Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / Transfer News, Pochettino's Best Move, and USMNT's First Rock Star with Brian Dunseth

Transcript

Transfer News, Pochettino's Best Move, and USMNT's First Rock Star with Brian Dunseth · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, listen on the field. Off the field, I think
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: people forget like in the days of like ESPN, The
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Life and MTV cribs, like in the early two thousands,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Clint was on those like Clint was a rock star.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Tom Boger, joined by my friend, one
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: of the greatest players in US soccer history, veteran of
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: free World Cups and much much more, tab Ramas. Tab
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I'm happy about today. I know that you're probably snowed
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: in here. Shout out to everybody in the Northeast who's
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: been shoveling all weekend, or those who are smarter who
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: pay somebody on your block to shovel. But tab, I
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: know that all we're doing is hanging out inside in
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the snow and the ice. So we are gonna get
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: joined by our guy, Brian Dunt. Dunny to a ten
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: year pro nine years in MLS where he played for
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: quite a few teams. Donny, we'll get to that in
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  Speaker 2: a minute, is a captain of a really, really good
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: two thousand US Olympic team which made the semifinals. He
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: is the host of counter Attack on serious XM. He
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: commentates on US and AS team games. He commentates on
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: MLS games. If they're soccer and you watch it, I
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: promise you you've heard his voice. If you don't know
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: his name, Donny, what's going on?
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining No, I appreciate it as always two
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: legends that I love seeing in real life that I'm
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: even more excited about being here today.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Welcome Donny and thanks for coming on. You know a
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: couple of things.
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  Speaker 4: First, I have to say this, you're one of the
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: easier guys to listen to. You know, I love the
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: way you describe things and how you express to fans.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: You know your your love for the game, but at
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: the same time, you know from tactics to news to
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: everything else.
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  Speaker 3: I think you and Tony are are the best at this.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: And if people haven't listened to counterattack, definitely do that
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: because it's my pleasure to listen to you guys every day.
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  Speaker 3: But having said that, you know.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously you and I you know you you were coming
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: along to the national program when I was leaving. I
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: retired in two thousand from the national team, and that's
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: when you were coming along the national team. So you
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: and I didn't get to know each other as much.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: But I can say this that I knew I liked
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: you the moment you said on the radio that you
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: didn't like people who leave the shopping carts in the
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: parking lot without putting them back, and that.
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  Speaker 3: To me said everything I needed to hear about you.
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  Speaker 3: So because I knew we'd be on the same page.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I appreciate that tab. Yeah, legend. I can tell
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  Speaker 1: you that I hated playing against you because I could
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: never get close enough to even put a finger on you,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: much less put a tackle on you and your your
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: variation of service when you got isolated against the defender
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and just watching you turn Teddy Kronopolis inside out in
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the early days of Major League Soccer was always fun
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: because he was my roommate and I could go to him.
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  Speaker 1: But also, man, you were a pain in the ass
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to try to judge on your services because either getting
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: down the inline for cutback balls or that early curling
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  Speaker 1: ball in where us as center backs always hated facing
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: our own defenders, or that quick combination where I was
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: turning like the Titanic and I didn't have a chance
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to stay with you. But also before to go anywhere,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I have one thing I've always wanted to ask you,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and this is the Snicker's commercial because for all of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: us that were like coming through and I can vividly remember,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you know, I was lucky enough to play with with
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Alexi and Harksey and Winalda and get to know Tony
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: obviously in this world, you guys were always like this
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: big brother type of group of players for me growing
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: up in southern California, having you know, Clay Coyman as
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  Speaker 1: my coach from twelve years old at upland Celtic, and
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  Speaker 1: then watching his pathway through Mexico and at Warrez and
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: ending up at cruz Azool and then seeing him start
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: in the World Cup in Detroit against Switzerland. But I
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  Speaker 1: always had one question for you tap how many Snickers
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  Speaker 1: bars did you really eat during filming that commercial? Because
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know the skilled check and the juggling and the
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  Speaker 1: moving and the agility, but when you took that bite,
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  Speaker 1: I always wondered how many takes it took and how
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  Speaker 1: like it's like, you know, first time drinking tequila. Are
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  Speaker 1: you good with tequila or will you never touch it again?
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  Speaker 1: Are you good with Snickers bars or like have you
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  Speaker 1: never touched itself.
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  Speaker 4: So this is a really interesting question. By the way,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: let's just throw the rundown out the window and the show.
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  Speaker 4: But no, this is really interesting actually because the way
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  Speaker 4: they do it is, first of all, on the technical side.
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  Speaker 4: I'm sure you notice in the commercial, and obviously it's
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: a long time ago so you may not remember, but
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  Speaker 4: they put me in a gym to do all of
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  Speaker 4: these things back in the day.
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  Speaker 3: When no one understood anything about soccer and.
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  Speaker 4: So and so I'm doing all these moves and in
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  Speaker 4: one of the moves, the boat gets away from me,
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  Speaker 4: and that's the one that cut that that's actually in
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  Speaker 4: the commercial. So I do like a spin, I do
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  Speaker 4: his spin and the bolt just goes out of control
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  Speaker 4: somewhere and that comes out in the commercial.
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  Speaker 3: That's the actual commercial, is that part.
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  Speaker 4: But as far as eating the bars, So you're sitting there,
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  Speaker 4: and first of all, I'd like to say that Snickers
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  Speaker 4: really satisfied.
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  Speaker 3: I just want to make that clear.
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  Speaker 2: Is there a residual?
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  Speaker 1: Is Is there residuals?
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  Speaker 3: I have to make that clear.
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  Speaker 4: No. But then when you're sitting there, they have me
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  Speaker 4: sitting on you know, they have me sitting like in
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  Speaker 4: the locker room a on a let's say, on a
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  Speaker 4: bleacher type thing, and I'm sitting there and you take
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  Speaker 4: a bite and then you know, you do the whole
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  Speaker 4: you know, chewing motion, and then they say cut.
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  Speaker 3: And you spin it out right between your legs. You
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  Speaker 3: have a bucket. You have a bucket, so you have
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  Speaker 3: to pretend you're eating it and then you just spit
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  Speaker 3: it out.
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  Speaker 4: So I actually and it was said to me right
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  Speaker 4: before I started doing this part of the commercial. It
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  Speaker 4: was said to me, do not eat any of it,
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  Speaker 4: do not swallow any of it, because by the time
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  Speaker 4: we're done with the.
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  Speaker 3: Thirty or forty that this is gonna take, you're.
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  Speaker 4: Gonna be sick of it, and we don't want You
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  Speaker 4: can eat as many as you want when we're done,
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: but not now.
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  Speaker 3: So that's kind of how that worked.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.
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  Speaker 2: I was gonna make that joke because I was like
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  Speaker 2: more of him, you know, being a professional athlete, county calories,
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  Speaker 2: being being respectable. Yeah, but it was a Snickers people
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  Speaker 2: telling you don't eat it right right, You.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Got you gotta understand Tom. Like for me growing up
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: in southern California, like I graduated high school in ninety five,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: So in nineteen ninety four, you know, I was at
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the LA Convention Center during the World Cup, and you
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: know I was I was literally working at the Convention Center,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: putting like being a part of this incredible, like monumental
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  Speaker 1: moment of soccer. And then because I was so close.
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  Speaker 1: I grew up in Upland, which is probably about a
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  Speaker 1: thirty minute drive twenty five minute drive without traffic heading
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  Speaker 1: into Pasadena. I didn't have tickets, right, we didn't have
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that type of money. So I would actually drive into
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  Speaker 1: the gully at the Rose Bowl, or I'd park up
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  Speaker 1: in the street and hike my hack my butt down
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  Speaker 1: and I would just be around the stadium just to
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  Speaker 1: be around like the atmosphere and the culture and the
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  Speaker 1: fans and you know, like you could hear all the
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  Speaker 1: power and the energy from the stadium and you know,
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  Speaker 1: it transmit and they had the screens up and you
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  Speaker 1: could watch the game from the outside. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: for me, like and then transitioning into Major League Soccer,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: going to cal State Fullerton, watching Tony me Alla and
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  Speaker 1: Tab and the New York New Jersey Metro Stars at
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  Speaker 1: LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl for the very first game.
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  Speaker 1: You know, guys like Danny Barber and all of those
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  Speaker 1: guys that had like kel State Fullerton links. For me,
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  Speaker 1: it was like ninety four, ninety five, ninety six were
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  Speaker 1: like these moments where all of a sudden there was
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  Speaker 1: a reality that we had professional soccer in the United
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  Speaker 1: States and it was around the corner, and then all
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden when we saw it, it was like
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I could remember being down at the Polo fields in
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  Speaker 1: San Diego, or at you for preseason, or at UC
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Irvine watching Brian McBride and Danny Cruz smash each other
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  Speaker 1: ahead of the draft, like it was like real life.
