Latest / Friends on Football / Ep. 39 - USMNT vs. Peru Recap, Manchester City Charges, International Break Roundup and an MLS Minute

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Ep. 39 - USMNT vs. Peru Recap, Manchester City Charges, International Break Roundup and an MLS Minute · Friends on Football

• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 39 of the Friends on Football Podcast.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm one of your co-hosts, Brandon Johnson, and joined with me as always is my good friend, Mr.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Sean Boyle.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sean, how are you doing?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Brandon, I am doing well.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing well, Sean.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: We uh took a little bit of a break this week, so it's a little bit of a lighter week from us.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I see in the meantime, you decide to start a whole new podcast.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: We missed one midweek episode.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sean starts a new podcast.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this guy, he can't stop.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: He he he's moving and grooving.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Big shout out to the new podcast.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: You and Ryan are doing a great job over there.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: But happy to be back with you, doing our friends on football as always.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, happy to be back.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: This podcast was planned.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was in the works for a while, so I can confirm it was not just a case of me being bored midweek and deciding to start a new show.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: The replay room is live.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: We're basically moving some of the pop culture, music, movie-related items off of the Tortured Fans channel and into the replay room.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: So that's the plan over there, but we have a lot to take care of in the world of football, so we'll keep our focus here.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: But just wanted to give you your flowers because listen to the first episode.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Great episode.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: You and Ryan doing a great job over there.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: But Sean, episode 39, keeping up with the number journey.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: We have a guy who I don't know if you like him too much, but I think the story's good.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have Bruno Guimaraj currently at Arsenal as a number 39.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: He wears it as a tribute to his dad.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, his dad was a taxi driver in Brazil, worked day and night uh to support the family and to support Bruno's ability to go and play football.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh his taxi dispatch number was number 39.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And something cool was when Bruno made his debut with Atletico Perines in the Brazilian League.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was actually considering wearing 97, which is his birth year.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, the first time he entered the dressing room, uh the jersey number 39 was actually just laid out for him.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so maybe a coincidence, maybe somebody thought ahead of time and thought it was cool.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: But either way, kind of a cool symbolism, and he's been wearing the number 39 ever since he's he's kept that jersey number.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: I love the work by you, Brandon.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good find because 39's not the most common number, but you have to you have to question whether there was some secondhand, oh, I'm gonna pay this to my dad's taxi number.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'd like a picture of the dad in the taxi, if that's possible.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: It could have been any number.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to point fingers.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think we maybe just he might have come up with a good story to try to pull over some folks and win some heart strings.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: I question I'm questioning that one.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, fair enough, fair enough.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Another 39, uh, Nicholas Anelka, who played at Chelsea for a while, great striker in his day.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was kind of the second player I considered for 39.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: But his story was more of I couldn't get the number nine, so I just went to the 39.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Not as not as cool.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but Sean, this episode will break down the US men's national team game against Peru from Saturday.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: We will do a little bit of a deep dive into the Manchester City financial fair play situation that's occurring, and then we'll do a little bit of an international and an MLS roundup to close out the episode as we see some games uh continuing on in this international window.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: To start, Sean, let's go into the US men's national team.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: 4-1 win versus Peru.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: I guess we we won't go goal by goal, minute by minute, but just give me some maybe themes, and then maybe we'll talk some players that we thought improved their national team status, and maybe some players that we got to keep an eye on and maybe need to improve a little bit.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: I've got a few notes down, so I'll go through mine and then I'll toss it back to you because I'm interested to hear what you have to say as well.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: First of all, the most important thing was I love what I saw.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: I it wasn't the best or cleanest game of football ever played, but there were so many encouraging moments, and a lot of those came because the kids are pretty damn good.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: And that was the most exciting takeaway for me.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: The kids are alright.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's the most important thing.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: We saw 11 debuts happen in this game, Brandon.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of guys who have never played together before, and a lot of the signs were promising.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't perfect.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: There were some marking issues, some zonal issues on the goal that Peru scored.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: Those sort of things will happen, especially when you're not familiar with the guy you're playing next to.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: But I think overall, every US MNT fan should just be thrilled at the player pool that we're developing, the young guys that are coming through and getting their chances now in this new cycle.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think many or any of them put a foot wrong, really.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was encouraging across all fronts from all the debutants.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: So that's the good stuff.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: And we won 4-1.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: Played well, deserved the win.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't fluky, took care of business, clunky at times, but for the most part, really promising and on the front foot.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I agree with you a thousand percent.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: My first note was play the kids.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: The kids played, and I saw Posh interviewed after the game, and he credited MLS coaches saying that they do a great job developing these players and preparing them, and they were able to grasp and understand concepts pretty quickly.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a great statement in and of itself because we've seen managers that haven't been super fond of players playing in MLS.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: They've wanted them to play abroad in these big leagues and have all of these uh bigger club names attached to them.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: But we see a manager in Poche who says, Hey, we're doing all right on the homegrown front.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, of course, a lot of these players will end up going to Europe and playing in Europe, and maybe it's not today, but in a few years.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's great to see the manager come out and publicly say, Hey, MLS, you guys are doing a great job over there.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So back basically backing what you said about playing the kids and really giving them an opportunity has been great.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think something that I would love to talk to you a little bit more about, Sean, is this little bit of a formation shift.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Looked a little bit more like a 4-2-3-1 rather than three in the back three center backs, which is a change from the World Cup.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if this is how Pock chooses this team moving forward.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: It does.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I do question, and I don't want to be negative because I do think overall it was a great result.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I do question some of the skill sets uh of some of the players that we have.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, especially the wing back players, the Serginho Desk, the Anthony Robinsons, the Alex Freemans, maybe they're a little bit suited better to play in a three-back or a five-back, however you want to describe it.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I thought Freeman was great, and we'll we'll get into individual players in a little bit, but I thought that was an interesting shift coming from the World Cup where we were playing a different style.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's interesting.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's going to be something that we have to monitor closely these next couple of matches, but also these next couple of years as we build towards that World Cup.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know the exact right answer, and it's hard to say because we don't know what players will be with us at the time the next World Cup comes around.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it's hard to predict the profiles.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: If you're going off of the guys we have in this camp and the guys that figure to be around the first team, I could see pros and cons for playing either formation.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: And the World Cup was pretty fluid as well, because there were situations where Dest was kind of playing as an out-and-out winger at times, and it was almost a back four out of possession.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it's weird, it's fluid.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think I like Alex Freeman in particular best in a back four as a true right back.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's his best role.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: But it also leaves me questioning our center back depth and talent.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's a weird position to be in because you think in a back four, oh, you only have to play two center backs.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: Correct, but the job for those two is a lot harder.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a lot more responsibility at stake if you're only playing two center backs.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think it helps a lot of our center backs when we play in a three because they have an extra person back there, an extra body.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: And oftentimes it makes your workload a little easier, it's a little bit more manageable.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what the right answer is because you're almost damned if you do damned if you don't, because if you play three, you have to start three, and it's like, well, will we have three world-class center backs in four years?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think so, because we have zero right now.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's something we'll have to work out and monitor, but it's also interesting.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: I think yesterday it kind of worked, but it also leaves the question with the wing backs, like you talked about.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know Serginho Desk's spot then.