Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / What is Success for U.S. at World Cup and an Interesting Weekend for Americans Abroad

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What is Success for U.S. at World Cup and an Interesting Weekend for Americans Abroad · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: And I like that he's saying not like why why
0:02
Speaker 1: not us? Why not believe as long as he's being
0:04
Speaker 1: careful to not saying anything way over the top, we're
0:08
Speaker 1: like guaranteeing or promising anything. But like if he's asked
0:10
Speaker 1: about the World Cup, like him saying, hey, we're gonna
0:12
Speaker 1: never win it, like all fail on the team to day.
0:17
Speaker 1: What's going on? Everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
0:21
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Bogert, and as always I'm joined
0:23
Speaker 1: by my friend and one of the greatest players in
0:25
Speaker 1: US soccer history, a vendor of three World Cups, former
0:28
Speaker 1: us U twenty World Cup and MLS head coach, Tab Ramos.
0:32
Speaker 1: We are coming to you a few days after Thanksgiving here,
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Speaker 1: tab I hope that your Thanksgiving went well. What was
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Speaker 1: your favorite dish this year? Did you have any any
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Speaker 1: fun stories and you got do you guys do a little?
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Speaker 1: Do you incorporate soccer into your Thanksgiving day in anyway?
0:45
Speaker 2: Well?
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Speaker 3: Soccer is always part of the picture, right, But Thanksgiving
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Speaker 3: was excellent this year. You know, we had we had
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Speaker 3: the whole family over here. Obviously, my son Alex, who
0:55
Speaker 3: you know really well, you know, was over with his
0:58
Speaker 3: little one who's not walking yet, but but we already
1:01
Speaker 3: have him with the ball, so he's already pulling the
1:03
Speaker 3: boat back. So we're doing a little bit of that.
1:05
Speaker 3: And then uh, and and then obviously it comes to food.
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Speaker 3: I'm a big h stuffing guy, you know, like you
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Speaker 3: always have to pick something, right. Everybody has something it's
1:14
Speaker 3: either you know, uh, but for me, it's definitely stuffing
1:18
Speaker 3: that that's my thing. And then and then I'm an
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Speaker 3: apple pie and ice cream guy at the end, so
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Speaker 3: that's sort of my things for Thanksgiving.
1:25
Speaker 1: And let me guys, you go for a run after
1:27
Speaker 1: just rather than while the rest of us continue eating.
1:29
Speaker 1: You're like, I'm gonna need to get to stop, watch
1:31
Speaker 1: out and do a couple of hill sprints.
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Speaker 3: No, no, no, the run is in the market is
1:34
Speaker 3: in the morning, as soon as the day starts.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh man. And how quickly do you get
1:41
Speaker 1: Christmas lights.
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Speaker 2: Up right away? Right well? Right after right after Thanksgiving?
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Speaker 3: You spend a couple of days, you know, trying to
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Speaker 3: decorate the house and all that stuff in the tree up.
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Speaker 2: Yep.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. I try to have a strict rule of not
1:53
Speaker 1: doing it before Thanksgiving. It's a it's it's a it's
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Speaker 1: a push and pull with my wife. She likes she
1:57
Speaker 1: likes to have it up pretty quickly.
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Speaker 3: And by the way, I'm sorry, I mister your game.
2:00
Speaker 3: You know, Alex happened to be sick. He was gonna
2:03
Speaker 3: be out of town. That's why he wasn't gonna play,
2:04
Speaker 3: and then he was sick, so he had to come over.
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Speaker 3: But next year we'll definitely be there, both of us.
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Speaker 1: I'm looking forard to that. So I'll tell the guys
2:13
Speaker 1: not to not to go go out too much. On
2:15
Speaker 1: the night before. We had a good We had a
2:17
Speaker 1: good time. They'll always fun to play soccer and see
2:19
Speaker 1: see some old college teammates, some old club teammates from
2:22
Speaker 1: back in the NJASA days at your club. So always
2:25
Speaker 1: warms my herd to see guys. Now. We had a
2:26
Speaker 1: couple couple of little kids running around too. Usually it
2:29
Speaker 1: was you know when we're in college days and everybody's showing.
2:31
Speaker 1: It's it's funny to watch us all put on a
2:33
Speaker 1: few pounds and get a little bit slower every year,
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Speaker 1: but still still enjoy it all the same. On today's show,
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Speaker 1: we're gonna dive into the biggest US men's National team
2:42
Speaker 1: performances or absences this weekend at their various clubs, including
2:46
Speaker 1: Christian Pulisik sitting out this weekend against Lazio, Wes McKinney
2:49
Speaker 1: playing right wing back again for Juventus, and Tyler Adams. Yes,
2:52
Speaker 1: Tyler Adams scoring one of the goals of the season
2:55
Speaker 1: in the Premier League performance. We're gonna look at him.
2:57
Speaker 1: Last Cup two. With Sebastian Burhalter's Vancouver White Cap advancing
3:00
Speaker 1: to the final, they will go to Miami to play
3:03
Speaker 1: Lino Messi's into Miami. I'm gonna let that sit there.
3:05
Speaker 1: It is Brian White New Jersey, Mario Gomez against Lino Messi.
3:10
Speaker 1: It's what we all wanted to see. Also Thomas Mooler
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Speaker 1: in that game. In honor of MLS Cup, Tab and
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Speaker 1: I are gonna give our best elevens for the US
3:17
Speaker 1: Messager team only using MLS players. I think we have
3:20
Speaker 1: a couple of disagreements. I'm very excited for that. We'll
3:23
Speaker 1: go inside the locker room as always, where Tab gives
3:25
Speaker 1: us his inside story of waiting for a World Cup draw,
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Speaker 1: both in his playing days and as his coaching days.
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Speaker 1: With the World Cup draw coming up on Friday, on Friday,
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Speaker 1: sometime hopefully very quickly after the World Cup draw. TAB
3:36
Speaker 1: and I are going to do a special episode reacting
3:38
Speaker 1: to the group that the United States draw. We're very
3:40
Speaker 1: excited for that, and that'll be on your podcast feeds
3:43
Speaker 1: hopefully a few hours whenever this draw ends. Because TAB,
3:46
Speaker 1: we know that there's gonna be a lot of pomp
3:47
Speaker 1: and circumstance when it comes to FIFA in a World
3:49
Speaker 1: Cup draw. They say the draw starts at twelve, so
3:52
Speaker 1: maybe it'll wrap up by eight or nine pm Eastern
3:54
Speaker 1: time and sometime in the middle of the night for
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Speaker 1: the European teams just trying to find out what their
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Speaker 1: groups are. Lastly, we're gonna go inside the notebook and
4:02
Speaker 1: finish out with a big question, which is teed up.
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Speaker 1: I'm Risio Pochatino, who he said, believes the United States
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Speaker 1: can win the World Cup. We're gonna break that down
4:09
Speaker 1: and much much more. But for now, let's start with
4:12
Speaker 1: the weekend that was for the US men's national team
4:15
Speaker 1: players at their clubs. And first up is somebody who
4:18
Speaker 1: didn't play, Christian poolsick. He sat out this weekend. Per Gazetta,
4:21
Speaker 1: Pulistic felt a slight muscle problem during training an Ac
4:25
Speaker 1: Milan were taking no risks, so he sat out of
4:27
Speaker 1: the club's one n win over Latsio tab Injuries are
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Speaker 1: always gonna be part of this Polisick. It does have
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Speaker 1: decent injury kind of record. It hasn't been too bad
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Speaker 1: in recent years. You know, there was times at Dortmut
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Speaker 1: or Chelsea where it felt like he was either in
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Speaker 1: and out, But particularly after Pulisic listened to his body
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Speaker 1: and said, hey, I need this summer off. I can't
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Speaker 1: play at the Gold Cup and he got that summer break.
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Speaker 1: Is there any worry that some more little muscle injuries
4:55
Speaker 1: are popping up for Poolsick.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I would be worried a little bit,
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Speaker 2: you know.
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Speaker 3: I think he obviously he's been playing for a long
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Speaker 3: time now consistently, which is a great thing. But at
5:06
Speaker 3: the same time, I think, you know, sometimes it makes
5:08
Speaker 3: me question a little bit of the durability of our
5:11
Speaker 3: American players when they go overseas, because we really haven't
5:13
Speaker 3: had too many who have been consistently playing ninety minute games.
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Speaker 2: You know, you know, thirty five to forty games a season.
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Speaker 2: So I would worry a little bit.
