April 14, 2026 • 45 mins
Tom Bogert returns from paternity leave alongside Tab Ramos to break down the latest around the USMNT. They start with the shocking timing and fallout of Matt Crocker leaving his role as U.S. Soccer Sporting Director for a move to Saudi Arabia less than two months before the FIFA World Cup. Tab explains why he sees it as a troubling sign for the program, and why building a stronger culture is more important than ever.
They discuss Christian Pulisic, should there be real concern about his recent form, or is the panic overblown? Tab also gives his predictions for the final World Cup roster under Mauricio Pochettino.
Plus, Tom shares his first “new dad” story since returning to the show.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is not the right time to jump off of
this ride. I mean, we're going into home World Cup.
This is like super exciting. Even if the team's not
doing well, the guys will get excited in the summer
and they will.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I think they will have a good World Cup. And
I just think that this is a bat.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Son Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am your
host back in the South for the first time in
a couple months. Here Tom Bogert. I'm just so happy
to be here. TAB. I miss your voice, I miss
seeing you laughing. Thank you to Matt Doyle for hosting.
We're planning to have Matt backed a little bit, a
lot of bit. We'll see how much of it, depending
(00:38):
on what he wants to do and how much he's
gonna fit in. But thank you Matt again for taking
over for me over the last couple of months of
my paternity to leave TAB. How are you doing. I'm
just getting right into it. I'm cutting the intro short.
Just want to hear hear you.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know I was waiting to hear a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
But first of all, congrats again, obviously, because I can
tell you this and I think I might have mentioned
this to you sort of on the side. But but
having the dad title is the best title you can have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That is the that's the best. That's as good as
life catch as being a dad.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So congrats on that. I have to say a little
bit of the downside for you has to be that,
you know, Matt did a great job. Man, We had
a great think going here and listen, this is like
a team, right you You come out of the field
thinking you're the superstar, and the next guy comes in
and he does a great job. So now we may
have to change the system to fit you in, you know,
(01:29):
like it's it's your show and has your name on it.
But the guy that took your spot did a great job.
So I want to think. I want to think Matt
because he truly did a great job. He I think
he you know, he has a way about him that's,
you know, much different than you, obviously because he's a
little bit he's a lot more calm.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
But but I think he he did a great job.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
So thank you if you're out there listening to us, Matt,
thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
And then I have to get right to it here.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
How many calls have you already made to the to
the to the wreck coach in your town that's coaching
the twenty sixth group about your kid playing up already,
we'll have to see.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Listen, you are in New Jersey Soccer Royalty, so I
think you'd be the first call to you know, see
what preferential foot we can get My son every every
day a little we have a little soccer ball I
put around him, making sure to work on his left foot,
unlike his father, so he's not one footed. We're making
sure that he's gonna gonna take advantage of every opportunity
he has. But no, we gotta worry about some reckless
(02:28):
challenges from me on Doyle and training, just to make
sure he didn't get too comfortable. And he doesn't. He
doesn't walk around with the little swagger when he's back
in this recording room when it's the three of us.
But again, the shows are great. I know some people
can really unplug, get away from their jobs and everything
when they're on you know, leave or on vacation whatever.
I'm not one of those people one because it's not
really realistic in our side of the world. But also
(02:51):
this is my hobby. I love talking about the national
team and soccer in general, and listening to you guys
do it. And it just felt a little difficult when
I'm walking the dogs or walking the baby, and I
feel like I'm talking to you guys, but just in
my airpots because I'm listening to you and normally I'm
here to have the conversation, but I'm just talking back.
But it was fun. It was a good listen, and
I gotta tell you what a way to come back.
(03:12):
Today there is fresh breaking news US Soccer sporting director
Matt Crocker. Shockingly, he's departing the club two months before
the World Cup. There's a lot to dig into there.
We're gonna get into it. We'll talk about Christian poolisecond,
We're gonna talk about tabs, updated final World Cup roster.
I'm sure that we'll be getting into that a whole
lot over the next few weeks, and maybe we'll have
(03:35):
a new segment called New Dad Story Time. But I'd
still like to go inside the locker room. It's out rows.
We're gonna figure that all out, But first we got
to start with the big, big breaking news that happened
Tuesday morning. Matt Crocker, US Soccer sporting director is leaving
the program to join Saudi Arabia two months before the
World Cup. US Soccer Chief Operating Officer Dan Helfrich will
(03:55):
work closely with men's Assistant Sporting Director Gucci and Yewu
and women's Youth National Team director Tracy Tevins and quote
with the broader sporting leadership team to quote ensure continuity, dab.
This is shocking. This is really disappointing, given we're two
months before the World Cup. What are your initial thoughts
(04:16):
as this newsbreak some Crocker departs the federation.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, you know, obviously that's it's an important position, and
in particular, you know, when you consider we're only a
couple months away from the World Cup, you know you
have to start thinking about here's where I'm going with this.
Because I have said all along that I thought that
both Matt Crocker and Mariso Pacentino would leave right after
(04:40):
this World Cup was over. I've been saying that for
about a year now. When I saw a little bit
of what the press conferences were like, when we kept
talking about, you know, having a long term project, this
is going to be a long time, and that's when
I wanted to put the Brakes sort of on the
American fans and say, hey, look, this is not a
long project. This is like going to be World Cup
(05:02):
twenty twenty six, and then likely they're both going to
be back in the EPL at some point now. And
that's okay, by the way, because that's what professionals do,
right they look for the next job. Obviously they didn't.
They're they're not from this country, which by the way,
doesn't mean anything, but they but they really it was
taking them a long time to sort of get going
(05:24):
and understanding what us is like. And you could see
it by the quotes, right, we're getting close. We're getting
more competitive. You know, we don't have top one hundred
players that all comes from the same place, and it
comes from a place where you know, we've heard this before,
but we heard it about thirty years ago, so it's
not like it just started, right, So we've I think
we've come along a lot further than people give us
(05:47):
credit for. And it's unfortunate that that we we've had
people now who sort of took us back as if
we are starting all over it.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That's a disappointing part. Also, I'll add this to it.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I think this is a bad sign, Tom, because we
didn't have a great March camp and I think to
make this announcement now, it's almost like within the federation,
maybe there's not a lot of confidence in this team
right because this is this is not the right time
(06:20):
to jump off of this ride. I mean, we're going
into a home World Cup. This is like super exciting.
Even if the team's not doing well. The guys will
get excited in the summer and they will I think
they will have a good World Cup.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And I just think that this is a bad sign.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I have so many different thoughts and so many different
angles to go to. I think that you hit a
lot of great things where the guy comes in and
talks long term project, project, project, and then before the
World Cup you bolt. So was the project at two
and a half year project? Was the project to get
eliminated at the group stage at Copa America. Was a
project too have a bunch of friendlies and then leave
(07:02):
before the World Cup? Like that rings insincere, and I
think you did a good job at at not like
I think that we have every right to criticize and
we should and I am going to he does have
a right to say, hey, I'm gonna make more money
for Saudi Radio or whatever. Right, But with that is
the criticism, particularly when everything he's ever said is about,
(07:25):
you know, buy into the long term, buy into this, doud,
this is all the things we're building, it's all so exciting,
we're all so great. Was this the plan all along?
To be here for a couple of years? Maybe just
stay to the World Cup and then leave like, because
that's disingenuous. The other side of this, US Soccer is
not blameless in this. I don't so he was under contract,
(07:47):
so either US Soccer got bought like they bought him
out of his contract to let him leave early, which
that's US Soccer prioritizing getting a short term check over
having a sporting director here. And we can all say,
and rightly, if you don't want to be here, then
we don't want to hold you here. But why is
there a contract situation where the sporting director is even
(08:09):
realistically possible to be able to leave two months before
the World Cup? I don't think that's particularly acceptable. It
is extremely disappointing. You don't see this happening with with
big teams in big countries or just host countries. You know,
you take away the big team stuff. This is chaotic.
While while understanding that Mariso Pochattino is going to be
(08:32):
running the show obviously for the roster, him and his
coaching staff Matt Crocker and the sporting director in Guca
and ye Oo, they will have input, they will be helping,
they will be supporting, but it's not as if Crocker
was going to be leading training sessions day to day
at the World Cup. Again that being said, I think
this is still really disappointing. I think we have every
right to criticize Crocker for the short term nature of
his job, despite how many times he's talking about the
(08:53):
project and all the things he's building. And I also
think that US Soccer deserves some blame. And one, he
didn't enough to keep him in like a relation, relational
sense and a working sense. But you also didn't do
enough to keep him in a legal contractual sense, which
is also disappointing.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and these are all good points you're
bringing up. And I would say this that, out of
all the things I said before, not once that I
criticize him for his job because I actually don't really
know what he did, right, So I no, no, no,
But here's where I'm going with this. I'm going with Okay,
you've had two decisions to make. One was to keep
(09:31):
the coach that you had from before, right, which was
Greg burholds her when I think most people thought, Okay,
it's time to move on. That was a big decision
at the time to keep Burholzer at a time when
we thought it's time for something different.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Right. He believed in that, he believed in continuing that
part of it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It didn't work, he was able to say, Okay, I
got that wrong. Let me go with something. Let me
go with someone I know. Right, and by the way,
and most of us, I think we're not again. That's
the hire of Puchettino because he was one of the
best coaches available in the world. Uh. The messaging, the
messaging was good, but I think there was a misunderstanding
(10:11):
somewhere because of what we keep hearing in the press
conferences in terms of you know, we're gonna get there
one day, we're becoming more competitive.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know, it takes time. You know one day we
will be in they but wait a minute, hold on
a second.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Let's look back now thirty forty years and let's see
what all of our national teams have done at the
World Cup, and we always advance to the round of sixteen, right,
we've done even in two thousand and two we went
to the round to the quarterfinals, right, So okay, So
now we bring Pochettino. Correct me if I'm wrong, but
(10:47):
I'm gonna I'm gonna respond here like a fan.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Okay, So we make it always.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
To the round of sixteen, sometimes like we did in
two thousand and two we made it to the quarterfinals.
