SoccerWise - Weekend Recap & Mailbag Edition

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

In today's weekend recap and mailbag episode, Gass is serving up a rundown of the Leagues Cup quarterfinals, and giving his initial thoughts on the USL Super League's inaugural weekend. He'll also touch on what Landon Donovan's appointment in San Diego means for the Wave, and recap/preview the current slate of NWSL friendlies. The mailbag is full of MLS questions from the Patreon subscribers, so you'll get a healthy dose of Gass's thoughts on the MLS Summer Transfer Window as well as an inventory of the teams that benefitted most from their Leagues Cup run. 2:50 Leagues Cup Quarterfinals Reaction 9:50 NWSL Friendly Recaps + SD Wave Hiring of Landon Donovan 15:45 USL Super League Sellout Debut 17:13 MLS HOF Of Dark Art Magicians 21:46 PHI, COL & STL Leagues Cup Experiences 24:05 Leagues Cup Structure Debate 28:23 San Diego FC’s New Sporting Director And Sergio Ramos 32:38 Minnesota United Dmid Search On The Open Market You can catch Soccerwise live on YouTube, Twitch and Twitter at 2pm ET every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody and welcome back to SoccerWise, your weekend recap slash mailbag show here. David Goss with you, of course looking forward to another big week of SoccerWise content. Tom will be back with me tomorrow to discuss all things Major League Soccer. We will preview the semifinals of the League's Cup. We will recap everything that happened this weekend and talk about much, much more. And then Jordan Angeli back with me on Wednesday to help us get ready for the restart of the NWSL season, dig through a little of what we've seen, and of course talk about all the big moves and all the big news going on around NWSL, which I'll touch on a little bit here on this show. The biggest name maybe right now around NWSL,

oddly enough, is Landon Donovan as he was hired as the new head coach for the San Diego Wave on an interim basis for the rest of this season. And of course, we've got our mailbag, one of my favorite parts of the week. You get access to that via the Discord if you subscribe to our Patreon. So go subscribe, get on there, and then you can chat with us throughout all the games. We've got a great thread in there of match day experiences, people sending pictures from the games they're at all the way from college soccer up through next pro USL NWSL. We had some people at the Washington spirit arsenal game this weekend in

there as well. So you can chat with everyone throughout the games, what you're watching. And if you pay for our highest level ones, you get access to our depth charts as well as to our uh our private happy hours that we're going to be doing uh continuing coming up here at soccer wise but let's dig into it it was a big weekend of action although less games maybe in volume let's start with the league's cup it was the quarterfinals we now have four mls teams left in the competition we've got a question about that coming up in the mailbag so i'll dig into that a

little bit more they're running through the games real quick i thought columbus nyc fc was just a super high level game two teams that want to be on the ball they want to play in possession they have a true vision of what they want to do they're committed to it and for this uh for this Columbus team it wasn't easy conceded a goal in the 13th minute to NYCFC and then bounced all the way back and were able to make uh this happen for them in uh penalty kick shootout one of three matches that went to a shootout in this quarterfinal round so a huge performance for Columbus and that one DeJuan Jones sealing the deal from the spot for them so that big addition still paying off even though he wasn't a starter in this one Cucho remains hot Columbus will host Philadelphia in the semi-final because Philadelphia survived you could say against

Mazatlan but were really impressive Ty Buribo picks up what I thought was an incorrect red card at the end of the first half he gets two yellow cards in back-to-back corner kicks in the same sequence neither of which are probably a yellow card and yet the second one was a straight red card that went to VAR the referee then assessed that it wasn't a straight red card it was just a yellow card but that was his second in that segment of time so he gets sent off Mikel Ura scores a stunning goal moments later Jack McGlynn with the through ball Ura runs down the left sideline and finishes from a ridiculous angle on the end line chips the keeper puts his team up 1-0 down a ridiculous angle on the end line, chips the keeper, puts his team

up 1-0, down a man going into the second half. And Mazatlan scored about 15 minutes into that second half. But you could argue Philadelphia looked more dangerous for most of that second half period. So it was a really strong performance for a team that's bouncing back. Andre Blake looked like a superstar, looked like an MVP. That is what this team needs when they are at their best. It is the huge element that has been missing over the course of the last 12 months for this team. When we keep asking, has this team taken a step back? And if he's back at his best, you already saw in this match in the last few matches, Jack Elliott looks better. Jakob Glesnis looks better. Kai Wagner's then able to attack and have more freedom.

