June 17, 2026 • 28 mins
On today’s episode, Jason quickly discusses Lionel Messi's incredible hat trick performance in Argentina's World Cup opener. Later, J-Mac is joined by former USMNT star and podcast host Eric Wynalda. During the conversation, Wynalda discusses his biggest takeaways from USA's 4-1 win over Portugal, coach Mauricio Pochettino's masterful plan leading up to the start of the World Cup, the keys to victory for USA's matchup with Australia on Friday, why the youth of the USMNT roster actually works in our favor, a few notable big picture World Cup storylines, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, big fire, Bam, It's me Jason macattire,
Straight bowyer for Wednesday, June the nineteenth. Boy, folks, if
you were unhappy with Monday's World Cup four ties, how
thrilled were you that on Tuesday we got three of
(00:31):
the best players in the world up front, Killian and
Bape bang bang two goals for France. Nice win, Earl
Holland for Norway bang bang two goals. And then the
nightcap leo'nell Messi the greatest player in the history of
the sport. Sorry Ronaldo fans a hat trick for Leonel Messi.
Welcome to the World Cup. Oh my god. I still
(00:55):
fondly remember at the end of the last World Cup.
I was like, oh my gosh, there's no nothing better
than this. Messi's final World Cup. He goes out a champion,
takes down France, epic game, goes to PK. I mean like,
that was one of the great sporting events that I've
ever seen. And you think Messi's gonna retire, and then
he just goes to the MLS and wins titles and
(01:18):
he's like, yeah, I'll play for Argentina and you don't
expect much and he opens with a hat trick. Folks,
this is insane. So to celebrate Messi the USA's win
over Paraguay, we have a special guest. You know him
if you're a soccer fan. Eric Winalda, one of the
great forwards in US soccer history. Played in the nineteen
(01:42):
ninety World Cup, played in the ninety was it ninety four? Yeah,
ninety four World Cup, played in the MLS, played internationally.
The guy is sure is he in the Hall of Fame?
I got a check.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
He should be.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
But HeLa ten years with the national team, scored thirty
four goals. Eric Winnalda always has a lot of good
hot takes. He actually predicted we'd beat Paraguay three to one.
I won't give away his pick for the Australia game,
but I think I probably need to bet it now. Anyways,
without further ado, let's get to our guest, former US
national team forward Eric Winalda.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports. I know
what sports Fance wants, but for everything he doesn't, he
(02:42):
knows the guy who does.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire. One of
the great soccer voices in America. Eric Winalda, a legendary
scoring machine for the US national team. I remember watching
him in World Cups in the early was it nineteen
ninety Italy?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Is that the one it ed?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
That didn't go so well. I got a red card
in that deal. Ninety four was a little better. Yeah,
let's the team twice? Come on, Yeah, well I got three.
I got three.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
But the trip to France wasn't so great. It even
made a movie about it. Forget Paris. We're trying to
forget about.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It, all right, So let's fast forward. First of all,
USA Paraguay people are calling it the best half of
soccer US Soccer's ever played.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I was floored by it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I thought it was an incredible performance. But I don't
know you have a trained eye. Let's hear your thoughts
on it.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Well, I mean, all of the speculation that this team
was possibly, you know, going to come out of the
gates sputtering a little bit or maybe not, and I'll
be hitting on all cylinders if you will. And all
the you know, the talk about Christian Polisic hasn't scored
it for his club on my podcast, I think guys
stayed true to that. I was like, look, relax, he's
(04:02):
gonna be fine once the game start. When he gets
back to America, he'll probably get back on back into
scoring ways. He looked really good. I mean really good.
I mean, you looked like Naymar good in that first half.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
So there it was.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Man, if you watch it, he had three nutmegs in
the first ten minutes. I already got his guy on
a yellow and could have his way with him. And
you know, I think the only reason why he came
out of the game was because it's precautionary.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
You're up three nil, no need to risk anything.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Then we saw in the second half how much we
miss him as far as his ability to just be
the lightning rod and take people on and make things happen.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But man, the first half was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Every position not just held their own, but it was terrific.
The only one who had a subpar performance might be
Sergino Desks.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
But outside of.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
That, yeah, man, he's got a there's a couple of plays.
To the trained eye, you're like, come on, man, like really,
but I think I think that. I don't think they're
I don't unforesee any changes to the lineup, just maybe a
change of the plan because Australia looked really good against
Cirkie and we got to.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Make sure we're ready for them. But all in all, man,
I was thrilled.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I was it was It was a it is the
best for you know, first half that we've ever had
collectively as a team.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I mean, the only thing that might come close is the.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
US beat Argentina and Copa America. But that's not that
was too nil against Argentina, that wasn't three. And and
then the then Raina tapping it off was was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
One of the.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Crazier stats I saw. Eric So the US was dominant
offensively and technically. Christian Polisic did not have one shot
on goal, right, Does that surprise you because he's supposed
to be the guy.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, man, they were overloading his side.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
They were actually uh doubling up I think it's it's
really a credit to him to recognize that in the
run of play, because if if they're going to be
marking him the way that they were, somebody's open and
you know he and then he became the assists guy.
The first goal you could really attribute to his play
to get in behind. Baligun's first goal was absolutely fantastic
(06:11):
from from Christian standpoint, So I'm not worried about, you know,
him getting the shots off. I'm you know, I would
be worried if he wasn't connecting or he wasn't getting
behind defenses.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But I thought he looked spectacular.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I think Ballygun is amazing and it's even he really
is terrific. And the second goal is so far into
the world class level that we're thrilled to have that guy.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I'm just happy his parents couldn't get on the plane, right.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I mean, yes, she was pregnant, right, she got stuck
in New York.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
He was born here, so he's American. Yeah, God bless him.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's funny because just like three four months ago in March,
the US got smoked by Belgium five to two, played
a good first half and they got embarrassed that and
half and then they got blanked by Portugal and it
was like, oh, boys, but you Broachatino even gonna make
it to the World Cup. And I just wondered, in
your experiences, are the coaches tinkering a lot in the
friendlies and the World Cup run up and then totally
(07:05):
changing their game plan seeing what had worked and what
didn't and combining stuff almost look totally different even than
the two to one result against Paraguay from back in November.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Right, you got to understand you're going through that process.
