SoccerWise - USMNT Mid Camp Pick Me Up + Mo Salah, Georgi Minoungou & Other World Class Players' MLS Future

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Well that didn't look so hot! Coming off the 5-2 loss by the USMNT vs Belgium David & Doyle talk through what they saw. From the biggest struggles to Pochettino's tactical wrinkles, and the few strong performances they saw. Then they discuss what they expect and would like to see vs Portugal on Tuesday night. Lastly with the MLS window closing but some big names being linked they talk about the blockbuster Georgi Minoungou trade in Colorado & Mo Salah's future.4:15 USMNT Mentality Issues11:23 Another Strong Weston McKennie Game16:30 Pulisic's Struggles23:15 Mark McKenzie Strong Day28:55 "Winners" From The Day33:58 Portugal v USMNT Preview41:35 Rapids Spend $2mill On Georgi Minoungou 48:10 Mo Salah MLS Future58:51 Casemiro's MLS Desire

Hey, everybody, welcome back to soccer wise, David Goss and Matt Gower with you for what will be an electric and heartwarming U.S. national team focus show here. Matt Doyle has the UCon. Did you make that? Somebody might have made it for me. Okay. I just didn't know if Connecticut was such a specific place that Yukon was like, oh, we're going to make page boy caps with our logo on them. I mean, it's pretty sharp, right? Like it looks pretty good.

Maybe like there's a market opportunity there, David. It's the new dad hat. I'm not a dad. No, it's the cool uncle hat. Yeah, which is the same energy of course. That's fair. As someone who just spent a weekend with my nieces who called me the cool uncle as well, I can understand the feeling, but I don't know that actually makes us cool.

Like if five-year-olds think you're cool, it's probably not the best. That is, that's the only people I care who think I'm cool. If the five years, if the nieces and nephews think I'm cool, then I've done something right. And the fact is my nephew texted me when Braylin Mollins hit that shot. And like, that's the first time that child has ever texted me in my time. I was like, I said, all right, I've done something okay. Man, you're like the TV characters who are like, we just talked about the Red Sox. That was our whole relationship.

Fine. Yeah. No, he gets enough. He gets enough of the life stuff from everybody else. I'm like, you rehabbing your arm? Cool. tell me about it. How's your slider? You know, like, all right, cool. I have a secret weapon, which is I'm friends with Jordan Angelie. So I took all my nieces to the Denver Summit first ever

game, 63,000 people. And Jordan came over to say hi at the tailgate. And then all of the youth soccer players wanted to take photos with her and get, she was like, autographing shirts and stuff. She's a superstar. She is as expected. And one of my niece's teammates is like, who is that? And she was like, she's like a big deal. She like owns the team. She's like best friends with my uncle. It's like really intense. It's like so cool.

Like walking away like not in front of us. And we're like, yeah, for sure. So thank you, Jordan, for keeping me cool in everyone's eyes. I got a scarf already up in the background. It was an amazing time. While that happened,

the U.S. proceeded to fall apart on itself in, in Atlanta at the same time against Belgium. So I followed on my phone throughout most of the game, watched a little of the second half on my phone. And then came back. and rewatched it twice. Because I hate myself. Twice.

Wow. You never know what you'll miss the first time. And normally in my notes, I like bold goal because I want to be able to find it. But when there's seven of them, five by one team, it becomes a little bit less intense. And it becomes a little less useful because it feels like every line is bolded as I put my notes down through the game. So we're going to talk all about that game. We're going to get you ready for the Portugal game as well, which is now a huge moment. Because I think what we experienced coming out of that last window with Paraguayon,

and Uruguay is like the U.S. puts together a decent performance, it's going to change a lot of views going into this final, you know, into the World Cup camps. Even if they play okay, maybe it won't help. But like if they play well and win, I think it will change the feeling around this group for the next two months, which are arguably the two biggest months in the history of the national teams program, which is not how it felt coming through these games. We're going to talk about that. And we're going to hit some MLS moves at the end of this short because Georgie Miningo is big money Georgie now. so we got to go talk about that one. Mosala, Casamiro, everything else in there. But like, there's a lot to talk about in this game. But to me, in the opening, I thought the opening half, the U.S. looked good,

especially the opening 20 minutes. I thought they pressed high. I thought they were cohesive. I thought they were dangerous. They created some out of their own build-ups. But when you look at the last six months of games, there is a feeling through a lot of them, Paraguay, obvious, because there's a fight.

Australia, obvious, because there's a fight. Uruguay, maybe obvious because of the result and the performance. But I argue through all those games, there was like an intensity to the games. And it didn't feel that way through this one. And I think that's the hardest part to take in is it felt like Pochitino had turned the corner with, we fight as a group, we work as a group, like all of that is the most important thing. And that's where the confidence for me came out of the last camp of like, whatever the names are. We're going to debate who's in the 10, who's playing right back, what the centerback options are.

but like there's a cohesive style to this group, and it is that they're going to battle and fight and get the best out of what they put out there. And that's not how it felt in this game. Yeah, there was a chemistry and a will and a mentality back in autumn that I don't think was there. It disappeared at least because I do want to give them credit for the first 30, 40 minutes,

really basically up until Weston McKinney scored that goal. and then the U.S. thought the game was over. I don't know. Like it did feel different and they didn't like the Belgium kicked it up a level and the U.S. didn't match it. And, you know, 5-2 was a little bit unfair because a couple of those goals were not repeatable finishes. But at the same time, the patterns of play were repeatable. And the U.S. wasn't anything about that. And Mauricio Pachitino actually adjusted a couple times to try to stop those long.

diagonals and those long balls over the top and didn't have any luck. And with those, it certainly felt like a lack of a fight or maybe, you know, maybe we give the, the players credit and say it wasn't a lack of fight. It was a lack of clarity. Maybe that they, they weren't hitting their rotations because they didn't really understand Mauricio Pochitino's tactical instructions, which is, I mean, it's plausible because there were some changes in this, right? Like this, we went back to the pulley system with one fullback goes, one full back state.

We haven't been doing that for a year. You know, we've been doing the hybrid sort of elbow back thing with one of the guys and the other one is free to attack. And, you know, on the first goal, that first of all comes from Christian Polisic not running hard to stop a diagonal. but also McKinney, Tessman, Cardozo are on that line with Tim Wea, and Pach said this after the game. We had three central midfielders on that line to try to help out Tim Wea against Doku, and none of them did it. So that's effort or is it clarity. I hope it's clarity because that can be fixed very easily from the next game. But man, on Pulisics part, it sure looked like effort.

