Soccer For US Pod, Episode 125: Curious Selections for USMNT September Camp

Bart and Thomas talk about the 24 players called into the USMNT camp to play two matches this September. What is Pochettino's plan? Does it make sense? Why are we still missing so many top players? What is our favorite Michael Bradley moment?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Y'all, welcome to another episode Soccer for US. I am
Art and on this episode we are talking about the
twenty four players called into USM and T camps to
play two matches this September. But she matches our guests
two World Cup quality opponents. First, we face Korea on Sunday,
September sixth in Harrison, New Jersey, and then we go

(00:39):
to Columbus, Ohio to take on Japan on September ninth.
It's too tough tests and I have one man to
chat about them with me. It is the greatest historian
on US soccer Twitter, Thomas aka Uskey. For Thomas, you
are raising the next Alex Morgan.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
It sounds like, ah, yeah, she'd love to hear that.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I you know, I do have a daughter who's very,
very passionate about soccer and very dedicated and so proud
of just how at the time she puts in and
the leadership she provides as a younger player who's playing
up with other with other older kids. So it's definitely,

(01:18):
you know, she would hate for me to be bragging
about her, but she definitely is, you know, a great
kid that puts a ton of effort in and it's
just fun watching her. So it's a little bit better
than coaching her because I actually get to watch her
flourish as opposed to coaching the team and not really
getting to enjoy those moments.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, hopefully many more moments to come for both you
and your daughter. And also again, congrats to her success
this past weekend in her first real tournament there. She
may be getting a call up to the US women's
national team. And I don't know about ten years, but
we do have three now twenty four players who were
called up, Thomas. Let's just list the roster real quick

(02:02):
so that we know who we're talking about and then
we'll start actually talking about things. We have three goalkeepers
called them Roman Celentano, Matt Frees and Jonathan Cleansman. Cleansmand
kind of the new guy, uh he plays at Cessna
in Ceti B, which is the Italian second division. Defenders
eight of them, Max Arfsten, Noah Kai Banks, new Guy,

(02:25):
Tristan Blackman, kind of New Virginio, dust Alex Freeman, Nathan Harriel,
Tim Reim and Chris Richards. The midfield Tyler Adams, Sebastian Burholter,
Luca Delatore, Diego Luna, Jack McGlenn, Christian rold Don a
late addition, and Sean Zaalivski. And up top we have

(02:46):
vul Airin Ballaghan, Damian Downs, Christian Polistic, Josh Sergeant, Tim Waya,
and Alex Sandejas. All right, before Baby, we talked about
the players. I think it's fair to I think we
have to talk about this roster in the way that
whatever the reason Pochettino gave us, so let's discuss the plan,

(03:11):
if that makes sense. Thomas, he said he's using this
camp as a final opportunity to look at players, and
I guess my thought and response to that was, okay,
I don't disagree with kind of like taking some of
the guys who impressed you back in the Gold Cup summer,

(03:31):
bringing them into some of the guys some some keyword there,
some bringing them into this camp and saying, all right,
you know what, here's the twenty three that I feel best.
You know, here's the twenty three best players or whatever,
and then here's some guys from the Gold Cup, and like,
maybe you have a twenty seven player camp and you go,
all right, here's a great test for you to move
up and see if you can compete not only with
the guys in this camp, but against verifiably two better

(03:56):
opponents than anything we saw outside of Mexico and the
Gold Cup. I just I can't get behind the squad
construction here, and I just need to know what you're
thinking about, the reasoning and the purpose of doing this.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
So the September window is a tough one, right, because
a lot of debate club wise, Hey, we just started
the season. These players are just getting into just getting
into that season. I don't I know the club zone
after this, after this cycle, that is going to change.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Uh is the last I knew.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
It will be pushed back later into September, and it'll
be a double window, right, So it'll be the September
October will be a combined window with four four matches essentially, right,
And and so you'll have less of this, You'll have
another couple of weeks of club play. So there is
some of that, right, players just getting transferred, maybe coming
off you know, recovering from injuries from the season. So

(04:51):
there is some of that here, and I and I
don't want to use that as an excuse because just reality,
we see it.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
All the time.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
With this September window, very totally right. There are there
are a handful of guys that I think absolutely fit into
this in terms of, like I mean, Ricardo Peppy, maybe
the best example of dude is barely getting back to
playing full time. Let him say, so, I'm with you
on that, like, yeah, but there are some that just
fall into this continue.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, And I think I think that's part of it.
Right when we look at the construction of that roster.
He said, Okay, there's a handful of players that fall
into this, right, and I'm okay with the club change
or recover from injuries or whatever it is. Right, maybe
we've seen them and kind of feel good about them, right,
and then we get to this other point of like,
who the hell are these players?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Right?

Speaker 3 (05:34):
So there's a couple on the roster that were on
the provisional roster for the Gold Cup that maybe been
considered are on the borderline, and some some I'll mention
one that was originally on the roster that got injured
in Juan Jones, who is not on this roster, right.
So he's an example of a player that if I
saw on this roster and said, you know what he made?
He made the roster. Maybe he wants to get a

(05:56):
look at him, and I'd be okay with that, because.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, absolute, he didn't get a chance to look at
them in the gold cut.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah right, And there were a handful of players that
fell into that, you know, potential piece of it, some
of which he's seen before, so it's not as big
of a The ethnic Balligain was on their desk as
an example, So we look at that and he says, okay, well,
I want to see these players. Fine, some of those
players he did bring in, some of the some of
them obviously down Jones being one he did not so
and then it's the volume of players that we saw

(06:24):
already saw through eight matches, right this summer eight matches,
we saw a lot of these players. And now hold,
you know, and we're seeing him again. Who has any
seen who has he already made his mind up on
a little bit, Like I understand you want to see
other players, and some of the positions I love the selections,
and then other ones I'm like, I'm like, what the

(06:45):
hell are you doing? Like, you know, in general, and
then to you know, the most recent late addition onto
this roster, which I almost think it's a direct trolling
job honestly, you know, in Christian Holdan, I don't understand
that you know a player that hasn't been the.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
You know, in the mid provisional roster either, which is like, yeah,
clearly he hasn't been on the radar. And that's the thing, like,
you know, that's a player that hasn't received a cap
since you know, twenty three. Uh, And so to me,
like you look at that and you're like, what the
hell is going on here? And I hate to use this,
and I probably was one of the advocates for this

(07:22):
during the early Burwhalter years, but the MLS quota is
very much a topic of conversation and something.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
That can seriously consider when we when we look at
this roster and say, well, what's going on here, Like,
what's what's the objective to this?

