Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT vs Paraguay: World Cup Scouting Report & Predictions

Transcript

USMNT vs Paraguay: World Cup Scouting Report & Predictions · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: I think he's got to play. You know, you gotta
0:02
Speaker 1: play the game. I mean, go go talk to the
0:04
Speaker 1: coach and say, coach, listen, I'm I'm ninety percent. The
0:07
Speaker 1: rest is gonna come from my heart. I'm ready.
0:11
Speaker 2: What's going on?
0:12
Speaker 3: Everybody welcomes inside American Soccer. I am usmn T insider
0:16
Speaker 3: Tom Boger. I am joined by one of the greatest
0:18
Speaker 3: players in US soccer history, veteran three World Cups, my
0:21
Speaker 3: good friend tab Ramos tab The World Cup is here.
0:25
Speaker 3: Injuries are starting to happen for teams. That is heartbreaking
0:28
Speaker 3: to see. But the games are about to be here.
0:31
Speaker 3: We are days away from Mexico kicking off the World
0:33
Speaker 3: Cup and then twenty four hours after that, the United
0:36
Speaker 3: States start their journey at the World Cup.
0:38
Speaker 1: How are we feeling excited? You have to say, because
0:41
Speaker 1: you know it starts in a couple of days. I
0:43
Speaker 1: actually head off to I know you're in La now
0:46
Speaker 1: already set up right. I head out to Philadelphia actually tomorrow,
0:51
Speaker 1: and that'll be my my home base for the World Cup,
0:54
Speaker 1: and then I'll travel to Toronto into the second round.
0:56
Speaker 1: But very excited about it. But to be honest, has
1:00
Speaker 1: nothing to do with coaching or anything else or having
1:02
Speaker 1: played in it. It just I'd love being at the
1:05
Speaker 1: stadium for these games. And there's there's just like such
1:09
Speaker 1: a special feeling about being in the in the stadium
1:11
Speaker 1: and watching the different countries play with their best players
1:15
Speaker 1: and given everything they have, considering their whole countries are
1:19
Speaker 1: following this. You know, obviously World Cup is you know,
1:22
Speaker 1: it's the biggest deal, the biggest sporting event, and and
1:26
Speaker 1: it's just great to be part of it. Really.
1:30
Speaker 3: That makes me happy to hear you saying that still
1:32
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six, as somebody who's been doing this
1:34
Speaker 3: for player, as a coach, You've seen it from every
1:37
Speaker 3: angle and for you to still have that like childish joy,
1:41
Speaker 3: and that makes me happy because this is the first
1:44
Speaker 3: World Cup I'm covering. I went and picked up my
1:47
Speaker 3: credential yesterday and we talk. We've been doing this show,
1:50
Speaker 3: I've been covering this team. It all feels like formulaic daily.
1:55
Speaker 3: You're too close to it to like step back and
1:57
Speaker 3: see a big pictures. So people have asked me about
1:59
Speaker 3: like the World Cup, and again it feel stupid that
2:01
Speaker 3: I'm telling this kind of story to tab freaking Ramos
2:04
Speaker 3: about going to the World Cup and the feelings therein
2:07
Speaker 3: while I pick up a World Cup like a press pass,
2:09
Speaker 3: vastly vastly different, a much much smaller angle, but for me,
2:12
Speaker 3: like it felt pretty cool and I hadn't been really
2:15
Speaker 3: like thin people. I was like, yeah, no, it's just
2:16
Speaker 3: like doing another thing over another game. I picked up
2:19
Speaker 3: my credential yesterday, like at Sofi Stadium, and I was
2:21
Speaker 3: like whoa, Like this is real and it was like
2:23
Speaker 3: the first time I started to feel like any like
2:26
Speaker 3: strong feelings and like you think about your career and stuff.
2:28
Speaker 3: And I was like, all right, like let me lean
2:30
Speaker 3: into this. It hasn't hit me yet really at all.
2:32
Speaker 3: I try to walk toward to the stadium to like
2:35
Speaker 3: just have a moment by myself. I get screamed at
2:37
Speaker 3: my two security cards. We're close, work close. It's like, okay,
2:41
Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave, go back to the parking lot and
2:43
Speaker 3: leave now. The nice moment is over. Immediately I walked away,
2:47
Speaker 3: So I I like encourage my feelings for about fifteen
2:50
Speaker 3: seconds before they went away to.
2:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, they you know, they run a tight ship, that's
2:53
Speaker 1: for sure. You know you normally you know just just
2:57
Speaker 1: when you're coming in you you can feel it, right
2:59
Speaker 1: because even stadiums, let's say, like like here in New
3:04
Speaker 1: Jersey what they call New York New Jersey Stadium. Now
3:08
Speaker 1: for this, you know, you won't be able to get
3:10
Speaker 1: near the field, if you remember in Qatar was kind
3:12
Speaker 1: of the same. Like you you know, there's a there's
3:14
Speaker 1: like a two hundred yard one hundred and fifty yard buffer,
3:18
Speaker 1: and you as a fan, hand your ticket in and
3:21
Speaker 1: then you're like free to go anywhere, but you're within
3:24
Speaker 1: like within like an air. Everything is so organized, everything
3:28
Speaker 1: is so contained, but the important part is the fun
3:31
Speaker 1: of it because I you know, like just like you're saying,
3:34
Speaker 1: you know, I obviously played in the U twenty World
3:36
Speaker 1: Cup when I was when I was much younger, uh,
3:38
Speaker 1: and then I played in ninety ninety four, ninety eight,
3:42
Speaker 1: and I didn't go to two six or ten. But
3:45
Speaker 1: then I was assistant coach to Jurgen in fourteen, I
3:48
Speaker 1: worked for Telemundo eighteen, I worked for Telemundo in twenty two,
3:52
Speaker 1: and now I'm working for HBS and in twenty six.
3:55
Speaker 1: So I've been to pretty much all of them for
3:57
Speaker 1: the last you know, and it's it's such a great
3:59
Speaker 1: feel but I have to tell you, and I'm glad
4:01
Speaker 1: you mentioned that. Although I've been to all of them
4:04
Speaker 1: in so many different let's say, functions or jobs, I
4:10
Speaker 1: still feel like a child when I walk on the field.
4:12
Speaker 1: I love it. No, there's really no other place I'd
4:15
Speaker 1: rather be.
4:17
Speaker 2: You and me both my friend.
4:18
Speaker 3: So we are building up to the opening World Cup
4:21
Speaker 3: game for the United States on Friday. The US host
4:24
Speaker 3: Paraguay at SOFI Stadium in Los Angeles six pm Pacific time,
4:28
Speaker 3: nine pm Eastern. This is a rematch of a fall
4:31
Speaker 3: friendly between these two countries that happened in Philly. The
4:33
Speaker 3: United States won two to one that day. The lineup
4:36
Speaker 3: this week and the lineup from that game are going
4:38
Speaker 3: to be vastly vesti different. There's no Christian Polisic. Tanner
4:41
Speaker 3: Testsman was among the starters in that game, so was
4:43
Speaker 3: Brendan Ronson. Balgan and Giororina scored in a two to
4:46
Speaker 3: one win. But that game was a bit of a
4:49
Speaker 3: turning point for this group. Not in their tactics because
4:52
Speaker 3: that changed in the previous window, which set this team
4:55
Speaker 3: up on a much much better spot, but the physicality
4:58
Speaker 3: and like emotion we hadn't really seen it from this
5:01
Speaker 3: group we didn't often under Greg Burholter, and we still
5:05
Speaker 3: hadn't really yet under Musia Pochettino. This game was very
5:08
Speaker 3: physical and it ended with a bit of a fight,
5:11
Speaker 3: like Alex Freeman and one of the Paraguay defenders were
5:15
Speaker 3: fighting over a throw in and all of a sudden,
5:18
Speaker 3: before you knew it, both benches, all twenty two players
5:21
Speaker 3: are there. Miles Robinson came in to defend this guy
5:23
Speaker 3: got put in a headlock. Immediately, Riso Pochettino tried to
5:26
Speaker 3: run over to break up the fight. He slipped and
5:28
Speaker 3: fell and the opposing coaches his friend helped him up
5:32
Speaker 3: or like it could have been a bad situation. Pochettino
5:35
Speaker 3: called everything very, very dangerous, but all of the players
5:38
Speaker 3: were like you could see something turning them. They're like, yeah,
5:40
Speaker 3: like this is We're here for our guys, Like we
5:43
Speaker 3: were always gonna fight, We're never gonna back down. And
5:45
Speaker 3: that was something that we hadn't really seen from this team.
