Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / World Cup Draw Reaction Special: Analysis of Dream Draw for USMNT

Transcript

World Cup Draw Reaction Special: Analysis of Dream Draw for USMNT · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:07
Speaker 1: What's going everybody.
0:08
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer and we are here
0:11
Speaker 2: for episode four, a special episode reacting to the World
0:14
Speaker 2: Cup draw that just happened. Yes, the United States has
0:17
Speaker 2: learned their group stage opponents. We're gonna break it down,
0:20
Speaker 2: what all of it means, what all the permutations are,
0:22
Speaker 2: what we're excited about, and Tab, we are excited.
0:25
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom.
0:25
Speaker 2: Boger, joined as always by Tab Ramos, one of the
0:28
Speaker 2: US Soccer's best ever players, very successful USU twenty youth
0:32
Speaker 2: international coach.
0:33
Speaker 3: Tab.
0:34
Speaker 1: The ping pong balls bounced weirdly.
0:36
Speaker 2: FIFA decided that they are going to be the authority
0:38
Speaker 2: on peace and gave out a prize to Donald Trump.
0:41
Speaker 2: Kevin Hart was there because he needs a job. He
0:44
Speaker 2: doesn't work enough, and so he had to be there.
0:46
Speaker 2: Why wouldn't he be. Wayne Gretzky's there, did not brief
0:49
Speaker 2: himself on how to pronounce Kurosaw, among others, And there
0:52
Speaker 2: was a whole lot of cringe in the ninety minutes
0:54
Speaker 2: before we got to the World Cup draw actually happening.
0:57
Speaker 1: Tab, you were invited to go.
0:59
Speaker 2: To the draw, but we we kind of held you
1:01
Speaker 2: back because you were you were here to do this,
1:03
Speaker 2: So I got to tell you it's snowing in Washington,
1:05
Speaker 2: d C.
1:06
Speaker 1: And that was a very very long ordeal.
1:08
Speaker 2: Tap are you disappointed that you're sitting here and you're
1:10
Speaker 2: not still filing out of the Kennedy Center?
1:12
Speaker 3: And you know, there's there's very few things that are
1:15
Speaker 3: good about getting old, but this is one of the
1:18
Speaker 3: good ones that you know to not go to stuff
1:20
Speaker 3: like this. I mean, where do we start, right, Kevin Hart?
1:24
Speaker 3: I mean, I know you're saying he needs a job,
1:27
Speaker 3: but you know, I on YouTube, I see him. Every
1:30
Speaker 3: other commercial is Kevin Hart, So I don't I don't
1:33
Speaker 3: think he needs a job exactly. Yeah, obviously, Wayne Gretzky,
1:37
Speaker 3: there's not a lot of hockey being played in Kurasau,
1:39
Speaker 3: so he's likely not knowing not knowing that name, right.
1:43
Speaker 3: But overall, I have to say, you know, pretty uh,
1:46
Speaker 3: pretty happy day. I mean, we we got the absolute
1:50
Speaker 3: possibly the best row we could get. You know, we're
1:53
Speaker 3: playing teams. We know, I think Group B I'm sorry,
1:58
Speaker 3: Pot Too was gonna be the one that was gonna
2:01
Speaker 3: dictate where we went and how the how this was
2:04
Speaker 3: gonna go. And by getting Australia in that group. I
2:06
Speaker 3: think we we ended up being in good shape. But yeah,
2:10
Speaker 3: overall it's a little bit of a circus. I get it,
2:14
Speaker 3: and uh No, I'm happy to be home and not
2:16
Speaker 3: be in DC right now.
2:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
2:19
Speaker 2: I think the snow coming in uh in early December
2:22
Speaker 2: and DC really set the tone for what the day
2:24
Speaker 2: would be. Listen, we want to get to the soccer,
2:26
Speaker 2: that's all you and I really care about. But I
2:29
Speaker 2: also wanted to just get to the soccer the whole
2:31
Speaker 2: time during the draw. So because FIFA decided to do
2:33
Speaker 2: what they did, I'm gonna take a minute here to
2:36
Speaker 2: shred the pomp and circumstance and everything that just happened.
2:40
Speaker 2: It's it's good to joke about. I'm glad we laughed.
2:43
Speaker 2: That's the That's the best way to get through the
2:44
Speaker 2: misery of of.
2:45
Speaker 1: What that was. Honest to God, who is this for?
2:49
Speaker 1: Who asked for this? Who wanted this?
2:51
Speaker 2: Outside of maybe Johnny and Fantino, maybe maybe the United
2:54
Speaker 2: States government, maybe a couple of other really powerful people.
2:59
Speaker 2: Does any average fan want any of that? Does any
3:02
Speaker 2: average fan want Rio Ferdinand doing skits jokes within the
3:08
Speaker 2: arena that did not get a single laugh?
3:10
Speaker 1: The entire time.
3:12
Speaker 2: I was cringing the entire time the fact that FIFA
3:15
Speaker 2: is making a peace prize. Why, I don't understand who
3:20
Speaker 2: is this for. I don't understand ol FIFA can continue
3:23
Speaker 2: to be so out of touch. The best way I
3:24
Speaker 2: can sum it up is my expectations were low, but
3:27
Speaker 2: my god, they still did not come close to that.
3:30
Speaker 2: So TAB, let's finally get into the soccer. All right,
3:34
Speaker 2: I've had enough of the Red Guard, but the Tom
3:36
Speaker 2: Brady jokes everything else. At least you kill O New
3:38
Speaker 2: was funny. That was the bright spot.
3:40
Speaker 4: But let's talk.
3:40
Speaker 1: About some soccer. The United States leading Group D.
3:43
Speaker 2: They got a very very favorable draw Australia, Paraguay and
3:47
Speaker 2: the UEFA playoff winner, which will be one of Turkey, Slovakia, Romano,
3:51
Speaker 2: Romania or Kosovo. Now I sound like Wwayne Gretzky. So
3:54
Speaker 2: TAB big picture thought, what a favorable draw?
3:58
Speaker 3: Well, I think you have to say that, right and
4:01
Speaker 3: always always with the disclaimer that every game is tough,
4:04
Speaker 3: and you're gonna go to the World Cup and it's
4:06
Speaker 3: not like these teams are going on vacation. This is
4:08
Speaker 3: the real deal, right, so every game is going to
4:10
Speaker 3: be difficult. Having said that, I think, if you know,
4:13
Speaker 3: Turkey is likely the best of the European group that
4:16
Speaker 3: we can potentially play, and if we play Turkey, these are,
4:20
Speaker 3: you know, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey are three of the last
4:23
Speaker 3: five opponents we've had already this year. So I think
4:27
Speaker 3: we're in a great place. I I you know, I
4:30
Speaker 3: like our matchup with Paraguay, although I do feel Paraguay
4:33
Speaker 3: in a one off will be much more difficult than
4:36
Speaker 3: they were in a friendly game in the middle of
4:39
Speaker 3: October in the US. You know, Australia obviously we played
4:43
Speaker 3: them in Colorado. Australia is Australia. They're a hard working team,
4:48
Speaker 3: give nothing away in terms of the fact that they
4:51
Speaker 3: have good players. But we're better than Australia. There's no
4:55
Speaker 3: other way to say it. And then we'll see what
4:56
Speaker 3: happens with the Turkey group. If they get through, Turkey
4:59
Speaker 3: will be the difficult They already beat us, but I
5:02
Speaker 3: think we beat ourselves a little bit more than Turkey
5:04
Speaker 3: beat us when we played them. So the reality is
5:07
Speaker 3: this is a very good group for us, and it
5:10
Speaker 3: forced me to look past this group and say, hey,
5:13
Speaker 3: you know, we likely don't have a really tough matchup
5:16
Speaker 3: until round of sixteen where we could potentially beat Belgium
5:21
Speaker 3: meet Belgium. So I think this is a great draw.
