March 26, 2025 • 7 mins
With Dave Johnson U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Bruce Murray says USMNT has to stop experimenting. With the World Cup on the way, a group and identity have to be defined. Plus, the adjustment D.C. United needs to make.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we go, Here we go. It's another episode of
First eleven Dave Johnson with Bruce Murray. Yes, we have
DC and I a Columbus trew coming up on Saturday.
Click local home radio if you're not going to the
game on Apple TV. Of course, we're on iHeartRadio, the
iHeart Radio app and iHeart Sports DC and Bruce Murray.
I don't think there have been enough opinions about the
US men's national team, so we need the weigh in.
(00:22):
And you, as a US Soccer Hall of Famer, you
as the one time all time leading scorer on the
US men's national team, we need to listen to you
listen to be eliminated by Panama, which has always been
for whatever is in a difficult side, just unacceptable. A
year from the World Cup, everyone is saying that what
is your takeaway?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm one hundred percent with him. Landon Donovan came out
with it with a great take and he said, you know,
I'm tired of the Golden Generation. And he said, you know,
these guys are at the big clubs because of the
people that came before them, and now the American players
cheap labor, so they work hard and all that stuff, so,
you know, for for for us to keep going back
(01:04):
to this great generation. I I watched Canada play and
I said to myself, man, that looked like the teams
I played for in the nineties, right, just willing to
you know, you know, lay it on, you know, leave
it on the field, right. You know, if I passed out,
you know, I got I died on the field, I'd
take it, you know. But that's what Canada plays like,
(01:25):
and that's how we used to be, and it's just
so disappointing. The other thing, Dave that bothers me is,
you know, we have this rotation of hundreds of players
it seems like coming in all the time, and there's
a new flavor of the month. Get rid of that
nonsense and stick to a group and give those guys
ten games together, do something. But you can't just go
(01:46):
around and around, and it's just not That is not
going to work. And right now the alarm bell should
be ringing because the United States has to figure out
a way to play that's going to be successful. I
watched the game yesterday. Sorry for the long day answer,
but I watched the game yesterday. I watched Israel play
Norway and I watched the Israeli team and the Norwegian
(02:07):
team taken on players for fun and if they lost it,
other guys would be there trying and recuperate the ball.
We are stale. We get a chance to run at
somebody with the ball and we're panicking and we give
it to the next guy. Stop passing the responsibility and
take on the responsibility. If you're not good enough, it'll
show right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And by the way, it's still a great generation of
talent and players, but that doesn't always equal to national
team's success. You can point to several other countries England, Belgium, Spain,
they talk about a golden generation. Often that is a
sure sign that they're going to underperform. That's not a
great moniker, it seems when you talk about a golden generation.
(02:48):
I think what you're getting at here is there's two
different things there. There's talent, and it's great that you're
having all these players all of these places at big clubs.
But we're talking about winning the World Cup and having
a national team, and so those are two separate issues.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, no, no question about it. Uh, the way we're
playing right now and we're gonna we're gonna struggle to
get out of of you know, the group. In fact,
it would have been tough for us to qualify it
unless we were you know, obviously we're hosting the World Cup.
There has to be an immediate fix, and it has
to you know, go back to the what what is
the United States best at? Right We're best at working
(03:27):
or we will work out work anybody. But I don't
see that with this group right now. And you know,
people can chrish now you're an old guy and used
to play on the team and all that nonsense. Here,
you guys, that's not true because when I played on
this team, there was guys that would work their socks off,
but there was also guys, uh you know that could play.
You know, you got your Cat Ramos, you had John Harks,
(03:49):
you had Eric Wanalda. You know, you always have players.
But if you watch Canada and you watch Panama, they
they are they're trying to win every single ball. And
it just seems to me that we're not that team.
And we've got to get a little bit of dog
in our game because right now, if we don't get
things fixed, we're going to be an early exit in
the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, is there time to fix it, and is the
key develop a core group and develop an identity.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, there is, there is time to fix it, but
it has to be a core group, and it has
to the experimentation has to stop. It's been going on
for the last six years. You know, I'm tired of it.
I know Landon Donovan was talking about the other day.
It's really easy to see. You cannot keep bringing players
in and that's going to be the new answer. That
(04:37):
doesn't work. You have to give these guys or a
semblance of the team that you want and shut the
shop off. Man. Okay, I heard this player is good
and he's playing over in Norway. Forget about it. We
need to go with the guys we got. We don't
have a whole lot of time.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Okay, let's switch to DC and I. DC and I
coming off a loss, to put it mildly, to Orlando
and I, it was just a bad night, and for
head coach Toyla saying.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't think that we were set up well enough
tonight to really be organized to prevent a lot of
the spaces that Orlando was able to find early in
the match. And I'll start there, you know, and that
man I take ownership of that. There's no doubt about that.
