Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Welcome to the Union of Soccer PodcastPlayoff Poinition. Welcome to the millieth game
of the season for the Philadelphia Unionand Major League Soccer. My name is
John Jansen, half of the UnionSoccer Pod. The other half, the
better half, the one who knowsall of this stuff, the one who
writes everything down in Union Soccer Blockdot substack dot com. It is Joe
(00:24):
Tansy, Jay Tansey, Naughty Joe. The Playoffs. It's finally, it's
been about seventy games and we haven'tdecided who the best team is yet.
I don't know how that happened,but here we are. This is actually
the Union Soccer Podcast hosted by Statlerand Waldorf, because that's what these first
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five minutes are going to be.It's just us, the two old men
in the Muppets balcony, just sayingnegative things and laughing to ourselves. This
isn't a Union thing either, It'sa Major League Soccer. You deserve it.
I would like to be about theUnion. I would love to say,
you know, I don't care howthe regular season, what this team's
been good in the playoffs, they'restill great team. I would like to
be excited by them. It's thatI can't be excited for another week of
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soccer because there's been too many weeksand too many games of soccer. I'm
just I'm losing my mind. I'mlosing my mind. I'll add to that,
the Union and Revs spread across twoweeks might be the most uninspiring playoff
matchup in MLS history. It's notmy favorite. But on the on the
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bright side, though, why dowe gotta go? Why do we gotta
Why do we gotta go two weeksto this? On the bright side,
John, before we get into this, just just remember that we're two wins
away from each team from a UnionRed Bulls Conference semifinal on Thanksgiving weekend.
Just how exciting will it be towatch car crash soccer for ninety minutes to
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determine who gets to the conference final. I don't like that. I don't
like any of that. I don'tlike any of that. But it's possible.
So they in the regular season decided, Hey, let's put in an
extra tournament. Let's do the ChampionsLeague stuff. Still, let's do all
that. Oh yeah, and also, we're gonna add more playoff games just
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in case you didn't have enough ofus. Just in case you really wanted
more, here's more playoff games andthen oh yeah, one of these games,
one of these like series things.Here's the Union rep. Here you
go, we'll have that. Itfelt so inevitable watching that that game last
week where it's just like, ohno, Like the second the Revs went
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ahead and discover a bo scores thatsecond goal, You're like, oh no,
no, we're we're not Oh we'reactually doing this or they did it,
Joe, Oh, they they didit. I mean, look,
look across the league, and thisis this is why it's like so frustrating,
because I look across MLS and there'sactually some good playoff matchups. There
(03:07):
are some entertaining, intriguing matchups.But then you have a team in New
England who has been on a completefree frawl since the Bruce Arena fiasco went
down. Even I don't even knowif we have the exact details of what
actually happened yet, they sold theirgoalkeeper Jordi Petrovitch, and it's just been
(03:29):
downhill from there. And then theUnion just have no juice attached to them
right now. They don't And Ithink that's the sentiment across the fan base
is the second you try and buildup some positivity, they knock you right
back down. This has been likea twelve round knockdown, drag out heavy
not even a heavyweight fight. Thisis kind of like the third undercard to
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the heavyweight title fight. And it'sgone on longer than we need it to,
and we just keep get bludgeoned inthe face by by soccer that isn't
up to our standards. But we'restill here like massachusts watching it, like
that's what it feels like. Ithink it just if it was a different
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team, like if it was ColumbusAtlanta, you know, maybe we'd have
some extra juice to this. ButI think because a the Union are just
kind of stuck in neutral and theRevs are in a free fall, what
does this matchup have to offer?Also, I mean, we gotta we
gotta do all this for the firstround, right for round one, and
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this whole thing, this whole playoffthing, doesn't enuntil December ninth. It
this is a whole other season.This isn't just playoffs. This is an
entirely new season almost, and it'snot hard to figure out, like what
the ideal structure should be like ifyou're gonna say if MLS wants these cup
desperately to be a thing, whichif they do, fine, whatever,
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but make that this is this isthe whole problem because if you don't stick
Leagues Cup in the middle of thesummer, MLS since like February, and
I watch until December ninth, right, and there's no break because the Champion
because Champions League just released their schedule. Concac Cap just reached to release the
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Champions League schedule, and in Februarythe first round series of the newly designed
concan Cap Champions Cup starts. It'slike, you need a break, oh
my, but the like ideally,I'll be honest with you, if the
NFL schedule was this song, Idon't know if I'd watch that much.
Like I don't know if I couldbe invested even in NFL for that long,
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right, right, I EVENFL likeeven I need those breaks from a
certain sport. MLS. It's justlike there's there's so much of this who
wanted this, people that run thething, but anybody else. I don't
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want it. I don't want it. I don't want it. Like it's
it's very simple and it's very apparent, like what the fix is to this
whole thing? And I promise we'llwe'll get into the matchup at some point.
But I think we're voicing the concernsof everybody, you know. I
think it's I think we have tobecause this it's not just us. I
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feel like there are a lot ofpeople. Look, you and I are
excited. I'm going to be payingattention Saturday to Union and revs. I'm
going to be excited. I'm goingto be in this game. I'm gonna
be you know, paying attention allof that. I'm gonna watch all of
it. But like going into it, I think there are a lot of
people like you and me too thatare listening to this podcast going, oh
man, thank god we're in theplayoffs. We've just been repeatedly beat over
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the head with Major League Soccer.Yes, and I feel like we've been
beating this point over the head.But again, this is we're sharing sentiments
that I think are being very muchshared right now by a lot of people,
vocally being shared by listeners and Unionfans and MLS fans, And I
think this is I think this isa Union specific issue. Like I think
if if you you bring this outinto a national perspective, Like Saint Louis
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plays Kansas City in the Western Conferencebest of three. That's gonna be fun
because it's the first time you havea regional rivalry in the playoffs with those
two those two teams, it's somethingnew, it's something fresh, it's something
exciting. Cincinnati that they're now thefavorite, like they're basically following the same
path the Union have, and that'sgonna be really exciting for them. Columbus
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Atlanta could be a goal of paloozain the Eastern Conference. I mean,
look at Orlando Nashville. I meanthat's a little bit of a regional thing,
but like Orlando's finally in a positionwhere they're the two seed, there's
expectations attached to them, like thisis the best team they've had. So
I think I think because of thesheer volume of games, combined with the
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performances on the field, have reallyjust kind of soured anything about the twenty
twenty three season from the Union perspective, because like that's because I look at
the viewpoint from across the league anda majority of people are excited for these
first round matchups. Yes, thebest of three sucks, but they're making
the best of it. And theproblem I think we have here is not
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only are the Union kind of stuckin neutral, they're also playing a team
that I believe it's if they playthe best of three sixteen times in the
last four years, it's a lot. And we thought twenty twenty was bad
when the Union played the Revs somuch in that COVID schedule. I mean
to see them potentially four times ina three week span and all the games
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to play out similarly, that doessuck the life out of the fan base.
And look, the vibes could nothave been lower going into decision day.
Nothing changed, So I think that'slike why we're just so like we're
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product of the the atmosphere and thevibes that are on the club. Is
like, yes, you can spinsomething positively, but like, there are
very few things to latch on froma positive standpoint right now to say they
can get past like even this series. I'm sure there are some people out
there that think they're playing miserable.They might lose to the Revs in a
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best of three, not to saythey can't. They definitely can, but
I don't know. I'm not Ohman, they're definitely gonna lose. I
still feel good somewhat, right,but I'm sure there's some skepticism and I've
read it through my mentions on Twitter, like there's skepticism that they might not
even beat the Revs. And look, this whole think could drastically change if
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they go out and beat them fornothing on Saturday, and then it's like,
Okay, this is the version ofthe team we thought they would be,
Like my personal opinion, like deepdown as as negative as I've been
for the first ten minutes of podcastsof Sunshine right, and I tend to
(10:24):
be the right of Sunshine here.Oh yeah, You've definitely not May of
Sunshine. Yes, but I thinkthere's something there's something brewing in the locker
room on like a positive perspective,like this team, at the end of
the day, knows how to rallyaround itself. And Kayle Wagner and Alejandrabdoya
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are so well respected within that lockerroom, like they mean so much to
that group of players that I thinkthey'll be motivated almost to give an fu
to ownership and to Ernst Tanner ina way to be like, look,
this is what you're this is whatyou're losing. Oh okay, Oh they're
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gonna okay. For some reason,my mind automatically what you mean, They're
gonna do the opposite? But no, I know, no, I think
I think that could be like alegitimate rallying cry. I mean, look,
across the Eastern Conference, no oneis as battle tested in elimination games
as the Union. That's just afact. Now, their performance in those
elimination games not great, especially whenthey get further on into the postseason,
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but this is a team that atleast knows what the atmosphere is like,
knows what the pressure is like,and I think that plays in their favor.
And look, there's still some someweird scenario in which the Red Bulls
get hot and beat Cincinnati and allof a sudden, you're playing at home
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Thanksgiving weekend with a spot to goto the conference final, and everything is
it is coming up Union. Idon't think that will happen. But we've
seen dumber things happen in MLS,and I mean, look at how the
wild card games. Do you thinkit's really dumb? This year, I
feel like I'm getting ready for likea really dumb wild stupid MLS playoffs and
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like the best way possible, bythe way, Like I'm just I'm thinking
it's just gonna be okay, Wellwe expected none of this, or is
or is it not? Because Ifeel like that's all season we've been kind
of collision course towards Oh yeah,this playoffs is gonna be real stupid,
It's gonna be awesome, yeah,because I think last year was so much
about the Union and LAFC, thetwo titans of major leagues right, by
the way, That's what That's whatI don't like about people complaining about the
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Major League baseballlayoffs. It's like,well, you know, there are bad
teams now, but I like that. I like to when there's variance.
