July 8, 2026 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon discussed if USA soccer isn't nearly as bad a spot as people think it is right now. Longtime NFL Insider Jason La Canfora joined the show. And the Spanish call of Messi’s equalizer might just be the greatest world cup call ever!
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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
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with
my base friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well dressed Hobo.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
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impacting business well. Contrary to popular belief, the World Cup
(00:58):
is still going on. It did not end last night
with the United States losing to Belgium four to one.
There is still soccer and judging by how many people
that I heard, you know, outside my window today screaming
after Argentina's come back up, people are still people are
still watching the World Cup. Still, It's still an event.
(01:18):
Mi car people are still consuming this.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I dig that on a Tuesday you had a lot
of folks just kind of hanging out watching a game
from nine to eleven Pacific times. Yeah, that's just fantastic.
You know, we heard a couple of screams. I think
they were on the we're getting cheated side of things.
But we got plenty of times to talk about that.
You know, it's fun to.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Hear, like when you when when something when you know
everybody is watching a certain event and you hear the
screams out the window, And my first thought was, boy,
everybody's taking off from work today. Nobody's working today.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
National holiday in the US. Hey extend that July fourth
weekend just a.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Little bit longer, Like, I don't think there's a lot
of people that are so died in the wool Argentina
fans from our Tina in my neighborhood. But I'll take
some time off to watch the games. The way I
heard those chance, I'm like, people are just kind of
hanging out. Nobody's going to work today.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, I mean a lot of folks are still working
working from home. And I wanted to use the air quotes.
We do have cameras, so yeah, yes, working from home,
so that was a good excuse to do so to
watch the Argentina and Egyptian match. I mean that was
that was a hotly contested, lot of big moments, a
lot of big, big opportunities, and two huge stars at
(02:31):
the forefront.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now you got a question, Frostburg, what what's up, hey, Jason?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Yeah? Is a Christian.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Polistic still elite?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He is?
Speaker 5 (02:38):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't know that elite was ever something he was.
Those were your words. I think we thought he was elite.
I think we thought he was. I think, hey, he's
so many times how good he is.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
He use the line, use the line my opinion is
allowed to change based.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
UF wrong for that opinion was wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Look, we'll get to the Argentina Egypt game in I mean,
the comeback was incredible today. I mean, in the eightieth minute,
they're down two goals. You figure Argentina is cooked and
Egypt just decided to say, nope, we're gonna hang back
and allow you to do whatever you want to do.
Oh okay, Well and that's case, we're gonna score three
goals on you.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
I first for the Polistic, though, we have to tie
this up.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Thanks for everybody out there forwarding it, retweeting it, watching it.
The take we had on Polisic last night did quite
well in the socials, so we appreciate the extended family.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Now the day after for the United States, and I've
seen some I mean, this was the day where I
think the shock got past everybody last night, the stunning
way in which we lost as awful as we played,
knowing how well we had played all the way through
the World Cup until last night. Now everybody's just mad
right now. Everybody's mad, and we've got this sucks and
we suck and we still suck at soccer, and this
(03:50):
is all everybody's just made. We had a great couple
of weeks where we played really well and we had
a bad game last night. Now everything is bad. But
if you want a real now that the emotion is done,
if you want to know the real way we should
go forward with with soccer, the United States right where
you are right now for the men's national team. And
I know watching today watching a two nothing advantage that
(04:14):
Egypt had slip away because Argentina just wouldn't be denied.
They were down to nothing and still they just said
no we're going to win this game, and you saw
a lot of boy I wish the United States would
have shown this fight. Wish they would have shown this fight.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And I get it.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
I completely get that. Now.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
If Egypt scored their two goals because Argentine threw up
on themselves, you don't know what that does to a
team mentally. But it was too great plays for Egypt
to score, and they probably should have had a couple
of more, but var steps in the way. So I
understand everybody being upset about the United States and we
still suck at soccer. There's been no forward progress anything else.
But you want to just be realistic, right and this
(04:50):
is the right take about soccer. Men's soccer here in
the World Cup, and we watched the best teams now play,
we wonder how far away we are. Think of the
men's national team as a baseball team that has gone
as far a football team or a basketball team, doesn't matter.
That has gone as far as they can with their
(05:13):
current crop of players. And okay, they didn't get as
far as they wanted to. But now it's time to
make some changes.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It is it dire no And I get that people
want to say well, we still can't get past the
round of six team, we still can't do this.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
First thing I want to say is remember where we
were four years ago. Okay, understand where we came from
four years ago. That's the first thing I want to
say is go after the World Cup four years ago?
What were we talking about? Greg Burholter is terrible. He's
an awful coach. Nobody wanted him around. He was awful.
You had the controversy with Gio Rena and the families
didn't like each other, and it was a youth soccer thing.
(05:50):
Then you had stuff with with Burholter and his wife
and it was an absolute mess. The US men's national
team was in the absolute gutter four years ago, the gut.
Nobody wanted the job. There were stories they would want
to pay anybody to take this job. No one's gonna
take it. But Pochettino takes the job. Pay him a
lot of money, and what happens. No one was expecting
(06:10):
a lot in this World Cup. I think we walked
into the World Cup and people thought, well, we're hosting it.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
It should be great.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
No, we are hosting it, but the expectations we still
are working our way back from where we were in
twenty twenty two. Now where do we sit after what's
going on? We have the right coach, right, Pochettino's the
right guy because now we're talking about soccer, we're talking
about going forward. Clearly he has gotten the guys to
buy in as best as he can. What did we
(06:35):
see yesterday? Yeah, honestly, and this is the big take.
I'm kind of done with the Golden generation and it's
time to move on. It's time to now get rid
of those players that you've maxed out on and bring
in more of what you need for twenty thirty and beyond.
If you're doing the old hey, everybody's available, But these
are the guys I would keep right like you're doing
(06:56):
baseball and basketball, Like, hey, if you as long as
the Knicks keep Unsent and Cat, we can trade it,
right if you want to do that. Balagan and Tillman
should be the only definitive holdovers. They're twenty four, they're
part of the new generation. Balagan is an elite scorer.
Tilman looks like he can be an elite player. If
you want to get rid of the other guys. Okay,
(07:18):
because we've seen enough of Polisic and dest and Robinson
and all of these guys and okay, yeah they were Okay,
are they good enough on a global stage as we saw? Yeah,
we got pretty far, but we still have some work
to do. But this is a natural thing. This is
not something right. Oh, it's not working, break it up, storty. No, okay,
we got this far. We went with the generational talent
(07:39):
as far as we could and saw that, Okay, maybe
it's not as generational as we thought. So now there's
going to be turnover.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
We've had a couple of World Cups, two to three
World Cups of some of these same guys now and
it's time for new blood and to get new players in.
It's almost like what we watch the women's team do
when they had to get out of the Rapino and
Morgan era, and that was a very difficult thing to
do because that was the most successful era we have
seen in women's soccer. And now winning the gold medal
the way they did, being built on the triumvirt of
(08:07):
forwards that are all dangerous. Now, Emma Hayes has turned
this team into something pretty quick. So okay, but understand
that that's where we are united. States. We're not far away.
This is now just okay, we went with these guys.
