October 26, 2025 • 23 mins
The play-by-play voice for Charlotte FC, Will Palaszczuk, drops by SDH AM to look at the 4/5 in the Eastern Conference...
The impact of a red card to Wilf Zaha, the season, the defense, and what he expects in the matchup with NYC FC
The impact of a red card to Wilf Zaha, the season, the defense, and what he expects in the matchup with NYC FC
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so we get to find out everything going on
with Charlotte and what's going on with him, and we
go like this, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey? There he is.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You get to hang out with my with my very
good friends Brent Bronico, oh, Carown Vargas, Oh wow. The
inaugural sugar skull, oh wow. And what I'm just calling
men and me, But dude, how many of those of
you do you have? By the way, they had a
limited edition one one of those. My parents got that
(00:32):
for me for my birthday. And when I and when
I when I posted about it, Everyone's like, is this
a Charlotte of C giveaway? Is it something that we're doing,
And I'm like, no, it's just something my parents did
because they thought I would love it because I collect
bibbleheads and uh. And I mean, I don't know if
it's going to be something to do in the future,
but like, if they do it in the future, there's
(00:54):
got to be sound on it. No, yes, absolutely, I
mean there's got to be a sound in there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Someone I did.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I did a I think I remember what that week
I was Nashville that weekend. Uh, when Charlotte came back
from one down against Nashville in the eighty fourth minute
to win. And I think I did a video with
that bobblehead bobbling with the audio underneath of me calling
(01:22):
the game winning goal, and everyone was like, Oh my gosh,
this is crazy. I'm like, you know, I don't. I
don't just I don't just imagine these ideas, you know.
I I do have a little bit of you know,
a little bit of marketing savvy. Oh I mean, but dude,
that would be if and the like the likeness of
it too, is like so good. Like they whoever they used,
(01:43):
they did a fantastic job. You were not aware that
they they might have taken like a still of you
or or got they said apparently apparently it took a
couple It took a couple of rounds, from what I
heard they said. They said the first when they got
back didn't look a darn thing like me, and so
they asked for more pictures. And you know, I have
my wife somewhat to blame, because my wife, who I
(02:06):
absolutely love, in a door. I don't think she knew
she was in on this, But my wife does take
a ton of pictures, as anybody's wife, I'm sure can
attest to. So from from that effect that they did
have a lot to go off of. Yes, and I
can relate because the boss is one to take pictures,
especially when you're not looking and you sit there because
oh so now I know that I've got to, like,
(02:26):
you know, wear they not ready T shirts. I can
I can say this because they're not in the States
right now. It drives her father in law nuts. But
that's just that's just in aside. Oh, I mean seriously,
it's it's one of those where it's like you're burning
so much space, Yeah, to all of the photos that
(02:46):
are taking, whether it's you with an animal, whether it's
you eating, whether they're working. I mean, well, she sits.
She sits with them in every Charlot of Sea home game,
and there we have this ritual we do like a
selfie outside and then she does one with them inside
and she you know, she takes picture me in the booth,
She takes a picture of going down the escalator from
the club. I mean, it's just it's a whole thing,
and he's just.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Like, are we taking another picture?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Selfie is as another selfie?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh my gosh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
My parents love her. I promise. I just you know, Oh,
I look, my dad just gets certain has certain curmudgeonly
characteristic reacts. I loved your talk. By the way, Eves
dropped on your talk with Ross Smith. I loved your
talk about John Tavares, although again reminding myself about a
(03:34):
weekend coming back from Hilton Head that was happened to
be NHL Free agency day, in the day that Tavares
left the Islanders to go to the Toronto Maple Leaves.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What a way to.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Ruin an end of vacation for me. Oh, I mean
that was awful. I I was my wife and I
weren't married at the time. But she she she got
one of her first glimpses of full will meltdown scenario.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
It was not great.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, uh, full full Nelly meltdown usually comes when Florida
State is playing football. Oh and yeah, so are you
out on Norvel? I've been out on Norvel. Yeah, brother,
I've been out on Norvel for over a year. I might,
I might. I might have unintentionally jinxed them when I
said last year that he might be the next coach
(04:20):
in the a SEC and win a national championship. And uh,
after the year they had the year prior, which was
you know, admittedly good. I wasn't you know, it wasn't
a hot take at the time. It is looking every
bit the hot take now. Yeah, so that's when I
got wrong. I'm sorry, my bat Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Uh yeah. The boss, by the way, who has her
own fat head. Oh that's great. Yeah, as a part
of her work.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Uh you know, she's a part of the the rock
group that her branch office has and yeah, so what
they do is they have a yearly concert that's a
fundraiser and that and so they you have fat heads
produced of all the band members and you can show
support for individual band members and things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And so that's cute.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
The boss has her own fat head and she also
is in charge of the TV remotes here in the
imitation palatial Nelson Estate. And so when I go downstairs
and I know that Florida State is on television, I
always try to find something else to do because that's
the one that's the one time when she sits there
and goes, I like you having this kind of emotion,
(05:23):
because I rarely see it from you, and most of
the time it's just flat out anger. So I'm watching
other things or I'm working here and she has on
her phone the remote that can change any of the
channels on the TV here in the imitation palatial Nelson estate,
So she makes a point to change the TV the
big fifty five down here in the office to Florida
State football so she can hear me yelling from the
(05:45):
bottom of the estate up to the rest of the house.
She wants, she wants proof of life, is what it is.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I understand.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
She wants proof of yelling in the Carlin seven as what.