5:48
Speaker 3: And it's gonna be pretty tense and physical out to
5:50
Speaker 3: World Cup no matter what. But I think particularly with
5:52
Speaker 3: these two teams, that's what you're gonna see. Paraguay they
5:55
Speaker 3: won four nothing over Nicaragua and lost to on the
5:57
Speaker 3: Morocco this window in their pre World Cup friendly, and
6:00
Speaker 3: in March they beat Greece one nothing. So tap overall,
6:04
Speaker 3: big picture playing this Paraguay team, what should we expect?
6:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's I think that's a good way to
6:10
Speaker 1: frame it, because I think we have to start with
6:12
Speaker 1: the head coach. I think you know, they broke Gustavo
6:15
Speaker 1: Alpharo in twenty twenty four. You know, Paraguay had been obviously,
6:21
Speaker 1: they haven't been to a World Cup since twenty ten,
6:23
Speaker 1: where they had let's say their Golden Generation, you know
6:27
Speaker 1: that went to the quarterfinals, and they've they had been
6:31
Speaker 1: trying to change the way they played over the last
6:33
Speaker 1: few years. They had been trying to become a possession team,
6:37
Speaker 1: you know, a team that held the ball on the
6:38
Speaker 1: opposing side of the field, and it wasn't it really
6:41
Speaker 1: wasn't working. And they hired gustav Alfaro and the first
6:45
Speaker 1: thing he said in his press conference was pretty much,
6:47
Speaker 1: we're going back to the Paraguay and DNA, which is
6:51
Speaker 1: we're going to defend, we're going to give away nothing,
6:54
Speaker 1: and we're going to counter as quickly as we can.
6:57
Speaker 1: And basically that's the setup, that's where they've been. You know,
7:00
Speaker 1: Gustavo Alfaro has experience. You know, he coached the last
7:03
Speaker 1: World Cup with Ecuador and in which he had the
7:08
Speaker 1: opportunity to also play the host in the in the
7:11
Speaker 1: first match, so he's familiar with what's going to be
7:14
Speaker 1: happening with this and I think he is likely the
7:17
Speaker 1: key to this team at the moment because he really
7:20
Speaker 1: If there's one thing we can say about this team
7:22
Speaker 1: before we go into tactics and you know and who
7:25
Speaker 1: the lineup is going to be, is this is a
7:27
Speaker 1: very well oiled machine. They're organized and they have great
7:32
Speaker 1: chemistry amongst the players.
7:35
Speaker 3: And so as interesting that that coach has the World
7:39
Speaker 3: Cup experience, well maybe these players don't. At the last
7:41
Speaker 3: World Cup Ecuador were I think they were a very
7:44
Speaker 3: fun team and I don't know if they would have
7:46
Speaker 3: better quality than this Paraguay, but maybe it's comparable. Maybe
7:49
Speaker 3: they don't have the same exact top end players. They won,
7:53
Speaker 3: draw and lost. They drew the Netherlands, they beat Guitar,
7:56
Speaker 3: but they lost the Senegal and four points in twenty
7:58
Speaker 3: twenty two meant you were eliminated four points. This year,
8:02
Speaker 3: you were I think the math somebody ran the simulations,
8:05
Speaker 3: you're like ninety nine point eight percent guaranteed to get
8:07
Speaker 3: through with four points. So I think it's worth worth
8:10
Speaker 3: mentioning that this is a team, or this is a
8:13
Speaker 3: coach that's at least taking a team of maybe underdogs
8:16
Speaker 3: in a couple of those games and gotten results that
8:18
Speaker 3: would have been enough to get them out of the group.
8:20
Speaker 2: And tap to.
8:21
Speaker 3: Your point, maybe they're going to have similar strengths and
8:24
Speaker 3: weaknesses to that Ecuador team. What what are the strengths
8:27
Speaker 3: and weaknesses of this team?
8:28
Speaker 1: I think you you hit the nail on the head there.
8:31
Speaker 1: You know, Ecuador had better players. It was a little
8:34
Speaker 1: bit different than this team, however.
8:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were also a little bit younger, right other
8:39
Speaker 2: than interviews.
8:40
Speaker 1: Well yeah they were. I think they were the youngest
8:41
Speaker 1: team at the last. They might have been the youngest
8:44
Speaker 1: team at the last. US was I think US was
8:47
Speaker 1: first or second? Yeah, I think you're right. So, but yeah,
8:51
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different team, you know. They
8:54
Speaker 1: they had more exciting players. Plus, you know, like I
8:57
Speaker 1: always say about the World Cup, it's always about teams
8:59
Speaker 1: represent their culture and who they are, and Ecuador's culture
9:03
Speaker 1: is not that it's not the holdback and defend and
9:06
Speaker 1: then just counter every once in a while. They actually
9:08
Speaker 1: want to play football. They want to play, you know, Paraguay,
9:11
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying they don't like to play, of course,
9:14
Speaker 1: but they've already been known for the last forty to
9:16
Speaker 1: fifty sixty years in South America as being a hard
9:19
Speaker 1: team to play against. And this is for teams like
9:22
Speaker 1: Uruguay and Argentina and Brazil. They know when they go
9:25
Speaker 1: to Paraguay they're in for a fight. It's not so
9:28
Speaker 1: much about football, it's about a fight, and it's been
9:30
Speaker 1: that way and that's their culture and that's how they
9:33
Speaker 1: do it, and that's okay too, and I think that's
9:36
Speaker 1: that's what we will find.
9:39
Speaker 2: What is this lineup going to look like? A quick update?
9:42
Speaker 3: Their star player Julio and Ciso, picked up an injury
9:45
Speaker 3: in the game against Nicaraguay, came off the field in tears.
9:49
Speaker 3: He did travel with the team and surprisingly he trained
9:52
Speaker 3: individually on Sunday with the group. By the time this
9:56
Speaker 3: comes out, maybe there'll be more updates, but the initial
9:59
Speaker 3: update was he's out for the first two games of
10:01
Speaker 3: the group stage. I don't know if him being able
10:04
Speaker 3: to train individually is a positive sign that has anything
10:06
Speaker 3: to do with his availability.
10:08
Speaker 2: I'd still pretty strongly.
10:10
Speaker 3: Doubt to have that he's available for the US, but
10:12
Speaker 3: maybe he could make a cameo in their second game.
10:15
Speaker 3: All that aside, what will this team look like in
10:19
Speaker 3: terms of a lineup and their key players?
10:22
Speaker 1: Just to address that for a second, I did read
10:25
Speaker 1: that about him being training on his own, and we
10:28
Speaker 1: don't know what that means. Really, that could have meant
10:30
Speaker 1: he was walking around the field, because you know, it
10:33
Speaker 1: sounds from all the reports that I've seen and the
10:35
Speaker 1: people I've spoken with that it's a muscular injury, right,
10:38
Speaker 1: And it's hard to you know, it's hard to cut
10:41
Speaker 1: too much time into one of those. You know, when
10:43
Speaker 1: they happen, it's usually a couple of weeks and it's
10:46
Speaker 1: hard to get away from that. But you never know,
10:49
Speaker 1: you never know how you know, you have to remember,
10:51
Speaker 1: you know, these games are so important that you don't
10:54
Speaker 1: know how many games coaches play, right, because him saying
10:58
Speaker 1: that he's training on his own made us be the
11:01
Speaker 1: lead up to this game, so that the US is saying, hey,
11:03
Speaker 1: maybe he's playing. You know, we have to be prepared
11:06
Speaker 1: for that, just so you know, you never know how that.
11:09
Speaker 2: Was my first thought.
11:10
Speaker 3: But I was like, it'd be it'd be like, I
11:12
Speaker 3: don't know if I can in my position say that,
11:14
Speaker 3: or like definitely can't say with definitive it, but like
11:16
Speaker 3: in hindsight when he's not on the bench, or if
11:19
Speaker 3: like you see him walking in warm ups but his
11:21
Speaker 3: jersey's on and it's like, obviously he's not playing.
11:23
Speaker 2: In hindsight, you could say, obviously this is this is
11:26
Speaker 2: my games.
11:26
Speaker 3: But I was I was a little bit cowardly to
11:28
Speaker 3: say that that was probably what it is.
11:30
Speaker 1: But listen, if I'm the coach on the other side,
11:32
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I'm thinking and Cecil got hurt, But did
11:35
Speaker 1: he really get hurt? Was he really crying? Was he like?