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is he just gonna be an out-and-out right winger?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Because I don't think he's an out-and-out right back.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a weird one.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: We'll keep an eye on it, but it is something of note for sure.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think yesterday it helped because you had Musa and Adams who can hold, and they and they'll be deeper lying players.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Musa has played as a right back before.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's probably not his best position, but he has played there before.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that did probably give Alex Freeman a little bit more flexibility on that right side to combine with Kevin Sullivan early, uh, as well as Musa.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then Musa can kind of drop it and hold if Freeman wants to go forward.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I do like the coverage we have in that center defensive midfield, that six position that we both love.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so maybe that is a benefit of ours where we can be a little bit more flexible with these outside backs because we have sixes that can cover.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I'm interested to see how it shapes out because you're right, it's kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have players that are uh essentially not playing at their best spot, but in other senses, maybe you have more coverage defensively, or maybe you have more attacking options depending on which way you go.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it it it'll be interesting to see.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad he did it.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad we we experimented with it because, like you said, the center back pool is an interesting one.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely showing as one of our weaker positions, which historically I feel like we've been solid defensively.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: We usually have problems on the other end scoring goals.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: But but now it is looking a little bit bleak at the center back role.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm interested to see if there's a couple guys who decide to step up, and maybe it's not in this camp, but maybe the next camp or or the next window that step up and say, Hey, I'm the new center back, or I'm gonna be the guy.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh pair me with somebody else, and we can play two center backs without them having to play three.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's an interesting situation.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: Our best center back is Chris Richards, but he plays in a three at Club, and he's best, he's been at his best in a three.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know that we have enough out and out truly good world-class center backs to just play two of them and feel comfortable.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: So hopefully somebody comes up and develops in that time.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: We can find answers, but I think a couple things you touched on that I want to talk about.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: You, as a manager, you want to try your best to not be putting square pegs and round holes.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: So Potch needs to just figure out who his crew is, and that's what we're doing in this camp and the next few camps.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: Who are your guys for this next important cycle?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then once you have your guys, how can you best utilize them?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's gonna be the million-dollar question.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: I trust him to figure out that answer.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: But it there's a few steps in the process, and I think identifying which players are gonna play a significant role for you is first and foremost.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then once you have those guys, you check the boxes of competitiveness and skill level, then you can figure out how to best deploy them.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I think we're taking it's the order of operations, it's like PEMDOS.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna we're gonna hit parentheses and exponents first.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: And those for us are gonna be who are the dudes?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: We're identifying them now, we're in that process, and then we're gonna see how we should best deploy them.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad we're off to Yunus Musa playing back in midfield.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: I can't stand when he plays it right back.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I was glad he was in the center of the park yesterday.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think we saw a lot of encouraging signs, not only from the players, but how adaptable Poch can be.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, absolutely.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: And now I don't want to poo-poo on this party because I do think it was a great overall first match and great start to this international window.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: But what are some areas that you think maybe the team needs to improve on overall?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get into player specifics, uh, for me, I I still think there is a little bit of a worry of when the US play a team that don't want the ball.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: How do we break down those blocks?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And a player like Kevin Sullivan, which I'm sure we'll talk about more throughout this episode, I think he's a player that wants to unlock the defense and and does a good job, but I think he maybe tended to over-dribble a tiny bit.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So there's still obviously room for his game to grow.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's literally 16, turning 17 this weekend.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I I do worry, Sean, that we still don't really have that piece to break down those those lower blocks, uh, the teams that want to sit back and not really press as high.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: I I think I'm with you on that point.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: And the other thing for me that I'm just kind of concerned about is I think we'll get there from to answer your part, I think we'll get there because I think the influx of young, talented, technical players coming through is going to be able to help anytime we come against a low block.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Guys like Kavan, guys like Matisse Albert, who we learned that pronunciation.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: I like that they clarify that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: Matisse Albert.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna learn to be able to figure out those answers because of that skill level that's coming through.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I feel confident projecting out that we'll be able to figure that part out.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: I still go back to Brandon, the part on the back end.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I still Matt Freeze starts this match as keeper, and maybe that's a sign from Potch saying, hey, you know what, we're behind you after that error in your last match in the World Cup.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: In which case, that's nice.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's good to hear, good to see.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: He should not be anywhere near the national team for the next World Cup, in my opinion.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: And between the questions with him and then the ones we just talked about at center back, the the backbone of the team, I'm not the most confident in how we're building.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't see as many up-and-coming star players in the pipeline.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: There are guys that we're excited about.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Pierre's one of them, he gets his debut.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited about him, but you need several of those.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: That quality center back.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: And right now, if you're projecting, I don't know that we have more than one or two at the level we want to be in terms of competing for a World Cup, competing to win the Olympics, things like that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: We're not deep at that position.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: We need somebody to break through it.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Those are kind of the two main areas I'm looking at because elsewhere I could see it.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: I could see where things can click and we could figure it out.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that I see as clear of a future at those positions.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and I don't disagree with you there either.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think that is definitely a worrisome position.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, you do have a guy like Chris Richards who wasn't called in, so maybe he he can fill fill some of that gap.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you're right, you need multiple Chris Richards, you can't just have one.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Neil Pierre, of course, in the in the pipeline, he's showing.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Goalkeeper.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I know you're hard on Freeze, and and I don't think he was great again either in this match, but that's another one where there still hasn't been a guy that says, Hey, I'm the I'm the guy Turner, you thought maybe would have it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then he's uh Freeze, honestly, and it's unfortunate because as a goalkeeper, your mistakes show a lot bigger than maybe a forwards.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And he hasn't looked great with New York City since the World Cup.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't know if it's just a a matter of being in bad form, if some of those World Cup mistakes are still in his head, but that's definitely concerning because on paper today, and I know you don't love to hear this, but he's he is our number one goalkeeper today or yeah.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So if that's the best we have in the Olympics or one for me, that's why that's why I brought that up immediately because you're right.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: And goalkeeper is a finicky position.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's you can get into a run of form where you have all the confidence in the world and you're not making any mistakes, and next thing you know, your career takes off because of it.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And once you have that confidence at Keeper, a lot of the other things kind of seem to figure themselves out.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: But uh we just haven't been lucky enough to have one of those guys emerge for the US MNT over the course of the last five, six years now.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: So we've seen runs from Matt Turner that have been really good, at least from a shot stopping point of view.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: He had a run where he was sensational.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: He was confident saving penalties, he was good and just getting balls out of his net.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't had a guy who's been able to combine that with some good play in terms of how they pass out and distribute.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I think ideally Poch wants somebody who could do both of those things at a high level.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just interested in seeing where do we go for Matt Freeze?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: And if it's gonna be Matt Freeze, like you said, we just need to improve upon the performances.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: He was fine in this game against Peru.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're it would be nitpicking to point out anything he did wrong here.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: I just mean in a more broader general sense, I would like to see some guys start to emerge.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: And the weird thing with also is they're typically older.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: You don't see, we're not gonna have a 19-year-old bust onto the scene right now and be the starter at the next World Cup, at least not in all likelihood.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: So we need to figure out some of these guys that are entering their later 20 years, somebody needs to step up.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure who it's gonna be.