Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / U.S. vs. Germany Reaction: Are We Ready for the World Cup?

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U.S. vs. Germany Reaction: Are We Ready for the World Cup? · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: This has nothing to do with kicking. He just kicked
0:02
Speaker 1: the German. He kicked the German because he wants to play.
0:05
Speaker 1: That's why.
0:09
Speaker 2: What's going on. Everybody.
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Speaker 3: Welcome to Inside American Soccer. I am US men's national
0:13
Speaker 3: team insider Tom Boger, and I'm joined by one of
0:15
Speaker 3: the greatest players in US soccer history, a venteror of
0:17
Speaker 3: three World Cups. So my good friend tap Ramos Tab.
0:19
Speaker 3: I'm in Chicago. The United States have played their last
0:23
Speaker 3: friendly before the World Cup. The next time this team
0:25
Speaker 3: takes the field, it will be the World Cup opening
0:28
Speaker 3: match against Paraguay. We've talked through this for months and
0:31
Speaker 3: months and months. Paraguay was always the north star the
0:34
Speaker 3: World Cup in general. But that's the first game, and Tab,
0:37
Speaker 3: we're gonna break down this two to one loss to Germany.
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Speaker 3: But man, we're here the next time they hit the field,
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Speaker 3: it's a World Cup.
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Speaker 1: We're finally here. You know, how many people have you
0:46
Speaker 1: heard over the last few years talk about, Hey, the
0:48
Speaker 1: World Cup is here, this is gonna happen. We're hoping this,
0:51
Speaker 1: We're hoping. You know, the game is gonna blow up.
0:54
Speaker 1: You know, all of these things, and some of it
0:57
Speaker 1: came from obviously seeing all the changes that came here
1:01
Speaker 1: after World Cup ninety four, And because of that, I'm
1:04
Speaker 1: wearing one of my World Cup ninety four tops today
1:06
Speaker 1: that the people on iHeartRadio unfortunately can't see. But I'm
1:10
Speaker 1: wearing my top. You know, you can see how big
1:12
Speaker 1: it is because everything was big back then. So I'm
1:15
Speaker 1: wearing that in memory because I know that after today
1:17
Speaker 1: we kind of have to put the past away. It's
1:20
Speaker 1: time let's put everything away, and I'm really I'm really
1:24
Speaker 1: excited about moving forward and seeing what we can do.
1:28
Speaker 2: A quick sidebar.
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Speaker 3: I thought it was nice that US Soccer honored the
1:31
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety fourteen before the game today, But I got
1:34
Speaker 3: to tell you, I don't think you can call it
1:36
Speaker 3: a nineteen ninety four reunion if tab ramosn't told me
1:39
Speaker 3: all aren't there. So I just needed to push back
1:41
Speaker 3: about that immediately.
1:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it was nice for all the guys
1:43
Speaker 1: to get back together. You know, for me, I had
1:47
Speaker 1: you know, I had my youngest daughter's prom last night,
1:49
Speaker 1: so it wasn't something I was gonna miss. And you know,
1:53
Speaker 1: life takes you know, just like I haven't been to
1:55
Speaker 1: a high school reunion. Ever, I missed this World Cup
1:58
Speaker 1: ninety four reunion, so sorry about that.
2:02
Speaker 3: Well, hopefully you guys can have a nice phone call
2:04
Speaker 3: or something, or we'll see we'll see where where Harksy
2:06
Speaker 3: is later in the night and maybe he'll give you
2:08
Speaker 3: a ring. But we're here to talk about the last
2:11
Speaker 3: pre World Cup tune up. The United States lose to
2:14
Speaker 3: wonder Germany. There was some bad moments, particularly the opening
2:18
Speaker 3: three minutes, but I thought that there was a lot
2:20
Speaker 3: of good moments too. It was a nuanced performance. It's
2:22
Speaker 3: one of those where we can't come on here and
2:24
Speaker 3: like kill the team for being bad or have a
2:26
Speaker 3: lot to critique. But it's not as if they beat
2:29
Speaker 3: Germany again. There's good and bad and we're gonna dive
2:31
Speaker 3: into it all. But I wanted to set the table.
2:33
Speaker 3: This is the fifth game against European opponents under Maricha
2:38
Speaker 3: Pochatino for the national team. Zero wins, zero draws, five losses.
2:43
Speaker 3: That's not just a Pochatino issue. This is now eleven
2:47
Speaker 3: games in a row against European opposition in which the
2:51
Speaker 3: United States have failed to win in FIFA windows, nine losses,
2:54
Speaker 3: two draws, So that's obviously Burhalter and Pochatino, and I
2:57
Speaker 3: don't know if one of the interim coaches had one
2:59
Speaker 3: of those games in the middle. They have not beat
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Speaker 3: a European team since Northern Ireland, who are not anywhere
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Speaker 3: near the same level as Germany or even Turkey or
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Speaker 3: Switzerland or Belgium or Portugal of some of the recent ones.
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Speaker 3: They did beat Bosi and Herzegovina in December one year,
3:14
Speaker 3: which is outside of a FIVA window, which means that
3:16
Speaker 3: was not really Bosie and Hurtsgovina, it was just whoever
3:18
Speaker 3: was in their off seasons.
3:19
Speaker 2: So this is a bit of an issue though.
3:23
Speaker 3: Coming out of this game, Tap, I don't feel like
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Speaker 3: really bad, Like I actually feel encouraged, and I think
3:29
Speaker 3: part of that is still the goodwill from the win
3:32
Speaker 3: against Senegal.
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Speaker 2: But Tab, what did you make of this performance today?
3:35
Speaker 3: Yeah?
3:35
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, that's a good setup to this
3:37
Speaker 1: because I, like you feel pretty optimistic about what I
3:40
Speaker 1: saw today in general. You know, I think, of course
3:44
Speaker 1: there were some mistakes. There were some you know, some
3:46
Speaker 1: in particular tactical movements that we can talk about, but
3:51
Speaker 1: in general, I felt like today I saw a US
3:54
Speaker 1: team play, you know, I saw the US team get
3:57
Speaker 1: out there. We went after Germany for the first I
4:00
Speaker 1: would say forty five minutes. I think we were the
4:02
Speaker 1: better team overall. I think it's hard to argue that.
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Speaker 1: Of course, Germany had some good moments too, And it's
4:09
Speaker 1: difficult to play teams like Germany because you know, we
4:12
Speaker 1: depend so much on our press. If our press fails,
4:15
Speaker 1: we are in big trouble. And we notice that today
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Speaker 1: and that's what, you know, that's sort of who we've been.
4:21
Speaker 1: And Germany is smart enough to find the other side
4:23
Speaker 1: quickly and get out. But for the times they didn't
4:26
Speaker 1: get out, we did punish them and we created quite
4:28
Speaker 1: a few opportunities. So overall, for me, I felt like
4:31
Speaker 1: today I watched a US team that I've been watching
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Speaker 1: for a long time, and I was I was happy
4:36
Speaker 1: with that.