This team looks better with Harrell now back from the Olympics. So a lot of positives for this Philadelphia team and a emotional moment over the course of this game. Jose Martinez is transferring to Corinthians. It sounds like it's a little over $1.5 million for the 30-year-old defensive midfielder to leave a huge part of this club. We talked a little bit about what Jim Curtin already has said. So they dressed Jose Martinez. Curtin said he would only put him in in sort of a victory lap moment

if the game was already decided. That didn't happen, but he subbed him on to take a penalty. Martinez scored the opening penalty in the shootout. Blake makes two saves, and Philadelphia, in an emotional match, match are able to seal things and now they head to Columbus for that semifinal in the east side of the bracket. Ryan Hollingshead with a stunner off a long ball from Cheneau and then a goal off a set piece opportunity. And LAFC's up 2-0. Didn't concede a ton of big opportunities. And Seattle just could never get right in this game. And then you have the ridiculous finishing goal from Buonga directly off of Hugo Lloris' punt.

Buonga goes the full length of the field and is able to put his goal away. And what a player Denis Buanga is you talk about this LAFC team I think we talked about them last week on our show and we talked about their depth and all their options and all their quality and then they don't dress Kike Oliveira a player who's been playing at the top of his game coming out of the Uruguayan national team for Copa America because all of a sudden we find out it sounds like he may be on the move out of Major League Soccer over to Serie A so now you look at LAFC and you say well Giroud's not ready to start yet Oliveira's not there is this an LAFC team that can go on the road

against a fairly resurgent Sounders team and get a victory but when they have Buonga in the lineup this is a team that always believes they can win. And they always have the potential to win. And they always have Dennis Buanga in the lineup. He has already played over 2,800 minutes in all competitions this year. He has started 24 games in League's Play and 5 in League's Cup. He's got 21 goals in all competition. But I cannot think of a high-level attacking player with this level of durability

and ability to play this many minutes for a team in a very long time, if ever, in Major League Soccer. And so for LAFC, they're bringing in these new pieces. They're going to get stronger as this season goes along. Lewis O'Brien, as we've said, huge ad. Olivier Giroud, of course, going to be a massive ad. But the strength of this team is their ability to have Buanga on the field, match in and match out.

It has been unbelievable to watch. 21 goals, I said, in all comps. Last year, he had 32 goals in all comps. But they played, of course, in CONCACAF Champions Cup, which also was extra minutes that Buonga doesn't have to play this year and can sort of focus it towards the league. But I wouldn't be surprised if he got up to 32 goals again by the end of this year. of C hosting the Colorado Rapids the Rapids knocking off Club America at Dignity Health Park in a shootout nine to eight Zach Steffen scores the final shot in a moment where it looked like he didn't want to the Rapids players at midfield were telling him you shoot next as they had gotten deeper and deeper into the shootout and apparently he was waving no I don't want to he steps up he

drills his penalty straight down the middle pure power and then on the shootout and apparently he was waving no I don't want to he steps up he drills his penalty straight down the middle pure power and then on the flip side Club America's goalkeeper misses wide of the post and Colorado Rapids seal the victory in this one Rapids rabbi who covers this team better than anyone else out there going into this match it was hilarious on social media but one of the things he said was this might be the biggest match in Rapids history. I think what he meant to say in there, and maybe clarified it himself later, was that this was their most meaningful match against the biggest team that this franchise has ever played.

This is not a team that has a ton of CONCACAF experience. They've played in MLS Cups, so of course those are some of the biggest games they've ever played, and Western Conference Finals. But Club America, the biggest team in the region, to play them in a quarterfinal in a meaningful knockout game as big as Colorado has had maybe ever, as he said, for sure over the last few years, and it continues the resurgence. I think at this point. You go into a third place match. At worst. For the Colorado Rapids.

