June 22, 2025 • 36 mins
Your go-to podcast for all things Philadelphia Union — match previews & reviews, player spotlights, and the latest chatter from Subaru Park. Passionate takes, local flavor, and Union talk you won’t get anywhere else. A big run for the "Boys in Blue!"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ex President of the Sons of Ben, Matt Gantastic, ax
had Capo, Adam Booth, ex player and forever a Union
legend Sebastian Latoo. These may be exes, but they're the
experts when it comes to the Philadelphia Union. This is
Exes in the U.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome back to everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We have an exciting it's exciting times in the Union Verse.
This is episode number forty of x'es in the U.
I am Matt and Daazac, former president of the Sons
of Ben and always I am joined by ex head
Capital Adam Booth and Union legend Sebastian Latoo. Guys, we've
got a lot to talk about with just the Union,
the Gold Cup, the Club World Cup, and then three
(00:44):
away games, so let's just get into it right away.
Union Faced Tommy Wilson, Charlotte and Shocker Shocker two to
one win, last minute victory. Marcus Anderson in the ninety
eighth minute gets the goal, which one of you guys
wants to chop this up and go through what we did.
I know Seba was on the radio and Adam, I
(01:05):
know you were watching intently.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I will tell you that was one of the more
resilient performances I've seen from the you you know, I
think what we don't really take into account for most
of this season is how disjointed this roster can be,
how many plug and play players we need in situations
(01:28):
where you know, we've discussed we have a lot of
guys who go for these international competitions, you know, one
of the side effects of Ern's unturning these stones to
find great players, or they might be from smaller nations
who actually value their soccer on a national level too.
So you know, during Gold Cups, international breaks, we tend
to be a little short staffed. But you know, I
(01:50):
think this is another sign of how good the academy is,
you know, how good the guys behind, how much depth
this particular squad has in comparison to previous years, where
you know, it is a next man up mentality, and
you're playing a Charlotte team that needs points, that thinks
it's better than it actually is and probably is. And
(02:13):
you got a guy and by the name of Wilfrid
Zaha who he's come to MLS like many people like
him before, like a Christian Benteke, and said, this is
a playground for me to exert my will upon and
the Union were like, yeah, but not in Chester. And
I think even though he got his goal, is it
is really, really, really a sign of the capabilities of
(02:36):
this team to see them get the last minute goal,
to stay close to Charlotte the entire time, even at
times and I thought that they probably could have gone
behind me ball versus them, And you know, for Anderson
to get a well earned and well deserved first tally
and to do it in such a fashion, the latest
game winning goal in Union history. Yeah, look that Look
(03:00):
it's Charlotte, It's it's June, you know, but if you
give this the proper context, this might be one of
the bigger wins of the season.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So what are your thoughts on the game?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I mean, it was definitely a great game to just
watch and not having a full roster from from the team,
but uh, you know, Bruno I think play well, you
know in the midfield.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Unfortunately with a little injury at the end. You know,
it was not good to see him leave. But what
a goal, you know for him just to close the half.
So I feel like we we have.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Been good this year to kind of finish you know,
the halves and uh, and it's been like twice in
this game having the second half.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
But great goalie from a from when we have a
lot of opportunity.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
At the beginning, I think, you know, Shouotut was kind
of playing well defensively. We didn't push much forward, like
I know, one of the points for Brady Cannell was
to kind of have cav you know, going on the
left side and crossing the which.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
He didn't do much.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Let's s's the first sonimnute, but then the last fifteen
you were seeing him, you know, pushing a little.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Bit more on the web site.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
With Benner, I enjoy you know, the game of Benner
as well, for his first one starting at home. I
think he shows some good skills. And you're holding the
ball playing against your whole team as well. You know,
it's never easy. You always feel different emotions. But I
think he had a good game on the web side.
And then yeah, like the the second half, like you're
(04:28):
have one zero, he started making some changes, you know,
pulling Donovan, puing his Marcus Anderson, and like when you
come in the game with Dave, we have like this
opportunity and a second half with Donovan, we get like
the one on one with the keeper and he's miss
and it's those type of things. You know, you're like,
you're a sub you need to you know, put them
away if you want to make an impact. And unfortunately
(04:50):
for Crazy he missed this big, big opportunity. And then
they equalize and you're like, ah, here we go again,
you know, like we we cannot you know, make a
like a double you know, to to go to go
away kind of be playing with a maybe more security.
And then you feel like add you know the game
or is it going to be like the same in
(05:10):
Columbus like the same and are we going to get
a goal.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
You know against us at the end.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
But like Adams said, like the residents of the team
and kind of keep pushing for a while and all
like the substitution like Bragley made, they all had an
impact in a game. And yeah, congress to Marcus Anderson
for this great goal. You know he takes the opportunity
a year like not even playing in the team and
you know, being with the union to grounding every day
(05:37):
and now you know, you get rewarded. So that's great
to see that. Yeah, we have a coach who give
a chance to a lot of people, a lot of kids.
Even if and you know, we are missing some guys
and they're stepping up, they are not scared to play.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
They just you know, play fully.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
And we got a huge win, you know Againstarlotte before
we do like a three game or road trip. So
still first, you know, four points above, that's that's fantastic.
So yeah, where did is that for the team? Because
he was a fully fought from the entire team.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, and there's one word that you said a couple
of times that I want to emphasize team. That was
such a total team win. I mean, and Bradley even
said it. He goes his quote was I think we've
shown that we believe in every player on our roster,
you know. And that was Marcus Anderson's i think first
game since that game losing turning from Cincinnati. So it's
(06:29):
like he really came back from that and he got
a second chance and he did everything with it. But
I do have one controversial question for first Sebastian and
then maybe Adam was Kevin Sullivan. Was that really a dummy?
Do you think he pulled away from the ball like
he said or did he just missed that? For Anderson's
skull because I know he said like, oh, I saw
someone in the corner of my eye. I pulled my
(06:50):
foot away, and I'm like, I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
No, he missed it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
He won thousands that and I appreciate him trying to
say face there, but he missed that. Yeah, that's what
I thought. That was that.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That was probably the most humorous thing I saw towards
the end. But I mean, what a game. And the
crowd was everybody when we were leaving, they were like,
that was the best game I've seen. And I don't
know how long I guess just because the nineteenth minute
the win, but like Sebashan said after after Saha scored
in the seventieth minute, you just had that feeling in
the stands like, oh, no, we're going to do this again.
(07:27):
We're going to drop a point, We're gonna lose two
points and just come away with one and and the
team scrapped and fought and and you know we were
missing six guys. So that was that was something. So Adam,
I know you wanted to talk about this. Let's just
give a little bit of love. I mean, you look
at this roster. Rick comes in for Blake, who we've
(07:48):
never had a great backup for you know, and then
and this whole roster up and down has just been proven.
You know, I'm watching Jack McGlenn play for the US
men's team, and as much as I love Glenn, I
don't miss him on this roster.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
So let's just talk a.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Little bit about Ernst and give us some flowers before
we could move on to the next topic.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, I think it goes without saying, you know,
with this roster construction and the capabilities that this team
has had this whole year. You know, it comes down
to the fact that people did not have a lot
of expectations for the Union in twenty twenty five, and
it mainly came from the fact that they sold a
couple of players of household names and they didn't necessarily
(08:30):
replace them with household names. And for some reason, this
has been the Union's model for a decade plus, but
apparently it hasn't caught on yet to the rest of
the fan base that this franchise specializes in finding players
that you wouldn't necessarily looked for for your roster. Charlotte
(08:51):
went to the Premier League to get Wilford Zaha. You know,
DC goes to get Christian Benteke, Toronto goes to get
Bernardeski and Insigne and what is all three of those
teams have in common? They are at least eight, if
not more points behind the Philadelphia Union right now in
the standings. And it all comes down to the fact
(09:13):
that you have to construct a roster, especially in Major
League Soccer, and for this very section of time that
we're going through right now, most leagues do pauses, and
most leagues do stoppages, and we did kind of do
a stoppage, but we're still playing games within a Gold
(09:33):
Cup window, within a Club World Cup window.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And it means that you need to have a roster
that is capable of switching out parts, that is capable
of having veteran leadership mix in with young people and
has an ability to create chemistry on what we say
in hockey, multiple lines essentially, and the Union have that.