We're happy this weekend that my wife and I is
both their team. Our teams are are playing at a
at non conflicting times. Her Hoosiers play at noon and
my Missouri Tigers are at Vandy and at three point thirty,
so we will have not too dissimilar to a couple
(06:10):
weeks ago when we had we were doing a road trip.
During Indiana's trip to Oregon, we listened basically to six
or seven I guess maybe turned into seven seven straight
hours of radio broadcast calls from Missouri to Oregon. So
that was it was interesting. The serious xem got to
work out. But that is the power of radio. Absolutely
(06:32):
true norsement for radio and that's why we we have
you on to discuss the series, and as the series
continues to evolve, we will obviously have you on to
talk about the series impeccable transition from you, let's talk soccer. Uh,
you got in my Sea Common And let's go back
to Decision Day and some of the talking points from
Decision Day that have stuck with you as you get
ready for match number one of this best of three
(06:55):
that is coming up early next week. For those that
may not know, it's the Tuesday night game at the
Bank where it is the four or five in Charlotte's
hosting NYC.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Go back to Decision Day for me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, we would have liked it to be tonight.
But from what I hear from our friends that I
got a mole in the ticket office who says that
the ticket sales are doing pretty pretty stout, it's going
to be a packed house on Tuesday Night. But more
on the final game Charlotte's played in the regular season.
I want to give full credit to Philadelphia. They put
(07:25):
out a first choice side. But one of the things
I said coming in is that I'm wondering if maybe
some natural complacency sets in a little bit. I think
Philadelphia was definitely in the game in the opening portion,
but Charlotte FC kind of hit them with a little
bit of a blitzkreak in the twenty fourth minute with
a wilfrid Zaja goal. Incredible team goal that was started
(07:46):
out by an incredible ball from the back line by Dylson.
Milanda Carown Vargas played a great cross into the middle
that was dummied by Dan Toclamatti and then wilfrid Zaha
made no mistake and knocked it past Andre Blake. Six
minutes later. Harry Tofflow, who was quite frankly our new
sensational left back that Cheryl FC I think got a
(08:06):
real gem in. We've not been able to see him
in a lot of opportunities because I think they maybe
rushed his start to play. He didn't have a real
traditional preseason because he came to us on a free
so they tried to rush him into the line up
and unfortunately he tugged a bit of a hamstring, so
as a result of that they kind of had to
maybe push pause on him. They haven't gotten back, didn't
(08:27):
get him back to full training until the Monday prior
to Philadelphia, so he was on a bit of a
pitch count. Wanted him to go maybe about an hour,
just so that he got himself back in the swing
of things and got himself back up to match fitness.
And he brings something incredibly different the fact that he
can push high. I said this on another pod earlier
(08:50):
this week that this is now the Dean Smith blueprint.
Fullback suppress high midfielders who are disruptive in a defense
that's tough to beat, and that helps everything else kind
of open up attack wise, and it allows you to
do a whole many different things. And I think just
Tafolo with the way that he pushed high, got himself
(09:11):
across basically across the pitch in the area to find
Carowyn Vargas, who made a one touch, incredible finish, impeccable finish.
An incredible turnaround for a player who came to us
in our inaugural season as a U twenty two initiative,
very very wet behind the ears, and has completely turned
his game into a full fledged all round winger. Profile
(09:34):
defense was not part of his game under Miguel An
Hellermirez or Krishanltanzio or on the earlier part of Dean Smith,
and I asked Dean about this pointedly. I said, look,
what did you do to get Kevin Vargas to defend
as well as he has to? Whether it's now a
big focal point of what he brings in his locker,
and he said, look, I told him simply, you know,
it's a situation, a motivational play. He was in a
(09:56):
basically one v one battle with leel Abada for playing
time on the right wing over the course of this season.
Abada had it won early and then Vargas kind of
had this little come on, and a lot of it
was because of his defensive solidarity. And the other thing
was Carown had a little bit of a problem of
keeping his shot on target, and he said, if you
(10:17):
keep your shot down and you defend, you become undroppable.
And that's what's happened with this. It obviously leads now
to the fact of leel Abada is probably going to
have to start this weekend because of what happened with
Rolford Zaha in the eighty ninth minute of the match,
the red card that was taking the second yellow for
the altercation he had with Jesus Bueno. I think it's
a blow, but I don't think it's a peua to
(10:38):
blow for CHARLOTDT of C going into this game on Tuesday,
because I do think, you know, it's very rare you
can take a DP out of the lineup and sub
them for another one. And I think too, the addition
to Tafolo and these other pieces around charlodov See that
are playing rather well. I'm not gonna sit here and
say that Zaja is not a loss, but there have
been games this season where Zaha is not necessarily been
(11:00):
the focal point or been a passive point, and they've
used other ways to try and beat teams. I do
think it's a situation where this matchup is even enough
to where I think Charlottos can still get a result,
a positive result without Zaha, particularly because they're in their
home building, which they've been very, very good at as
you know over the course of this season. I was
going to ask about positional gravity because of when someone
(11:21):
like Zaja comes in and you sit there and that's
the shiny object, naturally your defense would gravitate toward pinning
him down. Who have been the major benefactors when Zaha
has been in the lineup to this positional gravity. Who've
been those guys that have been open that have converted
those opportunities, whether it's in scoring, chance creation or scoring period.