And have a chance at a CONCACAF Champions Cup spot next year. It's already a success for Chris Armas. In year one. You could see the emotion for him. You could see the emotion for the team. Georgie Mihailovic. Running around after the game. Goes straight up to the camera.

And says up the fucking pids. You have to love all that juice. and all that energy for this team. So action-packed League's Cup play. The semifinals are coming up as a doubleheader on Wednesday night, and then we go into the final this upcoming weekend. So a really fun weekend of League's Cup action for MLS teams. Of course, all the League MX teams are now out, but we'll talk about that more in the mailbag. On the NWSL side, the season still has not returned since the Olympic break. We are excited for those games on Friday. As I said, Jordan Angeli will be with me on Wednesday so we can break it all down.

A bunch of international friendlies and some competitive matches for teams across NWSL. The weekend started off with the KC Current knocking off Atletico Madrid 1-0 at home. A nice win for this team. Another victory over international competition for this side. A team that has been at the top of the Spanish League over the course of the last few years. And another shutout in that 1-0 victory, Dubinia getting the goal. This is a team that hasn't conceded more than one goal

in all of the international play they've played now in both the Women's Cup and NWSL League MX Feminal Summer Cup. So it has been a strong defensive performance for this Kansas City team in some of these off games. And it's going to be tested next Sunday as they will go up against the Washington Spirit in their return to NWSL play. For the Spirit, incredible atmosphere for their 2-1 loss to Arsenal at Audi Field. None of the U.S. Women's National Team players were available for Washington. But Lacey Santos got a start.

Kowalski got a start. Saar got a start. Kowalski got a start. Sar got a goal. So a good match for this Washington team to get back up to speed for the return of NWSL. And Angel City, a big win over FC Juarez as well in their friendly match. A few other international friendlies going on over the course of this week. I believe Gotham is playing Chelsea later on tonight. And we've got CONCACAF Women's Champions matches coming up. So Vancouver in the preliminary rounds,

knocking off Alianza from Honduras already this weekend to be the final team to qualify for the group stage. The group stage will have three NWSL sides in it, the Portland Thorns, the Gotham FC, and then of course the San Diego Wave, who will play on Tuesday night in Panama, and they will be managed for the first time ever by Landon Donovan. Landon Donovan will be the interim coach for the rest of this year for San Diego letting Casey Stoney go of course who won them a shield last year which was a huge surprise it has come amongst a lot of other angst around this club under Jill Ellis being accused of creating a hostile work environment by some

former employees that is still being investigated I believe independently by the NWSL. And so now Landon Donovan will take over that club. The all-time leading goal scorer in USMNT history, won six MLS Cups as a player, played in three Senior World Cups, I believe played in the semifinals of, or the bronze medal match of an Olympics as well, played in the Premier League for Everton, played in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich, and then took over as coach and sporting director of the San Diego Loyal for three years in USL. At the end, elevated to just sporting director. And then as the San Diego Loyal collapsed because of the emergence of the San Diego FC team in Major League Soccer, which we will talk about coming up in the

mailbag. Landon Donovan, no longer employed as a coach. We, of course, hear him as a commentator, most recently at the European Championships for Fox, and now will take over as this interim head coach. It was, I think, a shock for everyone to hear this name. It was a surprise for everyone to hear this name. It was a surprise for everyone to hear this name for this San Diego squad. He is of course local. He is of course a big name in the sport of soccer. He has very little experience on the women's side of the game. And he does have some

experience as a head coach. I think if you're talking about former playing legends and you're saying who's eligible or capable of taking over as a coach, having coached for three years with San Diego Loyal gives him some background to this job. He had up and down success with those teams. I was never overly impressed by the way those teams played. I covered a couple of those games. I watched them play a number of times. I was always pretty frustrated with the fact that in such a soccer talent rich area, they consistently went in for USL level spent money to bring bigger players in for them to find success rather than to try and grow local players and create opportunity there. Landon Donovan, we didn't see a ton of high level ideas of like what this the way he wants the game to be played. And I think one of the things that's concerning is in him choosing to move himself from head coach to sporting director. Was there a huge interest in being

a coach? Or did he just want to be around the game? And now you're in a situation with Jill Ellis there. And of course, having brought in recently a new GM, that his sole role in this spot will be as head coach. And that's what this team needs. The talent's already there. The roster's already built. The question is, can you put the pieces together, make everyone feel comfortable, have a style that you can enforce on teams to win games? That hasn't been Landon Donovan so far, but we don't know a ton about him.

