SoccerWise - US Soccerwise | Roster Reaction w/Alejandro Bedoya, USOC Semifinal & Copa Derby

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Alejandro Bedoya joins Tom & Gass to celebrate some of his youngins making the USMNT Roster. Then they react to the USOC semifinals and look ahead to the weekend

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Soccer-Wise for a big show. The announcement of the U.S. Men's National Team, All Window, a U.S. Open Cup semi-final in the books, and a weekend of MLS action to get ready for. Tom, it's the full Monty on this one, and you are in peak physical and mental condition ready to roll. Glad to be back, David Goss. I unplugged from MLS longer than...

just about ever in, you know, 10 days off. It felt nice. I missed you though. So you were just watching Next Pro on your free time? Somebody who's out, I think I was like, not a huge college football affair. Like I enjoy it, but like their games are Saturdays. One MLS is Saturday. So there's a lot of overlap there.

And like I just couldn't, like I didn't watch a second of MLS over the list. And what, they're in 12 days. So what's that, you know, six match days probably? Because every team, you know, the fixture congestion. And so somebody was asking me, I was like, brother, Texas, Ohio State, please leave me alone. No, I don't have time. Previlles.

I need this more than anything. But I got to tell you, Gus. So I like, when I'm like ramping back up, you know, we, I got to talk to you on the phone the day before that I felt like a preseason game. You know, get, you know, get ready. It's like in NFL, they don't, they don't play preseason anymore. So you're not ready to get, you're not ready to get hit. You know a phone call from David Goss. I'm ready to get hit.

I felt like it was more like draft day where I was calling you and being like, hey, Tom. Like, we're excited to have you as a part of our family. but like we work here. So show up day one, strap strap your pads on and let's go. All glory to God, yes, coach. And then I always do. And of course it was a phone call.

It has to be speaker phone held away or old school wired phone. Like New York Giants, where did you get a wired phone to get Jim Harbaugh or John? New York Football Giants. Are you, were you surprised it? And you had a posted note that said,

you know, Tom Bogart always. Yeah, yeah. But gosh, I saw it. film of all time. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, but it's entertaining. It makes no sense.

Of course, no. Of course, that movie makes zero sense. No. But, but, but so, a few things that, that struck my fancy of catching back up, obviously in group chats, I knew about Cabin Solvin going crazy. So, Cabin Solvin had, you know, two weeks that was like messy goal contribution pace. I guess that happened while I was gone. Austin of C's one point below the playoff line?

Yeah. That just can't be right. It's going to be a part of our continental tire race to the playoff segment coming up. Copa to Tejas. And Dallas are three points off first place in the West? What? How long have I been done? It's going to run through Texas.

Cincinnati has waived Matt Miasga, which I reported right before I was gone. And they have the most goals conceded in Eastern Conference in a league that has CF Montreal on Atlanta United. And Guillory was still Miami's coach until yesterday. And Kansas City beat LFC? Yeah. What? I did this a week ago kind of with Doyle when I got back from Peru where he like explained the world to me. In all of that, by the way, I think Matt Miaska's kind of still on Cincinnati.

Like he like didn't clear a waiver physical or something. And that's the part where you're like, Major League Soccer, man. There's nothing like it. Joseph Martinez scored a goal yesterday. 2026, year of our lord. Yep. In a semi-final. It's fantastic.

well I'm excited to have you back we had we be on on Monday so it was I couldn't believe I saw that on my feet I was like I wanted to listen to this show because I usually do when I'm out but like well and truly I got through like the intro and you're like you have a special guest and I was like yeah I'm sure it's Doyle then I heard Webe's voice I was like you can go away there's no way that you've been to bound

and got him on the show well no the key was I bent over backwards to build our schedule around him our live 10 a.m. show was a 10.30 five show and everything else. But I love Weeby. He was in Miami for Campione's Cup, the Mikhailob Old Trip. Campionese Cup, the most important competition in the world. We shared a couple beverages postgame together, which was great.

Him and he had two Davids to visit, David Beckham and David Goss. So it was a good day for him. Congratulations to enter Miami. I will say that I started at 8. And around 1145, I left the building and no one had come out to do media yet. So I don't know how they feel about it. it but yeah um okay so we got a lot to talk about especially the us men's national team and we are

very excited for it because alexo badoya who has joined our family at kickback um is going to come join us he's been in camps himself he obviously is playing currently with three of the members that were called up uh for the first time most notably kevin sullivan and neil pierre and frankie westfield so we're going to have a lay on in a moment to chat about that uh we are going to of course talk about the u.s open Cup semi-final, which was a huge deal on Wednesday night, and now we are matched up. Columbus crew will host St. Louis coming up towards the end of October, so we're really excited for that one. And then, as I said, we've got a weekend in which we've got some big playoff matchups, and we are going to dive in a little bit deeper on what San Diego is building

from the academy level all the way up. All right, well, let's dig into the biggest topic of the day, and let's start with the U.S. Men's National Team roster release, the first camp, post-World Cup. And to do so, we have one of our own. a member of kickback here. You know him as a USM&T player, Philadelphia Union player, and mainly the best player to ever come out of Boston College on the men's soccer site.

With their Alejandro Woodhoy. What's up, Holly? What's up, David, and Tom, how you doing? I don't know about that. Charlie, Charlie Davies is going to have a say about that. B.C.com. This was me leaving breadcrumbs to see how much Charlie consumes our media. I just want to see, I just want to see if this ever gets to him. And what it does

in six weeks and I get the all-cap text, bro, what are you even talking about? That's what I'm looking forward to in all of this. But we've got a lot to talk about 28 players announced by Mauricio Poititino, and we've got four games coming up, unprecedented sort of friendly window with the new structure of the way FIFA set it up, which I think is a lot nicer, chance for the team to be together and train and actually build sort of lineups across the four games rather than 48 hours,

play, gone back across the ocean, or wherever you're going. And it was a pretty big release. 13 World Cup veterans are coming to this camp of the 26 that were at the 20206 World Cup. 13 uncap players have been named to this roster, 12 of them teenagers. And the average age of this squad is 22 years and nine months, which is four years younger than the World Cup squad average. Thank you, Tim Rieme, for part of that. And I know how you can...

That's my problem with the union, you know. Hey, listen, you and Cabin are both in your primes. When you average together, you're in your primes. That's all you have to have. That's the only data you need to give people. A lot of news coming out around the roster, but it really is the excitement around a lot of the young players. So we're going to dig into the names that are on here,

a little bit about them, what we expect to see, what this camp looks like a little bit. And then some of the names that were left off, like a Christian Pulisicic, a Weston McKinney, Tim Wea, Flo Bolligan and maybe some names we wish we had seen on here, like my guy Nico Securus, which I will keep fighting for the entire time. Tom, you've been working since, I don't know, 4.30 in the morning this morning. What was your initial reaction when you finally saw the actual roster?

I was pleasantly surprised and I think congratulatory to Pouch and the staff in that I thought that there was going to be some sort of happy medium of, all right, you know, four uncapped teenagers. You know, maybe it'll be gozo. I think Kevin Sullivan played his way onto this roster, you know, one of Julian Hall or not Jeremy. I think that all of these players should have gone Neil Pierre. But I was preparing my head.

I was, you know, what is the likelihood that all of these kids are going to go? Justin Ellis is somebody that I'm pleasantly surprised by. Cole Campbell, Matisse Albert. These are guys that I think it's really good that Pocitino and the first team staff are getting a look at them. And it's nice that Tyler Adams is there. It's nice that Matt Fries is there. It's nice that some of the Chris Richards,

like there are still a handful of veteran players, and particularly in Adams and Richards' cases, they're still going to be pillars of this team moving forward for the next four years. So it was a good combo of all the young players that we want to see, and I think that was most important. But it's also not just a U-23 camp. And I thought it was going to be a handful of these guys. And I'm really excited that Pochicino kind of went full send into the youth movement.

And I think that's the right call, but I didn't know if it was one he was going to make. So well done. Ali, talked to us a little bit. You've been here twice. Post World Cup first camp. What's the communication? Like, what's the point of this camp and sort of how is it handled? Having had a core group and an identity and an experience around the World Cup and now trying to shift a little bit but still keep some of those bullets?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I have some experience in that. I think my first game post-world cup from 2010. after South Africa was against Brazil, MetLife Stadium. You know, that was a game where Brazil had Namar and Gonzo, two young superstars at that point. But I think Bob Bradley, who was a coach at that time, you know, fairly, you know, he brought in a lot of the veteran guys

from the World Cup that year and sprinkled in some new guys, some new faces, right? I think with this roster, I was really excited to see the amount of, you know, youngsters on the roster, new guys. I think that's 12, I believe, teenagers on the squad. We have 13 holdovers from the World Cup. Obviously, you need that veteran leadership, that presence there. But you need some new guys to come in, get to know them a little bit, show their talent. This is a very unique window, actually, with four games.

So you have plenty of opportunities to see how these guys come in, cam, how they prepare, how they react to certain game like situations at the international stage. because we know this is yet just another step. I mean, I remember my first game, the speed of play. I mean, I had to play against Brazil. It was my first post-game cup game. But it's another level. But I think Pocetino is using this opportunity to get to know these guys

in a personal level, right? They're going to be, you know, training down in Atlanta a little bit at the beginning. Bring those guys in, see what it's like that, you know, he talks a lot about building culture. So this is another important step. and building that culture that Pocetino and their staff want the guys to be all about when they put on the U.S.S. men's national team jersey and just introduce the guys what it's like to play for a national team,

what it takes to represent, the pride that comes with it, and see their talent firsthand. So I'm really excited. I really like the roster. Obviously, I've had some inside scoops here before you, Tom, being in the union locker room there. but I'm super excited for my guys, you know, as I would say, the three, three guys that are representing. Yeah.

