Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT Year in Review, Grades, Top-5 Players and Moments, plus Tyler Adams Latest

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USMNT Year in Review, Grades, Top-5 Players and Moments, plus Tyler Adams Latest · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: His lack of knowledge of the roster that we had,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the players that we had, and of the American
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: culture in general was a big, big disappointment for me.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody, Welcome back to a special edition
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: of Inside American Soccers. We're going to dive into our
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: end of year lists and review everything that was the
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  Speaker 2: US men's national team in the year of twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 2: our best performers, best moments, and so much more American
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  Speaker 2: soccer and beyond. I'm your host, Tom Boger, and as always,
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  Speaker 2: I'm joined by my friend, one of the greatest players
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  Speaker 2: in US soccer history, the veteran of three World Cups,
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  Speaker 2: former U twenty World Cup, MLS head coach Tab Ramos.
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  Speaker 2: But Tab, before we start, we got to go to
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  Speaker 2: a big picture look of twenty twenty five for American
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  Speaker 2: soccer before I give the rundown of the highs and
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  Speaker 2: the lows of the year that was sitting here almost
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: at the end of the year. Tab, what is your
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  Speaker 2: big picture thoughts on twenty twenty five for the US
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: men's national team?
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  Speaker 1: Hey, Tom, you know, great to start another show. I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: think this will be this will be a good one,
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  Speaker 1: maybe a little bit longer than usual, but it should
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  Speaker 1: be an exciting one. You know, this has been a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of an up and down year, but it's
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  Speaker 1: really exciting the way we're ending. And I think I
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: would take with me that part that I think we
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  Speaker 1: finally turned the corner right and we've been waiting to
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  Speaker 1: turn the corner for a long time now. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I think this has been a big year for the
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  Speaker 1: US national team and for the fans because the fans,
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  Speaker 1: I think, for the first time in a long time,
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  Speaker 1: can can finally see a direction and the direction is
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  Speaker 1: a positive one, and I'm excited about that as well.
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  Speaker 2: That's very well put. So let's get into what those
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  Speaker 2: highs and lows were. And as you said, we did
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  Speaker 2: end the year on a high, but it wasn't like
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  Speaker 2: that for most of the year, to be quite honest.
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  Speaker 2: So they played eighteen matches in the counter year of
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. The national team went ten wins, two draws,
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  Speaker 2: and six losses. To go into the numbers just a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more. The two win of those wins came
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  Speaker 2: in the January camp, which is useful, but I don't
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  Speaker 2: count towards an overall record because it's not a FIFA window.
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  Speaker 2: These are was what Venezuela's Sea team or whatever, right,
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  Speaker 2: So all in all, in FIFA windows they went eight wins,
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  Speaker 2: two draws and six losses. There were some high highs
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  Speaker 2: at the end of the year, but man, there was
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  Speaker 2: some low lows. Before the Gold Cup, the national team
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  Speaker 2: lost their first four competitive matches of twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 2: by a combined square of nine to three, and these
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  Speaker 2: were games against Panama, Canada, Turkey, and Switzerland. Things looked very,
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  Speaker 2: very bad going into the Gold Cup. The performances at
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  Speaker 2: the Gold Cup. They get to the final, but it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't convincing at all throughout the entire run of that tournament.
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  Speaker 2: Then in September they returned for friendlies and they play
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  Speaker 2: South Korea at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: at halftime of that game, South Korea is playing the
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  Speaker 2: United States off the pitch. From that point and the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: days beyond, there were serious and genuine conversations as to
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: whether Richa Pochettino was still going to be the head
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  Speaker 2: coach of this team by the World Cup. But they
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: steadied the ship from there on out. There was the
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  Speaker 2: formation change, the tactical change. They end the year on
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: a five game on beat and run. Four of those
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  Speaker 2: were wins, and all of those games were against World
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Cup quality opponents. So overall time, what would be your
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  Speaker 2: grade for twenty twenty five for the US M and T.
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  Speaker 1: I would have to say, you know, I'll have to
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  Speaker 1: go with a C plus B minus grade. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I think it would have been an F had we
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  Speaker 1: you know, we've been looking, you know, the first half
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  Speaker 1: of South Korea game, it was certainly an F. But
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  Speaker 1: I think I think the team has been certainly on
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  Speaker 1: a rising positive mode since. And I think Mauricio Bochettino
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  Speaker 1: finally recognized that, you know, we're not strong enough in
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  Speaker 1: the back to play with two center backs, and I
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  Speaker 1: think that change was huge. But you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: it's a change that not only I saw, but I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of people from outside were seeing, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, we have great wing backs, We have
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  Speaker 1: a lot of options at the wing back position. Why
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: don't we just go three center backs? It seemed like
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  Speaker 1: the obvious thing to do at the time, and I
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  Speaker 1: was really happy to see that. I because of the
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  Speaker 1: way we ended the year, I hate to only say
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  Speaker 1: C plus or B minus because I want to be
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  Speaker 1: more positive than that. I want to be like an
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  Speaker 1: A mode. But I think because so much of the
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  Speaker 1: year we spent, you know, shedding tears once again, I
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  Speaker 1: think that it can't be higher than that.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's totally fair. And of course, if we
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  Speaker 2: did it in segments the first six months f and
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: that I don't you don't need to think about it twice.
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  Speaker 2: It feels very obvious the last six months probably B
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  Speaker 2: plus a minus, right, Like, we don't want to get
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  Speaker 2: ahead of our skis. While everything was impressive, you don't
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  Speaker 2: want to reserve something AA plus for segments where the
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  Speaker 2: United States didn't play, you know, a true blue blood
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  Speaker 2: and a true like top eight team in the world.
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  Speaker 2: And that doesn't take anything away from these six months.
