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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I think Australia will match our athletic ability to be
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: able to run and that's you know, they can do
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: that and they and they can also make the effort
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: like like we're used to making the effort. I think,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I think in a way we are. The two teams
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: are similar in their ways of thinking.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
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  Speaker 3: Everybody, Welcome to Inside American Soccer. I am us M
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: and T inside of Tom Boget. I'm joined as always
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: by one of the greatest players in the US soccer history,
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: a veteran three World Cups, and my good friend tab
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  Speaker 3: Rama's Tab. The Australian media is sick of Americans overlooking them.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Are you overlooking Australia this week?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yes? Actually, actually I am. I'm not sure.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. I give Australia a lot of credit,
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  Speaker 1: you know, forgetting forgetting their win, and obviously you know
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: that's not easy to do. But but I also don't
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: think that you know, when you give up thirty shots
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and you're absolutely hammered by another team, that you get
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to be upset about somebody saying they didn't think you
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: were going to win the game. Am I wrong?
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  Speaker 2: Here?
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  Speaker 1: I mean that's the game I saw.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: No, you're not right, So.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: So okay, you know, I'm listen. I'm very happy for Australia.
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  Speaker 1: I give them a lot of credit. I've been there before,
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  Speaker 1: you know, back, you know, thirty forty years ago. We
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: were we were not a great team, and we won
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: games we were not supposed to win, and and and
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  Speaker 1: because of that, you don't get the respect all the time.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: But we didn't deserve it because we weren't good enough.
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  Speaker 1: And so you I think you can't. You know, you
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: beat Turkey two zero. That's amazing, it's it's maybe the
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  Speaker 1: best result they've ever achieved other than eliminating Uruguay on
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  Speaker 1: penalties in Montevideo when they qualified, and I think it
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: was for the maybe two thousand and six walk up.
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  Speaker 1: But the fact is, you know, Turkey could have scored
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  Speaker 1: six goals. That's the reality of that game. That's how
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  Speaker 1: I saw it.
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  Speaker 3: I hate Listen, tob I agree, and we're going to
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  Speaker 3: get into it to all of the war of words
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  Speaker 3: that is going between the two continents at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: But on today's show, we are gonna dive into this
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  Speaker 3: Australia team because the United States in the second game
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: of the group stage are going to be playing Australia
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  Speaker 3: in Seattle three pm Eastern on Friday. It is now
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  Speaker 3: at top of the table clash because Australia beat Turkey
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  Speaker 3: to nothing. Like Tab said, we're also going to get
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  Speaker 3: a story time from Tab. We're gonna talk about what
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: it's like with all the distractions out of World Cup
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: now that we're here and the players are dealing with that,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: and we're gonna have Tab's DraftKings match prediction, so stay
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: tuned for that. But this is why we're here. We
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: are here to talk about Australia. They beat Turkey a
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: to nothing. And this is after Hawk'an Chinoglu, the Turkey captain,
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  Speaker 3: was asked by Australian media, I think the day before
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: the game, has not two days before the game your
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: assessment of Australia, and he says we're gonna dominate them
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  Speaker 3: and win this game like it was a weirdly honest
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  Speaker 3: and definitely dismissive and condescending response by the Turkey captain
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: blew up in spectacular fashion. I say all this because
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: since the World Cup draw, there has been this frustration
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  Speaker 3: from Australians that they're being overlooked by Americans, which is
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: funny considering I know for a fact, objectively, if you're Australia,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: when they drew Us in the World Cup, they were
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  Speaker 3: happy because instead of playing France or Argentina or Germany
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  Speaker 3: or Brazil or England, they drew the United States.
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  Speaker 2: But that's okay. They don't have to talk about that.
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  Speaker 3: Instead they've latched on to poor Mike Grella as CBS
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  Speaker 3: he offhand just said, oh yeah, it's alia like kind
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  Speaker 3: of thing, happy that that's who the United States drew
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  Speaker 3: and group be and this poor guy has been in
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  Speaker 3: the crosshairs of you know, Mark Schwarzer, Harry Kle and
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  Speaker 3: all these other Australians in the past of the team.
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  Speaker 3: So tab, first of all, how would you have handled
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  Speaker 3: that situation if you were getting called out by some
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  Speaker 3: of these players for you know, a very honest and
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  Speaker 3: genuinely fair assessment.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I you know, these things happen in games, right,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and by the way, it hasn't happened with our team.
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  Speaker 1: I haven't heard any of our players dismiss Australia. So
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  Speaker 1: let's be clear about that that. You know, if Australians
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  Speaker 1: are upset about some of our our press dismissing them
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  Speaker 1: as one of the weaker teams in the group. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think there's anything wrong with that, tom, I think
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  Speaker 1: they are one of the weaker teams in the group.
