June 11, 2025 • 31 mins
After Aaron Rodgers met with the media for the first time since joining the Steelers, Colin questions if Mike Tomlin is the right fit at head coach to get the most out of the 41-year-old quarterback. He wonders if the Knicks have a real plan in place to find their next head coach after being denied the ability to talk to Ime Udoka, Chris Finch and Jason Kidd. Fox Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas joins the show to tell Colin what the US Men's National Team needs to do to get back on track after a 4th straight loss as they prepare for the 2026 World Cup
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go, Good show today, Sean mcphay of the Rams,
Alexi Lawalas bring Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your day. Jamac I
know your affinity in my affinity for soccer. I'll get
to that in five minutes. An absolute disaster for the
United States men's national team.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Do not downplay it. It is a disaster.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
It is rock bottom, and we continue to grab a
shovel and dig really, really bad.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I want to start though.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I think people sometimes think I have something against Aaron Rodgers,
and I just don't care yet do I think I
was the first media person, like nine ten years ago
to talk about his body language and how he was
increasingly playing safe and it was too caught up in
his passer rating and passive aggressive. Yeah I did, and
(01:22):
that's right, but that's not going to affect my opinion
about Pittsburgh. I think he'll be fine. I think he'll
miss a couple of games. I think he'll go you know,
eight to nine, nine and eight.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
But instead of that, let's just look at history of
top older star quarterbacks past their prime when they have
gone to a new environment. There's nine that come to mind.
I'm not talking Andy Dalton or Joe Flacco or Nick Foles.
I'm talking stars like Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers. So there's
nine that I would in recent history, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning,
(01:57):
Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers went to India, he had a
great year, Aaron Rodgers with the Jets, Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins,
Matt Ryan, and Cam Newton. Again, so how did it
work out for those nine? Well, let's put him in
two camps. One being successful. Brady won a Super Bowl,
Stafford won a Super Bowl, Peyton, Manning won a Super Bowl,
and Philip Rivers, I'll argue this all day, had a
(02:20):
great year in Indy. He was eleven and five ninety
seven passer rating that road playoff game against Buffalo. He
threw for over three hundred yards, two touchdowns, no picks.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean, Philip Rivers had a shockingly good year as
last year in the NFL in Indianapolis. And then you
have the other camp, the less successful camp, and that
would include obviously Aaron Rodgers with the Jets, and Russell
and Denver and Kirk Cousins in Atlanta, had Matt Ryan
with the Colts, and Cam Newton with Belichick in New England.
What's the common threat? What's the truth. The truth is,
(02:52):
if you have a defensive coach, as an old quarterback
past your prime or an inexperienced coach, it's gonna be turbulent.
It's not gonna be pretty. And the reason being older
quarterbacks they need fit. They can't just bulldoze or overwhelm
you with talent. Aaron Rodgers and his prime or Cam
(03:14):
Newton in their prime, they could be off in their mechanics,
they could miss a read it just they're like human erasers.
Once you get older, fit matters. Stafford needed, he needed McVeigh.
Brady sought out Bruce arians Peyton Manning had some success
early with John Fox, won a Super Bowl with Gary Kubiak,
(03:35):
and he again Philip Rivers had Frank Reich. Now Matt
Ryan's tough because Matt Matt also had Frank. But Matt
was really done as a quarterback. But if you start
looking at it, it's pretty clear that the Steelers lost
their left tackle, their starback, their best receiver, and are
completely toned deaf on offense. This is going to be hard.
This is a defensive coacher and a defensive head coach.
(03:57):
That's what it is. And by the way, Arthur Smith
the coordinator six years in the NFL, three as a
head coach, three as a coordinator, one top ten offense
and the other five bad.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Ugly ineffective.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So if you want to teach an old dog new tricks,
you need Seesar Milan, you need an emotional behavior expert.
And that is not what Pittsburgh is. That's why I
think older quarterbacks Peyton Manning when he got Kubiak or
Stafford got McVeigh. And even though Arians and Brady had
their fights, they came out after the bye week and
(04:34):
Tampa didn't lose again for the rest of the year.
Offensive coaches have a feel for offensive lines, the playbook.
I mean, Brady is largely admitted. They kind of laughed
at Belichick's lack of knowledge about offense. That's not a
shot at Mike Tomlin. It's a reality with defensive coaches.
So I think it's pretty clear it's going to be
pretty bumpy. I think I'm doing Aaron a solid saying
(04:55):
nine to eight. My guess is it could be seven
and ten. I think he will miss a couple of stars.
They have a great center, but I don't trust their
own line Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin. They've got a rookie
running back. They're crossing their fingers on. And here's why
Aaron chose the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
From my ego, I don't need it to keep playing.
A lot of decisions that I've made over my career
in life from strictly the ego, even if they turn
out well, are always unfulfilling. But the decisions made from
the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a
decision that was best for my soul. And I felt
like being here with coach t and the guys they
(05:33):
got here and the opportunity here was the best for me,
and I'm excited to be.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Here all right.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Speaking of soul or lack thereof, the United States men's
national team is one year from the World Cup on
a US soil, and starting this weekend they have the
Gold Cup, which matters. It's something, especially when you have
a new coach. And oh do we love to blame
the coach and never the players. USA soccer last night
(06:02):
was as bad as it gets. Forget the fact that
we have not beaten a European team since twenty twenty
one oh and seven to eight something like that. Last
night we gave up four goals to Switzerland in twenty
three minutes, the most humiliating loss ever. And that's not
a shot. That's not a shot at Switzerland. Okay, great
soccer country. That was embarrassing. Four goals conceded in twenty
(06:27):
three minutes. A year ago in the World Cup, we
only didn't we allowed like one goal in the group stage,
held England scoreless in the World Cup was a year
or two go.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Held England scoreless.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So hey, that guy Greg Buralter doesn't know what he's doing.
He's not getting the most out of our highly skilled players.
Burhalter is out of here. And then Jurgen Klinsman he
was a bomb, and then Bob Bradley's no good and
Bruce Arena. So they bring in Mari siol Otto from
(07:00):
Europe Tottenham.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
He's great with young players.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
He is, I'm told he is unbelievable with young players.