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe it's a guy like Brady, maybe it's Diego Cochin, who still is young.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: He's definitely on the younger side.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Brady's a little older.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's Schwaki from Nashville, or maybe it's a guy who's not in camp now.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Andrew Rick in Philly is is good, but it's hard because he doesn't play very much, because he's playing behind Andre Blake in Philly, so he really doesn't play a ton of first team minutes.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it that's definitely definitely something to keep our eyes on, both in this camp, Sean, but also moving forward as we get into Olympics and Gold Cups and Nations League and all these other competitions.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, just to switch switch gears a bit, uh still in the game, but maybe we'll go into a little bit more of individual performances.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Players that maybe you saw that I don't want to say stock up, stuck down because they're all in the national team, so they're all at that level, but maybe a player who said, Oh, we need to keep an extra eye on him, or ooh, that's still the quality we expect.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I'll start with one for me, and maybe it's not the most obvious name, but but Tyler Adams.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: We say it and we say it and we say it like that position, Sean, can be so critical to help a team, and I just feel like he controls the game.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: He he's simple, it's effective, it's not always flashy, it's not in the box score, but he gets the job every single time he's challenged.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: He that destroyer role, as I like to call it, he manages it perfectly.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you want a little bit more going forward, or you want him to unlock some with some passing that maybe Mimeti, who who comes in for him in the second half, does a little bit of a better job of.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: But the strict number six role that Tyler Adams plays is is something that I think we honestly just take for granted because he puts in shift after shift, and I can't ask for much more from him at the level he's playing at and knowing his quality, it it's it's a solid locked-in starter type of type of role and top type of game he had this weekend.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you started with him, Brandon.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: I was not expecting that, but I think it's a very appropriate place to start because he is often very underappreciated.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: That role in general in football is one that's kind of a thankless one.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's never going to be covered in glory, they're not going to get on the end of a lot of goals, they're not going to create a lot of assists.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: But if you're watching the game and you see how much he impacts it, it's evident.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I think Tyler Adams has been a stalwart in the US MNT for a while now, and he gets a lot of credit because he is one of the names people do know, but I still don't think it's enough, like you said.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's still a bit lacking.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: He's talked about nowhere near as frequently as a guy like Christian Pulisic.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I hate to keep harping on Pulisic, but he gets all the plaudits for the position he plays and just kind of the narrative that was around him.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: But Tyle Adams has been every bit as good, at least recently, for the US MNT.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm glad you started with him.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_03: Another good shift against Peru.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: He also, the moment with Memeti, you mentioned he comes on really special stuff there.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we that's why we tune into these.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: That was awesome.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Memeti comes through New York Red Bull just like Tyler did.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: He looked up to Tyler Adams, he gets subbed off, and Memeti comes on, and it's all smiles between those two.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought that was really cool.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: Something that was one of the highlights of the game for me, honestly, was these little inner workings between players.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll talk about the guy who stood out the most to me.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: It was Justin Ellis, who I've bought a ton of stock in recently.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I love this kid.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: He is not anything close to a traditional US MNT prospect, which is exciting.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: He has this tactical ability that we don't see in our forwards a lot at all.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I think he's equally good as a 10 as he is a nine, at least at this point in his career, and which could lead to some problems down the road because we don't need any more tens.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: We have a lot of tens like that.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: And it projects to be as well.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I think as he becomes more physical and puts on some weight, he'll be more effective in those nine areas.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: But he scores the first goal in this one, Brandon, and it's a great set piece.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: He wins the set piece, he gets fouled using some deft touch and skill.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: He gets fouled.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: Gio Reina puts in a great ball.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: And Justin Ellis flicks it to the back post.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: Great tidy finish, really good goal.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: And also, what was cool in this one was Justin Ellis is playing in Orlando, his hometown, in front of a lot of friends and family.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then he talks about how Geo Reyna was actually the player that he looked up to in the US MNT, which is wild to say, Justin.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: That's a choice, first of all.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: But also, Geo Reyna's like 24.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird to hear a kid talking about how he looked up to Giorena.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Giorena is still super young.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I thought all of that goal was really cool.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: I thought Justin Ellis's performance in general was really good.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you highlighted him.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: He was also on my list.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think you make a good point though, as his position, he's almost like that 9.5.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's that he would be a great second striker, and in Orlando, he gets to kind of be that on his club team.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, with the national team playing with one up top, he's a little bit isolated.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought he did a really good job of working his way back and connecting with the tens because sometimes we see those nines, and and some of it is structural, some of it is player preference, where they're just up there and they're on an island, they're isolated.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Justin Ellis isn't physically as big and and fearful as as some other other guys in the in the group, where you have a Balogun.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh even Peppy, honestly, is a little bit bigger, I feel like.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: But Alice is willing to work back and work himself into the team, so it gives you a little bit of a different dynamic at that nine position, which I think is great and and something that we need to keep our eyes on.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: You I will say you you you gave him credit and and praised him a few weeks ago, and I really did not know a ton about him.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: But watching some some highlights from his Orlando games, and then obviously watching the game this weekend.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's gotta be a guy that we keep our eyes on.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Another guy I I put in our list.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Two I have two more guys, they're both World Cup guys, but Freeman and Berhalter.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um Freeman, I thought was extremely comfortable on that right side.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned it earlier.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was good in that back four.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was still able to get up the pitch with Musa covering for him.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: But he goes connecting with Kavan early.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: He was connecting and making some some things happen up higher on the field as well.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then defensively, you know what you're gonna get from him.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: He'll he'll put in a shift, he'll always work.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not always the prettiest, but it's effective.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And guys don't get down that side of the field too often.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: So so definitely credit to him.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then Berhalter, I mean, it's not I I guess we have to say it, like it's not a fluke.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like Berhalter can play, and we were definitely a little wishy-washy on him, but we've seen I was out.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I was out.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: Let me say that.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: I was out.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: I I tossed my hand up several times, apologizing to this guy already.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: I was fully out on him, but I think it's a credit to him what you're gonna talk about, because he's gotten so much better than that player.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, then that's the thing, Sean.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's he's gotten better going forward, but he's also been a better passer.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's just been way more effective and impactful in the game.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think you also see it in club form.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's doing well, but also Vancouver has been struggling since he's been since he's left.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Another draw this weekend to DC United, a team that's very mid.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so so I think the Burrhalter effect, I I know I know you weren't high on him.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was never over the moon about him.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I I thought he showed sparks, but he's shown like, hey, put me in, Posh.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can maybe play next to Tyler, or who knows where exactly it it lines up, but he had, I think, a great performance coming off the bench in this game as well.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: I had him in my notes, Brandon, as another standout, and it's to the point that it's it's a credit to him.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: He just keeps putting in work and keeps getting better and elevating his game.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: I was out on him because I didn't think he was a US MNT level player.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: I thought he was a fine player.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: He could hit a set piece and he played hard.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: No one was ever questioning his competitiveness or his work ethic or anything like that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: It was just kind of the all-around game for me.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: It always seemed like it took him one extra touch to pull something off that a good player would pull off in a quicker fashion.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: He was capable, but it just took him a while.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he's really sped up that part of his game, and he's able to do these things now in game speed, and the pass he makes to start the Julian Hall goal is unbelievable.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then his strike for his own goal is great.