August 1, 2023 • 46 mins
Jon Jansen and Joe Tansey return to break down the significance of Leagues Cup, the Union's easy and familiar path to the final as well as the Andres Perea loan to NYCFC.Download & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Podcasts.
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(00:00):
Welcome into another episode of the UnionSoccer Podcast. You can find this wherever
you find your podcasts, Google PlayStore, Spotify, Apple, wherever you
find your podcasts, you can findit, and you can find the Union
Soccer Podcast. Co hosting with meis Joe Tanzy. Can follow at Jay
Tanzy ninety. He is the starof the show. You can check out
the Union Soccer Blog Union Soccer Blogdot stubstack dot com. And my name
(00:24):
is John Jansen. You can followme at Jay Jansen thirty four and leads
Cup. It's here, it's it'swe're in the middle of it. And
it's something, Joe. That's that'snot what I'll give you right now.
That's what I'll give you, andyou can riff on it. But it
is something. It's something. It'sboring. It's it's boring. It's boring,
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man, it is boring. Solook, I haven't even cared.
Look, I've kept up with theUnion matches. I've obviously like was keeping
my eye on them and seeing whatwas happening. But at the end of
the day, is not caring atall. No, I don't care.
And it's tough because it's like you'rewinning games and trophies matter. Like at
(01:10):
the end of the day, ifif the Union come away from from this
game with or from this Joe,you write, trophies matter, But I
guess what try and sell me onthis. This trophy matter, but that's
what this specific one. Trophies do? Supporter shield matter to me? I
love the supporter shield. That wasgreat. You know other things, you
know, Open's Cup, Champions League. I don't. It's it's all established
(01:32):
stuff that has their place in insomething league's cup. I don't know what
place it has and what what Ishould hold the trophy too, And I
don't think anybody's going to know thatfor a few years with the way they
they've tried this. And look,I think here's the I wrote about this
yesterday, and I think the reasonwhy it's so boring and unoriginal to us
(01:53):
is because look at the look atthe bracket. So they've regionalized this thing
West, Central, East and offand because of the way results went in
the other three the other three Eastgroups, the Union are playing DC United
on Thursday. They played the winnerof a Hudson River derby most likely Monday,
(02:15):
not officially confirmed, but that's thedate we're hearing that's if they beat
DC and then New England's in thatbracket, and then all on top of
that, it's Coreturo, who theyjust thumped at home in the League's Cup
group stage, and Atlas who theybeat in the Country Camp Champions League earlier
this year. The only team thatthey haven't played competitively in the last twelve
(02:38):
months or ever in this case isPumas and who knows if they're going to
come out of that part of thebracket, So that ends up just being
boring. The bracket is boring.So if you look at it the Union
since twenty twenty one, if theyif they end up playing the New York
winner, and potentially the one ofthe playing upwards of thirty games against those
(03:02):
four teams DC, both New Yorkteams in New England's is twenty twenty one.
Now, remember they regionalized the MLSschedule in twenty one, so that's
a little bit of a caveat toit, but you're still you were still
scheduled to play these teams twice eachin the MLS regular season, So like,
where's the originality with this competition?Because I've seen DC before, I've
(03:25):
seen both New York teams I've seen, the revs and even the Mexican teams
we've seen. Now. The flipside of that is the Union earned this
right because they were second place inthe supporter Shield and because of how this
draw worked out with the group stage, they were the highest seat of the
MLS team because LAFC went right intothe knockout round. So it's a it's
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a blessing and a curse, right, because the blessing is they're playing these,
at least on paper, easy matchups. But the curses, there's nothing
new to it. There's really nothingexciting. You know. It's not the
West Bracket where you have LAFC,Monterey, T Grace, Floth America play
Cincinnati or Nashville in the round ofsixteen, Like Monterey could play T Grace
(04:11):
in the round of sixteen. Thoseare championship level matches and I'm sure league
wide that's for the League's Cup excitementreally sticks. But at least in our
Philadelphia bubbles, Like how do youconvince somebody that a Thursday night game against
DC in another they don't know aboutexactly, and even casually it was even
(04:33):
hard to convince people, how LikeI feel like when I remember when the
Union won the Supporters Shield, wekind of had to talk it up a
little bit. I mean when wewere you know, the radio partners,
so the Union, We're like,hey, this is a big deal,
Like this is something that's that's great. Obviously MLS Cup that's the big one,
you know, that's the one that'seasy to sell, that's the championship.
But like even casual Union fans,it's like trying to make a big
(04:54):
deal of yes, this trophy matters. Now you're throwing in this crazy trophy,
this tournament out of nowhere, andyou're just saying, like a Thursday
randomly against DC United, and likewhere where's the Oh yeah, but it's
released cup. It's for this trophy, you know. It's it's just a
really it's a hard sell, man, It's a hard sell. Yeah.
I mean, look, I've it'sso hard to describe this to everyone because
(05:17):
it's like it's a different concept too, right, because you're coming out of
the regular season for an entire monthand you're expecting people to just jump on
this competition immediately and say, Okay, I'm going to generate excitement and and
I get where the excitement is there'sbeen some crazy matches, like the Unions
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he of Wanta game was insane,and there's been some other matches, you
know, in other parts of theUnited States that have been crazy, but
it's still a hard sell. Likeit's so hard to describe. I mean,
I was just sup with my inlaws for dinner and my brothers in
(06:00):
law's like, because we're talking aboutbetting a few of the games over the
last few days, and he's like, what exactly is League's Cup? And
it was just so hard for meto just be like, within like one
simple sentence describe it, like,well, it's it's the the MLS and
League MX teams all bundled together inone tournament. They stopped the regular season
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for it. But the Union areplaying a bunch of MLS teams in the
knockout round. So it's like,it's such an h It's a little bit
of a messy and complicated concept forus to enjoy. And then on the
outside is like, well, howmany outside people really give a damn about
League Cup? The only the onlynotable moment, Like also, there's a
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Women's World Cup going on too,which is does not help. It does
not help, but when you alsohave the leon on Messi and it's just
it's only about Messi and his momentand no one cares what Titian is.
I mean, like the night hemade his debut. Everybody's like always making
his MLS debut, well technically notreally, Like that's how little Leaks Cup
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is is known in our in ourlittle sports lucks kind of look, it's
it's it's a it's a good idea. But when you're looking at the knockout
bracket and and I'm saying this fromthe Union's perspective, mostly because the luck
of the draw just sucks like it'sd United than the two New York teams,
and it could be the revs thereare there are way more exciting matchups
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in other parts of the bracket laglike I said, getting t Grace against
Monterey, potentially getting LAFC a rematchagainst Leone, getting Club America against Cincinnati
or Nashville, and the round ofsixteen. Those are really exciting. But
then there's also by my account herethere's five all MLS matchups in the round
(08:01):
of thirty two. We got tofigure out a way for that to not
happen, Like that's my biggest issue. If you're gonna make this about MLS
for st League MX, you haveto make it truly that way. Have
a Legua MX teams take on MLSteams? How about that? And I
get it, Like the structure ofit isn't great. There's five all MLS
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matchups and there's one all Legua MXmatchup which just happens to be Pumas against
Kuara to Row and you can sideof the bracket. There's only one MLS
vers Legue next matchup in that entirequarter, which just blows in terms of
just like buzz and hype and whatever. But do we really need a round
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of thirty two? No? Theguy. I feel like that's where this
whole thing has gotten just way toocongest way too confusing, Like we're just
shoving matches for inventory on Apple TV, Like that's what it feels like.
And I don't know, it's hardfor me to generate all this buzz and
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tell you to be excited about theunion in League's Cup When what's the one
question we've all gotten since I don'tknow that the start of the competition,
When would they play messy? That'sall everyone cares about because it's new,
it's exciting, it's different, it'sa challenge. And by the way,
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that would happen in the semifinals ifif Miami gets through what they're calling the
South Region, which is going tobe interesting the navigate because they play Orlando.
Okay, you know they're a stepabove Atlanta, so we'll see how
he deals with an actual competent team. Then he's got to make the trip
to to FC Dallas. That's assumingDallas beats Maziblan and they're around the thirty
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two games. Then he's got tocome back home play potentially Pachuca would I
would assume it's the strongest team inthat bracket, and then travel up to
Chester, all in the span ofthirteen days. I mean, that's a
new challenge. When you're traveling acrossthe US. It's different when you're you're
going across Europe and playing you know, Champions League game midweek with Lego or
(10:16):
Varriga games on the other side ofthem. So that part is gonna be
fascinating because are they just gonna weareverybody into the ground and try and win
this trophy and the Open Cup andSitter's proof of success. They absolutely could
do that. But that's the questionI get is when would they play messy?
Not oh, when when's the nextLeague's Cup match. We're talking about
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three matches. There's still three matchesfrom the time the unions start on Thursday
this knockout round to the spot whenthey would play messy, and that that's
not even guaranteed, right, Soit's kind of just like, well,
the carrots being dangled in front ofus, but we don't even know if
it's going to be there because everybody'sjust assuming Miami. And this is a
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kind of a good segument. Miamiis the betting favorite to what League's Cup,
which is that's wild, insane,that's wild, Like it's it's almost
like the bookmakers have read social mediaand said and just every bad take about
MLS on social media, and thisis what they Well I think, yeah,
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I think it's more reflective on howbetters are going to bet it.
