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TABLE TALK: The Union Are At The Top Of MLS! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We've got a great
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: discussion coming your way here on Table Talk.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: This week.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We are going to be diving into the Philadelphia Union
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and the season that they are having.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Folks, if you have not been following this Union team,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: you really should do.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You know why because they're absolutely killing it in terms
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of Major League Soccer, the best team in Major League
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Soccer in terms of the record thus far here in
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: this twenty twenty five season. And to dive into it
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: with us this week, we've got our good friend from
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia soccernow dot com. Love having them on. You may
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: have heard his voice every now and again on our
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Eagles postgame podcast show from the past couple of seasons.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: We're certainly looking forward to those postgame shows at some
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: point down the road and talking to them. But we've
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: got Josh Schuster, buddy man, how you doing, how you feeling?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: This team is really doing some good stuff this season?
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jeff, thanks thanks for having me on again.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I think the easiest way to start this is just
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the last time I kind of talked about it just surprising. Yeah,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: I don't think anybody, even the best optimist, really had
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: an idea of what the season was going to be. Like, Yeah,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: and it's really been really incredible to watch.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, the.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Union didn't make a ton of big changes from the
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: end of last year other than letting people go, and
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: they did not have a great season last year, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: so it was just kind of wandering into an abyss
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: almost and it didn't look like things were going to
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: be turning around anytime soon, to be perfectly honest, but
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: but here we are, Here we are. So it's it's
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: been really really great and really unexpected fun seasons and
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I think those, as a sports fan in general, are
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: kind of the best. Right you look at the Phillies
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: run from a couple of years ago where they went
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: to the World Series out of nowhere. Red October was
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: this huge thing. The unexpected great seasons are just in
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: my humble opinion that the best seasons that there.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Are, the unexpected in sports really is amazing. It's awesome,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And like we were talking about, right before I hit
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the record button, I was at the Phillies game, the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: final game of the Blue Jays series, and seeing Nick
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Castiano's hit a Grand Slam, his second Grand Slam of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the season. Nobody in a million years thought it was
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: really going to happen, but it ended up happening. The
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: surprises that you see in sports is what makes it
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: so fascinating and so interesting. And like I mentioned earlier
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: at the top, the Philadelphia Union, they're not only in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: first place in the Eastern Conference, Josh, but they have
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the most wins of any club in Major League Soccer
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: ten unbeaten games at this point. And look, it hasn't
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: been pretty by any stretch of the imagination for this
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: team over the past couple months, but they are pulling
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: out these wins. What we've seen from this team is
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a ton of grit thus far. I mean, that's been
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the surprising aspect of what we're talking about here. And honestly,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: they're a bunch of tough guys and dare I say
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the bullies that Ernest Tanner said that we would see
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: prior to the start of the season, That's what we
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: have been seeing from this team. If so, I'm hoping
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: we can start the discussion by divvying up the credit
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of percentages of where this team is at
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: here in mid June based on.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: The success that they have seen thus far.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: And we're gonna go through five different aspects of this
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: team and organization to divvy up where that credit should
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: be going to. So let's start off with first and foremost,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the new head coach, Bradley Carnell. What would you say
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: in terms of where we should be giving credit to
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: him from a percentage perspective, in terms of where this
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: team is at right now, what are your thoughts, Josh?