You know, sometimes you get thereally bad teams that are going to be
in the finals. Sometimes it rarelyhappens in MLS, and maybe they need
to do something about that. Butsometimes when it does happen and you get
the two to one seeds and youget the best teams, give me that,
you know. Like I like Ilike variants. I like the you
know, one year we can haveUnion and l a f C. In
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the other year we can have whothe hell knows what's going to happen.
Yeah, like New York City andPortland. Yeah, I'm not supposed to
mention that, though, I'm surethat's still like a you can mention.
Yeah, yeah, I mentioned Christianor Gareth Bale. You mentioned Christian.
That's the only bail you can mentionon this podcast is Christian. I look,
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I don't know, maybe maybe thisis kind of me being the eternal
optimist and yeah, I know it'sbeen a rough season, but let's look
on the bright side here, becausethat's really I think you're right to do
this. There is a bit becausewe gave the negative side. So if
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you've you've hung around and not turnedus off after ten minutes of Negadelphia,
let's at least be fair and givethe other side. The most battle tested
team in the East. They havea goalkeeper of the Year in the past
years. They have a defender ofthe Year. They have the best left
back in MLS arguably, they havea eight figure striker. It's going to
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be sold. That's a potential thatwon't be an MVP finalist, but you
can make the cases an MVP.They're one of the best defensive midfielders in
the league, and when healthy,which they're trending toward, they have a
lot of depth and a lot offlexibility to deal with a lot of these
matchups. They should beat the Reps. Let's just lay it out there.
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In any scenario, even if BruceArena was still their head coach, even
if Petrovich was still their goalkeeper,they should beat the Reps. They are
the better team, the deeper team, the more experienced team. Now,
I think if you get a powerranking of the teams left in the postseason,
and this takes out the two teamsthat were eliminated in the wildcard game
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last night, the Revs are probablybottom three. They're not training in the
right direction that an interim coach.They're starting a goalkeeper with less than five
MLS starts in his career, andthey're kind of patching things together and hoping
it sticks. They feel like thewalking wounded right now. And it could
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be if you like the perfect teamto beat the unit right exactly, it
sounds like the perfect team to justsurprise everyone. Aye. And if you
don't think things to get worse forthe Union, they're going to lose to
them in the best of three series. That would be that would be rock
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bottom and calls for a lot ofa lot of concern. And this is
just aggregates scoring right now. Ohwhat, it's just straight three games?
What are they doing? I waswith to say it would have been so
great if all three games ended ina draw and then it went to PKS.
That would have been the greatest endingto a Well, every game ends
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in pks, you got to havea winner, that's true, but I
oh my god, every game's gotto end in p case. That's brutal,
which is the worst scenario for theUnion. You think, I know
that, you think it's gonna happen. Uh, what I'll say is you
don't want to get to game three. I'm not saying that New England has
an advantage in pks, but Ithink it's been shown across the years.
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And Andre Blake, if he hasone weakness, it is saving pks.
You're like, you don't. Youdon't want to get into that point until
like later in the postseason when thereare tougher matchups ahead that like actually force
you into that because the chances areso few. And farm betwan, yeah,
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like they should they should win thisin two games and if they don't
win in two games, they shouldhave an overwhelming advantage in Game three.
And I'll make the case here,John, and this is way out of
left field, and I don't thinkthis is how the Union will operate,
But it wouldn't be the worst thingif the Union went three games. Here,
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you're gonna have to explain that one. Okay. The November International break
is a thing. So if theUnion sweep the series and take care of
business on November eighth, which bythe way, it's Ludacris, yes,
and plus days in between games onetwo, but the Patriots play on Sunday,
which, by the way, toget into that real quick, Jim
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Curtin said in this postgame press conferenceon Saturday that they have guidance that they
were playing Wednesday to start the serieson Wednesday, game one, and that
was what we heard through differents whatI heard through different people that originally it
was gonna be Wednesday, Wednesday Sundaybecause the Eagles are on by on the
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on the twelfth, so they canthey can play on Sunday and get away
with it. The Patriots play onthe fifth at Jilette, so that the
Revs wanted to have that game thatweek, understandable, but they switched it
on them On Sunday afternoon, Igot text saying that everything changed overnight,
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that they moved it to Saturday,and people worried about conflicts the World Series.
Obviously that's not the case anymore,but yeah, that's how the whole
thing kind of worked down, likem curtain, No, thank you.
I thought it was safe from this. I'm never gonna be saved from this.
This is also something that's happening forme personally. I don't want playoff
sports. I don't need playoff sportsin my life right now. And here
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comes the Union and my brain,which it shouldn't go this way, because
you're right. I think they're gonnabeat the Res and I think they're do
what to do and Union I shouldbe more optimistic about. But didn't help.
Obviously the way things ended in theseason. All that, I get
it, I get it to getit, but I should be more optimistic.
Still good teams, still good players, and they have a chance and
a not so amazing Eastern Conference,And yet my mind went, so,
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how are the Union gonna disappoint me? Immediately after the Phillies off, so
I was like, great, theUnion playoffs are this weekend, and they're
gonna they're probably just gonna lose gameone and it's gonna be disappointing. Great,
I'm so ready for this. Sothe case for playing this series out
is that your team stays fresh.You play two games at home, the
game one and Game three at home, and game two is essentially a toss
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up. You junk it up.You hope you can win on turf,
but if you don't, you stillhave Game three in your pocket, and
then it's just a regular international breakwhere you're off for a week and then
ramp up into training again. Itconcerns me that they could have almost twenty
(20:02):
days in between playoff games, becausewe've seen the revs. In fact,
were a case of that in thepast. Was it the year they won
the Shield where everything just fell apartfor them because of the extended break.
Now, of course the team isgoing to say we're gonna go all out
to win game one, Game two, secure advancement and then go from there.
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But I don't think it's the worstthing. Now, this is kind
of comes with a caveat Game onehas to be perfect. If Game one
is perfect, you hold a cleansheet you win by multiple goals, you
prove that the Union of Old canshow up. Then you have that.
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You have a little bit of goodwilland a little bit of insurance in your
back pocket for game three, becauseit's you can then manage your because you
have ten days off, you canmanage your roster for game two. If
everyone's healthy, you could throw adefensive lineup out there for forty five minutes,
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hope it sticks, and then rotateyour main guys on for forty five
minutes. And if it doesn't work, you still have Game three in the
bag at home at full strength.Like it's a weird way to think about
things, but if you look atwhat the way the playoff schedule is aligned,
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it because the international break is isslapped right in there. I don't
think it's the worst thing. AndI'm saying this for not just the Union,
but for a lot of the topteams. It wouldn't be terrible if
these series went to game three.Now. I know that could be really
nervy from a lot of perspectives,but I feel like there's some we're doing
(21:53):
great with do or Die games show. Yeah, that's true phenomenal with those
right now, Thank you and Iknow a lot of people will disagree with
me, and I know this iskind of a far fetched theory, but
all these things are about staying inrhythm, and I don't think it would
hurt the union, especially in theform that they're in, if they get
(22:14):
three games to figure it all out. Now, again, it's all dependent
on looking really good in game one, because if you look like crap and
you win one nothing in game one, then they're still concern because you could
get you know, broken open ingame two and the revs could create all
the momentum and the series is over. But I feel like I feel like
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it might benefit the teams to playthree games knowing that the it's gonna be
what he is for the teams toplay on the weekend next week, that's
what at least a multiple week break, it's gonna be tough to just hit
the stop button and reacharge. Can'tThey can't play for the international break,
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which sucks. I think we've talkedabout this before. I would rather them
move decision day up a week beforethe October International break, play the first
round, and play the conference semisbetween the October and November breaks, and
then boom you come out of theNovember break, you play the conference final,
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You at least give teams a bitto rest and recuperate so that they're
at their best for the conference final, and then you play MLS Cup the
first weekend in December. If thiswhole schedule is going to stay the way
it is, that's the way youhave to do it, because it just
there's no consistency in what we're doinghere. You're coming out of especially on
a holiday weekend, coming out ofan international break, that's gonna be tough
(23:38):
to really re energize everyone. Sothat's my personal opinion. Hopefully, you
know, it gets better if we'redoing this whole thing, smashing Leagu's Cup
into it. But for what wehave and in front of us, again,
no one's gonna go out and preachlet's go lose this game. That's
not gonna be the mentality with anthe group. But I don't think it's
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the worst thing, especially as thehome team, and that the higher seed
in all of these series, thatgame three gets played so that you have
that extra week of game time andyou don't lose your form. So I
do want to dive deeper into thatbecause the Union have not have been inconsistent
and flashes at times maybe for ahalf of the Union team of last year.