I know Quinn Sullivan's obviously just coming back from a major injury, but he's there fishing around as well. But yeah, this is a perfect opportunity for Pocetino and his staff to see these new up-and-coming guys. Because regardless of what age they are right now, between 16 and 20, well, in four years come the World Cup, next World Cup, they're going to be 20 to 24. So, you know, entering their prime years. Yeah. Ali, obviously we're going to talk a lot about your teammates that are in this roster. And for me, the five players that I'm most looking forward to, two of them are your union teammates. Cabin Sullivan and you appear, I think, are close to the top of my list.

A couple questions on the two of them, because I think it's extremely interesting for both of them in the summer. So, Gavin Sullivan, when you guys got your well-earned break, like every other team, MLS team did for the World Cup, you got a couple weeks off or whatever it was, Ali. John Shearer, the Philadelphia's sporting character, is telling me, like, Cabin came to him as just like, you know, the two team is playing, right? He goes, yeah, he goes, I want to train with them. I want to play with them. I don't need a break out. I want to train. And John was talking about what it was like in those few weeks of just the way that he leveled up this summer, not just because he played with the second team, but it was like, okay, like when you guys were coming back to games, beyond Ryan Richter being the interim head coach and things getting much better pretty quickly, beyond Neo-Pierre coming back

into the team. Like, Cabin was a different kid at this point. What did you notice in the like, last games before the break and the first games coming out of the break with Cabin in particular. Yeah, look, I think he was already starting to come into himself, right? Even just before that break, making the difference and impact on our team. But during that break, like you said, a lot of us had a break. He didn't want to take a break. No days off for Kevin Sullivan because that's just his attitude, right? That's just his personality.

That's the way he's always been. He's always wanting to work to get better, to improve. So I think that's something that people can really come to appreciate. And, you know, I'm sure Paul Chen and his team, you know, I saw a few of their staff coming around our facility. You know, that's what they want to hear. That's what they want to see, you know, how these guys handle themselves, you know, not just on a training pitch, but outside. So, you know, Kevin took no days off. As I was doing prep for the World Cup, you know, I'm trying to follow Yand Diomande with Avery Coast and I see Cabin playing, which surprised me even.

I didn't realize that he's been to partake in that game because technically the first. team players we were all supposed to take a break and here he is playing um but yeah i think since the break i mean look like you said tom you mentioned that he's played himself into i mean he made it whether or not he was already coming here let's say two three weeks ago well he certainly made a point no choice yeah no choice and and and uh his attitude it's everything you know i think you know you've read some things here and there and you've seen some things that the poise in media that i guess you guys ran and took it and said that it made Maybe it was pointed at Kevin Sullivan, which I'm not so sure about.

But, yeah, he plays a little bit of swag. Yeah, drag you guys. You know, that's your guys' job, right? I guess I'm part of it now, too. Yeah, but. Throwing stones from a glass. I'm here backing my guy up. No, but, you know, he plays with a swagger and a personality.

And I think the best players in the world and these talented players, they need that, right? They need to believe in themselves. They need to be confident. He's not cocky or he's confident, right? There's a fine line there. And there's a different stuff. So talk to us a little bit about that. because I think that's the part I've tried to express to people and me and Tom know way less than you of like I covered him at GA Cup.

Covered me in these competitions where I've said, you know, and I took this as well with the comments that he was asked about the World Cup with Alexi. He didn't say I should have been there. He didn't say he didn't go on social media and complain. He was asked the question, which is do you believe you could make a difference? And I think what we'd want for all young athletes is the belief that you can. how do you see that experience with him of the balance between cocky and confident as sort of a veteran player as he came into your group? Yeah, I think I've always lived by, you know, there's a quote saying whether you think you can or you can't, you're right, right? So you have to have that belief, right?

And he has that belief and his abilities, his technical quality and what do you think he could provide. And I think, like you said, he was asked a question and he felt that maybe, yeah, I believe enough in my abilities that maybe is a sub in that type of game. I could have came in and maybe, you know, done my thing and help bring something different, right, than what he saw out there. I was out in Seattle for that game. He was out there in Seattle in person watching that game. And as a player, I'm sure he was just itching, you know, for this opportunity. I know I was, you know, texting back and forth with that then. He was just this atmosphere is amazing.

I can't wait for hopefully one day, right? He's dreaming big. And so that's where he wanted as a young kid. But at the same time, like I said, he's pretty humble. he comes in, he puts the work in, he's willing to, you know, learn, take information in, listen, work on, you know, different attributes and that he's trying to get better at. So he's a go-getter, for sure. And I can appreciate that when he first came in, you know, I had my fair share of talks with him

as a young kid coming in and thinking that, you know, oh, I'm going to run, I'm going to be able to do all these moves on these senior players. But, hey, Kevin, you know, you're dealing with grown men here. So just take it, you know, you got to be protective of him also, you know, Hold on. I need to stop you there because I think me and God are going to fight over each other to ask a follow-up here. We need to like the first training sessions. Did you take it upon yourself to be like, okay, I need to go in hard on a 50-50 or I need to tell them if you try to make me again, I'm going to kick the shit out of you. What were those conversations like? No, some of my sometimes, which he's still learning sometimes, right? It's like what's sometimes what's the right play? He's very direct. He wants to, he's got that one-on-one special ability that things would be different.

but sometimes in the games you're playing small-sided things. Like when is it the right time to keep it simple, to go past two, three guys? Once you've gone past that first two guys, you better be ready because that third guy is going to want to come home, take you out, right? So he's going to deal with that stuff. But that's part of what makes him that type of player that fans want to watch, right? Because he's entertaining. He brings something to the table. But yeah, I definitely have had those conversations in terms of like, you know, 15, 16 or just be, you know, be careful, be mindful.

You might get to this guy's head. You know, you already meg them. He's coming for you hard. So it was more being like that protective guy that know that when you've played at a certain level, you know, like we've grown men. You know, it is what it is. Like you're the young new kid on the block, right? Like you got to earn a little bit of that respect in a way. But man, he, he amazes us all, you know, every week in training.

He pulls something off. That's something that you can't explain. And it's very few players have the type of ability at this young age. I was going to ask that. You know, I was looking through some numbers. So on the last World Cup, you know, the first camp after the World Cup, Hexon Aronson was a part of that. He had played 10 to 12 MLS games at that time.

Kevin started more games this year than that. Brendan Aronson obviously came through the academy, a number of other high-level, super productive young players. Like, how does Kevin compare? And what do you think the ceiling is? Doyle put together a piece that was the top prospects in USM history and that's the conversation, right? He's being tied to a Freddie Adieu and

Landonovan. Where do he land on Doyle's list? I think he landed third as a prospect all time. Yeah, yeah. Well, look, I think you know, the hype is there because he's shown, he's shown it, you know, he's shown

his ability. It comes with the territory. He's backed it up. I think he's done a lot of backing it up on the field. It's not just word of mouth or talk. But You know, I guess to answer your question, I don't like doing comparisons. I don't want to compare him to this or that player. He is his own unique player.

But I think what I will say is I think it's a great testament to the Philadelphia Union and what they've been able to do here with, you know, the Academy, the YSC. And the way the union has gone about developing players and finding players, right? Scouting is very important recruitment. Kevin Sullivan comes from a very huge soccer family. You know, we got to talk about Quinn Sullivan. He's had, last season, he was fantastic for us. Unfortunately, the injury came back, but you've seen it now as he's coming back and form the quality that he has.

And I'd always say this, Larry Sullivan, for those who you don't know, he's a huge soccer guy in Philadelphia circles. His father, his mother also played as well. And he's got a great support system, which is crucial for players of this young age, you know, especially in the social media days that we're living in to, to keep him grounded in a way, right? But to let him be able to, you know, flaunt it and express himself on the field. So I think he's very different than these other guys that have come before him, you know,

the Brennanson brothers, the Mark McKenzie's Austin trustees. But I think it's just more of a testament of the ability for a player to come into the union system. Whether or not you fit necessarily that full, you know, the philosophy of play that we play. Because I think Cabin is a little bit, that different style.

of play type of player, right? But he gets it done. He's got this unique talent and ability, and they've been able to identify some of these players, and he's had the opportunity here, or at least he's finally been given that opportunity here, you know, under Ryan to excel. Ryan's coach him for, you know,

known for a long time. And yeah, I'd be remiss if we didn't talk about Neil Pierre, Frankie Westfields, who are two other union players who were called up to the national team and, you know, having great, great seasons to see it. And like, everything, is doing is very much stuff we've never seen before, a player his age at his production

in the attack. Neil Pierre is a six, seven centerback who hadn't played an MLS and now is in every game goal score and has been sort of dominant as part of this 10 game unbeaten run, eight game win streak. What makes Neil special and how ready is he for this national team experience? Yeah, Neo special, I guess, is the unique frame that he has. You know, from a physical standpoint going to be that age and not be a basketball player is, uh, and instead choosing to play soccer is amazing. But, you know, he's got great, great feet, uh, for a guy his size. Um, I love the, the types of passes that you sometimes see him hit in games, you know, it talks about his vision. Uh, in our style of play, he's very aggressive stepping through and, you know, with that large

frame, those long legs, he can, you know, reach, uh, for these balls away from the attackers. So defensively, you know, his ability to recover as well. You know, it's hard to get beat from behind. Obviously, you have Nate Harrio, who's super fast, covers him in space. But, you know, those long strides make a big difference. And that's without saying he's a weapon on set pieces, on every corner kick, on every free kick. I mean, it's just literally, you just put it up there and let him go for it, right? But, you know, he still hasn't won the bet that I've said from the beginning of season that he wouldn't

on me. So that still hasn't happened. So I'm waiting for a posterized from him. But, you know, I think I know how to deal with him. But no, he's, he's been fantastic. And I think that's another player where every player goes through a different developmental pathway. He needed. And I think he'll be honest with you. Like that move to Lingby, Lingby, the lone move, did wonders for him in terms of his confidence, his playing time. Obviously, it's a level up from MLS and X pro. But it'll allow him to move abroad by himself mature, not just as a player, but as a person. Mentally, when he came back, he was ready. You know, he scored some goals over there, was playing, and came back very confident.

