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A Tough Day for the USMNT Bots - Ep. 48
27 Plays4 months ago
It’s an emergency pod as the US men’s national team has crashed out of the Copa America in embarrassing fashion. Do we care about the fate of Gregg Berhalter? Not really, but we lay down our takes on the matter anyway. Other topics include whether this ‘golden generation’ is overrated and who our dream candidates would be to take over on the sidelines.
After our USMNT punditry, there was also another coach firing in MLS, LA Galaxy star Riqui Puig took some screenshots of the preseason predictions and Obed Vargas is reportedly drawing interest from Liga MX clubs.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Poll Wine, a Seattle-based wine cell. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. The model is simple. They email compelling offers. You request bottles that sound appealing. Your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping.
00:00:25
Speaker
Their soda tasting room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewines.com.
Episode Introduction
00:00:36
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome into episode 48 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwall. I got producer Noah here with me and tonight we'll be diving back into the world of USMNT Pundentry and we have one of the most emphatic L-Pods that we've recorded to date. Noah, how are you
USMNT Copa America Defeat
00:00:58
Speaker
feeling?
00:00:58
Speaker
You know, I feel vindicated, I feel good, I feel bad, but the biggest thing that I'm feeling as a Sounders fan is...
00:01:08
Speaker
Damn, I guess Morse isn't so bad, huh? Yeah, it's a whole wide range of emotions after this defeat for the USMNT, which is roiled in turmoil after Monday night's 1-0 defeat to Uruguay in Copa America play, which has crashed the US out of the tournament in the group stage, which
00:01:29
Speaker
I don't think you can really describe it as anything other than a pretty catastrophic failure for the program and everyone involved, players, coaches. We're going to break down this whole debacle and where we go from here. And that's I think what we're going to spend the bulk of the episode on tonight.
00:01:46
Speaker
And then after that, we'll hit some Seattle Sounders news ahead of their next match against the New England Revolution and a couple of other headlines from around the league, including another coach firing. Got another coach firing, they're dropping like flies, so we'll talk about that. But before we get into all that, as always, if you'd like to support the show, the best way to do so is go to sounderatheart.com slash LS. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow the show.
00:02:13
Speaker
All you gotta do is scroll down to that little subscribe and support folks, and you get the best Seattle Soccer coverage.
Supporting the Show and Subscriber Goals
00:02:19
Speaker
Also, if you haven't done so yet, sub to the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. Sub to YouTube. We've, uh, we've summited 200 subscribers. I believe we're at 205 now, Noah. Yeah. Uh, so our next goal, 250, help us get there, um, and help us grow our presence on that platform as well.
Game Analysis and Referee Decisions
00:02:38
Speaker
All right, let's get into this USMNT game, Noah, because there's quite a lot to talk about with this. It was certainly an unfortunate result for our country, but it was good for the content.
00:02:53
Speaker
Let's just dive on in. The US was in a situation going into this game where they had to beat Uruguay to move through to the group stage into the knockout rounds because of the 2-1 debacle versus Panama that we covered extensively. But it was not a situation that you want to be in in a tournament like this. Uruguay, very, very good team. And our backs were against the wall.
00:03:23
Speaker
As for the game itself, Noah, I thought it was a pretty good game, honestly, at least from an entertainment perspective. It was a competitive back and forth game, up and down, end to end. But in the spirit of the Seattle Sounders, we couldn't finish any of the chances that we generated. And really, I was getting a lot of Seattle Sounders vibes during this tournament. I mean, you had a really bad ill-advised red card. You had sequences of good play that didn't result in many goals. So really, the parallels were uncanny.
00:03:53
Speaker
But in the end, Uruguay, they get a goal in the second half that made it 1-0, and we never equalized. And we are out of the Copa America Tournament over. And this was really the worst outcome that we could have possibly had, because I think the reason this tournament was considered so important was
00:04:16
Speaker
We're not doing World Cup qualifying this time around. There are only so many games that we're going to get to measure ourselves against upper tier competition like this. And we blew it. We blew it in really terrible and quite embarrassing fashion when you really break it down. I have an idea, Ari. If they need some more games, maybe we can toss them in League's Cup, see how they do.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's not the worst idea. We got to do something to make these games up now that we're out of the tournament.
