October 28, 2025 • 21 mins
The MLS Playoffs delivered drama once again — from Minnesota’s shootout heroics to Cincinnati’s late winner in the “Hell is Real” derby. Home teams keep holding serve, but tonight LAFC and Austin get their turn under the lights as Son Heung-min chases a big postseason moment.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Celtic are spinning on the managerial carousel again. Brendan Rodgers is out amid accusations of creating a “toxic atmosphere,” and club legend Martin O’Neill steps in on an interim basis with Shaun Maloney. But with Ange Postecoglou linked to a shocking return and Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna on the radar, chaos reigns in Glasgow.
Plus, Lionel Messi’s hint about one more World Cup run, Atlanta United’s coaching search heating up with Tata Martino and Giovanni Savarese mentioned in reports, and a new scandal shaking Turkish football.
It’s all part of your Tuesday brew — the stories, the context, and the world’s game Around the Corner from Everywhere.
☕ Morning Espresso is brought to you by Oglethorpe University — Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Celtic are spinning on the managerial carousel again. Brendan Rodgers is out amid accusations of creating a “toxic atmosphere,” and club legend Martin O’Neill steps in on an interim basis with Shaun Maloney. But with Ange Postecoglou linked to a shocking return and Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna on the radar, chaos reigns in Glasgow.
Plus, Lionel Messi’s hint about one more World Cup run, Atlanta United’s coaching search heating up with Tata Martino and Giovanni Savarese mentioned in reports, and a new scandal shaking Turkish football.
It’s all part of your Tuesday brew — the stories, the context, and the world’s game Around the Corner from Everywhere.
☕ Morning Espresso is brought to you by Oglethorpe University — Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
The game never stops, and neither do we. Welcome to
the Morning Espresso on the SDCH Network, brought to you,
as always by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience
and soccer powerhouse. It's Tuesday, October twenty eighth. Before we
dive into another busy day across the world of football,
(00:34):
a moment to honor one of the game's true originals,
Jason Longshore. Thanks for hanging out with me this morning,
and today would have been the ninety second birthday of Garenia,
Brazilian magician who I don't know if redefined is even
really the word to use here. I would probably say
(00:56):
defined because I don't think there was anybody like him before.
I don't know if there's really truly been anybody like him,
since there's some players similar. But he brought a joy
to the game through his dribbling that is just amazing
to watch. He was nicknamed the joy of the people.
(01:17):
He was the unpredictable winger who could unbalance defenders with
just a little shimmy. He could make entire stadiums laugh
and disbelief. Guarriincia was vital to Brazil's nineteen fifty eight
and nineteen sixty two World Cup triumph. In sixty two,
when Pele was injured, it was Guarincha who carried the
(01:39):
Celexau to glory. Became the first player ever to win
the Golden Ball, the Golden Boot and the World Cup
in the same tournament in nineteen sixty two. Here's a
stat that still feels mythical. Brazil never lost a match
when Guarincha and Pele played together. So if you got
a few minutes today, I watch some old footage. There's
(02:01):
plenty of stuff on YouTube. His story is sad off
the field, but on the field he brought so much
joy to this game that we love so much. Go
watch some of this old footage. The bent knees, the
sudden stops, just joyful and everything that he did as
a player. This was an era before you had like
(02:23):
the rehearsed kinds of stepovers and moves. In an era
before you had analytics and spreadsheets. You just had a
guy like gar ain'tcha who just played Happy Birthday to
one of football's purest spirits. All right, from samba to shootouts,
MLS playoffs, you got some more drama last night Seattle.
(02:44):
Hell is Real lived up to its billing. Kevin Dankey,
the Togo leze forward who had fifteen goals in the
regular season. He scored in the seventy eighth minute to
give Cincy a one zierl win over their rivals Columbus.
It wasn't pretty, but it felt like a playoff. It
was gritty, it was physical. It was decided by that
one single moment. In Minnesota, you didn't get that moment.
(03:08):
It was about the nerves. And this is not a
shock if you've watched the Minnesota United play this season.
Ninety minutes without a goal. Dane Saint Clair came up
pugen penalties. He saved Alex Roldan. He watched Christian errol
Don hit the crossbar. Danny Lava hit the post. At
the end, Julian Gressel had one saved. I mean or
(03:28):
had one off the post. Minnesota won the shootout three too.
It was maybe not the greatest of shootouts, but it
was dramatic, that's for sure. The Loons take game one
in the best of three, and now they go to
Seattle and try to put the series away. It's a
huge result for Eric Ramsey's Loons. Dane Saint Clair is
one of the best goalkeepers in the league. He definitely
(03:49):
gets under your skin, does what he needs to do
as a goalkeeper. Look, we've seen Debo Martinez do this.
