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How the USMNT Can Beat Belgium: Full Scouting Report and Predictions · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the game we've been waiting for, right this
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: is where we were in twenty twenty two, This is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: where we were in twenty fourteen. This is this is
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: around the sixteen. This is the game that's gonna dictate
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: whether you know we're gonna say, hey, you know, at
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, this was a success or
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: this probably was not.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: We need to win this game. This is like a
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  Speaker 2: final for us.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: What's going on? Everybody?
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USMNT inside
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: of Tom Bogert, and I'm joined by one of the
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: greatest players in US M and T history, tab Ramos.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Tab It's been a fun tournament. We are rolling through
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  Speaker 4: the round of thirty two and soon we'll be in
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  Speaker 4: the round of sixteen with the US. Is so for
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: me another day another hotel. I'm in Seattle ahead of
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: US Belgium. Tab, you're still in Toronto After calling instant
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: classic Portugal versus Croatia, did you study up on the
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: rule books? Do you have one of those little monitors
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: that tells you whether you touched the ball? How would
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: your life changed after a couple of those VIR calls?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a little monitor telling me when I
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: moved from my seat, like if I moved too much
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: to the right and to the left, and it told
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  Speaker 1: me that I spent most of the game.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: On the right side of my seat. So I did
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  Speaker 2: notice that.
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  Speaker 1: So there there's stats, uh, and there's there's there's what
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  Speaker 1: do you call them little detectors everywhere now, which is
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  Speaker 1: really neat so no, but Tom, you know, here's the
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  Speaker 1: thing about the World Cup. Somehow, every four years, the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: World Cup reminds us that even the best careers at
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: some point have to come to an end, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes you're watching even the best of them maybe
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  Speaker 1: for the last time.
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  Speaker 2: On that stage, you know.
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  Speaker 1: And it was really for me at least, havn't watched
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  Speaker 1: Christiano Ronaldo for the last you know, however, you know,
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  Speaker 1: fifteen twenty years and Luka Modrich the same and knowing
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: that both of them are so accomplished and that they
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  Speaker 1: won so much together, right, they were so successful together,
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  Speaker 1: and yet yesterday it was going to be sort of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the end of the road for one of them at
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the World Cup. Let's just say, right, because I think
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: we can say that, not that anyone has announced anything,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: but you would be safe to say that and it
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: was the game was. I thought the game was just
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: like you said, it was a classic, and it was.
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  Speaker 1: It was a great you know, you don't want to
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  Speaker 1: say that there's a great way for one of them
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  Speaker 1: to end by losing, but somebody was going to lose,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and if it had to end in a certain way,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it could have gone either way.
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  Speaker 2: Either one of them could have been out.
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  Speaker 1: Both teams were you know, left everything on the field
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  Speaker 1: to the last minute, and that's kind of what the
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  Speaker 1: World Cup is about, you know, Like I was really
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, it really got it really touched me,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be honest. It really touched me the way that
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: game was, and I kind of lost my voice because
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  Speaker 1: it was it was just so exciting that second half.
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  Speaker 2: It really was.
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  Speaker 4: That was genuinely incredible, the highs and lows, the emotional
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  Speaker 4: role closer that you could really only get in sports.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: And at the World Cup, Luka Modric they had like
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: a solo cam of him celebrating what they thought was
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  Speaker 4: Croatia's equalizer in deep, deep, deep in the stopics time
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  Speaker 4: and then juxtapposing that with you know, Ronaldo came over
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  Speaker 4: and gave him a hug, kind of after the game
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  Speaker 4: and just you know, Luca Modrichs heart is broken, and
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  Speaker 4: I don't know, man, it's just unbelievable scenes for two
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  Speaker 4: legends of the game.
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  Speaker 3: And even that Croatia team what they've been.
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  Speaker 4: Finalists and semi finalists right at each of the last
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  Speaker 4: two or three World Cups. Like it's it's incredible what
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  Speaker 4: Croatia has done throughout this run in Luka Modrids and
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  Speaker 4: Evon Parisitch is scoring, this golden generation of Theirs is
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  Speaker 4: aging out, and I gotta say they went out gracefully.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Tap they certainly did. You know, Luka Modris played a
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  Speaker 1: great game. You know, I have to say Ronaldo did
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  Speaker 1: not did not get involved much, but this is how
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: this Portugal team works. He doesn't really get involved in
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  Speaker 1: their play too much. But Luka Modrich once again showed
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  Speaker 1: that he can certainly continue to play. You know, he
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  Speaker 1: runs all over the field, he gets into the opposing box,
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  Speaker 1: he defends in his own he really does everything.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, you know, I have to say, you know,
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  Speaker 2: obviously four years is.
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  Speaker 1: A long time to get to the next World Cup
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  Speaker 1: for Lukamodridge, so I'm sure that that's probably not going
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  Speaker 1: to happen. But I'd have to say I think I
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  Speaker 1: think he shouldn't retire.
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  Speaker 2: I think he definitely.
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  Speaker 1: Has the very least one more club year. But you know, here,
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing about the World Cup. The World Cup
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  Speaker 1: is so huge, as as most of our new fans now,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you know, because I had always spoken about how big
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  Speaker 1: World Cup ninety four was, and it's hard for people
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  Speaker 1: who weren't really either born at that time or in
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  Speaker 1: a stage where they could remember at that time, it's
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  Speaker 1: hard for them to take that in. But now they
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  Speaker 1: realize how big the World Cup is. And I think
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  Speaker 1: for a player, if you're going to retire in your
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  Speaker 1: Luka modridg and you've had an amazing, legendary career, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's a great time to do it, you know, because
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  Speaker 1: it's it's a you know, it's the ultimate event, it
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  Speaker 1: really is.
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  Speaker 3: I would agree.
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  Speaker 4: I think he's gonna play on. I think I think
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  Speaker 4: we'll be better for it if he does. But he's
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  Speaker 4: earn the right to do whatever he wants. As bad
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: as I would like to see him in MLS, he
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: I think he was as Milan's like, one of the
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  Speaker 4: best players last year.
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  Speaker 3: So maybe he'll stay in Europe, but we'll see what happens.
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  Speaker 4: As speaking of a sea Milan, Christian Poolsik and the
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  Speaker 4: US men's national team are preparing for their round of
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  Speaker 4: sixteen game against Belgium here in Seattle. So today on
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: the show, we're gonna give you the scouting report, a
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  Speaker 4: match preview for Belgium versus the US M and T
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: round of sixteen at the World Cup.
