SoccerWise - MLS Soccerwise | St. Louis Makes History, Philadelphia Union Keep Rolling

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

St. Louis matches MLS’s all-time unbeaten streak, and the Philadelphia Union just can’t lose. David Gass, Tom Bogert and Matt Doyle are back to dig into St. Louis’ remarkable turnaround, the Union’s hot streak, the questions facing LAFC after a draw with Vancouver, and what stood out from another eventful weekend in MLS.0:00 Intro8:49 St. Louis’ Historic Run Continues20:53 The Race for the Western Conference25:07 Kévin Denkey Carrying FC Cincinnati 28:56 Late Canadian Classique Comeback35:22 Toronto’s Playoff Push Starts Now40:13 André Luiz Arrives as Portland’s Struggles52:14 Philadelphia’s Unstoppable Run Under Ryan Richter58:23 Chicago Finds Away, NYCFC Falls Apart1:05:34 Charlotte: Dark Horse in the East?1:14:04 LAFC Still Can’t Find Another GearFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer Wise. David Goss, Tommy Scoops, and Matt Doyle with you for another big episode as we are back from the international break in Major League Soccer. We are hurtling towards the playoffs. Some would say we are driving towards the playoffs. Thank you, Continental Tire for that one. And we've got a lot to talk about. Midweek this week, a number of potential spots of the playoffs could be up for grabs because of the matchups that are set there. We had a wild weekend of games as well. to go through. So a lot for us to talk about and a lot for us to do. If you're listening on Sirius Radio, thank you for being here. But I will tell you guys the most important portion of this show, which is right now, which is my parents are on vacation in Southeast Asia scuba diving. And they are definitely going to listen to the opening three and a half minutes of this show to see if I'm okay. I'm okay. I just want them to know that I'm fine and you can turn the show off now and go back to your day. You know, they're like in coral reef and doing whatever in the Philippines.

And I'm getting the like, how's the hurricane in Florida and where are you driving? What's your plan? So I'm 15 states north. Yeah, I am safe. It is fine. You can turn off now and go about the rest of your vacation. And I'm just a little bit closer to you guys. Are you worried in reverse about them being okay?

Because I don't know exactly how old your parents are, but like I assume they're, you know, 70s. maybe late 60s and scuba diving is a pretty, pretty active, uh, active activity. I mean, my mom's 24, respectfully Doyle. And my dad, your dad did well then, okay. And my dad qualified for the 2027, uh, world triathlon championships at his age group. So I think he'll, of all the people in my family physically, I think he'll be fine. Okay. Oh, fair enough.

Um, Tom. You've got the full outfit on today. You are you trying to make a statement or is this just natural? It's track suit season. It's the fall. What are you talking about? Was there a surprise year? No, it is the fall.

It is a great time of year. I personally am in NFC East Country, which is get an opportunity, Tom, to watch the best of the best in American football. I don't know if you got a chance to tune in this weekend. Listen, we'll take a tie. It was a good point on the road. This was a tough sports viewing Sunday for me. It's a good point on the road.

It is a tough sports viewing Sunday for me. It was all juice for the Liverpool game. Three weeks of the pent-up, everybody hating Manchester City for good reason. Liverpool, the games at Anfield, the team that would be most aggrieved by the Manchester City cheating because in that era, those two teams were one, two. And then Liverpool got absolutely smashed. When I turned on the Giants game after just sitting in sorrow about Liverpool, the first play I see, for some reason, J.J. McCarty's in the game.

It literally can't get worse. Tom, do you think it's actually disgusting how fans treated the city players who are victims actually maybe most of all? I'm going to headbut you through this camera. All right, now we're at the energy we needed because we got a bunch of messages saying can this show be in all caps because of St. Louis. So I just have to get Tom there for the fans and everything they wanted to hear. If you haven't already, please subscribe to Tactics Free Zone.

It would have gotten you the full rundown of everything you need to know from the weekend. Last night or earlier this morning, I read it at 6 o'clock this morning while my nieces were running around above me getting ready for school. And it was the- After your CrossFit session. Exactly. It was the perfect segue into the week. And as I said- Wait, ready for school. Is this not a national holiday? What do you want?

Where you are? Oh. Tom, I actually saw, did you just build a new statue that you put on your, your home? In this house. In this house, Yonik Bright is a hero. That's what you were going to say. That's where you were going to finish that. No, it is not, I guess, Doyle.

I'm unaware of whatever else is going on. Because here at Socorize, we cry. We work every day. What I lived in Berkeley for seven years, it was a day off every year for Indigenous People's Day, which I think is appropriate. Because Christopher Columbus was a genocidal monster. There you go.

Any comment time? No comment I haven't considered Whether we were gonna have off for this day Because any of the holidays It isn't like Christmas Even Thanksgiving we don't always get off Anything that it

Are there games Thanksgiving? Has anyone looked that up? Is there playoffs on Thanksgiving this year? I assume there is because Cup Cup is a Friday by the way I don't know if anyone knows this Yeah cup is Friday night Game 7 p.m.

I don't know I actually kind of don't hate it I've grown as I've heard about it to like it a little bit more. One, Thursday night, everyone knows. Come on. So we go into market. We're all going to be super happy and have fun on Thursday night. Friday, you go out with a bang.

It's, you know, prime time rather than a noon game. Nothing worse than a daytime championship game. That kills me. And then we all can hang out and market and celebrate with the team for the rest of the weekend if the home team wins, which I assume Nashville will. So, I think, like, there's some good logic building there. But everything we've heard about the schedule for the past three, four years has been, we're putting all the games into one five-hour block on Saturday night because we want to build consistency.

We want our fans to know always every single week. This is when MLS is on. And then the playoffs come and they completely fuck the schedule so that you have no idea where the games are actually going to be. And apparently that includes MLS Cup as well. Have you considered that they invented soccer on Friday nights, though, now? Viernes de football. Yeah. I, man.

Anyway, I like the idea of a Friday night in Nashville or St. Louis or Miami. What a treat. It's going to be a great one. It's going to be fun. Nashville currently still on pace to set the points record, but they are not the most historic team of the weekends. We're going to talk about everything that we saw. we will get into our race to the playoffs presented by Continental Tire, which is key on Wednesday. There's a couple six-pointers right on the playoff lines.

There's some big games, including one at the top of the west between St. Louis and Vancouver. So we'll get you set for all of those. One note, we won't have an NWSL show tomorrow because there's no NWSL right now because it's an international break. We will talk about the U.S. women's national teams two matches against Spain on Wednesday with Breonna Pinto. I was in the building for the first game in D.C. a lot to be impressed by on Spain's side. Some frustrating parts for the U.S. I've got takes.

I'm ready to get off my chest, but we will get there on Wednesday. We'll be back again on Thursday to recap everything that we saw on Wednesday night, get you ready for the weekend as well, and then as usual, we'll have open mic on Friday. We missed a week because I'm bad at scheduling, but we've got a couple really great interviews lined up, though.

I'm excited to put out there and excited. But if anyone has ideas of who they'd want us to talk to, feel free to send them along and I will try and track those people down or topics down and get them on the show. And don't forget, we've got first touch every single week. So dispatch coming out early tomorrow, Champions League preview, as well as some of the big storylines. I'm making Eric talk about Melbourne victory losing to South Melbourne. It's like the biggest story of my life right now. I'm like obsessed with this and my algorithm moved quickly. I sent one video about it and all of a sudden all I'm getting is Ozzy dudes being like,

mate want a day for south melbourne that's my accent that's the close that's pretty good actually justice for gio usually do with the accent yeah was g is gil melbourne victory yeah so he lost to a lower division team but as a noted lower division champion i think he'd probably be proud of the situation in general i'm sure that's what he was thinking as he was getting the second place medal that was definitely is like god this is just like the old nassel days and uh susanna's gonna dig into hosea marino his legacy his time in the Champions League his personality and everything else, all the quirks and kinks that go along with him. And yes, I use that word

on purpose, don't have to react. Tom, everyone is really excited for your internet because you're on dial-up right now, but your audio is great. So why don't you get us started on the best thing you saw this weekend? Yeah, let's not over overcomplicate this. It's St. Louis City.

Historic run, 20 games unbeaten now tying the Major League Soccer all-time record. They beat the LA Galaxy 6-2 last night. It was 3-0 within 21 minutes, a hat trick from Carlo Hosa. It was 5-1 at halftime. And this was an absolute boat race.