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I think Carnell obviously deserves the best, or I should say,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: the most credit for this turnaround. I think a little
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: bit of I'm going to bring the Eagles in here.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I think a little bit of Andy Reid syndrome kind
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: of set in with locker room. It's not that Andy
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Reid was a bad coach, right, I mean, He's gone
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: on to win multiple Super Bowls. Andy Reid is one
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: of the most brilliant offensive minds. But you and I
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: have talked about this in the past. His time in
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Philadelphia needed to come to an end. Yeah, Philadelphia needed
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: to break, and Andy Reid he needed to break. I
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: love Jim kurt and I think Jim Curtin is a
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: very smart soccer soccer mind, but it may have been
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: time for a break. And I think if you look
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: at what Carneal is doing, he is taking players that
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: they had on the roster last year or in previous seasons.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I think they needed a wake up call. But I
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: think he's made just enough minor adjustments. And I'll talk
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: about my beloved Liverpool here, the same thing Arnie Slott
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: did after Jurgen Klop. You know, there was a lot
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: of concern, but Slot made minor adjustments that enabled the
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: players to be able to play to their full capacity.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: And I think that's what we're seeing now. I really
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: don't give much credit to the front office.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll get to them in a minute.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: I don't you know. And you know that I think
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: highly of Ernest Tanner, but it's he really has not
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: done a whole lot. They've made some signings, but his
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: big time signings just have not paid paid off. Yeah,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: so I really give most of the credit to Carnell
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and the job that he's doing. Probably second most credit
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: to the players, Okay, are kind of living into their
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: potential after getting a swift kick, which I think they needed.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: What would the percentage be that you're giving Bradley Carnell
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: at this point? Is it for or is should he
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: be getting forty percent of the credit for where this
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: team is at right now? Do you think maybe fifty
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: percent at this point.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I go sixty sixty team because I'm going to give
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Tanner in the front office maybe five percent only because
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: they have to sign players to be able to use
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: and that's about the most credit that I'm going to
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: give them right now, because I'm comparing this year to
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: last year, and I think that we have a large
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: enough sample size for this year at this point to
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: kind of look at the difference between the two seasons.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: So I would give I'm not going to break it
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: down by position, by forward group, by midfield, by the
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: back end, by goaltenders. I would say I would give
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: sixty percent to Carnell. I'd give thirty five percent of
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: the players and five percent to the front off.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're keeping because the goalkeepers too. I think
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: this season We're going to get into that storyline in
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: a bit here. But the goalkeepers in terms of Andre
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Blake and Andrew Rick, I mean they have stepped up
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: in big time situations. So I mean, in all honesty,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I was actually going to give them about twenty five
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: percent of the pie. I mean, in my opinion, based
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: on their play, twenty to twenty five percent of the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: pie I think I would give to the goalkeepers this season,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Like what are you thinking there?
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: So I operate a little bit differently. If I'm going
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: to give the larger percentage to a certain group on
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: the on the pitch, it's going to be the defense. Okay,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: the defense from last year to this year has been
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: wildly different, which I think is why we saw some
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: struggles in goal not only because Blake was injured last
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: year like he has been this year, not anywhere near
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: as much of this year as last year, but he's
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: not playing every single match. I don't really know that
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: I love the situation of the backup keeper, to be
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: perfectly honest. But I'm being petty at this point because
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: it's Philadelphia sports and we can't be happy with everything, right.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: But to me, if you watch the Union and all
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: this year and you put on film and tape from
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: last year, it is night and day defensively how responsible
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: they are. And so that's where I In soccer, it's
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: kind of like hockey. If you do not have adequate defense,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: It will tremendously impact what is behind you in goalkeeping
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: in baseball and football not so much. The offense may
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: have to do more, but you can build your row
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: that way. You really can't in soccer, and you really
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: can't in hockey. You got to have decent defense, and
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: they just did not get that last year. And for
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: the most part, it's the same players. So yeah, that's
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: where again I put it back to Carnell. He has
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: come up with the system with minor tweaks that has
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: really worked and enabled the players to play with confidence.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: And I think also when we look at the bench,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: because the bench is a part of this too, and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: we're going to dive into that storyline as well in
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: just a bit here, But what he's been able to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: do with the bench with some of these academy players
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that have now come up, there's something to be said
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: for that too.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: That's part of this equation as well.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think one of the things that really started
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: wearing thin on Union supporters with Jim Curtin was the
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: lack he had his guys. Yeah, and this is where
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: I'll bring Tortorella in. Much like Tortorella had his guys
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: was going to play those guys, and if you aren't
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: one of those guys, you probably aren't gonna see much
