SoccerWise - USMNT Loss, Oakland Roots Attendance Record & Houston Dynamo DP Signing

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

The more things change the more they stay the same, disappointment in CONCACAF for the US & Canada. The guys breakdown what they saw and look forward somehow to the third place game. Then they dig into all the International absences in MLS, Houston's new DP #10 signing & preview the biggest games of the weekend as VAN & STL march towards history. Tom & David celebrate what they loved from round 1 of the US Open Cup. And last but definitely not least they interview Tommy Hodul Co-founder & VP at Oakland Roots about their expected 26k fans this weekend in their Oakland Coliseum debut & what pro-rel would mean to their club.9:24 USMNT Loss To Panama29:15 CANMNT Loss To Mexico38:30 US vs Canada Preview43:15 Houston’s New DP Signing49:00 Charlotte Extend Dean Smith’s Contract53:00 MLS Playing Through International Breaks & Weekend Preview1:06:00 USOC Round 1 Highlights1:15:14 Tommy Hodul (Oakland Roots VP) On Record Crowd Coming To Oakland Coliseum  Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Soccer wise, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you here on a fine Friday morning for some, for many in the Panama supporter section, for many in the Mexico supporter section. It is for others less so it was a bit of a devastating night on the national team front for many of the people who enjoy this show from a USMNT and Canadian men's national team point of view and Spoilers we will talk all about it. We've got a big show coming up for you We are going to have a guest from the Oakland Roots who are on the verge of selling out their first ever game at the Oakland Coliseum, putting a record crowd in that building and starting their next error of that team. So we're going to

talk to them. We are going to talk, of course, all things US Open Cup, all things MLS Weekend Preview, even with a massive amount of international absences as well. And in the Oakland conversation, we will talk about promotion relegation. We did a special episode yesterday that if you have not listened to yet, you should go listen to because we had Jose Bautista. Tom, that's that's maybe that's your cue. Otherwise known as Joey Bats, former MLB superstar, who is now the owner of the Las Vegas Lights who voted on this and his Thoughts on everything that's going on and what it could look like and why it's happening

So that was a really great interview. We had the phoenix risings president Bobby Dooley Who was their gm to talk about how this can affect you on and off the field and what the next steps forward are For their club as well as simon evans who runs a soccer business Newsletter that just launched which he had a lot of insights on it forward are for their club as well as Simon Evans who runs a soccer business newsletter that just launched which he had a lot of insights on it. So I recommend you go listen to that one if you haven't and for all the devastation there has been over the last 24 hours in the sports world we've got one thing Tom McNeese with the win let's. Now I wanted to come in full 110 on our McNeese love, but I got to tell you something. The game's gone me. The reason that we have all fallen in love with

McNeese is because their team manager, Amir Khan, who is a legend, walks out every game with the speaker. He has now signed an NIL deal. He signed like what feels to be 17 N know deals and I respect the hell out of it Go get your money right now is the time where he's gonna have the most leverage and the most interest I went to his Twitter account yesterday Cuz you introduced me to this story and this this lovely wonderful man And it was like it's like 17 sponsored posts that are out and I was like, all right, man You can turn one down.

Print that money. Turn one down. Print that money when you're on top. They gave up 13 points in the first half. That was unbelievable. Monster. Un-sulficating. Yeah, monster defense.

That was a torture chamber. The only thing that seemed more miserable than playing against that team and that press and everything was when you were going into the wind, when you were the Des Moines menace Against against sporting Kansas City to because that looked miserable which crowd was louder though the game the the 35 people sitting around the microphone at the Des Moines menace SKC to game who were just actively chanting at all of us in the world or the whatever crowd it was at the college basketball game.

That was the thing, it was a skewed sample size because if you just put a mic in the student section I think the college basketball game. But like I think my favorite part too was just because of the way the open cup broadcasts are. It's like Devin Kerr is on the call and like they don't seem to have any control of raising or lowering the levels. So they were just along for the ride like the rest of us and like Devin a few times got caught like laughing like he was trying to make a point and they were chanting like at

Justin Merrim like we could see your bald spot yeah Devin just like stops at his tracks so well done to the fans I also love that Merrim played on that side and obviously that one shot and my wife's like oh this team is a lot of old people I was like mm Justin's kind of always looked like that. So that's not really the barometer. When he was Dustin dudes in his prime, he did still look like that. Yeah. So that wasn't really the barometer for why this team's a bunch of old people.

It was a wild week of US Open Cup. It was fun in the discord, everyone watching all the different games. A ton of people were at a bunch of different games. We had one person who was like, oh, I was just leaving work and I realized that one of the amateur teams plays next door to where I work. So I just walked over and went to the game, which is an awesome way to stumble in to a US Open Cup game. I know we had a bunch of fans that were at the sporting KC2 game braving the elements, which I respect heavily for all of them. But let's dig into our topics.

You ready to go? Yeah, I do want to say one more thing on the you promo the Joey Bats stuff. I thought that was an excellent episode and you left out the best selling point. His quote was, as you know from my playing days, I didn't try to hit singles. If that doesn't get you to listen to the episode, nothing will. He said that and Tom's eyes bugged out of its head. I was editing the audio later and I didn't have video up and he says it and your laugh track in the background was like explosive. You were like, what a line. That must be said, that sounds like a nightmare if you just isolated my track and just like me laughing in the background sometimes

I've always got them. I got a full bar of just a nightmare if I wanted to is that how you go to sleep? That's your white noise Yeah, absolutely That's exactly what I need in my life whoo, uh, no yesterday I went to sleep to the dulcet tones of referees giving out yellow cards and Canadian players complaining to referees over and over and over again as that game went deep into the night.

But I don't want to say anything to get into trouble. I don't want to say anything, but it was a penalty. That was the tenor of that. I told you, I just watched the interviews. It was Alfonso Davies first and they asked him a on the field, and he just goes, it was a penalty. No follow-up, nothing else, and it was like the interview was over, and then Alistair Johnson said,

I'm gonna bite my tongue. I think it was a penalty. He's like, well, you're not biting your tongue? Then he sort of, so I was like, maybe the wall was in the wrong place on the second goal, and you're like, oh, okay, is that on the referee, or is that on you? Are we doing two of these?

That game ended in brutal fashion the day started with a brutal loss for the US men's national team once again To Panama they've now lost I believe two of their last 24 Competitive matches against cock-a-calf teams at home and both were against Panama some stat like that Aka Panama and Copa America, and doing it once again this time, full field, full 11 v 11 the entire time. Cecilio Waterman with the stoppage time winner and then the celebration directly into Terry Henry

and the desk, it's like an unbelievable moment. That's probably gonna be the only thing many people ever know about this game or will remember about this for a very long time And obviously on re sort of one of those larger-than-life characters and you could tell both then Afterwards when Cecilia waterman came on to do an interview and what he thought about it before that that did not happen Randomly, which is the most shocking part to me Yeah, what I what I would go with just off the top is, you know what

this is a good example of David Guz. Never hope. Hope is the most dangerous thing in Give It Man. And now the United States and Canada, who I was writing in pencil for the final, are playing in the third place game. So hope's the most dangerous thing in Give It Man. Life is disappointment, and that's just the way it goes unless you're Cecilia waterman what a legitimately awesome moment yeah the the broadcast team and the postgame show I thought was phenomenal they handled it so well and having him on the show and Kate Scott like live translating and Mo getting in a question in Spanish after they joked with him a couple times well I thought was really good I thought that they handled that really well

The only thing if I had to give one note is nobody asked Clint Dempsey What would have happened if he tried to hug you because I think fists were thrown Clint got out fast. Let's be real Mo Mo had the video Mo and Kate gone immediately smart Yeah, I think I think maybe Clint was like I dare you to try to include me in this in this celebration. I dare you. I think Clint was so flabbergasted by the goal being scored that he did not realize what was going on for longer than everyone else. And on re like,

I don't know. He lives a different life than us, right? When someone runs up to here and re in his whole life, like it's just different than if someone runs up to us. So he handled it very well. I think he's probably not completely unused to someone being stoked to see him and being really excited about and trying to match that level. And he, it was cool afterwards when he was like, that was one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. And you're like, well, you're Tierra Henry. That's pretty special. He also got offered the USMNT job before the game by Mauricio Pochettino which might be a sticking point for some people coming up pretty immediately.

So the US loses in official competition first time under Mauricio Pochettino obviously hasn't had a lot of time or games or anything and experience they lose on the 1-0 goal. There's a lot to talk about in this game. There's injuries that change the starting lineup. There's starting lineup decisions. There's tactical decisions. There's substitution decisions. There's quality of performance and all of that. I think we can talk about any of it. It's very clear to me that for the starting point, and I have have it in my notes from the 15th to the 20th minute I wrote it again then 40 to 45 wrote it again then 55 to 60 There is just no emphasis

The US doesn't play on the front foot. There is no Whether it's in or out of possession risk and pushing the game It is what we have talked about for three or four years now and a lot of it was thrown on Greg Burhalter and now it's harder to do and I don't know if now it gets pushed on to the players or the next coach or something bigger but it's another game that you watch and it's like hoping to find a space or a leak for that one goal and if that doesn't happen it's just sort of running through the paces. And there's a lot of things that can go better about this team. That feels like the

starting point. And I think it's really frustrating for fans to have the new coach come in, feel like, okay, that's really the only thing you can change. Like you don't get to go out and acquire a player pool. It is what it is. It's a national team. And it was a low energy game. It was played at a low tempo and it was played in like a safe controlled way once again to not lose. And what I said on this show, and I'm not a genius, but we've seen it.