Pettino was really thinning the herd.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
That's all. That was no pun intended.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I know that's the show over there, but that's what
we needed to do. We needed to figure out who
could play and who couldn't.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I mean, think about this.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Bulligan was here, he only played one half and then
he got on a plane and went home, and everybody said, oh,
what does that mean.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That means he's made the team, and.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
The other guys that got to stay and play essentially
played themselves off the team.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And that's what was happening, and it wasn't.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I think Pochatino has done a terrific job of piecing
this group together. But the other part of it, which
people really need to be more cognizant of, is when
you're going through that process and you're playing against teams
that you alter you're gonna play in a World Cup,
you don't want to show your hand.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
You don't.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
We want to keep your cards close to your chest.
You see little pieces, right, and then you say, all.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Right, that'll work. Let's let's stop doing that. We can
do that, so let's try something else.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
So all that tinkering that, you know, if you've got
to watch my podcast, Man, I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Because I'm the only one that said, I'm not worried.
This is gonna be fine. My prediction for the first
game was three to one. Thank you for Wow, for.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Jail to get it right and take it to the
next level. We didn't count on that own goal that
that was a great start, but got that one right.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
But I still think that, you know, this is a
group that Poschattino, and.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
He has known what he was up to the whole time,
and it's really smart of him to not show everybody
what we're about. It's kind of an advantage for them
to be still trying to figure out, Okay, what was
that because that looked a little different.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So is it like an NFL team in the preseason
just trotting out, Hey, we're going to run this big
vanilla shit and then come NFL season, Yeah, we're covered
with the with the good plays, if you.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Will, trying to figure out I think throughout those those
warm up games, is all right, if somebody goes down,
how do I fix it?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Who can play together? Who can't?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And it became a juggling act.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
It was just certain guys get going in and out
and then a lot of frustration from the fan base
because they'd watched the game and they'd say.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Why did he do that? Why did he change it?
It was working, and.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
It's like he's trying to figure out plan B and
Plan C. And we've already had to kind of utilize
Plan B in the Paraguay game, which was brilliant. So look,
there's there's there's a lot to it. There's a lot
of moving pieces. The puzzle looks pretty good to me. Uh,
And I think if as long as they can stay
healthy and stay out of out of harm's way as
far as suspensions go, we're in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, all right, so let's spin it forward to the
Australia matchup. You already noted Australia. I mean, listen, they
were largely outplayed according to some of the advanced stats
the XG. But they get the win and that's really
all that matters.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Eric.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Honestly, I was watching them trying to hold down the
fort with like you know, basically eight guys in the box.
It felt like, for like twenty minutes, I are.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
They going to try that same strategy.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Do you think they adjust?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I think they adjust. I think they are in a
unique spot. They are not They weren't expected to win
that game. They already have three points in the bag.
They might come into our game with a very conservative approach,
but they still have some weapons up top. They have
some speed options. That really caused some problems for Turkey
because what happened was is Turky I was trying to
(10:38):
break him down, realized that there was a lot of
yellow Shirts in the way.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
At one point, man I took a snapshot of it.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
They had all ten field players in their own eighteen
yard bocks and it wasn't a set piece.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So they had really built.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
A wall in front of that goal and said, all right,
you know, somehow you're going to try and figure out
how to you have to go around us because we
got six foot five, six foot four or in the middle,
so crosses aren't going to work. And they just never
changed their plan. So Turkey eight thought that they were
more talented. They thought that they could just eventually do
a one to two in a phone booth and it
would all work out. Shananoulu's comments their captain before the
(11:15):
game were not helpful to say that we're far more
talented than these guys.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You know, that's just not smart.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Because he doubled down too, he said, I still think
we're more talented. You lost the game, but those those
possession numbers were pretty telling because the truth is there
they were able to collectively defend. But in the moments
that they went forward, they instead of just having one
guy up top and then just hoping that it worked out,
(11:44):
it was a little bit it was a little bit
more advanced than that. It was a great recognition from
their midfield to when so when they would break, they
would break with three, not one, not two, but three,
and that's why they were able to ultimately break him
down great goal. Great goal, but it's one year old
kid who just ran past everybody. And then the second
one was just a great strike from about twenty five
(12:07):
yards out. They they're gonna play that way against us,
maybe even a little bit more conservative.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We need to. I don't want to let the cat
out of the bag. But the way you break that.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Down is you have to have deep runs that come
in behind the defense, have to be well timed. Very
similar to the play we saw yesterday with Kukearea for
Spain on a pass from rodri headed back in front
of the box. Get those six foot fivers running towards
their own goal, get a little nervous. I'm not saying
we're going to get another own goal, but we could.
But that's the only way to break them down. When
(12:37):
they're gonna do that, they are very They're a very
cohesive unit. They stick together, They're always checking shoulders. You
gotta go over them wide. You can't go down the middle.
You can't break that down. They're just too good.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I was seeing something that I think Weston McKinney had
the most runs of anyone on the US. That was
like kind of an unanticipated move by Poachattino who do
you think are some of the primary runners that we
would be going with.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, I mean the way that we play.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
If we're going to go with Jedi Robinson who will
be in an advanced position, and Serginio Desk, who essentially
was way up high. I mean, I think Alex Freeman
is the best thing that ever happened to the national team.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
By the waycause he was excellent. This kid, he just
solves so many problems.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And if you're Timothy Weya or Serginio Desk, you're like,
thank you stay healthy because that allows me to play
in a far.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
More advanced position.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
But it will be I think Sergino Desk maybe even
the Timothy wa could be Polisic. I mean, if you
think about the way we scored against Iran in the
last World Cup, something similar to that. I mean, I'm
hoping that Politic doesn't get kicked in the balls again
and we have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
That was not cool. But it's a goal like that.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
That's that's how you have to beat a team that
decides to play that defensive setup.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Interesting, so you three to one? Have you made a
pick for USA Australia.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Zero the United States? Yes? Wow?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So that essentially puts US as the winner of the group.
