Pulisic Injury, Gio Scores a Goal, & USMNT World Cup Scouting Reports

Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos break down the latest USMNT news, including Johnny Cardoso being ruled out of the World Cup, concerns surrounding Christian Pulisic’s glute injury, and what Gio Reyna finally scoring again in the Bundesliga could mean for his future with the national team.

Tab then breaks down the U.S. group-stage opponents, Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey (Turkiye), offering scouting reports, tactical insights, and early predictions for each match heading into the tournament.

Plus, Tab shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories about the level of security and intensity surrounding the USMNT while playing abroad at the World Cup.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty fourteen in the World Cup Brazil. You know, we
had not only a helicopter following the you know, the
team bus. So you have a helicopter, and then you
have a number of police cars and police motorcycles, you know,
leading the bus in front and also behind the bus,

(00:20):
so you have all of those. Then there was there
was a couple of trucks full of soldiers, maybe twenty
five thirty thirty five soldiers.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Incredible. What's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USMNT
insider Tom Bogan. I'm joined by one of the greatest
players in US soccer history, a veteran three World Cups,
my good friend tab Ramos. Tab We're gonna be talking
about injuries and stuff high ankles and glutes and other discomfort.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
So I want to get to started with how are
you feeling?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I actually feel pretty good. You know. I wish that
I could feel the excitement of the World cuple a
little bit more, because I personally feel it just not
feeling it around me as much as I would want
to at this point. But I know that it's going
to gear up as soon as we name the team
in about two weeks, I think the excitement will certainly
start gearing up a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
I will say one thing that trut lyad to excitement.
HBO on Tuesday, May twelfth, releasing the first episode of
a five part documentary series called US Against the World.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Four years with US.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Men's national soccer team, and I've gotten screeners. It's very
very good. So if people who have HBO, I think
that'll be a good way to really increase the excitement
and get you a taste of some of these guys
into their personal lives. They were very vulnerable with the
camera crew has been there since May of twenty twenty two,
literally every single camp, every single day, inside of the
locker rooms, all that stuff. Like I was pretty fascinated

(01:47):
by the halftime and full time speeches, like we don't
really ever see that. You see sometimes sanitized versions of it.
But I'm very excited about that, And I would say
for fans that might be struggling with excitement, like you,
I think that'll be a good watch for whoever's interested.
But today we've got a busy, busy show and a
big one. We're gonna discuss the latest US seven ten news,

(02:08):
particularly the injuries Johnny Cardoso was out for the World Cup,
Christian Pools sick missed the game this weekend with a knock,
and Giorana playing for Musson Gladbach and he scored his
first goal of the season. Then Tab is gonna give
us his scouting reports of all three Group sage opponents
at the World Cup, and reminder that's Paraguay, Australia and Turkey.
A plus, we're gonna go inside the locker room with
Tat for one of the best behind the scenes stories

(02:29):
from the ninety eight World Cup. We're gonna talk about
security and how to secure a World Cup and everything
fun there with him looking forward to it. But first, Tab,
the news has been confirmed. Johnny Cardoso is out for
the World Cup. He's undergoing ankle surgery for injury sustained
in training for Atletico Madrid. How big of a blow
is this for the United States?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
I think it's significant. And although I've heard other let's
say pundits, but former national team players actually not even
have them on the roster. I was really profiling Johnny
Cardoso to potentially be a starter on this team, you know.
I think he and Testament were very close for me.
At this point. And I think considering how Johnny Cardozo

(03:11):
has been playing and the type of games he had
been involved with, in the speed of play with which
he was playing, I think he was profiling more to
be a starter, certainly than than of course than not
being on the team. So I think this is a
little bit of a blow for us.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, like he started a Champions League semi final and
he played in both of those legs. Like any idea
that he wasn't going to make the squad I think
was a little bit far fetched. Whether or not he
was going to be integral, I think to your point
was the better discussion points. But now he's not an option.
Tanner Tessaman, you say he missed. He's going to miss

(03:50):
Leon's last game of the season with a bit of
a muscle strain. It is an abundance of Carston front.
I've been told pretty much like if this was the
opening game of the World Cup, he'd be playing. Like
there's no point to risk it given where he is
in the season where Leonez and going towards the World Cup,
and he'll be fine for the for the pre World
Cup camp.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
So you have tarre Tessman, who you.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
And I I think we're leaning a little bit for
him to be a starter, just because of the way
he compliments Tyler Adams better in that midfield pairing. This
opens up whether Malie Tillman is going to be dropped
further back. Again, I think we both think Wessell McKinney
is going to be further forward. And then in terms
of the roster, this gives a boost to the guys
like Sebastian Buralter, Christian Roodan, Aiden Morris. Those are three

(04:28):
of the guys I think that are fighting on the
bubble and now there's one less center mid in that
rotation and somebody who is ahead of all three of
those guys. So I think in terms of the roster,
those are a few people who may benefit or a
few people we should be talking about without Johnny Cardoso.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, no doubt. I think you know, Sebastian Berholtzer for me,
was one that was really on that bubble, right on
that verge as the next next one in, and I
think this benefits him and so and so I think
I think it's it's a good spot to be in.
I think Aiden Morris is finishing the He's strong at
Middlesbrough as well, So I think he has a real

(05:03):
good shot of being part of this final team.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
And then elsewhere with injuries. Christian Poolisic has a bit
of a glute injury, which a source says is completely precautionary.
They agreed with why ac Milan held him out this weekend,
again a similar situation to Testaman. There is not any
worry about his World Cup and is not I don't
think any worry about him being feeling really good physically
going into camp. The Italian media calls it day to day.

(05:30):
We'll monitor that, but I can think we've talked about
Poolistic enough and his struggles on the field, and now
he's been held out with a bit of a knock.
I think he'll be fine and we'll pick that up
as we move forward. But tab Giorana scored his first
goal for Bruce and Motion and Gladbach after making a
summer transfer to the club. He came off the bench
he scored in stoppage time in a three to one loss.

