SoccerWise - Timo Werner Coming To MLS? MLS PA Salary Release + Midweek Action & Gold Cup Semifinals

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

A big week of soccer on the field so Tom & David attempt to cover it all. They hit all the MLS & Gold Cup action on the field. But also rundown all the news off the field from transfers including breaking news around Red Bull's pursuit of Timo Werner & the MLS PA's player salary release.14:00 MLS Midweek Reaction14:30 Milan Iloski The Calfornian Brian White20:05 Sam Surridge Hattie24:25 Columbus Roll Over Atlanta27:00 Marco Pasalic All-Star Snub Shines29:00 Ice Cream Shop29:14 Patrick Agyemang’s Euro Future & Charlotte’s Replacement Plans37:30 Giroud Heading Home?42:47 Timo Werner & NY Red Bull Talks46:53 Nathan Saliba Heads To Belgium51:00 USMNT How Lyon’s Issues Affect These Players + Johnny Heads To Atleti55:30: MLSPA Latest Salary Release Reactions1:11:30 Gold Cup Semifinal Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

One of us is in our soccer wise t-shirt. You are not seeing us. You are listening to us because we are here on the podcast only. But that means it's soccer wise time, baby. David Goss, Tommyoops with you for this one I will say yesterday I went into muscle memory and I almost turned my brain off and called Jordan Jordan scoops and realized that the nickname does not just apply to the person who's co-hosting with me but applies to the person what they do so Tom does that make you feel special it makes you feel special I'll take it again I know I'm always second place at Jordan and I would never fight that and that's okay

So, you know, sometimes second place is okay. Did you see Jordan's pickup game yesterday on social? I was extraordinarily jealous that I want I got wanted to texture to say like I just need a full breakdown Did anybody kick Jamie Watson for me? I did text Brian Dunstaff our guy because, because I did, what was it, MLS Cup 23, I did a little pickup game. Dunny came through, Uncle Tony Miola came through. Nice. They were just there to chirp. They both had athletic gear on,

and both of them was like, no, I can't play, I'm hurt. And then I just turn over and I see Dunny drop kicking to Miola and Miola side punting. And I was like, you guys look like you're pretty, he's like, nah man, my hip is, so I texted Dunny, I was like you guys look like you're pretty he's like nah man like my hip is So I texted Donnie. I was like, alright cool man. Dizone, but not me. I get it. It's alright I understand where I am in the pecking order. It still hurts and he goes dude, dude I'm back now like I was actually hurt that I needed to get surgery. I was like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah

The context was first of all, Donnie like bikes 37 miles up a mountain every weekend and then jumps off the side of it Bro, we all have social media. You're not hiding this stuff. So Lock in but the context was I was telling Jordan that your desire to play I think it was a noon kickoff pickup soccer game outside outside in in late July No subs, no subs 11 v 11, which is a flawless plan And I didn't mock it in any way in the text messages with Jordan. And she was like, I'm happy to come, but I don't play pickup.

And then two hours later was like, I just play pickup. And her reasoning was like, well, like Luis Garcia and Juan Pablo on Hell, like when are you gonna play with people like this? And I was like, I mean, you're talking to a Luis Garcia and Juan Pablo on Hell right now. So I was like, I mean you're talking about Luis Garcia Well, I couldn't never I could never put myself in those shoes But I was pretty impressed and I would assume Jordan held her own for the squad I'm probably much better than we could have. Oh, okay. Not probably. That's it. That's obviously a definite

I would say Jamie Watson did play when I the last time my organ has a pickup game I bet he's a tst veteran Hypothetically like just coincidentally. Sorry Random selection Jamie ended up on my team. I don't know how that happened, but Tyler Terrence didn't get Jamie on his team and we Spent the whole time trying to kick Tyler and it was great Tom. I'm in New Jersey. When am I getting the call for men's league? The whole time trying to kick Tyler and it was great Tom. I'm in New Jersey. When am I getting the call for men's league? Can I play last night? I should have came down for a 10 p.m. Kick. Can you do my phone call?

Do you have a car here? No, I don't have a car. Yeah Can I do can I also tell you so I had a game I said at 10 p.m. Tough So it's two left to then go watch the Rapids Yeah, I came back, but hadn't started or whatever. So it's my mom's birthday today, happy birthday Mrs. Bogert. So last night was the only day that worked out to go to dinner. I had a full plate of hibachi. I ate every morsel of food on that plate.

Sammy Stachekow pumped about that huge hibachi fan. It was really good. Knowing with every bite, this is going to suck in two hours when I play soccer. I actually played pretty well. I don't think that I could have recorded a high intensity run, to be fair. I don't think that if I had one of those little monitors on,

wouldn't have recorded any of that. But we got a big win. I played well enough. I don't think that had the legs in me, I had a couple of siss and moved around with the boys so I was happy about that because I like I was dreading every second of that like this is like maybe this is a game where we're gonna get out possessed and like I'm just gonna be rolling around here in the middle of field honestly the ten o'clock click can't cost better it's like the 750 830s where you're like

do I eat dinner do I not eat dinner? I had a 750 game on Monday I didn't eat breakfast or lunch. I had to go do some shopping I finished my friend was like I need to eat and I was like I need to eat too But I won't eat that much then I get to the place and I was like this is my favorite dish on the planet So I will probably get it sabic, which is my favorite sandwich It's Middle Eastern in a pita they fry eggplant and then they put a hard boiled egg in with all the like same falafel stuff like salad, hummus, whatever, pickles.

It's elite. And then I decided it was so hot that it wouldn't matter because I was gonna play like shit anyway and I was gonna feel terrible anyway. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. I think it really hit in the second half and I was like, it's just really hot.

You know, I'm just dehydrated Nothing that I gave up a goal on in the last 30 seconds and we lost 1-0 I was not on the field for it I will say but that is exactly what happened as we mentioned last night. There were games gots Can I are you allowed to talk about Tuesday? Tuesday why you were in the city Are you allowed to talk about Tuesday? Tuesday? Why you were in the city? Event?

Oh, yeah. Okay, can you give whatever story you're allowed to tell, whatever you're allowed to talk about, because I think you know the story I'm asking for. If you can't tell it, that's okay. But it just sounded incredible. So to be clear, I have zero idea what day of the week it is, so that's why the Tuesday thing really caught me off guard.

I was like, is this a sign to keep it moving and say, oh, never mind? No. So I, as many people know, but maybe not everyone, and if you don't, you should, I've helped launch the official US Soccer podcast over the last few weeks. We have our third episode just dropped yesterday with Emma

Hayes, and it's an incredible interview, one that I wouldn't say I'm fully prepared for. We talked about things from the range of Metapause to Legos to karaoke to high-level soccer tactics seen through the women's lens But I'm honored to be alongside for whatever I am a part of and we're gonna keep doing it once a week It is released on Westwood one, which is the huge radio network that Does most play-by-play on major sports events and then distributes them. They also have a huge podcast platform that U.S. Soccer has signed up on.

So now you can listen to U.S. Soccer games via Westwood One on the radio and the podcast lives there. And so they invited me to be a part of a panel in New York City, which had a few of their talents that do sports across the board. I thought it was going to be originally, by the way, a US soccer thing. So I thought it would just be me and my co-host. And then they sent me the script and they were like, Jim Rome will be emceeing. You will be sitting alongside Devin McCordy, Sarah Kustak, Robbie Hummel, and Kevin Harlan. Unbelievable. Kevin Harlan is, and this is debatable

because I'm from Port Washington, my Little League basketball coach was Mike Breen. So Kevin Harlan is one of the two best play-by-play voices on the planet because Mike Breen has to be mentioned. Number one. Kevin Harlan does football too, so like it's, you know, this is sort of your Kobe,

or not Kobe, this is your LeBron MJ, this or that, what do you value, longevity, peak, you know, skill, whatever, that you can have your own debates, you can do what you want. So it was a huge deal then to be on that panel. Yes. So I'm on the panel, I think I held my own, and towards the end, Jim Rome asked a question

where he asked the question about the clutch gene. I think it came around the Tyrese Halliburton talk and SGA and whatever. So he asks and he starts with Devin McCordy. I think they were talking about Tom Brady and Devin McCordy gives his answer. Now I'm, and he says, and this is for all the athletes on the panel.

