SoccerWise - Weekend Recap Edition: MLS Cup Set & USWNT Go To Wembely

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Less games this weekend but the quality and pressure was of the highest order. The New York Red Bulls have made it to MLS cup for just the second time ever with their upset win in Orlando. And they will face another MLS original in the LA Galaxy who have reached the final once again, but lost talisman Riqui Puig in the process. On top of MLS action the USWNT went toe to toe with England in front of a sold out Wembley, and San Diego may have found their coach.Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to SoccerWise, your weekend recap here, and what a weekend it was. David Goss with you once again as we get ready for MLS Cup this week. The New York Red Bulls went down to Orlando and knocked off Orlando City 1-0 in our first MLS Conference Final on Saturday. The LA Galaxy escaping with a 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders in our second match of that day. And the U.S. Women's National Team getting a 0-0 draw

out in England at Wembley Stadium as well. A lot to cover over the course of this week. It's going to be a fun one. Myself and Tom will be back on Tuesday to get you all set for MLS Cup. We'll talk about what happened this weekend. We'll talk about what's coming as well on Saturday. And Jordan Angeli going to be back on Wednesday as the U.S. Women's National Team takes on the Netherlands on Tuesday to close out this window. So we will have all of our recap coverage there for you. And then myself and Tom will get you prepped for MLS Cup at the end of the week. Still trying to figure out when to do that show.

Might be doing something in L.A. live. So if you are in the area, if you are planning to go to the game, let us know, shoot us a message. If you're not already a patron subscriber, do so. You can get to our discord and message us there. If not, I am on blue sky.

Tom is on blue sky. We are both on Twitter as well. I love not as often for you to get a message to us. If you'd want to come hang out or do something, we might be doing a live show as we figure things out, going into the final game of the season. Covering two leagues here full-time at SoccerWise NWSL and MLS, along with all the national teams and all the other big stories in this region. We've got our

last game of our first season coming up here on Saturday. Let's dig into our MLS stories and what a weekend it was. Let's start with the New York Red Bulls going down and getting the 1-0 win in Orlando. It was the headed goal in the end by Andres Reyes off a gorgeous John Tolkien assist for the victory for the New York Red Bulls. They go to MLS Cup for the second time in the club's history. It is, of course, for a team that has won three supporters shield, another year in which they were a low seed with very little hope and making it to the final as they did in 2008. Let's talk about the game for a second and me and Tom will break it down more. I thought Orlando made a

mistake in coming out and sitting deeper. They let New York have the ball, and you can understand the concept there of the Red Bulls are going to sit a little deeper. They're going to defend, so if we give them the ball, maybe they open up their shape a little bit, throws them off. But I thought it meant that Orlando played on the back heel the entire game. They never really got the crowd behind them, and they never really dominated the game until late on when Red Bulls were in their shell trying to defend their lead. You had a huge opportunity for Facundo Torres in the first half after Ojeda was played over the top behind Andres Reyes. Ojeda breaking into the box, squared it for Torres. Torres' first touch sort of dropped down in front of him, and it ended up closing the window for him to be able to come inside and have the whole goal to shoot from and so he kind of sets himself up poorly

and ends up putting the shot on Cornell. A few other half chance opportunities for Orlando but they never really got cooking. The big one was Ramiro Enrique sort of pulling the ball off of Sean Neal as his foot on a clearance. Enrique not able to get his feet right as he broke into the box and some big tackles by New York Red Bulls throughout this game to keep them alive in some big moments. The Red Bulls looked super comfortable for large stretches of the first half, able to play into central midfield. No Felipe Carballo for this one who had been a phenom for this team. Two goals in the playoffs so far. Peter Stroud got the start in his place. Stroud got stripped early on when he didn't really have his timing down correctly.

