Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / Pochettino to Manchester United?! Buyout Details & USMNT vs. Haiti Preview

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Pochettino to Manchester United?! Buyout Details & USMNT vs. Haiti Preview · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: No fault of the coach, because when clubs sign you
0:02
Speaker 1: to for your contract, that's what they're supposed to do, too.
0:05
Speaker 1: But they fire you if you don't win games. So
0:08
Speaker 1: and some of them don't pay you. But that's a
0:10
Speaker 1: long story.
0:15
Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
0:18
Speaker 2: I'm USMNT Insider Tom Bogert, and I'm joined by one
0:20
Speaker 2: of the greatest players in USMNT history, Tab Ramos. Tab,
0:23
Speaker 2: we've got a very busy show today. This is the
0:27
Speaker 2: Haiti preview, as the United States are facing Haiti over
0:30
Speaker 2: the Nations League. Two legs, one in Miami, one in Cincinnati.
0:32
Speaker 2: Over the next week, camp has already started. Training is
0:35
Speaker 2: going on. But there's a big cloud hanging over training, Tab,
0:38
Speaker 2: because Mauricio Pochettino is linked as a potential option for
0:42
Speaker 2: Manchester United if and when they fire Michael Carrick. So
0:45
Speaker 2: we'll have a lot to get into there. Some other
0:47
Speaker 2: quick notes from camp. Jack McGlynn and Mark McKenzie have
0:50
Speaker 2: replaced Gio Reyna and George Campbell in the squad. The
0:53
Speaker 2: Olympic roster is out. They are training in Spain right now.
0:56
Speaker 2: There's a lot going on around U.S. soccer tab.
0:58
Speaker 3: It is never boring.
1:00
Speaker 1: It's never boring. You know, and not completely unexpected, right?
1:05
Speaker 1: You know, we knew that when Pochettino signed a four-year
1:08
Speaker 1: contract that it wasn't going to be a straightforward four-year contract.
1:12
Speaker 1: There was going to be periods of times... like this one.
1:16
Speaker 1: And we don't know if this is the time when
1:18
Speaker 1: he leaves or it will be another time, but it's
1:20
Speaker 1: likely that it will be at some point. Right. And that's,
1:23
Speaker 1: that's not going to be a complete surprise. That's something that,
1:26
Speaker 1: that we discussed. And so something we have to live with,
1:29
Speaker 1: you know, when you look at, you look at it
1:30
Speaker 1: from a Manchester United side and obviously Carrick still there,
1:34
Speaker 1: by the way, but, but when you're looking at a replacement,
1:38
Speaker 1: There's not that many guys around that have the type
1:40
Speaker 1: of experience that Pochettino have to be able to take
1:43
Speaker 1: over a club like that. And so, you know, when
1:46
Speaker 1: you start narrowing that down, there's no question Manchester United
1:49
Speaker 1: is one of those clubs that has the money to
1:51
Speaker 1: be able to do this.
1:53
Speaker 2: So to get into the news and as Tab said,
1:56
Speaker 2: and we're going to mention things are very fluid and
1:58
Speaker 2: that is the world of soccer, particularly Manchester United. But
2:01
Speaker 2: at the time of our recording on Tuesday morning, Michael
2:04
Speaker 2: Carrick is still the Manchester United manager.
2:06
Speaker 3: He is leading the team out in training.
2:09
Speaker 2: The Athletics, David Ornstein and others reported on Monday that
2:12
Speaker 2: Carrick is expected to be fired when executives have meetings
2:16
Speaker 2: with ownership. That was planned for Tuesday in Monaco, but
2:20
Speaker 2: has gotten pushed back to Wednesday. Hence why Carrick is
2:22
Speaker 2: doing training today. The overwhelming expectation from the Athletic and
2:25
Speaker 2: elsewhere in Europe is that Michael Carrick will be fired
2:28
Speaker 2: after one win in 10 games in the Premier League season.
2:31
Speaker 3: They are in 18th.
2:32
Speaker 2: They are in the relegation zone. Marisa Pochettino, he is
2:35
Speaker 2: a name that is being mentioned. Also, Eddie Howe, the
2:38
Speaker 2: former Newcastle manager. But the links with Pochettino to Manchester
2:42
Speaker 2: United are real. I can confirm that. What I can
2:46
Speaker 2: also say is, per sources, Marisa Pochettino's contract has a
2:49
Speaker 2: buyout for any team that is interested in his services.
2:52
Speaker 2: So we'll just talk about Manchester United because that is
2:54
Speaker 2: a real possibility. Sources tell me that the buyout is
2:56
Speaker 2: in the region of $ 10 million, but it will climb
3:00
Speaker 2: a couple more million if the assistant coaches are bought
3:03
Speaker 2: out too. And I'll save you the suspense. Jesus Perez
3:07
Speaker 2: has been with Mauricio Pochettino for two decades. Mauricio Pochettino's
3:09
Speaker 2: son is on this staff. There is other staff members
3:12
Speaker 2: that have gone with him job to job over the
3:13
Speaker 2: last decade. The assistants will be going with him. That
3:16
Speaker 2: would be a package deal if he is to leave.
3:18
Speaker 3: So U.S.
3:20
Speaker 2: Soccer, when they re-signed Pochettino, wanted to protect themselves from
3:23
Speaker 2: this potential scenario.
3:24
Speaker 3: They didn't know if or when it would come.
3:26
Speaker 2: U.S. Soccer's opinion and view has always been If you
3:30
Speaker 2: have a top manager, he's going to be wanted elsewhere,
3:33
Speaker 2: and this is just part and parcel of that. And
3:36
Speaker 2: they have the buyout to protect themselves financially and use
3:39
Speaker 2: that money, hopefully, in the next coaching search, if there
3:42
Speaker 2: is to be a next coaching search. I would reiterate,
3:45
Speaker 2: Manchester United has not yet fired Michael Carrick, and they
3:47
Speaker 2: have not yet decided that they want Mauricio Pochettino. But, Tab,
3:50
Speaker 2: all of this is real. This is not just speculation.