(24:26):
You know, maybe we see fora full game the Union team from
last year, but then you know, they get brought down back to earth
and they look like this version,the twenty twenty three version, which has
not been very good. No.Look, I look in the MLB playoffs,
and I know MLS playoffs have beenthis way too, where teams just
kind of get form out of nowhereand make a run. I mean,
what are the chances we see thatwith the Union that I mean, it's
(24:48):
there, they can do it.It's just you know, it's tough to
piece that together, it is,and it's tough to guess that. But
have you I mean, are youconfident really in that they can I don't
even know of confidence the right ward? Just do you think it could happen
for the Union? Like, doyou think that run is possible that they
somehow regain that form to be ateam that can go deep into the MLS
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playoffs and then when or is thisgoing to be a case of what they
look like in the regular season,they'll look the same in the playoffs and
all the hopes of trying to fixthings like Okay, well, this is
just what they are. They werealways going to be this and it ultimately
was their demise. I think wehave to scrub twenty twenty two from our
minds. I think that has tobe the first thing we do, because
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if we spend the next six weeks, you know, if they're lucky enough
to make MLS Cup, if wespend the next six weeks judging the union
off of last year, which they'reclearly not, they've given us so much
evidence that they're very much not thatteam. We're going to look at them
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through a lens that is just unrealisticfrankly at this point. So you have
to look at them through the twentytwenty three lens and what they actually are
and at their ceiling they can stillbe on the level of the twenty twenty
two team. They don't have theconsistency that was there, but I don't
(26:18):
think anyone expected the same consistency tobe there because that was such an incredible
season, such a high standard thatwas set. So I think we finally
need to ditch the comparisons to lastyear. It's just not feasible from a
team perspective, but also from likean emotional perspective within the fan base,
(26:41):
like it's not there, it's nottwenty twenty two. It was a great
season, unfortunately ended the way itdid an MLS Cup, but that's not
this team. Like if they goon a run to MLS Cup, it's
gonna be because of of what thetwenty twenty three union is good at.
(27:02):
Not with the twenty twenty two.What is the twenty twenty three team good
at. That's what we have tofigure out. I still think that's not
a promising answer, Joe, No, I think it has to be.
Any success has to be through thefour four to two diamond. It can't
(27:22):
be in the back three. Theonly way the back three you should see
any life is if a serious injuryhappens or you need to close out a
game. I really don't see thathappening. You gotta play. I think
you have to play Glesis and Elliotttogether, play them in the middle.
If Jose Martinez back from yellow cardsuspension, Jim Curtin has said multiple times
(27:47):
of the last few months, thefour to four to two is still the
preferred formation. Jose Martinez makes thatformation run he is the engine, not
only defensively but offensively and the thingshe does, and I wrote about a
little bit on Money why he's sucha vital part. He bridges the gap
offensively with his passing and his IQof the game is so high. And
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I think we we take some ofJose's skill set for granted sometimes because he
is just this bruiser in the midfield. His reputation is as a hard player,
and we respect him for that.But I think the things that he's
worked on in the time he's beenhere to refine his game and make him
(28:36):
really such a valuable piece to midfieldand why I think he is probably the
number one X factor on this rosterin the postseason. If he can stay
on the field, this team isgoing to look so much better. I
think he is the key because otherparts of the team can can play well.
(28:57):
Like we know that theer backs canhold clean sheets. We know Kai
Wagner is a very effective with hiscrossing, We know what the forwards can
give. But when you put thatall together, and when Jim Curtin says
we're only as good as the collective, it's gonna be eleven guys at the
best Jose Martinez is the best playerin that midfield cases Bueno's taking a step
(29:22):
le un Flock is valuable and canprovide some from defensive capabilities. Alejandro Baduy
can still give you something. JackMcGlenn has improved his defense, but you
know he's in there mainly for hisoffensive capabilities. And Daniel Gas we know
what he brings moving forward and workingback in impressing. But the guy with
(29:45):
the best two way skill set inthe midfield is Jose Martinez. And if
he is able to a stay onthe field and be incredibly effective for this
team, the ceiling is remarkably high. He is the guy I circle as
the guy that is the most importantto this playoff front. I know you
(30:07):
could argue Blake, you could probablyargue Glassness, probably argue one of the
strikers as well. But when Iblow it up from a team perspective and
how this four four to two actuallyworks, actually flows, He's so vital,
he really is, because it allowsyou to play that that four four
two, but he it allows youto play it in its full functionality.
(30:30):
Flock can't do that, Bueno can'tdo that. Martinez can. He can
give you that both sides and startthose transition moves, make those hard tackles,
get stuck in everything that is requiredout of the number six role he
can do. And that's so vital. I've looked at it all week on
how you who's the most important player? What's the most important matchup? If
(30:56):
Martinez isn't on the field, theUnion and will suffer. Oh that's great,
I love you. Just put itthat way. Right at the end,
the Union will suffer. It'll beover so fast. I mean,
so what is so looking at theEastern Conference? I know Round one is
going to take a while, soI don't know if I want to go
(31:18):
too far. But how do thingslay out? Do you think for the
Union here? Like? Is thereto me? Playoffs sometimes is about paths
and which path you can take andteams you play matchups that you might potentially
face that could be in your favor. Does how does this playoff? Right
now? You think? Lineup forthe Union? All joking aside, you
(31:38):
should probably root for the Red Bulls. Okay, well like that that's kind
of just the way I view it. Yes, the Cincinnati matchup is is
going to be intriguing because both teamsknow each other's ins and outs. Cincinnati
is gonna have all of the pressureon them, and it's a one off
(31:59):
game in the common from semi finals, so that that's something where the Union
code can go in, embrace theunderdog mentality, do what they do best
motivationally, and potentially get a winthere. But on the other side,
as much as a Union Red Bullsgame is going to be car crash soccer
(32:20):
for ninety minutes, it would bea home game against the team that is
used as much weaker as you Yes, they would be hot, but how
much does that matter when you havea week off in between games kind of
you know, goes to my pointof why should probably play all three games?
(32:42):
Like it just feels like if thatthat can open up and then all
of a sudden, oh it's UnionRed Bulls in the conference semi it's a
home game, and then you're goingto either Columbus or Atlanta or sorry,
Orlando most likely, and if that'sthe case, look you can you can
win one off games there. They'vehad success in Columbus in the past.
(33:07):
Orlando I think has been has beentrickier for them. But again that goes
to the point to the Cincinnati matchupwhere the pressure would be on the higher
seed and the Union go in theunderdog mentality, and that's something I think
they've been waiting to embrace this season. They haven't had that, you know,
(33:28):
they've been the top dog. Andif they go into a matchup with
Cincinnati, said the Cincinnati beats theRed Bulls, which a lot of people
expect will happen. If that's thecase, the Union are gonna be the
decide of underdog. Everyone's gonna bepicking Cincinnati and perfect, and that's gonna
be perfect for the Union to usethat for two weeks as motivation got you
(33:51):
couldn't ask for a better situation.Now, I think it's a little different.
If they're in a conference final againstOrlando against Columbus, I think they
would absolutely be the underdog. AndI'm not just talking about betting lines,
but across like all the MLS experts, I think Orlando is maybe the crack
open. The door is cracked openfor the favorite role. But I mean,
(34:15):
look, if you really want tohave the ideal path, you embrace
chaos. You hope Nashville wins,you hope Atlanta wins, you hope the
Red Bulls win like, the morehome games the better, and that's just
stating the obvious. And to doso, Columbus has to lose, Orlando
has to lose, Cincinnati has tolose. The count of that is you
probably should have won more games downthe stretch, but that's hindsight's twenty to
(34:38):
twenty. So yeah, I look, there's a path for sure, And
I think you could make a caseeither way of what the ideal semifinal matchup
would be. I think it's athome against the Red Bulls, but again,
you can make the case that becausethey're too familiar with each other then,
(35:00):
and Cincinnati's better because they've already beatenthem in a playoff game. I'm
not worried about it. I'm notscared of Cincinnati. Should I have that
mindset, I understand why you would, because I don't think there's any team
that is not beatable for the Union. They can beat all these teams.
(35:21):
It's just like we've been saying,it's actually being able to put it together
and doing that. He's what I'llsay to any opponent. The Union can
hold any of those teams scoreless.Their defense is that good when it's at
its best, and that's not evena twenty twenty two thing. That's a
twenty twenty one thing. That's atwenty like they pride themselves in the back
(35:45):
line, and if you were ableto put Jacob Pleasants in his proper position
as a center back in the middleof the field, he can win one
v one battles with any striker inthis league. We've seen that happen many
times. And Jack Elliott is asbattle tested as they come at center back
and he can do the same thing. And look Damian Lowe, look at
(36:07):
his performance gats Honey Muktar just afew weeks ago. Even if you want
to put him in the matchup withGlesnis together, it works because when he's
at his best, and we've seenit multiple times this season, he's really
good too. I think it's Ithink it should be Elliott and Glessnes and
(36:28):
low as the closer and Jim Curtin. And this is a thing that dates
back to twenty eighteen. For mostof his tenure here. When they've been
in the playoffs, he uses twocenter backs from like mid September on and
that's his playoff pairing and it's it'sone of the reasons why Austin Trustee left
(36:52):
when he did because Mark McKenzie tookthat spot. I believe mackenzie and Glessness
was the preferred pairing with Jack Elliotton the side a few years ago as
well. It's a little different thisyear, and it's something I want to
pick his brain about in the pressconference on Friday of if that's still what
he believes, if it's if it'sthe four to four two, if that's
(37:14):
the way to go with things.Does he have a preferred pair or is
it matchup based like has that thinkingchanged And if it has, then we
see more of a rotation between thethree. But if it hasn't, I
think it's you go with a triedand true glasson Elliott Low comes off the
bench, you abandon the back three, and you find a way to win
(37:37):
out your tried and true formation.And then if you need to flip to
the back three in the seventy fifthor eightieth minute with a fresh center back
off the bench when teams are counteringwith fresh attackers, it's it's gonna be
interesting. But if if your depthlies in defensive minded players, which it
(37:58):
does, you want to make surethose guys are are healthy enough and not
healthy enough, that's not the rightword. Are are fit enough and it's
fresh enough. It's the word I'mlooking for. I can't find words.
