The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Defending Luka

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

Jason McIntyre in for Colin Are we disrespecting Luka Doncic by comparing him to Cooper Flagg? Thoughts on the USMNT game tonight against Guatemala Could LeBron James still get traded out of LA?   Guest: Landon DonovanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Hello and welcome to the herd. It's me, Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd, who is jet-setting once again. Boy, nobody travels like Colin Cowherd. I'm joined today by Alex Curry. Alex, how are you feeling? We're on the eve of July 4th year.

I love this week. Growing up Fourth of July was like my favorite holiday in Manhattan Beach. Vibes are immaculate down on the strand and on the beach. a little different for me this year because I'm in the red zone. Like anything can happen. I'm about to pop. But I'm still so excited for it. I love it.

Yeah. And we got great sports, obviously. A lot of soccer tonight. We're talking soccer on the show. One of my favorite soccer players of all time, Landon Donovan, joining the show in about 40 minutes. Very excited. Good job.

We have a Lakers insider coming on to talk. I know it hasn't been a great start to free agency. Laker fans. Take a deep breath. It's going to be fine. We're actually going to start the show. Ladies and gentlemen, with the Lakers. And, you know, listen, we are in a hot take society right now.

Everybody knows that. It's really difficult to cut through. There's so many outlets and mediums. TV, radio, you got the web, you got social media, YouTube, TikTok. To cut through, you increasingly have to turn up the volume and get a little hot. And folks, I've been seeing some stuff. You know I love a good hot take. Hot take happy hour.

But I've been seeing some stuff lately about my main man, Luca D. Donchich, then I got to step in. It's time for J. Mack to jump in and be like, guys, can we take a deep breath? Can we get some perspective? I know nuance isn't a thing a lot of people like to do in July. It's either black or white. You love him, you hate him, right? But let's just pump the brakes on the Luca Donchich bashing.

And yes, I get it. He's coming off a season where he was injured. And he got traded. And, hey, if the Dallas Mavericks can move off Luca, how good is he? Right? I mean, the guy doesn't play defense. He can't jump. He only had one dunk last season.

I mean, Luca, what do we do? Is he that good? J. Matt, he couldn't get out of the first round with LeBron James. How good is Luca? And you start hearing all this, and I'm like, wait a minute, hold on. Are we talking about the same Luca Donchich that just 13 months ago put the Mavericks on his back and led them to the finals? And now we've got hot takes like this.

Not just coming from dopey fans and not just the media, but we're talking about former players and coaches. Folks, Avery Johnson, a point guard who knows a lot about basketball, was asked who we'd rather have, Cooper Flagg or Luca Donchich. Take a listen. Man, give me Cooper Flagg. Really? Cooper Flag in this team. Yeah, give me Cooper Flag, man. You're talking about a team when they're healthy.

Got three future Hall of Famers with Kyrie A.D. and Clay Thompson. So this is really exciting. The Mavericks, their future is bright, but they have a window when they're healthy if the next two to three years with this roster has currently constructed. Yeah, I don't totally disagree with Dallas being good, but Cooper Flagg over Luca Donchich? And this is what I'm talking about with society. It's become so hot takey that a guy has a down year and we're just writing him off. Like I like Cooper Flagg.

Do you guys remember, I don't know, two months ago on the show, Rick Buecker sat here and I was like over under one and a half MVP's for Cooper Flag? And he laughed at me. He's like, what on earth are you talking about? I'm like, I'm high on Cooper Flag. No way on earth am I taking him over Luca Donchich. Have we forgotten? I'm not going to try out the resume. But have we forgotten that in the last 40 years, no player has started their NBA career as good as Luca Jontzich?

Not Michael Jordan. not LeBron James, not Shaq. Folks, Luca went rookie of the year and then was first team all NBA, five straight years. First team all NBA, top five player in the league for five straight years.

Starting in year two. Like, that's the kind of talent we're dealing with here. Nobody makes their teammates better in the NBA, better than Luca Dodges. Now I know Yokic has a strong case because he has a title.

He's a little older than Luca. I'll just put that out there. But Luca raises the level. of all his guys. Do you remember two years ago? Dallas, they had been fighting for years. How do we build around Luca? Let's try Jalen Brunson. And they screwed that up. Let's try Porzingis. And he got hurt. This is what he does. Let's try Kyrie Irving. Oh, okay, okay. So they bring in Kyrie Irving. I remember being, I think, live on the herd when it happened. I was like, oh my gosh, Mavs. They're set. They're going to the finals.

