Speaker 1: Welcome to the Favorites Podcast presented by DraftKings.
Speaker 2: The Crown is yours.
Speaker 1: I'm stucky joining me today my co host in stat Town,
Speaker 1: Evan Abrams, and we brought on the one and only
Speaker 1: Anthony Dubundo from The Ringer to talk World Cup with
Speaker 1: a focus on the US team and what their chances are,
Speaker 1: what their group looks like, and we'll get into some
Speaker 1: other things in the World Cup.
Speaker 2: Before we do get.
Speaker 1: Started, let me throw it to Brandon Kravitz for a
Speaker 1: word on DraftKings.
Speaker 3: The Favorites podcast is sponsored by DraftKings, where new customers
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Speaker 4: The Crown is yours.
Speaker 2: All right, Anthony.
Speaker 1: By the way, I heard on one of your The
Speaker 1: Ringer podcasts, she'll refer to you as Tony Buns, which
Speaker 1: is an amazing nickname. Is did that originate there or
Speaker 1: did you have that nickname before, because I've never heard
Speaker 1: you refer to that before.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he originated that. It was good wish I did
Speaker 5: when I joined. He likes to do that because it
Speaker 5: was Ben Solak. He was Benny Soles and then Anthony
Speaker 5: Dubundo became Tony Buns.
Speaker 4: And it's actually stuck. You know.
Speaker 5: Now, I'll be it Philly's games and a listener will
Speaker 5: see me or hear my voice.
Speaker 4: And be like, hey, Tony Bunns. So it's caught on.
Speaker 5: My mother didn't like it at first, but I think
Speaker 5: she's grown to appreciate it. And so you know, if
Speaker 5: you want to call me that all out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could see a mother like that named you
Speaker 1: Anthony time last name and then Tony Buns. Probably not
Speaker 1: a mom's favorite nickname, but it works in so many
Speaker 1: other ways. Before we dive in to the World Cup,
Speaker 1: I tweeted this out yesterday. Were talking about this before
Speaker 1: the show about your friends and neighbors. A TV show
Speaker 1: that I think has fallen off pretty hard since season
Speaker 1: one of the two. I'm not too depressed about it
Speaker 1: because it's just supposed to be like a fun, entertaining show.
Speaker 1: But when I say that, what comes to your mind
Speaker 1: as a show that fell off from season one onward
Speaker 1: that you were like super excited about, I'll.
Speaker 2: Give you a second a think about it.
Speaker 1: Once it come to my mind Weeds. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm dating myself there. You ever watched Weeds? We'd
Speaker 1: season one was super dope and then it really fell off.
Speaker 1: If any tailor Sheridan show, I feel like they just
Speaker 1: move on to the next show. I got three, and
Speaker 1: then I'll my wife for the first time is watching Homeland,
Speaker 1: and I was went into the room with her the
Speaker 1: other night, and then it was she's on season one
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, yeah, one is so good,
Speaker 1: And then the last season actually was pretty good, but
Speaker 1: there was some big, big fall off in between.
Speaker 2: What comes to mind from a anthon All.
Speaker 5: Right, So there's two and and there's there's a theme
Speaker 5: in the sense that they are shows that were clearly
Speaker 5: designed to be one season and they were really good.
Speaker 5: So people are like, Okay, let's do another seasoned. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Ted Lasso the perfect example. Like, once they got past
Speaker 5: the ruin and there was no villain, there was no plot.
Speaker 5: It was just like everybody loves everybody, We're all doing great.
Speaker 5: They had to like make up a new character to hate.
Speaker 5: It was like, didn't really feel right a designated survivor.
Speaker 5: They blow up the capitol, everybody dies, and now this
Speaker 5: random dude becomes the president. Great story, but then in
Speaker 5: season two it just became a knockoff of the West
Speaker 5: Wing with Keifer Sutherland is the President, which didn't really work. Uh,
Speaker 5: and then Prison Break, which now you watched, but like
Speaker 5: it was great for one season. Then it was like, Okay,
Speaker 5: how many times can we run back in the same plot?
Speaker 5: And that's kind of how I feel with your friends
Speaker 5: and neighbors. They ran the show. He's just like robbing
Speaker 5: people all the time. And then it's like, well, how
Speaker 5: many times can you.
Speaker 2: Rob people in your neighborhood after you've been you know, arrested.
Speaker 4: For murder exactly? And how did none of them have cameras?
Speaker 5: How did like they have their multimillionaires and they have
Speaker 5: no cameras that that seems illogical?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember watching that the first episode. That was
Speaker 2: my first stup.
Speaker 1: But was I watched prison Break season one and then
Speaker 1: I was like, I tried to watch more and was done.
Speaker 1: I never watched Designated Survivor, but it sounds like I
Speaker 1: should just watch season one of that.
Speaker 4: Season one was great. I loved it.
Speaker 2: Kevin. How about you?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think you know that Homeland is one of
Speaker 6: the difficulty is like one to two versus just one
Speaker 6: being really good and then the rest of the series
Speaker 6: kind of just not being as good, which is two
Speaker 6: a little bit different things.
Speaker 7: But Walking Dead was one for me.
Speaker 6: Squid Game like started really good and then you were
Speaker 6: after a while like, where is this going?
Speaker 7: This feels a little odd. Uh So those are some
Speaker 7: examples for me.
Speaker 4: Bear peaked in season two, but I haven't enjoyed recently.
Speaker 1: Sure I haven't. I haven't watched past two yet on
Speaker 1: my list, but it's not that good.
Speaker 7: No, okay?
Speaker 1: Well, producer Dave of Payne says his answer was Ted
Speaker 1: Lasso as well, so on the same page there. But
Speaker 1: let's get to the World Cup and the US men's
Speaker 1: national team before we kind of get into the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty of the team. They did lose a friendly two
Speaker 1: to one to Germany on Saturday. One positive, one negative
Speaker 1: or just I don't really take anything from it.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts there?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was the dress rehearsal game, and I think
Speaker 5: there have been questions about what we were expecting from
Speaker 5: the US in terms of formation, in terms of positioning,
Speaker 5: in terms of player choice, and I think Pachaccino gave
Speaker 5: us some pretty good indications of what he thinks with
Speaker 5: the lineup and how they played the first hour, because
Speaker 5: they played that first hour and then you saw all
Speaker 5: the subs come in and they went through the rotations.
Speaker 5: So other than Chris Richards, who is still out injured
Speaker 5: and is questionable, looks like leaning toward in on Friday night,
Speaker 5: I think we saw ten of the eleven and starters.
Speaker 4: That are going to start against Paraguay on Friday night.
Speaker 5: And I think if you're looking for a positive, if
Speaker 5: you just watched that first hour and you didn't know
Speaker 5: which team was which, you would not come away thinking
Speaker 5: the US was any worse than Germany. And I think
Speaker 5: that's a huge win. The set piece defending would probably
Speaker 5: be the biggest negative. Two minutes into the game, dumb
Speaker 5: free kick to give away on the edge of the box,
Speaker 5: Joshua Kimmick sends in a free kick. Nobody is marking
Speaker 5: Kai Havertz, there are multiple unmarked players. That's the kind
Speaker 5: of thing that can torpedo your World Cup campaign if
Speaker 5: you give up a set piece goal or two. But
Speaker 5: in terms of positives, I thought they handled the German
Speaker 5: press pretty well. I thought they created transition opportunities really well.
Speaker 5: They were dangerous on set pieces, ultimately scored their low
Speaker 5: goal on set pieces. I thought it was really encouraging
Speaker 5: what they were able to do to disrupt German possession
Speaker 5: because Germany, outside of Spain, is probably the best possession
Speaker 5: team in the field, so that was really encouraging.
Speaker 4: I was kind of like, wait a second.
Speaker 5: You know, if you're an hour in and you know
Speaker 5: XG was pretty even at that point, and you're like, hey,
Speaker 5: they're they're right there with Germany. Yes, they're they're down.
Speaker 5: They end up losing the game, But in terms of
Speaker 5: quality of chances created, I felt like, hey, they don't
Speaker 5: look that much worse.
Speaker 2: Now. What would you say, is the well is there
Speaker 2: a negative that you wanted to mention?
Speaker 5: Probably yeah, the set piece defending, Yeah, that's always a
Speaker 5: scary thing.
Speaker 4: But again, their best defender didn't play, and so.
Speaker 5: I think, you know, there's been a lot of questions
Speaker 5: in the last couple of days. Okay, how much has
Speaker 5: of their defensive fragility has been a Potchatino tactical issue
Speaker 5: versus just like, hey, they're center backs kind of stink.
Speaker 5: Miles Robinson in particular has had a pretty tough couple
Speaker 5: of games against Senegal and against Germany.
