SoccerWise - Weekend Recap Gold Cup CONCACAFing, USWNT Debutants, Lodeiro Says Goodbye + USL Jagermeister Cup

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

It feels like every weekend of soccer this summer is more bizarre than the last. David sitdowns for run through all the highlights for you (but mainly Andrew Wiebe) that you might have missed. David starts with the USWNT's back to back 4-0 wins over Ireland using 22 starters in two different formations. Then he breaks down all the excitement from the latest round of USL Jagermeister across the country. He tries to find some lessons from the chaos of the Gold Cup quaterfinals, and then digs into the weekend of MLS action. Leaving some special time to honor the MLS legacy of Nicolas Lodeiro.   Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody. Welcome to your weekend recap here at SoccerWise. David Goss with you. Welcome back for another big week of coverage. It is July 4th coming up here in the United States. So we're going to have a special week. We're working on some interviews that we are going to run. Currently talking with the Kansas City Current about an interview for what is a team that right now looks like they are on the road to a shield championship. As we are into the international

break, of course, the women's Euros kicks off on Wednesday really excited about that. The US women's national team playing two games against Ireland, and the big one coming up against Canada on one day the Wednesday, the US men's national team won't be playing Canada. Of course, as Canada was upset by Guatemala in the gold cup, I'll run down all of what we saw in the gold cup this weekend. Myself and Tom will be back tomorrow to preview the USMNT semi finals to talk about what we saw so far to break down everything that went on with Jesse Marsha squad. Everything else as well. We will cover of course, the MLS weekend and then a wacky and weird MLS schedule

coming up over the next week or two because of July 4, some games move some games shifted in terms of times and dates. So we will be live on Tuesday. And then we were going to run some interviews on Thursday. Right now we are expecting to sit down with a member of the Orlando City front office to talk about the roster they've put together what they're building going forward. Maybe Alex Freeman's ice cold penalty kick conversion in his USMNT debut camp at the gold cup in the victory over Costa Rica and much, much more. So a lot for us to have this week a lot for you to consume. We will not go anywhere, but we will not have the live shows in the same way.

But Tuesday we will be live again. I know we were not live last week because of shifting schedules and bad hotel Wi Fi's and all of that. But we will be back on live for that. And then we will have the interviews all of that. Of course, you can follow via Discord. We'll put some messages in there as well as of course, on social media. I want to give a special shout out for this one to Andrew Weeby in full on dad mode, hurtling across the United States via highway by himself with a car packed to the gills to perfection from a dad all star as he heads to Kansas City to meet the rest of his family. This one's for you, Weeby.

Everyone else is still allowed to listen at this point. You don't have to turn off just because I'm saying that. But this one, this one's for our boy Andrew, who's living his dream right now with I assume the driver's seat window fully down, left elbow, as far out as it can go to just show a pure power in his stance. Let's start with the US women's national team and then we'll get into all things, men's on the other side. It was a perfect start to the window against Ireland.

So the four zero win for the US women's national team that makes it back to back victories over this Ireland team in this window. Last game was at altitude in Denver. That was a 4-0 win on Thursday night. And then this one, a 4-0 victory in Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. Unbelievable crowd for this game. You could feel the energy. You can feel how devastated Ireland is originally about the altitude and now about the heat on an early kickoff for this game. The first game which we didn't really cover because it came after our shows

last week Avery Patterson her first career US women's national team goal Sam Coffey, Rose Lavelle in her return scores a goal on a really nice pullback but the star was Alyssa Thompson. Thompson had the fourth goal dominated the game and we know this about Alyssa Thompson which is when the fourth goal, dominated the game. And we know this about Alyssa Thompson, which is when games are open, she can be a superstar. The question is as games close down, and the spaces get a little bit tighter, she has gotten better and better at that over the last two years with Angel City. And I wouldn't expect to see it any different with the national team at this point. But this Ireland game was a chance for her to do what she does at her best. Every

time the ball was played to her feet, she was able to find space, whether it was playing past her defender herself and running onto it. Quick one twos cutting inside into open space, just an absolute menace throughout the game. And it is awesome to see her develop into this player who knows that she is good enough to create chances anytime she touches the ball at the national team level. So a really strong first performance. You come this player who knows that she is good enough to create chances anytime she touches the ball at the national team level. So a really strong first performance. You come into this Ireland game, okay, what are you going to build off that Emma Hayes?

