SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | Going Down the MLS Rabbit Hole Mailbag Style

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

David Gass, Matt Doyle and Tom Bogert open up the Soccerwise Discord mailbag for a wide-ranging conversation on MLS and the USMNT. From Cavan Sullivan’s future with Manchester City, the direction of MLS and some of the league’s most memorable characters, the guys tackle all your hard-hitting questions and chat a little St. Louis CITY SC along the way.0:00 Intro2:20 Tom’s First Trip to St. Louis7:56 St. Louis City’s Hot Streak15:20 MLS News Blast27:33 Cavan Sullivan’s Man City Future36:50 Global vs. MLS USMNT XIs49:57 MLS Mascots & Best Assistant Coaches56:55 Minecraft with MLS Coaches1:00:31 The Future of MLS1:09:36 Shield Points, FC Dallas & LAFC Coach News1:16:45 MLS’ Biggest Sliding Doors Moment1:20:31 Greatest MLS Shithousers1:26:37 Building An All-Left-Footed MLS XIFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

everybody, welcome back to Soccer Wise, David Goss, match oil, Tommy Scoops here for a good one. We are diving into the mailbag in the Discord. Today, we did our U.S. men's national team reaction show yesterday with Walker Zimmerman and Vanney Sartini. So you can go listen to that one. I had a blast with that. So we're going to dig into all of your questions that we got in the Discord. You can subscribe to our Patreon to get access to it. And you can go in there and, I don't know, tag Tom and a bunch of stuff that maybe has nothing to do with Tom.

tag me and stuff. At least there, people know it's actually me. It's not Doyle stuff that people blame me for. That's how you know there are people, right? That they actually know which one of us is which. I mean, I guess we do look pretty similar.

Right. Like, there are. Doral, I said to a message, a former CSO this weekend told me they subscribe to my newsletter. And for those who don't know, David cannot write. I literally cannot write if I wanted to, like, I relayed this story out to Paul Tenorio because I was walking into the about to like

one of Portitino's press conferences and like I was just like I need to tell Paul immediately because I couldn't stop laughing and he was like what's going on? It's just like that thing now I know right I'm like 50% and I'm like hmm it could go either way and then you get like that and it was right at the end to the final slam and you're like nice hell yeah um yeah so myself and Tom will just I'll make me and Doyle one person. Cool. Are excited,

are excited to host ourselves. We've got a lot to talk about a lot of fun questions that came in. We're going to hit mascots. We're going to hit USMNT fake all-star teams. We are going to hit assistant coaches, Minecraft, everything else in between. So it's going to be a good episode. We don't often have little to talk about. So we get to do stuff like this.

So it's going to be really, really fun. If you're listening via Sirius Radio, welcome. Thanks for being here. and we will start with a little bit of news that has happened and some current stuff and then we will go from there. But Tom, let's start with you as you mute your microphone, which is expertise level. And tell us a little bit about St. Louis.

Is that your first time there for a game? That was my first time in St. Louis full stop. First time there for a game, all of that. It was good. I was in Orlando for- Did you get custard or cement? Did you get cement? Excuse me?

Ted Drew's cement. They give you, it's a, it's a, it's a frozen yogurt that's so thick. They called cement and they hand it to you upside down. I saw the sign. I didn't fall out. I didn't. I didn't unfortunately.

So I got in from Orlando like Sunday night. So I had Monday and Tuesday there. We stayed downtown. I stayed right next to the stadium, which is really cool. And something that is funny is that the training facility, you can just see it outside the window from like where you're having breakfast or any, like if you have the rooms facing there.

And there is just about nothing St. Louis City can do to counter espionage. if somebody was so inclined. They can't control who stays at the facility and you could just look down at the training grounds. Training ground is beautiful. Stadium is beautiful. I really liked it.

Like when you go in, you go down. And the way that the roofs are like situated, it holds in noise really well. It was that the crowd wasn't like rocking for a friendly, but like when there was the like bursts of energy, bursts of noise, whether it was from the Chilean fans or the American fans, you could hear it.

And like it made me, I can't wait to be back there for a big St. Louis City game at some point in the future. The city itself was cool. All of the soccer history had toasted raviolis. Of course I did. Went to Antoninos. And Antoninos is in like their like Italian area, which they call the hill. Yeah, they call the hill.

It's like not like literally, but like you can feel that you're entering like where the Italian communities, the Italian American communities were built. And the field that a lot of the St. Louis guys from that 1950 team trained on. Like we just drove by it when we. were going to grab dinner at a recommendation for the best Italian like Tosa Ravioli plays. And it's just like crazy. It's really cool how much history is there. And it's why it's nice at St. Louis City.

They're not hosting the Open Cup final. But there's it wasn't by accident that they cared about that tournament because of the team, the city, they are, the fans, everything else. I enjoyed my time in St. Louis, David Goss. You seem like an expert now. Let me ask you this. I saw, I saw some videos. Did the U.S. team go and train after the game at the training?

So what, what is normal these days is? if particularly with a huge squad like this, if you played less than 20 minutes, they do stump something, but it's usually just on the field. But they don't like do it on the field. Yeah, but because you can walk from the tunnel,

from your locker, like out the stadium onto the training facility in like 40 seconds, they're like, all right, let's just go do it over there. So I thought that was funny and cool. And the people who ended,

if they left early, not early, but left the stadium, it went right back to that hotel. You could see it. One more quick thing from St. Louis. I was Monday morning. I believe it was my name.

Yeah, it was like, I let me go for a walk, see the downtown go to the arch. I want to check out the St. Louis Cardinals baseball stadium, like iconic, cool things like that. Tony LaRusa stuff. Yeah, that stands in baseball.

I'm getting close to there. And at this point, a nuke has dropped on my forehead and J.J. McCarthy's been traded to the New York Giant. Just trying to contend with that. Things aren't going great. I'm like, and like,

I was having a nice walk with, I checked my phone. That mistake number one. and I was like, all right, try to compartmentalize this and go to the baseball stadium, just look at it from the outside. It's all right, cool, I should walk back now. I should go back to doing work. So I'm walking.

There's like a TV crew outside the baseball stadium. And I just kind of walk around him. And then the guy, like, half of black away just makes eye contact to me. I was like, man, I hope that there's somebody behind me. And I hope that there's somebody on. And there's just not. And the guy comes. I always want to get pulled out of the crowd.

I never get crowd participation. There was no crowd. There's nobody downtown. It goes, just me. I was like, please die. know there's nobody behind me, but please. And the guy just goes, hey, what's up? And I was like, hey, and then all of a sudden,

the camera's on in the mics are front of me. I was like, all right, like I'm wearing a backwards hat and like a crappy t-shirt. All right, here we go. You can see on my face that the Giants just traded for JJ McCarthy. There's nothing behind my eyes. I'm dead inside. And all of a sudden, we're mid-interview.

And he goes, what do you know about the Cardo's? And I was like, I don't know, man. I said a few things. And he goes, did you know, there's a big soccer game here tomorrow. I was like, I, you know, I did actually. I knew about that. That's why I'm here. And he goes, what do you mean?

That's right here. I was like, I work in this. And he goes, oh, what's up? How are you doing? And then I ran into the guy in the stadium after this. He's like, I interviewed you yesterday. I was like, what's that man? Yeah, I wasn't lying.

This is fun. Thanks. Was it Chilean media? You just have star power wherever you go, Tom. Like people just see the glow and they have to flag you down and get your thoughts on what's happening in the world. I couldn't have been less approachable in that moment. You have such a finger on the pulse of the Chilean national team.

and the sort of scene around the game in Chile. What do you think about the Chilean team? I was like, I know Alexis Sanchez wasn't called up. People of Santiago have been clamoring for Tom's point of views. But the U.S. men's national team, by the way, was not the only reason St. Louis has been in the news over this week.

I will once again say, go listen to our episode with Walker and Vanney. I really, really enjoyed it. Just sitting back and they're smarter about soccer than I am. And they've got more, you know, different insights, different connection points. Vanny worked for the U.S. Soccer Federation for a number of years.

And then, of course, knows most of the coaches and, you know, coached against the players. And Walker obviously is played in the national team for a large stretch and plays against a lot of these guys listening to talk about Julian Hall and what makes him difficult and, you know, all that other stuff. It is really, really cool. But there was an MLS game last night. And it was consequential in our drive to the playoffs presented by Continental Tire.

This is our drive to the playoffs segment, a longtime partner and supporter of MLS and American soccer is consensile tire. It was a weather delayed game from last weekend that got moved to Wednesday night. New York Red Bulls hosting St. Louis. Red Bulls currently, or at the time of the game, were sitting right in the last playoff spot. And St. Louis has been one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer. And they, in Daniel Edelman's return to his home ground, get a 3-0 win, Doyle, and are now the hottest team in Major League Soccer.

Major League Soccer and are in touching distance at the top of the Western Conference. I mean, they've been the hottest team in Major League Soccer for months and months. With all due respect to the Philadelphia Union, it's now 19 unbeaten for St. Louis City. I think that's all competitions. I think what is it? 17 in league play. And like both are approaching all-time league records. And part of it is they went out and they got guys like Carlo Hulsa and Hoffa Navarro.

But, like, it's part of it is just, Yohan DeMay is, sorry, B.J. Callahan, the runaway coach of the year winner. First, what he's getting out of guys like Daniel Edelman and Chris Durkin and Central Midfield and Volum and Totland and all these guys who weren't really performing at a high level last year under the previous iterations of this team. They have taken to playing under Yohan DeMay. like fish to water. And it's very reminiscent of the sort of free-flowing,

um, attacking style that we saw in Columbus for, for three years under Wilfr, Nancy. And of course, Yohan Dime was an assistant for Nazi, but there's a more of a front foot pressing aspect to it. And we saw them annihilate the redness.