Speaker 4: He's not going to play.
Speaker 5: If Richards is healthy, and so we have our back
Speaker 5: line now. It looks like Chris Richards, Tim Reim who
Speaker 5: is aging, but they still rely on his passing, and
Speaker 5: then Alex Freeman, who's a younger guy who has a
Speaker 5: ton of range and who can kind of cover more grounds.
Speaker 5: So that looks like the back three, and then they've
Speaker 5: got the It enables the wing backs the to be
Speaker 5: more aggressive, and I think that's probably the best way
Speaker 5: for the US to take take the World Cup this week.
Speaker 2: Well, Pochettino, you mentioned his name is probably gonna be
Speaker 2: said a lot, especially if the Ben's national.
Speaker 1: Team fails out. That's just to me, that's what it
Speaker 1: always seems like. The coach gets blamed. Yeah, probably way
Speaker 1: too much. But what is one major tactical change is
Speaker 1: the identity of this team going to be different under him?
Speaker 1: Like what are what can fans or casual fans expect
Speaker 1: to see under Pachettino.
Speaker 5: You know, it's funny because I think one big criticism
Speaker 5: that people have had about this US generation versus the
Speaker 5: past has been that they are a little soft.
Speaker 4: They aren't feisty enough.
Speaker 5: They aren't willing to get their feet dirty, get their
Speaker 5: hands dirty, and get into the mud and fight and
Speaker 5: scrap and get stuck.
Speaker 4: In, as they say in soccer.
Speaker 5: And I got the sense in the games against Senegal
Speaker 5: in Germany that you could see a changing of the
Speaker 5: guard with that, And that is a Pachccino staple when
Speaker 5: you go back and watch the peak Pachccino teams Southampton
Speaker 5: at Spurs early Chelsea days, not quite PSG because he
Speaker 5: didn't have the personnel. They were known for their pressing
Speaker 5: intensity off the ball. They worked really hard, they're willing
Speaker 5: to get you know, put a ton of challenges in
Speaker 5: and their personnel is pretty effective at executing this. Right
Speaker 5: now in the sense that Malik Tillman is the one
Speaker 5: of their attacking midfielders. He was the most active presser
Speaker 5: in the Bundesliga this year, one of the most for
Speaker 5: bayer Leverkusen. He had the most ball recoveries in the match,
Speaker 5: He had a ton of tackles. His ability to you know,
Speaker 5: knick the ball off defenders, harry defenders, create turnovers. That
Speaker 5: is a huge asset that the US didn't really have,
Speaker 5: you know, four years ago or even two years ago.
Speaker 4: At the COPA.
Speaker 5: Wes McKenney has kind of been freed up and he's
Speaker 5: been really effective at pressing.
Speaker 4: So I think people.
Speaker 5: Want more energy and with Robinson, Jedi, Robinson, with McKenny,
Speaker 5: with Tilman, you're seeing that energy difference in their ability
Speaker 5: to press, teams create chances off of that as opposed
Speaker 5: to just the slow meander build up that kind of
Speaker 5: Burhalter haters often criticized them for.
Speaker 6: My question would mostly be Paraguay first match, even first half,
Speaker 6: Like a fan that's watching that game, what are you
Speaker 6: looking for? What's like something that the US could be
Speaker 6: doing or maybe not doing? First half, first bit of
Speaker 6: the match where you're like, maybe they're in the right
Speaker 6: direction even if it's nil nil.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's how much are Jedi, Robinson the
Speaker 5: left wing back, and Serginio Desk the right wing back,
Speaker 5: able to get into dangerous areas with the ball at
Speaker 5: their feet or in the case of Desk, kind of
Speaker 5: like running into that back post area to get on
Speaker 5: the end of chance.
Speaker 4: It's like he likes to do.
Speaker 5: He scored a goal against Senegal and almost scored against
Speaker 5: Germany as well.
Speaker 4: The difference between four years.
Speaker 5: Ago in this team is that they played it back
Speaker 5: four in Qatar and Desk kind of got exposed defensively.
Speaker 4: If you go back and watch the Dutch game they
Speaker 4: lost three to one.
Speaker 5: There were multiple times where the Dutch realized that his positioning,
Speaker 5: his defensive instan are not great and he was sitting
Speaker 5: as the loan right back and he was out of
Speaker 5: position and led to two of the three goals for
Speaker 5: the Dutch in transition complete breakdowns. Right this formation change
Speaker 5: the back three with Freeman and rich and Richard's assuming
Speaker 5: and reim that enables less defensive responsibility for Dust and
Speaker 5: for Robinson, so they're able to.
Speaker 4: Get forward more.
Speaker 5: And really so much of the US trance creation is
Speaker 5: going to come from wide, So if those two players
Speaker 5: are in dangerous areas consistently, that is what you're saying, Okay,
Speaker 5: this is going well for the United States because they
Speaker 5: still have they don't have a ton of passing quality,
Speaker 5: Like their midfielders are mostly dribblers.
Speaker 4: They need to create from wide most of the time.
Speaker 5: And I think that's where you're going to want to
Speaker 5: see those two players getting the most involved as early
Speaker 5: as possible. And dest you know, to his credit, that's
Speaker 5: his best skill. You know, he's he should have more
Speaker 5: touches in the other penalty area than he does in
Speaker 5: hours and that means something's going well well.
Speaker 2: Nance would something going wrong?
Speaker 1: It would you would agree that it would be an
Speaker 1: abject disaster if the US didn't qualify from their group.
Speaker 4: Right, eighty six percent is my number?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think got DraftKings there minus seven point fifty
Speaker 1: Evan correct me if I'm wrong to qualify from the group.
Speaker 1: So it's taking a step back a little bit. You
Speaker 1: want to just tell us third for the casual fans,
Speaker 1: a thirty second outlook. Maybe on each of the other teams,
Speaker 1: like are we are people maybe underrating some of the
Speaker 1: other teams in their group. Maybe maybe it might not
Speaker 1: be as easy as something but Turkey, Paraguay Australia.
Speaker 2: Who are you worried about the most who might be
Speaker 2: a little underrated?
Speaker 5: Yeah, The most talented of the three is certainly Turkey.
Speaker 5: They made it to the quarterfinals of the Euros. They
Speaker 5: play a very open attacking style where you're not really
Speaker 5: sure if they're always going to defend, but they have
Speaker 5: a ton of good passers in their team, most notably Artegoulair,
Speaker 5: who just had a breakout season for Real Madrid this year,
Speaker 5: and he's one of the best passers, pure chance creators
Speaker 5: in all of Europe. Right, So there aren't a ton
Speaker 5: of really dynamic, elite attacking players in this group in general,
Speaker 5: and I think that's the kind of thing where you're like, oh,
Speaker 5: you know, can the US defense hold up against players
Speaker 5: that good? Well, Gulare and like maybe the Turkish have
Speaker 5: a couple guys, but there's not a lot here. Paraguay's
Speaker 5: best player, Julio and Siso, went off with an injury
Speaker 5: in their sendoff match in Paraguay last week. Looks like
Speaker 5: he might miss this game based on how severe that was.
Speaker 5: So No and Ciso right, Paraguay as a team that's
Speaker 5: probably greater than the sum of their parts, but is
Speaker 5: considerably less talented the United States. They're very physical, good
Speaker 5: defensive press. They're gonna be tough to break down. I
Speaker 5: think I think it could be an ugly start for
Speaker 5: the US in terms of just like the quality of play,
Speaker 5: because we still don't really know what the US looks
Speaker 5: like when they're under Paccino with all their best players,
Speaker 5: when they're playing a team whose primary goal is to defend.
Speaker 4: And Australia, you.
Speaker 5: Know, I think they're clearly the weakest team in this group.
Speaker 5: Some of the metrics like the ELO and the world rankings,
Speaker 5: like Australia, I'm not there. I mean, they're pretty middling,
Speaker 5: a Asian team who had pretty middling results at the
Speaker 5: last World Cup, and so like their Asian Cup results
Speaker 5: have been just fine too, Like, I don't see a
Speaker 5: ton of upside there.
Speaker 4: I think their best.
Speaker 5: Teams were three or four years ago, and a lot
Speaker 5: of their pig players have kind of aged out of
Speaker 5: their primes. So I see them as the weakest team
Speaker 5: in the group. But really, like three points and you're
Speaker 5: going through, just win one.
Speaker 4: That's all it really comes down to.
Speaker 6: Do you like the fact that we open up with
Speaker 6: Paraguay and then Australia and have to close with the
Speaker 6: hardest team, Like, does that actually matter for the US
Speaker 6: in terms of order of matches? Because I kind of
Speaker 6: looked at it and said that that's a decent spot
Speaker 6: to be in, to have to face that hardest team last.