They're just gonna bet Miami no matterwhat, which is fair. But you're
not getting a ton of value atplus six hundred as you would yep.
But sports seat as sports book seat, as people don't care, you know,
value doesn't matter to them. Messidoes, and betting Messi matters more,
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which is crazy because now if you'rea Union fan and you think they're
gonna go all the way, they'replus twelve hundred and arguably the strongest team
in the bottom half of the bracketbecause you poke Holes and inter Miami.
I don't think Charlotte's that's strong like, and none of the you know,
the big three of Mexican teams,Monterey, t Grace and America are all
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on the other side of the bracket. They all play. They are gonna
have to play each other, whichcan be awesome for us to watch.
But that's another benefit of the Uniongetting the weak bracket if you want to
look at it in a positive regard. Yes, you're gonna have to play
DC for the the the thousand milliontime. It feels like, yes,
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you're gonna have to play the RedBulls or NYC again. There they have
to play again, which kind ofto me devalues the point of a rivalry
game. And then you know theRevs are hanging in there. No,
by the way, out of nowhere, Bruce Arena got put on administrative leave
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today, Like, what the hellis that all about? Yeah, I
saw that and so now maybe hereally is the most punchable facing MLS.
You know, dude, I don'tknow. That was just very random and
there's no information on it, Like, somebody tell me what happened, Like
at least what the DC suspensions.We knew Taxi founds us is a is
a certified granny, a hole anda not great person. Like at least
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we already knew that from last year. So it wasn't a surprise when his
name was attached that all time newsdump by DC the Knight of Messy.
That was kudos, DC. Thatwas an incredible Friday news dump. Great
job, great job just to buryit under uh Messy, which it ended
up giving them more attention because they'relike, oh, what's DC trying to
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sneak in here? Just don't beracist. It's not that hard, not
that hard, but some people failto grasp that concept that it's it's very
simple, just don't be don't beracist. I mean they have to,
like they have small rant, theyhave to have this announcement before each of
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these games. Because of that,the you know what chant like haven't haven't
we obviously we haven't, but likeit just feels so simple to just be
like, okay, well we'll justdo that. We just won't do that,
and we'll do everything else. Wecan say whatever, but just don't
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say the bad stuff. It justfeels like that concept we can't we can't
grasp, which is kind of sad, and we have to do that.
But yeah, it's just this,this part of the bracket just looks awful.
It does. It does like andlike if it was if it was
a different Mexican team, I thinkI'd at least have like intrigue with it.
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But the Union just beat Atlas.They just sold their their top striker
to America. So even the guywho we were told Kenyons as the big
threat to this for this Atlas team, he it is gone. We just
saw corrects Row they can beat them, which, by the way, I
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wasn't at the match on Sunday,but I would have loved to hear someone
in the thickest Philly accent say Coorettea Row. You wouldn't have gotten me
to say it, no the wayI can do that. But but then
think someone with like the biggest,thickest Philadelphia accent trying to sit and I'm
saying it completely right, but atleast I can. I can close enough,
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but I would have loved I couldhave definitely said God's Dad, God's
Dad, God's Dag. I couldhave done that. Yeah, everybody's like,
that's my favorite thing. It's likeMESSI scores a couple of goals and
like does well against the worst defensein MLS, and you know, Daniel
Gysdag against this team in League MXhas a has a hat trick and MESSI
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only had a brace and he's like, well, Messi's gonna destroy MLS.
It's like, okay, yeah,I mean we know he's quality and good,
but like, yeah, stuff stuffhappens in MLS, like the Union
have guys that sport hat tricks likes. It also has to be ported out
in for fairness sake here, likewhen the Union scored seven goals against everybody
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last year, what was everybody sayingto that. I know they were,
they were getting more attention, butI would have to say that Daniel Gozdag
did score gets two of the weakerMexican teams, like just just for fairness
sake, Just for fairness sake,and what he did so the weakest team
MX, the weakest defense in MLSright, I'm just all sounds fair Yeah,
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it sounds like fair ground to me. But I did have fun though,
Like I can't not like I hadso much fun with that. I
do. Oh my god, Ihad so much fun with it. Here's
here's my things. It's awesome.I'm never I'm not gonna say it's not.
But it is kind of funny thatlike national pundits whatever you want to
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call them, are just like ina way like carrying water for the league
and for Messy and are like,this is the greatest thing that's ever happened,
blah blah blah blah blah, andlook at it may end up being
that stepping point for American soccer,but when you and maybe I have a
different view of it because of wherewe are in Philadelphia. But MESSI no
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doubt, is going to make animpact on MLS. I'm not arguing that
point, but to say he's goingto be this transcendent figure and of all
of America, and MLS is goingto care about his every move. Maybe,
But like when MLS is on AppleTV and you're given the option to
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your traditional say for the people you'retrying to convert into soccer fans. They
are not willingly going to go toApple TV and say I'm going to watch
Messi for ninety minutes. They're justnot. Now. Maybe if if it
was the Champions League and it wason like Big CBS and middle of the
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afternoon, they're more inclined to becauseit's he's in a different window. But
when it's up against it at thePhillies or any type of Major League Baseball
or maybe you know, when weget into the fall the football, the
national conversation is going to shift inthose sports directions. That's how it works.
Messi's still gonna get on Sports Center, He's still gonna trend on Twitter,
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and people are still gonna have theirreally awful takes about how bad MLS
is and how he's making everyone inMLS like a fool. But it's not
going to resonate in the Northeast asmuch as it will, say in the
South or in Miami, or whetherit's more of a soccer culture, more
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of a Hispanic dominated culture where socceris everything and where Messi is a god
like, it's it's different because ofdifferent parts of the States. Bessie is
still amazing. He's gonna do greatthings for MLS, but he's not gonna
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all of a sudden change every person, every person's opinion on MLS and make
them watch every single MLS game.As long as everybody's okay with that and
understands like, okay, that's justthe place in the world where MLS is,
then it's great. But I thinkit's a little sometimes hyperbole or its
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people like over maybe exaggerate a littlemore of like what he's going to do,
and maybe I'm downplaying it. MaybeI'm kind of poo pooing it maybe
a little too much, or maybeit's kind of like in the middle thing.
But knowing from what I've seen andexperienced here, yes, if you
were to come to Chester Stadium selvesout, but after that, you're not
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gonna you know, people are gonnashow up for one game and they're not
automatically gonna go sign up for MLSseason past. They might, but it's
it's totally it's not guaranteed, sothere will be an uptick. I get
that from the hardcore soccer fans.I just don't think the the four for
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four, the people you're trying toreally draw into MLS and and make them
fans of not only MLS but thesupport of soccer. I don't think they're
going to be drawn in at leastin this area as much as people may
think. And that's not a badthing. That's like the reality. And
and I've learned throughout this, youknow, being on the on the union
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beat for a while, is youdon't have to to shove soccer in people's
faces anymore. Like people are Andmaybe this is change because the Union have
actually won and people are more aremore and more willing to check out something
that's like, hey, what's thatnoise over there? Right? You know
what's happening? And because every timeevery time I talk about the Union,
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I'm out, they're like, ohI would love to go to a game
the environment, Yeah, certainly therewas a lot. I even hear that
too, like there's there's an interest, like there's an intrigue of like,
oh I keep hearing about that thingin the distance and not interested. You
know what it's what it's saying,what I can see. I'm interested when
I want to be interested in,which is fair exactly Like I think I've
stopped a long time ago thinking thatlike, oh well, the Inquirer should
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have like two columns down here inthe summer and making sure they cover it
like it's a big deal. It'sjust not going to happen, and stuff
like that, where radio stations justaren't going to care. That's okay.
But what we've created so much inespecially in the last five years with the
union of success they've had, Ithink that speaks to just how many soccer
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fans there are in Philadelphia, howmany passionate fans there are here, and
how many like even if the topmedia outlets aren't going to pay attention to
you on on a consistent basis andand talk about you, say, like
in other markets, you still haveyour group, You still have everyone around
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you to to have those conversations aboutthe union, and you don't have to
be like, well, the Unionare good, Please talk about them.
Messi's here, Please talk like whyaren't you talking about and like kind of
talk down like people people like whatthey like. And I think I've learned
that a lot more. I'm sureif you go back and there are probably
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tweets from years ago about me beinglike kind of being like a snippy and
be like, hey, why don'tyou pay more attention to this. I've
my stances kind of changed on thatas I've kind of experienced at all,
where if people don't care about MESSIcoming to MLS, they're not going to
care and it is what it is. Yeah, that's a good way to
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look at it, Like we wantthis messy thing to obviously boost MLS and
all that, but you know,the people that are in what messis cores
a goal saying oh, look,MLS is just gonna be you know,
stopping rounds from messy and MLS stayingsomething cut badness. There's people are never
gonna watch it anyway. There wasno give you I'll give you a perfect
example outside of Yeah, because theRex and dialogue has gotten really toxic,
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and at first I was like,oh, this is like so I personally
have not watched the Welcome to Rexand I also have watched Ted last I'm
not going to, but I'm notdoing it as a choice. I just
like, if you want, like, I watched a ton of baseball.