Panama is not going to give you anything. This team specifically, the way they are set up under Thomas Christensen, who we brought up in the pool that should have been interviewed for the US job, right? There's full respect for us, from us, for him, the job he's done, this national team pool, the quality of players, the experience that they have, as well as some young up and coming players like a Cordoba and whatever. They were never going to give you this game. They didn't do it at Copa America. They didn't do it with anyone at Copa

America. They haven't done it at gold cups.. They didn't do it with anyone at Copa America They haven't done it at gold cups. They've been to a gold cup final Mexico had to you know, claw it out of their jaws in SoFi in front of their like favorite crowd That's the reality of this game and the US came in and didn't play that way They came in and played as if they were playing against opponent that would break themselves down at some point Two things that I kind of look at here. One and you touched on it there. I thought Panama were excellent.

The way that they defended not just in terms of energy and intensity because that was obvious and that needs to be the foundation, but their structure, their spacing, they eliminated anything the United States were trying to do in the center of the pitch, which was definitely clearly and correctly the game plan. Obviously, the United States are not without criticism because they did not do well enough at countering that, at breaking that down or having their own ideas. So while most of this is going to be focused on U.S. national team disappointment, why weren't they good enough? What else can they do? That's the right way to look at this. I want to start to say Panama stuck to their game plan.

They defended like hell and it wasn't just they tried harder. It was structure. It was intelligence. It was a lot of good things. So Panama team that we both respect the coaching staff, we both respect. That being said, the United States, again, I'd be saying this, if this was Mexico, I'd be saying this, if this was Canada I'd be saying this if this was Canada. It's absolutely expected to win this game.

It's a failure that they did and it's a disappointment that they didn't. That doesn't mean that everything stinks and this was a bad hire or the players are all not good enough, right? Weird things can happen in one game, but both things can be true. It is a failure and a disappointment. Another thing that I like that you said, this, I feel like we just have this conversation over and over again.

This collection of players cannot break down a team that sits deep. I know Canada like to play on the front foot. I know Canada like to press, and who cares in a third place game? But if this was a game of consequence, why in the world would Canada step up? Why would they? The United States cannot break down a pack defense? They cannot do it and it is really disappointing

It doesn't matter who the coach is. It doesn't matter what the formation is It doesn't matter what the combination of players are. There are the same symptoms that they cannot cure It is slow possession the center back like there was a few moments for Chris Richards He's taking an extra touch or he's taking an extra second. The way you beat a pack defense is moving the ball with purpose. You're controlling the game with possession, but it needs to be crisp. No like high energy doesn't just mean sprinting forward. It means quick touch, quick decision, quick pass.

It's moving the game side to side until you get gaps. It's pressure, vertical runs that pressure a back line that makes the the center mid say oh do I drop this player? Does the center back step forward? And then in that confusion if you're moving the ball quick enough that's where the gaps come and they did not threaten at all. Josh Sargent was ineffective. I don't put all the blame on him. I probably don't even put most of the blame on him but he was still ineffective. His movement was really good on the shot that ended up hitting the post and he scored offsides. I'm worried a little bit that he's cursed because of those

two chances. And obviously one of them wasn't a real chance. It's something that should have been flagged for offsides. They shouldn't have played on. So it's a false premise, but my point kind of remains. Tyler Adams, I thought was good. I think that's it. Yeah. I yeah. I mean, if we wanted to go player by player, I think you could probably convince me that Musa was fine. Like he kind of what did he do? He didn't do much. It felt like he ended up a ton. Yeah, it felt like he ended up isolated a ton on the right side like Weirdly when he got forward whether it was Pulisic or where or Weston McKinney, whatever No one was ever really close to him, which was odd. Yes, everything you said I 100% agree with I think to me the other thing

That pops up just the last sort of tactical piece of playing that way that I to that I don't see. One is you're positioning higher to win the ball back. Like one of the issues for the US is when they lose the ball the attack ends and they don't counter press into the next chance. And that's a way you play with energy. And like, there's a moment where Tim Ream steps high,

wins it back and the US is into the attack. I'm pretty sure it's when Ajaman gets his shot off. And you're like, he jumped the play. Rather than everyone being on their back foot and saying like, all right, let's defend now in a block, let's win it back, then we'll progress forward. It was like, let's take a risk. And the risk is the part that I'm talking about.

And then in passing, every time they were able to play a little bit higher and get Panama to start moving that line, they never played across it into zone 14 into the top of the box because that's a dangerous area to play in and if you turn it over you're in danger. You got to take a risk at some point and you saw Tyler Adams shot on the final play of the game was from that area because there are openings there. It is risky but there are openings there And there's different ways you can change things up. If they had gone too forwards for a while,

maybe that would have changed the spacing a little and you would have had Annabel Godoy dropping more and then there's more space there, whatever it is. But also if you play quickly, like you said, and you play aggressively, you can create danger in those areas. You can create chances. And the US, they just play around the box

and everything is around, hoping for the perfect ball to create a chance. And that's not the only way to play. And it can't be the only way to play. Let's talk about zone 14 again. That was predominantly where Weston McKinney was popping up. I love Weston McKinney. He has a lot of strengths. Number 10 against a packed defense is not one of them. It is weakness. Yeah so The other options right like none of them are perfect Giorgina Diego Luna right like but Western McKinney's game and and they're trying to juggle it trying to find ways to get him on Feel cuz putting Musa in that area. I don't think helps either

I thought I thought was some McKinney did the thing though He could do which is he left and He was like I'm just gonna be a second forward or a third runner on the outside, right? He has the pullback for I think sergeants chance that hits the box because he makes a run outside He got he ended up on the end of two crosses on the far post when Adams kind of like a blind ball off a quick Layoff which were the best the way across exactly which were the best, the way across exactly, which were the best, best quickest moments of big switch. One was a big switch to Musa immediately lays it back to Adams as defense is shifting early ball in and then Weston's on that back post to be there.

So I thought he'd because like you said, he's his skill sets, not the other things. So he went and tried to affect the game the way he could in a game like this. It is probably one actually where you could start Weston and play a 10 and take the risk, which is we're going to be exposed defensively because we need to create chances and score goals. Yeah, and they had enough numbers back. And going to the goal, like I don't think Turner's starting position was good. Like a confluence of events that led to the ball hitting the back of the net. Tim Ream and I think it was Scali were missed like both really tentative and really slow

and neither of them stepped when they should have. And then Ream hesitated and backed up good. Can I get my goal break down because I'm like, I've been stewing over this. Please. So the ball pops out. It's like a first second ball. Joe Scali is closest when the ball falls outside the box. He has to make the assessment there of am I going to step and keep space closed, keep this player's head down, not allow the pass or am I going to drop back into my position? He chooses to drop back. Again, we're talking about playing on your heels. Tim Ream has come wide on Waterman to cover that space because that's where Waterman is. Ream then is more worried about going back inside than staying with Waterman. And this is just

what's frustrating and whatever it is, what it is. Tim Ream is 37 years old. The reason he's on the field, one of the reasons he's on the field is to manage things. And like, he does not get Scali back and then doesn't assess correctly where he should be. So he turns his head to Waterman, he goes inside, Scali's just recovered, so he's not in position yet. And maybe the issue is that he should have recovered quicker. I would say, Reem as the center back, your role is to have things organized. And if you know that Scali's not there yet, then you have to stay there and cover that space. And then he's wide open. I don't know why anyone's talking about goalkeepers at this point.

Like this is a lightning bolt from inside the box wide open. I don't understand that, but maybe I'm wrong. But that's how I saw it. The angle. So like, yeah, it's inside the box with that, like because of the angle from where he shot towards the middle of the goal That's more than 18 yards again. I don't need to split hairs on that I think Turner could have done better and I think that has more to do with with his starting position than anything else

But again, I'm not a goalkeeping expert and again that is splitting hairs the the failure on this play was more to what you're talking About what I push back is is what's Reem supposed to do control Joe Scali and tell him like force him to like How exactly does he communicate differently? Your communication is you're telling him to get back and you're holding that space until he's there, right? That's your role as the player there who is organizing. Like Joe Scali, whether he should have been there or not at that point, he can only react to what he sees in front of him. And as the player in the back, it's your job to organize players into those spots.

That's what I think. So, but it's his fault that Scali didn't step quick enough? No, no, the step is fine. It's when Scali comes back, he needs to have him alongside Waterman in his space. If Reem screamed at Joe Scali, when Koko Kersky was picking his head up to play the ball, he doesn't get back in.

I just don't see how that's on Reem. I think initially he should have been the one stepping. I don't want to sound like I'm defending him or absolving blame. I think it's on the two of them in particular. Man, it's just so disappointing. It really is because of, again going back to the top of our conversation, we have these same discussions over and over and over again. Why can't they move the ball quicker?

What's the answer for lock defense? Who's the answer at number nine? Why is it slow? Why is it ponderous? It's frustrating. There is something to the intensity, you know, why is it slow? Why is it ponderous? Like, it's frustrating. And I don't, there is something to you know, the intensity, the energy, right? Like, I don't think that they overlook this game. And I don't think that you can just, you know, try harder mate. But I want to read a couple Maricio Pochettino quotes from after the game. Poch goes, quote, we are USA, but you cannot win with your shirt. It was the the first

half performance was quote, really painful to see given the stakes Quote you need to come here and be better and suffer and win the duels and work hard if not It's not gonna be enough. They were hungry for every ball. Like it was the last one You could feel the difference on the field. I think that's true. But like the the US 70 game plan and the way that you win this game isn't Getting stuck in more right? Like it's like winning do it like you have to earn the right to play yes but like I don't think that that was was the issue again like maybe that that's Potsch just trying to send a message to the group but like I'm done with sending

messages dude like yeah at what point and again like Potsch said before the game you know what's the goal? Like the goal is to win. That's the only thing that matters right now. And that's refreshing and that's good to hear because I don't want to hear about underlying performances. I don't want to hear about XG. I don't want to hear about, well, we had good moments.