11:39
Speaker 1: I'm not If I'm the coach on the other side,
11:41
Speaker 1: I'm not believing anything right now, I'm like, is this
11:44
Speaker 1: pre planned for him to come out? You know, obviously
11:46
Speaker 1: I don't wish you know, Ceesar's a twenty three year
11:49
Speaker 1: old kid. I wish him the best. I hope he's okay, obviously,
11:52
Speaker 1: But if I'm the coach on the other side, if
11:55
Speaker 1: I'm Patino, I'm thinking, did he really get hurt.
11:57
Speaker 2: Let me let's just let's just have bad up here
12:00
Speaker 2: a little bit.
12:01
Speaker 1: Of course, always always, so let's go. I'll go with
12:04
Speaker 1: the lineup to start. Gatito Fernandez will be their keeper.
12:08
Speaker 1: He's been doing great. They trust him, you know, not
12:11
Speaker 1: much to say about him. He has a lot of
12:12
Speaker 1: experience and I think he's he's the right guy. He's
12:15
Speaker 1: been playing their important games. On the right, it'll be
12:18
Speaker 1: Cassris and Dynamo Moscow. He can get forward a little
12:21
Speaker 1: bit and can be dangerous, but main position is really
12:24
Speaker 1: to defend. Gomez will be in the middle from Palmaris.
12:27
Speaker 1: He has experienced thirty years old. Al Dirette will probably
12:31
Speaker 1: be next to him, although Balbuena could take in to
12:35
Speaker 1: get either one of those positions. I think not important
12:38
Speaker 1: for what we're talking about because they're solid defensively, regardless
12:41
Speaker 1: of who plays. Junior or A. Lonzo will be on
12:43
Speaker 1: the left side. He's a thirty three year old. Later on,
12:46
Speaker 1: when we go into strengths and weaknesses, I think that's
12:48
Speaker 1: an area that US could probably exploit a little bit.
12:52
Speaker 1: Although Maidana, twenty year old that plays for Tayeez Gorlova
12:55
Speaker 1: in Argentina, is a pretty good option for them if
12:59
Speaker 1: they side to go younger, I don't think they will.
13:02
Speaker 1: Cuba's we all know Kuba's obviously from Vancouver, will be
13:05
Speaker 1: in the center of midfield. He's that quiet leader that
13:09
Speaker 1: you almost don't notice. But if you take them off
13:12
Speaker 1: of a team, the team completely changes because I think
13:14
Speaker 1: the same would happen in Vancouver if he wasn't there, right,
13:18
Speaker 1: Bokadilla and Diego Gomez will be supporting that both kind
13:23
Speaker 1: of a little bit of aids going back and forth. Obviously,
13:26
Speaker 1: we know Diego Gomez is at this point their star,
13:28
Speaker 1: right He's the one that can make potentially make a
13:31
Speaker 1: difference in this game. And Siso being out I think
13:34
Speaker 1: throws this game a little bit into a little different
13:39
Speaker 1: type of lineup for them because they're more of a
13:41
Speaker 1: four to four to two within Siso as we mentioned,
13:43
Speaker 1: because he floats in between lines. I think they're likely
13:46
Speaker 1: used Ramone Sos on the right side, so they're likely
13:49
Speaker 1: going to be a four or five one with al
13:51
Speaker 1: Moron on the other side. So it'll be Rubens Sos
13:53
Speaker 1: on one side, al Moron on the opposite side, and
13:56
Speaker 1: then Zanabria, who plays for Kembernese. He's been around for
14:00
Speaker 1: a while. He's a Lamashia product, you know, for a while.
14:03
Speaker 1: I think he has the most experience and likely the
14:05
Speaker 1: one that's gonna play. Although people are talking about alex
14:08
Speaker 1: are say potentially playing, I just don't think that will happen.
14:11
Speaker 1: So that's pretty much the gist of their lineup before
14:14
Speaker 1: five to one.
14:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then while the biggest change will be no
14:18
Speaker 3: in Ciso because of how individualistic he is, and they
14:21
Speaker 3: like he's earned the right in this team to have
14:24
Speaker 3: more freedom, and so, like you said, tab It, it's
14:26
Speaker 3: more of a flound rule. Maybe this is gonna be
14:28
Speaker 3: a little bit more structured in the attack without in Ciso,
14:31
Speaker 3: because I think we both really respect Miguel Maroon. I
14:33
Speaker 3: don't think micgl Maroon's at the stage of his career
14:35
Speaker 3: where you say, hey, just go flow around and win
14:37
Speaker 3: the game. Think he's somebody more that will be an
14:39
Speaker 3: important piece for them, particularly in transition, but it won't
14:42
Speaker 3: be the same type of role as in Ciso. As
14:44
Speaker 3: you listed that lineup, I was looking back against the
14:47
Speaker 3: friendly against US. Six of the eleven that you have
14:50
Speaker 3: in your eleven is who they started with. So it's
14:54
Speaker 3: gonna be a vastly, vastly changed team, or maybe not vastly,
14:56
Speaker 3: but in Siso started in October and that that'll be
15:01
Speaker 3: a key. A couple people on the back line going
15:03
Speaker 3: into that game. I remember I was talking to somebody
15:05
Speaker 3: from Paraguay and it was like, why is he starting
15:09
Speaker 3: this goalkeeper in this center forward? And Arsite was the
15:11
Speaker 3: center forward. But that was like part of their whole debate,
15:14
Speaker 3: Like a lot of their team was settled. Diego Gomez
15:16
Speaker 3: avoided an injury scare at the end of the Premier
15:18
Speaker 3: League season with the Brighton. I think he's going to
15:20
Speaker 3: be very good. But all that is to say I
15:23
Speaker 3: think you can take away large strokes from that friendly game.
15:27
Speaker 3: But with these two teams, there was so many different
15:31
Speaker 3: pieces on the field. There was no polistic for the US.
15:35
Speaker 3: Testsamon started, Joe Scalley started, they got out Arena Arenson.
15:39
Speaker 3: I don't think that these players will be starting for
15:41
Speaker 3: the US in this game, but they did get a
15:44
Speaker 3: taste of what it would be like against Paraguay. And again,
15:48
Speaker 3: there are no friendly games, particularly between with a team
15:51
Speaker 3: like Paraguay, who is combative and proud and really competitive.
15:56
Speaker 3: It'll be another level here at the World Cup in
15:59
Speaker 3: the first game. So with that laid out, what do
16:03
Speaker 3: what does the US need to do to be successful
16:06
Speaker 3: to break them down? Is this more about Paraguay has
16:10
Speaker 3: to adapt to the US or the US has these
16:13
Speaker 3: three keys that that they can target and use to
16:18
Speaker 3: their advantage in this game.
16:20
Speaker 1: Well, I think inevitably. I think what's going to have
16:23
Speaker 1: to happen here is we have to be very patient
16:26
Speaker 1: and organized as we attack. You know, Paraguay is going
16:29
Speaker 1: to give us the ball. You know, they are very
16:32
Speaker 1: good defensively. They want to be in that low block.
16:36
Speaker 1: The key for us is to not panic, not to
16:39
Speaker 1: not to throw too many too many numbers forward early.
16:43
Speaker 1: But I do think we can attack their wings. You know.
16:46
Speaker 1: I wish in a way we could fit potentially way
16:49
Speaker 1: into this game because he could break the game open
16:51
Speaker 1: on one side if he were to play next to
16:54
Speaker 1: let's say, in front of Sergenio desk, you know, instead
16:57
Speaker 1: of Tillman. I don't think that's going to happen obviously,
17:00
Speaker 1: but I think at some point that will be useful
17:02
Speaker 1: because you know, this team, not only are they good
17:06
Speaker 1: in that in the low block, they're they're good on
17:08
Speaker 1: crosses too, and that's something that I think is one
17:10
Speaker 1: of our strengths, you know, where we I feel like
17:14
Speaker 1: with the team we have, we can win games at
17:16
Speaker 1: the end by putting balls in the box because I
17:19
Speaker 1: think we have guys that can that can really get
17:21
Speaker 1: into the box and get us goals. But I think
17:24
Speaker 1: this Paraguay team is very good and they're comfortable sitting
17:27
Speaker 1: in the box, so we'll have difficulty with that. So
17:30
Speaker 1: if I were to say if we could, if we
17:31
Speaker 1: could pull Paraguay out a little bit, you know, I
17:34
Speaker 1: know that we want to high press, because that's what
17:36
Speaker 1: we do. However, I think if we high press, we're
17:38
Speaker 1: just going to force them to kick the ball to us.
