Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
About Cincinnati from Cincinnatis, sponsored in part by Penn Station
East Coast Subs. Handcrafted hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries
and lemonade. It's all about good taste. Pennstation East Coast
Subs order online today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, welcome back. It's since he three to sixty. It's
the third and final hour. Thanks to penns Station. Thank
you for listening along Austin. FC Cincinnati doesn't play this week,
they're off, they're an international break, yes, but uh, we
would have just been crushed the way things have fallen
recently for FC Cincinnati. If we hadn't gotten together with
(00:41):
Tommy g whether it's I've been missing, Tommy's been missing,
something has happened, and every time that something has happened,
this team has suffered a loss.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I think it's really indicative of my inability to power
through and you know, put that point as well, show
on our shoulders, the club on my shoulders. It's disappointing
for me personally, but glad everybody's back this.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Week point as well, So we would be remissed not
to at least catch up on break here with our guy,
the voice of FC Cincinnati, Tom Galader, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,
what's going on, Tony.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Tony, Tony. Good to hear from your brother.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
I'm glad that we're able to restore some normalcy to
the force because the last two weeks have been a mess.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
And I'm not gonna point fingers. Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Gonna place blame, but but our Friday's haven't been right,
and and I think we're getting where We're back, all
three of us together, and I mean, listen, I'm traveling.
It's in the airport right now. I'm believable. But I'm
gonna we gotta make this work. And so we got
a we got two fridays in a row to make
this work and and get these guys back on track
(01:45):
for that New England match coming up the following week.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
But how are you mean? Good to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's it's great to be It's great to be with you, Tommy.
It's great to be able to talk that. I always
I am curious from just a a change standpoint that
you've seen. We talked about the hell is real and
what they were able to do and go on the
road to Columbus and where they were, and since then,
they've allowed nine goals. They've only been able to get
(02:12):
a point in the last three matches, albeit against teams
on paper that you would have thought going into the
match was very winnable. What has been the biggest cause
it in your opinion of now, a lack on the
defensive side of the ball for FC Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I mean listen, and it's kind of interesting and get
to your question a moment. Like, both Cincinnati and Columbus
since that Hell is Real match, which is now what
three weeks ago, you know, both clubs have struggled a bit.
The crew haven't been on track either, And is that
a coincidence. I don't I'm not as sure, but the
nine goals allowed certainly is concerning. And if you think
(02:49):
back to April when the team really got on track,
it all started when Nick Haglin came back from injury,
and these nine goals allowed have all occurred since Nick
Haglin went out.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
You know, I had talked to Pat before.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
The Atlanta game, the second Atlanta game, you know, when
he got hurt down there, and Pat told us that
he felt like Nick was playing the best soccer he'd
seen from their four years together, and I would tend
to agree with that analysis. And so obviously a really
tough injury for him, and you know, tough situation. Now,
does that all fall to Nick going out for an injury, No,
(03:25):
but it certainly changes the dynamic a little bit on
the back line when he has been such an important
piece of stability. And you know, it came unraveled in
the game against Atlanta. Obviously that the breakdowns were not
great against Dallas, you know, and it all just kind
of resulted in a really frustrating week. And I think
(03:48):
that the reason for the frustration is that teams weren't
scoring highlight real goals. It wasn't like any of these
goals and goals of the week for the opponent. They
were more so just breakdowns defensively and missed assignments. And
I think that's really what irked Pat and probably the
rest of the coaching staff. I speak for Pack because
(04:10):
he talks to us about it. But you know that
there were some preventable goals there that were allowed and
that ended up being really frustrating.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
That happens a rough stretch, and when you have the
length of a season like FC Cincinnati does you sometimes
do go through those. At the end of this though, Tommy,
they're still sitting four points behind the Philadelphia Union, their
second in the MLST Eastern Conference standing, So at least
as you go into a little bit of a of
a break here, you can rely on the fact of
man nowhere near playing your best soccer and still right
(04:42):
in the middle of everything you need.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Yeah, and I agree, And Kevin and I talked about
that a bit. I think it was after the DC game,
maybe after Dallas.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
You know, it's funny how much more it feels like
the sky is falling.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
When you don't lose very often and you fall out
a form.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
I think the big frustration of it all is that
the three opponents over that course of those three games
in seven days at Atlanta, home for Dallas, home for DC,
like none of them are atop the table in their conference.