This was the exclamation point on an incredible run for the St. Louis City team. I don't even know where to start, given everything that we could do around this team. Since the World Cup break, there's seconded at MLS and gold difference, second and expected goals. Hoffa Navajo has seven goals and nine assists

and 450 minutes for the St. Louis City. Somehow we undersold how perfect a fit he was going to be for this team. Carlo Holza in his last four games, he missed the U.S. Open Cup semifinal that obviously Hoffman Navajo was unable to play in because he was captied to the Colorado Rapids. It didn't matter. They won that game 3-0. After getting back from that illness and really getting into the team, Holza, who was very briefly their club record signing, has five goals and one assist in his last 300 minutes.

Both of these players are averaging goal contributions every 50 minutes. It is unbelievable. Alexandria Matan, another summer signing, has been very good for them. St. Louis City are the best team in the Western Conference right now. The Vancouver White Caps have slipped. And it was a party all night on Sunday in St. Louis. That is a wonderful stadium, a wonderful fan base. There is not enough positive things I can say about this group on the field, about the club,

off the field about the fans in the stands. And it's really fun to watch the St. Louis City run. And they're going to be looking to break the MLS Unbeaten streak on Wednesday. Were you guys pissed that also didn't take the, the penalty because the single single the single game record for goals is five is clint math is 25 years ago 26 years ago now um and nobody said it since and also had like you said three goals in 21 minutes the penalty was what the 27th minute or something like that it was right after it was three one at the point at the time no yeah i think so yeah because robert taylor stepped up i mean

the penalty well done just before half time yeah okay so it was a little later but still four goals in the first half that could have opened the door he could have been setting a record um these are the types of things that you complain about now with st louis city because they've been so good for so long and like let's not forget that um they destroyed vancouver last month maybe six weeks ago or so uh it was it was a very one-sided game that was the one where i was like oh this is this is actually for real for real and now we're seeing it um first of all, on a weekly basis. But with the addition of Hulsa Matan and Navajo,

I mean, their attack has hit sixth gear. Like, forget they skipped fifth. Sixth gear now. Over the past 11 games, they're scoring three goals a game. Over their past like five, they're scoring like four goals a game. It just like keeps getting better and better. And it happens via the press. We saw that against the Red Bull kids the last time this team play.

like they play on the front foot. Justin Hock, who I think is a really good player, was the worst player in the world last night. He learned that to his detriment. But we also saw the variety of ways that they can hit you. And it comes back to that engine room, which is what we've been talking about for a good long while, how Chris Durkin and Daniel Edelman give this team its identity.

And that identity has been, like, they are tough to play against. They cover ground. They get into their tackles. They do not like losing 50-50s. And if they do, they come back and they turn it into another 50-50 because they just have that kind of engine. But they're making plays on the attacking third now, right? And because of that, they're getting both wing backs higher. And because of that, they're now getting both central midfielders higher.

And that's exactly what we saw against the galaxy. The galaxy, where like, it's a four-fielder. man backline and two demids trying to mark seven guys who are hitting from all different angles. It is like it feels impossible at this point. And then the energy dropped in the second half and Yon Dome was pissed about it. So. So which is great. Because that's what you want like that's good TV when the coach winning six two is pissed.

Like give us more of that. But you know, it it's just fun. It's fun to watch teams play with this level of commitment because we just don't. get it all the time. It, um, it was amazing that hack sort of went down trying to create contact on that first goal, I think it was. And he doesn't even like ask for a foul. He's kind of just like, he kind of knew. He was like, shouldn't have done that. And that didn't end well for me. And then, uh, Holso's hat trick, three goals in 21 minutes, the second fastest in MLS history behind honey Mukdar from about four years ago, um, again, Chicago, which was three goals in 16 minutes.

So like we all tuned in for the will St. Louis set this record, tie this record, and within 15 minutes the game was over. Like that's how good this team is. It wasn't even a question though. It wasn't a will they say it. We tuned in for let's watch St. Louis crush the galaxy because like the galaxy had no chance in this one. And the galaxy area team that they play open, they play lazy at times. they'll be dangerous, but they'll give up chances. And to your point, Doyle, we know St. Louis our team that will take everything you give them.

And so there was no question they were going to take advantage. Since that Vancouver game that you talked about, they've won five of six. They drew once, and then they've won five in a row. So they've gone from strength to strength. All of that is with Open Cup semifinal inside of that, as you mentioned. And now an Open Cup final coming up next week. and I just think one of the funny stats that's been going around is so Holsa Navajo have combined for 13 goals in 930 minutes in the four games where they both started City have scored 16. That was more than they scored under Olaf Melberg entirely as manager.

And that's the other context for this club is they have come from the bottom to this point. They've come way faster than we expected and they are now in a stratosphere that I wouldn't have guessed. in all-time MLS teams, all-time unbeaten streaks. They could be first in the Western Conference next week and win their first ever U.S. Open Cup. Like, that's the space that 2026 St. Louis City sits in. And I think all of that is the context that we have to take in then is one year ago they were firing their manager who was new

a third of the way through the season because they were directionless and had no idea what the club was going to be. and then they make a front office change mid-season and it ends up being a lost season because they didn't hire a new sporting director until the fall and they hired Corey Ray

after they gave Roman Burke a DP deal which I don't know for a fact but I gotta assume any new CSO taking a job his first thing isn't like you know what I want to do give a DP deal to the goalkeeper and within context it could matter but that's it was a decision that was made before the new CSO comes in

so I thought that like that is interesting and funny Yohan DeMay, because of that was a little bit late, Yon DeMay should have been, could have been the Columbus head coach. And Columbus made a bad decision. And of course, there's the Columbus DNA with this team, with Corey Ray, with Yon DeMay, that we're going to talk more and more about as we get to the Open Cup final between those two teams.

But with Yohan DeMay, and shout out to Andrew Weeby for just a killer sideline performance last night. He was like after the coach after the game from DeMay about, you know, hey, you just five one at half time, you end up winning six due. And he's still finding way. like all coach, all robotic coaches have to do of just like, all right, like where can we improve

because nothing's ever good enough because if something's ever good enough, that's how you slip, that's how you get caught. When I was interviewing Yon-Amay to write a feature on him that I'm going to do at some point before the Open Cup final, he's really interesting, he's engaging, he's thoughtful, he's inquisitive,

he like, honest and all, like, it's really great to be around him. But then, like, you can see the switch flip to like coach mode. Like, I just said something like, I was being awkward as, ah, you know, hey, congrats on the successes. He's like, success, what do you mean?

You know, how would we define success? Like, what have we done? What have I done? And I was just saying something nice, man. I wasn't even thinking about it. I was just trying to walk away. But, like, and he wasn't doing it to be a dick. He's just like, no, like, we have to define success.

And then if we define success, would we be success? I think everybody looking at this team would say this is extremely successful season, no matter what happens to me run out. But that's just how his brain works. And, like, it's so easy to see his staff love him. The players love them. Like, everybody's going in the same direction. Like, if you spend 10 minutes.

with the guy. It's really easy to see. And it's very impressive. You mentioned this, Tom, how well the big names have fit in, the two record signings. I think we talked a little bit about it when Navajo left Colorado, but he'd like to drop in and get the ball and attack space a little bit. He didn't have runners off him the same as he does in St. Louis. And we made comments on this show about, well, if Yovalich is there for $6 million, why are you waiting? Yeah. on Navajo for 12 million, whatever. And here's her answer. This is why, Tom.

I think they had their guy. Yeah. And no, like, yeah, I was wrong. I still think obviously Yova, which is a really good player, but like you watch, particularly this game against the Galaxy. And let's be clear, Justin Hack and Jacob Glesmus put together maybe one of the worst centerback pairing, like, performances.

And the questions in the chat, like what happened with Galaxy? It is for the LA Galaxy, their defensive issues are from top to bottom. It is no pressing. It isn't closing down. It's not covering ground in midfield. And then it's leaving these centerbacks and full backs who want to attack exposed. And then there's individual errors of inability to defend. Right.

And again, even using that as context because I think it's fair to say, but Hoff and Navajo had them in an absolute torture chamber. And one of the things that I really like about this team, right? So we know that they want to build out. They want to play out. They want to be, they want to have the ball. Like they don't, this isn't like the Philadelphia Union who are extraordinarily successful right now as well, but we know what they want to do.