Speaker 6: Maybe you ease into it, maybe you win a two
Speaker 6: to one, a three to one, something like that, and
Speaker 6: you know, good start to the tournament. I kind of
Speaker 6: like that for the US versus having to maybe face
Speaker 6: Turkey to start.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the biggest question is just how much
Speaker 5: are team's going all in on that third game. If
Speaker 5: let's say the US is on four points or six
Speaker 5: points and they've already qualified, things have going really well.
Speaker 5: They get a win and a draw or two wins even,
Speaker 5: and they're playing Turkey and it's like, okay, they can
Speaker 5: play for the.
Speaker 4: Group or they can rest. Yeah, how do teams like
Speaker 4: how does France approach that? How does Spain approach that?
Speaker 5: Because most likely, you know, teams like Spain and England
Speaker 5: they're gonna have six points and be comfortable there and
Speaker 5: not too worried about not advancing. They're already have clinched
Speaker 5: their spot. And it's like, do you want to play
Speaker 5: the bracket game theory, especially if you're in an earlier group.
Speaker 5: You really can't play the bracket game theory because you
Speaker 5: don't know how the rest of the bracket's.
Speaker 4: Gonna play out.
Speaker 5: Because there's twelve groups and all these third place teams,
Speaker 5: there's not that much of a difference for the US
Speaker 5: in terms of first round of the knockout team opponent
Speaker 5: quality if they finish first or second. If they finish second,
Speaker 5: they'll get the runner up from a pre week group,
Speaker 5: most likely Egypt or Iran, not that high on either team.
Speaker 5: If they finish first, they're gonna get some third place team,
Speaker 5: which does open up some land mines. Like I think
Speaker 5: there are most certainly going to be third place teams
Speaker 5: that are better than Egypt than Iran that up in
Speaker 5: this field just because of you know, like an Ivory
Speaker 5: Coast or a Senegal or an Ecuador or or maybe
Speaker 5: even Norway could come in third, right, Like, there's gonna
Speaker 5: be some really good third and inevitably somebody will slip up.
Speaker 5: So when you get to the end of that group,
Speaker 5: the number one thing, and I think, like, what's the
Speaker 5: bear case for the United States? We have seen this
Speaker 5: Golden Generation stunt because they've all been injured so much.
Speaker 1: Is the depth for the US like very very shaky
Speaker 1: because that's where the time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it is, like they have fastened this system.
Speaker 5: We talk about the back three with the wingbacks, Well,
Speaker 5: guess what if either wing back gets hurt, that's a problem.
Speaker 5: I mean, like Tim Way, I can fill in. He
Speaker 5: would be fine on the right, but like on the left,
Speaker 5: not a great option there. They'd be starting, you know,
Speaker 5: like Max Arson, who's an MLS regular. If Adams gets hurt,
Speaker 5: they have no replacement for him in defensive midfield. He
Speaker 5: does so much work defensively for them. If McKenny goes
Speaker 5: down and then you're playing somebody out of position next
Speaker 5: to Adams, if you know, if Baaligan goes down, that
Speaker 5: would be a big downgrade. If Polis sick. Of course,
Speaker 5: if polist It goes down, he's their best player. So
Speaker 5: you're looking around like there's not the only position they
Speaker 5: have depth is like the attacking midfield area central midfielders,
Speaker 5: where they have a lot of guys who are similar
Speaker 5: Aaronson rolled on Tillman. You're like, okay, maybe they could
Speaker 5: make that work. But wingbacks defensive midfield. Certainly if Chris
Speaker 5: Richards went down, like, there's not a ton of depth
Speaker 5: here to trust to execute the system that Patch is
Speaker 5: put in place. It's like, we have our fourteen guys
Speaker 5: and we feel very good about those, better than we've
Speaker 5: ever felt. And then if one or two or three
Speaker 5: go down, this falls apart.
Speaker 2: Talk to us about the goalkeeping situation, Yeah.
Speaker 5: Probably the probably the biggest red flag. You know, Sarah
Speaker 5: Tubby was talking about this. He said, this is the
Speaker 5: first time since nineteen ninety we don't know really who
Speaker 5: the number one is. We think it's gonna be Matt Freeze.
Speaker 5: On Friday night, he started against Germany. Matt Turner started
Speaker 5: against Senegal. Both guys have had their moments. Turner's moments
Speaker 5: happened to be three or four years ago at this point.
Speaker 5: He kind of peeked right around twenty twenty two. He
Speaker 5: used to be one of the best shot stoppers in
Speaker 5: MLS and that has not been the case the last
Speaker 5: few years. Both guys, regardless of who they start, do
Speaker 5: you have trouble with their feet with distribution. So if
Speaker 5: they play a team that's really pressing them, how much
Speaker 5: are they going to go back to the keeper. You
Speaker 5: saw a couple of times in the game against Germany
Speaker 5: where I thought they were going to go back to
Speaker 5: the keeper and they said, Nope, we're gonna go and
Speaker 5: kick it long, or we're gonna try to play up
Speaker 5: the wing and connect with pool as sick as opposed
Speaker 5: to try to cycle through our goalkeeper because we don't
Speaker 5: really trust him.
Speaker 4: There was one moment against Germany.
Speaker 5: Where he got pressed by Kai Havertz and he played
Speaker 5: a pretty bad pass that went straight out of bounds.
Speaker 4: Really, it's like, can they avoid disaster?
Speaker 5: Can you just do the job shot stopping and have
Speaker 5: a game where we're not talking about you.
Speaker 4: That's the main goal.
Speaker 5: However, like if you get into the round of sixteen
Speaker 5: or quarterfinals, you're probably just gonna need your goalie to
Speaker 5: make a big saver three against better teams.
Speaker 4: I'm not confident in he was in terms of that.
Speaker 6: My one question was more opening it up a little bit,
Speaker 6: so USA, Canada, Mexico all open up over the weekend. Obviously,
Speaker 6: hosts in their own different ways. We've seen pretty good
Speaker 6: success in opening match. I believe only one host has
Speaker 6: actually lost the opener. Like, where where do you see
Speaker 6: any vulnerability if you had to pick between so USA, Paraguay, Canada,
Speaker 6: Bosnia and Mexico South Africa.
Speaker 7: Any thoughts there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the soccer hipsters and the tacticos kind of like
Speaker 5: this Bosnia team, oh wow. And I think that it's
Speaker 5: very interesting because Bosnia does not hide what they are.
Speaker 5: I mean, the Bosnian coach before they played Italy in
Speaker 5: their World Cup qualifying match the final playoff said we
Speaker 5: are going to park the bus, and they did and
Speaker 5: Italy could not effectively.
Speaker 4: Break them down.
Speaker 5: Then there was a red card which Bosnia generated because
Speaker 5: they were able to get out and transition with their
Speaker 5: wingers and kind of expose the.
Speaker 4: Italian back line a little bit.
Speaker 5: Then they're up one nil and they're you know, really
Speaker 5: going to be like, oh, how how are we coming back?
Speaker 5: He got you know, the one goal, They got the
Speaker 5: game back, but then they you know, lost in the shootout.
Speaker 5: If Bosnia can do that again, you know, Canada is
Speaker 5: the chaos agent soccer team. They don't want control, They
Speaker 5: want the games to be as phrenetic as possible. Jesse Marsh,
Speaker 5: the manager for Canada, an American who has done a
Speaker 5: lot of shit talking about the federation. He's a little
Speaker 5: bit sour grapes that he didn't get offered the job
Speaker 5: when it became open. He is known for his pressing
Speaker 5: and his his his energetic teams. But how do they
Speaker 5: do when they're a favorite against a team who is
Speaker 5: sitting in Do they have the passers?
Speaker 4: Do they have the quality? I actually don't think so.
Speaker 5: So I think the Bosnians are decently live to make
Speaker 5: that just like an ugly game. And you know, of
Speaker 5: course home home field advantage is huge in these environments.
Speaker 5: But I think the Bosnians have two really good wingers,
Speaker 5: a really good defensive setup and a lot of times
Speaker 5: international soccer, that's.
Speaker 6: Enough Canada minus a thousand to qualify. So it would
Speaker 6: be a bad y.
Speaker 5: I mean the group stinks, right guitar is worst team
Speaker 5: in the field. So like even if Canada lot like
Speaker 5: you would, you would think they'd be fine there, Uh,
Speaker 5: I think so?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Well so so Haiti Haiti is a tricky one because
Speaker 5: they have recently recruited two French nationals of Haitian descent
Speaker 5: play in the Premier League.
Speaker 4: So like Wi Wilson and Isidor.