So last night he played a lot of those young
players and it was the most humiliating loss I can
ever remember for nothing.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Twenty three minutes.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So it's time once again for Uncle Collins twice annual
USA Soccer reality check.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Our talent pool.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It's interesting, it's the most interesting it's ever been, but
it is a really shallow pool. And last night, because
our best players, like Christian poolisic who's played in ac
Milan last couple of years and like really difficult fifty
game fifty match schedules, he's taken a breather, and Serginio
(07:50):
dest is taking a breather. He's a European player too,
Tyler Adams is injured, West McKenny beat up a little bit,
he's taken a breather, So there's an argument those are
four of our best players. So instead we played six
MLS guys and Malis Katino is discovering we are very
(08:12):
much in the kiddie pool, the shallow end. If we
don't have our first eleven in our best eleven, we
don't have much. Now, we got six or seven guys
planned in Europe, and that's more than we've ever had.
But countries like Switzerland and the top teams can often
have double that, and you just time and time again,
I don't want to hear about our best athletes play
other sports.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
They do.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But when Christian Polisic is out, our creativity are scoring,
our imagination are easily most skilled player is out. I'm sorry.
It's the Calves without Lebron several years ago. We are
not the same. So, I mean, it's obvious that America
is lacking highly skilled laborers in tech, science and in soccer.
(08:56):
But last night was a reminder that if you take
polisicaut and our top four or five guys are not
playing injury, little load management need a rest after a
rigorous European schedule, we don't have much.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's MLS.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It is just a bunch of nonsense because this coach,
he's the guy, he knows young talent, he develops young talent. Really,
four goals twenty three minutes. Really, so go ahead. You
blamed Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, I mean Greg Berholtzer. I
thought that an unbelievable job. You go to the World
(09:34):
Cup stage, we allow one goal. We have always historically
been about defense, great goalies and good defense because we
don't have as many skilled players. We just don't. I
know it hurts, we don't. We got about five maybe
three last night.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
None. Here's a member of the losing squad after the game.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's really easy to look at one game what happened
to be like, oh, this is all going to piece
as they can't come back from this. But you look,
you can build up the twenty one to two, we
take down Roco three.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Zero, and then make it in the semifinal.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Like things changed not six months apart.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We accept that it's not good enough and we realized that,
and so that's where that's where the disappointment comes in.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
But at the same time, like we have to flip
the script.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
We gotta make sure that we did not come out
like that ever again, especially as we interne the Bold Cup.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Mauricio Pocatino four game losing streak. Bob Bradley didn't do that.
Jurgen Klensman didn't have that. Greg Berhalser didn't have that.
I think it's a reality check. And this European coach
who was great and Tattenham, I think he got him
to a runner up. He's very known as very aggressive,
(10:46):
very attacking and great with young players. We don't have
the players that we can attack. If Polisic, West, McKinney
and sergeniodsk are not there, we can't do that. We
just don't have the talent pool. I do not think
this guy is falling. I do not think it's falling.
But let's just say the roof needs repair. Jmack, you're laughing,
(11:08):
you are laughing.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Go ahead, I.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Don't want to say this guy's falling. Let me just
trash USA soccer for five minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
You could argue they started four guys who won't even
be on the World Cup roster next year.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
So I obviously the optics are terrible.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
I'm on a soccer text team with like twenty guys
and they were just you know, hammering the US.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
It was kind of a gutlass performance.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's one thing again, it is one thing to lose,
but to give up four goals, concede four goals in
twenty three minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
You're not ready to play? Yeah, you are.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That is hard to do in hockey and soccer. That
doesn't happen by It's okay.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
We're gonna be fine.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
We're gonna go win the Gold Cup and then we're
gonna go to like the quarterfinals or semifinals of the
World Cup in one year. Don't It's gonna be fine.
Everything's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Our soccer schedule at the Gold Cup, Trinidad and Tobago,
judging by last night, that's a coin flip.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Don't stop it. Saudi Arabia and Haiti.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
We're going three and zero, probably outscoring them like seven
to one.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Just work that down. Okay, seven goals, Okay.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
We're gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Colin, It's okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
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Speaker 1 (12:25):
Welcome back, So, actually a lot of stuff today. Alexi
Lallas is going to come in later. Rizio Pocacino is
the coach of USA men's soccer. Last night and they
are in a free fall, four straight losses, haven't beaten
the EUROPEA team since twenty twenty one. And again, a
lot of their players played in these kind of rigorous,
intense European schedules, so some of them are taking time off.
(12:48):
I get it, but the gold couple was felt like
it mattered to me. Maybe it doesn't anymore. But six
MLS players among the starters last night got routed. I
mean it was just awful. So we'll talk about that. Hey,
I thought this was probabmatic and this is every New
York Knicks worse fear coming to fruition. So yesterday Imiodoku
(13:08):
is a great coach, was with the Celtics for personal
reasons in appropriate behavior, got fired, went to Houston, very
good coach. The Knicks wanted to interview him since they
fired Tibbs, and the Rockets said no, they denied the
Knicks even an interview. Well, we all know Chris Finch
is great, he's with Minnesota, let's get him. And the
Tea Wolves denied the Knicks an interview. That's oll for
(13:30):
two the Mavericks Now, according to Shams, the Dallas Mavericks
have told the Knicks nope, you're not, you don't get
an interview with Jason Kidd. So the top three candidates
high profile, successful coaches.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Nope, nope, nope.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay, So does this mean that the at times very impulsive,
highly emotional James Dolan had no plan? So I said
this yesterday. Dolan has always seen himself as an artist.
He's in A and MGM entertainment. One of his best
friends is Irving Asoff, who used to own a record label,
(14:06):
a wildly successful marketer, manager and promoter of talent. And
it was still one of his best friends. I believe,
and that's okay that Dolan sees him. That's why I
went to Vegas and created the Sphere. Rock stars are
among his friends. But as we know with artists, sometimes
they can be impulsive and they can be emotional, and
James Dolan always loves the company of stars. And whether
(14:29):
it's Phil Jackson is a GM, well, it was kind
of Jerry West was kind of running the GM part.
Let's get Amari Stodammeire with bad knees. That's always been
James Dolan, impulsive. So when he went and built the
Spheres for a couple of years, he was removed I'm
not saying he's done. A smart guy, but he is
more artist than accountant. In my take is now he's
(14:52):
back in the fold, and there was According to reports,
he listened to his players, his stars, and his stars
grumbled tibbs, who practice them hard, who plays them a
lot of minutes? And he acquiesced to his star players.
And now they don't have a coach, and the top
three candidates he can't interview him. So when he was
(15:14):
gone for a couple of years, I had said this
multiple times and I did not consider it a shot
at James Dolan. It was a reality. He was distracted
in Vegas with a spear, a magical, musical entertainment mecca.
