MLS Mid-Season Review, USMNT Finish Top of Gold Cup Group & Club World Cup Impresses

We are at roughly the midway point of the MLS season.

I was worried you were going to say that.

And you said Vancouver, we're going to finish at the bottom.

Yep.

Just let me look.

I'm still scrolling up.

Oh, there's Vancouver there at the top.

At the time, it was a great take.

Yours is coming, by the way.

I had the LA Galaxy win.

You did.

You did.

Which, as bad as my takes were, that's amazing.

Let's go.

Unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S.

soccer for over five years.

LD, my guy, back for another episode of Unfiltered Soccer.

I keep laughing at you.

You're a very busy, very busy man nowadays, by the way.

Doing doggies back and forth to the studio in LA, covering the Gold Cup, doing our pod.

How's things, man?

Good.

It is.

It's tiring, you know.

These tournaments are tiring, but it's fun.

There's been a lot of

lot of drama a lot of talking points a lot of stuff to talk about um what is that is that an alabama shirt by the way it's just like alabama fc it's my daughter's ecnl team oh that's cool yeah um what about you you were you were weren't you at the fanatics thing this weekend i was at fanatics fest this weekend which was at the javit center in new york i was there two days friday and saturday um doing a bit of signing i did some stuff for the premier league and nbc bro it is i mean it's the second year that it was, that they did this, and I was blown away, bro.

I mean, LeBron James was there, Tom Brady was there.

WWE.

Oh, I saw the thing about Brady winning something.

Didn't he win some,

he won some like event or something they did and pawned a million dollars.

I'm like, that dude needs a million dollars.

Yeah, please give that away.

But it was, it was crazy because there's just mobs of like, so every, every celebrity or

athlete has like basically

they're just mob of police and security around them and you kind of move through this crowd and people just are like screaming everywhere like it's uh lebron it's it they didn't scream my name but they scream other people's name now they're like oh it's okay it's tin i don't know we're looking for joe burrow where's he at you know so it was crazy i mean it was crazy for me to see there was one point i was in the green room and lebron and steve nash were doing their they were doing like a quick pop of their podcast in the corner and then logan paul was getting interviewed in that corner i'm like getting shoved around i'm like i'm getting out of here get a i got a coffee i'm like i'm gonna get me they're like tapping on you and you're like, not right now.

I'm not going to sign.

And they're like, no, can you just get out of the way, please?

I will say this.

This NYPD officer,

he was like, he's like, yo, my boss is not going to let me get a selfie on a soccer pan.

He's like,

never mind.

I was like, that's my guy.

I love when they do that.

Like, I know I can't do this, but can you please just take a picture?

But it was cool.

Hey, I just forgot.

Hold on.

Yeah.

Shameless plug, but I've been talking about the book.

Look, I got the cover.

We got the cover done.

It looks great.

You look better on the cover.

Look way better.

Congratulations.

I totally forgot I wanted to

show off today.

Shameless bug.

Is that my signed copy or that's the one for your library?

Just keep checking the mail.

All right, guys.

Follow us at Unfiltered Soccer.

Subscribe to the show as always.

YouTube, Apple Pod, Apple Podcast, Spotify.

You can email Jordan at feedback at unfiltered soccer.

All right, Timmy, right in.

US LNT on USMN.

Lots going on.

So the U.S.

beat Saudi 1-0.

So they went to their final game yesterday, only needing a point against Haiti.

And even a loss, I think, would have been enough in the end.

It wasn't like a perfect game.

Pochatino made four changes to the lineup.

Two of them were because Luna and Berhalter had yellow cards.

So he was smart about not starting them.

Luna came in, but didn't play much.

It was a, you know, it was a tense game because Haiti still had a lot to play for.

But the U.S., I thought, very maturely still won the game.

And, you know, it'd be easy to just say, oh, whatever, let's save it.

but they did well.

Ajamang scored a great goal in the end.

Malik Tillman was fantastic again.

He's been, I think, really the emerging star of this tournament, he and Chris Richards.

And a very good win.

And now they move on to play Costa Rica in Minneapolis next weekend.

Yeah, I think they played well.

I said, you know, before the tournament and then at some point, maybe after

the Trinidad and Tobago game i said i said to you that like i want them to blow the doors off these teams and that didn't happen and maybe that was a bit pie in the sky but it's because look when you play three teams that are going to bunker in and give you the ball it's hard to break them down it just is it is and so you know to to the us's credit yesterday they were they were safe at the back for the most part didn't give a ton of chances away if you know if any real chances and then they had a bunch of you know opportunities.

There was the balls in the back of the net a couple of times, right?

So aside from the the two goals, so I

think they played well.

I think they played well.

I, uh, Tillman,

you know, this is a per not, he clearly, we knew his name, we knew his caliber and his ability, but this is a perfect example of like,

not really sure how you keep him out of the team now

on any goal cup friendly, big match.

Like, if he keeps going and stays fit, yeah,

I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm saying his name's on a team sheet.

That's got to be a,

nailed on.

And then Ajamang, for me,

you know, I hear different arguments.

He's a number nine

that makes things happen.

He does.

And you can talk about clinical finishing and so on.

He makes things happen.

He drags people along.

I know there's going to be some people out there that disagree with me, but show me.

For the people who doubt Ajamang, I would say, show me another U.S.

nine who is dangerous.

And dangerous can be categorized a bunch of different ways.

Yeah.

But show me another one.

And he can do things on his own, LD.

And as a U.S.

striker, we've talked about this over and over and over again throughout the years.

A U.S.

number nine has to be able to do things by themselves on their own because it's not, these games are comfortable, but when when

stuff really starts flying,

you're going to be isolated.

So yeah, I like that.

I mean, interesting stat for Roger.

I mean, he gets so much crap from people.

And, and

people don't understand the sport and they don't understand that you can be effective without being like this clean clinical.

If he was a clean clinical, he'd be playing at Barcelona.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, give the guy some credit.

He's 24.

He's, he's, he's making a great career for himself.

In his first nine U.S.

men's national team appearances, he scored five goals.

Yep, yep, yep.

That means, Tim, hold on.

yeah that means he's tied with a guy who was pretty damn good josie alcador for the six fewest games needed to score five goals like he doesn't need to be a world beater but he's been really effective for this group correct yeah so it's been i i've been very good and and here's here's let me jump on on your point five goals in nine games right that that

people who are he plays at charlotte and he's young how old is he 24 i think 24 okay plays at charlotte he's 24 years old

if if we look at the other side of it, right?

If you want to be a naysayer, he's got five goals in nine games.

He's missed a bunch of chances.

Okay.