3:54
Speaker 2: This is a possibility that Manchester United go for Mauricio Pochettino.
3:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is because you just mentioned two names and
4:02
Speaker 1: I'd be hesitant to throw in more than two other names.
4:06
Speaker 1: I just don't think there's that many people that can
4:08
Speaker 1: take over this club at this time. And so it's fair.
4:12
Speaker 1: The whole conversation is fair. Something we'll have to deal with.
4:14
Speaker 1: Something that Pochettino has already mentioned. Hey, when I signed
4:17
Speaker 1: a four-year contract is to be there till the last day.
4:21
Speaker 1: But we know how that works because, and by the way,
4:23
Speaker 1: no fault of the coach because when clubs sign you
4:25
Speaker 1: to a four-year contract, That's what they're supposed.
4:28
Speaker 3: To do, too.
4:28
Speaker 1: But they fire you if you don't win games. And
4:32
Speaker 1: some of them don't pay you, but that's a long story.
4:37
Speaker 3: I hope a Texas MLS club isn't one of those.
4:39
Speaker 1: No, no, no. It's not Texas MLS. But anyway, so
4:43
Speaker 1: that can happen. Contracts are there, unfortunately, to be broken.
4:47
Speaker 1: And when you have a good coach, you have to
4:49
Speaker 1: deal with these situations.
4:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Tab, you alluded to that quote when Pochettino
4:54
Speaker 2: resigned this summer. People dubious might be a negative word,
4:59
Speaker 2: but people were fairly like, hey, like, well, what happens
5:02
Speaker 2: if a club like Manchester United calls you?
5:04
Speaker 1: Right.
5:05
Speaker 2: And he said, quote, every time we sign a contract,
5:07
Speaker 2: it's to go to the last day of the contract.
5:09
Speaker 2: If we sign a four year contract, we need to
5:10
Speaker 2: think that we will arrive there. We signed the contract
5:13
Speaker 2: because we really believe that we are going to be
5:15
Speaker 2: here for four years. Because if why not? Because if not,
5:18
Speaker 2: it's bad. We don't believe in that process. Then he goes, quote,
5:21
Speaker 2: but in life, nothing is sure less than football. And, Tab,
5:24
Speaker 2: to your point, part of his answer when he gave that,
5:26
Speaker 2: and he was trying to be introspective, trying to be open,
5:29
Speaker 2: he was like, well, within the next four years, if
5:31
Speaker 2: we lose some games, they might want to fire me. So, like,
5:33
Speaker 2: it might be out of my control. And that's just
5:36
Speaker 2: the nature of football soccer. And, again, which is why
5:39
Speaker 2: it's wise that there's a buyout here.
5:40
Speaker 1: And here's the other thing, Tom. Obviously, looking at it
5:43
Speaker 1: from a coaching standpoint, because we talked about Man United
5:46
Speaker 1: and what options they have. But from a coaching standpoint,
5:51
Speaker 1: how many clubs are there where– It's really difficult to
5:54
Speaker 1: say no if they offer you a contract. And if
5:57
Speaker 1: you were going to name maybe five clubs in the world,
6:01
Speaker 1: I'm thinking maybe Manchester United is one of those five.
6:04
Speaker 1: And if that's the case and they come knocking on
6:06
Speaker 1: your door and they actually offer you a contract, that's
6:10
Speaker 1: a tough place to say no to. I think it's
6:12
Speaker 1: very tough.
6:13
Speaker 2: And it goes back to our our insight, reporting feelings
6:18
Speaker 2: and just general.
6:19
Speaker 3: Read of the situation.
6:20
Speaker 2: We go replay shows that we had in April and May.
6:23
Speaker 2: Like this is the feeling was if like something like
6:27
Speaker 2: this happens that that he would would want to do
6:29
Speaker 2: it and. I'm not even saying that in a negative way.
6:31
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that in as close to a factual
6:33
Speaker 2: way as you can with projecting feelings and projecting what
6:36
Speaker 2: people want to do.
6:36
Speaker 3: Pochettino himself gave.
6:38
Speaker 2: An interview in last spring, I believe, where he said,
6:42
Speaker 2: I want to win the Premier League. That is one
6:43
Speaker 2: thing that me and my staff have discussed, that we
6:46
Speaker 2: want to do that one day, and we believe that
6:47
Speaker 2: we will do that one day. You can't win the
6:49
Speaker 2: Premier League if you're not at a Premier League club.
6:51
Speaker 2: He talks affectionately about Tottenham. Tottenham love him. That is
6:54
Speaker 2: very cool. I know he wants to be back in England.
6:57
Speaker 2: I know that he, particularly London, but Manchester United is
7:00
Speaker 2: is a gigantic club that, of course, he'd be good
7:03
Speaker 2: with that. Man, some people that I spoke to, and
7:06
Speaker 2: I'm not saying this with 100% fact, but the conversations
7:09
Speaker 2: are like, what if Fulham offers him the job? What
7:12
Speaker 2: if West Ham offers him the job and gives him
7:13
Speaker 2: a budget and gives him power? To your point, Manchester
7:17
Speaker 2: United kind of feels like one of the very few clubs,
7:20
Speaker 2: but I'll tell you that the feeling is his list
7:22
Speaker 2: was going to be longer than that. But I want
7:24
Speaker 2: to go towards Manchester United directly, Tab, because At this point,
7:28
Speaker 2: I think some fans would fairly say that club is
7:32
Speaker 2: a hellhole.
7:33
Speaker 1: It's toxic.
7:33
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter.
7:34
Speaker 2: You could be Pep Guardiola and it might not work there.
7:36
Speaker 2: They've cycled through managers. They've cycled through players. They've spent money.