They're all on paper very winnable games. Were also shows
that these teams have a lot more talent than maybe
the way they've been performing. Right, Like Dallas has former
Mvpluto Acosta, who really did nothing in the match. You know,
(05:21):
Atlanta just went out spent more than seasons any They
do improve their attack and they have some good pieces,
but you know, a lot, a lot didn't score and
that came and then DCN comes limping in. You know,
they they led. I think this that was forty five
minutes in the previous five games total. So you know,
on paper, you're like, all right, it's gonna be you know,
a little bit of a cake walk, and it's not.
(05:42):
And I think that it feels like there's drop points
because you're right, you're only four points beyond Philadelphia, So
this guy is not falling by any means. It just
kind of feels that way. And I think everybody's day
of deep breath. I think the team played twenty one
games and just over three months to start the season
when you include CONCAFT Champions Cup, so a little bit
of a hectic pace. You got, you know, two defenders
back from season ending injuries in Miasga and Haga.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Now you've lost Nick for about six weeks.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Do the injury suffered at Atlanta, So I nobody's gonna
make excuses, but they have an opportunity to take a
deep breath. They'll play more games at home than on
the road for the second half of the season and
have an opportunity to pick up some points, you know,
straight away when they go to New England. But New
Englands are playing better, like they gotta be ready every night.
And you know, I think that the time away because
the guys were able to go away. If you following
(06:28):
on social media's all, some of the guys got the
beach and stuff. I'm sure the coaches got some time
off and everybody get a chance to take deep breath.
They'll come back this week hungry and get into a
regular work week to get ready for New England and
no doubt be ready to start the second half of
the season.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
How when you talk about how hectic the start of
the year was, to get not only a break, but
to have more time from a staff standpoint, to get together.
And you see it in bye weeks in football season
all the time where you can kind of do a
little self scouting, you can do a little evaluating and
then get back to the drawing board. How important is
that over the course of what is a very long
MLS soccer season.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah, I think it's gonna be very interesting to see
what the plan is, you know, moving forward the next
few weeks, because obviously Nick is out and if some
of the news yesterday Miles Robinson not just called in
for the friendlies that he's with the US men's anter
team right now, but but called in.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
For the Gold Cup as well. So now you're gonna
lose Miles for games. I mean these two friendlies he
left for.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
You know, he wasn't gonna miss anything because the team
is off this weekend. But now he's going to miss,
you know, a handful of games. Even though the schedule
is not quite as chaotic. He's gonna miss uh some
games through through to July, depending on how the US does.
And obviously you hope that they win the Gold Cup
and then you're not gonna see Miles for about a
month if that's the case. Now you're down Miyasga, Hagland,
(07:49):
and Robinson. I'm sorry, Mayaska is up, but you're down
Robinson and Hagland on your back line.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
So you have Matt as your.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Anchor, but the question would be who's with him in
a three center back set. So you talked about some
that self scout that you do when you have a
bye week in NFL. Well, maybe there's some of that.
Maybe there's some consideration they've played quarterback at times this year.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
That that Pat will go to that, and it may
depend on the opponent. There are other guys that are
certainly capable of teenage Davy HILBERTA Flores as natural center backs.
DeAndre Yedling can play there. You know, Alvis Powell has
obviously played minutes at center back this year, Nick. I mean,
even Lucas Engle has as well. So there's different people
who can step in and fill that role. But I
(08:27):
think it'll be very interesting to see how Pat decides
to proceed based on the personnel that's available through to
the middle of July.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I know that there's another transfer window that opens in July.