It's nothing like it in the world, never been, but
it's supposed to be amazing. And all I'm saying is,
(15:34):
did he act impulsively because when he was not there,
they were pragmatic, they were patient, they had a plan,
and firing TIBs it's not the same.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
He was the.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Culture, So you just fired the culture and that not
sheer talent is why you were so interesting and captivating
and good for two years. It just feels very impulsive
to me.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of the weekdays and
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Speaker 7 (16:03):
Hey, we're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 8 (16:12):
To and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, you blubber lit lame in me.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 8 (16:54):
There you go over promising, and remember you could see
it on YouTube, but definitely join us listening over Promised
with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So I know you know this that last year was
a great not this past draft. The one before was
a great draft. Most of those quarterbacks went to the NFC.
Jaden Daniels, Michael Pennix, JJ McCarthy, Caleb Williams, bow Nicks
went to the AFC. But the reason the AFC has
been better than the NFC, not necessarily just the Super Bowl,
(17:27):
but but overall, is because the AFC for about a
seven year stretch kept hitting on quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
And you know C. J.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Stroud and Herbert and Burrow and Mahomes and Allen, they
just kept hitting and hitting and hitting on him. So
if the young NFC quarterbacks like Jaden Daniels and Caleb
and Pennix, if they can hit in that draft a
couple of years ago, it'll even things out. But right now,
the best quarterbacks in football are overwhelmingly in the AFC.
So now as Aaron Rodgers goes from the Jets to
(17:57):
the Steelers. He stays in the AFC again with a
defensive culture and a defensive head coach. I let's just
stay how good do we think he is compared to
the other now he's passed his prime.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
He's forty one year old.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Aaron With the other AFC quarterbacks, well, I'll just start
it with this, since twenty twenty two, and that includes
the last year in Green Bay, Aaron is not Geno Smith.
And I know you don't want to hear that, but
if you told me I had a game to win,
I'd take Geno. Gino right now moves, he's more mobile,
he's pretty close to his prime. They'll probably a bit
out of the prime. He has a better passer rating,
(18:33):
completion percentage, much larger yards per game, and he's wenty
more games. So and Gino's not in the upper tier
of the AFC quarterbacks in my opinion do I think
he's a little undervalued. But if I went today and
you told me best quarterbacks in the AFC, and I
mean maybe my orders not perfect or to your liking,
because I think Burrow last year honestly was the best quarterback,
I'd go Alan Mahomes, Burrow, Lamar that's the big four.
(18:55):
Nobody disputes. I'd go Herbert CJ. Stroud and I put
Geno seven. And again, when Gino has a run game
in his career in Seattle, he was good. His passer
rating's over one hundred, so we can say, now Gino's
Sam Darnold. When he's rattled or there's pressure, he can
be reckless. But if you give him time and you
(19:16):
give him a decent run game, Gino's.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
FIA's pretty good quarterback. He's a B plus plus.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
And I would put the eighth best quarterback, Bo Knicks,
who's going into year two with Sean Payton, and I
think bow Knicks is so much more athletic than anybody
wants to give him credit for. His running is a
huge element of that offense. And then number nine, I
think you get Aaron Trevor Lawrence in Tua, where it
kind of just depends on the game.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I don't trust too in bad weather up North.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Trevor Lawrence makes too many mistakes and Aaron's he is
a pocket quarterback, So that's kind of what you're looking at.
Can you make the playoffs with the ninth best quarterback
in the AFC? Absolutely, especially if your defense is great.
But that's kind of where he's at right now. He's
sort of in that toua Trevor Lawrence, Aaron Rodg. I
think that's fair. He's forty one, he's a strictly a
pocket quarterback. And Arthur Smith, six years coach and coordinators,
(20:06):
had one top ten offense. Remember, the Steelers lost their
best running back, their left tackling, their best receiver. No
other team in the NFL had that kind of losses
in offensive production.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (20:25):
After that disheartening four nil loss to Switzerland last night,
so the World Cups a year away on US soil.
The Gold Cup starts this weekend. So I'm gonna throw
a theory at you, is that as we have more play.
You were the first American, you played in the Italian League.
You went over and what was that like, nineteen you
(20:46):
went over and played in Italy eighty what.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Was it previous century? Let's just say century to nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Okay, So here's my take on this, that there's a
slight pivot that Jim Polisic and the top players are signaling.
They're saying, listen, two things matter in soccer now, our
stars making money in Europe and the World Cup, and
this stuff in between doesn't matter like it did years ago.
Now when you or Landon Donovan were going over we
(21:15):
didn't have the number of players. But Pulisics like, I'm
an Ac Milan second season, fifty grueling matches.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I don't care about the Gold Cup?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Could I just say that the world and it's actually
it's because of our talent that the world's changing, That
the European money's number two, world Cup's number one. But
maybe maybe stuff like the Gold Cup won't matter as
much anymore.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
You can say it. I don't know if it's necessarily true,
and if it is true, then it's a sad commentary
on well, I guess not how far we've come or
how much we've regressed, because you know, I still look
out and I see whether it's a messy or a
Christiano Ronaldo, and I know the play in different it's
(22:02):
a different context in terms of where they play in
the teams that they play for. But and I try
so hard calling not to grumpy old man this thing.
But I cannot fathom or understand or relate to if
and when you are called to represent your country, a
country that I feel is the greatest country in the world,
(22:22):
you saying no, I'm willing to give Christian Polisics some
grace if he needs rest, that's fine. I will remind
Christian and anybody else out there, last time I was
one hundred percent, I was ten years old. I think
the bigger problem is for Christian Polistic not to be
here this summer, is that you got to read the room, dude,
And I think this is a bad look for him,
(22:44):
for his agent, and for US soccer because look, you know,
I know we talk about politics every once in a while,
and I love politics, and you know this. This is
a situation where we've just come through an era where
at best you can call it, well, you know, some
dramatic spinning, but at worst it's gaslighting. I am not
here to do either one of those things to you
(23:06):
or to your audience. You deserve better, And the truth
is right now, this is a team, the US men's
national team, that is looked upon with criticism. There is
plenty of angst associated with it. And I think the
worst part is that there is apathy associated to this team.
And so in this moment when you have a chance,
yes it's the Gold Cup, to come in to represent
(23:28):
this country and to kind of set the course in
a much more positive type of way and create some
momentum that you need.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
By the way, a year before a home.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
World Cup, you say, no, that's a bad look for him.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
How about this is that though we have a group
of five or six elite players all overseas playing well, right,
that our talent pool is not as deep as you
know countries that we in the Netherlands. It could be Columbia,
it could be Spain. We're not as deep as Rams
or as Italy. Now I mean those countries like Germany too,
they have rebuilding World Cups like they're not always at
(24:04):
their peak. But our talent pool is pretty thin. And
Mauricio Pochettino, who loves younger players, last night said I'm
gonna roll the dice with their young guys, and last
night he discovered that that talent pool is just not there.