Boom, 11 changes to the starting lineup to go along with four changes for this Ireland team, but 11 changes for the US women's national team, including two debuts in this match for new players and Sam Meza in her debut, getting the number 10 jersey and playing in central midfield. Lynn Williams gets the captain's armband, excuse me, Lynn Biendolo gets the captain's armband, scores the opening goal after pretty much setting it up herself. Izzy Rodriguez with the second, Yasmin Ryan with the late goal after pretty much setting it up herself. Izzy Rodriguez with the second, Yasmin Ryan with the late goal and then Alyssa Thompson comes off the bench and scores her second in two games. But wasn't just the amount of changes. It

was also the formation change three, four, three for this U S women's national team. We have not seen that under Emma Hayes. Jordan Bug gets her first start in the middle of the back three flanked by Mickey own and Sam's Izzy Rodriguez playing the left wing backspot fairly comfortable for her coming out of the way she plays in Kansas City. Emma Sears playing the right wing backspot, but like that's almost saying too much because one, the U S had so much of the ball and two, Sam's covered so much ground on the right side that Sears almost was a true winger. And what I loved was the balance in this. So Sears on the right side likes to stay wide. Yasmin Ryan on the

left side, as we have seen, can play as a winger, can play as a central midfielder. And so you saw Ryan pinch in, give the runway to Izzy Rodriguez down the left and allow Ryan and Moultrie to interchange in the central area alongside Meza and then Ryan and Moultrie both pushing up along the front line to flank B and Dolough who was playing at the central force of the attack and wearing the cams as our band and Cory Bethune who was playing along the right side of the attack sort of in front of Sears inside of Sears but a ton of freedom for all of these players to find the game where they needed to I thought Meza showed what she's so good at it is destroying in central midfield and then immediately the clean first

pass to start the attack so a really good start to this window for this US women's national team a really good start again under Emma Hayes who has said I want to find my core Jordan bug. She mentioned as a specific name, a player who will probably be in futures in U 20 camps and not a part of this, but comes off the bench in the first game, gets the start in the second game. It feels like there is openings for these players to earn more minutes in their time. The last match of this window, the big one, July 2nd on Wednesday 730 p.m. Eastern time, that one against Canada. As I said, we're gonna do some interviews with the US men playing a gold cup semi-final basically at the same time. So I'll probably hit you with a little bit of

recap stuff to open up that Thursday episode to sort of hit the breaking news that we have going on going into that one. And of course, as I said, the start of the Euros is not something we fully cover here at soccer is a number of NWSL players in it. But I just love a big tournament. I love games at all sets of the time zone. I love being able to just set my calendar to three games today, three games today, three games tomorrow, three games the next day. And that's what I'm really excited about. We talked a bit about Spain, Portugal, sort of the debut game I went through and did a little bit of a bracket already as well. So I love a tournament. I'm a sucker for it as Tom has proven over and over again on this show. Speaking of shout out to the USL Jägermeister Cup, which has been awesome this year. USL Championship and USL League one teams playing based off sort of local regional groups. We are getting the games you want from a tournament like this. We talk about this all the time with

the US Open Cup. It's a chance for a little bit of regional rivalry, a chance for teams in a similar area to play against each other in meaningful games, even though they are not in the same league and maybe at the same level. So we saw an unbelievable game between Rhode Island and Portland hearts of pine that goes on the back of the big US Open Cups. We saw for Portland hearts of pine to start their franchise earlier this year, Connell Smith, the iconic moment gets ejected goes up and stands above the scoreboard technically outside the field of play at the new stadium for Rhode Island which looks like a must try and I cannot wait to get out there for a game at some point but you see these like little regional matches

that you want. We've got a huge match coming up on Friday between FC Naples and Tampa Bay Rowdies for a chance to jump to the top of that group. Again, two teams that played in Open Cup otherwise would not be playing because of league play and being in different leagues. Greenville Triumph right now sitting on top of group six. And we've had some really cool shootouts as well. We saw previously Texoma in a shootout against El Paso again, two Texas teams that would not have played otherwise in a competition like this. We saw a number of shootouts this weekend in big games as well. Late goals, the drama. That's what you want from a single game, not a single game from a knockout competition is that extra bit of drive in drama in that every game matters

and then you need to win every single game. And so I think for the USL, this has been a big success. It's made this stretch through the regular season, have a little bit more energy to it. It's also probably moved you along the road towards promotion and relegation better in that all of these teams look capable of being on the field with each other. There is no blowouts. There is not this feeling of there is this huge chasm between USL Championship and USL League One. I think that'll go a long way to assuaging people of that. This will still be a good product if you do get relegated for your fans or if you get promoted. The

jump may not be as expensive to be competitive as you thought it may be in pure abstract. So I think a really good tournament so far and a couple really good moments. Let's get to the gold cup here. US men's national team somehow are headed to the gold cup semi final. It was an excruciating experience to watch the US go through against Costa Rica right off the back of Canada losing to Guatemala in a penalty kick shootout. It was just a brain turnoff moment for Max Arvstein to concede a penalty kick early in the game. Then the US earns a PK themselves. Malik Tilman puts it off the post, which led to a fight, which I think was actually probably like a go-to

inspirational moment for this US group, which is finding their feet for a lot of these players for the first time at the international level, finding their feet as a team for the first time and finding their feet under Mariso Pochettino for the first time as well. They eventually end up getting the goal from Diego Luna and it was just this long sustained period of attack. It was multiple corner kicks coming off the back of the penalty kick and you just get into those moments where now any mistake for an opponent becomes a goal or a chance, right? Any miss tackle, any handball around the box, it's a PK. Any