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: meaningful playing time.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Now I do have an issue with Carnell, and
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: we're gonna get into this when we talk about most disappointing.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Kevin Sullivan needs to play, because we'll get into this
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: later in terms of most disappointing player. For me, if
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: someone is being recruited by Man City, you're selling them
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: off to Man City. There's no reason. I don't care
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: how old he is, he needs to have more than
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: five appearances for the season. Yeah, and so I think
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: that Carnell has been better at utilizing the total depth
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: of the squad, but I still think there's a lot
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: of work to be done there.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: All right, sounds good again, folks.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Josh Schuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot com.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Check out everything they're doing over there, great great content
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: all the time. Follow us on various social media sites
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: as well. If you're watching on YouTube, we got it
• 10:57
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• 10:59
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• 11:02
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• 11:05
  Speaker 1: at this point, which has been really good for his
• 11:08
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• 11:11
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• 11:14
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• 11:17
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• 11:21
  Speaker 1: We're on threads as well. A good good follow the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show for sure. But as we're
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: moving along with this discussion here about this Philadelphia Union team, Josh,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: given the number of players the Union have had out
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: on international duty, Bradley Carnell has had to really dig
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: deeper into the bench more so than most other MLS
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: teams probably could, and it really does show how much
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the academy guys have really stepped up. So I'm wondering
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts about this particular storyline this season
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that's been very critical to the club's success so far.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: Well, I think international duty is a blessed going to
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: curse each MLS squad and across any any soccer club
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: because that means you have players that are good enough
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: to be called up. The challenge for the Union is
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: when they are are looking at the players who are
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: on international duty. They aren't playing major minutes when they
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: go on international duty, which is a problem when you
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: have a younger team that's trying to develop in terms
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: of getting back to the actual squad. Sorry if I'm pausing,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to figure out how I want to say that.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: No problem, No problem.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I really think that it does show the strength and
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: the vision of Ernest Tanner and being able to have
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: a number of players that can fill in. But I
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: also again I'm going to give props Carneal because I
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: think if you look at it, the players that are
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: coming in during the time of international duty have already
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: been in a rotation of the squad, so it's not
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: like they're not seeing any playing time. And that's where
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: other MLS teams really get themselves into trouble. They pay
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: all this money to fill out their roster, and then
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: when those players go in international duty, you have a
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: bunch of reserves that hardly ever play, that now have
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: to fill in and face competition for the union. Love
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: it or hate it. They don't spend anywhere near and
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: the last time I was on I went over the
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: fact of they are not even bottom third. They are
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: at the very bottom not the worst, but at the
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: very very bottom in terms of roster influx of money
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: because they spend so much money in the academy. But
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: this is one area where it can really really help.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: And I think that we are seeing see here's where
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the double edged sword comes into play here, Josh, is
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the fact that there we have not liked this track
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that they have been on, where like, we want more
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: investment in high end talent, not just investment in the academy.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: But they have a season like this, a season that
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: we're enjoying right now, and they're saying, see, the.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Vision does work.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: It does work, and we're gonna keep doing this well
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: into the future, where it really could end up biting
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: them down the road like that. That's the problem and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the issue that I'm actually seeing with the academy focus
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: here and it's prolonged vision basically for the future with
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: this front office.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I agree with what you're saying. I don't
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: have any problem with investing in the academy. If we
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: watch Welcome Directs them, they're talking about the fact that
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: they need to invest in their academy and if you
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: are going to be a successful soccer club, you have
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: to but the problem is for me, at least, they
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: don't really invest in the roster. Yeah, and there has
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: to be a balance. I have no issue with you
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: signing academy kids, them performing well and selling them off,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: because here's the reality, Jeff. It is not like other
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: sports where you can look at a player over their
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: past number of years and come up with an evaluation
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: of what they're worth. In the soccer market, your value
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: fluctuates year to year in terms of monetarily what you
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: could be sold for. So I get trying to sell
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: high because the next year that evaluation could fall millions
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: of dollars or, in most cases for MLS players, hundreds
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: of thousands of dollars, and now you're stuck. But the
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: problem is what the Union do is they take ninety
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: percent of their sales and they put it into the
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: academy and only use ten percent to fill out the roster.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: There needs to be a greater balance between the two
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: if you want to remain competitive. Because this season's been great,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: but I still don't know if it's a flash in
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: the pain right right, Like I can't guarantee that after
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: one year of swift kick that these players aren't going