So I'm thinking, all right, me and Kevin are gonna be quiet. That's fine. Kevin Harlan goes second out of nowhere. And he starts talking about Joe Montana and the feeling you get pretty big game When a Joe Montana or Tom Brady walks in the room and how loose they are. Okay, cool So I don't have anything along the Joe Montana route obviously, so I'm gonna stay quiet

Katelyn Carr story immediately Exactly, you know when Christian role Donald was getting ready for 2016 MLS Cup the way he moved It was just different And you know what? I'm happy to tell that story. I don't know how many people in the room I would have connected to. Sarah then goes and talks, and then Robbie ends up talking. I think he was talking about Tyrese Halliburton.

I didn't get asked. On the following question, which was pretty much the last question, Robbie Hummel's microphone dies in the middle of him talking and I'm sitting next to him and without missing a beat, I hand him my mic so then he drops his mic down, awkward. So then I immediately grab his mic and we're back in play. Quick restart, defense doesn't even know,

Tomas Cankalai on the break, goal, it's in the back of the net, no one even notices. I turn to Jim Rome, I go, there's your clutch, G. And he, and as it ended he goes I hadn't seen you do that yet otherwise I would ask you the question too. That was my that was my claim to fame that is my claim to fame. I guarantee you none of those people know my name and never will but you know I had my 30 seconds. Did Jim Rome offer you the executive producer job for his radio show after that? Be like, oh, this guy's got balls.

I think he could see through me and knew that I wasn't cut from the right fabric for his world. Ha ha ha ha ha. But I grew up watching Rome is Burning on ESPN, so that was really cool. And I think as everyone knows, he famously hated soccer and ripped on it

Yeah, he I didn't know this until we started to get prepared for it But he his kids played Little League baseball with I guess Sebastian burr halter Because he said it was Greg burr halter's kids and I don't know if it's different kids And so he became friends with Greg burr halter and as he took over as USMNT head coach and whatever you think Jim Rome has gotten like very involved in soccer and enjoys it off the back of Knowing the head coach of the USMNT which he was like, how do you get other people connected? I'm like, well probably having a one-on-one relationship with the head coach of the team is like not in a sustainable way So the idea would be we win games and people like it and we're fun and all of that, which they're on the road to maybe

we'll talk gold cup coming up. There is the potential next Wednesday, July 2 that it's Canada Day on July 1. And on July 2, but the US women and US men may face off against Canada in a double header that was unplanned right before July 4th. Which is chills stuff. The women game, obviously it's a friendly, so that one's already scheduled.

It's gonna be at Rowdy in D.C. for anyone who's only an MLS fan. That's what you call Audi Field when there are fans there. That's what you call it when the Washington Spirit play is Rowdy for Audi Fields. I've never heard that one single time. That is so funny Tom. It is one of the three environments, top three environments in NWSL. I was like oh they're playing in Tampa? That's pretty cool. I literally had never thought about that until just now

which is like if you're MLS only and I know a lot of people here listen to both their MLS and NWSL shows so they hear it but like that is the whole thing so that's going to be Sunday evening that one's 7 30 at Rowdy or Audi and then I think the US would play in they're in Minnesota for the first game I'll look it up against Canada in the semi-finals of the gold cup which of course is Jesse Marsh against the US in between Canada Day and July 4th. So all of this has a decent amount of drama dripping over it. And the whole we're like in a fever dream, by the way, Piojo coaching Costa Rica has

put us into a space in which like nothing makes sense. And I just want to see like Pochettino and him like break down Soprisa tactics and just talk deep cut Costa Rican soccer and live that life at this point. But let's start in a little bit of MLS. We'll talk MLSPA, salary numbers being released yesterday. It's obviously a huge part of what we do here at this show. The depth charts for us are being updated.

It is big. No, it's fine. It's big for especially newer signings because we just had no numbers on them Where other players? Yeah. Okay. There's there's raises and increases, but normally that stuff's incremental It's like really big on the players. We just had a zero on To add into a ton of information So we're going to talk about that what we've seen what it means we'll talk about canada and the u.s

As canada clinched first. We don't have a ton about the MLS All-Star game. The team was announced. I thought some of the videos were really cool. That's like one of my favorite things of the year is how the teams tell the players and how they have them tell each other and all of that. I don't know if you saw the Vancouver one. They had Tristan Blackman and Takayoka tell each other.

They didn't tell them that each was also it, so they both thought they were surprising the other one. And then they each wore the other one's jersey, and as they got ready for after warmups, they were like, you'll just take your jacket off and you'll show it and be like, you're an all-star. And then they both did it to each other, which was fun. And then I think Burr Halter and Brian White are all stars as well, but they're away with the national team and then we're gonna dig through some of what we saw midweek and you've got a

Nice little set of Baskin Robbins 31 flavors for us today A decent chunk in the ice cream shop as we get ready for the transfer window to open I believe it opens on the 24th, correct? Correct 24th. So we're one month away, but obviously with the European windows being open, there's a lot of conversation already happening. And we talked about it last time, there's a lot around the national team players.

And so being in gold cups and watching these players right now, there's a lot going on there. Let's start in the midweek and let's start in Vancouver actually. It is hard to say that a midweek during an international window when not everyone's there, our statement wins.

But San Diego, without some of their key pieces, going to Vancouver and dropping a five spot, including three in the first half from Milan Aloski, who is, as I wrote down, the Californian Brian White, which by transitive property makes him the Escondido Gomez. It was a pretty impressive moment. It is not the full Vancouver group. It's not the full San Diego group.

And yet San Diego continues to put performances together in which their identity is in their DNA. And whatever you put out there they're gonna play that way Yes, and Milan Ołoski is legit this is a Good and possibly really good MLS player at the moment. He has nine goals in under 300 minutes obviously, that's not a sustainable rate, but like you watch the movement from him the ball striking ability the intelligence and timing that he plays with like and even just in this game the four goals like left foot in like a poacher's type goal there was

right foot when he had a lot of time in a one-on-one there was a excellently timed header great ball in and a really good power header it's like the way he's scoring goals it's all in different ways and, great ball in, and a really good power header. It's like the way he's scoring goals, it's all in different ways. And even in this game alone, and yes, because he has 9 goals in 300 minutes, he's vastly outperforming his expected goals. But I think that this game was a good example of why, again, not this rate of scoring, but what he is, is absolutely sustainable. He's absolutely a goal-scoring MLS level player. Again, not this rate of scoring but like what he is is is absolutely sustainable is absolutely absolutely

A goal scoring MLS level player and this was his first start. He had scored a bunch of goals off the bench seven of his goals have come in the last three games and he's just building from Strength to strength and the way he fits within this team and with again, Andres Dreier, Luca Del Toro were really really good in this game, but man Milan Olauski is He's been fantastic and this is a player that obviously this ownership group has known he'd been at Michelin The driving like again, they've liked him and this was like a possibility but part of the driving force was Ingvarthson getting hurt and

They uncover just another gem like he scored a ton of goals in USL before he went to Europe He had started an MLS with Rielsa Lake didn't really get a chance there. He goes to Orange County He kills it there goes to Europe and now he's back in MLS and like I don't know man These are the stories that I absolutely love He it felt like when he originally signed with Norjalan by the way, not Midjalan. Did I say that? Yeah, it doesn't matter I mean we're talking Thor at that point like who knows what's going on. That's not me When he signed it was like oh this is a signing for San Diego It was like before they really could sign players. Also if they had signed him they would have had to place him anyway

and then I thought he would be more of a key building block to what they were doing because And then I thought he would be more of a key building block to what they were doing because he was a player when he signed that other MLS teams were looking at and talking about being an MLS player and maybe bringing him in. And so he goes over, he comes back now. And as you said, it's taken maybe a little bit longer than I expected for him to become a central part of things.

But his movement and the way he attacked space in the box has been really, really impressive. The headed goal last week or two weeks ago, where he puts his body on the line, he reacts quickly, he's able to get in between defenders. It's a lot of, not joking, but Brian White-esque stuff. But you put that with, I think, really clean feet, two-footed. The potential is there, and I think it fits this team really well, which is he can come out of that central area and link up and play and allow dryer

to come inside or allow Chucky Lozano to come inside and go out wide, but also can be a finishing force on the inside. And this is a game in which they're missing Patty McNair, who's been huge. They're missing Chucky Lozano, who is, you know, a massive part of their team. They're missing a lot of other pieces as well because of internationals injuries and all of that. So to be able to go to a piece like this and an option like this, I think Maiten's been pretty good as well. There hasn't been the finishing quality with him, but I think overall he's shown like that he's ready to be on a field.