Like, no, it's a failure. You didn't win in a competitive tournament against a team that you should beat. And again, this is no disrespect for Panama. I'd be saying this about Mexico and Canada. Also you're the home team. So like even if you had respect well, which you should No, I understand center for me for sure But you're the home team like these are like you are statistically a favorite you are a betting favorite all of those things Are realities they're not perceptions. Yeah, and so that's the way it should be

Yeah, there was a lot of talk about like what it is I think what's frustrating for fans I think a lot of what we're getting is like It feels like more of the same and you had that big change happen and so that didn't cause any change so now you start to look at the players that are in there and there are there a bunch of shifts in the group because You had Jedi out injured Johnny Corroso in the group because you had Jedi out injured, Johnny Cordoso forced to pull out because of injuries, trust the out injured, Dest is still not in this group. I mean, you have, I could keep going and naming and naming. So the personalities were a little bit different

for a lot of this group, but the core is the same. And I think that's where the frustration falls right now. And I know they played the clip of Christian Pulisic in his new TV show being like, can I carry things and whatnot? It's something that has to be figured out this whole time, which is the player pool has shifted from stars on smaller teams or in MLS to pieces of bigger clubs. And now their responsibilities change when they come into the national team, right?

As much as Weston McKinney pops up with unbelievable moments with Juventus, the game's not on his shoulders. Same with Timothy Weah, same with Joe Scali. Like Christian Pulisic though is the one. And I think that's where it gets a little bit harder is this is what he does for Milan. While the talent on Milan is different than this.

And so it's not a hundred percent the same responsibility. He is their leader. And so that's where you'd hope that he would fit into these spots and it would be a little bit easier and then these other players have to find this and one of the things I think as you look at the generations of players even the ones that went over to a Europe and found their spot like a Clint MC or whatever they had been leaders on their MLS teams before they went there or in other spaces in their career. And that shifted now as you move younger, right?

Joe Scali went from being a U18 in the US to playing on a Bundesliga team. So he'd never had that experience where it was on his shoulders and he had to be the best player and he had to carry them in playoff games and all those types of things. We are probably a few years past having this conversation

because like, okay, now everyone's been in this role for a little while, but it continues to be an issue that I think the team bumps up against. I agree. And again, like you said, it's this is all like paths that we've walked over and talked over and like beaten down to death. But like these are still the existential questions about this team. Another existential question is around Gio Reyna. So gosh, like Captain Hindsight is easy to say, oh, they didn't score a goal. Like, right? Like were you disappointed? Were you surprised to not see Gio Reyna? Or I guess starting with Gio, but like, I guess expanding

it to Gio or Luna or Gutierrez or somebody that like a creative attacking midfielder. But starting with Gio, were you disappointed or surprised to not see him coming off the bench? I think I'm always disappointed to not see geo play because he's special and like the things he does are special and so you want him to be healthy that's why you want him to be in teams and I don't see a clear reason why he wouldn't come into this game and that's where you go back to like taking risk it's almost like it was played to not concede and stay at 0-0 longer and the goal will eventually come rather than to force the issue and make the goal come. You could put Diego Luna in this conversation as well. Like I'm fine with saying, okay, maybe Gio doesn't deserve that spot right

now, but Luna has. It's fascinating to me that Jack McGlynn was brought into this game being the last player added to this roster. That seems like a really wide variance to occur from you're not called up to there's an injury you're brought in and now you're the first one coming into this group outside of the starting 11 and to try and make the change. I still probably would have either if you brought on Reyina push Pulisic inside and had him play alongside Ajumon or kept Sargent in the game and had them play too. Or if you were going to end up against a low block and hit a bunch of crosses, why are you not playing Brian White and Patrick Ajumon at that point?

That's literally what the two of them do that no one else in this pool does is be that factor on the end of balls in the air. So yeah, I think I'm frustrated that Gio wasn't brought into the game. And I think in watching it, it felt very much like a team that had accepted 0-0 an extra time over trying to push for the goal. And I think that trickled from the top down. Yeah. And again, this is unfair to do, but I think Brian White finishes one of those two chances. Again, Ajumang, White I don't think would have had the, his intelligence would have been there for the run on the first one. No one in the pool right now can take the bump and clean touch at speed that Patrick Ajumang does and hit a two-footed, and I think Ajamang himself has curled that shot to the far post more often over the last year than

he did in this one and that's frustrating. Yeah and that's the thing because I don't want it to be like because I think that's a toss-up Ajamang or Brian White putting on the field so like I'm not again it's easy to do Captain Hinds then and be like well he missed the chance so you know why wasn't somebody else in, right? Not saying that. Just saying, like, to your point, I would have been very doubtful that Punchline was even considering putting both of them in together, but that's definitely something in the game state that this was in.

I thought that would have made a lot of sense. Yeah. And like, bring one on for a center mid and have Moosa shade inside as your counter pressure or like in your rest offense to control space. That's an option because what Panama is going to do is they're going to try and play into the first player's feet and then hold as long as they can to start to move numbers up. And you've got time to get your block behind you. That's what we saw the whole game. So yeah, I think that was frustrating. Um, should we move to Canada now? So then we can get into the final game. Cause do you have anything else that you need to push in here before? No, no, no, no. I think we did it all. So then Canada comes out and plays Mexico in the next game. Um, and it was a Raul Jimenez

goal within 90 seconds that put Mexico ahead and the crowd was bumping. And I think someone said it on the broadcast of like, it felt a little bit more like an older L-Tree, like a team you've seen be more competitive in the past. They've been through some really tough time. Raul Jimenez looked as good as we've seen him look, I think since the injury, like it was an unbelievable performance from him.

And then that gives them a center point to play off of and make life so much easier because then they don't have to try and play through Canada's pressures all the time. They had the ability to knock it into the second level, let Canada come up, hit it to the second level and then break out from there. And that kept Canada on their heels a little bit more. I don't know if Canada wasn't ready to play or how much the goal affected them, but I thought that we were going to see what we have seen for the last year under Jesse Marsh, which was like looking

like chickens with their heads cut off first and then scaling back into the game. They didn't do that. And so it was a Canada team that played in third gear more than we've seen them under Jesse outside of like the opening game, which was on the road against the Netherlands. And I think it was an overall really disappointing performance for them. And then you get into the CONCACAF stuff. A zillion yellow cards, fouls everywhere. There was like 13 minutes of soccer played probably in the course of this game. All of Canada's chances came from set pieces because that was really all that was happening. Raul Jimenez scores off a set piece. Unbelievable

free kick. It looked like Fonzie had done the same in the first half. Then Derek Cornelius almost gets a header on a different one in front of an open goal. And the big talking point is the potential penalty kick. It feels like Cornelius gets to the ball first. He gets hit by Alvarez. he gets hit by Alvarez, he gets kicked by Alvarez as Alvarez is going to clear the ball. Alvarez is in his motion before Cornelius comes in, but that's a call that I think is a wrong call, but it's a call. It is a foul. If someone goes into their kicking motion and you come in and take the ball away in the box and they come through you, it is a penalty kick kick That's the way the rule is assessed

I think it's an incorrect rule, but it's it is a rule and I don't know in the world in which It's not called and then it's a foul against Cornelius and then like I think that just set the rest of the game back Because at that point Canada was complaining about every call and they're being physical and the cards start to come out and the game Slows down and everyone's frustrated. The only thing this game was missing was Rizzi Larea. Yeah, true. That would have made it the perfect game. Just yellow card marketing, yeah.

And somehow getting fouled when he has no business getting in. Like you think it's a dive then you watch the replay and it's like, oh, he actually got fouled. I don't know why people keep doing this. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a real big disappointment for this team for this group like, you don't get a trophy for finishing first in World Cup qualifying. I

hate to break it to you to the Canadian fans like that is an awesome achievement. You don't get a trophy. Nations League win two games if you get a trophy in this generation. This is their best. Like obviously they have the gold cup this summer too, between the United States, Canada, Mexico and Panama, like all these teams are going to be vying for it. And right now you look at this tournament, if you beat a Mexico that's down a team that they've done very well against. And I think that they line up with stylistically well, and then you would have potentially the United States or Panama in the final.

So in the macro sense that again, it's just mirroring the United States conversation of like, yeah, you have to be expected to win. You have to try to push. I know Jesse Marsh is pushing to win and expecting to win and wanting to lift the trophy and how important that would be for this group. They didn't get it done. On the Mexico side, things encouraging.

