USMNT Win First Gold Cup Match, Pochettino's Response to Pulisic, and the Club World Cup Kicks Off

U.S.

soccer and the players within U.S.

soccer want a free pass for being average.

You don't get a free pass for being average.

We know what great looks like and we know what poor looks like.

I have succeeded on the biggest stages in the world for U.S.

soccer.

I've also failed on the biggest stages in the world for U.S.

soccer.

This idea that we should give them a free pass, I don't buy it.

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, just like that, we are back.

Another episode of Unfiltered Soccer.

It's been a fun week, man.

We got did the live show together out in LA, which was awesome.

That feels so long ago, by the way.

It feels so long.

I've lost track of all days.

Like in the summer,

I'm like a high school kid.

I'm like, is it Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday?

I don't know.

Just

but you've been you've been busy covering uh covering the Bold Cup and doing doggies back and forth from San Diego, San Diego to law things it was a it was a long weekend um covering all the games for fox

and then got back late last night go back up tomorrow so these tournaments as you know man they are a grind but they're fun because you're like as the tournament goes on it gets more and more interesting you know the teams better whatever i got home um this morning my kids i got to show you this You remember these days.

Your kids are old now.

They made me all these.

Love dad card for Father's Day.

My son Drew.

That's amazing.

happy father's day by the way thanks dude i love you this from my six-year-old daughter i love you dad you are the best dad ever my older son wrote happy birthday to the best dad and then scratched it out for father's day and they made me a word search word search is cool dude dad word search isn't that cool with

galaxy golf well there's a few on here yeah that probably not safe for sure sure sure everyone wants to show but yeah galaxy everton golf work

at USA.

Well, it's hard to work when you're away from the kids, but that's awesome.

I actually did, I went to the movies with my daughter and I saw Karate Kid, which was awesome.

Oh, that sounds good.

That was fun.

Did she have any concept of

she watched all the, yeah, she watched all the

original?

Yeah.

She's that's so cool.

She's like, she loves the old school stuff, so it was cool.

It's okay.

All right, guys, a lot to talk about.

National team played this weekend, so we're going to dig into a lot.

As always, follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer.

Subscribe to the show, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts.

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All right, Tim, straight in.

USLNT on USMNT.

Let's get it.

Big, big win.

And normally, in normal circumstances, you would say, okay, 5-0 against Trinidad.

Probably what should have happened.

But given all the drama over the last few weeks, everything that's gone on with this team, four-game losing streak, it was a really good performance.

I think more relief than joy, probably from everyone.

But I just, I was there.

I watched the game live,

talked about it on Fox.

But what, give me your thoughts on what you saw?

Good, man.

Look, this team,

you know, I know, I know Tyler Adams, a guy who I really like and respect, talked about the outside noise not filtering in.

The outside noise is absolutely filtered into that dressing room.

And what I like about, and

this is not about me, you, or any other pundit or analyst or commentator, but but what I like about this result is, or my hope is that this team is rallying around each other on the inside.

Like, forget, forget those guys who talk with the microphones, forget our teammates who aren't here.

Like, this is us, right?

This is this group, and this is our time, and this is all we got.

And so,

my hope is

they went out and did the business, you know, got the goals because goals were there, kept a clean sheet because, you know, sometimes in these games, it can get a little bit messy.

And then you give up a goal and it takes the gloss off it.

They kept it really tight.

We'll obviously get into this deeper into the show, but

I'm imagining they're going to, and you may disagree with this, but this should be very similar results against Saudi Arabia and Haiti.

I don't buy into the, I don't buy into the concept that these teams are that much better.

I don't.

I watched the game last night that you called, and we'll get, again, we'll get into that.

But they're handling business and I think that's what's important.

And they're getting performances from players in the front area.

They're getting goals.

Again, keeping clean sheets.

So, so, you know, for them, I'm, I'm, I'm delighted that that's the way it is.

I wouldn't say I'm excited.

The first round of this competition doesn't excite me.

It doesn't.

I said that.

I was on record a month ago saying that when a draw came out.

So this is a time to kind of get the, go, go through the gears and get a rhythm.

But these games for me aren't that important.

They did the business last night.

It was the perfect opponent on the back of all these things and the perfect one to start the tournament.

I mean, I don't envision a scenario where Saudi and Haiti are worse than Trump or even equivalent to Trump.

I mean, that, Tim, we've played Trinidad a million times.

That is by a million miles the worst Trinidad performance I have ever seen.

Crazy.

They were so bad.

And look, credit to the U.S., right?

They made them look bad too.

But some of the,

I couldn't believe what I was watching.

So that being said, you only play who's in front of you.

And I thought there were a number of really good performances.

I mean, you and I probably could have played center back in that game, to be honest.

But obviously, Diego Luna was excellent.

Malik Tillman with the goals was great.

I thought Ajamang felt bad for him because he actually did get a goal.

He didn't know anything about it, but he did get a goal.

But he deserved that because his performance was good.

He's such a handful.

He's such a nightmare to play against.

And he just like he goes and he presses and he pins people and he works and he digs and he's in the box and he just does all the the things you want him to he's not always the easiest on the eye but he's really effective can i can i jump on the back of that i i think um and i've heard that over the last 24 hours and i and i agree with you like

he he's a player and there's a lot of them out there by the way you know i cover the premier league every week there's a bunch of those and they're supposed to be the best players in the world he's a guy who needs a bunch of opportunities to get one goal which i i don't hate because

look we'd all love to be clinical and efficient but the fact of the matter is we can have a striker on the U.S.

team that can drop into the pocket and be silky and sexy.

But ultimately, Ajamang is a freaking nightmare.

He hangs on the back of defenders.

He barges people.

He runs vertically, right?

He makes it difficult.

And I truly believe as a striker.

And look, you can have a couple of different strikers, but certainly in your stable, you've got to have a striker that just makes it uncomfortable.

Every time...

a center back goes to head it or kick it or clear it he dumps them right and then all of a sudden you do that three or four times now the center back tries to take an extra touch because he doesn't feel like getting dumped again and there's a mistake i do like adjamang i think he's got a place on this team uh and and of course he got rewarded with the goal so um happy for that do you think this will be

his starting 11 and i i i have clear thought on this but i want to hear what you have to say first do i think that going into the next game yeah and and i guess going forward like if they win again against saude does he keep yeah i think aaronson will probably get a start at some point um you know look I

I think that he'll make a couple changes I do that's kind of what Pochatino has done I think he makes a couple changes for the next game see how it goes

and then you start to get closer to what your team is going to look like in the last game right against Haiti last group game

And then I also think you're probably balancing the yellow card situation in that last game.

So I think

I don't know what that looks like.

FIFA needs to change the yellow card situation in international tournaments, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

So yeah, I think he'll make a couple of changes, but you know, I think these guys will be itching to start.

