Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / Crocker Leaves, Pulisic Panic, and Predicting the USMNT World Cup Roster

Transcript

Crocker Leaves, Pulisic Panic, and Predicting the USMNT World Cup Roster · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: This is not the right time to jump off of
0:02
Speaker 1: this ride. I mean, we're going into home World Cup.
0:06
Speaker 1: This is like super exciting. Even if the team's not
0:09
Speaker 1: doing well, the guys will get excited in the summer
0:11
Speaker 1: and they will.
0:12
Speaker 2: I think they will have a good World Cup. And
0:14
Speaker 2: I just think that this is a bat.
0:18
Speaker 3: Son Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am your
0:24
Speaker 3: host back in the South for the first time in
0:26
Speaker 3: a couple months. Here Tom Bogert. I'm just so happy
0:29
Speaker 3: to be here. TAB. I miss your voice, I miss
0:31
Speaker 3: seeing you laughing. Thank you to Matt Doyle for hosting.
0:34
Speaker 3: We're planning to have Matt backed a little bit, a
0:36
Speaker 3: lot of bit. We'll see how much of it, depending
0:38
Speaker 3: on what he wants to do and how much he's
0:40
Speaker 3: gonna fit in. But thank you Matt again for taking
0:43
Speaker 3: over for me over the last couple of months of
0:45
Speaker 3: my paternity to leave TAB. How are you doing. I'm
0:48
Speaker 3: just getting right into it. I'm cutting the intro short.
0:50
Speaker 3: Just want to hear hear you.
0:52
Speaker 2: I know I was waiting to hear a little bit more.
0:53
Speaker 1: But first of all, congrats again, obviously, because I can
0:57
Speaker 1: tell you this and I think I might have mentioned
0:59
Speaker 1: this to you sort of on the side. But but
1:02
Speaker 1: having the dad title is the best title you can have.
1:05
Speaker 2: That is the that's the best. That's as good as
1:08
Speaker 2: life catch as being a dad.
1:09
Speaker 1: So congrats on that. I have to say a little
1:13
Speaker 1: bit of the downside for you has to be that,
1:15
Speaker 1: you know, Matt did a great job. Man, We had
1:18
Speaker 1: a great think going here and listen, this is like
1:20
Speaker 1: a team, right you You come out of the field
1:22
Speaker 1: thinking you're the superstar, and the next guy comes in
1:25
Speaker 1: and he does a great job. So now we may
1:27
Speaker 1: have to change the system to fit you in, you know,
1:29
Speaker 1: like it's it's your show and has your name on it.
1:32
Speaker 1: But the guy that took your spot did a great job.
1:35
Speaker 1: So I want to think. I want to think Matt
1:37
Speaker 1: because he truly did a great job. He I think
1:40
Speaker 1: he you know, he has a way about him that's,
1:42
Speaker 1: you know, much different than you, obviously because he's a
1:44
Speaker 1: little bit he's a lot more calm.
1:47
Speaker 2: But but I think he he did a great job.
1:49
Speaker 1: So thank you if you're out there listening to us, Matt,
1:52
Speaker 1: thank you for that.
1:53
Speaker 2: And then I have to get right to it here.
1:55
Speaker 1: How many calls have you already made to the to
1:59
Speaker 1: the to the wreck coach in your town that's coaching
2:02
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth group about your kid playing up already,
2:07
Speaker 1: we'll have to see.
2:08
Speaker 3: Listen, you are in New Jersey Soccer Royalty, so I
2:10
Speaker 3: think you'd be the first call to you know, see
2:13
Speaker 3: what preferential foot we can get My son every every
2:16
Speaker 3: day a little we have a little soccer ball I
2:17
Speaker 3: put around him, making sure to work on his left foot,
2:19
Speaker 3: unlike his father, so he's not one footed. We're making
2:23
Speaker 3: sure that he's gonna gonna take advantage of every opportunity
2:26
Speaker 3: he has. But no, we gotta worry about some reckless
2:28
Speaker 3: challenges from me on Doyle and training, just to make
2:31
Speaker 3: sure he didn't get too comfortable. And he doesn't. He
2:32
Speaker 3: doesn't walk around with the little swagger when he's back
2:34
Speaker 3: in this recording room when it's the three of us.
2:37
Speaker 3: But again, the shows are great. I know some people
2:40
Speaker 3: can really unplug, get away from their jobs and everything
2:43
Speaker 3: when they're on you know, leave or on vacation whatever.
2:45
Speaker 3: I'm not one of those people one because it's not
2:47
Speaker 3: really realistic in our side of the world. But also
2:51
Speaker 3: this is my hobby. I love talking about the national
2:54
Speaker 3: team and soccer in general, and listening to you guys
2:56
Speaker 3: do it. And it just felt a little difficult when
2:58
Speaker 3: I'm walking the dogs or walking the baby, and I
3:00
Speaker 3: feel like I'm talking to you guys, but just in
3:02
Speaker 3: my airpots because I'm listening to you and normally I'm
3:05
Speaker 3: here to have the conversation, but I'm just talking back.
3:07
Speaker 3: But it was fun. It was a good listen, and
3:10
Speaker 3: I gotta tell you what a way to come back.
3:12
Speaker 3: Today there is fresh breaking news US Soccer sporting director
3:16
Speaker 3: Matt Crocker. Shockingly, he's departing the club two months before
3:20
Speaker 3: the World Cup. There's a lot to dig into there.
3:23
Speaker 3: We're gonna get into it. We'll talk about Christian poolisecond,
3:26
Speaker 3: We're gonna talk about tabs, updated final World Cup roster.
3:30
Speaker 3: I'm sure that we'll be getting into that a whole
3:32
Speaker 3: lot over the next few weeks, and maybe we'll have
3:35
Speaker 3: a new segment called New Dad Story Time. But I'd
3:37
Speaker 3: still like to go inside the locker room. It's out rows.
3:39
Speaker 3: We're gonna figure that all out, But first we got
3:41
Speaker 3: to start with the big, big breaking news that happened
3:44
Speaker 3: Tuesday morning. Matt Crocker, US Soccer sporting director is leaving
3:48
Speaker 3: the program to join Saudi Arabia two months before the
3:51
Speaker 3: World Cup. US Soccer Chief Operating Officer Dan Helfrich will
3:55
Speaker 3: work closely with men's Assistant Sporting Director Gucci and Yewu
4:00
Speaker 3: and women's Youth National Team director Tracy Tevins and quote
4:04
Speaker 3: with the broader sporting leadership team to quote ensure continuity, dab.
4:09
Speaker 3: This is shocking. This is really disappointing, given we're two
4:14
Speaker 3: months before the World Cup. What are your initial thoughts
4:16
Speaker 3: as this newsbreak some Crocker departs the federation.
4:20
Speaker 1: Well, you know, obviously that's it's an important position, and
4:24
Speaker 1: in particular, you know, when you consider we're only a
4:27
Speaker 1: couple months away from the World Cup, you know you
4:31
Speaker 1: have to start thinking about here's where I'm going with this.
4:34
Speaker 1: Because I have said all along that I thought that
4:37
Speaker 1: both Matt Crocker and Mariso Pacentino would leave right after
4:40
Speaker 1: this World Cup was over. I've been saying that for
4:43
Speaker 1: about a year now. When I saw a little bit
4:46
Speaker 1: of what the press conferences were like, when we kept
4:49
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, having a long term project, this
4:52
Speaker 1: is going to be a long time, and that's when
4:54
Speaker 1: I wanted to put the Brakes sort of on the
4:56
Speaker 1: American fans and say, hey, look, this is not a
4:58
Speaker 1: long project. This is like going to be World Cup
5:02
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, and then likely they're both going to
5:05
Speaker 1: be back in the EPL at some point now. And
5:08
Speaker 1: that's okay, by the way, because that's what professionals do,
5:11
Speaker 1: right they look for the next job. Obviously they didn't.
