October 27, 2025 • 11 mins
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Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
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Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Have you ever fried in deep tallent?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I have? It is eighteen minutes after eight o'clock. This
is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on
seven hundred wl W mowegor for Lance McAllister. You'll hear
Lance on Monday for Bengals lines. Speaking of Monday, Game one,
best of three MLS Cup first Round series, FC Cincinnati
hosting the first game against Columbus six forty five at
(00:25):
the Soccer Stadium on the West end of Cincinnati. You
could watch it on Apple TV's MLS Season Pass. Dax McCarty,
longtime MLS stars, now at match analyst for MLS Season Pass.
Awesome to have you. You've got the series Game one Monday.
The Eastern Conference feels very wide open, much more wide
open than last year, although the New York Red Bulls
(00:47):
kind of came out of nowhere to represent the East
this year. When you look at that half of the bracket,
how many teams do you look at as legitimate threats
to make the final.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Eight? Legitimately, mo I can make an argument for all
eight teams on the Eastern side to make a run
at MLS cuff and I think that's what makes these
playoffs so compelling, so interesting. Last year was crazy. If
you remember how how the playoffs went down last year,
(01:19):
there were upsets everywhere in terms of quite frankly, the
team that wasn't the clearly inferior team i e. My
Atlanta United team, i e. The New York Red Bulls
and the Columbus versus the Columbus Crew. There were teams
that just sprang upset left and right. If I go
down the list of all the different matchups in the East,
(01:39):
it's really hard for me to determine who a favorite
is in any of these matchups. And that's what makes
this year in MLS, and specifically in the Eastern Conference
so so interesting, so chaotic, so drama filled, is that
I legitimately see a world in which every one of
these series can go to three games and then in
the third game, anyone's it's anyone's game. So I tend
(02:02):
to give the favoritism towards the home team and the
teams that have home field advantaged off this first round.
But as we saw last year, that didn't make a
heck of a lot of difference with certain series, and
so it's a totally new new season as I'm sure
all of you and all your listeners know, you kind
of have to throw out everything that happened in the
regular season and just focus on the sprint that is
(02:25):
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
FC Cincinnati, Chris Albright, the GM made a lot of
moves during that lay transfer window, perhaps most notably bringing
Brenner back. And you know what Chris said at the
time was, we're built to win. Now we're better built
to win. How much did those acquisitions and moves better
fortify them for a postseason run?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, it was the smart move and it was the
right play from Chris Albright and Pat Noon and in
that whole front office. Cincinnati is an extremely competitive team.
I would say that they are in the upper echelon
of best teams in MLS with the most consistency throughout
the last three or four years. I believe it's actually
the Columbus Crew and f C Cincinnati are the only
(03:11):
two teams in MLS the last three years that have
both hit fifty four points or above. And so they're
in a club all on their own, and so you
have to give credits that he's coaching staffs. You have
to give credit to the front office for being able
to constantly reload. I think it would have been really
easy for Cincinnati to have a little bit of a
down year after losing Lucho Acosta. But what do you do.
(03:33):
You go out and you get one of the best
players in Major League Soccer in Evander, and he repays
that faith instantly. Being one of the best players in
the league. He's must CTV every time he's on the ball.
But going out and getting a third scoring option, I
think was key because for all the good things that
Kai Kamara does, for all the good things that Dado
(03:54):
Valenzuela do, for all the good things that Yayakubo has
done when he's had to play in an attacking position,
none of them is an out and out goal scorer.