Like all of those goals they scored were like the Red Bulls could not get out of their own end. And St. Louis absolutely. absolutely lives for that. And the way it's like Kavanavahu was off the field for the last two goals. And like you said, Doyle, like part of that is the game state of like the Red Bulls. Okay, like now we really need to take it to St. Louis because they're down one-milled. And they couldn't do anything.

It was it was a runaway train for St. Louis at the end. And of course, the way that they play, there are things that Yawandemay does that he did with Wilford Nazi and Columbus. But he's got his fresh take on things. And I think the biggest difference for me, these two, like the two eras and just how coaches change. And by the way, Yon DeMay, they play differently now than they did in their first game under him.

and they'll probably have tweaks when they're in the playoffs or in the open cup final. And then they'll evolve next season. Like, Yon DeMay is one of those guys that it's not just, hey, this is what I do. And then I stick to it. Like, he evolves as a game evolves, which I appreciate about him. Daniel Edelman and Chris Durkin in the midfield. We've talked very positively about them. Their strengths are ground covering, dual winning, being difficult as how to play against.

Nobody's confusing these guys for daunting to nag me. So it's a different like engine room that is between the non-Cierra Columbus crew and the DeMay era, St. Louis City. And I find that to be very fascinating because you're getting to the same end result in a different way. But like they're still blitzing teams. And I have full, full credit to Demet and Corey Ray, all the things that they've built. Hoff and Navajo was able to play Carla Hulahosa. Like St. Louis weren't too impacted by the international break, which was nice for them. They only lost one player in Damien Downs.

Right. where Red Bulls lost 10, which also is a factor, Julian Hall and Audrey Mehmeti, unavailable. And you saw a very rotated group, including the Red Bulls were never going to win this game, right? Because it was,

it was Red Bull 2. And, which is Michael's team. Yeah, listen, they had both of their DPs and they had both of their starting wiggers. Like, it's, listen, they were obviously handicuffed because Hall and Mehmeti are so important. Does Emil Forsberg have another year on his contract?

He has an option both the, well, the team has an option on both Forsberg and Chupamoting. And obviously he's going to have a way. Yeah. Yeah. What's going to happen on that one? Yeah. Man, there was a moment Pedelford turned his man on the sideline like gorgeous play and a breakout moment plays a ball up the line and Chupon, I don't know, takes his eye off it.

It literally rolls off his foot and out like it would for me. And I was like, this is a DP. This is crazy. Yeah. I mean. Forsberg seems like fans already. to move on. Forrestberg had a couple of good years and he's had moments this year.

Like you could still see when he receives the ball. He's got so much class on the ball, but he's just not completing plays. Like the game has started to go a little bit too quick for him. And I think that like it's probably time. Like if I was making the decision, I would not bring him back. But at the same time, I don't think Red Bull Global is going to spend right on a replacement. So like maybe the smart choice, if you're Julian de Guzman, it's just like you got to kind of eat shit and bring Forsberg back

because there isn't a better option who's going to fall into your left. But I want to get back to the engine room point that Tom made about Durkin and Edelman and the difference between the St. Louis team and that Columbus team, because that really is the biggest difference in how central midfield works. And your point was a good one because now I'd be just held. Nagby was not going to push into the final third. It was never his strong. Even when he was playing as an attacker for Portland.

And like it was, you know, Aidan Morris would a little bit more, but he was still not a box arriving threat the way that Daniel Edelman in particular has become a box arriving threat, really over the past like three or four months, but you could see it at the start of the year as well. And so all the sort of interchange and flowing play

that we got out of Columbus, still had those focal points in the middle of the field, whereas what we're seeing from St. Louis is the interchanging play and the flowing play, especially off ball, those guys in the middle of the field

actually release. So you end up sometimes seeing a volume or a totland slide inside and become the ad hoc defensive midfield. Or Falu Fall is playing now. He'll step forward and become sort of an ad hoc number six. It's really, as you pointed out, it's evolving.

in real time and they're becoming more and more dangerous going forward in real time because nobody knows where the attacks coming from. And it's like three times a game, it's ending up in the back of the net. They're fun as hell team to watch, man. If you want to be like Julian de Grusman and make the smart choice, make sure you remember a continental tire for all your tire needs, as Matt Doyle said. Daniel Edelman's going to come back up in this show in a little bit because we have a fun question about an MLS, USM&T versus European or global.

USM and T and you better. That's the way to sell it. Not Kevin Sullivan, Julian Hall, Adrian Niel Pierre. Daniel. Boo. Do the good stuff. That's all a cash out. Tom. Do the good stuff. The Tim. Before we get there, we've got a couple of news items to start with. The revs have taken a step closer to their stadium in Everett, Mass.

Everett mass, dude. with their state EPA presentation and community meeting in the past two weeks. We got some new renderings alongside that as well, Doyle. And it's pretty exciting that this feels like a real tangible thing that's coming. Yeah. And my understanding, as provided by David Goss, is that this was just like a necessary step. It was always going to happen like this. And then there's now six months to the next step.

But it is actually moving, right? It's not where it is. It's not where city field is for NYCFC or whatever the hell they're going to call that stadium. Like that one's being built. Obviously the one of Chicago is being built.

The Rev Stadium is not there yet, but it does seem like it's going to get there. It's just we won't see shovels hit the ground until 2028. But it's sick. The renderings are great, man. The big news in this one is the south side of the field, the south stands, which face the Boston skyline, have been lowered. So if you're sitting in that stadium, you get this beautiful view of the skyline.

It's right on the Mystic River. They're like building up a park around it. If they get this done and it does seem like the going to, this will be one of the best locations in the league. It's great. You could see Charles Town from the river from the stadium. as well. I watch that movie like seven times a week. I bet you do right between the church revival events you go to.

A little bit of that right there. No, I've said it over and over again. I lived in Boston for four years. I was a college ambassador for the New England Revolution while I lived in Boston, which is why I have a lot of revolutionsocker.net gear because that's how old I am at the time.

and the big barrier was getting people to Gillette. When this stadium gets built, it's going to be one of the best atmospheres in MLS. I don't even think this team has to be great. I think consistently it will be a crowded building with a vibe and being able to get there on the T is going to be a huge difference maker. And I think the atmosphere in terms of the setting is going to be really cool as well. There are thousands of college kids in that city who like going to sporting events

and drinking and yelling and dancing and singing. It's a good sports. It's a good sports town. And then you have hardcore fans that are all locals. I mean, let's get like Sports Hub just fully invested on DeRabs. Let's get the raves going. And it's going to be a big moment. We've talked about this a bunch,

but the official news has come out that Mark McKenzie is headed home. So he, we, you know, I think Tom, you broke it when we were around the transfer window. That in January, he will come back from France and sign with the New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union and then we got official confirmation this morning that he will be the next designated player for Philly. Yeah, he was at the game on this weekend.

Obviously, I broke the news a while ago. This was no secret. It's always nice for it to go official and he'll join this winter and I really like the signing because you can't, for me, I don't like doing things like in a vacuum where no, nobody should ever be a DP centerback.

First of all, the league's changing and also the clubs are different. And for this club, it just might make sense given all of the young kids that they bring through. And for what Mark McKenzie has done in his career, so he's going to be in his prime, and he's going to be the constant that you put the young variables around. It'll be him, Kai Wagner,

the same way that Jacob Glesnis was next to him when he broke through, the same way Ali Bedoya was next to Brendan Aronson, when Brennan Erinson broke through. Youth development is not just about rolling out a U23 team. I feel like I make this point over and over again, but it remains like for me, I think it's so important to keep saying, you need these players around you.

And also the Philadelphia Union are trying to win. This isn't just the youth development team. Yes, it is at their core principles. But Mark McKenzie helps you win and he helps you play more meaningful and better games. And this is somebody who will be at the anchor of their defense for the better part of the next decade. And he gets to come home.

He's somebody who loves the club, obviously. He went to Europe. He did it in Belgium. He did it in France. He played at a World Cup. Now he's coming back. And I think it's all well deserved. And the Philadelphia Union will be better for it.

They wanted him desperately this season, and the team would be a little bit more interesting if they were able to get that done, but Toulouse was not playing ball. There was not a number that they were going to acquiesce to, to let him go in the summer. So the winter it is, and the union are going to be there this winter,

this fall, sorry, with MLS Cup and the playoffs, like there'll be one of the teams to watch in the East, and then now they're set up really, really well for the sprint season too. Yeah, he's a good player, and he makes it easier to develop the next Neil P.R. And if you check those to you about it, that helps you win, helped you build more elite players.

Like, you sign the guy. My issue with this is, it's a $2.5 million transfer fee. Correct. And he's probably making $2 million a year. Yeah, and I don't know what the number is that. That's a fair estimate, I'm sure. Right.

And it's like, good for him. And I hope he lives up to it. I hope he earns every penny of it. I think he probably will. But MLS has to get to a point where guys at those numbers aren't DPs, where every team could have a half dozen of those guys and then you know messy and de paul and casamiro on top of that i think that's the next step

for the league so i'm happy the union got it done they seem to have learned their lesson from this winter which was a disaster in terms of like getting rid of all their veterans is like as he pointed out it makes it if you have a bunch of good veterans it makes it easier to develop a bunch of good kids um so like good for them they seem to be pointed in the right direction i just hope that him being signed as a DP does not portend minimal adjustments to the CBA and the roster rules going forward because there need to be more Mark McKenzie level players in this league. I think that is part of the point. And Phil again, maybe now I can be more generalized.

I sincerely agree with you. And that is the best part of hopefully when the roster rule changes do take effect or are, you know, agreed to announce and all of the things that need to happen, that team have this play because this is a player that most teams wouldn't make a DP, right? Like I think it makes sense for Philly, but under the old rules, like, it's difficult. We see what's happened with Cincinnati and Miles Robinson. But you know what makes the league better when this kind of player is here? Like, he'll make Philadelphia better and not having to be like, like, let's say, oh, go back to Sinci.