This is for the group pretty much right right.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, I guess.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Could beat Paraguay and then US, but on gold differential,
we'll have it because we were up for one.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That's that's that's what I'm anticipating. I originally said before
the tournament started, bewin three to one, two nothing, and
one to one against Cerkey. I still think that that
those are pretty reasonable results, but I think that fourth
goal against Paraguay would be I thought that fourth goal
was going to be the difference. I still think the
(14:36):
United States needs to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I said to nothing. I do think it's going to
be a far tighter affair.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I know we exploded out of the gates with four,
but we'll be happy with one.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
One should get it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (15:00):
And again, I don't want to go looking too far ahead,
but that would put us at the top of the
group and kind of a favorable matchup. I've seen some
of these simulations that say Hey, we'll play the third
place team from Canada's group, which might be Canada or Bosnia.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I don't know at what point, Eric, do you think.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
People can kind of get excited.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Maybe it's already happened.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Is a cat out of a bag after the win
over Pairaguay?
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I think it is, actually, I mean, I think there's
a couple of things going on.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know, earlier this week or the week before the game.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
We you know that the ninety four guys were invited
by the Federation to go to Chicago to be a
part of that sendoff. I gotta tell you, man, that's
the first time the Federation has done anything like that
to allow the Old Guard to kind of feel connected
to this group of players, and it was fantastic. So
we got to be you know, to talk to him
(15:50):
and not just get him on the phone or get
him on our shows and interview them.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Like everybody else, but to really interact.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
With him and to coming out of that, I think
that there was a really cool vibe, you know, just
like it just felt so much more like a family.
And when you watch what happened in the last World
Cup and all the controversy and former coach this is
a very different mentality. This group has gone through a
(16:16):
lot of adversity and they're ready for this. I think
the biggest concern may have been, you're getting the big
game with with that kind of fanfare and you know,
an unbelievable national anthem. By the way, I mean national
anthem always gets me. It's got I mean I usually
cry like a baby when I'm playing. And it's harder
(16:37):
to watch these games is to play in them. I'll
tell you that, that's for sure. But one of the
things that I said to the boys was, you know, somebody,
one of the members of the media, say, would you
give these guys any advice? And I could sell that
a couple of them are listening, and I said, the
best advice that they can get is from our national anthem.
The last verse is home with the brave be that
be brave, be have courage, and the talent we'll we'll
(17:01):
come streaming through. So that's what happened. So to answer
your question, I'm already there. I've seen enough. I think
they can play with anybody. Australia just happens to be
in the way right now. Turkey is going to be
a test. We got to keep our composure because they're
going to try and get under our skin. But this
team is ready. This team is ready to get to
make a really powerful run in this tournament.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So one other thing one will last us. Before we
look at Macrosoft around the Cup. I'm looking at the roster.
There's two guys over thirty. You got Tim Reem at
thirty eight and then hold On at thirty one. He
doesn't really play. This is a young team.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I don't know if they're the youngest in the field,
but they certainly have to be given that, you know,
Freeman's twenty one. They got a lot of young dudes.
Are they almost this is not a knock? Are they
almost too young to know?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
No?
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, I mean think about it, man, There's thirteen guys
coming back out of the twenty six from the.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Last World Cup. Right.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
These are guys like Geo had a miserable trip, right,
Scali who had a miserable trip didn't even get on
the field. But if you go through the guys like
like Green, who obviously is say you know the old guards,
you know that kind of leadership is necessary. Jedis it
(18:14):
is second trip Christians in his second trip with Bulligan's
this is his first time with the guys. But but
Weston and and Adams, well, they've all kind of gotten
their feet wet, so to speak. Didn't have the best
of tournaments, but they they now know what it feels like.
They now what those nerves feel like, and they know
how to control adrenaline and.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
The adrenaline is off the hook man.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
When you play in your own country in a World Cup,
it takes your whole game to the next level. Now,
there could be a problem here, right if if you're
not ready for it, right, because there's two kinds of players,
in my opinion. You put your hand on your heart
and you are listening to that anthem and you're getting
you're getting ready to play. You can't wait to blow
the whistle and start playing. And there's other guys in
(19:00):
the past who were like, don't screw up, just don't
don't f up. Just whatever you do, don't make a mistake.
Can't play like that. And I don't see one guy
in our team who's thinking like.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That or playing like that. He may have had that kind.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Of approach in the past, but all of these experiences
through their club, through the last World Cup are are
paying dividence, and guys like Freeman who's just stepped into
this team and seemingly, you know, unaffected by all of it.
I mean, I'll know whose dad is and and how that,
(19:33):
how that may be factors into this. Who have been
around it, you know, to been around what that likes,
what what that feels like? Big crowds and just pressure
and watching your dad go through I.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Mean stuff like that. You know, I mean that that
that stuff is.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
You know, Timothy Way's dad is one of the best
soccer players the world has ever seen. Now he's just
the president of Liberia, but he's he was yea King George,
he was. He was amazing in my day. So there's
it's kind of an e collected crowd. But this gang
of players many not only can they play, but they
have the right mentality and they have the right coach.
(20:10):
This guy has changed everything about the way that we
addressed the game.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It's a good point on way up because I just
looked this up. In the US win over Australia, I
guess twenty four to twenty five, Hagi Wright scored two goals.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
He played in the.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Last World Cup. I don't see how he gets on
the field at this one, and then Tim Waya was
a starter I think, and.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Played really well for the first goal. For the first goal,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, and now they got to take a back seat
to Balligan and a guy like Mark Tilman, who, by
the way, has been tremendous. This is a loaded team. Man,
I'm fired up. You got me excited. Let me quickly
look at the big picture. Eric, any early takeaways from
the first ten to twelve games. I did note that
some of the African teams, although Senegal right now is
down to nothing to France.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, no, that went quick, right.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I mean they had a couple of chances, but France
is showing us that.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Is that's what Spain was unable to do, right.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I mean, we're gonna get a good look at Argentina
a little bit later in the day. And obviously Norway's
is maybe a dark horse that that I don't know
if you can call him a dark horse, but every
single guy out there has like blonde hair and maybe
the white horse. But it's it's a tournament that's kind
of already shown you know that that certain teams maybe
(21:24):
aren't what we thought they would be. I mean, just
the name alone, isn't isn't going to get you to
the tournament. Belgium really struggled yesterday, So there's there's.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
A lot to it.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I mean, this is what you do in a World
Cup as a player. You can't wait to play, and
you were consuming everything. You're watching for trends, You're watching
how referees act. After the first game, I think we
all thought there was this was going to be a
card fest because was three red cards in the frostol.
