SoccerWise - Weekend Edition: Interview w/Orlando Pride VP & Sporting Director Haley Carter + Mailbag

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

New show on the Soccerwise docket launching to fill your weekend every week. David is going to sit down and chat soccer with some of the most interesting minds in around the game & then answer all your mailbag questions! To start with who better to talk NWSL with than the VP of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director of the Orlando Pride Haley Carter having maybe season in league history. And then David closes out with a slew of mailbag questions all over the map. 1:54 Interview With Orlando Pride Sporting Director Haley Carter 5:55 This Orlando Roster Build 11:55 Behind The Scenes Of NWSL Front Office Making a Big Signing 15:17 The Future Of NWSL Player Profiles 20:35 The New NWSL CBA From A Sporting POV 37:52 Argument Against Tata Martino For COY 46:03 Ryan Gauld MVP 2024 Candidates 48:46 Early Guess On MLS Decision Day Must Watch Matches 51:26 Instant Solutions For San Jose & Sporting KC 55:51 Caleb’s Revs vs Bruce’s Quakes vs Gregg’s Fire Who Wins?! 1:00:00 DC United’s Biggest Flaws And Needs? 1:05:46 Grading Axel Shuster & The Whitecaps Front OfficeSoccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to SoccerWise. David Goss here with you for our new Friday show. It's going to be interviews tied with our mailbag. Something for you to enjoy over the course of your Friday afternoon, Friday evening, maybe over the course of the weekend. They are, for the most part, fairly evergreen. They are not previews of weekend matches or time-sensitive like that. So it's something for you to enjoy at your leisure over the course of the next few days

or over the course of the next week if you want to go back and listen to something. This is an exciting one for our first show. We've got Haley Carter, the Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director of the Orlando Pride. They are seven points up in the Shield race in NWSL. They have set a record for undefeated streak in NWSL to start a season as well as across two seasons going back to last year. And they are currently in an unbelievable shutout streak.

So we've got about a 30-minute conversation with Haley. We talk about the Orlando Pride. And then we talk about NWSL and soccer and women's soccer in general. We talked about the CBA, how it will affect her job, how it will affect the building of clubs, some of the things she focuses on as a leader, what GMs go through, how to build a strong club and a strong front office, and some things about the future of the sport and the future of NWSL. So it was a really great conversation. We appreciate the time with her. I'm excited for all of you to hear it. And then after that, I will come back

with the mailbag. Some great questions, a lot of roster building questions on the MLS side, as well as some questions about the lead up to the finish to the season. So enjoy that interview right now. All right. Well, a big opportunity here at SoccerWise to talk to one of the big decision makers in NWSL, Haley Carter, their VP of Soccer Ops and Sporting Director at the Orlando Pride, a team we have talked quite a lot about over the course of this week and this season. Haley, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, David.

So you are the talk of the league, undefeated still in NWSL. Do you talk about it? Are you superstitious? Like, how do you handle the this sort of race for history? We don't really think much about it, truth be told. You know, I think we do the same thing we've done all season and every day and even last season, you know, it's, we just show up and we do what we're supposed to do. And we take each game, game by game. You know, you get through one and your immediate focus is on the next and you don't really think out beyond that much. You know, obviously, the sporting director side, I think quite, quite a longer ways out. But as far as like trying to navigate the here and now like it you know we

show up every day making the same decisions that we feel like we need to make and and we just keep it a consistent process and what this team has accomplished so far is extraordinary truly remarkable um but you know the way that we approach it is is similar to how we approach it regardless of what the previous 21 matches have looked like. Every opponent in this league can beat any other opponent on any given day. And so you really have to focus on one game at a time and one team at a time and making sure that you're prepared for that match. And it doesn't matter where a team is sitting at the table or where we're sitting on the table. Every game is its own individual battle, and our mission is to be as prepared as possible for that match. We get through it, and then we move to the next.

I want to talk a little bit about that long-term planning and sort of what you've done. But in your career, you were a goalkeeper, and right now, the moment we are talking, this team is on a 501-minute shutout streak. What have you seen from the defense in the back line? And what do you make of a team's ability to be in that? This is the fourth team ever in NWSL history to break that 500-minute mark.

Yeah, I think, you know, when we talk to athletes, you talk to the staff, and all of us kind of live by the same narrative, like this. And even when you look at the other teams, right, I saw the other teams were at 500 minutes of clean sheet. And I think you could say the same for those other teams, like in those moments, these are teams where defending is done as a team. And it starts from up front and it goes all the way through the lines to the back line. And, you know, it helps. I think, you know, Seb Hines, he's a defender and he's very committed and it's a mentality. We're committed, but also really organized.

And again, that starts from the front. So whether we're playing in a high press or a mid block or a low block, being organized and understanding every single person's role and what each line is responsible for is really key to our success so you know our goalkeeping has been stellar this year our backline has been unbelievable this year but really our ability to defend really starts from the top and you know we we pride ourselves on on the the goals conceded and and where we're at with that and like I said it really it it really, it's a team mentality. It's a team defensive unit.

How we step, how we press, how we lock teams in outer channels, that sort of stuff is, I think it's played a key role, but it genuinely is a shared achievement, I think. And it's an achievement you talk about across the team. A lot of different pieces that have come in and out of the group and rotation and all of this. Let's take us backwards to the building blocks. Right. Your job is to look forward and to sort of put these pieces together. Yeah. Was this what you had in mind?

Is this how you imagine this group? Like, take us 12 months, 18 months back to what you were trying to build. Yeah. When you look all the way back in the beginning, we go back to January of 23, you know, we wanted to ensure that we had a strong back line. Um, and we wanted to shore that up first and, and then work our way through the lines. Right. So by the time we get to January of 24, we knew we needed to go after a very dangerous goal scoring threat but we really sort of built our roster construction around now obviously there would be players who would come available and we would want to take advantage of that but from a strategic focus we really wanted to make sure that we had shored up the back line we built through our midfield so when you look in the

offseason between 23 and 24 the pieces that we brought in to strengthen our midfield. And then we sort of brought Barbara in as the cherry on top, right? The other thing that is, I think, very sort of central to our strategy is having players that are versatile and ensuring that we want to sign good footballers because the reality is, and this will be especially true as we move into future seasons with additional schedule congestion and additional events, is that we talk about you need to have athletes who are starting level caliber, at least two of them in every position,

because you're going to deal with roster rotation in a 10-month season. You're going to deal with roster rotation when you start adding in CONCACAF events. You look at how Gotham has had to rotate their roster. Portland's had to rotate their roster. You just have to to manage minutes, especially for some of your international players who are pulling really long, arduous events with their national teams and then coming back into the club environment, ensuring you're managing that appropriately. So for us, part of that strategy is is getting players

who are versatile to be able to to fill in different roles and i think the great thing is when you look at going from 23 into 24 and this will be true in future seasons as well is you had players last year who were starting that this year may be playing a different role but because of the experience that they had starting last year, they're equipped to know what they need to do when they come in off the bench and vice versa. We have athletes this year who didn't start last year, but because they had the experience of last year, they know coming in this year, being a starter, they know what the roles are that they need to play and what the expectations are for them.