And I think it's pretty telling that Pachitino moved him inside in the pressing shape in the second half in an effort to try to stop those exact diagonals that were ripping the U.S. up. And I should say, the first 20, 25 minutes, Belgium weren't hitting those diagonals. Then they had the water break. And the coach was obviously like, hey, we can just do this all day long and find doku in isolation. And the U.S. never, like, I don't want to say never. They didn't adjust well to that. And poor Tim Leia ended up being put straight into hell. Yeah.

It was frustrating for sure as the game went along. And it felt like as that happened, the U.S. just got more and more disconnected. As Belgium hit those long balls, every time that ball came in, the midfield line was further away from the back line and the forward line was further away from the midfield line. And it affected on both sides of the ball because then the buildouts were less connected. I mean, the opening 25, 30 minutes, they create that chance for pool. where Ream breaks lines, Tillman drops it to Pulisic who's coming on facing goal, which is what you want. Like it was all these things where it's like, oh, this looks pre-worked, this looks organized.

They look like they have ideas. There was the early chance where Testament drops in as the centerback, Waya goes long. He hits the first time cross into Pulisic where it's like, okay, now they found the space. They've created the space by sucking Belgium in a little higher and they've taken advantage of it early on. I thought Jedi was reading the play pretty well. he came inside into the left channel a couple times when there was openings. And then after the second goal scored, all that stuff went downhill consistently. But I would even say in these moments of like, so the second goal that gets scored,

and we've talked about it for a little while before we got on because the broadcast doesn't actually show how Belgium ends up in the attacking half. But no matter what happens, there's a moment where the ball's on the edge of the six. There's three U.S. defenders, one Belgian attacker, and Belgium comes away. with the ball. And like those are the moments where it's like you can't lose some of these in a game against this opponent. Maybe you can against Australia. Maybe you can against Paraguay. Like that's maybe part of what we saw. And this was the jump we knew was coming, which was like this was the opponent. Uruguay is. And I don't know. I'm still trying to figure what happened in that game on both

sides. Because I thought they looked pretty good against England last week when they went there. But that's the jump here of like those mistakes being being amplified. And then that amplification, how do you react to it? How do you deal with it? And then on top of it, the in the moment, the idea that, oh, we've screwed up and we have to be desperate about ending this play. And that was not, you know, I've mentioned Pulistic three times already. There's no better example, though, than Malik Tillman on the Onana goal. Because first of all, he's dropping back into the, you know, as Doku has entered the side of the box and his surroundings, by three players and, you know, it's a bad break with just landing perfectly and then you know

that ball is going to be shuttled to the top. Tillman reacts late and then he doesn't lay out. And Kyle Martino actually called him for this on the broadcast saying, like, you just have to go to ground there. You have to sacrifice everything to stop that shot. And it reminds me of the, the Uruguay game because it was actually Tim Tillman who set the tone for the U.S. in that game with that crunch, I forget who it was on, the absolutely crunching tackle, and it was like, oh, we're, we're in this all the way. And that second half, the U.S. was not in it all the way. And good Lord, did Belgium dispense a lesson. Yeah. And, you know, sold out building, World Cup venue, like, you could feel why this is big. If the U.S. is competitive, people will show up.

People want to root for this team. This team just has to put sort of a performance out there. there, it's on the men's and women's side. When these teams are good, people are there. And this is sort of this whole conversation like, when will soccer make it in America, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Sold out Mercedes-Benz Stadium for this game. It sold out as well for the Portugal game. Show up, play well, put in a good performance. They're going to come back. That's like the nature of being a fan and the engagement with it and all of this. And so I think that's a really underwhelming situation to have had coming out of this game. We've talked about it a couple times started pretty well for the U.S. had some chances. And then obviously the big one was

Weston McKinney's goal on the far post, the corner kick. He had a really big chance on a corner kick on the far post earlier in the half. Incredible save. Not much else he really could have done with it. And then he gets this one. It comes off a pick. I think Johnny sets the pick. And so he's able to get around it. He's wide open. Good instincts. And this is what I've said about Weston since the first time I've seen in play of like his instincts in big moments. And he's able to get moments, the natural things that he's able to do and wants to do is special. And you just have to get him in those moments. And this one, it's, you know, this weird first touch finish on a ball that's like waist high that he just goes and gets in places in the far post. And it's like this huge

high. The US is up one zero on Belgium. It's a huge moment. And overall, I think he was one of the better performers that we saw in this game, especially in that first half. Yeah, without question. He was tampered a little bit defensively by that early yellow card, which was a yellow card, which was a bummer. But I thought he, you know, a lot of the best stuff the U.S. did, he was involved with that. And his ability to function anywhere and everywhere all at once kind of unlocked some things and actually caused Belgium real problems. And I think that's a big reason why Pulisic was able to get on the ball in a couple of profitable spots.

you mentioned where I think Ream hits the right-footed line-breaking pass of the pot and then it bounces off to, you know, wall pass into Pallisic. I wish he had played Flo Bolligan through. Like he has a moment there to put the ball on Balagan's foot. And the way Balogans has been playing at the club level, you would like to see that type of combination play. But it just didn't quite come off. But it was still a really encouraging first half.

It's just, you know, against a team that good. If you have them on the ropes a little bit, you got to land some punches, right? Like if you have a chance to make it 2-0, you got to make it 2-0. And if you don't, then you open the door for what happened at the end of the half, which was it was really unfortunate and Matt Turner should have done better. And I think everybody should have done better on the play leading up to it. because it didn't like it it didn't have to go into the break at one one guzan said on the half time show so um that because my first reading was does turn to get

the first punch right because he punches the first shot away doesn't want to save it which i think is fine i think it's going nine thousand miles an hour man a hundred percent but it's an awkward punch it's not one that i feel like you see normally of like he punches up and it goes out on the top of the box where normally I think you see a keeper just try and punch the side and be like, I'm going to concede a corner here. That is what it's going to be or whatever. And then obviously there's just a lot of traffic in front of him on the goal, but he's a little bit late to get there. Overall is, do we feel like that's the blame there for him? Is this his like shot to have passed freeze that he gives up in that three second sequence? I mean, I don't think he was going to pass

freeze no matter what i think this was just poch getting him some some playing time and um he got some playing time it'll be freeze on tuesday and it'll be freeze at the world cup unless the man's leg falls off or something and i i think that's just where the the pool is it too late to get brian schwaqa in can we can we make the call bj sorry bud i did a combine mexico u.s 11 last week and i was going to pull canada in this week like dain problem would be the starter across the three. I think all three countries would take a wild card on a goalkeeper if they could. Like someone else's backup or maybe just a veteran coming out of retirement and being a part of it