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Speaker 3: But at the same time, you know, Christians having a
5:25
Speaker 3: great season at Milan, and I think they're being a
5:29
Speaker 3: little bit careful. So hopefully they're going to manage him
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Speaker 3: and bring him along and he'll get stronger as the
5:33
Speaker 3: season goes on, and you know, knock on wood, that
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Speaker 3: he'll be ready to go when the World Cup starts.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a good point about you know, key
5:43
Speaker 1: crucial players, and we have a lot of players that
5:45
Speaker 1: are playing a lot of minutes. And we're going to
5:46
Speaker 1: talk about McKenny soon. But but Poo is sick more
5:49
Speaker 1: than anybody else. Is at a big club where if
5:51
Speaker 1: he if he's out of the lineup, like that's huge news.
5:53
Speaker 1: Not just for US national team fans, that's huge news
5:56
Speaker 1: for Racing Milan fans. He has been their best player.
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Speaker 1: And while we talk about his durability, it really is
6:01
Speaker 1: only fair to say over the last two years, his
6:04
Speaker 1: first full season with Milan he played thirty six of
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Speaker 1: the thirty eight Syria games and last year he played
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Speaker 1: thirty four of the thirty eight and playing all the
6:12
Speaker 1: time in the Europa League Champions League. So for Polisik, he
6:15
Speaker 1: has been extremely durable over the last couple of years.
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Speaker 1: This season it's been a bit less, which is unfortunate,
6:20
Speaker 1: but obviously injuries happened in soccer, and we hope that
6:23
Speaker 1: as we hope that this was really just precautionary and
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Speaker 1: not a sign of worse things to come for Pulsiko again,
6:30
Speaker 1: like he was. It's way too early in September and
6:35
Speaker 1: October to be talking player of this season, but that's
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Speaker 1: what we do. In early in the SIIA season, he
6:40
Speaker 1: was the best player before he picked up an injury.
6:42
Speaker 1: Then there was a little bit of disagreements between the
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Speaker 1: national team and AC Milan asim Milan were not thrilled
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Speaker 1: that Polistic got injured in the game and a friendly,
6:52
Speaker 1: which felt a little silly to me because I don't
6:55
Speaker 1: think the national team is getting really upset if he
6:57
Speaker 1: picks up a knock in a AC Milan game. It
6:59
Speaker 1: is always a interesting push pull, but hopefully this will
7:02
Speaker 1: just be a minor thing for Polisic.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, without a doubt, I think that hopefully that's
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Speaker 3: all it is. You know, we heard Maricio Pochettino talk
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Speaker 3: talk about that a little bit about how I think,
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Speaker 3: you know, both parts are responsible. Is not just the
7:18
Speaker 3: club or it's not just the national team. Obviously, I
7:21
Speaker 3: think both club and country want to use the players
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Speaker 3: when they're one hundred percent and if there's some sort
7:26
Speaker 3: of risk where there could be a potential injury that
7:30
Speaker 3: could last a little bit long term, I think both
7:33
Speaker 3: parts are being careful. So I think I think it's
7:35
Speaker 3: all normal at this point that Melon sits him out
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Speaker 3: and hopefully he'll be back next weekend.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Pochatino didn't call Pulisic up for this reason,
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Speaker 1: to give him this kind of break in the last one.
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Speaker 1: So I think the national team have been really, really
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Speaker 1: fair with the way that they're treating players and working
7:52
Speaker 1: collaboraty with clubs, which is very important. But it was
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Speaker 1: Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner was publicly lamenting, you know,
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Speaker 1: Chris Richards like about how he picked up a knock
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Speaker 1: and a Glassner is complaining that the national team played
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Speaker 1: him well. He played every minute for Palace leading up
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Speaker 1: to that window. He comes back for pal he plays
8:11
Speaker 1: the first game immediately, and Glasser's blaming the national team
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Speaker 1: for him getting injured, and it's it's a no win
8:16
Speaker 1: spot for the federation. But I thought that was way
8:20
Speaker 1: over the top for Palace. But I digress, I'm that tangent.
8:23
Speaker 1: The next guy we want to talk about is Tyler Adams,
8:25
Speaker 1: and yes it is Tyler Adams who has scored a
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Speaker 1: potential goal of the season in the Premier League. It
8:30
Speaker 1: is easily the longest goal in the Premier League this season.
8:33
Speaker 1: It was just ahead of midfield and he lobbed the key.
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Speaker 1: But the keeper wasn't that far off his line to
8:37
Speaker 1: have I was listen. We both are huge fans of
8:41
Speaker 1: Tyler Adams. I've been championing him for a long time
8:44
Speaker 1: as well. There was nonsense early in his career maybe
8:46
Speaker 1: he should play right back. No, like he's a special
8:49
Speaker 1: central midfielder. With all that being said, I'm not sure
8:52
Speaker 1: if there was a less likely player in the midfield
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Speaker 1: or attacking group that if you told me somebody scored
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Speaker 1: from near midfield, I would have had I don't know,
9:00
Speaker 1: thirty guesses before I got to Tyler Adams.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll start with this first.
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Speaker 3: You know, about a few weeks ago when we were
9:08
Speaker 3: talking here, we told a little story about Tanner Testament
9:11
Speaker 3: and we said how Tannered Tessament could play anywhere including
9:13
Speaker 3: center back, right. And here we are a couple of
9:16
Speaker 3: weeks later and he's played a couple of games at
9:18
Speaker 3: the center back, and then last week we decided to
9:21
Speaker 3: talk about Tyler Adams, right, and we talk about Tyler
9:23
Speaker 3: Adams and here he goes.
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Speaker 2: You know, he goes on the field scores an amazing goal.
9:26
Speaker 3: You know, I agree with you about you know, maybe
9:29
Speaker 3: that's the least likely player to score.
9:32
Speaker 2: That type of goal.
9:33
Speaker 3: But at the same time, it goes to show the
9:34
Speaker 3: type of confidence that he's playing with, right, because not
9:37
Speaker 3: everybody will even look up for that. We'll just you know,
9:40
Speaker 3: you sometimes people will think of Tyler Adams and we'll
9:43
Speaker 3: think about the guy that just wants to complete passes
9:46
Speaker 3: and give rid of the ball. And the fact is,
9:48
Speaker 3: you know, Tyler Adams is a very confident player and
9:51
Speaker 3: he's always looking for that through ball. You know, we've
9:53
Speaker 3: seen him hit some some long bowster forwards coming through
9:56
Speaker 3: some diagonal balls and now in this case looking at
9:59
Speaker 3: the goalkeeper off his mine and I mean, he he
10:01
Speaker 3: scored a great goal.
10:02
Speaker 2: And although I would.
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Speaker 3: Say he's one of the least likely, I'm I'm honestly
10:07
Speaker 3: not surprised because he's just getting better and better.
10:11
Speaker 1: He the move to Bournemouth has been so perfect. He's
10:14
Speaker 1: continued to develop and being able to play as much
10:17
Speaker 1: as he has, like his body being where it is,
10:19
Speaker 1: it is really really encouraging. But the development side, like
10:21
Speaker 1: you said, Tad, I think he's grown on the ball
10:24
Speaker 1: since he's got to Bournemouth. When when Tyler was at
10:27
Speaker 1: the Red Bulls before he went to Leipzig, which you know,
10:30
Speaker 1: he was very clearly destined for a European move and
10:32
Speaker 1: there's plenty of suitors, Bournemouth really really wanted him. This
10:36
Speaker 1: was when Eddie Howe was the coach and Eddie How's
10:37
Speaker 1: and now at Newcastle, and they really wanted him, and
10:40
Speaker 1: they could have afforded the transfer fee that ended up,
10:43
Speaker 1: and Leipzig would have had the inside track because a
10:45
Speaker 1: Red Bull global and all of that. But Bournemouth really
10:47
Speaker 1: loved him and they thought that he could and would
10:50
Speaker 1: be a really player. But back in those days, in
10:53
Speaker 1: terms of like registration for non EU because this just
10:57
Speaker 1: before it breaks it you needed to have a certain
10:59
Speaker 1: level of national team caps and a combination of like
11:03
Speaker 1: special criteria and part of the criteria would have been
11:05
Speaker 1: fee and salary, and Bournemouth were like, we love, we
11:09
Speaker 1: think he'd be worth it. But to get him registered,
11:12
Speaker 1: to get him a work permit, we'd have to make
11:15
Speaker 1: him our highest paid player in the team, which doesn't
11:17
Speaker 1: seem fair for a eighteen or nineteen year old kid
11:20
Speaker 1: coming from MLS. If we did that, everybody would have
11:23
Speaker 1: turned around and said, we want a new deal. There's
11:24
Speaker 1: no way that this kid who's never played over here
11:27
Speaker 1: is making more than us, So I thought that was interestingly,
11:30
Speaker 1: It's really nice to see him come back around to
11:32
Speaker 1: Bournemouth and Bortmans is an even better spot than they
11:34
Speaker 1: weren't in the past, and Tyler is more ready for
11:36
Speaker 1: this moment and he's been just fantastic this season. In particular,
11:40
Speaker 1: he started all thirteen Premier League games. We're recording right
11:43
Speaker 1: now before Bournemouth plays in midweek game, so hopefully when
11:46
Speaker 1: you listen to this it's fourteen for fourteen. But Adams
11:48
Speaker 1: has gone over two thousand league minutes in Europe only
11:52
Speaker 1: one time, and that was with Leads, and that was
11:55
Speaker 1: only like twenty one hundred minutes. Last year he was
11:57
Speaker 1: just under two thousand. It's like twenty one star he's
12:00
Speaker 1: obviously on pace to smash that right now. This is
12:02
Speaker 1: another guy that we've had injury concerns about in the past.