I'm a Braves fan. We're reallygood, so I do watch a lot
of Okay, well we don't needto talk about that. I can tell
her watching one hundred and sixty twogames season but also like if I'm watching
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something like you should see that theNetflix cue we're watching, like is it
cake or like the Great British Bakeor like something mindless, like we don't
when when me and my wife watchedstuff, we watched something that we don't
think like it's just all it's reallyall just like cooking competition ships. We're
being totally honest. So it's notlike I'm purposely going out of my way
(24:03):
to say I'm not watching Rexham,I'm not watching ted Lasso. It's more
of just like I don't want tothink, and when I do, I'm
watching like a series every I don'tknow, once every few months. But
the Rexham thing is is interesting becauseout of the clouds, the guy from
World Soccer Talk was like trying tolike poo poo mls and it's like,
(24:29):
I guess it was close to whata close to a sellout. I don't
have the exact numbers on the fromthe against Union two, which unfortunately,
you know, the weather kind ofplayed a role in that as well,
but he was like, oh,this is more than most regular Union regular
season games over the past few years, and everybody rightfully so dunked on him,
like it doesn't have to be well, Rexham won this game. It's
(24:56):
an indictment on analysts by the waythey drew with Philadelphia Union too, Is
that an indictment on Wrexham. Ididn't see anybody like Union two draws.
It's all here. Yeah, Soit's like it's like it's our Union two
games on at super Park. Thenarrative and the hate is only there when
(25:18):
it's a convenient for everybody. Uhso to put a bow because we're talking
about League's Cup sort of, butit put a bow up. Come on
to revisit that amazing athletic article afew minutes ago the League's Cup. To
me, I don't know how youfeel about like the placing of League's Cup,
(25:42):
but I know for me watching theUnion, you know, finally it
was all league play. It wassuch a focus on league play after the
opening Cup, after the Champions Leaguethat I was very excited, like,
hey, a lot of league playedtime, like really getting into the season.
Dude. We were every single weektalking about standings movement Eastern that one
(26:03):
game day we did the Twitter spacesand we're talking about, you know,
what could the Union do here?You know, as they're all these Eastern
Conference teams at the top are playingeach other. You know, there's there
could be so much movement, andit was great and now all of a
sudden, it just feels like asudden halt on the season. And now
we got to wait till August twentiethfor the talk about the next Union game
in MLS. Like it's it's sucha it was such a bad time to
(26:27):
do it. Oh, I guessyou know, this feels like such a
bad time to do it in theMLS season. I don't know how they
can change it. They're probably gonnakeep it this way, but I don't
know about u jah. It's justto me that was that was such a
sudden halt that really kind of tookthe wind out of the sales of the
leagues. So I'll be honest withyou, and this is a Union kind
(26:48):
of take because of the uniqueness ofthe season. It just feels like the
fatigue of games, right, theyjust play game thirty two a normal there's
MLS regular season is what thirty fourgames? Yeah, and it was funny
because yeah, the Union especially,Yeah, it feels like the longest FFing
season they've ever at least LAFC gotthat break because they won MLS Cup.
(27:15):
They got the break into the roundof thirty two, so they had the
time to refresh. But for thisteam, it's just been like and there's
a reason why Jim Curtin smartly didthis. He sent them on vacation.
I don't know if you had noticed, like players Instagram stories, but like
the second if he quartero, They'relike, okay, weekend off. Everybody
could relax, spend time with theirfamilies. We're not gonna like, we
(27:38):
don't have to hop a plane toMinnesota in two days. And the good
news for the Union is all theirgames are home throughout the seventh final and
then if if LAFC loses any point, which is likely, the Union would
host the final if they make it, which then I think they have to
reschedule the FC Dallas game because thefinals in the ninth sEH in Dallas games
(28:00):
on the twentieth I think, bysimple logic, that would have to be
erased across that bridge, and wehave to get to it. But this
is it's fatigue, It really is. I think that's a better way to
put it. Yeah, I don'tknow, I just felt it finally felt
like, hey, we're in arhythm now with MLS. There were so
many games of the third of theUnion that like, we're throwing more games
(28:21):
on top of this, the seasonfeels like it's going to be even longer.
Yeah, it's it's to me fatigue. And just like I felt like
there was finally a rhythm to theseason and now there's not. Now that
it's just it's the whole thing's completelythrown off again. It's something completely different
that you have to have a differentmindset for. It's all knockout play.
It's it's a completely different change inmindset. And I think also so I'll
(28:48):
use the inner Miami example too inthis in this one too, because I
think it's important for a team likeMiami, who doesn't have a storied history,
for them to have a chance withthis messy arrival, to win not
only League's Cup, but also towin to win the Open Cup. Trophies
(29:11):
matter. So for them to havethat chance right away, of course they're
gonna have more excitement for and ofcourse they're gonna throw everything towards it because
this means something they haven't had achance to play in a competition like this
again or against any foreign opposition,whereas the Union they've done twice in three
years now, so it makes itit's almost like a we've been there,
(29:36):
done that type thing, so theexcitement is a little less. Also,
it just happened in earlier in theseason with Champions Leagues, so like I
think, from different perspectives, it'sit really changes on what your league's cup
buzz is. Like. If yourteam likes say the Houston Dynamo, you
(29:57):
get to play Mexican teams, Youget more teams, sorry, more fans
in the stands, you have achance to win something meaningful when you haven't
been good for the last few years, like the Chicago Fire gets play Club
America. As much as they maynot be able to win that game,
that's still something tangible you can cango after, you know, and you
(30:18):
can go across with some of theseteams that haven't been asfortunate as a Union
to reach the copycat Champions League.But I think that that's a real thing
where champions just fatigue of games.But then also like if the Union hadn't
been in Champions League the last oreven this year, maybe it's a different
approach because oh we get to goand test ourselves against the best the best,
(30:42):
and the Union have already done thatin two of the last three years,
so I think that part of thathas to play with him as well,
and I get it. And it'shard to also strum of excitement for
a Thursday night match and then mostlikely on Monday night match where those don't
happen usually either. So it's it'shard, man, it really is.
(31:07):
Maybe if they had something like theLFC bracket where Leone and Monterey and Anti
Grace are there, like, it'sdifferent because those are the some of the
titans of the region and maybe that'swhy the League Cup as a whole gets
more We'll get more buzzed. ButI mean here, like it's it's four
in molest teams battling for one spotin the quarters. We've seen that so
(31:30):
many times, like I said itwould be by the end of the season,
the upwards of thirty games against DC, both the teas in New England.
Okay, that's even I even havefatigue talking about this, right right,
So a Joe, I'm even gonnaskip the League's Cup game coming up
Thursday. I don't feel like talkingabout that. We're too far away from
even talking about like league play becausethe Union don't get started until Sunday,
(31:53):
August twentieth, So instead I'll justask you, obviously, some moves may
in the transfer market Prey up goingto NYCFC. Look, I know,
he seems to be a favorite forUnion fans, and I that kind of
stunned me when he got sent toNYCFC and there was a lot of Union
(32:14):
fans on Twitter that were like,oh, I'm gonna miss up and like
all this stuff, and well hewas doing nothing so right, so I
think I think, I mean,good for him, because he's probably gonna
get some playing time in New York. He wasn't getting it here, right.
I think with that, it's thatone's a fascinating case because because because
(32:37):
he came in with this price tagwith you know, he's young. It's
it's a promising move within MLS thatthey made. Uh, And you're thinking,
Okay, the Union are are doingsomething progressive in the transfer market.
Everything seems to be going in theright direction, and then he just he
just doesn't play. And then everybody'sever why he plays play, you know,
(33:00):
looking looking into it for like thesereasons. Oh my God, why
is he not not playing? It'svery simple. Why he's not playing like
his his defensive qualities are not upto the standard of the Philadelphia Union.
That's what it is. There's noreal kind of secrets about it. If
(33:21):
you were to ask, maybe maybemore off the record than than on.
But Jim Curtain has hinted at itat points in the season during press conferences
that he needs to improve his defensiveability to do and he he just didn't.
And it also coincides with the developmentof of Asus Boy Now, which
(33:43):
came out of nowhere. Everyone is, i think, kind of still stunned
that he has made such an incrementaljump in his his play, which is
awesome. I mean, that's that'swhat you want. You know. Jim
has been asked about fifteen but Jillin times feel like he gets asked like
the same five questions and like inlike a two weeks span about like rotation
(34:07):
and development. And so we've heardthis answer so much about Buayno and and
maybe Jim's not given like as muchinto it, but he's been He's basically
said, Bueno came in preseason,worked his tail off incredibly fit, and
it's just taken the leap from there, has been patient with the play of
(34:29):
the playing time now is getting morerewarded for it. And it does leave
Paray on the outside looking in.So I don't think you have to look
into any like all tier your motivesor anything like that. I think it's
just straight up his defensive qualities werenot up to snuff, up to snuff
with the Union standard, and hefound his way further down the depth chart.
(34:51):
Whether you want to agree with thator not, I mean, that's
up to you. But that's that'sthe reason. It's not you know,
it's not anything that's pretty simple.Yeah, Like it is very simple.