(05:50):
Do we think it's meaningless or do we think it's
a confidence Booths or Giorana.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
No, it's definitely not meaningless. I think it means something
but I think I started to notice last week if
you remember on the show, and I said, you know what,
his body looks a little bit different. And what I
liked about the way he played last week, although he
had played I think it was thirty three minutes last week.
I think it was the way he moved. I think
he was involved. He wasn't just a passenger. I think

(06:14):
we've seen gi Arena the passenger for a long time now,
and I think last week I saw someone that was
committed to trying to defend, to getting to the ball
on both sides of it. And I think this week
had paid off. So hopefully that gives him a lot
of confidence and puts them right back in the picture.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
I got to speak to Giorana this morning in Joe
Scally and one of the things I enjoyed about when
he was asked about the goal and he said, like, yeah,
I mean, it didn't really matter in terms of result,
and I appreciated that that was his first response, and
the question was about him individually physically, personally, and he's like, yeah, well,
I mean it didn't really matter to the result. He
continued to say, like I felt good physically, obviously, it's

(06:55):
nice to score, but those little things I like, particularly
with the play who has the history of what happened
at the last World Cup that has been regularly discussed
him complaining about his playing time. This morning, when speaking
to him, he made it a point to say things like,
you know, I'm just quote, I'm just trying to do
whatever I can help the achieve it help the team

(07:16):
to achieve something great, whether it's starting and playing ninety
minutes or being on the bench not playing at all.
I think we all have this mindset is one of
our strengths. Obviously, he's saying, I hope to make the team.
I feel ready all this stuff. I want to play
a bigger role than I did last World Cup. But
he did make it a point to say, you know, hey,
we've all grown, We're all in it for the team,
and Giorna. I'm assuming it's going to end up on

(07:38):
the roster, but I guess we'll find out in two
weeks now.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
I think at this point we can't assume anything, but
I think he certainly is putting himself in a better
position by the last two weeks, at least getting the
minutes in. You know, earlier in the year we both
were saying how he would benefit so much from getting
you know, twenty or thirty ninety minute games. That certainly
hasn't happened. He is not a player at this point

(08:03):
that will start for us at the World Cup. But
I think by taking that approach and by saying how
much he wants to help the team coming off the bench,
I think that's exactly what we need for the World Cup.
If he can do that for us this summer, I
think it'll be you know, he certainly will have a spot.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
I put that question to him into Joe Scally directly, like, hey,
do you think that you've done enough to make the squad?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
And he gave a pretty real answer.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
He rolled his sides a little bit because it's a
tough spot to be and he goes, quote, if I
say no, I'm not backing myself, but if I say yes,
it sounds arrogant.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
It's a hard question to answer. It's simple.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I love the staff, the players, the national team. Whatever
happens happens. I really want to be there, but the
decision is out of my hands. I'm just hoping and
waiting for the call up. It would be an honor
so Geo again has struggled for minutes this season. Despite
the transfer to Muchin Gladbach was four minutes to be
able to play more, He's played less than five hundred

(09:00):
league minutes. This is I believe five straight seasons of
him playing less than seven hundred league minutes in a campaign,
which is really disappointing and really unfortunate for a twenty
three year old. With the injuries that he struggled with.
He's got a goal in the sist for glodback again.
The goal came this weekend. And you know there was
a time in February and March where he didn't He

(09:20):
didn't play in like eight straight games. The first few
were injuries and the rest he was just unuse sub
off the bench, and he was called into the March
friendlies and he played for the United States while he
wasn't playing for Globbak. So again we're always going to
be looking at his physicals. That he also said quote,
I feel ready to play ninety minutes and to give
my max you can say a few one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I feel very fit and sharp. All I want to
do is show that on the pitch.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
So with Geo, it's always going to be this kind
of question of his physicality and like this hypothetical of
is he ever showing what we know he's capable for showing.
But the other hand of like, well, there is what
maybe two players in this school who can do the
top end of what he does, but he doesn't really
show it all that much now because the physicals it's

(10:03):
just just an age old quandary.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, And in the end, it's also about how other
guys are doing, right, because Riza Pachettino has to pick
the best out of you know, where they are, you know,
and I think you know, those last couple of spots
in that area. You know, we're talking about Sindjas, who's
who's playing. Well, we're talking about Aaronson who is also
playing all the time. And I cannot imagine this team

(10:28):
without Aaronson with this type of season that he had.
And so he's fighting against a couple other guys that
also deserve and let's not forget Diego Luna, right, because
Diego Luna is also contributing an MLS and and I
think between those four guys, likely three make it, you know,
And so it's not easy. It's not easy, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
A good weekend for some of these guys. I think
Aaronson's a little bit ahead of the others just for
his season performances and and you know exactly what you're
getting from him all the time. But Diego Luna, Sebastian Burhalter,
alex In Dejas twice, all of them scored. Giorana scored,
So it was a good weekend for attacking midfielders on
the roster bubble tab I had one more thing that
I wanted to talk to you about from the Georreana

(11:09):
availability this morning. He was kind of asked that Claudio
didn't play at the ninety four World Cup, and the
question was to the effect of that was a home
World Cup. Now you're coming to a home World Cup.
Do you kind of feel like it's like unfinished family business,
like in a positive way of you know, do you
talk to your dad about that and he's like, I
mean not really. He goes, you know, yeah, he didn't
play there, and then he had a lot of great

(11:31):
tournaments for the United States after that, and he goes,
you know, I didn't really play much at the last
World Cup. So hey, I'm hoping that maybe I could
follow in his footsteps. In that way, and tab I
just thought that was something interesting.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
First of all, those are big shoes to fill. I'll
start with that. But yeah, Clodia was a young player
in ninety four. He had been coming off i think
an ankle injury, so I'm not even sure if he
dressed for games, but he was there. And no, I
don't think I don't think GEO would be. And again
you spoke with him and he just said this, I

(12:05):
don't think it. I don't think it's a time to
think about. Hey, I'm going to pick up where my
father left off because it was the home World Cup,
So I think he's got his own work to do,
and the work that he has to do has to
be for himself.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, and then to be fair to Geo, like, it's
not as if you was seeking out some of these
questions sometimes, I'm again, I'm glad that you even brought
it up, because sometimes these quotes come out and people
maybe don't have context and think, like, why is he
talking about this? Well, it'd be a lot weirder if
you just sat on the call saying no comment, no comment.
Oh I want to answer that one. Yeah, I want
to be called in the national team, no comment, no

(12:39):
comment right, Like I thought, it was very normal within
within the run of the conversation. But again Giorana. Joe
Scalley is another one. A lot of the questions were
framed to Geo, but Joe Scalley, he just became a
few weeks ago the youngest non German player to ever
reach one hundred and fifty Buonsigue appearances. He's been at
both of the last US M and T camps. I
think he's another one that's on the roster bubble. He

(12:59):
didn't play at the twenty twenty two World Cup, but
he was on the team, so very very interesting decisions
to be made at the bottom of the squad, which
next week we're gonna give our final roster projection. So
we're gonna talk about all of this and much much deeper,
and next we are going to go in to the
US World Cup group stage preview. We're gonna talk about
tricky a Paraguay and Australia. So we're gonna take a

(13:21):
quick break and we'll be right back. Please rate, review
and subscribed Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger tab Ramos,
where you get your podcast. Welcome back to Inside American
Soccer and TAB again. We are a month away from

(13:42):
the United States kicking off their journey at the twenty
twenty six World Cup, and this is a unique one.
This is the biggest one ever. There's forty eight teams,
which means more games, more travel, more host countries. There's
a lot of new aspects of this tournament.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
TAB Yeah, there is, and I'm glad you mentioned the
forty eight teams because this is the first time we're
going to have forty eight teams. So although the World Cup,
I always feel like that the number one ingredient that's
important for teams is experience, sort of having to be
there playing that game for your country that you have
to win, where your whole country is watching. There's a