00:04:50
Speaker
I did want to talk about the ref real quick, not to blame anything on it, but just because it was really, it was one of the wilder refereeing performances that I've ever seen. The two craziest moments, I think, that stand out to me were the yellow card on Tyler Adams, where he got a yellow card, I believe, tell me if I'm misrepresenting this, but he got a yellow card for getting his own ankle stomped on by another player, which I don't know if I've ever
00:05:20
Speaker
Seen that quite to that degree. Yeah, it's pretty cool. But my favorite one was When he played advantage while giving the yellow card. Yeah Have you ever seen that? No, you know, there was a lot of unique That's a good word. Yeah unique opportunities that this ref took to explore the possibilities that a ref has to you know exert his will on the the laws of the game and
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, he just generally also had zero control of the game. It was wild out there. You can really tell when a ref has lost control and he definitely lost control. There was a lot of debate over whether the Uruguay goal was offside, which I thought he was, probably by a little bit.
00:06:12
Speaker
I don't really think that matters because you didn't score a goal in this game. So even if that gets waved off, it's not like you did enough to win regardless. Yeah, you don't advance even if that goal gets waved off. Yeah, exactly.
00:06:29
Speaker
I mean, I understand the debate about that, but I really don't think it's that significant at the end of the day.
USMNT Performance and Coaching Debate
00:06:36
Speaker
And the reality is, Noah, that this tournament was chalked on the Panama game. As soon as Tim Wea got that red card and put the team in a situation where it was going to be really hard to get a result and they ultimately lost the game, it was chalked right there.
00:06:53
Speaker
The odds that you were gonna beat Uruguay in this game were never very good. And if you just beat Panama, it's not an issue. If you just beat Panama, the storyline right now is that the US took care of business and had a pretty hard fought, close loss against Uruguay. But I think we all would have been excited and intrigued to see what they could do for the rest of the tournament.
00:07:20
Speaker
That red card was killer, man. It was killer. And this has predictably led to a lot of discussion and debate about the future of one Greg Barhalter. A lot of people think that he should be fired for this. So I figured we could just debate that right now. Do we think that Greg Barhalter should be fired? Now, I'll say that
00:07:45
Speaker
I think anyone who's listened to our USMNT pundentry in the past knows that I'm not as fervently anti-Burhalter as a lot of people. I was meh on the higher when it was first made, but I was ultimately fine with it. I felt like, I feel like and still feel like he's a pretty average middle of the road coach. And I also, I don't think that who the coach is, especially when it comes to international soccer, makes as much of a difference as a lot of people like to think.
00:08:13
Speaker
If you made Greg Berhalter the coach of Argentina or France, you could probably win the World Cup. It doesn't really mean much about his coaching acumen or ability. But you know what? I think he does have to be fired for this, Noah.
00:08:30
Speaker
I think he does. When you take into account the expectations for this team and what people were hoping and thinking that they could do with this tournament and you contrast that with how it actually played out and just the fact that it's felt like this team is underperforming its talent level for
00:08:53
Speaker
for a long time now, realistically. And that was something that I was willing to give a chance to develop and improve. But when you look at this tournament, I don't think you can really come to much other conclusion than this thing has stagnated.
00:09:09
Speaker
On top of that, when you have a situation like that Tim Weyer red card, that is a that is a lack of discipline, a critical lack of discipline, where I said it on the last show, but the coach bears some of the responsibility for that. I do think that the players bear a lot of responsibility as well. And that needs to be acknowledged. But
00:09:34
Speaker
Like when you have a player make a mistake like that, that's on you. That's on you as a coach to an extent. Yeah, I mean, I agree that he has to take some of the blame for the Tim Wea red card on the same hand. I think Tim Wea has to take the majority of that responsibility. I agree with that. That is way more on him than it is on Greg. I don't think they lost this specific tournament or bombed out of this specific tournament because of anything Greg did.
00:10:03
Speaker
I still think he should be fired. I still don't think that his system has worked, even though after the Jurgen Klinsman era in 2017, all anyone was asking for was a clear system, an American guy, and a guy who could communicate well with the players, which is exactly who Greg Berhalter is. He's a guy who the players like.