You know. I want the players to come back in
and be ready to fight and be ready to get
ready for Columbus next week. That's really what I care about,
(05:25):
because we have to have the type of self reflection
that's going to help us prepare for next week and
move past this, because honestly, there were some moments in
the game that I think we can build off of.
So it's not completely you know, it's not completely one
that we just move away from and say there wasn't
anything in it that we can show to continue to
(05:46):
build on. But in the end, Orlando City was much
better than us tonight.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You heard the College of troyl Is saying he was
talking about just not being ready in the right shape.
He did think there was some things to build off of,
but in general, just a bad night. So as you
try to transition to a tough opponent on Saturday, your
thoughts on how this team can be better prepared.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
One of the things that really jumped out at me
was our full back play, which is which is one
of our strengths, actually became our weakness the other night
because we got caught up the field and so we
have to find out a way when we're playing these
teams that can really hit you on the counter. I
mean the Orlando is the second best scoring team in
the league, and they also remind me of Inner Miami.
(06:31):
Once they win the ball and they go, they go,
they're like, they're like in one hundred miles an hour.
We've got to figure out a way to get another
player into the middle of the field to slow those
things down. And we didn't do that, and our full
backs got caught up the field when these counters went,
so it was really difficult.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So learning lesson or should our alarm bells be going off?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
No? No, I think it's a learning lesson because you know,
you know, you've got to see it before it happens,
so we'll know going forward if this happens. Wait, we've
got to count attacking team. Okay, let's do this. We
know what to do now. We got hammered that that
game back in Orlando. You guys, remember that game. This
is how we're going to do it. We'll say this though,
they've got four or five of the best attacking players
(07:13):
in the league, Dave, you know, in Muriel and Goulo
Paso Leach, I mean possibly scored a goal in Croatian.
You won't see a better goal this year. I mean
he cut Insigne on his left foot and just murdered
into the upper corner. Kim never had a chance. Kim
had a good game actually, because it wasn't for him,
it might have been a few more.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
All right. The thoughts of Bruce Mario, the national team
DC A not in again. We're with you on Saturday,
beginning at seven to fifteen. iHeartRadio, iHeart Sports DC and
sync with Apple TV. Thanks for spending some time with
us on first eleven,
Here we go, Here we go. It's another episode of
First eleven Dave Johnson with Bruce Murray. Yes, we have
DC and I a Columbus trew coming up on Saturday.
Click local home radio if you're not going to the
game on Apple TV. Of course, we're on iHeartRadio, the
iHeart Radio app and iHeart Sports DC and Bruce Murray.
I don't think there have been enough opinions about the
US men's national team, so we need the weigh in.
(00:22):
And you, as a US Soccer Hall of Famer, you
as the one time all time leading scorer on the
US men's national team, we need to listen to you
listen to be eliminated by Panama, which has always been
for whatever is in a difficult side, just unacceptable. A
year from the World Cup, everyone is saying that what
is your takeaway?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm one hundred percent with him. Landon Donovan came out
with it with a great take and he said, you know,
I'm tired of the Golden Generation. And he said, you know,
these guys are at the big clubs because of the
people that came before them, and now the American players
cheap labor, so they work hard and all that stuff, so,
you know, for for for us to keep going back
(01:04):
to this great generation. I I watched Canada play and
I said to myself, man, that looked like the teams
I played for in the nineties, right, just willing to
you know, you know, lay it on, you know, leave
it on the field, right. You know, if I passed out,
you know, I got I died on the field, I'd
take it, you know. But that's what Canada plays like,
(01:25):
and that's how we used to be, and it's just
so disappointing. The other thing, Dave that bothers me is,
you know, we have this rotation of hundreds of players
it seems like coming in all the time, and there's
a new flavor of the month. Get rid of that
nonsense and stick to a group and give those guys
ten games together, do something. But you can't just go
(01:46):
around and around, and it's just not That is not
going to work. And right now the alarm bell should
be ringing because the United States has to figure out
a way to play that's going to be successful. I
watched the game yesterday. Sorry for the long day answer,
but I watched the game yesterday. I watched Israel play
Norway and I watched the Israeli team and the Norwegian
(02:07):
team taken on players for fun and if they lost it,
other guys would be there trying and recuperate the ball.
