Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT Roster Reaction Special, Snubs, Surprises, and Gio Reyna!

Transcript

USMNT Roster Reaction Special, Snubs, Surprises, and Gio Reyna! · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I think if Giorna starts
0:03
Speaker 1: against Belgium, I don't.
0:04
Speaker 2: Think European teams are his cup of tea.
0:07
Speaker 1: I don't think gi Arena will do well if he
0:09
Speaker 1: plays in these games. I'd be surprised if he does
0:12
Speaker 1: not have him played there for his club.
0:16
Speaker 3: Greetings, folks, and welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I'm
0:20
Speaker 3: Matt Doyle, the armchair analyst, filling in for new dad
0:24
Speaker 3: Tom Poker for a couple more weeks. We have a
0:27
Speaker 3: special Saint Patrick's Day edition of the show because the
0:31
Speaker 3: March Roster is finally here for the US men's national team,
0:35
Speaker 3: and I'm honored to be joined by my good friend
0:39
Speaker 3: who knows a thing or two about playing for the
0:40
Speaker 3: US men's national team, one of the greatest players in
0:44
Speaker 3: US soccer history. I'm talking, of course, about tab Ramos,
0:48
Speaker 3: newly returned from one of my favorite places in the world, Madrid.
0:52
Speaker 3: We're gonna be breaking down all things for the March
0:57
Speaker 3: Camp Roster. Tab Tell me about your trip, man, How
1:00
Speaker 3: was it being on the other side of the ponds.
1:02
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, first of all, you know, I really like
1:04
Speaker 2: that intro.
1:05
Speaker 1: You know, every time, you know saying about my World
1:07
Speaker 1: Cups and all that stuff. But anyway, Uh, secondly, i'd
1:11
Speaker 1: say I try to wear a little green today if
1:14
Speaker 1: you notice. You know, obviously for you know, our listeners,
1:16
Speaker 1: they can't see that. But I'm I'm I'm trying to.
1:19
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go along with a little bit of
1:22
Speaker 1: Saint Patrick's day and join the spirit and uh, which
1:26
Speaker 1: was difficult today because today was a good day for red,
1:28
Speaker 1: white and blue.
1:29
Speaker 2: To be honest, I decided to.
1:31
Speaker 1: Go with the green. But uh, but yeah, my I mean,
1:33
Speaker 1: my trip to Madrid was uh, it was, it was
1:36
Speaker 1: truly great.
1:37
Speaker 2: You know.
1:37
Speaker 1: I got to be at the at the Madrid Man
1:40
Speaker 1: City game on Wednesday, you know, the Champions League game,
1:44
Speaker 1: and then I stayed for a couple of days did it.
1:47
Speaker 1: My son had a couple a little bit of work
1:49
Speaker 1: with Marcelo uh to do for a company inside the
1:52
Speaker 1: real Madrid city so in the in the in the grounds,
1:56
Speaker 1: in the.
1:56
Speaker 2: Real Madrid ground.
1:57
Speaker 1: So we spent a lot of time there for a
1:58
Speaker 1: couple of days, and then we stayed to watch their
2:01
Speaker 1: league game against LJA on Saturday, which we got to
2:04
Speaker 1: see Artagoula's goal from seventy yards away, which was incredible, Right,
2:10
Speaker 1: So it was a great week besides the fact that
2:13
Speaker 1: you know, when you go to Madrid, the most important thing,
2:15
Speaker 1: regardless of what you do, is the food.
2:17
Speaker 2: How great the food is.
2:19
Speaker 1: So we did what I just mentioned and the rest
2:22
Speaker 1: of the time, basically we were eating the whole time.
2:26
Speaker 3: And how often were you checking your phone to see
2:28
Speaker 3: if somebody had leaked the US roster ahead of time?
2:31
Speaker 3: Was there a little bit of focus on that as well,
2:33
Speaker 3: a little bit of anticipation.
2:35
Speaker 1: It was minute to minute really all the way up
2:37
Speaker 1: until we're starting the podcast. You know, we're waiting, We're
2:41
Speaker 1: waiting for the news to come out and excited about
2:45
Speaker 1: it because of the importance of this call up. Right,
2:48
Speaker 1: this is a really important one in which a lot
2:50
Speaker 1: of players are playing.
2:52
Speaker 2: You know.
2:52
Speaker 1: It reminds me of the excitement of going to a
2:54
Speaker 1: World Cup, and I think a lot of players know
2:57
Speaker 1: that this is it, this is their chance to go
3:00
Speaker 1: to the Walk Cup.
3:01
Speaker 2: So very important call up and happy to see it out.
3:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Muricio Pochettino said repeatedly that the time for
3:08
Speaker 3: experimentation was over. Now it's the time to lock in
3:12
Speaker 3: the roster to win jobs for the last few guys
3:15
Speaker 3: on the roster to treat this like the World Cup itself.
3:18
Speaker 3: Now they are only friendlies, so we'll predict our starting
3:21
Speaker 3: elevens for the match against Belgium, and plus we'll go
3:24
Speaker 3: into the locker room with tab back a few decades
3:28
Speaker 3: ago ahead of the nineteen ninety eight World Cup. Pretty
3:31
Speaker 3: famous friendly win leading up to that one against Austria,
3:35
Speaker 3: I believe, I if memory serves, and that launched the
3:38
Speaker 3: three six one, which soon became the infamous three to
3:41
Speaker 3: six one for the US men's national team. But let's
3:46
Speaker 3: get into it. Muricio Pochettino was good to his word
3:49
Speaker 3: and that this is not an experimental roster. There's nobody
3:52
Speaker 3: on this thing who's completely out of the blue. It's
3:54
Speaker 3: all guys that we've seen before. But then there's also
3:58
Speaker 3: a few guys who we expect to see but didn't.
4:02
Speaker 3: I have listed as snubs Patrick Schulti. There are four
4:06
Speaker 3: goalkeepers on this roster. He is not one of them.
4:08
Speaker 3: I don't really care. We all know Matt Freeze is
4:10
Speaker 3: the number one, Matt Turners the number two. Uh, but
4:13
Speaker 3: I am surprised that there's no Alexan Dejas and no
4:15
Speaker 3: Diego Luna, I think you had Zendejas as close to
4:19
Speaker 3: a lock. Is that correct?
4:22
Speaker 2: Yeah?
4:22
Speaker 1: You know, Uh, I always respect the fact that Zinde
4:26
Speaker 1: has plays for a big club under a lot of
4:29
Speaker 1: pressure every week, and I know he's.
4:31
Speaker 3: Had and there's the ten, which is huge, right, that's responsibility.
4:36
Speaker 2: No question.
4:37
Speaker 1: The significance of wearing the ten in the Latin American
4:40
Speaker 1: country is always huge. Uh. He plays for the biggest
4:43
Speaker 1: club in Mexico. You know, I'm I'm sorry a little
4:47
Speaker 1: bit to the Chieves fans, but that's really the reality.
4:50
Speaker 1: Uh and uh and to the g Greates fans, by
4:52
Speaker 1: the way, which you know, obviously a club I love.
4:55
Speaker 1: But uh, but yeah, Zinde has has had a great season.