Bombino and Verhoeven have been really, really impressive as young players, especially Bombino, who's one of my favorite young players in the league. So it was a really good night for them. Uh, Alasky had three goals in a nine minute span to close the first half. That was the perfect hat trick and then scored right out of halftime. Eddie Orocompo had a good goal right in between that. And so it's like, okay, two, one Vancouver's at home. They've got all this belief. And then Sango just crush that I don't want to read too far into vancouver on this, but they play lafc on sunday

They're missing pieces We are all wondering if the ccl curse will hit them and this is a going to be a really tough run for them They have to grit out some results. In a minimum you're talking, can you get a tie and keep these teams below you for later in the season? And this was not a great start to it and not a great sign for a Vancouver team that, you know, I said for all stars, two of them are not with them. Ali Ahmed is not with them. Sam Adukube now down with an injury. Like they are missing a lot, but everyone's missing pieces right now and you have to be able to like grit some results

through this. And that's what they did in CCL run. Like they were going back into MLS playing rotated teams and playing really well and you just didn't see it from them yesterday. I thought Takayoka showed why there are some big mistakes in him and like I didn't have him in the goalkeeper of the year conversation. He's not because he's not there. Right he's been better and it's been a reason that Vancouver's been better is like he has been more consistent but the mistakes from him are big mistakes and they lead directly to goals and you saw it again in this game. A couple of the other big results there

was like these goal goal explosions that happened which is kind of what you want to see in these games rather than the like where we don't really have comfort as a team. It's a it's a weird lineup and we're going to sort of wander through a zero, zero or one one game. Sammy Surge hat trick. He is the I don't know, Darby England, Brian White or whatever you want to call it. He dumped on someone for the opening goal. He gets a PK once again.

This was a fun back and forth. New England took the lead. Nashville equalizes. New England takes the lead again. Nashville equalizes. They go ahead. They get the win. But all of the stuff that PJ Callahan's put in place

was on display in this one for Nashville. They were very weak at center back. It led to two of the goals not being turned on at the right moments. But like this team flows going forward. They're more dangerous. Honey Mukhtar is picking up good spots and Surridge, I think they are right to have not given up on. And now he's starting to play with a ton of confidence. Exactly. And he's got 15 goals now. That's leading the golden boot.

Ty Bribo is now second with 13 and then it's Dejan Jovilic and Kevin Denke tied for third with 11 Like again, that's 15 goals for Sam Surridge and we've got just under half a season left and what he's how he's blossomed Under BJ Callahan and this wasn't immediate like last season He was still struggling like again Nashville didn't take the strides until really this year And again, I don't think that that's a negative reflection on BJ Callahan or the coaching staff. It's difficult to come in mid season and everything else. This season, even at the beginning of the year, it seemed like he was missing chances. It's just like the last two and a half, three months, I think he's been phenomenal. He's been one of the best goal scorers. He's been the best goal scorer in the league this year, but he's been one of the

best attackers in the league. And it's like, this was somebody who I think before the season, it was, can Nashville get out of this and free up a spot to give DJ Galen a new DP forward. And instead, again, he's leading the Goan boot race and helping them win this game against New England. Like this was a really fun back and forth game. You made a joke before about the Thomas Chunkle goal and the quick restart by Carlos Hill. These teams went back and forth. Sam Surridge, he got, I think, a little bit lucky. I didn't see enough replays on the second goal, the one where it was going in and he seemed to either maybe be off sides or maybe have fouled and got a tap.

There's gotta be a player that you're not seeing on the screen because he's clearly offside. That's what I thought too. And then like, again, I was like, trying to rewatch the highlights. And it's clearly a knock on from a teammate. So it's like a reset of the play. I don't, there must be someone who was off the field

is my guess that you can't see, but I saw one replay of it and that was it. Yeah. And again, and then like, that's obviously not safe, but like that's last year. We sound like Dr like Joe right now It's dead bring him in Like last year he gets called for foul there It's like, you know what I mean or like he's not making the right run or things are just like a little bit off

like yeah, I think so what I kept saying with him was like he's playing better on the wing than he is as a Center forward and that's not what you paid for him to do But you got to get the most you can out of him. I do think a lot of that was one, he's not super comfortable being like physical in the middle all the time. Also, they were so defensive that he was so isolated.

He wasn't really playing soccer. And so I think this year he is getting touches and he's in the flow of game and there are runners around him and it's like, he's connected to everything the whole game. And so it allows you to move him back central and still get the best out of him. And like you said, like it's going his way, but also he's a little more aggressive. He's a little quicker to react. And all of that I think just becomes he's more involved rather than I sit up top. We defend in a low block. I closed down every

once in a while in central midfield against the other two center backs and then hope that someone launches me over the top and I can attack on my own. And I think that's the sea change we've seen from Nashville. And this is one of those games where, like I said, we're not going to take everything from Midweek International, blah, blah, blah. But like these DNA moments of like Nashville play the way they play, no matter who's available, that's a really big thing you get out of games like this because that is okay top to bottom in this club this is who they are tough result for New England they've been on that decent run I wouldn't read too much into it there was some interesting salary numbers with them which we'll get into as we get into the MLSPA stuff on the goal scoring explosions a 19 minute span in the first half. Columbus put up three against Atlanta.

I say Columbus put up three. You could say Atlanta put three or two on themselves as well. One's a bad pass back. One is Brad Guzman getting beat basically from the end line by Jason Russell road. All of it is chaos around the back line with very little cohesion going forward. And so like a Columbus team at home is going to pick you apart. Yeah. And during the international break here with Trinidad Tobago, I believe is where Jay

Fortune is playing. Jay Fortune is out for the season. He was like the one break spot on this team for the first half of the season. And now he's gone to it's the season from hell for Atlanta United. This team makes so much sense. I like not everybody they have pieces that make a lot of sense I think on paper and now Lots a lot hasn't scored since March Miguel Morrone. I think has like one maybe sit in that period Maranju cause Maranju man, like we've taught I'm nothing new to say on the scene. It's just sad and disappointing and Rudderless

Heartless sometimes man like go back and watch the highlights of this game even like Columbus should have been up to no in the first 10 minutes and they weren't like Chambo missed an open net Daniel Gosdawg his brain is broken. He can't finish from 6 to 12 yards out Maybe he needs a score from 25 or a penalty, one of those two things. Maybe that unlocks everything. But like, that should have been a wake up call. Hey, we just got really lucky.

We should be down two nil. And then they just got worse from there. So there's no redeeming qualities about the St. Lanny United team. They are now eight points below the playoff line and absolutely zero signs of life. Just zero. I've never, there's never been a Gauss theorem team where from top to bottom everyone bounces back after one year of the question being what changes. Like you now have half a year to try

and test some stuff because you can't get rid of all of it. You've spent a lot of money to put this group together. It has to be saved for next year in any way that you can. And I don't know what the next steps are to put it all together correctly. So maybe it's summer window, whatever you can get sold, you get sold. Maybe it's a change to some other positions off the field, sold. Maybe it's a change to some other positions off the field. But like you can't imagine the conversation right now is, okay, just give it more time. And it won't because it's so far off the tracks at this point. And now we also all know the numbers that are connected to a lot of this, which is a large amount of money. Big goal scoring game as well in St. Louis, Orlando two goals in nine minutes. It was 3-2 at halftime though. Simon Becher with a great goal, Zhao Klaus with an even better goal to close out the

half but Orlando ends up holding on 4-2. Marko Posilic is awesome. He's the truth man. He I believe is not an all-star is that correct? All of this on my head yeah. Alex Freeman is there also. So he's been, I think we had him in the conversation for newcomer of the year.

Obviously Dreier was the winner because we had Dreier as our MVP's. But Pasalic has been special for them. He's been a huge ad. He's covered what they lost with Facundo Torres. A different type of player. But his ability to create goals for himself I think makes life way easier for the pieces around him and yet is still connected to the game and connected to the group and like Orlando, you know for them they're trying to stack wins

They've got a really good game coming up this weekend, which we'll talk about in our weekend preview and st. Louis Still issues trying to play out of the back, still a little disconnected. They are always better though with the two forwards. And I think you saw that as that first half played out of like, they can just be so quickly dangerous because you've got two runners up top who can connect with each other and create chances. And to me, that's like a building block for them.

And I think you have to assume that these two or someone else alongside Klaus or Betcher has to be starting in most games. And you've got to figure out the rest of it. Behind that, the two weather delays in Dallas and Colorado. Dallas kicked off like an hour late. Colorado kicked off like three hours later. I will be honest, I did not stay up for that game.