And now we bring one of the best coaches in
the world. Great, what could my expectations be? My expectations
have to be. Well, now we got to go further
than that, right, And yet now we've settled into Hey,
you know what, we played forty minutes hard against Belgium.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
That's pretty good. You know, we're competing. That's progress.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I think there's some communication there that didn't work because
someone didn't understand who we are. Okay, so we let
of course, we're not pretending that at US Soccer we're
a top five country of the world. But we're not
just starting. We've been doing this for a long time.
We know some things, right, We have good players, Our
(11:39):
players are playing a Melan and Uventus and you name
you know Bournemouth, Taler Adams is a great player in
the EPL. I mean, we're not starting from scratch, right,
and so we're thinking bigger and I just think they
were not.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Crocker came from He worked with Pochattino Southampton. He was
with the English FA when he was appointed. Like you said,
tablick and not even in a joking. Wait, you don't
know exactly what the role might be. The pedigree was strong.
I think it was a widely It was viewed widely
optimistically of this hire. And again for everything he was
saying about I want to be here long term, the
(12:15):
project and everything else. He oversaw both the men's and
the women's national team, So I want to start with
the women's here in that he hired em Hayes a plus,
well done, fantastic, So I want to make sure that
we give him credit for that. As you alluded to,
he was part of the hiring process that led to
rehiring Burhalter. And now we can speak freely about a
story that I think you and I both knew, but
(12:37):
was it was Jesse Marsh's story to tell and it
didn't feel right to do that without his blessing, and
Jesse Marsh gave an interview to a friend of mine,
Ben Jacobs, that confirmed what I think a lot of
us had already heard that Jesse Marsh was on his
way to Leicester City to become their manager. He was
going to do his fingerprints and sign a contract to
become a manager. Matt Crocker called him and said, you
(12:58):
are going to be the next head go. This was
when they were deciding what like after Burhalter after the
twenty two Toy two World Cup, and then the players
called the leadership count Sol. I don't know if it
was directly Crocker for somebody else that US Soccer other
people made it clear we want Burhlter back. In that interim,
Marsh turned around on his way to the Lesser City
training ground completely burned a bridge there that he didn't
(13:21):
want to do, but he said, okay, like I told
them from the front, if I get the US Soccer job,
that's what I want. And when he was told he
was getting it, he turned down Lesser City. Leicester City
or obviously upset with him, and then they call him
back and say, actually, we're gonna go with Greg because
you know, we had to change a heart kind of thing.
So from the beginning not great. And we can do
(13:45):
sliding doors and everything, but like that, that's one big
sliding gur could have been Jesse Marsh instead of bur Alter.
And then who knows what happened with the Copea America.
Who knows if Jesse Marsh is still the coach or
of things had gone wrong and you don't end up Poachino,
So there was that one. He does well to hire
poa Chatino. No, things have not gone great, but I
don't want to do Revision's history and pretend like we
saw this coming, like this was widely celebrated because of
(14:06):
Poachattino's pedigree, resume and I think the ability that we
know he has. Hopefully there will still be some good
things to come with the World Cup, but unfortunately has
not gone super well. There have been some quotes that
Matt Crocker has given and some things that you hear
around the Federation. But he gave an interview with The
Athletic recently. He goes, quote, it's a bigger beast than
(14:28):
I ever expected. It's so complex, it's so political. Maybe
I underestimated how long that would be to be to
begin to build that trust. Tab you know better than
me that that is a symptom at US soccer unfortunately.
And another quote from Crocker that I'll just let you
run with I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated at the speed of change.
Sounds like this was a relationship that maybe both parties,
(14:51):
like you said the communication, maybe both parties weren't getting
what they hoped to what they expected, and this writing
maybe was on the wall. But again, everybody off talk
to around the program were shocked this came and came
down today.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, you know, it's it's difficult to put ourselves in
the room when, for example, Matt Crocker was hired, right,
Because when you go and take a job, let's say tomorrow,
I went to take a job in Belgium as the
head coach of a team, I'll be honest, I don't
know much about the Belgian league. I don't know I
don't know much about the players in the league. I
(15:23):
don't know a whole lot about the level. I can't
pretend that I'm an expert, right, So I have to
sit in front of a room. They're going to know
that I'm a good coach. That's why they brought me in,
That's why they're interested. But I can't hide the fact
that I don't know. So I need help. I need
people around me who are going to provide.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That help for me.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So I think I would not necessarily, you know, let's say,
blame Matt Crocker for not knowing what he didn't know,
but I will have to blame the people around him
for not putting him. If that's your guy and you
think that he has the skills to make us great,
however that is however they measure that. I think you
(16:03):
have to put them in an environment in which he
can succeed, not in not in an environment in which
he's going to be surprised at every corner, right and
so and so I think it's not This doesn't fall
just on one person. That's how I see it.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And again I'm trying to be careful not to you know,
read too much it or make things binary where I
think that there should have been a US national team veteran,
a guy. Again, I'll take you out of it because
of a four relationship. But whether it's you or Miola
or insert Josie out the door, Michael Bradley before you
got the ribel. Insert anybody who's a big player in
this program's history who is a coach. Now we're in
(16:40):
the coaching world. I really think that you need that
on on the staff for a national team, and they
didn't do that, And right, I don't know how much
things would have been different if if Josieltador was an
assistant coach, right, Like, that's maybe a little bit unfair
to say, but to your point, your overall points AaB,
I think that just underpins a lack of understanding or
maybe even the want to understand or the want to
(17:03):
totally buy into this culture while you're kind of remaking
it and trying to make it better. And I think
the closest to Crocker in like in as far as
sporting personnel would be Guccia Yewu in terms of people
with history and experience and knowledge of this federation of
this program. So that was something that again, these things
(17:23):
are coming on heights. I've heard that that's something Crocker
would have been in favor of. But you know, Poachatino
had full license to name his staff and you know
kind of as was part of those contract discussions. But
there will be a lot of here say, there'll be
a lot of things to come out of this. I
just think whatever the micro reasons, the macro is we're
sitting here too much before a World Cup and the
(17:44):
sporting director leaves for Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian Federation.
That doesn't happen at England, it doesn't happen at Belgia.
I don't believe it doesn't happen even at at Like
you could look up at the top federations, but at
the top teams in the world. This is one of
your most influential executives is not just content to leave,
(18:06):
but wants to leave directly before a home World Cup.
And I think that's an indictment on everybody involved. There's
one other thing kind of tangentially related there. Tab I
was talking to our mutual friend, your closer friend, Tonimiola,
and Tony brought up a good point of some things
that you kind of instilled when you were working as
a federation, and one of them was a January summit
(18:27):
for the youth national teams where all of the youth
national teams were together, which helped with the coaches and
the players and everybody, seeing everybody in the competitive nature
and the team building and the bond. What I was told,
and I want you to take this wherever you want
to go. That on the way to the dining hall
at the Summits made you personally made sure that the
hallway was pictures of great US national team moments and
(18:49):
great US national team players. So every single day when
you're going to eat these young, impressible youth national team players,
oh my god, look at that Clint Dempsey photo. Oh
my god, look at that that Tony Meola ninety four.
Look at Cloudy Rain and look at Brian McBride. Look
at whoever this is who I emulate. And I heard
that was something that was very important to you, And
I think that kind of thing, that kind of appreciation
(19:12):
might be lacking at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, and that's well, this is true with all the
youth national teams. Not only that, I think another thing
that we did with the youth national teams, and by
the way, this is not the answer to anything, but
this is building culture. What we did is when the
youth national teams went to World Cup qualifying, we used
to put a sign above their bed of the player
that was more like them. Like for example, if you
(19:36):
were a center back, you may have a picture of
Marcello Balboa. If you were you know, forward, you may
have a picture of Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan or
you know, and and there would be that connection. And
also I felt like the players would feel that responsibility
of hey, yeah, of course I'm representing our country, but
I'm representing those guys like those guys did it before.
(19:57):
I want to be like them. And that's sort of
what we wanted in what we were building with the
national team. And I'll tell you this funny story actually
because of course I put pictures of all the players,
but of course I'm not going to put a picture
of myself, right, So.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
All the players, even for the goalkeepers, no.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
No, but I put a picture of everybody that was
you know, that was influential.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But of course it couldn't ever be a picture of me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So but this is funny because one of my teams
we went to the World Cup, I think it was
the ninety Vibes.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It must have been. It could have been led by.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Poula Riola because it was that group with Kelen Nakasa.
They actually got a picture of me and put it
up so they had they had a picture. The players
got together and figured out how to get a picture.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Of me and put it up on the wall.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So but you know, it's it's a funny story, right,
But at the same time, it is building a culture,
and those things are important. And sometimes I'm not saying
that someone coming from outside wouldn't do it, because they can.
But I think someone from inside like us, like we
grew up with the program for the program. We sweated
(21:02):
for the we fought for the program, so we're most
likely to care the most about the program, and I
think that's what we were building at the time.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I will say I can't imagine scenario in which one
of one of you guys wanted somebody who, let's say,
has one hundred caps for the national team, whoever it
may be over the years, in any of those iterations,
probably not gonna leave for the Saudi Arabian Federation two
months before the World Cup, maybe maybe after the World Cup,
maybe another time. Everybody changes jobs, everybody has the freedom
a movement. Again, I just think it's a bad sign
(21:33):
for the program. Though again it's not going to take
away from the day to day at the World Cup.
We can still have a bit of optimism. But that's
where things stands. That's some breaking news and we're gonna
take a quick break. Next up, we're gonna get into
tabs twenty six man roster for the World Cup for
the United States. Please rate, review, and subscribe from Inside
America Soccer with Tom Boger tab Ramas. Wherever you get
(21:54):
your podcast, we'll be read by all Right, welcome back
to Inside American Soccer TAB. After we broke down Matt
Crockett departing US Soccer Federation, there's still a World Cup
(22:14):
to be played in a team to be decided now
after the March window. I believe that there's He's just
gonna name the roster for the next time that the
players reconvene, rather than saying bringing you know, thirty or
thirty two guys to a camp and then cutting from there.