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  Speaker 3: We're gonna talk tactics.
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  Speaker 4: How does the US play differently without Balgan, What are
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  Speaker 4: the changes that we could see?
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  Speaker 3: What are the changes we would like to see.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know. I think it's gonna be pretty pretty fascinating.
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  Speaker 4: And then we have tabs, DraftKings, match predictions looking forward
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  Speaker 4: to that. As always, let's start very quickly in terms
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: of updates. Just to remind, as we said in the
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: last show, the US can't appeal the Balgan red card.
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  Speaker 4: Balgon suspended.
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  Speaker 3: That's it. It's all. It sucks.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think that it's fair, but it is what
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: it is and the team is moving forward. In terms
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: of availability, Christian Rodon and Mark McKenzie were unavailable for
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  Speaker 4: the last game. Austin Trusty was on the bench listed
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  Speaker 4: as available I would assume that he'll be again for Belgium,
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: and we'll see with Mark McKenzie and Christian Rodon. For
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: both of those players, US Soccer has basically been saying
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: they didn't rule them out until the day before the
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  Speaker 4: game for the last game, so the hope would be
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  Speaker 4: that they're available. But Tap, I think that that's kind
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  Speaker 4: of ancillary information. I don't think even if all three
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  Speaker 4: of them were one hundred percent healthy, I don't think
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  Speaker 4: we'd see any one of them off the bench, definitely
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  Speaker 4: not in the starting lineup. So in terms of health,
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  Speaker 4: pretty pretty good, but in terms of suspensions, pretty bad
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  Speaker 4: without Valie. So Tap, let's get into Belgium. They won
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  Speaker 4: their group and then it was too nil Senegal in
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  Speaker 4: the round of thirty two. In the eighty fifth minute,
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  Speaker 4: I left the press box because I was at this
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  Speaker 4: is the same day as when the US played Bosia.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: I leave the press box to go down to the
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  Speaker 4: concourse just to kind of be around, and I'm in
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  Speaker 4: the elevator and somebody goes, oh, to one, Oh, that's interesting.
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  Speaker 4: I kind of thought the game is over. And then
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  Speaker 4: I get out of the elevator, walk a little bit
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  Speaker 4: further and then I was like, oh, to the game end,
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  Speaker 4: because there's a lot of people crowded around TVs on
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  Speaker 4: the concourse and there's like, oh, it's going extra time.
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  Speaker 4: So Belgium, by the skin of their teeth got through
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  Speaker 4: against Senegal. I would say very lucky considering how the
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  Speaker 4: first eighty minutes of that game went, particularly in the
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: fifty sixth minute their manager subbed off Jeremy Doku and
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  Speaker 4: Kevin de Bruyne, which is just insane to me.
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  Speaker 3: But they won, so I.
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  Speaker 4: Guess I can't give him too much stick for that.
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  Speaker 4: All that being said, setting all of that up, tab,
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  Speaker 4: what is this scouting report for Belgium, What are their
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  Speaker 4: strengths and weaknesses?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, that's a great setup for it, because
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  Speaker 1: you started with the results. And although they were first
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  Speaker 1: in their group, let's not forget that they tied their
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  Speaker 1: first two games, you know, so you know, it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily a smooth, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, winning of the group.
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  Speaker 1: They actually were waiting on the result of the other
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  Speaker 1: game going on at the same time as they were
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  Speaker 1: beating New Zealand in the third game of the group.
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  Speaker 2: So it was certainly not easy.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll start the scouting report, as I always start,
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  Speaker 1: you know, with a little bit more information about the team.
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  Speaker 1: You know, they've been to fifteen World Cups. This is
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  Speaker 1: a legit, you know, world Cup team year after year.
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  Speaker 1: And even though they're obviously they come from from Europe
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  Speaker 1: where you know, it's very difficult to qualify, they usually
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  Speaker 1: do qualify and they usually do well in World Cups.
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  Speaker 1: So this is one of the you know, you could
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  Speaker 1: call them one of the powerhouses of the world. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: they're not right at the top, but they're you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're consistent, they usually do well. Their best performance was
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  Speaker 1: they were in third place in two thousand and eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll give you a few facts about this, about
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  Speaker 1: this tournament in general, because if you and I were
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: just you know, sitting at a bar somewhere and we
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: and we started talking about this Belgium team, we'd probably say, well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they were slow now and you know they're
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: not the same as they used to be, and this
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  Speaker 1: is the end of their generation.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll give you a few stats that maybe you know,
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  Speaker 1: can change and for you know, for our fans that
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: are listening to this, that can sort of change their
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: mind and prepare them a little bit more because yes,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: this is not the Belgium of ten years ago.
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  Speaker 2: This is not the Belgium.
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  Speaker 1: That we played in the twenty fourteen World Cup, when
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  Speaker 1: Luktu was you know, at the top of his game,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: when the Bruyne was a young and coming, you know,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: absolute superstar. You know, when Vitsul was at his prime,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: when like all of these guys were like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they were monsters at that time. But you know, when
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: when you look at what's happened in this and this
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: may have to do a little bit with them having
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: two ties and chasing a game. Belgium is seventh and
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: overall attacks in this World Cup, to give you a reference,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: US is fourth. So US has attacked a lot as well.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But here's one that I think it's interesting. They've had
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: ninety two attempts at goal, which is the most of
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: any team at the World Cup. Wow, that's ninety two.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: US has had fifty two. Just to give you, just
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to give you, you know, just to get you know.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Obviously US and the US have been very good attacking.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: I think it does World Cup right at least pretty sure.
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  Speaker 4: So like that is a stark difference.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I didn't know, right, it's almost double. They've almost had
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: double the attempts at goal. Of course, you have to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: play with the result. The US has had early goals,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: which you know I obviously made them play the games
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable. Here's another one that I
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: think it's important because you and I have spoken about
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the teams that could potentially hurt us, and the teams
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: that can hurt us are the teams that can connect passes.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: And avoid our pressure.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Once you connect to three passes, as we mentioned, and
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: we explain here what the effects of connecting three passes
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: is a lot of the field can open up and
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: and Belgium has in terms of receiving between lines, they
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: have five hundred and nineteen, which is only second to Spain, right,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: So they're good receiving balls in traffic, right, And that's
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: something that I think we have to think about because
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: you know, you need obviously good players to be able.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: To receive in between lines like they do.