And they did a good job.

They did a good job last night.

One thing I was going to ask you, right?

Which is slightly off

topic, but clearly not.

Like just when I think I know so much about football, I'm dumbfounded, right?

So you watched the, we all watched the Trinidad game.

Trinidad bunkered in, right?

They parked a bunch, which I'm totally cool with, by the way, if you don't have the talent to match teams, right?

And what you do, LD, when you bunker in, you're trying to

eliminate space in behind, right?

And what it also says, the unwritten part is

we're not good enough to be expansive and play between lines and open up and give guys the ball one-on-one to drive.

Like you said it, it's one of the worst teams you've seen in a long time.

So if that's the concept, and I agree with it, right?

Keep everything in front of you, bunch up things in the box, make it difficult for the U.S.

How come every time they got a goal kick, they spread the center backs, played to a center back, played to a wing back that was marked.

He reversed blind blindly reversed the ball into a striker who wasn't there, and they lost the ball.

Like, tactically speaking, I'm just kind of thinking, like, wouldn't the concept be just put the ball down, move your lines?

We've got a couple horses that can battle and fight, stick it on their head at midfield, see what happens.

Like, just conceptually, I was baffled by what they were doing tactically, but that's they were they just were bizarre.

You had no clue what their plan was is the way like there was no clue and conversely i did the saudi haiti game yeah that game at halftime had like they had each team had less than 100 completed passes which is a crazy stat yeah yeah yeah yeah in modern soccer right crazy staff but they both knew who they were right and they weren't trying and dominican republic by the way and we'll talk about this but like Same thing with against Mexico.

They were 5-4-1, compact.

They, you know, maybe tried a goal kick or two here, but they were like, no, just up the field, make the game messy, whatever.

And then they had some quality and they scored a few goals.

So I have no idea.

I have no idea what Trinidad.

I mean, thank God.

I wish we could play them every game.

Well, except in 2017.

I wish they were that bad that time.

Shit, they're back.

Yeah, no, no, but I kept thinking.

I was like, he's the worst team in the world.

I'm like, I can't say that.

They knocked us out of the World Cup.

Yeah, fair enough.

Anyway, I want to dig into Matt Freeze.

Obviously, nothing to do.

I could have played goalie in that game, but do you think, you know, Pochatino has made it clear that he understands what Matt Turner can bring and he doesn't need to see him anymore in games like this necessarily?

So do you think Matt Fries plays throughout the tournament if he keeps doing well?

That's a good question.

I spoke to, so my childhood friend is a guy named Rob Vartujian, and he's the goalkeeper coach, assistant coach with NYCFC.

And obviously, he spoke to Matt Fries as he does every day.

And Matt was delighted to get the start and get the win, as he should be.

I just, with goalkeepers, look, Matt Fries, I I would imagine, is going to be competing for like the third

with, you know, with Patrick Schulte and when he gets fit.

And so I'm just not sure what you're looking for, right?

Because ultimately, Matt Turner or Zach Steffen is going to be playing in the World Cup.

And I think what you do is you start to, you start to take away games from a guy that ultimately needs games.

Like Matt Turner is going to start this year for Lyon in France, but he still needs games with this team.

And I know we know what he can do.

You know, you just look at what's the best case scenario for Matt Friesa.

He played, how many games between now and the World Cup?

Like 13.

So he goes into the World Cup with 13 to 15 caps.

You're never going to play a guy who's got 13 and 15 caps in the World Cup, right?

So this is, I think, the exercise is probably, you know,

you've done well.

You've been rewarded for doing well.

I would imagine Matt Turner will play.

You think so?

Yeah.

I don't know if it's next game or the game after but i look the problem is if you're like if we're judging matt freeze right

you said he didn't have much to do right

okay so how do you really judge a guy you judge him in a high-level game so that you're talking like a costa rica semifinal or a mexico final like that's really where you're going to judge a guy who said like this is this guy worth his salt and is is there anything there so i don't know i don't know i i think that i think i think he'll chop and change a little bit.

Yeah, I would expect that he,

I just, I think this game in other circumstances, he would have maybe had a different lineup.

And I just think he said, we are putting our best team out, our best players, because we have to win this game.

Given, not, not because it's a Gold Cup open or whatever, just given everything that's gone on.

I think as a coach, you're like, you're feeling the pressure and you said, I just need to play my best team.

And Matt Turner is probably the exception from that.

Okay.

Because I think as his quote, best team, Matt Turner would be in.

But I think every well on the field, I think he just said, we're not messing around.

We're not, we know we should beat this team, but we need to win this game.

Okay.

Period.

So,

all right.

Lots of great performances.

We clearly now need to pick a man of the match.

RLD, it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light.

Choose Chill.

Get Coors Light delivered.

Go to CoorsLight.com slash US LNT.

Okay.

Who chose Chill for the U.S.

Men's National Team?

I'll give you the candidates.

Jack McGlynn was really, really good.

Tillman got his goals.

He was great.

And I also thought Diego Luna ran the show for the men.

So who do you got?

Great hat, first of all.

I would say McGlynn was good.

I thought Tillman was very good.

There were a number of good performances, which is the good news.

But the man for me who chose Chill was Diego Luna.

We love him.

I love him.

I love his attitude, his effort.

He's picking off passes, being unselfish.

He should have got a goal, but instead got two assists.

But for me, the man continues to choose chill, and I expect a really, really big tournament from him.

So congrats to you, Diego Luna.

Congrats to you.

Congrats to you, my friend.

Choosing chill.

All right.

So good performance.

And up next, Thursday night, 9.15 p.m.

Eastern Time, U.S.

versus Saudi Arabia.

I believe it's on FS1.

Saudi's off to a good start.

They had long travel across multiple continents and put in a good performance.

It was a hard game against Haiti, but this is a game now for the U.S.

If you don't get full points here, it gets a little dicey because that Haiti game is going to be, that Haiti game is going to be difficult because you expect that they'll be Trinidad.

So that's what's up next for the U.S.

Look,

and you and I disagree a little bit on this, which is great because we'll be able to see who's right and wrong or somewhere in between.

I just expect, I expect the U.S.,

not that it's an easy game, but you said Haiti and Saudi Arabia were like, we know who we are.

We actually don't want the ball.

In a moment where a team has less than 100 passes in a half, the other team's going to have triple that, right?

Double that.

So neither team wanted the ball.

I do believe it's going to be another game of, hey, you have it.

U.S., take the ball and then break us down.

And the U.S.

has shown that I think they can do that.

So

I would be surprised if we don't jump on the pod next time and

we see another really strong U.S.

performance and

hopefully a 3-4-0 defeat

win against Saudi Arabia.

All right, we'll see.

I'm giving Trinidad zero credit for anything.