Watched a bit of it back today. Georgie Mihailovic gets a goal, his first in a while, which is good to see. Calvin Harris gets his first start of the season. They just have gotten no production out of that wing. I don't know that Koudy Pietro is fully comfortable yet. It doesn't come from Cabral. That's a guarantee. They traded Omer. So still trying to find that spot and that could be a good one for Calvin Harris to step into. Charlotte, loss against sporting Kansas City got blown off the field in the run of play Casey able to get the 2-1 win and that takes us into our ice cream shop Tom because you continue

to report for us on Charlotte and the Patrick OJ among potential sale Yeah So the latest here on Patrick OJ among is that Darby County are in the lead to sign him from Charlotte FC. Ipswich Town are another team that are pushing as well. I've reported that that Gank are interesting but are interested but it's much much more likely I think that he ends up in the championship. What I've been told from every single time I've asked from the winter all the way through now they don't feel any pressure

to sell. They will only do it if the deal makes sense for Charlotte FC and it makes sense as a landing spot for Patrick Ajamon. As I reported they rejected a bid of around four million dollars from Lutentown in the winter and part of the reason why like the most important reason was he we want him to be like the starting center forward the first half of the season at least like get to the summer we believe in him we want him to have just a run of games where he doesn't have to beat out a DP forward that were signed. Like you're the starter, we're committing to you, you commit to us, you're going to be here through the summer at least. The other part of it was they didn't think Luton Town

was a good landing spot for them. And we can argue about whether or not Ajumon could have saved them for relegation, but Luton Town got relegated. So I think Charlotte was correct in that. Contract talks have not happened for months. The two sides are vastly far apart. And what the message has been conveyed is either you sell him or he's walking for free in 18 months. So that is at play here. But again, Charlotte continued to insist. We're not, we don't feel any pressure to sell. Like we'll do whatever it's not like they necessarily, you know, ownership doesn't desperately need the money. Like this is modern football. They're like, I'm assuming that this ends

with a sale this summer, but hey, we'll see. So Darby County is the team to watch here and talks are ongoing between those clubs and Charlotte. And as of recording time, nothing's been agreed. 15 minutes ago, Darby County signed Luton Town's captain who is a center forward, Carlton Morris. Yeah, so we all stay tied together clearly still. The little triangle that we live in.

Patrick Ajamon, listen, from my point of view, you can understand, right? He's trusted himself the whole way. He's bet on himself from D3 to D1 into the draft into MLS next pro into MLS He's pushed himself into the national team like for starters if you're him looking around you're like, where's my contract and second of all like Every step I've taken I've been able to raise my game to that level. So why would I not keep taking steps? I think it's fair for Charlotte to say well, actually we don't know that this is the right step or Maybe he could go higher like maybe it isn't the championship for him

And I think watching him for the next three games Hopefully for the US could potentially affect that like if he plays well against Costa Rica, Canada and Mexico If that's what it ends up being in through a gold cup You can't ignore that and so I think there's the potential that this could get better. But you also, I think if you're a Patrick Gajma, you want a guaranteed contract at some point and you want to make your money. So it makes sense that there's multiple sort of pressure points in this all moving around. And for Charlotte, they're going to have to replace him. Although took Lamadi scored a gorgeous goal. And he's been really good yes he has played in that place so

they've done some of the work in advance they could change the shape a little bit as well as we've seen like in the attack and it sounds like they're gonna be able to close on Pep Biel. Yeah so Charlotte Sear finalizing an extension of Pep Biel's loan through the end of the season. His original loan deal was set to expire on August 1. Everything stays the same. He's not a DP on this loan extension. Kick that can down the road to the winter because we're going to get to the MLSPA info later. But while we're here, his salary came out at 1.5 million.

That ain't no wiggle room if you have to sign him with a transfer fee Which obviously Olympiakos would be looking for how well he's been playing. I'm sure pet BL's Representation or saying hey, he's playing at you know best he's been in the mix for best 11 or they don't like hey like maybe if things happen that he could be a DP but For right now for the rest of the season He won't be and they'll figure that out down the road And so they should draw will still have an open designated player spot to use this summer Should they choose and again if Ajaman goes I'm expecting a DP 9 to come in They are top priority on discovery for Jorgos. Jakumakis. He's

Going to leave Cruz Azul this summer. He wants to come back to MLS. There's options in the Middle East as well We'll see kind of how that all goes and again and this just being first on discovery this summer. He wants to come back to MLS. There's options in the Middle East as well. We'll see kind of how that all goes. And again, and this just being first on Discovery, it is a point to say like, oh, like they're interested in them or maybe they just want to make sure that they have the priority if they decide this makes sense for us, or they go in a different direction, or they could, you know, hey, LAFC, do you want him? Great, give us 150,000 a game, right? Like, so Discovery is a good way to look at like, oh, they really want him or it's like, it's not the be all end all. And they haven't had conversations with real life.

Well, it means at a minimum, they've thought about the play. Yes, yes. We're not just making up a connection. Of course, right. I think no one has done more, we have their rights, but we don't sign the player then Charlotte and This goes straight into their playbook of we're gonna flirt with the former Atlanta United player until we sign something else

That they did with me Cal. I only run for a year and a half Which you know working out you get once you get into a certain lifestyle, even if it's maybe not ideal It's hard to get out of those habits So I can understand the like you want to open your phone. You want to send that text message Maybe you shouldn't Rihanna has her rules. You're gonna follow them or you're gonna not and Maybe Charlotte's incapable of following them. And so now they're doing the same thing with Yaku makis who I Think would be a pretty clean fit It hasn't gone the way it should in Cruz Azul.

I think if you are a club, you have to question stability long term with that player. Like he's now moved every six to 12 months for the last X amount of years. But I think Charlotte is approaching like a win now space with you would say we have took Lamadi like that's the future and so maybe we're willing to Make this deal happen now with to line him up with Zaha and BL on this loan and all of this See how far we can go this year and then figure it out after that and also As much of a known quantity as you're possibly gonna get with a big-time signing from outside of major league soccer

Tom continue to roll for us. So from outside of Major League Soccer. Tom, continue to roll for us. So Mauricio Pochettino, US National Team head coach, he was in Dallas last night to watch FC Dallas play and what I was told is Lucho Ocosa was one of the reasons he was there. The two, the pair have spoken and that was part of this trip here that we'll see what happens. Ocosa is in, is working on getting his citizenship and again Pochettino is exploring that option if and when he does get that citizenship to potentially call him up so that's something to keep an eye on with that connection and that's where our national team coach was last night. They played in Dallas. Yes. So he was in Dallas. Didn't have to go to the game. I'm telling you he was

there partly for Lucho Cosa. That's my reporting. Yeah I think it would be wild to have a player who could be eligible in your pool and not to take a look or have a conversation or connect and I think Lucho's elevated his game again over the last few months and gotten comfortable. Him and Musa are like a really dangerous one-two punch This was a bizarre game against San Jose with the weather delay and everything else Finished for two for San Jose on the road, which I guess actually isn't bizarre for San Jose That's like pretty standard for them. Hold on

There being two red cards and six goals and a weather delay in Dallas San Jose is the most expected thing in the world That is true. That is absolutely true. Although Chichorongo being back and being hot on the goal scoring sheet was not part of it. My PetsRMusa golden boot run, we're slowly inching back up to where we belong. I also think assist should be more heavily weighted than they are right now

because PetsRMusa is a really good creative player. Tom. Next up, Leo have contacted LAFC about a potential deal for Olivier Giroud sources told me. This would be a nice lifeline I would say for LAFC to move on. It hasn't worked out. Tarantolo has not adapted to Olivier Giroud in any way. I still maintain, I know that you know I'm wrong about how big of an impact I thought Olivier Giroud was going to have. I still maintain if they played possession-based like they were when they signed him, not when he arrived, I think that this signing would

have worked out. But it just does it for either party right now. And Leo to be calling with what, six months left on his contract, it would make sense for all parties for something to happen if Leo have identified him as a guy They want to sign and again he came from that club. That's where he Did he break through there or was that montpellier regardless? I think montpellier. Um Olivier jerud not working out at lefc. This could open up a dp spot and give a lifeline. It was funny. I was talking to um a cs o The uh yesterday granola and give a lifeline I was funny I was talking to a CSO the yesterday you know

like I'm on Pellier Grenoble and Montpelier well regardless he these France's all-time leading scorer he came from Ligoune obviously I still like he scored goals for AC Milan before he came to LFC I think I think he'd still scored goals for them I digress just refusing to take the L on this one. I was talking to his, go ahead. He's not fast. The game is fairly open here. LAFC plays super direct and he doesn't fit that. So like he might even score goals in MLS for a different team.