(14:18):
lot of pressure on the players from all over the world,
and I think with forty eight teams, we're gonna have
quite a few that don't have as much experience. And
I think there's other there's a couple other components to it.
I think the distance between games. You know, obviously we're
playing the World Cup in three different countries, so the
pressure on the managers is going to be a little
bit more this time, and not just because of the

(14:41):
recovery of traveling from place to place and playing games,
the different weather, potentially different time zones. All of those
things come into effect probably, i would say, for the
first time for most of the people that are going
to be at at this World Cup. Right, if we
were going to take experience into the account into account,

(15:01):
this very little experience in terms of what we're gonna
see this World Cup. For managers, also, let's not forget
that it's the first time that the roster is so big.
This twenty six players and we think, okay, twenty six players.
If you're looking at it from the outside, you're thinking, well,
more options For a coach, Let's not forget when you're
a coach sometimes having a big roster is not necessarily

(15:23):
a good thing, right because now you have twenty six
players who are hoping to play, Right, If they're not
hoping to play, then why would they be there in
the first place. And this is something that for managers
it's not easy to manage. Right now you have a
bigger roster. You have potentially six or seven guys out
of the twenty six who will not see a minute

(15:43):
of the World Cup, and that's not easy to manage.
It's not easy to manage in the locker room, even
though everyone's happy to be there, as soon as things
maybe don't go well. Having a big roster could could
be negative for a team. I'm just I'm throwing out
there all of the things that can be different in
this one.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
Yeah, so a few things that are particularly interesting. One
the distance between games, not just in like miles covered,
but like USA Paraguay kicks off the group stage, they
play Australia a week later, a full seven days later.
Because there's more teams and more games, everything's a bit
more spaced out. That wasn't what it was like in
the past. And then you talk about the roster. They
did end up changing.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Guitar like late. It was like I think they called
it like a COVID especially whatever.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
They made the squad twenty six, one, two, three, four
five six players did not play, only two of which
were goalkeepers. Then there's Jordan Morris who had four minutes,
Shaq Moore had twenty two, Deandreyeedland thirty three. There was
like Giorana at fifty three was somewhere near the middle
of the squad. That's like, you know, half of your

(16:47):
team is playing a half of soccer or less at
this tournament. So it's it is interesting to try to
manage all of the people and all of the Yeah,
we're happy to be here, We're happy to do whatever
we can for the team, and sometimes that means that
I'm just need to be training really well and be
a positive influence on the group. But everybody's there wants
to play right like, so it is interesting for me.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I'm a little old school. I really don't think the
squad needs to be twenty six players.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
But that's again I'm gonna sound like like an old
man complaining about that.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
So it is.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
It is a different kind of aspect for this group
where you know who the seven or eight key key
players are. Even under Mariso Pochattino, who has had so
much change, maybe we'll see more players play under him,
just because of the nature of Pochettino, But I don't know.
There is a lot more to go into it, and
most importantly tab that we haven't spoken about yet. At
the World Cup, it was the top two in your

(17:40):
group get through. It's that simple. You know exactly it's
contained to that one group and you know what you
need to do to finish. Now, about three quarters of
the third place teams we'll get through, and that makes
it difficult. So we think three points could be enough,
should be enough. Four points, definitely, I think is going
to be enough to get through. But tep, we don't

(18:02):
really know because it's the first time.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, and you're right, which means that every team is
alive going into the last game. So winning winning your
third game and getting three points will likely put you through.
Because I'm sure there will be plenty of teams that
tie just one game and get one point, or tie
maybe two games and will be knocked out. There's a
lot of groups that are that are a little bit
tighter and and they will have you know, potentially some

(18:27):
teams will have trouble winning winning a game. So with
three points, I think you're right, some teams will go through.
I'll go into some other some additional things that are
coming into this World Cup I think that are important.
Let's not forget the hydration breaks. These are mandatory, right commercials, Yeah,
the hydration breaks are mandatory now so too. You know

(18:48):
they are called hydration breaks. But the reason I mentioned
them is because it's a great opportunity for coaches to
sort of fix their tactics. Right, there's really no excuse
now that the players can't hear you because the statement
is full, which is by the way, it's not an excuse,
it's a reality. Players can't hear coaches on the field.
Normally you'll have to talk to the player that's closest

(19:08):
to you, who can relay a message to other people.
But in this case, I think with the hydration break
there there can be some important tactical adjustments that will
come into play, and that's certainly part of the uh,
you know, part of the thinking when it comes to
coaching in this World Cup.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
The go ahead, keep going, keep going, No, I think
you know.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
One of the things that the fans will see and
that has been implemented to a certain extent, but not
everybody is aware, will be the eight seconds for the
goalkeeper in the goalkick, right if you don't if you
can take the goalkick within eight seconds, it will be
a corner awarded to the opposing team. So I know
that we've seen this already, but I think for people
that are not directly connected every day to the sport,

(19:51):
this may be something new, wondering, hey, what just happened,
you know, how come it's kind of corner. So just
so you know, the goalkeeper has eight seconds to take
a goalkick, otherwise there will be a corner awarded to
the opposing team. There will also be the five second
rule for the throwings. Okay, so when a player gets

(20:11):
the ball on the sideline and he's ready to throw,
normally the referee will put his arm up and sort
of signal to take the throw. At that point, you
have a five second countdown. If you don't throw the
bull in within five seconds, the throwing will be awarded
to the other the opposing team. So this may happen.
I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but be ready if

(20:32):
you know, for fans, if they see that that this
is something new that that that will be happening. As
well as the substitution. And we've seen some of this
before obviously with you know, MLS and and but I
think it'll it'll be the first time I think for
a lot of fans to see that when you get
subbed out, you have ten seconds to come off, and

(20:52):
if you don't come off within ten seconds, the player
coming in will have to wait a minute before they
come into play. So it will be a minute plus
next stoppage, so they don't automatically come in in one minute.
And I and I say it this way because it'll
be you know, the I think the fourth official will
keep the one minute and then next stoppage will allow

(21:13):
the player in. We'll call the referee and allow the
player in. And I say it this way because it's
different than when you have an injury. Because during an injury,
when you come in and you're helped, if the medical
team has to be called in, you automatically have to
sit out for one minute. But when that minute is up,
even if the player is running, the referee can signal
for you to walk on the field. So that's that's

(21:35):
the difference between those two.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, those rules, like you said, they are all implemented
in MLS, and even still, as somebody who watches just
about every second possible of that league, sometimes it can
be a bit confusing to me too. So I'm looking
forward to fans getting caught up on this. Yeah, it's
a lot, it's a lot to handle, and this will
be historic will Cup for a number of reasons.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
But let's get into our group stage.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
There are two there are two quick things that I
that I want I mentioned before we go into the teams,
because I'm actually more excited to talk about the teams
and I have to talk about rules. I had a
three hour meeting yesterday which I couldn't wait to get
off my zoom. But you know there's gonna be some
VAR help on corners. So if there's an obvious corner
where the VAR where the game doesn't stop it all
so it doesn't go into review, but if the VAR