Like you said, it's not like this was their best performance ever, but at the end of the day, they needed a result. They needed that. One last point. Santi Jimenez and Raul Jimenez playing together is something that I didn't think that they were going to be able to do. And this is international soccer. Outside of having two really good goalkeepers, I don't care where the positional overlaps are. Find your best players and find ways to get them on the field. And I thought this was a good step by this group. It's funny coming in the context of we have talk in the chat of Poach should have played

his best players in their best positions or played other players who are specialists in that position. So it's a debate back and forth. I don't I don't totally disagree with you. Also the performance didn't disagree with you. This was a Mexico performance that looked more cohesive than anything we've seen in a very long time. Like that's been one of the shocking things

about the performances for Mexico over the last four years has been how disconnected they look for a team that plays a lot of games and has a very cohesive group that keeps getting called back in. And those are all the issues those issues though should not lead to a team that's where you look at a team you're like oh there's a lack of talent or there's a lack of spark or players aren't being pushed they've looked

um disconnected they haven't looked cohesive they did in this game which was a huge part of that performance i think a lot of it stems from having the outlets of the two Jimenez's, Raul and Santi, to be like, oh, okay, we know we have this safety outlet. Or when they played into them, they knew they could push numbers a little higher and get around them. And I think all of that helped them a ton. On the Canada side, I understood the idea

from Jesse in the starting lineup, which was Oso and Ahmed give you a little bit more possession. And Ismael Kone gives you a little bit of spark. So you almost traded Swanier, safety in midfield for what you've lost in Schaffelberg, you know, his threat on the outside. You've almost like swapped that inside out. Kone never got in the game. He had one moment where he dribbled past four guys and laid it off and it's like, oh right, he can do kind of whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He just doesn't do it that often. And that's sort of what you're waiting for. And then I think with

Oso and Ahmed, you saw what they're good at, but they don't have that spark. And so they couldn't stretch the field. They couldn't put the fullbacks under pressure to pull the center backs over to help. And you're hoping that they can come inside and connect. But Canada never gotten possession to do that. It may have been the worst game I've seen Stephen Oostakio play for Canada and like that is the weather vane for them. Right? He is the one where if you play well and you control the game, Stephen Oostakio looks good because he's the guy who does that. If you don't do those those things he looks bad and those are probably games You're not gonna win. What was that word weathervane? Is that not the right term? What's the thing that sits above a barn?

And like saying that what i'm just saying like look at this Uh blue collar gas bell weather bell weather farms metronome, but I I think that's yeah, that's a good one Well metronome controls the thing though Bell weather is a leader or an indicator of trends. So there you go. I love that. That's what I'm saying I was looking you may grow up on look at us learning the English language on the fly You want to be fluent in Spanish, but we're just getting here You know say and For me like yeah

I understood the thinking like you said I'm at an Osorio, like, it's not just looking at a 4-4-2 on paper. It's Oso pinching in to play in the inside channels that Alfonso Davies can come forward. I don't like Ahmed plus Osorio. I think that you need another outlet for what this team does when they are at their best. You think of the best Canadian moments, it's in transition. It's obviously Alfonso Davies, but it's Schaffelberg. It's Tejan Buchanan I was surprised that Tejan didn't start maybe that has to do with fitness

I know he's coming back from an injury all that stuff. But like I don't like Ahmed plus. Oh, sorry I think it had to have been Shafalberg or or Buchanan in that spot and and like because that's not the way this Canada team plays They're not gonna have 60% possession., I just thought that was a weird choice. Yeah. Well, and then you had sort of rotating between four and five in the back for Mexico was every time you played into Oso, but especially Ahmed down the right side, you could step tight to them

because they're not really going to turn and beat you quickly. And Johnston's not going to run past you to create space. And so Mexico was able to continue to push and push in those areas and take away areas of the game for Canada to play in and so outside of a few balls over the top to learn in that right channel there wasn't really a ton there and so I think again a Canada team that I couldn't tell if it was the goal or mentality I mean you can go back and watch I did the first 90 seconds Moist Bambito is a little bit lazy with his first ball

He gives it away then they take a throw in like all of this stuff is like half percent stuff I don't want to overanalyze it because of the most insane deflection of all time Leads to the goal like the fact that it went off Fonzie off Bambito back out perfectly in front of Raul Jimenez. You don't want to over analyze those 10 seconds and say like, oh well yeah they came out on the back foot and were not themselves. But this is a team that comes from a coach who talks about hunting and packs of wolves and like all these things and that was not the case for this team in this game and then they were never able to find it again. It will be fascinating to see what the fallout is on Sunday

because I wonder if going and winning a gold cup but doing it against Panama is different for Canadians than going to a third place match but beating the U.S. and like finishing on that high. They obviously want to win a trophy. They haven't done it in 25 years. So that would have been number one. But now they have the opportunity to go to the U.S. and beat the U.S. and like if that's the case they end this window I think in an okay spot. I don't think there will be huge frustration coming out of this. If they beat the U.S. on Sunday if you go 50-50 in front of a pro Mexico crowd and then beating the U.S.

in the U.S. I don't know that you can totally complain and it will depend somewhat on the performance. But that's an easier place to get to than for the US, which is if they beat Canada on Sunday, no one is going to look positively at this camp in any way. So it's going to be a huge game. Obviously, every single one of the players have been asked about the political background to all of this, and some of them have tried to avoid it. Jesse Marsh has not. We'll see how that looks over the next 48 hours as well. He's a pretty smart guy. I think he kind of has the pulse of his team and I think going into this one right now there's a huge question mark of like what the group looks like for the US where I think for Canada it's pretty obvious depending on injuries like it'll

probably be a same 10 or so players. For the US, I don't know. I don't know where Pochettino looks at and says like, other players get opportunities, other players deserve it. Does Patrick Augemant deserve a start after that performance? Does Diego Luna or Gio Reyna get into the team because he thinks they deserve it? Does Jack McGlynn in a game where you think you're going to be pressed after clearly having the value to come in early,

do you have Mark McKenzie shift, you know, get into a starting position? So I think there's more question marks on the starting lineup for the US than for Canada. Yeah, I just think both teams are in a tough position, a position that tough makes it seem like it's oh what happened. Like, they're both at fault for not winning in the semifinal.

But I think both teams, it's like, if you win, like you said, I feel the same though about Canada of who cares. I know that we differ on that one, but like if you lose it can get worse. It can't really get any better, I don't think, for either one of these teams because the immediate is like oh cool you showed up for a third place game like you know when's the trophy parade for third place in the Nations League. When's the trophy parade for a Nations League. I don't know. It'd be pretty cool. If Panama wins maybe there will be. Should be. Yeah. It should be. But like again I don't think it can get better. It can get worse though because if either team get like I think this is a game where we're gonna focus on the negatives

Like rightly so because it was a disappointment in the semi finals are both groups Yeah, I think that's totally fair. I think it's Six p.m. I haven't written down so I don't know why I'm saying think It is 6 p.m. On Sunday for the third place match, then 930 p.m. on Sunday for the final between Panama and Mexico. As I said, this was the gold cup final, I think it was two years ago, literally at SoFi Stadium, Panama, blew the doors off of Mexico. Mexico scores late. They get the win, tends to go that way sometimes in those matchups. I think it would be deserving for this Panama group with the way they've become the fourth team in CONCACAF over Costa Rica over the last cycle to get to another World Cup to get into Copa America to compete at the level they did at

Copa America to get to these Gold Cup finals. They've consistently put these performances together. It felt like they held on to the Golden Generation too long till 2018 to try and like get the Blas Perez's and the Roman Torres's and Felipe Belouis and all that that opportunity. And it took them a little while to find their feet after that. Annabel Godoy though has been like a warrior for this team to sort of carry things to this new generation. You've got a bunch of experience in this group but no Barcenas in this stuff like that. And like Martinez plays out of his mind when he plays for Panama. This is a guy who played in MLS was pretty ineffective for Columbus, never has a bad game against the US or at

the national team level. Carlos Harvey, we've talked about on this show, he's been awesome for Minnesota as that third center back. It made so much sense to start him in this game because of that setup. And he has clearly found a spot. This is a guy who played a D-Mid at LA Galaxy 2. Now he's found this role as a wide center back that's fit him perfectly. That's another guy who's looked really good. So this is, and obviously Coco, by the way, Coco tried like a back heel in his own third

in a crazy moment. You're like, I need Coco in my life more often. Yeah, so Vancouver is gonna have to deal with that with Pumas going forward in the CONCACF Champions Cup which we will be covering here at SoccerWise as we cover everything else. Let's go into a little Major League Soccer here. We will of course have our reactions recap to the third place game in the final and everything else on Monday here on soccer wise in MLS news. It never stops. Tommy scoops with another big signing. The Houston Dynamo finally get this DP move over the line. Tom,

tell us a little about it. Yeah. Houston Dynamo finalizing a deal to sign Czech international attacking midfielder Andre Linger from Slavia Prague. This is a fee around 2.6 million. He's expected to be a DP from what I'm told The deal is everything's kind of all agreed and just kind of going through the final steps here But all goes smooth. They will have their DP 10 that they've been looking for all offseason I know that the front office and scouting department have been working very very hard

There have been several trips to Europe and South America to try to come away with a DP-10 and they're getting it now. This player had his breakout in like two seasons ago, the 22-23 season, and it earned him like a $4 million transfer to Feyenoord. Didn't quite work out at Feyenoord, and he went back to Slavia Prague this summer where he hasn't been a consistent starter, but he's played in each of the Czech Republic's last 16 international games It's not on this roster to the best of my knowledge and I have a good time googling this so I thought that was a little Odd but this is a player that the stats are gonna be underwhelming and based on my

Mentions on on reporting this news Houston fans are pretty underwhelmed But I will say like if you look at the player like he's the same guy from 22-23 just didn't work out a fine order and then it wasn't a seamless transition back to Slavia Prague so I would say don't look at the you know one goal no miss or whatever the numbers are this year look at the 2022-23 season. You are correct that he is not on the current squad for this week of games. They are playing the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. So he's missing out on some big ones for Czechia. Could have been games to get a couple of goals. I mean, you're salivating if you're the attackers in that group. Yeah, it could have been a chance for them. I will say this. I think Houston,

I will say this, I think Houston, they maybe the ambition hasn't been there to spend up high numbers. They've hit outside of the center forward stuff on everything they have spent on. They hit on Bossy, they hit on Coco. Aceh Aceh worked whether that was risk or not. I think a lot of the wingers that they've brought in, the young players from the little bit we get to see them look good. I think Aliou looks pretty good as well. So I think I trust this front office to understand their game model and what fits their game model. And again, this is something we've talked about with a couple teams where you're

like, does this player make them better? I don't know. This is a plus. Like they're, they're not selling someone right now to bring him in. They are adding him to what to what they already are. And so I think just getting it across the line. Now, you've talked about a million times how late into the season the summer transfer window is like, it's too late at that point for a Houston team that's struggling to get results. They need talent in the door. Now you bring in a guy who's playing Europa League, Champions League, all that type of stuff to this group. You make life easier

for Basi. You make life easier for McGlynn. You hopefully attract more defense. So Griffin Dorsey has the space. He needs to run into space. Can you make life a little easier or can you put Sebas Ferreira in more comfortable scoring positions? Like they need this piece. They need this force multiplier piece. They had to take the risk. Like we just said about Coco, he's one of those guys. They've lost that player. They had to try and make this move now. It feels like the right profile of player for them, right?

