SoccerWise - MLS & USMNT Edition

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

We're closing out another week of regular programming at Soccerwise by previewing the USMNT's Copa America showdown against Panama, then discussing how FC Cincinnati and the New England Revolution plan to cope with injuries to key players. You'll also get Gass's preview of upcoming matches in MLS, and a healthy dose of Scoops-a-pedia with Tom!Be sure to catch Soccerwise live on YouTube and Twitch at 2pm ET every Tuesday (with Gass and Tom), Wednesday (with Gass and Jordan), and Thursday (with Gass and Tom). 5:17 USMNT v Panama Preview15:52 CANMNT Chat19:44 Cincy Replacing  Miazaga28:38 New England Replacing  Chancalay37:05 Ruidiaz & Nouhou Suspensions & Future45:22 Scoops-a-pedia Transfer Talk55:21 Weekend Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

get hyped because you know what that music means it means soccer wise is back our final show of the week that's not true though i've got a special one this week because we've got of course usmt in copa america but this is an mls show here david goss tom bogart with you for this one as we get hyped you just lagged the hell out time you just lagged the hell out goss i need you i need you to know that you probably need to do your intro again help from the chat you guys tell me i was afraid it was my computer and maybe it was so maybe this is just you know unnecessary uh me stopping you but uh somebody somebody it was me that's embarrassing that's tough sorry guys thanks for the help this is it was weird it happened when i hit send tweet so i did think it was me

uh travis grimes thank you for having my back uh rg loss thank you as well tmac whoa people have my support in this one. So I appreciate that quite a lot. If you're watching. This is, this isn't a, this isn't a support. There's not support.

I don't know, Tom. I don't know, Tom, everything, everything is under debate. Now there is no such thing as facts as we go along. It's going to be a fun show.

We've got a lot of stuff to talk about. Some huge injury news in Matt matt miazga and tomas chankalai that are both now officially out for the season they've opened they've both been put on the season ending injury uh reserve list which means they are unavailable to their teams and that means as well that they can be replaced on their squads going forward we will explain that we will talk all about it as we go along we've got your usmnt preview coming up for the panama game we'll give some canada thoughts as well reminder i've been doing live shows after those games so the canada one that i did on monday

night is still out there with my with my uh good friend sean kane devang desai uh and we're gonna have the usmnt show coming up later tonight as well to sort of wrap everything around that one. We've got some big transfer news going on. I told you I would surprise you with a name for the segment that is when we go through everything that Tom knows in his head and everything that Tom's doing. And so I came up with Scoopsopedia. I tweeted it out like seven seconds ago. I don't mind it. But the idea was we want all of you to tell us what we should name that segment and sort of crowdsource a little bit there.

But there's a ton in there, and hopefully we'll have a better name for it for the next show when people figure that out and tell us what to call it. I like Scoopsopedia. I thought that was excellent gossip because me and you were trying to brainstorm, and we got nowhere. And then out of it, you were like, yeah, we're just just gonna call it scoopsopedia i was like whoa that would that sounds like a good name so uh you under pressure you thrived i'm only good life anything in post or pre-production i'm a mess well get me get me on the live show and i'm ready to rock hence why we do this show live and it's one of our favorite parts so if you're listening on podcast thank you and we've loved having you there but if you're listening on podcast thank you uh and

we've loved having you there but if you are looking for something to do during the work day or school day or while you're watching your kids or being a kid whatever's going on in your life we are here tuesday wednesdays and thursdays 2 p.m eastern time live yesterday was a special one uh with the u.s olympic roster dropping hours before me and Jordan got on. So we were able to break all that down. You can go back and listen to that episode. We spent over 30 minutes walking through this U.S. Olympic roster on the women's side, what it can look like, how it can play, how it matches up against Zambia, Germany, and Australia, as well as, of course, the big news around Alex Morgan not being on the team for the first time in 16 years at a

major competition which is just one of the huge moments in u.s soccer history um but let's dig into our show let's start going i have as my first note stuff was rough but now we have the knicks mikhail bridges coming to the Knicks. The loaded roster. It is the perfect team. Everyone can play every position. We're 12 deep. Now we got French dudes coming in as well. Get hyped.

Let's go. I think that's what everyone's tuned in for. My favorite part of all of this is when the news broke, I was trying to go to sleep. I literally got out of bed because I was like, I need to live right now. I'm so juiced. I don't know what to go to sleep. I literally got out of bed because I was like, I need to live right now. I'm so juiced. I don't know what to do with myself.

And then, like, after our group chat is getting steamrolled by me and you, all caps, text, typos, because we're just firing off. We're not looking at spellcheck. We're just going. And then poor Weeby and, like, Doyle are trying to keep up. Doyle's trying to copium, talking about the Celtics. Bro, nobody cares you won a real title. We're talking about the offseason title right now anyway.

Fake title. trying to copium talk about the celtics bro nobody cares you want a real title we're talking about the offseason title right now anyway and then after after like 20 minutes later like we be was like all right maybe it's time to like say an mls thing and continue the conversation we were having and then me and guys just no steamrolled all caps nick sex nick's memes all this stuff it's our time baby it's our time it was gross when he put an mls thing in there it was so gross and i was so upset about it um but kael bridges baby it has happened the uh we have all the infinity stones of villanova and now this has become a next podcast officially going forward let's talk usmnt first the us 2-0 win over bolivia in the first game panama 3-1 lost the Uruguay. Game kicks off 6 p.m. Eastern time tonight. So this is the last three matchups between these two teams. 2023 Gold Cup semifinal, 1-1 draw, PK win for Panama to go to the final, and they eventually ended up losing to Mexico.

That was a high point for Mexico over the last few years. I'll throw that out there real quick. The game before that was the clinching match in World Cup qualifying. It was down in Orlando, 5-1 win for the U.S. in 2022. It was the second to last game of that qualifying cycle. Pulisic, of course, with the hat trick to close things out. And the previous match back in 2021 was a 1-0 win for Panama in Panama to begin World Cup qualifying. It was really the moment I think that put Thomas Christensen on the map as being a game changer for Panama going forward. I thought Panama was very good through large stretches of the second half

against Uruguay. They came out aggressive. They pushed. It should have been 1-1. They had a ton of opportunities, but they didn't. Darwin Nunez pops up. Turns out he's They pushed. It should have been 1-1. They had a ton of opportunities, but they didn't. Donovan Nunez pops up. Turns out he's pretty good. He scores the second goal to make it 2-0. That really killed the spirit for Panama, although credit to them. They came back and scored a goal. But it was an up-and-down performance.