And we talk about every single player in our environment, every single person in our environment influencing and making an impact in our performance this year. And so I think one, the players are really bought into it, but two, the players really understand what their roles are when they come in, regardless of position. We know what our principles are. We know what our attacking and defending principles are. We know what the expectations are. So, you know, even these younger players that we've brought in, you look at like Corey Dyke, for instance, Corey can play anywhere in the back line. She can also probably play as a holding midfielder. You look at Carrie Abello. Carrie Abello can play outside back, center back. She can play as a holding midfielder. You've got Haley McCutcheon who can play outside back,

holding midfielder. You've got Emily Sands who can play center back or outside back. You know, you have the ability to move players into certain positions in order to manage minutes, but also to change things up. And I think that's really important for us. You know, even if you look at our midfielders, Summer Yates, you can play Summer Yates as a 10. You can also play her wide. So having the flexibility and the versatility with our athletes is, is a main focus for us. Uh, obviously there are some players who are just specialists, right? Like Barbara, Barbara is a nine. That's what she does. Um, but probably not going to play center. Really been really key for us is, is having players that are effective in multiple roles.

When you talk to players, um, because there is for some players or some positions, a real personality to it. Like I am a center back. This is what I do. I am a six. I'm a nine. But you also you talked about the versatility across this team, the ability to swap a lot of the players that you mentioned that have played at a high level this year in multiple positions. Do you have that conversation, especially in the recruiting process of like, yeah, our stance is you need to be willing to play in the position that our coaching staff feels that you're going to best impact the team. And if you're a player who's like, I'm only a center back, well, then Orlando is probably not the place for you. Because our expectation for our athletes and the athletes expectations of each other is that you're going to play the role that is best going to set the team up for success. And it may put you outside of your comfort zone a little bit, but the team is what takes priority. And then the other thing, too, is I think a lot of players coming up, they stick to what they know and they stick to what is comfortable for them. But it doesn't necessarily generate future opportunities for them because they may not see the potential that they have in another position or their ability to make an impact in another position just because they've never been exposed to it before. players who have open minds and are willing to get comfortable being uncomfortable and being put in a new position and asked to do new things. And, you know, that's just those are attributes that we

look for in athletes. And I think you can point to several examples in the league where you've had players who've transitioned positions and been able to find success in a different position. Tara McKeon's a perfect example in Washington, right? But if that's the kind of player that we want to go after, right, is the kind of player that is willing to have an open mind and, and to learn and grow in positions that they may not necessarily initially see themselves in or that they've never necessarily played in. One of the big storylines that we've been covering on this show, FIFA put out a report coming out of the most recent transfer window that said NWSL was up over 200% in terms of transfers coming into NWSL from outside the league, as well as in spending. Give us an idea.

Take us into your job a little bit. And I think Barbara Band is the easiest one for us to go with. How do you scout the world? How do you go through that process? how do you scout the world how do you how do you go through that process how do you assess the players and then how does it go from okay this is the one or maybe the few we're going to go for into getting the player into the league well we have a scouting and analytics staff um so we have a director of scouting and analytics and then we have talent identification scouts um you know it it there's a lot of of time and resources that go into evaluating players

around the world um not just in major tournament years but you know in their respective leagues and um and working with agents and having international connections you know having coached internationally for me it helps a lot because my ability to reach out and talk to another national team coach or get feedback on players that are coming from perhaps lesser known markets um where their exposure is not as high is helpful um you know so i will say though to answer your question more broadly we have a balance between kind of the art and science of football when we're recruiting athletes. We get a lot of data and we get a lot of stats, but we also get a lot of video.

And we do a lot of due diligence in terms of what athletes are like on and off the field. You know, whether or not they can adjust to the weather. Playing in Orlando is not easy. It can be suffocatingly humid here. And it's not for everyone. And how we train is not for everyone. What our training loads look like is not easy. Uh, it can be suffocatingly humid here. Um, and it's not for everyone and how we train is not for everyone. What our, what our training loads look like is not for everyone. So, um, you know, I would say, yeah, we have that traditional sort of four corner, you know, you're looking at your technical and tactical, your psychological, social, um, your physical,

you're looking at those things, but, um, we have physical, you know, we've got positional specific attributes and what we're looking for in athletes of a certain position. And we have, you know, we've got positional specific attributes and what we're looking for in athletes of a certain position. And we have all of that built out. But, you know, I would just say it's balancing those things with what's going to work here and what's going to work in Orlando and fit into that culture. And, you know, we are very, very serious about being committed to the team and the club and, and no one person is, is bigger or more important than the club. And so we want to find athletes who really, who, who buy into that. And the other thing too, is, is, you know, if you look at the league and

you look at some of the players that have come in, there's a lot of investment in players coming out of Africa. And there's a lot of players coming out of, of other markets that, you know, when you look at some of the players coming out of, you know, Central and South America, you look at some players potentially coming from AFC. There's a lot of opportunity right now for athletes that are coming from developing sort of member associations from FIFA. And that's where we put a lot of our investment. But the reality is, you know, you don't put a lot of our investment um but the reality is you know you don't have a lot of stats available you don't have a lot of video available for those athletes so it's really like talking to the people who are interacting with them and and spending time and

and that means traveling as well and getting out overseas to spend time watching athletes is important um but yeah it's a it's a it's a very serious effort. It's something that we're committed to on the scouting side. So that's why we have a team that we've built out. But it's a team collective effort that looks at a variety of sources of information. When you talk about players from sort of these emerging soccer backgrounds, soccer markets, do you think there's a situation which NWSL is going to be signing those players at 17, 18 and 19? Or is this something where you want to see those? You can't sign a minor from one of those other countries, right? So I'm sure some club might try to figure that out. But I don't like signing minors domestically. So I'm not going to be

looking for international minors. But yes, I do think that you're going to start looking at, right, we just came out of the U-20 Women's World Cup. There's several athletes that are 18, 19, 20 years old that I think a lot of NWSL clubs will be looking at. Because from a business perspective, right, you're hitting that out of the bar park, right? We're managing salary cap. You can get some of those athletes in at a lower salary. Um, but they also are a lot of work. Um, and you

have to be willing to invest in them and be patient with them because a lot of times they're coming in with things that are uncoachable. Like you can't coach speed and you can't coach physicality and you can't like those athletes are just born with this incredible athleticism and technically they are very very advanced but tactically they may be struggling and and that's because they just haven't had the coaching um you know they're not spending the day in and day out if you look at some of these clubs that athletes are coming from they're not training five or six days a week ten months out of the year right there these are athletes who are are barely getting in the investment and the coaching that they've had historically has not been as high level as you

