1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,600
Speaker 1: I think the only thing I'm looking at with our

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,200
Speaker 1: team at the moment. I'm not worried about polistic I'm

3
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,239
Speaker 1: not worried about Balligan, I'm not worried about McKinney. I'm

4
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,000
Speaker 1: not worried about any of the attacking guys. My only

5
00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,000
Speaker 1: concern is what happens in the back.

6
00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,840
Speaker 2: Greeting spokes and welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I'm

7
00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 2: Matt Doyle, the armchair analyst, and I'll be filling in

8
00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,439
Speaker 2: for new dad Tom Boger for a few more weeks.

9
00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:28,880
Speaker 2: And I'm honored once again to be joined by my

10
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,360
Speaker 2: friend tab Ramos, one of the greatest players in US

11
00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,960
Speaker 2: men's national team history. Veteran of three World Cups, one

12
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,519
Speaker 2: that was really good, one that was great, and then

13
00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 2: one that we talked about last time on this show

14
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 2: that we don't have to talk about ninety eight again.

15
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,760
Speaker 2: Said let's spin it forward, talk about twenty twenty six.

16
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,200
Speaker 2: You won't be at that one, tab as a player,

17
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,319
Speaker 2: but you're gonna be watching and we're gonna get an

18
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,319
Speaker 2: idea this coming a weekend of what we'll see from

19
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,040
Speaker 2: the US.

20
00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question. Well, first of all, great to be

21
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,200
Speaker 1: on with you, once again. It's a good reminder that

22
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 1: you said you'll be here for a few more weeks.

23
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 1: But hopefully you can stay on. You know, maybe when

24
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 1: Tom comes back, it can be the three of us.

25
00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:09,959
Speaker 1: I'll think I've.

26
00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,640
Speaker 2: Been from time to time. I'll annoy Tom. That's good,

27
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:14,200
Speaker 2: good radio. Everybody likes that.

28
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,959
Speaker 1: That would be great. And I'm imagining that Tom's son

29
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 1: now is going into high school or something like that.

30
00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,280
Speaker 1: It seems like Tom's been gone for a little while.

31
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,920
Speaker 1: But uh, but yeah, no, I'll tell you it's exciting

32
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 1: times right now because it's it seems like now it

33
00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,120
Speaker 1: starts to count, right Like we've been going through this

34
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,520
Speaker 1: whole process the last couple of years, and in particular,

35
00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: you know, we brought a new coach and Puschettino and

36
00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,080
Speaker 1: obviously maybe the greatest coach we could find at the

37
00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,880
Speaker 1: time worldwide, and that's been excellent, and there's been a

38
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: lot of you know, trials and over seventy players coming

39
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: to going from the team. But now I think this

40
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,000
Speaker 1: is the time to start seeing what we have right

41
00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,520
Speaker 1: and I think I think it's really exciting. You know,

42
00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 1: the World Cup is right around the corner, and I

43
00:01:58,240 --> 00:01:59,920
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a great one.

44
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's weird because it's the home World Cup, so

45
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 2: you don't get the ups and downs and the tension

46
00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,200
Speaker 2: of that qualifying cycle, and it makes it feel so

47
00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:13,400
Speaker 2: different than previous iterations. Now, I'm old enough to remember

48
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,880
Speaker 2: ninety four, and obviously you had a big part to

49
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,519
Speaker 2: play with that ninety four team, but it was different

50
00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,200
Speaker 2: back then. You guys almost acted like a club team

51
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,600
Speaker 2: with the amount of games that you were playing and

52
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,600
Speaker 2: how tight the team was. It's just a very different

53
00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,919
Speaker 2: environment in twenty twenty six compared to what you all

54
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,120
Speaker 2: went through in that cycle.

55
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I imagine that it was so at the time. Obviously,

56
00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,240
Speaker 1: I was at Betty's in Spain, so I didn't get

57
00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,160
Speaker 1: to live the pre World Cup hype. If there was

58
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,520
Speaker 1: such a thing at the time. We you know myself

59
00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,400
Speaker 1: and I think it might have been John Harrik's and

60
00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:50,400
Speaker 1: maybe Eric went, a couple of guys that had been

61
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,320
Speaker 1: ed Roy regularly, a couple of guys that had been

62
00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,520
Speaker 1: playing overseas. I think we only came in right at

63
00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:57,520
Speaker 1: the end, so we missed a lot of what was

64
00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:58,600
Speaker 1: going on beforehand.

65
00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,079
Speaker 2: Yeah, nobody has missed much that's gone on with this

66
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 2: US team over the past couple of years, even though

67
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,200
Speaker 2: it's been like this weird sort of interregnum between tournaments

68
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 2: that really really matter. But on today's show, we'll dive

69
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,120
Speaker 2: into some stuff, the bigger questions that still need to

70
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:20,920
Speaker 2: be answered in these March friendlies. That's why they play

71
00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,040
Speaker 2: the game at this point obviously, And we'll rank our

72
00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 2: top five World Cup dark horse contenders, which is actually

73
00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,640
Speaker 2: really tough because I'm of the opinion that we've actually

74
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,720
Speaker 2: seen more stratification in the international game. I think the

75
00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,600
Speaker 2: gap between the top seventy eight teams and the rest

76
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,240
Speaker 2: of the pack is as large as it's ever been. Plus,

77
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,280
Speaker 2: we'll go inside the locker room with Tab for the

78
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,600
Speaker 2: ninth excuse me for the twenty fourteen World Cup team

79
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 2: scouting preparation. From the moment the drag comes out, you

80
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 2: know who you're gonna play, and it's up to the

81
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,280
Speaker 2: individual teams to figure out, the coaches to go on

82
00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 2: the scouts to then present that to the players so

83
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,800
Speaker 2: that they're no surprises. Everybody's prepped, all right, top, let's

84
00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,680
Speaker 2: get into it. US men's national team players over the weekend.

85
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,880
Speaker 2: Christian Bollizik finally in the box score again he got

86
00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 2: an assist for Milan and ending his drought. Obviously, it

87
00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,839
Speaker 2: is incredibly important for him to get back into form

88
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 2: down the stretch for his club team, but also it

89
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:22,919
Speaker 2: would be nice to see him put the ball in

90
00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:24,279
Speaker 2: the back of the net or at least get an

91
00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,159
Speaker 2: assist over the course of these two matches for the US.

92
00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, I mean, it's it's great to

93
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,800
Speaker 1: see that he got on let's say, on the scoreboard,

94
00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,599
Speaker 1: right that he was able to contribute on a goal.

95
00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,320
Speaker 1: But you know, I think what's important is the fact

96
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,320
Speaker 1: that he's he's playing well. He looks comfortable physically, he

97
00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,640
Speaker 1: looks good, and I think that's the most important part.

98
00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,279
Speaker 1: Sometimes you can have those goal contributions, but if you're

99
00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,200
Speaker 1: now getting home and you're still helping the team in

100
00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,479
Speaker 1: other ways, it still means that you're doing a pretty

101
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:55,919
Speaker 1: good job. And I you know, I continue to be

102
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,280
Speaker 1: amazed by the fact that he's such an important player

103
00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,279
Speaker 1: for such a big club and and of course goal

104
00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,359
Speaker 1: contributions are important, but I see the bigger picture and

105
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:05,839
Speaker 1: I think he's in a good place right.

106
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,040
Speaker 2: Now to talk a little bit about the role he's

107
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 2: playing for AC Milan because it's a little different than

108
00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 2: I think what we've seen of him with the US.

109
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 2: With the US, he's dropping into midfield more as a playmaker.

110
00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,239
Speaker 2: With ac Milan, he really is kind of a second forward.

111
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,159
Speaker 1: Yeah, he plays that secondary role. And I think we've

112
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,599
Speaker 1: discussed on this show in the past that that's the

113
00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,840
Speaker 1: reason why potentially somebody like Weston McKinney can be a

114
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,920
Speaker 1: good compliment to him, right, because he can come from

115
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,960
Speaker 1: a little further back and provide you know, McKinny can

116
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,599
Speaker 1: go to either side coming from behind because he really

117
00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,080
Speaker 1: covers the whole He can cover the whole field, and

118
00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,240
Speaker 1: that would allow Christian to have the freedom to sort

119
00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:53,080
Speaker 1: of roam behind Baligan, right, and Baligan to stay central

120
00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,960
Speaker 1: a little bit more so. I you know, obviously, you

121
00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 1: know we're all this is like a Monday morning quarterbacking, right,

122
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,640
Speaker 1: It's easy to coach someone else's team. But you know,

123
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,680
Speaker 1: I've said it all along that I think if we

124
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,000
Speaker 1: have a chance in this World Cup, we sort of

125
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,000
Speaker 1: have to build a team. And people disagree with this obviously,

126
00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:13,320
Speaker 1: but I think we sort of have to build a

127
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,360
Speaker 1: team around our best player, and I think our best

128
00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,200
Speaker 1: players Christian Politic, and the more comfortable we can make him,

129
00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,840
Speaker 1: the better it will be for the team. Considering that

130
00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,400
Speaker 1: Christian Polisic has not been great, you know, for the

131
00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:28,120
Speaker 1: national team over the last couple of years, so I

132
00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,040
Speaker 1: think I would be comfortable with us building a little

133
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:31,840
Speaker 1: bit around them.