So I guess we'll see.

Some other results.

The opening game, Mexico beat Dominican Republic.

Very good game.

Very, very good game.

Dominican Republic put a scare into them.

If not for two set peace goals, we might be talking about a tie or a loss for Mexico.

So CONCACAF is clearly getting better, and I think that's great for everyone.

We mentioned Saudi Haiti, Costa Rica, Suriname was a phenomenal game last night.

The CONCACAF after dark.

Costa Rica went up 2-0.

Suriname then came back to be up 3-2.

And then Costa Rica tied it and won with a late penalty.

You like Suriname?

I do.

I think they're good.

I mean,

relatively speaking.

They're the lowest ranked team

in the Gold Cup, correct?

Are they?

Second.

I don't know.

Just because they're unknown, they've got a, this is with CONCACAF right now, Tim.

It's the opposite of what the U.S.

is right now.

The U.S.

is a bunch of random guys thrown together.

And you know, it's hard to be a team that way.

You can have good players, but like Suriname, Haiti, Curaçao, a lot of these teams, they just play together a lot, either on their club teams or with their national team.

And then they have some good players.

They're not bad players.

They're well coached.

They've had some good results.

So I think, I don't, you know, are they going to get out of the group?

Probably not, but they're, they're a decent team and someone to pay attention to.

Okay, let's,

I want to be real clear because we've obviously we've talked about Pelisic and the guys who are not here with the national team.

This is not, despite what people might think, it's not personal.

It's not, we're not trying to go at people.

This is our job and this is what we get paid to do.

And you don't have to like it.

You don't have to agree with it, but this is our opinions based on decades and decades and decades and thousands of soccer games we've played and seen and all the people we talk to.

So I'm not going to get into the back and forth with Christian about, you know, things he said in the interview he did last week.

But what I do think we have an obligation to him to talk about is what's going on between he and Mauricio Pochettino.

Because there were a number of things he said in his interview that were really interesting.

And

we taped our live show before he did his interview.

So we didn't have a chance to listen to that and then,

as you say, decipher it all and give it back to the people and what he's really saying.

So

the first thing he said that was really interesting was that he said he wanted to come into the two friendlies, but not the gold cup.

Fair enough.

Mauricio Pochettino then responded.

And I want to quote him so we're not, so we're being accurate.

So Pochettino in his press conference said, Christian explained why he only wanted wanted to be involved in two games.

And I respect and I understand him.

I understand him.

But I don't need for him to understand our decision because my position is I'm 53 years old with a lot of experience in football.

I was a player before I was a coach.

It's easy to understand that I want a roster to prepare two games for the tournament because for me, the gold cup is a really important competition.

It's not a problem because you need to listen to your players.

Communication with Pulisic is good, like the others.

I have the same communication with Diego.

Diego Luna was sitting next to him in the press conference as I do with him.

I don't prioritize.

You say Christian's the best player because he's a good player, of course, but he needs to perform because I'm going to judge him just like I judge Diego, like every other player.

If he performs well and he's the best, then he's going to have a place in the team.

I think when I sign my contract with the Federation, I am the head coach.

I am not a mannequin.

Give me context on what he means in that last line.

I'm the head coach, not a mannequin.

What does he mean by that?

Well, he's not just, he's not just a, I think he's trying to say, I'm not a puppet, right?

Like you don't, you're not dictating to me.

So what you just decided, he's just basically what he said is, and he's saying this to Christian, but as you said to me earlier, he's also saying this to the whole team.

Yeah.

And he's saying it to the world.

I'm the head coach.

You don't dictate when you come into which games,

especially for the national team.

That is, you don't get to say, I'll do that one, but not that one.

And I'll play that one, but not that one.

Again, in his mind, he must think this is absolutely crazy.

He probably literally cannot believe some of the stuff he's reading and hearing.

He's the coach.

He will tell you if you're getting called in, when you're getting called in, if you're playing.

You don't decide which games you get to choose to play for your national teams.

That's what he's saying.

And Tim, the reason this is important is all the players need to hear that.

When your best player, hears that message and you say that.

And Moyes would do this all the time.

He'd go after Neville right in front of everyone.

And guys would be like, Oh my god, if he's going to say it to Neville, he'll say it to any of us.

He's also saying it for his future.

And what I mean by that is, if clubs around the world or national teams are looking at him in the future, they're going to go through a long process of

due diligence.

And if this whole situation happened and they said, Remember that time when Pulisic went after Pochitino publicly?

If he had not responded at all, clubs are going to go, oh, I don't know if we want that guy.

Is he a strong enough leader?

So he had no choice.

He got backed into the corner there and he had to respond to that.

So that's my opinion on that.

Yeah, no, look, I think, as we mentioned, this is a U.S.

soccer problem because what we know from the inside is that the foundation has already been set before Pachatino has come in, right?

And

it's been a player power-led movement.

And by the way, that's not

necessarily criticism.

I think players always try and gain power, you know, and how much power can you have?

And sometimes a manager wrestles that back and sometimes it doesn't.

I mean,

the biggest

example of player power was at Chelsea under Abramovich, right?

Frank Lampard and Didier Drugbaugh and John Terry pulled the strings at that club.

That's

public knowledge, right?

You could win a Champions League as a manager and be out the next season if they didn't like you.

That happened all the time.

So players.

try and gain power.

They gain power by making decisions, by creating a comfortable environment.

Pachatino has walked into that.

And what he's trying to do now is regain some of that power.

And I think he was doing that

in a quiet way until he, until he was called out

in the Christian Palisic interview.

And now I think for the first time,

you know, U.S.

soccer

has a bit of an issue.

They have an issue because Pachatino, who's the manager and is getting paid $6 million a year and is a big manager

and his star player now are seemingly at odds.

And how much at odds are they?

Well, they're talking about each other, towards each other in the press.

It surprised me because

I would have thought that was put to bed early on.

I think they're.

I got criticism for being critical of Christian Pulisic when he went back to Milan before the Mexico game, was it?

There was like a two, it's like a two-game fixture, I think, right when Pachatino took over.

And my initial thinking in that, which is what clearly got missed, was,

you know, I said, maybe this is U.S.

soccer making the bet a little bit with AC Milan.

Like, look, all right, cool.

It's September or October, whatever it was.

No problem.

No problem.

I'll throw you a bone.

Throw you a bone.

Take him back.

He gets another week of rest and training before your next league game, but that's going to pay dividends for us down the road, i.e.

in the summer or when we need him.

And so that's what I thought was happening.

I thought those wheels were being greased.

Clearly, I was wrong because of what's currently going on.

But yeah, I think there's a problem.

I think there's an issue.

Well, seemingly there's an issue with

some sort of communication and breakdown.

And again, he asked to come in.