4:37
Speaker 3: I think that that is a mark of improvement because
4:40
Speaker 3: there's been so much discussion, debate about what's the team's identity, what, well,
4:44
Speaker 3: you know, what do they want to do? Is this
4:46
Speaker 3: the typical American spirit that we associate with some of
4:48
Speaker 3: these teams, And I think, particularly over the last two matches,
4:51
Speaker 3: a stark difference from March. We've seen that but so
4:54
Speaker 3: again on on Saturday at a sold out Soldier field,
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Speaker 3: Germany goes up in the second minute, literally their first
5:00
Speaker 3: attack of the game. They get a free kick outside
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Speaker 3: the box, they cross it in and Kai Hoverts just
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Speaker 3: scored in a Champions League final, unmarked alone header from
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Speaker 3: six yards out, and you start to worry. Tab it
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Speaker 3: might be a long, long day but the United States.
5:14
Speaker 3: Maybe it wasn't immediate, but before long they were the
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Speaker 3: better team by the end of the first half, and
5:19
Speaker 3: then Anthony Robinson has an absolute galazo full volley after
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Speaker 3: a clearance on a corner kick from outside the box.
5:26
Speaker 3: I don't know if I've ever seen him strike a
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Speaker 3: ball that sweet.
5:28
Speaker 2: What a goal that was.
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Speaker 3: And it goes one one a halftime, and in the
5:32
Speaker 3: fifty seventh minute Leroy Zone scores the eventual game winner
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Speaker 3: for Germany. A few minutes later is when all the
5:37
Speaker 3: subs came in. So the game really lost its intense
5:40
Speaker 3: that he really lost its flow. So again Germany to
5:42
Speaker 3: won some good and some bad. What did you think about?
5:46
Speaker 3: You alluded to tactical thoughts, tactical sasms. What was on
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Speaker 3: your mind there when you were alluding to that?
5:50
Speaker 1: Well, a couple of things. Obviously. First of all, you know,
5:53
Speaker 1: if we look a little bit at the pairing of
5:55
Speaker 1: Bawligan and Polistic right when when we watched the last game,
5:59
Speaker 1: you know, we were really encouraged by the fact that
6:03
Speaker 1: because Peppi dropped into the holes, Polisic could be forward, more,
6:07
Speaker 1: could be in the box more. Since Baligan doesn't really
6:10
Speaker 1: do that, Chris and Polisic was forced to go and
6:14
Speaker 1: find the ball himself. And by the way, he did
6:16
Speaker 1: a great job doing it because the first goal, the
6:18
Speaker 1: first goal comes from him coming into our side of
6:21
Speaker 1: the field to collect the ball, get down the sideline,
6:24
Speaker 1: he forced the corner and from the corner comes our goal, right,
6:29
Speaker 1: So I think that was a lot of that was
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Speaker 1: created by him. So I was happy with that part.
6:33
Speaker 1: But the second part, and this is the part where
6:35
Speaker 1: I think it alarms me a little bit, but it
6:38
Speaker 1: doesn't surprise me because we've been talking about us finally
6:42
Speaker 1: putting a team together at some point we were talking
6:45
Speaker 1: about this six eight months down the road. I have
6:49
Speaker 1: difficulty figuring out how we defended in midfield. So for example,
6:55
Speaker 1: we had because we were almost we were almost in
6:58
Speaker 1: a four to four to two right almost in a
7:00
Speaker 1: four four two where desk was in the middle, but
7:02
Speaker 1: then Tillman had to make that effort. At a couple
7:06
Speaker 1: of different times, I saw Tillman make like forty yard
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Speaker 1: sprint efforts to get into a hole either in between
7:14
Speaker 1: Adams and McKenny or on the side of one of them,
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Speaker 1: And I'm not sure if that's a little bit confusing
7:20
Speaker 1: for both. I'm not sure if that's the kind of
7:23
Speaker 1: the effort that that Pochettino needs from Tillman. But I
7:26
Speaker 1: think it was a long way to go for him
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Speaker 1: to get there, you know, And at times we had
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Speaker 1: Tyler Adams go all the way to the sideline to press,
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Speaker 1: and at times we had McKenny go all the way
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Speaker 1: to the right side on the sideline to press, which
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Speaker 1: was most of the time, so there was a lot
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Speaker 1: of There was a lot of you go or I go.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes it was Polisic all the way wide pressing, so
7:47
Speaker 1: there was a lot of that. And you know, and
7:50
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna obviously you're gonna say how you
7:52
Speaker 1: feel about what I just said, but I'd like to
7:54
Speaker 1: go back to four years ago and where we finished
7:57
Speaker 1: in the last World Cup to address this specifically.
8:02
Speaker 2: Do you want to go to go to that Noway?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so this is I'll start with this and
8:06
Speaker 1: maybe it's a little a little bit of fun. But
8:08
Speaker 1: if I were to ask you, okay, so we just
8:11
Speaker 1: finished in twenty twenty two, we finished the World Cup
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Speaker 1: in Qatar by losing to the Netherlands in the second round,
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Speaker 1: if if I were to ask you, okay, like a
8:24
Speaker 1: lot of people thought, well, maybe it's time to move on.
8:27
Speaker 1: Maybe it's time time to bring a coach that brings
8:29
Speaker 1: something different to the table. And I can maybe I
8:33
Speaker 1: can answer that first and then ask you what you thought.
8:35
Speaker 1: But if somebody just so I don't put you on
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Speaker 1: the spot, if then this I'm gonna ask you some question.
8:40
Speaker 1: But somebody was gonna ask me after the twenty twenty
8:42
Speaker 1: two World Cup, I would have said, okay, great, we
8:45
Speaker 1: have a bunch of you know, young players who are
8:47
Speaker 1: all willing to make a great effort like we saw today,
8:50
Speaker 1: who are all willing to press in an organized way.
8:54
Speaker 1: Because when you looked at a Burrholz team and you know,
8:57
Speaker 1: and obviously there's a lot of people on one side
9:00
Speaker 1: or the other of the way. Burholter coach but when
9:03
Speaker 1: you looked at the Burholter team, it pressed organized always.
9:08
Speaker 1: You always knew what was coming out, whether it was
9:10
Speaker 1: Moosa stepping up, or it was Tom Bradham stepping up,
9:13
Speaker 1: or it was McKinney stepping up. It was always very
9:15
Speaker 1: organized and the way that happened. And so if somebody
9:19
Speaker 1: were going to ask me the question that I asked you,
9:21
Speaker 1: whereas where where do we need to improve? I would
9:25
Speaker 1: have said at the time, Okay, we do a great
9:26
Speaker 1: job pressing, we do a great job transitioning forward after
9:30
Speaker 1: we win the ball, but our transition defense is just
9:34
Speaker 1: not great. I just feel like when we lose the ball,
9:37
Speaker 1: there's going to be danger against us. You know. The
9:40
Speaker 1: other thing I would have said was, you know, when
9:42
Speaker 1: we build out of the back is very robotic, it's
9:45
Speaker 1: very mechanical, very it's very much patterns. So we're doing
9:51
Speaker 1: patterns constantly. Okay, that's where we work. So there's what
9:55
Speaker 1: we need improvement. So now let me before you end,
9:57
Speaker 1: so let me fast forward to today's game. When I
10:00
Speaker 1: look at today's game, I see a team that press well,
10:02
Speaker 1: they went with everybody. I still don't feel any better
10:06
Speaker 1: about our transition defense. I don't because I feel like
10:09
Speaker 1: it didn't take Germany more than two or three passes
10:12
Speaker 1: to actually be in our box and be dangerous, so
10:15
Speaker 1: we're kind of and on attack. I actually feel less
10:20
Speaker 1: confident that I can tell you how we attack because
10:24
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure how we built out of the back.