12:05
Speaker 1: He at Leipzig he was definitely in and out, and
12:08
Speaker 1: the Copa America he played through an injury then he
12:10
Speaker 1: got hurt. It was like the beginning of his Bournemouth
12:12
Speaker 1: time too. So just how nice is it to see
12:14
Speaker 1: we're not talking about injuries of Adams. We're just talking
12:16
Speaker 1: about how awesome he is on the field and how
12:18
Speaker 1: well he's developing.
12:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he without without a doubt, he makes that
12:22
Speaker 3: team better. And I think one of the key thinks
12:27
Speaker 3: about this is the fact that when you hear the
12:30
Speaker 3: coach speak about him, you know the way he speaks
12:33
Speaker 3: about Tyler Adams and his importance on the team and
12:35
Speaker 3: how much he needs them. I think if Tyler Adams
12:38
Speaker 3: ends up sitting sitting out a game or two this
12:40
Speaker 3: year is going to be because the coach is going
12:42
Speaker 3: to be saving him because he doesn't want to lose him.
12:45
Speaker 3: I think he's that important to this Bournemouth team. Of course,
12:48
Speaker 3: he's not the most talented player on the team, but
12:50
Speaker 3: he really is the glue in the center of the
12:53
Speaker 3: field that keeps that team together. And at the end
12:55
Speaker 3: of the day, this is an important EPL team. This
12:58
Speaker 3: is not a bottom of the of the league type team,
13:00
Speaker 3: so I think he's in a good scenario. He makes
13:02
Speaker 3: that team better and likely, you know, he and Christian
13:05
Speaker 3: are the most consistent players we have overseas.
13:09
Speaker 1: And i'd throw Richards in as well, and I said
13:13
Speaker 1: this last show, I'll probably say a thousand more times
13:15
Speaker 1: for the World Cup. Those three players are the most
13:17
Speaker 1: important for the United States at the World Cup, and
13:20
Speaker 1: we're going to focus on them because that's who should
13:22
Speaker 1: be focused on, because they're gonna be the ones that
13:25
Speaker 1: determine whether it's group stage, knockout or how far in
13:27
Speaker 1: the knockout rounds that they go. And as long as
13:30
Speaker 1: Poolstick is healthy, I have no doubt over his form
13:32
Speaker 1: given what he's shown at Easton Lan over the last
13:35
Speaker 1: two and a half seasons, and Adams is the way
13:37
Speaker 1: he's playing right now. If Adams didn't play a minute
13:41
Speaker 1: but was fit for the World Cup, I'd still trust
13:43
Speaker 1: that he would be really good. But it's even better
13:45
Speaker 1: to see what he's doing right now for Bournemouth and
13:47
Speaker 1: long may it continue. Another player that's playing a lot
13:49
Speaker 1: of minutes but maybe not quite at a consistent position
13:53
Speaker 1: is wesn McKinney. That is his story. At Juventus. He
13:56
Speaker 1: played right wing back this weekend again, and they, like
14:01
Speaker 1: the national team, does play with wing backs. They do
14:04
Speaker 1: play this three before two to one. His versatility is
14:07
Speaker 1: both an asset and unfortunate because he's going to keep
14:10
Speaker 1: getting moved around. It's been part of the story of
14:12
Speaker 1: his career, like the same thing has happened with Simwa,
14:15
Speaker 1: because that they are so intelligent and malleable to play
14:18
Speaker 1: different spots. They keep playing different spots and maybe that
14:20
Speaker 1: hurts their their long term development or or ability to
14:24
Speaker 1: just focus on one spot and continue to get better.
14:27
Speaker 1: So this season he's played most of his Champions League
14:30
Speaker 1: games at wing back, and he started all five Champions
14:32
Speaker 1: League gas for Uventus, which which is really cool. He
14:34
Speaker 1: started eight of their thirteen Syriat games, so he's a
14:38
Speaker 1: key regular starter for them. But every game it seems
14:40
Speaker 1: like it's a different position. He's played central midfield, he's
14:42
Speaker 1: played left wing back, more so right wing back, he's
14:44
Speaker 1: played a little bit more advanced. So what is his
14:47
Speaker 1: best position within this national team?
14:50
Speaker 3: Well, I still have to say that his best position
14:53
Speaker 3: is going to be that eight role. That's where he
14:55
Speaker 3: plays bass that's where he gets boxed. The box, that's
14:57
Speaker 3: where he's he's hard to track. That's where he wins balls.
15:01
Speaker 3: That's where it becomes just a past to other teams.
15:03
Speaker 3: And that's that's really what he does best. It's just
15:06
Speaker 3: eat up the field as much as he can. Can
15:09
Speaker 3: he play that wide role obviously, you know at the
15:12
Speaker 3: end of the day, that's what Juventus is doing, right,
15:15
Speaker 3: So he can and for the US team, will he
15:18
Speaker 3: ever play there? It's unlikely, but he can, and so
15:23
Speaker 3: you never know. I think that that'll depend on the opponent,
15:25
Speaker 3: It'll depend on the result in certain games. And I
15:27
Speaker 3: think this, you know this last few weeks give Mauricio
15:31
Speaker 3: Pochettino another weapon because it gives me and it gives
15:34
Speaker 3: him an opportunity to say, in a certain game, if
15:37
Speaker 3: he has you know, Tyler Adams and and McKenny in
15:40
Speaker 3: a game and the game is getting rougher, we have
15:43
Speaker 3: to defend a little bit more, it gives him an
15:45
Speaker 3: opportunity to say, hey, you know, I can add a
15:47
Speaker 3: midfielder and move McKenny wide and put him at that
15:50
Speaker 3: wide position.
15:50
Speaker 2: Now we have five in the back and that's pretty solid.
15:53
Speaker 2: So I like it.
15:55
Speaker 3: I like the fact that he's getting moved around. Obviously
15:58
Speaker 3: he's a great all around player and he can help anywhere.
16:01
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, I still think he's
16:03
Speaker 3: a he's our best number eight, but but obviously it's
16:08
Speaker 3: another good weapon for Mauricio Ponchettino.
16:11
Speaker 1: The versatility is is good. It's it's unfortunate. I think
16:15
Speaker 1: that the three at the back is the optimal formation
16:19
Speaker 1: and and game model for the vast majority of players
16:24
Speaker 1: in this pool. One that it isn't is Wes McKinney
16:27
Speaker 1: because I don't think that he's quite like if you
16:31
Speaker 1: play him as one of those dual tens with POOLI sick.
16:33
Speaker 1: I think he could do that, but you'd rather have
16:35
Speaker 1: somebody more creative in that role than than than like
16:37
Speaker 1: a box crashing player. And he's best as an eight
16:41
Speaker 1: in a four to three three where he has two players,
16:43
Speaker 1: rather than where he's a double pivot because of that engine,
16:45
Speaker 1: that motor and that fuel for the game, where he
16:47
Speaker 1: knows how to make those those late box crashing runs
16:50
Speaker 1: and and you know, pick up space, rather than I'm
16:54
Speaker 1: gonna hold this double pivot and I'm gonna control this
16:56
Speaker 1: area like he's best when he's hunting and moving around
16:59
Speaker 1: and it's more differ to do that in a double pivot.
17:02
Speaker 1: So while this formation for the greater good of the
17:05
Speaker 1: squad is the best, it is unfortunate that McKenny it's
17:08
Speaker 1: a little bit awkward and we're gonna keep having these
17:10
Speaker 1: discussions about is he the right fit, is he the
17:12
Speaker 1: right partner for Adams? Like what like you said, tap,
17:15
Speaker 1: depending on what the opponent is, depending on what whether
17:17
Speaker 1: we're expected to have the ball or or expected to
17:19
Speaker 1: be in transition, depending on who they're playing. So Western
17:22
Speaker 1: McKinney is going to play a big part for this team.
