a huge risk and they, like, decide they're going to spend again,

and they compete a little bit. and then they fall apart and then they come back and do it again. Like this isn't the first time that I remember where it's like, oh, weird, like big name players are going there. This is one of the stumbling box or walls that MLS has to get over, which is this is more familiar to Mo Salah. He's playing in like the way the fans welcomed him, playing in Europa League, playing against clubs like Pashikta and Galatas, right, that he knows. All of this is more familiar than. coming to Major League Soccer. And this is one of the things,

I say this all the time, where I'm like, how is every player on Bishikah, Galaas, Ryan Fenderbache, not getting an MLSDP offer? Most of these guys are 28 to 34. They're either great soccer players or big names. They want to play in competitions they've heard of.

This feels familiar. It doesn't feel like they're, quote-unquote, giving up or changing their lives. The travel is not as insane as it is here. The lifestyle shift is not as, insane as it is here. And there are players who are just always going to choose that because you get one career

and you don't know what else to do with it. So I get your reaction to this because I feel the same. But it's one of the things that I've had to like figure out and come to terms with, which is where for MLS increasing the product and increasing the quality, having more connection points for these guys of like, oh, I know that player. Oh, that's my national team teammate. That's someone I played with that. Saoese, La Nus, Basel.

old underlect those make it easier, I think, to bring guys over. Okay, Tom, what else? Atlanta United. So they are working on DP number nine. And as I've reported, Darunia Zambriel Ambolo were two of the guys. I'm told that they're still active in both of those discussions. And in fact, there isn't, there isn't like a hard and fast agreement with Wrens on a transfer fee for Mbolo. But it's framed to me as like, that won't be an issue.

I think Ren want like 15 million something in that range and again Atlanta haven't made an official bid or on it or like said okay verbal agreement on this it was described to me as we're still trying to figure out still working on Darwin or still working on Bolo basically which makes more sense

which I don't know if I want to go as far as to say they would definitely sign one of these players but I feel more optimistic about it than I did a week and a half ago when maybe it was a little earlier or maybe I didn't have like the full picture do you feel in because you haven't said lucaca's name you think it's those two that i think i think so i think um but again obviously you break my hair man maybe you don't have the full picture broke your heart no because we could argue about that for a while and i had i'd have been on the

right side of an atlanta united big signing i'm like i'm like previously um no but like and for me i if i was atlanta nobody asked my opinion but if i was atlanta i would it would be darwin and imb as like 1A1B and you could argue either way. I'd be ahead of Lukak because the age profile and because more individualism and this team needs so much more work. I could be, you made all the good points in the last show.

Look, if this was, I don't know, L-A-FC, if this was a team that was more complete, maybe Columbus, maybe they're not complete, but you get my point. Like, I'll just have so much shit to do that Lukaku would be a great piece but I don't think it's for that team. Yeah, I think Nunez is the higher ceiling

and Molo is the higher. floor. Chaos. Yeah. I mean, he's 26 years old, as you said. He's obviously played for some of the biggest clubs in the world. He has scored a ton of goals in big competitions. I'm talking about Benfica, all of this.

And if he comes in and is the guy and like is himself again, which we haven't seen for almost a year now, then it could be a transformational signing. And Bolo is 29 years old. hasn't taken seven months off, scored goals for Switzerland and scores goals in France. I don't think he does as much on the field, but I think he'll finish chances that are created for him.

I think it will be on the field fairly consistently. And like that's as close to a guarantee as you're going to get for a signing like this. Although I would argue the one, you are right in the like for a team, for NYCFC if they brought Lukako in. Right. They jump into MLS Cup contender and they have 12 months, 18 months to use that.

The flip side, though, is whoever this signing is has to be a culture builder because they are going to be the face of the team. And as you build this team up, they're going to be the leader. And none of the guys that we've named, Nunez and Friland Bull have been that really in their careers because that's not really the responsibility at most of these places. Lukaku has been that, both on national team and on club, but that's also because he's older. Fair. So that's part of it. Interesting.

And that's not usually what you associate with number nines either. For sure. For sure, because they're dickheads. And that's their responsibility on the field is to score goals and make everyone miserable. Okay. We have some reports coming out of St. Louis that Marcel Hartle might be heading back to Europe. Tom, it sounds like this is mainly a life decision and a, personal decision to potentially go back home.

Yeah, if this worked to happen, St. Louis are not actively trying to get rid of him. This would be doing right by the player. And if the player decides, and again, this is such a fluid situation. I don't even know if he's net totally asked or anything that he want. Like, he could still stay. I don't know. But I do want to make it clear that St. Louis aren't like,

you know what would make us better if we got rid of Marcel Hartle. So this would be them doing right by the player. and the players family. Would be tough because he has played awesome under DeMay. And it felt like with this new addition, there was going to be even more space and flexibility for him and more for him to build off of. So you can understand the frustration for St. Louis fans

from a soccer point of view. But of course, life comes first and family comes first. Karev officially signed on loan, a center forward, 24-year-old Chilean International, Gonzalo Tappia from Sao Paulo. So another big addition for them. And it sounds like the Houston Dynamo bringing in a Uruguay and left back from Boka Juniors, who's played for some big clubs in Europe.