So Tab, I'll let you take it away here. What
do you think Pochettino's full twenty six man roster for
the World couple be? Starting with the goalkeepers?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, starting with the goalkeepers.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I'm gonna go with Meola Howard and no, hold on,
I can't I can't do that I can't do that,
So I'm gonna go I'm gonna start with Matt, Freeze, Turner,
and Brady.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Those will be the guys obviously. That's that's what we've seen.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I could it be Shalty, maybe, could it be Saltano
at that third spot. Maybe it could be one of
those guys, But again, I don't think relevant for this
World Cup anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So I think your guys are basically.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Freezing Turner at this point, and you're going with You're
going with those, right, So you have Freeze, Turner and
probably Brady. As far as center backs, I picked four,
and I'm gonna explain why. Normally I would have picked
five because I think we're gonna we're gonna need to
play with three. But I selected Richards McKenzie, Reem, and
Miles Robinson. It could potentially be Trusty. I have not
(23:29):
over over the last couple of years, been a big
fan of the way Trusty plays in the back. But
I have to tell you, I thought the last camp
he did really well. If one of the things, you know,
one of the things about Trusty that you can always
count on is that he's gonna give you everything, and
he's gonna track the guys down. Man, it's full effort,
and so I think he's hopefully he's a little bit
in the picture. But I'll go with the four for now.
(23:53):
I'll go into the next position, which is the outside back.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
While you continue, like if they're playing with three center
backs on the field, whether Pochettino calls it a three
at the back or forth the back is irrespective. Looking forward,
when you get to your wing backs here, are there
a couple of players that you think that if they
needed to play outside center back in a back three
could provide cover? Or do you think that he would
he would just bring four center backs and say all right,
like I trust you guys all be fit or all
(24:19):
being four?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
No, that's a good question, and that's where I was
going with that because Freeman is one of my is
my one of the two outside backs, and I think
I see Freeman likely more to be able to do
both right and so he could likely also play that
right sided center back if they if Desk is healthy
to play. So so I have on as as let's
(24:40):
say the wing backs destin Freeman on one side. Again,
Desk being healthy, fully healthy, Desk would be the starter.
Freeman could actually be a sub for Desk, but could
also be that that third center back on the right side.
On the left side, it would have to be Robinson
and Arveston. Could you chang take a chance and maybe
(25:01):
you know, take someone else. I just think that although
the last camp was not great for Ugstin, I think
he's he's got a little bit of leverage with how
well he played over.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The last year for the national team.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I really he really impressed me over the last year
with a lot of what he did for the national team.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
I would say in Arson too, I don't I don't
think that he was put in a position to succeed
because I think that they did try to play more
with like him being a true left back, which he's
a way back at this international level. He's not good
enough defensively one v one and putting him in that
spot is not on him because this is who he is.
He's very very good going forward. Played at your player's strengths,
(25:43):
and if you're playing a back four, it should not
be Max Orbson ed left back. But again I do
believe it'll be more like that three at the back,
and if so, he's absolutely not just on the team,
but he could be getting some minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah. In midfield, I went with Tyler Adams, Tessaman McKinney,
uh In Cardozo, and my fifth one there would be
Rolled don only Roll Done because I just feel like
(26:14):
he has the trust of of Mauricio Pochettino in many
ways on the field and in the locker room. But
that could of course, that could be Sebastian Burholter that
that takes that position as well.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And then uh and on the attacking side.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And this is this sort of fits with what we
talked about with the outside that outside back sort of
uh wing back position. I have Weea in this position, right,
but we know that Weya could potentially be that wing
back that could again could push Serginio Desk to the bench,
that could push again you know Freeman to just purely
(26:52):
be in a center back, right. So so you I
think Pochettino will give himself this option by having that
extra player there. So I have I have Waya there obviously,
Christian Polisic, uh, Malik Tillman, Uh, I have Brendan Aronson,
uh In alex In Dejas and as the last one
(27:14):
in there. And and I have to tell you and
I understand your oof on this one, but I think
that we showed so little in the last camp that
by Zinde has not being there, and by the way.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I think he deserved to be there.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But by by him not being there, I think he
played himself right into this team.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
And I made I made the I made the wrong
audible noise there that was meant to be. It was
a it was a premature. I'm gonna be disappointed if
Zendejas isn't brought in because I just don't think Bochatino
rates him for whatever reason. I thought like him not
being there in March, I think was was a clear
sign of he's on the outside looking in, and maybe
to your point, that ended up that could end up
working better for him. But he's been one of the
(27:52):
best number tens in Club America's history. This is the biggest,
if not one of the biggest teams in this hemisphere,
and he's in his prime and he's playing really well,
And this is a player I think that should be there,
But I just don't know if he will be. And
I don't know if you're getting to your own mission yet.
But there's one name that you haven't mentioned.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, I just want to make sure that I said Aaronson, Aaronson,
I have to tell you he has not shown a
whole lot for the national team, and that's unfortunate. However,
I mean, with the way the kid plays weekend and
week out in the EPL, I just don't know how
someone could feel that he's not deserving of a position
on this World Cup team. I really think he's deserving.
(28:33):
I really think there is some use to him on
this team in terms of either locking down a score
by putting him up there and having them pressure, or
by wanting to win the bowl back because we're losing
and we need to win it back. I just don't
know how he wouldn't make this team. I think he
truly deserves to make this team. And then I'll get
to that final position, and that final position to me,
(28:56):
is likely going to be Luna over Giorna. I just
think I just think Luna is in a better place.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think Geo.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I think I've given him all of the compliments in
terms of final third and being able to play the
ball that no one can and all of those things,
but I just think he's he's not in He hasn't
been in position to show any of that, and it's
been too long, and I think for that reason, I
just don't know how if you're Muzio Bochettino, you're you're
(29:26):
going You're going to be able to take them.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, I think that there's no difference now than realistically
with any point over the last four years, like he
showed well in the first half against Paraguay, has there
been any other super positive moments. He's in and out
of the lineup and getting minutes, we're not getting minutes
more often than not with his club team. There's no
difference there since the guitar. His running data, I don't
(29:53):
think that I've seen it this year, but when you
watch him with the eye test, he doesn't look like
he's running anymore than he did over the last few years.
And in his last season at Dortmund, I remember pulling
the numbers. I believe like half of the Bundesliga's starting
goalkeepers had registered a faster sprint than him. And if
you compared him to the other number tens within the league. Again,
(30:15):
Florian Verts is probably unfair because he was one of
the best players in the league. But like his running dat,
he's like double these sprints, double the groundcover, double the chance,
like all of that stuff. So no, I agree, I
agree with your logic. I just I've just kind of
resigned to the fact that doesn't matter what the lotch
is or isn't because of the talent. Just assume he's
going to be there.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, and I and you know, you made a great
point about the sort of the sprint stats. And as
you know, I'm one of the last guys to lean
on analytics because I think you can make them look
however you want to make them look.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But but having said that, I think that still in
the two games that we just had in March, he
didn't show a change of pace at all at any time,
because at least if he did and then we saw
that he was tired, we could say, well, you know,
he hasn't been playing, so he you know, but there
was at no time was there a change of pace,
a change of speed getting around someone and getting a
(31:11):
shot off at We didn't see any of that this time,
And you know, I think that was really unfortunate because
I think he missed out on a big opportunity in
March to do something, to make a couple of plays.
I think where we just don't expect that much anymore
at this point, so we expect a couple of plays
and we didn't get that. And I know that I
(31:32):
show it in my voice that I'm disappointed with that
more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
So that's kind of where we are.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And then let's let's get to our forwards, because I'm
not sure why you were gone if you missed that. Uh,
we decided to play without a nine who happens like
one of the hottest players in the world, and we decided, hey,
we're playing Portugal, let's try playing without him.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So let me let me just say that, yeah, we
you know there.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I think he'll select three forwards, maybe four, but I
think he's gonna go with three at this point, and
those will be obviously Baligan, who's in great form and
we should ride him.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
At this point.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And then we have Peppi and Haji Wright. I think
they're good compliments. They're both different. Hodgie gives you a
chance to also play wide if you wanted to go
three up top, for example. I think Peppi is just
a scrapper in the box. He will get all those
scrappy goals and he gets to the end of things,
you know, and then and then I'm just gonna throw
(32:32):
this out there, right because I you know, maybe there's
a chance that if he takes four, you know, Josh
Sargent does well over the next month and a half.
You know, if if Brian White continues to do well,
maybe you know, he raises the coaches eyebrows and he
picks him. And then I'm thinking, listen, bottom line here, Tom,
the bottom four or five guys in this roster will
(32:52):
never see a minute at the World Cup, you know,
And why not take a kid like Julian Hall who's
been doing great, give him a chance. We don't know
the limit with this kid. He's just starting out, he
doesn't know what he doesn't know at this point.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I love that Halls at least even on the radar.
This is a kid that I've had. I've been very
very impressed by the youth level. And you never know
either how long it's gonna take her, if it ever happens. Right,
there are a lot of players who've excelled at the
youth level. I felt very very good about his ability
to transition to first team soccer, and last year he
deserved the minutes he was getting. And you could kind
(33:28):
of see like, yeah, he's got some moments, but like
this is a youth player playing the first team and
getting his feet under him, right, Like he didn't perform bad,
but it was just like okay, cool, Like he still
got to develop the kid that started games this year,
Like you don't know he's eighteen years old until they
zoom in on him and you see his baby face,
the way that he moves, the way that he physically challenges,
his intelligence, his straight line running, and he's just so
(33:50):
much more than what he was able to do six
months ago. He was able to show at least six
months ago, so why not even have him under contention.
