Union Soccer Podcast Ep. 14: The One Where We Rant About Soccer -- 5/17/23

Jon Jansen and Joe Tansey break down what they liked from the Philadelphia Union's win over the Colorado Rapids and share their opinions on Wrexham, MLS Season Pass and other hot soccer topics.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Union back in the win column andalso back with some fines. Yeah,
we had a bit of a scuffleover the weekend. You're tuned into the
Union at Soccer podcast. Go checkout the Union Soccer Podcast wherever you get
your podcasts. That's where you canfind us. Just search up the Union
Soccer Podcast, Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get them. Also Union

(00:21):
Soccer Blog Substack run by Joe TanzyUnion Soccer Blog dot substack dot com,
and then also follow the Union SoccerPod at Union Soccer Pod. My name
is John Jansen. You can followme at jj'son thirty four Star the show
though, and also the guy whoruns things over the Union Soccer Blog,
Joe Tanzy at j Tanzy ninety Joe, we got a scuffle, we got
fines, but also more important,Joe a w three points and fifth in

(00:48):
the standings. I know that's notsomething we should be looking at too much
yet, but it's just nice tosee, after all the things that have
gone wrong, and you know,all of these other tournaments and all these
other things like CONCACAFF and Open Cup, that's still you're in fifth and everything
is okay. The best part aboutthis podcast is we do not have a
rundown now, John and I wetext each other, I guess once during

(01:15):
Union games and then what time we'regonna just to really pull the curtain back,
are we do our rundown? Likea minute before the show? And
Joe tells me, hey, here'sare some of the things that's happening and
things about the game. We're like, all right, Joe, I'm gonna
hit record and you're like, oh, here we go. Now in a
regular week, you know, sometimeswe're scratching storylines, um, whatever it

(01:38):
may be. I mean, thisis on a silver platter, and we're
kind of just going to jump fromfrom topic to topic because there's a lot
to kind of just delve through here. And the first because it's Tuesday at
six o'clock and we're an hour afterthe MLS Disciplinary Committee, which is the
most honorable and most um, let'ssay, most beloved part of Major League

(02:06):
Soccer in the Philadelphia area, datingback to Marco Fabian's stomp I'm using the
air quotes there against Sporting Kansas City. Entrance Tanner came out with like a
statement and it took week and ahalf for that to um for that to
be sorted out because the Union hada bye week I believe after that.
Um, so that's where all ofthe stems from. If you're you're new

(02:30):
to the Union fan base, theDisciplinary Committee, uh is probably in your
top three on the hate list rightnow, just because um, the Red
Bulls are man, they just firedtheir coach. Um, so LAFC and
NYCFC are probably up there, andGareth Bale too. That's not that's not
going well. I'm just gonna Idon't care that he's retired. And so

(02:58):
yeah, we're we're about an hourremoved from the fines dropping. Let's get
right into it. There's a lotthat happened here. So if you're if
you've lived under a rock since Saturdayand haven't seen the video, Michael Barrios
goes in puts hands on Andrea Blake'sback. Whether you deem it to be

(03:20):
light contact, severe contact contact,it didn't need to be made right at
the end of the day, thatplayed doesn't need to happen, And Jim
Curtin noted his postmatch press conference thatkind of stemmed from a few minutes earlier
when they were trying to get theball back and play and all that kind
of stuff. Barrios was also kindof a pot stir from the second he

(03:42):
was on the field, So hepushes Blake contact light or not whatever.
You know, It really depends onyour fandom on what happened because Colorado fansh
I haven't interacted with much, becauseare there any Colorado fans there? Are?
They just they're just not as they'renot as vocal. Obviously they're not

(04:04):
us. No one is us JohnJansen, no one is us. The
Philadelphia fan base. UM, Sothat happens, you know, yeaha Damian
Lowe and Jack Elliott immediately jumped theBlacks defense. Um. Then galvon and

(04:24):
Haysus Boino gets sent off. Therewas some alleged spitting that happened from Galvon
and and and he took down JacobGleasnis in this melee. So this is
what MLS decided. So Galbon andBueno are We're sent off and are automatically
suspended for their next game the Unionbeing Wednesday against DC. And we'll get

(04:47):
into why that affects the Union ina little bit. So from the DISCO,
the Rapids and Union both violated theMass Confrontation Policy ninety match U it's
a warning for the Union because it'stheir first violations policy. Colorado got a
fine organizationally and head coach Robin Frasierbecause it's the second time they've been ruled

(05:14):
to have violated this policy. Sothen Andre Blake, Damian Lowe from the
Union, William Yarborough, Brian Acosta, and Diego Rubio from the Rapids all
got undisclosed fine for inciting or escalatingand or escalating a mass confrontation. Galvan
also got a fine for not leavingthe field in a timely manner. Missing

(05:39):
from all of that is Michael Barrios, what are we doing here? MLS?
Like if you watch that video,it's very clear, like everything that
you find the Union and the Rapidsplayers for starts because of it and nothing

(06:01):
comes from it. Like that's that'sthe frustrating part here is all of this
is preventable. I mean the finalwhistle literally blows after they do the VR
review for the Bueno red card,like there was no kicking of the ball,
after Blake goes down into the advertisingpoint like that, that is the

(06:23):
final moments of the game and they'rereviewed it because of the whistle hadn't been
blown. Yet, which goes alongwith all the policies, and I have
no problem with that. But whatBueno gets the red card for still not
entirely sure. So yeah, that'sthe baffling part to me is if you're
going to put all of these finesout there and slap two Union players,

(06:47):
three Rapids players, but none ofthem be the guy who started the entire
incident in the first place, there'ssomething wrong with your process. Now,
from a MLS League office perspective,this is the least concerning thing they have
because the Apple TV deal has beenuh yes undergoing last week, um,

(07:13):
which if we have time to getinto like the broader things with MLS that
that's a big issue. Um.So yeah, it's concerning that Barrios doesn't
get anything here. His name isnot mentioned the Disco release and it's like
it's a gray area play either,like it's very no dud dude ran into