All right, well, we will close up the ice cream shop for now and dig into the real soccer that matters. We will talk about one of the most illustrious competitions on the face of the Earth. It is Leagues Cup. And to do so, we have someone who I talked about in the open of the show, a group that we are so excited to be partnered with, the two founders of 615 soccer, right and Valer Shabella.

You've heard both of them on this show in the past. You guys, welcome. Thanks for having us. This is fun. So let's talk 615 a little in Nashville and then we'll talk about what we're doing. And then we will talk about the Leaks Cup, which I know Valer has that tattoo that he wants to show of the logo of the competition because he's so excited. But Ben, tell us a little bit about 615, like how it came about.

Obviously, everyone listening to the show probably follows already from afar. if not, talk to us a little bit about what you guys have built. Yeah, so, I mean, for starters, Valer and I have covered Nashville SC. Basically, since they started playing professionally, I've covered them since 2018. Valer, were you 2018 or 2019? 19. So we've been covered. Legitimacy gone for Valer.

You just got big dog right there. You got Nashville mocked. Where were you got that first year? I did attend all of the games in 2018, though, at a baseball football. taking him playing USL. So, you know, so Valer wasn't being a shill. He actually had the objective mindset unlike Ben. Right.

I've been paid since day one, bought out by big journalism. No, we have, we've covered Nashville since, since USL days, in some way, shape, or form. We both ended up at Broadway sports media doing written kind of day-to-day coverage of the team. leading into the 2025 season, we figured it would be more fun to start our own place. So Valer and I and Chris Ivy, the legend that is Chris Ivy. We started 615 soccer along with pharmaceutical soccer.

We call them pharma soccer, because as you just saw it, it taught to pronounce. But yeah, so we've been covering them since the start of the 2025 season. And it's been a blast, just the community that we were able to build the subscribers that we have,

but our Discord, has kind of been the highlight of the entire thing. And then we put together a really solid team. We have a great crew that works with us. And yeah, it's been a joy to kind of just see it take off. It's been way more than we expected. So, Valer, give people an idea, because you've been going since 2018, which has been established.

But like, what type of a soccer market is Nashville? See, the first thing I'll say is that in 2018, when I was going to those USL games, by the way, there was an NPSL team before the USL team. I wasn't involved in that. There were some OGs that were involved in that. So I just want to, you know, pay my homage to the OGs and all that. Can I just say they pitched like joining the ownership group for like 50 bucks? First of all, I was in college and broke so I didn't have 50 bucks.

But I also thought it was a scam and I said no. So I missed out on the chance to be one of the founders of Nashville Football Club. Is that the same ownership group that then sold and sold or did they get? Kind of, yeah. It went to the USL and then MLS. They got the USL bid, and then when MLS came in, they had to. It was, I mean, it was, it was really cool to be a part of it. And I was at the MLS announcement whenever they made that,

Nassi hadn't even kicked a ball in USL, and they already had the MLS expansion. So that was, that was an interesting time. But, you know, if you had told me in 2018 or even, even 2020, when the team launched MLS, that there would be an opportunity for 615 soccer to be an option for Nashville fans. I wouldn't have believed you. I think what we look at what we have built here, you see a, you know, we're covering everything

for this team and there are people paying real money to see this coverage because otherwise they don't get this type of coverage for Nashville SC and for MLS in general, right? And I think for the market in itself, what I've seen is a huge growth in terms of understanding the game of soccer. some nerd stuff of like, oh, yeah, you know, they know XG and all that. But even in the games, like one thing I always mentioned, like the first few years of MLS, a lot of these fans were coming in their first ever experience with soccer, and you can totally see that and feel that in the stadium.

Once you go to Spark got built and more and more season ticket holders, these fans kind of started going to the game for almost half a decade at this point. What we see is like their understanding of the game when it comes to like clapping when the bowl is switched, you know, stuff like that. like minor stuff where in the beginning, they would get excited if the ball got hit really high in the sky, you know, that's the thing.

Who am I supposed to respect for funds and diehards, right? Like the people who are fans of soccer and have been going, but that wasn't the majority in Nashville market. And now we're seeing a lot more of that. I think we're seeing a lot of people understand what the Leaks Cup is and what Open Cup is. We still have to do an explainer on the website every single year. It's mostly for me.

I have to relearn it every year. Valer had to be. be on farm and soccer this week to literally explain Leakes Cup. So it's not just you back. So overall, I think this market is growing to a crazy, crazy amount. And then if you look at like youth soccer numbers and all sorts of stuff like that, since National S.C became an MLS team, you see just a huge, huge increase, honestly, in the amount of soccer.

