July 7, 2026 • 41 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon open the show with their immediate thoughts and reactions following the USMNT's loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 of the World Cup. Jason explains why Christian Pulisic is overrated.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You didn't need to watch a game. You could have
just listened to the last eight seconds and that tells
you everything you need to know about what happened tonight
between Belgium and the United States, the Balligan controversy, President
Trump getting involved, should he play, should he not? Should
he be benched? Should he not? Well, when you play
(00:49):
a craptastic game all around, generally nothing else matters other
than that, because hey, it's over now in Seattle. Belgium
is defeat of the United States. For one, we are
out of the World Cup and this game was just
a disaster from the jump. We have four hour post
(01:09):
mortem on Team USA and the World Cup and the
battlet controversy. But I'll tell you what, Mike Harmon. Sometimes
it's as simple as saying, boy, this was not the
same team we saw the first four games of this tournament.
And sometimes you just pick a bad time to have
a bad game. And this was across the board, the
(01:30):
worst game you could see from the United States, and
no questions, no ups downs, what if that they picked
a bad time to have a bad game and now
we're going home.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
What I was telling you, they don't have to be
the heavywear and it's the old beautiful girls line. They
don't have to look like they did in high school. Right,
the big, bad, badass defensive lineman doesn't need to wreck
people like he used to. He just needs to wreck you.
And so the Belgium team that didn't look like the
Belgium teamians of years past, except for back in what
(02:02):
was it March? I believe it was the the five
to two defeat, no starting goalie, all of those things.
They came out and they just hammered them from pillar
to post. I mean it was just a one sided effort.
You saw the uh, the opportunities that every once in
a while you did break into the attacking third only
(02:23):
to kick the ball out of bound yourself, only to
mishandle a touch, only to mishandle a touch out of
bounds just and then that third goal.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I felt like I was living in my.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Past club soccer matches watching that, going Okay, this is
where the goalie goes to handle the ball, doesn't always
do it Smith, I am beyond beyond ticked and what
I just witnessed.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
See, the thing is, I don't think Belgium did anything
special tonight except the United States is not ready for
this moment.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Well that's it. You didn't have to be special.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
They changed their lineup, their two biggest goal scorers are
coming off the bench now right, and they still put
three goals on us right before they subbed into the game.
And Lucock, who came in in the seventy.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Fife four Nett came in and he did his magic again.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We looked terrified from the beginning of the game. We
look We looked like how I remember the United States
national team looking in World Cups and in big games
defensively the last fifteen years, where it looks like we
didn't We had no communication, We didn't play with any confidence.
On the back line, nobody knew where they were supposed
(03:29):
to be. Oh my god, Tim Reim, Tim reim his
last game should be his last games the US men's
national team should have been his last game in the
middle of the first half. But like I said it
going in, what was my one question about about the
men's national team? How good is our back line? Is
our back line good enough? Everything else seemed good tonight,
Everything was craptastic, but the back line was awful. You
(03:51):
didn't see any communication, you didn't know where they were
supposed to be on set pieces. They were giving up
chances and it could have been three nothing in the
first fifteen minutes, and Matt Freese made a couple of
things before he says I'm gonna give one back in
the second half. But really, like they looked like the
team USA from the last fifteen years where they get
to a certain point of the tournament where we play
against another team and they're just at another class than
(04:13):
we are. Except we did this to ourselves tonight, not
being ready for the game, playing flat, playing our worst
game more so than anything the other team did. Right, Like,
you want to go back and say, hey, here's a button,
like when we lost to Belgium. You know, you go
back fifteen years we lost that, you know in twenty
eleven to Belgium twenty fourteen. Like that Belgium team was
really good, right, and they were, and you could see
(04:35):
fundamentally we were not in the right places, and I
wonder what was going on tonight? It was it was just, Hey,
we're not doing anything special. We're just gonna go out
play our game. We're gonna play younger players, We're gonna
pressure you the out of the gate. And the United
States has not played a game where they don't come
out of the gate controlling the first fifteen minutes. And
when you get punched them out in the first five
(04:56):
minutes of the game, WHOA, how do you react? And
it took the United States the entire f to really
respond to that, and they never really did. So I
watched this game and I go, this looks like I'm
watching a game from twenty eighteen or twenty fourteen or twelve.
I mean, this is this is how far back I go,
or I think this is what they looked like tonight.
We're defensively, they just had no idea what was going on.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, that's the biggest part. You mentioned the two guys
that didn't start, I mean de Bruna didn't start, Doku
didn't start lukaku. We knew we'd see later on so
you'd get the big bull rush late. But all of
it just right off the jump, looking uncomfortable. And we
talked about it a lot between the back line and
me raising my hand sheepishly, just going this looks great.
(05:39):
I like the aggressiveness. Can we keep this? And then
you get the step up in class. Right Belgium, what
were they ranked ninth or thereabouts in the FIFA rankings
as we came into this game tonight. So it's like,
all right, we took care of business in these other matches,
but they were all teams that, let's face it, on
the surface, you say, well we should handle well, yeah,
(06:00):
had the wild card for a couple of days. Are
we gonna have our striker?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Are we not?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
And then while we get the word yesterday, I was
on air as it broke and just beyond uh disbelief
of okay, well here we go. Uh And that did
nothing for us, no attack, no semblance of cohesion up
front and the back line.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I mean that that's droches.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'm getting texts so all over the place going you like, defense,
where the hell is it?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Why didn't it show up tonight.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Like, oh no, everywhere else the legion of boom built, come.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
On the thing. It's like you could say that, but
you could say, look, Sergenio desk was terrible, right, and
I said at halftime, you have to do something. In midfield.
Raina came in and things were a little bit better. Everywhere.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
I looked politically scared.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He looked like he was just running up in dead
We'll get we'll get into Polisic because there's a bigger
conversation that we had about him. But he looked like
he was just running up and down the field in
the first half.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
He looked like Steve Rodgers. He was supposed to be
Captain America.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I mean, you see why the big deal over Balligan
because anytime the United States got him the ball, he
was able to almost make something happen entirely by himself.
That's why he's just so good. But everything else across
the board. Okay, So we were out coaching in the
beginning because we weren't ready for the pressure that Belgium
was gonna put on us. Defensively. There was no communication.
I don't know what happened on the first couple of
(07:17):
goals we fell asleep after we scored our first goal
and allowed them to come in a minute later and
basically run the same kind of play they scored the
first goal on right, Like, there is no one person
I can say, boy, they were great today, Well, they
were absolutely fantastic. He Tilman had a really good game. Right,
Tilman had a really good game, and they're doubling him
at the end because he was the only one that
(07:38):
was having a really good game. I will say Tillman
had a really good game, not just the set piece,
but he had a really good game. And you can
tell at the end. Okay, he and Baligan were the
two guys they knew they had to stop. But overall,
like this was just a complete and total Sometimes teams
just come up flat. And we can get into just
the effect of the reinsertion of Balligan in and the
(07:58):
suspension of the red card and President Trump's involvement, like
we can get into all of that, but bottom line,
like they came into this game and it was just
they were flat from the beginning. They didn't know how
to respond. They had no plan. Offensively, they couldn't they
couldn't control the middle of the field, and that was
a really big deal. Was like, okay, it's it's gonna
be long ball haven. They're just try trying to get
up to Baligan in the second half because they can't
(08:21):
control the middle of the field at all. Like, I
can't tell you there was any point where I really
felt confident, even after we scored to tie the game
at one a piece and said, okay, well there was
a we expended a lot to come back there. We
still aren't playing well. We get a break off of
a set piece because Baaligan gets pushed, okay, and then
the rest of the game it was just, yeah, we
can't do anything, and Belgium was just content to sit
(08:44):
back and wait for us to throw up on ourselves.
And that's exactly what we did. Every They just waited
for us to make mistakes, and we made mistakes and
they pounced on it right the second goal, the third goal.
They just waited for us to not be able to
have enough focus or desire or or or enough guts
to make a play to make the right play, to
(09:04):
lose focus, and they were there right away for everything
they needed to do in that game. Like that, That's
what was really bad. That was really sucks for me
is that if we had lost this game three two
or four to three or two to one, it was
a great game back and forth. We had some chances
and you know, defensively it played well. Okay, but this
is really tough to swallow because I kind of feel
like jesse Marsh were the better team. I kind of,
(09:27):
but I feel like with there that that was not
nearly the game. We should have given them, right like
jesse Marsh to win. You know, maybe maybe Belgium's good
enough to win right there. Higher ranked team than us,
they're a FIFA top ten in the world, but we're
not far behind. We're fifteen or sixteen like that. That
looks at a tough part. No, that's a tough part
is that I know we're better than this and we
didn't give them that kind of game. That that's the
(09:47):
most upsetting part.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, from from start to finish, Like there are just
so many times you're you're scratching your head, you're shouting
at your television, maybe you're throwing things at your television.