(11:41):
I need to look up this part of the stat
because he's the most fouled player in the league at
one hundred and twenty five, and that's the most fouled
player in the history of Major League Soccer.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Number two.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I'm wondering whether or not how I'm trying to figure
out how many of those fouls have led to set
piece goals for Charlotto of CE, because they scored eight
set piece goals this season, which is more than they
have in any of their particular games. They also, of
course have had him draw penalties, multiple ones that he
either finished himself. There was the great moment in the
(12:15):
Miami game where he earnedo penalty and then gave the
ball to eaton to Klamati to finish off Charlott of
C's second ever hat trick. So he definitely has the
ability to draw attension and you know, draw two or
three defenders. He's great at swinging the positional part of
the attack to the other side. But I think he
and he's also had a great relationship with Eaton to Klamatti,
(12:37):
and he has gotten this bit of a reputation for
playing you know, the through ball through to Edon in
behind that was when Edon was going very very well.
I think Vargas has benefited a lot from him as well.
And I also think to the central midfielders Jabril Gianni
and Bram Bronico a lot of times as decoys, but
they will make positional runs into the box when Zaha
(12:59):
has the ball and not having to account for either
of those guys who makes that run has freed up
Eaton in the area, has freed up Carown Vargas in
the area, or has even freed up Brant Bronco in
the area too. Brant got an incredible goal back on
one of the nine game winning streak games that got
Charlotte FC ahead in the contest. So it is a
(13:19):
situation where his presence definitely heightens things for Charlotte FC.
They will have to try and find a way to
replicate that in the aggregate as opposed to having him
on the pitch. They've had him in games and played
well without him, or had him out a game that
should say, and played well without him. Charlotte actually this
(13:40):
is way way long ago, didn't have Zaha. On the
opening day of the season, played a very very tough
Seattle team, the same Seattle team that beat New York
head to head by the way on decision Day, and
hell the one it was a one nail deposit at
the time and ended up getting a result because of
a cross in by Caron Vargas that ended up going
(14:01):
off of I believe obed Vargas for her own goal
on the opening day of the season, and one of
the results that Dean Smith said was one that maybe
flattered Charlotte of C. But at this point you're not
looking for flattery, you're just looking for the result. And
it might take a bit of an uglier type of
game for Charlotte of C to win against New York City.
But Dean Smith has shown a propensity more so than
(14:21):
any manager that Charlot of C has had. He's not
really concerned with how it looks. He's just concerned about
the end product. And I think it might take that
type of output, But Charlotte of C has had a
real propensity of scoring team goals. It's it's not about
any one player. I think and and and. While the
Zaha being missing is definitely a talking point, I don't
think it's the massive pendulum swinger that say people on
(14:45):
Apple and the MLS League office have said, you know,
completely flips the series to New York City's way. I
think I think that there's been a lot of that.
There's there's been a lot of doom tweeting and doom
casting when it comes to that particular the storyline, but
also forgetting the fact that Zaha will be back for
Game two of the series, especially when I think Charlotte
(15:06):
see needs him more so on the on the baseball
stadium at Yankee.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Stadium insert baseball stadium here. Yes, the the gnashing of
teeth and the ringing of hands, especially in the lead
up to two games. You have to have things to discuss, uh. Basically,
where a dean is concerned, it's basically just to show
me the baby, don't tell me about the birth. It's
like I just I just read the end product.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I wanted to ask about Toklamati and what it's been
like to see his game grow and evolve in confidence
this season. I know that he probably was he was
He was probably a household name in his own household
and that was about it. And he has evolved into
this player to watch that's kind of flown below the
radar for those of us outside of Charlotte. What's it
been like to see his game grow? So Charlotte has
(15:50):
had this ability and and and they've kind of, I
don't want to say reinvented the wheel, but they've used
the mechanism of their B team, their Crown Legacy team
to kind of funnel in some of these talents. Started
with Nikola Petkevich a couple of years ago. They brought it.
They brought him in on a three million dollar deal,
progressed him through Crown Legacy for a season, got him
(16:11):
to the first team last year. He hasn't quite cracked
the starting eleven, but they've tried it a couple of
other times. One of those was Idon Toklamani, and they've
got a couple of others in the pipeline. They just
promoted Bayekula Balle and they've got another great winger attacking
wing from beneath and Ridolfo Aloko who will more than
likely start the summer or start the winner, I should say,
(16:32):
with the first team in preseason. Even though he is
on a Crown legacy deal presently and will have every
opportunity to try and compete for the first team roster.
Emmanuel Chebu is another one who was referenced by Charlotte
of C senior leadership, but Toklamondi was brought in on
a pretty sizable deal last year, but thought it was
it was the quietest three million dollars Charlotte of C's
ever spent because you look at it and say, okay,
(16:54):
you know, this is a guy who's eighteen nineteen years old. Again,
very very similar to what we looked at when we
saw Patrick Ajumon when he came through, very wet behind
the ears, a lot of raw talent, but something that
is a bit of multiple clay. I don't know if
many Charlotte f C fans even would have thought that
by the end of the year would Eaton took them
(17:15):
not to be the starter and in Charlotte's would be
in the position that they're in because of how much
hype was around was around Ajamon. And while I love
Pat and I think he's going to do great things
for Darby County and I hope he does great things
beyond that, and even at the US men's national team
level edon brings something a little bit different. He's a
(17:35):
lot more of a technical player. He is a very
thankless runner. He's somebody who's not afraid to do the
dirty work and open up things for other people. He's
also somebody who I think has a real innate knack
of being when he's on the ball, he can receive
the ball in the air, he can receive the ball
at his feet, and he also can play one twos
with dudes as well. He's very, very selfless in that fact.