4:58
Speaker 1: You could potentially say that he's their best player. And
5:03
Speaker 1: although he's had some injuries on don't off this year,
5:07
Speaker 1: he is a consistent, let's say, player who delivers in
5:13
Speaker 1: the final third, time after time and important moments for America.
5:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:19
Speaker 1: I'm really surprised not to see him in this roster.
5:21
Speaker 1: So if I had to pick one that surprised me
5:24
Speaker 1: the most in terms of not seeing them here, uh,
5:27
Speaker 1: it would he would certainly be the one. Obviously the goalkeepers.
5:31
Speaker 1: I always make fun of myself in terms of like,
5:33
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going out with the goalkeepers.
5:35
Speaker 2: No I, nor do I really care that much.
5:37
Speaker 1: But I agree with you with the fact that Chelte
5:40
Speaker 1: not being one of the four surprises me a little bit,
5:44
Speaker 1: right because we I didn't think he'd be one of
5:47
Speaker 1: the three potentially, you know, but him not being one
5:51
Speaker 1: of four surprises me.
5:53
Speaker 3: Yeah. The four goalkeepers are Matt Freeze, Matt Turner, and
5:57
Speaker 3: then Chris Brady and Roman Celentano, who you know, It's
6:01
Speaker 3: been an up and down year for s C Cincinnati,
6:03
Speaker 3: but that's not Sellentino's fault. I'm happy with any of
6:07
Speaker 3: those two guys, Brady or selling Tino or Shalty being
6:11
Speaker 3: the third guy on the roster. I don't think really
6:14
Speaker 3: it matters who the third goalkeeper is other than for
6:18
Speaker 3: vibes and keeping the locker room loose. Back to the
6:22
Speaker 3: other stubs, Diego Luna surprises me.
6:24
Speaker 1: Matt, Matt, Matt if I could add to that, right
6:28
Speaker 1: because you mentioned a little bit, but just just for
6:30
Speaker 1: the fans, a little bit in terms of that third
6:33
Speaker 1: goalkeeper role which you briefly mentioned there so normally as
6:37
Speaker 1: a as a third world goalkeeper on a big roster
6:40
Speaker 1: like this. It's exactly right what you're saying. The coach
6:43
Speaker 1: is thinking, I want to bring a veteran older guy
6:48
Speaker 1: mid thirties who's been there, done that in every way,
6:50
Speaker 1: who can put his arm around players in the locker room, right,
6:54
Speaker 1: that's important.
6:55
Speaker 2: Or he can go the young route, right and select
6:59
Speaker 2: like a.
7:00
Speaker 1: Under twenty, under nineteen player who is going to come
7:04
Speaker 1: along and just have eyes wide open right looking into
7:07
Speaker 1: the future and here we're Nazi and either one of
7:10
Speaker 1: those things.
7:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, the closest would be Brady, who is still I
7:13
Speaker 3: think just twenty two years old. He's been very good
7:16
Speaker 3: for the Chicago Fire for a couple of years now.
7:19
Speaker 3: But none of these guys is super super young. Again,
7:23
Speaker 3: I don't think it matters as long as the vibes
7:25
Speaker 3: are high, and the vibes have been high over the
7:27
Speaker 3: past few camps, past three camps. Really A big part
7:31
Speaker 3: of that was Diego Luna. He has been ever present
7:35
Speaker 3: for Mauricio Pochettino ever since he made his debut. Cars
7:38
Speaker 3: famously broke his nose and played through it, and the
7:41
Speaker 3: coach loved that. Now he missed the start of the
7:44
Speaker 3: MLS season, only made his debut this past weekend. I
7:48
Speaker 3: thought that would be enough to get him into this roster.
7:52
Speaker 3: Clearly it was not. I don't know if this is
7:55
Speaker 3: something that Pochettino has talked to Luna and maybe RSL
7:58
Speaker 3: about and said, hey, get one hundred percent that fit.
8:00
Speaker 3: You have a clear path even if you're not on
8:03
Speaker 3: this roster, or if this is a message given the
8:06
Speaker 3: way Pocheccino's worked, It wouldn't surprise me if it was
8:09
Speaker 3: the second. But those are two guys in Zantejas and
8:13
Speaker 3: Luna who play in those pockets underneath the forward, who
8:17
Speaker 3: add a little bit of creative final third flare. And
8:21
Speaker 3: it ends up being an opportunity for say a Brendan Aronson,
8:26
Speaker 3: who hasn't been super productive under Potchettino but has had
8:31
Speaker 3: a pretty good year for for Leeds in the Premier League.
8:35
Speaker 3: It ends up being an opportunity maybe to see Weston
8:39
Speaker 3: McKenny in one of the spots because he's been playing
8:41
Speaker 3: a lot as a number ten for Juventus, and ends
8:45
Speaker 3: up being an opportunity for Gio Raina, who is on
8:48
Speaker 3: this roster even though he barely plays at the club level.
8:51
Speaker 3: But tab we saw it against Paraguay, and he started
8:54
Speaker 3: against Paraguay, had a goal. He came off the bench
8:57
Speaker 3: against Uruguay, had an assist, looked like he hadn't missed
9:00
Speaker 3: a beat, even though he's essentially not a club player
9:04
Speaker 3: at this point in his career.
9:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, so first on the on the Luna situation, right,
9:09
Speaker 1: I would think that Luna help Pushattino likely more and
9:16
Speaker 1: hear me out on this, I think Diego Luna helped
9:20
Speaker 1: Pushchatino more likely than any other player to instill that
9:25
Speaker 1: mentality into the team. Of these are the type of
9:29
Speaker 1: players that Puschettino is happy with. You have to, above
9:33
Speaker 1: everything else, be a fighter who wants to win all
9:36
Speaker 1: the time. And and because of that, I don't think
9:40
Speaker 1: that Pushatino is sending a message to to Luna.
9:44
Speaker 2: He knows what Luna is all about.
9:46
Speaker 1: I think, if any if I'm reading this correctly, and
9:48
Speaker 1: of course I may be wrong, but if I'm reading
9:51
Speaker 1: this correctly, I'm thinking that Luna's just getting his legs
9:54
Speaker 1: under him.
9:54
Speaker 2: It's probably better for him to continue training.
9:57
Speaker 1: And this is a player that Pushettino has in his
10:01
Speaker 1: back pocket who will go to the World Cup anyway.
10:03
Speaker 2: This is how I'm reading it.
10:06
Speaker 1: Now on the gior Rena. You know, Jireina really surprises me.
10:10
Speaker 1: I agree with you that you know that he played
10:14
Speaker 1: a great game against Paraguay. In that window, he scored aheader.
10:19
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he closed his eyes as he
10:21
Speaker 1: as he hit that ball.
10:22
Speaker 2: But you know, heading is not his thing. But he
10:25
Speaker 2: scored aheader and he played well.
10:27
Speaker 1: And we know we sort of have been expecting Geo
10:31
Speaker 1: to do more and more, and in that game he
10:33
Speaker 1: did deliver. You know, I'm I'm I'd have to say
10:38
Speaker 1: that Poschettino likely is looking more into the World Cup
10:41
Speaker 1: and seeing what he looks like physically with the team.