5:14
Speaker 1: They're they're not from this country, which by the way,
5:17
Speaker 1: doesn't mean anything, but they but they really it was
5:21
Speaker 1: taking them a long time to sort of get going
5:24
Speaker 1: and understanding what us is like. And you could see
5:27
Speaker 1: it by the quotes, right, we're getting close. We're getting
5:29
Speaker 1: more competitive. You know, we don't have top one hundred
5:32
Speaker 1: players that all comes from the same place, and it
5:35
Speaker 1: comes from a place where you know, we've heard this before,
5:38
Speaker 1: but we heard it about thirty years ago, so it's
5:41
Speaker 1: not like it just started, right, So we've I think
5:43
Speaker 1: we've come along a lot further than people give us
5:47
Speaker 1: credit for. And it's unfortunate that that we we've had
5:51
Speaker 1: people now who sort of took us back as if
5:54
Speaker 1: we are starting all over it.
5:55
Speaker 2: That's a disappointing part. Also, I'll add this to it.
6:00
Speaker 1: I think this is a bad sign, Tom, because we
6:03
Speaker 1: didn't have a great March camp and I think to
6:06
Speaker 1: make this announcement now, it's almost like within the federation,
6:13
Speaker 1: maybe there's not a lot of confidence in this team
6:18
Speaker 1: right because this is this is not the right time
6:20
Speaker 1: to jump off of this ride. I mean, we're going
6:24
Speaker 1: into a home World Cup. This is like super exciting.
6:28
Speaker 1: Even if the team's not doing well. The guys will
6:30
Speaker 1: get excited in the summer and they will I think
6:32
Speaker 1: they will have a good World Cup.
6:34
Speaker 2: And I just think that this is a bad sign.
6:40
Speaker 3: I have so many different thoughts and so many different
6:42
Speaker 3: angles to go to. I think that you hit a
6:44
Speaker 3: lot of great things where the guy comes in and
6:47
Speaker 3: talks long term project, project, project, and then before the
6:51
Speaker 3: World Cup you bolt. So was the project at two
6:54
Speaker 3: and a half year project? Was the project to get
6:56
Speaker 3: eliminated at the group stage at Copa America. Was a
6:59
Speaker 3: project too have a bunch of friendlies and then leave
7:02
Speaker 3: before the World Cup? Like that rings insincere, and I
7:06
Speaker 3: think you did a good job at at not like
7:10
Speaker 3: I think that we have every right to criticize and
7:12
Speaker 3: we should and I am going to he does have
7:15
Speaker 3: a right to say, hey, I'm gonna make more money
7:17
Speaker 3: for Saudi Radio or whatever. Right, But with that is
7:21
Speaker 3: the criticism, particularly when everything he's ever said is about,
7:25
Speaker 3: you know, buy into the long term, buy into this, doud,
7:28
Speaker 3: this is all the things we're building, it's all so exciting,
7:30
Speaker 3: we're all so great. Was this the plan all along?
7:34
Speaker 3: To be here for a couple of years? Maybe just
7:36
Speaker 3: stay to the World Cup and then leave like, because
7:38
Speaker 3: that's disingenuous. The other side of this, US Soccer is
7:43
Speaker 3: not blameless in this. I don't so he was under contract,
7:47
Speaker 3: so either US Soccer got bought like they bought him
7:50
Speaker 3: out of his contract to let him leave early, which
7:53
Speaker 3: that's US Soccer prioritizing getting a short term check over
7:57
Speaker 3: having a sporting director here. And we can all say,
8:00
Speaker 3: and rightly, if you don't want to be here, then
8:02
Speaker 3: we don't want to hold you here. But why is
8:05
Speaker 3: there a contract situation where the sporting director is even
8:09
Speaker 3: realistically possible to be able to leave two months before
8:13
Speaker 3: the World Cup? I don't think that's particularly acceptable. It
8:17
Speaker 3: is extremely disappointing. You don't see this happening with with
8:20
Speaker 3: big teams in big countries or just host countries. You know,
8:23
Speaker 3: you take away the big team stuff. This is chaotic.
8:27
Speaker 3: While while understanding that Mariso Pochattino is going to be
8:32
Speaker 3: running the show obviously for the roster, him and his
8:33
Speaker 3: coaching staff Matt Crocker and the sporting director in Guca
8:36
Speaker 3: and ye Oo, they will have input, they will be helping,
8:38
Speaker 3: they will be supporting, but it's not as if Crocker
8:41
Speaker 3: was going to be leading training sessions day to day
8:43
Speaker 3: at the World Cup. Again that being said, I think
8:45
Speaker 3: this is still really disappointing. I think we have every
8:48
Speaker 3: right to criticize Crocker for the short term nature of
8:51
Speaker 3: his job, despite how many times he's talking about the
8:53
Speaker 3: project and all the things he's building. And I also
8:55
Speaker 3: think that US Soccer deserves some blame. And one, he
8:58
Speaker 3: didn't enough to keep him in like a relation, relational
9:03
Speaker 3: sense and a working sense. But you also didn't do
9:06
Speaker 3: enough to keep him in a legal contractual sense, which
9:08
Speaker 3: is also disappointing.
9:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and these are all good points you're
9:13
Speaker 1: bringing up. And I would say this that, out of
9:15
Speaker 1: all the things I said before, not once that I
9:19
Speaker 1: criticize him for his job because I actually don't really
9:23
Speaker 1: know what he did, right, So I no, no, no,
9:25
Speaker 1: But here's where I'm going with this. I'm going with Okay,
9:28
Speaker 1: you've had two decisions to make. One was to keep
9:31
Speaker 1: the coach that you had from before, right, which was
9:34
Speaker 1: Greg burholds her when I think most people thought, Okay,
9:36
Speaker 1: it's time to move on. That was a big decision
9:39
Speaker 1: at the time to keep Burholzer at a time when
9:42
Speaker 1: we thought it's time for something different.
9:44
Speaker 2: Right. He believed in that, he believed in continuing that
9:49
Speaker 2: part of it.
9:49
Speaker 1: It didn't work, he was able to say, Okay, I
9:52
Speaker 1: got that wrong. Let me go with something. Let me
9:55
Speaker 1: go with someone I know. Right, and by the way,
9:57
Speaker 1: and most of us, I think we're not again. That's
10:00
Speaker 1: the hire of Puchettino because he was one of the
10:03
Speaker 1: best coaches available in the world. Uh. The messaging, the
10:07
Speaker 1: messaging was good, but I think there was a misunderstanding
10:11
Speaker 1: somewhere because of what we keep hearing in the press
10:16
Speaker 1: conferences in terms of you know, we're gonna get there
10:19
Speaker 1: one day, we're becoming more competitive.
10:21
Speaker 2: You know, it takes time. You know one day we
10:24
Speaker 2: will be in they but wait a minute, hold on
10:25
Speaker 2: a second.
10:26
Speaker 1: Let's look back now thirty forty years and let's see
10:29
Speaker 1: what all of our national teams have done at the
10:32
Speaker 1: World Cup, and we always advance to the round of sixteen, right,
10:36
Speaker 1: we've done even in two thousand and two we went
10:39
Speaker 1: to the round to the quarterfinals, right, So okay, So
10:42
Speaker 1: now we bring Pochettino. Correct me if I'm wrong, but
10:47
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna respond here like a fan.
10:49
Speaker 2: Okay, So we make it always.
10:51
Speaker 1: To the round of sixteen, sometimes like we did in
10:55
Speaker 1: two thousand and two we made it to the quarterfinals.
10:57
Speaker 1: And now we bring one of the best coaches in
10:59
Speaker 1: the world. Great, what could my expectations be? My expectations
11:03
Speaker 1: have to be. Well, now we got to go further
11:06
Speaker 1: than that, right, And yet now we've settled into Hey,
11:11
Speaker 1: you know what, we played forty minutes hard against Belgium.
11:13
Speaker 2: That's pretty good. You know, we're competing. That's progress.
11:16
Speaker 1: I think there's some communication there that didn't work because
11:21
Speaker 1: someone didn't understand who we are. Okay, so we let
11:26
Speaker 1: of course, we're not pretending that at US Soccer we're
11:29
Speaker 1: a top five country of the world. But we're not
11:33
Speaker 1: just starting. We've been doing this for a long time.