Maybe you're like that guy from Mexico that made the
rounds on on social media where you shot your TV
like Elvis. After the match ended, I don't know, but
just a dismal effort all around, and everything you say,
(10:09):
just punctuate it, you know. Unlike the Canadian squad, the
United States did have a lead in possession and accurate passes,
and we were really accurate in our shooting. I mean
we had two shots on Gold scored once.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, no, that's true. If we could have got ten shots,
we would have won five four.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean tell you just light it up.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
But all of it just from the jump, right, you
got the ruling nobody expected, but seems like a nice bonus.
You're in front of what has been termed the loudest,
most aggressive, best place to play in front of fans,
right the Seattle. We talk about the beast quake. We
talked about it when they played there before. Right, the
(10:51):
reaction that you get off juice and there was nothing
to get the crowd fully into the game right off
the jump. After fifteen minutes, we got more folks in
a prayer pose than screaming and yelling towards the towards
the pitch because you're just getting man handled and not
being able to connect, not being able to the back line.
(11:12):
We knew was potentially a major issue. And then you
saw the just discombobulated and lack of cohesion at all
back there in terms of clearing away. The amount of
space that Belgium was able to operate in just throughout
the game just leaves you bewildered because you've built up
(11:34):
all this good will and that's the outside stuff, and
that's great. And then we have the ruling and then
you literally had folks saying that we hope we lose. Okay,
go do with that what you will, but it's the idea.
Then you come out flat, You come out flat foot.
How do you not come out running like you're gonna
run through a brick wall?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know? That's the thing is that, Like you know,
every you're gonna hear a lot of people say that
and say, boy, how do you come out flat? How
do you come out flat? But that's something in sports.
You could say eighty years ago, you could say sixty
years ago, you could say forty years ago, you could
say twenty years ago, you could say five years ago,
you could say today. Sometimes teams just come out flat
(12:14):
and there's no reason for it, they just do. And
I it's it's I know people are gonna look at
this and say, oh my god. But how many times
have you seen teams come out flat in the big
playoff game in the NFL, right in a big playoff
game in the NBA. How many times you see a team, Hey,
how are we out? How we getting worked like this?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Right?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
How is this happening to us? Are? How are we
out so flat in this right? NHL two, especially when
you can say, boy, how are we getting getting men
headled up and down the icy? We're a better team.
It happens. Sometimes I wish there was a way to go.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
We don't know what says, Hey, we got Nike plus minutes.
Let's go ahead and at this and come at it
slowly in a place where we've never been, where the
nation has never been this excited about what we're about
to do.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
But hey, let's lease into this.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I mean, I wish there was a way to figure
it out. I wish there. But but teams have come
out flat in big game since the beginning of time.
And it's it doesn't make sense, and everybody questions why,
and there's no answer for it. It's just sometimes you
just do. And again, you could talk about the emotion
coming off of yesterday and Baligan coming back when they
thought they didn't have him, and we'll get into the
effect that had coming up in a few minutes, because
(13:19):
you know, really that that's the big story still is that.
But this game here is like, okay, they can't and
and I thought, okay, well at least they've been you know,
they get the goal by Tillman and that's gonna get
him back in it. But wow, man, you fall asleep
again and tim Reen gets beat again and all the
good everything you had going on was just out the
window at that point. Like that's the point when when
(13:40):
they got that second goal a minute later and tim
Reen just got got absolutely abused on that goal. Uh
I that's what That's where I said, oh man, this
is this is not gonna go. That's when Poachatino kicked
the up power it over. Like when I saw that happen,
I said, oh man, that's because that that's just a
that's just number one. It's it's it's bad play. It's
(14:02):
not learning from the first play, because it was basically
the same play that you had first where hey, they
were coming in on the left side and that was
open and you know again that moment just took so
much wind out of the sales and then freeze his mistake,
which we'll get to, but like, I mean, there's so
many things to talk about this, but just that they
never were able to get a sense of anything going,
(14:22):
you know, because it's not like they played really really
well and they got that first goal. It's okay, they
had a bad a good play, right, they had a
good play that got the first goal, and then a
minute later it was we were chasing again and that
really was it? Like that was that was a huge
take the wind out of your sales moment. Man, That was.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Literally what a minute and a second?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I mean again, sometimes you pick a bad time
to have your worst game, when your entire team plays bad,
and this was the worst time for that to happen.
Sometimes it's that simple, right, I know, Like you know,
there's a lot of minu shit to get to on it,
but sometimes it's just that simple.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah, bad, bad, bad, more bad. And then when you
did have a big chance and a while open net,
as you and I are both watching replayers, Balligin kicks
it straight into the goalie who's gone to the short side,
which I believe we have that audio if we want
to hear how that sounded.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You know, one of my best friends is in Scotland
right now. Is one of the best friends. We coached
soccer together for a long time. And he's on a
big delay obviously, so it was like two thirty in
the morning for the second half, and he says, all right,
I gotta go to bed. We're up at seven o'clock
to sight see. But I'm gonna I'm gonna get up
early and watching him, but I gotta go to sleep
and watch a second half. He goes, just, you know,
(15:33):
send me, send me a text to sum it up
for me just before I get out. So I get it,
and I said, okay, great. So I waited and I
sent him a text and said, don't watch this game.
Just watch the second half of any game we've played
in the last fifteen years in the World Cup. He'll
get exactly he'll get exactly what we looked like in
the second half tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
That about sums it up, nice man.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Unfortunately, he also that means he stayed up long enough
to go to bed with a stomach ache after watching
the first thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh yeah, I mean that it was just absolutely awful.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
This was I had my acid reflux going. I'm looking
for the Toms, all that good will, Jason, all that
I know, I know, punch me in the face.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, we're just getting started. What kind of impact did
the Balligan ruling allowing him to play have on the
game tonight. I think our answer is going to surprise you.
That's coming up next, Jason to Mike Fox Sports Radio. Well,
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this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Throat every day.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
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Speaker 2 (18:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
App Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Carmon Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Yesterday, United
States goes out to Belgium four to one. Is your
final United States out of the World Cup. And oh,
(18:43):
by the way, the tiny story about oh the Flowbaalagan
being allowed to play after his red card was suspended
for this game, which we'll get to in a minute. However,
before we get to that, just to tell you about
just when we talk about fundamentals and how this was
not the same team that we watch play the first
(19:05):
four games of this tournament, right, this was not the
same team. Right. They had a bad day, They had
a bad game that came out flat. The first goal
by Belgium, you're gonna hear it right now, And of
all of the goals, this is the one that upset
me the most. This is how it went out and
how the United States got out down one nothing, not
even four seconds into the game.
Speaker 7 (19:25):
It's infield the US, it's hand stating a bouncing.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Ball picked up in the box and.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
It was the Cantlau first to react in there in
the cross. The UF players cruise defensively and now they're
in an early hole against Belgium.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Big fox on the call. When when I saw that
goal go in, that was where all of the memories
of the last fifteen years and just came flooding back
to me like all at once, Like like I remember
the first time I had a like a Schlitz or
a like like one of those beers used to drink
all the time in college because it was cheap. And
the first time you had when paps blue ribbon, like
(20:02):
ten twelve years later, go oh man, I'm back in college.
This is fantastic. Like as soon as I saw that goal,
I said, this is exactly what I've seen problems with
the United States. As you heard play by play, the
United States defensively did not know what to do. And
I can't believe that, but that's exactly what happened. But
watching Tim Reim guard nobody guard Grass where he could
(20:25):
have made the three decisions he made, He could have
gone to the ball, he could have gotten the way
of the ball and stopped the crossing pat play from
coming in. He could have gone to the player and
stop the ball from getting in there. Instead, he just
stopped and guarded grass ten twelve feet away from Matt
Freeze and watch the ball just go right in front
of him and the ball goes in the net. And
(20:46):
I saw that, I said, what the hell is he doing?
What are we doing? What are we doing? What's going on?
What are we doing? What's going on? Like when I said,
I said, this is everything that's been bad about the
United States national team the last fifteen years, and here
we are. Nobody's even sat down yet. I had a
chance to eat a sandwich, and we're down one nothing
because Belgium got out off the jump and for some reason,
(21:08):
again I told you our back line. I didn't know
how good they were. I didn't think they'd be this bad,
especially a team that wasn't even playing its best start
and best scorers. Like that's what's so embarrassing is that
their best scorers sat on the bench till the seventy
fifth minute and they still put three goals on us
because they just waited for us to throw up on ourselves.
Like I don't get I don't get all three goals
were bad, but that one. I'm just watching Tim Reem
after the goal and he puts his hands out and
(21:29):
I want to go, what do you put your hands
out for him? And that's on you. That was so abysmal.
You just stood there and guarded grass. That's what you did.
The grass was not gonna score and that played my garment.
If the grass thought they were gonna come up and
score that goal. The grass was not gonna score that goal.
And that's where I said, this is gonna be bad.