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  Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, these days of like
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: you know, watching getting going out to the mailbox and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: grabbing like soccer dot com and going through all the
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  Speaker 1: pictures and trying to find the boots that you wanted,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: or when Soccer America was in like the newspaper version,
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  Speaker 1: and like reading the stories and what TAB was doing
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  Speaker 1: in Spain at Real Bettis or what was happening down
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  Speaker 1: in Mexico, like the these all of these moments were
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  Speaker 1: like huge for me. So I have such an affinity
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  Speaker 1: for for everything that TAB your generation did because I've
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  Speaker 1: always looked at you as like my big brothers. You
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  Speaker 1: guys have always been so so kind and so accepting
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  Speaker 1: and so inviting. So I've always appreciated you.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that. I don't even know how to
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  Speaker 3: answer all of that.
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  Speaker 4: I do know that that was a moment in the
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: mid nineties where you know, as you said, ninety four,
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  Speaker 4: ninety five, ninety six had a big impact on a
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: lot of people, in particular your age that were just
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  Speaker 4: coming along.
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  Speaker 3: So that's great to hear.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially on the West Coast because you know, for
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: our generation, we didn't really have that nasl link post
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: La Aztec's departure, So you know, watching Clay with with
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: cal heat or watching them with the La lasers indoor.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: You know, we we still had we still had that touch,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: but we didn't have the grasp like we did when
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: when MLS really took hold. But you know, watching you
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: guys against Mexico kicking the living crap out of one another,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: whether it was at the Coliseum, are watching Alexi get
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  Speaker 1: kicked in the nuts at the Rose Bowl? Uh, it was.
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  Speaker 1: It was you know, amazing monumental times.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Oh man, that is that is awesome to hear and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: particularly like Tab. We talk about it more, not in
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the abstract, but just without having the like. We know
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: how many people were inspired from that area. So to
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: hear it coming from from Brian Dunsith here, I think
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: is is really cool. So let's let's move on. We
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: gotta we got a busy show for you. Maybe we'll
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: find out if we have any more snicker stories. I
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: hope that we do well. We're gonna go inside the
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Notebook soon with the latest transfer news around the US
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: men's national team. All filling in on all that Dunny,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: who again is an expert on this team. He has
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: been with them at all of these camps. He's been
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: commentating on the games. He is one of the smartest
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and best analysts there are. He's gonna give you his
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: perspective on the team. And then as you guys maybe
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: have guests from the first ten minutes, you're gonna hear
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: some great, great stories between Dunny and Tab and I
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: can't wait for that. But first let's go inside the
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: notebook with a couple of big news the European The
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: major European transfer windows close on February second, and we
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: are at crunch time for a couple deals, and we've
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: got a few that are moving. Let's start with number one,
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  Speaker 2: Ricardo Peppy and Fulham. Despite him breaking his arm earlier
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: this month, Fulham put in another bid to PSV to
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: sign Riccardo. Peppy's sources say this bid is around thirty
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: two million euros and while this deal has not agreed yet,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: there's optimism that there will be a deal that gets done.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: PSV and Fulham are still a little bit off in
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: their valuations, but the gap is much much closer, and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: again I feel confident that there should be another bid
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: coming and this is something that can get wrapped up
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: over the next few days. It shows how much Fulham
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: really really want the player, that this is a long
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: term target. That he breaks his arm and they bid again,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and they bid more, and they're ready to bid a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: little bit more again, I think to get this deal done.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: We'll see how that manifests over the next few days.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: But Ricardo Peppy and Fulham, this is getting close.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Listen, I think we were talking about this. Tony meoled
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I the other day and I don't know if this
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: is because of how I felt with the way that
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Ricardo Peppy missed out on the World Cup and guitar
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: after the move to Augsburg and leaving FC Dallas and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: trying to find and foot his feet and his rhythm,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the adaption period from language and culture tab do you
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: know that better than anybody. It takes some time to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: kind of figure out style of play, expectation. The pressure
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of being in Europe is different than growing up in
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a club setting like FC Dallas at the time. So
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I have this weird anxiety over
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: this move or I'm super excited and pumped for Ricardo
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Peppy because he certainly earned the opportunity to take that
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: next step in his career. I think the timing is
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: the concern because there's such a short turnaround time between
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: now and the start of the World Cup. I think
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: we're all kind of in agreement. The flow Balligin as
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of right now is the undisputed number nine as long
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: as he is healthy, and Ricardo Peppy is going to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: find that unique balance for Marisa po Chattinos being the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: second number nine, or at least the impact player coming
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  Speaker 1: off the bench that's proven during his time at PSB
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  Speaker 1: to be impactful to score goals. I think it says
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a lot about Fulham I think there's a history of
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: American players that have had an unbelievable amount of success there,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: whether you're talking about Clint dem So, you're talking about
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Carlos spokanegra Casey Keller, Hanneman, obviously Brian McBride, a cup
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of coffee for Eddie Johnson at one point. But for
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: them to come in at this stage, I think they
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: probably see him as a natural replacement for Rau Jimenez
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: leaving in the summer, and this could be a great fit.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: They seem to be all in on the idea. I
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: just worry about the short turnaround time and the competition
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: for spots in the minutes that he would be getting
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: that would be viewed by Marisa Puchtino and his staff currently.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: I want to jump in really quickly, sorry, Tab, because
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: this is a kid who's always wanted to bet himself,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: and when Riccardo Peppy was having bids from he ends
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: up going to Augsburg. And to your point, Donny, I
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: think more than culturally that Augsburg team stunk. I don't
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: know how he was supposed to score and do because
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: he wasn't getting any chances. But Dallas was like, hey,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: we want to keep you for another six months, twelve months.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: We think that'll be good for your development. All that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: As they're going back and forth with these teams and
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the bids get higher and higher. Riccard Peppy's dad says
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: to the in the parking lot, the facility goes to
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: the sporting director and says like, there is no guarantee
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: that this move is here in six months or twelve months,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Like this is my son's dream. This is an opportunity
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: that we don't know if it's gonna be here tomorrow.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: We have to take it. So I think that that
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: mirror is this Fullham one as well, because your your
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: concerns are fair, and he's injured right now, he's going
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: to the premially kill. He won't have all that much
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: time to react to it. But I think this is, Hey,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: he has a chance, this is an opportunity, this is
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: a dream. We got to take it.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I agree with all these points, and
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: obviously not a whole lot to add to what you
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: guys have to say, but I think you know, the
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: timing is good for Fulham right now because they're able
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: to get their man at a time where let's say
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: he's down a little bit right because they don't need
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: them right away, and as Donny said, certainly a replacement
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: for Rould human is you know, going into the summer
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: and after and from a PSV perspective, you know, I
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: heard Ernie on a show the other day, you know,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: he talked about how it's not just Peppy that's injured,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: but they have other forwards that are injured as well.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: They know Peppy he's not coming back for likely another
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: five or six weeks at the very least. So I
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: think this would be a great time for them to
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: sort of move on and put their money on someone else,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: since they know they're likely going to lose them at
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: some point anyway, and now they can get somebody right
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: away that can help the team right away and.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Get adapted to their style.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: So I think this may be the right time for
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: both clubs to get this done.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Next one big one, A big piece of breaking news
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: that I broke last night. Alex Freeman is going to
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Villa Reale. Villar Real and Orlando City have agreed to
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: a deal. I'm told the fee is around four million
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: right now, with add ons of around three million, plus