(07:33):
him with intention to right And ifyou then if you think, if you
think Barrios doesn't touch him, thenwhy are you issuing these finds anyway?
Like you just let it play outand I don't know that that that is
the the initial action that leads toall of this happening. It's frustrating because

(07:57):
you want to you want the leagueto at least notice these things, because
look, we're not going to seethe Colorado Rapids unless it's MLS Cup,
and that's you know, the probabilityof that happening is highly unlikely. But
what if Michael Barrios goes out anddoes this in another game, Well,

(08:18):
this could have been prevented. Itjust feels like you make the right call.
You find Barrios, you find Blake, find low find Galvon, and
then anybody else who while we're reviewingthe video did something significantly wrong, and
then you move on like I wouldhave no problem if Blake and Lowe got

(08:41):
fine, and even Jack Elliott,if Barrios's name is there, it just
feels like it's it all levels outand we move on. But instead there's
one name missing, and that's whereeverybody is up in arms, and I
get it. And this isn't thefirst time Union fans have felt slighted by
the Disciplinary Committee, and it reallydoes all go back to he does about
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, likethe second game of the season might have

(09:07):
been the third is a way atSporting Kansas City Marco Fabian goes up to
try and get the ball and hisfoot comes down on the chest of a
Sporting Kansas City player. He getsruled with a red card, and then,
in really an unprecedented move in MLS, Ernst Tanner comes out with a
statement through the union social media channelsa week and a half later, because

(09:31):
that's how long it took the releaseto come out, because they waited until
before the Union's next game, becausethey had they had off in between those
games. That was a big dealand that's where all of this hatred for
the Disco stems from. But Iunderstand it. It's just very simple.

(09:52):
Just put him in the release,slap him with a fine, you move
on. It also prevents, um, further instance, from happy. I
can't say I've watched a ton ofRapids games this year, um, but
if we would be the reason justnot to find him though like he obviously
he's the reason why this all gotstarted. There's obviously a push like is

(10:13):
I don't know, is there likea letter of the law thing that says
what he's doing is within the reasonof play or because it's not like it's
I don't know, I just Idon't I don't understand why there's such a
hesitancy for the guy who started notto find him, like very clearly,
they just find everybody here, youknow, like, ah, you fine,
you fine, you breathed on somebodyincorrectly during the scuffle, you find

(10:33):
and then it's just the guy thatstarted there, Like, I don't know,
we got to look into that onemore, Like there's why why even
hesitate when you're just handing him outright? And that's that's part I'm kind
of confused on too. I Mean, look, mls UM when it comes
to these types of situations, hasn'tbeen UM hasn't hesitated to find a lot
of people in the past. SoI don't know, that's that's the frustrating

(10:56):
part. Yeah, it's extremely frustratingbecause there's just no rhyme or reason.
Like obviously I get Blake and lowUm, they're the ones who retaliated.
I won't blame them for retaliating.I'm not saying that, but you can
understand, yeah, they definitely retaliatedand in a way that you should get
fined, and they obviously escalated thingsmaybe in a way. But yeah,

(11:18):
it's just that's that's interesting. Yeah, and since that's fresh on our minds
and that was the most recent thingthat came out. Yeah, look,
it's it's frustrating, that's all itis. And you want this league to
flourish and and have a lot ofsuccess and all that you know pr jargon

(11:39):
and jazz that we we pump upbefore every every season, but like to
kind of get into this this MLSsituation before we get into the union.
I mean, wolf is all Ihave to say. Like giving out a
free trial for a month and tryI am branding it with like a personal

(12:01):
message from a player from each team. It's not great, and like we've
it seems like this week has beenthe bashed the Apple TV week because the
Athletics said something in it. UmPro Soccer Wire had a piece which I
wish they would have quoted more thanjust Vancouver Whitecaps players because to me,

(12:26):
yeah, I know they had likean MLS executive quoted there, but like
I think it's a little extreme becauseplayers that play for the Vancouver white Caps
are in a completely different situation thanpeople that play in the Northeast because Vancouver's
got more travel. All of thisis involved on top of what people in

(12:46):
Eastern Conference are going through, LikeI could care less what you no offense,
but I can care less what JulianGressel's going through because I don't see
Julian Grussel or any of the whiteCaps on my TV screen for the most
part. Like I see the EasternConference, I see the travel is more
manageable than it is in the WesternConference. I want to know does this

(13:09):
hurt anybody in the Eastern Conference too, not just one specific team, and
then slap a quote from an MLSexecutive in there, like I wish there
was a little more bulkiness to that, because I do want to hear what
the situation is, not just inPhiladelphia but across the league, because it
does seem to these issues are arepiling up with the seven thirty kickoff time.

(13:35):
I mean, heck, look atlook at Sunday for example. Now
I get it the Sixers and Celticshad our attention, but you're telling me
you can't stick an MLS game atone or six on one of the big
networks. It just feels like thiswhole thing is very poorly planned out from
a scheduling perspective. It was planned, it was poorly planned out from the

(13:58):
beginning like this, it's not surprisingthat they just don't have this to down
to a science set like I know, it's hard too for a league launching
like this new streaming thing if there'sand look, major League Baseball has been
dealing with these issues over and overagain. But baseball is still easy to
find its games. Here's here's thething. Yes, this feels like I
mean, from the beginning, justfeels like it's they never really knew exactly

(14:22):
what to do with this and howdid here Here's the thing. MLB has
got a lot of relevancy issues.It has for a long time, right,
absolutely, But and I'm saying thatas a guy that loves baseball.
But yes, one, and look, I'm a MLB TV and I watched
the Bravest almost every night if Ican during baseball season because they are adam

(14:45):
market. LBTV is is a verygood product that's been around for forever.
Um. But I'm okay if onegame goes to Peacock or one game lost
to Apple TV, because I havethe option to just not watch it,
but then I can watch you know, thirteen other games, uh in baseball.
But it's been like that forever thesoccer there's no relevancy, like part

(15:13):
of the issue here, And thisis why we have these really stupid debates
about MLS Wrexham. Yeah, it'slike I'm not well versed enough in like
international. Well here here's like peoplehave done this for a long time with
US soccer, and Rexham is amore unique case because it's got celebrity owners.