But but everybody took note of that. Watching the first
(21:54):
half of France Senegal, I mean a lot was let
go a lot. I mean that game actually had to
flow to it that, you know, if there wasn't the
guy wasn't blowing the whistle every five seconds every time
there was you know, half a tackle or somebody got touched.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
So players watch that and they watch for trends.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
They watched to see how other teams are playing, who's
having a good World Cup.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And at that point you you really have a real
good feel.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
For after especially after playing, once you get the first
game out of the way, you you've got a good
feel for for what the tournament feels like, what the
vibe is, what the rules are and how they're addressing
the rules and how you need to address each game.
And I think, I mean, we couldn't have We could
not have had a better start. It's really going to
come down to Friday and what kind of team we
(22:42):
put out there.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
It might be one or two changes, maybe, but.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Maybe just just because the matchups don't really look great,
especially in certain areas, and and we might.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Who would who do you think would possibly move to
the bench for a different starter?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Well, I would think that.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And this sounds crazy because but but Pochettino, I wouldn't
put it past him. Yeah, Okay, we played it basically
at three four three. I could see us playing it
at three five two. I could see us throwing one
more body up there. I really could. It's just a
it's a coordination thing.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Uh oh, but doesn't that what about don't mess with greatness?
You win for one, you look amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I think we'll start the same way, but we if
we are able to identify a weakness and we do
think that we can handle the speed in the back.
Reim's the one that's in question there, like that can
he run with these guys?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
He's positioning needs to be immaculate.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Because if if he if he gets caught off or
then he gets at a running race and he doesn't
have a protection, that could be a bad moment. But
I think, I think if we get the first goal,
Pochettino is a guy that's unafraid to go for the second.
There's so many teams we've seen all the time they
score a goal, they get ahead, and then they kind
of fall into this conserved let's just get through the
(24:01):
game and win the game won nothing. That could very
well be the case. But Boschatino is a different cat man.
He wants to go for it. He wants to actually
let these guys fly. And if you get in a
moment where you look up and you realize, man, if
we put two forwards up there, that is going to
be way too problematic for them, he might do it.
And that's that that kind of move would be, you know,
(24:24):
searching no desk, Timithy Way maybe just being a flat
out winger.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
That's going to get behind people and could cause some problems.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
And I do think that Pepe or even Haddie Wright
could get into this game.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
He had a great trip last time, two.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Goals against Australia, so it's got those good memories to
go along with the good form of the rest of
the group.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
One thing I hadn't anticipated we can wrap up on
this is the hydration breaks. So in the for instance,
and I don't have that.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Where were those hydration breaks in ninety four, man, I
really could have used that when it was one hundred
and eighteen degrees, I mean it passed the that way
crazy right.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Well, the thing I didn't anticipate, Eric, I don't know
if you noticed, but it can be a major stopper
of momentum. Yeah, and like literally a game changer. Because
this France Senegal game, it was nip and tuck. France
was starting to turn things around. The hydration break comes
in out of it. It's like boom, boom, google within
the next like fifteen minutes, and I'm like, oh, man,
so that's something I don't think we've seen before. So
(25:23):
I don't know what conclusions you can draw, but it
definitely can be a momentum killer.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Can it not a momentum killer?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And also very very seldom is it a coaching opportunity.
We actually saw it against Australia pulled. He didn't talk
to anybody else. He just talked to the two forwards.
He said, look, we're.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Going to go for it. We're going to go over
the top. And they got a goal. They got a
goal out of it immediately.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
So you know, having that, you know, luxury of being
able to really talk to you guys about what you
see from the sidelines and maybe give them some instruction
that can make their their day a little easier. Saw
that with Australia. But the momentum thing is real. It's
just it's hard, man, It's like it happens a lot
in basketball, I think. I mean, it's the number one
(26:08):
thing that that you that you have that luxury tall man.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's it. They're killing us right now. Let's catch our breath.
Everybody sit down.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
You don't get that in soccer usually, and and you
don't get an standing eight count either.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You get punched in the face. He's coming right back
for more. I think. I think that's the other.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Part about our team. It's good plan, good coach. Really,
everybody's in really good form at the moment. But we
do have a ruthless nature to us that is that
is really likable. I mean, I really like that. I mean,
there was guys screaming to keep it. They didn't want
to get go for the fourth goal.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
But there was a why not moment there.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
If you watch Jio Reina trying to make up make
his way up the field, he gets into a shouting match,
almost a pushing match with one of the Paraguayan players,
Tyler Adams, who.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Was on a yellow which was in it.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I'll advise, gets in the middle of that, and I
don't know, I just think I think that just pissed
Geo off and said I'm gonna go for it. I
don't care push some numbers into into a spot, even
they were unexpecting of that. They they're looking at the
clock saying there's seconds left, there's no way.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Wait a second, this guy's coming at us? Is this
guy for real?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
And and then obviously we know the rest. But I
like that ruthlessness about US. I really do. I think
that they they stick together. They they're they're a good group,
They're obviously talented. But if if everybody's sitting on all
cylinders again, uh, and there's a moment where it will
happen against Australia, let me just let me just enlighten
(27:42):
everybody here. Someone's going to hit somebody. Someone's going to
say something to somebody and it can't be. It can't
be Tyler. Tyler can't do it. So maybe Weston would
would be the guy to step in there.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
But the fact that.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
They know that already without even having to talk to
each other about it makes them a really good team.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
But I think something's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Somebody's gonna mouth off, and then this this probably maybe
right around that water break in the twenty third minute
or just after it. This this game will click into
high gear and then that's when we show our ruthless
nature and just take him out.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Awesome stuff. Eric guanalda US national team veteran, I mean,
impressive career. He's got a podcast now, I mean Eric,
he's everywhere. Man. Thanks a lot for taking the time, Eric,
Always anything for you, buddy,
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, big fire, Bam, It's me Jason macattire,
Straight bowyer for Wednesday, June the nineteenth. Boy, folks, if
you were unhappy with Monday's World Cup four ties, how
thrilled were you that on Tuesday we got three of
(00:31):
the best players in the world up front, Killian and
Bape bang bang two goals for France. Nice win, Earl
Holland for Norway bang bang two goals. And then the
nightcap leo'nell Messi the greatest player in the history of
the sport. Sorry Ronaldo fans a hat trick for Leonel Messi.