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: crucially a salon percentage. Alex Freeman is out of contract
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: in eleven months. He would have been leaving for free
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: to sign with Villa Reale. His heart was set on that.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Orlando was offering you twenty two initiative contract extensions. Freeman
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: had decided, you know, not this one. It was before
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: this that I'm close enough to the end of my contract,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: or are teams that want me. It was known that
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Villa Rayale wanted him and this was a good fit,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and he had his heart set on that. A couple
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: of little notes on this is that Freeman wanted Orlando
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: to get something. He loves this club, this is his
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: boyhood club, and he didn't want to leave on a
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: free transfer. I think this is a great outcome for
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: all parties Orlando. It's unfortunate that they let it get
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: to the point of God, they didn't give him a
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: new contract the previous winter because he had played four games,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, he's the breakout shooting
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: star in MLS in twenty twenty five, and it came
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: at a time where it's probably too late for them
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: to get a deal done. So right now, getting a
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: potential fee of up to seven million plus a sell
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: on clause, that's pretty good business for Orlando, considering it's
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: either this or he was leaving for free in a year.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I'm told that this deal is happening now, which I'm
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I was surprised that because a lot of the talks
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: I had heard for months is that you know, he'd
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: probably stay until the World Cup. But for the Rialite
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: believe that their right back got hurt, so there should
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: be minutes. It's another kid betting on himself. His physicality
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: is there. I think his technical ability is good enough
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: for La Legan now and it will continue to grow.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Same thing with his intelligence. I think you saw that
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: with the national team. This kid has developed so rapidly
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: over the last twelve months that I just bet on
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: him to succeed.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Tom, I've had the opportunity to watch him in
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: trainings with the US men's national team. And not just
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: the performance, because that's what we do, right We judge
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the players between the white lines over the course of
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ninety minutes, and that's where we make a majority of
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: our judgments. But to see his maturity, to see his personality,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to see the connectivity that he has with his teammates
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and the coaching staff, and knowing and having played with
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Oscar Pere both New England Revolution and FCD Dallas or
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Dallis Byrne at the time still having a close relationship.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I haven't heard anybody say a bad word about this kid.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: So to your point, Tom, the breakout season, his player profile,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: obviously the lineage that he has with the success of
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: his father in the NFL, He's got a great head
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: on his shoulders. And I think when we get into
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: the idea of what our starting eleven looks like, it's
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: going to be really difficult when you talk about Serginio Desk,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Timothy Weya, and Alex Freeman to kind of pick who
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: you think are reject who would be the best in
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: whatever system we talk about. But without a shadow of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: a doubt, he's prepared and his player profile is outstanding physically,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: technique and tactical nuance. I think we saw growth throughout
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the year and for via Real, what is that now,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Taniel Luiche KJon Buchanan if I'm not mistaken, And now
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: we're talking about a via REL side that is looking
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: at these specific body types and then the players themselves
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: that might match, you know, what they want athletically in
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: their team and what they're trying to build. So I
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: think this is a win win for everybody involved, and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: credit to the young man for being so mature in
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the way that he's handled this situation.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's certainly one of the ones that you know, Tom,
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: you and I were discussing towards the end of the year,
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: as you know, one of the players that had made
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: the most progress at the end of the year for
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: the US national team and went from being one of
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: those guys that potentially could make the final squad to
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: you know, fighting for starting spot. So I think that's
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: where he is now now from a virial standpoint.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: As you briefly mentioned before, Tom, one.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Foight got hurt this weekend and it looked to me
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: from watching the game it looked like achilles.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: I haven't read if that's what it was, but that's
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: what it looked like.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: And they've been via Real has been rotating between Navarro
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: and Maurinho on that right side. Neither one of them
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: is really right back to more center backs, and this
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: gives Vireal a chance to move one of those guys
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: inside now and have Freeman as a great opportunity for him,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: by the way, if that opens up for him to
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: go in and step and he'd be playing right behind Buchenan.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: So two guys that I'm sure know each other really well.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: And then, like you said, Donny's a good point that
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: this is a Champions League level club. They are a
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: fourth in LA League as well this year, and they
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: don't look down fun looking at MLS. And again they've
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: long long been in for Alex Freeman and getting natanniel
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: As a deal done in the summer. And obviously Tajo
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Buchanan wasn't directly from MLS, but he was. His best
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: moments were in MLS before he got to Europe. Of course,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: I think that's very interesting, Alex Freeman. I think we'll
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: have more to say. I think in a week when
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the windows closed, so the deal will be officially announced.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: But Alex Freeman setting to vill Roale that deals all agreed,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: just the final paperwork and bureaucracy that has to happened
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: this deal to get completed. A few more here before
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: we get to the next segment. Josh Sargent, We've talked
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: about it a lot. There was a heated exchange between
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: sergeant the manager and the sporting director this game a
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: few days after he didn't play in their FA Cup
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: game as he's trying to push a move to Toronto.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: There was what I was told was the sporting director
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: made a comment that referenced Sergeant's family that Sergeant did
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: not like and that led to him being visibly upset
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: and the very very clear sentiment from sergeant of I'm
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: not playing for this club again. So that is really
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: disappointing to hear. And while there's no new update in
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: terms of terms being agreed between Norwich and Toronto things,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I think that people would be a little bit more
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: optimistic orridch insists that the eighteen million dollar bid isn't
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: gonna be enough. I think if Toronto upset a little bit,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: it's gonna happen. But Norris also needed to buy some
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: time to find a replacement. They're linked with some guys,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: so this is something to watch over the next few days.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: But in terms of his future at at Norwich, Norris
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: are saying, hey, if he apologizes, he you know, he
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: could come back in. I don't know if I see
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that happening. So right now the relationship is completely completely broken.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Toronto and Norris continue to negotiate. Toronto has not turned
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: to other targets for the DP Ninzers. They are locked
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: in on Sergeant. Sergeant has made it clear to everybody
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: he only wants Toronto. He wants to go back for
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: his family, and I think logic should win out and
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: will went out, but TBD over the next however long
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: because the UMOST transfer window does not close when the
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: European windows does, so there is time for this to happen.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Obviously Toronto wanted to happen as soon as possible, but
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: negotiations are ongoing and it looks really strong that Josh
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Sargent will not play for the Nords again.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Tom, I know there's a different group of leadership
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: at Toronto FC, but obviously the history of Michael Bradley
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: and Josie Altador suggests that you could still have a
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: fantastic continuation of your career playing for Toronto FC. And
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: we all know that they pay extremely well, and so
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: for Josh Sargent whatever. And this is this is the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: nuanced conversation I love having with guys like yourself because
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I never think situations like this are black and white.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I think that I can reference points in my life
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: even when I got into really high high optane verbal
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: confrontations with Fernando Clavijo when he was my head coach
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and New England Revolution because I wanted to leave and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: he would always say, Dunny, the thing that it is,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: nobody wants you. And then I got down to Ray
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Hudson in Miami and he's like, but I need I've
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: been trying to get chuff for the better part of
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the last year and a half.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: And I was like, ah, screw you, Fernando. You lied
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: to me the.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Whole time, so I can understand it.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then there's times where I didn't want to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: get traded and I just bought a house and I
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: getn't traded from Columbus and I was like in Salt Lake,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, what what did I do wrong?