This is gonna be bad.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
No, And Count Dooku wasn't even on the pitch at
that point. He was sitting out because he'd been sick
so minutes and all of that coming back. But his
tag team partner doesn't get off without at least a
smack in this as well as Freeze is too busy
looking for the off side than to make him play
on the damn ball or the guy that.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Goes to touch it. Yeah, Like he just stands there
and that was what Reim.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Did as well.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
He's looking to the official like as all say, no,
play some damn defense.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
It was do one of those three things. Do something,
even if it's wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Hey yeah, but but but you know, soccer players, the
best thing they're good at is is right after a
bad play pointing out that something happened and that's why
the goal went in right away away there was off
side or I know, something happened here, there was a foul.
There was this bird flew on the field, the second
ball came out of the field, A kid ran on
the fields like they're great at that, and they look
at it right away, And I mean that was that
(22:42):
was so deflating right out of the gate. And I
was hoping we would respond and respond, but we were flat.
We were flat, and we were stagnant and we couldn't.
Not control in the middle of the field was a
really big deal, right, Like I think the stagnancy and
the flatness that had a lot to do with it
because we we you know, we couldn't get the ball up,
we couldn't sustain attacks. Belgium had the ball in the
middle of the field. They did really well in the
first half before he woke up a little bit, put
(23:04):
some creativity in the in the lineup in the second
half and played a little bit better. But overall, when
I saw that play from by Reim. I just said,
come on, really, this early in the game, really the
first play, really that this is, this is how we're
giving up this goal in the beginning of the game.
He just stands there and watches it and does of
all the things you can do, he did nothing right.
That's the whole point, is that he doing nothing, not
like I did the wrong thing, but I did it,
(23:26):
you know, full tilt, running my head through a wall. Hey, hey,
I went. I went full tilt after this. Man, I
did the wrong thing. But man, was I really brave
about it. You know, this is I'm gonna stand here
and then and I don't know, I don't know what.
And the thing is, you can see the play, right
you can. He can see the crossing pass coming, and
so he knows that, Okay, I'm doing no good standing here.
I'm doing no good standing here, but I'm still gonna
(23:47):
stand there and because I don't know what's going on
in the box and all of the miscommunication. I really,
of the three goals that were I mean, they were
all bad. In the freeze goal makes you want to
pull your hair out. That went to me, that was
the worst.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, when you look at it at this one. I
watched it in slow motion to torment myself repeatedly. He's
doing the shuffle, Reem is in into the area like
he's going to make a play on the ball. He's
turned completely facing the play in front of him, and
then makes no play on the ball. I don't know
if he's expecting Freeze to be there to come and
(24:18):
grab it because he's too busy looking for offsides. He's
not even coming to make a play on the ball,
and it skates straight into the centering pass is perfect
and they run right in. Just an abysmal defensive play.
What are we nine and a half minutes into or
eight and a half minutes into the game. As this
comes over, you have the great cross that sets it
(24:41):
all up, and the United States defense flat footed and confused,
just miserable.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Now obviously the big story coming in a story that
was so white hot. I mean, you couldn't even tell,
You couldn't eat on your computer without the what the
white hotness of it coming through the screen. Flow Ballagan
allowed to play in this game after FIFA suspends his
red card for a period of a year, allowing him
to play in this game. Part of it depending how
(25:10):
much you wanna you wanna read into it that President Trump,
he called the president of FIFA and said, hey, this
is not a red card. I didn't like it. Please
look into it. Well, they looked into it, and then
the night before the game they decided no flow Ballagan
can play. All day today, there's been so many different
things about this, like, oh, Trump shouldn't have said anything,
You shouldn't have stayed, and I shouldn't have got involved.
(25:31):
Now FIFA should FIFA should not not cow tw I mean,
who knows what you know how much Trump had an
influence on it. I'm sure he had a pretty good influence.
When the President of the United States, you know, tells
a guy he knows who runs FIFA, Hey, take a
look at this. But the bottom line is this. This
is where isaig when you think I'm gonna zeg. I
don't want to hear anything about Baligan shouldn't have played,
(25:52):
or the USA was off tonight because of the ruling.
I don't want to hear any of that crap. Everybody
wanted Baligan to play. It was a bad red card,
and a right was and a wrong was right. He
was able to play. If that's on the United States
or not being able to handle that time, not being
ready for prime time because of it. That's on them, right,
that's on us as a country not being able to
(26:13):
handle when something like that happened. It was a really
big story. It was a huge deal. And and I'm
not going to sit here and say, oh, boy, well
maybe they were off because they got BA ball. Goanna
play with them. The entire the entire lead up, right,
it's out all of a sudden, we're all we have
to move things around. Right, he had just played, right,
he had just played. He got a red card, he
missed the second half of the game. Don't give me this.
He shouldn't have played. The United States was off, it
(26:34):
had happened. It was no everybody wanted him to play.
It's like people want to get creative now and go
oh yeah, yeah, see I knew that would throw the
United States off. No, no, no, he was And obviously
we needed him today because he was still a guy
that you saw offensively when he got the ball. He
was able to create chances. He is that talented. So
I don't want to hear for a second where oh
it threw us off? It was this. I actually I
(26:56):
could tell you that I could see it with the
Knicks in Game three at Madison Square Garden, simply because
President Trump deciding to come to the game, just because well,
when the president comes to any sporting event, okay, there's
different things that are followed, right. You heard Jose Alvarado
talk about this on the podcast saying, you know, that
day didn't really feel like a home game. Was the
first finals game for the Knicks, and you know, fifty
(27:18):
some on year, a long time or twenty five years,
but to say we didn't have our normal routine because
the President was there. We couldn't stay where we normally
stay in a hotel, and we had to go through security,
and warm ups were different, all of this, and you know, look,
athletes are creatures of habits. So okay, I get a
little bit of that where we were off. I mean still,
you know, the Knicks lost the game, but I understand
a little bit of that because Trump coming to the
(27:39):
game was something that, Okay, this is gonna affect everybody
getting on the court and playing in the game. This
was just whatever it was you wanted the guy to play, right,
how are you? I mean, I don't know anybody, I
don't know anybody that you could sit here and say, yeah,
you shouldn't have played if we didn't have Balligan, I
don't know when we would have had any any kind
of pressure. Because he got us the first goal by
being so dangerous. He got pushed in the back like
it could have been five nothing or six nothing, like
(28:00):
I don't want to hear once all the USA was
off because of the ruling, you want him to play.
It's not like that to play with him for a
long time and reinsert him back in the lineup like
it was all there. This is not on the ruling
keeping him out or getting him back in.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah, the quickie on the ruling.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
As I said yesterday, it felt so what's that word FIFA?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Now?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
As for actually getting on the pitch and playing, he's
still the guy in the blue jersey. Pass him the ball,
get him like that's the thing. You know who your
teammates are. This is insured skins and you're just meeting
on the playground or running with Adam Sandler and Nan
Tuckett on a pickup game. You know all the guys
you know, So trying to push that as a narrative
(28:44):
at this threw you off. You had thirty six hours
since the ruling came down to go and if there
were an adjustment or two, Hey, you know what where
we had that change that back that guy doesn't have
to start now, Okay, cool, that's it.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
There's your decision for But you know it.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Doesn't absolve any of the other guys of their dereliction
of duty. But to try to use it as an
excuse or to try to say as many of it,
see it's all Trump like this morning, begrudgingly on some level.
Didn't you have to if you were watching and paying
attention to this at all, say well, you know you
(29:25):
use the thumb on the scale last Wednesday when the
call came down. I don't know if it's a thumb
and a forefinger or whatever it is. If that helped
to get him back on the pitch then, and maybe
FIFA on a grander scale is revisiting all their processes,
procedures whatever. I don't know what's real, what's imagined. All
I know is we had our best striker available and
(29:46):
we came out with the flattest effort that we have
seen well since the Last World Come. Yeah, look, if
you're looking for excuses, say that, right, if you're looking
for excuses.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Say that. But if you're really looking to say, Okay,
what was at Faull for this, that's not it, man.
I mean really to reach there's there's no change, right,
I mean, what was the change? Hey, Peppy, you're not starting. Hey,
that's it. That's all you need.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Hey, Peppy, you're not starting. Remember before? Yeah, you're gonna
do that again. They're not starting.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Oh okay, that's it. Yeah, we're back, guys, we're back.
Like this was more the United States couldn't handle the
moment than it was than it was anything else. They
could not handle this moment. They were not ready. Uh.
And and so if you want to say that about it, okay,
because did the moment? Did because Baaligan comes back in
and there's such an uproar about it. Okay, yeah, I
(30:37):
could see a little bit of that that maybe you
know that that was part, But that's still where you
got to suck it up and play like this. We're
not ready for the moment. We're not ready for this moment.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Right. It's the old.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
As soon as that first play the whistle blows, the
balls in play, basketball, soccer, whatever you're playing, red light
comes on. Here you and I can be screaming at
each other. We're blue in the face, red light comes on.
We got to get after it, baby. I mean that's
the way it goes. Same thing if you're a ballplayer,
I don't care about your DAN routine. Once the ball
goes up, you got to go back to what you've learned,
(31:08):
how you've trained, because it's time to play some basketball.