10:26
Speaker 1: So I agree, Listen, this is obviously just looking at
10:29
Speaker 1: it from a coaching from my coaching eyes, this is
10:32
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing. I'm seeing we don't really have a
10:35
Speaker 1: way out of the back that I'm seeing clearly, which
10:38
Speaker 1: I did see in twenty twenty two. And so did
10:43
Speaker 1: we have we come along in the last four years
10:46
Speaker 1: from the last game against Holland to today.
10:49
Speaker 3: That is yeah, And yeah, we'll focus on today because
10:54
Speaker 3: I want to have this overarching conversation a bit deeper
10:57
Speaker 3: later too. But that that is very interesting. I think
11:00
Speaker 3: that we have less patterns, so it's less robotic in
11:04
Speaker 3: some ways, which I also critiqued at times. But then
11:08
Speaker 3: there's the drawbacks here where it, like you said, it's
11:11
Speaker 3: you go or I go, or he goes, and it's
11:14
Speaker 3: a lot of maybe more freelancing or more feel of
11:17
Speaker 3: the game in terms of transition defense. It's a cop
11:21
Speaker 3: out to say that like Tyler Adams, that that's the system,
11:24
Speaker 3: that's the tactic. It's just Tyler go bet Tyler right.
11:27
Speaker 3: So today it was more Malik Tillman holding with him
11:31
Speaker 3: because it was it was like you said, it was
11:33
Speaker 3: very fluid, So it would be maybe Malik's went more
11:36
Speaker 3: forward or Weston dropped in. I think on paper they
11:38
Speaker 3: would have listed Western McKinney next to next to Adams,
11:42
Speaker 3: but I think Tilman was the one that was further
11:44
Speaker 3: back more often. And I did appreciate some of his efforts,
11:48
Speaker 3: but particularly the second goal was his fault for me
11:52
Speaker 3: or maybe that's maybe that's a little bit too critical,
11:53
Speaker 3: but the build up they they end up scoring on
11:59
Speaker 3: the seed that sequence starts from a thrown, but the
12:01
Speaker 3: sequence that gave them that thrown. He was very very
12:06
Speaker 3: slow to react to runners, spot danger and know which
12:09
Speaker 3: space is to fill, and he was a little bit
12:11
Speaker 3: slow in coming out to challenge, and I think Adams
12:14
Speaker 3: was as well. I'm not pitting that all. I'm leake Timman,
12:17
Speaker 3: but that is the risk when you're playing somebody like
12:20
Speaker 3: leaked Timan who was an attack minded player, somebody who
12:23
Speaker 3: it was funny Mariso Potinos referenced Milik Tilman playing as
12:26
Speaker 3: a holding midfielder in the Champions League for PSV or
12:30
Speaker 3: playing some league games there, and he was like, you know,
12:32
Speaker 3: he can do it, He's done it, and like he
12:34
Speaker 3: referenced him. So that's also why I think that Pochetino
12:36
Speaker 3: views Sam is more the deeper guy, but the irony
12:38
Speaker 3: there is. Malik Tilman made no doubt about his feelings
12:43
Speaker 3: about that. When that the PSV games Pochettino was speaking
12:46
Speaker 3: of Tillman was asked around that time, He's like, I
12:49
Speaker 3: hate playing his position. I want to play further forward,
12:52
Speaker 3: but I would do a job for a team, all
12:54
Speaker 3: the professional stuff. But it was funny that Pochettino was like,
12:56
Speaker 3: see he did it today, just like he did for them,
12:58
Speaker 3: and then like if you ask Tilman two years ago,
13:01
Speaker 3: he's like, no, I hate this, I don't want to
13:02
Speaker 3: play this way. And I think that's a that's a
13:05
Speaker 3: big issue in terms of the defensive transition talking about
13:08
Speaker 3: the attacking side of it.
13:10
Speaker 1: So before you move on to the attacking let me
13:12
Speaker 1: just make one more point on that. I think Malie
13:15
Speaker 1: Tilman was trying to play off of seeing what McKenny
13:18
Speaker 1: was doing because McKenny was also leaving. McKenny was leaving
13:21
Speaker 1: the middle, he wasn't staying and so he was trying
13:24
Speaker 1: to compensate. So he had a I thought, Tilman, I
13:27
Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit today because he had
13:29
Speaker 1: a really, really tough job.
13:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's a good way to look
13:33
Speaker 3: at it, because maybe watching it live, watching the press box,
13:36
Speaker 3: I was a little bit critical.
13:37
Speaker 2: I thought he was fine.
13:38
Speaker 3: I thought he was good, but it was particularly maybe
13:40
Speaker 3: his legs were fading and your point about I think
13:43
Speaker 3: his work rate was really strong, and maybe I overlooked
13:46
Speaker 3: that a little bit. But also he got injured in
13:48
Speaker 3: the winter, and from the March window until the last
13:53
Speaker 3: Bundesliga game he did not start. He made one start
13:56
Speaker 3: for buyer Lebracusing. So maybe this is a symptom of
14:00
Speaker 3: oh my god, I haven't played fifty five minutes. Like again,
14:02
Speaker 3: they scored in the fifty seventh minute or whatever, and
14:05
Speaker 3: it felt like it slowed down a little bit.
14:07
Speaker 2: But in the attack I thought Polistic was very good.
14:10
Speaker 3: Today he's not gonna He didn't have a goal and
14:12
Speaker 3: he's not credited with any assists. I don't think he's
14:15
Speaker 3: credited with many chances created, which again if you're just
14:18
Speaker 3: looking at like raw numerical statistics, you'd say, eh, I
14:23
Speaker 3: thought he was very very good. Today's tab one thing.
14:27
Speaker 3: His movement was really really good off the ball. There
14:29
Speaker 3: was a few times where he was making decisive and
14:32
Speaker 3: dangerous and pressure inducing runs where there was like a
14:36
Speaker 3: one with Malik Tilm and one with Tim reem At
14:39
Speaker 3: that like if they had saw at a split second earlier,
14:42
Speaker 3: he had a chance to either get in behind or
14:43
Speaker 3: getting a dangerous spot. So that's not his fault that
14:45
Speaker 3: the past didn't come. I think he he took on
14:49
Speaker 3: the pressure of okay, we're under like Germany's really good,
14:53
Speaker 3: give me the ball, all solve it, give me the
14:54
Speaker 3: ball we get In transition, he was decisive. He was
14:58
Speaker 3: taking players on Jonathan to first Germany. I think he
15:01
Speaker 3: was good. He made his life very difficult. Baligan had
15:04
Speaker 3: a lot of struggles with Todd though he was run
15:06
Speaker 3: occupying him a lot. When Pulsick was in transition. That
15:10
Speaker 3: was when this team was at their best, and he
15:13
Speaker 3: was responsible for the creating the corner that led to
15:17
Speaker 3: the anti Robinson goal. To again, he's not gonna get
15:19
Speaker 3: an assist for that and I forget if he even
15:21
Speaker 3: took the corner or not, but that doesn't happen without Polistic.
