SoccerWise - USMNT Roster Debate & MLS Storylines Before the Break

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT World Cup roster is here, and the debates are already underway. David Gass, Matt Doyle, and Tom Bogert break down the biggest roster surprises, concerns about the squad balance, and what the selections say about Pochettino’s approach heading into the World Cup.The crew also digs into Nashville’s Supporters’ Shield form, Inter Miami’s wild 6-4 win over Philadelphia, Columbus finding its footing again, Charlotte moving on from Wilfried Zaha, and some of the biggest MLS storylines before the World Cup break.0:00 Intro 7:38 USMNT World Cup Roster Reaction15:34 Too Many Defenders, Not Enough Midfielders?28:06 Who Starts in Midfield?39:46 Nashville Leads the Shield Race47:03 iPhones, Tired Legs and Lots of Goals50:31 Columbus Rehabilitation 56:48 Zaha Says Goodbye to Charlotte1:03:51 Miami & Philly’s 10-Goal Thriller1:13:06 Vancouver Atop the West1:22:37 San Jose Finally Wins in Portland

I was trying to do sign language to get Doyle to tell me if you can hear the music because now I know Doyle's a real yes and we'll just dance to fake music that he can't hear, which is what happened to us on one of the shows. Well, welcome everybody back to Soccer-wise. For a huge episode coming up, we have the final weekend of the MLS season before the World Cup break, mandatory 18 days off for every single player in Major League Soccer and much more for the ones who go to a final like Stephen Marrera with Cabo Verde, potentially anyone who's playing, you know, if hopefully Annabel Godoy and then Coco are healthy for Patima when they make it to the final.

Like, you know, all those teams that are going to go deep into the tournament may be a little bit longer. So we've got a lot to talk about, a lot to hit as we sort of wrap up things with MLS, but we will do more later in this week as me and Tom will sort of give you a look ahead. And then we have, of course, the big news around the U.S. men's national team as one of the biggest outlets for soccer in North America. of the car breaks the news on Friday or Saturday, whatever it was about the US 17 roster. I was unprepared for it because I didn't see it coming. So I do a walk and talk video from wherever I was. And we'll dig in tall of that. Tom, how are you doing today?

You're just so upset that before that walk and talk, you called me because you wanted more information for me. And I hit decline on it. And you've been seething ever since. It's true. This actually happened. I swear. Did you want more?

No, no. Doyle's broke it on the side, so I didn't know if he was going to come in and talk. No, I got nothing for that. I was going to let the Cold War amongst the Knicks-Wise hosts play out and just stay out of it. Because I want no part of the knives being thrown back and forth here. Tom and Paul gave us the big news on Friday about Giorina and Diego Luna and all of that. two best reporters out there in the game. Go buy Tom's book.

Go by Paul's book. I don't have elbow patches on this shirt. I'm not an author. Man, I would love to read Tom's book. And yeah, we're going to talk all about the national team and the roster drop. We are still going to do a live roster reveal show. Myself and Doyle tomorrow will be live at 3 p.m.

Eastern Time alongside the actual roster reveal show, which feels slightly anticlimactic. it will be wild if something you was wrong. Yeah. Right. Yo, if, if you're, if you're a high ranking executive at Fox, you call you a song and be like, listen, man,

I know you told all the 26 players that they're on the team and the rest that they're not. You got to make a change. One player has to be dropped and one has to come on. Like, there has to be one surprise. Patrick Schulte makes the roster at centerback. The problem with that is that like, Pach will just hang up the phone at that point.

Like he, he clearly is not going. I don't think he gets service in Marbella, so he wouldn't even get the phone call at any point. He wouldn't know until he touched down. I believe it's in a pier 17 in New York City, greatest city in the world. So nice. They named it twice. Tom will be there, I think.

Indeed. Yeah. So maybe you'll get announced on the roster. Maybe they need a little bit more anger. If they let me in, same thing with our guys, Pablo and Jeff at the Guardian. I don't know that the three of us and Paul will see if our credentials were. You know, you should just make it clear. you were a defender in college because apparently that's the easiest way to get an invite for

the World Cup team just like bring an entire roster worth of defenders. I was like verse drop of midfielder like Weston McKennail get dropped as soon as Pachitino sees that you were defenders like, I got to have this guy in the roster. I mean, has Weston ever done it in the New Jersey Athletic East Conference? Division three. New Jersey Athletic Conference. Hey, I had zero idea, Tom. And I knew I could make it up and get close.

And I did. You did. because they're all the freaking same. I just followed a podcast, by the way, of three youth soccer coaches on Long Island, and it's electric because it makes me feel like I'm 16 again, and they're all going to yell at me for talking during their speeches, and I don't care.

All right, we have a lot to dig into, a lot to talk about. A lot of shows coming up this week. We've got our NWSL show still. We're working on a couple big interviews on the NWSL side of things that will roll out throughout the Men's World Cup to keep some of that coverage consistent, and then obviously the season will come back in July on that side of things.

But first, we're very excited. We're working with Soccer.com over the course of the summer. They're sponsoring all our U.S. soccer coverage, including our roster reveal show. We'll obviously talk more U.S. over the next few weeks. We've got the Senegal game coming up. We've got the Germany game.

We will be out in Chicago. So if you are around, please go to Soccer House. If you are in Chicago for any other reason, go to soccer house. It's one of the coolest soccer bars. Just open. Tom will be there multiple times,

which is like a huge accomplishment for him. He normally doesn't go to Barrow. So to get him to a bar and to get him there more than once, it's like a big deal. So you know how good it is. He will be there for a book event with Paul Tenorio as well. So again, you can go buy Paul's book if you want to. But part of what we are lucky enough to do at saga.com is if you go and buy a USMNT or LTT kit on the website and you type in kickback, you get a free goal club membership,

which gets you money off, all these additional things, points, all this stuff. And we're doing jersey giveaways. So we give five kits away over the course of the holiday weekend. So shout out to John Jake, Matthew, Nazareth, and L. Bush. All of you have won free kits. So you're going to be kidded out for the tournament. But we've got a ton more giveaways to do. So make sure to follow us on Soccerwise on Instagram, on Blue Sky.

Follow us on Soccerize, Woso, our new Instagram account. And then also First Touch, KSM, where we do all of our global soccer stuff. And that's where a lot of our World Cup stuff is going to be coming out. We're going to have a daily show every single day. We're going to talk about the World Cup. Myself and Doyle are going to be there. We looked at the studio space. It's going to be great.

I'm very excited. We're going to be in Midtown Manhattan. I've got tickets for some games in New Jersey. I didn't think I'd go. My mom's like, no, you're going. This is a family event.

We're doing this. So I will be at the France Senegal game, which I'm also very excited on that. Oh, that's a big one. I know. Hell yeah. Are you going to wear your Senegal? Do you know who you're going to refer?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a Senegal training top. Unrelated. I got one to wear on the show. And that's what I'm going to be wearing. So do you just do you just automatically root against European teams? I would say this.

I root against favorites like in all sports all the time. You're such a man. You're Jets fan. Jets fan. That's what that is right there. So like my brackets get broken normally about three games into each tournament. So I guess in that context, yes, because normally the favorite is the European team, right?

Like in most of those matchups, not all of them. And yes, I root for pretty much any team that's not from Europe at all times against teams that are from Europe. But I root for Brazil. Does that count? Or they're now losers because of. I mean, it's been a long time, right? Like, they do not feel like one of the favorites going into this thing. Anyway, I screwed up your read.

I interrupted right in the middle of it. No, we were done. So congratulations to the five winners. Make sure to follow us on social. We'll be doing a lot more giveaway. So that way you can get involved. and you get to interact with us and talk about all these things. You can see my depth charts, which were wrong, as I think many people were,

as we now have the 26 names that are going to be headed to the World Cup. So 13 players will be making their second World Cup appearance for the U.S. men's national team and then 13 first timers with a 26 person World Cup. There's no better way to do this. I'm about to read a list of 26 names. Lock in. It's like weebies here in spirit, man. I can't really think of a better way.

be shocked, shocked if anyone was listening to the show and hasn't read this list of names themselves, but I feel the responsibility. So in goal, we have as expected, Matt Freeze, Matt Turner and Chris Brady. Can I interrupt real quick right there? Good start. I want to excellent start. No, Mia Culpa, because I had heard from a couple of different people that the big surprise on this roster was that Matt Turner was going to get dropped. I thought you weren't going to own up to this and just do the thing. I owned up to it in writing already. I know. I was proud of you because I thought, because you teased like there might be a big surprise at goal. I owed up to. And then I thought that you were just going to be like, yeah, man, Chris Brady, dude. No, Tom, I'm not, I'm not like

you. I own up to my mistakes. I just don't get things wrong. A few times a year that I make one. So I had heard from a couple of people that turned. I had heard this. I want to be clear to Doyle. I heard this. This was not a thing that is, this was going around. This wasn't a Jared McCain can't play defense type thing. This was like a real one. I guess so. I don't know what the Jared McCain can't play defense thing is, but fair no. Oh my God.

I just need everyone to know that the group chats have been sizzling this weekend, including Anders pulling back a Doyle text from two years ago about McHale Bridges at 245 in the morning. While it turned out he was sick. He was sick as well. So it was the Michael Jordan flu game. Unbelievable. Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there, by the way. I guess I never mentioned that one.

And someone put it in the chat. So that's our goalkeepers. Now everyone tuck in because we're about to go through 75 defenders. We're on the defenders list now. Tom Boger. So Gino Dest. Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Jedi, Miles, Joe Scali and Austin trustee and Tom Bogart.

