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Speaker 1: His lack of knowledge of the roster that we had,

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Speaker 1: of the players that we had, and of the American

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Speaker 1: culture in general was a big, big disappointment for me.

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Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody, Welcome back to a special edition

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Speaker 2: of Inside American Soccers. We're going to dive into our

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Speaker 2: end of year lists and review everything that was the

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Speaker 2: US men's national team in the year of twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 2: our best performers, best moments, and so much more American

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Speaker 2: soccer and beyond. I'm your host, Tom Boger, and as always,

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Speaker 2: I'm joined by my friend, one of the greatest players

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Speaker 2: in US soccer history, the veteran of three World Cups,

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Speaker 2: former U twenty World Cup, MLS head coach Tab Ramos.

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Speaker 2: But Tab, before we start, we got to go to

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Speaker 2: a big picture look of twenty twenty five for American

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Speaker 2: soccer before I give the rundown of the highs and

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Speaker 2: the lows of the year that was sitting here almost

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Speaker 2: at the end of the year. Tab, what is your

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Speaker 2: big picture thoughts on twenty twenty five for the US

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Speaker 2: men's national team?

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Speaker 1: Hey, Tom, you know, great to start another show. I

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Speaker 1: think this will be this will be a good one,

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Speaker 1: maybe a little bit longer than usual, but it should

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Speaker 1: be an exciting one. You know, this has been a

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Speaker 1: little bit of an up and down year, but it's

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Speaker 1: really exciting the way we're ending. And I think I

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Speaker 1: would take with me that part that I think we

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Speaker 1: finally turned the corner right and we've been waiting to

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Speaker 1: turn the corner for a long time now. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think this has been a big year for the

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Speaker 1: US national team and for the fans because the fans,

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Speaker 1: I think, for the first time in a long time,

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Speaker 1: can can finally see a direction and the direction is

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Speaker 1: a positive one, and I'm excited about that as well.

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Speaker 2: That's very well put. So let's get into what those

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Speaker 2: highs and lows were. And as you said, we did

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Speaker 2: end the year on a high, but it wasn't like

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Speaker 2: that for most of the year, to be quite honest.

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Speaker 2: So they played eighteen matches in the counter year of

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. The national team went ten wins, two draws,

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Speaker 2: and six losses. To go into the numbers just a

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Speaker 2: little bit more. The two win of those wins came

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Speaker 2: in the January camp, which is useful, but I don't

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Speaker 2: count towards an overall record because it's not a FIFA window.

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Speaker 2: These are was what Venezuela's Sea team or whatever, right,

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Speaker 2: So all in all, in FIFA windows they went eight wins,

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Speaker 2: two draws and six losses. There were some high highs

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Speaker 2: at the end of the year, but man, there was

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Speaker 2: some low lows. Before the Gold Cup, the national team

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Speaker 2: lost their first four competitive matches of twenty twenty five

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Speaker 2: by a combined square of nine to three, and these

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Speaker 2: were games against Panama, Canada, Turkey, and Switzerland. Things looked very,

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Speaker 2: very bad going into the Gold Cup. The performances at

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Speaker 2: the Gold Cup. They get to the final, but it

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Speaker 2: wasn't convincing at all throughout the entire run of that tournament.

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Speaker 2: Then in September they returned for friendlies and they play

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Speaker 2: South Korea at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, and

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Speaker 2: at halftime of that game, South Korea is playing the

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Speaker 2: United States off the pitch. From that point and the

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Speaker 2: days beyond, there were serious and genuine conversations as to

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Speaker 2: whether Richa Pochettino was still going to be the head

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Speaker 2: coach of this team by the World Cup. But they

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Speaker 2: steadied the ship from there on out. There was the

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Speaker 2: formation change, the tactical change. They end the year on

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Speaker 2: a five game on beat and run. Four of those

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Speaker 2: were wins, and all of those games were against World

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Speaker 2: Cup quality opponents. So overall time, what would be your

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Speaker 2: grade for twenty twenty five for the US M and T.

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Speaker 1: I would have to say, you know, I'll have to

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Speaker 1: go with a C plus B minus grade. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think it would have been an F had we

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Speaker 1: you know, we've been looking, you know, the first half

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Speaker 1: of South Korea game, it was certainly an F. But

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Speaker 1: I think I think the team has been certainly on

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Speaker 1: a rising positive mode since. And I think Mauricio Bochettino

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Speaker 1: finally recognized that, you know, we're not strong enough in

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Speaker 1: the back to play with two center backs, and I

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Speaker 1: think that change was huge. But you know, I think

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Speaker 1: it's a change that not only I saw, but I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of people from outside were seeing, Hey,

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Speaker 1: you know what, we have great wing backs, We have

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Speaker 1: a lot of options at the wing back position. Why

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Speaker 1: don't we just go three center backs? It seemed like

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Speaker 1: the obvious thing to do at the time, and I

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Speaker 1: was really happy to see that. I because of the

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Speaker 1: way we ended the year, I hate to only say

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Speaker 1: C plus or B minus because I want to be

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Speaker 1: more positive than that. I want to be like an

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Speaker 1: A mode. But I think because so much of the

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Speaker 1: year we spent, you know, shedding tears once again, I

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Speaker 1: think that it can't be higher than that.

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Speaker 2: I think that's totally fair. And of course, if we

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Speaker 2: did it in segments the first six months f and

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Speaker 2: that I don't you don't need to think about it twice.

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Speaker 2: It feels very obvious the last six months probably B

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Speaker 2: plus a minus, right, Like, we don't want to get

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Speaker 2: ahead of our skis. While everything was impressive, you don't

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Speaker 2: want to reserve something AA plus for segments where the

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Speaker 2: United States didn't play, you know, a true blue blood

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Speaker 2: and a true like top eight team in the world.

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Speaker 2: And that doesn't take anything away from these six months.

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Speaker 2: But overall, to your point of the formation change, it

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Speaker 2: did kind of feel, well, it was obvious something needed

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Speaker 2: to change, and I was I've long been in the camp,

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Speaker 2: even when when Greg Burlton was a coach, and again

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Speaker 2: there were there were positives and negatives there. One of

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Speaker 2: my frustrations was this team. The players are all best

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Speaker 2: set to play in transition, high intensity type of game model,

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Speaker 2: not like a slow possession and that helped a lot,

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Speaker 2: particularly defensively, but it came with drawbacks. So I for

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Speaker 2: a while thought that if we increased the intensity in

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Speaker 2: the tempo, and I was hoping Richard Pochetina was going

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Speaker 2: to do that. He eventually did. I did think that

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Speaker 2: the back three was the right but you could argue

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Speaker 2: that right, like maybe there was different combinations. And they

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Speaker 2: did finally figure it out. That is the most important

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Speaker 2: change of the year. But even at something that was

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Speaker 2: so positive, I don't really understand why it took so

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Speaker 2: long to get there. I think that's that's a frustration

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Speaker 2: that that's gonna be eroded by the sands of time,

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Speaker 2: and that's in a good way. They eventually got there,

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Speaker 2: but it just felt like we wasted a lot a

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Speaker 2: lot of games on like oh yeah, this isn't gonna

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Speaker 2: work and oh cool, like they played seventy two players

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Speaker 2: this year. That's too many in the year before World come.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, you know, and we were saying

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Speaker 1: that in September. You know, we're looking at our watches saying, okay,

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Speaker 1: it's been a year now, how long is it going

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Speaker 1: to take for us to play better? And at least

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Speaker 1: I mean, if you remember, let's go back. We can

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Speaker 1: go back only two months, really two and a half months,

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Speaker 1: and think about the one thing, the one common denominator

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Speaker 1: that every let's say punded that's not directly associated with

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Speaker 1: the national team was talking about that the team was

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Speaker 1: lacking and that was what it was. Effort we could.

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Speaker 1: We weren't making an effort, and we were thinking, okay,

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Speaker 1: well we brought this big time coach. Of course he's

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Speaker 1: gonna have amazing tactics. Of course he has great experience.

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Speaker 1: He's done it at Chelsea, he did it at PSG,

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Speaker 1: he did it at Tottenham for a long time, taking

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Speaker 1: that club to the Champions League final, which obviously it's

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Speaker 1: not necessarily a winning club. But and he comes here

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Speaker 1: and now we're a year later, and not only do

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Speaker 1: we have the proper tactics, not only do we look

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Speaker 1: good playing and attacking, but we're not making an effort.