Here you're on the pitch, and you got the gift
of this guy coming back that nobody saw coming, and
then you had thirty six hours to ponder it before
you got on the pitch. I just baffled at some
of the Well, I'm really not. It's typical for where
(31:28):
we're at as a larger society. Find a Boogeyman.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon Time how
to find out what's trending in the wide world of
sports from Special Delivery Steve the Seger. Oh but he
got for us tonight, what's happening?
Speaker 8 (31:44):
Well, it was turned back the clock Knight in Seattle
looked like every other round of sixteen game I can
remember in the last twenty years. Yeah, and every game
against a European squad that I can pretty much remember,
with the exception of Bosnia last week, because that ended
a thirteen game win list when it was US against
a European side ozero and eleven and two draws in
(32:05):
that time span. Bosnia, it is not Belgium. I probably
don't need to say that out loud, but coming into
the tournament, Bosnia Hertzegovina ranked sixty fourth in the world,
behind Burkina, Fasso and Jordan.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Meanwhile, Belgium top ten.
Speaker 8 (32:20):
In the world and they are now undefeated in their
last eighteen games, twelve to zero with six ties. Tonight's
game very much reminded me. Do you remember when Copa
America South America's championship a decade ago? They were having
their one hundredth anniversary of the tournament, so they decided
to hold all the games in the US and invited
the US in Mexico to be in the tournament and
granted a smaller sized tournament. But the US made a run.
(32:43):
But then we had to play Argentina, you know, a
real team and Messi and we lost four nothing. And
a few days before that, Mexico got beaten seven nothing
by Chile, and in the last twenty years of the
World Cup, when the US makes the round of sixteen,
it just is painfully obvious we are not superior to
these opponents in the top sixteen in the world. In fact,
(33:03):
quite the opposite on some occasions. So in twenty ten,
for example, we got to the round of sixteen, eliminated
by Ghana in overtime, and then four years later eliminated
by Belgium in overtime, even though Tim Howard stood on
his head that game. Four years ago, lost three to
one to Netherlands. In the round of sixteen, lost four
to one to Belgium in Seattle tonight. The US is
(33:24):
out after a weekend where the other co host, Canada,
eliminated Saturday, Mexico eliminated Sunday, US eliminated.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
On Monday night.
Speaker 8 (33:33):
And by the way, the Americans, yes, we're in the
round to sixteen again, and it was very fun and
they played much better than I expected in these first
four games to get to this point. Ironically, the US
is ranked number seventeen in the country, so we're just outside,
not quite knocking on the door, of the more elite
teams in world soccer, and this is the first time
(33:54):
since nineteen ninety the US has allowed four goals in
a World Cup game. Elie Tillman, with a free ki
goal thirty first minute, briefly tied the game one to one.
Belgium scored in the thirty third minute. The US wound
up with a possession advantage by the end of the game,
but things were all but decided in those bad first
thirty minutes, when by a late first half Belgium had
(34:15):
a shots advantage of ten to one. Earlier in Dallas
it was Spain won nothing over Portugal and on the
goal in the ninety first minute. So Spain against Belgium
in La in a quarterfinal this Friday afternoon. Upgrade your
FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six. Set up, build it
like Beckham from living room to lawn with the home
depot and take the fast free delivery assists the home
(34:35):
Depot Official FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six Supporter, Subject
to availability. The Sacramento Kings waved Damar DeRozan American Madison
Keys lost her fourth rounder at Wimbledon. What a ballgame
in Atlanta going on tonight, The Mets have retaken the
lead in the top of the ten, seven to five
over the Braves with two outs in the top of
the ninth, the Mets were trailing until a Juan Soto
(34:57):
three run homer gave him the lead him of the ninth.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Mad And then what happened Steve mad Then what happened.
Speaker 8 (35:03):
In his second long ball off the night after supposed
closer Devin Williams. It was Olsen's two run shot that
made it five to five. But now at two run
double top of the tenth and the Mets have regained
the advantage. The Brewers have won four to three at
Saint Louis, Arizona's already up six to nothing at San
Diego in the top of the fourth, Giants two zip
(35:24):
on Toronto in the bottom of the fourth inning, and
it's Colorado won nothing over the Dodgers in the second
Washington b Houston twelve to eleven. Yankees won at Tampa
Bay five to one, and today it was Kansas City
over Philadelphia and All star pitcher Christopher Sanchez fifteen to one.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next.
An uncomfortable conversation about Captain America. That's next, Jason and Mike.
We can do this all day Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, he sucks. Be sure to catch lives of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
The Jason Smith Show with My base friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Well dressed hobot.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The United States out of the World Cup after a
disastrous showing against Belgium four to one. Is your Final?
A game in which Christian Politic played into the second half,
injured himself on a potential shot on goal in which
(36:33):
he kind of got the back of the defender's cleat.
Everybody wanted a foul, there was no foul called. He
limped around for a little bit, limped around, went around
to hear the broadcast saying, if he can't play, he's
got to leave the game. And what happened when he
was limping around and not playing, Belgium had that rush
and big mistake and they put it in the back
(36:54):
of the net and it was a three to one
game and that was it for Christian Policic. More turnovers
tonight in this game than anybody else on the field. Okay,
eleven times he lost possession in forty five minutes. That's
the most of any player on the field. Now, it's
(37:17):
an uncomfortable conversation because for the longest time it was
Polistic's gonna do it. Polistic's gonna do it. He's gonna
be our guy. He's captain America. And now you're looking
at Christian Polisic and where his World Cup career is
just about done. And it's not that he's not good.
Polistic's a really good He's a good player. Right, the
first half of the first game in group he was
(37:38):
the best player on the field. But Polistics twenty seven, Right,
we missed the World Cup his first time around. He
had one goal in twenty twenty two, and this one
he was injured and ineffective for the most of the
World Cup. Again, he had that great first half, which
was awesome, right, great first half, a couple of really
(37:58):
good touches in the game. He came in when he
played the final, the final thirty five minutes. But overall,
like the next time we have the World Cup, policy
is gonna be thirty one. What kind of role is
he gonna have on the team. He's not gonna be
Captain America anymore. This is how fast and soccer you
go from the future of the future of the future
to who's next, right, Like this team's gonna be built
on on guys like Tilman and Balligan and and when
(38:20):
you look at Christian Polisic, now you can say, okay,
he's good. But when you say okay, his legacy, the
Christian Politic, the Golden era, it really it's not what
we thought it would be or not what we needed
it to be, like the the the hype for him
and what we thought he could do, which we saw
him play really well in many international games. I great,
(38:42):
but it's all about the World Cup. And he's just
been okay, and he's been injured, right like his his
his entire World Cup careers. You can file it under
unfulfilled because that that's real. Like I feel like I
had I had a lot of empty carbs for lunch,
and I still feel like I'm hungry, like I still
a but I still feel hungry, Like I don't feel satisfied.
(39:03):
Like that's really been the Polisic era. Now you're going
back three World Cups and okay, we missed the first
one and we were. You know, we went out early
in the in the in the last one, and now
this one. We could have been great. This is supposed
to be his World Cup. He's twenty seven years old.
This is the best he's gonna be the best he's
going to be physically, and he was just okay. He
had times where he was all right, but other times
(39:24):
again he played absolutely poorly, poorly like he did tonight,
and needed to be subbed off earlier than he was
all right. Like the whole Christian polistic era is under
is underachieving. It's a bit of a downer and more
of what didn't what he didn't accomplish, than what we
happened to this point.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Well, let's say you've seen a number of injuries. He's
left three of the seven World Cup games he's played
in with the injury. We look at the We've talked
about this a lot with Luka Doncis and another number
of international basketball players that start their pro careers very early.
He's got nine years of professional soccer under his b
et as well, so a lot of caps, a lot
(40:02):
of a lot of minutes, a lot of play as
he was developing. And we can go down the laundry
list of injuries, a lot of ankle, a lot of
hamstring through the years, and then here was a no show,
like this was his moment. I I Balligan, who were
on the field together, right, this was it. The dynamic
duo put him in the masks and the capes, and
(40:23):
then he didn't show up and then kicked the guy
in the back of the foot and that was the
end of his his night. So just a disappointing end.
You know, we had all that hope because you and
I have been doing this long enough. Man, you go
back to some of the other alta door and on
down the line. But Polistic was supposed to be that
breakthrough guy.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
It's broke, Yeah, I mean it's I'd like to be
able to say, Okay, but again, the next World Cup
he's going to be thirty one. I'm sure they'll bring
Poachatino back. They did a lot of good things. We
have many good, better, younger players.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
He wants a lot of human money, though, to.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Which is awesome. Yeah, okay, we'll give him some human
mind because I'm old enough to remember what it looked
like the past ten twelve years. I'll give him some
human monies. I think that's fine, but I mean, like,
I mean, Polistic's just got to be an added spice
from now on. Like it's like like we have to
put this team around other players now and not him.