None of them are going to be able to get
you ten twelve goals when you need them to. Kai
Kamara has been excellent, but he hasn't scored. His hold
up play, he opens up space for other players. It's
all at a really high level, but Kai doesn't score
(04:17):
at the same clip that he used to. Valezuela is
more of a creative midfielder, So to go out and
get a difference maker, a game changer in the attack
in Brenner, and then you add that to Evander and
Kevin Denk who are all match winners. That was a
really shrewd move because the f C Cincinnati roster is
built to win now and we've seen a supporter shield,
We've seen a couple decent playoff runs, but we haven't
(04:40):
seen enough in the postseason from f C Cincinnati. Adding Brenner,
adding Dominic Marshuk on loan from Salt Lake, I think
was a really smart and shrewd move to be able
to add a little bit of depth at winger. But
f C Cincinnati has game changers all over the field now,
it would be a disappointment if they didn't make a
deep playoff run.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You know, you meant a lot of guys that this
club has acquired, and look, you you acquire a player
like a Vander, you expect him to fit in just
because he's going to score a bunch of goals. But
it's always it's always stood out to me ever since
Chris Albright and Pat Noonan took over this franchise that
whenever they acquire a piece from outside, whether it's it's
from another MLS club, whether it's an international signing, whether
(05:20):
it's somebody who joins the team before the season, or
whether it's somebody who joins the team once the season
is underway. Almost every single time, it feels like that
player just fits in seamlessly. From your perspective, having played
in the league forever, how hard is it to do
that nearly every single time you bring in somebody from outside.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, that's extremely hard. And I hope people, I hope
people on the outside supporters of the club realize what
a great job Chris Albright has done and what a
great job Pat Noonon has done to be able to
integrate players as quickly as they have. That's that's not
always the case. As you just mentioned. I've seen numerous
players that have turned out to be good MLS players,
(06:01):
it takes them three, four, five, sometimes even seven eight
months to be able to acclimate and to be able
to really contribute at a high level. So to go
get Brenner was extra smart because he already knew the club.
He already knew what the expectations were. He knows the
training facility, he knows the stadium right, he knows Major
League Soccer and what it takes to be successful in
(06:22):
Major League Soccer to go get Dominic Marshak, who already
has an acclamation period with Salt Lake and now he's
just coming to a new team and maybe fits in
a system that is more suited to his talent and
to his skill level. I think that was a really
shrewd move right for this front office. And so you
just go up and down the roster and you see
so many game changers, difference makers, players that are going
(06:45):
to have a difference and make a difference in this roster.
I've been really impressed every time I've seen Samuel Giddy play.
I really like his qualities and what he brings and
can add into the midfield. So f C Cincinnati has depth,
they have different makers. They really need to put a
stake in the ground in twenty twenty five. This is
(07:06):
their year and it's the most competitive Eastern Conference that
I've ever seen. And like I said at the top
of the top of the show, any one of these
eight teams can make a run. But I'm looking at
FC Cincinnati as one of the favorites. I picked them
before the season started to win MLS Cup, and they've
made me kind of question myself a little bit throughout
the season, But I'm sticking with my prediction because of
(07:28):
the fact that they have so many game.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Changers all right in the way right now. By the way,
Dax McCarty MLS Season Pass Apple TV with us FC
Cincinnati and Columbus on Monday Night, Game one, six forty
five on the West End of Cincinnati. I think most
FC Cincinnati fans are really excited about the playoffs. All
of them are. I think most go man Round one,
anybody but Columbus. And yet here we are, where does
(07:53):
the Crew pose the biggest threat.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It's so funny that you say that mode because I
made the argument once the playoffs were flying on decision Day,
I made the argument that f C Cincinnati the only
team that they wouldn't want to see in Round one
of the playoffs was the Columbus Crew. And I got
a little bit of stick coming back from, you know,
some of my co hosts and co analysts, and they
were like, no, Cincinnati will be confident they're the better team,
(08:16):
and I just said, look, I just wonder if because
they play the same a similar formation, because they have
that institutional know how of Wilford Nancy and his system
and the way that they play. I think it's a
really tough matchup for f C Cincinnati, and I think
that this is going to be just as electric as
(08:38):
it was in twenty twenty three, where we all remember
that epic playoff game that they played between the teams.
And don't underestimate the power of a legend retiring in
a team wanting to send him out on top. I
think the power of Darlington Nagby in his statement that
he made that he was going to be retiring when
the season was over is extra motivation for the Columbus Crew.
(09:00):
I think the fact that they got a big win
on decision Day and they got a little bit of confidence,
because this is a Columbus Crew team that quite frankly,
has been limping into the playoffs, but now that they've
rediscovered their mojo a little bit. Daniel Gazdag got on
the score sheet, Diego Rossi is rumored to be fit
and available. This is a Columbus Crew team that EFTY
(09:22):
Cincinnati is going to have their hands full with. And
so if I know Pat Noonan, I know that he's
not scared. I know that he's going to be confident
going in there and being able to win at TQL.