(09:59):
Earns has brought these players in. Hayesu's bueno, that's an
Ernest Tanner guy. Like these guys that he brought in
where you're like, where did this guy come from? What
is his potential? And he's buried on the bench for forever?
Is he that good? Is he that qualified? And I'm like,
right now between having the Golden Boot winner from a
(10:22):
guy that literally not one single person thought would be
in the same conversation as Lionel Messi for MVP, you know,
from having one of the best backup goalkeepers, and my
only pushback I'll give you, Matthew is we have two
goalkeepers right now from the Union system who are active
MLS goalkeepers. One of them just started for the United
(10:43):
States national team the other night. So we've had capable
backups for Blake in the past. It's just they're so
good they get out of town in two and a
half seconds. But and again, cultivation of Ern's in the
system and the academy in all parts in between. So look,
I say, from the top to the bottom right now,
you got to give the Union their flowers. They are
(11:04):
points clear of the supporter shield in a year where
most people thought they want to win more than six games.
And it starts with Arn's.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, weren't very well. I mean,
you're you're helping out of coaching, But what can you
say about the roster he builds and even that relationship
with him and Bradley, like they seem lockstep in what
they want to do and how they want everybody to
participate in play and compete.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Yeah, I mean you you know, you have a need
to be all on the same page as a team,
you know, from the top, you know, to to the jannager,
to the coach and the player about what they want
to do.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And I think this year it's a perfect chemistry.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You know, it's kind of like if you said too
in all the team, like you know, we're talking about
DC having pentake, you know, Tonto taking Baladieski, those general
manager they have like a full like budget to take
players they want because those teams believe that the fans
will come or they might win if they have one
(11:58):
or two starts.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
In a model of the Union, the ownership group.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Like, listen, this is your budget, do whatever you can
with it and try to be creative.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And it's what it is.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
You know, I think a big team around him, you know,
to be able to look at, like you said, a
player you don't know about and where they come from,
sometimes second division in France, sometimes you know, like Venezuela,
and then you know they kind of show what type
of project is the Union. It's kind of like you
are going to come here, we want you. You need
to be hungry because you know, you need to show
(12:31):
what you can do to this league and then if you.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Are good, you might go on and you know, move
on to a bigger team.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And you can see the motivation of all the guys
who come here, and it's all about like the mentality
when they come that they don't believe they are the best.
They need to show what they can do and they're
going to work out for it. And there's so many
examples of this. You can talk about Hibarible not playing
for a year and sticking, sticking, and then when you
got the opportunity issue and improve and you know it's
(12:59):
called the goals Bueno the same like not playing for
a long time and then killing it in the League's
Cup last year. You have like Lukage this year nobody
knows intently as well, didn't play a lot last year
and play very well. And then yeah, you have like
like players who play right away and already show like
the glassness the can from the beginning, nobody knew who
they were, so and I can't mention even more guys
(13:21):
and I forgot right now, But there's so many examples
that who come from not kind of picking them and
kind of coming to this team, and you can see
that the mentality of the player and what they want
to do really much with what the Philadelphia city is
and the team, and when it doesn't work or when
maybe after a couple of your change, it's where you know,
(13:41):
usually they got traded or you know it doesn't match
kind of like what the team wants to do because
maybe their name got bigger, maybe they want too much
money and the team cannot pay them. So it's it's
definitely a great job from Earns for what money he
has to spend on a recring player, and any shows
when everybody's on the same page. Last year we were
(14:02):
not on the same page, that's for sure. It was
a lot of complaint from players to coach to you know,
not having the money spent to win titles. I don't
think you need that to to win titles. And having
know people who come to SODO back and enjoying a
good soccer game like we enjoy, you know, Charlotte last
last weekend. So yeah, heads up to him and to
(14:25):
you know, all the guys who work out to get
you know some players that we don't know, and at
the end, you know, it's converse to the players.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
To them, you know, show up and.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Play hard, and at the end of everybody involved to
make it successful.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And what you said was accurate about the idea of
you can sign a Bernadeski, you can sign a David
Villa and all these guys when you believe that your
organization is going to get the fan base and your
organization is going to get the money coming in regardless,
you can make those signings. But for a team like
the Union, winning is paramount to people being in the seats.
(15:01):
You know, this team needs to be competitive for people
to show up unless it's literally messy showing up. So
to put on a consistent competitive roster season after season
after season is critical for their model of success financially.
And that's what you have here, is it's not just
a team that's built for this season to go chase
a trophy. It's built for a decade moving forward. You know,
(15:25):
the fact that I think the fact that you can
move on from a Jack McGlenn, and I'm not sure
anyone is actually missing him right now, is paramount to
how deep this team is. And Even so, you look
at the US national team roster. I might not be
the biggest fan of this roster right now for a
multitude of reasons, but I can't deny the fact that
(15:46):
six of Union alumni are right now suiting up for
the US national team. And that speaks volumes to not
just Ernst, but the academy, to the whole system. And
if you're a parent right now, I'm literally holding my
son ring now if I'm thinking, what is the next
steps in terms of how do I develop my child?
How do I get him into the right system, even
(16:07):
if it's not to play professionally, even if not for
the long haul, I want to get him in the
Union academy. The results are there. You know he's going
to be at minimum a better person and at maximum
a better soccer player from getting into that system. The results.
And so I just think after an off season of
(16:29):
we had town hall meetings talking to ownership, we had
Ernst laying bare his entire soul, even Jim putting himself
out there on the cross, I think we need to
really sit back and truly absorb what's happening. Halfway through
this season, and I'll go.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Back to one word team. I will take you know,
ten or eleven one million dollar players over one ten
million dollar player any day of the week. And I
know that's not a popular opinion with Union fans and
MLS people because they thinking one ten million dollar players great.
But what happens when that guy can't get on the field?
And what does that do to the ecosystem of a
locker room When you've got one guy driving a Ferrari
(17:08):
and everybody else are driving jettis, You know, it's not
not cohesive to being united.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And you think about it.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
You looked at last year's Super Bowl. The Eagles were
a team. Chiefs were Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey and his girlfriend.
You know, so I'll take team over over individual any
day of the week. Let's get into a little Union
news because we were talking about the Golden boot leader.
Bad news everyone. Ty Berribo went to Israel to work
(17:37):
out and play with the national team, picked up a
little injury. He was getting treatment and had to meet
with the US embassy to get his green card. And
he's stuck. He's literally stuck over there. I know the Union,
I've talked to a lot of people. They're talking to
him every day, but we don't know when he's coming
back because all the airports in Israel, air coverage, everything
(18:00):
is closed down. So just keep tying his family and
his thoughts and hopefully he gets back to it soon.
And here's some big news for all the anti Apple people.