7:39
Speaker 2: They've spent money poorly. No matter what, the end result
7:42
Speaker 2: is tragic failure and ignominy. But for a guy like Pochettino,
7:49
Speaker 2: who is a dreamer, he does a lot of things
7:52
Speaker 2: on determination and hope, the human spirit.
7:54
Speaker 3: He talks about these things all the time.
7:56
Speaker 2: The other side of the toxicity around Manchester United is,
7:59
Speaker 2: what if I'm the guy to bring them back to glory? Like,
8:03
Speaker 2: that is legendary status. And managers, like Pochettino, like a
8:08
Speaker 2: lot of the others at the top of the game,
8:10
Speaker 2: they're not thinking, I'm going to get fired in a year.
8:12
Speaker 2: They're thinking, I'm going to be the guy that wins
8:15
Speaker 2: another Premier League with Manchester United for the first time
8:17
Speaker 2: since Sir Alex Ferguson.
8:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know, that, that's a great point you
8:21
Speaker 1: make because this is not a, like a seventh place
8:24
Speaker 1: man United team that's expected to be second or third.
8:27
Speaker 1: You know, this is a team in relegation probably hasn't
8:30
Speaker 1: happened in a hundred years for them to be in
8:32
Speaker 1: a situation like this or ever. And, and here they are. And,
8:36
Speaker 1: and let's think about the expectations, right? Because working at
8:39
Speaker 1: a club like that is really in the past. It
8:42
Speaker 1: has not been different than working at like Real Madrid
8:45
Speaker 1: or Barcelona or, or in this case right now, Arsenal,
8:49
Speaker 1: where you're expected to win every game, whether you're home, away,
8:52
Speaker 1: Champions League, Cup, League, wherever you're playing, you're expected to win.
8:57
Speaker 1: Manchester United over its history has been sort of that club.
9:00
Speaker 1: You're expected to win. Now you're in a situation where
9:02
Speaker 1: you're at the bottom of the table. And what is
9:04
Speaker 1: success for this team at this point? And I think
9:07
Speaker 1: success is, okay, let's not get relegated first. And then
9:10
Speaker 1: let's get maybe to mid-table. You're only really two wins
9:14
Speaker 1: away from mid-table in the EPL at this point. And
9:17
Speaker 1: so I think it's a great place to sort of
9:20
Speaker 1: build and the season. You could end mid table or
9:23
Speaker 1: a little bit higher and you get a chance to
9:25
Speaker 1: rebuild going into this next year. And you mentioned a
9:28
Speaker 1: couple other clubs like Fulham or, you know, other clubs
9:31
Speaker 1: that he could have an opportunity at. They just wouldn't
9:34
Speaker 1: have the resources that Manchester United would have. to rebuild
9:38
Speaker 1: the team the way he would want to rebuild the team.
9:40
Speaker 1: So I, for me, obviously I hate this, right? Because
9:44
Speaker 1: I'd like for us to build something with our national
9:46
Speaker 1: team going into four years. But if I'm Mauricio Pochettino
9:49
Speaker 1: and they actually put a contract on the table, this
9:52
Speaker 1: is definitely one of those opportunities. You, you can't like
9:55
Speaker 1: get away. That's my two cents.
9:57
Speaker 2: That that's kind of how i feel as well like
9:59
Speaker 2: if you take it from the u.s soccer u.s men's
10:01
Speaker 2: action team perspective um particularly with how incredible the the
10:05
Speaker 2: 2030 cycle has started granted it's literally 41 window in
10:08
Speaker 2: we are just into the second window uh if they
10:10
Speaker 2: draw and lose in penalties to haiti the vibe is
10:13
Speaker 2: much different right these things change all the time but
10:15
Speaker 2: particularly with the youth movement and, and the integrating new
10:18
Speaker 2: players into the squad and everything like this has started really,
10:22
Speaker 2: really well.
10:23
Speaker 3: Um, and things are going well and you don't want
10:25
Speaker 3: it to change. You want to keep building. But if,
10:27
Speaker 3: if you like, let's, let's all be real here.
10:29
Speaker 2: Even the biggest fans of, of the USMNT, the people
10:32
Speaker 2: who have bled for the program, like yourself, like, You
10:35
Speaker 2: get it from Richard Pochettino's standpoint. It's not even criticism
10:40
Speaker 2: or cynicism to say, what would we all do in
10:43
Speaker 2: this position?
10:44
Speaker 3: I get it. The allure of Manchester United, you get it.
10:45
Speaker 3: You understand.
10:46
Speaker 2: So it's one of those positions where you hope he stays,
10:51
Speaker 2: given how well things have gone. But it's not a
10:54
Speaker 2: mystery as to why this is on the table or
10:58
Speaker 2: would be on the table. And I'll say it for
11:00
Speaker 2: a third or fourth time, Manchester United has not made
11:03
Speaker 2: an offer. As of Monday night, sources told me Manchester
11:05
Speaker 2: United had not made contact yet with U.S. soccer about
11:09
Speaker 2: a buyout, about permission to speak to Mauricio Pochettino, any
11:11
Speaker 2: of that. But these things move very, very quickly. And
11:14
Speaker 2: if there's a firing on Wednesday morning, they could be
11:17
Speaker 2: calling U.S. soccer by Wednesday afternoon. So who knows how
11:20
Speaker 2: quickly this could move. If it does move, it is
11:22
Speaker 2: interesting to have on that front. When Steve Trundle was
11:27
Speaker 2: hired for the U23 job, It wasn't a cheap Olympic
11:33
Speaker 2: age coach. It's somebody who might be a little bit
11:36
Speaker 2: overqualified for that job in a good way. And part
11:39
Speaker 2: of the calculus for U.S. soccer, I was told, was, hey,
11:43
Speaker 2: in the event that Pochettino leaves, we won't have to
11:45
Speaker 2: rush through a coaching search because we're in good hands
11:48
Speaker 2: with Truendulo. It's somebody that's... It's not just a youth coach.