We've said this plenty of times on the show, a
possibility for the last center forward spot to just be
whoever the hottest guy is in terms of scoring goals,
and we assumed that would be maybe it could be
Brian White or Josh Sargeant or Damien Downs. When when
(34:12):
we were looking at what he might be doing in Europe,
which he's out a bad season, it's we weren't expecting
it to be the eighteen year old, you know, potentially
a start of the future. So it's definitely one that
he deserves to be mentioned here. I would think it's
more likely to be White, maybe more than Sergeant, because
I think the Odjemong injury, it's just gutting man. Like
(34:34):
I thought he was for sure making the roster the
form he's been in, and just that he has something
different that no other forward in this pool has, and
with his physicality and his aerial dominance, where like you
know Peppy, Him and Peppy I thought worked well together
in some of their minutes, but you're down a goal
with ten minutes left and you're piling numbers for the
balls getting wide. Like having a guy who can be
(34:56):
a really dominant or whoever your most early dominant option is,
is super valuable. Brian White isn't quite the same as Ajamunk,
but he's more in that mold. And that's why, Like,
because he's not better than Balgan, he's not better than Pep,
he's not better than Right, but he does one thing
better than those guys. So it's at least a different
option rather than just say having a lesser center foe
(35:17):
or somebody who plays like Baligan but he's maybe eighty
percent of Balgan. Why would that player ever play ahead
of Balgan. It has to be like a different profile.
So that's kind of where I'm going with that, and
I think that's all possible. I was surprised to see
you left off burr Halter. It probably will come down
to him versus rolled On the more that I think
about it, in the way that you laid it out
with this team, so I get the logic I could.
(35:40):
I think both would be deserving. I don't. I don't
think that both will go. So we'll see kind of
where that goes with those. Those are some of the ones,
And like you said, we'll focus and debate and be
super interested in you know, the you know, the last
five guys in and the first handful of guys out
because it's it's a dream for these guys. Everything else.
What matters more to the where this team will go
(36:01):
at the World Cup is the star players. And before
we take a break, I want to talk about Christian Polizik.
Is this almost maybe the worst form of his life
over these few months, Like he hasn't scored for the
national team in a long time, He's not playing super
well for a se Milan and always been in and out,
or had been in and out a little bit with
some smaller injuries. This is a guy in October, people
(36:22):
myself included, was talking about he could be the player
of the season in Syria because how incredible he started
and he's finishing the season in a complete opposite way.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Are you worried, I'm not. I'm not worried.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I don't think he's playing as poorly as people say.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You know, sometimes we judge attacking players only by numbers,
and I think certainly the numbers have not been there,
the goal contributions have not been there. But I mean
also this weekend he served the ball to Rafael that
Leo should have likely scored. There there are he is
making plays on. Unfortunately they're not working for him. You know,
in the last game he played with the national team,
(37:03):
you know, he did everything right cutting inside the box
and then this shot just goes over the bar. He
doesn't tuck it in and and sometimes that happens. I
you know, I'd be more worried if he's not playing
at Milan, if he's doing poorly, true, and that means
that his coach is not picking him. But listen, he's
playing on a good team. He plays pretty much all
the time and he does make plays. I'm not worried
(37:26):
about Christin Polisic.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
All right. I think that's good to hear. I I
thought that it would. It has taken me a while
to get a little bit concerned, but I'm at least
a little bit concern because it's he doesn't he hasn't
had quite the same moments. Again, I agree with like,
I don't want to be so reductive to boil it
down to just goals or assists, but he just hasn't
had the same kind of spark and there haven't been
(37:49):
the same moments that that he normally provides. Even when
he's not in the best of form, he's been moving around.
I know Doya had had a good kind of breakdown
that that he thought that Pochatino was putting in centrally,
not partly on the ball, but also because he didn't
trust Poolsick to you know, close down with the same
ferocity to eliminate like when you're playing against the ball,
(38:10):
and to eliminate some of those big switches. So that
would be a concern. Again, hopefully he turns it around.
There's plenty of time. And it's funny thing with with
forwards and attacking players. Tab right like it just one
big performance. And again, if you get to the group
stage and you play Paraguay and he has two goals
and assists or a big game or something, you don't
remember any of this. So that's what you hold on too.
(38:31):
But we're gonna take one more quick break. Next up,
we're gonna give Tap a break on the story time.
We're gonna go with me the New Dad story time.
So thanks for listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review
and describe for'll be right back. Welcome back to Inside
(38:53):
American Soccer. And normally right now you lay out and
I let Tap take us back down memory lane, go
inside the locker room with this story. But Tab has
turned the tables on me, and you want me to talk,
don't you hear?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:04):
We you know.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I think it's your turn.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
You know. I always have to come up with a
story from the past that most people are going to
get bored with. So it's nice to get like a
current story that I think people are.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Going to be all over because they will be able
to relate to it. Tell us, Tom, what do you have?
Speaker 3 (39:20):
All right? So my wife and iis is our first
child that we welcome. So we're learning. Thank God that
I have my wife, who is much much, so much
more well rounded individual, mature, human being, everything else. But
she has great maternal instincts. So I'm a supporting character,
do everything I can for my son, but she's the
star of the show in terms of keeping him alive
and sustained. With that comes the maternal instinct of worrying,
(39:42):
and the new parents worrying. I knew that we would
have a moment of overly cautious of bringing the child
to a doctor, to something when you know, like every
new parent does early on, and I was like, that's okay,
that's gonna happen. It's gonna be fine. It'll just be
you know, three hours at the er one day, and
feel dumb when they say, yeah, no, everything's totally okay.
(40:03):
This happened. He was he was looking a little discolored,
and my wife called and said, I'm assuming that the
pediatricians say, cool, hey, just bring him in tomorrow. We'll
just be safe, double check, don't worry. But she thought
that they were just gonna say, don't worry about it.
I'm walking the dogs. I gotta call frantic, saying we
need to go to the hospital. The pediatricians said to
go to hospitals. Like, oh my God, like Jesus Christ,
like this is terrifying. We go and everything is, everything
(40:27):
is fine. Every single person that we talk to, every
medical professional is it's fine. But you know, nobody wants
to be on the hook for you know, the point
zero zero one percent chance or worrying about somebody getting suited.
So we see multiple different people. Nurse goes, ye, actually
he looks great. He's looking fine. Everything's fine. Let me
just get a doctor. Doctor goes, yeah, it looks great,
but I'm not a pediatrician. Let me just fink get one. Oh,
(40:47):
there's not a pediatrician in this hospital. So we're gonna,
you know, send you to our sister hospital. It's like, great,
we'll just leave. Then go well, actually, you're not allowed
to leave without an ambulance. I was like trying to
get annoyed. I don't think that that is accurate. That
is getting frustrated. I think that's okay, but you're a doctor.
I wouldn't dare risk anything with my son. We are
at the hospital for two hours. My wife is just
(41:09):
sitting on a bed holding my son. So it was
too much of an emergency that we couldn't drive him
fifteen minutes without medical care. But nobody is ever walking
around and checking in on them, and she's just sitting there.
Fast forward, they end up having to get an ambulance
to bring this child, who's completely fine and healthy and
(41:29):
everything's okay, to another hospital. We end up being in
there for between the two hospitals for twenty hours. It
took a seventeenth hour for when we actually saw a
pediatrician and that person goes, he's fine, you know, to
try to make us feel better, you know what would
be I'd be more worried that he might get you know,
(41:49):
germs at the hospital. Ha ha, thinking that was. And
my wife, she's a mental health therapist. She is extremely kind,
she's the good people. I'm the one who usually gets
mad quickly watching her kind of build up in her
head of like I'm so angry at you right now
and joking about this, like I was also worried about
this too, being in the hospital. We've been here for
(42:10):
eighteen hours in a new yr. That was the closest
thing that I've got to to a halfway decent story,
because always well at that ends well everything was totally fine.
We took our lumps. This was this felt like a
preseason game for parents, where you knew that you had
to get through the fitness, you had to have the
one unnecessary hospital trip or yard trip. I just thought
silly that it was gonna be two or three hours
(42:31):
of my time, not eighteen to twenty and a lot
of frustrations. So we're learning, and then I'm sure by
our third kid, if we have a third kid, that
they'll be eating dirt and it'll be okay. Well you
do tab you can tell me more about how things
change from kids one to two to whatever.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
No, and that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
And this will guaranteed not be your last unfortunately, not
your last trip to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
We learn it, but hopefully everything will be fine.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And you're you're absolutely right that being in the hospital
alone can make you sick. If you're not sick, you're
likely going to be sick just by being in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
The one thing is, and I'm sure this happened to
you over over this period of time, is that you
start thinking, because you said something at the beginning that
I think it's key. The key to every new parent
is you just got You have to keep them alive.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You have to keep them alive.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right, So if your wife, if your wife says, I
have to run to the store to get X, right,
you're thinking, Okay, I have to keep them alive.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
That's it. He has to keep breathing.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
I have to make sure that when she comes back,
he's still in the same state that he is now.
So but you know, haven't said all those things obviously.
You know, being a parent is not an easy task.
It's twenty four to seven. You know, even when you
go to when you go to sleep, you you know
you hear their breathing from you know, one room away,
you're still hearing it. But I have to tell you
(43:56):
I'll end this with the same way I started the show,
which just did by saying that, you know, being a
dad and having the dad title is the best title
you can have in the world.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
There's nothing like it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I really is. And I gotta tell you, maybe that
I thought that that was gonna be a little bit
of Hubris story. I don't want. I hope that people
weren't worried. There was nothing to worry about. It's completely fine.
It was just us being over anxious, I will. I
will then end maybe on something a little bit more light.
I've noticed personality changes. I've just become more bored. I
talk about the weather a lot, small talk, I you know,
(44:30):
because we're lucky enough to own a house. My grass
in the front and backyard is like eighty percent of
my personality. Now. I got a new shed at some
point over paternity leave. That was just about the most
exciting thing that happened to me. My wife got me white,
new balanced shoes as like your dad now kind of joke.
This is ironic, this is funny. I unironically love them.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
So Tom, we are more ready to have a beard
together than ever before.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
So you just yes, yes, definitely, thank you, well, thank
you for that.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Well, we're looking forwards and we'll have to have to
do it with with with your son and your son's
son as the family is growing here Inside American Soccer
as always, truly, thank you as always for the support.