They want to get the ball forward and press and win duels and win second both. That's their entire identity. That's what everything's been built on. St. Louis wants to possess, but they don't, I think maybe this is actually good because it came against the Galaxy. The Galaxy, whether they have Ricky Pooch on the field or not, whether they have the right pieces on the field or not, they want to play their way. And then it's not pragmatic.

St. Louis, they are since the World Cup break, fourth an MLS in possession, but they're also third in possession one in the final third. They're seventh in shots, first and expected. goals per shots second and passes per defensive action they're doing all this at the same time whereas then like if you watch the highlights back for people who maybe didn't see the game last night a few of the goals came from they went long to haf and navajo not because they were just trying to play direct but because playing out of the back when you're doing it successfully and that makes the other team draw forward take advantage of the situation and put the ball onto haf andovahu's chest when he's one-on-one with

the centerback because he's really really good at that and sometimes teams that want to to play possession and want to adhere to this ideology. And they're almost like, we'd rather, you know, lose beautifully than win ugly. And there was nothing ugly about this. But it was, no, no, no, no. We put the ball on the ground and we play everything short. We play everything quick. No, no, no.

When nine players are forced to move forward because you're passing the ball so well, you dink one into your center forward. And then you have runners off of them. And Havenavahu is so very good at that. And I think that that's the sign of an intelligent team and one that has their principles, but also understands, like, oh, yeah, like, we wanted to go short, but there's an obvious like long pass here so we're going to bypass everything else to do that um doyle without having seen st louis vancouver on wednesday st louis or the field in the western conference

right now that's tough that's tough i still i still think i still think i take the field it is as important as impressive as everything about st louis is right now the level of conviction they play with the level of cohesion they play with the way their best players sort of amplify each other and we haven't even mentioned simon betcher who's has six goals in his last seven games something like that and like we've seen him and navajo have real chemistry when betcher's up top and navajo's in the pocket um as as great as all that is and i think it helps that follow fall is now playing a role as he gives them a different element on that backline. I would call what they've done a playoff level of conviction and intensity.

And I think come the playoffs, we're going to see Vancouver and hopefully L.A.F.C. And San Jose and a few other teams actually match that. and it becomes more of a game where both teams, both teams are sort of vibrating at the same frequency. And I think I would still take, I would, I would still expect, like going into any series, I would still probably take St. Louis,

but St. Louis against the field is a different sort of argument. And so I think it's MLS. Like, it's also MLS in the playoffs, right? Like, I would, Nashville are the like Dominated from day one Huh? Nashville's not included

I said against the West If you let me continue Even if you put this to the east Nashville have been the most dominant team From day one through right now They've been the model of consistency They have everything you want Saying anybody versus the field

In Major League Soccer is a treacherous pet Let me just give a little context with that though This weekend St. Louis and Seattle We're the only Western Conference clubs to win. Six teams have won seven or more points in their last five matches.

Only six teams. Colorado have dropped seven points from winning position in the last three. L-AFC have won one in ten. Portland have won one in eight. Last place sporting Kansas City is third and expected points of September 1st in the West. I do think it's Vancouver, St. Louis, and a gap.

We did this last week, you know, setting that stage. I think Dallas, San Jose, Houston. I think what we've seen from San Jose this year when they're healthy is that they're up there in that same tier but I don't trust them to be healthy I got I got Doyle to say Simon Betcher's name I want to see if I could

go to him into Nico's and I think I honestly think Seattle's in that tier as well and like shout out to our friends at Sandra at heart like they did the the all the work on this when when Christian Raldon is healthy Seattle pick up points at like 2.4 points per game Christian Rodon is healthy now. It feels like Yymar healthy. Yeah, is healthy too.

They have answered a question on the left wing with Gomez, who's like he's not, he's not Pedro de la Vega, but he's better off the dribble than the other options that they have there. He could take the small sort of advantages that Seattle's buildup creates and turn them into wider advantages. That just starts scrambling the defense. And when you have a $6 million center forward, like Dejani Ova, not a $12 million center for it but a $6 million center for that can turn into goals so I there's more good teams in the west than it looks like currently there's more top teams than it looks like currently okay um let's continue on with the

best things we saw and then we'll talk Vancouver St. Louis coming up in a little bit uh Doyle what did you want to hit on from the weekend I mean Kevin Denke is FC Cincinnati is fighting for for their playoff lives they're down around the the red They are above it now in large part because of Kevin Dankay, who has five goals and an assist in his last three appearances, including a brace in Atlanta. Now, it's in Atlanta against an Atlanta United team that is pathetic. But like this is, he's doing all the stuff now, including goals and assists that you would hope for from a $20 million striker. Like he has carried this team in his last three. appearances in a way that he kind of didn't at any point over the past year and a half. Like obviously talented, pretty good numbers, but never looked like one of the best players in the league, really.

And over the past couple of games, he's looked like a guy, like, he's not going to get the credit for it because since he's still just chaff, you know, they're not going anywhere. But this kind of, this kind of performance with the teams back against the wall. It's like, oh, that guy is that guy. It was nice to see. All right. I don't have a lot more about Cincinnati. They're ninth.

Right? Like, what do you say? Like, Kevin, Kevin Danke playing like this is going to be good enough to get them to the playoffs. They're going to give up eight goals over two games to Nashville if they win the, if they, if they face Nashville. Like, there's just nothing that's shown me that they've figured out the defense at all. I mean, Julian Hall might score a Hattie in the playing game, which could be worth watching.

on on on on on that front uh laurel failure is that since he training apparently pat noon and just said miles robinson is going to be out a few weeks he was substituted in the 72nd minute in the win over atlanta but duder played tyrone molossia played uh julian malatini came in off the bench jose martinez is now officially signed there is re like at the very least while i agree with the entire sentiment it is worth mentioning that is two wingbacks and two wing backs who actually defend as opposed to them having wingers at that spot, which had been successful in the past. It is not right now. So they went out and signed two defenders to play wingbacks, and then they've added a centerback and a defensive mid. Granted, the defensive mid is coming off for torn ACL.

Granted, the left wingback had his own fitness issues, which is why he was a free agent. But that is at least three or three or four new defensive pieces. And it's got to be better. It's at least different than it was for a team that is conceded as I pulled up here, There's 65 goals this season. Jose Martinez, the defensive midfielder you're talking about, everyone remembers him from the Philadelphia Union, Venezuela International, sold to Brazil towards ACL with Corinthians. Clarenceedorf's Corinthians, hired as manager,

Hoju Corinthians. And he is now looking for a club to find his way back. And obviously, Chris Albright, Pat Noon, and his staff know him from their time in Philadelphia. So it looks like he is headed to Cincinnati. FC Cincinnati, I had this in front of me and then I let it go. They're playing on Wednesday against, I probably should have had this even more ready, against New England. The big one, though, is hell is real, is on Sunday. Now for Columbus, they have the Open Cup final next Wednesday.

So this is must win for Columbus because they are chasing the playoff spots. Everything is must win for Cincinnati. Huge opportunity here to grab three points. win a rivalry game, put Columbus down a little bit. And of course, we'll preview that one on Thursday because that's the Sunday night soccer game. We've got rivalry games in the next two. I think it's hell is real and then all Traffico. So a nice little tasty treat for us to close out some weekends coming up.

For me, best thing I saw probably has to be Toronto FC. Bemo bounces, baby. Like when people are there, now I'm biased. I've been there for two MLS cups. I've been there for numerous decision days and conference. finals. I was there for the Champions League final against Chivas that they lost the first leg at home. So this is like my home away from home. It's one of my favorite places. I think Toronto is a great soccer market. One of my favorite parts about Toronto being great soccer market is how bad people

from Toronto think it is. Like no one here cares about this team. It's like, go to L.A. when L.A.FC. is good and talk to a random person about L.A.F.C. and ask them if they know if these games are happening. Toronto is a great soccer market. People care. People like the team. they've been bad for a really long time. Canadian Classic always delivers. These teams don't like each other. There's great rivalry between the fans. And it is one of those moments similar to what I'm talking about with Hell is Real,

where it's like if your teams are bad, then winning the rivalry is worth it. Now, Toronto has a little bit more to go for right now. They still are in touching distance to the playoffs. But Georgie comes off the bench and it's like the speed of play is different. The game is different. The ball's pinging in and out of central areas just faster. And all of a sudden, there's chances on both sides of the goal happening and happening and happening. Then they don't get the penalty kick for Shallowee, which they thought they had the claim for on the Jail and Neil tackle.

