STL United FC Soccer Sunday Hour 1 - 6/9/24

Tom and Ted are in studio with Fox 2's Jordan Williams.  Bill McDermott joins the show by phone to discuss STL City SC, EURO2024, and COPAAmerica. Santiago Beltran, the Spanish voice of STL City SC and the Flyover Foot Podcast joins the show via the phone lines.  Tom Timmerman is on assignment this week.

Episode Transcript

(00:15):
Gone to all the god ladies andgentlemen, boys and girls, and anyone

(00:39):
else within the sound of my voice. Welcome back to year thirteen of the
longest running discussion Jogo Benito and SaintLouis radio history. We are back for
another Sunday of STL United Soccer Sundayon KFN S five ninety the Fan.
We must be doing something right today, show, like every show, is
brought to you by our friend MartinEmeier at ngklawm a Saint Louis law firm

(01:00):
with local roots and nationwide results.Sounds a little different. This is Jordan
Williams from Fox to News sitting infor the talented ed Mundo. Today's lineup
includes mister Soccer himself, Bill McDermott, Spanish voice of STL CITYSC, Santiago
Beltrand from the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, the Dean of Saint Louis Soccer Report,
Taj Tom Timmerman from fly Over Footyare expert of the x'es and o's

(01:23):
of City SC, Matt Baker,super Ted Williams running the board, and
now a man who is indeed afool for the city. Your friend and
mine, mister Tom Schwartz, whoawow, think added Mundo, who you
know what? Somehow where Jordan readsthis stuff, I'm like, wow,

(01:44):
this is something you got the showhere. Yeah, come on, do
you know this song? Jordan?I heard the tune. Then the RAF
from England, the RF from England, the RFA England shot them down and

(02:06):
were nine German bombers, and yeah, it's one of my favorite songs.
Getting ready for the Euros. You'recan bring it down. This is what
the This is how the English fansserenade the German fans singing about World War
two political message during a football channel. It is, it's it's done with.

(02:28):
I mean, you think of thesuffering of World War two, world
War one then world here pretty apretty good time to be talking about it.
That it was unimaginable horror, yes, right, and yet these people
are willing, you know, generationson to put that beside them and make

(02:51):
fun of each other. Play soccer, make fun of each other, and
everybody knows if they play, England'sprobably gonna lose. I'm probably gonna go
to penalty kicks. And but ther A F from England shot down the
German bombers. That we're trying tokill him. I don't know. It's
to me, it's one of thebeautiful things of soccer. I don't know
how the Germans feel. Well,it's very you know, like it's very

(03:13):
poignant time to be talking about thosethings. If I mentioned this before in
the show, if you've ever beento Kansas City and you haven't been to
the World Museum, talk about asnapshot of how the the art of combat

(03:35):
evolved. Yeah, the dark art. Oh man, yeah, man,
but very very cool museum and theway out and the content. You really
can't do it at one day beforeI before I came on, I was
reminiscing I haven't been on in awhile, and typically it kind of turns
into a history of music, andnow we're doing history of world. So

(03:55):
you never know what we're going totalk about here. We'll always there's always
a lesson. Well. The reasonfor the history of music is because ed
Munda knows so much about music.I love the music. I can't tell
you a thing about it, rightother than oh yeah, I really like
that bit, you know. Andhe's taught me a lot because he he
plays, and he he reads aboutand I read about it too. But

(04:21):
it to me, and it's ait's a real cross section of what he
knows. But I mean, it'swe're at a very poignant time to me,
obviously in our history. But youknow, we just passed D Day
and you think, think about thething. I mean to me that Biden
is not a great beach giver.But when he was standing on that cliff,

(04:45):
you know, you can say onething, Oh my god, how
did they do this? And youknow, I mean it Hopefully our generations,
well mine's past being asked. Hopefullyyou're generation won't be asked to do
that, man, because that's thatis a big ask. Yeah, that's

(05:06):
hard to think about. Yeah,knowing most of those guys knew that,
you know, yeah, right rightoff, when you get off the boat,
you got a chance, you know, of going off the beach,
getting off the beach, you know, I mean, And it's it's it's
it's almost the more time we have, the more incomprehensible it gets. But

(05:31):
let's talk. Soccer is on thephone, mister Soccer his own self,
Ladies and gentlemen, Bill McDermott,Bill, are you there? I am
indeed here, Tom are you I'mfantastic Hey, how is your meal at
the Pasta house the other night?Wonderful? How about you? Oh man?
Okay, so you got to meetthe great bird Vinturist, the guy

(05:55):
who the guy who, by theway, launched Sally's international career. Sally's
international was like he was in thefirst eleven for Holland in seventy fourth World
Cup finals. Here here's the deal. So Bill bet Burt's from amster m
So Bill immediately goes to the topten Dutch players of all time. They're

(06:16):
numbers correct pronunciation of their name,and Bert is like, what have I
walked into? Right? The Hallof Fame? As on? Man,
he's good. You want to knowwhat uniform colors they had, you know?
And he's going back and home andthen he gets started about the Hungarians
and bab you know what Tom's speakingof that they did have the best looking

(06:38):
uniforms in Holland. The Holland teamdid in seventy four. They had the
orange black orange. Johann Christ's wasdifferent than the rest of his teammates because
Holland was sponsored by Adidas, ohChriich or Puma, so he had two