would expect of a professional environment. And so their learning curve is very quick, very steep, and their ceiling is massive. But you got to be willing to commit to that and to invest in them. And those athletes, they deserve it. You know, you want to be competitive. I think that, you know, I talk about if I won the lottery right now, I would go and build a, a, an Academy in, in Africa because the talent pool there is just tremendous. Um, incredible, incredible athletes with just tremendous drive. And being able to invest in them and give them the access is, I think it's important to the game. It's important for me, like personally,

that we're investing in giving opportunities to athletes like that. But I think it's the future of the women's game. I think that those talent pools are, um, are going to see a significant influx, you know, into this league, uh, and others. So it's an exciting time. It's an exciting time. I, um, I I'm really committed to that. And, um, you know, the more we can look for those athletes and invest in those athletes is not just a smart business move, but I think it's the right thing for the women's game. If I win the lottery, I can hire you to do that because I think that would be amazing as well. I just money, money well spent my friend well spent,

but I would have to wait two or three years. Cause you did sign a contract extension in the course of this year. Talk a little bit about sort of the moment of doing it in this season and sort of what you see for the future of the club and what you want to be there to be a part of. Yeah, I think, you know, for me, it's and this is what I love. I love about working for the Wilfs. You know, they are professional sports owners. They've been doing this for a long time and they appreciate that you're not always going to go on a tear like the 2024 Orlando Pride have gone on, right? It's a cyclical industry and there are ups and downs and what they value more

than anything else is really that fit. You know, is it the right cultural fit? Is it right thing for staff dynamics? Is it the right thing for the athletes? Is the right thing from a business perspective? Like there's all of these factors that go in. And they just think bigger picture. And I want to work for people who think that way, because that's how I think. You know, it's, is, are things working the way that we intend for them to work and knowing you're not always going to win. Winning is great. But, but, you know, on a micro level, that's not always going to be the case. But do we have the pieces in place that we can navigate those moments effectively and come out of those moments? And do we have the pieces in place where we can also navigate the moments like now where we're experiencing tremendous success effectively?

And so the ability to continue working with Seb and our technical staff and all of our support staff, our director of team ops, like we really have a special group together. And, you know, I think for us, like trying to navigate, you know, getting Seb sorted, looking at our assistant coaches, myself, like we, you know, we want to focus on the project and what we're building here as opposed to what our individual futures are. So being able to knock that out, even if it was in the season, like that was a priority for us and it was a priority for the Wilfs. And it's a testament to them how committed they are to us as a staff and what our vision is for the club and what we want to create here. It's I, I truly, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the NWSL right now. You talked about how exciting it is right now in the sport. We have talked a lot on this show about how exciting it is in NWSL.

And one of the big stories has been the new CBA that we're still waiting to get all the details out, but that has been agreed to and is going to change a lot of things. The elimination of the draft guaranteed contracts as well. And from the outside, we are seeing a little bit of players signing to new five-year deals, four-year deals, trades that were made after the CBA was announced that it seems like have some effect with going forward. Talk to us a little bit from your point of view, as someone who's in charge of sporting at a club, how this is going to change the way

you build rosters, change the way you do your job and change the way the league is. I first off, I think the CBA is fantastic. I'm really excited about it. I think it's great for the athletes. You know, I was in the league in the early days. And so to see how far we've come and how far we've evolved, I think is really exciting. Um, and, and I'm of the opinion that I think player interests and NWSL interests and club interests and staff interests are there. They're, they're not mutually exclusive of one another. Um, you know, we, we want our players to be in a good place and comfortable and focused on what they need to do. And ensuring that they're taken care of puts them in a place where they can focus on the task at hand, which benefits us as well, right? So for me,

like this is we don't even here right now now we don't approach things as like staff versus athletes it's it's a club uh and we're one collective group with the same goals and objectives in mind and so you know seeing these improvements in in player welfare and the benefits for players that matters to us as well because that means that our players are going to be set up for success and and that of course enables us to be set up for success because that helps us to be able to do our jobs. So I'm excited about it. As far as roster construction is concerned, you know, it's just planning. You just plan. You know, we had a pretty good idea that the draft was going to go away. And I'm on board with the draft going away for the mere fact that no other league in the world has a draft.

It's a very American concept. And I think when you look at Major League Baseball and the NBA and the NFL, these are very American-dominant sports. But football is a global game. It's the world's game. And so, you know, now we're on the same footing as every other professional league in the world. And so we have to recruit and scout and build a roster out just like everybody else does. You know, and I think for us, we've taken scouting seriously. We've invested in having a department who's dedicated to doing it.

And that's the way of the future. And I think if NWSL clubs aren't reading that writing on the wall and aren't making those investments, then they're going to fall further and further behind, which from a competitive standpoint, I love for us. Um, but you know, it's, it, that again, I think it's just, it's proactive planning and ensuring that you're staying ahead. And, you know, when we're looking at our roster, there, there's still, I think some uncertainties, you know, there's no one knows what's going to happen with the schedule footprint. Now, are we going to reverse the schedule that I think that's still a topic that's out there. And so you look at some of the contracts that are being signed in

27 and 28. And, you know, for us right now, most of our contracts go through 26. And it's because, you know, we need to be thinking about like, is there going to be a schedule flip? And if there's a schedule flip, how could that impact us? And when does what is the timing of that? And I think, you know, so we're already looking out at 27 and 28. But with there being a little bit of uncertainty, you kind of have to balance long term planning with, well, how could this throw things off? And how do we want to navigate through that? So, um, you know, it's just, it's finding a balance and managing that, but also recognizing the fact

that now you're dealing with free agency. And so, um, you know, we, we've kind of taken the approach that we want to bet on ourselves and we've created an environment that athletes want to be a part of and, and staff support staff, everybody wants to be a part of and and staff support staff everybody wants to be a part of it and um we hope that that will continue and so as we move into free agency you know we're resigning most of our athletes that are that are undergoing free agency and we have other free agents who are reaching out to us right so um it all of these things i say this because i think all of these things free agency the ending of the, the having to scout and recruit, like capitalism is a hell of a drug. And you either are going to invest in your club and you're going to invest in making the right

decisions and building out a strategy that's going to make you competitive in this new landscape or you're not. And so, you know, I've seen a lot of feedback about getting rid of the draft and the CBA and the haves and the have-nots. Well, it's a choice to be a have or a have-not. And I would say I'm incredibly fortunate to work for an ownership group who is committed to being competitive in this landscape and is committed to the NWSL being one of the most competitive leagues in the world. And so I'm all on board with the CBA. I think it's a great thing. And I'm looking forward actually to seeing what happens when we start to navigate roster construction and what that looks like. I think it's a good place.