They missed the playoffs that year. Okay. Do you remember how Luca Donchich responded the following year? he averaged 33 9 and 9 and the Mavs went to the NBA finals so if you want to write off Luca at 26 and say well he's not Duncan anymore he's become a stepback artist that's fine I do you do you but here's the reality

Luca went to the finals last year exhausted then played in the Olympics and oh by the way then comes the calf injury remember on Christmas suffers the calf injury and Luca wisely I might add, did not want to rush it. He was seen on a scooter and it's like, oh, geez, that's bad news.

No, he was being cautious, which is smart in hindsight. You remember when a guy on the Pacers had a calf injury in the finals? And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Halliburton, sit out, my guy. Well, you don't want him to have to miss a whole year. Halliburton plays good in game six. Oh, he's fine, it's fine. Let's not even rehash what happened in game seven. You don't rush back from calf injuries. Nico Harrison, wanted to rush Luca back. Lucas said, no. Oh, slow your roll, man.

He took his time. They thought he gained weight. They shipped him out of town. I am calling it now. Revenge season is coming for Luca Donchich next year with the Lakers. I don't know who the hell they're going to have. We can get into that later. I'm going to go ahead and assume LeBron's going to be on the roster.

I'm going to assume Austin Reeves, but that's not a lock. I think they're going to be okay with two of the greatest players in the NBA currently. LeBron, all-NBA guy, and Luca, who's often one of the best starts in NBA history for a young guy. Can we just take our deep breath with Luca? He's going to be fine. All right. Now let's get to the big soccer matchup tonight. USA Guatemala!

Yes, it's here on FS1, the Gold Cup semifinals. I will reserve from making any Guatemalan jokes. I don't know much about their soccer program, but I know this. We're going to smoke them. I'm calling it now. just like I told Colin three weeks ago, we're going to be fine in the Gold Cup. And do you guys remember three weeks ago in the Gold Cup?

USA all of a sudden isn't getting their stars to play. Pulisic, I need some rest. Oh, no. What does that say? And then one of my funny joker soccer friends said, saying, I don't know about Pocitino laughing. Like, we don't know about this guy. Everything's been fine.

Now, the bigger issue is one that everybody, even if you're not a soccer fan can vibe with here. In NFL and NBA, right, you follow your team closely. I got some Jacksonville Jaguars buddies fans, two of them, who, I mean, they could tell you everything that's going on on the two deep. They know who's like on the bubble to make the roster. They know everything about the Jags because that's their local team. It's totally different with soccer.

This happens in the NBA too. Toronto Raptors fans can give you chapter inverse in their salary cap situation. of the next two years. That doesn't apply to the U.S. national soccer team, which puts us every two to four years in this weird spot of, oh, hey, guys, it's time to pay attention to soccer. Wait, are we going to win this tournament? It's either boom or bust when it comes to USA soccer for casuals. Now, you could argue, hey, it's great that the casuals are paying attention, but we just want to kind of educate these guys so they get up to speed. Hey, this is a beat team in the gold cup, but here's why it's a good thing.

Nobody wants to hear that. They're like, oh, who's the new coach? What has he done? Pulisic's not playing? And you guys are missing out because I'm here to tell you, and I know this is positive Jason to start the show, gassing up Luca Donchage, glazing the U.S. national team. We're going to beat Guatemala probably soundly tonight.

I'll go three to one. And then that'll lead us into the game against likely Mexico Sunday. It will be a heated game. Mexico has their A team. We don't. but I think we're going to be plucky in that one. It should be a great game in Houston on Sunday. But when it comes to USA soccer,

the reason I get excited about Gold Cup is because we're seeing like the backups, the depth, the bench that we've never really had. And Colin likes to make this point. We just don't have depth. We're building depth at the Gold Cup. They've got guys who are showing very well. We've probably got two or three starters.

We might have our new goalie in Mr. Freeze. The Freeze man was so good in P-Ks. and as one of the guys in the morning meeting noted, hey, Turner, the incumbent, he hasn't looked great internationally because he's not playing. Freeze gets on the field and is a brick wall in PKs. So folks, we're seeing depth, we're seeing the new coach, and you guys know this happens, right?

You get a new coach, you got a new leader. Well, there's a new guy to impress. And guess who's got a chance up close and personal to impress him? All the guys playing in the Gold Cup. So, you know, Landon Donovan will come on in, hopefully echo my sentiments here. But I think this is a good thing. You know, a 5-0 against Haiti, beating Trinidad and debate.