And so so last night was simply a wake up call,
and it was it was something that he needed.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
How about that, I think you're a little bit letting
Mauricio Puchetino off the hook. You know, he has a
pedigree when it comes to the club game, but not
the international game, and they are very, very different in
terms of the time that you are able to spend
with your team. He is being paid rumored to be
six million dollars a year and so he has been
(24:45):
hired to get us to a point that we haven't
been before. And look, this has been an abject failure
and certainly over the last couple of games. Ultimately he
will be judged by the World Cup, the Goal Cup.
Like I said, it's an opportunity now to make sure
that we are headed in a better direction. But those
two games that we just saw against Turkey A and
(25:07):
against Switzerland, these are not elites of the world. But
these are good teams and obviously they've shown that in
this form against this team they were better.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Jay Mackett said this.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I always felt, and you as a defender, I always
felt our stamp we were closer to Italy than Argentina
or Brazil. We were not that skilled. We had good goalkeeping.
If we did beat international teams, it was low scoring.
We could be physical yourself, Clint Dempsey, we had a
chip on our shoulder, but we were defense first. We
knew we weren't Argentina. We knew we weren't Brazil or
(25:40):
the Netherlands. We knew that, and so there was a
certain style and skill level that dictated that. I think
this is a more skilled group. And again, I think
we should be more aggressive. I always felt when we
played like England and Germany, we were playing for the
last fifteen minutes and see if we could come out
(26:01):
one nothing. We were just trying to keep it at
bay defense. Should we be more aggressive? And because that
is Mauricio's history, he likes young players and he is aggressive.
Do you because Jmax said this during the break, he goes,
what are we? Well, every good team in every sport
is something. What are we right now? With USA soccer?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
So we are representative of a country that is completely
unique relative to almost all of the rest of the world.
Obviously soccer is not king, but also when you look
at our diversity, that means incredible diversity of thought in
the way that people think about the game. And I've
talked about this fallacy that is the melting pot of
a national team. We have players from all over, not
(26:43):
just a country, but all over the world, and it's
very difficult to get eleven players on the field all
headed in the same direction in a country that thinks
about the game and is a diverse way as we do.
If I ask one hundred American soccer people out there,
what is the beautiful game, I'm going to get one
hundred different.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's not an.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Excuse, but it is a reality. And so Pochettino's job
is to make sure if he's got a dumb it down, fine,
but whatever it is, either you're on board or you aren't.
And I cannot tell you the amount of people that
have come up to me and said, you know what,
I will take a less talented US men's national team
at this point as long as they show some of
that traditional spirit and fight and they make us proud
(27:25):
by what they're doing. You know, the Supreme Court tried
to define obscenity many many years ago, and they said,
we can't do that, but we know it when we
see it. American soccer fans they know it when they
see it, and they have yet to see it with
this group. And that is concerning a year out from
the World Cup Like I said, if you had asked
me back in nineteen ninety four, what we would look
(27:45):
like on twenty twenty five, a year before the twenty
twenty six World Cup, the Men's World Cup returning to
the US. This is not what I have envisioned back then.
So we got to get ourselves in order on the
field and to a certain extent, off the field, because
this is coming down the pike, and it is coming fast,
and it behooves us to make sure that this is
a wonderful advertisement in the world, in what we do
(28:06):
on the field and what we do off the field.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
When Polisic decided not to play now, I would defend
him in that he's played fifty match seasons with Ac Milan.
That's rigorous soccer, and he just said, man, I need
a break here. I don't love it, but I get
the explanation. Tyler Adams is truly hurt. That's fine. But
did Politic send a message? Could I read into that?
(28:33):
I'm not sure if he loves this new coach. I
always thought he and Burholter got along. I thought the players,
like Burholter now Geo Raina, that we know about that situation.
But is Politic sending a message to me that he
doesn't necessarily love the guy that replays bur Halter or
or am I overstating just he's fatigued.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
No, I do think that he genuinely thinks that he
is fatigued, and he genuinely thinks that this is going
to help him. But look, if if the Herd was
in crisis, right, they came to you and said, listen,
we don't know if we're going to continue on with
this thing. You got a week to prove to us
that you deserve for us to continue on. And you said,
you know what, I got a vacation scheduled, So I'm
(29:18):
just going to bring in whoever, but everybody else has
to come in and work. That would look bad and
you would look bad in the process, And I would
think if this really means something to you, that you
would move heaven and earth to be there to try
to set this right. Now. Doesn't mean that it's all
going to go great, no, but at least you are
there in the trenches in the most important moment before
(29:40):
this World Cup, helping this team. So yeah, I mean, look,
Christian Polistic is going to be fine. He's a big boy,
all right, He's going to take his licks right now publicly,
which is which is fine. May him he may hit back.
I don't know, and I think he's going to be
there next summer and maybe in a strange way. This
puts the burden, if you will, or the onus on
(30:01):
Christian Polisic to bring it because he's rested and we
are going to expect more.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Fine, Christian, you got.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
To take the summer of twenty twenty five off. That
means that when you come in the summer of twenty
twenty six, you live up to the hype, which he
has to be fair to him, but you are the
best player on the field and you are a leader
on and off the field. That takes us into a
territory that we haven't been before.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Finally, what will satisfy you in the Gold Cup starting
this weekend? What will you be if they come out
of it? They're not going to win it, But what
would satisfy you if they didn't win it?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (30:34):
No, I'm still expecting them to win it, don't.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
This is still the Gold Cup. You can't have it
both ways, Okay, you can't. You can't tell me that
the Gold Cup is a lesser tournament, and it's and
and when it comes to competition, and okay, relative to
the World Cup, fine, But but then when we get
to the World to this Gold Cup, even with the
talent that we have, as poorly as they played in
the last two games, that you shouldn't expect.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Them to win it.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Are they the face Yabrits?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
But I expect them to rise to the occasion. They
hear everything that is being said right now, all right,
and I hope they take it to heart. Okay, And
it's nothing, Believe me, it's nothing compared to other teams
around the world when they falter right now. So whether
it's Mauritia Pochettino and some of the heat that he's
coming in for, or whether it's this group of players
that are there or the group of players that aren't there,
(31:21):
I hope you hear it, and I hope you react.
We shouldn't have to do that, but I hope that
it does light a fire under their asses and they
bring it when it comes to the Gold Cup and
then obviously for the next year, and then that magic
happens next summer. But they got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Alexi Lawless cutting through his O as my friend. Maybe
I'm just getting too worked up. Maybe I care too much.