And it is definitely a curveball to see him given this opportunity. So it'll be interesting to see how it goes down. I'm intrigued to watch this first match for them. I don't know that we'll learn a ton in a competition like that against the team that is going to be heavily outmatched against San Diego in terms of spending power and the stars that they can put on the field. And I think we're going to learn a lot very quickly about this San Diego group. I kind of got cornered in taking them in our draft last week for the teams that we're going to get points based off their standings going forward. So I've got a little bit invested in this San Diego team.

I don't know that I felt better about that pick after this got named. And I'm sure that's how a lot of the San Diego fans are feeling right now as well. In women's soccer news around the U.S., USL Super League kicked off this weekend. Massive success in the stands. Carolina sent over 10,000 fans in a full sellout in Charlotte. Tampa and Spokane as well selling out with 5,000 fans each for their game. So a lot of excitement there.

There is no better way to start for a league than to make it feel exciting to have fans in the stadium to experience your product and be able to put it on display. I think there's still a bunch of worries around the USL Super League. I know I live in a city right now that has a team that doesn't have a coach and the season has just kicked off for other teams. And there have been some question marks about the roster builds for some groups and how late it's coming together and what they will really look like in the end. This definitely feels like the plane is being built in the air. And that can be a little bit worrying, I think, for people.

And I can understand that. But we're definitely going to keep an eye on the USL Super League. We're trying to cover as much soccer as we can here at SoccerWise. We get questions all the time from people about USL and USL Super League. We are watching 150 soccer games every week. And so I just want to make sure that we are doing those leagues justice when we do cover them in the ways that we do cover them. Let's jump into our mailbag. Once again, subscribe to our Patreon if you them. Let's jump into our mailbag. Once again,

subscribe to our Patreon if you want to be a part of the mailbag. And let's start with an audio question from Captain Crunch. Hey guys, long time caller, first time listener. I have been in sackcloth and ashes since Philadelphia sold Jose Martinez. The man was a true master of the dark arts. I was just wondering, where does he rank in your opinion in the MLS hierarchy of poop palsy? I think he was absolutely unmatched and would just love to know your opinion. I'll hang up and take my answer off the air.

Okay. So for starters, captain crunch, legendary long time caller. First time listener. That's a hilarious line. Also, you heard me say that my dream was to have someone call in and do that. Thank you for taking your answer offline as well, and thank you for making me laugh. And a great question as well. Jose Martinez, a legend in MLS. If you don't understand what the question means, it's talking about the dark arts of the game. The ability to antagonize opponents. The ability to affect the game without just your pure play.

But your ability to get in players' heads or fans' heads and affect the flow of the game. Moments. Maybe draw penalties. Maybe draw fouls. Throw off your opponents from doing their best job. There is a lot of that in CONCACAF and in Major League Soccer. There are some names that immediately started rolling through my head. You've obviously got Carlos Ruiz, El Pescadito, one of the greats of all time as a player.

One of the great goal scorers in MLS history. An MLS MVP in his day as well. Led Guatemala to their highest heights at times in soccer on the men's side you've got Blas Perez who is one of the greats still I believe I think he's playing indoor soccer in MASL in Dallas if I'm not mistaken where of course he played for FC Dallas he was one of the greats as well you got the current players I have talked about Richie I think he's the king right now he's's the penalty kick merchant. He lives in his opponent's heads wherever he plays. Winger, fullback, it doesn't matter. He's always talking. He's always physical. He's always getting

in players' ways in ways that they get obsessed with and they keep chasing him about. And he doesn't get rattled at all. It doesn't matter to him. It doesn't matter who you are. He did it against Argentina. He'll do it against Chile. It doesn't matter who you are. He did it against Argentina. He'll do it against Chile. He'll do it in a Canadian championship match against Halifax. He doesn't care who you are. And he is one of the best, I think, in the leagues. Rodrigo Schlegel, I think, goes into this list,

although maybe not at the best levels. He maybe throws himself off more than he throws his opponents off. I threw this into a group chat with some friends as well. Steven Lenhart is one of the first that's going to get named along, I think, with Alan Gordon and the San Jose Earthquakes squad that we know as the Goonies still. They had this ability to get under your skin. And with Lenhart and Gordon, they were so physical because they were so big that anything they did extra hurt a little bit more and annoyed you a little bit more.