5:24
Speaker 3: This is a great draw.
5:26
Speaker 2: I do think it's important to eco what you said.
5:28
Speaker 2: I don't want to sound disrespectful to these other teams.
5:30
Speaker 2: They're all here on merit, they're all really good. There
5:32
Speaker 2: are nothing There is no such easy game at a
5:34
Speaker 2: World Cup. You know that better than anybody. But there
5:37
Speaker 2: are harder games, and there was a whole lot of
5:39
Speaker 2: harder opponents on the board here. Just again Australia Pot two.
5:44
Speaker 2: We avoided Columbia, Croatia, Uruguay, Ecuador, and a handful of
5:49
Speaker 2: others that I think would have been more difficult than Australia,
5:51
Speaker 2: particularly after the United States. Just speed Australia and I
5:54
Speaker 2: thought they were very handedly the better team, and like
5:57
Speaker 2: you said, like just just kind of no two ways
5:58
Speaker 2: around it. I think this is a better team, and
6:00
Speaker 2: I think Neutrals would say the same with no disrespect
6:03
Speaker 2: to Australia, right, Like I'm trying to threat walk the
6:06
Speaker 2: line here that I'm not sounding like we're jumping for
6:08
Speaker 2: joy about this as if it's going to be a cakewalk,
6:10
Speaker 2: but it could have been much much harder. Norway was
6:12
Speaker 2: in Pot three. We avoided Norway again. Paraguay are a
6:15
Speaker 2: good team. They're a very very feisty team. They defend well,
6:18
Speaker 2: they play well in transition. They have some special players
6:20
Speaker 2: that can hurt you in attack, but they don't have
6:23
Speaker 2: Holland right, like, this could all have been worse and
6:26
Speaker 2: tad I right before the show, we were double checking. Okay,
6:31
Speaker 2: if they win the group, they have to win the group. Right,
6:32
Speaker 2: If they win the group, then who do they play
6:34
Speaker 2: in the round of thirty two? Okay, who would they
6:36
Speaker 2: play then in the round of sixteen?
6:37
Speaker 1: So our first.
6:39
Speaker 2: Takeaways are like, this is going to be a massive
6:42
Speaker 2: disappointment if if they don't look good in the groups,
6:45
Speaker 2: Like I think that they have to win the group.
6:49
Speaker 3: I think there's no doubt that's what has to happen.
6:52
Speaker 3: We'll be the favors in the group to win it.
6:55
Speaker 3: And you know, here's one thing I look at. You know,
6:57
Speaker 3: we in ninety and now go I'll go a little
7:00
Speaker 3: bit into this later on, but in nineteen ninety we
7:03
Speaker 3: hadn't qualified to the World Cup for forty years. But
7:06
Speaker 3: since nineteen ninety you look at all the World Cups,
7:09
Speaker 3: we haven't really had a US team play a game
7:14
Speaker 3: in the World Cup that they're supposed to win and
7:16
Speaker 3: not win it. I mean, you know, we listen, we
7:19
Speaker 3: criticized teams, right, So you can go all the way
7:22
Speaker 3: to nineteen ninety eight World Cup and we can talk
7:24
Speaker 3: about we lost a round two to one. We likely
7:29
Speaker 3: likely were the favorites in that game, but I'm not
7:31
Speaker 3: sure by how much in our minds we were favorites,
7:35
Speaker 3: but I'm not sure by how much. But then if
7:38
Speaker 3: you look at the World Cup before, we weren't favored
7:40
Speaker 3: in any games we won one, and the World Cup
7:43
Speaker 3: before that we had three Europeans in our group. We
7:45
Speaker 3: definitely weren't favored. And then you look at the World
7:47
Speaker 3: Cups ahead of that, and there hasn't been American teams
7:50
Speaker 3: have always come through in the World Cup. And if
7:52
Speaker 3: we just do what we're supposed to do in this one,
7:55
Speaker 3: we should be in first place in this group.
7:57
Speaker 1: I completely agree.
7:59
Speaker 2: And when we're talking about to draw on the abstract, honestly,
8:02
Speaker 2: the only way that you could make an argument that
8:04
Speaker 2: there was an easier path would have been because every
8:07
Speaker 2: group has to have at least one European team, which
8:10
Speaker 2: is why when Paraguay came up in Pot three that
8:13
Speaker 2: Pot four had to be one of these playoff winners
8:16
Speaker 2: for the European So like that's going to be a
8:18
Speaker 2: stronger Pot four team. But the United States got favorable
8:21
Speaker 2: draws in Pot two and Pot three. The only other
8:23
Speaker 2: way that this could have been argued of, like you know,
8:26
Speaker 2: pick your dream kind of draw, maybe if you got
8:30
Speaker 2: Scotland in Pot three and then like Cape Verney in
8:33
Speaker 2: Pot four. But again, like that's splitting hairs, and the
8:36
Speaker 2: expectations for this group, for this team has to be
8:39
Speaker 2: to win the group. For me, I know it will
8:41
Speaker 2: be from recent Patino, the staff in the locker room.
8:43
Speaker 2: They hopefully would have felt that same way no matter
8:45
Speaker 2: who that they drew, but particularly now, the pressure is
8:48
Speaker 2: going to be on and it'll be like I think
8:51
Speaker 2: back to the twenty two World Cup against Wales, expected
8:54
Speaker 2: to win against Iran, expected to win against England. It
8:56
Speaker 2: was a really it was a good draw, but it
8:58
Speaker 2: was okay. They have to take the game to us.
9:00
Speaker 2: And in these games again, particularly Australia and Paraguay, the
9:04
Speaker 2: United States, the impetus is going to be on them
9:06
Speaker 2: to break down the other team, to implant their will
9:10
Speaker 2: on the game rather than reacting to the other team.
9:12
Speaker 2: And anything less than six points from those two games
9:15
Speaker 2: is going to be a very big disappointment and it's
9:17
Speaker 2: going to be heavily criticized. And obviously, weird things happen
9:19
Speaker 2: in one game sample sizes, but that's the World Cup, man,
9:21
Speaker 2: that's the pressure that's here.
9:23
Speaker 1: And like you said, if they.
9:25
Speaker 2: Topped the group, they would face in the round of
9:28
Speaker 2: thirty two one of the third place teams, because this
9:30
Speaker 2: is an expanded World Cup, it's not just the top
9:32
Speaker 2: two to get through. They it's too difficult to try
9:35
Speaker 2: to figure out who could one of the third place
9:36
Speaker 2: teams could be. If they win that, then they, like
9:40
Speaker 2: you said, would be set up for Belgium. And while
9:43
Speaker 2: Belgium are really really good, that's still avoiding Spain, France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil,
9:49
Speaker 2: whoever as a potential.
9:51
Speaker 1: Like the path to the quarterfinals is wild.
9:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, But so here's where it gets a little interesting, right,
9:59
Speaker 3: because coming in first place in that group gives you
10:02
Speaker 3: that headway to first you draw a third place team
10:05
Speaker 3: who knows obviously we can say what groups, but it's
10:08
Speaker 3: so hard to speculate a third place team. I'm not
10:10
Speaker 3: so many teams right, so there's too many years. But
10:13
Speaker 3: you likely are supposed to win that game. You win
10:16
Speaker 3: that game, and now you meet Belgium. But here's the
10:18
Speaker 3: interesting part. If for some reason we end second in
10:21
Speaker 3: our group, which I think would not be where we
10:24
Speaker 3: want to be or we deserve, you potentially meet Argentina
10:27
Speaker 3: right after your first you play, you play a G two,
10:31
Speaker 3: which would could be around, could be Egypt, could be
10:34
Speaker 3: one of those teams, but then you would play Argentina,
10:38
Speaker 3: so instead of Belgium, you'd have Argentina. So I think,
10:42
Speaker 3: you know, all teams look at this. You know, uh,
10:45
Speaker 3: when you start the tournament, obviously you always you're gonna
10:48
Speaker 3: get the same line one game at a time, you know,
10:50
Speaker 3: the whole thing. But the reality is we for us
10:54
Speaker 3: to have a good pathway, we have to end first
10:56
Speaker 3: in our group. And this is something that we can
10:58
Speaker 3: it should be favored to.
11:00
Speaker 2: To do absolutely, And obviously we're all gonna intimately learn
11:05
Speaker 2: every detail about these teams. Again, like you're gonna watch
11:10
Speaker 2: the coaching staff, We're gonna be watching the other team
11:11
Speaker 2: in like warm ups and stuff after having studying them
11:15
Speaker 2: for so long, knowing what they're gonna do, even in
11:17
Speaker 2: the little small side of games. But these are already
11:19
Speaker 2: opponents that the United States knows very well. Again, if
11:22
Speaker 2: we're assuming that it is Turkey that gets out of
11:23
Speaker 2: that playoff lost to Turkey in June, then they beat
11:27
Speaker 2: both Paraguay and Australia over the last two breaks in
11:30
Speaker 2: October November. So these are three opponents that they will
11:34
Speaker 2: have already played within the last twelve months leading into
11:36
Speaker 2: a World Cup, which.
11:38
Speaker 1: I think is pretty unique.
11:39
Speaker 2: I have not done research to definitively say this, but
11:41
Speaker 2: I doubt that this is very often the case in
11:45
Speaker 2: the history of the US. So is there extra challenges?
11:48
Speaker 2: Is there extra I guess comfort, particularly for the two
11:51
Speaker 2: teams that the United States beat. I'm like, oh no, Like, yeah,
11:53
Speaker 2: we just saw it. We're not talking in the abstract
11:54
Speaker 2: about hey, what will mcgil moron look like against Joe
11:58
Speaker 2: Scalley or or insert any defender because.
12:00
Speaker 1: What we just saw it.
12:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think you're exactly right, And I
12:06
Speaker 3: think not only I think should we be looking at
12:10
Speaker 3: this group because here's where the excitement goes, right, because
12:12
Speaker 3: we can talk about our group, and now we can
12:14
Speaker 3: continue to talk about teams that we've already talked about, right,
12:17
Speaker 3: And so the reality is we're favored. We have to
12:20
Speaker 3: do our job and pressure comes with that and that's
12:24
Speaker 3: not easy, right, And that's not us being too hard
12:26
Speaker 3: on the US team. This is the reality of the
12:29
Speaker 3: teams we have in front of us. We hope that,
12:31
Speaker 3: you know, thirty five years from han't qualified to a
12:33
Speaker 3: World Cup, that we're in a better place and that
12:36
Speaker 3: we should be able to take this group in first place.
12:38
Speaker 3: Now I haven't said that. Let's think about the fun
12:40
Speaker 3: of this World Cup, right, Seeing Brazil against Morocco, see
12:44
Speaker 3: in Portugal against Columbia. I mean, these are matchups we
12:47
Speaker 3: don't normally seems like I'm excited about this. This is
12:51
Speaker 3: gonna be amazing.
12:53
Speaker 1: I really am too.
12:54
Speaker 2: Like hell, even even like I was watching the draw
12:57
Speaker 2: with some people and like when Haiti got drew in
13:00
Speaker 2: group with Brazil and Morocco in Scotland, I at first
13:02
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, man, like that is a real uphill battle.
13:05
Speaker 2: But I'll like their World Cup final was getting to
13:07
Speaker 2: the World Cup. What an incredible team in for Haiti.
13:09
Speaker 2: Even if they lose eight nothing to Brazil. They're gonna
13:11
Speaker 2: enjoy every second of that. And I just think that
13:14
Speaker 2: those kind of things are beautiful. You talk about cape Verde,
13:16
Speaker 2: you're talking about curus out some of the other matchups. Again,
13:19
Speaker 2: we will we'll dive into that a little bit later
13:20
Speaker 2: as well. But like Franz Senegal, it's gonna be all Norway.
13:24
Speaker 2: That's the same group.
13:25
Speaker 3: And by the way, I'll say this about Haiti. So,
13:27
Speaker 3: there was a player we had at n JSO four,
13:29
Speaker 3: Duke Lacroix, who plays for Haiti, and so after the
13:32
Speaker 3: clave to the World Cup, I texted him, Hey, Duke,
13:35
Speaker 3: is so great to see you at the World Cup.
13:36
Speaker 3: There's gonna be amazing. And now I'm gonna have to
13:38
Speaker 3: text them again to say, hey, you're playing for Zil
13:41
Speaker 3: my man, how great is that? Right? I mean? This
13:43
Speaker 3: is this is He and Fafa are two of my
13:46
Speaker 3: favorite guys that I've ever coached, and I'll be so
13:49
Speaker 3: happy to see them there.
13:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, one more thing before we dive into each opponent
13:53
Speaker 2: really quickly, because we won't know exactly who the the
13:57
Speaker 2: third opponent is. It can be Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, Kosovo.
14:03
Speaker 2: Obviously Turkey is the strongest of that group then probably Slovakia,
14:07
Speaker 2: but Turkey would be the heavy favorites. And if you're
14:10
Speaker 2: ranking who who do you I guess not want to
14:13
Speaker 2: see or who is I think the strongest potential opponent,
14:16
Speaker 2: it's Turkey with a bullet and then it's I think
14:19
Speaker 2: it drops off several tiers.
14:20
Speaker 1: If there's an upset here.
14:22
Speaker 2: This has the possibility of becoming the easiest group.
14:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, without question, because Turkey is not an easy opponent.
14:32
Speaker 3: You know, I had the fortune of working for Beshiktaj
14:36
Speaker 3: about a year and a half ago. I did some
14:38
Speaker 3: work as a North American and South American director of
14:42
Speaker 3: scouting for them, and I have to tell you I
14:45
Speaker 3: had the chance to attend some games. I attended Beshita's
14:49
Speaker 3: at Gilea Tassarai. I got a chance to be on
14:52
Speaker 3: the field on some of those games where the stadiums
14:54
Speaker 3: are on fire. And I have to say, these players
14:57
Speaker 3: play under a lot of pressure there you to it.
15:00
Speaker 3: They're good players and I think Turkey could definitely definitely
15:04
Speaker 3: make a run if they get into this World Cup.
15:06
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're Turkey right now, you're thinking, man,
15:09
Speaker 3: we got to get through this playoff because if we
15:11
Speaker 3: go to the World Cup, we're gonna be first place
15:12
Speaker 3: in our group. I mean, if you're them, you have
15:14
Speaker 3: to think that, right.
15:16
Speaker 1: It's a great way to put it. That's a great
15:17
Speaker 1: way to put it.