134
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,320
Speaker 2: So how much do you think of it in terms

135
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,040
Speaker 2: if you're coaching it right, how much do you think

136
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,120
Speaker 2: of it in terms of building it around the best player?

137
00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:40,880
Speaker 2: And how much do you think of it in terms

138
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,960
Speaker 2: of building around the best partnership. Because the way you

139
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 2: were talking about Weston playing underneath and his ability to

140
00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,200
Speaker 2: cover ground actually unlocking freedom for Polisic. I don't know

141
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,960
Speaker 2: if fans think of it that way, but when I

142
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,239
Speaker 2: watch a game, I'm often watching how these two players

143
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,000
Speaker 2: are three players because you work into that work together.

144
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,159
Speaker 2: And how much does that go into a coach's thinking.

145
00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:06,960
Speaker 1: Well, I think a lot, because that goes into the

146
00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,360
Speaker 1: player's IQ right of how they read the game, and

147
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,600
Speaker 1: that's important. And I think when you're looking at Balligan,

148
00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,800
Speaker 1: Polistic and McKinny, I think you have three players that

149
00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,800
Speaker 1: have a really high IQ for understanding space within that

150
00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 1: let's say a little bit further than the final third, right,

151
00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:29,280
Speaker 1: So I do see McKinny filling in the holes that

152
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:34,040
Speaker 1: that that Polistic would be leaving behind. I see Baligan

153
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,240
Speaker 1: being a little bit more essential because that's what he's

154
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,280
Speaker 1: good at. But all three of them can read off

155
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,880
Speaker 1: of each other. That's I like that a little bit.

156
00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 1: And by the way, not that Tillman couldn't do the

157
00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 1: job in that spot as well. I just like a

158
00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,280
Speaker 1: little bit more what what McKinny can offer as a

159
00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,360
Speaker 1: I have to do whatever I have to do. And

160
00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,280
Speaker 1: by the way, that's what he does with Juventus, right,

161
00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: He fills in wherever he can, so I see him

162
00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 1: as a as a better compliment to Polisic and Balligan.

163
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,280
Speaker 2: I think that Weston is a little bit more technical

164
00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 2: than Tilman as well, more likely to unlock the game

165
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,520
Speaker 2: with a touch, which we've seen for Juventus both in

166
00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:17,920
Speaker 2: Syria in Syria excuse me, and internet and continental play.

167
00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,480
Speaker 2: I think his best position is as that sort of

168
00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,880
Speaker 2: almost false number ten underneath to forwards who are then

169
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,600
Speaker 2: given that freedom to combine and attack without having to

170
00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,800
Speaker 2: think about making the game. And that's who Christian Polistic

171
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,559
Speaker 2: is for ac Milan. So if you think about partnerships

172
00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,400
Speaker 2: and attack and the ability to sort of tilt the

173
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,120
Speaker 2: pitch in a way that benefits are our most dangerous players.

174
00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,640
Speaker 2: It does seem to all line up also lining up

175
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,480
Speaker 2: Tim waya right wing back. That's where he played this

176
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,400
Speaker 2: past weekend for Marseille. It's become come his positions have

177
00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,600
Speaker 2: like he's played all over the field for a couple

178
00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,959
Speaker 2: of teams now, but he has looked at his best

179
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,520
Speaker 2: at right wing back and I would certainly like to

180
00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,000
Speaker 2: see him get some run for the US in that

181
00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 2: position over these next couple of games against Belgium Portugal.

182
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it could be a good idea if

183
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,400
Speaker 1: Bogettino is thinking that's where he can play. And I

184
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,360
Speaker 1: think in the World Cup, if you look at what

185
00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:26,080
Speaker 1: in particular what Paraguay and Australia have to offer, there's

186
00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:28,800
Speaker 1: no question that Tim Waya can play that wide role.

187
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,400
Speaker 1: I'd be concerned a little bit against Belgium to have

188
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:34,600
Speaker 1: him out there if Doku is going to be there,

189
00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,720
Speaker 1: because Doku is just purely out and out winger who's

190
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,520
Speaker 1: a great dribbler, and Tim's going to need that double

191
00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,640
Speaker 1: team if he's going to defend that. You know, if

192
00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,320
Speaker 1: you watch a little bit of the let's say, and

193
00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,559
Speaker 1: this is how he plays every week Doku by the way,

194
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,360
Speaker 1: because I think he's one of the more important players

195
00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,000
Speaker 1: in the world in terms of like his his level

196
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,800
Speaker 1: at this point. You know, Real Madrid double and triple

197
00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,160
Speaker 1: team him in order to keep them away from the box.

198
00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:02,000
Speaker 1: And I think we're gonna have to do that. I think,

199
00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,400
Speaker 1: if you know, if if we play with three center backs,

200
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,840
Speaker 1: I think Tim could potentially do the job as long

201
00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,320
Speaker 1: as he delays and waits for help, because there's no

202
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,200
Speaker 1: question that by himself it would be he would be

203
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,200
Speaker 1: difficult to Doka would be difficult to handle.

204
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:22,880
Speaker 2: Way is listed as a forward the US rosters. Should

205
00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,320
Speaker 2: we read anything at all into that? Or is that

206
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:27,240
Speaker 2: just accounting doesn't matter at all?

207
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,040
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you can't help but read into it,

208
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,640
Speaker 1: right because you know, in the end, when you look

209
00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,240
Speaker 1: at a roster, you still have Scali there and you

210
00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,760
Speaker 1: still have Freeman there, So those are your really your

211
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,640
Speaker 1: outside backs or or you know, or wing backs, So

212
00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:45,559
Speaker 1: you have to read into it. I would like to

213
00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,600
Speaker 1: see one of the other two guys play that position

214
00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,080
Speaker 1: and not Tim Wei, and I would like to look

215
00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,600
Speaker 1: at Tims as more of a secondary striker rather than

216
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,120
Speaker 1: that wide role for our team.

217
00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,360
Speaker 2: The other two guys have talking about Joe Scalley, who

218
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:02,240
Speaker 2: I think is in this camp fighting for a job,

219
00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,240
Speaker 2: like one of the last names of the camp. Got

220
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:09,080
Speaker 2: this invite I think in part because Serginiodst picked up

221
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,680
Speaker 2: an injury. Now he is expected to be healthy before

222
00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,400
Speaker 2: the end of the club season for PSV, but it's

223
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,840
Speaker 2: worth noting. And then the other one is Alex Freeman.

224
00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,280
Speaker 2: He's played about forty minutes for Via Real since making

225
00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:25,520
Speaker 2: that move, hopefully a little bit more on his plate

226
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,240
Speaker 2: in the weeks and months to come close to a

227
00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 2: lock for me. But nobody's written in penn. Maricio Pochettino

228
00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,920
Speaker 2: has made that clear and we've seen it with the

229
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,520
Speaker 2: way Johnny Cardoso has been in and out of camps.

230
00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:41,599
Speaker 2: He plays for one of the biggest clubs in the

231
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,240
Speaker 2: world in Athletico Madrid. He has gotten his chances with

232
00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,440
Speaker 2: the US, he has not taken them. He has not

233
00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 2: played well in his I think he has twenty two

234
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,840
Speaker 2: caps for the US now and I can't remember a

235
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,640
Speaker 2: single one where I was like, he was really, really good,

236
00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,680
Speaker 2: And that's why he's on the fringes on this roster

237
00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,680
Speaker 2: despite playing for such a great club. Now he played

238
00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:07,200
Speaker 2: pretty well against Real Madrid over the weekend. This is

239
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,840
Speaker 2: his chance to have like what are what do we

240
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,440
Speaker 2: need to see? What do we want to see from

241
00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,640
Speaker 2: Johnny given that Tyler Adams is absent?

