SoccerWise - Montreal Fire Courtois, USMMT & CANMNT Fallout + Buy/Sell Early MLS Trends

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

It has been a busy start to the week in North American soccer. Tom & David get together to discuss the USMNT disappointment again, Jesse Marsh inspiring CANMNT & Mexico returning to the top of CONCACAF. Then they dig into the future of CF Montreal after firing their 10th coach in their 14th season in MLS. Finally they dig into some interesting early stories across the league to see if they're buying or selling.7:00 USMNT Fallout24:50 Canada’s Bounce Back33:00 Mexico A Top CONCACAF36:00 CF Montreal Fire Laurent Courtois52:00 Seattle In Talks With Winger Ryan Kent54:30 Buy/Sell Segment54:40 Philly Union Top 4 In The East1:02:50 SKC vs Revs For Spoon Race1:09:00 Nashville Top 6 In The East & Andy Najar Love1:14:18 CJ Dos Santos & San Diego vs Zach Steffen & Colorado Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to SakaWise. David Goss and Tommy Scoobs with you for another big episode and it is an episode full of adults. Tom, it was your birthday this weekend. You are now officially an adult. You are on the back half of your life How did it feel to have been alive? And how does it feel now to no longer be? I should be concerned that you More more people have said yeah, you're halfway over now that you hit 30

I guess you just the people who know my general habits and how I live just not just in this job But my nutrition sometimes and the swings that I not just in this job, but my nutrition sometimes and the swings that I can take. So I got to tell you, you're not the first person to say, hey, you're more than halfway through your life. So I should probably make some changes. I was with a family member though recently who's in their 80s who was like, your 40s and your 50s are actually where you thrive because you like know who you are,

you're a bit more established in your own mind, and then you can kind of do your thing was not the what I expected to hear. And I don't know if he was saying that to me and I look like I'm 65. So he just thought we were like commiserating about that. Or if he was trying to get me pumped up for the future. Unsure in all of that. So I just wanted to pass along that energy to you and give you that same vibes. We were sad to not all celebrate together, but I got the Soccerwise partners together. It was hurting cats. It was unbelievable to try and get everyone to put a video in. And then at the end, Morgan just goes, I need yours.

And I was like oh me I forgot about that so then had to pop that one in right there at the end but we were so glad to celebrate with you um and we will do something in person at some point as well any highlights from the uh birthday experiences that that video was honestly very touching I don't even want to get too overly serious I like do it I don't I'm not like a big birthday guy. I feel like I wouldn't even have talked too much about it I was like I'm turning 30. I should probably tell be telling people and letting people know and I was My wife tried to throw a surprise party because she's very thoughtful and she's the best except what happened was

the like one side of my family had a wedding and the first three of my friends all like who answered said that they couldn't go and Like my poor wife was like oh my god like there's it's gonna be like me you My parents your parents like a couple aunts and uncles like do you wanna should we still do this? So I found out about the surprise, but as I was waiting to then go to the air quote surprise Thankfully nobody did the charade of surprise. The word got around enough that I knew. That's where I was sitting waiting and that's when the video popped up.

I was like, oh, this is really sweet. But yeah, just being around some friends and family and laughing and staring down the barrel of you're no longer in your 20s. And I will say, I feel like I'm ready because Saturday was my birthday. So I had breakfast or whatever with my wife, and then the afternoon was going to be the surprise party, not surprise party. And so I had some time there in between. And I think about being a modern adult of reflecting and considering, like,

you know, should I take some time here to to think and consider and like start planning some stuff out There's a lot of big life events going on around me And I had that thought and I said, you know what? I'm gonna do instead a fantasy baseball draft prep work for two and a half Hours, so I didn't have to think about any of that and now I'm so locked in on the Mets and the Yankees Middle relievers and backup catchers. Like you wouldn't believe. And I thought that was a more valuable use of my time. I would agree.

I think as someone, you're senior and you're elder, I think you're going about things the right way. I think you're handling things the right way. And you are putting yourself on a path to not have to worry about the end of your life because you're gonna stress yourself out so much here that you going to drop dead. The comments are great by the way. Bangalof in the comment section says you don't look a day over 45. He's used that joke four times on Twitter. Nice. And Aqua NHL says Tom scooped his own surprise birthday party,

which is a pretty good line as well. He's always working. You can't get anything over on him. You can't get anything by him. Boom. Scoop City, Scoop City. You had another one today as CF Montreal have let Laurent Courtois go. The first manager let go of the season, only five games into the season for a CF Montreal squad. That reminder, they don't have an indoor facility right now. It is cold in Montreal, so they start the season on a seven game road trip so he does not get to manage a single home game this year. We will talk all about that. We've got some other things going on across Major League Soccer that we want to touch on. We're going to do a little buy sell segment at the end. We've got some high level things that you came up with and then deep cut things that I came up with that you complained about and then I put back into the show rundown for us to get to.

And of course, we are going to talk about the national teams in CONCACAF, USMNT, Canadian Men's National Team, Mexico, maybe a little Panama as well. I am curious how much money Montreal has that they could maybe funnel towards Panama and see if Thomas Christensen wants a new challenge after the two finals that he's been up in in CONCACAF. He would make sense for any MLS team to look at. I'm gonna throw that out there and continue to push that until it happens or more likely doesn't happen.

In the end, Tom, I did our weekend recap show, which I do every single Sunday or Monday that come out, gives you all the headlines of maybe what you missed or what happened over the weekend yesterday and I started of course with the national teams and on the US side I said just go listen to last Friday show we did a long 25 minute segment about what we're want to see from the national team what's missing from the national team a lot of what everyone else is now talking about. Desire, purpose, direction, all those types of things. And then we all sat down on Sunday, tuned in for another 90 minutes and it was exactly the same and I felt like there was nothing else I could add

to what we had already discussed. Do you have anything else in your soul? No, like you said, and I would push back on the we all point because not a lot of people sat down in the stadium, just like not a lot of people sat down in the stadium, though. I will point to CONCACAF as the issue there. Why in the year of our Lord 2025 we're doing these double header in these type of games and one of which starting at 4 p.m. local time. Even Justin will say that. Well, when you have Will Smith inserted right in the middle, it's not really a double header.

It's actually more of a preview post game show to have Will Smith inserted right in the middle, it's not really a double header. It's actually more of a preview post-game show to the Will Smith performance. And a Valer gift shop extravaganza, the bird, the cockacaft seabird, that's the new mascot because- Caw-caw, caw-caw, Valer, Valer. Making the comic book was high on their priority list rather than, you know, I don't know, selling tickets. That's, but I'm not a business guy. I don't have an NBA. What do I know? They they know more. So those are the again, not even to even let us soccer off the hook here

because they've shown in the past that they've been content with stadiums not being filled where you could maybe drop the prices and have people there. I don't even in unnecessary stray I guess just US soccer. Like I think it's just my apathy about talking about this right now because we're having the same discussions, not only just from Sunday to Thursday, but from the last year and the year before that, pretty much everything since the 2022 World Cup. And I want to go back to talking about this team then. And I think we can reframe this conversation based on what was happening, what has happened since.

And you could argue that things should have been better, could have been better, whatever it is. I was very confused at the furor around the United States, air quote, being a disappointment at the 22 World Cup. They got to the round of 16, they lost to a better team. If circumstances were different, they could have beat the Netherlands in a one-off. They were not favored. I did not think that was a disappointment. I don't think they excelled. They weren't a crazy fun team. They didn't exceed expectations, but they didn't fall below expectations.

And I think we're seeing that now. And more like now that the the common take outside of the you need to try harder Care more all that stuff is hey just because you play it at bigger named clubs doesn't necessarily mean everything is great What I would say is particularly that 22 World Cup team. We're a young team. They had a lot of potential You don't win games right now in potential. You want to see the path continue to grow, it hasn't. And that's disappointing. But I feel like I'm just going to have to say the same things that I did in December and January around that World Cup after Greg Berhalter was rehired, after Greg Berhalter was fired, after Mauricio Pochettino was hired, and now after this.

It's just the same stuff over and over and over again. Yeah, I think that's where the levels of frustration come from. And Mariso Pochettino, I think is I wouldn't say struggling, but he's dealing now with a lot of pent up energy that he's trying to manage. And I think he should understand on its own the frustration from back-to-back losses. If you want to call a neutral site, you can. It's a home game. So back-to-back losses in home games to teams from your region that are beatable teams. Again, we've said five million times that doesn't mean disrespect, but Canada and Panama are beatable for the US because they have beaten them. And so he's now that should be the standard. Yeah. And he's now dealing with some of that blowback.