15:18
Speaker 3: As By the way, if you're Paraguay, I think you're
15:21
Speaker 3: saying the same thing. I think you're saying, Okay, we
15:24
Speaker 3: got we We we got a group here where we
15:26
Speaker 3: can be in first place and avoid Spain two. So
15:28
Speaker 3: it's not just us saying that this is gonna be
15:31
Speaker 3: and this is the fun part of being in a
15:33
Speaker 3: group like this, where I think anybody can win and
15:36
Speaker 3: anybody can be in any position. We just happen to
15:38
Speaker 3: think that we're the better team.
15:40
Speaker 2: No, And I'm really glad you brought that up too,
15:42
Speaker 2: because obviously, well we're talking about Australia, Paraguay all what
15:46
Speaker 2: favorable matchup. Literally every POT two team was hoping to
15:50
Speaker 2: draw the US Canada of Mexico, not because of disrespect,
15:53
Speaker 2: but because that's a hell of a lot better that England, Brazil.
15:57
Speaker 1: France, Argentina.
15:58
Speaker 2: Right, So let's let's refocus back on the United States group.
16:02
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a very quick break, so we're gonna
16:04
Speaker 2: dive deeper into the two opponents we definitely know, and
16:07
Speaker 2: then I think we're just gonna assume that Turkey is
16:10
Speaker 2: the third and we're going to talk about that again.
16:11
Speaker 2: Please rate, review, and subscribe to Inside American Saco, Tom
16:14
Speaker 2: Boger tab Ramas wherever you get into podcast.
16:16
Speaker 4: We'll be ready.
16:31
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back, and right before we dive very
16:34
Speaker 2: deep into the three or three issue World Cup opponents
16:37
Speaker 2: at the group stage. We've spoke on the show previously
16:41
Speaker 2: that depending on the group draw, that could maybe influence
16:45
Speaker 2: the last couple of roster spots, given there are a
16:47
Speaker 2: lot of good options for the twenty six man roster,
16:51
Speaker 2: So tap today initially, Again, we are less than an
16:53
Speaker 2: hour after this World Cup draw happened. Is there any
16:56
Speaker 2: players in particular that you feel might have gotten a
16:59
Speaker 2: slight to their World Cup chances based on this group
17:03
Speaker 2: in that the United States are going to have to
17:04
Speaker 2: break teams down probably and have more of the ball
17:07
Speaker 2: than say they got a much harder group.
17:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean one comes to mind immediately, and that's Giorna.
17:13
Speaker 3: I mean, he had his game against Paraguay. This is
17:16
Speaker 3: where we thought, Okay, Giorreyna is back and I think
17:20
Speaker 3: if you're the coach, you were thinking, hey, you know,
17:22
Speaker 3: had we drawn two European teams and maybe an agent team.
17:26
Speaker 3: Everybody's in the picture still. But now you know you
17:29
Speaker 3: drow Paraguay, and you know that you have players who
17:31
Speaker 3: have been successful, gbing one of them. You know. I
17:34
Speaker 3: think if anything, this this makes even more of a
17:37
Speaker 3: case for Giorrena than any other time, right, I mean,
17:40
Speaker 3: this is this is one, but I think in general,
17:43
Speaker 3: if you look at the roster for that game, it
17:45
Speaker 3: was a little bit of a heavier MLS roster. I
17:48
Speaker 3: think Aaronson played that game as well. I think there's
17:51
Speaker 3: a lot of players that now will potentially some players
17:56
Speaker 3: that could potentially be rescued because of this draw, because
18:00
Speaker 3: I think we can be successful with a lot of
18:03
Speaker 3: different combinations of guys.
18:05
Speaker 1: Now I do too.
18:06
Speaker 2: I think the only thought that I have based on
18:09
Speaker 2: that is this probably increases the chances of four center
18:12
Speaker 2: forwards beyond the roster, just to have different options with
18:15
Speaker 2: different combinations of the TAC tab like you said, and
18:18
Speaker 2: also there's going to be given what the pool is,
18:21
Speaker 2: there are guys like Patrick godga Among and Brian White
18:23
Speaker 2: and Hodgie Wright, is in quite the physical presence that
18:25
Speaker 2: those guys are. But having an option of all right,
18:28
Speaker 2: it's the eightieth minute. They're sitting deep, we're just putting
18:31
Speaker 2: balls in a box. We need somebody who's in aerials, right,
18:34
Speaker 2: whether or not they were going to be one of
18:35
Speaker 2: the three forward like, So I think that that could
18:38
Speaker 2: be a boost that instead of I don't know, a
18:41
Speaker 2: sixth center back, you bring a fourth forward.
18:44
Speaker 1: So that's the only thing that comes to mind for me.
18:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and uh, I mean you have to look at
18:48
Speaker 3: this and you just mentioned which is a great point.
18:50
Speaker 3: You just mentioned the eightieth minute, but potentially you played
18:53
Speaker 3: Paraguay in Australia, what will they do against you. Chances
18:57
Speaker 3: are they're going to sit back and counter both of
18:59
Speaker 3: those teams. So now if you're gonna play a team
19:02
Speaker 3: that sits back, this is where you need those guys
19:05
Speaker 3: that break a team down, right, And you're gonna need,
19:08
Speaker 3: like you said, additional forwards, but you're also gonna need
19:11
Speaker 3: likely to potentially think about using Way as a winger.
19:15
Speaker 3: You're likely gonna have to open up teams. So I
19:18
Speaker 3: think there's a lot of possibilities with these teams because
19:21
Speaker 3: we're gonna have to. We're the favorites to win these games,
19:24
Speaker 3: and we're gonna have to open teams up, which, let's
19:27
Speaker 3: be fair, we have not been great at that when
19:30
Speaker 3: we've had a chance, and so but yeah, so I
19:34
Speaker 3: do agree with you on that, and I think I
19:36
Speaker 3: think even Turkey for that matter, I'm not sure that
19:38
Speaker 3: Turkey go all out on us either if they're the
19:41
Speaker 3: ones that come out of that group. So we're in
19:44
Speaker 3: a situation where we're likely gonna have the ball on
19:46
Speaker 3: the opposing side of the field and we're gonna have
19:49
Speaker 3: to do something with it.
19:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that is the big takeaway here, and
19:53
Speaker 2: I'm very interested in that. I think that that beats
19:55
Speaker 2: the alternative of bunkering and trying to hit and counter
19:58
Speaker 2: against one of the superpower in the world at Egg
20:01
Speaker 2: At some point, if they want to get to where
20:02
Speaker 2: they where they're going, they're gonna have to beat or
20:04
Speaker 2: at least played very well against one of those powers.
20:06
Speaker 2: Look for the group stage, they open against Paraguay in
20:10
Speaker 2: a quick scouting report. Again, people listening to this probably
20:13
Speaker 2: watched the game against Paraguay, so you're probably very familiar.
20:15
Speaker 2: What I think that they do best. Can tap feel
20:17
Speaker 2: free to jump in wherever you either disagree. I think
20:20
Speaker 2: that they are are very good in transition, They are
20:23
Speaker 2: excellent defending, and they are just they don't give you
20:25
Speaker 2: anything easy. You have to earn every blade aggress against
20:27
Speaker 2: this Paraguay team. The work rate even on set pieces there,
20:31
Speaker 2: they're going to be really difficult to kind of get
20:33
Speaker 2: an opening on. This is going to be a very
20:35
Speaker 2: tough team in the literal sense, as we saw with
20:38
Speaker 2: that kind of you know coming together at the end
20:40
Speaker 2: of that Paraguay game that revolved around Alex Freeman. So
20:43
Speaker 2: I think that those are the pillars for this team.
20:45
Speaker 2: A couple of players that that should scare the United States.