17:24
Speaker 1: It's just it's not like when we're talking about Richard's,
17:27
Speaker 1: Adams and Polsic. It's like, okay, starting center back, in
17:30
Speaker 1: the in the back three, in the middle, Okay, starting
17:32
Speaker 1: as one of the double pivot for sure. Okay starting
17:34
Speaker 1: as one of the dual tens off the left side,
17:37
Speaker 1: so we could cut in a little bit more where
17:39
Speaker 1: it's just kind of obvious and you know what you're
17:40
Speaker 1: gonna get. Mckenny's going to be more aware, what does
17:44
Speaker 1: the opponent give us, what does the other players on
17:46
Speaker 1: the field give us, and how is his form and
17:49
Speaker 1: how is his you know, I guess ability in that
17:53
Speaker 1: midfield to prove hey like I am the best partner
17:55
Speaker 1: for Adams. So that's going to be a long running
17:57
Speaker 1: discussion and something that we keep going to. But some
17:59
Speaker 1: quick here from this weekend. That was Patrick Godjama scored
18:03
Speaker 1: for Darby County. I believe it was his first non
18:05
Speaker 1: headed goal since he joined the Championship club, so that's
18:08
Speaker 1: always nice to see. I think that he's going to
18:10
Speaker 1: be in the mix of the World Cup squad. So
18:12
Speaker 1: it is regarda peppy who scored? Who scored for PSV
18:15
Speaker 1: A bicycle kick. Maybe it wasn't the prettiest, but a
18:17
Speaker 1: goal is a goal and that's what he's best at.
18:19
Speaker 1: Balgan played eighty five minutes in Monaco's big upset win
18:22
Speaker 1: over PSG. Mark mackenzie and Tim Waya both played in
18:26
Speaker 1: a two two draw between Toulouse and Marseille. McKenzie got
18:29
Speaker 1: assist on a late equalizer and then, like you said,
18:31
Speaker 1: Tab Tanner Tessman, he played center back in a back
18:34
Speaker 1: three for Leon. That could be interesting for Posch.
18:36
Speaker 3: What do you think, Yeah, no question, I think that's
18:39
Speaker 3: another option, another weapon in case you know you say
18:43
Speaker 3: you're looking for a goal and you wanted to take
18:45
Speaker 3: a defender off, or you wanted to send a defender
18:47
Speaker 3: into the box. He could he could stay a little
18:50
Speaker 3: bit behind. Let's say Tyler Adams right as one of
18:52
Speaker 3: two center backs. If you're desperate looking for a goal,
18:55
Speaker 3: you know that he would be okay back there. But yeah,
18:58
Speaker 3: I think a good weekend all around for American players.
19:01
Speaker 3: One of the best weekends actually for American players that
19:04
Speaker 3: we've had in a long time. And I think one
19:07
Speaker 3: that makes us feel good about the players that are
19:10
Speaker 3: in Europe. And maybe you know, you hate to say it,
19:13
Speaker 3: because I'm sure this is not what happened, but you
19:16
Speaker 3: know what, the players in Europe now seeing that the
19:18
Speaker 3: players from MLS who have played on the national team
19:21
Speaker 3: are doing really well here, by the way, and they
19:24
Speaker 3: put themselves in position to be on this World Cup team.
19:27
Speaker 3: And now we see a little bit of the advantage
19:30
Speaker 3: that the European players will have through the process, right
19:33
Speaker 3: because they have the next two to three months to
19:35
Speaker 3: continue to do well and to continue to be in
19:38
Speaker 3: good form, while unfortunately some of the MLS players won't
19:42
Speaker 3: have those competitive games.
19:44
Speaker 1: All right, there is one more game left in the
19:46
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five MLS season. It is MLS Cup, it's
19:49
Speaker 1: Vancouver versents to Miami, and then next season won't start
19:52
Speaker 1: until mid February. So to your point, guys like Diego
19:55
Speaker 1: Luna hasn't played in a while. Jack mclenn hasn't played
19:57
Speaker 1: since early October. Part of that was an injury, but
20:00
Speaker 1: Houston didn't make the playoffs. Alex Freeman hasn't played for
20:02
Speaker 1: a while. Orlando got knocked out early in this process.
20:06
Speaker 1: But let's talk about MLS Cup. We've got Brian White
20:10
Speaker 1: scoring twice for Vancouver in their win over San Diego.
20:13
Speaker 1: I thought that he played really really well in that game.
20:14
Speaker 1: He is his movement and ability to be a poacher
20:18
Speaker 1: I love. I was hoping that he was going to
20:19
Speaker 1: get more run at the Gold Cup. He didn't. I
20:21
Speaker 1: thought a jamong obviously deserved those minutes. Damien Downs was
20:24
Speaker 1: at a good point. I was just hoping for a
20:26
Speaker 1: little bit more Brian White to see what he could
20:28
Speaker 1: do in this group. And then Sebastian Burhalter. I thought
20:30
Speaker 1: he was really really good for Vancouver. Brian White is crucial,
20:35
Speaker 1: but seb probably more so because the way that Vancouver play.
20:39
Speaker 1: It is crucial that Burholter and Andres kubas his partner
20:45
Speaker 1: in the midfield, that they're dominating the game, that they're
20:47
Speaker 1: controlling the game, that they're setting the temple to pace
20:49
Speaker 1: the ball everything else. And Burholter had I thought he
20:52
Speaker 1: was quite good for Vancouver last years. He's been even better.
20:56
Speaker 1: I voted him to my Best eleven. I think he's
20:58
Speaker 1: been one of the best players in MLS this season.
20:59
Speaker 1: And without him, and obviously without Brian White, they don't
21:02
Speaker 1: make MLS Cup. These are two guys like Burholter is
21:05
Speaker 1: obviously ahead of Brian White in the pecking order with
21:07
Speaker 1: the national team. I would you do you think that
21:12
Speaker 1: Brian White has a chance to play his way into
21:15
Speaker 1: the mix late, particularly given the other forward options and
21:18
Speaker 1: and and where where does kind of Burhalter stand today?
21:22
Speaker 2: Well, I think one of the things to consider.
21:25
Speaker 3: Uh the answer is yes, by the way, because with Pochettino,
21:28
Speaker 3: what we've seen is that he's just gonna call whoever's
21:31
Speaker 3: playing well at the time, and that's that's that's really
21:34
Speaker 3: the way the national team should be. Whoever's playing best
21:36
Speaker 3: right now, that's our national team. And uh so the
21:40
Speaker 3: answer is yes, now here's the challenge, right that you
21:43
Speaker 3: know the next window would be in March, and that's difficult, right,
21:48
Speaker 3: because that's that's the next window that's really going to matter.
21:51
Speaker 2: At that point.
21:52
Speaker 3: MLS is just really getting on its way with a
21:55
Speaker 3: few games under its belt.
21:57
Speaker 2: Uh.
21:57
Speaker 3: And so I'm not sure that that Brian White will
22:00
Speaker 3: have a fair He hate to say, but I want to
22:05
Speaker 3: call it whether he'd have a fair shot. And that's
22:09
Speaker 3: the only way I can say it, really because because
22:11
Speaker 3: he's only going to have a few games under his
22:13
Speaker 3: belt at the time and we're gonna need I'm sure
22:16
Speaker 3: Pochettino is gonna go for guys who have been playing
22:18
Speaker 3: consistently and who are in good form.
22:21
Speaker 1: I agree, and that's why I think that he. I
22:23
Speaker 1: wouldn't call it likely that Brian White makes a World
22:25
Speaker 1: Cup squad, but if next year starts and I don't
22:29
Speaker 1: know if they play fifteen games by May or thirteen
22:32
Speaker 1: whatever it is, if he has like twelve goals in
22:34
Speaker 1: thirteen games or give or take something in that depending
22:36
Speaker 1: on how Ajimong PEPPI down, Sergeant name anybody who isn't
22:41
Speaker 1: Baligan really a hoji?
22:43
Speaker 2: Right?
22:43
Speaker 1: If if there's only like one of those guys that
22:47
Speaker 1: is a lock with Bwigan. Like I think Brian White,
22:49
Speaker 1: if he's in the most form of all the other guys,
22:51
Speaker 1: like I think that he's got as much chances as
22:54
Speaker 1: anyone else. And there's a possibility that Pochetino brings four
22:56
Speaker 1: center forwards as well. So again, it isn't forgetting on
22:59
Speaker 1: a lot of ifs.
22:59
Speaker 3: And don't forget injuries, right because those can happen, and
23:02
Speaker 3: those do happen, and sometimes they happen to the best players.
23:05
Speaker 3: So he's definitely in the picture. And obviously I think
23:09
Speaker 3: we all root for him, not just because of the
23:11
Speaker 3: Jersey connection, but I think because he deserves it.
23:15
Speaker 2: He's had a great season and maybe he deserves to go.
23:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Red Bulls traded him to Vancouver, and
23:22
Speaker 1: I believe that was like twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, whenever
23:25
Speaker 1: it was. They've been trying to replace Brian White ever since, unsuccessfully.
23:28
Speaker 1: So the Red Bulls are certainly taking themselves. We're not
23:31
Speaker 1: quite looking at the backyard. Brian White has been awesome
23:33
Speaker 1: and I can't wait for this game. I'll be there.