And you're constantly battling with them for position. And, of course, Lenhardt, for the most part, coming off the bench later in games or Gordon after you've gone and battled for 70, 75 minutes and just adding the pressure on. Lenhardt is one of those guys that everyone always says you love him when he's on your team, you hate him when he's not on your team. I think there's a few D-Mids in MLS history that go on a list like that.

Ozzy Alonso's probably there. Dax McCarty's probably there for a lot of people as well. And Thierry Henry, low key. He had this ability to sort of dominate the field, of course, in play, but also decide what everyone should be doing. Like I've never seen someone count when a goalkeeper picks up the ball more often and more specifically, like getting every second of a goalkeeper holding onto a ball and making

them punt more than Thierry Henry did in his time with the New York Red Bulls. I think that's a low-key one that gets missed sometimes in the MLS history books, but Jose Martinez will stand in there as well, and he'll stand in there for his play with the Philadelphia Union. You've seen the emotion. You've heard it from a lot of people over the course of the week. A huge part of this club, a huge part of this club's success, going out with a victory, a nice moment for him. Leon Flock got the start at the defensive midfield position maybe a little bit of a surprise with Jesus Bueno there as well and of course they've gone out and made the signing of this Haitian international to be an option there but for this

Philadelphia team this is going to be a massive loss Jose Martinez has been one of the best in the league I've put him in my top five DMids every single year he has been a starter for the Philadelphia Union. Let's move on here to Rust Bucket next, who says, which team benefited the most from their time in League's Cup? Is it a team still in the tournament or a team that got knocked out already? I'm going to split this question and give one that got knocked out and some teams that are still in. It's hard to say it's not philadelphia or colorado because alone as i said with colorado the run in this tournament has given them their season like this is a successful season for colorado because of them making a semi-final and whatever else happens after this and for philadelphia this has given them life again in this season and if they qualify for CONCACAF

that might be the best they get this year so it's hard to not say those teams as well as the expectation coming out of this which will be Philadelphia if they can bring some of this form back into the league they've got an opportunity to contend they've got a brutal schedule coming up to close the year but they're a team that has beaten anyone anywhere at their best, and it feels like they're close to getting back to that with the way they've played. So those are the two teams that are still in that you consider at their highest. The opportunity for an MLS Cup rematch, by the way, LAFC against Columbus, pretty exciting as well. I don't think if either of those teams win this and didn't win anything else that this year would be an accomplishment for them. So I wouldn't say either of those sides.

The team that sticks out to me that's been eliminated already is St. Louis. I think I was really impressed after the Portland loss with the way they played. I was extremely impressed with the performance against Club America. Maybe the best 45 minutes they've played all season, even with it coming in a loss. And it gave them the opportunity to really blood their new players. And Hartle and Teuchert, they got them into the team. Simon Boettcher was really good. I think it was the first time we've seen a new, different culture being built under John Hackworth. And so if St. Louis can come off the back of this and kick on for the rest of the season and play at least at this level going forward, and you hope even better as they bring more pieces back healthy.

And that's the one question mark. If Toy Chirp's injury against Club America is really serious, maybe I'd feel differently about this. But if they can bring some of that momentum in, it could shift a lot for this franchise. And so I think that was a big performance for them hey look a turtle next uh who says question for the next podcast uh the immediate reaction after the club america lost to colorado tonight has seemingly been lol for mls teams what a joke and quote this is not sustainable do you see this format as sustainable my gut is it needs to become a once every couple of year type of event with games in Mexico.