00:10:23
Speaker
they're the ones who basically got his job back uh... they were the ones who insisted that he come back basically and he plays a clear system he plays the same formation he plays the same thought for every single game he's an american
00:10:39
Speaker
He should be fired, but I don't think that enough blame is being put on how poorly, how absolutely poorly the players performed in this tournament. I mean, it was abysmal. It was abysmal. There were two players who played well in this tournament. Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely it's definitely not good. I mean, Weston McKinney said after the game that the quote was something to the effect of all the players on this team would run through a brick wall for Greg Berhalter, which that's fine, but
00:11:09
Speaker
Like running through brick walls does not equate to winning soccer games. You can run through a brick wall if you think that that's the correct course of action for you. But I'm kind of just sort of tired of hearing that, I guess. Yeah. Well, I think part of it, too, with this whole conversation is
00:11:30
Speaker
There's such a low soccer IQ for the average USMNT fan, right? Like I'm not even trying to be rude. I'm just trying to say like, there is a lot of casual soccer observers that obsess over the US men's national team, which is totally fair because we have players in some of the best leagues in the world. And this is something that they can connect directly with them on for people who are like, Oh, I don't care about MLS. That's fine.
00:11:55
Speaker
But what tends to happen is they get focused, they get set on this one thing. So the conversation is always fire Greg Berhalter, fire Greg Berhalter, fire Jürgen Klenzmann, fire Jürgen Klenzmann, fire Bob Bradley, fire Bob Bradley. Bob Bradley's playing his son, he's a bot. Jürgen Klenzmann hates America, so fire him. Greg Berhalter is the worst thing to ever happen to soccer, fire him.
00:12:23
Speaker
I don't know. I just like this. I feel like this is not a constructive conversation to keep happening. But I do agree with you. Like I cannot continue to be the coach of this team. I'll be interested to see if they if they actually pull the plug. Like I said they wouldn't. I feel like they have to. But you know, they also.
00:12:43
Speaker
They kind of put a lot on the line by rehiring him and talking up the process behind hiring him. And they're quite invested in this hire working out. And bombing out of the Copa in the group stage, man, I mean, it's just not good, man. It's just not good.
00:13:04
Speaker
Who would we wanna see replace Greg Berhalter? I thought it might be a fun little thought exercise to throw out some names just in a dream scenario. I'll tell you mine, Noah. And this is not gonna shock you to hear me say it. But honestly, Wilfred Nancy, man. That would be...
00:13:21
Speaker
My dream I would love to see what he could do with this team I just think that he is a brilliant coach and you can really you can see that in his track record with CF Montreal and now with Columbus and I certainly think that
00:13:36
Speaker
I rate him as a tier of coach where you could have him go overseas. You could have him coach a team in a big time European league. And I think he would have success. And I think there's ample reason to believe that if you gave him the keys to a team at the international level,
00:13:56
Speaker
his knowledge of the game and his man management and everything he brings to the table, I think it's possible that he could have a lot of success. It's not guaranteed and any hire could always blow up in your face and be a bust, but that's just who I would like to see get a shot.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. I didn't even think about that. I didn't even think that would be a potential option, to be honest. It might not be, but we're not. But yeah, like in a dream scenario, I'm actually going to I'm going to totally steal that and just cook on that. Yeah, no, I think that would be my favorite name. There's a lot of names getting thrown around out there right now. Some people were bringing up Jurgen Klopp who's leaving Liverpool. That would be sick. I mean, I just don't think there's really much of a universe where that would happen. But
00:14:43
Speaker
that's a fun name to get thrown around. I saw a couple people throwing Schmetz's name out there actually and it wasn't even just like Sounders fans like it was people just tossing around ideas and you know I think Schmetz is a Sounders lifer but that's kind of a fun one to think about. I think Schmetz at the international level I would be interested to see like if his style would work but anyway. How do you think it would work?
00:15:10
Speaker
I think he could have success to be honest because I think being a coach at the international level is so much more, even more so about man management than it is tactics or anything like X's and O's or anything like that.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah I think too like one of the things that he always talks about is body language and you know I was watching the Paul Rothrock post training interview today and you know he was talking about how him coming into the game and changing things had a lot to do also with Spencer's halftime speech and him saying
00:15:45
Speaker
It's all about your body language. It's all about that man You can tell that this u.s team just gets frustrated really easily and and things go off the rails All that red card that literally lost this tournament for the u.s. Uh, yeah, I think I think he could be he would actually be a genuinely good choice and someone who He's good at working in confines is good in working in dilemma because yeah, you got your pool decided for you and
00:16:12
Speaker
I don't know. Like I really think it has to be an MLS coach as the next. I know, I know that like you, that's not going to be a very popular take. That's fine. That's fine. But like, how are you going to be able to manage the most effectively in that player pool of all Americans? If you don't have some kind of understanding of the competition that you're, you're going to be facing on a regular basis.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think I necessarily think that it has to be an MLS coach. I wouldn't mind it being an MLS coach if it's Wilford Nancy. But it'll be interesting to see because he actually has to get fired for this discussion to even be relevant. I just don't know if they are actually going to do that.
