Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT in Europe Predictions + What's Wrong With U.S. Youth Development?

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USMNT in Europe Predictions + What's Wrong With U.S. Youth Development? · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am frustrated about where Western McKenney is in it
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: his career.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm sorry you're so frustrated, Matt.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Yes, I haven't had a glass of white wineing Spain
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in a week.
• 0:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's tough because.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I want to ease into this.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: What's going on?
• 0:21
  Speaker 5: Everybody. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USM
• 0:25
  Speaker 5: and T insider Tom Bogert. I'm joined by one of
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: the greatest players in the US M and T history,
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: Tab Ramos and tab. Today we have our good friend,
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: the arms Herre analyst Matt Doyle, back on the show.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Tap. We're getting into the European season.
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: Starting, and today we're gonna look at a season preview
• 0:40
  Speaker 5: for the Americans abroad in Europe.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: But for now, are you excited for these seasons starting?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I can't wait.
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  Speaker 4: Really, I know some of the games already started this weekend,
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: and uh, you know, it was a big pause between
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: the between the World Cup, and you know, it's hard
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: to get excited for the for the European leagues. After
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: the World Cup, of course, we had some MLS games
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: to watch and some League Cup games to watch, so
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: there was some soccer round, but you know, after watching
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: such a great World Cup, it was difficult to get
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: into it again. Uh, but I think now, I think
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: most people are ready, and there's been some big transfer
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: news around the world and that makes everybody excited about
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: their teams.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: And but I think what's most exciting is that we
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: have Matt.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Back with us, because, uh, you know, we miss Matt.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: You know, he's he comes around.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: I think he's like, I'm starting to put him in
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: that category of big star on our show because he
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: just shows up. He just shows up every once in
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: a while. You know, when we get he can give
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: us a few minutes.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: So I show up once, I show up once a month,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: and you just so this is.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Like hitting with the outside of the fuck. You're gonna
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: get you all and you're gonna.
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: Get three one me and taps it all the way
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: to get it to get and tap.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: We talk about Europe, we talk about being ready for
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: the season.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: We need to talk about preparation because Doyle just got
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: back from Spain right before Lat League started.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I think we time this out. Why why didn't you
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: plan better, Doyle?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: What happened he was doing the pre season?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I think yes, one pinchot at a time. No, like
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I have to when I go on vacation in the summer.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I go to Spain every summer. I do not make
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it a soccer vacation like I need to unplug and
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: make it food and wine and some museums. It's called culture, Tom,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: you should look it up.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Try to try to sneak museums in their tap. Give
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: me a break, right right.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: And you know he didn't mention food.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: But I'll tell a quick little story when I got
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: when I got transferred from UH from Figueras to Betty's,
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  Speaker 4: I had to I had to Obviously I had a car.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I had to take my car all the way down there.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So we drove.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it wasn't the days where like somebody got
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: you a plane and you landed there. So I had
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: to drive across Spain. But here's my point, Like every
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: it was like fifteen hour drive or something from Figueras,
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  Speaker 4: which is right next to France on the Mediterranean, and
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: you go all the way across to the you know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: to the to the southwest of Spain, so it's you're
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: cutting straight across the country. We did that whole drive,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: going to places where you couldn't see anything like it
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: was no to end anywhere.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: We stop and we had a meal. It was amazing.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I can only imagine being in Bilbao what
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: that was like. Because the food in Spain, I think,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: I think it's hard to beat.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you right there. And the fact that
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I have gained ten pounds since the start of the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: World Cup means that I have to stop enjoying food
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and drink quite as much as I have over the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: course of this summer.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Hashtag died starts Monday. As always, let's get in.
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  Speaker 5: Let's get into the latest around the US men's national team.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: Like I said, we're going to do a big us
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: MN teen Europe preview, but first let's knock out a
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: little bit of news and so breaking news here on
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: Tuesday morning for me, So it's to say that the
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: Philadelphia Union are finalizing a deal to sign US M
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: and T center back Mark McKenzie from FC to lose.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: That deal will go through in January.
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  Speaker 5: To Lose made it clear to the union that you
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: could give US fifty million, we're not selling right now,
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: and they found a compromise to pre agree a deal
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  Speaker 5: for January and mackenzie twenty seven years old. His contract
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: was up next summer. He's coming home to the philadelph Union,
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: his boyhood club, after a good six or so years
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  Speaker 5: in Europe.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, I thought this was one that Austin might
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  Speaker 1: have gotten in on with Jim Curton, who honestly, it
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: was Jim Curtin coming in to Austin as coach who's
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: going to have something close to sporting director level control
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  Speaker 1: over the roster, at least input over the roster. So
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I was a little surprised it was the Union. But
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: also you have to give credit to Philly for learning
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  Speaker 1: from their mistakes, because they made a ton of them
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  Speaker 1: over this past winter. I thought you did a good job,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and you're right up on the athletic time contextualizing like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Philly understands they want to bring guys like Neil Pierre through.
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  Speaker 1: Neil Pierre is going to have more success if he's
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  Speaker 1: playing next to someone like Mark McKenzie. And credit to
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Mark McKenzie. He went to Europe for five years, He's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: had a pretty successful time there. He was on the
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  Speaker 1: World Cup team. Now he gets to go home, hopefully
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to an MLS that is about to become more aggressive
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  Speaker 1: in the transfer market and better at developing players, like
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: we've already seen that, especially in Philly over the past
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  Speaker 1: couple of months. So I don't I don't mind this
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: for any of the parties involved. And look, if MLS
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  Speaker 1: is going to improve as a league, they need to
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  Speaker 1: be aggressive about making moves like this. I just didn't
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: think it would be the Union because they have not
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: been the most aggressive team in the world about spending money.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: So so really quickly I did.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: It's funny that you bring up Boston because of the
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: Philly connections with Jim Curtin and them. I like when
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: I heard that it was possible Mark Kenzie's coming back,
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: there's a couple of clubs interested. I knew Philly was there,
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: and I kind of reached out, like Cole to Austin
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: about it. And they love the player, of course, but
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: that's more of like like Philly are in a better
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  Speaker 5: spot for him than Austin, and Austin have a complete
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: rebuilt around heading heading into the Jim Curtin era when
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: he takes over this winter. And while he'd be a
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: great piece for anybody, they've got a whole lot of
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: other things to do and whereas this Philly team could
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: just welcome in with a deep spot. There could be
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: salary cap changes that we're gonna talk about later in
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: the show. Maybe he won't be a DP in the
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: future regardless. But tab for two questions. One, what does
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  Speaker 5: this mean for mackenzie moving forward with his national team career?