Speaker 5: And uh and Jean Richner Bella guard like those are
Speaker 5: like Premier League regulars who wons a midfielder and one
Speaker 5: scored nine goals for someone this year. So like those
Speaker 5: are like real players who are really good and make
Speaker 5: them probably marginally better than like a New Zealand, a
Speaker 5: Kirasau and a Qatar. They did just beat New Zealand
Speaker 5: four non a friendly, so like I mean, like Haiti
Speaker 5: is not going to advance, I don't think, but I
Speaker 5: mean I wouldn't shock me if they gave Scotland a game.
Speaker 5: I think like Brazil could beat them by four, but
Speaker 5: I think they could be decent.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't matter if they're on the road because
Speaker 2: they don't play at home.
Speaker 4: They don't get home games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the coach has never been in the country, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's which is pretty much.
Speaker 2: But back to you know, seventeen, What would you say
Speaker 2: is a success? A two part question? What does a
Speaker 2: successful World Cup look like? And then what does a
Speaker 2: realistic ceiling?
Speaker 5: Yeah, realistic ceiling is probably like a quarterfinal, you know,
Speaker 5: Like I don't know, I'm doing my US work up rankings.
Speaker 4: I look at my numbers.
Speaker 5: Now I have them eighteenth, So like Pars should probably
Speaker 5: be the round of sixteen.
Speaker 4: They got a pretty manageable group.
Speaker 5: They should get out of the group, they're gonna probably
Speaker 5: be marginally better than their team they play in the
Speaker 5: round of thirty two, so they'd make them a favorite
Speaker 5: against most teams they would get drawn against, unless something
Speaker 5: crazy happens. I mean, I guess like Belgium could slip
Speaker 5: up and all of a sudden, they're playing Belgium in
Speaker 5: the round of thirty two.
Speaker 4: They would be a slight dog there at home.
Speaker 5: But then they get to the round of sixteen, like
Speaker 5: most likely gonna play a Belgium caliber team or maybe
Speaker 5: in Argentina, depending on how the draw breaks, then they'd
Speaker 5: be dogs. Right, So like most likely unless they get
Speaker 5: a fortune to draw, they're going to be an underdog
Speaker 5: in the round of sixteen. That's kind of been the
Speaker 5: ceiling for this team. You go and look at the
Speaker 5: past World Cups. Twenty fourteen, they lost in the round
Speaker 5: of sixteen to a better team Belgium. You know, they
Speaker 5: almost won, almost stole it late, but like they were
Speaker 5: outplayed pretty comfortably by Belgium. Twenty twenty two, the Dutch
Speaker 5: were a better team. That game was actually relatively competitive,
Speaker 5: but the Dutch were more clinical. They went through better
Speaker 5: team twenty ten probably their best chance. They lose to
Speaker 5: Ghana in extra time. That was a tough one, but
Speaker 5: again pretty comparable Ghana team. And then in two thousand
Speaker 5: and two they got to play in Mexico, they had
Speaker 5: the famous dos a zero win.
Speaker 4: They get to the quarterfinals and almost make the Semis.
Speaker 5: So like, that's just kind of what this team has
Speaker 5: been and I don't think it's a failure.
Speaker 4: If the eighteenth best.
Speaker 5: Team in the world makes it to the round of
Speaker 5: sixteen and then loses to a better team, could they
Speaker 5: pull an upset?
Speaker 4: I don't know. They're like a fun transition team.
Speaker 5: But do you trust the goalie the defense not really
Speaker 5: so that that becomes a problem when it gets down
Speaker 5: to the to playing the big boys in the big rounds.
Speaker 6: Yeah, on DraftKings, they're plus one ten to reach the
Speaker 6: round to sixteen the last sixteen and plus two seventy
Speaker 6: five to reach the quarterfinals.
Speaker 4: So cars is round to sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeaheah, Well, if I told you after the terms that
Speaker 1: they made the Semis, that made the Semis, but you
Speaker 1: didn't get to watch, what would you say had to
Speaker 1: have happened?
Speaker 2: Is it basically just like because.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of luck in variance and oh yeah,
Speaker 1: this format is that, Like, so, what would you have
Speaker 1: thought may have happened?
Speaker 2: They just got a lucky draw or was it something
Speaker 2: with the team?
Speaker 4: The draw probably broke for them pretty well.
Speaker 2: You know, I mean, like and they stayed healthy.
Speaker 5: Then they stayed healthy, and Polistic had the tournament of
Speaker 5: his life, the tournament we've been waiting for, you know,
Speaker 5: I think that's kind of the one big thing.
Speaker 4: And he's had a very weird club year.
Speaker 5: Like you go look at pulistics numbers in twenty twenty
Speaker 5: six and twenty twenty five. Like so the five six season,
Speaker 5: the first half of the year from Malani was a superstar,
Speaker 5: scoring goals, one of the first names in the team sheet.
Speaker 5: Second half of the season since the calendar year, he
Speaker 5: didn't score a single goal in the second half of
Speaker 5: the season. He had some injuries, he fell out a
Speaker 5: favor for a bit, But if you look at the
Speaker 5: underlying numbers, like the chance creation that passes into the box,
Speaker 5: touches in the box, expected goals, expected assists, they were
Speaker 5: all right in line with what we expected. And pull
Speaker 5: Us Given commented on this where he said, I feel
Speaker 5: like I've played well. Like the goals haven't come, but
Speaker 5: I feel like I've played well, and I thought against
Speaker 5: Germany you saw two things.
Speaker 4: One just how important he is to this team.
Speaker 5: He is coming short, he's picking up the ball in
Speaker 5: their own half, turning and running at people, passing for others.
Speaker 5: And then you also saw there were a few transition
Speaker 5: moments where it's like him and Baligan were kind of
Speaker 5: out of sink, and I think that's a really thing
Speaker 5: they need to fix. Baligan is so good in transition.
Speaker 5: He is such a natural mover. He's the best striker
Speaker 5: I think the US has ever had. Ballagan and Pool
Speaker 5: us sick fix that link. This is a really dangerous
Speaker 5: transition attacking team. That's where you're like, WHOA, maybe they
Speaker 5: maybe they go beat Belgium. Like Belgium's defense kind of stinks,
Speaker 5: they'd be very vulnerable against a good US team.
Speaker 4: So I think that's where this goes.
Speaker 2: Got it now. We talked last week, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you've decided yet, but we were saying that we
Speaker 1: were comparing this there's a lot of parallels to the
Speaker 1: NCAA Tournament right in college basketball, where a sixteen seeds
Speaker 1: not gonna win it. You pretty much have a handful
Speaker 1: of teams that you know one of the winners is
Speaker 1: probably gonna come from what six or seven you would say,
Speaker 1: or the realistic choices to actually win this. So do
Speaker 1: you want to walk us through who you think those
Speaker 1: teams are and who you've decided on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So there's only seven nations in this tournament that
Speaker 5: have ever won the World Cup, and six of the
Speaker 5: seven are at the top of the odds board. Like
Speaker 5: this is a tournament that like, yeah, Morocco can make
Speaker 5: a semi, Korea can make a semi, Like we've seen
Speaker 5: those kind of runs before, or Aguay, I mean they've
Speaker 5: won it before. But in modern times, the Dutch have
Speaker 5: been to the finals a bunch, but only seven teams
Speaker 5: have won it and they are you know, Spain, France, England, Argentina, Brazil,
Speaker 5: Germany and then Uruguay way back when. So we kind
Speaker 5: of have a feeling that like that will be your
Speaker 5: list of teams that win it, and like one day
Speaker 5: there will be an upset. But when I look at
Speaker 5: like who's in that next tier and then the team
Speaker 5: that everybody.
Speaker 4: Jumps to is the Dutch, it's like, oh, you know
Speaker 4: the Dutch. I don't like the Dutch at all. I
Speaker 4: think I think they're pretty overrated.
Speaker 5: I think they have major defensive issues despite the names
Speaker 5: on the sheet being good.
Speaker 4: I tweeted this morning.
Speaker 5: A lot of people keep saying, and I think it's
Speaker 5: been like a conventional wisdom that the Dutch have one
Speaker 5: of the best defense at the tournament. That is like
Speaker 5: a classic tell that you haven't actually paid attention to
Speaker 5: the Dutch. And then just like looked at the roster.
Speaker 5: They give up eight goals to Spain and Germany in
Speaker 5: four matches. They haven't kept a clean sheet in the
Speaker 5: Nations League in the last two years. They gave up
Speaker 5: three goals to Austria, two goals to Turkey.
Speaker 4: Like that.
Speaker 5: Has not been a good defensive team for multiple years.
Speaker 5: Despite the personnel. The midfield's very athletically limited. They can't
Speaker 5: really pass. Like I'm throwing the Dutch out and I'm like,
Speaker 5: you know, there's your Ecuadors, your Moroccos, your Belgium's kind
Speaker 5: of in that Norway like the trendy dark horse team.