Like with Miles Robinson, ah, like should we do this? Or okay, now we can't sign another $10 million attacker or a $5 million defense of or something like that, right? Teams shouldn't have to make those choices. Tigray doesn't make that choice. Monterey doesn't make that choice. five players in like the salary ballpark of a Mark McKenzie,

of a Tiago Martinez of a Miles Robinson. So I think, I think it's really important to be like, and I think that's what it's going to be one day. And that's why for this, like you put them, they're not using the DP spot anyway. Whether he's a DP in 18 months or not, it doesn't matter, right?

Like it's getting him in now. And then hopefully he's not a DP. Hopefully one day Clark Wagner isn't either. I don't, Philly's not the best example to say, oh, and then they're going to use those two deep spots and $20 million fees, right? But just in generally,

in squad, building an M.S. This is a really good thing. I was talking to you guys about this before we started. It is interesting. Now, Philly are an outlier in some of this, but it is interesting how many Americans are in attacking roles right now across Major League Soccer and it's actually a struggle to find domestic players in more defensive positions where I, you know, not I think, I know, we all drooled over Diego Fugendez because we couldn't possibly believe that a domestic attacking talent got any opportunities in MLS. And even when we did the Pat Noonan conversation last show,

when I used my AI fraudulent list to name the college draft multi-goal scores, like even when you look back, you know, those rev teams felt like an outlier because of some of the domestic attacking talent they had, which a lot of the winning teams in the early years of MLS didn't. And now it feels flipped. So I say that and saying for Philly, they use it on Mark McKenzie. Doyle, you're completely right. it helps them develop the next centerback.

I think there's a decent chance to just make more money on Neil Pierre next year because he looks better for another six months because he's playing alongside him and it might pay for a year or two of Mark McKenzie by itself. But then also you can use this spot because the Quinn Sullivan's and Kevin Sullivan's of the world are the players they're developing. And Malikyakovich is the next one, right? Perushia Dortmund already making overtures. They don't need to use it in attacking roles.

The same way for the Red Bulls, Julian Hall has been sort of you know, is the piece for them going forward. Nate Worth played last night will be another piece for them higher up the field. The other piece of official news we got this week is that Thomas Mueller has signed an extension through the sprint season. So he is back. I think Thomas Miller just loves a sprint season. Can't miss out on this opportunity.

That makes you happy. And it comes in conjunction. I believe that there was an official announcement that the White Caps will absolutely be in Vancouver through the sprint season. I don't know if these things were in conjunction. which is like they have extended their lease with BC place. So then kick the can down the road. We'll see what happens there again.

We hope that they remain the Vancouver Whitecaps and not the Las Vegas Blackjacks or whatever stupid name. No, Las Vegas United FC. Probably more likely. But anyway, it's more to the point. Thomas Mueller being here for like he's still really good, man. And I think he's still going to be really good until next summer. And I hope if he still has the fire to desire and the quality,

that he continues playing out for that. But I'll take an extension through the sprint season for right now. And then Tom, you had a little bit of news. We got, we got a scoop out of nowhere. We did. Austin FC are closing in on a deal to sign Finland Youth International defensive midfielder Eze Anoa from a Finnish club called SJK. sources have told me he's very likely to be a U-22 initiative deal. But, you know, things are very fluid right now with Austin FC as they go into their first real transfer window with their leadership in place.

And Khaled Al-Mad as a sporting director, Jim Curtin will take over his head coach. This is a 17-year-old. He turns 18 before next season. He'll join in January. right. What I'm told on Anuwa is he's, he's a ball winner. And that's what they wanted. Somebody who's athletic covers ground wins duels rather than say like a deep-lying playmaker. I'm going to assume that we're going to see some variation of what Jim Curtin played in Philly in terms of a style in terms of transition being, you know, trying to win the midfield and being more industrious there. And then you have special players outside of that. But this is where Austin FC are starting. I know Chris Applewhite's on loan. That was part of, you know, the new regime. G moves, all of this.

You know, Owen Wolf is out, all these things. But Austin FC are trying to get some work done early, and they've got a U-22, a likely U-22 initiative of defensive midfield are on the way. Tom, I appreciate you stooping to me in Doyle's level, but it's okay. You can say the name of the full club. You don't have to say S.J.K.

You can just say it. It finishes your native tongue, right? Oh, no shot. You know, the SNL bit with Chance of Rapper where it's just like, where the Nick's sideline reporter has to do the hockey. that's a S, a K, and a J. Nope, not going to try to pronounce that.

Sina Yoyen, Yalka, Polakokokero. Those are two words, by the way. The things I just said were only split. When you say it like that, it sounds like there's a slur in there somewhere. I don't know. We might have to cut that. Problematic. You think so?

I feel like I kind of sound like Shakira, it's like really enticing the way I speak my Finnish language. I did not expect it to go that way. No. No. Austin FC, I believe one U-22 initiative player right now on the roster. So they would, in theory, have two spots to fill because they already have three DPs. So as of right now, they can't make four, but they had the openings.

And they get this move done. Okay. Last piece here is, I don't know if anyone's heard, but Manchester City isn't a little bit of trouble. Darwin Nunez would like you to know that. Darwin, look at the hair. What's the hair? You tried to say Dominic Chobas's lie before

and it sounded like you got hit by a bus in the middle of that sense. You don't think you look like Darwin Nunez, too? No. Tom, I'm not going to ride you. My ability to discern Liverpool players' hairstyles is pretty low. But Manchester City are in trouble.

They were hit with 114 of the 115 charges. I believe that last one did trickle over the goal line. I believe that they got. We're talking $1.15. They're back in a thousand. Shout out. Shout out to the very expensive Manchester City lawyers. They almost held out for one.

Nice. And Tom, everyone has asked you the same question. I would like for you to first comment on fake quotes. And then I would like for you to explain to us how this could affect Kevin Sullivan's future, who already for people to remember, has a contract with Manchester City for when he turns 18. Yeah. So, Kevin Sullivan, who just turned 17 this week, will be eligible to join Manchester City a year from this January.

So he's still got almost a year and a half left before he joins. From what I'm told is nothing's changed because there are no sanctions yet. They haven't even, there's not even a hard and fast punishment decided for Manchester City to appeal. They're already appealing that is this decision that already took. Like these are financial issues that was like from 2010 to 2018 or something like that. Right. Like this is, it's a joke how long this is taken, by the way, but that that's not to the point.

For Kevin Sullivan's situation, nothing's changed. Sources have told me, right? Like, we'll see what happens. I think it's a little bit, for our audience, of course, like we all want to know Americans want to know. But like it seems like it's not as if the Sullivan's, his camp are believing that he's the priority right now. You know, people know,

people want to know what Erling Holland's going to do or people want to know what Enzo Fernette is like the key players of Manchester City. Like they understand he's not there yet. He's here. He's happy in Philly. He's focused on Phillies, focused on the national team, the Manchester City future.

still there. And nobody knows what's going to happen with this situation. So until then, maybe there's a conversation then. But for right now, there's nothing changed. He's a Philadelphia Union player. He's continuing his rise with the U.S. national team. He probably won't go to Europe. I don't think until, whatever, 15 months from now. He does have an EU passport. Yeah, he could go anywhere besides England tomorrow. Correct. But the contractual agreement is you're in Philadelphia until you turn 18. Now, Manchester City, if they wanted to, could try to say, here's X amount of dollars

to let him go to Gerona after the sprint season. If you're the Philadelphia Union, is there a number? Is there a number? No. Like, I don't think that there is. What's the point? Like, this is the most juices team has. Gavin Salman's the right.

And if you're MLS, like, I'm not trying to be conspiratorial. If you're Larry Berg, I'd be, I might put in a call to Jay Sugarman and say, there is no number. Like, there is no negotiation, right? Like my guess would be the way this happened, the way this would happen is city sells his contract because they need to. And the team buying it comes in on a bigger number that they combine with Philly. Right.

So if city, because of all this, all of a sudden, Brussia Dortmund comes and says, we'll give you $12 million. Because that's to be fair now, now that he's playing, that's what he's worth. And Dortmund comes to Philly and they say, all right, we'll give 20 million. We'll give you eight more, you know. and we'll give city what we're going to give city, but we want him today. That's the only scenario I see this happening in. Because if city's back against the wall,

they have to. I mean, this is now an asset that they already have. They've already paid for that they probably, depending on what happens, like their matchup against Plymouth Argyle this weekend, like whatever occurs, they're going to need to get themselves out of it.

That's the only scenario I see in which he leaves before he's 18 now. So, and that's on me for taking it that way. I was setting that up to say, I just don't see that happening. as of right now the plan is so he joins Manchester City in January of 2028 already of which because this deal was signed when he was 14 it was we'll reassess where everything is and like that's the idea was more about where Cabot Sov and his

well like now it's going to be where is Manchester City in terms of all of these clouds like I was asked about is there contractual outs I don't think that any agent in the world was was writing in by the way we can break the contract if you get the most historic you know financial cheating penalty ever that you know didn't didn't occur I don't think I don't think that a relegation release clause occurred either. I can't say that with certainty, but I feel pretty decent about that. The point is you never know what's going to happen in 15

months, even if this wasn't hanging over them, right? They could have been talking, okay, maybe I'll go to drone or maybe go wherever, but like, Gavin Sullivan has accelerated really well. He's in a great spot. And for right now, nobody's thinking about anything other than U.S. national team and the Philadelphia Union for Gavin Sullivan and Manchester City in 2028.

Are the, are the union owed any more money from Manchester City, depending upon Kevin Sullivan's performance or the number. They're ad on. Yeah, they're there. But it's just, but like the contract is already. Excuse me.

I didn't realize it was a sale. I thought he signed this contract, which was I sign on, you know, my birthday on the, when I'm 18, I've signed this deal with Philly that guarantees I go.