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  Speaker 1: But here I'll give you a surprise fact that you
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: would never guess with this team. And I have to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: say it because when I saw it, I'm going through
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: stats and you know, by the way, you know I'm
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: not an analytics guy. I was just picking off things
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: that I think are important because of the maybe the
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: perception that we have of this team in comparison to what.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: It really is. So here's the surprise fact.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Belgium has had the most sprints of any team at
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the World Cup with two thousand and ninety way, I
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: think if you were giving me, if you were giving
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: me the forty eight teams and I had a guess,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: say fifteen or twenty of them, I would have never
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: put Belgium in the top twenty of sprints at this
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: World Cup.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: By the way, I don't even know what that means.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: If they're sprinting out of balance, I don't even know
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: where they're sprinting, but or I or if it's that fast.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Right, well, you know you.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Get to a point right where it becomes a sprint,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you know, you have to there's a certain threshold, which
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the mileage is for that. But
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: that's a that's a really surprising fact to me, you know,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: like and it kind of it gives me a different
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: perception of this team after hearing that, right, because you
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: think of Belgium, you think, Okay, they're gonna connect passes,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: They're going to do it slow, but man, they they
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: are the team that has sprinted the most in this
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: World Cup. And you would think that would be teams
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: like maybe like Canada, you know, teams like the US
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: who pressed high, who are always pressing the ball and
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: h and no, Well there you go. So before we
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: get into the actual you know, actual team and the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: actual tactics, I think that's a surprise fact. And the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: receiving between lines being only second to Spain, I think
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: it's significant as well because they're good at it.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: So I love those two points and using like the
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: like using that to kind of back up either your
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: access or analysis, right, like the receivement between the lines,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: while that's really really strong, I'm I think I'm less
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: surprised at that because they've got so many good players
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: and so many good passers of the ball, and their
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: strengths are.
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  Speaker 3: In the midfield slash on the wings. This sprints that
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: I can't get over.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: I'm a very quick sidetrack because I don't know what
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: de Bruyne is like high like highest max speed is
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: or some of these guys. But when Ernstander took over
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: the Philadelphia Union, they moved on. They started doing running
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: because they switched to like high pressing transition stuff and
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: they let go a player called Borich Deutsche Call, who
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: was either first or second in MS and assists the
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: year before.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Now, I remember asking somebody at Philly.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: I was like, like, I know he's not a perfect player,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: maybe doesn't I was like, he's a good player, and
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: somebody goes Tom.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: We started doing running data.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Boris's joy Call did not register one single sprint last year,
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: not because he didn't try to run, because he is
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: not fast to register an official sprint according to our data.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: So that's why.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: So at least Belgium don't have any don't have that
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: issue in the team. But in term, Doku and Lukaka
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: can still run well. But like Doku's the one that, like,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: I'd be afraid of those sprints. I think Trossre de Bryna,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: Vinti Kettilar that you could kind of keep pace with them.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: But that is a now that is interesting and break
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: some of the I guess generalizations that I might have
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: watching this team.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: But right, I mean, for for sure, when you watch Doku,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: you know Doku can get to full speed in about
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: two or three steps, so you know that he's always
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: on the sprint, you know, and there are players like that.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: You know, there are wingers.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Who can just get to full speed quickly and that's
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: a big advantage and that's what he has. So let
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: me I'll get into the into the lineup next, which
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: is pretty I think it's going to be pretty straightforward. Obviously,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: kurtoys goal is in goal, and we've talked about kurtoy
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and you know, having a great goalkeeper in a knockout
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: competition is huge.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: You know. I mean we've all seen it with Real Madrid.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Real Madrid would in never won, you know, the the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Champions Leagues they won at least the last three or
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: four in which he's been on the team, they would
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: have never won those without him.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: He's made. He made that many big saves for them.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: So he'll be in goal obviously, maybe the best goalkeeper
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: in the world. They have On the right you know,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: probably Castana will play there from Fulham and we'll talk
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: about him because as we talk a little bit more
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: about the tactics. Obviously he's from Fulham, so he would
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: know Anthony Robinson really well. You know, they're both on
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the same side, so that's you know, that's something to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: you know, to think about. You know, Michela and Tiat
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: will be the two likely to center backs. That's who
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: they've played most of the time.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: The kuiper on on the left side from Brighton a
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: place at the left side he gets He gets forward
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: a lot as well.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: In the middle of the field, I think they'll.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Go with Vanakin and and tilaments Obviously Tilamentz is the captain,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: so he he will be playing.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: You know, I personally like when Onana plays as well.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: He you know, he he does Vota bowl well, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he you know, I think he would he could potentially
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: be someone they can throw in there. De Bruyna will
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: be in front of those two, and then you have
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Trussard on one side and Doku on the other behind
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the gette.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Layer up up top.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I don't think And again they could start Lukaku, but
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I think Lukaco will be better off coming off the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: bench anyway last thirty minutes of the game. Uh, in
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: particular because I think he can probably only go so long.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Why would you want to start him and then lose them,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: you know, in a part of the game, maybe when
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: it's really important for him to be there. So I
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: don't think Lucaco will start now you have they have
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: saladmakers on that they could potentially use on the right
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: side coming inside. But I think Trussard, I'm not sure
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: if he's been their best player, but he's their busiest
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: player for sure. You know, he's someone to keep track
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: of because he goes everywhere. He goes everywhere. You know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: he's got an engine to get all around the field.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And he's I mean, he's a great player.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Let's you know, let's to be honest. You know, he's
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: a pest.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: He can score goals, he can assist, he can win
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: balls back. He'll fight, you know, in the game, even
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: with his own teammates, as we saw his little fight
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: he had with Tila Madas in the last game.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: But that's what it is.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: He's here to win and you want those players on
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: your team for sure. In terms of the way they play,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, the perception is that they're they're this slow
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: possession team, but they actually could turn on the jets.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about them being able to