Dane Saint Clair's got some of that in him. I
do think Minnesota is going to have to figure out
a way to be more with the ball. I think
they are going to get limited at some point by
somebody who is going to say, you know what, it's
(04:10):
a playoff game. We're not going to lose to a
team that doesn't want the ball. Here have it? What
are you going to do. I do think they're going
to have that test at some point. We'll see if
they can handle it. Tonight, the attention shifts to Los
Angeles LAFC host Austin FC. In Game one, Ryan Hollings
had spoke to the media. He was full of praise
for Sony hu Men, calling him quote the kind of
(04:30):
guy you just want to be around unquote. Nine goals
in ten appearances since arriving from Tottenham Hotspur, his impact
has been instant. Austin they're going to need a spark
from Owen Wolf, who found form late in the season
with seven goals in his last fifteen matches. If they're
going to pull an upset owen Wolf, his composure is
going to be key. If LAFC does what you expect,
(04:54):
it's probably gonna be Sonny who has a huge role
in it. Let's stay in MLS US The managerial carousel
spins on. Two more teams have hopped on board, the
New York Red Bulls. They dismissed Sandro Schwartz just a
year after an MLS Cup appearance. They did finish tenth
in the East. They missed the playoffs for the first
time in fifteen years, and the MLS record streak snapped.
(05:17):
He also have a front office shakeup. Julian de Guzman
moves up to the head of sport as Yulkin Schneider
returns to Europe. Out West Colorado parted ways with Chris Armis.
He nearly got them into the postseason. They were in
I think in the middle of the second half on
decision Day. Five points in their last seven games, though
(05:39):
doomed the run to get there. The late LAFC equalizer
in the final minute sealed their fate. It also sealed
the decision of moving on from Chris Armis. Look I
know there was a lot of talk about Armis and
our friends at the Burgundy Wave and Matt Pollard and
things that were said in the postgame press conference that night.
(06:00):
Please make sure that you yes if you saw that,
and I hope that you saw it and people aren't
still raging about something they didn't see. I hope that
you watch it, and then I hope that you read
Chris Armis's apology, and I hope that you read Matt
Pollard's article about that apology before firing off takes, especially
(06:25):
after somebody's lost his job. I've always been a fan
of Chris Armis, I really have, and I feel like
he's pretty consistently been treated unfairly. I think maybe one
of the reasons that I have been a fan and
have rooted for him is what I thought was extremely
unfair treatment from the English media when he was brought
(06:46):
in as an assistant at Manchester United. Absolutely, Chris Armis,
as a former US men's national team player, as a
coach who has worked around the world, he absolutely deserved
that opportunity to be on that staff and it was
ridiculous the comment that were made when he wasn't. It
was very anti American Soccer comments being made and that
upset me. I think Chris Armis is a good person.
(07:08):
I think he's a good coach. I think in the
moment after the game against LAFC he was raw and
upset and not at Matt Pollard, but just upset and
that's where it ended up getting directed and that was
not fair, and he apologized for it. I'm rooting for
Chris Armis, I really am. I hope that he finds
a good spot in what's next for him. I do
(07:29):
think he can be a good coach. I think he
did a good job with Colorado. I don't think they
had enough talent for the majority of his time there.
Now they have spent some money as of late, which
is great. What can they be down the line. Their
next managerial appointment is going to be really, really interesting.
But I think Chris Armis there's a place for him
(07:50):
in this league, either as a head coach in the
right situation, or as an assistant or getting involved with
US Soccer. I think Chris Armis is a really smart
guy in the game. I'd like to see him stay
involved somewhere after he gets kind of past the disappointment
of not getting what he wanted to accomplish here. He
did talk about in his statement thanking the fans and
(08:12):
thanking the club that he feels like they are now
on a path to success and he's happy that he
had a hand in that. I would absolutely agree with that.
It's another winner coming up. It's another way of coaching changes,
a bunch of big names waiting for calls, bunch of
clubs looking. LAFC is going to be one that we'll
be looking after their season ends with Steve Trundelo. Here
in Atlanta, the search continues as well, and there's a
(08:35):
lot of conversation about that search now popping up in
the media. You've had reports in the Athletic, in ESPN,
in the Atlanta Journal Constitution talk to Martino's name has
been in all of those reports, either as a candidate
or a front runner or the top choice, depending on
who you're talking to in the language that's being used.
(08:56):
All of them would say that intend to agree that
talks are advancing. There's been talk in the ESPN article
from Jeff Carlisle about the sides beginning to outline contract terms.
But this is not just purely the club with one
candidate in Tata Martino. Giovanni Savareesi was mentioned as a
(09:18):
very clear top candidate by Jeff Carlile and ESPN that
had not been reported anywhere else previously. Giovanni Savasi, if
you remember, brought Portland here in MLS Cup in twenty eighteen.