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Are we trying to build up MLS with these players
that if they're good enough, fine, I don't care because
you're gonna have your primary goalkeepers come out of the
MLS for this tournament.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
For sure.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
But we if we know anything about MLS, the the
defense is not the league style. They don't play that
they play very in my opinion, you know, low intensity defense.
Maybe in the playoffs, they ramp it up, but during
the regular season you don't see that high intensity defense
from these players. And now you're expecting to come in
against you know, high ranked teams in these you know,

(08:10):
in these friendlies.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I mean, I hate, I hate.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
I don't want to be negative about it, but you
kind of want to see these players not do well.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
See here you go, it didn't work right.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
You don't want them to have that because it's a
false sense of security. In my opinion, we we we
have a taste of it against Switzerland and.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Who's the other the.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
Other front, we had Turkey, right, we saw some some
of that, and then we get this false sense of
security when we get into the Gold Cup. So I
think there's a couple of things that come with the
play here. I don't know if I have a feeling
he's still sending a message to some of the players
by calling some of these players in which is to me.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Is crazy head.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
But he's he's playing the game, you know, in my opinion,
and there's some of that involved in this decision making.
In general, there's a bunch of rumors about players' behaviors
during camps early on.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
They may not be true.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
I mean based on some of Pojettino's you know comments
about your coming to camp. You're focused on camp. It's
not playtime. I'm fine with that. Like there's a standard
these players need to be held to or playing for
a big you know, in a big tournament, you know,
in less than what two hundred and eighty days or whatever,
it is sure, right, so you have to help hold

(09:27):
these players here. And this isn't you know, golf time,
jet ski time. This is focused on that sort of
thing and representing the country and having a deep run
right to build that because it's it's a collective thing
of building the.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Program through time.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Right, the Trailblazers of nineteen ninety four that did this
for us, For me as you know, as a youth, right,
that was huge. That got me into it. And you
know even before it, right, I was into it. But
if you miss this chance, it's another twenty eight years,
twenty four years before you maybe get another op oportunity
to host. So collectively, some of these things are odd

(10:06):
to me. And I just think he's, yes, yeah, I
think he's a little lost because he's had enough time
to evaluate these players in this roster enough to where
you don't have to bring this many new faces in
the camp.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
So let's quickly run through of those quote like new faces.
One of those is in goal is Jonathan Clintsman Romans
Salentino Kina but not fully but Jonathan Clintsman in goal
is definitely new, especially for Pochettino defenders. Nolaki Banks is new,
but you know, we'll save him for a discussion later,

(10:47):
but he's the Tristan Blackman is new. And then in
the midfield, you know, Christian Roaldon is new to Pochettino,
and then we also have Sean Zowabski who is not
really new, but I'm gonna lump them in with this
of like, I think, my question, and this is what

(11:10):
you're getting at, is what is what are we going
to get out of these players over someone who we've
seen already, who before we even get them in camp,
most people can judge that their quality is just better.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that Christian

(11:30):
Roaldon isn't having a good MLS season. By all accounts,
he is. He's doing it and it's perfect Christian Roldan
fashion where he has actual no stats to show for it.
That matter, but you know, all of his underlying metrics
are great. People go crazy for it because stats nerds
love to see that. But we have other guys in
this national team that we could call in who are,

(11:53):
if not better, at least as good, and I would
argue they are better, some of who are not super
far removed from MLS and to me are the perfect
type of MLS to Europe player of you know, went
somewhere that wasn't super big name after having some good
SPELLS and MLS and worked hard and got to a

(12:14):
point where they are now. But there are that I
just don't understand what these players that were brought in
as new players are going to do to make the
program better. And that's just my question.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
I don't like I.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Can even understand. And I just tweeted this out before
the show. Basically, if you had called in some of
these other players who I think are just playing at
a higher level because like factually their leagues are at
higher level, you call those guys in. But then you go, hey,
you know what, actually, Christian Marldon has had a really
good season this year at MLS. We know he's a
whatever you want to call him MLS or a usm

(12:51):
AT player. We know he has experience playing for the team.
At least, let's give him a shot. See if maybe
he's a guy who now that he's a little bit
more experienced in his career and playing a slightly different
position in different way, maybe he can help us. And
I'd go all right, well, sign whatever, sure, because I
don't like him in terms of the usmn T player,

(13:13):
but I get that he's having a good season. I
just don't understand what a guy like Sehwan's watch he's
gonna tell us. I don't understand Tristan Blackman and what
we're going to learn from that, So I don't I
don't know even Clentsman. I mean, I know we've talked
about like the I'm all four opening up the goalkeeper thing,
but I'm sorry, CITV is not better than MLS, especially

(13:35):
if you're a goalkeeper.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, the Clintsman one I have less of an issue with,
because he did I think he I think he's a
little bit of a late callin. Like to me, I
would have liked to see him got called in from
maybe the Gold Cups in Joel because he had a
pretty good stretch, you know, last season, and I was
keeping an eye on him quite a bit and he
was doing well. It's it's again it's a late callin
for him. But again I think it's trying to send

(14:00):
a message a little bit too right, like to Turner or.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
You know, Stephan or Chalfie.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
I don't know, but he's definitely sending a message saying,
you know what, Phraeze is here right now. He's my
number one.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
You know, proved me.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Wrong, right And so to me, you don't bring a player,
you don't bring these three keepers in.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
You play Freeze both matches.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
I'm pissed off because you're not gonna like because it's
there's no point in doing that, right, because Freeze has
never gone through a World Cup qualifying cycle. I'm sorry,
I'm I'm gonna to me, that's an issue. That's gonna
be an issue. I don't care how great of a
penalty saver he is. That's an issue to me, not
going through that rigors of that.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
And to be honest, he was fine at the Gold
Cup outside of the I mean, and and part of
that is he didn't have a whole lot to do.
But like he's fine, he didn't I don't.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Know, I mean, yeah, and I said this before Turner
and and Freeze's you know, Gold Cup penalty saved are
very similar if you watch them in terms of kind
of how they can do themselves. Right, you know they're
probably one two right now. But to just give Freeze
it would be crazy to me, Like you got, if
you're gonna play, bring these play No, Kai Banks had
better start one of these matches right because to me,

(15:12):
he's the biggest upside of any of these players you're
bringing in right now.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Right. I know he's only eighteen, but he's got a
big upside.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
And that's the thing too with it, like specifically on him.
You don't call him in if you don't think you
can help. If he can't, well, okay, in theory, you
don't call him in unless you think this guy is
going to be someone who maybe could help us next summer.
That's one. The other is, hey, we're gonna call him
in so that we can kind of for sure get
him cap tied. I don't know if there's a real
threat that he's not going to play for the US,

(15:40):
but like you know what I'm saying in that regard,
But at the same time that then one of those
then has to apply to a guy like Tristan Blackman.
And if you're telling me Tristan Blackman is somehow going
to make the US mentee better when the ball kicks
off on what June fourteenth, twenty two, I don't believe that.

(16:01):
I'm just sorry.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
And that's the thing, like like what what positions in
Conjitina and will never know this, but what positions in
his mind? Like number, like what's the core group right
now for him? If you had say today, I don't know.
Is it fifteen players? Is it twenty players? Right, It's
got to be somewhere in that fifteen to twenty range,
I'm guessing you. So you've got, you know, eight positions

(16:25):
maybe people players are fighting for at this point, you
know in reality and to think of black men's going
to come in and to me, you've got to start
working on the combinations of these players working together. I mean,
I don't see a black man. I don't see Ariel
doing anything.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
I mean, I I don't know what. Sorry, that's the
one I'm like, of all the people that could have
got called back for the damn Gold from the damn
Gold Cup, what in the world did Nathan Harriel do
to deserve to call back. I'm so sorry, especially when,
like you said, Dwan Jones is there. I mean, just
swallow your damn pride and call up Joe Scaley. I'm
real sorry, but like that is an absolutely bonkers follow

(17:03):
because Nathan Harriel has proven that he is not both
in MLS and on this team, that he's not good
enough for what we need.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, and he wasn't good for to play the Gold Cup.
I mean he he didn't even I mean, you know,
we had issues and he wasn't playing. So to me, like,
what's the point of calling him in, Like, I mean again,
are they trying to get like, oh, we've got thirteen
fifty four percent of this roster's MLS great, doesn't matter,
like we need the we need the best collection of players.