Christian Pelisic asked to come in to the two friendly games, the warm-up games before the Gold Cup.

Pacutino said no.

He obviously told us there.

He said no, because like, I need to prep this team.

I need to to prepare this team for the gold cup.

This isn't like a, these aren't throwaway games, which was all fine and well.

And I guess, again, he was sitting on that until he was forced to clarify his position.

But I like his position.

I like his position that

everybody is there to be judged and to be evaluated.

And you do that by being in camp or not being in camp or playing well or not playing well.

So look, that's a good thing.

It's a good thing.

This team, based on results, not on my opinion, based on results, needed to kick out the backside.

And you know, maybe this is it.

Again, there's a lot to dissect.

There's just one other thing that I think was

interesting.

Christian, during the interview, said the media and fans are quick to judge him and the team off of one bad performance.

This happens all over the world, first of all.

Everybody gets judged on one good or bad performance.

It's just the reality, and it's happened forever.

A tale is old as time.

So,

you know,

I don't know.

It just seems a little weird.

But he also said, and I think words are really important.

And I can see why he was hesitant to give an interview or do these interviews because he was, a lot of the things he said, I think rubbed people really the wrong way.

And one of the things I thought was interesting, and again, I've been in his position.

I have sat there and been interviewed.

And I know.

When you're being asked a question, if you say this, this is what the headline is going to be.

If you say this, this is how it's going to be perceived.

And I made those mistakes too, by the way, a lot of mistakes.

But one thing he said, he said, I know that when I come back and score, I'm paraphrasing here.

I know that when I come back and score, people will forget about all of this.

And I thought in my head, and this was backed up by Pochettino at the time, I thought in my head, I don't, I think you're missing the point.

The point is not about you coming back and scoring.

The point is about you prioritizing your national team and being a part of your national team and wanting to win.

Forget about scoring.

Nobody cares if you score or not.

We want this team to not suffer.

And then Pochatino backed it up in his press conference.

He said a million times to him, he kept saying, it's about we, we, it's about we.

It's not about I.

It's about the team.

It's about we, we, we.

He kept saying it over and over.

And I just thought it was a really interesting, a really interesting comment.

And he, he's obviously taking it personally, and I understand why he is.

Sure.

But that's not the point.

That's not, Kristen doesn't need to.

We don't need you to score.

We don't need you.

I mean, that helps, but we just want you to prioritize this, be proud of this, and be a part of the team.

That's what we want.

Now, look,

I think that where I thought he was wrong was the fans and media, sometimes they do judge off one bad performance.

That's not this case.

Up until yesterday, they had lost four games in a row, which was

an unwanted record.

Yeah, are you not allowed to be critical after a team loses four in a row?

Of course.

And by the way,

this group of, you know, and I keep

referencing 2017 when we lost in Trinidad and we didn't qualify

for the World Cup.

This current group of young kids was given the keys to the palace, right?

And they didn't have any leadership.

They were asked to lead on their own.

And there's some growing pains with that.

But by the way,

they got a coach fired.

Gold Cup, Nations League, you name it, or Copa America, like there have been failures there, right?

Like these aren't.

I don't know if people have been quick to judge so much as there's a body of work here.

Look, I've heard from people on the inside, friends of ours on the inside of U.S.

soccer, and there's this like, there's this feeling going around that they should be supporting us.

They, you and I, other folks on the outside should be supporting us.

U.S.

soccer and the players within U.S.

soccer want a free pass for being average.

You don't get a free pass for being average.

We know what great looks like and we know what poor looks like.

I have succeeded on the biggest stages in the world for U.S.

soccer.

I've also failed on the biggest stages in the world for U.S.

soccer.

So

I know what that looks like and I understand what it's supposed to look like.

So this idea

that they should be supporting us, that we should give them a free pass,

I don't buy it.

You know,

our friend on the inside also said, like they kept throwing out this believe, believe.

You have to give people something to believe in.

You do.

Like there's just a, and by the way, U.S.

soccer has come a long way.

There's an expectation.

Okay.

There's a bunch of freaking college kids and semi-pros that went to the World Cup in Italy in 1990.

All right.

I mean, they were freaking awesome.

I remember watching it on VHS tape.

It's come a long way since then.

Yeah.

Right.

And so the fact of the matter is you're going to be judged differently based on a different standard.

End of story.

Well said.

Yeah.

There's no, you don't get just unconditional support if you're bad.

That's not, by the way, that's not good for them either.

Of course.

You know what's good is they heard all this.

The noise filtered in a little bit and they had a great performance yesterday.

And I promise you, next time Christian and Weston and Musa and Anthony step on the field for the U.S., they are going to perform because they know people are paying attention.

And that's a good thing.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't buy that necessarily.

Again, we've been.

You don't think so?

I hope so.

I hope so.

I think they're going to be scared not to.

They know people are paying attention and they know if they don't do well, that they're going to get called out.

And it's not, it's not, there's no precedent.

There's no precedent, Lennon, that's been set to for you to say that those players will come back.

And if they don't perform well or if they pull out of camp,

there will be consequences.

Not with the national team, but they do what they do with their club teams when they hear real criticism, when real things happen.

If he did the, if, let me just give an example.

We're using Christian here, but this, this pertains to a lot of people.

If Christian said to Milan at the beginning of the season, you know what, these first three weeks of the season or four weeks of the season or these first six games, I'm, I need a break.

I'm tired.

I'm not going to play.

What do you think would happen?

I know it would happen.

Okay, tell me.

There'd be consequences.

There'd be consequences.

What would the fans, how would the fans react

yeah yeah how would the media in milan react sure so they'd probably burn your car or something

yeah i mean you get destroyed right that's there so what's your point so my point is he wouldn't do it that's my first point yeah my second point is if and when he did do it when he came back and was welcomed back hopefully he would be so determined to perform Because he doesn't want to give anybody anything to criticize him.

Yeah, okay.

But but my, but I guess my point is, and like he said, when I, when I come back and score, everything will be forgotten.

The great thing is he's always scored.

He's always, he's always deliberate.

It's not about that.

Good performance.

It's not about that.

So when you say, like, I think in the September friendlies, they'll have a kick off the backside and they'll perform.

Maybe, but that doesn't.

This current group needs to show me more than just one or two September friendlies that they're together and driven.

I agree.

I need to see that in.

October and November.

And then like,

that needs to be a very strong, consistent theme over over the next 12 months.

Yeah.

Like, so I'm not, I'm not necessarily bullish on the fact that that's going to happen immediately.

And let's just be clear.

It's one thing for us to say it.

It needs to be said.

Coach Tino is now saying it publicly.

It needs to be said privately by him, to him, to these players and the whole group.

And the other players need to hold them accountable too.

Yeah.

Until that happens.

Yeah.

So, so doesn't matter what we say.