(07:00):
stripes on his uniform shirt Sharts andsocks. He only had two stripes.
Uh oh, yep, yep.That'll win you a lot of money in
a World Cup trivia contest. Yeah, well, well we'll we will count
on it. Okay, Hey,Bill, do you want to talk at
all about last game, last night'scity game or what do you want to

(07:24):
hopefully you want to talk on aboard of listeners? Is Tom coming on
later? Yes, I'm determined.Okay, well we'll let that be.
How about we talk about the gamein Landover Maryland last night? Ready pretty
said three two one, you're on. But we look at this first eleven
and as you looked at that firsteleven, it's pretty much with the exception

(07:47):
of all right, I'll give youthe exceptions. Joe Scalliot right back.
That is certain your guest's position tolose. Now maybe because of some of
his latest antics, maybe he doeslose it. I don't, but he's
injured right now. So guests atright back, Chris Richards center back,
maybe maybe Tim reim as a leftfooted center back. As we've talked so

(08:09):
many times on the show, everyteam in the world needs a left footed
center backs. Asterisk asterisk. We'regoing to talk about mister reim a little
bit after this. Okay, oh, okay, sure Matt Turner goal.
He seems to have that solidified.I don't know who the other goal coopers
might sack. Stephen still my stepin, Horbat may step in, but

(08:31):
Anthony Robinson at left back. Now, the only problem I have with Anthony
Robinson is that he gets forward verynicely, but his crosses are radically inconsistent,
so they'll have to work on thataspect of his game. The midfield,
Joe Rena, Weston McKinney, JohnnyCardosa. I don't think Johnny Cardosa
is gonna he will be in theselection for twenty twenty six, but it's

(08:54):
going to be Tyler Adams or EunisMussa or perhaps someone else up top,
Tim Weya. Following Bolligan, KristenPolask That seems to be at least that's
what Greg has been doing lately.That seems to be that first eleven with
the deceptions I mentioned now. FollowingBolligan, that could be Ricardo Peppi.

(09:16):
That could be Haji Wright, whowhen he came on last night, was
dangerous from the very outset. Buthere's what we have to look at in
a game like this, you're doingthis to prepare for Copa America. Your
goal as a soccer playing nation isto get elevated, to elevate your play,
to be amongst some of the topteams in the world. There are

(09:39):
different systems, there are different peoplecoming together, but overall, maybe sometime
and in some part of e collation, you may just have to say Colombia
has a few different better soccer players. The top of the list Luis Diaz.
Now here's a player that the UnitedStates does not have. He's all

(10:01):
over the forward line. He's aleft wing, right wing, He's taking
people on. He's dangerous every timehe touches the ball in dangerous parts of
the field. But there are threereasons why the United States lost that game
last night. Number One, thecrowd. Number two, Columbia did not
qualify for the Qatar World Cup intwenty twenty two. That is a huge,

(10:24):
huge selling point and the way they'regoing to be playing. As matter
of fact, they're seventeen five andzero in their last twenty two games.
And most importantly, the third reasonthe game in nineteen ninety four in Pasadena
at the Rollers Bawl when Colombia lostto the United States in the World Cup.
They have long, long memories whenit comes to international soccer. No,

(10:46):
I'm shocked that it took you tonumber three to get to history.
I mean, I am true,I'm somewhere along the line. When these
international sides line up to play friendlies, different tournaments, no matter what,
it always plays a part. Anotherinteresting thing, Bill, this is Jordan
Williams about the lineups last night.So it was really interesting with USA.

(11:09):
It was the first time we hadever lined up. The starting eleven had
all been from top five leagues.And the funny thing about Columbia is I
think going into the game, you'dthink USA would be the underdog. But
when you look at Columbia's lineup,obviously Diaz is their top, top guy.
There weren't a lot of from whatI saw, recognizable clubs. Obviously,
when you look at the USA startingeleven, there's Juventus, ac Milan,
you know, Fulham and all theseclubs. And yeah, you mentioned

(11:33):
the crowd. I'm curious if Imean a lot of people say it's Greg's
tactics. What did you think ofactually the play of the match. Well,
when I look at the United Statesteam. I like different parts of
the game. For instance, whenI've talked about Baligan so many times because
he wears Brian mcbrid's uniform, buthe is nowhere even remotely close to Brian

(11:54):
mcwright. He had some moments lastnight, as a matter of fact,
very early had a shot smided,he got out of the ball. I
thought, maybe he's going to changethe way he approaches the game. I
think that different players react to thistop competition. I think they both They
react to it very differently, verydramatically differently. And Greg has always said,

(12:16):
this is the kind of game,this are the these are the types
of players we want to play against, so that we can see how we're
progressing as a soccer playing nation.Now as a host of the World Cup
in twenty twenty six, where thisis going to be a dramatically different world
cunjurret forty eight teams, all kindsof different venues, playing in football stadiums

(12:39):
with grass added. Obviously, theaverage attendance in ninety four with sixty eight
ninety one, twenty twenty six isgoing to dramatically pass that by. But
what we see in the answer,as a long answer to your question,
what we see with the United Statesteam is that these players are the best

(13:01):
players that we're gonna put in thefirst eleven probably some of these players.
For some of the players we're goingto put in their first eleven for our
first game, and in some casesthey are not ready for a ninety minute
display. So now I know it'sway way early in the process for twenty
twenty six. But Copa America willtell you volumes about this team. And