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Speaker 1: There's a big problem here. I think a change has

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Speaker 1: to be made, and I think we were all starting to,

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Speaker 1: you know, as much as we didn't want to pull

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Speaker 1: the trigger early, we were all starting to think, well,

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Speaker 1: this is not working, this is not working. And then

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Speaker 1: the change came and so it came at the perfect

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Speaker 1: time when I think all the pressure was going on

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Speaker 1: the national team and on Mauricio Pochettino specifically.

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Speaker 2: Exactly. There was so much pressure. Again like this, this

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Speaker 2: was a higher that was widely celebrated, I think, as

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Speaker 2: it should have been, because of his pedigree, because of

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Speaker 2: his ability, everything he's comments in his career. I think

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Speaker 2: we were all pleasantly surprised, Oh wow, the United States

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Speaker 2: were able to convince reci Puchetino saw this as a

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Speaker 2: very good to take on. So it started there and

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of good will and there's a honeymoon period,

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Speaker 2: and then again by September, the whole conversation was should

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Speaker 2: he still be the coach? And my first answer at

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Speaker 2: that time was, I don't even know if we can

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Speaker 2: talk about it in terms of merit. I don't think

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Speaker 2: that it's possible financially to pay out Podgettino after paying

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Speaker 2: out Buralter and then going to get another coach. My

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Speaker 2: answer of like, yeah, it should be Pugetino was more

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Speaker 2: about being practical than anything else, and credit to him

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Speaker 2: and credit to his staff for being able to turn

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Speaker 2: it around. On the effort side of things, I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: use two things that you've said to me in my

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Speaker 2: youth in games. One, earned the right to play. We

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Speaker 2: all talk about playing these good passing sequences, game models,

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Speaker 2: all that is extremely important. You don't get to do

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Speaker 2: that if you're not getting stuck in. You don't get

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Speaker 2: to do that. If you're not putting in the effort,

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Speaker 2: you don't get to play possession, if you're not winning

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Speaker 2: the ball back. So that's one and another one that

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Speaker 2: you said that sucking me for a while. Every ball,

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Speaker 2: every time there is not a fifty to fifty challenge

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Speaker 2: that anybody should be pulling out. It shouldn't be all

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Speaker 2: we'll get the next one. And I think by the

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Speaker 2: fall this team really embodied that. And that is something

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Speaker 2: that Poachatino would go out of his way in press conferences,

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Speaker 2: in private meetings, talking to players, talking to people around

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Speaker 2: the players. Is that was the most important, Like, Hey,

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Speaker 2: I don't care who you are at this point, I

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Speaker 2: don't care what your technical ability is. And if you're

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Speaker 2: not giving a baseline effort, desire and fight, you're not

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Speaker 2: getting on the field. And when that finally turned, then

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Speaker 2: you started to see some of the tactical ideas because

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Speaker 2: in September, the players were saying, hey, we want to

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Speaker 2: play like we I was like straight up asking them

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Speaker 2: what is the play because we kind of can't see

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Speaker 2: any sort of identity when you're watching from from above.

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Speaker 2: And they were like, oh, you know, we want to

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Speaker 2: high press and all this. I was like, I don't

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Speaker 2: see it right. It's not coming across because they weren't

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Speaker 2: doing like the team was too disjointed and the baseline effort, combativeness,

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Speaker 2: fight wasn't there to allow us to see the game

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Speaker 2: on their turns.

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Speaker 1: And you know, the thing about what's happened with this

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Speaker 1: team is, I think to all of us on the outside,

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Speaker 1: the team looked confused more than anything else. It didn't

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Speaker 1: look like a team. It didn't look like it had

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Speaker 1: a real shape to it. You know, at times, if

207
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Speaker 1: you remember, we can go back, you know, when the

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Speaker 1: last time Anthony Robinson played on the team, we thought

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Speaker 1: that we had something new when he was playing inside.

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Speaker 1: If you recall in one of the games, he was

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Speaker 1: coming inside all the time and we were very effective

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Speaker 1: with him sort of being out of position and roaming

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Speaker 1: into midfield, and we thought, okay, now we have something

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Speaker 1: a little different. Look, you know, what's important is to

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Speaker 1: recognize that we all know Mauricio Pochettino as a great coach,

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Speaker 1: and we've always known that, so it's not like we

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Speaker 1: were sitting outside thinking this guy just doesn't know what

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Speaker 1: he's doing. I think the shocking part for most of

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Speaker 1: us that have been involved with the national team for

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Speaker 1: a long time was that it took him so long

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Speaker 1: to figure out what but he needed to push to

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Speaker 1: get the most out of players, and for me, that

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Speaker 1: was that was too long. That was a mistake. I

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Speaker 1: think his lack of knowledge of the roster that we had,

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Speaker 1: of the players that we had, and of the American

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Speaker 1: culture in general was a big, big disappointment for me,

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Speaker 1: because I thought when you take one of these jobs,

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Speaker 1: you're pretty well prepared in terms of you know what

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Speaker 1: you're walking into, and of course you're always going to

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Speaker 1: have surprises. It's normal. No coach knows everything when they

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Speaker 1: go in. But I think the fact that it took

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Speaker 1: a year to figure out, hey, you know what, American

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Speaker 1: players will run through the wall for me if I

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Speaker 1: ask them to. That took too long. And I can

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Speaker 1: tell you from experience that there's not a player in

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Speaker 1: that locker room that wouldn't run through the wall for

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Speaker 1: a coach, because that's a signature of an American player.

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Speaker 1: They will do anything to win exactly.

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Speaker 2: And that is like, we're not going to have the

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Speaker 2: talent of Spain or Tatina, Brazil, France, Jeremy right, just

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Speaker 2: insert all of the traditional powerhouses. The only way that

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Speaker 2: this program is successful and table. Like you said, you

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Speaker 2: look back on the most successful teams over the last

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Speaker 2: thirty years, that has been an absolute constant, and that

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Speaker 2: is always a harmmark hallmark of this group, and it's

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Speaker 2: something to be extremely proud of. It's something I know

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Speaker 2: I'm proud of as growing up watching these teams and everything. Right,

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Speaker 2: Like even going to the early twenty tens, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: obviously there was a ton of quality in that team,

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Speaker 2: but to a man, you just had a lot of

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Speaker 2: dogs and a lot of dudes who were extremely competitive

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Speaker 2: piano players versus piano carriers is a typical phrase in soccer.

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Speaker 2: We had a couple piano players, but that whole team

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Speaker 2: were piano carriers. Even the ones who were really good,

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Speaker 2: like Clint Dempsey more than anybody else, would would be

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Speaker 2: in your face and doesn't back down from anything. Landon Donovan.

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Speaker 2: He was probably the most special player in that team.

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Speaker 2: Josie Outdoor, all those guys still work. Michael Bradley was

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Speaker 2: one of my favorite players growing up. What I loved

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Speaker 2: most about him wasn't his incredible tex It was his drive,

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Speaker 2: his fire, his intelligence, all that, all of those things,

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Speaker 2: and then when you put all that together, you play

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Speaker 2: beyond some of your parts and it allows for those

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Speaker 2: special moments with some of those special players. So again,

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Speaker 2: for me, that has to be a given. It has

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Speaker 2: to be a concert for the national team. It was

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Speaker 2: a little disappointed it took too long for it to

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Speaker 2: really show, but at the end of the day we

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Speaker 2: got there, and with enough time to spare before the

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Speaker 2: World Cup, though it did look touch and go there.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna get to Tyler Adams in a second, But

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Speaker 2: just one more recap here, going back to the Gold Cup,

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Speaker 2: because you and I haven't really talked about this at all.