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  Speaker 2: But overall, to your point of the formation change, it
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  Speaker 2: did kind of feel, well, it was obvious something needed
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  Speaker 2: to change, and I was I've long been in the camp,
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  Speaker 2: even when when Greg Burlton was a coach, and again
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: there were there were positives and negatives there. One of
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  Speaker 2: my frustrations was this team. The players are all best
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: set to play in transition, high intensity type of game model,
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  Speaker 2: not like a slow possession and that helped a lot,
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  Speaker 2: particularly defensively, but it came with drawbacks. So I for
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  Speaker 2: a while thought that if we increased the intensity in
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  Speaker 2: the tempo, and I was hoping Richard Pochetina was going
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  Speaker 2: to do that. He eventually did. I did think that
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  Speaker 2: the back three was the right but you could argue
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  Speaker 2: that right, like maybe there was different combinations. And they
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  Speaker 2: did finally figure it out. That is the most important
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  Speaker 2: change of the year. But even at something that was
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  Speaker 2: so positive, I don't really understand why it took so
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  Speaker 2: long to get there. I think that's that's a frustration
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  Speaker 2: that that's gonna be eroded by the sands of time,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: and that's in a good way. They eventually got there,
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  Speaker 2: but it just felt like we wasted a lot a
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  Speaker 2: lot of games on like oh yeah, this isn't gonna
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  Speaker 2: work and oh cool, like they played seventy two players
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  Speaker 2: this year. That's too many in the year before World come.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, and we were saying
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  Speaker 1: that in September. You know, we're looking at our watches saying, okay,
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  Speaker 1: it's been a year now, how long is it going
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  Speaker 1: to take for us to play better? And at least
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  Speaker 1: I mean, if you remember, let's go back. We can
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: go back only two months, really two and a half months,
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  Speaker 1: and think about the one thing, the one common denominator
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  Speaker 1: that every let's say punded that's not directly associated with
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  Speaker 1: the national team was talking about that the team was
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  Speaker 1: lacking and that was what it was. Effort we could.
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  Speaker 1: We weren't making an effort, and we were thinking, okay,
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  Speaker 1: well we brought this big time coach. Of course he's
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  Speaker 1: gonna have amazing tactics. Of course he has great experience.
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  Speaker 1: He's done it at Chelsea, he did it at PSG,
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  Speaker 1: he did it at Tottenham for a long time, taking
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  Speaker 1: that club to the Champions League final, which obviously it's
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily a winning club. But and he comes here
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  Speaker 1: and now we're a year later, and not only do
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  Speaker 1: we have the proper tactics, not only do we look
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  Speaker 1: good playing and attacking, but we're not making an effort.
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  Speaker 1: There's a big problem here. I think a change has
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  Speaker 1: to be made, and I think we were all starting to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, as much as we didn't want to pull
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  Speaker 1: the trigger early, we were all starting to think, well,
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  Speaker 1: this is not working, this is not working. And then
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  Speaker 1: the change came and so it came at the perfect
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  Speaker 1: time when I think all the pressure was going on
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  Speaker 1: the national team and on Mauricio Pochettino specifically.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly. There was so much pressure. Again like this, this
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  Speaker 2: was a higher that was widely celebrated, I think, as
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  Speaker 2: it should have been, because of his pedigree, because of
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  Speaker 2: his ability, everything he's comments in his career. I think
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  Speaker 2: we were all pleasantly surprised, Oh wow, the United States
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  Speaker 2: were able to convince reci Puchetino saw this as a
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  Speaker 2: very good to take on. So it started there and
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of good will and there's a honeymoon period,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: and then again by September, the whole conversation was should
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  Speaker 2: he still be the coach? And my first answer at
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: that time was, I don't even know if we can
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: talk about it in terms of merit. I don't think
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  Speaker 2: that it's possible financially to pay out Podgettino after paying
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: out Buralter and then going to get another coach. My
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: answer of like, yeah, it should be Pugetino was more
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: about being practical than anything else, and credit to him
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: and credit to his staff for being able to turn
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  Speaker 2: it around. On the effort side of things, I'm gonna
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: use two things that you've said to me in my
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: youth in games. One, earned the right to play. We
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: all talk about playing these good passing sequences, game models,
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  Speaker 2: all that is extremely important. You don't get to do
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: that if you're not getting stuck in. You don't get
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  Speaker 2: to do that. If you're not putting in the effort,
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  Speaker 2: you don't get to play possession, if you're not winning
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  Speaker 2: the ball back. So that's one and another one that
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: you said that sucking me for a while. Every ball,
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  Speaker 2: every time there is not a fifty to fifty challenge
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  Speaker 2: that anybody should be pulling out. It shouldn't be all
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: we'll get the next one. And I think by the
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: fall this team really embodied that. And that is something
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: that Poachatino would go out of his way in press conferences,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: in private meetings, talking to players, talking to people around
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the players. Is that was the most important, Like, Hey,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I don't care who you are at this point, I
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: don't care what your technical ability is. And if you're
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: not giving a baseline effort, desire and fight, you're not
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: getting on the field. And when that finally turned, then
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: you started to see some of the tactical ideas because
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: in September, the players were saying, hey, we want to
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: play like we I was like straight up asking them
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: what is the play because we kind of can't see
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: any sort of identity when you're watching from from above.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: And they were like, oh, you know, we want to
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: high press and all this. I was like, I don't
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: see it right. It's not coming across because they weren't
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: doing like the team was too disjointed and the baseline effort, combativeness,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: fight wasn't there to allow us to see the game
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: on their turns.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And you know, the thing about what's happened with this
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: team is, I think to all of us on the outside,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the team looked confused more than anything else. It didn't
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: look like a team. It didn't look like it had
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a real shape to it. You know, at times, if
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you remember, we can go back, you know, when the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: last time Anthony Robinson played on the team, we thought
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: that we had something new when he was playing inside.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: If you recall in one of the games, he was
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: coming inside all the time and we were very effective
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: with him sort of being out of position and roaming
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: into midfield, and we thought, okay, now we have something
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a little different. Look, you know, what's important is to
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: recognize that we all know Mauricio Pochettino as a great coach,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and we've always known that, so it's not like we
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: were sitting outside thinking this guy just doesn't know what
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: he's doing. I think the shocking part for most of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: us that have been involved with the national team for
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: a long time was that it took him so long
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to figure out what but he needed to push to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: get the most out of players, and for me, that
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was that was too long. That was a mistake. I
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: think his lack of knowledge of the roster that we had,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: of the players that we had, and of the American
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: culture in general was a big, big disappointment for me,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: because I thought when you take one of these jobs,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you're pretty well prepared in terms of you know what
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: you're walking into, and of course you're always going to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: have surprises. It's normal. No coach knows everything when they
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: go in. But I think the fact that it took
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: a year to figure out, hey, you know what, American
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: players will run through the wall for me if I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: ask them to. That took too long. And I can
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: tell you from experience that there's not a player in