11:35
Speaker 1: We know some things, right, We have good players, Our
11:39
Speaker 1: players are playing a Melan and Uventus and you name
11:41
Speaker 1: you know Bournemouth, Taler Adams is a great player in
11:44
Speaker 1: the EPL. I mean, we're not starting from scratch, right,
11:47
Speaker 1: and so we're thinking bigger and I just think they
11:51
Speaker 1: were not.
11:54
Speaker 3: Crocker came from He worked with Pochattino Southampton. He was
11:58
Speaker 3: with the English FA when he was appointed. Like you said,
12:03
Speaker 3: tablick and not even in a joking. Wait, you don't
12:05
Speaker 3: know exactly what the role might be. The pedigree was strong.
12:08
Speaker 3: I think it was a widely It was viewed widely
12:11
Speaker 3: optimistically of this hire. And again for everything he was
12:14
Speaker 3: saying about I want to be here long term, the
12:15
Speaker 3: project and everything else. He oversaw both the men's and
12:19
Speaker 3: the women's national team, So I want to start with
12:20
Speaker 3: the women's here in that he hired em Hayes a plus,
12:23
Speaker 3: well done, fantastic, So I want to make sure that
12:27
Speaker 3: we give him credit for that. As you alluded to,
12:29
Speaker 3: he was part of the hiring process that led to
12:32
Speaker 3: rehiring Burhalter. And now we can speak freely about a
12:34
Speaker 3: story that I think you and I both knew, but
12:37
Speaker 3: was it was Jesse Marsh's story to tell and it
12:40
Speaker 3: didn't feel right to do that without his blessing, and
12:42
Speaker 3: Jesse Marsh gave an interview to a friend of mine,
12:44
Speaker 3: Ben Jacobs, that confirmed what I think a lot of
12:47
Speaker 3: us had already heard that Jesse Marsh was on his
12:50
Speaker 3: way to Leicester City to become their manager. He was
12:53
Speaker 3: going to do his fingerprints and sign a contract to
12:55
Speaker 3: become a manager. Matt Crocker called him and said, you
12:58
Speaker 3: are going to be the next head go. This was
13:00
Speaker 3: when they were deciding what like after Burhalter after the
13:03
Speaker 3: twenty two Toy two World Cup, and then the players
13:06
Speaker 3: called the leadership count Sol. I don't know if it
13:09
Speaker 3: was directly Crocker for somebody else that US Soccer other
13:11
Speaker 3: people made it clear we want Burhlter back. In that interim,
13:16
Speaker 3: Marsh turned around on his way to the Lesser City
13:18
Speaker 3: training ground completely burned a bridge there that he didn't
13:21
Speaker 3: want to do, but he said, okay, like I told
13:23
Speaker 3: them from the front, if I get the US Soccer job,
13:25
Speaker 3: that's what I want. And when he was told he
13:28
Speaker 3: was getting it, he turned down Lesser City. Leicester City
13:31
Speaker 3: or obviously upset with him, and then they call him
13:35
Speaker 3: back and say, actually, we're gonna go with Greg because
13:38
Speaker 3: you know, we had to change a heart kind of thing.
13:40
Speaker 3: So from the beginning not great. And we can do
13:45
Speaker 3: sliding doors and everything, but like that, that's one big
13:48
Speaker 3: sliding gur could have been Jesse Marsh instead of bur Alter.
13:50
Speaker 3: And then who knows what happened with the Copea America.
13:52
Speaker 3: Who knows if Jesse Marsh is still the coach or
13:53
Speaker 3: of things had gone wrong and you don't end up Poachino,
13:56
Speaker 3: So there was that one. He does well to hire
13:58
Speaker 3: poa Chatino. No, things have not gone great, but I
14:01
Speaker 3: don't want to do Revision's history and pretend like we
14:03
Speaker 3: saw this coming, like this was widely celebrated because of
14:06
Speaker 3: Poachattino's pedigree, resume and I think the ability that we
14:09
Speaker 3: know he has. Hopefully there will still be some good
14:12
Speaker 3: things to come with the World Cup, but unfortunately has
14:14
Speaker 3: not gone super well. There have been some quotes that
14:17
Speaker 3: Matt Crocker has given and some things that you hear
14:21
Speaker 3: around the Federation. But he gave an interview with The
14:24
Speaker 3: Athletic recently. He goes, quote, it's a bigger beast than
14:28
Speaker 3: I ever expected. It's so complex, it's so political. Maybe
14:31
Speaker 3: I underestimated how long that would be to be to
14:34
Speaker 3: begin to build that trust. Tab you know better than
14:37
Speaker 3: me that that is a symptom at US soccer unfortunately.
14:41
Speaker 3: And another quote from Crocker that I'll just let you
14:43
Speaker 3: run with I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated at the speed of change.
14:47
Speaker 3: Sounds like this was a relationship that maybe both parties,
14:51
Speaker 3: like you said the communication, maybe both parties weren't getting
14:53
Speaker 3: what they hoped to what they expected, and this writing
14:56
Speaker 3: maybe was on the wall. But again, everybody off talk
14:58
Speaker 3: to around the program were shocked this came and came
15:00
Speaker 3: down today.
15:03
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's it's difficult to put ourselves in
15:07
Speaker 1: the room when, for example, Matt Crocker was hired, right,
15:10
Speaker 1: Because when you go and take a job, let's say tomorrow,
15:14
Speaker 1: I went to take a job in Belgium as the
15:16
Speaker 1: head coach of a team, I'll be honest, I don't
15:19
Speaker 1: know much about the Belgian league. I don't know I
15:21
Speaker 1: don't know much about the players in the league. I
15:23
Speaker 1: don't know a whole lot about the level. I can't
15:25
Speaker 1: pretend that I'm an expert, right, So I have to
15:28
Speaker 1: sit in front of a room. They're going to know
15:31
Speaker 1: that I'm a good coach. That's why they brought me in,
15:33
Speaker 1: That's why they're interested. But I can't hide the fact
15:36
Speaker 1: that I don't know. So I need help. I need
15:38
Speaker 1: people around me who are going to provide.
15:39
Speaker 2: That help for me.
15:41
Speaker 1: So I think I would not necessarily, you know, let's say,
15:45
Speaker 1: blame Matt Crocker for not knowing what he didn't know,
15:49
Speaker 1: but I will have to blame the people around him
15:52
Speaker 1: for not putting him. If that's your guy and you
15:55
Speaker 1: think that he has the skills to make us great,
15:59
Speaker 1: however that is however they measure that. I think you
16:03
Speaker 1: have to put them in an environment in which he
16:05
Speaker 1: can succeed, not in not in an environment in which
16:08
Speaker 1: he's going to be surprised at every corner, right and
16:11
Speaker 1: so and so I think it's not This doesn't fall
16:14
Speaker 1: just on one person. That's how I see it.
16:19
Speaker 3: And again I'm trying to be careful not to you know,
16:22
Speaker 3: read too much it or make things binary where I
16:24
Speaker 3: think that there should have been a US national team veteran,
16:27
Speaker 3: a guy. Again, I'll take you out of it because
16:30
Speaker 3: of a four relationship. But whether it's you or Miola
16:33
Speaker 3: or insert Josie out the door, Michael Bradley before you
16:35
Speaker 3: got the ribel. Insert anybody who's a big player in
16:38
Speaker 3: this program's history who is a coach. Now we're in
16:40
Speaker 3: the coaching world. I really think that you need that
16:43
Speaker 3: on on the staff for a national team, and they
16:45
Speaker 3: didn't do that, And right, I don't know how much
16:48
Speaker 3: things would have been different if if Josieltador was an
16:50
Speaker 3: assistant coach, right, Like, that's maybe a little bit unfair
16:53
Speaker 3: to say, but to your point, your overall points AaB,
16:55
Speaker 3: I think that just underpins a lack of understanding or
16:59
Speaker 3: maybe even the want to understand or the want to
17:03
Speaker 3: totally buy into this culture while you're kind of remaking
17:06
Speaker 3: it and trying to make it better. And I think
17:08
Speaker 3: the closest to Crocker in like in as far as
17:11
Speaker 3: sporting personnel would be Guccia Yewu in terms of people
17:14
Speaker 3: with history and experience and knowledge of this federation of
17:19
Speaker 3: this program. So that was something that again, these things
17:23
Speaker 3: are coming on heights. I've heard that that's something Crocker
17:25
Speaker 3: would have been in favor of. But you know, Poachatino
17:27
Speaker 3: had full license to name his staff and you know
17:30
Speaker 3: kind of as was part of those contract discussions. But
17:33
Speaker 3: there will be a lot of here say, there'll be
17:34
Speaker 3: a lot of things to come out of this. I
17:36
Speaker 3: just think whatever the micro reasons, the macro is we're
17:42
Speaker 3: sitting here too much before a World Cup and the
17:44
Speaker 3: sporting director leaves for Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian Federation.