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: So there's this.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Weird thing where you know, a coach can come in
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and ice a player out and we're just like, well,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: that's the end of his time. But then there's this
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: weird feeling where if a player goes in and say, hey,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: I would like to leave, all of a sudden, he's like, well,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you signed a contract and you got to be loyal
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to the club, and you still got three more years
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and We're not going to let you leave unless we
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: get the price point that we want. So it's tactics.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: You know, you don't want to show your cards. You know,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it's at some point it's a fascinating reference point to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: what's happening in San Diego when you cut all your
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: leverage out from underneath you versus the way that Norwich
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: City is playing it out. Ali Ahmed coming from Montreal
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: is a fantastic start with a couple of goals and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: assists so far. So maybe there's a little good, feel
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: good factor, but ultimately, whatever happened behind the scenes, and
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I read your reports and you know, you see the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: whispers are around that's happening. As a US men's national
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: team fan, we need him clicking. I don't know where
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: he falls in line for the structure of you know,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Haji Wright and we obviously we're just talking about Ricardo
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Peppi and flow Balligan. But Josh Sargent when he's on,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: he's a very very good player. And I think all
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: of us as US men's national team fans want to
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: see that domestic form translate to international success, which we
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: have yet to seem consistently.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you're right, And you know, I've had
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: the opportunity to coach Josh and and and to me,
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: you know, coming up over the last you know, let's
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: say eight ten years, one of one of the most
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: talented nines that came across the national team, if not
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: the most talented.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: He really has all the tools.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: I just think at this point, you know, first of all,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: there's no turning back when this all this stuff happens
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: at a club, right, So Norwich, I just don't think
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: it's it's ever.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Gonna work now after what's already happened.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: It's unfortunate because regardless, it leaves a mark, right, I mean,
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: think about what we all think about Esak over the
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: summer and how that developed, and how you develop these
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: negative feelings. And I know there's two sides of the story,
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: but it's you know, it's too bad that his time
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: in Norwedge is gonna end the way it's gonna end,
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: because he's had some great times there and he has
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: been great for that club. Not easy and by the way,
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: last year was a great year for Josh, great year
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: for Norwich, and it's too bad that it has to
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: end the way it does, and it will definitely leave
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: a mark on the rest of Josh's career.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: A couple more quick ones here, two moves that I
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: very very much doubt will happen practice Godjamong. He's been
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: linked with some Premier leage clubs. There is definitely interest,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: but Darby County only signed him in the summer. They
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: are not looking to sanction a departure. Maybe next summer,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: but even that might be a little bit quick. He's
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: playing really really well for Darby. Nothing really to read
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: into here. Another one is Diego Luna at Real Salt Lake. Celta.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Ego and Espanol are two clubs that have long had
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: interest in him. RSL are pretty intent on he's you know,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: he's staying here till the summer, and then we expect
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: and are welcoming transfer offers in the summer at the
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: right price to potentially move him on. But right now,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: six months before the World Cup, Diego Luna not likely
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: to leave before the end of the January Transferando and lastly,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: goalkeeper Ethan Horvez so to tell me he's finalizing a
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: deal to sign with the New York Red Bulls. I
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: believe he'll be Hitler. Starting goalkeeper Wholl obviously at least
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: compete for it. They we have John McCarthy and some
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: younger players on the books at the club, but even
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Horvaz looking to get some playing time to maybe see
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: if he can play his way back into the team. Dunny,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: any one of those three that you feel strongly about.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, For first off, I remember in the summer when
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Patrick Ajamont left Charlotte, there was this there was this
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: this weird new there's this weird conversation that was happening
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: that was going around that was suggesting that he wasn't
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: ready for the move, that he from a development standpoint,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: from a game standpoint, that he wasn't ready, and even
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: to Klamadi at the time I think was starting over
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: him right when that move was starting to happen. So
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: this is a great move and to see his opportunity
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and his star continue to shine and how quickly he's
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: adapting to that levels great. Obviously close to home being
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: in Salt Lake, Diego, Luna and watching him develop in
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: real time, I always thought that Spain would be the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: perfect move for him, followed up by maybe Italy, just
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: because of his style of play, his player profile, his size,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: you know how dynamic and quick. He can be with
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: short bursts. Again, another player when we're talking about influencing
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: the US men's national team, I think could have a
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: huge role in the roster construction from Mariso Pochettino and
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: then Horvath. He's just got to get games and consistency
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: in the club that wants to nourish his ability to play,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: because he is he most certainly feels like he's on
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the outside looking in of that goalkeeper group right now.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Tom, I'm sure you want my expert opinion on
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: Horvath at this point and how.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: He's going to fit into the UH, into the back
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: of the Yeah, you know, if he stepped out a
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: little bit sooner on shot. No, I'll just have.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: One quick comment. I'll just mention Azimond because you know,
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: I haven't been on this bandwagon. I'm one of the
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: ones that said, ah, you know, maybe he's just one
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: dimensional and I watch him play for the national team
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: and I only see that diagonal run towards the left
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: side of the box, and that's his only thing. I
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: have to tell you, this kid's still getting better. I mean,
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: you talk about late developers and then you talk about
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: really late developers. I still think he's getting better. I
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: really see him as a better player every day, and
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: I'm and I'm happy to see that because, you know,
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: and even if he were to be you know, we've
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: seen his last couple of goals where he gets into
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: the box and he you know, he crashes in which
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: you know, as a coach, you want to have a
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: guy like that on the bench at the very least,
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: by the way, right because end of the game at
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: the World Cup, you gotta, you know, you gotta, you know,
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: get some crosses in the box lost, you know, long
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: throwings into the box. You you want to have that option.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: You want to look down the bench and know that
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: you have someone that's a little bit, you know, a
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: different tool.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: In your tool set.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: So, but I think he's getting better.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: You you watch him play now, and he's taking people on,
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: he's getting on the into the box on the right side.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: He's taking shot. I just I really like where he is.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: I'm excited about the fact that he he's not who
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: I thought he was six months ago. And by the way,
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: six months ago, he was not a bad player. Of course,
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: he scored like sixty goals for Charlotte so, and not
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: anyone does that, but but I just think he's still
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: getting better.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: And I really like that.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Shout out to D three Soccer, you two US national
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: team knuckleheads, just saying we got we got some players
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: to come up and break through. But it's time for
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: a quick break. We'll be right back. We're gonna get
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: into some rapid fire questions with Donny around the US
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: national team, his analysis, his interest, all that stuff. Please
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: rate review. So it's gob inside American Soccer, Tombogger and
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: tabroamas wherever you get your podcast, and we'll be rip.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: All right, coming back. We got Brian dunsays here. Donny,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: you're very close to the US men's national team for
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: a very long time. You broadcast a team on TNT,
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: you do shows on Serious Exam, You're always talking about
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: the team. You always got your great analysis. So let's
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: get into it here. I wanted to start with a
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: little bit of a macro one like talking about the
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Rico Pochatino era. How has he changed the culture of
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the team and and what would you kind of grade
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: it at this point in terms of its positive or
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: mid level effect.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say for the players it's a different lens, right,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: you know, I think a lot was made and somehow
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: we all weaponized the word vibes, right, the word culture
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that that became friendship. Yeah, it became it became weaponized.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: And I think the one thing in TAB you you
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: know this better than anybody, because you had all of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: these kids coming through the system. You understand their unique
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: dynamic of friendship and that competitive atmosphere and how they've
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: you know, they've been boots in the grass for a
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: long long time, battling shoulder to shoulder with one another
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: for reason. Potchettino, listen, I think people forget sometimes the
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: the the the level and the character of players that
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: he and his coaching staff have been around, you know,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: from Tottenham to PSG to Chelsea and the success that
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: they've had. So what I noticed was that, and I
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: don't know if this is the right way to describe it,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: but players were on their toes a little bit more
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: where you know, there's obviously going to be a comfort
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: level with Greg and going through the cycles, similar to
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: a comfort level that there was with Bruce Arena in
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the cycles, even for Bob Bradley, for Jurgen obviously, TAB
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: with with with your time, even though Jurgen and those
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: empty stomach runs were probably the biggest thing that the
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: players always complained about. But for Marisa Putchettino and his staff,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: there's like this harmonious like feeling around the group and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: then the moment that they start the activation and step
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: on the field, all of a sudden, they all walk
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: in and if it's not Marisa Pochettino, if it's not Jesus,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: if it's not Mickey, if it's not Tony kie Men.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: As the goalkeeper, he's loud and you can hear him
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: barking at his keep. Like there's even when the starting
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: eleven goes to the side and you see the guys
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: that are gonna be the substitutes, there is a level
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: of intensity and I feel like when I'm watching these players,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: they know that they're being watched and that's gonna be
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the way they approach, you know, the training sessions and perform.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: But I also think it's gonna be like an instinctual
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: understanding tab And again, you know this better. When you're
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: putting together it's never about the best players. It's about
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the best group of players to get you through that tournament.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And you've got to have a bunch of good guys.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: You've got to have a great leadership group that can
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: get maybe some of the knuckleheads of the outliers back
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: in line if they need to be. And ultimately, I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: think for Maris and Pochettino, what he's done is open
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: a pathway for maybe a different set of players that
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have had the opportunity had he not come in
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: with a fresh set of eyes or a collective fresh
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: set of eyes of what they want to kind of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: more for melt this US men's roster into.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Donnie I was gonna say before kind of tablays in
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: on all of this from I guess, I don't know
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: want you to betray confidences, but from your view, who
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: are kind of the true leaders or the true leadership
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: council on the field for the team rather than coaching staff.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Who are the guys that are really instilling this into
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: the team.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it would. I think it's adjusted. I
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: think it's certainly adjusted with what happened at the Gold Cup.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: But I would say for me, Christians always going to
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: be a leader. Right. His status is cemented, his legacy
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: is cemented, and he might not be quote unquote kind
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: of the roddy rob verbal guy that we're used to seeing,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: kind of the stoic leadership, but he certainly leads with
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: his play. Weston is looked at as a leader because
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: it's Weston and he's got this gregarious personality, but when
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: he turns it on, he's hyper focused. Tyler is for me, Tyler,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: and watching Chris Richards grow, I think we're too. I mean,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Tyler's Tyler, right, He's always going to be a captain
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: mentality because he's, for me, one of the most competitive
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: human beings I've seen on the field with kind of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: this really laxed, nonchalant like I don't give a flying
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: squirrel who you are. Because I remembered at the All
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Star Game when he was like seventeen against Uve and
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: we interviewed him right after and I was like, man,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: how crazy is to play against you Va? And he's like, yeah, man,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: the way I look at it is just another team.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: And I was like, is he like incredibly cocky or
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: is he naive? Like it was almost like when Bees
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: and Landon started the World Cup, like they didn't know
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: any better, so it's just like, yeah, man, let's go
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: kick a ball around and have another game, I said,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Chris witchd Tim Reim is just always going to be
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: captain material for me. But I would say without disrespecting it,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and I think Tim Waya has his own leadership capabilities
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: because it's about a level of accountability and performance that
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: he tries to set for himself, which I think bleeds
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: into the group. So I think that's kind of the
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: group in my mind that I look at. That are
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the guys that everyone's going to kind of be paying
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: attention to how they're handling their business and how they're
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: prepping and what they're consuming, you know, prehab, rehab, postgame,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: all of that stuff. I think that's kind of the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: core group that I see.