Like, okay, those are fine results. But it's more about the process over the results. And I guess my issue is the process can apply to your favorite NFL, your favorite NBA team locally. It's tougher to apply the process to the USA team because we just parachute in for the major tournaments. And we're like, oh, are we going to win? Like, that's all it comes down to. There's no process. I feel like we're seeing a tremendous process at the Gold Cup.

Pochitino is exerting his thoughts and beliefs and his value system on the team, and that will then trickle down to the other guys. It's a good thing Tyler Adams is here. He was on the show yesterday talking about it. Here's Alexi Lollas earlier in the week also saying very positive things about the USA showing at the Gold Cup. It's almost a wonderful message to send, and an important message to send to the guys that aren't here, that, you know what, while you're important, you're not, you're not a savior.

And we can win games and we can do things without you. Because I think it's going to motivate them to come in and say, you know what? My, you know what, stinks just like everybody else is, America doesn't give a crap how this U.S. team plays. They care that they win. And that they are doing it in a kind of raw, strangely ugly. but beautiful way. I think that resonates with people.

He absolutely nailed it. And folks, I'll wrap up with this, but continuity is huge. When I go to gamble for the NFL in the offseason looking ahead to this coming season, continuity matters. Did you keep your coach, your coordinators? How many starters do you have back? In college football, it's huge. NFL, I feel like it's very important.

We don't really have that in soccer because it's a national team. And guys are spread out all over the. the planet, playing in different leagues, and then you get them together for the World Cup. They're kind of thrust together. So the USA won't have continuity, but here's the positive. Most of the starters in the World Cup next summer were going to have played in 2022 and showed well against England for moments against the Netherlands. And now we get a coach who's got a different outlook.

And I do believe, I know it's on U.S. soil and I'm getting a little flag wavy here, but I'm being dead serious, folks. I do believe quarterfinals and semifinals could be in play for U.S. soccer. I know that's going to seem like a hot take, and y'all are going to laugh. But historically, when you host the World Cup, you have a better chance. You're sleeping in beds you're familiar with. You've got friends and family around. You're in your normal time zones.

Everything lines up for the U.S. hosting the World Cup next year. I'm thinking big things, and I think this Gold Cup win tonight, and maybe the win in the final Sunday will be a springboard to a huge. huge, 2006 in U.S. soccer. All right, we got a phenomenal show today heading into July 4th. Coming up next. Yeah, we're going back to LeBron.

There is a lot of chatter about him switching teams. Does he want out of L.A.? Talk about that next year on The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Hi, this is Jay. I'm the producer of the Paul and Tony Fuscoe show. Usually in these promos, they ask you to listen to the show.

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Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going. Don't? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Back here on the herd, a beautiful Wednesday. Landed Donovan coming up in about 20 minutes. Oh gosh, he's so good. That guy. What a legend. All right. So, you know, every time for some reason Alex and I have hosted in the last couple months, some big news has dropped. I don't know if you guys remember the first time Michael Malone got fired of the Nuggets. It was like middle of the show, they're like, oh, the Nuggets fired their coach.

Oh, wow, okay. And then a few weeks ago, maybe last month, it was like, Tom Tibito fired. It's like, wow. So, you know, we just did the first segment here. And as soon as we get in a commercial break, they're like, hey, LeBron just dropped something on social media. I was like, oh boy, I can't wait to see this. And we're talking about LeBron anyway. But let's just be real.

Here's LeBron on his Instagram within the last hour or so. You have to look closely on the screen, but he's wearing a hat that says, welcome home. And it's possible he just grabbed the first hat he saw at his house in Ohio, where he currently is playing golf. So just to remind you, LeBron, who's been in the news the last 48 hours because of his contract situation, and then is he going to get traded? Is he going to ask him to buy him out? Which is nonsense, but it's a talking point.

LeBron's all over the news, and then he pops up on Instagram with a welcome home hat playing golf in Ohio. Guys, come on. This is awesome. How do you not love this? This is what LeBron does. He's done this for 15 years. He wrote the playbook. for how to, I don't know, troll people?

What are we calling it? Are we saying like, get people to talk about him on social media? I asked the crew here, is LeBron really the first social media athlete who grew up in the social media era? And you have to think back like Tiger Woods was early 2000s before social media. If you say social media was like 2010-ish, that's like when LeBron was peaking, right? Do you guys remember the internet melting down when he told Jim Gray, I'm taking my talents to South Beach? Like, LeBron knows how to utilize and weaponize, if you will, social media to get what he wants. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But the real question is, what is the end game

here? Is he just messing around? Maybe. Is he sending a message? Probably. My big thing that I keep coming back to with this whole, would they trade LeBron, is every time he's gotten into a pickle, it was near the end in Cleveland. Hey, I asked for real contending dudes. The Celtics went out and got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and I asked for contending guys, and you guys got me, Antoine Jameson, I'm out, right? LeBron didn't, he had nothing around him.