NBC Sports Philadelphia, they are going to be broadcasting Union
matches now for free, well free, let's say that still
paywall people, you're paying for cable. Everybody doesn't think cable's paywall,
but it is. But they are going to be playing
(18:22):
games a couple a couple of days after and you'll
just have to check local listing. So if you want
to watch rewatch geams, you can get on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
I'm assuming savage. Maybe you know this is Are they
going to use your radio coverage for that?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
It's you are good like Jimmy's this news. I didn't
know about that, so I hope so because what a
code by Dave when who scolled it as good.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
So yeah, if you want to hear some passion from
the you know broadcaster who, let's say is a tiny
a lot more for the home team which is a union, Yeah,
you want to hear Dave and myself, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, So hopefully I have to assume that they're going
to use your broadcast, so that's gonna be that's gonna
be great, So NBC Sports Philadelphia, and hopefully you get
an extra check for that. You know, I don't see
why you want to get a second check.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That's residuals, my guy.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, residuals. So let's let's get education. Yeah, let's get
into the Club World Cup.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The Inner Miami tied in the beginning, but then all
of a sudden, we just saw they beat a Portuguese team.
They're the first MLS team to beat a European team,
So I mean that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, Club World Cup.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I mean, uh, there were some interesting games like the
Powerhouse Auckland City. Just we're in a nailbier against Harry
Kanes Barron Munich. See that, Adam ten nothing, Yeah, yeah,
that was that was pretty important. So it's been pretty interesting.
Now people are gonna say not a lot of attendance
or whatever, but it's been interesting. And Adam, I think
(19:56):
you're attending a match coming up in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, so I'm going to the tunees Chelsea match. I
actually just got offered because we're recording this on Friday
the twentieth, I was offered a ticket for today's match
from Chelsea and Flamingo at two o'clock.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
But that looks like fun.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, that looks like so. But yeah, but any and
let me say shout out to the Flamingo fans, because
anyone who lives in and around Center City has just
been inundated by red and black stripes as far as
the eye can see. I've had so many family members
just ask me like, who the hell are these guys,
(20:38):
and then for me to explain how they're on the
biggest clubs in all of Brazil. You know, they were like, oh,
this is starting to make sense in context. I mean,
like reading Terminal yesterday, I was waiting for chance to
break out. It was. It was that big. And so
you know, it's been lightly attended in some markets. I
kind of blame matchups as much is anything. I think
(21:02):
in this kind of stage of a tournament, it's hard
to tell people at three pm in Orlando to watch
Australian team play a Middle Eastern team that they probably
never heard of. That's that's a hard sell. But I
think when you get the big boys, I think Manchester
City has had great attendance in their matches. You know,
Chelsea had a decent attendance in Atlanta. So I think
(21:26):
the Club World Cup as a whole. Look, it's a baby,
you know, it's in its infancy as its iteration, and
you know, I think it's going to need to get
its sea legs together. I think, honestly, the irony is,
I think America is a decent starting point for it,
so that when it grows and gets to other markets,
when it gets to Angling, it's already going, you know,
(21:47):
and it's a little bit more gravitas to it. But
moral of the story is, I appreciate the fact that
it brings a bunch of fans to America and brings
a bunch of fans to Philadelphia and other cities, you know,
and for it to be kind of a dress rehearsal
for the National World Cup. I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
This is going to be a microdose of what the
World Cup's going to look like. In Philadelphia. And you
said you're in Center City, you see them. I live
by the Art Museum and fans are going on the
rocky stairs and you're just seeing flags and smoke bombs
and it's it's been. It's been great to see. I'm
excited about the Club World Cup now being in Philly
in July fourth, you know, at the Semis. But this
(22:31):
is just the beginning of this year of soccer because
the World Cup is just going to be no matter what, incredible.
Speaking of traveling the Nashville trip, it's too late, but
not too late everyone, there's still we still have a
ticket tailgate bus package. So Philly sports trips dot com
and I got big announcements Adam Well on the rooftop
(22:53):
for the fireworks, and not only will Sebastian Latub there,
but the aforementioned Dave Leno bringing his enthusiasm. We're gonna
if you can do some play by play of the fireworks,
so that's going to be interesting. And for Club World Cup,
I don't know if we're going to get this pot
out in time, but if you're a Union fan, you
should go down to brah House Schmidt. Brah House Schmidt
has got Kai Wagner coming, So there we go. Adam,
(23:16):
We're good. So I thought I thought I froze up.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
That's all so good.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Remember August second, Frankfurt's coming to town. So think about that.
And then just I got two things in league news,
and then we'll just talk a little US men's team.
The San Jose Earthquakes are up for sale. So if
you've got about fifty million plus probably more than that,
probably five hundred billion, you can buy the San Jose Earthquakes.
And I didn't know this, but the Vancouver white Caps
(23:45):
are also up for sale. I had no idea until
I read that article. So if you've got a little
extra money in the bank, there's two MLS teams. I
would buy Vancouver over San Jose just for geographical reasons.
You know, Vancouver's way way prettier.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh, I mean yeah, But I mean have you been
to the The Bay Area is a hot bed for athletics.
Like I feel like, if you can get it right
in San Jose, the potential there is tremendous, you know,
especially now that they just got the jettison the athletics
a couple of days, a couple of months ago.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
You know, the rodically, same owner, same ownership. I think
I think he has to sell San Jose to help
him fund the stadium in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That makes no sense, but yeah, all right, if you
think about it, I mean, twenty ten years ago, the
evaluations of MLS clubs are not as high as they
were now. So I feel like sell, I feel like
they won't be the only people selling to try to
get that crisp billion dollar evaluation.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah. Now let's get into the Gold Cup. We've got
US men's national team action. And I have to say,
after watching the first two games, Adam was wrong. Sebastiana
two is right, the US win, they'd Trinidad Tobago five nothing,
and then you beat Saudi Arabia one nothing. So Adam,
you got to be feeling really good about your US
men's team. With Wayne's Pennsylvania's own Matt Freeze getting not
(25:09):
one but two clean sheets, have you turned around your
thoughts about the US men's national team?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Hell no, what? Who would be? Trinidadded to Beago? Trent
adds too?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Really like any Saudi Arabia? And now you got Haiti?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Who?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Haiti?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Who pop up? Be called DJJ. Look, my guy, I'm
gonna be real with you. I'm the biggest Matt free
supporter in the universe and I'm so happy and I
want him to be our goal in moving for Matt
Turner can go into the nethers. I don't care anymore.
I'm Freeze. I'm mister Freeze all day, Frozene all here
(25:52):
for it.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
They're not good, tell them how you're pro USA on
this one.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Here's the best part about it. I watch these games too.
They're not good.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
I mean I watched it.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Yes, they don't play very very well, but they win,
so that's okay, It's just what you want. And at
the end, you know, let's see if they can play
well when they go to the quarterfinal right the next time,
because they already qualify.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
So you're qualified.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
That's all they have to do, right, You're right, You're.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Going to see, like I think, like the maybe the
big team I see, you know, Queens Sullivan an area,
you know, playing maybe the next game against Haiti, and see,
you know what they can do. But at the end,
it's like when the quarterfinals starts, Okay, you really start
the competition for them, because right now it's still for
me like pre season game.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
You know, they should go through Gold Cup is not
hard to pass.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
The group stage.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So yeah, so let's see and then you know, when
you play Canada, again, if you play Mexico, you know,
like Costalica.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Maybe, but you have like you know, four teams, we
can maybe win it this year.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It's like.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
The tournaments stopped, let's say quite a final, so we'll see.
But yeah, you definitely need more from like from the team.
And like Adam said, it's not the team who's going
to be at the World Cup. Maybe if you guys
out of this group, I would say maybe like seven
a guys, But a lot of things can change from
(27:20):
now until the World Cup. So it's just you know,
for this team is pretty much like a tryout. It's like,
oh you do with this competition, maybe we keep an eye.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
On you for the real World Cup next year.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
In all seriousness, that's how I'm looking at this tournament
is looking at these guys playing and saying, who are
going to be these younger guys that are going to
make the senior squad for the World Cup. So but listen,
all they got to do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Is keep winning.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
We can get behind it, build, you know, have some chemistry,
look a little bit better. I got two more things
on World Soccer News. The Premier League schedule came out
already and next week June twenty six, the champions Ship
League sc what comes out, So if you're a wrexhom fan,
you know you can find out when they're going to
(28:04):
be playing. So yeah, European soccer is already back, and
Championship starts at him August eighth to the tenth, So yeah,
European football is going to be back before we know it.