(17:32):
And look, it's you're building a team.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
It's not always the best players are gonna they're going
to provide the best team. But I mean, you know,
we've got a lot of weak positions here and the
depth is not is not great in a lot of positions.
And just to suggest that some of these players are gonna,
you know, be able to step up is when they're
not doing it even at a lower level with their club.

(17:58):
I mean, it's there's a lot of red flags here.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I just don't understand why nine months before the World
Cup is the time for a completely new face unless
this person is similar to Damian Downs did last year
was like, well, dude scored. You know, this young kid
scored twenty or ten goals in a season, or you know,
even to an extent the Brian White thing, which again
I think he's massively overhyped. But like, if you have

(18:22):
an MLS striker putting in at this rate already fifteen goals,
like then I get why you call that in. But
I just some of these guys, I'm like, they're not
gonna make us better. They're just not And that's I think.
It's just really frustrating. And what has been a theme
for the past six years, it feels like, is it's

(18:42):
just a waste of time.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, and the US Soccer's allowed it to happen with
their own actions and hiring and doing stuff along the
way that have just you've missed opportunities over over, you know,
two cycles now to the maximum is kind of like
the continuity and the building and doing and the trying
of these things right, like you're not like you know,

(19:07):
you need to be stand fast with one decision or
the other and not be jumping around and and I
I mean, there's got to be a bigger thought and
plan behind some of these decisions that I'm just trying
to understand. I mean, if we're gonna see you know,
Reem and Richard's only place center back for this window,
then what's the point, right, There's no point in calling
it a banks if you're not going to play it right,

(19:29):
I mean, and and you and and you have to
also look at this too from the standpoint of like
how are we gonna build momentum? How are we gonna
build excitement like like this we're put Your soccer is
doing a great job scheduling these friendlies, right, they're getting
good opponents.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
The news broke today that we're probably getting way, which
is another like that's gonna be seven or a six
possibly if we get another I'm just siving another time
when you're right like Japan, Korea great, great, Ecuador and
Australia great. What are I fantastic? Like these are no,
these are high level friendlies.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, and you're talking about teams that are that are
already qualified for the World Cup, right, they're gonna be there,
so you're you're playing you know those teams, and those
teams are gonna want to bring their their eight groups
so the players can get experience of playing in the
United States. Right, So it's it's all that collective process
of being able to do that. And then there's some
rumors of the March friendlies could be taking place in

(20:29):
Europe against some big clubs over there, right, and I
question that because there's so many teams want to play
in the United States.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
But you know, yeah, and I don't.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I'm I'm gonna say this nicely. I don't. I don't
need us to like test if we can go play
over seeds in the World Cup that's going to be
hosted at home. But I don't disagree with putting yourself
in a tough environment. But I will continue.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
So it's kind of it's kind of late in this
it's kind of late in the game to be right.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Right at that point, you might as well just say, hey,
you know what, we kind of didn't do it, and
we'll continue the friendlies in the United States in general.
So like we're trying to build that, right, we're trying
to build that excitement. We're trying to build that because
if you can go and win five six of these
by the end of the year, like damn, I feel
really good about this going into the new year. Players

(21:17):
are playing great with their clubs, they're really you know,
they're excelling, and then we get into March at that
point that you know, then they start to draw and
then we're you know, then we're off to the races, right,
and you know, you can have that momentum.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
I just I don't.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
I just don't see this roster being good enough to
get wins in both of these matches. It's, you know,
our depth is in our midfield in this in my opinion,
this is a week midfield.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, yeah, that's I think what's most frustrating about this
midfield specifically is that I think we are at the
point as a as a soccer nation where we have
some pretty decent depth in midfield.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Right.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
We'll talk about some of those guys who aren't here,
but the guys who are here are nowhere near any
top of the depth chart outside of Tyler Adams. I
mean even to an extent, Like I love Diego Luna,
if you're telling me the midfield is Tyler Adams and
Diego Luna plus one of Delatoria McGlenn, Rodin, burholterslab Ski.

(22:20):
That again, love Diego Luna. I don't think that helps him.
Tyler Adams is great, I don't think that helps him,
and it certainly doesn't help our offense be better because
despite the fact that our starting three up top might
be polistic Ballagan Weeya, if no one's passing the ball
in goods places, what they that doesn't do them anything?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, it's yeah, it's it's disappointing.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Like I mean, I like Luna too, I don't, but
I don't think Luna is an a list player for
the US.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
He's a very Luna is a great guy to have,
and I mean this sincerely. He's a great guy to
have on the bench. If you're in a position where
you need either a little bit of fight or you
need a guy to make some creativity happen, you go Diego.
It's your time to shine. And I think that is
a perfect solution for him. I think he's great to
have on this roster, and I hope he is continuing
to show that he belongs on this roster for the

(23:16):
World Cup because I think he's the type of guy
you need on a roster to be a change of
pace type of player or create a type player. But
I'm like, I don't think he is a beat Japan
and Korea on his own type player.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, and that's that's while said on that, right, that's
very in line. And I think he, you know, I
think if he's really being honest with himself, he goes, yeah,
I'm okay with that role.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Right. If I need to spart start, I can do.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
That and give you seventy minutes sixty five minutes, right,
and provide a lot of energy and chaos and you know,
help score a couple of goals.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
But he experienced that we do not have a starting
number ten, right, Like, I think that's fair to say.
If you're looking at the midfield three, that attacking midfield
role is still up for grabs. And I'm not saying
Diego couldn't do it. I don't know who good. I
think Tillman has his grasp on it. But I mean
it's it's wide open, oh for sure.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
And I think and I and maybe he just wants
to try things other players. I just don't know, I can't.
I don't know enough about Ponchetino's you know history in
terms of how he's dealt with you know, players and
all these different things in general. I since, you know,
he's clearly frustrated, and rightfully so in some respects. But
the but the but the you know, don't don't screw

(24:34):
the thing up because you're pissed off at a group
of players, right for for whatever it is. Right, let's
you know.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
The open thing.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Look, this is kind of the core group, and we're
going to bring in three or four players each window
to see, you know, where they fit and motivate from
that perspective. But I'll say, hey, we've got you know, Bura,
Halter and Deatla and you know Roldan coming in, and
you know they might push you. It's like if they
push it, then you just you know, you're setting us

(25:04):
up for failure because those players just either inexperienced or
they've had their chance, rights had chances, and he doesn't
not anything with it.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
And there are other guys on here that I think
it's just too late to be able to convince me
personally that they'll be able to make a grand impact
if they're not having had made an impact before. I

(25:38):
specifically do not understand the Blackman call up. I just don't.
I don't understand why we are looking at him right now.
I understand he was on the preliminary, preliminary roster for
the Gold Cup, but that was the time to look
at him, right if you wanted to get a new faith,
that was the time. He to me, is a perfectly

(26:02):
average MLS center back. He just happens to be playing
for a pretty darn good team right now. That's it.
I heard the joke actually that it wasn't MLS quota.
It was just that he likes Vancouver and Columbus, so
he called a bunch of those guys in because you know,
those players are those teams are the ones that have
been sending a lot of representatives. I don't understand calling

(26:26):
in someone like that right now. I just don't, because
he is I don't think he possesses any singular quality
that another center back that we have doesn't. And I
don't think he's particularly better at anything that any other
center back we have. It's just I don't get it,
and I just again, I think the biggest thing is

(26:46):
I don't know if we need to be testing out
brand new faces this close to a World Cup unless
they are indefatigably having a career season. That is better
than anything else we could have.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yeah, I look at again the goalie. We've discussed that
Kaya Banks. To me is that was that exception?