He's going into his prime. He's kind of already taken the one jump didn't work out. So maybe not eager to leave you immediately. And we are seeing now players from Eastern Europe makes sense. Did someone just come into my apartment? Hang on, you talk about him for a second. I hope that there's no intruder. This is going to be unfortunate if we're watching a live cam that Goss having to defend his property. Yeah, so I understand why like, you know It's difficult to comparison shop because you know at a United spent whatever 50 million dollars over the last couple windows or where they brought in Mickey Al Maroon a player like that and I don't know exactly where this one's gonna land

Did you have to fight somebody goes no confirmed? We're good. It was just like a very specific door closing Securing the perimeter that that's our dad move. Well done David guys. Oh Tex rex says did they hit on bossy though? I think so I Think so as well like he's a tam signing. They've gotten pretty high level performances out of him. He's not a DP So when you lose Cocoa not shachik, he's not carrying the load for them But he's won money from the spot and to I think he's not carrying the load for them. But he's one, money from the spot. And two, I think he's been pretty good in finding the gaps in the attack and being like a factor in all of that. Yeah, you could go through the list and convince me like they signed Brad Smith probably

to too much money. He was not that useful. They don't use him that much. But they nailed Griffin Dorsey and Franco Escobar and it kind of all worked out in the end. They obviously nailed Mikhail Sviachenko You could debate both ways Obviously, we haven't seen him super healthy this year without Mikhail and that's gonna be the big factor with him is like What does he look like without this elite defender alongside him who was a bit of a surprise? But I think in general this team has punched above their weight and that is because they have nailed the signings they have made as well as fitting it into a cohesive style. If they think that it's going to work I at least have a little bit of trust right now and from what I've watched he sort of sees the game and finds the gaps in the areas that

they create and if he can do that while adding a little goal scoring that's huge for them as well. I love the show so much because we just did a four minute segment on his, is was it mean bossy? A good signing. Yeah. I love it so much. Had to be done. Clearly it had to be done. Let's do, let's do 12 more minutes here on Dino. Dino Smith signs contract extension for Charlotte. It now runs through 2027. I don't know when his original contract ended. Yeah, so he got more time now more money I'm not shocked by this last year was a good year. They've made moves to improve the team They haven't been great this year. Like I don't know that anything's happened where you're like, oh, whoa We have to lock this now. Do you think that this extension came together in the last four days?

I don't at all. So it's based off the one year of work from last year. Let me just say he is the longest tenured full-time manager this club's history. You have to keep that stability. Yeah, that's fair. So I maybe I think there's a constant theme. I think I'm higher in Charlotte than you are. I think last year it's easy to say you say Goodyear. I thought that was a great year. Look at they didn't get Leel Abada, I think he debuted the last day of March. They got Pep Biel on the last day of the summer transfer window. It was Enzo Capetti in and out, Swierowski out and in. There was a ton of moving parts. This was a team that we had a lot of questions about the roster going to the season and they were one of the best events in the league

and they had to pick up in the middle of the season but they came on from the end and like outside of people that building still believe uh... if that they'd be or or lando in the first round of the would've gotten a must up and uh... again i think locking up dean smith is great i think i I don't know, there wasn't going to be questions about is he going to leave even without this extension, but I think this is, you take care of your people, and this is a guy who came in, and I think he's been a phenomenal manager, phenomenal hire, the

way that he, and it's something that they needed very badly after the first two managers, and how quickly that flamed out, and how contentious that both of those managers flamed out. One public, one private. So I think this was very important. And I think David Tepper and Charlotte F.C. have enough money that no brainer to sign Dino Smith to a new deal. I will say that he clearly has helped in recruiting, right? I think one of the big ones to me is that Pep Biel was like willing to come back on this different deal clearly shows that he enjoyed his time and like felt engaged and felt involved. Obviously getting Zaha through the door is a big deal for them,

especially with the issues they bumped up against trying to get that deal over the line. So you see the positive there as well off the field of like people want to come play for him. People clearly want to be there I mean Patrick OJ among like getting the opportunity and and Whether he gets sold or not seems very happy to be there as well and like comfortable in the situation So I think all of that super positive I would say if you didn't win one of nine games in the middle of the year last year

You would have been home twice against Orlando instead once and maybe you do win that series and that's sort of the toss-up, but for all they'd been through in the two years before, I think it's fully fair to assess that as a good season and say that we wanna build from this going forward. Now you need to see the build though, right? Like he's been given the assurance and the safety. Now you have to build your style

and it has to be a little bit more of control. You can't just be like, oh, we have to sit in and hit and transition. Like you have signed some of the most expensive players in this league, you have stability, your team has this great atmosphere that you should dominate with. It should not be all against the ball

and hopeful at times for this team. That's the next step then, if that's what you're gonna do with all of this. They have a pretty big game this weekend, I think. Well, now I don't remember because I literally just confused them with Cincinnati, Atlanta. They have San Jose, which we were excited about.

We were excited about a couple of these games, Tom. And then you tore me down. International breaks means a ton of MLS teams playing without a ton of their pieces. Tom, how do you feel about this? It just feels so small time. It's all 30 teams have a call up on their roster, which is awesome. It's worth celebrating.

It is what this league wants to be. The global league, a league that's rising in the perception and quality and everything else. Playing through an international break is so small time and it's telling your fans, you know what matters more? 75 teams making the playoffs and playing best of 11. That's where we need, or we need, we need league's cup dates or we can't play a midweek game at this point because because of this It's inexcusable at this stage of the evolution of major league soccer to be playing through an international break

There are 14 games this weekend everybody but two teams are playing Let me say again all 30 teams have somebody called up some are hit harder than others, but let me say this I was going through our depth charts and and the Um, and the the players who are called up who are not going to be available this weekend. I was very fair with how I judged starting players. I was not cherry picking. I wasn't saying, well, you know, if two people are missing, this guy's a starter, right? Well, like who I have in best 11s for all these teams, nine teams would be missing at least three starters. That's not acceptable. It's just not acceptable. Philadelphia Union, Minnesota are missing five

starters and Philly, another player they're missing is the prime backup, the prime rotational piece. Again, Vancouver, the best story in Major League Soccer so far this season. They're missing four starters and again, call-ups are not all created equal. There are four of their five most important players, four of their six most important players probably. And one player who's not called to international duty is Ryan Galt, because he's injured or he would be missing because of international duty. Vancouver, we're talking about history, we're building up these games as we should be like Vancouver are like

have a chance to be one of the best starts in league history they they are right now tied for the fourth best start in league history by way of wins wins the game they're playing this weekend without five of their most important players. And it's telling the fans, it's telling media, it's telling your players and your teams, you know what doesn't matter? MLS games in March. And I don't think that's acceptable. Yep, you're fully right. We have the questions in the chat. Why are the two teams New England and Miami not playing? I'm not a hundred percent sure here. I'm just gonna shoot from the hip and say MLS teams have the ability to choose international windows that they don't play games in.

Some don't care because it doesn't affect their roster as much. They'd rather space out games. My guess is when you look at this year and you look at all of the windows, teams chose ones to say yes and no to. And that's not on the teams because they have to do that because there are so many. And so I guess Miami or New England or both, whatever it was, chose this window and said we don't want to. And look at this from a New England point of view.

Their entire spine is playing in African Nations qualifying. They have a ton of internationals in this group. Ganango is playing for Senegal. I think Fulfana called in as well. Like this is a really impressive group of players. Um, so it's not just messy is what I would say in this. And it's not purely just set up for that purpose. It doesn't change the frustration level about the rest of this. And you are absolutely right. Of like value your product, value the games.

And I am captain of like, play your kids. A lot of this should be opportunity to play young players and push them in. Although you have limits on the amount of times you can do that and how often that can happen. The best young players are on youth national team right now. And then I was gonna say, then you add that to some of these

where you look at it and you're like, oh, this spot's available. And then you're like, oh, but then Neil Pierre is out with the USU 17s or 19s or 20s or all the other national teams, youth players that got called out of MLS. And again, you said it, this is where MLS wants to be. This helps you be a selling league. This shows that you are an elite league if players for really good national teams get called out of your league. If that is the case, then you have to adjust around that. You have to, that has to be your reality.