Now it's time to augment what we have and bring
in the new level of players. We get a little
bit younger, a little bit more athletic in some places,
and that's the team now we look forward to for
(08:29):
twenty thirty. It's a natural progression of sport. This is
not oh, there's a problem with soccer. That's not any
other sport. No, most teams will tell you we went
as far as we could with this talent, so it's
time to let them go and let them hit free agency,
and we bring in new guys. We go sign new guys,
We bring guys up from the minor leagues. That's really
where the United States is at. That's where they are
looking into twenty thirty. Most important thing is make sure
(08:50):
po Chattino comes back. I'm even okay with him going
to Europe for a couple of years and coming back
when it's time to start qualifying again again. I'm okay
with that. He's the right guy. Realize, these are the
conferences we're having now compared to where we were four
years ago. So honestly, this whole we suck all of this. Yeah,
I get it. We didn't win, and we're used to winning.
We don't like to lose in the United States. I
don't like to lose. I get it. But we're in
(09:11):
such a better place than we were four years ago,
and now it's time to say this is what worked,
this is who we're gonna be going forward, and now
it's just the evolution of getting there for the next time.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I appreciate that you still have your rose and now
you made Cat untradeable. We'll go find a lot of
tape that would see it took a while for you
to convert. You know, we won the title.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Yeah, but you know a sudden he's one of two
untouched we won.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, Anonoby's an untouchable, Heart's untouchable Bridges. Now it's because
to Taylor Swiss wedding. Well yeah, okay, number one and
number two. You're gonna raise all five of those jerseys
to the raptors at MSG that's inevitable. And Mitch is
gonna go I had that offensive rebound. Mitch, you played
fourteen minutes a game. Man, Come on, dude, let's let's
let's understand. It's got a big deal.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Anyway, Look, just because they're under the same and flag
the circumstances about retooling and rebuilding the women's team far
different than the men's. Okay, we're still trying to go
from crawling to walking over here on a grand scale versus, hey,
we aged out with these guys. We are the pre
(10:18):
eminent program in the world, and now we just need
to tweak and we have to recognize that that phase
is done. Everybody's got to take a big hug, take
one more group picture, and let's bring in the next.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But that's still you're talking about the United States. They
need to just increase. The men's team just needs to
increase where they are. Women's team was, Hey, we got
to turn over and keep the highest level possible. I
thought that's a difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
But so you at least know you have players to
draw from. Here, you're talking about going away from generational players,
generational players for the US who are good, not great
on a global scale, right, because that's the thing we're
watching and the amount of Hey, Brazil, you know, I'm sorry,
Belgium got lucky or whatever and we just had a
(11:01):
bad night. No, no, there's still a gap, like we
were not good. We were not ready for this moment,
and that's Belgium, right they were.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Ninth.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Ninth to seventeenth is huge, and then what's the chasm
between ninth and seventeenth and sixty.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
On forty three?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Fast did I come up with forty?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
I wasn't even trying to do the real math because
because there's a bigger algorithm that place there.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
But the limit does not exist. The limit does not exist.
But that's the point god in It does not exist.
But the larger point is that you're still trying to
figure out. And there were a lot of great discussions
going on and something we've been talking about behind the
scenes a lot. You know, my daughter playing youth soccer,
your daughter playing youth soccer clubs, and the expenses and
(11:50):
the travel whatever, it all comes into.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
You know, it's it's.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Fuzzy math, but but it's part of a larger equation
in terms of the system and getting players in and
graduating them and keeping them involved in soccer, et cetera.
And that's part of the larger United States systemic question
that needs to be answered going forward. We've got this
(12:13):
great start and it was great to get a nation
behind you for three weeks soccer took over right and
this was a fantastic We had watch parties. You've got
all the going just to collecting stickers. The Panini stickers
became a phenomenon. Then I get a osena because I
want to put it on my laptop, like all of
(12:34):
these things that people got on board, and you got
to figure out how to sustain that because coming out
the way you went out, you mentioned the Mexico England game.
You mentioned Argentina's return today like there was no fight,
And I think that's what ticked Americans off more than anything.
It's not that you lost for to one, it's that
(12:56):
you looked incompetent in doing so and you didn't show any.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Level of fight. But we watch.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
The thing is, though I was okay with losing if
the main way we lost that game was mentally, And
I'm okay with that because you can get past you
can get past that mentality and losing. It's hard to
get past the physical mentality or the physical aspect of
losing when it's like our players just aren't nearly as good.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Did you watch.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I'm telling you, well, Freeze, I said, you watched it.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Again.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
The mental mistakes the mental mistakes are much easier to
overcome because that's okay. That means we're getting where the
right players are coming up. We've got to find the.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Right one shrunk in a moment. But it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
But it's But it would be worse if it was
physically we just couldn't keep up. That would be worse.
That would show you that the gap is way bigger
than and you think it is. But the fact that
it's a mental gap, okay. That that that's something you
can fix. That's fixable. The physical gap, that's we just
don't have the horse.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
The low post. Nobody.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
If I'm you and I have three horses, and you
have three horses, and your three horses are pretty good,
and my three horses are really good. If my three
horses mentally just don't have it and you beat me,
I'm okay with that. But if I'm racing three horses
at are slow, I'm like, why I'm even doing this? Well,
I mean my horse, my horse is not even close
to as fast as yours.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
At least I know my horse is here. They're fat.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I just got to make sure they don't go to
the side, they don't try to get a snack. They
don't try to chase something. The butterfly is here.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I gotta make.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Sure I remember that. You also did the we only
have two guys you want to keep for the next sie. Yeah,
that's okay, that's a problem. That's a problem that you
only took two of those eleven horses for.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Over forty Well, look, I've seen baseball teams do the
same thing and win the World Series the next year.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
It's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
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up next, more on all the latest news in the
the NFL and a Big Team USA post mortem Argentina
(15:04):
celebration Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
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 app
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
So here we are in a World Cup Day.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It kind of it kind of stinks now that when
you get deeper into the term, it's like, boy, there's
only a couple of games.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
They really space them out. There's no game tomorrow. What
the hell am I gonna do?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Well, I'm sure you had carved out a full three
and a half hours. Fox Will sends Laton and Alexi
Lawless and Arian Reed to the beach and they'll just
record what they do at the beach.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah, put Henri and Alexei together. I mean, come on now,
we'll put all three of them twenty four to seven.
This forget big brother, give me these three guys.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That is that is what that is what you call
an interesting set, like it's not. The whole World Cup
set with the three of them has not evolved as
I thought it was going to. But that's not a
bad thing. Like I thought, Okay, this is exactly what
it's gonna be. Laton is going to be over the tops. Laton,
which he has been, Alexi Lalas is gonna.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Be are you kidding me with all this?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And Iryanrie was going to be the voice of reason,
very well respected, right, you have to, But that's not
what it's been at all and I'm like, oh, I
like being surprised by things, and I go, wow, I
like being surprised by maybe these guys really disagree about
everything going on in the World Cup.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Yeah know that next level stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Every time, Yeah, the mic gets cracked, like all right,
we're back or or the quick all right, we're just
gonna go to break now.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
The Cup knockout round is now, and DraftKings has you
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That's JSS at DraftKings. The crown is yours. Well join
us now. I'm the hotline man uniquely qualified for all
the big news in the NFL and the latest post
(17:00):
on the US men's national team. Man who was going
all the way back to watching World Cup qualifying in
nineteen eighty two in a friend's basement. It is long
time aficionado Jason lock and four. He is on Twitter
at Jason Lockefore, Jake, how you doing, man? I know
we've had not not a full data process this Where
are you right now?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah? Well it wasn't friend's basement. It was. It was Tommy' lound.