But the Columbus Crew do a lot of things well,
and e FC Cincinnati, they need to make sure that
when they're in these close games they defend a little
bit better than they've been defending recently, because towards the
end of the season they conceded really sloppy goals. And
(09:44):
if you're going to give the Columbus Crew extra opportunities
to punish you, they can certainly do that.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
At no point during the coverage on Monday, are you
guys allowed to show highlights of that twenty twenty three
Eastern Conference final?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Okay, hey, talk to the producers, Buddy, talk to the producers.
That's not my will house.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh man, it still stings. Hopefully, hopefully a measure of
revenge in this best of three series, which begins on Monday.
Dak's awesome to have you love your work, appreciate the
time man, enjoy the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thanks so much anytime, mo, that's the luck EFTY Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Much appreciated. Dax McCarty played in the League Forever MLS
match analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV Monday Night.
I was going to say Sunday, Monday Night at six
forty five Game one, FC Cincinnati hosting Columbus. It's a
best of three series in round one of course, of
course you can listen to the match on ESPN fifteen
(10:43):
thirty Monday evening. It is twenty nine minutes after eight o'clock.
You know, it's interesting there's been a surge of optimism
among Bengals fans and understandably so. Right Flaco team beat
the Steelers mini by little time to breath, playing a
terrible Jets team on Sunday optimism and I'm here for it.
(11:07):
But also you're starting to look at like mid December
doesn't seem so far away. In mid December is when
we are hoping that Joe Burrow can come back. So
I kind of wanted to get a sense of, you know,
if that's still realistic and some of the obstacles he
still has to overcome. And so we're going to get
an expert, because that's what we do from Ortho Sinsey
(11:28):
to talk Joe Burrow with us coming up in just
about twenty minutes. We are looking forward to that. Don't
forget Sunday, it's the Bengals and Jets. The game's live
on seven hundred WLW one o'clock is your kickoff pregame
coverage from the Holy Grail with can Brew, Tony Pike
and Me Sunday morning. Starting at nine am, it's time
for the eight to thirty news on seven hundred WLW
Have you ever fried in deep tallent?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I have? It is eighteen minutes after eight o'clock. This
is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on
seven hundred wl W mowegor for Lance McAllister. You'll hear
Lance on Monday for Bengals lines. Speaking of Monday, Game one,
best of three MLS Cup first Round series, FC Cincinnati
hosting the first game against Columbus six forty five at
(00:25):
the Soccer Stadium on the West end of Cincinnati. You
could watch it on Apple TV's MLS Season Pass. Dax McCarty,
longtime MLS stars, now at match analyst for MLS Season Pass.
Awesome to have you. You've got the series Game one Monday.
The Eastern Conference feels very wide open, much more wide
open than last year, although the New York Red Bulls
(00:47):
kind of came out of nowhere to represent the East
this year. When you look at that half of the bracket,
how many teams do you look at as legitimate threats
to make the final.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Eight? Legitimately, mo I can make an argument for all
eight teams on the Eastern side to make a run
at MLS cuff and I think that's what makes these
playoffs so compelling, so interesting. Last year was crazy. If
you remember how how the playoffs went down last year,
(01:19):
there were upsets everywhere in terms of quite frankly, the
team that wasn't the clearly inferior team i e. My
Atlanta United team, i e. The New York Red Bulls
and the Columbus versus the Columbus Crew. There were teams
that just sprang upset left and right. If I go
down the list of all the different matchups in the East,
(01:39):
it's really hard for me to determine who a favorite
is in any of these matchups. And that's what makes
this year in MLS, and specifically in the Eastern Conference
so so interesting, so chaotic, so drama filled, is that
I legitimately see a world in which every one of
these series can go to three games and then in
the third game, anyone's it's anyone's game. So I tend
(02:02):
to give the favoritism towards the home team and the
teams that have home field advantaged off this first round.