So if you're the Union, youlook at that and say, okay,
well we got it's three hundred kback in allocation money. And I love
(35:12):
also how even the smallest of movesturned into like, well, Ernest is
playing like four dimensional chests and tryingto do something further down the line.
I think in this case, they'rejust trying to like, Okay, well,
we spent so much allocation money tryingto get him from Orlando that they're
recouping some of their losses. Alsogiving a player a chance to play more
(35:36):
and then say, look, twentytwenty four preseason, you can either come
back here and compete or because ofyour loan spell at NYCFC game more interest
throughout the league, and and maybethey sell them and trade him, which
is basically selling him to use aworld soccer term, that's very possibly.
(36:00):
If that's that's that's it. Imean, there's no other reason out there.
I know some people were looking forthe reasons. It's not. It's
just defensive qualities just weren't there orup to the Union standards, and that's
why he's not on the roster forthe rest of the season. Just it
yep, pretty simple. But theUnion got their next twenty five to thirty
(36:23):
goals per season score right unofficially,unofficially, that's right, officially unofficially.
Sorry, we're not supposed to saythat on the record or ask Jim Kurt
any of these questions yet. Sorry, unofficially, unofficially, there twenty five
to thirty goal proceed So this isthis is going to be interesting. So
ty Barrebo, it's real. Thegreatest thing the Union ever gotten is like,
(36:46):
this is the greatest move they've everdone. Tell me now, Joe,
I need answers. Now, whois this guy? I'm still trying
to figure out what's it really is? Like i'ms ten when the MLB trade
deadline happens and you see a bunchof names that go buy of minor league
players and prospects, and you justgo, sure that that guy's vibe seems
(37:10):
good. I like this, that'llwork. He's the son of a former
big leaguer. He's got to begood, right, exactly, like stuff
like that. Or he's like he'slike Baseball America's number like two prospects exactly,
but like their number two prospects inthe organization could be like the two
hundred best prospect in baseball. Butyou just never know that the truth.
(37:32):
Hate that the truth. Look,it fits the profile. All joking aside
of a nurse standard signing, whichis why I think, which is why
I think we're all excited about it, right because absolutely he's twenty five,
he's broken in with the really nationalteam, double digit goals at Volksburger in
Austria, uh, two seasons ina row, a league that Prince has
(37:55):
plenty of experience with from his I'min Europe, so all of those things.
If you put anything you know aboutEnter Tanner and his scouting with the
with the Philadelphia Union. You know, this seems like a pretty successful move
because this has done something like thisin the past, and he profiles similarly
(38:17):
to mckelula at the stage in hiscareer when he came over double digitals.
Two straight years of brunby some Europeanexperience, some national experience is a long
term answer at the striker position.I will say, yeah, it would
better it was. Production has droppedoff this season. I think that's a
you know, it's a concern toan extent because Grasdag and Corons are still
(38:43):
playing incredibly well. But yes,you would like with the score more consistently.
But I think this one is andI am the future type thing if
you're the Union, So I wouldassume gets it gets announced, probably lead
tomorrow, maybe Thursday, like Iwould assume next forty eight hours. I
don't know. But he did posta farewell on his Instagram to Volfsburger and
(39:07):
their fans, so that's a prettydecent clue that the medicals went well.
Just the Union have to submit allthe paperwork and get officially announced. And
also I think this is important toremember the team was off after Wednesday's game,
so everything could be done and signedby say, yeah, Wednesday or
(39:30):
Thursday of last week, but themajority of the team had off up until
Monday. They just give the teama break. So then that just doesn't
mean the first team players, thatmeans some of the backroom staff as well.
So the preparation for assigning everything goesin behind it, behind the scenes.
The social media stuff, the welcomeinterview, welcome photos, all that
(39:52):
kind of stuff could be happening thisweek and that's why it's it's a way
an official announcement. There's not goingto do with the union running into any
any shortcomings in the deal process.I think it just has to do with
with that. It's been a reallybusy season for them, so yeah,
(40:12):
it's interesting. I think it projectslong term with Julian Corons and potentially leaving
in the in the off season.I don't think he's on his way out
in the summer. If you would, I would think a team already would
have already come in for him,given the nature of where we're at with
the European pre seasons. But yeah, this feels like an insurance auction for
(40:35):
twenty twenty three. But as he'sacclimating to the league, as he's acclimate,
we know that can take a while, right, So you'd rather get
this signing done now if he's ifif him and UH are going to be
your your striker Tandon in twenty twentyfour, better to get him in now
and acclimate instead of waiting until JanuaryFebruary. And who knows he would have
(40:59):
I think he's was at the endof his contract too, so who knows
if he if he has a goodseason in Austria, maybe he's not available
for the other teams. Let meget excited about this guy, Joe unofficially,
let me get excited about this guy. Sorry, I gotta keep remembering
that. So overall good, goodsigning, Like it seems all things like
(41:23):
earth signing, you know, nothingearth shattering, but makes a lot of
sense. Could you know, workout well? But it's not like it
hurts them bringing this guy in itat all, No, absolutely not anything.
It's it makes it potentially better exactly, So all things good to go.
I guess we'll end it there.We don't do I mean, do
(41:45):
you want to break down Union's gameagainst DC United this week? Do you
care. I mean, I care. I'm gonna be there. But it's
nothing new, you know. Imean, you know the scoutter group on
DC at this point, and ifif the matchup is is ben Tech gave
(42:07):
versus the two center backs. Theydid lose Louisa Brian back on his loan
ended, so I think they're stilltrying to replace him or have and just
recently did that. But other thanthat, I mean, it's just I
don't know it. It's it's DCUnited. It's not like they've drastically changed
(42:27):
in the last two months since wesaw them last. And that's what makes
it a little bit hard to drumup all the excitement for is well,
they were just here in the Unionbeat him. No, that was a
draw, actually, I believe.But the Union beat them a lot and
badly recently. I think they haveit unbeaten run against the majority of these
teams in the East. I knowMC. It's five games, so yeah,
(42:51):
it's it's expected that they win.I will, I will say that
for sure. They better win.It's DC United. They stink. They
stink, Joe, I don't I'llgive them. I'm not gonna like,
Okay, fine, they don't stink. They're just bad. Wait, this
(43:15):
is a very League's Cup podcast.By the way, this felt like a
Leaku's Cup Break podcast. I don'tknow. I don't know how I put
that, like, how how Ican put that more into description? But
we just recorded a Least Cup podcast. That's what it felt like. Well
we can. I just thought ofthe title on on on the top of
(43:36):
my head, So I can eithersave that for you to see later or
I cannot wait, I can.I can tell you now it sounds like
you want to suspense is kill yourself. Yeah, the suspense is going to
kill me. But everyone who didlisten, thanks for listening. I hope
you are enjoying the Leaks Cup Break, and I hope you're enjoying League Cup
better than we are. I hopeso you're probably not, so thanks for
(44:00):
tuning into something more interesting in theUnion Soccer podcast. Thanks for turning into
tuning into Statler and waldor talk theLeaks. You can follow Joe at jay
Tanzi ninety on Twitter. You canalso check out the blog Union Soccer Blog
dot sustack dot com. My nameis John Janson. Follow me at Jeeke
Jans at thirty four. Check outthe podcast anywhere you can find your podcast.
(44:21):
I'm tired of saying where you canfind your podcast because you probably already
know where you can find him.Joe, what do we got coming up
on the blog? Uh, well, we'll save the big one until that's
confirmed, but there is plenty ofstuff coming down the pipe on top of
normal breakdowns and stuff like that.We'll be down in Chester tomorrow doing all
the pre match fun stuff with JimCurtin and a few players, and maybe
(44:46):
something with Hus Bueno, and maybemaybe there'll be a conversation with Ernst Tanner,
hopefully in the the next week ortwo, where we do our little
what do we call the midyear checkin with the the Union supporting director in
the year, where are we at? I don't know. Leaks Cup is
throwing everything. Definitely definitely past midyear. I do know that what do
(45:09):
we call this, because like wewould call this post all Star break in
Major League Baseball terms, but thenhere comes Leaks cover every post Leaks Cup
break? Is that what we callthat part of the season? Did I
just break your brain? Look?I think I've been up since six am
doing women's book Cup stuff. Ithink you just put my brain into a
(45:32):
fretzel. Uh and it's not gonnaget untied, So thank you. Yeah,
I can't wait for the Union postPost Leagues Cup part of the season
for the Union. I can't waitfor the Post League's Cup three pre playoffs
push three games set of the season. But it's still post All Star Break
(45:53):
part of the season. And it'sdefinitely but it's definitely past halfway halfway was
lea June. It's it's a longseason. We told you it was gonna
be long season. No one,no one, no one said it wasn't
going to be a long season.And you can very much tell we are.
You could tell we've covered thirty twogames already this season. All right,
(46:15):
Well, that is it for theUnions Soccer Pod again. Chickisawur if
you find your podcast, we'll beback next time right here on the Union
Soccer Podcast.