Speaker 4: But those teams never win.
Speaker 5: You need so many breaks to go your way, you
Speaker 5: need so many upsets to pull. I mean, Morocco literally
Speaker 5: beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal just to make the Semis crazy.
Speaker 4: They ran into France.
Speaker 5: It's like, okay, well yeah, I mean you're eventually gonna
Speaker 5: not keep pulling that off.
Speaker 7: So I guess my question would be the one like
Speaker 7: where's that line? Right?
Speaker 6: So even if you're looking at teams, you know you
Speaker 6: want to sprinkle around, Like there's some fun markets on
Speaker 6: DraftKings where you can bet like double chance. Like if
Speaker 6: I wanted to combine two teams together. Obviously you don't
Speaker 6: want to combine in Spain in England because then you're
Speaker 6: there's no point in that. But I'm talking about like
Speaker 6: a Morocco, a team that's like a little bit out
Speaker 6: of that range.
Speaker 7: Like, is there anybody you'd even consider? No, that's it.
Speaker 4: How many teams? How many teams could win this?
Speaker 5: You know, I'm probably gonna regret saying this, Like Brazil
Speaker 5: and Portugal are the two teams to me that people
Speaker 5: are gonna pick and bet money on, and they're both
Speaker 5: short of ten to one. I could not have less
Speaker 5: interest in either, and like maybe they'll do it and
Speaker 5: make me look dumb. I could not have less interest
Speaker 5: in either I think I think Brazil this is the
Speaker 5: least talented Brazil.
Speaker 4: Team of my life. I'm like pretty confident of that.
Speaker 5: You know, you look at twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two,
Speaker 5: the last two World Cups, Brazil was unquestionably a top
Speaker 5: three roster. They lost in the quarterfinals of both in upsets,
Speaker 5: one to Belgium, won to Croatia. If you looked, if
Speaker 5: you rewatched those matches, if you looked at the stats, you'd.
Speaker 4: Be like, how the hell did Brazil lose this game?
Speaker 5: You know, they lost one in a shootout, one on
Speaker 5: a couple of transition attacks they couldn't finish a chance
Speaker 5: courtwaisted on his head for Belgium, and you came away
Speaker 5: being like, Okay, yeah, like Brazil lost, but like they
Speaker 5: kind of got sockered and they ran ran into a
Speaker 5: hot goalie or or some hot finishing and I lost
Speaker 5: a shootout like that happens. You go into this World
Speaker 5: Cup and really this is true since that World Cup
Speaker 5: neymar towards ACL. In twenty twenty three, Brazil finished fifth
Speaker 5: in South American World Cup qualifying, behind Columbia, Uruguay, Ecuador,
Speaker 5: and Argentina. Their underline numbers were like fourth. They went
Speaker 5: to the Copa America in twenty twenty four, No Neymar.
Speaker 5: They won one of their four matches. They tied Costa Rica,
Speaker 5: they tied Columbia, they lost to Uruguay, and they beat
Speaker 5: Paraguay that was their KOPA.
Speaker 4: And then again, yeah, like I said.
Speaker 5: They were bad and qualifying, and then now Naymar is
Speaker 5: already hurt, Rodrigo's hurt, he's out, Esteval He's out. So
Speaker 5: you're looking around like, okay, yeah, yeah, Brazil is probably
Speaker 5: the sexy pick, the trendy pick, their attack, like their
Speaker 5: striker is probably going to be Endric, who's nineteen and
Speaker 5: has had a very inconsistent club run. Here they have
Speaker 5: two elite wingers, Venetias and Rafina.
Speaker 4: Other than that, you're like, I don't know, they're pretty.
Speaker 5: Good, but there's no I don't see a ceiling for
Speaker 5: Brazil in terms of like winning this whole thing. And
Speaker 5: then Portugal's got the Ronaldo situation, which I think is
Speaker 5: it's a fascinating thing developing where they relied so much
Speaker 5: on him for qualifying against the minnos. He's scored a
Speaker 5: lot of goals, but we have seen now at the
Speaker 5: last two international tournaments.
Speaker 4: They are funneling their entire attack around this guy.
Speaker 5: Crosses, free kicks, penalties, set pieces. Everything is funnel to
Speaker 5: like how can we get Ronaldo involved? And it's like
Speaker 5: they have them, they have an incredible midfield, and you're
Speaker 5: you're still running your whole attack through forty one year
Speaker 5: old Christiano who can't really play a full ninety, who
Speaker 5: would be a great super sub, but they're they're starting.
Speaker 4: Him and he doesn't defend or do any work out
Speaker 4: of possession.
Speaker 5: So when they don't have the ball, they're playing with
Speaker 5: ten men and it's like, oh, this is not good.
Speaker 4: I don't think you can win a World Cup playing
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 5: So I think Portugal for me is like I'll regret this,
Speaker 5: but they're a cross off.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so that was like the Lakers without Luca.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sort of.
Speaker 1: So we're down to what you've always been in file.
Speaker 1: We're down to Italy. I mean not Italy. I should
Speaker 1: mention Italy has they have they're not in the in
Speaker 1: the field. I think they've won it three or four times.
Speaker 1: But so now we're down to France, Spain, England.
Speaker 2: Who am I missing that?
Speaker 4: Starting in Germany?
Speaker 7: Germany?
Speaker 1: Okay, so you do think, do you do think Argentina
Speaker 1: is worth considering or you could say I.
Speaker 4: Think they have to be. I think their defense is
Speaker 4: still really elite.
Speaker 5: Now, the story of Argentina is they just took the
Speaker 5: same team and just ran it back four years later.
Speaker 5: So like, how many times have we seen that go bad?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 5: Like you could be like, well, you know, Messi is
Speaker 5: four years older. He put on a generational performance at
Speaker 5: the last World Cup. Odds are he will not do
Speaker 5: that again. So where does their chance creation come from?
Speaker 5: Their defense and their midfield still look very good to me.
Speaker 5: But and they have two good strikers. The depth is good.
Speaker 5: They have a couple of young guys that are like
Speaker 5: on the verge of breaking through. I'm not sure they're
Speaker 5: ready to break through yet. So I have Argentina and
Speaker 5: Germany kind of in that next tier behind the top three.
Speaker 5: Argentina like, if Messi is close to his best, they're
Speaker 5: gonna be really tough out. I think they're gonna be
Speaker 5: on the easier half of the bracket. They're probably gonna
Speaker 5: be on England's half and opposite France, Spain and Germany, which,
Speaker 5: like if all five were to win their group France
Speaker 5: plays Germany around to sixteen, they could play Spain in
Speaker 5: the Semis.
Speaker 4: Argentina would be on.
Speaker 5: The half with with Ortugal and England, so like that
Speaker 5: would be the weaker quote unquote half in my opinion.
Speaker 5: But you could also see where this goes wrong, maybe
Speaker 5: not in the group stage. Like Argentina's group is like
Speaker 5: an Austria team that won't be able to press them.
Speaker 5: They're too good passing. Algeria's good defense, but like they're
Speaker 5: not scoring on Argentina. So you're like, all right, they're
Speaker 5: not gonna have trouble in the group. But you could
Speaker 5: see that, especially with an aging team. They get deeper
Speaker 5: in the tournament, did they run out of gas in
Speaker 5: the heat?
Speaker 4: You know, it could be tough.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 7: We were like, what are you doing?
Speaker 5: So I'm picking Spain, you know, I came, I came back,
Speaker 5: and I went back and forth on this, and like,
Speaker 5: France has so much talent and if you're just naming guys,
Speaker 5: you're like, yeah, France, France.
Speaker 7: Of course.
Speaker 5: France has played Spain twice each of the last two summers,
Speaker 5: in the semifinals at the Euro twenty twenty four and
Speaker 5: in the semifinals of the Nations League, and Spain was
Speaker 5: clearly better in both. So if you're going head to
Speaker 5: head and you're telling me Lemina Mall is healthy, which
Speaker 5: by the time these two teams would play, he should be,
Speaker 5: how do you not pick Spain. Spain's possession structures are better,
Speaker 5: Spain's midfield is better, Spain's defense is comparable. I think
Speaker 5: I think all of that leads to Spain being having
Speaker 5: the edge. Certainly, again, if you're just drafting attackers, you're
Speaker 5: taking Hibape, Den Ballet and then Jamal, but then like
Speaker 5: the next four guys might be French, but Rodri, Pedri
Speaker 5: and Fabian Ruiz is like if you were conducting like
Speaker 5: building the perfect midfield in a lab, it would be
Speaker 5: those three guys in some form of Pedri's passing, Rodri's defense,
Speaker 5: Fabian Ruiz's movement. He gets in the box a lot,
Speaker 5: he scores goals, He's great at finishing from outside the box.