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Speaker 2: That toornament papered some cracks, very very briefly. Even when

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Speaker 2: they were winning, I think it was pretty clear that

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Speaker 2: it wasn't going well. Right. They beat Trina Adam Zebago

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Speaker 2: five mil in that opening game, and it said okay,

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Speaker 2: like the Switzerland Turkey losses in the rear view, starting

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Speaker 2: to move forward, barely get by Saudi Arabia, barely get

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Speaker 2: by Haiti, lucky to beat Costa Rican penalties. I want

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Speaker 2: to be clear, Costa Rica Alonzo Martinez hit the post

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Speaker 2: and at some point near the end of the game,

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Speaker 2: Costa Rica I thought were the better team on that day,

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Speaker 2: so they could have been eliminated. In the quarterfinals semifinals

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Speaker 2: against Guatemala, they were hanging on for deer life in

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Speaker 2: the last ten minutes and that again, no disrespect to Guatemala,

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Speaker 2: what a fantastic performance by them. That's not a team

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Speaker 2: or a game that the United States should be hanging

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Speaker 2: on for dear life. At the end of Mexico in

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Speaker 2: the final, they started fine and that was one of

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Speaker 2: the first times you really saw the intensity and the energy.

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Speaker 2: They kept that up for maybe fifteen to twenty minutes

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Speaker 2: and then Mexico completely dominated the way. They're out. So

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Speaker 2: the Gold Cup, as we kind of quickly can forget,

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Speaker 2: the Gold Cup did happen this year. It wasn't a disaster,

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Speaker 2: but it certainly wasn't a success. Before we get to

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Speaker 2: a break, let's talk about Toymer Adams. That is probably

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Speaker 2: the most consequential news that then we might be talking

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Speaker 2: about today. Tyler Adams left Bournemouth's game this week with

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Speaker 2: a knee injury in just five minutes. At time of recording,

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Speaker 2: we do not have a clear one medical diagnosis. Their

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Speaker 2: manager said that he suspects it's MCL damage. He said damage.

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Speaker 2: He did not say whether that means terror sprain. MCL

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Speaker 2: is not as bad as tearing race yo. So hopefully

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Speaker 2: worst case scenario is avoided. And again we're using hopefully

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Speaker 2: because this isn't totally confirmed a time of recording, but

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Speaker 2: tab this is this is a player of the group

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Speaker 2: can't afford.

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Speaker 1: No question. I mean, that's a piece that I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you were to do a survey of

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Speaker 1: every single you know, pundit of US Soccer and anyone

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Speaker 1: who covers this team or has been covering this team,

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Speaker 1: Tyler Adams is one that everybody puts right in the

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Speaker 1: center there, that's your six, right, that's that's the middle

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Speaker 1: of your the of the midfield of your team. So

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Speaker 1: that's an important player. Yeah, it's unfortunate, you know, we

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Speaker 1: have to hope at this point for some MCL because

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Speaker 1: MCL is really difficult to tear. You normally just sprain it,

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Speaker 1: and you know, it takes quite a few weeks. It

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Speaker 1: could take sometimes six to eight weeks, and it's hard

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Speaker 1: to gain confidence because it's hard to hit the ball

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Speaker 1: with the inside of your foot. When that happens and

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Speaker 1: you have your you know, your body sort of records

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Speaker 1: that memory of the pain when you hit the ball.

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Speaker 1: So it's a little bit difficult, but not as bad. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: ACL at this point would be you know, would be

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Speaker 1: tough to recover from in time for the World Cup.

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Speaker 1: Now from experience, I can tell you I had an

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Speaker 1: ACL injury prior to ninety eight World Cup. It would

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Speaker 1: be three weeks ago now, and I did make it

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Speaker 1: to that World Cup, of course, not playing great by

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Speaker 1: any means.

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Speaker 2: Dam I just want to interject to be here. You

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Speaker 2: tour your ACL in November, and by June you were

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Speaker 2: playing the World Cup.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was playing. In May, I was

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Speaker 1: playing MLS games, so I think I played. I played

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Speaker 1: two or three MLS games before I got called into

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Speaker 1: the national team and and went to that World Cup. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: you know from an ACL. The thing about ACL is

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Speaker 1: you you can recover, but it's really a year before

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Speaker 1: you feel like yourself again. So hey, let's just hope

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Speaker 1: for the best. Let's hope this is not an ACL injury.

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Speaker 1: This would be a big loss for the national team

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Speaker 1: at this point.

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Speaker 2: Built different back in your day tab that is that

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Speaker 2: is unbelievable. And how many times.

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Speaker 1: Did you do your AC on your career during my career? Twice?

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Speaker 1: But I did it. I did it one more time

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Speaker 1: after I retired playing playing on like Sunday leagues, So

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Speaker 1: three times? Three times?

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Speaker 2: Was that last one your Sunday league retirement.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that was pretty much. That was pretty much it.

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Speaker 1: That was about around twenty ten, twenty twelve. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I'm done with because it's six months of rehab that

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Speaker 1: you don't want to go through.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, But when you're not when you're your entire

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Speaker 2: job in your playing career, Like, while rehab sucks, at

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Speaker 2: least that's your entire job is get back on the

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Speaker 2: field now after your career, you're doing parenting, you're doing

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Speaker 2: your day job, everything else, and it's man, I gotta

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Speaker 2: go to rehab. So that is that is brutal. Hopefully

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Speaker 2: that never happens again. But to go for a quick

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Speaker 2: quick break. We'll be right back for the top five

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Speaker 2: US M and T players of the year. Please rate, subscribe,

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Speaker 2: and review Inside American Soccer with Topballer in top romas

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Speaker 2: wherever you get the podcast with right. All right, we're

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Speaker 2: back tap. I'm gonna put down the spot here some

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Speaker 2: quick trivia before we get through our top fives. There

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Speaker 2: were eighteen US mn T games this year. Do you

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Speaker 2: know which player played the most minutes for the US

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Speaker 2: men's national team at twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a guess because I wasn't expecting this question,

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Speaker 1: but I think one of them that has to be

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Speaker 1: up up there has to be if if it's not

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Speaker 1: Matt Freeze, it'd have to be Max Arvstin Matt Freeze.

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Speaker 2: You got that. You're one for one.

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Speaker 1: Good start, all right?

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Speaker 2: Who scored the most goals? I don't if you're gonna get.

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Speaker 1: This, I'm gonna say. I'm going to say Diego Luna,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know.

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Speaker 2: No, but close he was he was second. It was

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Speaker 2: matic Gojamont scored five goals in six hundred and eighty

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Speaker 2: six minutes. Most assists. I think you might get this one.

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Speaker 1: Most assist. I'm gonna have to go with would it

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Speaker 1: be Alex Freeman?

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Speaker 2: No, no, different, different defender, kind of Max Arson.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I was going to say that. I was going

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Speaker 1: to say.

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Speaker 2: Most goal contributions. Neither of the leader. Neither Ajamon nor

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Speaker 2: Arson is the total goal contribution leader.

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Speaker 1: Oh really? Now I'm just trying to figure out who's

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Speaker 1: played the most games. I'll go diego Luna.

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Speaker 2: Oh, you got it, So it is yeagal Luna. Four

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Speaker 2: goals for assist. I will tell you when I was

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Speaker 2: putting together these this information, I would not have gotten Diaglaluna.

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Speaker 2: I don't think I would have gotten note among either.

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Speaker 2: So I think you did better than I would have

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Speaker 2: done in that. Let's go to our top five US

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Speaker 2: men national team players of twenty twenty five. Do you

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Speaker 2: want to go first?

402
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Speaker 1: You?

403
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Speaker 2: Do you want me?

404
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Speaker 1: Sure? Do you want me to start? I'll start from five?

405
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Speaker 1: And do you want me to do all? Okay, so

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Speaker 1: i'll see I'll start at number five. I will have

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Speaker 1: to go with Alex Freeman. I think you know he

408
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Speaker 1: really broke into this team. Likely if you and I

409
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,800
Speaker 1: were speaking a year ago from today, certainly this was

410
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Speaker 1: not a player that was going to be on the

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Speaker 1: radar as to potentially playing a big part in the

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Speaker 1: World Cup six months from now. And I think the

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Speaker 1: work that he's done this year, and in particular the

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Speaker 1: way he finished the year, is he sort of finished

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Speaker 1: the year the way our national team finished the year,

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Speaker 1: and we can't not put those two together. I think

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Speaker 1: maybe part of the reason the national team finished the

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Speaker 1: way it is because guys like Alex Freeman had the

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Speaker 1: sort of the season they did. So I'll stop there

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Speaker 1: with that.

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Speaker 2: Let me one thing with Freeman is not only was

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Speaker 2: he not on the raider for the national team at

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Speaker 2: this time last year. If you made me guess there's

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Speaker 2: gonna be one Orlando City academy defender who breaks through

425
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Speaker 2: and becomes a starter, I would have said Thomas Williams

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Speaker 2: for that, just for that team. So what Alex Freeman

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Speaker 2: did all these last twelve months is nothing short of spectacular.