Got closed down quicker than he expected. But otherwise, he settled in. Edelman was good, I thought, in this game. I thought Forsberg was good once again in this one. And then you have the ability for the two center forwards to drop in and sort of join these players in combination play and you saw van azir his comfort with the ball under pressure once again an ability to keep play alive for them for the new york red bulls under pressure so you

get into halftime at zero zero and you come out in the second half and in the opening two minutes you get the goal and what a free kick from john Tolkien we know how special his left foot can be it is one of the things that got him on the field early in his career maybe when he wasn't ready fully to be in the pro game he had that world-class game-winning ability with that left foot to put service in whether it's from the run of play or from set pieces and with this piece, he's able to freeze all the defenders by shooting it close enough to the goal that they don't want to be going back towards goal. And I think most of the defenders on Orlando think it's Gaiese's ball. But the ball is just far enough on the top of the six as well as hit hard enough

that Gaiese is not able to make a play on it. And it gets to the far post Reyes puts his body on the line there to get it in off the post as he collides with the post to put that team up 1-0 and they were not overly troubled trying to see it out they had their opportunities Alex Manuel out in the open on that run late on with everyone you know pushed forward and shout out to Duncan McGuire for making the effort to just throw off Manuel enough to allow Gaiese to get that tackle in unbelievable tackle from Gaiese as well but this is a I think frustrating upsetting Orlando

loss for this Orlando team to not really ever get their opportunity and to lose 1-0 at home, opportunity to win a conference finals at home. There's going to be a lot to talk about with this Orlando team because I think they've been an interesting club for years now. Every year, it feels like we finish and say, was it a good year? Was it a bad year? Overall, huge improvements under Oscar Pereja, making history every single time they've stepped on the field over the last few years, whether it's highest in the standings, first playoff appearance, first playoff win, first Open Cup, and a.k.a. first trophy for this club. Now the first conference finals, and yet so many of these opportunities they lose in situations which you say they should have won that game.

They could have won that game, and they could have gone even farther. And the question is how long of a slow, consistent build is okay. And that's going to be a conversation, I think, around this Orlando City team once again coming out of this season. And that has been a conversation for the New York Red Bulls for years around the Jesse Marsh years. And of course, Chris Chris Armas this has been now an unexpected run for this New York Red Bulls team so they're going to make their second appearance in MLS Cup this is for an original club now who started in 1996 just two appearances in MLS Cup both of them are surprising runs as a lower seed through the playoffs. They got there in 2008 as the final team in a wildcard team that technically was playing in the Western Conference as the last

team to get in. They beat Houston, the number one seed that year, as well as RSL to get to the final and they lost in LA in Carson, California, which at the time was a neutral site to the Columbus crew. So now the Red Bulls will return to the scene of the crime, this time to face off against the LA Galaxy, who they played in their first ever game back in 1996. But I was sort of running through the numbers to try and put this run for the New York Red Bulls and this history into context. And this was one that popped up to me. So they made MLS Cup in 2008. They failed to make the playoffs in 2009.

They have since made the playoffs every year for 15 straight seasons, have the New York Red Bulls. In that time as well, of course, they've won three supporter shields, going back to Thierry Henry's final year in 2013. Jesse Mars of course won the supporters shield as well for this club then in 2015 and a combo year setting a points record in 2018 between Jesse Mars and Chris Armis winning the third shield for this team. In that 15-year span, this club won five playoff games on the road. Now, obviously, you always have changing formats, and as a team that did very well in the regular season, they didn't always play road games. But in 2010, they won the opening game in the playoffs away

at San Jose, then lost the series. 2011, they won a play-in game on the road at FC Dallas. 2015, a 1-0 win over DC United. And then in 2017, the Red Bulls won a play-in game at Chicago and then ended up beating Toronto in Toronto 1-0 in the second leg of the conference semifinals, but lost that series on away goals on aggregate. In 2008, the Red Bulls won two playoff games on their run to the final. And now here in 2024, they've won three road playoff games. So in these two years as a club, they've won five playoff games on the road. And in the 14 playoff appearances in between these two MLS Cup runs as a lower seed they won five road playoff games in totality it is just mind-blowing for a club that has been

the favorites has had everything going for them the home games the setup all of these things year after year and not able to get over the line and And then once again, as a team stumbling over the line into the playoffs, they make it all the way to the final. Now, I would say they are set up better in this final, even though they are going to an LA Galaxy team that is playing at home. Reminder that Columbus team was Supporter Shield winners under Guillermo Barros-Scolotto, with Guillermo Barros-Scolotto under Ziggy Schmidt and was a real monster of a team, as is the LA Galaxy, but we'll talk about that as this week goes along.