I would agree. I would totally agree. I was talking to a CSO who said like, kind of like joking like, man, like, I was hoping that that was gonna at least Hamstring LAFC a little bit longer like through the end of it was like mirroring the conversations I had with people from other clubs when she was signed out and Belito from Kansas City was like ah damn like they got they got a they got the

Life raft here on this one. So we'd work out for LAFC and that's been something that they're good They're good at they are good at this. They are good at this. Stipe Biuk was here for a year you know the Mario Gonzalez like they haven't had like even when they miss even when they miss it's not been like what Toronto FC is dealing with right now with Insinia and Bernadeski where it just completely ruined the team for four years. No I think they they identify players they pay their market value for the most part they identify players because of where they sit in LA and the way they've played and how competitive they've been, where they get players who are in a decent market that other people want, and

they are pretty quick about keeping the resources fluid. They turn players back into transfer fees and then flip that into new signings or potential new signings, as well as anyone in MLS. I think a lot of that comes from in their first year or two, they like built up a bit of a transfer kitty right with the Atuesta moves and all of that in which they very quickly, I mean they sold Omar Gaber for like a million dollars two months into being a team without ever playing him. And I think in general they've like kind of kept this money fluid to be able to swap things in and out. And their spine has always been pretty consistent.

So like they don't get killed by this. But with the way he's playing, you have Jeremy Obobici on the roster who's giving you equal to or potentially more. And he's locked in for a couple of years. Like it makes sense to do it if they get the opportunity and it goes back into that whole list of players you just named of like players that you don't even remember we're all LAFC and then they move on to the next

one and then they would have what two DP spots open they would indeed they wouldn't I mean they still do anyway I guess that part doesn't really matter well it's not a DP yes yes oh he is. Yeah, I knew that we both knew that I Don't know what that's like. Just like I said that he played for Leo and then I immediately caught my He's a midget lane graduate, you know We're locked in across the board bringing our a game today as a group Yeah I think two DPS opening up also fascinating with Toronto leaving

Like can you kind of rework the team in the image of what you think it'll be post dolo? And still be competitive this year, which I don't think will be hard. Is there Boa? I'm good Club America conversations. I mean, dude rumors. I didn't even hear that It's it was catching like wildfire Mexico that it was just like they they asked about the longer and like maybe they did He's not like I don don't know how much- Did they ask in the way where they were like, hey, we're playing you in this club World Cup playing game. Do you think Dennis Belonger is gonna play?

My favorite part of like the rumors is just like, oh, bombasso. And I'm like, dude, bro, like, yo, teams call about players a hundred times a day. And like, yeah, Dennis Buhanger's really good. So again, maybe that happened. But everybody, like, would he wanna go? Probably, like maybe, probably not.

Would LAFC sell him? Almost definitely not. Like, it's just, and then it was like, oh, like, Club America could use Dylros in the negotiations. It's like, oh, the dude that they've had on loan for three weeks, like, yeah, that's gonna be a big part of selling one of the most consistent and best players in MLAs. Like, oh, the dude that they've had on loan for three weeks? Like, yeah, that's going to be a big part of, of like selling one of the most consistent best players in MLS. Like, give me a... Also, if you're Club America, at this point, you've built a track record.

You're like, yeah, you're going to call about all these players that are in MLS that play well against you. And then tell the media immediately. And if some of them work out, then that's fine. You'll get Brian Rodriguez and you'll get whatever other pieces that fall through for you and the ones that don't don't and it doesn't really matter This is a random insert here into the ice cream shop Tom literally as we finish this show and we'll continue on with the rest Of the show we already recorded

You broke some big news around the New York Red Bulls and I couldn't have us walk away without it No, we couldn't walk away just just as we were almost out to start pulling us back in Um sources tell me that the New York Red Bulls are in active talks, active negotiations to sign German forward. Timo Werner from RB Leipzig. All parties are working towards a deal. Nothing is imminent and one person told me that nothing is quite advanced yet, but this is a long-term target for the Red Bulls.

They were interested in them last year. He ends up going to Tottenham on loan. This is something that makes sense, I think for all parties and hopefully that they're able to get a deal done. But again, nothing is guaranteed. They do have the open DP spot to facilitate a potential move for Verner. A potential deal would reunite team of Verner with his former Leipzig teammate, Emil Forsberg. And I think this would be an absolute home run signing for the Red Bulls if

they can pull it off. It's one of those signings where it's hard to contextualize them and we're going to do the MLSPA conversation a little bit of like big money isn't always guaranteed and all that stuff. I do think though the success of Emil Forsberg makes me feel like there's clearly a runway where Forsberg's performances had dropped a little bit at Leipzig as he finished up. He had stepped away from the Swedish national team. He wasn't the same player he was. He has come in and crushed it in Major League Soccer. And I think going into a system you already know,

but at a level that maybe is a little bit different, or you can argue below what you've been playing at, it is a pretty comfortable way to enter Major League Soccer. Also, Lewis Morgan went down with another injury yesterday after a long wait and return. And one of the issues with this team has been they replaced Dante Vanzier with Shupa Moting,

which I think has been an upgrade. It's not a massive upgrade and they have not added anything else around that. And that's the conversation we've been having is like, okay, if you got 2% better than last year, that wasn't big enough. You needed to get 10 or 15% better. And a move like this would be that, which is you're adding another piece alongside those

attacking pieces who can be his own star, his own goal scorer, his own creator. I think Schupen Moteng likes to drop in a little and create. Yes, he does. We know that Forsberg when he's, you know, attacking going forward, he can slip that pass through, he can create chances for you you and with verner's ability to stretch The field there's also more space to operate underneath for a sofa for a Forsberg or whoever else is playing in there And that would be really huge for this New York Red Bulls team as well as it could blunt a little bit Of just the unknown with Lewis Morgan. Yeah, and I'm not just talking about this injury, right?

This is a player now who was out large stretches of last year comes back this year missed two years ago The full season comes back this year hurt immediately comes back This is his first start returning from injury and I believe it was like the 27th minute that he came back out Yeah, it's unfortunate and what they like I can lose Morgan is a top quality player They're better when he's in but one thing that this helps with like you said that takes away some unknown because him and And lewis morgan and emile fordberg and teemo verner and chupa mothe saying that front four could play together so I would like this as both its its insurance slash like What they miss most when morgan is gone is the verticality. Um in the games when particularly when sofalt is in playing

most when Morgan has gone is the verticality. In the games when particularly when Sofo is in playing, everybody kind of in the attacking phase wants to come get the ball. And then you're trying to get verticality from your wing backs, which Cameron Harper before he got injured was nonstop running. If they think that that helped a lot.

And again, what that's what Sofo has been best at with this team. So again, this is the type of profile that I think that they need it. And they should be targeting with this last DP spot. And I'm very happy that this is a potential reality and again, there's nothing guaranteed but this would be a really good sign of What the team is doing and trying to win and this is a win outside player like Forsberg like

Chopa moteng and and I think that that's worth celebrating whether or not they get this deal done I hope that they do it's Red Bull Leipzig in the New York Red Bulls and team overt like This is not a new concept for Timo Ver- like, so, I think for all parties, they're all technically in the family here. Hopefully something gets done, but I'd understand if it doesn't. This is one that I think has gone official,

which is Nathan Saliba is headed to Anderlecht. From Montreal, currently playing with the Canadian national team, scored a goal against Cura Curacao in the last game. Has started all three games in central midfield alongside Matthew Chouinier, which makes my heart skip a little bit and makes me very excited. And he is headed to Anderlecht full time. It's the next sale for this Montreal team. It felt very obvious. He has been the top of their prospect list post the group that they sold that came through under Nansi for two plus years now I

don't know that they've always done right by him on the field I don't think he's had the support to be in the right positions to always show his best but this feels like a really good move for him of going to the right level going somewhere where they have experience helping develop you and push you on from there and he can continue his career and for Montreal there can be Ceylon in there as well. Yeah so this deal including add-ons can get north of three million I think that that's kind of the region like he's not the same level of like prospect that Ishmael Kony was coming through but it's a really good player I think