because it's a problem position for all three teams across the host countries. So the U.S. goes into halftime at 1-1. They come out in the second half. You talked a little bit about the adjustments. I think you see it in the first 10 or so minutes in possession where Pulisic now has a little more freedom, playing more central. And he goes over and he picks up the ball on the right side of the box for the first time, pretty much all game. And he's able to beat three guys in the box and puts his shot over the crossbar. And that to me was the window that you talked about of like,

put your foot down. It's 95 seconds later where Belgium goes up to one. And if he scores that, first of all, that play doesn't occur because game state, you know, we're going into a kickoff, whatever. But those are those moments. Those are the fleeting moments in a big matchup. And he's in a bad form right now for club and for country. And I don't know that there's really anything Pochitino can do to break him out of it. Like at some point, it's just his experience. And he has to get there and he has to figure it out on his own. But the game got easier for him as he came more central for sure.

But the U.S. is going to be reliant on him scoring a chance like this. So I don't know if it's that the game got easier for him because he was more central. I think it was a defensive change because I like I put. clips on my blue sky you could see that he he's just not doing what he needs to do to take away what was um what was belgium's main attack on the night which was get jeremy doku on the ball in space and their main way to do that was to hit those big right to left switches and if that's what it's going to be then you need your left winger to close down the right center back um and he wasn't doing it and so i think Pochitino moved him inside and tried to do a little sort of reshuffling of the U.S. defensive shape.

And to DeBast's credit, the ball he hits on the, what was it was the third goal, the penalty. Like, good Lord. Like that is, that is as good a diagonal as you will ever see. And then it's, you know, it cut way out of the play. and it's, you know, it was tough scenes. And the U.S. shoulders really, really slumped after that. So one of my issues, though, in the first half was Polisic was pulled out farther to the left. And every time the U.S. won the ball back in their defensive third and played into his feet in the defensive half, he lost the ball.

And then first three minutes of the second half, he gets the ball in an attacking area central. And he's dangerous. He was, I think, for the opening half of his. his career, most comfortable out wide getting one v1 because he was not comfortable with bodies around him and he is not always the cleanest with bodies around him. Since he has moved around the field with Milan and has changed a little bit the way he's effective, I now think that the U.S. is best case in error is just have him central and a round goal as much as possible. Let him get two dangerous touches and get it to be a shot. Let him be a finisher most of the time. And so

my thinking has changed with that of like it used to be him and Jedi getting a in each other's way. And now I think, so whether it's in possession or out of possession and defensive, it feels like there's no question that he has to be central. He's your best player. I think it works for most of the team anyway to change up the way they changed up. And then in the 60th minute or so, there's wholesale subs and Pochitino goes back to a five-man back line. Testman was dropping in for most of the first half, but now it's just a pure. Joe Scally's the right centerback. Arfston's the left wing back. And Alex Freeman is the right. wing back. And I mean, it's hard to tell because what did Belgium have to play for anymore?

How effective it is. But it just, I mean, Ream cannot be isolated. Any part of the field. That's part of what I think you see on the third fourth goal coming off the throw in where he's yelling for someone to close down. But everyone kind of has a mark in that moment. And it's kind of on him to step unless Raina drops back and finds him, which rain is around a body. But like, he doesn't want to step. He doesn't want to be in a one v. one situation anywhere on the field. And he had already gotten beat on the header for the Onana goal, right? Because that that was just a long ball over the top. And brilliant header from de Catteler to like right into DeBrina's run.

And if it's DeBrona and Duku on the run against a retreating back line, you're in some problems. But to bring it back to Policic, I think I agree with you that his best position in theory is second forward, which is what he's mostly been playing for Milan this year. But he hasn't scored in four months. He hasn't scored in four months for Milan. He hasn't scored for the U.S. I think it's one goal in his last 10 appearances. It was the last goal he scored for the U.S. Shout out to Jeff Ruder for this one,

was the one where he did the Trump dance afterwards. Hasn't scored since then. Sick. Yeah. Nailed it. Yeah. That's why these people love this team. Yeah.

He's, and that's the part where it's like, it's not just the U.S. It'd be like, how do you get him in the right spot? The fact that it's across now club and country for basically all of 2026, it makes it a little bit harder to say you have to solve it or you can solve it, which is where you got to get the most out of him that you can. And I think even being central, he creates a little more danger or he is more of a threat more constantly in the minds of other teams. And maybe that helps his team a little bit more as well. We saw he he's still capable of getting on the ball in really good spots, right? he still reads the game like an elite goal-minded attacker.

He's also aggressive. Most of his touches are going forward. Most of his plays to take guys on 1v1. I would say he's one of three consistently who does that in this team. I think Weston's in that group as well, maybe for good and bad sometimes. I think Weston had this one moment with Doku where he slowed up to play and he's like, I'll just push it by him and run past him. And it's like, no, you won't.

He's the guy you can't do that too. Yeah, the U.S., that was really annoying because the U.S. was in really good shape right there. Like, that should have ended with at least a fizzed cross, you know, across the six. And it ended up with Doku just taking the ball from it. Yeah. There's like 35 people in the world that Weston can't do that to. And that was one of them. Right.

He did not read that situation. But I still think for the U.S., you saw over the, that few minutes in the second half of, like, it's going to be a little bit more dangerous. I think it's a little more straightforward for a lot of the guys. I think it also does get the best out of a Jedi. in a way, and I think you can see for the U.S. that they're probably going to be most comfortable in a setup like that. It means a good soccer player probably isn't on the field. But right now, based off this 11,

that good soccer player is probably Malik Tillman, who didn't do himself a ton of favors in this game to prove that you should change the setup for him. Right. The real issue is it brings another centerback out to the field. Yeah. I've always said three bad, legitimately will say, I'd rather have three bad centerbacks than two.

Yeah, I mean, that might be where we are. Yeah, I think it, I think it, it makes, it causes less isolation. It's a little bit less decision making. I think it's just safer. And the reality of this team is, and this is sort of what me and Paul talked about last week of like, the long, like we're going to build a new style and do all these things and change the perception of Americans like all that stuff's out down the drain. Like they wasted five years. That stuff's not going to happen. You need to steal a one goal victory in a round of 32.

and if you can, a one goal victory or a PK shootout in the quarterfinals to go the furthest a team has ever gone. Like that's the ball game now. And having three okay centerbacks, which by the way, I thought Mark McKenzie was actually good in this game. I was good to say he helped himself a little bit. Yeah.