(13:24):
as a matter of fact, nextweek or this coming week, the game
against Brazil will likewise tell you alot about this team, because there's a
team, there's a country. Eventhough they have five stars on our shirt,
they've been terribly erratic as of late. This is a legitimate tournament coming
up. This isn't a Gold Cupor Conker CAFF Nations League. What do
you think US has to do tosucceed because I think from what I saw,

(13:48):
they're in Group C, Brazil andColumbia are in Group D. If
they make it to the quarterfinals,they're gonna either play Brazil or Columbia,
I think. But as a sellingpoint to be in the unit. By
the way, this term in theUnited States as address rehearsal far the twenty
twenty six World Cup and using alot of the same venues. But I
think can answer your questions. Theyhave to advance in this tournament as far

(14:09):
as humanly possible, just for thehome crowds and just to show yourself,
your players, your federation that youare indeed ready, you are improving as
a soccer playing nation when you playagainst these better teams. So getting to
the quarterfinals, it's just about mandatoryfor the United States team Bill quick break,
hold on, okay, yes,sir, gotta be competitive, Hey,

(14:31):
folks. Jordan Williams from Fox twoNews A quick station idea. You're
listening to soccer Sunday CAF and Sfive ninety the fan Jagon fresh from the
Champions League Final. Lenny Kravitz,I about how about that Champions League final?

(14:54):
Man Real Madrid absorbed, absorbed,absorbed in the first half, and
then their clock went off. Thealarm clock went off of this. Oh
my god, it's halftime on theChampions League final. We better score a
couple of games. Tony, makea pass that nobody else in the world
can make to this guy who cangrab it that nobody else in the world

(15:15):
can grab well and Ancelotti opened thelocker room door at halftime and in walked
the Stefe pushed us and Hunt upand they could barely fit. I mean,
you know, I told you lastweek I was really high on the
French team and I still am.Still am. But I've been looking over

(15:37):
this Germany first eleven because because Crossis going to play in this tournament and
likely not definitely, but likely alongsideof Okay going along in the backfield,
Rudiger Jonathan to Joshua Kimmick, MaxiMildestott, this is a new player at
left back Germany is all. He'sbeen looking for a legitimate left back to

(16:03):
join the party, to get involvedin the attack. This Maxi Middlestat.
This could be a real showcase forhis talents. But the forwards in the
three lineup, Florian Verts, JamalMucialla, Leroy Sane, Nicholas Folk Rug
up top, they are going tobe powerful, especially playing at home,
and especially because they have not featuredwell in some of the latest World Cups.

(16:27):
Right, yeah, playing at home, you know you think about this
is playing at home on a differentlevel because the game is going on in
stadiums across the nation. Yeah,and so the intensity. It would be
cool to be in Germany, noteven be able to go to the games,
just to be in Germany positively,positively, you know where to be

(16:48):
cool to be in Chicago today whenArgentina plays Ecuador on Sunday evening at Soldier
Fields, that place will be jumping. That will be jumping. And then
the following Friday, likewise, inMaryland on June fourteenth, Argentina is going
to be playing Guatemala. Messi inthat lineup. We don't know if he's
gonna be in the first eleven foreach game or play ninety minutes for each

(17:08):
game. Uh, this guy justhas he has too much soccer on his
body. Yeah, to be ableto play all these games, it just
isn't going to happen. Yeah.Hey, So you know, I hadn't
really given any thought about COPA Americaand then I was texting with our friend
JP Della Camera. I thought hewas working the Euros. No, he's

(17:29):
working COPA. So I haven't reallypaid any attention to COPA. When does
COPA start? That starts on themiddle of the month time, so essentially
at the same time he's going onat one time. Yes, it's crazy.
Yeah, I mean literally, howare you going to be able to
watch all this stuff? You're notunless you've got to record things. Yeah,

(17:52):
obviously, so a lot of gamesdoing deep take place at the same
time, and case in point,Messi a lot of his inter Miami games
are taking place at the exact sametime of some of his Copa America games.
Yeah, so he's going to bemissing quite a few. So I'd
rather today, I'd rather focus onCOPA bit because Jordan has been focusing on
COPA. So why don't you guystalk a little bit more about that if

(18:15):
you'd like. Okay, I do, Jordan. Yeah, I just wanted
to say one thing. So Ihave the match days pulled up here,
and it looks like, because ofCopa America is in the USA time zones,
you have most of those games,oh, in the evening, five,
seven, and eight, and thenthe Euros you have those at eight,
eleven and two. So you canliterally watch soccer all day all international
soccer, all day long. Yeah, I'm checking my notes there. I

(18:37):
forgot June twenty, it's when CopaAmerica begins in it Okay, till July
fourteenth and here's another one. Ihad to the calendar. The All Star
Game at Columbus, the MLS allsFREA game, that's the July twenty fourth,
and then the Champions Cup, theChampions Cup where MLS teams play against
Mexican teams. That's July twenty sixththrough August twenty fifth. Forgive me,

(19:00):
forgive me, Bill. I don'tthink I'll be watching many of those because
I think about what you just said. I think what that. Let me
look, I have the final,the uh Euro Final is July fourteenth,
which happens to be Fast Steal Day, which happens to be that will be