(17:58):
He's got an incredible personality. Obviously, one of the I
think underlying storylines is that he will play with his
countryman Leel Abota this weekend if Leell does end up
getting the start at left wing. And I think those
two when they're on the field together, have a real
great symbiotic relationship that came from the same Israeli team,
Acabi Petitikva. They played also with the Israeli national team
as well together in the Olympics. It's something where it's
(18:21):
that little bit of that chemistry of having played together
that kind of continues that connective tissue. And I think
two we've only scratched the surface of what we can
see for him. I think the eleven goals he scored
this season, they've all been very big impact goals. I
mean the three against Miami, the one I referenced earlier
in the game against Nashville. He has been that X
(18:42):
factor and the fact that you have to account for him,
You have to account for Zaha when he's in there,
and you have to account for Vargas, who is no slouch.
It has made Charlottevsky's attack look so impeccable, even when
you think about the fact that somebody who's got twenty
two goal contributions in pet bl is on the shelf.
The fact that they've been able to get goals while
(19:02):
keeping defensive solidarity, I think has been the secret to
getting them that nine game win streak and the end
part of it and getting them to the top four
that they so desperately craved. So then my last question
for you is, we lead into game number one, and
you know we'll be talking to you before game number
two and game number three and so on and so forth.
What are you the most confident amount where Charlotte is
concerned heading into this matchup with NYC? And what are
(19:22):
you the most concerned about heading into this matchup. I'm
confident they can play well defensively, and it's not disrespecting
Alonzo Martinez as a striker on New York City. He's incredible,
He's impeccable. But the two goals he scored against Arlotte
of SEE this season were fro the penalty spot, and
I think that's something where it might have been a
bit of a wonky game. Tokamadi had a stray hand
(19:43):
in the box for that second goal and the first penalty.
Dean Smith called it dubious at best. I thought it
was a little soft. It was a foul, but I
don't know if it was the kind of foul that
maybe rose to the level of one you give in
the box. It's one of those things where you look
at it and say, there were a lot of things
about that contest that came in rather wonky. New York
was playing very very well at the time as well.
(20:04):
To give them credit for taking advantage, I think New
York's kind of come in a bit of a wonky
finish and Charlotte of C is coming off of a
very big performance against the Supporter Shield winners. I favor
Charlotte in this game. My only question is will it
take penalties or will they be able to get a
touch of class? And I think that's the biggest, biggest
question mark is is is there enough class on the
(20:25):
field to get the requisite amount of goals to win
this game. I don't doubt their defensive solidarity. I think
you've got four in the back that all have EFL
Championship or better experience outside of a deals with Milanda,
who will be in the EFL Championship, maybe even the
Premier League by this time next year, so he at
least has those bon fides. And you think about Tim Reem,
(20:46):
you think about Tafolo and Nathan Burn, who honestly, if
there's an unsung hero on the Charlotte of C team,
it's Nathan Burn because when he went out, that was
kind of the time where things kind of dovetailed downward.
When Charlotte of C was going in that ten out
of twelve stretch and was struggling to pick up results,
struggling to pick up victories, the defensive right back position
(21:08):
very much was a turnstile, and I think from that perspective,
Charlotte of C's suffered greatly. He has come back and
completely stabilized things. He's got a great relationship with Milanda
on that right side, great relationship with Tim Reim as well.
They all know where each other's supposed to be, and
I think Kalina has also helped them and build the
mountain situations as well. He's back to that type of level.
I think it's an absolute shame that he wasn't at
(21:29):
least up as a finalist for Goalkeeper of the Year
for the second consecutive year. I think a lot of
people ignored the metrics on him and looked at only
the fact that he was bened in May and June.
I still think, you know, he had as many clean
sheets as he did a year ago. His XG numbers
are insane, and yet you know, we have people like
you know, Matt Freeze, Dane Sinclair and Takakoa who are
up there, and it just kind of like, you know,
(21:50):
I thought that he should have deserveed to be in
that top three. I voted for him again. I think
he's very much an overlooked player right now and he's
making I think bigger saves this year that he did
at any point last year. I think he made a
lot of comfortable saves last year. I think his back
line very much helped him. He has made more of
the spectacular saves in this run of I would say
the last thirteen games than I think he made it
(22:11):
all at any point of last year. All right, cut
the promo for me. As we get ready for Game
one early next week, what do we do?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So?
Speaker 1 (22:17):
We will be on a different station than we're usually
on for the first two games of this series. We'll
be on our news talk station, News Talk eleven ten
and nine to nine to three FMWBT. Getting ready for
that one will be on the air at six o'clock.
We'll have an exclusive interview with Dean Smith that will
air at six thirty. It is a longer pregame because
of our friends at National doing the game on FS one,
so we'll have a chance to have some extended conversation
(22:40):
with Dean Smith at six thirty and then the game
at six fifty five for the kick. I will be
on the air three o'clock for Game two a week
from tomorrow. In I would call it beautiful Yankee Stadium,
but it is a baseball field, so there is that.
And hopefully we're thinking about going in for a clincher
that day, or at least typing an opportunity to prevent
(23:00):
game number three coming our way. So then this means
that ten thirty next Friday, you're coming back to talk
about game two. Maybe I can, I can, maybe maybe
maybe Thursday, depending on depending on this, well we will,
we will work something out, depending on Charlotte of FC's
training schedule. I will give you a game two preview
at some point at a time to be determined. Yes,
(23:21):
as always, my friend, great to see you, and you
and your bobblehead which makes me insanely jealous. But yes,
when you get the actual bobblehead, bobblehead, you gotta have
the You gotta calls. Oh yes, and I'll send I'll
and I'll send you one as well. Absolutely, you're amazing.