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Right? You want to see a young player come in
That is a dual nation.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Fine, but like other for in a league that has worked,
that is much better than MLS, despite what Plactino wants
us to believe.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, and he's starting right, pretty consistently of the last
year or so, right, and so in my opinion, he's
earned that call up.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
He's eighteen years old.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Who knows, it's not the first time a young center
back has started or played, you know, minutes in a
World Cup. Well he do it, I don't know. But
it's a definitely a position of need. But Blackman's twenty
nine years old?

Speaker 2 (27:37):
What the hell I mean? Like, like, I just it
is head scratching to me.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
And I I know I obviously Cardivicers and trust you
have not impressed him, right in general, Mackenzie. Obviously he
didn't see much of the field this summer, isn't it
isn't you know?

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Impressing him.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
So as a result, he's I don't know if he's more.
I mean, these other players are just not going to impress.
I mean they're gonna get torched in every facet of
the game against the highest level. They're just not fast enough,
they're not skilled enough. They're just gonna get a run
through and we're gonna look stupid.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Let's continue down this MLS path a little bit. Twelve
players from the Gold Cup roster made this roster. That
worries me a bit because I think Pachectino is overvaluing
that experience and I don't think I think it's something
that we all all realize is that Look, yes, winning

(28:45):
the Gold Cup is important, but it's important because that's
what that's the bare minimum, right, you should make the
final every time you play that competition because the reality
is there are three to four good teams in Conca
CAF at any good in time, and the US should
always be one of them. So the fact that you,
you know, beat Costa Rica and a penalty shootout doesn't

(29:07):
move me. The fact that you beat Guatemala doesn't really
move me all that much. The fact that you you know,
sure you've got nine points in the group. That's fine.
Haiti's a decent enough opponent to make me go okay, good,
you beat them. Obviously, Saudi Arabia is a good enough
opponent to go okay, good, you beat them. But none
of those teams are functionally better than you, right, and

(29:27):
none of them are outside of Mexico, who you lost to.
And maybe Saudi Arabia going to make a lot of
noise at a World Cup, right. Obviously some of these
gonka cap teams will make it now because of the
expanded World Cup and the fact that we have three
host nations that qualify. But twelve players from that Gold

(29:51):
Cup that didn't win, by the way, we did not
win called up, and you know a couple of those
are of course they're going to he called up, right,
I mean Richards is a dude who for me is
always going to be called up. Should be Tyler Adams,
you know, that's the dude who should be called up.

(30:14):
Everyone else I don't know, man, I don't think they
you know, you don't even have.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Tim Ree maybe is the only other one that I'm like, yeah,
well if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
But I mean.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Luna, fine, yeah, I'm okay with Freeman. I thought he
was solid during the Gold Cup too, you know, I
thought he had a bad game or two. But like,
I'm okay with again, a young guy playing well if
we keep him integrated, I think this is a good
path forward. I guess Ourson and Burhalter are just guys
that he likes, and it's like, okay if those are

(30:51):
the handful that come. But twelve is way too many,
and I love I'm going to call him out. I
like Jack McGlenn. I think he is a great soccer player.
I think he is good at playing soccer. Jack McGlenn
is good at playing soccer in MLS. I don't understand
he has not shown that those skills can transfer across
ninety minutes to the international level. Great left foot can

(31:13):
hit a shot, can hit a free kick, but he's
got to get in positions to hit those and he
doesn't do that for himself all that often because he's
just not quick enough. I don't think he's good enough
to play in central midfield, and he's clearly not quick
enough to be a winger. You know, again, I don't
like Max Arsten, But if that's the dude you're rolling with, fine,

(31:34):
Nathan Harriel does not deserve to be near us M
and T roster. Gallatry was disappointing at the Gold Cup.
I think we expected him to be a kind of
a better player and leader on the field than he
wasn't and then he just like he just none of
it really to me was a Okay, this guy needs

(31:57):
to move on be with this team going forward. Right,
there are a couple guys. I think Diego Luna cemented that.
For me, I think that was really it the set
and I think that is a problem.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah, and it is because I think you look at
like again, this is that false sense of security. Like
you say McGlenn has a skill set that maybe we
don't have in the core group. Burrowhalter has a skill
set one skill set, right, that we don't have in
the group. I get that, but he is not a starter, Okay,
and you're not.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Gonna like it.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
It's the Brad Davis of twenty fourteen. Right, You're bringing
the guy in because he has one skill set. Fine,
you know you're not gonna build a roster around that though.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Right, you can't have that skill set especially does not
work if you can't put him on the field.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
All right, and who knows you're gonna get set pieces
in dangerous spots to have those opportunities. And I get it,
there's this huge value to that, but you know what,
that's what you have in the player pool, and you've
got to maybe, you know, you got to say, hey,
you know it's Polisic, whoever it is, McKenny Adams, whoever
it is, Star Wars. This is something you've got to
be working on outside of this constantly. We need to

(33:08):
have better because we need you on the field. You
cannot just say, hey, we're gonna call him that. You know,
you know they're not pure. You know, he can hit
a set piece from anywhere and he doesn't do a lot,
but man, you know he still could provide some quality
in other areas urhol there is terrible like he just is.
He was so bad and that outside of like a
few moments, he just could not hit a regular pass.

(33:29):
And to me, you know, I don't know what his
obsession with this is, but like you're going to bring
in a real roster of just like ragamuffin guys that
that have a you know, one or two skill sets
that you know you might be able to use a
certain modes of the game to do that, and to me,
that's just you need to have better quality all around,

(33:52):
because you've got to be able to say, geez, you know,
want me to have a spot starter now right, you know,
and have a player come in like Luna who can
come in give you that time.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
But I like John mcglenny, he's not that either.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
And that's I mean, that's just where it comes down to.
Is I don't even mind Sebastian Burhalter in the if
you're like, hey, he's your Conca CAF dude, I go,
I'm fine, he perfectly acceptable at it. I suppose this
is not Conca cat this is not Post three Coaguatemala Haiti.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
You know, it's just not that.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
I think this leads us to the next question, and
it's the MLS agenda. Is there an MLS quota? Is there?
You know, all these things that people keep going about
on Twitter, and look, I'm not going to sit here
and deny the evidence of it. Seems like Pochettino is
very heavily favoring MLS players because he is. The numbers
bear that out. I think that is though, making an

(34:50):
excuse for Potchettino and his I'm just going to be
blunt laziness to actually evaluate the player fool in its entirety.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, I just don't understand what's what's been going on
since last October? How are they evaluating? I mean, I
know he travels a little bit, but what I mean,
he's got a pretty good, reliable staff.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
What are they seeing what? You know?