I think for them and for the U.S., this is the game you were always circling. I was like, this will decide who gets out of the group. The assumption being both teams are going to beat Bolivia. Forama they're hoping the u.s loses to uruguay that's their best case scenario at this point and so it all comes down to this game and going into it and looking at it tom do you expect any big changes for the u.s what what sort of goes through your head as you get ready no i mean i believe that again with with the caveat of both of us thinking josh sergeant would have been the starting center forward if you were fit i think game one was their best 11 i think you roll that back out for this game against panama um i kind of made a face

when you said this was kind of the game to look forward to whatever for the group and then i was like oh wait you're right in terms of getting out of the group but like if they drop points here it's a huge disappointment and a huge frustration and that's no disrespect for this panama team it's just the game that we should be focusing on is the uruguay game that closes out the group but if you drop points here that uruguay game becomes absolutely terrifying and and oh my god like trying to get a draw or don't lose by too much or looking at the panama score with bolivia at the same time and like that's not where this program should be right now and anything can happen in a one game sample size of course but it would be a huge disappointment to not pick up three points and to not have a pretty comprehensive

and dominant and controlling performance as well um yes now in saying that the u.s beat bolivia 2-0 it feels hard to believe they're going to beat Panama much. If you could only put up two against Bolivia, you had all possession. You had the whole play. I think this game is harder. Panama, I mentioned it coming into the tournament. They are elite defensively in CONCACAF. They are elite in

possession in CONCACAF. Their possession is mainly to kill your attack. It is not to be super aggressive. The games are slow. The games are low scoring. It's the 1-1 from last year. It is not to be super aggressive. So, like, the games are slow. The games are low scoring. It's the 1-1 from last year. It's the 1-0 loss against Mexico. Uruguay gets one late, but, like, it would have been 2-1.

It probably should have been 2-1 in that Uruguay game. So these are not games that open up. They are not a team that is going to, like, really commit numbers in transition and let their their their spacing get spread they play three legitimate center backs and three good center backs as well so there's almost always cover and then you've got center mids and a guy like coco karaskia who can get out of pressure can keep it as a release valve and will cover ground to help work defensively he is the most important part of this panama team i think it's proven at this point in

mls like he's good enough to win games for you he's good enough to be the best player on a dangerous team and i think it's fair to say that this panama team is dangerous but you're right in saying this you play in copa america and you get a chance to play a concaf team that you beat consistently or at worst on the right on the same level as consistently consistency that you have to beat that team like there's no world in which you get out of a copa america group or go far in copa america if you can't beat conca calf teams and i think that's an acceptable thing to say for the u.s now i'm not saying conca can't compete with comable look at brazil right look at i think the push jama Jamaica made. Look at what Mexico has sort of done, not really done.

Not really. Yeah, that's not the point. But the point is if you're the U.S. and you look at this tournament, these have to be wins because you know they're winnable, and it's a bit more of an unknown in the other matches against some of the bigger teams. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's not being dismissive or overlooking an opponent.

It's believing in yourself and that, like, hey, the United States showing up against Panama, they should be heavy favorites and they should expect to dominate this game and again that's not to say that panama won't have anything to say about it but that's where the stature of this program should be right now and as you said like i think that was the perfect way to encapsulate it this is copa america where they're playing uh you know increased competition from south america and some of the giants that will be coming like Uruguay next. You know, you could see Colombia, Brazil, maybe Argentina at some point. Hopefully Argentina at some point is kind of the way it looks. So, you know, that's how you frame it.

And you have a CONCACAF opponent right now. And even if it was Mexico, I don't know if I'd say the same thing about being dominant, but I'd say that, like, this team is in this tournament not to play Panama or not to play well against Panama, like this is this would be just a huge roadblock and huge disappointment um jose rodriguez would be one to watch out for if you've not really watched panama the right winger just signed with red star belgrade uh or whatever they're going by that's good yeah um dangerous player y'all barsanis i

think most people will know mazatlan attacker attacker, was good in League's Cup last year, has been good in League MX, has been dangerous for this team. The center back trio, really, really good for this team as well. Fajardo up top, more of a nuisance than a goal scorer, and sort of will try and create space for the guys to come underneath him. And those are the genuine finishers in this group. For the U.S. side, do you expect any changes to the starting 11 from the bolivia game no i i think that you just play the same 11 and you build continuity and you know

it's going to be what i'm most curious about is what happens off the bench like i'm certain that burr halter is going to try to be like hey we still trust peppy just because he missed a couple chances off the bench against bolivia but the other side of that is Josh Sargent, if he's ready to play, you need to get him minutes. Haji Wright, it's not like he's done anything wrong to not deserve a chance too. So then if you're trying to protect Pepe's feelings or show everybody, hey, I still believe in this guy,

then you can't bring all three of them on during the game. So on one hand, that's where I'd lean. But on the other, like he's a big boy. He's a professional. He's an adult. He gets a few missed chances. You might lose some minutes. It's not perfect for a young striker.

And I'm curious to see exactly which of those paths Berhalter would go. Because again, I don't think that you can do both of. We need to get Sargent some minutes. Haji Wright deserves a look. And also, we want to protect and we want to show that we continue to believe in Ricardo Pepe. I don't think all three of those players would come off the bench. I think only two. I think you're right.

It's an interesting debate. If Sargent is healthy for the first time, it's sort of you're out of being like, well, we got to get him minutes. True. You go to Ricardo Pepe and you say, it has nothing to do with you. We're trying to get him fit. We're trying to get him ready. Haji Wright's in a tough spot because they say he's a winger,

and he plays the same side as Christian Pulisic, and it feels like Pulisic is going to play every possible minute when the games matter and it felt like against Bolivia at times it didn't really matter and he's still on the field so it feels tough to see Wright get on the field the other part is Tyler Adams played 45 um we debated this about a bit last week it seemed like the decision from Greg Berhalter was he has half a half in him we're going to start him we're going to play him with the starters and take him off at halftime how did he react to that is one question mark is he available from the start in this one and then the other would be how many minutes does he have in him uh once again going forward but it feels safe to say he'll start because it can't be less than 45 unless things are going wrong and if

that's the case then clearly greg beralter's comfortable starting him and subbing him early going forward huge game huge match uh someone called it the bj callahan revenge game in the chat because he was the coach last year at the gold cup which i thought was really funny so i'm in i'm in favor of that one um and it's as we said it's not the sexiest moment in u.s soccer history but it's a big one like you need to get through the group stage if you win this game and clinch your spot you can play free against uruguay and and put a really big name on your resume there and then you're probably playing colombia in the next round maybe you're probably playing Colombia in the next round. Maybe you're playing Brazil. I guess we, I don't know who else.

I don't know if Costa Rica has enough to sneak out of that group right now. And I don't think Paraguay does, but Brazil tying does throw things up a little bit. Whatever it is, that's the path you need. Like you need this moment and you need all of that. Shout out to Venezuela for being like an MLS all-star team and knocking off Mexico Christian Casares Jose Martinez Younghell Herrera Jefferson Soteldo um I think Christian McCoon came off the bench in that game the best part of the game and it was a chaotic game was post game after Venezuela won there started to be fights and Jose Martinez was the one holding players back telling them to calm down and it's like you have to be so far past it for Jose

Martinez to be like you guys are you guys are being a lot like everyone needs to calm down so that was an experience for sure uh fun to watch a lot of those guys play Casares and Casares I think one of the best signings and then transfers in MLS history of just like for what you got him for, what you sold him for, what he's capable of. He feels like a dude. Huh? Christian Kassaris?

Yeah. They sold him for less than a million because they let him run down his contract. A hundred percent. But in terms of talent, he feels like a guy in six or seven years where you're going to be like, he played in MLS? Yeah. Very good player. Great move to lose. In six or seven years, we're going to be like, he played in MLS? Yeah, very good player.