This summer's flying by. All right, let's just talk about
what we have upcoming. We've got road trips, road trips,
road trips. We've got Chicago June twenty fifth. Chicago just
lost two nothing in Nashville on this Saturday. Then we
(28:27):
go into Columbus on the twenty ninth, so Danny finally
scored a goal, so we're going to see what happens
with them. And then we got Nashville for the July fifth,
the Revenge Game, the game where Sebastian LA two and
myself are attacking broadly like Godzilla attack Tokyo. So we've
got a hell of a road trip coming up. Guys,
(28:47):
what are you thinking? We got Chicago, Columbus in the Nashville.
None of these are going to be easy.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
He's not gonna be easy.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
He's not gonna be easy, especially like having a liit
third break, which is good in the volga kind of rescid.
It depends about how many guys we get back. I
don't think we'll get the US national team player for
that game back. Maybe, but I don't think so. Hopefully
we can have then Lee back if he doesn't qualify.
(29:15):
And yeah, I think it's good. It's going to take
everybody again. I think we're going to see some probably
lineup maybe changed between Chicago and Columbus. But you know,
like I said before, the game agains Charlotte. It is
like we are first now, so we are the one
to be chased by the other team, and they have
like the extra motivation to players to try to beat us.
(29:38):
Chicago is number one. We think I think we could
beat them, but they have a much better team than
last year. I think they're more organized, have a you know,
a good power offensively jacket.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
You're playing in center back.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
You know we're going to have a have our first
game against him since he left this year, and uh,
and then you have Columbus, who you know, Columbus is
like it's telling us it's not and Gas Dagon are
playing against us again. So it's going to be a
two tough challenge, and then you have Nashville on you know,
dry fours, but hopefully Nashville, we almost hopefully have everybody
(30:12):
back and we can you know, really prepare this game
for full week. But she got going to con numbus. Yeah,
it's gonna be a it's gonna be tough, but it's possible.
I think if we have a good game plan, which
I think Bradley will have, and we probably will go
more in type of counter attack against those team because
they're gonna push and try, you know, to beat us.
(30:33):
We can We're going making a little surprise at those games.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
You are mute, Matt, sorry about that?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, Adam, your thoughts on that, it's it's gonna be
a gaumblet for sure.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I mean, look, I would say for us, five points
feels good from this situation. You know, if you can
get a couple of ties in there in a w
it's not the worst thing. You Niverse, I say, you
could feel comfortable with seven points here, you know. I look,
I what Zeba said is correct. It's not going to
(31:09):
be easy, but we're the ones people are chasing, right
like they're put there measure they should be at this
point measuring themselves against US Miami and by by ironically
Columbus and and look, Columbus has been an interesting case study.
You know, I think that they're they're still very good,
but I believe their goal differential is only plus two
(31:30):
and so far this season, where the Union is plus fifteen,
So it hasn't necessarily been this dominance by what we
considered last year to be the best team on the continent.
So I think it's going to be interesting. I think
the Union could win all three. To be honest with you,
I don't think it would shock me if they came
back with nine points now because of how you know,
(31:53):
the war of attrition, that is a long MLS season, heat,
all things in between, time away from family, I think
getting nine might be unrealistic, but seven feels fine to me.
You know, I think at this stage you have to
be looking at most of your opponents as you could
probably beat most of Major League Soccer at this point.
(32:14):
That's the Union mentality, or it should be. Then most
of Major League Soccer, no matter if it's home or away,
should probably lose to the Union. Now we'll see what happens, obviously,
but if I'm in that locker room right now, especially
after the type of results that you've gotten against solid
teams as well as like this, the results you've gotten
against great teams as well as solid teams, I think
(32:36):
there should be a level of confidence and motivation right
now to say like let's boys, strap up, let's get
out there, let's get the points, let's go home. You know,
that's that should be kind of the thought processing, and.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
That means like law in the US and sohi, I
love it. I love it, but don't forget about like
it's like the injuries, you know, like we have few
as able to come back.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
You know, I think they're going to manage as well
as those guys and uh and you know, Tay Baribo
as well. I hope you know, you can be back
soon because he could be you know, and the you know,
big big helping in front, you know, to have him back.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
And so all of those things.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It's like, you don't know, but we can see that
Bradley can. I've been very good, you know, managing the team,
making the best selling it even every time, and he's
going to you know, just pick the guys who are
the most ready physically for the battle. But that's why
it's may abe challenging because I don't know what the
roster we're going to get for for those three games.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, with with the questions of the roster, I'm still
not super worried because we've seen this team dig deep,
go into the reserves and and pull out results. So
it's going to be an interesting I thought May it
was going to be interesting. This this run of June
and into early July, it's going to be crazy. And
I'm really looking forward to Nashville to see this team
get through that. So yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna
(33:53):
be a good time. And then then we finally get
some home games.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Guys, we've got just a.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Little bit of clean up for a little bit of news,
so those two summer camp but we still got still
got room for people to get there. That's July twenty
first to the twenty fourth, right.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Yes, yes, it is so one more months, so the
sign up, you know, let's have room left, so don't
be shy. It'll be fun and yeah, kind of wait
to see everybody.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And before we get to Adam's a little bit, I
just want to say welcome to two new members of
the pod. We've got Xander Jackson who's going to be
our content coordinator helping us out. And Leo Booth is
in attendance and he's been the perfect gentleman the entire
time on Adam's lap. So Leo, welcome to the team, buddy, Adam. Adam,
let's let us know about the hot birds. We got
(34:37):
any games coming up?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Well, hey say something. I don't know what the hell
is wrong with this team, and somehow we're in second
place again. We were three and four and in fifth place,
and now we're in second place. Because my entire the
Eastern Division of the UFA is so cannibalistic right now.
Everyone's eating everybody. So we have a huge matchup coming
up against Montreal on the twenty eighth, which is called
(35:00):
Heritage Night with Pride Nights too, so we're combining basically
Juneteenth and Pride into one celebration, which, if you know
the history of Pride in Philadelphia, it's actually very poignant.
But yeah, we have that coming up and we're hopefully
if we win two more games, we not only will
qualify for playoffs, we'll host a playoff game in Ashton, Pennsylvania.
(35:22):
So it's exciting times. Actually in Delco, not justin Chester,
but up the street. On three twenty two, the Phoenix
might also try to be making a playoff push. So
you got some time on the twenty eighth or July
second to come visit us.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Please do the playoff game? Is it true? The three
of us are going to do the coin flip.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
That's gonna be great. I'm telling you this right now.
I've been trying to get Sebastian to do opening pool
for weeks now, so if he wants to come out
there for the playoff game, that'll be a thrill.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Adam, I don't know how to throw a frisbee. It's
I need to train first.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
That's well, oh my god. So now you're just giving
me more content ideas for the Sebastianattwo frisbee camp.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Thanks, there we go, so you could be your second career. Well, everybody,
thank you so much for joining us. This was episode
number forty. Ahi. We're getting up there in ahe aren't they?
So this is exis in the U. Everybody, thank you
so much, and keep tuning into Philadelphia Union because, like
we said, this is a gauntlet coming up and they
(36:24):
need your support. Whether it's on TV or not, and
it's Apple TV or NBC Sports Philadelphia, everybody, thank you
so much. Gentlemen, thanks for joining. Have a great week.