If he scored those chances and had 10 goals in nine games, he wouldn't be at the Gold Cup because he'd be on the plane somewhere to Europe because someone would pay $50 million for him.

That's how this works.

So is he a $50 million striker that's going to play at Barcelona?

Not right now.

But like, this is good.

This is what I'm saying to me.

Show me another U.S.

nine who's got that goal record.

Right.

That's it.

And you can.

And by the way, Ennie's available.

He's not injured.

Other guys are injured all the time.

Yes, I like him.

I like him.

I think he's.

And by the way, all of this, he's growing.

Nine games.

He's getting better.

Nine games.

Like by the time the World Cup comes around, I hope he has 20 games under his belt and five more and five more goals.

That's really good for us.

Yeah, that's right.

All right, LD, it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light.

Choose chill.

Get Coors Light delivered.

Go to to CoorsLight.com/slash US LNT.

If we're talking about the Saudi Arabia match, for me, Chris Richard chose Chill.

He was, I mean, Chris Richards was absolutely brilliant.

There was a block that saved the goal, and then he got the game winner.

He's talked about recently, he wants to be him, that he's the guy, give him the pressure, and he'll perform.

Chris Richards, thank you from all of us for choosing Chill.

Congrats to you, Chris Richards.

Brilliant.

Okay, let's talk about Matt Freeze.

So, this, you know, Mo and I on set had a decent disagreement about this.

So, okay, long Balgettz.

Tell me before that.

Yeah, no, I know what happened, but tell me about your and Mo's disagreement because as much as I watch you, I didn't see that.

Okay, okay.

Let me tell you.

So, let me just paint the picture and then we'll.

So, Balgetts played over the top.

Tim Ream tracks it down for those who didn't see, which I'm assuming everyone did.

He plays a difficult pass back to Matt Freeze.

And Tim Ream would tell you that too.

Matt Freeze, I can't tell.

You can't tell with intent.

It looks like he's trying maybe to like pass the ball out with his left foot and it comes to him fast.

Yeah, who is he passing to?

I think Tolkien, maybe.

I think it was Tolkien, yeah, for sure.

And it kind of bounces on him, gets caught under his foot, and he rolls it right to the Haitian attacker, Luisius, who then takes a touch and smashes it in the far post.

It's a big mistake, right?

I mean, there's no doubt about that.

It's a big mistake.

And in retrospect, he would say, just put his laces through it and kick it anywhere.

I mean, if it goes out for a corner, who cares?

Kick it anywhere.

My point with Mo is

now the group stage is over, right?

Pochatino's objective,

he has two objectives.

He said it, win the gold cup and evaluate players.

You're in the quarterfinal now.

My point is all the evaluation stuff is going to happen, but the goal now is to win the gold cup.

And Mo, you know, Mo's, he's,

he won't be necessarily as candid as I am on camera.

And so, he's like, Look, I'm not willing to throw Matt Freeze under the bus.

He's still, and I said, I'm not either.

I'm he's a fine goalkeeper, but now you need to win the gold cup.

And I know Matt Turner's not been great, he's not been playing a lot, but that's the guy you need to have in the goal.

We saw what Kayler Navas did yesterday against Mexico.

You need the guy who can make the play.

So, that's my opinion.

No one cares what I have to say.

You're the goalkeeper.

So, that's that's kind of the back and forth we had.

So, I think Matt Turner should start going forward.

I just, I want to hear your opinion on all that.

Okay.

So, so let me give you, yeah, so two, so my thoughts on the goal and the mistake that Matt Freeze made and

um and whether he should be playing or not.

So, mistakes happen at the highest level, mistakes happen.

Um,

here's the problem: ball comes back, Tim Ream, who is a footballing center back, like he naturally takes the ball, wants to play his keeper, wants to play between lines.

All that's fine.

So, he plays his goalkeeper, right?

Which is still fine, it's tight, but he plays his goalkeeper.

Matt Frees

goes to play tolkin okay

bumbles it it's a it's a bobbly pass he then but he then tries to play a first-time pass off of a bobble from tim reem to tolkin into a tight window makes a mistake okay

what happens is that ball right as as you he knows it's coming to him so he's shaping he's shaping to receive it one way or the other right when he reads that it's hot and bobbly you lean back you open your foot up with a really big surface, and you smash it into the stands.

Here's the problem.

These kids are not taught to think.

They're taught to be robotic.

So he would have been taught, and this isn't Pachatino's for the goalkeeper, this is football.

He'd have been taught to play, to play, right?

So you have one option in that moment.

The objective is to play.

But they don't have enough gumption to say,

I'm going to play nine times, eight times out of 10.

But when there's an opportunity for me to make a decision, I'm going to make the right decision.

So then what happens is go back in hindsight, lean back, smash the ball into the stands.

And

if you're an older player, right, and you're a senior player, he's not, he's a young kid, right?

If you're an older player, you look at your captain and go, don't freaking play me that ball, mate.

Don't do it, right?

But the option B is he's my captain.

Can't speak to him like that.

So no, you do, put the ball in stands, puff your chest out and go, no problem.

We got it.

Cool.

Everything's cool.

Everything's calm.

So one way or another, that ball needs to end up in a stands.

He can't ever take that risk.

But what I would say is mistakes happen and there's a learning process, LD.

And so he'll learn from that.

I still think you can play in moments, but that ball has to go and he needs to make a simple decision.

The problem is for all those people at home, football now is taught in a way on the training ground where it's play no matter what.

See, for me,

when goalkeepers make mistakes now, they're just patted on the back and like, oh, play again, keep playing.

Where before, if I'd have done that and you'd been in the dress room, David Moyes would have absolutely throttled me, right?

And so

that plays a factor.

Whether he should be playing or not,

I think Poch has made his bed now.

I think you have to play him.

Because I'm not disagreeing with you that

Matt Turner is a more experienced hand.

What I'm saying is he's ice cold.

He's ice cold.

He hasn't played.

He hasn't played.

Now you're going to throw him in.

Do I think he can handle it?

Yeah, I think he can.

But like,

this is my point to you.

This is my point to you.

You'd have been better off playing Matt Freeze game one, game two, right?

Yesterday

on the board was a nothing game, right?

Play Matt.

Turner.

Turner.

Yeah.

Turner.

You can then actually go back to Matt Freeze because he's cooking and he plays in the quarterfinal.

Now, off the back of that mistake, which again, whatever, you win the game and

those are the best time to make mistakes when your team wins the game.

Now, we're asking these questions.

Now there's a decision.

Yes.

Yes.

So

if you're asking me, who do I expect to see?

And I've gotten this wrong a couple of times.

I'm expecting to see Matt Freeze because this is what Potches said.

And quite frankly,

you've made a really interesting point because the goal now is to win.