20:48
Speaker 2: Miguel Morone, but in Quiso and Diego Gomez, I think
20:52
Speaker 2: are three different makers, difference makers going forward to potential
20:56
Speaker 2: difference makers. And then the US can exploit this team
20:58
Speaker 2: by killing them with the ball and breaking them down,
21:01
Speaker 2: shifting them around. Yes, they have an incredible work rate
21:03
Speaker 2: and an incredible engine. Make them earn it, make them
21:06
Speaker 2: make them have to at every point scrambling side the side,
21:10
Speaker 2: possession it with purpose, but not letting them off the hook,
21:13
Speaker 2: not giving them a chance to really, you know, establish
21:16
Speaker 2: that lower block keep them moving around and doing so
21:19
Speaker 2: with the ball.
21:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question. I think what I'll add to that
21:26
Speaker 3: is the mentality of the Paraguay and player right because
21:29
Speaker 3: you look at the their three they're the sort of
21:32
Speaker 3: their three neighbors to the south, southeast and west are Uruguay,
21:37
Speaker 3: Argentina and Brazil. They they have been neighbors to the
21:42
Speaker 3: three countries that win absolutely everything in South America for
21:45
Speaker 3: the last one hundred and twenty years. And they're not
21:48
Speaker 3: afraid and they know they have to fight. And I
21:52
Speaker 3: know that we can be going into this game thinking
21:55
Speaker 3: we are the better team against Paraguay. But I can
21:58
Speaker 3: tell you that not for a second are they gonna
22:00
Speaker 3: be sitting in Paraguay thinking that they can't win this
22:02
Speaker 3: game against the US, because they're thinking, you know what,
22:05
Speaker 3: they just beat us and they're not gonna beat us again,
22:09
Speaker 3: and that's gonna be that's gonna be difficult. Now let's
22:11
Speaker 3: take the other side of it. And you mentioned, you
22:14
Speaker 3: know players I can see so and and and al Maron.
22:18
Speaker 3: You know, these are good players. These are like world
22:20
Speaker 3: class good players. And I look, I know al Moron
22:23
Speaker 3: didn't have a great season this year at Atlanta. But but
22:25
Speaker 3: we know what he's like. We know when the lights
22:28
Speaker 3: get turned on at the World Cup, that's where the
22:31
Speaker 3: real players show up, and I think he's one of
22:33
Speaker 3: those players. This Paraguay team will be more than a
22:36
Speaker 3: handful for US, and we're gonna have to do a
22:39
Speaker 3: lot of work to break them down.
22:41
Speaker 1: And particularly those three players.
22:44
Speaker 2: They can their best in transition, and that is where
22:47
Speaker 2: what part of it is. They're gonna sit deeper and
22:49
Speaker 2: again be difficult to play against. But that invites the
22:51
Speaker 2: US forward, which is how they're gonna have to try
22:53
Speaker 2: to break them down, so at any moment giving space
22:55
Speaker 2: to Almroner and see So in particular. But Diego Gomez
22:57
Speaker 2: is really good at this too. Now with Brighton, those
23:00
Speaker 2: are three players that can hurt you in transition, so
23:02
Speaker 2: that those are the things that the US have to
23:04
Speaker 2: look out for.
23:05
Speaker 1: That is the opening game, So I'm extremely excited for.
23:07
Speaker 1: So we're talking about the opening game, let's talk about
23:10
Speaker 1: starting eleven's tab. I'll go first.
23:13
Speaker 2: I don't think this is any different than than what
23:14
Speaker 2: I've previously written, so I'll run through quick Freese and
23:17
Speaker 2: goal back three of Miles Robinson, Chris Richards, tim Ree midfield,
23:21
Speaker 2: four of desks, Adams Tessaman, Anthony Robinson, dual Ten's of
23:26
Speaker 2: pool sickond Wea and I could probably be talked into
23:29
Speaker 2: Tim Leek Tilman particularly for this game, or Jill Rayner
23:31
Speaker 2: for this game. I think Jill Rayner for sure will
23:33
Speaker 2: play a part, whether he's able to start or if
23:35
Speaker 2: he's coming off the bench for a significant chunk. And
23:37
Speaker 2: then Balgon up top. So that's the eleven that I have.
23:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, and now we'll go with I think something similar
23:43
Speaker 3: to what I've had. I'm gonna go with freezing goal
23:48
Speaker 3: and and in the back with I'm gonna go Freeman
23:52
Speaker 3: Richards and Miles Robinson. Uh. And I could go with
23:56
Speaker 3: McKenzie there too, one of those two the four uh,
24:00
Speaker 3: in front of them. I'm gonna go Desk on one side,
24:02
Speaker 3: Robinson on the other side, if he's healthy, if not
24:06
Speaker 3: totally fine, going with Arstin he's done a great job.
24:10
Speaker 3: In the center. Is gonna be Adamson McKinney. You know
24:12
Speaker 3: McKinney is at a good level. Again, it could be
24:15
Speaker 3: testament if we need a little bit more feet again. Uh.
24:18
Speaker 3: And then Tillman and Polistic right behind Ballaghan. But but
24:22
Speaker 3: that could also be Waya there, and it could also
24:24
Speaker 3: be Giorina. There, so a lot of options. I think
24:28
Speaker 3: Waya in a game like this where we need to
24:29
Speaker 3: open up an opponent, it's likely that way I may
24:32
Speaker 3: get put out as a as a wide player, more
24:35
Speaker 3: as a wing back than than than one of the
24:37
Speaker 3: guys up top.
24:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, the only the only issue is that like I
24:41
Speaker 2: toyed with that as well, but like death is still
24:43
Speaker 2: good an unlocking defense and being really creative in type spaces,
24:46
Speaker 2: So at least for for what same way I might
24:49
Speaker 2: not have in that that biggest strength of the combo
24:52
Speaker 2: of Death and way on the right flank or in
24:55
Speaker 2: the right channel as well would be pretty strong. So
24:57
Speaker 2: that's Paraguay. Next opponent is Australia. What do Australia do well?
25:01
Speaker 2: They defend, They defend very well. They are they are
25:04
Speaker 2: difficult to play against. It's a different brand of defending.
25:06
Speaker 2: It's more it's more rigid, I think than Paraguay's. And
25:11
Speaker 2: they also were going to try to open up in transition.
25:14
Speaker 2: I don't think that they're as good as Paraguay, particularly
25:16
Speaker 2: in that regard. But this is a team that's gonna
25:18
Speaker 2: defend very well, not be afraid of the moment. They
25:20
Speaker 2: did give the US a decent game. I don't think
25:23
Speaker 2: the US played particularly great against Australia and they're probably thinking, okay,
25:27
Speaker 2: with with a better lineup, with a better performance.
25:29
Speaker 1: This should be easier. Some players that concern you for
25:32
Speaker 1: Australia ness roy Iaran Kunda, a young player for Watford,
25:36
Speaker 1: and the goalkeeper Matt Ryan. That again for a for
25:40
Speaker 1: a Pot two team, it could be, it could be
25:42
Speaker 1: much worse.
25:43
Speaker 2: How the US are going to have to exploit this
25:45
Speaker 2: team possession and pressing, both breaking teams down, but immediately
25:49
Speaker 2: counter pressing when the ball is lost. And again, even
25:52
Speaker 2: more important than I think against Paraguay is don't give
25:55
Speaker 2: this team a moment to rest. Continue to put them
25:57
Speaker 2: under pressure with and without the ball, and chances will come,
26:02
Speaker 2: and it's about getting it past Matt Run.