And so I can, I recall when he first came back, he's like, you know, I'm ready to fight for a starting position. And he came with a swagger too, you know. It was really good to see. And he's taken in stride. I mean, this guy is scoring goal is left and right. And like I said, he's always dangerous on any set piece. And he's really, really playing well on both sides of the ball defensively and starting our attacks with some of the passes he makes.

So obviously, this is the start of their career. It's not the end. It's not the final point. You've played at the international level. You play with them. Can these two guys, and we'll talk about Frankie in a moment, can they play and be a factor in an international game today? Like, is this camp for them going to be finding out? or do you think they're good enough right now

to be on the field against the Peru, Chile, Mexico? Yeah, I think, yeah, that's tough to say. I mean, I don't want to set these certain expectations and then like, oh, my gosh, they have like, come on, I'll let your media in the bus screen. But they've shown now. They've shown that they can play against grown men against talented players.

You know, we've played some Mexican teams already at the League's Cup. They've done their thing against them. we've played MLS back since the World Cup break and they've solidified themselves as key players for our team at these young ages, right? So they've shown the maturity, they've showed the confidence, they've shown their technical abilities.

And this camp, like I said, international level is a step up. The pace of play is a lot faster. The level of intensity goes up. The types of players are going up against, you know, maybe stronger, bigger, faster, all that. will take into account.

But like I said, with four games and training sessions in between, this is a great, I guess, barometer for where they at right now, comparing themselves, I guess, at the international level. Tom, this is the part for me that's most exciting, which is, Ollie kind of mentioned it, like, Kevin probably four months ago or three months ago, if we asked U.S. staff, like, yeah, he's going to be considered for this camp because of the prospect he is. Not just him.

pretty much all of the kids in this camp have actually earned their spot as well. And in the past, like I looked at this list that Paxton Aronson was a part of in 2022. And you look, I think back to the U.S. played Portugal and a friendly post-Couva, in which Weston McKinney scored a goal. And Emerson Hyman was a part of the group. And like all these players were in, which were these are the prospects we think can be the future. We're going to give them a chance now. But Julian Hall has nine goals in MLS already.

Justin Ellis has 11 assists in Major League Soccer this season. Peyton Miller is in every game starter for a top three team in the Eastern Conference. Xavier Gozo has already made a move and played three times for Crystal Palace. I think the most exciting thing U.S. fans should feel. I've said this for a while. It's not a golden generation. It's a pipeline. Is that these players aren't just talented.

They are already earning the opportunity to be a part of this camp. I think it's your chance to trademark golden pipeline. I think that you have an opportunity to think about that. move it around in your head. No, I think it's a really good point, Goss, where this camp should always be about, okay, time to start looking forward, projecting for the future,

and it's about the younger players, and maybe to your point, like, hey, maybe they haven't quite gotten the minutes that would be requisite for call-up if they were 24, or if they weren't showing what their pedigree with the youth national teams, but it's time to put them in.

As you said, all of these guys are not just playing minutes, but difference makers. Kevin Sullivan, six goals, seven assists, I am less stats in his last eight games. Julian Hall, including Open Cup, double-digit goals, Justin Ellis, 11 assists. And Adjimametti is playing basically every minute for Reddy in New York and looking really, really good. Of course, all of these kids will have some inconsistencies because they're teenagers. That's normal.

But it's not even just like earning minutes, it would be one thing. And that would be one thing to applaud. It's like these are not just guys surviving. Like these guys are difference makers for all of their teams. like Orlando needs Justin Ellis even like Antoine Greasman next movement attack. Where would Red Bull New York be without their two academy kids that are in this camp? So it's really, really encouraging and it is going to be so much fun to watch these kids take these first steps with the senior team. And going like a little bit of a sidebar and all these guys like where the stage of the world, there are dual tri-quad nationals.

That's just always going to be the case now because, those of how global soccer is and the more aggressive scouting that all of the countries are doing, like top to bottom. Like, you look at the Germany has dual nationals. France, like, everybody does, right? But so it shouldn't be a surprise, but look at Justin Ellis. The Uruguayan Federation took him out to dinner like two weeks ago. Yeah.

I heard it was Diego Forlorn himself. Albania pushed really hard for Audeemetti's what I was told. Poland's been in contact with Julian Hall and his family. Like, these are all kids that it's not. not just that the U.S. are trying to rush them through. It's, they are commodities for the other nations that they could represent as well. And, you know, Kavana, I'm sure he'd be getting calls

from Germany. If it wasn't so abundantly clear that he's going to play for the U.S. national team, you know? So I just look at the comments on his social media, the Bangladesh. Yeah. Oh my God, that's right. He's going to have, just the every U.S. post

about Kavin in this window is going to have 110 million likes because it's going to be every person in the population of Bangladesh, which is absolutely wild. But no, that's like, again, going backwards, Julian Green brought to a World Cup, great talent, hadn't earned the spot yet because he hadn't played. All of these players have, and even though this is a camp where you would test new guys out,

I think the fact that they've done enough to earn the spot and maybe even over the last few weeks or the last few months, some of the guys who were off the World Cup roster is huge. Gozo, we thought maybe could make a late run at the World Cup a little bit. probably too much too late. Goes over to Crystal Palace has already appeared three times off the bench. So, like, again, you make the move still being able to find minutes and find production. We're going to preview next week, like the games, because we'll get into. So Peru is the first game on September 26th, I'm going to say, Saturday.

Then they'll play Chile that Tuesday. They'll play Mexico the following Saturday. And then they'll play Canada the following Tuesday. So we'll have two weeks of USM&T. We have our U.S. show, which this one's combined with that we'll be doing throughout the window. We'll have a bunch of guests on. We'll talk about all the games and everything we see. But let's talk for a minute about some of the guys who aren't here.

Christian Polisic, not on this roster, Weston McKinney, Floe Balligan, Tim Way, are probably the biggest names in this. And Policic sort of, he was, Marisio, was asked about him specifically. And he went on a long answer where he said, after, Quote, after the World Cup, we start to change and to see and to analyze all the players potential for players for this camp. Like I always say, I think the 28 players that are going to be involved in these four games, different circumstances are the best players that, or the players that we want to see and we want to work with. And it is not a point now, the first camp of this new cycle, to start to explain why one player isn't included.

Why is me trying to be Pocitino, and this is brutal. No, no, no, no, no. I was, that quote, it's, it's, I guess, you were leaking. I wasn't making fun of you. I was going to, but I'll get, it's not a point to start to explain why one player is included, why another is not? Because if not, maybe we spend one hour here, maybe all day, why not maybe 100 players that are not in the squad?

Why are not another 28? Always we work to try to call the players. We believe his best with his roster when analyzing the circumstances, and that's it. There is nothing where he's supposed to just, you know, hates more than being asked, why is this player not in them? He refuses to entertain it. He gets ornery. He has no interest in answering it.

The best he'll do, he'll go like mess. a big picture like that or he's done another camp or he's he's he's pushed back really hard of what do you mean like a first team roster in a rosser or a stronger roster or stronger roster the 20 guys six guys were here every time like he's he has he does did not explain one single world cup snub not to the media not to any of the players either he did not have any conversations with those guys there's nothing that he dislikes more in a press conference and being asked why is this player here and why is this player not there's a very different for greg braltern except for the random times he chooses to answer the question on his own,

which is always the best part. He's like, why would I talk about one player? It's like, well, you're sitting here for a press conference. You're going to talk about a play. That's a part of what's going to happen. Listen, Wesson McKinney, Policic, they've dealt with injuries. He did specifically talk about Bolligan. He said we've been in touch since the failed transfer in Everton.

He's dealing with a little bit of injury. We're hoping he'll get minutes with Monaco. I say this all the time. To me, to peak for the national team, we have to peak for your club. And I think having players who are maybe going through fitness or trying to establish themselves, it's not a bad idea to let them train locally and stay in front of the coach and get comfortable and become a part of the group. So I can understand most of these as well as opening the door for some other players to step up and sort of be leaders and maybe not go into the shadow immediately of a Weston McKinney or a Christian Polisic and sort of have their own opportunities. Ali, what do you make of sort of the dynamic now, guys who got left out of a World Cup,

guys who are getting brought back, how it all sort of fits together culturally? Yeah, it's an interesting point. I mean, I think I would technically agree with your assessment in terms of you calling guys who are a peak at their clubs, but we know obviously preview to the World Cup. Giorina was called and added to the World Cup even though he wasn't really playing at a club, but he seems to found a good landing spot playing now and having an impact, which is important. But I think more or less, yeah, those guys, I wouldn't, read too much into it.

You know, some of those guys like you mentioned are going through maybe some injury issues or reacclamating themselves with their teams after maybe a failed transfer move, a new coaching change and with foolish sake. And but, you know, but culturally, to your point, maybe, yeah, he's trying to see who else can grow within some of these guys that are returning from the World Cup as new leaders, maybe as play a bigger role in changing the national team culture to what Pochitina would like to have. I think Tim Way was actually another, you know, obviously a good player, but a big figure in terms of the locker room culture.