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Speaker 1: Agreed the next one, and I'd hate to have them

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Speaker 1: this low. But I mean, obviously these are all great

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Speaker 1: players we're talking about who had great seasons. At number four,

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Speaker 1: I have to say Max Arsten, I mean, what a

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Speaker 1: great year he had. I don't know, even though he's

433
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: number four. I actually don't know that I can say

434
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,040
Speaker 1: someone had a better year than he did. He broke

435
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 1: into the national team. He made us forget about Anthony Robinson,

436
00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,280
Speaker 1: who has been our best player for the national team

437
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,159
Speaker 1: on a consistent basis for the last four or five years.

438
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,280
Speaker 1: And Arston came in there. Man, this kid just just

439
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 1: took over, you know, confident, wanting to make a difference,

440
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,600
Speaker 1: not being afraid, look like he belonged from the beginning.

441
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,159
Speaker 1: And yes he had a few moments defensively where we

442
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,440
Speaker 1: can say he can do better, but every player has moments.

443
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,760
Speaker 1: What a great year by Arson. I feel confident that,

444
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 1: you know. And it's good to see that Anthony Robinson

445
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: is back in the picture now and now playing at

446
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,040
Speaker 1: Fulham again, so he should be our starter on that side.

447
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: But not afraid at all if if Robinson is not there,

448
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: that Arfston wouldn't do a great job at the World Cup.

449
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,800
Speaker 2: So great season for him, and and that's that's a

450
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:48,439
Speaker 2: newfound confidence. For a while, we would talk about backup

451
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,639
Speaker 2: left back is just a big old question mark and

452
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:52,600
Speaker 2: hoping that we never needed to find an answer because

453
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 2: of how consistent and available Anthony Robinson was and Max

454
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:57,480
Speaker 2: Arson answered that question empatically.

455
00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 1: This year, Yeah, and so I go, I'll move up

456
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 1: to number three. And the next three guys are guys

457
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,159
Speaker 1: that are doing at week in and week out at

458
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: at the top level, and so you have to put

459
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: them up there because regardless of what year we're talking about,

460
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: you know, the season Tyler Adams is having at Bournemouth

461
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 1: has been a great season. You know, he's a solid starter,

462
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,400
Speaker 1: he scored an amazing goal a couple of weeks ago,

463
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: and he's just a guy that I think, you know,

464
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: his own manager thinks they can't really do without. And

465
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 1: that's on an EPL team. Obviously, we know about his

466
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 1: leadership qualities, we know about how he plays with our

467
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 1: national team where he leaves everything on the field every

468
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: single time. But he's doing it week out, week in

469
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,480
Speaker 1: and week out in the top league in the world,

470
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: and that's that's just amazing. So Tyler Adams would be

471
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,679
Speaker 1: my third. My second would be Christian Polisic, and I

472
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: hate to put him at second because what Christin is

473
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: doing at AC Milan is not something that we're gonna

474
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 1: see often and that we're sure we're gonna see again

475
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 1: anytime soon. But someone else he's on one of the

476
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: top clubs in the world where there's a ton of

477
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: pressure every single week, and he delivers week after week

478
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 1: at a top club like this, you know, he he

479
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 1: didn't miss a bunch of national team games and on

480
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: the national team, to be fair, he has not been

481
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,919
Speaker 1: great this year, and I can go from beginning to

482
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: end the whole year, and that's maybe what made me

483
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: lean a little bit about him to be in second.

484
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,479
Speaker 1: But needless to say, you know, great player, and Simon

485
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: has had a great twenty twenty five exactly.

486
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 2: This is more so for his club form because of

487
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,399
Speaker 2: how great he's been Frasie Milan, but with the national

488
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,919
Speaker 2: team itself he's only played three hundred and fifteen minutes

489
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,320
Speaker 2: one goal contribution. Like you said, though, we know how

490
00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:46,959
Speaker 2: good he is in his quality and I don't think

491
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 2: that there's any worry there. So while it hasn't been

492
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 2: a banner year for the national team in him in

493
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 2: a US Jersey, it's been a banner year for him

494
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 2: in Nasy Milan, Jersey. Agree with him in two and.

495
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 1: My number one would have to be Chris Richards. I

496
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: think you you may go into some stats later on him,

497
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 1: but I have to say, I mean, how far he's come.

498
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the one you know before this a

499
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: year ago, if we had to pick players in terms

500
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,440
Speaker 1: of who really belongs on that eleven and who's one

501
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 1: you can't move, obviously Tyler Adams and Kristen Polisic would

502
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:26,160
Speaker 1: have been those names that came up, and likely likely

503
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 1: no one else. Maybe you could say McKinney, but likely

504
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: no one else. And there's no question that if you

505
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,479
Speaker 1: started to pick on eleven now and one that doesn't

506
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,159
Speaker 1: move from his spot, that's Chris Richards. And it's not

507
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: just here, it's a crystal palace. It's everywhere he plays.

508
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 1: And by the way, he's doing it with a smile.

509
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,040
Speaker 1: And by the way he has become a team leader.

510
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: You remember now the Mexico game. You know he has

511
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: to grab guys and pull guys and tell people what

512
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, he has become a lot more

513
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 1: than a player for us and for our national team

514
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,159
Speaker 1: and for our future, and no question, for me, our

515
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 1: best player this year.

516
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, what a fantastic season. He's twenty five years old now,

517
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,119
Speaker 2: so he's into his prime for a center back. This

518
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 2: is somebody who we knew how good he was, how

519
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 2: good he could be his talent level when he was

520
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 2: breaking through FC Dallas, going from Dallas to Bayron, Munich

521
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 2: before playing a minute for the Dallas first team. That's

522
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 2: how highly regarded he was. And he's made good on

523
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 2: that potential and probably even a little bit more for

524
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 2: what he's doing for Palace. So I really like your

525
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,120
Speaker 2: top five. There's a lot of overlap between us. I'm

526
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,159
Speaker 2: glad that it isn't exact same five for five, so

527
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 2: I'll go with my number five. I'm gonna go with

528
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 2: Matt Freeze. So he won the US men's atty team

529
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 2: starting job, playing in thirteen of the eighteen games this year.

530
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 2: He is he played the most minutes, as I said,

531
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,160
Speaker 2: and this is a year in which more than seventy

532
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,119
Speaker 2: players appeared or was called in a camp for the

533
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 2: national team. He was one of the very very few

534
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 2: constants all year long and a foundational piece right now.

535
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 2: Very clearly is the inside position to be the starting

536
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 2: goalkeeper at the World Cup. We had goalkeeper questions coming

537
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 2: into twenty five. We do not have them going out

538
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 2: of twenty five. And along the way he's been one

539
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,639
Speaker 2: of the best goalkeepers in MLS for NYCFC and impressive

540
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 2: for him when he got his chance that he hasn't

541
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,959
Speaker 2: looked back and good on the coachings have to give

542
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 2: him a chance because it was pretty wide open at

543
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,680
Speaker 2: goalkeeper and Freeze wasn't even really one of the top

544
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 2: three guys that we were talking about until he got

545
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 2: to play and won that job.

546
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 1: I mean agreed, I can't add too much more. I

547
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: mean I would, you know, obviously, would have to name

548
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,439
Speaker 1: on as an honorable mention to my list. It's not

549
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: easy to do what he does, and by the way

550
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 1: he did it as he was being question the whole time,

551
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,679
Speaker 1: because the goalkeeping situation has been a mess for us

552
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 1: for the last couple of years and he made it

553
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: now a steady one that we don't necessarily have.

554
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:58,320
Speaker 2: To worry about, exactly, turning question marks into exclamation points,

555
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 2: I think for me, So Freeze's number five, number four.

556
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 2: I went back and forth, but I ultimately picked Malik Tilman.

557
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,159
Speaker 2: So in the summer he earned a big money transfer

558
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 2: to byre Levercusan. He's still settling into that club, but

559
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 2: he does have three goals. What is what this is

560
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,200
Speaker 2: more for is his performance at the Gold Cup, where

561
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 2: again he was one of the few bright spots, but

562
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 2: particularly in the spring. He comes back from a knee

563
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,360
Speaker 2: injury he was out for a couple months. He returns

564
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 2: to PSV's lineup. They immediately don't drop a point in

565
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 2: the last seven games of the season. They go twenty

566
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,439
Speaker 2: one for twenty one, seven wins out of seven games.