Welcome into another episode of the UnionSoccer Podcast. You can find this wherever
you find your podcasts, Google PlayStore, Spotify, Apple, wherever you
find your podcasts, you can findit, and you can find the Union
Soccer Podcast. Co hosting with meis Joe Tanzy. Can follow at Jay
Tanzy ninety. He is the starof the show. You can check out
the Union Soccer Blog Union Soccer Blogdot stubstack dot com. And my name
(00:24):
is John Jansen. You can followme at Jay Jansen thirty four and leads
Cup. It's here, it's it'swe're in the middle of it. And
it's something, Joe. That's that'snot what I'll give you right now.
That's what I'll give you, andyou can riff on it. But it
is something. It's something. It'sboring. It's it's boring. It's boring,
(00:49):
man, it is boring. Solook, I haven't even cared.
Look, I've kept up with theUnion matches. I've obviously like was keeping
my eye on them and seeing whatwas happening. But at the end of
the day, is not caring atall. No, I don't care.
And it's tough because it's like you'rewinning games and trophies matter. Like at
(01:10):
the end of the day, ifif the Union come away from from this
game with or from this Joe,you write, trophies matter, But I
guess what try and sell me onthis. This trophy matter, but that's
what this specific one. Trophies do? Supporter shield matter to me? I
love the supporter shield. That wasgreat. You know other things, you
know, Open's Cup, Champions League. I don't. It's it's all established
(01:32):
stuff that has their place in insomething league's cup. I don't know what
place it has and what what Ishould hold the trophy too, And I
don't think anybody's going to know thatfor a few years with the way they
they've tried this. And look,I think here's the I wrote about this
yesterday, and I think the reasonwhy it's so boring and unoriginal to us
(01:53):
is because look at the look atthe bracket. So they've regionalized this thing
West, Central, East and offand because of the way results went in
the other three the other three Eastgroups, the Union are playing DC United
on Thursday. They played the winnerof a Hudson River derby most likely Monday,
(02:15):
not officially confirmed, but that's thedate we're hearing that's if they beat
DC and then New England's in thatbracket, and then all on top of
that, it's Coreturo, who theyjust thumped at home in the League's Cup
group stage, and Atlas who theybeat in the Country Camp Champions League earlier
this year. The only team thatthey haven't played competitively in the last twelve
(02:38):
months or ever in this case isPumas and who knows if they're going to
come out of that part of thebracket, So that ends up just being
boring. The bracket is boring.So if you look at it the Union
since twenty twenty one, if theyif they end up playing the New York
winner, and potentially the one ofthe playing upwards of thirty games against those
(03:02):
four teams DC, both New Yorkteams in New England's is twenty twenty one.
Now, remember they regionalized the MLSschedule in twenty one, so that's
a little bit of a caveat toit, but you're still you were still
scheduled to play these teams twice eachin the MLS regular season, So like,
where's the originality with this competition?Because I've seen DC before, I've
(03:25):
seen both New York teams I've seen, the revs and even the Mexican teams
we've seen. Now. The flipside of that is the Union earned this
right because they were second place inthe supporter Shield and because of how this
draw worked out with the group stage, they were the highest seat of the
MLS team because LAFC went right intothe knockout round. So it's a it's
(03:47):
a blessing and a curse, right, because the blessing is they're playing these,
at least on paper, easy matchups. But the curses, there's nothing
new to it. There's really nothingexciting. You know. It's not the
West Bracket where you have LAFC,Monterey, T Grace, Floth America play
Cincinnati or Nashville in the round ofsixteen, Like Monterey could play T Grace
(04:11):
in the round of sixteen. Thoseare championship level matches and I'm sure league
wide that's for the League's Cup excitementreally sticks. But at least in our
Philadelphia bubbles, Like how do youconvince somebody that a Thursday night game against
DC in another they don't know aboutexactly, and even casually it was even
(04:33):
hard to convince people, how LikeI feel like when I remember when the
Union won the Supporters Shield, wekind of had to talk it up a
little bit. I mean when wewere you know, the radio partners,
so the Union, We're like,hey, this is a big deal,
Like this is something that's that's great. Obviously MLS Cup that's the big one,
you know, that's the one that'seasy to sell, that's the championship.
But like even casual Union fans,it's like trying to make a big
(04:54):
deal of yes, this trophy matters. Now you're throwing in this crazy trophy,
this tournament out of nowhere, andyou're just saying, like a Thursday
randomly against DC United, and likewhere where's the Oh yeah, but it's
released cup. It's for this trophy, you know. It's it's just a
really it's a hard sell, man, It's a hard sell. Yeah.
I mean, look, I've it'sso hard to describe this to everyone because
(05:17):
it's like it's a different concept too, right, because you're coming out of
the regular season for an entire monthand you're expecting people to just jump on
this competition immediately and say, Okay, I'm going to generate excitement and and
I get where the excitement is there'sbeen some crazy matches, like the Unions
(05:40):
he of Wanta game was insane,and there's been some other matches, you
know, in other parts of theUnited States that have been crazy, but
it's still a hard sell. Likeit's so hard to describe. I mean,
I was just sup with my inlaws for dinner and my brothers in
(06:00):
law's like, because we're talking aboutbetting a few of the games over the
last few days, and he's like, what exactly is League's Cup? And
it was just so hard for meto just be like, within like one
simple sentence describe it, like,well, it's it's the the MLS and
League MX teams all bundled together inone tournament. They stopped the regular season
(06:24):
for it. But the Union areplaying a bunch of MLS teams in the
knockout round. So it's like,it's such an h It's a little bit
of a messy and complicated concept forus to enjoy. And then on the
outside is like, well, howmany outside people really give a damn about
League Cup? The only the onlynotable moment, Like also, there's a
(06:48):
Women's World Cup going on too,which is does not help. It does
not help, but when you alsohave the leon on Messi and it's just
it's only about Messi and his momentand no one cares what Titian is.
I mean, like the night hemade his debut. Everybody's like always making
his MLS debut, well technically notreally, Like that's how little Leaks Cup
(07:10):
is is known in our in ourlittle sports lucks kind of look, it's
it's it's a it's a good idea. But when you're looking at the knockout
bracket and and I'm saying this fromthe Union's perspective, mostly because the luck
of the draw just sucks like it'sd United than the two New York teams,
and it could be the revs thereare there are way more exciting matchups
(07:36):
in other parts of the bracket laglike I said, getting t Grace against
Monterey, potentially getting LAFC a rematchagainst Leone, getting Club America against Cincinnati
or Nashville, and the round ofsixteen. Those are really exciting. But
then there's also by my account herethere's five all MLS matchups in the round
(08:01):
of thirty two. We got tofigure out a way for that to not
happen, Like that's my biggest issue. If you're gonna make this about MLS
for st League MX, you haveto make it truly that way. Have
a Legua MX teams take on MLSteams? How about that? And I
get it, Like the structure ofit isn't great. There's five all MLS
(08:24):
matchups and there's one all Legua MXmatchup which just happens to be Pumas against
Kuara to Row and you can sideof the bracket. There's only one MLS
vers Legue next matchup in that entirequarter, which just blows in terms of
just like buzz and hype and whatever. But do we really need a round
(08:45):
of thirty two? No? Theguy. I feel like that's where this
whole thing has gotten just way toocongest way too confusing, Like we're just
shoving matches for inventory on Apple TV, Like that's what it feels like.
And I don't know, it's hardfor me to generate all this buzz and
(09:05):
tell you to be excited about theunion in League's Cup When what's the one
question we've all gotten since I don'tknow that the start of the competition,
When would they play messy? That'sall everyone cares about because it's new,
it's exciting, it's different, it'sa challenge. And by the way,
(09:26):
that would happen in the semifinals ifif Miami gets through what they're calling the
South Region, which is going tobe interesting the navigate because they play Orlando.
Okay, you know they're a stepabove Atlanta, so we'll see how
he deals with an actual competent team. Then he's got to make the trip
to to FC Dallas. That's assumingDallas beats Maziblan and they're around the thirty
(09:50):
two games. Then he's got tocome back home play potentially Pachuca would I
would assume it's the strongest team inthat bracket, and then travel up to
Chester, all in the span ofthirteen days. I mean, that's a
new challenge. When you're traveling acrossthe US. It's different when you're you're
going across Europe and playing you know, Champions League game midweek with Lego or
(10:16):
Varriga games on the other side ofthem. So that part is gonna be
fascinating because are they just gonna weareverybody into the ground and try and win
this trophy and the Open Cup andSitter's proof of success. They absolutely could
do that. But that's the questionI get is when would they play messy?
Not oh, when when's the nextLeague's Cup match. We're talking about
(10:41):
three matches. There's still three matchesfrom the time the unions start on Thursday
this knockout round to the spot whenthey would play messy, and that that's
not even guaranteed, right, Soit's kind of just like, well,
the carrots being dangled in front ofus, but we don't even know if
it's going to be there because everybody'sjust assuming Miami. And this is a
(11:05):
kind of a good segument. Miamiis the betting favorite to what League's Cup,
which is that's wild, insane,that's wild, Like it's it's almost
like the bookmakers have read social mediaand said and just every bad take about
MLS on social media, and thisis what they Well I think, yeah,
(11:28):
I think it's more reflective on howbetters are going to bet it.
They're just gonna bet Miami no matterwhat, which is fair. But you're
not getting a ton of value atplus six hundred as you would yep.