Great move to Toulouse. They did try to sell him to a Russian club for about $5 million that MLS blocked six months prior. So they almost got the value for it. But if I'm in Christian Castro's corner, I think the move to Toulouse was just a little bit better than going to the Russian Premier League. But what do I know? Yeah, what would you know? It's just the southern french coast like the opportunity there for a good life probably pretty low uh let's close with canada i did the the post game show we won't be back before they play uh chile coming up this weekend chile put everything in that argentina

game did not get anything out of it canada was bad, I thought, for the most part, in that Peru game. The heat's probably a huge part of that. Spoilers, it's going to be hot in Orlando on Saturday night for that game. So that's going to be an issue as well. And so I think for Canada, it's going to be similar to the Peru game of, like, I think it's going to be more 50-50. Chile have to push for the results, so they have to come and get it. Canada gets through with a tie

so at this point it's an it's an upset if you don't get through even though you had the lowest odds coming into this tournament in your group to get out i think we've seen enough from this canada team that there's a lot of positives for them to lean on i would be surprised if kamal miller doesn't get the start i think jonathan osorio should start, but I don't think it's going to be over a guy, Nismael Kone, who we'll get to in our... Wait, I found a really good one in the chat that I wasn't ready to say already. All right, I'll get there later.

In the loop with scoops for when we get to that segment. So for Canada, it feels pretty straightforward. They just have to come out with a little bit, just straight up more fight. They were losing every 50-50. They were on their heels. It was the same exact thing Jamaica did with Ecuador. Jamaica came out in the second half, a whole new team. They created a ton of chances.

The game was chaotic. That's what Canada wanted to be. I would assume they will not have the bulk of the fans in the stadium, but it won't be like a peru team that has really great support in the u.s i think it'll be pretty innocent and so this is an opportunity um for your big players to step up and win any big thoughts on canada no just the alfonso davies question that we got wrong um but yeah i mean i think that that was super interesting i still think that's the correct decision but to go back on your word so quickly was a little bit odd as we talked about but nothing more the only mistake

in that was like how final he said it the first time he said it i that i totally agree your four games into managing a new national team like you're gonna move guys around based off opponents that's fine um again richie larea starts a fight with everyone i love it i'm always here for it i'm always a fan of it shaffelberg probably should start for this team i don't think he will he was so awesome he was incredible last game everything happened yeah uh i think we had some some comments in the mailbag saying that they want me to uh re reassess my Schaffelberg hate, which I don't know where that comes from. I think Andrew Weeby was one of the ones in the Discord. Shout out to a fan named Andrew Weeby in the Discord

who wanted me to come back and talk about Lord Schaff. What did you call it? His Mormon missionary picture is the one that he used as his avatar. I think it's him at the 2014 World Cup with the button-down tucked in, high-waisted the 2014 World Cup. With the button down tucked in. High waisted on the khaki. Before he found a barber in New York City. So just the Kansas City.

The early 2010s Kansas City haircut. I think he stuffed his shirt with genuine just Wonder Bread white bread. Just to make sure he was as Kansas as he could be. In that photo. He wants me to talk about that. This game. The Peru game. It was Shaffelberg in a nutshell.

He's a game changer. He plays on the front foot. He makes people's lives miserable. The majority of goals he does not create are because he cannot finish off the play. But what we talked about on Monday night's postgame show with Sean and Devang was right now the roll of the dice, which is he will connect one of his seven chances versus if he's not on the field, you create zero of those seven chances.

That feels more probable than not playing him. The question is if he's as effective as a starter as he is as a sub. So he's been huge for that team and it's really fun to watch. The tournament's been really fun to watch as well. Let's start to dig into some MLS stuff. Let's start with all this big, huge injury news. Matt Miasga has officially been placed on the season-ending injury list

by FC Cincinnati. It is a PCL and meniscus injury in his knee that he got surgery on. So even if he comes back, he is not eligible to play in any competition for FC Cincinnati for the rest of 2024. It doesn't matter if it's CONCACAF or Open Cup or Leagues Cup, whatever it is, he is not eligible to play because he was put on this list. It now means that FC Cincinnati has reopened up his roster spot that they can replace him in. They can designate a new player as their replacement player that they can bring in. And that player can be of equal salary to Matt Miazga. But all of that has to be paid out in discretionary money, which means it all has to come out

of the pocket of ownership in FC Cincinnati. You are not using allocation money. You're not using salary cap money to do that. And so you have to get your owner to agree to that. And not a problem. I think that was going to be my question, which I knew the answer to. FC Cincinnati has shown that they're willing to spend a ton of money. And then obviously this player, if the contract is longer than this year, you will have to

then work them under the cap next year. So next year, there's no replacement stuff with Miazga. Miazga will come back fully hitting the cap as well as this new player as well going forward but this is a different conversation than the one we had the one we had on tuesday was who are the cheaper options in mls you can bring in because you think miazga at 1.5 million in guaranteed comp is still going to be that player on the books now you have the opportunity to replace a player for that same number which is in a whole different stratosphere for fc

cincinnati yeah so and to even go back to our conversation last week that was us working under the impression that they were going to do everything they could to not put them on the season ending injured list and from what i was told around then it was hey we'll see like we'll know more after the surgery during whatever right and then maybe with a little bit of rehab so I guess when they went to surgery like everybody kind of decided look it's not worth it or not on the books or whatever it is so we were working under the the assumption or the hope that maybe they'd be able to get him back and a healthy Matt Miazga for the playoffs is the best kind of uh resolution for that

for that problem but again that's not possible. So now he's on the season ending injury list. And the rules have changed in recent years where this is much more advantageous. You don't just get to replace the roster spot in the case of international players, international spot. Now you get the full salary. And we saw what Inter Miami did where they brought in Federico Redondo when Facundo Farias went down.

So while we can talk about short-term replacements as well like you know i i we you were talking to me before the show about hey is there any you know notable center backs in the league that are available that whose contract expires at the end of the year so they don't have a problem for me i don't even look at it that way i think it's uh we'll figure it out later let's go find the best player that we can like you know who like fits around this uh budget hit is like steon gregerson and atlanta bought him like he's technically like a dp right now but he's tamable right like so this is like a max tamish type of signing yeah you could go out and sign what they believe to be another defender of the year candidate

miles robinson's future is is in question i believe that there's an option for next year so maybe that's a like for like switch with with the you say, screw it, maybe a midfielder leaves or maybe a wingback leaves or whatever it is. I think that you just go out and try to sign the best player that you can and the best player on your list that you can. And then, hey, that problem, figure it out next year. We are in win-now mode. Let's go get the best player, maybe the best long-term fit that we can find,

and we'll figure it out in December. I agree with you. I think it's a really interesting opportunity miles robinson is signed as his last option year is next year it feels like the signing was partially a way to get him out of atlanta and then maybe build a new deal on top of this so the idea would be you could only give a free agent x amount on the open market. He will be resigning their own player after this contract's up. So maybe you turn him into a DP or a higher level deal. The other is the hope, I think, was he plays at Copa America and he gets sold or goes to a bigger club. This is your chance to bring in a player who could potentially replace him or then could play with these three and be

the best back line in major league soccer so i agree with you in like go big here and then figure it out next year and if the worst case scenario next year is you can't then you move that center back who's proven they're good in this league inside of mls to all the teams who can't sign a center back from overseas for their if their life depended on it, which in theory their profession does, and they're still really bad at it, for allocation money or whatever you can get at that point. That is a good problem to have. Yes.