Every time he closed on Dooku, it ended with a deflected cross or an uncomfortable moment. It's just him going out there, caused the problem in the middle because he was one of the two centerbacks, and now reams there and there's not enough coverage coming from. from central midfield. Yeah, and that was part of the, well, I'm going to read this, this comment on, on my newsletter, uh, left by MCB.

Tactics free son-on-un-cose. Tactics free zone. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, MCB is one of my favorite, uh, sickos. He says, the game was a practice game in which the manager was trying stuff. The score line got screwed up by a couple of low probability goals. That's true.

And a PK so soft that VAR tried to. to stop it. Kind of true on that one. The problem was that the scrimmage was televised and they sell tickets in a real game. Pachino probably sends Brendan Aronson to double doku with a stay at home right back. I'm not sure I entirely agree with that take, but I do like it. I like the optimism. And to be clear, part of the new stuff the manager was trying was dropping one of the central midfielder's.

And in this case, most often it was Tanner Testman. It was like watching a game from 2013. Yeah. Right. The six would drop deep, split both centerbacks, push both fullbacks up into the attack. When that happens, one of the higher central midfielers has to drop in to form a double pivot. And that was usually supposed to be Malik Tillman. He wasn't super consistent about that.

And so there would be long. periods of time where the U.S. was playing sort of 1v2 or 1v3 in central midfield. Belgium didn't take a ton of advantage of that, but they did take enough. And I think that was one of the, like, that was the big thing that Pachitino was trying. He said afterwards, he was very brief on Tanner Testman said, he could play better. I think, I'm not sure we're going to see it against Portugal again. Yeah. The other question mark in Central Midfield, I mean, the biggest conversation for the last few weeks has been Johnny and his play at club level versus play for country.

He came out at 45 minutes. I think we got sort of the word post game that it was a minutes restriction thing and limiting. He was the only player to come out at 45 minutes. He has not been hurt. So I don't know what the minutes restriction is. Maybe we'll see it in the second game. I think Pach said like he felt something in training this week. Okay.

but I thought in the first half he had one really dangerous pass. Otherwise, as you just talked about, he was supposed to basically run midfield when Testament wasn't in there. And he is just not an option. He is not aggressive about being an option to get on the ball. He floats into pockets and then he waits and he waits for the game to readjust and maybe he'll be open rather than I'm going to go recreate a spot where I can be open. and you don't go through the game feeling like this is a safety valve that for the back line when things get bad they could just find Johnny's feet and he'll save them and if that's not the case

all the other stuff Tyler Adams does better and I think on the safety valve side of things Tanner Testman is a better option and I don't know how Johnny gets him. Christian Roll down. Christian Roll Down's a better option. Who can go for him at halftime? Yeah, so it's look I don't think Johnny heard himself at all. I think that, you know, he was usually in the right spots defensively. He did get caught ball watching within two minutes.

Like the, like Belgium's first chance came because he just fixated on the ball and did not track a runner up the side. But he was generally pretty good about doing all the responsible stuff to protect zone 14 that you want from a D-Mid. But to your point, he didn't, he's not available in buildouts. And then that nice pass that he hit, That was the one progressive pass. He hit the entire half. I went back and I watched the whole thing. He only hit one.

He hit one progressive pass in the entire half. And it was a nice one. Outside of the foot. Yeah. And he had a defender on his back and he turned him. And it was, you know, and it led to the corner that led to the goal. So it's not like he contributed nothing. Relative to his previous performances, good job Johnny.

But it, I don't know. I'm not going to call him a passenger, but he's certainly not an answer. or central midfield in the way that the U.S. were looking for. And like, a bad game from Tanner Tessman felt more impactful than this relatively good performance from Johnny. On the commenter, I guess the point is Pochitino didn't set up to be specific against Belgium. But it's not like he went out there and was like, let's play a one-nine-one and see if we can only use our head. like they went and played basic soccer against an opponent I think that's true but I think that there is an element to how high the U.S. was pushing

and changing pressing shape in the middle of the game or not changing it after the water break which Belgium took advantage of that did feel a little bit experimental and look men you can't you don't just learn from your successes you got to learn from your failures and I think there was a lot of failing and thus a lot to learn from in this one okay um before we get to portugal and then we'll talk some of the big mLS news um anyone who comes out big winners here like beside i think so we mentioned west and mark mackenzie both doing good by themselves obviously ricardo peppy and pat asiaman um they the u.s switch kind of a five three two over the final 20, 25 minutes.

Midfield never found the game. Max Arfston, this performance will not go on his highlight reel. I thought Joe Scalphi was texting me at all times. Oh yeah. Max Arfston Defender?

Joe Scali was fine, but not like he didn't win minutes over anybody, I don't think. But Pepe and Ajiman, like they needed to make an impression and they did. One of the things to take away from this game is, and I've said it on this show before, like man marking is back.

People, like the best teams in the world are man marking everywhere, not exclusively, but like way more than even three years ago. And that includes the U.S. and Belgium addressed that by playing long to the center forward. Sometimes it was directly from the goalkeeper. Sometimes it was one passed to a defender and then long ball a second forward first ball second ball is literally how the onana goal happened that's the way of the world pat ajiman is so valuable because he's so good at winning that first ball and the u.s what they need to show against portugal i think and probably will need to show in the world cup is the ability to win those second balls and get immediately like the most valuable thing in soccer is a scrambled defense.

Do not let that go to waste. Because if you win first ball, second ball, against a team that's going mad, man, then you are automatically attacking a scrambled defense. And I didn't see any of that from the U.S. until Ajiman and Pepe got on the field. And it's something that I hope we got a chance to see against Portugal. And I hope is a club that's in the bag come June, come the World Cup.

And the other side on that was that if you play five in the back and you have Auea and Jedi who can push higher, you have that vertical element there as well. And outside of that first ball to wear, that didn't feel like it existed. So when the U.S. got pressed, it didn't feel like there was that outlet. And that outlet is what opens up space, whether it's the long ball into the center forward for a second ball or just a ball over the top into space and let you run. over the first 45, 55 minutes, the U.S. didn't feel like they had that. And so then it starts to feel suffocating. How can we build out? We have to be perfect with every pass.

We have to be able to take our first touch and get into the next feat because otherwise any mistake means it's a throw-in deep in our half or we're turning the ball over. And it didn't feel like there was that release for this U.S. team. So it'll be interesting to see what it looks like now against Portugal. So that will be Tuesday night. It'll be 7 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff. We will have a live show post game.

on all of our YouTube channels. We'll put it out as a podcast as well. We, at the end of this week as well, we'll have a first touch episode reviewing all of the playoffs and everything that happened internationally. Excited for the Iraq-Bolivia game. I thought Bolivia Suriname was awesome and really, really fun. Jamaica scuffling through another big moment.