It was, it was like the Benji Flowers deal where they did that together. In conjunction. So like Philly, you're still getting a fee. But I'm not signing my homegrown contract until we haven't written in,

that like I'm signing with Manchester City and the Benjee. But there is a transaction involved monetarily from city. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got an initial fee and more of it was in add-ons and a sell-on clause. And again, like, the Benji Flowers fee is a whole lot more than Kevin Sullivan's because, like, Kevin, a week before he signed, as I was reporting that, and I'm going to break in the news that he ends up signing the homegrown contract and the city deal. A week before that happened, if I had to guess, I was saying he's leaving for free.

Right. Like that's where it was. So city had all the leverage because there wasn't a homegrown deal in place. Plus the EU passport meant when he was 14, 14 and a half whenever he signed that contract, you're pretty close to being able to play for one of city's sister clubs in the European continent. So that's why it is what it is now. And like, again, Philly are going to get their money. Philly are going to have their cell on.

And they've got a kid that just won MLS player of the month, the youngest ever. And a kid who's performing at an incredibly high level. and the absolute dominant story right now in terms of, I guess, players and MLS outside of Lienel MESA. Let's dig into the mailbag because it's going to be a seven-hour show. And let's start with this one from Dr. Fever, who says, given that NYCFC's current CFO was Manchester City's financial director during the time period being investigated, what kind of impact might this have for NYCF. Listen, I have no idea because I only figured that out like this morning.

Like people were like deducing all the fallout. And like there was one of the things that came out in like the documentation was just, like this guy put in an official Manchester City email address hey like the same way that you would answer for like setting up a Zoom meeting hey we just need to not write like we need to change the contract so it doesn't look like that because we're not doing

he like taking notes on a criminal conspiracy on Manchester City email address probably doesn't look great on this guy and that's worrying with the Manchester City so how poorly they covered their tracks and how brazenly they were like, we don't even have to try here. We don't have to try to cheat.

This will just go away. One of the companies that they allegedly were getting a sponsorship deal from, it was like something that a college kid would make on a Tuesday afternoon and just grab like a stock photo of like a businesswoman and like this is the fake CEO and this is the fake website. www. company company.com It was like, you know, first name bunch of numbers.com.

I will say from an MLS point of view, my reaction is, I mean, Ferron Soriano is their board of governor. Like he's, I have been in rooms with him, right? He has been at MLS cups and MLS All-Stars. Yeah, I know. And his blinkless video explaining internally what is going on, I'm like, that's the guy. Here's what I will say. Here is the saddest part. Are you ready for the saddest part?

If at CFG did the shareholders did nothing to cheat the MLS rules, that's the saddest part. Right. They did 115 of these to cheat in the Premier League and MLS has a $2.4 million salary cap and they were like, nah, we don't even care about that team in New York City. That would be the saddest part of this whole thing. And then they went outside, Benny Triori to try to move the needle. NYCFC fans are self-reporting. know we need to cancel that contract because it's like the gary trit contract we they're just going to

start sending in investigations uh and start putting the tip line would be coming from n1c's yeah yeah okay let's stick into the mailbag let's start with a big one that i had fun with uh we have this from chris uh hootsky who we love and is each part of us keeping the depth charts alive and keeping all of this operating especially the discord he pulled it from a friend of his, Aaron, who said in a match amongst USM&T players, MLS players, which is categorized as anybody who's played for MLS in MLS in in 2026, so Seb Burrhalter can count on the MLS side, first non-MLS, USM&T players who wins. Or you can build the best 11 for each.

Could be fun. First of all, Sebberhalter starts on both teams if he's eligible for both teams. Does he? I don't think so, but it's a good. Walker and Vanney had this conversation yesterday and it's like, if everyone's healthy, is he still a starter and he's right on the line? But that's part of the question mark around. Could he be a captain going forward?

I have teams. Tom, I assume you don't have teams. No, but I want to do a quick set Burr-Alter aside. Marisa Bozicino gave this great quote about him. He was asked and he was like, you know,

he's priceless. It was like a really heartfelt, like the relationship between the two of them and Burr-Hulter would later say like, he believed to me with the national team and I didn't even, right? Like it was really cool and like poach like before the World Cup goes, who are your, who are the best midfielders or who are your favorite midfielers of watching world? He just starts naming the best midfielders in the world.

Coach goes, why can't that be you? Why not? And like this is really cool. But Poach has given this really nice, heartfelt answer. And then, you know,

because he's, he's giving too many compliments. He stops and somebody goes, um, I, this doesn't mean he's going to get called in next. You know, maybe I shouldn't call him in next camp just to make like,

well, you know, hey, this doesn't mean anything. Like he did that with Tim Rima. just because I gave you the captain's arm, it doesn't mean you starts, you know, who knows? It's like, it was a relatable moment of like a man

saying too many nice things and being like, well, yeah, yeah, I can't. I feel uncomfortable now. Okay. Thank you, Tom, for that emotional moment. Now let me get into how I win, because I like to ask questions. So for starters, on the MLS side of things,

is like in Nathan Ordaz, Ian Frey, Tavon Gray available, or is it USM&T players? Bro, if you're asking about those players you lost, like what are you doing? Are they in your lineup? I assume we're not doing like a NOAA Banks and whatever. Obviously not. No. Okay, great. I already have my teams, Tom. Do you have your team? Go ahead, Dallas. Nice. Okay. So in goal, in MLS is the toughest one. You've got

basically everyone. Who's the goalie? It's not, it's not tough. It's still Matt Turner. Okay, great. Then along the back line, this is where it's a little bit iffy. I have right now on my team, Tim Ream, Peyton Miller, Frankie Westfield, who struggled on Tuesday. And then the other centerback was my biggest question mark. I think I landed on Tristan Blackman for now. And Neil Pierre is an option. James Sands is an option. Sean Zawatsky, Aaron Long,

Daniel Mooney, Reed Roberts. I don't know if either of you did a team. I don't know what I'm asking for here. Do we have no judgment? I did teams and we have the same, the same exact back for. Who was your fourth,

who was your second center back then? Blackman. Okay. So I had like Pierre Muni, Reagan, Roberts, Che, and Ethan Culler waiting in the wings. And Ethan Culler has, he's flown under the radar for the revs this year. His distribution is fantastic. I mean, he is a guy who's so comfortable on the ball and initiating attacks.

And what we saw against Chile is we need more centerbacks. We can do that. He feels like a gold cup guy to me of like he's going to get a month next summer to solidify himself as one of the top three or four in this centerback. pool because as you said distribution was like the whole issue in this window so i have this in a four three three does that feel right doyle i have a four two three one but we can you know similar it's the same thing um i had meti and then this was my hole next to him and i was debating between daniel edelman brooklyn range and christian rolled on so think i want to do edelman and i think that

Red Bull fans should be crying about that. And they would pair, they would pair so well together. It's insane. It's insane. Yeah. I agree completely with that. That said,

like it was specified that Burrhalter is available for the L.S team. So Burrhalter is starting for me in my double pivot next to Christian Roldon, who is still a better play. Because you can't play Burrhalter and Mehmeti together.

It's too slow, right? And that was like, Mamedi and Reins. Like when Tyler, like, and Tyler Adams, it's not a fair. comparison because he's like borderline world class at that defensive skill but like it was such a

difference when he was one of the midfielders rather than Mehmeti and brooklyn rains both of which i thought played well played fine for their for their first starts with the national team but in this scenario or hypothetical scenario it can't rain I just want to point out was uncomfortable well say that again in the u.s game rains held the ball too long because he was uncomfortable he didn't want to make passes he didn't want to make mistakes but meti the big moment where he passes behind Sebastian Burrhalter is fine, right? It's that he gets beat so easily in the transition moment, and it's like he's not even putting in a tackle.

So I thought his first 20 minutes were terrible. I think he had around the 17th minute. He had one moment where it was just, I think it was the one where he does pass behind Burrhalter and then just gets absolutely skinned. His next 40 minutes were actually good. He rebounded well, yeah. Yeah, he rebounded really, really well.

And I thought Raines covering for him was a big part. of that. Like, Raines was not out of position a single time. And both these guys are in my, if we're really trying to win a game, neither of these guys are starting for me. It's Burrhalter and rolled on. But both of these guys are on the bench available as subs. That's what was interesting about doing these teams is the U.S. team is the prospects and the prospects are good and exciting. Do the prospects win for you tomorrow? Maybe not. And that's where, well, let's get to this. So then I assume you have Nico Securis in front of them. Yep.

And then I had Xavier Gozo on the right, Julian Hall at center forward, and Kevin Sullivan on the left. Flip Gozo and Kevin. It doesn't matter. Sorry. A part of. You just asked if Tavon Gray was available,

and you're saying that it doesn't matter if Kevin Solvins is his preferred position. What are you talking about? So where did Nathan Ordaz come in to the... I was going through my whole list. I was going through my whole list. I was asking questions, Tom. I like to know the parameters.

Ridiculous. Doyle, what'd you have? So I actually have Paxon, Aronson on the left, cabin on the right, and I have Brian White starting up top. Like, Brian White is still a better soccer player right now than Julian Hall.

Within the next six months, Hall hopefully will be better than Brian White. But like what Brian White has done over the past five years shouldn't be minimized. Part of what, has made Kavan the player of the month, and I think the second best player of the league

since the World Cup has been shifting him to the right. Like he was, he's good on the left and he, when he can float and he can overlap, like we've seen him score goals and get assists doing that, but when he's on the right, he runs the game. And like having him there is non-negotiable for me.

The other thing is like, Gozo doesn't really fit if we're playing a 14-3-1, right? He's a, like, you know, you can argue that we should be playing some sort of, three, four, two, one. You could have him on one side and Arston on the other side. That would actually be a hell of a lot of fun. I'd like to see that someday for the U.S.,

but in this group, like Gozo doesn't really have a position. Paxton Aronson, on the other hand, it's been really good. And I'm surprised by your inclusion in there. I've never superrated him. But like he's spent most of his time this year as a 10 until recently. He's been playing more on the left wing as sort of like a left half. space playmaker, it's worked.