And the main thing, the crown jewel of all of this is Geotis Park in the middle of town. Because when I go to Geotis Park, what I see is, how I describe it, to people is when I went to high school. I went to a very diverse high school. Like, you know, people like myself and others who came to this country and also people who were born in this country just from all around. When I'm at the supporters section, when I'm around Giordas Park, when I walk around at Giotis Park, that's the most I feel like I am in John Overton High School, which is where I went.

Because it's people from all over the world. And also people, again, born in Nashville, but maybe have heritage somewhere else or, you know, are minorities in a different way. And when I go to Titans game, when I go to Preds games, they're fun. but they're not that right. And I think that's the main thing about Nashville SC that's been able and the soccer market in general is that it's been able to capture all of Nashville, whether it's the immigrants or the minorities or, you know, the rich white people.

Like, everybody's involved, you know what I mean? And I just love seeing that because it gives a whole look at the city, you know? Well, obviously, Reese Weatherstone brings everyone to the table, but I'm going to start making a buckets. Yeah. I'm going to start making up buckets as I go through this to ask. So in MLS or in the U.S. We have soccer cities, which are like, no matter what, it's a soccer city.

You could put any friendly there, any game, people show up. We see these probably like viewership numbers, whatever. So you have soccer cities. Then you have some cities where the MLS team or NWSL team is super relevant and is like a big deal considered a big team. Then you have some cities where if those teams are doing well, people will start to show up to the stadium, but for the playoffs, for the big games. and then you have some cities where they could be on a 96 point pace

and no one will ever show up to the stadium. Where in all of that do you think Nashville ranks right now as a soccer market? I mean, I think I've been lived in Nashville since 2012. And I think even before Nashville SC started playing at any level, I think there was a soccer culture already built in. And I think some of that you're going to find anywhere, just like people showing up to watch Premier League games every morning at bars all across the city.

But I do think you've seen it. U.S. national team games whenever they come to Nashville, even before the team and the stadium existed, those always did well. They're not consistently in the top 10 for like Premier League viewership numbers, but you'll see them fairly regularly whenever those lists get put out. So I think there is kind of a broader soccer culture. But I really think they've bought into this team. There were some moments coming out of like 2024 when, I mean,

missed the playoffs for the first year, Gary Smith got fired. I think they had like a 12-12 match winless streak. And there were some rough moments there and attendance dipped. And maybe it took a little while for it to recover. But I think overall it's held pretty steady. And I think the baseline is solid. And now when you have a team like Nashville that they're not just doing well,

but they're generally fun to watch. And you have like legitimate superstars in MLS like Honey Mukhtar, who people can kind of rally behind. And I think you see the city get behind this team really well and really consistently. And I would say it's turned into a really, really solid MLS market. Valer, did you guys pay BJ Callahan to be coached the year you guys launched so that the team would be good and fun? Yes, I think it really helped with the numbers. I'm not going to lie.

That was incredible timing. I will say maybe Nashville is not a soccer city in the same sense that you're describing, but it's becoming some of that. What Nashville is 100% is event city. You know, like events here do really well. There was like the NFL draft when the Preds made the Stanley Cup final.

These are like big events that kind of closed down, you know, Broadway and everything. And the Premier League Morning Show did their thing here a couple of years ago and it was like the most attended Premier League thing, you know, in America. And like it was pretty insane. and I end up going there.

And it's like, these events always kind of seem to find a market in Nashville. So if you marketed well and if you do well with your soccer team, which Nashville has done pretty good, I would say, overall. I think people will show up. And obviously, when you have the stadium and the facilities and all that, I think it's really showing it for Nashville fans. I think a lot of them will show up regardless of sort of what the actual product is sometimes, which is an interesting.

thing. Okay. It's a pretty good team. They're pretty fun to watch before we talk more about it. Let's talk about us. Soccer-wise, really excited to grow sort of our network across domestic soccer, and we were really excited to chat with all of you about sort of working hand in hand. So, as I said off the top of the show, we're going to be doing some cross-promotional stuff. We'll do some stuff on social media. We'll do some written stuff across our two platforms and some audio crossover like this and me being on pharma soccer earlier this week we are really excited about it at soccer wise valer talked to us a little bit about the six one five side yeah i mean it's it's a very exciting thing for us because we are all consumers of soccer wise right and i think every single

person who's and the staff for six one five listens to soccer wise and and everything you guys do on that side plus i've worked with david the cup for a year or more now so it's really cool to kind of bring it all together, and I know Ben has worked with Dom. So it's kind of a... It's really nice to have this sort of connection with a national service, essentially, a national organization that covers the entire league. Because I think our subscribers are, as we talked about the national market growing in Slocker, they want to learn more about the league.