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  Speaker 1: They I give them a lot of credit for beating Turkey,
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  Speaker 1: but the reality is the Turkish players play at Real
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Madrid and Inter Milan and in Galatasarai and big clubs,
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  Speaker 1: and it's for a reason because they have they have
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  Speaker 1: excellent players. And by the way, you know, this is
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  Speaker 1: why you play the games. You play the games because
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you have to win the games on the field. And
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  Speaker 1: Turkey didn't do a good job because they didn't win
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  Speaker 1: the game. But the fact is they dominated this Australia team.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: They had this Australia team in their box. I believe
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  Speaker 1: they took about thirty shots in this game. And so
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Turkey I think did a lot to win this game.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately they couldn't win it. And and I give a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: lot of credit to Australia, but there's nothing to be
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  Speaker 1: upset about here because it's not a like Australia showed
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  Speaker 1: us a new way to play and destroy Turkey. That
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  Speaker 1: didn't happen.
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  Speaker 3: I agree and that was in that game. They played
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  Speaker 3: to the strengths, which they're going to be very, very
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  Speaker 3: difficult to break down and they can hurt you on
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the Counterteck. I think maybe I was a little dismissive
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  Speaker 3: of some of their attacking threat because when you looked
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: at this group, I thought Paraguay was going to be
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: the team that was more dangerous in transition and the
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: United States completely suffocated them in the first game. But
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: what Australia showed on the break against Turkey, I thought
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: it was more impressive than maybe, Like again, I know
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Ira Kunda is a very good player, I know Torre
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: is a good player. Like they have a couple options,
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  Speaker 3: but I was I think more looking at and see
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: so in some of the Paraguayans. You look at that
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: game against Turkey, as you said, Tad Turkey at thirty shots,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: they had seventy two possession and thirty shots.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Game. States play a.
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  Speaker 3: Part because Australia got the goal in the twenty seventh minute,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: But to generally, this is I think what we could
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: expect the United States versus Australia. Would you agree with
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: that that it's going to be the US dominating the
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: ball and trying to eliminate counter attacks.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I do.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll get into the tactics a little bit of
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: this game. We'll get into the specific scouting of this
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  Speaker 1: game and what Australia has. But the reality is that
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  Speaker 1: I just I don't see Australia as one of the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: teams that knocks us off because I think, you know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: from the way I see our team, I think we'll
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: have difficulty with the teams that can hold possession under
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  Speaker 1: a press, and the teams that hold possession under oppress
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: are the top teams. Those are teams like Germany, and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: we saw Germany do it, we saw we even saw
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  Speaker 1: Senegal do it at times and break us down. And
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  Speaker 1: we certainly sow Portugal and Belgium do it to us
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: in March, right, So the teams that can that can
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: break our press by holding possession will find holes in
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  Speaker 1: our defense and have us isolated, likely one v one
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  Speaker 1: in our box, and that's a difficult place to be.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I think Australia will be a you know, a fast
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  Speaker 1: break type team. And yeah, of course, Iran Kunda is
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: a good player. He's a twenty year old who just
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  Speaker 1: scored in the World Cup. I mean, this is this
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  Speaker 1: is a this is a great thing. They have a
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  Speaker 1: great up and coming maybe superstar that they have coming
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  Speaker 1: going into the future and that and that's a great thing.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Connor Metcalf drove Turkey crazy on the counter attack. You know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: of course they have you know in Jordan Boss. We've
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  Speaker 1: known about him for a couple of years. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this is a good player. He's only twenty three. These
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: are not secrets. And of course they have good players.
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  Speaker 1: I you know, I just don't think they're better than
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: our team. And because of that, I would have to
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  Speaker 1: I would have to believe that they're gonna have a
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  Speaker 1: tough time beating us. And that's not disrespectful at all.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, not at all. And and to your point,
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  Speaker 3: like Tyler Adams was speaking on Monday, and he said,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: first of all, like because he like Mike grewl like
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: I said, it has been at the middle of this
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  Speaker 3: He's like, quote, I don't think any commentary helps anybody.
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  Speaker 3: It's not gonna be a layup if anything, is going
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  Speaker 3: to be one of the most difficult games we play.
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  Speaker 3: Hodgy Wright was actually the same thing, like, hey, we
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  Speaker 3: know they're very good, we know they're combative or very respectful.
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  Speaker 3: So it's nothing from the players, which is I think
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  Speaker 3: why all of this is so weird because I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: I think if TAB, if we listened or watched to
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  Speaker 3: every Australian analyst on a TV show, on a podcast,
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  Speaker 3: on a radio, like, we could have found something very
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  Speaker 3: disrespectful to hold our hands to. But that's neither here
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  Speaker 3: nor there because the players inside the locker room. Even
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  Speaker 3: Conor Metcalf was asked about it, he goes, I'm sick
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  Speaker 3: of it, honestly, he called it rubbish, just the whole
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: conversation about it. He's like, I just I just want
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  Speaker 3: to play. I don't care about so let's talk about
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the play. TAB give us your scouting report on Australia
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: strengths weaknesses.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, let's start with their coach, right, Tony Popovich.