In the interview yesterday with Bobby Dooley of Phoenix Rising, when I talked about what's the changes coming, Pro-Rel, Division One, all of that, he said, we have to be more aware of internationals and build our rosters differently because if we're going to push as a higher league with better players, we're going to push as a higher league with better players, we're going to get even more players called in. USL already has a million because basically all

of CONCACAF is a USL team, but that was like his point already looking forward about that. So that's something that MLS has to be more aware of and they will say they're crunched and then you will look at it the way you just laid it out of like you are crunched because you chose to crunch yourself We're all looking for who? Who's that fault so that makes it a little bit frustrating you said some of the big games though Vancouver Chicago that one Saturday night the late game Vancouver at home Vancouver missing all the starters We talked about this a little bit on Tuesday since then Brian Gutierrez got called up because of the injuries at the US men's national team So he'll be unavailable for Chicago along with Omari Glasgow and that makes things even harder against a Vancouver team

That has that fourth best start and has the third longest shutout streak to begin an MLS season They are currently at 360 minutes if they made it through this game. Oh, sorry. They are the yeah top I don't know why I looked at that was 2012. Oh my god Louis No, I'm the on the record watch st. Louis Um, if my man says correct and it is if st. Louis keep a clean sheet this weekend It'll be the longest streak this longer shutout streak to begin this season. I think if they get to

Now I'm putting myself on the spot here. No, they're at 360 right now So if they play I'm trying to calculate really quickly what point of the game if they can see it in like 77th minute Yeah, I think whatever an Unbelievably well executed segment by you and I the question is which of us can trip on ourselves even more competitively. So Vancouver is trying to stay perfect. They will do that without all of these pieces.

So it's a big change for them. Obviously, I put Daniel Rios on my fantasy team as a mea culpa to knocking him for being a reason that they can't win. Jaden Nelson injured as well. So that's another piece that this Vancouver's team is missing. You'd expect J.C. Nagando to step into midfield once again. Sebastian Burrhalter will play a pretty big part.

But the- Burrhalter bowl. Yeah, but the attack is the question. It is that Burrhalter versus Burrhalter. It is the big moment, Sebastian against Greg. I want to see them, like, I want to see Sebastian give like exchange a shirt with his dad and like have Greg just give Back like a jacket or something like it or is it where is those really stylish like black t-shirts? This is this is like on again and more credit to the CBS broadcast last night

Like they were when they had the goal scorer who celebrated with honoree on the show last night like they were when they had the goal scorer who celebrated with honoree on the show to see what they were like they were joking like oh you should do a jersey swap and then honoree was like well I don't have anything and then Moe do goes oh you could give him you could give him your watch and then honoree goes no no no I'll send him an arsenal jersey I've got stuff I don't care about I don't need to send him this nice watch you know who would have Amir Khan because he's got a watch andIL sponsor so he would have been throwing out watches. Yeah, R.I.K. Khan. The other big games this weekend starts FC Cincinnati Atlanta. That's the 2 30 game on Saturday.

So that's the early game and what it could have been. No dengue for this one. And then as we have in the chat, Stefan Cirilla, who was the golden boot winner of the G.A. Cup last year, top goal scorer in MLS Next Pro. He is up with the Romanian youth national team. So he's unavailable, even if he wants to say, oh, chance to see the kids and some of that. And then on the Atlanta side, it's tough. No Miggie, no Gregorsen, no Abram, no Bartosz Silecz,

a Johnny Fortune, I think, out, and like six other pieces along the side. Who would be like Louis, Louis, like I don't know. Efrain Morales. Do they how many they have like one center back? Yeah, something like that. Like, yeah. So get ready to learn what? Ronald Hernandez center back in Brooks Lennon center back and.

Whatever else it looks like. So this is one of those where you would hope at the end of the year, these two teams are head to head in the top four in the playoffs. And when you look back, if it's a one or two point difference, like I just did with Charlotte and Orlando, you look at from last year, you look at it and say like, it cheapens it a little bit and we just lose a really good game. Latte, Lath, of course, in concussion protocol. So we don't know his status.

That's unavoidable. I believe Doug Robertson said that he's back in the game. Available. Great. But the one advantage for Cincinnati is Evander from a country where he doesn't get called into the national team. So he is still available. Luque Origiano. There's a lot of pieces. They'll be the shuffle at center back for this Cincinnati team. Miles Robinson is available, of course. But then Flores is suspended for this Cincinnati team as Miles Robinson is is available. But then Flores is suspended for this one on the red card. Miozga still not back.

Haglund probably not fully back, although he played some two team games over the last week or so. So, you know, probably a stronger group here for Cincinnati. And then obviously being the home team. They would be heavy favorites in this one. It'll be interesting for Atlanta. Where do they find the attack? Does Saba step up and have a big game for them? He's been pretty quiet so far this season, but now the responsibility sort of shifts onto his shoulders. Edwin Mascara, does he get a start? Or Jean Desilva and can either of them carry things? And then Moronchuk, like the big one. It's all supposed to be around him.

You've got no Miggie, the game's on your shoulders. Can you carry things and push them on the road? And then the other big game we want to talk about was Philadelphia against St. Louis. Philadelphia, off to this incredible start. Hemorrhage players, you mentioned a bunch of them. Ty Borrebo, Andre Blake, Gosdawg, Dan Lee, Jacques Johnson, Frankie Westfield, Jesus Bueno. So it's like, Dan Lee, Jacques Johnson, Frankie Westfield, Jesus Bueno.

So it's like Dan Lee's out, Bueno would step in, he's out. So how deep can you go against the St. Louis team that's pretty whole and as you said on this record streak that they're trying to set for the shutouts? Yeah, again, that's another one that like, again, it is Bradley Cornell against St. Louis, but you can already envision like, oh well we were missing so many players, which is a completely fair excuse explanation. This is another game that I'd be really looking forward to this weekend, and you cannot talk about it without the prism of, well, Philadelphia are missing like seven or eight guys, and

five of which are starters, and at least another one, or probably another two, probably would have started if they weren't on an initiative too. So When I get excited it brings it back to well, you know, what could this game be again? Like you said Charlotte centers a since the Atlanta cuz like Charlotte are missing a Bada Ajay man and Tim Ream Those are three crucial players Think the Red Bulls are missing some guys, but at least I'll have Forsberg and Trouble Moteng. So that's one to watch. But like, again, can St. Louis continue the shutout streak? Philly, I think, will still be putting pressure on. Like, I think we should see Damiani at an extended shift, which will be nice. And however else that they kind of

cobble together their best available 11. So it won't be nothing for St. Louis. But again, I'm looking at potentially history. Give me CJ only minutes make it happen Bradley Carnell also Bradley Carnell going up against his old team in St. Louis for the first time with Philadelphia. That's another little nugget in all of this. So a ton of soccer to watch this weekend. You've got NWSL kicking off 10 pm eastern time on Friday night then you've got all the MLS games spaced out a little bit there's a 430 this week on Saturday it is Minnesota hosting the other galaxy again another game we would have been very excited about we still are but no Dane St. Clair no Danny Oluwashi a bunch of pieces missing

in those games then you've got the full night and then on Sunday just the one game Austin against San Diego San Diego hurting a little bit in the attack Austin hurting a lot in defense There might be the chance that Andrew Weeby plays center back for Austin FC. I just hope that Andrew Weeby wears a cowboy hat That's all I care about. I think he's too big a coward. I don't think he would do it. Do you think he would do it? I think if we bullied him enough, he would. Yeah, I think he's too big of a coward, but I could be wrong. So we'd love to get comfort. If you can end up getting confirmation from sources on that, it would be super helpful.

We are going to talk with Tommy Hodel in a moment, one of the co-founders of Oakland Roots as they get ready for their big monumental first ever game at Oakland Coliseum. Before we get there, let's talk a little US Open Cup because we were excited about this on the show earlier this week for it to happen. I went to the Miami FC Naples United game on Tuesday night. It was not at Pitbull Stadium. I have to be honest. So I don't want you to start asking me Pitbull Stadium questions because I don't have answers

for those. It was instead an FIU. Yeah, exactly. I'll be back. Pitbull Stadium questions, because I don't have answers for those. It was instead an FIU. We're back in the fall. Yeah, exactly. I'll be back, you know, FIU, they're running that play, that run play option that looks really dangerous this year. So I'll be back for that. And that's where Miami FC plays their regular season games.

They played a semi-pro team, so they did so at the college soccer field. It was like fantastic. It was like perfect night. It's cool. The sun setting. It's just soccer nerds and like everyone who knows the team in the stands. They're selling unfortunately Michelob Ultras. So that was the only option alongside the field. Now Tom's like, I'm actually just going to leave. I don't really want to be here anymore, but it was a ton of fun to watch the game. A bunch of USL players that I love watching like Bullock and Yoday, Nikki Cardona, they're

all on the field. And then Miami FC goes up 4-0 with Bill Hamid in goal. Bill Hamid, the striker tried to catch him off his line kind of from like midfield. And Bill Hamid doesn't turn to watch the ball fly by. He stares at the striker. And he's just he basically just goes, I bet. Like you're going to catch me off my line. It was like the swaggiest goalkeeper thing that could possibly happen.

Uh, he ends up shutting them out and then Sebastian Blanco comes off the bench up like four zero for the last 15 minutes. And he immediately sets up a goal. Then he goes over to the right back to talk about positioning issues. And then he's like helping lead the press out and you're like, oh, OK. And then you have one of those moments and like, it's not cool for us because we're in it all the time. Blanco picks up the ball on the left half channel and he cuts inside.

And I'm like, as he picks up the ball, I'm like, watch this. And he cuts inside and he does what he does. Right. He tries to drop that ball into the far post like he hits that shot over the knuckle That knuckles down like no one else we saw it against SKC in the playoffs to lead them to MLS Cup You know what's coming so I say it and then he cuts inside and doesn't everyone kind of around not that people were with They're like, oh weird like whoa, and it was like yeah, it's the only thing I know smash and Blanco does He's the only player I know here. So it's not a ton I don't know that Lucas Malano even got on the field

I don't remember but it was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed watching it then I got home Little Rock Rangers beat Birmingham Legion. That was one of the few cup sets we had this round It was pretty chalk not conventional a lot of the games went to extra time. A lot of the games were very messy There were some comebacks in all of it the The other team game here, Inter Miami 2, went down 1-0. They came back to win 3-1. But it was not a ton of upsets. So Little Rock Rangers takes down Birmingham. And then Elf our Alita goes on the road. They play a pretty robust Real Monarchs team with a decent amount of first team guys. Kobe Henry, I think, was in the starting lineup for this.