So 10 defenders technically listed in this group, the midfield, just four. Tyler Adams, Sebastian Burrhalter, Weston McKinney, and Christian Roldon. heard that right, Weston McKinney. And then you have what was listed by itself, at least in this group, as attacking midfielder's and wingers, which is Brennan Aronson, Pulisic, Raina, Malik Tillman, Tim Wea, and Alejandro Zendejas. And then the strikers, I think, as everyone expected, Bolligan, Haji Wright, and Ricardo Pepe. So that's the 26 player roster. Some countries you will have

seen have called 27, 29, 32. So they are bringing more players to camp. And then they will cut from there. Jesse Marsh has called in 32 for Canada. On Friday, he will cut it down to 26. Some have brought 27 and acknowledged the one, like Herman Johansson is a training player coming to Sweden as the 27th player, so it's already acknowledged who that one is. But this is the exact 26 as of now, if healthy, that are headed to the World Cup. There's obviously big reaction to it when it came out, hence my walk and talk through the Miami River and Brickle Key and all of that. Uh, Doyle, I, not initial reaction, but like big thought as you look at this group before we dig into Raina and Sindejas and Luna and Tanner Testament. Yeah, we're obviously going to pull apart a few things, but like I remember after your Coova, you know, which is my lowest point as a sports fan, but looking and I wrote a column the next day for for MLSSogar.com.

Um, about how the sky had just fallen. Real estate website. things were still looking up because we had this group of players led by Christian Pulisic and Weston McKinney and Tyler Adams and so many more coming through the ranks. Like it was obvious back in 2016 that it was a really like deep and broad group of young talented guys who were just a year too late to help us for Kufa. but that over the next decade those guys had a chance to turn into something special and it hasn't been perfect right like but these guys for the most part are here they are in their primes like this should be their world club this is we're going to quibble about spots 23 through 26 I'm pissed about some things and we'll but like for the most part we wanted these guys to be the ones leading this program to this moment.

And if you look at this roster, like 95% of the players are in their prime. This is not a young team. This is not an old team. This is a team that should be able to get the job done game after game, especially because there's plenty of time in between these games. It's not like every three days. It's every six days. So like, no excuses.

This is it. This is what we've all been waiting for. and let's hope that these guys, for the most part, shake off their dog shit club for them and actually play well this summer. I think it's a great point. I think it's one of those moments that we do have to come back around of like, where is this program been?

Where does it stand right now? I was on air with you after Kuva. So I remember that night and that feeling, I remember that Portugal friendly right after, which was CJ Sapong and a bunch of kids. And it was like, when will there ever be? a team around this. And that's what, to his credit, Greg Burrhalter built right over the four years of like a core that the thing was built around because you can't just be 23 players different in

and out every single time. And that core now exists. And I think Pachitino's done well to chip away at that core to make them feel like, okay, it's not a guaranteed spot. And I think that some of the movement we've seen in and out of this roster. I have some frustration then on, not as he or not is a Giorana get one spot. He gets two spots because Joe Scali has to come and be his best friend and like, come on, the guy doesn't even play. And now they're both on the team. But there is a lot of talent in this group. And I said this around the Johnny Cordoso debate, whether he should have been in the team or not. The fact that we're in a place to debate this is health for the game in this, in this region and in this

country. The fact that a guy on any of these teams can even debatably not be on a roster or not be a starter and that there are options, I think shows the strength of the sport. And no, we haven't produced a messy yet. This group's probably not going to win the World Cup. So there's like a ton of space still to go and there's a lot of issues and a lot of mistakes that have been made. But in general, there are a lot of players here who have different pathways. Like there are different avenues for players to take in their career.

And a lot of them can be successful if they are able to stick to it and follow it. So whether it's go to a European academy at a young age because you can get scouted at youth tournaments in the U.S. or you've been called into a youth national team or it's you go to come. college and then you go into an MLS system or you go to college and go straight to Europe or you come up through an MLS Academy or a USL Academy, whatever it is. There's a lot of different places and ways for you to find your career. And I think this roster is an example of that. But I do think the volume is high. And part of what's going to be tough is like, if you're Diego Luna, you're behind these guys for

the next five to eight years. If you're Jack McGlynn, you're behind these guys for the next decade. And that's going to be the case not just for these players, but for the Johnny Schen. shores of the world and the Xavier Gozos of the world and the Dado Valenzuela. Like this and that's which we always wanted. It wasn't supposed to be a golden generation. It was supposed to be pipelines that were built and continue to push each other. And the hope is that they do that going forward. Tom, I know you had some stuff written down that you your big thoughts, but can we jump into some of the surprises real quick?

Yeah. So I was going to transition with a big thought that that will go to surprises. There's too many defenders, too many centerbacks, right? So this obviously means that whatever. tweaking to happen in the March window like this is going to be a back they're going to play three centerbacks. I think that is the right call.

I still think there are too many centerbacks on this group. There are five out and out. You can only play centerback. And there are two more in Alex Freeman and Joe Scali who are can play either can play outside center back in a back three in Freeman's case or in Scali's case if you're playing a three, four, two, one. He can only play centerback.

He's a he's a stay at home full back in a back four or a wide center back in a back three. So I think it's six out and out centerbacks in this system, plus Freeman can play end that role. That's seven. I would have rather one of those last spots go to Diego Luna or Zavier Gozo or, hell, Julian Hall. But Tanner Testament, Aiden Morris, more so than anybody else. Yeah. Because the central midfield depth chart is way too light.

Let me give you, let me give you a possibility of occurrence in central midfield. Tyler Adams plays game one 75th minute comes up limping he's pulled his hamstring he's done for the tournament Christian Raldon comes in finishes off the game because

he is the only backup for Tyler Adams notoriously injury prone Tyler Adams on this team picks up a yellow card at the end to blow up an opposing counterattack Tyler the U.S. eke out a draw second game U.S. play well

can't find that goal again Christian Roll on picks up a yellow card halfway through it. U.S. eke out a draw. Third game, U.S. goes into that game without a defensive midfielder needing a win. Like that is entirely possible because two yellow cards means you're suspended in this tournament. It's irresponsible not to bring a third defensive midfield. Like we saw it back in 2006. The only defensive midfielder on the roster was Pablo Mastreni. He got a red card against Italy. Claudia Rana had to play D-Mid against Didn't Ben Olson play team Ed for a little in a game?

He did, and it was not the right decision for that World Cup. And to be fair, Bruce Arena's hands were a little bit tied because Chris Armis had picked up an injury, and the depth chart was not robust behind him, but Richard Mulroney was in the pool and should have gone. I would have trusted him in that situation to make the simple play. Claudio Raina's mistake cost the U.S. And then back in 2002, the U.S., if we had gotten the cost,

and gotten past Torsten Frings and Frings and freaking Hugh Dallas in Germany and gotten into the semifinals, Pablo Mastorini was going to be suspended for that game. And the U.S. was helpless in that tournament when Pablo Mastrone was not on the field, period. And we would have gone into the semifinal and probably lost 4-0 because we did not have enough de-mid-depth. There is zero institutional memory of that in this roster. I mean, I don't think Aidan Morris is the greatest player in the world. in my column about

this roster react pulled a clip from Belgium of Aiden Morris doing a really bad job of smelling the danger and you know protecting the six yard box which he needed to do it is not his forte you still bring him as a third string demon for the exact scenario I just laid out where Adams gets hurt and rolled on

picks up yellow cards and gets suspended it's irresponsible if Pachitino not to do that just since we're going to do the history lesson version as well. The other part that's interesting about this or Wilde is there isn't a Jeff Cameron on this roster who also could play as a DMID. There are 10 defenders and I'm going through depth charts on other World Cup teams and it's like this guy plays right back in Demit. This guy plays center back in Dmit. There is not a single one in this group that has played a minute. You don't think Sirchian just is enough.

Just Richard is the next Philip Lom. just like because I wouldn't move Richards out of the heart your point is absolutely true but just for argument's sake he has played some minutes off the bench at D-Mid for Pallas that is not his role I would not even not start right

like it's not a viable option but that's the only thing that we can say other than that it's like Tillman plays deeper that's obviously you know at six that that's a deep lying playmaker and Tillman has been on the record at PSV of just like I hate this role I will do it because I don't want to

he said that publicly that's not reporting it like yeah put his name on it so what you're what we're all saying is USA turkey brendan arrenson as the six and his new jersey true spirit comes out as he just blows up tackles left and right I'm in anyway so let's talk about the set of keep going with the center midst here um and and again because it's all tangentially related but at centerback like i like the inclusion of miles robinson i'm fine with it he hasn't played 90 minutes since early march uh he was held out this weekend i don't of abundance of caution Cincinnati, just, you know,

hey, there's no point while you had some injuries. You haven't been able to play 90 minutes. We're not playing you. Same with Diego Luna. Diego Luna's was a predetermined decision before the roster was conveyed to the players. He wasn't going to, this was not a reaction to him missing the World Cup. He's not missing the World Cup because he's injured. I want that to be abundantly clear per sources.

Same thing with Tanner Testman. I don't know what Pocito is going to say when he's asked about this tomorrow at the event, but like Tanner Testament is not injured. That's what sources told me. I can just say that flatly. He was going to be fine for this camp. And I'm, like, I'm shocked. The question was, is Tanner Testament a starter, or is he not?