And like his numbers, I think he's up to like eight goals, nine assists across all competitions. He works hard defensively. So I might, I maybe don't stretch the field enough with this three line, but because we got some ballers. Yeah. Brian White was one of my first out, Justin Ellis. I had Jackson Reagan was one of my first out as well.

As I said, like I went through this. There wasn't as many MLS, American. defensive players as I thought there would be. But then you have Georgia Mihailovich and Paxton Aronson and Brian White. Like there, there's a ton of attacking talent in there. Owen Wolf, Aaron Long, Ryan Hollingshead, Harbor Miller, Timothy Tillman, all guys that could be options in this. Reed Baker Whiting as well.

Nathan Ordaz did not make my team though in the end. Good thing that we got that created away though. Let's go with the global one. Diego coaching and goal. Doyle? Yeah, 100%. I think it's the only option, right? The only option.

My back four was Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Austin trustee, and Jedi. Same. Tyler Adams, Eunice Musta, and Weston McKinney? No.

You have Weston as a deeper centerman? No, I'm going with what we saw in the World Cup. Adams and Tillman deep and then McKenney is in number 10 because I want him making those runs through the lines.

I'm with you there. So I had Raina, Bolligan, and Pulisic across the front three. I have Dest on the right, Pulisic on the left, Balagan up top. I'm the Giorata guy now on this show. Clearly.

I might do geo instead of, instead of Destin. Tom, let's get Strasbourg jerseys. Let's just do it. Let's just do something crazy. He looks good this week in the two games that I saw. I was going to have Gio as the 10 and then slide west of McKinney deeper. Desk I had as the alternate out right back.

I think it's pretty clear that tomorrow this team would be. the MLS team and then in a year. Look at the back line. Like that's really strong. Yeah. Then in a year, the MLS team will lose even more because all of these are going to be in a year.

Exactly. But yeah, this was a fun one. So we appreciate this one from Chris. Let's move on to our next question. Also, I don't know, maybe I'll type you up and we'll hook them out.

Before we move on, let me, let me, so I only see one starter for the U.S. in the MLS team. And it's Matt Turner. Do we think that's a problem for MOS, for one, for two, how long until Kevin is a starter in your eyes? Yeah, I would take him over.

I mean, it depends on the system, Doyle, to be fair. So they were playing like a traditional back four, especially in the first game that he started. Like, it was Freeman in the role that we knew him as before he got into the national team as like an overlapping full. And like Freeman was talking about it out of the game too. He's like, yeah, Kevin likes to cut in and I like to overlap. Like I think that there's a lot here, like more or less. So if it's a system like that, honest to God, I think it's now.

I do like, or at least on form, right? If it dips, let me ask this one. Tomorrow, I think it's, I think it's it's it. Do you think he starts against Mexico on Saturday? Or would you start him against Mexico? Yes, and God damn it. But in this, in this roster, 100%. Doyle?

And like, I've been, imagine him against Mexico. Like, that's a moment for him. Yeah, I think he's going to, I think he's going to start against Mexico. I think that's why he played nine minutes off the bench. It's like, honestly. Like, I was surprised Adams came in at all. I was happy that Chris Richards, particularly after he scored.

But I was just like, Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, Kevin Solomon, don't even put him in jerseys. Just they start against Maxill play 75 minutes. Yeah, I think in the next year, there's going to be a decent argument that Kevin is a best 11 starter in the team the way it all fits together. Because the other piece is him coming in from the right. I'll take the under on that.

Yeah, that's fine. But him coming in from the right is going to create chances for Policic. Yeah. Like it's going to create chances for these guys. Yeah. But like the only, the only thing is that like you could play him as, like one of the dual tens in a three four two one that's not they played more like a three four one two or whatever whatever it was where like his best position like don't wait to me obviously

a week back in any scenario so then you have to okay then it's adams and mckinney and then pull so then you have to drop tillman which i'd be comfortable with but if it ends up being a more like standard four at the back i think it's now on like on four i mean he's had two games so far post world cup he's played for at the back. Yeah. Well, and let's put it to Pociti, who knows what he's going to do next. Yeah, 100%.

All of this conversation will be next Nation's League if they make the semi-final and the final, right? That'll be the one a team we see. November. Because Gold Cup probably won't be, although I guess everyone's going to clamor to come because they don't want to get dropped from

Pontino's team forever. Yeah, I think, I think Musa's going to write a couple notes. Yeah. It was going to be banging. Musa already rented a hotel room in L.A. just in case. So, okay. let's move to the next one, which is MLS mascots.

Ben says clear out. Three words. MLS mascot draft. Tom, you all first pick, snake, yeah, I'm just kidding.

Can I just give you my three or do you guys at one? No, no, you can give us your three. The three, I mean, I surprised, surprise,

Sarminty, number one of the bullet. Rapid Man and then Philly Fang. That's, that's another one that comes to mind. I think Philly Fang's underrated. To me, the OG MLS mascot is Cosmo.

Cosmo had. had. Customer had real juice. Yeah. Reset the role of. Is Cosmo washed? Is Cosmo washed? Can Cosmo do it? I don't think he's washed.

I wonder if the analytics have tried to shift his game in a way. It just doesn't fit his personality. Like he's the Darlington Agby of mascots. The best mascot moment in MLS history was, of course, Q versus David Beckham, probably 13 year, 14 years ago. Yeah, because I think it was a 2012 season. It was the end of a pretty contentious Cali Classico between the quakes and the Galaxy and Q, like it was like on the field as Beckham was getting into a shoving match

with Alan Gordon or something like that. It was, God, those were the good old days of MLS. I was like, I don't ever want this league to change kind of moment. So whatever the team is, whatever our best 11 of MLS, is I'm building my team around Q. As a elite destroyer, though, not as a tech. Yeah, yeah. He's in the end of the interim.

He's my Macalaya. Yeah. Okay. Top MLS assistants, Darth Creighton asked the top three assistants around the league that should be getting head coaching calls. So for me, the boring and the answer that provides no value is if we're still

counting Ryan Richter and Loran Couta, which is a billion percent, right? I'm expecting Richter to get the Philly job. Laurent Couttsa, I think he's done enough to get Columbus, but we'll see. I mean, Just imagine if Ryan Richter doesn't get the Philly job.

If at the end of this year, they're like, no, we're going to go in a different direction. As wild as that would be, I think if Lauren Quartois took a different head coaching job in MLS, that would, after what has happened with Yohan DeMay, that would feel even worse. I agree. And then the third that, again, Doyle said it on Monday, you know, Andy Rose is, you know, the interim for LFC. And he's, I don't know if he's totally ready for a first season. job, but he's a name I've heard. So outside of those interim coaches, and if Andy Rose,

has he been officially named, I don't know. As far as like other ones, that is a better answer for the more valuable answer. National Assistant Josh Bello and Michael Nassian, Nassian was the U.S. He was a U.S. team coach, I think. Yeah. And then he went and joined BJ Callahan staff. I've heard a lot of good things about him. He also coached a USL team. He was a head coach. Oh, yeah. I don't again, I don't know if he's, I think he'll for sure get interviews. And I, just to be a little lazy to like, and it's like, Yon DeMay, he was, it was a, and Mikey Varis too, before that they got their head coaching jobs, there was like a cycle or two where they were getting interviewed and like valuable experience to take, like, I think Michael

has seen is going to get interviews. I don't know if he's going to get a job this winter, but like that sets him up for, okay, in 12 months from now or the summer or whatever. And like the next crop of availability, like, then he'll continue to get interviews and he'll probably be a more a candidate higher in the pecking of power rankings. Josh Wolf, assistant in Minnesota, not super fun as an answer here, but I tell you what, if they get rid of Cameron Knowles, which I would be surprised if he still that coach next season.

Josh Wolf just might get that job. I don't know. Obviously, a sporting change in Minnesota with Colorado. I'm not leaving, but Josh Wolf, I know this wasn't the tenor of the question, but he is the right answer. And then for me, Vancouver Whitecaps assistant, Mike D'Agostino, really good. Right now, he's a guest assistant. with Canada during the international break.

That's really good experience for him. He was on Vanney's staff. Gosh, I know Vanney loves him. Jasper Sorensen kept him. I know the people in Vancouver think he's really good. That's somebody who should be getting, at least consideration for head coaching jobs as well.

To bring it back to Minnesota, Danny Cruz is actually the guy. Oh, yeah, great cool. I should. Yeah. Yeah. More interesting to me than Josh Wolf. We saw Josh Wolf as a head coach for that Austin team in MLS,

and they did not play good. or winning soccer that one. So I think Danny Cruz is more interesting. I think it's more likely Josh Wolf gets jump. Fair enough. But like if I was running an MLS team, Danny Cruz would be like one of my first calls amongst MLS assistants because he did it as a player.

He's already done it as a head coach. Now he's doing it as an assistant coach. And then the other one for I think probably further down the line is Hector Jimenez. The last like five years of his career in MLS, he was basically an assistant coach. He was one of those guys who was a good soccer player, but extended his career because of his impact, everything I heard of his impact in the locker room,

his ability to sort of bring the Spanish speakers and the English speakers together and keep locker rooms together is elite and apparently he's a really sharp guy as well. I mean, probably not ready yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if, you know, by 2030, we're talking about him as in the way that we were talking about Yohan DeMay or Mikey Veras. It's like, okay, these are the next guys up.