Uh be well, my friend, have a great call. We'll
catch up with you on the flip side after Game one.
And so we get to find out everything going on
with Charlotte and what's going on with him, and we
go like this, how you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey? There he is.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You get to hang out with my with my very
good friends Brent Bronico, oh, Carown Vargas, Oh wow. The
inaugural sugar skull, oh wow. And what I'm just calling
men and me, But dude, how many of those of
you do you have? By the way, they had a
limited edition one one of those. My parents got that
(00:32):
for me for my birthday. And when I and when
I when I posted about it, Everyone's like, is this
a Charlotte of C giveaway? Is it something that we're doing,
And I'm like, no, it's just something my parents did
because they thought I would love it because I collect
bibbleheads and uh. And I mean, I don't know if
it's going to be something to do in the future,
but like, if they do it in the future, there's
(00:54):
got to be sound on it. No, yes, absolutely, I
mean there's got to be a sound in there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Someone I did.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I did a I think I remember what that week
I was Nashville that weekend. Uh, when Charlotte came back
from one down against Nashville in the eighty fourth minute
to win. And I think I did a video with
that bobblehead bobbling with the audio underneath of me calling
(01:22):
the game winning goal, and everyone was like, Oh my gosh,
this is crazy. I'm like, you know, I don't. I
don't just I don't just imagine these ideas, you know.
I I do have a little bit of you know,
a little bit of marketing savvy. Oh I mean, but dude,
that would be if and the like the likeness of
it too, is like so good. Like they whoever they used,
(01:43):
they did a fantastic job. You were not aware that
they they might have taken like a still of you
or or got they said apparently apparently it took a
couple It took a couple of rounds, from what I
heard they said. They said the first when they got
back didn't look a darn thing like me, and so
they asked for more pictures. And you know, I have
my wife somewhat to blame, because my wife, who I
(02:06):
absolutely love, in a door. I don't think she knew
she was in on this, But my wife does take
a ton of pictures, as anybody's wife, I'm sure can
attest to. So from from that effect that they did
have a lot to go off of. Yes, and I
can relate because the boss is one to take pictures,
especially when you're not looking and you sit there because
oh so now I know that I've got to, like,
(02:26):
you know, wear they not ready T shirts. I can
I can say this because they're not in the States
right now. It drives her father in law nuts. But
that's just that's just in aside. Oh, I mean seriously,
it's it's one of those where it's like you're burning
so much space, Yeah, to all of the photos that
(02:46):
are taking, whether it's you with an animal, whether it's
you eating, whether they're working. I mean, well, she sits.
She sits with them in every Charlot of Sea home game,
and there we have this ritual we do like a
selfie outside and then she does one with them inside
and she you know, she takes picture me in the booth,
She takes a picture of going down the escalator from
the club. I mean, it's just it's a whole thing,
and he's just.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Like, are we taking another picture?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Selfie is as another selfie?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh my gosh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
My parents love her. I promise. I just you know, Oh,
I look, my dad just gets certain has certain curmudgeonly
characteristic reacts. I loved your talk. By the way, Eves
dropped on your talk with Ross Smith. I loved your
talk about John Tavares, although again reminding myself about a
(03:34):
weekend coming back from Hilton Head that was happened to
be NHL Free agency day, in the day that Tavares
left the Islanders to go to the Toronto Maple Leaves.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What a way to.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Ruin an end of vacation for me. Oh, I mean
that was awful. I I was my wife and I
weren't married at the time. But she she she got
one of her first glimpses of full will meltdown scenario.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
It was not great.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, uh, full full Nelly meltdown usually comes when Florida
State is playing football. Oh and yeah, so are you
out on Norvel? I've been out on Norvel. Yeah, brother,
I've been out on Norvel for over a year. I might,
I might. I might have unintentionally jinxed them when I
said last year that he might be the next coach
(04:20):
in the a SEC and win a national championship. And uh,
after the year they had the year prior, which was
you know, admittedly good. I wasn't you know, it wasn't
a hot take at the time. It is looking every
bit the hot take now. Yeah, so that's when I
got wrong. I'm sorry, my bat Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Uh yeah. The boss, by the way, who has her
own fat head. Oh that's great. Yeah, as a part
of her work.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Uh you know, she's a part of the the rock
group that her branch office has and yeah, so what
they do is they have a yearly concert that's a
fundraiser and that and so they you have fat heads
produced of all the band members and you can show
support for individual band members and things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And so that's cute.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
The boss has her own fat head and she also
is in charge of the TV remotes here in the
imitation palatial Nelson Estate. And so when I go downstairs
and I know that Florida State is on television, I
always try to find something else to do because that's
the one that's the one time when she sits there
and goes, I like you having this kind of emotion,
(05:23):
because I rarely see it from you, and most of
the time it's just flat out anger. So I'm watching
other things or I'm working here and she has on
her phone the remote that can change any of the
channels on the TV here in the imitation palatial Nelson estate,
So she makes a point to change the TV the
big fifty five down here in the office to Florida
State football so she can hear me yelling from the
(05:45):
bottom of the estate up to the rest of the house.
She wants, she wants proof of life, is what it is.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I understand.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
She wants proof of yelling in the Carlin seven as what.
We're happy this weekend that my wife and I is
both their team. Our teams are are playing at a
at non conflicting times. Her Hoosiers play at noon and
my Missouri Tigers are at Vandy and at three point thirty,
so we will have not too dissimilar to a couple
(06:10):
weeks ago when we had we were doing a road trip.