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  Speaker 1: He's a former player for Australia. You know, he's one
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: that's known a little bit more for being pragmatic, a
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: little bit defensive. He likes to make sure he has
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: he has his back line pretty well set. That's basically
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the focus. That's what they've done in qualifying, although in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: some of the teams when they were the superior teams
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  Speaker 1: they did play. They were able to find holes in
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  Speaker 1: teams and play through them and actually play really well.
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  Speaker 1: I thought. So, you know, sometimes it depends on the
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: quality of the teams you meet. They're mostly they can
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: say they can say they play out of a three
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: four to two one, but it's mostly a five four
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to one because the three four to two one would
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: come into effect when you have the ball right and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: they don't have the ball a lot, And if you
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: don't have the ball a lot, you're really in a
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: four or five to one with some counter some counter
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  Speaker 1: options there. Let's remember, you know that they've had sort
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of a golden generation in the past, and you you
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: mentioned Harry Coole and and uh, you know, they've had
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you know, other great players in the past. I can
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: think of Viduka, I can think of you know, so
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: there's they've had great players in the past. They won
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: the Asian the Asian Cup in twenty fifteen, so you
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: have to give them credit for that. They've been to
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the round of sixteen and two different World Cups, including
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the last one in which we've also heard that they
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: were upset because people didn't give them credit, and you know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: but they did get out of the group. They eliminated
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Denmark in the last World Cup and made it to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the second round and gave Argentina a hell of a run,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean they almost with a play here
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: or there, they could have knocked off Argentina. So you know,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: this is a dangerous team that can beat anyone, by
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the way, So lots of credit for that. Yeah, you know,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: let's start with their lineup a little bit, So let's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: talk about you know, they they started Patrick Beach in goal,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and that was a huge surprise because we were expecting,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: obviously from Matt Ryan, you know, you know, experienced goalkeeper
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: and that's kind of what you want at a World Cup.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: So the nerves of the plus it's the first game
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: in which players, if they're gonna have nerves, it's gonna
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: be usually mostly in the first game. So you had,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: like the coach at every reason to not play Patrick Beach,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: so which goes to tell you how much confidence he
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: has in them. Right, and here it is a twenty
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: two year old the place for Melbourne City in Australia,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: and he played a great game. Tom, I mean, this
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was one This was an incredible performance and it certainly
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: makes the coach look amazing really because to make that
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: you really have to have some guts to make that call,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: and he made that call and it was the right
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: one and it paid all for the team. So I
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: would imagine second, you know, against US, it'll be the
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: same against the US will be the same. Right Patrick
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Beach now has you know, has his position in the back.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: They'll go with with Sutter from Leicester City, they'll go
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: with certain from Parma, and they go likely with Burgess
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: from Swansea with the possibility uh that you know, they
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: always they they can they can make a switch back there,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: but it's really you know, you can go. You can
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: go with the three center backs, they call it the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: three center backs, but you also have the two outside backs,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: which in a three three four two one would be
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: wing backs, but I'm thinking more of these are going
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: to be true outside backs, which will be Jacob Italian
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: on one side and Jordan Boss from fine Ord on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the on the left side. Those will be so that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: that you have your your you know, your back five
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: in the center. Aidan O'Neil will likely play again. Obviously
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: we've known him here from New York CITYFC. He does
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: a great job because you don't. You really don't see
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: him that much in the game, but he he does
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: a lot of work and in games where they have
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a little bit more time, he could he could be
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the one that lets him out a little bit with
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: his feet. But then they played oconn Engstler on the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: as the other midfielder. Uh, and I think that's who
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: he'll play against us. And that was also another surprise
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: in the lineup because I hadn't really seen them much.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I I really didn't know these player until I watch
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: them play in the first game. And he actually had
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: a great game. He did all the work for all
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the other guys to be able to break away because
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: he's you know, between between him and O'Neill, they're just
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: holding that middle, that middle really well and so and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: so I thought, you know, I thought they they did
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a great job. And then in front of them, it's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: gonna be you know, Connor Metcalf on one side, and
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and the story around Kunda on the other side. Around
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Kunda is still what those are the guys that score
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the goals and the guys that can basically on their
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: own run forty yards and and and score a goal
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: by taking people on. So you know uh Motori will
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: be the nine, but it's really about how you know
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: how well Connor metcalf can and and and Iran Kunda
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: can re those balls in between lines and whether they
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: will have those you know, whether they can be isolated
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: at some times that If I'm Australia, that's what I'm
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: looking for. I'm looking to get out quickly and finding
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: one of those two guys and have them isolated to