26:06
Speaker 3: Not a lot to add to this Australia team. I
26:09
Speaker 3: really unfortunately, I you know, obviously don't want to be
26:13
Speaker 3: disrespectful to any team. They're all good teams. And I think,
26:16
Speaker 3: by the way, I commend Australia for going into the
26:19
Speaker 3: Asian Federation to get more competition because They could have
26:23
Speaker 3: stayed on the Oceania side and played New Zealand every
26:27
Speaker 3: year just to go to the World Cup, but they've
26:29
Speaker 3: done a better job to get more competitive. Having said that,
26:34
Speaker 3: I think Aaron Kunda, as you said, could be dangerous.
26:37
Speaker 3: He's a nineteen year old. By the World Cup next summer,
26:40
Speaker 3: with a little bit more experience, a little bit stronger,
26:43
Speaker 3: he can be a handful. But man, there's just not
26:46
Speaker 3: a whole lot to worry about overall. I mean, we
26:48
Speaker 3: can come up with the names, but I think it's
26:53
Speaker 3: they're not at the level we are. This is a
26:55
Speaker 3: team we should be and if we play our game,
26:58
Speaker 3: the only way Australia is gonna beat US is if
27:01
Speaker 3: they outwork us. And I don't see a US team
27:04
Speaker 3: being at worked at home in a World Cup.
27:06
Speaker 1: I don't see it. I could couldn't agree more.
27:08
Speaker 2: You talk about qualifying, so part of the reason that
27:11
Speaker 2: they wanted to go through Asia because Oceania you only
27:13
Speaker 2: get through with the playoff, I believe. Orry previously it
27:16
Speaker 2: was with the playoff when it was a thirty two
27:18
Speaker 2: team World Cup. And like you said, they're they're getting
27:20
Speaker 2: much more difficult opponents, so then qualifying through Asia is
27:24
Speaker 2: no small feat. In the final round of qualification, they
27:29
Speaker 2: finished second in their group of six to get direct
27:31
Speaker 2: qualification World Cup, finishing and buying only Japan. But they
27:35
Speaker 2: had only sixteen goals in ten matches, and some of
27:38
Speaker 2: those matches include two against Bahrain, China, Indonesia, which just
27:42
Speaker 2: kind of shows they don't have the same kind of
27:45
Speaker 2: edge going forward or the players that can really really
27:48
Speaker 2: hurt you when concerned. This is going to be a
27:49
Speaker 2: team that's built defensively. But you know, they still finished
27:52
Speaker 2: bying Japan and struggled against that team, and I think
27:55
Speaker 2: Japan is more of a comparison to the United States
27:58
Speaker 2: than Australia is. Again, there are no easy games the
28:01
Speaker 2: World Cup, but the US has to be very very
28:03
Speaker 2: happy with that. And then the third opponent will be
28:06
Speaker 2: again the winner of the playoff between Turkey, Slovakia, Romania,
28:10
Speaker 2: Romania Kosovo. Let's just assume this is Turkey, because we
28:14
Speaker 2: can always change this and talk more about it when
28:17
Speaker 2: when this uh, when of these playoffs happened in the spring.
28:20
Speaker 2: But right now, let's work on the assumption at Turkey.
28:23
Speaker 2: My first question here before even diving into it, I
28:26
Speaker 2: think Turkey would be the hardest of the three three opponents.
28:30
Speaker 1: I guess I wasn't a question. That was just a statement,
28:31
Speaker 1: wasn't it.
28:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I was. You finished that, and then I
28:34
Speaker 3: was waiting for the question.
28:38
Speaker 1: Ok, new Jersey question, you know, opinion. Yeah, yeah, that's my.
28:44
Speaker 3: Now you following your line of questioning, that's you're yeah,
28:48
Speaker 3: Turkey will be Turkey would be the most difficult. And
28:52
Speaker 3: and by the way, so.
28:53
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I'm saying over Paraguay in Australia.
28:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, creak, Okay, I agree with you. I just
29:01
Speaker 3: think that this team is uh has played a lot
29:04
Speaker 3: of big games. Obviously, they lost to Spain six or
29:06
Speaker 3: seven zero in one of the games, let's not forget
29:09
Speaker 3: and European qualifying, but they did well in all the
29:11
Speaker 3: rest of the games, including their last game against Spain.
29:15
Speaker 3: You know, they have Arta Ghouler, one of the youngest player,
29:18
Speaker 3: youngest best players in the world. And and yeah, that
29:23
Speaker 3: would be if they come into our group, that would
29:25
Speaker 3: be the toughest team to be in our group, and
29:28
Speaker 3: we end with them. So it's likely that we're going
29:31
Speaker 3: into that third game already knowing that we likely have
29:34
Speaker 3: six points. And if you have six points going into
29:37
Speaker 3: the third game. Now you're playing to try to avoid
29:40
Speaker 3: our being on Argentina side and being more with Belgium
29:43
Speaker 3: for your year second, so you're now afforded to take
29:47
Speaker 3: a few chances.
29:49
Speaker 2: Agreed, But that will be that in that scenario would
29:52
Speaker 2: still be very crucial tin to finish first and that second.
29:55
Speaker 2: So I think that will still be a really important
29:57
Speaker 2: game in s like there's sometimes in the past where
30:00
Speaker 2: that third game becomes a dead rubber because everybody knows
30:02
Speaker 2: where they're qualifying, or you're you're playing against a team
30:05
Speaker 2: that you're either vastly inferior to or superior to, and
30:09
Speaker 2: that both teams can pretty safely assume, all right, that's
30:11
Speaker 2: gonna be the firs place team, that's gonna be the second.
30:13
Speaker 2: This group is wide open that as we've said fifteen
30:15
Speaker 2: times already, and if if it comes in where Turkey
30:18
Speaker 2: and the United States have both sitting on six points,
30:20
Speaker 2: I think both will really go at each other for
30:21
Speaker 2: this game to top the group.
30:23
Speaker 3: Uh.
30:23
Speaker 2: Talking more specifically about this team, I think that they
30:26
Speaker 2: do a lot of things well. They possess well, but
30:29
Speaker 2: they do set pieces like hawkdan Chanoglu is one of
30:32
Speaker 2: the best set piece takers in the world, and that
30:34
Speaker 2: is a very important quality at a knockout round at
30:37
Speaker 2: a World Cup tournament. There's Channoglu, who's obviously very very good.
30:41
Speaker 2: You talked about Art Goulair their best player, Keenan Yieldaz
30:45
Speaker 2: maybe could be their best player as well of Juventus
30:48
Speaker 2: khan Ujan Erkankoku. This this like young core that's going
30:53
Speaker 2: forward again and lu is the veteran, more veteran presence.
30:57
Speaker 2: But this like young core of Gulair, yield As, Uzan
30:59
Speaker 2: Andku those are some players, man Like. This team has
31:03
Speaker 2: a lot of talent.
31:05
Speaker 3: And Chinoguo has got the shot from mid distance. I
31:07
Speaker 3: mean this guy can hit a ball. I mean he
31:09
Speaker 3: can hit a ball like very few people in the
31:11
Speaker 3: world can. No, this is a this is a dangerous
31:14
Speaker 3: team with good players. But they have to get through
31:17
Speaker 3: those groups, and you know, in Europe it's it's it's
31:19
Speaker 3: hard to get out of groups like this. If they do,
31:22
Speaker 3: they will be the team to beat in the group.