Not is he going to be in my 11, man. Me too, because I, like, because of all the things we're saying, I want Wes and McKinney to play further forward. Like, and he's, like, the way that this roster's built, he's obviously playing as the partner Adams. And that does two things. Can it work? Sure.

but Weston McKinney's best quality is when he is roaming, interpreting space and finding pockets of the game. He's really good at that. He's freaking great for that for Eventes. You can't do that responsibly even if it's not technically a double pivot, but as in a two, right?

You can do that in a 433, you can do that when you're playing further forward in this system. But then the other part of that, okay, if you want to give him a little bit more freedom to roam, well, Tyler Adams has two superpowers, one of which is defensive transition, and the other of which is when he gets to roam in a different way,

but hunting to win the ball, he can't do that now unless Roldon is playing with him. And if Roldon is playing with him, there's going to be a meltdown from everybody who doesn't watch MLS and hates his inclusion on the roster. Not that that should impact the decisions, but like you said, Doyle, it doesn't take too many ifs to get to a point where,

oh my God, they're screwed at this position. Yeah, oh, my God. It's said Burrhalter playing one V3 in Central Midfield in the round of 16. Like, like, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't, to, uh, Malik Tillman upset that he's back there next to him. Right. Right. I would be, I would feel more comfortable if it was Tim Tillman.

So I mean, come on. So I, like, I, I'm, I can't believe how, how thin central midfield is. I just cannot get over it. Like, you know, there's a 26 man roster and we have four natural central midfielders, one of which we keep saying we want to be playing further forward. I mean, what do we do? What is the winger? He played as a winger in the marsh camp.

And hold on. What we're talking about big picture stuff, this, like, it's just chaos and it's so difficult to predict. Like, I've talked to sources like long before, like, the emails and stuff were coming out Friday was, like, yo, this guy is insanely unpredictable. And everybody's kind of walking around on eggshells. Like, there's, and like for the right reason,

like Tanner Testman, like, I thought he was an absolute. Like, that's the name of Diego Luna. You played in 17 of 18 games last year. You probably feel pretty good. There's a lot of guys that are on this roster who were like, I don't, and like people around them could be like, you, of course you. going to be on it's like there is no of course with buchin no i know that that's by design but at what

point is it too much 71 players were caught up in the calendar year of 2025 the year before a world cup in which the whole what what why that's it's too many in march all of a sudden they change the tactics tim way is playing as a as a fullback slash wingback whatever you want to call it like McKinney on the wing McKinney's like ballistic as a false nine yes also on top of all that and test men getting, getting, like, pretty serious minutes, and then neither of them make the team. Like, it's, it's, it's. And Dejas hasn't been called up since September. Right.

I think. And, like, I was critical of, like, I think he should have gotten more time, but it was like, all right, when you're doing your roster projections, well, it doesn't matter if I think he's good enough or not, because he's never plays under this coach. And then he's, it's, and sorry, last one, like, Pochitino always comes out about, um, it's, I don't care where you're playing. What's most important to me is that you are playing and you are playing well. Malik Tillman and Giorina, they're not playing.

Diego Luna has more minutes from March till now for Real Salt Lake than Giorina did for Munchin Glybac back from August till now. And this isn't me saying that Giorana definitely shouldn't be here or anything. It's just same thing with Malik Tillman. He's not playing. There's like Chris Richards, I'm sorry, Miles Robinson dealing with injury. It doesn't matter for him, but it matters for Tanner Testament and Diego Luna. Like there's just so many inconsistencies.

And I know that like that's going to be normal. Not every player. you don't treat every player the same. But the whole point of the Pocetino era was these guys are too comfortable under Beralta. You need to compete every day. You need to do this every day. And then everything, you can't get a read on him and nothing is congruent. So I will just throw this out there at the beginning, which is part that's not Pochitino's fault is the Federation.

They hired the wrong coach. They took too long. Then they fired him. Like this has not been a full cycle. So he's condensed four years of work into a year. year and a half, two years of work, which is not his fault. So that's the only note I'll put out there in terms of like amount of players called when they're called that type, that type of stuff. But then you've like zeroed it on a roster and then you've pivoted the other way, which

it feels like Tuchel did as well. It feels like Nagelsman did as well a little bit. So I don't know if Pach is trying to be German about his life. I don't know if this is a national team thing, which is like, I think there's a little bit of a power play dynamic of like it's my team. it's not your team and I'm going to call in pieces that I'm going to use the way I want to use them and not you're the talent and you'll go out on the field and win it like I think my view on the England thing was very much like I'm going to put together like when USA basketball's done more of like oh I'm going to go out and get a three and D guy even though there's five all NBA guys I could call I'm not going to it feels like there's pieces of that with this I have

no fucking idea what's going on and I don't know the reasoning behind a lot of it and I know a lot of people have tried. I guess the one that is out there is, is this matchup specific to some extent? Is there a four to five game plan that's been built with minutes and travel and all this stuff? But I don't really understand what that would be based off this group. I don't, I've never gotten the impression from people inside and just from my outside observations that Pachitino works like that. Yeah, that he thinks in five game blocks or anything like that. I think this is a reaction to a really March camp. I think the defense and specifically central midfield was horribly disorganized. And this like Tanner Testman was terrible. He really was. Even though I still had him in my 11,

he was terrible in March, as was Aidan Morris. And those guys played their way off the team. And I think it's an overreaction from Pachitino. I think it is his job as the manager to say, yeah, I know these guys really stunk up the joint in the most recent camp, but we have worst case scenarios, breaking case of emergency scenarios that we have to be prepared for irrespective of that. And he tossed that into trash. And so let's just pray for Tyler Adams hamstrings and Christian rolled on. And let's hope that we don't, you know, we don't get to a point where we can,

can't put a defensive midfielder out there in the 11 because Potch played a little bit fast and loose with the depth chart. So the surprises, I think, on the roster from a name's point of view, Gio Raina, Alex Andejas, probably Joe Scali, are the three that popped out for most people. I'd say the last out, all names we've already mentioned, Tanner Testman, Diego Luna. I put Xavier Gozo down because we've spent a month talking about it, but was not going to make the roster probably ever and clearly doesn't end up making it. We could talk about all this, but I do think first one is just, so we all think Weston McKinney starting the opening game at Central Midfield? I do. I do. I do, but like, I wouldn't be calm in anything.

I didn't get on there first. Let's say, let's say he plays bad and the friendly. Maybe he's back. I like, I genuinely don't know. I don't know what the story lineup is going to be against, um, against Senegal in this first one. I would like to see a first choice 11. You're assuming Chris Richards is not going to be there because he's playing when, if he plays Wednesday or if he doesn't, right? That's four days. That would be. But other than, that. I'd kind of want to see a first choice 11. Is there ever a first choice 11? Like, he rotates every game. It changes every game. Like, I don't, I don't know. My, if you told me the over under was two and a half for Seb Burrhalter and Christian rolled

on to start group stage games. I think I'd take the over. Of them combined. Yeah. Like, I think I would probably take the under, but I wouldn't feel comfortable about it. Yeah, I don't feel good about any of it. Seriously, you can just like go back through all the lineups and like including in March. That Turner started the first game

when we were like, all right, cool, freeze is a starter. We know this. If we don't know anything else, we know a few things. Freeze starts here.

Richard starts at centerback. Pull six starts underneath the forward and Balgan starts. And then like three of those four things didn't happen. I believe in that game. So I think you put a false nine while Balgans in the form of his life.

Yeah. And I think it's very, very clear that he loves subar alter like what he did at the gold cup last year he loved Diego Luna too 100%. I think Christian Raldon has replaced him in his heart of like this is my gritty guy. I don't know why he can't have more than one. The other part is I have friends texting me or like, you know, don't watch every MLS game. Know the U.S. don't live it. And the question is like, does Diego Loner deserve to be on the roster? And not only does he bring all of this other stuff, the like grittiness, the personality.

I mean, he's the face of 80% of the ad campaigns, which I know Potch doesn't care about. He is genuinely good at soccer. He has gotten better. Like this year, he is more of a game controller. He calls his own number less 1 v1, and that is partially because RSL has played well. But for him to come back into a team

that started the year hot and improved the team because of what he brings rather than be a detriment to it, right now he's a better soccer player than a bunch of these guys on top of all the other stuff, which is he broke his freaking nose and stayed in the game

because he loves it so much and you love him for it. But I do think Seth Burrhalter sits in some of that space for Pocitino. Like, I think he loves the way he goes about the game and what he brings. And I think that Gold Cup experience last year really gave him a huge boost.

And I think Roldon sits in some of that space well, which is where I think Pots looks at it and he's like, we're going to grit over Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey. These are my grit guys. Like these are my guys who are going to be in the mud with me and they're going to get us over the top. And I know West McKinney, I mean, at least in this list is listed as a midfielder. I think there's a huge chance that those two end up just sharing the bulk of minutes on top of you probably won't start Tyler every game.

So it might be why. Seb with Tyler because I don't know that you can. Well, he did last World Cup to be fair. Yes. Which is great. And he ran out of gas against Netherlands. There's six days. Which was more in group stage game.

That World Cup was more condensed in terms of time around games. He should be playing every minute he's available for. I don't know if that's true. I mean, especially if you put up the results in the first. How much more, how much more days off do they need? You're going to tell Tyler,

Adam's, hey, man, I know that you played six days ago, but we need to rotate you here. It's a World Cup time. We got Jordan Clarkson doing the hands over OG and Novi's hamstring right now. Like, come on. If you win the games and you don't need the third result.