Anwar liked it, it's a great move for him. I really, really like this player and this fit. So I'm really happy for Nathan Sleba. And like, listen, I'm gonna have a lot more critiques for Montreal when we get to our next segment, but I wanna make sure to say, they are really, really good at developing players and not holding out for like ludicrous

valuations for transfers. What they do best is develop players and They are open to letting them leave for a fair price and they've done it time and time again And that is something that they should hang their hat on and it's been very strong and that is the nice thing I'm gonna say because that it's a lot other things to critique them for but they do this very well And the next one through they've got other players right young pieces that are playing now They look at this example and say if I can perform at a high level that I've got a shot For this so some other what official and non-official ones that have gone through town. Yeah, so this isn't officially up

But but Claudio Bravo is from Portland Timbers. He's very very close to signing for Argentinos juniors in obviously in Argentina This move would it be like around nine hundred thousand or just under a million kind of thing This would free up significant salary cap space for a player who was being paid like starting left-back and lost that spot to Jim or for a and and this was something that They saw coming in in pre-state like obviously they believed in for a and and it's worked out where this makes the most sense for The player for the clubs He gets to go somewhere where he'll be the starter and Portland free up a good chunk of salary caps a non-insignificant Salary cap space Jonathan Rodriguez is still on track for the season ending injured list

He hasn't gotten surgery yet, but that's still in the plans like nothing has changed there He you know barring some crazy decision or something changing he's going to get surgery be placed on the season injury list which opens his dp spot and portland are going to be aggressive and looking to fill uh that dp spot with with another player they came close to signing a center back from ipswich town he ended up staying in in england or not england because he went to swansea that's wales staying in the united or not England because he went to Swansea That's Wales staying in the United Kingdom saying that you going to the championship or wherever Swansea play at the moment So I could see them being in the market for a center back on top of the DP this is a team to watch this summer because I think that they're legitimately strong and

They are not the same tier. I don't think it's San Diego at the moment But I think they can get there with the right DP one One thing to note, Anthony, they have announced out, they're thinking six to eight weeks, which is big because in light of Jonathan Rodriguez being out, he has elevated to take over a ton of that attacking responsibility. He's been one of their best goal scorers. Um, so that's going to be a big miss for them as well. But as you said, like they are good enough to contend and they're a team that has normally tried to push into that space and Bravo, it's a little over 500k off the books

that, as you said, not a starter not locked in and has struggled to be a difference maker for them went on the field. Let's close out with some USMNT news. By the way, nothing to report here, but I will mention I believe Leon has now been relegated. So for off-field financial issues. Glad you brought this up. John Texter, of course, one of the owners,

Botafogo just sold part of Crystal Palace to Woody Johnson, who is the current owner of the Jets. So for any Palace fans out there, don't even hope, because it's already dead for you. It's already over, I can tell you. Are they going to sign Aaron Rodgers? It's as bad as it gets. It doesn't matter They're gonna sign someone that Willie Johnson's like I saw this person on the back of the New York Post

Well, I thought they might be interesting does brick Johnson play FIFA and if so, is that going to impact Crystal Palace's transfer strategy? I think there's a decent chance that it does Sucks to suck. Welcome to the Depression family, pal. Yeah. Let's start there. Matt Turner, that deal to Leon. So what I was told and what Leon has said publicly really strongly, they are very confident this is going to get overturned because they get to appeal this decision. I think John Texter, one of the things he said was, we've complied with everything that the federated like legal and like the Federation has asked for More or less like we are so surprised that they made this ruling and made this announcement

So they think it's gonna get overturned So as of right now if that's the thinking and they're that confident deals still so good, right? If they don't get it overturned and that's off, there's obviously no guarantee that they will get it overturned in that case Obviously like things would change obviously things would change. And things would change for Tanner Tessman as well. I know that teams called about Tanner Tessman, including Atalanta, at the start of the window or like at the start of the summer. And Tessman wanted to stay with Leone.

The consistency, he's enjoyed his first year. He knows that he's continuing to build. World Cup year, it'd be a bit of a risk to go somewhere else anyway. But if they do get relegated, Tanner Tessin is another guy that I would be expecting to be on the move. So that's the situation with Leone. One more on the national team front. Can I just say before you? So one of the reasons he sold his portion in Crystal Palace was because with winning the FA Cup, they both would have been in European competition and you can't. So to sell one and have the other one be relegated

and it was like a 24 hour one was like maybe you picked the wrong side on this one and didn't really work out for them. I think Portofogo also lost in that same like 24 hour stretch. They did qualify for the next one. Yeah. Somebody, I believe Sam Jones has said this probably if not. The feeling around Atlanta United beat reporters and people were locked in with that team is that Bonafogo have not paid the Tiago Monta transfer fee at all. So that's John Texter. It's in the banana stand in Lyon. They just got to get it out. Yeah. I don't know what to make of all of this. So maybe the confidence that this band's going to get overturned is misplaced, but

I can just tell you what they're saying and what they're feeling. And as long as that stays the case, and Matt Turner and Tanner Tessler will be there. If not, we'll revisit that. One more for the national team. At Letgo Madrid are finalizing a deal to sign Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis. It's 30 million euros up front plus about 2 million more in add-ons. Tottenham had a pre-arranged clause that they could sign it for 25 million, which is what helped keep this price down And people I spoke with at Tottenham

Believed that he wanted to stay in Spain and that is something that I heard as well so he goes out letting go Madrid I think he'll be a good stylistic fit for Diego Simeone if he gets on the field because And not suggesting that he won't but you know he was one of the best defensive midfielders over the last 18 months in La Liga in terms of defensive actions. And if you're a dog in that midfield, you should be getting playing time for Diego Simeone

and that sounds like a good fit to me. Why would there even be a pre-deal sign with Tottenham? Because it was negotiated, Tottenham sent Gio LaCelso on loan and part of the loan deal was that... So he was never part of this kind of deal? No. They just made up a deal about this person and then he was like, yeah, that's never going to happen?

Well, no. He was interested. It was a possible, but then I let it come to a trick game and that's where he wanted to go. So if he had the option between the two. And this all comes, Charlotte FC is always going to be in every transfer story. They tried to sign Gio Lokelso and they felt like they had a good and Gio was Gio Lo Calzo was like I think we all better want to sign me I need to wait and then they signed Gio Lo Calzo at the end of the

Transfer window, so Johnny going to let it go Madrid somehow Charlotte FC is part of this too Listen as long as they have the discovery rights Has to go through them to eventually get him one day, we're just still on track following the same narration. Beautiful. So transfer is coming through right now. Obviously, we've got a ton to work on and a ton to watch. And one of the things we're learning is how much Claudio Bravo does cost and how much all these players are making because the MLS Players

Association has officially released the player salary information for the midpoint of the season. It's something we've waited for for a while because all of the off season moves, we don't know. So all of the contracts that were new, all the contract extensions, as well as all the new signings, we had no clear information on how much money they were making and how it was hitting the books. Now we have that information.

So it really paints the picture for us of team spending of how valued players were whether players are or not performing up to some of these contracts and how some of these teams are built Tom and We are only a few hours into it So we don't have like a hundred percent of what we're gonna have takeaways, but we have some big ones out the gate Yeah, so the biggest ones you look at the new signings. What are they making? Because we didn't have that if this is the first salary dump of 2025 Miguel Morrone and Chuky Lozano are the third and fourth high or yeah, the third and fourth highest paid players in a league

Let me get the list up probably should have had that ready to go. But um, I Figured particularly the Miguel Morrone number was going to be fourth and fifth. Sorry Miguel Morrone is fourth Chuky Lozano is fifth Lorenzo Insinia, still number two. Tough. Miguel Moron and Chuky Lozano, those were kind of two of the more key signings this off season. One of them has worked out really well.

It's San Diego and Chuky Lozano. One of them has not, and that's Miguel Moron and Atlanta United. Atlanta United are not gonna come off super well in this one because even Alexi Morantchuk who was signed last winter I mean last summer sorry his number has jumped a million from last summer which is not abnormal because of when these deals are signed how they pro-rate it the MLSPA whatever Alexi Morantchuk is on

4.9 million Manny Olatelot is on 4 million, and Miguel Almiron is on 7.9 million essentially, which makes them one of the highest spending teams in wages and we knew that they were one of the highest spending teams in transfer fees, like literally the most opulent two transfer windows with 50 million in transfer fees. And now they are the third highest salary team in the league to be really, really bad and rudderless and heartless, which is not great. And I know Ronnie Dyla is one of the most expensive head coaches in the league.