In the model of the Danny Cruz, one, which is MLS assistants that have success as lower division head coaches. You've got Juan Gera in Houston who won a championship. He was the youngest ever to win a USL championship as a head coach with Phoenix. He's been Ben Olson's assistant now for two years. It's nothing good call. And then you have Mark Briggs in Dallas who obviously went to the Open Cup final. with Sacramento and now has been Eric Quill's assistant in Dallas. And then the two that I had to add was Jason Bent, who also coached TFC2 for a while,

has been Greg Vanney's assistant for a little bit, and Medi Balucci, who's been every level in NYCFC Youth Academy all the way through. If I was a club that was looking at developing players and like pushing them through, I would give Medi a shot because I think he's worked a decent amount on the IDP stuff and connecting the academy to the first team. also he's like the only constant at NYCFC they change coach every 12 months and he's choked by messy and he's the american number 10 we never knew we needed but always wanted i loved him eddie as a player god what a player dude uh so yeah that's a long list of assistance

that you should watch out for with your teams but i think sort of tom said it there's some names here that are connected there's not like the obvious one like pat noonin was coming out of philly right of course this is the next head coach it's just who can get them. These are more right fit, right time probably, depending on what openings come in MLS. Speaking of coaches, John Connerson says,

if you found out a current or former MLS coach, spent their off hours building a giant, heavily detailed Minecraft City, who would make the most sense? For people who don't know, the back story here, legendary Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin just casually revealed recently

that for the last dozen years, he's been building a Minecraft city. And then he revealed it last night. live stream. And I was a little bit cynical, be like, oh, man, like, is this going to be, this is, it was beautiful. It was adorable. It was just like, this is like, this man genuinely cares about this. His, his kid, like, tweeted, like, yeah, there was like times where I'd come home and like, I wasn't grounded, but like my PlayStation was just taken. And I was like, my trouble. I got to do anything. And then he figured out, oh, dad just loves playing Minecraft, which is adorable. So he, and by the way,

he built an MLS Stadium. He built an MLS Stadium. Mike Tom, an open invite. Please for the love of God, come on the podcast. You can talk as much as you want about your play. go work for the Reds. Get that thing over the line. I was going to ask, does this mean that Pittsburgh is a potential expansion franchise for MLS? I mean, Pittsburgh Riverhounds have, I do believe they've put out model or renderings of their expansion of their stadium. Their stadium is gorgeous, by the way. It's one of my favorite stadiums is in all of, for USL, Premier League, whatever it's called. Actually, I don't have to say whatever it's called. It'll be called the Premier League because it's a league that name themselves.

championship in league one. The Mike Tomlin thing. Do people know about this before this week? No. Like so it was this week or last week where he just kind of casually mentioned it either on a broadcast or a podcast and someone was like, wait, wait, wait, what did he just say? And it was like this thing that was what he said was the last dozen years or whatever. The Pittsburgh Steelers, I think, won one playoff game. The breakdown was they won five playoff games in the three years before the Minecraft started.

they've won three since then in like nine years versus the three years. Yeah, the on-off numbers for Minecraft are tough for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Mike Tomlin has been a absolute superstar in the media. For people who have like heard his press conferences, I wasn't surprised that he's just really good at this. But anyway,

MLS coaches, I think he's Greg Burrhalter, man. I know that all of these guys like have, you know, they have a billion other things that they're doing because that's how their brains work or like just, dude. if I if I said this is your task I in all 30 coaches hey like off season but like time stands still so you're not losing any time where you know I have three days and one day kind of thing um this is your task go do it my money's on Greg Burhalter to build the best city Bruce will spit in your face Bruce would spit on the controller and yeah play golf I would say I think I think Greg's high up there I'd probably I'd put Sorensen up there. I don't know. He seems like a detail or intake guy. Oh, I like that. But yeah, the, I think it was in GQ back in 2022. Greg did an article about like there's like a what do you pack or what are

your necessities and just listen to him talk about like vermouth. You're like, oh, this guy like gets to the weeds of everything he likes. 100%. Expert, it becomes an expert in it. So it feels like if someone's going to build the ultimate city, I think the breakdown was if it was the amount of time, Mike Tomlin saying the assumption is he he did it for 5.6 hours a week. if you did it consistent through the whole year, which wasn't actually that much. No. People watch TV at home.

Also, you assume he did more in the offseason than in the season. So I don't know. I think Mike Tomlin should be like given a free shake on this one and allowed to move on. Let's go to Webhead here from RSL who says, we often talk about growing the league. What is your vision for the sort of, quote, end goal that we're working towards?

Not that it will ever be finished, but you get the point. If we get to a point where we're competing with the top European clubs for the best players in the world, What does the league look like at that point? I imagine it will never be identical to the big five. So what are you hoping for Doyle? This kind of goes connected to what you were talking about with the Mark McKenzie stuff. Yeah, I'm honestly the best league in the Americas.

I'm not worried about, you know, running down the EPL or the giant clubs of Europe. I don't think that that is going to happen anytime soon. But we could be better than League of Emackis. I didn't think we're more stable. We could be better than Brazil, Syria, Syria. and what we need to do that is to continue to produce our own players, our own Kevin Sullivan's and Neil Piers and Nico Shakiris and Zavir Gozos. But we also need to, you know, loosen spending a little bit to make it so we can get

five or six Mark McKenzie level players per team. And then we have to figure out a way to make it more attractive for our young players to stay here until they're 21 instead of, leaving immediately when they're 18. So that's like that's the list of stuff to do. I don't know exactly how to do it. My worry is that MLS owners are so precious about winning the bargaining in the CBA that they will do that to their own detriment.

Like they really want to beat the players. and they will sacrifice the quality of the league to do that. And I think that's what we've seen over the past three years. Like the owners love the current CBA. So even when Messi came and even when we had Copa America, even when we were hosting the World Cup, the owners were so reluctant to open up the CBA and pour rocket fuel the growth of the league that they didn't. And so MLS has kind of been spinning its wheels.

over the past three years instead of growing and running down the top teams in Liga and Meckes or Brazil, Syria. And so we haven't like, where, I wrote a thing like two, two months after Messi arrived, like, okay, Messi's here. Where does MLS stand in the global hierarchy? And there was a lot of data that said, it's somewhere from eighth to 12th, depending on the cups half full or half empty. Where does MLS stand now?

Somewhere from eight to 12th, whether the cups half full or fat. half empty and that's disappointing to me. Go ahead, guys. No, you go. You go. I would just say, I think one of the things that's worrying to me and you hear it in a lot of the comments that are made in media, both inside of MLS, Don Garber is obviously a large part of it, and then stuff around it where I think if you truth serum to a bunch owners and asked what was going on, blah, blah, blah, they think a bunch of these leagues are just going to fall apart. And I think the Man City stuff kind of helps in that argument of like,

we're never going to be Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Bayern. But like if we sit where we are and we keep incrementally moving up, we're going to be five to seven in five to ten years because France and the Netherlands and Belgium don't have any money for this. And Brazil just put in a new rule to limit their international spending. And at some point, Mexico is either going to fuse with us or fall apart. They've got a court case going on about pro rel. That's my worry with that stuff is they think it's working.

and the rocket fuel for them was everyone else spending on the World Cup and everyone else spending on Copa America and it increases the value of what they have because the sport has gone up. For me, so Tenorio lays a lot of this out in his book, Go By the Messy Effect. It's not just about Leno Messi.

It's about the existential thoughts planning where the league is going in MLS. And there are threats like the, I forget the name in the legal case, where basically now teams are allowed to play, leagues are allowed to play, competition games in America. That is going to harm MLS if that becomes a reality. I believe League of Mekis.

I'm surprised that the next day they didn't have a game plan for, you know, Tigres and Malturae in Houston. For me, the end goal is still retaining like some of the silliness and the character that we love so much about this league while being the alternative to the top five leagues and maybe even like, would you rather play for Sasuolo or be a DP at LFC? right like when that becomes a real conversation then I think that's good

but I also always wanted to be Lino Messi plays here and you know David Beckham plays here Robbie Keen or you going down the list if you just want to like do you want to be name three players on Porto Porto is better than an MLS all-star team

but like I'd rather come watch Messi Casamiro Suarez right like I think I want to retain that side of what makes MLS unique and special while still rising to be a point where like, can you actually compete with Porto or, you know, the fourth best team, third best team in Portugal and in any given year.

So for me, like I think that that's a real pathway. And of course, like the owners will say, we want to be the best league in the world, right? It's probably never going to happen. And that's okay. There's a lot of space and a lot of time for a lot of leagues, a lot of teams, a lot of players. And like I look at, you know,

I access so much history or whatever, right? Like, so that's probably a difficult one. But would you rather be in the Dutch League to then go to Manchester United? Or would you rather play? play for NYCFC or would you rather play for um i don't know orlando city right like i want it to be that and i think that's genuinely attainable you know that's on portu batcouver whitecaps legend in bum wong is he out yeah he is one of their office so i was afraid you're going to say somebody so much more obvious that i missed and i was like oh no they are i thought you were talking

about otavio when he was like rumor for six months they became a world cup player um To your point, though, to get to where you want MLS to be, do you think MLS then should, I guess, I mean, it's self-evident you think MLS should double down on player development, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then is there a way for MLS to do that where we're not losing our best players, our best prospects, as soon as they turn 18? So I don't think the, great question. I don't think the 18 thing is as bad as what you say. 18's probably a tough line.

I think 21 is a different conversation. Ask R.S.L. R.S.L. right now. So, but here's what I would say, Doyle. Paxton, Aronson, and Georgie Mahalovich are the start of the other side of this, which is when we get the pipeline robust enough, when you sell Luca Moisa, you buy back the next, the guy who's 28, who's ready to come back. back and be the face of the franchise.

Mark McKenzie, right? Like, he's a centerback. It's a little bit of different conversation. You sell Millipierre, you buy back Mark McKenzie, and the next three. So you're half, you're half Porto and you're half Galatasarai, right? Where you're getting these guys. The Turkish League is a good example. Like all those guys, I would say we're here.

So I think that's part of this, which is I think it's okay for between 21 and 26, a lot of these players to not play in Major League soccer. Because if the pipelines robust enough, first of all, some guys will stay or get loaned back, but I do think you have a world in which we're talking about Policic coming back in the next 12 months. We're talking about Weston McKinney, and there is

a way smaller pool of this happening. And the last piece is, outside of Messi, the way MLS gets a global superstar, elite superstar, I think, is to develop it. In 14 years, if Kevin's the guy we think Kevin could be, and he comes

back to MLS, that's how you get the best player in the world, I think. to be a part of it. Being connected to the league for the first three to four years of their career is also, okay, that part I don't mind. The Sasuolo comment that Tom made and like the Club America and Flamengo, that's the part to me where it's like guys who are good, like, will leggy, if he is who I think he is, it should be very obvious that he's going to stay with Nashville his whole career.