So just to your point, and we won't know this.

Well, we might, because there's moles in every camp.

We don't necessarily know this.

But until, not you and me, not other former players, not coaches, listen to what I'm saying, not coaches.

Yeah.

Until they're able to look each other in the eye and call each other out and make it freaking uncomfortable, you'll never see change.

Because here's what the world needs to know.

You and I have been in the same locker room as Michael Bradley, Carlos Bocanegra,

Jermaine Jones, Clint Dempsey, by the way, Josie Altador.

Those names have looked each other in the eye when the freaking manager was in his dressing room somewhere, have looked each other in the eye and said, you ain't worth shit today.

You need to be better.

I'm not freaking having you.

And let me tell you, those discussions are hard.

They hurt, but they're needed.

And I don't believe.

unless I'm proven wrong, maybe they'll tell me something different.

I don't believe that those star senior players are having those conversations with each other.

I think they're saying the right things in the media.

I think they say all the right things in the media.

It's brilliant.

Well, not all of them, but most of them.

Okay.

But those are the hard conversations that you and I have been a part of, right?

I've had players get to grips with coaches

in the U.S.

men's national team locker.

Coaches get to grips with players.

Players get to grips with other players.

Things needed to be broken up and shit was said.

And guess what happened after that?

Respect Respect and performances were had.

So,

well said.

All right, let's take a break.

When we come back, we are going to recap the start of the FIFA Club World Cup.

It's been pretty interesting to watch.

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by our great partner, Volkswagen.

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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.

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LD, since the last time we got together, I believe the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup has gotten underway.

There was a lot to talk about with this.

They didn't sell a lot of tickets to start with.

Would teams bring and play their strongest team and how seriously would teams take this and then obviously we now have lineups and results and all the rest of it what's your what's your initial impression of the tournament as far as teams taking it seriously yeah yeah I mean PSG put out a full-strength team enter

certainly Bodafogo and Sounders enter Miami I mean

whatever people thought that the clubs or the players might not take it seriously, that's out the window.

That's been made very clear.

Now, talking about ticket prices and the stadiums stadiums and all that, too high.

Ticket prices were too high initially.

You started to get, you know, the Rose Bull had, I think, 80,000 people, which is still good for the PSG game,

PSG Athletico.

So I think there's a decent start.

I think if you, you know, backed Gianni Infantino into a corner and said, are you happy based on what you expected?

Yes or no?

I'd think he'd say, I'm slightly happier than.

than I thought I would be right now.

So it's been in that way a good start.

I've said from the beginning, I'm excited about this tournament.

I think it's great.

I know people don't like novelty.

They don't like new things, but we did realize and, you know, we kept thinking, like, why are they taking it so serious?

Prize money, Tim.

Talk to me.

Prize money.

So I think each team got about $10 million to participate, but the winning team, I had no idea.

Yeah.

The winning team.

can make up to $120 million.

Right.

And I had no idea.

I guess I just missed that.

That is a massive incentive.

Correct.

Because you like explain to people so they understand what will have happened when FIFA said the winning team will get $120 million.

What do the players in the club, how do they figure out who gets what?

Yeah.

So the way it works is like, as an example,

there's legal contracts, right?

So you said like, okay, there's a wage structure and so on and so forth.

What we would have at Everton as an example, right?

We as a senior players would go to the club, right?

They clear it through the manager and they take it to the chief exec and they'd say, before the season, this is the bonus structure.

We would redo the bonus structure every season, right?

And if you were happy with it from the previous season, you stuck with it and signed off.

But it wasn't like a, it wasn't sanctioned like by the FA.

It was through the club.

And you basically said,

if we make Champions League, if we get through a cup final, if we win three games on the bounce, if we are ranked in the top six in the Premier League and we win a game, the price goes up and up.

And so what these clubs would have done, right?

Because as you just said, it is very, very beneficial for these clubs to win.

You win the tournament, it's $125 million, right?

The players know that, the clubs know that.

The players think there's too much, it's too much running and

too many games, right?

Rodri at Man City said that.

And it's a fixture buildup and it's congestion and they don't like it.

They would have gone to the clubs, whoever the senior leadership groups are at all these clubs,

they'd have gone to

the top of the club and just said, look, how are we, how are we going?

We don't want to play here.

You want us to play.

We understand that.

We don't want to play.

So what's going to be the system?

What's going to be the breakdown?

And they would have sat and they would have just discussed it.

And by the way, the Brazilians at PSG would have talked to the Brazilians at Man City and like, oh, and Byron Munich, all these players from different countries talk,

right?

And so.

they would have understood and they would have gotten pointers from each other.

And the bottom line is the players would have gone to the club, or as you rightfully said, some of the clubs would have gone to the players and go, look, we know you don't want to play an entire extra tournament in the summer, but let's make it worth your while.

Because the fact of the matter is, each player on the winning team of this, of this tournament, Club World Cup, they're going to get a few million dollars.

And for all of the guys, all the people out there are like, oh, these guys are already overpaid million billionaires.

Trust me when I tell you, when someone says, hey, go compete.

And at the end of it, before your summer holidays, we'll cut you a two, three million dollar check for winning.

There's some incentive there.

And that's, I think, why you see,

you know, really strong lineups.

You see Fire Munich winning 10-0 against Auckland.

But yeah, I think as you, you know, when we talked, you talked about the 80,000 people at the Rose Bowl.

I think you start to get deeper into this tournament and you get some real blockbuster matchups.

Yeah.

It's going to be pretty awesome.

Well, look, for the players on the big clubs,

still a lot of money and they believe they can win, right?

So I just want to read you Luis Enrique's quote.

He said, the club is hungry, the fans are hungry, the players players and the team are hungry, and that's a good feeling.

I don't know if we're favorites, but it doesn't bother me.

We have the same objective as in other competitions, which is to go as far as possible and try to win.

And so, for the big clubs, they're looking at it as another seven games.

Instead of playing friendlies, they play seven games and they can make a couple million dollars.

That's real.

And then for the small clubs, I mean, just to like, we have the breakdown here to get to the round of 16 is another 5.8 million pounds, whatever, seven, seven seven and a half million dollars.

So if you're a Boda Fogo or you're a,

you know, Al Ali or a Mela Mama Lodi Sundowns from South Africa, now you got another $7.5 million between 20, 25, that's 350 grand each.

Like this becomes real stuff.

And you go another one, you get $12 million for being in the quarterfinal, et cetera.

For the clubs.

This is a huge.

I'm sorry, for the clubs.

So there's a split.

Yeah, yeah.

But still, this is like, this is real money.

Question for you.

I'm backtracking here.

Do you remember remember two weeks ago, was it?

That the Seattle Sounders players had that like

t-shirt.

What were they protesting?