I've seen and read around there that he's technically a lot of times the DJ of the group or playing music. So he's got a big standing with the group. But so this could be Pocetino's way of, you know, these guys. He knows what they're about. He knows them very well. We all know their qualities, both on and off the field. And so maybe it's time for some of the other guys to grow in their presence while also give an opportunity. for these younger guys.

Cool. Sorry, Tom. No, I was just going to say while we're talking about people who aren't in the camp, No Kai Banks, Portatino spoke about this before the roster came out

several days ago, so it wasn't a surprise. No Kai Banks is not on the German senior national team roster, but he's heavily reported to be on the German U-21. I haven't triple-checked the info, but because it's U-21 Euro qualifying,

that makes an official competition, if he plays for Germany, to play for the United States, he would need to file a one. time switch. So it's, it wouldn't lock him in, but it would set him on a path that if he's playing. And I don't think he's getting caught. I don't think he'd get called into that squad with the idea of like, hey, don't play me. I'm just, you know, looking around. Like, I don't, I don't think the German, uh, U21 Euro qualifying campaign would work like that. Maybe St. Trong,

those conversations are going with Pachitino. Like me as a player, like listening to you say like that, it's just like, do we need to waste us all this time and energy on recruiting this type of player, you know, like I would want these players to want to play for a certain country to represent that, that country. I mean, there's questions still out there. I think I just saw before we came on a call about Julian Hall, I think answering a question mentioning that he's actually still open to potentially representing Poland, right? But, Alay, you're Colombian American, right? You love your Colombian background. We've done interviews about going to the 94 World Cup. How do you balance then passion to play for one team with also pride in both cultures?

That's a great question. I mean, I think I'm very proud to be Colombian American, right? I wear that I'm going to see proudly. But I think just, you know, with Nookai Banks, I think it's fair to say that he grew up in Germany, right? So he might feel more inclined to, you know, try to see if he can represent Germany because that's what he's more familiar with. That's kind of how I felt. I grew up most born here in America. And I felt more American, if you will.

Every time I went to visit Colombia and play a street soccer, you know, I was El Gringo. So like, it's like you're like neither from here or there type of feeling. But like I just felt always more American. So it was I think more of a natural choice for me. So I think with No Kai Banks, I think it's more that how long, you know, for sure as a coach spent so much time trying to recruit a player who maybe is just, it's not, he's not there yet, you know, with America.

And that's fine. You know, we have now Neil Pierre, who's in America and or Haitian. American, right? I mean, he could, yeah, I can represent 80, too. But speaking to him this, this week, he's super pumped. He's amped and he's ready to see what he can do. No, it is a good point, Oli. And I will say with Pochitino, like, he kind of makes it a point that, like, he doesn't do a ton of, like, recruiting. It's not as if he's not, you know, the Federation itself isn't trying, but, but I don't think that they are, he's very, he's very clear about, hey, if you're here, you're here. And if you're not, I don't really want to want to talk about it. But so I did find

that interesting that it seemed like maybe U.S. soccer wanted to preempt those questions or I don't remember what the availability was that or if it was a one-off interviewer or something. Like I'm sure that he wasn't coming out, you know, trying to be, make the focus on Nocott Banks, but it just kind of was like a fluid topic of conversation. But I, listen, I think if he gets asked about it, you know, by us, I'll be in Orlando and St. Louis for the first two games. If he gets asked about Nookai Banks, by I think any one of us, I don't expect an answer or one that is particularly a sales mini or hoping to reach. I'm like,

I think it's a fair point of like what is the right line of being respectful of the group you have and wanting to be open to players with multiple options, but not seeming desperate or like, hey, if you want to go, you go. And so I'm Greg Burlitzer, his thing was always like, yeah, like, you know, Ricardo Pepe, you know, Sir Giniotepi, if you want to go to a Mexican camp, I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to hold big answer.

In fact, I encourage you to because I want you to see what we do, what they do, and what makes the most sense for you in your personal situation. So Nookai Banks, I think it's going to be a little bit of a different situation for all the reasons that I laid out. I don't know that for a fact. But, you know, it was clear he was involved in the U.S. senior camp last fall this time last year. It was very clear that he wasn't going to play because that would take him one step closer to being captied. I don't think that's going to be the case with Jeremy. Well, if you remember the series around the U.S. team going into the World Cup,

there was the whole conversation that Weston and Tyler and everyone went out to dinner with Flo Boligan in Europe. And I think Weston said, come on, man, you got to score goals. Like, it was a big dinner. We spent all this time on you. You have to score goals. And he did at the World Cup. So it worked out on that one.

But it is a fascinating part of the U.S. dynamic. And it is sort of, as you mentioned, it is a story with that. every player. Like that is just the nature of America. That is the nature of the backgrounds of most players in this camp. A lot of players to be excited about. One who is not there that I will mention is Nico Securus, as I said, just coming off injury, but has been highly productive. I would have had him in this camp. I think we had him on some of the projections that we did. He can't nitpick every single spot. But I would say this. If it was me, and I put this on social, I would probably let Gio stay at Strasbourg, because again, you know he can make a difference at the national team.

He needs to play every week at a club. He needs to be healthy for a long stretch and play. I don't need him to help me beat Chile in two weeks. I need him to reach his form and play straight for five months and finally find his feet. And I would have put Nico Secures in that spot. But you know what? No one paid me to coach this team, which is wild. I cannot believe they couldn't raise enough money to hire me to be coached.

said, Marisa Pachitino is the head coach of this group. We'll talk about all of this more, as I said over the next few weeks. Ollie, you're going to keep joining us over the course of the rest of this year, which we're really excited about. Congrats on just never losing a soccer game again in your entire life. Don't jinx it, man. Come on. No, it's okay, Ali. I'm a Knicks fan. Now there's no such thing. I'm undefeated now. Nothing bad can ever happen. But yeah, we're enjoying watching you guys play.

It's been really cool to watch and keep it up. Yeah, appreciate. And shout out to Frankie Westfield as well, making the team. Oh, yeah, tell us a little bit about Frankie before we. Yeah, I'll give you a little just a quick shot on just because I'm ripping the union here also in the way. But he's just a true Philly, Philly kid, you know, that Philly two that we talk about, that greatness. He's got that all in abundance.

So I think Pachitino is really, when talking about culture, reading between the lines, these are the Texas players that Pachitino wants on his team, too. you know, that are willing to fight for the jersey at all call, win at all cost attitude. He brings that to the table on top of, you know, really growing a lot as a player, you know, on a technical part. And on both sides of the ball. And he's deserving of this opportunity. And I'm just happy for him. I am hoping for some U.S.-Mexico moment where it's just Sullivan and Frankie just yelling Philly,

yelling Johns at the Mexican national team and just crowd going nuts. that's what I'm waiting for that Philly too to become out I'll tell you those three union guys can give you that yeah we got to get Quinn in there so that it could be the protection thank you as well see we've seen that against Miami right the moment of the season oh you thought you were an international World Cup winner well I protect my brother no matter what and it was unreal but yeah Ali appreciate you joining us for this one hey thanks guys

always good talking with you guys awesome chatting with Alay we are very excited for the national team games to come. As I said, we've got a lot of coverage coming up for you. We also have some big news. We started doing this going into the World Cup, but we are very excited to be working with American Outlaws to do ticket giveaways for the U.S. men's and women's national team games coming up. So six games from September 26th through October 13th,

we're going to be giving away tickets to 28 different fans across those matches. is so you can go to our Instagram account, soccer wise or our soccerize WOSO account, and you can respond with why you should go. Now, we're looking for people who are either going to their first ever game, bringing someone to their first game, maybe families who haven't been able to go in a while,

people that have never been into a sports section, haven't been able to go to a game in a little while. Go, tell us in the comments why it should be you if you have friends that this applies to really well. tell them to jump in and then also make sure to check your DMs because over the next two weeks we will then be responding and you need to make sure that you see that we have responded so that you can accept the tickets if you win and go to the games. But this is one of the things we started right when we launch kickback that we're really excited about, giving an opportunity for people to experience the games in person that don't always creating more access to the games and building our community just a little bit bigger. So make sure to follow both of our account, soccer-wise, and Saccharise Woso. And if that applies to you, any of those descriptions, you haven't been to a game in a while.

If it's hard to get to a game, or if you know people who would love to get into the sport, who you want to get to their first game, please make sure that they go in and comment for us. U.S. soccer, going to be pretty active. Men's national team, women's national team, straight into a U.S. Open Cup final. That is what you call a transition, Tom. we have our finalists for October 21st. It is going to be the Columbus crew hosting St. Louis in an open cup final for the first time, matching up in an open cup for the two of them.

Let's dig into the games from last night a little bit, and then we will look forward to what is a fairly heavy storyline final. Let's start with Columbus. Tom, I kind of dismissed them, I think, on the Monday show previewing this. of they're in bad form. They had played games over the last few weeks that felt like they had dropped their shoulders and sort of given up in moments.

And with the form Orlando was in, I wasn't sure that Columbus was going to be able to match them. But I did say, to my credit, Bryce Mendez might be the best player on the field. Sandy Rodriguez has that capability as well. It is a team clearly with high-level talent and match winners. And it gets what we saw, the opening 15 or so minutes of this game was

Columbus came out with energy. The crowd was behind them that came out on the front foot. And then as we said in the open, Joseph Frickin Martinez in 2026 scores an open cup goal. And who does he do it against? Orlando. Orlando.