So he should be dealing with some of that. Then you have the added on frustration, I think, coming out of the 2022 World Cup. I'm in agreement with you about the 2022 World Cup. I thought it was a fine performance. Yeah. If they hold on for a win against Wales, it shifts the perception maybe a little. It doesn't really change the results. Like they're still probably playing the Netherlands in the next round. They're still probably going to lose that game to the Netherlands in the next round. It just would have felt slightly, slightly different. I saw some quotes out there. I think one was from your former coach Dave Ramos who was like, the US has wasted seven years leading into this World Cup. I think that's false. I think it's choosing to not remember reality of what it looked like in 2018 and all the work that's

gone into building up to this point and helping players in their development and creating pipelines for players to come through. So I think that's unfair. I think it's fair to question the year year and a half after the World Cup, how it was spent and having interim coaches and all of that, that doesn't help you take a squad to the next level. And I think with the national team, there's like always multiple conversations which people don't want to have. One is a lot of the work is done 11 years in advance, building a lot of this stuff to affect the national team is really hard from that first first team level and everyone wants to talk about coaches and like it's amazing what Bielsa did in Chile. Bielsa could only do what he did in Chile because of the work that had

been done the 15 years previously to build up the player development pool and help push players and help clubs build themselves up so that they could sell players. And then the talent is there. So sometimes the talents are ready there and a coach can come in and play them a little bit differently. And that's enough. That's very rare, I think, at the national team level, because you have what? Twelve squads that are good enough to be in that conversation. And then you have other ones where it's like, yeah, you're taking them from a C plus to a B and that's the challenge. The question is like, how do you win the World Cup and how do you build all of that? I think a lot of that work is fine. The complaint right now is like what happens now once those players are 23 to 26 in the national team

to push them forward. And I think that's the frustration for a lot of people. It's why I was one of those people that felt this was the right time to bring in a Jesse Marsh, who I thought would give them a clear way of how to take on games and win games. And I think you see from the red card this weekend and what happened, he has one, an ability to inspire, but two, how does the US take games on the front foot? And like, how is it that you go into games and US players can step on the field and say, if I do these things, we're going to win. We're going to go out there and take the game from our opponent, where what we feel like we've seen for the last year and a half, two years is like, oh, we're talented. So we'll go out, we'll play decent soccer, and at some point we'll win. And the hope was as Mauricio

Pochettino came in, that shifted, that clearly has not happened. And so you hear comments from all the players, Pulisic sort of talking about not getting the ball in the right areas, not creating enough chances, not taking enough risks. I think the risk is a really big part of this, the fear of taking risks for the players on the field. And that comes back into like, well, what's the style, right? Part of high pressing is you take risks

because you wanna lose the ball because you can counter press. And like, we're gonna win if we do those things. And it doesn't feel like there's an overarching picture here for a lot of these players to do this. And then you get into the conversation about, well, where's the effort, energy and all that type of stuff.

Some of that gets lost on me. And some of that I find a little bit boring, especially when it comes from specific former players where you're like, okay, right. So do we go back through all the bad games you played? And do we relitigate how much you cared at that time and why you didn't play well and why you didn't try? But it's unavoidable, I think,

with a lot of the performances we've seen over the, especially the last week, but over the last year and a half, two years, since the World's Cup. And it's a worrying thing. You have this once in a lifetime potential next year and everything was supposed to be built towards that. And the Copa America didn't go the way you wanted it to.

And then you're back into this situation again right now where 2026 doesn't go the way you want to. And like tournament soccer sucks. Sometimes the ball bounces the wrong way. Sometimes Torrinson Fringes knocks it off the line with his hand. You don't go as far as you think you can, but like this is that opportunity to reset the perception

of all of this in the U.S. And that's what you're trying to build to. And you're trying to do everything you can to ensure some of that happens. It doesn't feel like this squad's there right now. No, and so I go back and forth on the like desire and the passion and that stuff because you're right. Look, man, it's just disrespectful to these guys

at this stage of as if they don't care. There is room, there's margins to this. We mirror the conversations we talk about. Let's say the Philadelphia Union and MLS. It's like if you're a high pressing team like that, if you lose that 5%, that's everything. So they are those margins and I do get it. What I will say is, talk about Jesse Marsh too, and this is poetic that he's the Canadian

manager and there's this rivalry that he's a main character of because of the history. The United States players, the locker room did not want Jesse Marsh to be the manager. That's part of what happened. That's part of why Greg Baralter was back. I know that for a fact, several sources. I believe this has been reported, but like I'm saying that yes, like that's all part of it. They don't, I don't know if that had to do more with play style or with personality or whatever it was, but they didn't want this style. They didn't want that manager. Here we are. That's why Jesse's like some of the quotes have been like, no, I'm never managing that national team. It's partly that and it's partly how he feels he was treated by the top of the organization when I'll just lay out the timeline. He was in very serious

talks with Leicester City. Then that didn't happen because it looked like the United's like, I need to wait for the United States job Yeah, and it looks like he was gonna get it and then all of a sudden he did And so that's where all the animosity comes from on a personal level Which that's the most human thing in the world like I'd be furious to if I was Jesse Martin I'd be taking in a third place game I would be so juiced like at any time if this was a you know a Mini camp friendly like a 5v5 for I don't care

I'd have all that on my sleeve and that's what you use in a locker room and all that. He's a perfect fit for Canada. It's just that like, I guess that's what it comes down to too is that I think that this group should be better with the ball. They should be better at breaking down teams, but they just haven't shown it at all. And I guess what's frustrating is you come out of the Panama game and you say And I understand that game states are gonna be different in the Canada game and like this is talking micro not macro And that's what's really hard about this with national teams Like you kind of go back and forth between the two does anyone care does does it mean anything to anyone who's singing the anthem verse?

Like is the left back underlapping or overlapping you're kind of having both these conversations, but in the Panama game It's like alright. We're not creating chances through possession. Where's the moment where it's like, you're kind of having both these conversations. But in the Panama game, it's like, all right, we're not creating chances through possession. Where's the moment where it's like, you know what? We're just gonna have guys, we're gonna have three guys make runs into the right channel. And we're gonna have, whether it's Christian Pulisic drop back or Jack McGlynn get the start

or even Wes and McKinney, like turn and just hit blind balls into that spot. And then we're gonna recreate the area that the game is played. And then we're gonna harry them from there. And there's just, it feels like half things you could do to start to change the pace of a game. And the US has been capable of doing this pretty much since the 2018 World Cup or 2020 when all these players came in. Think back to Honduras in the First Nations League semi-final. Think back to some of the gold cups that we've watched. Think back to some of the World Cup qualifying in this region at home where the game states are like that

and this team struggles and then I think they're actually a little bit better at times when they play against the ball and when they play against some other types of opponents. And I don't know what the World Cup's gonna hold because we've never seen a 48 team draw and we don't know who this national team is going to be lined up against. You assume at some point you'll have to do a little bit of both, but it's frustrating to not see that that next piece come in or at least try something new. And so it's like if you keep trying the same thing, what's really going to change and whether you could or should be good with the ball, it doesn't really matter. And so like try something new, make the game states a little bit different

and see what happens in that scenario. And I know all of this is like, your hope would be there's a long-term plan and that they don't want to readjust things for one day that they have overall. And I think I have the Mauricio Pochettino quotes on here for us, which is, it's better to lose now because I think we have time,

Pochettino said after the match, because if we will be in this situation one year at time, for sure I will tell you Houston, we have a problem SOS. We're all disappointed and the fans need to feel the disappointment that we didn't win, but I'm not gonna allow us to feel pessimistic because I think we have good players. We're gonna find a way to perform

and for sure we're going to compete in a different way. There's not really much else he can say. Right, he's not gonna come out and be like, oh, we're going to we're going to compete in a different way. There's not really much else he can say. He's not going to come out and be like, oh, we're screwed now. Well, well, he could have done the you know, well, actually, if you look at the numbers, we actually perform. I think that was my that was my biggest pet peeve about the Burlitt. Anytime there's a disappointment, it was like, you know, well, actually, we completed more passes in the middle third.