242
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 1: Well, I mean I think you you know, all of

243
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,760
Speaker 1: the things you said, You're absolutely right. I think I

244
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,560
Speaker 1: think the issue here is we because you said this

245
00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:27,880
Speaker 1: as well, we haven't seen this with the national team,

246
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,120
Speaker 1: and out of the twenty two games that we've watched

247
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,240
Speaker 1: that he's played, we only remember, likely the mistake he

248
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,559
Speaker 1: made against Turkey, which, by the way, anybody can make

249
00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,480
Speaker 1: right anytime. But when you have that as the only

250
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,920
Speaker 1: play that that fans can remember after two games, it's

251
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,240
Speaker 1: really not a good place to be. I think we

252
00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:48,920
Speaker 1: need to turn the page. He's likely in the best

253
00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,720
Speaker 1: moment he's been in his career right now. He's playing

254
00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:55,840
Speaker 1: important games for one of the top clubs in the world,

255
00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,640
Speaker 1: and I hope that it translates to our national team.

256
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,360
Speaker 1: You know, in the end, he's not a flashy player.

257
00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,960
Speaker 1: He's a support player, and because of that, I think

258
00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,360
Speaker 1: if we can, if we can get him the playing time,

259
00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,599
Speaker 1: and he gets through these two games Belgium and Portugal

260
00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,120
Speaker 1: really without making mistakes and just supporting people in front

261
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,480
Speaker 1: of him, ball recovery, spreading balls around, just doing all

262
00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,880
Speaker 1: the simple things, right. I think he plays himself into

263
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,520
Speaker 1: the picture and potentially into the starting eleven at one point.

264
00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,240
Speaker 2: One of the things that Athletic is good at is

265
00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:35,760
Speaker 2: compressing the field, and their defensive midfielders don't actually cover

266
00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,080
Speaker 2: as much ground as you see some from some of

267
00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:41,200
Speaker 2: the other top teams in the world, and that's that's

268
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,520
Speaker 2: by design. So they put the game Simioni really puts

269
00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,120
Speaker 2: the game right in front of them and says destroy here,

270
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,840
Speaker 2: win the ball here, play forwards here the US it's

271
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,320
Speaker 2: a little bit more expansive in that position. And you know,

272
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,320
Speaker 2: Tap was talking about Doku a few minutes ago. Doka

273
00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,480
Speaker 2: gets an isolation over on that wing. The defensive midfielder

274
00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,640
Speaker 2: has to rotate over and cover that. You cannot let

275
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,319
Speaker 2: Doku come inside and go direct at goal. That then

276
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,200
Speaker 2: he beats the wing back. He compromises a set like

277
00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:17,360
Speaker 2: that is the rotation that Johnny Cartoso or Christian Rodan

278
00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,600
Speaker 2: or Aiden Morse, whoever is playing as the six, that

279
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:22,440
Speaker 2: is the thing that they have to be aware of.

280
00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,760
Speaker 2: Against Belgium, it's going to be different against Portugal. Portugal

281
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,400
Speaker 2: has guys who will set up as that number ten

282
00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,880
Speaker 2: or kind of a free eight in zone fourteen, and

283
00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,320
Speaker 2: it becomes at times almost more of a one v

284
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,360
Speaker 2: one thing for the defensive midfielders.

285
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,920
Speaker 1: Tap. Yeah, you know, every team is different and you

286
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,600
Speaker 1: have to prepare differently for every every one of them.

287
00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,880
Speaker 1: You know. You know, like I said before, Doku just

288
00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,400
Speaker 1: happens to be a very hot player at the moment

289
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,720
Speaker 1: in good form, so you have to have to prepare

290
00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,680
Speaker 1: for that. And by the way, you know, we we

291
00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,840
Speaker 1: could likely play Belgium in the World Cup and that

292
00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,920
Speaker 1: could happen again. So I think it's a great it's

293
00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,680
Speaker 1: great preparation for us to see where we are. And

294
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,320
Speaker 1: in terms of having the midfielder rotating there, yeah, I mean,

295
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,840
Speaker 1: that's that's gonna have to happen. And whether that's that's

296
00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,480
Speaker 1: gonna be Cardozo or someone else that has that assignment

297
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,600
Speaker 1: to go there, you're likely going to need at least

298
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,920
Speaker 1: two players. And I think if Waya plays in that spot,

299
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,400
Speaker 1: or even if Alex Freeman plays in that spot, or

300
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,840
Speaker 1: Scaley plays in that spot, They're still going to have

301
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,040
Speaker 1: to give Doku room until they get that coverage to

302
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,040
Speaker 1: be able to challenge the ball. Once you have help,

303
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,720
Speaker 1: you can't challenge the ball before. So yeah, these are

304
00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,800
Speaker 1: little tactical things that I think obviously Boschettino is gonna

305
00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,520
Speaker 1: get right because he knows a lot more than I do,

306
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,560
Speaker 1: so I'm sure he's gonna get that right. And but yeah,

307
00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,400
Speaker 1: every team is different and you just have to prepare,

308
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:44,840
Speaker 1: that's all.

309
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, Is there one of these teams? Because the games

310
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:52,400
Speaker 2: are really close, right, the games are Saturday and then Tuesday,

311
00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,160
Speaker 2: so we're expecting a lot of rotation in the squad,

312
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,200
Speaker 2: even within the context of a couple of friendlies. Is

313
00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,760
Speaker 2: there one of these two teams that you would rather

314
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,960
Speaker 2: see Johnny get his runout against his if we assume

315
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,280
Speaker 2: sixty minutes in one game and then thirty the next,

316
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,240
Speaker 2: is there one of these two that you would rather

317
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:12,360
Speaker 2: see him get the sixty in?

318
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 1: Well, I mean that that's you know, that's that's a

319
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,520
Speaker 1: tough call because if you if you look at the

320
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,960
Speaker 1: Portugal team and now you're looking at Nevis and Bettina

321
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,240
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field with likely Bruno Fernandez

322
00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,240
Speaker 1: there too. Man, if all three of those guys are

323
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,600
Speaker 1: playing at one time, you know you're gonna be doing

324
00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,560
Speaker 1: a lot of defending because they just don't lose the ball, right,

325
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,760
Speaker 1: And so do we want to see them in that

326
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,080
Speaker 1: environment or do we want to see him maybe against

327
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,560
Speaker 1: Belgium that likely doesn't have as strong of his censor

328
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,120
Speaker 1: midfield and we can potentially have the ball a little

329
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,320
Speaker 1: bit more. I would rather see him against Belgium where

330
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,480
Speaker 1: he has to maybe run that coverage all the way

331
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:55,520
Speaker 1: to the sideline, see how he makes that effort. But

332
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,720
Speaker 1: at the same time, maybe he can have a little

333
00:16:57,760 --> 00:16:59,120
Speaker 1: bit more of the ball and we can see him

334
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:00,240
Speaker 1: on the ball a little bit more.

335
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, either way, it's gonna be a really good test

336
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:09,200
Speaker 2: for Johnny, for Christian Roldan, for Ian Morris. And then

337
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:11,879
Speaker 2: we also have the two guys who we think of

338
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,520
Speaker 2: as the number eights in the pool, which are Tanner Tessman,

339
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 2: who I think both of us have in our first

340
00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,000
Speaker 2: choice eleven for the US national team. And then's a

341
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,040
Speaker 2: batsm Burholter who's played really well, who does cover a

342
00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:26,840
Speaker 2: ton of ground for Vancouver, maybe doesn't cover it as

343
00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:29,159
Speaker 2: quickly as some of the top players in the world.

344
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,679
Speaker 2: But he's got an engine so and he's he's shown

345
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,480
Speaker 2: I think the fight that Muricio Pochettino likes. We're gonna

346
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,400
Speaker 2: find out a lot about these guys over the next

347
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,160
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty minutes. I'm looking forward to it.

348
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,119
Speaker 2: We found out that Roman Celentano goalkeeper for FC Cincinnati

349
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,960
Speaker 2: and was on this roster. He no longer is. He

350
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,959
Speaker 2: has picked up a knock, some muscle tightness, maybe from

351
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,160
Speaker 2: picking the ball out of his own net. It's been

352
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,639
Speaker 2: a tough times for since he over the start of

353
00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,160
Speaker 2: the season. He's been replaced by Patrick Schulte, who's he's

354
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 2: been in camps before. Columbus haven't been great to start

355
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,000
Speaker 2: the season. It really hasn't been Shulty's fault. Do we

356
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,960
Speaker 2: have any concerns about that at all? Or is that

357
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 2: just like, okay, the goalkeepers check.