You had some like very experienced players who Real Monarchs have signed permanently and El Farolito crushed them. I think it was a 3-1 win in the Rocky Mountains or in the mountains, whatever it is at that point. And so that was one of the huge results of the week. Tom, do you have anything you want to throw in or am I just ripping? I want to talk to Moynes, but I don't want to... Do you have any personal experience with El Farito?

I don't want to talk about it. It's a bit of a concern for me, so I don't want to go into that too much. Too traumatic? Too traumatic. I have been to El Farito in San Francisco. It did not end well for me. I'm not telling you not to go. I didn't eat a burrito for about

18 months after that. Specifically that wrapping just couldn't do it. And now I'm thinking about again, it's making me nauseous. And so that's a thing I don't want to go into. We need to get this crossed for all of us as we wait for the draw. We're hoping for the Chattanooga Derby, two teams that do not like each other from the same market. We don't know that it's actually happened. There was rumors out know that it's actually happened. There was rumors out there that it was already pre-assigned. I think those rumors were pulled from an incorrect source and then it all snowballed on itself. But we're hoping it took both of them extra time just to get to this point.

Long Island Rough Riders brutal falling an extra time three to two. I think it was so the Charlotte Independence. Spokane, USL League One team, a unreal 121st minute goal that you have to go watch if you haven't against Ballard FC, the League Two team, semi-pro squad in extra time to knock off Ballard so that was brutal to watch but it was a crazy finish to that game. And then congratulations to AV Alta and the part Portland Hearts of Pine. They both won their first ever matches as clubs. They happen to be in the US Open Cup. The atmosphere for both were awesome.

Alta has a really quirky stadium setup. Heartland, Portland, Hearts of Pine. I'm going to call them Heartland all the time. We know about their gear. We know about their swag. We're big fans of what they're building. Their setup is cool. It is very like intimate. It is very like in the small city that is Portland. And what we hoped it would look like is exactly what it looked like this week. So that was cool to watch. And then finally, of course, Sasha Clutch. Penalty kick double. He's a PK merchant.

Everyone knows that about Sasha. He doesn't really play in the open game. He basically is just out there to wait for you to pick up penalties. And he got it over the line. Stop it. That was the conditions looked brutal with like 50 mile per hour wind gusts. If like when the ball wasn't moving, if you were trying to take either a step piece or you just put on the ball, the ball wouldn't stay. That's how much the ball wasn't moving if you were trying to take either a set piece or you just get your foot on The ball the ball wouldn't stay. That's how much the wind was like and goal kicks

Punts they died. They hit it's like they hit a wall that looked Positively miserable that was text Sasha after the game. He goes. Yeah, bro It's like the first half they were going into the wind he goes, dude We just looked at each other like Jesus just get to halftime just get to halftime so we can have like not going to the wind anymore Which is unfortunate because like when they were knocking it they were knocking it man like you got Dax and Ozzy out there You got Justin just a Marim you got Benny fail Harbor Sasha Brad like BWP by the way pressing well Yeah, I was I was happy about that the fans as we talked about earlier absolutely brought in

They they better get free tickets. I'm sure that they're all season ticket hold if you go to that game in those conditions the 20 degrees and and 50 mile per hour wind gusts and You are the story just about the story of the game. They need to get free tickets or a free drink free food voucher something something better than me giving you credit on this podcast because it's just incredible. There's a couple people because the camera was like with them like so long when we've been putting up her hair during one of the best scoring chances. Yeah. What a warrior. Are you kidding me? It's unbelievable. So I'm we'll do a soccer wise line. We'll do a line of hats, which is I'm a veteran of the

2025 US Open Cup first round experience If you're listening if you listen is live Nicholas Murray in the chat our friend says that that draws this afternoon I didn't know what time it was. I just keep on refreshing the US Open Cup Twitter page So that's good to know I don't need to do that So if you're listening on a podcast the draws probably out by now, so go check that out I can't wait to see where Des Moines Menace is going. If it's a favorable draw in terms of location and weather, that's something I might be around for. We'll see what happens with the team.

At left back? No, no, no, no. I think they might need a social media intern. Got it. I don't know if I'm going to get the job, but I'm hopeful. I'm going to give them my resume and see what happens. So yeah, I hope that they get to play somewhere where they can actually play a little bit rather than fighting. Also I would add it was set up.

It ended up being set up perfectly, which was SKC too, a bunch of young kids like played with a bunch of energy. They wanted to like do the things that Des Moines didn't want to do and prove that they could do it. But you had this situation was like, well, you only get to play soccer for 45 minutes. So how are you going to handle the first 45 because then you don't get to play in the second 45. They were better going against the wind because they could run and stuff like that, but ended

up losing in the end to a couple penalty kick switch, one camera in the fifth row at midfield. I don't know what it looked like. Seemed like an obvious offside to say that much. You could tell me anything that ended up happening. But we don't have the right angles, we can't draw the lines. Yeah, Weeby would push his glasses up on that one and start to correct you. But it was a ton of fun and it was just this cool thing to rally everyone into it. I think it was a good like pulling point for everyone to tune in. I think a lot of people once they tuned in saw all the other games that were available and so went around to

it. So it's a credit to Sasha once again that he's passionate about this, that he cares about it, that he's made it even bigger than last time and it will be fun to see how it continues on. And as you said the draw coming up in just a couple of minutes, which we will learn where everyone's going. And one of those teams, I believe, will be the Oakland Roots. And we've got a special guest with us here. So we're going to bring in live on the show

for everyone watching and for anyone listening not. We've got Tommy Hodl, who is the VP and PR of communications, one of the co-founders of Oakland Roots ahead of a historic weekend. Tommy, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me guys. Well, we've never done a live pull-in on this show, so I'm just excited. I can't believe that we technologically pulled it off. Tommy, thank you for being here and thank you for making it as easy as possible on us

because any sort of adversity, this wouldn't have worked. Amazing. Oakland and Oakland Roos know about adversity too. Sounds good to me. It is a club that has fought through a lot. I did forget when we were messaging, I am actually technically an owner of the team. So this is a big weekend for me as well. But the reason I reached out and we wanted to put this together is you guys

are on the verge of your first game at the Oakland Coliseum. You thought you'd try and sell 15,000 tickets, then you upped the number a little and then a little more. And right now it sits at a potential 26,000 fans in the building. And it's just going to be one of those incredible days. I think all of us are going to be watching from afar. Yeah, it's going to be one of the most monumental moments kind of in Oakland sports history. This is a building that means so much to so many people in Oakland. People's first memories with their grandpas, their dads are in this building

and they're hoping to recreate that magic on Saturday with their kids. What does it mean to do it at the Oakland Coliseum, which is a building that holds memories now of two professional teams that have chosen to leave the community. That building to anyone who's from Oakland, you just know that it's special. And why we believe that is you see things that have been created at the Oakland Coliseum. What people know around the world about Oakland,

people will know Oakland because of the teams that have played in Oakland and at the Oakland Coliseum. They know the black hole. They know the bleacher crew in right field playing drums. Some people get upset with the drummers in right field during baseball games, but it's like what we believe is the Oakland Coliseum and what it sounds like every game. Yeah, that's like, feels like a perfect fusion.

The ticket sales. So I said, you started at 15. Obviously the building can hold more. And you had said originally when you moved in, like, oh, we might expand. What's sort of been the experience as you've watched this grow and grow and the assessment of like, okay,

how many should we let come into the building? Totally. So when we were in our future history, we've been at Cal State East Bay, which holds about five and a half thousand, 6,000 tops. So opening up to 15,000 was where we kind of set the capacity, which is the full lower bowl of a three deck building, right? We hit that 15,000 was where we kind of set the capacity, which is the full lower bowl of a three deck building, right?

We hit that 15,000 weeks in advance. So we knew we had to open up the second bowl and it just continued to grow from there. So chances to be some of the highest attended USL games of all time as of right now, I think there's only one club in USL history who's actually had a bigger, will have a bigger attendance all time.

What's going to be sort of your thoughts when you walk in there? Like what are you gonna remember? What is this sort of trigger of how you've gotten here? Yeah, I mean, we've been through quite a lot and I'll just be very, very transparent about that. We were started in NISA at Laney College. We've had home openers canceled

because of different field issues. We've played at Merritt College. We played at Las Bacidas College. We've been two yearsers cancel because of different field issues. We've played at Merritt College, we played at Las Positas College, spent two years at Cal State East Bay. The fact that we've been through all this adversity that a lot of teams would give up after, it shows a lot about what Oakland stands for. Oakland is probably the most resilient city in the world.

When we move back into the Coliseum, it's going to trigger all those memories. I was up in the press box yesterday testing all of our video board show for the weekend. You see stickers of Ray Fosse and a bunch of other legends that have called games in that building. One of mine is Dick Callahan, the former PA announcer. When I walk into that building, I hear his voice. And so that's what's so special about it.

Tom, you feel that? You feel those goosebumps? I'm ready to book a flight right now. They're going to be more... I mean, we'd love to have you. I got space for you guys, no questions. So if you fly out tonight, we'd love to have you. But, yes, there'll be goosebumps. I think there'll be a lot of nerves for everybody

who's been involved with the organization since day one. We really kind of came up with this concept of purpose-driven soccer, soccer for social good, and investors in Oakland and the Bay Area bought into it. Took us in from Division 3 to Division 2 and, and obviously to attendance crowd that could be one of the tops in America this weekend. So you just mentioned the move from divisions, which takes us into a very fun conversation we're all having right now. We did our special yesterday with a couple of USL owners and different executives about promotion and relegation. That's the big announcement.