But as we saw last year, that didn't make a
heck of a lot of difference with certain series, and
so it's a totally new new season as I'm sure
all of you and all your listeners know, you kind
of have to throw out everything that happened in the
regular season and just focus on the sprint that is
(02:25):
the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
FC Cincinnati, Chris Albright, the GM made a lot of
moves during that lay transfer window, perhaps most notably bringing
Brenner back. And you know what Chris said at the
time was, we're built to win. Now we're better built
to win. How much did those acquisitions and moves better
fortify them for a postseason run?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, it was the smart move and it was the
right play from Chris Albright and Pat Noon and in
that whole front office. Cincinnati is an extremely competitive team.
I would say that they are in the upper echelon
of best teams in MLS with the most consistency throughout
the last three or four years. I believe it's actually
the Columbus Crew and f C Cincinnati are the only
(03:11):
two teams in MLS the last three years that have
both hit fifty four points or above. And so they're
in a club all on their own, and so you
have to give credits that he's coaching staffs. You have
to give credit to the front office for being able
to constantly reload. I think it would have been really
easy for Cincinnati to have a little bit of a
down year after losing Lucho Acosta. But what do you do.
(03:33):
You go out and you get one of the best
players in Major League Soccer in Evander, and he repays
that faith instantly. Being one of the best players in
the league. He's must CTV every time he's on the ball.
But going out and getting a third scoring option, I
think was key because for all the good things that
Kai Kamara does, for all the good things that Dado
(03:54):
Valenzuela do, for all the good things that Yayakubo has
done when he's had to play in an attacking position,
none of them is an out and out goal scorer.
None of them are going to be able to get
you ten twelve goals when you need them to. Kai
Kamara has been excellent, but he hasn't scored. His hold
up play, he opens up space for other players. It's
all at a really high level, but Kai doesn't score
(04:17):
at the same clip that he used to. Valezuela is
more of a creative midfielder, So to go out and
get a difference maker, a game changer in the attack
in Brenner, and then you add that to Evander and
Kevin Denk who are all match winners. That was a
really shrewd move because the f C Cincinnati roster is
built to win now and we've seen a supporter shield,
We've seen a couple decent playoff runs, but we haven't
(04:40):
seen enough in the postseason from f C Cincinnati. Adding Brenner,
adding Dominic Marshuk on loan from Salt Lake, I think
was a really smart and shrewd move to be able
to add a little bit of depth at winger. But
f C Cincinnati has game changers all over the field now,
it would be a disappointment if they didn't make a
deep playoff run.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You know, you meant a lot of guys that this
club has acquired, and look, you you acquire a player
like a Vander, you expect him to fit in just
because he's going to score a bunch of goals. But
it's always it's always stood out to me ever since
Chris Albright and Pat Noonan took over this franchise that
whenever they acquire a piece from outside, whether it's it's
from another MLS club, whether it's an international signing, whether
(05:20):
it's somebody who joins the team before the season, or
whether it's somebody who joins the team once the season
is underway. Almost every single time, it feels like that
player just fits in seamlessly. From your perspective, having played
in the league forever, how hard is it to do
that nearly every single time you bring in somebody from outside.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, that's extremely hard. And I hope people, I hope
people on the outside supporters of the club realize what
a great job Chris Albright has done and what a
great job Pat Noonon has done to be able to
integrate players as quickly as they have. That's that's not
always the case. As you just mentioned. I've seen numerous
players that have turned out to be good MLS players,
(06:01):
it takes them three, four, five, sometimes even seven eight
months to be able to acclimate and to be able
to really contribute at a high level. So to go
get Brenner was extra smart because he already knew the club.
He already knew what the expectations were. He knows the
training facility, he knows the stadium right, he knows Major
League Soccer and what it takes to be successful in
(06:22):
Major League Soccer to go get Dominic Marshak, who already
has an acclamation period with Salt Lake and now he's
just coming to a new team and maybe fits in
a system that is more suited to his talent and
to his skill level. I think that was a really
shrewd move right for this front office. And so you
just go up and down the roster and you see
so many game changers, difference makers, players that are going
(06:45):
to have a difference and make a difference in this roster.
I've been really impressed every time I've seen Samuel Giddy play.