Thank you to iHeart, Thank you to Matt Doyle for
stepping in for me. You guys have made me feel
loved and supported, very much appreciated. So thank you for
listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscribe.
(45:24):
We'll be knacked back next week and we are rolling
on as we get closer, closer to the world.
This is not the right time to jump off of
this ride. I mean, we're going into home World Cup.
This is like super exciting. Even if the team's not
doing well, the guys will get excited in the summer
and they will.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I think they will have a good World Cup. And
I just think that this is a bat.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Son Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am your
host back in the South for the first time in
a couple months. Here Tom Bogert. I'm just so happy
to be here. TAB. I miss your voice, I miss
seeing you laughing. Thank you to Matt Doyle for hosting.
We're planning to have Matt backed a little bit, a
lot of bit. We'll see how much of it, depending
(00:38):
on what he wants to do and how much he's
gonna fit in. But thank you Matt again for taking
over for me over the last couple of months of
my paternity to leave TAB. How are you doing. I'm
just getting right into it. I'm cutting the intro short.
Just want to hear hear you.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I know I was waiting to hear a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
But first of all, congrats again, obviously, because I can
tell you this and I think I might have mentioned
this to you sort of on the side. But but
having the dad title is the best title you can have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That is the that's the best. That's as good as
life catch as being a dad.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So congrats on that. I have to say a little
bit of the downside for you has to be that,
you know, Matt did a great job. Man, We had
a great think going here and listen, this is like
a team, right you You come out of the field
thinking you're the superstar, and the next guy comes in
and he does a great job. So now we may
have to change the system to fit you in, you know,
(01:29):
like it's it's your show and has your name on it.
But the guy that took your spot did a great job.
So I want to think. I want to think Matt
because he truly did a great job. He I think
he you know, he has a way about him that's,
you know, much different than you, obviously because he's a
little bit he's a lot more calm.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
But but I think he he did a great job.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
So thank you if you're out there listening to us, Matt,
thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
And then I have to get right to it here.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
How many calls have you already made to the to
the to the wreck coach in your town that's coaching
the twenty sixth group about your kid playing up already,
we'll have to see.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Listen, you are in New Jersey Soccer Royalty, so I
think you'd be the first call to you know, see
what preferential foot we can get My son every every
day a little we have a little soccer ball I
put around him, making sure to work on his left foot,
unlike his father, so he's not one footed. We're making
sure that he's gonna gonna take advantage of every opportunity
he has. But no, we gotta worry about some reckless
(02:28):
challenges from me on Doyle and training, just to make
sure he didn't get too comfortable. And he doesn't. He
doesn't walk around with the little swagger when he's back
in this recording room when it's the three of us.
But again, the shows are great. I know some people
can really unplug, get away from their jobs and everything
when they're on you know, leave or on vacation whatever.
I'm not one of those people one because it's not
really realistic in our side of the world. But also
(02:51):
this is my hobby. I love talking about the national
team and soccer in general, and listening to you guys
do it. And it just felt a little difficult when
I'm walking the dogs or walking the baby, and I
feel like I'm talking to you guys, but just in
my airpots because I'm listening to you and normally I'm
here to have the conversation, but I'm just talking back.
But it was fun. It was a good listen, and
I gotta tell you what a way to come back.
(03:12):
Today there is fresh breaking news US Soccer sporting director
Matt Crocker. Shockingly, he's departing the club two months before
the World Cup. There's a lot to dig into there.
We're gonna get into it. We'll talk about Christian poolisecond,
We're gonna talk about tabs, updated final World Cup roster.
I'm sure that we'll be getting into that a whole
lot over the next few weeks, and maybe we'll have
(03:35):
a new segment called New Dad Story Time. But I'd
still like to go inside the locker room. It's out rows.
We're gonna figure that all out, But first we got
to start with the big, big breaking news that happened
Tuesday morning. Matt Crocker, US Soccer sporting director is leaving
the program to join Saudi Arabia two months before the
World Cup. US Soccer Chief Operating Officer Dan Helfrich will
(03:55):
work closely with men's Assistant Sporting Director Gucci and Yewu
and women's Youth National Team director Tracy Tevins and quote
with the broader sporting leadership team to quote ensure continuity, dab.
This is shocking. This is really disappointing, given we're two
months before the World Cup. What are your initial thoughts
(04:16):
as this newsbreak some Crocker departs the federation.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, you know, obviously that's it's an important position, and
in particular, you know, when you consider we're only a
couple months away from the World Cup, you know you
have to start thinking about here's where I'm going with this.
Because I have said all along that I thought that
both Matt Crocker and Mariso Pacentino would leave right after
(04:40):
this World Cup was over. I've been saying that for
about a year now. When I saw a little bit
of what the press conferences were like, when we kept
talking about, you know, having a long term project, this
is going to be a long time, and that's when
I wanted to put the Brakes sort of on the
American fans and say, hey, look, this is not a
long project. This is like going to be World Cup
(05:02):
twenty twenty six, and then likely they're both going to
be back in the EPL at some point now. And
that's okay, by the way, because that's what professionals do,
right they look for the next job. Obviously they didn't.
They're they're not from this country, which by the way,
doesn't mean anything, but they but they really it was
taking them a long time to sort of get going
(05:24):
and understanding what us is like. And you could see
it by the quotes, right, we're getting close. We're getting
more competitive. You know, we don't have top one hundred
players that all comes from the same place, and it
comes from a place where you know, we've heard this before,
but we heard it about thirty years ago, so it's
not like it just started, right, So we've I think
we've come along a lot further than people give us
(05:47):
credit for. And it's unfortunate that that we we've had
people now who sort of took us back as if
we are starting all over it.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That's a disappointing part. Also, I'll add this to it.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I think this is a bad sign, Tom, because we
didn't have a great March camp and I think to
make this announcement now, it's almost like within the federation,
maybe there's not a lot of confidence in this team
right because this is this is not the right time
(06:20):
to jump off of this ride. I mean, we're going
into a home World Cup. This is like super exciting.
Even if the team's not doing well. The guys will
get excited in the summer and they will I think
they will have a good World Cup.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And I just think that this is a bad sign.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I have so many different thoughts and so many different
angles to go to. I think that you hit a
lot of great things where the guy comes in and
talks long term project, project, project, and then before the
World Cup you bolt. So was the project at two
and a half year project? Was the project to get
eliminated at the group stage at Copa America. Was a
project too have a bunch of friendlies and then leave
(07:02):
before the World Cup? Like that rings insincere, and I
think you did a good job at at not like
I think that we have every right to criticize and
we should and I am going to he does have
a right to say, hey, I'm gonna make more money
for Saudi Radio or whatever. Right, But with that is
the criticism, particularly when everything he's ever said is about,
(07:25):
you know, buy into the long term, buy into this, doud,
this is all the things we're building, it's all so exciting,
we're all so great. Was this the plan all along?
To be here for a couple of years? Maybe just
stay to the World Cup and then leave like, because
that's disingenuous. The other side of this, US Soccer is
not blameless in this. I don't so he was under contract,
(07:47):
so either US Soccer got bought like they bought him
out of his contract to let him leave early, which
that's US Soccer prioritizing getting a short term check over
having a sporting director here. And we can all say,
and rightly, if you don't want to be here, then
we don't want to hold you here. But why is
there a contract situation where the sporting director is even
(08:09):
realistically possible to be able to leave two months before
the World Cup? I don't think that's particularly acceptable. It
is extremely disappointing. You don't see this happening with with
big teams in big countries or just host countries. You know,
you take away the big team stuff. This is chaotic.
While while understanding that Mariso Pochattino is going to be
(08:32):
running the show obviously for the roster, him and his
coaching staff Matt Crocker and the sporting director in Guca
and ye Oo, they will have input, they will be helping,
they will be supporting, but it's not as if Crocker
was going to be leading training sessions day to day
at the World Cup. Again that being said, I think
this is still really disappointing. I think we have every
right to criticize Crocker for the short term nature of
his job, despite how many times he's talking about the
(08:53):
project and all the things he's building. And I also
think that US Soccer deserves some blame. And one, he
didn't enough to keep him in like a relation, relational
sense and a working sense. But you also didn't do
enough to keep him in a legal contractual sense, which
is also disappointing.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and these are all good points you're
bringing up. And I would say this that, out of
all the things I said before, not once that I
criticize him for his job because I actually don't really
know what he did, right, So I no, no, no,
But here's where I'm going with this. I'm going with Okay,
you've had two decisions to make. One was to keep
(09:31):
the coach that you had from before, right, which was
Greg burholds her when I think most people thought, Okay,
it's time to move on. That was a big decision
at the time to keep Burholzer at a time when
we thought it's time for something different.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Right. He believed in that, he believed in continuing that
part of it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It didn't work, he was able to say, Okay, I
got that wrong. Let me go with something. Let me
go with someone I know. Right, and by the way,
and most of us, I think we're not again. That's
the hire of Puchettino because he was one of the
best coaches available in the world. Uh. The messaging, the
messaging was good, but I think there was a misunderstanding
(10:11):
somewhere because of what we keep hearing in the press
conferences in terms of you know, we're gonna get there
one day, we're becoming more competitive.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know, it takes time. You know one day we
will be in they but wait a minute, hold on
a second.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Let's look back now thirty forty years and let's see
what all of our national teams have done at the
World Cup, and we always advance to the round of sixteen, right,
we've done even in two thousand and two we went
to the round to the quarterfinals, right, So okay, So
now we bring Pochettino. Correct me if I'm wrong, but
(10:47):
I'm gonna I'm gonna respond here like a fan.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Okay, So we make it always.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
To the round of sixteen, sometimes like we did in
two thousand and two we made it to the quarterfinals.
And now we bring one of the best coaches in
the world. Great, what could my expectations be? My expectations
have to be. Well, now we got to go further
than that, right, And yet now we've settled into Hey,
you know what, we played forty minutes hard against Belgium.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
That's pretty good. You know, we're competing. That's progress.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I think there's some communication there that didn't work because
someone didn't understand who we are. Okay, so we let
of course, we're not pretending that at US Soccer we're
a top five country of the world. But we're not
just starting. We've been doing this for a long time.