17:48
Speaker 3: That doesn't happen at England, it doesn't happen at Belgia.
17:52
Speaker 3: I don't believe it doesn't happen even at at Like
17:55
Speaker 3: you could look up at the top federations, but at
17:57
Speaker 3: the top teams in the world. This is one of
18:01
Speaker 3: your most influential executives is not just content to leave,
18:06
Speaker 3: but wants to leave directly before a home World Cup.
18:09
Speaker 3: And I think that's an indictment on everybody involved. There's
18:12
Speaker 3: one other thing kind of tangentially related there. Tab I
18:16
Speaker 3: was talking to our mutual friend, your closer friend, Tonimiola,
18:20
Speaker 3: and Tony brought up a good point of some things
18:22
Speaker 3: that you kind of instilled when you were working as
18:25
Speaker 3: a federation, and one of them was a January summit
18:27
Speaker 3: for the youth national teams where all of the youth
18:29
Speaker 3: national teams were together, which helped with the coaches and
18:32
Speaker 3: the players and everybody, seeing everybody in the competitive nature
18:35
Speaker 3: and the team building and the bond. What I was told,
18:37
Speaker 3: and I want you to take this wherever you want
18:39
Speaker 3: to go. That on the way to the dining hall
18:41
Speaker 3: at the Summits made you personally made sure that the
18:45
Speaker 3: hallway was pictures of great US national team moments and
18:49
Speaker 3: great US national team players. So every single day when
18:52
Speaker 3: you're going to eat these young, impressible youth national team players,
18:56
Speaker 3: oh my god, look at that Clint Dempsey photo. Oh
18:58
Speaker 3: my god, look at that that Tony Meola ninety four.
19:01
Speaker 3: Look at Cloudy Rain and look at Brian McBride. Look
19:04
Speaker 3: at whoever this is who I emulate. And I heard
19:06
Speaker 3: that was something that was very important to you, And
19:08
Speaker 3: I think that kind of thing, that kind of appreciation
19:12
Speaker 3: might be lacking at this point in time.
19:14
Speaker 1: No, and that's well, this is true with all the
19:17
Speaker 1: youth national teams. Not only that, I think another thing
19:20
Speaker 1: that we did with the youth national teams, and by
19:23
Speaker 1: the way, this is not the answer to anything, but
19:25
Speaker 1: this is building culture. What we did is when the
19:28
Speaker 1: youth national teams went to World Cup qualifying, we used
19:31
Speaker 1: to put a sign above their bed of the player
19:34
Speaker 1: that was more like them. Like for example, if you
19:36
Speaker 1: were a center back, you may have a picture of
19:38
Speaker 1: Marcello Balboa. If you were you know, forward, you may
19:41
Speaker 1: have a picture of Clint Dempsey or Landon Donovan or
19:45
Speaker 1: you know, and and there would be that connection. And
19:47
Speaker 1: also I felt like the players would feel that responsibility
19:51
Speaker 1: of hey, yeah, of course I'm representing our country, but
19:54
Speaker 1: I'm representing those guys like those guys did it before.
19:57
Speaker 1: I want to be like them. And that's sort of
19:59
Speaker 1: what we wanted in what we were building with the
20:01
Speaker 1: national team. And I'll tell you this funny story actually
20:03
Speaker 1: because of course I put pictures of all the players,
20:07
Speaker 1: but of course I'm not going to put a picture
20:08
Speaker 1: of myself, right, So.
20:11
Speaker 3: All the players, even for the goalkeepers, no.
20:14
Speaker 1: No, but I put a picture of everybody that was
20:17
Speaker 1: you know, that was influential.
20:18
Speaker 2: But of course it couldn't ever be a picture of me.
20:20
Speaker 1: So but this is funny because one of my teams
20:23
Speaker 1: we went to the World Cup, I think it was
20:25
Speaker 1: the ninety Vibes.
20:25
Speaker 2: It must have been. It could have been led by.
20:27
Speaker 1: Poula Riola because it was that group with Kelen Nakasa.
20:30
Speaker 1: They actually got a picture of me and put it
20:32
Speaker 1: up so they had they had a picture. The players
20:37
Speaker 1: got together and figured out how to get a picture.
20:40
Speaker 2: Of me and put it up on the wall.
20:41
Speaker 1: So but you know, it's it's a funny story, right,
20:44
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it is building a culture,
20:47
Speaker 1: and those things are important. And sometimes I'm not saying
20:50
Speaker 1: that someone coming from outside wouldn't do it, because they can.
20:56
Speaker 1: But I think someone from inside like us, like we
20:58
Speaker 1: grew up with the program for the program. We sweated
21:02
Speaker 1: for the we fought for the program, so we're most
21:05
Speaker 1: likely to care the most about the program, and I
21:08
Speaker 1: think that's what we were building at the time.
21:13
Speaker 3: I will say I can't imagine scenario in which one
21:15
Speaker 3: of one of you guys wanted somebody who, let's say,
21:17
Speaker 3: has one hundred caps for the national team, whoever it
21:19
Speaker 3: may be over the years, in any of those iterations,
21:22
Speaker 3: probably not gonna leave for the Saudi Arabian Federation two
21:25
Speaker 3: months before the World Cup, maybe maybe after the World Cup,
21:28
Speaker 3: maybe another time. Everybody changes jobs, everybody has the freedom
21:30
Speaker 3: a movement. Again, I just think it's a bad sign
21:33
Speaker 3: for the program. Though again it's not going to take
21:36
Speaker 3: away from the day to day at the World Cup.
21:38
Speaker 3: We can still have a bit of optimism. But that's
21:40
Speaker 3: where things stands. That's some breaking news and we're gonna
21:42
Speaker 3: take a quick break. Next up, we're gonna get into
21:45
Speaker 3: tabs twenty six man roster for the World Cup for
21:48
Speaker 3: the United States. Please rate, review, and subscribe from Inside
21:51
Speaker 3: America Soccer with Tom Boger tab Ramas. Wherever you get
21:54
Speaker 3: your podcast, we'll be read by all Right, welcome back
22:06
Speaker 3: to Inside American Soccer TAB. After we broke down Matt
22:10
Speaker 3: Crockett departing US Soccer Federation, there's still a World Cup
22:14
Speaker 3: to be played in a team to be decided now
22:16
Speaker 3: after the March window. I believe that there's He's just
22:19
Speaker 3: gonna name the roster for the next time that the
22:22
Speaker 3: players reconvene, rather than saying bringing you know, thirty or
22:26
Speaker 3: thirty two guys to a camp and then cutting from there.
22:28
Speaker 3: So Tab, I'll let you take it away here. What
22:30
Speaker 3: do you think Pochettino's full twenty six man roster for
22:33
Speaker 3: the World couple be? Starting with the goalkeepers?
22:35
Speaker 2: Okay, starting with the goalkeepers.
22:37
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with Meola Howard and no, hold on,
22:42
Speaker 1: I can't I can't do that I can't do that,
22:44
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go I'm gonna start with Matt, Freeze, Turner,
22:48
Speaker 1: and Brady.
22:49
Speaker 2: Those will be the guys obviously. That's that's what we've seen.