There are a couple of guys in MLS whose deals do come up that are good players, like a Yaimar and a Jesus Murillo and guys like that I'd be surprised if anyone moved a player like that to a competitor at this point in the year and they don't have allocation money to really give up in a trade at this point so the idea is it'll probably be a player from outside of MLS they would like it to be a free agent because you can use as much of that money in salary then as possible. I have some absurd names in here. If you want to go, there it is.

The buzzer knows that it's absurd. If you want to go ridiculous, former player in MLS is a free agent. Sega Cooley Bali. Teenage Hedeby. Can I offer you one of those that might interest you? And the last one is Osvaldo Alaniz, who last played in Hyderabad in India, which has great food, which sounds like an amazing experience, but he's 35 years old and wasn't very good on San Jose Earthquakes. What about this one?

Free agent Mamadou Sakho. You'll never walk alone, baby. Liverpool legend. And the only realistic one I came across on Transfer Market was John Anthony Brooks, whose contract is up in three days. Had a good year to close out in the Bundesliga. Could stay if he wanted to. Has talked about coming to the U.S.

This is a U.S. M&T backline. Would he want to be a part of it? Yeah, I think if there's an attractive situation for John Brooks, it would be this. I will say the last time that he was a free agent, I think, what was it, 18, 24 months ago? Before he went to Benfica? He would not bend on, I want a DP deal. I want a DP deal. Everything I heard from sources, it was like, there is no middle ground to be found with John Anthony Brooks.

He's only coming here if he's a DP. So if that hasn't changed, no shot for Cincy or anybody else. But if there's a little bit of wiggle room, I would absolutely love that. He is not the perfect style fit in this team because of his struggles sometimes to defend in open space. At the same time, he's an elite ball player. And if you're ever going to cover for a guy like that, it'll be with Miles Robinson and Matt Miazga. And it'll be in a photo and like all the pieces they have. So this could elevate them to another level.

And you'd assume he'd come in and play the middle this year with Miazga out. And so you don't have to cover for Oriano that much. You're not covering for Yedlin. Like that's not really his job. And it could work for them. And that could be. Sorry, a different strength of like wow those like again Miles Robinson he brought something different

in that he could really go be somebody who hunts the ball with with me I was going to cover him for John Anthony Brooks that the top quality here would be his passing ability and maybe the distribution is another way to get the value here rather than again in the YouTube comments everybody's pointing out they slow yeah fair enough and particularly in a transition

league like MLS, but as you say, when you have Miles Robinson to one side and then Ian Murphy on the other side, I think they'll be alright. The other thing that we should point out is they don't have to sign a center back. They can just use the money to fill the roster spot however they want, but

you'd assume with Nick Hagelin's injury and Kip Keller, yeah, that that's where they choose to lean, as well as you don't know the future for Miles Robinson going forward. Cincinnati travels to Dallas on Saturday night. You mentioned how Dallas are must-watch right now. This is a winnable game for Dallas, and this is going to be fun as a fan because Dallas has opened things up.

They are playing direct. They're playing aggressive. Even in the loss to Seattle, they went up went up to zero they gave up the three goals they're opening the game up and they're trying to create chances I think Cincinnati will be fine with that like this is a game where Lucho can find pockets live underneath use the runners off him I believe Corey Baird could be available for this one as well but but this has like 3-3 written all over it, and I think it's one of the better games of the weekend. Aaron Bupenza revenge story? Revenge arc, anybody?

What do you think, Gus? He can come up here. Let's bring him up here, actually. Thomas Chonkala has been put on the season-ending injury list, and it's a partial tear of his ACL. Two goals, one assist in his last three games going into the injury his comp is at a little over one million dollars but he is listed as a designated player so in putting him on the season ending injury list he is the one official one that

they can put on they have the right to sign a designated player to replace him my understanding is that means that there's no limitation on what they spend. It doesn't have to equal the comp because it's already equaling the salary cap hit in being a designated player. So in theory, the New England Revolution could go out and get whoever they want. The only problem then becomes what do they do next year when they have four DPs on their roster? So the one side of the thinking and sort

of what we talked about before we got on was a name that came up was like a raul ruiz diaz who you trade for coming off their contract you let him play out his dp deal on your roster and then you can resign him off that next year or something like it aaron bupenza could be a player on a list like that as well who his contract's not up but it's clearly doesn't seem like he's probably gonna play for the team he's on right now the other option is you just go out and sign whoever you want and then figuring it out next year I assume Sean Kalai at one one million it's like one million and ten thousand uh I was trying to figure out where that second one comes in you could just buy him down

and he would be a non-dp next year as well chancel i i don't i don't i don't know i don't think so depends on the the the transfer fee was large and how long the contract is i don't know that my understanding is that dp at well at least for this year i knew that there was no wiggle room and i assume that's for the near future but anyway yeah the raul ruiz diaz one i believe that's for the near future. But anyway, yeah, the Raul Ruiz Diaz one, I believe that's a realistic possibility, just in that I'm not going to shoot it down completely, and I'm not suggesting that anything is super real or anything there. So just please don't take me out of context. I don't think that that makes sense in any way for the New England Revolution.

Why would you play him and Veroni? This version of Raul Ruiz Diaz, who would then be expecting... I think that he will sign a non-DP deal if you give him a few years. But that just feels like that has Jose Altidore 2.0 written all over it for me. But again, maybe they will. I like Pupenza as a better stylistic fit, in that you could kind of play him off the wing if you want to. But you just look

at his recent history of more or less one year at every single club in the last calendar year or whatever in the last 12 months he's been suspended by both the Gabon national team and by Cincinnati and then also got his jaw broken in an off-field altercation so maybe if you're the New England Revolution with you know the the wake of Bruce Arena and everything else has come around this team I don't really think that you take a roll wake of Bruce Arena and everything else that's come around this team, I don't really think that you take a roll of the dice on that kind of player. I've said this before, but there was another – several of our teams had looked into signing Eric Bupenza.