deflection is a chance for a goal. Any mistake that creates an opening leads directly to a shot. I thought the U S was very passive in the final third leading into this moment. You saw Alex Freeman pick up the ball in the far post tries to cut it back to the top of the box instead of taking a shot. You saw a few pullbacks in moments where I thought there were shots there or a few chances where they could have tried to slide it across the six and instead pulled it all the way back to the top of the box. And it just didn't feel cutting edge for the US even though I thought they were getting into better areas than we have seen over the last year and I thought they were playing with drive and they were not really thrown off

by the penalty kick which I think was all promising then you don't get thrown off from the Tillman miss they score the goal from Luna they score a minute and a half into the second half, gorgeous move, build out into the right, the ball comes across the field, defense gets sucked in till man reads that beats the first defender slides it out wide to Arfton. And that's why Max Arfton is on the field for this team, because of his willingness to get into the attack to take defenders on to push the game. And then his ability to finish as someone who came up through the system in San Jose played MLS next pro as a center forward, brought into Columbus as a center forward, and then converted to a fullback. And now

at times a wing back as well. And he shows his finishing chops on that goal. And you're thinking, okay, there it is. They've fought back from conceding the penalty. They were able to come out of halftime with a clear idea of how they wanted to create. I sort of put it out there on blue sky saying like, credit to Mauricio Pochettino, the player who conceded the penalty for the US and the player who missed the penalty,

clearly come out of the halftime locker room with confidence, not hanging their head. So whatever the message was at halftime was really, really good. Then the US maintains it for 10, 15 minutes, but all of a sudden it starts to fall apart and that leads to the Costa Rica equalizer and it was down the left wing. So it was the defensive work for Max Arvstein that I think you start to see the struggles with as the game goes along. I think you saw an inability to then come over and help from Tim Ream as often as you'd like and the all of a sudden Costa Rica starts to gain confidence coming down the right wing. I thought Christopher Mora was so good or excuse me Carlos Mora was so good throughout

this game ends up creating the goal scoring chance. Matt Freese makes the initial save it rebounds back to Costa Rica. Arvstein does come off the wing after getting beat and tries to get into the middle and cover just gets beaten by the crossing ball though and Alonso Martinez is going to dispatch that one every single time. And the reaction from this goal was bad. It was Costa Rica to close the game. They looked more likely to win it. Martinez bangs the one off the post where Matt freeze you can see in goal is saying I've seen this one in training time and again, the two NYC FC teammates doesn't even dive. Just looks over praying, gets saved by his post and they go to penalty kicks and Matt

freeze was the hero making big saves time and again. I love that he stood up Francisco Calvo. Like you could feel this is a guy who thinks he's going to go central after already having taken a penalty kick. We all know Francisco Calvo is just a pure experience. And he ends up trying to not really panenka just like drive it straight down the middle and Matt free saves it. You get some untimely misses, some unfortunate misses for the US Alex Freeman. I was shocked steps up, takes one and then Damian Downs steps up on the final shot and buries his opportunity and the US is able to survive through penalty

kicks and they're moving on to the next round. The flip side for Canada, Canada controlled the first half against Guatemala, a really good crowd for Guatemala, as you'd expect pretty much anywhere across the US and a Canada team that we saw in the Copa America last year with Timothy way is one moment against Panama is like in a group stage in a knockout. There are not a lot. There's not a lot of room for error. And one mental mistake can change the entire fate of a team in a tournament that can change the entire fate and perception of a program because there are so few games of consequence for these

teams. Jacob Schaffelberg picks up a second yellow card in stoppage time of the first half for trying to basically run through a cleared ball and be, you know, hopefully you're going to get a deflection. If not, he ends up slamming into the defender. That's a second yellow for him in the first half and he is sent off, Canada after leading through a penalty kick that Jonathan David put away. Now they go into halftime up 1-0 down a man. And they never were able to gain control in the second half. And you can say you never should down a player. But I have seen this Canada group in situations against the game, whether it's in Mexico at altitude, whether it's in big away atmospheres, or whether it's playing down

a man where they have found ways to bring composure to the game and control segments of the game. That was never the case in this one. And obviously they don't have a Stephen Ustakio to control the game for them. They didn't even have a Jonathan Osorio because of his injuries. They don't have Alfonso Davies to stretch the field and be that constant threat. There's still a lot of talent on this Canada team and Jesse Marsh sort of said we never really gave up big chances except the goal which I think is fair. They defended

fairly well in their emergency defending. They were able to keep things clean around the box and everything from Guatemala ended up being hopeful crosses and hoping a crash on the far post. But they also never really were able to create danger. Rubio Rubin gets an unbelievable header for the equalizing goal and it just always felt like it was going to be Guatemala's game until Guatemala missed the fifth penalty kick after Kyle Lahren's was saved, which would have been the one to walk it off. Now you're thinking Canada's got the chance and for Canada, it just wasn't meant to be. I guess you could say, I don't know who you else feel, who else you feel like is a shooter out there. For Girolis, 19 years old, getting the start