They're fresh enough to come off thebench in the seventieth I was waiting for
you to help me there, butyou didn't. You got it. You're
(38:22):
the most You're You're the one whorides. I can't find words. I
pretend to be one, that's forsure. And then to have them come
on for the final twenty, whetherit be flock Low, Bueno, whoever
it may be, like, that'sthat's your tried and true strategy to get
through this this postseason. It's doable. And that's why I think if if
(38:43):
you really need to refresh the outlookon this team going into the postseason,
that's it. It's that defensive structure. And oh, by the way,
you still have one of the bestgoalkeepers to ever play in MLS. Yeah,
that's that's a pretty good thing.That helps. And I think it's
also worth noting Nathan Harriel's really damngood defensively this year. I know for
(39:06):
the last few years we've made ita lot about Baizo and his defensive shortcomings
and the one big mistake. Well, if you can prevent that as well
and have Dathan Harrow, who's beenone of the team's best defenders all season,
that surest thing is up as well. It's it's there for the taking,
at least I think it is.Again, you have to get past
(39:29):
the Revs first, but that matchupseems like it favors the Union in all
regards. And if you can haveJose Martinez almost eliminate Carlos Hill and Glesns
go body the body with Gustavo boand shut him down like this's happened in
previous matchups, and you know thedozen or so times these these guys have
(39:52):
played, I think that the familiarityreally helps the Union in this regard.
And look all doesn't help us though. The viewers of wanting to watch entertaining
soccer, well you can get youcan get the entertainment an entertaining soccer from
(40:12):
the winning I get the winning winning, but look, they could still they
can still win for nothing. Ithink if they win for nothing, I'm
screaming We're back at the top ofmy lungs so loud that it's going to
register. I mean, people aregoing to hear it from Miles, how
(40:32):
how loud, I'm going to say, we're back, Which is why Game
one isn't just important tone cetter.It's important, it's a tone cetter,
But I think Game one most importantlyis for the psyche of everyone involved.
It's everybody within the club who's beendealing with more off the field stuff than
(40:54):
in previous seasons, and to theircredit, they've handled it about as well
as it could. It hasn't reallyaffected their play on the field. Yeah.
I don't know like front office ifthey have, but the players in
the locker room and even curtain,I think, yeah, they're you know
they it's always been like an understandingof things like that. I feel like
from right now there's alas there's alwaysa good understanding within within the group.
(41:15):
Within the locker room, they've alwaysbeen together. There's never been that,
at least for the past few years. There's never been that one or two
guys that just is like on anisland. There's always there's always been that
encouragement between the group. I thinkfor the fan base as well. Game
one is so important for the psycheof the fan base because if you see
(41:37):
three or four nothing, then itreally really kind of gets the juices flowing.
They have to wait ten days forthe next game to happen, but
at least gets the juices flowing forOh well, maybe this is a team
that's just been waiting to show theirtheir best for the postseason, or maybe
the time off actually helps them,not playing three games and eight days all
(41:58):
that stuff. I feel like there'sthere could be genuine excitement without any skepticism
if they win game one in avery dominant fashion, and to me,
that's three nothing are better. Soare you going to predict three nothing or
(42:19):
better? Pretty well? I actuallyI actually will. Oh no way.
So you're gonna say, by Saturday, at what time is this game again?
Five o'clock? So about what eighto'clock, seven thirty eight o'clock,
(42:43):
we're going to be going Union orback. I think the Union win for
to one. Oh oh, Ilike that even more more. Scoring.
I don't care if they give uplike a goal, I don't care go
ahead. I want scoring. Iwant to know these guys can cause that's
that's it, right, we justwant to know they can score. I
you know, and not just inbunches, but just score. Put together
some some really nice goals, somegood offense, some good scoring opportunities.
(43:06):
I would like to see that.I would like to see aggressiveness and actually
putting shots on goal. So yeah, this is good. I like all
of this. I think Martinez isjust absolutely massive to this group. I
think before it's I think they're goingto play with better cohesion and look,
you're playing with an experienced goalkeeper onthe other side. If you're going to
(43:29):
dictate the chances and maybe even dictatethe possession, you have to test him
early and often that comes with shotsfrom outside the box, that comes from
set pieces. You need to puthim under pressure immediately. And at the
end of the day, this isa team that knows how to play in
elimination style games, in playoff games, in series. They know how to
(43:53):
play in these types of games,and that's gonna be intangible. I'm really
banking on showing up in game one. I think they make a statement.
I think for to one, Iknow a lot of people listening will probably
be like skeptical and then say,where exactly are these goals coming from?
But you saw in the first HalfghanCincinnati like it's still there. It's just
(44:15):
not to the standard that twenty twentytwo cents and that's fine. But if
it's it's still capable of showing up. And uh, you know, I
gotta I'm still the ever the optimisthere, and uh, for one sounds
pretty good to me. What ifone sounds great to me? I don't
know, Joe doesn't sound good.It sounds great, And I can't wait.
(44:37):
Everybody's gonna get it. If Idon't see everyone tweeting at Union Soccerpod
or me or Joe after they winthree nothing or four to one and screaming
out all caps on Twitter we're back, I'm gonna be disappointed. I would
just like one person to tell meI'm right. I don't know. I
can't. I can't be optimistic.Every time I'm optimistic, I just get
(45:00):
losing in game seven to the teamsthat you shouldn't lose too. So I
don't. I just want to wait. I just want to wait. I
would also like to clear the recordhere if if I'm very wrong here,
please tweet at me as well.I can take the criticism. I've done
this for a long time. I'vemade a lot of bad predictions. Has
(45:22):
anybody tweeted at you before about badpredictions. Oh yeah, oh, you
get those. It's part of thejob. I thought people are very nice
to you. Actually most are arevery respectful and nice. Yeah, it's
mostly it's mostly about the players andthe coaches where the negative things come.
But yeah, look, if I'mdead wrong and it's a one nothing game
(45:44):
or a scoreless draw goes to pka's, please tweet at me as well keep
the receipts. I have absolutely noproblem with it admitting if I'm completely dead
wrong, but I would like creditif I'm I'm right as well, I'll
give you credit. I'll make sureI'll hold you accountable for both. With
Joe, I'll hold you accountable.It's okay, Uh? That is it?
Is that? It for the UnionSoccer Pod. Anything else for I
(46:07):
mean, we talked about as muchabout this game as you probably should.
This is about the thirtieth game thatthey've had in the past two three years.
The fact that we've won forty fiveminutes about this, I'm shocked.
I'm shocked. And none of thatwas me. You just you talked a
lot, which you needed to,because I can only say the one thought
(46:27):
of we're back. But other thanthat, it's been a lot of you,
so can goud you. You carriedthe team, you carried us here,
you added, don't discredit yourself.That's like me saying I did something
on this pod is like Zach Gallontalking s to Phillies fans after giving up
nine runs and eleven innings. That'suh, there's too much Phillies talk for
(46:52):
me too on this podcast. Allright, that's it. Union Soccer Pod,
Joe Tansey, anything on the UnionSoccer blog dot substack dot com.
We can look forward to reading beforewe do get into the playoffs, another
long season ahead of us of UnionSoccer. You can you can read my
ode to how important Jose Martinez is. That's up. I like that.
(47:12):
That sounds. We'll have a previewfrom the from Friday's presser as well,
sol plus obviously the normal post gamestuff. So yeah, everything there,
and I will be on site inFoxborough for Game two, staying at Lovely
Peace. Yeah. I'm gonna stayat Patriot Place overnight too, and overlook
(47:34):
the beautiful turf of Gillette Stadium.Oh dude, that's awesome. I'm that's
very exciting. Good for you man, Well, I will not see you
in Foxborough. You enjoy yourself.Where I will see you is on the
next Union Soccer Pod. That isit for US Union Soccer podcast, all
part of Fox Sports The Gambler.Joe Tansey the star of the show.
As you can tell at Jay Tanseynot you on Twitter. My name is
(47:58):
John Janson at j Jansen thirty four. Co luck with the Union playoffs.
I'm sure we'll have a podcast inbetween, maybe like Games one and two,
who knows, but we'll be backand covering all things Philadelphia Union Soccer
playoffs right here on the Union SoccerPodcast.
Welcome to the Union of Soccer PodcastPlayoff Poinition. Welcome to the millieth game
of the season for the Philadelphia Unionand Major League Soccer. My name is
John Jansen, half of the UnionSoccer Pod. The other half, the
better half, the one who knowsall of this stuff, the one who
writes everything down in Union Soccer Blockdot substack dot com. It is Joe
(00:24):
Tansy, Jay Tansey, Naughty Joe. The Playoffs. It's finally, it's
been about seventy games and we haven'tdecided who the best team is yet.