In Miami, near the end, he starts to look around. His team's breaking down. I'm out. In Cleveland, Kyrie Irving, jump ship. LeBron, I'm not. I'm not winning here with what's left. I'm out. But you look around the Lakers locker room now,

and he's got Luca Donchage. Is he walking away from Luca? And then the counter would be, well, Jay, this is the first time LeBron hasn't been the best player on his team or the guy that the team is asking for advice and input. And I was like, oh, okay, maybe that's accurate. LeBron's unhappy about that. But the guy's turning 41 in December.

He's going into year 23. You really think he wants to jump ship for a year to go to, I don't know, Detroit or Cleveland again, or Atlanta? And listen, I know one thing is true for sure. LeBron loves the attention. Who wouldn't? You guys don't think I like it when you bombard me when I blast the Kansas City Chiefs and say they're not making the playoffs? I love that. I love that you guys are worked into a lather and I could care less because it's a genuine opinion backed up by facts and data.

If you're in your feelings over, that's not my fault. I think LeBron is similar. He's going to put this out there, knows his name is swirling, and I think he probably likes it a little bit, just a little. Now, where it gets super interesting is if the Lakers don't get DeAndre Aiden, and there's no centers left. And at that point, Luca's like, what the hell's going on here, guys? And LeBron's like, you know what?

We had a good, my other son, he's going to Arizona next year to play college basketball. I let me go back to Cleveland and get a chance to win it. But I've seen the trade scenarios, folks, with the Knicks and the Cavs. I don't think those teams are giving up multiple starters and rotation guys for LeBron. I don't see it. Like the Cavs aren't going to do Darius Garland for LeBron. Lakers would be idiots to do that. Now you talk Evan Mowgli, we got a discussion.

That's not happening. I'm sure the Knicks are like, hey, do you want Carl Anthony Towns? And the Lakers are like, absolutely not. think about this. LeBron has one year left. Then the books are clear. Luca's got his runway. Go get me this, that, and the other. We're set. So listen, I love the LeBron antics. I love him going on social media and getting in everybody's head and generating segments on TV shows. He's got a podcast now with Steve Nash that's kind of popping. I love this stuff. But ultimately, I just keep coming back like, it's not happening. He's not going anywhere. Enjoy Luca and LeBron next year with the Lakers when they're hopefully a time.

Top four seat in the West. Don't look like it now, but things could change. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I felt like when you told Laker fans to take a deep breath, you were talking directly to me.

I'm with you, though. I think the Lakers are going to be just fine. Yes, there's new ownership, but this is an ownership that knows how to win. Yes, it's not the family-friendly deal that he signed up for with the bus family. But he's a huge fan of Luca. He's been very vocal about it.

He's going to give it like a full season try. I think the Lakers are going to be just fine. As you mentioned, he knows how to work the media. He knows how to create the conversation. Like, LeBron is a genius media mogul. That's what it is. Smart. We're talking about it.

Posted within like what, like an hour. And we're already having it on talking about it on national TV. Okay. Well, let's switch to the big conversation yesterday. Damian Lillard was waived by the bucks yesterday. And some execs say he won the basketball lottery. Milwaukee will have to pay Lillard out $113 million over the next five years after stretching out his contract, which allowed them space,

though, to sign Miles Turner. Now, Dame can now recover on his own time and sign a new deal with a new team when he's healthy and get paid all the same. So he's still making his money. Like, he can take his time rehabbing. Remember, he tore his Achilles. He can kind of pick where he wants to go. Obviously, what the Bucks had wasn't working because we've heard all of the, the trade.

rumors from Janice. We haven't heard directly from his mouth yet, though. Him say, I want to be traded. And this was a big swing that they took yesterday. Signing Miles Turner, $107 million deal.

Do you think do you like the fit of Miles Turner with the bucks? And does it keep Janus there? Yes. No. Like, that's, that's, that's, ah. Let me go back to the Dane thing you mentioned.

So, have you ever been fired from a job? Um, I've had shows canceled. Yeah, I've been in the same boat. And in the moment, it absolutely sucks. Oh, it hurts. Feel like a loser. You're like, oh, what did I do? Wrong.

It's all me. Right. Yeah. Then the dust clears within a couple days and you're like, holy cow, this is, oh my gosh, this is great. Ends up being like a beautiful thing that happens. Yes. What do they say?