But it is just mind-blowing to have the Red Bulls make it to this point this season. For the LA Galaxy, it is a bittersweet moment. They are back at the top of Major League Soccer. For the first time in a decade, they played in a conference finals, and for the first time in a decade, they will play an MLS Cup. The club that has won it more than anyone else in the history of Major League Soccer. They've got a chance to do it once again. They get a chance to do it once again at home, although technically neutral sites for many

of the times before. It was, it felt like the return of the Galaxy. This game started and my first reaction was the crowd. It felt like a Copa Libertadores final. The crowd was electric, the flags, the streamers, all of it felt like the LA Galaxy had returned, that they were the big club, that this was the model team once again in Major League Soccer. And credit to the Seattle Sounders. They made it harder on the Galaxy than any team has made it so far in this playoff run. They made it harder on the LA Galaxy to the point where the Galaxy lost themselves for a little while in this game. Didn't have as much possession.

Didn't have nearly as much possession in the attacking half of the field as we've come to expect from this team. Gabriel Peck, a quiet game for him. Joseph Painsill as well, a quiet game for him. All of a sudden, Seattle Sounders looked like they were in the driver's seat in this game, but you saw the lack of pure chance creation for this Seattle team. Pedro De La Vega was not effective when he got his opportunities on the ball. You didn't see much from Mnungu. It was probably a step too far for him to take a game like this and be able to take over or create the big opportunity for a young player who's just getting settled at an MLS level. And so I think you saw the deficiencies of this Seattle team as they bumped up against the wall. And yet in a 0-0 game with a Galaxy team that doesn't defend every single moment 1v1

as well as you possibly can, and with talent like Jordan Morris on the field, it felt like a chance could come for this Seattle team. Albert Rusnak forced to come off the field, a big loss for this team as well as this game wore along and then the huge mistake from Alex Roldan plays the ball turns it over in his own half playing even if it was cleanly passed along it was it sending it to a teammate under pressure in a bad spot and the Galaxy launch on it immediately they're able to cycle the ball over to Ricky Puj. Ricky Puj able to slide that through ball. Today on Jovalich, the no-look finished back to the near post.

And the Galaxy take a 1-0 lead in this one. And it is why this Galaxy team is so hard to beat. Because they can hurt you in so many different ways. So in a game in which they're not dominating possession, they're not getting their wingers isolated 1v1 as often. They're not getting the ability to run in the open field. They're still able to create a chance. And it's not one of the killer peas.

It's Jovalich to put you over the top. It is tough for the Sounders, I think, to take this loss. One, because Stefan Frey has, when they have made their playoff runs, he has been one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Major League Soccer. Brian Smetzer talked about it last week, that he has deserved a Goalkeeper of the Year award that he hasn't won. This was something he would say is a savable shot. It is not an easy shot, but it's within his body. He knows where it's going, and he's not able to get enough power on the save to push it off past that near post. And so for the Sounders, these are normally moments that they escape from.

That is the history of the Seattle Sounders winning MLS Cups. Outside of 2019 in the final, they don't blow teams away, but they are able to not shoot themselves in the foot when they give you openings by accident. They're able to recover. They're able to pick up their teammates and then find a way to get over the line. And that wasn't the case. Steffen Frey not able to make the save. Sounders not really able to create a huge opportunity and they fall 1-0. It turns out we find out after the game and you could see it on the field post game. The emotion from Ricky Pooj was very unorthodox for winning

at this stage. He covered his head with a towel. He was talking to a trainer immediately. Greg Vanni, we saw him on camera go over, give him a hug. And then the trophy celebration was delayed because Ricky Pooj had gone back into the locker room, which is not something that happens in a championship game when you win, that a player then leaves the field because they don't want to celebrate with their teammates and with the fans. And what we found out was that assist came on a torn ACL for Ricky Pooj. It looks like he tore it in the 63rd minute. Whether there's contact from Pedro De La Vega or not, that's where Ricky Pooj tore his knee. You can go and watch the video and you can see him

start messing with his knee a little bit after that. And throughout the final 30 minutes of the game that he played on a torn ACL to help his team win and ended up have the winning assist, you see him uncomfortable throughout. There's a moment where he's jogging across the field and he basically picks his right leg up to sort of test his knee and the ball pops up to him at that time and he cushions the ball down and plays a pass off. It is an unbelievable performance in the end, but it's also heartbreaking.