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: receive between lines, I'll specify that that the receiving between lines,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: it's not between It's not when you're playing out of
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the back and you're playing to your midfield behind the forward.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: This is receiving between lines in front of the back
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: four of the opposing team and behind the midfield of
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the opposing team. So those are dangerous areas where they're
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: receiving balls. And you know, when guys like Doku and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: guys like the Bruyna and guys like in this case
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Truss are received balls in between those lines, they're really dangerous.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: And we know from watching our national team for a
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: long time, if there's a place where we struggle a
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: little bit, is defending that area sometimes with our with
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: our center backs. So so it's gonna be really interesting
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: in terms of what can happen. Now, some of the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: matchups that I think will be interesting, and I don't
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: know if you feel free to jump in, but some
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: of the matchups that I think will be interesting is
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: in particular, you know, I think uh Jedi Robinson on
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the left side, the fact that Castanya knows him pretty
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: well maybe limits us a little bit more. But I think,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you know, in the end, Polisic will be all the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: way on the line there anyway, matched up with Kastanya
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and Robinson will likely be making that diagonal run.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Inside to sort of clear space.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And and I'll say this, you know, with trust are
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: defending that, I think it's in our best interest for
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Robinson to go forward as much as possible to keep
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: trust Art away from our side of the field where
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: he can be dangerous. So that's something to look at.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: And on the opposite side, I'd say the Kuyper goes
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: goes forward pretty well.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: You know, he gets up the line a lot. You know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: he can run a lot.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Maybe he goes forward the best out of obviously anyone
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: in the back, but he does like to attack. And
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: so on that side, with Doku and and the fact
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: that the Kuyper likes to get forward, I think we're
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: gonna have to I think, you know, Sir Genio Desk
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: is gonna have to gonna have to help Freeman for
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: sure on that side, And we likely are going to
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: need either Tyler Adams uh to go double up Doku,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: because when you play four center backs and you're leaving
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: now Alex Freeman alone with Doku, he's gonna need help.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: So that's either going to have to be Desk or
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: likely gonna have to be Adams coming out of midfield
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and stepping all the way to the side to double up,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: because I don't think you want to take a center
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: back and send them all the way wide.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: No, that's a little bit of the justice just of
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: who they are, and and no that that's perfect. I
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: think that that is extremely helpful and I agree with
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: all of that. A few things that I would highlights.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: First of all, I know I said it earlier, but
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: like it just don't understand in a situation where you're
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: down two goals you take out Doku and de Bruyna.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: I just I can't possibly imagine.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I joked with friends when the game was going to
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: extra time it was like Belgium allowed to fire the
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: coach before extra time starts and just screw it like Kutwab,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: like the player manager or something. So I don't know
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: what the ramifications are gonna be for that. In terms
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: of the squad harmony, Lukaku didn't start like you said.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: He came in off the bench at halftime changed the
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: game for them for me. So you talk about Doku obviously,
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: like the flanks I think are so so important because
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: the US that's where they're creating their overloads going forward
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: and going backwards. This is where Belgium absolutely annihilated the US,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: so Belgium beat the US five to two in March.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: Uh Doku port tim Weya was playing right back in
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: the back fourth, so that's already the first difference. But
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: Port tim Weya was left on an island against Doku
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: the entire time he was on the field. Mark McKenzie
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: was the closest center back to him. But Johnny Cardoso
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: and Tanner Tessa and with the Sarti midfielders on that day,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: neither of which run this team, and neither of them
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: were told to go help. So that's that's an easy
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: change for the US. If Doku's one on one, don't
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: let him be one on one. That's a pretty easy
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: rule in global soccer. Like Liverpool's fullbacks Arsenal's fullbacks. This
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: is not just a US thing. This is the respect
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: that Doku gets. That's why I think this system will
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: be much better against this team, because first of all,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: it'll be Alex Freeman primarily near him. That's a normal defender,
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: and not with Tim Waya playing wing back to try
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: to get followered. So Genio death won't be in that
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: furthest back spot, but he'll be able to help out defensively,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: that's not his strongest suit, but he is a full
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: back wing back, not necessarily a winger, so that is
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: already helpful. And then on the other side, to your
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: point about Anthony Rubminson making that kind of diagonal run
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: in it, that was I know that they've been doing
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: that this tournament, but particularly against Bosnia, that was kind
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: of the set movement pattern. When the US kind of
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: was holding possession. You would see Robinson would just even
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: when he wasn't making a run to say, oh, there's
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: space there, like he would put his head down run
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: to that space while polistic As drifts wide. So it's
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: very clearly these are the movement patterns that the US
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: wanted to build out again versus Belgium, versus POSI against
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: I could very much see that against Belgium and tab
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Hopefully the team will be able to get Polisic in
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: more dangerous positions if he is indeed starting kind of
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: as that left winger, that inside left channel ten that.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: I think we both think he will.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: But we're gonna discuss that in the next segment as well,
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: before we get to break tap any more kind of
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: big picture or small picture thoughts on Belgium.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just one more thing, because I think I did
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the best I could to build up this Belgian team
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: one hundreds, you know, and highlight most of their you know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: there the best parts of who they are. Now let's
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: let's remember that this Belgian team is is really not
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a great team overall. They are slow into transition defensively,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: you know, when they turn the bull over, they don't
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: get back quickly, and I think you know that that's
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: really one of our strengths. One of our strengths is
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: recovering the ball and immediately you know, going forward. And
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I think they we can really punish this team if
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: we if we choose to do that, because they they
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: are not good at getting back in the middle of
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the field field Tilaments normally gets caught way upfield in
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the opposing box. The Bruyne doesn't get back obviously at
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: a high speed, and so normally that middle of the
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: field can be empty. So I think that's something to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: highlight that will be important for us as soon as
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: we recover. If we could attack, obviously you and I
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: are coaching the team, but but if if we could attack,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I think that's definitely a weakness for this Belgian team.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the big keys for the game is, as you
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: said earlier, can Belgium complete the third and fourth pass
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: to get into transition, not transit, but break the press
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: and have more space. And then for the US in
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: those moments, it's where a couple of midfielders or a
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: couple fullbacks are caught up the field. How quickly can
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: you get out and can you get out and run?