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  Speaker 5: And two, as somebody who's a preeminent voice on youth development,
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  Speaker 5: do you agree with Doyle and I that this is
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: only good for somebody like Neil Pierre or whenever Neil
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  Speaker 5: Pierre gets sold the next teenage center back that breaks
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  Speaker 5: through the Union Academy.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's there's there's a lot that's good about this.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: You know, when when I when I.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Saw your tweet earlier to break the news, I sort
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  Speaker 4: of had to do a little bit of a double
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  Speaker 4: take that it was Philadelphia, to be honest, and but
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  Speaker 4: I'm but I'm happy about that because it kind of shows,
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  Speaker 4: you know, by the way Philadelphia is turning their season around,
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  Speaker 4: coming out of nowhere right now, and I think this
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  Speaker 4: is a great addition at the right time. You know,
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  Speaker 4: if there's if there's one thing, and I'll get into
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: the national team's stuff after, but if there's one thing
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  Speaker 4: that's really important about Mark is exactly you know what
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  Speaker 4: Matt said about him being around Pierre. You know, Mark
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  Speaker 4: mackenzie is the ultimate professional. He's a great person in
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  Speaker 4: the locker room. He works hard every day, doesn't take
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  Speaker 4: a day off. He cares about his team. He has
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  Speaker 4: all of the qualities that will help Pierre, you know,
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  Speaker 4: sort of get through and a perfect reason that that
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  Speaker 4: alone is a great reason to bring him in because
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  Speaker 4: think of the value right of Pierre and and so
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  Speaker 4: and so anyway, players like that that he can help
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  Speaker 4: to come through. And then and then there's the national
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  Speaker 4: team part. I think I think he will benefit from that.
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  Speaker 4: But by the way, I give Mark a lot of
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  Speaker 4: credit for, you know, for having been in Europe for
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  Speaker 4: that longer period of time, because he he certainly didn't
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  Speaker 4: have to and certainly was not doing it for money,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: because he could have come back at any time and
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  Speaker 4: found a spot as a center back for another my
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: last team for more money that he was making in Europe.
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  Speaker 4: But he paid his dues. You know, he went to
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Belgium for a while, you know where. And by the way,
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: it's not like we see the Belgian league every day.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: We never really saw him. You know he's in Belgium.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: We know he's there, we read about him, we watch
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: some highlights, but we're not watching every week. And then
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: he went to France and sort of a little bit
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: of the same right and in France, for most of us,
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: unless you're playing on you know, PSG or Marseille or
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: Monaco or maybe Leone, you're not really you know, I'll
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: speak for me, but not really watching a whole lot
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: of league, huh. And and now he's back with a
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: whole ton of experience and hopefully he's back to Philadelphia
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  Speaker 4: for the next seven or eight years to help other
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  Speaker 4: players like him who has He has been through the
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: whole Philadelphia system to get through to the top and
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: to Europe, which is exactly he has been through, exactly
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  Speaker 4: what every other player wants to do.
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  Speaker 2: And so he's a great signing in every way.
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: I couldn't agree more. And I think it's super interesting
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: for the Union. Well, let's continue on with Americans and
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: their news around the team. Ricara Peppy scored on a
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: Virginia Test assist for PSIS. That's always a good sign.
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: Austin Trassi scored for Celtic, but grena in a friendly
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: his debut for Strasburg, he picked up an assist. Tab
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: I don't know what what you made of it, And listen,
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: it's preseason. So I wouldn't kill him for a bad performance,
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: and I wouldn't go way over the top for you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: a great performance. But getting an assist is better than
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: not getting an assists, right.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I guess it's a good way to put it in.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Hard to add to that, No, I think he's back,
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: you know, look, I mean this is this is uh,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: this is an important season obviously for g Arena and
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I and we'll get into that a little bit later.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: But listen, good he came in the second half, got
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: an assist, you know, good, good start, and let's hope
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: he has a good season because we've we've been waiting
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: for a ninety minute game for you know, four to
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: five years. So really, the only reason I think I
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: want to add a little bit about the Arena is
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: because Mariso Pochettino continues as head coach, because he's one
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: of the ones to benefit from that because he paid
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: attention to him when I think no other coach would.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Have paid attention to Geo Ray not going into this
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: World Cup.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: And and you know, Putchattino's back, so he believes in
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: him a little bit. So Geo still has an opportunity
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: if he does well, to be a big part of
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: the national team, which is you know, you know, if
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: you look at where he's been for the last four
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: years and what he's done, it's hard to figure out
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: the reason why.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: But he's there and he has an opportunity.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: And by the way, I wish the best for him,
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: and I hope he does great, but you know, it's
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: a good start.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Door does this change your opinion anyway? Yet? Not for friendly?
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: Uh No, I.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Mean my opinion is not going to be changed until
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: he proves he can stay fit and he proves that
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: he could sprint, right, because even when he played in
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the World Cup, I think he had the lowest top
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: speed of the eighth players. I've said this several times
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: on the show, but it's worth repeating. Matt Turner registered
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a higher sprint in the game against Turkey than Gil Ran.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: But at the same time time club like Strasburg takes
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a chance on him, gives him a five year contract
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: they think it was and Pachtino calls him up because
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: he has so much talent he is. In my opinion,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: he's the most talented player the US has ever produced,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and he just got derailed by injuries I think primarily,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: maybe some other stuff as well in terms of attitude.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: If it all comes together for him though at even
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: eighty five percent, he is a written in penn member
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: of the national team, probably even a starter. So yeah,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I great start, and I'm glad he was able to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: get the assistance. I'm even happier he was able to
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: walk off the field under his own power. And I
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: hope we get that version of go O thirty five.
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: Times this year.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: This will be a good transition because we're gonna talk
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: about Gio Reina as we do a USMNT in Europe
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: season preview. Well, let's just get right into it. Were
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: you guys looking forward to to have the best season
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: of Americans abroad? Tablets start with you.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna say Weston McKinney. You know, he had a
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: good World Cup. It was solid, he was pretty consistent
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: throughout the games. And I think this Juventus team is
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: really looking to move up the table this year uh
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: and hopefully challenge challenge for the title. And I think
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: he will be a big part of that. And and
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: by the way, every time I watch him play for
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: events as he plays well. So there's no reason I
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: want to call this a little bit of a safe
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: bet because I know that McKinney can't really play any
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: other way. I mean, he's just he will keep on trucking,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: and and by the way, he's doing it for one
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: of the best clubs in the world. So I'm I'm
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: gonna I'm gonna go with Weston.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with Wes McKinney as well. Tab.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: This is what feels to be the first season in
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: a while in which you've ade doesn't have a new
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: manager that decided they don't want McKinny and taking away
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: his parking pass and changing his lock only for September
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: first to roll around, and he is just an automatic
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: starter again. So that's probably nice for Western McKinney that
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: he didn't need to fight for a spot again this
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: week this summer. But last year, I think it was
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: his most productive season of his career. Five goals six
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: assists in the league, another four in the Champions League.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: He played forty six appearances between Syria and the Champions League.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: He's basically playing every single game for this club, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: I was just so impressed by him over that European season,
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: plus what he did at the World Cup that going
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: into the twenty twenty six to twenty seven season, I'm
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: just gonna beat on Weston McKinney and then like over,
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of other good options. I'm not sure
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: if any of us are gonna say Pool is sick.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: I know his stock's a little bit down right now,
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: but you know, in October of last year he was
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: one of the best players in Syria over the first
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: two months of that season. So he's gonna be in
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: the conversation. But for me, Westn McKinney's just the safest bet.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Doyle. Where do you stand?