I don't think it was. And you're kind of like, okay, that's probably it. They get a goal from Lewis Morgan, who I swear, if you had quizzed me last week, what MLS team Lewis Morgan plays for. I would not have said Toronto FC. I swear on that one, they get the goal. And then two minutes later, Georgie gets the winner. He's talked about how hard the year's been for him, the injuries, the expectations, all of that. This is one of the first times that all three of their DPs have been on the field together, right?

Dorsch arrived and Georgia was already out. And George and Sergeant. Then Dorsch got hurt, right? He got like his face broken. His face got broken. Yeah. And Sergeant took so long to get in that Georgie was kind of already hurt. Correct.

They barely even played together. and like georgia mahalovich when healthy has been one of the most productive attacking players in major league soccer over the last seven years of his career in montreal and toronto or montreal and colorado and that's what toronto is missing and so it was just cool to see the emotion and energy around it that so that for me more than anything else from this game before the game i was on twitter and i got served like a great old video of the sebastian juvinovico game winner deep and stoppage time at BMO in the Canadian Championship against C of Montreal and they all went into the stands. The pop that you could hear from the crowd. And like you said, God, the place was bouncing. I was like, oh, my God. I forgot what this was like in like, whatever, 2015 through until the COVID season, one of the best atmospheres in the league, a defining team in that era and of the history of

MLS. And I was like, oh, man, like that's what it was like. Then you watch the game winner deep into Savage's time. I'm not saying it was the same, but it reminded me of that video probably because I just had watched earlier in the day, but like there was an audible pop that I did not think there was going to be

even in a rivalry game because of just how bad that they've been for a number of years and where the season sits. So it was really nice to see that. I'm really happy for the fans that they got that moment and that, you know, they were still, they were down one-nill to Montreal

heading into stoppage time. People didn't leave. Like, they earned that moment. And for me, people of that end, didn't leave. If you look at Midfield, a lot of those people. That's a good point.

But like, so even then, for the noise to be like that. And because, listen, it's against much role. They're currently second to last in the league. Toronto are fighting for the lives to stay above the playoff line. As you say, I think Mihailovich and Sergeant have started together maybe once, something. It hasn't been much. Doris has only played just under 700 minutes because he came in in the summer. Then he got a really unlucky broken nose, broken cheek, whatever that injury was.

things anytime that they feel like they have a little momentum something takes it away from them and it was just a really cool moment and like i've rewatched that video a few times for just to like and it was even even when both of these teams aren't doing well uh Toronto shows up you're so right about Georgie changing this team though Dave because they have no if you watch the way they play it's always just around the edges there's nothing through the central channel unless he's out there. His movement is so smart and precise. He actually makes other players better passers.

And both Dorsh and Quasjo, a player I like and I know you don't. Like both of those guys are... Well, fine in the game states. If you're going to dominate the ball, then great. But if you're chasing the game, you can't have him on the field. Yeah, I don't... I wouldn't go that far, but obviously he is better with the ball than without. And I think this is a team that is meant to have the ball.

And Robin Frazier just never solved for that this year. but you put Georgie out there and he solves for it himself. He just makes everybody a better passer on the team or a more incisive passer on the team. And given the way this season has played out, they don't belong anywhere near the playoff race, but they're right there now. And they have their games this week. They host Orlando midweek and they go to the Red Bulls on the weekend. They win those two games.

They're in a playoff spot. In control of their own playoff destiny. And they're going to have all three of their, of their DPs available for both those games, unless one of them gets hurt, which could happen. Like, one of them could just step off a curb wrong in this three weeks. Like, that's the way it goes with these guys. I just want to throw in, Tom, before you go or you've muted your sounds. Some definitely doesn't even matter.

They've played three games together this season. So Georgie, this was his first appearance in September 5th. which happened to be against Chicago. So his last two games have been against teams he's played. He had two assists against Chicago. He had a goal in this one against Montreal. So like production is there. Not healthy, but when he's there, production is there.

We're going to talk about Toronto a lot because, as Doyle said, they've got a big week coming up. They could be one of the most important teams coming into this. So let's talk. Our Drive to the playoffs, presented by Continental Tire, long-time partner and supporter of MLS and American Soccer. So Toronto, Orlando on Wednesday, Red Bulls on the weekend. The following week, they have Columbus.

That's coming off the Open Cup final. But Luca Gavron injured in this one, forced off in the first half. Fraser said post game wasn't sure. Didn't look super serious. That's not exactly a scientific medical process that Robin Fraser is going through there, but was asked the question and gave an answer. So, Doyle, I guess the question now is, for Toronto, is it just Robin Frazier gets to play the soccer he wants,

and Georgie makes them more dangerous, or are there tweaks? I mean, you assume Red Bulls are going to sit in based off what we've seen on the weekend. Orlando have been pretty open based off what we saw against Columbus. I mean, Orlando gave up a million chances against Columbus. If they play like that on Wednesday, Toronto might score six. I think based on talent of these three teams, Toronto's got the highest upside. I think the three DPs they have fit together. I don't love Corbiano, but he hasn't been bad,

and Daniel Shaluey is very reliable. The backline is nothing special, but good enough, and Richie Lurea can, when he pushes forward, add real value. So, like, you understand the theory behind all this. We just haven't seen it work. It doesn't work unless it's all 100%. And it's just, like, really good fortune now that they're into the most important week of their season,

and these guys are close to 100%. I mean, Georgie may be only 70 minutes healthy or whatever, but that's still better than he has been for most of the season. If they play against Orlando City, like they played against Montreal in those final 20 minutes, they'll score four goals because Orlando City cannot defend. Like, like, it's just, they, they are the worst defensive team in the league now. The fact that they're above the red line is insane to me.

They're a league MX team. The Yvonne and Gulo goal is a league MX game. It's a pickup basketball game. He takes it off Cray Poe's hand in his own box and then scores off the continuation of play. And yet they should have conceded to open that play. And the game is completely wide open. No one can shut it down.

They don't control play. But they create chances. So then that energy means, oh, we'll just keep. like Orlando, I think, mentally get sucked into their own game model or that situation, and they can't turn it off. And everyone else just goes for the win because it's a one-off week for them to try it. And like you said, Toronto, there's a lot of guys who want to take people on 1V1 out wide. They'll put in early crosses. They'll put in late crosses.

The issue has been that it's been one-dimensional. When you add Georgian to it, it becomes multi-dimensional. Even Josh Sargent, it feels like he can drop in even more and create because he knows Georgia will make runs a, you know, past him if necessary. And you see that in creating the free kick that led to the first goal. Sergeant drops in. He starts dribbling. He takes two guys on.

He lays it off for Shallowie, who creates an opportunity. And now there's a scramble situation in the box. So it just creates, like there's just way more options with it. It becomes less predictable and it becomes super dangerous. And, yeah, Orlando likes to give up chances. It's going to be must watch because it will be four to three, because Toronto are not that good to lead to. keep Griesman and company off the board

at the same time. So it'll be a fun one. Toronto have a shot at this. So I don't want to take Toronto as a playoff team right now in a vacuum? I think they're going to make it. Yeah. I just think their pieces fit better than the pieces of the teams that they're trying to chase.

And they got a bunch of six-pointers staring them in the face. There's that. I mean, they are four points below the line since he have a game in hand on the teams around them. So, like, they need a lot to go right. And hopefully everybody's fit. They'll have a chance. But it's so difficult to call from even Orlando now with just one point above the wildcard to play in games.

You don't know what to make of it. It could all be different in a week. Like, if Red Bulls win twice or if Fencey win, like, it's just weird. My gift to Toronto fans is I won't say it because I said this in the MLS minute. Last week I said the revs were inner playoff, inner cup MLS Cup contenders. They got smoked at home by Seattle. A few weeks ago, I said NYCFC, they are currently outside the playoffs from MLS Cup contender out. So Toronto fans, my gift to you right now is I won't say it and I won't talk about your opportunity.

But it's a huge game for them. Let's talk about another set of six-pointers coming up. Portland, they've got the LA Galaxy on Wednesday. Then they have Colorado. So the two teams ahead of them as a shot to get in the playoffs. What a freaking game this weekend. You guys. André Luis is the most exciting player in Major League Soccer.