So it's tough timing here for Atlanta. That is not ideal. And it's not exactly what you love to be saying for a team that is struggling to get results. And it's not wholly unexpected because we knew they had the 50 million that they had sort of made over the last year and they've always been one of the highest spending teams. But I think it's hard to see like even when you just look at this list and you look at Moronchuk and you look at the players around him. Evander, Carlos Heal, Lucho Acosta. Those are all players that could help an Atlanta team right now.

So if that's the scale of player you're talking about, the possibility that it could have gone really well is pretty high. Yeah. And Avander, that's a good segue. So he's on 4.7 million. As part of the move to Cincinnati, he did get a new contract. That's a few hundred thousand more than what Portland thought they had an agreement with with him that ended up not obviously not happening and that him requesting the transfer and everything else happening so a Vander ends up

getting a little bit of a bump on what he almost got from Portland I thought that was interesting Kevin Denke comes in around where Emmanuel Latelot is and again Denke is working out really, really well for Sid Sze. Then there's, you know, Brandon Vasquez, another new signing at 3.5 million. Shout out Brandon Vasquez, happy for him. And Austin.

And then Eric Maxim Chupo Moteng is around 3.5 million. I knew that his deal could not be tamped down. Obviously not close here. And like we talked about Thomas Muller on the last show. I understand, and like Chupo Moteng, I think has been good for the Red Bulls. This is not a shot at him. Thomas Mueller, what he's done for Bayern even in the last few years when he overlapped Chupo Moteng, a lot more than Chupo Moteng did with Bayern. So if I'm his agent, if I'm Thomas Mueller, he got 3.5 million, I

should be getting 8 or whatever it is right like that's what you take in negotiations. So I understand why when Cincinnati said 1.5 million or whatever it was that get no way So, um, I think that's that's a good little wrinkle And again, I'm sure his camp had a good we're able to find out information on what you were saying Or at least what the ballpark was so there's nothing nothing new there In spending Miami is still the highest obviously because they have messy who's the highest paid player in the league and boost gets who's the third highest paid player They have another player in the top 10. Yeah, I was gonna say and yeah, Jordi Alba 6 million So he had been not a DP in recent years. He was listed at around I think 1.5

whatever the number was that is because his Contract was mostly being paid by Barcelona. That was over this year. So that's why he's up to six million. He's like, I make six million a year, whether it comes in euros or dollars. You let me know, but I'll be picking up my check. But so that's why they couldn't make a real play at Kevin De Bruyne or Angel Di Maria or insert any of the other 400 players that they've been linked

To so that's an interesting thing. We'll see what happens in the future of Sergio Busquets as he stayed as he stay on a DP deal Jordi Alba did sign a new contract who knows what next year's number looks like I don't know so I think that's gonna be something to watch and then three of the top five spending teams are below the playoff line and That is Atlanta. that's Toronto, and that's the LA Galaxy. None of them are close either.

And there's, you could have an argument or debate on what does this mean. What I'd say is I think these are a couple isolated incidents, particularly the Toronto one, right? Like the ownership completely turned off the money. They can't get out of Insign senior. I think the lesson here is Don't sign people off of transfer market like Bill Manning did Is probably the biggest one and then the LA Galaxy we talked about them, right? Like we both like this is still you know, who knows what Ricky Pooch could have saved this year

But Ricky Pooch being injured he's their eyes made player and everything else so I think it has more to do with don't sign players who don't want to come here on transfer market I fully agree with that and I think probably the right sort of answer to take out of this is like some of these are isolated incidents but what I'm gonna do is throw an uneducated take out there. Go ahead. About this whole thing. Let it rip. This is the danger of a DP low salary cap leak. The danger is that even though you're spending money and the money should guarantee results,

it is so isolated on one, two, or three individuals that the team can fall apart anyway. That doesn't mean that Atlanta, Toronto, and LA shouldn't be good enough to build the rest the way the Philadelphia Union do inside the salary cap as well as those three players. But it shows one of and it's like this. I think it's probably used as a red herring debate internally, which is well, spending doesn't equal results. So why are we going to increase spending when it doesn't equal results? I think the problem is it is so structured the way it is. I mean even look at Miami Like Miami has to blow out these numbers on the Federico Redondo's of the world and the Sergio Busquets Partially because Messi wants them and they're his friends

But also because that's the only avenues they have to spend and if they could I think they would spend a little more across the back Line and up the spine and just spend consistently could, I think they would spend a little more across the back line and up the spine and just spend consistently. And so I think one of the issues with this is just like you put so much on these few individuals. You're also trying to hit these one off situations of like, can we find the Javinco's of the world who are at this level? And my hand is up high because we're listening to a podcast, but also willing to come and will try and will care and will lead and like those are kind of unicorns and all of this it's hard to say that and then turn around and be like look at how good Evander is look how good Lucho is like it does work more often than it doesn't but I think it's just a sign of like how hard it is

in the structure that's been created to make the spending worthwhile because it is so isolated on what you're doing, where if you had a bigger salary cap option or a way to increase more spending for more players across the board, OK, we struck out on that center back, but we spent a million plus on three of them. So two of them will hit and like our team won't drop off the level even though we got that one signing run. No, and I think that that is is a, that that's the realest takeaway, I think,

of anything that's going to come out of this because what I want to say, and this is the biannual PSA that every time these salary numbers get released, this is interesting. I understand why myself, fans, agents, players, media, everybody looks forward and takes thoughts from this salary release. The player side of things I think is more important to take things away. The team salary spend, you can be misled really quickly because this is not the be all end all. So the biggest correlation in European soccer in particular,

but South America, like traditional leagues without salary caps, the biggest correlation between standing is wages, wage spent. The highest wage bill typically is where the table goes, right? There are anomalies, there are outliers, there are different ways, there are teams that are smart, but generally speaking, the higher your wage bill is, the higher. It's not that in MLS because of everything you said, Gus. It's not that in MLS because it's a salary cap league. So this total salary, how much do you spend on DPs

is really what this list tells you. And not in total, it's in just salary, right? Cincinnati, they are a big spending team, so this is where it makes sense. Yes, they're fourth in salary, and Atlanta is the other one too. Yes, they're third in salary. That doesn't include the transfer fees that they put in. I remember a couple years ago, Orlando were one of air quote the lowest spending teams in the league because they were like bottom 10 in salary.

After spending 8 million on Facundo Torres and 3 million, 4 million on Cesar Araujo like it's not it's not always totally correlated and like Philadelphia Union this doesn't count the infrastructure that they spend on their robust Academy and and what they believe is the driving factor of their success so again like Lorenzo Insinia plus Bernadeski is 21 and a half million dollars something like that Those two players make more than 22 teams in the league come by Because there's only so much you can spend on your non-dps So if you're let's just take a team in the middle New England Revolution

I don't think that they're not a low-spending team but Bernadeski and Insidia make more than their entire wage bill combined and it's not close because if you give Carlos Hill the money he's getting but then you spend whatever the transfer fees are on the other players that doesn't get incorporated into this list so again be careful taking too many takeaways from this because what this shows most is how much salary you spend on DPs and also it I've gotten calls from a couple of teams. It doesn't, it's not a hundred percent correct because, and again, this isn't a shot at the MSPA.

I'm so happy with the transparency that they go, but just to be careful, like Colorado Rapids, they don't pay Kevin Gabral two million, but he shows up as Kevin Gabral's $2 million of Colorado Rapids. A strong portion of that is LA Galaxy and then the Galaxy bought out that budgeted. But the Galaxy is still paying him. Julian Gressel is another one. He got traded from Miami to Minnesota, or Wave technically I guess was how it went. He's listed at 1.2 million for Minnesota. He's not. I don't know exactly the number and that's why I didn't go through, because there's a lot of stuff that I don't

know. Austin FC, they bought out Jossi's artist. He's still listed in the MOSPA startup because he's still being paid but he doesn't show up on Austin FC's books right like so that's another way to just be careful like because if you like Colorado or 22nd if you take away the money that other teams are holding for their players they're probably closer to 27 28th and then like these are just like little things that I just want everybody to be careful. This isn't the be all end all. It is a valuable resource. It is a good thing to look into.