One team came close, and they were just like, he might be one of the most talented players in the league. We cannot take this risk. So even when the talent is all the way up there, like that's to show kind of where people have gone with him, and I don't think that makes sense off the field for the New England Revolutions to risk that at this point. So you think it's a winger like for like for this team,

which I'll throw out Dylan Barrero, expected to come back in a week or two, and would probably also play out there. Yeah, no, that's fair, but I think that they need more bodies with Sean Kline injured because you could still play Carlos Hill as the 10, yeah no that that's fair but i think that they need more bodies with with chanclay injured because you could still play carlos phil is the 10 brooks on uh barrera on one side you can't play john eddie brooks that way uh doing barrero on one side and then a new dp wing on the other or again

like this all depends like they're in a little bit of a difficult spot with with giacomo veroni like six weeks ago it was the easiest yep time to move on however we have to do we have to do it but he's been good in the last month. Is that a mirage? Can you bank on that? I don't know where their thinking is there, and it kind of throws a wrench in a little bit. But again, that's independent of itself. I mean, I guess you could sign a DP9

and then just keep Veroni as well. But the best teams can have all three DP players on the field at the same time. So I don't even know. I don't know if that's how you'd want to use it. But with the short-term nature of this in that chunk it's just this season i think that opens up that possibility but again it's not a road i'd go down if if i were consulting we saw the year they won the shields carlos heel technically a winger a lot of times they played

gustavo bow and and uh books at the time together you could do something like that the question falls now do you believe in Veroni? If you really do, if you look at this team and you say, we think this is who he is, this is what we planned for, and you believe in some of the wing players, if you believe Barrera will be healthy at his highest level, if you believe in Barak Tarevich as well, you could go and get your Nobudo or whatever that is

because the underlying numbers say that they have been soft and they've been a little lucky in their defending over the last few weeks and they're probably not going to go get a dp center back and you have the options in ariaga and romney and all of that and it feels like you've solidified the goalkeeper spot so you could go and get a six next to polster or an eight next to polster that takes you up another level and then that opens up the possibility of veroni's out after this year shankalai comes back and then you could sort of rejigger things from that point on the revs it's a weird spot for this to happen because they are on this four game winning streak so like you said three four weeks ago this happens

and it's like okay let's kind of wrap things up. Let's see how we can clean up our books a bit and like reset ourselves going forward. Even though we have Carlos Hill in our team. Now that is a little bit of a murkier conversation. It's one that Caleb Porter definitely doesn't want to have. Like Caleb Porter wants to win. It's his first year. Of course.

That's what he's there for. So he's going to be pushing. The question is who is in the front office right now that has that decision-making, that has the pulse of ownership to say, this is what we should do. This is what's the best-case scenario for this club. And I guess it's Kurt and Alfa at this point. It's not. I guess it is.

He's the one that's leading the front office, sporting director. And that's how it works. I mean, they have some smart folks in the front office they added david camerman as well from lefc he's he was a bruce guy for a long time which is i guess ironic that he came in after bruce was gone but anyway like the front office structure is what it is it is current off on making a decision at the end of the day okay i'll take that um an interesting time for them. Let's talk Raul Rodriguez. He is suspended this weekend. By the way, the Rebs play Columbus, which I think is also one of the best games of the weekend.

I was going to throw that in there. As we go forward, we've got weekend preview, but that was the game I put in, which is like Rebs four straight wins. Sorry, four undefeated, I believe it is. And Columbus is on. Yeah, and Columbus is on a pretty good streak as well. And for the Revs, if they win this game, they jump into the playoff spot. They still have some games in hand because of CONCACAF play early in the year. So, like, on points per game, they technically are a playoff team.

And if they make it five wins in a row and beat Columbus, it starts to become a new conversation, I of like oh this team's for real so a really big one to watch this weekend yeah i'm just on that like points are points that's the bottom line and that that's been awesome this run and the way that they've kind of rebounded and and stayed bought in it seems like from the outside but you could poke holes it's like that game against the red bulls okay no forsberg and whoever else has gone international duty again it doesn't matter to the Rebs in terms of all they needed desperately was points. It doesn't matter if there's contacts or well-actualities. You know, nobody cares, right?

But still, by the way you talk about this team, it was like, all right, like let's see what happens in the next few games. And they've kind of backed it up over these last few games. And playing Columbus, like I'm not as – like I'll reserve my judgment to be, to change my mind about this new England team after this weekend, they've definitely gotten to a point where I'm like, not like, yeah, like good to win,

win a game. But like, you know, you're not going to lose every game of the season. Right? Like I was, I was definitely a little bit dismissive after the Red Bull game and the early part of this run.

And now it's like, okay, the underlying performances I think have been good. That's been impressive. They deserve, again, a ton of credit for the win, regardless of what I or anybody else thinks about it points are what's

most important if they play well against the columbus crew and really show that okay they can hang and they are a good team it's just they've had this horrific start to the season so there's actually like this is a fun one to watch and i didn't think a month ago i'd be talking about the new england revolution any new england revolution game as this is a fun one to watch yeah i think that's fair uh let's go to that rui diaz news along with new who they are both suspended for the weekend sounder at heart was the one where i got the report it said they said quote raul rui diaz and new who have both been effectively suspended for the week meaning they will not train with the team nor play in the seattle sounders match against chicago fire

the punishment stems from a locker room argument they both got into with head coach Brian Smetzer after they chose not to join their teammates in the post-game fan acknowledgement. I would like to start this by saying this was after a win. You finally won a game. And this is when this happens. New Who, quote, taken off a little earlier

than he would have expected. I don't even know what that means. are not the face of this team you come off when it's time for you to come off and Rui Diaz I don't really know what his issue is because he came in and scored and helped change the game a bit but he's kind of been playing the same role over the course of the year how big a deal is this? Yeah, it's a big deal. And it's almost like, particularly with the Rudea spot, it's like kind of transitioning away.

This is a guy who, like, one, he'd be playing every single minute. He was available for two years ago. And Aries Silva in the chat asks if we see Rudea being transferred to another MLS team. I think that's absolutely on the table. What it shows to me is that this team is trying to go into a new direction look knew who god love him he you know that year that they played the back three he was one of the best outside center backs in the league he has straight up not been good since then he is statistically one of the worst left backs in mls right now that is playing starting minutes so the fact that he was upset to be subbed off

it's a joke man like have a little bit of like look in the mirror have some reflection have some self-awareness like and i do i think it was important for brian schmetzer in the locker room to more or less step up and say no this isn't acceptable like we had this big win we're together doesn't matter if you played 90 minutes or zero like you come and celebrate with us with the fans like we're a team we're united so yeah i think it's a big deal but i also think seattle handling it very well these are things that happen over the course of the season particularly at a team that you know vibes are better now but this is like they're trying to climb up the table this isn't where the scene was supposed to be this team was viewed as consensus maybe maybe not the best team in the

west but the safest pick to be top three in the west just because of all these veteran players and all of the players that they were returning from years past and how much success they've had. So yeah, it is a big deal, but I think that this gives even more power to like, okay, whether you're, we're moving forward and if you're not on board, then you're not on board. And with Rui Diaz and his future, for me, the only way I see him still with this team in the summer is if ownership does not give money to the front office to go sign a DP number nine I think that's it right you'd rather have him than nothing if that's the option is your point but if there's any option outside of that you go and get

a player that you think can be a game changer this year and going forward um skimming through MLS and saying like okay well then where would rui diaz end up if he gets traded inside the league there's not a ton of teams that need him where he fits their style i'd say a lot of the teams that need a forward want to press a little bit higher and play a little more aggressive you probably could have talked me into lafc a few months ago pre-ger. Obviously not relevant anymore. So the one that pops out to me is Vancouver. They play two forwards up top, and Rui Diaz has actually looked pretty good

with, quote, another forward as a little bit of a creator, especially off that left side. Like he sits at the top of the box, curls balls in, stuff like that. It frees up Ryan Gall to play a little deeper, which has been an issue when Kubas is not available, especially because you need his ground coverage, but also I think still puts him in his best spot and you can put him in that forward rotation.