Ex President of the Sons of Ben, Matt Gantastic, ax
had Capo, Adam Booth, ex player and forever a Union
legend Sebastian Latoo. These may be exes, but they're the
experts when it comes to the Philadelphia Union. This is
Exes in the U.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome back to everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
We have an exciting it's exciting times in the Union Verse.
This is episode number forty of x'es in the U.
I am Matt and Daazac, former president of the Sons
of Ben and always I am joined by ex head
Capital Adam Booth and Union legend Sebastian Latoo. Guys, we've
got a lot to talk about with just the Union,
the Gold Cup, the Club World Cup, and then three
(00:44):
away games, so let's just get into it right away.
Union Faced Tommy Wilson, Charlotte and Shocker Shocker two to
one win, last minute victory. Marcus Anderson in the ninety
eighth minute gets the goal, which one of you guys
wants to chop this up and go through what we did.
I know Seba was on the radio and Adam, I
(01:05):
know you were watching intently.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I will tell you that was one of the more
resilient performances I've seen from the you you know, I
think what we don't really take into account for most
of this season is how disjointed this roster can be,
how many plug and play players we need in situations
(01:28):
where you know, we've discussed we have a lot of
guys who go for these international competitions, you know, one
of the side effects of Ern's unturning these stones to
find great players, or they might be from smaller nations
who actually value their soccer on a national level too.
So you know, during Gold Cups, international breaks, we tend
to be a little short staffed. But you know, I
(01:50):
think this is another sign of how good the academy is,
you know, how good the guys behind, how much depth
this particular squad has in comparison to previous years, where
you know, it is a next man up mentality, and
you're playing a Charlotte team that needs points, that thinks
it's better than it actually is and probably is. And
(02:13):
you got a guy and by the name of Wilfrid
Zaha who he's come to MLS like many people like
him before, like a Christian Benteke, and said, this is
a playground for me to exert my will upon and
the Union were like, yeah, but not in Chester. And
I think even though he got his goal, is it
is really, really, really a sign of the capabilities of
(02:36):
this team to see them get the last minute goal,
to stay close to Charlotte the entire time, even at
times and I thought that they probably could have gone
behind me ball versus them, And you know, for Anderson
to get a well earned and well deserved first tally
and to do it in such a fashion, the latest
game winning goal in Union history. Yeah, look that Look
(03:00):
it's Charlotte, It's it's June, you know, but if you
give this the proper context, this might be one of
the bigger wins of the season.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, So what are your thoughts on the game?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I mean, it was definitely a great game to just
watch and not having a full roster from from the team,
but uh, you know, Bruno I think play well, you
know in the midfield.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Unfortunately with a little injury at the end. You know,
it was not good to see him leave. But what
a goal, you know for him just to close the half.
So I feel like we we have.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Been good this year to kind of finish you know,
the halves and uh, and it's been like twice in
this game having the second half.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
But great goalie from a from when we have a
lot of opportunity.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
At the beginning, I think, you know, Shouotut was kind
of playing well defensively. We didn't push much forward, like
I know, one of the points for Brady Cannell was
to kind of have cav you know, going on the
left side and crossing the which.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
He didn't do much.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Let's s's the first sonimnute, but then the last fifteen
you were seeing him, you know, pushing a little.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Bit more on the web site.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
With Benner, I enjoy you know, the game of Benner
as well, for his first one starting at home. I
think he shows some good skills. And you're holding the
ball playing against your whole team as well. You know,
it's never easy. You always feel different emotions. But I
think he had a good game on the web side.
And then yeah, like the the second half, like you're
(04:28):
have one zero, he started making some changes, you know,
pulling Donovan, puing his Marcus Anderson, and like when you
come in the game with Dave, we have like this
opportunity and a second half with Donovan, we get like
the one on one with the keeper and he's miss
and it's those type of things. You know, you're like,
you're a sub you need to you know, put them
away if you want to make an impact. And unfortunately
(04:50):
for Crazy he missed this big, big opportunity. And then
they equalize and you're like, ah, here we go again,
you know, like we we cannot you know, make a
like a double you know, to to go to go
away kind of be playing with a maybe more security.
And then you feel like add you know the game
or is it going to be like the same in
(05:10):
Columbus like the same and are we going to get
a goal.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
You know against us at the end.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
But like Adams said, like the residents of the team
and kind of keep pushing for a while and all
like the substitution like Bragley made, they all had an
impact in a game. And yeah, congress to Marcus Anderson
for this great goal. You know he takes the opportunity
a year like not even playing in the team and
you know, being with the union to grounding every day
(05:37):
and now you know, you get rewarded. So that's great
to see that. Yeah, we have a coach who give
a chance to a lot of people, a lot of kids.
Even if and you know, we are missing some guys
and they're stepping up, they are not scared to play.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
They just you know, play fully.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
And we got a huge win, you know Againstarlotte before
we do like a three game or road trip. So
still first, you know, four points above, that's that's fantastic.
So yeah, where did is that for the team? Because
he was a fully fought from the entire team.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, and there's one word that you said a couple
of times that I want to emphasize team. That was
such a total team win. I mean, and Bradley even
said it. He goes his quote was I think we've
shown that we believe in every player on our roster,
you know. And that was Marcus Anderson's i think first
game since that game losing turning from Cincinnati. So it's
(06:29):
like he really came back from that and he got
a second chance and he did everything with it. But
I do have one controversial question for first Sebastian and
then maybe Adam was Kevin Sullivan. Was that really a dummy?
Do you think he pulled away from the ball like
he said or did he just missed that? For Anderson's
skull because I know he said like, oh, I saw
someone in the corner of my eye. I pulled my
(06:50):
foot away, and I'm like, I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (06:52):
No, he missed it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
He won thousands that and I appreciate him trying to
say face there, but he missed that. Yeah, that's what
I thought. That was that.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That was probably the most humorous thing I saw towards
the end. But I mean, what a game. And the
crowd was everybody when we were leaving, they were like,
that was the best game I've seen. And I don't
know how long I guess just because the nineteenth minute
the win, but like Sebashan said after after Saha scored
in the seventieth minute, you just had that feeling in
the stands like, oh, no, we're going to do this again.
(07:27):
We're going to drop a point, We're gonna lose two
points and just come away with one and and the
team scrapped and fought and and you know we were
missing six guys. So that was that was something. So Adam,
I know you wanted to talk about this. Let's just
give a little bit of love. I mean, you look
at this roster. Rick comes in for Blake, who we've
(07:48):
never had a great backup for you know, and then
and this whole roster up and down has just been proven.
You know, I'm watching Jack McGlenn play for the US
men's team, and as much as I love Glenn, I
don't miss him on this roster.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
So let's just talk a.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Little bit about Ernst and give us some flowers before
we could move on to the next topic.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, I think it goes without saying, you know,
with this roster construction and the capabilities that this team
has had this whole year. You know, it comes down
to the fact that people did not have a lot
of expectations for the Union in twenty twenty five, and
it mainly came from the fact that they sold a
couple of players of household names and they didn't necessarily
(08:30):
replace them with household names. And for some reason, this
has been the Union's model for a decade plus, but
apparently it hasn't caught on yet to the rest of
the fan base that this franchise specializes in finding players
that you wouldn't necessarily looked for for your roster. Charlotte
(08:51):
went to the Premier League to get Wilford Zaha. You know,
DC goes to get Christian Benteke, Toronto goes to get
Bernardeski and Insigne and what is all three of those
teams have in common? They are at least eight, if
not more points behind the Philadelphia Union right now in
the standings. And it all comes down to the fact
(09:13):
that you have to construct a roster, especially in Major
League Soccer, and for this very section of time that
we're going through right now, most leagues do pauses, and
most leagues do stoppages, and we did kind of do
a stoppage, but we're still playing games within a Gold
(09:33):
Cup window, within a Club World Cup window.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And it means that you need to have a roster
that is capable of switching out parts, that is capable
of having veteran leadership mix in with young people and
has an ability to create chemistry on what we say
in hockey, multiple lines essentially, and the Union have that.