But I'm saying, i'll throw back at you which i agree i'll throw back at you if we want to if we want to evaluate matt freeze you know i'm the best time to do it no i know right now i know right now because you made a mistake the evaluation of everyone

is better is easier and better if we get to play two more games after the quarterfinal if you lose the quarterfinal i mean if that mistake happened in the quarterfinal and we lost to costa rica it's

best right okay right but what i'm saying you're not wrong but if that's the case, yeah, then the evaluation of Matt Freeze is over.

Because I'm telling you now, if Matt Turner plays against Costa Rica, you know when he's playing again?

The semifinal.

Sure.

And he wins the semifinal.

I get that.

So then your evaluation of Matt Freeze is completely over.

Well, I mean, my opinion is he's probably the fifth or sixth choice.

So we agree on this.

So what's the point of,

you know,

okay, right.

So then, so, so if we're casting a bigger scope, right?

And this could go for all the players, then what's the purpose of

why, then why is Matt Matt Turner ice cold and bring him in for the I agree?

And this was my point yesterday.

I said on set too.

If you were one of the guys who didn't start this game, you should be concerned, right?

Because he brought in Aronson, he brought in Quinn Sullivan, he brought in Tolkien, and he brought in Tyler Adams, but he's a you know starter.

But the rest of the guys, this was the game to give them a chance.

So if not, it's like, okay, well, the evaluation is probably over for you guys.

So final answer going into the quarterfinal for me, Matt Freeze plays, I think, because

okay.

So up next is Costa Rica in minnesota costa rica god bless them they did us so many favor i mean two they couldn't help ariel lassiter and warren madrigal um both injured so they're not part of the tournament but carlos mora got us got a second yellow yesterday and manfred ugalde so stupid in the 85th minute just just hit a mexican player in the head and got his second yellow so he's and that he is tim that guy's a real player i was watching him closely yesterday he's a real player so um i would expect now i coming into the game if they were full strength coach streak i would have said this is going to be a really good game i expect us to win now so yeah and the the second yellow thing is is one of the one of the most stupid things in sports like i i'm baffled even now every time a player gets a second yellow card or or in a match when they can't afford to get one they get i'm like i'm like this is really dumb It's like a really, whether it's the manager or it's the player himself.

It's amazing to me when people get second yellows.

I know.

All right.

So

the other, let's just talk through the other games.

So Mexico is first in their group.

They'll play Saudi Arabia.

We're playing Costa Rica.

And then the other games are tomorrow.

Canada certainly has a lot going on.

Your guy, Jesse.

Yes.

He's still under investigation.

I don't, there hasn't been any clarity, but he's still under investigation for, I think there were three things.

One was he communicate.

He was suspended.

So he was sitting up in the stands.

One was two games.

Yeah.

Was he communicating with his bench?

Two, he was apparently sitting in a place he wasn't supposed to be sitting, which, you know, who knows?

And then three, when he was told or asked to move, he had some unkind comments.

Yeah, some choice words.

So he's got a lot.

He's got a lot going on.

And then in his press conference, this was the best.

They asked him about it.

He said, guys, I don't want this to be about me.

I want it to be about the team.

I'm like, you're making it about you.

What are you talking about?

Just talk about the team.

I'm like, like, you can't have it.

Jesse.

It'll be interesting to see Canada tomorrow.

Because by the way, Tim, they drew their second game.

There is a scenario where they don't advance.

Now, I don't think it's going to happen, but there's a scenario where they don't advance.

But this looks like it's on track for a U.S.-Canada semi, which would just be spectacular.

Imagine that.

The current U.S.

men's national team coach.

Pachatino against the future U.S.

men's national team coach in Jesse Marsh.

What a matchup in the semifinal.

He said he will never coach for the U.S.

by the way.

That's a lie, by the way.

That's a lie.

He's a hundred.

Jesse will, I mean,

if you, if you're a soccer person, you know that

he will be the coach of the US men's national team at some point in the future.

I would think so.

Okay.

I want to talk one more thing before we take a break.

So yesterday, this, oh man, this, this wound me up so hard.

So I'm calling the Mexico-Costa Rica game yesterday, okay?

So for people who didn't see it, please go Google it or YouTube it.

There's a goal at the end of the game.

I don't know what minute, 86 87 88.

mexico takes a free kick it goes into the box

costa rican defender jumps up as he's kind of kind of falling backwards and heads it literally heads it sideways across the goal mouth to about seven yards out and santiago santiago jimenez jumps and does like a chilena like a scissor slash bike and smashes it into the roof of the net it's a phenomenal goal just if you go watch it Is that what it's called, by the way?

Chilena?

Is that what it's called?

Like a sideways scissor?

You didn't grow up in a, I don't know.

You didn't grow up in Southern California.

You have no flair.

Everything's a bicycle kick to me if it's overhead.

Yeah, you guys, no flare.

So it's an amazing goal.

The celebration, the scenes are phenomenal.

And you know now, like when you're calling a game, you're so excited.

And then you go, oh no, it's the flag up.

And the flag was up.

And or sorry, I don't even know if the flag was up, but the center referee then,

you know, the the cameras go to him and they're zooming in on him.

And you're like, oh no, what could possibly, what could have happened here?

So they show a replay, and there is a Mexican attacker who's even and on side with the defender for Costa Rica.

He doesn't impact the play, but it doesn't matter because he's on side.

The Costa Rican defender is kind of a little behind him, jumps and heads it.

When he heads the ball to Santiago Jimenez, in the first play where the ball was played into the box, Santiago Jimenez was offside.

And my thing was, this is a different phase of play now.

Like once that ball is headed sideways, this is a whole new phase.

And you can't be offside if the defending team heads it to you.

They take like three seconds, which is a miracle in this Gold Cup.

Everything's taken a minimum of three minutes to make every decision.

And he puts his hand up and says it's offside.

And I just went berserk.

I'm like, you lost it.

You are lost.

I was so mad.

I mean, you cannot take,

I mean, if he's offside, he's offside.

You can't take a goal away from a guy.

That kind of goal in that moment, it was incredible.

And what are we?

I'm thinking, like, what are we doing?

Why are we taking goals like that away from?

You made the point, there's goal bonuses, and there's all sorts of things.

There are goal bonuses.

And by the way, he hadn't scored in the gold cup.

There's momentum things that can impact his career.

Now, look, the referee, I'm not saying the referee was cheating.

I want to be clear.

The wording in the law: a player is in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately played the ball.

So the opponent,

in this case,

I mean, I think he deliberately, what they claimed is like it was a deflection.

The ball went sideways.

I mean, he headed it hard.

He actually wasn't a little nick deflection.

So they're saying he didn't deliberately play it.

Yeah.