The best player on your team, the central force of this team, Edwin Cerillo talked with me about it on this show last week. The player who kind of pushes this team and has been the central piece of the rebuild for them to return back to this mountaintop and return back to this level of relevance will not be available for this final game. And so it is going to be an incredibly emotional week for this team as well as for this player to try and put that behind them. You want to at both times play for him and not overwhelm yourself talking about it. On top of this injury in this crucial time, Marco Reus was taken off at halftime in this game. We thought live it was a tactical decision,

which made sense. Marco Reus not having a ton of success in this game Marky Delgado gives you a different look Delgado ended up having a pretty dangerous shot on goal like two minutes into his time on the field um afterwards it turned out that Marco Royce dealing with an injury throughout the week tweaked something in that first half and so he was forced to come off the field it seems like it might be a groin injury that is is both devastating for Marco Reus, who has one of the worst injury histories of any player that you can possibly think of. He has missed pretty much every major tournament that he would have been picked in the German national team for because of injuries, Euros, World Cups, all of that as well. He missed the 2014 World Cup, 2016 Euros,

2020 Euros, and 2022 World Cup. Because of injury, he has lost, of course, a number of finals with Borussia Dortmund, who have struggled to get over the end line in Champions Leagues and in Bundesligas. And now his chance, the reason, right, he came to MLS but picked the LA Galaxy was because he wanted that lifestyle, that experience. He took less money to go be a part of this team, to live in that city, to be a part of this community, and to win things. And it sounds like he may not get the opportunity to do that. That now compounded with the injury to Ricky Pooj leaves a huge question mark in central midfield for this LA Galaxy team in a time when they are going to host the final and the expectations are

going to be on their shoulders. I still think the Galaxy are favorites at home. You talk about this club two weeks ago, we were saying Gabriel Peck might be MVP this season or should have been. He won the newcomer of the year. There is already conversations out there about how expensive he would be if someone came in to buy him. And Payne still a designated player as well on this team who has carried this squad for large stretches throughout the season when it's fallen on his shoulders both on the wing and at center forward. Dejan Jovalic has been there for a while for a while another double digit goal scorer for this team just scored the big goal in this game i don't know the exact formula the way this team plays you have to think it is going to become a lot more about finding ways to

isolate your wingers one view one and letting them create chances which sort of throws off where is the possession for this team and how do they sort of handle the game through midfield. It is a heartbreaking conversation to have. This is what happens, though, and very often when we look back on great teams, think about the Seattle Sounders, the first time they won MLS Cup. Clint Dempsey, unavailable to them. As you go through championships, things like this happen late on in seasons, and some great teams, some great stories

are able to put it all together still and get over the top. If not, could the Red Bulls win their first MLS Cup? How incredible would that be? This was supposed to be the rivalry or the matchup that defined Major League Soccer, the first ever game between these two teams. I remember back in 2011, they played in the postseason, and it was, you know, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan against Thierry Henry, and it was supposed to be the big send-off moment, the flashpoint for this league to build on. LA, New York, the two big markets, and that hasn't been the case for especially the New York Red Bulls, but at times now for the LA Galaxy in this newest version of Major League Soccer.

And so this is going to be a fascinatingcer. And so this is going to be a fascinating final to experience. It is going to be a fascinating final to watch. And I cannot wait to see it all go down. I will be very curious to hear from these two coaching staffs as well. Will Carbagio be back for this team? What does that mean for the New York Red Bulls? Lewis Morgan, of course, been carrying an injury over the last few weeks. Will he be good to go? Then you've got the question marks on the galaxy side. So myself and Tom will be here to break it all down. We will,

I think also start to talk about what this means for the LA galaxy going forward, because Ricky Pooj now is going to be out for a long time. He is the highest. Uh, he is the player in major league soccer with the most touches of any player. He is as central to a team as any player is in MLS.