But even if there was interest in Mexican games, aren't Liga MX owners pushing for games in the U.S. for ticket revenue and exposure? I just don't see how changes can't happen when the tourney isn't taken seriously by Mexican media, especially when Liga MX have now thrown away six spots in the CONCACAF Champions Cup the last two seasons in this tournament. I want it to do well, but I can't say with a straight face this tourney is representative of anything. That said, if Columbus win it, they're the greatest team the world has ever seen. That's a great finish there. And I think I was making this joke with the now defeated NYCFC with Christian Polanco on the Cooligans last week. As he said, I never cared about League's Cup.

And now that NYCFC is in the quarterfinals, it's the biggest tournament. And if they lose, the U.S. Open Cup is the biggest tournament that matters. I think crew fans are feeling that. Colorado fans, Philadelphia, everyone in it. I like the idea of not making it an annual competition, making it biannual or something like that. Or maybe you do a different setup where it alternates the countries that it's held in or alternates the countries that host the knockout rounds. Maybe it's neutral site in Mexico City and L.A. and it alternates. You know, the semifinals are a double header,

and it alternates back and forth year after year. I said this on the show, I believe last week, maybe it was two weeks ago after one of these questions, I think you already see with the way the hub setup was created for the top teams in League MX, that there will be ideation, and there will be evolution of this competition week or year after year. There is clear frustration from the League MX sides, the way that this competition has played out for them. And so once that it plays out that way, then you start to go back and look at it and say, well, it's unfair where I think if the League MX teams had rolled through everything, they wouldn't care, right? They'd be making their money, they'd be winning, but they're frustrated

that they're losing and then they feel like it's unfair the way it's been set up and i think that's fine it's their own decision and they can choose to make less money or be in the u.s less often i have talked about maybe making it single elimination early into a short groups that into a group stage for less teams uh that more condensed, and then into a knockout. And so you have it taking less time, so you don't have to put teams on the road for a month at a time and keep moving them around and all of those types of things. I think that could alleviate some of the issues.

You could also potentially go neutral site and hub everyone if you wanted to make it more even playing field. So rather than ever playing in the mls stadiums or playing any of the knockouts in the mls stadiums let's say for example do you put all of them in neutral sites i think that's going to hurt you with fans and i think it hurts for the purpose for a lot of mls teams which is can we bring new fans into our stadiums and experience our atmosphere which as i have said is the number one selling point for MLS team. So I think it's really hard to figure out those next steps. But I would be I would assume it will change next

year. And I assume it will change every year going forward. I like the idea of it being less often, especially when you talk about the expanded club World Cup. Can you use that calendar to sort of set this so similar to what you do in international where the World Cup's every four years. So we're going to have a regional championship every four years in the off two years. Obviously, CONCACAF doesn't do that because they love a Gold Cup because they like to make money. So you could find a way to put it in there and say, oh, the League's Cup is, you know, in these two off years. Then we'll just play Champions League the other two years. And then we'll have the Club World Cup in that fourth year and sort of create a calendar that fits around

that. But my assumption would be the first tweaks coming are going to be ways to minimize travel and create more neutral setups for the League MX sides to be able to play competitively going forward. Skin Matt here says, here's a random one with the window closed, but free agents still able to be able to play competitively going forward. Skin Matt here says, here's a random one with the window closed, but free agents still able to be signed. What's the latest on Sergio Ramos? Is San Diego FC still planning on nabbing him? This is an interesting question. Sergio Ramos, I believe, is a free agent, so he could sign in Major League Soccer or anywhere he wants at this point. A lot of the windows in Europe are still open if that's what he chooses to do. For San Diego, I believe the calculus with this has changed.

So they announced Tyler Heaps as their chief soccer officer at the end of last week at 33 years old, I believe. He's the youngest chief soccer officer in MLS history. His background is in analytics. He was the head of analytics for Monaco. He was head of analytics for U.S. soccer, crossing over both the men's and women's national teams before his time in Monaco, and then technically worked for Right to Dream, which is the ownership group of this San Diego team over the last few years. A Sergio Ramos signing from the outside wouldn't seem like a move you would see someone who's steeped in American soccer. This is a person who played college soccer in the lower divisions up in Minnesota and then has worked on the

analytics side. Signing an aging big name center back isn't really in line with that thinking. Now for Sergio Ramos, he could choose to take as much money as he wants. And if he wants to play in MLS and wants to live in California and live in San Diego and all of that, I'm sure that San Diego would find a spot for him on the roster at a reasonable number. But I think you can take DP and maybe probably even Tam Money off the table at this point for San Diego and Sergio Ramos. And I think that's probably the right move as well to build a sustainable, strong group. WSD PitchBot here says, what's the story behind Barak Terevich choosing Bosnia over the US? Did it boil down to a shorter path to international playing time, or was he simply more drawn to his familial roots?