If you were, I thought about this as he scores the second goal. If you are a sporting Kansas City fan, like the point of sports is to have fun and enjoy it. If you stayed for that game, you had a good time, right? Anyone who was in that building when Andres Luis went 65 yards and then calmly places it past the keeper and goes to the corner, he hit the post in the opening 10 minutes and he's pumping the crowd up. Like he is he's the point of the sport. He's the point of fandom. And SKC have like nailed. I don't know if they've gotten anything else right,

but they have nailed this one with this site. They got that right, which is the most important thing, right? You get your DPs right. Then you give yourself a floor and ostensibly a ceiling because this, Andre Luis certainly looks like a guy who can be a problem in the playoffs. If they ever build a playoff team, caliber team,

around him. They have gotten other small things, right? Like they held down to Stephen Afrika. Stephen Afriva has been a pretty good player, second half of this season. Kwaku Agibang in central midfield has been, I thought, really, really good the past couple of months.

Obviously, you know, the Wyatt Meyer propaganda will continue into morale improves. But this is not anywhere near as bad a team as they were two months ago. André Luis is obviously the biggest reason why on the flip side, Portland looked like a worst team than they were two months ago. And missing Kevin Kelsey's part of it, they sold him. And they got Vincent Yonson and he got that hat trick,

but like Vincent Yonson looks pretty washed. And they were not able to upgrade the winger positions in the way that I think the fans were expecting. and the pieces don't quite fit together in central midfield, and the backline isn't as deep or as solid as they had hoped. And it's all kind of falling apart when coming out of the World Cup break for a good month or so, granted, it was against a soft schedule, but for a good month or so, it looked like this was a team that was going to climb above the red line and stay there.

Yeah, Vincent Nansen, I think as someone would call it, looks like a unit. He's a chunky boy at the end of his career. I mean, people got mad at me for making that voodoo donuts crack. But, you know, I think it was worthwhile. And, like, you know, it's not like for like like this, but Portland have spent, what, $35 million on DP players. And Andre Luis alone looks worth more than all of them combined. Like, that's the feeling in this game. Ariel Lasseter was most dangerous player on the Portland Timbers throughout most of this game.

And if Janssen Miller didn't defend, Portland probably only scores two, and they don't need the late Andreelieu's goal becomes a winner and not an equalizer. But SKC looked like the team pushing for a win. SKC looked like the team that were pushing for a playoff spot. Like, Tom, this feels very Portland in the, they got a new coach and it doesn't feel very different. Yeah. And to be fair to the new coaching staff, like, it is difficult to pick this up on the fly and make the changes that you want to make,

but it's just right now a middling team. 11 wins, two losses, two ties in his first. Yes, and that is a literal historic run. Like, is that the standard that you're holding new coaches? Like, it's a middling team that's not doing well.

And like there's not like a huge silver lining, but I don't think that you should bury a new coach. There's a lot of changes that are necessary. What feels disheartening is the galaxy are currently above the playoff line. The timbers are three points behind them. We also like a four point. behind, San Diego, four points behind, Austin are five points behind, Minnesota or six points behind.

One of these awful teams have to make the playoffs. So let me ask you this. Are we making a mistake on this show by spending so much time talking about these teams? No. Can you hear it in my voice? The West is a little bit tougher than these right now, but no, because one, it's fun. Two, it's like why we like sports is making post seasons also. Atlanta United beat Inter-Miamy in a playoff series.

Get in and see what happens. Sure. And so you're just all about taking these outlier results, whether it's Ryan Richter as interim head coach, Atlanta beating Inter-Miamic. Okay. Yeah. And the crazy part is sometimes the outliers happen for five years,

and then Brian Winhorse will still tell you that Jalen Brunson has work to do to become a TRA All-Star. But sometimes those outliers don't last. But I still think, I mean, Tom said at the beginning, I'm a less, some of these teams that they step on the field will still feel confident against a lot of their opponents. But like, if you're Marty C Fuentes, you make the playoffs year one, that changes the pressure on you in year or two.

It changes the way you can manage what you want this team to be. It changes the roster reality. It changes the feeling of the players on the roster, right? Like the feeling of guys that I want to be a part of this project. This is fun. This is interesting. I want to come back. Maybe I take a pay cut to come back rather than go somewhere else because I like what we're building.

I like the momentum we're on. There's like real currency. Yeah, there's real currency to being a competitive team. There's real currency to ending a year. I mean, you're making fun, Tom, but that's literally what happens in Seattle, right? Like Paul Rothrock could have gotten more money elsewhere, but he took a pay cut to stay with the Sounders. That's happening right up by five. Sure.

I think that it has more to do with where else you'd go than like, yeah, you can be happy. So if the Portland Timbers finish ninth and get blown out in the wildcar game, is Kamal Miller going to take a pay cut to stay? Like, like. Yeah. Blown out feels like a tough one. So maybe that's a little bit. If they lose on penalties. Yeah.

I just, listen, man, it's just, I don't know it sounds cynical. The motivations are monetary. Yeah. There's not, again, we're talking about exceptions to the rule. you brought up Paul Rothrock because and part and like credit to him and he valued quality of life and the quality of the team that he was in and he didn't want to leave Seattle. And I think Seattle knew he didn't want to know. I know Seattle knew that he didn't want to leave Seattle. That's why the offer was what it was because they said push comes.

Okay, okay, this is the offer. You show us these other offers. Okay. Hey, listen, we get it if you want to go make your money somewhere else. They know that he didn't want to leave. And that has happened before and like credit to him for like I'm sure he's happier. but not a lot of people see the more money they leave right and i wouldn't blame anyone who does that that is that is the expectation yeah professional sports careers are short get paid

as much as you can as often as you can as early as you can um but it i think it's incumbent upon something that has that sort of cultural value to players where they're like, there's stability here and there's year after year I'm competing for a trophy and I'm putting myself on a bigger stage year after year. And to Dave's point, like, they're not, they're not doing that. They, they, like, I have no idea what the timbers are building at this point. It's just a constant sort of churn of mediocrity. And that includes when they speak. spend $8 million on a DP. You're not getting those right.

Can I ask specific for this week yet? For this week, Galaxy. Also, just real quick, Dave did say that Christopher Velda was the next Denny Bawanga. So, you know. So six goals, eight assists for a team that's not even in the playoffs. Wow.

Yeah. Wow. Not bad numbers. But here's, I had my Velda fact ready to go, which is no goals or assists in the last four games. games. They've lost three of those four and Drew Sporting Kansas City in the fourth. So what was going right under Jack Cassidy that has gone wrong under Marisifentes? Is it just schedule effects?

I think it was, I think they played more direct with more tempo. I think any time they slow the game down, they get worse. And I think the more you can get Veld in, Velda in transition moments, the better you are. Now, some of that is now hurt losing Kelsey because Jansen is not as dangerous in open play. not as aggressive to make the first run to drop the back line. But the moment the game slows down, it gets harder for Costa. And it gets harder for most of these guys. And for Velda, he's like second in the league in through balls,

which I had not realized, which is wild. But if the game becomes final third, try and break a team down, it just becomes stand my guy up and try and take him 1 v1. And I just think there's not enough off ball movement and connectivity in this team. What we saw... Playing Valley Galaxy is a pretty good solution. Yeah.

So what we saw when things were going well for Portland back in July and August was Kamal Miller actually being the key to a lot of their attacking movements. And he's got a really good left foot. And he was breaking lines in finding DeCosta in the sort of the left half space. And then DeCosta and Veldon were able to combine a ton.

So Veldon was. getting touches against a defense that was already scrambling because the centerback had just eliminated a line and a half of defenders. So it was when you get Velda in that situation where he's not attacking something that's static, then he can be a really dynamic and dangerous player. What I think has happened under Sifuentes, he seems to want positional play. I don't think that works, like pure positional play. I don't think it works unless you have like world elite level talent.

It just becomes too regimented and too sort of intentional. And you need to have a little bit more creativity sort of baked into and a little more initiative baked into your style of play. And I think that's what Portland has been missing. I mean, luckily for them, like you said, they're playing the LA Galaxy. If Portland win this game, they're right back above the red line. they would have a game in hand on LA. I assume Zhao Klaus will start for the LA Galaxy. That seemed to be a lesson that was taken from the last game, nine minutes in.