What does it mean to Oakland and the roots and sort of how have you experienced that over the last week? We've always believed that Oakland's a first division city, simple as that. When I grew up in the 90s, we had three professional sports teams, the three major sports, right? At the time, obviously soccer, we believe it's going to be the number one. So Oakland deserves that number one more than anything else. I will also say that statistically Oakland is the second most diverse city in the world. So that says soccer belongs here in Oakland, California.

We used to be the number one, and it's actually passed to another Northern California city in Stockton. But that's kind of what this means. So we always believe that. And I think what we're mainly focused on before this all comes around is we're gonna show everybody why Oakland is a first division city. And we're gonna show that this weekend.

Is the plan that Oakland Coliseum is the building? So our hope is to extend. We're currently on a one year lease. There's a lot of backend. There's another awesome group taking over the building and that should be finalized soon. And we're very, very close with them to hopefully remain there and then looking to build a permanent stadium in the next in the next five to ten years at the Howard terminal site

which is where the the A's were looking at for quite a long time. You mentioned the ups and downs that have happened for Oakland. I think one of the fears and some of the things we've heard from fans over the week is like promotion relegation sounds great because promotions fun. Relegation is the fear and that's why you don't do it. What do you make of from a club point of view having now that potential and that jeopardy and how it affects you? I think it drives us more excitement in the end of the season and when you're not playing your best. I think there's games that matter.

And I'll just candidly say as an Everton fan, dealt with this recently, where in the years past, when you're finishing 11th, the season kind of ends and there's not that much excitement. But when you're finishing 16, 17, there's something to fight for every single day. There's a passion and energy, energy there every day. There's a pressure.

And I think pressure over entitlement is really, really important for every single player in this country to actually feel pressure at the bottom versus, Oh, my season's over. Can't make the playoffs. Right. Time to go home. Right. The, um, as a club, you guys have committed not just off the field, but on the field this year. Jurgen Doms, obviously the big name that will flash, not a name that I think we expected to see in a USL. What's the ambition in the club to even try

and approach a player like that and say, like come into this team and come into what we're building? Totally. I think what's amazing about Jurgen is he's completely bought into what Oakland Roots stands for. And I think that's what's special, is there's players that Jurgen knew who we were from afar, knowing what we stood for. He knew that this is a community organization.

He knew that Oakland has one of the biggest Mexican fan bases. I mean, he actually walks around the city of Oakland and gets stopped for photos a lot already. So he knew what he was coming into. He's an incredibly popular player, super, super excited to have him on board. And I couldn't be more excited to have someone who's so graceful the way he

treats every single person. There's no ego for someone who was really, really close to being the feature face of the entire Mexican World Cup teams. The last thing for you, we just talked to us open cup and the draws coming up in a little bit and roots are now entering in in the, they'll enter in the third round. Are you praying for El Farolito? Is that the dream matchup? Like what does us open cup mean for a club in the USL championship?

Totally. Well, first off, I know El Farolito's head coach, Santiago is actually a long time friend since before we started Oakland Roots. So I'm always, I always like to see them do well until we have to play them. So they're actually awesome. In a really positive way,

having such a really, really awesome amateur team in your market, we play them pre-season every year. That's an amazing test for us to have every single season as you ramp up the season to have the kind of undisputed best amateur team in the country in your backyard to help you get ready for the season is really, really excited. I will say we have played them now twice, two straight years in the open cup. And it's one of those ones where we know everybody is, we're knowing the story, we're the underdog story, people love it, roots, L team moving up and,

you know, trying to get 26,000. But that's the one moment where we actually become like the big club and it actually, people are, you know, are backing for our lead though. So there's more pressure for us to make sure you get the job done. And I think last year was fun because we put out about six of our Academy contract players who are local to the Bay Area and we had I think two 15 year olds start that

game, a 16 year old and an 18 year old start the game and an 18 year old Oakland born and raised kids scored the winning goal in extra time. So it did come out on the positive end but it was nerve nerve wracking there in extra time and they're always going to make it that way. So we'll see it will be three straight years we play them in the cup though. It's a special year for the US Open Cup. You've had more MLS teams in but not the full allotment. San Jose is one of them. So that potential does exist. But you have, as the Oakland Roots have been very committed to the US Open Cup,

what was it like to sort of watch this happen to the tournament, a tournament that you guys care a lot about and sort of see it be in this shaky place? Yeah, I think the realization on the back end is what the cup means to so many other teams. It's for everyone in US soccer. And I think that that's what a cup is, right? A cup isn't for a single league. And that's why it's so important that everyone participates. It's why the Premier League participates in the FA Cup, right? It's because of what the single win can mean.

And I'm not going to make fun of a team I don't love in Liverpool, but it's the idea that they can get knocked out of the cup by Preston and what that means to that club, right? So that's a really, really special moment. We're talking about if we play earthquakes and we beat them, that's a game that people remember in Oakland for 20, 30, 40 years. And that's why it's so vital it locks in soccer culture for thirty forty years in a way that the week can't always do

tom what's that book behind you on your right shoulder is not you're going to your email the the the uh... premierly winning manager that ended our drought and that's what the attitude okay uh... i'm just as president as it's just move it as tommy closes out here let people know how can they get involved? How could they buy tickets? Where should they watch? What should people do? Yeah. First off, if you're local to the KTVU plus, if you're watching nationally ESPN plus,

we'll have the game this weekend. I think we're looking for one of our biggest broadcast crowds now that the attendance is going to sell. I think people are going to want to see this crowd. And then obviously Oakland roots, sc.com slash tickets. We have incredible games coming up back to back weeks to get. Obviously we have numbers coming for games two and three next two weeks that are already bigger than our old record attendance, but we'd like to get them all past 15,000 for the whole season. Yeah, it is going to be a big one. So 7 P.M. Pacific time, 10 P.M.

Eastern time coming up on March 22. Versa Antonio. That's that first home game. Then one of our friends Joey bats brings his club Las Vegas lights into the building. Next week, we had him on her show last week. And so a lot to be excited about a lot to get involved in. And me and Tom will do we're gonna get out there. We'll probably jump on the back of Kailin Carr's private jet, and we'll come out at some point for one of the games. I think he's friends with Marshall Lynch,

but I don't know if he has time for Marshall Lynch. So we'll see if that works out, but you know, the big time celebrities from Berkeley. We love Caelan. Caelan's been a day one of ours, someone who's backed the club since the very, very beginning. And he's really special part of what Oakland soccer,

East Bay soccer really truly means. So welcome to come out. I got other recommendations if you want to. May 4th against Sac Republic, I think that's the best rivalry in USL. One of the best rivalries in US soccer. So I want to make sure to flag that. And then also June 7th, we do a double header with our women's team Oakland-Sole, which has been selling out USLW league games as well. So to get our women into the building as well, I think those two are two to try to put on your calendar if you guys are able to make it out. I love it.

As an owner, it just feels nice to know the projects going in the right direction. Makes me feel like a fancy pants every time I get to say that. Everything about Oakland Roots, what they've done so far has been awesome to watch. As you said said community driven club That's the dream and we're hoping now maybe with a little bit more of an open system some more of this Going forward but Oakland Roots planting the flag big game this weekend watch from afar go if you are in the area and Tommy

Thanks for joining us Tom David, thanks so much for having me talk to you guys soon. You're the man. Thanks for coming. All right, Tom you You you got a second Liverpool base, Tom, on this show just for you. But thank you so much to Tommy Hodl for taking the time to join us. Super excited about that game. Tom, I think just this week in general for me

has been fun of like, this is why we started this. We wanted to be able to talk about soccer wherever it was that we liked. There's a lot of soccer. We don't get to watch every single game and talk about it with depth and intelligence, but we get to talk to people who are really cool, who care a lot. And we don't know what the next few years look like. I think the disappointment from the USMNT game going into a World Cup is one side. And then I went back and was editing some of our interview with Jose Bautista,

him talking about the excitement of the World Cup and what it can do for the sport. You talk about a sold out Oakland Coliseum, you know, Portland, Hearts of Pine opening up, Rhode Island's opening a new building this year that looks crazy and I can't wait to cover that. And the Tampa Bay Rowdies are entering their 50th season on top of all of that. So it's like there's so much happening and that's why we started soccerizing. That's why we like to hang out and do all of this. Yeah, what a week. I don't even think about that. How many different places we bounced around in North American soccer and all the different levels and all the different storylines and everything else. It was a banner week, David Goss. I enjoyed it. How about you? I did and it just continues

again next week. NWSL goes into week two. We'll have your coverage of that alongside Jordan Angeley as well as maybe some other special guests. We will have your MLS two. We'll have your coverage of that alongside Jordan Angeley, as well as maybe some other special guests. We will have your MLS coverage. We will have your national team coverage. We will continue to talk U.S. Open Cup once we get the draw and figure that out. We've got CONCF Champions Cup around the corner as well. So that's gonna be really fun for us to cover

as Vancouver looks to try and continue this fantastic season and so much more. So thank you to all of you for watching. Thank you to everyone who's fantastic season and so much more. So thank you to all of you for watching. Thank you to everyone who's watching live and in the comments. Thank you to all of you for listening. Go rate and review us. It helps other people find our show. Send it to people if you like it. Go out to a soccer game this week and then get into our discord and message us all and tell us where you've been and what you're doing and it's been a ton of fun so far.

We'll continue on here at Sakurai. So thank you all for listening, and we'll talk to you again very, very soon. ["Sakurai Theme Song"]