(19:23):
the eighteenth year of my anniversary,my zipper in my chest. How about
that? I remember that day Iwalked in that room. Okay, well
listen, I'll talk to you.Yeah, what's the over under on this
one? Not eighteen? I'm tellingyou that right now. Okay, Jordan,
what do you have to ask mistersoccer? Well, speaking of that

(19:45):
the over under, what do wethink of Greg? What do we think
of Greg? Bill? What areyour thoughts on Greg's time with USA?
I read a stat again yesterday thathe the times he's played against good teams
or that can be considered good teams, and he has one draw in the
rest of ye. I don't know. I'm not trying to be a vasive

(20:06):
what's my answer, But with aquestion like that, I usually go I
have I have gone to the playersof some of them, will majority of
all of whom will they remain nameless? And they love playing for him.
They love the fact that they're ableto show their creativity. But I don't
think they do that on enough.There's not enough players on the United States

(20:27):
team that run at defenders, andI think that Greg should foster that.
Now, you said we were goingto talk about Tim Reim. Greg always
likes, has always liked ever sincehe was a player. They have one
veteran, perhaps two veterans on theteam. If you're not in the first
eleven, you're still in the selection. But we need one veteran to be

(20:51):
either in that first eleven or onthe field. I don't know. Maybe
Tim is the answer. I don'tknow, but we're reference to Tim as
we're still wandering farm field here.How about the fact that Charlotte. Charlotte
has been in advanced talks with Tim. I sent him a kind of an

(21:11):
inquisitive path, but I knew Iwasn't going to get an answer, and
sure enough he has an answer becausehe can't talk about it obviously, but
he Tim has always said that thatif indeed things weren't working out of Fulhamar
was getting into the latter part ofhis career. Yes, he would like
to finish his career in the UnitedStates. Bill, as we've said just

(21:32):
a few moments ago, everybody inthe world, every team in the world
needs a left foot at center backer. Sure, Bill, on the former
point about Greg and coaches that arein a position like a US men's national
team head coach, I worry thatsometimes these managers are managing to keep the

(21:55):
job, take chances right and fell. Unfortunately, when you take chances early
and they backfire. Like Tom Sermanireminds me, I was just exchanging texts
with Becky's har run this week,throwing out names like you know some anyway,

(22:18):
It's one of those things where earlydays of Tom CRMANI was when Becky
wore the captain's armband for the firsttime, and she reminded on the Say
am UIs podcast that it was amatch against China. So I looked it
up and they had all these youngplayers on the roster that day that ended

(22:41):
up being big time performers later.For Jill Ellis so well, you know,
you take all the bullets or allthe arrows and then you're gone because
it takes longer to get it doneright right, That's right. And I
will give Greg credit in that particularbehalf, because he has not he has

(23:03):
not walked away from the fact thatwe have to use young players on occasion,
we have to bring in as manydifferent types of players as possible,
and he has done that. Everybody, well you look back and or because
one in two thousand and two theymade the quarterfinals, they made the quarterfinals
in two thousand and two. Yes, because Bruce Arena is a brilliant manager
of people and players. But youhad landon Donovan Claudia Arena, Greg Berhalter

(23:29):
himself, But in particular Brian McBride. I always go back to Brian McBride
because the United States has not hadI don't think a legitimate dangerous striker sins
McBride played for the national team.Yeah, you surprised at all that Jim
would consider a club that plays therehome matches on DERI very very surprised.

(23:55):
I did not think he would beinterested in that at all. I kind
of include that on my my inquisitivetext that I mentioned by the way,
you know, they have to Ohthat's a good way to get answered,
Bill, that's a grape of mine. In MLS, six teams six venues
still have artificial service. Hey waitwait wait wait wait wait wait wait.

(24:18):
I don't want to lose the TimReim thing, because I'm pretty shocked that
City doesn't come up in the discussionof Tim Reem. I mean, talk
about that for a minute. Ifyou think, Tom, I think the
price tag might have been a bittoo high in this initial talk of Marco
Royce coming right play for City,that's never never gonna happen. Instead,

(24:44):
instead we got the under eighteen fromAustralia instead of Marco. Rice could be
any big time Charlie's on this team. How about last year when the rumor
was that Rebretto Fermino from Liverpool's comingto City, Jimmy hoff is going to
reappear. Before that happened, didthey dig up did they dig up the
stadium min zone? Because that's allyou need to do, that's right.

(25:08):
Yeah, yeah, So so youdon't want to talk about City, I
guess, or do you want totalk about Sure? Sure, you have
to make you have to win thesehome games, and you have to play
attractive in the process. Now theyparts of the game last night, they
did play more attractive because Leuvian wasin an advanced position. Yeah, wait

(25:29):
a minute, how about the hehits the ball off the goalpost, the
rebound falls directly to Tim Parker's feet, he shoots it, a defender is
running together on his own goal lineand it hits him in his backside.
What are the chances of how fadhappening? Well? Pretty good this year,
last year? Again points for City. Yeah, yeah, he is

(25:55):
responsible for all the point I meanhe had. If it's I don't know
if you if you the goalie interceptsa dangerous cross two feet from the from
the goal, if that is asave, but he made at least one
of those last I mean, inthe first half, he had stopped three