22:52
Speaker 1: I could it be Shalty, maybe, could it be Saltano
22:55
Speaker 1: at that third spot. Maybe it could be one of
22:57
Speaker 1: those guys, But again, I don't think relevant for this
23:00
Speaker 1: World Cup anyway.
23:02
Speaker 2: So I think your guys are basically.
23:03
Speaker 1: Freezing Turner at this point, and you're going with You're
23:06
Speaker 1: going with those, right, So you have Freeze, Turner and
23:09
Speaker 1: probably Brady. As far as center backs, I picked four,
23:13
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna explain why. Normally I would have picked
23:15
Speaker 1: five because I think we're gonna we're gonna need to
23:17
Speaker 1: play with three. But I selected Richards McKenzie, Reem, and
23:23
Speaker 1: Miles Robinson. It could potentially be Trusty. I have not
23:29
Speaker 1: over over the last couple of years, been a big
23:31
Speaker 1: fan of the way Trusty plays in the back. But
23:34
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I thought the last camp
23:36
Speaker 1: he did really well. If one of the things, you know,
23:39
Speaker 1: one of the things about Trusty that you can always
23:41
Speaker 1: count on is that he's gonna give you everything, and
23:44
Speaker 1: he's gonna track the guys down. Man, it's full effort,
23:47
Speaker 1: and so I think he's hopefully he's a little bit
23:49
Speaker 1: in the picture. But I'll go with the four for now.
23:53
Speaker 1: I'll go into the next position, which is the outside back.
23:57
Speaker 3: While you continue, like if they're playing with three center
24:01
Speaker 3: backs on the field, whether Pochettino calls it a three
24:03
Speaker 3: at the back or forth the back is irrespective. Looking forward,
24:06
Speaker 3: when you get to your wing backs here, are there
24:08
Speaker 3: a couple of players that you think that if they
24:10
Speaker 3: needed to play outside center back in a back three
24:12
Speaker 3: could provide cover? Or do you think that he would
24:15
Speaker 3: he would just bring four center backs and say all right,
24:17
Speaker 3: like I trust you guys all be fit or all
24:19
Speaker 3: being four?
24:20
Speaker 1: No, that's a good question, and that's where I was
24:22
Speaker 1: going with that because Freeman is one of my is
24:24
Speaker 1: my one of the two outside backs, and I think
24:27
Speaker 1: I see Freeman likely more to be able to do
24:29
Speaker 1: both right and so he could likely also play that
24:32
Speaker 1: right sided center back if they if Desk is healthy
24:37
Speaker 1: to play. So so I have on as as let's
24:40
Speaker 1: say the wing backs destin Freeman on one side. Again,
24:44
Speaker 1: Desk being healthy, fully healthy, Desk would be the starter.
24:48
Speaker 1: Freeman could actually be a sub for Desk, but could
24:52
Speaker 1: also be that that third center back on the right side.
24:55
Speaker 1: On the left side, it would have to be Robinson
24:57
Speaker 1: and Arveston. Could you chang take a chance and maybe
25:01
Speaker 1: you know, take someone else. I just think that although
25:04
Speaker 1: the last camp was not great for Ugstin, I think
25:07
Speaker 1: he's he's got a little bit of leverage with how
25:11
Speaker 1: well he played over.
25:12
Speaker 2: The last year for the national team.
25:14
Speaker 1: I really he really impressed me over the last year
25:16
Speaker 1: with a lot of what he did for the national team.
25:21
Speaker 3: I would say in Arson too, I don't I don't
25:23
Speaker 3: think that he was put in a position to succeed
25:26
Speaker 3: because I think that they did try to play more
25:28
Speaker 3: with like him being a true left back, which he's
25:31
Speaker 3: a way back at this international level. He's not good
25:34
Speaker 3: enough defensively one v one and putting him in that
25:37
Speaker 3: spot is not on him because this is who he is.
25:40
Speaker 3: He's very very good going forward. Played at your player's strengths,
25:43
Speaker 3: and if you're playing a back four, it should not
25:44
Speaker 3: be Max Orbson ed left back. But again I do
25:46
Speaker 3: believe it'll be more like that three at the back,
25:48
Speaker 3: and if so, he's absolutely not just on the team,
25:51
Speaker 3: but he could be getting some minutes.
25:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. In midfield, I went with Tyler Adams, Tessaman McKinney,
26:05
Speaker 1: uh In Cardozo, and my fifth one there would be
26:10
Speaker 1: Rolled don only Roll Done because I just feel like
26:14
Speaker 1: he has the trust of of Mauricio Pochettino in many
26:18
Speaker 1: ways on the field and in the locker room. But
26:21
Speaker 1: that could of course, that could be Sebastian Burholter that
26:26
Speaker 1: that takes that position as well.
26:29
Speaker 2: And then uh and on the attacking side.
26:31
Speaker 1: And this is this sort of fits with what we
26:34
Speaker 1: talked about with the outside that outside back sort of
26:38
Speaker 1: uh wing back position. I have Weea in this position, right,
26:43
Speaker 1: but we know that Weya could potentially be that wing
26:46
Speaker 1: back that could again could push Serginio Desk to the bench,
26:50
Speaker 1: that could push again you know Freeman to just purely
26:52
Speaker 1: be in a center back, right. So so you I
26:55
Speaker 1: think Pochettino will give himself this option by having that
26:59
Speaker 1: extra player there. So I have I have Waya there obviously,
27:03
Speaker 1: Christian Polisic, uh, Malik Tillman, Uh, I have Brendan Aronson,
27:10
Speaker 1: uh In alex In Dejas and as the last one
27:14
Speaker 1: in there. And and I have to tell you and
27:15
Speaker 1: I understand your oof on this one, but I think
27:20
Speaker 1: that we showed so little in the last camp that
27:22
Speaker 1: by Zinde has not being there, and by the way.
27:25
Speaker 2: I think he deserved to be there.
27:27
Speaker 1: But by by him not being there, I think he
27:29
Speaker 1: played himself right into this team.
27:32
Speaker 3: And I made I made the I made the wrong
27:34
Speaker 3: audible noise there that was meant to be. It was
27:37
Speaker 3: a it was a premature. I'm gonna be disappointed if
27:40
Speaker 3: Zendejas isn't brought in because I just don't think Bochatino
27:43
Speaker 3: rates him for whatever reason. I thought like him not
27:45
Speaker 3: being there in March, I think was was a clear
27:47
Speaker 3: sign of he's on the outside looking in, and maybe
27:49
Speaker 3: to your point, that ended up that could end up
27:50
Speaker 3: working better for him. But he's been one of the
27:52
Speaker 3: best number tens in Club America's history. This is the biggest,
27:56
Speaker 3: if not one of the biggest teams in this hemisphere,
27:59
Speaker 3: and he's in his prime and he's playing really well,
28:01
Speaker 3: And this is a player I think that should be there,
28:03
Speaker 3: But I just don't know if he will be. And
28:05
Speaker 3: I don't know if you're getting to your own mission yet.
28:07
Speaker 3: But there's one name that you haven't mentioned.
28:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want to make sure that I said Aaronson, Aaronson,
28:14
Speaker 1: I have to tell you he has not shown a
28:17
Speaker 1: whole lot for the national team, and that's unfortunate. However,
28:21
Speaker 1: I mean, with the way the kid plays weekend and
28:24
Speaker 1: week out in the EPL, I just don't know how
28:27
Speaker 1: someone could feel that he's not deserving of a position
28:30
Speaker 1: on this World Cup team. I really think he's deserving.
28:33
Speaker 1: I really think there is some use to him on
28:36
Speaker 1: this team in terms of either locking down a score
28:39
Speaker 1: by putting him up there and having them pressure, or
28:42
Speaker 1: by wanting to win the bowl back because we're losing
28:44
Speaker 1: and we need to win it back. I just don't
28:47
Speaker 1: know how he wouldn't make this team. I think he
28:49
Speaker 1: truly deserves to make this team. And then I'll get
28:52
Speaker 1: to that final position, and that final position to me,
28:56
Speaker 1: is likely going to be Luna over Giorna. I just
29:00
Speaker 1: think I just think Luna is in a better place.