He won titles with the New York Cosmos took Portland
to another MLS Cup. It's going to be interesting as
(09:39):
to what happens. There are other candidates as well that
have not been named. I think one of the articles,
I believe Carlisle and ESPN had interviews happening today in Atlanta.
Ownership will be involved in those interviews, and it seems
like they want to move very quickly here and there's
enough different possibilities that to happen. So totally intrigued. Chris
(10:03):
Henderson is going to speak to the media tomorrow. I'm
sure he is not going to talk about specific candidates.
I don't think there will be any further news to
talk about for him by tomorrow, but who knows. I mean,
that's the nature of the stuff. It can go fast.
But we'll be covering that. As you know. John Nelson
will be on SDHAM tomorrow morning, starting at nine oh five,
(10:24):
Madison Cruz and I will be at the presser. We
will give you our thoughts after the presser with John
on Sdham probably around ten thirty, just depending on the
timing of everything. So a lot of things starting to
bubble up here in Atlanta. It could be doctor Martine
with a return and a reunion. It could be Giovanni Savaase,
(10:44):
it could be somebody that nobody is talking about yet.
We'll be fascinating. It's going to be a busy offseason
here in Atlanta and around the league. I'll be talking
more about it tonight on Atlanta Soccer tonight as well.
That's at ten o'clock on ninety two to nine in
the game in the Oudyssey app. Next, let's go to Glasgow.
Let's go to Celtic there in turmoil, and we talked
(11:05):
about it on Soccer over there last night. Brendan Rodgers
is out. It is ugly. Major shareholder der Mount Desmond
accused him of quote creating a toxic atmosphere and being
quote self serving. Okay, club legend Martin O'Neil steps in
on an interim basis with former legend legendary player Sean
Maloney O'Neil says it's just a stopgap. He was shocked
(11:27):
when he got the call. He had literally been on
either TV or radio earlier in the day saying that
Hearts are going to win the league. Maybe not the
best option when you have somebody go say that. I
don't know. I'm just saying they do want a younger,
long term option. They've drawn up a short list that
has a couple of really interesting names on it. One
of them somebody they know well in Oje post To Cooglou,
(11:49):
who's a fan favorite at Celtic, recently sacked by Nottingham
forrest in a job that he should not have taken
and they should not have hired him because they didn't
set him up for success. The other name is Kieren
McKenna from Ipswich Town. Young mastermind. He's guided the club
from League One to the Premier League. Really impressive manager,
started very young after a career on the field was
(12:11):
derailed by injuries. Money could make it tough to get McKenna.
He's under contract through twenty twenty eight. But I do
like that ambition and I talked about it last night
on Soccer over There and Jarrett Smith chimed in quite
a bit, as he knows Celtic better than any of us.
The lack of ambition at times from Celtic has been
maybe my biggest frustration with it. Because the league is
(12:34):
going to be them arrangers, and more often than that,
it's going to be Celtic. There should be an ambition
to be competitive in Europe. I'm not asking them to
win trophies in Europe every single time. That's not realistic,
but they can be much more competitive than they have
been and I would rather see them go for it
as they did under post of Coogloo. Now, look, you've
(12:56):
got some Celtic legends speaking out on podcasts right now.
I'll say and that he was too wide open and
they lost big in Europe and I was it. I
don't think that's necessarily fair. I think he yes, Onge
is going to be wide open, and yes you're going
to have some big results go against him against better teams.
That will happen for sure. But I think he also
(13:17):
had that ambition to take them to the next level,
and I don't think he got the full backing of
the club to do that. They don't need to spend
crazy money because look, they don't have to to win
Scotland to win the Scottish Premiership, but there should be
an expectation that they spend a little bit more in
the right ways. I think it's a very interesting job
(13:38):
because it's a very unique job. There's not many in
the world like it, and it takes the right kind
of person. McKenna would be a fascinating higher if you
go get him. I've been really impressed with his rise.
I love Onge and I think he could be great
there again. And I think it's a really good spot
for him in terms of a landing spot to rebuild
(13:59):
his career, build his reputation. I just wonder how the
politics of Celtic are going to factor into all of this.
It's going to be a watch. It's going to be
a soap opera, that's for sure. All right, let's bounce
around the world. Will go to Argentina Boca Junior as
they climbed to third in their group in the Klaus
(14:19):
Sura three to one win over Baraka Central fueled by
a brace by Milton Jimenez and the other news out
of Argentina that I loved today, forty five year old
Pepe sand played for Lenouse till he was forty striker,
scored goals everywhere. He has made another comeback. He is
(14:39):
a coach for one of Lenus's academy teams, but he
is playing for Klube Argentino de bell Bije del bej
Bije in the amateur Championship. He just can't get away.