(26:18):
or four legitimate chances. And Imean Portland didn't even look like they were
in the game for long periods ofthe time. No offense at all times.
They hardly hit anything. Brad Friedeltold me at one time when he
was the guy for the United StatesNational team in his healthy on Area said
I will go anywhere in the penaltyperiod to get a ball anywhere. Yeah,

(26:41):
all right, Bill, we gotto roll. Burkey's the first guy
I wrote in for my All Starballots. Yeah, yeah, thank you
very much, mister Sucker his ownself, Bill McDermitt. Bill says,
the US players love Greg Burholter.He's been in charge for six years.
Maybe little bit of Stockholm syndrome.You're listening to soccer Sunday on k f

(27:03):
N S five ninety the fan.This is Jordan Williams from Fox two News.
We're gonna pay the bills and we'llbe right back. Don't touch that
diet. We're going to Stockholm aroundme. She had in this town.

(27:26):
I took them up. Glad youare. Seliga Heating and Cooling is a
family owner operated h VAC company readyto handle all your home needs. Make

(28:00):
Jordan Williams from Fox to News.Here. You're listening to St. L
United Soccer Sunday live from the HarryKiyo Studio at the Piazza de Pasta at
the Pasta House on kfn S fiveninety. Defan is presented by n gk
law film dot Com Local roots nationwideresults. Ladies and gentlemen, you know

(28:21):
it. You hear the music.I need me some Santiago. How you
doing, Santi boys, I'm doinggreat on this Sunday morning. A little

(28:42):
rainy and a little disappointed because Ididn't call any goals last night. That
must be what could be worse foryou than a scoreless draw. I mean,
it's come on, we need weneed hear Santi. So you didn't
get why did you come home andbeat the dog or you know, no,

(29:08):
no, I am not I don'tdo that. But I kind of
had a call on that Clouds goalthat was yeah, yeah, it was
like it was like it was likea half call because the assistant referees we
saw the flag apps, so Istopped at that point. But at least
there was something. There was something, and then that that loving free kick

(29:30):
that almost scored. That was alsoa high moment of the game. But
yeah, when you don't get thecall goals, obviously you live a little
disappointed. Well, hey, Santi, I'll tell you what. I was
very disappointed last night just because ofthe and I was not alone. Uh

(29:57):
that it what made sense last year, the thing about the team is you
watched him, you knew what theywere doing. I don't get that feeling
this year. Do you get thatfeeling I do at times, like for
example, the second half, Yeah, I didn't know what was going on

(30:18):
and what the team was trying todo, even like mid second half with
Kijima playing as a second striker,I thought that was odd, Like,
if you're gonna put Kijima as asecond striker, maybe bring some man.
And I know when he came inthere were a lot of question marks about
his airport. But maybe you givehim more minutes you would see more from

(30:42):
him. But yeah, the secondthe second half, there were a lot
of passages where I was like,what is this team trying to do?
And and yeah there was that highlightwith that pretty kick from Luving, but
more than that, not much toto show for on the secon. Can
have you think the early kind ofsquats mojo as far as our dispossessing and

(31:11):
and even we were in a coupleof first half yellow Yeah. Yeah,
obviously first half the team created somechances and uh just couldn't close on the
final there, which continues been aproblem. And when when somebody is in

(31:32):
a good position in the box.I think, for example, Klauds at
one towards the end of the firsthalf where City created a turnover and and
Klauds was in prime position to score, but it's just a split checond.
Instead of trying to shoot, hetried to go past the keeper and ended
up running out of the room.It's just those situations that the team is

(31:55):
not being a clinical and closing uhand and and shooting, which is what
the team should be doing to getaway from this lack of scoring that was
shown last night. And you comefrom a game against Miami where you scored
three times, created a lot ofchances, and and you think, okay,

(32:17):
the team is going to carry themomentum. And the lineup was basically
the same lineup that the team hadafter Rasmussan show Midhab in Miami and Kijima
had a great game in Miami andearned the minutes yesterday. But just looking

(32:37):
at how the game developed, Ididn't see Kijima. He had a great
game defensively against the ball, he'sgreat with the press, but I don't
think he at least yesterday, hedidn't show any playmaking, which is what
the number ten should be doing.How about the refereeing. Did you think
the refereeing was as off as alot of people thought it was. I

(33:01):
mean, could they showed a replayon I can't remember the play, but
they showed it on the screen andthe fans went crazy, and I thought,
well, you know it's a foul. If you watch enough international soccer,
you see them calls. You seecalls that when you first see me
think oh, that that was aclear foul. And then you see the
replay and you think, well,you know, the guy followed him or

(33:22):
didn't follow him. I don't Idon't know. Was the refereeing that bad
in your opinion? No, noidea. He made some mistakes and lots
of interruptions, lots of fouls,also plenty of yellow cards and yeah,
when you watch the replay, yeahmaybe oh there was one that was sell

(33:45):
you got the ball and ended upenough yellow cards? Yeah, I think
that's that's part of the game.And at the end of the day,
I don't think there wasn't a situationwhere like he made a clear mistake that
impacted at It's not like there wasa goal from Portland that they were offside

(34:05):
or anything like that, or aPreK that wasn't really a foul. So
at the end, yeah, lotsof yellow, lots of interruptions, but
I don't think he the outcome ofthe game. The referee didn't have anything
to do with. You cannot blamethe referee for the lack of sport.
And let's face it, City isa hands on team. I mean,
I told Ted after one play Celiohas had his fingerprints on a whole lot

(34:32):
of the opposition that that he hasfaced. I mean it's we are.
City is a physical team and theyget called for files because they make a
lot of tactical files, right,I mean, it's not making it up.
You watch the games, look atthe you know the refs, don't.
I don't imagine the refs influence thatmuch or am I wrong? No?