(09:59):
Earns has brought these players in. Hayesu's bueno, that's an
Ernest Tanner guy. Like these guys that he brought in
where you're like, where did this guy come from? What
is his potential? And he's buried on the bench for forever?
Is he that good? Is he that qualified? And I'm like,
right now between having the Golden Boot winner from a
(10:22):
guy that literally not one single person thought would be
in the same conversation as Lionel Messi for MVP, you know,
from having one of the best backup goalkeepers, and my
only pushback I'll give you, Matthew is we have two
goalkeepers right now from the Union system who are active
MLS goalkeepers. One of them just started for the United
(10:43):
States national team the other night. So we've had capable
backups for Blake in the past. It's just they're so
good they get out of town in two and a
half seconds. But and again, cultivation of Ern's in the
system and the academy in all parts in between. So look,
I say, from the top to the bottom right now,
you got to give the Union their flowers. They are
(11:04):
points clear of the supporter shield in a year where
most people thought they want to win more than six games.
And it starts with Arn's.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, weren't very well. I mean,
you're you're helping out of coaching, But what can you
say about the roster he builds and even that relationship
with him and Bradley, like they seem lockstep in what
they want to do and how they want everybody to
participate in play and compete.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Yeah, I mean you you know, you have a need
to be all on the same page as a team,
you know, from the top, you know, to to the jannager,
to the coach and the player about what they want
to do.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And I think this year it's a perfect chemistry.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
You know, it's kind of like if you said too
in all the team, like you know, we're talking about
DC having pentake, you know, Tonto taking Baladieski, those general
manager they have like a full like budget to take
players they want because those teams believe that the fans
will come or they might win if they have one
(11:58):
or two starts.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
In a model of the Union, the ownership group.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Like, listen, this is your budget, do whatever you can
with it and try to be creative.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And it's what it is.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
You know, I think a big team around him, you know,
to be able to look at, like you said, a
player you don't know about and where they come from,
sometimes second division in France, sometimes you know, like Venezuela,
and then you know they kind of show what type
of project is the Union. It's kind of like you
are going to come here, we want you. You need
to be hungry because you know, you need to show
(12:31):
what you can do to this league and then if you.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Are good, you might go on and you know, move
on to a bigger team.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And you can see the motivation of all the guys
who come here, and it's all about like the mentality
when they come that they don't believe they are the best.
They need to show what they can do and they're
going to work out for it. And there's so many
examples of this. You can talk about Hibarible not playing
for a year and sticking, sticking, and then when you
got the opportunity issue and improve and you know it's
(12:59):
called the goals Bueno the same like not playing for
a long time and then killing it in the League's
Cup last year. You have like Lukage this year nobody
knows intently as well, didn't play a lot last year
and play very well. And then yeah, you have like
like players who play right away and already show like
the glassness the can from the beginning, nobody knew who
they were, so and I can't mention even more guys
(13:21):
and I forgot right now, But there's so many examples
that who come from not kind of picking them and
kind of coming to this team, and you can see
that the mentality of the player and what they want
to do really much with what the Philadelphia city is
and the team, and when it doesn't work or when
maybe after a couple of your change, it's where you know,
(13:41):
usually they got traded or you know it doesn't match
kind of like what the team wants to do because
maybe their name got bigger, maybe they want too much
money and the team cannot pay them. So it's it's
definitely a great job from Earns for what money he
has to spend on a recring player, and any shows
when everybody's on the same page. Last year we were
(14:02):
not on the same page, that's for sure. It was
a lot of complaint from players to coach to you know,
not having the money spent to win titles. I don't
think you need that to to win titles. And having
know people who come to SODO back and enjoying a
good soccer game like we enjoy, you know, Charlotte last
last weekend. So yeah, heads up to him and to
(14:25):
you know, all the guys who work out to get
you know some players that we don't know, and at
the end, you know, it's converse to the players.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
To them, you know, show up and.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Play hard, and at the end of everybody involved to
make it successful.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And what you said was accurate about the idea of
you can sign a Bernadeski, you can sign a David
Villa and all these guys when you believe that your
organization is going to get the fan base and your
organization is going to get the money coming in regardless,
you can make those signings. But for a team like
the Union, winning is paramount to people being in the seats.
(15:01):
You know, this team needs to be competitive for people
to show up unless it's literally messy showing up. So
to put on a consistent competitive roster season after season
after season is critical for their model of success financially.
And that's what you have here, is it's not just
a team that's built for this season to go chase
a trophy. It's built for a decade moving forward. You know,
(15:25):
the fact that I think the fact that you can
move on from a Jack McGlenn, and I'm not sure
anyone is actually missing him right now, is paramount to
how deep this team is. And Even so, you look
at the US national team roster. I might not be
the biggest fan of this roster right now for a
multitude of reasons, but I can't deny the fact that
(15:46):
six of Union alumni are right now suiting up for
the US national team. And that speaks volumes to not
just Ernst, but the academy, to the whole system. And
if you're a parent right now, I'm literally holding my
son ring now if I'm thinking, what is the next
steps in terms of how do I develop my child?
How do I get him into the right system, even
(16:07):
if it's not to play professionally, even if not for
the long haul, I want to get him in the
Union academy. The results are there. You know he's going
to be at minimum a better person and at maximum
a better soccer player from getting into that system. The results.
And so I just think after an off season of
(16:29):
we had town hall meetings talking to ownership, we had
Ernst laying bare his entire soul, even Jim putting himself
out there on the cross, I think we need to
really sit back and truly absorb what's happening. Halfway through
this season, and I'll go.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Back to one word team. I will take you know,
ten or eleven one million dollar players over one ten
million dollar player any day of the week. And I
know that's not a popular opinion with Union fans and
MLS people because they thinking one ten million dollar players great.
But what happens when that guy can't get on the field?
And what does that do to the ecosystem of a
locker room When you've got one guy driving a Ferrari
(17:08):
and everybody else are driving jettis, You know, it's not
not cohesive to being united.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And you think about it.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
You looked at last year's Super Bowl. The Eagles were
a team. Chiefs were Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey and his girlfriend.
You know, so I'll take team over over individual any
day of the week. Let's get into a little Union
news because we were talking about the Golden boot leader.
Bad news everyone. Ty Berribo went to Israel to work
(17:37):
out and play with the national team, picked up a
little injury. He was getting treatment and had to meet
with the US embassy to get his green card. And
he's stuck. He's literally stuck over there. I know the Union,
I've talked to a lot of people. They're talking to
him every day, but we don't know when he's coming
back because all the airports in Israel, air coverage, everything
(18:00):
is closed down. So just keep tying his family and
his thoughts and hopefully he gets back to it soon.
And here's some big news for all the anti Apple people.