And there's honestly not a better place to do it than here. So I'm very excited about this because it just brings everything together in my life that I work on. So it's great. what you guys do is so fantastic we're so proud to have some sort of you know whether it's how small it is just to be connected to you guys in any way like ben said um we've worked together at several places i've no ben for a while now and well and truly there you won't find somebody who's harder working and more genuine like the combo of that ben has always astounded me from you you have no ego in any way you just work hard and do really great stuff so we're we're very very proud of this very superw very to do this review of Ben. I will, your gam and your number one spot in the allocation order is

on its way for saying that. No, I appreciate that. And I think for us, too, like when we launched 615, like soccer-wise and the stuff that you have built is like one of the, one of the outlets that we kind of tried to model ourselves after. And just like the consistent quality of coverage,

but like the way that you guys are able to interact with your audience, I think we've tried to model that. Like we've totally copied you guys with setting up a Discord and just like that community has been a huge part of what we've done. And so I think we're just really excited to kind of formalize that a little bit more and continue to work with you guys on a closer level. Ben, if you're trying to model out for us, how about a quick tip? Talk, Nick's Moore and you're almost there.

I would have to see that would involve enjoying basketball, which I've tried to for 30 years and it hasn't happened. so sorry. I can't help you there. You can get me on the basketball, but baseball, that's where I draw the line. I am very happy with basketball. The Mets just traded for,

they promoted a pitcher who does a jumping split every time he has a strikeout. There's going to be a ball and like three. Banana ball. He basically plays banana ball. Yeah, that's basically what's happening. No, but we're excited to be working together. I would say for anyone listening to us

who doesn't follow 615 and isn't in Nashville, it is great MLS. coverage. It's great soccer coverage. So go and follow them across all socials. I would recommend subscribing to their work as well. If you care about the sport, if you care about the league, you will enjoy the coverage that you get. And as Valer mentioned, we'll be tapping into 615 audience. So if you care about Nashville and you want to learn more about MLS, we also cover NWSL very heavily, which may become relevant for Nashville very soon. If not, we also cover the national teams pretty deeply, then you can come across to our channels and follow us there.

Let's talk soccer a little bit on the field. It was the biggest game of the year last night, Nashville against Leon to open up Leagues Cup play. And B.J. Callaghan treated it that way. He put out one of the strongest U-18 squads that he has in his locker. He told Huntsville, you guys have a big game today against Leon. and yet they hung in there for a little while. Buller, we joked a little bit on Monday

when I came on your show about Leagues Cup. Were you surprised at all by like the decisions or the extent of which they rotated the team for this first game? Yes, I know there was going to be rotation. I mean, that's to be expected, especially with the injuries and everything coming up. But to that level, I actually talked to someone right before the game.

I was walking to the stadium and they were like, do you expect it to be all backups? I was like, no, no, no, he'll have a lot of starters in there. too. And I saw the line of as soon as I walked in, I was like, oh, no, I made a huge mistake. But, I mean, down to the goalie

and everything else, I think it was just a lot of rotation that it showed, it just showed me that maybe where the priorities are for the team. And, you know, we talked to BJ a day before the game, and he was like, it's the trophy of the line, we're going to go for it. And I get it, he's a coach, and he has to say

that. But my God. I mean, it was It was a huge surprise. It was a huge surprise. And, you know, it wasn't a lot of Huntsville guys necessarily, but it was a lot of guys who just haven't seen a whole lot of minutes this season for one reason or another. You know, I think when you look at a guy like Wubim Paceous, he's had his chances. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's working out for him at this level.

I guess Ottawa, incredible player, by the way. Well, he's a continental goal score. So that's what can you tap into that for Leaks Cup? But, you know, I think overall, while I was surprised, I think I was also impressed by the time, you know, that even, even after Leon scored, I was pretty impressed with a lot of these guys who came in either new to the team like Saad, right, from Tunisia. Like, as you know, a lot of MLS teams love to sign Tunisia players now. But, you know, he's on loan for Nashville and I thought he did really well. And then a couple of the other guys coming back from injury as well had a really, really good showing. and I think once you put them in the environment where there are starters,

and there's the Honey Mukhtar and Sam Sarajas of the world, I think you can really see the benefit of them getting these minutes here. So here's right, Chris, I don't know if anyone asked this post game, but it was zero zero up until the 80th plus. And as you said, Valer, I thought they played fine. I thought they were the better team most of the game, not a ton of clear-cut chances. If they had hung on and gotten a result,

whether it's the two points for a PK shootout, as you know, that's how every Leaks Cup game ends on a tie, or a win. Ben, do you think they would have rotated back for the next game to the first team? Like, was this BJ saying like, huh, let's see, I'll play the, you know, I'll roll the dice. But if it works out, now we're taking this seriously like people do with Open Cup. Yeah, probably you kind of almost have to. And look, it's a weird position because, I mean, like, for me, League's Cup, like of the trophies that you can play for as an MLS team, including Open Cup. I think League's Cup is probably the bottom for me personally.

And I know like there's Conquayf Champions Cup, like the top three get into that. And so there's I think maybe reasons you could argue why it's worth playing for. But like this is a national team that has one trophy period in their history. And this is potentially like six wins away from another trophy. So from that angle, I'm not sure that it's wise to just kind of pass on like competing for a trophy. And essentially like if you lose the first game, you're barring a minor. miracle, you're not going to make it out of the group stage. No team made it through with six points last time.