29:03
Speaker 2: I think Geo.
29:05
Speaker 1: I think I've given him all of the compliments in
29:09
Speaker 1: terms of final third and being able to play the
29:11
Speaker 1: ball that no one can and all of those things,
29:15
Speaker 1: but I just think he's he's not in He hasn't
29:18
Speaker 1: been in position to show any of that, and it's
29:20
Speaker 1: been too long, and I think for that reason, I
29:24
Speaker 1: just don't know how if you're Muzio Bochettino, you're you're
29:26
Speaker 1: going You're going to be able to take them.
29:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that there's no difference now than realistically
29:34
Speaker 3: with any point over the last four years, like he
29:36
Speaker 3: showed well in the first half against Paraguay, has there
29:39
Speaker 3: been any other super positive moments. He's in and out
29:43
Speaker 3: of the lineup and getting minutes, we're not getting minutes
29:46
Speaker 3: more often than not with his club team. There's no
29:49
Speaker 3: difference there since the guitar. His running data, I don't
29:53
Speaker 3: think that I've seen it this year, but when you
29:54
Speaker 3: watch him with the eye test, he doesn't look like
29:57
Speaker 3: he's running anymore than he did over the last few years.
29:59
Speaker 3: And in his last season at Dortmund, I remember pulling
30:03
Speaker 3: the numbers. I believe like half of the Bundesliga's starting
30:07
Speaker 3: goalkeepers had registered a faster sprint than him. And if
30:11
Speaker 3: you compared him to the other number tens within the league. Again,
30:15
Speaker 3: Florian Verts is probably unfair because he was one of
30:17
Speaker 3: the best players in the league. But like his running dat,
30:20
Speaker 3: he's like double these sprints, double the groundcover, double the chance,
30:23
Speaker 3: like all of that stuff. So no, I agree, I
30:26
Speaker 3: agree with your logic. I just I've just kind of
30:28
Speaker 3: resigned to the fact that doesn't matter what the lotch
30:31
Speaker 3: is or isn't because of the talent. Just assume he's
30:34
Speaker 3: going to be there.
30:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I and you know, you made a great
30:38
Speaker 1: point about the sort of the sprint stats. And as
30:41
Speaker 1: you know, I'm one of the last guys to lean
30:44
Speaker 1: on analytics because I think you can make them look
30:47
Speaker 1: however you want to make them look.
30:48
Speaker 3: Right.
30:48
Speaker 1: But but having said that, I think that still in
30:52
Speaker 1: the two games that we just had in March, he
30:55
Speaker 1: didn't show a change of pace at all at any time,
30:57
Speaker 1: because at least if he did and then we saw
30:59
Speaker 1: that he was tired, we could say, well, you know,
31:02
Speaker 1: he hasn't been playing, so he you know, but there
31:05
Speaker 1: was at no time was there a change of pace,
31:08
Speaker 1: a change of speed getting around someone and getting a
31:11
Speaker 1: shot off at We didn't see any of that this time,
31:15
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that was really unfortunate because
31:17
Speaker 1: I think he missed out on a big opportunity in
31:19
Speaker 1: March to do something, to make a couple of plays.
31:23
Speaker 1: I think where we just don't expect that much anymore
31:26
Speaker 1: at this point, so we expect a couple of plays
31:29
Speaker 1: and we didn't get that. And I know that I
31:32
Speaker 1: show it in my voice that I'm disappointed with that
31:35
Speaker 1: more than anything else.
31:36
Speaker 2: So that's kind of where we are.
31:37
Speaker 1: And then let's let's get to our forwards, because I'm
31:40
Speaker 1: not sure why you were gone if you missed that. Uh,
31:43
Speaker 1: we decided to play without a nine who happens like
31:47
Speaker 1: one of the hottest players in the world, and we decided, hey,
31:51
Speaker 1: we're playing Portugal, let's try playing without him.
31:54
Speaker 2: So let me let me just say that, yeah, we
31:59
Speaker 2: you know there.
32:00
Speaker 1: I think he'll select three forwards, maybe four, but I
32:03
Speaker 1: think he's gonna go with three at this point, and
32:05
Speaker 1: those will be obviously Baligan, who's in great form and
32:09
Speaker 1: we should ride him.
32:10
Speaker 2: At this point.
32:12
Speaker 1: And then we have Peppi and Haji Wright. I think
32:15
Speaker 1: they're good compliments. They're both different. Hodgie gives you a
32:18
Speaker 1: chance to also play wide if you wanted to go
32:20
Speaker 1: three up top, for example. I think Peppi is just
32:24
Speaker 1: a scrapper in the box. He will get all those
32:27
Speaker 1: scrappy goals and he gets to the end of things,
32:30
Speaker 1: you know, and then and then I'm just gonna throw
32:32
Speaker 1: this out there, right because I you know, maybe there's
32:35
Speaker 1: a chance that if he takes four, you know, Josh
32:37
Speaker 1: Sargent does well over the next month and a half.
32:39
Speaker 1: You know, if if Brian White continues to do well,
32:42
Speaker 1: maybe you know, he raises the coaches eyebrows and he
32:45
Speaker 1: picks him. And then I'm thinking, listen, bottom line here, Tom,
32:50
Speaker 1: the bottom four or five guys in this roster will
32:52
Speaker 1: never see a minute at the World Cup, you know,
32:55
Speaker 1: And why not take a kid like Julian Hall who's
32:57
Speaker 1: been doing great, give him a chance. We don't know
33:00
Speaker 1: the limit with this kid. He's just starting out, he
33:02
Speaker 1: doesn't know what he doesn't know at this point.
33:05
Speaker 2: Why not.
33:08
Speaker 3: I love that Halls at least even on the radar.
33:11
Speaker 3: This is a kid that I've had. I've been very
33:14
Speaker 3: very impressed by the youth level. And you never know
33:16
Speaker 3: either how long it's gonna take her, if it ever happens. Right,
33:18
Speaker 3: there are a lot of players who've excelled at the
33:20
Speaker 3: youth level. I felt very very good about his ability
33:22
Speaker 3: to transition to first team soccer, and last year he
33:26
Speaker 3: deserved the minutes he was getting. And you could kind
33:28
Speaker 3: of see like, yeah, he's got some moments, but like
33:30
Speaker 3: this is a youth player playing the first team and
33:32
Speaker 3: getting his feet under him, right, Like he didn't perform bad,
33:35
Speaker 3: but it was just like okay, cool, Like he still
33:36
Speaker 3: got to develop the kid that started games this year,
33:40
Speaker 3: Like you don't know he's eighteen years old until they
33:42
Speaker 3: zoom in on him and you see his baby face,
33:44
Speaker 3: the way that he moves, the way that he physically challenges,
33:46
Speaker 3: his intelligence, his straight line running, and he's just so
33:50
Speaker 3: much more than what he was able to do six
33:52
Speaker 3: months ago. He was able to show at least six
33:53
Speaker 3: months ago, so why not even have him under contention.