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: to settle back to what happened last year, right, and
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: then you're stuck.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely all right.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Well, as we're moving along here with the conversation, I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: wanted to get into some more details about the goalkeepers
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: in general.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Kind of touched on it at the top.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Andre Blake has been really good this season when he
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: has been out on the field in front of the net,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and then he has had to deal with this fluid
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: issue in his knee.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Goes back, like you said, Josh, to.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: You know last season, Andrew Rick comes in and shows
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: his shot stopping ability and then some in various ways
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: of his play. What are your thoughts about what the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: goalkeepers have been able to give the Union team this season,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: basically how critical they have been in various situations.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that, but I think that they have
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: had to use Rick more than they.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Wanted to probably.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I love Andre Blake and to me, he's
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: one of those people that, much like Sebastian Latwo, the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: moment his time is done, he really needs to be
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: in the Ring of honor, like there's no to me,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: there's no debate. He was one of their high draft
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: picks and he's been He has probably netted them more
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: points in a season than probably any other player. I
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: mean he when the Union had a terrible defense, he
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: saved them and would bail them out regularly. Every time
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: andre Blake is playing, it feels like he bails them out.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: I and I appreciate the job that Rick has done,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: and I think he's done a good job. And I'm
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: not I'm not diminishing that in any way, shape or form.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: But like I said earlier in this podcast, I am
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: greatly concerned about the future of the goaltender position because
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: andre Blake is not getting younger. I'm thirty eight and
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: mowing the lawn now feels very differently than a decade
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: ago when I didn't have any aches and pain.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: I feel andre Blake.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Andre Blake is closing in all my age, so I
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: can only imagine all of the workouts, all those leaps
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: and all those things. I watch him do that, and
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: I am on the couch and I'm grabbing my back, going,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: oh man, you know he's probably gonna feel that tomorrow. Yes,
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know that Rick is ready to be a
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: full time keeper, and I have great concerns. I personally
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: don't really think they have anyone in the academy that
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: can take over, and they aren't big. In Ernst Tannier's
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: time being involved in the draft, what they've done is
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: use their draft picks and basically sold them off, which
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: again I'm fine with because you get general allocation money.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: I don't have any issue in soccer because this is
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: where it's different than other American sports. You don't have
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: to draft, and in fact, I prefer you not to draft.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I would rather you use that money to sign established players.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: But I don't know that they're going to do that.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: For as much money as they have dedicated to the academy,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: I don't know that they have their next keeper yet.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: And that's a little alarming.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely is, and it's certainly a storyline. We're
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: going to be getting into more here at the PSD
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: podcast show as we talk about this Philadelphia Union team.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: But we are going to take a quick break just
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: to pay some bills. We're going to be back in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: just a bit with more Union talk. All Right, we
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: are back again with Josh Schuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: com to talk about this Philadelphia Union team and this.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Very successful season.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: The look, Josh, there are a bunch of guys that
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: we can I went on this team that have really
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: led to various successful moments game by game. But I'm
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: wondering if you can get into who has actually been
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the most intriguing player for you to watch this year
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: for the Union, who would that be and why?
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: To me, Jeff, I think there's really only one person
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: you can talk about during this time. It's been nice
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: to see that a number of players have had bounce
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: back seasons. Yeah, but for me still tyber Ebo, he
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: has just been I remember when the Union signed him
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: and I was not super thrilled because I thought the
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Union overvalued him. Yeah, but he has just been He
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: started showing flashes at the end of last year and
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I thought, well, it's because he's getten playing time. I
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: don't really know how much better he's going to be,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: but he has just been a econ of light and
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: he has really opened things up for UAH and for others.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Now since the beginning of the season too.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: By the way, I mean, it has been correcsistent, consistent
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: from the beginning of the season. Last time we talked,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I remember we were like, is this for real or not?
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And it has just been on fire. Since he has been.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he uh, he's just been such a breath
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: of fresh air and he enables He's not just an
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: offensive forward. He also can play decently well in the
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: middle of the pitch, and that's something that the Union
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: really hasn't had for a while. And his ability to
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: playmake and his soccer IQ is far better than anything
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: that I had originally thought. So for me, there's kind
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: of one answer to that.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: All right, very good. Well, as we're moving along too,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: we have to flip the coin here. There have been
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: some disappointments on this team, given the fact again, yes
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: they are first in the Eastern Conference, but I'm wondering, Josh,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: is there a player who has really disappointed you thus
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: far this season?
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Who would that be and why?