So the max you can get now, in theory, we think you won't be able to get it. Going into the tournament, like, I was all about prioritizing the August 15th game at Judith Park against Inter Miami, because that is going to have huge supporter shield implications, and like, we can talk all you want about, like, if the supporter shield is more important the MLS Cup. But winning the supporter shield sets up home field advantage throughout the playoffs. And so I think you can make an argument that that, that's, sets yourself up for theoretically more success in the playoffs. I'm all about prioritizing that.

I was a little bit surprised to see the amount of rotation and just really the lack of prioritization in this tournament. I don't know if you can argue with it, but I was expecting a little bit more from them. And now you're going into two games that by the time they play San Luis and Monterey, their next two games are probably going to be meaningless. So it sets up a weird kind of dynamic. How many first choice players do you play in those two games? Do you try to stay somewhat fit? Do you fully rotate? So it just opens a whole can of worms

and I'm not sure what it's going to look like for the next week. I don't think he would have rotated back for what it's worth. I think he would have seen with it. Maybe if the quarterfinal or semifinal will be different. But we've seen this similar behavior in Open Cup. Right, that's what I was going to say. When they went to Orlando, the line of very close to this ended up getting a really narrow

a win with a Wyatt Meyer banger to win it. Now that's the name. Kansas City legend. Yeah. So I don't think he would have rode away back. I think he rewards good performances. Often we've seen that and keeps guys in

and I think he would have probably kept them in. Again, if we got to a semifinal, that's probably a different situation. So here's what I would say, Tom, and I kind of wrote in the notes. I'm fine with this because they made as strong a push at Champions League as anyone did. Like they kind of did, they

gave their due. Seattle, on the other hand, rolling out crap in Toluca, no offense to everyone on the field. And, you know, it's tough. You have to go to altitude to see. But like, Seattle has not put that in this year. Where I think Nashville has sort of like, I don't know, they've earned their stripes on this side of things. And if I'm Nashville, supporter shield is my number one priority. Like, I have the inside track for that.

And I don't probably have the depth that Miami and I don't probably have the depth that Miami and LAFC have to get me there. Yeah, so I generally agree, and I don't feel strongly about this, but I could have been good with, all right, we're playing Leon first. Let's play, we'll rotate a bit, but let's play a few of our key starters. And if you win this game, then you go into San Luis, because the Monterey game is third, it would almost be better serving if the Monterey game was first, because then maybe you play your starters, and if you lose, then Honeymoogtar, Sam, Serge, don't even come to the stadium

for the next games, right? So I think that's the only, like, other angle I could see. But gosh, from August 1st to August 22nd, they play seven games. Just not sustainable, right? Like, it's so, so while it would have been nice to see it and like, we love how this team is when they're at close to full strength, even even without being full strength. So it feels like we're missing on something, but you can't play your guys 90 minutes every single game in the whole season or they're going to burn out. Remember the Leaks Cup run in 23, Ben, they have. hit a wall after that final against Miami and they were bad for the rest of that that that was the

start of gary smith losing his job because they continued that in 2024 i'm not blaming the leeks cup necessarily but like if you're national you just won the open cup last year you have a chance of supporters should this year it would be nice to go far in leeks cup but you're out a spot where you're pretty good for qualifying for champions cup next season and yes you'd like the trophy but just playing the odds here and the squad depth and everything else i'd rather than be fresher in September, then, you know, go 90 minutes against San Luis. I think you already saw them kind of hit some of the limits of what they could do in multiple competitions in Champions Cup.

Just, I mean, the injuries that they were playing through by the end of that was really unsustainable. And I think the World's Cup break kind of came at the ideal time for them. And you don't want to risk doing that again, heading into a much more crucial stretch of the regular season. My guess would be if we got B.J. Callahan on Truth Serum, he would say we actually would have played guys in the second game because in theory that's your game rotation, right? It would have been a full week off from the MLS game.

It would have been a full week till the next MLS game because it's a full slate of games on August 15th, 15th and 16th that weekend, we're back in MLS. So my guess would be in the ideal scenario, they're like, yeah, we'll play Haney and Surge on a one week basis with a full week of ramp down and ramp up. But we weren't going to throw them out there on a Wednesday night three days after a full MLS game that we played to the full 90 with DC United and risk injury or whatever. And the metrics probably show that that's the right call. For what it's worth, he had the typical starters of the guys who were on the bench who didn't see

the field and a lot of the guys who came on for the last few minutes. They were on the field after the game last night doing a small-sided game. So he's just trying to keep in fit it. Yeah. So I imagine that we'll see more of those guys, like he said, come in on Wednesday, even if it's meaningless just to, I don't think you can run them into the ground, but you also can't take a full two weeks off at this point after just coming off a two-month World Cup break. So I think it's a really weird situation for a lot of teams trying to figure out how to navigate

this. Let's talk about some of the best moments so far of Leagues Cup. I have a list. Did everyone bring a list or are we just going to go based off my list? I have a one-point list. I have a thing. What did you go, I, Van der. Evander does if we're allowed to talk to games from two days ago but yeah just man what a guy what a