I don't know how that happened,but here we are. This is actually
the Union Soccer Podcast hosted by Statlerand Waldorf, because that's what these first
(00:48):
five minutes are going to be.It's just us, the two old men
in the Muppets balcony, just sayingnegative things and laughing to ourselves. This
isn't a Union thing either, It'sa Major League Soccer. You deserve it.
I would like to be about theUnion. I would love to say,
you know, I don't care howthe regular season, what this team's
been good in the playoffs, they'restill great team. I would like to
be excited by them. It's thatI can't be excited for another week of
(01:11):
soccer because there's been too many weeksand too many games of soccer. I'm
just I'm losing my mind. I'mlosing my mind. I'll add to that,
the Union and Revs spread across twoweeks might be the most uninspiring playoff
matchup in MLS history. It's notmy favorite. But on the on the
(01:32):
bright side, though, why dowe gotta go? Why do we gotta
Why do we gotta go two weeksto this? On the bright side,
John, before we get into this, just just remember that we're two wins
away from each team from a UnionRed Bulls Conference semifinal on Thanksgiving weekend.
Just how exciting will it be towatch car crash soccer for ninety minutes to
(01:55):
determine who gets to the conference final. I don't like that. I don't
like any of that. I don'tlike any of that. But it's possible.
So they in the regular season decided, Hey, let's put in an
extra tournament. Let's do the ChampionsLeague stuff. Still, let's do all
that. Oh yeah, and also, we're gonna add more playoff games just
(02:20):
in case you didn't have enough ofus. Just in case you really wanted
more, here's more playoff games andthen oh yeah, one of these games,
one of these like series things.Here's the Union rep. Here you
go, we'll have that. Itfelt so inevitable watching that that game last
week where it's just like, ohno, Like the second the Revs went
(02:43):
ahead and discover a bo scores thatsecond goal, You're like, oh no,
no, we're we're not Oh we'reactually doing this or they did it,
Joe, Oh, they they didit. I mean, look,
look across the league, and thisis this is why it's like so frustrating,
because I look across MLS and there'sactually some good playoff matchups. There
(03:07):
are some entertaining, intriguing matchups.But then you have a team in New
England who has been on a completefree frawl since the Bruce Arena fiasco went
down. Even I don't even knowif we have the exact details of what
actually happened yet, they sold theirgoalkeeper Jordi Petrovitch, and it's just been
(03:29):
downhill from there. And then theUnion just have no juice attached to them
right now. They don't And Ithink that's the sentiment across the fan base
is the second you try and buildup some positivity, they knock you right
back down. This has been likea twelve round knockdown, drag out heavy
not even a heavyweight fight. Thisis kind of like the third undercard to
(03:53):
the heavyweight title fight. And it'sgone on longer than we need it to,
and we just keep get bludgeoned inthe face by by soccer that isn't
up to our standards. But we'restill here like massachusts watching it, like
that's what it feels like. Ithink it just if it was a different
(04:14):
team, like if it was ColumbusAtlanta, you know, maybe we'd have
some extra juice to this. ButI think because a the Union are just
kind of stuck in neutral and theRevs are in a free fall, what
does this matchup have to offer?Also, I mean, we gotta we
gotta do all this for the firstround, right for round one, and
(04:40):
this whole thing, this whole playoffthing, doesn't enuntil December ninth. It
this is a whole other season.This isn't just playoffs. This is an
entirely new season almost, and it'snot hard to figure out, like what
the ideal structure should be like ifyou're gonna say if MLS wants these cup
desperately to be a thing, whichif they do, fine, whatever,
(05:04):
but make that this is this isthe whole problem because if you don't stick
Leagues Cup in the middle of thesummer, MLS since like February, and
I watch until December ninth, right, and there's no break because the Champion
because Champions League just released their schedule. Concac Cap just reached to release the
(05:25):
Champions League schedule, and in Februarythe first round series of the newly designed
concan Cap Champions Cup starts. It'slike, you need a break, oh
my, but the like ideally,I'll be honest with you, if the
NFL schedule was this song, Idon't know if I'd watch that much.
Like I don't know if I couldbe invested even in NFL for that long,
(05:46):
right, right, I EVENFL likeeven I need those breaks from a
certain sport. MLS. It's justlike there's there's so much of this who
wanted this, people that run thething, but anybody else. I don't
(06:09):
want it. I don't want it. I don't want it. Like it's
it's very simple and it's very apparent, like what the fix is to this
whole thing? And I promise we'llwe'll get into the matchup at some point.
But I think we're voicing the concernsof everybody, you know. I
think it's I think we have tobecause this it's not just us. I
(06:30):
feel like there are a lot ofpeople. Look, you and I are
excited. I'm going to be payingattention Saturday to Union and revs. I'm
going to be excited. I'm goingto be in this game. I'm gonna
be you know, paying attention allof that. I'm gonna watch all of
it. But like going into it, I think there are a lot of
people like you and me too thatare listening to this podcast going, oh
man, thank god we're in theplayoffs. We've just been repeatedly beat over
(06:55):
the head with Major League Soccer.Yes, and I feel like we've been
beating this point over the head.But again, this is we're sharing sentiments
that I think are being very muchshared right now by a lot of people,
vocally being shared by listeners and Unionfans and MLS fans, And I
think this is I think this isa Union specific issue. Like I think
if if you you bring this outinto a national perspective, Like Saint Louis
(07:17):
plays Kansas City in the Western Conferencebest of three. That's gonna be fun
because it's the first time you havea regional rivalry in the playoffs with those
two those two teams, it's somethingnew, it's something fresh, it's something
exciting. Cincinnati that they're now thefavorite, like they're basically following the same
path the Union have, and that'sgonna be really exciting for them. Columbus
(07:41):
Atlanta could be a goal of paloozain the Eastern Conference. I mean,
look at Orlando Nashville. I meanthat's a little bit of a regional thing,
but like Orlando's finally in a positionwhere they're the two seed, there's
expectations attached to them, like thisis the best team they've had. So
I think I think because of thesheer volume of games, combined with the
(08:05):
performances on the field, have reallyjust kind of soured anything about the twenty
twenty three season from the Union perspective, because like that's because I look at
the viewpoint from across the league anda majority of people are excited for these
first round matchups. Yes, thebest of three sucks, but they're making
the best of it. And theproblem I think we have here is not
(08:30):
only are the Union kind of stuckin neutral, they're also playing a team
that I believe it's if they playthe best of three sixteen times in the
last four years, it's a lot. And we thought twenty twenty was bad
when the Union played the Revs somuch in that COVID schedule. I mean
to see them potentially four times ina three week span and all the games
(08:52):
to play out similarly, that doessuck the life out of the fan base.
And look, the vibes could nothave been lower going into decision day.
Nothing changed, So I think that'slike why we're just so like we're
(09:13):
product of the the atmosphere and thevibes that are on the club. Is
like, yes, you can spinsomething positively, but like, there are
very few things to latch on froma positive standpoint right now to say they
can get past like even this series. I'm sure there are some people out
there that think they're playing miserable.They might lose to the Revs in a
(09:39):
best of three, not to saythey can't. They definitely can, but
I don't know. I'm not Ohman, they're definitely gonna lose. I
still feel good somewhat, right,but I'm sure there's some skepticism and I've
read it through my mentions on Twitter, like there's skepticism that they might not
even beat the Revs. And look, this whole think could drastically change if
(10:01):
they go out and beat them fornothing on Saturday, and then it's like,
Okay, this is the version ofthe team we thought they would be,
Like my personal opinion, like deepdown as as negative as I've been
for the first ten minutes of podcastsof Sunshine right, and I tend to
(10:24):
be the right of Sunshine here.Oh yeah, You've definitely not May of
Sunshine. Yes, but I thinkthere's something there's something brewing in the locker
room on like a positive perspective,like this team, at the end of
the day, knows how to rallyaround itself. And Kayle Wagner and Alejandrabdoya
(10:52):
are so well respected within that lockerroom, like they mean so much to
that group of players that I thinkthey'll be motivated almost to give an fu
to ownership and to Ernst Tanner ina way to be like, look,
this is what you're this is whatyou're losing. Oh okay, Oh they're
(11:15):
gonna okay. For some reason,my mind automatically what you mean, They're
gonna do the opposite? But no, I know, no, I think
I think that could be like alegitimate rallying cry. I mean, look,
across the Eastern Conference, no oneis as battle tested in elimination games
as the Union. That's just afact. Now, their performance in those
elimination games not great, especially whenthey get further on into the postseason,
(11:41):
but this is a team that atleast knows what the atmosphere is like,
knows what the pressure is like,and I think that plays in their favor.
And look, there's still some someweird scenario in which the Red Bulls
get hot and beat Cincinnati and allof a sudden, you're playing at home
(12:01):
Thanksgiving weekend with a spot to goto the conference final, and everything is
it is coming up Union. Idon't think that will happen. But we've
seen dumber things happen in MLS,and I mean, look at how the
wild card games. Do you thinkit's really dumb? This year, I
feel like I'm getting ready for likea really dumb wild stupid MLS playoffs and
(12:24):
like the best way possible, bythe way, Like I'm just I'm thinking
it's just gonna be okay, Wellwe expected none of this, or is
or is it not? Because Ifeel like that's all season we've been kind
of collision course towards Oh yeah,this playoffs is gonna be real stupid,
It's gonna be awesome, yeah,because I think last year was so much
about the Union and LAFC, thetwo titans of major leagues right, by
the way, That's what That's whatI don't like about people complaining about the
(12:46):
Major League baseballlayoffs. It's like,well, you know, there are bad
teams now, but I like that. I like to when there's variance.