You mentioned the draft, which is one of the things that was eye-popping for a lot of people. And as you said, it's not something that exists in the soccer world. It doesn't exist anywhere else. in the soccer world. But you also have this unique setup in the US where, you know, we've said it on the show, but like the SEC is maybe the sixth or seventh best league on the planet when it comes to women's soccer. How do you think college players will be assessed or recruited or signed alongside free agents and international stars? Like, how should we expect? So here's the other thing about the draft too that's just a reality and i think you see you know folks who

are really tuned in with with the college game and that transition from college to to the the pro level is that when you look at the nwsl draft the number of athletes who are drafted versus the number of athletes who sign a contract it's's very different. Right. You're looking at a fraction of players who are drafted in the NWSL who actually wind up signing contracts. So I think from a player standpoint, the draft is fantastic because you have freedom of choice, right? You have agency in where you want to go, which I think is great. But what I also think on the flip side, it kind of reduces the number of opportunities available for the top, you know, 100 athletes. This is why I love USL Super League, because I think USL Super League also offers another pathway for collegiate athletes to be able to go in and

play professional football. And because it's just it's limited. You look at the number of teams that we have in NWSL, I think not having a draft is fantastic for maybe the top 10 college recruits. Every year they can drive their salary, they've got leverage. signings with players coming out of college with the rest of their entry mechanisms and how they're navigating that whether they're signing existing pro players they're making they're doing transfers domestically or internationally um or they're just you know signing signing young internationals that are age-wise equivalent to um a young collegiate athlete so i think you're going to see a balance of it. And I think it'll be interesting. I think that it depends on the roster, right? And how many collegiate athletes a roster might invest in. And everybody's going to be a little bit different. But I think collectively on the whole, you know, you're looking at a reduced number of collegiate athletes being signed um being signed each year and uh but again for us like it's the same amount of work for us from a scouting standpoint because you still want to look and make sure like where is that like diamond in the rough for that athlete who potentially may not have been drafted i may have gone undrafted but has come in and made a big deal you look at bethany balser story right

like perfect example of um you know you got to make sure that you're still doing the scouting work to identify those athletes potentially. So like I said, it's, it's, you got to make the investments. You're not just going to be able to come in and draft, you know, four or five athletes and, and figure it out. Like you, you gotta, you gotta really put the work in on the back end and, or the front end rather, and know what's out there and what's available and also now you're looking at multiple potential draft classes right because athletes could be leaving college early right um so you're not just looking at one or two age groups you're looking across three or four classes you mentioned usl super league you know more spots more opportunity more chances for players to play. And obviously, NWSL is still growing. I'm curious, not maybe from an Orlando point of view, but a big picture soccer future point of view.

In youth development or reserve teams or second teams or academies, what do you see the future as over the next decade or so for the women's game? Or is it still college is the place to start? I think college has a place. I think college is a very important place. So just I want to make that clear. I think I think there are a lot of athletes, even some of the U18s that we've had in our environment and other U18s that I've talked to who are talking about want to go pro wanting to go pro directly that truth be told, could benefit from two years in a college environment. And so I think the relationships that NWSL clubs have with some of these power five and even some of the smaller universities is going to be key.

I think managing those relationships is going to be really important because there is, listen, the US has won multiple world cups with a college system as a developmental system. So I don't want to hear that it's broken because coaches only get so many hours with athletes and so many days out of the year. Yeah, I get all of that, but there are programs out there that are fully capable of developing athletes and preparing them for the professional environment. Um, so I think managing those relationships is going to be important and I think they do have a, a, a key role to play. Uh, I do think for us, us like my priority even just from an orlando standpoint and i think this is probably true of other nwsl clubs is having a second team

like having a space where we can send players back and forth you can get some of your your high level youth athletes you know you look at u17 to u23 like getting athletes in like that um to be able to to get some additional minutes at a high level. And then, you know, you've got return to play, you can move athletes back and forth. So having that freedom is, I think, going to be really important as we start to move forward. And then, you know, the youth academy landscape is dicey. I mean, it's a pretty controversial topic, so I won't get too far into the weeds on that one but um but i think there's there's going to be a time and a space for that and what the timing of

that looks like i think from an nwsl perspective is is remains to be seen um because if we're going to do it we need to do it right and and i believe that like slow is smooth and smooth is fast um so making sure that we're evaluating all of the potential impacts, you know, we're evaluating what, you know, residency programs and eliminating pay to play and those sorts of things would look like for an NWSL program and what that would mean for our ownership group. And, you know, those are really strategic long-term conversations that, you know, I think they sound exciting and really sexy to talk about right now. But I think pragmatically speaking, you're looking at a, if we want to do it right,

those are going to be very deliberate, very intentional, very long-term decisions. Let me close you out on this one so you can get back to doing real work, but I appreciate the time chatting with us. We're talking about Shield. We're talking about unbeaten streaks. We're talking about records for the Orlando Pride. It was a club that hadn't qualified for the playoffs since 2017. That moment alone, clinching and now clinching a home game. What are you going to remember about this season? What does all of this mean so far? Oh, man. I don't know. We have fun. I think, yeah, we have fun. I think that, to me, is what stands out. I think, you know, we're used to people thinking that we're garbage they really want to, like, you know, it's, it's, um, you know, I, you know, I think now, even now that we're starting to get towards the latter part of the season, I think people are starting to, to give us a little bit of respect, but, um,

we just, we just do what we do, but we have a good time doing it. And I think that that's what makes this group so special is when we talk about building a culture, it's not it doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't come easy. And we last year made a lot of hard decisions with players that we kept and that returned from last season to this season we made a lot of hard decisions around policies and and how we navigate different situations and you know what it really takes to create an environment where everybody feels like they contribute and everybody feels like they have value and and those that requires decisions and conversations and interactions every single day. You know, it's not just a flash in the pan where we bring a consultant and we have this like super fun team bonding time,

but it's like, how do we keep that up consistently? And the thing I think I will remember most about this team is the work that we have put in collectively over the last 18 months to get to where we're at. That is a reflection of those interactions day in and day out with our athletes, with our staff, with our fans, with everyone in our ecosystem to get us to where we're at today and the fun that we are having while we're doing it.

You know, we talk about like, it's a game and yes, it is stressful. And there I will go. I have many sleepless nights. I stress about a lot of things, but but I love it. And, you know, it's you talk about is very cliche. You know, you don't work a day in your life when you love what you do. But it's it's true. Like here we we enjoy each other. We enjoy the game. It's you know, and and if we can't have fun doing this, if we can't have fun playing in a game, no matter the level, no matter the stress, we're doing it wrong. So I think that's what I would remember most about this is the amount of fun that we're having, um, we're seeing the, the results of that work come to fruition. And it's just a rewarding, really rewarding space to sit in right now. Well, we're having fun watching it and watching history is always special. And watching this team has been really, really special week in and week out. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Good luck the rest of the way, and hopefully we'll talk again soon.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Have a good one. Big thanks again to Haley for taking the time to do that. We are excited to continue watching this Orlando Pride team, as I said, over the course of the rest of the season. An interesting one this weekend against the Houston Dash, the worst team in the league.