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Like, I mean he doesn't obviously I'm not going to
share that, but like, what are you seeing that that
tells you that these players are going to do that?
I mean again, I think he's still trying to send
that message. That's really what I'm really why things fall
for me, is he's really trying to set this message,
you know, to the players and say, look, you.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Know that's you know, we have to have better for you.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
We need you know, you need to be focused in
coming in here. And maybe just he's buying it more
of himself and to me, I mean, I don't want
US Soccer involved in roster selection.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I really don't. Sometimes it feels that way.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
I do, in the sense that Matt Crocker and company
should be doing their job to give him scouting support
like that was right, Like, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, there's a collaboration. I think with certain parties, like
a Matt Crocker should be involved in, you know, in
the conversation and saying, hey, look this is you know,
and along with it that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
But I don't want you know, you.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Know, you know, Sidney Polo Cone sitting then down there
and saying why aren't you bringing this player of that player? Right,
Or I don't want Don Garber coming in and saying, well,
you need to have a certain amount of MLS.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Players right coming to mix.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Because if you look at the history of the World Cups, right,
you know, if you look back like the twenty ten
World Cup, probably I think it was less just a
little over seventeen percent of the roster was MLS player.
So four players on the twenty three man roster or
from the MLS two or from Mexico. Right, So you

(36:54):
look at the trends on that, that one's significant, right,
you know, six is almost fifty percent. You know, it's
you know, it's eleven MLS twelve European, right, and then
same with O two, Right, eleven MLS twelve European and
then you then it gets ninety eight. It's you know,
quite a bit more MLS, it's like seventy almost seventy

(37:14):
three percent, right, So you look at.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
The trends on that it changes over time.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
The most recent you know, World Cup was almost thirty
five percent of the roster. So nine MLS players out
of the twenty six are from the MLS, right, And
that's more in line with what you would expect to
see based on how this player pool is evolved, how
this player pool is playing in Europe.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
In general.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
I think it's it's absolutely fair. I think what you
just said, nine out of twenty six is like, yeah, okay,
especially when you evaluate that a lot of those guys
were the nine MLS players I mean Christian reel don right,
that say that very clearly that dude was brought in
because somehow Berhulta liked him as a practice player. Okay, whatever,

(38:00):
that I can understand.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
But the.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
Okay, I think the other issue is and this is
where again I don't get the MLS quota argument, because
there are better US based MLS players that they could
be calling in, right, you know, I mean again, if
you look at the you look at the pool of

(38:30):
players at MLS that could be brought in that are
I mean Patrick Shulte isn't here, right, that's one. I'm
glad Roman soln Talner is getting sellon Towno is getting
a look. I think that's one. Chris Brady's not getting
enough of a look. I think it's fair to say
you and I have been on that for a while.
You know, even to a guy like a Georgie Mahailovitch,

(38:51):
if you're bringing back row Don, why isn't Mahilovich or
you know, there's just a number of younger guys that
even mid twenties guys are perfectly good and probably better
than the guys. I mean, Max Arfson is not a
good left back land and simple. So there are other

(39:12):
MLS players who are better that you're not calling in.
So if you're gonna be have an MLS quota, why
an't you calling the best players?

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (39:20):
And I think this is where coaches get obsessed with
these players. Coaching really drives me crazy sometimes It's like
they can't see something that everyone else sees, right, because
they're so entrenched in it, for in.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Some level of it. So what what is Pontatino seeing?
You know? What's he being fed? Why? Why is he
obsessed with like these sorts of players, is it.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
I mean, look, I get it when you have players
that have a great attitude and you know that leadership,
I get that, and at certain levels that is massive,
right when you're trying to build a team and try
to construct that. You know, my daughter hears it all
the time from parents coaches about how her behaviors and
leadership on the field, as you know is, you know,

(40:08):
it's so great, and I get the importance of that.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
But there can't be eight guys that follow you know, right,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Like there's because if you did that, then you wouldn't
have Luna on this roster because you know, he is
a little bit of a different horse, of a different color,
right when we talk about that's why he Burholton never
brought him in because of some of those things.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Right, yep.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
And so you you have to have that balance of
personality too. But but if you're saying I'm going to
bring in you know, again, I think nine MLS is
not a far reach. But you know it can't be
seventeen MLS players on this World Cup roster, right because

(40:55):
those sorts of things, right, you still have to have
some skill involved. You still have some quality involvement. I
think that's where it's being missed, and I'm should be
frustrated with with that, you know, element of it because
the players do own some of this too. They do
own some of this. At the end of the day,
they became entitled, I think they. I think Burhalter was

(41:17):
probably very direct with some of these players about when
one tournaments are going to play in all these other things,
and these the players are like, well, I you know,
well I give it all the at the cope of America.
I wasn't gonna have to play at the Gold Cup. Well,
different coach, different expectation, right, Sorry, suck it up or
or you're gonna or deal with the consequences, right. I mean,

(41:38):
I don't know if McKenny is being punished or something,
but that one's an odd a mission to me.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Right again, And that may be okay.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
He may say, you know, we know McKenney is whenever
he had a long season, he's gonna have the break
like and.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
He kind of used the oh well he had the
Club World Cup. Well, but so we're just going to
talk about the exclusions now, because there are a couple
that fall into this like oh well, they needed a break,
or like they're not ready to come in right. You
just mentioned McKenny. Hey, he had a long summer with
the Club World Cup. I go, yeah, okay, I kind
of I get it, like you as you let off

(42:17):
with there are clubs who don't love this international break timing,
and I think it's fair that it's a little silly
that it's so close to the start of their season.
But tim Way is here. He was playing for Juventus.
Well he is with Juventus during the Club World Cup.

(42:38):
Uh you know Johnny Cardoso, Oh well he just got
a transfer. Tim waya got a transfer. He's here. I
don't fully understand why McKenny isn't here, even if you say, oh, well,
we know who he is, because I don't understand why
you wantn't want a premiere midfielder in this camp to

(43:02):
then either a teach these guys how to play at
this level or be be challenged by these guys in practice.
You know.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Yeah, that's the thing that you know, one pushes the other.
I mean, and it's a build process. I mean, I've
done enough examination of World Cup rosters for the US
and there's not a lot of misses. Right in general,
there's always this you know, one or two player snubs

(43:37):
that really could have gone anywhere. Sometimes it's because of injury.
Sometimes it's you know, because of attitude or other inappropriate
stuff that may be going on.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
But the reality is.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
There isn't a lot of shocks when a roster is built, right,
you're pretty confident of your core group and what it is.
The last you know, two or three players are the
question marks. And I've never seen this sort of stretch
at this point, right because at this point, essentially you know,
maybe they're still maybe ten well they're not. Technically they

(44:12):
would still be qualifying, right right at this point.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, yeah, I mean have just released their final round
of qualifying groups. So yeah, they right, probably still be qualifying.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Right, And and that's the piece of it, right.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
We talk about all these different things about the rosters,
but the reality is is that not having to qualify
is actually hurting this group because we're not getting road
challenging matches against conker cat teams, which we have not
done well in forever, right in the final stages of qualifying.
And so you look at that, you know, you're testing

(44:45):
people out. You're going to bring your a your A
list players in and you're going to have a player
or two that comes into the into that mix and
in eval way, and that's how they should be playing
these windows, and they're just not. And again I'm hoping
the October as a whole thing and we've moved on
from it, but I just don't get that sense right
now that there's some message being sent. And I'm really

(45:08):
hoping we do get run that it will right right
because I mean because if you look at the trend
of Ponchettino's rosters right as it relates to when they
came in, right it's it was very European. Again, there
are factors involved in this that I don't necessarily disagree

(45:28):
with in terms of sending messages to players in general,
but if you look at those rosters, you go from
bear with me as I bring this up here. You
go from a very heavy European roster, which is the

(45:49):
first one was four MLS players of twenty five, so
sixteen percent. The next one was was two MLS players
and three Mexican players, which is eight percent for m
LS on the roster. I'm obviously skipped the January camp,
but the other you know, the other window in March.