I don't know.

It's semantics, whatever.

But I mean, just use some common sense to it.

It looked like a goal.

It looked like a goal.

It looked like a goal.

And for the layman at home, it's like offside is difficult enough.

And then this like really

muddies the water because essentially what's happened is a guy has scored who was deemed to be offside on an initial play, but the plays already then fast forward, moved on and he scores.

And so he's like, when was he?

He was, it was offside at some point, but yeah, I hear you.

I hear you.

It was, it was a spectacular goal that wasn't to be.

It's really, I, I just, I hate it.

And, and, you know, like, Tim, if you watch, if you're a NFL fan, you watch a guy catch a ball, fall to the ground, roll over three times, three seconds go by, and then he, it like drops out of his hand.

Yeah, yeah.

And like by the rule, he didn't complete the catch, or you're like, that's a catch.

You can see it's a catch.

And this was the same thing.

When you're watching, if you've, I've watched tens of thousands of soccer games, it's a goal.

It's not offside.

It's a goal.

And so it was, it was frustrating, but I digress.

I'm off my soapbox.

All right, let's take a break.

When we come back, we'll be talking Club World Cup.

It's been fascinating.

I've been, I think,

very, very

surprised and overwhelmed with how good it's been, Tim.

And we'll dig into it right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.

Stay right there.

The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S.

Soccer.

As the U.S.

gets ready to host the world for soccer's biggest moment, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in in the U.S.

From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, BW is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S.

soccer ecosystem.

They've signed U.S.

soccer talent from across the portfolio of the Federation and will be helping to give these less popular forms of soccer a platform moving forward.

As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I'm excited to support them in their mission to increase visibility of all forms of soccer.

I was recently on set with them shooting their new campaign to do just that.

Keep an eye out for that launching soon alongside the all-new redesigned 2025 Tiguan.

It's a beautiful car.

We've even had one with us at our recent live show.

Make sure to check it out in person and learn more at vw.com.

Drinking and driving is a decision that will change your whole world.

Things will never be the same once you get a DUI because legal fees and time in court are just the beginning.

Getting into a crash is another way your world could be irreversibly changed after drinking and driving.

Your vehicle may not be the only thing that gets damaged in that crash.

You could face a life-altering injury or even death, but you're not the only one who could face those consequences.

Your decision to drink and drive could permanently change someone else's world, whether you injure them or leave their loved ones grieving.

So the next time you're out drinking, call a ride share, a taxi, a sober friend, or a designated sober driver.

The only decision that will change your world for the better is the decision to call for a sober ride.

Drive sober or get pulled over.

Paid for bonets.

All right, Timmy, this episode is brought to you by our friends at Virgin Atlantic.

Yeah, we're here at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at JFK.

Honestly, it makes you rethink what an airport lounge can be.

It's beautiful.

It's what Virgin does.

They've been bringing joy back to flying since day one.

It starts with the people.

The crew makes you feel seen.

You're not just seat 31A.

And the planes, comfy seats, mood lighting, fresh new plane smell, and hours, hours of the best entertainment.

Yeah, I know you travel back and forth across the pond all the time.

The food's amazing, all the little amenities.

They have their mile-high tea.

If you want tea at 35,000 feet, you can have the jam, the scones, the finger sandwiches, all the things that you loved about British times when you were playing.

Yeah, and speaking of the food, you can pre-order your meal before you fly, not just talking about the chicken or the fish.

I had the Thai curry last time and it was absolutely amazing.

Yeah, everything's been thought through.

It's flying the way you wish it always was.

So if we're headed to the UK soon, do it in style.

After the pod, go to virginatlantic.com to learn more about their amazing experience.

LG, let's talk more major summer soccer competitions club world cup you and i have both been pleasantly surprised with it i think a lot of people have been pleasantly surprised with it given the fact that what two weeks ago we were like are is anyone gonna take this seriously fifa couldn't sell tickets for it right like they're basically starting to give away tickets yeah really pleasantly surprised with with with the product on the field and and the butts and seats Yeah, I mean, FIFA made a very smart decision.

They slashed ticket prices, which turned out to be the best thing they could.

Yeah.

Tim, you know, those Walgreen receipts, those long ones that come out?

I, you have talked about them before.

Yeah.

I might be the only person in this country who was saying I was excited for this.

I thought it was going to be great.

Everyone's like, this is a stupid tournament.

No one's going to care.

The players aren't going to come.

Well,

I think everyone's going to eat some crow.

This tournament's been fantastic.

Every time I'm sitting at Fox every day, prepping, we're doing the Gold Cup, which has been great too.

And we have the screens there and we're watching and every Rosebowl, 80,000 people.

This stadium, 70,000 people.

Atlanta, like there's, of course, there are going to be some games that are terrible or studs, right?

Because just who the teams are.

But the South American teams, obviously the European teams, they've come to play and the draws have been fantastic.

It's been amazing.

And by the way, it's only going to get better.

Sure.

As we get to the knockout stage, it's going to be better.

So I'm blockbuster.

Not so humble brag there.

But

so let's just talk real quick about where the MLS teams are.

So LAFC, I think we can say very disappointing.

Not the Chelsea result, that's fine, but losing to Esperance was

not good.

And now they are officially right eliminated.

With one game to go.

They play, they play.

Yeah, one game to go, but they are officially eliminated.

Seattle, I believe, played a night.

And by the time this releases,

they are mathematically still alive.

But I think realistically,

not happening.

Probably not happening.

Yeah.

So those two have been disappointing.

On the other hand inner miami have been i think revelatory a little bit i think people were expecting them to be competitive but sitting on four points and um every opportunity now for them to advance yeah you know this this whole messy thing i i it baffles me like it baffles me that he can still and by the way inter have they have some players who have played in like major competitions world cup european competitions and so like it's not the entire team but there's enough of them that can like carry the other players right like so if you're if you're not one of them you're kind of you're kind of buoyed by the fact that they're in your locker room and you're in the dress room you're not like they're not scared so you're not scared kind of thing right and like i guess i'm just

i'm just baffled at at messi because he he's always

he's always kind of produced this magic but like at his age he's he shouldn't be running the show in games right like when you and i played against him you could understand why you're like we're not going near that guy He's right.

But now in every other single aside from him and Ronaldo, which we'll get to, like aside from those guys, every other player, I don't care how good you are.

You end up getting the lumps kicked out of you.

You end up like you, you slow down.

Like this guy

just keeps going.

I don't think he's human.

It's awesome to watch.

He can still take over a game in the second half.

Like what?

Yeah,

they play tonight.

as we're recording.

This will be released tomorrow.

So they play Palmaris.