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Can you get out and find the next ball and
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: make the right decisions. I think that there's the possibility
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: that this game has a lot of space, But it's
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: a knockout round game.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: I'm sure it's gonna start slow, start a little cagy.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Maybe Belgium will try to put their foot on the
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: ball early on and we'll see where the game goes
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: from there.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: But it's time for a quick break up.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: Next, we're going to dive deeper into the tactics for
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: the match and the biggest question how will the US
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: play without Flowbalgan, who's going to be in the starting
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: lineup and what are the.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Differences they're in.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: So please rate and review, Subscribe to Inside American Soccer
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: with tombog and tabramas wherever you get the fays welcome back.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: It's inside American Soccer. Let's focus on the US TAB
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: ahead of their around the sixteen game against Belgium.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: No Flowbalgin.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: We talked about this in the last show that both
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: of us we're we went through the options, we did
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: our due diligence. We both landed at the most likely
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: and probably the right decision is just playing Ricardo pet
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Be and keeping everything else the same. Since then, I've
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: been reminded by a friend that in what year, the
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: year that Tottenham got to the Champions League Final under
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: Mauricio Pochettino, their second leg against i X, Harry Kane
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: was unavailable and Pochattino started winger Lucas Mora as the
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: number nine, and Lucas Mora had a hat trick.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: I'm just saying, maybe.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: There's more possibility for pool Sick to play as the
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: number nine than maybe I thought a few days ago.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: I still want to be very clear, I think that
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: is the wrong decision, if that is the decision, but
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: I think that's a key piece of information that I
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: overlooked last episode.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: That's fair. You know that's fair, and that that can happen.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I'd like to see what happened after
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the he scored three goals.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: If he ever played that.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Number nine position again, you know, because that shows you
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: whether you know, maybe he got a little bit lucky
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: with it, but you know, it can happen anyway. We've
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: seen the polistic number nine. But you know, I'll refer
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to something else. You remember that over the last obviously,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: you remember, as everyone else does, we've always been waiting
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: for Polisic to sort of deliver just a.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Little bit more, you know.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be goals, as we said,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be as cysts.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: It has to be his involvement in games.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: And if you remember, I think it was a Senegal
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: game when Mauricio Pochettino played Peppe at the nine, Polisic
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: came to life, and I think we can refer back
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to that as a great game. Probably the best game
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: that we've seen Polisic play for us was that game
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: when Pepi was on the field. And I think, if
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I'm Mauricio Pochettino, I'm looking at that, I'm looking at hey,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm looking at the history here of different
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: combinations that I that I've had. Number one, like in
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: any team, and obviously I learned this from other coaches.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: You know, when the team is doing well, you want
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: to make the least amount of changes possible. That's number one, right,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: And so if you were to move Christian into the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: nine position, that means that you have to put someone
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: else on the left side.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: So that would be two changes.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: The team is functioning, the team is doing well, the
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: team isn't in position to beat anyone at this point,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I would just make the least amount of changes. And
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: then the fact that I can look back and say
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: what happened when Pepi played as the nine with pull
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: A sick? And I think we have positive I think
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: we have positive results.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I think there's no.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Reason to not play Peppy in this game when we've
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: seen what we've seen already.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: I completely agree, and I hope that all the I
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: hope that when the lineups come out before the game,
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: we're thinking that we wasted time here. But Pochatino has
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: been unpredictable, as you and I know very very well.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: One other one that I really don't think it's a possibility,
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: but my good friend Paul Tenorio, the best American soccer
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: writer covering the game right now, he brought up the
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: possibility of what if it's Seb Burhalter, and then that
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: gives mckinneon Selman even more freedom to go forward. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: think that would isolate politic way too much. And again
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: I like Olkham's razor what like what is like the
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: most logical if you have to say if this, then that,
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: and then you go and say, okay, Seb goes there,
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: and then Wesson goes there, and like, like you said, tap,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: the least amount of changes to a team that is successful,
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: particularly keeping your best players in their best positions, should
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: very much win the day. But like, this is the
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: biggest talking point going into the game, because the team
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: had finally settled into an incredibly strong tactic in which
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: everybody's roles and the freedoms there in those roles are
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: are working really really well. And obviously the best we've
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: seen order push Sino on some of the best we've
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: seen in the US really ever play And so a
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: lot of questions went away, and now it's the question
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: is who plays for Balgin?
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: And I think if it's just Peppy, then that's one answer.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: If it's well, Poosa goes there, and then it's too
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: many answers, right, like we got the answers to the
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: test over this World Cup and bowigin to Peppy is
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: going to be a shift if that's what it is,
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: and Tab I think from here we can just discuss
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: it as if that's the expectation.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: So I guess there, what are.
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: The biggest differences within the team if it's just Peppy
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: starting for Balgin going from Ballot to PEPPI.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I think as we clearly saw in the you know,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: in the game when when Pepy was playing and I
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: don't want to say when Peppy came in and you know,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: other players were already in there and the team was different.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: But in this setup, when we saw Peppy play that
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: position with Polisic, it seemed like it freed Polisic to
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: make runs without the ball and get behind the defense
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: without the ball. So in effect, Polistic was doing less
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: one v one work and was doing more good timing
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: on his runs because he knew that as Peppy came
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: in to receive, PEPPI would be good at holding the ball,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: he would play it back to someone and as that's happening,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: you know, Polisic is releasing and he's releasing a run
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: behind the defenders, and we were able to find him
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: back there, and I think that frees him a lot.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: And what that will do is it will force the defenders,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: if it's Castana on that side, for example, to give
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Policic a lot more room because he's not going to
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: want to get beat behind.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: So now Polisic frees up the game for himself.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Right now he can receive defeat and have maybe five
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: eight yards.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Before anyone approaches him.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: And when you give Policic that type of room, he
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: can be really dangerous. So you know, it's a great
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: way to open Polisic to be in really effective. So
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I would really overload that side to make sure that
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: we can free Polisic by bringing in Pepi to receive
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: and by having Robinson go inside to help. So it
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: could be this could be good for us with Peppy there.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: And and so so Tab to piggyback off that Baligan
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: is more dangerous in the channels. He's more dangerous to
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: spin off and and put fear into the defender. Pep
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: Peppy can do that too, but Baligan his his his
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: top and pace is faster and he's able to get
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: in behind more. And that kind of that's one way
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: that you can create space for your teammates around you.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: So as you're saying, like like the last time that
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: when they play together against Senegal, there's a lot of
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: times when Pulsick was making that run behind, and so
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: you're still kind of getting the same effect, but it's
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: just a different role and in a different tweek. And
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: I think that's a really good example of like how
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: can generally you keep the same ideals, the same principles,
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: but little nuances that are different because every player is
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: different and every player has different strengths. And rather than
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: saying pepy Go be Baligan, no, pepy Go be Peppi,
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: and this is how we can tweak the team around it,
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: because as you said, if Pool sticks making that run,
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: or Anti Orf, it's Antiy Robinson going through and Pulsit goes.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: Why like those are ways that you can get space
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: without your number nine being the one to go through.