Pepe sned is great. I've always loved his game and big, tall,
(14:59):
length dude and he just scores goals. Juventus they're closing
in on Luciano Speleetti to replace Igor Tudor. Reports also
show reports are saying that they'll meet today with Speletti
and we'll see if he takes it. But also reports
are showing that Juve's financial hole is now near one
billion euro over eight seasons and they're about to throw
more money at the problem with capital investment. So Youve's
(15:24):
got work to do. Going back to when they signed
Christiano Ronaldo, they're still paying for that and it hasn't
paid off. In Turkey. In Turkey, a more than one
hundred and fifty referees are being investigated for betting on matches.
Over three hundred had betting accounts seven in the top flight,
one official reportedly wagered on over eighteen thousand games in
(15:46):
five years. Stunning. Maybe not eighteen thousand different games, he
made over eighteen thousand wagers, I think is the better
way to put it, because that's a lot of games.
So I don't know if there's so many games to
wager on. But bets are a weird thing, and you're
starting to see them more and more, and they're very
easily manipulated, as we've seen in the NBA gambling scandal
(16:08):
that's going on right now. I feel like that's probably
where some of this is, and that is that's a problem.
Good luck Turkey because Jose Mourinho said your referees were toxic,
and wow, Jose was right. I don't know if he
knew all this, but he was right. We'll go to
Iceland next. Champions vikingr Rekuvic. They were busted for selling
(16:31):
beer disguised as donations during their title party. Police raided
the celebration and reportedly it was the team that lost
in the match that lost the title who called the police,
which is great. The stories out of Iceland are always wonderful,
but this is crazy. They couldn't sell the beer, they
(16:53):
didn't have the license to do it. So they said
that they were asking for donations for the beer and
the losing teams like nah, no, no, no, no, police come
bust them. And they did what a victory celebration it
all right, Let's go to some comments from Lionel Messi,
and look, I know there's a lot of people in
MLS circles who been out of shape because Lionel Messi
(17:15):
doesn't give interviews on a regular basis. Well neither did
Michael Jordan and many others. I just it is what
it is. When you're at that level, you are going
to be able to avoid speaking as much. I do
not think it is incumbent on him to do that.
I would enjoy it, because I do enjoy listening to
(17:36):
him talk. I think he has really good ideas about
things that we're going to get into him here in
just a second. But I don't think he is obligated
to do that. I don't, and I think he has
done plenty to grow the game here in the United States,
and he's obviously done plenty in Argentina. Bring them joy
and happiness with winning a World Cup title and winning
a Copa America back to back. I don't need him
(18:00):
to talk more, and I don't think he fixes every
issue in American soccer. If he does, I just don't.
I do enjoy it when he does, though, and I'm
happy when he does speak because I think he's very
well spoken and I think he's a very interesting interview.
Maybe because he doesn't speak very much, and that could
(18:21):
be part of it. But I'd like to hear his
thoughts more on things. But I'm not going to get
upset if he chooses not to give them. It's just me.
He said in an interview with NBC that he wants
to play a next year's World Cup. He'll listen to
his body first. He said. If I can be useful
to the national team, I'll be there. If not, I won't.
(18:42):
I'm almost certain he'll be there, barring injury. He also
called for Major League Soccer to loosen its roster and
it's spending rules, saying every club should be free to
sign whoever they want. I disagree with that, but I
do think they have to spend more. And we've had
these conversations before and we could go a million different
places around it. But I do like the idea of
salary caps. I think it helps promote sustainability, It keeps
(19:06):
clubs from overspending. It does promote parity as well, which
I think is a very important factor in Major League soccer.
Can you loosen it some, Yes, the cap needs to
go up. There needs to be an ability to spend more.
I thoroughly agree with that. I think the playoff structure
(19:29):
brings some of that parody back in because of the
unpredictableness of a playoff. So to me, I'm leaning into
that as my equalizer. I do think that big clubs
should be allowed to spend more if they so choose,
not recklessly. Maybe you look at a luxury tax kind
(19:51):
of situation where then other clubs get money on the
back end if they can't spend and compete, and they
maybe can spend and compete a little bit more. With
figuring these things out, it's worked well for the NBA,
it's worked well for the NFL. I don't think it
works well in Major League Baseball. I don't know the
NHL system well enough to tell you. I do think
(20:14):
there are things to learn from the salary cap leagues
that we have in other sports in the United States.
But I thoroughly agree with loosening the spending rules and
allowing more to be spent. I think it is a
necessary step for Major League soccer where it is today.