That's how fast and era ends in soccer. It feels
like polisic One just never really started.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
You know, I'm feeling better about it.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Poachaccino's gone, but Russell growing Gladiator takes over for him.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Let's go coming up next to more on the biggest
story in the sports world, Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You didn't need to watch a game. You could have
just listened to the last eight seconds and that tells
you everything you need to know about what happened tonight
between Belgium and the United States, the Balligan controversy, President
Trump getting involved, should he play, should he not? Should
he be benched? Should he not? Well, when you play
(00:49):
a craptastic game all around, generally nothing else matters other
than that, because hey, it's over now in Seattle. Belgium
is defeat of the United States. For one, we are
out of the World Cup and this game was just
a disaster from the jump. We have four hour post
(01:09):
mortem on Team USA and the World Cup and the
battlet controversy. But I'll tell you what, Mike Harmon. Sometimes
it's as simple as saying, boy, this was not the
same team we saw the first four games of this tournament.
And sometimes you just pick a bad time to have
a bad game. And this was across the board, the
(01:30):
worst game you could see from the United States, and
no questions, no ups downs, what if that they picked
a bad time to have a bad game and now
we're going home.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
What I was telling you, they don't have to be
the heavywear and it's the old beautiful girls line. They
don't have to look like they did in high school. Right,
the big, bad, badass defensive lineman doesn't need to wreck
people like he used to. He just needs to wreck you.
And so the Belgium team that didn't look like the
Belgium teamians of years past, except for back in what
(02:02):
was it March? I believe it was the the five
to two defeat, no starting goalie, all of those things.
They came out and they just hammered them from pillar
to post. I mean it was just a one sided effort.
You saw the uh, the opportunities that every once in
a while you did break into the attacking third only
(02:23):
to kick the ball out of bound yourself, only to
mishandle a touch, only to mishandle a touch out of
bounds just and then that third goal.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I felt like I was living in my.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Past club soccer matches watching that, going Okay, this is
where the goalie goes to handle the ball, doesn't always
do it Smith, I am beyond beyond ticked and what
I just witnessed.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
See, the thing is, I don't think Belgium did anything
special tonight except the United States is not ready for
this moment.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Well that's it. You didn't have to be special.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
They changed their lineup, their two biggest goal scorers are
coming off the bench now right, and they still put
three goals on us right before they subbed into the game.
And Lucock, who came in in the seventy.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Fife four Nett came in and he did his magic again.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We looked terrified from the beginning of the game. We
look We looked like how I remember the United States
national team looking in World Cups and in big games
defensively the last fifteen years, where it looks like we
didn't We had no communication, We didn't play with any confidence.
On the back line, nobody knew where they were supposed
(03:29):
to be. Oh my god, Tim Reim, Tim reim his
last game should be his last games the US men's
national team should have been his last game in the
middle of the first half. But like I said it
going in, what was my one question about about the
men's national team? How good is our back line? Is
our back line good enough? Everything else seemed good tonight,
Everything was craptastic, but the back line was awful. You
(03:51):
didn't see any communication, you didn't know where they were
supposed to be on set pieces. They were giving up
chances and it could have been three nothing in the
first fifteen minutes, and Matt Freese made a couple of
things before he says I'm gonna give one back in
the second half. But really, like they looked like the
team USA from the last fifteen years where they get
to a certain point of the tournament where we play
against another team and they're just at another class than
(04:13):
we are. Except we did this to ourselves tonight, not
being ready for the game, playing flat, playing our worst
game more so than anything the other team did. Right, Like,
you want to go back and say, hey, here's a button,
like when we lost to Belgium. You know, you go
back fifteen years we lost that, you know in twenty
eleven to Belgium twenty fourteen. Like that Belgium team was
really good, right, and they were, and you could see
(04:35):
fundamentally we were not in the right places, and I
wonder what was going on tonight? It was it was just, Hey,
we're not doing anything special. We're just gonna go out
play our game. We're gonna play younger players, We're gonna
pressure you the out of the gate. And the United
States has not played a game where they don't come
out of the gate controlling the first fifteen minutes. And
when you get punched them out in the first five
(04:56):
minutes of the game, WHOA, how do you react? And
it took the United States the entire f to really
respond to that, and they never really did. So I
watched this game and I go, this looks like I'm
watching a game from twenty eighteen or twenty fourteen or twelve.
I mean, this is this is how far back I go,
or I think this is what they looked like tonight.
We're defensively, they just had no idea what was going on.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, that's the biggest part. You mentioned the two guys
that didn't start, I mean de Bruna didn't start, Doku
didn't start lukaku. We knew we'd see later on so
you'd get the big bull rush late. But all of
it just right off the jump, looking uncomfortable. And we
talked about it a lot between the back line and
me raising my hand sheepishly, just going this looks great.
(05:39):
I like the aggressiveness. Can we keep this? And then
you get the step up in class. Right Belgium, what
were they ranked ninth or thereabouts in the FIFA rankings
as we came into this game tonight. So it's like,
all right, we took care of business in these other matches,
but they were all teams that, let's face it, on
the surface, you say, well we should handle well, yeah,
(06:00):
had the wild card for a couple of days. Are
we gonna have our striker?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Are we not?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
And then while we get the word yesterday, I was
on air as it broke and just beyond uh disbelief
of okay, well here we go. Uh And that did
nothing for us, no attack, no semblance of cohesion up
front and the back line.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I mean that that's droches.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'm getting texts so all over the place going you like, defense,
where the hell is it?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Why didn't it show up tonight.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Like, oh no, everywhere else the legion of boom built, come.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
On the thing. It's like you could say that, but
you could say, look, Sergenio desk was terrible, right, and
I said at halftime, you have to do something. In midfield.
Raina came in and things were a little bit better. Everywhere.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
I looked politically scared.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He looked like he was just running up in dead
We'll get we'll get into Polisic because there's a bigger
conversation that we had about him. But he looked like
he was just running up and down the field in
the first half.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
He looked like Steve Rodgers. He was supposed to be
Captain America.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I mean, you see why the big deal over Balligan
because anytime the United States got him the ball, he
was able to almost make something happen entirely by himself.
That's why he's just so good. But everything else across
the board. Okay, So we were out coaching in the
beginning because we weren't ready for the pressure that Belgium
was gonna put on us. Defensively. There was no communication.
I don't know what happened on the first couple of
(07:17):
goals we fell asleep after we scored our first goal
and allowed them to come in a minute later and
basically run the same kind of play they scored the
first goal on right, Like, there is no one person
I can say, boy, they were great today, Well, they
were absolutely fantastic. He Tilman had a really good game. Right,
Tilman had a really good game, and they're doubling him
at the end because he was the only one that
(07:38):
was having a really good game. I will say Tillman
had a really good game, not just the set piece,
but he had a really good game. And you can
tell at the end. Okay, he and Baligan were the
two guys they knew they had to stop. But overall,
like this was just a complete and total Sometimes teams
just come up flat. And we can get into just
the effect of the reinsertion of Balligan in and the
(07:58):
suspension of the red card and President Trump's involvement, like
we can get into all of that, but bottom line,
like they came into this game and it was just
they were flat from the beginning. They didn't know how
to respond. They had no plan. Offensively, they couldn't they
couldn't control the middle of the field, and that was
a really big deal. Was like, okay, it's it's gonna
be long ball haven. They're just try trying to get
up to Baligan in the second half because they can't
(08:21):
control the middle of the field at all. Like, I
can't tell you there was any point where I really
felt confident, even after we scored to tie the game
at one a piece and said, okay, well there was
a we expended a lot to come back there. We
still aren't playing well. We get a break off of
a set piece because Baaligan gets pushed, okay, and then
the rest of the game it was just, yeah, we
can't do anything, and Belgium was just content to sit
(08:44):
back and wait for us to throw up on ourselves.
And that's exactly what we did. Every They just waited
for us to make mistakes, and we made mistakes and
they pounced on it right the second goal, the third goal.
They just waited for us to not be able to
have enough focus or desire or or or enough guts
to make a play to make the right play, to
(09:04):
lose focus, and they were there right away for everything
they needed to do in that game. Like that, That's
what was really bad. That was really sucks for me
is that if we had lost this game three two
or four to three or two to one, it was
a great game back and forth. We had some chances
and you know, defensively it played well. Okay, but this
is really tough to swallow because I kind of feel
like jesse Marsh were the better team. I kind of,
(09:27):
but I feel like with there that that was not
nearly the game. We should have given them, right like
jesse Marsh to win. You know, maybe maybe Belgium's good
enough to win right there. Higher ranked team than us,
they're a FIFA top ten in the world, but we're
not far behind. We're fifteen or sixteen like that. That
looks at a tough part. No, that's a tough part
is that I know we're better than this and we
didn't give them that kind of game. That that's the
(09:47):
most upsetting part.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, from from start to finish, Like there are just
so many times you're you're scratching your head, you're shouting
at your television, maybe you're throwing things at your television.
Maybe you're like that guy from Mexico that made the
rounds on on social media where you shot your TV
like Elvis. After the match ended, I don't know, but
just a dismal effort all around, and everything you say,
(10:09):
just punctuate it, you know. Unlike the Canadian squad, the
United States did have a lead in possession and accurate passes,
and we were really accurate in our shooting. I mean
we had two shots on Gold scored once.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So that's good.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, no, that's true. If we could have got ten shots,
we would have won five four.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yeah, I mean tell you just light it up.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
But all of it just from the jump, right, you
got the ruling nobody expected, but seems like a nice bonus.