23:35
Speaker 1: It'll be a super fun one between two really good teams.
23:38
Speaker 1: But right now, it's time for a break. We're gonna
23:40
Speaker 1: be right back with tabs inside the locker room, story
23:42
Speaker 1: about the World Cup draw, both as a player and
23:45
Speaker 1: as a coach, and we're gonna give our best elevens
23:47
Speaker 1: for MLS players in the US national team. But please rate, review,
23:51
Speaker 1: and subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tomboger and sab
23:53
Speaker 1: Ramos wherever you get to podcasts. Again, giving a rating
23:57
Speaker 1: helps us a lot. We'd be very appreciative, So thank
23:59
Speaker 1: you very much that and we'll be right all right,
24:15
Speaker 1: we're back, and an honor of that muskup this weekend,
24:18
Speaker 1: we wanted to give our best US m n T
24:21
Speaker 1: MLS lineups here, so tap, I'm gonna go first. You
24:24
Speaker 1: can tell me where I'm an idiot after it. When
24:26
Speaker 1: you go, I'm gonna keep it in a three four
24:28
Speaker 1: two one. I did think about doing a different formation,
24:30
Speaker 1: but I actually think that the three four two one
24:33
Speaker 1: is the best collection of MLS player MLS American players
24:38
Speaker 1: right now. So Matt Freeze and goal that's an obvious one.
24:40
Speaker 1: A back three of Tristan Blackman, Miles Robinson and Tim Ree.
24:45
Speaker 1: The midfield four of Freeman at wingback, rolled on and
24:49
Speaker 1: Burhalter as the midfield duo and the Max Arson left
24:52
Speaker 1: wing back the attacking midfield line. I struggled with I
24:56
Speaker 1: think it's Diego Luna and I went with Jack McGlenn
24:58
Speaker 1: as the other. But you can say Georgia Miiovich, Pax
25:01
Speaker 1: and Aarinson. There are a number of other options to
25:04
Speaker 1: replace Saint mcglin. We haven't seen him for a while.
25:06
Speaker 1: And then up top for me, it's Brian White, New Jersey,
25:08
Speaker 1: Mario Gomez give him the nod and that's where I go.
25:10
Speaker 2: Tab What about you, Yeah, I think mine is pretty similar.
25:14
Speaker 3: We have a couple of different ones freezing goal again,
25:18
Speaker 3: a back line of three, but I put Freeman as
25:20
Speaker 3: the right sided center back only so I could at
25:24
Speaker 3: Harry All at the right side. But so my three
25:27
Speaker 3: in the back would be Freeman, Tristan Blackman, who's had
25:30
Speaker 3: a great He's had a great season, and you know
25:33
Speaker 3: he's he's one player that has impressed me for the
25:36
Speaker 3: last five or six years. Really, He's been consistent. He's
25:40
Speaker 3: he's a solid defender, he's a good defender, he can play,
25:43
Speaker 3: understands the game, all of that stuff that you want
25:45
Speaker 3: as a coach. Miles Robinson would be the other one,
25:49
Speaker 3: and then across the middle the four would be Nathan
25:51
Speaker 3: harry On on the right side. I think you and I
25:53
Speaker 3: differentiated a little bit because maybe our approach on how
25:56
Speaker 3: we want to win the game right roll Dan and
25:59
Speaker 3: Burr Halter and the middle just because they deserve it.
26:01
Speaker 3: They have a great they've both had a great season
26:03
Speaker 3: this year. And then Max Artsten on the on on
26:07
Speaker 3: the left, I would say the same for him, Uh,
26:09
Speaker 3: really deserving of those and hard to you know, to
26:12
Speaker 3: pick someone else.
26:14
Speaker 2: Uh.
26:14
Speaker 3: And then on the attacking role, I'm I'm a big
26:16
Speaker 3: fan of Georgie and mi Heilovich.
26:18
Speaker 2: He's he's just a great player.
26:20
Speaker 3: I know he's had a few difficulties in life the
26:23
Speaker 3: last you know, a year and a half two years,
26:25
Speaker 3: but but uh, he he's a great player. He's a winner,
26:29
Speaker 3: and he's one that playing right behind, right behind the forward,
26:32
Speaker 3: could could really do wonders and scoring goals and getting
26:36
Speaker 3: assists Diego Luna because you want you want that attitude
26:39
Speaker 3: in the team, and and he also goes to go
26:41
Speaker 3: hard and and for me, I'm sorry to say you'll
26:44
Speaker 3: disagree with that, but but I I think he sus
26:47
Speaker 3: Ferira because Z's Ferira for me is just a great player.
26:51
Speaker 3: He's the type of nine that I like that could
26:53
Speaker 3: come into midfield and receive and and sort of be
26:55
Speaker 3: hard to track.
26:57
Speaker 2: So that would be, yeah, that would be my eleven.
27:00
Speaker 1: Now that's an interesting shout. And so heyesus Frera over
27:03
Speaker 1: Jordan Morristria.
27:04
Speaker 3: Uh, yes, yes, Jordan Morris is and I love Jordan Morris.
27:08
Speaker 3: And I remember the day, you know, Jurgen and I
27:10
Speaker 3: brought him up to for the first time in Stanford,
27:13
Speaker 3: uh to practice against the national uh, the national team,
27:15
Speaker 3: and that's and then Jurgen was like, who's that guy.
27:18
Speaker 3: I was like, well, he's on the you twenties, you know.
27:20
Speaker 2: Uh.
27:21
Speaker 3: I I like Jordan coming bet. I like Jordan better
27:24
Speaker 3: coming from the left. I mean, so if if I
27:27
Speaker 3: had a position for him on the left, that would
27:29
Speaker 3: be my guy. But I think as a nine, I
27:31
Speaker 3: like the withdrawing striker type like his suits.
27:34
Speaker 1: Ferrara a lot of creativity in that front.
27:37
Speaker 2: Three.
27:38
Speaker 1: Well, I don't, uh, faces Fred, how many games did
27:41
Speaker 1: he started the last World Cup. It's it's funny how
27:43
Speaker 1: quickly he really fell out of the pool. But it's
27:46
Speaker 1: just always interesting to look back at some of these
27:47
Speaker 1: rosters and stuff, and you know, in that moment, I
27:50
Speaker 1: thought that was the right call. I know that was
27:51
Speaker 1: a bit controversial, but it's been a little while since
27:54
Speaker 1: he's been in the mix. Let's go inside the locker
27:57
Speaker 1: room with Tab tells the story from his playing our
27:59
Speaker 1: coaching days, and today we're going to focus on the
28:01
Speaker 1: World Cup draw because we've got a World Cup draw
28:03
Speaker 1: coming up on Friday. So Tab, both as a player
28:06
Speaker 1: and as a coach, what was it like in these
28:08
Speaker 1: days or moments leading up to a World Cup draw.
28:12
Speaker 3: It's there's a few nerves because obviously you're always going
28:16
Speaker 3: to be judge of the World Cup by results, and
28:19
Speaker 3: sometimes inevitably, when you're not the when you're not the
28:23
Speaker 3: best team in the world, inevitably you want to get
28:26
Speaker 3: a little bit of luck, you know, when the draw
28:29
Speaker 3: comes out. So I do remember as a player in
28:32
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety four thinking, Okay, we're the home team, so
28:37
Speaker 3: we're likely going to get a great draw, right, And
28:41
Speaker 3: we ended up getting two Europeans and probably the best
28:44
Speaker 3: South American team at the time.
28:46
Speaker 2: So it didn't work out at all. That was not
28:49
Speaker 2: that was not a good draw to wait for.
28:53
Speaker 3: But now now let's fast forward when I've had a
28:56
Speaker 3: wait for him at at the U twenty World Cup.
28:59
Speaker 3: We've been a little bit lucky too, So like in
29:01
Speaker 3: twenty fifteen, I remember, you know, thinking that we could
29:04
Speaker 3: be drawn with Argentina or with Germany, and yet we
29:08
Speaker 3: were drawn into New Zealand's group, so they were the
29:11
Speaker 3: head of the group.
29:12
Speaker 2: And that's exactly what you wanted.
29:13
Speaker 3: So we had a little bit of an easier pathway
29:16
Speaker 3: because we thought that we could win the group, and
29:20
Speaker 3: we did and that's and we advanced. Now for this
29:24
Speaker 3: national team, I think it'll be the same. I think
29:26
Speaker 3: Poshatino is just looking at the different different options. Obviously
29:29
Speaker 3: you have to take into consideration a couple of things.
29:32
Speaker 3: All the confederations are different. We can't be matched up
29:35
Speaker 3: against CONCA, CAF, so you want to get the best
29:38
Speaker 3: of the rest. And when you're thinking what is the
29:40
Speaker 3: best outcome of the rest, you don't want.