You're getting too cute, man. It's getting too cute. Play your best players when they're available. Okay. Well, I think there's a chance that both of them could partner Tyler or replace him. And therefore, you could get three starts in which there is, you know, a game where it's the two of them together and not. Tyler Adams, Doyle, let's talk about your boy, Gio Raina, 530 minutes on the season, gets on to the roster. Sounds like not even on the end like it was, he was a shoe in the entire time. How happy are you?

I mean, I think it's good that he's on the roster. He scored more recently than several of the other attacking midfielder's on the roster. So that's good, both for club and country. You know, the use case is still what I've said for the past couple months. You bring him off the bench final 20 minutes, 25 minutes of a game, where you desperately need a goal. Because he is the one person on this roster who is capable of making elite high-level magic. We've seen plenty of evidence that the other guys aren't really capable of that in that situation. So I'm glad he's there.

The rest, like, I'm glad Alibadoa or Alibadoia, Alex Zendejas is there. Yeah, three games. I'm glad Alex Zendahas is there. I think he earned it with his play for Club of America, which is a legitimately huge club. Where's the number 10? so he knows how to deal with pressure. He's another one of those guys in his prime. Tom, cover your ears.

I don't understand why Brendan Aronson is on this roster. Brennan Aronson. He's got a personal coach who coached in an NFL player. Have you not read the art of goal? Zero goals and two assists in his last 21 games for leads. He has one goal and one assist in his past 23 games for the U.S. Men's National Team going back to 2023. I know he's got a lot dog.

I know he works really, really hard out there. You know, the use case for him I presented was, okay, you put him out there for 65 minutes every game and you have him just run, run, run. And then you bring Raina in and have him jog, jog, jog for the final 25, right, against dead legs. I would take Diego Luna over Brennan Aronson as a soccer player 10 times out of 10. He's just been wildly more effective for club and country at producing goals and assists. what would how many minutes would how many minutes would Diego Luna play for leads

I don't know he can actually he could play actual he could play actual soccer then why hasn't why didn't live by him why didn't sound like him

what I don't know because he's because he's built like a cheese wheel you know maybe it's the same you know judge a book by its cover sort of mistake that multiple U.S. coaches

has made but I just know that when Diego Luna's been on the field, he has produced goals and assists for the U.S. national team, and he has better underlying numbers than most of the other attacking midfielders in this group.

So I'm disappointed at that, but we are talking about the 23rd man on the roster. I think it's much less egregious than only bringing two defensive midfielders. Tom, the, when I said sort of reina being entrenched in the roster, you agreed. Were there any sort of like, where guy sat or the way they got called up or what that sort of jumped out to you as you went

about reporting on this and learning the names um so i will say for reyna from the conversations i had it this they it was expected and again that doesn't mean that things are definite but it was as far as i understand it wasn't a worry that he wasn't playing it's on from glitbach um it was you know he's a special case and i get that so for for geo that was that i don't i don't and the not using Zendahas then calling him in? Like I feel like he, like this isn't criticizing him getting called in.

This is, I think that he should have been playing more or having more reps and opportunities with this national team. Maybe it was the best for him that he didn't, like the people who didn't come in March, like they got a boost because they weren't there for that kind of disaster.

I will say as reporting this out when it was, oh my God, like sources are saying testes, I made it. Okay, Morris must be in. And then that wasn't the case. And I believe that like that was a familiar sentiment if people found it out in that sequence. And if it was the other way, it's like if you heard that Morse was, it was okay.

You assumed one of the two. Yeah. Again, I thought that there could have been both. Like, I thought it was maybe three or like two out of three of Morris Testament rolled on. And I ended up being one out of three. I speculated in the video, I made instant reaction of like, well, Testament must not be healthy. And that must, yeah. He's good.

He's like I, sources insist. He's fine. And U.S. soccer knows that. I assume if you know. Or, you was, I like, again, maybe, uh, that was one, that could be one explanation. It might be something they say. Uh, but like, again, I, I think that, um, he's had the like, what was it, muscle fatigue, whatever that Leon came out.

Yeah, muscle strain. Yeah, but like, you know, Miles Robinson is not playing a ton. Diego Luna, like I said, like, he was in that camp. And like, um, this, he is not missing, like, Johnny Cardoso had ankle surgery. That is not why Tanner Tesson is not here. Like, again, again. A lot of sources I spoke to, we're fully expecting Testament to be on this team. There is a lot to dig in with this.

We've obviously got the two friendlies coming up, Senegal and Germany, and then we've got the World Cup coming up just around the corner. The U.S. will start against Paraguay on June 12th, I believe. So, like, not that far away. We're going to have live reaction show for the Senegal game. As I said, we'll be on tomorrow. Me and Doyle just shooting the shit chatting during the roster reveal show. and maybe if there is a television reality show twist,

maybe there's a last chance kitchen type situation. We'll be there to- fan vote like American Idol. Exactly. We'll be there to talk about it. And we've got some big preview shows we're going to be doing around every game. If you want to know a little more about Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey,

and you haven't listened. The last three weeks, we've done a segment about each of them. Talked a little bit about how they'll match up against the U.S. Their history, the pressure they're under. Massive injuries right now for Paraguay specifically. that is really standing out coming into this opening game and maybe some worrying ones for Turkey as well. And so we'll have all your coverage on the USM&T side here at soccer wise.

And then at first touch, we're going to have all your World Cup coverage going into the World Cup. On the Canada side of things, 32 players have been called into the pre-camp. As I said, Jesse Marshall announced the full roster on May 29th. So on Friday, some of the big notes, Kamal Miller will not be a part of the group after going to the 2022 World Cup, the Obert, not a part of it.

And then we have the rest of the roster here. Most of the names you'd expect. Goalkeeper does not look great right now with the one. Maxime Maxine Grapo gave up six this weekend. Dane St. Claire gave up four and that's pretty consistent with the run they've been on. Obviously huge fingers crossed around a bunch of health with Alfonso Davies, moist bombito, Derek Cornelius, like those three are as big as anyone is.

Stephen Eustachio as well. Stokio is a lineup. And Oostakio is part of what looks. like a group that was in MLS to close things out. That probably won't be an MLS coming out of this one. So let's talk a little bit about the weekend that we saw. It was the final weekend of MLS games until post World Cup. I mentioned on the top of the show, all players have at least an 18-day mandated break that they will get in this time.

If you are not a part of the World Cup, you will then come back and train with your team and get ready for MLS play to resume, which I believe is like July 15th when the games come back, and then they're into like Leaks Cup in the All-Star game because people like seeing the biggest names in soccer come to the U.S. So that's the only chance to do it this summer is at the MLS All-Star game, which will be coming after the World's Cup final in New Jersey. So just pointing that out there real quick.

So we'll talk through the best things we saw this weekend. We'll talk about some of the other big news, and there are a couple of guys that we'll talk about who we probably saw play their last game, at least for the club they're on in Major League Soccer. I'm going to start off with Nashville. They are shield leaders heading into the break. I think they have the third best 14 game opening to a season in MLS history.

So they are amongst some of the best points per game in that space. But no matter what, Kanka Kaff semifinal and leading the supporter shield for the first time in the club's history this deep into the season, it is just a complete season. And they were able to sustain coming out of it out of that semifinal without some final without some huge stars in this group. Patrick Asbeck, Sam Surge, Honey Mukhtar has carried them a bit, but the depth of this team is a real part

of why they are competitive. Quasum has started to come into his own a little bit. Madrigal has been a difference maker. Reed Baker Whiting has been a huge pickup. Yeah. Having the depth they have at centerback allows them to rotate. And even Brian Acosta has been a piece for them

in central midfield, which he's probably fourth option when fully healthy. And now he's a starter. And it's not going to, lose you games, which I just think shows what they've built in Nashville. I did my Apertura Awards and I had, I had G. San Palacios is the defender of the year over this first part of the MLS season. He's been fantastic for them at all the grunt work that centerbacks have to do. But then in terms of getting them out on the ball in good spots with the ability

to sort of run downhill, he, he's one of the very. best in the league at that. So melding those two things together and then allowing Andy Nahar to be Andy Nahar on that side of the field. He's just a force magnifier in every way. And then behind him, because even with all of this, Nashville actually have been kind of dead leg the past couple of weeks. Like they have really tired legs, not unusual for any team that makes a deep run in Concordiaf champions. Like even with all of this, Brian Shrocki behind him, one of the breakout young players in the league this year been fantastic and goal. Just checking every box

and looking absolutely like the class of the East and along with I think the caps, the class of the league. Like those two teams are a level above everybody else in MLS. I completely agree. This has been a fantastic season for Nashville and you look at like Sam Serge has nine goals in like 500 minutes.

Where would he be in the goal scoring shorts? If he was available to play like in this machine of an attack for Nashville. Doyle, do you think, I'm good with your shout for, for Placios for Defender the Year at the moment, just given the 15 league games. Do you think he is a better player or what Ledzi is? I think what Ledzi is. I think he's a better soccer player. Both are awesome though, man.

Like, well, Ledzi is one of the best attacking centerbacks I've ever seen, whether it's on the dribble, on the pass, or then when he's in the box around goal. So smooth, dude. Like, what a fantastic signing. Shwaki was a really, really unharolded, like, I believe he was an acquisition, like, rather than a free agent. I don't know, but he came from... It was like a Matt Turner kind of thing where it was, like, not even drafted, maybe. Like, or something where he was, like, way off the radar.

Nobody had heard of him. And now, look. The, so in addition to the depth and rotation and just the style under BJ Calhahn, the evolution of this roster, this is one of, if not the hardest thing to do for a front office and a team, it's very hard to make one really good roster. It's really difficult in MLS to then overturn the roster.