So if and when I think think we hope and expect that they will get through,

they will then have the opportunity to play in a knockout game, which I think should be just spectacular.

So that's going to be really fun to watch.

All they need is a point and even a loss could be enough for them to get through.

Other results, I think the upside of the tournament so far was, I don't know if you saw, but this Botofogo PSG game was so fun.

By the way, I've been in L.A., so.

Everywhere you go, Tim, you're seeing these jerseys.

You're seeing Botofogo.

I saw tons of river plate jerseys the other day it's been so fun to see the fans are like parking and then driving to whatever the rose bowl and it's been amazing you know it's funny it's funny you say that so obviously i live in i live in manhattan and same here like i'm kind of i'm surprised only because like i don't see it every day so like i'll see these random like Botofogo jerseys or like pork tote jerseys like at the cafe and like in my house I'm like oh yeah that's right like of course your fans are here right like it but it takes me by surprise a little bit it's great it's it's it's amazing and and you just that's why I said I said in the the beginning of the tournament, this is maybe the only country you can really have this tournament in because you have people from all over the world who already live here.

You know, there are cases where people are trying, you know, Japanese fans are traveling or Korean fans or South African fans are doing, but they just have fans here already.

They're immigrants and they're in this country, which is beautiful.

And so they're just showing up to support their team that they never get to see here.

Otafogo never plays here ever.

Of course.

I mean, maybe once in a blue moon, but it's been phenomenal.

Okay.

Let's rant a little bit.

Yeah.

This,

this is, I know I'm a grumpy like old man now, dude, but this was ridiculous.

So the Dortmund played Mama Lodi Sundowns the other day.

They're in Cincinnati.

It was like 90 degrees.

There's this tweet that went out from the club's official account, by the way.

Do me a favor if you're at the club.

Do me a favor.

Somebody, I mean, I don't want anyone to lose their job, but please have a stern talking.

So, so their subs watched the first half of the game from inside the locker room to avoid the blazing sun at TQL Stadium.

You go first.

I mean, it's just, I can't.

I'll go first.

I just can't.

When you do something dumb, don't draw attention to it, right?

And that's what Dortmund did.

But my rant, I'll say it's quick, but my rant is this.

It was hot as heck.

The substitutes went inside to be cool.

Here's a simple math.

If those same players in that same heat were asked to start the game and play 90 minutes, you know what they would have done?

They'd have started the game and played 90 minutes.

So it's not about the heat.

And by the way, it didn't get hot in 2025.

Teams come here every single summer for the last 20 years and play games.

And you know what?

The substitutes don't go hang out in the dress room.

And if they do, they sure as heck don't put it on social media.

So like sit on the bench, support your team and drink some cold water.

I'm baffled by it.

Honestly, I'm shocked.

I'm shocked.

It's borderline stupidity.

Is it, by the way, is it even legal?

Do you have to be on the, I mean, I guess you could, if you were on the bench and you went back to like go to the bathroom or whatever, it was fine.

But

I just, I just can't, the level of stupidity really, and to your point,

if they did it and it was like behind the scenes and they said, just spend the first 15 minutes in there and just, so you're not whatever.

Sure.

I think it's soft, but whatever.

yeah but then you're tweeting it like what the hell are you doing totally it's really it's there's so many other ways to do that like you can literally if you got a player you want to go on as a sub say like at the 30 minute mark just go in the back go in the dress room cool off put your feet up come back out at halftime and warm up and you're going to go on second half like the whole team hang like it just it was a bit of a piss take i'm not sure

people people start to like that then started the campaign of like oh my god next summer what's going to be like nothing's going to happen next summer teams are going to sit on the bench and support their team.

Tim, you know where else it was hot, dude?

In Korea in 2002, it's hard for me to describe how hot it was.

Okay.

Because, and the humidity.

And we trained for a month in North Carolina ahead of it, where it was equally hot and humid.

But dude, I couldn't even, I literally couldn't take my jersey off after the game because it was stuck to me.

Sure.

Like, you had to have people pulling it off of you.

Yeah.

And I'm just like, this is crazy, dude.

It's crazy.

Anyway, all right, off our soapbox.

Okay, so we are at at roughly the midway point of the mls season i was worried you were going to say that

so i just want to remind well me but you too yeah yeah um of some predictions we had before the season yeah

and we could pull the video but i'm gonna spare you So Tim, you said, and I have the standings pulled up here too.

Okay, good.

You said the Houston Dynamo were going to win the West.

Now I was a little early on that show.

A little early.

It's it's still early i mean they are 15 points behind right now and they are 11th out of 15.

their second half team with the heat i get it they will not be in the locker room a half in the first half and you said vancouver we're going to finish at the bottom yeah yeah um just let me look i'm still scrolling up up still scrolling up oh there's vancouver there at there at the top at the time it was a great take uh yeah so but here we are go ahead you know's your chance go ahead no look they've brian white's got 10 goals at nearly the halfway point.

We didn't see that coming.

Sebastian Berhalter, national team player now.

Right?

Like, I mean,

do me a favor.

It was a great shot at the time.

Yours is coming.

Yours is coming, by the way.

Let's go.

I had the LA Galaxy win.

You did.

You did.

Which, as bad as my takes were, that's amazing.

So let me just Viva, before you look up your own standing, scroll all the way up.

They've played 18 games.

Good lord.

I don't have.

They've won one.

You can count on one finger how many

wins they have.

They have eight points.

They're seven points behind the next team.

Now, I will say, I did say sporting or St.

Louis will finish bottom.

And the second and third to last are sporting and St.

Louis.

All right.

So I did get those right.

Sure.

Question.

I thought the galaxy are second half.

This is for our research.

Has any people have, I think there's a worst to first category.

Is there a first to worst?

Has that ever happened in MLS history?

Watch this space.

We'll get back to you.

Okay, so in the East, you said Columbus will win the East.

I did.

They are fourth right now, only six points out.

All right.

That's fair.

Not terrible.

Fair.

Montreal will finish bottom.

Great shout that was.

They are currently bottom.

I said Inner Miami will win the East.

They are sixth.

I just saw that.

Okay.

But, you know, are we saying, by the way, in the regular season, win or actually win the East?

You're trying to chop and change this.

But I did say Columbus is the better overall team.

You did.

He did.

So you're two places better off.

And I said New England would finish bottom.

They were on their way for a while, but they've hit a decent stretch there.

No wonder

the Revs fans hate us.

Oh, they must absolutely.

I forgot you picked them bottom.

And I said, do me a favor and get out of the heating areas and go sit in a seat.

No wonder they hate us.

No, it's the heating area.

Everyone's too cold or too hot.

Listen

in this country.

If they send us tickets, I will go to a revs game for sure.

I will.

I'll go.