Also talking about World Cup for next year, FIFA opened
(20:36):
the next ticket phase for twenty twenty six, another one
million tickets available through October thirty first early access for
fans in the US, Canada and Mexico. That's for Tuesday
morning Espresso. We had some shootouts, we had shakeups, we
had a managerial carousel spinning out of control with new
clubs jumping on it. Just a wild one. Join me
(20:56):
tonight for Atlanta soccer Tonight on ninety two ninety game
ten o'clock. You can listen on the radio, of course,
on a ninety two point nine FM. You can also
listen as a podcast after the fact on Off the Woodwork.
You can listen on the Odyssey app, both live and
on demand. We'll dig deeper into the playoffs, talk a
little bit about that LAFC match that'll be going on tonight.
(21:18):
Talk about any other news that pops up today. I'm
sure that it will. We'll talk about the Atlanta United
managerial search. Plenty of things to dig into in Atlanta soccer. Tonight,
this evening, I'm Jason Longshort. Thank you for starting your
morning with us on the SDCH Network. The game never stops,
neither do we, and we always strive to be around
(21:39):
the corner from everywhere.
The game never stops, and neither do we. Welcome to
the Morning Espresso on the SDCH Network, brought to you,
as always by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience
and soccer powerhouse. It's Tuesday, October twenty eighth. Before we
dive into another busy day across the world of football,
(00:34):
a moment to honor one of the game's true originals,
Jason Longshore. Thanks for hanging out with me this morning,
and today would have been the ninety second birthday of Garenia,
Brazilian magician who I don't know if redefined is even
really the word to use here. I would probably say
(00:56):
defined because I don't think there was anybody like him before.
I don't know if there's really truly been anybody like him,
since there's some players similar. But he brought a joy
to the game through his dribbling that is just amazing
to watch. He was nicknamed the joy of the people.
(01:17):
He was the unpredictable winger who could unbalance defenders with
just a little shimmy. He could make entire stadiums laugh
and disbelief. Guarriincia was vital to Brazil's nineteen fifty eight
and nineteen sixty two World Cup triumph. In sixty two,
when Pele was injured, it was Guarincha who carried the
(01:39):
Celexau to glory. Became the first player ever to win
the Golden Ball, the Golden Boot and the World Cup
in the same tournament in nineteen sixty two. Here's a
stat that still feels mythical. Brazil never lost a match
when Guarincha and Pele played together. So if you got
a few minutes today, I watch some old footage. There's
(02:01):
plenty of stuff on YouTube. His story is sad off
the field, but on the field he brought so much
joy to this game that we love so much. Go
watch some of this old footage. The bent knees, the
sudden stops, just joyful and everything that he did as
a player. This was an era before you had like
(02:23):
the rehearsed kinds of stepovers and moves. In an era
before you had analytics and spreadsheets. You just had a
guy like gar ain'tcha who just played Happy Birthday to
one of football's purest spirits. All right, from samba to shootouts,
MLS playoffs, you got some more drama last night Seattle.
(02:44):
Hell is Real lived up to its billing. Kevin Dankey,
the Togo leze forward who had fifteen goals in the
regular season. He scored in the seventy eighth minute to
give Cincy a one zierl win over their rivals Columbus.
It wasn't pretty, but it felt like a playoff. It
was gritty, it was physical. It was decided by that
one single moment. In Minnesota, you didn't get that moment.
(03:08):
It was about the nerves. And this is not a
shock if you've watched the Minnesota United play this season.
Ninety minutes without a goal. Dane Saint Clair came up
pugen penalties. He saved Alex Roldan. He watched Christian errol
Don hit the crossbar. Danny Lava hit the post. At
the end, Julian Gressel had one saved. I mean or
(03:28):
had one off the post. Minnesota won the shootout three too.
It was maybe not the greatest of shootouts, but it
was dramatic, that's for sure. The Loons take game one
in the best of three, and now they go to
Seattle and try to put the series away. It's a
huge result for Eric Ramsey's Loons. Dane Saint Clair is
one of the best goalkeepers in the league. He definitely
(03:49):
gets under your skin, does what he needs to do
as a goalkeeper. Look, we've seen Debo Martinez do this.
Dane Saint Clair's got some of that in him. I
do think Minnesota is going to have to figure out
a way to be more with the ball. I think
they are going to get limited at some point by
somebody who is going to say, you know what, it's
(04:10):
a playoff game. We're not going to lose to a
team that doesn't want the ball. Here have it? What
are you going to do. I do think they're going
to have that test at some point. We'll see if
they can handle it. Tonight, the attention shifts to Los
Angeles LAFC host Austin FC. In Game one, Ryan Hollings
had spoke to the media. He was full of praise
for Sony hu Men, calling him quote the kind of
(04:30):
guy you just want to be around unquote. Nine goals
in ten appearances since arriving from Tottenham Hotspur, his impact
has been instant. Austin they're going to need a spark
from Owen Wolf, who found form late in the season
with seven goals in his last fifteen matches. If they're
going to pull an upset owen Wolf, his composure is
going to be key. If LAFC does what you expect,
(04:54):
it's probably gonna be Sonny who has a huge role
in it. Let's stay in MLS US The managerial carousel
spins on. Two more teams have hopped on board, the
New York Red Bulls. They dismissed Sandro Schwartz just a
year after an MLS Cup appearance. They did finish tenth
in the East. They missed the playoffs for the first
time in fifteen years, and the MLS record streak snapped.