A door closes and a window opens or something like that. Sure. And I feel like for Dame yesterday. Oh my gosh, the bucks are cutting him? Well, that sucks. Well, not wait a minute. Hold on. He gets paid.

And he gets to pick his team. Oh, yeah. He gets to go live near his family in Portland. Remember, that was like a big issue because he's away from his kids. This is great. Now, if he happens to be healthy come April and he sees that there's a contender on the West Coast he wants to join. It's Achilles. So he's like post all-star break, I think is like kind of.

So like second half of the season, when he's, you know, you're really seeing what team has the ability to make a run and be a contender. And I could join him be your ninth guy off the bench. And he's getting paid to rehab and be with his family and be in a good headspace. Like the mentality coming in, like happy. So like, yeah, the Dame angle is interesting because it's a win for him. Listen, you don't think the Warriors or the Lakers are going to be monitoring breathlessly. Could we get Dame Liller for pennies?

Well, and yeah, the Bucks are still going to be paying for a majority of his contract. such a bad move by the Bucks. It was weird. And then for Yonis to, to say he wasn't, I mean, I don't know if he said he wasn't happy, but there were reports that he wasn't happy with the move and the trade. And there's just, there's just so much, there's a lot of question marks. Yeah. It felt like a desperate move.

And you never want to be desperate. It's like you go house hunting, which I'm sure, you know, you've done. Uh-huh. And you're being told, never fall in love with a house. You cannot because then you're going to be pocket. You're going to play hard to get. You're going to want to bid it. Uh-huh.

Just, hey, whatever. And I felt like they fell in love with, hey, Miles Turner can be our new Brooke Lopez. He's younger. He's more athletic. He's a better. And Brooke Lopez worked great with Janus. And they're missing the part that, oh, we don't have a starting backcourt. It's like Gary Trent and Kevin Porter?

I just don't see it. It's a little bit of a mess. And obviously, you got to figure out what's happening with Janus. Yeah. Is he going to get traded? Like, because we still haven't heard from his mouth, trade. What happens if Yannis comes out in two weeks and says,

I don't like this, I want to be trading? Yeah. Then what? Hi. Like, you're the Moss Turner thing. It was a disaster. Just shot yourself in the foot. Yeah. Yeah, wild. Okay, let's switch to the NFL. Travis Kelsey was on the bussen with the boys podcast and talked about how his motivation has changed as he's aged as a football player. I used to fucking want to get a thousand yards every year, every single year. Like, that was like the milestone.

And they you were elite in the league. especially at the tight-end position. Yeah. But then I just, like, it's more important to get dubs. I feel like getting that message to the teammates was way more important. He's saying what champions say, right? It's not about the personal accolates. It's about winning the chips.

And once you've won, like he's won, they are the current dynasty in the NFL. They have three championship rings. All you're thinking about is how do I get that fourth? And then now you're also, your legacy and your career is compared to, well, how are you going to level up to the other grades? Like, how many does Brank have? Like, are you going to be like Shannon Sharp? There's, like, all these other top players of that position, are you going to be able to reach that level? And, again, like, he's not the same player he was when they won that first and second Super Bowl.

He's going to have to get creative. Those are impressive numbers. That is impressive numbers. So let me ask you, Alex. So I love to make these things personal, like. You know, you played soccer and your team was good. And then they recruit somebody at your position who's better than you and takes the starting spot and you guys win the national championship.

So that was me. I was the one who took the spot when we won the national championship. And then I left early. So I was always the doubted one. Like you're not going to make it. There's no room for you. Like we don't have space. And then I was having to prove everybody wrong.

My entire career through soccer, through broadcasting, everything is like, just get me a chance. let me prove you wrong. So I've always been that like hungry person. Kelsey's kind of like the opposite, right? In that he's got the stats and the chip. But would he be happy? Because the way he's talking about it, oh, 1,000 years,

would he be happy if he had 600 yards receiving next year? But they were the number one seat? But that's not what matters right now. And I think that's the important message that he's trying to say. And that he's trying to, because he's the veteran on the team now, right? He's trying to tell all the young guys, hey, it's not about your personal stats. What matters is that W at the end of the day? Is getting that ring at the end of the season?

That's all that matters at the end of the day. That's a tough mindset for someone in their 20s. Yeah. In the 30s, you know, when we're in our 20s, we're bulletproof. I can do whatever I want. I'm fine. You get into your 30s, you start, like, reality starts to setting. Yeah.