11:51
Speaker 2: He's somebody who's done things with LAFCs, been in the
11:54
Speaker 2: program forever. They feel really overqualified to have him in
11:57
Speaker 2: that job.
11:58
Speaker 1: Well.
11:59
Speaker 2: hypothetically speaking, if something happened on Thursday, which I don't
12:01
Speaker 2: think it will, I think Pochettino would see out the window.
12:04
Speaker 2: But if Manchester United make it clear that that's not
12:06
Speaker 2: a possibility, well, Steve Trundle is with the U23s in.
12:09
Speaker 3: Spain right now.
12:10
Speaker 2: So it's really interesting to think about, like, even if
12:14
Speaker 2: Pochettino is managing the team on Saturday in Miami and
12:17
Speaker 2: Tuesday in Cincinnati, there's going to be a bit of
12:19
Speaker 2: a distraction. But if he were to leave, the contingencies
12:22
Speaker 2: for right now, I don't think U.S. soccer were planning
12:24
Speaker 2: on something happening during an international window.
12:27
Speaker 3: It's my point.
12:28
Speaker 1: Yeah. And, you know, we talked about that initially when
12:32
Speaker 1: all these contracts were signed and when they're named all
12:35
Speaker 1: of the coaches. And actually, we were surprised to hear that,
12:38
Speaker 1: you know, Geronimo was announced before Pochettino was announced, you know,
12:42
Speaker 1: because we thought, OK, you're going to sign. First, you're
12:44
Speaker 1: going to sign a sporting director, which we still don't have.
12:47
Speaker 1: And then you're going to sign a national team coach.
12:49
Speaker 1: And then that sporting director is also going to hire
12:51
Speaker 1: an Olympic team coach. But we sort of did it
12:53
Speaker 1: backwards and we did it backwards, I think, because U.S.
12:56
Speaker 1: soccer thought of securing the services of someone who was qualified,
13:00
Speaker 1: you know, to potentially coach the Olympic team and maybe
13:02
Speaker 1: the national team. But this is something that remains to
13:05
Speaker 1: be seen, right? Because these are big shoes to fill
13:08
Speaker 1: at this moment. You know, Pochettino has gotten a lot
13:10
Speaker 1: of respect and in particular, a lot of respect from
13:13
Speaker 1: the big players on the team. And that's really important.
13:16
Speaker 1: And that doesn't happen right from the beginning with every coach.
13:21
Speaker 1: So difficult situation if that was the case, but certainly, again,
13:25
Speaker 1: someone with Steve Chirondolo that you could at least have
13:28
Speaker 1: as a temporary coach and then potentially decide if you
13:33
Speaker 1: name him full head coach later or if you pick
13:36
Speaker 1: someone else and still sort of keep him at the U23.
13:39
Speaker 1: So you could do either.
13:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then for what it's worth, I did speak
13:43
Speaker 2: to somebody who is at high-ranking official round camp and
13:49
Speaker 2: they said, hey, the vibes are good.
13:50
Speaker 3: There's nothing to talk about. Training is happening. The boys
13:52
Speaker 3: are in good spirits.
13:53
Speaker 2: Anthony Robinson on Pochettino and Manchester United this morning, he said, quote,
13:58
Speaker 2: for us to have a manager who's linked with these
14:00
Speaker 2: sort of jobs means we're very lucky. And we know
14:02
Speaker 2: that we're working with a top notch, top notch manager,
14:05
Speaker 2: but it never seems to leak into the work we do.
14:08
Speaker 2: And that's what people will say publicly. And that, that
14:09
Speaker 2: is the right messaging. And, you know, time will tell
14:12
Speaker 2: if indeed there is anything to worry about or, or
14:15
Speaker 2: if it seems like focus isn't fully there on the
14:18
Speaker 2: task at hand, which again, like these are competitive games
14:21
Speaker 2: as window tab and us are, heavily favored, they should
14:24
Speaker 2: damn well get through to the Nations League semifinals against Haiti.
14:28
Speaker 2: But Haiti is a World Cup level team. They've got
14:31
Speaker 2: some players and Pochettino and the staff has been very
14:35
Speaker 2: clear that they're not ever looking past anybody that they're playing,
14:38
Speaker 2: but they've been very complimentary of Haiti and looking forward
14:41
Speaker 2: is detrimental. So not having a full focus in this camp,
14:46
Speaker 2: it's not as if they're playing a rollover team while
14:49
Speaker 2: they should win. They have to because not getting to
14:52
Speaker 2: the next round of Nations League in this scenario would
14:54
Speaker 2: be a pretty disastrous. Yeah.
14:56
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not something that we could even contemplate
14:59
Speaker 1: at this point, right. With the progress we think we're
15:01
Speaker 1: making in this program and, you know, obviously all the
15:04
Speaker 1: respect to Haiti because they're, you know, they're, they're a
15:07
Speaker 1: solid team. I, I had a chance to do their
15:09
Speaker 1: Brazil game at the world cup, which was, you know,
15:12
Speaker 1: they represented themselves well for a while, but then Brazil
15:14
Speaker 1: opened them up obviously because they have so many good players. But, uh, yeah,
15:18
Speaker 1: this is, uh, this, this Haiti team is, uh, is
15:22
Speaker 1: likely going to make things difficult for us. And I
15:23
Speaker 1: think in particular, them moving their first game to Miami,
15:27
Speaker 1: I think it's good for them because I think, you know,
15:29
Speaker 1: they're going to have incredible support in Miami from the
15:32
Speaker 1: local Haitian community. So, you know, this is interesting. It's
15:36
Speaker 1: an interesting window, but there's no question that from where
15:39
Speaker 1: we're coming from, these games, you know, for us, they
15:44
Speaker 1: have to be two wins.
15:46
Speaker 3: I would agree.