17:41
Speaker 1: That's the kind of game I'm seeing. I think Paraguay
17:43
Speaker 1: will be fine with kicking the ball to us and
17:45
Speaker 1: waiting for us to make a mistake to attack as
17:48
Speaker 1: quickly as possible.
17:50
Speaker 3: I would agree there, And I think Tyler Adams is
17:55
Speaker 3: probably going to say this in every kit before every
17:57
Speaker 3: game and on this show at the World Cup.
17:59
Speaker 2: I think Taler is going to be so.
18:00
Speaker 3: Deeply important for this team because Paraguay's greatest threat, I
18:04
Speaker 3: think will be in transition and attacking space that the
18:08
Speaker 3: US may or may not leave when they're committing numbers forward,
18:11
Speaker 3: When Paraguay are sitting back and sitting back on purpose
18:13
Speaker 3: and comfortable defending deep, it'll be Tyler Adams with his
18:17
Speaker 3: ability to cover ground and defend in transition, which are
18:21
Speaker 3: his two strengths.
18:22
Speaker 2: Those are his world class qualities.
18:24
Speaker 3: And if he's there to put out fires before Paraguay
18:27
Speaker 3: can even start a transition moment, the pressure is gonna
18:29
Speaker 3: build and the presure is going to be too much.
18:32
Speaker 2: I think that Pulisic is no stranger to playing.
18:36
Speaker 3: Against one a low block because in CONCAKEF that is
18:41
Speaker 3: almost always what the United States face, and in CONCACAFF,
18:44
Speaker 3: he is no stranger to facing a team that's just
18:46
Speaker 3: going to try to kick the shit out of you.
18:47
Speaker 3: I think that's what Paraguay is going to do. And
18:49
Speaker 3: I don't say it that they're dirty. I just they're
18:51
Speaker 3: a physical team. And part of defending deep is you're
18:54
Speaker 3: going to have to earn every yard you get. If
18:56
Speaker 3: you beat one player, guess what another one's gonna be
18:58
Speaker 3: there and he's gonna chip you to So trying to
19:02
Speaker 3: find moments of fluidity in space, the earlier the better,
19:06
Speaker 3: because the longer this game goes on, it's tied that
19:08
Speaker 3: favors the defensive team, that favors the underdog. So as
19:11
Speaker 3: long as the United States are building constant pressure, and
19:13
Speaker 3: that's why I go back to Tyler Adams that if
19:15
Speaker 3: he's putting out fires before maybe they even start, then
19:19
Speaker 3: Paraguay will won't even have moments to get up the field,
19:22
Speaker 3: won't have moments to take a break defensively, and you
19:24
Speaker 3: cannot defend for ninety minutes, right like, there has to
19:27
Speaker 3: be moments of reprief there has to be moments of
19:29
Speaker 3: getting forward. And if Tyler Adams can quell that as
19:31
Speaker 3: best as he can, then I think the United States
19:34
Speaker 3: will be set up very well. Yeah.
19:35
Speaker 1: And when I mentioned having patients, I don't mean the
19:39
Speaker 1: type of patients that we're watching five yard passes from
19:42
Speaker 1: one place to the other. I mean the type of patients.
19:45
Speaker 1: You know, if you think about what happens with low
19:47
Speaker 1: block teams, low block teams get organized very quickly, especially
19:51
Speaker 1: in the middle when the ball goes to one side,
19:53
Speaker 1: they all channel very quickly and very organized one way.
19:57
Speaker 1: So you know, by patients, I mean can we play
19:59
Speaker 1: the go back and switch to the other side to
20:02
Speaker 1: find someone on the line, to find Robinson on one
20:05
Speaker 1: line right as he goes for Anthony Robinson as he attacks,
20:08
Speaker 1: if the space is not there, he plays it back.
20:10
Speaker 1: We find the opposite side, and now you find Sir
20:12
Speaker 1: Genio desk. And now you're forcing because now you're forcing
20:16
Speaker 1: al Maron to defend on one side and so said
20:19
Speaker 1: to defend on the other side. So now you're playing
20:21
Speaker 1: against players who are not defenders. And I think that's
20:24
Speaker 1: how you can get in the box. So the patience
20:26
Speaker 1: does not mean play slow. It likely means not play
20:29
Speaker 1: so many short passes open the field a little bit
20:32
Speaker 1: more from side to side and make them chase side
20:34
Speaker 1: to side until you find an opening.
20:37
Speaker 3: Yes, patient, but not slow the pace of the passes
20:40
Speaker 3: and the pace of decision making that and tad when
20:43
Speaker 3: you do get one of those big switches, that you
20:45
Speaker 3: don't put your foot on the ball and let them
20:47
Speaker 3: reset and get reorganized, which I think sometimes again I
20:51
Speaker 3: think more so in the Burhalter era. That was one
20:53
Speaker 3: of my big critiques of the team that even when
20:55
Speaker 3: they seem to get a numbers advantage, it was, hey,
20:58
Speaker 3: let's slow it down. Let's go back to doo oor
21:00
Speaker 3: patterns and our formulas. Like I think it's very important
21:03
Speaker 3: that when you make even when you get those switches,
21:05
Speaker 3: that you don't let them off the look like if
21:06
Speaker 3: there's a.
21:06
Speaker 2: Moment to push, you push.
21:08
Speaker 3: And and with that, I am curious if Baligan or
21:12
Speaker 3: Peppy's gonna start.
21:13
Speaker 2: I'm assuming it's going to be Baligain.
21:15
Speaker 3: But and the way that he kind of occupied some
21:18
Speaker 3: of the German German center backs was important. But Ricardo
21:21
Speaker 3: Peppi is really good at occupying defenders and and helping
21:27
Speaker 3: space with his for his team, it gets a little
21:28
Speaker 3: bit better in hold up play and and and combinations,
21:32
Speaker 3: whereas Baligan is extraordinarily dangerous when he has space and
21:36
Speaker 3: uh time to run and ability to get into the channels.
21:38
Speaker 2: I don't know how many channels that there's going to
21:40
Speaker 2: be against paragwise my hole.
21:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, And that that's the difference, And that's
21:44
Speaker 1: what Puschetino has to think about, right because when we
21:47
Speaker 1: watch Peppi, Plague and Senegal. When Pepe stepped into midfield,
21:50
Speaker 1: the the the the center backs followed. Paraguay doesn't follow
21:54
Speaker 1: that much. They'll let you go. They just want to
21:56
Speaker 1: stay in defence. So if if Peppy gets into midfield,
21:59
Speaker 1: it's like that they're going to follow him three four
22:02
Speaker 1: yards and then let them go and he can go receive,
22:04
Speaker 1: but they're gonna stay compact. So this is this is
22:06
Speaker 1: a little bit different than playing against Senegal, I feel, uh.
22:09
Speaker 1: And so maybe Baligan is the is a bet, is
22:12
Speaker 1: a little bit of a better nine to have at
22:16
Speaker 1: the very least in this in this particular game because
22:18
Speaker 1: of it.
22:20
Speaker 3: And so would you do the same attacking combinations as
22:23
Speaker 3: the game against Ceremony, So that'd be Balgain, Pools, Tillman
22:26
Speaker 3: and then McKinney and the wing back.
22:28
Speaker 1: I would to start the game, I would start the same.
22:31
Speaker 1: I think we have to see what they give us first,
22:33
Speaker 1: and don't forget that. You know, as much as you prepare,
22:36
Speaker 1: this game can change in one minute as it starts.
22:38
Speaker 1: So I think you you first want to start, you know,
22:41
Speaker 1: without you know, sort of throwing the house at them, right,
22:44
Speaker 1: you start with your principles. You're gonna press high, which
22:47
Speaker 1: is what we think we're doing. Right, We're gonna press hig.
22:49
Speaker 1: We're going to force them to kick the ball back
22:51
Speaker 1: to us. When the bulls does how quickly. Can we
22:53
Speaker 1: make them chase from side to side to make sure
22:56
Speaker 1: we keep all their attackers occupied defending right, because they're
23:00
Speaker 1: are only chance of winning this game is going to
23:02
Speaker 1: be an accounter. But if if when they recover the ball,
23:05
Speaker 1: al Moron is all the way back and Sosa is
23:07
Speaker 1: all the way back, they really don't have people to
23:10
Speaker 1: attack with, and so I think that's the safest Actually,
23:13
Speaker 1: the safest way to defend is by forcing their the
23:16
Speaker 1: forcing their you know, their attackers. They are dangerous guys
23:19
Speaker 1: to be occupied. And so I think that will be
23:22
Speaker 1: part of this game, and I'm sure something that Pochettino
23:25
Speaker 1: is thinking about. But it's certainly going to be a
23:27
Speaker 1: little bit of a chess match unless something unusual happens,
23:30
Speaker 1: which in World Cup games can happen. Right for a
23:33
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, you give up a goal or or
23:36
Speaker 1: you score a goal and now things change.
23:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, at the risk of undercutting everything we just said,
23:42
Speaker 3: that is the beauty of World Cup game, That is
23:44
Speaker 3: the beauty of all these big tournaments is that.
23:46
Speaker 2: You can prepare, prepare, prepare.
23:48
Speaker 3: And then we're going to talk about twenty fourteen against Ghana,
23:50
Speaker 3: and then Clint Dempsey scores in the second minute.
23:52
Speaker 2: Then well, plans changed in a very good way for
23:56
Speaker 2: that one.
23:56
Speaker 3: So with coper a quick break, we're going to talk
23:58
Speaker 3: about twenty fourteen. Tab was on the coaching staff of
24:01
Speaker 3: that World Cup as they prepared for Ghana in Brazil.
24:04
Speaker 3: So please rate, review and subscribe to Inside American Soccer
24:07
Speaker 3: with Tom Bogeren and Tab.
24:07
Speaker 2: Ramos wherever you get to play.
24:18
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer, tund to go inside
24:21
Speaker 3: the locker room with Tab.
24:22
Speaker 2: Here and Tab.
24:23
Speaker 3: We are days away from the World Cup starting for
24:25
Speaker 3: the United States, and we go back a dozen years
24:27
Speaker 3: and you were an assistant on your clansman staff at
24:29
Speaker 3: the twenty fourteen World Cup, helping prepare the United States
24:32
Speaker 3: for Ghana.
24:33
Speaker 2: So take us inside what that was like.
24:35
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'll take us all the way back
24:37
Speaker 1: to sort of how it starts, right the planning, because
24:40
Speaker 1: obviously the World Cup. You know, it takes a lot
24:43
Speaker 1: of planning to go to World Cup because the games
24:45
Speaker 1: are so important. You know, in the end, in the
24:47
Speaker 1: first five minutes of a game, you know you can
24:49
Speaker 1: your whole destiny can change, and your whole future can change.
24:53
Speaker 1: So you have to be very well prepared as at
24:55
Speaker 1: least as much as you can. So really the planning,
24:58
Speaker 1: let's say we'll go back to Ghana. But I think
25:02
Speaker 1: as I speak about Ghana, we're relating this to Paraguay,
25:05
Speaker 1: who's our first game. Right, So normally, normally as the
25:08
Speaker 1: staff you already have before the draw, this is before
25:12
Speaker 1: the draw six months ago. Let's say you already start
25:15
Speaker 1: to gather your scouting staff that will be with the
25:18
Speaker 1: different teams, right, and then you'll add someone who's a
25:21
Speaker 1: little bit more of an expert on that team. Right,
25:23
Speaker 1: So we drew, We drew Ghana. At that time, we
25:27
Speaker 1: knew who are sort of our scouts were going to be.
25:30
Speaker 1: And as soon as the draw happened, now you gotta
25:33
Speaker 1: you gotta start thinking about Okay. Now, now you have to,
25:36
Speaker 1: first of all, dig into your library of games that
25:40
Speaker 1: Ghana has played to qualify, right, So that's your first
25:43
Speaker 1: that's your first shot at scouting is seeing the video
25:46
Speaker 1: of everything they've done so far to get there.
25:48
Speaker 3: Right.
25:48
Speaker 1: Then you move into Okay, now we have to follow them.
25:52
Speaker 1: Let's see what their games upcoming are and who we're getting,
25:56
Speaker 1: and our scouts will go there wherever it is you
25:59
Speaker 1: want to You want to be able to watch the
26:00
Speaker 1: team's live. It's not like you're just watching the video
26:03
Speaker 1: at home. So if Ghana is playing, you know in Australia,
26:06
Speaker 1: you got to go to Australia and you got to
26:07
Speaker 1: actually watch the game, not just the video. So you
26:10
Speaker 1: start following it. As part of following them, you start
26:13
Speaker 1: following what the players are saying, You start following what
26:17
Speaker 1: the coach is saying. You start, you know, coaches and
26:20
Speaker 1: coaches sometimes and I learned this from Bora back in
26:22
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four. You know, you know, coaches sometimes give
26:26
Speaker 1: away what they do. They like talking about what they're doing,
26:29
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's this is no one's fault. We all
26:32
Speaker 1: do it, and I did it as a coach sometimes
26:34
Speaker 1: because you don't want to sound like you don't know
26:36
Speaker 1: what you're doing. You're giving everything you're doing so people know, oh, well,
26:39
Speaker 1: this guy knows what he's doing. But then at the
26:41
Speaker 1: same time you're giving away, right what it is that's
26:45
Speaker 1: happened in the field, So you do follow that. So
26:47
Speaker 1: you spend the six months following what the players say,
26:50
Speaker 1: trying to figure out if there's chemistry within the team,
26:52
Speaker 1: trying to figure out if the coach has chemistry with
26:55
Speaker 1: the players, which player likes, what player like? All these
26:58
Speaker 1: are all the this is a part of the planning,
27:01
Speaker 1: right And then so then you get to the point
27:03
Speaker 1: where you start to figure out, Okay, this is how
27:06
Speaker 1: they play, this is their DNA, this is what they
27:08
Speaker 1: do with these players. If they're playing under a certain score,
27:11
Speaker 1: then you switch to these other players. That's what the
27:14
Speaker 1: coach normally does. And then you figure out, like whatever
27:17
Speaker 1: other problems they have. I remember that with Ghana in particular,
27:20
Speaker 1: they had even going into the World Cup, they had
27:23
Speaker 1: like money problems. They weren't getting paid, like you know,
27:27
Speaker 1: at times following Ghana, we didn't know if they were
27:29
Speaker 1: going to practice or not because they weren't going to
27:32
Speaker 1: get their money. They wanted their money in cash and
27:34
Speaker 1: the federation said no, we'll pay it to you later. Right,
27:37
Speaker 1: So like there's all there's all of these things going on.
27:40
Speaker 1: But my point being that this is not just it's
27:42
Speaker 1: not like you just pull out a couple of videos
27:44
Speaker 1: and and you and you just put that together for
27:46
Speaker 1: the players and you show it. You you know, you
27:49
Speaker 1: you're sending clips to players where like you know, if
27:52
Speaker 1: Ghana has been using three different right wingers. You sent
27:55
Speaker 1: to your left back and I think in our case
27:57
Speaker 1: at the time it was Fabian Johnson. Maybe you know,
28:00
Speaker 1: you send him clips of the of the right winger,
28:03
Speaker 1: you all the right all the options. You create posters
28:07
Speaker 1: to hang in your in your let's say, in your
28:10
Speaker 1: training room when you get to your World Cup base,
28:13
Speaker 1: because you know, players don't really want to spend too
28:16
Speaker 1: much time on video and stuff like that, so you
28:18
Speaker 1: unless you're sending them like ten second clips, you know
28:21
Speaker 1: twenty most I'm not saying all of them, but most
28:23
Speaker 1: of them aren't really going to watch a lot, right,
28:25
Speaker 1: They just play their game. But if you have little
28:27
Speaker 1: posters and things like that around your your your camp,
28:31
Speaker 1: then you know, players tend to look more. You know, Okay,
28:33
Speaker 1: here's here's Harrison, that fool, and this is how he
28:36
Speaker 1: attacks and in all his qualities, you know. And in
28:39
Speaker 1: that case, don't forget they had Michael Essien, they had
28:42
Speaker 1: Andre Ayen, they had Amogion who was their captain, right,
28:46
Speaker 1: they had Jonathan must They had big, big players. And
28:50
Speaker 1: I think when you're in the training room and you
28:52
Speaker 1: see the posters of the players underneath, you see your
28:55
Speaker 1: qualities listed as a player. You can tell that the
28:58
Speaker 1: players tend to, you know, to gather and to look
29:01
Speaker 1: and to oh he doesn't, and actually comment with each other.