33:57
Speaker 3: We've said this plenty of times on the show, a
34:00
Speaker 3: possibility for the last center forward spot to just be
34:03
Speaker 3: whoever the hottest guy is in terms of scoring goals,
34:06
Speaker 3: and we assumed that would be maybe it could be
34:09
Speaker 3: Brian White or Josh Sargeant or Damien Downs. When when
34:12
Speaker 3: we were looking at what he might be doing in Europe,
34:16
Speaker 3: which he's out a bad season, it's we weren't expecting
34:19
Speaker 3: it to be the eighteen year old, you know, potentially
34:21
Speaker 3: a start of the future. So it's definitely one that
34:23
Speaker 3: he deserves to be mentioned here. I would think it's
34:26
Speaker 3: more likely to be White, maybe more than Sergeant, because
34:29
Speaker 3: I think the Odjemong injury, it's just gutting man. Like
34:34
Speaker 3: I thought he was for sure making the roster the
34:36
Speaker 3: form he's been in, and just that he has something
34:38
Speaker 3: different that no other forward in this pool has, and
34:41
Speaker 3: with his physicality and his aerial dominance, where like you
34:45
Speaker 3: know Peppy, Him and Peppy I thought worked well together
34:48
Speaker 3: in some of their minutes, but you're down a goal
34:51
Speaker 3: with ten minutes left and you're piling numbers for the
34:54
Speaker 3: balls getting wide. Like having a guy who can be
34:56
Speaker 3: a really dominant or whoever your most early dominant option is,
35:00
Speaker 3: is super valuable. Brian White isn't quite the same as Ajamunk,
35:03
Speaker 3: but he's more in that mold. And that's why, Like,
35:07
Speaker 3: because he's not better than Balgan, he's not better than Pep,
35:09
Speaker 3: he's not better than Right, but he does one thing
35:11
Speaker 3: better than those guys. So it's at least a different
35:13
Speaker 3: option rather than just say having a lesser center foe
35:17
Speaker 3: or somebody who plays like Baligan but he's maybe eighty
35:20
Speaker 3: percent of Balgan. Why would that player ever play ahead
35:22
Speaker 3: of Balgan. It has to be like a different profile.
35:24
Speaker 3: So that's kind of where I'm going with that, and
35:26
Speaker 3: I think that's all possible. I was surprised to see
35:29
Speaker 3: you left off burr Halter. It probably will come down
35:33
Speaker 3: to him versus rolled On the more that I think
35:36
Speaker 3: about it, in the way that you laid it out
35:37
Speaker 3: with this team, so I get the logic I could.
35:40
Speaker 3: I think both would be deserving. I don't. I don't
35:42
Speaker 3: think that both will go. So we'll see kind of
35:44
Speaker 3: where that goes with those. Those are some of the ones,
35:46
Speaker 3: And like you said, we'll focus and debate and be
35:48
Speaker 3: super interested in you know, the you know, the last
35:52
Speaker 3: five guys in and the first handful of guys out
35:55
Speaker 3: because it's it's a dream for these guys. Everything else.
35:57
Speaker 3: What matters more to the where this team will go
36:01
Speaker 3: at the World Cup is the star players. And before
36:04
Speaker 3: we take a break, I want to talk about Christian Polizik.
36:06
Speaker 3: Is this almost maybe the worst form of his life
36:10
Speaker 3: over these few months, Like he hasn't scored for the
36:11
Speaker 3: national team in a long time, He's not playing super
36:14
Speaker 3: well for a se Milan and always been in and out,
36:16
Speaker 3: or had been in and out a little bit with
36:17
Speaker 3: some smaller injuries. This is a guy in October, people
36:22
Speaker 3: myself included, was talking about he could be the player
36:25
Speaker 3: of the season in Syria because how incredible he started
36:27
Speaker 3: and he's finishing the season in a complete opposite way.
36:30
Speaker 2: Are you worried, I'm not. I'm not worried.
36:36
Speaker 1: I don't think he's playing as poorly as people say.
36:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
36:42
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes we judge attacking players only by numbers,
36:46
Speaker 1: and I think certainly the numbers have not been there,
36:49
Speaker 1: the goal contributions have not been there. But I mean
36:52
Speaker 1: also this weekend he served the ball to Rafael that
36:54
Speaker 1: Leo should have likely scored. There there are he is
36:58
Speaker 1: making plays on. Unfortunately they're not working for him. You know,
37:01
Speaker 1: in the last game he played with the national team,
37:03
Speaker 1: you know, he did everything right cutting inside the box
37:06
Speaker 1: and then this shot just goes over the bar. He
37:08
Speaker 1: doesn't tuck it in and and sometimes that happens. I
37:11
Speaker 1: you know, I'd be more worried if he's not playing
37:14
Speaker 1: at Milan, if he's doing poorly, true, and that means
37:17
Speaker 1: that his coach is not picking him. But listen, he's
37:20
Speaker 1: playing on a good team. He plays pretty much all
37:23
Speaker 1: the time and he does make plays. I'm not worried
37:26
Speaker 1: about Christin Polisic.
37:28
Speaker 3: All right. I think that's good to hear. I I
37:30
Speaker 3: thought that it would. It has taken me a while
37:33
Speaker 3: to get a little bit concerned, but I'm at least
37:35
Speaker 3: a little bit concern because it's he doesn't he hasn't
37:39
Speaker 3: had quite the same moments. Again, I agree with like,
37:41
Speaker 3: I don't want to be so reductive to boil it
37:43
Speaker 3: down to just goals or assists, but he just hasn't
37:47
Speaker 3: had the same kind of spark and there haven't been
37:49
Speaker 3: the same moments that that he normally provides. Even when
37:52
Speaker 3: he's not in the best of form, he's been moving around.
37:56
Speaker 3: I know Doya had had a good kind of breakdown
37:58
Speaker 3: that that he thought that Pochatino was putting in centrally,
38:01
Speaker 3: not partly on the ball, but also because he didn't
38:05
Speaker 3: trust Poolsick to you know, close down with the same
38:07
Speaker 3: ferocity to eliminate like when you're playing against the ball,
38:10
Speaker 3: and to eliminate some of those big switches. So that
38:13
Speaker 3: would be a concern. Again, hopefully he turns it around.
38:16
Speaker 3: There's plenty of time. And it's funny thing with with
38:19
Speaker 3: forwards and attacking players. Tab right like it just one
38:22
Speaker 3: big performance. And again, if you get to the group
38:24
Speaker 3: stage and you play Paraguay and he has two goals
38:27
Speaker 3: and assists or a big game or something, you don't
38:29
Speaker 3: remember any of this. So that's what you hold on too.
38:31
Speaker 3: But we're gonna take one more quick break. Next up,
38:34
Speaker 3: we're gonna give Tap a break on the story time.
38:36
Speaker 3: We're gonna go with me the New Dad story time.
38:39
Speaker 3: So thanks for listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review
38:41
Speaker 3: and describe for'll be right back. Welcome back to Inside
38:53
Speaker 3: American Soccer. And normally right now you lay out and
38:56
Speaker 3: I let Tap take us back down memory lane, go
38:58
Speaker 3: inside the locker room with this story. But Tab has
39:00
Speaker 3: turned the tables on me, and you want me to talk,
39:03
Speaker 3: don't you hear?
39:04
Speaker 2: Yeah?
39:04
Speaker 3: We you know.
39:05
Speaker 2: I think it's your turn.
39:06
Speaker 1: You know. I always have to come up with a
39:07
Speaker 1: story from the past that most people are going to
39:09
Speaker 1: get bored with. So it's nice to get like a
39:13
Speaker 1: current story that I think people are.
39:14
Speaker 2: Going to be all over because they will be able
39:16
Speaker 2: to relate to it. Tell us, Tom, what do you have?
39:20
Speaker 3: All right? So my wife and iis is our first
39:23
Speaker 3: child that we welcome. So we're learning. Thank God that
39:26
Speaker 3: I have my wife, who is much much, so much
39:30
Speaker 3: more well rounded individual, mature, human being, everything else. But
39:32
Speaker 3: she has great maternal instincts. So I'm a supporting character,
39:35
Speaker 3: do everything I can for my son, but she's the
39:37
Speaker 3: star of the show in terms of keeping him alive
39:39
Speaker 3: and sustained. With that comes the maternal instinct of worrying,
39:42
Speaker 3: and the new parents worrying. I knew that we would
39:45
Speaker 3: have a moment of overly cautious of bringing the child
39:50
Speaker 3: to a doctor, to something when you know, like every
39:52
Speaker 3: new parent does early on, and I was like, that's okay,
39:55
Speaker 3: that's gonna happen. It's gonna be fine. It'll just be
39:57
Speaker 3: you know, three hours at the er one day, and
40:00
Speaker 3: feel dumb when they say, yeah, no, everything's totally okay.