15:47
Speaker 2: And I think that this story will keep moving, whether
15:50
Speaker 2: he stays or goes or whatever else. We're going to
15:53
Speaker 2: have you covered here on Inside American Soccer. So tune
15:55
Speaker 2: in for more updates, and we're going to break it
15:57
Speaker 2: all down. And potentially, if there is a world in
15:59
Speaker 2: which we need to look back into potential success of
16:02
Speaker 2: Ramiro Pochettino, we will dive into that. But for now,
16:06
Speaker 2: let's focus on Haiti ourselves. Let's practice what we preach.
16:08
Speaker 2: Full focus on the window ahead. We're going to break
16:10
Speaker 2: down these matches against Haiti. So please rate, review, and
16:13
Speaker 2: subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogan and Tom Ramos.
16:15
Speaker 2: Wherever you get your podcasts, we'll be right back. Welcome
16:28
Speaker 2: back to Inside American Soccer. The United States is preparing
16:31
Speaker 2: to face Haiti in the Nations League quarterfinals over the
16:34
Speaker 2: next week with games in Miami and in Cincinnati. The
16:37
Speaker 2: first leg is technically a Haiti home game. They cannot
16:40
Speaker 2: host in their country due to political turmoil and lack
16:42
Speaker 2: of security for the stadiums. So they will be playing
16:45
Speaker 2: this game in Miami where there's a vibrant and wonderful
16:48
Speaker 2: Haitian community. So that should be a fun venue and
16:50
Speaker 2: a fun game. Tap since the World Cup, Haiti qualified.
16:53
Speaker 2: Of course, Haiti played and they impressed. They have named
16:55
Speaker 2: a new manager, David Badia. He's Spanish. He took over
16:59
Speaker 2: in August. He was in place for the fall window.
17:01
Speaker 2: In that fall window, they played four games. They won three.
17:04
Speaker 2: They beat Costa Rica. They beat the Dominican Republic. And
17:07
Speaker 2: they beat Trinidad and Tobago and then lost to Costa
17:10
Speaker 2: Rica in Costa Rica to close out the window. Tab,
17:13
Speaker 2: as we're preparing for this game, what do you expect
17:15
Speaker 2: from this Haitian team? What are some of the points
17:17
Speaker 2: that you would like fans to know?
17:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, first of all, I have to tell you, you know,
17:22
Speaker 1: I had an opportunity to do one of their games,
17:25
Speaker 1: to call one of their games during the World Cup
17:27
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. I did their game against Brazil. And even
17:30
Speaker 1: though they lost the game, they really showed themselves. And
17:34
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you take the whole World Cup
17:37
Speaker 1: experience together, and I think there's no question that this
17:40
Speaker 1: Haiti team has to be playing with a lot of confidence.
17:43
Speaker 1: You know, in the past, you know, we talked about
17:45
Speaker 1: some of the, let's say, smaller nations in CONCACAF coming
17:48
Speaker 1: to play against the U.S., and feeling so much inferior.
17:52
Speaker 1: And although obviously we have a great team and we're
17:54
Speaker 1: much better, I just don't think Haiti will come here
17:57
Speaker 1: thinking that way. I think they have enough experience now
18:01
Speaker 1: to be able to think that they can win a
18:04
Speaker 1: game or that they can knock us out. They normally
18:07
Speaker 1: play out of a 4-2-3-1, and they have good, very
18:11
Speaker 1: skillful players, actually. They defend more in a 4-4-2, but
18:15
Speaker 1: they have pretty good players, you know, starting with in
18:17
Speaker 1: the back with experience, who gets forward a lot. He
18:19
Speaker 1: usually plays with Providence in front of him, and they
18:22
Speaker 1: exchange positions, but they usually keep somebody wide there constantly attacking. Jean-Jacques,
18:27
Speaker 1: we know obviously from MLS, and he does a good
18:30
Speaker 1: job in the middle of the field, and he plays
18:31
Speaker 1: right behind Bellegarde. Bellegarde is like your typical 10. Really skillful,
18:36
Speaker 1: creates opportunities. I think the type of player that can
18:39
Speaker 1: make things difficult for us because he can get in
18:42
Speaker 1: between lines and receive a ball in between lines, in
18:44
Speaker 1: particular when we're in attack. And as we know, transition
18:49
Speaker 1: defensively for us has been an issue. And this Haitian
18:53
Speaker 1: team in particular, especially if Dietzen plays on the right side,
18:57
Speaker 1: is a team that can get you on speed coming
19:00
Speaker 1: the other way. Perrault plays up top normally with Isidore.
19:04
Speaker 1: I don't know if they continue to play that way
19:06
Speaker 1: for this game because they played with two up top
19:08
Speaker 1: most of their games. They may decide to play with
19:10
Speaker 1: one or put Isidore a little bit more into midfield.
19:13
Speaker 1: But this is a team that can play, Tom. And
19:15
Speaker 1: then on top of it, They have one of my
19:16
Speaker 1: favorite guys in the world, Fafa Pico, on the team.
19:20
Speaker 1: And I'd love to see Fafa there. And also Duke LaCroix,
19:23
Speaker 1: a player I coached as a youth. He's a backup
19:27
Speaker 1: left back for experience. So I'm excited about these games.
19:31
Speaker 1: I think Haiti will show up.
19:35
Speaker 3: I think so, too.
19:36
Speaker 2: And they've got some players, like, it's a new era
19:39
Speaker 2: for Haiti. Like Wilson Isidore, he's a Premier League player
19:42
Speaker 2: with Sunderland. He was a French youth international He's got
19:46
Speaker 2: six goals and 11 caps for Haiti. You talked about
19:48
Speaker 2: Bellegarde and Danly Jean-Jacques, who I can't believe that a
19:52
Speaker 2: championship club didn't make a $ 5 to $ 7 million offer
19:55
Speaker 2: for him. They've got some serious talent. It's a very
19:58
Speaker 2: good time for the Haitian program, and it should make
20:01
Speaker 2: for a good window. Again, without being disrespectful, the United
20:05
Speaker 2: States should expect to win these games, but if they're
20:08
Speaker 2: not careful, nothing is guaranteed. And Haiti has the quality.