(22:20):
can help, Let's say there was a deflection obvious deflection
and the referee called the goal kick instead of a corner,
and the VAR can fix it immediately. It will let
the referee know and it will be fixed for a
corner or vice versa. Right, So if if the referee
called the corner and it's obvious that it's not and
the VAR cain picked it up without wasting any time,
they will they will let the referee know. Just so

(22:43):
that that's something that was discussed as well as the
VAR review on a second yellow. So when there's a
second yellow that can go to review. VAR just want
to make sure that the fans are aware that that
can happen. Now as well.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
Now that was a very good and important information, even
for me to be reminded of some of these things,
particularly the var with the corner kicks and the yell cards. Yeah,
there'll be plenty of stoppages, which I'm sure the corporate
FIFA aren't gonna hate, a lot of opportunities from more advertising.
So the bottom line of the nonprofit always wins. Let's
get into the opponents at the Group States. For the

(23:17):
United States, We're gonna go in order here. I'll just
lay out again June twelfth, that kicks off against Paraguay,
June nineteenth against Australia, and then June twenty fifth against Turkey. A.
We'll start with Paraguay. Tap the news around the team,
star midfielder Brighton hov Albion midfielder Diego Gomez. He hopes
to be back for Brighton's last league game, but he
won't risk it if he's not one hundred percent ready.

(23:38):
All that is to say he'll be good for the
World Cup, though he did fear the worst when he
went down with a non contact knee injury about a
month ago or six weeks ago. Happy for him just
personally to not miss the tournament because of an injury,
but so tab Paraguay also has Miguel Morone who's had
a little bit of an injury. He's he's gonna be
completely fine for the World Cup. So they are in

(23:59):
pretty good shape in terms of injury news. But tell
us tell us more about Parkway.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Okay, So this is obviously a team that's been through
a few wars in South America. Let's not forget that
they've beaten Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and not many teams
have ever done that in South America. So this is
a team that knows how to play without the ball
in South America. Although they qualified for the World Cup

(24:25):
and they did well and they deserved it, and they qualified,
I think with two games to go, they still had
the ball only thirty eight percent of the time on average,
So not a lot. Let's start with the coach. I'll
say Gustav Alfaro, who has been really a great coach
and many different levels. If you remember, he coached the

(24:45):
Ecuador team in the last World Cup and had to
you know, I think the neat part of that is
that he was able to play against Qatar in the
last World Cup, who was also the host, so he's
sort of used to now he has that experience of
haven't played against the hosts, which I think is important
if we look at the Ecuador squad as a whole.

(25:07):
This is their eighth World Cup, the last being in
two and twenty ten in which they made it sort
of quarterfinals. That was Paraguay's best showing ever at the
World Cup, and they were two times South American champions,
So it's a team, it's a country that's won the
South American Championship a couple times. In terms of lineup,

(25:28):
they're they're likely going to go with Roberto Fernandez and goal.
They'll go with Casseres on the right side, Gustavo Gomez
will be the captain, and we'll play the right side
of the center back, pairing with Aldrette on the other
side Junior alone, so we'll play the left side. In
the center of midfield, they'd likely go with Bobadillas, Cubas
and Diego Gomez with al Maron sort of that left

(25:50):
sided four to four to two guy, because they played
more of a four to four to two and we
know that al Moron makes that effort. And then up
front and Siso will be a little to the ripe
of roaming into the middle of the field, Sinabria be
in the nine. That's sort of that's sort of the
lineup that in general we think that we're gonna see
from Paraguay. Obviously, a couple of things I'll say right

(26:10):
off the bat Alma Run is really not the player
he has been in the pass, so I think not
not a huge danger in terms of defending that side.
But overall this is this is a solid team. This
is a team that likes to play without the ball,
will play without the ball, and will cause trouble on
the counter attack.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yeah, so that that's where I was going to go.
In terms of their general playing style, we would expect
defend deep, defend like hell, defend really really well, I
should continue to add, but they want to hurt you
in transition. Surprisingly, they had forty four percent of the
ball when the US played and beat them in November.
I believe it was two to one. Gi Arena scored
in that game, so Baligin. But that was just a

(26:54):
feisty game. There are no friendlies when those two teams play.
If you remember, at the end of the game was
when there was a bit of a melee where the
teams came together. Richo Pochatino went down near the near
the camera banks, Miles Robinson was putting a headlock and
and everything kicked off from there. So I'd expect a
little bit more of that. This team is very, very
difficult to play against. And Ken Hurtuin transition's have i'd say,

(27:15):
and Siso Diego Gomez or are the two players to
watch and al Maron to a lesser extent, depending on
if he can rediscover a little bit of magic for
a month. But are those the three guys that you
would talk about as well?

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, I look, you know,
and I'm glad you mentioned that Diego Diego Gome is
going to be back for that for that last game
for Brighton, because I really look for this player to
have a great World Cup and you know, if you know,
for all the for those of us who will watch
him play in MLS and then watch them play, you know,
for Brighton, we see a player that's just getting better

(27:46):
week to week, and I think this World Cup will
be a good show for him, will be a great
opportunity for new people to watch him play. And then
in Siso, we've we've obviously seen he's playing Strausburg right now.
That's one of the Chelsea club So there's a possibility
that you know, that's the next connection and that's the
next club that he goes to. But but I think

(28:07):
this is gonna be one of those players that could.
But if Paraguay is gonna do well, it's going to
be because Ncso at some point we'll have to put
this team on his shoulder and make the plays that
win the game. Because we know that this team has
great chemistry, they defend well, they're extremely organized, but it's
what they do with a few chances that they get
at the other end that's gonna dictate how how this

(28:29):
team will finish.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
What do the United States need to do to pick
up three points in this game? And what do you
think will happen?