Joe Willis to Shwaki, Walker Zimmerman now to Palacios and Willetsi. Reed Baker. All the DP misses on forwards to get to Sam Serge. Lonnie Mooksard is the constant. Yeah, like all like, love it, love it to Baker Whiting. The,

the Anabal Godoy to Eddie Tagsus and everybody, like this team, to be able to do that, And again, some of these guys, particularly shawky. I had them on, like, my most valuable contracts list when the MSPA came. I imagine he's going to get a raise pretty soon. Then, like, Walezzi, that wasn't, that wasn't, how many, how many Max Tam centerbacks have Atlanta United tried? How many?

Right, right. I don't think, well, Ledzi's Max Tam. Like, he wasn't, like, cheap or anything, but, like, it's a fantastic signing. And so many teams have gotten it wrong, even when they throw money at it. Again, you keep on going down the list. And when they've, when they've spent big on Surridge and then obviously Christian Espinoza and free agency, like, they've freaking nailed it. And they are, the, the Concaf Champions Cup's semi-final run and to be the leading as a supporter shoot right now, like they deserve every bit of this. The MLSPA number that we got that came out,

those are their year salary or that's based on? Correct. So, well, Ledzi's on 650. Yeah, I mean, that doesn't factor in the transfer fee, but like, poof. There's a lot of MLS teams that I'm, I'm pretending not to look at right now because I don't want to show my anger if this guy's coming in for that number and what they're paying other centerbacks in major league soccer is absolutely disgusting by the way brian schwakey has luxembourg descent and can get citizenship so something to watch out did he wear a luxembourg flag on i some of what are we doing the flag stuff guys like what what what is this did these go into tops cards too like i knew i knew seattle was going to lose last night when i saw just the jersey when i saw paul rothrock wearing a

England flag. I was like there's zero chance Seattle's getting points out of this one. I need Tom live stream Memorial Day from the beach WFAN style complaining about the flags on the front of the game. Hey, oh, first time, long time. Listen, there was nationality. There was flags on a Joe. What are we doing Memorial Day weekend? Why didn't every jersey have an American flag on it? Even the Canadian teams, I don't understand. Was Whitey Ford wearing a flag? Was Lou Gehrig? No. No, no. They just, they didn't even have the names on the back because they played for the badge on the front, not the name on the back. These athletes hit today. They're soft. They don't know. They don't know. Lou Gehrig. That was a ball player. I don't think there's a better place for me to tell people who are

listening to Sirius Radio that we have a lot more to talk about. You're going to want to hear it based off what we just did. I got another one coming here. So if you want to listen to the full show, search Soccerwise on demand on the serious on demand player or you could search soccer wise anywhere anywhere you get your podcast. Tom, would you like to leave people with it? Throw me. Throw me the ball back. I got James Hartney one on one. I'm just going to put him in the blender and toast. right now. Bro, what is the point of shooting a broadcast game on all iPhones?

Like, man, I get it. I understand. This is the point right here. I'm behind the podcast. It's advertising. I understand, but can you just be a little bit more subtle about it? Like, I'm good with

technological advances and trying different things to increase the fan experience. None of this is about increasing the fan experience. It's about trying to sell more iPhones. Like, it's, who is this for? The release was, like, you know, we did it for, you know, some, some points in, in the MLB, uh, Friday night game

of the weekend. We got a lot, a lot of people were talking about how good it was. The, the, like, athletics, like media critic, Andrew Marshan was like, I don't remember single person talking about this, but whatever. Um, and then it's just, who is this for? Who is this for? It's for Andrew Roshan. How about this? How about this? How about this? Instead of every single weekend, there is a little Kiron that says experiencing technical difficulties. Every weekend, Put the resources that you're making these souped-up iPhones and do to just one broadcast going well. Hey, what was the St. Louis Austin game?

We didn't get a replay of the first goal for like 25 minutes. How about, do we have an iPhone near there that can get a replay of the, I just want to watch the game, and I just want it to be correct. Like, have the audio work and all the replays come. That's it. Just do that right, and then you can start experimenting with iPhones. So what we do on these rundowns is I write, best thing you saw a question mark and everyone puts theirs in and tom wrote just an insane

weekend of tired legs and minds and yet tom right now is fully fit this is a 90 minute performance from tommy scoos sorry sorry tom from brick new jersey yeah come on nick's making the finals it doesn't matter i'm not happy i can't be happy this take from tom shot on an iphone is what someone just said in the chat which is great as well Oh my God. Tom, did you want to elaborate more on insane weekend of Tyrant? Yeah, no, like, I don't know how much you can read into like some of the performances results.

Like, it's been an absolute dead sprint for all of the teams, even the ones that weren't in CCC or even the ones that didn't advance an open cup. I forget which team. I think San Jose played 10 games in the month of May, month of May. Like, I understand, right? Like, the World Cup break happens. Like, I'm not blaming the league on this. It's just a result of what happened.

So you have constant rotation, constant tired legs. And then you get to this weekend and you get 6-4 in Miami, Philadelphia, 4-4 in D.C. Montreal, 6-2 in Cincinnati, Orlando. And then just, you know, 4-2 Vancouver, San Diego. Granted, that can happen on two weeks of rest between those two teams. But, like, it was just, you're even if you're checking the score, be like, D.C. D.C. Montreal? What? Like, wait, Miami, Philly's at 4-4 at halftime. Philly scored 14 goals and 14 games before this? Like, yeah, sure. Like, it was just a crazy weekend.

And it was, this was one for just enjoy it. And let's not, you know, have 10,000 think pieces about what it means to actually. This was survive in advance. Get me to the break. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, the Miami Philadelphia game, second highest scoring game of all time, broke a bunch of records in terms of. We almost had a score. We almost had a score.

Igami. Game close. Nice. Thank you, Ben Wright, for making sure we're all aware of that, potentially. We'll go through some of the big ones. here, but, well, before we get there, let's talk a little crew, because I know that was something that's... Yeah, the best thing I saw this weekend was the crew reverting to Wilfred Nazi ball. I actually just put up a clip before the show on my blue sky, like a minute and a half of them controlling the game,

and you could see them organizing through midfield, which is something they never did under Henrik Ridstrom, with his nonsense tactical approach. Like, you could see that it was coming back. They played either a three, four, one, two. or a 3421 depends on what you want to call it. And they look like the crew. You know, it wasn't perfect. They weren't the 2024 version that won leagues cup or the 2023 version that won MLS Cup.

But they looked like last year's version that ended up on 50 points. And that's a pretty good way to start the rehabilitation, especially short rest coming off of that big win in the Open Cup midweek. I was happy to see it. They played some of my favorite. ball ever of any MLS team ever under Wilfred Nancy and going to

Lauren Cortois was an explicit attempt to recapture that and through 180 minutes I don't think they could possibly be happier with the way things have been worked out but now the pressure is on Isatol because this team needs

more talent and the pressure is on ownership to buy out Daniel Gazdaq because it's done it didn't work goodbye It's on Tim Besbchenko. I was going to say, yeah, we finally got the official news there. You know how I knew that Nancy ball was back or some semblance of it, Doyle? When I turned on the game, I think I missed the first couple of minutes.

And Mo Farsi spent like a two-minute shift playing center forward when he had so much time to either go back. Then he went back and like him and God's like how to high five as like they swapped back positions. I was like, oh, dude, they're so back. I love this. So as Matthew Shelfield points out in the chat, it wasn't. against Atlanta. So like it barely counts, but it still counts. Okay. Man, Cooper Sanchez is going to have these therapy sessions when he's in 20 years of like, I was, he's the MLS K'd coming at Cunningham, right? This is their 26 game losing streak Kate. I was I was 18. I was defending six on one. I don't know why they all left me alone.

Me and Jay Fortune versus the world, dude. Yeah. Man, there, there, um, there are some tough moments. But one of the things that's going to come out of this is the dysfunction of Montreal. Because if Lauren Quata does well here, we knew this. We said it when Kutuatatat got fired. Like, I don't think that it's a question here. I mean, there were mistakes he made. There was pressure on him. And I do think second job is a little bit different.

Obviously, his roots at this club are a lot different. Like, he developed a lot of these players. He knows the structure of the club and all of that. But yeah, it's not going to look great if this team turns around. In fairness, Montreal doing their own thing under Philip Ulafoy. I think they're four three and three. Yeah. Since he took over, including a big, you know, come back this weekend, two goals and second half stoppage time.

They've been fun on the road. They've been fun. They've been well structured. I don't think he's the next Wilfred Nancy. But he looks like a real MLS coach. Hold on. If he was, he would be the one next wolf for Nazi for another team. Right.

Right. But he, like, he looks, you know, he has this team doing actual stuff, which Marco Donodell very clearly did not. And it makes them watchable. And they've got a couple of players in Prince Ousu. And I question whether Ivan Jaime will be back. Is it definite that he's not? It's been widely reported. I don't have this my own sources, but it's been widely reported in around Montreal.

And like, Goss, we did a segment about, it seems like there might be a minute. like if he had it'll auto trigger and then he stopped playing i don't actually think he did though because we thought that and then he started the next game i'm just looking real he didn't he not played this week no he played 90 minutes oh sorry sorry sorry you are correct he just literally didn't appear yeah so if i'm running another mLS team i'm thinking strongly about bringing ivan hymei in as a tp i like that shout what team wasn't ready for that follow up i wasn't either he created It's nothing except chances himself in transition. He creates for no one else.