(46:10):
There you're looking at, you know, thirty ish percent of
the roster right or for the Nation's League. So and
then and then it goes from there and then obviously
it's almost sixty percent at the Gold Cup. And now
I know that's a you know, the Gold Cup a
little bit different, but we're we're over about fifty four
percent now with this roster. I mean that it's trending

(46:32):
in the wrong direction for you know, for that sort
of thing. And again the m that Gold Cup is
a little bit of a you know, you know, it's
it's that's always been lately MLS heavy and that's understandable.
But but even in that roster selection, I think he
could have called in a few other European places we
discussed before. So it's an odd trending, you know, pattern

(46:54):
on that that. I again, I don't know what the
influences that don't know. It just seems overly fishy to me.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
I think there are a handful of guys who have
mostly logical reason for not being here. Tailman and Peppe
obviously returning from injury. I get why they're not brought
in immediately after we're coming off of you know, their injuries.
I get it. Even Johnny and Unis Musa that just

(47:28):
got moved to their clubs. I mean Units Mussa got moved.
I think after this roster came out. If I got
my timeline correct, so I can understand why they're not here. Again,
for those factors you mentioned about clubs and not liking this,
there are a few though, and I want to run
through your lists. There are specifically two we talked about McKinney,
but there are two others that I do not understand

(47:50):
why they're not here, And one of those is Tanner Testsman,
because I think the dude is bawling out in legon.
For lyone, he plays the position that is, you know,
all the guys that we brought in that we were
talking about, Sawivski, rolled on Burholster McGlenn, they all play
the same damn position.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
You know.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
I don't think they're better than Tanner Tessaman, certainly, you
know clubs around the world don't think that. The other
one is I and I get there are reports and rumors,
but why the hell is Joe Scaley not here? But
Nathan Harriel is And that doesn't sit well with me either.
And those two for me are the biggest, like why

(48:36):
aren't they here? And there are others that I think
have legitimate reasons why. And there are some others where
I'm curious what you would think that maybe like I
haven't really got a call up under Pochettino in a
very long time that I'm wondering whether or not here.
But those are my two.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
Yeah, I mean, thankfully Sargent got called in because he
would be on this listen and for sure. I mean,
I mean, I mean, you know what you like to me,
you look at a player that says, hey, what you
know if he's not called.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
In, like what the hell are we talking about here? Right? Like?

Speaker 3 (49:09):
He's doing everything he can right and we and we've
gone down that road.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
But I just want to give that little shout out there.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
I look at Aiden Morris killing it right now for
his club Player of the week, what three times in
a row? I mean whatever, I mean, he's killing it right.
CCV is playing at a high level for Celtic battling.
They didn't, you know, obviously qualify for the Champions League.
They lost in PKS for uh, you know, to move
into that again, that one I don't understand. He's I'm

(49:39):
not saying he's great, because he definitely has holes in
his game, but he's got to be vet than Blackman, right,
I mean, I just I don't get it. So like
to me, those two kind of stand out to me,
and I'll I'll double down on Testin. You know that
you mentioned, like that's a guy I want to see
out here as well.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Like I just two. I mean, that's where our depth is.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
And I think Testman, you know, is a player that
you know could drop back and help, you know, in
a in a three back situation and you know, uh,
you know, help with defense.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
He's a tall guy.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
He can probably play a little bit of that center
you know back or you know, holding six and the
hover in the back centrally. So I just yeah, I
mean to me, those those are some players I would
want to see again that I don't know why we haven't.
I mean, either he's decided on them one way.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Or the other, but.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Because because we we just don't have the run up anymore,
right because we don't. Really, he's definitely making people guess
because I can't guess.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
A roster for him right now for the life of me.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
And I want Morris. I think Aiden Morris is a
great example of kind of my issue with this is.
I mean, we've talked about Testamen. I think we both
agree he's be here. But to your point about Aiden
Moore is like he's essentially the same player as all
those guys that can't brought in, right, but arguably better

(51:11):
excuse me, and arguably better because he played at their
level and got a move to a higher league.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Right.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
I mean, he put himself out there and he he
surprised me, you know, he he flamed out, it, he
flamed out at one of the Gold Cups. He goes in,
goes back with his club, makes this move and has
really put himself out there to try to give him
the best chance to make this squad, and he's impressed me.

(51:44):
And I want to see it at the national team level.
I want to see what he can do at the
national team level. And I think that's where you know
where I think as much as you can watch the
club stuff, you then it needs to be integrated into
the team. And when you don't have a core group
because it's not the here, it's not I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Then you're not going to see what you need to see.
You're not going to see.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
How these players work with the others, right, And that's
the whole points like, how is it Morris going to
work with an Adams or McKinney or whoever, you know,
a Tillman right in, you know, within this roster if
he's needed to spot start, Because that's so you have
to look at it. You know, what's our depth? You know,
in a situation where we have to start a couple

(52:28):
of different players that aren't our A list players but
can still go out there, grind out and get us
a result.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I think it's fair to say they're just head scratching decisions,
both inclusions and exclusions on this roster. And to sum
up our gripe, it's that we have legitimate teams coming
to our soil to play a friendly, and you have
an opportunity to put out a very good performance with
good players nine months before a World Cup, to again

(53:03):
help build the hype. Now it's not Placatino's job to
help build hype, but it is his job to get
the best team out on the field in June twenty
twenty six. And again it just doesn't look like this
is going to happen. And we have two great teams
coming in, well one great team and a pretty darn
good team, So that to me is the concern. Thomas,

(53:23):
what do you think of these matchups? I mean, we
get Korea first and then Japan on Tuesday, two Asian countries.
You know, we did get to play Japan back in
twenty twenty two for that World Cup tune up. But
this feels like, as you mentioned, US Soccer is taking

(53:44):
good steps to book what feels like good opponents for
this team.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I think they're great. They're very similar style teams. So
I think it's when you look at the matchup, you
can say, okay, we're gonna try and you can build
your window around that sort of thing. These are going
to be quick, fast moving teams, right that that do
the similar type play.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
They're going to be in the World Cup, uh.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
You know next summer, and then you can kind of
build your game plan around that, right and then that
that to me is actually quite helpful because you can
adjust from match to match.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
This work.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
This didn't work how we are justed and you know
we don't play a lot of Asian nations right on
US soil. I mean, and you know, in saying that,
I mean, you know, obviously, you know we played.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Oman and Bakistan.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
You know that that was the most recent ones outside
of the you know, Saudi Arabian and Guitar that were
played at a Gold Cup. But but but friendlies are
just not as common to play against, you know, those
nations on US soil. So it's I think it's a
great I'm excited to see you know them here. I'm

(55:05):
sure they're excited to be here, and you know, hopefully
that there's something that we can learn from this. And
and again I I I want to be optimistic about,
you know, getting the results in these matches that are
going to help the team, help fans get excited. I
but I am concerned with that because they are they
are good fast teams, and I just I and maybe