You know, sometimes you get thereally bad teams that are going to be
in the finals. Sometimes it rarelyhappens in MLS, and maybe they need
to do something about that. Butsometimes when it does happen and you get
the two to one seeds and youget the best teams, give me that,
you know. Like I like Ilike variants. I like the you
know, one year we can haveUnion and l a f C. In
(13:07):
the other year we can have whothe hell knows what's going to happen.
Yeah, like New York City andPortland. Yeah, I'm not supposed to
mention that, though, I'm surethat's still like a you can mention.
Yeah, yeah, I mentioned Christianor Gareth Bale. You mentioned Christian.
That's the only bail you can mentionon this podcast is Christian. I look,
(13:33):
I don't know, maybe maybe thisis kind of me being the eternal
optimist and yeah, I know it'sbeen a rough season, but let's look
on the bright side here, becausethat's really I think you're right to do
this. There is a bit becausewe gave the negative side. So if
(13:54):
you've you've hung around and not turnedus off after ten minutes of Negadelphia,
let's at least be fair and givethe other side. The most battle tested
team in the East. They havea goalkeeper of the Year in the past
years. They have a defender ofthe Year. They have the best left
back in MLS arguably, they havea eight figure striker. It's going to
(14:22):
be sold. That's a potential thatwon't be an MVP finalist, but you
can make the cases an MVP.They're one of the best defensive midfielders in
the league, and when healthy,which they're trending toward, they have a
lot of depth and a lot offlexibility to deal with a lot of these
matchups. They should beat the Reps. Let's just lay it out there.
(14:48):
In any scenario, even if BruceArena was still their head coach, even
if Petrovich was still their goalkeeper,they should beat the Reps. They are
the better team, the deeper team, the more experienced team. Now,
I think if you get a powerranking of the teams left in the postseason,
and this takes out the two teamsthat were eliminated in the wildcard game
(15:09):
last night, the Revs are probablybottom three. They're not training in the
right direction that an interim coach.They're starting a goalkeeper with less than five
MLS starts in his career, andthey're kind of patching things together and hoping
it sticks. They feel like thewalking wounded right now. And it could
(15:33):
be if you like the perfect teamto beat the unit right exactly, it
sounds like the perfect team to justsurprise everyone. Aye. And if you
don't think things to get worse forthe Union, they're going to lose to
them in the best of three series. That would be that would be rock
(15:56):
bottom and calls for a lot ofa lot of concern. And this is
just aggregates scoring right now. Ohwhat, it's just straight three games?
What are they doing? I waswith to say it would have been so
great if all three games ended ina draw and then it went to PKS.
That would have been the greatest endingto a Well, every game ends
(16:18):
in pks, you got to havea winner, that's true, but I
oh my god, every game's gotto end in p case. That's brutal,
which is the worst scenario for theUnion. You think, I know
that, you think it's gonna happen. Uh, what I'll say is you
don't want to get to game three. I'm not saying that New England has
an advantage in pks, but Ithink it's been shown across the years.
(16:41):
And Andre Blake, if he hasone weakness, it is saving pks.
You're like, you don't. Youdon't want to get into that point until
like later in the postseason when thereare tougher matchups ahead that like actually force
you into that because the chances areso few. And farm betwan, yeah,
(17:03):
like they should they should win thisin two games and if they don't
win in two games, they shouldhave an overwhelming advantage in Game three.
And I'll make the case here,John, and this is way out of
left field, and I don't thinkthis is how the Union will operate,
But it wouldn't be the worst thingif the Union went three games. Here,
(17:29):
you're gonna have to explain that one. Okay. The November International break
is a thing. So if theUnion sweep the series and take care of
business on November eighth, which bythe way, it's Ludacris, yes,
and plus days in between games onetwo, but the Patriots play on Sunday,
which, by the way, toget into that real quick, Jim
(17:52):
Curtin said in this postgame press conferenceon Saturday that they have guidance that they
were playing Wednesday to start the serieson Wednesday, game one, and that
was what we heard through differents whatI heard through different people that originally it
was gonna be Wednesday, Wednesday Sundaybecause the Eagles are on by on the
(18:12):
on the twelfth, so they canthey can play on Sunday and get away
with it. The Patriots play onthe fifth at Jilette, so that the
Revs wanted to have that game thatweek, understandable, but they switched it
on them On Sunday afternoon, Igot text saying that everything changed overnight,
(18:33):
that they moved it to Saturday,and people worried about conflicts the World Series.
Obviously that's not the case anymore,but yeah, that's how the whole
thing kind of worked down, likem curtain, No, thank you.
I thought it was safe from this. I'm never gonna be saved from this.
This is also something that's happening forme personally. I don't want playoff
sports. I don't need playoff sportsin my life right now. And here
(18:55):
comes the Union and my brain,which it shouldn't go this way, because
you're right. I think they're gonnabeat the Res and I think they're do
what to do and Union I shouldbe more optimistic about. But didn't help.
Obviously the way things ended in theseason. All that, I get
it, I get it to getit, but I should be more optimistic.
Still good teams, still good players, and they have a chance and
a not so amazing Eastern Conference,And yet my mind went, so,
(19:15):
how are the Union gonna disappoint me? Immediately after the Phillies off, so
I was like, great, theUnion playoffs are this weekend, and they're
gonna they're probably just gonna lose gameone and it's gonna be disappointing. Great,
I'm so ready for this. Sothe case for playing this series out
is that your team stays fresh.You play two games at home, the
game one and Game three at home, and game two is essentially a toss
(19:41):
up. You junk it up.You hope you can win on turf,
but if you don't, you stillhave Game three in your pocket, and
then it's just a regular international breakwhere you're off for a week and then
ramp up into training again. Itconcerns me that they could have almost twenty
(20:02):
days in between playoff games, becausewe've seen the revs. In fact,
were a case of that in thepast. Was it the year they won
the Shield where everything just fell apartfor them because of the extended break.
Now, of course the team isgoing to say we're gonna go all out
to win game one, Game two, secure advancement and then go from there.
(20:26):
But I don't think it's the worstthing. Now, this is kind
of comes with a caveat Game onehas to be perfect. If Game one
is perfect, you hold a cleansheet you win by multiple goals, you
prove that the Union of Old canshow up. Then you have that.
(20:48):
You have a little bit of goodwilland a little bit of insurance in your
back pocket for game three, becauseit's you can then manage your because you
have ten days off, you canmanage your roster for game two. If
everyone's healthy, you could throw adefensive lineup out there for forty five minutes,
(21:11):
hope it sticks, and then rotateyour main guys on for forty five
minutes. And if it doesn't work, you still have Game three in the
bag at home at full strength.Like it's a weird way to think about
things, but if you look atwhat the way the playoff schedule is aligned,
(21:33):
it because the international break is isslapped right in there. I don't
think it's the worst thing. AndI'm saying this for not just the Union,
but for a lot of the topteams. It wouldn't be terrible if
these series went to game three.Now. I know that could be really
nervy from a lot of perspectives,but I feel like there's some we're doing
(21:53):
great with do or Die games show. Yeah, that's true phenomenal with those
right now, Thank you and Iknow a lot of people will disagree with
me, and I know this iskind of a far fetched theory, but
all these things are about staying inrhythm, and I don't think it would
hurt the union, especially in theform that they're in, if they get
(22:14):
three games to figure it all out. Now, again, it's all dependent
on looking really good in game one, because if you look like crap and
you win one nothing in game one, then they're still concern because you could
get you know, broken open ingame two and the revs could create all
the momentum and the series is over. But I feel like I feel like
(22:34):
it might benefit the teams to playthree games knowing that the it's gonna be
what he is for the teams toplay on the weekend next week, that's
what at least a multiple week break, it's gonna be tough to just hit
the stop button and reacharge. Can'tThey can't play for the international break,
(22:56):
which sucks. I think we've talkedabout this before. I would rather them
move decision day up a week beforethe October International break, play the first
round, and play the conference semisbetween the October and November breaks, and
then boom you come out of theNovember break, you play the conference final,
(23:17):
You at least give teams a bitto rest and recuperate so that they're
at their best for the conference final, and then you play MLS Cup the
first weekend in December. If thiswhole schedule is going to stay the way
it is, that's the way youhave to do it, because it just
there's no consistency in what we're doinghere. You're coming out of especially on
a holiday weekend, coming out ofan international break, that's gonna be tough
(23:38):
to really re energize everyone. Sothat's my personal opinion. Hopefully, you
know, it gets better if we'redoing this whole thing, smashing Leagu's Cup
into it. But for what wehave and in front of us, again,
no one's gonna go out and preachlet's go lose this game. That's
not gonna be the mentality with anthe group. But I don't think it's
(24:02):
the worst thing, especially as thehome team, and that the higher seed
in all of these series, thatgame three gets played so that you have
that extra week of game time andyou don't lose your form. So I
do want to dive deeper into thatbecause the Union have not have been inconsistent
and flashes at times maybe for ahalf of the Union team of last year.