Also, Vancouver is kind of cheap. This is a cheap way to get a DP for the rest of this year. And then you can resign him to a non DP contract after this year and make him happy. And he just could be more talented than some of the other forward options you put in that. Yeah, sure. I think that would just be disappointing for me.

Like, if I'm a Whitecaps fan, right? Like, I don't know, man. I think everything you said is factual and correct. And I believe Vanni Sartini went on Extra Time and told Andrew Weeby we're not going to add a DP. So I would already be, you know, that's a punch in the stomach I don't listen extra time so I wouldn't know just to run it out there no I wanted to let it sit for a second let the dead fish hang there um but like yeah like it's a man this team like that Vancouver team is very good I don't think that Rui Diaz changes much for them I think Brian White is a better player right now and what they need to

do is go add a real DP I don't think that they're going to but it is what it is so like yeah like that's something that makes sense and like if you're trying to bargain shop like again you talk about like what would make sense is either a team that has an injury like new england or one of the air quote and correctly not air quote just one of the cheaper teams right like if he is his profile fit the philadelphia union in any way this would be the most obvious trade in the world, except he doesn't fit them in any way, so it's not. So, I mean, going down the list for teams like that, and that's where I can see Rui Diaz,

but I just don't think that it makes a ton of sense. Yeah, the Philly one doesn't fit. St. Louis, another one that doesn't fit. SKC doesn't really make sense. Which makes, hold on, which makes it make sense because of what SKC s just the direction list that the way the world is going there yeah the names we've heard uh for the potential uh technical director are uh probably the least inspiring names that um i could come up with we'll see where they

go um houston would have been one that's on this list feels like that's now out with Ponce coming in. So there you go. That's the proof you need. That means move on. Yeah, that's another one that comes up there. So it's tough to see. For Nuhu, his value is not super high right now outside the league. I don't know. It's experience back and forth.

If I'm Seattle, and I know this is not the way you run a team, you've gotten a lot out of him. Whatever happens, happens at this point like if he's unhappy and it's not working and you've reached the end of the road it's unfortunate but like you have won mls cups and ccls because he was a part of your team you paid nothing to get him originally he's been a solid part of this group for a really long time i think we're past the like he locked down sala how much can you get for him and we're kind of in the space of like how can sort of everyone end this relationship

properly if that's how bad it really is and if brian schmetzer has gotten to that point that feels like the limit because schmetzer is a guy with especially the players in his core that he gives a ton of leeway to and sort of will let them have these emotional moments. And if he's reaching this point, then it feels like that's where from the outside, it looks a little dangerous. Yeah. I got nothing else. Yeah.

You're completely correct. The only other thing is that I, it's not like Seattle fumbled the bag here with new who they were open to and ready for and expecting offers, particularly with his, when he excelled, you know, with the net,

with his national team and particularly playing against Mo Salah and playing very well against Mo Salah. The real offers never came. The only offers that came, to my knowledge, were a free loan and you cover half of his salary. And it's like an English championship club being like, Nate, bring him to the championship, and then you could sell him for more to somebody else.

It's like, so let me get this straight. The offer is, at at the time you take one of our best players we pay half of his salary and you don't give us anything just because england i think we're gonna pass on that right like so it's not like they were rejecting offers trying to get more yeah it's like it's not like they overplayed their hand that just offers never came to their surprise um okay so let's dig into what we have here by the way seattle hosts chicago this weekend so an opportunity they have it right now i believe it's four unbeaten but only two wins in that this is a big opportunity to get another win at home the comeback against fc dallas i think

positive and i think part of the positivity is that jordan morris is finishing right now he looks really goal dangerous. His decision making in the final third, his confidence in his finishing, that's what wavers, and you're coming off a high. So you've got to ride that as much as you can. Like, he's clearly going to start in that position, and you just have to keep feeding him as often as possible when he's in a moment like this.

But let's go into our, so far I have written down, loops with scoops called hot scoops and then we've got scoopopedia those are the three that were they're sitting on right now so if anyone has any more to add uh feel free let's start with diego gomez you were the one who put out this report so explain it to us yeah inter miami have received a bid from brighton and hove albion for diego gomez um they've also received a bid from another interested team i do not know exactly where that bid was from nothing is imminent nothing is close i believe that the initial bid is pretty far below inter

miami's valuation what i do know is brighton are a huge fans of diego gomez and they're trying to get in ahead of this so they can get this deal done now. What I know is that Inter Miami want $25 million, which I think is a pretty ludicrous place. But hey, if you have interest from Brighton, I know that West Ham is interested. I don't know if they made a bid. But if you have this interest, why not ask for more? He's on a contract.

He's a 21-year-old Paraguayan international. I believe that if a bid around 15 million comes in i think that's 100 accepted so i don't know if it'll get there i don't know where the initial bid was i don't think that it was close to that 15 million mark or obviously not close to that asked for 25 million mark but this is something that it makes sense as long as somebody hits that number i think there's a deal that gets done. Those numbers to me sound like what I first thought, which is Inter-Miami is trying to win things right now with Messi and friends.

And, like, we don't care if we can make $2 million on Diego Gomez. You blow us out of the water so we can replace him and other stuff with money and fill in a lot of the holes they have in terms of they've spent players have gotten hurt they've spent again all that discretionary spending or we're going to try and win mls cup this year with diego gomez on our team like that feels that feels like the place you're at um if you are inter miami because now is now you're not getting messy again and they've had so much turnover and change in that team that I don't think you optionally give up a player just to be able to say, we sold a player to Brighton.

I agree. And I was surprised that I haven't heard anything back in. Like I remember, I liken this to when the Philadelphia union sold Brennan Aronson, it was, they were talking in the summer, and every person I talked to around that deal was like, everybody knows we will not let him go until the winter. Everybody is understanding if they want this deal, it has to be for the winter.

And I was waiting to see if Miami would say that about Diego Gomez, because they're obviously one of, if not the best team in MLS. They're top of the Swords Shield standings. He is a key player. He fits really well around the aging veteran stars that they have in the way that he can both uh cover ground and the way that he interprets space because he's intelligent but that's not exactly what i heard i didn't hear anything to you know dissuade me from that right but it's it's not like i everybody i've talked to it's not like they've been like no way that it happens this summer no

way no way because i think like hey if they meet if they go if if there's a 15 or more million dollar bid like brighton could be like hey this deal's on the table right now or we're not doing it but for me like do you think diego gomez gets into the brighton first team right now i don't think so no i think that he still has some developing to do and i think that it makes sense for all parties for him to be here for the rest of the season. But hey, it's not my decision to make. And the team that's putting up the money, guess what? Whether it's the wrong decision or the right one, they get to make it.

Yeah, I would be shocked if he's not playing for Inter-Miami for the rest of this season. I wouldn't be shocked if the outcome is an intermediate deal. I would not be shocked. But I think it just makes more sense for it to be a winter deal. One of us is going to be shocked, because we're in different directions. Also, by the way, no one has complimented the fact that I have pink headphones that match the pink t-shirt that I'm wearing. Your cameras are good enough. I have no idea that those are pink headphones.

Man, I'm really upset about that one, because I was kind of proud of it. Now I see it. Now, because it is the same shade of the color. That was just mean. I'm sorry, Goss. No, it's okay.. Now I see it. But now because like it is the same shade of the color. That was just mean. I'm sorry, Gus. No, it's okay. No, no, it's okay. It's your segment.