You cannot play through him. Yeah, they were played. They play a lot through like a Wusu was their hub. Carmona is the is the outlet of this team. So you're going to go spend five to eight million dollars on a guy who needs Wickey Carmona alongside him. If you are a team that purely needs a finisher. Yeah.

Around a true center forward. So R.SL sells Zavier Gozo for 14. million dollars and they spend a third of that to replace his production from out wide with Ivan Jaime who now gets to play off of Diego Luna instead of Wiki Carmona. So Jaime's playing as like a pocket 10 in that group. Like what goes over? Or you adjust the formation a little bit so you have him be like a pure white attacker. Great.

So they're finally going to spend money in there to do it on a guy who's just not that good. Great. Um, like Charlotte has a newly open DEP spot and maybe a second if they do get rid of the albata this summer. I actually like that shout. I like that shout a lot. Um, that said, they have like two of the most exciting young attackers. I say exciting young wingers and a loco and Virchumas. Like give those, give those kids a shot.

Yeah, you, you would have to be a way. I hate this. You'd have to be a. Now you'd have to be a win now team that's missing that one very specific spot to convince me that that's the right move. Tom's cooking here. Minnesota is a good one too. No, Tom. Thanks.

Good job by you. You could see that's going alphabetical because I'm going one by one on our depth shorts. Yeah, I can't. St. Louis, you could convince me a little bit because they need the attacking pieces. Oh, see, Dave's on board now. All right. We got him back. But let's stick here.

So Zaha said goodbye on Instagram. So I assume Zaha's done. No, it's, it's definite. It's confirmed. Like, he's, he's departed to the club. He's played his last game. He'll be, it was like when his loan expires. It's also when his contract expires this summer.

So they were free. They did have conversations with them. They ultimately are not bringing him back. Man, the Snapchat rant he's going to go on at some point during the World Cup about how bad MLS was. I can't wait. Did not get called into the ivory coast. Did not realize you were on Snapchat. I'm not, but you see it on Reddit and social media.

It's still on Snapchat. And that appears to be where he does all of his talking into third person complaining. How do you feel about your tweet now, year and a half later? I didn't know that it was, I'm glad to be part of the history. Him getting sent off for slapping people in the stoppage time before a playoff game. Didn't feel great about it then. So he finishes. Complaining about every foul or lack of, like he'll kick somebody and then get kicked and then whine.

Like he's the only person that's ever happened. We got Jorge Torres in the in the chat saying it's reported that Abada is leaving too. I hadn't seen that reported, but like I think it's, they tried to get rid of them in the winter. They couldn't. They're going to try again this summer. So, so by the way, Zaha, 48 MLS games, 13 goals, seven assists. 14, 14 if you include secondary assists, which the league does.

Like, that's not bad. Like, he was at least, he was productive. And, and again, maybe I still think that it was a good sign, like a good signing. And I'm, but I am glad that they didn't go like, all right, Here's a three-year DP deal. Yeah, he was available and he tried hard. There are some, like, deep underlying stuff that really suggests he was helping that team in attack. But it never looked great.

It's something I think in a different system, one that was a little more structured and can get him the ball in better spots. Because so much of what Charlotte does under Dean Smith is just, like, lump a long ball to one of the wingers and have them go one-on-one repeatedly. and Zaha can do that, but I think he's a guy who likes to play a little. Well, I don't want to talk about him. He's gone. Goodbye. But let's talk about Charlotte because we're talking about L. Abada, a big Zaha is gone because he hasn't really worked out.

The U-22 initiative spots, they get production out of one or two of them. They've done okay in those spots, but it feels like there's a lot of money on this team that doesn't perform to its level. But especially these DP spots, like, do you think they're going to go out and spend big again? and fully fill them? I would like, I would like them to, so like the investment in Zaha, like the contract, that wasn't a spending big DP. Like, he's a big name. And I think that we kind of conflate those things.

Like, because I thought his salary is going to be bigger. But like, it's a free loan. And I think like his MLSPA was like, what, the low two millions? Leela Bada, I believe that fee was actually like $6 million. That's a bigger spend, but that's still, that's not going out and spending $10 million on somebody. Pet B.L was a loan and then another loan and then triggered the, option. I don't know what the fee is. It's not going to be a huge one. So they're not cheap, which I appreciate, but it's not as if they've done in Atlanta where they spent,

you know, $40 million on players that were all misses. Like, PEP, you all has been a hit. Zaha, like, I don't think this was a failure of a signing. I don't think that he, I don't think he was like great, right? I, like, 27 goal contributions in a year and a half, like, pretty fine. Like, and for somebody that you really didn't invest a ton in and you didn't allow it to, like, completely dominate everything you did, even though, like, he is, like, a force, like, in good and bad way sometimes, but, like, the one that is,

that was the failures of Bada, and this comes after, like, they got MZocopetti out of the team. Edon Toclamadi's been very good. Um, so I don't think it's as, I don't think it's as checkered as, or maybe it's not as, as bad as maybe you're saying off the jump.

Is Zorin Karnetti on the hot seat a little bit, though? I don't think so. I mean, they had their best ever season last year. Like, I, I don't, I don't think he should be. I mean, I guess I don't know for sure what, what Teper is thinking, but like, I don't think that he should be going into the summer thinking, crap, I need to make two good signings where I'm out.

Like, I think that he's, I think he's pretty safe. Interesting. Okay. I, no. I guess one of the things on Zaha, I agree with you on the like, not, it was 2.7 million, not crazy resources. There was some production. I guess it would be like, how much energy.

went into it. It felt like it was a year plus of trying to get that over the line. It was Al Maron first, which would have been a disaster. Right. And it ended up signing him. Yeah. So I guess that's the part where it worries me. Because they didn't, they didn't sign a DP last summer

when they were pushing for, for, they pushed for Al Maron. They tried, actually, Gio Los Alcelsa was the first option. And he was like, listen, if this was September 1st and I don't move from Spurs, I'd be able to it, but he's like, I think Bettis are interested in me. and like I'm waiting until the deadline day in Europe in case.

He ends up going to bed us, so it was the right call by him. But that was when a lot of the debate about the, where the transfer windows was. And same thing. They probably would have signed Miguel Miron that summer, but Newcastle on August 1st are asking for like $20 million. And then by deadline day, they would have accepted eight or ten. So it just feels like those, that's the strikeouts is they've put so much focus

and energy on guys that have not. not elevated the club. And like the Kalinas have and, you know, obviously Ajamong did and and, um, Malanda, like they've made good moves. Yeah. This is a team that sits in the middle of the Eastern Conference. But it doesn't feel like they have a correct like angle or way to say this is how we jump into the top of the east.

Like it just feels like there's a barrier to where this team goes. And I don't know who as part of the decision making has an idea of how you get it over that line. I think there's just a hard cap on what you could accomplish with Dean Smith as your and that might be the other thing. Yeah. And that might be the other piece of it. But if that's not going to change, then, you know, what is? Like what, what changes the reality for this club? But I think that's where I kind of give like a shrug. You could sign Yvonne Jaime for this team. Then I'll feel this exact same way about that. That's what Tom said. I think it's actually a pretty good shout given the way they play in transition, right? Getting the young legs. And that Pep,

can be more of the creator. Like he's had like a good goal scoring season. But like I think that was partly because, okay, Zaha wants to be more of the creative hub. And all right, I'll go do that. Like I think that Pepi L can be like if you tell him, your role here is more chance creation first than goal scoring. I think he could do that. Like I think he's just a really good player.

And Gassu were right. It's better than Marantra. Dot. Marantuk is making a run. Boom, baby. Yeah, I think Marantz has a shot at MLS next pro all star this year. So I think if he gets enough minutes down there. I'm remiss that any of these guys playing

a month's next pro. I just want to make sure that we're going to. It's what elevated their game to the top level. Let's talk about the big game from the weekend, 64 Miami over Philadelphia. This is from Cat Bush on Blue Sky, who of course does a lot of the data work for us

at Soccerwise and said that that game was the single highest combined XG in American Soccer Analysis database. History opt a little bit higher at 9.2, regardless, one of the records. So far as a lot score a goal here. Right.

Suarez and Oloskey hat tricks is the second ever double hat trick in the same game in MLS history. Eight goals in the first half was the most in MLS history. And then the 10 goals combined with second all time in league history. It was two zero Philly in the fourth minute was it. And ended up being. I thought it was the eighth minute. Maybe it doesn't matter. It was really soon.

Really clear. No, time did not. We would not talk about this game in measures of time. time cannot encapsulate what actually happened. It proceeded to be four, four at halftime. It finishes six four, Suarez kind of like leads the way at the end. And then Messi walks off the field, just like demands a sub and then leaves and goes into the locker room the first time he's subbed out in like three months.

And everyone has speculation on what happened and why. But Tom, not a bad way to sort of like end the half of the season. Jesus. So like, do you guys remember, I believe it was. LAFC knows Philly LFC the last MLS game before COVID when Jack of Lesnarc scored from 47 yards yeah and now is the Jose Martinez announced himself like LFC was like prime L a still prime LACC like we just talked about it forever because it's like this is going to be like the last game for the World Cup break that's

six four Miami game where messy got injured or like so what what what happened was in like the 73rd minute you just see messy standing by the the touchline not moving and like less moving than sometimes when he like takes breaks or like tries to like hide on the field like and he's just kind of like short was rolled up a little bit and then all of a sudden there's a sub coming in and he just walked straight down the tunnel um it was an apparent injury uh 12 men on the broadcast said he they saw him grab um the back of his leg um and after the game gierma hoyo said that there wasn't they didn't have a medical update but pretty much was like we were just being he was funny he said we were being really precautionary yeah my friend you did not make that sub

you eat messy was being precautionary you were you were a bystander for that but he said we were we were being precautionary and he pretty much was like don't don't worry like we don't have a medical update but don't worry and then uh gassin eduel who is um a fantastic argentine reporter pretty much said the same that it was you know he felt tightness and was like there was no point for me to overload this in you know 15 minutes before i go uh with argentina for the world cup and louis suarez had back anyway. They, they end up winning six four. He left when it was four. Again, into Miami scored six goals and Messi didn't score once.