You're in front of what has been termed the loudest,
most aggressive, best place to play in front of fans,
right the Seattle. We talk about the beast quake. We
talked about it when they played there before. Right, the
(10:51):
reaction that you get off juice and there was nothing
to get the crowd fully into the game right off
the jump. After fifteen minutes, we got more folks in
a prayer pose than screaming and yelling towards the towards
the pitch because you're just getting man handled and not
being able to connect, not being able to the back line.
(11:12):
We knew was potentially a major issue. And then you
saw the just discombobulated and lack of cohesion at all
back there in terms of clearing away. The amount of
space that Belgium was able to operate in just throughout
the game just leaves you bewildered because you've built up
(11:34):
all this good will and that's the outside stuff, and
that's great. And then we have the ruling and then
you literally had folks saying that we hope we lose. Okay,
go do with that what you will, but it's the idea.
Then you come out flat, You come out flat foot.
How do you not come out running like you're gonna
run through a brick wall?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know? That's the thing is that, Like you know,
every you're gonna hear a lot of people say that
and say, boy, how do you come out flat? How
do you come out flat? But that's something in sports.
You could say eighty years ago, you could say sixty
years ago, you could say forty years ago, you could
say twenty years ago, you could say five years ago,
you could say today. Sometimes teams just come out flat
(12:14):
and there's no reason for it, they just do. And
I it's it's I know people are gonna look at
this and say, oh my god. But how many times
have you seen teams come out flat in the big
playoff game in the NFL, right in a big playoff
game in the NBA. How many times you see a team, Hey,
how are we out? How we getting worked like this?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Right?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
How is this happening to us? Are? How are we
out so flat in this right? NHL two, especially when
you can say, boy, how are we getting getting men
headled up and down the icy? We're a better team.
It happens. Sometimes I wish there was a way to go.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
We don't know what says, Hey, we got Nike plus minutes.
Let's go ahead and at this and come at it
slowly in a place where we've never been, where the
nation has never been this excited about what we're about
to do.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
But hey, let's lease into this.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I mean, I wish there was a way to figure
it out. I wish there. But but teams have come
out flat in big game since the beginning of time.
And it's it doesn't make sense, and everybody questions why,
and there's no answer for it. It's just sometimes you
just do. And again, you could talk about the emotion
coming off of yesterday and Baligan coming back when they
thought they didn't have him, and we'll get into the
effect that had coming up in a few minutes, because
(13:19):
you know, really that that's the big story still is that.
But this game here is like, okay, they can't and
and I thought, okay, well at least they've been you know,
they get the goal by Tillman and that's gonna get
him back in it. But wow, man, you fall asleep
again and tim Reen gets beat again and all the
good everything you had going on was just out the
window at that point. Like that's the point when when
(13:40):
they got that second goal a minute later and tim
Reen just got got absolutely abused on that goal. Uh
I that's what That's where I said, oh man, this
is this is not gonna go. That's when Poachatino kicked
the up power it over. Like when I saw that happen,
I said, oh man, that's because that that's just a
that's just number one. It's it's it's bad play. It's
(14:02):
not learning from the first play, because it was basically
the same play that you had first where hey, they
were coming in on the left side and that was
open and you know again that moment just took so
much wind out of the sales and then freeze his mistake,
which we'll get to, but like, I mean, there's so
many things to talk about this, but just that they
never were able to get a sense of anything going,
(14:22):
you know, because it's not like they played really really
well and they got that first goal. It's okay, they
had a bad a good play, right, they had a
good play that got the first goal, and then a
minute later it was we were chasing again and that
really was it? Like that was that was a huge
take the wind out of your sales moment. Man, That was.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Literally what a minute and a second?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I mean again, sometimes you pick a bad time
to have your worst game, when your entire team plays bad,
and this was the worst time for that to happen.
Sometimes it's that simple, right, I know, Like you know,
there's a lot of minu shit to get to on it,
but sometimes it's just that simple.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah, bad, bad, bad, more bad. And then when you
did have a big chance and a while open net,
as you and I are both watching replayers, Balligin kicks
it straight into the goalie who's gone to the short side,
which I believe we have that audio if we want
to hear how that sounded.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You know, one of my best friends is in Scotland
right now. Is one of the best friends. We coached
soccer together for a long time. And he's on a
big delay obviously, so it was like two thirty in
the morning for the second half, and he says, all right,
I gotta go to bed. We're up at seven o'clock
to sight see. But I'm gonna I'm gonna get up
early and watching him, but I gotta go to sleep
and watch a second half. He goes, just, you know,
(15:33):
send me, send me a text to sum it up
for me just before I get out. So I get it,
and I said, okay, great. So I waited and I
sent him a text and said, don't watch this game.
Just watch the second half of any game we've played
in the last fifteen years in the World Cup. He'll
get exactly he'll get exactly what we looked like in
the second half tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
That about sums it up, nice man.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Unfortunately, he also that means he stayed up long enough
to go to bed with a stomach ache after watching
the first thirty minutes.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh yeah, I mean that it was just absolutely awful.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
This was I had my acid reflux going. I'm looking
for the Toms, all that good will, Jason, all that
I know, I know, punch me in the face.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, we're just getting started. What kind of impact did
the Balligan ruling allowing him to play have on the
game tonight. I think our answer is going to surprise you.
That's coming up next, Jason to Mike Fox Sports Radio. Well,
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this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Throat every day.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sportsbook, and all the guests. Do yourself a favor
and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the
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Speaker 2 (18:12):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
App Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Carmon Live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Yesterday, United
States goes out to Belgium four to one. Is your
final United States out of the World Cup. And oh,
(18:43):
by the way, the tiny story about oh the Flowbaalagan
being allowed to play after his red card was suspended
for this game, which we'll get to in a minute. However,
before we get to that, just to tell you about
just when we talk about fundamentals and how this was
not the same team that we watch play the first
(19:05):
four games of this tournament, right, this was not the
same team. Right. They had a bad day, They had
a bad game that came out flat. The first goal
by Belgium, you're gonna hear it right now, And of
all of the goals, this is the one that upset
me the most. This is how it went out and
how the United States got out down one nothing, not
even four seconds into the game.
Speaker 7 (19:25):
It's infield the US, it's hand stating a bouncing.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Ball picked up in the box and.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
It was the Cantlau first to react in there in
the cross. The UF players cruise defensively and now they're
in an early hole against Belgium.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Big fox on the call. When when I saw that
goal go in, that was where all of the memories
of the last fifteen years and just came flooding back
to me like all at once, Like like I remember
the first time I had a like a Schlitz or
a like like one of those beers used to drink
all the time in college because it was cheap. And
the first time you had when paps blue ribbon, like
(20:02):
ten twelve years later, go oh man, I'm back in college.
This is fantastic. Like as soon as I saw that goal,
I said, this is exactly what I've seen problems with
the United States. As you heard play by play, the
United States defensively did not know what to do. And
I can't believe that, but that's exactly what happened. But
watching Tim Reim guard nobody guard Grass where he could
(20:25):
have made the three decisions he made, He could have
gone to the ball, he could have gotten the way
of the ball and stopped the crossing pat play from
coming in. He could have gone to the player and
stop the ball from getting in there. Instead, he just
stopped and guarded grass ten twelve feet away from Matt
Freeze and watch the ball just go right in front
of him and the ball goes in the net. And
(20:46):
I saw that, I said, what the hell is he doing?
What are we doing? What are we doing? What's going on?
What are we doing? What's going on? Like when I said,
I said, this is everything that's been bad about the
United States national team the last fifteen years, and here
we are. Nobody's even sat down yet. I had a
chance to eat a sandwich, and we're down one nothing
because Belgium got out off the jump and for some reason,
(21:08):
again I told you our back line. I didn't know
how good they were. I didn't think they'd be this bad,
especially a team that wasn't even playing its best start
and best scorers. Like that's what's so embarrassing is that
their best scorers sat on the bench till the seventy
fifth minute and they still put three goals on us
because they just waited for us to throw up on ourselves.
Like I don't get I don't get all three goals
were bad, but that one. I'm just watching Tim Reem
after the goal and he puts his hands out and
(21:29):
I want to go, what do you put your hands
out for him? And that's on you. That was so abysmal.
You just stood there and guarded grass. That's what you did.
The grass was not gonna score and that played my garment.
If the grass thought they were gonna come up and
score that goal. The grass was not gonna score that goal.
And that's where I said, this is gonna be bad.
This is gonna be bad.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
No, And Count Dooku wasn't even on the pitch at
that point. He was sitting out because he'd been sick
so minutes and all of that coming back. But his
tag team partner doesn't get off without at least a
smack in this as well as Freeze is too busy
looking for the off side than to make him play
on the damn ball or the guy that.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Goes to touch it. Yeah, Like he just stands there
and that was what Reim.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Did as well.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
He's looking to the official like as all say, no,
play some damn defense.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
It was do one of those three things. Do something,
even if it's wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Hey yeah, but but but you know, soccer players, the
best thing they're good at is is right after a
bad play pointing out that something happened and that's why
the goal went in right away away there was off
side or I know, something happened here, there was a foul.