Houston did just get their first win. So for Orlando, maybe a little bit of a trap game around some bigger games that they have played. KC two weeks ago, Bay last week, and the Washington Spirit coming up on Sunday, October 6th. As they look to close out the season undefeated, they've already clinched their spot with home field advantage in the opening round. So a top four spot has already been clinched, but they are looking to clinch the top spot, host all the way through the semifinals, and be the favorites going into the finals. So a lot to watch out for on their side and just fun to watch. They are playing some fantastic soccer. It's what we all sign up for. They are the must-see team right now in NWSL.

Let's dive into the mailbag. We've got an audio question. You can leave all of these in our Discord, in the mailbag chat. So if you are not already a subscriber to our Patreon, do so. It gets you access to our Discord. It's where we hang out and talk soccer all the time. I'm going to start using it to help build some of the shows that we're going to be working on, as well as of course,

the mailbag. It's the only place you get in for this. You can leave audio questions or written questions. It also gets you our depth charts, which are built out so that you can see the depth charts of how we think teams play. And you can see their salary cap tables alongside that. I'm going to lean on that a ton this show because it's a lot of questions about future building. And that salary cap table is the best place to see what are contracts that are up? What are players that are under contract for a long time? Players that have options for good teams. You want to see more numbers out more years for bad teams. You don't want to see length of contracts for a lot of these

signings. And it's a huge part of my feelings about the future of some of these teams. Let's start with Webhead, who started a debate in this mailbag chat, said, Am I crazy for thinking Tata Martino shouldn't be a serious contender for coach of the year? Even without Messi, he is one of, if not the best rosters in league history. It feels like there have been a lot of games this year where Miami weren't playing particularly well and won anyway based on sheer talent. Tom even pointed out on Give Me Sport this week that Miami are overperforming their expected goal difference more than any other team in the league this year and by a decent margin. He directly credited, quote,

world-class finishers and an excellent shot stopper for that. How much of Miami's success can you really attribute to Tata Martino? So this ended up sparking a debate. One person came in and said, I agree there are arguments for Nance, Noonan, Tata, even Chris Armas deserves a shout. We also had Andrew Weavey pop in there and say he'd argue Pablo Mastroianni should get a shout if RSL finishes second. But also that Tata had legitimacy in his candidacy as well for what he's been able to do because of the injuries on the inter-Miami side. And Webhead closed out with this in the whole debate. He said, if you attribute the things Miami have done well to Tata, then he's the clear pick.

But that's where I remain unconvinced. I think Miami are a pretty well-coached team, but I'm not sure that they're in the tier that they're in because of their coaching, which makes Tata a very good coach to me rather than potentially the best coach compared to the other candidates, Columbus in particular, who I think owe a much larger percentage of their success to coaching. I love that breakdown at the end. And that is where the coach of the year debate becomes

like an MVP debate. What are you considering? What are you qualifying as under the coach's control? What are you qualifying in this? Do you look at teams and say, this is a team I thought would be 13th in the conference. They are eighth. And that is an overperformance from a coach more so than a top four team finishing top one. That's the question you come down to with something like this. That is sort of the debate that you have to have in this whole conversation. And I don't feel guaranteed on anything yet. I still want to see how the season plays out.

I still want to see how some of these teams finish. Reminder that this is supposed to be MLS competition. And I think that's one of the things that's hard with a Wilfred Nance, because their success in CONCACAF and their success in League's Cup technically shouldn't be a part of the voting for this. Wilfred Nance, because their success in CONCACAF and their success in League's Cup technically shouldn't be a part of the voting for this. And yet they made two finals and won one of them. They're not going to win the Supporter Shield. And that's where it becomes a little bit hard, right? You have high expectations for Columbus, and they're playing at that level. That's fantastic.

I think people had high expectations for Inter Miami as well, where the Colorado Rapids are the big jump. Very few people had them probably in the playoffs this year. No one had them as a team that was going to play a home game in the first round, a top four team in the West and could finish, you know, three or even two in the Western Conference. So that's part of the debate you come down to. And I think that what you attribute to these coaches is part of the debate as well, because I would argue Tata Martino has more influence on roster building than other coaches in Major League Soccer. And so if your argument is Inter-Miami have overwhelming amount of talent and the talent fits together well, and the talent can win games, well, don't you give a ton of that credit to Tata

Martino? Or are you saying coaching is one skill set and that's the only thing you're judging coach of the year on? Whose ability to come up with a game model, get that game model into their players' minds, have their players execute it, picking the lineups, substitutions, ability to affect the game, ability to adjust to opponents and plan for opponents, are those the quote-unquote technical coaching skills that you are judging coach of the year on? I don't have an answer to this yet. Tata Martino has to be taken seriously.

He deserves it. He coaches the number one scoring team in the league. He coaches the Shield winner. If they set a record, that's even another conversation, but they probably won't. It doesn't matter. All of that means you have to be a serious candidate for coach of the year, but there is space to vote for other people in the final voting for this award. And I can understand the pushback, but I would say the talent that has won without Messi, a lot of it's been put together

because of Tata Martino. Julian Gressel has said he went there because of Tata. While it's Messi and friends, a lot of the pieces that have come from South America to play on this team, those are the signings that Tata has made. And he's made it work with the Drake calendars of the world who were a part of the group before he got there, as well as some other pieces like that. And he's kept the pressure away enough from this team to compete. It is hard to be at the center of the hurricane. It is not easy to be a part of this experience, especially for some of the younger guys like Benha and Ruiz and Yannick Bright and all these guys who have performed at a really high

level. So I think Tata deserves a ton of credit for all of that. I think he will be a finalist. He should be a finalist. He deserves to be. I'm not sure if he's my winner yet, though, for coach of the year. This is a fun one from Skin Matt, who says, can MLS create an award to recognize Yuya Kubo? That man has been through some stuff and stuck around Cincinnati, has played every position known to mankind, and is finding ways to keep adding value to the Garys. He's become one of my favorite players in MLS over the past few seasons, and I don't think he gets enough credit.

By the way, I don't know why FC Cincinnati are the Garys, so if someone could explain that to me. I know Gary Indiana from the song. I assume there's something going on around Cincinnati as well. I've seen this a million places over the years and I've never asked the question. So I'm asking it now, my own mailbag out to the fans. This is a really fun question. It's a funny question. We put you Yakubo. I think he was on my vibes 11. I think he was in our conversation for underrated. He is a bizarre story. He came in as an attacking

designated player, Japanese international from Europe. He was one of the worst signings in MLS for years. And then as the team got better and he came off that DP number, he has stuck around rather than choosing to leave. And he has become a really important player as a jack of all trades for this club. Now, someone followed up here and said MLB somewhat recently created a gold glove for the quote utility players, guys who play excellent defense and not just one spot but move around as needed. Something like that for MLS could be really neat. And I had titled this before I saw this for this question, because I title each question for myself, the positions player award, because I would like to have a SoccerWise Award

that is the player who is the most versatile, useful player in Major League Soccer. Obviously, Sean Zawadzki is going to be in that conversation this year for playing center back, center mid, and goalkeeper, even though he played goalkeeper poorly. But I do think there is a really interesting utility player conversation to be had.