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna put it back on you guys first,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: what position do you expect Weston McKenny to play? And
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: is there another level? Because like I agree with that,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: he's gonna be right, He's gonna on the ball. He's
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: going to be a big part of Juve this year.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: He's a big part of Juve every year. Is he
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: going to be a central part? Is he going to
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: be the type of guy that the team is actually
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: built around, or is he just going to plug one hole,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: plug another hole, and play a different position every week,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: which is what he's done for basically the past three
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: or four seasons. And I think that is to his
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: credit as a player, but has not been to his
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: benefit in terms of developing into the very best version
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: of Weston McKenny and Franquently, I'm a little frustrated that
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: he's still at juve and still in this kind of
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: jack of all trades, master of none role. I don't
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: know if either of you guys have thoughts on that,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: but if you, if you do, shout him out, because I, like,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I want to feel good about this. I am frustrated
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: about where Western McKenny is in his his career.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm sorry you're so frustrated, Matt. I
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: appreciate that.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Yes, I've hadd a glass of white wine from Spain
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: in a week.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because I want to ease into this, you know.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: You know, here's the thing, you know, I had. I
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: had a coach in Spain, Jorge Dalissandro, who coached Athletico
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Madrid after who coached me at Betty's great coach by
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: the way, who said to me, you know I happened
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: to mention to him a player that I liked in
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: the league and the league at one point, and he
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: said he didn't like him, and I said why, And
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: I asked him why and he said, well, I don't
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: like him.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Because he's a little bit good at everything.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: And I said, well, but but doesn't that make a
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: good player and he said he said no, I'd rather
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: have a player that's really good at something and then
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: I know how to play him. I agree with you, Matt,
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: and I have to say I'm going to jump on
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: your frustrated bandwagon here that it's difficult for Weston because
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: he does so many things so well. I mean, you know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: if we were talking about Weston playing for I don't know,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Bologna or Atlanta, which is by the way, is another
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: it's also a big club, but you know, or Venetzia
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: coming up, and he was a jack of old trades
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: in one.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Of those teams, I'd be worried.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: But I mean, he plugs all the holes in one
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: of the biggest clubs, you know, one of the clubs
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: of the most pressure, like in the world. I think
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: I can't every week I watch him. I'm in all
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: because I even saw him played left back. You know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: we saw him at the end of the last year.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: I think you and I were doing this show when
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: he went to left back all of a sudden for Juventus.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: So he can do it all.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: I agree with you with personally, I'd like to see
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: Weston play that eight role and from the eight role
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: get into the box all the time and get back
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: to defending his own box. I think he can kill
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: it dead, but he can do so well in many
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: other positions. So yeah, so I agree with you in
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: a way. But at the same time, I think he's
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: just so good in so many different ways that I
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: think Juventus will continue to use them in the same way.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: Doyle, who's your pick for the best season? I'm gonna
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: be boring too, I'm gonna say Chris Richards. And I think,
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: I mean it is a little bit right because all
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: this stuff we said about Weston, We're.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Like, he's gonna do this, and he's gonna do that,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and he's gonna play here and he's gonna play there.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: There's none of that now with Chris Richards. Like he's
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: a center back and it's kind of his team, right,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: like at least the back line, Like he is the veteran.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: He is the guy who, like we talked about the
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: role Mark McKenzie is playing for Philadelphia, like that is
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: kind of the role that Chris Richards is in now
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: with Crystal Palace, with the young guys around him.
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: I like that responsibility.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that kind of pressure, like
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: he's already the best defender that the US has. I
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: think that that kind of pressure for a premier league
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: team hopefully turns him into an A plus leader as well,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: which I don't think he is quite yet in that
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: locker room.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: I push back on that a little bit. Maybe A
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: plus is where you're hinging on, but like I think.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: You got you get a lot of A plus is
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: in school time?
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: No guy, Yeah, b's get degrees. That's what they know.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: That was that was solid, That's how that's how it
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: all worked out for me.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: But you were like you were like the Weston McKinney
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: of school.
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: I prided myself on finishing assignment's quick and that has
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: benefited me greatly in my professional career.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: So I think I think I did it right. But
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: for me, I think he's a good leader. It is
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: a good point.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: Doyle that like it is another level, like if he
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: is the guy in the back line they sold Lacroix,
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: they who else did they sell? This is a team
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: more gay obviously that was like January. But there's a
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: team not in flux. But there's a lot of change,
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: and he's one of the constants, and he's one of
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: the guys that I know that they will be relying on.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: So the only pushback here is they won the Conference
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: League last year, they won the FA Cup two years ago.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: It can't get any better, realistically, can't get any better
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: for Crystal Palace.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: But I think he'll be fantastic whether they're you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: fifth or fifteenth.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: And I and I agree, I agree with you and
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: I and I like the call that you're making, map, but.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: It's a it's a really gutsy call.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: I think this year, uh only because you know, the
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: E p L has so many great teams. Crystal Palace
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: I think has been has been sort of uh you know, uh,
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: gaining ground and you know, pushing I think above.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Their their weight for quite a few years now.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: And and I think it I think it'll be difficult,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: you know, to be you know, if he's gonna have
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: the best season of any American overseas. That means he's
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: having a great season for Crystal Palace in a league
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: that's gonna be super difficult this year, and that means
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: he's gonna be one of the best center backs in
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: the world. So I'd love to see that, by the way,
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: I'd love for you to be right that that that
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: Chris Richards has the best season of any any player
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: playing in Europe.
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: Tab I'm gonna keep it with you for our next category,
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: who's under the most pressure for Americans abroad.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to say. I'm gonna have to say
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: gi Arena. Uh and the only reason again, you know,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: I go back to Puchattino. Pochettino is gonna keep looking
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: at him, and I think gi Arena over the last
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: you know, at least three or four years, has gotten
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: so many chances with different teams based on potential of
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: what one day he could become. He hasn't become that.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: I think if he doesn't do well this year. I
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: know you talked about he got a five year contract.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: I'd like to know who the technical director of that
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: club is that hasn't looked at the fact that he
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: really hasn't played four games in a row, like and
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I don't know how long, like like not even off
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: the bench. I don't think you know, it's a it's
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: a tough call to sign gi orrain as a five
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: year contract after the last four years we've seen. But
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: yet there he is, and you know, he just played,
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: I have a game and he got an assist and
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: and this can be a big season for him, or
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: it can be one of those seasons where you know,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: here he goes again. And I just don't know how
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: long it's going to take for people to give up.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: So so for me, and this is tab, I think
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: that you're right in the general view, But for me,
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: I don't view it as pressure for Rena from where
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: I'm sitting because I'm I feel like I'm pretty out
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: or I hope that it comes back, but I just
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: don't know that it's gonna And and I'm I don't
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: want to do the thing where every week it's like, oh,
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: did he play thirty? Like I want to wait until
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: like he plays his weight back on like if when if,
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: and when we do a fall roster preview, I wouldn't
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: have him on it. And and I think it's more
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: about him climbing back on than you know, being on
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: a pressure to defend his spot. It's it's like, is
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: Yunusmuss under pressure this season? Like I guess, but he's
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: so far away from the picture of the team and
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: Reyna isn't obviously that. But I'm just sick of talking
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: about a player in the hypothetical.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Doyle. Who's who's under the most pressure view.