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Well, I think I think you know. And this is
this is where we go into us being patient because
we're gonna need to be patient with with Paraguay. We're
not we're not a great team in terms of holding
the ball when when the other team gives it to us,
and I think that's gonna be difficult for us. We're
gonna need play, We're gonna need polistic to break this
team down through the middle. We're likely gonna need Way

(29:01):
if he plays on that side, or so Jenior Desk
if he plays on that on the on the right side,
to go right at Junior Alonso on that side, because
I think that could be that could be one of
their weaknesses in terms of the defensive side to break
them down. But I think ultimately this is going to
be a scrappy game. But we're gonna have to be
crossing balls into the box and likely going to have

(29:21):
to bring a second striker late in the game if
the game is not going our way. Because I see
us getting a lot of crosses and putting the ball
in the box.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
I would agree there so that that'll be what needs
to happen against Paraguay. This is a game that I
think fans will be expecting to win. I will reiterate
what I've said on the show probably fifteen times, but
this is no disrespect to Paraguay or Australia to leus
to another extent, there are no easy games at the
World Cup, but there are certainly games that are harder,

(29:51):
and in this group, three points against Paraguay would set
this team up off to a really really good way,
both obviously on the field in the standings, but also
the the atmosphere around the group and within the fans
and everywhere else.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
So, but Tom, I will add this about this game. Obviously,
first game of the tournament. It is difficult to have
a good tournament if you don't win the first game,
and it's and it's sort of easy sailing if you
do win this first game. And so I truly believe
that this game is key for both teams. I think
I think, who if the US wins this game, I

(30:26):
think they'll end up first in the group. I think
if Paragua wins this game, they will end up first
or second. But I think there's no question for me
that whoever loses this game will end up third.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Yeah, it's it's it's a really really pivotal match. If
the last World Cup of the United States drew Wales in
the opening game and it created a very very tense
third game against Iran that they just squeaked by to
get through, again, things are different now the third place
team could or should be able to get through as well.
That's Paraguay. Game two is against Australia. They don't have

(30:57):
many injury concerns. They have a right back plays for
Blackburn that is out, which is unfortunate, but I don't
know if he was going to be a starter or not.
There's Nashville midfielder Patrick Yasback who just picked up a
quad injury. He will not play for Nashville over the
next three games before the World Cup, breaking MLS. His
participation at the World Cup the summer is this summer

(31:17):
is in doubt. I think he would have played a
decent role for the team, so they're gonna have to
monitor whether or not he can play. But he's not
one of their you know, three or four most important players,
but still he may be out that as an injury
to watch. So tap tell us a little bit about Australia.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, I mean, you know, we could start by saying,
first of all, Australia is ranked twenty seventh in the world.
They're Asian champions one time, so they won the Asian
the Asian Cup in twenty fifteen. I will also they
say this about Australia. Australia used to be on that
Oceania group and they decided to go into Asia to
get more competition. So a lot of respect for that,

(31:55):
because they easily could have been qualifying to every World
Cup by having stayed in the area where they actually belong.
Right they went into Asia, much more difficult. They get
to play the likes of Japan and all of the
other Asian teams so much more difficult. So they've done
a good job. They won the Asian Cup in twenty fifteen.

(32:16):
I will say this overall, for what I know, although
they've been to the round of sixteen at the World
Cup twice in two thousand and six, in twenty twenty two,
this is not the old Australian teams that we've seen.
This is not k Hill and Vaduka and those guys
that could really hurt you if you weren't let's say,

(32:36):
if you weren't at the top of your game for
ninety minutes. This is a little bit difficult. I don't
rate this Australian team as much. Of course, they're organized,
they're disciplined, they're physical, they disrupt the opponents. They do
a really good job with that. They also, let's say,
their coach Tony Popovich, has done a really good job
in terms of picking apart the lesser opponent tactically. You know,

(33:01):
he did a really good job, you know, whether he
was playing you know, at even New Zealand and friendly games,
he knew how to pick them apart tactically, and so
this is a very smart coach. But I think he
realizes that he just doesn't have the weapons to go
all out against all these other teams. So having said that,

(33:23):
they play out a three four two one, that's what
they like to call it. I call it more of
a five four to one, but they call it at
three four two one. So let's just let's just go
with that. In general, I think, you know, having said
all the things that I just said, they can beat anyone.
You know, they really can because they're athletic and they're

(33:45):
physical and they're not going to give up for ninety minutes.
So you have to beat top of your game they
you know. In terms of lineup, I think, you know,
Matt Ryan will playing goal. I think he's getting ready
to bake break all the records of Caps. Yeah, and
so he'll play, uh in the back. They likely go
if we're gonna call this a three, they're probably gonna
be probably gonna be a Jeria with Cherkati and Burgess,

(34:09):
although that could be Harrington as well. You know, they
could be they could be a switch there. They could
be you know, Jeria could play right back instead if
they wanted to go more of a four to four
two at some point. But likely on the right side
will be Jacob le Telliano. On the left side will
be will be Jordan Boss who's one of their better players.
He will get forward all the time. Uh. And I
say one of their better players because I didn't want

(34:30):
to say their best player, but he is dangerous coming
out of that left side. He's a good player middle
of the field, I think, because they're gonna go a
little bit on the defensive side. Uh when they play
all of these matches and uh, they'll play with Aiden
O'Neill and and and Jackson Irvine that will be the two,
with O'Neill stain more obviously and probably staying all the time.

(34:52):
And then on one side they'll they'll have on Thestoria
and Kunda who's their young up and come in you know,
break through play lay that I think they're counting on
for the future, no doubt. But I think as a
player that in the present could could make a difference.
And likely Riley mcgree on the other side. That could change.
They have a couple of Martin Boyle could go there.

(35:15):
There's a couple other options. Motri will be on top.
There's not a whole lot of more many more options
for them to go in a different way. Although you're
on Kunda could end up playing the nine just as
a loan striker up there because he's got the speed
to do it. I think in general that will be
that will be the Australia lineup.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, and Torre has been very good since joining Norwich
in the January transfer windows, scoring a bunch of goals.
He got injured, came back immediately with scoring goals again.
He would be the danger man. Riley mcgree for Middlesbrough
also in the Championship has been very good. Bowse is
an outlet, a very creative outlet down the left flank
for them. Again, while they were going to be playing

(35:55):
with what what we both think is more five at
the back than say three at the back, He's going
to be somebody who had more licensed to get forward
than his opposite fallback. You mentioned Lucas Herrington. I'm expecting
to see a role from he. He's got a chance
to be like a breakout player and this World Cup
he plays for the Caldile Rapids eighteen unless he turned nineteen.
It's a teenager, very young player, very athletic, very comfortable

(36:16):
on the ball, very exciting. This is a player who'll
be in Europe before long.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
So and they like them a lot. So this is
a player that's definitely on the verge of being a
starter on this team because they really feel like that's
the future for them in that area. So, yeah, you're
absolutely right.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
And with this team, I think that there are connections
to be made with Paraguay. I think Paraguay are a
little bit more dangerous in transition. I think Australia, while
Paraguay is very physical, I think Australia is a bit
more physical. Australia can hit in transition with a couple
of those plays again, particularly Torre, but they're gonna be
a worry on set pieces in particular. This seems more

(36:55):
like a defend deep play really hard. When the United
States beat them to one in the fall, they just
kicked the crap out of Polistic until he had to
be subbed out in thirty first minute.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Expecting a lot more of that, Righteah.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
No question and I think you know, and I think
it's a good comparison in general to say, Okay, Australia
and Paraguay both will sit back. I have to say
I think it's a little bit more difficult to prepare
for Australia than it is to prepare for Paraguay. And
the reason I say that is not because they're better,
but because I think they could likely hurt you with

(37:29):
guys that you're not thinking about. I think Paraguay's pretty straightforward.
We know it, right, we know and see Soo, we
know al Maron, we know what they can do. I
think with Australia it's a little bit of that old
American sort of like who are we playing today? You know,
like this is the way we used to be, let's say,
in the nineties, right when we started to surprise people.
I think it was more because they didn't know us, right.