(34:58):
I agree with you. And youmentioned in City makes a lot of
tactical fouls and yeah, did yousee that through throughout the game? Like
I recall one where jackim Neilson gota yellow card just because because Portland player
was getting away and he was goingto basically be alone and I'm being a
scoring position. But to me,that as part of the game and the

(35:22):
way this this team plays depending sohigh and with so many men on attack.
Yeah, like when when you're caughtup position, Yeah, you have
to make one of those tactical fouls. But again, I don't think the
ref had anything to do with thefinal outcome. And I just wish generally,
not just City in in the game, in the in the world game

(35:45):
of football, that they that FIFAand would be stop getting in the ref's
face regardless what you think of thecall and play or you're going to get
suspec bended, you know, Imean, just do I mean getting even
near the It's ridiculous anymore. Everybody'scomplaining about every call and the other team

(36:09):
should get a card on every call, and City is really guilty of that
in my opinion. I mean notthat they're alone in it, but h
I don't know, it's just there'stoo much of that. It's not the
ref's fault that you missed a shot, right, yeah, yeah, And

(36:30):
it's not only City, like everyright, every team has two or three
players that get in on the refereeface. But yeah, part of it
is they know they can get awaywith it and there won't be any consequences
if the league. Yeah, thereferees where like in those cases show more

(36:53):
yellow cars or more warnings. Butyeah, the league is not really doing
anything to stop that, so theplayers are going yeah, exactly. It's
you're almost stupid not to relatively,I mean, if they let you get
away with it and you think itmight give you some your team some advantage,
then you're stupid not to do it. But if the league cracked down

(37:14):
on it, or if just FIFAin general say, you know what,
we just this is a bad trendand it's getting out of hand. Let's
let's do something and let's put someteeth in it. And money seems to
be about the only thing that peoplelisten to, right, game suspensions and
then money suspensions. Hey, Sonny, we're almost out of time, give
me a wrap up. Well,we're in a situation where we have to

(37:38):
start getting three points. Yesterday wasa golden opportunity to to basically get the
same points as s Portland who wasin ninth position. But the table is
tied. But you have to startgetting three points next week playing against Dallas

(38:00):
who is second to last. It'sa good opportunity. And after that two
games at home, so still alot of games to play, but you
have to get at least six pointout of the next nine to continue staying
in contention and then not have tomake up too much on the second half
of the season to get in theplayoffs. Yeah, this will be a

(38:22):
distant memory if they start playing well, they start winning, and particularly if
they start winning towards the playoffs,right, I mean, then we can
say, hey, well this wasa learning experience, but right now it's
rough to watch. Yeah, butto get to the playoffs, Like,
if you keep drawing, no,you're not going to get to the games

(38:45):
they're not going to get into thatposition to squeezing into the playoffs on a
high note like a sport. Incase he did, like, yeah,
so have to start getting three pointssoon. All right, Thanks ladies and
gentlemen, and the great Santiago BellTraum. Thanks santi Thanks guys, we're

(39:09):
there. Oh oh yes, thankyou santi Hey folks. Jordan Williams from
Fox Too News A quick station,Ida, you were listening to soccer Sunday
on k F and s is fiveninety the man catch us wherever you get
your podcasts? Is this different music? Yes? Why did he request that

(39:36):
of course, Oh my god,we've created a monster. Explain yourself,
Mistery gimmer Man, Ladies and gentlemen, the Dean of Saint I like her
when when Jordan read it, Jordan, could you could you give us that
the Dean thing? The Dean ofSaint Louis. Soccer reportage, Tom Timmerman,

(40:01):
how are you doing, Tom?Fine? Thank you? Good morning
Tom, Good morning everybody there inthe in studio land. We're kind of
short stay yes, no, no, no, you go ahead, Well
I was. I just have toI just have to acknowledge. My sponsor
this week is Spacely Sprockets for allof your sprockets. The needs endorsed by

(40:22):
George Jetson, his son, elRoy, daughter Judy, and Jane his
wife. So when you're thinking sprockets, thinks facely sprockets, I've been Okay,
go ahead, I have been thinkingI really need my sprocket looked at.
Well, get a spatially sprocket.Yeah. So so Tom, tell

(40:44):
us about what we observed last night. Well, you observed a zero zero
tie. And they're always a delightthere. There is no more fund in
uh in soccer than zeros or timeI'm reminded, excuse me, what like
fur my throat? I might endup a line from from Faulty Towers,

(41:05):
the classic British comedy series, wherewhere a guy goes this is I'm saying,
this is the crummiest, shoddiest,worst run hotel in the whole of
Europe, and I goes, no, I won't, I won't have that.
No, there's a place in Eastward. So you're saying there was a

(41:30):
game at East Moore last night thatwas less boring than that was crumbier.
You know, It's it's all amatter of matter of taste. Yeah,
you know it. Well, Imean you can't say that it wasn't at
times entertaining, but not in anyway that you would probably you know,