Speaker 5: Those three guys are so great and they have dominated
Speaker 5: the last two summers to a large degree. I mean,
Speaker 5: Spain lost the shootout to Portugal in the Nation's League final,
Speaker 5: but they are such a tough team and I think
Speaker 5: if Jamal weren't you know, missing the first two games
Speaker 5: which they won't need him for against Saudi Arabia and
Speaker 5: what is it was Bekistan? They're not gonna need him
Speaker 5: for those games, or I think it is us Bekkistan,
Speaker 5: then I need him for those games.
Speaker 4: But they're gonna have him for the business end.
Speaker 5: And you know, I think this could be the summer
Speaker 5: another summer of le mean, remember the summer of Spain.
Speaker 6: And it looks like they would get Austria potentially in
Speaker 6: the around the thirty two one h versus two j
Speaker 6: So that would be not I mean, it'd be crazy
Speaker 6: if it was Argentina.
Speaker 4: It could be Argentina.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, that would be absolutely nuts. But that's an
Speaker 6: interesting path.
Speaker 2: And France could play Germany early.
Speaker 5: So if France and Germany both win their groups, they
Speaker 5: will play in the round of sixteen on July fourth
Speaker 5: in our and below up city at Philadelphia stuck.
Speaker 4: Well, it should be a great game, would be trench warfare.
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned Philadelphia or beloved Philadelphia. July could be hot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the reasons you think could call out
Speaker 1: some issues for England or how are you thinking about
Speaker 1: the weather.
Speaker 5: The weather is so tough I mean England, Like the
Speaker 5: semi finals of the tournament are played indoors, you know,
Speaker 5: and you're like looking around, You're like, okay, England could play,
Speaker 5: and this is the game. I think everybody's like, oh,
Speaker 5: England got screwed. So if the draws all break the
Speaker 5: way we think they will, and I do think Mexico
Speaker 5: will win its group.
Speaker 4: I do think England will win its group.
Speaker 5: If they both win their first game, then all of
Speaker 5: a sudden, it's on July third, England at Mexico in
Speaker 5: a Stadios Teca at elevation, in the heat, Like you
Speaker 5: you can already picture how that could go. But then again,
Speaker 5: like England is so freaking good defensively and so much
Speaker 5: more superior talent wise, like England, And if you're a
Speaker 5: Premier League fan and you're listening to this podcast, England
Speaker 5: is arsenal. They have the slowest build up in the
Speaker 5: in the tournament, they have long possessions, they play a
Speaker 5: pretty boring brand of soccer. They're defensively elite. They rely
Speaker 5: on set pieces. You can't totally heat proof yourself. But
Speaker 5: if you were building a team that was like, hey,
Speaker 5: we're just like not going to overly exert ourselves and
Speaker 5: we're going to dominate in ways that don't require us to.
Speaker 4: Just run all over the place all the time. That
Speaker 4: would be what England is.
Speaker 5: And they have Harry Kane and they have I think
Speaker 5: enough attacking, like they're more.
Speaker 4: Balanced than they were two years ago.
Speaker 5: And England again as ugly as they were at the
Speaker 5: last two tournaments with no comprehensive tactics, still made the
Speaker 5: Euro Final in twenty twenty four and twenty twenty one,
Speaker 5: lost a close game to France at the at the year,
Speaker 5: at the World Cup in twenty twenty two, and have
Speaker 5: like barely conceded a goal in qualifying. They were they
Speaker 5: were getting up less than four intensive and expected goal
Speaker 5: per match in qualifying and I know the group sucked,
Speaker 5: but still it's like the water is shut off. So
Speaker 5: England could get could get soccered, right, they could lose
Speaker 5: a shootout and it'd be like, yep, close to England.
Speaker 5: I'm going to have England in my final, got it
Speaker 5: over England. A rematch of the.
Speaker 6: Year England to bring it home in the US would
Speaker 6: be just it would be crazy level.
Speaker 7: That would be the next level.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to some fun questions. I'm curious
Speaker 1: this will kind of speak to your thoughts on the
Speaker 1: state of US Versus Italian soccer.
Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 1: If I had a crystal ball and I said, I
Speaker 1: know the next I know every single World Cup winner
Speaker 1: for the next two hundred years, you get a million
Speaker 1: dollars if you get this question right, or nothing if
Speaker 1: you get it wrong. Who will win the next World Cup?
Speaker 1: Is it Italy winning their fifth or the US winning
Speaker 1: their first over the next two hundred years, or does
Speaker 1: neither win it? Which one are you choosing? Three million dollars?
Speaker 1: You get it right, I know the winners for the
Speaker 1: next two hundred years.
Speaker 4: The United States?
Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, let's speak more to where Italy is or
Speaker 1: where the US potentially ascending.
Speaker 7: Yes, I mean, I think.
Speaker 5: It's so tough because this is the debate that happens
Speaker 5: every four years. It's like, well, what of our best
Speaker 5: athletes played soccer?
Speaker 4: And like it's it's kind of misguided.
Speaker 5: But it's also true that if the US had a
Speaker 5: system that could identify players at a young age and
Speaker 5: I'm talking like six, not like twelve, like six, and
Speaker 5: get them to learn the skills that are required, soccer
Speaker 5: is not an athleticism sport as much as the skills sport,
Speaker 5: and like, there have been studies that have been shown
Speaker 5: that like seven to twelve are like the most important
Speaker 5: years of your soccer development in terms of touch and
Speaker 5: ability to just like handle the ball and like foot coordination,
Speaker 5: whereas like, you know, how many times have we seen
Speaker 5: like these NBA players who like didn't pick up basketball
Speaker 5: until they were thirteen or football player.
Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of studies that say, for the
Speaker 1: main sports in the US, right, baseball, basketball, football, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of studies that say, you play a bunch
Speaker 1: of sports until high school, then you specialize. So you're
Speaker 1: saying the structure of the US sports it's not as
Speaker 1: applicable to soccer, right, right.
Speaker 5: And there's also other I mean, we could do a
Speaker 5: whole episode on like what's wrong with US soccer. It's like,
Speaker 5: you know, pay to play, the money that it costs
Speaker 5: to be good at soccer and to have your kid
Speaker 5: enrolled into like all these programs you saw or you know,
Speaker 5: stuff like that. Across the United States, there's there's a
Speaker 5: tremendous inequality and like who has access to these kind
Speaker 5: of things.
Speaker 6: Like that More and more to increase some more sports
Speaker 6: options here, like it's just more things to go into.
Speaker 7: And I mean the other funny thing is like.
Speaker 6: Messy, right, Like best soccer player in the world is
Speaker 6: like five five and looks like you know, you would
Speaker 6: never even.
Speaker 4: Never recognize him in Miami. So he recognized him in
Speaker 4: the grocery store.
Speaker 5: They were just like a guy with slip flops on
Speaker 5: getting groceries with his kids and people didn't recognize him.
Speaker 4: That would never happen.
Speaker 5: If like to a you know, an NFL player, an
Speaker 5: NBA player, right, So there's a difference there. And and look,
Speaker 5: there's not a lot of professional elite soccer players who
Speaker 5: look anything like the guys we watch on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Ah, so it's clearly not just like build the biggest,
Speaker 4: strongest human and then he's good.
Speaker 5: Like there is a guy, his name is a Doma Traore.
Speaker 5: He played in the Premier League for many years Fulham Wolves.
Speaker 5: He's been around the bend and like he looks like
Speaker 5: a jacked rugby player. He's he looks like he could
Speaker 5: play in the NFL on Sundays, but like he's he's
Speaker 5: a pretty bad crosser the ball and he's had a
Speaker 5: heavy first touches and like, yeah, you can like take
Speaker 5: a guy on every once in a while, but he's
Speaker 5: not very good at the actual skills that are required
Speaker 5: to make you an elite soccer player.
Speaker 4: So you're looking around like all right, you know, can
Speaker 4: we develop.
Speaker 5: A better younger And they have to get younger with
Speaker 5: it and it takes time, but I think, you know,
Speaker 5: Italy's been a funny spot where you know, tennis is
Speaker 5: the fastest growing sport in Italy and that's reflected on
Speaker 5: the tour. I mean know, all those Italian men are dominating,
Speaker 5: and Flavio Caboli and Arnaldi and Berrettini and of course
Speaker 5: Yannick Center. Like tennis is rapidly rising, in soccer seems
Speaker 5: to be I don't want to say fading, But it's
Speaker 5: also a matter of like Ciria's kind of broke.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of money investment there.
Speaker 5: The private equity company are trying to get involved to
Speaker 5: like save it, but they don't want the money. So
Speaker 5: there's all kinds of stuff happening in Italian soccer that
Speaker 5: I would I would probably fade them almost in the
Speaker 5: coming decades.