I'll take it for us.

Okay, so a few things.

Let's do biggest surprise.

For me, I think it's Vancouver.

I mean, I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Yeah.

Definitely you didn't.

No, no, I didn't.

Van City is great.

Yeah, they need to be, they need to be good.

That's a fair thing.

I will say, too,

if you remember in the beginning of the year, I said with San Diego FC, I like their first 11, 12 players if they can stay healthy.

And then

they had a few bad road losses in the beginning but otherwise they've been very good and they've stayed healthy and i think crucially that is the key for them they've been i think a surprise for me biggest disappointment i mean has to be the galaxy right

yeah yeah i think so i mean

what my biggest surprise i think is philly because i just think when you when you when you talk about how good jim curran was and no one can deny that right like obviously he got fired and they made the decision.

But when you bring in a new, a new coach and a new technical director or more sporting director, but more importantly, a new philosophy, I thought

that's not a bad thing, but that's going to take some time.

And it hasn't taken any time at all.

They've been absolutely fantastic.

You know, those long receipts you get at Walgreens?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, I have one there too because I said that was going to be a disaster.

They have one.

They have one.

They've been good.

Yeah.

They have really

good.

Galaxy, yeah.

Galaxy are only rivaled in biggest disappointment by

Atlanta United.

I mean, yeah, four wins through 18 games they've been bad latte lav um amaron um yeah they spamarone they spent so much money on a lot of money and they spend money which is great um they have a new manager come in

you know behind the scenes they changed a lot in their front office so like it's a tough year i mean it's a tough year i mean they haven't they have an incredible owner you know then and they back he backs them with support and and finances so you know i

they might take this on the chin but not a great season the beauty of mls though, Tim, is like as long as you're within touching distance, they're eight points back.

So it's like it's getting dicey, but you win three or four in a row, and all of a sudden you're back in it.

So that is the beauty of consistency.

That's the beauty of the playoffs.

MVP candidates.

So I've got four here for you, and then I want to hear what you think.

So Ty Baribo, 13 goals.

He leads the league for a very good union team.

Brian White, team leads the West, and he's on 10 goals.

Andres Dreyer, who honestly, if this guy played in LA or Miami or played with Messi or whatever, you'd hear so much more about him.

He is, he's a real player.

He's got nine assists and he leads the league.

And then Messi, it's amazing.

Like,

I haven't even seen him play a league game in so long, but he's got 10 goals and six assists in 13 games.

It's incredible.

But here's how this is going to work.

Messi is going to be the MVP.

No, hear me out.

I mean,

10 goals, six assists, and 13 games.

Ridiculous.

Now, Baribo wins it or Brian White wins it if they lead their team in goals and they win either Philly the East and Vancouver the West.

And if so, so Baribo wins it, even if Messi's near the top, Miami's near the top.

I think Messi's already won it.

Okay.

I was going to say, is there a scenario where he's not going to, they're not going to

award him the trophy?

So he gets to, I think he plays more down the stretch, LD.

So he gets to 20 goals,

right?

He's on 10.

And And then the six assists goes up to what?

10.

If he's hovering at 20 and 10,

good luck.

I mean, I think he's won it, right?

And I think there, I think there's some other people who have already put his name on the trophy.

It's just saying,

they're etching it.

It's like they have the L on there.

And they're like, you know, so,

but I think, I think Baribo and White could win it if they, if they lead their, if they lead their teams.

Yeah.

And goal.

In my opinion, I think, I mean, Messi is the best player in the world, one of the best of all time.

I think the most impactful best player this year has been Dreyer.

If you watch him, he is so good, Tim.

He really is.

Yeah, he's good.

He is.

We'll get back to MLS more after Club World Cup and Gold Cup are done, but

it's been a good, exciting first half of the season.

All right, when we're back, we will get into your questions in the ATT fan connection and talk anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen.

All right, Timmy, it's summertime.

You remember these days.

Kids are home.

It's exhausting.

You're babysitting all day.

I know you don't think it's babysitting.

It is babysitting.

In order to choose chill, I'm on the golf course, man.

My wife knows when it's time.

to get away and choose chill.

See you later.

I'm going to go play golf.

I got to be honest, I choose to chill a lot in the summer.

Going to concerts, family barbecues, I spend a ton of time on the beach.

I reach into the cooler, get a Coors Light.

For me, I choose Chill very, very often.

Coors Light is mountain cold refreshment, crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies.

Make the most out of the times you choose to chill.

Choose Coors Light.

Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door.

Visit CoorsLight.com slash USLNT.

Celebrate responsibly.

Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado.

Beer.

Tim, as you know, there's a certain energy and passion to soccer in Latin America.

The footwork, the creativity, the passion from the fans, it's way more than a sport.

It's a rhythm.

It's a way of life.

That same exact spirit shows up in Cafe Bustello.

Bold, vibrant, smooth.

Turn up the Latin flavor Cafe Bustello has been bringing for generations.

You cannot miss this iconic staple.

From your bodega to your local grocery store, they are everywhere.

And now there's even more to love.

They released a whole new line of roasts to match every mood you're in.

Light roast, medium, dark, and even dolce de leche, each one with its own vibe and own flavor.

Available in pre-packed bags and K-cup pods, delicious, hot, or even iced.

However you take your coffee, Cafe Bustello shows up strong.

It's exactly how I take mine.

Strong black, usually in the mid-afternoon, into the evening.

It's a perfect, perfect way to kind of end my day.

Yeah, same with me.

Right before the kids get home, black coffee, no cream, no sugar gets me through the rest of the evening.

Cafe Bustello is more than coffee it makes you feel alive try the new cafe bustello roasts today there's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done without you even having to ask like fans who start to sing and chant at the exact moment their team needs to rally a coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win a keeper you know is defending your goal or a forward who is always ready to receive the ball at unfiltered soccer tim and i know all too well how important it is to be sure someone out there has your back and that's precisely precisely why ATT has a new guarantee.

The ATT guarantee is all about having your back.

When you're with ATT, if there's a network interruption, they'll proactively make it right with a credit for a full day of service.

Guaranteed.

Visit ATT.com/slash guarantee to learn more.

Terms and conditions apply.

ATT.

Connecting changes everything.

Credit for fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers.

Restrictions and exclusions apply.

See att.com slash guarantee for full details.

It's time for the fan connection presented by ATT.

Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions.

The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S.

is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love.

At AT ⁇ T, connecting changes everything.

And on US LNT, our connections with you will help grow the game.

Time for the ATT fan connection.

Most of our listeners' favorite time of the week because they get to hear from themselves and ask us questions.

And also Jordan's favorite time of the week because she gets the spotlight.

Jordan, welcome.

Hello.