29:42
Speaker 2: To end up with two European teams in your group.
29:44
Speaker 2: That's one thing.
29:45
Speaker 3: European teams are obviously the strongest, and then when you
29:49
Speaker 3: look at the rest of the confederations, you look at
29:50
Speaker 3: a little bit of the let's say, the sort of
29:54
Speaker 3: the psychological profile of the teams and then and then
29:58
Speaker 3: the way they play the team functions. Those are both
30:01
Speaker 3: things to look at, but I think the psychological part
30:04
Speaker 3: is really important because you know, I can tell you
30:07
Speaker 3: you know without going into a long conversation, but I
30:09
Speaker 3: can tell you in concacafs sometimes when you play World
30:11
Speaker 3: Cup qualifiers, you're thinking you're playing against teams where if
30:15
Speaker 3: you're not playing great, just keep everything in front of you,
30:18
Speaker 3: because you always feel like at some point the opposing
30:21
Speaker 3: team is going to give you something, right, and that's
30:24
Speaker 3: a way to psychologically profile another team. You know that
30:27
Speaker 3: at some point they're gonna just take that risk where
30:30
Speaker 3: they're gonna make a mistake and you can punish them,
30:32
Speaker 3: and maybe you can win the game by not just
30:34
Speaker 3: doing well, but by not hurting yourself, right, and you're
30:38
Speaker 3: just waiting for the opportunity. So it's not different against
30:41
Speaker 3: these teams, right. So when you look at the Asian Confederation,
30:44
Speaker 3: you're looking a little bit more at teams that maybe
30:47
Speaker 3: don't have that physical strength necessarily, but they're very organized
30:51
Speaker 3: and they're technical, and that you know, when you're looking
30:54
Speaker 3: at African teams. It depends on where from Africa. If
30:57
Speaker 3: you're Northern Africa, well, first of all, we don't want
30:59
Speaker 3: to see Morocco because Morocco knocks, They knock us out
31:03
Speaker 3: of everything, right, So.
31:05
Speaker 1: But Olympics and seventeen Rocks.
31:08
Speaker 2: Yes, later, let's not do the Morocco thing this time.
31:11
Speaker 1: So yeah, we don't need at the rook gown.
31:12
Speaker 2: No, let's not do that.
31:13
Speaker 3: But but but you look at the Northern African teams
31:16
Speaker 3: are a little bit more tactical, right and then when
31:18
Speaker 3: you look at the Central African teams like Ghana or
31:21
Speaker 3: in this case, Nigeria is not there. But teams like Ghana,
31:23
Speaker 3: they they're like organized, they're skillful, but they can also
31:27
Speaker 3: match up with you on that back and forth transition game.
31:31
Speaker 3: Those are tough teams to play. And so yeah, obviously
31:34
Speaker 3: the South Americans I feel pretty good about only because
31:37
Speaker 3: we've just played Ecuador and we just played colomb Uruguay
31:41
Speaker 3: and Paraguay, so we have a pretty good feel. So
31:44
Speaker 3: Pugetino would be able to put a roster together that
31:47
Speaker 3: I think matches a little bit with that. So I
31:49
Speaker 3: think I think a lot to think about when it
31:51
Speaker 3: comes to uh it comes to draw is not just
31:54
Speaker 3: the teams that you get, but the style that they
31:56
Speaker 3: play will sometimes influence the players that you pick.
32:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that. I think that that's interesting, very interesting,
32:04
Speaker 1: whether like those last kind of handful of guys, whether
32:07
Speaker 1: you need you feel like you need somebody more technical
32:11
Speaker 1: or somebody more physical, or again, whether it's we're gonna
32:14
Speaker 1: bring a fourth center forward instead of a sixth or
32:16
Speaker 1: seventh winger kind of thing, or an extra center back
32:19
Speaker 1: kind of depending on how things shake out when we're
32:21
Speaker 1: looking at this potential draw. So to your point of
32:26
Speaker 1: the pots for those who don't know the by the
32:30
Speaker 1: FIFA rankings, you get broken into pots. So Pot one
32:34
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the best teams and that includes
32:36
Speaker 1: the host. So Canada, Mexico and the US are in
32:38
Speaker 1: Pot one. That means there is no chance in the
32:41
Speaker 1: group stage of getting Spain, Argentina, England, Brazil, whoever. Right,
32:44
Speaker 1: those those kind of top top teams Pot two, they're
32:49
Speaker 1: maybe like a pot two there, it's it's gonna be
32:52
Speaker 1: a really really good team if we're looking at it,
32:55
Speaker 1: like maybe Australia maybe Senegal are two teams that you
33:00
Speaker 1: would favor over rather than getting Colombia, South Korea, Ecuador, Switzerland, Uruguay.
33:06
Speaker 1: But I'm just assuming for Pot two it's gonna be
33:08
Speaker 1: a really, really difficult game, as it should be. It's
33:09
Speaker 1: a World Cup, right. Pot three is where the draw
33:14
Speaker 1: can either go from we got a lucky path or
33:16
Speaker 1: oh my god, win the group of death, because in
33:19
Speaker 1: this pot includes Norway, who I don't think really anybody
33:23
Speaker 1: want to see in that third pot, but it also
33:25
Speaker 1: includes Uzbekistan, and again they have no disrespect to this country.
33:29
Speaker 1: But would you rather play Norway or would you rather
33:31
Speaker 1: play them? Right? Would you rather play Scotland? Would you
33:33
Speaker 1: rather play Paraguay? I think that that is the biggest
33:35
Speaker 1: difference in the pot, and depending on who we draw
33:39
Speaker 1: in Pot three is going to be a difficult one.
33:43
Speaker 1: And then in Pot four it's still to be determined
33:47
Speaker 1: for about six of those depending on the playoffs that happened.
33:50
Speaker 1: But there are some good European teams, including Italy, that
33:54
Speaker 1: are in that playoff. In Italy gonna be a Pop
33:56
Speaker 1: four team if they qualify for the World Cup, so
33:58
Speaker 1: Pot three in particular, but also Pop four if you
34:01
Speaker 1: get unlucky really quickly end up in the Group of death.
34:05
Speaker 2: No question.
34:05
Speaker 3: But we have to remember too, this is a World Cup.
34:08
Speaker 3: This is the biggest World Cup ever. So there's forty
34:10
Speaker 3: eight teams and there's there's two teams plus uh is
34:14
Speaker 3: it eight second third place teams that go through.
34:17
Speaker 2: So I think I think at the end of the.
34:20
Speaker 3: Day, we're gonna we're gonna get a draw that we're
34:22
Speaker 3: happy with. Being a pot one team makes a big,
34:25
Speaker 3: big difference in a World Cup and uh, and we should,
34:29
Speaker 3: without question get out of the group. So I'm not
34:31
Speaker 3: I'm not concerned so much. So I think I think
34:34
Speaker 3: our team will be fine through the first round.
34:37
Speaker 1: I hope so too, and then I hope that it's
34:39
Speaker 1: at the top of the group. But again, we're gonna
34:41
Speaker 1: see on Friday. We're gonna break down the draw as
34:43
Speaker 1: soon as it happens. When we learn who the United
34:45
Speaker 1: States aren't grouped with at the World Cup. I'm very
34:48
Speaker 1: excited to talk about that rather than we keep talking
34:50
Speaker 1: about things in abstracts and and then really going to
34:52
Speaker 1: get died into into those opponents over the next several months.
34:55
Speaker 1: It's gonna be super fun. And I'll even sit through, uh,
34:58
Speaker 1: you know, a nine hour broadcast or whatever FIFA has
35:00
Speaker 1: for us and all the speeches and fake awards that
35:02
Speaker 1: they're going to create. I digress. Let's go inside the notebook.
35:06
Speaker 1: Number one. I broke this news this week. Michael Bradley
35:10
Speaker 1: is the clear front runner to be named the next
35:12
Speaker 1: New York Red Bulls head coach. I'm told that there
35:15
Speaker 1: is nothing agreed technically resigned, but sources tell me widespread
35:20
Speaker 1: that the expectation is that Bradley becomes the next head
35:23
Speaker 1: coach and Tab he's a legend of this program. Thirty
35:26
Speaker 1: eight years old. He has been the head coach of
35:29
Speaker 1: the Red bull second team since the summer. They played
35:31
Speaker 1: some really nice soccer, not typical like Red Bull car
35:34
Speaker 1: crash transition pressing song they played. They played like with
35:38
Speaker 1: wingers and intricate passing sequences and a couple of really
35:41
Speaker 1: interesting young players that came through. And they won MLS
35:44
Speaker 1: Next Pro for whatever that's worth. But they did bring
35:46
Speaker 1: more players into the first team, and I think Michael
35:48
Speaker 1: Bradley helped in his half season. TABI if there was
35:52
Speaker 1: somebody who has been ready to be a head coach
35:54
Speaker 1: since he was I don't know, twenty two, maybe it's
35:58
Speaker 1: Michael Bradley. So while he doesn't have first team head
36:01
Speaker 1: coaching experience. He was an assistant uner Jesse Marsh for
36:03
Speaker 1: a little bit with Canada, and he was assistant under
36:06
Speaker 1: his father, Bob Bradley at Stabeck for a bit before
36:09
Speaker 1: he got that Red Bull job, and Red Bull Global
36:11
Speaker 1: love him as what Versus told me so Tab. If
36:13
Speaker 1: there was anybody who'd be ready for maybe minimal coaching experience,
36:17
Speaker 1: it's Michael Bradley.