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, he's really becoming a mainstay in this US MNT squad, and it's because of the fact that he had all that competitiveness and that I want to be the best, even though I'm not the best mentality.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: And now he's starting to put together some actual ability at a high level around it.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: And Pachetino has to love that.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: He loved him when he was just competitive and running around.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: Now he's got to be eating it up, the fact that he's scoring wonder goals from outside the box.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: So credit to Sebastian Bearhalter, good for him.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm happy to see it.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so happy to be wrong.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: I want him in all the US MNT squads moving forward now.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a credit to him.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: The next guy I had up, Brandon, he doesn't start the match, but I think he might have been the best player for me.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Matisse Albert.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: He is something different.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, he's getting lost in the prospect talk a little bit because of Kavan.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: And credit to Kavan.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: Kavin's a year younger, he's probably slightly better as a prospect, he's the best one we have.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: But if it wasn't for Kavan, Matisse Albert would be the guy for the US MNT's future.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: He would be getting talked about in that same capacity.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe it's because we're Philadelphia guys, we're we're local and we get caught up in the Kavan stuff.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: And listen, he was really good in this match too.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: But Matisse Albert, my goodness, he comes on in the second half and he's just at you 1v1.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: I want to take you on.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: His first touch, he gets a penalty.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Never a pen.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: Listen here.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Never a pen.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: It was a dive.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: It was a dive, but it's a pen.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe get a pen out of it.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: And Tillman slots at home.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: So that was obviously a positive impact.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: But he is just so technically sound.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: He has so much skill.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: He's quick enough to get to the spots he needs to.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a huge, huge fan of his, and I think his his first action in the in the kit was wow, it blew me away.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm glad you shouted him out.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: And like you mentioned, that last 30 minutes of the game with the young guys flying around the field, it was incredible to see.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I just love, and maybe we've mentioned it, Michael Bradley's and Ryan Richter's and these MLS coaches.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know Albert is playing at Dortmund, so he even has a different perspective.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: But these guys come in and they don't care that they're playing against that they're playing for the national team against national team players from other countries.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: They are playing like they're in the backyard.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you love to see players play with that freedom, but they still have the discipline to keep their shape and to cover when they need to cover.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can combine those two things, Sean, and I think uh we'll get to it later, but I think this is what's happening in Philadelphia where Ryan's giving them the freedom to play, but they still have the principles of a great soccer team.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: The sky's the limit because these kids have the whether it's the imagination combined with the technical ability, that it's just something we have not seen before.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: These players are trying things on the field that you're like, absolutely not 10 years ago.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, no, you can't be doing that on a field, and they're like, I'm 17, I'm here, I can do this, and I'm gonna show you that I can do this.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's incredible to see, Sean.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's just something that we've never really seen in our in our pool.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have a couple players that can do it, but now you're seeing five and six and seven guys that are coming on and playing quote unquote garbage minutes coming on and doing these things, and you're like, Whoa, we really have to take a second look.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm glad you shouted out uh Albert because he was, I would say, the pinnacle and and really the start of that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: But that that whole last 20-30 minutes of the game was just youth and talent and freedom and expression, and uh it's really exciting to see that when you when you get to watch that happen in in any period of time, but also in a senior national team game.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now, could some of that have been the fact that they came on against 30-year-old tired Peruvians?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that could have been a part of it, but I don't care.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care at all.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: And from the start, Brandon, I guess we should just talk about now because it's on theme with exactly what you just said, the mentality of these young kids.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: Kevin Sullivan, he doesn't have his best game by his standard, but he's 16 years old making his national team debut, and he from minute one looks like he belongs.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: He looks looks like he's making his hundredth cap.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: He gets the ball, he's front foot, he's looking to go at you, dribbling, passing, just trying it all, never scared, uh fearless.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_03: And uh he's always kind of played like that from what I've seen.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like he was 13, he was probably eight doing that.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: He he doesn't care.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: He thinks he's good, he knows he's good, and he plays like he's good.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that is such a different mindset than 99.9% of guys I've seen come through the US national team.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: So even on a day where he was good, he was fine, I would say seven out of ten performance from him, he's 16, and we're grading him on a curve as like one of the best US players already.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I think he's special, and I think this was a very good debut, even if he doesn't get the goal or the assist or the moment where you're like, wow, I think overall the Kavan stock is still we're going way up.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm glad you highlighted that, especially talking about this youth movement, because he just like Albert, like you mentioned, it's it's front foot, it's at you every single time.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think again, it goes back to how he was raised and what he was raised around.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's raised with three older brothers, and I was reading an article about him.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: He played up two years, so the parents would only have to go to two games, Quinn's games, and then the other three brothers all played together.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: And some of it, I'm sure, was logistics because you have two parents and three games, it's a little hard to get to, but some of it's like throw him in there and let him let him swim with the sharks and see if he can hang.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: And he's shown he can hang, and yeah, not the best game in the world from him.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have that finishing box score moment that he can look back on, but I believe it completed something like 23 of 25 passes, his dribbling was on, like it was there, and like you said, from minute one, there was none of this.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: We we've seen guys that get cap Sean, and you and we all automatically grade them like it's their first cap.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's like alright, we hand up, it's alright, dude.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: You get back at him, you'll be back again.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: It for him, it was like no, like he's like, grade me like you grade Pulisic, and that's beautiful to see because that's only gonna continue.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, yes, they're playing Peru, it's not the best team in the world, but you still are playing on the international level with the USA kit, something that you've never worn before at the senior level, and you've shown that you belong.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, again, like you said, stock up for sure on him.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna continue.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: I hope he gets more minutes in this window, and I'm excited to see maybe he plays at Mac against Mexico and tries to do some of these things, and he's he's gonna get he's gonna he's gonna take a couple tackles, Sean.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like how do you respond from that?
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm excited to see that as this window progresses.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, him, but also all a lot of the youth young players, it it's gotta be a huge, huge stock up and a win for USA.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's always, and this is across sports, but it's always interesting when you have these unique rare talents because a lot of times we see really talented players come through, and it could be in basketball, it could be in baseball, and they have the skill, but then there's something that they don't have, and it a lot of times comes down to mentality.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: It could be work ethic, it could be how they go about their off-the-field life.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: And Cavin just checks all of those boxes and he's 16, and it's so impressive.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: You can't say enough good things, and again, it wasn't this match in particular, but the drive and competitiveness he has and the lack of fear, he goes crashing into their keeper trying to score.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: He gets right, he doesn't care.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: He's playing like I I just love everything about him.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: I I will watch him play anytime he laces him up.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: So a good debut for him, if not spectacular.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: We'll also, I think we should be mentioning Malik Tillman, who scores in a third straight game for the US MNT.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: He's just really good.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: Malik Till Tillman's a really good national team player.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_03: I would like to see him take that next step at Leverkusen.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: He comes there from PSV and he's been fine.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: He starked, he plays a lot for them, but he, I don't think, has really made the name for himself.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: I think Leverkusen fans are still wanting a bit more.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: I want him to take that step this year, and I think he will eventually.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: It just might take a little bit of time for the dust to settle, but he's been really good for the U.S.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're talking about all these tens, Brandon.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: We have to mention Gio Reina, too.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: That set piece's quality.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: He is like an elder statesman.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: You hear guys talking about how Gio Reina was their favorite player growing up.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, whoa, what?