If you're going to go to Byron and Barsa and Real Madrid and the top 25 to 35 clubs in the world, fine. Outside of that, it should feel obvious that you should leave your MLS club because the situation should be equal there as it would be externally. And that to me is MLS making it. That you're not losing players to Tigress and Monterey, of course, who are standard squad players because it's obvious that they would make the move. Okay, we could do this for five years. So let's move to the next one. Dave Capone, do you think the overall number of points the shield winner has will trend downward on average when the schedule change brings a single table format and half of all teams away days become much further trips than they are with the current conference schedule.

Doyle? It depends on what the salary cap changes look like. There's an old Boston consulting group study like 10 years old now that has been like the North Star for everything MLS has done since like 2015. Part of the study was they looked at budget effects on parity and parity shattered. at about 2.5 times salary. So if you get three teams say that can pay $50 million in salary every single year, while everybody else can only spend 20 because they just don't have the revenue

and they're not going to cheat Man City style, then those three teams are pretty much guaranteed to finish in the top four every single year. So what the budget changes look like, will be more determinative of what the shield winner's points total looks like than anything having to do with the way the schedule has changed. Wouldn't you also save a single table that Nashville would be better off this year because they'd play more Western Conference teams? I don't know.

I got to tell you, I haven't thought about the answer to this question beyond that. My thought, one, was that that you're going to play everyone so it's more balanced and you'll play the bad teams more often. and I would say I thought all these numbers were going to come down. And since 2020, they've all gone up when I thought the league was going to even out more. So I kind of have a feeling that it just keeps going up with great teams on great runs and all of that. This one I had never heard of before. This is fantastic.

Yeah. So Billy says, why is it that FC Dallas has the most, quote, sack assist games in MLS history? That means most games directly before an opposing coach is. fire. So here's the research. FC Dallas back through the Dallas burn, lead MLS in MLS SAC assists. They have 10 times as an MLS manager lost or left their job after last playing FC Dallas. Weirdly, twice in 2017 and 2019, it was draws. DC United is second with eight. Now I said, Dallas is first with 10. DC is second with eight. And I'll go through the list. And then there was an add-in by someone, whether this was on Blue Sky or Discord, I don't remember,

that John Carver with TFC, Dallas was the last team who was on the sideline for. After he lost to Dallas, he was suspended. They beat Chivas three days later while he was in the press box. He resigned three days after that. So if you include that, it's 11 to 8. The list of coaches. So Mark Dos Santos just did it. Peter Vermease last year.

Remy Guard, Carl Robinson, Pablo Masterini, with the Rast. Apids, Inchi with Orlando City, Kurt Anolfo with Kansas City. So that means Casey fired Kurt Anolfo, hired Peter Vermeis. Kept him for 20 years. 16 years later, fired Peter Burmese. And Raphael Vicki lost that game. They were up to zero and they lost four three a few weeks ago. And I think everyone thought they were going to fire Vicki after that game.

It could have been three coaches in a row. And then back into the 90s. I have, I'd never heard this before. This is amazing. This is the best question we've got, and it's not even a question. I'm just glad that we highlighted it. I don't know why. I just think it's fantastic.

Excellent research, and now it's something I'm going to think about anytime a coach gets fired. I have a theory on this. So first of all, because of the weather in Texas, Dallas has consistently been a sort of backfoot and counterattack team, right? And if you're talking about a backfoot counterattacking team in the middle of And midsummer is when most coaches have been fired. By the way, we're not talking about Steve Morrow's team with Kenny Cooper and Domoduro up top. Those teams played on the front foot. Let's go.

That was a beautiful game. In the midsummer, teams playing in Texas are going to wilt in the heat. If you're on the verge of being fired, it's probably because your team is gapy and shitty structurally defensively. So you have gone on the road now. You know you're on the verge of being fired. You want your team to play with urgency, but you've done a bad job of coaching structure defensively, probably a bad job of coaching rest defense.

So you're on the road against a counter attacking team already. You give up the first goal because your structure is bad. You're nervous on the sideline. You're transmitting that to your players. You're pushing them forward. And guess what? you give up two or three more counter attacking goals. You've just lost three or four nil on the road and the axe is about to swing.

I think that explains. I need to look at the dates for when all these guys have fired. They're in there. Primarily August, right? July, September, September, August, July, August, September, August, March with Peter Vermease and September. So all of them are mid to late summer. Yeah. Also, when are you going to fire a coach?

You're not, you're firing. That's what I'm saying. I think the, I think the weather has a lot to do with this. And I think the weather has informed Dallas's play, like game model for 30 years. I'm just saying, I think it's that you're sitting in a Zoe's kitchen in empty Frisco, Texas. Your team just got spanked by a team that's been doing construction on half their stadium for the last 14 years. And you're like, you can't get any worse. There is some semblance of disrespect.

also it helps that they're an MLS original because you need the long time that's clearly why them in DC would be up there really quickly before we go to the next mailbag some news that just came out now it looks silly for the LFC conversation I'm going to take it back Chavi Tamarit has been named LFC's interim head coach not Andy Rose uh doing the club in January and now he's the interim to succeed Mark DeSantis again it was very clear interim head coach but just you know if you're listening when you're listening to this you if you knew the news when I'm saying is Andy Rose an interim? I don't know. I think so. Now you know that that was not correct.

He joined the club in January. He, I don't know, a UAFa pro and commonable pro license holder performance football at the University of Porto, as Tom would say, because he's a bit of an expert, fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. I don't even know where this guy's from

based off their own press release. Javi brings a wealth of experience at the highest levels of the game and a clear understanding of our players, their strengths and what this group needs. Assistant coach to Maricio Pellegrino for a while. So that's interesting. Yeah.

Okay. We've got a couple more. We have a lot more here, which I enjoy, but we've gone very long. So I'm going to do two or three more. Let's start with this one. The Danny Clayne says,

what is the Clay 2016 Game 6 Domino effect equivalent of MLS? So Clay injures himself in 2016? No, no, no. That was what he went off. This was the SKC, OKC, the OKC, game six in which Durant's OKC were about to eliminate the Warriors, Play goes supernova, and then the next, that summer, Durant joins the war. But isn't it more that Draymond Green kicked two guys in the nuts and get suspended? They lose the finals.

No, no, okay. OKC would have been in the finals. I get that, but if Golden State wins that finals, Durant doesn't come. And Draymond says, I left the stadium and called KD. would this is this is difficult ball knowledge that we have to see this yeah if okay i don't watch the western conference it's fake stuff if okayc defeats if okayc defeats the dubs in the western conference finals kd never leaves okay i think that they win the titles yeah yeah and that's the whole sliding doors and like

they were dead and buried and clay went super supernova so for those who don't know goss is like an Anne Hathaway type who had never watched NBA game until the Knicks got good. He's just a pure front runner. Well, I was a college ball guy. I used to go to MSG to watch the Big East before Yukon dismantled it by getting running to the American athletic conference and ruining everything that was sacred in our lives. Doyle, do you have an answer to this question? I do.

There's actually only one answer. And it's a, it's a soccer wise answer. Our guy Walker Zimmerman's goal for Dallas in the 2015 playoffs to eliminate Seattle. That was an incredible Western Conference final between the Sounders and FC Dallas. I think the Sounders won the first leg, 2-1, and then it was scoreless going into the 84th minute. Tescho Achen Dele scores for Dallas to make it 1-0 Dallas. Chad Marshall scores what seems like is going to be the winning goal for the Sounders in the 90th minute. and then like a minute later Walker scores to make it to one.

Dallas go on to eliminate the Sounders in penalties. That winter, Obafemi Martins is sold. Ziggy Schmidt goes on the hot seat. Of course, he is fired six months later, the legendary RIP, Ziggy Schmidt fired by the Sounders six months after that loss. And then Nica Ladero brought in, which spurs the Sounders to becoming really the team of the half. decade right between uh winning two mLS cups going to a third uh and then eventually winning the

2022 conchiaf champions league the only mLS team to have won that in the new iteration no i mean without that goal from walker zimmerman i think the sounders go to 2015 uh mLS cup i think they probably beat the the timbers in the western conference final and then um you know have a showdown with the with the crew i mean that cold changed everything in ls that is a great answer that's a really good answer like um i because it's difficult in this league where it's not like a closed system yeah people don't go from one team to the other and yeah and so your ability to like ascend i thought the answer was going to be san Jose not reading christian esmenosa's contract because well we got yeah national might set the points record and win mLS cup this year uh and he came as a free agent so that

that was going to be one of my answers what when doyle started with as a soccer wise thing i thought it was going to be the mismanagement from MLS overlords that allowed us to start this show. So thank you all for that. I thought it was going to be about the Knicks, but you never know. Okay, let's finish on this one. I think there's a good place to finish.

We have a question from ARAHen. Is that the answer? There's the greatest shithers in MLS history. Do you want the whole list? Well, here's the thing. Richie Larea accidentally got kicked in the face. against Chile this week and was just bleeding. Didn't even know he got kicked.

Found the blood gushing, gets a red card against Chile. To be so good at this that you accidentally are still picking up red cards, he's the kid. Yeah, he's the king of Concapt. He's the king. I've talked to some people about it,

and they're like, he knows he baits people in the box. He slows down a half beat and then accelerates to draw penalties purposely. He must lead the league in penalties draw all time. And he's a full. back, which is a little bit. It's insane. It's it's got to be between him and what, Landon? No. No, Landon's not.