358
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,439
Speaker 1: I think it's more the goalkeeper's check and I and

359
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,600
Speaker 1: I did and I did hear Bob Bradley mentioned the

360
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,080
Speaker 1: importance of a third goalkeeper as if you know, someone

361
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,320
Speaker 1: gets hurt and then you have to use your third

362
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,399
Speaker 1: goalkeeper at some point, and he made a couple of

363
00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,320
Speaker 1: good points about that. Yet I the third goalkeeper would

364
00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:32,960
Speaker 1: not concern me at this point. We have I think,

365
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,320
Speaker 1: if anything, I think Marico Bochettino's showing his cards here.

366
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,640
Speaker 1: He's got a top five and out of those five,

367
00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:41,080
Speaker 1: three will go right and and by the way, the

368
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:44,680
Speaker 1: top two will likely be Freeze and Turner. So now

369
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:46,480
Speaker 1: it's is it going to be Brady? Is it gonna

370
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,520
Speaker 1: be Shalty? Is it gonna be Salentano as the extra goalkeeper?

371
00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:51,760
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's as much as I'd like

372
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:53,240
Speaker 1: to talk about goalkeepers.

373
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all about the lives. We can talk a

374
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,680
Speaker 2: little bit more about striker Ricardo Peppy back healthy again,

375
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:10,280
Speaker 2: back in the transfer window, transferred market news again because

376
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,639
Speaker 2: it looked like his move to Fulham was done, uh

377
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:19,080
Speaker 2: and then suddenly it wasn't done. Like, first of all,

378
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,199
Speaker 2: what's going on? Man? In? Second of all, is this

379
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 2: something that US national team fans should be concerned like?

380
00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:29,359
Speaker 2: Because on off, big move, career defining like that could

381
00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,720
Speaker 2: affect the guy on the field, not just off.

382
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,879
Speaker 1: I have to, as let's say, as a fan, I'm

383
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,479
Speaker 1: a little bit concerned about this one because you know,

384
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,159
Speaker 1: now the numbers that we saw, well, I think we

385
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,520
Speaker 1: saw latest number was forty million, right transfer to Fulham.

386
00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,000
Speaker 1: You know, now you're waiting until the summer. With forty million,

387
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,280
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of players this summer that

388
00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,840
Speaker 1: will have a good World Cup that likely Fulham can

389
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,919
Speaker 1: be looking at. And if and if Peppy is going

390
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,639
Speaker 1: to be most of the time on the bench for us,

391
00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:02,920
Speaker 1: he's not going to show as much as other players.

392
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,320
Speaker 1: And now you start to think, you know, the numbers

393
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,879
Speaker 1: got so high that for that number, you're gonna have

394
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,640
Speaker 1: a lot of options if you're Fulham. And so I'm

395
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,120
Speaker 1: seeing this as a little bit of a disappointment and

396
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 1: in a step backwards.

397
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:23,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, so think about it on the field right like, like,

398
00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,879
Speaker 2: is this something that you worry? Like if you're coaching

399
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 2: Ricardo Peppy right now, how do you approach him and

400
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 2: make sure that his head is in the game, that

401
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,000
Speaker 2: his head is not thinking about that forty million and

402
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 2: that move to Fulham.

403
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, so now we can go a little bit deeper

404
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,159
Speaker 1: about what happened, right, So apparently according to Ernie Stewart

405
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,399
Speaker 1: and what I read, I didn't speak with Ernie, but

406
00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,240
Speaker 1: for what I read was, you know, Fulham wanted some

407
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,480
Speaker 1: sort of guarantee if if Peppy were to get hurt

408
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,160
Speaker 1: between now and the World Cup, and then they would

409
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,199
Speaker 1: be able to take their money back, right, which, of

410
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,080
Speaker 1: course if you're sounding a player, you don't want to

411
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,160
Speaker 1: do that, if you're a PSV because if you're doing that,

412
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,840
Speaker 1: you're preventing yourself from buying your next forward, Like you

413
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 1: have to start thinking forward now, you have to plan

414
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 1: in to the future, so you can't do that. And

415
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,199
Speaker 1: so if you're Peppy at this point, of course you're disappointed,

416
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,240
Speaker 1: but you also know that there's a good reason for that.

417
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,840
Speaker 1: It wasn't that the club didn't want to sell you,

418
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: and it wasn't that the other club didn't want to

419
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,280
Speaker 1: have you, And so I understand what you're saying. It

420
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,240
Speaker 1: does have a little bit of an effect. It is

421
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:26,280
Speaker 1: likely he would be making a lot more money right

422
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 1: if he moved, But I think he has to have

423
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 1: confidence in himself that he's going to get another transfer

424
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: later on, because at this point, I don't think it's

425
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,080
Speaker 1: either club's fault, to be honest, I think they're both.

426
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,280
Speaker 1: They both have a right. First of all, Fulham to say, hey,

427
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,399
Speaker 1: I'm going to spend forty million. I want to make

428
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 1: sure I bring a healthy player and PSB to say, well,

429
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,440
Speaker 1: I can't guarantee that. And because of that, if you don't,

430
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,520
Speaker 1: if we don't get the money guaranteed, I can't go

431
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,080
Speaker 1: out in the market and get the substitute for pepe.

432
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,400
Speaker 1: So I think both clubs are doing the right thing.

433
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 1: Unfortunately it doesn't work for Peppee, but I think you

434
00:21:59,280 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 1: should be okay.

435
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 2: Was Ernie Stewart this tough negotiator when when you guys

436
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,879
Speaker 2: are on the team together, because he seems like who

437
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,280
Speaker 2: state like, I would not want to play cards against

438
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 2: this man? It's wild, you know.

439
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 1: I always felt that Ernie was very professional, you know,

440
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:16,720
Speaker 1: and the way you see him now as the same

441
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:19,680
Speaker 1: way he was as a player. He understood the game,

442
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,360
Speaker 1: you know, he was he was one of those players

443
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 1: that you could potentially see be a coach down the

444
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,879
Speaker 1: road because he really read the game well and was

445
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 1: very serious about it as as most Dutch people are,

446
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: right they you know. But but yeah, he was a

447
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: He's a very smart player.

448
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,440
Speaker 2: A smart executive as well, no doubt about that. PSV

449
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 2: has done really good work in the transfer market over

450
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 2: the past few years. Hopefully they'll do some more good

451
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,400
Speaker 2: work this summer with Ricardo Pappy. Hopefully he plays well

452
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,119
Speaker 2: in these games coming up for the US earned himself

453
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 2: a bigger role, maybe even a bigger paycheck for PSV.

454
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,199
Speaker 2: We will see about that for us. It's time for

455
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 2: a break. We'll be right back with our top five

456
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 2: World Cup dark Horse Contenders. Please rate, review, and subscribe

457
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,400
Speaker 2: to Inside American Soccer with Tom Buger and tab Ramos

458
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:27,160
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, welcome back to Inside

459
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 2: American Soccer. Tab I kind of tipped my hand earlier

460
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 2: in the show when I said that I think there's

461
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 2: a larger gap between the top seven eight teams in

462
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 2: the world and like the chasing pack, than there ever

463
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 2: has been, which is to say, for this segment, which

464
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 2: is our top five World Cup dark Horse Contenders, I

465
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 2: really really struggled to come up with anyone who I

466
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 2: could see actually winning this thing who's not considered one

467
00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 2: of the favorites. But you're the one who suggested this bit.

468
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,160
Speaker 2: You're the one who suggested this time five. So I'm

469
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 2: I'm passing to you. Man. Take us through your list.

470
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 2: You actually, in true Tabramo's fashion, you listed six for

471
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,959
Speaker 2: your top five and I respect that about you. So

472
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 2: take us through. Who do you have at number five?

473
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 1: Yes, So let me say first that when I suggested,

474
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 1: I did it without thinking, as as a lot of

475
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 1: the things I do so which is not a great trait.

476
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 1: But but and of course, whenever we put a list

477
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: of whatever the number is, I'm always going to add

478
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 1: to that list. And so I also have honorable mention,

479
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 1: right because I didn't put I didn't put Columbia or

480
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 1: Morocco on this list. And and I'm gonna say this,

481
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 1: the reason I didn't do that is because there's a

482
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 1: little bit of a higher expectation for those teams and because,

483
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,359
Speaker 1: like you, exactly what you're saying, I actually don't see

484
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,400
Speaker 1: a dark horse winning this World Cup either. I sort

485
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 1: of selected. I selected teams that I think can surprise

486
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,920
Speaker 1: and can't go a lot further or than we could expect.