at the center back position, slams his penalty kick into the crossbar. The look on his face taking it is almost as bad as the look on his face after he missed it. He almost cries on Dane Sinclair before Dane Sinclair steps up to try and save the next shot. It just showed I think the emotional chaos that this Canada team was in. They were clearly rattled by the red card the entire second half. They're starting fights, they're trying to push Guatemala over the edge but I think in a lot of times they push themselves mentally over the edge and yes Jesse Marsh wants the game to attack. He wants you as a person to attack every moment to play on the front foot. The pressing as I've

spoken to him about many times on and off air. It is not just a soccer tactic. It is his philosophy of life. And that's what Canada is trying to do. But at some point, you have to find your center in these big games, be able to breathe, be able to relax, be able to find ways to manage the next three minutes, the next five minutes. And Canada was just never able to do that. And this is what happens when you're a giant.

Now, for Canada, they haven't won a gold cup in 25 years. They don't win things. There were not big expectations for them as a team in any of the games they've played over the last 10 to 15 years until Jonathan Hurtman took over and they started to grow into 2022 World Cup qualifying. This is going to happen. These are games where you are expected to win. Sometimes you are going to lose and it is going to feel like the world is ending. It is such a big upset because you are such a big favorite, which had never been the case for this Canada team.

So I think some of that context needs to be brought in as well as the fact that they're a really good team. It's a really good program. I think Jesse Marsh is the best case scenario as a coach. I'm seeing some questions around that, which I think is absurd. We talked last week about Victor Montagliani sort of initiating some of that pressure, which I thought was the most ridiculous interview I've ever seen of just as president of CONCAF. It's not your role as a Canadian. If you're just a fan, great. If that's the case, then let's go have a beer and talk about all things that are going on in the region. If you're just a fan hanging out and if that's the case, you're probably not doing TV interviews and bringing it up. It was a weird thing to do.

It's not shocking in what it feels like is the backroom politics of all of this regional soccer, international soccer, whatever it is. But it seems still pretty clear to me that Jesse Marsh the best case scenario for this Canada team. It will be interesting as you go into a World Cup with 48 teams. What are the game states of all those games? Right? This is a Canada team that is trying to train themselves to beat the best in the world but the problem might be in the group stage you are playing teams closer to a Guatemala and an El Salvador than you are playing teams closer to a Mexico, US, Netherlands, France, even Ivory Coast like some of the teams that they have put up on their

schedule over the last few months and Canada is going to have to find that balance of how to beat those teams who they are. Jesse Marsh has talked a little bit about a plan B I don't know that it's fully there I don't know that you have enough time with a national team to get one there but that is going to be huge for this Canada group so the US will face off against Guatemala and Mexico will face off against Honduras Honduras speaking beating Panama in their quarterfinal game that felt like it was gonna be the biggest shock we saw in the knockout rounds. So Guatemala one upping them but it still should not be ignored. Honduras lost six to one to Canada and beat a Panama team

that I talked about on blue sky. They have played the best soccer consistently over the last four years in the region 2022 World Cup qualifying in the gold cups, right? They beat the US in a gold cup. They beat the US in a Copa America and they always know who they are. They're so good in possession. They're so good in small segments of possession. When the game's against them, they dominated hunters. They should have been up multiple goals. That is on them for not putting those chances away. And maybe that's how close the region is. When you look at things and you say three of the games go to penalty kicks in this setup, the only game that doesn't is Mexico beating Saudi Arabia, who are clearly not a part of CONCACAF. That may just be the reality. And I do like to think that there is a raising

of the floor. I'd like to think that Panama and Costa Rica and Guatemala and Jamaica and Suriname and Curacao and all these teams have come up a level. I think it's partially because with Nations League you have more competitive games. So the teams that are pulling players that maybe are from the diaspora or maybe wouldn't come back except for official games are playing together more often. And so you're seeing more cohesion in these groups. I think you're seeing more talent. I think a lot of that is globalization and more players getting pulled in to play in more high level professional leagues more often, right? You look at this Costa Rica squad, you've got players who at the age of 1920 21, leave Costa Rica to go play for final to go play in Scotland

to go play in Croatia and across Russia. and these were just things that weren't happening 10 15 20 years ago for sure I think MLS has a huge part to do with this I think that has now had a knock-on effect to more players getting opportunities in Liga MX and now more opportunities in South America and you see a lot of players in the Concord calf region at younger ages going to Columbia, going to Venezuela, going to Ecuador, getting into Copa libs, getting into Copa Sud Americanos and playing at high levels and playing at bigger professional setups where they can take their craft seriously. And so I think the whole region is growing.