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: get to goal. And if you're the US, obviously that's
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: something that you're going to be looking at limiting right away.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Making sure you're stepped up if you're Toriem on one side,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: if you're Freeman on the other side, make sure you
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: step up, by the way, no better than they did
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the first game against Paraguay, because they couldn't have played
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: any better. And if we do that, I think we'll
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: have this game under control most of the time. So
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: that's basically the gist of Australia.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: So I think two of the biggest things that this
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: game come down to and are going to be related
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: is for Australia, how do you get even get to
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: those moments? How do you keep the ball for long
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: enough to spring on the counter because Paraguay simply were
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: unable to and the United States were able to push
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: iron high and higher. I remember specifically it was a
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: few moments Chris Richards was air quote the deepest outfield player.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: He was coming up to win the ball fifteen twenty
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: yards ahead of midfield because he knew, I can go
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: ahead and win this. Even if I don't, We've got
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: two defenders to recover and Paraguay couldn't get out. So
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: on one side, tap how does Australia keep the ball
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: long enough to even generate a transition moment? And two,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: if you're the US, are you more worried about the
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: wingers the wide players for Australia? And if you if
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: you isolate let's say Tim reim on Connor Metcalf, like,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: how do we eliminate those moments by attacking?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Really, because you have to get you have to get
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: their their attackers engaged in defending, and if you have
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: them busy defending deep in their in their side of
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the field, then they'd have a tough time countering. So
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I would think that's probably the best medicine for that.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Although you could say, hey, you know what, let's just
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: keep a man on one on your on Kunda and
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: in one on Metcalf. You know, as soon as the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: ball turns over we have a man on them. I
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: think the best way to do it is just by
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: attacking and keeping the ball and moving the ball quickly.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: If you move the ball quickly like we did against Paraguay,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: then you keep guys like it happened with Paraguay. Now
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: you have al Marone defending outside the box right, which
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: is what we did and what we said here would
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: likely happen. And I think this can be the same.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I think if we can push Jordan Boss all the
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: way back in Jacob E Taliana all the way back,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and now you're making Metcalf and Irean Kunda come all
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the way to their top of the box to defend,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I think Australia will have a real tough time getting out.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Now your question about holding the ball, that's going to
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: be the key for Australia because inevitably, if you have
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: them that deep in their territory, Australia is going to
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: have to compete complete their third pass somehow. And if
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: they complete their third pass in a row, because this
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: happens with a lot of pressing teams, it's on the
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: first you know, as soon as the other team recovers,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: you press that ball, and you don't. You don't only
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: press to win it, but you press so that that
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: pass is a difficult one to the next one, and
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: then that that second pass from that from from that
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: second player is gonna be the one that's the fifty
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: to fifty ball that you're gonna win, right And I think,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: and I think the teams that have quality, like the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Germanys of the world, and the Belgium's and of course
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the Argentina's and the and the Spains, they can complete
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that third pass because their first pass is quick, the
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: second is quick, and the they play at a different speed.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: So I think for Australia and for us, the key
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: is gonna be that third pass. If Australia can complete
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that third pass, trust me, the fourth pass is going
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: to be a long one because by that point, by
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: that point both Aaron Kunda and Metcalf can get can
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: get high rob God. If you can't, if you can't
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: complete that third pass, Australia is gonna have a really
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: tough time because now they're depending only on a long ball,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and I think on a long bowl our center backs
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: will be able to handle that.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I think that was really well articulated and simplifies the
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: game in a really beautiful way. On the other side
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: of things, for the United States, they're going to have
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: to break down this Australian defense. They were able to
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: do it against Paraguay, and they were able to do
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: it early tab which I think was a big, big
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: weight off their shoulders.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Who knows, like what happens if the goal is going early.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: I still think that they win pretty comfortably, but in
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: that moment, it's like, oh my gosh. For Paraguay, our
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: idea was to defend deep, frustrate them, keep the game tight,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: and your down one nail off an own goal. What's
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: heaven minutes in set up for complete failure at that point.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Australia I will be doing similar particularly that midfield duo
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: in front of the three center backs. It's going to
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: be extremely difficult to find space in that part of
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: the field. So how does the United States What do
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: they need to do to be sure to break down
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: this team and have similar success that they did against Paraguay.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: You know, I think I think that the runs from
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: behind it are going to be key without making the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: box too crowded, you know, I think and you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: we talked again, we talked about McKenny and and and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Tilman and how well uh they timed their own runs
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: into the box. I think these are gonna be key
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: as well. And you know, and and I hope that