15:24
Speaker 3: So I was very very encouraged for him by him
15:27
Speaker 3: on the back of that Cenegal game. A goal and assist,
15:29
Speaker 3: a man of the match performance. This is the best
15:31
Speaker 3: two games stretch Pulisic has had in a national team
15:33
Speaker 3: shirt since at least twenty twenty four, if not twenty
15:37
Speaker 3: twenty three.
15:38
Speaker 1: I agree. I think Christian Polistic had a good game,
15:42
Speaker 1: and this kind of makes me think a little bit
15:43
Speaker 1: about his press conference after the last game. Right, he
15:47
Speaker 1: scored the goal and immediately he said to the fans, hey,
15:50
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully now everybody can be quiet about me scoring.
15:54
Speaker 1: It's not about scoring goals. It's really not about scoring goals.
15:57
Speaker 1: I think, if anything, goals can hide the sometimes you
16:00
Speaker 1: don't play well, right, because if you don't play well
16:02
Speaker 1: but you score, everybody's like, well, you know, you scored goals,
16:05
Speaker 1: that's good enough. But I think when you play the
16:08
Speaker 1: way when Christian Polistic plays the way he played today,
16:11
Speaker 1: he doesn't need to score goals. He just need to
16:14
Speaker 1: provide to the team. And I think today he was
16:16
Speaker 1: key to the team. Although we didn't win the game,
16:18
Speaker 1: I think that's all the team needs from him.
16:21
Speaker 3: And like he, I go back and forth here because
16:24
Speaker 3: I am encouraged by the team. But then I don't
16:26
Speaker 3: want to be like, hey, raise the banner because we
16:28
Speaker 3: played decently and we played well in a loss in
16:31
Speaker 3: a friendly to Germany, right, all those things, but Pulistic
16:34
Speaker 3: playing the way he did, it didn't feel like we
16:36
Speaker 3: had no chance at matching Germany's firepower, And like, I
16:40
Speaker 3: think that that feeling is important because he is how
16:45
Speaker 3: the attack is going to go. I think Balgan's obviously
16:47
Speaker 3: very important because of his goal scoring, or if it's
16:49
Speaker 3: Ricardi Peppy, or if it's McKinney, or if it's whoever, right,
16:53
Speaker 3: Polistic is the most important piece of driving where that goes.
16:57
Speaker 3: And again today, if you just look at the numbers,
17:00
Speaker 3: you'd be underwhelmed. But again, watching the game, you know
17:02
Speaker 3: for sure that it was very good and very strong,
17:05
Speaker 3: and this is a game that was very tight. Germany
17:08
Speaker 3: had won, who knows what it would have looked like.
17:10
Speaker 3: And I thought it was very intense in the first half,
17:13
Speaker 3: and then the stoppage time in the second half, which
17:16
Speaker 3: we'll get to. It a bit, but who knows what
17:19
Speaker 3: would have happened over ninety minutes at a World Cup game, right,
17:21
Speaker 3: And I think that to walk away very very encouraged,
17:25
Speaker 3: particularly beyond him. Anthony Robinson looked vintage, and we know
17:29
Speaker 3: how good he is. This is the best he's looked
17:32
Speaker 3: in a national team shirt since his injury. He scores
17:35
Speaker 3: that incredible goal. I thought that he did a lot
17:36
Speaker 3: of other stuff really well. He was taking on his defender,
17:39
Speaker 3: getting to the byline, trying to get crosses in chances creating.
17:42
Speaker 3: He was an outlet positively down that left flank. He
17:46
Speaker 3: did leave with he cramping. He left with cramps. He
17:51
Speaker 3: wasn't supposed to be substituted. When the subs were happening.
17:53
Speaker 3: He went down holding it like stretching himself out. Pochatino
17:57
Speaker 3: after the game said it's just cramps. The medical ta
18:00
Speaker 3: told me it's just scramps. And then he goes, I
18:02
Speaker 3: hope it's just scramps, and he started laughing of like,
18:04
Speaker 3: you know, I really it better not be something worse,
18:07
Speaker 3: because they pretty much said they can't say with one
18:09
Speaker 3: hundred percent certainty it was just scramps. But that is
18:12
Speaker 3: the feeling. Anthony spoke after the game as well, which
18:16
Speaker 3: is usually a good sign that if he had a
18:18
Speaker 3: serious injury he wouldn't be talking. He said, he's fine
18:20
Speaker 3: all that stuff. Tyleer Adams called him one of the
18:22
Speaker 3: best left back to the Premier League, and Tyler goes,
18:25
Speaker 3: I don't say that lightly.
18:26
Speaker 2: So this was a really good day for Anthony Robinson.
18:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, without a doubt. Obviously the goal, you know what
18:33
Speaker 1: else can we say about it? It's an outstanding always
18:36
Speaker 1: is I mean, hopefully not for him, but it's usually
18:39
Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime. I mean, he he couldn't
18:41
Speaker 1: have hit the ball any harder because you think about it,
18:43
Speaker 1: the ball almost went right into the middle of the
18:46
Speaker 1: goal and the goalkeeper didn't even have enough time to
18:49
Speaker 1: raise his hands. That's how hard he hit the ball, right,
18:52
Speaker 1: Because if they would have gone in the corner, you
18:53
Speaker 1: can say, well the keeper couldn't reach it. No, in
18:56
Speaker 1: this case, the keeper couldn't even get his hands up
18:58
Speaker 1: to touch it. The time he got his hands up,
19:01
Speaker 1: the ball was in the back of the net. So yeah,
19:02
Speaker 1: that was great. But more importantly, like you said, I
19:05
Speaker 1: think it was that he contributed in many other ways today,
19:08
Speaker 1: defensively against sane on that side, and I think an
19:12
Speaker 1: attack as well, So it was it was all around
19:13
Speaker 1: a good performance for him.
19:16
Speaker 3: One more key health up date Chris Richards. He was
19:19
Speaker 3: unavailable to play in this game with that ankle injury.
19:22
Speaker 3: But the positive news is on Friday he took part
19:26
Speaker 3: in individual training with the team for the first time
19:28
Speaker 3: since camp open, so that was an important step. Richards
19:32
Speaker 3: keeps telling He's said this the whole time. I am fine,
19:35
Speaker 3: I am going to be able to play. Pochettino let
19:38
Speaker 3: his like frustration slip a little bit in the press
19:41
Speaker 3: conference of like, you know, we aren't really happy with
19:45
Speaker 3: the information that we've gotten because he was picked to
19:49
Speaker 3: the bench for the Conference League final, so we thought
19:51
Speaker 3: that meant he was available and ready to play, and
19:54
Speaker 3: he couldn't train when he got here, so Pochattino wasn't.