29:04
Speaker 1: So these are all the things that go into it
29:06
Speaker 1: before you're even watching an actual video of Ghana, right,
29:10
Speaker 1: and then as you get closer to camp, now you
29:12
Speaker 1: start showing. And when you get to camp, you got
29:14
Speaker 1: to put together your actual presentation, which is no more
29:18
Speaker 1: than ten to twelve minutes, because after that it gets
29:21
Speaker 1: too longs for players to retain. They just don't want
29:23
Speaker 1: to be there. That's I hate to say that, but
29:26
Speaker 1: that's the way it is, right, And you put the
29:28
Speaker 1: presentation together and you show it to the players, and
29:30
Speaker 1: then you arrive and you play the game. Now, I've
29:32
Speaker 1: said all of these things because in this particular case,
29:35
Speaker 1: as we're going to go into you know, you prepare
29:38
Speaker 1: so much for six months. All of the things I
29:40
Speaker 1: just mentioned to you are so many hours spent by
29:43
Speaker 1: all the different scouts you have. And then we start
29:46
Speaker 1: the Ghana game. In like two minutes, Dempsey scores and
29:48
Speaker 1: change the game. So you're like, okay, different game now,
29:52
Speaker 1: right now Ghana's going to be foot front. Now He's
29:56
Speaker 1: going to be risking sending numbers forward, So now you
29:59
Speaker 1: go into little bit of a different mode, but that
30:01
Speaker 1: can happen.
30:03
Speaker 3: So so tap I figured that this is how this
30:06
Speaker 3: went is you know, right before you know warm up,
30:09
Speaker 3: they go on the field, they come back to the sideline,
30:11
Speaker 3: and you walked up to Clint and handed them a
30:13
Speaker 3: piece of paper that said, do this fake scissor touch,
30:17
Speaker 3: cut in from the rights on the left side of
30:19
Speaker 3: the box, beat three defenders and then put the ball
30:21
Speaker 3: in the corner. And he was like, I didn't think
30:23
Speaker 3: of that, thanks coach. And and then that's how we
30:25
Speaker 3: scored in the first minute. That's how that one went.
30:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I recall, you know, I think I may have
30:28
Speaker 1: that piece of paper I gave Clint.
30:30
Speaker 4: He gave it back to me. He gave it back
30:32
Speaker 4: to me, but he really was to celebrate. He really
30:34
Speaker 4: appreciated me coaching him through that. And and that simplified
30:38
Speaker 4: all of our scouting, which is great.
30:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, what a game that was, by the way, And
30:44
Speaker 3: like I love going back to these because even just
30:47
Speaker 3: you naming some of the Ghana players like I don't.
30:50
Speaker 3: And so I would have been early college and and
30:53
Speaker 3: I was a knowledgeable soccer fan. But you look at
30:56
Speaker 3: Donna and they're not England's paying Brazil Argentina, right, and
31:00
Speaker 3: you just the fan perspective is, oh, we have to
31:02
Speaker 3: beat that team. If we don't beat that team, then
31:04
Speaker 3: like we're not who are we not gonna be name?
31:05
Speaker 3: But like that starting lineup that day, like and they
31:08
Speaker 3: Kevin Prince, Bohtang and Michael Essien came came off the
31:11
Speaker 3: bench for this team, right, Like that four year stretch
31:15
Speaker 3: from like twenty ten to fourteen was legitimately a really
31:18
Speaker 3: really good center forward Christianatsu and he was a star.
31:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, John was a star.
31:24
Speaker 3: And going back the HBO documentary about the twenty two
31:29
Speaker 3: World Cup Until Now that is very good. There's an
31:32
Speaker 3: interview with like they're talking to twenty two World Cup
31:34
Speaker 3: and Greg Burholz's like ask something and they're like, yeah,
31:37
Speaker 3: just get out of the group. Just get and Greg's like, yeah,
31:39
Speaker 3: just get out of the group, like kind of saying
31:41
Speaker 3: it a little sarcastically, like I think we forget how
31:44
Speaker 3: hard this is. And like that was the game that
31:46
Speaker 3: John Anthony Brooks scores the late header and I don't know,
31:49
Speaker 3: pandemonium and just just just what a game that was,
31:52
Speaker 3: you know, and I.
31:52
Speaker 1: And I will say this now that you you just
31:54
Speaker 1: spoke about Greg and you know, yeah, it's hard to
31:57
Speaker 1: get out of the group. There's there's I think tofferent
32:00
Speaker 1: types of teams in this tournament. One type is like us,
32:04
Speaker 1: you have to play every game to win it like
32:06
Speaker 1: it's a final, right. And then there's the big teams. Right.
32:10
Speaker 1: Then there's the Argentina's, the Germany's, the likely France, Spain,
32:16
Speaker 1: Brazil of the world who plan on going to play
32:21
Speaker 1: seven games in this World Cup at oba games, right,
32:24
Speaker 1: so they're planning is a little different. No, no, But
32:26
Speaker 1: the reason I'm saying that is because as fans look
32:29
Speaker 1: at the initial game of the World Cup, there likely
32:32
Speaker 1: will be some upsets of big teams that can happen.
32:36
Speaker 1: And the reason is, remember, big teams are planning to
32:39
Speaker 1: win the tournament or to be there four or five
32:42
Speaker 1: weeks from now, and they want to make sure they
32:45
Speaker 1: get there with the right pieces to play against the
32:47
Speaker 1: right teams and the countries who are there to just
32:51
Speaker 1: like do the best they can. And I'm not saying
32:53
Speaker 1: we're not there to win it. We're just we're just
32:55
Speaker 1: not one of those countries that can afford to plan
32:58
Speaker 1: on the eight games, you do plan. Of course, everybody
33:00
Speaker 1: wants to win well of course, of course, of course
33:02
Speaker 1: have to give everything you have from the beginning. And
33:05
Speaker 1: I and I thought that was interesting. I learned that
33:07
Speaker 1: from Jurgen because Jurgen said, hey, we're gonna be here
33:09
Speaker 1: for seven games. We have to play our best pieces.
33:12
Speaker 1: But the plan is seven games. He wouldn't even allow
33:14
Speaker 1: players to schedule return flights in the second round or
33:18
Speaker 1: in the third. You know, you just we're here to
33:20
Speaker 1: stay and then we'll see what happens. But the big
33:22
Speaker 1: teams prepare that way. And that's why sometimes in the
33:25
Speaker 1: in the the first game of the tournament could be
33:28
Speaker 1: upset city.
33:31
Speaker 3: So and and this this format is more forgiving than
33:34
Speaker 3: literally any format in World Cup history. So I don't
33:37
Speaker 3: I don't think that that's gonna take away from intensity.
33:39
Speaker 3: I don't think that's gonna take away from the everybody's
33:42
Speaker 3: dying to win and get every point, right, Like, I
33:44
Speaker 3: don't think it's gonna change anything. But it's more about
33:47
Speaker 3: after the game. Okay, listen, we're still alive. Like there's
33:49
Speaker 3: not gonna be any dead rubber last group stage games.
33:51
Speaker 3: Even if you go into that game with zero points
33:53
Speaker 3: like you still have a chance, particularly depending on your
33:55
Speaker 3: gold differts. But in general, going into that first game
33:59
Speaker 3: tab you could talk about it from from your own
34:01
Speaker 3: point of view or as a point of view from
34:04
Speaker 3: the coach looking at the guys on the team about
34:06
Speaker 3: you know, how how you're feeling in these games, nervous
34:09
Speaker 3: or excited. And I'll give you what Eric Winoldad told
34:13
Speaker 3: me this weekend, and I think you'll enjoy.
34:14
Speaker 2: But I want you to answer first.
34:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, what what you're feeling is You're you're
34:21
Speaker 1: certainly feeling some nerves. This is normal, you know, you
34:24
Speaker 1: you you get you get nervous. These are big games
34:27
Speaker 1: and no matter what you know, I can't speak for
34:30
Speaker 1: you know, players like Messi or Ronaldo, these kind of guys,
34:32
Speaker 1: of course, but I can tell you that most players
34:35
Speaker 1: get nervous. It's normal. And then the game and then
34:38
Speaker 1: the game starts, and then when the game starts, when
34:40
Speaker 1: the whistle goes, then you're focus in the game and
34:43
Speaker 1: you forget about everything else. You forget you're playing in
34:45
Speaker 1: the world like you're you're just doing your job and
34:48
Speaker 1: you're enjoying it because you're playing in front of so
34:51
Speaker 1: many people, and then and then you don't you actually
34:53
Speaker 1: don't want it to end. Well, actually, i'll take that back.