(24:26):
You know, maybe we see fora full game the Union team from
last year, but then you know, they get brought down back to earth
and they look like this version,the twenty twenty three version, which has
not been very good. No.Look, I look in the MLB playoffs,
and I know MLS playoffs have beenthis way too, where teams just
kind of get form out of nowhereand make a run. I mean,
what are the chances we see thatwith the Union that I mean, it's
(24:48):
there, they can do it.It's just you know, it's tough to
piece that together, it is,and it's tough to guess that. But
have you I mean, are youconfident really in that they can I don't
even know of confidence the right ward? Just do you think it could happen
for the Union? Like, doyou think that run is possible that they
somehow regain that form to be ateam that can go deep into the MLS
(25:10):
playoffs and then when or is thisgoing to be a case of what they
look like in the regular season,they'll look the same in the playoffs and
all the hopes of trying to fixthings like Okay, well, this is
just what they are. They werealways going to be this and it ultimately
was their demise. I think wehave to scrub twenty twenty two from our
minds. I think that has tobe the first thing we do, because
(25:34):
if we spend the next six weeks, you know, if they're lucky enough
to make MLS Cup, if wespend the next six weeks judging the union
off of last year, which they'reclearly not, they've given us so much
evidence that they're very much not thatteam. We're going to look at them
(25:56):
through a lens that is just unrealisticfrankly at this point. So you have
to look at them through the twentytwenty three lens and what they actually are
and at their ceiling they can stillbe on the level of the twenty twenty
two team. They don't have theconsistency that was there, but I don't
(26:18):
think anyone expected the same consistency tobe there because that was such an incredible
season, such a high standard thatwas set. So I think we finally
need to ditch the comparisons to lastyear. It's just not feasible from a
team perspective, but also from likean emotional perspective within the fan base,
(26:41):
like it's not there, it's nottwenty twenty two. It was a great
season, unfortunately ended the way itdid an MLS Cup, but that's not
this team. Like if they goon a run to MLS Cup, it's
gonna be because of of what thetwenty twenty three union is good at.
(27:02):
Not with the twenty twenty two.What is the twenty twenty three team good
at. That's what we have tofigure out. I still think that's not
a promising answer, Joe, No, I think it has to be.
Any success has to be through thefour four to two diamond. It can't
(27:22):
be in the back three. Theonly way the back three you should see
any life is if a serious injuryhappens or you need to close out a
game. I really don't see thathappening. You gotta play. I think
you have to play Glesis and Elliotttogether, play them in the middle.
If Jose Martinez back from yellow cardsuspension, Jim Curtin has said multiple times
(27:47):
of the last few months, thefour to four to two is still the
preferred formation. Jose Martinez makes thatformation run he is the engine, not
only defensively but offensively and the thingshe does, and I wrote about a
little bit on Money why he's sucha vital part. He bridges the gap
offensively with his passing and his IQof the game is so high. And
(28:11):
I think we we take some ofJose's skill set for granted sometimes because he
is just this bruiser in the midfield. His reputation is as a hard player,
and we respect him for that.But I think the things that he's
worked on in the time he's beenhere to refine his game and make him
(28:36):
really such a valuable piece to midfieldand why I think he is probably the
number one X factor on this rosterin the postseason. If he can stay
on the field, this team isgoing to look so much better. I
think he is the key because otherparts of the team can can play well.
(28:57):
Like we know that theer backs canhold clean sheets. We know Kai
Wagner is a very effective with hiscrossing, We know what the forwards can
give. But when you put thatall together, and when Jim Curtin says
we're only as good as the collective, it's gonna be eleven guys at the
best Jose Martinez is the best playerin that midfield cases Bueno's taking a step
(29:22):
le un Flock is valuable and canprovide some from defensive capabilities. Alejandro Baduy
can still give you something. JackMcGlenn has improved his defense, but you
know he's in there mainly for hisoffensive capabilities. And Daniel Gas we know
what he brings moving forward and workingback in impressing. But the guy with
(29:45):
the best two way skill set inthe midfield is Jose Martinez. And if
he is able to a stay onthe field and be incredibly effective for this
team, the ceiling is remarkably high. He is the guy I circle as
the guy that is the most importantto this playoff front. I know you
(30:07):
could argue Blake, you could probablyargue Glassness, probably argue one of the
strikers as well. But when Iblow it up from a team perspective and
how this four four to two actuallyworks, actually flows, He's so vital,
he really is, because it allowsyou to play that that four four
two, but he it allows youto play it in its full functionality.
(30:30):
Flock can't do that, Bueno can'tdo that. Martinez can. He can
give you that both sides and startthose transition moves, make those hard tackles,
get stuck in everything that is requiredout of the number six role he
can do. And that's so vital. I've looked at it all week on
how you who's the most important player? What's the most important matchup? If
(30:56):
Martinez isn't on the field, theUnion and will suffer. Oh that's great,
I love you. Just put itthat way. Right at the end,
the Union will suffer. It'll beover so fast. I mean,
so what is so looking at theEastern Conference? I know Round one is
going to take a while, soI don't know if I want to go
(31:18):
too far. But how do thingslay out? Do you think for the
Union here? Like? Is thereto me? Playoffs sometimes is about paths
and which path you can take andteams you play matchups that you might potentially
face that could be in your favor. Does how does this playoff? Right
now? You think? Lineup forthe Union? All joking aside, you
(31:38):
should probably root for the Red Bulls. Okay, well like that that's kind
of just the way I view it. Yes, the Cincinnati matchup is is
going to be intriguing because both teamsknow each other's ins and outs. Cincinnati
is gonna have all of the pressureon them, and it's a one off
(31:59):
game in the common from semi finals, so that that's something where the Union
code can go in, embrace theunderdog mentality, do what they do best
motivationally, and potentially get a winthere. But on the other side,
as much as a Union Red Bullsgame is going to be car crash soccer
(32:20):
for ninety minutes, it would bea home game against the team that is
used as much weaker as you Yes, they would be hot, but how
much does that matter when you havea week off in between games kind of
you know, goes to my pointof why should probably play all three games?
(32:42):
Like it just feels like if thatthat can open up and then all
of a sudden, oh it's UnionRed Bulls in the conference semi it's a
home game, and then you're goingto either Columbus or Atlanta or sorry,
Orlando most likely, and if that'sthe case, look you can you can
win one off games there. They'vehad success in Columbus in the past.
(33:07):
Orlando I think has been has beentrickier for them. But again that goes
to the point to the Cincinnati matchupwhere the pressure would be on the higher
seed and the Union go in theunderdog mentality, and that's something I think
they've been waiting to embrace this season. They haven't had that, you know,
(33:28):
they've been the top dog. Andif they go into a matchup with
Cincinnati, said the Cincinnati beats theRed Bulls, which a lot of people
expect will happen. If that's thecase, the Union are gonna be the
decide of underdog. Everyone's gonna bepicking Cincinnati and perfect, and that's gonna
be perfect for the Union to usethat for two weeks as motivation got you
(33:51):
couldn't ask for a better situation.Now, I think it's a little different.
If they're in a conference final againstOrlando against Columbus, I think they
would absolutely be the underdog. AndI'm not just talking about betting lines,
but across like all the MLS experts, I think Orlando is maybe the crack
open. The door is cracked openfor the favorite role. But I mean,
(34:15):
look, if you really want tohave the ideal path, you embrace
chaos. You hope Nashville wins,you hope Atlanta wins, you hope the
Red Bulls win like, the morehome games the better, and that's just
stating the obvious. And to doso, Columbus has to lose, Orlando
has to lose, Cincinnati has tolose. The count of that is you
probably should have won more games downthe stretch, but that's hindsight's twenty to
(34:38):
twenty. So yeah, I look, there's a path for sure, And
I think you could make a caseeither way of what the ideal semifinal matchup
would be. I think it's athome against the Red Bulls, but again,
you can make the case that becausethey're too familiar with each other then,
(35:00):
and Cincinnati's better because they've already beatenthem in a playoff game. I'm
not worried about it. I'm notscared of Cincinnati. Should I have that
mindset, I understand why you would, because I don't think there's any team
that is not beatable for the Union. They can beat all these teams.