10:44
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I think if if gior
10:47
Speaker 1: Reina starts against Belgium, I don't think European teams are
10:51
Speaker 1: his cup of tea. I I don't think Giorrena will
10:54
Speaker 1: do well if he plays in these games. I'd be
10:57
Speaker 1: surprised if he does not have him played there for
11:01
Speaker 1: his club. But we will see. Obviously, Pachettino is knows better.
11:07
Speaker 1: He's the head coach, but I'm surprised to see that.
11:11
Speaker 1: At the same time, what I'm not surprised about is
11:13
Speaker 1: that he brings them into the fold because he knows
11:16
Speaker 1: in the World Cup, at the end of the day,
11:17
Speaker 1: we're playing against Paraguay again and Australia again, and he
11:21
Speaker 1: knows that Gio Raina can do well in those games.
11:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, because those are teams that are probably going to
11:25
Speaker 3: sit back. The US will have more of the ball
11:27
Speaker 3: in the final third, and when it comes to picking
11:29
Speaker 3: locks in the final third, there's a lot of good
11:32
Speaker 3: options on the US team, includings in Dejas and Luna
11:35
Speaker 3: if they were there. Geo's a level above. He's the
11:39
Speaker 3: creative spark that he has. I don't think anybody else
11:42
Speaker 3: in this roster can match it other absences Sadly no
11:48
Speaker 3: Noahkai Banks. He's dual national. He had been in the
11:52
Speaker 3: US program since the U seventeens. Germany turned his head.
11:58
Speaker 3: All the reporting is that he has decided to turn
12:01
Speaker 3: down calls from the US because he sees a path
12:04
Speaker 3: to play for the German national team. I don't know
12:08
Speaker 3: if that closes the door on him for the US
12:10
Speaker 3: for good, but it certainly does seem to close the
12:13
Speaker 3: door on him representing the US at this World Cup.
12:16
Speaker 3: I mean it's a it's a home World Cup, and
12:19
Speaker 3: he would get to play for the host country, and
12:21
Speaker 3: there's a pretty clear path to a starting line into
12:24
Speaker 3: the starting lineup for him, So like we weren't going
12:26
Speaker 3: to get him now then, like it as it was
12:31
Speaker 3: very clear that like this was the best chance. It
12:35
Speaker 3: feels like that.
12:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think we we read that correctly last time,
12:41
Speaker 1: you know, when we analyzed his his words about potentially
12:46
Speaker 1: the World Cup now being the most important moment to
12:49
Speaker 1: choose and that he was concerned more with his full career.
12:53
Speaker 1: And I think I mentioned on this show last week
12:56
Speaker 1: when when we heard that that if I'm reading correctly,
13:00
Speaker 1: he was saying, if I have any chance at all
13:02
Speaker 1: to play for Germany, that's what I'm gonna hold off for.
13:05
Speaker 1: And I think we read that right. That's what's happening here.
13:08
Speaker 1: Are we completely off the table for Noahkai Banks to
13:12
Speaker 1: come to the US and the answer would be no,
13:15
Speaker 1: but Germany will have the chance, and likely there has
13:19
Speaker 1: been some type of conversation at some level that Germany
13:23
Speaker 1: is looking at him and this is why he's holding back.
13:27
Speaker 3: Yeah. Other absences all injury related, Haji Wright, I had
13:32
Speaker 3: actually missed this. Had to just scramble a little bit
13:34
Speaker 3: and do some research just before we went started recording this.
13:37
Speaker 3: But Haji Wright picked up a groin injury midweek, which
13:41
Speaker 3: is a bummer because he had been playing really well
13:44
Speaker 3: in the Championship and played really well for the US
13:47
Speaker 3: the last couple of camps. Tyler Adams missed this past
13:51
Speaker 3: week's game was just precautionary, but obviously precautionary enough for
13:56
Speaker 3: him to be ruled out of this camp. And Virginia
14:00
Speaker 3: pulled his hamstring a couple of weeks ago. I think
14:03
Speaker 3: they're expecting a six to eight week injury, so he
14:05
Speaker 3: would hopefully be back by the start of May, get
14:09
Speaker 3: a couple of camp or a cap, get a couple
14:12
Speaker 3: of appearances in for PSV, and then hopefully be in
14:16
Speaker 3: that World Cup camp. That has opened the door between Noah,
14:20
Speaker 3: Guy Banks, and Desk, in particular for Austin Trusty, who
14:24
Speaker 3: of course started against Uruguay and that that famous five
14:27
Speaker 3: to one that the US had back in November. And
14:31
Speaker 3: Joe Scalley, who has been in and out of rosters
14:35
Speaker 3: for Pochettino over the past year and a half.
14:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, you know, it's it's really unfortunate for Sogenio
14:42
Speaker 1: Desk to get this injury at this time, but he.
14:46
Speaker 2: Does have he does have time, you know.
14:50
Speaker 1: I the difficult part is, you know, like I'm going
14:54
Speaker 1: to go into this a little bit later when we
14:56
Speaker 1: discussed the uh, the players approach going into the World Cup.
14:59
Speaker 1: But the difficult situation for Sugenio is will he be
15:03
Speaker 1: fit enough to be in the World Cup and will
15:06
Speaker 1: he have the game rhythm to be in the World.
15:08
Speaker 2: Cup, because that's that truly is important. So so we
15:11
Speaker 2: will see.
15:12
Speaker 1: Having said that, this is part of what this is about, right,
15:15
Speaker 1: you have to play hard every day and and when
15:17
Speaker 1: you and you, when.
15:18
Speaker 2: You play hard, these sort of things happen.
15:21
Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, let's talk a little bit about the guys
15:26
Speaker 3: who need to play their way into the camp. Now.
15:30
Speaker 3: I mentioned Scally and Trustee, it feels like they have
15:34
Speaker 3: a real opportunity here. The other ones are Ricardo Peppi,
15:38
Speaker 3: who the you know, I've had him fourth on my
15:41
Speaker 3: depth chart at center forward behind flow Balligan who's unquestioned
15:46
Speaker 3: starting number nine, but also Pat Ogimont and Hanji Wright,
15:50
Speaker 3: then Johnny Cardoso and Aiden Morris and door is open
15:53
Speaker 3: for one of them. It feels like given Tyler Adams
15:57
Speaker 3: picked up an injury, Obviously, Johnny Cardoso plays for a
16:00
Speaker 3: much bigger team, very used to playing in very big games,
16:03
Speaker 3: has not showed it for the US national team at all.
16:05
Speaker 3: I think Morris has shown a little bit better for
16:08
Speaker 3: the US national team play for a much smaller team,
16:11
Speaker 3: but also plays in big games. He's in a promotion
16:13
Speaker 3: fight in the championship, and we know that that is
16:16
Speaker 3: all blood and thunder, So it's you know, the opportunity
16:20
Speaker 3: is there for those two guys. I'm taking it as
16:22
Speaker 3: a given that Christian Roldan has earned his way into
16:25
Speaker 3: the team because just like the Diego Luna point you made,
16:28
Speaker 3: tab I think rolled on what he did in terms
16:32
Speaker 3: of galvanizing that team, especially in central midfield as they
16:36
Speaker 3: changed their shape against Japan, ended up being the catalyst
16:40
Speaker 3: for this now five game, six game run that the
16:43
Speaker 3: US is on of good performances. But it feels like
16:47
Speaker 3: there's an opportunity here at defensive midfield and at forward
16:52
Speaker 3: with the injury and forced absences to Tyler Adams and
16:57
Speaker 3: Hadgi Raight.