31:24
Speaker 2: For US, I totally agree on that front. The United
31:28
Speaker 2: States lost to Turkey in June. That team, it's just
31:33
Speaker 2: call it what it is. They were in a very
31:34
Speaker 2: bad way at that point. And they're in a much
31:37
Speaker 2: better spot right now. That team didn't have Christian Polisk,
31:41
Speaker 2: that team was not playing the three four two one
31:43
Speaker 2: that has worked so well. They did not seem to
31:44
Speaker 2: have an identity. So while Turkey was much better than
31:48
Speaker 2: the United States on the day, it was only to one,
31:49
Speaker 2: I think Turkey was more than that. Like I thought
31:52
Speaker 2: that they were in control, but then friendly has happened
31:54
Speaker 2: and there's a lot of subs. But I think this
31:56
Speaker 2: would be a very difficult opponent. And while they looked
31:58
Speaker 2: much better than us, you've gotten better since that that point.
32:01
Speaker 2: So I think that that is a very important part
32:05
Speaker 2: as we continue to establish first place in the group
32:07
Speaker 2: has to be the expectation. There is legitimate pressure on
32:10
Speaker 2: this group to succeed, and the fun part about having
32:14
Speaker 2: a favorable draw is thinking about the possibilities. But it's
32:17
Speaker 2: hard and it's gonna be pressure to actually go on
32:18
Speaker 2: and do it. In nineteen ninety things were a little
32:36
Speaker 2: bit different from the United States program.
32:38
Speaker 1: You said earlier in the show, that was the first
32:39
Speaker 1: World Cup that we qualified. Forward forty years. You were
32:42
Speaker 1: part of that team. You guys got a very hard draw.
32:45
Speaker 1: What is the differences?
32:46
Speaker 2: And I guess what is you know, going back to
32:48
Speaker 2: that moment in that time, what were you kind of
32:51
Speaker 2: you know, remembering from those days or what comes in
32:53
Speaker 2: mind between the difference between then and now.
32:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, really really interesting actually, because you know, it sort
33:00
Speaker 3: of sets me back. I start to think about the
33:03
Speaker 3: fact that we are thinking right now about we're going
33:05
Speaker 3: to be disappointed if our team is not in first
33:07
Speaker 3: place in a group in a World Cup. And back
33:11
Speaker 3: then we were trying to qualify to World Cup when
33:14
Speaker 3: we had not been to a World Cup to forty years.
33:17
Speaker 3: So you know, for us to even say that we
33:19
Speaker 3: thought we could qualify would be exaggerating because we didn't
33:23
Speaker 3: think we could qualify until probably until we had one
33:26
Speaker 3: game left. So but but here's here's the neat thing,
33:30
Speaker 3: and this is this is what I love, you know,
33:33
Speaker 3: the part about how much soccer has come along in
33:36
Speaker 3: the last thirty five forty years. You know, we were
33:40
Speaker 3: playing World Cup qualifiers at Saint Louis Soccer Park, which
33:43
Speaker 3: I think was called the Budweiser Park or something at
33:47
Speaker 3: the time, and you know it, I think the capacity
33:50
Speaker 3: was about six thousand people and I and I remember
33:53
Speaker 3: the first time, I remember the first time we pulled
33:56
Speaker 3: in with the bus with the US team and we
33:58
Speaker 3: saw no more tickets and we sold out Saint Louis
34:01
Speaker 3: Soccer Park. That was a big deal. I mean, you know,
34:05
Speaker 3: there are a lot of big games that I've played
34:06
Speaker 3: that I forgot. You know. People come up to me
34:09
Speaker 3: all the time, hey remember this, remember that? And I
34:11
Speaker 3: don't remember a lot, mostly because I'm old, but I
34:13
Speaker 3: don't remember a lot. But I tell you what I remember.
34:17
Speaker 3: I remember the day we sold out Saint Louis Soccer Park.
34:20
Speaker 3: That was a big deal, so to think. And then
34:23
Speaker 3: we went on. We qualified to the World Cup. It
34:25
Speaker 3: was it was practically a miracle that we did. And
34:28
Speaker 3: then we got drawn into a group with three European
34:31
Speaker 3: teams including the host, so it was it was almost like, yeah,
34:35
Speaker 3: thanks for coming, but you're going to be Your tickets
34:37
Speaker 3: are already set for you to go home, like before
34:40
Speaker 3: the first round is over for everybody else. So and
34:43
Speaker 3: now look at where we are, right forty years later,
34:46
Speaker 3: we're hosting a World Cup and we're the leaders of
34:49
Speaker 3: Group D and we're hoping to win Group D. I mean,
34:52
Speaker 3: I couldn't be more excited about how far this has
34:54
Speaker 3: come along.
34:56
Speaker 2: And but I know you won't say it yourself, is
34:58
Speaker 2: your humble guy, but like that the foundation, like where
35:01
Speaker 2: we are, those expectations, the foundation was laid by you
35:04
Speaker 2: and your teammates in that era. So I'm sure it's
35:06
Speaker 2: particularly sweet and prideful and just honestly probably surreal to
35:12
Speaker 2: your point to iblike of oh my god, we sold
35:14
Speaker 2: six thousand tickets to a World Cup qualifier, or you know,
35:18
Speaker 2: you tell me what the feeling was around the team
35:20
Speaker 2: of echoing like smaller countries that qualified for this World Cup,
35:25
Speaker 2: of like, hey, Curras, how much much different the United
35:28
Speaker 2: States but still in their their football and development. We
35:31
Speaker 2: talked about Haiti, curs Ou, Cape Verde, insert a lot
35:34
Speaker 2: of these other kind of small teams that are making
35:36
Speaker 2: the World Cup for the first time, and that final
35:38
Speaker 2: game to qualify for the World Cup was their World
35:40
Speaker 2: Cup final.
35:40
Speaker 1: And then you're just kind of happy to be there.
35:42
Speaker 1: Was that part of the feeling for your group.
35:45
Speaker 2: Again, as competitive as I know you are and know
35:46
Speaker 2: all of them are, it was so important just to
35:49
Speaker 2: get there, right.
35:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we you know, such a different time.
35:53
Speaker 3: And by the way, I'm so excited about countries like
35:56
Speaker 3: Cape Verdi and Currosaw to Haiti because I know I
36:00
Speaker 3: know that feeling. I know the feeling they have, and
36:03
Speaker 3: it's it's a tremendous feeling. It's you know, of accomplishing
36:07
Speaker 3: something that nobody thought you could and and and that's neat.
36:11
Speaker 3: And that doesn't that doesn't necessarily mean money or anything
36:14
Speaker 3: like that. All it means is like you're happiness, a
36:17
Speaker 3: memory that you have for the rest of your life,
36:19
Speaker 3: you know, And that's I think that's the most important part.
36:21
Speaker 3: So I'm I'm very happy for those players. Yeah, and
36:25
Speaker 3: for us, I mean to just to show you the
36:28
Speaker 3: difference of where we were. I mean, John Harks and
36:30
Speaker 3: I used to drive together, this is before the World Cup,
36:33
Speaker 3: maybe six nine months before, to prepare for a game.
36:37
Speaker 3: Sometimes John Harks and I used to drive across to
36:39
Speaker 3: Brooklyn to play for the Brooklyn Italians for a couple
36:42
Speaker 3: hundred bucks a game. So so people want to compare
36:47
Speaker 3: sometimes and they say, oh, this player, how can you
36:49
Speaker 3: can play Compare a player from the past a player
36:52
Speaker 3: of today. You can't. You can't because we had nothing.
36:57
Speaker 3: And from there you're supposed to land the contract that
37:00
Speaker 3: like a big European club. How would that even happen.