We are stale. We get a chance to run at
somebody with the ball and we're panicking and we give
it to the next guy. Stop passing the responsibility and
take on the responsibility. If you're not good enough, it'll
show right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And by the way, it's still a great generation of
talent and players, but that doesn't always equal to national
team's success. You can point to several other countries England, Belgium, Spain,
they talk about a golden generation. Often that is a
sure sign that they're going to underperform. That's not a
great moniker, it seems when you talk about a golden generation.
(02:48):
I think what you're getting at here is there's two
different things there. There's talent, and it's great that you're
having all these players all of these places at big clubs.
But we're talking about winning the World Cup and having
a national team, and so those are two separate issues.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, no, no question about it. Uh, the way we're
playing right now and we're gonna we're gonna struggle to
get out of of you know, the group. In fact,
it would have been tough for us to qualify it
unless we were you know, obviously we're hosting the World Cup.
There has to be an immediate fix, and it has
to you know, go back to the what what is
the United States best at? Right We're best at working
(03:27):
or we will work out work anybody. But I don't
see that with this group right now. And you know,
people can chrish now you're an old guy and used
to play on the team and all that nonsense. Here,
you guys, that's not true because when I played on
this team, there was guys that would work their socks off,
but there was also guys, uh you know that could play.
You know, you got your Cat Ramos, you had John Harks,
(03:49):
you had Eric Wanalda. You know, you always have players.
But if you watch Canada and you watch Panama, they
they are they're trying to win every single ball. And
it just seems to me that we're not that team.
And we've got to get a little bit of dog
in our game because right now, if we don't get
things fixed, we're going to be an early exit in
the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Okay, is there time to fix it, and is the
key develop a core group and develop an identity.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, there is, there is time to fix it, but
it has to be a core group, and it has
to the experimentation has to stop. It's been going on
for the last six years. You know, I'm tired of it.
I know Landon Donovan was talking about the other day.
It's really easy to see. You cannot keep bringing players
in and that's going to be the new answer. That
(04:37):
doesn't work. You have to give these guys or a
semblance of the team that you want and shut the
shop off. Man. Okay, I heard this player is good
and he's playing over in Norway. Forget about it. We
need to go with the guys we got. We don't
have a whole lot of time.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Okay, let's switch to DC and I. DC and I
coming off a loss, to put it mildly, to Orlando
and I, it was just a bad night, and for
head coach Toyla saying.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I don't think that we were set up well enough
tonight to really be organized to prevent a lot of
the spaces that Orlando was able to find early in
the match. And I'll start there, you know, and that
man I take ownership of that. There's no doubt about that.
You know. I want the players to come back in
and be ready to fight and be ready to get
ready for Columbus next week. That's really what I care about,
(05:25):
because we have to have the type of self reflection
that's going to help us prepare for next week and
move past this, because honestly, there were some moments in
the game that I think we can build off of.
So it's not completely you know, it's not completely one
that we just move away from and say there wasn't
anything in it that we can show to continue to
(05:46):
build on. But in the end, Orlando City was much
better than us tonight.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
You heard the College of troyl Is saying he was
talking about just not being ready in the right shape.
He did think there was some things to build off of,
but in general, just a bad night. So as you
try to transition to a tough opponent on Saturday, your
thoughts on how this team can be better prepared.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
One of the things that really jumped out at me
was our full back play, which is which is one
of our strengths, actually became our weakness the other night
because we got caught up the field and so we
have to find out a way when we're playing these
teams that can really hit you on the counter. I
mean the Orlando is the second best scoring team in
the league, and they also remind me of Inner Miami.
(06:31):
Once they win the ball and they go, they go,
they're like, they're like in one hundred miles an hour.
We've got to figure out a way to get another
player into the middle of the field to slow those
things down. And we didn't do that, and our full
backs got caught up the field when these counters went,
so it was really difficult.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So learning lesson or should our alarm bells be going off?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
No? No, I think it's a learning lesson because you know,
you know, you've got to see it before it happens,
so we'll know going forward if this happens. Wait, we've
got to count attacking team. Okay, let's do this. We
know what to do now. We got hammered that that
game back in Orlando. You guys, remember that game. This
is how we're going to do it. We'll say this though,
they've got four or five of the best attacking players
(07:13):
in the league, Dave, you know, in Muriel and Goulo
Paso Leach, I mean possibly scored a goal in Croatian.
You won't see a better goal this year. I mean
he cut Insigne on his left foot and just murdered
into the upper corner. Kim never had a chance. Kim
had a good game actually, because it wasn't for him,
it might have been a few more.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
All right. The thoughts of Bruce Mario, the national team
DC A not in again. We're with you on Saturday,
beginning at seven to fifteen. iHeartRadio, iHeart Sports DC and
sync with Apple TV. Thanks for spending some time with
us on first eleven,
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