performance. I think like his two bangers back to back is crazy and I think like he's just shown it over and over and I think Nashville fans are going to hate me for saying this about a Cincinnati player. They don't like each other very much but you know truth has to be told I mean he's just fun to watch And I, you know, him starting the Least Cup match was not something I expected, especially seeing the day later what Nashville put out in the Leaks Cup, but still, like, I think taking advantage of that. And for that stadium, too, to be kind of bump in, really,

when I was watching a little bit of the game, I thought, I thought they looked, since now it looked pretty good. And, you know, the fans were pretty, pretty on it to beat a team, Black Bachuca. That game was super fun and Avander. in and of himself is incredible. And there was another sequence in the first half. I forget it was before or after his goal. I think it was after where he had this insane back heel through ball.

Like they kind of squandered. Like there was, I don't know, man. You could put him with the Sintzzi too guys. And if he's starting, I'm watching. It was cool because I went to bar trivia on Tuesday night. And one of the guys who was with me, Australian, but has lived here for a couple years. Huge soccer fan has been listening to our stuff.

Huh? Patrick Gassack? Is that his name? So I went to, by the way, I went to Nashville, Miami in Miami last year in the playoffs. And we were sitting in a section and there was like seven Yazbek jerseys. And I was like, oh, it's probably his family. And they were all super tall. And when I saw Patrick Yazbeck in media marketing, I told him this story. And he immediately goes, if it talks like a Yazbek, walks like a Yazbek, and quacks like a Yazbek. It's probably a Yasback.

He has a brother who looks, they're not twins, but he looks basically identical to him. And it's always a trip when he comes and hangs out of the facility. Because you do a double take standing next to you in the press conference. His dad was gigantic. But I just love that he was, he's what, 22, 23, and he's just got like an old man cliche in his back pocket. So, right. So Australian. It was not him.

As aside, my kids, I was watching like some introductory video that the team put out when they signed him and my youngest daughter walked into the room and got mad at me because she thought I was watching Bluey on my phone without inviting her. Let's get Yasmak in the show, baby. Honestly, that would be a huge moment for him. Bonus.

I would say is, you know, they put Leaks Cup on FS1 and so it was on in the bar, which is great. And the game starts and I was like, this guy's unreal. And he delivers. Like, a van der's one of the guys where you can point to him and say, hey, by the way, worth watching. and he 100% of the time delivers on that and it's not just the goals, right?

It's the back heels. It's the strikes from distance. It's all of what he does. And I was just like, oh, nice, cool. I looked like I knew what I was talking about. Thanks, Amanda. Guys, I got a text from a friend who's a soccer guy, but he appreciates what I do in like MLS.

But I never try to force it on him, but I get a text from out of the blue and he goes like, it sounds like I'm talking about drugs or something. Yeah, dude, if you want to do it, we can do it together. But, you know, maybe this is a bad for you. But I get a text from him, what was that, that game, Tuesday? Yeah. And it was at like 4 p.m.

He goes, hey, Tom, does MLS take a break for Leagues Cup? It's like, did somebody take your phone? What? And I was like, yeah, I was like, you locked in. And he was like, okay, cool, you locked into the Leaks Cup schedule? And he goes, like, I'm going to make a point to like watch more MLS. And I was like, oh, sweet. Like, let me, I was like, hey, for the early games, the lineups came out.

Cincinnati, Butchuk, that should be good. A Vander, their number 10. Like, he's incredible, right? Like, watch the game. And then when Evander scored that, I think I texted him. I was like, on the man, bro. It's like the most obvious statement in the world. But like, it looked cool.

For, it, go, go, because I was going to go to my thing. Oh, you have more moments. You guys had moments. You guys told me you didn't get it. I also have a thing. Okay. So, Orlando, well done, Griseman, big win, 2-1 over Monterey. Just pure passion.

My moment was Tyrese Spicer steps up to take a penalty. What Antoine Grisman is on the field? games gone until he fired that thing into the top corner better than he could have walked up and placed it. So games back. Well done Tyrese Bison. You know that dude must be aces at penalties if he's the one stepping up when like Griesman's on the field.

Is he Lipscomb? Are we coming full circle? Hell yes. Number one super draft pick. Welcome legend. He is a Lipscomb Bison. Shout out to Nashville. So, you know, Nashville is a sitting, not that. I didn't know. Bisons?

I didn't even know their mascot. They're probably worse. I've called one soccer game my entire life. I've called one soccer game. And it was Tyree Spicer and Malachi Jones in the A-Sun final. Tared it up. They weren't like 7-2 or something. And I was a colored commentator for that.

And it was very cold. My toes couldn't feel them. It was very cool. I love college soccer. That's the essence of college soccer right there, standing on a frozen bleacher, which just, generates more cold into your body watching a guy who may actually take a penalty away from Antoine Grisman in five years or could be working next to you. I can tell Tom isn't believing me because he's looking up the vice.