NBC Sports Philadelphia, they are going to be broadcasting Union
matches now for free, well free, let's say that still
paywall people, you're paying for cable. Everybody doesn't think cable's paywall,
but it is. But they are going to be playing
(18:22):
games a couple a couple of days after and you'll
just have to check local listing. So if you want
to watch rewatch geams, you can get on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
I'm assuming savage. Maybe you know this is Are they
going to use your radio coverage for that?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
It's you are good like Jimmy's this news. I didn't
know about that, so I hope so because what a
code by Dave when who scolled it as good.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
So yeah, if you want to hear some passion from
the you know broadcaster who, let's say is a tiny
a lot more for the home team which is a union, Yeah,
you want to hear Dave and myself, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Yeah, So hopefully I have to assume that they're going
to use your broadcast, so that's gonna be that's gonna
be great, So NBC Sports Philadelphia, and hopefully you get
an extra check for that. You know, I don't see
why you want to get a second check.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That's residuals, my guy.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, residuals. So let's let's get education. Yeah, let's get
into the Club World Cup.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The Inner Miami tied in the beginning, but then all
of a sudden, we just saw they beat a Portuguese team.
They're the first MLS team to beat a European team,
So I mean that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, Club World Cup.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I mean, uh, there were some interesting games like the
Powerhouse Auckland City. Just we're in a nailbier against Harry
Kanes Barron Munich. See that, Adam ten nothing, Yeah, yeah,
that was that was pretty important. So it's been pretty interesting.
Now people are gonna say not a lot of attendance
or whatever, but it's been interesting. And Adam, I think
(19:56):
you're attending a match coming up in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, so I'm going to the tunees Chelsea match. I
actually just got offered because we're recording this on Friday
the twentieth, I was offered a ticket for today's match
from Chelsea and Flamingo at two o'clock.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
But that looks like fun.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, that looks like so. But yeah, but any and
let me say shout out to the Flamingo fans, because
anyone who lives in and around Center City has just
been inundated by red and black stripes as far as
the eye can see. I've had so many family members
just ask me like, who the hell are these guys,
(20:38):
and then for me to explain how they're on the
biggest clubs in all of Brazil. You know, they were like, oh,
this is starting to make sense in context. I mean,
like reading Terminal yesterday, I was waiting for chance to
break out. It was. It was that big. And so
you know, it's been lightly attended in some markets. I
kind of blame matchups as much is anything. I think
(21:02):
in this kind of stage of a tournament, it's hard
to tell people at three pm in Orlando to watch
Australian team play a Middle Eastern team that they probably
never heard of. That's that's a hard sell. But I
think when you get the big boys, I think Manchester
City has had great attendance in their matches. You know,
Chelsea had a decent attendance in Atlanta. So I think
(21:26):
the Club World Cup as a whole. Look, it's a baby,
you know, it's in its infancy as its iteration, and
you know, I think it's going to need to get
its sea legs together. I think, honestly, the irony is,
I think America is a decent starting point for it,
so that when it grows and gets to other markets,
when it gets to Angling, it's already going, you know,
(21:47):
and it's a little bit more gravitas to it. But
moral of the story is, I appreciate the fact that
it brings a bunch of fans to America and brings
a bunch of fans to Philadelphia and other cities, you know,
and for it to be kind of a dress rehearsal
for the National World Cup. I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
This is going to be a microdose of what the
World Cup's going to look like. In Philadelphia. And you
said you're in Center City, you see them. I live
by the Art Museum and fans are going on the
rocky stairs and you're just seeing flags and smoke bombs
and it's it's been. It's been great to see. I'm
excited about the Club World Cup now being in Philly
in July fourth, you know, at the Semis. But this
(22:31):
is just the beginning of this year of soccer because
the World Cup is just going to be no matter what, incredible.
Speaking of traveling the Nashville trip, it's too late, but
not too late everyone, there's still we still have a
ticket tailgate bus package. So Philly sports trips dot com
and I got big announcements Adam Well on the rooftop
(22:53):
for the fireworks, and not only will Sebastian Latub there,
but the aforementioned Dave Leno bringing his enthusiasm. We're gonna
if you can do some play by play of the fireworks,
so that's going to be interesting. And for Club World Cup,
I don't know if we're going to get this pot
out in time, but if you're a Union fan, you
should go down to brah House Schmidt. Brah House Schmidt
has got Kai Wagner coming, So there we go. Adam,
(23:16):
We're good. So I thought I thought I froze up.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
That's all so good.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Remember August second, Frankfurt's coming to town. So think about that.
And then just I got two things in league news,
and then we'll just talk a little US men's team.
The San Jose Earthquakes are up for sale. So if
you've got about fifty million plus probably more than that,
probably five hundred billion, you can buy the San Jose Earthquakes.
And I didn't know this, but the Vancouver white Caps
(23:45):
are also up for sale. I had no idea until
I read that article. So if you've got a little
extra money in the bank, there's two MLS teams. I
would buy Vancouver over San Jose just for geographical reasons.
You know, Vancouver's way way prettier.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh, I mean yeah, But I mean have you been
to the The Bay Area is a hot bed for athletics.
Like I feel like, if you can get it right
in San Jose, the potential there is tremendous, you know,
especially now that they just got the jettison the athletics
a couple of days, a couple of months ago.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
You know, the rodically, same owner, same ownership. I think
I think he has to sell San Jose to help
him fund the stadium in Vegas.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That makes no sense, but yeah, all right, if you
think about it, I mean, twenty ten years ago, the
evaluations of MLS clubs are not as high as they
were now. So I feel like sell, I feel like
they won't be the only people selling to try to
get that crisp billion dollar evaluation.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Yeah. Now let's get into the Gold Cup. We've got
US men's national team action. And I have to say,
after watching the first two games, Adam was wrong. Sebastiana
two is right, the US win, they'd Trinidad Tobago five nothing,
and then you beat Saudi Arabia one nothing. So Adam,
you got to be feeling really good about your US
men's team. With Wayne's Pennsylvania's own Matt Freeze getting not
(25:09):
one but two clean sheets, have you turned around your
thoughts about the US men's national team?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Hell no, what? Who would be? Trinidadded to Beago? Trent
adds too?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Really like any Saudi Arabia? And now you got Haiti?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Who?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Haiti?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Who pop up? Be called DJJ. Look, my guy, I'm
gonna be real with you. I'm the biggest Matt free
supporter in the universe and I'm so happy and I
want him to be our goal in moving for Matt
Turner can go into the nethers. I don't care anymore.
I'm Freeze. I'm mister Freeze all day, Frozene all here
(25:52):
for it.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
They're not good, tell them how you're pro USA on
this one.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Here's the best part about it. I watch these games too.
They're not good.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
I mean I watched it.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Yes, they don't play very very well, but they win,
so that's okay, It's just what you want. And at
the end, you know, let's see if they can play
well when they go to the quarterfinal right the next time,
because they already qualify.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
So you're qualified.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
That's all they have to do, right, You're right, You're.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Going to see, like I think, like the maybe the
big team I see, you know, Queens Sullivan an area,
you know, playing maybe the next game against Haiti, and see,
you know what they can do. But at the end,
it's like when the quarterfinals starts, Okay, you really start
the competition for them, because right now it's still for
me like pre season game.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
You know, they should go through Gold Cup is not
hard to pass.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
The group stage.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So yeah, so let's see and then you know, when
you play Canada, again, if you play Mexico, you know,
like Costalica.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Maybe, but you have like you know, four teams, we
can maybe win it this year.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
It's like.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
The tournaments stopped, let's say quite a final, so we'll see.
But yeah, you definitely need more from like from the team.
And like Adam said, it's not the team who's going
to be at the World Cup. Maybe if you guys
out of this group, I would say maybe like seven
a guys, But a lot of things can change from
(27:20):
now until the World Cup. So it's just you know,
for this team is pretty much like a tryout. It's like,
oh you do with this competition, maybe we keep an eye.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
On you for the real World Cup next year.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
In all seriousness, that's how I'm looking at this tournament
is looking at these guys playing and saying, who are
going to be these younger guys that are going to
make the senior squad for the World Cup. So but listen,
all they got to do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Is keep winning.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
We can get behind it, build, you know, have some chemistry,
look a little bit better. I got two more things
on World Soccer News. The Premier League schedule came out
already and next week June twenty six, the champions Ship
League sc what comes out, So if you're a wrexhom fan,
you know you can find out when they're going to
(28:04):
be playing. So yeah, European soccer is already back, and
Championship starts at him August eighth to the tenth, So yeah,
European football is going to be back before we know it.