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: And then when Peppi's battling with the Belgian center backs,
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: which these two players are not as as physically dominant
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: as even the Bosnian center backs are, particularly the Australian
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: center backs. They have their own strength too, but in
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: terms of a physical battle. I think I'm taking Peppy
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: or I think that he's got a better chance than
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: when they played Australia and it was soutar that dude
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: is a giant.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: It's like, you know what I mean. And Belgium.
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: Belgium doesn't necessarily have somebody who's like literally one of
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: the most physical defenders at the tournament, in the World Cup,
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: and so I think that there are a lot of
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: little differences or little nuances that can be played to
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: and Belgium aren't gonna sit deep like those teams did,
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: So maybe there is more space, whether it's Peppee, Polistic Desk, McKinney,
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: tilm And one more thing, going back to the Belgia
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: to the Bosnia game, you never knew who was going
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: in behind. Like, yes, Balgan is the most dangerous one
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: and the one that you want to send through being
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: the stadium at Levi Stadium is really tall, particularly where
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: the media sits, and it was like a tactical cam.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: So like that, the amount of times that you would
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: see Death start through. He doesn't get the ball and
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: then you look up bang Tillman is making a run through,
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: doesn't get the ball, and then Robinson cuts in and
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: then Pools like the movement is really coordinated and you
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: never know which player is trying to get in behind,
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: because when the US is able to establish possession, it
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: gives license to any one of those players. And again
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: it's not just the wide players, it's McKinney is getting
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: breaking through those lines, whether they're playing the ball or not.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: So I think that's another strength of this team is, yes,
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: there are you'd rather be pool Sacre Balgan that is
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: getting sent through, but any one of the five players
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: that are in attacking spots at any given moment can
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: dart forward.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and this is what you know.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's been our frustration over the last two
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: years with not seeing a consistent starting a level and
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: somehow or at least somewhat consistent. You know, we've had
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: so many changes that we never knew how we played.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: But think about it now, after four games, we finally
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: if we if we close our eyes, we can now
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: see Peppy coming back to receive, playing to somebody behind
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: that that he's facing. And now we can with eyes closed,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: you can see Polistic making the run behind and you
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: can see you know, either McKenny or Tillman getting into
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the box and desk getting into the box on the
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: opposite side.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: You can see it.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: This is this is what we do, right and uh
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: and so I think it's a good sign when you
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: start to recognize that, hey, this is how we play
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and you start to you start to think about things
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: that you can make happen that are that become your strength.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: And I think that's certainly a strength for US.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, identity and a really good one.
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: Uh So I try to be careful at using So
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of when when I looked at like
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: either advanced that just general status. The ones that I
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: prefer the most are ones that build over the season,
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: because then when you have a sample size of fifteen,
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five thirty games, they tell them more. So
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: I say that just just to be careful of game
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: states matter, opponents matter, but a few of the things
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: that back up what we're seeing on the field. The US,
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: I don't have this number in front of me. I
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: believe after the group stage or after the group stage,
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: they had covered more ground than anybody at the tournament
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: and their passes per defensive action, which is a fancy
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: way of saying, how quickly do you win the ballbacker challenge,
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: get the ball back. They're sixth in this tournament, and
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: I think that is how that is the identity, and
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: for this team against Belgium, it'll be their toughest test.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: That's how it goes at a World Cup. It gets
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: harder the further you go. And I'm really really excited
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: to see how this plays out, because if you ask
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: me in March, I would have been extraordinarily pessimistic, just realistic, honestly,
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: not even pessimistic about how this one might play out.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: But like tab Belgium has gone down and the US
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: has gone way up since that day. So for me,
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: I kind of throw out a lot from that game
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: and the different tactics all that. But one thing that
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: we haven't mentioned on the Belgian side, Dodie Lukiabacchio came
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: off the bench and he felt like he was as
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: good as Doku on that day, and he came off
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: the bench in Belgium's win over Senegal. All that is
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: to say, I think Belgium have more firepower off the
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: bench than the US do. So I guess what in
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: particularly in a game that could go one twenty one
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: hundred and twenty minutes how.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Big of a role is that going to play?
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: And how would the US counter any adjustments that Belgium makes.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Morera was good too. I mean they you know,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: it's not because we just talked about. Okay, they took
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: you know, they took Doku and de Bruynow and they
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: put like some random guys in there. I mean, you're
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: talking about these are good players and these by the way,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: these good players, These good players won the game in
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes, you know, yep, I mean obviously they you know,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: they didn't win in twenty They got you know, Belgium
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: back in the game, but that was not an easy
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: stage and it wasn't easy against the team that had
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: a lead and was defending well you know, and a
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: team that's organized and the team that was you know,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the African champion that that was not easy. So so yeah,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: so you know, Belgium has a good bench. Also, you know,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: they have good young players and to be fair, they're
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: known for that, right, They're known.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: For developing good players. They have a good system.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: You know, all their players are smart and you know,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: anyone that's going to come off the bench is going
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: to help. But in particular those two guys were really
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: instrumental in terms of, you know, them turning the game around,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: you know, and we taught I'll just add one more thing, Tom,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: You know that because you know, this is the stage
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: where we are, right We're seeing Belgium, and you know,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: they do have some weaknesses, of course, and we mentioned them,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: and they have strength of course, because they have they
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: have some great.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Players that we're gonna have to deal with.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: But this is the game we've been waiting for, right
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: this is this is where we were in twenty twenty two,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: This is where we were in twenty fourteen, this is
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: this is around sixteen. This is the game that's going
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: to dictate whether you know, we're gonna say, hey, you know,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, this was a success
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: or this probably was not.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: And we need to win this game.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: This is this is like a final for US early
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: they're all finals, right, but but this is our this
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: is our first final.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Tap one.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: This has been a special tournament so far. It's not
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: going to be remembered as such if the US loses
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: to Belgium, for there will be great moments, their memories
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: that are already made. You can't take you can't take
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: those away. But if the US loses to Belgium, gets eliminated,
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: it's all that was a pretty good time, pretty good tournament.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: You know was promising. Ah, you know that that that
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: chance or that save or that whatever, Ah what what
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: could have been? Getting to a quarterfinal makes puts this
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: team like in in the history books, like in the
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: US soccer lore. And then obviously a semi final is
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: just you know, won't borderline build a statue, build up
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: a plaque on the wall for this team. But all
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: that is to say, to your point, this game, they've
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: met expectations by getting here, or at least they have.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: They're not a disappointment if you look at the tournament
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: as a whole. When getting here, it is what they did.