So, you know, we probably deserve to win. At least he came out and owned it. And like, I disagree with that. It's better to lose now because we have time. Whatever. Right. Like, like you said, what else is he gonna say? But at least he wasn't like, you know, we got unlucky or you know, like as long as the performance is there We're gonna keep going like at least he owned like yeah, you're right. This wasn't good enough, but it's not an issue now It'll be an issue in a year

Like you kind of have to do that for yourself to like preservation and keeping the locker room moving And you should have I will give you should have a long-term plan that while this isn't exactly on the track, there should be a larger picture in which you go in and out. The conversation, and we're getting a little bit in the chat, and I think Doyle may have pushed a lot of this, is that these players aren't stars on their club teams and they don't really carry the game and so therefore it's hard to do it here. I think a lot of that's fair. I've said for the last four years, and my big thing at the 2022 World Cup was the age of just like it was very rare

For players of that age to carry a national team. I think I'm past a lot of that in that Even past national teams there were a ton of guys who were not the stars Like there are a lot of there The US has always been a team of that brings players together Like there are a lot of there the US has always been a team of that brings players together Who are not stars on their club team land and Donovan and outlier because he played with the LA Galaxy and so like he kind of chose to go find a place to be the star at his level But outside of that that was kind of the case Forever and so I think that one's a little bit harder for me

Also, that's the case with a lot of national teams, right? David Alba plays like the 10 when he's on Austria if he's healthy So it's like that Fonzo Davies with Canada like that's the case with a lot of national teams, right David Oliver plays like the 10 when he's on Austria if he's healthy So it's like that Fonza Davies with Canada like that's another one Yeah, although Fonzie did struggle until they put him back at left back at times, but yeah hundred percent So I think that's the case with a lot of national teams and like it could be an excuse or it could be a reason For this group. I don't think it's an excuse It will be interesting though what some guys choose to do over the next 12 months coming out of this camp kicker put out a report in Germany that

The feeling is that Bruce you Dortmund feels like geo ran his time with the club has come to an end But he has not reached the peak and isn't capable of reaching the peak they expected for him And so he's gonna be looking for a next job that comes off the back of Mariso Pochettino saying After the semi-final Nations League that he's not fit enough to play from the start. He got a couple minutes off the bench in this semi-final, but or in the or in the third place game. But that is that he is one of the pieces that you're saying can he be a leader for this team or can he be sort of a central point? Especially in the attack his next move could be to a situation where you're saying, are you dropping down and becoming a central part of a team and making sure you get more minutes?

He would be one of the many examples you could see of players moving into new situations where they could become that leader for their squad. I agree with that completely. But again, like I'm just, losing juice like on that because like, man, like, this is 2022 all over again. And then what let me guess we're going to talk about who's the number nine, who's the goal scorer, who's the center back pairing. We just have the same questions. And like, I think that's my most disappointing part is I was hoping to see more tangible improvements. Like again, if you played the like show to replay of that

Panama game on Thursday, and then you said, you know, you change some things in the stadium, you said this is the sofa that just opened, somebody holding, you know, an older model than iPhone, you put a picture of Greg Barlator on the sideline, you could convince everybody that was 2022 or 2021. It all felt the same. And I guess this is my last point that like I'm rambling too much here going too many different directions. To your point about like the playstyle and stuff. Like I always have thought that this group of players in

particular would be best at playing against the ball as you said Gossel. Whether it's transitional high pressing depending on the game state depending on the field tilt. That's where I think a lot of these players are at their best. And the the Burlter staff chose to, you know, we want to value the ball one, that's going to help us defensively and two, when we play in concrete, everybody's going to bunker against us. And I understand the thinking, but I've disagreed from the beginning of that's not what we're measuring on.

Right. Like, and then the other kick in the nuts here is that well you know four years later we're still we still can't break down a deep. Yeah. Let me. What's the matter. We focus on this the entire time instead of you know perfecting or refining transition and playing against better opponents and we're still not like like under Barralta at least that they were winning Nations League. Yeah, at least that they were competitive in a goal cup with a B team right like so unfortunate. So I would have disagreed with you three years ago and would have or four years ago would have agreed with you three years ago. Hold on let me

write this down just to make sure. And then you can jump in a time machine and we can go have that conversation and I will both times be like AI AI, what are you talking about? Burrhalter's job was to make it back to the World Cup and establish a base. I don't know that that was going to happen playing high pressure. The other thing was, I don't know if they were going to be able to build the system because high pressing takes a ton of mistakes and trial by error on the fly because you have to be cohesive. I don't know that they were going to do that through World Cup qualifying because it wasn't really

probably gonna work in El Salvador and Honduras and Panama and all of that. That's why this cycle made sense. You don't have to qualify for the World Cup. Like you if you had chosen someone like a Jesse Marsh or if you're chosen Jesse Marsh you had three plus years to do it with no stakes against you and you would have had enough time to build it in and you would have had that style that you could build on what had already been established, right? We have a defensive base.

We have confidence. We know what our spine looks like. We believe in some of these pieces clearly, right? Like a Matt Turner, even though he's not getting starts at his club team, like he is an established piece now in this group. Tim Riem is as well, whether he'd be in there or not. Tyler Adams, all those things.

Like you've built a culture, you've built that that now how do you build on top of that and that's where I agree with you now which is there has not been anything built on top of it let's move to Canada now and get out of this whatever loop cycle thing that this is for the first time in 40 years the Canadian men's national team has won back-to-back games against the United States I said it on Friday like it wasn't the championship they wanted, but to play the US and get to beat the US was probably a pretty... Wasn't a championship. Well, it could have.

I'm saying it would have been if they'd gotten into the first place game. Not a bad way to end up. There's a lot to talk about for this Canada team. I talked a little bit yesterday on the recap show about their depth. They showed the ability to change the starting lineup to have a few different pieces help them. Fonzo Davies goes down early, unfortunate for injury. They're still able to get the result.

But I do think this piece about Jesse Marce getting the red card matters because I saw some people online while it happened being like, whoa, when Jesse sees the replay of this Jonathan David slip, he's gonna feel like an idiot. And it's like, no. Jesse Marce was Gene Hackman and Hoosiers in that, right? He's throwing the notebook. Like he felt that his team needed him to step up for them and have this moment. And then they responded. And like, that's all that the manager's job

is about. And he was in the elevator getting in the elevator apparently when Jonathan David scored the goal so he says he heard the cheer as the elevator doors closed and said I hope that one's for us like that's how immediate the response was from his team and then I have this quote from Alistair Johnston to fit in here which I think is amazing which is it's not in our DNA to roll around on the ground and play that way I think you've seen that througha America. I think you've seen that through this tournament as well. We're just too honest of people. I think that he felt we were almost getting hard done by. People were taking our niceness and using it as a negative and taking advantage.

So I think he wanted to take a little bit of a sign and stand that this isn't right. It's not fair that just because we aren't gonna roll around and con people, we shouldn't get the calls that we deserve. Now, Alistair Johnson is taking some liberties in his conversation about this. We're so nice. Yes. Is hilarious. But it is in recognition from Jesse Marce, and Jesse said it after as well, where he said the players felt that he didn't fight hard enough for the penalty in the Thursday

game and that there was not enough of a point made. And he said, I probably should have pushed harder on the previous foul that could have been a penalty against Tyler Adams. I didn't. Then I did it there. But I think it is a great recognition of what Jesse Marsh can bring to the team to help balance the team. I agree.

And also, like, again, like I even missed the point of what you're saying, because that's too easy to be like, oh, this team's in World Cup they're all they would do is end in a fight every game and like yeah Richie's but she's out here just drawing penalties Yeah, and rich richie vote like again, but that that misses the point it doesn't necessarily Matter if it's true what matters is every dude in that locker room believes it with their entire heart and soul elbows and guess what then? What don't want it like and and I think that that's such Like the cohesiveness from again, that's a coach who understands his group That's like if Canada tried to possess the ball in a back three and play methodical

You know tight combinations all the stuff. They wouldn't be any good You know tight combinations all this stuff. They wouldn't be any good This team thrives the way they're playing. That's a manager who understands his group That's a manager who you know, it's not as if Jesse would have played You know 70% possession even if he thought this team like it wouldn't have been a good fit It's a manager that was a great fit for the team And then the emotional side of this is again like that would like we can pick apart so many different parts of that quote from Alistair Johnson But it doesn't matter if they all believe it and they're all moving in the right direction in the same direction sorry.

It's I think at this point if you take this tournament and you put these four teams on just like a spreadsheet and some people are games that played on a spreadsheet and some people will argue about Panama and all of this there's not a ton of difference between these teams so it is the half measures and measure heart and the margins and you can't measure heart and Canada didn't probably feel like they had it against Mexico They got taken out of the game I think after the penalty issue and that's the other side of things right is

Rather than react to that penalty in the Mexico game and push harder, they kind of got lost in the referee stuff. So Jesse took that on. It was no longer the player's responsibility in this game to yell at the ref. Jesse did that and like established that pretty quickly by running on the field, screaming at the referee and getting kicked out of the game. So now the players can continue to focus on what they do best. And then like Jonathan David stepped up and carried his manager. So maybe Jesse gets kicked out of this game. They lose, the subs don't go right and it's on him. But you have these players stepping up and taking responsibility in this moment. They lost Alfonso Davies early. I thought Alistair Johnson swapped to the left side and was unbelievable in this game. This is one of the best

games he's played for Canada. He is not naturally left-footed. He has not played out there a ton. He took Davies space and was whipping in crosses and staying high while still being defensively sound Which is what he is a lead at and it was another sign of the depth of this team My one constructive criticism. I know that SoFi Stadium has about 75 floors because it's it's a spaceship I think Jesse March you got to take the stairs on that one and be like no They offer me the elevator and I wanted to roll up my sleeves raise my right elbow grease. Yeah No, like again like jokes aside like I'm not even I'm not trying to be dismissive He'd like I love this Canadian team. Yeah, I think that again

It's a manager and group that fits each other so well the personalities everything else So I don't I don't mean to steal your whole flow here. No, no no I've been there for 10 years I'm glad you're doing that I'm saying like you should be kicking me like I just enjoy it like any team that has an identity and knows who they are and more importantly knows who they aren't um I just I think that's really rare it's really difficult because we all want to be all these versions and have all these different sides like again whether whether or not the next generation of Canadian players is quite like this or not, who knows over the long term. Jesse Marsh doesn't care.