567
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 2: In that timeframe, he had five goals and assists. All

568
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 2: of those to get the title. They came from what

569
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 2: looked to be an instrumentable deficit against IAX, and Malik

570
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 2: Tillman was an integral part of that. Without Melike Tillman,

571
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 2: they do not win the title, and I think that

572
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 2: is very, very important. He had three goals in two

573
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 2: assists at the Gold Cup. Like I said, he was

574
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 2: I think the best performer for the national team. And

575
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 2: it's that's those two things have been the baseline of

576
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,080
Speaker 2: when we do are like preferred starting lineups, Tillman is

577
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: either in it or he's the last guy you drop

578
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 2: for playing next to Polisk in the two line. And

579
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 2: for that, like I think, Arsen and Freeman have been

580
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 2: really really good. Like you said, this is the top five,

581
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 2: All these are really good options. But for me, I

582
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 2: went with Hilman ahead of those two.

583
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good call. That's a good call. And

584
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 1: and his transfer to to Leverkusen shows you what everyone

585
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: thinks about him. That is not just us here, and

586
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: it's not just on our national team. But you know,

587
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: he's doing it at the at the biggest stage in Germany,

588
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 1: and and he plays for a huge club. So uh,

589
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 1: you know, I think because he's a little bit of

590
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: more of a quiet type player, right, he doesn't he

591
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 1: even when he takes over the game, it's really all

592
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 1: with actions, right, He's not. He's not very vocal, he's

593
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: not in anyone's face. He's not you know, he even

594
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:48,720
Speaker 1: when he makes a big play, he sort of gives

595
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: credits to his teammates constantly. And because of that sometimes

596
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: it's hard to think of him as sort of the

597
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: best player and and and doing great. But you're absolutely right,

598
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: he's had a great season and and I think does

599
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 1: of that spot.

600
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 2: So we have the same top three three Tyler Adams two,

601
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 2: Christian Poolitik one Chris Ridgard. Let's go with Adams. He

602
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 2: made thirty four Premier League appearances for Bournemouth over the

603
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 2: calendar year and ten us men's actional team caps. I

604
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,479
Speaker 2: haven't looked deep into the numbers. I've got to imagine

605
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 2: this is the most games he's played in the calendar year,

606
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 2: maybe in his career, if not for a long time.

607
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 2: And this would be a whole lot more emphatic if

608
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 2: he hadn't just got hurt this week. So hopefully we

609
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 2: get some good news there, But overall, twenty twenty five

610
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 2: was awesome. He was in the ninety fifth percentile among

611
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 2: midfielders in Europe's top five leagues in the Champions League

612
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 2: and tackles seventy seven percentile in interceptions. Again, these are

613
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 2: things that we know, and it's very cool to see

614
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 2: him like he's one of the best defensive midfielders in

615
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,959
Speaker 2: the world at what he does. He doesn't do as

616
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 2: much in possession as some of the deep line playmakers,

617
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 2: but there is few better than him in the defensive

618
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 2: side of the ball at his position. And this is

619
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 2: an America and he's getting recognized for that beyond Bournemuth,

620
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 2: beyond the US national team, which is always nice to see.

621
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 2: Christian Polisic, as you said, this is more about AC

622
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 2: Milan than it is the national team. Well, with AC Milan.

623
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,200
Speaker 2: He had thirteen goals and seven assists in the calendar

624
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 2: year in Syriac that's twenty goal contributions. That was most

625
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 2: of any Syria player in this calendar year. Say that again,

626
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 2: Christian Polisk had more cold contributions than any other player

627
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 2: in Syria over the calendar year of twenty twenty five.

628
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 2: Like you said, Teb, that is not something that is

629
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 2: normal for an American player at a club like this.

630
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 2: I don't know how many times we're gonna see it

631
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,479
Speaker 2: again if it's not Pulsic at this club. This has

632
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 2: been a special especially year for Polistic, even if it

633
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 2: hasn't totally been with the national team because of those

634
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 2: absences and injuries. And then number one, I'm giving it

635
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 2: to Chris Richards as well. Crystal Palace wins the FA Cup,

636
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:50,840
Speaker 2: first trophy in a long long time. This is not

637
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 2: a team that regularly wins trophies. They qualify for European competition,

638
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 2: which is something that this team does not really ever do.

639
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 2: He made He played the twenty eighth most minutes by

640
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 2: now field player in the Premier League in twenty twenty five.

641
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 2: He won a starting job. He was a key crucial

642
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 2: player for this team. Along the way, he made twelve

643
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 2: national team caps. This has been a career best year

644
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 2: for a really, really good player.

645
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're in agreement obviously, these these top

646
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 1: three players are where they are because I think we're

647
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 1: all thinking along the same lines. But yeah, Richards, I said,

648
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: an incredible year, and I'm anxious to see what happens

649
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: next because I'm sure Crystal Palace is not the club

650
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: he's gonna end up that.

651
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 2: It's not bad for n now hopefully nothing until after

652
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 2: the World Cup, which reminds me, We're gonna have a

653
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 2: January transfer window preview coming your way in the near future,

654
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 2: so stay tuned for that. We're gonna dive into that

655
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 2: and all the other players and what the January might

656
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 2: bring or what it should bring. Another top five list

657
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 2: have We're gonna go with our top five moments of

658
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,320
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. I'm gonna start. I'm gonna go with

659
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 2: number five, the altercation let's call it with Paraguay, in

660
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 2: which it started with out streaming wrestling on a throw

661
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 2: in and the entire benches cleared. All of the players

662
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,800
Speaker 2: got involved. Thankfully it ended up safe, nobody got injured.

663
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,640
Speaker 2: Nobody got sent off. No punches were thrown that we

664
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 2: could totally see. There seemed to be some knees thrown

665
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 2: and some headlocks put in. But I think that was

666
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 2: indicative of the shift in mentality and Marisa Pochetino getting

667
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 2: the team to fight, wanting the team to fight all that.

668
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 2: I think that that was very, very important in the

669
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 2: grand scheme of things in twenty five.

670
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are the little things that that make you

671
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 1: a team, is those little moments when you're willing to

672
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 1: stick stick up for your teammate when you don't really

673
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: have to good moment, and I agree with you that

674
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: that it was probably important for Mariso Puchettino to see that.

675
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 2: Even though because Maricha Pochetino ended up on the ground

676
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 2: when he was trying to break it up. I don't

677
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 2: think Pochettino totally loved it the moment for himself, but

678
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 2: alls well, that ends well. Number four for me, Alijandro

679
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 2: Zentaos his goal against Japan. It was wasn't quite a byue,

680
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 2: it was a volley. It was a lovely crossing, a

681
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 2: lovely finished. I think that was the goal of the

682
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 2: year for me. Tab I don't know if you have

683
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 2: anything else off the top of your head.

684
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:08,960
Speaker 1: No, I don't. And and this is you know, Zende

685
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 1: has is one of the guys that I picked to

686
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: be on the team, and this is one one of

687
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,280
Speaker 1: the reasons why, because he's a great finisher. Uh plays

688
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,479
Speaker 1: for a big club and comes up, comes up big

689
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 1: every week for them. And yeah, this was This is

690
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 1: a great goal, great quality, good reading of the game

691
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,439
Speaker 1: as he sat back and as he volleyed the ball

692
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,239
Speaker 1: into the corner, I mean, great goal and I can't

693
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: argue that it might be the goal of the year.

694
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 2: Number three Matt Freeze his penalty shootout against Costa Rica

695
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:38,840
Speaker 2: at the Gill Cup. I alluded to it earlier. I

696
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 2: think Costa Rica was a better team on that day.

697
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:43,800
Speaker 2: We get to a shootout. The other team is Kayler Navas.

698
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 2: Anytime Kayler Nava steps into a penalty shootout, that team

699
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 2: is going to be very confident. But it was Matt

700
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 2: Freeze and told the show he saved three penalties in

701
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 2: that shootout for the United States to advance. And I

702
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,480
Speaker 2: think that was his defining moment of twenty five.