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: that locker room that wouldn't run through the wall for
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: a coach, because that's a signature of an American player.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: They will do anything to win exactly.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And that is like, we're not going to have the
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: talent of Spain or Tatina, Brazil, France, Jeremy right, just
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: insert all of the traditional powerhouses. The only way that
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: this program is successful and table. Like you said, you
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: look back on the most successful teams over the last
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: thirty years, that has been an absolute constant, and that
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: is always a harmmark hallmark of this group, and it's
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: something to be extremely proud of. It's something I know
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of as growing up watching these teams and everything. Right,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Like even going to the early twenty tens, and yeah,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: obviously there was a ton of quality in that team,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: but to a man, you just had a lot of
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: dogs and a lot of dudes who were extremely competitive
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: piano players versus piano carriers is a typical phrase in soccer.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: We had a couple piano players, but that whole team
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: were piano carriers. Even the ones who were really good,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: like Clint Dempsey more than anybody else, would would be
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: in your face and doesn't back down from anything. Landon Donovan.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: He was probably the most special player in that team.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Josie Outdoor, all those guys still work. Michael Bradley was
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: one of my favorite players growing up. What I loved
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: most about him wasn't his incredible tex It was his drive,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: his fire, his intelligence, all that, all of those things,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: and then when you put all that together, you play
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: beyond some of your parts and it allows for those
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: special moments with some of those special players. So again,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: for me, that has to be a given. It has
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: to be a concert for the national team. It was
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: a little disappointed it took too long for it to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: really show, but at the end of the day we
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: got there, and with enough time to spare before the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: World Cup, though it did look touch and go there.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: We're gonna get to Tyler Adams in a second, But
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: just one more recap here, going back to the Gold Cup,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: because you and I haven't really talked about this at all.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: That toornament papered some cracks, very very briefly. Even when
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: they were winning, I think it was pretty clear that
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: it wasn't going well. Right. They beat Trina Adam Zebago
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: five mil in that opening game, and it said okay,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: like the Switzerland Turkey losses in the rear view, starting
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: to move forward, barely get by Saudi Arabia, barely get
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: by Haiti, lucky to beat Costa Rican penalties. I want
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: to be clear, Costa Rica Alonzo Martinez hit the post
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: and at some point near the end of the game,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Costa Rica I thought were the better team on that day,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: so they could have been eliminated. In the quarterfinals semifinals
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: against Guatemala, they were hanging on for deer life in
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the last ten minutes and that again, no disrespect to Guatemala,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: what a fantastic performance by them. That's not a team
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: or a game that the United States should be hanging
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: on for dear life. At the end of Mexico in
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: the final, they started fine and that was one of
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: the first times you really saw the intensity and the energy.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: They kept that up for maybe fifteen to twenty minutes
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: and then Mexico completely dominated the way. They're out. So
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: the Gold Cup, as we kind of quickly can forget,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: the Gold Cup did happen this year. It wasn't a disaster,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: but it certainly wasn't a success. Before we get to
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: a break, let's talk about Toymer Adams. That is probably
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: the most consequential news that then we might be talking
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: about today. Tyler Adams left Bournemouth's game this week with
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: a knee injury in just five minutes. At time of recording,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: we do not have a clear one medical diagnosis. Their
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: manager said that he suspects it's MCL damage. He said damage.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: He did not say whether that means terror sprain. MCL
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: is not as bad as tearing race yo. So hopefully
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: worst case scenario is avoided. And again we're using hopefully
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: because this isn't totally confirmed a time of recording, but
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: tab this is this is a player of the group
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: can't afford.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: No question. I mean, that's a piece that I think,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: you know, if you were to do a survey of
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: every single you know, pundit of US Soccer and anyone
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: who covers this team or has been covering this team,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Tyler Adams is one that everybody puts right in the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: center there, that's your six, right, that's that's the middle
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: of your the of the midfield of your team. So
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: that's an important player. Yeah, it's unfortunate, you know, we
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: have to hope at this point for some MCL because
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: MCL is really difficult to tear. You normally just sprain it,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and you know, it takes quite a few weeks. It
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: could take sometimes six to eight weeks, and it's hard
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: to gain confidence because it's hard to hit the ball
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: with the inside of your foot. When that happens and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: you have your you know, your body sort of records
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that memory of the pain when you hit the ball.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So it's a little bit difficult, but not as bad. Obviously,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: ACL at this point would be you know, would be
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: tough to recover from in time for the World Cup.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Now from experience, I can tell you I had an
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: ACL injury prior to ninety eight World Cup. It would
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: be three weeks ago now, and I did make it
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: to that World Cup, of course, not playing great by
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: any means.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Dam I just want to interject to be here. You
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: tour your ACL in November, and by June you were
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: playing the World Cup.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was playing. In May, I was
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: playing MLS games, so I think I played. I played
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: two or three MLS games before I got called into
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the national team and and went to that World Cup. Obviously,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you know from an ACL. The thing about ACL is
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: you you can recover, but it's really a year before
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: you feel like yourself again. So hey, let's just hope
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: for the best. Let's hope this is not an ACL injury.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: This would be a big loss for the national team
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: at this point.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Built different back in your day tab that is that
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: is unbelievable. And how many times.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Did you do your AC on your career during my career? Twice?
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: But I did it. I did it one more time
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: after I retired playing playing on like Sunday leagues, So
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: three times? Three times?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Was that last one your Sunday league retirement.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, that was pretty much. That was pretty much it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: That was about around twenty ten, twenty twelve. I'm like,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I'm done with because it's six months of rehab that
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: you don't want to go through.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, But when you're not when you're your entire
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: job in your playing career, Like, while rehab sucks, at
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: least that's your entire job is get back on the
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: field now after your career, you're doing parenting, you're doing
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: your day job, everything else, and it's man, I gotta
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: go to rehab. So that is that is brutal. Hopefully
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: that never happens again. But to go for a quick
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: quick break. We'll be right back for the top five
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: US M and T players of the year. Please rate, subscribe,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: and review Inside American Soccer with Topballer in top romas
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: wherever you get the podcast with right. All right, we're
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: back tap. I'm gonna put down the spot here some
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: quick trivia before we get through our top fives. There
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: were eighteen US mn T games this year. Do you
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: know which player played the most minutes for the US
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: men's national team at twenty twenty five.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a guess because I wasn't expecting this question,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: but I think one of them that has to be
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: up up there has to be if if it's not
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Matt Freeze, it'd have to be Max Arvstin Matt Freeze.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: You got that. You're one for one.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Good start, all right?