(15:41):
And really the only reason why wepay attention to Wrexham is because Ryan
Reynolds is there, Backelhenny is there, and um, they have a TV
show. They're like they're right,they're out front, right in the spot,
like there right. The only reasonI gave it them about Sunderland when

(16:03):
they dropped from the Premier League andpaid attention to them for about a few
weeks was because Sunderland, until Idie on Netflix was phenomenal. Like I
don't care about the Championship. Idon't care about any other lower divisions in
England, even with Americans playing there. It's I don't have the brain capacity

(16:27):
to like, I'll keep an eyeon it when it's closer this time of
year, when I see, oh, who's going to get promoted and is
it's somebody new like Luton Town whojust beat Sunderland today to get the promotion
final. Like, is it somethinginteresting or in the broader American soccer escape

(16:48):
right now? Is well, doBrendan Aronson, Weston McKenny and Tyler Adams
maybe have a place on those teamsif leaves get relegated, which it's starting
to look like it. It's ayou know, very very real possibility.
So you know where would they fiton Burnley now? But would they fit
with chef United or whoever wins thepromotion playoffs? I think it's middlesburn in
Coventry are left in that semi finaland the winner plays Luton to get up.

(17:12):
Would would an American fit there?Like that? That, to me
is is interesting because first and foremost, Brendan Aarrinson has a connection to the
Union and we've seen him grow upand want the best for him. I
still think, regardless of what happensit leads, he should jump ship and
go to the Bundesliga. And that'sanother topic for the day, but I

(17:34):
feel like that second tier of Bundesligateam, similar to what his brother's doing
it on track Frankfurt, would beawesome. For him, because that's again,
that's a league where there's no defensein the Bundesliga. Let's just be
honest with ourselves. There's no defensein Germany um, and he can flourish
in that in a type of environment. Says say it like a Freiburg or

(18:00):
an Eye Tractor, one of thoseteams that is fighting for European places or
in a European competition. I thinkhe would do very well there. It's
very apparently the jump from Salzburg toLeeds might have been a little bit too
big, too fast, and ifJesse's not there when the move happens,
maybe the natural progression goes up.And I'd also love to see Mark McKenzie

(18:22):
and the bund is Like next year. But we'll see what he lands too,
because he's been really playing really strongsoccer in Belgium. But to kind
of tie this all back and takeme away from his tangent is I don't
care about the lower divisions of soccerin England or anywhere else. If something

(18:47):
insane happens that goes viral, thenyes I will pay attention to it and
look at it on Twitter or maybepeak at the league standings. Every once
in a while, but that's postedwith the Championship because there's there's been a
run of Americans in there. Oryou know, I watched the Premier League.
I'm I'm in involved in watching therelegation race. Um so I want

(19:07):
to see who comes up. Andthat's about it. To try and to
try, I've ever wanted to watcha Rexham match. I I don't,
I truly and honestly could not careless. But like everyone tries to associate
or not associate, compare these thingsto MLS and it just misses the mark,

(19:32):
Like it's just people who hate Americansoccer, like they're just always going
to hate it. We talked about, yeah, I hate MLS in particularly,
Yes, that they just don't likeit and hate it and at any
chance they're gonna take you know,oh we'll look at Rexham. C MLS
can't do this. It's like allright, well then, like if you
want soccer to grow and MLS watchit, you know. And the perfect,

(19:53):
perfect example that is what we're goingto face this summer with this summer
tour that the Premier League teams areon. They're playing a game at the
Link the same night as League's Cupdown in Chester, which MLS put a
lot into I guarantee you if youwere to walk the streets of Philadelphia that
weekend and you'd say, hey,which soccer game are you going to be

(20:15):
like, Oh, the only soccergame in town is in is the Premier
League game? That's fine. Ihave no problem with. Like if if
you don't prefer MLS, you don'trate MLS, fine, But when we're
doing these students, I'm even fine. If you're a huge Union fan,
if you go it's not often rightyou get to go to those things,
right, But and the league,who knows what the League's Cup is going

(20:37):
to be. There's there's absolutely nothingbehind it yet to say oh this is
going to be a serious competition oran un serious competition where who knows what
will happen. We just don't knowwhat it's going to be in the interest
level in it. But are itis cool they're trying something new, even
though it adds a bunch more gamesto schedule and takes out a chunk of

(20:59):
the summer and makes the MLS seasonlonger. But that's neither here nor there.
At this point we're focused on thistopic. But um, yeah,
it just you can like Wrexham andthe story and think it's really cool what
they're doing without having to compare itto anything else in American soccer. You're

(21:19):
allowed to do that, believe itor not. You're allowed to do that,
and you can have your own opinionson MLS and whether it's a crappy
product or not without comparing it toanywhere else in the world. You know
what's funny about that is like thelike you draw up all of this hype

(21:40):
for Wrexham, and I don't thinkanybody gives an absolute bleep about any other
team in that league, right,It's just Wrexham. It's this couldn't I
couldn't name another team in that league. It don't please the fifth tier in
England. I could even name you, yes, exactly. The only the
only teams I can name that arebeneath the Premier League are either ones that

(22:02):
have been in the Premier League orones that Americans have played at exactly.
So basically, what you're you're marketingis just the TV show has led to
interest for the team, and look, they got absolutely bleeping lucky that this
is around the same time as TedLasso, because I think it's getting a
lot of the residuals from that,so I think it's just like right place,

(22:26):
right time. But it's not likethey're doing anything for what the fifth
league in European soccer Like, it'snot like that that's growing. So you're
only growing one specific team because ofthese one specific set of circumstances. What
in that can you apply to MLShere, Like, it's it's not there's
nothing to apply. There's nothing thesame about any of this to me.