We know some things, right, We have good players, Our
(11:39):
players are playing a Melan and Uventus and you name
you know Bournemouth, Taler Adams is a great player in
the EPL. I mean, we're not starting from scratch, right,
and so we're thinking bigger and I just think they
were not.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Crocker came from He worked with Pochattino Southampton. He was
with the English FA when he was appointed. Like you said,
tablick and not even in a joking. Wait, you don't
know exactly what the role might be. The pedigree was strong.
I think it was a widely It was viewed widely
optimistically of this hire. And again for everything he was
saying about I want to be here long term, the
(12:15):
project and everything else. He oversaw both the men's and
the women's national team, So I want to start with
the women's here in that he hired em Hayes a plus,
well done, fantastic, So I want to make sure that
we give him credit for that. As you alluded to,
he was part of the hiring process that led to
rehiring Burhalter. And now we can speak freely about a
story that I think you and I both knew, but
(12:37):
was it was Jesse Marsh's story to tell and it
didn't feel right to do that without his blessing, and
Jesse Marsh gave an interview to a friend of mine,
Ben Jacobs, that confirmed what I think a lot of
us had already heard that Jesse Marsh was on his
way to Leicester City to become their manager. He was
going to do his fingerprints and sign a contract to
become a manager. Matt Crocker called him and said, you
(12:58):
are going to be the next head go. This was
when they were deciding what like after Burhalter after the
twenty two Toy two World Cup, and then the players
called the leadership count Sol. I don't know if it
was directly Crocker for somebody else that US Soccer other
people made it clear we want Burhlter back. In that interim,
Marsh turned around on his way to the Lesser City
training ground completely burned a bridge there that he didn't
(13:21):
want to do, but he said, okay, like I told
them from the front, if I get the US Soccer job,
that's what I want. And when he was told he
was getting it, he turned down Lesser City. Leicester City
or obviously upset with him, and then they call him
back and say, actually, we're gonna go with Greg because
you know, we had to change a heart kind of thing.
So from the beginning not great. And we can do
(13:45):
sliding doors and everything, but like that, that's one big
sliding gur could have been Jesse Marsh instead of bur Alter.
And then who knows what happened with the Copea America.
Who knows if Jesse Marsh is still the coach or
of things had gone wrong and you don't end up Poachino,
So there was that one. He does well to hire
poa Chatino. No, things have not gone great, but I
don't want to do Revision's history and pretend like we
saw this coming, like this was widely celebrated because of
(14:06):
Poachattino's pedigree, resume and I think the ability that we
know he has. Hopefully there will still be some good
things to come with the World Cup, but unfortunately has
not gone super well. There have been some quotes that
Matt Crocker has given and some things that you hear
around the Federation. But he gave an interview with The
Athletic recently. He goes, quote, it's a bigger beast than
(14:28):
I ever expected. It's so complex, it's so political. Maybe
I underestimated how long that would be to be to
begin to build that trust. Tab you know better than
me that that is a symptom at US soccer unfortunately.
And another quote from Crocker that I'll just let you
run with I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated at the speed of change.
Sounds like this was a relationship that maybe both parties,
(14:51):
like you said the communication, maybe both parties weren't getting
what they hoped to what they expected, and this writing
maybe was on the wall. But again, everybody off talk
to around the program were shocked this came and came
down today.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, you know, it's it's difficult to put ourselves in
the room when, for example, Matt Crocker was hired, right,
Because when you go and take a job, let's say tomorrow,
I went to take a job in Belgium as the
head coach of a team, I'll be honest, I don't
know much about the Belgian league. I don't know I
don't know much about the players in the league. I
(15:23):
don't know a whole lot about the level. I can't
pretend that I'm an expert, right, So I have to
sit in front of a room. They're going to know
that I'm a good coach. That's why they brought me in,
That's why they're interested. But I can't hide the fact
that I don't know. So I need help. I need
people around me who are going to provide.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That help for me.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So I think I would not necessarily, you know, let's say,
blame Matt Crocker for not knowing what he didn't know,
but I will have to blame the people around him
for not putting him. If that's your guy and you
think that he has the skills to make us great,
however that is however they measure that. I think you
(16:03):
have to put them in an environment in which he
can succeed, not in not in an environment in which
he's going to be surprised at every corner, right and
so and so I think it's not This doesn't fall
just on one person. That's how I see it.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And again I'm trying to be careful not to you know,
read too much it or make things binary where I
think that there should have been a US national team veteran,
a guy. Again, I'll take you out of it because
of a four relationship. But whether it's you or Miola
or insert Josie out the door, Michael Bradley before you
got the ribel. Insert anybody who's a big player in
this program's history who is a coach. Now we're in
(16:40):
the coaching world. I really think that you need that
on on the staff for a national team, and they
didn't do that, And right, I don't know how much
things would have been different if if Josieltador was an
assistant coach, right, Like, that's maybe a little bit unfair
to say, but to your point, your overall points AaB,
I think that just underpins a lack of understanding or
maybe even the want to understand or the want to
(17:03):
totally buy into this culture while you're kind of remaking
it and trying to make it better. And I think
the closest to Crocker in like in as far as
sporting personnel would be Guccia Yewu in terms of people
with history and experience and knowledge of this federation of
this program. So that was something that again, these things
(17:23):
are coming on heights. I've heard that that's something Crocker
would have been in favor of. But you know, Poachatino
had full license to name his staff and you know
kind of as was part of those contract discussions. But
there will be a lot of here say, there'll be
a lot of things to come out of this. I
just think whatever the micro reasons, the macro is we're
sitting here too much before a World Cup and the
(17:44):
sporting director leaves for Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian Federation.
That doesn't happen at England, it doesn't happen at Belgia.
I don't believe it doesn't happen even at at Like
you could look up at the top federations, but at
the top teams in the world. This is one of
your most influential executives is not just content to leave,
(18:06):
but wants to leave directly before a home World Cup.
And I think that's an indictment on everybody involved. There's
one other thing kind of tangentially related there. Tab I
was talking to our mutual friend, your closer friend, Tonimiola,
and Tony brought up a good point of some things
that you kind of instilled when you were working as
a federation, and one of them was a January summit
(18:27):
for the youth national teams where all of the youth
national teams were together, which helped with the coaches and
the players and everybody, seeing everybody in the competitive nature
and the team building and the bond. What I was told,
and I want you to take this wherever you want
to go. That on the way to the dining hall
at the Summits made you personally made sure that the
hallway was pictures of great US national team moments and
(18:49):
great US national team players. So every single day when
you're going to eat these young, impressible youth national team players,
oh my god, look at that Clint Dempsey photo. Oh
my god, look at that that Tony Meola ninety four.
Look at Cloudy Rain and look at Brian McBride. Look
at whoever this is who I emulate. And I heard
that was something that was very important to you, And
I think that kind of thing, that kind of appreciation
(19:12):
might be lacking at this point in time.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, and that's well, this is true with all the
youth national teams. Not only that, I think another thing
that we did with the youth national teams, and by
the way, this is not the answer to anything, but
this is building culture. What we did is when the
youth national teams went to World Cup qualifying, we used
to put a sign above their bed of the player
that was more like them. Like for example, if you
(19:36):
were a center back, you may have a picture of
Marcello Balboa. If you were you know, forward, you may
have a picture of Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan or
you know, and and there would be that connection. And
also I felt like the players would feel that responsibility
of hey, yeah, of course I'm representing our country, but
I'm representing those guys like those guys did it before.
(19:57):
I want to be like them. And that's sort of
what we wanted in what we were building with the
national team. And I'll tell you this funny story actually
because of course I put pictures of all the players,
but of course I'm not going to put a picture
of myself, right, So.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
All the players, even for the goalkeepers, no.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
No, but I put a picture of everybody that was
you know, that was influential.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But of course it couldn't ever be a picture of me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So but this is funny because one of my teams
we went to the World Cup, I think it was
the ninety Vibes.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It must have been. It could have been led by.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Poula Riola because it was that group with Kelen Nakasa.
They actually got a picture of me and put it
up so they had they had a picture. The players
got together and figured out how to get a picture.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Of me and put it up on the wall.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So but you know, it's it's a funny story, right,
But at the same time, it is building a culture,
and those things are important. And sometimes I'm not saying
that someone coming from outside wouldn't do it, because they can.
But I think someone from inside like us, like we
grew up with the program for the program. We sweated
(21:02):
for the we fought for the program, so we're most
likely to care the most about the program, and I
think that's what we were building at the time.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I will say I can't imagine scenario in which one
of one of you guys wanted somebody who, let's say,
has one hundred caps for the national team, whoever it
may be over the years, in any of those iterations,
probably not gonna leave for the Saudi Arabian Federation two
months before the World Cup, maybe maybe after the World Cup,
maybe another time. Everybody changes jobs, everybody has the freedom
a movement. Again, I just think it's a bad sign
(21:33):
for the program. Though again it's not going to take
away from the day to day at the World Cup.
We can still have a bit of optimism. But that's
where things stands. That's some breaking news and we're gonna
take a quick break. Next up, we're gonna get into
tabs twenty six man roster for the World Cup for
the United States. Please rate, review, and subscribe from Inside
America Soccer with Tom Boger tab Ramas. Wherever you get
(21:54):
your podcast, we'll be read by all Right, welcome back
to Inside American Soccer TAB. After we broke down Matt
Crockett departing US Soccer Federation, there's still a World Cup
(22:14):
to be played in a team to be decided now
after the March window. I believe that there's He's just
gonna name the roster for the next time that the
players reconvene, rather than saying bringing you know, thirty or
thirty two guys to a camp and then cutting from there.