(55:26):
and maybe that's going to expose some of these slower
MLS players right on the defensive side that aren't gonna
be able to keep up with that pace. And I
think maybe that's what he wants to see. Are they
able to keep up with the pace of these teams?
And maybe he's going to get his answer one way
or the other.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
And but it's an interesting point that is, but I
don't know, I'm glad we're playing good quality teams, right.
I think we unfortunately had to middle with some opponents
that were either not great or you know, especially with

(56:07):
some of these post filp America. You know, had played Panama,
Canada and Mexico again, it just wasn't the same. So
I'm glad we're getting some new types of opponents. What
do you feel about with the locations. I mean, we
get to go back to Harrison, New Jersey for the
first time since that failed qualification cycle back in twenty
Technically seventeen was the year I haven't played since then

(56:29):
in Harrison, New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
I don't have too much of an issue with that,
I think. I mean, I think it's not going to
be a US crowd, which I think is fine. I
get the sense of some of these venue locations it's
more around the opponent and trying to get the you know,
to sell model. If you can't sell at Red Bull
Arena in New Jersey, you.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Know, yeah, I mean it's a twenty what six thousand
seed arena.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Yeah, I mean, then you know you got bigger problems, but.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
A problem that one. I mean, it's it, you know,
New Jersey, New York doesn't. We don't particularly you know,
play well necessarily in those areas. It's fine, they're back
there obviously. Columbus, Ohio is you know, a place where
the men have played quite often over the last you know,
cycle or two. Uh, they do pretty well there in general.

(57:21):
I mean it's you know, we've we've gone through the
venues types of things in general. I I'm getting I'm
not I'm getting tired of US soccer just ignoring it, right. So,
but they're going to choose what they're going to choose.
As as it relates to to those venues. I think
the players know a lot of the players will know

(57:43):
the venues, and I think that will come in handy
and be convenient.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
I'm sure they'll draw a good crowd there.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Yeah. I mean, look, I think playing in Harrison again
is great. I think, to be blunt, I think it's
a little bit of a shame that we don't have
a soccer venue to play in in our nation's largest
and most important city. I feel similarly that I think
it's a shame that we don't have a better soccer
venue or a bigger venue to play in our nation's capital.
Because I think you know that means something, but look,

(58:14):
New York City is the cultural driver of this country
and the symbol of the US to the rest of
the world. I think if we can get people there
a little bit more connected to the US men's national team,
that would be a benefit. You know, as much as
people in Columbus, Ohio are worth recording. We've been doing
that for a while. I think maybe if you gain

(58:35):
a couple more fans or get a couple more people
to come to a game in the New Jersey, New York,
New Jersey area, I think that would be better. Let's
end on this. We are honoring Michael Bradley at the
match in Harrison, New Jersey on September six. What is
your favorite Michael Bradley moment from his career as a

(58:57):
US e menteer.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Uh, It's probably an obvious one.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
For a couple of reasons. It's one of my favorite moments.
One because the kits they wore in that the game
only the shorts were only done one. So it was
against Mexico in Aesteca and they were I believe the
twenty sixteen Copra America white.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
With the with the blue blue on their arms. But
they had the blue shorts.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Which he only wore that one match, and he hit
you know, he hit a shot from just elver midfield. Uh,
to give the I believe you give the US an
early you know, ish one nothing advantage. And I mean
that's a great moment for for Bradley. It was you know,
it was a huge you know, it was huge at

(59:45):
the time, you know, for the US because I mean,
and it was just I don't know, it was it
was a great moment. I just remember it pretty well.
And and I mean, you know, and he he's he's
had so many great moments in his career. He yeah,
it's well, it's a long time coming. It's a big
gap between when he last played and uh in this

(01:00:06):
happening because I think he I think he finished sometime
in twenty into twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
I think was maybe his last cap Nations League. I
don't know, maybe Nations I think, because I think he
did play under Burl Halter.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
My memory. He yeah, he played. His last gap was
in twenty nineteen, which I believe was a Nations League match.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Okay, Yeah, that sounds about right. And so I mean
it's a long time coming for him. Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
In general, I mean we're talking six years, right, you know,
since it was his last cap. So it's great that
they're arning him. It's well deserved. I mean, he had
a hell of a career. I mean, he you know,
he did a lot of great things on the field
out there, and it's it's one of those, you know, long.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Time coming sorts of things.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
I hope, you know, he gets a good reception and
I'm just you know, excited to kind of see him.
You know, you know what he's going to do. He's
getting into coaching and maybe he becomes a coach for
the national team someday, because he's definitely you can definitely
see that he's interested in in doing that and that's

(01:01:13):
a path that intrigues me at this point. So who knows,
maybe in another ten years, you know, he'll have his
chance to coach the national team like his father did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
He has scored four times against Mexico, which doesn't sound
like a lot, but he only has seventeen total goals
in his international career. He had two against him in
two thousand and nine and that home qualifier, which was
quite nice. I think then Clint Dempsey was the one
who missed the PK to make it three. But my
favorite goal from Michael Bradley is the goal in the

(01:01:50):
twenty ten World Cup that he hits off the like
half folly very early. We get the goal from Donovan
to spark the comeback and final goal to seal it,
to get the draw right, and I think it was
really important because we a Slovenia is not a team
we thought we were gonna have swift in that group

(01:02:11):
and to get that draw which eventually kept us alive
for the miraculous goal that Donovan scored against Algeria, that
that was just one of those like euphoric moments as
a USM and T fan. Probably the best World Cup
experience I've had during my lifetime was that twenty ten
World Cup, and it didn't last as long as I

(01:02:33):
think it should, But I think we all had multiple
moments during that World Cup that were just memorable ones,
and that one was mine from from Michael Bradley, you know.
He also, I think it also needs to be said
he scored in that Confederations Cup tournament as well against
Egypt in that final group game, to the point where

(01:02:55):
like if you remember, we needed to run the score
up against Egypt and so he scored the second goal,
which kind of gave us that lift to make the
knockout rounds. So I think a lot of people are
going to remember Michael Bradley from the twenty eighteen cycle,
and that's not the Michael Bradley that you should remember.

(01:03:16):
I think he has been. He was a fantastic player
for the US national team and truly the best example
prior to Tyler Adams, I think the best example of
what an American soccer player and all of the like
traditional qualities could look like in Europe. And he had
a very long career in Europe. And I think people

(01:03:36):
don't want to remember that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Bradley, I think that's a
great point. I mean, that's that's a tough cycle. We're
talking about an aging national team at that point that
is not really getting the players to come take over
that you kind of need to take over as you
move forward, right from from the you know, the Clints
mayor essentially and and Bradley still asked to be, you

(01:04:02):
know that leader. He still hasked to be kind of
you know that. I mean he captained with the nationally
what forty eight times? Right, and yeah, and he did
a lot of that in that twenty eighteen cycle, and
I think he might have done all of them that
most of that, most of it in twenty eighteen PC.
I think he had a couple of under under in
the you know, uh before bur Halter was hired, So

(01:04:25):
maybe one of Serica and one under bur Halter. But
but he did a lot of that, right and you know,
I he to me he was a great captain. He's
a type of player that leads by example out there
and he was always fun to watch and you know,
and at times he was playing out of position. I
think by Inklinsman that thought he could be a you know,

(01:04:47):
more of an attacking midfielder. But I always thought he
played well. I think his best he played well. It
might be the best with Jermaine Jones kind of partnering
a back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
Yes, in the back.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
I think that was where where you saw the best
of him. You know, he could he could push forward
or hold back and vice for Arsha with with Jones,
I think they both played that role pretty well together.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
Yeah, I agree. Congrats Michael Brodley on getting recognized. I mean,
I think you talked about this and I do want
to bring it up. I mean, the dude has one
hundred and fifty one total caps, right, I think that's
that is a lot. Even by I mean it's a lot.