It was a corner bar. What I mean, my mom's friend,
my mom's friend dad. It was a Firmer Prize fighter
owned it. But uh yeah, it wasn't it wasn't. It
wasn't a basement. A full disclosure.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
How old were you going to this bar in the basement?
Speaker 5 (17:39):
How old were you going to this bar in the.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Seven or eight Yeah?
Speaker 5 (17:43):
What you didn't smith, We all did that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I didn't start going to bartil I was ten.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Was what they had. Remember the satellite dishes that were
like bigger than like you know, mankind itself, that would
be on the roof, like they had one of those
bad boys. Like we didn't even have a cable in
Baltimore sit until I was in like almost in college.
So yeah, we would go to Tommy's lounge. They'd let
us in the base, we wouldn't really be in the
main rut bar area, and they'd put all the games
(18:10):
on RAI or sae NA, which I believe was before
Runner to Telemundo, and we'd watch the games down there
in eighty two and eighty six, and then we finally
made it in ninety. Now, look, this is this isn't progress,
This isn't a golden generation, This isn't this isn't anything
(18:34):
that should be celebrated. They had an outlier against Paraguay,
which is the best probably ninety minutes of pure, attacking, adrenalized,
world class football that I've ever seen this program muster
on a stage like that. And then you know, they
(18:54):
did what they had to do against Australia and the
Turkey didn't really you know, matter, and they did what
they had to do against Bosnia and then this was
a complete disc looked like bearhawk ball. Not the kid
with the free kicks, but the dad. It was a
fraud manager and they weren't prepared, and there wasn't hard,
(19:16):
and there wasn't intensity, and there wasn't interconnectivity, and there
wasn't selflessness. It was second to every ball it was.
It was boneheaded mistakes on the back line, Like I'm
having flashbacks to Bocanegrit kicking a ball over his own
head against Ghana, however many World Cups ago that was.
(19:36):
And I'm watching this happen in the box five minutes
in and I'm like, my god, history just repeats and
I'm watching it at a bar. Thomas Lownds been closed
a long time ago, but a lot of guys I
grew up with went to Thomas Lowndes's kids were together
and we watched this all the way through, and we're
all just sitting there, like, my god, nothing ever changes,
Like the more things change, the more they stayed the same.
And everybody knew Tim Rieam had no business at age
(19:59):
thirty eight on the team, let alone playing all the minutes.
But in coach we trust. But then that's all a part.
And we knew they didn't have a world class keeper
on the team. And as soon as they started getting tested,
if we didn't maintain possession as much, if the high
press wasn't turning people over, you know, if Pulship was
in his feelings, like it's just it's really pathetic, and
(20:21):
he's really pathetic, and he's got more absolute just mind,
I mean, like like heartless failures on his resume than
anything he's done that's truly of note in a situation
that was anything close to knockout or or must win,
(20:43):
and that group will never come close to doing anything
of note. I mean, I just don't see it happening
I mean, you're gonna tell me to cope with two
years now. I mean maybe if they're in that and
that's official, maybe, but the next World Cup cycle. No,
So no, this is this is this group has a
(21:06):
Fregiulay problem. And they they came out and they were
Fredilay and they're a little bit through gazy and yeah,
it's just the same old c I'm coming so close
to custins so many times here. Uh, it's just the same,
(21:28):
It's the same all stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well, but here's the thing, though, Jay, is that, like,
I'm with you on a lot of it, right, I've
seen enough of the Golden Generation. It's time. It's time
to turn the page. Right, I've seen a couple of
guys to build around and Battlegan and Tillman. But honestly,
I feel better about it because you know, I'm gonna
borrow one of your phrases. I've been saying this last
couple of days. I'm old enough to remember what it
was like after twenty twenty two and how that was
(21:53):
the bottom of the absolute barrel for the United States,
with all the Burrholter drama with Raina and and and
all the stuff off the field, with him as well,
and we couldn't find a coach and nobody wanted the job.
And now I feel like, Okay, we've stabilized that. Like
I feel like we're in a much better place. We're
after twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I mean, they're not even a sporting director right now,
do they? I Mean, I feel like we're in the
jack same place. And then we went through all that
stuff with McBride and Ernie Stewart. Who has which job
and what? And is it just the same old a
holes at soccer House pulling the strings but with different people,
you know, running cover for them. And I don't know
has anything. I don't know like has anything really Like Okay,
so they finally got desperate enough that they gave coaches
five or six millions because they're hosting, but they're not
(22:33):
always going to be hosting, Like I don't know, man,
Like this just really feels like the same old crap.
I'm not particularly hopeful. I don't believe in the people
in charge. I think they got back in the corner
(22:54):
and they did one thing a little bit differently, but
like MLS ain't changing, you know, they're not going they
change their schedule, which helps a little bit, but they're
not going to really go a relegation. They're in the
business of getting stadiums built to pump up, you know,
to pump up artificial values of these teams. And I
think eventually the money's not going to be there after
(23:16):
this Apple deals over. Like, I don't know, bro, I'm
not real. I think the USL is the better, better model,
but like, no, I don't know. I think we're in
I see so many parallel Like I think the MLS
is going to actually happen what happened to the NASL.
It's going to take longer to get there for a
multitude of reasons. But like, yeah, no, I mean, I
(23:41):
so Neil Golotti's not here anymore. I'm glad about that,
But like it's just different people in different chairs, with
the same small mindedness and the same egos. And I
don't have a lot of faith in this program ever
getting over the top. I really don't.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
My Chicago Polish community celebrating the arrival of Lewandowski for
the fire as for the tournament.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
As a whole, that's NASL. I mean, yeah, yeah, I
saw that with Gerd Mueller, you know what I mean?
Forty years ago, Kirk Farmer like, I'm just telling you
his'sory repeats like it's the same crap all.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
My Life's to circle rest of the tournament as we
go forward, obviously the Belgium advance. Earlier today we had
Argentina and Egypt for eighty minutes about it looked like
Egypt was going to walk through, but not so fast
that five to seven guys shows up again.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, what a wild game. I mean, I think the
goal that got taken away is just ridiculous. I mean,
we're going to go one hundred plus yards down the
field to some ticki tech thing that happened, and then
they get a free kick out of it too, And
I think that took and I know that Egypt ended
up scoring again, but just some subconsciously like when that
(24:54):
happens to you. And then once Argentina finally breaks through
for one, I just feel like the psychology that's it's
going to get it's going to get the best of you.
But for Messi to have played as many minutes as
he played and to be as great as he's been,
and for him to you know, he could have two
more goals sitting in that ledger if he converts the penalties.
(25:17):
There's a fortitude to Argentina that is of a different class.