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, you're definitely right on all
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: those points. And I think if if I only could
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: add something would be the fact that at the end
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: of the day, these guys like each other, you know,
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: and that's that you know, American teams have that. You know, there's,
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: of course there's a little bit of jealousy and old
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: teams that you're on, but these guys truly root for
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: each other. This is something that not every other country has,
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: and that's something that we always use as ammunition for ourselves.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: I always looked at American players as two different things
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: from my experiences of coaching them.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: Number one is they will run through the wall for you.
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: They just need to know what you want from them.
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: They don't want to go on the field not knowing
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: what to do. But if you can express to them
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: what needs to be done, what your job in particular is,
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: they will do it. They will do it. Any of
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: those guys will do it. And then number two was
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: the fact that they like each other and they will
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: fight for each other.
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: And you know, I think the.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: Issue that we've all had in some sort of way
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: over the last year and a half is the fact
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: that we thought that and you mentioned that I think
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: perfectly when you said, you know, Pushatino has been in
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: front of, you know, the top guys. Obviously he was
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: a PSG. I think he had Messi and Bape and
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: they are at the same time. So it doesn't get
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: bigger than that ever in the history of soccer. Right,
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: So he had those guys, so he wasn't gonna be
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: in awe off whoever we had. Matter of fact, and
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: now I know that he didn't know most of our
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: guys because no, because it took him a year to
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: get to this point where we are now right a
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: little bit over a year. I think now we're happy
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: with what we're getting from the team, but this is
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: really what we expected from day one. For some we've
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: been saying it for years. This team just doesn't have
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: that gear, doesn't have that fighting ability that other American
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: teams had. How can we get that out? And it
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: took a year and a half, but we're finally there.
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: So I think, you know, I'm happy that we're finally there.
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I think all of these things,
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: all of these fights that we've had over the last year,
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: have been over the fact.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: That man, why is this taking so long?
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: But he's certainly there and we're in a good place
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Dunny, is there something that the average us N and
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: T fan doesn't, you know, really understand about the group
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: or the dynamic or what is going on around the team?
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: You know, as as you're asking a question, I already
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: had something in my mind without knowing where you were
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: going to go with this, without looking at the rundown,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: and and I think the one thing, Tap and you
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: being of of American and Uruguayan descent and seeing the
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: game and so many different versions of countries and players,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: this melting pot that we have, you know, when we
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: get to play the game at the highest level. I
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: think the one thing that I was constantly trying to
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: figure out a way and obviously in these short bits
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: when you're on television, you know, you only have so
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: much time to get into deeper conversations. But I always
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: think about Marisa Puchatino, the player, you know, and thinking
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: about you know, his pathway as an Argentine defender and
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: from Rosadio and into Espanol and heading over you know,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: his time at PSG and playing in the World Cup,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and you know, playing for Loco Bielsa and kind of
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: like all of these things, how that shape too he
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: is and then and you know, the collective group with
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Mickey de Algostino and Hey Zeus and Tony kime Inez
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: and his entire staff. I just always I always wondered,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: in like the transparent moments where you could either be
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: a fly on the wall or you could have like
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: a really open and honest conversation, how the view was
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: after the first couple of camps of how they were
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: viewing not only the quality of the player, but the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: mentality of the player, and then kind of the personality
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: of the player. And to your point, Tab, after really
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: tumultuous twenty twenty five, that was a lot of unnecessary drama.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: It almost became necessary for Mauricio Pochettino and his staff
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to create whatever they've created behind the scenes that even
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: you know us as former player and podcasters, broadcasters, former players,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: you know people around that we always kind of like
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: hear the whispers. But it wasn't until the September, October
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: November window where I felt like, to your point, TAB
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: finally got a great understanding of this competitive desire and
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: it was almost like we I don't say dumbing it down,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: but we peeled back the onions so deep to like
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the core, like, hey, let's let's restart. How what are
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the non negotiables. We'll talk about style and talk about
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: tactics and all that stuff, great, but like, what are
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the non negotiables? With the moment that you walked through
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: the door, and I felt like that's one of the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: things that God is To the point where everybody was
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: really happy with the way that the last three windows
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: because outside that first half again South Korea in New
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Jersey when he switched to the back three with Chris Richards,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and Chris Richards had that ankle knock, and had he
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: started maybe you know, the four in the back is
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: still you know, the shape of choice. But all of
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: like these little dominoes that start to fall, and like
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: reintroducing a Christian Roldan who was a great role player
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: for the group at the World Cup, and I just
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I just always wish I could have been a part
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: of those conversations to truly understand how he got to
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: ending out was a successful twenty twenty five. But God,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: that June July window when they're playing Turkey and Switzerland
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: and heading into the Gold Cup and you know, obviously
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: big names and big players and big personalities, it became
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: a really dramatic moment for US Soccer, for the players,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: for the coaching staff. Yeah, it was kind of wild
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: to see this year play itself out, because I think
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: a lot of us were really concerned last summer that
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: we were looking at a repeat of potentially what the
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Copa Meedica was a few years ago down in Atlanta.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: That was my worry to on that one. I thought,
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: that's a really excellent answer and nuance, and like you said,
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: like a lot of the stuff that even again not
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: just saying fans like media, ourselves, the people who can't
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: be in the locker morton around the locker room, and
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: all you can do is kind of judge on on
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: field performances and tactical decisions and particular managers. And I've
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: spoken to a few coaches about this who kind of
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: stressed the importance of like, look, I get it, like
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get criticized for like my subs, but
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: it's like, dude, that's like twenty percent of like whether
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: I'm successful or not. It's like it's like eighty percent
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: of man management and everything that leads up to what
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: everybody sees on game day, because like, yeah, if I
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: take out a right back and put in a wing
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: back or something like that, like, yeah, that's important, But
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: what's most important is all the work that happens within
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: the group on the training field and everybody being bought in.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: And it's just it's difficult to talk about it because
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: it's easier to criticize somebody. Why did you wait till
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: the sixty fifth minute for a sub or why did
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: you put out this formation. And again those things are valid,
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: but it's it's harder to be like, yeah, this is
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: the work that this is how all of these guys
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: bought in, or this is the leadership stuff, or these
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: are the foundational things that are being put in that
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: you can't really see really really quick.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Tab Let me ask you this as a player and
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: then as a manager, how much is you know, the
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: culture of competition, Like again, the ninety minutes is ninety minutes.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: But I always think about, like, how do you create
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: a culture of competition with guys that are so hungry,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: that are the outliers that all of a sudden they
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: are pushing the elite group in the national team to
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: now a level where I think I could name and
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: feel comfortable with four or five guys that are like,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: you know, the the top A plus level players in
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: this group. And then it gets into you know who
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: who the rest of the guys are, And I think,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, in the last four or five months,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: we've got a new crop of guys that are you know,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: like a Tanner Testaman. You know, where where does the
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: Sebastian Burholter Li, Like where does the Christian rodn Lie
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: how's the Diego Luna versus a Malec Tillman versus a
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Geo Reina versus a West McKenney in those midfield positions.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: I think about the culture of competition might be the
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: most important thing that Marisa Pochetino in this group.
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: Has and that starts in training, right, and that's where
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: it starts. Think, I think this group, you know, and
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: for all the good things that you know, Greg Burholter
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: did with the team and through the World Cup in
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty two and all of that, I think the
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: team there was a culture created of going to the
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: training sessions, to go through exercises, to go through patterns,
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: to go through pre program plays too, you know, and
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: it wasn't so much about the playing and about the winning.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: And I think, you know, it starts in practice with competition,
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: just like you said. And the competition is as little
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: as the one v one going to goal, the three
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: v two going the goal. The transition games that you
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: do is how much you win.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: So I'll give you.