00:17:00
Speaker
They won't. Is this the biggest debacle in USMNT history was another question that I wanted to throw out there for discussion because you know we posted a video on YouTube calling the the title was something like it was referring to the Panama defeat as the worst loss in USMNT history which admittedly is you know
00:17:24
Speaker
It's a little bit of bait, but I do think that there is a case to be made there. Because obviously, OK, everyone's going to bring up the 2018 World Cup qualifying debacle. And that's widely considered to be the biggest debacle in USMNT history, because the stakes were so high, and we bombed out of qualifying for the World Cup off it. So in terms of the stakes, that was obviously a worse defeat.
00:17:51
Speaker
This one, when you consider the defeat relative to the expectations, it's hard for me to think of one that I can remember that's worse than this.
00:18:07
Speaker
This team was expected to actually like make noise at this tournament. This was supposed to be the like coming out party for the quote unquote golden generation. And they bomb out in the group stage after losing to Panama. I mean, I don't know if it's actually the biggest debacle in history, but I mean, it's definitely up there. It's definitely up there.
00:18:28
Speaker
Still think I mean I'm gonna go out and say that it is just just because I'll stand on the business of it like it really does come down to the fact that That team that didn't make the World Cup a bunch of young players a mixture of players. It was this like
00:18:43
Speaker
we're not really sure what we are where we are the expectations were that you make it to the world cup but it will the expectations past that were like we have a lot of great young players this is going to be great eventually this is oh yeah we actually legitimately have a chance to contend for this every single pundit that i was listening to was telling me
00:19:05
Speaker
this golden generation is going to make waves this copa america and this is going to be the time where they set the stage for the 26 world cup which they have a good chance of contending for that didn't happen and i've never seen more pundits licking their own wounds
00:19:22
Speaker
I saw Alexey Lawless live on Fox doing a 360, pretending like he didn't just pick them to be in the final against Argentina. I have not seen US Men's National Team fans this back down to earth ever in my life. There was insane takes, but I saw a lot of genuinely like, oh wow, no, this is just not really a good team.
00:19:52
Speaker
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00:20:03
Speaker
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00:20:25
Speaker
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Player Pool and Talent Issues
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, so that's actually a good segue into the next question that I wanted us to discuss, which is, is this Golden Generation overrated? You know, Stu Holden had a quote on the broadcast right after the game, where he basically said something, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but he basically said, don't call them the Golden Generation until they've won something, which for all the talk about
00:21:11
Speaker
how talented this player pool is and how it's the most talented of all time. And you've got all these guys playing at these big clubs, some of whom are actually playing big roles at these big clubs. They really
00:21:24
Speaker
Have not accomplished anything to like measure up to the way that they're talked about and I do feel like to Like doesn't it feel like they kind of they kind of carry themselves and talk about themselves in a way that Makes it sort of makes them feel like they think that they've arrived sometimes already and it's like you guys have not you guys have not really won anything and
00:21:50
Speaker
You've just bombed out of the Copa in really terrible fashion. So I don't know if I think they're overrated in the sense that I do think that the talent level that gets talked about with the core group of players, I think that's real. Like if you go down the list, Christian Pulisic is he had a great season for AC Milan. Breakout.
00:22:13
Speaker
He's had stretches of play in the Premier League with Chelsea, where he looked like a really, really good player in the prem. Weston McKinney, he was one of Juventus' best players. I mean, he started week in, week out. I didn't watch every Juventus game, but everything that I heard and read about it was that he was considered a solid, good player for them.