But from an MLS standpoint, we've seen constantly FC Cincinnati.
He's always willing to make additions to the roster, and
you certainly talk about not having Nick Haglin. Do you
expect them to be aggressive in the pursuit of shuring
up the roster even more as you look to make
another MLS run.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, you know, Tony, we had Chris Albright, gentleal manager
on during the pregame to Hell is Real. Actually, so
now three weeks ago when we talked to him, and
he said that certainly they planned to. You know, they
had some targets. I tried to get him to name
a few the targets and he wouldn't do that for me,
you know, shocking, but I tried. I tried to get
some bread crumbs that we can all chase and see
(09:18):
who they're in pursuit of. But you know, he identified
a couple different areas they felt like they could add
in their piece. I think certainly, and attacking forward is
on their list and something that they will be looking at.
So that's the place, you know, potentially another midfielder, another
wide player as well. So look, he has the resources.
I think he will have to maneuver some things potentially.
(09:39):
As far as the cap is concerned, we didn't really
get into all that in our conversation, but the team
certainly has some constraints right now as far as roster
spots and salary cap is concerned.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
But they'll have.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
The resources, you know, by the ownership group and Carl
Lindner to go out and improve the roster.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Now, you don't get anybody till the end of July.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
I think Crystal me day of July twenty fourth, that
that players would be eligible. You know, you can sign
them right now, but they would not become roster eligible
until you know, that last week or so of July.
So the hope by then, I think, is that Nick
Haglum is back. I know he was being getting some
more test done when he got back to Cincinnati right
(10:19):
before that last game against DC United, and I'm sure
that this week he is undergone, you know, some more
medical analysis and diagnosis to make sure that they have
the timeline right for his return. So I don't know
that they go get a center back because Nick's obviously
not out for the season, But I think that, yeah,
they're going to continue to try to improve the roster
(10:40):
and make sure that they're putting the best eleven players
that they can make work with the roster constraints and
the salary cap and all that out there to compete
every night. Because you're right during second place four points
bat Phildelphia, they're in a position to have a championship run.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
They're going to make sure they have all the right
tools to do just that.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Tom Gallater, that is why you're the best. You mentioned
you're at the airport. Where are you headed? I'm headed home? Oh, Okay,
after we had a couple of days of baseball and destined.
I mean, this isn't a bad place to I mean
we talked about baseball quite a bit. You're on the
front end.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Of uh, you know, getting your your your oldest into
this football world, and I'm in the thick of it,
you know, with a thirteen year old.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
So uh yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
We played in about the Gulf Coast World Series this week,
so I was the siting, exciting a few days for
the young lad and he did great.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
So it's you know, it's the hardest is to leave
the beach, right Yeah.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I mean, you know, normally when you lose games when
you're at home, you to go home and work and
clean your house and do laundry and you know, life
Like we lost yesterday and got eliminated.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
I went to the beach. Yep, that's not the worst
thing ever. Life pretty cool tournament.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
But yeah, I'm on my way back and looking forward
to back in Cincinnati, and I got plenty of yard
work waiting for me.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I'm sure, Tommy, you are You're the best. We uh
will talk again next week. We'll talk about the Ohio Cup.
That will happen between now. Yeah, wait and next week
as well. Uh, you enjoy the travel home. Enjoy the
travel home.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I will, I will appreciate you. Guys.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We saved the season here, so you're welcome.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I think we did. I think.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Watch when the team reddles off like seven straight wins
starting next Saturday, I will know why.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Yep, here we go.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Tommy, you're the best.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
All right, boys be good boys Appreciation.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Tom Gallaid, the voice of FC Cincinnati kind enough with
his time coming back from the beach. Uh. Next, Chris
and Brian will be in studio from Artsman. We're gonna
bring the world of sports memorabilia and history together with
some awesome stuff that they're doing. Learn about that next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Is it possible to fill you a brain within? Next
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