36:18
Speaker 2: Right absolutely.
36:19
Speaker 3: I think of all the players that I've ever had
36:23
Speaker 3: a possibility to either coach, play with or or coach
36:28
Speaker 3: as an assistant in this case, with Michael through the
36:31
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen World Cup, in a couple of years before
36:33
Speaker 3: and a couple of years after that, I've never seen
36:36
Speaker 3: a player more ready to be a coach. I think
36:38
Speaker 3: he's ready. He's going to walk into the locker room
36:41
Speaker 3: know exactly what it's all about. But he's really smart
36:45
Speaker 3: about his tactical approach, about the way he needs to
36:49
Speaker 3: put together his exercises to help his team. I remember
36:52
Speaker 3: that he was he was the one that always whenever
36:55
Speaker 3: we put a session together, you know, on that World
36:58
Speaker 3: Cup team for two thousand and he was the first
37:00
Speaker 3: one to come up and ask why are we doing
37:02
Speaker 3: this exercise?
37:03
Speaker 2: Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that?
37:05
Speaker 3: So very studious of the game, obviously a coach's son,
37:09
Speaker 3: you know, and that I always make a point of
37:11
Speaker 3: that because I think coaches sounds usually just learned a
37:15
Speaker 3: little bit more about the game to begin with. But
37:17
Speaker 3: I think he has the demeanor to be a coach
37:19
Speaker 3: and he's always had it. Obviously, you still have to
37:22
Speaker 3: take the step. You still have to realize that when
37:24
Speaker 3: you go into the pros uh, you know, is it
37:27
Speaker 3: are you going to have a certain style that you're
37:30
Speaker 3: just going to implement and the club is going to
37:32
Speaker 3: help you to do that, or are you going to
37:34
Speaker 3: have a certain style and they realize that you don't
37:36
Speaker 3: have the players to do that and you're going to
37:38
Speaker 3: change your style. That's something that I know, personally, I
37:41
Speaker 3: had a lot of difficulty with, and so that's something
37:44
Speaker 3: obviously that as a new coach you're gonna have to
37:46
Speaker 3: deal with.
37:49
Speaker 1: Don't react, This is nothing for you. Your situation was
37:53
Speaker 1: far worse than the one Michael was walking into, so
37:55
Speaker 1: I think I think that you had a much more
37:57
Speaker 1: difficult situation. Don't react, don't don't make any headlines, get
38:00
Speaker 1: anybody in trouble. Going back to that, he would ask, like,
38:04
Speaker 1: I've heard that, like you getting to live that with
38:07
Speaker 1: Michael In those sessions when he was at the end
38:09
Speaker 1: of his career at Toronto, when Greg Vanny was the manager,
38:11
Speaker 1: he was in coaches meetings because he knew that he
38:13
Speaker 1: wanted to be coach at some point. Again, as you said,
38:15
Speaker 1: he's he's like a coach on the field. But be honest,
38:18
Speaker 1: I know that that you you like, you like the intuition,
38:21
Speaker 1: you like him carrying him trying to learn it and
38:23
Speaker 1: trying to get the thought process by drills. Was there
38:26
Speaker 1: ever any days where you're like, dude, I'm just tired.
38:27
Speaker 1: Can I put down the cones and just do it
38:29
Speaker 1: a drill? Can I just do this? Do you do
38:31
Speaker 1: you do you need to be part of the Can
38:32
Speaker 1: I just put down the cones and be quiet for
38:34
Speaker 1: a second? Or was there any days.
38:35
Speaker 2: Like well, I remember one day in Chicago.
38:39
Speaker 3: It wasn't necessarily about about tactics X as to know's,
38:43
Speaker 3: but we were playing.
38:44
Speaker 2: It was a fun day.
38:45
Speaker 3: It was a day before the game and we're like
38:47
Speaker 3: Chicago University, one of these universities downtown in Chicago and
38:52
Speaker 3: we were just doing uh, soccer volleyball, and so I
38:58
Speaker 3: happened to, you know, as an assistant coach, that happened
39:00
Speaker 3: to be the referee.
39:01
Speaker 2: And man, what a bad job I had.
39:04
Speaker 3: Michael Is playing that game and if the ball was
39:07
Speaker 3: like this much in or this muss out and I
39:09
Speaker 3: didn't make the right call.
39:10
Speaker 2: Man, he was all over everything. It was tough. It
39:14
Speaker 2: was tough to have have the game.
39:15
Speaker 3: But I have to say, he's that detailed, you know.
39:17
Speaker 3: That's to me, was just an example of how he
39:21
Speaker 3: wants everything to be perfect. And I think this is
39:23
Speaker 3: why he's going to be one of those coaches that's
39:25
Speaker 3: really going to be dedicated to his team.
39:29
Speaker 1: I think so too, and I'm looking forward to it.
39:30
Speaker 1: And a warning to any Red Bulls players or staff
39:32
Speaker 1: that might be listening, be careful of those soccer volleyball games,
39:37
Speaker 1: all right. The second one, the United States are in
39:39
Speaker 1: talks about potentially hosting the Copa America in twenty twenty eight.
39:42
Speaker 1: This would be the third time in twelve years, because
39:44
Speaker 1: they hosted the Centcenario in fifteen sixteen tea time around
39:48
Speaker 1: the team, and then they hosted the most recent Copa America.
39:52
Speaker 1: The final didn't go great. There was security concerns throughout
39:56
Speaker 1: the tournament. But Copa America be coming back to the
40:01
Speaker 1: United States, What would that mean? And obviously that would
40:04
Speaker 1: mean that the United States get to play in it,
40:05
Speaker 1: which I think is more important than anything else. So
40:08
Speaker 1: I think that'd be pretty fun for the for the US.
40:10
Speaker 1: But I can't I can't lie to you and say
40:13
Speaker 1: that that I'm not a bit surprise given how things
40:15
Speaker 1: went in the last ornament for so quickly that they
40:17
Speaker 1: were ready to maybe come back.
40:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh, so you mean it's not gonna be a
40:21
Speaker 3: free for all for to get into games this time.
40:24
Speaker 2: Hope you need tickets.
40:25
Speaker 1: Going through this air ducts And yeah, I.
40:28
Speaker 3: Think this time we're gonna need tickets for the for
40:30
Speaker 3: for these games.
40:31
Speaker 2: Now.
40:31
Speaker 3: I think, uh, you know, we're we're sort of the
40:34
Speaker 3: perfect country to host the Copa America. We have people
40:37
Speaker 3: from all over the world, it's easy to get here.
40:40
Speaker 3: Obviously we had all those security issues. Sometimes I'd have
40:44
Speaker 3: to say sometimes that obviously falls not on us necessarily,
40:47
Speaker 3: but that falls uncombable. And how much money they spend
40:50
Speaker 3: on security, so obviously that falls on them. And I
40:53
Speaker 3: think they're gonna have to do better when they come
40:55
Speaker 3: here to run the tournament. And uh, but I think
40:58
Speaker 3: we're a great country to do it, and I'm I'd
41:00
Speaker 3: be happy.
41:01
Speaker 2: To see it.
41:02
Speaker 3: The Cope America was an excellent tournament last year.
41:07
Speaker 1: I agree so selfishly as a US fan and as
41:10
Speaker 1: an American, I would love for this to happen. I
41:13
Speaker 1: will say though, if I was South American, I would
41:17
Speaker 1: be pretty furious, because what other motivation for commable than
41:23
Speaker 1: money for this? Like we talked about the security concerns.
41:27
Speaker 1: It is cool for you know, ex pats who are
41:30
Speaker 1: South American who live in America who get to see
41:32
Speaker 1: their teams and maybe wouldn't travel to Chile or prew
41:36
Speaker 1: or or Reguire, Columbia, whatever, But that's nice once in
41:39
Speaker 1: a while. For the United States, the host three in
41:43
Speaker 1: twelve years, I think that's a bit of a slap
41:45
Speaker 1: in the face to the claw, to the federations, to
41:47
Speaker 1: to the people more so than anybody else that Hey,
41:50
Speaker 1: if you live in Buenos Aires, you have to travel
41:52
Speaker 1: to New York City if you want to see and
41:53
Speaker 1: guess what, that's not cheap. And I don't know, I
41:56
Speaker 1: think that these these games should be being played within
41:59
Speaker 1: their home federation, particularly given how awesome the crowds are
42:02
Speaker 1: in South America and the passion and everything else. As
42:05
Speaker 1: a as a fan, it'll be cool to maybe go
42:07
Speaker 1: to games or see the United States play, but I
42:09
Speaker 1: don't know. I'd still rather be player. I'm a traditionalist
42:11
Speaker 1: and that one.