During Indiana's trip to Oregon, we listened basically to six
or seven I guess maybe turned into seven seven straight
hours of radio broadcast calls from Missouri to Oregon. So
that was it was interesting. The serious xem got to
work out. But that is the power of radio. Absolutely
(06:32):
true norsement for radio and that's why we we have
you on to discuss the series, and as the series
continues to evolve, we will obviously have you on to
talk about the series impeccable transition from you, let's talk soccer. Uh,
you got in my Sea Common And let's go back
to Decision Day and some of the talking points from
Decision Day that have stuck with you as you get
ready for match number one of this best of three
(06:55):
that is coming up early next week. For those that
may not know, it's the Tuesday night game at the
Bank where it is the four or five in Charlotte's
hosting NYC.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Go back to Decision Day for me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, yeah, we would have liked it to be tonight.
But from what I hear from our friends that I
got a mole in the ticket office who says that
the ticket sales are doing pretty pretty stout, it's going
to be a packed house on Tuesday Night. But more
on the final game Charlotte's played in the regular season.
I want to give full credit to Philadelphia. They put
(07:25):
out a first choice side. But one of the things
I said coming in is that I'm wondering if maybe
some natural complacency sets in a little bit. I think
Philadelphia was definitely in the game in the opening portion,
but Charlotte FC kind of hit them with a little
bit of a blitzkreak in the twenty fourth minute with
a wilfrid Zaja goal. Incredible team goal that was started
(07:46):
out by an incredible ball from the back line by Dylson.
Milanda Carown Vargas played a great cross into the middle
that was dummied by Dan Toclamatti and then wilfrid Zaha
made no mistake and knocked it past Andre Blake. Six
minutes later. Harry Tofflow, who was quite frankly our new
sensational left back that Cheryl FC I think got a
(08:06):
real gem in. We've not been able to see him
in a lot of opportunities because I think they maybe
rushed his start to play. He didn't have a real
traditional preseason because he came to us on a free
so they tried to rush him into the line up
and unfortunately he tugged a bit of a hamstring, so
as a result of that they kind of had to
maybe push pause on him. They haven't gotten back, didn't
(08:27):
get him back to full training until the Monday prior
to Philadelphia, so he was on a bit of a
pitch count. Wanted him to go maybe about an hour,
just so that he got himself back in the swing
of things and got himself back up to match fitness.
And he brings something incredibly different the fact that he
can push high. I said this on another pod earlier
(08:50):
this week that this is now the Dean Smith blueprint.
Fullback suppress high midfielders who are disruptive in a defense
that's tough to beat, and that helps everything else kind
of open up attack wise, and it allows you to
do a whole many different things. And I think just
Tafolo with the way that he pushed high, got himself
(09:11):
across basically across the pitch in the area to find
Carowyn Vargas, who made a one touch, incredible finish, impeccable finish.
An incredible turnaround for a player who came to us
in our inaugural season as a U twenty two initiative,
very very wet behind the ears, and has completely turned
his game into a full fledged all round winger. Profile
(09:34):
defense was not part of his game under Miguel An
Hellermirez or Krishanltanzio or on the earlier part of Dean Smith,
and I asked Dean about this pointedly. I said, look,
what did you do to get Kevin Vargas to defend
as well as he has to? Whether it's now a
big focal point of what he brings in his locker,
and he said, look, I told him simply, you know,
it's a situation, a motivational play. He was in a
(09:56):
basically one v one battle with leel Abada for playing
time on the right wing over the course of this season.
Abada had it won early and then Vargas kind of
had this little come on, and a lot of it
was because of his defensive solidarity. And the other thing
was Carown had a little bit of a problem of
keeping his shot on target, and he said, if you
(10:17):
keep your shot down and you defend, you become undroppable.
And that's what's happened with this. It obviously leads now
to the fact of leel Abada is probably going to
have to start this weekend because of what happened with
Rolford Zaha in the eighty ninth minute of the match,
the red card that was taking the second yellow for
the altercation he had with Jesus Bueno. I think it's
a blow, but I don't think it's a peua to
(10:38):
blow for CHARLOTDT of C going into this game on Tuesday,
because I do think, you know, it's very rare you
can take a DP out of the lineup and sub
them for another one. And I think too, the addition
to Tafolo and these other pieces around charlodov See that
are playing rather well. I'm not gonna sit here and
say that Zaja is not a loss, but there have
been games this season where Zaha is not necessarily been
(11:00):
the focal point or been a passive point, and they've
used other ways to try and beat teams. I do
think it's a situation where this matchup is even enough
to where I think Charlottos can still get a result,
a positive result without Zaha, particularly because they're in their
home building, which they've been very, very good at as
you know over the course of this season. I was
going to ask about positional gravity because of when someone
(11:21):
like Zaja comes in and you sit there and that's
the shiny object, naturally your defense would gravitate toward pinning
him down. Who have been the major benefactors when Zaha
has been in the lineup to this positional gravity. Who've
been those guys that have been open that have converted
those opportunities, whether it's in scoring, chance creation or scoring period.