So, what happened with them is different from what you're saying, and that's the first thing that came to my mind.

That's what I'm asking.

MLS has a collective bargaining agreement with the players writ large in the entire league.

Everton doesn't, Everton has a contract with the players have a deal with the club.

Right, right, right.

But MLS, it's the league has all the, all the clubs.

And they were upset because in their contract, they had negotiated many, many years ago, and it's never since been changed.

They would split the prize money with MLS, but it got capped at a million dollars.

So if it was over a million dollars,

that was it.

The rest goes to the league.

Sure.

So up to a million dollars, they split 50-50, but now obviously it was a chance to earn way more.

Now it's so they would, they obviously want like an addendum to the CBA and correct.

That hasn't happened.

The league has no obligation.

Sure.

Right.

There's so I don't actually don't know what's I don't know the latest.

I'd spoken to some people early on.

I don't know what the latest is, but they did play last year.

No, no, I know that, but that'll be interesting because, again, you talked about the benefit for some of these teams and players.

If you know, if Seattle's not getting that benefit, then

the players are Miami, right?

Yeah.

So

interesting.

Watch this space.

Yeah.

Yeah, Seattle lost, I think.

Yeah, they did.

Yeah, they lost to Bodafogo.

Just full disclosure, I've been watching a little bit from a distance because I've been focused on the Gold Cup stuff with Fox.

But I think, you know, my interest is Inner Miami drew their first game, 0-0.

Seattle now lost, and now they've got to play

two power houses.

And it looks unlikely probably that they're going to play.

Athletico and PSG, yeah.

Right.

And then we'll see how LAFC do.

So LAFC are up next from MLS, and, you know, we'll see how it goes.

But I think it's been a pretty good start to the tournament.

I am interested.

If I wasn't, honestly, if I wasn't working Fox with the Gold Cup, I would spend more time paying attention,

but I will pay attention as we get into it more.

Sure.

All right.

We will keep everyone updated on that.

It'll be interesting to see how the MLS teams progress.

Let's take another break.

When we come back, we will get into all your questions.

I'm sure there will be a lot of questions after the live show last week and everything going on in the last few weeks in the ATT fan connection right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

We'll be right back.

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.

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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.

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A coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win.

A keeper, you know, is defending your goal.

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Time for the AT ⁇ T fan connection.

You know why it's amazing that we're back?

Because last time,

JR, she was only

on audio.

People didn't get to see you.

And today we get to see you and possibly a special guest.

No,

my special guest is laying down right next to me on the floor.

And who is that?

His name is Brinkley.

Brinkley is laying on the floor being good, but

what kind of dog is he?

Golden Retriever.

Well, he might pop, he might pop in, he might not.

We'll see.

Yeah,

depends.

How are you?

Happy to be back in the limelight.

The jet lag is killing me, absolutely destroying me.

The jet lag?

What do you mean, the jet lag?

I am an old lady who likes to go to bed early.

I have been off until 12 or one o'clock in the morning every night, and I can't, my body's you get jet lagged from three-hour time difference, yeah.

Yes, really.

I like going the other way because when I was when I was in LA, LD, I'm waking up like almost six o'clock,

let's go.

Yeah, I know,

that part's good ja were there a lot of uh questions i presume uh yes we actually still have some questions left over from people who were at the live show so one of them is sneaking in here but we do

okay so i a couple of things i would like our listeners to know first of all if you're just unnecessarily mean i'm not reading your questions oh read them like that i actually think that would be fun it's fun um if you are unnecessarily mean to me you will never hear your question oh you do that on this show you're gonna have problems um if you misspell Pachatino over and over again and call him pooch, I'm not putting your question on the air.

Like not like a one-time mistake, like through the whole question.

No.

I think it was intentional then.

But here, here's just like a nice cross-section of the kind of things that we're getting.

So this one's from Jeremy via email.

He said, as someone who grew up playing and loving the game in the 80s and 90s and have been a die-hard soccer and U.S.

men's national team fan for decades, I feel the need to make a comment on the state of affairs of this U.S.

men's national team and U.S.

soccer.

The bottom line is that after the very small handful of elite players, we otherwise do not have a pool of players that can compete on the international level.

Fair.

Fair.

Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree.

Look, the, the,

it's not the elephant in the room, but the, the big picture problem,

and we will, I know we keep teasing this, we will get into this, is we just don't, in the end, don't develop enough world-class players.

We don't.

There's like every, you can talk about the coach and the environment and what they're saying.

We just don't.

We don't.

I mean, we had a caught a B team, B minus team, C team against Switzerland the other day.

Tim,

the difference in level was stunning.

I mean, stunning.

And I, I mean, it just hits you in the face and you're like, they're just not, we're not close enough.

I agree with that.

I agree with it, with the, with the comment for sure.

Yeah.

Um, we also have another slightly different comment.

This one's from Michael via email.

My man, LD, way off base on this one.

A rarity for a man who's usually on point.

If Christian Pulissic calculates what's best for him and and

the prospects for U.S.

men's national team World Cup 26 performance, where is the upside in questioning him?

Yes, it's important and generally awesome to have your legendary voices chiming in and even holding current players to account.

But in this case, I don't see the virtue of not giving this player the benefit of the doubt.

I actually,

that's a fair opinion, totally.

And

I'm, yeah, because I look,

you can have that opinion as someone who cares about the sport, follows the game.

My opinion is because I have been in Christian's shoes.

And of

350 million Americans right now, I'm the only one who has been in his shoes the way he is.

Literally the only human who has, okay, in this country.

So I'm speaking to it from experience, from knowing the consequence of what I missed a World Cup

when I took a break from soccer.

They're not apples to apples to me.

I'm not going to rehash the whole thing.

But I can understand if, look, there is a scenario where this break, this whole thing works.

It helped the team, helped Christian.

He comes back and he, and that's fine.

I'm just saying right now at this time, I don't think it's the right thing to do.

I don't think it's the right time for it.

I don't think it's the right thing to do.

That's it.

I mentioned that we have some questions left over from the live show.

I think this is a pretty great one.

Brandon, who joined us in Los Angeles, said, what does it feel like to play in a World Cup game?

Brandon, thanks for coming out and supporting us.

That was a freaking cool event.

Being live is awesome.

Gives us, we actually both had butterflies before.

We were both saying like, there's like, normally like on these recordings, you don't get that.

You get excited, but you don't get the feeling of being in an arena.

Man, a World Cup game, there was so, you know.

Having been to three World Cups, they all felt different.

Like you feel this glory and this passion to play for your country on the biggest stage and like in the buildup to kick kickoff and the night before you realize that like this is a lifelong dream they felt different for me the older i got um kind of the the more um intense the moment was because it just there was more pressure to perform um but it's the ultimate it's like you know how do you explain it old how do you explain to someone where like everything you've you know into

from the time you started formulating

thoughts about the sport or about a subject right?