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: I mean to me, it's it's Christian Polistic.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: He is a central part, a big part of that
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: ac Milan team, which is, you know, one of the
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: great clubs in the world.
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: They bet on him.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: It looks like they're gonna sell Raphael Lau. He's on
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the outs and it does look like Polistic is gonna
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: be I don't want to say the man in that
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: attacking midfielder, but he's gonna play an even bigger role
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: than he has the past couple of years. He has
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: a number nine now to play off of than Gonsala Ramos,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: which means there are kind of no more excuses about fit,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: about partnerships, about anything like that. Like he's in the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: club that has bet big on him repeatedly. He's in
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the prime of his career. He just came out of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: a World Cup where he didn't play well. Mostly that
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: was due to injury, but like, it's also he didn't
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: play well for club or country since the start of
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the season. There's a ton of pressure on this guy,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Like they're like, I think it's by leaps and bounds
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: more pressure than any other US player is facing.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: I agree because of his central role for a c Milan,
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: So Doyle, that's gonna be my pick as well. The
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: only counter pushback, would you know?
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: He's so?
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: I mean, I guess it depends on either what he
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: wants or what the expectations are. Obviously he's going to
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: be a central part frasing Milan, but if he doesn't
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: do well, then then maybe there's gonna be another move. Yes,
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: there's I believe two years left on his contract or
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: one plus one, so that factors into it. But the
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: other side is he's done really well from Milan generally
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: since he arrives. He just played at a home World
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: Cup the United States. So if we're talking about press like,
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: is this the peak of his career? Has the peak
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: of his career gone through? And I don't say that
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: in a negative way, but in terms of most pressure
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: he's won a Champions Zig, he's played at a home
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: World Cup, he's played really well in theory off for stretches,
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: and he's at an age where if he wants to
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: go to like Major League Soccer like Saudi Ray or
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: something like that like tomorrow, he would have already accomplished
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: a lot. So I think it's not necessarily like a
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: player on the rise looking to prove or looking to
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: earn a next move like I think Polisick in terms
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: of like clubs that he's played for, is probably peaked,
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: so he'll feel the pressure because he he's one of
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: the best players for the national team, one of the
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: best players from Milan. But in terms of like consequences,
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: like his career is pretty you know, strong as is,
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: and I don't know. If he plays poorly from Lan
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: this year, we'll obviously think of him differently, But that
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: one's like away Champions League winners metal. It won't take
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: away kind of the goals and things that he's done
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: for the national team or for Milan, and it will
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: recalibrate maybe how we see him or think of him.
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: But in terms of like consequences for new contracts or
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: consequences for legacy and stuff like.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: I think it'd be minimal.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, if I if I could just add to that,
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: I would just say that I agree with all that.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I just think that, you know, this is the season
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: for him.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: It doesn't get you know, as you know, I didn't
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: put him in my core group of going into the
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: next World Cup. I just think he's he has peaked.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: I think this is his year. This is a year
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: for him. It's sort of like a maintenance year where
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: he has to do really well to keep his position
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: at AC Milan, and I think it will be a
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: difficult season for him.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: Under Ruben Amrim, I do like to fit and maybe
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: I'm just optimistic about Christop Polstic this year, but there
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: is definitely a lot of pressure. Next category one player
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: you most interested to follow this year, I'm gonna start
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: flow Balgan because I do still very much think that
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: there's going to be a transfer from as Monico. I
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: don't know where it's gonna be. He's been linked with Spurs.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: I've had that downplayed. There's been some links with like
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: gals asterin Turkey. I think that'd be super maybe not random,
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: but I think it'd be interesting. I think he'd score
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: a lot of goals wherever he goes, so flow Balgin
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: because of the nature of where he's at in his
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: career right now, his goal scoring ability and importance to
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: the national team. I'm most interested to follow him.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with I'm most interested
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: to follow. I would say Xavier Goozo the most, just
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: because I think he can have a huge upside really quick,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: you know, if he does well. And by the way,
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: I think we of course we're going to be patient
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: with him. It doesn't mean that he's going to do
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: really well right away, but I think think he's the
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: one that could that could actually explode this year, and
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: it would be great if he got a couple a
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: couple of opportunities and he you know, got on the
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: field and he made a couple of big plays and uh, he's.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Certainly an exciting player.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: So I'm looking forward to to following him.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Gozo is my choice as well. It's there's gonna
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: be an adjustment period for for him going to Crystal Palace,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: but his ability in the final third to eliminate defenders
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: off the dribble and then his goal danger that he
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: provides from out wide. That was something the US had
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: trouble generating uh In in the World Cup. It's something
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: that I hope we see. You know, he's shown it
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: obviously an MLS, but I hope he hits the ground
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: running in England and shows it, and then I hope
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: we get to see it next month in the national
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: team camp. I will be very disappointed if we don't
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: get to see Xavi or Gozo uh In that get
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: like he's He's just such a bright, shining prospect, active
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: one as well. Those two things don't always align.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: Speaking of disappointments, I'm disappointed that he hasn't officially been
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: announced by Crystal Palacy yet. At the time of recording
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: to Day at ten thirty yesterday, a week ago, I
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: thought this was gonna be announced the next day. Here
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: I am today. I'd still say the same thing. But
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: you know, lawyers are gonna lawyer. The PaperWorks can go
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: back and forth. There's gonna be red lines on punctuation
• 27:24
  Speaker 5: and sentences. It's very, very annoying, but as far as
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: I understand, there's nothing to worry about. But hey, maybe
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: there'll be more updates there, but it's costing him time.
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: Like Palace wanted him to be able to play in
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: their preseason game last weekend. Obviously that couldn't happen because
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: the deal wasn't officially executed because the lawyers are gonna lawyer.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: But here we are last one here in terms of
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: our season preview for Americans abroad, We're just gonna give
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: one bold prediction for an American in Europe. I'm gonna
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: start again here because I think Sebastian Burhalter is going
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: to lead Americans in assists in top ten leagues in
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: Europe this year.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: That, I mean, that's that's a that's certainly a bold prediction,
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: but but it can be good. Yeah, well, your rationale
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: is going to be that he takes the set pieces, and.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: Of course, I'm sorry, forty six games, he's a he's
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: a dog. I think he's going to basically play all
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: of them. So we're just playing the numbers here that
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: I think, and the championship relies a lot on set pieces.