But I do think we talked about this last week,
or maybe it was two weeks ago, Like I do,
like you watch this and it really is France and
everybody else, you know what I mean, like even Spain.
Like I haven't been super impressed with Spain. I don't
think Spain's been super impressed with Spain. And you know,
not conceding much and all that is great, you know,
(25:41):
but I really feel like France has some gives that
nobody else can hit. And I do start to wonder
about as we get deeper and deeper into this tournament
and how little they've gotten. Messy off the seed, right,
he didn't play the first sixty minutes of the was
it Iran? I can't remember who was where he scored
the free kick goal? It was again the middlem. But
other than that, he's had to play and he had
(26:03):
to move his feet more than they probably anticipated, and
I just wonder if that's going to be enough when
we start getting into the semis.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
All right, So lastly, if I said to you, it
clearly looks like we're on the the collision course of England,
Argentina and France and Spain. If I said to you,
who's the one team that can mess that up? Because
that would be the biggest star studed final four, that
that the that the World Cup could look at off
for you. You have all these heritage programs being credible.
Who's the one team that you could say mostly you
(26:32):
could say, hey, this team might screw it up and
beat one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Well, I would have said Columbia up until today a
couple hours ago, but I've lost some bets on that.
I think it's Norway guys, because I think Norway's beating
England and I I don't know. I watched a pretty
good amount of them in qualifying, Like that's a team
that couldn't you know, they had all these things going
(26:57):
against them. They they've just on the way to be
their own worst enemy. And it's one of those teams
that I think for them, just finally getting back to
the World Cup got a lot of pressure off their shoulders,
and I think they're loose and like, what did they
do when they played France. They didn't show their hand right,
they didn't go all out. They set everybody right. They
(27:18):
said it regard. They sat holland they sat a couple
other guys like, I don't know, man, I think I
don't think. I thought they would be Brazil. I think
they're beating England. And then at that point you're playing
with so much house money. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
He's on Twitter at Jason Lock and four that is
at Jason Lock and Fura Jay as always, Buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
We'll talk to you next week when we're looking at
the final four.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Sounds good, gentlemen, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Donky no, I.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Want to watch trek Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show.
My best friend Mike Harmon. Such special got the play
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Speaker 5 (28:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
When you trail to nothing and there's about ten minutes
left in your game. It's over for most people, but
it wasn't for Argentina and Lionel Messi gets to be
the play of the day, Missi Saadia, no.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Poo Messy Hogan get me?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Can't e mts to the broadcast booth, we have a
cardiac event to the broadcast booth, EMTs to the broadcast
Both was that it was that in an Argentine broadcaster
Frostburg or what gave it away? Not Argantine broadcast. But
I'm damn sure. I don't know for a fact, but
(29:45):
I am damn sure that that guy is from Argentina
Telemundo on the call, he had his Harrycane voice. That's
as exciting as I was when the Knicks won the title.
That was me after that, just screaming and I couldn't
even control myself. I still can't. I still wake up
every day and I go at some point the Dago.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Jungle Dreams made.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's all you got, buddy. I just think there's a
time that hits me every day. Go my god, the
Knicks really we really won. It's really happened. Season I got.
I mean, come on, I watched it on hold. I
got this, I got this next title for a decade.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This is just it's it's amazing on that because nobody
else is winning. Oh yeah, I'll tell you and your
guy had risk surgerd it from Steve. He's fine, he's fine,
bunt and his fine problem. It doesn't even broke. It
was it was injured and he dropped forty five. He
took to think stand the pain.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
I have lots of questions the protocols of the National
Basketball Association.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I think I think Mariska Hart was able to to
whatever they do on on set. She was able to
bring over and everything is fine.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Now I'm gonna host there.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Now I ask you this, does Mariska Hargate host the
Emmys without the Knicks winning the title?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
No? No, right, because because that one right she took
over for Radcliffe. She did that, had a great run
with that.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
No, it's guys, how much do you think his wrist
is gonna go at auction?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Well, that that jersey's gonna go for about a million
in the risk. How about an ex ray? Did you
pull out any bone chips? Well a little bit, Okay, great,
we're gonna put those in cards and we're gonna sell them.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So get I got a bone chip, brunts and card
I gotta buck you went apart with Brunson's bone chip
in it.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Man laugh.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I mean, we haven't gone to the human anatomy just yet,
but but we certainly have seen You think that's not
far off.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
No, no, no, it's there's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
There's gonna be blood, there's gonna be some sort of
there's a week hair, there's gonna be.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Because you have a lot of cards that are like
game used patches, and once upon a time they tell
you the date it was and you'd go back like, oh,
that's where the guy, uh you know, got hit in
the lip. So there's a little bit of blood on
that piece of jersey. That's you know, card seventeen to fifty.
So while it's one of fifty, it's the one with
the blood.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
It's coming.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
But I'll tell you, man, this, this comeback by Argentina
is at was absolutely and you can tell it looked
like they were inevitable in the last ten minutes because
Egypt clearly decided we're just gonna sit back and hope
that we can defend the last ten or fifteen minutes,
and and and they couldn't even with everybody back, they
(32:14):
couldn't gain control of the ball. And Argentina just felt
like we are now putting our imposing or with like
we got pissed off enough and we're imposing our will
on the game for the last ten or fifteen minutes
and Egypt just kind of sat back and just let yeah,
whatever you guys want to do, we just do. We
don't want to lose this game, but I want to
make mistakes. Our keeper's playing terrific, and that's what happens
when you start playing that way where it doesn't matter.
(32:35):
There's no time off. After the first goal, it was
right back at they were right back in it. They
were right back inside the box, and I mean it
was just an absolute crazy event where I'm I can't
believe I'm seeing what I'm seeing, or coming back with
ten minutes to go down to nothing.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
I think some of it, and we've talked about the
psychology of the Cup, big moments and everything else. I
think the Egyptian team from the sideline to the players
on the pitch and they said a lot of it.
After the game was over, I think they were done.
I think mentally they checked out of all, right, this
is everything's gonna go against us. Oh on every call,
(33:11):
every every interaction, every var reviews or non reviews, all
of that. I think there was so much of that
as the and once the game started rolling downhill, there
was no way they were gonna be able to withstand it.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
No look, and something we're gonna get into a little
bit more coming up next is that the var review
that took a goal off the board for them when
they were still shutting out Argentina a full hundred yards
away from the play and a good twenty seconds after
the foul happened. Oh yeah, we're gonna wipe this goal
off the board. And Egypt goes crazy. They wanted Messi
(33:48):
to advance or to Tea to move on, like there's
bad calls, and there's there's a call they decided to
make because the other team scored a goal, Like, I
don't know how you could cut that up any worse
than that. That might be worse than the Balligan red card.
And that's something, but.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
That's today, right.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
You can fight about fall or not, but how you
then adjudicated amazing.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down. We got
more on that plus what happened today in the NBA,
that's telling us exactly where Lebron James is gonna go.
That's next time
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 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome inside, Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with
my base friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well dressed Hobo.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
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Express Employment Professionals connect you with qualified talent fast. Express
helps you hire smarter and stay productive. Visit expresspros dot
com to find a location. Express Employment professionals respecting people,
impacting business well. Contrary to popular belief, the World Cup
(00:58):
is still going on. It did not end last night
with the United States losing to Belgium four to one.