20:11
Speaker 3: To hurt them.
20:12
Speaker 2: So for, for, as you talk about the defensive transition,
20:18
Speaker 2: talk about the, the individuals that can hurt Haiti on
20:20
Speaker 2: the U S side of things, what are some of
20:23
Speaker 2: like the, the keys to avoiding defeat, you know, being
20:27
Speaker 2: successful in this window. What are some of the focuses
20:29
Speaker 2: that these United States teams should have? Because with all
20:32
Speaker 2: due respect to Haiti, when the U.S. plays, it shouldn't
20:34
Speaker 2: be reacting to how Haiti sets up.
20:35
Speaker 3: It should be the inverse.
20:36
Speaker 2: How is Haiti going to hurt the United States? The
20:38
Speaker 2: United States should worry the same way that Jurgen Klopp's
20:42
Speaker 2: Liverpool never changed Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, right? They said,
20:44
Speaker 2: this is how we play and good luck beating us.
20:47
Speaker 2: And in that kind of game, the United States, if
20:49
Speaker 2: they play very well, they should be able to handle
20:51
Speaker 2: this series.
20:52
Speaker 1: I agree with that. Yet I have to say, you know,
20:55
Speaker 1: during the World Cup, Brazil did something really interesting against them.
20:58
Speaker 1: And that was instead of holding possession all the way
21:01
Speaker 1: in the attacking third, Brazil held possession in midfield and
21:05
Speaker 1: pulled Haiti out and started to find balls in between
21:08
Speaker 1: with midfielders coming through. This is something that I have
21:12
Speaker 1: to say, I think we're one of the better teams
21:14
Speaker 1: in the world in terms of having midfielders come into
21:18
Speaker 1: the attack. on those long runs. McKinney does it really well.
21:22
Speaker 1: In particular, I have to say the two players, in
21:24
Speaker 1: particular is McKinney and Tillman. The way they get into
21:27
Speaker 1: the box coming from behind, that's something that could really
21:31
Speaker 1: work to our benefit if we can pull Haiti out
21:34
Speaker 1: a little bit. I think our possession likely doesn't need
21:36
Speaker 1: to be all the way outside their box. If we
21:39
Speaker 1: can hold possession a little bit further back and force
21:41
Speaker 1: them to come out a little bit and leave just
21:44
Speaker 1: a little bit of space behind, I think we can
21:46
Speaker 1: really benefit from that.
21:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be a very exciting series for
21:52
Speaker 2: the U.S.
21:52
Speaker 3: Side.
21:53
Speaker 2: A familial connection, Neil Pierre, who's on the U.S. international team.
21:57
Speaker 2: He's of Haitian descent. His older brother, Nelson Pierre, has
22:00
Speaker 2: been a youth international for Haiti. He is not in
22:02
Speaker 2: this squad. So maybe one day in the future, we
22:04
Speaker 2: could have Pierre brothers playing against each other, but not
22:06
Speaker 2: this window. And as I said at the top of
22:08
Speaker 2: the show, George Campbell was replaced by Mark McKenzie and
22:11
Speaker 2: Gio Reyna was replaced.
22:13
Speaker 3: By Jack McGlynn.
22:13
Speaker 2: Jack McGlynn, by the way, five goals, two assists in
22:15
Speaker 2: about 700 minutes. for still sitting in the championship. He's
22:18
Speaker 2: been fantastic there. We've talked enough about, uh, Sebastian Berhalter
22:21
Speaker 2: with Burrow, with Aiden Morris at Burrow. Like there's been
22:24
Speaker 2: a lot of, of Americans that are succeeding in that division.
22:26
Speaker 2: So that's, uh, I think he's very much earned this
22:29
Speaker 2: recall to the senior team, but this window is about
22:33
Speaker 2: the return of some of the established guys. This is
22:36
Speaker 2: McKinney and Flo Baligan and Christian Pulisic who were absent
22:39
Speaker 2: from the, the first window after the world cup for
22:42
Speaker 2: various reasons. And they're back now and they're back for these, uh,
22:46
Speaker 2: competitive games. So for Christian Pulisic, what are you expecting
22:49
Speaker 2: from him in this window against Haiti?
22:52
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I expect to see the same thing
22:54
Speaker 1: we've been seeing with Milan over the last two, three weeks.
22:57
Speaker 1: You know, he really, he's really coming along, having turned
23:02
Speaker 1: what was looking to be another season like last year's
23:05
Speaker 1: into a brand new season in the last three weeks.
23:08
Speaker 1: I think he's been a different player. You can tell
23:11
Speaker 1: he's happy there. He signed a new deal. I think
23:14
Speaker 1: we're getting Christian Pulisic at a good moment. And I'm
23:17
Speaker 1: hoping that he can really make a difference on that
23:20
Speaker 1: left side, coming inside and taking players on. Something that
23:24
Speaker 1: he has not done well in CONCACAF competition.
23:28
Speaker 3: Right.
23:28
Speaker 2: And I think that the balance, too, depending on who
23:31
Speaker 2: starts opposite him, I still continue to say I hope
23:33
Speaker 2: that it is Kevin Sullivan in these games, but there
23:35
Speaker 2: are plenty of deserving players. If it's Kevin Sullivan or
23:38
Speaker 2: somebody like that that can will want to get on
23:41
Speaker 2: the ball more and pinch into the spaces. Gio Reyna
23:43
Speaker 2: would have been a player like that, somebody who's dropping
23:45
Speaker 2: in more. Obviously, he's not in the squad. Malik Tillman
23:47
Speaker 2: wants to get on the ball. If it's a player
23:49
Speaker 2: like that, I think that that is beneficial to Christian
23:52
Speaker 2: Pulisic because I think the U.S.