Jordan, who's older?

You or Kevin Durant?

Please shut up.

What's your shirt say?

Ask me about.

my

podcast is what it says.

Somebody gave it to me as a gift, and I don't want to wear it in public because I I literally don't want anyone to speak to me ever.

But I thought I could wear it on a show.

That's amazing.

I listen, I just said to you before this, bring the heat.

Like,

it's been too nice.

We don't like, well, I like nice, but like, bring some heat.

We like a good debate.

And you said you got some.

So

I do.

Here we go.

So this one's from Steve via YouTube.

I want to know why the FIFA Club games are on the worst possible app.

Don't they want people to watch these games?

Soccer Soccer is so ridiculous.

How many apps people need to have to watch all of these games?

At some point, the middle finger is just going to rise up and not look back.

Well, I would say

as a general statement, I understand and agree, but it's on Dazone, right?

I believe that's right.

Yeah.

It's on Dazone and it's free.

So

I don't understand the problem here.

Now, if afterwards you don't want to keep paying or you don't want to pay or whatever, that's fine.

But I mean, literally, they're streaming it free.

So

I will say, Steve, there are

a lot of soccer competitions and there are a lot of paywalls.

I get it.

I subscribe to

some of them because I want to see the games too.

Yeah, it's a little bit of a headache.

So I hear you on that.

I hear you.

I'm not really sure of what the short-term answer is, but.

Well, short-term answers are downloaded.

It's free.

But after that, if you don't want to, I mean, I can get it.

I get it.

I don't know dude pete this is this is business stuff steve it's over our head um this one's from leo via email i was at your live show and really enjoyed the experience thanks for coming leo uh my question to you guys is do we know why the club world cup games are being played at odd hours like 12 or 3 players are saying that the summer heat is affecting them which we talked about earlier why aren't games in the u.s played like in europe where the games start at like eight or nine so the the easy answer is just tv and they want to make sure every game's on TV.

So you're going to see this next year, by the way.

Games will most likely, I would think, be like 12, 3, 6, 9.

And that's how it was in Qatar 2.

It's just so they can get everything on TV because

they don't want people missing the games.

So that's the problem.

Well, the problem is right.

And the problem, the problem, it's the right answer, LD.

The problem is also when you start to dig much deeper, it's about television slots.

It's about global television slots, right?

So we begin to play our games at night so that

nightfall can come and the heat can go down.

Then they're trying to broadcast to the rest of the world and they're, you know, mostly asleep.

So it's not always a perfect science, but there is a method to the madness.

Yeah, it's tricky with time zones.

It just it just makes it difficult.

It's never going to be perfect.

It's just part of just part of the deal.

This one's from Philip via email.

First, I want to say how much I love the show.

I haven't missed a single one.

Yeah.

You both have played with hundreds of different players in your careers.

I'd like to know who you had the best on-field chemistry with.

Who was that player that you felt on the same wavelength with at almost all times?

It's a great question.

I have my, I have two right away.

One was Bees, Marcus Beasley, and that's literally because we started playing together when we were 15 with the youth national team, the under 17.

So as time wore on, we just knew each other.

I knew exactly how he wanted the ball, where he wanted it.

timing, everything.

And then the other was Brian Ching,

a guy I played with at the earthquakes and with the national team a bit.

And the way, the reason why is I was, I was sort of a, I was classified kind of as a striker, but I was like an underneath striker.

And at that time, that was very common to have sort of a hybrid 10 slash striker.

And Chingy was just happy to be

big presence, physical presence.

So the ball would go into him and I would move underneath him and run underneath him.

And he could find me, lay it off, and then we could combine.

And we scored some amazing goals together.

But our chemistry was just perfect.

For me, Phil Jagielka at Everton, I played with, he was my center back.

And I played with Sylvan Distin and Jolian Lescott and for equal

amounts of times.

I think Jolian for like four years and I think Sylvan for five or six, something like that.

But I played with Phil Jagielka Jags.

for a really long stretch.

He was an England center back at the time.

He was linked to like a move to Arsenal and he

was everything.

He would put his body in the, he would defend and block and he would headballs,

you know, defensive set pieces.

He just was in the right place.

He could take criticism.

He could give criticism and it was never an issue.

And Landon, you play with Jags as well at Everton.

And just, there was nothing I, I could do no wrong.

to him and he could do no wrong to me.

Like no matter what the case was, we were always on the same page and it was pretty special.

But you get that when you play

hundreds and hundreds of games with a guy.

The thing I liked most about you guys was

like, if there was a ball that was in between you guys and in the end, you had to come out and clear it last second, you'd tell him what, you know, you'd go off on him and then he'd go off on you.

But then it was like, you guys are fine.

You just knew.

But yeah, you just wanted to win.

It was best.

Great.

This next one is from James via email and is more of a suggestion of a topic to discuss than it is an actual question.

Okay.

Gentlemen, love when they start off like that.

Gentlemen, the podcast is great.

Being an owner of a soccer team in Rochester, New York, the team is called Flower City Union.

We went from, I had to look up these acronyms, the National Independent Soccer Association 2023 champions, well done, to the National Premier Soccer League.

It would be informative to your audience to delve into the lower levels of soccer in this country and the passion that these second-tier market owners have, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and sustain the sport in these smaller markets.

It's certainly a labor of love, more so than a business.

Was that Tim?

No, no, it was more of a comment she said, but you started off your career playing for one of those.

What was it?

Long Island something?

No.

I played for, get your pens out.

I played for the new, no, North Jersey, not New Jersey, we were in the northern part of the state, North Jersey Imperials.

And we were in the USISL.

What a squad.

squad us isl

which anyone is that indoor soccer league us indoor soccer is united states

something soccer independent great yeah so i started my i so i understand it and and i think that we again land and i talk about our experience interregional

interregional whatever you want may the i in us isl can stand for anything you want it to

and and and we we understand the importance of it but what i would say is more importantly, thank you for, thank you, James, for your comment.

Please, and I am begging you, send me a Flower City Union shirt, kit, jersey.

I will absolutely wear it on the show.

So if

you want to plug, I'll wear it the entire show.

But we definitely support all levels of soccer in this country because they play a massive part.

So thank you for that.

Agreed.

There's one more.

Good.

She's smiling.

Look at her face.

This one's from Will via email.

Landon.

Oh boy, Nan was coming.

Landon, in the aftermath of the 2014 World Cup, did you ever sit down with Jürgen Klinsman and attempt to bury the proverbial hatchet?

Did you try to repair/slash rebuild bridges?

How are things between you and him today?

Y'all cool?

Tell the people what they want.

Give it to them unfiltered.

Like the title.

So, yeah, yeah.

Great question.