17:00
Speaker 1: And it opened it opens up doors, you know, and
17:01
Speaker 1: that's what you're waiting for. I uh, you know, when
17:04
Speaker 1: I look at I think there's really three players that
17:07
Speaker 1: are that are playing for this one position now, and
17:11
Speaker 1: certainly Johnny Cardozo has been playing big games and doing
17:14
Speaker 1: well in him I'm hoping that if he does get
17:17
Speaker 1: the opportunity, that he will deliver the way he delivers
17:20
Speaker 1: in for his club in Europe a little bit more,
17:23
Speaker 1: because truly we haven't seen it for the national team.
17:26
Speaker 2: Uh.
17:26
Speaker 1: Now, if this happened to be me, I think I
17:29
Speaker 1: think eight Morris is likely the better fit to play
17:32
Speaker 1: next to Testament and behind potentially you know, if we're
17:36
Speaker 1: saying now we're moving McKinnie a little bit higher. Uh
17:39
Speaker 1: you know, McKinney could potentially go into that spot too.
17:42
Speaker 3: Right.
17:42
Speaker 2: But and Sebastian Burholter has.
17:44
Speaker 1: Done well, right, I mean he you know, with with
17:47
Speaker 1: the last couple of games that he's played, he's played
17:50
Speaker 1: himself back into the roster and into an important position
17:52
Speaker 1: in the roster. So I think it'll be really interesting
17:55
Speaker 1: to see what Marisio Pachattino decides. But but yeah, I mean,
18:00
Speaker 1: you know, Aiden Morris isn't now although he's well, you know,
18:04
Speaker 1: we obviously have to say as a second division in
18:06
Speaker 1: England in the championship, he plays an.
18:09
Speaker 2: Important role and he does play a little.
18:10
Speaker 1: Bit higher though, Yeah, but I think he would be
18:14
Speaker 1: for me likely the best fit there.
18:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be. I think it'll be a big tell
18:20
Speaker 3: seeing who gets that that start against Belgium. Obviously we
18:27
Speaker 3: both have Tyler Adams at number one on the depth
18:30
Speaker 3: chart among defensive midfielders, and it isn't it's a race
18:33
Speaker 3: to see who will be his backup. I just personally
18:36
Speaker 3: think you have to take two guys behind Tyler who
18:41
Speaker 3: can play that position because defensive midfielders pick up a
18:45
Speaker 3: lot of yellow cards over the course of the tournament.
18:47
Speaker 3: We of course saw it back in two thousand and
18:49
Speaker 3: six Pablo Manstron he got a red card, so without
18:52
Speaker 3: him in that spot ended up being Claudio Arena, who
18:55
Speaker 3: was not a defensive midfielder, starting at de mid in
18:58
Speaker 3: a must win game that didn't go well. So you
19:00
Speaker 3: need depth there on top of it, not just because
19:03
Speaker 3: of suspension possibilities, but because Tyler is a frequently injured player.
19:08
Speaker 3: The other absence the other snub that I guess we
19:11
Speaker 3: should have mentioned, it didn't. Unus Mussa, he got a
19:15
Speaker 3: cup of coffee for Atalanta over the past couple of
19:18
Speaker 3: weeks had a couple of good games and then sort
19:20
Speaker 3: of dropped back, you know, out of the rotation again.
19:25
Speaker 3: It's it's disappointing because four years ago we all thought
19:28
Speaker 3: the kid had the world at his feet, and now
19:31
Speaker 3: it seems like he basically doesn't have a path onto
19:34
Speaker 3: this roster.
19:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is disappointing.
19:37
Speaker 1: And I and I have to say, I'm a big
19:40
Speaker 1: fan of Unice Musa and what he can do on
19:42
Speaker 1: the field. You know, the couple of times that I
19:46
Speaker 1: that we saw him over the last year and a
19:47
Speaker 1: half with the national team. We're mostly on that wide position,
19:50
Speaker 1: which I thought were never a good fit for him,
19:53
Speaker 1: although it had Talanta. When he comes in, he's kind
19:55
Speaker 1: of playing on that right side too, the few minutes
19:58
Speaker 1: that he gets. I do think that there's a lot
20:01
Speaker 1: more in the tank there with Musa.
20:04
Speaker 2: I think potentially, and I know that this is not
20:07
Speaker 2: going to happen now, but I.
20:08
Speaker 1: Think that potentially Musa could play that role of that
20:11
Speaker 1: defensive midfielder where Adams is not. Unfortunately, I think that
20:17
Speaker 1: it seems like, you know, it's it's getting too late
20:20
Speaker 1: for that for for Unice Musa, and it's and it's
20:23
Speaker 1: unlikely that he'll he'll come back in.
20:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's another story of when you move. Look, man,
20:29
Speaker 3: it's it's a short career. And I don't blame any
20:32
Speaker 3: player for taking the most money that they can get,
20:36
Speaker 3: but for national team consideration, for the overall arc of
20:41
Speaker 3: your career consideration, you got to think about how you
20:45
Speaker 3: fit into the club that you're moving to. And I
20:49
Speaker 3: don't know if Unice Mussa had a really great grasp
20:52
Speaker 3: on that when he made this out Alanto move, because
20:55
Speaker 3: he really is surplus goods for them for how they play.
20:59
Speaker 3: It hasn't helped him at all. And this was maybe
21:02
Speaker 3: my favorite player in the pool back in the twenty
21:04
Speaker 3: twenty two cycle. I just loved what he could do
21:07
Speaker 3: in terms of getting on the ball and breaking lines
21:10
Speaker 3: with the ball on his foot and compromising opposing defensive shapes.
21:13
Speaker 3: And we don't really have that in the group without him.
21:16
Speaker 3: The other guys who play the number eight are different profiles.
21:20
Speaker 3: Tander testament is really good and he's going to be
21:22
Speaker 3: in my starting eleven, which you'll hear here in a second.
21:25
Speaker 3: And as Tab said, Sebastian Berhalter has been excellent the
21:29
Speaker 3: past few games for the white Caps, but also past
21:31
Speaker 3: few games for the US national team, so there are options,
21:34
Speaker 3: but Unos Mussa was a little bit different and it's
21:36
Speaker 3: disappointing that he won't be on this roster and almost
21:41
Speaker 3: certainly won't be at the World Cup. But for us
21:43
Speaker 3: it is time for a break. We'll be right back
21:46
Speaker 3: with our projected starting elevens for the Belgium match. Please rate, review,
21:51
Speaker 3: and subscribe to Inside American Soccer at Tom Bogert and
21:54
Speaker 3: tab Ramos wherever you got your podcasts. Welcome back to
22:09
Speaker 3: Inside American Soccer. Let's get right to a table. Let's
22:12
Speaker 3: predict our starting elevens for the Belgium match. I guess
22:17
Speaker 3: I'll go first, and I'm going to ask to see
22:20
Speaker 3: from the Putchetino. Mostly what I think is the chalk
22:25
Speaker 3: starting eleven, our best eleven, accounting for a couple absences,
22:30
Speaker 3: obviously Tyler Adams being the big one, and to me
22:33
Speaker 3: that means Matt Freese in goal. He has earned that one.