(22:47):
Well you want to at least youwant a lesson in like marketing, sure,
but that's that's it. It's notlike you know, this is well,
this is how you build a league. It's like, no, it's
not. It's just you guys loveRyan Reynold and Rob mclehenny and they have
a team and they have this coolTV show along with it, and you're
a ted Lasso fan, so heck, this is sort of real life ted
Lasso. Sure, let me watchit. Or if you're the athletic you

(23:11):
just compared Rexham to every MLS team. It's real, that's really which is
which was honestly like the dumbest forestof a of an article, Like I
get it. You have to tryand cash in on the on the top
the buzzworthy stories in soccer. Iget it. I mean there is there
are ways to tie that in,but I don't think doing it in that

(23:32):
sense, like the sense like likewell, here's why Rexham's doing it better,
like Pablo went to one of thepubs in Philly that to watch a
Wrexham game, where like they've becomethat's a cool angle, like I love
that, agree with it or notabout the coverage given to Wrexham in in

(23:55):
by MLS writers. It's a bigstory, it should be covered. Yeah,
that's that's a cool angle. Butto then try and maximize your your
profit off of ximen say, ohhere's how they would do an MLS and
try and try and literally use likeevery like five thirty eight, you know
all these like world rankings, likeit's pretty damn clear their fifth division team

(24:18):
in in England they get mopped uphere, Like yeah, that that's just
the level of of talent. Soit's very to go back to our original
point with I guess we're talking aboutwhat MLS and Apple TV. Yes,
I'm sure we'll go I'm sure we'lltalk about the actual union on the Union

(24:41):
side. I know, I wasjust about to say, we haven't talked
about the union. This is gonnabe a longer episode than usual, which
is fine. Um, it's justme procrastinating John from playing Zelba for a
few more as I know, Ineed to save the Kingdom, all right,
but to to you know, getback to this whole like MLS relevancy

(25:03):
thing, like, okay, thediehards and we knew this from the stuff
the diehards gonna watch MLS, right, Um, we're still going to cover
MLS the way we've covered MLS.But what you're doing is now you're keeping
fans on the outside that Okay,maybe they would flip on PHL seventeen and

(25:29):
say all right, I'll watch thisgame. Um, they can't do that
anymore. And even if you say, oh, here's a free sample or
a free month, you still gottayou know, sign everything up through Apple
and and once the month is overthen they're charging you. And people don't
want to do that. So yeah, I don't know if MLS is way

(25:56):
short on their on their target goal. I don't know what triggered the Hey,
let's do a free trial in themiddle of May. Maybe because it's
rivalry week or they're branding it asthat that it was just something they were
going to do. I also findthe timing of it as NHL and playoffs
and NBA playoffs and dwindling down alsowork. But it also to the people

(26:22):
within the MLS bubble, it sendsoff some alarm bells, right because we
know it's hasn't been ideal. Thewhip around show hasn't been great, at
least in the parts that I've watched. It's very difficult to watch any other
MLS game in full unless you're homeon a Saturday night and your team played

(26:44):
at seven thirty and then you're watchinga Western Conference game at ten thirty.
At least I find it. Forme, it's very hard to rewatch games
when you can just watch the condensedhighlights. So yeah, um, and
I'm not saying put the game Fridaynight at eleven o'clock on the West Coast
like we used to have. Iget that was for all the you know,

(27:04):
the sickos like me that watched it. But I don't know, I
don't know a Sunday game would benice. Maybe two Sunday games. Basically,
I think you're you're your point isstretching out a little bit more right,
give us, give us a littlebit of something, and don't make
your Marky match, say like thethe Hudson River Derby is your Marky match

(27:26):
the weekend. Don't make it seventhirty, make at four one whatever.
Like I'm not I'm not watching ChicagoSaint Louis. There's nothing like there for
me. But when you put outtraffica where the Hudson River Derby, you
put something fascinating it in front ofme with MLS, I'll watch it.
But the problem we get into thenis well, Atlanta is on national TV

(27:48):
ten times and LAFC is on nationalTV, and it becomes fatigue of that
and you're running into a ton ofissues with who is actually playing those games
where it's it's the Sounders for thefifteenth times this season. So there's a
lot of things that need work.I don't know if I'm willing to give.
Yeah, you got like, Ithink what you you have to do.
And I like the idea of spacingout. I don't think these games

(28:11):
are spaced out enough. Like so, the NFL has the best single day
game experience in the world because youhave look at a number of one o'clock
games, but then I also havemore I can watch a four thirty than
more I can watch at night.You know. It's it's spaced out of
the point where I want to watchthe Eagles at one o'clock, and once
I'm done watching them, there isstill something else more for me to watch

(28:33):
afterwards. It's basically like, bythe time the Union are done, the
rest of the league is done,and I have maybe at eight thirty and
nine thirty game like about to wrapup, and then here comes the ten
thirty that I'm about to watch.It's just not I don't know. I
feel like this could be an allday affair almost, and you can,
when you're right space out even totwo other days. But yeah, I
just feel like it's all all justa shotgun blast at one time. And

(28:55):
if you your whip last show,when you're essentially red zone show isn't good
enough, then the entire point ofhaving all of these playout at once is
ridiculous. And I mentioned this,I think, I think, on this
podcast or somewhere else where. OnSaturday mornings, I watched the Premier League
Goal Rush show on Peacock and ithas one primary game and then whenever there's

(29:21):
a goal, they flipped to thehighlight. I don't know if that's your
answer, but you gotta find somewherein between that and what they're they're doing
with the whip around. There's gotto be It can't be like and this
is the one time I watched ita few weeks ago. It can't be
just Sasha and b towp doing likepodcast topics, like, There's gotta be
some There's gotta be some excitement,like I want, I want Scott Hanson,

(29:44):
give me a Scott Hanson of soccerand put them you know, get
excited. Like maybe you think it'soverkilled when you watch NFL Red Zone,
but I'll tell you what, ScottHansen gets me excited for. What red
Zone is the single best you knowingexperience in all the sports. It's right
best. So you're not gonna you'renot going to completely replicate NFL Red Zone.
You're not going to, you know, completely do what Premier League goal