487
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 1: So that's sort of how I picked my list. So

488
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:09,160
Speaker 1: as as a fifth place, I had a combination of

489
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: Paraguay and Turkey. And this is the reason. By the way,

490
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:14,959
Speaker 1: Turkey hasn't qualified yet as of this moment. They have

491
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 1: to get through it and they may not, by the way,

492
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: But the reason I'm saying this is because they're in

493
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: US's group, and in that group, I think if you're

494
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: a Paraguay or Turkey, you have to be thinking that

495
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,159
Speaker 1: you also have a chance to come in first place. Obviously,

496
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 1: that's how you look at it. The pathway coming out

497
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 1: of first place in this group could really set you

498
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 1: up in a situation where you could find yourself in

499
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 1: a quarterfinal matchup. And because of that, I don't think

500
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,919
Speaker 1: that pre World Cup we are thinking of Paraguay or

501
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: Turkey as a quarterfinalist at all. And because of that,

502
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 1: I think that these would be dark horses to actually

503
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: make noise in the World Cup if they can win

504
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 1: that group. So that's why came from Turkey.

505
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 2: Of course, is in the in the intercomt or excuse me,

506
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 2: in the European uay of playoff, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo the

507
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 2: other ones. The US will play one of those four teams.

508
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,199
Speaker 2: Turkey is huge, huge favorites to come out of that

509
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 2: and they have a lot of talent to have, but

510
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 2: they traditionally kind of underperform that talent. Other than two

511
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 2: thousand and two, for whatever reason, they haven't been able

512
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 2: to put it together. US Benz though, should be tuning

513
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 2: into those games, should be watching Turkey. Because this is

514
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 2: a team, as you said, we are likely to play

515
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:40,880
Speaker 2: in this tournament. We have already played your number four

516
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,920
Speaker 2: team in a friendly last October. That's Ecuador. Tab tell

517
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 2: us through what you've take us through what you've seen

518
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 2: from that team.

519
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean, I think again dark horse because Ecuador,

520
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if they've ever gotten out of

521
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 1: the first round, and if they have, maybe they've won

522
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: one game. It's not a team that we're used to

523
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 1: seeing at the World Cup. But I tell you what,

524
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 1: when you look at their roster, and in particular they're

525
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: they're they're defenders for Ecuador. You know if you if

526
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: they say you're gonna win tournaments by playing good defense,

527
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 1: they have the players at the highest possible level you

528
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: can have on defense. When you look at Incapia back there,

529
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: you're looking at at William Patcho playing for PSG, who

530
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: obviously not only is a great defender, but he's also

531
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,640
Speaker 1: excellent coming out of the back. You have Caceedo as

532
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 1: the number six who can win everything, and then you

533
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 1: still have like an older guy like Enter Valencia up

534
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: top who can get you goals. And I think when

535
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: you know when you can defend well and up top

536
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 1: you have a poacher like Valencia who can win games.

537
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 1: Be careful with Ecuador because if they get out of

538
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 1: their group, they can make some noise. And that's the

539
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 1: reason I put him there.

540
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,680
Speaker 2: We saw that against the US in that right. Now,

541
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 2: granted neither team was at full strength, but like there

542
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 2: were a lot of good players on both sides of

543
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 2: that field. Ecuador play hard and they like they're a

544
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 2: fundamentally sound team that doesn't give you anything easy, and

545
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 2: that has traditionally been a path to the quarterfinals or

546
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 2: maybe beyond right because you look at that ability to

547
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 2: unbalance a game with Pacho in particular, carrying the ball

548
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 2: into an opposer like that gives every team trouble. At

549
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 2: the club level. Now, there's a difference in terms of

550
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 2: attackers between what Ecuador have and what PSG you have,

551
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 2: So it was spinning that type of ball progression off

552
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: the back line into something at the international level maybe

553
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 2: a little bit different. But they're a very dangerous team.

554
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 2: And I like that pick, and I think everybody's gonna

555
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 2: like the pick that you guys, that you have at

556
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 2: number three, because we all watch the African comp nations

557
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 2: and there's only one champion tab and it's Senegal.

558
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: That's right, and by the way, well deserved because they

559
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: were the better team in the final. And obviously we

560
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: know about the championship getting taken away and all the

561
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,720
Speaker 1: issues that happen when they walk off the field, all

562
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: of the things. But I think we have to look

563
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: at what happens when they have their eleven on the field.

564
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: I have to say this is this is maybe the

565
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: deepest African team that I've ever seen. You know, I'd

566
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: have to go back to maybe Nigeria's ninety eighteen potentially

567
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: for me to think of an African team that I

568
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: think had just so much talent at the highest level.

569
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: And obviously, you know Mani will be there, and Dan

570
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 1: and Nicholas Jackson up front. You know, you have three

571
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: guys that can win a game anytime, and the rest

572
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: of the team is stacked starters and substitutes. Goalkeeper Mendy

573
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: obviously he's a good goalkeeper as well. So this is

574
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 1: certainly a team that and they're in a difficult group,

575
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 1: but if they can get out of the group at

576
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: second or third and still make a lot of noise

577
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:49,240
Speaker 1: in this World Cup.

578
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 2: And it's interesting from an American perspective because we have

579
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 2: been so good over the years about integrating dual nationals,

580
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 2: including yourself, Uruguayanguayan, American, and that's what we see from

581
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,880
Speaker 2: this Senegal team because so many of these guys were

582
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 2: born and raised in France to Senegalese parents, and honestly,

583
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 2: we've seen what France has become over the past twenty

584
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 2: five years. They're a juggernaut. They produce more top talent

585
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 2: than I think anybody in the world other than maybe Spain,

586
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 2: and a lot of those guys who are not quite

587
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 2: good enough for the French team that has made the

588
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 2: last two World Cup finals and won one of them,

589
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 2: they're finding their way into this Senegal side and they

590
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 2: are overwhelming at times.

591
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: They are they are and I think really impressive. You know,

592
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: what they did at the Africans Nations Cup was impressive

593
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 1: and I think they can have the same sort of

594
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: run at this World Cup.

595
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 2: Your number two teams surprised me, but then I thought

596
00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 2: about it a little bit, and I thought about the

597
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 2: talent that they had and it kind of made sense.

598
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 2: Norway with perhaps the best, well the best striker in

599
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 2: the World I'll say that early island, but also more

600
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 2: talent down into the midfield and along that back line

601
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 2: than I think people realize.

602
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is really a complete team. So

603
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: of course you have Holland uh and of course you

604
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,120
Speaker 1: have Soreloth by the way, who can score, you know,

605
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 1: on his own. You have oder guard who can run

606
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: the show. But you have a number of players in

607
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: midfield and in the back who are good players. And

608
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 1: all you have to do is look at their qualification.

609
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: I mean they they breezed through qualifying, they beat everyone uh,

610
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 1: and they qualified easily for the World Cup. And I

611
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 1: think the results that people will remember is that they

612
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: beat Italy both home and away. But this is this

613
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: is a legit team that again they're in that same

614
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,760
Speaker 1: group with Senegal and France, so they could get out

615
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: of that group as a second or third and still

616
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 1: make noise at the World Cup, because I think they're

617
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: good enough for that.

618
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the France Norway game might be one

619
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: of the best games to watch because there is a

620
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 2: little bit of a rivalry between him Bape and and

621
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 2: aland I think both guys have a point to prove

622
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 2: whenever they end up playing each other, and right now,

623
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 2: the balls kind of on Bape's foot. If you look

624
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 2: what he's done the past two World Cups and what

625
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 2: Real Madrid have consistently done against Manchester City, I think

626
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 2: it would be I think early aland early Alan would

627
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 2: enjoy it greatly if they got one over on France

628
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,520
Speaker 2: in this one. Odeguard though, is a special player. He is.

629
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 2: He is a kid who I remember when he was

630
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 2: fifteen or sixteen, he broke through into the first team

631
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 2: up in Norway and then he made that move to

632
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 2: Real Madrid. Didn't quite work out for him there, but

633
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 2: he takes an otherwise unwatchable Arsenal team and makes them

634
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 2: watchable with the way he plays the game.

635
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, he really helps the rest of the team move.

636
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 1: He's the one that can next all the pieces of

637
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: that are Arsenal team. You know. Sometimes obviously Edsay is

638
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: chosen ahead of them. They don't normally play both together

639
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 1: at the same time. But I think he's different, much

640
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: different player than that's say. He's more of a distributor,

641
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 1: distributor constructor, you know, he can find that those three balls,

642
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: he can He's really he's really a player that makes

643
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: that Arsenal team better, and I think in this World

644
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: Cup he will help this team make some noise.

645
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 2: And then your number one pick, I shouldn't have been surprised.

646
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 1: No, well, the number one pick, and listen, I'm not.