There's nothing more Jamaican national team than that. And then, of course, over in Europe, the wild games, the two penalty kick shootouts, the pain for all the lads and, and whatnot and the home nations and whatever else that could be happening. Kosovo on the verge of a World Cup. There's a lot of wild things going on. It was a really, really fun last Thursday when all the games were.

And it's going to be really, really fun tomorrow. So we're going to have all your coverage. We'll be on socials on the kickback side. And then we'll be back with the live show to close out the night. After the U.S. game, we'll talk about all that went on. And then we've got more shows going through the rest of the week. And then MLS back on the weekend. myself and Jordan will have our NWSL show for you as well a big weekend of games highlighted by

Denver getting 63,000 fans in a building and I was one of them it would have been 63,003, but it was 63,004. And that's what made the difference. Portugal zero zero draw down in Mexico from what I saw and watched it felt like for Portugal, they almost shifted the team two halves. And it was some set of starters for the first half. Bruno Fernandez got the start, Nuno Mendes. got the start. Ruben Neves got the start. And then at half time, Vittina came in, Zhao Neves came in, and it was almost a swap. So it makes it feel like for Portugal, they have that

same option open for this next game, which is they can probably play everyone between 45 and 60 minutes. However, they choose to put that together, whether it's the best group to start or it's 50-50 again as they go through the game. But it feels like, at a minimum, you know, it's going to be a fairly big challenge. There's not going to be some weird, rotated team for Portugal. The only rotation I expect to see is Bruno Fernandez, because he did go 80 minutes. Everybody else went like 45. I think Gonzalo Ramos went like 65. Do you see who he came off for? I did not see who he was to Luca's Paulino. Oh, no kidding. He's earned it, man. He's been the best score in Mexico. Yeah. Now if the U.S. played a player from League of Mexico, it would be the end of

the world, but Portugal can do it. Sorry, how to get that point in. Yeah, I mean, Paulinea won't be intimidated by facing a U.S. team if he does get the start and get an hour on Tuesday. I don't know what to expect from this one. You know, if the Tina's out there, it could be a long day from the U.S. Because to me, he's the third, like one of the three best players in the world. Yeah, fully agreed. And this is the point of these matchups.

these are sort of blue blood programs Belgium not as much um it's funny by the way on the doku thing like we did our preview one minute social video four months ago and it was like this team goes as far as dooku takes them and it's doku's team and it's like maybe we should have shown it to the us maybe it would have been a little bit helpful for them um former rizio pocettino and what he wants to do then coming out of that game there's it's it's a very quick turnaround so there's a limit to what you're capable of doing in terms of what you've you've gotten from club teams what you're allowed to try and the players you're able to put out there. What short of your expectation,

what do you think he starts with? I don't know. So I'll say this. I think Roll Don starts. Okay. You don't think Aidan Morris gets minutes in this one? I think he might. I think it might be the two of them together.

Okay. I think probably Ojimang starts. But I'm not sure if it's him and another forward or if he's replacing Bolligan. That would be one. that I think could go a couple different ways. I think Freeman starts. My guess would be...

Tell me, well, tell me the three... Tell me the three centerbacks. Because we both assume they're going to do that thing where you start in a four and you move to a three, but it's not the police system. One of the full backs will go and the other slides inside to become a centerback. So tell me who those three are.

So obviously Richards and Miles Robinson, we think we know Miles is out. We assume Richards is out as well, right? I'm assuming. Yeah. So my guess is it's Scali, trustee, and I can't see him play Tim Ream because he played the most minutes last game. Uh-huh. So I guess it's Mark McKenzie.

Right. See, see if he's the one who can back up Richards in the middle. He's earned it. You know, he did better for himself than anybody else on that back line. And then Freeman is your right wing back? Yeah. Okay. And then my guess is Aronson starts in place of Polisic as the second forward off of Ashima or whoever starts.

This is like fully rotated, but I cannot imagine you came out of that and you have an okay from Milan to play some of these guys more minutes. You know what I mean? Like I mean, Polisic played 71 minutes on Saturday. Yeah. How many minutes are you going to play on Tuesday and then go back to his club team? Yeah, no, it's a fair point. So I think the guys who got subbed are options. Johnny's probably an option for 45 minutes if he's healthy.

And then maybe you look through the subs who came out. So in the 60th minute, it was Robinson. It was Tesman. Burrhalter. Yeah. Those are the guys who came on for them and weigh up. So my guess is those guys probably have 35, 40 minutes. So they become the reverse, which is they're the 60 minute subs when you get there.

It's tough to like say, oh, this is going to be a tough Portugal team and then throw like Arfston an Austin trustee out there as a left side. Austin trustee started against Uruguay. Yep. You know, like these are, this was the lesson that I think Pachitino wanted everybody to internalize last autumn was like it, whoever we were playing,

whatever players we put on the field, that's our first team. Yeah. And we got to go out and carry ourselves like that. And the guys who none of us considered to be first teamers did. And now we had those core players back against Belgium. And it did not go well. They did not carry themselves like that.

So maybe it's, it's, man, maybe it's another message that is going to be sent. It doesn't feel like it would be out of place. You get just keep sending messages at some point. We're just, we're just texting one direction. Messages turned into wins back in, they did. So let me ask you this. You think Giorana starts. I don't, I don't see how you can start him.

Yeah. I like he, you know how I feel about Giorina having to be on this team. He looked rusty. He was not able to, like he looked indecisive. And that's not something we ever say about Giorana. But I think he does get a half hour. Yeah. And that's going to be his role at the World Cup.

So get him used to it. Right. So in this setup, potentially it's rolled on in Morris. The question is who would be in front of them? So I almost think it's like rolled on and test men, you know, give Testament another start to try to do better. and then maybe Morris and Burrhalter come on at halftime or 55 minutes or something like that and then in front of them I mean I don't know you know Aaronson Ajiman pep you could do a one-two with I think that's the option there is not

there aren't really if you're not going to start reyna there are not two guys to like for like replace Weston and Pulisicus too is it too late to get Diego Luna into this camp maybe I don't know he'd drive himself he would go get Dutch Bros coffee and he would get in the car and he would drive from Utah all the way to Atlanta and then Pochitaine would be like this is my guy this is why he's playing 112 minutes in this game okay we will have your post game show coming out of that one

still a lot to learn and as I said I just think from a vibes point of view if it's a strong performance if they're able to steal a win if they're able to get a multi-goal tie whatever it is it's just going to change the perception for the next two months which is what we felt for the last three which just changes the pressure around this group coming into this final set of camps. They will have the two send-off games, technically. They're staying in the same country,

so I don't know how send offy it is. But they'll play, I think it's Memorial Day in Charlotte. Against, I cannot remember who for the life of me. And then they play Germany in Chicago on June 6th. And then they'll head out to Orange County. There will be base camp in Orange County. They'll play the opener for this is the most Orange County team in U.S. history, by the way.