There is still soccer and judging by how many people
that I heard, you know, outside my window today screaming
after Argentina's come back up, people are still people are
still watching the World Cup. Still, It's still an event.
(01:18):
Mi car people are still consuming this.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I dig that on a Tuesday you had a lot
of folks just kind of hanging out watching a game
from nine to eleven Pacific times. Yeah, that's just fantastic.
You know, we heard a couple of screams. I think
they were on the we're getting cheated side of things.
But we got plenty of times to talk about that.
You know, it's fun to.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Hear, like when you when when something when you know
everybody is watching a certain event and you hear the
screams out the window, And my first thought was, boy,
everybody's taking off from work today. Nobody's working today.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
National holiday in the US. Hey extend that July fourth
weekend just a.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Little bit longer, Like, I don't think there's a lot
of people that are so died in the wool Argentina
fans from our Tina in my neighborhood. But I'll take
some time off to watch the games. The way I
heard those chance, I'm like, people are just kind of
hanging out. Nobody's going to work today.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, I mean a lot of folks are still working
working from home. And I wanted to use the air quotes.
We do have cameras, so yeah, yes, working from home,
so that was a good excuse to do so to
watch the Argentina and Egyptian match. I mean that was
that was a hotly contested, lot of big moments, a
lot of big, big opportunities, and two huge stars at
(02:31):
the forefront.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now you got a question, Frostburg, what what's up, hey, Jason?
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Yeah? Is a Christian.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Polistic still elite?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
He is?
Speaker 5 (02:38):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't know that elite was ever something he was.
Those were your words. I think we thought he was elite.
I think we thought he was. I think, hey, he's
so many times how good he is.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
He use the line, use the line my opinion is
allowed to change based.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
UF wrong for that opinion was wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Look, we'll get to the Argentina Egypt game in I mean,
the comeback was incredible today. I mean, in the eightieth minute,
they're down two goals. You figure Argentina is cooked and
Egypt just decided to say, nope, we're gonna hang back
and allow you to do whatever you want to do.
Oh okay, Well and that's case, we're gonna score three
goals on you.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
I first for the Polistic, though, we have to tie
this up.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Thanks for everybody out there forwarding it, retweeting it, watching it.
The take we had on Polisic last night did quite
well in the socials, so we appreciate the extended family.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Now the day after for the United States, and I've
seen some I mean, this was the day where I
think the shock got past everybody last night, the stunning
way in which we lost as awful as we played,
knowing how well we had played all the way through
the World Cup until last night. Now everybody's just mad
right now. Everybody's mad, and we've got this sucks and
we suck and we still suck at soccer, and this
(03:50):
is all everybody's just made. We had a great couple
of weeks where we played really well and we had
a bad game last night. Now everything is bad. But
if you want a real now that the emotion is done,
if you want to know the real way we should
go forward with with soccer, the United States right where
you are right now for the men's national team. And
I know watching today watching a two nothing advantage that
(04:14):
Egypt had slip away because Argentina just wouldn't be denied.
They were down to nothing and still they just said
no we're going to win this game, and you saw
a lot of boy I wish the United States would
have shown this fight. Wish they would have shown this fight.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And I get it.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
I completely get that. Now.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
If Egypt scored their two goals because Argentine threw up
on themselves, you don't know what that does to a
team mentally. But it was too great plays for Egypt
to score, and they probably should have had a couple
of more, but var steps in the way. So I
understand everybody being upset about the United States and we
still suck at soccer. There's been no forward progress anything else.
But you want to just be realistic, right and this
(04:50):
is the right take about soccer. Men's soccer here in
the World Cup, and we watched the best teams now play,
we wonder how far away we are. Think of the
men's national team as a baseball team that has gone
as far a football team or a basketball team, doesn't matter.
That has gone as far as they can with their
(05:13):
current crop of players. And okay, they didn't get as
far as they wanted to. But now it's time to
make some changes.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
It is it dire no And I get that people
want to say well, we still can't get past the
round of six team, we still can't do this.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
First thing I want to say is remember where we
were four years ago. Okay, understand where we came from
four years ago. That's the first thing I want to
say is go after the World Cup four years ago?
What were we talking about? Greg Burholter is terrible. He's
an awful coach. Nobody wanted him around. He was awful.
You had the controversy with Gio Rena and the families
didn't like each other, and it was a youth soccer thing.
(05:50):
Then you had stuff with with Burholter and his wife
and it was an absolute mess. The US men's national
team was in the absolute gutter four years ago, the gut.
Nobody wanted the job. There were stories they would want
to pay anybody to take this job. No one's gonna
take it. But Pochettino takes the job. Pay him a
lot of money, and what happens. No one was expecting
(06:10):
a lot in this World Cup. I think we walked
into the World Cup and people thought, well, we're hosting it.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
It should be great.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
No, we are hosting it, but the expectations we still
are working our way back from where we were in
twenty twenty two. Now where do we sit after what's
going on? We have the right coach, right, Pochettino's the
right guy because now we're talking about soccer, we're talking
about going forward. Clearly he has gotten the guys to
buy in as best as he can. What did we
(06:35):
see yesterday? Yeah, honestly, and this is the big take.
I'm kind of done with the Golden generation and it's
time to move on. It's time to now get rid
of those players that you've maxed out on and bring
in more of what you need for twenty thirty and beyond.
If you're doing the old hey, everybody's available, But these
are the guys I would keep right like you're doing
(06:56):
baseball and basketball, Like, hey, if you as long as
the Knicks keep Unsent and Cat, we can trade it,
right if you want to do that. Balagan and Tillman
should be the only definitive holdovers. They're twenty four, they're
part of the new generation. Balagan is an elite scorer.
Tilman looks like he can be an elite player. If
you want to get rid of the other guys. Okay,
(07:18):
because we've seen enough of Polisic and dest and Robinson
and all of these guys and okay, yeah they were Okay,
are they good enough on a global stage as we saw? Yeah,
we got pretty far, but we still have some work
to do. But this is a natural thing. This is
not something right. Oh, it's not working, break it up, storty. No, okay,
we got this far. We went with the generational talent
(07:39):
as far as we could and saw that, Okay, maybe
it's not as generational as we thought. So now there's
going to be turnover.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
We've had a couple of World Cups, two to three
World Cups of some of these same guys now and
it's time for new blood and to get new players in.
It's almost like what we watch the women's team do
when they had to get out of the Rapino and
Morgan era, and that was a very difficult thing to
do because that was the most successful era we have
seen in women's soccer. And now winning the gold medal
the way they did, being built on the triumvirt of
(08:07):
forwards that are all dangerous. Now, Emma Hayes has turned
this team into something pretty quick. So okay, but understand
that that's where we are united. States. We're not far away.
This is now just okay, we went with these guys.