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like two two minutes ago, he was a 17-year-old at Dortmund scoring in the Champions League, and now he's some of the guys on the team's favorite player.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm just gonna say, I'm keeping my eye on the Giorena stocks.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: They've been they've been in the doldrums, and I'm thinking of investing.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thinking of interest interesting, interesting before.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I've been burned before, I've lost a lot of money.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, he does he has those moments, and it's like moment, great moment, great play.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to see it all come together because I think we we both know, Sean, that the skill is there and the potential is there for it all to come together, and we just haven't seen it in the last two, three years from him, and so I think we're a little bit harder on him than maybe we are on some of these other guys because we know he is capable of it.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we either need to temper our expectations or he needs to rise and show that he can do this for 90 minutes, and I'm not sure which side we're on with it.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it goes both ways, but yeah, because I actually had him as one of my players where I was like about the assist was great, but I I think, and and maybe it's again because I think he can do it for the full game.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I need to see a little bit more of that.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Great assist, but like what else are you giving me?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it kind of goes both ways.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: There's a couple of clunky moments with him and Kavan.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: It it was not all smooth for Raina, but I I like the fact that he's fit and he's been he was involved in the World Cup and he was good in his limited minutes there, and he's had a good run-up for club now, and he's starting to play there.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I just like the direction we're heading in with him.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: After it was I was ready to abandon the island, Reina Island was desolate.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there were there was nothing but a few animals living.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: And now it seems like, hey, you know what?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_03: Those beachfront properties are starting to get gobbled up a little bit, you know.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: There, it's not, it's not, it's not too hot of a place yet.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's not bye-bye bye, but it's like, oh, you know what?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's a vacation there.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not if you know you know kind of spot.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not mainstream yet.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: It hasn't gotten the the blogs and and all the Instagram influencers.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: They're not there yet.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_03: The hurricane really, really left a mark, but we're building back up.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we didn't shut down and desert the island forever.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: There's a couple shops opening, you know, there's there's a juice stand at the beach now.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's some good things in store for Giorena, and I'm saying that knowing that it could immediately come right back and haunt me.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta we gotta dream.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta we always have to speculate, we always have to see what our next investment is.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, Sean, but besides the goalkeeping, which we mentioned, and I think the Peyton Miller Austin trustee combination wasn't always the best.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: Are there any other areas that you're like, Brandon, we we really gotta watch out for this after this match?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing really.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing I was super concerned with.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned, yeah, the trusty Peyton Miller situation for the first goal.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know who's at fault really there.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_03: And George Campbell, I believe, is the one who gives the ball away, which starts that whole sequence which leads to the goal.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: So, again, I don't want to bang on about the center backs, but that's a new partnership.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: They've never played together before.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: We'll we'll see if that's something that consistently happens throughout this window where those two are the starters.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if that's the case.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm assuming we'll get some rotation in there, but we just need to again identify who the guys are and then start working out the details.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know for certain if either of those guys are going to be starters for the foreseeable future, but I like a lot of what Austin Trusty does.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think he's a good player.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's just sometimes physically you want a little bit more from him.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: He's a big dude, but sometimes it's like, well, yeah, show him you're a big dude, you know?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: And some of that rears its ugly head from time to time.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: But overall, I think they were fine.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_03: The back line was fine, nothing really crazy, and it was a good, good performance.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I I think we'll leave it at that, Sean, because we have three more games to evaluate and look at in this window, which is great.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love the the extended window we we combined two international windows this season, so we'll get an extended look at these guys.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Sean, switching gears.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I know we're obviously a club football first podcast, specifically mostly Premier League podcast.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: The the big news of this week, Manchester City, the financial fair play issues, 115 charges.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sean, let's just take before we really dive in, just give me a 30,000-foot.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: This is exactly kind of what happened, what we're looking at with these charges with Manchester City.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'm gonna do my best to explain this here.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: So there is no salary cap as we know in American sports.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: There's no salary cap in football.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_03: There are instead a few sets of rules.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: And in England, financial fair play, UEFA has their rules, PSR is profitability and sustainability rules.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_03: There's rules in place that are intended to limit what clubs can spend and to create fairness across the board.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: The rules are based on you could spend what you bring in.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_03: So if you perform well on the pitch and win things and have massive TV money coming in, you can spend more of that money, and that's why we see the rich continuing to get richer and sign the best players and do all of those things.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: But there are limits to that spending, and it has to be carefully reported, and you need to abide by these rules because if you don't, you're in breach, and each breach can be a punishment.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: So from 2009 until 2018, Manchester City were alleged to have breached those rules 115 times.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: They were found guilty by an independent party of breaching those rules 114 times.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Manchester City have since appealed their decision.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: But what exactly did they do wrong?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you breached the rules.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: What did they do?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they did things like failing to provide accurate financial information, what I like to say, cooking the books.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: They hid payments from managers or to managers and players.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh think of the Kawhi Leonard with the Clippers situation.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of fake money that was being off the books, quote unquote, reported.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: Then they also did a this is a big boo-boo.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: They pretended that owner funds were sponsorship funds.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: So they're owned by a group from Abu Dhabi.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: They basically would use the Atihad or companies that they sponsor through.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_03: They would use them and say that the money was coming from those independent third parties when really it was being pumped in by their unlimitedly rich owners.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of wrongdoings for Manchester City, and they were found guilty of 114 out of the 115 charges.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: This investigation has been ongoing for years, Brandon.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: When this started, I think Pachatino was still Spurs manager, this investigation.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: This has been happening for so long.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_03: We finally have what seems to be a verdict.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, Man City are going to appeal, and that's going to extend this process even further, but they're going to be unsuccessful in overturning all 114.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's just no way they're able to say, you know what, actually, we didn't cook the books and pay these guys illegally, and they did some wrongdoing.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_03: We still don't know to what level that wrongdoing is or how the Premier League is going to view all of this.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: So my question to you will be: what do you think the punishment should be?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: Some of the options on the table can be a massive points deduction, a transfer ban, a fine, suspension from competitions, like the Champions League.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of things, a lot of different directions they can go with this.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think the cry the punishment that fits this crime is?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, first, Sean, thank you for breaking that down because it's such a complex issue, and people say 115, and they just think, oh my gosh, they did 115 things wrong, and maybe they did, but a lot of it is probably rules that are related to other rules, and you break one rule, you're really breaking five.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that number, that number gets up pretty quickly.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: And they were also quickly, Brandon.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let me just say, they were also very much not compliant in the investigation, which also hurt them and led to further charges.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: So when they were trying to get a resolution on this for years, a lot of the reason why they couldn't was Manchester City didn't really work well with them.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Which is unsurprising, I guess, in this situation.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Sean, I I don't know what the what the correct punishment is because you you mentioned that the time window, and I believe you said 2009 to 2016.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: 18, yes.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: 18.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: So so a nine year window, but that was 2018 was eight years ago.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: So punishing them moving forward, I don't know if that is the best way to reconcile.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna do like a college football situation where we're pulling old trophies and And rewarding them to new teams.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know what the right solution is to this.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: I do think, of course, there has to be much stricter things moving forward.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it's not a direct penalty to Manchester City moving forward, but it's something where their books are being looked at a little bit more strict.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they have to do extra compliance compared to the other teams.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, does it make sense to punish Holland and crew, this current crop of Manchester City players, for something that happened eight, nine years ago before they were even at the club?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: But but that might be the only way to give them a punishment.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you do have to do that.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is a weird one.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_03: And it's honestly, we see this in American sports all the time, with college in particular, where Louisville, for example, we see a title in basketball retroactively stripped from them.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: What does that do, also?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, you take it away, we all know who won that tournament in that trophy.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's a weird situation, and I don't know that there is such a thing as a just punishment.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that there is going to be a punishment that gets it exactly right and punishes all the right people, because oftentimes what happens is the people that are most at fault for this are no longer there to be found guilty.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, you might be taking it out on the wrong folks, but you do have to take it out on somebody.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: And also, Brandon, those initial charges, this initial investigation was from 2009 to 2018, they extended that through 2023, I believe, because they still think things were happening after that.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: That was just the original breach of charges that we're talking about.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_03: I still think there's wrongdoings that happened up through 2023 and maybe beyond, which then does get closer to the time that they signed some of these players that are playing in the squad.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't think it's Erling Holland's fault by any means, but I think you're gonna have to punish Erling Holland in some way.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: Whether that's a transfer ban that hurts Manchester City's ability to build the team around him, whether that's taking away trophies that they won in those years, I don't know what it looks like.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe it is a points deduction.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: I will say, I personally I don't know if I want a points deduction, Brandon.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: But neither do I.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know what that means is somebody wins the league going away.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like, well, well, don't do it this year.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe next year.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: But I also, if it's gonna be like a massive points deduction, it could save Spurs from relegation.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_03: So no, you don't think you don't think it'll be that bad.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard people saying it should be a hundred-point deduction.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: Hundred points.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you can have the best Premier League season of all time and end the year with 14 points.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: So automatic that's an automatic relegation.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's what that's what the intent of that punishment would be.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost like Juventus when they got caught match fixing with referees, they they got relegated with the intent.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: The deduction was with the intent to send them down.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think that'll be the case.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_03: I just have a hard time picturing that catastrophic happening.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think what'll happen is there's gonna be a points deduction of some sort.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's probably fair.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's the thing that is most effective in terms of a punishment, I would say.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like a fine, what's that gonna do?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_03: A fine is useless.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: It better not be just a fine.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it better not be retroactively stripping them of titles because that doesn't matter to anybody either.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: Although if the 2021 Carabak Cup is up for grabs, we will take that.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: We'll have a parade.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: But I do I do think it has to be a point seduction of some sort.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think it should be a pretty significant one, although I don't want that to be the case.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_03: And a transfer ban needs to be, I would say a significant transfer ban.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Two years, maybe where four windows of you not being able to sign players because basically they're tapping into agents' phones.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, and now this has become commonplace where every club does this, but they were really at the forefront of just turning football into this ugly, ugly thing that it has become in a lot of ways.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: They were at the forefront of a lot of it.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I have two follow-ups for you here.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Points deduction, I want you to give me a number, but then transfer ban is interesting because our guy, Kevin Sullivan, is scheduled to go there when he turns 18, which is technically a year from now.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: He turns 17 this weekend, Sean.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens there?