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you know, so Genio desk can stay wide all the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: way on the line and on the opposite side, it's
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: probably gonna be Polisic that stays all the way wide
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: and allow for for Robinson to either come inside to receive,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: to be that connector to like a Tilman running through
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: or McKenny running through. But I think I think we
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: have options in order to have numbers with the right
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: timing to get in behind them. Now, having said that,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Australia did an incredible job defending in their box, I
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: mean they want, they want every header. They blocked so
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: many shots. I mean, these guys were tuned in and
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and and you know, I give them a lot of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: credit for that because they were fully concentrating on defending
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and they did a tremendous job. I mean, I just
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: don't do I don't think you can do it much
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: better and not allow a goal because at the end
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: of the day, Turkey still had a lot of shots.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, And Australia are comfortable when they're defending deep,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: So it wasn't It wasn't like Turkey wasn't putting them
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: under pressure. But that's kind of where Australia thought they
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: were gonna be, So it's not. It wasn't a foreign spot.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: So I think in the final third for the United States,
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: those quick combinations, as you say that, the runs that
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: go beyond, because even when those passes don't get completed,
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: and we saw this against Paraguay, some like even their
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: missed passes were good ones. Tab it that if that
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: doesn't sound too dumb, because those are the ones that
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: set up a repress rather than set up a transition moment.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: If you're losing the ball in the corner and you're
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: trying to send McKinney long, well, guess what, McKinney's the
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: first defender to press, and then Polistic is right there,
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: and Tilman is right there, and and Jedi Robinson is
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: right there, and all of a sudden, they're winning the
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: ball back because you can completely suffocate that team. Whereas
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: if it's a sideways pass, if it's all right, McKinney
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: went forward and Tillman misplaced the big switch towards desk.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: That's when you get counted. So it was even I
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: think that's going to be kind of the playbook again,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: as silly as it sounds, that even when they're missing passes,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: because you will miss passes, that they're the right ones,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: that they're the forward ones that set up a press
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: rather than set up acount.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Without a doubt, I mean, and we have to be
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: careful with that because Australia actually has you know, here's
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: one thing that Paraguay didn't have. They didn't have the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: ability to run with us. And that you know, that's difficult.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: You know, they couldn't run with us either way, whether
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: it was to cover McKinney or to cover Tillman or
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to attack the other way. Right, So if if they
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: got the ball and they connected a couple passes, they
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: really couldn't run with us either way. Australia can, and
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Australia will, and Australia will match. No, I think Australia
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: will match our athletic ability to be able to run
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and that's you know, they can do that and they
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and they can also make the effort like like we're
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: used to making that. I think, I think in a
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: way we are. The two teams are similar in their
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: ways of thinking, right, both very hard working teams, both
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: teams that are fully committed to representing their team and
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to working for the team, so that that we have
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: all of that in common. I just think that at
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, obviously we have more quality
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: and that you know that. But I'll say this too.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: You know, the quality only will come in handy if
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: we're playing as quickly as we can. The moment you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: slow down the game, a little bit quality goes out
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the window because the Australians will be right there.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Even dropping a couple percentage points will not be good
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: enough because those are the margins at this level.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: But it's time for a quick breakup.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Next tab is gonna bring us inside the locker room
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: goes back to nineteen ninety four to talk about how
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: you get ready between World Cup games and how you
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: deal with all the distractions. And then later we're gonna
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: give our predictions for the United States FORSU Australia. So
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: please rate, review, and subscribe to Inside of Our Soccer.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Tom Ta Ramos referget your podcast. Welcome back to Inside
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: American Soccer. It's time to go inside locker room at
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: sab Ramos tab. Back in nineteen ninety four, one of
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: the most iconic games in program history was that win
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: over Columbia. That was the second game of the group stage.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Just like the United States are currently preparing for their
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: second game for the group stage against Australia.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: So bring us back to that time.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: How does players deal with the distractions or block out
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: the noise and prepare and get ready and then ultimately
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: play that game in which you guys had so much success.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not easy, Tom. You know, the first game,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: in particular is the one where you have a lot
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of the nerves that are in because obviously starting in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: a World Cup is is just an incredible feeling just
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: being in the tunnel and walking in and you know,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: knowing you're representing your country and all of the things.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: And for many players, they get to do that, you know,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: for the first time. And and when you do it
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: for the first time, you you start thinking in the
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: tunnel about you know, like your whole career and when
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: you were little and like and these things creep in,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you know, and that and that those give you the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: nerves and then you know, and and but there are
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: nerves of excitement, you know, and uh and and I