This is still happening. He clearly has a relationship with somebody on the Orlando staff who was like giving him a big, like Joseph was reacting with Jovi Lee after the game. But it was just so. weird to see him near somebody in Orlando Crest and like laughing, smiling, like, touching his face, like, in, like, a way that friends do. And yeah, that's what I put it together. I was like, oh, of course it's Joseph versus Orlando. This Columbus team, like you said, Gus, they're starting

quartet and attack all summer signs, Joseph, Bryce Mendez, Santho Rodriguez, and Zarari. This is a team that was remade on the fly this summer, or at least reloaded to say they've still worked to be done for this team in the winter, but they're hosting a U.S. Open Cup final, and I thought that they deserved it. I thought they were the better team against Orlando. Again, the Joseph Martinez goal was off a set piece. Orlando could have defended better. O'Heda equalizes before the first half is over. And you thought that, okay, like, if Orlando were the better team, like now that they're on level footing, like, you feel pretty good about them. Antoine Griseman is substituted seemingly with an injury, 10 minutes into the second half right after

Bryce Mendez scored. It was a really nice goal. and Orlando didn't create much after that, Goss. Like it was, Columbus, I thought were the deserved winners and I just kept on waiting for more and more from Orlando that, you know, never quite came. And credit to Columbus for that. It was, once Griesman went out,

it was Orlando, middle third to final third stuff, very little cutting edge, ended up in a number of sort of like hopeful balls from the fullback positions. and Columbus should have made it 3-1 and 4-1 and 5-1. Like, that's Columbus won. They're going to an open-cup final. They don't care.

But I assume there is some conversation about inability to finish off chances late in that game. And, yeah, it was like the final seven or eight minutes. Columbus just knocked the ball around. Like Orlando couldn't get it back. Right. Got it back. They couldn't connect passes to get out of their own defensive half. and it didn't feel like a semi-final the way it ended.

Like it ended very much in a whimper for Orlando, which throws them in their own conversation. Like, we don't have to do this today. But, like, if Martin Prowman was going to stay, probably losing to a team that's bottom of the east and a cup semifinal was not part of the sort of formula of leading to that, right? They've flown up the standings. I think you would have said at the end of the year, okay, they make an open cup final.

You know, they are a clear playoff team. Maybe they contend in the first round of the playoffs. It's probably the resume to say this guy's done enough to keep it. This was a, this was bad. Like this felt very flat the way it ended. He was sort of arguing with the referees. He looked unhappy. I think that none of this gives you the feeling that you want coming out of it.

Although I will say, when Grisman was on, O'Heda, Grisman, and Ellis works. right now. Oh, my idea. Sure of that. I felt, I think I was the one pushing pretty hard that I think this work. Um, so that I was very,

and it was like, oh, he did a goal. I was just like, yeah, like that you can, that's kind of where I felt the best about Orlando in, in that game.

I was like, okay, they haven't been great, but like, so Columbus gets the goal of the set piece. Um, in Columbus, I thought,

though we're good, even in the first half, but it was like, okay, now Orlando, it's level. They've gotten punched in the mouth. And that was a,

that was like, that was like, was on his like fringe MVP run last year. It's like, oh, like that. Now we're going to see Griesman, O'Heda, Ellis, just some match winners kind of take over this game. And in a semifinal, you look at the moments. And it was Columbus's special players.

Like you said, Bryce Mendez, him O'Hita, Grisman, I would Sancy Rodriguez, like those four, four of the best players on the field, all four of them. And I would throw Justin Ellis as well, of course, of they're all capable of making a match winning play. And it was Sanjiu Rodriguez to Bryce Mendez.

And his goal, it was, He makes everything look so effortless and simple and, like, oh, that was easy. Then you watch it back. And, like, that was such a deft touch into the corner first time. It's a nasty finish. He glides, man. Like, I love this player. He's one of the most fun players to watch in this league already.

And it's like, I think him and San Diego is talking about combinations that makes sense. And particularly when West Hamble Alley is back next season. Oof. Like, that's a good attacking foundation for Columbus. And pretty much since they signed Joseph, I've asked why. Like, you know. Westma Albuali is the answer in the future. Give Chase Adams minutes.

Like, know what you have. You're not going to win MLS Cup this year. And I got my answer. Joseph Martinez scores a big goal in an open cup semi-final. Like, this guy's got a resume, and you can trust him in some big moments, and he won't panic in big games. And if Columbus, out of a season like this is able to steal a trophy, like, that's everything you could ask for.

at this point. And it would be huge for them. They haven't won't won a U.S. Open Cup. They won one ever in 2002. So it would be a pretty big addition for this club to do this year. And you get a chance to host, which means you're going to get to fill your building and show your fans what it is for it to be fun again and exciting. Like we sort of said this around Leaks Cup.

It's going to be a big event that you can build around. And in a down year, something for your fans. look forward to going past this or saying like, okay, this is what they're building towards. Yeah, and we're obviously talking about the other semi-in. I talk more about the final, but I want to highlight early here. Columbus, while they got the Henrik-Roodstrom appointment,

terribly wrong. They fired him a week before, I think we all thought it was going to happen, like right at the World Cup break. Why fire him 10 days before? And they were very clear with me. Like, one, we think the season is eligible, but we got an open cup quarter final

that we are not letting him be the one that's taking charge of and Laurent Couttswa is named interim manager and they should be vindicated. Laurent Couttswa, when what are you talking about interim? You're saying about Perlin. It hasn't gone great over the last few weeks the league for Columbus, but like I said this pretty early. I really think Laurent Coutawe would be a good,

I think he's deserved the full-time job, don't know if he's going to get it or not. I haven't asked the club. I don't know what anybody's thinking is. But getting to an open cup final and knowing the pedigree that Laurent Couta has, the DNA of the Columbus crew, and somebody that can take this mantle and keep going forward.

But, you know, he did fine at Montreal, which is just about as no one's situation as anybody as could have. And so it's not like, you know, Oli Gunner Solshire, like, Tulli, had a good run as interim coach in Manchester United. And it was just like, all right, we kind of have to give him the job, but this probably wouldn't be right. Like, Ron Couta is like,

if he wasn't the interim manager, he would be getting interviewed for this job. Yeah. And I think he's done enough. And I think for the crew, you know, I brought him. a few weeks back, Mo Farsi got in this fight, and it just felt like the team showed a little bit of grit. I think you saw it in this one, right?

Darrell D.K., Bumps, Shazzoatsky, and Stephen Marrera was like shot out of a cannon to go protect his guy. And those are not the actions of a last place team, right? That is sort of like a juice. And I say that and saying, I think there's still some championship DNA in this group. There is just not the depth to the roster. Like we could talk about the high-end stuff. There is not 7 through 14 is not anywhere near where it was two years ago. And it's not where the revs are.

It's not where Nashville is. Like that is sort of the gap that Columbus is trying to build towards. But if you have a style set and play and you cannot believe that Demet is the guy, not DeMay. Wow. Frodoin Slip. Freudian slip. That's going to be bad over the next few weeks.

Laura Gortois is the guy going forward. then you can start to build into that game model and say who are the right guys to go out and get and bring in. So it was a huge night for Columbus, as I said, a tough one for Orlando to take. And now Columbus will move on and they will host the final with Yon DeMay, who was a former assistant with Columbus, who led St. Louis over Colorado in the second game. I was super excited for this game. Both the team's game off wins. Colorado was six unbeaten, all shutouts at home over the last six games.

St. Louis is the hottest team in Major League Soccer. No Hoff and Navajo for this one. Whitaker gets his first start for the team in this game, which is a huge moment. And Colorado came out in lead and end. And I'm not saying St. Louis didn't cause it, but this was a tough night. Yeah, so set the tone to the first half. Reggie Cannon plays a ball back to Adam Bodry and it's just a complete lapse of judgment

and lapse of a technical moment. The ball back from Reggie Cannon it was not under pressure. I think he got caught in two minds. He tried to take a touch to touch bad decision, bad touch, right to Song Jun bin, and he gets around.

Bodri tried, like, Desprasion tries like football tackle and like a TV. Gianni, like John got like Sang Bin, he got back up. It's like another touch. He's like, I'm not taking a penalty. I have a goal here. I'm going to get up and go finish.

Yeah. Boji was really bad and not just that. And I feel for a young, talented goalkeeper, but these are the moments in a cup final. So it's one no at half time, goes in the second half. And then over by the 60th minute, you already kind of felt pretty dubious of where the rapids were at that moment was such a big mistake. And it's how good St. Louis are defensively and structured. And they won't beat themselves in moments like that.

and then Simon Betcher scores. Alexandria Maiton scores. It's 3-0 in the 60th minute. And this absolutely over. And like you said, I thought both games had the potential to be very, very good. I was really looking forward to this one with the run of forms for both of these teams, Colorado, having the home edge. The Hoff and Navarhu of it all is an interesting stuff. But he wasn't on the field.

Like, Porick Smith joked with me when I asked him a couple weeks ago about it. He goes, no, like what we're most interested in is hopefully being able to play St. Louis with 11 men. the first time this season, the first two games, I believe it was first half red cards too. And St. Louis came in. And man, like you said, they were obviously the better team even beyond just the mistakes. And St. Louis earned it now.

The, losing a semifinal is big. And all of these teams are kind of in the same space where it's been a disappointing season. And this was like a real opportunity to save some stuff. As bad as I said, it went for Orlando. It went worse for Colorado. Like it was, there's video that came out of Matt Wells leaving after the game, didn't go and sort of do the lap, applaud the fans the way he has.