19:58
Speaker 2: Thrilled by that.
19:58
Speaker 3: My pushback would be call Chris Richards. He's he's famously
20:02
Speaker 3: made a point to say, I don't talk to my
20:04
Speaker 3: players outside of camps.
20:05
Speaker 1: Send the club camp.
20:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, call his agent, right, and again, maybe maybe they
20:14
Speaker 3: did any good the benefit of doubt, but it was,
20:16
Speaker 3: you know, are you just relying on the information that
20:18
Speaker 3: Palace put him on the bench, because Pallace I would
20:21
Speaker 3: have done the same thing about even if he had
20:22
Speaker 3: no chance of playing. Put on your boots, walk around
20:25
Speaker 3: in warm ups, let them think that you might be available.
20:27
Speaker 3: But anyway, he hopefully he'll be I don't know if
20:30
Speaker 3: he'll be able to start for Paraguay, but this week
20:32
Speaker 3: was at least an encouraging sign insofar as he was
20:35
Speaker 3: able to train individually. The media gets to see the
20:38
Speaker 3: first fifteen minutes of training. He looked normal, but again
20:41
Speaker 3: it's light jogging, it's it's little technical drills, it's rondos,
20:45
Speaker 3: but he hadn't done that yet, so that's a good sign.
20:48
Speaker 3: And again, if you can't start against Paraguay, I'd have
20:50
Speaker 3: pretty good confidence that he could start against Australia. But
20:52
Speaker 3: we saw I think early in the game. In particular,
20:55
Speaker 3: we really are missing Chris Richards in this team because
20:58
Speaker 3: he is the defensive anchor and also he's somebody with
21:01
Speaker 3: his passing range that can help with those sequences out
21:05
Speaker 3: of the back.
21:07
Speaker 1: No question, I mean you you you start to think about,
21:10
Speaker 1: you know, if had Richard's been in the game, if
21:14
Speaker 1: Matt Freeze comes after that cross, or if he doesn't
21:17
Speaker 1: or if Chris Richards goes after it. These are the
21:20
Speaker 1: little things that you build when you're building a team, right,
21:22
Speaker 1: You're building the guy, you know, in particular the goalkeeper
21:25
Speaker 1: with the center back saying always know what what what
21:27
Speaker 1: the next play is going to be, and uh, you
21:29
Speaker 1: know that's one of those things. Today, you know, Miles
21:31
Speaker 1: Robinson gets thrown into the middle of the three and
21:34
Speaker 1: I don't think he had played the middle of three
21:37
Speaker 1: for too much. And so I.
21:39
Speaker 3: Thought Mark mackenzie was going to say I was surprised
21:41
Speaker 3: by that.
21:41
Speaker 1: Right, And I think maybe that's a little bit of
21:43
Speaker 1: a surprise, and that's a little bit of maybe that
21:46
Speaker 1: has to do with being in the first few minutes
21:47
Speaker 1: and the you know, into the game and and sort
21:50
Speaker 1: of adapting to everything that's around you in a new position.
21:54
Speaker 1: So yeah, but certainly, uh, maybe I would say if
21:58
Speaker 1: Chris Richards is in there, that likely would have been
22:00
Speaker 1: a little different.
22:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't want to pick too much on
22:05
Speaker 3: Miles Robinson, but I do think he was He could
22:08
Speaker 3: have done better for sure on the first and the
22:10
Speaker 3: second goal. I don't think he was bad on today,
22:13
Speaker 3: But it's just a difference when Chris Richards is the
22:16
Speaker 3: gold standard of this center back pool, and you have
22:22
Speaker 3: to wonder what it might have been with him in there.
22:25
Speaker 3: When the subs came into this game. I was a
22:27
Speaker 3: little disappointed that the intensity dropped. I know, it's difficult
22:31
Speaker 3: to come into a game and keep the intensity raised
22:34
Speaker 3: and because there's so many stoppages or so many guys
22:38
Speaker 3: coming in and out and you're trying to get a
22:39
Speaker 3: feel for the game. But I think today was the
22:42
Speaker 3: clearest indicator of who po Chatino views as his first choice.
22:46
Speaker 3: Eleven can know Chris Richards, that's the obvious caveat. But
22:50
Speaker 3: I kind of think what we saw in the first
22:52
Speaker 3: fifty five to sixty minutes is who's going to start
22:54
Speaker 3: against Paraguay as long as everybody's fit.
22:56
Speaker 2: Again, with Richard's being.
22:57
Speaker 3: In there, so you would think that that would be
22:59
Speaker 3: enough of impetus for a lot of players buzzing around,
23:04
Speaker 3: a lot of players just trying to do stuff, a
23:06
Speaker 3: lot of players saying, Okay, I might not be the
23:07
Speaker 3: starting group right now. Let me see if I could
23:09
Speaker 3: change his mind over the next few days. And I
23:11
Speaker 3: didn't see much of that. I don't think Gioranna was
23:12
Speaker 3: particularly good bustin bashion brawls were in good moments, Brandon
23:16
Speaker 3: Aaron sentd some good moments, but nobody really moved the needle.
23:18
Speaker 3: Tim Wye is somebody who is in what appears to
23:21
Speaker 3: be now somebody who would be coming off the bench,
23:23
Speaker 3: and I think he'll still be a valuable part of
23:24
Speaker 3: this group. He's somebody that if I think he'll appear
23:27
Speaker 3: in every game, whether he starts or not.
23:28
Speaker 2: I think he appears in every game.
23:30
Speaker 3: But in second half stoppage time, Tim why I got
23:33
Speaker 3: kicked once or twice and then probably that and probably
23:37
Speaker 3: maybe a little frustration that he's not part of the
23:38
Speaker 3: starting group. Tap I think that he said, I don't
23:42
Speaker 3: I don't care what's happening. The next time I come
23:44
Speaker 3: near somebody on Germany, I'm kicking the shit out of him.
23:46
Speaker 3: And he got his money's worth and almost ignited a
23:48
Speaker 3: bit of a fight with a slide tackle that I
23:50
Speaker 3: think was fair. Yes, he came in hard, it was
23:52
Speaker 3: not dirty, it was not excessive, it was not late.
23:54
Speaker 3: It was just a strong challenge and the German players
23:57
Speaker 3: didn't take didn't didn't take too kindly to that.
24:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, he went in hard, but I think if you
24:02
Speaker 1: were to ask him wheat today who he tackled, he
24:05
Speaker 1: probably doesn't even remember by now, because I think I
24:07
Speaker 1: think that tackle was not about the Germany game at all.