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: think that's just a it's a great feeling. But now
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: going into the second game, some of those nerves are
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: not there anymore. Now you know that you're you're you're
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: sort of there to do a job. But but now
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: also you have to deal and of course, you know,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: because we are talking about our second game, which was
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a Columbia game, and now we had to deal with
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the preparation of trying to limit the touches of a
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: guy like Valderama, you know. And and we knew that, Okay,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: we try to figure out, Okay, if we're gonna limit Valdorama,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: we can't just you know, mark him, you know, man
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to man, and that's going to take care of it.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: How do we how do we limit the bult getting
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: to him? So then we were figure out we we
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: we had figured out through some sort of analytics at
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: that time that almost like seventy percent of the time
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: that Valdorama received the ball, there were balls that came
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: from Lionelle Alvarez and so and so we we tried
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to cut off Alvarez, because we thought if you cut
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: off Alvarez, then you cut off the possibility of the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: next pass going to Valdorama. So you start to find
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: out the little and of course these are normal things
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: in the game, but these are things I recall specifically
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: about our scouting for that game. So instead of cutting
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: off Valdorama off, we cut off the person that feeds
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Valderama and so and so. It was a good approach
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: at the time, and it helped us. Obviously, Valderama still
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: made all kinds of plays in the game, but we
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: did limit him to the minimum amount of damage. But
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: the other part of it is not just all of
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the scouting, is all of the distractions that you have
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: around because now you've played a game, now you're already
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: in the World Cup. But now at the same time,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you have all the pr obligations, right, so now you're
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: on Good Morning America, or you're on a nightline, or
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: you're on you know, to the Today Show or like,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: so all of these obligations are starting to come and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: of course you want the players to stay completely focused
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: only on the next game, which is the second game.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, hey, you know you want
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the game to grow and you want the exposures. So
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: you have to allow the players to do things right.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: You have to allow them to get out there and
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to promote the game and promote themselves and promote us
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and promote the sport all of those things. So that
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: becomes a little bit of a distraction. How for players
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: individuals to fit those things in at what times? And
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: then you have you have your families at the game,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: right so now it's game two, and now you have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: friends coming in from all over the country that say, hey,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: you know, Tyler, I'm coming to the game this game.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I have two tickets here or there or can you
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: get me into this or can you And now sometimes
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: you get to the day of the game and your
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: friends are calling you about Hey, I didn't get that
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: ticket or I didn't you know. So there's all of
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: those little distractions that happened. Besides the fact that you're
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: also watching the rest of the World Cup. You also
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: want to oh, you also want to try to keep
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: track of how other teams are doing. And you your
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: potential next opponent is going to be Hey, if we
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: win this second game, that means, you know, in our case,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I think by winning the second game, we could be
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: top of the group or you know, like that's what
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: we were thinking about. That that that that was probably
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: going to happen. So like you're you're thinking about all
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: of these other things that are not necessarily just okay,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: now we just got to walk into the field player
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: opponent that which is what you do for your club.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: That's what That's what you're used to, right, You're used
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: to You're used to your club situation in which you
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: just prepare for the week and you play that opponent
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: and you just show up to that game and you
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: play that game. This is much different because for all
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: of our players, not just talk about our team, because
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that's really what matters for all of our players, a
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: lot of things have happened before in between our last
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: match on Friday and our next match. A lot happens
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: during the week that is not just we're going to
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: train and we're going home, and so those are all
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: of the things that can become distractions and make you
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: lose a little bit of focus.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Taking like a more macro viewness step back, particularly now
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: as we sit here thirty two years after that tournament,
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: how did that game, that tournament, but that game change
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: you a soccer forever.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Really interesting actually, because I think it had a tremendous
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: effect on the next thirty years. And sometimes when your
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: player living the moment, you know, you don't think about
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: that stuff. You're just thinking about winning a game, and
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: to be fair, that's what you should be thinking about,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: you know. It's not like I would want our players
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: now thinking about the effect of what they are doing,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: you know against Australia that's going to have an effect
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: in the next two decades, which, by the way, it will,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: which by the way it will because if we win
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: this game, more of the country will be on board
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: with this team, will be first in the group, there
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: will be much more excitement that will last a lot
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: longer after the World Cup, and so these games have
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: huge effect outside of what just happens on the field.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Top. How did that game change your life forever?