00:22:39
Speaker
And I also think that he's shown to be stand out at the international level as well. So I don't know, you might not rate Weston. I still rate Weston pretty high. Gio is an interesting one because I've been as big a fan of Gio as anyone. I've been really high on what I think his potential ceiling could be. He's had some
00:23:00
Speaker
fantastic individual moments where you can really see you can see that he's a very, very talented player. But when you kind of combine the fact that he basically had a bust of a season this year at the club level for Nottingham Forest
00:23:17
Speaker
and all the injury issues that he's had, his missed really lengthy stretches of time. In this game, I didn't really think he did a heck of a lot. There wasn't really those like wow moments that we've seen from GEO. I hate to say it because remember when we recorded the podcast after Nations League last year, how hyped I was, and I was talking about, you know, I can see the path to this team actually making good on the potential that we all see.
00:23:42
Speaker
And I think I couched it and I said that it wasn't guaranteed that they were going to get there, but I could at least see the path based on just how great we looked in that Nations League. And I think until this group of players actually has the results that measure up with the potential that gets talked about, I think you kind of do have to call them overrated. I think you do.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah, I agree 100% with basically everything you said. I wanted to bring up this Tyler Adams quote. He said, when I'm healthy and playing consistently, I'm one of the best midfielders at what I do in the world. That's delusion, buddy. I'm sorry. That's what I'm talking about when I.
00:24:27
Speaker
when I talk about when I was talking about like how they they talk about themselves in a kind of inflated type of way compared to what they actually are like yeah like Tyler Adams buddy your ass probably I mean I don't agree with that I think Tyler he's the he's the captain of the team and he also
00:24:46
Speaker
He's been he's been good at At the club level as well. That's fine. Whatever. Maybe I'm just being bitter because like You are right though that he's definitely kind of exaggerating his status on the world stage Yeah, it's like who really if you ask the average soccer fan like anywhere in the world Would you would you rate as one of the best? Midfielders in the world like I don't think Tyler Adams name is probably coming up for all the
00:25:13
Speaker
For all the good things that he's done in his career and for the US. I don't think anyone Yeah, that's kind of a crazy quote, you know, like respectfully like Bournemouth and Leeds I think the problem is when you're called the golden generation over and over again and you're at you've blown smoke up your ass for the last
00:25:34
Speaker
It's six years from people like Alexi Lawless and Stu Holden and all of these people who have way too much like personal pride in the game. It's gonna like change the way that you see yourself. It's gonna change the way that you approach matches. It's gonna change the way that you like exist, right? Like in the last Copa America in 2016, when the US were in there, for me, what I remember
00:26:04
Speaker
The media was like, oh, that's so sick. They're playing. That's cool. Sick. Maybe they can get out of the group stage. That's cool. They finished fourth.
00:26:12
Speaker
Like that team was like 90% MLS players. Yeah, like and I'm sorry like team was better when it was just the MLS guys There's a lot of layers to it But I guess just just wrapping up the point on what you were just talking about like I guess what I would hope comes from this is just like it's just a dose of humility, you know, yeah, maybe a realization and an acknowledgement that
00:26:36
Speaker
We are not necessarily as good as we think we are and we haven't proven anything yet. And we kind of, I mean, we paid the price in this scenario. Before we move on to, I want to say like, respectfully, Jordan Morris has scored more goals than that entire roster.
00:26:55
Speaker
If Jordan Morris and Christian Roldon were on the team, maybe they make it out. But there are people. Yeah, there's people and there's there's American players in the MLS that 100% should be getting looks and should be involved in this because you need a mix of that player. That's all that I'm trying to get. And I think the idea that we constantly have to live up to this golden generation, this Euro talent, these like exported superstars.
00:27:18
Speaker
it's like you're you're ignoring people who are play valuable roles who have actual experience playing against the players that you're going to be facing in concacaf and if we continue to participate in copa america so yeah um
00:27:35
Speaker
I thought there was one more point that I did want to touch on as we wrap up this segment here and get into all of your questions. But I do think it's worth pointing out the issues with access to the game for youth soccer in this country.
Youth Soccer Accessibility and Impact
00:27:52
Speaker
Zach Lowy, a pundit who works for multiple outlets, he had a tweet that I think kind of encapsulated this point pretty well. So I'm just going to read it off. So credit to Zach Lowy.
00:28:04
Speaker
He said, U.S. soccer will never be a successful program as long as they continue to ignore the nation's most talented players and prioritize the players whose parents can afford travel fees, tournament registration, summer camps, and everything else involved in the sham that is youth soccer.
00:28:20
Speaker
I'm not an expert and don't know that much about the inner workings of youth soccer, but I do think that that is a point that should be brought up in all this as we talk about our issues with youth development and how to develop better and better players.