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: He's gotten an assist what was it in the Cup
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: game against Wrexham.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I just think he's going to be
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: such a revelation for them.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and and by the way, in order to do that,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: he has to earn time on the field, and I
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: think in order to turn time on the field, he
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: has to be playing well. And so that's that's all
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: good signs, and I think I think he may get that.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: You know, No, I wasn't going to take credit away
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: from the fact.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: That he was going to be the leading assists man
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: by saying he's going to dribble two three guys and
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: slip a ball through, uh to forward.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I knew that a lot of them would come from
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: set pieces.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: But uh, you know, it's it's a bold prediction, but
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: I think it's a good one. It has good base
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: for me. Oh no, go ahead, Matt. I don't know
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: if you want to you want to add to that,
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: because I think that's that's a good call by Tom.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: No, I think it's a good call as well.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: It's actually I'm not sure i'd be willing to say
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that it's bold. I think it's a little cowardly. Tom,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: do better. Next time, grow up, I'll jump in.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I'll say.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: My bold creation is that by mid season, Alex Freeman
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: will be on the radars of the biggest clubs in
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the world like he's playing Yeah, yeah, he's I mean
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: he's playing for a Champions League team, via Reale, so
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: he's already on the roster of a very big club.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: But we all know there's a jump from via Real
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: up to those teams, whether it's it's you know, Barcelona, Madrid,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Bayron Munich or like one of the truly giant clubs
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: in England. I think he's that type of talent and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the way he was able to adjust relatively quickly from
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: MLS to La Liga, and then the versatility he's shown
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: playing as a right back, right wing back or even
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a right center back that we saw I think more
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: with the US than we've seen with via Real, checking
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: all of those boxes and he's like six foot two
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: and cancherable and pass like there's it feels like there's
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: no there's no ceiling with this kid, and I think
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: he's gonna show it quick. So that's my bold prediction.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Though it might be a little bit cowardly, just like
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: your style.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: I think it's good.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: I like it.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: Tab anything to end Yeah, well, I you know, I
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: think here's the difficult part.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: And I and I agree with all.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: The things you said in terms of his pure talent
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: that he has. I think at via Real he will
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: mostly play right back and not center back, and I
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: think I think because of that it, you know, I
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: have a tough time buying into the fact, like all
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: the big clubs are going to want him if he
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: was if he was just playing center back, I could
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: see that. However, as a right back and playing on
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: a team where he's competing for a right back spot
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: where it's not for sure that he's going to play
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: all the time, I have a tough time believing that
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: all the big clubs are going to be after him now.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: If it's not this year, it maybe next year.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, via Ral is known for
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: selling their big players to Athletico Madrid, so that could
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: be one of the big specific Yeah, so that could
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: be one of the one of the ways to go.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: I'm definitely rooting for this kid because he was one
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: of my favorites. He's been over the last year and
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: a half since I think you and I were doing
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: the show, Matt when we he started sort of coming
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: through the national team and uh and so, yeah, so
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: I think it can happen. But because of his situation
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: and the club he's in and the competition he has,
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: knowing that his coach likely only using them as a
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: right back. I have a tough time following that.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: Table.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Oh in mind, my.
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: Bold prediction would be that both Christian Polistic and Jio
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: Reina will be an MLS by the end of uh
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: but before the end the next summer.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, both of them.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, that is certainly Boldoyle, it is, but it shouldn't
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: be right like this is a bridge.
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: MLS is a league should across.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, when they got Messi, it
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: was a chance to sort of turbo charge the growth
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: of the league and become more aggressive, open up the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: checkbook and really try to become one of the top
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: five leagues in the world. And they kept kicking the
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: can down the road. And now it's going to be
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: a new commissioner and we'll see some rule changes. We'll
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: obviously see the schedule change starting next year as well.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: That would be a good time for the league to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: get really aggressive about bringing in the best and most
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: talented US players. A better time for the league to
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: do that would have been twenty twenty three or twenty
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: twenty four. So it's bold, just because MLS has been
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: so hesitant and so conservative in how they approach this
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: sort of thing, and I think that's been to the
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: detriment of the league. And hopefully it doesn't end up
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: being to the detriment of these players, though. I will
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: say with Geo, with his injury history, men, it better
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: not be the Seattle Sounders that he ends up on
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: or he's just gonna spend the rest of his life
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: in the hospital.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: That's a good point.
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: Hey, if it works with Strasburg, if it works at MS,
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: wherever it is, we do all want to see him
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: playing well, looking fit, and looking athletic again. But it's
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: time for a quick break. That was our Americans Abroad
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: preview for the European season. Up next, we're gonna come
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: back stateside. We're gonna talk MLS it with a big
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: picture conversation, the impact the league will have on the
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: US national team moving forward, and much much more. Please
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: rate review and subscribed Inside American Soccer, Tom Morgan, Tabramos,
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: wherever you're the punt, Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: We did our European preview for Americans Abroad and let's
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: dive into MLS and with MLS. Yes, there are a
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: number of first team senior US national team players in
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: the league, includes Tim Raem, includes Matt Freeze, includes some
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: other seb Burrols was an MLS player before he moved
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: to Burrow. But the most interesting thing about MLS and
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: it's connection to the national team because of where this
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: league is in the global hierarchy right now, is with
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: youth development. Whether most of the guys that were on
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: the senior national team, even the ones that are at
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: Uventus like westn McKinney, came through MLSS academies. McKinny and
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: Chris Richards didn't feature in MLS. They were produced by
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: the academy. One in McKinney left for free and one
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: in Chris Richards was signed by Barron Munich before he
• 34:28
  Speaker 5: made it a first team appearance for Dallas. But youth
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: development is where the league is most impacting the national team,
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: which is normal. That is the case for most of
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: the other countries, not all of them. There's some that
• 34:40
  Speaker 5: try to naturalize players, some that have their players leave early.
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: But development is the heart of MLS for the national team.
• 34:49
  Speaker 5: So tab I want to start with you when you're
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: analyzing the pro pathway. Let's say for the academy players
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: to getting into Amilaz before they get sold Abroader, the
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: academy players that are with the youth national team through MLS.
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: What is the league and its clubs getting right?
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: What are they getting wrong? What do you want to
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: see improve?
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: Well, I'll start with this as far as youth development,
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: because you know, anytime something negative happens, either with the
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: US national team or with the league, everybody already starts
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: getting up in arms about youth development and want to
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: blame youth development right away, like how do we fix
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: it now?
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: Right?
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: And I would follow that by saying that we need
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: to be careful in terms of like who we're listening
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: to when it comes to youth development, because you know,
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: there's all kinds of shows, there's all kinds of podcasts,
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: there's all kinds of people talking about youth development who
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: have not lived youth development, you know, And so that
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: part for me is difficult sometimes to hear people out
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: in the world talking about youth development when they haven't
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: had the experience of developing the player, developing a team,
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: not knowing what an elite player looks like, not knowing
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: what it's like to teach a player that's difficult, and
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: then I'll go into I think the most important part.
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: I think that MLS shouldn't be in charge of youth development.