So, if you remember, at the end of 2014, October 10th, 1010, ironically,

I had a send-off game in Hartford

with U.S.

soccer.

Sunil Ghalati, I'm really, really grateful to him.

They got a plane for me and 15 family members, flew us all from L.A.

to Hartford for the game.

I wasn't part of the camp.

I wasn't part of it,

but they flew me in to allow me to have a send-off game in Hartford.

And when I got there, Jürgen and I sat in a bar.

Wow.

I didn't.

Thank you for the question.

Yeah.

We sat in a bar and

we just talked because it was obviously it was awkward, right?

He and never would have wanted me to watch in there

and have that.

But we sat in a bar and the interesting part was he came.

And I was there first and he came and sat down and he had a backpack with him.

And I was like, this is kind of weird.

Anyway, we just talked and, you know, we said, said our piece, and I didn't agree.

And, you know, he thought he was doing what was best for the team and whatever.

And then he said at one point, this was really interesting.

He's like, you know, and I, I

journaled everything that happened during all of this time and I kept notes on everything that happened and I'm happy to show you.

And I was like, huh.

It was really interesting that he like,

and the takeaway was

he

knew what he was doing.

It was very calculated.

And he was making sure he took notes because he either had to justify it to somebody or he felt like he, you know, you only take notes with things or keep recordings of things when you're kind of scared about what the outcome could be.

So it was interesting.

But I give him credit for sitting down.

He also, you know, apologized for his son being

obnoxious during that time.

And then, look, my choices were on the field when I got subbed off.

I think it was the 40th minute or so.

I was still upset with him.

I still, you know, I didn't want to give him any time, but you'd also don't want to make a bigger deal out of it.

And so we had like one final handshake, and that was that.

So let me ask you this.

Let me follow up.

So

you played 40 minutes in that game, by the way.

I think so.

Yeah.

Did I play?

I don't remember.

It wasn't my day.

No, I don't think you were there.

No, I was there.

I was certainly there.

Were you?

It was against Ecuador in Hartford.

Oh, Oh, no, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have been because I took that.

Oh, yeah, no, you wouldn't have been there.

You wouldn't have been there.

Here's what I would say.

By the way, is any of this in the book?

Can we tease any of that?

It's actually not that part of it, it's not in the book, but there's a lot about that time in the book.

Yeah, well, well, said

all I would say to the general public is

a manager

in a decision where a legendary player who still has so much to offer

that team going into a major tournament could never,

ever be making a decision.

Let me quote him.

That's best for the team without asking the senior players on that team for their opinion.

So you can read between the lines, but you won't have to.

The senior players on that team were never asked for their opinion.

So it's impossible.

impossible as a manager to make a decision that's best for the team without gaining that knowledge before the decision.

so i have to ask the obvious follow-up here otherwise i'm bad at my job so tim

you and jurgen klensman have not

had a conversation since he left the national team

about this that period in time no i i i i don't need a conversation with him there's not there's nothing there's nothing to bury sometimes hatchets hatchets need to stay where they are to stay above ground

Keep the hatchets above ground.

Interesting.

Yeah.

So, okay, so we got a little spicy today.

Good, man.

Good.

Good questions.

Jordan, we don't shy away from any questions.

These are all you want.

By the way, these are all easy conversations.

Remember, buckle in and get comfortable when you have uncomfortable conversations.

Amen.

And remember, hell has a trapdoor, Tim.

I don't think it fits here.

Oh, rock bottom has a trapdoor.

That's where hell is

below the trapdoor for Rock Bottom.

I love your sayings.

I'm just using one of your saying.

Truth, buddy.

All right.

Thanks, guys.

They are.

Great job.

All right, Timmy.

ABS, anything but soccer.

I think there's only one way we were going to go this weekend.

Last night I was at the Fox Studios in L.A.

working, doing all the things, but on the TV was the Pacers OKC NBA Finals game seven.

And the moment I think that everyone is talking about.

Obviously, congrats to OKC, great for them.

But Tyrese Halliburton came into the game with a strained calf.

Of course, he was going to play.

It's game seven, but then

Tor is Achilles in the game.

And it was right when I saw it.

Someone was next to me and they said, What do you think he did?

Was it an ACL that I said?

Let me watch the play.

And I could just see right when he pushed off and went, Oh, that's not good.

So just sad for him.

In moments like that, it kind of took us back.

And Andrew reminded us in the chat when Mosala was forced off in the 31st minute with that shoulder injury in the Champions League final, Madrid and Liverpool.

It's just a sad moment, and you hate to see it.

I think OKC

probably

win the game anyway, but like it's just, it's devastating.

Now he's out for a year.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Look, I've learned, I've learned not to speculate on injuries, and I think that's important.

But

the headline now, aside from, again, massive credit to OKC and SGA.

SGA is the king.

But should he he have played?

My opinion is that they were

about an hour give or take from

immortalizing themselves and championship.

As champions, is that worth the risk of the next nine months?

150%.

It'll take him nine months to get back from this, a year to get back from this.

150%.

Tim, there's no question.

Sorry, let me just.

If you and I were in that position, sure, and I was zero doubt.

Yeah, you with your grain.

There's zero doubt we're playing that game, or you have flexor.

There's zero doubt we're playing that game.

Yeah.

Of course, we're playing that game.

You're gonna play.

Sorry.

And I think, and, and when I, when I tore uh my adductor off the bone in that Mexico game,

I have experiences that I can tell you this: Halliburton, I don't remember which game it was, midway through the series, he he had the calf injury, right?

There's no doubt these two things are connected, right?

And what I mean, what I mean by that is is he would have gone into game seven knowing things weren't okay,

right?

They knew, he knew he was going to play game seven.

And he knew that there was more than likely a big risk of something.

Now, I probably didn't think he was going to tear his Achilles.

He probably thought maybe I'll tear my calf or something, but he knew that there was a risk.

And

he weighed up the pros and the cons and he went for it.

And I think most people I know in that position would have went for it too.

So sad, sad for him, sad for the Pacers, but what a season they had.

And hats off to OKC.

Congrats to OKC.

That was

a great year, a really good year for them.

They were the best team all year.

And then it's good when the best team wins it in the end.

All right, Tim, another great, great week.

Lots will be happening this week.

So we'll have a lot more next week.

Club World Cup, Gold Cup should be exciting now as we get to the knockout stages.

Appreciate you guys.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods.

And as always, follow us at Unfiltered Soccer for bonus content.

Yeah, thanks so much, everybody.

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, and our fan connection sponsor, ATT.

And of course, our Unfiltered Refresh sponsor, Coors Light.

Have an amazing week.

Enjoy all the soccer you can.

We'll be back next, excuse me.

We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.