More transparency is always good, but just don't be careful that, you know, the a little bit of information is the most dangerous thing, right? It's not comprehensive. Yeah, there is some stuff that's fun to read through. You can look through for best steals that you think under striars clearly the answer to that right now where he stands but that's well yeah and those ones are like crazy yeah there are throw there for the people who are those by the way I mean I

can't imagine being a player on this now I think once I pass a certain threshold I wouldn't care like you think so you all know I'm ready dude Oh But I would do it in the other way, which is I would be embarrassed if everyone knew my salary Except I'd be like well, if you know, I'm rich, then you know, I'm rich and like cool, whatever it is It is amazing The hit percentage and how low it is on the higher spends. Like you go to 900, 850,000 and up on salary and it is not, it's got to be below 50% hit

rates. And that is like wild to say. And maybe some of that leads because of expectations, like you have higher expectations because you pay more and whatever. But it's always a bizarre list to look through and as you said it doesn't tell you everything about these teams and what they're doing and what they're spending and Ambition and all of that because there's a bunch of other spends that happen around it and off the field and all of that Other stuff. Let's finish off with a little national team convo. By the way on the MLS side of things

full slate of games on Saturday team convo. Oh, by the way, on the MLS side of things, full slate of games on Saturday, uh, two games on Sunday that are really good. Columbus versus Philly and LAFC versus Vancouver. Obviously the LAFC Vancouver stuff, you know, LAFC coming off club world cup, the one one tie against Flamengo, I think was a cool event. Would have been nice to hold onto the lead for like three full minutes after Bwonga finally gets the goal. But I think in general, there's some to take from this club World Cup experience for this LAFC team.

And I think they showed they're capable of playing with a lot of these teams. Now, similar to what we said about Seattle, like, can you take that transition into league play? And this is a huge moment for them to come right in with this Vancouver game. On Saturday, we've got Cali Classico up in San Jose and Orlando against FC Cincinnati,

which is just one of those, um, weathervane games of like where does Orlando actually sit? What are they capable of? They are obviously missing Alex Freeman, which is a big one, but overall have a lot of their pieces around Cincinnati as well. A lot of their key pieces are still with them that aren't playing national team. so this is are gonna be a really fun matchup this weekend the schedule then through July 4th with all International Club World Cup whatever is chaos from here on out of like Thursday games Sunday games Tuesday games Monday games We're gonna kind of try and stick to our schedule We're gonna do a special interview show that we'll put out on July 4th or around then

our schedule. We're going to do a special interview show that we'll put out on July 4th or around then so that Tom can go eat 19 hot dogs on the day and celebrate of course nitrogen. What's in them? Sodium and whatever is in. Nitrogen. Yeah. What's night something with an N is bad for you and hot dogs, which I always ignore because I love hot dogs. And I'm like, don't talk to me about it. I just don't want to know while I'm eating it. Um, but otherwise we'll have our full coverage here at soccer wise, and we're going to get official details and put out our announcement about our event in Austin, which we're really excited about. Cannot wait to get down there. Let's hit national team on the way out here though, for Canada, a weird

game against El Salvador, a little bit of hockey thrown in there from the El Salvador team to pick up a couple of red cards, some physicality, some violence. Canada ends up surviving with a two zero win. They officially win the group to move on to the next round. So we are getting the knockout rounds for the gold cup coming up this weekend. And then as I said, the semifinals will be next Wednesday. So Canada will face off against Guatemala

That one's also in Minnesota and it's a doubleheader with the US Costa Rica game Guatemala beating Jamaica was what really put them through in the group I don't know that they are an outlier compared to the teams that Canada played in the group stage But I feel a little bit of tension from Canada fans like it was not super impressive to close out the group stage, but I feel a little bit of tension from Canada fans. Like it was not super impressive to close out the group stage. It was not super impressive against Kira Sao. It was not overwhelming against El Salvador. This is not your full team because of club world cup and other things like that.

Uh, I think missing Steven Ustakyo has been big. There were reports that he might leave Porto and come back for the gold cup. I have not seen anything followed up on that, which would be really big. Obviously, Porto getting eliminated in the group stage by Inter Miami. Um, that's been sort of the weakness for this team because the goals have come. Jonathan David has led the line, promised David looks good as well. So you've got the best name times two in the front of that attack. And I think the back lines looked solid for the most part. But like

these are a couple big games for this Canada team. I won't say the pressure is on and I think they just announced a friendly that they're going to play Columbia in Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey in October to go along with the Romania and Wales friendlies that they've already announced. So like they're trying to challenge themselves But you can't replicate meaningful games and for a program that's won one gold cup ever and it was 25 years ago This is like a pretty big week. I Completely agree It's funny to like here like I don't doubt that there's some like consternation among Canadian fans

But it's just like I don't know man four years ago like where was this program and even like from going from Herdman to Jesse Marsh like from the outside everything is going up and I understand that like so are the expectations so it's like oh no we should be curious out by multiple like El Salvador this so I'm really curious to see how they do in the knockout rounds I would say that they're the favorite for the gold cup I don't know if you agree or disagree guys oh interesting that's where I'm at like I put them ahead of Mexico in the US right now, particularly with the rosters I would have said that except I think

Mexico's on a better side of the bracket Yeah, that's kind of in the US having to play in the semifinals and Mexico playing Saudi Arabia and then the winner of Panama Honduras I think it's probably an easier route. I think Mexico's looked fairly strong, but I think it's fair to say coming into this, I thought Canada had the highest odds to win it. Yes. Yeah, and like, again, you're like the game theory

of like the bracket, that's fair, but like, I just think that Canada is the best team and like they absolutely capable of beating US or Costa Rica, because that's not a not a foreign inclusion and then possibly Mexico. Yeah For the US Costa Rica game. We didn't talk about it a ton It should be a worrying game for US fans for the US in that they struggle to break down low blocks Which Costa Rica will play three in the back? They will sit in deep but Costa Rica are very dangerous on the break and like that

That's how the US lost in the Nations League that's how the US has conceded most of the goals in games like this over the last two years and a little bit more is Frustration trying to break down the block commit more numbers and a mistake whether it's a pass out of a center backs feet trying To break lines or someone trying to take another player on Because they feel like there's nothing else happening and then you're exposed and open in transition the other way and I think it's a Costa Rica team that's I thought they looked pretty good against Mexico in that exact setup so I think there you should be worried about that Alonso Martinez hit the crossbar in that game. You know, he can score goals, especially in that way

Galdi back into the team back in the program is a really big ad for them as well And then there's experience across the center back and Kayla Navas back into the team who? We found out was 38 years old today. I thought he was 43 So congrats Kayla Navas for being five years younger than I realized coming back to the national team and putting together some big performances is not going to be an easy game. I think we talked through our starting lineup in the last game. So if you haven't and you want to go listen to that, we did a long conversation about who we think will start who we would start and we put together our full 11 s for that game. So that game coming up on Sunday, I will have weekend recap stuff for you and reaction stuff for you.

We'll be back with some live stuff as well next week and then we'll have our interviews and then we'll be back from the July 4th holiday. So early, happy Canada Day to anyone listening and that's what you're doing. If you're going away on vacation, enjoy, take us with you. We'll put out shows. We will continue to bring you some coverage

as you sort of hang out. And we are going to continue to have fun here at Soccerwise. The summer of soccer continues. There's some cool Club World Cup stuff coming up. Sad to see River with the loss, although fairly chaotic ending. But I think the River Boca fans have been two of the stars and to have them both eliminated. I also worry about what this means for these clubs. Like we saw the Allen Velasco money. We saw as well with, wow, Druyusia. Like those were signings made to get results

in the Club World Cup and make that money back. And we talked about it with Inter Miami. This is probably a $10 million loss for those two teams. Those were like $10 million signings. It is not a one for one, but probably not ideal for those clubs to not be able to get those results. Otherwise, we're gonna continue to watch and see can Inter Miami, Monterey, congratulations to them.

They end up going through as group winners. I think they looked very composed over the course of the group stage. And I think they're the strongest team in the region. So it makes sense to see them make it this far. But obviously, Inter Miami and Monterey carrying the CONCACAT flag as we move into what feels like a very European setup. And then this feels like this happens all the time.

You get two Brazilian teams playing each other in the next round where it's like, oh, the world cup's going well. The 2014 world cup, I think it was like Brazil only played South American teams until they played Germany. It's like, okay, cool. So they'll just eliminate each other as you go along this road, which kind of sucks because it's not exactly the point of what you were looking for. These are the teams that play each other all the time. So you'd like to see them play other teams. And of course we get, I think it's Palmeiras Fluminense, oh no Botafogo Palmaras in the next round which not exactly ideal. Whatever it is we'll be in the discord watching all of it so if you don't already subscribe

get you access to the depth charts as well with all the updated salary cap information and we'll be hanging out there talking soccer so thank you all for listening and we'll talk to you again very very soon.