Like, there was red cards rescinded, but it was chaotic for Colorado as this game went along. And that's part of like now you kind of have to reckon with. Betcher scored in the 52nd. Matan scored in the 60th. Like it all fell apart at the same time. I think Betcher's, I don't often do that like should have saved it. because like in general good opportunity on goal but the betcher's shot is like in bodry's body on the second goal and he kind of dives over it which is brutal but it was a gorgeous move

from st louis in out sucking the full back in volum is a madman the way he just like covers ground up and down the right wing it's a sliding ball across the betcher and doyle talked about it on the show, I think on Monday. Like, Hoff Navajo is a great addition. That sure has been good. And the fact that Navajo can play with him is one of the reasons that it's been a good acquisition because you didn't replace a thing that's working. And credit to Simon Betcher that in this game now, he continues his form and he's like,

you know, confidently leading the line. Do you want your whole season to hinge on Simon Betcher all the time as your number one goal score? I don't know. But for this season, it has worked. And it's a credit to him that he's sort of like taken that mantle and carried it. Dunkleman, another big game in Central Midfield for that pairing. And it was like a real example of a lot of what St. Louis has built into their team, their ability to play through

pressure, their ability to pressure you and make the game uncomfortable. And Colorado never, was never really able to get on the game. There was a little bit of controversy around whether or not the second goal should have stood on a VAR that went back. I have no idea how that goes to A.R. That was ridiculous to you. And like the initial tackle. Like five hours before, there's a 50-50. And that's where we're going back and watching and I ended up standing as the goal. Paxton Aronson on the replay, it's a tough moment because you do the thing where he looks up.

And the replay is like zoomed in on him. Looks to see if he got the foul, didn't puts his head back in the grass to like try and earn it. And it's like, that's a tough moment there. But it's a huge victory for St. Louis. So they'll go to their first Open Cup final. The history with St. Louis is great. I mentioned a little bit on Monday. So St. Louis has had 10 U.S. Open Cup winners in the city's history.

The last one was in 1988, dominance in like the 20s and 30s. We all know the history of the Hill and the players that went into the 1930 and 1950 World Cup teams for the U.S. So Missouri is the state with the fourth most open cup titles behind California, New York, and Pennsylvania. That's all St. Louis. That's not like, it's not Jeffrey. Jefferson City, Missouri, where they're having U.S. Open Cup victories. That is St. Louis. And I think the thing we were all so excited about when St. Louis came into Major League Soccer was, like, having another professional outlet top point to one of the historic soccer cities.

And they've leaned in and out of that at times. I was frustrated this year with the lack of, like, support I think the club gave from a business side of like getting the stands filled for the Open Cup quarterfinals. but this is a really cool moment to finally connect this team to the history of soccer in that city. Yeah, that was one of my first thoughts when St. Louis made the final of just like how cool it is because of the history of this city in this competition. I think it's really cool. And they'll go to Columbus where, man, the narratives write themselves, man.

So Yolanda Mae was the lead assistant or one of the lead assistants under Wilfr-Nanxi in Columbus. He's part of those trophy. winning teams. He's been with Nancy. And then Nancy goes to Celtic and says, John, like, I want you to come with me. Like, here's an offer. Like, do whatever, like, do whatever you want, but just know you have a place on my staff if you want it.

And DeMay was considered it. Obviously, he's extremely close with Nancy and the idea of being assistant at Celtic at that time, it sounded pretty cool. Not so much six weeks later. But, but DeMay thought, I've got a, I think I've got a good chance at being

the Columbus head coach. Or there's other vacancies in MLS. It's no secret that he was somebody high on the minds of a lot of people. And this was before Corey Ray has even named the St. Louis Sporting Director. So there wasn't an obvious connection there yet. But he said, you know, no, like I want to say, I think that I've got a good chance at getting one of these head coaching jobs and looking particularly at Columbus. Meanwhile, in Columbus, like after, you know, going back a year ago, a year and a half ago now I believe Isatoll and Corey Ray are in the Columbus front office. And they both contributed a lot to this team's success.

Besmichenko leaves and Isatoll is named a general manager. And then Corey Ray is no longer at the club and he was also up for that job. And then Corey Ray was with Montreal for a little bit. He gets named sporting director in St. Louis while DeMay was a finalist. Well, also Lauren Quartre was. the coach in Montreal while Corey Ray worked at Montreal. I forgot about that one too. So then all the while,

Yohan Damais is a finalist or one of the final candidates or somebody was interviewed for the Columbus coaching, a head coaching job. To go with Henrik Roodstrom, said it before, ends up being a massive mistake. Because of that, because Corey Ray wasn't named sporting director of St. Louis until a little bit.

It took longer than I thought it was going to, but if Columbus said, we're going to make Yon to make our guy, Yon Dame is the head coach of the Columbus crew team. It wasn't as if because they had the head start. And he was in their building. They have all that. So Corey Ray, who used to work in the Columbus front office,

goes to St. Louis. And St. Louis, Corey Ray, led the coaching search. That ends in Yon Dime. And now Yon Dime and Corey Ray and the Columbus DNA, the Wilfred Nancy tree, the Bezbochanco tree, is taking their new team in St. Louis into Columbus. for a final. And you talk to, you know, think about those years, a gossip when it was Bez, Isatol, Corey Ray,

head coach, head coached Wolford Nansi, and Kutuala was the second team head coach. There was a first team assistant. Demais on the staff. Neil McGinnis was a chief scout. When we would be there for finals, you talked to any one of those guys, and they don't, they weren't saying it in, in like, a conceded way. They weren't saying it being arrogant, but it was our belief is any single time we play here in Columbus, We win, right? Like that, that's the mentality that we want to have.

And we feel really good about it with this group, players and this group of executives, this coaching, all that. Well, now two of those people who helped make Columbus a fortress get to come and play for a trophy while, again, Isatol, Laurent Couta, and the DNA, the Bez is back in Columbus. Yeah. And they, it's their fortress, right?

Whereas Corey Ray and Yohan Demet and the connections there will feel like this is really incredibly cool as an opportunity for their first trophy at this club. Like, it's just so very fascinating, gosh. It is. It is, you know, we, in MLS circles, like, we don't have a lot of Bill Parcell's coaching tree and the Spurs DNA and like all that stuff. This is sort of the example we have of it. And we saw a little bit of it when these, this group of people he talked about in Columbus

would go up against Toronto. And we've seen a little bit when Chris Henderson left Garth Lagerway. and ran Miami as his own team. And, you know, we've seen pieces of it, David Lee, going now to Sporting Kansas City and potentially trying to sign Nico Fernandez Murcao from NYCFC. And the Albright and Noon in when Sincinnsey and Philly were playing the playoffs. Oh, yeah.

Those playoff games were awesome, the rivalry there. It was car crash soccer into each other. We saw Ali Curtis when he left Red Bulls and then sort of built teams to come back and play against them. So we've gotten bits and pieces of this. but, you know, this is like a really juicy storyline outside of the game. And the fascinating part of where it sits in this moment of this season is, you're comparing these two builds.

Like post-Nonce, post-Carnel, post-Lutes Fan and Steel, Bezbochenko leaving, like both these clubs had to reset themselves. And I think St. Louis is ahead of Columbus, but Columbus has invested, what, $35 million? in the summit. And it's kind of to your point. That's a, I think St.

Louis has the better structure at the moment and maybe a more complete build. But without Hoffa Navajo able to play in this game because he's cut tied to Colorado Rapids. Carlo Hosa, who was their club record signing

for a month before Hoffa Navajo arrived, he didn't play. He was a new sub on Wednesday in the semifinal. So you look at this attack on one side of St. Louis and then you look at Columbus,

then it's San Diego it's Bryce Mendez, it's, it's a Rari, it's Joseph. Like, Columbus will probably have the three best individual

attackers on the field and, and, but whereas I think we both think that St. Louis has the overall stronger collective and these are two coaches, again,

did they come from the Wolframanasi tree? They want to play in similar ways. Obviously every coach is, is unique to themselves, but like, there's just so many different, like, fascinations about this matchup. Yeah.

The, like, none less important than there's a freaking trophy on the line. And it's going to be a huge game in a stadium that's hosted several finals over the last few years with two teams that want to play, two teams that wanted. And like, I'm juiced for this final. So the context here, so it'll be Wednesday, October 21st on Saturday, the weekend before, St. Louis will face Minnesota. That one's an early game, 4.30 p.m. Eastern time. The next day is hell is real. So October 18, hell is real for Columbus.

then you've got the Open Cup final midweek. And then the following weekend, Columbus has Toronto, which is the Trillium Cup, the ultimate rivalry in Major League Soccer, and St. Louis has RSO that weekend. So that's also a piece of this. And I think that was part of Holza, gave you 90 minutes or whatever it was on the weekend,

scored a goal. Like you got to manage these guys through this season, through the restart for the newer players of like they're coming out of preseason into this. I would assume for both clubs this is the most important game of this season. For sure. I feel safe in saying now,

year one for St. Louis is a success. My God. Even if they fall down this game, let's say they finish eight in the West. There are nine points ahead of eighth place. Like, I, it's a fair, even if you're going with like, here's the worst case scenario,

but like, I don't know. Like, I don't see them slipping into the wild card game. And even if they make, the wild card game. Dude, remember where this team was in August 15th? Whatever, name the last few days before I broke the half of Navarro News. There was severe discontent with fans despite an unbeaten run that has continued and still going now. I mean, we got a lot of comments from St. Louis fans being like, why are you not demanding more?