I really like his qualities and what he brings and
can add into the midfield. So f C Cincinnati has depth,
they have different makers. They really need to put a
stake in the ground in twenty twenty five. This is
(07:06):
their year and it's the most competitive Eastern Conference that
I've ever seen. And like I said at the top
of the top of the show, any one of these
eight teams can make a run. But I'm looking at
FC Cincinnati as one of the favorites. I picked them
before the season started to win MLS Cup, and they've
made me kind of question myself a little bit throughout
the season, But I'm sticking with my prediction because of
(07:28):
the fact that they have so many game.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Changers all right in the way right now. By the way,
Dax McCarty MLS Season Pass Apple TV with us FC
Cincinnati and Columbus on Monday Night, Game one, six forty
five on the West End of Cincinnati. I think most
FC Cincinnati fans are really excited about the playoffs. All
of them are. I think most go man Round one,
anybody but Columbus. And yet here we are, where does
(07:53):
the Crew pose the biggest threat.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It's so funny that you say that mode because I
made the argument once the playoffs were flying on decision Day,
I made the argument that f C Cincinnati the only
team that they wouldn't want to see in Round one
of the playoffs was the Columbus Crew. And I got
a little bit of stick coming back from, you know,
some of my co hosts and co analysts, and they
were like, no, Cincinnati will be confident they're the better team,
(08:16):
and I just said, look, I just wonder if because
they play the same a similar formation, because they have
that institutional know how of Wilford Nancy and his system
and the way that they play. I think it's a
really tough matchup for f C Cincinnati, and I think
that this is going to be just as electric as
(08:38):
it was in twenty twenty three, where we all remember
that epic playoff game that they played between the teams.
And don't underestimate the power of a legend retiring in
a team wanting to send him out on top. I
think the power of Darlington Nagby in his statement that
he made that he was going to be retiring when
the season was over is extra motivation for the Columbus Crew.
(09:00):
I think the fact that they got a big win
on decision Day and they got a little bit of confidence,
because this is a Columbus Crew team that quite frankly,
has been limping into the playoffs, but now that they've
rediscovered their mojo a little bit. Daniel Gazdag got on
the score sheet, Diego Rossi is rumored to be fit
and available. This is a Columbus Crew team that EFTY
(09:22):
Cincinnati is going to have their hands full with. And
so if I know Pat Noonan, I know that he's
not scared. I know that he's going to be confident
going in there and being able to win at TQL.
But the Columbus Crew do a lot of things well,
and e FC Cincinnati, they need to make sure that
when they're in these close games they defend a little
bit better than they've been defending recently, because towards the
end of the season they conceded really sloppy goals. And
(09:44):
if you're going to give the Columbus Crew extra opportunities
to punish you, they can certainly do that.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
At no point during the coverage on Monday, are you
guys allowed to show highlights of that twenty twenty three
Eastern Conference final?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Okay, hey, talk to the producers, Buddy, talk to the producers.
That's not my will house.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh man, it still stings. Hopefully, hopefully a measure of
revenge in this best of three series, which begins on Monday.
Dak's awesome to have you love your work, appreciate the
time man, enjoy the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thanks so much anytime, mo, that's the luck EFTY Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Much appreciated. Dax McCarty played in the League Forever MLS
match analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV Monday Night.
I was going to say Sunday, Monday Night at six
forty five Game one, FC Cincinnati hosting Columbus. It's a
best of three series in round one of course, of
course you can listen to the match on ESPN fifteen
(10:43):
thirty Monday evening. It is twenty nine minutes after eight o'clock.
You know, it's interesting there's been a surge of optimism
among Bengals fans and understandably so. Right Flaco team beat
the Steelers mini by little time to breath, playing a
terrible Jets team on Sunday optimism and I'm here for it.
(11:07):
But also you're starting to look at like mid December
doesn't seem so far away. In mid December is when
we are hoping that Joe Burrow can come back. So
I kind of wanted to get a sense of, you know,
if that's still realistic and some of the obstacles he
still has to overcome. And so we're going to get
an expert, because that's what we do from Ortho Sinsey
(11:28):
to talk Joe Burrow with us coming up in just
about twenty minutes. We are looking forward to that. Don't
forget Sunday, it's the Bengals and Jets. The game's live
on seven hundred WLW one o'clock is your kickoff pregame
coverage from the Holy Grail with can Brew, Tony Pike
and Me Sunday morning. Starting at nine am, it's time
for the eight to thirty news on seven hundred WLW
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