I was going to make a Western joke, but I don't think you like that, so I'll skip over it just for you. Then they will play the opener in SoFi. They'll go up to Seattle for the second game against Australia. They'll come back down to close out the group, and we will know who that will be against because we'll get the European qualifier.

It's Turkey and Kosovo in that final game. So it will be one of the two. Kosovo going on the road to get the win, Turkey, the 1-0 victory at home. to get to this final set of playoff games in UEFA. Okay, let's talk a little MLS before we get out of here. Georgie Manungu, two million, right?

In the trade to Colorado Rapids. The rapids have gone out. They've spent big on Dante Sealy in the off season. And now they go out after bringing in a centerback, bringing in Cosi Thompson right before the window closed, and then finishing off with Manungu, who we've been hearing reports about for, months now. He's your favorite player. You'd probably put him on the U.S. national team if you could,

even though he plays for someone else. It'd be nice to have a guy who could dribble. A pretty big, pretty big move for a Rapids team that we sort of talked about of like, where do they stand, where do they see themselves in the hierarchy of the Western Conference? I mean, it's, I think it's really well done. They had, they were sitting on a lot of gam. And they don't have a lot of Max Tam style players. right so they don't need all of that to pay down salaries you can use it as a trade chip and the sounders because look Adrian Hanauer is not going to spend yeah over the past since the start of the decade no one has spent less money on transfer fees than the sounders right and that that includes

teams that we consider to be small budget teams he's not going to go out and it's been what two years since they had the ability so they need to replenish their gam somehow and part of that is telling Obed Vargas and part of that is trading a player like Georgie Manungu and this is how you weaponize a player development pipeline it's not just getting guys into the first team it's getting guys into the transfer market and into trades like this one it's a good amount of gam he would be a starter for me I like I just think his ability to to beat players off the dribble in a structured sort of build up situation like he he ended games including the Leagues Cup final.

He ended games with that ability for the sounders. And now he's just like a perfect fit for what Colorado need, because Colorado needs chance creation. And Georgie, he put him in isolation, and Colorado's already been really good at that, getting their wingers in isolation, put him in that situation, and he gives guys tap-ins.

What I'm saying is I am really happy about the fact that I have Rafa Navarro on my golden boot team. I'm already stuffing you guys in a locker. It is over. It is over, David. So the one thing that we're going to learn, and it's something we've gotten wrong in the past, is

guy playing every few weeks and running at tired defenses at the end of game versus game planned against and now from the start. And we don't know that with him because we haven't seen it yet. And that's sort of the gamble for Colorado going out there and

putting this amount on a guy that we think is ready to be a consistent game changer. And I think the theory being Seattle's too deep for him to break through there is totally fair. And that's the type of place you should go shopping if you're a Colorado Rapids of like, who's the team that has depth? And yeah, he's not going to break through over Jesus Ferre and Paul Rothrock. That doesn't mean he can't be a difference maker for us. So I think that part's fine. I think it's a little tough to have spent four million, four and a half million dollars on wingers. And then so this what? Just pushes Darren Yappi as your backup center forward and your first option as a winger is he starting over dante ceilie who just spent two and a

million dollars i mean dante celie's already lost a starting job well he's been back in he's been out and he's in and out mainly because he's not performing right which is fine but so then you wasted two i mean yeah like so like if you're gonna look if you're going to go shopping like this you're not going to hit on on every single one and the rapids to their credit have have hoarded a ton of gam and can go out and get Dante, really overpay for Dante Seeley. And now like, oh, damn, that's not exactly what we needed. We could bring in someone else. Yeah.

And like, I have no problem with that. And especially because this is happening in the context of the Rapids, also trying to build up their own internal player pathway and making some headway with that. If they were just relying on buying players, I'd be like, this is doomed to fail in the long run, even if they'd have a good year. And that's honestly what we've seen. from the rap is in the path one good year followed by four bad ones because they did not have that player pathway. They're working on building out that player pathway and they're starting to

see some returns on it. And that's good. And here they go. On the Seattle side, I think they would probably give us the Philly speech of like, we do spend money. We spend it on a two team. We spend it on the academy. We spend it here and that's true. And that's fine. But even Philly go if it Philly goes out and spends on transfer market stuff every now and again. And then also this money has to go to that. I mean, this is literally allocation money, so you can spend it back into your academy. But like the old bed money, all that stuff, it has to go to the next set of players. That's fine. If that's how you say you operate and you don't have to go out and overspend, you don't have to make five and go out and spend 10. But you got to spend the five back into players who can be

difference makers to get you over the edge as a club. And so I'm okay with this as a structure. And they've clearly built this success through Tacoma. But like, you got to remain pushing for championships and it can't just be okay we'll flip this guy we'll wait two years for the next guy to be ready and then we'll be a championship contender right which is what philly has done right and i don't think that's what i don't think that's what the sounders will ever be about i think they're always going to try to compete um and you know the idea is to build a club like last years with a really high floor with a lot of depth with guys who can be difference makers in the biggest get even though if you had two and the two of us do a draft

of like the 50 best players in MLS, you wouldn't find one. We wouldn't name one single Sounders attacker, but you put them together as a collective. There's no weak link. Oh, you can go out and you can beat Miami three now in a final. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we have a couple more to talk about.

If you're listening on Sirius, go to the on-demand player or go search soccer wise anywhere you get your podcast to hear the rest of this because we're going to talk about Mosala, Santi, Moreno, and Casamiro. So thank you all for listening. for anyone listening to the podcast here. Now we're going to talk about this. One of those is not like the other.