There was this bird flew on the field, the second
ball came out of the field, A kid ran on
the fields like they're great at that, and they look
at it right away, And I mean that was that
(22:42):
was so deflating right out of the gate. And I
was hoping we would respond and respond, but we were flat.
We were flat, and we were stagnant and we couldn't.
Not control in the middle of the field was a
really big deal, right, Like I think the stagnancy and
the flatness that had a lot to do with it
because we we you know, we couldn't get the ball up,
we couldn't sustain attacks. Belgium had the ball in the
middle of the field. They did really well in the
first half before he woke up a little bit, put
(23:04):
some creativity in the in the lineup in the second
half and played a little bit better. But overall, when
I saw that play from by Reim. I just said,
come on, really, this early in the game, really the
first play, really that this is, this is how we're
giving up this goal in the beginning of the game.
He just stands there and watches it and does of
all the things you can do, he did nothing right.
That's the whole point, is that he doing nothing, not
like I did the wrong thing, but I did it,
(23:26):
you know, full tilt, running my head through a wall. Hey, hey,
I went. I went full tilt after this. Man, I
did the wrong thing. But man, was I really brave
about it. You know, this is I'm gonna stand here
and then and I don't know, I don't know what.
And the thing is, you can see the play, right
you can. He can see the crossing pass coming, and
so he knows that, Okay, I'm doing no good standing here.
I'm doing no good standing here, but I'm still gonna
(23:47):
stand there and because I don't know what's going on
in the box and all of the miscommunication. I really,
of the three goals that were I mean, they were
all bad. In the freeze goal makes you want to
pull your hair out. That went to me, that was
the worst.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, when you look at it at this one. I
watched it in slow motion to torment myself repeatedly. He's
doing the shuffle, Reem is in into the area like
he's going to make a play on the ball. He's
turned completely facing the play in front of him, and
then makes no play on the ball. I don't know
if he's expecting Freeze to be there to come and
(24:18):
grab it because he's too busy looking for offsides. He's
not even coming to make a play on the ball,
and it skates straight into the centering pass is perfect
and they run right in. Just an abysmal defensive play.
What are we nine and a half minutes into or
eight and a half minutes into the game. As this
comes over, you have the great cross that sets it
(24:41):
all up, and the United States defense flat footed and confused,
just miserable.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Now obviously the big story coming in a story that
was so white hot. I mean, you couldn't even tell,
You couldn't eat on your computer without the what the
white hotness of it coming through the screen. Flow Ballagan
allowed to play in this game after FIFA suspends his
red card for a period of a year, allowing him
to play in this game. Part of it depending how
(25:10):
much you wanna you wanna read into it that President Trump,
he called the president of FIFA and said, hey, this
is not a red card. I didn't like it. Please
look into it. Well, they looked into it, and then
the night before the game they decided no flow Ballagan
can play. All day today, there's been so many different
things about this, like, oh, Trump shouldn't have said anything,
You shouldn't have stayed, and I shouldn't have got involved.
(25:31):
Now FIFA should FIFA should not not cow tw I mean,
who knows what you know how much Trump had an
influence on it. I'm sure he had a pretty good influence.
When the President of the United States, you know, tells
a guy he knows who runs FIFA, Hey, take a
look at this. But the bottom line is this. This
is where isaig when you think I'm gonna zeg. I
don't want to hear anything about Baligan shouldn't have played,
(25:52):
or the USA was off tonight because of the ruling.
I don't want to hear any of that crap. Everybody
wanted Baligan to play. It was a bad red card,
and a right was and a wrong was right. He
was able to play. If that's on the United States
or not being able to handle that time, not being
ready for prime time because of it. That's on them, right,
that's on us as a country not being able to
(26:13):
handle when something like that happened. It was a really
big story. It was a huge deal. And and I'm
not going to sit here and say, oh, boy, well
maybe they were off because they got BA ball. Goanna
play with them. The entire the entire lead up, right,
it's out all of a sudden, we're all we have
to move things around. Right, he had just played, right,
he had just played. He got a red card, he
missed the second half of the game. Don't give me this.
He shouldn't have played. The United States was off, it
(26:34):
had happened. It was no everybody wanted him to play.
It's like people want to get creative now and go
oh yeah, yeah, see I knew that would throw the
United States off. No, no, no, he was And obviously
we needed him today because he was still a guy
that you saw offensively when he got the ball. He
was able to create chances. He is that talented. So
I don't want to hear for a second where oh
it threw us off? It was this. I actually I
(26:56):
could tell you that I could see it with the
Knicks in Game three at Madison Square Garden, simply because
President Trump deciding to come to the game, just because well,
when the president comes to any sporting event, okay, there's
different things that are followed, right. You heard Jose Alvarado
talk about this on the podcast saying, you know, that
day didn't really feel like a home game. Was the
first finals game for the Knicks, and you know, fifty
(27:18):
some on year, a long time or twenty five years,
but to say we didn't have our normal routine because
the President was there. We couldn't stay where we normally
stay in a hotel, and we had to go through security,
and warm ups were different, all of this, and you know, look,
athletes are creatures of habits. So okay, I get a
little bit of that where we were off. I mean still,
you know, the Knicks lost the game, but I understand
a little bit of that because Trump coming to the
(27:39):
game was something that, Okay, this is gonna affect everybody
getting on the court and playing in the game. This
was just whatever it was you wanted the guy to play, right,
how are you? I mean, I don't know anybody, I
don't know anybody that you could sit here and say, yeah,
you shouldn't have played if we didn't have Balligan, I
don't know when we would have had any any kind
of pressure. Because he got us the first goal by
being so dangerous. He got pushed in the back like
it could have been five nothing or six nothing, like
(28:00):
I don't want to hear once all the USA was
off because of the ruling, you want him to play.
It's not like that to play with him for a
long time and reinsert him back in the lineup like
it was all there. This is not on the ruling
keeping him out or getting him back in.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah, the quickie on the ruling.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
As I said yesterday, it felt so what's that word FIFA?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Now?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
As for actually getting on the pitch and playing, he's
still the guy in the blue jersey. Pass him the ball,
get him like that's the thing. You know who your
teammates are. This is insured skins and you're just meeting
on the playground or running with Adam Sandler and Nan
Tuckett on a pickup game. You know all the guys
you know, So trying to push that as a narrative
(28:44):
at this threw you off. You had thirty six hours
since the ruling came down to go and if there
were an adjustment or two, Hey, you know what where
we had that change that back that guy doesn't have
to start now, Okay, cool, that's it.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
There's your decision for But you know it.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Doesn't absolve any of the other guys of their dereliction
of duty. But to try to use it as an
excuse or to try to say as many of it,
see it's all Trump like this morning, begrudgingly on some level.
Didn't you have to if you were watching and paying
attention to this at all, say well, you know you
(29:25):
use the thumb on the scale last Wednesday when the
call came down. I don't know if it's a thumb
and a forefinger or whatever it is. If that helped
to get him back on the pitch then, and maybe
FIFA on a grander scale is revisiting all their processes,
procedures whatever. I don't know what's real, what's imagined. All
I know is we had our best striker available and
(29:46):
we came out with the flattest effort that we have
seen well since the Last World Come. Yeah, look, if
you're looking for excuses, say that, right, if you're looking
for excuses.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Say that. But if you're really looking to say, Okay,
what was at Faull for this, that's not it, man.
I mean really to reach there's there's no change, right,
I mean, what was the change? Hey, Peppy, you're not starting. Hey,
that's it. That's all you need.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Hey, Peppy, you're not starting. Remember before? Yeah, you're gonna
do that again. They're not starting.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Oh okay, that's it. Yeah, we're back, guys, we're back.
Like this was more the United States couldn't handle the
moment than it was than it was anything else. They
could not handle this moment. They were not ready. Uh.
And and so if you want to say that about it, okay,
because did the moment? Did because Baaligan comes back in
and there's such an uproar about it. Okay, yeah, I
(30:37):
could see a little bit of that that maybe you
know that that was part, But that's still where you
got to suck it up and play like this. We're
not ready for the moment. We're not ready for this moment.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Right. It's the old.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
As soon as that first play the whistle blows, the
balls in play, basketball, soccer, whatever you're playing, red light
comes on. Here you and I can be screaming at
each other. We're blue in the face, red light comes on.
We got to get after it, baby. I mean that's
the way it goes. Same thing if you're a ballplayer,
I don't care about your DAN routine. Once the ball
goes up, you got to go back to what you've learned,
(31:08):
how you've trained, because it's time to play some basketball.