It's lips go right now. He's like, are they really bison? I want to know, are there bison's in, is this historically accurate? Tom, there used to be bison everywhere and there haven't been bison anywhere for a hundred and 80 years. There's no stealing bison on stolen land. That was going to be my moment, too. Because it was Spicer's set up. That sounds like a lie.

That sounds like somebody said something. Like, no, that was actually my answer, too. Well, so I wrote up a story for it for a little site called MLS Soccer.com. It was, it was, because it was the only non-national game that I semi-paid paid attention to last night because I got a text saying, hey, you should write up this story. So I quickly watched some, some last month ago. Okay. Well, let me give you guys all the big stories you missed.

So Seattle went down to Toluca because this is the first time ever There were games in Mexico And in the middle of the first half The lights just went out And it was not the power went out Because you got to know where your money is made The ad boards were still lit up

So there was no lights in the stadium But the ad boards were still flashing Continental tires baby They were still flashing whatever else is sponsoring Leaks Cup And they still got paid And then after about a minute The lights came back off and then they just walked back on the field and played,

which I thought was very admiral for both the sides. So if you miss that, you miss big things. Toluca won 3-0. Seattle was kind of never in the game, although his is Ferreira set up Der Rosario with a big chance that would have made it 1-1 early on. Then the big game, Chivas at L-AFC, this is now two times in a year.

We saw America at L-AFC last year in that Club World Cup playing game, which is low-key, like my favorite soccer game of all time. And that building bumps when there are. our big league MX teams in there. And it ended 1-1, Dennis Bunga and Roberto Lerato with the goals. And Jude freaking Terry scored the game

weighing penalty kick with the crowd going on. He is 17 years old, Tom. So if you think Tyrie Spicer stepping up, give me that Jude Terry love, stepping up against Chivas and banging it into the top corner. That is respect right there. I bet his dad John is so proud.

Nice. Well played. And then I had Miami Goal Fest, four goals in the first half, or sorry, three goals in the first half for Miami, four goals combined. Dara San Luis played full Miami ball. They were like, oh, just attacking. That's the only thing that matters. And then Taha, Habroun, two assists, balled out for Columbus. And Tom, I didn't know Brooks Lennon was still a professional soccer player. That was the thing that happened.

He's in Columbus, big time. See the things you learn along the one? White at Link's Cup. He played for no one for half the year. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Was he signed over the summer, like the break? Yep. Yeah. I was talking to one team because like particularly early in the break

moves are really slow. And that's the thing for global soccer too. Like the people focus on the World Cup and everything. And not that M was in that time, even around MLS. It was slow. And I was talking to a sporting director whose head coach was like giving him stick about like why didn't we sign new players like for the, like, for the, the first day training. And this no disrespect to Brooks Lennon, but it was like, if you want,

I could have signed Brooks Lennon. Like, there was no, there was no other deals that were ready to go. If you wanted me to have brought in Brooks Lennon, you should have told me a week ago because now he's signed by Columbus. But that,

that's the recognition for Brooks Lennon at when he was there. And now he's back. Got to jump on Sean Davis before he gets signed. My men's league team is looking into him. I got to get his phone to him. If he's back, if he's back in Central Jersey. David,

I'm, I'm like that makes it sound like I was being disrespectful and I wasn't. No, I'm actively campaigning for Taylor Washington

to come and start playing for O-Jice. I did an episode of on-air with Valer with Sean Davis one time. On air with Volcker's show where I talked to a player. Tell them about the curse. Yeah, Ben calls it the curse

because every player that goes on my show has hits bad form and gets traded. Or retires. I retired. But I, But I, David, I wanted to ask you about, because I watched only a little bit of the Miami game, because I was in Joe's part.

But the app is telling me that Noah Allen had three assists. He did have three assists. That's great. Play with Jordi Abba long enough to just, you can, even if you blindly hit balls towards the middle and Messi's running, you're going to get assists. Well done. Or Jordi Alba has been holding Noah Allen down and he would have been defender of the year for the last two years if he wasn't taking up his space.

Yeah, there was one that had the element of. a difficult slip ball into the middle in which Messia had to take a perfect touch, a second perfect touch, a third perfect touch to score, and they all count the same on the score sheet, baby. So Noah Allen did have three assists, and I would say that Athletico San Luis probably feels like they have a weak spot along the right side of their defense after this game. Felipe Moreup, by the way, get magic for Sun Luis.

It is cool now that it's not like, oh, here's like five former MLS players that play in League MX. Every team, you're going to have at least two players that are crossover. Rodriguez scored. He scored for Monterey. Yeah. Like the 99th minute. Yeah. De Nirozsche can off the bench. Yeah. But no, Rodriguez Schlegel starting for Atlas is like the peak. I met the one. When I saw his name in the lineup, I was just like, I've missed that guy, man. What a loss for the league. So does the entire Eastern Conference besides Orlando. Valer fully convinced me last night that Akka Loba was on the bench for club lay on and I believed him for a good five minutes until I found out that he

left his club in Libya and in February and yeah he played he well he was on the books at a club in Libya did not play and left them in February and this is the second time this week that David and I have talked about Akelobe. We talked about Ake Lobe on Monday. That is going to try and get everyone excited. Yeah. It's a cry for help from everyone. But if you are listening and not watching, you would know that when you come in to Riverside to record this, you put your own names down. And Valer and Ben both properly capitalized and put their full names.