I've talked about this in NWSL a million times. I talked about it again this week. Yasmeen Ryan is a starter for Gotham FC, and I have her in the depth charts as second at five different positions. She's going to start every game. You just don't know where. That is value on top of the fact that she's a really good individual soccer player. And I think that can be a similar conversation in major league soccer. Diego Fagundes has done this, right? He's played three or four spots, but all across the attack, Yuyo Kubo, what he's doing this year is different and really special. Indy Vasilev, I think is one that you could talk about in a conversation like this, who's played a bunch of different roles.

We've seen an Eric Williamson over the course of his career play as a six and a 10 on the wing. And as an eight, there are a lot of players who I think we should give a nod to their skill set being tactically flexible and versatile. Robin Ludd would go in this conversation as well. So there are a lot of guys. I'm creating that as an award. I want that. And I appreciate the question. Let's go to DVNHLMS, who says,

who are this year's Ryan Gauld working class MVP candidates? This is another fantastic question. If anyone's listening from Vancouver front office and you have leftover Ryan Gauld working class MVP hats, I would like one. I wore mine into the ground last year

and so I can't wear it anymore and I need more hats and I always want one. I wore mine into the ground last year. And so I can't wear it anymore. And I need more hats. And I always want one. So hit me up and let me know. This is an impossible question to answer because one Ryan Gould probably the answer. And two, there is no judgment. But what you got from Vancouver last year, and I love the argument was he was an elite attacking player who hit high on metrics like ground cover, tackles one, blocks, all these types of things. I don't know that there's a perfect comp for that this year, but I put together a couple names that I really like in this conversation, and I have one clear winner that's not Ryan Gould in this list. So Christian Roldan lives on this list, right? He's a game changer. He's a spark. He can

be creative, but he is a workhorse who's doing the work. He's also probably one of the players who will end up in my other conversation with my MLS field players of the year playing multiple field positions. Santiago Moreno was one that popped up when I chose a couple different categories of like, who are the best attacking players in tackles and blocks and attack, you know, tackles in the attacking third, like who's working the hardest from the front. And Santi Moreno popped up a ton of times and he is a super dangerous attacking player. I didn't expect to see him on this list. So he gets thrown on here as well. Hannes Wolff is my Goss theorem, Ryan G MVP it'll be next year I think where Hannes Wolff really peaks but he does a lot

of the things well that a Ryan Gould does Timothy Tillman was one that came to mind like he's on the field in sometimes as the number 10 and he's there to win tackle start the press cover ground in transition kill attacks before they start like all those types of things. I think Timothy Tillman's a perfect one for this one. But the player who will win the Ryan Gould Working Class MVP award this year is going to be Cole Bassett. He leads Major League Soccer in ground covered. He's still scoring goals.

He's still creating chances. He's playing every single game for his team. He is not a true attacking player like Ryan Gould is, but he does all the things you want from that spot, and he is up there on that side of the field. So love this question. Felt really good when I finally landed. Not finally. Cole Bassett was basically the first name out the gates, and then I came with the other ones. Claydy Troyer, just over three weeks out from decision day, which game do you predict will be the most important on the day? This is a great question.

I scrolled through the whole schedule. The way I see it, there are probably only two games that have eliminated teams that will guaranteed be eliminated playing each other. You have SKC against FC Dallas. Now I've put a little bit of stock in FC Dallas making a playoff run. So I'm hoping that's not one of those games, but it could be. The other one is probably going to be Chicago-Nashville, depending on how Nashville plays down the stretch over the next two weeks of MLS games.

Reminder, international break coming up before decision day. So it's going to be a long, drawn-out process, but we've got a ton of really cool ideas here at SoccerWise that I'm excited for to fill in some of those shows as well as to continue to cover all these teams down the stretch and into the playoffs. So then because of that, we don't know exactly who's going to be guaranteed spots, who's going to be where, and whatnot. I put together three games that I think no brainer will be big. They might even be bigger

than I realize some of the other, you know, on the playoff line games like a Montreal against NYC FC, that could be a massive game for Montreal to get into the playoffs for NYC to clinch home field or to avoid a worse first round matchup, but I'm not sure on those yet. So the three that I think are going to be obviously fantastic, Philadelphia hosting FC Cincinnati. It's fireworks every time these teams face off. Cincy will probably be in a must win, must get result to maintain their spot as home field advantage for at least the conference semifinals, probably going up against Columbus in a spot like that as 2-3. And Philadelphia will be playing for a spot in the postseason,

whether it's as the 9 seed, the 8 seed. So that is going to be a massive game. Seattle against Portland did not realize we were getting a Cascadia Cup on decision day. Most likely both these teams will have clinched their playoff spot, but we'll be playing for seeding, avoiding a higher seed, and maybe trying to sneak in as a home field team as well, or trying to at least sneak out of the play-in game. So there's a couple different options there, and obviously it's always a great matchup. And

then the other one's going to be RSL Vancouver. It feels like both these teams are going to go into decision day with the ability to jump and drop in the standings. So both will have a ton to play for. Both will do a little bit of scoreboard watching, and it's a high level matchup against two teams that I think will take it very, very seriously and be in a win now spot. And so those are the three that I am leaning on for those decision day games. Russ Bucket here says, taking a look at the eliminated teams, what's the biggest area of the squad that they can improve to jump them to a playoff spot? So the only two eliminated teams right now officially are Sporting Kansas City and San Jose. No one in the Eastern Conference has officially been eliminated because it is such a jumble on those playoff spots.

For this San Jose Earthquakes team, they have some really interesting pieces. And I think that's one of the frustrating things when we keep talking about them. And they will come up again in just a moment with one of our other questions. Christian Espinoza is on the books. Really good number. Productive DP. Carlos Grueso, I like as a signing. Up and down year, especially with Copa America coming in and all of that, but also a solid

defensive midfielder in this league. They spent some money on the back line over the last few windows in Rodriguez and Bruno Wilson. Jeremy Abobese can be a legitimate finisher up top as well. So there are a lot of needs here for San Jose. They definitely need to strengthen the squad, depth, like deepen the squad. But if you said you have to pick one position and one player for this team to be able to make a big jump, and that's the only change you could make, it would be a second central midfielder who can control the game for them. Bring someone in who can dominate possession alongside Carlos Gruecho, take pressure off their back line,

allow them to dictate where and how the game is played at times, and then that allows Hernan Lopez to go and freestyle a little bit and to leave the central part of the park and go find the game where he wants to or help come over and create overloads for him so he can start to make some differences out on the wings. That would be the obvious one for the San Jose team. For the Sporting Kansas City team, it is really hard. I would say a true defensive midfielder, your Nobito, your Chara, whatever it is, someone