(41:51):
seek out to say give me moreof that. But yeah, I mean
it's cities at this point where theyI mean they you know, when I
would play chess and my I wouldget to a point where I say,
you know what I need right nowis I need the other guy to pass.
I need the other guy to letme make three consecutive moves and that

(42:15):
way I'll give this because it's becauseif if cities plan is to catch up
in the standings by tying. Theyneed everybody to, you know, take
some more weeks off because they gotto start winning games. It's as simple
as that. And this was agame they could win. And you can
make a case that they could havewon this game. They could have beaten

(42:39):
Miami, they could have beat theAttle. I mean, they could have
won three in a row here withoutany great wretch of the imagination. But
they haven't. And you know,this is their third zero zero tie.
And then you know, you wouldthink out of zero zero tie, you

(42:59):
say, out of a clean sheet, you would get three points. They've
had five clean sheets this year.That's that's fifteen possible points and they've got
nine of them in those things.And so and it's all it requires.
There's one goal. And yeah,they came close. I mean Love and
hits the post, and then Parkerhits the rebound, which manages to be

(43:22):
blocked by a guy who's got hisback to the play, but who does
stick out his legs to stop it. And you think, you know,
that's the fine line for the team, and that's how their life is right
now. As Burkey said afterwards,you know, but it's I don't believe
in luck. It's it's skill.And what he say is if we had

(43:42):
skill, we make those plays,and they're not making those plays. So
what you're saying, this is nothorseshoes that they're playing. This is this
is you know, Ted said that, Burkey said in the press conference that
you know, this is finishing insoccer. I don't know if he said
it's one of the most difficult thingsin sports, but to me it's certainly

(44:08):
right up there. You look atyou know, legitimate strikers in Europe that
are paid huge amounts of money.They don't they don't make fifty of the
shots they take around the goal.They might make ten, you know,
but they at some point finish becauseand it's really difficult, right it is.

(44:30):
And yeah, and you look atme City, I don't know,
they're still at the top. Theyare. I've been at the top in
shots taken. That's a ridiculous statThat is a ridiculous stat to me,
because you've witnessed it. How manyof those have been good shots? Well,

(44:52):
that's the thing. I mean,they're like in the middle of the
pack when it comes to goals scoreright last you know, so last night,
Yeah, they took fifteen shots,nine of which were blocked. So
I mean that, you know,I mean, and sometimes shots are going
to be blocked by guys jumping infront of it. And sometimes they're going
to be blocked because you're shooting ata guy who's fixed me in front of

(45:14):
you. So you know, that'sthat's the thing they got to do.
But you know, and here's thething. You know, help isn't coming.
I mean, that's that door,doesn't you know, it doesn't open
until July the eighteen. You know, these are the guys, and you
look at the last five games.You know, they've scored five goals.

(45:34):
Two of them have been known goals, one by Thomas Toddlin the right back,
one by Chris dork and a defensivemidfielder, and then one by Indiana
Bassoleift. That's what they've got overtheir last five games. So will Klaus
have any hair left? Well,Klaus have any hair left at the end
of the month? Uh? Atthis rate? No, I mean,

(45:58):
but it but it can change.I mean we uh. I mean,
he struggled in the first half ofthe season and then he came alive,
but he's now kind of stopped,you know, scoring goals again. Yeah,
I mean sorry von pale mats hemeans great runs. He's getting the
ball into the box and then youknow, it's it's where you go from

(46:20):
there. There was one point inthe in the second half they get the
ball in the in the box andthey they they're on the attack and Vassilev
gets it and he's coming. Hecomes out of the box and then can't
find anything to do with it andthe next thing, you know, is
back out in midfield and I meanthey had the ball, I don't know,
you know at that point it wasyou know, six yards from the

(46:43):
box at that you know, fromthe net at that point, and they
ended up getting nothing. Didn't evenget a shot out of that one.
So they they gotta, you know, they they got to figure it out.
And and you know, brig hewas saying, you know, look,
you just gotta, you know,work at it, because that's the
only way is that, you know, I'd had I had this situation where

(47:05):
guys were coming in me on oneon ones and uh, you know,
I had let some goals in onthose, and so I worked on that
and that got down, sat downwith the coaches and we did stuff and
this week, I had one andI stasted, so you know it all.
Which is funny because technically he didn'tstop it because it was offsides and
so the s doesn't count, sohe didn't get he didn't get credit for

(47:29):
it, but the flag went upafter the play was made, so he
didn't know that at the time.But uh, yeah, that's you know,
they they just and they have thechances and they just have to whatever,
you know, when they've said itfor a week now being more you
know clinical in the you know,in the at the end there and it's
still not happening. Talking about thehardest thing in sports, a lot of

(47:52):
people say it's hitting. In baseball, Arling Hollins conversion rates around thirty five.
So in baseball, when you doone out of three, you know,
you make it to the Hall ofFame. Tom. I just had
a question about the season as awhole. We're about halfway through. What
are kind of your thoughts. Iknow City See still has a couple games
in hand on Portland and a coupleof teams that are in those playoffs spots.