And maybe that's what Kelsey's seeing. Like, hey, I'm not going to be that guy anymore. Yeah, he's also, like, probably the most famous NFL, like, player right now. He's an A-list celebrity. He's happy in his personal life. He's doing great career-wise. He is like top of the mountain right now. Not top because like if they won a Super Bowl,

then I think he, like last season, then he would be top of the mountain. He was top of the mountain two years ago. Yeah. But it's just how do I get back there? Yeah. And maybe sacrificing a little. Yeah.

Or understanding, hey, it's not going to be all about you. His body is not. No, it's not. As we saw. He was. breaking down. Yeah. Yeah, he's breaking down.

But he's still a home's guy. And it's still having that presence in the locker room and on the field. Sure is. Had to mention Taylor Swift. Sure is. Hey, she was at Tide NU. Did you see that? She performed.

Oh, I saw that. Yeah, yeah. They were all singing along with her. Kiddle, everybody. It was. Not a bad hang. I love it. All right.

Let's move to New York and talk about your jets, J-Mack, because they made a ton of changes this off season. But one of the holdovers running back, Bruce Hall isn't using that as an excuse. Hall said, I think people think the new coaching staff and new GM means a rebuild, but we have a lot of really good players on the roster. So we're going to try to win now. I think our ceiling is very high. So when you hear that, JMAQ, in the AFC East, I mean, there's a lot of new, right? New quarterback, new front office, new coaching staff. They're also a franchise that hasn't

reach the postseason since 2010, 14-year drought, longest post-season drought in NFL history. I don't mean to rub it in and remind you. In NFL history or current? No, current. Post-season, it says 14-year drought, the longest post-season drought in the NFL right now. Currently, yeah, yeah, yeah. Currently.

It's not great. Yeah. I just love how the staff is like, oh, yeah, let's get some. What do you think? Third? Third what? In the AFC East? In the AFC East?

I'm looking at it. And Bill's definitely won. Bill's won. Again, Miami depends on Tua. People are high on the Patriots and then you got your Jets. Well, remember the continuity I mentioned for U.S. soccer? Yeah. So the Jets have a new head coach. Yes. A new offensive coordinator. Yeah. A new defensive coordinator. A new quarterback. A new quarterback. Uh-huh. That's a lot of newness to overcome. But we also saw that with the commanders last year and they surprised and took everyone by storm. So like there can be both sides to new. Well, I mean, Dan Quinn had been to a Super Bowl. I'm sorry, with Atlanta.

And the offensive coordinator was Kyle Shanahan, who was big time. Oh, no, not Kyle Shanahan. What am I saying? The offensive coordinator, I'm spacing on his name right now. But the guy from Arizona, the pretty boy. Oh, and also USC. Are you talking about commanders? Yeah, commanders.

Okay. I was like, where are we going with this? Got it. Like winners. Jamie Daniels was a superstar. Yeah. Jets are getting just. Justin Fields, who's been,

eh, Aaron Glenn, who's never been a head coach, and the offensive coordinator's never called plays. Like, it's not, it's just too much newness, Alex, for me. It's like a six or seven win team. Ooh, let's see, I like low expectations. So fourth? You think fourth? You're going to finish last than the AMCEs?

That's not bad, then the last play schedule for next year with Archmanning. No, they're not going to be bad. They're not going to be Archmanning. Never know. Alex Curry with the news Well, that's the news And thanks for stopping by The Herd Lye News

All right, coming up next is Landon Donovan excited for the USA's chances against Guatemala tonight And then what about the final In the Gold Cup Against Mexico on Sunday That's next year on the herd

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers And guess what? We have some big news What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

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Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Road to 2026 continues tonight on FS1 with the Gold Cup semi-final as U.S. men's national team takes on Guatemala. No easy path. No second chances. Coverage begins tonight at 6eastern on MS.Y. Obviously, everybody's very excited. USA Guatemala tonight.

And then when we win, we'll face Mexico in the final. Yes, we're going to win. Let's talk to Landon Donovan. Oh, my gosh. A legend, you know, I get a little gushy. I'm going to be a little bit of a fanboy here. Who couldn't love Landon Donovan? I was just telling him during the break.

Oh, stop it. Maybe Pochitino, but that's about it. But during the break, like, I remember the goal against Algeria and the World Cup watching with my family. I'll never forget it. That's one of the most seminal moments in USA soccer. So Landon, great to have you on the show. Let's start with this. I'll lay up.

How do you feel about the game against Guatemala tonight? I think we got a gift. Guatemala played Canada the other night, and Canada are a much, much better overall team than Guatemala. And I think if they play that game 10 times, Canada win eight. Guatemala tie one and they win one. And they tied, went to penalty kicks, and ended up losing the game. So it's a bit of a gift for us.