23:53
Speaker 3: Is at their best.
23:54
Speaker 2: When they are playing to Christian Pulisic in the final
23:58
Speaker 2: third rather than playing through him in maybe the middle
24:00
Speaker 2: third of the buildup, right? I think it's best to
24:02
Speaker 2: get him closer to goal. I know that's a pretty
24:05
Speaker 2: rudimentary concept to get your best player in more dangerous positions,
24:08
Speaker 2: but there, there has been a tendency of Christian Pulisic
24:10
Speaker 2: to want to get on the ball more, want to
24:12
Speaker 2: dictate things more. And, and while that is admirable, I
24:15
Speaker 2: think having him as like a second striker more than
24:18
Speaker 2: say a winger or a 10 is more beneficial, both
24:22
Speaker 2: for Pulisic and for the national team. So the balance
24:24
Speaker 2: of who starts opposite on, on the other side, and
24:27
Speaker 2: if it is a four, two, three, one, a four, two, three,
24:29
Speaker 2: kind of like we saw in the fall and the
24:30
Speaker 2: first window, um, Pulisic playing as more of a second
24:33
Speaker 2: forward with Anthony Robinson or Reed Baker waiting, overlapping as
24:37
Speaker 2: the left back, I think would be very beneficial for
24:40
Speaker 2: both him and the team.
24:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it could be. And I think this is
24:45
Speaker 1: one of the things about this game that I think,
24:47
Speaker 1: you know, in general, we're going to be the ones
24:50
Speaker 1: with the ball. And because we're going to have possession,
24:52
Speaker 1: I think we can potentially have a winger on that side.
24:55
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying I'm not saying Kevin Sullivan is
24:58
Speaker 1: going to be the one that's going to start necessarily,
24:59
Speaker 1: although he could. And I'd like to see that. there's
25:02
Speaker 1: also a possibility that Dest could play there, right? Because
25:05
Speaker 1: that's kind of where Mauricio Pochettino likes Dest anyway, without
25:08
Speaker 1: that responsibility of defending all the way back in our
25:12
Speaker 1: own box. But the one thing I would do with
25:15
Speaker 1: this group is if we were to have Kevin Sullivan
25:17
Speaker 1: in the lineup and have Pulisic all the way to
25:20
Speaker 1: the left and then Kevin Sullivan kind of all the
25:22
Speaker 1: way to the right, which is the way likely it's
25:24
Speaker 1: going to end up, because we saw a little bit
25:25
Speaker 1: of a preview of that in the games in September
25:28
Speaker 1: with Kevin Sullivan in particular playing. being a little bit
25:31
Speaker 1: more to the right side. I think if we did that,
25:34
Speaker 1: maybe we can switch the midfield triangle into instead of
25:37
Speaker 1: having maybe Tyler Adams next to McKinney with Tillman ahead
25:41
Speaker 1: of them, maybe have Adams by himself as a six
25:45
Speaker 1: with both Tillman and McKinney as attacking midfielders. And that
25:50
Speaker 1: gives you sort of four. So in effect, instead of
25:52
Speaker 1: seeing that normal 4-2-3-1, we're seeing a little bit more
25:56
Speaker 1: of a 4-1-4-1. And that way you can keep your
25:59
Speaker 1: guys wide. So that would be a.
26:03
Speaker 3: I hope to see that too.
26:04
Speaker 2: And I'm glad you brought that up because I think
26:06
Speaker 2: Tyler Adams is... He's unbelievable at ground coverage. And he's
26:11
Speaker 2: somebody who can deal in defensive transition really well. And
26:15
Speaker 2: so that kind of frees you up to say, okay, Tillman,
26:17
Speaker 2: you can drop in and be on the ball more
26:19
Speaker 2: and through the build-outs and stuff. But like, hey, both
26:22
Speaker 2: fullbacks can go. And Tillman, you can go too.
26:24
Speaker 3: Like.
26:25
Speaker 2: To give more options, more overloads, more runners, of course,
26:28
Speaker 2: all these players need to get back in transition because
26:30
Speaker 2: that is one of the areas that Haiti can hurt
26:32
Speaker 2: this team. But going with a more aggressive lineup and
26:35
Speaker 2: putting more attackers on the field, I think, is something
26:38
Speaker 2: that the U.S. should be doing and are capable of
26:40
Speaker 2: handling with the players. And that brings us kind of
26:43
Speaker 2: to central defense. On our last show, the caveat was
26:46
Speaker 2: we don't know for sure if George Campbell is going
26:48
Speaker 2: to be able to play. But if he is, is
26:50
Speaker 2: that who you want to see partnering Chris Richardson? Well,
26:52
Speaker 2: he's unable to go. And now Mark McKenzie has joined
26:56
Speaker 2: the squad. There's Austin trustee. Then there's Neil Pierre as well.
27:00
Speaker 2: What do you kind of want to see on, on
27:01
Speaker 2: that back line with, you know, if Chris Richards and
27:04
Speaker 2: Alex Freeman are a hundred percent starting, who else do
27:06
Speaker 2: you want to see?
27:07
Speaker 1: Well, we have a little bit of a Bermuda triangle
27:10
Speaker 1: issue back there, right? Because it's been, you know, week
27:14
Speaker 1: to week, game to game, who are going to be
27:16
Speaker 1: our center backs, who's going to be our goalkeeper. You know,
27:18
Speaker 1: that triangle there is a key triangle for every team.
27:21
Speaker 1: And we've, And we've survived sort of without having a
27:25
Speaker 1: solid three that we can count on back there. And
27:27
Speaker 1: not many teams can do that. Now, answering your question,
27:32
Speaker 1: I would say that likely what I'd be looking at is,
27:35
Speaker 1: is potentially he's going to want a left footed player there.