These players don't care. Guess what? They're going to go play in a World Cup and who cares what happens in the 2034 World Cup or whatever the timeline would be. In fairness to Jesse, he is actually working on some of that stuff. He's doing coaching clinics, all that type of stuff. So there is at least 10% of caring in that. It actually working on some of that stuff. He's doing coaching clinics all that type of stuff So there is at least 10% of caring in that it's not the focus of his job It's not the focus of his role and you're absolutely right. The other thing with this team is Ismael Kone and like

Alfonso Davies all these guys are young so they'll probably be at the 2034 World Cup Like they don't even have to pick something from much Yeah They don't even have to stress about that and then you keep finding players and finding players It's like a really interesting concept to talk about right now in light of some of the complaints about the US men's national team And like now that the pathway is so clean through the pro ranks for them from young ages People feel like there's lost that little bit of grit where like Mois Bombito was working at Stad Saputo grit where like Mois Bombito was working at Stad Saputo because he wasn't in the academy, went and played Juco College, then played, I don't know, Neac or Meac or MEC or MEC soccer,

then he gets in the pro ranks. Ali Ahmed got cut from Toronto FC, ends up playing for Vancouver, works his way through the system. There are a decent chunk of examples of this and I think you see it when it comes together for the team and I think that's what a lot of people respond to when they watch this team and enjoy this team like yourself where it's like it feels like a central jersey squad and not princed in central jersey like the other parts of central jersey on top of that. Mexico lifts the trophy at the end of this.

Good for them. Honestly good for them. Okay. You want to elaborate? But like, what I'm saying, I thought that it was going to be U.S. Canada final. I, this Mexico team is as down bed as they've been my entire life. And I did not have really any expectations.

I respect the hell out of Raul Jimenez and Santi Jimenez and like a handful of the players, but we've seen this so much again even dating back to 22 World Cup qualified whatever right like they've just not been that good So I I'd like I didn't think that we're gonna do buying or selling a blip or trend or whatever You know you want to put on it. I was like alright This is who they are now until they prove differently and then again. Yeah, got a couple penalties. Yeah, Raul Jimenez had a heater over two games Yeah, weird things happen over two games sample size

But I think credit where credit is due because of how much I I think we think everybody has rightly criticized this Mexican national team they went out and won and that was a really big point for them to a point a really big trophy for them to I Guess change the tide here Like this would have been a great feeling for the United States, would have been a good feeling for Canada, Panama, right? Like all of this. So well done to Mexico. That like blip you're talking about, that four-year span for Mexico, it is not a coincidence

that it goes in line with Raul Jimenez's head injury, right? And like him being this piece of quality on top of what they were that could elevate them. And I said it I think on yesterday's show or whatever. It's on Mexico that they were not able to find other ways to play without him and they were never able to progress the team without him and they kind of just kept going back to him maybe before he was ready. And Santi Jimenez, his emergence now, fantastic. Now he's the son of one of the greatest players in Liga MX history. It's not like this kind of came out of nowhere. Like he's been developed to reach this point and has sort of found his own pathway by going to Europe that isn't

maybe available to as many Mexican players because they're not having the foresight on their careers. And that's part of the issue. But one of the things for us, all the negatives of what Liga MX leads to for the Mexican national team, which is things for us, all the negatives of what League MX leads to for the Mexican national team, which is keeping players and not allowing or not having them go push themselves outside of the league because you're paying so much money, all of that, it means the floor is pretty high

because you have players that play on really good teams with really good players all the time who are gonna be a part of your national team. And that's been the case the last five years. It's like the floor is pretty high. Now you get Raul Jimenez in form, you get Santi Jimenez sort reaching his peak. It's enough to get them over the top. I don't know if it will be in a World Cup. I don't know if we're there yet, but concast up for play. We've got a gold

cup coming up this summer. It's going to be weird club World Cup is in the middle of it. So players who are part of club World Cup will not be available to the national teams. That affects the U.S. It affects Canada. It affects Mexico a ton because of the Liga Mex teams in it, the ones which we will learn of because Club León got pulled out of the tournament because they are co-owned by the same owner as Pichuca as they go into the competition. So we're going to learn a ton I think as well in the gold cup. We will have your coverage here of that, all of that at Soccer Wise. It'll be fun to watch.

And if any of these teams are looking for an additional coach to add to their group, they could go and hire Laurent Courtois if they want to, because on Monday morning, CF Montreal, five games into the 2025 MLS season on zero points, they have not scored a goal in four games since the opener, a 3-2 loss at Atlanta. They let their manager go. He is the 10th manager since 2012 when Montreal

started of course with Jesse Marsh as the first ever head coach the expansion year who then quit basically immediately after. And if you look at the last 10 years, you start to see a trend, which is coaches that do well leave earlier than they have to because they choose to because they find it hard to work there. And then other coaches get hired and get let go pretty quickly and Laurent Courtois, the next one on this. Let me read a couple of these quotes from the CEO, Gabrielle Gervais, and then we can talk about it. He said, it's been four weeks that we've been evaluating this. It's not just the results, but the performances.

We're seeing a lack of cohesion and frustrated players. We felt this was the right time to do it in order to relaunch our season. It's not easy to be coached. There's a lot of turnover at that position, but we feel that it's the right decision. Gervais said the discussion to potentially replace Quartois started after their second game.

A one-zero loss to Minnesota United where the club managed zero shots on target despite having 65% of the ball. In addition to the unsatisfactory on field product, Gervais alluded to an off-field issue that contributed to Quartois' early dismissal but declined to elaborate. Marco Donadel, who long-time Serie A player and long-time Montreal Impact player, I'm opportunity to say impact, so I'm just gonna do it. Played for the team over 60 appearances across three years in the Nacho Piatta years when there were some good times for this Montreal team. He was brought back as an assistant this year.

He has been elevated to interim for now. What have you made of this over the last 24 hours since the news came out? Just Montreal being Montreal. Like, well, like, I didn't know that Laurent Couture was going to be in the sack race here. But we should have any Montreal, Marco Donadale should be on SackWatch for who's the next manager in MLS that's going to get dismissed. Because Montreal should never ever be out of it. This is a team that, so I think both things are true

This season has obviously been disappointing for Laurent Couture and this team But they start on this seven game road trip that happens every season He did well last year. I think he over performed last year Losing in the wild card round again I know that that doesn't sound like super high expectations and you don't want to lower the bar Again, I know that that doesn't sound like super high expectations and you don't want to lower the bar This team has not spent a single dollar in transfer fees on a designated player in at least a decade for again, they have Victor one Yama

Kiki Shruna and George Bajajovic for one year were three of Reese their recent DPS. They acquired Veroni this offseason in in age of Major League Soccer where Veroni this offseason in in age of Major League Soccer where the difference between the biggest and lowest-spending teams is going to continue to increase and the importance of wage bill and money invested in global soccer has routinely Confirmed like that is what is the strongest tie to season standing finish. MLS is a unique league, but it's not all that abnormal. Yes, you can compete like this sometimes, right? Like if everything goes right.

If you have, let's say, an assistant manager who you didn't even know was that good because Wilfred Nancy had to walk into the office and say, I want this job. And then they gave him like a one year contract and then they extended it. And still, even when that went well he was about to quit because of an argument with with ownership and if this team is like Yeah, we can talk about now. They didn't score one. They didn't

Attack well enough or they didn't defend well enough or they didn't do this under Couture or what? Well, like with the man management that I guess he was alluding to in the locker room yeah maybe all that's true what does it matter Wilford Nancy we've been regarding as one of the handful of the very best managers in Major League Soccer he did everything right he still got to stay there for 18 months and still when it was very clear he wasn't gonna last long in that job when they had several players who were not gonna be there much longer over performing Ishmael Kone, Georgi Mihailovic, Alistair Johnson all sold in the winter. They had several to at least two DP spots open in that summer. They had Wilford Nantze

knowing it's gonna be his last year because he wanted to resign before that and you know what they did they signed nobody in that summer. I don't know what anybody is supposed to do. I don't even if like the funniest thing and like I feel bad for the fans man like they have so much passion They care so much and they have hope and I respect that but somebody was like you should call Jim curtain Why would he know why would he take a phone call first? Why would he even take a phone call? Yeah? Like so even if you got the top let's like even hypothetically you get Jim and curtain. What would that realistically change? What would that realistically change? What would that realistically change?

I don't think anything, maybe a little bit. And this is somebody like, I have the most respect for Jim Curtin. I think he's a phenomenal manager. I think he'll make everything better where he goes. But within the constraints that this team has, within the instability, and part of that instability coming from the front office,

Olivier Renard, one of the reasons he resigned or left was because he would negotiate a contract, he would have an agreement, and then ownership would say, no, you don't. And then once that happened a couple too many times, he said, all right, like, what am I doing here? I'm done. Yeah. Like, I don't see anything changing. Yeah.