(30:06):
Rush does. But find your ownniche, your your personalities, your excitement,
have fun with it. It justfeels like everything we just talked about
with Apple. It just felt likea shotgun wedding between MLS and Apple because
Apple wants to get into the sports, but the sports, the sports,

(30:27):
but nobody wants to go fully in. You know, MLBS dip their toe
in the water. NFL has Amazon, but that's the NFL, like the
PAC twelve doesn't know where their gamesare going to be because they've become irrelevant.
Um, but they may not wantto go to Apple because they may

(30:48):
become even more irrelevant. M andMLS just they look at TV ratings and
say, no one's watching this,So let's dive into Apple Bowl and have
a company that's going to make acommitment, which they have. But there's
so many there's so many loose endsstill have to be tied. And we're

(31:10):
two months into the season and hey, we almost saw this coming. And
rant all right, Joe, youwant to talk about the Union. I
think we should on the Union Soccerpodcast. Yeah, they won, they
got three points on the road.UM, I know, like things haven't
been great, and you know what, even that first half wasn't great.

(31:30):
I'll be completely honest with you,but it's still three points on the road
and it's a improvement over what we'veseen lately and a Colorado team that actually
was playing somewhat well, so itsound like they just beat a nobody.
They fought a tough game in theroad, come away with three points,
and Kai Wagner has the best leftfoot and I've ever seen in all of
stock Ki Wagner is on, whatthe hell fire? We found our third

(31:53):
striker joe and his name is KiWagner. Right. These aren't even like
easy shots. It's not like he'sgetting a chip shot like this really lucky
set piece that goes in because usuallybut if he's on a corner, he's
the one doing it. Um.These are like absolute blasts. The one
was finesse, the one where hespiked it into the ground and against Orlando,

(32:16):
like that was amazing and orgainst Minnesotaexcuse me, and like then here
against Colorado he just blasts one andback of the net. Uh dude,
that's insane, right, And it'sit's so weird to be talking about a
three game winning streak when in betweenthose games there's been a lost to Minnesota
in the Open Cup and a lostLFC in Champions League. But that's what

(32:37):
they're on, you know, JimCurtain, I mean this point has been
hammered home about fifteen but jillion timesnow, but you know he wants to
get ten plus points out of thefive games stretched. It started with Toronto
in league play and they've gotten nutand all of a sudden they're back in
the nixt and the Eastern Conference andcan do even more damage against TC United

(32:57):
at home. And one did seethere's setting themselves up for a run here
like the same thing that happened lastlike so if they're setting themselves up here
right And also this, this threegame winning run speaks to patience. I
know that's a word we do nothave in our vocabulary as sports fans of
any team. We want things tobe fixed in the moment right now,

(33:21):
and if it doesn't, things arewrong. People need to be fired off
of their heads. All that stuff. I get it, because look,
I do it with the Eagles alot. But when you have a season
like MLS where it literally is forever, sometimes you do have to have that
patience, like it or not.And this is why, because a three

(33:45):
game winning streak all of a suddenin league play moves you up to I
think with the fifth and the table, and you can do even more damage
against Eastern Conference opponents to end themonth, and by June one, you
could be in the you've expected yourselfto be in. And oh, by
the way, you know, Curtainadmitted this after Saturday's game when talking about

(34:07):
using three five two. There aren'treally any good team or great teams.
It may not even be any alot of good teams in MLS right now
New England and Cincinnati in the Eastand LAFC in the West. That's what
you got, and that's okay forhim a sixteenth because the way the MLS

(34:28):
season works is you need patients tofind these league teams. I mean,
heck, we we buried Sport inKansas City, like there were a team
that was going to have what likefive points all season and then they go
and beat Seattle. Like this leagueis so just unpredictable, and for the
Union to be in the spot thatthey've been consistently speaks to how they've been

(34:51):
able to avoid some of this chaos. I mean, there's seven points out
of first place with New England cominginto their place on Saturday. I mean,
we could be talking about a teamin third place at the end of
Saturday night, within one result ofsecond place, maybe one result of the
first place, depending on what sStaddi does this week. It really is

(35:14):
incredible how things can swing so fastin this league. Yeah, and it's
swinging in the right direction for sure. But you also mentioned it Joe there
and when it first came out andwas like, oh, something new,
something, something interesting Jim Curtin's doing, because usually we're just used to seeing

(35:35):
the usual formations. Were like,okay, yeah, no, that makes
sense. I guess you plugged thisguy in here and there and then boom
three in the back and everybody went, wow, there's like a whitplash.
Everybody just wanted what the hell isthat? And it worked and it ended
up being interesting but also very functionaland one of the things I like to
and Bizo a little bit forward,and we did see Byzo end up in

(35:57):
a goal or at least part ofall that Carranza had. I thought it
functioned very well. Joe and Ikind of liked the change in formation and
using the three three five two.It was it was interesting. It was
obviously you could tell like they're notreally changing much. It's just really adding
that nice little center back there onthe back of the three line. But

(36:17):
It certainly ended up being good andI've thought, again, pretty functional.
Right. It's what we've wanted tosee for a while now with these these
three center backs, and it hasn'tbeen able to happen because Damien low has
been dealing with, you know,just some nagging, little injuries that prevented
him from being a one hundred percentto start. UM. It threw it
out against Cincinnati and it did work. Um. But this was the first

(36:42):
time we saw the three man backline with Jacob Lessis, Jack Elliott and
Damian Lowe and it worked. Itdid. Um. It's still it's basically,
at least with the way it functionedon Saturday the Dime, but with
three center backs, because the threecentral midfielders are still using their exact offensive

(37:08):
and defensive qualities from the four fourtwo diamond. They're just applying it to
with a different with another center backon the field. And Jim Kurtn even
admitted Daniel Gozig was dropping back intohis position as a ten as part of
the diamond in some instances. UM, and they were still very Um.