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: MLS should just participate in youth development like every other
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: club in the country MLS, you know, and I've said
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: this before to MLS. I'm not going to say who
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: I said it to. Recently, I said, why do you
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: worry about youth development? It's not your job. I think
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: youth development is US Soccer's job. The pyramid needs to
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: get a lot clearer right now. Youth development is a
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: complete mess. Players come from everywhere, and I think MLS
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: should only participate and youth leagues that are created by
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: US Soccer that all have the same pathway. And at
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: this point that's not the case. I think, you know,
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: when I think of MLS being involved in youth development.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: By the way, let me separate here, because let's say
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: two kinds of youth development. I think, of course MLS
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: teams need to have players fourteen years old, right. They
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: need to have those guys. It's really important that they
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: have them every day and that they get the most
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: out of them so these players can be the best
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: They can be, but going younger than that, I just
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: I don't think. I don't think it makes much of
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: a difference. I think it's a headache. And if I
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: see MLS involved in youth development anywhere younger than thirteen
• 37:22
  Speaker 4: and younger, I'm always thinking that the reason they're doing
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: is because somehow they're monetizing it, and that's not going
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: to be good for the game. I think the youth
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: game should be across the board the same for everybody.
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: There should be state cups in state where like MLS
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: teams participate and the little town participates, and everyone should
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: be sort of in the same in the same leagues, right,
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: and then from there the best players come and then
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: they go to MLS, and then MLS does the best
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: they can. But I think there needs to be a
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: separation between US Soccer and MLS in terms of who
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: runs youth soccer. Why should a professional league run youth
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: soccer in this country when there's other professional leagues as well.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: So I think youth development need super be run by.
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: US Soccer, not by MLSP can I So I believe
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: this happened after you left US Soccer when you do twenties,
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: But it used to be the Development Academy was overseen
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: or run by US Soccer And in the last I'm
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: getting my timeline mixed up here. But at some point
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: over the last what five years, maybe Doyle you MLS
• 38:26
  Speaker 5: took that over from the DA, from US Soccer of
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: the DA. So why was that if you have any
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: insight or why would it be if you had any analysis?
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: And I guess was it? Was it better I think
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: for the was it in your view better for the
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: long term development of players when it was US Soccer
• 38:43
  Speaker 5: overseeing the Development Academy?
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: Oh, if you're asking me, well, you know, there's a
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: there's a couple of different things, and and I can say,
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: you know, the Development Academy had its issues right because
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: it was very selective. It was very I think it
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: was elitist, you know, and then it had to follow
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: certain you know, in order to play in the Development Academy,
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: you had to follow a certain way to play, you
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: had to follow certain rules.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: And I don't really believe in that.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: I think any club can have and play any way
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: they want to. You know, when you watch I remember
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: as a U twenty national team coach going to watch,
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: you know, and as a technical director going to watch
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: random academy games and you'd watch one four three three
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: team playing another four three three team, and they all
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: want to play out of the back, and the better
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: team is beating the other team by three goals because
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: one team just can't play out of the back.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: And I'm a believer that.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: If you if you're if you come from a team
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: in Michigan who likes to play hard and likes to
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: hit long bowls into the corner, that you should be
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: able to do that. If you want to, that's your prerogative,
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: that's the people you represent, that's how you want to play.
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: You should be able to do that. And so that
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: was I think for me, the mistake with the development economy.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: But I'll go further. You know, if you have you
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: know the problem with.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: You know, the the US Soccer Federation not running youth
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: development when you have a professional league running it now,
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: they they sort of control the players and they can
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: allow whoever comes in and out. And I think it
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: should be a free system for players to go wherever
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: they want to. It shouldn't be run by a professional
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: league when you also have other professional team leagues in
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: the country.
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: Doyle on your end, Yes, it can be centralized with
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: the league, but all some teams do it much better
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: than others or in and around MLS. Right, we talk
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: about Philly, we talk about Dallas, the Red Bulls, n YCFC.
• 40:38
  Speaker 5: At times, Colorado have been being good, particularly with bringing
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: players in from from outside. None of the Southern California
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: teams are doing it yet. San Diego is going to
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: be our best bet. But I guess in general, what
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: are some of the best practices that you are seeing
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: for both identification and pathway and then selling players on
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: from MLS books.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I will say that I am not an expert
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: on the development aspect at all. That's where I just
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: listen to people like Tab And the thing one of
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: the things that always stuck out to me is a
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: quote from Tab from about ten years ago. It was
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: when you were with the U twenties. I don't remember
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: which player was about, but it was something the effect
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: of this kid's American, so nobody's paying attention to him.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: But if he was Argentinian, he'd have been sold for
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: six million dollars already. And that just speaks to me
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the lack of respect we have for our own talent
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: and our own pathways and our own players. That has
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: always been endemic to us, Achary. We've always been like, oh,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: we're not good enough, we don't do it right, and
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: by doing that, we have limited the opportunities and the
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: pathways for our best players. And one of the things
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: I'm happiest about that's made me the most bullish on
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: soccer in this country in a long time is the
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: fact that suddenly those flag kind of opened in MLS and.
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: In USL as well.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: The US ILL just sold a kid, Caleb Colton Squan
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: I think is that, yeah, sold him to Hibbs, which
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: is great, you know, seeing clubs at all levels of
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the Pyramids suddenly realize, hey, if we have a talented
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: kid at eighteen nineteen years old, get him first team minutes,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: help us win, but also help us make money, help
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: us continue to be a going concern. And we're seeing
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: that now in numbers that we've never seen it before.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just put together my twenty two hundred
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: twenty two list for MLS this year. It's the best list,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: in the deepest list that we've ever had. I mean,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: guys like Kevin Sullivan, Adrew Mahmedi, Julian Hall, Schnyder Brunel
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: out in Seattle, and it's just like Niko Chakiris what
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: he was doing before he got hurt for San Jose.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: These guys are stars, and I don't think these guys
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: ten years ago would have gotten the minutes MLS that
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: they're getting this year. So it feels like there's been
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: a sea change. And maybe it's just we you know,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: we hit a vein of gold and suddenly there's or
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: maybe it's just the new normal. And my hope is
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: that it's the new normal, and that these clubs who
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: have been so reluctant for so long to trust domestic players,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: especially in attacking positions, suddenly realize that, hey, if you
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: put the ball on Cavin Sullivan's feet more, you can
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: maybe change this season from hell you're having and actually
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: win a couple of games.
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and Tab, I'll shift this to you. But in
• 43:34
  Speaker 5: the vein of air quote new normal of socket of
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: youth development in this country, youth development takes time, right,
• 43:41
  Speaker 5: Like so all the investments that clubs have made US
• 43:44
  Speaker 5: Soccer or the league anything like that, Like you don't
• 43:47
  Speaker 5: just snap your fingers put ten million dollars into your
• 43:49
  Speaker 5: academy and the next year you've got you know, high
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: level players down for Europe. Right, that takes a long time.