00:28:36
Speaker
Access to the game shouldn't be based on how much money you have or make, and I do think that it's worth pointing out that the scope of our talent pool likely gets narrowed because of that.
00:28:51
Speaker
I was very lucky to have parents who were able to afford this kind of stuff. I played in great tournaments and I was able to go to summer camps and I was able to do all of this stuff as a young player.
00:29:06
Speaker
You know, I know that there was probably people a hundred times more talented than me that just didn't have access to it and that should change. I still don't think that that's the reason that at all that this team bombed out or that this team is doing poorly. I think it's just an excuse, which is fine. Like we should be talking about this, but I think that's just another excuse for the results.
00:29:29
Speaker
Let's dive into your questions now. Thank you, as always, to everyone who submitted questions. I did the crowdsourcing for USMNT takes, and I wasn't sure if it was going to pop as hard as the Sounders takes, but you all came through and gave us some good stuff to talk about. So, Noah, if you've got those lined up, let's dive in. This one comes from Twitter user Noah Rife. Ari, a squad full of MLS journeymen went farther than this group of Euro wonder kid elites. Is MLS just that much better?
00:29:59
Speaker
Think you're on to something with that because a good point I'm gonna keep banning the MLS drum just cuz I think it's funny and we'll make some people upset Here this one comes from round mount multiple things can be true. I think this group is talented, but a bit overrated I think Burr halter isn't maximizing them and is probably actively hindering them. I also think this group doesn't have that dog in them. I
00:30:22
Speaker
I think those are all pretty good points. Well put. Talented but overrated. That's kind of how I feel about it. Like I do think, like I said, I do think that the talent level is is very high. And I mean, it's definitely higher than it was in like when the last Copa where we made it farther. But that gets to the question of then like why are the results not reflecting that and
00:30:52
Speaker
I don't know, but yeah, I think that's well put.
00:30:55
Speaker
Yeah. Would love to hear your thoughts on the comparison of the USMNT to the Sounders seems like a lot of high-end roster. They can't score fields from arrow. We hit that at the top of the show, but I wanted you to bam on that again because I thought it was funny. Yeah, no, I mean, the parallels were uncanny. Yeah, it's incredible. The US men's national team just made history in Copa America being the first host nation that hasn't made it to the knockout stage since those formats were introduced in the nineties. How bad does that look?
00:31:24
Speaker
Definitely not good. It's definitely not good. It's not what you want. This one comes from Aaron predictions for the Olympics.
00:31:31
Speaker
I honestly have not like looked into the Olympics all that much and I did see our roster But I will I'm gonna watch it and I'll be interested to see how they go just because as I understand it the Olympics It's it's like a u23 tournament because they don't want it to like mirror the World Cup too much But then you get three players right that you can be over that age and
00:31:56
Speaker
So I think it'll actually be a fun watch for sickos like us just to see some of the younger up-and-comers who you know could factor be factors in the future and then you know it's always I always enjoy watching watching a tournament or a competition like that where you know it's the Olympics the Olympics are that that's that's high stakes the world is watching. Thank you all for your questions.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, thank you to everyone who submitted. I know we can't get to every single one every week, but always appreciate you all getting the discourse flowing. I think that's about enough USMNT plundentry. Yeah, let's get off that. Unless you got anything else to say about that debacle, but I think we just about covered it all. We just had a few more headlines, one regarding the Seattle Sounders and just around MLS, and then we can call it for
00:32:51
Speaker
episode 48.
Sounders and Player Updates
00:32:52
Speaker
I mean, just sounders-wise, I think the big news is that Rui Diaz and Nuhu were back in training, and they should be in line to feature this weekend against the Revs. So they're back. And I would imagine Nuhu will resume his starting role.
00:33:09
Speaker
We got to save our better wing backs for open cup. So I understand. And, uh, Rudy, Rudy is probably going to be back in that super sub role. So we'll see how he handles that. I mean, you know, I'm hoping that cooler heads have prevailed in this situation. And, uh, as you know, as fun as the drama was to, uh, to, uh, talk about and analyze, it's, you know, I don't really feel the need to do that every week. So, uh, hopefully we're past that and, uh, we can just move forward the season here.