The thing I kept coming back to when this hit yesterday was just the dream scenario for them is Welffred Nanset. It is a coach who can elevate players bigger than the sum of their parts that has that speaks French that has a connection to the city that has a connection to the club. That's the dream and it hit and they were not able to keep it in their grasp. So like okay what do you hope happens post-Laurent Courtois? Exactly what I just described. And you have the sort of the playbook, which is if it works, it's going to end anyway. After that, I would say on the spending side of things too, just for, you know, as you said, it doesn't perfectly correlate in Major League Soccer.

But one of the things that Montreal shows is the spending that you're seeing is across the whole club. And so like Philadelphia doesn't spend huge on DPs. They spend on the club though. They spend on the academy. They spend on resources. They spend on they spend on staff. All of those.

Colorado doesn't spend a ton, but they spend on other things and they have a system and whether it goes up and down they stay fairly consistent So that's just for everyone out there with Montreal saying like well Oh, is it just down to DPS? No, but it is a sign of what the club is like top to bottom Which is why they are one of the thinnest clubs in Major League Soccer and it's why it's not an ideal job for someone like a Jim Curtin to come into and be like to be understaffed and under resourced and Have trouble bringing in players having trouble having players be fully healthy all the year and having enough of the scouting that you want to do all the little things that you can do to overcome the fact that you don't spend $12 and a half million dollars on a player or $23 and a half million dollars on a player because that's the league you're playing in now and if you're not going to do that You have to be good at something else

The club hasn't really chosen a lane like that And so you end up in a situation where I think most people walk away from this saying I don't know what else you could expect From Laurent Courtois It is wild to me to say that in the second game of the season you started having this conversation because that means that you were on this in the off season and you're gonna start a year and you have the seven games on the road, you wanna relaunch.

Well, like you never launch, that stuff just feels like, again, chaotic. And chaos, I think there can be good moments where it's like, oh, things are too settled in a squad. You need to throw a little chaos in to challenge people and push people. But for an organization, you don't want chaos. You want stability.

So that was the next point I was gonna go to as well. So you say you're talking like, you're talking about this in the second game. Did they think they were gonna have five wins, a draw and a loss on a seven game? They went and should have gotten a result at Atlanta who had just dropped $50 million. They lost three, two on a late goal at Mercedes-Benz in front of 50,000 fans. We went and should have gotten a result at Atlanta who had just dropped 50 million dollars.

They lost 3-2 on a late goal at Mercedes-Benz in front of 50,000 fans. I came into that being like, oh they're pretty good and their ex-G's been fine across these games. So Marco Donadale is named an assistant coach this winter and only Ran-Coutois is fired and nobody else on the staff is touched. And now like Gervais came out and like I was before the press conference, I was like, no, I think that they're going to give like give the leeway to Donnadel. It was very clear this is a guy that they think can be a medic.

Yeah. If you're Laurent Couture, like you see, you probably see the writing on the wall. Like, I don't think that that's I just don't think that's a way to run a team either. Be like, hey, we just signed your replacement. Very clearly, we just signed your replacement very clearly We just signed your replacement and for this to happen five games into the season. Let me preface this is speculation I haven't had somebody tell me this but like I think you could use enough deductive reasoning to say that oh They hired this guy and then he was the interim coach and nobody else on the staff got changed like

Didn't they make actually didn't they make staffing changes in the winter? Yes, they brought in staff I think that Lauren Quarartois was more familiar with in assistant roles and Academy roles Outside of Marco Donadale who I believe I read somewhere This is me now guessing that Marco Donadale was in conversations with the club before Lauren Quartois got hired even and so then his conversations with the club were separate from that Yeah, so I mean, yeah I would also assume that players could read that writing on the wall. And then here's the thing with with Courtois

a Ton of changes to the lineup every single week. That's frustrating It's frustrating as well with young players because you are trying to gain confidence with them You're trying to give them opportunities You gave up a lot for a jakeel marshal ruddy to put him in the lineup. Now, for the most part, those players have been replaced in the lineup with other young players. So it's not like he's leaning back on these veterans that you don't, you know, it's not like some what you'd say some of with Philadelphia, with Jim Curtin, where it was like, no, we actually want more of the young players to play. And that

wasn't what he was doing because it maybe didn't lead to results at the time and that wasn't the feeling last year. That's not really the case, although it has been slightly chaotic and Caden Clark sort of gave a comment last week where he was like, I wasn't healthy two weeks ago, that hasn't been the case since, I don't really know what's going on. I don't know that Caden Clark gets a ton of leeway in this convo because of what's happened to him at the three or four clubs he's played at most recently in the way he's Been pushed out of lineups, but like all of that Maybe it's one conversation that happened and the feeling was that he was not adjusting that stuff feels though more Fixable then we're gonna fire a manager five games into the season

Yeah, and then like you said like again. I don't Like Caden Clark had had a really good last third of last season. That's it, like, do you sacrifice everything to ensure that the team is built around him? And like, maybe the answer is yes, maybe it is, right? But like, I don't think that that's indicative of, oh, well, gotta make some changes, right? Like, I don't know, like, again, just going back to,

and I don't wanna just be just narrow-minded of like, well, if you're not spending big transfer fees, you can't like, like again, just going back to and I don't want to just be just narrow-minded of like well If you're not spending big transfer fees, you can't like look at Minnesota United. They are not spending big transfers They don't want to spend big transfer fees, but they identified a part like Kelvin Yobo I forget exactly how much he was was something in the three to five million range You have to be doing that Philadelphia Union even Damiani, Ura Like those aren't big fees, but that's something, man. Again, I keep on bringing up the, and I tweeted this and put it on Blue Sky, the list, the all-time designated player list for CF Montreal.

It is bleak after Piyati Drogba. Tide Air was cool for a season or season and a half, whatever it was. Juan Iema had one really good season. Georgi Mohajlovic, I don't remember exactly at that time if his contract was or was not above Max Tam, but that's a player that's Max Tam for everybody else. Victor Juan Iema is a player who's Max Tam for anybody else. Kiki Shruna is not a designated player. Blerum Dramaili, one of the best chins in MLS history. Could literally cut diamonds with a chin like that.

But like, it's just, I don't know man, like you think about, what would it be, like 14 through 16, the like, Piatty, the Drogba, like, that series that they had, like, opposite Toronto FC in the playoffs, was legendary. Like, those, the Canadian Classiques, like, I still look forward to them, but like, that different like that's what it can be and that's what if these fans deserve and again whether or not you're spending getting all the Everything right. I'm saying my connection is a little bit off. Am I still here? I was waiting okay, it's a little bit wait again whether or not you're hitting on everything like they're Their identity is acquiring players from within the league and they've done that very

well but that cannot be it and you cannot be like hey and again, Noura Coutois was a manager who hadn't this was his first first team job and I like that I like giving them chances but it's like oh after 38 games you don't have every single thing figured out what's wrong with you in this roster that is out of talent deficit to To everybody else in the league? This is your fault, not ours. New manager. Oh, Hernán Lassada? He shouldn't have been hired by us. We're going to do it. Oh, after a year, we didn't like that very much. And like it's, you know, maybe Donatell's a really good manager. And again, if he is, maybe he's like Wilford Nancy and he's somewhere else in a year and a half.

Yeah, that part I think is the part that's hard. Let me throw out this with the spending thing as well, which is, I think it's, so there's. Let me throw out this with the spending thing as well, which is, I think it's, so there's the DP conversation, there's the selling young players conversation, which I think is fair, right? The deals you got for Ismael Kone and Alistair Johnson and all of that are fair. I think it's then like your core inside of that,

where it's like when you lose and bring in players like that, Kamau Miller and Rudy Camacho and pieces like that, they need to be the stable parts of your team to help the next group come through. And that's where it feels like those players don't really want to be there. They're not, I think, service the way they should be. And so they look at other organizations

and it seems more attractive to them to go and play for those teams. And so you're always gonna have ups and downs as a club like this. Colorado, who I just complimented, Philly, who I just so you're always gonna have ups and downs as a club like this. Colorado who I just complimented, Philly who I just complimented, they have those ups and downs. But there is a stability to it,

which is on the down years, you're still competing for the playoffs. On the good years, you're at the top of the conference because there's a spine to the group of veteran players who are going to be around it. And Montreal does not create a culture where those veteran players stay. Unless you're Sam Piat, you got it. You just got it.