(11:41):
I need to look up this part of the stat
because he's the most fouled player in the league at
one hundred and twenty five, and that's the most fouled
player in the history of Major League Soccer.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Number two.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I'm wondering whether or not how I'm trying to figure
out how many of those fouls have led to set
piece goals for Charlotto of CE, because they scored eight
set piece goals this season, which is more than they
have in any of their particular games. They also, of
course have had him draw penalties, multiple ones that he
either finished himself. There was the great moment in the
(12:15):
Miami game where he earnedo penalty and then gave the
ball to eaton to Klamati to finish off Charlott of
C's second ever hat trick. So he definitely has the
ability to draw attension and you know, draw two or
three defenders. He's great at swinging the positional part of
the attack to the other side. But I think he
and he's also had a great relationship with Eaton to Klamatti,
(12:37):
and he has gotten this bit of a reputation for
playing you know, the through ball through to Edon in
behind that was when Edon was going very very well.
I think Vargas has benefited a lot from him as well.
And I also think to the central midfielders Jabril Gianni
and Bram Bronico a lot of times as decoys, but
they will make positional runs into the box when Zaha
(12:59):
has the ball and not having to account for either
of those guys who makes that run has freed up
Eaton in the area, has freed up Carown Vargas in
the area, or has even freed up Brant Bronco in
the area too. Brant got an incredible goal back on
one of the nine game winning streak games that got
Charlotte FC ahead in the contest. So it is a
(13:19):
situation where his presence definitely heightens things for Charlotte FC.
They will have to try and find a way to
replicate that in the aggregate as opposed to having him
on the pitch. They've had him in games and played
well without him, or had him out a game that
should say, and played well without him. Charlotte actually this
(13:40):
is way way long ago, didn't have Zaha. On the
opening day of the season, played a very very tough
Seattle team, the same Seattle team that beat New York
head to head by the way on decision Day, and
hell the one it was a one nail deposit at
the time and ended up getting a result because of
a cross in by Caron Vargas that ended up going
(14:01):
off of I believe obed Vargas for her own goal
on the opening day of the season, and one of
the results that Dean Smith said was one that maybe
flattered Charlotte of C. But at this point you're not
looking for flattery, you're just looking for the result. And
it might take a bit of an uglier type of
game for Charlotte of C to win against New York City.
But Dean Smith has shown a propensity more so than
(14:21):
any manager that Charlot of C has had. He's not
really concerned with how it looks. He's just concerned about
the end product. And I think it might take that
type of output, But Charlotte of C has had a
real propensity of scoring team goals. It's it's not about
any one player. I think and and and. While the
Zaha being missing is definitely a talking point, I don't
think it's the massive pendulum swinger that say people on
(14:45):
Apple and the MLS League office have said, you know,
completely flips the series to New York City's way. I
think I think that there's been a lot of that.
There's there's been a lot of doom tweeting and doom
casting when it comes to that particular the storyline, but
also forgetting the fact that Zaha will be back for
Game two of the series, especially when I think Charlotte
(15:06):
see needs him more so on the on the baseball
stadium at Yankee.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Stadium insert baseball stadium here. Yes, the the gnashing of
teeth and the ringing of hands, especially in the lead
up to two games. You have to have things to discuss, uh. Basically,
where a dean is concerned, it's basically just to show
me the baby, don't tell me about the birth. It's
like I just I just read the end product.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I wanted to ask about Toklamati and what it's been
like to see his game grow and evolve in confidence
this season. I know that he probably was he was
He was probably a household name in his own household
and that was about it. And he has evolved into
this player to watch that's kind of flown below the
radar for those of us outside of Charlotte. What's it
been like to see his game grow? So Charlotte has
(15:50):
had this ability and and and they've kind of, I
don't want to say reinvented the wheel, but they've used
the mechanism of their B team, their Crown Legacy team
to kind of funnel in some of these talents. Started
with Nikola Petkevich a couple of years ago. They brought it.
They brought him in on a three million dollar deal,
progressed him through Crown Legacy for a season, got him
(16:11):
to the first team last year. He hasn't quite cracked
the starting eleven, but they've tried it a couple of
other times. One of those was Idon Toklamani, and they've
got a couple of others in the pipeline. They just
promoted Bayekula Balle and they've got another great winger attacking
wing from beneath and Ridolfo Aloko who will more than
likely start the summer or start the winner, I should say,
(16:32):
with the first team in preseason. Even though he is
on a Crown legacy deal presently and will have every
opportunity to try and compete for the first team roster.
Emmanuel Chebu is another one who was referenced by Charlotte
of C senior leadership, but Toklamondi was brought in on
a pretty sizable deal last year, but thought it was
it was the quietest three million dollars Charlotte of C's
ever spent because you look at it and say, okay,
(16:54):
you know, this is a guy who's eighteen nineteen years old. Again,
very very similar to what we looked at when we
saw Patrick Ajumon when he came through, very wet behind
the ears, a lot of raw talent, but something that
is a bit of multiple clay. I don't know if
many Charlotte f C fans even would have thought that
by the end of the year would Eaton took them
(17:15):
not to be the starter and in Charlotte's would be
in the position that they're in because of how much
hype was around was around Ajamon. And while I love
Pat and I think he's going to do great things
for Darby County and I hope he does great things
beyond that, and even at the US men's national team
level edon brings something a little bit different. He's a
(17:35):
lot more of a technical player. He is a very
thankless runner. He's somebody who's not afraid to do the
dirty work and open up things for other people. He's
also somebody who I think has a real innate knack
of being when he's on the ball, he can receive
the ball in the air, he can receive the ball
at his feet, and he also can play one twos
with dudes as well. He's very, very selfless in that fact.