(37:50):
So I think this Australian team has a little bit
of a component of that of whoever they play against,
sort of guessing as the game goes on, what.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Would you have for prediction for this game? Do you
think the United States will get the three points?

Speaker 1 (38:07):
I would give it a final score of two to one,
but I think only because I think Australia may probably
score on a set piece late in the game. But
I really don't. I don't think that this is going
to be a problem game for us.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah, this is again when you got to beat who
you're supposed to beat, every point matters, and I think
so this is the second game. The third game is
against thir Ka. Going into the thur K game with
feeling like you need a result to continue on in
the tournament is not going to be a good spot
or feeling like it's not guaranteed without a result. I

(38:41):
will say going into that game against tir K about
who's going to top the group. That's where this team
wants to be in. So let's talk about tur Key
a tad before I even give the overview. Do you
think that this is the hardest opponent.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Well, there's no question there the hardest opponent. Player by player,
you could argue that they are better than we are.
I think if you went on every position on the field,
you know they They certainly have the talent.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
And ironically, this was a team that was pot D
this so as the draw went Pot A, the host
plus the best nations in the world pot BC D
D is where Cabo Verde is D is where curas
How is D is where Haiti is D is also
where Turkey came through. So if there was the only
part of unluckiness of the World Cup drop the United

(39:26):
States was this one. But around the team, they've got
some big injury concern sab Arti Gulair, their superstar. He
got injured for Real Madrid and very quickly was ruled
out for the rest of Real Madrid season. And this
was after he scored two goals against Byron Munich. I
believe it was the next game he played is when
he got picked up. I think a hamstring injury. He
should be available for the World Cup. But tab you

(39:49):
know that available and fit and firing are two very
very different things. Getting on the field, doing enough to
get on the field versus are you one hundred percent yourself.
That's gonna be one to watch at the early part
of the tournament. The hope for Turkey a is that
Gulair will be himself completely, hopefully by the first game,
but if not, definitely by the third game against the
United States. Same goes for Hakan Chinoglu, who's out for
Inter Milan as well, he won't play again another minute

(40:12):
for his club team before the World Cup. He's in
the same spot as Gulair where they don't think his
World Cup is in doubt. But again there is there
is a vast difference to being available to give it
a go. So as available for minutes and I am
one hundred percent and I am the max version of myself.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
No doubt that this is This is an issue for Turkey,
and it's unfortunate because Arda Gulaer I think was playing
he was at his height of his career at this point.
I think he you know, although this real Madrid has
been a little bit of a mess this year, Guhler
was one of the bright spots. And not only that,
I think he was carrying them a little bit through

(40:50):
the last few games that they played. So no question
that Arda Guhler is not only their best players, but
one of the best young players in the world. Uh
and so and so I think this this will be
a little bit of a miss I I think I
think having said all of those things, I think he'll
be back. I think this will be a complete team
by the time, you know, this will be the third

(41:11):
game of the World Cup, when we play them, uh,
and so I think they'll be in good shape in
terms of you know, having all their players for to
play against the US. So I'll start first, you know,
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
No, no, no, I like I was going to ask
for what what their lineup is going to be, what
the style is?

Speaker 2 (41:30):
You beat me to it?

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Okay, yeah, I was. I was getting to that. So
they play in a four two three one, which is
which is pretty clear.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Their coach Vintensa Mantela has done a very good job
with this team, you know. And I'll say this on
a side note. You know, I was working for Besiktas
a couple of years ago with Brad Friedel. So Brad
and I have talked a lot about this team, and
I think if there is one thing where they can
break down that happens to a lot of the Turkish teams,
is is if things aren't going well for them, there's

(41:59):
a lot of sort of in fighting, and then the
game has become a little bit of a little bit
more of a war than they become about soccer. And
so this could be one of the disadvantages and something
we may be able to take advantage off in in
our game when we play them because it's likely that
both teams will want to take that first place in
the group by that game. And if I read if

(42:21):
I'm reading this correctly, I think that we'll we And
when I say we, I mean the US will be
going into the third game with six points. But I
don't think that Turkey will be going into that third
game with six points. I think they will drop a
point somewhere in the first two games, and so I
think that game will be really big in particular for them. Now,
this is an experienced team. They have good players in

(42:44):
every position on the field. They have good substitutes that
come in and make a difference. This is not this
is this is a This is a soccer country that
has a true culture that will be you know, they
will have a lot of responsibility to their fans. They
made it in terms of their success. They made it
to the Euro Semis in two thousand and eight, they

(43:06):
made it to the World Cup Semis in two thousand
and two where they ended where they ended third and
third place, and they're currently ranked twenty second in the world.
In terms of lineup, I think they'll go with check
here in goal. He has been really their mainstay and
although they've had byan Deer who's done really well and
is coming along, and they've had Kunos who was the

(43:26):
bestes before and has the experience, I think there's no
question that chak here will be their number one on
the right side, will likely be Chellicked in the center,
and this is I'll get into this because they have
a couple of different options in terms of center back,
but I'll start with Kadioglu to be the first one
from Brighton. I think he's a young player that's coming

(43:48):
along really well. He's a good player, he's got great fee.
He's certainly the future for them. I think he will play.
Opposite of him will likely be Demirol on the left side, Kabick.
In the center of the field, I think they'll have
yuk Sik and Challanoglu, which you've you've already spoken about,
who right now is not one hundred percent fit, but

(44:09):
I think he'll be playing because he'll be more of
that eight that ends outside the box and he's extremely
dangerous doing that. And the three in front of them
will likely be koach You on one side from Roma
in the center of Beagu Lair on the left side
will be Eld's which Keena Yelds is someone we've been
talking about on this show. Because that's that's that's a
player and a half. I mean, that's that's some player.

(44:31):
And then up front they'll go probably karr At Koglu,
who I think I think will be there nine. They
have some other options, but in general, I think he
will be the ninth. So in general, that's the beginning
of their lineup, and we can go into some options
they can have because they really can't. Kadiogul could play
left back and he can get forward well and and

(44:52):
be inside. This is what they did against some of
the weaker teams. He played on the left side, but
then went inside into midfield, so he was actually an
extra Midfiel learned. They kept three in the back, so
they have that option to add players forward, and he's
one of them. Uh So that's one of the options
that they have.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Tab let me just interrupts you to say, well done
on all those pronunciations. That is a pro right there.
Not a man who worked for Bashiita's for a little bit. Yeah,
that's just what we expect on this show.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
So Turkey qualified through the European playoff. They beat Kosovo
one zero in that final game. In that one, it
was Gulair and Yieldez off off the wings or to
Koglu up Topkuku as an attacking midfielder. But Chanoglu again,
he's gonna have the freedom to kind of go where
he wants as long as he's fit. So how would
you expect this team to play? I'm I'm assuming vastly

(45:41):
different than the first two opponents. And what kind of
what will the United States team to do in this
game that is going to be much different in the
first two.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
I think, if I'm reading this correctly, Turkey will worry
about Turkey. I think I think they I think they
think they can win this group, and I think they'll
play with the lineup that they feel is best for them.
And of course, you know this is Mantel as a
smart coach, and he will he will worry about some
of you know, some of the potential that we have.