It's just fantastic. And the reemergence of Suarez, by the way. He was a dead body on the team last year. And then he's celebrating by flexing. I don't know if it's a new tattoo or not, but I appreciate that. Bert Tarame, he's awake. He's got two goals. He had two goals as well. But the Suarez Hattrick, was it his first one that he chested in like the

side volley? Like swam from Ian Freire. My God, that was like, that looked like 2015 in Barcelona or 2013 in Liverpool. Like that was prime Suarez and it is fun to watch. But on the other side of it, give up four goals, multiple penalties. They would have given up another penalty

if not for a correct off sides call and build up to a play in the second half. Damiani, welcome to the league this season. Welcome to the season. First goal. Again, Milano Lovsky had the hat trick. Philly finished this game with Nathan Harrell and Yovon Lukich playing centerp after

the last like 30 minutes. And then Listen, the defending was atrocious on both sides. But I think Eric Crackauer made a joke of like this is like a Sunday league, like adult league game where everybody went out Saturday night. Like that survives. It's just like no defending back and forth. Some moments of brilliance between people burping and going over to the sideline. I mean, the goal, the third goal was.

Kevin's slide tackles towards his own goal, the ball to Messi. Then Messi gets rocked. So we'll stop playing. And DePaul and Suarez were the only, no, sorry, DePaul, Andre Blake and Luis Suarez were the only one to play through it. And Suarez ends up scoring. And I wanted to, I thought Calvin Sullivan was, was really good. You're not going to see much in the stats. Like, even if you go to foot mob, like his rating isn't high.

Like, okay, Kenny Atkinson, relax. He was right. He was, and I thought to. And again, I'll give, trying to give Bradley Cohn, all the benefit of the doubt here. Like, I don't know what, what they knew. about the minutes. I wouldn't have taken him off. He looked like he was fine. When he went off, Philly's creativity was gone. And I think that that was more to me telling about how good Kavanaugh, how, I guess, impactful, because, like, I don't want to just get stuck doing that,

like, he tries shit stuff. But in this Philly team, if you try shit, that is really, if you want the ball, nobody else wanted the ball like he did. And again, I think Milano Lasker was obviously very good. And then the club record signing, Audo comes on. He's been bad, dude. Like, he's been bad. and he is he is like wild club record gets her run he is a u-22 initiative player maybe we should have had our expectations adjusted i think he came from i think the swedish league he had like 15 appearances like this was a very quick like oh like we like this guy let's bring him in we probably expected too much from him at first but like man it's been really tough the uh philly had a 3.6 xg in the first half and 0.2 in the second uh they had 20 plus box touches in the first half and like

like 10 in the second. So game states went against them. I think the rain as well, but then I think not having Kevin be at peak levels. That opening goal, the clip ball to Westfield again, trying stuff. Westfield with the flick on header. Cohesive, high speed, like stuff that we haven't really seen from Philly. And they missed a couple big chances, which maybe could have stole them a result. And they end up using this game.

If they were up five, one, I wouldn't have trusted it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know for sure. I don't know if they would have either. So Doyle, we don't feel any different about Philly coming out of this first half of the season. They are Supporters Shield winners last year and they are spoon leaders going into the World Cup break. Like I said, I thought it was an embarrassing and really arrogant offseason from them.

And the only silver lining that's come out of this half of the year is that Kevin Sullivan and Frankie Westfield are really, really good. Like those guys in particular. And then I think a little bit, Milan Alaski has settled into his role now, the second forward over the past few months. Oh, as far as fighting with him about. Because he was breathing and on the field. I think that both of those guys are willing to fight at the drop. Yeah, Milosechi is a dog, dude.

I really like Milan Aloski. I wish I could see him. I wish I could, like, he was so good in San Diego's game model, right? He was perfect for that. And Philly is just 180 degrees of difference, but he's still really good. Yeah, but he's been very impactful for him last year and then better last year. And like, I'm now, I guess, like you said, he's running for him. But I think if you're, I think if you're the union, you know, you have Westfield and Haryl are good players.

I still think Donnellijian Jacques and Lukic are good players in defense. Calvin is a good player. Quinn is coming back. He's a good player. Milano Lovsky is a good player. So you have something there. I still like McCannia. He's been terrible.

Yeah. I don't know what's going on. man. I mean, he lost his veteran mentor, right? Like, yeah, Jakub Glessness has talked to anybody around the league. They say he's one of the best organizers in all of MLS. And now he, now McConaugh doesn't have that. Yeah, really quickly, do I like, we talk about the offseason that you said the arrogance. The one, like, the only one that I really am critical for Philly is, is Jacob Glezzis. I don't know why you trade, like, it's not enough money to trade that. Like, I guess he wanted a new contract and they couldn't do, but like, you got to pay somebody, man. I think they're not in effect. I think they're

proud to be the club that moves on at the right time and nails it every time and has the next set of kids and sign that they're going to push through. Yeah. And I think Bradley Carnell, I heard, I think on the broadcast, Bradley Carnell basically admitted that, said we went too hard in the direction of youngsters. And look, I know that they had this agreement longstanding with Kai Wagner to sell him if the right offer came through and it did. I still think that given how important Kai Wagner was to that team and the fact that they're not going to go out and sign a bunch of TPs be like, we'll give you two and a half million dollars per year for the next three to be a DP left pullback for us and stick around. I imagine he stays like even if you give him the God

I mean I mean I think that's I think it's a fair question and maybe but like it's just not anything in the reality of Philadelphia. Yeah. Yeah. No fair. He got to he gets place for a club with Tom Brady like greatness on greatness. You can't turn something like that down. They screwed it up. They're in hell because of it, but they're still interesting young players on this team. Sadly for them, their record signing, Ezekiel Aladow is definitely not one of them. He needs a couple of us in USL. Okay. Let's let's jump to the Western Conference real quick. So the top of the West, Vancouver

will finish as the first place team. So I think it should be acknowledged. of like we are talking about the worries around them being moved in all of this. They are probably now over 24 months, 18 months, 19 months, the best team in major league soccer consistently. They finish on 32 points. Brian White is the third American to score double digit goals in four straight years. Do you guys know who the other two are? Donovan.

It is not Landon, Donovan. I'm not letting one of them. Is that because he left too often? He would have just up and down. That's crazy to me. Regular seasons. Taylor Twelman's got to be one of them. He is not.

I don't know. This came from MLS. Wando and Brian Ching. Wando is one of them. I will give you a clue. The other one was eligible to play for a different national team. Jeff Cunningham. No, that's a great one.

and his son plays for that national team. That's a bad radio now. Roy Lasseter. Oh, good call. Yeah. But all of the names you said shock me that none of the guys who played in MLS most of their careers didn't do this for.

This is not 20 goals. It's 10 goals or more. Like it's a little bit wild to me that other people didn't do this, but that is what came out. Vancouver got the big victory over San Diego. And I thought this was a great moment. Post game, Vancouver was doing their, like, in-house on-field interview with Ralph Priso.

Thomas Mueller came by and was, like, screaming into the microphone about calling him up to the World Cup. Mueller then left, came back while the interview was still happening and was like, if you want a dog in the camp and you want quality and you want athleticism, call this guy up. And it was like 45 seconds after he had done the first one. I think it shows the vibe in this group. We've talked about it over and over again. Doyle like Mueller's been a hurt this year.

I mean, Ryan Gold basically hasn't played in 12 months. Kubas has been in out a little bit. Backline, Vesilinovich, when he was there, was in my running for Defender of the Year. I had him as defender of the year this time last year. He's been unavailable now for 12 months. Blackman's been out as well on top of that. Sam out of Kubi has barely played soccer.

They've rotated out. All the wide guys, Ali Ahmed got sold. And through all of that, they're the best team in the Western Conference and one point off the shield. at the break. It's a superpower in this league to have a coach who knows how to develop young players. And we're seeing it from guys who come through the academy, Jivon Badwal, who's given them real minutes in like three or four different spots. But then signings like Edir Ocampo, who I think's

been the best fullback in MLS, the first part of this season, because he's now playing both sides of the ball. And he like, he adds so much to them defensively. And that's not something he did last year. So a guy who was already really valuable is now better. And then obviously getting the best out of veterans like Kubas and Brian White. I almost put Laborta as my defender in the first part of the season. But then the argument is, well, this time last year, Ranka Vasilinojavitch looked like the best centerback in MLS. Then he got her and Tristan Blackman actually won the defender of the year. But then by the end of the season, you could argue that Ralph Pryso was the best defender is centerback in MLS. It's like maybe it's not these guys. Maybe it's the coach who's actually

that good. And we haven't even mentioned said Burhalter. Emmanuel Sabi, who was nowhere, who now looks like one of the best wingers in the league. Bruno Caycedo's been like electric in small short minutes. We all know that Ali Ahmed was incredible and then got sold. If Johnson played for an American-based MLS team. He would have been in the can he make a World Cup roster combo over the last six months. Yeah, I think so. I want to give gratitude to the Vancouver White Cups for their offseason. They were, they insisted to me like, listen, we have, we do have flexibility.