24:10
Speaker 1: It was about, hey, coach, I want to be playing
24:13
Speaker 1: and I can't believe I'm not playing. That's kind of
24:15
Speaker 1: how it felt for me. So whether he was tackling
24:18
Speaker 1: a German today or a Chinese player or whatever else,
24:22
Speaker 1: it really wasn't going to matter. Tim Y Yeah, Tim
24:25
Speaker 1: Waya just wanted to prove a point. And by the way,
24:28
Speaker 1: I don't mind that at all, to be honest, I
24:30
Speaker 1: like players when you know, if they don't play, they
24:32
Speaker 1: should be upset that they're not playing. They can do
24:35
Speaker 1: it in a good way. But I think it's a
24:36
Speaker 1: good reaction, and I would agree with you that both,
24:40
Speaker 1: you know, if I had to say about you know,
24:43
Speaker 1: of course, now we're it looks like we're seeing the
24:45
Speaker 1: starting eleven. If that's the starting eleven, all those guys
24:48
Speaker 1: weren't on it. And I thought burr Holz came in
24:51
Speaker 1: and played like a professional like he always does. I
24:53
Speaker 1: thought Aaronson came in and played like a professional like
24:56
Speaker 1: he always does. And I like that, you know, after
24:59
Speaker 1: why in the game today, I'm thinking, you know what,
25:02
Speaker 1: those two guys are coming off the bench for me
25:04
Speaker 1: for sure after what I saw, because why not they
25:07
Speaker 1: they came in, and they came in like they were
25:09
Speaker 1: in the middle of this game, and and I really
25:11
Speaker 1: like that. And I think and I think all the
25:13
Speaker 1: players kind of lost lost an opportunity, you know, you know,
25:17
Speaker 1: guys like maybe like like Geo or you know, guys
25:20
Speaker 1: like roll Done. You know, like, I just think they
25:22
Speaker 1: lost a good opportunity to try to make a difference.
25:27
Speaker 2: I would agree, But it's time for a very quick
25:29
Speaker 2: break up.
25:29
Speaker 3: Next, we're going to discuss how the team is looking
25:31
Speaker 3: now four years after we were eliminated in the.
25:34
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty two More Cups to the Netherlands.
25:35
Speaker 3: So please rate, review and subscribe to in South American
25:37
Speaker 3: Soccer Tabronos wherever.
25:39
Speaker 2: You get wanted.
25:48
Speaker 3: Welcome back to in South American Soccer, so tab. The
25:51
Speaker 3: United States lose to one to Germany in their final
25:54
Speaker 3: pre World Cup tune up, and it was very.
25:56
Speaker 2: Interesting to me.
25:57
Speaker 3: I thought it was a little bit poetic, maybe a
25:58
Speaker 3: little bit ironic that this game was in Chicago and
26:02
Speaker 3: the head coach and sporting Judger of Chicago Fire was
26:05
Speaker 3: the host to both Germany and the United States. Both
26:07
Speaker 3: teams used the Fire's beautiful facilities. This week, the head
26:10
Speaker 3: coach gave personally gave a tour to the facility to
26:14
Speaker 3: the German media. He made some time for US American
26:16
Speaker 3: media too. Don't worry, but he was talking to both coaches,
26:19
Speaker 3: all the players. And it's a little bit ironic that
26:23
Speaker 3: this is Greg Burhalter, the man that Marisio Pochattino replaced
26:26
Speaker 3: this head coach of the US national team. Burhalter said
26:29
Speaker 3: that him and Pochatino have a good relationship. He said
26:31
Speaker 3: that they spoke. He speaks very fondly of this group
26:36
Speaker 3: because of how long he was with all these guys,
26:38
Speaker 3: a lot of these guys, and Weston McKinney was talking
26:41
Speaker 3: about how happy he was to see Greg and how
26:43
Speaker 3: happy he was to spend time around him, and how
26:46
Speaker 3: important he is to this group's journey to get to
26:48
Speaker 3: hear again. We look back at the twenty twenty two
26:52
Speaker 3: World Cup, I don't think that they underachieved. I don't
26:55
Speaker 3: think they overachieved. I think the round of sixteen lost
26:58
Speaker 3: the Netherlands, and how they for them to get there
27:01
Speaker 3: was right in line with the expectations for the youngest
27:04
Speaker 3: team at the World Cup. The idea was the next
27:07
Speaker 3: four years there was gonna be a big job. They
27:10
Speaker 3: were the youngest team at the last World Cup. You
27:12
Speaker 3: look at pool A sick, you look at Adams, you
27:14
Speaker 3: look at McKinney, Tilman, Weeya at a time you would
27:17
Speaker 3: have had Unis Muna that he has fallen off this
27:21
Speaker 3: roster selection under Potchettino. All these guys, Chris Richards, all
27:24
Speaker 3: of these guys instead of their early twenties or late teens,
27:27
Speaker 3: their mid twenties, late twenties, they went from as Burrow
27:31
Speaker 3: to call it. He was like they were babies when
27:33
Speaker 3: I had them, like in a completely loving way. He's like,
27:37
Speaker 3: now there are grown adult men, they have kids. It's
27:40
Speaker 3: so beautiful to see. Four years ago I would have
27:45
Speaker 3: said quarterfinals bare minimum for what this group is, what
27:48
Speaker 3: this group can become home World Cup hopefully maybe the
27:51
Speaker 3: semi finals is on last week I was like, oh
27:55
Speaker 3: my god, round of sixteen bare minimum because this team
27:58
Speaker 3: has not showed an enough growth over the last four
28:02
Speaker 3: years of tab What do you make of the evolution
28:05
Speaker 3: or maybe lack thereof of the United States mensass team.
28:09
Speaker 3: Since that day in guitar losing for the Netherlands.
28:13
Speaker 1: The evolution has not certainly has not gone in a
28:17
Speaker 1: straight lineup, right, So you know, I would hope that
28:20
Speaker 1: you know, obviously we have a good World Cup, and
28:23
Speaker 1: that after the World Cup, we can hear the President
28:25
Speaker 1: of US Soccer, Cindy Kohene, at some point speak because
28:29
Speaker 1: she never speaks, so maybe she can say, you know,
28:32
Speaker 1: obviously we had J. T. Batson here with us talking
28:35
Speaker 1: about business, right, but when are we going to talk
28:38
Speaker 1: about soccer? When is somebody from US Soccer going to
28:41
Speaker 1: talk about soccer to us, to the rest of us. Right,
28:45
Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily happen, because I would like to ask
28:47
Speaker 1: those questions. I would like to say, Okay, you know,
28:50
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, we got to a certain place with
28:53
Speaker 1: Greg Burholter. I think overall it was a good World Cup.
28:57
Speaker 1: It wasn't great, it wasn't bad. It was young players.
28:59
Speaker 1: We wanted more. Everyone wanted more. And by the way,
29:02
Speaker 1: we all agreed that we needed more, right because we've
29:05
Speaker 1: been round to sixteen forever, right, Okay, so one time
29:08
Speaker 1: we went to one time we went to the quarterfinals
29:11
Speaker 1: and another time we didn't make it out of the group,
29:13
Speaker 1: but in general we always make it to the round
29:15
Speaker 1: of sixteen, So we want something something better. Now, I
29:19
Speaker 1: would ask that question, have we accomplished something better? And
29:23
Speaker 1: this is actually of course we're going to look at
29:25
Speaker 1: it after the World Cup, but I think this is
29:28
Speaker 1: a good time to look at it because we're looking
29:30
Speaker 1: at it without the results of the World Cup. Are
29:32
Speaker 1: we prepared? Do we feel like after we saw our
29:37
Speaker 1: players crying off the field in the game against the
29:40
Speaker 1: Netherlands after getting knocked out in twenty twenty two, do
29:44
Speaker 1: we see now four years later that we are very
29:48
Speaker 1: far ahead of where we were at that time, that
29:51
Speaker 1: now we can go in and we can get to
29:53
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals or to the semifinals, which is what we
29:56
Speaker 1: all want. And by the way, knowing that you can
29:58
Speaker 1: lose any game, right oh, we can be playing great
30:01
Speaker 1: in the second round and lose to Egypt. We can
30:04
Speaker 1: lose to Egypt in the second It can happen. So
30:07
Speaker 1: this is why I'd like to look at it right now,
30:09
Speaker 1: because right now we're looking at it without the results
30:11
Speaker 1: of the World Cup. Are we at a point where
30:14
Speaker 1: we feel like over the last four years US soccer
30:18
Speaker 1: through however, their sporting director, their president, the coaches they hired.