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Who scored the most goals? I don't if you're gonna get.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: This, I'm gonna say. I'm going to say Diego Luna,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: but I don't know.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: No, but close he was he was second. It was
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: matic Gojamont scored five goals in six hundred and eighty
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: six minutes. Most assists. I think you might get this one.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Most assist. I'm gonna have to go with would it
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: be Alex Freeman?
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: No, no, different, different defender, kind of Max Arson.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was going to say that. I was going
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: to say.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Most goal contributions. Neither of the leader. Neither Ajamon nor
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Arson is the total goal contribution leader.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Oh really? Now I'm just trying to figure out who's
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: played the most games. I'll go diego Luna.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, you got it, So it is yeagal Luna. Four
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: goals for assist. I will tell you when I was
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: putting together these this information, I would not have gotten Diaglaluna.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I don't think I would have gotten note among either.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: So I think you did better than I would have
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: done in that. Let's go to our top five US
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: men national team players of twenty twenty five. Do you
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: want to go first?
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: You?
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Do you want me?
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Sure? Do you want me to start? I'll start from five?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: And do you want me to do all? Okay, so
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: i'll see I'll start at number five. I will have
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: to go with Alex Freeman. I think you know he
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: really broke into this team. Likely if you and I
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: were speaking a year ago from today, certainly this was
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: not a player that was going to be on the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: radar as to potentially playing a big part in the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: World Cup six months from now. And I think the
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: work that he's done this year, and in particular the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: way he finished the year, is he sort of finished
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the year the way our national team finished the year,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: and we can't not put those two together. I think
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: maybe part of the reason the national team finished the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: way it is because guys like Alex Freeman had the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: sort of the season they did. So I'll stop there
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: with that.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Let me one thing with Freeman is not only was
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: he not on the raider for the national team at
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: this time last year. If you made me guess there's
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: gonna be one Orlando City academy defender who breaks through
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: and becomes a starter, I would have said Thomas Williams
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: for that, just for that team. So what Alex Freeman
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: did all these last twelve months is nothing short of spectacular.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Agreed the next one, and I'd hate to have them
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: this low. But I mean, obviously these are all great
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: players we're talking about who had great seasons. At number four,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I have to say Max Arsten, I mean, what a
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: great year he had. I don't know, even though he's
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: number four. I actually don't know that I can say
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: someone had a better year than he did. He broke
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: into the national team. He made us forget about Anthony Robinson,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: who has been our best player for the national team
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: on a consistent basis for the last four or five years.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: And Arston came in there. Man, this kid just just
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: took over, you know, confident, wanting to make a difference,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: not being afraid, look like he belonged from the beginning.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: And yes he had a few moments defensively where we
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: can say he can do better, but every player has moments.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: What a great year by Arson. I feel confident that,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you know. And it's good to see that Anthony Robinson
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: is back in the picture now and now playing at
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Fulham again, so he should be our starter on that side.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: But not afraid at all if if Robinson is not there,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: that Arfston wouldn't do a great job at the World Cup.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: So great season for him, and and that's that's a
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: newfound confidence. For a while, we would talk about backup
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: left back is just a big old question mark and
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: hoping that we never needed to find an answer because
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: of how consistent and available Anthony Robinson was and Max
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Arson answered that question empatically.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: This year, Yeah, and so I go, I'll move up
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: to number three. And the next three guys are guys
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that are doing at week in and week out at
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: at the top level, and so you have to put
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: them up there because regardless of what year we're talking about,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the season Tyler Adams is having at Bournemouth
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: has been a great season. You know, he's a solid starter,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: he scored an amazing goal a couple of weeks ago,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and he's just a guy that I think, you know,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: his own manager thinks they can't really do without. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: that's on an EPL team. Obviously, we know about his
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: leadership qualities, we know about how he plays with our
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: national team where he leaves everything on the field every
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: single time. But he's doing it week out, week in
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and week out in the top league in the world,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and that's that's just amazing. So Tyler Adams would be
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: my third. My second would be Christian Polisic, and I
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: hate to put him at second because what Christin is
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: doing at AC Milan is not something that we're gonna
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: see often and that we're sure we're gonna see again
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: anytime soon. But someone else he's on one of the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: top clubs in the world where there's a ton of
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: pressure every single week, and he delivers week after week
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: at a top club like this, you know, he he
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: didn't miss a bunch of national team games and on
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the national team, to be fair, he has not been
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: great this year, and I can go from beginning to
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: end the whole year, and that's maybe what made me
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: lean a little bit about him to be in second.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: But needless to say, you know, great player, and Simon
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: has had a great twenty twenty five exactly.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: This is more so for his club form because of
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: how great he's been Frasie Milan, but with the national
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: team itself he's only played three hundred and fifteen minutes
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: one goal contribution. Like you said, though, we know how
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: good he is in his quality and I don't think
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: that there's any worry there. So while it hasn't been
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: a banner year for the national team in him in
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: a US Jersey, it's been a banner year for him
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: in Nasy Milan, Jersey. Agree with him in two and.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: My number one would have to be Chris Richards. I
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: think you you may go into some stats later on him,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: but I have to say, I mean, how far he's come.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's the one you know before this a
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: year ago, if we had to pick players in terms
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: of who really belongs on that eleven and who's one
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you can't move, obviously Tyler Adams and Kristen Polisic would
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: have been those names that came up, and likely likely
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: no one else. Maybe you could say McKinney, but likely
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: no one else. And there's no question that if you
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: started to pick on eleven now and one that doesn't
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: move from his spot, that's Chris Richards. And it's not
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: just here, it's a crystal palace. It's everywhere he plays.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: And by the way, he's doing it with a smile.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: And by the way he has become a team leader.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: You remember now the Mexico game. You know he has
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: to grab guys and pull guys and tell people what
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: to do. I mean, he has become a lot more
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: than a player for us and for our national team
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: and for our future, and no question, for me, our
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: best player this year.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what a fantastic season. He's twenty five years old now,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: so he's into his prime for a center back. This
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: is somebody who we knew how good he was, how
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: good he could be his talent level when he was
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: breaking through FC Dallas, going from Dallas to Bayron, Munich
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: before playing a minute for the Dallas first team. That's
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: how highly regarded he was. And he's made good on
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: that potential and probably even a little bit more for