So Tab, I'll let you take it away here. What
do you think Pochettino's full twenty six man roster for
the World couple be? Starting with the goalkeepers?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, starting with the goalkeepers.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I'm gonna go with Meola Howard and no, hold on,
I can't I can't do that I can't do that,
So I'm gonna go I'm gonna start with Matt, Freeze, Turner,
and Brady.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Those will be the guys obviously. That's that's what we've seen.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I could it be Shalty, maybe, could it be Saltano
at that third spot. Maybe it could be one of
those guys, But again, I don't think relevant for this
World Cup anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So I think your guys are basically.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Freezing Turner at this point, and you're going with You're
going with those, right, So you have Freeze, Turner and
probably Brady. As far as center backs, I picked four,
and I'm gonna explain why. Normally I would have picked
five because I think we're gonna we're gonna need to
play with three. But I selected Richards McKenzie, Reem, and
Miles Robinson. It could potentially be Trusty. I have not
(23:29):
over over the last couple of years, been a big
fan of the way Trusty plays in the back. But
I have to tell you, I thought the last camp
he did really well. If one of the things, you know,
one of the things about Trusty that you can always
count on is that he's gonna give you everything, and
he's gonna track the guys down. Man, it's full effort,
and so I think he's hopefully he's a little bit
in the picture. But I'll go with the four for now.
(23:53):
I'll go into the next position, which is the outside back.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
While you continue, like if they're playing with three center
backs on the field, whether Pochettino calls it a three
at the back or forth the back is irrespective. Looking forward,
when you get to your wing backs here, are there
a couple of players that you think that if they
needed to play outside center back in a back three
could provide cover? Or do you think that he would
he would just bring four center backs and say all right,
like I trust you guys all be fit or all
(24:19):
being four?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
No, that's a good question, and that's where I was
going with that because Freeman is one of my is
my one of the two outside backs, and I think
I see Freeman likely more to be able to do
both right and so he could likely also play that
right sided center back if they if Desk is healthy
to play. So so I have on as as let's
(24:40):
say the wing backs destin Freeman on one side. Again,
Desk being healthy, fully healthy, Desk would be the starter.
Freeman could actually be a sub for Desk, but could
also be that that third center back on the right side.
On the left side, it would have to be Robinson
and Arveston. Could you chang take a chance and maybe
(25:01):
you know, take someone else. I just think that although
the last camp was not great for Ugstin, I think
he's he's got a little bit of leverage with how
well he played over.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
The last year for the national team.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I really he really impressed me over the last year
with a lot of what he did for the national team.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
I would say in Arson too, I don't I don't
think that he was put in a position to succeed
because I think that they did try to play more
with like him being a true left back, which he's
a way back at this international level. He's not good
enough defensively one v one and putting him in that
spot is not on him because this is who he is.
He's very very good going forward. Played at your player's strengths,
(25:43):
and if you're playing a back four, it should not
be Max Orbson ed left back. But again I do
believe it'll be more like that three at the back,
and if so, he's absolutely not just on the team,
but he could be getting some minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah. In midfield, I went with Tyler Adams, Tessaman McKinney,
uh In Cardozo, and my fifth one there would be
Rolled don only Roll Done because I just feel like
(26:14):
he has the trust of of Mauricio Pochettino in many
ways on the field and in the locker room. But
that could of course, that could be Sebastian Burholter that
that takes that position as well.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And then uh and on the attacking side.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And this is this sort of fits with what we
talked about with the outside that outside back sort of
uh wing back position. I have Weea in this position, right,
but we know that Weya could potentially be that wing
back that could again could push Serginio Desk to the bench,
that could push again you know Freeman to just purely
(26:52):
be in a center back, right. So so you I
think Pochettino will give himself this option by having that
extra player there. So I have I have Waya there obviously,
Christian Polisic, uh, Malik Tillman, Uh, I have Brendan Aronson,
uh In alex In Dejas and as the last one
(27:14):
in there. And and I have to tell you and
I understand your oof on this one, but I think
that we showed so little in the last camp that
by Zinde has not being there, and by the way.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I think he deserved to be there.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But by by him not being there, I think he
played himself right into this team.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
And I made I made the I made the wrong
audible noise there that was meant to be. It was
a it was a premature. I'm gonna be disappointed if
Zendejas isn't brought in because I just don't think Bochatino
rates him for whatever reason. I thought like him not
being there in March, I think was was a clear
sign of he's on the outside looking in, and maybe
to your point, that ended up that could end up
working better for him. But he's been one of the
(27:52):
best number tens in Club America's history. This is the biggest,
if not one of the biggest teams in this hemisphere,
and he's in his prime and he's playing really well,
And this is a player I think that should be there,
But I just don't know if he will be. And
I don't know if you're getting to your own mission yet.
But there's one name that you haven't mentioned.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, I just want to make sure that I said Aaronson, Aaronson,
I have to tell you he has not shown a
whole lot for the national team, and that's unfortunate. However,
I mean, with the way the kid plays weekend and
week out in the EPL, I just don't know how
someone could feel that he's not deserving of a position
on this World Cup team. I really think he's deserving.
(28:33):
I really think there is some use to him on
this team in terms of either locking down a score
by putting him up there and having them pressure, or
by wanting to win the bowl back because we're losing
and we need to win it back. I just don't
know how he wouldn't make this team. I think he
truly deserves to make this team. And then I'll get
to that final position, and that final position to me,
(28:56):
is likely going to be Luna over Giorna. I just
think I just think Luna is in a better place.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I think Geo.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I think I've given him all of the compliments in
terms of final third and being able to play the
ball that no one can and all of those things,
but I just think he's he's not in He hasn't
been in position to show any of that, and it's
been too long, and I think for that reason, I
just don't know how if you're Muzio Bochettino, you're you're
(29:26):
going You're going to be able to take them.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, I think that there's no difference now than realistically
with any point over the last four years, like he
showed well in the first half against Paraguay, has there
been any other super positive moments. He's in and out
of the lineup and getting minutes, we're not getting minutes
more often than not with his club team. There's no
difference there since the guitar. His running data, I don't
(29:53):
think that I've seen it this year, but when you
watch him with the eye test, he doesn't look like
he's running anymore than he did over the last few years.
And in his last season at Dortmund, I remember pulling
the numbers. I believe like half of the Bundesliga's starting
goalkeepers had registered a faster sprint than him. And if
you compared him to the other number tens within the league. Again,
(30:15):
Florian Verts is probably unfair because he was one of
the best players in the league. But like his running dat,
he's like double these sprints, double the groundcover, double the chance,
like all of that stuff. So no, I agree, I
agree with your logic. I just I've just kind of
resigned to the fact that doesn't matter what the lotch
is or isn't because of the talent. Just assume he's
going to be there.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, and I and you know, you made a great
point about the sort of the sprint stats. And as
you know, I'm one of the last guys to lean
on analytics because I think you can make them look
however you want to make them look.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But but having said that, I think that still in
the two games that we just had in March, he
didn't show a change of pace at all at any time,
because at least if he did and then we saw
that he was tired, we could say, well, you know,
he hasn't been playing, so he you know, but there
was at no time was there a change of pace,
a change of speed getting around someone and getting a
(31:11):
shot off at We didn't see any of that this time,
And you know, I think that was really unfortunate because
I think he missed out on a big opportunity in
March to do something, to make a couple of plays.
I think where we just don't expect that much anymore
at this point, so we expect a couple of plays
and we didn't get that. And I know that I
(31:32):
show it in my voice that I'm disappointed with that
more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
So that's kind of where we are.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And then let's let's get to our forwards, because I'm
not sure why you were gone if you missed that. Uh,
we decided to play without a nine who happens like
one of the hottest players in the world, and we decided, hey,
we're playing Portugal, let's try playing without him.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So let me let me just say that, yeah, we
you know there.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I think he'll select three forwards, maybe four, but I
think he's gonna go with three at this point, and
those will be obviously Baligan, who's in great form and
we should ride him.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
At this point.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And then we have Peppi and Haji Wright. I think
they're good compliments. They're both different. Hodgie gives you a
chance to also play wide if you wanted to go
three up top, for example. I think Peppi is just
a scrapper in the box. He will get all those
scrappy goals and he gets to the end of things,
you know, and then and then I'm just gonna throw
(32:32):
this out there, right because I you know, maybe there's
a chance that if he takes four, you know, Josh
Sargent does well over the next month and a half.
You know, if if Brian White continues to do well,
maybe you know, he raises the coaches eyebrows and he
picks him. And then I'm thinking, listen, bottom line here, Tom,
the bottom four or five guys in this roster will
(32:52):
never see a minute at the World Cup, you know,
And why not take a kid like Julian Hall who's
been doing great, give him a chance. We don't know
the limit with this kid. He's just starting out, he
doesn't know what he doesn't know at this point.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I love that Halls at least even on the radar.
This is a kid that I've had. I've been very
very impressed by the youth level. And you never know
either how long it's gonna take her, if it ever happens. Right,
there are a lot of players who've excelled at the
youth level. I felt very very good about his ability
to transition to first team soccer, and last year he
deserved the minutes he was getting. And you could kind
(33:28):
of see like, yeah, he's got some moments, but like
this is a youth player playing the first team and
getting his feet under him, right, Like he didn't perform bad,
but it was just like okay, cool, Like he still
got to develop the kid that started games this year,
Like you don't know he's eighteen years old until they
zoom in on him and you see his baby face,
the way that he moves, the way that he physically challenges,
his intelligence, his straight line running, and he's just so
(33:50):
much more than what he was able to do six
months ago. He was able to show at least six
months ago, so why not even have him under contention.