30:23
Speaker 1: Have they done everything they could? And has what they
30:28
Speaker 1: have done gotten us to a better place than we
30:31
Speaker 1: were when we left Qatar?
30:34
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, I don't think that we are because and I
30:38
Speaker 3: don't the Potatino era. I think that was a really
30:42
Speaker 3: good higher we have. Maybe we're going to see the
30:44
Speaker 3: peak over the next few weeks and that is the hope,
30:46
Speaker 3: That is the whole idea of this higher. Right, So
30:49
Speaker 3: it's obviously incomplete at this point. Nobody's gonna remember that
30:52
Speaker 3: they lost for not to Switzerland and a friendly last
30:54
Speaker 3: summer if they get to the core finals, right, that's
30:57
Speaker 3: very very obvious. The teams performances hasn't been super encouraging.
31:03
Speaker 3: I think this week was the Senegal game in particular, obviously,
31:06
Speaker 3: but I think that they battled very well against Germany
31:09
Speaker 3: in this final game. But it all comes down to
31:12
Speaker 3: what happens at the group stage and then what happens
31:13
Speaker 3: to the knockout rounds, and soccer could be a cruel sport.
31:16
Speaker 3: The lower scoring the game is in in sports in general,
31:20
Speaker 3: the higher rate of random acts impacting greatly what happens. Right,
31:27
Speaker 3: Basketball is the most predictable sport in terms of the winner,
31:31
Speaker 3: because it's such a high scoring sport. Soccer is such
31:33
Speaker 3: a low scoring sport. That's why it's so beautiful. That's
31:36
Speaker 3: why we love it so much, because there's so many
31:37
Speaker 3: different ways to win. And on any given day, you know,
31:42
Speaker 3: let's say the referee doesn't call the foul that leads
31:45
Speaker 3: to Germany's opening goal, what happens today, Well, what happens if.
31:49
Speaker 1: The Necks are on fire? By the way, goods.
31:54
Speaker 3: Listen, I gotta I've been gogles last few days for
31:57
Speaker 3: where thankfully I've been able to watch all these Nicks games.
32:00
Speaker 3: I apologize sincerely to anybody who's been at a bar
32:03
Speaker 3: while I'm watching the Knicks here in Chicago, but you've
32:05
Speaker 3: greeted me greatly. So maybe that's why basketball is on
32:08
Speaker 3: my mind. But I think more so is that just
32:11
Speaker 3: the development of the players that we thought hasn't maybe
32:14
Speaker 3: really happened. Like Polisic, He's I thought he was really
32:17
Speaker 3: good in twenty twenty two, so I'm not even criticizing
32:20
Speaker 3: him for not being vastly different than that. Chris Richards
32:23
Speaker 3: has has excelled Tyler Adams, but I think Tyl Radams, McKinney,
32:27
Speaker 3: they're both really good. It's just around this team. Maybe
32:30
Speaker 3: we're not where we thought we were going to be.
32:32
Speaker 3: So like we're talking about an abstract too, because tab
32:37
Speaker 3: you go and get six points against Paraguay and Australia
32:39
Speaker 3: and we're gonna be on this same very show being like,
32:41
Speaker 3: what a success.
32:42
Speaker 2: There's so much better than we thought.
32:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's true and the end result is what matters. Right,
32:46
Speaker 1: But I'll go back to my reference about Christian Poliitic
32:50
Speaker 1: right in him not scoring, Like it didn't matter to
32:53
Speaker 1: me today that he didn't score because I saw that effort.
32:55
Speaker 1: I saw him putting the team on his shoulders at
32:58
Speaker 1: different times. That's what I think he's supposed to do,
33:00
Speaker 1: and he did it. And okay, so it's not reflected
33:03
Speaker 1: on the score sheet, but I thought today he played it.
33:05
Speaker 1: He played a pretty good game. Do we want more? Yeah,
33:07
Speaker 1: of course, we always want more, but I kind of
33:11
Speaker 1: I want more out of this World Cup, and obviously,
33:14
Speaker 1: you know, you always depend on your opponents. I think
33:16
Speaker 1: the way, you know, our first round is set up
33:20
Speaker 1: with what I see with potentially and Ciso being hurt
33:24
Speaker 1: in the first game and not playing for Paraguay. Now,
33:27
Speaker 1: I think we're in a good spot to take first
33:30
Speaker 1: place in our group and really set us up to
33:32
Speaker 1: make a little bit of a run. And and I
33:35
Speaker 1: think our team should be good enough to do it.
33:39
Speaker 3: I think so too, Toad. Let's get into that Paraguay
33:41
Speaker 3: game right after a very quick break. Thank you for
33:44
Speaker 3: listening to South American Soccer. Please right if you subscribe,
33:46
Speaker 3: We're gonna be right back with a Paraguay solting love break.
33:58
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside Americans Soccer tab, where the World
34:02
Speaker 3: Cup is about to be here in the United States.
34:04
Speaker 3: Next game is that opening group stage game against Paraguay.
34:07
Speaker 3: So TAB, with all the different lineup combinations and all
34:10
Speaker 3: the different players called up over the last eighteen months,
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Speaker 3: do you feel Do you feel good about what you're
34:17
Speaker 3: about to tell me of what you think the starting
34:19
Speaker 3: eleven is going to be against Taraguay.