You have too good to say and do whatever you want. It's your segment. You own the segment. Let's continue into the index of Scoopipedia. Let's do Hoffa Navarro next. Officially done. Three and a half million to come into the Colorado Rapids. And I think you sort of said

it the moment you reported it the first time of like he's scoring goals the Rapids don't get this often just get it over the line yeah so Hoffman Navarro that deal is done I'm told that they're paying 3.5 million no add-ons on top of that if you remember from last year the original loan option was four and a half million so the Rapids knocked off $1 million off of that deal. So that's positive. They were really desperate to make this a Max Tam player. And they thought they had a chance to do that as of six or eight weeks ago. And it was like, yeah, Palmeiras, maybe they're open to it.

But it doesn't serve them to accept that deal immediately because that deal is going to be there today on June 27th, if it needs to be. And then Hafenavaru just scored a lot of goals. And it's a good problem to have, but he will be a DP for the Colorado Rapids. I think this is just a really good signing. And again, I go back. The Rapids know that they have an actual chance to be a super competitive team, if not an outer contender this year.

So Hafenavaruro they weren't going to mess around on this deal over a couple hundred thousand dollars or something silly like that this is i think a really good deal he's been really really good from since honestly since robin frazier was fired and they changed the system he fits this so much better than when he initially came here it took him a little while to score his first goal i think he's been really good this year he's been bullied by some, but he fits the system really well. He fits his team very well. And it's just a very obvious deal to get done and well done for all parties

kind of coming together to get it done. And they don't have a replacement. So if you mess around and all of a sudden the deal falls through, it's not like you have someone to fill that role while you figure out the next player. Like you'd have to emergency go out and find a player that's probably more expensive or you're, you're have a emergency go out and find a player that's probably more expensive or you're you have a huge gap in quality coming through so a big deal for them a big deal still

being talked about for tiago amada just like we did you know give us the previously on hit us with this episode and then finish us on a cliffhanger yeah previously on tiago amada watch there were rumors out there that said the deal was done and then uh with botafogo and eagle football holdings botafogo leone crystal palace and then the owner of eagle football holdings came out and took a selfie video that was on youtube that i found somebody found on youtube where he said i had we haven't even bid to atlanta so the deal can't be done but when i hang up the selfie video i am gonna bid so that's where the thing was on tuesday um again yesterday we wake up to the now the deal is done for real this time and then i i ask atlanta and they're like no it's not there yet uh this is all bizarre i don't know what to make of it because it feels a whole lot like this deal is gonna end up getting

done and i think even atlanta are like we have no idea where all these reports are coming from so this is uh it's a super weird one one of the weirdest that i've been around for like so many reporters that i trust that are saying that things are there and then sources that i trust in atlanta like we haven't talked to them yet or like you know we still need to negotiate right like so i don't know this one's all bizarre um but what i will say is there is a ton of momentum whether it's this deal which i assume is going to happen or another deal i think atlanta united uh know that that there needs to be a break with tiago amada this summer it's time for both parties for him to move on for the club to move on everything else and that's something that needs to happen

before the summer transfer window closes on august 14th we have uh one more left in here ismael cone it sounds like is on the move and uh shout out to canada yeah marseille are on the verge of a deal for ismael cone everything's more or less agreed and set from what i understand but that it'll kind of just go through after the copa america like i don't think that he's doing a medical right now but again maybe i'm just speaking out of turn uh they're just that this deal isn't going to be done until Canada are done. And then he'll move on from Watford. Yeah, there was a ton of interest in this player. What he's done over the last year and a half at Watford has only confirmed to the bigger clubs that were looking at him of what his potential was and what he could be because he continues to

develop. He was awesome for Canada against some of these top top uh international opponents and this is an extremely talented midfielder shout out to cf montreal uh this is one of the positive stories of covid because if covid didn't happen i believe israel coney would have just started his career somewhere in europe instead covid happened um he he came back he stayed in canada and montreal got him to sign a homegrown deal and uh happily ever after since then montreal you assume gets some money off this. We don't know the percentage. But obviously moving between another federation, there is at a minimum some money that comes back through that for Marseille.

I think for Canada fans, this is awesome. Like you're going to have a center mid that starts at Porto and Marseille going into the next World Cup at a minimum between him and Eustachio. I said it coming out of the France game, which I wouldn't be shocked that that didn't have any effect on Marseille's final bid, that he bossed the midfield against a full French national team in France two weeks ago before they got into the Euros, that he can play at all these teams. He scales his game so well. He's done it now four times, going from academy to pros,

pros to national team, going from Montreal to Watford, and now we'll see it with Marseille. He reads the game so quickly that he's able to figure out the things he can do and then slowly build and build and build. And I think he's going to be awesome there, and this is going to be really fun. I would advise not to take the medical straight after that game in Kansasansas city where it's 110 degrees and he looked miserable and got pulled off at halftime so maybe he should wait until this whole thing's over but it's going to be a really big moment for this canadian national team program to see him move we already did some of our weekend

preview as we rolled into this game but let's start with some of the fun ones. Houston hosting Charlotte. Houston five unbeaten. But only two of them wins. Charlotte four unbeaten. Three of those are victories. Things are pretty good in Charlotte right now. Life is pretty fun. And then randomly we just start hearing Carol Swiderski's name again.

Who I think Obi-Wan Kenobi style was not a name you expected to hear in charlotte circles for a little while had been on loan in europe um score has scored goals for the poland national team over the last month being a part of that group they are now eliminated from euros and the rumor is he's on his way back to charlotte at least right now yeah the loan with hellish verona is done they didn't trigger the purchase option and he's technically a charlotte fc player as of july 1st he won't be able to play for the team until the the transfer window opens on july 18th so he won't be here for that i mean he won't be playing for the next three weeks again he's with poland at the euros or i believe they've got knocked out whatever it is he's on international duty then he'll come here the thing with carol sudersky there's a

possibility he stays at charlotte yeah but i don't think either the player his camp or charlotte fc i don't think that's the most ideal outcome for anybody it's just about whether the other offers come in and whether it's the right options the thing with carol sudersky is he's not jude bellium he's not kilian abapa he's not the guy that sets the market he's not a rising young talent like ishmael kone where teams can buy a player like that maybe without having you know a veteran target secured or just like hey this is a a player who's going to keep developing with us and we want to get this done so players like carol swiderski they don't tend to their offers don't tend to really get hot until august comes around mid

august and closer to the deadline day so there's a possibility that this kind of just elongates and i'm not sure if if charlotte's gonna get to a spot where like if he's here on august 15th when the mls transfer window closes the day before then like he's staying this season i don't know if that's where they're at but for me like i'd be telling anybody who has an interest or telling his agent if hey if you want to get this deal done make sure anybody knows that like if this isn't done with at least a couple days for us to be able to bring in a new dp then like he's staying because this team is very good and he could be a very useful player for this team what i do know about charlotte is dp number nine is their top priority this summer. They do

still want to add a DP 10, but they can't add two DPs until Swierdowski leaves because they can't be left holding the bag, or they can't be left with absolutely zero leverage of you know, clubs in Europe don't even have to have an understanding of how MLS rules. It's just somebody needs to tell his agent that, oh, now they have four DPs.