703
00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 1: You know, there are defining moments for goalkeepers. This is

704
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: one for him. If we look back a couple of years,

705
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 1: Ethan Horvath had one of those moments when he saved

706
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 1: a penalty against Mexico in the final. It's what you

707
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 1: do after that matters, and I think what he's done

708
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,960
Speaker 1: after has really mattered and put him as a solid

709
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:18,440
Speaker 1: number one.

710
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 2: I totally agree. My second biggest moment of the year

711
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,760
Speaker 2: is switching to the three four to two one during

712
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 2: the loss of South Korea. In that moment, it was

713
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,040
Speaker 2: rock bottom and we sunlight at the end of the tunnel,

714
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,919
Speaker 2: and we didn't know it yet because things looked good,

715
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 2: but it was very easily like in the last thirty

716
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 2: minutes or so, it was easily well game states. South

717
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 2: Korea made seven changes and took the foot off the gas.

718
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,480
Speaker 2: Who cares. It was still an awful performance, but that

719
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,799
Speaker 2: was a ray of light, and thankfully they followed that

720
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 2: and kept that, and that is being the biggest trigger

721
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 2: to this team performing much better with the new system

722
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:55,760
Speaker 2: at Silent.

723
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, without question, that was

724
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 1: that was the moment. That was when we turned the

725
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 1: switch on. You know, it was sort of okay, we

726
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 1: have nothing left, let's uh, let's turn this, let's turn

727
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: this switch on and see what happens, and that's exactly

728
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: what happened. But the team turned down from then and

729
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: we've been a different team.

730
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 2: Since exactly A number one moment. It's not as much

731
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 2: a moment as it is a game because I can't

732
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 2: parse it down to just one uh US and men's

733
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 2: national team five Uruguay one. I don't have much more

734
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 2: to say, but holy.

735
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 1: Shit, incredible. I mean, if you don't have anything more

736
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 1: to say, then I'll add a little bit to that,

737
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: but uh, yeah, I mean it. It was is a

738
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 1: great moment because this is this is uh you know,

739
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,839
Speaker 1: you can get results here and there, but following that

740
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: Paraguay win, to go against Uruguay and to do this

741
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 1: that that is just the amount of confidence that that

742
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: gives the team. Uh. You you can't measure it because

743
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 1: now we have a couple months, uh, in which the

744
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,879
Speaker 1: players can come into the next camp thinking that, hey,

745
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: we're a good team and we can really play against

746
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,320
Speaker 1: the top teams.

747
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm still baffled by that. It was such a

748
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:11,280
Speaker 2: cataclysmic loss for Urguay that Bielsa called a press conference

749
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 2: and people were wondering if he was going to resign,

750
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 2: and he spent an hour giving bizarre quotes, something to

751
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 2: the effective I'm a toxic person. I'm no fun to

752
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 2: be around him. Oh, we sent Uruguay and Marcel Bielsa

753
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 2: into an existential crisis with that game, So I think

754
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:25,960
Speaker 2: that has to be number one.

755
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, not only did Bielsa say he's a toxic man,

756
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: but he said anyone who comes anywhere near me becomes

757
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: toxic like me, which is it was bizarre. I'm not

758
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,400
Speaker 1: sure if if if you're trying to get fired or

759
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,919
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what else you can say

760
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 1: and actually not get fired. So but that's what we are.

761
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: But you're right, I mean, we we caused that. Uruguay

762
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,400
Speaker 1: has been having problems. You know, the last eighteen months

763
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: have been terrible. They only won two or three out

764
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,360
Speaker 1: of the last fifteen or sixteen games, so not playing well.

765
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 1: But we we buried on at that moment and and

766
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: put them into a big time crisis for sure.

767
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 2: Sam, Let's get to your top five moments. It seems

768
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 2: that these might might be more of the important moments,

769
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,520
Speaker 2: maybe not the traditional best five.

770
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: No, they're definitely not best fives because only because only

771
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,120
Speaker 1: because our year has been I don't want to say

772
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:22,920
Speaker 1: up and down, but it's been a lot of down

773
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 1: and then up in the end, which is the way

774
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: you want to end, right But we have to recognize

775
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 1: that this has not been all fun and games this

776
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 1: year for our national team. We've had some historic horrible

777
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: moments and we have to know that that happened. You know,

778
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 1: my number five, I would have to say it was

779
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: us losing to Canada for the second straight time at

780
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: home ever, and we can't take that lightly. You know,

781
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 1: Canada's arrival, they haven't for us really, you know, we

782
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,880
Speaker 1: felt like they hadn't woken up, and we sort of

783
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: woke Canada up this year and they beat us twice,

784
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:05,080
Speaker 1: and they beat us twice in a row at home,

785
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 1: which is which is really not a good place to

786
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 1: be for us. Okay, So I'll say that as number five. Obviously,

787
00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,880
Speaker 1: I'm sure Jesse marsh and enjoyed that that win in

788
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,799
Speaker 1: the third place game very much, but it was a

789
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: bad loss for us. It didn't leave a good feeling.

790
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:25,359
Speaker 1: The team didn't play well. Poor moment. So I'll go

791
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 1: with the number four. I'll get to I'll get to

792
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,719
Speaker 1: a little bit more positive, and that's our turnaround, that

793
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,320
Speaker 1: that this is where you know, you talked before about

794
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,239
Speaker 1: the changing of the system, you know, being one of

795
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 1: the moments, And I think this was the result of that.

796
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: For me, the two games one are one one versus

797
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 1: Ecuador and the two to one win versus Paraguay were

798
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,320
Speaker 1: proof that our turnaround in our new system of play

799
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,120
Speaker 1: is exactly what we needed. The way we played against

800
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 1: Ecuador in the one to one game, I hadn't I've

801
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 1: seen a US national team play that hard for many

802
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 1: many years. That to me showed what I think most

803
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:12,359
Speaker 1: of us were saying that we needed from our team,

804
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,919
Speaker 1: which was we just, if anything, let's forget about how

805
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,279
Speaker 1: we play, but can we play hard? And I think

806
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 1: the team proved against a solid, very very good Ecuador team, which,

807
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 1: by the way, and it's second in qualifying, but they

808
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: were also taken three three points were taken away from them,

809
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:30,759
Speaker 1: so they would have ended up a little bit even

810
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 1: closer to Argentina in qualifying. So this is a really

811
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,360
Speaker 1: really good Ecuador team. And and and I thought in

812
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: the end we were the better team that day, and

813
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:43,600
Speaker 1: that was a great turn around. So I think those

814
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:47,719
Speaker 1: two those two games for me, were were huge in

815
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:51,399
Speaker 1: terms of what, you know, what the year has brought

816
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,360
Speaker 1: to us. As number three, I'll have to go back

817
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 1: as a little bit of an up and down our

818
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:01,759
Speaker 1: third straight loss to Panama crazy. You know, it's just

819
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,839
Speaker 1: it reminds us a little bit of where we were

820
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 1: not too long ago, and it also allows us to

821
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 1: think about, hey, you know, we've done well over the

822
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,839
Speaker 1: last couple of months, but let's remember that not too

823
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 1: long ago, this is where we were, so let's keep

824
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 1: focus on continuing to make progress. But we can't we

825
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: can't not mention that because losing to you know, again,

826
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: these are historic results that we had this year, so

827
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 1: we we can't forget about them. As number two, I'll

828
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,399
Speaker 1: have to say the five win, five to one win

829
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:37,279
Speaker 1: against Uruguay, it's everything you said before, It's everything I

830
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,759
Speaker 1: confirmed right after you said it, And tell me all

831
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 1: you want about Uruguay is not in a good moment

832
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,399
Speaker 1: and all of those things. This is a huge win

833
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,240
Speaker 1: for us. This is the one that's really going to stick,

834
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: and that's really that we're really going to remember, you know,

835
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 1: six eight months from now when the World Cup starts,

836
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,000
Speaker 1: this is one of the results that will be looking

837
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,839
Speaker 1: looking at and we're going to be saying, hey, no

838
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 1: matter what happens on some of these friendlies, this is

839
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:08,799
Speaker 1: a result we look back and say we can do this.

840
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 1: We can really play, you know, against these big teams.

841
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: We can pressure them and we can allow them to

842
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 1: not play in the game and take over. And we

843
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: took over this game. It could have been worse. We

844
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 1: could have won by more. Great result, I would say,

845
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: And I know I make get criticized for this, but

846
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,319
Speaker 1: for me, one of the best results ever because of

847
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,520
Speaker 1: the moment when it happened and the way it happened,

848
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:31,319
Speaker 1: I loved it.