37:03
Speaker 3: We were. The fact that we even got there was
37:05
Speaker 3: an absolute miracle. And the fact that you know, John
37:07
Speaker 3: Harks ended up at Sheffield Wednesday, I ended up at
37:10
Speaker 3: Figueras and then at Bettie's and Eric Winola, I ended
37:12
Speaker 3: at Bochum or wherever else. I mean, these were all
37:15
Speaker 3: little miracles. More than anything else I need.
37:19
Speaker 2: Did anybody recognize you when you were playing for the
37:22
Speaker 2: Brooklyn Italians and like, Hey, what the hell are you
37:24
Speaker 2: doing in this league?
37:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course we were a big deal. We were
37:29
Speaker 3: a big deal in those leagues.
37:31
Speaker 2: Could you imagine showing up for again, I know it's
37:33
Speaker 2: not exactly Sunday League, but it certainly ain't professional. Could
37:36
Speaker 2: you imagine showing up and I'm warming up and like
37:39
Speaker 2: is that fucking tabraight?
37:40
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? What am I to tell you?
37:42
Speaker 3: I tell you where? It help and help in the
37:45
Speaker 3: sense that we played our home games at Brooklyn College
37:49
Speaker 3: and the turnfield. The turn field is so hard, But
37:54
Speaker 3: that wasn't the most difficult part. The difficult part was
37:57
Speaker 3: that people would hit you with umbrella as is you're
37:59
Speaker 3: going down the side. So the fact that we were
38:02
Speaker 3: the fact that we were known a little bit helped
38:04
Speaker 3: us to not get hit with an umbrella when you went.
38:06
Speaker 2: To, Oh, my goodness, proper football man that is in
38:13
Speaker 2: this country.
38:14
Speaker 3: I would like to tell you a better story about
38:16
Speaker 3: how great it was, but it really was.
38:18
Speaker 2: No, that's that is the best story. That is the
38:20
Speaker 2: best story right there. Again, I just can't put myself
38:23
Speaker 2: in the minds of like some other player that's getting
38:25
Speaker 2: a hundred bucks or something.
38:25
Speaker 3: It's like, oh my god, you can, by the way,
38:28
Speaker 3: by the way, six months later we were playing against
38:30
Speaker 3: Bozzio in Rome at the World Cup.
38:35
Speaker 1: Unbelievable, Oh my god.
38:37
Speaker 2: If there was no better way to tell how things
38:40
Speaker 2: have James, Whereas now you know, you look at Pulisic
38:43
Speaker 2: and McKinnon and everything that these players have, and I've
38:45
Speaker 2: grown to again starting with the foundation of what you guys,
38:48
Speaker 2: what you guys built. We're talking about Pulisic playing in
38:52
Speaker 2: the Milan Darby not playing for the Brooklyn Italians getting
38:55
Speaker 2: ready for a work up.
38:58
Speaker 1: It's just delightful. Yeah, this has been great.
39:01
Speaker 2: There's been there's been if just really quickly to talk
39:05
Speaker 2: about some of the other teams.
39:07
Speaker 1: Here at the World Cup.
39:08
Speaker 2: We're obviously focused in the United States We've got to
39:09
Speaker 2: look around right now, I've seen some betting odds come out.
39:13
Speaker 2: Spain are the betting favorites, followed in order by England, France,
39:17
Speaker 2: Brazil and Argentina. So those are the five favorites according
39:20
Speaker 2: to the book makers. And then in terms of group
39:23
Speaker 2: of death, there's a couple options and group of death
39:26
Speaker 2: is going to lose a little bit of its luster
39:27
Speaker 2: now where you can get be third place and qualify,
39:31
Speaker 2: whereas in the past it was only the top two
39:34
Speaker 2: at the previous World Cups. But for me and you,
39:36
Speaker 2: you tell me what the group of death is, it's
39:38
Speaker 2: either this one England, Croatia, Ghana and Panama or France, Senegal,
39:45
Speaker 2: Norway and then the winner of a playoff that will
39:47
Speaker 2: be Bolivia Iraq for sure now. But the France, Senego, Norway.
39:50
Speaker 2: Part of that is what makes it the group? What
39:52
Speaker 2: could make it the group of death? Which one of
39:53
Speaker 2: those do do you believe is the hardest group?
39:57
Speaker 3: Wow? That's that's that's a good and those groups being
40:01
Speaker 3: potentially the most difficult, And I agree with you, group
40:04
Speaker 3: of death is kind of like a tough turn when
40:07
Speaker 3: three can qualify, right, I'm gonna have to go with
40:10
Speaker 3: the France, Senegal, Norway because I think if any of
40:14
Speaker 3: those three teams get hot, including and I will include Senegal,
40:17
Speaker 3: if any of those three teams get hot, they can
40:19
Speaker 3: go win the whole thing. And so I would pick
40:23
Speaker 3: that group slightly over the England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama because
40:29
Speaker 3: that will be a very that's a difficult group, the England, Croatia, Ghana,
40:33
Speaker 3: Panama because it's so even. You know, England always disappoints
40:37
Speaker 3: a little bit at World Cups, especially in first round,
40:40
Speaker 3: and because of that they probably drop a couple points
40:42
Speaker 3: and I think because of that, this will be a
40:45
Speaker 3: crazy group.
40:46
Speaker 2: I feel as for our other co hosts Mexico or
40:50
Speaker 2: with South Africa, South Korea and then a European team
40:53
Speaker 2: to be determined later. And Canada are with a European
40:56
Speaker 2: team to be determined latter that could be Italy, Qatar
40:59
Speaker 2: and Switzerland. I don't think that that was the worst
41:01
Speaker 2: case scenario for Canada, but it certainly won't be easy.
41:05
Speaker 2: And I was with Jesse Marsh this week ahead of
41:08
Speaker 2: the draw and his what his messages to the locker
41:11
Speaker 2: room to the team is it's not just about getting
41:13
Speaker 2: out of the group, which they that is the ultimate goal.
41:15
Speaker 2: It's we want to top the group because if we
41:18
Speaker 2: topped the group, we get to stay and play in
41:19
Speaker 2: Canada moving forward. So that's that's where things are set
41:23
Speaker 2: for the other co hosts for the World Cup. Again,
41:26
Speaker 2: we will be talking plenty about the World Cup.
41:28
Speaker 1: That is what this show is.
41:29
Speaker 2: We are focused on United national United States national team.
41:33
Speaker 2: Everything is built towards the World Cup. I'm sure we'll
41:35
Speaker 2: talk a little bit of Mexico in Canada here and
41:36
Speaker 2: there along the way. But tap, this was fun. I'm
41:39
Speaker 2: glad that we did this much more efficiently than the
41:43
Speaker 2: World Cup draw itself. I'm sorry I didn't bring in
41:46
Speaker 2: a word for you. I probably should have brought something,
41:48
Speaker 2: made up, something for us, but I came empty, and
41:51
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
41:51
Speaker 3: I think I think we needed an award. I think
41:53
Speaker 3: an award to the tallest guy would have fit today.
41:55
Speaker 1: For me.
41:57
Speaker 3: It would have been perfect to go with the celebration.
42:01
Speaker 2: I think that would not have been the most absurd
42:03
Speaker 2: thing that came from the day. Listen, Thank you, everybody,
42:06
Speaker 2: Thank you tab first, and foremost, thank you to iHeart
42:09
Speaker 2: everybody listening. Please rate, review, and subscribe. Inside American soccer.
42:13
Speaker 2: We will be back very soon. We got a lot
42:15
Speaker 2: of fun stuff planned coming up, so again please subscribe
42:18
Speaker 2: and thank you very much for Lis