This summer's flying by. All right, let's just talk about
what we have upcoming. We've got road trips, road trips,
road trips. We've got Chicago June twenty fifth. Chicago just
lost two nothing in Nashville on this Saturday. Then we
(28:27):
go into Columbus on the twenty ninth, so Danny finally
scored a goal, so we're going to see what happens
with them. And then we got Nashville for the July fifth,
the Revenge Game, the game where Sebastian LA two and
myself are attacking broadly like Godzilla attack Tokyo. So we've
got a hell of a road trip coming up. Guys,
(28:47):
what are you thinking? We got Chicago, Columbus in the Nashville.
None of these are going to be easy.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
He's not gonna be easy.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
He's not gonna be easy, especially like having a liit
third break, which is good in the volga kind of rescid.
It depends about how many guys we get back. I
don't think we'll get the US national team player for
that game back. Maybe, but I don't think so. Hopefully
we can have then Lee back if he doesn't qualify.
(29:15):
And yeah, I think it's good. It's going to take
everybody again. I think we're going to see some probably
lineup maybe changed between Chicago and Columbus. But you know,
like I said before, the game agains Charlotte. It is
like we are first now, so we are the one
to be chased by the other team, and they have
like the extra motivation to players to try to beat us.
(29:38):
Chicago is number one. We think I think we could
beat them, but they have a much better team than
last year. I think they're more organized, have a you know,
a good power offensively jacket.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
You're playing in center back.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
You know we're going to have a have our first
game against him since he left this year, and uh,
and then you have Columbus, who you know, Columbus is
like it's telling us it's not and Gas Dagon are
playing against us again. So it's going to be a
two tough challenge, and then you have Nashville on you know,
dry fours, but hopefully Nashville, we almost hopefully have everybody
(30:12):
back and we can you know, really prepare this game
for full week. But she got going to con numbus. Yeah,
it's gonna be a it's gonna be tough, but it's possible.
I think if we have a good game plan, which
I think Bradley will have, and we probably will go
more in type of counter attack against those team because
they're gonna push and try, you know, to beat us.
(30:33):
We can We're going making a little surprise at those games.
Speaker 5 (30:40):
You are mute, Matt, sorry about that?
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, Adam, your thoughts on that, it's it's gonna be
a gaumblet for sure.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I mean, look, I would say for us, five points
feels good from this situation. You know, if you can
get a couple of ties in there in a w
it's not the worst thing. You Niverse, I say, you
could feel comfortable with seven points here, you know. I look,
I what Zeba said is correct. It's not going to
(31:09):
be easy, but we're the ones people are chasing, right
like they're put there measure they should be at this
point measuring themselves against US Miami and by by ironically
Columbus and and look, Columbus has been an interesting case study.
You know, I think that they're they're still very good,
but I believe their goal differential is only plus two
(31:30):
and so far this season, where the Union is plus fifteen,
So it hasn't necessarily been this dominance by what we
considered last year to be the best team on the continent.
So I think it's going to be interesting. I think
the Union could win all three. To be honest with you,
I don't think it would shock me if they came
back with nine points now because of how you know,
(31:53):
the war of attrition, that is a long MLS season, heat,
all things in between, time away from family, I think
getting nine might be unrealistic, but seven feels fine to me.
You know, I think at this stage you have to
be looking at most of your opponents as you could
probably beat most of Major League Soccer at this point.
(32:14):
That's the Union mentality, or it should be. Then most
of Major League Soccer, no matter if it's home or away,
should probably lose to the Union. Now we'll see what happens, obviously,
but if I'm in that locker room right now, especially
after the type of results that you've gotten against solid
teams as well as like this, the results you've gotten
against great teams as well as solid teams, I think
(32:36):
there should be a level of confidence and motivation right
now to say like let's boys, strap up, let's get
out there, let's get the points, let's go home. You know,
that's that should be kind of the thought processing, and.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
That means like law in the US and sohi, I
love it. I love it, but don't forget about like
it's like the injuries, you know, like we have few
as able to come back.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
You know, I think they're going to manage as well
as those guys and uh and you know, Tay Baribo
as well. I hope you know, you can be back
soon because he could be you know, and the you know,
big big helping in front, you know, to have him back.
Speaker 5 (33:12):
And so all of those things.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It's like, you don't know, but we can see that
Bradley can. I've been very good, you know, managing the team,
making the best selling it even every time, and he's
going to you know, just pick the guys who are
the most ready physically for the battle. But that's why
it's may abe challenging because I don't know what the
roster we're going to get for for those three games.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, with with the questions of the roster, I'm still
not super worried because we've seen this team dig deep,
go into the reserves and and pull out results. So
it's going to be an interesting I thought May it
was going to be interesting. This this run of June
and into early July, it's going to be crazy. And
I'm really looking forward to Nashville to see this team
get through that. So yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna
(33:53):
be a good time. And then then we finally get
some home games.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Guys, we've got just a.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Little bit of clean up for a little bit of news,
so those two summer camp but we still got still
got room for people to get there. That's July twenty
first to the twenty fourth, right.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Yes, yes, it is so one more months, so the
sign up, you know, let's have room left, so don't
be shy. It'll be fun and yeah, kind of wait
to see everybody.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And before we get to Adam's a little bit, I
just want to say welcome to two new members of
the pod. We've got Xander Jackson who's going to be
our content coordinator helping us out. And Leo Booth is
in attendance and he's been the perfect gentleman the entire
time on Adam's lap. So Leo, welcome to the team, buddy, Adam. Adam,
let's let us know about the hot birds. We got
(34:37):
any games coming up?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Well, hey say something. I don't know what the hell
is wrong with this team, and somehow we're in second
place again. We were three and four and in fifth place,
and now we're in second place. Because my entire the
Eastern Division of the UFA is so cannibalistic right now.
Everyone's eating everybody. So we have a huge matchup coming
up against Montreal on the twenty eighth, which is called
(35:00):
Heritage Night with Pride Nights too, so we're combining basically
Juneteenth and Pride into one celebration, which, if you know
the history of Pride in Philadelphia, it's actually very poignant.
But yeah, we have that coming up and we're hopefully
if we win two more games, we not only will
qualify for playoffs, we'll host a playoff game in Ashton, Pennsylvania.
(35:22):
So it's exciting times. Actually in Delco, not justin Chester,
but up the street. On three twenty two, the Phoenix
might also try to be making a playoff push. So
you got some time on the twenty eighth or July
second to come visit us.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
Please do the playoff game? Is it true? The three
of us are going to do the coin flip.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
That's gonna be great. I'm telling you this right now.
I've been trying to get Sebastian to do opening pool
for weeks now, so if he wants to come out
there for the playoff game, that'll be a thrill.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Adam, I don't know how to throw a frisbee. It's
I need to train first.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
That's well, oh my god. So now you're just giving
me more content ideas for the Sebastianattwo frisbee camp.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Thanks, there we go, so you could be your second career. Well, everybody,
thank you so much for joining us. This was episode
number forty. Ahi. We're getting up there in ahe aren't they?
So this is exis in the U. Everybody, thank you
so much, and keep tuning into Philadelphia Union because, like
we said, this is a gauntlet coming up and they
(36:24):
need your support. Whether it's on TV or not, and
it's Apple TV or NBC Sports Philadelphia, everybody, thank you
so much. Gentlemen, thanks for joining. Have a great week.
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