Welcome to the World Cup. Oh my god. I still
(00:55):
fondly remember at the end of the last World Cup.
I was like, oh my gosh, there's no nothing better
than this. Messi's final World Cup. He goes out a champion,
takes down France, epic game, goes to PK. I mean like,
that was one of the great sporting events that I've
ever seen. And you think Messi's gonna retire, and then
he just goes to the MLS and wins titles and
(01:18):
he's like, yeah, I'll play for Argentina and you don't
expect much and he opens with a hat trick. Folks,
this is insane. So to celebrate Messi the USA's win
over Paraguay, we have a special guest. You know him
if you're a soccer fan. Eric Winalda, one of the
great forwards in US soccer history. Played in the nineteen
(01:42):
ninety World Cup, played in the ninety was it ninety four? Yeah,
ninety four World Cup, played in the MLS, played internationally.
The guy is sure is he in the Hall of Fame?
I got a check.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
He should be.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
But HeLa ten years with the national team, scored thirty
four goals. Eric Winnalda always has a lot of good
hot takes. He actually predicted we'd beat Paraguay three to one.
I won't give away his pick for the Australia game,
but I think I probably need to bet it now. Anyways,
without further ado, let's get to our guest, former US
national team forward Eric Winalda.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports. I know
what sports Fance wants, but for everything he doesn't, he
(02:42):
knows the guy who does.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire. One of
the great soccer voices in America. Eric Winalda, a legendary
scoring machine for the US national team. I remember watching
him in World Cups in the early was it nineteen
ninety Italy?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Is that the one it ed?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
That didn't go so well. I got a red card
in that deal. Ninety four was a little better. Yeah,
let's the team twice? Come on, Yeah, well I got three.
I got three.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
But the trip to France wasn't so great. It even
made a movie about it. Forget Paris. We're trying to
forget about.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It, all right, So let's fast forward. First of all,
USA Paraguay people are calling it the best half of
soccer US Soccer's ever played.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I was floored by it.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I thought it was an incredible performance. But I don't
know you have a trained eye. Let's hear your thoughts
on it.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Well, I mean, all of the speculation that this team
was possibly, you know, going to come out of the
gates sputtering a little bit or maybe not, and I'll
be hitting on all cylinders if you will. And all
the you know, the talk about Christian Polisic hasn't scored
it for his club on my podcast, I think guys
stayed true to that. I was like, look, relax, he's
(04:02):
gonna be fine once the game start. When he gets
back to America, he'll probably get back on back into
scoring ways. He looked really good. I mean really good.
I mean, you looked like Naymar good in that first half.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
So there it was.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Man, if you watch it, he had three nutmegs in
the first ten minutes. I already got his guy on
a yellow and could have his way with him. And
you know, I think the only reason why he came
out of the game was because it's precautionary.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
You're up three nil, no need to risk anything.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Then we saw in the second half how much we
miss him as far as his ability to just be
the lightning rod and take people on and make things happen.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But man, the first half was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Every position not just held their own, but it was terrific.
The only one who had a subpar performance might be
Sergino Desks.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
But outside of.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
That, yeah, man, he's got a there's a couple of plays.
To the trained eye, you're like, come on, man, like really,
but I think I think that. I don't think they're
I don't unforesee any changes to the lineup, just maybe a
change of the plan because Australia looked really good against
Cirkie and we got to.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Make sure we're ready for them. But all in all, man,
I was thrilled.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I was it was It was a it is the
best for you know, first half that we've ever had
collectively as a team.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I mean, the only thing that might come close is the.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
US beat Argentina and Copa America. But that's not that
was too nil against Argentina, that wasn't three. And and
then the then Raina tapping it off was was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
One of the.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Crazier stats I saw. Eric So the US was dominant
offensively and technically. Christian Polisic did not have one shot
on goal, right, Does that surprise you because he's supposed
to be the guy.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, man, they were overloading his side.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
They were actually uh doubling up I think it's it's
really a credit to him to recognize that in the
run of play, because if if they're going to be
marking him the way that they were, somebody's open and
you know he and then he became the assists guy.
The first goal you could really attribute to his play
to get in behind. Baligun's first goal was absolutely fantastic
(06:11):
from from Christian standpoint, So I'm not worried about, you know,
him getting the shots off. I'm you know, I would
be worried if he wasn't connecting or he wasn't getting
behind defenses.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
But I thought he looked spectacular.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I think Ballygun is amazing and it's even he really
is terrific. And the second goal is so far into
the world class level that we're thrilled to have that guy.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I'm just happy his parents couldn't get on the plane, right.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I mean, yes, she was pregnant, right, she got stuck
in New York.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
He was born here, so he's American. Yeah, God bless him.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's funny because just like three four months ago in March,
the US got smoked by Belgium five to two, played
a good first half and they got embarrassed that and
half and then they got blanked by Portugal and it
was like, oh, boys, but you Broachatino even gonna make
it to the World Cup. And I just wondered, in
your experiences, are the coaches tinkering a lot in the
friendlies and the World Cup run up and then totally
(07:05):
changing their game plan seeing what had worked and what
didn't and combining stuff almost look totally different even than
the two to one result against Paraguay from back in November.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Right, you got to understand you're going through that process.