647
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 1: I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon. The number one

648
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 1: team for me is the US because we are in

649
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 1: that group. You know, I selected uh, you know, Paraguay

650
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: and in Turkey coming out of this group because if

651
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: they could come in first place, and they're thinking about that,

652
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 1: they could have a good run. I think the US

653
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: will be in first place, and I think the US

654
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: will likely have a good run. Now, of course it's

655
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: our expectation that our team will make it to the

656
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: round sixteen at the very least, but I do think

657
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: that it's not It wouldn't be a huge surprise if

658
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,880
Speaker 1: our team ends up in the quarterfinals, are potentially a

659
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 1: great run into the semifinals. And I think that's why

660
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: I'm picking the US team out of all those teams

661
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: that I name, including Paraguay and Turkey. I think our

662
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,840
Speaker 1: team is the more complete team of all of those.

663
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 2: Complete team, good balance. What needs to happen between now

664
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,840
Speaker 2: and then for you to have the confidence that actually

665
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 2: they're going to be able to handle this, and they're

666
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,280
Speaker 2: going to be able to take it all the way

667
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 2: to the summit. Is it as simple as Christian Polistic

668
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 2: and Clobe Baligan get hot, stay hot, and it sort

669
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 2: of rolls forward from there.

670
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 1: I think the only thing I'm looking at with our

671
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 1: team at the moment, I'm not worried about Polistic, I'm

672
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,839
Speaker 1: not worried about Baligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. I'm

673
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: not worried about any of the attacking guys. My only

674
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,719
Speaker 1: concern is what happens in the back. What are three

675
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 1: central defenders are going to be? If there's three, and

676
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: if there's two, I'd be careful with that because I'm

677
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 1: not comfortable at this point to say that with two

678
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,879
Speaker 1: central defenders we can make a run at this World Cup.

679
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, I think I agree with that. I actually

680
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,800
Speaker 2: had I made my own list. I had the US

681
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:25,720
Speaker 2: at five, specifically because I'm concerned about that back line,

682
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,879
Speaker 2: and right now, none of the center backs are making

683
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,280
Speaker 2: a compelling case that they're the right guy to partner

684
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 2: Chris Richards. And that includes partners on either sides, Guys

685
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 2: who we've been waiting for them to break out. Haven't

686
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 2: managed to break out, but they're still on my list.

687
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,320
Speaker 2: I went with a different African team. I went with Egypt.

688
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 2: I know they didn't win African combinations, but I just

689
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 2: really liked the way that they played. It is going

690
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 2: to be tough. We all know the season that Masala

691
00:35:57,719 --> 00:35:59,959
Speaker 2: has had, and we all know that they don't necess

692
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 2: sssarily have the type of top end talent that Morocco

693
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 2: and Senegal have. But I just I think that they

694
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 2: have a way of playing that sort of maximizes the

695
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 2: entire squad, and then you just need Mosala to have

696
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 2: and Marmouche to have the type of tournament that we've

697
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 2: seen from stars of that caliber in the past. My

698
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 2: number three team is Japan, not I think unbalanced, the

699
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 2: greatest Japanese squad that we've seen, but I watched that

700
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,359
Speaker 2: win that they had over Brazil a couple of months ago,

701
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 2: and to have any time a team beats Brazil, even

702
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 2: in a friendly, it ends up being a pretty compelling

703
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,439
Speaker 2: piece of data that they're really really good.

704
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm just going to comment on on on Japan right now.

705
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you. I felt bad not even

706
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 1: mentioning them in the honorable mentioned part of my list

707
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,279
Speaker 1: that wasn't supposed to be on. But with players like

708
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,880
Speaker 1: Kubo and Endo and Kamada and they have, they have

709
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,320
Speaker 1: the talent to make a run. I think a little

710
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 1: bit of a concern for me is the fact that

711
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 1: Endo is injured and not sure if he'd be back,

712
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 1: and I think that would be a huge loss for

713
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:12,840
Speaker 1: them because he really he holds all of that together.

714
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 1: But there's no question this is a talented team. And

715
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,480
Speaker 1: by the way, I'd be happy to see him make

716
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: a run because they play great soccer. They're really fun

717
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: to watch.

718
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,879
Speaker 2: They are. And the other thing about them, we talk

719
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 2: about the US last time, through being young and sometimes

720
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 2: like Egypt I just mentioned, maybe a little bit old

721
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 2: in certain places. If you look at that Japanese roster,

722
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 2: everybody is aged twenty four through thirty, right, everybody is

723
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,759
Speaker 2: like right in their prime, and it feels like if

724
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,319
Speaker 2: they are going to make a run, this would be

725
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 2: the right time for them. Switzerland has a group that's

726
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 2: a little bit older in certain parts and a little

727
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 2: bit younger in certain parts. But every time I've watched

728
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 2: them play over the past year to a half or so,

729
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 2: they've just looked like a really well constructed team to me,

730
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,320
Speaker 2: and I don't think they have any super high level

731
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 2: match winners. And you know, the central defense can be

732
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 2: a little bit if the if a kanji is not

733
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 2: really locked in, but they like if it's felt like

734
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 2: they're on the verge for a long long time. And

735
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 2: then you look what they did in World Cup qualification,

736
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:29,439
Speaker 2: like they breezed through it and here they are, and

737
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 2: you know, maybe they're ready to go. And by the way,

738
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 2: they absolutely killed both the US and Mexico last June

739
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 2: in the you know friendlies, but still like they were

740
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 2: just a level or three above.

741
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:44,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with any of that.

742
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 1: I just I considered switching on a little bit, like

743
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 1: I see Columbia, which which is, you know, another one

744
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 1: of those teams that really wouldn't surprise me as much

745
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 1: as they make, you know, if they would make a run,

746
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,399
Speaker 1: I still don't see them with a potential to win

747
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 1: the World Cup. And because of that, I think if

748
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 1: I were to see a Switzerland run to let's say,

749
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:09,839
Speaker 1: the quarterfinals, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me. I think they

750
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:14,600
Speaker 1: have that type of talent. They're also usual customers at

751
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 1: the World Cup. They know what it is about, they

752
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,399
Speaker 1: know what they're playing for, and so yeah, I think

753
00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 1: it's a good call. The only reason I didn't pick

754
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 1: them is because I sort of expect for them to

755
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 1: do well, So not much of a dark course for me.

756
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then my number one on the list was

757
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 2: your team Senegal. I think we both believe that this

758
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 2: team is capable of a quarterfinal or a semi final run.

759
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,319
Speaker 2: But neither of us really believe that any of these

760
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:45,759
Speaker 2: teams are going to beat the big boys. Probably gonna

761
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 2: be friends, Spain, maybe Brazil, maybe Argentina. Again, we shall

762
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:54,239
Speaker 2: see in the coming months who hoists the World Cup

763
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six trophy for us. It's time for one

764
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 2: more break. Next up, we'll discuss the results we want

765
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,800
Speaker 2: to see from the US team versus Belgium and Portugal,

766
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,919
Speaker 2: neither of whom could be considered dark horses in this one.

767
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,840
Speaker 2: By the way, thanks for listening to Inside American Soccer.

768
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:23,760
Speaker 2: Please rate, review, and subscribe. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.

769
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 2: We got games with the US versus Belgium and Portugal

770
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 2: coming up. It looks like tab, It looks like Cristiano

771
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 2: Ronaldo will not be playing for Portugal during this set

772
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:41,279
Speaker 2: of friendlies, and so heading into the weekend, how much

773
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 2: do these results matter to you? Do you care more

774
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 2: about the results or do you care more about the

775
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 2: process and performance.

776
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:51,560
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit of both. I think

777
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:53,560
Speaker 1: you want to get results because you want to go

778
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 1: into the World Cup with the confidence knowing that you

779
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 1: can win the games. But at the same time, you know,

780
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,520
Speaker 1: I think the coach is looking at different combinations. I

781
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:04,240
Speaker 1: you know, when I look at the twenty seven players

782
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,800
Speaker 1: that were selected this time, is likely that about twenty

783
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,359
Speaker 1: four of them will be at the World Cup. And

784
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: because of that, I think this is a World Cup trial.

785
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: And when the players get on the field, they know

786
00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,840
Speaker 1: that for some of them, this is their last chance

787
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:21,799
Speaker 1: and and for most of them it's the last chance

788
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: to prove that they want to be on the starting eleven,

789
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 1: and so that that has a huge weight on the players.