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah? And I kind of mentioned this earlier, and I
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: feel bad because it's not it's not his doing. But
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: the reality is is for all the talk that we
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: heard about Cavin Sullivan and how amazing Cavin Sullivan is
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: and how he's representing, you know, the under a team team,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: all of this, he's not playing for the Union, and
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: when he's been out there, I don't know that he's
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: been all that spectacular. But at the same time, he
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: hasn't really been given the chance, right, and so I
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: can't really hold it against him. So for me, it
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: is Cavin Sullivan, but it's more out of what was
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: said and put forward about how amazing he is, Like
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: he has his own commercial with his brother. I don't
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: know if you've seen this commercial.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I haven't.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: No, Yeah, it's for IBX, Blue Cross, Blue Shield or whatever.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I just I don't know. I have not seen his
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: play be commercial worthy. I think that they're trying to
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: capture what they possibly can. I don't know if Man
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: City is saying, you know, we don't really want him playing.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: We would rather have him train with our academy, so
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: don't play him much. Yeah, I don't know what's going on.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: But all I really do know is he just hasn't
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: been what was advertised thus far. And I'm not saying
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: he won't be, and maybe he'll get a lot of
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: run this summer. But we're using the word disappointed, right, yeah,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: not failure, different things like that. And again I'm acknowledging
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: for anyone who is a Kevin Sullivan fan, he hasn't
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: had the chance, and that to me is the biggest
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: disappointment because the Union, while they are doing well, it
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: has not been pretty. And you had mentioned it at
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: the start. Yes, they are playing like a Philadelphia team
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: of all grit and they somehow can pull the matches
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: out with wins, and it's great. It just would be
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: nice to have a little bit of flash out there.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: So I guess my disappointment for the season is more
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the usage of Cavin Sullivan.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's absolutely fair. And as we're going
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: to end the discussion here though, Josh, you know you
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: talk about how this team can continue to pull out wins.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: You know, this gritty type of play. I think with
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: any sports team, with any organization from a professional standpoint,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: even down to college and pee wee leagues with things,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: you know, you get down to a point where how
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: can you keep pulling out wins with sheer grit? And yes,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: we've seen it time and time again in football, baseball, hockey,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the NBA, where I mean, look, look what's happened with
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers. Nobody in a million years, I think,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: thought that they were going to get to the NBA finals,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: But there was a ton of grit there with that
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: team that propelled them to that level. I do have
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: a fear as we're closing. You know up our discussion
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: here that there are concerns with regard to this Eastern
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Conference finals, and there are teams that could threaten the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Union for sure. So I'm wondering at this point in time,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: you know who worries you here in the Eastern Conference?
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Who could threaten the Philadelphia Union from a long term
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: perspective this season?
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts?
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: So there's really two teams. The first, I'll mention the
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: one that's closer in the standings, and it's Columbus. Okay, yeah,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: they have they seemingly have always had the Union's number,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: and if they can play with more consistency, I am
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: really really worried. Now granted the Union are six points clear,
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: we'll see what happens. The other one is Miami, and
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: it's simply because I had mentioned teams that are so
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: star loaded that they don't really have academy. At some point,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: international duty ends, right, and so you're looking at a
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: Miami squad with Messi Suarez, all of these guys that
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: have been elite players overseas that have come to join
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Messi at discounted rates in Miami. I just the fact
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: that they're still in a playoff spot. I don't love
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: the idea because to me, when you're asking me this question,
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: we're treating it as of right now considering the Union
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: are four points clear. They are right now the Eastern
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Conference favorites yes, And that's how I'm answering this question.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Inter Miami is I think number if I'm not mistaken.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: The last time I started standing, they are eight points behind,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: and eight points sounds like a lot, but it's really not.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: It's really really not. All it takes is a couple
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: of drawls and a couple of wins from Miami and
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: next thing you know, they're two points behind.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: So I don't love the idea of having to face
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: them in the playoffs simply because they will have their
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: star studded roster come playoff time. And last year, Miami,
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't believe that they were the top seed,
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: but they still were able to make a run like it.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: It's just one of those things that I really don't
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: like seeing them in the playoffs right now.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely great way to end the discussion again, folks. Josh
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Shuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot com he's over on the
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Twitter slash x at flag GUYE Josh ninety one. Good
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: friend of the show, buddy. It was great talking to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: you about the union, and we've got football season coming.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: We've got football season coming. I'd love to have you
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: on for some those game shows. Get you back on
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the show. Now that we're doing video, everybody can see
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that delightful face of yours as.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: It is absolute.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Looking good, buddy, looking good, buddy, come back join us
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: down the road.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: I'd love to have you back on the show. My
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: friend sounds good.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Jeff.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: As always, that's going to do it for us here
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: on Table Talk this week. Please share our podcast with
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: your friends and family members who are Philly sports fans
• 28:26
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• 28:30
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• 28:34
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• 28:37
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• 28:41
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• 28:49
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