That's my problem. I care too much.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
You never care too much. One cannot care too much,
my friend, You're a lover, not a fighter.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
I know that's right exactly.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Alexei Lawalis, Fox Sports soccer analyst
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot Com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go, Good show today, Sean mcphay of the Rams,
Alexi Lawalas bring Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your day. Jamac I
know your affinity in my affinity for soccer. I'll get
to that in five minutes. An absolute disaster for the
United States men's national team.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Do not downplay it. It is a disaster.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
It is rock bottom, and we continue to grab a
shovel and dig really, really bad.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I want to start though.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I think people sometimes think I have something against Aaron Rodgers,
and I just don't care yet do I think I
was the first media person, like nine ten years ago
to talk about his body language and how he was
increasingly playing safe and it was too caught up in
his passer rating and passive aggressive. Yeah I did, and
(01:22):
that's right, but that's not going to affect my opinion
about Pittsburgh. I think he'll be fine. I think he'll
miss a couple of games. I think he'll go you know,
eight to nine, nine and eight.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
But instead of that, let's just look at history of
top older star quarterbacks past their prime when they have
gone to a new environment. There's nine that come to mind.
I'm not talking Andy Dalton or Joe Flacco or Nick Foles.
I'm talking stars like Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers. So there's
nine that I would in recent history, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning,
(01:57):
Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers went to India, he had a
great year, Aaron Rodgers with the Jets, Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins,
Matt Ryan, and Cam Newton. Again, so how did it
work out for those nine? Well, let's put him in
two camps. One being successful. Brady won a Super Bowl,
Stafford won a Super Bowl, Peyton, Manning won a Super Bowl,
and Philip Rivers, I'll argue this all day, had a
(02:20):
great year in Indy. He was eleven and five ninety
seven passer rating that road playoff game against Buffalo. He
threw for over three hundred yards, two touchdowns, no picks.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
He was great.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean, Philip Rivers had a shockingly good year as
last year in the NFL in Indianapolis. And then you
have the other camp, the less successful camp, and that
would include obviously Aaron Rodgers with the Jets, and Russell
and Denver and Kirk Cousins in Atlanta, had Matt Ryan
with the Colts, and Cam Newton with Belichick in New England.
What's the common threat? What's the truth. The truth is,
(02:52):
if you have a defensive coach, as an old quarterback
past your prime or an inexperienced coach, it's gonna be turbulent.
It's not gonna be pretty. And the reason being older
quarterbacks they need fit. They can't just bulldoze or overwhelm
you with talent. Aaron Rodgers and his prime or Cam
(03:14):
Newton in their prime, they could be off in their mechanics,
they could miss a read it just they're like human erasers.
Once you get older, fit matters. Stafford needed, he needed McVeigh.
Brady sought out Bruce arians Peyton Manning had some success
early with John Fox, won a Super Bowl with Gary Kubiak,
(03:35):
and he again Philip Rivers had Frank Reich. Now Matt
Ryan's tough because Matt Matt also had Frank. But Matt
was really done as a quarterback. But if you start
looking at it, it's pretty clear that the Steelers lost
their left tackle, their starback, their best receiver, and are
completely toned deaf on offense. This is going to be hard.
This is a defensive coacher and a defensive head coach.
(03:57):
That's what it is. And by the way, Arthur Smith
the coordinator six years in the NFL, three as a
head coach, three as a coordinator, one top ten offense
and the other five bad.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Ugly ineffective.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So if you want to teach an old dog new tricks,
you need Seesar Milan, you need an emotional behavior expert.
And that is not what Pittsburgh is. That's why I
think older quarterbacks Peyton Manning when he got Kubiak or
Stafford got McVeigh. And even though Arians and Brady had
their fights, they came out after the bye week and
(04:34):
Tampa didn't lose again for the rest of the year.
Offensive coaches have a feel for offensive lines, the playbook.
I mean, Brady is largely admitted. They kind of laughed
at Belichick's lack of knowledge about offense. That's not a
shot at Mike Tomlin. It's a reality with defensive coaches.
So I think it's pretty clear it's going to be
pretty bumpy. I think I'm doing Aaron a solid saying
(04:55):
nine to eight. My guess is it could be seven
and ten. I think he will miss a couple of stars.
They have a great center, but I don't trust their
own line Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin. They've got a rookie
running back. They're crossing their fingers on. And here's why
Aaron chose the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
From my ego, I don't need it to keep playing.
A lot of decisions that I've made over my career
in life from strictly the ego, even if they turn
out well, are always unfulfilling. But the decisions made from
the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a
decision that was best for my soul. And I felt
like being here with coach t and the guys they
(05:33):
got here and the opportunity here was the best for me,
and I'm excited to be.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Here all right.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Speaking of soul or lack thereof, the United States men's
national team is one year from the World Cup on
a US soil, and starting this weekend they have the
Gold Cup, which matters. It's something, especially when you have
a new coach. And oh do we love to blame
the coach and never the players. USA soccer last night
(06:02):
was as bad as it gets. Forget the fact that
we have not beaten a European team since twenty twenty
one oh and seven to eight something like that. Last
night we gave up four goals to Switzerland in twenty
three minutes, the most humiliating loss ever. And that's not
a shot. That's not a shot at Switzerland. Okay, great
soccer country. That was embarrassing. Four goals conceded in twenty
(06:27):
three minutes. A year ago in the World Cup, we
only didn't we allowed like one goal in the group stage,
held England scoreless in the World Cup was a year
or two go.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Held England scoreless.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So hey, that guy Greg Buralter doesn't know what he's doing.
He's not getting the most out of our highly skilled players.
Burhalter is out of here. And then Jurgen Klinsman he
was a bomb, and then Bob Bradley's no good and
Bruce Arena. So they bring in Mari siol Otto from
(07:00):
Europe Tottenham.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
He's great with young players.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
He is, I'm told he is unbelievable with young players.
So last night he played a lot of those young
players and it was the most humiliating loss I can
ever remember for nothing.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Twenty three minutes.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So it's time once again for Uncle Collins twice annual
USA Soccer reality check.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Our talent pool.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It's interesting, it's the most interesting it's ever been, but
it is a really shallow pool. And last night, because
our best players, like Christian poolisic who's played in ac
Milan last couple of years and like really difficult fifty
game fifty match schedules, he's taken a breather, and Serginio
(07:50):
dest is taking a breather. He's a European player too,
Tyler Adams is injured, West McKenny beat up a little bit,
he's taken a breather, So there's an argument those are
four of our best players. So instead we played six
MLS guys and Malis Katino is discovering we are very
(08:12):
much in the kiddie pool, the shallow end. If we
don't have our first eleven in our best eleven, we
don't have much. Now, we got six or seven guys
planned in Europe, and that's more than we've ever had.