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm ready for them to be back. Let's get them back. Let's get Coke in. We're already on a win streak. Let's keep it moving. Ricky Poosh took on the pundits. Did you see this? I kind of love this. LA Galaxy star attacker. So I guess this
00:33:55
Speaker
It's the first instance, I think, this season of the screenshot bit. For anyone who's unfamiliar with the screenshot bit, essentially how it goes is every year at MLSSoccer.com, we have an expert panel make predictions for where they think every team is going to finish in their respective conference.
00:34:15
Speaker
So naturally, if you're doing that, you have to have some teams that are finishing lower on the table. And basically, any time there's a team that was picked to finish between 9th and 14th, and then they finish more like something like 3rd to 6th,
00:34:35
Speaker
Their fans, and more often than you would think, their players will screenshot those predictions, tweet them out, and talk about how they defied the pundits, beat the odds. Most famously, actually, it was Josh Wolf, head coach of Austin FC, who he laminated the predictions and put them on a bulletin board. And then that was the year Austin FC drastically overachieved, and they finished second in the West or something.
00:35:03
Speaker
and so he was chest thumping about all that but see that see it's a dangerous game because the next year Austin FC drastically regressed and it turned out that I think ironically enough all the pundits that year were picking them to finish higher after what they had done the previous year
00:35:19
Speaker
and then they crash back down to earth. But either way, Ricky Pooge, I think, is the first player of the year to screenshot the pundits, who a lot of the pundits had LA Galaxy finishing low on the table. So, you know, fair play in the sense that they're actually up there at the top of the West this year. But he was also coming after Sasha Kleschen, was he not? Yeah, he was. What is the deal with that? Why is he mad at Sasha?
00:35:42
Speaker
I think I think sash was uh cooking him a little bit or being critical of him on um apple tv and so I think he was just like I see you i'm gonna cook you back which is like sasha's whole bit now is that he's like the alexi lawless of that broadcast which I don't like because he I just don't feel like that's a good role for him sash we love you please
00:36:03
Speaker
Come home. We know this isn't you. Yeah. Ricky Poosh versus Sasha. That's not necessarily a beef that I would have predicted, but I'm here for it. And you know, Ricky Poosh. Who's not are you on? I mean, honestly, I don't really know enough about the fine points of the beef to have an opinion on that. I'll look more into it and maybe have a more opinion on it.
00:36:24
Speaker
Um, I do. Rick, Ricky Pooh is definitely, um, he's one of my favorite players in the league to watch right now. You know, I, I, you know, everyone knows that I'm a big Joey paints guy, but I think if you really break down, like what makes that galaxy team go, Ricky Pooh is, I mean, he is that guy.
00:36:40
Speaker
Doesn't really get talked about as much anymore It did when he first signed but like a Barcelona player coming to MLS with that pedigree at his age He was 22 when he signed you that's not the profile that you he wasn't even a DP either Yes He wasn't when he came he came on a tam
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean transfer and he's been really as advertised. He's fun to watch man. Like honestly, I think he's one of probably the two to three best passers in the league right now.
Coaching Changes and Team Performances
00:37:13
Speaker
Um, coach firing another coach, another coach firing St. Louis city SC has fired Bradley Carnell. Um, after he, uh, I mean it was their expansion season last year, so he led them their expansion season.
00:37:27
Speaker
And he is out before finishing his second season and I think more than any coach firing that we've seen so far this year this is the one that I kind of didn't expect like Most of them, you know, like the San Jose firing Lucci. Yeah, that was on the wall. Yeah, that's expected FC Dallas firing Estebes
00:37:50
Speaker
kind of kind of saw that one coming. The thing about St. Louis City is, I mean, they got, they were first place in the West last year. And I think the overarching sentiment is that they pretty drastically overachieved. And I think like you have to give Bradley Carnell
00:38:09
Speaker
a fair amount of the credit for that. I mean, uh, they, they had like one of the most blessed seasons I've ever seen, you know, it's never all luck, but they, there was, there was something, there's some magic going on with them last year that did not carry over into this year.
00:38:26
Speaker
They had a lot of injuries, but I think in general it's kind of similar to the Austin FC situation that I was talking about where you had You had a team that really really overachieved and took way more points more than they rightfully should have Based on both their underlying numbers, but then also a lot of it last year honestly was Roman Berkey just like he was insane he was he saved so many like
00:38:53
Speaker
surefire goals for them. He just I mean he's a he's a great keeper obviously but that stuff that can even out sometimes and I think that's what happened but like when you look at St. Louis City SC do you really like and look at their roster are they performing vastly below like where you think they should be I don't really think so so
00:39:16
Speaker
I didn't really understand this one. I probably would have just kept Bradley-Carnell if I were them. But also, in tandem with this news, they signed a new DP, Marcel Hartel, from the German 2nd Division to Bundesliga.