Like from the time that I was, I don't know, seven, eight years old, like you see these, you see these people on TV and you're like, oh, I want that to be me.

You have no idea what that means.

And then like the culmination of it, it's really hard to put into words what it means, but you definitely feel like this is my moment, you know, in life when you're like, these are, these are singular moments, you feel it.

The culmination is the right word.

You

have worked every day of your life in one way or another, even if you're resting for a day, taking a day off and taking care of your body, that is literally everything you have worked for your entire life.

And then you get to do it.

I don't know how else you describe it, except how would you feel if every day since you were two, you'd been working towards that something and then you got to achieve it.

It's incredible.

I think you, I think you,

it gives you this rare opportunity in life where in a singular moment, you feel the highest joy.

the biggest fear, if you're humble enough, the most gratitude that you've ever felt like running through your body.

And it's pretty awesome.

I'm not going to lie, listening to you talk about that sounds really scary to me.

You only have anxiety.

I so much enjoy doing that live show because like that, that's kind of like my version of a big tournament.

But if I had to do that in front of 80,000 people, I think I would just pass out on the floor.

It's easy.

You get used to it at some point.

Here is a question from Julie via email.

I am a high school soccer coach.

We are generally pretty competitive, but I have seen the landscape change over the past several years.

I coach boys, but I have daughters who play both for club and for school.

The hardest part for me as a coach is the leadership aspect.

Any advice you could give me, any advice on maybe podcasts or books to help me help my players?

Great question.

I'll let you go first because you have a daughter just to respond to that.

Yeah, I hope you.

Yeah, so here's what I would say.

I think when you, when I look at high school soccer and obviously

this person, she has,

you know, she has experience with club soccer as well and the rest of it.

I think in in high school, what we talk about, what Land and I have been talking about with examples of leadership and

we

in my experience,

you know, particularly with my daughter,

There's this concept that everybody should be treated equally.

It's not how it works.

It's not how it works.

And we try and teach this, I think

to a detriment, we teach this: like, everybody gets a trophy, everybody should be equal.

Well, the fact of the matter is, you're teaching a lesson that doesn't actually exist in the rest of the world.

So, when these, these, well, you know, in my daughter's case, when these young women go out into the rest of the world, the world ain't fair, right?

So, so, to, so, to give them this opportunity in high school to say, like, everyone's equal.

No, it's not.

Some players are better than others.

Some are leaders.

Some should be put at the top and everybody should look at them.

And so

I think

you have to support, pick your leaders

on your high school team, pick who your leaders are, support them, empower them, and allow the rest of the team to look at them as leaders.

And I often give the

very quick example.

And this is one LD that you know.

There was a break in the schedule in Everton or a break where Tim Cahill, who was our star, he played every game.

The manager said, take your family, take a physio, go to Dubai and take a week off.

I'm not playing this weekend, right?

Get rested up because the next week we got three games and you're going to play every game.

And one of the players complained.

You know, one of the players said, What are you doing?

And the manager said, Well, Tim Cahill scores 20 goals every year in the Premier League.

So I'm giving a week off.

When you score 20 goals consistently in the Premier League, I'll give you a week off too.

And so there was this hierarchy that's created that players understand.

Yeah.

For me, I mean, immediately as Julie,

when I heard that question, JR, to me, it's very simple.

I see now in our world with this generation, we do everything for our children.

And coaches do everything for the players.

They walk them, literally walk them through the game verbally.

Do it here, pass it here, do it here.

And what that creates is a bunch of people who don't ever take ownership.

They're always looking to someone else to solve the problem.

Always.

It's perpetually looking to someone else to solve the problem.

Clint Dempsey was not a vocal rah-rah, or he was kind of rah-rah, but not like a polished leader.

But Clint Dempsey never had people solving problems for him.

So when things happen on the field, he solved the problem.

Tim would solve the problem.

Guys, defenders would solve the problem on the field.

I never see that anymore, ever at any level.

And my advice is, and I'm not an expert, but this is just from my years of experience and also being a father now,

let your kids solve problems on their own.

Let them fail.

Let them figure it out.

When they're fighting outside, let them figure out how to resolve it.

When they're certainly on the field, shut up on the sideline and let them solve problems.

And then you'll see who the leaders are.

You'll see who people, which ones have that tendency, and then you can sort of harvest that and make them better.

So I just, for me, it's very simple.

So

I love this question.

This is from Matthew via email.

Just got done watching the episode of the live show in LA and Tim had his sleeves on display.

Can we get Tim to give us a tattoo tour to make up his sleeves?

Tim, I think we have to do this as like a social post when they are.

Yeah, we'll do social.

We'll do social.

But yeah, if you're, if you're into the ink, I'm down.

I need.

Next, next is

get some, my hands and my neck done, but I think I need my bosses at NBC to sign off on that.

And I have a feeling they are not signing off on it.

So that's going to be a while.

But otherwise, I'm running out of room.

I ain't got a lot left.

I asked you, I said, like, how much space do you have left on your butt?

You said none.

No.

You said your hands and your neck.

Just what you see.

In your head.

Do you have football-related tattoos?

Yeah, I think I have a couple.

I have a couple.

I have a.

I love that you can't even remember.

Yeah, got I've got like an I've got like an Everton one.

I've got um

what else do I have?

Oh, I have like um

okay, football one I did for I did for a magazine shoot where they're, I was just like, Yeah, just we can just do this like little soccer player football thingy.

I got a couple, but nah, Tim's at the level where people say, Can we tattoo you for a photo shoot?

And he's like, Sure, if you can find room,

absolutely.

I would have so much anxiety.

I got a couple.

Um, okay, last one, and this is from Marco via email.

Can you each name a situation that comes to mind that was your first difficult moment in your young professional career?

Did you have a big brother to lean on who was a veteran or someone on the coaching staff who always had the right words?

Not you guys.

You were perfect from the moment you started.

Oh, no, no.

I'm just trying to think if I had anyone I could like.

My hardest moment.

early, I mean, we're saying young, but I was 24.

So I don't know if this counts, was after the 06 World Cup because we had a terrible World Cup and I was shocking.

I was really bad for three games.

And I was, it really hit me hard and the criticism hit me hard and I was depressed.

And so I didn't have anyone.

Well, I shouldn't say that.

I had my family and I had my agent and had long talks with all of them about, you know,

just all of it.

and worked through all of it.

So I think the reality and what

this person's getting at with the question is: if you play soccer for a long time, especially if you're doing it at a high level and it's public, you're going to have hard moments, like really hard moments.

And I guess one of my regrets or things I wish I would have had was older players earlier who could have helped me.

And maybe that was my fault for not asking for help, but I think that would have helped me a lot.