Keogo, Greg Vanney said after the game, felt a Samsharing. Okay. So assume Kiyogo won't be available on Wednesday for this game, which probably... You made it out to be a tactical change. Sorry, yes. I would tactically also start Zhao Klaus for this team. I think he's better. I think it's been proven.

Either way, it's going to be an open game. There's going to be a ton of goals in this game as well. I think these are the two best matchups in terms of six-pointers for the weekend. Sorry, for the midweek. I also think they're going to be pretty explosive, pretty open games. I think the Portland Denver is going to beat the LA Galaxy in this one. This is our drive to the playoff segment, but the whole midweek and every game now is about the playoffs.

Let's talk about the second hottest team in Major League soccer after St. Louis. So this week on Wednesday, Chicago plays Philly. Philly beat RSL 2-1. It's seven straight wins now, unbeaten in 13. And Tom, as I mentioned, Ryan Richter, he is the first coach in MLS history to go unbeaten in his first 13 matches

as a manager. 11 wins and two ties is one of the best 12-game spans in league history as well. I think he's trending in a good direction as interim to take that tag off still. Yeah, I'd agree. Another win for the Philadelphia Union that beat Real Salt Lake.

It was pretty comfortable. Honestly, that they controlled the game. They even won possession, but it was, it was what you would expect in this game, where Philly are very clearly the superior team. It took them a little bit to get the breakthrough, a little bit to kind of pull away. Oloskey scores the second goal late in the second half. Real estate gets one back deep in the stoppage time, but there was never any word for the Philadelphia Union. And they just keep marching on.

And this is a team that continues to climb in the Eastern Conference. They're on 42 points. They're now four points behind Charlotte and New England, who are level on points for fourth and fifth. with six games left, you just kind of assume that the union at this point are going to win all of their games remaining. So that is not an insurmountable cushion for both of those teams, though New England has been good this season. Charlotte is another team I want to talk about later.

I thought that, you know, it was a very impressive win for them this weekend, but Philly do what Philly does. And they are a team that knows who they are, knows how they want to beat you, knows what the personnel, both who they are, what they want to do, and the team's going to keep on marching forward and just a professional two one win over real salt lake this weekend um there's a lot of individual stats we didn't talk 22 under 22 all of us put our ballots in at the end of last week we'll talk about that as the final um results come out Kevin Sullivan is obviously first on everyone's list and this is part of the reason why so he had an assist in this game he is now um the teenager in mLS history

with the most goal contributions in an MLS season. So 21 on the year is one more than Diego Fugunde has had in 2013. It's two more than Alfonso Davies had in 2018. And as you said, Don, six games left. He plays every game. He plays all the time. Those numbers are going to go up. And he is part of now a potent attack.

I didn't realize. Alaski is tied for third in the golden boot race right now. And over the last two years, his goals plus assist contributions are like in the all-time pantheon. for an American in two seasons in major league soccer. Damiani now nine goals and 11 games after three in the first 23, Doyle. Like, it's, Kevin unlocks a lot of it. They obviously blew an opponent out in Orlando without Kevin and Neil Pierre and these guys.

But it is like the entire team across the board from Frankie Westfield and Kai Wagner all the way up. Yeah, I mean, we've we've talked about it so much, but they essentially added four best 11 players at the summer window by bringing Neil Pierre back and Kai Wagner back. But then the difference between Cabin-Sullivan as a left-winger and Kevin Sullivan as a right-winger is substantial. And then the difference between Milano Lovsky as a midfielder and Milano-Alozky as a center forward or second-forward is even more substantial. He's mentioned he's amongst the all-time leaders,

among domestic players for goal contributions over a two-year period. He has by far the best. goal contributions per 90 of that group. Because last year he only played like 1,100 minutes. Yeah, like 10 goals and 400 minutes in. Yeah. He's been insanely productive. And then the upshot of that is, like, I still don't trust Bruno Damiani.

I think if a big chance comes to him in a playoff game, he will find a way to miss it. But he's getting so many chances now game after game after game that, as a as you said, it's nine goals in his past 11 games. And then on top of that, he's a guy who sets the tone physically. You know, Philly are a defend from the front. Everybody contributes type of team. And Damiani is one of the handful of the absolute best defensive center forwards in the league. And they turn defense into offense.

And then when it starts going well like this, it becomes easier to be unselfish. It becomes easier for a player like Ilovsky to pass up a goal scoring chance in the box and instead dummy it to Damiani who's got to tap in from six yards out. And that becomes a virtuous cycle where a good team becomes very good or a very good team becomes great. And what we're seeing right now from the Philadelphia Union is just great soccer week after week after week. I do want to give some credit to RSL, though.

I feel like RSL have, I mean, I still don't think they're going to make the playoffs, but the past two or three weeks out, past, you know, two or three games out there, they have shown more ex-dog, for lack of a better word, than they had shown throughout most of the summer. So I think desperation is setting in, Pablo Mastro and these teams never just lay down and die.

So I would expect them, to at least go out on their shield over the final six games of the season. Yeah, they pushed this one to the end. They scored in stoppage time. I thought Andre Blake made two big saves, which is great to see for Philly because he hasn't been at the level he's been at. But when you start that centerback three of Quentin, Kobe Henry, and DeAndre Edlin in 26,

it's tough to keep a transition team like Philly off the board. And you just see like, I mean, Kavan running into 25 years. yards of space is going to probably end poorly for you at this point. And I can't even imagine going forward. But RISL did stay in the game and push a little bit. On the flip side, Chicago, bizarre, come from behind win. Down a man against NYCFC this weekend. Matt Freeze, a little bit of a personal mistake.

But overall, Doyle, you wrote about this very well in your piece this morning. it's an NYCFC team that are scattered. They don't really have the right pieces to fit the identity the way it is right now. And the floor has just fallen out underneath them. Yeah, Pascal Janssen just seems to prioritize control over everything. And shout out to our friends at the outfield who wrote about this way back in April. You know, this is a team that within their structure and how they want to use the ball. they don't take risks.

And when Maxi Morales was the number 10, that kind of made sense because he's so good at organizing the pieces in finding these tiny little gaps that then allow Nico Fernandez Murcao to suddenly be one of the top goal scores in the league. When Maxi got hurt, the natural thing was to drop Nico into the number 10 role. Nico is a completely different type of number 10. Like he's not an orchestrator. He's not a conductor. He is an attacker.

And Pascal Yonson never adjusted the system to sort of fit that. And so you have Nico playing a position and just trying to do a maxi impression. He is worse at that than he is at just being an attacker. So that makes NYCFC worse overall in that phase of the game. But they're also worse at being an attacking team now because they don't have. their best attacker playing a purely attacking position. So it's just like one thing compounding another. They have no margin for error on that side of the ball.

And it's also, you know, I used the word amplify before about the way Georgie comes in and he amplifies the effect of a sergeant and a shallow. These guys, like their best players, even their second, third, fourth best players, aren't really amplifying the skill sets of each other. It's more of kind of like a your turn, my turn thing. So when they do create something, it's off of terrible turnovers, like the one we saw from Jay Davila that gave NYCFC their goal.

NYCFC go up that goal, go up a man. You would think they would figure out a way to get two, three, four more goals, kill this game off. Instead, they were completely lost, completely lost. And I'm sorry, man, you look at the talent on that team. That's on the coach. That is on the coach. because I think there are probably 26 teams in the league who would say, yeah, give me that roster. That roster is fucking awesome.

I want those guys. And NYCFC are going to miss the playoffs. That is brutal. Nico Fernandez, Murcault, had 13 goals and 16 games to start the season. He's got two in the last 11. And that is, to Doyle's point, the change of style and position for him. So it's made him worse. It's made the team worse alongside it.

And yeah, they're in Quicksand now, and they are looking like they might miss the postseason, which is wild to say for a team that I felt comfortable saying they were a Les Cup contenders. They had added a DP center forward. Alonzo Martinez has returned, by the way. Like that was the whole thing. They didn't have a center forward. They were trying to find someone to replace, but still leave the spot open. Lonza Martinez is back.

That hasn't fixed things. They brought James Sands back. That hasn't fixed things. and yeah, there's been a lot of really disappointing and underwhelming play. On the flip side, Chicago. Before we get off of NYCFC, Benny Shriori, 16 appearances now, no goals or assists from open play. He's got one P.K. goal.