But sports seat as sports book seat, as people don't care, you know,
value doesn't matter to them. Messidoes, and betting Messi matters more,
(11:48):
which is crazy because now if you'rea Union fan and you think they're
gonna go all the way, they'replus twelve hundred and arguably the strongest team
in the bottom half of the bracketbecause you poke Holes and inter Miami.
I don't think Charlotte's that's strong like, and none of the you know,
the big three of Mexican teams,Monterey, t Grace and America are all
(12:11):
on the other side of the bracket. They all play. They are gonna
have to play each other, whichcan be awesome for us to watch.
But that's another benefit of the Uniongetting the weak bracket if you want to
look at it in a positive regard. Yes, you're gonna have to play
DC for the the the thousand milliontime. It feels like, yes,
(12:31):
you're gonna have to play the RedBulls or NYC again. There they have
to play again, which kind ofto me devalues the point of a rivalry
game. And then you know theRevs are hanging in there. No,
by the way, out of nowhere, Bruce Arena got put on administrative leave
(12:52):
today, Like, what the hellis that all about? Yeah, I
saw that and so now maybe hereally is the most punchable facing MLS.
You know, dude, I don'tknow. That was just very random and
there's no information on it, Like, somebody tell me what happened, Like
at least what the DC suspensions.We knew Taxi founds us is a is
a certified granny, a hole anda not great person. Like at least
(13:16):
we already knew that from last year. So it wasn't a surprise when his
name was attached that all time newsdump by DC the Knight of Messy.
That was kudos, DC. Thatwas an incredible Friday news dump. Great
job, great job just to buryit under uh Messy, which it ended
up giving them more attention because they'relike, oh, what's DC trying to
(13:39):
sneak in here? Just don't beracist. It's not that hard, not
that hard, but some people failto grasp that concept that it's it's very
simple, just don't be don't beracist. I mean they have to,
like they have small rant, theyhave to have this announcement before each of
(14:00):
these games. Because of that,the you know what chant like haven't haven't
we obviously we haven't, but likeit just feels so simple to just be
like, okay, well we'll justdo that. We just won't do that,
and we'll do everything else. Wecan say whatever, but just don't
(14:20):
say the bad stuff. It justfeels like that concept we can't we can't
grasp, which is kind of sad, and we have to do that.
But yeah, it's just this,this part of the bracket just looks awful.
It does. It does like andlike if it was if it was
a different Mexican team, I thinkI'd at least have like intrigue with it.
(14:43):
But the Union just beat Atlas.They just sold their their top striker
to America. So even the guywho we were told Kenyons as the big
threat to this for this Atlas team, he it is gone. We just
saw corrects Row they can beat them, which, by the way, I
(15:05):
wasn't at the match on Sunday,but I would have loved to hear someone
in the thickest Philly accent say Coorettea Row. You wouldn't have gotten me
to say it, no the wayI can do that. But but then
think someone with like the biggest,thickest Philadelphia accent trying to sit and I'm
saying it completely right, but atleast I can. I can close enough,
(15:28):
but I would have loved I couldhave definitely said God's Dad, God's
Dad, God's Dag. I couldhave done that. Yeah, everybody's like,
that's my favorite thing. It's likeMESSI scores a couple of goals and
like does well against the worst defensein MLS, and you know, Daniel
Gysdag against this team in League MXhas a has a hat trick and MESSI
(15:50):
only had a brace and he's like, well, Messi's gonna destroy MLS.
It's like, okay, yeah,I mean we know he's quality and good,
but like, yeah, stuff stuffhappens in MLS, like the Union
have guys that sport hat tricks likes. It also has to be ported out
in for fairness sake here, likewhen the Union scored seven goals against everybody
(16:12):
last year, what was everybody sayingto that. I know they were,
they were getting more attention, butI would have to say that Daniel Gozdag
did score gets two of the weakerMexican teams, like just just for fairness
sake, Just for fairness sake,and what he did so the weakest team
MX, the weakest defense in MLSright, I'm just all sounds fair Yeah,
(16:33):
it sounds like fair ground to me. But I did have fun though,
Like I can't not like I hadso much fun with that. I
do. Oh my god, Ihad so much fun with it. Here's
here's my things. It's awesome.I'm never I'm not gonna say it's not.
But it is kind of funny thatlike national pundits whatever you want to
(16:53):
call them, are just like ina way like carrying water for the league
and for Messy and are like,this is the greatest thing that's ever happened,
blah blah blah blah blah, andlook at it may end up being
that stepping point for American soccer,but when you and maybe I have a
different view of it because of wherewe are in Philadelphia. But MESSI no
(17:15):
doubt, is going to make animpact on MLS. I'm not arguing that
point, but to say he's goingto be this transcendent figure and of all
of America, and MLS is goingto care about his every move. Maybe,
But like when MLS is on AppleTV and you're given the option to
(17:37):
your traditional say for the people you'retrying to convert into soccer fans. They
are not willingly going to go toApple TV and say I'm going to watch
Messi for ninety minutes. They're justnot. Now. Maybe if if it
was the Champions League and it wason like Big CBS and middle of the
(17:59):
afternoon, they're more inclined to becauseit's he's in a different window. But
when it's up against it at thePhillies or any type of Major League Baseball
or maybe you know, when weget into the fall the football, the
national conversation is going to shift inthose sports directions. That's how it works.
Messi's still gonna get on Sports Center, He's still gonna trend on Twitter,
(18:22):
and people are still gonna have theirreally awful takes about how bad MLS
is and how he's making everyone inMLS like a fool. But it's not
going to resonate in the Northeast asmuch as it will, say in the
South or in Miami, or whetherit's more of a soccer culture, more
(18:42):
of a Hispanic dominated culture where socceris everything and where Messi is a god
like, it's it's different because ofdifferent parts of the States. Bessie is
still amazing. He's gonna do greatthings for MLS, but he's not gonna
(19:04):
all of a sudden change every person, every person's opinion on MLS and make
them watch every single MLS game.As long as everybody's okay with that and
understands like, okay, that's justthe place in the world where MLS is,
then it's great. But I thinkit's a little sometimes hyperbole or its
(19:25):
people like over maybe exaggerate a littlemore of like what he's going to do,
and maybe I'm downplaying it. MaybeI'm kind of poo pooing it maybe
a little too much, or maybeit's kind of like in the middle thing.
But knowing from what I've seen andexperienced here, yes, if you
were to come to Chester Stadium selvesout, but after that, you're not
(19:51):
gonna you know, people are gonnashow up for one game and they're not
automatically gonna go sign up for MLSseason past. They might, but it's
it's totally it's not guaranteed, sothere will be an uptick. I get
that from the hardcore soccer fans.I just don't think the the four for
(20:11):
four, the people you're trying toreally draw into MLS and and make them
fans of not only MLS but thesupport of soccer. I don't think they're
going to be drawn in at leastin this area as much as people may
think. And that's not a badthing. That's like the reality. And
and I've learned throughout this, youknow, being on the on the union
(20:36):
beat for a while, is youdon't have to to shove soccer in people's
faces anymore. Like people are Andmaybe this is change because the Union have
actually won and people are more aremore and more willing to check out something
that's like, hey, what's thatnoise over there? Right? You know
what's happening? And because every timeevery time I talk about the Union,
(21:00):
I'm out, they're like, ohI would love to go to a game
the environment, Yeah, certainly therewas a lot. I even hear that
too, like there's there's an interest, like there's an intrigue of like,
oh I keep hearing about that thingin the distance and not interested. You
know what it's what it's saying,what I can see. I'm interested when
I want to be interested in,which is fair exactly Like I think I've
stopped a long time ago thinking thatlike, oh well, the Inquirer should
(21:22):
have like two columns down here inthe summer and making sure they cover it
like it's a big deal. It'sjust not going to happen, and stuff
like that, where radio stations justaren't going to care. That's okay.
But what we've created so much inespecially in the last five years with the
union of success they've had, Ithink that speaks to just how many soccer
(21:47):
fans there are in Philadelphia, howmany passionate fans there are here, and
how many like even if the topmedia outlets aren't going to pay attention to
you on on a consistent basis andand talk about you, say, like
in other markets, you still haveyour group, You still have everyone around
(22:07):
you to to have those conversations aboutthe union, and you don't have to
be like, well, the Unionare good, Please talk about them.
Messi's here, Please talk like whyaren't you talking about and like kind of
talk down like people people like whatthey like. And I think I've learned
that a lot more. I'm sureif you go back and there are probably
(22:29):
tweets from years ago about me beinglike kind of being like a snippy and
be like, hey, why don'tyou pay more attention to this. I've
my stances kind of changed on thatas I've kind of experienced at all,
where if people don't care about MESSIcoming to MLS, they're not going to
care and it is what it is. Yeah, that's a good way to
(22:52):
look at it, Like we wantthis messy thing to obviously boost MLS and
all that, but you know,the people that are in what messis cores
a goal saying oh, look,MLS is just gonna be you know,
stopping rounds from messy and MLS stayingsomething cut badness. There's people are never
gonna watch it anyway. There wasno give you I'll give you a perfect
example outside of Yeah, because theRex and dialogue has gotten really toxic,
(23:17):
and at first I was like,oh, this is like so I personally
have not watched the Welcome to Rexand I also have watched Ted last I'm
not going to, but I'm notdoing it as a choice. I just
like, if you want, like, I watched a ton of baseball.