849
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:35,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, me too, completely completely, what a performance.

850
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,560
Speaker 1: And no one. And then as the number one moment,

851
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,800
Speaker 1: I have to say it was the moment this summer,

852
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,319
Speaker 1: even though the results didn't come immediately, it was the

853
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 1: moment this summer when Pochettino basically said you you don't

854
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 1: pick and choose when you come to the national team.

855
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:54,760
Speaker 1: I tell you when you come, and when you come,

856
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,640
Speaker 1: you're all in. And that was a lesson for all

857
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 1: the players who decided to take the summer off or

858
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,040
Speaker 1: we're too tired or anything else. You know what, Argentinian

859
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,520
Speaker 1: players don't get too tired to go to the national team,

860
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,479
Speaker 1: and they play ninety minutes every week for every team

861
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:12,200
Speaker 1: they're on. When the national team calls, they all go.

862
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,200
Speaker 1: When Brazil's players are called, they all go. When Germany's

863
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,120
Speaker 1: players are called, they all go. Us players. When you

864
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: get called to the national team, you have to go,

865
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,240
Speaker 1: And that was for me, the big moment.

866
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:27,919
Speaker 2: That is definitely one of the foundational moments of this year,

867
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,200
Speaker 2: more so again for the culture of the locker room

868
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 2: for everything else. I think all these played extremely important

869
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,319
Speaker 2: ingredients to turn around, like you said, over the last

870
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 2: few months to end the season, end the year, and

871
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:40,480
Speaker 2: a high that could have went both ways. There was

872
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:44,799
Speaker 2: a public polistic doing interviews, Pochatino doing interviews that could

873
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,719
Speaker 2: have spun in a very negative way, but credits at

874
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:51,279
Speaker 2: Pochettino in the staff, and a polistick for everything being

875
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:52,600
Speaker 2: good moving forward.

876
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:55,800
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean we had all kinds of interviews.

877
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:58,240
Speaker 1: It wasn't just polistic. There was all kinds of interviews

878
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: about hey, you know, we get size too much. Let's

879
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 1: just play the game, Let's just play hard. When you

880
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:07,600
Speaker 1: come to the national team, everyone expects every player to

881
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,439
Speaker 1: play hard, and I think Pugentino finally put his foot down.

882
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:12,359
Speaker 1: Big moment for me this year.

883
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 2: I was very impressive. But on that we're gonna have

884
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,759
Speaker 2: to take a very very quick break. We'll be right

885
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 2: back with our predictions USMNT in twenty twenty six. Thank

886
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,279
Speaker 2: you for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate for

887
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:39,400
Speaker 2: if you subscribe, we'll do right back. Welcome back to

888
00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:43,919
Speaker 2: Inside American Soccer. Tap, let's go back inside the locker room,

889
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 2: and I want to hear about what the changes that

890
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 2: you made you twenty World Cup qualifying back in twenty fifteen.

891
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,200
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I mean this is a great time actually

892
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: to maybe discuss something like this because we're in the

893
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 1: process of, you know, preparation for a World Cup. So

894
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,839
Speaker 1: I was with the under twenty national team, as said coach.

895
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 1: I was also the youth technical director. So I remember

896
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,040
Speaker 1: speaking with Jim Morehouse at US Soccer and saying, hey,

897
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:11,680
Speaker 1: you know, I noticed that all of our schedules pretty

898
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:15,600
Speaker 1: much consist of us playing mostly home games to prepare

899
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,239
Speaker 1: for World Cup qualifying. I said, I think we could

900
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: really use for our players to be able to be

901
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,319
Speaker 1: in that environment in Central America before we actually go

902
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: and play the games. There is there any way that

903
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: we can prepare games there, and so we you know,

904
00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:32,520
Speaker 1: looked at the budget and all these things, even if

905
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 1: we could prepare a little bit here and then go

906
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:36,440
Speaker 1: play the games there. So we decided to go to Honduras.

907
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: This is late twenty fourteen, I think it might have

908
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:43,719
Speaker 1: been December to prepare for our February or March qualifying

909
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:47,400
Speaker 1: to the World Cup that was going to be in Jamaica.

910
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,240
Speaker 1: So we decided to go to Honduras. So we speak

911
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,440
Speaker 1: with the Honduran Federation and we decide they agreed that

912
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: we'd come down to Honduras to San Pedro Sula. By

913
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 1: the way, I always thought that the would be important

914
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,680
Speaker 1: moments because I thought that it would be great for

915
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:07,040
Speaker 1: our players that potentially one day they would play for

916
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,480
Speaker 1: our senior national team, to get to know all of

917
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,239
Speaker 1: these stadiums that eventually they're really difficult to play in.

918
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:14,840
Speaker 1: So we agreed with Honduras that we would go and

919
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:19,280
Speaker 1: play at San Pedro Sula with our U twenties two games.

920
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 1: But the one thing that I asked Honduras was that

921
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:26,600
Speaker 1: I wanted to do the game on closed door because

922
00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 1: we have qualifying coming and they agreed. They said, well,

923
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 1: we also don't want coaches from other teams to see us.

924
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,360
Speaker 1: We were opposite groups, so we wanted to not be

925
00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 1: seen by the teams. So we go down to Honduras.

926
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 1: We play there at sant Pedro Sula. We win. I

927
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: think we won both games two to one. We come

928
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:48,239
Speaker 1: back home a couple months later, we go to qualifying.

929
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:52,080
Speaker 1: Our first game is against Guatemala and we played Guatemala

930
00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: in Jamaica. We're winning the game. It became a really

931
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,399
Speaker 1: difficult game. We're winning only one zero, like ninety first

932
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,479
Speaker 1: minute of the game, Guatemala gets a corner cake ball

933
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:05,600
Speaker 1: gets you know, kicked out of the box and one

934
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 1: of the players you know, volleys that puts it like

935
00:47:07,719 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 1: upper corners. Stephan try to save it, but it went

936
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:12,520
Speaker 1: right over his hand, so they tied it. So we

937
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 1: tied with Guatemala. Bad result to start, especially considering our

938
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,799
Speaker 1: next game was against Panama. They were better than we

939
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,080
Speaker 1: were at the time and they beat us, so we

940
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:24,280
Speaker 1: were really behind the eight ball to try to qualify. Anyway,

941
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 1: long story short is, and what I wanted to get

942
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:29,600
Speaker 1: to is the things that you find in Central America.

943
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:31,960
Speaker 1: Come to find out at the end of the tournament,

944
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 1: I'm sitting having a coffee with the with the coach

945
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 1: of Guatemala, who was an Argentinian coach, and he tells me, yeah,

946
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:42,200
Speaker 1: I didn't want to tell you this, but do you

947
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:44,880
Speaker 1: know back in December when you played the two games

948
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: in Honduras that was a close stadium. He goes, I

949
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 1: was in the box for that. I saw both of

950
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:49,920
Speaker 1: your games.

951
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:54,879
Speaker 2: Did he tell you how he got in there? Yeah?

952
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: He said, he just spoked. He just spoke to Honduras,

953
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:03,400
Speaker 1: and Honduras just let him in. Yeah, so come on. Yeah.

954
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:06,360
Speaker 1: So that's that's how we started our qualifying campaign with

955
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,279
Speaker 1: a tie to Guatemala, and some of it due to

956
00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:12,680
Speaker 1: the fact that Guatemala had scouted us directly at one

957
00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:14,319
Speaker 1: of our games that we didn't want to be seen.

958
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,839
Speaker 2: I think that is so pure Conca CAF. I think

959
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:19,760
Speaker 2: that also is a good way to prepare the players

960
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:22,640
Speaker 2: in the future because there was this ended up being Canada,

961
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,279
Speaker 2: but there was the drone scandal with Canada, and then

962
00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:27,440
Speaker 2: that sparked a lot of stories from Like I think

963
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:29,359
Speaker 2: Tyler Adams was among the players and got to ask them,

964
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 2: like some of the former guys and it was just like, yeah, dude,

965
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,440
Speaker 2: like we would see a janitor just standing and not

966
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,480
Speaker 2: doing any cleaning and just watching training. Yeah, it's just like, oh,

967
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:41,280
Speaker 2: I wonder if he's actually think he's actually a janitor

968
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,759
Speaker 2: or is he actually a coaching member of another team.