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Speaker 1: The answer would be no, because I don't think. I
34:24
Speaker 1: don't think I've been able to guess Mauricio Pochetino's lineup
34:27
Speaker 1: once over the last year, one single time. But I'm
34:31
Speaker 1: gonna give it the best shot and I'm gonna I'm
34:34
Speaker 1: gonna consider that most of these players playing the first
34:37
Speaker 1: sixty minutes in today's game against Germany, I'm thinking that
34:43
Speaker 1: he's thinking that he's his eleven and I think that's
34:46
Speaker 1: how most of the world would see this. But I
34:49
Speaker 1: wouldn't be shocked if this completely changes. So starting with that,
34:53
Speaker 1: I would say Freeze will be in goal. He played
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Speaker 1: ninety minutes. We have to remember the last game. The
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Speaker 1: other two goalkeepers, you know, Brady and Matt Turner split,
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Speaker 1: so which makes sense now they all have played going
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Speaker 1: into the World Cup, I Freeze played ninety I think
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Speaker 1: he will be the starter in the back. Freeman. I
35:11
Speaker 1: didn't think he had his best game against Germany, but
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Speaker 1: I still think he did enough in the two games
35:18
Speaker 1: to be a starter on the right side of the
35:20
Speaker 1: Of the three center backs that I'm gonna put in
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Speaker 1: the lineup in the middle, I'm gonna put in Richards
35:26
Speaker 1: just because I think it's the World Cup and if
35:27
Speaker 1: Richards can play at all, I think you're going upstairs
35:30
Speaker 1: to Mauricio Pochettino's room and knocking on the door and saying, Coach,
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Speaker 1: I'm ready to go. I'm all good, I'm gonna play,
35:37
Speaker 1: And I think that has to happen, and I think
35:39
Speaker 1: that's gonna happen, and I think on the left side
35:42
Speaker 1: it will be Reim. Reim at the end of the day,
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Speaker 1: is Mauricio Puchettino's guy. He is his veteran on the field,
35:48
Speaker 1: and however they have to protect them back there, they will,
35:52
Speaker 1: and I think Green would play all the way on
35:55
Speaker 1: the right will be best. I don't see why not.
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Speaker 1: He's been doing a great job and when he gets
36:00
Speaker 1: a little further up the field, we know that Robinson
36:03
Speaker 1: drops to form four in the back, so that that
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Speaker 1: kind of has started to work out pretty well. In
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Speaker 1: the center, I'm gonna go with Adams and McKinney, and
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Speaker 1: I know that you know, it's not an easy position
36:15
Speaker 1: for McKinney because McKinnie I think he wants to be
36:19
Speaker 1: freer than that. I don't think he wants to hold
36:22
Speaker 1: the position. But I think that that's likely the best
36:26
Speaker 1: for us, and that's likely the best of the team.
36:28
Speaker 1: Uh So, left side, I'll go with Robinson and in
36:32
Speaker 1: front of in front of those let's say four guys,
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Speaker 1: it'll be Tillman and Polisic, and I think Tillman and
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Speaker 1: and McKinney will have to be the two that that
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Speaker 1: switch back and forth, and at times when McKinny goes,
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Speaker 1: Tillman is gonna have to make those forty yards efforts
36:47
Speaker 1: that we still make against Germany to get into the
36:50
Speaker 1: right spot and get in front of our our our
36:52
Speaker 1: center backs, and then up next to Tillman will be Polisic,
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Speaker 1: and up top it will be Balligin. I think that's
36:58
Speaker 1: what our eleven will be.
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Speaker 2: So I agree with you, and.
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Speaker 3: Again, person to person, the only slight tweek I'd say
37:05
Speaker 3: is i'd probably list Tilman is next to McKenny. But
37:08
Speaker 3: like you said, it's fluid, and the fluidity is hopefully
37:12
Speaker 3: one of the team's strengths.
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Speaker 2: I know that's that's by design.
37:14
Speaker 3: The questions I would ask, though, so right, if Richards
37:18
Speaker 3: is good to go, he's gone the midfield, would it
37:22
Speaker 3: make sense for and Burrhalter I think would be a
37:26
Speaker 3: more natural fit than either mckinni or Tilman next to Adams?
37:30
Speaker 3: So one, do you think that that's a possibility. The
37:32
Speaker 3: other side of that is, okay, does that mean that
37:34
Speaker 3: Tilman gets dropped? Because I don't think I think you
37:36
Speaker 3: start McKinney, No, matter what. And then the only other
37:41
Speaker 3: consideration for the starting eleven is Ricarda Peppy. I don't
37:45
Speaker 3: think he's better than Baligan. I think he's good, but
37:49
Speaker 3: his connection with poolsic and the overlapping of the complimentary
37:54
Speaker 3: skills was on display against Senegal. All that being said
37:57
Speaker 3: to have maybe if Baligan started against Senegal we be
38:00
Speaker 3: having the same conversation.
38:01
Speaker 2: But we don't know.
38:02
Speaker 3: But I think at this point, for a team that
38:04
Speaker 3: has had so many different combinations, we are we are
38:07
Speaker 3: down to what I think all eleven is correct, but
38:10
Speaker 3: we were only down to like two or three questions,
38:12
Speaker 3: which I don't know. Ten days ago, I would have
38:15
Speaker 3: told you that there's you know, ten positions under gram
38:17
Speaker 3: or whatever, right, because we just didn't know.
38:19
Speaker 1: Those are all Those are all good questions. And I'll
38:22
Speaker 1: say this, you know we're going into the World Cup,
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Speaker 1: and I'll address specifically the Burholter and Tillman situation that
38:28
Speaker 1: you just spoke about. Do I see it as a
38:31
Speaker 1: possibility that Burholter can play next to Adams and push
38:35
Speaker 1: McKinney a little higher. I do. I do, because I
38:38
Speaker 1: think I think he knows how to hold that position better.
38:41
Speaker 1: He's more natural in that position. Having said that, Tom,
38:46
Speaker 1: this is the World Cup, you're playing against the best teams.
38:49
Speaker 1: Tillman is a forty million dollars signing for Leverkusen. I
38:54
Speaker 1: think you got to put him in there and he's
38:56
Speaker 1: got to show up. I feel like just this, this
39:00
Speaker 1: is the World Cup, is where you just put your
39:02
Speaker 1: best players and you go and play against the best
39:05
Speaker 1: players of other countries. And this is what we have.
39:08
Speaker 1: And I think Tillman is one of our best players,
39:10
Speaker 1: and that's why I think you should play. I maybe
39:13
Speaker 1: this is not the right solution that you wanted to
39:15
Speaker 1: hear or the right now, but I think you put
39:17
Speaker 1: it on his shoulders and say, listen, you're playing in
39:21
Speaker 1: Germany to be the guy for your team at Laverkusin.
39:24
Speaker 1: We need you to do it here so you prepare
39:26
Speaker 1: yourself for next year or whatever that is. But the
39:28
Speaker 1: World Cup is a big deal and we have big players,
39:31
Speaker 1: and the big players have to show up.
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Speaker 3: I couldn't agree more, and I was on like, I
39:36
Speaker 3: think that as I said, the eleven that you put out,
39:41
Speaker 3: we both have the same one. I think that's what
39:42
Speaker 3: it's gonna be. But those are the only real considerations
39:45
Speaker 3: of debates. But listen, we are so very close tab
39:48
Speaker 3: six days away at time of recording until that opening game,
39:52
Speaker 3: so we are gonna dive all the way deep into Paraguay.
39:55
Speaker 3: Will save some stuff for our next episode. So thank
39:57
Speaker 3: you for listening to South American Soccer. Please rate for
40:00
Speaker 3: you and subscriber ever gags your podcast. We're going to
40:01
Speaker 3: be back with a full preview of the opening World
40:04
Speaker 3: Cup match, Yes, the opening World Cup match for you,
40:07
Speaker 3: us mn T against Paraguay. Will have that early next
40:10
Speaker 3: week ahead of the game start the World Cup.
40:13
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening. Its back very very soon.