40:03
Speaker 3: This happened. He was he was looking a little discolored,
40:07
Speaker 3: and my wife called and said, I'm assuming that the
40:10
Speaker 3: pediatricians say, cool, hey, just bring him in tomorrow. We'll
40:12
Speaker 3: just be safe, double check, don't worry. But she thought
40:14
Speaker 3: that they were just gonna say, don't worry about it.
40:16
Speaker 3: I'm walking the dogs. I gotta call frantic, saying we
40:18
Speaker 3: need to go to the hospital. The pediatricians said to
40:20
Speaker 3: go to hospitals. Like, oh my God, like Jesus Christ,
40:22
Speaker 3: like this is terrifying. We go and everything is, everything
40:27
Speaker 3: is fine. Every single person that we talk to, every
40:29
Speaker 3: medical professional is it's fine. But you know, nobody wants
40:33
Speaker 3: to be on the hook for you know, the point
40:35
Speaker 3: zero zero one percent chance or worrying about somebody getting suited.
40:38
Speaker 3: So we see multiple different people. Nurse goes, ye, actually
40:41
Speaker 3: he looks great. He's looking fine. Everything's fine. Let me
40:43
Speaker 3: just get a doctor. Doctor goes, yeah, it looks great,
40:45
Speaker 3: but I'm not a pediatrician. Let me just fink get one. Oh,
40:47
Speaker 3: there's not a pediatrician in this hospital. So we're gonna,
40:49
Speaker 3: you know, send you to our sister hospital. It's like, great,
40:52
Speaker 3: we'll just leave. Then go well, actually, you're not allowed
40:54
Speaker 3: to leave without an ambulance. I was like trying to
40:57
Speaker 3: get annoyed. I don't think that that is accurate. That
40:59
Speaker 3: is getting frustrated. I think that's okay, but you're a doctor.
41:02
Speaker 3: I wouldn't dare risk anything with my son. We are
41:07
Speaker 3: at the hospital for two hours. My wife is just
41:09
Speaker 3: sitting on a bed holding my son. So it was
41:12
Speaker 3: too much of an emergency that we couldn't drive him
41:15
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes without medical care. But nobody is ever walking
41:18
Speaker 3: around and checking in on them, and she's just sitting there.
41:22
Speaker 3: Fast forward, they end up having to get an ambulance
41:26
Speaker 3: to bring this child, who's completely fine and healthy and
41:29
Speaker 3: everything's okay, to another hospital. We end up being in
41:33
Speaker 3: there for between the two hospitals for twenty hours. It
41:36
Speaker 3: took a seventeenth hour for when we actually saw a
41:38
Speaker 3: pediatrician and that person goes, he's fine, you know, to
41:44
Speaker 3: try to make us feel better, you know what would
41:46
Speaker 3: be I'd be more worried that he might get you know,
41:49
Speaker 3: germs at the hospital. Ha ha, thinking that was. And
41:53
Speaker 3: my wife, she's a mental health therapist. She is extremely kind,
41:56
Speaker 3: she's the good people. I'm the one who usually gets
41:58
Speaker 3: mad quickly watching her kind of build up in her
42:02
Speaker 3: head of like I'm so angry at you right now
42:04
Speaker 3: and joking about this, like I was also worried about
42:08
Speaker 3: this too, being in the hospital. We've been here for
42:10
Speaker 3: eighteen hours in a new yr. That was the closest
42:13
Speaker 3: thing that I've got to to a halfway decent story,
42:15
Speaker 3: because always well at that ends well everything was totally fine.
42:19
Speaker 3: We took our lumps. This was this felt like a
42:21
Speaker 3: preseason game for parents, where you knew that you had
42:24
Speaker 3: to get through the fitness, you had to have the
42:26
Speaker 3: one unnecessary hospital trip or yard trip. I just thought
42:30
Speaker 3: silly that it was gonna be two or three hours
42:31
Speaker 3: of my time, not eighteen to twenty and a lot
42:34
Speaker 3: of frustrations. So we're learning, and then I'm sure by
42:36
Speaker 3: our third kid, if we have a third kid, that
42:38
Speaker 3: they'll be eating dirt and it'll be okay. Well you
42:41
Speaker 3: do tab you can tell me more about how things
42:44
Speaker 3: change from kids one to two to whatever.
42:46
Speaker 2: No, and that's exactly right.
42:47
Speaker 1: And this will guaranteed not be your last unfortunately, not
42:51
Speaker 1: your last trip to the hospital.
42:53
Speaker 2: We learn it, but hopefully everything will be fine.
42:55
Speaker 1: And you're you're absolutely right that being in the hospital
42:59
Speaker 1: alone can make you sick. If you're not sick, you're
43:02
Speaker 1: likely going to be sick just by being in the hospital.
43:05
Speaker 2: You know.
43:06
Speaker 1: The one thing is, and I'm sure this happened to
43:08
Speaker 1: you over over this period of time, is that you
43:11
Speaker 1: start thinking, because you said something at the beginning that
43:13
Speaker 1: I think it's key. The key to every new parent
43:16
Speaker 1: is you just got You have to keep them alive.
43:18
Speaker 3: That's it.
43:19
Speaker 2: You have to keep them alive.
43:20
Speaker 1: Right, So if your wife, if your wife says, I
43:23
Speaker 1: have to run to the store to get X, right,
43:25
Speaker 1: you're thinking, Okay, I have to keep them alive.
43:31
Speaker 2: That's it. He has to keep breathing.
43:33
Speaker 1: I have to make sure that when she comes back,
43:35
Speaker 1: he's still in the same state that he is now.
43:37
Speaker 1: So but you know, haven't said all those things obviously.
43:41
Speaker 1: You know, being a parent is not an easy task.
43:45
Speaker 1: It's twenty four to seven. You know, even when you
43:47
Speaker 1: go to when you go to sleep, you you know
43:49
Speaker 1: you hear their breathing from you know, one room away,
43:53
Speaker 1: you're still hearing it. But I have to tell you
43:56
Speaker 1: I'll end this with the same way I started the show,
43:58
Speaker 1: which just did by saying that, you know, being a
44:01
Speaker 1: dad and having the dad title is the best title
44:04
Speaker 1: you can have in the world.
44:05
Speaker 2: There's nothing like it.
44:07
Speaker 3: I really is. And I gotta tell you, maybe that
44:10
Speaker 3: I thought that that was gonna be a little bit
44:11
Speaker 3: of Hubris story. I don't want. I hope that people
44:13
Speaker 3: weren't worried. There was nothing to worry about. It's completely fine.
44:15
Speaker 3: It was just us being over anxious, I will. I
44:17
Speaker 3: will then end maybe on something a little bit more light.
44:20
Speaker 3: I've noticed personality changes. I've just become more bored. I
44:25
Speaker 3: talk about the weather a lot, small talk, I you know,
44:30
Speaker 3: because we're lucky enough to own a house. My grass
44:33
Speaker 3: in the front and backyard is like eighty percent of
44:35
Speaker 3: my personality. Now. I got a new shed at some
44:38
Speaker 3: point over paternity leave. That was just about the most
44:40
Speaker 3: exciting thing that happened to me. My wife got me white,
44:44
Speaker 3: new balanced shoes as like your dad now kind of joke.
44:47
Speaker 3: This is ironic, this is funny. I unironically love them.
44:50
Speaker 1: So Tom, we are more ready to have a beard
44:53
Speaker 1: together than ever before.
44:55
Speaker 2: So you just yes, yes, definitely, thank you, well, thank
45:01
Speaker 2: you for that.
45:03
Speaker 3: Well, we're looking forwards and we'll have to have to
45:05
Speaker 3: do it with with with your son and your son's
45:07
Speaker 3: son as the family is growing here Inside American Soccer
45:10
Speaker 3: as always, truly, thank you as always for the support.
45:14
Speaker 3: Thank you to iHeart, Thank you to Matt Doyle for
45:16
Speaker 3: stepping in for me. You guys have made me feel
45:18
Speaker 3: loved and supported, very much appreciated. So thank you for
45:21
Speaker 3: listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscribe.
45:24
Speaker 3: We'll be knacked back next week and we are rolling
45:27
Speaker 3: on as we get closer, closer to the world.