(35:21):
It's just like we've been saying,it's actually being able to put it together
and doing that. He's what I'llsay to any opponent. The Union can
hold any of those teams scoreless.Their defense is that good when it's at
its best, and that's not evena twenty twenty two thing. That's a
twenty twenty one thing. That's atwenty like they pride themselves in the back
(35:45):
line, and if you were ableto put Jacob Pleasants in his proper position
as a center back in the middleof the field, he can win one
v one battles with any striker inthis league. We've seen that happen many
times. And Jack Elliott is asbattle tested as they come at center back
and he can do the same thing. And look Damian Lowe, look at
(36:07):
his performance gats Honey Muktar just afew weeks ago. Even if you want
to put him in the matchup withGlesnis together, it works because when he's
at his best, and we've seenit multiple times this season, he's really
good too. I think it's Ithink it should be Elliott and Glessnes and
(36:28):
low as the closer and Jim Curtin. And this is a thing that dates
back to twenty eighteen. For mostof his tenure here. When they've been
in the playoffs, he uses twocenter backs from like mid September on and
that's his playoff pairing and it's it'sone of the reasons why Austin Trustee left
(36:52):
when he did because Mark McKenzie tookthat spot. I believe mackenzie and Glessness
was the preferred pairing with Jack Elliotton the side a few years ago as
well. It's a little different thisyear, and it's something I want to
pick his brain about in the pressconference on Friday of if that's still what
he believes, if it's if it'sthe four to four two, if that's
(37:14):
the way to go with things.Does he have a preferred pair or is
it matchup based like has that thinkingchanged And if it has, then we
see more of a rotation between thethree. But if it hasn't, I
think it's you go with a triedand true glasson Elliott Low comes off the
bench, you abandon the back three, and you find a way to win
(37:37):
out your tried and true formation.And then if you need to flip to
the back three in the seventy fifthor eightieth minute with a fresh center back
off the bench when teams are counteringwith fresh attackers, it's it's gonna be
interesting. But if if your depthlies in defensive minded players, which it
(37:58):
does, you want to make surethose guys are are healthy enough and not
healthy enough, that's not the rightword. Are are fit enough and it's
fresh enough. It's the word I'mlooking for. I can't find words.
They're fresh enough to come off thebench in the seventieth I was waiting for
you to help me there, butyou didn't. You got it. You're
(38:22):
the most You're You're the one whorides. I can't find words. I
pretend to be one, that's forsure. And then to have them come
on for the final twenty, whetherit be flock Low, Bueno, whoever
it may be, like, that'sthat's your tried and true strategy to get
through this this postseason. It's doable. And that's why I think if if
(38:43):
you really need to refresh the outlookon this team going into the postseason,
that's it. It's that defensive structure. And oh, by the way,
you still have one of the bestgoalkeepers to ever play in MLS. Yeah,
that's that's a pretty good thing.That helps. And I think it's
also worth noting Nathan Harriel's really damngood defensively this year. I know for
(39:06):
the last few years we've made ita lot about Baizo and his defensive shortcomings
and the one big mistake. Well, if you can prevent that as well
and have Dathan Harrow, who's beenone of the team's best defenders all season,
that surest thing is up as well. It's it's there for the taking,
at least I think it is.Again, you have to get past
(39:29):
the Revs first, but that matchupseems like it favors the Union in all
regards. And if you can haveJose Martinez almost eliminate Carlos Hill and Glesns
go body the body with Gustavo boand shut him down like this's happened in
previous matchups, and you know thedozen or so times these these guys have
(39:52):
played, I think that the familiarityreally helps the Union in this regard.
And look all doesn't help us though. The viewers of wanting to watch entertaining
soccer, well you can get youcan get the entertainment an entertaining soccer from
(40:12):
the winning I get the winning winning, but look, they could still they
can still win for nothing. Ithink if they win for nothing, I'm
screaming We're back at the top ofmy lungs so loud that it's going to
register. I mean, people aregoing to hear it from Miles, how
(40:32):
how loud, I'm going to say, we're back, Which is why Game
one isn't just important tone cetter.It's important, it's a tone cetter,
But I think Game one most importantlyis for the psyche of everyone involved.
It's everybody within the club who's beendealing with more off the field stuff than
(40:54):
in previous seasons, and to theircredit, they've handled it about as well
as it could. It hasn't reallyaffected their play on the field. Yeah.
I don't know like front office ifthey have, but the players in
the locker room and even curtain,I think, yeah, they're you know
they it's always been like an understandingof things like that. I feel like
from right now there's alas there's alwaysa good understanding within within the group.
(41:15):
Within the locker room, they've alwaysbeen together. There's never been that,
at least for the past few years. There's never been that one or two
guys that just is like on anisland. There's always there's always been that
encouragement between the group. I thinkfor the fan base as well. Game
one is so important for the psycheof the fan base because if you see
(41:37):
three or four nothing, then itreally really kind of gets the juices flowing.
They have to wait ten days forthe next game to happen, but
at least gets the juices flowing forOh well, maybe this is a team
that's just been waiting to show theirtheir best for the postseason, or maybe
the time off actually helps them,not playing three games and eight days all
(41:58):
that stuff. I feel like there'sthere could be genuine excitement without any skepticism
if they win game one in avery dominant fashion, and to me,
that's three nothing are better. Soare you going to predict three nothing or
(42:19):
better? Pretty well? I actuallyI actually will. Oh no way.
So you're gonna say, by Saturday, at what time is this game again?
Five o'clock? So about what eighto'clock, seven thirty eight o'clock,
(42:43):
we're going to be going Union orback. I think the Union win for
to one. Oh oh, Ilike that even more more. Scoring.
I don't care if they give uplike a goal, I don't care go
ahead. I want scoring. Iwant to know these guys can cause that's
that's it, right, we justwant to know they can score. I
you know, and not just inbunches, but just score. Put together
some some really nice goals, somegood offense, some good scoring opportunities.
(43:06):
I would like to see that.I would like to see aggressiveness and actually
putting shots on goal. So yeah, this is good. I like all
of this. I think Martinez isjust absolutely massive to this group. I
think before it's I think they're goingto play with better cohesion and look,
you're playing with an experienced goalkeeper onthe other side. If you're going to
(43:29):
dictate the chances and maybe even dictatethe possession, you have to test him
early and often that comes with shotsfrom outside the box, that comes from
set pieces. You need to puthim under pressure immediately. And at the
end of the day, this isa team that knows how to play in
elimination style games, in playoff games, in series. They know how to
(43:53):
play in these types of games,and that's gonna be intangible. I'm really
banking on showing up in game one. I think they make a statement.
I think for to one, Iknow a lot of people listening will probably
be like skeptical and then say,where exactly are these goals coming from?
But you saw in the first HalfghanCincinnati like it's still there. It's just
(44:15):
not to the standard that twenty twentytwo cents and that's fine. But if
it's it's still capable of showing up. And uh, you know, I
gotta I'm still the ever the optimisthere, and uh, for one sounds
pretty good to me. What ifone sounds great to me? I don't
know, Joe doesn't sound good.It sounds great, And I can't wait.
(44:37):
Everybody's gonna get it. If Idon't see everyone tweeting at Union Soccerpod
or me or Joe after they winthree nothing or four to one and screaming
out all caps on Twitter we're back, I'm gonna be disappointed. I would
just like one person to tell meI'm right. I don't know. I
can't. I can't be optimistic.Every time I'm optimistic, I just get
(45:00):
losing in game seven to the teamsthat you shouldn't lose too. So I
don't. I just want to wait. I just want to wait. I
would also like to clear the recordhere if if I'm very wrong here,
please tweet at me as well.I can take the criticism. I've done
this for a long time. I'vemade a lot of bad predictions. Has
(45:22):
anybody tweeted at you before about badpredictions. Oh yeah, oh, you
get those. It's part of thejob. I thought people are very nice
to you. Actually most are arevery respectful and nice. Yeah, it's
mostly it's mostly about the players andthe coaches where the negative things come.
But yeah, look, if I'mdead wrong and it's a one nothing game
(45:44):
or a scoreless draw goes to pka's, please tweet at me as well keep
the receipts. I have absolutely noproblem with it admitting if I'm completely dead
wrong, but I would like creditif I'm I'm right as well, I'll
give you credit. I'll make sureI'll hold you accountable for both. With
Joe, I'll hold you accountable.It's okay, Uh? That is it?
Is that? It for the UnionSoccer Pod. Anything else for I
(46:07):
mean, we talked about as muchabout this game as you probably should.
This is about the thirtieth game thatthey've had in the past two three years.
The fact that we've won forty fiveminutes about this, I'm shocked.
I'm shocked. And none of thatwas me. You just you talked a
lot, which you needed to,because I can only say the one thought
(46:27):
of we're back. But other thanthat, it's been a lot of you,
so can goud you. You carriedthe team, you carried us here,
you added, don't discredit yourself.That's like me saying I did something
on this pod is like Zach Gallontalking s to Phillies fans after giving up
nine runs and eleven innings. That'suh, there's too much Phillies talk for
(46:52):
me too on this podcast. Allright, that's it. Union Soccer Pod,
Joe Tansey, anything on the UnionSoccer blog dot substack dot com.
We can look forward to reading beforewe do get into the playoffs, another
long season ahead of us of UnionSoccer. You can you can read my
ode to how important Jose Martinez is. That's up. I like that.
(47:12):
That sounds. We'll have a previewfrom the from Friday's presser as well,
sol plus obviously the normal post gamestuff. So yeah, everything there,
and I will be on site inFoxborough for Game two, staying at Lovely
Peace. Yeah. I'm gonna stayat Patriot Place overnight too, and overlook
(47:34):
the beautiful turf of Gillette Stadium.Oh dude, that's awesome. I'm that's
very exciting. Good for you man, Well, I will not see you
in Foxborough. You enjoy yourself.Where I will see you is on the
next Union Soccer Pod. That isit for US Union Soccer podcast, all
part of Fox Sports The Gambler.Joe Tansey the star of the show.
As you can tell at Jay Tanseynot you on Twitter. My name is
(47:58):
John Janson at j Jansen thirty four. Co luck with the Union playoffs.
I'm sure we'll have a podcast inbetween, maybe like Games one and two,
who knows, but we'll be backand covering all things Philadelphia Union Soccer
playoffs right here on the Union SoccerPodcast.
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.