(05:17):
He also have a front office shakeup. Julian de Guzman
moves up to the head of sport as Yulkin Schneider
returns to Europe. Out West Colorado parted ways with Chris Armis.
He nearly got them into the postseason. They were in
I think in the middle of the second half on
decision Day. Five points in their last seven games, though
(05:39):
doomed the run to get there. The late LAFC equalizer
in the final minute sealed their fate. It also sealed
the decision of moving on from Chris Armis. Look I
know there was a lot of talk about Armis and
our friends at the Burgundy Wave and Matt Pollard and
things that were said in the postgame press conference that night.
(06:00):
Please make sure that you yes if you saw that,
and I hope that you saw it and people aren't
still raging about something they didn't see. I hope that
you watch it, and then I hope that you read
Chris Armis's apology, and I hope that you read Matt
Pollard's article about that apology before firing off takes, especially
(06:25):
after somebody's lost his job. I've always been a fan
of Chris Armis, I really have, and I feel like
he's pretty consistently been treated unfairly. I think maybe one
of the reasons that I have been a fan and
have rooted for him is what I thought was extremely
unfair treatment from the English media when he was brought
(06:46):
in as an assistant at Manchester United. Absolutely, Chris Armis,
as a former US men's national team player, as a
coach who has worked around the world, he absolutely deserved
that opportunity to be on that staff and it was
ridiculous the comment that were made when he wasn't. It
was very anti American Soccer comments being made and that
upset me. I think Chris Armis is a good person.
(07:08):
I think he's a good coach. I think in the
moment after the game against LAFC he was raw and
upset and not at Matt Pollard, but just upset and
that's where it ended up getting directed and that was
not fair, and he apologized for it. I'm rooting for
Chris Armis, I really am. I hope that he finds
a good spot in what's next for him. I do
(07:29):
think he can be a good coach. I think he
did a good job with Colorado. I don't think they
had enough talent for the majority of his time there.
Now they have spent some money as of late, which
is great. What can they be down the line. Their
next managerial appointment is going to be really, really interesting.
But I think Chris Armis there's a place for him
(07:50):
in this league, either as a head coach in the
right situation, or as an assistant or getting involved with
US Soccer. I think Chris Armis is a really smart
guy in the game. I'd like to see him stay
involved somewhere after he gets kind of past the disappointment
of not getting what he wanted to accomplish here. He
did talk about in his statement thanking the fans and
(08:12):
thanking the club that he feels like they are now
on a path to success and he's happy that he
had a hand in that. I would absolutely agree with that.
It's another winner coming up. It's another way of coaching changes,
a bunch of big names waiting for calls, bunch of
clubs looking. LAFC is going to be one that we'll
be looking after their season ends with Steve Trundelo. Here
in Atlanta, the search continues as well, and there's a
(08:35):
lot of conversation about that search now popping up in
the media. You've had reports in the Athletic, in ESPN,
in the Atlanta Journal Constitution talk to Martino's name has
been in all of those reports, either as a candidate
or a front runner or the top choice, depending on
who you're talking to in the language that's being used.
(08:56):
All of them would say that intend to agree that
talks are advancing. There's been talk in the ESPN article
from Jeff Carlisle about the sides beginning to outline contract terms.
But this is not just purely the club with one
candidate in Tata Martino. Giovanni Savareesi was mentioned as a
(09:18):
very clear top candidate by Jeff Carlile and ESPN that
had not been reported anywhere else previously. Giovanni Savasi, if
you remember, brought Portland here in MLS Cup in twenty eighteen.
He won titles with the New York Cosmos took Portland
to another MLS Cup. It's going to be interesting as
(09:39):
to what happens. There are other candidates as well that
have not been named. I think one of the articles,
I believe Carlisle and ESPN had interviews happening today in Atlanta.
Ownership will be involved in those interviews, and it seems
like they want to move very quickly here and there's
enough different possibilities that to happen. So totally intrigued. Chris
(10:03):
Henderson is going to speak to the media tomorrow. I'm
sure he is not going to talk about specific candidates.
I don't think there will be any further news to
talk about for him by tomorrow, but who knows. I mean,
that's the nature of the stuff. It can go fast.