34:57
Speaker 1: I wanted that Columbia game to end because it's what
34:59
Speaker 1: I want to do. Yeah, yeah, because we were winning
35:02
Speaker 1: two to one and one more minute would have been
35:04
Speaker 1: to it. So but but but yeah, so but yeah, No,
35:08
Speaker 1: you do feel the nerves, and they're great nerves to feel,
35:10
Speaker 1: because sometimes you lose that at your club a little bit. Right,
35:13
Speaker 1: you get used to the weekend week out and you
35:15
Speaker 1: just play your game and you just do your job.
35:18
Speaker 1: But then you get to the walk up and it's special.
35:20
Speaker 1: It's so much different.
35:22
Speaker 3: So before Christian Polosik was saying, like, because he's been
35:25
Speaker 3: asked about this one hundred times, he's starting to get
35:26
Speaker 3: annoyed by get asked about it. But he's just like, yeah, no,
35:29
Speaker 3: of course there's nerves, like we care so much as
35:31
Speaker 3: the World Cup. Like he's like, I think you're lying
35:33
Speaker 3: if you say that there's not, but you know you
35:34
Speaker 3: could then you settle in, right, Eric Winolda. So again,
35:38
Speaker 3: the nineteen ninety four team was honored at the game
35:42
Speaker 3: before aakings Germany and they made a number of those
35:44
Speaker 3: guys available to speak to the press. So I was
35:46
Speaker 3: speaking to Eric win Alda and he was like, listen, man,
35:49
Speaker 3: I'm gonna sound arrogant, but like, if you're a real player,
35:52
Speaker 3: then like when the game starts, you feel fine. You
35:54
Speaker 3: don't feel any nerves right like you could have. You
35:56
Speaker 3: could have one of two reactions when you're listening to
35:58
Speaker 3: the national anthem when you're on the field. You go,
36:00
Speaker 3: oh my god, I hope I don't screw up, or
36:04
Speaker 3: you go, hell, yeah, this is so freaking cool.
36:07
Speaker 2: I can't wait to the whistle blows. I can't wait
36:08
Speaker 2: to play.
36:09
Speaker 3: It was like, I think we had seven of eleven
36:11
Speaker 3: guys who were in the in that camp, and maybe
36:14
Speaker 3: we had a couple on our team that was in
36:15
Speaker 3: the first camp. He referenced you a few times, and
36:19
Speaker 3: he puts you obviously in that second camp and spoke
36:21
Speaker 3: spoke glowingly about his former teammate. But I thought I
36:24
Speaker 3: thought it was it was funny the way that like
36:25
Speaker 3: we all talk about nerves and like when all this
36:27
Speaker 3: like yeah, listen, man, I don't want to sound arrogant,
36:29
Speaker 3: but like you know, when when the whistle starts, you
36:31
Speaker 3: don't feel.
36:32
Speaker 1: It, no, and you can. You know, it's actually a
36:34
Speaker 1: great point because you can see it in the games.
36:36
Speaker 1: You can see the way a player controls the ball
36:39
Speaker 1: for the first time, whether they're actually in the game
36:42
Speaker 1: or whether they just don't want to make a mistake,
36:44
Speaker 1: and and you can pick those guys off right away.
36:47
Speaker 1: But I think most players, especially in the game today,
36:50
Speaker 1: where you know most players are playing for big teams,
36:53
Speaker 1: are playing big games. I think they settle in a
36:56
Speaker 1: game within the first couple of minutes. I don't think
36:58
Speaker 1: there's any there's any concerns, certainly from our side, on
37:01
Speaker 1: our team.
37:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would agree. Looking forward to this game, we're
37:05
Speaker 3: gonna dive into that a little bit more. We're gonna
37:07
Speaker 3: make our picks. After this one quick break, we're gonna
37:09
Speaker 3: talk about the Thursday and Friday World Cup matches, including
37:12
Speaker 3: Mexico Canada. Yes, of course, the United States. Thank you
37:14
Speaker 3: for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rap the hubscribe
37:17
Speaker 3: before we get your budgets. Welcome back to Inside American
37:30
Speaker 3: Soccer tab. The World Cup starts this week, and it's
37:33
Speaker 3: more than just the United States. So let's take a
37:35
Speaker 3: look at the games that are coming up on Thursday
37:37
Speaker 3: and Friday, and this segment is presented to you by
37:40
Speaker 3: our friends at DraftKings Thursday afternoon in Mexico City is
37:43
Speaker 3: where this tournament will kick off. It's Mexico, it's South Africa.
37:47
Speaker 3: Tab What is your pick for this game?
37:50
Speaker 1: Well, this is I think this is gonna be a
37:51
Speaker 1: great matchup to kick off the World Cup. Is you know,
37:54
Speaker 1: a rematch of the twenty ten you know World Cup
37:58
Speaker 1: when Mexico actually to play South Africa and they're World Cup.
38:03
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Mexico looks solid at this point.
38:06
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of pressure on the team.
38:08
Speaker 1: There's a lot of If you've been to the Esteco,
38:11
Speaker 1: you've watched the game played at the Esteca, it's a
38:13
Speaker 1: tough place to play. I think South Africa will have
38:16
Speaker 1: a really tough time with this, not just because of
38:20
Speaker 1: the environment of the crowd, but the altitude, the smog,
38:23
Speaker 1: everything else that has to do with with playing in
38:26
Speaker 1: Mexico City. You know, these games for opposing teams get
38:30
Speaker 1: very very long after the sixtieth minute, and I think
38:34
Speaker 1: South Africa will have a really tough time. I think
38:36
Speaker 1: Mexico takes this two to one after winning two zero.
38:39
Speaker 1: I think South Africa gets a goal at the end,
38:42
Speaker 1: but I think this is Mexico's game.
38:45
Speaker 3: Mexico are on a really good run of for him.
38:47
Speaker 3: They just thrash Serbia five to one in their final
38:50
Speaker 3: pre World Cup tune up. Serbia, I think we're well
38:52
Speaker 3: off the pace. But Mexico's previous two friendlies were against
38:55
Speaker 3: Gone in Australia. They won them both. South Africa I
38:58
Speaker 3: think that they are a good tea. But Mexico at home,
39:02
Speaker 3: I think I like to pick their tap. Later that night,
39:05
Speaker 3: South Korea against Chechia.
39:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's an even matchup. Although I
39:10
Speaker 1: have to say, you know, if you would have asked
39:12
Speaker 1: me about South Korea about a year ago, I would
39:14
Speaker 1: have had a much different opinion of the team I
39:17
Speaker 1: thought they were about a year ago. They really look
39:19
Speaker 1: like they were going to do something, like they were
39:22
Speaker 1: really onto something special. I just don't see that the results.
39:25
Speaker 1: Although they beat trinidat five zero, they beat El Salvador
39:28
Speaker 1: one zero in the last game, they don't look convincing.
39:31
Speaker 1: They're playing a European team that's very much used to
39:34
Speaker 1: just getting all behind the ball encountering. They're hard They're
39:38
Speaker 1: difficult to play against. They're coming off some some you know,
39:42
Speaker 1: some decent results. They've been winning pretty much. They won
39:46
Speaker 1: the last couple of games, but they come from the
39:48
Speaker 1: playoff which was also tough and march, so they they've
39:52
Speaker 1: been playing pressure games for a while. I can't see
39:55
Speaker 1: South Korea beating Chechia at this point. I think I
39:59
Speaker 1: think Checha takes this game one zero.
40:02
Speaker 4: Ooh.
40:03
Speaker 3: I think I think a draw could be in play here,
40:05
Speaker 3: but like a little like a little upset there. Friday afternoon,
40:09
Speaker 3: we've got Canada, the second of the three hosts, to
40:11
Speaker 3: kick off their tournament. They are playing in Toronto against
40:14
Speaker 3: Bosia and Herzegovina. Bosnia came through the World Cup playoffs
40:19
Speaker 3: to get to this stage, and I think both clubs
40:21
Speaker 3: are looking at this game and saying kind of a
40:23
Speaker 3: must win for each of them.
40:25
Speaker 1: I think they are, and they should. Actually, you know, Canada,
40:28
Speaker 1: I've watched Canada play a couple of times. They're not convincing.
40:32
Speaker 1: They're not giving away much, but they're also not creating much.
40:36
Speaker 1: This is a tough game for Canada. For Canada, although
40:39
Speaker 1: Bosnia is coming also from basically tying games, right, but
40:43
Speaker 1: Let's not forget.
40:44
Speaker 2: Let's not forget.