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, you you become now somebody that that
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: people talk about more, you know, because it's you know,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: you obviously want to show up in that game. And
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: in my personal in my personal case, I knew how
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: excited I was to play that game, and I knew
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: that in the in the most difficult parts of the game,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: I wanted the ball, and that was I learned a
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: lot about myself in that game, because I knew the
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: stakes were really high, and I knew that in those moments,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I still wanted to be the one with the ball
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: at my feet. Like in that game, I would rather
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I had the ball than anyone else on the field
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: had the ball, because I wanted that game to end,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: and I wanted me to be the one getting fouled,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to be in control in the moment
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: that was really difficult for us. So I think I
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: learned a lot about myself in that game. And then
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: obviously the effect of you know, that's the normal effect
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: of people coming up to you and talking to you
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: about the game and how you played, and then the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: impact that it had on on ol of soccer after that.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: That's really interesting because the latter part of the question,
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: I think is where I expected that to go. But
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: even the primer the first like, because you've always you
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: always played like that, and I think your teammates knew
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: that about you too, which is why anytime that they
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: were in trouble, they would try to ping it towards you,
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: because that is the safety valve, and you never before that,
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: as if you were ever ducking the ball, Oh, you
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: were always somebody who wanted it. So even coming out
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: of that game, you like subconsciously had like another level
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: maybe in your mind, where where you were like, no, no,
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: like I want the ball all the time. This moment
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: is not too big for me. I want to be
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: there for my teammates. I want to help lead, Like
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I just find that so interesting because
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: I feel like that's kind of how you always were.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: But I guess in the biggest of moments, maybe you
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: never know.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. I feel like I feel like
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: I grew. I grew as a player in that game.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: And and although you know, at the time, I was
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: twenty seven, I think at that World Cup, so I
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: was already a mature player, you know, in my prime
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: or you know, or maybe a little a year past
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: my prime, you know, yeah, maybe probably probably in my
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: prime at the time. I still feel like I grew
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: after that game, because it was obviously a tremendous amount
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: of pressure on us, and the pressure was that and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and don't forget you know, we were not as good
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: as Columbia, you know, and and we still won the
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: game and you know so so yeah. I think there
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: was a lot of good lessons to take from that
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: game for me personally that I took, that I took
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: with me.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: I think that this has been listen. I love all
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: these segments when we go inside locker. But the more
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: more and more revealing like this about that that is
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: very very cool. But Tab, it's time for one more
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: quick break. Next up, we're gonna give our final predictions
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: to this week's biggest matches, including England, Croatia, and all
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: of course USA Australia. Thanks for listening Inside American Soccer.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Please rate, review, subscribe wherever your podcast. Welcome back to
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: Inside American Soccer. It is time for our predictions segment.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Let's look at some of the most interesting matches this week,
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: presented by our friends O Red DraftKings, the sports app
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: that moves with the game and now is available nation wide.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: TAB.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: Let's start Wednesday afternoon in Dallas, Texas, England versus Croatia.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: Let's remember this stadium is indoors, so all of the
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: poor Englishmen who have been getting sunburned along the way
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: training in Miami.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: This game is climate controlled. England Croatia. What do you think.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I think that climate control is definitely going to help
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: England and their fans, so they should be really happy
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: about this. This is a great matchup, Tom, this is
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: a great one. This might be. You know, I had
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the chance to do Ivory Coast, Ecuador the other day
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and I thought that was a great first round game. God,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: that's a good game. But I have to tell you
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: this England Croatia game has the sort of has the
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the roma, let's say, of a quarterfinal game or something
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: like that, or a little bit deeper. Right, So this
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: is this is a good one, you know. You know,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: England obviously has a lot of pressure. They always under
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: deliver somehow. But I just don't think this Croatia team
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: this time just has enough to beat this England team.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: I think my DraftKings pick is going to be England
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to Croatia one.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: So that England and Croatia played in the twenty eighteen
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: World Cup semi final and Croatia won that two to one,
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: it's surprising that there will be I think a few
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: old players from that tournament. This Croatia team has gotten older.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: But Luca Modrich I don't care how old he is,
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: he is still one of the best players on the
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: field in that game, so that'll be fun. Thursday, let's
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: go to Vancouver. Canada is hosting Katar tab What do
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: you got there?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Really interesting matchup actually, because I think although I think
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: either team can win this game, I think Canada has
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: to feel good about finally getting the World Cup started.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: And I know people wanted a lot more from Canada,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: but they did have a solid performance in which they
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: had many opportunities to win the game against Bosnia and
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: unfortunately they couldn't pull it off. But I think, if anything,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: this should give Canada a lot of confidence going into
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: this game. And because of that, and although Qatar has excellent,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: skillful players who can make a play anytime, I would
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: still have to say that my DraftKings pick for this
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: game would be Canada one, Quitar zero.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: This is a big one.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: All four teams in that group are level one one
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: points at one point, as the first games were all
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: draws a guitar Switzerland and Canada and Bosnia, so everything
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: to play for in that group. Thursday night, another host
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: of this World Cup, Mexico is playing South Korea and
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Guadalajara Sun Young Men versus Rabul Kamenez tab What do
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: you like for this one?