00:39:35
Speaker
I know absolutely nothing about that guy, but it is noteworthy that they signed a DP and also because Lutz, their sporting director, is the one who had the quote about, I don't sign designated players, we're a designated team. Then he signed Roman Berkey as a designated player, which you don't really see goalkeeper as the DPs very often.
00:39:57
Speaker
But now he's signing a designated player. So, um, I mean, he was, he was good. And then Buddhist think it to 17 goals, 12 assists and 33 matches. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it could, it could, uh, that could be a hit signing for them. And I do think like, uh, Joelle Clausen, Edward Lowen, uh, I don't know if one or both of them are, well, I guess one of them must not be a DP because, uh, this is their third spot. Um, but.
00:40:25
Speaker
I mean, they both had really good years for them last year. So maybe if this guy hits, it can give him a little shot in the arm and they get the new coach bump. But yeah, I was pretty surprised to see this firing. Yeah, I was surprised to see the firing. We were talking about this before the podcast.
00:40:41
Speaker
why like why that doesn't really it didn't I don't know maybe did something happen like they were not doing amazing but I mean what are you adding when you know they've taken a pretty big step back compared to last year but I just think that probably should have been expected
00:41:00
Speaker
Yeah, he also shares Marcia Hartel shares my birthday. I want to say so. I am wishing him success. I mean, I guess we're fans then. We're fans. Just one more before we before we get out of here. This is sounders related again. Obed Vargas is reportedly getting interest from League of MX clubs. If you want the specifics, you can head over to sounder at heart and read the full article where they get it. Well, is it Jeremiah?
00:41:30
Speaker
Jeremiah. If you want all the specifics, you can head to Sounder at Heart and read the full article where Jeremiah has all the details. But I think it's definitely noteworthy that Obed is catching the eye of potential suitors.
00:41:46
Speaker
And also, you know, if Seattle gets a good deal and he gets sold on, that could be a bag. I would be curious to see exactly what the bag is, but it would be huge to finally have one of these home grounds hit to the point where you get like a real substantial bag for him. You know, I know they had Yedlin, but that was a long time ago at this point. Like, I feel like out of this most recent generation,
00:42:15
Speaker
this would be the first instance of this. So it's definitely worth monitoring. And I guess the last thing I would say about it is if I had to predict, I would think that they set it up so he stays for the rest of this season and then moves on next year, which, you know, means that Seattle could theoretically benefit from Obed services in this breakout season he's having through the rest of this year.
00:42:44
Speaker
Yeah, and there's a lot more details like Ari said in that Sounder at Heart article. If you're not subscribed, sounderatheart.com slash LS, scroll down, subscribe and support. You can get 30 days free, read the article and, you know, whatever to do as you please after that. But yeah, it's it's a big deal. I mean, the sounders are looking to get between four and eight million for him. So.
00:43:04
Speaker
That's a good bag. That's a good bag. And the bigger thing is Obed has his eyes on Europe. That's really where he wants to go. He's made that very clear. And now changing his international representation to Mexico, I think it'd be awesome if he ended up getting some good minutes and Lee got Max and was able to break into that national team, especially ahead of 26, where
00:43:28
Speaker
Mexico is also a host. I'm excited for Obed. We've been saying he's the real deal. I'll be interested to see if he makes it to Europe eventually. Obviously nothing is guaranteed and he needs to continue developing, but I think it's definitely possible, man. I really think that there's a talent here that is potentially at that level.
00:43:52
Speaker
I think that's about it here for episode 48. I think we're gonna call it right there. Thank you as always to everyone who tunes in every single week. Thank you to all of our paid subs and our subs who made the migration over with us to Sounder at Heart as we continue that partnership. We really appreciate all of you and we really appreciate
00:44:17
Speaker
all of our new listeners and just as I always say just like the growth that we've seen these last few weeks it's been awesome to see like comment rate subscribe five stars review sub to youtube sub to instagram take time share with everyone that you know that'll do it for this time until next time we out peace let's usmnt next time we promise