790
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,240
Speaker 1: And you're also playing great teams. You're playing two teams

791
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 1: that could you know, make a run of this World Cup,

792
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,840
Speaker 1: and so because of that, I think you got to

793
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 1: look at both, and you got to look at see

794
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 1: when the substitutions are made. You know, you start with

795
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:44,839
Speaker 1: your starting team, do you change a whole team going

796
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,319
Speaker 1: into second half? Like all of those things come into

797
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:48,920
Speaker 1: play in these friendly games.

798
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 2: What's more important to you then, is it to see

799
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,360
Speaker 2: how the guys at the top of the roster, or

800
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:57,359
Speaker 2: that we perceive to be the top of the roster.

801
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 2: We know that Mauricio Pochettino would take issue with me

802
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,879
Speaker 2: framing it that way, but to see how they play

803
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 2: together or to sort out who's in spots twenty through

804
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:12,120
Speaker 2: twenty six on the roster heading into June and heading

805
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 2: into the World Cup itself.

806
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,840
Speaker 1: So I'll have to answer that as me and not

807
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,400
Speaker 1: as what I think Marizio Bocchettino is doing. And if

808
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 1: it were me, my last concern is what happens between

809
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: number twenty and number twenty six. At this point, what

810
00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 1: I'm worried about is my starting eleven because it's likely

811
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 1: that you know, the players who aren't here because of injury,

812
00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:37,279
Speaker 1: they may not be here in the summer either because

813
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 1: of injury, and there may be other ones you had,

814
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 1: And so at this point, you know, only a couple

815
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,279
Speaker 1: months remove from the World Cup and playing maybe the

816
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 1: best competition that we've played in years. I'd want to

817
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,240
Speaker 1: see my starting eleven and see how I can max

818
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 1: that out and see what output we have against good squads,

819
00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,959
Speaker 1: and then see how I can correct what I don't

820
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:05,240
Speaker 1: like and reinforce the things that I like against good teams.

821
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,719
Speaker 2: You talked about the defensive side of the ball for

822
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,640
Speaker 2: the US, and I think I mentioned it as well,

823
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,240
Speaker 2: finding the right partner for Chris Richards or partners really,

824
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 2: because we both think that the US are going to

825
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 2: continue that sort of hybrid four to three back system.

826
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 2: What else do you want to see clarity on the

827
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 2: defensive midfield depth chart? I assume clarity, you know, left

828
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:35,359
Speaker 2: wing back, because Jedi Robinson is back and he did

829
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,279
Speaker 2: play sixty minutes this past weekend for Fulham, so he's

830
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 2: just about fit again, even though I don't think he's

831
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,600
Speaker 2: yet looked like the pre injury version of Jedi.

832
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I would like to see. I would

833
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,880
Speaker 1: like to leave this camp after having played Belgium and

834
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:55,359
Speaker 1: Portugal with a very clear idea in terms of what

835
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:58,279
Speaker 1: my starting the leving is going to be, and if

836
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: I have to make one or two changes because of

837
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 1: injury or because now Tyler Adams is back and I

838
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:06,280
Speaker 1: can slot him into that spot. Then those are small changes,

839
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: but I would want to see as a coach, I

840
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 1: would want to see my starting eleven. I want to

841
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 1: know what that looks like after this camp.

842
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the spots that are up for

843
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 2: grabs are on that back line primarily. But then there's

844
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,600
Speaker 2: also a little bit of like, okay, how do we

845
00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 2: use Weston? Do we use Weston deeper as a number

846
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,680
Speaker 2: eight or do we use him as that number ten.

847
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,720
Speaker 2: He's played both spots for Juventus obviously, for the US

848
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:40,200
Speaker 2: he's played primarily as a number eight in the past,

849
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 2: and Tad We've had multiple guests on over the past

850
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 2: couple of months saying, okay, give me your give me

851
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 2: your US best eleven. We've seen Weston lined up anywhere

852
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 2: and everywhere in all of these Where do you have

853
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,080
Speaker 2: him now heading into camp? And do you want to

854
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,719
Speaker 2: see him play both spots over the course of these

855
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:00,320
Speaker 2: two games?

856
00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:06,239
Speaker 1: So I would see him as that attacking midfielder. So

857
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 1: if you're if you're gonna have let's say Baaligan with

858
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:15,200
Speaker 1: a free a freer Polisic running behind, I would see

859
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:19,240
Speaker 1: as McKenny the next player to add to the attack.

860
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,239
Speaker 1: So I see him in that position with in an

861
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:26,800
Speaker 1: ideal scenario, Adams and Testament behind them. That's where I

862
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: would see McKinny at this point. Now if you're saying,

863
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 1: you know, maybe we can see them in the other position,

864
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: because you know, Adams may not be there, and the

865
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: best way to fix that for US may not be

866
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 1: by bringing in a Christian Rodin or or Johnny Cardoso

867
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 1: or sebastianball Hurt told maybe the best way to do

868
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 1: that is by just, you know, pushing a better player

869
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: back so that you can add another good player, which

870
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 1: would be like a Tilment for example, and a little

871
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:53,960
Speaker 1: bit more of an attacking role. Then you can do that,

872
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:56,920
Speaker 1: and I'm sure that Pushatino would likely play them in

873
00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:57,799
Speaker 1: both positions.

874
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:01,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be some stuff for him to figure out,

875
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 2: for Mauricio Pochettina to figure out. He's done a really

876
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 2: good job of it since September, since half time of

877
00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:11,880
Speaker 2: that game against South Korea. Obviously, it was the worst

878
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:15,040
Speaker 2: half the US I think had played other than maybe

879
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:19,799
Speaker 2: against Switzerland under Mauricio Pochettino. That first half or then

880
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:23,040
Speaker 2: the second half was excellent and it's been excellent since

881
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 2: then for the US trying to spin that ahead into

882
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 2: these two friendlies against two very very strong teams in

883
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:34,120
Speaker 2: Belgium and Portugal. Too strong for them to have been

884
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 2: mentioned in the previous segment on World Cup Dark Part

885
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 2: since though obviously if either of them manages to win

886
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:45,000
Speaker 2: this thing, it would be their first World Cup title. Todd,

887
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 2: you have been inside the locker room for the US,

888
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 2: both as a player and a coach, and one of

889
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 2: the things that sort of maybe the fan base doesn't

890
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,200
Speaker 2: have an appreciation of them is what goes in to

891
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 2: scouting your opposition because once the you know, once the

892
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 2: draw is made, well, the US knows two of their

893
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:10,600
Speaker 2: three opponents now will know by this time next week,

894
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:14,240
Speaker 2: will know the third. It'll likely be Turkey. You scouted

895
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:16,720
Speaker 2: for I think it was a twenty fourteen World Cup.

896
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 2: Take us through what that process was like and how

897
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:26,239
Speaker 2: you get this information to these athletes in a way

898
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:28,120
Speaker 2: that is digestible for them.

899
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:31,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this is really interesting actually, because you know,

900
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,719
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people will not know like

901
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:36,799
Speaker 1: all of the different aspects of being a national team.

902
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:39,720
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes you know, I think, and it's normal

903
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:41,440
Speaker 1: by the way, as a regular fan, you're going to

904
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:43,920
Speaker 1: be looking at the national team and you look, you

905
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 1: see it as, Okay, we're gonna call twenty guys this

906
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:50,080
Speaker 1: camp with twenty five players, and these eleven are gonna play,

907
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,279
Speaker 1: and then we select the best ones later on. But

908
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:55,239
Speaker 1: when you look at the national team, you look, you know,

909
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 1: the national team is it's sort of a corporation in itself,

910
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 1: and there are so many any different parts to it, right,

911
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:05,240
Speaker 1: and whether that's the high performance department, the medical department,

912
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 1: you know, obviously pr and all of those other things

913
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:11,520
Speaker 1: that don't necessarily connect to the first team. Now you

914
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:14,839
Speaker 1: have a scouting department, and that scouting department, I think

915
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 1: is the part that I'd like to focus on a

916
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:19,440
Speaker 1: little bit because that part itself, it's almost like it's

917
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:21,839
Speaker 1: a company of its own, so you know. And and

918
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,200
Speaker 1: by the way, this is not how old teams may

919
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:26,480
Speaker 1: do it, and this is not how Mauricio Pochettino and

920
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:28,880
Speaker 1: his staff maybe doing it. I can only speak for

921
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 1: how Jurgen did it back in twenty fourteen. And if

922
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,000
Speaker 1: Jurgen did in twenty fourteen, it's very likely that this

923
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:37,919
Speaker 1: is sort of a German way to do it. Which

924
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,400
Speaker 1: is which is likely that some of the top, you know,

925
00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:43,560
Speaker 1: national teams in the world do it this way. So

926
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,040
Speaker 1: the way Jurgen did it was we waited for the

927
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: for the draw to come out, and once the draw

928
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 1: came out, we already had a plan for sort of

929
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:57,759
Speaker 1: a central scouting area and we had groups of two

930
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 1: people per team that would be scattered, let's say, immediately

931
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:06,200
Speaker 1: throughout the world to actually follow our teams. Right. So,

932
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:10,200
Speaker 1: for example, in that World Cup, we had uh we

933
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 1: were playing Germany, we were playing Ghana, and we were

934
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: playing Portugal. And so for example, myself and Javier Perez

935
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:21,640
Speaker 1: who later coached Toronto and was assistant coach at Toronto.