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: An example when I you know, when I was a
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: Tigris in Monterey, I had the chance to to play
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: for Victor Bustich, who is a great coach in Mexico,
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: probably one of the winningest of all time. Tough, tough coach,
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: like you just don't become friends with him, right, good guy,
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: good guy by the way, but you know, you know,
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: he's one of those coaches where you know he's he's
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: at the top and you're you're just a player. And
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: he said to me at one point, he goes, hey,
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: you know, I noticed in your career you never won anything.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: I worry about that.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: No, just like that, right, And it's difficult think about
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: it as a player. This is a team game at
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: the end of the day. It's not like it's not
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: like you measure yourself by rings, because it's it's difficult.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: You have to be you, first of all.
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: You have to be a great player obviously in order
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: to be on a great club that wins things, right,
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: So it's that part is not easy. But having said that,
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: I put myself in an environment at Tigris where I
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: made sure that every single practice we had, whether I
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: played a four four or a five to five or
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: a soccer, tennis or whatever I did, that I won.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: Because then I went to him and I said, you
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: saw that, right, I won?
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: And every no, no, no, and I'm not I'm not exacting.
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: I actually did that, and through the year I didn't
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: lose like a two v two or three v three
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: are going to go.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: I try to win everything.
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: And that's part of that was part of him maybe
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: getting in my head right for me to be at
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: my best. But all these little things are really important, Donny,
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: to have the players play at their best. And I
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: think you know, as you said before, we sort of
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: don't know how he did it. We don't know they
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: were when Pussatino and his staff were in a room.
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: We don't know what they discussed. But the fact is,
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: you know, even if you're a serge your desk or
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: Anthony Robinson right now, you're a little you have to
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: be a little bit worried.
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: About, Hey, am I playing? Am I going to be
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: the guy? Or am I not going to be the guy?
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's no discussion that Anthony Robinson was our
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: best player for the last five years maybe four and
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: a half, right, he was our best. He was good
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: every time he was on the field, and he won
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: games for us for that position.
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: But now you can't forget about Max Arsten. The kid
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: can do the job too. So Anthony Robinson asked to come.
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: And that's I think the competition that we have in
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: pretty much every position now, and I think the coaching
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: staff and in particular Mariso Pocentino has to get credit
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: for that.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: I agree on that front, and that's a good transition
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: to it's difficult to name is stoning eleven And I
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: think that this is going to be a fluid process
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: all the way through the World Cup and in the
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: World Cup. But Donny, we do this most weeks or
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: every other week sometimes, but I think people are stick
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: from here from tab and I about what we think
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: are Eleven's are so, Donny, you give us a USMNC stoning and.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Ido Taba a good friend of he's. I call him
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: wreck at Ralph Hans Tony Miola was always saying to me,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: I mean his hands are massive, like you know this,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: it's just yeah, he just Donkey Kong's people on the
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: top of the head and he gets mad.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: He'd been talking about three in the back and I
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: was always saying in that like, I don't know if
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: we got the players. I don't know if we got
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: the horses. I don't know if we have the right guys.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: And you know, think about goalkeepers and outside backs, and
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: something changed. And I think one of the things that
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: changed is we became and someone like yourself who was
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: so elite in that that winger type of position, I
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: just don't I'm not sure if Marisa Pucatino and his
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: staff really view this group of players with out and
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: out wingers, and I think there'll be a huge trickle
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: down effect in that, and I think a lot of
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: that then bleeds into a three in the back system.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: And the only one I'm not sure about was Tim
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Reeen because he's tried and trusted and I just think
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: he's been such a fantastic servant for the US men's
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: national team. But I imagine the size of our back
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: line and our goalkeeper, and when I think about Matt
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Freeze and goal and I think about Miles Robinson, and
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: I think about Chris Richards, and I think about Mark
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: McKenzie being the smallest of the group now with Alex
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Freeman on one side, and thinking about Anthony Robinson opposite.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, on the margins of set pieces, corners,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: throw ins, all of that, we got really big, we
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: got really really athletic, all of a sudden, So those
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: were the kind of idea of playing a hybrid of
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: three in the back slash, five in the back Looeballigan,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: undisputed number nine, Christian Pallistic for me, sits in that
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: pocket ten a little bit more on that left hand side.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: I think, if as long as Tyler's healthy, you're gonna
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: play Tyler in that sitting pocket. So five, six, seven,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: eight spots for a couple of more if Geo's healthy. God,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know what it is about my love affair,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: my man crush on Geo. I just think that his
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: player profile is so different than the other guys in
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: a moment where you want him to speed it up
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: or you want to to slow it down. You want
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: a guy to get it, get in the rhythm of
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: the game. He's kind of always going to be my
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: outlier in this group. But I'm really intrigued by Tanner
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: Tessman sitting with Tyler. But I think with you got
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Wes McKinney in the field and the job that he's
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: putting in for Spalletti and for Juve right now, he's
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: going to be my box to box kind of connector
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: between Tyler and Christian, and I still can't figure out
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the right position for Tim Waya in this conversation, because
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: I know that he's an impact player off the bench
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: that's going to be phenomenal, but I don't know how
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: to get him into the starting eleven if Jedi is
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: on one side and Freeman's opposite. So that's kind of
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: the framework with three in the back that I would
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: go with as of right now, considering there's still some
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: guys like where do you put Luna? Where do you
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: put Aaronson? Where do you put alex In Dejas In
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: this conversation, all of a sudden, we've got a lot
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: of competition for kind of that right of midfield role.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: Makes it really difficult to pick.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: Out Donny quick fall ve are you psychopath? I've never
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: I've never heard anybody again asked starting eleven, and I
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: think you named three center backs, center forward.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, two outsides, two outsides. So there's my five, there's
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: my six, there's my satellings. There's my eight because I
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: was leaving it open, there's my nine. It's my biggest
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: it's honestly, it's it's who plays next to Christian is
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: my biggest question. Everything else, I feel like I've got
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the framework yeah, because I went like this, and then
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: I went like this, and then I went this, and
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, over here, so I think it's
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: west seemed like, yeah, it's it's close.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: Crazy. The tap pics picked up on it. I was
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: I was trying to put the pin the string theory
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: on the board of Okay, who goes there and where?
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: That was like, no, I'm right with you, brother, Yeah, no,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm gonna have date night with solve
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: the Solve the murder with my wife at any moment.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: That's how my mind works. But again, Kelsey Fuller's in
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: three semesters, you can't expect much from me.
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: On On McKenny really quickly, So you like him kind
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: of in the box of box role rather than next
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: to politic in the attacking line.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: I just think he is. I think he is. And
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: how do I say this without like shading anyone else.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: I think Weston mckenny's mentality is a monster mentality. I
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: think that after what was a surprising move to a
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: lot of us at UVE to then bet in to
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: effectively being threatened with departure each and every offseason to
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: win the trust in the faith of the manager, and
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: managers to almost become undroppable the consistency of his performances.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: And I don't think anybody and I know it's a
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: different time and it's a different era, but for him
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: to have nine Champions League goals and Pavelo Nedved to
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: have eleven Champions League goals and again, different format, different games.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: To Tony Miola was letting me know that the other day,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: I was just telling him he was old. He also
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: doesn't like the weight of away goals in Champions League format.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: Well whatever, psychopath? Uh, I just I think just Weston
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: for me is how do I say this correctly?
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: Undroppable?
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: I think he's our most well rounded player.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: And he's really so And that's that's been part of
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: the conversation about him, is that he's very good at
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: a lot of things and you're trying to figure out,
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: like again, like Pool is sick. You talk about his
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: dribbling technique, it's like that's elite. McKinney's is good, but
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: it's not elite. It's like, well, his engine is really good,
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: but like Tyler Adams is kind of elite his ball
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: winning is It's just like he's so good at so
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: many things, which is why we have this pysicial discussion
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: all the time. And this week, I don't know, I'm
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: sure you saw the Juventus manager came out and goes,
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: quote McKenny would would be the perfect center forward. He's
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: one of the best in that role because he's always
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: where the ball is. He fights for every ball. He's
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: good in the air because of his impressive eleap. He
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: attacks the space behind like nobody else. We don't only
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: have Jonathan David, we also have Weston mcginney who does
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: a bit of everything. Now was managers saying he might
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: get set a.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: Forward, but I will chop up.
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: But I will say this, he is better than everyone
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: else at getting into the box from a deep midfield position.
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: And so you know, I had a coach a long
• 51:13
  Speaker 4: long time ago, Jorgey dallas Andro, who said I was
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: talking to him about a certain player and I said, hey,
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: you know, I really like him, and he goes, why
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: do you like him? And I said, well, because he's
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: you know, he's good at this and he's good at that.
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: And he said to me, he goes, well, you know
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: I don't like him, and I said, well why and
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: he goes, well, you know when I watch him play,
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: he's he's pretty good at creating in the middle of
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: the field. He's pretty good at receiving with his back
• 51:37
  Speaker 4: to goal and play, and he's pretty good at getting
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: into the box. You know, he's decent in the air.