(01:05:29):
That's a lot of caps. And I know the US
is kind of in a special weird thing where especially
a lot of the guys who played in the nineties
have like a bajillion caps because we just played at
bajillion games. It's not like the women's side of things,
where like players will have three hundred caps and know
when bats and I one hundred and fifty one caps
is a lot. It's a lot of time playing for
your national team. And we do not on the US

(01:05:50):
M and T side do a good enough job of
honoring those players who have decided to retire. Obviously, I
feel like every year, if not twet year, we get
a US W and T kind of legend send off,
and those are great, right. I think that is a
good thing that the programs need to do to remember
that we have legends and it brings people out to

(01:06:12):
the matches. We do this on the men's side, and
it does need to be I think, you know, and
not everyone deserves I don't know what that standard is necessarily.
I know the US W and T do have kind
of like a you have to hit. I think it's
one hundred caps or more. Forget exactly what it is.
But I just wish the US M and T did
this a little bit better than they currently do.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
Yeah, I mean the women definitely do it better. And
I'll be honest, you like, I called that out and
I can't remember someone on Twitter, you know, responded back,
and the men have done it, but I don't remember it, right,
I don't remember it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Probably not as frequent right now? Is that a chicken
and egg argument if we don't have enough icons?

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
But like, no, I mean the women are hitting, the
women are hitting the milestones. They should get those sorts
of things that they hundred cap ceremonies, you know, all
these different things. If you're hitting it, great, I have
no problem with that, you know. And I think Alex
Morgan has one obviously coming up in October.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
I think they're doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Yeah, she not in California, the yeah, and I think
it's in PA. Yeah, the one in Philly's It is weird,
but yeah, I mean it's Alex Morgan deserves.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
One, absolutely, yeah, And yeah, you know he started when
he was eighteen. I mean, he's you know, he's one
of those players that you know, his the duration of
days you know between when he's his first match and
his last matcher, it's almost almost forty nine hundred days.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Ah, you know of you know, being part of the
national team.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
That's huge.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
That's a huge amount of time for players to do that,
you know, a current day, because it seems like it's
less and less and a lot of and a lot
of respect. Right to your point, they played a they
played so many games, you know early you know, they
had to write you were going to play them, and
you're going to start at a young age, and you're
going to play to an older age, and and you know,

(01:08:12):
he had quite a long you know, his career.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
I think he was like thirty two. I think he
was only thirty two when his last.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
Cap, and that I may not be right that, but
it's but it's it's you know, he still played quite
a few seasons after that, so it's impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Hopefully.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Look, I think I just I just looked up the
like all time appearances list and I kind of forgotten Mike.
This is he's third on the list for caps. Like
that's a lot. One hundred and fifty one third on
the list, you know, and only eighteen guys have more
than one hundred caps. So yeah, well, I mean he
has more caps than guys like Alexi Laals who played

(01:08:51):
it throughout the nineties, guys like Steve Tarundelo. He has
more caps than that, more caps than goalkeepers. And I
know we've had a great goalkeepers, but I mean goalkeepers
especially didn't really well, they maybe not had long long
careers starting they once they're starting, they were the summer.
And he had more more caps than a lot of
these guys. I mean, only only Kobe and Landon have

(01:09:13):
more caps than he does. That's impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
And Kobe played in a time where you you know,
you had a hundred yeah, you know, hundred for a
long time.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
He was playing on the national team for a long time.

Speaker 3 (01:09:22):
Yeah, And and then Donavan obviously was playing a lot
of you know, January camps, and so Bridley did too.
But but yeah, I mean that that just shows the dedication.
That just shows the desire to represent your country, right
and any chance you get. I don't think he passed.
I don't think you would pass up a chance to play.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
No, that's impressive. Well, I don't want to bring this up,
and especially because U you know, I don't have Lawrence
here to rant about it. But the current player with
the most caps is Christian Polistic, at least the ones
that have you know, recent cops. I should say he's
got seventy eight, so that's half of what he has.

(01:10:00):
And he's been playing since twenty sixteen, so he's been
playing for nine years. I think it's fair to say
that had Polistic decided he wanted to play in some
of these you know, potent tournaments like the Gold Cup,
he would maybe already be pushing you know, ninety and
it's impressive. I don't know, I don't know. I don't
know what the mempric is and where you want to
put that cut up. But I do agree that we

(01:10:21):
need to do a better job of like honoring our
USM and T legends who retire.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
Yeah, oh well, hey, be better right, you know, earn it,
fight for it. You know. The women do a great
job with that, and and that's why they get the accolades.
And it's and it's there, you see it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:37):
And so and I was I was locking up to
be a NAAR's one hundred cap YEP match that was
an amazing thing to did an awesome job. It was
fun to be there, there was you know, and she
was likely to do it against with some of the
greatest players to ever play for the Woman, you know,
the nineteen ninety nine Yeah, you know, in that moment,
it's it was awesome. And I think, I think I

(01:11:01):
want to have more pride. I want our players to
have more pride. You want to achieve those sorts of milestones,
right like you want you want to have that right,
you want to be all to say, I want to
do that. I want to be Michael Blader today. I
want to be whatever right and and you know, and
and have that because he's a legend. He's probably one
of the best, if not the best. The position he

(01:11:21):
played for the national team, right debatables, you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
Can't name it a better sense like central midfielder that
we've had, right and not currently playing because I think,
you know, like a guy like Wester McKinney may be better,
but like from that type of position, I don't know.
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
And then and then Prime Bradley is playing. He's starting,
no question on this with this current group. You you
know what I mean there's no like you know what
I mean, Like.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
He's one of the few that like if you say, hey,
if this guy is in his prime as he's starting,
and yeah he is, he absolutely is.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
And that's and that and that's the key. Right.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
So as much as like we think this generation is great,
go on prove it because you're because you've got a
high standard to be held to when you look at
some of the players that you're going up against of
legends of all time, right, and so you know that's
that we want that hungry We want that desire, and
I get when we talked about Ponchetino, he wants to

(01:12:11):
see that he does he's not seeing right now. There
is a little bit of a entitlement. And as much
as I'm glad we're playing in the United States, I
think there they became shot because they didn't have to
fight for it. We love the team because they had
to fight where we barely qualified. Yeah, in twenty twenty two,
let's not forget we came in third and you know

(01:12:34):
in a tiebreaker, right, like for point goal differential, So
like it wasn't like we just you know, we owned it.
We barely qualified and they had to fight and crawl away,
and they did that in the tournament as well, and
that's why we love that group. We want that group back.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
You're absolutely right. Well, we have obviously the two games
coming up this weekend and we will recap them next
week ish when we have the time. So everyone, thank
you for listening. Thomas, thank you for joining me. You
can follow him on Twitter at us keeper. You can
follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky at soccer for
US pod. I'm bart, I'm out.