Yeah.

No, I think that works.

I'm reluctant to say like younger, like younger years, years, LD, because like the problem, the problem,

maybe it's a problem, the problem we have is when you're like in when you become a World Cup player or you become

elite at some level professionally, that kind of means, that kind of means that you are the best when you were coming up.

And when you're the best coming up, you get, you get afforded a lot, I mean, there's pressure, but you get afforded a lot of.

a lot of liberties.

And so like I tough moments when I was young, maybe, but I was always kind of the the star of that show.

And maybe like, you know, even like when I went, when I went to the Olympic, I went to the Olympics in 2000 and one of the overage positions was

they used on Friedel.

I'm a goalkeeper, but I was also kind of like, yeah, but I'm going to Australia.

I'm going to Olympics.

Like, I'm going to hang out.

Like,

that wasn't failure.

I think, I think for me, the.

I think the biggest turning point

in my career was at Manchester United.

My first season when we failed and there was that infamous moment where there was a free kick from Porto and I spilled it.

I left it right on the doorstep.

They put it in.

Josie Mourinho sprinted down the touchline.

It's like folklore now.

And I lost my spot and they're just like, the kick kid can't do it.

And that was a big failure.

But

I don't know.

You know, you talk about leaning on senior players.

Players are so insecure that very few players are going to be like, hey, kid, I know what you're going through.

Come over and have some pizza and we'll talk about the time I failed, right?

Like just players, players players are just so so

closed off and so i don't know i it was a me versus me type of thing and and i knew i just had to get my head down and work hard and you know tim mulqueen as i've always mentioned is uh a dear friend and mentor and you know i probably called him and complained to him and uh he set me straight a few times so yeah i did have somebody from you know again that i grew up with and that coached me and was a mentor but those are hard moments they're really hard moments and and when you watch you made a great point, LD, like watching letting your kids fail, letting kids you coach or your own kids fail, like that's hugely important.

And so you want to be there for them.

But I also think it's, you know, in my own experience, it was, you know,

you mentioned, you, you know, you mentioned just a sidebar about like you being the only other person in America who knows exactly what Christian Pelistic was going through.

or is going through and that's why you're you're a good person to have judgment on it every time i failed ld

I personally found it very difficult to find somebody else in my shoes who I could be like, let me tell you this, because you'll understand.

Like, no one's going to understand.

This is like, who's ever been in this arena?

Right.

And so, obviously, I talked about the other players, but very few are willing to share those moments.

Great answers.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Jerry.

We are.

Thank you.

Before we get out of here, anything but soccer.

ABS.

Tim, you know where I'm going.

This is your gig.

I love golf.

And the one thing I was able to just, just follow along as I was working was the U.S.

Open.

JJ Spawn.

So this guy's from Southern California like I am.

I'm going to grab my phone because I want to read this.

Someone put out a tweet.

So

he started the day in the lead, had a terrible like first five holes.

He was like four over par after five holes, whatever.

Came back.

In the end, he was tied with someone who was already in the clubhouse.

And then he rolled in a long, long putt to win it so he ended up winning it but i just want to read this is such a great story for young athletes okay

so in 2013 he made eleven thousand dollars on the canadian tour okay so he's trying to make it in 2014 he made only one cut

and earned 825 total dollars playing in canada

I'm going to skip ahead.

In 2016, he finished third on the Corn Ferry tour, which is underneath the PGA tour, so he could earn his PGA tour card.

In the next four years,

he finished 97th, 62nd, 99th, 185th in 2025, and at that time lost his PGA tour card, so he couldn't play on tour.

He got it back the next year.

kept it in 2021 only due to covid he finished 174th

2022 finished 34th.

2023, 62nd.

Last year, he finished 98th.

So this is a guy who was never higher than 35th best golfer in the world.

And then he won the U.S.

Open.

And it's just a phenomenal story.

I actually got to play in a pro-am with him a couple of years ago at Torrey Pines.

Awesome human, really sweet.

Just so happy for him.

And this is the crazy thing about golf, man.

Every time I'm on the course, I think to myself, I'll hit a shot from 100 yards and it lands like 10 feet away.

And I'll go to people who know, I'll say, how many pros hit it to 10 feet from 100?

They say, well, they all can do it, but there's a lot of times they don't.

And it's the only sport where that could happen.

Yeah.

Like no random person who's never played soccer could walk out and play in a World Cup match.

But I could hit the same shot that Scotty Scheffler can hit.

No, I don't do it often.

It's amazing.

But I can.

Great shot.

And it just, it's amazing.

It's cool.

It's just amazing.

So you, so, so,

these are all serious questions.

How many, how many days out of every week do you golf, roughly on average?

Anywhere from two to four.

It's

definitely four because you're we talk every day on our podcast chat group, and you're it's definitely four.

I think

you know, for me, I and I'm not a golf fan, you know that I'm not a fan of golf.

I am a sportsman, though, and I love moments.

And so, yeah, and so when the Stanley Cup finals are on, which they are now, or golf, or

the

Tour de France, or a major tennis tennis grand slam.

When it gets to the end, I'm locked in because

I want to see moments of like execution and like what it's like for

men and women to be under like immense, immense pressure and perform, succeed or fail.

That's where I get enjoyment out of watching.

And

my dear friend, one of my best friends, Cobble, who you know,

he recently worked for Live Golf with Bryson DeChambeau.

And he and Bryson are very close.

And I texted him last night because I was out for food with my daughter after the movie.

And I looked up at the screen and I knew it was Sunday, right?

So I knew it was getting tight.

And like, I think Spawn was plus one.

And I was thinking, that can't be, that can't be the leaderboard.

Like, I don't, I don't know golf that well, but I know enough, right?

I'm like, maybe I'm reading the leaderboard wrong.

So I text him and I was like, I was like, is the leader plus one?

And he's like, yeah, he's like, it's been a bad day, you know, and weather and all the rest of it.

And I was like, that's incredible.

But then I, then, as I said, I think with two holes left, he made that approach and he was like putting for Eagle, which he missed for

the outright lead.

And then he made par and I was just like, this is, I mean, to watch, to watch him play on the weekend was awesome.

So much respect.

And, you know, I think the thing about these,

particularly in tennis and in golf, I always find it interesting because that one win

puts to rest all the doubt.

Like you, you don't have to be Tiger Woods, by the way.

Don't have to be Tiger Woods.

Very few people are.

Win that major.

Thank you very much.

I mean, there's maybe 100 or a few hundred people who have ever won a major in tennis or golf.

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

You think about that.

It's incredible.

So congrats to JJ Spawn.

Really happy for him.

Yeah, man.

All right, Timmy, another great show.

As always, it was fun to,

one, be back home, but also be here with you.

Thanks to everyone.

We appreciate all the love and support as always.

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