When in reality, like, they needed to hand out new contracts and like somebody had to leave. So shout out to Axis Schuster. Shout out to Quinn Thompson. The work that they did, I was dubious that it's because it's extremely hard. look what happened to the galaxy. I didn't think that was going to happen to Vancouver. Didn't think it was going to happen to the galaxy either, to be fair. The Red Bulls got Sam West Cup.

I know it was a fluke run, but like it's so hard to keep these teams together. I mean, look at Philly. Yeah, they sold Jada Nelson and they got a really good valuation on him. And like, that was because they created so many starting level players that like they didn't, they were okay. The next guy comes up. And then Azy Jackson comes in, Cheeks of Bali comes in. He looks good.

Like obviously the Thomas Moore addition to everything else. The only thing I can criticize. 2004 literally the only thing is that Sebastian Burholter does not have a new contract and he is now six months before he's out but yeah they tried they like they they they I guess are trying I would I don't know what's going to happen depends on what the money comes out like I've been told he would take something even less than max tam and like I don't know why I could drive the contract to him myself if I had to if I was yeah like but again I don't know how things have changed I don't know when that information was and maybe they missed the window shoot like if Orlando offered Alex Freeman a deal earlier than

they did. He would have signed it. And then by the time the offer came, he had a foot out the door. But all of this is to say, that's legitimately the only, the only critique I can make of their offseason. And all the things that they've done in keeping this team together. And like Brian White, man, like, we just talked about it. Model of consistency. He, I almost like put him on my, like, when the MLSP came out, like the, my like most valuable like contracts. Yeah. Okay, Brian White is one of them, man. Like, this is what you paid dudes five million for. Yeah. On the, the Burrhalter side of things. He obviously has a different perspective on things. Like, he grew up in a soccer family. You know, like he's going to see things maybe differently

than the average player. He bounced around in Columbus and Austin. And I think he clearly feels at home in Vancouver. And he understands the opportunity given there and feels connected. But he's going into a World Cup on a free. It would be crazy to sign a contract in the last six months where at this, at this point, it would like, they missed a window. So that's why I'm going on my I'm not saying with 100% certainty he's leaving, but I think that you got to walk this down to the end of the season. And like, if you're another MLS team, would you offer a max tam or do with one of those creative one year free agent contracts and then give him a contract extension that,

you know, nobody talked about beforehand? If you're PSV Eindhoven and you're selling your midfield this summer, would you, would you, and you have a GM there who knows the Burr-Halter family pretty well, would you not consider taking young Seb on a free on the maxed ham side in MLS he's got six goals for assists his production level is

that's 11 last year dedicated players best 11 last year and he does more things than that he's the best set piece taker in the league outside of messy like yeah there's a lot there's a lot to like there so

I mean to bring it full circle back to the national team discussion what if said Burrhalter is just written in Penn as a starter for set pieces because of set pieces yeah

The only thing now in the group is Zendias also takes that pieces. So there's like other options. But I see that's a good thing. 100%. I do think it. Well, I know the commercial has Pulisic taking it. I thought I knocked my own microphone out and I was about to freak out.

I didn't. When they, when they beat Brazil in the World Cup final. I think Luna has the goal. So it should be a good one when we get. Yeah. Even though it was an Olympico. Luna was definitely on the field.

Oh, it was an Olympic. I forgot. That's a really good point. One not appearance for Vancouver, of what kept two was that in emma i don't know unless exproten exists that never one time tom's got the one bit that he's trying to run back it's working i i'm gonna keep doing it too god i love within the extra time group chat leaks into the soccer wise by the way just san diego 10th going into the break 15 games

played 17 points plus three goal differential they are behind the la galaxy for the final play in spot they are five points off the final playoff spot. I can't believe the guys have four more points in Colorado. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Colorado just hit the wall. I think Colorado is going to be good in the second half of the season, but like they ran themselves into the ground and they need to do work this summer.

Give me like this is a great buy low opportunity on San Diego as far as I'm concerned. I think they are going to have a really good second half of the season. For the Rapids, by the way, if Columbus buys out God's dog you should be first one outside his door if you can get him on whatever free I don't think anybody I don't think anybody should be outside

Daniel Gosdog's door at this point Ivan Jaime for seven million one I hate you I hate you guys so much last one before we go and obviously we have a lot of soccer to talk about so we'll be back for the live show

we'll stream it live on YouTube page tomorrow during the draw. So come hang out. Everyone in the chat really enjoyed you so far today. So we'll be back here. And then we'll have the NWSL show. And then as I said, me and Tom are going to do like a big MLS look ahead for the summer. Because I do think on top of just the signings openings, the Zaha spots, all of this. I do think the conversation about the rapids, Nashville as well, of like, who is best off that there is this break? And then also who can deal with the condensed nature of what the schedule will look like post World Cup, I think it's going to be a really fascinating conversation.

So we're going to have all of that coming up. But San Jose earthquakes. They made club history. They won a game in Portland for the first time ever. It was over 20 games in Portland. Over a decade plus that the timbers have existed in major league soccer and San Jose has existed as their current iteration. They finally won the game.

So Preston Judd finishes the first half of the season on 11 goals. In the three years before, this in major league soccer he scored 11 goals combined doyle how does it make you feel uh makes me feel like he's the MVP uh i i have him as as the MVP of the first half of the season because i thought that when verner and chikuras got hurt it was all going to dry up for uh for san jose and in the last six games or seven games i think he has uh three game tying goals and two game winners, including two in the first 20 minutes of this game. And like he played poor Kamal Miller right off that World Cup squad for Canada,

because he absolutely buried Kamala Miller. It is another example of the Brian White thing or the Taniello O'Shea thing where if the underlying numbers are good in the lower levels, and for for Preston Jod, it was USL championship a few years ago. If that underlying numbers are really good for a center force, to the lower levels. It's probably going to translate if you put them in a functional system.

And we saw it last year with San Jose off the bench. And now we've seen it this year as a starter. And they needed this win because March or May was really, really tough on them. And he was the one who went out on the road, broke, as you said, the record winless streak and got them the three points going into the break. And so they're right on the heels of Vancouver and Nashville.

And if they make a couple of good moves and get those two guys healthy, this is a team that could stay in there to the very end because we know the coach knows a thing or two about win his soccer in this league. The moves they could make in this break are the most interesting to me because obviously Bruce has done really well. Does he shop in the league or does he shop outside the league? I think is sort of what fascinates me the most. Like he's done a really good job picking up pieces inside of MLS for this group.

They also went out and got Timo Werner. You know who'd fit really well? Ivan Jaime. Oh, that's a great move. That's a great idea. Can you imagine being Jamar Ricketts on, I don't know, 82K? And Ivan Jaime walks in on $7 million a year and plays dog shit compared to you. I would leave.

I would go play for the Oakland Roots and then I would leave. And I would never speak to anyone in San Jose. I get a call from Cooper Tino. I'm hanging up the phone. Get that out of him. my face. But a big season for San Jose either way for the timbers. One last opportunity to embarrass themselves before the break of the season. We talked about them on the last show. We do think there is pressure on a couple of these coaches. And it feels like Portland's towards the top of that

list. And nothing about this performance or this game changes any of that. So something to watch out for as we get ready for this break. Shout out to Evander as well. Two goals, three assists on the game, so a record performance from him. And FC Dallas, closing the first half of the season on a three-game road win streak. I've been doing a piece with Jeremiah Ocean over at Soundar at heart over the last few weeks off and on about the Western Conference and where it stands. And he sort of asked me, like, as some of these teams have sort of juggled results, like, does it change your perception of the West?

And to me, it's just gotten deeper than I thought. like we started a month and a half ago and I was like I think the top three you know the west is a better conference top three teams in the west are legit I think the top six in the west are legit and maybe I'm being too friendly to LAFC in Seattle in that although Seattle has games in hand but like I don't think Dalles is going to win a supporter shield there's no one who wants to play them in a playoff series yeah and I think that San Diego will get to that point as well and look I don't love the way Houston play but they're a tough out and I think college. Colorado is, you know, I know they're not winning games right now, but I wouldn't want to play that team. I think St. Louis is on the come up. If you look at their last month and a half, I think they're like five, three and three, something like that. And obviously into the open cup semifinals, if they add someone who put the ball in the back of the net, the West is a wood chipper. Like I think the East really was better last year. The West is just freaking nasty. And it's going to be great. It's good, you know, I'm glad we're getting the seven weeks to breathe and let Tom do his work, breaking transfer news. And I'm really excited to see what's coming because all of these teams have a chance to get so much better.

But I'm already a little bit excited for the final 20 game stretch of the season. I'm not going to lie. I'm a little worried. We've seen Tom do it in a rainy New Jersey day. Can he do it on a sunny West Coast? Can he grind on Pacific time? It's unknown, and it's never been seen before. It's a good point.

I'm out of that. That's an away game. I might be more comfortable if this was in East Asia or something. This one from the chat, Preston Judd, the Grit Reaper, love that as well. We've got so much to talk about. Great show. Thank you to all of you for being here. Thank you to everyone in the chat.

We've got a lot of work still to do. We've got a lot of coverage for you here at SoccerWise and First Touch. I'm very excited for the weeks to come, and we'll talk to you all again very, very soon. Thank you.