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm assuming there was a pre-contract that's been worked out, yeah.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe he's okay.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know all the ins and outs of that deal, but does he then maybe pivot and go to a different club when he turns 18?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen the Barcelona's and Madrids, they've all said we're keeping an eye on Kevin Sullivan.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, first of all, you're a little late to the party, but because your name is so big, you can come late to the party and people still pay attention to you.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens there, as well as you know, maybe give me a number for a point seduction.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: The number's so hard because, like I said, I don't want them to have a point seduction.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: I want them to win the league this year.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like, could you could you could you say 50?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, could they could they do 50 and stay up?
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they could stay up, right?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: Could they stay up with 50?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have to sit and do some math.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_03: They would have to have a 90 point season essentially, which they've done before.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they have 15 through five games already.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: Draw off through a good start.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_03: They would have to have a great season, a title-winning type of season to stay up with a 50-point deduction.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's possible.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how likely it would be.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: But say it is a 50 and they go down, they'll man.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's I mean, that's a that's a drastic punishment.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_03: You would think they'd be right back, but Erling Holland's at Real Madrid, like Erling Holland's not doing a season in the championship.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what are we talking about?
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's not, he's not, he's not playing, uh, he's not playing Aiden Mars and Verhalter on a Tuesday.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, they'll be in the Prem.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_03: The season, as we know, a little early.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: The season the league, as we know it, would be flipped on its head if they actually were to get relegated.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: But I do think if I'm just speaking unbiasedly, that that should happen.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_03: You shouldn't be allowed to do this and ruin the sport in a lot of ways.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_03: Punish them severely.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: Fuck it.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: Punish them severely.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_03: Kavan, we'll see at Spurs, mate.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_03: I I we're paying Man City wages.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: They probably still they they talk about the worst thing they did in terms of money was charging us 90 million dollars for Savio.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_03: That was the worst of all these accusations.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_03: I I I don't know, man.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's tough.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_03: I do think though they should come out strong and make a real, real punishment.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_03: Make an example out of them.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think that'll be the case, though.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think we'll end up seeing some sort of middle ground that leaves a lot of people kind of dissatisfied.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: And my my final question to you, Sean, is with this subject, moving forward, what is is do you think this case sets a precedent, or do you think this is a an anomaly where it's a one-off and we're never gonna have these situations again with other clubs because now other clubs know, hey, this is what the punishment is?
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Or is the punishment so mild other clubs look at it and say, screw it, like we could do this too, and and we'll be fine.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you think this case will be monumental moving forward, or do you think this is just a blip, it happened, and we just keep going on?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, unfortunately, I think in a lot of the a lot of the things that they're guilty of, the toothpaste is out of the tube on.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think now a lot of these things have kind of become commonplace, at least in terms of the tampering, quote unquote.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe not the pumping money into the club and pretending it's coming from one place when it's coming from another, and the deceit and the lying and and the lack of providing accurate financial information.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_03: I think those things are not commonplace.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think a lot of clubs still do business the right way.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: But I think in terms of how they acquired a lot of their players and the agent dealings and kind of the backdoor shady room stuff, I think that just happens all over the place now.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think there's a single club that's not guilty of that in some capacity.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_03: And then it becomes a question of how do you police that.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: So, in an ideal world, I would love to see, like you said, let's make an example out of them, and teams are then fearful to break any of the rules.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I think to a large extent, if you do give a severe punishment, all of those major rules will remain more intact because teams will be scared to break them.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: They know there's actual repercussions.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: But Chelsea were owned by a Russian oligarch, Robin Abran Roman Abranovich, and they basically got off scot-free.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: They had a couple window transfer ban after 15 years of winning trophies and buying all the best players in the world.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: Every Chelsea fan would do the same thing again.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that didn't work.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_03: And now, okay, you can make an example out of Manchester City, but I don't think there's a ton of teams doing the level of the level of wrong that Manchester City were doing.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a weird one.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think go heavy and then hope that the soldiers fall in line, but I feel like this could be a games gone situation, Brandon, where you're just kind of throwing a hot dog down a hallway here and there's not much to do.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's not making much difference.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I appreciate your insight on this, and I feel like, of course, we're gonna see more as the the weeks and months go on.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, they're they're looking to appeal, and we'll see what these punishments are, but I think it's something we have to we had to address.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's the news of the week in the Premier League.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: We had no games this week.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh maybe if we had some games, that would have distracted us a bit, but with no games, this is all that's been talking talked about.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to really pick your brain on that.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I I appreciate your insight, Sean.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_01: To to close out, let's go back to the international window.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: We obviously covered the USA in depth, but there are whatever 200 some countries in this world, and other teams did play this weekend.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe, maybe take me around the world, just show me and let me know what happened in some other games, some other countries.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know most were friendlies, but just interested to see what else you saw this weekend.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, so in Europe we have the Nations League, which is what takes up a lot of these international windows.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: It is essentially a glorified friendly.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I equate it to.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: There's really not much at stake for a lot of these clubs with the Nations League.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_03: They're trying to figure out the next cycle, just like the US is.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: So there's millions of podcasts around the world doing the same thing we're doing for their particular countries, talking about new managers that are in place, trying to make sense of the new players in the squad, things of that nature.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: One weird storyline from this week, Brandon, in Europe was the Swiss COVID scandal.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: Have you heard anything about this?
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_03: I I do not know anything about this.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_03: This came across my desk, and this was this was kind of funny in hindsight, but not funny at the time.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_03: Granite Jocca and Brielle Mbolo, who is now United, are out of the Swiss Nations League squad after faking some important COVID documents back in the day.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_03: So Xocca admitted to, recently he admitted to, obtaining a fake vaccination card in 2022.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_03: He was not vaccinated, faked it, said he was.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_03: Came up, I think he tossed a hand up, which you have to you have to respect, but scumbag move.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_03: Can't do that.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_03: Awful to do.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_03: And Briel and Bolo, even worse, he forged some test certificates in 2021.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_03: So he I don't think he came out and acknowledged this.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_03: I think he was caught in the crossfires and he was dropped on the squad.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that was not good from the Swiss.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's unbecoming.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_03: Granted, Jocka being a scumbag, not the most surprising thing in the world, given where he has played his football.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think that was an interesting, funny storyline from the international break.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of like a what in the world is going on situation.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_03: In terms of the games, Brandon, we had the Netherlands played Germany last week, and it was a 1-1 draw, but it was a fun managerial clash.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_03: We had Javi taking over the Dutch side for the first time, and then in his first game, we had Jürgen Klopp's Germany.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_03: So 1-1, the points were shared, but start of two new regimes there.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: The Italian struggles continue under their new manager, Roberto Mancini, while Mark Van Bommel leads Belgium to a good start.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: So he takes over this Belgium side that knocked the U.S.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_03: out of the World Cup.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: They get a 2-0 win over Italy.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: France beats Turkey, but as you reminded me before the show, Kylian Mbappe is injured.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: Same knee that he's had some trouble with in the past.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: It said 12 days originally was the recovery time, so he'll miss the rest of this international window.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_03: But most importantly, we'll see how quickly he's able to come back for Real Madrid because that's where his focus will be, and I'm sure Joseph Mourinho is waiting with bated breath.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: So that'll be interesting to keep an eye on as well.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then on Saturday, Spain beat England 3-2.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_03: A really good match, actually.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: You see, you saw loaded lineups.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_03: Laminha Mall starts the scoring.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: Harry Kane misses a penalty.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: Tough.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: You do hate to see that.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: I hate the backlash online, especially in this Ballon d'Or campaign.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want that for Harry.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_03: But again, the game, it doesn't matter.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's a nation.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: So games that do matter are happening in Africa.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: We have AFCON qualification, and AfCON is the African Cup of Nations.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: The biggest game was on Thursday, where we saw my elephants.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: The Cote d'Ivoire beat Ghana 2-0.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_03: Strong start for them.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_03: Senegal drew with Mozambique, which was a bit of a stunner.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_03: Egypt also drew with Angola, which was surprising as well.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_03: So two disappointing results from two of the powers in Africa.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then Morocco and Algeria got off to really strong starts with big wins after some, especially in Morocco's case, good performances in the World Cup.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_03: So Africa, we have some meaningful matches going on.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: If you're a fan of the Nations League, I guess those matches are meaningful as well.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_03: I treat them as friendlies, and I think the managers are doing the same.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, thank you.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to ask you a question.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: Italy.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: Growing up, Sean, Italy was the team that we saw.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone wanted to be the Italian national team.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: They're winning World Cups, they're top of the table, they're they're winning competitions.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: They have not been in world.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think this is a third straight World Cup they've missed.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like what's going on there?