Like, at what point, like, he, I wrote it in my column, like, he's entering Mustafa Jarjoo territory. Like, this is, like, he does not look like a guy who can affect the game. at a high level, almost at all. No, no comments, no comments, just to agreeance. No, nothing new from what we've been saying. Like when you watch a game, and if you kind of go in blind or with no context,

if somebody says, hey, this team has a guy who's just signed for $10 million, how many, how many people are you going to point out before Benny Traorri? He just hasn't looked at difference maker, trying not to pile on just in the sense of like, thinking things are weird when you come in midseason, you don't want to bury a guy, but it's been really good.

God's... Like, it's... But, like... Gossero candidate for next year. You always want to be on that list. You also don't want to, like, let them off the hook and just be like, oh, no, no, it doesn't matter because obviously it matters.

And I'm not trying to take, like, silver linings and for NYCFC fans, this has just been simply unacceptable and pretty disgusting performance to be up one no at halftime against a team that goes down to 10 men and squander it the way they did. It's...

For a team that, like, wants to play possession, and to your point, has a lot of, not just very good players, but a lot of players with experience and in prime. It's pretty, it's just mind-boggling for that kind of result to happen. And it's a team that is just very unsurious at this moment. I think Troy should worry

because I think there's a chance that Ryan Cherokee or Phil Foden or Erling Holland could be the next NYCFC signing as CFC stuff to move the pieces around. I don't think I've come out and set it on this show, but I just want to get it on the record. I am pro-city football group cheating, right? I am for it. I'm glad they did it for Manchester City.

I don't like the cabal of big clubs at the top of that league. Like this whole furor, as far as I'm concerned, is about Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and maybe Chelsea and Tottenham, trying to make sure that they are the only ones with access to the top players. I think City Football Group did the right thing for Manchester City, and I hope they do the same for NYCFC. I'm at Doyle.

I'm an intellectual. Cheating is good, actually, and let me tell you why. Hey, why are you wearing sky blue colors, man? Are you a secret Man City fan? What's going on there, Tom? He's actually a Torque Montevideo fan with Copacute America around the corner. He's CFG, top to bottom, corner to corner around the whole globe. So he just wants to make sure he supports.

Philly against Chicago, a big one. Listen, if Tom's right and Philly wins the last six games, they're probably going to move up the standings, but they got a little bit closer with New England's loss this weekend. So Philly right now are sixth on 42 points. The Revs and Charlotte are four points ahead of them on 46, Chicago just ahead of that on 48. So for Philly, it's a six-pointer to try and get into the top four

and get home field advantage in the opening round. potentially move even higher. Can we talk about the team that is directly in front of them, Charlotte FC for a minute? Do it. Let's do a comeback, baby. They down 2-0 Dallas at home in the pouring rain. They come back and win 3-2. On the face of it is the Dallas team that did not start Petter Moussa after international break.

He comes off the bench. He scores the second goal and you kind of think that they're dead and buried. Charlotte are not as good defensively as they have been in recent years. But there's a case to be made that this could be a dark horse in the east. and if we both agree that obviously that Nashville is far and away, the best team in the east, then Philly, obviously with the form that they're on, Miami, you guys are a little higher on them,

and it's totally fair because they have Leno Messi, they have all this town, right? It'd be silly to not put them right there. If we go into the next tier, Chicago, New England, Charlotte, and then Orlando, whoever comes into the playoff game, play in game, I might put Charlotte at the top of that group because their attack is so much better than it has been in recent years.

I think that has to do with personnel, but also to give Dean Smith credit, like he's playing more as hackers. They just signed Ducore, a longtime Premier League veteran. He's 33. Let's see what he has to offer. Worst case scenario is if he doesn't offer anything,

nothing changes, but that's another potential addition. The defense, as I said, is not as good as it's been in recent years, but Pepio and I don't say Maximin are fantastic together. They complement each other so very well. And Pepi L is awesome,

no matter who's kind of around him, and his season has been so very good. St. Maximin has this gravity to him because he's an absolute demon one-on-one. If you put him one-on-one against literally anybody in the league, that's a matchup you want, and give him the ball if he's isolated. He starts the comeback.

He's getting double-teamed. It didn't phase him at all. He was whatever dribble sequence he had in his mind, it didn't matter if there was one or three defenders around him, gets to the end line, and rolls across the tap-in for Idon-Colomadi, good movement, good finish. like that's a match winner and that is

we haven't talked about him a ton since he signed that is this high level a match winner I think in the Eastern Conference obviously outside of Lino Messi like he's in that like it's like a best 11 caliber player when he's on and I think he's shown enough consistency and when you pair that with PEP BL like this Charlotte team

has something special in the attack right now we're going to find out because they play Philadelphia on the weekend so if you have them in a stratosphere above Philly we're going to I didn't say above Philly well I said in that grouping no I said Nashville and then I said Philly Miami and then I said the Charlotte group oh okay so they're fifth right now in the east and you're saying they're really

fourth I think that they're like I think that they're I think that they're because gaslighting me as if Doyle doesn't come on here talking about how how that they're they can't get out of the first round they suck at attacking this is what they do every year it's the same thing and then you're like oh well actually like yeah no we know that they're good what you're talking about I didn't mean to gaslight you but but let me just this at you. They beat Montreal 2-1. They drew Cincinnati 3-3. They beat DC-21. They lost to Chicago and the international break. And then they came from behind against Dallas at home to win 3-2. Rejecting the future, brother. I don't disagree that the attack looks better than it

has. The defense has not looked as good, as you said. And does that balance just bring you back to the fourth or fifth best team in the Eastern Conference is a great question? But, But ASM is worth watching and worth tuning in for similar to what I said about Andre Luis and some of the other great attacking players. So what I will say, and I think I pointed it out in my column, is like they've never been a good team having possession in turning that into anything, which is the reason why they've gotten drilled in the playoffs a couple straight years without actually scoring goals under Dean Smithing. I think it's what, two goals in six games? they're going to be forced to have the ball in the playoffs now. And I don't expect them to have like repeatable attacking patterns. That's just not who they are as a team.

But to Tom's point, Alan St. Maxman is like a one-man solve for that. Because if they can, you know, just move the ball around and get him into isolation out on the left wing as they did for, I think, the first goal. And he just opens up the game. He makes it easier on everybody else. And I don't Toklamati It didn't turn into the type of goal score this year

That we thought But he's still his movement in and around the box is really good And as he said, Pep Biel's a winner And I love Aloko And Lial Abada has had moments on the back post Where he reads what ASM is doing And gets to the back post And like that's a thing right there

So they're in much better shape Because of personnel Going into this home stretch And into the play playoffs than they were, I think, either of the last two years. That said, this is our first win over a playoff team since July, right? Like, they have been feasting on the DC Unitans and Montreals of the world, and they're not consistent enough with the ball to be the type of team that I think imposes

themselves on the game against good teams one round after. another. So I wouldn't be surprised if they won a playoff series, especially against a New England team that is, I think, still maybe a little bit overreliant on Matt Turner. But, like, winning multiple ones going on the road to a Miami or in Nashville, it does seem, I think everybody would be picking against them. And I know you guys would be, too. Petsar Musa. It was his 19th goal of the season set the record for most goals in a single MLS season for an FC Dallas player.

Broke Jesus Ferreira's record, which was 18, followed up by season of four. Jesus has had it three times. In a six-year span, it was Jesus three times and Ricardo Pepi twice. So Musa's been pretty good. The academy's not the same as it was, and Dallas kind of sits in that space, as I said, sort of below the top tier in the,

Western Conference. This was another game where we didn't get to see Musa and Farrington together. Carrington had the other goal. He's not got what, 10 goals and five assists this year? And like, we're five, six games left in the season. I still don't know what Dallas's best 11 looks like. That's a problem. This is Dallas for the past three head coaches for the past five years.

I keep on, and like maybe that's why I'm like a little sour on them because we should know. I feel like we do know, but we don't ever really see. that 11 that we want to see or that we think would be their best look. And they, I mean, like, it's weird to say it about the team that's in third place in the last place. I just don't trust them at all. And I just, I feel like that they've never played above

with some of their parts in the last half decade. Yeah. I think it's a fair complaint. And I think that's sort of the piece that's left for the rest of the season. But we had a question in the chat, what happened to Dallas Academy? Like, this, this is a club that I think, on top of all it just doesn't have an identity anymore inside the league.