They need to get rid of Swierdowski. And then you tell the other team that, and then it's like more like you're getting them for nothing and that's where it is with with charlotte and carol swiderski right now i think he'll make if he's still here in a few weeks if he's available for selection i think he'll play but i just don't know how long term this is going to be it's a weird one just because things are good and like you had dean smith come in in the preseason and be like our dps are not good enough and i don't really want them to be a part of our group and then swiderski is the first one out the door it feels odd to then bring that player back into your group in this

moment where like you've re-established the culture you have things going in the right direction i think without a doubt he's a better soccer player than enzo capetti so like if that's how this all ends which is he went on loan capetti finally we sold and we end up keeping swideriski i think you're fine i also have said for two years now he is not an elite dp and when we did the segment about san jose and we talked about like key and core guys and game changers i don't think christian espinoza is your 1a we are an elite mls team because he's on the field i don't think swiderski is either but i think he's one of he can be a dp on a competitive mls team if you have the other talent around him and you look at this group now and you say

if they bring in a nine he won't play as a pure 10 but like he will be the second forward that's a little bit of a chance creator where he played his best his best performances in a Charlotte jersey was when he was playing as a second forward right and if he's playing off a good player who's good enough and not Daniel Rios and that's not really a knock on Daniel Rios he probably gets his goals as well because yeah why would it be a knock on Daniel Rios. He probably gets his goals as well. Yeah, why would it be a knock on Daniel Rios? How could that be interpreted that way? Respectfully messy is what some people say. So I think that fits for him.

Or if you bring in an elite 10 and you put him in front of it and someone's creating chances for him, I think he's a really good finisher in MLS. He doesn't do anything great. He does a lot of things well. I think that's enough to be dangerous. I think that's enough to be dangerous. I think that's enough in this team. You've already hit the jackpot with Ajamang,

how good he is for as little as you're giving up for him. It feels like they've hit with Abada. It also changes the spacing on the field. Like, you watch Abada come in field on his left foot. Imagine Swierdowski's rolling off the center back into the channel on the right side and that's a one two into a pullback or that's him getting a shot at the near post quickly enough because he's able to get it off before a goalkeeper comes back across like there's a lot of options in

there culturally i find it very odd soccer wise it's not that confusing it'll be interesting where it ends up and this is kind of a fun game to sort of see, like, against a Houston team that has this established identity, how does Charlotte hang? How high is their line of confrontation? How aggressive can they be in a game like this? And I think over the next month, you're starting to look for answers of, like, who are the keys of this team as the window opens

that we don't want to get pushed out of spots because we want them to be a part of the group going forward yeah no that all makes sense to me and again like this is kind of why i would prioritize the dp10 first because i think that that can make the players around them better more than than an awesome dp9 like hell even talking about abada and kerwin vargas a dp10 can get them in more advantageous spaces and in better 1v1 situations than you know a dp9 like that's awesome to score goals and super important that can still work out very well as well but i think a dp10 is more of a force multiplier and then you would still have this

rarski thing we could still play up top but um i can also see it working with rarski is that second forward so it's a really exciting time for charlotte fc this is one of my teams to watch this summer in super excited with what their foundation is and what their flexibility is and what their finances are that the trio of those three things make this team again one of my favorite teams to watch in the summer it is part of the scoops loops for the summer going forward the starlet team uh we talked revs columbus we didn't talk about colorado's game this weekend even though we talked about hafa navarro they faced off against lafc i think this is a really fun game to sort of be a test of like what are the colorado rapids right

you're going up against the reigning western conference champs you're going up a team against the team in lafc that have gotten possession, but they are lethal in transition, and they're lethal being direct. And the question becomes, when you're a pressing team, it's like, are you good enough at your thing that they can't play over us? And if they do, we're still going to win 3-2, because we're going to create more chances with our pressure than you're going to get by playing over the top of our high line and hitting buonga and all those pieces so to me tom this is the best game of the weekend and i think this is the one that i'm watching and saying okay what does the rest of the season look like

from a result like this yeah i mean that that's you said it all that's where it goes down to um this again it's a super exciting time and i don't know man like this just this window of these teams have four or five games before the transfer window opens it's such such an important time where i got i know we're not talking about them but like i've said it a couple times a team like orlando where it's like if you pick up four wins out of five that drastically changes what you're doing in the future or if you pick up one win out of five what are you going to do on july 18th so i think that there's a lot of teams in that boat. And just, again, with this weekend and moving forward,

it's a weird time of the season where things can really go either way for a lot of teams. Let's close out with the Cali Classico. It's always fun. It's a unique one. San Jose hosting the Galaxy. We don't know if Ricky's going to play. And the biggest thing is it's Ian Russell's first game as interim manager.

And can he have an effect similar to what Peter Lucina's had in Dallas? And can he sort of take the reins off? And is there anything to see from this San Jose team? If you're ever going to do it, like, this is the game. No. I don't know, man. They could play better, right? Like, again, the underlying numbers,

maybe one of the goalkeepers decides to be good this week. I would doubt it just based on a previous experience of this season and previous experience of a couple of careers. But like, I don't know, man, they're the worst, the worst team in the league conceded more goals than anybody else. All this stuff. I don't, I don't have much. I don't have much here. I think that the galaxy

coming in for cali classico this is tough lafc are probably hoping that they're playing 3d chess of we're gonna dominate san jose yeah put six pass and make it so bad that they have to fire their coach right before they play the galaxy so that lafc get the three points and then maybe san jose gets the new coach bump against the galaxy to knock them down if we're like just looking at the chessboard that way so that would be a funny narrative that i think lfc fans would be would be trying to spin after but yeah man i don't don't have a ton more to say in san jose if i'm san jose don't shut up shop your whole goal is to lose by less than four so like just go out there and try and put four or five up who cares what the galaxy do and if it ends up being six four six five it was a better day for

you and you've improved on things as you go along so that's your weekend coming up i'll have your weekend recap coming out of this uh live usmnt thoughts coming up tonight that will be directly after the u.s panama game and of course we'll continue to do that going forward with the u.s uruguay game coming up as well and hopefully more knock knockout games for the U S and Canada going forward. And of course we'll be back with that Monday recap. We'll be back live on Tuesday next week for your MLS show. We'll take a little break for the July 4th week so that everyone can breathe and have their time and whatever.

And then we'll be back on the roll once again, here at soccer wise. It's been a lot of fun. If you don't already subscribe to the Patreon, do so. The Discord's been on fire over the last few days. Just everyone watching games and dropping news. It's always fun when Tom's tweets get dropped into the Discord. It's like watching Jay-Z drink his own vodka.

It's like, whoa, breaking news. Tom, what do you think about this? And it's Tom's tweet, but it's been a lot of fun. So if you don't, I think we're doing the best coverage of MLS and NWSL out there, and we're only going to start growing from here. Yes. So get in, get involved now, and also help us with your feedback. Like, we've got surveys in there.

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So that show is coming up. It's been a lot of fun. Once again, thank you all for listening here and soccer wise, continuing to do the thing. We appreciate you all. We'll talk to you again soon. you