So what does this team look like without him? What does this team look like going forward? Can they cover for him the way the roster is set up? Do they have to do something big and bold as well? We will talk about all of that both this week and going forward as we continue to cover Major League Soccer. A couple big pieces of news as well coming out around these games john herdman has resigned from toronto fc he of course is currently caught up in the drone gate spy scandal with the canadian soccer association most of the independent reporting on this has John Herdman and this was him stepping away before this happens,

or this is him trying to maybe mitigate any of the damage, but it means that Toronto FC is back to a new start. They let Bill Manning go, who was in charge of both their soccer and business operations earlier this year, who had been around for almost a decade. And now John Herdman out the door as well. So a huge change coming for Toronto FC and quite honestly, a good one for them. This is a club that needs a reset. It needs to restart things. And I don't think that John Herdman was a start of that new. I think he was still a product of this old regime and the old setup.

And this is probably a positive for this club going forward. And Bruce Arena doing Bruce Arena things. He loves the players that he is already familiar with. If you look at the New England Revolution rosters he built, a ton of players came from the LA Galaxy teams that he had been with. And now three players traded from the Revs to San Jose Earthquakes at his new stop. Mark Anthony Kay, Dave Romney, and Ian Harkes will all get the opportunity to put on a San Jose jersey. And they are all three players that are solid MLS pieces. Romney probably the most productive right now.

And center back a clear need for this San Jose team. It makes the roster deeper. It gives them more options in central midfield. And probably gives them at least two starters coming out of this trade. On the women's side, NWSL, of course, the final in the books, still waiting for the major news in the offseason. A few contract extensions have been signed or options were picked up. Maybe we didn't know about two of the biggest ones in Kansas City with Vanessa DiBernardo and Dabinia returning to that team.

They were second and third on my list for potential free agents in NWSL. Caroline is the top member of that list. She is a free agent from North Carolina. We have not heard word yet about what she is gonna do, and we don't exactly know how the whole off season will play out, right? No draft, trade window is open right now, but of course all players have to accept all trades. So it'll be interesting to see if we really see

any big ones or any happen at all. And then you go into free agency and the ability to sign college players. It will be much different than what we've seen in the past. So a lot to monitor, a lot to check in with. One big rumor that we did get, the rumors are that Jonas Eidevel, the former Arsenal women's manager who stepped down from that job earlier this season after struggles with that squad, taking over originally in 2021, winning a couple cups, failing at the league level and the Champions League level, but getting close, some second place finishes, some Champions League semifinals in there as well,

after coming over from his native Sweden. He is available and the rumor is connecting him to the San Diego Wave, which would make a lot of sense. After stepping away from Casey Stoney, looking for a full-time replacement head coach, we had heard it would not be Landon Donovan continuing in that role. Jill Ellis, who's under investigation herself or has been for the way she has treated some employees in that organization. It was confusing why she had let Stoney go. They had won a shield. They played a pretty distinct style of play.

And they ended up letting that coach go sort of struggling to find a replacement over the last few months. And this is a match that makes sense you have a player you have a coach in Eidevall who likes high possession teams who likes high possession teams but has been able to create enough cutting edge out of them to create a number of chances he won over 60 percent of the games he managed for Arsenal so it's a big name with a big background who can connect, I think, to a large player field to help you recruit both from the WSL, Sweden, Scandinavia, across Europe, and I think across the world. He's a known name. He's a younger coach. He's a coach who makes sense when you look at the profiles of the coaches that are coming

in to NWSL as well. Over the last few years, of course, Jonathan Geraldez, the biggest one of those coming from Barcelona, but a number of foreign coaches now coming over into NWSL and trying to sort of make a difference and put their mark on the league. It's a league that has a differing range of styles. And Eidevoll, what we saw from him was having a distinct style of play, but an ability to adapt that style of play when necessary in big matches or as opponents gave them different looks and that ability to throw a wrinkle or two into things might be key for a San Diego team that probably I think one of the feelings for them was that they'd become one note and when teams shut them down they struggled

to create chances not using their plan A, and of course, struggled to score goals in the last year. Any coaching hire would be welcome, I think, for San Diego just to be able to sort of move on from this process and be able to reset and rebuild next year. The reports coming out alongside the potential appointment of Eidevall, is that Naomi Girma could be headed to Europe after this season. She has been linked to Lyon, who are the biggest team in Europe. And then, of course, there were some fun banter, at least post the England game, about Manchester City and Arsenal's players coming to talk to Naomi Girma and maybe try and recruit

her over to England. She is the best defender in the world and it would make a lot of sense. I think it would be unfortunate for San Diego to not have her be a piece of their rebuild and be the face of their team post Alex Morgan, which I think is what Girma deserves. And it's very rare for a defender. So it would be a cool situation to have a player like that stay there and be able to have this team built around her. But speaking of that U.S. Women's National Team, 0-0 draw at Wembley Stadium in a big time game, sold out crowd, almost 80,000 fans on Saturday morning

here on the East Coast in the United States and across the country, one of the, I would assume, highest viewed games of the year until we get those numbers from Turner about what the number was of people watching that game. And overall, I thought a really good game for the U.S. Now, different people are going to have different opinions, and I'm sure Jordan's going to come on here on Wednesday.