936
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: I think he's in Atlanta now it's like Academy director

937
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 1: or something. But anyway, Javier and I had Germany and

938
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:29,839
Speaker 1: so we had to follow Germany wherever Germany played and

939
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 1: their friendlies. You go there, you sort of immerse yourself.

940
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:36,239
Speaker 1: It's not just watching video of Germany. You actually go

941
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,080
Speaker 1: to the games. You're at the stadium, you're reading the

942
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,800
Speaker 1: reports that are coming out, you're reading the local press

943
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,880
Speaker 1: about what they're saying, and you're trying to find every

944
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:49,960
Speaker 1: single detail, every single advantage about what every single player said,

945
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,200
Speaker 1: what every coach said, whatever you assistant coach said on

946
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:55,759
Speaker 1: a certain interview, and you try to pull you try

947
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,000
Speaker 1: to gather all of that information together from all your

948
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 1: separate groups of scouts. So I was in the Germany group,

949
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:05,279
Speaker 1: then you then we had a Ghana group, then we

950
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:08,799
Speaker 1: had a Portugal group. And then once you get right

951
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:11,480
Speaker 1: before the World Cup, as you're getting together, you compile

952
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:14,320
Speaker 1: all of this information and you put it together into

953
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:17,880
Speaker 1: a let's say, twelve to fourteen minute presentation that you

954
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 1: have to make the players because you have to. You

955
00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:22,480
Speaker 1: have to remember, players after twelve fourteen minutes, they don't

956
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:26,600
Speaker 1: pay attention anymore. So that's regardless of what how high

957
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,239
Speaker 1: the level or whatever else. You're lucky if you get

958
00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 1: twelve to fourteen minutes. So you have to compile all

959
00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:35,920
Speaker 1: this information of months of travel, reading foreign press, you know,

960
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:37,960
Speaker 1: all of these things that you put together in order

961
00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 1: to have one little scouting report that's about the team.

962
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:43,719
Speaker 1: So and once you get to Brazil. Now you get

963
00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:45,759
Speaker 1: to Brazil. It was my job, for example, in the

964
00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:49,920
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen team to present each one. So I presented

965
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:52,280
Speaker 1: Germany of course, because I followed them, but I also

966
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:54,920
Speaker 1: had to present Ghana to the players on a report

967
00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:56,880
Speaker 1: that another group had done, And I also had to

968
00:50:56,880 --> 00:51:00,280
Speaker 1: present Portugal to the team because those groups of st

969
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,240
Speaker 1: immediately after we got to Brazil, they scattered to watch

970
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 1: what our potential second round opponents would be. So they're

971
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,440
Speaker 1: already working. They finished every port, they're already working on

972
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,200
Speaker 1: the next team. So it's it's just part of the

973
00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:15,719
Speaker 1: full machine of what the national team is like.

974
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,759
Speaker 2: Tap, I have bad news that twenty fourteen Germany team

975
00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:23,640
Speaker 2: had no weaknesses at all? Right, Is that what your

976
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:26,040
Speaker 2: scout came up with? Is that what you After watching

977
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:27,839
Speaker 2: him for a few games, they're like, oh man, we're

978
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:28,320
Speaker 2: in trouble.

979
00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:31,359
Speaker 1: My My scouting report took about thirty seconds. I told

980
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:36,560
Speaker 1: the guys, good luck. No, we were actually, you know,

981
00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:38,520
Speaker 1: if you think about it, we were actually very fortunate

982
00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:41,880
Speaker 1: because obviously, you know, I was doing the Germany's scouting

983
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:44,759
Speaker 1: report in front of Jurgen Klintchman, who obviously no one

984
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,760
Speaker 1: knows Germany better than him, and in front of Bertie Voges,

985
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 1: who of course won the World Cup as a player

986
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:53,279
Speaker 1: and as a coach, so no one knows more than him.

987
00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:55,239
Speaker 1: About Germany. So I was I have to say, if

988
00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 1: all the presentations that I made in front of the teams,

989
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,279
Speaker 1: my Germany presentation at the two thousand and four Team

990
00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:02,839
Speaker 1: World Cup was by far the most nervous I've been.

991
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,200
Speaker 2: So during these scouting presentations, how much of it are

992
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:11,919
Speaker 2: you just distilling down facts about the team that you're

993
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:16,680
Speaker 2: going up against versus how you think the team going

994
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:20,720
Speaker 2: up against matches up with what the US has to offer.

995
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:22,800
Speaker 2: Are you just like trying to keep it as bare

996
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,879
Speaker 2: minimum as possible, or you're trying to sort of extrapolate

997
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 2: here's where we can go at them, Here's where they

998
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:29,640
Speaker 2: might be vulnerable.

999
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's a great question. Because of the limited

1000
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:34,799
Speaker 1: time that you have in front of the players, what

1001
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: you do as you prepare for the World Cup. Within

1002
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: the rooms that you have, let's say your training room,

1003
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:44,239
Speaker 1: meeting rooms, you already have pictures of let's say the

1004
00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:49,000
Speaker 1: opponents players and their tendencies, so that players, let's say

1005
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:51,919
Speaker 1: Matt you're a right back and you wanted to see

1006
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,400
Speaker 1: what the left winger for Germany was doing, we already

1007
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:58,279
Speaker 1: have all that detailed in the training room, where you

1008
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:00,480
Speaker 1: could just go up and read about it for example, right,

1009
00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:03,120
Speaker 1: And then of course you have all the clips that

1010
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 1: you can watch on video and all those other things

1011
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,000
Speaker 1: that we also send to you. So there's a there's

1012
00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:11,160
Speaker 1: a bunch of information that players are getting at different times.

1013
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:14,440
Speaker 1: And and to answer your question, the part where you

1014
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:17,319
Speaker 1: sit in front of the room is more specific as

1015
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 1: to the tactics of how they play as a team

1016
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:23,000
Speaker 1: and where you can hurt them and where they could

1017
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: potentially hurt you.

1018
00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, give them the overview there and then find ways

1019
00:53:27,719 --> 00:53:31,759
Speaker 2: to work specifics into the scout at various times, maybe

1020
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:34,759
Speaker 2: on the on the training pitch, or maybe in the

1021
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 2: locker room, and hopefully in a way that gets the

1022
00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:42,400
Speaker 2: US one round further. I've ever got. That's all I'm

1023
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,640
Speaker 2: asking for. One round further then we've gone in recent

1024
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:49,560
Speaker 2: modern World Cup history. I think we'd all be satisfied

1025
00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 2: with the semi final performance this summer to have, of course,

1026
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 2: we are going to have to go through a couple

1027
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:58,799
Speaker 2: of friendlies first. That's what's on the schedule for the

1028
00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:01,680
Speaker 2: coming week for the US, and that means we're gonna

1029
00:54:01,680 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 2: have a special edition of Inside American Soccer coming up

1030
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:10,040
Speaker 2: in between these two games, and then a quick one.

1031
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:12,960
Speaker 2: After these two games, Tab and I will be on

1032
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:15,400
Speaker 2: the ones and twos trying to figure out what we

1033
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:17,759
Speaker 2: just saw on what it means for the World Cup

1034
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:21,800
Speaker 2: squad this coming summer. I'm excited the games are starting

1035
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:24,319
Speaker 2: to really really matter. That we're I think less than

1036
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,960
Speaker 2: eighty days away from the World Cup kickoff. It's gonna

1037
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,040
Speaker 2: be a fun time and hopefully historic one for the US.

1038
00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:33,879
Speaker 2: Thank you Taving being here as always, and thank you

1039
00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:37,840
Speaker 2: all for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review,

1040
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:42,080
Speaker 2: and subscribe. We'll be back on Sunday for our reaction

1041
00:54:42,239 --> 00:54:44,960
Speaker 2: to that Belgium match. And we also have another new

1042
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:47,960
Speaker 2: show coming up after Portugal next week, and we will

1043
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:48,440
Speaker 2: see you with that