But we'll be covering that. As you know. John Nelson
will be on SDHAM tomorrow morning, starting at nine oh five,
(10:24):
Madison Cruz and I will be at the presser. We
will give you our thoughts after the presser with John
on Sdham probably around ten thirty, just depending on the
timing of everything. So a lot of things starting to
bubble up here in Atlanta. It could be doctor Martine
with a return and a reunion. It could be Giovanni Savaase,
(10:44):
it could be somebody that nobody is talking about yet.
We'll be fascinating. It's going to be a busy offseason
here in Atlanta and around the league. I'll be talking
more about it tonight on Atlanta Soccer tonight as well.
That's at ten o'clock on ninety two to nine in
the game in the Oudyssey app. Next, let's go to Glasgow.
Let's go to Celtic there in turmoil, and we talked
(11:05):
about it on Soccer over there last night. Brendan Rodgers
is out. It is ugly. Major shareholder der Mount Desmond
accused him of quote creating a toxic atmosphere and being
quote self serving. Okay, club legend Martin O'Neil steps in
on an interim basis with former legend legendary player Sean
Maloney O'Neil says it's just a stopgap. He was shocked
(11:27):
when he got the call. He had literally been on
either TV or radio earlier in the day saying that
Hearts are going to win the league. Maybe not the
best option when you have somebody go say that. I
don't know. I'm just saying they do want a younger,
long term option. They've drawn up a short list that
has a couple of really interesting names on it. One
of them somebody they know well in Oje post To Cooglou,
(11:49):
who's a fan favorite at Celtic, recently sacked by Nottingham
forrest in a job that he should not have taken
and they should not have hired him because they didn't
set him up for success. The other name is Kieren
McKenna from Ipswich Town. Young mastermind. He's guided the club
from League One to the Premier League. Really impressive manager,
started very young after a career on the field was
(12:11):
derailed by injuries. Money could make it tough to get McKenna.
He's under contract through twenty twenty eight. But I do
like that ambition and I talked about it last night
on Soccer over There and Jarrett Smith chimed in quite
a bit, as he knows Celtic better than any of us.
The lack of ambition at times from Celtic has been
maybe my biggest frustration with it. Because the league is
(12:34):
going to be them arrangers, and more often than that,
it's going to be Celtic. There should be an ambition
to be competitive in Europe. I'm not asking them to
win trophies in Europe every single time. That's not realistic,
but they can be much more competitive than they have
been and I would rather see them go for it
as they did under post of Coogloo. Now, look, you've
(12:56):
got some Celtic legends speaking out on podcasts right now.
I'll say and that he was too wide open and
they lost big in Europe and I was it. I
don't think that's necessarily fair. I think he yes, Onge
is going to be wide open, and yes you're going
to have some big results go against him against better teams.
That will happen for sure. But I think he also
(13:17):
had that ambition to take them to the next level,
and I don't think he got the full backing of
the club to do that. They don't need to spend
crazy money because look, they don't have to to win
Scotland to win the Scottish Premiership, but there should be
an expectation that they spend a little bit more in
the right ways. I think it's a very interesting job
(13:38):
because it's a very unique job. There's not many in
the world like it, and it takes the right kind
of person. McKenna would be a fascinating higher if you
go get him. I've been really impressed with his rise.
I love Onge and I think he could be great
there again. And I think it's a really good spot
for him in terms of a landing spot to rebuild
(13:59):
his career, build his reputation. I just wonder how the
politics of Celtic are going to factor into all of this.
It's going to be a watch. It's going to be
a soap opera, that's for sure. All right, let's bounce
around the world. Will go to Argentina Boca Junior as
they climbed to third in their group in the Klaus
(14:19):
Sura three to one win over Baraka Central fueled by
a brace by Milton Jimenez and the other news out
of Argentina that I loved today, forty five year old
Pepe sand played for Lenouse till he was forty striker,
scored goals everywhere. He has made another comeback. He is
(14:39):
a coach for one of Lenus's academy teams, but he
is playing for Klube Argentino de bell Bije del bej
Bije in the amateur Championship. He just can't get away.
Pepe sned is great. I've always loved his game and big, tall,
(14:59):
length dude and he just scores goals. Juventus they're closing
in on Luciano Speleetti to replace Igor Tudor. Reports also
show reports are saying that they'll meet today with Speletti
and we'll see if he takes it. But also reports
are showing that Juve's financial hole is now near one
billion euro over eight seasons and they're about to throw
more money at the problem with capital investment. So Youve's
(15:24):
got work to do. Going back to when they signed
Christiano Ronaldo, they're still paying for that and it hasn't
paid off. In Turkey. In Turkey, a more than one
hundred and fifty referees are being investigated for betting on matches.
Over three hundred had betting accounts seven in the top flight,
one official reportedly wagered on over eighteen thousand games in
(15:46):
five years. Stunning. Maybe not eighteen thousand different games, he
made over eighteen thousand wagers, I think is the better
way to put it, because that's a lot of games.