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: That's why Dallas I think we're at the forefront. And
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: then you see some other teams that are coming through,
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: like the Red Bulls or I think around the time
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: they were behind Dallas, but then it was like the
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: Tyle Adams generation that was coming through. So for do
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: you believe that this is that they again? While there's
• 44:10
  Speaker 5: always room for improvement, and there's plenty of criticisms, there's
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: plenty of discussion points and how to shape this for
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: the better, but in general, do you feel that this
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: is more about over see starting to see some of
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: the fruit from the seeds of a dozen years ago
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: or whatever the timeline would be in terms of investment
• 44:27
  Speaker 5: and different thinking about youth development.
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it could be. You know, the answer
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: is that it could be that we could be starting
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: to see that. And and clubs, of course, every club
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: in MLS and MLS in general is a single entity, right,
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: so they're one company, so of course they're gonna want
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: to take over everything. That's what's good for MLS. I'm
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: thinking more from just soccer in general. So I come
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: obviously from a time when we didn't have any of this.
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: But I have been able to live the growth from
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: the inside on how all of this has occurred, and
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: all of this growth has not come because we were
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: limited to one set of people or one set of
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: league running it. It was an open market for anybody,
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: so you can have teams from all over the country
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: competing against each other for actual significant competitions. But now
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: you know, when I see what MLS is doing, and
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: they have, of course you have MLS Next Pro, which
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: is you know, that makes sense because that's your sort
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: of your reserve team.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: That makes sense.
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: And then you have MLS Next which, of course that
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: makes sense because then you can have your you know,
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: your fifteens, your sixteens, your seventeens, prepare them and maybe
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: put them into that MLS Next Pro. But now you
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: have MLS Next. But now you have MLS Next two,
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: which is not even okay. So now what you're saying
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: basically is you're just sort of inviting any players. So
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: now for me, that sort of smells like monetizing youth development.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: It doesn't. It doesn't seem to.
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: Me like the type of situation we're doing it for
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: the good of the game. I think the good of
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: the game is for it to be open for all
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: the teams to compete against each other. It's sort of
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: for me, like when people have the discussion, you know,
• 46:08
  Speaker 4: like they have the discussion about promotion relegation, which for
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: me is like, for me, it's a ridiculous conversation because
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: you can't ever have promotion relegation unless it starts at
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: the bottom. It starts with the three of us getting
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: our friends and putting a team together down in Toms River.
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: And now we start with our team and it's a
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: bunch of us, and we move into seventh Division. And
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: then next thing, you know, some rich guy wants to.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: Come in and give us some money.
• 46:33
  Speaker 4: We got a couple players, we moved to sixth division,
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: and then maybe one day we make it time less.
• 46:37
  Speaker 4: That's promotion relegation, right. So this is sort of the
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: same conversation for me. As long as the system becomes
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: more close, owned by only a few people, it becomes
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: more difficult to develop players.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: I believe in that.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: Tat being.
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: You know, I just think that we could talk about
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: this for four hours, and I think Doyle and I
• 46:58
  Speaker 5: would be content to just sit here and listen to
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: to you give the points like there are a few
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: people as qualified as you are on the youth development front.
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: It's just extremely interesting to me because, like, like I
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: think my favorite part of this is, like you said,
• 47:13
  Speaker 5: teams should have kind of the autonomy, like you can
• 47:15
  Speaker 5: give best practices and structures of course, so that teams
• 47:18
  Speaker 5: aren't just trying to play like the kids who like
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: physically developed first and then winning games like that's been
• 47:23
  Speaker 5: an issue here for a long time in the past.
• 47:26
  Speaker 5: But for teams out of the autonomy on play styles
• 47:28
  Speaker 5: and stuff and developing different types of players. I am
• 47:32
  Speaker 5: always very interested in that, particularly in the country like this,
• 47:35
  Speaker 5: there's gonna be so many different types of players that
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: it's going to be difficult to find them all. You
• 47:40
  Speaker 5: look at a kid, at a guy like Daryl Dka.
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: He ends up making a move for ten million dollars
• 47:43
  Speaker 5: from Orlando to West brom He's from Oklahoma, where does
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: the closest academy to him? And he's this is a
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: kid who you know, it doesn't take a super nuanced
• 47:53
  Speaker 5: town evaluator to be like, oh, that dude's six to two,
• 47:55
  Speaker 5: made fully of muscle, and nobody can can be near
• 47:59
  Speaker 5: him as a center back. Oh, and he can shoot
• 48:00
  Speaker 5: the balls as hard as anybody. Like, it doesn't take
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: like a great scout to be like, hey, maybe we
• 48:05
  Speaker 5: should take a better look at that kid. And even
• 48:07
  Speaker 5: he's somebody who kind of fell to the crack just
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: because of the size of this country. So I just
• 48:11
  Speaker 5: think there's so many different ways to go here and
• 48:13
  Speaker 5: so many different opportunities, but also pitfalls with just the
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: size of this country.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why. And I'll give you one more example
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: on control.
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: When the Development Academy was going on and everybody needed
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: to play four three three and everybody needed to play
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: out of the back so that everybody could learn, Well,
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: you're actually you're actually not really teaching when you're doing that.
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: Because you know, if you have a better team.
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: Let's say you're you're the Red Bulls Academy and you're
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: going to play an independent academy somewhere in a showcase
• 48:41
  Speaker 4: and they're just not good enough to give you a game,
• 48:43
  Speaker 4: but you're forcing them to play out of the back.
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: Wouldn't the Red Bulls be better off playing a team
• 48:47
  Speaker 4: who has ten guys across the line inside their box,
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: kicking the ball out of bounce and trying to find
• 48:53
  Speaker 4: their one forward that they have. It's a way of learning, right, So,
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: so okay, you're the better team. Now you have to
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: figure out how to break down the team that's not
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: making it easy for you, that's not giving you two
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: goals by trying to play out of the back.
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: No, they're actually punning every time.
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: And now you have to build, and now you have
• 49:10
  Speaker 4: to break them down in their final in their defensive third.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: And so we I wasn't when I was watching the games.
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: I wasn't seeing any of that because teams were just
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: giving games away only because if you did that, if
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: you decided to come and play, you know, a five
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: to four one, it was sort of you were penalized
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: on style of play. And like, okay, so we're penalized
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: on style of play. But so we're you're saying we're
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: better off playing out of the back and losing six
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: to zero. That's better for us. I just I don't
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: believe in that anyway. I don't want to be too critical.
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: I just believe. I just believe, like now that MLS
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: is branching more into youth development, I think we have
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: to be really careful with that because it didn't work before.