But countries like Switzerland and the top teams can often
have double that, and you just time and time again,
I don't want to hear about our best athletes play
other sports.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
They do.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
But when Christian Polisic is out, our creativity are scoring,
our imagination are easily most skilled player is out. I'm sorry.
It's the Calves without Lebron several years ago. We are
not the same. So, I mean, it's obvious that America
is lacking highly skilled laborers in tech, science and in soccer.
(08:56):
But last night was a reminder that if you take
polisicaut and our top four or five guys are not
playing injury, little load management need a rest after a
rigorous European schedule, we don't have much.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's MLS.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It is just a bunch of nonsense because this coach,
he's the guy, he knows young talent, he develops young talent. Really,
four goals twenty three minutes. Really, so go ahead. You
blamed Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, I mean Greg Berholtzer. I
thought that an unbelievable job. You go to the World
(09:34):
Cup stage, we allow one goal. We have always historically
been about defense, great goalies and good defense because we
don't have as many skilled players. We just don't. I
know it hurts, we don't. We got about five maybe
three last night.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
None. Here's a member of the losing squad after the game.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's really easy to look at one game what happened
to be like, oh, this is all going to piece
as they can't come back from this. But you look,
you can build up the twenty one to two, we
take down Roco three.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Zero, and then make it in the semifinal.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Like things changed not six months apart.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We accept that it's not good enough and we realized that,
and so that's where that's where the disappointment comes in.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
But at the same time, like we have to flip
the script.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
We gotta make sure that we did not come out
like that ever again, especially as we interne the Bold Cup.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Mauricio Pocatino four game losing streak. Bob Bradley didn't do that.
Jurgen Klensman didn't have that. Greg Berhalser didn't have that.
I think it's a reality check. And this European coach
who was great and Tattenham, I think he got him
to a runner up. He's very known as very aggressive,
(10:46):
very attacking and great with young players. We don't have
the players that we can attack. If Polisic, West, McKinney
and sergeniodsk are not there, we can't do that. We
just don't have the talent pool. I do not think
this guy is falling. I do not think it's falling.
But let's just say the roof needs repair. Jmack, you're laughing,
(11:08):
you are laughing.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Go ahead, I.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Don't want to say this guy's falling. Let me just
trash USA soccer for five minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
You could argue they started four guys who won't even
be on the World Cup roster next year.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
So I obviously the optics are terrible.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
I'm on a soccer text team with like twenty guys
and they were just you know, hammering the US.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
It was kind of a gutlass performance.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's one thing again, it is one thing to lose,
but to give up four goals, concede four goals in
twenty three minutes.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
You're not ready to play? Yeah, you are.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That is hard to do in hockey and soccer. That
doesn't happen by It's okay.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
We're gonna be fine.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
We're gonna go win the Gold Cup and then we're
gonna go to like the quarterfinals or semifinals of the
World Cup in one year. Don't It's gonna be fine.
Everything's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Our soccer schedule at the Gold Cup, Trinidad and Tobago,
judging by last night, that's a coin flip.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Don't stop it. Saudi Arabia and Haiti.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
We're going three and zero, probably outscoring them like seven
to one.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Just work that down. Okay, seven goals, Okay.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
We're gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Colin, It's okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Welcome back, So, actually a lot of stuff today. Alexi
Lallas is going to come in later. Rizio Pocacino is
the coach of USA men's soccer. Last night and they
are in a free fall, four straight losses, haven't beaten
the EUROPEA team since twenty twenty one. And again, a
lot of their players played in these kind of rigorous,
intense European schedules, so some of them are taking time off.
(12:48):
I get it, but the gold couple was felt like
it mattered to me. Maybe it doesn't anymore. But six
MLS players among the starters last night got routed. I
mean it was just awful. So we'll talk about that. Hey,
I thought this was probabmatic and this is every New
York Knicks worse fear coming to fruition. So yesterday Imiodoku
(13:08):
is a great coach, was with the Celtics for personal
reasons in appropriate behavior, got fired, went to Houston, very
good coach. The Knicks wanted to interview him since they
fired Tibbs, and the Rockets said no, they denied the
Knicks even an interview. Well, we all know Chris Finch
is great, he's with Minnesota, let's get him. And the
Tea Wolves denied the Knicks an interview. That's oll for
(13:30):
two the Mavericks Now, according to Shams, the Dallas Mavericks
have told the Knicks nope, you're not, you don't get
an interview with Jason Kidd. So the top three candidates
high profile, successful coaches.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Nope, nope, nope.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay, So does this mean that the at times very impulsive,
highly emotional James Dolan had no plan? So I said
this yesterday. Dolan has always seen himself as an artist.
He's in A and MGM entertainment. One of his best
friends is Irving Asoff, who used to own a record label,
(14:06):
a wildly successful marketer, manager and promoter of talent. And
it was still one of his best friends. I believe,
and that's okay that Dolan sees him. That's why I
went to Vegas and created the Sphere. Rock stars are
among his friends. But as we know with artists, sometimes
they can be impulsive and they can be emotional, and
James Dolan always loves the company of stars. And whether
(14:29):
it's Phil Jackson is a GM, well, it was kind
of Jerry West was kind of running the GM part.
Let's get Amari Stodammeire with bad knees. That's always been
James Dolan, impulsive. So when he went and built the
Spheres for a couple of years, he was removed I'm
not saying he's done. A smart guy, but he is
more artist than accountant. In my take is now he's
(14:52):
back in the fold, and there was According to reports,
he listened to his players, his stars, and his stars
grumbled tibbs, who practice them hard, who plays them a
lot of minutes? And he acquiesced to his star players.
And now they don't have a coach, and the top
three candidates he can't interview him. So when he was
(15:14):
gone for a couple of years, I had said this
multiple times and I did not consider it a shot
at James Dolan. It was a reality. He was distracted
in Vegas with a spear, a magical, musical entertainment mecca.
It's nothing like it in the world, never been, but
it's supposed to be amazing. And all I'm saying is,
(15:34):
did he act impulsively because when he was not there,
they were pragmatic, they were patient, they had a plan,
and firing TIBs it's not the same.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
He was the.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Culture, So you just fired the culture and that not
sheer talent is why you were so interesting and captivating
and good for two years. It just feels very impulsive
to me.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of the weekdays and
noon Eastern, not a Empacific.