Whoa. Yeah, I guess you could say most all might struggle at the Portland timbers to close down and do the right job. The report came out that he is done with Liverpool at the end of the season. He will be leaving. So he is going to be looking for a new club. He is obviously not at the peak of his powers anymore. So it seems unlikely that it will be another European giant. So he kind of has three or four.

options at this point. It's take a step down in Europe, but play for a team you could probably play for. They can't pay the number that you've been making the rest of your career. And it's a life choice to do. One, we all assume will be to go to Saudi Arabia, make a ton of money, because that's what most people have been able to do if they have to. Didn't realize Jiao Felix played in Saudi Arabia until I was looking at the Portugal group that came into this. It'd be cool to have that guy play an MLS too, but whatever. Would it? I love Jiao Felix. So I'm a sucker for him. But I'm a sucker for him. But I'm also, I'm basically an Adletti fan. So, like, I like anyone who comes through any sort of that system at any time, even if they fail there.

I still like them. And then MLS obviously becomes a huge talking point. Everyone made the same connection out the gate. It would be San Diego. San Diego having a billionaire Egyptian owner would have that connection potentially to Sala and want to bring him in. They're also a club that has open designated player spots, as we've talked about over the last few weeks. They also are wasting a lot of money on designated players. players that don't really matter for them.

And clearly it doesn't really matter for the success of the team on the field. And then some Dick Wad reporter says, oh, there's no connection there. Don't even talk about it. And that's Tom Boger, who is not on this show right now. So do we want to talk about Solid of San Diego? Then Don Garber gets quoted saying, I'd love to see him in MLS, which means nothing. What do you make of all the connections? I'd love to see Mo Salah in MLS.

San Diego would make a lot of sense just because I think he could play as a center forward in that setup and do a little bit less work just like make the same transition that Sun has made with LAFC and Sun to like Sun is an incredibly hard worker and I think Salah would be as well but it's just a little bit less

when you're playing in that position as opposed to when you're playing on the wing in MLS so it would make a lot of sense and bummed that apparently there's nothing to it and I hope that changes The other one that makes so much sense. Look, if NYCFC is ever going to put on big boy pants and actually become a team here in New York that people care about,

go out and get Mosala in Bernardo Silva. You can open up two DP slots really, really easily. Get those guys in right after the World Cup. You're opening up a stadium next year. Get the ground swell of fans. Get the front pages. get like do all the stuff that Miami has done to make them relevant down there that LAFC did to make themselves relevant there this isn't Purelo and Lampart all over again

you could actually make it work because you actually have some institutional know-how yeah I just don't think CFG I don't think city football group thinks about NYCFC that way I think it's just you know the fifth the fifth child the one that you know they can go into the arts they're not we're not really investing in them this heirs to the family fortune. Okay, so I think those are two clear ones. NYCC feels like an impossible one to happen. All the Liverpool fans listening to this and me suggesting that Salick,

a city football group club. Oh my God, that's, I didn't mean to troll, but I just some people just do it naturally, you know. The other one that pops up is that Zaha's loan is up in the summer. And Charlotte has always said that they want to go. big game hunting. This might be too big. Like there's a pretty good chance. He just had it, you know, he just had an interview with Joe over at back yield. It was fantastic interview where he was like, big players don't want to come to Charlotte.

They don't want to come to Cincinnati or Kansas City. I can't imagine. There's probably the best case in errors that Mossolid doesn't know where Charlotte is on a map and has never heard of it before. And you would have to sell him. But if he doesn't want to go play in Saudi Arabia for a team in Europe that's not at the level of Liverpool and you can debate what that level is right now that one's for you Tom and it comes down to MLS and san diego isn't on the board there aren't really a ton of other options right now so i mean another team would have to create a scenario where they become available for him that fits more into his mold and i don't know who that is outside of Chicago Chicago's one the galaxy could sell pet Toronto Toronto

would have to, they have an opening. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So that would be another one. It feels like against everything they've tried to build themselves as over the last 18 months of two years. So the way we've talked about the sort of targeted

addition of this level of player is it's different than what it was even four years ago because these are guys who are coming in to be the final piece of a puzzle. not to be the focal point that you then build everything around. And with what Toronto's done, and they still have more work to do, right? They have to sort out that back line and they have to sort out the central midfield a little bit.

But like they very clearly have a foundation. And they very, like it doesn't, you don't have to have this crazy imagination to think, how would Georgie Mihailovich and Josh Sargent work with Mosala? Like those three pieces actually work together really, really well. You know, anybody with eyes could see that. Anybody who knows the game could see it. But the Egyptian FAA president just said today, he's like, don't go to MLS. It's not a high enough level.

Like you put that out in the press to most. Which I find really funny because it's like he's going to do what like at this point in his career, he's not getting better. Right. He's going to do what he's going to do. And what are you lining him up for? Like he's not making it to the next World Cup probably. Right. Right. So like, I don't really know your input in this, but what the half?

African Cup a nation? I don't know. Sure. But like, is Mo Salah going to be a worst player at Afghun because he plays two years in MLS? I mean, the, the answer from this guy would be yes. Now, could this guy have maybe gotten a check from the Saudi, you know, investment fund who essentially runs the Saudi League and the biggest, the four biggest teams there? Yes. Like that, that would. But. all things being equal, like the thing that would actually kind of make sense to me would be he ends up at Roma. Yeah. Right? Because he has history there. He's a hero to that fan base.

Yeah. The question I think with some of those is like as he leaves Liverpool, is he acknowledging his own mortality. And if so, is it more stark and intense staying in the same sphere and being worse? Right. Like some players, I think, can't handle that. And they're like, oh, there's this third option, which is like, you don't really know my level like i go to mLS i score goals it doesn't really compare it's like hard to say versus where a Europa league team and now that's what i do and that's where i go play

for a guy who was the best player on the planet um for a little while and obviously played for the best team the Toronto thing is a little funny because i think for most all if he goes to mLS it probably starts with the phone call to bob bradley who was influential in his career and says what do you think and i'd just be curious what the it's a really good I hadn't thought of that yeah I'd be curious what the feed was for anyone who doesn't know Bob was the Egypt coach when most Sala first came through with the port side attacks the Egyptian league was shuttered when Mo Sala was a teenager and bob bradley got him to was a club bruges I know it was Belgium ah sorry which is switzerland no it's belgian yeah that's

that's what got him out of Egypt it's why he never really actually played in the Egyptian league And then he just moved around in Europe from there on out. And he was sort of one of the first Egyptian players to do that because with Ali and Zamlik being so huge, most Egyptian players came through and then didn't leave until a later age. And they didn't have the same European careers because he kind of came at 25 or 26 as a finished product. And Salo wasn't the case with that. And he has said out loud, like he credits Bob Bradley for a lot of that for him. So I would assume that would be his first step. that was a movie he was going to make.