22:38
Speaker 3: And then left to right along the back line, I
22:41
Speaker 3: want to see Anthony Robinson, Chris Richards, Miles Robinson and
22:47
Speaker 3: then Alex Freeman at right back. And we all know
22:51
Speaker 3: that it's a back four that shifts in two or three. Right,
22:55
Speaker 3: That's what we've seen, and what I want to see
22:57
Speaker 3: from that is Alex Freeman all that attacking wingback role
23:01
Speaker 3: that he played so well against the Uruguay. But then
23:04
Speaker 3: the real experiment here is Jedi Robinson. Instead of being
23:08
Speaker 3: an over an overlapping full back, which is what we've
23:12
Speaker 3: gotten used to him as over the years, I want
23:14
Speaker 3: to see him slide in to that back three because
23:18
Speaker 3: I think he has the physicality to handle center forwards,
23:22
Speaker 3: but also the speed very obviously to protect in behind
23:26
Speaker 3: as the US plays a high line. But then the
23:29
Speaker 3: wild card in that is when he gets the ball
23:32
Speaker 3: on his foot, he has the ability to carry it
23:35
Speaker 3: forward through the first line of any opposing pressure, which
23:38
Speaker 3: would then compromise their shape and hopefully create chances create
23:42
Speaker 3: openings for the likes of Polistic and McKenny and flow Balligan.
23:48
Speaker 3: In front of them, I have a double pivot of
23:51
Speaker 3: Tanner Testman and Johnny Cartoso, and I don't rate Johnny
23:55
Speaker 3: Cartos so he has not played well for the US.
23:57
Speaker 3: This is last Chancealoon. Let's see how he does a
24:00
Speaker 3: big game with something close to the first eleven around him.
24:03
Speaker 3: In front of them left to right, would be Christian polistic,
24:07
Speaker 3: it would be Weston McKenny as the ten, and then
24:12
Speaker 3: I want to see Tim Weya as the right winger,
24:15
Speaker 3: and then flow Balligan up top.
24:19
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'll read mine note first, which is not
24:22
Speaker 1: much different. Different reasons for mine, but I think and
24:26
Speaker 1: then we can I think we can debate a little
24:28
Speaker 1: bit on why. So obviously I made mine not according
24:32
Speaker 1: to what I want to see, but according to the opponent,
24:35
Speaker 1: which will be Belgium, right. I think one of the
24:37
Speaker 1: things to take into consideration is that Doku plays that
24:40
Speaker 1: left side for Belgium, and Doku is one of the
24:45
Speaker 1: most informed players in the world today. If I had
24:49
Speaker 1: to name three or four players in the world were
24:52
Speaker 1: in their best form, I would name Doku as one
24:55
Speaker 1: of those players. And because of that, if I'll explain
24:59
Speaker 1: it this, If if I had to select a team
25:03
Speaker 1: from scratch, just who the best players available that we
25:06
Speaker 1: have at this moment, with the roster that we have,
25:08
Speaker 1: I would choose Tim Waya on this roster to play
25:11
Speaker 1: that wide position. Because we're playing Belgium.
25:15
Speaker 2: I would not do that.
25:16
Speaker 1: I would choose someone who's a little bit better defensively
25:19
Speaker 1: than Tim Waya. And because of that, my lineup looks
25:23
Speaker 1: like this. So I'm gonna go with Freezing Goal, which
25:25
Speaker 1: we know he's going to be in goal. I'm gonna
25:28
Speaker 1: choose three center backs and those will be uh Robinson,
25:32
Speaker 1: Richards and Reim. I just think that Mauricio Postino will
25:36
Speaker 1: continue to play Reem, although that I would I would
25:39
Speaker 1: rather see McKenzie there.
25:40
Speaker 2: I think Reim will play.
25:43
Speaker 1: And Jedi Robinson on on the left side and Alex
25:47
Speaker 1: Freeman on the right side instead of Weea.
25:50
Speaker 3: Like which one of those got because we know that
25:52
Speaker 3: Putch doesn't have both fullbacks overlapping, So who's going to overlap?
25:56
Speaker 3: Is it going to be Alex Freeman on the right
25:57
Speaker 3: or Jedi Robinson on the I.
25:58
Speaker 1: Think it could be either one, but I think because
26:01
Speaker 1: Doku will be on that left side, I think you
26:04
Speaker 1: just have to be a lot more careful with sending
26:07
Speaker 1: people forward from our right side. So I would I
26:11
Speaker 1: would put Alex Freeman there and not give them the
26:15
Speaker 1: full freedom to constantly attack from that side, but to
26:17
Speaker 1: be a little bit more careful because it literally will
26:21
Speaker 1: take five seconds on a counter for Doku to be
26:24
Speaker 1: in our box. And and certainly something to consider it.
26:28
Speaker 1: But by the way, not just because it's US. Every
26:31
Speaker 1: team in the world would consider this right. Doku is
26:34
Speaker 1: a dangerous player, so but but but this lineup still
26:38
Speaker 1: gives you the freedom for both outside backs to attacks.
26:41
Speaker 1: So if if if you know, Alex Freeman were to
26:44
Speaker 1: go forward, Jedi could could drop in.
26:47
Speaker 2: If Jedi were to go forward, then I would have
26:51
Speaker 2: Alex Freeman drop in.
26:52
Speaker 1: I would never on this lineup have both outside backs
26:55
Speaker 1: attacking at the same time.
26:57
Speaker 2: So that would be my answer, uh to your question.
27:00
Speaker 1: In the center of the field, just the replacement for
27:03
Speaker 1: me would be Johnny Cardoso replacing Taler Adams, keeping Tenor
27:10
Speaker 1: Tessaman next to him and pushing McKinney up into the
27:15
Speaker 1: double role with Polisic behind Ballogan up top.
27:21
Speaker 3: So very similar lineups from the two of us. I
27:25
Speaker 3: think we want to see the same things, right. We
27:26
Speaker 3: want to see how Johnny does with that close to
27:31
Speaker 3: first eleven around him. We want to see how Weston
27:34
Speaker 3: does as a pure attacking player, and we want to
27:37
Speaker 3: see what the balance will be along that back line.
27:43
Speaker 3: And it against a team like Belgium. You get answers
27:47
Speaker 3: to two of those three things. Even if the answers
27:50
Speaker 3: aren't what you want, then you have used the friendlies
27:54
Speaker 3: pretty well. What else should we be looking for from
27:59
Speaker 3: the lineup? Stat Do we care about possession? Do we
28:02
Speaker 3: care about how comfortable they are stringing the ball together
28:06
Speaker 3: in the final third? Or is it how we'll do
28:07
Speaker 3: on the counter attack? Do you have an eye on
28:10
Speaker 3: anything tactical like that.
28:12
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's no question that what's going to
28:15
Speaker 1: be difficult for us is to play against teams that
28:20
Speaker 1: number one can hold the ball better than we can.
28:24
Speaker 2: So that's a challenge.
28:25
Speaker 1: How we defend on a low block, how organized we
28:28
Speaker 1: can be on a low block, And then also how
28:31
Speaker 1: we manage when we have the ball on the opposing
28:34
Speaker 1: side of the field, how we manage the transitional moments
28:39
Speaker 1: into defending. That has always been a problem for us,
28:43
Speaker 1: let's say, for the last thirty years, which is really
28:46
Speaker 1: the problem for most confederate national teams outside of Europe.