Pettino was really thinning the herd.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
That's all. That was no pun intended.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I know that's the show over there, but that's what
we needed to do. We needed to figure out who
could play and who couldn't.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I mean, think about this.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Bulligan was here, he only played one half and then
he got on a plane and went home, and everybody said, oh,
what does that mean.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That means he's made the team, and.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
The other guys that got to stay and play essentially
played themselves off the team.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And that's what was happening, and it wasn't.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I think Pochatino has done a terrific job of piecing
this group together. But the other part of it, which
people really need to be more cognizant of, is when
you're going through that process and you're playing against teams
that you alter you're gonna play in a World Cup,
you don't want to show your hand.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
You don't.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
We want to keep your cards close to your chest.
You see little pieces, right, and then you say, all.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Right, that'll work. Let's let's stop doing that. We can
do that, so let's try something else.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
So all that tinkering that, you know, if you've got
to watch my podcast, Man, I'm so proud of myself.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Because I'm the only one that said, I'm not worried.
This is gonna be fine. My prediction for the first
game was three to one. Thank you for Wow, for.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Jail to get it right and take it to the
next level. We didn't count on that own goal that
that was a great start, but got that one right.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
But I still think that, you know, this is a
group that Poschattino, and.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
He has known what he was up to the whole time,
and it's really smart of him to not show everybody
what we're about. It's kind of an advantage for them
to be still trying to figure out, Okay, what was
that because that looked a little different.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So is it like an NFL team in the preseason
just trotting out, Hey, we're going to run this big
vanilla shit and then come NFL season, Yeah, we're covered
with the with the good plays, if you.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Will, trying to figure out I think throughout those those
warm up games, is all right, if somebody goes down,
how do I fix it?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Who can play together? Who can't?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And it became a juggling act.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
It was just certain guys get going in and out
and then a lot of frustration from the fan base
because they'd watched the game and they'd say.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Why did he do that? Why did he change it?
It was working, and.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
It's like he's trying to figure out plan B and
Plan C. And we've already had to kind of utilize
Plan B in the Paraguay game, which was brilliant. So look,
there's there's there's a lot to it. There's a lot
of moving pieces. The puzzle looks pretty good to me. Uh,
And I think if as long as they can stay
healthy and stay out of out of harm's way as
far as suspensions go, we're in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, all right, so let's spin it forward to the
Australia matchup. You already noted Australia. I mean, listen, they
were largely outplayed according to some of the advanced stats
the XG. But they get the win and that's really
all that matters.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Eric.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Honestly, I was watching them trying to hold down the
fort with like you know, basically eight guys in the box.
It felt like, for like twenty minutes, I are.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
They going to try that same strategy.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Do you think they adjust?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I think they adjust. I think they are in a
unique spot. They are not They weren't expected to win
that game. They already have three points in the bag.
They might come into our game with a very conservative approach,
but they still have some weapons up top. They have
some speed options. That really caused some problems for Turkey
because what happened was is Turky I was trying to
(10:38):
break him down, realized that there was a lot of
yellow Shirts in the way.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
At one point, man I took a snapshot of it.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
They had all ten field players in their own eighteen
yard bocks and it wasn't a set piece.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So they had really built.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
A wall in front of that goal and said, all right,
you know, somehow you're going to try and figure out
how to you have to go around us because we
got six foot five, six foot four or in the middle,
so crosses aren't going to work. And they just never
changed their plan. So Turkey eight thought that they were
more talented. They thought that they could just eventually do
a one to two in a phone booth and it
would all work out. Shananoulu's comments their captain before the
(11:15):
game were not helpful to say that we're far more
talented than these guys.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
You know, that's just not smart.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Because he doubled down too, he said, I still think
we're more talented. You lost the game, but those those
possession numbers were pretty telling because the truth is there
they were able to collectively defend. But in the moments
that they went forward, they instead of just having one
guy up top and then just hoping that it worked out,
(11:44):
it was a little bit it was a little bit
more advanced than that. It was a great recognition from
their midfield to when so when they would break, they
would break with three, not one, not two, but three,
and that's why they were able to ultimately break him
down great goal. Great goal, but it's one year old
kid who just ran past everybody. And then the second
one was just a great strike from about twenty five
(12:07):
yards out. They they're gonna play that way against us,
maybe even a little bit more conservative.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We need to. I don't want to let the cat
out of the bag. But the way you break that.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Down is you have to have deep runs that come
in behind the defense, have to be well timed. Very
similar to the play we saw yesterday with Kukearea for
Spain on a pass from rodri headed back in front
of the box. Get those six foot fivers running towards
their own goal, get a little nervous. I'm not saying
we're going to get another own goal, but we could.
But that's the only way to break them down. When
(12:37):
they're gonna do that, they are very They're a very
cohesive unit. They stick together, They're always checking shoulders. You
gotta go over them wide. You can't go down the middle.
You can't break that down. They're just too good.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I was seeing something that I think Weston McKinney had
the most runs of anyone on the US. That was
like kind of an unanticipated move by Poachattino who do
you think are some of the primary runners that we
would be going with.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well, I mean the way that we play.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
If we're going to go with Jedi Robinson who will
be in an advanced position, and Serginio Desk, who essentially
was way up high. I mean, I think Alex Freeman
is the best thing that ever happened to the national team.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
By the waycause he was excellent. This kid, he just
solves so many problems.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And if you're Timothy Weya or Serginio Desk, you're like,
thank you stay healthy because that allows me to play
in a far.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
More advanced position.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
But it will be I think Sergino Desk maybe even
the Timothy wa could be Polisic. I mean, if you
think about the way we scored against Iran in the
last World Cup, something similar to that. I mean, I'm
hoping that Politic doesn't get kicked in the balls again
and we have to worry about that.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
That was not cool. But it's a goal like that.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
That's that's how you have to beat a team that
decides to play that defensive setup.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Interesting, so you three to one? Have you made a
pick for USA Australia.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Zero the United States? Yes? Wow?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So that essentially puts US as the winner of the group.