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: I think this is going to be a great game.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: This is another great matchup now obviously going into match
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Day two for these teams as well. But the reason
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: I say that is because I said England Croatia is
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: still one of the best match Day one games. Now
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: we get into match day two with Mexico Korea, and
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: these are two good teams. Tom Korea really surprised me
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: in the first game. I really thought they were in
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a downward spiral coming into this
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: World Cup that I that I didn't like too much.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: But they played a great first game and I think
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: because of that, Mexico will have a really tough time
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: with this Korea team. My Draftkins pick for this game
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: will be Mexico one Korea one.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: Mexico looked very good against South Africa in the opening
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: game of the tournament. Well, like you said, South Korea
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: also good against Chechia. It didn't start so smoothie for
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: South Korea, but by the end of the game, man,
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: that was a really really good performance. I think that
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: that game decides who wins that group. I think those
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: two teams are absolutely going through. But I think that'll
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: be super fun, particularly in Guadalajara. I think that has
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: been the best atmosphere. I think Friday and last Friday
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: at so far was awesome, the US against Paraguay. But man,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: those opening day scenes in Mexico were just We're just beautiful.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: But we've got one more game. Oh, two more games. Sorry,
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: I forgot there's another Group D game I've already been
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: writing off Turkey and Paraguay. That's in Santa Clara, the
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: other matching Group D. What do you see for that one?
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Both of those teams desperately need a result after losing
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: on match day one.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure most people know the coach for Tunisia
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: already got fired after one game in this World Cup.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Uh and uh and I and I think that if
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: if we're gonna have a second firing in this World Cup,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: it might come out of the loser of this game. Uh.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: You know, this is how the soccer world works. And uh,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: I think neither one of these teams. You know, obviously,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: if if one wins, the other one's gonna lose. And
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I think there's no way either one of these teams
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: would have thought before the World Cup started that they
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: would have zero points after two games. So this is
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: this is almost like a final for both of these
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: teams already this early. And uh, I just don't see
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: enough quality on the on this Paraguay team to be
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: able to beat this Turkish team that comes from you know,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: obviously hammering Australia but not being able to get the win.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: But I think Turkey will come through. Their big players
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: will come through in this game. And my Draftkins pick
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: for this game will be Turkey two, Paraguay one.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: All right, now for the big one this segment is
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: is that by DraftKings e it's way to get into
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: the World Cup with just one app and I think
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: many people will be doing that through this United States game.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: They are hosting Australia in Seattle, and we talk about
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: whether somebody's disrespected or not. Our good friends at DraftKings
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: have the US as minus one sixty three favorites. The
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: draw is plus three fifty five and Australia to win
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: plus four fifty so they are very much underdogs. Tab
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: Friday afternoon in Seattle, USA, Australia, what do you got?
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're underdogs. There's no question Australia is underdogs in
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: this game, and although I think the game will be
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: much closer than I think the odds have Australia to win.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I think there's no question that Australia can win the game.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: You know, they will need for everything to go perfect
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: for them to do that. I still think this US
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: team is too much for Australia. I'm gonna say my
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: DraftKings pick will be US to Australia one.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: I'm thinking I'm thinking there might be a clean sheet
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: here for the United States, but either way, three points
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: would be huge massive. You've said it before about the
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: momentum that is rolling along for this team. After that
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: first game, Risia Boschetina was talking about how great the
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: crowd was and he he was like, on behalf of me,
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: my staff, all the players, thank you so much.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: They provided the energy.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Alexi Lawis was in the building and he was saying
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: it felt finally like a proverbial twelfth Man. He brought
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: it back to that day against Columbia tab Like. Alexi
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: was telling me, he goes, listen, that was one of
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: the great days of my life.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: That was absolutely electric.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: The crowd, he goes, it was probably fifty to fifty
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: Americans and Columbian fans.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: He goes on Friday night.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: I don't know what this split was, but the United
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: States fans drowned out the Paraguayan fans, and it really
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: did feel like a home World Cup again, not quite
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: like the Mexico craze everything that they had, but tada.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: It did really really feel like this is an American
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: supporting crowd.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: And I imagine it's it's inspiring our players. And this
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: is something that we talked about in the past, that
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: our players are not imagining what the World Cup was
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: going to be like, because once the World Cup rolls
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: around as a home team, you do get all of
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: that support. And I think in Seattle it will be
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the same. I mean, we've obviously known the Seattle fans
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: forever and we know how loud they are and how
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: much they love the US team, and I think the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: support will be will be amazing.
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: And I think that they're going to see and they'll
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: be inspired by what they saw in Los Angeles. And
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: I think that, however, many local Seattleans are going to
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: be at this game or there will be some sentiment
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: of pride that oh no, no, no, like we are what
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: they've done with the Sounders, how they've kind of laid
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: the foundation, have been like a home for soccer in
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: this country and setting the standard for expansive teams to come.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: I think they're gonna see that game again in the
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles to be very proud and say, Okay, we'll
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: show you what we're going to be able to handle
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: here in this stadium that gets so sold loud for
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: Seattle Sounders games, for Seattle Seahawks games, all of that, Zab,
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to Friday.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: I hope you're looking forward to Friday. I know you are.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to be talking about this game with
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: you after the game. So thank you for listening in
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: South American Soccer. Please rate, review, and subscribe, reveragage your podcast.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: We will be back after that game with a full
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: breakdown and return.
• 41:28
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