42:12
Speaker 3: Wait, you're you're saying this could be about the money.
42:16
Speaker 2: Wait.
42:17
Speaker 3: No, so let's look at the next World Cup where
42:20
Speaker 3: we have Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Morocco, Spain, Portugal.
42:25
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's it's getting crazy, but I
42:28
Speaker 2: do agree with you.
42:30
Speaker 1: It's really quickly this last one. Matt Freeze, Max Arsten, Freeman, Richards,
42:36
Speaker 1: and Malik Tillman nominated for US Men's Player of the Year.
42:40
Speaker 1: Who's your fi who's your pick?
42:44
Speaker 2: What was that list again?
42:45
Speaker 1: Freeze, Melik Freeze, Arston Freeman written for me? For me,
42:50
Speaker 1: it's Chris Richards, A couple of pos same.
42:53
Speaker 2: That's that's an easy one.
42:56
Speaker 1: I agree. Uh, Polistic not nominated. I don't know how
42:58
Speaker 1: many more times that's gonna happen. But that Hey played
43:01
Speaker 1: at the Gold Cup, I guess was the federations. It
43:04
Speaker 1: was at US's point, but we talked for another really
43:06
Speaker 1: quick break. We'll be right back with a big question
43:08
Speaker 1: of the week with Marico Pochettino talking about inning the
43:11
Speaker 1: World Cup. All right, we're back and we got some
43:28
Speaker 1: big questions to talk about because last week US national
43:32
Speaker 1: team head coach Mauricio Pochettino gave an interview with the
43:34
Speaker 1: legend Andre's Cancer for Football Dipremera, and he has big
43:38
Speaker 1: hopes for the World Cup. He's even talking about winning.
43:41
Speaker 1: Here's what Pochettino told Andre's cancer quote. For me, it's
43:44
Speaker 1: about winning. I think if you don't win, what does
43:46
Speaker 1: it matter? If you were a second nobody ever remembers,
43:49
Speaker 1: and I believe we should aspire to win it. That's
43:51
Speaker 1: what he said in the interview with was published last week. Tad,
43:54
Speaker 1: Let's hold the questions on potentially the United States winning
43:57
Speaker 1: the World Cup. It was only three months ago where
43:59
Speaker 1: there were the fear that they were going to get
44:01
Speaker 1: grouped at the World Cup and Puchactino wasn't going to
44:03
Speaker 1: be the coach. So tab what is success for the
44:06
Speaker 1: US national team at twenty twenty six World Cup.
44:09
Speaker 3: Well, if the question is just that, just to focus
44:12
Speaker 3: on what success would be for US. I think I'd
44:16
Speaker 3: like to see us make it to the quarterfinals.
44:17
Speaker 2: I think that would be success.
44:19
Speaker 3: I think that would be proof that the investment that
44:22
Speaker 3: was made on Pochettino was the right investment. And I
44:25
Speaker 3: think in general the country will go crazy if our
44:29
Speaker 3: team makes it all the way to the quarterfinals. So
44:32
Speaker 3: I think for me to sum it up just it
44:34
Speaker 3: would have to be quarterfinals.
44:37
Speaker 1: So I'm with you there. There is there has been
44:40
Speaker 1: talk about semi finals or busts, and I think that's
44:43
Speaker 1: more optimistic. Making the quarter being one of the final
44:46
Speaker 1: eight teams at the World Cup I think would be
44:48
Speaker 1: pretty seismic. I think that would be a success. It's
44:51
Speaker 1: one of those weird ones. Where So in twenty twenty
44:54
Speaker 1: two Round of sixteen I thought was they didn't underperform,
44:58
Speaker 1: but they didn't overperform. At this next World Cup, I
45:01
Speaker 1: don't think that there's that middle ground because I think
45:03
Speaker 1: Round of sixteen will be viewed as a disappointment, but
45:06
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals will be celebrated. It won't be like, oh,
45:09
Speaker 1: they just met expectations. I do think there's a realistic chance.
45:14
Speaker 1: I didn't think that in early September. So that's progress
45:17
Speaker 1: and that's positive. I do like that he's you know,
45:22
Speaker 1: he should be careful about always saying, you know, hey,
45:24
Speaker 1: we want to win the World Cup and stuff like that.
45:26
Speaker 1: I think saying it too much would be a little silly,
45:28
Speaker 1: But I do like that he goes, yeah, like, we're
45:31
Speaker 1: not here just to participate. We're not here. We don't
45:33
Speaker 1: get a trophy if we fit in. Like, while we
45:35
Speaker 1: would agree that the quarterfinals would be a success, Plastino
45:38
Speaker 1: doesn't get a trophy for that. And I like that
45:40
Speaker 1: he's saying not why not us, why not believe as
45:43
Speaker 1: long as he's being careful to not saying anything way
45:47
Speaker 1: over the top or like guaranteeing or promising anything. But
45:49
Speaker 1: like if he's asked about the World Cup, like him saying, hey,
45:52
Speaker 1: we're going there to win it, like all thing on
45:53
Speaker 1: the team should.
45:54
Speaker 3: Bit And I'm sure he means that. I can tell
45:58
Speaker 3: you from my experience with Yurgen. Listen in twenty fourteen,
46:01
Speaker 3: it was the first time that I understood what big
46:04
Speaker 3: nations do when they go to the World Cup. Because
46:07
Speaker 3: Jurgen didn't even want players to have any type of
46:11
Speaker 3: tickets flights organized after the first round.
46:14
Speaker 2: Nothing.
46:15
Speaker 3: He wanted to make sure that we knew that we
46:17
Speaker 3: were there for seven games and that was to get
46:20
Speaker 3: to the final, and then if we didn't make it,
46:22
Speaker 3: then you make your arrangements you have to take. But
46:23
Speaker 3: he wanted everybody thinking that way, and so I think
46:26
Speaker 3: that this is not much different. This is Budgettino actually
46:29
Speaker 3: thinking what can we do to win the World Cup?
46:31
Speaker 3: And sometimes you get a little bit of luck in
46:34
Speaker 3: the draw, you get a little bit of luck in
46:35
Speaker 3: the game, And he knows what football is about, So
46:39
Speaker 3: I think he believes what he's saying.
46:40
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I have no doubt about that. There if
46:43
Speaker 1: there is during good, bad or indifferent, there's one thing
46:46
Speaker 1: you cannot question reaching a Pochettino, and that's him being
46:49
Speaker 1: genuine and authentic. So I for sure believe that he
46:53
Speaker 1: believes that, and he should and I'm certain that this
46:55
Speaker 1: is what he's kind of the message he's hammering home
46:57
Speaker 1: within the locker room, talking about, hey, like we're not
47:00
Speaker 1: here to just be there, like we're trying to build
47:02
Speaker 1: something and then we're gonna try to compete and we're
47:04
Speaker 1: going to try to do you know, every time we
47:05
Speaker 1: step on the field, we have to believe we're gonna win.
47:07
Speaker 1: It because we don't believe it, then who the hell
47:09
Speaker 1: else is gonna.
47:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, And by the way, he added to that, if
47:12
Speaker 3: in the end you end up losing to someone, then
47:15
Speaker 3: you analyze where you lost, who you lost against, how
47:18
Speaker 3: you played, and then you look at the rest of it,
47:20
Speaker 3: and you can still have success by not winning the
47:23
Speaker 3: whole thing. But I think the goal always from the
47:26
Speaker 3: beginning has to be to win.
47:27
Speaker 1: I completely agree, and that's what we're here on the podcast.
47:30
Speaker 1: We just try to try to go one and o
47:31
Speaker 1: every week to have I think we went one to
47:32
Speaker 1: know this week. So thank you everybody for listening to
47:35
Speaker 1: Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review, and subscribe to wherever
47:39
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. The World Cup draw us Friday,
47:41
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have reaction and breakdown to the United
47:44
Speaker 1: States group at the World Cup. We cannot wait for
47:46
Speaker 1: that one, so check your podcast feeds for that. We're
47:48
Speaker 1: gonna try to get that up as soon as possible,
47:50
Speaker 1: whenever FIFA stops doing their parade and awards and everything else.
47:54
Speaker 1: But that'll be Friday, and we can't wait, and what's
47:56
Speaker 1: Cup Saturday? And then we'll be back at some point
47:58
Speaker 1: and then their future