Is the top end growing? Not sure. Are Mexico, the US and Canada, if we're saying those are the three biggest teams, are they better than they were? This is a debate and a conversation we're having over and over again. So I'm not going to do that right now. But no, I'm not 100% sure that's the case. Last thing to add Thomas Christensen with Panama, I had mentioned him when Greg Burhalter got let go as someone who should have been interviewed for the US. It's not a sexy name. It won't interest anyone. But it's successful with Panama. He clearly has an understanding of the international game from a global perspective,

being originally from Denmark living in Spain and playing in Spain for a long time, being fluent in Spanish now coaching in Panama. It wouldn't for me just be international. If any MLS team has an opening, he should be one of the interviews that they're doing. If I was him, I would go to a World Cup because this Panama team will make the World Cup with an expanded version and having the US candidate in Mexico already qualified as host. I would take that experience of what I've built over the last few years and carry it into that huge tournament and then leave after that. But you never know what would happen.

Let's go into MLS. Let's start with Inter Miami getting smoked by the best team in Europe in PSG. And we might find out in a week or two, the best team in the world. This one didn't shock me. It shocked me that this didn't happen earlier. I thought Palmaras would do something like this to, to Miami. They didn't. And that's great for Miami. That shows their level. That shows that they are closer to a higher level than I thought. But PSG is the highest level. And you're talking about every single individual player being a part of the system and being

a game breaker at the same time. Every single individual player has the athleticism, touch, creativity to open up the game, create moments of magic, but they all fit into Luis Enrique system. It's why they are the best team in the world right now. And this is an Inter Miami team that has way too many holes to cover for that. And they were able to do so against Palmaras who couldn't do it as at high a level. They were able to do so against Porto because Porto really did not push the initiative in

the attack. They looked off the level the entire tournament and they were able to hang with Ali but I think that was the example. Ali was a group of as we've talked about on the show, I felt a lot of players in a very similar band and while that band is not Champions League in Europe level, it was a really high level and I think you saw Miami struggle which was there was nowhere to hide into Miami has too many pieces, whether it's in or out of possession where this player is great at this and this player is terrible at it. And all of those players are different on different

categories. And so you need spots to hide all of those players in different moments and there's no hiding against PSG for zero on halftime. I think I saw somewhere it was the worst halftime deficit in Messi's career. I don't know. It's hard to like continue to try and compare all Messi's teams as if that's the monolith in an 11 player group. And he's now played across, you know, three different leagues, three to two different continents, plus national team. But that was the stat and it's not super shocking. Inter Miami is nowhere close to PSG. Inter Miami though also, if you want to bring in the Seattle game, okay, the Seattle game

is a group stage game. I think PSG kind of already knew they were through after destroying Atletico Madrid in the first game. Also, yes, Seattle is more cohesive top to bottom in their roster. They play better together. There are less weak spots and obviously Messi and Suarez are high points talents that a Seattle team doesn't have. I will be happy to say over and over into Miami spent a lot of money to try and fill those holes and they've done

so poorly. Doto Aviles. I mean, I don't know how many own goals and red cards you could see from him to sort of not believe that he's capable of playing for this team anymore. They've been moments off and on with Redondo. It hasn't been as strong as you'd like Falco and all these players I think have shown their holes and some of that is salary cap issues like you can't pay the veterans as much as you'd like. Some of that is identification issues. They signed the wrong U 22 initiative players at times they brought in the wrong veterans at times I think all you saw all of that come together in this game on the MLS side of things on the weekend. A couple games that I sort of zeroed in on that I thought were big ones that I focused

on more and the other ones at this point more highlights for me but Orlando really disappointing I thought against FC Cincinnati I thought they were really good in the first half but not dangerous and that's right now the hole in this team is the attack even with the performance against St. Louis is not at the high level that it was at the opening of the year when Muriel was playing really really strong and Oheda was creating chances left and right right now it feels like Pasalic and whatever Ramiro Enrique can get on the end of. So Orlando I thought was the better team throughout most of this. I thought they had a roadmap to winning this game and then a moment

of brilliance from Evander. Evander on a free kick standing over it. I think with Pavel Bukha it was. Bukha steps over it with his left foot faking that he's going to cross it. Pedro Gaiase takes a half step in field trying to get quickly to whatever cross is coming and Evander sees that and with his right foot he curls the ball outside of the post back in to the post on the opposite side of where Gaiase is going for one of the best goals you will see. Now it is also a massive blunder from Gaies, trying to overcompensate, trying to read things early. He has these mental lapses. I think he's a big game player who steps up in big moments and it's why Peru continues

to play him. It's why Orlando continues to play him. But in moments like this in the regular season, which this was a big game, he's not fully locked in, not fully prepared. But Vandor hits this as well as possible. This has probably happened hundreds of times around the world and you don't know it because very rarely will the player actually score the goal from the distance that a Vandor did so being able to hit the shot the way he did. It's a gorgeous goal for a Vander. And those are those MVP moments.