Now it's time to augment what we have and bring
in the new level of players. We get a little
bit younger, a little bit more athletic in some places,
and that's the team now we look forward to for
(08:29):
twenty thirty. It's a natural progression of sport. This is
not oh, there's a problem with soccer. That's not any
other sport. No, most teams will tell you we went
as far as we could with this talent, so it's
time to let them go and let them hit free agency,
and we bring in new guys. We go sign new guys,
We bring guys up from the minor leagues. That's really
where the United States is at. That's where they are
looking into twenty thirty. Most important thing is make sure
(08:50):
po Chattino comes back. I'm even okay with him going
to Europe for a couple of years and coming back
when it's time to start qualifying again again. I'm okay
with that. He's the right guy. Realize, these are the
conferences we're having now compared to where we were four
years ago. So honestly, this whole we suck all of this. Yeah,
I get it. We didn't win, and we're used to winning.
We don't like to lose in the United States. I
don't like to lose. I get it. But we're in
(09:11):
such a better place than we were four years ago,
and now it's time to say this is what worked,
this is who we're gonna be going forward, and now
it's just the evolution of getting there for the next time.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
I appreciate that you still have your rose and now
you made Cat untradeable. We'll go find a lot of
tape that would see it took a while for you
to convert. You know, we won the title.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Yeah, but you know a sudden he's one of two
untouched we won.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, Anonoby's an untouchable, Heart's untouchable Bridges. Now it's because
to Taylor Swiss wedding. Well yeah, okay, number one and
number two. You're gonna raise all five of those jerseys
to the raptors at MSG that's inevitable. And Mitch is
gonna go I had that offensive rebound. Mitch, you played
fourteen minutes a game. Man, Come on, dude, let's let's
let's understand. It's got a big deal.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Anyway, Look, just because they're under the same and flag
the circumstances about retooling and rebuilding the women's team far
different than the men's. Okay, we're still trying to go
from crawling to walking over here on a grand scale versus, hey,
we aged out with these guys. We are the pre
(10:18):
eminent program in the world, and now we just need
to tweak and we have to recognize that that phase
is done. Everybody's got to take a big hug, take
one more group picture, and let's bring in the next.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
But that's still you're talking about the United States. They
need to just increase. The men's team just needs to
increase where they are. Women's team was, Hey, we got
to turn over and keep the highest level possible. I
thought that's a difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
But so you at least know you have players to
draw from. Here, you're talking about going away from generational players,
generational players for the US who are good, not great
on a global scale, right, because that's the thing we're
watching and the amount of Hey, Brazil, you know, I'm sorry,
Belgium got lucky or whatever and we just had a
(11:01):
bad night. No, no, there's still a gap, like we
were not good. We were not ready for this moment,
and that's Belgium, right they were.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
Ninth.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Ninth to seventeenth is huge, and then what's the chasm
between ninth and seventeenth and sixty.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
On forty three?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Fast did I come up with forty?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
I wasn't even trying to do the real math because
because there's a bigger algorithm that place there.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
But the limit does not exist. The limit does not exist.
But that's the point god in It does not exist.
But the larger point is that you're still trying to
figure out. And there were a lot of great discussions
going on and something we've been talking about behind the
scenes a lot. You know, my daughter playing youth soccer,
your daughter playing youth soccer clubs, and the expenses and
(11:50):
the travel whatever, it all comes into.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
You know, it's it's.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Fuzzy math, but but it's part of a larger equation
in terms of the system and getting players in and
graduating them and keeping them involved in soccer, et cetera.
And that's part of the larger United States systemic question
that needs to be answered going forward. We've got this
(12:13):
great start and it was great to get a nation
behind you for three weeks soccer took over right and
this was a fantastic We had watch parties. You've got
all the going just to collecting stickers. The Panini stickers
became a phenomenon. Then I get a osena because I
want to put it on my laptop, like all of
(12:34):
these things that people got on board, and you got
to figure out how to sustain that because coming out
the way you went out, you mentioned the Mexico England game.
You mentioned Argentina's return today like there was no fight,
And I think that's what ticked Americans off more than anything.
It's not that you lost for to one, it's that
(12:56):
you looked incompetent in doing so and you didn't show any.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Level of fight. But we watch.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
The thing is, though I was okay with losing if
the main way we lost that game was mentally, And
I'm okay with that because you can get past you
can get past that mentality and losing. It's hard to
get past the physical mentality or the physical aspect of
losing when it's like our players just aren't nearly as good.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Did you watch.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I'm telling you, well, Freeze, I said, you watched it.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Again.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
The mental mistakes the mental mistakes are much easier to
overcome because that's okay. That means we're getting where the
right players are coming up. We've got to find the.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
Right one shrunk in a moment. But it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
But it's But it would be worse if it was
physically we just couldn't keep up. That would be worse.
That would show you that the gap is way bigger
than and you think it is. But the fact that
it's a mental gap, okay. That that that's something you
can fix. That's fixable. The physical gap, that's we just
don't have the horse.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
The low post. Nobody.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
If I'm you and I have three horses, and you
have three horses, and your three horses are pretty good,
and my three horses are really good. If my three
horses mentally just don't have it and you beat me,
I'm okay with that. But if I'm racing three horses
at are slow, I'm like, why I'm even doing this? Well,
I mean my horse, my horse is not even close
to as fast as yours.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
At least I know my horse is here. They're fat.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I just got to make sure they don't go to
the side, they don't try to get a snack. They
don't try to chase something. The butterfly is here.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I gotta make.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Sure I remember that. You also did the we only
have two guys you want to keep for the next sie. Yeah,
that's okay, that's a problem. That's a problem that you
only took two of those eleven horses for.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Over forty Well, look, I've seen baseball teams do the
same thing and win the World Series the next year.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
It's how it goes.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
For over forty years, Tyre's been helping customers finding the
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up next, more on all the latest news in the
the NFL and a Big Team USA post mortem Argentina
(15:04):
celebration Jason and Mike Fox.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
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 app
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
So here we are in a World Cup Day.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It kind of it kind of stinks now that when
you get deeper into the term, it's like, boy, there's
only a couple of games.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
They really space them out. There's no game tomorrow. What
the hell am I gonna do?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Well, I'm sure you had carved out a full three
and a half hours. Fox Will sends Laton and Alexi
Lawless and Arian Reed to the beach and they'll just
record what they do at the beach.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah, put Henri and Alexei together. I mean, come on now,
we'll put all three of them twenty four to seven.
This forget big brother, give me these three guys.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
That is that is what that is what you call
an interesting set, like it's not. The whole World Cup
set with the three of them has not evolved as
I thought it was going to. But that's not a
bad thing. Like I thought, Okay, this is exactly what
it's gonna be. Laton is going to be over the tops. Laton,
which he has been, Alexi Lalas is gonna.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Be are you kidding me with all this?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And Iryanrie was going to be the voice of reason,
very well respected, right, you have to, But that's not
what it's been at all and I'm like, oh, I
like being surprised by things, and I go, wow, I
like being surprised by maybe these guys really disagree about
everything going on in the World Cup.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Yeah know that next level stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Every time, Yeah, the mic gets cracked, like all right,
we're back or or the quick all right, we're just
gonna go to break now.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
The Cup knockout round is now, and DraftKings has you
covered for every single match right now. Use the promo
code JSS to claim your special offer DraftKings again, that's
promo code JSS at Draft Kings. Draft Kings Code JSS.