28:52
Speaker 1: It has always been how to manage the European team's
28:57
Speaker 1: transition forward.
29:00
Speaker 2: So those are the two things.
29:01
Speaker 1: So my focus is a little bit more defensive because
29:05
Speaker 1: I think ultimately the better you defend, the more organized
29:08
Speaker 1: you are, the best chance you give your team to
29:10
Speaker 1: win the game. So I think those are the two
29:12
Speaker 1: things I would, you know, if I had to simplify
29:15
Speaker 1: how we defend in low block and how we defend
29:18
Speaker 1: when we're high and we lose the bowl in transition
29:21
Speaker 1: moments coming back.
29:23
Speaker 3: Let's say we go down one nil sixty minutes in,
29:26
Speaker 3: playing pretty well, but no not the cutting edge we want.
29:31
Speaker 3: Who is your first sub? Who do you bring in?
29:36
Speaker 1: So we're down one zero and this is in the
29:38
Speaker 1: second half.
29:39
Speaker 3: At some point, yep, do we get to see Ricardo
29:43
Speaker 3: PEPPI Do we bring Geo in?
29:45
Speaker 2: Or well? I think there's a combination of things.
29:48
Speaker 1: There's first of all, you don't bring Geo if you
29:50
Speaker 1: don't think he can come into a game and win it, right,
29:52
Speaker 1: because that's really what he has to offer here. What
29:55
Speaker 1: he has to offer is that he's good in that
29:57
Speaker 1: final third. So I think couple a couple of things
30:01
Speaker 1: to consider, and it depends on the game, right, because
30:05
Speaker 1: Pepe has been almost the ultimate.
30:07
Speaker 2: Poacher right over the last few years.
30:09
Speaker 1: He comes in and he scores a goal off the bench,
30:11
Speaker 1: and it's it's good to see.
30:13
Speaker 2: Not every player has the.
30:14
Speaker 1: Proper mentality to come off the bench and score. I
30:17
Speaker 1: think I think pepy can do that right, and you can,
30:20
Speaker 1: you could potentially go into two forward lineup, but I
30:25
Speaker 1: think those those are the two players for me. You're
30:27
Speaker 1: looking at Geo and you're looking at Peppi.
30:30
Speaker 3: Do you think Peppi's in this in this World Cup
30:34
Speaker 3: roster already or do you think he's in a fight
30:38
Speaker 3: for one of those spots at this camp.
30:42
Speaker 2: I think he's already on the roster.
30:45
Speaker 1: I don't see I don't see any scenario in which
30:50
Speaker 1: Poschettino doesn't bring four forwards to this, to the World Cup.
30:55
Speaker 1: And because of that, I think I think he'll be
30:57
Speaker 1: one of those for sure.
31:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have him on the fringes. I actually think
31:03
Speaker 3: because Balligan is such a clear number one, and then
31:08
Speaker 3: what Aziman offers that's different than anybody else in the
31:13
Speaker 3: pool because with the way teams press now everybody in
31:16
Speaker 3: the world presses man and that means there's been more
31:19
Speaker 3: long balls, specifically out of the back, and it turns
31:22
Speaker 3: into a game of duels where you need to win
31:25
Speaker 3: first ball, second ball, and Azimon's ability to win that
31:29
Speaker 3: first ball in the air is so superior to anybody
31:33
Speaker 3: else in the so I think he's in and then
31:37
Speaker 3: obviously Haji Wright is missing this camp. We talked about
31:40
Speaker 3: it in the first segment via injury, but his goal
31:43
Speaker 3: scoring form in a very physical league, and then his
31:47
Speaker 3: experience having scored a goal in the World Cup and
31:49
Speaker 3: done it before. So I do think that PEPPI look
31:53
Speaker 3: man like you said, he's the ultimate poacher. He's got
31:56
Speaker 3: to show the ability to do more than poach. I
31:59
Speaker 3: would really like to see him get at least a
32:03
Speaker 3: half hour against Belgium and then hopefully get the start
32:07
Speaker 3: against Portugal to see what he can offer to this team.
32:12
Speaker 3: That's more than just getting onto the end of pretty
32:16
Speaker 3: passing sequences, which he does exceptionally well. But there has
32:20
Speaker 3: to be more to his game than that in tournaments
32:24
Speaker 3: like this.
32:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's hard to disagree with
32:28
Speaker 1: what you're saying.
32:29
Speaker 2: I'm looking at it a little bit different.
32:31
Speaker 1: I'm looking at it as a coach likes to have
32:34
Speaker 1: players for different roles. So if Balligan were to go
32:39
Speaker 1: down as a starting number nine, I don't see us
32:41
Speaker 1: an area on which Peppy would be the starter for
32:43
Speaker 1: us at the World Cup. But however, I do see
32:47
Speaker 1: Peppy as a last ten minute or last fifteen minute
32:50
Speaker 1: player coming in, and that's regardless of who's starting. So
32:53
Speaker 1: let's say, you know, don't forget in twenty fourteen we
32:56
Speaker 1: had Josie and Clint Dempsey up front. You know, like
33:01
Speaker 1: two minutes into the World Cup, Josie goes down and
33:03
Speaker 1: gets hurt. He's out for the rest of the tournament.
33:05
Speaker 1: Now you have to be able to adjust to that.
33:08
Speaker 1: And I think Pochetino is thinking that. And you're not
33:12
Speaker 1: wrong with what you're saying, because I think you're saying
33:14
Speaker 1: exactly that.
33:15
Speaker 2: So you're your next starter is not Peppy.
33:17
Speaker 1: Your next starter would be It could be Agimund because
33:20
Speaker 1: of the reasons you gave, or it could be potentially
33:23
Speaker 1: Haji Wright because he can do all of those things
33:25
Speaker 1: that you mentioned as well. However, Peppy remains the off
33:28
Speaker 1: the bench ten to fifty minute guy, and because of that,
33:31
Speaker 1: if I'm thinking as a coach, I would want to
33:34
Speaker 1: have that in my sort of in my two box.
33:38
Speaker 3: Two guys we haven't mentioned hardly at all talking through
33:41
Speaker 3: this whole roster, we should touch on them a bit.
33:44
Speaker 3: Brendan Aronson, like I said, he's been always energetic and
33:49
Speaker 3: usually pretty good this year for Leeds and hasn't been
33:52
Speaker 3: super productive, but you know what he offers against the ball,
33:55
Speaker 3: full effort all the time. And then Malik Tillman. He's
33:58
Speaker 3: a kind of an up and down year for buyer Levercusan,
34:01
Speaker 3: but a guy the Pochactcino seems to trust. Where do
34:08
Speaker 3: they play in this camp and how much time you
34:12
Speaker 3: think they get in this camp?
34:16
Speaker 2: Well, I'd have to go into a specific scenario.