This was a game in which Cincinnati was worse and won against a team who is a rival towards the top of the Eastern Conference. And I think that's where you see why you go out and spend the money on a player like this. It's why you go put a group like this together. Cincinnati remains in second place. Orlando if they had won this game, they could have cut it to a tie, excuse me, at 36 points. And now it is a six point gap between the two of them, second to fifth for this FC Cincinnati team. And for this Orlando team, it was going to be a statement sort of victory. And it doesn't end up happening

for them. San Diego, What a night for them. They move to first place in the Western Conference. They do have a game in hand and they're one point ahead of Vancouver, but they destroyed Vancouver midweek, the five goals and they do so once again against FC Dallas, a 3-2 win a back and forth game. It looked like San Diego was in the driver's seat early even though Chucky Lozano doesn't get the start. Andres Dreier gets the penalty kick to put them ahead. But then Pettar Musa equalizes. Sebastian LeJette makes it 2-1 for Dallas. Chucky Lozano comes off the bench and basically in his first minute, picks up the ball in deep midfield, is able to drive inside, links up, gets the ball out wide right makes the run into the six and gets

past a Lollis Abu Bakar and is able to tap one in to make it to two and then Thomas Angel with the winner in the 96th minute for this San Diego side another goal set up by Dreier and San Diego still rotating pieces they still don't have Patty McNair at center back. They're still playing the teenagers at fullback. They're still forced to rotate in central midfield. As I said, no start for Chucky Lozano as he's working his way back from injury and they get another victory to move to the top. Now we got the question in our mailbag about this first St. Louis and how you should feel about it and how it's different. People will talk about underlying numbers, people will talk about style. There's a lot of different ways to read this.

Right now what you can easily say is San Diego on a 66 point pace. That would be eight points better than what St. Louis put up two years ago. They would score right now on pace to score 11 more goals than what St. Louis did two years ago as well. So San Diego, the way they sit right now is more dominant than what that St. Louis team was. It feels more sustainable because they control game states in a way that yes, St. Louis had a style and they pressed, but San Diego dictates the way every single game is played. And San Diego has done so through a ton of absences. And so the assumption here is that they will be able to manage even better going forward without those absences. But they are going to play

in League's Cup, which is a thing that I forgot was happening. So that is something that they're going to have to deal with, even though they didn't qualify because they got pushed in because Vancouver had too many competitions to play in. So that's something to note. And they are going to have to deal with a full MLS season, the travel, the weather, all of that stuff grows and grows. And that is stuff that is tough for thin rosters to deal with. It's stuff for rosters of teams that haven't been there.

It's what happened to St. Louis last time, right? They started the year undefeated that unbelievable run. And then they trailed off as the season finished and they lost in the first round of the playoffs. So why San Diego is better? Well, the answer will come for if they are better to close out the year. Cali Classic at Stanford Stadium. It's always must swatch. It's always a vibe. Bo La Rue is the story right now. If this happened a year ago, he would clearly be in a January camp, he would probably be in a gold cup roster. Is there too little time left? I don't know. We'll see what Mariso Pochettino thinks. Scores a stunner. The Galaxy ended up scoring a really

nice goal through Marco Royce to equalize things. I thought Payne still had one huge chance to put his team ahead, showed the difference between him this year and last year, poor decision-making at full speed, lack of confidence to finish. We've seen it from Gabriel Peck as well. I've talked about the spacing getting smaller for them, that maybe Peck last year had an extra half second when he was on the break to finish

because Ricky Pooj has such magnetism to him. But this one for Payne still was one that he puts away last year and he doesn't this year. He tries to get around the keeper. It's saved and San Jose are able to hang on for at least a point. As Bruce Arena said after the game, they had a weather delayed match on Wednesday. They end up with three points in Dallas. They come home for a point.

I think you'll take four after a week like that. The Red Bulls thought they could have gotten three points coming back against Minnesota. They score in stoppage time, shoot a motang with the goal and then they're on the break as time expires. The referee blows the whistle and Sandro Schwartz goes sprinting across the field to complain. Thought it was ridiculous that the whistle was called while the teams on a transition moment and ends up getting a red card for it. It is an all time great moment. It's a GIF that I will be using over and over and over again. And it was, I think, a disappointing performance for both these teams who would have felt like

they were capable of getting three points from this game. It wasn't the only late comeback. The New England Revolution trailed three zero at home against the Colorado Rapids. They end up coming back and tying three three. I don't know that anyone leaves this game happy. If you're the rapid, you can't believe you conceded this amount of point, you know, conceded those points, that amount of goals that laid on even though you're missing a ton of your star players.