I capitalized my first name, but didn't put my full name. And Tom just put lowercase top. So that's the quality of coverage you're getting from 615 soccer. If you are not already following, you should. You guys, I'm very excited about this.

Excited to be on way more over the next few months together on our show, on your show. Thanks for coming and starting this with us. and it's going to be fun. So excited for happiness. This is going to be a lot of fun. Tom had to run. This has been a long episode.

We are having fun talking about all the biggest stories around major league soccer. We barely even get into some of the games. I'm enjoying leagues cup. I've enjoyed that I've had sort of spaced out soccer games on my TV. You know, I have sort of decided on Leaks Cup. I'm like, I'm not doing the bounce around because I feel like I don't get the vibe of the game. So I've sort of picked like two or three games a night that I've. I've thrown on and stuck with.

Last night, Nashville Leon was one of them, so I sort of credit that one. And then I've caught up on the other games. If you are generic fan and you're saying, okay, over the next few days, what should I know about? It's tough because we don't really have standings in something like this. Really, as we've said, you kind of have to win your first game and not all the games have been played. But here are some big ones to circle over the next few days. And we'll be back on Monday with a bunch of recap, as well as ice cream shots.

stuff and any other news to talk about. Leon versus Orlando, both of them won their first game. Orlando, it feels like, has focused on this. This seems like a good spot for them to try and push to win. Griseman in the door, you're trying to get fans back into the building. Fans excited again, the team has been trending in the right direction. Spicer gets you another goal, Griffin Dorsey, another game being dangerous from that right back position.

Left back has been a bit of a question mark, but if you were a play the kids person, There are some good young options that they're playing both that left back and with Justin Ellis in the squad. So that's one to tune in for Miami against Monterey will just feel big. CF Monterey are one of the biggest clubs in Mexico. They've got a budget somewhere north of $45 million. They have brought in, as we've talked about, Hugo Kuyper, Diego Rossi, Luca Origano, Matthias Almeida is the head coach. So they are a big team, even though they lost their opening game.

And they're going to take a game against Miami seriously at any point. And obviously, Messi comes off World Cup, plays like 90, scores through goals. He's going to take every game big. So that one will be on Saturday. And then LAAFC hosts Toluca. So Toluca will play two of their three games at home in Mexico as the reigning champions of Mexico. This is their one-away game. And as we saw in the Chivas matchup with L.AFC, as I referenced the Club America game last year on the Club World Cup,

big Mexican teams when they play LAAFC in the galaxy, there's an unbelievable atmosphere in the building. L-AFC seems to rise to those occasions. Davy Martinez looked great in the game against Chivas, Ju-Terry, finally getting a breakthrough as the best young prospect they've probably had as a club, but especially one who they've given opportunities to. I'd say his ceiling's way higher than Nathan Ordaz. And so I think that's exciting to see him push into the team.

And again, LASC, they try to go for trophies everywhere they play. Tolucah, they took that Seattle game very seriously. Alexis Vega out there on the field leading the line, wearing the captain's arm band, and this team has been the best team in the region over the last 12 to 18 months. And then the last one, a fun one. And these are the fun matchups that we sometimes get. San Diego against Tijuana. So only a couple of miles between the two stadiums.

Many people in the San Diego area, they are Tijuana fans, whether that was before San Diego UFC started or not traveling down for games. You get it as a regional TV. as well. So that is fun and exciting. And to see them play an official competition is cool. So that's going to be a big game for both those teams, for market share, for relevance, for rivalry, for everything else in between. Once we get through the second round of games, or at least the end of the first round, it will also tell us a little more of who's got an opportunity to win this thing, who's got an opportunity to push to the next round. So we'll be back

on Monday to cover things. We will have, of course, our NWSL show. We've got our new soccer-wise U.S. show that came out with Walker Zimmerman and Brianna Pinto that I'd recommend going to listen to. We've got some interviews lined up. We're going to be doing some special interview shows as well, our own soccer-wise, open mic style that we're going to be running with going forward. So it's going to be a fun one. I'm going to be out in Milwaukee this weekend. So if you have any advice of what to do in Milwaukee, I want to go see the soccer field at the Bavarians, which is I've always just thought was one of the coolest soccer entities in America. they are for anyone who doesn't know an over 100-year-old club.

They've hosted big amateur cups over the last 10 years as they've come back. They've had youth clubs. So I'm going to go up there. But otherwise, if you have any wrecks, send them my way and let me know. And myself and Tom will be back next week. So thank you to all of you for listening. Huge shout out. And thank you to Valer and Ben for joining us.

Big shout out to Gregory for putting this all together. And we'll talk to you again, very, very soon.