11/18/25: Mo Egger with Taylor Twellman from Apple TV's MLS Season Pass

The great Taylor Twellman joined us to talk about FC Cincinnati's Eastern Conference Semi showdown with Miami. 

Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.

Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.

Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen

Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger

Follow on X: @MoEgger

Instagram too: @MoEgger

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our conversation is going to go here.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
FC Cincinnati is getting set for the conference semifinal on
Sunday of five o'clock kick at TQL Stadium.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
The great Taylor twelveman on the call.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
For MLS s'son Pass on Apple TV and always kind
enough to join his tailor.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's good to have you. How are you good? How
are you Bud doing well?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
What was your biggest takeaway from FC Cincinnati's Round one
win over Columbus?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Uh? Nothing that they won with I guess my biggest
takeaway for instead of me Ramblin would be they won
without a Vander playing at its best. I think, Evander,
it's not for Lionel Messi. You can make an argument
he's been the best player in MLS over the last
two seasons, and so, uh, Cincinnati won without him being great,

(00:48):
and that I think says a lot. You know, they
they win games by one goal. You guys know this
better than anyone watching Pad Newton and its Cincinnati teams. Actually,
over the last three years, seventy four percent of their
wins are by you know, one goal. So they're completely
competent enough to take a lead and survive it. But

(01:10):
I think my biggest takeaway is the fact that they
won without Evander being great.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Can they win on Sunday without Avander being great?

Speaker 3 (01:20):
No? But I don't think that's the most important thing.
And I know that's a weird answer. Evander's got to
be really, really good, and I think he's got to
be better than what he was against Columbus to beat Miami.
But I actually don't think it's one A. I think

(01:43):
it's one B for lack of a better way to
put it, But Evander's got to be better than what
he was against Columbus. I don't think that's that strong
of an opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
All Right, what's at the top of Pat Newtan's list
when he starts to figure out what his tactics are
going to be for Miami.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
It's an interesting question because I just listen, Miami's played
more games in a calendar year than any team in
MLS history. They've only been helped scoreless five times. Two
of those games are against Cincinnati. Can you really keep
a clean sheet against them again the third time? I
just that one to me feels like that's a long shot.

(02:24):
If they keep a clean sheet, Cincinnati wins, And I
just that's why I say, Evander doesn't have to be
great if they keep a clean sheet. If you keep
Messy in Miami scoreless again, then someone's going to get
a goal for Cincinnati. Just the way Miami plays. Miami

(02:45):
more than likely is going to start Luis Suarez, and
when he starts, keeping clean sheets is very difficult because
you've got Suarez, you've got Messy, and you've got Biscuits.
You've got three guys that are older, so their defensive
posture isn't going to be what was in the third
game against Nashville. So Pat Noonon and his staff are
looking at it saying, yeah, how do we keep it

(03:07):
clean sheet? I think you, I think you're playing with
fire if you go into the game at home, with
that environment, which is going to be second to none,
and try to sit in and try to be so
pragmatic defensively. I think if they come out the way
they did against Columbus in the first leg, the first game,

(03:30):
so to speak, and be on the front foot and
try to get after Miami and be very aggressive, I
think that shuits Cincinnati more than trying to come in
and saying, listen, if we keep them off the board, great,
but we're going to sacrifice us being a little aggressive.
Miami's too good to just sit in and try to
defend for eighty minutes.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I've asked this on a number of occasions as the
season is unfolded, and I'll do it now that we
have four teams remaining. I got like a minute left obviously, FC,
Cincinnati and Miami.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
The Eastern Conference as a whole, break it down for me.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
The Eastern Conference as a whole. I said it in
July and it remains the same. I think the Eastern
Conference champion has to go through Ohio. Now. I said
that with Columbus on the verge of signing, you know,
a record signing designated player. He ended up being injured
for the series against Cincinnati, so it still remains the same.
I think the winner of Cincinnati in Miami, I think

(04:26):
the winner of that is going to be an MLS Cup.
I've felt that all season long. I feel that now
Philadelphia's style, for lack of a better way to put this,
is great over thirty four games, but they can be
caught in a one off game. I think the winner
of the Eastern Conference is gonna come from the winner
of Cincinnati Miami on Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Sunday is gonna be awesome. The atmosphere should be incredible.
The game itself, I hope, is terrific. And I hope
we're talking next week because then it means I have
you to talk about the Eastern Conference Final, Taylor, Thanks
so much

Speaker 3 (05:00):
For having me, but