to help stop the bleeding in a central area, because I don't know that a center back can do it alone. I don't know that a center back can play at an elite level without any cover in front of them. And you probably are going to kill more attacks against you in transition from the central midfield area than from just the center back position. Tom Sweezy jumps in here and says, to pair a question along with this, with MLS roster rules and restrictions, how much can an MLS team really overhaul a roster in an offseason window? Well, this is a question I'm going to get to slightly in the next question

because it's about the future for some of these clubs. It depends on where your roster spots are at. We are going to learn a lot this year about how the 2-4-2-3-3 setup affects you. So for anyone that doesn't remember, Major League Soccer brought in a new rule or the rules were adjusted over the course of this year and finally announced at the end of the summer window in which you can choose for your team a setup of two designated players, four under 22 players, and $2 million in discretionary allocation money spending, or you can have three designated players, and then you get three under 22 spots,

and you don't get the discretionary spending. So that is the difference of how you can roster build. And it will be interesting to see for the teams that are in bad spots, which one they think gives them more flexibility or which one helps them jump the you know jump up the standings even quicker the conversation i'm going to come back to over and over the reference i will is fc cincinnati right they went from the tire fire worst team in the league to a clear playoff spot in year one under pat noonan and chris albright they flipped a bunch of the roster but they also used a lot of the pieces that are in their team. So depending on the way the roster is set up, you can flip a ton of a roster pretty quickly if players are on the last years of their contracts or on option years.

And you can get out of those deals and you're able to find trades and whatnot to move those players around. Then for other teams, you look at things and you can feel them just trying to create some space and some flexibility. We talked about it with Toronto FC a ton. They signed a lot of long-term deals under Bill Manning and Bob Bradley that they have been struggling to get out of and they really didn't have flexibility to change their roster much this year.

So it really does fall on the team, but I'm curious how the new rules affect all of this, which takes us into our next question from John P., who says, with all the manager rumors recently, here's the question. Who gets the most points in MLS in 2025 and why? One, Caleb Porter at the New England Revolution, two, Greg Berhalter in Chicago,

or three, Bruce Arena in San Jose? I love this question. It's fun. It's good. It's creative. And it actually was harder for me than I expected because I thought out the gate, I was going to say Greg Berhalter in Chicago.

This is a club in a major market with good soccer history, with good club history, who has an owner who is willing to spend massively in a soccer rich area that has already developed academy talent because it is so much talent in that spot. So you can affect a roster on the top end. You can build out a roster from the bottom side and cheap pieces through an academy and talent through an academy. And you can be, I thought, good pretty quickly. And I do think that you can be competitive pretty quickly. But when you go into the salary table and you start looking

at contracts and years out, the middle of the Chicago Fire roster, it is unprecedented what you are looking at. You are looking at contracts for three, four, five years from players that you do not want on this team. And you're looking for at contracts between $250,000 and $600,000, which is your core group of starters, not your high-end players, right? The max budget charge is $685,000 this year. All the players above that are the ones you're using TAM, GAM, or DP or U22 spots on. Well, not U22. DP spots on. Right?

Those are your star players. It's the middle of this roster where they are locked into a ton of contracts for players who have struggled to be starter level players in Major League Soccer. And then you've got your problems in the high end as well. You've got your Gaston Jimenez, who's been there forever and hasn't performed. She hosts is on a little over $1.3 million for this team. Chris Mueller has only started 12 games this year. He is above that max budget charge as well. So there are problems up there, but it's the middle of this roster and the length of these contracts.

You are looking at a club that has multiple players currently on the roster that are under contract for 2026. And some of that's great. A Brian Gutierrez. You have control over a player like a Carlos Tehran. But some of that, like a Fetty Navarro and a Koutsias and a lot of the pieces for 2025, like Suke, Navarro as well. You look at Chris Mueller still on the books for that. Chase Gasper at $550,000. A lot of these are bad contracts that you are stuck with.

San Jose doesn't have that. San Jose has openings. They've got flexibility. They are set up to be able to flip their roster pretty quickly over the next 12 months, I would say, because you get players who maybe have one more year on their deal that you don't want to be a part of the group that you could probably move in the summer. And by next offseason, you are probably in a clean spot if you want to be. And the Rebs have talent on the team right now. The Rebs still, we go back to it over and over again,

they still have the bones of a lot of that record-setting points team and a team that was on pace for a home playoff game last year before Bruce Arena was suspended, investigated, and then let go. But I, after all of this, come back to Greg Berhalter and Chicago. I think Greg's a good coach. I think he will get more out of these players than we've seen from them. And I go to Cincinnati again and say, players that we gave up on. Don't forget, Alvaro Barrial was a bust of a signing in Major League Soccer. Brenner was a bust of a signing in Major League Soccer. There were question marks around Lucho as well. This was a team that was

a train wreck at the back and all of a sudden became one of the best defensive teams in the league because of system, because of buy-in, because of belief, because of the work of the coaching staff and cleaner fits with the pieces brought in around them. And so I think Greg Berhalter can utilize some of this roster enough to get competitive minutes out of them, like a Gaston Jimenez. I think he's going to be better next year if Berhalter is the coach and builds a team that has some difference makers, Hugo Kuyper is being in the league a year more, and the academy talent that can come through and make a difference and is already there in a Chris Brady and a Brian Gutierrez, I will take Chicago because like I said in the debate with Tom

about San Jose on Tuesday, it's great to hear all these things about San Jose. I understand Hernan Lopez is a higher level signing. I don't know that that's a team that's really going to break the bank consistently to build out a big team going forward. Becknell42 here says Benteke has been a star this year, but DC are still struggling to even make the play in game. What do they need to do to right the ship for next year? I think it's a good year one under Troy Lesane.

Every time we say that, they lose a game or two, and you start to feel differently, right? They had a good stretch coming into this playoff run. Then they lose 4-0 to Philadelphia on the road, and all that confidence, all that belief falls apart. But we've been talking about this since SoccerWise started earlier in the summer, we got a great email from a fan of DC United who sort of laid out their full thoughts full on article basically. And I agreed with a lot of it, which is there's positivity, there's small little moves that have been made well, there are openings in this roster to get better, but there's a clear idea of the

type of players you're looking for and how they fit in. Clean fixes. They have the third worst goalkeeping production in Major League Soccer this year. So that's a clean fix right there. I would add speed at the center back position to allow them the ability to press higher and a little bit freer. Those are what the best pressing teams have, is a center back who can cover ground over the top, but close down angles in front of them when you are pressing and be able to close down attacking players who are retreating into their own half,

and pure chance creation. Klik is a top 20 shot creator in MLS, a top 50 goal creator overall in the year, but that's not even per 90. And he is the only one in the top 50 of either of those categories on this team. Second is Aaron Herrera. And yes, this is a system with Christian Benteke and wingbacks and the way they play that your wingbacks are going to be high level chance creators because of the amount of crosses you put in. But Aaron Herrera should not be the only other player on your roster who is a top 75 chance creator in Major League Soccer. So if they were to say, oh, we're not going to change anything else about our team, but we'll make some new signings. If you made those three additions, a true game-changing goalkeeper, a high-level goalkeeper, a consistent goalkeeper,