Here you're on the pitch, and you got the gift
of this guy coming back that nobody saw coming, and
then you had thirty six hours to ponder it before
you got on the pitch. I just baffled at some
of the Well, I'm really not. It's typical for where
(31:28):
we're at as a larger society. Find a Boogeyman.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down The Jason
Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon Time how
to find out what's trending in the wide world of
sports from Special Delivery Steve the Seger. Oh but he
got for us tonight, what's happening?
Speaker 8 (31:44):
Well, it was turned back the clock Knight in Seattle
looked like every other round of sixteen game I can
remember in the last twenty years. Yeah, and every game
against a European squad that I can pretty much remember,
with the exception of Bosnia last week, because that ended
a thirteen game win list when it was US against
a European side ozero and eleven and two draws in
(32:05):
that time span. Bosnia, it is not Belgium. I probably
don't need to say that out loud, but coming into
the tournament, Bosnia Hertzegovina ranked sixty fourth in the world,
behind Burkina, Fasso and Jordan.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Meanwhile, Belgium top ten.
Speaker 8 (32:20):
In the world and they are now undefeated in their
last eighteen games, twelve to zero with six ties. Tonight's
game very much reminded me. Do you remember when Copa
America South America's championship a decade ago? They were having
their one hundredth anniversary of the tournament, so they decided
to hold all the games in the US and invited
the US in Mexico to be in the tournament and
granted a smaller sized tournament. But the US made a run.
(32:43):
But then we had to play Argentina, you know, a
real team and Messi and we lost four nothing. And
a few days before that, Mexico got beaten seven nothing
by Chile, and in the last twenty years of the
World Cup, when the US makes the round of sixteen,
it just is painfully obvious we are not superior to
these opponents in the top sixteen in the world. In fact,
(33:03):
quite the opposite on some occasions. So in twenty ten,
for example, we got to the round of sixteen, eliminated
by Ghana in overtime, and then four years later eliminated
by Belgium in overtime, even though Tim Howard stood on
his head that game. Four years ago, lost three to
one to Netherlands. In the round of sixteen, lost four
to one to Belgium in Seattle tonight. The US is
(33:24):
out after a weekend where the other co host, Canada,
eliminated Saturday, Mexico eliminated Sunday, US eliminated.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
On Monday night.
Speaker 8 (33:33):
And by the way, the Americans, yes, we're in the
round to sixteen again, and it was very fun and
they played much better than I expected in these first
four games to get to this point. Ironically, the US
is ranked number seventeen in the country, so we're just outside,
not quite knocking on the door, of the more elite
teams in world soccer, and this is the first time
(33:54):
since nineteen ninety the US has allowed four goals in
a World Cup game. Elie Tillman, with a free ki
goal thirty first minute, briefly tied the game one to one.
Belgium scored in the thirty third minute. The US wound
up with a possession advantage by the end of the game,
but things were all but decided in those bad first
thirty minutes, when by a late first half Belgium had
(34:15):
a shots advantage of ten to one. Earlier in Dallas
it was Spain won nothing over Portugal and on the
goal in the ninety first minute. So Spain against Belgium
in La in a quarterfinal this Friday afternoon. Upgrade your
FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six. Set up, build it
like Beckham from living room to lawn with the home
depot and take the fast free delivery assists the home
(34:35):
Depot Official FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six Supporter, Subject
to availability. The Sacramento Kings waved Damar DeRozan American Madison
Keys lost her fourth rounder at Wimbledon. What a ballgame
in Atlanta going on tonight, The Mets have retaken the
lead in the top of the ten, seven to five
over the Braves with two outs in the top of
the ninth, the Mets were trailing until a Juan Soto
(34:57):
three run homer gave him the lead him of the ninth.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Mad And then what happened Steve mad Then what happened.
Speaker 8 (35:03):
In his second long ball off the night after supposed
closer Devin Williams. It was Olsen's two run shot that
made it five to five. But now at two run
double top of the tenth and the Mets have regained
the advantage. The Brewers have won four to three at
Saint Louis, Arizona's already up six to nothing at San
Diego in the top of the fourth, Giants two zip
(35:24):
on Toronto in the bottom of the fourth inning, and
it's Colorado won nothing over the Dodgers in the second
Washington b Houston twelve to eleven. Yankees won at Tampa
Bay five to one, and today it was Kansas City
over Philadelphia and All star pitcher Christopher Sanchez fifteen to one.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O. The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon coming up next.
An uncomfortable conversation about Captain America. That's next, Jason and Mike.
We can do this all day Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, he sucks. Be sure to catch lives of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
The Jason Smith Show with My base friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Well dressed hobot.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The United States out of the World Cup after a
disastrous showing against Belgium four to one. Is your Final?
A game in which Christian Politic played into the second half,
injured himself on a potential shot on goal in which
(36:33):
he kind of got the back of the defender's cleat.
Everybody wanted a foul, there was no foul called. He
limped around for a little bit, limped around, went around
to hear the broadcast saying, if he can't play, he's
got to leave the game. And what happened when he
was limping around and not playing, Belgium had that rush
and big mistake and they put it in the back
(36:54):
of the net and it was a three to one
game and that was it for Christian Policic. More turnovers
tonight in this game than anybody else on the field. Okay,
eleven times he lost possession in forty five minutes. That's
the most of any player on the field. Now, it's
(37:17):
an uncomfortable conversation because for the longest time it was
Polistic's gonna do it. Polistic's gonna do it. He's gonna
be our guy. He's captain America. And now you're looking
at Christian Polisic and where his World Cup career is
just about done. And it's not that he's not good.
Polistic's a really good He's a good player. Right, the
first half of the first game in group he was
(37:38):
the best player on the field. But Polistics twenty seven, Right,
we missed the World Cup his first time around. He
had one goal in twenty twenty two, and this one
he was injured and ineffective for the most of the
World Cup. Again, he had that great first half, which
was awesome, right, great first half, a couple of really
(37:58):
good touches in the game. He came in when he
played the final, the final thirty five minutes. But overall,
like the next time we have the World Cup, policy
is gonna be thirty one. What kind of role is
he gonna have on the team. He's not gonna be
Captain America anymore. This is how fast and soccer you
go from the future of the future of the future
to who's next, right, Like this team's gonna be built
on on guys like Tilman and Balligan and and when
(38:20):
you look at Christian Polisic, now you can say, okay,
he's good. But when you say okay, his legacy, the
Christian Politic, the Golden era, it really it's not what
we thought it would be or not what we needed
it to be, like the the the hype for him
and what we thought he could do, which we saw
him play really well in many international games. I great,
(38:42):
but it's all about the World Cup. And he's just
been okay, and he's been injured, right like his his
his entire World Cup careers. You can file it under
unfulfilled because that that's real. Like I feel like I
had I had a lot of empty carbs for lunch,
and I still feel like I'm hungry, like I still
a but I still feel hungry, Like I don't feel satisfied.
(39:03):
Like that's really been the Polisic era. Now you're going
back three World Cups and okay, we missed the first
one and we were. You know, we went out early
in the in the in the last one, and now
this one. We could have been great. This is supposed
to be his World Cup. He's twenty seven years old.
This is the best he's gonna be the best he's
going to be physically, and he was just okay. He
had times where he was all right, but other times
(39:24):
again he played absolutely poorly, poorly like he did tonight,
and needed to be subbed off earlier than he was
all right. Like the whole Christian polistic era is under
is underachieving. It's a bit of a downer and more
of what didn't what he didn't accomplish, than what we
happened to this point.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Well, let's say you've seen a number of injuries. He's
left three of the seven World Cup games he's played
in with the injury. We look at the We've talked
about this a lot with Luka Doncis and another number
of international basketball players that start their pro careers very early.
He's got nine years of professional soccer under his b
et as well, so a lot of caps, a lot
(40:02):
of a lot of minutes, a lot of play as
he was developing. And we can go down the laundry
list of injuries, a lot of ankle, a lot of
hamstring through the years, and then here was a no show,
like this was his moment. I I Balligan, who were
on the field together, right, this was it. The dynamic
duo put him in the masks and the capes, and
(40:23):
then he didn't show up and then kicked the guy
in the back of the foot and that was the
end of his his night. So just a disappointing end.
You know, we had all that hope because you and
I have been doing this long enough. Man, you go
back to some of the other alta door and on
down the line. But Polistic was supposed to be that
breakthrough guy.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
It's broke, Yeah, I mean it's I'd like to be
able to say, Okay, but again, the next World Cup
he's going to be thirty one. I'm sure they'll bring
Poachatino back. They did a lot of good things. We
have many good, better, younger players.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
He wants a lot of human money, though, to.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Which is awesome. Yeah, okay, we'll give him some human
mind because I'm old enough to remember what it looked
like the past ten twelve years. I'll give him some
human monies. I think that's fine, but I mean, like,
I mean, Polistic's just got to be an added spice
from now on. Like it's like like we have to
put this team around other players now and not him.
That's how fast and era ends in soccer. It feels
like polisic One just never really started.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
You know, I'm feeling better about it.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Poachaccino's gone, but Russell growing Gladiator takes over for him.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Let's go coming up next to more on the biggest
story in the sports world, Fox
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Mike Harmon
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