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: what he's doing for Palace. So I really like your
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: top five. There's a lot of overlap between us. I'm
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: glad that it isn't exact same five for five, so
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I'll go with my number five. I'm gonna go with
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Matt Freeze. So he won the US men's atty team
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: starting job, playing in thirteen of the eighteen games this year.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: He is he played the most minutes, as I said,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: and this is a year in which more than seventy
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: players appeared or was called in a camp for the
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: national team. He was one of the very very few
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: constants all year long and a foundational piece right now.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Very clearly is the inside position to be the starting
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: goalkeeper at the World Cup. We had goalkeeper questions coming
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: into twenty five. We do not have them going out
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: of twenty five. And along the way he's been one
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: of the best goalkeepers in MLS for NYCFC and impressive
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: for him when he got his chance that he hasn't
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: looked back and good on the coachings have to give
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: him a chance because it was pretty wide open at
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: goalkeeper and Freeze wasn't even really one of the top
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: three guys that we were talking about until he got
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: to play and won that job.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I mean agreed, I can't add too much more. I
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: mean I would, you know, obviously, would have to name
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: on as an honorable mention to my list. It's not
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: easy to do what he does, and by the way
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: he did it as he was being question the whole time,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: because the goalkeeping situation has been a mess for us
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: for the last couple of years and he made it
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: now a steady one that we don't necessarily have.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: To worry about, exactly, turning question marks into exclamation points,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: I think for me, So Freeze's number five, number four.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: I went back and forth, but I ultimately picked Malik Tilman.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: So in the summer he earned a big money transfer
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: to byre Levercusan. He's still settling into that club, but
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: he does have three goals. What is what this is
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: more for is his performance at the Gold Cup, where
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: again he was one of the few bright spots, but
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: particularly in the spring. He comes back from a knee
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: injury he was out for a couple months. He returns
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: to PSV's lineup. They immediately don't drop a point in
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: the last seven games of the season. They go twenty
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: one for twenty one, seven wins out of seven games.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: In that timeframe, he had five goals and assists. All
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: of those to get the title. They came from what
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: looked to be an instrumentable deficit against IAX, and Malik
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Tillman was an integral part of that. Without Melike Tillman,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: they do not win the title, and I think that
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: is very, very important. He had three goals in two
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: assists at the Gold Cup. Like I said, he was
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I think the best performer for the national team. And
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: it's that's those two things have been the baseline of
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: when we do are like preferred starting lineups, Tillman is
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: either in it or he's the last guy you drop
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: for playing next to Polisk in the two line. And
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: for that, like I think, Arsen and Freeman have been
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: really really good. Like you said, this is the top five,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: All these are really good options. But for me, I
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: went with Hilman ahead of those two.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good call. That's a good call. And
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: and his transfer to to Leverkusen shows you what everyone
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: thinks about him. That is not just us here, and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: it's not just on our national team. But you know,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: he's doing it at the at the biggest stage in Germany,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: and and he plays for a huge club. So uh,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you know, I think because he's a little bit of
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: more of a quiet type player, right, he doesn't he
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: even when he takes over the game, it's really all
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: with actions, right, He's not. He's not very vocal, he's
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: not in anyone's face. He's not you know, he even
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: when he makes a big play, he sort of gives
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: credits to his teammates constantly. And because of that sometimes
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: it's hard to think of him as sort of the
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: best player and and and doing great. But you're absolutely right,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: he's had a great season and and I think does
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: of that spot.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: So we have the same top three three Tyler Adams two,
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Christian Poolitik one Chris Ridgard. Let's go with Adams. He
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: made thirty four Premier League appearances for Bournemouth over the
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: calendar year and ten us men's actional team caps. I
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: haven't looked deep into the numbers. I've got to imagine
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: this is the most games he's played in the calendar year,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: maybe in his career, if not for a long time.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: And this would be a whole lot more emphatic if
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: he hadn't just got hurt this week. So hopefully we
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: get some good news there, But overall, twenty twenty five
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: was awesome. He was in the ninety fifth percentile among
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: midfielders in Europe's top five leagues in the Champions League
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: and tackles seventy seven percentile in interceptions. Again, these are
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: things that we know, and it's very cool to see
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: him like he's one of the best defensive midfielders in
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: the world at what he does. He doesn't do as
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: much in possession as some of the deep line playmakers,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: but there is few better than him in the defensive
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: side of the ball at his position. And this is
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: an America and he's getting recognized for that beyond Bournemuth,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: beyond the US national team, which is always nice to see.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Christian Polisic, as you said, this is more about AC
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Milan than it is the national team. Well, with AC Milan.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: He had thirteen goals and seven assists in the calendar
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: year in Syriac that's twenty goal contributions. That was most
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: of any Syria player in this calendar year. Say that again,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Christian Polisk had more cold contributions than any other player
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: in Syria over the calendar year of twenty twenty five.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Like you said, Teb, that is not something that is
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: normal for an American player at a club like this.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know how many times we're gonna see it
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: again if it's not Pulsic at this club. This has
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: been a special especially year for Polistic, even if it
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: hasn't totally been with the national team because of those
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: absences and injuries. And then number one, I'm giving it
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: to Chris Richards as well. Crystal Palace wins the FA Cup,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: first trophy in a long long time. This is not
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: a team that regularly wins trophies. They qualify for European competition,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: which is something that this team does not really ever do.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: He made He played the twenty eighth most minutes by
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: now field player in the Premier League in twenty twenty five.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: He won a starting job. He was a key crucial
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: player for this team. Along the way, he made twelve
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: national team caps. This has been a career best year
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: for a really, really good player.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're in agreement obviously, these these top
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: three players are where they are because I think we're
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: all thinking along the same lines. But yeah, Richards, I said,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: an incredible year, and I'm anxious to see what happens
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: next because I'm sure Crystal Palace is not the club
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: he's gonna end up that.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: It's not bad for n now hopefully nothing until after
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: the World Cup, which reminds me, We're gonna have a
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: January transfer window preview coming your way in the near future,
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: so stay tuned for that. We're gonna dive into that
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: and all the other players and what the January might
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: bring or what it should bring. Another top five list
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: have We're gonna go with our top five moments of
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. I'm gonna start. I'm gonna go with
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: number five, the altercation let's call it with Paraguay, in
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: which it started with out streaming wrestling on a throw
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: in and the entire benches cleared. All of the players
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: got involved. Thankfully it ended up safe, nobody got injured.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Nobody got sent off. No punches were thrown that we
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: could totally see. There seemed to be some knees thrown