• 49:53
  Speaker 5: So we can, you know, scrap any other big picture
• 49:56
  Speaker 5: m less up because that there's going to be time
• 49:58
  Speaker 5: to talk about the schedule change happened next summer and
• 50:01
  Speaker 5: talking about hopefully the new salary capitals that are going
• 50:03
  Speaker 5: to come next There's plenty of time for that. I'll
• 50:05
  Speaker 5: stick with development through to show you because you brought
• 50:07
  Speaker 5: up something that I forgot about because maybe I've been
• 50:09
  Speaker 5: trying to bury it in my head. There's what what's
• 50:12
  Speaker 5: it called taka scores. They're they're grading up to what
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: age you twelve? You don't get yeah, points for goal
• 50:19
  Speaker 5: like you get points for goals, but like the game
• 50:21
  Speaker 5: isn't graded by goals. It's graded by style of play,
• 50:24
  Speaker 5: which just sounds like the most dumb LinkedIn idea I've.
• 50:27
  Speaker 6: Ever heard in my life.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: It does, and I'm dubious of it. I haven't watched
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: any of the presentations on how it's actually done, and
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: I I am skeptical of all of this stuff for
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of the reasons that TEB has said. At
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: the same time, it's unquestionable that there are better players
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: coming through the academy.
• 50:50
  Speaker 6: S now that something that's working right.
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: What are the taca scores though?
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and think about that in the terms of
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: the culture of Spain. Everybody wants to be Spain right now.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Everybody wants to be France right now. With the way
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: they're producing players and with the style of play that
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: they have. They don't emphasize winning and losing until the
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: kids are like thirteen fourteen years old. They emphasize what
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: are you doing with the ball? What are you doing
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: off the ball? They emphasize technique. I guess the taka
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: scores thing is US soccer and MLS's attempt to sort
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: of codify that because we lack the culture that Spain has,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: or that France has or that Uruguay has in terms
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: of going out there and playing small sided games and
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: how you keep the ball determines whether, like how whether.
• 51:43
  Speaker 6: You stay on the field.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: So I I don't I'm not a natural Devil's advocate
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: in this sense, but I will say something is working right, Like,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: look at the kids who are making the jump into
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: first team. Now, look at the kids who are being
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: sold to top European teams. Now, Xavier Gozo, we just
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: talked about fifteen million dollars. It would anybody be shocked
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: if Neil Pierre got sold for twenty million dollars after
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: reason for twenty three that's the thing, right, Like like
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: if Niko Chakiris, you know, goes to fayan Or for
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars within the next year, would anybody be
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: all that surprised about that? So something has clicked, and
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: we see it with the youth national teams as well.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: We sent a third team to We have so many
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: USU twenty starters in MLS and overseas now that we
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: sent our basically our third string U twenties to the
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: CONKYCAFT Championship and they tore through everybody before they eventually
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: lost to Mexico's first string. So like there has been growth.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's just there's more knowledge, and there's more good coaches,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: and there's more kids interested in playing.
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: Maybe it's that simple.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe codifying style of play and UH technique at a
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: younger age is the wrong thing to do. But I'll
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: tell you what I'm not. I'm not the one who's
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: who should be making that decision on whether or not.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: I just look at the results and say, hey, somebody
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: got something right.
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: I tell you, Matt, and you you make a good
• 53:20
  Speaker 4: point on obviously something is going right and there there's
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: no question about that obviously, because you know, I think
• 53:26
  Speaker 4: when we watch our national team play the first game
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: of the World Cup against Paraguay, I think we weren't
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: we weren't shy Tom and I on this show to say, hey,
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: this is the best we've ever seen a US national
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: team play.
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: That was that was amazing, That was great. So but
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: but I'll well, I'll pull back.
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: A little bit on well, I will say that that
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: that is likely the progress is not so much directly
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: related to youth development, but more youth identification. And the
• 53:55
  Speaker 4: reason I'll say that because there's a better pathway now,
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: so you identify a good player, you can put them
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: in a pathway where before we didn't have that. And
• 54:03
  Speaker 4: I'll go back to this, which you guys were probably
• 54:06
  Speaker 4: not even born by then. But in the eighties I'll
• 54:08
  Speaker 4: give you I know, but I'll give you some names
• 54:10
  Speaker 4: because there are guys that as I was coming along,
• 54:13
  Speaker 4: you know, I recognized, wow, these are great players. So
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: there were players like Dale Irvine from California, Mike Fox
• 54:21
  Speaker 4: from California, Rick Davis. These guys were super skillful, silky
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: smooth on the ball, amazing players. Now where did they go?
• 54:31
  Speaker 4: They ended up playing in you know, in indoor leagues
• 54:34
  Speaker 4: or whatever else. There was no pathway to Europe. There
• 54:37
  Speaker 4: was nowhere else for them to go. So they played
• 54:39
  Speaker 4: indoors for a few years and then they retired and
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: probably got a job.
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: But these are great players.
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: So the only reason I'm giving that example is because
• 54:47
  Speaker 4: we've had good players here for a long long time.
• 54:49
  Speaker 4: And now I think what you know, you obviously no
• 54:52
  Speaker 4: one could argue the investment that MLS has made in
• 54:56
  Speaker 4: youth development, the incredible facilities that they have.
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I just you.
• 55:00
  Speaker 4: Know, I know Tom's been there, and I'm sure you
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: have as well. You know, the new Red Bulls facility,
• 55:05
  Speaker 4: if you know, think about it. If you're a skillful
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: player and you grew up in New Jersey or New
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: York and you're you're next to this facility and the
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: Red Bulls identify you as a potential, you know, a
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: future player, and you go to one of these phasis
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: you have everything to develop. And so I think what's
• 55:23
  Speaker 4: happened now is the identification is a lot better than before.
• 55:26
  Speaker 4: There are more eyes out there, there are better places
• 55:28
  Speaker 4: to go and the pathway.
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: Is better, but I'm not sure that we've fixed.
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: When I talk about youth development, I think, you know,
• 55:35
  Speaker 4: I think six years old to twelve years old. That's
• 55:38
  Speaker 4: what I'm thinking of youth development. Because the rest of it, yeah,
• 55:41
  Speaker 4: I think the professional team should just grab from there,
• 55:43
  Speaker 4: grab your hand and take you with them.
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: That's that sort of my take on that part of it.
• 55:50
  Speaker 5: It's super interesting. There is so much to dive into
• 55:54
  Speaker 5: youth development. It's not likely to be solved on one podcast,
• 55:57
  Speaker 5: but I'd like to think that with Tavier gave it
• 56:00
  Speaker 5: a good intelligent conversation and food for thought, and this
• 56:03
  Speaker 5: is something that I'm sure that we're going to continue with.
• 56:06
  Speaker 5: But I think we're running out of time here. So
• 56:08
  Speaker 5: thank you Matt Doyle for joining us. Please sign up
• 56:10
  Speaker 5: for his newsletter, Tactics Free Zone. It is excellent if
• 56:13
  Speaker 5: you care about MS, if you care about the US
• 56:14
  Speaker 5: national team tap. Thank you as always for being here
• 56:17
  Speaker 5: and everybody else. We'll be back very very soon. Thank
• 56:19
  Speaker 5: you for listening to South American Soccer. Please rate if
• 56:21
  Speaker 5: you and subscribe wherever it's your podcast.
• 56:23
  Speaker 3: We'll be back.
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: Hey S week