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: You know, he's not bad at tackling and winning balls.
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: He said.
• 51:46
  Speaker 4: But you know what, every time I watch him and
• 51:49
  Speaker 4: in any of those situations, he's only pretty good. I
• 51:53
  Speaker 4: want somebody that's great at something, and I have to
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: tell you there's no one. There's no one like McKinney
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: getting into the box. And if if McKinny becomes that
• 52:03
  Speaker 4: third and I think, I think Dunny and I agree
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: perfectly on the lineup, except whether that would be Freeman
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: on the right side or desk. Who knows, it can
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: potentially be Whea two right, depending on what you know,
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: how much we're dominating a game, because if Paraguay is
• 52:18
  Speaker 4: sitting back in the World Cup, I can see us
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: going to like a way I'm using them more like
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: a winger, right.
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: So that that could happen.
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: But I have to tell you, I think, you know,
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: having Testament and Adams with McKinney as a little bit
• 52:31
  Speaker 4: more advanced knowing that McKinny can get into the six
• 52:34
  Speaker 4: yard box of the other team to finish plays. That's
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: huge because with Christian coming into receive and having now
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: balligan and having McKenny coming from behind, I think that's
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: dangerous and he does that better than anyone else.
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that was good to bring up that
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: is what he's a lead at. But as we've kind
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: of said on the show plenty of times talking for
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: tab Of like that skill is best suited for being
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: a central Joe trio rather than a double pivot. So
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: it is interesting, But I don't know, it's more and
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: more clear every week that this is a guy that
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: you got, you're gonna find a way to get on
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: the field, and no matter where you put him. You
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: can put him at left wing back and I think
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: he'd be successful because that's Wes McKinney. But we got
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: one more break. We'll be right back. We got a
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: couple a couple of trips down memory lane with Dunny here,
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: So please rate mview and subscribed inside American Sock.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Wh'll be right back.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: All right, welcome back. Let's go back inside the locker
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: room and we're gonna give tab a little bit of
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: a break here and he gets to just have the
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: fun of listening and reacting. So Dunny one of the
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: best storytellers I know. And you know, normally I would
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: be careful to not overbuild you up, but I think
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: across the course to show people. I hope everybody listening
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: knows you. But but whoever didn't, I think that they
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: got the message pretty quickly. So let's go back into
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: that two thousand Olympic team that you played on that
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: was so very good.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think one of my favorite stories was Clive
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: Charles would always take us to England and we'd head
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: over there and play against Sunderland or Darby County or
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: Liverpool and one of these days was Manchester United. It
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: was when John Thorington was at Manchester United and he
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: was a part of our Olympic team. And back in
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: the day, Danny Higginbotham, Jonathan Greeney, Wes Brown, I think
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: Phil Neville was in that game, Jordi Kroife. I mean
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: they it was kind of a mixture more of the
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: younger side and some of the guys that weren't getting games,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: and we ended up playing the game, and we end
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: up winning and when we go back to the hotel,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: and it was one of the first trips of Landon
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: being with us, and you know, here's this young, precocious
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: teenager kid who's significantly younger than the rest of us.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: And we get back, we're all supposed to go back
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: in the hotel, shower, go to lunch, and I remember,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: like Chad McCarty was my roommate, legend, and he looks
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: out the window and Chad has this like giggle and
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: he just goes, what and again, we just got done
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: playing Man United, And he looks out the window. He's like, dude,
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: you got to come look at this. And there's landing
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: in the parking lot outside of the hotel and he's
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: just juggling. He's just juggling, and like I think Chad
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: was like geek or something like that, and like, unbeknownst
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: to us, we were talking. You know, here's the greatest
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: player of our generation who's coming through and at the time,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: like you know, he was impacts up coming off the bench,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: a kid. You know, him and Bees were involved in
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: the build up to the Olympics, and just like I
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: always I always giggled. I just always laughed at that
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: moment where it was like, here's these you know, these
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: two older guys getting ready for the Olympics were probably
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: like twenty one twenty two at the time. Land is
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: like sixteen seventeen and he's just out in the parking lot,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: you know, juggling by himself after playing Manchester United instead
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: of getting ready and going to lunch. So that was, yeah,
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: that was always my my national team. But I mean
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: tab you know, Clive Charles and Peter Meller and all
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: of those guys. My son is named after after Clive.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: That'll put mica Clive.
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: It was such a such an unbelievable human being, such
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: a legend, you know, from his time and being involved
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: with the build up to the ninety eight World Cup
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: under Samson. Uh. And can I say the disaster that
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: was the build up or no, that's not that's not
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: the right word. Uh. The story time that was created
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: because of the build up heading into the ninety eight
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: World Cup and the subsequent performance would led to even
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: more story times. Yeah, having having Clive around, having Thomas
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Rong and smoking his unfiltered reds on the sideline with
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: the spit stuck to his lips, and you know, Steve
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: switching up formations. It was you know, I was always
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: really really lucky. I think my favorite though with the
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: national team was at the Limit or sorry, it was
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: in Orlando. Tony Meal was behind me. Sampson was the coach.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Tony rolls a ball out to me. I hit a
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: big switch to Frankie. Frankie's chugging up the sideline, and
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden I hit him like with a
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: line in the back because he never looked and he
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: just thought the ball was gonna be played. But he
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: was so fast he gets the front. I nail Frankie
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: in the back, and Steve goes, mister Haydock, you must
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: turn your body face the ball, and Frankie goes, yeah, whatever, bro,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: next one, and Steve just goes, uh, Frankie, all right, no,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: take a seat. So frank goes over. Frankie's like, yeah, whatever, bro,
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: And he goes over, and Frankie goes and he sits
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: and like at the at the ESPN whatever fields that
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: we're on, yeah, there's these like giant grates in behind,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: like in between the fields. And Frankie goes over, sits down,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: takes a piss into the grate and like at that time,
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Samson turns he goes, mister, adok, what are we doing.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: We are professionals, we must not do this. And Frank
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: He's like, I don't know, Bro, I just had to
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: take a leak, bro, not a big meal. That was
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: like I just remember looking back at Tony and I
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: just pulled my bib over my face because I was
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: trying not to laugh hard, and Tony just goes, what
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: just happened? And I mean, you know, Meatball, it was.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: It was brilliant. So yeah, that was one of my
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: favorite like national team moments.
• 58:13
  Speaker 4: But these are you know, these are all the great
• 58:15
  Speaker 4: scenes behind the scenes that people don't know about that,
• 58:18
  Speaker 4: you know, regardless of the club you're at or the
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: money anybody makes or anything else. These are all the
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: stories that anyone ever remembers, right, the funny things that happened.
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: I think you know and I know you.
• 58:30
  Speaker 4: You know you you've played with these two guys that
• 58:32
  Speaker 4: I'm going to ask you about because I think most
• 58:34
  Speaker 4: fans don't know much about them, but I wish they
• 58:37
  Speaker 4: knew how great these two guys were. And one is
• 58:41
  Speaker 4: John O'Brien and the other one and the other one
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: is my favorite, I think American player of all time,
• 58:47
  Speaker 4: and that would be Clint Mathis.
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: So can you can you just give us a little
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: bit about what it was like to play with those
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: two guys.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Johnny and I grew up playing against
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: each other in southern California, and he was he was
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: either on AGSS with Afshin Goti or he was at
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: cal Flyers at the time. And I remember he was
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: just the best player in southern California by a country mile.