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: and some headlocks put in. But I think that was
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: indicative of the shift in mentality and Marisa Pochetino getting
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: the team to fight, wanting the team to fight all that.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I think that that was very, very important in the
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: grand scheme of things in twenty five.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, those are the little things that that make you
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: a team, is those little moments when you're willing to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: stick stick up for your teammate when you don't really
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: have to good moment, and I agree with you that
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: that it was probably important for Mariso Puchettino to see that.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: Even though because Maricha Pochetino ended up on the ground
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: when he was trying to break it up. I don't
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: think Pochettino totally loved it the moment for himself, but
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: alls well, that ends well. Number four for me, Alijandro
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Zentaos his goal against Japan. It was wasn't quite a byue,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: it was a volley. It was a lovely crossing, a
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: lovely finished. I think that was the goal of the
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: year for me. Tab I don't know if you have
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: anything else off the top of your head.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: No, I don't. And and this is you know, Zende
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: has is one of the guys that I picked to
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: be on the team, and this is one one of
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: the reasons why, because he's a great finisher. Uh plays
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: for a big club and comes up, comes up big
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: every week for them. And yeah, this was This is
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: a great goal, great quality, good reading of the game
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: as he sat back and as he volleyed the ball
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: into the corner, I mean, great goal and I can't
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: argue that it might be the goal of the year.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Number three Matt Freeze his penalty shootout against Costa Rica
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: at the Gill Cup. I alluded to it earlier. I
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: think Costa Rica was a better team on that day.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: We get to a shootout. The other team is Kayler Navas.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Anytime Kayler Nava steps into a penalty shootout, that team
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: is going to be very confident. But it was Matt
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Freeze and told the show he saved three penalties in
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: that shootout for the United States to advance. And I
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: think that was his defining moment of twenty five.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: You know, there are defining moments for goalkeepers. This is
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: one for him. If we look back a couple of years,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Ethan Horvath had one of those moments when he saved
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: a penalty against Mexico in the final. It's what you
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: do after that matters, and I think what he's done
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: after has really mattered and put him as a solid
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: number one.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I totally agree. My second biggest moment of the year
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: is switching to the three four to two one during
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: the loss of South Korea. In that moment, it was
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: rock bottom and we sunlight at the end of the tunnel,
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: and we didn't know it yet because things looked good,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: but it was very easily like in the last thirty
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: minutes or so, it was easily well game states. South
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Korea made seven changes and took the foot off the gas.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Who cares. It was still an awful performance, but that
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: was a ray of light, and thankfully they followed that
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: and kept that, and that is being the biggest trigger
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: to this team performing much better with the new system
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: at Silent.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, without question, that was
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: that was the moment. That was when we turned the
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: switch on. You know, it was sort of okay, we
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: have nothing left, let's uh, let's turn this, let's turn
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: this switch on and see what happens, and that's exactly
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: what happened. But the team turned down from then and
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: we've been a different team.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Since exactly A number one moment. It's not as much
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: a moment as it is a game because I can't
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: parse it down to just one uh US and men's
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: national team five Uruguay one. I don't have much more
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: to say, but holy.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Shit, incredible. I mean, if you don't have anything more
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: to say, then I'll add a little bit to that,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: but uh, yeah, I mean it. It was is a
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: great moment because this is this is uh you know,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you can get results here and there, but following that
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Paraguay win, to go against Uruguay and to do this
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: that that is just the amount of confidence that that
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: gives the team. Uh. You you can't measure it because
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: now we have a couple months, uh, in which the
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: players can come into the next camp thinking that, hey,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: we're a good team and we can really play against
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the top teams.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm still baffled by that. It was such a
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: cataclysmic loss for Urguay that Bielsa called a press conference
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: and people were wondering if he was going to resign,
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: and he spent an hour giving bizarre quotes, something to
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: the effective I'm a toxic person. I'm no fun to
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: be around him. Oh, we sent Uruguay and Marcel Bielsa
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: into an existential crisis with that game, So I think
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: that has to be number one.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not only did Bielsa say he's a toxic man,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: but he said anyone who comes anywhere near me becomes
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: toxic like me, which is it was bizarre. I'm not
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: sure if if if you're trying to get fired or
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what else you can say
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: and actually not get fired. So but that's what we are.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: But you're right, I mean, we we caused that. Uruguay
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: has been having problems. You know, the last eighteen months
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: have been terrible. They only won two or three out
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: of the last fifteen or sixteen games, so not playing well.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: But we we buried on at that moment and and
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: put them into a big time crisis for sure.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Sam, Let's get to your top five moments. It seems
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: that these might might be more of the important moments,
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: maybe not the traditional best five.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: No, they're definitely not best fives because only because only
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: because our year has been I don't want to say
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: up and down, but it's been a lot of down
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and then up in the end, which is the way
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: you want to end, right But we have to recognize
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: that this has not been all fun and games this
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: year for our national team. We've had some historic horrible
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: moments and we have to know that that happened. You know,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: my number five, I would have to say it was
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: us losing to Canada for the second straight time at
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: home ever, and we can't take that lightly. You know,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Canada's arrival, they haven't for us really, you know, we
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: felt like they hadn't woken up, and we sort of
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: woke Canada up this year and they beat us twice,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: and they beat us twice in a row at home,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: which is which is really not a good place to
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: be for us. Okay, So I'll say that as number five. Obviously,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sure Jesse marsh and enjoyed that that win in
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the third place game very much, but it was a
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: bad loss for us. It didn't leave a good feeling.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: The team didn't play well. Poor moment. So I'll go
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: with the number four. I'll get to I'll get to
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: a little bit more positive, and that's our turnaround, that
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: that this is where you know, you talked before about
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: the changing of the system, you know, being one of
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the moments, And I think this was the result of that.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: For me, the two games one are one one versus
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Ecuador and the two to one win versus Paraguay were
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: proof that our turnaround in our new system of play
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: is exactly what we needed. The way we played against
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Ecuador in the one to one game, I hadn't I've
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: seen a US national team play that hard for many
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: many years. That to me showed what I think most
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: of us were saying that we needed from our team,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: which was we just, if anything, let's forget about how
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: we play, but can we play hard? And I think
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: the team proved against a solid, very very good Ecuador team, which,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: by the way, and it's second in qualifying, but they
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: were also taken three three points were taken away from them,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: so they would have ended up a little bit even