Why is it so slow? Which KC fans have as well, right? Why is it so slow? They have a better. Yeah, and what we said, part of what we said was there is more work to do than just players. Like they are building, it was very personality driven with Lutz Fan and Steel before this, as well as the way they went out and signed players was very much like connections. And it wasn't, oh, here's a robust front office that is able to vet players and build in our game model

and use other things like analytics and scouting and all this stuff to bring in the right players. and St. Louis didn't want to rush into the wrong signings. So a lot of the signings they made to come into this year were the Dante Polvarez of the world and the Jazeela Raskos of the world, which were like low risk, low commitment moves. Sergei Up Board of a season. While we figure out who we are, yeah. And then when they were ready, they dropped 12 million freaking dollars on Hoffnavahou. And that the hope is that's sort of the continuation going forward, the big move to take them to the next level. Dean Doyle did like a playoff reset last week.

And in the West, outside of Vancouver, I think we both trust St. Louis as much as we trust any of these teams. And now they're in an Open Cup final to boot with that. They could qualify for Champions League through this, no matter what, they're going to play in a final, which is a huge moment for this club. And then on the flip side for Columbus, they are good enough to build a Champions League contender next year.

So if they'll win this, they've now backed their way into that competition in a bad year where immediately you can build off that and say, let's take this seriously, let's go into this, let's try and win this. And overall, I think you can start to build in some championship DNA into this team. My assumption is that if Lauren Quartois wins this thing,

it's his job. I can't imagine winning a trophy and not remaining manager after being interim, but also, what do I know? No one pays me to do that job. Either way, we're stoked for the final. We'll keep talking about it, obviously, as we had towards it. And there are, as we mentioned, storylines to boot, including Alex Matan going home,

which maybe is the biggest story that we missed in this one. I said I don't want to talk about Alex Maton at his time. Because all of this crew group you're talking about tried to sell me on it over and over again. And then he's come in and scored in an open cup semifinal and been really good for them. And yes, I see my mentions on Blue Sky that people said, people pointed out when it happens, which I appreciate and I respect. Let's talk drive to the playoffs, presented by Continental Tire. This is a drive to the playoff segment presented by Continental Tire, a long-time partner

and supporter of MLS and American Soccer. We talked a little bit on Monday show about the Western Conference, the battle, moving up and down, specifically around Dallas and San Jose. This weekend is juicy for matchups because we have two that are both rivalries and matter heavily for the fight in the standings. the Hudson River Derby, I thought, was going to be a conversation for NYCFC sort of supremacy over New York, because remember, they are my inner circle contenders. NYCFC is eighth right now in the Eastern Conference. They are three points ahead of Red Bulls.

Sorry, two points ahead of Red Bulls heading into the game. With 21 better goal difference. Which is absolutely wild for what Red Bulls do it. But Julian Hall and Audrey O'Madey have a chance to smash their rival in this game and go into the international break, jumping NYCFC in the standings and knocking NYCFC out of the playoffs for the time being. This is like the perfect setting for a game like this where even if both teams are terrible, it becomes a cup final because of the matchup. Now you add in the fact that this is the race to get in for these final few playoffs spots. And Maricio Bojitino will be at this game as well on Friday night. I will be at this game as well on Friday night, getting into the Bronx.

Juneteering to my pinstripes, you know what I mean? Yeah. No, this would be a fun one. And like Michael Bradley was, he was on morning footy with us today. And he was talking about like Bradley Wright Phillips is around the facility a lot because of the work he does with the club. And he was just like, yeah, like Brad, listen, the boys. know about the Derby, no about the bite, but like, don't worry, Brad is making sure that they will not forget for a second about what this game means, how important it is, what the rivalry is, with the history, all that stuff. So I think that's pretty cool. And yeah, like, any, you throw

form out the window, whatever platitudes you want to say for a rivalry game, I think that these two teams, they're very different in style, but I think NYCFC are better or should be better, but they've been stumbling and the great equalizer playing on the soccer field at Yankee Stadium. There are so many different ways that this game could go. And I like that it's getting its own standalone slot on Friday night. I know that that is less likely to be planning by MLS or Apple and more likely to be the Yankeesong, NYCFC. Guess what you're playing on Friday this weekend?

But we got there in the end. We did. I think Mohamed Sofo went full Matthew Delvedova last weekend. He was like helped off the field from cramping because he had given so much to the team with Julian de Guzman noted in his midweek in which he talked about how it might take three or four windows to like rebuild this team and rebuild this roster, which is not a good thing to hear as a fan. Not when you're already multiple windows.

And also when you have two teenagers who are on fairly team-friendly contracts who are... Fairly. They're off budget. They don't kind of seen a roster. Sorry, Tom. I was getting there. Thank you. I love the juice from you. I love the energy. I told you. We had the preseason game me and you yesterday. I was, came in ready to get hit, try to let. Don't come in with that weak stuff. So they're both going to be playing for the national team.

You've got them on these deals and you can't build the rest of the roster around it is pretty unfortunate. I think there's a level of frustration there. And to say that to a fan base, so what, four windows gives you through to 2028, that's going to watch their rival open up a stadium next year.

And that could change a lot of the dynamic of this because that's been one of the big things that the Red Bulls can hold over. And Red Bull fans can hold over. hold over NYCFC and when that building opens, some of that is going to go away. We also have Copatejas. So Dallas currently leading Copatejas on six points. They still have to play both teams.

Houston and Austin split their results. So Dallas can clinch with a victory. They can clinch the Coppeteas. They also, maybe most importantly, are higher in the standings right now. So as you mentioned, Dallas currently sitting in a tie. for second place with Houston, three points behind Vancouver. Vancouver does have a game in hand, and Dallas now goes into this homestand because they had all of these away games against an Austin team that is in touching distance to the playoffs.

They are one of 57 teams in touching distance to the playoffs. So currently coming into this weekend, San Diego is the ninth place team on 30 points. Austin is one point behind, but they are tied in that spot with Salt Lake and Minnesota. soda, the galaxy are tied with San Diego on 30 points. It is kind of like there is no space to make mistakes in that group. And whichever team is able to sort of wake up and find some consistency is going to be the one that's able to seal a playoff spot. And listen, of this grouping, you could convince me it's Austin. So I'm like, you know, there's quality there.

There seems to be a little bit of a spark under Davy Arnault. And playing Dallas is a pretty good time to try and turn things. around and sort of like make a run. There's been six departures from Austin of C this summer as they are very clearly clearing the decks for new sporting director called Al-Modd and soon to be new head coach Jim Curtin, two of which are who we would say to their most influential players or would be on paper, barring injuries with Danny Pereira and Owen Wolf. They also sent away Jada Nelson.

They also sent away CJ Fodry on loan, Nicholas Dupersarski. the only players they've signed is Pichetta, who was that deal was done before the new regime came over. If there was a way to get out of it, maybe they would have. I don't know. And Chris Hopper-White, unloaned from Nashville, he hadn't played a minute. And all of a sudden, Austin is,

it really, actually and genuinely in the playoff race. Give credit to Dave Yarno. I give credit to Christian Ramirez. He's been, this man, he's a guy just scores goals when he gets minutes. And there have been so many teams. We get Minnesota with the worst offenders here. but there's been so many teams in his career

that have spent time trying to replace Christian Ramirez after they deem Christian Ramirez isn't good enough and now he goes to Austin for a team that is very clearly trying to did not playing for 2026. They're playing for the future and Christopher Ramirez is going goes for them and they're somehow in the playoff race.

Yeah. And Sam Lass baby. Some other games to highlight Montreal. They are going to a Canadian championship final. They knocked off Vancouver for the first time in the Canadian championship, I think, in five years. So they'll play Forge in the final. They play Columbus this weekend. So both these cup finalists will face off against each other.

We didn't talk a ton about the revs on Monday, which I had in the rundown and got lost in all of it with the star power of Weeby and the MegaWatt smile and everything in my face. We will talk about the revs more. Peyton Miller and Brooklyn Raines both getting called up to the national team. It feels like a lot of this is coming together really cleanly. They looked better than Chicago. They deserve to win that game. They have beaten teams you'd expect them to be, but they are legitimately a top four team in the Eastern Conference

and look super dangerous. And San Jose facing off against L.A.F.C. A fun one this weekend as well. So some big games this weekend. We'll be back on Monday to recap it all. I will be out for Yom Kippur. So Tom will host and cue the unnecessary amounts of the toning for sins jokes, our yearly routine.

that Tom likes to roll back out there, which I look forward to hearing about when I come back online and connected back to the world. But we'll do the show live on Monday morning, as we always do. And don't forget, Continental Tire, make the smart choice for all of your tire needs. Continental, also the sponsor for Sunday Night Soccer. So we're going to get to do this really fun segment, our Sunday Night Soccer segment presented by Continental Tire going forward. And we are going to sort of dig into the DNA. And the story around some of the clubs that are going to be playing in these big Sunday night game. So the Sunday night game this week is San Diego against Miami, 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday.