They were to play the kids team. They were going to flip young guys earlier maybe than you want to, but they'd have the money and they'd then bring in the next generation and it just doesn't exist the same way. And that's a loss on the recruiting trail, a lot of it, because they're not the team that plays the young guys anymore.

And so if you're a young kid, there are options to go play for other clubs and get playing time and get pushed through and get sold overseas and all these other things. Dallas are still now one of them, but they're one of them. They used to be when Dallas walked in the room and it was Oscar and Lucci, that's the one you signed with.

And now they're just scrapping and battling against everyone else to try and get players to come to their academy. They are trying to be a part of it. They are trying to turn it around. I think Buzz over at third degree had a podcast on this last week. I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. But the fact that they were able to recruit Benji Flowers and, you know, they're trying to sort of refill that academy. They're aware of the problem at least, but it's going to be probably a couple years before that turns into productivity. And also remember, Ricardo Pepi's from El Paso.

Austin's closer to El Paso than Dallas is. Austin didn't exist when Ricardo Pepe got recruited. So the landscape has changed on them as well. One last team I want to hit before we get out of here. And I don't even know where we are anymore. So maybe it'll be five more teams or maybe we're already done. Like I'm that much lost in space. L.AFC went up a man seven minutes into a home game against Vancouver.

and we're lucky to draw one-one. Vancouver out-possessed them. And like you talk about the issues Charlotte has had in the past or some other teams, what do you like in possession? What do you not? I mean, talk about a trial by fire on the interim manager. Can you make them better with the ball? Seven minutes in at home, well, now it's your game.

Here you go. They trailed in the game. I mean, at some point, because this was one of those last game of the night where it's like I'm watching other games second half, I finish on this game. 10, 15 minutes in the second half, I wouldn't have known Vancouver was down to mid. That is embarrassing for a team like L-AFC,

and Bwanga gets the goal on the header. It's just, it felt the same for L-AFC. First game under interim head coach, Javi Tomarit, and it was pretty poetic because the reason Mark Dos Santos was fired had more to do with style than results, though the results definitely could have been improved. It was not an absolute dumpster fire.

If you look at the stands, if you look at everything else, it was for the style, it was for not being expansive enough, not being aggressive enough attacking, and honestly just not being brave enough. They, their season ended last year at the hands of the Vancouver White Cops because they went in an extra time,

a man up off of a Tristan Blackman red card and could not beat that team, despite having all of the possessions, they only want to hit in transition. That was only what they were comfortable at. They couldn't do it in the playoffs against Vancouver when Blackman got sent off. They lose in penalties to season ends.

This year, the first game under new interim coach, The mandate is play better soccer, play more attacking. Co-president John Thornton this week said, quote, the best version of LASC is a team that's a protagonist in the game, seeks to dominate the games with and without the ball, plays with quality and intensity and entertains. We are all responsible in us falling short of that. They play the Vancouver White Caps and Gus.

They were a man up for 84 minutes and lost the possession battle. Some of the notes, some of the notes I took, and who knows how much is this had to do, with game state so not. I assume that this is how Chavi wants to play in possession is building more out of it like a defined back three, which is pretty modern, especially if you want to play possession. And it ends up that Jacob Schaffelberg and Sergei Palencia are the widest attackers playing like wingbacks.

And then it's basically two defensive midfielders. It was especially so in the second half when Igor Jesus came into the game and the U-22 initiative of Vasquez who started and I thought he was good. And then that allows Buonga and Son Young Min to be centrally an attack and play fluid. I don't know if they would be best with Jeremy Obamacy playing as somebody who's occupied, so it serves even more for Bwanga and Sun to have freedom, or they had in this game was Armando Siebb and Bwongan's son were most often the highest players up the field, so they have to occupy centerbacks.

That is at least the loose framework at the risk of taking too much from the first game under an interim head coach in which they had it. They were men up for 84 minutes. It's not to be a ton of time on the training ground because there's midweek games all the time for the rest of the season. and it's just interesting that it was the same team, the same player we got a red card, and the same outcome.

I thought Vidala looked okay. I thought Igor Hizus looked pretty good in the second half. Like he tries to break lines. The play feels like it moves a little bit faster. But yeah, again, it was all predictable. The one goal comes from across. Like, it is the same thing over and over again. And as much as Vancouver, I've struggled at times,

I thought this is like an emotional lift. To be able to go on the road and manage this situation. I mean, I don't know if you saw Greg Verhalter's postgame comments of like how Chicago changed their shape. Down a man and sort of the stat he was talking about passes against per possession, which was high in explaining how they sort of talked about, okay, we're going to lock in on this side of the field. Vancouver didn't have to do any of that. They just went and played through gold and Kubas and White and like White's no look flicking balls off in his own half down. man because they don't give a shit and like that's why Vancouver up. Yep.

My takeaway from this one is like, okay, Vancouver has woken back up and they're probably kind of back because Vancouver have not, I've talked about it, I think every week on the show. Like they haven't been the same team since the World Cup break and they actually looked like the same team for the final 80 minutes of this one after going down a man. And maybe that they've played so many games over the past year and a half and I think it just wore them down and now they're finding their desperation again because they are still top of the table but everybody feels like justifiably St. Louis is the best team in the Western Conference.

Vancouver are no longer the favorites. They go on the road, go down a man to L.AFC team that they've been, you know, hammering away up for a couple of years back and forth and they find themselves again. Like that was my takeaway from this one. I didn't see anything that made me particularly. bullish on what's to come for L-AFC, especially because Denny Belonga, who is a goal machine as a left winger,

is now playing as a number nine. And he scored a goal, and he talked about it in the post game. He's like, I can play there for the team, but everybody knows that I'm a winger. I like attacking from out wide, even better, but we don't really have a number nine on the team.

So I've got to play as a number nine. It's like, we actually saw last year that Sun is really good when he plays as a number nine. if you just get some progressive and creative passing behind him, my God, this team could. But I would say if you ask me right now without a roster change, how does LAFC get better possession? I think it is having someone else at the nine so Sons on the ball more often facing goal for more positions. He may score less goals, but if you, if the point on the map you're trying to get to is how are you a better and more dangerous possession team,

son being on the ball more has to be a result to get there. I actually, I think son becomes too predictable when you play him deeper. I think he becomes a sort of by the numbers kind of number 10, right? And he ends up getting on the ball in spots where you want him to orchestrate rather than get downhill and create. I think he's when he's playing as a false nine with runners around him and like reliable passing behind him, then he becomes what we saw the second half of last year, which is the second best player in the league.

Now, maybe Armanda Sieb can actually, like, I would still stay with a sort of like three, four, two, one with Son as the one and just hope that Boonga on one side and Siav on the other can run past him. And you know Boonga's going to, but like, we haven't, we just haven't seen enough of SEP. And then the other one is the Finnish kid, Walt. Yeah, Von Vigala. 25 minutes of him. And like it's, it's just tough to tell.

There's such a mess because of the way they've played and been indoctrinated to play such fearful soccer over the past couple of years that it's tough to tell after one game. But I maintain that L.A.F.C. ownership should get the Brinks truck and back it up straight into Wilfred Nansi's driveway and just say, like, whatever it takes. I know you want to stay or you want to give a shot in Europe, but how about giving a shot here for the next four years? When a bunch of stuff, Europe will still be there. You're still a young man. Diabi looks good for Vancouver in this one.

I think they did it again. They just go out and get players who fit the system and want to be just on the ball. Like, that's the system. Do you want to attack? Do you want to create? Do you want to, you know, give and go and all this stuff? And I don't know, there's just moments in this game down the left wing where you're like, oh, okay, cool.

but also Bruno Cicado is on my 22 under 22 list. Also, Ryan and Loomie's really good. Also, Eddie Aracompo, as I said last week, is the best converted fullback. Like, they just keep doing it over and over again. This is MLS right now. There are a lot to talk about.

We couldn't even get to all of it. Sounds like a good showman. That's why we have a second show. So Thursday, we will be back. We will talk about everything we saw on Wednesday. We'll get you previewed for the weekend. On Wednesday, our U.S. Shocker show will come out off the back of the second Spain game.

And then we will have our open mic as St. Louis versus Vancouver, 8.30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night. I'm hoping it's one of the best games of the year, man. Atlantic Cup. DC United season could be over against their rivals. So a lot to watch out for on Wednesday. And then we'll be back on Thursday. So thank you all for listening. We'll talk to you again.

Very soon.