(48:13):
Just kind of give me your thoughtshalfway through the season. What you
think this team's done well? AndI guess what they've not done well,
yeah, you know, and they'rein this position where they're still not that
far out of a playoff spot.I mean, if they had won yesterday,
they'd be a ninth right now,and they'd be like two points out
of like six. So it's theyou know, the Western Conference is a

(48:36):
forgiving conference. But all these thingsthat we saw last year that stood out
about how this team plays, andit's just it's the reverse of it this
year. And that's you know,last year Louvin shot hits the post and
goes in or right, you know, bounces off somebody and and so you
know, it is regression to themean that they're getting none of those things

(48:59):
to happen this year. You know, you can make a case that they're
in some ways playing you know,just as well, if not better,
in some ways. But you know, they everything, it's just nothing's going
right for them, and some ofthat is you know, regression and some
of his you know, life balancesout, you know, but obviously you

(49:22):
just get back so they can't score. Rules. And then the defense at
times, I mean, this isa team that allows it's free. I
mean, they either have a shutoutor they are allowing two or three goals.
Those are those are your alternatives here, and so they gotta you know,
they gotta cut down on that.And you know, they had scored
they had allowed ten goals in fourgames before this, and some of it

(49:44):
is they've had more of an injuryproblem this year and then they you know,
Moving was gone for a long timeand that really, you know,
kind of wore down the offense.They just weren't as effected without him.
You know, Klaus has not beenas good though you know, he's been
there. He hasn't been hurt thisyear, and he's had that problem,

(50:04):
you know, the you know,Nilsen's in and out. I mean,
there's just you know there there hasbeen far less of stability this year and
that, you know, and thenlosing all and losing ostrak Is is not
good because they just you know,they thought they had death at the start
of this year. They thought theycould be too deep at every position and
and they haven't been. And youknow, you lose ostrak and all and

(50:27):
then you say, you know,but Asy Jackson, who came on great
at the end of last year,hasn't done that this year. Sama Denron
hasn't scored since like the third orfourth game of the season, but he
hasn't played much yet. He hasn'tplayed much either. Yeah, and you
know it's a matter of, youknow what which comes first. You know,

(50:50):
they you know, are they notstarting him because they say he's not
scoring goals. I mean, youknow, what do you how do you
handle that? So, yeah,he's been his minutes are down, but
yeah, that's you know, ChrisDurkan has been a high point, i'd
say for this team. I mean, he's been, you know great.
I mean, the guy covers tenmiles in the course of a game.
He's everywhere on the field. He'syou know, helping out on offense,

(51:12):
on defense, he's probably doing laundryafter the game. He has been an
invaluable guy for this team. Scotlandhas been you know, if there are
all stars on this team, youhave brookeiyan goal and totlanded right back.
He's a guy that has done,you know, really well, and those

(51:35):
have been the best guy. Youknow, Nicholas Door still has not you
know, done you know anything.And you know they they sub merchanic out
last night and they bring in aKeel Watt so you know, that's you
know, instead of Nicholas Door,that's been I think a disappointment for them.
So Tom, speaking of some ofthose, it seems like there are

(51:58):
a few negatives and they're talking aboutthe death than some players are injured.
Is this where you'd expect them tobe then, I mean it's they're not
in a horrible spot. They're stillright around, you know, that last
last kind of spot in the playoffs. I mean, I I think I
felt going into this season that theywere a playoff caliber team, but they

(52:19):
were going to be in the inthe bottom half. They were going to
be in spots five, six,seven, eight or nine. And now
I'd say, you know, maybethey're going to be in spots seven,
eight or nine. I still thinkthat they can burn this around because it
doesn't take a whole lot. Imean we're talking if they get one more
goal of game, you know,or even get half a goal of game,

(52:40):
and those nine ties become you know, four more wins, you know
that that they'd have twenty six pointsand they would be, you know,
in the middle of the playoff situation. So it's not like you're looking for
something big, But when that bigthing is scoring goals. It is you
know, really he stands out asto what your what your problem is and

(53:02):
some of who has been you know, synchronization. I mean, they can
score three goals in some games,and those are the games they allow three
goals. You know, they theyconsist they need better timing, you know,
on this cyber question, do youreally think you really think the new
the new motto of the team shouldbe don't worry. Help is not on
its way because well, fortunately theydon't have to worry about selling tickets because

(53:28):
it would not be an effective ticketsselling slogan. But I mean help,
I mean help is on the way. It's just you know, it's still
working its way through customs. It'sgot a way, you know, it
doesn't it doesn't happen, you know, until mid July. But they got
some, they got some more.So you know this is going to be
and I think I may have saidthis last week, this stretch they're in

(53:50):
right now with the transfer windows starts, this is a key period for them
because if they don't start getting results, it's not the matters, you know,
right, guys, So they gottastay in the thick of this and
this these games are the time todo it? Amen? That will so
that that will be the the uhslogan, this is the time to do

(54:15):
it, instead of there's no hopeon the way. You're like, Okay,
I'll I'll let Matt alert, Mattte back to that and we'll we'll
get some shirt spreading out the wall. He'll put you on hold, ladies
and gentlemen, the great Tom Timmerman. Thanks a lot of time, my
pleasure, gentlemen, talk to youlater. Thank you, Tom, and

(54:37):
thank you for listening to soccer Sundayon KFN S five ninety the Fan.
We're gonna pay the bills. We'llbe right back