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: And he went over to IAX and I remember when
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: he came back, we caught up and it was just
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: like the little things like what's what's the life like,
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: what's training like? And he was, you know, one of
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: the things I always talked about was the individual training
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: was just like in the racquetball courts and you would
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: just have a ball and you'd just have this repetition
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: left right, left right touch, bounced laces outside the right foot,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: outside left foot, and then he would tell stories about
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: like how you know the og i AX group, I
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: mean the you know this is like ninety three, ninety four,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: ninety five i AX. So this is like talk about
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: a football and education. He he would he was telling
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: a story about how he was the ball boy and
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: how like the boars and right cards and they would
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: like teach them like speed the game up, slow the
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: game down. We were just having this conversation and the
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: jokes about the owls and the long throws for Deutsche
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: ate it like the towels for nodding forrest game the
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: other day, but like all those little fun stuff. And
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: then finally Johnny became so Dutch that we used to
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: joke that he would get dressed in the dark in
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: his closet because he'd come out and he'd have like
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: bright yellow and bright orange and this look, and he
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: was super Euro like you could you could see his
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: DNA from how tight his pants were in all the
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: fun spots. So, uh yeah, Johnny. My favorite memory is
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: a player of Johnny. We were playing against Liverpool and
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: it was against Danny Murphy, and Paul Ince and Steve
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: McManamon and Friedol were sitting on the sideline and Danny
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: Murphy was just crushing people left and right, and all
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, Johnny pops up, no slide tackles Danny
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: Murphy pops up, nutmegs him and then Chip the keeper
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: from like forty yards and we were just like Johnny Oh,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: Johnny Oh's and the how. So that's what I have a.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: Quick one with John O'Brien.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 4: So John O'Brien sort of got into the national team
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 4: picture when the year I was retiring, which was right
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 4: around I think it was two thousand, so at the
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 4: time I was, you know, like thirty three years old.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 4: So we're playing a We're playing a qualifier in New England,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 4: and I recall this and that There's not much I
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 4: remember at this point because I'm too old to remember,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 4: but I do remember this. I remember that I got
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 4: a ball in midfield and I went to play a
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 4: through ball and lost it. And John O'Brien says to me,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 4: what are you doing. You can't lose the ball there,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 4: And that had never in my career had anyone tell
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 4: me you can't lose the ball.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 3: Never. I never had a player ever tell me that.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: And he must have been nineteen or twenty at the time.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know how old he was, but I was like, man, yeah,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: we would have been like twenty two.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: I remember thinking, man, I really like this kid.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: If you ever get John on, you got to ask
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: him about the transfer to Barcelona. You got you got
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: to hear his story because if if things had gone
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: just slightly different, Johnny O'Brien would have gone from Hiex
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: to Barcelona, which would have been incredible and he would
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: have fit right in. I mean, I think he was
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: one of the most elegant players that I've ever played with.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: And had he not and I think it was right
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: around the Olympics when he played through with a calf issue, Man,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: what would what could have been and what would have
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: been in terms? And he was always up for the
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: big tournaments. He'd get himself fit enough to get through
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: the big tournaments, but he just couldn't stay healthy after
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: you know, it was like it was like the start
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: of one injury then led into another injury by the
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: time he and it was just this crazy trickle down.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: It actually reminds me somewhat of what's going on with Geo.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: And I remember asking Christian when he made the move
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: to AC Milan, you know what was the difference, because
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: physically he was so healthy and he he referenced that
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: he was starting games and playing games. So I'm constantly
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: in my mind using that as the reference point, Like
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: if Geo could find this like a coach and a
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: system where he could start every single game. I wonder
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: if that would deflate the amount of injuries, because you know,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: the warm ups, the cool downs, you know, jumping into
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: a game at full speed, all of that stuff's a
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: little bit different, but yeah, those are the ones Clint
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: mathis talk about a character. I played against Clint when
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: he and WOLFI were at South Carolina, I believe, and
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: they were out in like it was like a Santa
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: Clara type of tournament in college. And his his his attitude,
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: man like, his his presence was rock star quality. But
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: you knew Clint was on the field, like you knew
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: Clint was on the field. And so then when he
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: you know, when he got he got the draft and
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: went into the national team. He was in that Orlando
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: trip where Harksy and Waldo fell in love with him.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: In the build up to ninety eight, he was I
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: think only like two weeks he was two weeks too
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: old to be I think he was a seventy six,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: So he's two weeks too old to be with our
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: group with the Olympic team, and talk about such an
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: addition like him and Wolfe and Connor Casey, Benny Olsen
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: and Chris Albright and Johnny O and the Pocket p
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: d Vinus, Like we would have been outrageous with Clint.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: But yeah, listen, on the field. Off the field, I
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: think people forget like in the days of like ESPN,
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: The Life and MTV cribs, like in the early two thousands,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: Clint was on those, Like Clint Clint was a rock
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: star and tab I know you spent you know, plenty
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: of time with him on the field. Off the field,
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: I mean I can remember like one night being out.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: He's like we're going out. You're in town, We're going
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: out and going out, and it was like we were
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: at like one Oak and it was like like the
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: dude that sang like the rapper that did like jump
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: around from House of Payne was like just the three
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: of us and we were like chatting, you know, Clint, Yeah, yeah,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: just just I mean Clint, Clint knew everybody, like everybody,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: and then even when we're out here in Salt Lake together.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: He is the most gracious human being, the most respectful
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: human being. Yes please is no, thank you, yes, ma'am
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: uh no sir. At a time where he was like
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: at the penultimate like financial success of his career. Up
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: in Park City. Every day after training, he'd be like, hey,
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: Trace and I are going to take the boat out.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: Do you guys want to come? You know, always like
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: I got you, and he was. He was taking care
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: of everybody, like all the guys that didn't have any
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: money buying them lunch, taking care of everybody. He is.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: He is such a gentle soul, but at the same
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: time the most competitive human being I've ever been around
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: in my entire life. Like you go play golf, I'm
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: a lefty. He was a righty. He'd smash one like
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty yards. I'd hit mine and he'd
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: be like, oh, let me, let me have a swing.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: And then he'd hit go lefty ambidextrious and hit it
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: like two eighty right down the middle, and I'd be
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: you and effort like whether it was like playing like
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: basketball or is kicking field goals or playing cards like
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: he was, he was just like you would never you
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: would never believe it based on his body type because
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: he just he had a different body type than everyone else.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: He was never gonna be like I remember the joke
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: coming in he like we did our body fat testing
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: and the start of preseason, he was like twenty two
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: and we all started like laughing, twenty two percent, and
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: he just laughed and he goes, why.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: Do you think they call it preseason? Like, I don't know,
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: this ain't the season, this is preseason.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna play myself back into the fitness And yeah,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's just he's an incredible soul, incredible person.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: I've got the utmost love for it.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 4: And I have to, obviously because I was rummaged with
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 4: him for a little while too, so I got to
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 4: know him really, really, really well. But I also tried
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 4: to keep him a little bit in check right and
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 4: he had he because he is a great person. He
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: is very respectful. He always respectful with me. He tried
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 4: to kind of play the game that way. But I
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 4: have to tell you, you know, as for me, he
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 4: is the He had more tools than any American player ever,
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 4: and he was just as great a person off the field.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 4: But I have to say, I've never seen someone when
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 4: you talk about tools, someone who was excellent technically, could
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 4: shoot with the right, could shoot with the left, could
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 4: shoot free kicks with the right and the left, which
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 4: really very few or no one can do. He was
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 4: good in the air, he was fast, he could take
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 4: you on one v one.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 3: He had everything.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, by the way to your point about either feet.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: The first goal for me also, like I was lucky
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: enough to score back in two thousand and five, the
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: very first home goal, and it was Clint and I
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: knew that Jason christ was going to make the first
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: run and he was going to be chased. I knew
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: that Eddie Pope was going to make the second run.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: But Clint and I had already talked about that curling
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: ball around and he takes it so quickly that I
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: get a jump on. I think it was like Richie
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: Kotchaw was the guy was it was defending against me
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: and Clint actually on purpose. The way he hit it,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: it almost fainted like it was going to go to
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: Jason and Eddie, and the way he hit it, it
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: bounced and like Joe Cannon couldn't come out. And then
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: I just laid out and I scored a diving header
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: to win the game. But like as much as I
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: was like proud about my header, Clint knew what he
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: was doing. He had already he had already the quality
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: of the service, the spin, the curve on the ball,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: the weight of it. Everything he hit it with the
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: inside and so he just knew. And you know, I
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: mean you saw him in training like his ability inside inside, right,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: left foot outstanding. But yeah, he meant to do it
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: on purpose. And I don't ever think he gets enough
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: credit for that assist.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: That's a good point.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 2: Listen, Donny, we could sit here and talk with you forever. Again.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: Everybody listen to him on serious XEM. Listen to him
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: when he calls USMNT games, and listen to him when
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: he calls MLS games. Donny. Before I let you go,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: we'll just do a quick postgame interview here. If Bruce
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: Arena was here and was giving giving his assessment of
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: how you performed on the podcast today, you know what
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: would he say?
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: Uh, he would say something like brilliant. Dun Seth just
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: told you all he knows about soccer in the first
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: ten seconds of the interview. And Tommy Boga, you're a knucklehead,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: cuts your hair.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: Tab. I love you, Tab, You're all right, Donnie, You're
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 2: the man. Thank you so much for this.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: Love, appreciate you guys, Thank you so much for having.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: Tab thanks as always and everybody, thank you for listening
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: Inside American Soccer. Please, if you're enjoying the show, rate review,
• 1:09:45
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• 1:09:48
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• 1:09:51
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• 1:09:53
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• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: All again, very Bracy