(46:09):
He will worry about polistic Roman in between lines. He
will worry about potentially way at speed on the right side.
Of course, you have to worry about Baligan because Baligan
can you know, in one play he has great timing
and he can beat you. So these are all concerns
that he will have. But overall, I think I think

(46:29):
Turkey will worry about about Turkey and about making the
changes that that's going to allow them to win the
game when they play US. I don't think they'll be
looking at anything else but winning the game against the US.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
I would agree. So what do the US need to
do to get a result? And do you think that
they will get a result?

Speaker 1 (46:50):
I do. I think we can. I think if I
had to predict a result in this game, I will
say zero zero. I think this is going to be
This is going to be a little bit of a
cagy game because it'll be a last one. I think.
If anything, I because I think that Turkey will not
get all six points in their first two games. I
think that they will likely be chasing this game a

(47:11):
little more, which will be different, will be a totally
different game for US than the first two games, where
we're gonna be the protagonist, will have the ball the
whole time. I don't think it'll be the case in
this game, but I see it as a little bit
of a cage game and likely as zero zero.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
So my worry is that two goals conceded against Portugal
five goals conceded against Belgium. Was it four against Switzerland
and two against Turkey.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
A last summer. If I'm remembering that off the top
of my.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Head, I don't trust this team to keep a clean
sheet against a high level European opponent, particularly one with
Arta Gulair on the field, if he is indeed close
to one hundred percent. But usually when we look at
these games, we never really think about zero zero, So
I think to have your ears might be closer to react.
If you remember last World Cup the United States played England.

(48:02):
That game finished nil nil. If they're able to conjure
up that kind of defensive performance, it's on the table.
Though I will say I'm dubious just because of the
recent history of some of these high level teams really
putting a whooping on this American defense.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
But that is the group stage preview. But don't worry.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
When we're getting closer to the games, we're gonna have
podcast episodes previewing and recapping all of these games, so
we're gonna talk more about each of these three teams.
We just wanted to set the table so you guys
are all ready for these opponents. But we're gonna take
one more quick break. Next up, Tab takes us inside
the locker room for a story about security at the
recent World Cups and what that means for twenty twenty six.
So please stick around for that. Thank you for listening

(48:41):
to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscribe. We're ready,
Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. Let's get inside the
locker room with Tab Aromas and Tab. We're gonna talk
about security at the World Cup, something that I don't

(49:01):
think a lot of people are thinking of though. News
items are popping up with all the cities kind of
complaining about just how much money this costs. So Tab
is somebody who's played in a number of World Cups
and coached at a few more. What what can you
tell us about security at the World Cup?

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Yeah? Well, I mean I can't go into the specifics
of security, but it's good. It's good.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
It's good.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
I can't say anything. I can't, you know, I can't,
I can't say no, you know what. It's sort of
I started to hear of the last couple of weeks
about you know, cities and the difficulty they're having, you know,
with you know the cost of what it costs a
secure World Cup, And I just wanted to give sort
of an overview of what it what it takes just
to manage one team. Right. So you know, most fans

(49:43):
would think that the teams are staying in a hotel,
and then when it's time to go, when it's time
to go to the stadium, you know, there's going to
be a police car in front of the bus, and
and you know, and and the team walks out, and
they'll get in the bus, and they'll go to the
stadium with a you know, sort of a police car
leading the way, and and there's so much more than that, right,

(50:03):
So I'll give an example that's a little bit more recent,
not when I played, because obviously that's a long time ago.
But I'll start with this example. So in twenty fourteen
in the World Cup Brazil, you know, we had, of course,
we had not only a helicopter following the you know,
the team bus. So you have a helicopter, credible, and
then you have a number of police cars and police motorcycles,

(50:27):
you know, leading the bus in front and also behind
the bus, so you have all of those. Then there
was there was a couple of trucks full of soldiers,
maybe twenty five thirty thirty five soldiers, all arms that
just you know, hopped into two or three different vehicles

(50:48):
that were also following the bus. So, you know, I
wanted to mention that because you know, obviously there's a
great cost of all of those things. Not that we're
going to follow you know, in this twenty twenty six
World Cup, that every team will be followed by a
ton of soldiers, but the cost of security could be
humongous for any city with all that they have to

(51:11):
provide to any one team. Obviously, of course, you know,
when the team goes to the game, they have to
close all the road so the team's not in traffic.
There's all of those added added things. But I wanted
to go back. The reason I started with this is
because I wanted to go back to nineteen ninety eight
and sort of the debacle of that team that many
people know just as you know, this was one of

(51:34):
our worst World Cup teams because we just didn't do
well and there was a number number of things that
happened in that World Cup, starting with obviously we had
a little bit of a locker room scandal.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
You know.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Then we had you know, team chemistry because of it.
There was there was you know, it was the team
chemistry was just was poor. There were you know, big
tactical changes going into the World Cup, and then there
was the place where we stayed, which I think the
team had to suffer a little bit from that isolation
of being alone. So I'll go a little bit into
that team, so, you know, and the reason I say

(52:06):
that is because you know, teams can fall apart right
before the World cuple though things may look great, it
only takes a couple of injuries or a couple of
different scenarios potentially off the field that can change the
team mentality. And when you're and when you're in a
group like this and you're going to be together for
one month, you know, things can get magnified really fast.