That's JSS at DraftKings. The crown is yours. Well join
us now. I'm the hotline man uniquely qualified for all
the big news in the NFL and the latest post
(17:00):
on the US men's national team. Man who was going
all the way back to watching World Cup qualifying in
nineteen eighty two in a friend's basement. It is long
time aficionado Jason lock and four. He is on Twitter
at Jason Lockefore, Jake, how you doing, man? I know
we've had not not a full data process this Where
are you right now?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah? Well it wasn't friend's basement. It was. It was Tommy' lound.
It was a corner bar. What I mean, my mom's friend,
my mom's friend dad. It was a Firmer Prize fighter
owned it. But uh yeah, it wasn't it wasn't. It
wasn't a basement. A full disclosure.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
How old were you going to this bar in the basement?
Speaker 5 (17:39):
How old were you going to this bar in the.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Seven or eight Yeah?
Speaker 5 (17:43):
What you didn't smith, We all did that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I didn't start going to bartil I was ten.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Was what they had. Remember the satellite dishes that were
like bigger than like you know, mankind itself, that would
be on the roof, like they had one of those
bad boys. Like we didn't even have a cable in
Baltimore sit until I was in like almost in college.
So yeah, we would go to Tommy's lounge. They'd let
us in the base, we wouldn't really be in the
main rut bar area, and they'd put all the games
(18:10):
on RAI or sae NA, which I believe was before
Runner to Telemundo, and we'd watch the games down there
in eighty two and eighty six, and then we finally
made it in ninety. Now, look, this is this isn't progress,
This isn't a golden generation, This isn't this isn't anything
(18:34):
that should be celebrated. They had an outlier against Paraguay,
which is the best probably ninety minutes of pure, attacking, adrenalized,
world class football that I've ever seen this program muster
on a stage like that. And then you know, they
(18:54):
did what they had to do against Australia and the
Turkey didn't really you know, matter, and they did what
they had to do against Bosnia and then this was
a complete disc looked like bearhawk ball. Not the kid
with the free kicks, but the dad. It was a
fraud manager and they weren't prepared, and there wasn't hard,
(19:16):
and there wasn't intensity, and there wasn't interconnectivity, and there
wasn't selflessness. It was second to every ball it was.
It was boneheaded mistakes on the back line, Like I'm
having flashbacks to Bocanegrit kicking a ball over his own
head against Ghana, however many World Cups ago that was.
(19:36):
And I'm watching this happen in the box five minutes
in and I'm like, my god, history just repeats and
I'm watching it at a bar. Thomas Lownds been closed
a long time ago, but a lot of guys I
grew up with went to Thomas Lowndes's kids were together
and we watched this all the way through, and we're
all just sitting there, like, my god, nothing ever changes,
Like the more things change, the more they stayed the same.
And everybody knew Tim Rieam had no business at age
(19:59):
thirty eight on the team, let alone playing all the minutes.
But in coach we trust. But then that's all a part.
And we knew they didn't have a world class keeper
on the team. And as soon as they started getting tested,
if we didn't maintain possession as much, if the high
press wasn't turning people over, you know, if Pulship was
in his feelings, like it's just it's really pathetic, and
(20:21):
he's really pathetic, and he's got more absolute just mind,
I mean, like like heartless failures on his resume than
anything he's done that's truly of note in a situation
that was anything close to knockout or or must win,
(20:43):
and that group will never come close to doing anything
of note. I mean, I just don't see it happening
I mean, you're gonna tell me to cope with two
years now. I mean maybe if they're in that and
that's official, maybe, but the next World Cup cycle. No,
So no, this is this is this group has a
(21:06):
Fregiulay problem. And they they came out and they were
Fredilay and they're a little bit through gazy and yeah,
it's just the same old c I'm coming so close
to custins so many times here. Uh, it's just the same,
(21:28):
It's the same all stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well, but here's the thing, though, Jay, is that, like,
I'm with you on a lot of it, right, I've
seen enough of the Golden Generation. It's time. It's time
to turn the page. Right, I've seen a couple of
guys to build around and Battlegan and Tillman. But honestly,
I feel better about it because you know, I'm gonna
borrow one of your phrases. I've been saying this last
couple of days. I'm old enough to remember what it
was like after twenty twenty two and how that was
(21:53):
the bottom of the absolute barrel for the United States,
with all the Burrholter drama with Raina and and and
all the stuff off the field, with him as well,
and we couldn't find a coach and nobody wanted the job.
And now I feel like, Okay, we've stabilized that. Like
I feel like we're in a much better place. We're
after twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I mean, they're not even a sporting director right now,
do they? I Mean, I feel like we're in the
jack same place. And then we went through all that
stuff with McBride and Ernie Stewart. Who has which job
and what? And is it just the same old a
holes at soccer House pulling the strings but with different people,
you know, running cover for them. And I don't know
has anything. I don't know like has anything really Like Okay,
so they finally got desperate enough that they gave coaches
five or six millions because they're hosting, but they're not
(22:33):
always going to be hosting, Like I don't know, man,
Like this just really feels like the same old crap.
I'm not particularly hopeful. I don't believe in the people
in charge. I think they got back in the corner
(22:54):
and they did one thing a little bit differently, but
like MLS ain't changing, you know, they're not going they
change their schedule, which helps a little bit, but they're
not going to really go a relegation. They're in the
business of getting stadiums built to pump up, you know,
to pump up artificial values of these teams. And I
think eventually the money's not going to be there after
(23:16):
this Apple deals over. Like, I don't know, bro, I'm
not real. I think the USL is the better, better model,
but like, no, I don't know. I think we're in
I see so many parallel Like I think the MLS
is going to actually happen what happened to the NASL.
It's going to take longer to get there for a
multitude of reasons. But like, yeah, no, I mean, I
(23:41):
so Neil Golotti's not here anymore. I'm glad about that,
But like it's just different people in different chairs, with
the same small mindedness and the same egos. And I
don't have a lot of faith in this program ever
getting over the top. I really don't.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
My Chicago Polish community celebrating the arrival of Lewandowski for
the fire as for the tournament.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
As a whole, that's NASL. I mean, yeah, yeah, I
saw that with Gerd Mueller, you know what I mean?
Forty years ago, Kirk Farmer like, I'm just telling you
his'sory repeats like it's the same crap all.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
My Life's to circle rest of the tournament as we
go forward, obviously the Belgium advance. Earlier today we had
Argentina and Egypt for eighty minutes about it looked like
Egypt was going to walk through, but not so fast
that five to seven guys shows up again.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, what a wild game. I mean, I think the
goal that got taken away is just ridiculous. I mean,
we're going to go one hundred plus yards down the
field to some ticki tech thing that happened, and then
they get a free kick out of it too, And
I think that took and I know that Egypt ended
up scoring again, but just some subconsciously like when that
(24:54):
happens to you. And then once Argentina finally breaks through
for one, I just feel like the psychology that's it's
going to get it's going to get the best of you.
But for Messi to have played as many minutes as
he played and to be as great as he's been,
and for him to you know, he could have two
more goals sitting in that ledger if he converts the penalties.
(25:17):
There's a fortitude to Argentina that is of a different class.