And, you know, as we did going into the Olympics where I said I could see them not win gold and it'd be okay. And Jordan said, no, this is the U.S. Women's National Team. That's not what you do. A tie is not going to be considered ideal ever. But I see a team in the U.S. without the triple espresso, without three of the top eight vote getters in the Ballon d'Or as broken as that award may be. It is still three of the best players on the planet missing for this team without tina davidson getting the start um no crystal dunn who of course

started in the gold medal match for this team who has not been playing for gotham and was not in this squad so you're talking about heavy rotation from the last big game this team played in the Olympic gold medal match. You go to the European champions in their building and you dominate the game. There were stretches where England was better in the second half, really from like the 50, 55th minute through to the 65th minute. England was super dangerous. I thought England was really smart in how they chose to deploy their press. It was a low line of confrontation, but then they would find their stretches where they would press high for a minute, two minutes, three minutes sustained, and they were able to throw the U.S. off and create chances in those moments. But otherwise, this game was all U.S., and you did it

without so many of your best players in the attack. And so that final third pass wasn't there. I thought Alyssa Thompson struggled in her decision making in the final third thought we saw the limitations of MSC years and this one a young player who really only has one idea of to run at defenders trying to cut inside every single time Lynn Williams who has not been starting for Gotham looked to step off, I thought, at the center forward position. And with all of that, the U.S. was still the more dangerous team. They had more opportunities. They played higher up the field. They looked like the team that was more likely to get a win. And so I think overall, you have to feel good about a program that went to England and lost with their best team out there three years ago and now comes in with a B squad, B plus, A minus, however you want to describe that,

and are the better team and should have won against England. England missing some pieces as well due to injury, but overall, I think that's a positive moment for this U.S. I thought Emma Hayes handled this very well. The postgame comments from Jaden Shaw, she said that she was getting ready to come on the field and she was looking very serious. And Emma Hayes said, where's your smile? You got to enjoy these moments. How rare is it to play for your country, you know, on the road in front of this sold out crowd. And so I think the US handled this right. They used it as a chance to test themselves in a big time situation in a gap

of time right now over these two years post Olympics pre World Cup, but there aren't going to be a lot of feelings like that. And so they tested some new players, they gave some more players some more experience that have been in these situations like a Roosevelt and Lindsay Horan, but yet need more to continue to push themselves. And I think there was also that level of levity to this, to enjoy it and to want to be a part of this group. And I thought Emma Hayes handled that really well. I thought it was a fantastic day for Yasmeen Ryan, who came off the bench,

was clearly a difference maker in the second half, is clearly capable of making a difference at this level. You know how much I love to say that because she has been my favorite player in NWSL for the last few years. And so a big chance for her to show that off. Congratulations to Allie Centenor for getting her first opportunity at the national team level. I thought from the start she could have been a difference maker for this team.

She has more optionality to her game than what an Emma Sears has. Or maybe even a Lynn Williams where she can drop in and beat players with the ball at her feet, connect passes, as well as be a finisher herself and would love to see her get more minutes in that game against the Netherlands. I think Alyssa Thompson is on the right track. She had a great year this year in NWSL. She found her feet at the pro level. She was a high level goal scorer for her team. And this was maybe a step too far for her, but I don't mind testing her in those moments. I thought she battled.

I thought she tried to stay engaged and involved in the game, even when she wasn't having the success with the ball at her feet. So it's going to be another test coming up on Tuesday. Myself and Jordan will be back on Wednesday to break it all down for you. MLS Cup on the horizon, US Women's National Team, the soccer never stops. And that's why we are here at SoccerWise.

So thank you all for listening and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.