(37:30):
They were right sided oriented on inthe attack too. Look kind of Wagner
scored the goal, but that goalcomes from the right. It's it's to
do the anatomy of a goal,real quick Alejandra Badoya skates through defenders,
gets it to Carranza, and thenKranza passes the ball to to Wagner who

(37:52):
lashes into the net. Like,yes, it came from the goal came
from the left back, but itstarts with the move on the right,
and you saw that throughout the night, and then it ends up being shown
in the second goal as well withBizo so um. The only real blemish
of the back line was the penalty, which is a fifty fifty one.

(38:13):
And I made this point in theTakeaways Peace on Saturday Night. Jim Curtin
talks about penalty luck and all thiskind of stuff happening throughout the course of
the thirty four game season. Well, it all just kind of leveled out
within two week games because you havethe soft penalty that Carranza earned against Red
Bulls, and now you have thesoft penalty that Damian Lowe concedes, which

(38:35):
you can't just go in that way. I know a lot of people thought
that Verbio initiated contact, and Idid see that from the the angle right
and Jim Curtin was too. Hereally didn't have any qualms with it.
But the to me that instantly poppedin my mind maybe this is just listening
to Jim Curtin talk on UM twicea week basis for pretty much all season,

(38:59):
that the luck does even itself outand did in that situation because Carranza
and then Low back to back.Call it a wash and we move on.
The most important part is the Unionwere able to respond, and I
think the Wagner goal just just wokeeverybody up. It was huge right before

(39:20):
halftime. You get it in,you get an equalizer, you get a
second one early in the second half, and you hold on for winning.
Colorado didn't really look that threatening.The goal was to take away the middle
of the field, and they didthat. I thought that Jack Elliott had
one of the better games of theseason, and that's what you want to

(39:40):
see with Low and glassess a realmlike you want that that line to be
slidfied. Bizo was still Bizo.You saw the good, you saw the
bad. There was an instance inthe second half, I think early on
or midway, where he he gottoo far forward, lost possession and luckily

(40:07):
Damian Low clears it out and thatends up not being a talking point.
But he had a decent game.They were still very right sided, especially
in the first half with the attack. I'd like to see a little more
balance. They got to that pointeventually, but I still want to see
a little more balance from the startand not just immediately go into the right

(40:30):
side of tendencies. So yes,defensively, it's new, it's exciting,
and it got the job done onthe road and I think we'll see that
many more times on the road throughoutthe season. But where the evolution now
comes with that is can you breakthe four four two principles for the midfielders

(40:50):
and the forwards and add new wrinklesto it, because that's where this tactical
evolution of Jim Curtin will happen thisseason. It's one thing to put three
defenders out there and play for apoint or play for a win on the
road. You can do that,but I want to see a little more

(41:12):
creativity with the midfield. With theFords, how can you do that with
Jose Martinez and Michael Ua on thefield, who, by the way,
are both officially listed as questionable tomorrow. Jim Curtin said they will play in
some capacity, not revealing if they'regoing to start or not, which is
big because cass Boino is suspended andJack mcglenn's off the twenties, so they

(41:36):
need Martinez Usuli starts if if he'sready to go because of that. So
does it function with Martinez and afew more attacking midfielders in front of him?
Does it function with dual tens?Can you do that? Like?
I want to see how they cancan play off this base of a three

(41:57):
man back line, because we knowthose three guys can defend, but when
you're playing a different type of opponentwhere they do have a more creative ten,
can you put Jose in there tocompletely erase the middle of the field
and then put a bunch of attackersaround them and then maybe sixtieth minute flock

(42:22):
comes on, Wayno comes on andyou have you close up shot basically.
So I'm I'm very interested to seehow that now it evolves because we've seen
it once, I know we're goingto see it multiple times. But how
it turns into something that the Unioncan go to and then throw different wrinkles

(42:45):
in game by game would be reallynice to see not just the three five
two with the standard guys, andit looks like a four or four two
and there, and they're playing thesame way, because eventually, if you
do that too many times, teamsare gone. You that on film and
they're going to punish you the sameway they would if you if you were
a four four two diamond because ofthe midfielder's attack and the right side as

(43:08):
heavy, and how the forwards getinvolved with the game. So yeah,
I think one thing that certainly wasnotable to me was your left and right
back obviously pushed a little bit moreforward, and how directly involved they were
offensively, because obviously when you justhave that four in the back line,
you know, very defensive heavy,and I would assume dependent minded they were

(43:29):
able to push forward a little bit. And obviously we get Wagner with that
goal. But again using Baizo speedbecause I always feel like, man,
he's one of the fastest players I'veseen in the field, and all of
a sudden he comes just flying downthe right side of the field for McGlynn,
and all of a sudden Kranza hasa goal. Because of that,
Like, I just felt like itwas it was interesting to see those two
involved more offensively. Obviously they areto a point, because Wagner obviously scored

(43:52):
a couple of goals in the OpenCup game before that, but certainly to
see them involved more felt like itactually worked in a way, and I
felt that was certainly notable. Wellfor sure. I just to me when
they when they started out and thereis a lot going through the right side,
I was like, okay, likewhat are we too much? Yeah?
Like can we can we add morewrinkles to it, and they did

(44:15):
and they will once they feel morecomfortable in it. But um, but
yeah, the videor goal still comesfrom the right side. So it's like,
yes, everything, everything is therefor variations to be put in when
you have the full squad. Whatat what point you have the full squad
use it? Who knows? Butthat's that's kind of what I see moving

(44:38):
forward with this, all right,Joe, Speaking of moving forward, there
is a game tomorrow, Wednesday Action. It feels like Wednesday Action. It's
been a while, Joe, I'mnot gonna lie, well, at least
like MLSH. Well, it's becausewe've had a few Tuesday games. Yeah,
I don't like Tuesday games for me. So we got a nice Wednesday

(45:01):
game. What do we got herefor tomorrow? Joe? What are we
looking at, especially with injuries andstuff and obviously what you just mentioned with
Braino, right, so it startsfrom the Union perspective. You're going to
have us whos Poina was suspended.Jack McGlynn is now off with the U
twenties along with Quinn Sullivan and BrandyCraig. Like I just mentioned earlier,