And Tom, we talked a little bit about what we could do here and what we wanted to sort of dig into. And the thing that sparked for me was the Right to Dream Academy, which is something I think casually a lot of us know is connected to San Diego. It is something that I think a lot of us have heard of in the past. It's something that I've come across almost 12, 13 years ago and wanted to dig a little bit more into it. So the Right to Dream Academy is owned by the Mansour Group, which also is the majority owner of San Diego FC and has put San Diego into the stratosphere of Right to Dream. So Right to Dream was founded in 1999 in Ghana by Tom Vernon, who at the time was the Manchester United Head Africa Scout and believed. that there could be a different way to build an academy and has built this monster of an academy

in a couple different ways since then. So it is not associated to a professional team, which is what makes it unique and is a group that has leaned heavily on education and built a situation which early on players were like staying in Tumverna's house. He was bringing teams to Europe for friendlies where players were sleeping sort of in host families and all over. And since then it's been built in.

to this behemoth that has multiple World Cup veterans, including at the 2026 World Cup, Mohamed Kudus, Suleiman, two of the big names that represent Ghana at the highest levels. It is now across four different countries, and it is across three different continents. So after building an academy team in which players try out, they get brought in. When a player gets brought in to Right to Dream Academy, they have the right to remain in the academy throughout the entirety until they're 18. there is no cutting players. Players can choose the leaf,

but there's no cutting players, which is like a huge part of the safety and stability that they try and provide to players, which is fascinating. Around 2004, 2005 was when it got connected to the U.S. And there was a three-year span where the Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year in the U.S. was a right to Dream Academy alumni

because they started sending players to prep schools, Usseni Buddha, was a part of that program. Hotchkiss, like some of the biggest schools, the fanciest schools in all of America got connected because there is such an education component to this that the players come out with really high grades and they're able to qualify to go to some of these schools

and then move on and go to Stanford and Harvard and Clemson. And there was a time where I called college soccer and every game was a central midfield matchup between two Right to Dream Academy players across the Big East, across the ACC. And there was a lot of times where we've covered super drafts where it's like four right to dream

academy players right out of the top. Josh Yarrow was one of them was the top two pick for the Philadelphia Union way back in the day. And it continues to produce players. 2015, the group purchased FC Norsealand and that's one of those things you've heard us connecting with San Diego a lot

in the past. It has become a Champions League and Europa League consistent contending team in Denmark. So that team, their academy is under the right to dream system. So players who are born and raised in Denmark play in the right to dream system, which has a style of play, which has a coaching philosophy, which has a game model and a lifestyle philosophy. It is also an entry point into European competition for players coming from Ghana,

Useni Buddhas from Burkina Faso, because players will try out across West Africa and join the team. And then in 2021, they added the Mansour group took it over and added their Egyptian club into the stratosphere. And then, of course, San Diego was the most recent addition in 2025. San Diego, notably, is the only MLS Academy that has a territory across two countries. Tijuana is technically a part of San Diego's homegrown territory. And that's another big piece.

His Right to Dream is going to try and build in young players that are coming from both Mexico and the U.S. and across the U.S. we have seen already players go on loan from Norjaland or out of the right to dream system into San Diego. It's also why San Diego FC started at such a young age. So San Diego is adding a U-16 team next year. They haven't had anything higher than U-13 because the philosophy of the right to dream is to build players up from the bottom rather than bring in 17-year-olds who have never been a part of your group. And so that kind of gave San Diego like an already built-in academy style before they even existed as a club.

And now they're building it up going forward. It is, to me, one of the most fascinating things in all of global soccer. We haven't seen, I think, the full effect yet on San Diego FC. Wow. You have seen the philosophy, at least for them. They are one of the top three, I think, in MLS in young player minutes, however you qualify that. And a lot of those players are players who they brought. in Luca Bombino, Oscar Verhoeven, guys like that.

That is all sort of to bridge until these young players are ready through their own academy to be difference makers. Yeah, this is very, very fascinating, Goss. And to your point, I think the average Amless fan has heard what right to dream is. And I think that they generally know, okay, it's a youth movement academy under the same roof. Like, I think enough fans could do sound the way I'm sounding right now

where you have a number of the keywords. You generally get it. But I think that was really fascinating for really going deep and the origins of history. I didn't know about the rule that you can't cut players. And I'm like, it's like a small thing,

but that's really, really cool because the whole idea of this academy was supposed to be altruistic or serving everybody and giving these kids the chances to make it pro. And there's so much so many awful instances of

predatory agents or predatory scouts to going to Africa and trying to bring players just anywhere to try to get their commission or signing bad deals and not really doing it right and this is such a holistic

view that where the bright dream started and now coming to San Diego where when they opened their academy and then the school like that's state of the art man like every every new facility of the idea is to try to be the new state of the art in the league. And it was Philly when Philly's opened and they still have

fantastic facilities. But when San Diego opened their school and their academy, like gossip, blow it everything down the water. It's just, it's something that we hadn't really seen before to that level in America. Yeah, it's top of the line stuff. It is oddly timed in that they played

a friendly last night against Cholos, just like a non-scheduled, friendly local. And the majority of players who played for San Diego are part of this international tour. We're right to dream selects the like all starts out of each of the group and they travel as a team around the world for off and on two years and san diego now is a part of it in which they'll be in egypt they'll be in ghana they'll be in denmark they'll be in san diego the players from i don't

think there are any from san diego right now because they don't have the academy all the way up these are 17 and 18 year olds but those players are training for six seven weeks in san diego and they represented the team in the friendly yesterday they've come out and played with them. And, you know, Milano Lossi, of course, originally went from USL into FC Norseland, loaned to San Diego, back to Norgeland, and ended up getting sold to Philadelphia.

So it gives them this whole network that they can work out of and connect with. It's been fairly successful for San Diego early on, and the assumption is it is going to be even more successful going forward. So it's going to be a fun game to watch. Of course, Messi's a madman, and played 90 plus minutes in a Campione's Cup final. Because, like, why?

He also came off the day as accepting the trophy and seemed to have some words for Don Garber. I was in the press box. No one gave me what he said, and I could not see what happened. But it's a fascinating dynamic, Tom, that Little Messi seems to have a true relationship with Don Garber. There's not nothing there.

We're not speculating on a nothing here. Don Garber has talked about this public, and I've reported about it just that like, I know for a fact, like, Messi was pretty furious but the All-Star Games suspension. Messi, when he does interviews, it's mostly to complain about referees. And Don Garber gave an interview this summer talking about.

He's like, yeah, like, you know, hey, we're in a better. Our relationships in a better place. We had to repair it a little bit. And kind of the poll quote from Garber was like, yeah, I don't know if he thinks that I assign referees or not, But, you know, I get it. Like, if you want to have somebody to be mad at.

For me, guys, like, it was almost like the Michael Jordan thing where it doesn't matter if there's actually an enemy or there's actually an adversary. It's crazy. You got to create one. Like, he's accepting a medal for a fake tournament trophy. For sure. That they ended up celebrating for several hours. Good for them.

But you celebrate your Ws. I think that's a life mantra that everybody should have. But it's a literal trophy celebration. And he's going back to go back. He chased him down. Yeah. go put out the video. He, there's an interaction that happens on broadcast.

Then afterwards, the, messy comes out. He walks towards Don. He's sort of pointing a finger in his face, talking, loops around him, goes and hugs family members. Comes back around. And watch it like a, like the genuine smile and like the warmness. And then he turned to like. Comes back around.

He's mad about something again. John kind of goes to follow him. I think realizes there's probably no win. No win. No. And or Robert Rico is going to kick you. He probably felt the danger's on coming. Messy sort of goes off and does his thing.

And the team's like celebrating the trophy in front of the fans for a while, out on the field for a little while. I think for a club that's in a weird moment, you've got a coach who's got hired coming in, you know, no Allen on his way out, Matthias Colars are just coming in. Like it hasn't been great on the field. It's been a little bit messy.

I think there was a little bit of a release in this of like, yeah, let's enjoy this or let's remember who we are and i think there was a lot of energy from the fans considering it's this random competition which i had to explain to all of my friends that i play soccer with who have season tickets to the team of like what it is and why they're playing in it it felt kind of big i think finally once they want it and it's another example of what we say which is that's just he's insane they just loves playing soccer it's what he does i think he's got two three more years left i think he's going to play until the wheel to

fall off, mainly because when he feels good, what does he want to do? He wants to go and play soccer. That's what he does. And, I mean, he dumped on a guy. 39 years old. I'm thinking back to, what was it, the Man U. Champions League final, like 11 or 12,

where he scores like a skying header as one of the goals. I can't remember the last time he scored a header like that in his entire life. And Weeby was saying he was chirping with the Cruises Will bench right before that. Someone on the cruises old bench started talking to him. And one of the guys gave a like, who's messy, like, be quiet.

And then three minutes later, messy dunks on a guy. Like you said, the MJ stuff. And then DePaul gets involved. You know, he's got to do his thing. He's got his little vibes through it. And I think Galarza is going to be, I mean, obviously, he's going to be a fairly good ad. Like, he's a perfect cultural fit into what you're just describing. But he's a two-way player.

Like, that's the thing with this team is they're so. many one-way players. I'm an attacking piece. Suarez, scores goals, can't defend. The defenders can't connect passes, can't help you open up the game. It feels like he can be a little bit of a connector in central midfield. And for San Diego, they're kind of in like a must-win territory in a dangerous time right now trying to make the playoffs in their second year and not fall into like the St. Louis trap of big first year and completely fall off. So once again, Continental Tires, a smart choice for wherever the road takes you. Before we get, get out of here. I am very excited. We are going to have our open mic episode with Paul Kennedy

that will be coming out tomorrow. So make sure to listen to that one. Of course, long time writer at Soccer America. One of the best voices in American soccer. I got to pick his brain about the things that fascinate me like Open Cup when there was no pro teams, the college soccer scene when there was no pro leagues, what the national team was like when you covered it in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the growth of the game and where it's going and everything else there. So make sure to go listen to that one. Next week, we'll have our U.S. Men's National team full game previews. Coming up midweek, you will have the MLS weekend recap.

And we're here every single day. We've got a million more shows to talk about. Zakoyanovsky was just named Technical Director of Chicago Stars. It's a while our NWESEL show as well. And we'll do everything else in between. So thank you to all of you for listening. Big shout out to Ali for joining us. Big shout out to you, Tom.

And we'll talk to you all again. Very, very soon.