This is for the group pretty much right right.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, I guess.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Could beat Paraguay and then US, but on gold differential,
we'll have it because we were up for one.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That's that's that's what I'm anticipating. I originally said before
the tournament started, bewin three to one, two nothing, and
one to one against Cerkey. I still think that that
those are pretty reasonable results, but I think that fourth
goal against Paraguay would be I thought that fourth goal
was going to be the difference. I still think the
(14:36):
United States needs to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I said to nothing. I do think it's going to
be a far tighter affair.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I know we exploded out of the gates with four,
but we'll be happy with one.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
One should get it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And again, I don't want to go looking too far ahead,
but that would put us at the top of the
group and kind of a favorable matchup. I've seen some
of these simulations that say Hey, we'll play the third
place team from Canada's group, which might be Canada or Bosnia.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I don't know at what point, Eric, do you think.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
People can kind of get excited.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Maybe it's already happened.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Is a cat out of a bag after the win
over Pairaguay?
Speaker 4 (15:21):
I think it is, actually, I mean, I think there's
a couple of things going on.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know, earlier this week or the week before the game.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
We you know that the ninety four guys were invited
by the Federation to go to Chicago to be a
part of that sendoff. I gotta tell you, man, that's
the first time the Federation has done anything like that
to allow the Old Guard to kind of feel connected
to this group of players, and it was fantastic. So
we got to be you know, to talk to him
(15:50):
and not just get him on the phone or get
him on our shows and interview them.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Like everybody else, but to really interact.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
With him and to coming out of that, I think
that there was a really cool vibe, you know, just
like it just felt so much more like a family.
And when you watch what happened in the last World
Cup and all the controversy and former coach this is
a very different mentality. This group has gone through a
(16:16):
lot of adversity and they're ready for this. I think
the biggest concern may have been, you're getting the big
game with with that kind of fanfare and you know,
an unbelievable national anthem. By the way, I mean national
anthem always gets me. It's got I mean I usually
cry like a baby when I'm playing. And it's harder
(16:37):
to watch these games is to play in them. I'll
tell you that, that's for sure. But one of the
things that I said to the boys was, you know, somebody,
one of the members of the media, say, would you
give these guys any advice? And I could sell that
a couple of them are listening, and I said, the
best advice that they can get is from our national anthem.
The last verse is home with the brave be that
be brave, be have courage, and the talent we'll we'll
(17:01):
come streaming through. So that's what happened. So to answer
your question, I'm already there. I've seen enough. I think
they can play with anybody. Australia just happens to be
in the way right now. Turkey is going to be
a test. We got to keep our composure because they're
going to try and get under our skin. But this
team is ready. This team is ready to get to
make a really powerful run in this tournament.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So one other thing one will last us. Before we
look at Macrosoft around the Cup. I'm looking at the roster.
There's two guys over thirty. You got Tim Reem at
thirty eight and then hold On at thirty one. He
doesn't really play. This is a young team.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I don't know if they're the youngest in the field,
but they certainly have to be given that, you know,
Freeman's twenty one. They got a lot of young dudes.
Are they almost this is not a knock? Are they
almost too young to know?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
No?
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, I mean think about it, man, There's thirteen guys
coming back out of the twenty six from the.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Last World Cup. Right.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
These are guys like Geo had a miserable trip, right,
Scali who had a miserable trip didn't even get on
the field. But if you go through the guys like
like Green, who obviously is say you know the old guards,
you know that kind of leadership is necessary. Jedis it
(18:14):
is second trip Christians in his second trip with Bulligan's
this is his first time with the guys. But but
Weston and and Adams, well, they've all kind of gotten
their feet wet, so to speak. Didn't have the best
of tournaments, but they they now know what it feels like.
They now what those nerves feel like, and they know
how to control adrenaline and.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
The adrenaline is off the hook man.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
When you play in your own country in a World Cup,
it takes your whole game to the next level. Now,
there could be a problem here, right if if you're
not ready for it, right, because there's two kinds of players,
in my opinion. You put your hand on your heart
and you are listening to that anthem and you're getting
you're getting ready to play. You can't wait to blow
the whistle and start playing. And there's other guys in
(19:00):
the past who were like, don't screw up, just don't
don't f up. Just whatever you do, don't make a mistake.
Can't play like that. And I don't see one guy
in our team who's thinking like.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
That or playing like that. He may have had that kind.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Of approach in the past, but all of these experiences
through their club, through the last World Cup are are
paying dividence, and guys like Freeman who's just stepped into
this team and seemingly, you know, unaffected by all of it.
I mean, I'll know whose dad is and and how that,
(19:33):
how that may be factors into this. Who have been
around it, you know, to been around what that likes,
what what that feels like? Big crowds and just pressure
and watching your dad go through I.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Mean stuff like that. You know, I mean that that
that stuff is.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
You know, Timothy Way's dad is one of the best
soccer players the world has ever seen. Now he's just
the president of Liberia, but he's he was yea King George,
he was. He was amazing in my day. So there's
it's kind of an e collected crowd. But this gang
of players many not only can they play, but they
have the right mentality and they have the right coach.
(20:10):
This guy has changed everything about the way that we
addressed the game.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It's a good point on way up because I just
looked this up. In the US win over Australia, I
guess twenty four to twenty five, Hagi Wright scored two goals.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
He played in the.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Last World Cup. I don't see how he gets on
the field at this one, and then Tim Waya was
a starter I think, and.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Played really well for the first goal. For the first goal,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, and now they got to take a back seat
to Balligan and a guy like Mark Tilman, who, by
the way, has been tremendous. This is a loaded team. Man,
I'm fired up. You got me excited. Let me quickly
look at the big picture. Eric, any early takeaways from
the first ten to twelve games. I did note that
some of the African teams, although Senegal right now is
down to nothing to France.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, no, that went quick, right.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I mean they had a couple of chances, but France
is showing us that.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Is that's what Spain was unable to do, right.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I mean, we're gonna get a good look at Argentina
a little bit later in the day. And obviously Norway's
is maybe a dark horse that that I don't know
if you can call him a dark horse, but every
single guy out there has like blonde hair and maybe
the white horse. But it's it's a tournament that's kind
of already shown you know that that certain teams maybe
(21:24):
aren't what we thought they would be. I mean, just
the name alone, isn't isn't going to get you to
the tournament. Belgium really struggled yesterday, So there's there's.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
A lot to it.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
I mean, this is what you do in a World
Cup as a player. You can't wait to play, and
you were consuming everything. You're watching for trends, You're watching
how referees act. After the first game, I think we
all thought there was this was going to be a
card fest because was three red cards in the frostol.