969
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:45,799
Speaker 2: So I think that did prepare the boys for the

970
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:51,160
Speaker 2: future in Concacast, right, no doubt. That is Oh my god.

971
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,359
Speaker 2: I could sit here for three hours and just listening

972
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:55,240
Speaker 2: to Concacas.

973
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 1: And by the way, by the way, when we got

974
00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:00,640
Speaker 1: to the stadium, I had our people look around, you know,

975
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: guys like you know, guys like Jerry, the security guy

976
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:06,120
Speaker 1: that always travels with all the teams. I was like, hey,

977
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:08,480
Speaker 1: look around, make sure you know. So he must have

978
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,120
Speaker 1: been not only in the box, but hiding under something.

979
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:17,160
Speaker 2: That's unbelievable. That is unbelieve That is incredible detail because

980
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,120
Speaker 2: I don't know the San Pedro Sula. It's not one

981
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,959
Speaker 2: of those modern stadiums that I'm sure has a ton

982
00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 2: of sweets and a ton of places to hide. So

983
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:29,160
Speaker 2: that's fantastic. Yeah, credits to the ingenuity there. As a

984
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:31,560
Speaker 2: Guatemalan coach team find out about the game and then

985
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,680
Speaker 2: go to those great lengths. I kind of think that

986
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:34,360
Speaker 2: they earned.

987
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,080
Speaker 1: That, right, Yeah, I do too, Right, Well, you know,

988
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 1: here's here's the part that actually it's funny in the end.

989
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,440
Speaker 1: So in the end, we end up second in our group,

990
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:46,319
Speaker 1: we cross over to play with El Salvador, and now

991
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:49,759
Speaker 1: Guatemala ended up third in our group and crossed over

992
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: to play Honduras. So the two, the two that I

993
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:55,560
Speaker 1: think cheated, ended up playing each other, and Guatemala got

994
00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:58,000
Speaker 1: knocked out of the World Cup and never qualified.

995
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:01,680
Speaker 2: Would have been poetic. Bottom mile beat Hunter says, right,

996
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:06,200
Speaker 2: one over, Yeah, that is fantasic. Is one of of

997
00:50:06,239 --> 00:50:09,040
Speaker 2: my favorite segments every week. So appreciate all the stories, Sava.

998
00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:11,239
Speaker 2: I think that we're gonna get uh there's I think

999
00:50:11,239 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 2: that there's a lot more in the well to drive from.

1000
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:16,720
Speaker 2: So I'm excited as we continue on the show before

1001
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:18,920
Speaker 2: we get out of here, because this is one of

1002
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,520
Speaker 2: our last shows of twenty twenty five. We we recapped

1003
00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:25,120
Speaker 2: the year that was. Let's look ahead and make a

1004
00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:29,000
Speaker 2: couple of predictions, and we're not gonna go person by person,

1005
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:32,000
Speaker 2: team by team, big picture, smaller picture, just a random

1006
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:33,799
Speaker 2: prediction that that kind of comes to mind as well.

1007
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:34,280
Speaker 1: Go first.

1008
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:37,480
Speaker 2: For me, Christian pools like an Ac Milan will win

1009
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,520
Speaker 2: the Scudetto and poulis it's gonna be named player of

1010
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:41,360
Speaker 2: the Year for Syria.

1011
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:46,759
Speaker 1: Wow, I'm happy to hear that. I mean, we'd love

1012
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:50,239
Speaker 1: to see that happen. You know. He he had a

1013
00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:53,360
Speaker 1: great season last year and could have been player of

1014
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:56,439
Speaker 1: the Year last year. But yeah, I would I would

1015
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: love to see that. Like, like we said, sometimes we

1016
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:03,040
Speaker 1: don't recognize what we're watching, but but what Christian Polisic

1017
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:05,759
Speaker 1: is doing NOWADAYSI Milan is something that we may not

1018
00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:08,000
Speaker 1: see for a long time. So I would love to

1019
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:08,399
Speaker 1: see that.

1020
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:13,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's fourth in goal constributions right now, and he's

1021
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 2: only played five hundred and eighteen minutes because he's been

1022
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 2: limited a little bit by injury, including coming off the

1023
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 2: bench a couple of weeks ago in scoring two goals

1024
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,400
Speaker 2: against Torino in twenty four minutes. So I'm very confident

1025
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 2: that if asim Lon's gonna win this, Godeto Cooles stick

1026
00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:28,680
Speaker 2: is gonna be a driving factor and if they do that,

1027
00:51:28,719 --> 00:51:29,680
Speaker 2: I think he's Player of the Year.

1028
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: All right, So oh yeah, I'll go with mine and

1029
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:34,680
Speaker 1: mine is going to be a little bit more of

1030
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,760
Speaker 1: a team thing. As I look into what the World

1031
00:51:38,760 --> 00:51:40,960
Speaker 1: Cup is going to be like and and sort of

1032
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,839
Speaker 1: our our show and what we're about, I think this

1033
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:46,600
Speaker 1: is what's gonna happen this year. I think we're going

1034
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:49,959
Speaker 1: to struggle. Our national team is going to struggle through

1035
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,879
Speaker 1: our friendlies versus Belgium, Portugal and Senegal a little bit.

1036
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:58,759
Speaker 1: But we will beat Germany right before going into the

1037
00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:00,839
Speaker 1: World Cup, and we will go into the World Cup

1038
00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:01,840
Speaker 1: with huge momentum.

1039
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:06,759
Speaker 2: That would be big. Imagine beating Germany right before the

1040
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:09,120
Speaker 2: World Cup. That would be quite the boost for this group.

1041
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:11,680
Speaker 2: I do think that they are capable. As you said

1042
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:15,040
Speaker 2: it is it is on purpose. They are playing four

1043
00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:18,080
Speaker 2: very good teams leading into the World Cup, Belgian, Portugal,

1044
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:23,240
Speaker 2: Senegal and Germany. So even out of those four games,

1045
00:52:23,239 --> 00:52:25,400
Speaker 2: and I know that it's not all about wins and losses,

1046
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:29,360
Speaker 2: because that is when you're fine tuning everything, but would

1047
00:52:29,719 --> 00:52:32,439
Speaker 2: two losses and two wins two wins are drawing along

1048
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 2: like what would be success out of those four games.

1049
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,160
Speaker 1: I think we'll find success in these games more on

1050
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,799
Speaker 1: the how than on the actual result. You know. I

1051
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 1: think if you if you go head to head with

1052
00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 1: Belgium and Portugal and actually play the games, play a

1053
00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:50,839
Speaker 1: little bit of a back and forth game in the end,

1054
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 1: I think, and I think I can speak for a

1055
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:55,759
Speaker 1: lot of our fans. I think our fans will be

1056
00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:57,799
Speaker 1: okay with us losing a two to one game to

1057
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:00,880
Speaker 1: Portugal in which we had chances and they had chances.

1058
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:03,759
Speaker 1: I think in the end, our fans will be okay

1059
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:07,360
Speaker 1: if we do the same against Belgium and likely against Senegal.

1060
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: Although Senegal we're likely looking for a win. They're a

1061
00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: great team, but we're likely looking for that. So yeah,

1062
00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:15,040
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be more on the how than

1063
00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:17,000
Speaker 1: it is gonna be on the actual results.

1064
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,319
Speaker 2: I would agree, even at that point for the World Cup, well,

1065
00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:23,200
Speaker 2: there's so very much to look forward to in twenty

1066
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:25,160
Speaker 2: twenty six. We're not done for twenty twenty five. You have.

1067
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:28,399
Speaker 2: We're gonna have a January transfer window preview coming out.

1068
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 2: Happy holidays, everybody, stay warm tab here in New Jersey.

1069
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:34,560
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of snow. I do enjoy the snow,

1070
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 2: so I wasn't too mad about it. But check back

1071
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 2: in with me in February when I think we're gonna

1072
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:42,000
Speaker 2: both be over winter. So Thank you everybody for listening tap,

1073
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Speaker 2: thank you, of course for joining me. Please rate, review,

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Speaker 2: and subscribe to Inside America Soccer wherever you get to

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Speaker 2: the podcasts. We'll be back to RBS