Guatemala is not a top Conca Calf team. This is the first time, I believe, in 30-something years. They've been to the semifinals of a gold cup. So I expect us to win. It will not be easy, J. Mack. Soccer never is because goals are hard to score. But I expect that we'll win tonight. I'm just curious. Obviously, you're not there talking to the players, but how do you, what do you think the mindset is given free shows up in PKs, you know, all the criticism for the team, but they have been kind of playing great. I didn't love the goal they gave up in, what, the 85th minute or whatever. But overall, they've played pretty darn good, no?

they've been fantastic and it's important to have the context of what happened so before the tournament many players opted out of the tournament which you know is a whole other story and for people who have dreamt of playing soccer their whole life you know it's it's pretty interesting that people would not want to play for their national team a lot of players out injured and then a third set of players are out for the club world cup that's going on concurrently so this group of players is a little bit of a makeshift, maybe one or two starters, but the rest are a B, maybe even in some cases a C team or a C player. And what they've done is they've taken the opportunity. And J-Mack, you know in sports, when someone leaves the door slightly open, you better be careful because someone else

might barge through, and these guys have barged through, and they've been really inspiring. For those of us who love this game and love this national team, it's been really fun to watch them continue to grow and win back hearts and minds of Americans. Yeah, I didn't want to start with the controversy, but let's go into it. You know, they didn't seem to have an identity heading into the Gold Cup. Like, what are they? Do you think that Portitino has kind of established this is what we are, or is that still a work in progress?

So this is the hard part with soccer for people who are new to it. You play for your club team all the time. And let's use the analogy of you play for the Lakers, or the Celtics or the Yankees. But then once a month, maybe once every couple months, you come together for whatever country you represent and you represent your national team. The problem is, is you're only together

for two or three days at a time, and then you go back to your club teams. What's happened in this camp is Pochitino had two friendlies before this camp started. So you had a week and a half with these guys, two games. And now they've had, they're going on, I think, two and a half or three weeks together. Having that amount of time together is priceless.

With a national team, it's absolutely. absolutely priceless. So in the beginning, there was no identity. People didn't know what to expect. Everybody's sort of looking around in camp. Are you a leader? You're a leader with your club team, but are you a leader here? And now you're starting to see roles define. You're starting to see people take the opportunity. You saw Matt Freeze say, hey, no one else has claimed the goalkeeper spot. Why not me? And that's what guys have done this entire tournament. It's been really fun to watch them grow. Yeah. And you said the door is kind of open. And I asked the more, the staff here, like, how many guys do you think currently?

on the goal club, a goal cup roster would maybe start next year in the World Cup. And we came around two or three. I don't know. Am I missing anyone? I think Freese might have passed Turner just alone in this tournament. But who else do you think is? Could Richards be a starter next year in the World Cup? Well, look, like politics, a year is a long time, right?

So a lot of things can happen in a year. However, this is what I would say with Pochitino. Pochatatino is Argentinian, and he spent most of his career in Europe coaching. He doesn't have any obligation to anybody who has name recognition or has played in the past or has been a leader or been a captain. He just looks at this roster and says, these are the guys I have. You show me that by your performance today, today against Guatemala, that you deserve to play in the final if we win. And if we play in the final against Mexico or Honduras, you show me again that you deserve to play in the friendlies that are coming up in the fall. and you deserve to play in the next one and the next one and the next one.

He doesn't care if you have a big name or a big contract or play for a big club. He can only evaluate what he's seeing. And what he's seeing right now are a bunch of guys who are taking advantage of the opportunity. Yeah, do you think Tillman is one of those guys? I was looking at his background. Absolutely. Played on the German national team, you know, 15 through 21. And it's like, wow, he looks outstanding.

But I don't think of him as better than Balagan, you know, and like some of the other forwards, right? Or is that now a discussion? Yeah, but it is a discussion for what I just said. And, you know, the old adage, the most important ability in sports is availability. And Balligan is a fantastic player, talented. Ricardo Pepe, fantastic player, very talented. They've been injured. Both of them have been injured a lot.