what we've seen Houston do with Steve Clark, what New England has done this year with Ivicic, something like that, as well as a center back with some speed who can cover some ground, and then a real, you know, legitimate elite chance creator, or at least a second one at a level of clique, so you can play the two off of them and create some more space for both of them, then this team could have a big turnaround. But when I look at their roster, they have nine players over the max budget charge with Russell Canals, the ninth right on the line. Five of those players could be gone next year. So Martin Rodriguez has an option for next year. I'd be surprised if they picked it up. Dehome, the same. Aaron Herrera, option as well. I would keep Aaron Herrera

on this team at whatever number you need to, probably similar to what it is. Unfortunately, Steve Birnbaum, one of these players, has already retired. And while you're better with Steve Birnbaum on your team, at least you can now use that roster spot to bring in a player who can play for you for the full year. Pelota, Patola, sorry, Perani and Canals are the other three. Unfortunately, you are stuck on the contracts for those players. I say unfortunately, most specifically around Perani, who has been very below his level. He's got another year on this contract and then two option years. Peltola will be back, and I think that's fine. I think he can fit in to the right system. And then right below that line,

you've got Pedro Santos and Tyler Miller, who have both performed fine for their spot. Not both. Pedro Santos has been fine. Tyler Miller is part of that goalkeeping problem. To give you a little bit of reference point here, Tyler Miller on $450,000. It's more than Martin Posse. It's more than Drake Callender. Jonathan Sirwa, who's a homegrown, fine, a younger goalkeeper, over double what Sirwa makes. It is the same as Dane Sinclair and Ivicic, and it's just behind what Carlos Cornell was on before he signed a new deal with New York Red Bulls. It shouldn't be that hard to go out and find a goalkeeper at that level of spend that you can be more competitive with. And so I think for DC United, these are clear fixes. To say if they do these things, they're going to be much more competitive next year.

They should be a playoff team. And there is space to be even better than that, right? If you lean in and you can maximize the most of Christian Benteke you can rise even higher if the pieces you bring in adjust really well and they make a Cudi Pietro even better that gets you those extra steps as well as just being cohesive as a unit and building on what Troy Lesane has done so I think all of that should be pretty exciting for DC United fans. Final one here from Dan H and I'll let him take it away.

Hey Dave, question for you from Canada. Where do we rank the job that Axel Schuster's done relative to other CSOs and MLS and relative to the budget set out by ownership? He certainly had a couple of high profile misses like Alessandre and Cordova, but he did manage to recoup transfer fees on both. And then just some Mav caicedo vite gressel that probably weren't the spend ultimately but in terms of lower spend in intra-league trades he's knocked it out of the park repeatedly either objectively on talent or just relative to their cost and also bringing in impactful free agents so yeah just curious where he stacks up relative to his peers in the league thanks i'll hang up and listen love a hang up up and listen. Thank you, Dan, for putting that in. And as I

said to you in the discord, congratulations on the three P in the Canadian championship. If you are part of our discord, I highly recommend going into the mailbag on the discord and in this a really cool chart that Dan put together, I believe himself, and posted in which he has in, I think it's chronological order. Oh, no, it's on pure spend. So on spend order, all of the moves that have been made under Axel Schuster at a higher level with how much they've been spent and then used red for what he deemed bad moves, green for what he deemed good moves, and yellow for some in-between ones. Pedro Vitae, a yellow. I would argue Vitae is green at this point.

I would argue Vitae is a high-level player, has covered a ton of different positions, has really found his spot and helped this team. And that is for transfer fee and allocation money, whether it's trades or signings, as well as free transfers, like a Matias Labordo, which is a home run signing. Fafa Pico has been as well. Those are free signings for this team.

And that's part of what's hard with this. And I like that Dan's question said relative because the spend for Vancouver is at a lower level. You are taking more risks. But it's always odd when you look at a major league soccer roster and you say, okay, Sergio Cordova is a low-end DP. So you don't have the expectations you have around some of the other players. But Brian White's better than Sergio Cordova. So you scouted this player for very little that you have put on the same field as this other player that you're paying

more and the player you're paying very little or less or gave up less to get is more productive. And that's what's hard. I think with all of this, as I have said over and over, I think the base and the core that Vancouver have built are really, really good. Kyle Alessandri at $3.6 million, the highest spending on this team. That was a failure. And that's one of those things that's tough, which is, I always say, goals are the one thing you pay for. Attacking players obviously costs more. You are taking risk on high ends with some of these signings because there aren't really givens in the range of $2 to $3 million at these positions. And yet Vancouver is getting production.

As I say, again, from players like a Fafa Pico and a Brian white who aren't that. And of course, Ryan gold as well, who they ended up transferring $350,000 for, um, to get him in the building who has become a genuine MVP candidate for this

team. And is kind of one of the reasons that it allows them to have a Brian White be competitive and all those things like it. They're paying Ryan Gould about 2.9 million now. So all in, it is in the same range as the Kyle Alexandre said. Kubas has been really, really good as well. I would come around to an A for this build. You could say B plus as well. And that is for Axel Schuster using the resources that has been given to him. This is a team that's done some really interesting stuff in paying for Levante Johnson in from CPL, which we had seen Joel Waterman be productive out of

CPL, but we hadn't seen a team really pay money for a transfer. And they've done creative things like that. They've scouted well and developed well. And Ali Ahmed, who they brought in, then they worked him through Whitecaps 2 and into the first team. Those have been some really big signings. The recognition of a need to increase quality at goalkeeper.

And they go out and get Takayoka. And I think that's worked out really, really well. The back line, I mean, going through the teams and what they need to get better, there are teams that would kill for a Matias Laborde. They would kill for especially Veselinovic, and they'd kill for an Udvik as well. And that's your three center backs right there without even Tristan Blackman in the conversation. And so they've done really well at some of these spots.

I think I would give a B plus or an A for this one. You can't afford the strikeouts is the problem when you don't have a ton of resources with you and you don't always get another shot at a Kyle Alexandre or a Sergio Cordova. But I feel good about saying that the day they signed Cordova, I thought it was a bad signing. And I feel that way right now. All right. That's all for us here at the mailbag. I hope you enjoyed the interview. Hope you enjoyed the show. We will be back next week, Monday with my weekend recap,

and then we will get you Tuesday. I think we're going to record a little bit early to fit some schedules with Tom. And then that is Tom's last show before he takes off for a little bit. And Jordan Angeli will be back with me on Wednesday to break down all things NWSL. And we'll continue our coverage all week as we head into an international break on the men's side. We head into the playoff stretch. We head into, of course, the postseason as well.

We're having a ton of fun. Thank you all for joining us. Have a great weekend. You've been listening to SoccerWise.