40:45
Speaker 1: They eliminated Italy, right, and and they played well when
40:49
Speaker 1: they eliminated Italy. They that was our last big game
40:52
Speaker 1: they've had to play. And if I had to just
40:54
Speaker 1: judge them on that last game, they were superior to
40:57
Speaker 1: Italy in every facet of the game. And I think
41:00
Speaker 1: we have to we have to take that into consideration.
41:03
Speaker 1: Having said that, they're not a team that scores a
41:06
Speaker 1: lot of goals, they also don't give them up. I
41:08
Speaker 1: think you have a pretty even match up here. If
41:11
Speaker 1: I had if I had a call a result on
41:14
Speaker 1: this one, I would say this is going to be
41:15
Speaker 1: a one to one tie.
41:18
Speaker 3: And those were the two results for Bosnia in the
41:21
Speaker 3: World Cup playoffs. They beat Wales and penalties after one
41:24
Speaker 3: one and they beat itaien penalties after one one draw.
41:27
Speaker 3: A couple of notes on Canada, Alfonso Davies conflicting information
41:31
Speaker 3: on if he's available to play. He himself told a
41:33
Speaker 3: radio show he wasn't, and then a couple of days
41:35
Speaker 3: later he told local media he wanted to clarify what
41:37
Speaker 3: he said, and he said he doesn't know if he's
41:39
Speaker 3: able to play. So that's always interesting to have. I
41:41
Speaker 3: think that one would go under the category of gamesmanship there,
41:46
Speaker 3: particularly that sounds like the coach or the PR person said,
41:49
Speaker 3: you're speaking to the media and you're walking that back
41:50
Speaker 3: immediately and then moist bomb. Vito is unfortunately out of
41:54
Speaker 3: this tournament. He believe it was a broken leg that
41:57
Speaker 3: he suffered in the fall. He hoped that he was
41:59
Speaker 3: going to get back for this. He hadn't played a
42:00
Speaker 3: club game since then. Unfortunately he's not available to play.
42:03
Speaker 3: And those I think are that's definitely the most important player,
42:07
Speaker 3: and I think two of their most three or four
42:09
Speaker 3: important players. So Canada aren't quite at one hundred percent here.
42:12
Speaker 3: But tab the last one, the one that we've been
42:14
Speaker 3: talking about this entire episode Friday night in Los Angeles,
42:18
Speaker 3: United States. Paraguay, how do you see this one going?
42:21
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, I think with all the things that
42:23
Speaker 1: we spoke about now, having spoken about the tenacity of
42:28
Speaker 1: the Paraguayan team, how hard they are defending, I just
42:33
Speaker 1: can't see a place where Paraguay is going to turn
42:35
Speaker 1: around and somehow win this game. I'm not seeing it.
42:38
Speaker 1: I think the best chance they have to win this
42:40
Speaker 1: game is by attacking us up the middle. As quickly
42:43
Speaker 1: as possible, because if I have to say, you know
42:46
Speaker 1: what our weakness is, that would be our weakness. They
42:49
Speaker 1: just don't have the manpower to do that. I'm not
42:51
Speaker 1: seeing it. I think without inciso on the field, you know,
42:55
Speaker 1: you're going to find so sub wide defending, you're going
42:57
Speaker 1: to find out maron defending. I just don't think it
43:00
Speaker 1: have enough to attack. I think the US will be
43:02
Speaker 1: too much in this game and they will win this
43:04
Speaker 1: game to zero.
43:07
Speaker 2: I think the US.
43:09
Speaker 3: Listen, I feel silly to say must win for tournament
43:11
Speaker 3: where I said that there's much more room for errors
43:16
Speaker 3: or room for mistakes and room to kind of recover.
43:18
Speaker 3: But going into this game, Paraguay's best player is almost
43:21
Speaker 3: definitely out in the United States a decent form coming
43:24
Speaker 3: against that. Senegal win and listen, it's a home World Cup,
43:27
Speaker 3: it's the opening game. With all due respect to Paraguay,
43:29
Speaker 3: they are not an easy team to beat. But the
43:32
Speaker 3: United States has to be arrogant enough to be walking
43:34
Speaker 3: into this thinking, yeah, we're gonna win. Obviously we're gonna win,
43:37
Speaker 3: like that should be the minds of the mentality. A
43:39
Speaker 3: couple of notes on this. We're recording this Monday, morning.
43:42
Speaker 3: After we're done, I'll be heading to training and we'll
43:45
Speaker 3: be asking about Chris Richards, and we'll be asking about
43:47
Speaker 3: Chris Richards every day leading into this game, So stay
43:49
Speaker 3: tuned on social media for updates there. We don't have
43:51
Speaker 3: a definitive one. Before the Germany game, he trained individually
43:55
Speaker 3: for the first time tab I. We watched him go
43:57
Speaker 3: through drills. He wasn't just standing off to the side
44:01
Speaker 3: and they let him juggle and they counted it as
44:02
Speaker 3: individual training.
44:04
Speaker 2: He was actually doing work. He was moving pretty good.
44:06
Speaker 3: But obviously there's no defenders around you, you know what
44:09
Speaker 3: your movements are gonna be. So I don't want to
44:10
Speaker 3: take too much into that, but it was better than
44:12
Speaker 3: him not playing, So we'll see where that one goes.
44:15
Speaker 3: How are you feeling in general looking ahead to Friday time.
44:19
Speaker 1: I feel good about it. First of all, just to
44:23
Speaker 1: discuss a little bit the Richard situation. As I mentioned
44:25
Speaker 1: the other day on the show, I think he's got
44:28
Speaker 1: to play. You know, you gotta play the game. I mean,
44:31
Speaker 1: go go talk to the coach and say, coach, listen,
44:33
Speaker 1: I'm I'm ninety percent. This is good. Ninety percent is good.
44:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give everything is ninety percent. The red's gonna come.
44:39
Speaker 1: The rest's gonna come from my heart. I'm ready. I
44:42
Speaker 1: gotta play this one. I can't sit out, so hopefully
44:45
Speaker 1: Chris does that. And by the way, he's that kind
44:47
Speaker 1: of kid, that kind of player, so he wants, he
44:49
Speaker 1: wants to, and I want to, ye.
44:52
Speaker 2: I want to be clear.
44:52
Speaker 3: I have a pretty good source that he wants to
44:56
Speaker 3: and he's been saying that since since the injury happened.
44:58
Speaker 3: I'm good for the workup, I'm good. I think if
45:02
Speaker 3: the game against Germany was a group stage game, I
45:04
Speaker 3: think you would have fought like hell to be able
45:07
Speaker 3: to play. So I would if there's a chance. If
45:10
Speaker 3: there if it's just about managing pain, he's gonna play.
45:13
Speaker 3: And I know that about Chris Richards. So we'll see
45:16
Speaker 3: how it goes. And there's gonna be about a week
45:17
Speaker 3: between these World Cup games, so you got plenty of
45:20
Speaker 3: time to recover between games. But thank you for listening
45:23
Speaker 3: to Inside American Soccer. That's it for us today. The
45:26
Speaker 3: next time you hear from us, it'll be after that
45:27
Speaker 3: Paraguay game. We're gonna break it all down. So please
45:30
Speaker 3: let rate with you, subscribe whatever, you gets your podcast.
45:33
Speaker 3: I cannot wait till the games to start. Thank you
45:35
Speaker 3: again for listen to Inside American Soccer.
45:36
Speaker 2: We'll see us been basically.
45:44
Speaker 1: New DraftKings. Customers sign up with Code Soccer, spend five
45:48
Speaker 1: bucks to get two hundred and rewards within twenty one days.
45:51
Speaker 1: That's Code Soccer in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is
45:56
Speaker 1: yours be with dk sports book gambling problem called one
45:59
Speaker 1: hundred Gambler one aint hedrid my reset New York called
46:02
Speaker 1: eight seven seven eight hope and wire text hope and
46:04
Speaker 1: why Connecticut called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven
46:06
Speaker 1: seven seven seven were visits CCPG dot org on behalf
46:09
Speaker 1: of Boothill Casino in Kansas. That text pass through may
46:11
Speaker 1: applying Illinois twenty one on over void in Ontario. Event
46:13
Speaker 1: contract trading with DraftKings Predictions involves risk of loss. Sportsbook
46:16
Speaker 1: bonus bets expire in seven days. Fifty dollars in predictions
46:19
Speaker 1: dollars issued weekly for three weeks expire in one year,
46:22
Speaker 1: d one non withdrawable reward availability varies. Predictions offer void
46:25
Speaker 1: in New York. He's June twenty eighth terms at DKNG
46:27
Speaker 1: dot co slash audio