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do they have a timetable to turn it around?
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just interested to hear if you have any thoughts around the Italian national team.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's a weird one because Italy as a whole, it's not just their national team, but Serie A used to be the league.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_03: In the 90s, Serie A was more powerful than the Premier League in terms of world power and just where the best players were playing.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really transitioned over time.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_03: The Serie A clubs have become much poorer and struggle to compete at the same level as consistently as these Premier League clubs are able to, and the financial backing that the Premier League has is now kind of diminished the product in Serie A.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: And then from a grassroots perspective, they're just not producing as high a quality player as they were 20 years ago.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I think these things are cyclical a lot of the time.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think we will see eventually a cycle come through of really good, promising Italian players again.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that the young players in this current crop, at least the ones I'm familiar with, are super inspiring.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: Now, they're good enough to get them to qualify for the next World Cup.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: It would still be a stun if they don't.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_03: But that we that same thing could have been said for the last three cycles.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: So it's weird also because they won a Euros in between those things.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_03: So they were the best team in Europe one year, but failed to qualify for the next World Cup two years later.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's the darkest day in Italy.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think the darkest days are behind them.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_03: I think they're going to be on the upswing.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_03: Water finds its level.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_03: The Italians are good at football.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_03: They will be back at some point.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_03: But it's a good question because you would have thought they'd be back by now.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know that I see when you look at their squad, it's certainly not one you're scared of.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_03: You see some nice players in there, but you're like, eh, I was much more scared of the Italy team 10, 15, 20 years ago.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_03: So I kind of now am starting to root for the Italians, which is weird because I I want to see them good again.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's better when they're good.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_03: You get those Guidos in the US running around like Jersey Shore saying, Oh, I love football.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love Italy.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like, okay, we'll settle down.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I want that.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_03: I almost want that.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_03: They're silent.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't heard from them in years.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's something to keep an eye on, and I would say one of the most interesting storylines internationally.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, thank you.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I appreciate that because it's it's just such a stapled name, it's such a household name, and to not hear about them anymore, really at all, it's it's kind of like a mind game.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're so used to hearing Italians, World Cup, quality, class, great football, and it's just not there.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's crazy to see the fall off, but I do agree.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: Things are cyclical and they will come back.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also glad, Sean, you highlighted the AFCON and the African Cup of Nations.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: For those that don't know much about the African continent and football, the AFCO is essentially their World Cup.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: African teams typically and this World Cup, I will say they they showed up and showed out, typically don't have the best performances at the World Cup, but the AFCON, the African Cup of Nations is their World Cup.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's the in-between years between the World Cups, and it is fiery.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen coaches fired on the pitch, we've seen teams walk off the pitch.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's this is their competition.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it I think it's great you highlighted some of the score, Sean.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's great to see the continent of Africa also growing.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen the Egyptians, the ivory coasts, and now really the Moroccos, the the mostly northern African teams really dominate.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it's cool to see that the talent is being now spread across the whole continent.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you're seeing some of these smaller countries who maybe haven't made such a huge name in world football making a name and making the continent even stronger.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you highlighting that region as well because it's it's one that doesn't really get a lot of attention, but there is quality coming out of those leagues, you know, especially in the recent history.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad to highlight it, Brandon, because I'll tell you this the Afcon is their World Cup, it's my World Cup.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_03: This is my favorite tournament.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: The absolute scenes you see in Afcon are unmatched, literally nothing like it in the world of football.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_03: I once saw a ref call a match after 84 minutes were played.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_03: He just said, We're done.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_03: He said, We're done.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then he just pointed to his watch.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_03: Done.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_03: 84.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_03: Teams were baffled.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what?
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_03: No stoppage?
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_03: Nope.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_03: 84.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm that's seen enough.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_03: The refs shut it down.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_03: Afcon.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine if that happened in the World Cup game.
• 1:02:05
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_03: There'd be there'd be a war fought.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_03: There'd be a war fought.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_03: And in Afcon, that was like a Tuesday.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was unbelievable.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's incredible.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_03: The refs never have a clue.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_03: The the football's usually good but chaotic.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's high-quality players all over, but it's it's a chaos.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_03: You said managers, managers resign if they don't like a set piece.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_03: They'll just walk into the tunnel and be like, I'm done.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's unbelievable scenes.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_03: I love, love, love, love the African Cup of Nations.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_03: The last the last one with Brahim Diaz in Morocco.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_03: We still don't know who won.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's in a court of appeals.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think I have no idea who won.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say, who who is the winner of the last one?
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because we've seen we've seen two different winners.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like we've seen three different winners and only two teams played in the final.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, hell, hold on.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: Who's the winner of this?
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_01: So no, no, I I do appreciate you highlighting that, Sean.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to give you a quick, very quick MLS uh update.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was fortunate enough to go to the Philadelphia Union game this Saturday night uh against Orlando City.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, uh, thank you to our friends Graham and Allie who brought us, but the the energy around Subaru Park and the game presentation and all that, if you haven't been to Chester in a while to a union game, it's worth it.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've been going to games there for years and years.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is only the second game I believe I've been to this season, but the amount of work they've done with the game presentation and the lights and the fireworks and everything, it's a show now.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's great because on the field the team is also performing like a show.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely would encourage listeners to try to get out and if they can, especially if you're in the Philadelphia area.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_01: But another win from Philadelphia, Sean, four to two win against Orlando City.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: They're missing five starters, three at the US, Stanley Danley Jean-Jacques, who plays for Haiti, their center midfielder, then Andre Blake, their starting goalkeeper, plays for Jamaica.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_01: They were all gone.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this has now become the longest unbeaten streak in club history at 12 games.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they have not lost since the World Cup, since Ryan Richter has taken charge.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_01: They 10 wins, two draws, no losses.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_01: So unscathed, I believe that's what 32 points out of 36.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not bad.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not not bad at all.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_01: They are now, I believe, in sixth place in the playoffs.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: They were literally dead last in the whole league when he took over.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's incredible.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_01: I put a note in here, Sean.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_01: The way that they play under Ryan Richter is like a youth team when the coach says, Hey guys, if you score five goals and win the game, I'll buy you all ice cream.