I'm a Braves fan. We're reallygood, so I do watch a lot
of Okay, well we don't needto talk about that. I can tell
her watching one hundred and sixty twogames season but also like if I'm watching
(23:41):
something like you should see that theNetflix cue we're watching, like is it
cake or like the Great British Bakeor like something mindless, like we don't
when when me and my wife watchedstuff, we watched something that we don't
think like it's just all it's reallyall just like cooking competition ships. We're
being totally honest. So it's notlike I'm purposely going out of my way
(24:03):
to say I'm not watching Rexham,I'm not watching ted Lasso. It's more
of just like I don't want tothink, and when I do, I'm
watching like a series every I don'tknow, once every few months. But
the Rexham thing is is interesting becauseout of the clouds, the guy from
World Soccer Talk was like trying tolike poo poo mls and it's like,
(24:29):
I guess it was close to whata close to a sellout. I don't
have the exact numbers on the fromthe against Union two, which unfortunately,
you know, the weather kind ofplayed a role in that as well,
but he was like, oh,this is more than most regular Union regular
season games over the past few years, and everybody rightfully so dunked on him,
like it doesn't have to be well, Rexham won this game. It's
(24:56):
an indictment on analysts by the waythey drew with Philadelphia Union too, Is
that an indictment on Wrexham. Ididn't see anybody like Union two draws.
It's all here. Yeah, Soit's like it's like it's our Union two
games on at super Park. Thenarrative and the hate is only there when
(25:18):
it's a convenient for everybody. Uhso to put a bow because we're talking
about League's Cup sort of, butit put a bow up. Come on
to revisit that amazing athletic article afew minutes ago the League's Cup. To
me, I don't know how youfeel about like the placing of League's Cup,
(25:42):
but I know for me watching theUnion, you know, finally it
was all league play. It wassuch a focus on league play after the
opening Cup, after the Champions Leaguethat I was very excited, like,
hey, a lot of league playedtime, like really getting into the season.
Dude. We were every single weektalking about standings movement Eastern that one
(26:03):
game day we did the Twitter spacesand we're talking about, you know,
what could the Union do here?You know, as they're all these Eastern
Conference teams at the top are playingeach other. You know, there's there
could be so much movement, andit was great and now all of a
sudden, it just feels like asudden halt on the season. And now
we got to wait till August twentiethfor the talk about the next Union game
in MLS. Like it's it's sucha it was such a bad time to
(26:27):
do it. Oh, I guessyou know, this feels like such a
bad time to do it in theMLS season. I don't know how they
can change it. They're probably gonnakeep it this way, but I don't
know about u jah. It's justto me that was that was such a
sudden halt that really kind of tookthe wind out of the sales of the
leagues. So I'll be honest withyou, and this is a Union kind
(26:48):
of take because of the uniqueness ofthe season. It just feels like the
fatigue of games, right, theyjust play game thirty two a normal there's
MLS regular season is what thirty fourgames? Yeah, and it was funny
because yeah, the Union especially,Yeah, it feels like the longest FFing
season they've ever at least LAFC gotthat break because they won MLS Cup.
(27:15):
They got the break into the roundof thirty two, so they had the
time to refresh. But for thisteam, it's just been like and there's
a reason why Jim Curtin smartly didthis. He sent them on vacation.
I don't know if you had noticed, like players Instagram stories, but like
the second if he quartero, They'relike, okay, weekend off. Everybody
could relax, spend time with theirfamilies. We're not gonna like, we
(27:38):
don't have to hop a plane toMinnesota in two days. And the good
news for the Union is all theirgames are home throughout the seventh final and
then if if LAFC loses any point, which is likely, the Union would
host the final if they make it, which then I think they have to
reschedule the FC Dallas game because thefinals in the ninth sEH in Dallas games
(28:00):
on the twentieth I think, bysimple logic, that would have to be
erased across that bridge, and wehave to get to it. But this
is it's fatigue, It really is. I think that's a better way to
put it. Yeah, I don'tknow, I just felt it finally felt
like, hey, we're in arhythm now with MLS. There were so
many games of the third of theUnion that like, we're throwing more games
(28:21):
on top of this, the seasonfeels like it's going to be even longer.
Yeah, it's it's to me fatigue. And just like I felt like
there was finally a rhythm to theseason and now there's not. Now that
it's just it's the whole thing's completelythrown off again. It's something completely different
that you have to have a differentmindset for. It's all knockout play.
It's it's a completely different change inmindset. And I think also so I'll
(28:48):
use the inner Miami example too inthis in this one too, because I
think it's important for a team likeMiami, who doesn't have a storied history,
for them to have a chance withthis messy arrival, to win not
only League's Cup, but also towin to win the Open Cup. Trophies
(29:11):
matter. So for them to havethat chance right away, of course they're
gonna have more excitement for and ofcourse they're gonna throw everything towards it because
this means something they haven't had achance to play in a competition like this
again or against any foreign opposition,whereas the Union they've done twice in three
years now, so it makes itit's almost like a we've been there,
(29:36):
done that type thing, so theexcitement is a little less. Also,
it just happened in earlier in theseason with Champions Leagues, so like I
think, from different perspectives, it'sit really changes on what your league's cup
buzz is. Like. If yourteam likes say the Houston Dynamo, you
(29:57):
get to play Mexican teams, Youget more teams, sorry, more fans
in the stands, you have achance to win something meaningful when you haven't
been good for the last few years, like the Chicago Fire gets play Club
America. As much as they maynot be able to win that game,
that's still something tangible you can cango after, you know, and you
(30:18):
can go across with some of theseteams that haven't been asfortunate as a Union
to reach the copycat Champions League.But I think that that's a real thing
where champions just fatigue of games.But then also like if the Union hadn't
been in Champions League the last oreven this year, maybe it's a different
approach because oh we get to goand test ourselves against the best the best,
(30:42):
and the Union have already done thatin two of the last three years,
so I think that part of thathas to play with him as well,
and I get it. And it'shard to also strum of excitement for
a Thursday night match and then mostlikely on Monday night match where those don't
happen usually either. So it's it'shard, man, it really is.
(31:07):
Maybe if they had something like theLFC bracket where Leone and Monterey and Anti
Grace are there, like, it'sdifferent because those are the some of the
titans of the region and maybe that'swhy the League Cup as a whole gets
more We'll get more buzzed. ButI mean here, like it's it's four
in molest teams battling for one spotin the quarters. We've seen that so
(31:30):
many times, like I said itwould be by the end of the season,
the upwards of thirty games against DC, both the teas in New England.
Okay, that's even I even havefatigue talking about this, right right,
So a Joe, I'm even gonnaskip the League's Cup game coming up
Thursday. I don't feel like talkingabout that. We're too far away from
even talking about like league play becausethe Union don't get started until Sunday,
(31:53):
August twentieth, So instead I'll justask you, obviously, some moves may
in the transfer market Prey up goingto NYCFC. Look, I know,
he seems to be a favorite forUnion fans, and I that kind of
stunned me when he got sent toNYCFC and there was a lot of Union
(32:14):
fans on Twitter that were like,oh, I'm gonna miss up and like
all this stuff, and well hewas doing nothing so right, so I
think I think, I mean,good for him, because he's probably gonna
get some playing time in New York. He wasn't getting it here, right.
I think with that, it's thatone's a fascinating case because because because
(32:37):
he came in with this price tagwith you know, he's young. It's
it's a promising move within MLS thatthey made. Uh, And you're thinking,
Okay, the Union are are doingsomething progressive in the transfer market.
Everything seems to be going in theright direction, and then he just he
just doesn't play. And then everybody'sever why he plays play, you know,
(33:00):
looking looking into it for like thesereasons. Oh my God, why
is he not not playing? It'svery simple. Why he's not playing like
his his defensive qualities are not upto the standard of the Philadelphia Union.
That's what it is. There's noreal kind of secrets about it. If
(33:21):
you were to ask, maybe maybemore off the record than than on.
But Jim Curtain has hinted at itat points in the season during press conferences
that he needs to improve his defensiveability to do and he he just didn't.
And it also coincides with the developmentof of Asus Boy Now, which
(33:43):
came out of nowhere. Everyone is, i think, kind of still stunned
that he has made such an incrementaljump in his his play, which is
awesome. I mean, that's that'swhat you want. You know. Jim
has been asked about fifteen but Jillin times feel like he gets asked like
the same five questions and like inlike a two weeks span about like rotation
(34:07):
and development. And so we've heardthis answer so much about Buayno and and
maybe Jim's not given like as muchinto it, but he's been He's basically
said, Bueno came in preseason,worked his tail off incredibly fit, and
it's just taken the leap from there, has been patient with the play of
(34:29):
the playing time now is getting morerewarded for it. And it does leave
Paray on the outside looking in.So I don't think you have to look
into any like all tier your motivesor anything like that. I think it's
just straight up his defensive qualities werenot up to snuff, up to snuff
with the Union standard, and hefound his way further down the depth chart.