So I don't know if there's so many games to
wager on. But bets are a weird thing, and you're
starting to see them more and more, and they're very
easily manipulated, as we've seen in the NBA gambling scandal
(16:08):
that's going on right now. I feel like that's probably
where some of this is, and that is that's a problem.
Good luck Turkey because Jose Mourinho said your referees were toxic,
and wow, Jose was right. I don't know if he
knew all this, but he was right. We'll go to
Iceland next. Champions vikingr Rekuvic. They were busted for selling
(16:31):
beer disguised as donations during their title party. Police raided
the celebration and reportedly it was the team that lost
in the match that lost the title who called the police,
which is great. The stories out of Iceland are always wonderful,
but this is crazy. They couldn't sell the beer, they
(16:53):
didn't have the license to do it. So they said
that they were asking for donations for the beer and
the losing teams like nah, no, no, no, no, police come
bust them. And they did what a victory celebration it
all right, Let's go to some comments from Lionel Messi,
and look, I know there's a lot of people in
MLS circles who been out of shape because Lionel Messi
(17:15):
doesn't give interviews on a regular basis. Well neither did
Michael Jordan and many others. I just it is what
it is. When you're at that level, you are going
to be able to avoid speaking as much. I do
not think it is incumbent on him to do that.
I would enjoy it, because I do enjoy listening to
(17:36):
him talk. I think he has really good ideas about
things that we're going to get into him here in
just a second. But I don't think he is obligated
to do that. I don't, and I think he has
done plenty to grow the game here in the United States,
and he's obviously done plenty in Argentina. Bring them joy
and happiness with winning a World Cup title and winning
a Copa America back to back. I don't need him
(18:00):
to talk more, and I don't think he fixes every
issue in American soccer. If he does, I just don't.
I do enjoy it when he does, though, and I'm
happy when he does speak because I think he's very
well spoken and I think he's a very interesting interview.
Maybe because he doesn't speak very much, and that could
(18:21):
be part of it. But I'd like to hear his
thoughts more on things. But I'm not going to get
upset if he chooses not to give them. It's just me.
He said in an interview with NBC that he wants
to play a next year's World Cup. He'll listen to
his body first. He said. If I can be useful
to the national team, I'll be there. If not, I won't.
(18:42):
I'm almost certain he'll be there, barring injury. He also
called for Major League Soccer to loosen its roster and
it's spending rules, saying every club should be free to
sign whoever they want. I disagree with that, but I
do think they have to spend more. And we've had
these conversations before and we could go a million different
places around it. But I do like the idea of
salary caps. I think it helps promote sustainability, It keeps
(19:06):
clubs from overspending. It does promote parity as well, which
I think is a very important factor in Major League soccer.
Can you loosen it some, Yes, the cap needs to
go up. There needs to be an ability to spend more.
I thoroughly agree with that. I think the playoff structure
(19:29):
brings some of that parody back in because of the
unpredictableness of a playoff. So to me, I'm leaning into
that as my equalizer. I do think that big clubs
should be allowed to spend more if they so choose,
not recklessly. Maybe you look at a luxury tax kind
(19:51):
of situation where then other clubs get money on the
back end if they can't spend and compete, and they
maybe can spend and compete a little bit more. With
figuring these things out, it's worked well for the NBA,
it's worked well for the NFL. I don't think it
works well in Major League Baseball. I don't know the
NHL system well enough to tell you. I do think
(20:14):
there are things to learn from the salary cap leagues
that we have in other sports in the United States.
But I thoroughly agree with loosening the spending rules and
allowing more to be spent. I think it is a
necessary step for Major League soccer where it is today.
Also talking about World Cup for next year, FIFA opened
(20:36):
the next ticket phase for twenty twenty six, another one
million tickets available through October thirty first early access for
fans in the US, Canada and Mexico. That's for Tuesday
morning Espresso. We had some shootouts, we had shakeups, we
had a managerial carousel spinning out of control with new
clubs jumping on it. Just a wild one. Join me
(20:56):
tonight for Atlanta soccer Tonight on ninety two ninety game
ten o'clock. You can listen on the radio, of course,
on a ninety two point nine FM. You can also
listen as a podcast after the fact on Off the Woodwork.
You can listen on the Odyssey app, both live and
on demand. We'll dig deeper into the playoffs, talk a
little bit about that LAFC match that'll be going on tonight.
(21:18):
Talk about any other news that pops up today. I'm
sure that it will. We'll talk about the Atlanta United
managerial search. Plenty of things to dig into in Atlanta soccer. Tonight,
this evening, I'm Jason Longshort. Thank you for starting your
morning with us on the SDCH Network. The game never stops,
neither do we, and we always strive to be around
(21:39):
the corner from everywhere.
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