I thought Hafenu Vahu, not just the goals, the way he was playing, that's the player we saw last year. That's the player that helped lead them in Leagues Cup. He's so quick for a guy his size to go both ways and so he can get defenders off balance, but he has a clear mapping of the field to know where his teammates are to set them up. So he doesn't only just beat players to create for himself. And I think the lack of runners and attackers around him has sort of cut off some of that game for him. And he has sort of lost his ability to dominate games. And I think my hope is we start to see that come back. Carlos Hill has

not lost that ends up I think with a goal and to assist in that final 15 minute run to pull his team all the way back to get an equalizer. So the revs are mad because they went down three zero at home and we're not able to beat the Rapids. The Rapids are mad because they were up three zero and can't hang on. And I think that's sort of the nature of this game on the back end of a midweek during an international break. There was a lot this weekend that was frustrated, with things like this mainly the crew filly game should have been the game of the weekend instead you get two teams with fully

rotated squads because this is a game that ends up happening again on the back end of a midweek match on an international break Ali Badoja gets to start at right back Lukic gets to start at Badoja gets a start at right back. Lukic gets a start at center back. Anderson gets a start at forward. Ben Bender, who they just signed, gets a start as well because you don't have Quinn Sullivan in this group. You don't have a number of the star players for this Philly team. They've also been dealing with the fact that their leading scorer was stuck in Israel because of the outbreak of the war in the Middle East and was not able to be a part of this group over the last few games.

And so you are then another player down and a time when you really can't afford it. But just unfortunate that a game that could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals is a game that you can't really reference back to. It doesn't mean a ton in terms of the soccer these two teams play against each other and what they're capable of doing because you just have so many pieces missing across both sides. Max Arfsten scoring in a gold cup quarterfinal probably would have been helpful for this Columbus team. So it's just one of those games that again, we won't be able to reference back to if they do play in the playoffs. It doesn't mean the same. Big piece of news though from Tom reporting that Hugo Picard could be a potential U-22 signing for this Columbus team.

Of course, still trying to fill in the attacking pieces. A French 22 year old currently at Guangamp came up through the Nans Academy. Of course, Issa tall has worked in France at the first team level has worked in France extensively and so has good contacts you have to think in France still in shambles coming over from France has been a good player for them. I have debated this with group fans because I think he's been fine hasn't been replacement level for the pieces they've liked for him to replace in all the positions they've played him. But overall, a good signing for what they paid for him and what they get and so P card it sounds like from Tom could be an attacking

piece could be a left wing back spot Max Arveson signed a new deal oftentimes those new deals are let's get you paid something now so that we can all work together to move you to your next location if he is getting this many minutes with the national team playing the way he's playing in MLS, there might be a sale coming down the road. Uh, last few games from the weekend to get through the, uh, Johnny Russell scored back at sporting Kansas city. Didn't celebrate, talked after said, I wanted to stay. I wanted to be here. They didn't want me to.

So a little bit of a weird feeling to come home and score against the team that brought him to the U S and that he is known, I think, for most fans as being associated with Vancouver, able to bounce back from the big loss against San Diego with a one zero win on the road against LAFC. Tough news for them though with Kubas getting injured early on in like the 15th minute and getting pulled off the field. They were able to hang on late against a LAFC team that was trying to get a win in Olivier Giroud's final game, which I thought was bizarre that he even played. He has officially signed with Lille. The window's obviously not open, so he's not traveling to go be with Lille. Weird though that a player who was not a full time starter then starts for LAFC in this game. I think

it's weird for your rude mostly. Why would you risk an injury when you're about to go play for a different team? I guess maybe it's credit to how committed he was to this. It just never worked out. I think you saw post game the reaction from the players like there is genuine affection there. It was not in any way have we ever heard anything of like drew doesn't care. He's not training. It's not about it. It just he didn't fit the style perfectly. I think last year was a huge cliff for him coming off basically playing 20 straight months of high level Champions League international soccer for Milan for France and coming over to the US where you have no layoff because there is no off season. Wasn't able to hit the ground running.

I thought this off season would be enough for him to get settled. The team got more transitional this year even than last year. He didn't fit into that style. Abobasi has given them everything Ziroud gives them and a little bit more as has Nathan Ordaz. And he was just never able to find his feet in the team. And this game was, you know, a pretty good microcosm of it. Misses a big chance off a cross. Coming in first time chance, one that he has buried time and again in his career, even

though it's not an easy one, doesn't even hit the frame. And LAFC not able to score a goal, they get shut out. I think all of that's kind of a sign. They need to use the DP spots. They have brought in players of different profiles that are special, right? Players like Dennis Buonga, who are in their prime who can be difference makers. If they can hit on two more of those, this team has everything else it needs to be special to win a championship to be an MLS cup favorite.