But even that like 28 like he should have just had a new coach and like that was the one that that Olivier Renard I believe that was the one that he resigned over. But like you know we know who would help this team a lot. That's you 28. And like you said to bridge to bring around the young to give structure to young players. I think what's super indicative of this team is you go from world forandes this beautiful, we want to pass through everything. We need players. Everybody needs to be brave to dribble out of stuff because we're going to play with pressure and we don't care. Then you hire Ernando Sata who you don't want any soccer players on the field. You don't want water breaks. You just want to kick the ball

long and high press. And then after a year you get Laurent Coutois, who is the second team manager for Nancy? So at every point you're just and like what Cory Ray did after he took over last summer Like what it was all about was like we need to clear the decks here so we can sign players who make sense for this new Manager and again, I hope that Don Adel is is more aligned or even if he's not like I hope that it's a decision that okay Going forward. This is to be our general view this is going to be our general philosophy and so when you fire a manager every you know six to eighteen months you don't need to you know overhaul the roster every year when you're signing them to three four-year contracts all right

Montreal that was the conversation we couldn't avoid it we couldn't get around it Marco Donadale will take over his interim you have said it. I think the line was they're not pushing to look for a replacement. Like he will get leeway as the interim manager. My assumption would be for the rest of this year, he is the manager and if he does well enough, he gets the job full time. Well enough probably means making the playoffs anyway that is, including the play-in. And you are probably back to what you did last year in the last few years. and then we are back into this cycle. I can promise you this Montreal, I love going there. I'm going to be excited. I'm going later this year. I already know that. And it's one of my favorite places to go. Let's talk Major League Soccer now. Rather than digging through the weekend, you know, I gave some highlights yesterday.

We're going to talk about some of the trends that we've seen so far Especially the unexpected ones and we're going to buy or sell or whatever other phrase you make up in the next 40 seconds For that here at soccer wise, but let's start with the little bit of news outside of Laurent Quartat, which is sounder at heart Connecting English winger Ryan Kent a 28 year old Longtime Rangers player most recently at Fenerbahce got pushed out of the team by Jose Mourinho looking for a club right now is in talks to potentially join the squad What do you make of this and do you think that this is something Seattle should be doing right now? If Seattle can fit this in their budget, I would I like I've been waiting for an MLS team to be connected to Ryan Kent

I wouldn't have guessed Seattle. Oh, maybe you've got the Ryan Kent stock ready to go. Any any any idea where what youth team he came from? Oh, is that Everton? No, like, if he's so I didn't again, like I didn't know what the conference if anybody was even reaching out and like if he would come on a non DPDP deal or whatever right like this is somebody I thought who would make sense if you're able to get him on a TAM deal I didn't think Seattle had any room in the budget if he's able to be fit in under you know The season any injured stuff for Pauli. Oh, I think this is a no-brainer, and this is a home run I think that several unless teams should have been in on this and again that doesn't mean he's going to be Like a game-changing player though. He can be I think it's that I think the risk is pretty low

particularly if it's a short-term deal I believe Nico was reporting a deal through the end of the season with an option and I think that's an absolute no-brainer for me. Shout out to Nico Moreno one of the best by the way good friend of the show we love Nico who was the one that reported this and I probably should have said that at the start. And as you said, this makes sense, one, because of the news that Paul Arreola is going to miss the rest of the season because of all the other injuries that have happened for this team. This does not feel like a game-changing DP signing, but it can be just another piece. And this is what Seattle does as well as anyone, which is can we have 15 to 18 players that we think can keep the level and that we trust?

Ryan Kent feels like he could be one of them or If he's not as you said there's not a ton of risk in there So when it popped up for me as well, I didn't have as much Ryan Kent stock as you But it's you haven't played football manager where you I would get him on loan as much as I could Literally every person games not played on a spreadsheet But kind of in this sense, every person in either the Reddit or on social media that replied to this was either a FIFA card comment or a football manager comment about this.

Oh, that was a legendary card. Oh my God. This is one of those you are in. You are in good company. If that's your reaction to this one, let's talk about some of the teams that have been a little surprising. We've got our high end ones, we've got our deep cut ones for me. Let's start with the Philadelphia Union.

They are one of the top teams in the league. They had a rotated squad, Nathan Harrell playing in central midfield, a ton of pieces missing for international duty against a St. Louis team that had pieces missing mainly for injury, not for international duty, a little bit different. They won the Bradley carnel bowl or whatever you want to call it. It was the eighth minute goal on the set piece. And then they were able to, I think, maintain performances throughout St. Louis has their own issues going on right now. Olaf Melberg has talked about their lack of possession, their lack of danger in possession and all of that. But we're going to do a little buy sell here. We were going to do like sort of

a high level one for every team and then a more specific one. The high level one. Are you buying the Philadelphia Union as the top four team in the Eastern Conference? I won't go that far, though, I am buying them as avoiding the wild card game. Oh, well, they're not for sale for that. So you can't go. You don't walk in the store and say, I'll give you a dollar

fifty for this three dollar thing. Everything's a negotiation, bro. No, I don't buy the top four just because like, I think Miami's in there. I think Charlotte is obviously making their case. And then like, Sinsea, maybe Atlanta. Maybe we did the Atlanta United's back too soon. I don't know, the fifth year in a row.

But I think that there's going to be enough competition for that four spot or that top four spot. I think Philly will be in the mix. I think that they'll be closer enough competition for that four spot or that top four spot I think Philly will be in the mix I think that they'll be closer to fourth than they are, you know, eight or ninth But I can't quite get there after after five games though I am very impressed and not to I point out when I say things dumb or when takes age for Poorly for me. So I think it's fair for me to say I believe on a national platform I was at the highest of anybody about the foot of you were the most bullish

So you are and we'll give you a 25% off discount on your buy now Because of how bullish you were with could because you were founding member you get 25% discount by the way Meanwhile, you can join our patreon and get you access to our Get your access to our depth charts as well. If you want to become one of the original members of Soccer Wise, it's the best place to watch soccer in North America. I am going to buy this and I'm going to buy this because of the depth that I've seen. And it's not just that they got the result this week.

It's that you brought in what you thought was going to be a high level center back, not even a starter at the start of the year. And you've now shown that you've got three starting center backs in this group. It's because you brought in pieces in central midfield that have hit it out of the park, including Yovan Lukic, who we're going to talk about in a second. Did I say his name right? I think I always want to call him Luca Yos because you because that like the only reason I said I think so is because when you say it wrong, you know, it sounds right I always want to cut. Yeah. Okay. I did say it right. So there you go Who's hit it out of the park? But you still have options in that position that you've shown and now you're showing this the depth that center forward that

Darmion is the DP the big piece but Tye Beribo is on fire. He goes to the national team, Damian Stemtsin, you're still dangerous. Uwe, I think has played very well this year, has shown once again the things he can bring to a team. It's not always the finishing, but it's the running, it's covering ground. Gosdok misses the game, Quinn Sullivan's help leading the attack. So I think for Philadelphia, the reason I have the belief is that the underlying numbers say it's real and I don't think they're gonna run out of steam because they're just playing as hard as they can in the first four games and other people aren't I think that there's some real depth to this group that can continue to push and all the

teams you named will be in that but you can only be so far behind this team where at the beginning which is if Philly doesn't take their foot off the gas I think they're still gonna be able to land in that spot. So I would then push like you don't need if there's Miami I think is a given for the top four. Charlotte is right now with them then there's Cincy there's Red Bulls there's Atlanta Orlando Columbus and Chicago hot start right. So those are I- I'm not sold on a single one of those teams outside of Inter Miami at the level of Philadelphia. Really?

Yeah, I think that you could find way, I won't be shocked if they're in a conversation with those groups, but we're Red Bull stand right now, we're Charlotte stands right now, we're Orlando stands, Nashville, those are two teams we're gonna to talk about in a moment. Yeah, I don't think that there's a clear reason why those teams are better than this Philly group.

I just want to remind you, we're five games into the season. And last year, Toronto FC had three wins in a draw in their first five games. And I think that's the funniest example. Well, John Hurtman is great coach. Come on. That guy knows everything the opponent's doing. It's like he's watched tape of them before or something like that. That is how you get those results early on.

It was your birthday on Saturday, by the way. Did you know that Insinier was starting? Like did you... I saw a tweet and I thought I was like, I'm really not that drunk. Like, Jesus Christ. I was like, oh, he is starting. Someone comes up to you, they're like, oh oh by the way, Pelé's in the starting lineup for NYCFC. It's like what? And Insignia for Toronto. Oh no way. The brewery didn't get MLS season pass on Apple TV unfortunately. Shocking. That is absolutely shocking to me.