(45:21):
Ua and Martinez are this was questionable. Jim Curtin said today that they are
going to play in some capacity.So and and by the way, Damian
Lowe also dealing with a personal matterin Jamaica. Curtain Expectshim to be back
tomorrow, but Jim didn't note that. So that that leads me to believe
we're getting Glasness and Elliott Um atcenter back to start. And it's Jim

(45:45):
mentioned you know, family comes firstregardless, and we obviously agree with that
and hope whatever's going on Um endsup working out. So you're getting kind
in the left, you're getting Imean, you can choose your right back
at home. I think that's nota huge issue, whether it's Harry or
Bizo. So then it comes downto Canjosa Martinez start, because if he

(46:08):
can, it all fills out fromtheir flock place left and do it plays
the right gaze Carroza. If not, then you have to funnel through,
you know in Andre's Perea walking tours, like how do these guys fit?
So I think that's I think that'show this is going to do. And
you also have doing going on Saturdaythat you've keeping an eye out for.
But if if Ua and Martinez arefit enough to start, I think we

(46:31):
see them all right. And DCUnited the opponent coming in on Wednesday.
Last few games not great draw,loss loss. Obviously they've been doing okay
this season. Fine, they don'tsuck. They don't suck. I think
that's the best way to put aJoe, thank you for that, say

(46:52):
don't suck. I think it's thegreat way. So that doesn't suck,
though coming into Superow Park usually doend up sucking. This this feels like
the Union again, you know theythey are fifth now on the table,
get another win here. I meanthis feels like, you know, the
Union really are stringing together wins andthis this could be part of that.

(47:12):
Well. DC United, it isto be noted they have a lot of
of injuries. I'm trying to pullup the entire list. Um, but
they are dealing with a handful ofof injuries coming into tomorrow's game, so
that could end up hurting them.Um, it's actually found this is on

(47:34):
the injury list. Uh Steve Burnbaum, who on you know? There's my
account eight from the tweet I'm readingright now. Um, so that significantly
hurts them if a guy like Founcescan't go, he's one of obviously a
guy we know is one of thetop attackers. Um. Christian ben Tech

(47:55):
is going to be an interesting matchupfor Glesness. I'm fascinated to see how
that goes because usually when these thesenumber nine that come into the Superhu Park
and we talk about what their pedigreeis, they usually get handled like Lessons
and Elliott. So how that physicalbattle is going to go is gonna be

(48:15):
fascinating to watch. This kind ofbe like how a few weeks ago we
watched Jose Martinez try and deal withwith Bernardeski m at, which he did
with Flying Colors. So I thinkthat's the matchup to watch. Defensively,
Um, look, this is ahome game, you should win. It
in the form they're in, theyshould and I wouldn't be surprised if Julian

(48:38):
corrons is a little ticked off.Why is that? Who? Well,
I mean, he had the missthat was why, you know, wide
open in the first half. Hedid score in the second half. But
it feels like and maybe this iskind of just how he how he deals
with things as a striker, andstrike can be very temperamental. But I

(49:01):
wouldn't be surprised to see it kindof a ticktoff Julian Coranza tomorrow to try
and score a few more goals.He's been playing well, but I think
there's a part of the fan baseand the coaching staff that realizes he can
do a little more. He canput a few more goals in the back
of the net. And if ifis only playing off the bench or playing

(49:24):
sixty whatever it may be, Consais going to be the guy tomorrow.
And again this you know Martinez,and it would being healthy kind of has
that trickle down effect on what thelineup is going to look like. If
Martinez starts, you can play Flockon the left because you don't have Bueno.

(49:45):
Laura McGlenn. This would have beena perfect game to start Bueno on
the left, but unfortunately m we'renot going to get that because of the
melee we got. Maybe we seehim against New England, I'd be I'm
I'm fascinated to see what Bayno cando in front of Jose and what he

(50:06):
can bring that maybe Leon Flock doesn'tand I don't know, and I don't
know if he's his plain who canbring the offensive side of the web site
of the diamond that that Jack McGlynncan, or even half of that.
But they're going to have to finda way to replace that while Jack mcglyn's
off the twenty World Cup, sothat's to be a big opportunity. Maybe
andres Pereya even gets his shot becausewe know he can create moving forward from

(50:30):
the deeper position. So those arethings I'm watching tomorrow the next few weeks.
The left sided midfield position is goingto be just so fascinating to take
stock of because McGlynn. Mcglenn's havinga fantastic season. Jim Curtin said he

(50:51):
was excellent against Colorado. He's takenthe starting spot and run with it.
But he's gone for a few weeksand there's a bunch of games packed in
here, and we want to seeParreya. I want to see more of
Wayno. I know a lot ofpeople have been talking about parree and Torres.
I want to see more of Waythough, and what he can bring.
And if Martinez is back and healthyand playing in the sixth role,

(51:14):
well, the starting spot that comesunder pressure is the eight on left side.
I'm fascinated to see what then theybring. Obviously not tomorrow, but
Saturday and maybe against NYC or Charlotteas well. So that's kind of where
I stand with the match and froma from a matchup perspective, I think

(51:38):
they should win Dcason a little bangedup. They're not going to win six
seven nothing. I was just yourass show. Is this like, is
this a return to form for theUnion? Is this the first one of
the season where they look like thedominant Eastern team from last year? What
if I told you they've already returnedto form and they played WHOA? Okay,
all right, all right, thatwould be a bold claim. But

(52:00):
like, like, think about it. They beat Toronto thoroughly and the two
goals they can see it in thesecond half is because they were focused on
LAFC. They had to win thebag to take those two goals out of
it. They had a clean sheeton the road at Red Bull and then
they beat Colorado, who's only oneof what like three significant chances was a

(52:23):
penalty kick. Andre Blake saved afew others and they had the big save
early on that shot from close range. But that's one or two saves and
that's got it. So defensively,I think they're they're in form in league
play. What we quantify as theUnion being back in form is open for

(52:45):
interpretation, right, I want tosee a six nothing. You want to
see it. A lot of peoplewant to see it. But I know,
I know, I don't know ifit's just that was the Yeah,
who knows. That doesn't happen often, by the way, because I remember
every single time after one of thosegames, Wow, you and you're making
history here. So they don't makehistory every single game and every single season.