Obviously, Michael is a Toronto legend and Bob was there for a little bit of time as well. So I'd be fascinating to hear what the reaction would be if you had to place, so you think Roma, that's your number one expectation. I mean, I would love to see him in MLS. Yeah.

I think in San Diego still. I hope you're right. And I hope this segment annoys Tom. Like, I have family in San Diego. I would love to see Mosala in San Diego. I think that would kick out. as someone who wants to see, I mean, the best result for the league as a whole would be NYCFC taking itself seriously and bringing him in. And they're going to open the new building.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. But I said this where it's like, you know, I thought this was going to start a year ago. Where it was like, here's, you know, we want to be on day one of the new building. We want to be the new Inter Miami. We want to be the new L.A.F.C. Where we are coherent. We are successful.

and we are the biggest name for all of the reasons. And that's like very possible in MLS now. I think to your point of like not the Purello Lampart is like you have a cohesive style, you have an academy that can help fill in gaps, you have the scouting system that's done really well to bring in sort of like middle towards top tier Tam players. But it has struggled to find 1A DPs that get you over the top. Tati worked.

Maxi worked. I'd say Fernando's Mercow works. But it's still like a 30% hit rate on those guys that they've brought in. So, like, transition some of those to just Tam signings, bring in a big name, like you said, that you build the whole thing around and open what will be, I think, an iconic stadium. Like, this is a soccer-specific stadium in the five berks. It is going to be one of the buildings.

The Olympics are already there because it's going to be one of the places people want to play soccer in the world. But as you've said, it doesn't feel like NYCFC thinks about that. Do you think they'll sign Casamiro instead? I don't think NYCFC needs Casamero. There are a couple of teams that could possibly benefit. I'm not sure that the LA Galaxy are one of them because defensive midfield's not an issue for them. Certainly Miami would benefit,

but I'm not sure how that would work. I don't know that they have the ability to create the cap space necessary. but you know stranger things have happened in this league of ours this one was like very uninteresting to me of like if it's going to happen it's going to be one of those it's not going to make sense he's going to be taking a huge pay cut and he's going to end up on a team he probably shouldn't be in or doesn't fit in and he'll probably be a pretty good piece for them but won't be a difference maker and we're going to have to play this whole dance when we get there but it's nice to see a new team name in miami be available so we can say new york l.a or my Amy maybe maybe they're already out on bertrami and they're like we're selling this guy as soon as the window opens and we'll take a loss and then play what iende at center forward uh or sylvetti yeah sovetti's probably a better player than bertrami who's a mexican international right now got on the field in the second half and they still have you know louis swarez to play center forward they do still have louis swaris to play center for that is still an option. And the last one is the news around Santi Moreno. We've talked about it as a move.

We get official confirmation, so it'll be a DP on loan through the end of this season. And then obviously the option to buy after could shift that around the DP spot. I specifically said last week, I don't mind this move. If it's not, I mean, it's not my money. I don't care. But it does show the ceiling that Dallas is putting themselves in that. That means that they're not going to fill that spot with someone else this season. We'll see. My understanding. understanding is that they can buy him down off of that DP hit, which, you know, as soon as the window opens on the summer, they do that, then they bring in another DP. It would really bother me if this was it for their high-level attacking signings, because this is a team that I think

is, you know, don't even have to go crazy. Just get like an Albert Roosnock level number 10 in there. And this is a team that could be among the real contenders, like not favorites. They're not going to jump into that Nashville, Miami, Vancouver, L-A-F-C tier, but the tier just below that with like the sound, like, that is a good place to be, especially if you're balling on a budget. The flip side is like maybe they know that they're going to get that offer or already have gotten that offer for Petter-Musa. So just wait, see what happens in the summer because it's going to be a full rebuild. And look, we all know, sorry Dallas fans, you guys know this better than we do.

If the number's right, Dallas will sell. Well, it doesn't matter if they feel like their contenders or not. If the numbers right, Dallas will sell. And maybe that's what's coming. But there's some tea leaves to read with this move depending on, you know, whether you're a glass half full or a glass half empty type of person. Which are you, David? Which are you?

I'm glass half empty. I'm a Metschetschets and Nick's fan. I have one identity and I have to stick to it. Speaking of one of the factors will be playing in the World Cup. So he played for Croatia in their friendly. against Columbia and Marco Posolich had a assist in that game as well. I didn't even see that. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had an assist on one of the two goals. They won two one in Orlando against Columbia. They will now play Brazil in Orlando coming up tomorrow. So pretty good spot

for Posolich to be in. There was like, I don't know, maybe as MLS has grown and so there's more players playing internationally. I am not as zeroed in of like, I'm watching the Sweden game and Herman Johans is starting right back for Sweden in a World Cup playoff. Fully did not expect to see that. There were some other interesting pop-ups for MLS players on some of the other teams that could be dangerous in the summer. Like, MLS did not move into the place I wanted them to for World Cup like this of like the 26-year-old starter for a bunch of good national teams. Right. It is still the, what, teams between 12 and 25 in the world rankings, and it's still a starter on that team, but not a star for the most part.

but I do think outside of what the Egyptian FAA president says and Bielsa sometimes, I do think for the most part of players don't get dinged for being an MLS and it feels like they still have a shot to make teams on their own merit. Yeah, I think that basically subs it up. Okay, that's all for us on this show. We'll be back on Thursday, full slate of MLS this weekend. All of that is actually on Saturday, I believe. So 1 o'clock Rapids facing Toronto, set of 430 games and then a full night.

old school quote unquote like last year of MLS in all the time windows across the night we've got cascadia to close out vancouver portland and san jose san diego which we don't have a nickname for yet also yukon versus illinois the mad doyle susanna fuller derby right there you're going to have to make a special appearance on kickback committee you're welcome to do so is that in because it's next pro did you guys choose each other as opponents Or does that, does that not, has that not passed through yet? That hasn't passed through quite yet. But maybe next year.

Yeah, I only watch first division stuff. So I don't really watch this as often. But I'll try and get to it when I get an opportunity. Thank you as always for being here. Thank you to Gregory on the edit as well. We are not there because of internationals and all that stuff. But GA cups going on right now. It's my favorite tournament of the year.

So you can tune into those games. Kalen Carr is on the call. If you see Kalin, say hi to him. Yeah. loves it. Love interacting with the person. Yeah. But most likely you're not watching from afar.

But it's obviously where we're going to see the next generation of West McKinney and Giorana and Joe Scali and Sampurhalter and Alex Freeman and all those names and all those players. So thank you to all of you for listening. We'll talk to you again very, very soon.