Speaker 7 (16:03):
Hey, we're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 8 (16:08):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 8 (16:12):
To and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, you blubber lit lame in me.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 8 (16:54):
There you go over promising, and remember you could see
it on YouTube, but definitely join us listening over Promised
with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So I know you know this that last year was
a great not this past draft. The one before was
a great draft. Most of those quarterbacks went to the NFC.
Jaden Daniels, Michael Pennix, JJ McCarthy, Caleb Williams, bow Nicks
went to the AFC. But the reason the AFC has
been better than the NFC, not necessarily just the Super Bowl,
(17:27):
but but overall, is because the AFC for about a
seven year stretch kept hitting on quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
And you know C. J.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Stroud and Herbert and Burrow and Mahomes and Allen, they
just kept hitting and hitting and hitting on him. So
if the young NFC quarterbacks like Jaden Daniels and Caleb
and Pennix, if they can hit in that draft a
couple of years ago, it'll even things out. But right now,
the best quarterbacks in football are overwhelmingly in the AFC.
So now as Aaron Rodgers goes from the Jets to
(17:57):
the Steelers. He stays in the AFC again with a
defensive culture and a defensive head coach. I let's just
stay how good do we think he is compared to
the other now he's passed his prime.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
He's forty one year old.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Aaron With the other AFC quarterbacks, well, I'll just start
it with this, since twenty twenty two, and that includes
the last year in Green Bay, Aaron is not Geno Smith.
And I know you don't want to hear that, but
if you told me I had a game to win,
I'd take Geno. Gino right now moves, he's more mobile,
he's pretty close to his prime. They'll probably a bit
out of the prime. He has a better passer rating,
(18:33):
completion percentage, much larger yards per game, and he's wenty
more games. So and Gino's not in the upper tier
of the AFC quarterbacks in my opinion do I think
he's a little undervalued. But if I went today and
you told me best quarterbacks in the AFC, and I
mean maybe my orders not perfect or to your liking,
because I think Burrow last year honestly was the best quarterback,
I'd go Alan Mahomes, Burrow, Lamar that's the big four.
(18:55):
Nobody disputes. I'd go Herbert CJ. Stroud and I put
Geno seven. And again, when Gino has a run game
in his career in Seattle, he was good. His passer
rating's over one hundred, so we can say, now Gino's
Sam Darnold. When he's rattled or there's pressure, he can
be reckless. But if you give him time and you
(19:16):
give him a decent run game, Gino's.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
FIA's pretty good quarterback. He's a B plus plus.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
And I would put the eighth best quarterback, Bo Knicks,
who's going into year two with Sean Payton, and I
think bow Knicks is so much more athletic than anybody
wants to give him credit for. His running is a
huge element of that offense. And then number nine, I
think you get Aaron Trevor Lawrence in Tua, where it
kind of just depends on the game.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I don't trust too in bad weather up North.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Trevor Lawrence makes too many mistakes and Aaron's he is
a pocket quarterback, So that's kind of what you're looking at.
Can you make the playoffs with the ninth best quarterback
in the AFC? Absolutely, especially if your defense is great.
But that's kind of where he's at right now. He's
sort of in that toua Trevor Lawrence, Aaron Rodg. I
think that's fair. He's forty one, he's a strictly a
pocket quarterback. And Arthur Smith, six years coach and coordinators,
(20:06):
had one top ten offense. Remember, the Steelers lost their
best running back, their left tackling, their best receiver. No
other team in the NFL had that kind of losses
in offensive production.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (20:25):
After that disheartening four nil loss to Switzerland last night,
so the World Cups a year away on US soil.
The Gold Cup starts this weekend. So I'm gonna throw
a theory at you, is that as we have more play.
You were the first American, you played in the Italian League.
You went over and what was that like, nineteen you
(20:46):
went over and played in Italy eighty what.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Was it previous century? Let's just say century to nineteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Okay, So here's my take on this, that there's a
slight pivot that Jim Polisic and the top players are signaling.
They're saying, listen, two things matter in soccer now, our
stars making money in Europe and the World Cup, and
this stuff in between doesn't matter like it did years ago.
Now when you or Landon Donovan were going over we
(21:15):
didn't have the number of players. But Pulisics like, I'm
an Ac Milan second season, fifty grueling matches.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I don't care about the Gold Cup?
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Could I just say that the world and it's actually
it's because of our talent that the world's changing, That
the European money's number two, world Cup's number one. But
maybe maybe stuff like the Gold Cup won't matter as
much anymore.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
You can say it. I don't know if it's necessarily true,
and if it is true, then it's a sad commentary
on well, I guess not how far we've come or
how much we've regressed, because you know, I still look
out and I see whether it's a messy or a
Christiano Ronaldo, and I know the play in different it's
(22:02):
a different context in terms of where they play in
the teams that they play for. But and I try
so hard calling not to grumpy old man this thing.
But I cannot fathom or understand or relate to if
and when you are called to represent your country, a
country that I feel is the greatest country in the world,
(22:22):
you saying no, I'm willing to give Christian Polisics some
grace if he needs rest, that's fine. I will remind
Christian and anybody else out there, last time I was
one hundred percent, I was ten years old. I think
the bigger problem is for Christian Polistic not to be
here this summer, is that you got to read the room, dude,
And I think this is a bad look for him,
(22:44):
for his agent, and for US soccer because look, you know,
I know we talk about politics every once in a while,
and I love politics, and you know this. This is
a situation where we've just come through an era where
at best you can call it, well, you know, some
dramatic spinning, but at worst it's gaslighting. I am not
here to do either one of those things to you
(23:06):
or to your audience. You deserve better, And the truth
is right now, this is a team, the US men's
national team, that is looked upon with criticism. There is
plenty of angst associated with it. And I think the
worst part is that there is apathy associated to this team.
And so in this moment when you have a chance,
yes it's the Gold Cup, to come in to represent
(23:28):
this country and to kind of set the course in
a much more positive type of way and create some
momentum that you need.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
By the way, a year before a home.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
World Cup, you say, no, that's a bad look for him.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
How about this is that though we have a group
of five or six elite players all overseas playing well, right,
that our talent pool is not as deep as you
know countries that we in the Netherlands. It could be Columbia,
it could be Spain. We're not as deep as Rams
or as Italy. Now I mean those countries like Germany too,
they have rebuilding World Cups like they're not always at
(24:04):
their peak. But our talent pool is pretty thin. And
Mauricio Pochettino, who loves younger players, last night said I'm
gonna roll the dice with their young guys, and last
night he discovered that that talent pool is just not there.