34:18
Speaker 1: So let's start with Aaronson first of all, I mean,
34:21
Speaker 1: very few players in this camp are as deserving as
34:24
Speaker 1: Aaronson up getting a callback. I mean he's doing it
34:27
Speaker 1: weekend and week out, and I know he doesn't play
34:28
Speaker 1: every minute for Leeds, but he's been an important part
34:31
Speaker 1: of that team. I don't think I can think of
34:34
Speaker 1: another player that works harder than he does to win
34:38
Speaker 1: the ball back, to get behind the ball when he
34:40
Speaker 1: needs to. And because of that, I'm thinking of a
34:43
Speaker 1: specific scenario. So let's say we're playing Australia second game
34:47
Speaker 1: of the World Cup. You obviously want to try to
34:50
Speaker 1: win the ball deep in their end because you want
34:53
Speaker 1: to pressure them as much as possible because you can
34:55
Speaker 1: win the ball back.
34:56
Speaker 2: And I do think of a scenario in.
34:58
Speaker 1: Which you would pull uhm McKenny back into that sect,
35:03
Speaker 1: that double six role, and have Aaronson play next to
35:07
Speaker 1: Polisic to just try to win the ball back as
35:10
Speaker 1: much as possible, and then release McKenny.
35:12
Speaker 2: From that sixth spot.
35:14
Speaker 1: Right that he would potentially be next to Adams, let's say, right,
35:17
Speaker 1: and now you're playing with only one six, and now
35:19
Speaker 1: you're adding numbers forward. So I do think that there's
35:22
Speaker 1: a role for Aaronson, And that's sort of how I
35:25
Speaker 1: see it. In terms of uh Elie Tilman. I think
35:30
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's a player that could start any time.
35:33
Speaker 1: I mean, Pochettino could decide that, you know, let's not
35:36
Speaker 1: forget that other than goalkeeper McKenny can play any role, right,
35:40
Speaker 1: So we could you could put him next to Testament
35:43
Speaker 1: if if Adams was hurt, or you could put him
35:45
Speaker 1: next to Adams and take Testament off and and have
35:48
Speaker 1: them play that double six and still have Tilman next
35:51
Speaker 1: to Polisic, and and and and go.
35:53
Speaker 2: Forward with that.
35:54
Speaker 1: So I think I think there's a role for all
35:56
Speaker 1: these players. I and I and I like that Pochettino
35:59
Speaker 1: has a lot options.
36:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that too. Good problems for the coach
36:04
Speaker 3: to have for us. It is time for one more break.
36:07
Speaker 3: And on the other side of that, we'll hear from
36:08
Speaker 3: Tab on the stress of trying to make the nineteen
36:11
Speaker 3: ninety eight World Cup roster. Thank you for listening to
36:15
Speaker 3: Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscribe. Welcome back
36:28
Speaker 3: to Inside American Soccer. We've been talking about the twenty
36:32
Speaker 3: twenty six World Cup for most of this show, but
36:35
Speaker 3: let's get in the time machine, Tab and let's go
36:38
Speaker 3: back inside the locker room to the nineteen ninety eight
36:43
Speaker 3: World Cup. You were part of that roster, your final
36:46
Speaker 3: World Cup as a player, and unlike ninety and ninety four,
36:50
Speaker 3: it wasn't necessarily given that you were going to make
36:54
Speaker 3: the final team because you're coming off a couple devastating injuries,
36:58
Speaker 3: and it was it was touch and go at times.
37:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question, And we can call these moments the
37:05
Speaker 1: black and white moments, maybe before color, the moments before
37:10
Speaker 1: color with Matt Doyle and Tabramos, but anyway, Yeah, you're
37:16
Speaker 1: absolutely right. So I was fortunate enough that, you know,
37:19
Speaker 1: in the nineteen ninety World Cup, in nineteen ninety four
37:21
Speaker 1: World Cup, I knew that I was going to start
37:23
Speaker 1: basically every game for the team. So the name naming
37:27
Speaker 1: of the roster was not really ever a concern for me.
37:31
Speaker 1: Not that I played any less hard because I wanted
37:34
Speaker 1: to be the best player every day, but they were
37:37
Speaker 1: sort of given, and so I didn't live what many
37:40
Speaker 1: players have to live through. Now going into nineteen ninety eight,
37:43
Speaker 1: completely different story because now as an older player was
37:47
Speaker 1: I was living a little bit off rent right, and
37:52
Speaker 1: I had my skull fracture which took me out of
37:55
Speaker 1: the game for about five or six months. I had
37:58
Speaker 1: two ACLS cheats took me out of the game between
38:01
Speaker 1: anywhere between five and seven months. So I had spent
38:06
Speaker 1: a lot And I'm sorry Metro Stars fans, this this
38:08
Speaker 1: happened at this time, but it did happen at that time,
38:12
Speaker 1: and and unfortunately I went into ninety nineteen ninety eight
38:17
Speaker 1: without really playing for the national team, uh the six
38:21
Speaker 1: months leading into it. So I had to worry about
38:24
Speaker 1: things that that I had that I wanted to mention
38:26
Speaker 1: here because these are the things that old players worry about.
38:29
Speaker 1: So number one, you always worry about your own fitness
38:33
Speaker 1: and how well you're doing. Are you fit enough? The
38:35
Speaker 1: next thing is are you are you game ready? Because
38:38
Speaker 1: one thing is to be fit you can run all day.
38:40
Speaker 1: And the next thing is.
38:42
Speaker 2: Is your is your mind?
38:44
Speaker 1: Is your brain thinking fast enough to be in the
38:46
Speaker 1: middle of the field when two guys are coming and
38:49
Speaker 1: can you see that pass as you're getting pressured and
38:52
Speaker 1: the bulls coming to you? And that's something that for
38:55
Speaker 1: all the players who are out there at any level,
38:57
Speaker 1: by the way, who are coming back from an injury
38:59
Speaker 1: and get thrown into a game, that is the most
39:02
Speaker 1: difficult thing. That is more difficult than your actual fitness.
39:06
Speaker 1: So you have to think about that. And then I
39:08
Speaker 1: think there's another factor that's really important is you.
39:11
Speaker 2: Start to see yourself.
39:12
Speaker 1: You start to project the roster right, how many players
39:16
Speaker 1: are gonna get picked, how many players are gonna get picked,
39:19
Speaker 1: and a position similar to mine if it's not exactly so, Like,
39:22
Speaker 1: for example, if you're a right back, that's easy enough, right,
39:25
Speaker 1: there's probably gonna be two right backs, it's you against someone.
39:28
Speaker 1: But in my position as sort of an attacking midfielder,
39:31
Speaker 1: which where I could fit into a central role, I'm
39:35
Speaker 1: more of a wide right role, but I could fill
39:37
Speaker 1: into a central role. A coach could potentially play me
39:39
Speaker 1: on the left side, So you know, you start thinking
39:42
Speaker 1: about all the items, and because of that, you have
39:44
Speaker 1: to start looking at players, and so I started looking
39:47
Speaker 1: like I had to look at guys like Wegerly or
39:50
Speaker 1: Joe Max Moore or Ernie Stewart, even as with drawn striker,
39:55
Speaker 1: I had to look into Claudio Arena as an attacking
39:57
Speaker 1: midfielder had so I had to look at a bunch
40:01
Speaker 1: of players and see how each one of them is
40:03
Speaker 1: doing and what my legitimate chance of making the team.
40:07
Speaker 2: Was going to be. So I think this is a
40:09
Speaker 2: worry that all the players have.