(17:58):
He's got an incredible personality. Obviously, one of the I
think underlying storylines is that he will play with his
countryman Leel Abota this weekend if Leell does end up
getting the start at left wing. And I think those
two when they're on the field together, have a real
great symbiotic relationship that came from the same Israeli team,
Acabi Petitikva. They played also with the Israeli national team
as well together in the Olympics. It's something where it's
(18:21):
that little bit of that chemistry of having played together
that kind of continues that connective tissue. And I think
two we've only scratched the surface of what we can
see for him. I think the eleven goals he scored
this season, they've all been very big impact goals. I
mean the three against Miami, the one I referenced earlier
in the game against Nashville. He has been that X
(18:42):
factor and the fact that you have to account for him,
You have to account for Zaha when he's in there,
and you have to account for Vargas, who is no slouch.
It has made Charlottevsky's attack look so impeccable, even when
you think about the fact that somebody who's got twenty
two goal contributions in pet bl is on the shelf.
The fact that they've been able to get goals while
(19:02):
keeping defensive solidarity, I think has been the secret to
getting them that nine game win streak and the end
part of it and getting them to the top four
that they so desperately craved. So then my last question
for you is, we lead into game number one, and
you know we'll be talking to you before game number
two and game number three and so on and so forth.
What are you the most confident amount where Charlotte is
concerned heading into this matchup with NYC? And what are
(19:22):
you the most concerned about heading into this matchup. I'm
confident they can play well defensively, and it's not disrespecting
Alonzo Martinez as a striker on New York City. He's incredible,
He's impeccable. But the two goals he scored against Arlotte
of SEE this season were fro the penalty spot, and
I think that's something where it might have been a
bit of a wonky game. Tokamadi had a stray hand
(19:43):
in the box for that second goal and the first penalty.
Dean Smith called it dubious at best. I thought it
was a little soft. It was a foul, but I
don't know if it was the kind of foul that
maybe rose to the level of one you give in
the box. It's one of those things where you look
at it and say, there were a lot of things
about that contest that came in rather wonky. New York
was playing very very well at the time as well.
(20:04):
To give them credit for taking advantage, I think New
York's kind of come in a bit of a wonky
finish and Charlotte of C is coming off of a
very big performance against the Supporter Shield winners. I favor
Charlotte in this game. My only question is will it
take penalties or will they be able to get a
touch of class? And I think that's the biggest, biggest
question mark is is is there enough class on the
(20:25):
field to get the requisite amount of goals to win
this game. I don't doubt their defensive solidarity. I think
you've got four in the back that all have EFL
Championship or better experience outside of a deals with Milanda,
who will be in the EFL Championship, maybe even the
Premier League by this time next year, so he at
least has those bon fides. And you think about Tim Reem,
(20:46):
you think about Tafolo and Nathan Burn, who honestly, if
there's an unsung hero on the Charlotte of C team,
it's Nathan Burn because when he went out, that was
kind of the time where things kind of dovetailed downward.
When Charlotte of C was going in that ten out
of twelve stretch and was struggling to pick up results,
struggling to pick up victories, the defensive right back position
(21:08):
very much was a turnstile, and I think from that perspective,
Charlotte of C's suffered greatly. He has come back and
completely stabilized things. He's got a great relationship with Milanda
on that right side, great relationship with Tim Reim as well.
They all know where each other's supposed to be, and
I think Kalina has also helped them and build the
mountain situations as well. He's back to that type of level.
I think it's an absolute shame that he wasn't at
(21:29):
least up as a finalist for Goalkeeper of the Year
for the second consecutive year. I think a lot of
people ignored the metrics on him and looked at only
the fact that he was bened in May and June.
I still think, you know, he had as many clean
sheets as he did a year ago. His XG numbers
are insane, and yet you know, we have people like
you know, Matt Freeze, Dane Sinclair and Takakoa who are
up there, and it just kind of like, you know,
(21:50):
I thought that he should have deserveed to be in
that top three. I voted for him again. I think
he's very much an overlooked player right now and he's
making I think bigger saves this year that he did
at any point last year. I think he made a
lot of comfortable saves last year. I think his back
line very much helped him. He has made more of
the spectacular saves in this run of I would say
the last thirteen games than I think he made it
(22:11):
all at any point of last year. All right, cut
the promo for me. As we get ready for Game
one early next week, what do we do?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
So?
Speaker 1 (22:17):
We will be on a different station than we're usually
on for the first two games of this series. We'll
be on our news talk station, News Talk eleven ten
and nine to nine to three FMWBT. Getting ready for
that one will be on the air at six o'clock.
We'll have an exclusive interview with Dean Smith that will
air at six thirty. It is a longer pregame because
of our friends at National doing the game on FS one,
so we'll have a chance to have some extended conversation
(22:40):
with Dean Smith at six thirty and then the game
at six fifty five for the kick. I will be
on the air three o'clock for Game two a week
from tomorrow. In I would call it beautiful Yankee Stadium,
but it is a baseball field, so there is that.
And hopefully we're thinking about going in for a clincher
that day, or at least typing an opportunity to prevent
(23:00):
game number three coming our way. So then this means
that ten thirty next Friday, you're coming back to talk
about game two. Maybe I can, I can, maybe maybe
maybe Thursday, depending on depending on this, well we will,
we will work something out, depending on Charlotte of FC's
training schedule. I will give you a game two preview
at some point at a time to be determined. Yes,
(23:21):
as always, my friend, great to see you, and you
and your bobblehead which makes me insanely jealous. But yes,
when you get the actual bobblehead, bobblehead, you gotta have
the You gotta calls. Oh yes, and I'll send I'll
and I'll send you one as well. Absolutely, you're amazing.
Uh be well, my friend, have a great call. We'll
catch up with you on the flip side after Game one.
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