You never know with a dual national, and obviously some of that story will continue to come out over the years from Esmir Barak Terevich. He is, of course, a young, phenomenal attacking player for the New England Revolution, born in the U..s came up through the revs academy has been a part of what has been um sort of a rebuild not a rebuild but an establishment of the revs academy they've become one of the best ones over the last few years uh he is originally from the midwest and then moved to join the revs academy um which has been a big part of the Revs' success,

is going out and recruiting players from outside their area while they build themselves back up to be competitive. And he's come through with these players like we've seen, Peyton Miller, Noel Buck, of course, Jack Paniatu, some really good young players in that club, Olger Escobar, another one as well. From my understanding of the people that I've talked to around him, that this is a family that is extremely connected to their Bosnian roots.

He is extremely connected to that. That is a lot of his soccer history. And it was a passion of his to potentially play for that nation. He has, of course, played for the U S youth national teams. So it was in the running, but you get that early call up to that first team. and I think it's a combination of all of it.

I think it's probably a situation where he is already split, and the opportunity comes with the passion, and that's where he chooses to go. I think he can be a really good player. I have said a million times you're not going to get every player to choose the U.S. because if you did, you'd have too many players. So some players are going to choose other opportunities for different reasons. From my understanding, this is not something the U.S. fumbled. It's just the reality of having a lot of good young players that are coming through at the same time. But for the U.S., you have to then assess the other prospects at that level. Guys like Diego Luna and Brian Gutierrez, who are also eligible for other national teams, and make sure that you secure enough of them to be able to be competitive and have the group you want going forward.

Final question here from UpTheLoons. It says, it seems like Minnesota United had three different offers rejected for a number six this window. Think they'll look at the free agent market. I would be surprised if they did. If I was Minnesota, I would play out the rest of this year. I've said it a couple of times. Timu Pukki's contract is up at the end of this year. He's got an option for next year at a pretty big number, over $3 million.

I would play out this year. Most likely, Pukki will leave at the end of the year. You could then either use a DP spot on a defensive midfielder, which I don't mind as a roster build mechanism, because if you have a player like an Obino Nobodo there, you can be an elite team in Major League Soccer. If not, you can then go the 2-4-2 route, either bring in a U-22 at that position,

or bring in a U-22 at that position or bring in a U-22, get yourself the $2 million in discretionary TAM and go get a really high level TAM defensive midfielder for this team. And I would say with the moves they've already made this year, they have the flexibility to move Robin Ludd deeper if they want to. They've got Hassani Dotson. They've got hasani dots and they've got will trap i think they've got enough cover in there to be able to cover for this season and then leave yourself open in looking at the free agents around the world that are available most of them that you would want are over the age of 30 and that doesn't seem to line up with the moves we've already seen um khalid al-amad and eric ramsey make in this. And so it would be a little bit of a curveball for this team to go out and try and get one of those players. The few names that did pop out off the list are all weirdly connected MLS ones. Gubamin is one of them. We saw, I

believe he failed his medical with the New York Red Bulls after they tried to get him in to the building earlier this window. Junior Moreno is now a free agent eligible player after leaving FC Cincinnati for Saudi Arabia and then being let go from Saudi Arabia. But Junior Moreno is not changing this team. And so I would be surprised if Minnesota filled that spot. And I would be surprised if they spent on an older player to come in and solidify things, even just for the last few games of this season. All right, that's all for me here with the mailbag and the recap show. We will be back tomorrow, live, 2 p.m. Eastern time, with Tom Bogert to break down all things MLS.

We'll dig into some of these questions some more. Feel free to shoot us more on Twitter or in the Discord. And we will will of course preview the leaks cup semi-final coming up on wednesday night so thank you all for listening and we'll talk to you again very very soon