But I do think we talked about this last week,
or maybe it was two weeks ago, Like I do,
like you watch this and it really is France and
everybody else, you know what I mean, like even Spain.
Like I haven't been super impressed with Spain. I don't
think Spain's been super impressed with Spain. And you know,
not conceding much and all that is great, you know,
(25:41):
but I really feel like France has some gives that
nobody else can hit. And I do start to wonder
about as we get deeper and deeper into this tournament
and how little they've gotten. Messy off the seed, right,
he didn't play the first sixty minutes of the was
it Iran? I can't remember who was where he scored
the free kick goal? It was again the middlem. But
other than that, he's had to play and he had
(26:03):
to move his feet more than they probably anticipated, and
I just wonder if that's going to be enough when
we start getting into the semis.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
All right, So lastly, if I said to you, it
clearly looks like we're on the the collision course of England,
Argentina and France and Spain. If I said to you,
who's the one team that can mess that up? Because
that would be the biggest star studed final four, that
that the that the World Cup could look at off
for you. You have all these heritage programs being credible.
Who's the one team that you could say mostly you
(26:32):
could say, hey, this team might screw it up and
beat one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Well, I would have said Columbia up until today a
couple hours ago, but I've lost some bets on that.
I think it's Norway guys, because I think Norway's beating
England and I I don't know. I watched a pretty
good amount of them in qualifying, Like that's a team
that couldn't you know, they had all these things going
(26:57):
against them. They they've just on the way to be
their own worst enemy. And it's one of those teams
that I think for them, just finally getting back to
the World Cup got a lot of pressure off their shoulders,
and I think they're loose and like, what did they
do when they played France. They didn't show their hand right,
they didn't go all out. They set everybody right. They
(27:18):
said it regard. They sat holland they sat a couple
other guys like, I don't know, man, I think I
don't think. I thought they would be Brazil. I think
they're beating England. And then at that point you're playing
with so much house money. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
He's on Twitter at Jason Lock and four that is
at Jason Lock and Fura Jay as always, Buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (27:40):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
We'll talk to you next week when we're looking at
the final four.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Sounds good, gentlemen, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Donky no, I.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Want to watch trek Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show.
My best friend Mike Harmon. Such special got the play
of the day coming your way. Brought to you by
ti Rack. For over forty years, tire Rack's been open
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(28:15):
Tireraq dot com is the way tire buying should be.
Speaker 5 (28:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
When you trail to nothing and there's about ten minutes
left in your game. It's over for most people, but
it wasn't for Argentina and Lionel Messi gets to be
the play of the day, Missi Saadia, no.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Poo Messy Hogan get me?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Can't e mts to the broadcast booth, we have a
cardiac event to the broadcast booth, EMTs to the broadcast
Both was that it was that in an Argentine broadcaster
Frostburg or what gave it away? Not Argantine broadcast. But
I'm damn sure. I don't know for a fact, but
(29:45):
I am damn sure that that guy is from Argentina
Telemundo on the call, he had his Harrycane voice. That's
as exciting as I was when the Knicks won the title.
That was me after that, just screaming and I couldn't
even control myself. I still can't. I still wake up
every day and I go at some point the Dago.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Jungle Dreams made.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's all you got, buddy. I just think there's a
time that hits me every day. Go my god, the
Knicks really we really won. It's really happened. Season I got.
I mean, come on, I watched it on hold. I
got this, I got this next title for a decade.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Man.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
This is just it's it's amazing on that because nobody
else is winning. Oh yeah, I'll tell you and your
guy had risk surgerd it from Steve. He's fine, he's fine,
bunt and his fine problem. It doesn't even broke. It
was it was injured and he dropped forty five. He
took to think stand the pain.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
I have lots of questions the protocols of the National
Basketball Association.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I think I think Mariska Hart was able to to
whatever they do on on set. She was able to
bring over and everything is fine.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Now I'm gonna host there.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Now I ask you this, does Mariska Hargate host the
Emmys without the Knicks winning the title?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
No? No, right, because because that one right she took
over for Radcliffe. She did that, had a great run
with that.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
No, it's guys, how much do you think his wrist
is gonna go at auction?
Speaker 4 (31:07):
Well, that that jersey's gonna go for about a million
in the risk. How about an ex ray? Did you
pull out any bone chips? Well a little bit, Okay, great,
we're gonna put those in cards and we're gonna sell them.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So get I got a bone chip, brunts and card
I gotta buck you went apart with Brunson's bone chip
in it.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Man laugh.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
I mean, we haven't gone to the human anatomy just yet,
but but we certainly have seen You think that's not
far off.
Speaker 5 (31:29):
No, no, no, it's there's gonna be around.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
There's gonna be blood, there's gonna be some sort of
there's a week hair, there's gonna be.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Because you have a lot of cards that are like
game used patches, and once upon a time they tell
you the date it was and you'd go back like, oh,
that's where the guy, uh you know, got hit in
the lip. So there's a little bit of blood on
that piece of jersey. That's you know, card seventeen to fifty.
So while it's one of fifty, it's the one with
the blood.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
It's coming.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
But I'll tell you, man, this, this comeback by Argentina
is at was absolutely and you can tell it looked
like they were inevitable in the last ten minutes because
Egypt clearly decided we're just gonna sit back and hope
that we can defend the last ten or fifteen minutes,
and and and they couldn't even with everybody back, they
(32:14):
couldn't gain control of the ball. And Argentina just felt
like we are now putting our imposing or with like
we got pissed off enough and we're imposing our will
on the game for the last ten or fifteen minutes
and Egypt just kind of sat back and just let yeah,
whatever you guys want to do, we just do. We
don't want to lose this game, but I want to
make mistakes. Our keeper's playing terrific, and that's what happens
when you start playing that way where it doesn't matter.
(32:35):
There's no time off. After the first goal, it was
right back at they were right back in it. They
were right back inside the box, and I mean it
was just an absolute crazy event where I'm I can't
believe I'm seeing what I'm seeing, or coming back with
ten minutes to go down to nothing.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
I think some of it, and we've talked about the
psychology of the Cup, big moments and everything else. I
think the Egyptian team from the sideline to the players
on the pitch and they said a lot of it.
After the game was over, I think they were done.
I think mentally they checked out of all, right, this
is everything's gonna go against us. Oh on every call,
(33:11):
every every interaction, every var reviews or non reviews, all
of that. I think there was so much of that
as the and once the game started rolling downhill, there
was no way they were gonna be able to withstand it.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
No look, and something we're gonna get into a little
bit more coming up next is that the var review
that took a goal off the board for them when
they were still shutting out Argentina a full hundred yards
away from the play and a good twenty seconds after
the foul happened. Oh yeah, we're gonna wipe this goal
off the board. And Egypt goes crazy. They wanted Messi
(33:48):
to advance or to Tea to move on, like there's
bad calls, and there's there's a call they decided to
make because the other team scored a goal, Like, I
don't know how you could cut that up any worse
than that. That might be worse than the Balligan red card.
And that's something, but.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
That's today, right.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
You can fight about fall or not, but how you
then adjudicated amazing.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen down. We got
more on that plus what happened today in the NBA,
that's telling us exactly where Lebron James is gonna go.
That's next time
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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