Speaker 1: Well, interesting question mentioned the athletes, So I was gonna
Speaker 1: ask you if you could add any one American athlete
Speaker 1: from any sport to this team. But now that you're
Speaker 1: saying like foot coordination, I mean maybe.
Speaker 7: There's so much into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but like, would you would you add like, I
Speaker 1: don't know who's the most fit punter kicker? It's like
Speaker 1: Ethan Evans maybe a punter for the ramss. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: Like do you take someone with good foot coordination? Or
Speaker 1: do I take like I take Sga to draw red
Speaker 1: cards or.
Speaker 2: Wemby as a goalie? Could that work? Right?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 2: That was that was my.
Speaker 4: Original of like, who, well, Wemby's not American.
Speaker 1: Also, oh yeah, but he could take Yeah, that's true,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't be on the all right, So who who's
Speaker 1: your answer? The US got? So obviously someone from the
Speaker 1: US plays one of the major sports here. Who would
Speaker 1: you add?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 5: It's so funny because, uh, like Matt Turner. This is
Speaker 5: a perfect example of what I was saying. Right, So
Speaker 5: the American goalie Matte Turner probably be the backup, but
Speaker 5: he was a starter four years ago. Matt Turner sucks
Speaker 5: with his feet. He's always been bad with his feet.
Speaker 5: I'm pretty confidence because he didn't start playing soccer until
Speaker 5: he was fifteen, and they were like, hey, like you're
Speaker 5: pretty athletic, you have pretty long arms, you're pretty rangy,
Speaker 5: Like we should make you a goalie. You should try soccer,
Speaker 5: and then like he played college soccer and then became
Speaker 5: the US men's national team number one goalie. Is it's
Speaker 5: a totally different set of skills for the most part
Speaker 5: than outfield player. And yet like the one thing that
Speaker 5: still lags for him is like he's bad with his
Speaker 5: feet at this level, whereas like, you know, the funny
Speaker 5: joke with Manuel Neuer, who was the German goalkeeper forever
Speaker 5: and he's probably gonna be leading them with this World Cup.
Speaker 5: I think he's like almost forty now, was the joke
Speaker 5: was that he was so good with his feet that
Speaker 5: he could also play midfield if he wanted to, and
Speaker 5: like he was growing up played a lot of midfield.
Speaker 5: And then eventually they were like, hey, you're really tall,
Speaker 5: and like you should buy big goalie, and so like
Speaker 5: that is kind of like the whole thing. Now, if
Speaker 5: I did to pick one player, I mean, like this
Speaker 5: team needs a goalie, So like, find me the rangiest,
Speaker 5: most athletic, quick twitch reflex guy to just go stop
Speaker 5: a bunch of shots, like I don't know who that is.
Speaker 7: Don't make it chet home, grin anything but.
Speaker 5: Chet home, chet chet to not aggressive enough to go
Speaker 5: clim the crosses.
Speaker 4: You know he might, he might drop out, drop back.
Speaker 2: Uh. So you just want the most athletic person to
Speaker 2: play goalie?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's like a reasonable thing. Like give
Speaker 4: me long lanky. I'm trying to think what about like
Speaker 4: cat Scottie Barnes.
Speaker 5: He's got really long you know, o G Yeah, I
Speaker 5: don't know.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think of because you gotta be you
Speaker 4: gotta be quick and you'll be able to huh.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's like somebody like a super lanky person. Kevin Durant,
Speaker 5: Do you have any interest? Probably a little too old,
Speaker 5: but yeah, no, you.
Speaker 7: Would be great, though, they would.
Speaker 4: He would be tweeting about his teammates have done. But
Speaker 4: I think that, Uh, I think i'd go there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Brandon about Brandon Aubrey spot for him?
Speaker 2: All right? How about you and the World Cup? One?
Speaker 2: What are you doing for the game Friday? And two?
Speaker 2: Are you going to any games?
Speaker 4: I will be at so far? Friday night?
Speaker 7: Wow?
Speaker 5: Going out to La I'm gonna be doing some interview
Speaker 5: stuff and some content outside the arena with fans trying
Speaker 5: to get kind of the pulse before and after for
Speaker 5: the game. You know, Team USA at the World Cup,
Speaker 5: like these things, they'll come around very often. I think
Speaker 5: there are very few events that like truly unite this
Speaker 5: country anymore, and so I'm super excited.
Speaker 4: To see and if he can gets the ball rolling.
Speaker 5: You know, I think that they had a good World
Speaker 5: Cup four years ago, but there was not one game
Speaker 5: where you were super inspired. And I do think this
Speaker 5: team will create more than the Burhalter teams. It will
Speaker 5: be a more engaging match in all of them, especially
Speaker 5: the Turkey game. Like if if they play Turkey and
Speaker 5: both teams are kind of through and maybe both teams
Speaker 5: rotate a little, but it's kind of like, hey, we're
Speaker 5: just gonna go for this, Like it could be a
Speaker 5: really really really fun game. So I'm excited for that
Speaker 5: especially I'll be at that game. I'll be at July
Speaker 5: fourth and Philly. I think I'm gonna do July fifth
Speaker 5: of MetLife. I look around the schedule still by the
Speaker 5: really excited for the World Cup.
Speaker 7: What are you doing Friday, Stuck?
Speaker 2: What am I doing? Friday, you're watch A lot of people.
Speaker 7: Are gonna be watching. I'm sure at the bar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I'll have it on as long as
Speaker 1: i'm not I don't think of what is the day Friday.
Speaker 7: The thirteenth or something.
Speaker 1: To make sure my new born doesn't watch so he
Speaker 1: doesn't get into soccer, shield him from this. Uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll probably have it on. I assume it's the dead
Speaker 1: days of summer. I mean, I I'll well, I like,
Speaker 1: I will get into it as the turn Christmas, but
Speaker 1: I'm not like I didn't have this like circle where
Speaker 1: I gotta watch it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'll have it on as long as I'm
Speaker 2: not doing anything. Stuck, stucky.
Speaker 5: I can't believe is world his life has come to
Speaker 5: him doing a soccer podcast?
Speaker 2: Done too in the last week and then what was
Speaker 2: the other one I did in between? Was what else
Speaker 2: did we do last week? Yeah? And then I did
Speaker 2: an FBI podcast.
Speaker 4: This is what the finals?
Speaker 2: The Yeah, I mean the finals A probably gonna be
Speaker 2: over by that.
Speaker 5: That's what I was saying, like the next sweep them
Speaker 5: and then we get that over with, and then what
Speaker 5: the parade would be on Friday.
Speaker 4: The first day of the of the US.
Speaker 5: I mean they should have two parades, one parade for
Speaker 5: the Knicks and another parade when the US beats uh Paraguay.
Speaker 2: Uh. Do you have any other I talked about this
Speaker 2: last week on the podcast. Uh, you gave me Swallwell
Speaker 2: to uh.
Speaker 4: Elected governor. I think that was a good bet.
Speaker 1: We had our cl Obviously you didn't have any inside information,
Speaker 1: so we.
Speaker 2: Know that.
Speaker 7: Give us one political winner, we need one winner.
Speaker 2: Do you have any political winners right now? Anything with
Speaker 2: value for this year?
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't think Platiner is getting elected in Maine. Okay,
Speaker 5: the manors elected Collins once twice despite adverse conditions. I
Speaker 5: feel like Platner there's more, there's more skeletons in the
Speaker 5: for him, and he's kind. He's come down in the
Speaker 5: betting odds a bunch, and I'm investing in now you're now.
Speaker 2: You're handicapped eltons in the class.
Speaker 6: The parlay to come out of this podcast is going
Speaker 6: to be fantastic if we just.
Speaker 4: Eight the nominee I have money on.
Speaker 1: Uh who do I bet to win this year?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I through someone this year. Uh, but I mean
Speaker 2: it was that like what one I think?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we're we're we're fishing in a deep
Speaker 5: pool here. I mean, if you think newsom and as
Speaker 5: to your overvalue, which I do, then like it's probably
Speaker 5: worth taking a couple of flyers in an open field.
Speaker 5: But I think as Off like he'll he'll probably win
Speaker 5: a swing state this fall. He's the favorite to do that.
Speaker 5: And then he's a really young less bagged people are
Speaker 5: gonna want younger, I think in this next cycle here
Speaker 5: to all the old people we keep electing, so uh,
Speaker 5: os off Is would be the youngest president ever. So
Speaker 5: like that's probably all against him. But he's young, charismatic,
Speaker 5: doesn't have any major scandals. Uh, and he's got in
Speaker 5: front of a camera, good on camera.
Speaker 1: So I think it's also important traits in the future
Speaker 1: as younger presence because of AI the Accountay, yeah, just
Speaker 1: being able to message that to people understand it, Like
Speaker 1: regardless of your side, in the future, I think, sure,
Speaker 1: getting younger.