If they don't, there is not enough attack in the rest of this squad. This team is built very defensive heavy. I've been really impressed by Aaron Long over the last few weeks. I thought he was one of the shining stars of Club World Cup. His ability to defend against some of these best players in space, his ability to keep things clean and composed at the back. They've been able to use Eddie Segura once again, not the same player he was, but still useful for them. They

have the options along the center back spots. Ryan Hong's had to difference maker at left wing back, Palencia scraps at right back. And all their central midfielders can win battles and move the ball. They just can't create and they can't hit that final third pass. So you need to go out and find the attack. David Martinez has flashes, but it's not enough to hinge an MLS Cup run on the back of last ones to mention. Nicholas Lodaro has finished his career in Major League Soccer. He is heading home to Uruguay to play for his childhood club, Nashi. Now he is finishing, of course, with the Houston Dynamo.

But similar to what I said about Johnny Russell, he will be most associated by everyone to the Seattle Sounders. Over 190 appearances in his Sounders career, 40 goals, finished his career in MLS with Orlando City and Houston when it wasn't really at his prime anymore. He won two MLS Cups He started in four MLS Cups finals and he won a CCL with the Seattle Sounders He is undoubtedly one of the greatest signings at MLS history. He is one of the best players in MLS history He will be in conversations for all-time best 11th He will be in conversations for Hall of Fame's or whatever we end up putting together at some point to properly honor players who came to the US

and made a difference playing for clubs and not playing for national teams. At the time of his signing, when he came over to the Seattle Sounders, he was a player in a profile that we didn't really think would happen outside of the sort of token DPs of a Cuadamac Blanco and a Marcelo Gallardo was he had gone over, he had played in Europe, he was playing for the Uruguayan national

team and he was playing for Boca juniors as the number 10 and he chose the Seattle Sounders. Maybe at a time you wouldn't expect helped lead them to the unbelievable heights that they were led to and span the gap post Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins to keep the club at a high level and his work rate on and off the ball was the dictator for Seattle, which was if you came to Seattle, you had to work because the best player on the team, he was going to scrap and he was going to win the ball back and he was going to counter press and he was going to close down and he was going to put in tackles and if he was going to win the ball back and he was going to counter press and he was going to close down and he was going to put in tackles.

And if he was going to do that, you better be doing the same. And so Nicholas Lodaro is a huge part of the history of the Seattle Sounders, but he's a huge part of the history of MLS to have that team built around him that ends up winning a CCL to have that team built around him that has one of the first big parades for a team to win a championship out in Seattle. Like all of these things that have happened, the league has been lifted one of the first big parades for a team to win a championship out in Seattle. Like all of these things that have happened, the league has been lifted because of the success of that club and the way Seattle takes their team seriously and has pushed their team in a large market in the US. And Nicholas Lodaro was central to so much of that. If you haven't,

go back and watch highlights of him right now in his prime. Go back and watch some of these great moments with the Seattle Sounders, the partnerships that he was able to create in central midfield, the partnerships that he was able to create with some of the best center forwards that came through. And I think you see a little bit of it with Christian Roldan sort of carrying on his legacy and learning from him. Jean-Paul was a huge part of their partnership to win CCL at the time and for him to come back and be a part of the Seattle Sounders, you know, alongside another great South American central midfielder.

But Lodaro is one of my favorite players ever. And to have an attacking player who cared the way he did and who put in the effort he did was just this tone setter for the club and they are one of the prime clubs. For Seattle this week, 2-0 win coming out of Club World Cup. To close things out on our weekend, Alex Roldan ended up playing center back in this game. It looked awkward at times, but because Austin sat so deep, you didn't really see it threatened and it kind of just felt like Seattle were chasing a goal late in the game and which role Don was like quote unquote

playing center back with how high he played at times. Jesus Ferreira gets a goal set up by Paul Roth Rock on the back of like this unbelievable rivalry that was created between him and Danny Pereira, they kind of shove into each other. Roth Rock sort of knocks down Pereira. I think he thought Pereira went down soft. They start drawing and they're being held back. Then they're attacking each other in possession. I love Danny Pereira. He has been to me one of the most fun central midfielders in the league since he joined. It's been one of the unfortunate parts of Austin's inability

to really find a cohesive style that fits with him under Josh Wolf. It was heavy possession high up the field and there wasn't space for Pereira to dribble through the lines. And now they sit so deep that they don't have enough possession. Often. I thought this was a really underwhelming performance from Austin, a couple injuries, so not all their star attackers in there, but you're playing a team that has Alex Roldan at center back, you have Brandon Vasquez at center forward and you're not able to play high enough of the field to get enough crosses in to make that a threat I think is really unfortunate

for this Austin team. Alright, that's all for our recap. I hope it was long enough to get we be maybe through a couple counties, maybe into another state. Either way, we'll be back tomorrow live with Tommy scoops. We'll have our interviews that we will do and we will have all of that set up going forward for you on Wednesday and Thursday. And I will come back with a little bit of a recap off the national team action on Wednesday night on both the men's and women's side in the US and Canada for us to get ready for a gold cup final

as well, where I don't know what we will see. Based off the way this competition has gone, the heavy favorites are that it will be US against Mexico. Clearly, that doesn't mean anything to the soccer gods right now. So thank you to all of you for listening. We'll talk to you again very, very soon. you