Yeah. That is jarring information. Here was my deep cut one for this. Jovan Lukic, MLS All-Star, buying or selling. No, no, no. Go ten toes that where you started. Oh, Best 11. Yeah. I was going to say, I was in the rundown meeting, I said Jovan Lukic, Best 11, and then as I went to say Oral All-Star, you had already jumped down my throat so we didn't even get

there? Well, and so this didn't even get there? So this isn't even, one this is, I think that this is a sweet story to say best 11 is Steve, but like even in his defense, dudes don't vote defensive mids eights as best 11. They should. You and I, that's what we put in our vote. We talk about it on these podcasts on whatever right like There's you know, the the players who vote for you know Columbus or for San Jose Don't think that they're gonna sneak Yovon Lukic into their ballot

This is kind of was his issue at Spartak Subotich as well. I Remember the conversation in the Spartak Reddit chat was that you know, he was not getting Because of position I have to Google the team. I have any one of like eight eight countries. I think you could convince me. Yeah. He's been awesome this year. Yes. Yes. Yes. As is Dan Lee. It's not just him. He broke the goal in New England. I think it was with the shot that hit the back of the net so he could strike it. He covers a ton of ground. This team is pressing high and yet they're not leaving gaps in between. So he could strike it. He covers a ton of ground. This team is pressing high and yet they're not leaving gaps in between.

And he's a big part of that. And it's allowed Quinn Sullivan to have a lot of freedom. And it's allowed Gosdok to do what he does best, which is go and be a third forward or a second forward and find the game. They have been awesome. If Philly maintains up here, he should definitely be an all-star the way he's playing.

And so I'm gonna buy this. Not only am I gonna buy this, I'm gonna buy this. I'm going to start selling stock to it because I know that it's going to appreciate value as time goes along. You were going to start a lobbying firm to be near the commissioner's office to get Jovan Lukic as a commissioner's or a coach's pick. If Philly are top, like I, I, I, I don't know. It'd be Austin. It was the coach, right? Yeah, that's who makes the coaches. Okay So you're at a deficit there because that's a Western Conference team on top of Nico Esmeral's ball He if he knows the game if he knows the game if he's deep in it, he knows that this is happening

I don't know about the upper levels, but if you know if you're like sitting there you sense it on a Saturday night You're like, oh, whoa, you'll have on Luca Chad a chat again Claude McAlely working right now in Philadelphia I don't want to speak this into existence But it would be funny if we revisit this conversation in five weeks and it's like Indy Vasilev is the starter Hundred percent also Indy by the way good piece of depth that they picked up another sign of it You then have he didn't he they didn't trade for him to be depth I'll tell you that no I'm saying you another option, allows you to move pieces around, allows you to get results in games like this against St. Louis, who could have used Indy Vasilev and all of this. You've got a couple

spoon race teams. I think we could just do these together because I think we're going to say a lot. Sporting Kansas City and New England. Buying or selling them in the spoon race. Buy. Okay. Stronger buy on Kansas City. Which one would you, which one do you think finishes better this season between the two No, oh really? I'm I I would say sporting Kansas City Look at this some disagreement. Go ahead guys. You go first This is man. Hold on and this is funny We're gonna be arguing and it's like overall supporter shield standings of like 30th versus 20 exactly this isn't yeah again This is not me saying

that this team is like gonna be elite or whatever. I like what I see from Shapi Suleimanov. I like Manu Garcia as well. I think they've added pieces. Jovalic will score goals. Agata will score goals. Like there's enough there for when it settles in that they'll have ways to get results.

And I don't know, they're like stuck in this way of being a bad team, where they continue to be the same bad team, but that might be better than being a poisonous group that no one really knows each other. And so they might be able to maintain performances through the end of the year, like they did last year, right?

To make the open cup run they did while having the regular season they had shows that like people are still kind of playing hard for Peter Vermeese as bad as it is Sure, I like Logan and Dembe. He's back now. So that gives you another option You could move Jake Davis around as well. So yeah, I would take this even with what I've seen this year I would take this sport in Kansas City group over New England right now for this year. I Agree with most of what you just said. I like the

attacking pieces. I like them all. Can Shapi Suleymanov play center back? Can he play six? They've needed a number six since they decided we're too good for you Ilya Sanchez. Here's a theory. Here's an idea. You start Sebaeus and Falfana and Brandon Bayh and whoever else that left back for Sporting Kansas City and then you take Sporting KC's attack and you put it on top of that and you've got a perfect team. Got a really good team, yeah. I like that team right there.

So that's it for me. Is that like, yeah, that's nice. I love the oval at signing like I did yes that that like it's it mirrors like Hugo Kuipers Last year when it was like yeah, like I think he's really good players Just you know if he doesn't score a ton of goals. I don't think it's on him I think it's more reflection of the team than him So you'll which if you can get that deal done you'll get that deal done Manu Garcia Like I've said my early impressions are good shoppy sulymanov early impressions are good. That's nice They don't have a six. They might have one center back

And if and if Danny Rosario gets injured, it gets even worse really quickly. If Jacob Bartlett does what teenagers do and has some blips, like they're going to be in trouble again at defensive mid, um, full back depth gets, gets to Kyrie Shelton really quickly. Um, goalkeepers, there's question mark. Again, that's nice. The attack is cute. I like it. They need, I honestly got it, I think that they need four new starters in the back six. Yeah. Now on the flip side, New England has the worst attack in Major League Soccer. They have it in reality, the lack of scoring goals. They've not scored a goal themselves the entire season. They've only scored on an own goal, and their XG is the worst in Major League Soccer.

1.67. Second last is Toronto at 3.76. Yes, they've played another game, but I think New England could play three more games. Like, yes, I'm not, again, I'm also not suggesting doing what about the class but i will say i know that if this doesn't change the report finishes i don't think that that's some great insider analysis insight because it's a pretty obvious thing

this eight you got last year now that was your like we were talking about should should he lose his job this winter dot we're not gonna get there again season if it doesn't get better. And I think, hypothetically speaking, you could start with an interim manager. I think that they would, that could be the new manager. I think if you put Geo Sabre in charge of this team, I think if you put, I don't know, I'm trying to think of other men.

Lauren Quartelais is available. Like whatever, I think that, and I don't think that that's happening in Kansas City and again, it's weird to say I don't even necessarily think or know if Peter Vermes is 100% the problem but this is what happens in global stock. You fire the manager and she can't fire all the players. New England fire all the players and now they still might need to fire all the manager. So I just think that there's more upside with this New England team. Yes, the attack is

embarrassing but like i look at the individual pieces and and yet this could be just me being stubborn and i'm looking across so i'm looking at the nago i'm looking at the open pot and i'm like and and i'm going and thinking this should all this should all be better than that

and again i could just be being very stubborn and in game thirty i'm gonna be like maybe this is the week that they score a couple of goals. But I just, it just makes so much more sense to me. Campagna obviously out hurt. Carlos Heal not connecting with the pieces around him. There is still a lack of control in central midfield defensively. And so that I think leads to them not committing as many numbers forward as they can. In all of this, I don't really have a setup to be like, oh, we're going to write these down and guarantee them in a way we don't have a phrase for it. Ben Bear, of

course, could loan us the guarantee phrase and shout out to the person who tweeted at Ben Bear last week or two weeks ago and was like, had this really good point on his show soccer wise, like that's brutal. Like we don't even work in the same space anymore so that was a tough one for me but we're gonna have to figure out something to put this down you've got skc or i've got skc you've got new england and jovan lukic for all-star we're gonna have to really put our chest next to these one point from the chat from up the loons how have we not talked about daniel shawe's mustache that gives kansas city an obvious advantage over the revs and that's on me A thousand percent on me. You're right. I should have brought that up to start my announcement

Yeah, you weren't ready for the performance. Yeah, you're not ready at a high level Let's do the next one Nashville Nashville's had a good run over the last few weeks You could say some of it is fool's gold. Maybe they beat Montreal 3-0 at home in their last game That's a Montreal team that of course just fired their manager. They beat Portland 2-0 in the game before that with the two penalty kick saves in that one as well. They went and lost the Red Bulls, they drew New England at home and then the big result for them is the 3-1 win at Philadelphia. It was a smashing grab but like great you were able to change what you wanted to do They've been very methodical in possession especially in the home games and the Red Bull game because Red Bulls don't want the ball and they scored early and so the game states

allowed that and they've gotten more and more dangerous in that style as the seasons gone along and So there's some positivity there for Nashville Are you buying or selling this Nashville team who I believe are currently top four in the Eastern Conference? Well, we'll go back to you tell me what is what is up for sale or what is to be purchased? Is it a playoff team is top six out top six? I wouldn't go that far I will say they are definitely better than I thought they were going to be Particularly this quickly just in the cohesiveness like last season I liked some of the things under BJ Callahan

It just it just still felt a little disjointed and and you know You'd hope that a preseason would smooth some of that over but you never really know till you see it and you never really know Hey, it's honey. Muck's are gonna get back to where he was a couple of these new signings They're better than I thought they were gonna be I thought that they were going to be closer to The bottom of the East than the playoff line. I think that they've proven pretty quickly that they're good. I won't go as far as top six. What I will say though, to go back to the positive side, Zimmerman being playing every minute, I think that's important just because he is so important in this team. He is a DP for this team. It's impressive to me that Hani Mukhtar does not have

an open play goal and their attack is still looking good because we're so conditioned to if Hany Mukhtar isn't supernatural, this team is really boring to watch. And Tag Seth has been super fun. Surge has been, you know, I wouldn't say that he's lighting the world on fire with one goal, one assist, right? But I think he's been fine and I think that he's you know lighting the world on fire with one goal one assist right but I think he's been He's been fine and I think that it's fit better