40:11
Speaker 1: Ultimately, the most important part is that players do well
40:15
Speaker 1: in their own club as they're playing, because that's what
40:18
Speaker 1: shows your consistency. But there's no question that all of
40:22
Speaker 1: these most of the players that are getting called in
40:25
Speaker 1: are taken into consideration all of these factors.
40:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no real perfect analogy for the situation you
40:32
Speaker 3: are in a ninety eight. In this group in twenty
40:36
Speaker 3: twenty six, there's no sort of veteran centerpiece who's holding
40:38
Speaker 3: on for one last World Cup, who's coming off of injury.
40:43
Speaker 3: But there are guys. I mean, Jedi Robinson would be
40:46
Speaker 3: the best example, because he has missed most of the
40:48
Speaker 3: last year via injury. He has not looked quite the
40:52
Speaker 3: same since coming back for Fulham, though he has put
40:55
Speaker 3: in a couple of good shifts lately. He was a centerpiece,
41:00
Speaker 3: but he's in the prime of his career. But he
41:03
Speaker 3: also saw Max Arsten over the past fifteen games say hey,
41:07
Speaker 3: it's not just Jedi and then nobody at the left
41:10
Speaker 3: back role. We actually have a depth chart. Now I
41:14
Speaker 3: have to imagine that that is probably a good thing
41:17
Speaker 3: for the entire group to say, all right, we have competition.
41:21
Speaker 3: This is what a healthy roster is supposed to look like.
41:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, no question.
41:25
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a good example you're making because
41:27
Speaker 1: John Tolkien didn't do poorly when he came in.
41:30
Speaker 2: He actually did well.
41:32
Speaker 1: I mean, and I would not be if you were
41:34
Speaker 1: to tell me Jedi Robinson get by the way, Jedi
41:37
Speaker 1: Robinson was our best player for the last five years.
41:39
Speaker 1: So no questions there that he should play all the time.
41:42
Speaker 1: But if he's injured and he's not able to play,
41:46
Speaker 1: it's truly not scary to say Max Arsten could be
41:49
Speaker 1: our starter and John Tolkien could be a backup.
41:52
Speaker 2: I mean, these are guys that have done.
41:53
Speaker 1: Well when they've come in, and the few opportunities that
41:56
Speaker 1: Tolkien has come in. If there's anything we know about Tolkien,
42:00
Speaker 1: and in particular us from the Northeast who have watched
42:03
Speaker 1: him play for the Red Bulls, I mean, this kid
42:04
Speaker 1: is not afraid of anything, so he'll be ready to
42:07
Speaker 1: go regardless of who we're playing.
42:09
Speaker 3: What's the challenge for the coach to reintegrate guys who
42:14
Speaker 3: play such a big role and miss a lot of
42:17
Speaker 3: time with injury. Because I have to imagine if you know,
42:23
Speaker 3: Anthony Robinson is back in camp and he just automatically
42:26
Speaker 3: starts and plays ninety both games, and Max Arston was
42:28
Speaker 3: a ninety minute player all last year and suddenly he's
42:31
Speaker 3: not seeing the field like there could be. These are
42:34
Speaker 3: professional athletes, they're competitive dudes. Managing that cannot be an
42:39
Speaker 3: easy part of being a head coach.
42:41
Speaker 2: It's not easy.
42:42
Speaker 1: But you know, the funny part is that when you
42:44
Speaker 1: go into locker room, all the players know who the
42:46
Speaker 1: best players are. So that's regardless of what the coach
42:50
Speaker 1: is thinking, regardless of what the fans are thinking or
42:52
Speaker 1: what the press is saying. Everybody knows who the best
42:56
Speaker 1: left back on the team is.
42:57
Speaker 2: There's no question there.
42:58
Speaker 1: Right, everybody knows who they feel more comfortable with playing
43:01
Speaker 1: on the right side, and that's the coach may select
43:04
Speaker 1: someone else, but the players know.
43:06
Speaker 2: And I think that's the important thing.
43:08
Speaker 1: And this is why building a group that gets along
43:12
Speaker 1: and building a group that just likes to play for
43:15
Speaker 1: each other is really important, because at the end of
43:18
Speaker 1: the day, the players know who the best players are
43:20
Speaker 1: and who should be playing.
43:22
Speaker 3: All right, So take us back then to nineteen ninety eight.
43:25
Speaker 3: You were still one of the best players in the
43:28
Speaker 3: US roster at that or in the US pool at
43:32
Speaker 3: that point. And then the moment you did finally see
43:36
Speaker 3: your name on the roster for your third World Cup, No, well.
43:41
Speaker 2: It truly was a proud moment, and it took me.
43:45
Speaker 1: It took me back to all the recovery that I
43:47
Speaker 1: had to do because I spent most of the time
43:49
Speaker 1: in a training room, you know, for a period of
43:52
Speaker 1: about you know, two and a half years, three years,
43:54
Speaker 1: and that was really hard.
43:56
Speaker 2: I do think that I was not at my best
43:59
Speaker 2: level at that World Cup.
44:00
Speaker 1: I do think that, you know, and I wish that
44:03
Speaker 1: I could have helped the team a lot more. But
44:05
Speaker 1: I can tell you that in the training room and
44:08
Speaker 1: in recovery rooms. I don't think anyone would work harder
44:13
Speaker 1: than I did to get back. And you know, I
44:16
Speaker 1: did make it to the World Cup. And you have
44:18
Speaker 1: to remember I tore my ACL in November. So you know,
44:22
Speaker 1: you you mentioned off offline a little bit. You mentioned
44:25
Speaker 1: a little bit about how the game that that gave
44:28
Speaker 1: Steve Sampson the idea of playing that three six one
44:31
Speaker 1: in the World Cup was the Austra game leading into
44:33
Speaker 1: the World Cup, which was our last friendly. I didn't
44:36
Speaker 1: even play that one. I wasn't even on the roster yet.
44:39
Speaker 1: So I got called to the World Cup without playing
44:42
Speaker 1: any games leading into it, which which really, you know,
44:46
Speaker 1: I thank Steve Samson for that, and and then I
44:49
Speaker 1: think all of the people who helped me get back
44:52
Speaker 1: to get into MLS, I think I played. I started
44:55
Speaker 1: MLS games barely five months from from my surgery, So
45:00
Speaker 1: which for an ACL, that's that's that's really fast.
45:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, you and Reverso Basio had the record recovery time
45:07
Speaker 3: from touring acls. I think he was around five months
45:10
Speaker 3: for one of his as well. Maybe not recommended medically,
45:14
Speaker 3: maybe it could have stretched out a little bit more
45:16
Speaker 3: of it but probably worth it to get on that
45:18
Speaker 3: last World Cup roster. It is last chance for the
45:23
Speaker 3: World Cup roster for a lot of the guys that
45:25
Speaker 3: we're going to see in these March friendlies coming up.
45:29
Speaker 3: Thank you all for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate,
45:34
Speaker 3: review as subscribe well. Of course, be back next week
45:37
Speaker 3: to talk more about what we should expect to see
45:40
Speaker 3: from these two games, and who knows, there might even
45:42
Speaker 3: be a late addition or two to this roster. So
45:46
Speaker 3: please continue to leave your questions and comments on all
45:48
Speaker 3: our platforms, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and we will
45:52
Speaker 3: see you next week