(53:07):
But you know, I look,as long as there this is a
thorough ninety minute like good victory,obviously you don't need six to seven nothing.
But this isn't the one where I'mtalking about the Red Bulls just you
know, get by with three pointseven against Colorado. You know, they
stole three points there, which isgreat. This is you know, look
good. You're at home. Howmany home games lately as well? So

(53:28):
you're at home and you have achance here to get three points against the
team that's injured and down a littlebit. Look, I just want to
a thorough good I had to saybeat down, but just they need a
solid ninety minutes because I don't knowif we've essentially gotten that yet. I
would like a solid ninety So youand I had this discussion before the Red
Bull game, is what is anacceptable result? Um man? I would

(53:53):
love a clean sheet right just tosee the defense look the way it is.
But I don't know, to nothing, I'd be fine with that.
I'm not even down the result now. Obviously they need to win, but
like I think, it comes downto how they look. If it's too
nothing, but they have all theopportunities in the world and looks like they
are getting smoother on attack than yeah, then I'd be fine with that,

(54:15):
you know, if if a fewdon't go in, but yeah, I
just I just want to finally seewe're seeing them get back on track and
they piling together wins now put togetherthe convincing win, put together the oh
yeah this this is the Union.You know, this is the the Eastern
Conference team that's won, that's gottenthe top and gotten supporter shields. You

(54:35):
know, got the top seed lastyear. I want to see that team.
I want to see that team againstNew England. Fair enough, fair
enough, I want them to Ihope they continue the winning ways because it
kind of reasserts their dominance in theEast. But I would much rather see

(54:55):
them put that that pummeling on NewEngland because I don't like New England,
but because that's the result that alot of people will pay attention to.
More. No, for sure thatone would be the oh oh yeah,
Union are back, and and it'sone that I think Jim Curtain specifically would

(55:19):
relish in more because he's already mentionedand this is something he's brought up at
least in three or four press conferencesleading up to this this busy stretch,
that New England doesn't play a gamemid week, and he's he's kind of
picked off about that that New England'sgot the rest and they come into Chester

(55:39):
fresh on on Saturday. Meanwhile,the Union, right, um, which
I guess New England's instead point whereyou can't keep up with the games on
this podcast, right, and Iwill I will say this, it's been
as they say, fast and furiousJoe. Right, I will say that

(56:00):
it was the perfect time coming outthis weekend. I will say it was
a nice time to take like asmall break in between the Open Cup loss
and the Colorado win. Like Ifeel like there are points throughout the season
I was talking about with my wifetoo, is like sometimes you just need
to step back and breathe from thislong season. Not recording or not writing

(56:28):
anything union wise for those three days. It's kind of therapeutic because then you
can be like, Okay, Idon't need to pressure myself into writing something
that isn't there. We're just gonnabe talking about the same talking points we
had from LAFC team can't win knockoutgames all that. We all know that

(56:49):
you guys don't want to hear that. You've heard it two weeks in a
row. And the last thing wewant to be is like, hey,
let's make you more depressed after yougot over the Open Cup loss the night
before. Look, at some pointthere's like union fatigue that sets in,
Right, So I feel like lastweek was a nice little refresh and honestly,
the I think putting the three backdown this is just a tactical plan

(57:14):
for Jim Curtain to use and nothingmore. But I think for the fan
base it was just so refreshing tosee something new that these words that Jim
Curtain has been saying is finally translatesinto something on the pitch. I think
that was just a nice little likeshot in the arm nine thirty games Saturday
night. And I wouldn't blame anyoneif they said, no, what screw

(57:36):
this? The Union just broke myheart twice in two weeks and knockout competitions.
I don't care about the Colorado Rapids. Why the hell would I watch
this game? And then boom theysuck you back in with the three man
back line and you're like, okay, we can, we can. We
can move on from this. Andit ended up being like a good match
to watch. They win, youget your little drama at the end that

(57:58):
you can fight with people on toilof It was a lot of funds.
It ends up being fun. Butlike again, putting, I mean just
putting a hole in the back ofthe net. But those those three those
three days, We're like, Okay, we don't need to to force the
union on you because we still gotit. What six more months of this?
Yeah? Oney, so so wegave you. So we gave you

(58:21):
an hour long podcast instead with alot of rants that have clearly been building
up in my in my mind,and there haven't been many opportunities lately.
But you know, there is agame tomorrow at super A Park and I
haven't been to a game yet,So we'll see, we'll see what happens.
We'll see. I'm feeling, youknow, maybe maybe at John Jansen
sighting over at super A Park.Who knows? Um? All right,

(58:44):
John, are you going to bethere? I imagine you'll be there.
Yes, I will be hopefully evenhappier if Real Madrid wins in the Champions
League. Oh, that'd be nice. You and I talked you and I
talked about this, But I haveI have an inter Milan futures to getting
the Champions League and Real Madrid aswell, and I'd feel much more Obviously,

(59:05):
I'd feel much better if both teamsare in the final. Instead of
Inter trying to counterattack against Manchester Cityfor ninety minutes Oh yeah, I'll be.
I'll be at a really good moodtomorrow night if if Madrid wins at
the Etty Hid I hope they doit. Joe, Um, we're gonna
add things there. That's it forthe Union Soccer Podcast, a very lengthy
one. We haven't had a longone like this in a while, and

(59:28):
I think it was warranted again UnionSoccer Blog. Check it out on the
Union Soccer Blog Substack, Union SoccerBlog dot substack dot com. You can
follow Joe at j Tanzy ninety andcheck out the Union Soccer Pod wherever you
get your podcast, Apple Podcasts,Spotify, wherever you get it, you
can find us. My name isJohn Janson. Follow me at j Jans
thirty four. Join the Wednesday game. We'll be back with more and even

(59:50):
a betting preview right here on theUnion Soccer Podcast