And so so last night was simply a wake up call,
and it was it was something that he needed.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
How about that, I think you're a little bit letting
Mauricio Puchetino off the hook. You know, he has a
pedigree when it comes to the club game, but not
the international game, and they are very, very different in
terms of the time that you are able to spend
with your team. He is being paid rumored to be
six million dollars a year and so he has been
(24:45):
hired to get us to a point that we haven't
been before. And look, this has been an abject failure
and certainly over the last couple of games. Ultimately he
will be judged by the World Cup, the Goal Cup.
Like I said, it's an opportunity now to make sure
that we are headed in a better direction. But those
two games that we just saw against Turkey A and
(25:07):
against Switzerland, these are not elites of the world. But
these are good teams and obviously they've shown that in
this form against this team they were better.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Jay Mackett said this.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I always felt, and you as a defender, I always
felt our stamp we were closer to Italy than Argentina
or Brazil. We were not that skilled. We had good goalkeeping.
If we did beat international teams, it was low scoring.
We could be physical yourself, Clint Dempsey, we had a
chip on our shoulder, but we were defense first. We
knew we weren't Argentina. We knew we weren't Brazil or
(25:40):
the Netherlands. We knew that, and so there was a
certain style and skill level that dictated that. I think
this is a more skilled group. And again, I think
we should be more aggressive. I always felt when we
played like England and Germany, we were playing for the
last fifteen minutes and see if we could come out
(26:01):
one nothing. We were just trying to keep it at
bay defense. Should we be more aggressive? And because that
is Mauricio's history, he likes young players and he is aggressive.
Do you because Jmax said this during the break, he goes,
what are we? Well, every good team in every sport
is something. What are we right now? With USA soccer?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
So we are representative of a country that is completely
unique relative to almost all of the rest of the world.
Obviously soccer is not king, but also when you look
at our diversity, that means incredible diversity of thought in
the way that people think about the game. And I've
talked about this fallacy that is the melting pot of
a national team. We have players from all over, not
(26:43):
just a country, but all over the world, and it's
very difficult to get eleven players on the field all
headed in the same direction in a country that thinks
about the game and is a diverse way as we do.
If I ask one hundred American soccer people out there,
what is the beautiful game, I'm going to get one
hundred different.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's not an.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Excuse, but it is a reality. And so Pochettino's job
is to make sure if he's got a dumb it down, fine,
but whatever it is, either you're on board or you aren't.
And I cannot tell you the amount of people that
have come up to me and said, you know what,
I will take a less talented US men's national team
at this point as long as they show some of
that traditional spirit and fight and they make us proud
(27:25):
by what they're doing. You know, the Supreme Court tried
to define obscenity many many years ago, and they said,
we can't do that, but we know it when we
see it. American soccer fans they know it when they
see it, and they have yet to see it with
this group. And that is concerning a year out from
the World Cup Like I said, if you had asked
me back in nineteen ninety four, what we would look
(27:45):
like on twenty twenty five, a year before the twenty
twenty six World Cup, the Men's World Cup returning to
the US. This is not what I have envisioned back then.
So we got to get ourselves in order on the
field and to a certain extent, off the field, because
this is coming down the pike, and it is coming fast,
and it behooves us to make sure that this is
a wonderful advertisement in the world, in what we do
(28:06):
on the field and what we do off the field.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
When Polisic decided not to play now, I would defend
him in that he's played fifty match seasons with Ac Milan.
That's rigorous soccer, and he just said, man, I need
a break here. I don't love it, but I get
the explanation. Tyler Adams is truly hurt. That's fine. But
did Politic send a message? Could I read into that?
(28:33):
I'm not sure if he loves this new coach. I
always thought he and Burholter got along. I thought the players,
like Burholter now Geo Raina, that we know about that situation.
But is Politic sending a message to me that he
doesn't necessarily love the guy that replays bur Halter or
or am I overstating just he's fatigued.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
No, I do think that he genuinely thinks that he
is fatigued, and he genuinely thinks that this is going
to help him. But look, if if the Herd was
in crisis, right, they came to you and said, listen,
we don't know if we're going to continue on with
this thing. You got a week to prove to us
that you deserve for us to continue on. And you said,
you know what, I got a vacation scheduled, So I'm
(29:18):
just going to bring in whoever, but everybody else has
to come in and work. That would look bad and
you would look bad in the process, And I would
think if this really means something to you, that you
would move heaven and earth to be there to try
to set this right. Now. Doesn't mean that it's all
going to go great, no, but at least you are
there in the trenches in the most important moment before
(29:40):
this World Cup, helping this team. So yeah, I mean, look,
Christian Polistic is going to be fine. He's a big boy,
all right, He's going to take his licks right now publicly,
which is which is fine. May him he may hit back.
I don't know, and I think he's going to be
there next summer and maybe in a strange way. This
puts the burden, if you will, or the onus on
(30:01):
Christian Polisic to bring it because he's rested and we
are going to expect more.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Fine, Christian, you got.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
To take the summer of twenty twenty five off. That
means that when you come in the summer of twenty
twenty six, you live up to the hype, which he
has to be fair to him, but you are the
best player on the field and you are a leader
on and off the field. That takes us into a
territory that we haven't been before.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Finally, what will satisfy you in the Gold Cup starting
this weekend? What will you be if they come out
of it? They're not going to win it, But what
would satisfy you if they didn't win it?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (30:34):
No, I'm still expecting them to win it, don't.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
This is still the Gold Cup. You can't have it
both ways, Okay, you can't. You can't tell me that
the Gold Cup is a lesser tournament, and it's and
and when it comes to competition, and okay, relative to
the World Cup, fine, But but then when we get
to the World to this Gold Cup, even with the
talent that we have, as poorly as they played in
the last two games, that you shouldn't expect.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Them to win it.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Are they the face Yabrits?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (31:01):
But I expect them to rise to the occasion. They
hear everything that is being said right now, all right,
and I hope they take it to heart. Okay, And
it's nothing, Believe me, it's nothing compared to other teams
around the world when they falter right now. So whether
it's Mauritia Pochettino and some of the heat that he's
coming in for, or whether it's this group of players
that are there or the group of players that aren't there,
(31:21):
I hope you hear it, and I hope you react.
We shouldn't have to do that, but I hope that
it does light a fire under their asses and they
bring it when it comes to the Gold Cup and
then obviously for the next year, and then that magic
happens next summer. But they got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Alexi Lawless cutting through his O as my friend. Maybe
I'm just getting too worked up. Maybe I care too much.
That's my problem. I care too much.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
You never care too much. One cannot care too much,
my friend, You're a lover, not a fighter.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
I know that's right exactly.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Alexei Lawalis, Fox Sports soccer analyst
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