All of this to say is they are they advanced to a point that I didn't think that they were going to so quickly I don't think that they're gonna be a top 16 in the East but they're better than I thought they were you know It's not worth anything but for whatever that's what they should sign Moran check Atlanta should just sell them Moran check because Where else what else is he doing and and they need a piece they need one more piece in the attack I agree with a lot of what you said taxa Just like really high level soccer player makes good player makes good runs out of midfield when similar when I was talking about the US where it's like the game kind of feels settled and then his runs able to change the shape of the opponent or he goes and wins a corner kick or throw in for the other team deep in the half that they

can go press on like he reads those moments well he's clean in possession he keeps the game going Brugman back from injury he's another guy where like it's not consistent he's not an attacking piece totally although we saw him the MLS Cup but like he'll break lines with it with the perfect pass every once in a while and that will be enough for them to attacking piece totally, although we saw him the MLS cup, but like he'll break lines with it with the perfect pass every once in a while. And that will be enough for them to break out a lot of what goes well for them is the movement underneath, whether it's surge and another player or whatever underneath those forward players. It's what we saw for the breakthrough goal from wheel in this one. And like you said, surge has not been unbelievable,

but he is confident right now in his movements of like, he knows when he's going down the left channel that he's gonna cut back and hit it with his right. And he's getting there most of the time. He's not always burying it or a second defender comes in, but like the motions and the actions are correct. And there, I think they are a team that I'm hoping is lurking around.

And as teams have players where it's like Oh, we thought this player would be a bigger piece of what we were gonna do They're not is there a tam attacking player out there in the league that can bring it as things go along But I would say this they're fourth in the East right now I think there are three to five teams below them that I expected to be better and from what I've seen so far this year I think still could year, I think still could be. So I think they're hanging around that seventh spot. And I think that's a fair line, but I would probably sell on that. But here's the real question everyone

wants to know. Currently Andy Nahar is third in Major League Soccer and successful take ons. That includes missing the last game because he was with the inner with Honduras in an international game do you buy or sell that will he finish top five in successful take ons I don't think so it would be pretty electric if he did I don't think so it's a high bar this is this is what everyone's talking about this is like has MLS on fire right now he's been an awesome addition to go from paying Shaq more to now getting Andy Nahar and having the way higher level performances has been

huge for this Nashville team. Yeah he probably won't finish in this number. With In-N-Out it's like 50% health. That's the biggest question mark and then it feels like the game model is open for him to do this. Daniel Lovitz doesn't really penetrate like that. He either gets to the outside or hits across or pinches inside becomes more of a third central midfielder. And so the space is there for Anindahar. I'm buying this baby.

Anindahar, top five. Let's go. The next one, Orlando. Number one attack right now in Major League Soccer on non-penalty expected goals. Are you buying or selling this? The context being they have scored eight goals in two home games against TFC and DC United I'm buying that they're gonna be top top ten attack wouldn't like number one, I think that's too steep, but like

Pasalic is really good and he's hit immediately and And he makes sense, but the Luis Morial resurgence. I'm not gonna lie to you. I Considered him as my last Golden Boot trap. Yeah. Yeah, of course you did. No, no. Yeah. Yeah, of course Yeah, but I didn't have I didn't have the stones to do it and every time he scores I'm so much more disappointed in myself. Well, I drafted Ramiro Enrique. So this has gotten poorly for me so far I think I actually have him on two different things because I did an Austin FC for me so far. I think I actually have him on two different things because I did an Austin FC fantasy draft. I think I took Ramiro Enrique in that one as well. Just saying like, well, if he's going to start, he's going to score goals. The Muriel stuff's been fun. Like he's a fun soccer

player. And when we saw him last year, it's like coming off the bench with Duncan McGuire. He's dropping in. He's playing crosses, whatever. Scores a banger of a goal against NYC FC He does it again this week like he's an elite finisher when he's in spots, so if he does enough other work It's gonna be fun to watch him I also appreciate him keeping Gauss theorem in everyone's hearts and minds so I appreciate that from him as well And I'll buy everything you were buying on their Orlando attack as well for Vancouver. We've talked about them a ton. I wanted to go deep cut on this one. You want to go high level.

Where do you want to start? So we're putting the line at top three in the West. Okay. I hate to be boring, but like, I think I'm still going to sell that. I think I think that they'll be in the mix for that. And I wish I could give you a better answer to be like, these are the things that I'd like to be. That's the question. Like it's, it's so wide open in this conference. So I think L E F C would be the safe one. Um, Minnesota and she's, I don't know. It's tough

to get to a 13. I think that third through like tenth is going to be separated by a couple points. So we're really splitting hairs here where like maybe I don't think that they're going to be top three, but I think that they're going to be in that mix. Yeah. The obvious thing for Vancouver would be deep CCC runs normally means you struggle in league play and that would be going. You have Daniel Rios, you don't need to worry.

What? When you have Daniel Rios, you don't need to worry. What? When you have Daniel Rios, you don't need to worry about it. And if you just win the thing, then that's all that really matters. So once they've won the CONCAC champions cup this time, then it won't really matter after that. So that's an obvious one. The other one being that maybe they're not the deepest group, although they've shown trust in a lot of pieces in this team.

I thought they played well against Chicago, even with how depleted they were in this one. It's hard to think they'll maintain it for the full year. I will take them being top five. I think right now for this Vancouver team, I don't have three teams as well in that. I think Minnesota is a good one to start. LAFC are an obvious one, even though some of the underlying numbers aren't amazing. They're probably going to continue to get better. There is a lot of new pieces in that group. And so there's some leeway for that. And then I don't have a third team

in that to push in. I guess San Diego might be one, but I don't know that I would trust San Diego to maintain over Vancouver so far. Seattle for me still. Yeah, but like as you get into injuries, now we're getting into Club World Cup. How much does that take out of them? There's question marks with all these groups. The Western Conference is fun and interesting. I think Joe Larry wrote it up that it has struggled against the East so far this year because the Eastern Conference is better and more established. But that's where we stand right now. Let's finish with this one. We are going to base it based off the top two

statistical goalkeepers on underlying numbers. We have Zach Steffen and CJ Dos Santos tied at the top for the best post shot XG minus goals conceded. So the shot you're expected to concede minus the goals you actually concede tells you how much of a difference maker those goalkeepers are. You have Zach Steffen, you have CJ Dos Santos in there. Are you buying or selling on these two players?

I'm buying the two players. Zach Steffen, he had, it was like the first couple games of the season, particularly the first one, the like his post shot XG versus goals conceded was just a hole he couldn't dig himself out of and then his best performances came in the Leaks Cup which didn't impact his MLS stat on that one I don't so the numbers that showed what he was last year he's not he wasn't anywhere near that bad I don't think that he'll quite be towards the top but I think that this is this is fair for him. CJJos Santos giving him a little love here they They parted like

San Diego really liked him as they wanted they identified him to want to make him their starting goalkeeper but a non-negotiable was you need to be able to play it out of the back and They're still getting the shots sobbing from him that I think has been just a pleasant surprise So I've been very impressed with both of these players. Yeah, he Was under barrage against Austin with all the breakaways. Didn't concede that many goals, so that probably helps. I would assume this number is skewed

because Austin refuses to make the right pass in the final third. And so that helps him a little bit, but San Diego structure, unless what we saw against Austin, which doesn't feel like it's gonna be the biggest issue because there were so many pieces missing in this one at center back at left back in central midfield like it feels like San Diego was playing a C group overall. I think the structure in front of him will be clean enough that for the most part the game will be in front of him. And if you don't concede a ton of goals, you keep confidence and it feels like so far he is clean enough that he will make the saves he should.

So I'm gonna take that one as well. I think the Zach Steffen number will come down. I like Zach Steffen. I think his positioning around before a lot of shots is really odd and he gets himself in some tough spots. He makes great saves, but he is normally are oftentimes out of positions for the goals that are conceded and Colorado are going to continue to press and open up like this Portland

game was an outlier because the attention on goals absurd and then the game kind of fell apart on them. But like they're going to concede chances. They're going to concede goals. So I think Zach Stefan drops off this number even more. We've got a Brad Stuber shout in the chat for someone who should be in there. Brad Stover has been one of the best goalies in the league the last few years, so I think that one's fair as well. And that's our last one on buying and selling. I am buying that we will be back together on Thursday. I am selling that you will be there tomorrow. I'll be with Jordan Angeley to do our entire NWSL recap. Marc Corcorian stepping down in Washington. Man U, Brazilian attacking player coming to Gotham as well.

So a lot to talk about there. Tom, congratulations for turning 30 years old. And thank you for joining me on the dark side of life, on the other side of the moon. Thank you to all of you for joining us. Thank you to all of you in the chat for getting involved. And we'll talk to you all again very very soon.