Malik someone's not an out-and-out striker. There's a young man named Patrick Ajamong who has sort of taken that role. And we'll see what happens. You know, Jamack, the telling sign will be in the next can. after this Gold Cup. Does he just readily invite all those guys back in? Or does he say, you know what? These guys did a great job for me in the Gold Cup,

this B and C list, and maybe they become the A list. And that's going to tell us a lot. That would ruffle some feathers. But I'm just curious, like that sounds like a good talking point and hearing you say it, like, yeah, there's something here. But in your soccer experience, do you ever recall them going with B's over A's just because the A's weren't there? No, and no, the reason why is,

because when you play with your national team, and this is part of my frustration, why I'm outspoken about this. When you play for your national team, it just means more. It has to mean more. And I'm not saying people don't try with their club teams. I'm not even saying people don't care sometimes

when they play with their national team, but if you're not willing to do anything and everything to win the game with your national team, then you don't deserve to be there. And the guys who are there right now have said, I don't care what happens. I'm not, you know, a guy, Diego Luna, a young man, broke his nose in a friendly in January.

And they said, you need to come out of the game. And he said, I'm not coming out of the game. This is my one chance. So you can pull me off the field. You can carry me off, but I'm not coming out of the game. Next thing you know, he started every game in the Gold Cup. If the roster was announced tomorrow for the World Cup, he is 100% on it, and he came out of nowhere.

And so that's what it means to play for your national team. Malik Tillman got kicked all over the field the other night. and he got up again and got up again and got up again. He missed a penalty in the game, came back and made a penalty in the penalty kick shootout. So they are showing Mauricio Pochitino what it means to play for a national team, and there's no reason why a lot of these guys,

one, won't be on the roster, and two, some of them would start now. Are they all going to be starters? I don't think so. But hopefully it sends a message to the rest of the group that this is what's expected, and if you don't do it, you're not going to be here. Yeah.

All right, I've got to ask it. Obviously, you know, the drama, with Pulisic and Pochitino. A, have you heard from anybody in either camp since the Gold Cup privately? If it's private stuff and you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But have you heard from anyone in Pulisic's camp or Pochitinos? No.

Do you anticipate? No, no. No, and I've, I talked to many people behind the scenes all week, J. Mack in U.S. soccer. And the reality right now is what I just said about Pochitino. He does not have, he does not feel any obligation to, any player. Now, is Christian Polisic more talented than anybody on the current Gold Cup roster? Yes, by a gazillion miles. But when you see, when you play for a national

team, it doesn't always mean that. If you watch, do yourself a favor, go watch Argentina play Colombia or Argentina played Brazil. When you watch that game, you go, there's not a lot of soccer being played here. This is just a battle. And these are some of the best players in the world. And all the skill and all the stuff gets thrown out the window for 90% of the the game and they just battle because that's what it means to play for your country. So I think the message is loud and clear. And to Christian's credit, I think when he shows up and plays, he does play that way. Now some of the other guys on the roster haven't.

And I think the message is becoming clear from Pochitino. You either do this or you're not playing. Yeah, I feel like that was a shot at GL Reyna, but I'm just going to sidestep it. Let's, we'll wrap up with this. You know, Freeze obviously was the hero in the P. P-Ks. Turner's kind of been buried on the bench with his club team. I don't know. Do you think Freeze passed him or is it too early to tell? I want to separate, you know, people get excited in moments, right? It'd be like if a guy gets fouled for a three-pointer and makes three free throws to

win the game, you wouldn't necessarily then say, oh, well, he's the best player throughout the game, right? Because he made those three three-free throws. Matt Freeze is excellent, clearly, at penalty kicks. And I will just say, let's say he's not one of the best three goalkeepers. Generally, you take three goalkeepers to the World Cup. There is every opportunity that Pocetino says, you know what, I'm going to take him even as my third, even though he's not the best, because we might get into a situation in a knockout stage where we need to take penalty kicks. And I could absolutely see that happen. Now, aside from that, I think he's been okay. I don't think he is a better goalkeeper than Matt Turner. But I talked earlier, you leave that door open. You're Matt Turner and you

didn't play a lot of club soccer the last year. You left the door open and someone said, bang, I'm kicking that thing down and I'm coming in. Yeah. And he has. Landon Donovan, Fox Sports Soccer analyst, a legend on the pitch and off of it. Great stuff, Landon. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate you guys. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Landon Donovan really want, listen, he's saying a lot of stuff and you need to listen because I'm sure he talks to everybody in USA soccer. He's probably not saying everything, Alex, you know soccer well. I think based on some of the stuff, Landon Donovan saying, you know,

if you passed on this gold cup, you may have, and not Pulisic, but some of the other guys. You got to want to be here. Yeah. That's what this new coaching regime is about. Show me that you want to be here. Yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah, it's exciting. At least we've got a win over Guatemala tonight.

Coming up next. Hey, you know, Lamar Jackson, I like him a lot. He's a two-time MVP. He made a comment. I don't love it. We'll talk that next year on The Hurt. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygle and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your...

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