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: As you said in twenty two and fourteen, they won't
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: be remembered for doing something special if they lose. And
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: to your point, I can guarantee every single person in
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: that locker room, players, coaches, support staff. I've been dreaming
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: of these moments and these opportunities, and they're gonna be
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: ready for it, and I hope that we can see
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: something special.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Tap yeah, because I really want to be able to
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: cash in on our Ferrari midfield.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: You know, I want to keep talking about it.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I need us to stay alive because I want to
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: talk about those guys. You know, it's nice to have
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the Ferrari midfield. You know, that's the engine that we have,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: and I want to keep discussing that because I think
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: it's you know it, I want to think that it's
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: one of the best in the world. But unfortunately, to
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: you know, the backup to that is we have to
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: get the results for it.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: But I think we are.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: Very much looking forward to it again.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: The United States versus Belgium Monday night in Seattle five
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: pm Local time, eight pm Eastern Oh really quickly. The
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: game against Bosnia was the most watched English language telecast
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: of a soccer game in this country ever twenty four.
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: Twenty four and a half million people were sustained in
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: a game. I believe the game peaked at over thirty million.
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: Top that's more than like World Series games.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: That's more.
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: That was more than the divisional round in the NFL,
• 40:52
  Speaker 4: and then another nine million on Telemundo. So again, the
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: thirty million number is literally one of the most watched
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: TV shows in America in the year twenty twenty six,
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Monday Night, Monday Night Football. You could say, Tab, this
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: TV number that's gonna come back is gonna be astronomical,
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: and it's only gonna build if they keep winning.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: The country is behind this team.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: That is one of my most favorite things about a
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: World Cup, particularly this one at home. If the buzz
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: is there, the fans are there, and I can't wait
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: for that game on Monday, and then I can't wait
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: to talk to you about it after that, and hopefully we'll.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: Be previewing a quarterfinal after that.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: But for right now, it's time for one more quick
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: break because Tab is gonna give his DraftKings predictions for
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: this week's biggest matches in the Round sixteen, including the
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: US Belt. Thanks for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: rate with you and subscribe wherever gas your podcast will
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: be here back Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. Time
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: for a prediction segment presented by our friends a Draftking
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: so sport app that moves with the game and is
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: now available nationwide. Looking forward to the Round of sixteen
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: Saturday in Houston, Canada plays Morocco, Tab, do you think
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: that there's any Canadian magic left at this tournament?
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: I do think that there is a little bit of
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: magic left, but it you know, I'm having a hard
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: time believing that it's going to be enough to beat
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: this great Morocco team.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: Morocco is a great team. You know.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: I always get excited to make my Draftkink picks, and
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: I last time I took a chance on some of
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: the ones I made by going against the grain. This
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: is this is a tough one for me, but my
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Draftkinks pick for Canada Morocco will be Condada zero, Morocco two.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: Morocco is.
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: I still have said it three times, probably already, but
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: I just can't believe that Netherlands Morocco is a round
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: to thirty two that feels particularly cruel. And Morocco are
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: honestly one of the best teams. And well, next time,
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: next game that we're going to dive into the fourth
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: of July in Philadelphia, Paraguay versus France.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: What are you thinking here?
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing this one because I
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: think after the first you know, twenty minutes of this
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: World Cup that Paraguay had, I think they learned their
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: lesson and I think they've defended a lot better and
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: to be fair, you know, when you look at all
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: the stats, you analyst all the stats, they kind of
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: started to move towards the top after that game.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: They've done really well. They've done really.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: Well in this World Cup after the first half they
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: played US. After that, they're actually one of the They've
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: been one of the better teams in terms of stats.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I think this game will not be easy for France,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: but my draft pick pick will be Paraguay one, France three.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: I was so, are you saying that the US prepared
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: Paraguay to play France, because that's how I'm taking.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: It, prepared, you know it certainly well, you know, Paraguay
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: tried to play that whole in Siso is hurt thing,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: which is we haven't discussed that, but that you know,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: talk about, you know, unsportsmanlike. I mean, that was totally
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: a fake injury. Whatever happened there. They thought they were
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: gonna surprise us, and they got run over like a train,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: you know, like a train ran them over. And then
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I bet you they weren't feeling so smart after that,
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: and uh, and then they decided to just play the game.
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's really really quickly related to that.
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: Jesse Marsh's talks at press conference is like five times
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: about how smart it was to use Alfonso Davies as
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: a decoy against Switzerland. Like he goes, I went to
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: Alfonso he couldn't play, and I asked him, can I
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: use he's a decoy? And you know, yeah, that's you know,
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: we try to get an advantage of every vantage we can.
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: Switzerland raced out to a two zero lead. They weren't
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: exactly shocked that Davies wasn't playing then, like the same
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: thing within CISO, like the US were up three to
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: no oh and a half time.
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, you got you got the advantage.
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: Apparently, I don't know what the point is, but I digress.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: Maybe I'm not I'm not well versed enough in the
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: dark arts in the coaching world. But next game that
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: we got to talk about Sunday in our home state
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: of New Jersey, Brazilver's Norway tap.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: This one will be really interesting. You know.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: You know Brazil obviously they I believe they still don't
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: have Rafina, which is a you know, big loss.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: For them, because he settles that team. Having said that,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: They they you know, they still they defend well, they're
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: not you know this Brazil is certainly not an exciting team,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: but Vinnie Junior is you.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: Know, it's something else. He's very difficult to stop.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: You know, I have trouble believing that even though I
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: believe Brazil doesn't have the best midfield, you know, when
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: you look at you know, Casimiro, Gumeriz and Pakeeta, I
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: just don't think it's I don't think it's great. I
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: still think they're better than Norway and I can't imagine
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: that Brazil will lose this game. My draft pick, my
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Draftkins pick for this game will be Brazil to Norway one.
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: I think that'll be a fun game. Two teams that
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: will attack, and obviously, anytime Hollin's on the field, you've
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: got a walking goal. So yeah, I'm very very excited
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: for that one. But I gotta be honest with you.