We've said this plenty of times on the show, a
possibility for the last center forward spot to just be
whoever the hottest guy is in terms of scoring goals,
and we assumed that would be maybe it could be
Brian White or Josh Sargeant or Damien Downs. When when
(34:12):
we were looking at what he might be doing in Europe,
which he's out a bad season, it's we weren't expecting
it to be the eighteen year old, you know, potentially
a start of the future. So it's definitely one that
he deserves to be mentioned here. I would think it's
more likely to be White, maybe more than Sergeant, because
I think the Odjemong injury, it's just gutting man. Like
(34:34):
I thought he was for sure making the roster the
form he's been in, and just that he has something
different that no other forward in this pool has, and
with his physicality and his aerial dominance, where like you
know Peppy, Him and Peppy I thought worked well together
in some of their minutes, but you're down a goal
with ten minutes left and you're piling numbers for the
balls getting wide. Like having a guy who can be
(34:56):
a really dominant or whoever your most early dominant option is,
is super valuable. Brian White isn't quite the same as Ajamunk,
but he's more in that mold. And that's why, Like,
because he's not better than Balgan, he's not better than Pep,
he's not better than Right, but he does one thing
better than those guys. So it's at least a different
option rather than just say having a lesser center foe
(35:17):
or somebody who plays like Baligan but he's maybe eighty
percent of Balgan. Why would that player ever play ahead
of Balgan. It has to be like a different profile.
So that's kind of where I'm going with that, and
I think that's all possible. I was surprised to see
you left off burr Halter. It probably will come down
to him versus rolled On the more that I think
about it, in the way that you laid it out
with this team, so I get the logic I could.
(35:40):
I think both would be deserving. I don't. I don't
think that both will go. So we'll see kind of
where that goes with those. Those are some of the ones,
And like you said, we'll focus and debate and be
super interested in you know, the you know, the last
five guys in and the first handful of guys out
because it's it's a dream for these guys. Everything else.
What matters more to the where this team will go
(36:01):
at the World Cup is the star players. And before
we take a break, I want to talk about Christian Polizik.
Is this almost maybe the worst form of his life
over these few months, Like he hasn't scored for the
national team in a long time, He's not playing super
well for a se Milan and always been in and out,
or had been in and out a little bit with
some smaller injuries. This is a guy in October, people
(36:22):
myself included, was talking about he could be the player
of the season in Syria because how incredible he started
and he's finishing the season in a complete opposite way.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Are you worried, I'm not. I'm not worried.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I don't think he's playing as poorly as people say.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You know, sometimes we judge attacking players only by numbers,
and I think certainly the numbers have not been there,
the goal contributions have not been there. But I mean
also this weekend he served the ball to Rafael that
Leo should have likely scored. There there are he is
making plays on. Unfortunately they're not working for him. You know,
in the last game he played with the national team,
(37:03):
you know, he did everything right cutting inside the box
and then this shot just goes over the bar. He
doesn't tuck it in and and sometimes that happens. I
you know, I'd be more worried if he's not playing
at Milan, if he's doing poorly, true, and that means
that his coach is not picking him. But listen, he's
playing on a good team. He plays pretty much all
the time and he does make plays. I'm not worried
(37:26):
about Christin Polisic.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
All right. I think that's good to hear. I I
thought that it would. It has taken me a while
to get a little bit concerned, but I'm at least
a little bit concern because it's he doesn't he hasn't
had quite the same moments. Again, I agree with like,
I don't want to be so reductive to boil it
down to just goals or assists, but he just hasn't
had the same kind of spark and there haven't been
(37:49):
the same moments that that he normally provides. Even when
he's not in the best of form, he's been moving around.
I know Doya had had a good kind of breakdown
that that he thought that Pochatino was putting in centrally,
not partly on the ball, but also because he didn't
trust Poolsick to you know, close down with the same
ferocity to eliminate like when you're playing against the ball,
(38:10):
and to eliminate some of those big switches. So that
would be a concern. Again, hopefully he turns it around.
There's plenty of time. And it's funny thing with with
forwards and attacking players. Tab right like it just one
big performance. And again, if you get to the group
stage and you play Paraguay and he has two goals
and assists or a big game or something, you don't
remember any of this. So that's what you hold on too.
(38:31):
But we're gonna take one more quick break. Next up,
we're gonna give Tap a break on the story time.
We're gonna go with me the New Dad story time.
So thanks for listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review
and describe for'll be right back. Welcome back to Inside
(38:53):
American Soccer. And normally right now you lay out and
I let Tap take us back down memory lane, go
inside the locker room with this story. But Tab has
turned the tables on me, and you want me to talk,
don't you hear?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:04):
We you know.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I think it's your turn.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
You know. I always have to come up with a
story from the past that most people are going to
get bored with. So it's nice to get like a
current story that I think people are.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Going to be all over because they will be able
to relate to it. Tell us, Tom, what do you have?
Speaker 3 (39:20):
All right? So my wife and iis is our first
child that we welcome. So we're learning. Thank God that
I have my wife, who is much much, so much
more well rounded individual, mature, human being, everything else. But
she has great maternal instincts. So I'm a supporting character,
do everything I can for my son, but she's the
star of the show in terms of keeping him alive
and sustained. With that comes the maternal instinct of worrying,
(39:42):
and the new parents worrying. I knew that we would
have a moment of overly cautious of bringing the child
to a doctor, to something when you know, like every
new parent does early on, and I was like, that's okay,
that's gonna happen. It's gonna be fine. It'll just be
you know, three hours at the er one day, and
feel dumb when they say, yeah, no, everything's totally okay.
(40:03):
This happened. He was he was looking a little discolored,
and my wife called and said, I'm assuming that the
pediatricians say, cool, hey, just bring him in tomorrow. We'll
just be safe, double check, don't worry. But she thought
that they were just gonna say, don't worry about it.
I'm walking the dogs. I gotta call frantic, saying we
need to go to the hospital. The pediatricians said to
go to hospitals. Like, oh my God, like Jesus Christ,
like this is terrifying. We go and everything is, everything
(40:27):
is fine. Every single person that we talk to, every
medical professional is it's fine. But you know, nobody wants
to be on the hook for you know, the point
zero zero one percent chance or worrying about somebody getting suited.
So we see multiple different people. Nurse goes, ye, actually
he looks great. He's looking fine. Everything's fine. Let me
just get a doctor. Doctor goes, yeah, it looks great,
but I'm not a pediatrician. Let me just fink get one. Oh,
(40:47):
there's not a pediatrician in this hospital. So we're gonna,
you know, send you to our sister hospital. It's like, great,
we'll just leave. Then go well, actually, you're not allowed
to leave without an ambulance. I was like trying to
get annoyed. I don't think that that is accurate. That
is getting frustrated. I think that's okay, but you're a doctor.
I wouldn't dare risk anything with my son. We are
at the hospital for two hours. My wife is just
(41:09):
sitting on a bed holding my son. So it was
too much of an emergency that we couldn't drive him
fifteen minutes without medical care. But nobody is ever walking
around and checking in on them, and she's just sitting there.
Fast forward, they end up having to get an ambulance
to bring this child, who's completely fine and healthy and
(41:29):
everything's okay, to another hospital. We end up being in
there for between the two hospitals for twenty hours. It
took a seventeenth hour for when we actually saw a
pediatrician and that person goes, he's fine, you know, to
try to make us feel better, you know what would
be I'd be more worried that he might get you know,
(41:49):
germs at the hospital. Ha ha, thinking that was. And
my wife, she's a mental health therapist. She is extremely kind,
she's the good people. I'm the one who usually gets
mad quickly watching her kind of build up in her
head of like I'm so angry at you right now
and joking about this, like I was also worried about
this too, being in the hospital. We've been here for
(42:10):
eighteen hours in a new yr. That was the closest
thing that I've got to to a halfway decent story,
because always well at that ends well everything was totally fine.
We took our lumps. This was this felt like a
preseason game for parents, where you knew that you had
to get through the fitness, you had to have the
one unnecessary hospital trip or yard trip. I just thought
silly that it was gonna be two or three hours
(42:31):
of my time, not eighteen to twenty and a lot
of frustrations. So we're learning, and then I'm sure by
our third kid, if we have a third kid, that
they'll be eating dirt and it'll be okay. Well you
do tab you can tell me more about how things
change from kids one to two to whatever.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
No, and that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
And this will guaranteed not be your last unfortunately, not
your last trip to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
We learn it, but hopefully everything will be fine.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And you're you're absolutely right that being in the hospital
alone can make you sick. If you're not sick, you're
likely going to be sick just by being in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
The one thing is, and I'm sure this happened to
you over over this period of time, is that you
start thinking, because you said something at the beginning that
I think it's key. The key to every new parent
is you just got You have to keep them alive.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You have to keep them alive.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Right, So if your wife, if your wife says, I
have to run to the store to get X, right,
you're thinking, Okay, I have to keep them alive.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
That's it. He has to keep breathing.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
I have to make sure that when she comes back,
he's still in the same state that he is now.
So but you know, haven't said all those things obviously.
You know, being a parent is not an easy task.
It's twenty four to seven. You know, even when you
go to when you go to sleep, you you know
you hear their breathing from you know, one room away,
you're still hearing it. But I have to tell you
(43:56):
I'll end this with the same way I started the show,
which just did by saying that, you know, being a
dad and having the dad title is the best title
you can have in the world.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
There's nothing like it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
I really is. And I gotta tell you, maybe that
I thought that that was gonna be a little bit
of Hubris story. I don't want. I hope that people
weren't worried. There was nothing to worry about. It's completely fine.
It was just us being over anxious, I will. I
will then end maybe on something a little bit more light.
I've noticed personality changes. I've just become more bored. I
talk about the weather a lot, small talk, I you know,
(44:30):
because we're lucky enough to own a house. My grass
in the front and backyard is like eighty percent of
my personality. Now. I got a new shed at some
point over paternity leave. That was just about the most
exciting thing that happened to me. My wife got me white,
new balanced shoes as like your dad now kind of joke.
This is ironic, this is funny. I unironically love them.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
So Tom, we are more ready to have a beard
together than ever before.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
So you just yes, yes, definitely, thank you, well, thank
you for that.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Well, we're looking forwards and we'll have to have to
do it with with with your son and your son's
son as the family is growing here Inside American Soccer
as always, truly, thank you as always for the support.
Thank you to iHeart, Thank you to Matt Doyle for
stepping in for me. You guys have made me feel
loved and supported, very much appreciated. So thank you for
listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscribe.
(45:24):
We'll be knacked back next week and we are rolling
on as we get closer, closer to the world.
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