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: closer to Argentina in qualifying. So this is a really
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: really good Ecuador team. And and and I thought in
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: the end we were the better team that day, and
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: that was a great turn around. So I think those
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: two those two games for me, were were huge in
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: terms of what, you know, what the year has brought
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to us. As number three, I'll have to go back
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: as a little bit of an up and down our
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: third straight loss to Panama crazy. You know, it's just
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: it reminds us a little bit of where we were
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: not too long ago, and it also allows us to
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: think about, hey, you know, we've done well over the
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: last couple of months, but let's remember that not too
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: long ago, this is where we were, so let's keep
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: focus on continuing to make progress. But we can't we
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: can't not mention that because losing to you know, again,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: these are historic results that we had this year, so
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: we we can't forget about them. As number two, I'll
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: have to say the five win, five to one win
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: against Uruguay, it's everything you said before, It's everything I
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: confirmed right after you said it, And tell me all
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: you want about Uruguay is not in a good moment
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: and all of those things. This is a huge win
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: for us. This is the one that's really going to stick,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: and that's really that we're really going to remember, you know,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: six eight months from now when the World Cup starts,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: this is one of the results that will be looking
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: looking at and we're going to be saying, hey, no
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: matter what happens on some of these friendlies, this is
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: a result we look back and say we can do this.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: We can really play, you know, against these big teams.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: We can pressure them and we can allow them to
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: not play in the game and take over. And we
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: took over this game. It could have been worse. We
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: could have won by more. Great result, I would say,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: And I know I make get criticized for this, but
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: for me, one of the best results ever because of
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: the moment when it happened and the way it happened,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I loved it.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, me too, completely completely, what a performance.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: And no one. And then as the number one moment,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: I have to say it was the moment this summer,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: even though the results didn't come immediately, it was the
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: moment this summer when Pochettino basically said you you don't
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: pick and choose when you come to the national team.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: I tell you when you come, and when you come,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: you're all in. And that was a lesson for all
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: the players who decided to take the summer off or
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: we're too tired or anything else. You know what, Argentinian
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: players don't get too tired to go to the national team,
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: and they play ninety minutes every week for every team
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: they're on. When the national team calls, they all go.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: When Brazil's players are called, they all go. When Germany's
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: players are called, they all go. Us players. When you
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: get called to the national team, you have to go,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: And that was for me, the big moment.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: That is definitely one of the foundational moments of this year,
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: more so again for the culture of the locker room
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: for everything else. I think all these played extremely important
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: ingredients to turn around, like you said, over the last
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: few months to end the season, end the year, and
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: a high that could have went both ways. There was
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: a public polistic doing interviews, Pochatino doing interviews that could
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: have spun in a very negative way, but credits at
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Pochettino in the staff, and a polistick for everything being
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: good moving forward.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean we had all kinds of interviews.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just polistic. There was all kinds of interviews
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: about hey, you know, we get size too much. Let's
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: just play the game, Let's just play hard. When you
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: come to the national team, everyone expects every player to
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: play hard, and I think Pugentino finally put his foot down.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Big moment for me this year.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: I was very impressive. But on that we're gonna have
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: to take a very very quick break. We'll be right
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: back with our predictions USMNT in twenty twenty six. Thank
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: you for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate for
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: if you subscribe, we'll do right back. Welcome back to
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: Inside American Soccer. Tap, let's go back inside the locker room,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: and I want to hear about what the changes that
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: you made you twenty World Cup qualifying back in twenty fifteen.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I mean this is a great time actually
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: to maybe discuss something like this because we're in the
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: process of, you know, preparation for a World Cup. So
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: I was with the under twenty national team, as said coach.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: I was also the youth technical director. So I remember
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: speaking with Jim Morehouse at US Soccer and saying, hey,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: you know, I noticed that all of our schedules pretty
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: much consist of us playing mostly home games to prepare
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: for World Cup qualifying. I said, I think we could
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: really use for our players to be able to be
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: in that environment in Central America before we actually go
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: and play the games. There is there any way that
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: we can prepare games there, and so we you know,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: looked at the budget and all these things, even if
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: we could prepare a little bit here and then go
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: play the games there. So we decided to go to Honduras.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: This is late twenty fourteen, I think it might have
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: been December to prepare for our February or March qualifying
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: to the World Cup that was going to be in Jamaica.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: So we decided to go to Honduras. So we speak
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: with the Honduran Federation and we decide they agreed that
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: we'd come down to Honduras to San Pedro Sula. By
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: the way, I always thought that the would be important
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: moments because I thought that it would be great for
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: our players that potentially one day they would play for
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: our senior national team, to get to know all of
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: these stadiums that eventually they're really difficult to play in.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: So we agreed with Honduras that we would go and
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: play at San Pedro Sula with our U twenties two games.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: But the one thing that I asked Honduras was that
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do the game on closed door because
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: we have qualifying coming and they agreed. They said, well,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: we also don't want coaches from other teams to see us.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: We were opposite groups, so we wanted to not be
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: seen by the teams. So we go down to Honduras.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: We play there at sant Pedro Sula. We win. I
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: think we won both games two to one. We come
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: back home a couple months later, we go to qualifying.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Our first game is against Guatemala and we played Guatemala
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: in Jamaica. We're winning the game. It became a really
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: difficult game. We're winning only one zero, like ninety first
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: minute of the game, Guatemala gets a corner cake ball
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: gets you know, kicked out of the box and one
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: of the players you know, volleys that puts it like
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: upper corners. Stephan try to save it, but it went
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: right over his hand, so they tied it. So we
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: tied with Guatemala. Bad result to start, especially considering our
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: next game was against Panama. They were better than we
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: were at the time and they beat us, so we
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: were really behind the eight ball to try to qualify. Anyway,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: long story short is, and what I wanted to get
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: to is the things that you find in Central America.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Come to find out at the end of the tournament,
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting having a coffee with the with the coach
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: of Guatemala, who was an Argentinian coach, and he tells me, yeah,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to tell you this, but do you
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: know back in December when you played the two games
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: in Honduras that was a close stadium. He goes, I
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: was in the box for that. I saw both of
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: your games.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Did he tell you how he got in there? Yeah?