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if I don't know if Ryan Richter is buying them ice cream or or what it is, but these guys were up 3-0, and Orlando City kind of starts to shut it down a bit, and they're still pushing.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_01: They get a fourth goal.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and Ryan did, I will say, Ryan did sub out and and gave some guys some minutes who don't typically play, which is which is fantastic.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: Orlando City scores two kind of you know cheap goals towards the end, but the way they play, Sean, it's literally like there's ice cream in the locker room if they if they if they accomplish what they accomplish.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is just it's absurd to see.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_01: They have players who play are playing in positions who haven't played in that position their whole career.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_01: Ryan said, Ben Bender, go play right back.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_01: Ben Bender's never played right back.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: I believe Ben Bender might even be left-footed and was playing right back and was fine.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like the confidence, and we talked about it earlier with Kavan and Frankie and Neil at the national team, but the confidence that he instills in these guys, it is out like it's otherworldly.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've never seen it before.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_01: Milanolaski has a hat trick.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_01: Milanolaski, this guy was playing at San Diego last year, played, didn't play very much for San Diego, but when he did play, he scored a lot.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like there was some discussions around his contract.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't go well.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_01: He ends up leaving San Diego, gets picked up by Philadelphia.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_01: The first half of the season, he was playing in the number 10 role.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when Ryan Richter came in and said, Dude, like you're in the box and you got the ball, like you score.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna put you up front.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_01: And he's Scored six he's he has 16 goals this season.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like like simple things like that.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the old coach was doing, but yeah, and Milan Olaski looks like a star.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_01: He he scores a penalty and scores two other fantastic goals this weekend.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's just the football, Sean.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't I can't explain it.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're just it's all-encompassing.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_01: These guys are flying.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this team will lose the game than the rest of the season.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: I Brandon, I love it.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so happy to see them not only back up and running, but they're absolutely running the show in MOS now.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_03: They're one of the favorites, in my opinion, to win the title because of how they're playing.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't see many teams better than them.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, if you look at the course of the season, sure, teams have more points, but that is not.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_03: There are two different ball clubs, the team that played the first 17 games and the team that's played the last 13.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's night and day erect the statue.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_03: Ryan Richter, name the field after him.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_03: Super club Ryan Richter field.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_03: Take take the interim tag off.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_01: What are we waiting for?
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, he's still the interim.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's still the interim.
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to hire Pep?
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who's gonna like you can't get much better than him at this point?
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just give him a dream of being Ryan Richter.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's outrageous, Sean.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_01: But there's seven games left in the MLS season.
• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_01: They have a few more home games.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_01: Look, the Phillies, I don't know what the Phillies are doing.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_01: The Phillies may not even make the playoffs at this point.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: Red October, throw it out.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_01: Dead October.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be a blue and blue and gold October.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_01: Get to Subaru Park.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_01: Look, the Eagles play on Sundays.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know we're Philly Eagles, that's our thing.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_01: But Saturday night.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: Spend a Saturday night at the Subaru Park.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good time, Sean.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be an exciting end of the season.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nashville will win the East.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_01: They'll definitely be the one seed.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_01: Philly will very much likely be in the four to six range for the playoffs.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a good it's a good finish.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_01: The West is still up for grabs.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's like five teams: Vancouver, Dallas, San Jose, Houston, St.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: Louis.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: They can all kind of win the win the West.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_01: Vancouver is at the top, but they've not been great since Sebastian has left.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can get down to Subaru Park, there's a few more home games, Sean.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's worth it.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, tickets aren't crazy to get in.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good show.
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's two hours, in and out.
• 1:08:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, take the kids, take the family, it pack the park.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a fun time, and it's it's a great, exciting brand of football to watch.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and if you need an extra reason to go, just wait until the international break's over.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_03: Come for those final couple matches, come for the playoffs, see the Sullivan boys, see Neil Pierre, see Frankie Westfield, see the crew, see, see the whole squad.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm in, Brandon, and I'll tell you this: we're nearing a decision.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_03: I told you before the playoffs started.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_03: I told you I don't want to put my kiss to death.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_03: The trust tree.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_03: I want to pick Philly, I want them to lose a game before I pick them because I don't want to pick them and have the first game be a loss on my watch.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_03: Fair enough.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_03: I've been waiting for one.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, they'll lose without this without Kavan.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_03: No, they don't lose.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I might, what is going to end up happening is I'm gonna pick the union and they're gonna lose two in a row and be out of the playoffs, and it's gonna be on me.
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't want that.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_03: So please lose one game.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let it be a road game.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_03: Don't lose at the park, pack the park, but lose the next road game.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_03: Blame it on the five guys being out, not me.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_03: Then I go in, buy low, and then we're back, and we don't lose again.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's the goal.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_03: But I really want to jump on board, but I know I know what me rooting for a team does to that team, and it's not good.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_01: Look around this, yeah, it's it's a disaster.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I was saying, I was saying to somebody, these three weeks are like heaven for me.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_01: I got to see MLS and the union win, and now they go on, they actually go on a break now until the 10th, so all the boys will be back from the world cup or from the international break.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, but we have no Spurs to stress out about these guys go out on a huge win.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm at the top of the world right now.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't even care about the Phillies doing whatever they're doing.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't uh whatever.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really a baseball guy.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_03: I do care about the Phillies and they're killing me.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_03: They've killed actually.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Philadelphia, get behind the union.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's a club that cares.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, they care.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's been great, and it's it's been an outrageous last three months with this team after the World Cup.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And there's there's more room on the bandwagon.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_01: So please, please hop on before the playoffs.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's an exciting team.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're not gonna win a game 1-0, they're gonna win a game 4-0 because again, they got ice cream in the locker room, and it only that that freezer only unlocks if they score three and four goals, Sean.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it seems like, because these guys don't win one-zero.
• 1:10:45
  SPEAKER_01: We we love it.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_01: We love it.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Goodness.
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_01: But no, it's been great, Sean.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to continue with the national team reviews.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_01: We have three more games for the US, and we'll definitely break those down as they occur.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, any any final thoughts on this episode, Sean?
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_03: No, Brandon.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you taking the hosting duties and leading the discussion.
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_03: I thought it was a good one.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_03: We talked a lot at USMNT, good result there.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_03: We caught everybody up on the international break across different areas of the world, and we touched on some MLS in the Philadelphia Union.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_03: So, all in all, we covered all the bases.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's another good one, Sean.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you bringing the insight as well, especially with the Manchester City case, because I do think that is something that we're gonna have to revisit as more details come out, and we'll see what the repercussions are, obviously, as we discussed earlier.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_01: But we'll we'll we'll see as that happens.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Listeners, as always, please tell a friend to tell a friend.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, like and subscribe, keep up with the fantasy premier league.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we have a little bit of a break right now.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sean, your team is your team's doing well.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Your team is your team is flying.
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe maybe you'll pull that one out uh since you will not win the player poll against me, because my team has been absolutely outrageous uh to start the season.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we're only five games in, so there's still a lot of time.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that would just note that.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_03: Put a pin on that.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_03: There was a victory declaration after match week five.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_02: I will just just a little you will not win.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Just a little trash talking.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_02: You won't win, but just no, I don't think I will either.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_02: But I would hate to see I would hate to see senior guys go down.
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hate to see that.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Which will happen now.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, listeners, thank you.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, stop, don't, don't, stop, don't, don't, don't name them.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_01: I said I'd hate to see it.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love Alexander Esack, hate to see it hurt.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, but got anyways.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll discuss that in a few weeks when the leaks back on.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but listeners, thank you.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Please like and subscribe, leave a comment, let us know, send us some questions.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_01: We have, again, this international break.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely open to discussing some topics.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think the Manchester City one was a cool one we got to do today that we maybe wouldn't typically do on an episode.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so leave us some questions, let us know your thoughts, and until next time, take care.