27:38
Speaker 1: And if that's the case, he's going to put in trustee.
27:41
Speaker 1: And if he doesn't, he's going to put in McKenzie
27:43
Speaker 1: because McKenzie has the experience doesn't normally make mistakes, just
27:47
Speaker 1: doesn't give you a whole lot with the ball either. But,
27:49
Speaker 1: but I think McKenzie is, I think more solid, if
27:53
Speaker 1: I had to pick out of McKenzie and Trustee, I
27:55
Speaker 1: would pick McKenzie myself, but I think he likely will
27:59
Speaker 1: pick Trustee to be Richard's partner.
28:02
Speaker 3: I'm with you.
28:03
Speaker 2: I don't think that there's a gigantic difference between these players.
28:06
Speaker 2: I prefer McKenzie. Again, I think Trustee's fine as well, too.
28:10
Speaker 2: My assumption is if Trustee was in the initial roster
28:13
Speaker 2: and McKenzie's the one called in, it would be really
28:15
Speaker 2: odd if the first game it's McKenzie starting over Trustee
28:17
Speaker 2: because then why wasn't he called? So I'm assuming it
28:20
Speaker 2: would be Richards and trustee, but we don't know for sure.
28:23
Speaker 2: And the good part is if, you know, if he
28:26
Speaker 2: looks better in training, he'll probably play. So that, that
28:30
Speaker 2: is the interesting part. Obviously Balgan is going to be
28:32
Speaker 2: back with the national team for the first time since
28:34
Speaker 2: the world cup controversy and then exit against Belgium. So
28:39
Speaker 2: that'll be interesting for Balgan who had one hell of
28:43
Speaker 2: a summer in so far that he was the breakout
28:46
Speaker 2: star for the U S particularly to casual fans in
28:48
Speaker 2: the first half of the world cup. Then he gets
28:50
Speaker 2: a red card. Then he's at the center of a
28:52
Speaker 2: controversy that he didn't necessarily control. Obviously kind of controlled
28:55
Speaker 2: getting a red card, but beyond that, everything was out
28:57
Speaker 2: of his hands. And he becomes synonymous with a really
29:01
Speaker 2: big controversy at the World Cup. And then he's at
29:03
Speaker 2: the middle of a controversy on transfer deadline day, which
29:07
Speaker 2: to remind everybody, there was a deal agreed with Everton.
29:10
Speaker 2: Everton then looked at medicals and didn't love what they
29:13
Speaker 2: saw and then tried.
29:15
Speaker 3: To renegotiate the deal. They end up getting a deal
29:17
Speaker 3: agreed again.
29:19
Speaker 2: And Flo Balgan is at the training facility within the
29:21
Speaker 2: last hour of the transfer window. Contracts are being drawn up,
29:25
Speaker 2: signed by Everton, signed by Monaco. And Balgan at the
29:29
Speaker 2: last minute said, I don't have a good feeling because
29:32
Speaker 2: I don't know that you fully believe in me. You
29:35
Speaker 2: guys tried to pull out of this deal because you
29:37
Speaker 2: looked at the medical and pay less.
29:39
Speaker 3: I don't feel right. I don't want to be here.
29:41
Speaker 2: And he left the Everton training ground without signing a
29:43
Speaker 2: contract and flew back to Monaco, where he still is
29:46
Speaker 2: right now. So it's been a whirlwind for him, and
29:49
Speaker 2: he's back with the national team this window.
29:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'll start with the first part of that,
29:54
Speaker 1: which is obviously with all the issues during the World Cup,
29:59
Speaker 1: it'll be nice to see him in a U S
30:00
Speaker 1: Jersey and to get a game in so that we
30:02
Speaker 1: can forget about what happened, you know, in the last
30:05
Speaker 1: game of the world cup and his whole issue. And,
30:08
Speaker 1: and we just move forward from there. You know, the
30:10
Speaker 1: second part with Everton, I think it's, it's really unusual
30:14
Speaker 1: because first of all, Everton is a great club. It's
30:17
Speaker 1: a solid, you know, EPL club, you know, just built
30:22
Speaker 1: a new beautiful stadium is moving in the right direction,
30:25
Speaker 1: has a great coach in David Moyes. I mean, It's
30:28
Speaker 1: all the things I think are moving in the right
30:30
Speaker 1: direction there. And I'm I'm really surprised that he decided
30:33
Speaker 1: to turn around and go back because that would have
30:35
Speaker 1: been a great move for him. But here we are.
30:38
Speaker 1: That's his choice. That's what he does. And, you know,
30:40
Speaker 1: we need to focus on our national team and how
30:42
Speaker 1: well he's going to play here. And at the end
30:44
Speaker 1: of the day, we're going to figure out if, you know,
30:46
Speaker 1: if his move was, you know, to turn around and
30:48
Speaker 1: go back was good or not. It'll be it'll be
30:50
Speaker 1: exposed by the way he plays. So that's really what
30:53
Speaker 1: matters in the end.
30:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, looking forward to talking about on-field stuff with Flo
30:57
Speaker 2: Balgan rather than off-field stuff. It feels like it's been
30:59
Speaker 2: a while for us to have because of the World
31:01
Speaker 2: Cup and then the transfer window. But that'll do it
31:03
Speaker 2: for our show. Again, a reminder, the U.S. is playing
31:05
Speaker 2: Haiti in the Nations League quarterfinals over the next week.
31:09
Speaker 2: We'll be back to break it all down, all the fallout.
31:11
Speaker 2: We'll be on top of the Mauricio Pochettino saga, whether
31:14
Speaker 2: he stays, whether he goes, whatever happens in Manchester United.
31:16
Speaker 3: Who knows?
31:17
Speaker 2: But we'll be here to talk about it all. So
31:19
Speaker 2: thank you for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review,
31:21
Speaker 2: and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.