But but everybody took note of that. Watching the first
(21:54):
half of France Senegal, I mean a lot was let
go a lot. I mean that game actually had to
flow to it that, you know, if there wasn't the
guy wasn't blowing the whistle every five seconds every time
there was you know, half a tackle or somebody got touched.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
So players watch that and they watch for trends.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
They watched to see how other teams are playing, who's
having a good World Cup.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And at that point you you really have a real
good feel.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
For after especially after playing, once you get the first
game out of the way, you you've got a good
feel for for what the tournament feels like, what the
vibe is, what the rules are and how they're addressing
the rules and how you need to address each game.
And I think, I mean, we couldn't have We could
not have had a better start. It's really going to
come down to Friday and what kind of team we
(22:42):
put out there.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
It might be one or two changes, maybe, but.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Maybe just just because the matchups don't really look great,
especially in certain areas, and and we might.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Who would who do you think would possibly move to
the bench for a different starter?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Well, I would think that.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And this sounds crazy because but but Pochettino, I wouldn't
put it past him. Yeah, Okay, we played it basically
at three four three. I could see us playing it
at three five two. I could see us throwing one
more body up there. I really could. It's just a
it's a coordination thing.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Uh oh, but doesn't that what about don't mess with greatness?
You win for one, you look amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I think we'll start the same way, but we if
we are able to identify a weakness and we do
think that we can handle the speed in the back.
Reim's the one that's in question there, like that can
he run with these guys?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
He's positioning needs to be immaculate.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Because if if he if he gets caught off or
then he gets at a running race and he doesn't
have a protection, that could be a bad moment. But
I think, I think if we get the first goal,
Pochettino is a guy that's unafraid to go for the second.
There's so many teams we've seen all the time they
score a goal, they get ahead, and then they kind
of fall into this conserved let's just get through the
(24:01):
game and win the game won nothing. That could very
well be the case. But Boschatino is a different cat man.
He wants to go for it. He wants to actually
let these guys fly. And if you get in a
moment where you look up and you realize, man, if
we put two forwards up there, that is going to
be way too problematic for them, he might do it.
And that's that that kind of move would be, you know,
(24:24):
searching no desk, Timithy Way maybe just being a flat
out winger.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
That's going to get behind people and could cause some problems.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
And I do think that Pepe or even Haddie Wright
could get into this game.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
He had a great trip last time, two.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Goals against Australia, so it's got those good memories to
go along with the good form of the rest of
the group.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
One thing I hadn't anticipated we can wrap up on
this is the hydration breaks. So in the for instance,
and I don't have that.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Where were those hydration breaks in ninety four, man, I
really could have used that when it was one hundred
and eighteen degrees, I mean it passed the that way
crazy right.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Well, the thing I didn't anticipate, Eric, I don't know
if you noticed, but it can be a major stopper
of momentum. Yeah, and like literally a game changer. Because
this France Senegal game, it was nip and tuck. France
was starting to turn things around. The hydration break comes
in out of it. It's like boom, boom, google within
the next like fifteen minutes, and I'm like, oh, man,
so that's something I don't think we've seen before. So
(25:23):
I don't know what conclusions you can draw, but it
definitely can be a momentum killer.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Can it not a momentum killer?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
And also very very seldom is it a coaching opportunity.
We actually saw it against Australia pulled. He didn't talk
to anybody else. He just talked to the two forwards.
He said, look, we're.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Going to go for it. We're going to go over
the top. And they got a goal. They got a
goal out of it immediately.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
So you know, having that, you know, luxury of being
able to really talk to you guys about what you
see from the sidelines and maybe give them some instruction
that can make their their day a little easier. Saw
that with Australia. But the momentum thing is real. It's
just it's hard, man, It's like it happens a lot
in basketball, I think. I mean, it's the number one
(26:08):
thing that that you that you have that luxury tall man.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
That's it. They're killing us right now. Let's catch our breath.
Everybody sit down.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
You don't get that in soccer usually, and and you
don't get an standing eight count either.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You get punched in the face. He's coming right back
for more. I think. I think that's the other.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Part about our team. It's good plan, good coach. Really,
everybody's in really good form at the moment. But we
do have a ruthless nature to us that is that
is really likable. I mean, I really like that. I mean,
there was guys screaming to keep it. They didn't want
to get go for the fourth goal.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
But there was a why not moment there.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
If you watch Jio Reina trying to make up make
his way up the field, he gets into a shouting match,
almost a pushing match with one of the Paraguayan players,
Tyler Adams, who.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Was on a yellow which was in it.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
I'll advise, gets in the middle of that, and I
don't know, I just think I think that just pissed
Geo off and said I'm gonna go for it. I
don't care push some numbers into into a spot, even
they were unexpecting of that. They they're looking at the
clock saying there's seconds left, there's no way.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Wait a second, this guy's coming at us? Is this
guy for real?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
And and then obviously we know the rest. But I
like that ruthlessness about US. I really do. I think
that they they stick together. They they're they're a good group,
They're obviously talented. But if if everybody's sitting on all
cylinders again, uh, and there's a moment where it will
happen against Australia, let me just let me just enlighten
(27:42):
everybody here. Someone's going to hit somebody. Someone's going to
say something to somebody and it can't be. It can't
be Tyler. Tyler can't do it. So maybe Weston would
would be the guy to step in there.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
But the fact that.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
They know that already without even having to talk to
each other about it makes them a really good team.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
But I think something's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Somebody's gonna mouth off, and then this this probably maybe
right around that water break in the twenty third minute
or just after it. This this game will click into
high gear and then that's when we show our ruthless
nature and just take him out.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Awesome stuff. Eric guanalda US national team veteran, I mean,
impressive career. He's got a podcast now, I mean Eric,
he's everywhere. Man. Thanks a lot for taking the time, Eric,
Always anything for you, buddy,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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