(52:29):
And I'll have to say that our nineteen ninety eight team,
if you went player by player, I think was one
of the most talented teams that we've sent to a
World Cup, but actually ended up losing all three games
and we went home as a thirty two out of
thirty two teams, So that was not good. But I'll
say this so and you know, as part of you

(52:51):
know what I talked about security. What was a little
bit different than the nineteen ninety eight World Cup. We
it was in France. Our games were in Paris and
in Leon, and when we were we opened up again
Germany in Paris and that game, I can tell you
that obviously we had helicopter, more than one helicopter following
the team. We had police in front, we had police

(53:13):
in the back, we had police motorcycles on the side
of the of of of the bus. And then we
get to the stadium and in the stadium as the
game goes on, you have sharpshooters all the way around
the top of the stadium on the roof, sort of
pointing down in case something happened. You know, these are
all things that are going on while you're just trying

(53:33):
to play, you know, the game that you love, that
you've been playing with your buddies on the street, and
now you realize, you know that that all of these
components go into it. To add to that, I think
our team we were staying at this chateau outside of
outside of the of Leon, where we were playing two
of our games. It was called to the Pizza. It

(53:57):
was a winery from the twelve hundred that we were
staying at. But we were completely isolated, so like there
wasn't even a banner of the World Cup anywhere near us,
So the team was completely by itself. The coaching staff
wasn't even staying there. There were staying i think in
a better hotel than the rest of the team. So
the team, I think the team we were isolated in

(54:20):
this one place with if you looked out the window,
you could see sharpshooters all around the winery, like actually
actually laying down on the ground all ready to go
twenty four to seven. So it was really a high
alert tournament in which we suffered not only from having
an incident starting that World Cup, you know with you

(54:42):
know John Harks and Eric Wunella, which forced Steve Sampson
to leave John Harts off the team, which of course
you can leave any player off the team at any time.
I mean we saw it with Landon Donovan in twenty fourteen.
But the effect of leaving Hearts out of that World
Cup is Hearts had been our cap and for about
three years leading into this World Cup, and so that

(55:03):
had an effect on sort of the leadership of the team.
So now the team's leadership changed from you know, being
potentially harks and and Lexi Lalas and myself and Eric
Guanalda and the guys that had been there to now
sort of a little bit of a new a new
generation of players. And now I recall, because I wasn't

(55:24):
one of them, but I recall sort of being a
little bit of a fight about captaincy, who's going to
be the leader, who's going to wear the captain's band,
because obviously that's a big honor, and I think it
ended up being duly. But then it created a separation
from you know, the guys who played in Germany and
the guys who were at home. So there was you know,
that was part of the That was part, I would say,

(55:44):
of the locker room drama that the team had but
now magnified into being isolated in just one mansion, all
of us together. Also add to that the fact that
Steve our last warm up game going into that World Cup,
Steve Samson played out of a three to six to

(56:06):
one formation which we had never seen and we were
successful and Austra by the way, I didn't play that game.
I actually hadn't played a game for the national team
in six months when I went to this World Cup
because I had an acl so, but the team went
to Austria and won in a three six to one formation.
So now all of a sudden, this was the new
formation going into World Cup. It was a formation that

(56:27):
the team was not familiar with. So now you add
locker room drama, you add isolation to where we were
staying not really participating in any World Cup events. We
were all alone. And then on top of it, now
you have a change, a tactical change, and then the
chemistry not being great. So all of those things added
up to us being nowhere near one hundred percent to

(56:49):
be able to compete. So I wanted to put all
of those things into frame because the World Cup there's
so many components to it and so many things have
to go right for you to be successful.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
One of the things that was a strength of the
twenty two team was until the gi Arena incident, was
the locker room. This is a group of guys that
are very tight. Going to twenty twenty six, it's still
that way, though it's a little bit off. It's a
little bit different. Maricia Poschettino is described as somebody who
like it has can develop and does develop emotional connections

(57:21):
with the players. He's they they love them, But like
under Burhalter, it was more of a hey, these are
our guys that were moving forward. And Pochettino it's it's
he creates insecurity by design. It's I don't care if
you earned your roster spot today, If you earned your
spot on the field today, that's cool. You have to
go do it again tomorrow because every day I wanted

(57:41):
to beat competition.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Every day.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
I want you to be feeling that you need these minutes.
And at its best, it's a hyper competitive group that
is still very very tight outside the field, within the field,
all of that, but everybody's fighting for every minute. But
at the worst it could be tabbed something like you're
kind of referring to of a little bit of infighting,
whether it's about the captain's arm band or it's about whatever.
And by the way, I don't think that we definitely
haven't named the captain for the World Cup, and I

(58:03):
don't think Pochattino has had a defined captain all the time.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Tim Reem has worn the armband the most.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Tyler Adams was a captain at the twenty twenty two
World Cup, which by the way, would be my choice.
And I don't think it's particularly close. Tyler Adams has
not worn the arm band for the US national team
since the World Cup. That is mind belding to me.
But I think that this team is very close and
it's one of their strengths. But it also was going
in twenty twenty two and they had to deal with
the situation with Urina and then obviously the fallout got

(58:30):
worse and worse with Raina's family and Greg Burhlter and
Greg Burhlter's family, And that's a hopefully a once in
a generation, once in a lifetime kind of story. But
it goes to show even when you have the raw
as tight as you are and you feel like it's
one of your strengths, like like you said, it's one
or two things away from unraveled.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
And here's the other component. I think that's important. There's
gonna be, without a doubt when when the US team
travels to World Cup in a foreign country, there is
not sort of the attention that that other countries get
Let's say Brazil, Let's say Germany or Spain or Argentina. Right, so,

(59:11):
but this is our home World Cup there's gonna be
a lot going on. Players will have a lot of obligation,
there will be there will be a lot of press
everywhere they go. There's this is gonna be a little
bit more than ever before. And I think if if
for somebody, and by the way, I agree with you
on this group, there are a great bunch of guys

(59:31):
I have to agree one hundred percent. I know most
of them. They're all good people. I think, you know,
one of the issues could could be that we still
don't have a true captain on the team. And you know,
and Tyler Adams may be that that person, but but
I think you know, it's you know, you normally need
a leadership in the group. I think it's more by

(59:53):
I think they do it more by group than they
do it by by one person in particular. But in general,
I think that that this World Cup has a lot
of had a lot of different areas in which if
we don't get it right, a lot of things can
be added to the team that could potentially make it
go wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
Yeah, and within that, obviously there's this side of the
world that we don't see. And again, which is why
I think I encourage people to watch that HBO documentary.
It's like I was talking to Tim Waya about the
documentary for something I wrote about it, and he was like,
I'm just glad that people are going to see how
much we love each other and what this brotherhood is.
And you can really see that in the little moments
that again previously TAP you'd only be privy to if

(01:00:35):
you were on the roster, if you were within the squad.
So I think that's interesting. And then there's the stuff
that you can't control either, like the ball, it's the
post and rolls one way, a bad call, a questionable call,
a moment of brilliance from another team, a mistake from
another team, right, like So it is just truly fascinating
how these are the things that legacies are made off of.
These are the things that careers are defined off of.

(01:00:57):
And we all want to have control over everything if
we can control, particularly coaches by nature, you're a control
freak when you're trying to get every detail right, do
everything you can and put your team in the spots
and succeed. And it's this reality is we can't control everything.
It's gonna be incredible rolling towards the World Cup. I'm
so happy that we're about a month out now tab

(01:01:18):
the shows. We're only gonna keep getting better and more
important as we get close.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
To the World Cup.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
So again, next week we're gonna do our final World
Cup Ross projection and we're gonna talk through all of that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
I cannot wait for it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
So please tune in to Inside American Soccer rate relf,
you subscribe, whatever you get your podcast. Thank you again
for listening to this week tap. Thank you as always
for being here. We'll be back next week.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
We talk to you very racon