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: He said, he just spoked. He just spoke to Honduras,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: and Honduras just let him in. Yeah, so come on. Yeah.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: So that's that's how we started our qualifying campaign with
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: a tie to Guatemala, and some of it due to
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the fact that Guatemala had scouted us directly at one
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: of our games that we didn't want to be seen.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: I think that is so pure Conca CAF. I think
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: that also is a good way to prepare the players
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: in the future because there was this ended up being Canada,
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: but there was the drone scandal with Canada, and then
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: that sparked a lot of stories from Like I think
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: Tyler Adams was among the players and got to ask them,
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: like some of the former guys and it was just like, yeah, dude,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: like we would see a janitor just standing and not
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: doing any cleaning and just watching training. Yeah, it's just like, oh,
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: I wonder if he's actually think he's actually a janitor
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: or is he actually a coaching member of another team.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: So I think that did prepare the boys for the
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: future in Concacast, right, no doubt. That is Oh my god.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: I could sit here for three hours and just listening
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: to Concacas.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: And by the way, by the way, when we got
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: to the stadium, I had our people look around, you know,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: guys like you know, guys like Jerry, the security guy
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: that always travels with all the teams. I was like, hey,
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: look around, make sure you know. So he must have
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: been not only in the box, but hiding under something.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: That's unbelievable. That is unbelieve That is incredible detail because
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know the San Pedro Sula. It's not one
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: of those modern stadiums that I'm sure has a ton
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: of sweets and a ton of places to hide. So
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: that's fantastic. Yeah, credits to the ingenuity there. As a
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: Guatemalan coach team find out about the game and then
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: go to those great lengths. I kind of think that
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: they earned.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: That, right, Yeah, I do too, Right, Well, you know,
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: here's here's the part that actually it's funny in the end.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: So in the end, we end up second in our group,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: we cross over to play with El Salvador, and now
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: Guatemala ended up third in our group and crossed over
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: to play Honduras. So the two, the two that I
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: think cheated, ended up playing each other, and Guatemala got
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: knocked out of the World Cup and never qualified.
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: Would have been poetic. Bottom mile beat Hunter says, right,
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: one over, Yeah, that is fantasic. Is one of of
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: my favorite segments every week. So appreciate all the stories, Sava.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: I think that we're gonna get uh there's I think
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: that there's a lot more in the well to drive from.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: So I'm excited as we continue on the show before
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: we get out of here, because this is one of
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: our last shows of twenty twenty five. We we recapped
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: the year that was. Let's look ahead and make a
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: couple of predictions, and we're not gonna go person by person,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: team by team, big picture, smaller picture, just a random
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: prediction that that kind of comes to mind as well.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: Go first.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: For me, Christian pools like an Ac Milan will win
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: the Scudetto and poulis it's gonna be named player of
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: the Year for Syria.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Wow, I'm happy to hear that. I mean, we'd love
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: to see that happen. You know. He he had a
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: great season last year and could have been player of
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: the Year last year. But yeah, I would I would
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: love to see that. Like, like we said, sometimes we
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: don't recognize what we're watching, but but what Christian Polisic
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: is doing NOWADAYSI Milan is something that we may not
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: see for a long time. So I would love to
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: see that.
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's fourth in goal constributions right now, and he's
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: only played five hundred and eighteen minutes because he's been
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: limited a little bit by injury, including coming off the
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: bench a couple of weeks ago in scoring two goals
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: against Torino in twenty four minutes. So I'm very confident
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: that if asim Lon's gonna win this, Godeto Cooles stick
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: is gonna be a driving factor and if they do that,
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: I think he's Player of the Year.
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: All right, So oh yeah, I'll go with mine and
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: mine is going to be a little bit more of
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: a team thing. As I look into what the World
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Cup is going to be like and and sort of
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: our our show and what we're about, I think this
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: is what's gonna happen this year. I think we're going
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: to struggle. Our national team is going to struggle through
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: our friendlies versus Belgium, Portugal and Senegal a little bit.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: But we will beat Germany right before going into the
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: World Cup, and we will go into the World Cup
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: with huge momentum.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: That would be big. Imagine beating Germany right before the
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: World Cup. That would be quite the boost for this group.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: I do think that they are capable. As you said
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: it is it is on purpose. They are playing four
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: very good teams leading into the World Cup, Belgian, Portugal,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: Senegal and Germany. So even out of those four games,
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: and I know that it's not all about wins and losses,
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: because that is when you're fine tuning everything, but would
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: two losses and two wins two wins are drawing along
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: like what would be success out of those four games.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: I think we'll find success in these games more on
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: the how than on the actual result. You know. I
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: think if you if you go head to head with
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: Belgium and Portugal and actually play the games, play a
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: little bit of a back and forth game in the end,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: I think, and I think I can speak for a
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: lot of our fans. I think our fans will be
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: okay with us losing a two to one game to
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Portugal in which we had chances and they had chances.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: I think in the end, our fans will be okay
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: if we do the same against Belgium and likely against Senegal.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: Although Senegal we're likely looking for a win. They're a
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: great team, but we're likely looking for that. So yeah,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be more on the how than
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: it is gonna be on the actual results.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: I would agree, even at that point for the World Cup, well,
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: there's so very much to look forward to in twenty
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: twenty six. We're not done for twenty twenty five. You have.
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have a January transfer window preview coming out.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: Happy holidays, everybody, stay warm tab here in New Jersey.
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: We've got a lot of snow. I do enjoy the snow,
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: so I wasn't too mad about it. But check back
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: in with me in February when I think we're gonna
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: both be over winter. So Thank you everybody for listening tap,
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: thank you, of course for joining me. Please rate, review,
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: and subscribe to Inside America Soccer wherever you get to
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: the podcasts. We'll be back to RBS