For penalties is what Doylele. For penalties, for penalties, for penalties, maybe. That's what I'm saying, drawing penalties because you're an attacking player who plays in the box all the time and had a long career. That's my... I thought you meant between him and Landon for Best Schittauser. No, Landon's post career shithousing. He just does it on a

podcast to annoy you. Correct. Pescadito is still far and away number one best shithous in MLS history. Like you said, Richie Laurea accidentally got kicked in the face. Pesquadillo got intentionally kicked in the face by Ricardo Clark. He was such a committed. Another assistant coach who might be on his way to being an MLS head coach.

Yeah. He's number one. Louis Suarez is number one. So it's a good point. Worldwide forever. Going back like Clint Dempsey was up there. All the way back. sneaky Pete Marino for Columbus, just an annoying player.

Danny Hernandez was incredible at shithousery and also a really, really good defensive midfielder who should have gotten a couple dozen caps for the MLS between, for the US national team, right? For the USM&T between 96 and 2006. Jesse Marsh was an incredible shithouser. You've seen no signs of that in his post-planning crew.

Right. He dragged his studs down David Beckham's leg a couple of times. And then just like pure reducer, you could probably find a clip of that one. There's a moment where Precky got kicked out of a game with Chivas, I think against the galaxy when they shared the stadium where it was like, I just remember the game was like 15 different things. And there was no soccer played. And Jesse just at the center of like 80% of it.

And it was less elite chaos. And I have this vivid memory of watching Precky walk. off the field because like the he I think he refused to go to the tunnel and he wanted to walk out or no at dignity the tunnel is at the end so he walked across the field whatever it was and it was an amazing moment Stephen Lennhart has to be in here oh my god that's a great shout yeah just a miserable person to play against who is now a mental health professional but was still shit housing still this time in the in the leagues cup final uh I got to give a shout out to Matt Reese, who's probably the best shit housing goalkeeper the league's ever seen.

And he single-handedly won the Revs a playoff series against the Metro Stars. I guess it would have been the first year that they were the Red Bulls. Because it was a, it wasn't a 50-50. It was a high ball into the box. And Reese was always going to claim it. But Josie came in, Josie was starting for the Red Bulls at the time, Josie came in with like a token challenge. and he jumped at it.

He was, it was not vicious at all. It was like, okay, you know what? I'm just committed to actually playing it out in case Reese, you know, drops his ball, have a tap in. Reese comes out with his knee at like chest height. And then because Josie's jumping, like he buries it into Josie's side. And you can see Josie was not able to move for the rest of that game. Like he, he, he, Reese intentionally gave him a.

Charlie horse that just crushed him. Like crushed his movement for the rest of the game. I swear to God the revs had like 85% possession for the rest of that game because Josie couldn't move around at all. And the Red Bulls never figured out a way to play. But he and like that's what Reese did. It was a professional play.

I hated it. But like that's that's what you teach goalkeepers to do. That sounds about right. But Felipe Martins has to be mentioned somewhere. Oh my God. That's a great show. Of course, the patron saying. of his era.

Isn't he coaching now? Yeah, the KC current player development. Chris Harman. And he's, he's, and he's, if we did not mention him,

we would have gotten kicked. Yeah, I like Felipe, and I'm saying that as a badge of honor, and I appreciate it. Some others, for me,

I had Richie La Reyes as well. Roger Ospinoza, maybe that's just, he's a hard man, right? Like, I don't know how much into this category. I asked our guy,

Brian Dunstice, of course, and Donnie, I got like 15 names. It was just like one after the other. It's just like he's been waiting for somebody to ask him this question. Chris Hauser is the first name. He said, Mike Pecky.

I'm upset at myself that I didn't come up with Mike Peggy. That's a great answer. He even included Marco Etcheverry, which I found to be interesting. And then Maserani and Beckerman, Colorado. And then he goes, the Tony Molo Mone at refs when he runs 50 yards. I don't think that's the same thing, but I both the need to include that. And then he said Tony's gone soft. And I think he wanted us to say it.

Okay. Simon Betcher for current players. Like that whole St. Louis team is annoying, but Simon Betcher in particular is an old school MLS 1.0 style shithouser. And it informs a lot of the personality of this St. Louis team, which I think is partially why I love them so much. Let's close on this. this because I know Doyle did the legwork, so we have to ask the question.

Frank Dolan, who's the goat for us? We love you, Frank. Thank you for being a supporter of ours. Best 11 of all left-footed players in MLS. Get those sicko juices flowing. And then someone already responded with Precki, of course. Right. Precky is on the team.

Captain. Captain. I think Captain. Probably not. I think there's a different number 10. Who wears the arm band? And we'll get to that. But Brad Guzan, I think. is left footed, right?

That feels right. I don't know this at all. Like if I watch a game, I can tell it with some people. It is not a way I categorize players in my head. Well, based off the fact that Miles Robinson couldn't play a four-yard ball on his left foot. I can shielded him outside. In advance, Scout, be like, you know what I can do? I can tell which players dominant foot.

Oh, when I play men's league. By standing over a free kick. I wonder how I play men's league or co-ed, I always cut the press and close people. down onto their left foot for the first five minutes until I figure out if anyone's a lefty. So don't worry. That's soccer IQ right there. Our left back, the best left footed left back in MLS history at this point is Kai Wagner. The fact that he's made two best 11s in an era where fullbacks are left off of best 11s

and is now a DP and is worth it. No question he's there. Matt Beasler, left center back, Carlos Bocanagra in the middle. next to him. And then I'm taking to Marcus Beasley and I'm putting him at right back because bees can play literally everywhere. He showed over the course of his career. He played like five different spots at a high level. No reason he can't be my left footed right back. But like obviously you never see left foot in right back. I racked my brain and the only left footed D-mid I could think of in MLS history as Harris-Madunian.

Specifically, a guy who can't really defend. What a threat. Yeah. That feels emotionally correct for this team. That the defense of midfielder is a ball player, not a bowler. All right. And so I'm playing a 433. We're going to have a lot of the ball.

We're going to need to have a lot of the ball. Because it's Precky and Messi in front of him. It is Precki and Marco Etcheveri as my eight in the four three three. right and then left to right across the front line i have Miguel al-miron Leonel Messi playing as a false nine and Carlos Vela on the right wing cutting inside and then off the bench i have Roy Lassiter auntie razzoff uh Carlos Heel Nica Ledero Anders Dreyer Eddie Lewis Brad Davis Tim Reem Jeff Agus who's like two-time

Defender of the year. And Max Arston. And then I had this memory of Robin Frazier being left footed, but I like back in the back in those days, they didn't have a dominant foot. It was a header. Correct. He was very two footed. Apparently he was right footed.

But if, if Robin Frazier was actually left footed, that he probably starts for me over Pocanegra. But that, I mean, that's the team. That might be the right footed team in terms of pure talent, but the lack of defensive midfutable. field coverage. It would win the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T and Blingo, but in the MLS Cup presented by Verizon and Celsius, that goes to

that goes to the right-footed team. And I'm going to point out here that a bunch of the best ever MLS prospects, including Kavana and Shakuris now, but also Alfonso Davies, Beasley, even Jack McGlynn, have all been left-footed.

Was Freddy Adieu? Freddie Adieu, another one. Wow. footed. And I went through our depth charts. Zero current sixes or eights in MLS are left foot. Is there some sort of discrepant? It's South pause.

It's discrimination. It's that you must be a tech, go play wide. Go play wide. Yeah, I have a theory on this, right? Like being left footed, it's rare. It's what, 10% of the population is left footed. I thought it was more than that, but continue. Well, whether it is or not, therefore you get a young left-footed player into your academy pipeline,

and it is incredibly valuable to have that guy be a wide player to play inverted on the right. Those are like the most valuable players in the transfer market. Which used to be you play out on the left because you didn't use the invert. And you whip it in, Brad Davis. Eddie Lewis. Yeah. Brad Davis. So it's either that or if you are.

a little bit slow and have a good size. Well, left-footed centerbacks are rare and precious and valuable. So you get shuffled either from the wing or to centerback or obviously if you're a winger who can't dribble, you go to left fullback. But like there's no fly zone for center forward. That's funny. More central midfield. It's the first thing any youth person says if you ask them about prospects and they talk

about players, if there's a left-footed centerback on their team, they will say, well, for starters left footed centerback worth it's weight and gold eight million dollar player like they just say that straight out then they actually described the player because they're not an abstract like they actually have to be good at but like I would say I know it probably ended up being correct but like John Tolkien was a six yeah he was coming through and they converted him to a left back they didn't think he could cover ground laterally to like cover in central areas but also it's like oh you could play left back and you could get onto your left foot and play deep crosses same thing happened George Bello.

Like George Bellow's youth coaches all swore he was a central midfielder. Yeah. And now he spent his entire pro career playing either left back or left wing back. Okay. Well, to all the lefties out there, my wife is one of them. She likes to tell me all the time. I'm sorry. How sinister.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry or I don't care. One of the two. This was fun. I'm glad we got to do this. Thank you. If you made it this far to the lefty best 11, send me a message on blue sky because you get a

salute and you are a true soccer-wise sicko. We have so much more coming up for you. We'll all be back next week with our U.S.-Mexico reaction show on Monday, and then we will preview the Canada game coming up on Tuesday. No MLS games this weekend, although the Seattle SKC game on Thursday night is going to be rocking. So maybe we'll pull a little bit of that in. Then the second show next week, we'll get ready for MLS to come back.

We've got, what, for most teams, six or seven or eight games? to play until the playoffs start. So we've got all your coverage there. That's why we're happy to be with Concentral Tire towards the playoffs. Decision Day coming up. We will have your U.S. Women's National Team coverage as they get ready for Spain next week. We'll have your NWSL coverage as decision days even closer,

four games left in the season on that side of things. And we've got interviews and everything else involved. So thank you to both of you for being here. Huge shout out to the Discord and everyone in the mailbag for sending us questions. We had a bunch we didn't even get to. I think Tom's probably going to spend about an hour responding via text in the chat to those. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.