(34:51):
Whether you want to agree with thator not, I mean, that's
up to you. But that's that'sthe reason. It's not you know,
it's not anything that's pretty simple.Yeah, Like it is very simple.
So if you're the Union, youlook at that and say, okay,
well we got it's three hundred kback in allocation money. And I love
(35:12):
also how even the smallest of movesturned into like, well, Ernest is
playing like four dimensional chests and tryingto do something further down the line.
I think in this case, they'rejust trying to like, Okay, well,
we spent so much allocation money tryingto get him from Orlando that they're
recouping some of their losses. Alsogiving a player a chance to play more
(35:36):
and then say, look, twentytwenty four preseason, you can either come
back here and compete or because ofyour loan spell at NYCFC game more interest
throughout the league, and and maybethey sell them and trade him, which
is basically selling him to use aworld soccer term, that's very possibly.
(36:00):
If that's that's that's it. Imean, there's no other reason out there.
I know some people were looking forthe reasons. It's not. It's
just defensive qualities just weren't there orup to the Union standards, and that's
why he's not on the roster forthe rest of the season. Just it
yep, pretty simple. But theUnion got their next twenty five to thirty
(36:23):
goals per season score right unofficially,unofficially, that's right, officially unofficially.
Sorry, we're not supposed to saythat on the record or ask Jim Kurt
any of these questions yet. Sorry, unofficially, unofficially, there twenty five
to thirty goal proceed So this isthis is going to be interesting. So
ty Barrebo, it's real. Thegreatest thing the Union ever gotten is like,
(36:46):
this is the greatest move they've everdone. Tell me now, Joe,
I need answers. Now, whois this guy? I'm still trying
to figure out what's it really is? Like i'ms ten when the MLB trade
deadline happens and you see a bunchof names that go buy of minor league
players and prospects, and you justgo, sure that that guy's vibe seems
(37:10):
good. I like this, that'llwork. He's the son of a former
big leaguer. He's got to begood, right, exactly, like stuff
like that. Or he's like he'slike Baseball America's number like two prospects exactly,
but like their number two prospects inthe organization could be like the two
hundred best prospect in baseball. Butyou just never know that the truth.
(37:32):
Hate that the truth. Look,it fits the profile. All joking aside
of a nurse standard signing, whichis why I think, which is why
I think we're all excited about it, right because absolutely he's twenty five,
he's broken in with the really nationalteam, double digit goals at Volksburger in
Austria, uh, two seasons ina row, a league that Prince has
(37:55):
plenty of experience with from his I'min Europe, so all of those things.
If you put anything you know aboutEnter Tanner and his scouting with the
with the Philadelphia Union. You know, this seems like a pretty successful move
because this has done something like thisin the past, and he profiles similarly
(38:17):
to mckelula at the stage in hiscareer when he came over double digitals.
Two straight years of brunby some Europeanexperience, some national experience is a long
term answer at the striker position.I will say, yeah, it would
better it was. Production has droppedoff this season. I think that's a
you know, it's a concern toan extent because Grasdag and Corons are still
(38:43):
playing incredibly well. But yes,you would like with the score more consistently.
But I think this one is andI am the future type thing if
you're the Union, So I wouldassume gets it gets announced, probably lead
tomorrow, maybe Thursday, like Iwould assume next forty eight hours. I
don't know. But he did posta farewell on his Instagram to Volfsburger and
(39:07):
their fans, so that's a prettydecent clue that the medicals went well.
Just the Union have to submit allthe paperwork and get officially announced. And
also I think this is important toremember the team was off after Wednesday's game,
so everything could be done and signedby say, yeah, Wednesday or
(39:30):
Thursday of last week, but themajority of the team had off up until
Monday. They just give the teama break. So then that just doesn't
mean the first team players, thatmeans some of the backroom staff as well.
So the preparation for assigning everything goesin behind it, behind the scenes.
The social media stuff, the welcomeinterview, welcome photos, all that
(39:52):
kind of stuff could be happening thisweek and that's why it's it's a way
an official announcement. There's not goingto do with the union running into any
any shortcomings in the deal process.I think it just has to do with
with that. It's been a reallybusy season for them, so yeah,
(40:12):
it's interesting. I think it projectslong term with Julian Corons and potentially leaving
in the in the off season.I don't think he's on his way out
in the summer. If you would, I would think a team already would
have already come in for him,given the nature of where we're at with
the European pre seasons. But yeah, this feels like an insurance auction for
(40:35):
twenty twenty three. But as he'sacclimating to the league, as he's acclimate,
we know that can take a while, right, So you'd rather get
this signing done now if he's ifif him and UH are going to be
your your striker Tandon in twenty twentyfour, better to get him in now
and acclimate instead of waiting until JanuaryFebruary. And who knows he would have
(40:59):
I think he's was at the endof his contract too, so who knows
if he if he has a goodseason in Austria, maybe he's not available
for the other teams. Let meget excited about this guy, Joe unofficially,
let me get excited about this guy. Sorry, I gotta keep remembering
that. So overall good, goodsigning, Like it seems all things like
(41:23):
earth signing, you know, nothingearth shattering, but makes a lot of
sense. Could you know, workout well? But it's not like it
hurts them bringing this guy in itat all, No, absolutely not anything.
It's it makes it potentially better exactly, So all things good to go.
I guess we'll end it there.We don't do I mean, do
(41:45):
you want to break down Union's gameagainst DC United this week? Do you
care. I mean, I care. I'm gonna be there. But it's
nothing new, you know. Imean, you know the scoutter group on
DC at this point, and ifif the matchup is is ben Tech gave
(42:07):
versus the two center backs. Theydid lose Louisa Brian back on his loan
ended, so I think they're stilltrying to replace him or have and just
recently did that. But other thanthat, I mean, it's just I
don't know it. It's it's DCUnited. It's not like they've drastically changed
(42:27):
in the last two months since wesaw them last. And that's what makes
it a little bit hard to drumup all the excitement for is well,
they were just here in the Unionbeat him. No, that was a
draw, actually, I believe.But the Union beat them a lot and
badly recently. I think they haveit unbeaten run against the majority of these
teams in the East. I knowMC. It's five games, so yeah,
(42:51):
it's it's expected that they win.I will, I will say that
for sure. They better win.It's DC United. They stink. They
stink, Joe, I don't I'llgive them. I'm not gonna like,
Okay, fine, they don't stink. They're just bad. Wait, this
(43:15):
is a very League's Cup podcast.By the way, this felt like a
Leaku's Cup Break podcast. I don'tknow. I don't know how I put
that, like, how how Ican put that more into description? But
we just recorded a Least Cup podcast. That's what it felt like. Well
we can. I just thought ofthe title on on on the top of
(43:36):
my head, So I can eithersave that for you to see later or
I cannot wait, I can.I can tell you now it sounds like
you want to suspense is kill yourself. Yeah, the suspense is going to
kill me. But everyone who didlisten, thanks for listening. I hope
you are enjoying the Leaks Cup Break, and I hope you're enjoying League Cup
better than we are. I hopeso you're probably not, so thanks for
(44:00):
tuning into something more interesting in theUnion Soccer podcast. Thanks for turning into
tuning into Statler and waldor talk theLeaks. You can follow Joe at jay
Tanzi ninety on Twitter. You canalso check out the blog Union Soccer Blog
dot sustack dot com. My nameis John Janson. Follow me at Jeeke
Jans at thirty four. Check outthe podcast anywhere you can find your podcast.
(44:21):
I'm tired of saying where you canfind your podcast because you probably already
know where you can find him.Joe, what do we got coming up
on the blog? Uh, well, we'll save the big one until that's
confirmed, but there is plenty ofstuff coming down the pipe on top of
normal breakdowns and stuff like that.We'll be down in Chester tomorrow doing all
the pre match fun stuff with JimCurtin and a few players, and maybe
(44:46):
something with Hus Bueno, and maybemaybe there'll be a conversation with Ernst Tanner,
hopefully in the the next week ortwo, where we do our little
what do we call the midyear checkin with the the Union supporting director in
the year, where are we at? I don't know. Leaks Cup is
throwing everything. Definitely definitely past midyear. I do know that what do
(45:09):
we call this, because like wewould call this post all Star break in
Major League Baseball terms, but thenhere comes Leaks cover every post Leaks Cup
break? Is that what we callthat part of the season? Did I
just break your brain? Look?I think I've been up since six am
doing women's book Cup stuff. Ithink you just put my brain into a
(45:32):
fretzel. Uh and it's not gonnaget untied, So thank you. Yeah,
I can't wait for the Union postPost Leagues Cup part of the season
for the Union. I can't waitfor the Post League's Cup three pre playoffs
push three games set of the season. But it's still post All Star Break
(45:53):
part of the season. And it'sdefinitely but it's definitely past halfway halfway was
lea June. It's it's a longseason. We told you it was gonna
be long season. No one,no one, no one said it wasn't
going to be a long season.And you can very much tell we are.
You could tell we've covered thirty twogames already this season. All right,
(46:15):
Well, that is it for theUnions Soccer Pod again. Chickisawur if
you find your podcast, we'll beback next time right here on the Union
Soccer Podcast.
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