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: Of all of the non US Knockout round game around
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: the sixteen games, this next one is the one I'm
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: most excited for. Sunday Night at Esteca Mexico VERSUS England
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: TAB what do you got?
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: Wow?
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: This is I have to say, if there was one
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: game I'd like to be at, uh, this certainly is
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: Except for the Mexican fans.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Apparently I just throw in all kinds of stuff at
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: fans other fans, so I you know, I wouldn't want
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: to get hit with anything at the at the stadium.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: But but this is the game to watch. This is
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: definitely the game to watch. England is in for some
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: game here and they better bring their a game because
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: if Mexico looks anything like they did against Ecuador, England
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: is gonna is gonna need everything they know and everything
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: they have to get get through this one. Having said that,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: I think the way I'm seeing the game is a
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: game that's going to go into overtime at one to one,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: and my draftkins for this game is Mexico won, England won.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: Mexico wins on penalties.
• 47:06
  Speaker 4: Wow, England are gonna need every one of those last
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: six subs that you can get when you get to
• 47:12
  Speaker 4: extra time to survive this one. I think, Man, I'm
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: looking forward to you and you talk about fans throwing things.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: I don't think that too many things have hit the
• 47:21
  Speaker 4: field the same way that maybe in your day or
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: Landed Donovan's early days.
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: But you know, Landon Donovan and uh, I don't know.
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: I'm sure you have plenty of stories of of getting
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: projectives thrown at you or bags of urine that seemed
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: to fall from the stands in Mexico. I don't think
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: that'll quite happen this weekend. But it's an intimidating place
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: to play time.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly is, and not I think not an
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: experience that that these this generation of English players would
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: be used to, right, because if you took an English
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: team from the nineties or the eighties, those guys could
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: could play anywhere. I mean most of their fields were
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: mud and these guys were you know, and.
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: They were coming for point. We're throwing points in that era.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then some of the guys were coming straight
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: from the bar to play the games. So I mean
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: different different times. You know, this is this is they're
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: they're in for a tough game. And by the way,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: you know, good luck sleeping in Mexico City. You know,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: you know, everything that they can throw at this England
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: team there will they will throw. This is gonna be
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: this is gonna be a tough night. You know, the
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: alarm is gonna go off at the hotel. There's gonna
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: be fireworks. There's gonna be fireworks outside. You know, just
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: be ready for all that, and I'm sure they are.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: They're all professional player, they'll be England be ready for
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: this game. But it's gonna be It's gonna be quite
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: a game.
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: Two more games to get to Monday, earlier in the day,
• 48:41
  Speaker 4: Spain versus Portugal in Dallas at Jerry Worlds. The winner
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: of this game plays the winner of the US Belgium.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: This is a This is a really interesting game because
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: they're two You're probably pairing the two best midfields in
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: the world, you know, And when I talk about are
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: we have one of the best, Like I think our
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: midfield is one of the best in the world, you
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: kind of have to say, well, Spain and Portugal have
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: maybe the.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: Best, and it's hard to argue with that.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you can throw friends in there with you know,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: at least when he plays the ten and rabbiot and
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and either you know, Chawmni or Kone as the other piece.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: You know, out of those four to three play.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: You can even throw Turkey in there, and that would
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: still be a great midfield. This game will be will
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: certainly be a difficult one. But I've done Portugal games.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: I've seen Portugal play. They have a great midfield, but
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: this Portugal team has trouble creating chances to score. I
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: just don't see this Portugal team over overcoming Spain. I'm
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: gonna have to say in this game that my DraftKings
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: pick will be Spain to Portugal one.
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: That is definitely one of the marquee matchups in the
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: Round of sixteen. But for the show, let's get to
• 49:59
  Speaker 4: the biggest one, the US Round of sixteen on Monday
• 50:02
  Speaker 4: in Monday night in Seattle, US MNT versus Belgium. The
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: DraftKings odds are pretty even tab. I was a little
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: bit of a surprise to me, but the US is
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: a slight favorite to advance at minus one thirteen according
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: to our friends at DraftKings tab.
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: What is your pick for this game?
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we talked enough about this game already,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna go right right to the pick here,
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna have to agree with our Draft Kings friends.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: And you know, although I think this game will go
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: into overtime, I don't think it will go into penalty kicks.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: My DraftKings pick for this game it will be US
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: two Belgium one with a goal in overtime.
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: The Revenge of the Round of sixteen in twenty fourteen. Man,
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: this is going to be such a big event, such
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: a big game, US versus Australia and Seattle. One of
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: the best atmosphe years I've ever been in, honestly, and
• 51:02
  Speaker 4: I think this one's gonna be even bigger and even better.
• 51:05
  Speaker 4: The area around the stadium more so than in La
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: definitely more.
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: So than in Santa Clara.
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: It feels like, you know, European stadium because it's like
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: in South American stadium. It's like in you feel like
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: you're walking around, it's like right near with like the
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: baseball field is too, but like it feels like you're
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: just coming out of coming through the city and then
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: bang you're at the stadium. And I think that that
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: all the little things helped to build this game to
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: be what it's going to be. Tab What would a
• 51:34
  Speaker 4: win mean for soccer in America?
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot. You know.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: You the ratings show, you you know, and I have
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: to say, I go back to the guys from ninety
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: four and just listen to them, you know, and then
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: not just me listen to Tony Miola, you know, listen
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: to you know, to guys like Alexi or Eric Wunalda
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: talk about the impact that it.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: Had that year.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: We couldn't believe it. We came from nothing. And also
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: you have eleven to twelve million people watching one of
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: those games that that was incredible, and I think it
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: was hard to imagine. But now I think this full
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: generation can see that the impact can be huge and
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: what these players have been doing so far, regardless of
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: what happens in this game, will remain with us for decades.
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: Exactly. Legacy is on the line.
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: I can't wait for this game, but Tap, thank you
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: as always for being with me, and thank you to
• 52:26
  Speaker 4: all the listeners for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please
• 52:30
  Speaker 4: rate for a few and subscribe where gets your podcasts.
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: We'll be back after the game with a full breakdown
• 52:35
  Speaker 4: and hopefully look ahead to the quarter finals.
• 52:43
  Speaker 5: New DraftKings customers sign up with Code Soccer spend five
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  Speaker 5: bucks to get two hundred and rewards within twenty one days.
• 52:51
  Speaker 5: That's Code Soccer in partnership with DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
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