Speaker 4: And guard I don't agree with it.
Speaker 5: You know, we're not gonna get in his politics, but
Speaker 5: like look at Mom Donnie in New York. It's an
Speaker 5: inspiring campaign that energized people, that got them excited, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean the groundswell and never heard a guy from
Speaker 5: nobody heard of him on November what ninth, twenty twenty
Speaker 5: four when Trump won or whatever date that was, and
Speaker 5: then a year later he was elected as mayor of
Speaker 5: New York.
Speaker 4: That's an insane thing.
Speaker 5: And like social media now makes it so much easier
Speaker 5: to do something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, State of Affilies.
Speaker 1: That got to me. They kind of missed their window.
Speaker 1: But they've been playing a lot better, still have some
Speaker 1: very good pitching on the roster, and it's baseball, like
Speaker 1: you get in. Anything can happen. But did they miss
Speaker 1: their their window here with this core or do you
Speaker 1: still have any hope for this year?
Speaker 4: Probably they missed it.
Speaker 5: But like, I'm not out, you know, I think a
Speaker 5: need another bat man, Like, go get Christian Walker, make
Speaker 5: Brice play the outfield again, do something, get another bat.
Speaker 5: If they don't get another bat, they're dead. They have
Speaker 5: three reliable hitters. You can't win a World Series with
Speaker 5: three reliable hitters. But yeah, I mean when you have
Speaker 5: Sanchez and Wheeler pitching like this with their bold pen,
Speaker 5: they are.
Speaker 4: Top five pen.
Speaker 5: Their top three starters are a top five group, maybe
Speaker 5: top one in the league. How do you not shove
Speaker 5: the chips in here now, and they've had opportunities to
Speaker 5: do it in the last couple of years they didn't
Speaker 5: do it. And now I think you're reaching the point
Speaker 5: of no return here where you have to take your
Speaker 5: chance and look like the Dodgers are mortal and everybody's like.
Speaker 4: Oh, inevitable, too good, broke baseball, But I don't know.
Speaker 4: They lost games.
Speaker 5: They came within like two inches of losing Game seven
Speaker 5: of the World Series. They and they needed to win
Speaker 5: like an eighteen inning game just to get it to
Speaker 5: a Game seven, And they lost to the Phillies on
Speaker 5: aggregate if you're keeping aggregate scores, like all those games
Speaker 5: were toss ups. They hit one ninety nine against the
Speaker 5: Phillies in that series. Like they didn't just roll the
Speaker 5: playoffs the last two years, they've had competitive games. The
Speaker 5: Padres took them to a game five two years ago.
Speaker 5: Like as good as they are, Glassdow's hurt again, Snell's
Speaker 5: hurt again.
Speaker 7: They can be beat.
Speaker 4: They could be beat baseball.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: The main question, du bundo is if Sanchez pitched it
Speaker 6: home every night, would they break the Mariners season record.
Speaker 4: I think so yes, I actually think so. Yeah. You
Speaker 4: sent me the trend on this unreal. I don't know
Speaker 4: if you know about this trend.
Speaker 7: No Sanchez at home.
Speaker 5: Just the last three years, Chris Sanchez is like thirty
Speaker 5: three and seven.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and it's not even like they're winning games. It's
Speaker 6: just he's not given to have any runs and sometimes
Speaker 6: the run sports not even there, just stupid.
Speaker 4: They win two to one.
Speaker 5: There was one game this year where he was kind
Speaker 5: of shaky and they were down five to two in
Speaker 5: the eighth and I had like Phillies minus two fifty.
Speaker 4: I lay, I'm like U mf orr And they scored
Speaker 4: four runs.
Speaker 5: In the last two innings and walked it off on
Speaker 5: nothing that's pen And I was like, Chris.
Speaker 4: Sanchez at home.
Speaker 7: It's ridiculous.
Speaker 5: But there's been theories about this, and I've talked about this.
Speaker 5: I think I even mentioned this maybe on Payoff Pitch,
Speaker 5: but I know I did it on the Ringers Philly Special.
Speaker 4: There's something about the mound at Citizens Bank Park.
Speaker 5: There's like a couple extra inches of vertical approach angle
Speaker 5: that he's getting on his pitches.
Speaker 4: The sinker and the change, they.
Speaker 5: Just dive more and like apparently, and I got this
Speaker 5: confirmed the Phillies had the mound measured because their numbers
Speaker 5: picked up on it, and something was going on weird,
Speaker 5: and like opposing scouts started asking about it. Why can
Speaker 5: nobody hit this guy's singer and change up at home?
Speaker 4: What is going on?
Speaker 5: They never found out exactly what was going on. They
Speaker 5: think it was probably just some kind of like weird quirk.
Speaker 7: Of the are you giving us the twenty twenty six
Speaker 7: wind tunnel? Like this is?
Speaker 4: It kind of feels like it's it's a weird thing.
Speaker 5: And like strikeout rate to home and like obviously he
Speaker 5: just had a month where he didn't allow any runs.
Speaker 5: So he's pitching pretty well on the road too, but
Speaker 5: like at one point last year it was a pretty
Speaker 5: big delta between home and away. So he's pitching tonight.
Speaker 5: We're recording this Monday. He's pitching tonight in Toronto. Not
Speaker 5: betting the Phillies though, because they're in Toronto.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, before we get you out of here,
Speaker 1: Tony Bunns, we got I'll put you on the spot
Speaker 1: for our DraftKings segment. Can we put together a barlay
Speaker 1: for Friday Nights match? Oh soccer, I know they're very tough.
Speaker 4: But nothing happens in the game. So what are you
Speaker 4: gonna do?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that we could bet that, We could bet nothing,
Speaker 2: we could bet drawl under. But do you think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a little bit more wide open than.
Speaker 4: It would? Surprise me?
Speaker 5: Okay, this game, first game, I think will be the
Speaker 5: least open, just because the Paraguay is a tough defensive
Speaker 5: team and and uh, the United States still does have
Speaker 5: those questions against low. Let me, I'm pulling up the
Speaker 5: game here.
Speaker 7: Us in a shutout is like two to one, right,
Speaker 7: could do that?
Speaker 4: Can you put like shots into the STP Yeah?
Speaker 7: You count on DraftKings?
Speaker 4: Okay, let's see here, what's desk to get a shot?
Speaker 7: Where's our boy? H two five plus? Yeah, so like
Speaker 7: sergio desk shot on targets.
Speaker 4: To twenty five on target?
Speaker 6: Okay, yeah, on target on target? Oh, hold on, we
Speaker 6: got shots below here? This is beautiful minus one eighty five.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we could throw that in there. Let's do it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what is it.
Speaker 4: Us to win under three and a half desk shot?
Speaker 2: Okay? What does that pay out?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm looking at it under three and a half
Speaker 6: two seventy US money line Sergio desk one plus shot
Speaker 6: under three and a half Love.
Speaker 4: It all right?
Speaker 1: That'll be DraftKings Parlay for Friday night. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for today's episode. Make sure you check
Speaker 1: out Anthony on Twitter and at the Ringer does great work,
Speaker 1: used to do great work for us. Still a very
Speaker 1: close friend, and we'll be following the World Cup closely
Speaker 1: the whole way. There will even be there on Friday
Speaker 1: Night with some contents. Make sure you check that out.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Evan for joining me. Thanks to our producers
Speaker 1: on the back end. The Favorites will return later this week.
Speaker 1: Another episode Right in My Wheelhouse be doing college baseball
Speaker 1: with some guy named Colin Wilson, so that'll be fun.
Speaker 1: And then football previews to follow shortly there after. Big
Speaker 1: Bets on Campus will be back very very shortly. Make
Speaker 1: sure you check everything out on the Action Network YouTube
Speaker 1: page and wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
Speaker 4: Can I give a future for NFL?
Speaker 2: Yeah? What do you got?
Speaker 5: My first future we talked about the other day. Raven's
Speaker 5: under eleven and a half wins makes no sense to me.
Speaker 1: Perfect, I don't hate it. The offensive line is still struggling.
Speaker 1: There's gaps on the defense. We'll see what the coaching
Speaker 1: changes can do. The schedule's pretty easy early on, maybe
Speaker 1: they can build some momentum. But yeah, I talked about
Speaker 1: this a couple of weeks ago. It's under nothing on
Speaker 1: the Ravens, so don't hate it. But that'll do it
Speaker 1: for us once again. Our show presenting five DraftKings to
Speaker 1: the Crown is yours.
Speaker 8: Enjoy your day, we'll catch you all every in a
Speaker 8: week years.
Speaker 4: Action Network reminds you please gamble responsibly. If you or
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