USMNT Gold Cup Roster, Chaos in San Diego, and the English Premier League Season Wrap-Up

When the Gold Cup ends, Mauricio Pazertino will not know.

I'm going on record as a fact.

He will not know what his best team is made of in the most difficult moments.

No, he'll have no clue.

Let me say that again.

He will not know what his best team has in the most difficult moments.

Think about that for a second.

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 the past five years.

My guy, L.D., how are you, bud?

Timmy, welcome back.

Thank you.

Have a long weekend, huh?

I'm fresh as a daisy.

I was doing doggies over the Atlantic, back and forth to

England.

Yeah, I was

in Liverpool this weekend at Anfield.

Covered the trophy lift.

I saw a bunch of friends from Manchester that

went out to dinner.

Got a workout in, just hung with my boys, had some coffee.

So it was, it's great.

It's always great to get back over and see friends and do some work so but back in new york bro how was your weekend i always say this holidays summer is the worst so memorial day is the worst three days in a row my one son had a tournament soccer tournament an hour away and then they of course the time's like 8 30 in the morning and their second game's at 5 30 p.m so you're gonna sit in temecula for seven hours with nothing to do.

So my wife took them one day.

I took them the other day.

She took them yesterday, which means the other one is with our other two kids at home.

It's a disaster.

You're miserable.

This episode is not about American youth soccer because that's

a book that we're going to write because that's hard.

That's terrific.

Yeah, I hear you.

All right.

So some exciting stuff.

I know you've been traveling a lot.

You got more traveling coming up.

I do.

Tell our audience what's going on.

I'm coming to the West Coast because, again, I always got to travel for you these days.

Huge, huge announcement.

This is a big show.

We're going to talk about the Gold Cup roster and Premier League and all that, but big, big announcement.

We have our first live show.

That's Unfiltered Soccer live show at Bemo Stadium on June 11th.

That's June 11th is a Wednesday, 2025 at 5.30 p.m.

We're going to have guests.

We're going to have live guests.

We're going to have interviews.

We're going to have interaction with the crowd.

Probably a bit of Q ⁇ A.

Even if our producers say no, we're going to get a microphone into the crowd and let you run wild.

We're getting lots of this right now, but go to unfilteredsoccer.com forward slash live to purchase your tickets.

I'm telling you, it's going to be a live event and it's going to be live.

I can't wait.

I'm excited to see you in the flesh, LD.

We've been wanting to do a live show for a long time, Tim.

So it's going to be awesome.

It's downtown LA at BMO Stadium.

I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of stick for it not being at Dignity Health, but that's okay.

The venue worked out perfectly.

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

Subscribe to the the show on YouTube.

Make sure you follow an Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Leave us a review.

It helps people find us.

And as always, email at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.

I have no doubt that we are going to have a lot of emails coming in after this episode as we discuss the Gold Cup roster and most importantly,

who's not there.

So reminder, live show, June 11th, 5:30 p.m.

Go to unfilteredsoccer.com backslash live to get tickets.

We're not opening it up to a lot of people, so I would go very fast if you want to be there.

All right, Tim, let's get right into it.

You know, like when bad things happen in life, you go through all the emotions, you're angry, and then you're sad and then you're trying to find the silver lining and all.

That's been my weekend as the Gold Cup roster got announced.

Let me just say for a second, you know what?

You know what excites me about today is there's a good cop, bad cop going on between us.

And I'm, I'm naturally the bad cop.

I think we agree with that.

I feel like today I'm going to have to wear a different hat.

I'm going to have to wear the good cop hat because you, my friend, are very fired up.

I'm fired up, but

I'm trying to

bide my time here because

this gold cup roster is, if there were air quotes and we all hate air quotes, it would be interesting.

It's complicated.

Yeah, it's complicated.

All right.

So USLNT on USMNT.

All right.

So we're going to go all over the place here, guys.

I apologize, but I just, I wrote down a gazillion things and they are all over the map.

Yeah.

So let's just start with who is not in this

omissions are more important.

Omissions that we think are of note.

Okay.

I'm going to probably miss some, but number one by a gazillion miles is Christian Pulissic.

And we're going to get into him in a second.

No Tanner Tessman, no Cameron Carter Vickers, no Joe Scally.

Due to Club World Cup, no

Wes McKinney, no,

who am I missing here?

Timothy Weia.

And there's one at no Gio Reina.

Also, not there, Sargent, no Eunice Musa.

Okay, I think I got all of them, but maybe I missed some.

Ish, yeah.

Okay, so let's not bury the lead.

Let's start with Christian.

Sure.

You go first.

Me?

What are you bringing me into this for?

You're not a good cop today.

I'm an honest cop.

No, I'm a good cop.

Okay.

All right.

I'll start.

The entire

premise of this show when it comes to the gold cut roster is

there are so many important vital players missing.

And we're going to talk about for every time someone misses an opportunity, there's an opportunity gained by someone else.

I don't want someone.

No Jedi Robinson.

Robinson.

Okay.

You don't want someone what?

Go ahead.

I don't want...

someone else representing us at the World Cup.

I want the best American players representing us at the World Cup, right?

And because of that, I don't really care about these opportunities for some of these other guys.

What I want is our best players to be performing

together

when the stuff is really hitting the fan and having to figure out and problem solve.

Because here's the thing, hear it from me.

We have just missed, we haven't even kicked off the Gold Cup, we have just missed our last opportunity before the World Cup to compete as a group.

Don't tell me about the September friendlies.

There are no competitive games.

As soon as the Gold Cup finishes, there are no competitive games before the World Cup.

It's over.

And by the way,

I'm highly, highly doubtful that we'll have our best squads together.

for even more than five friendly games this year.

Well, I mean, this group hasn't proven that there'll be one game where everyone's together, right?

Due to injuries or someone not wanting to be there or whatever.

So

that's my, but you talk about, we could talk about Christian Pulisic or Anthony Robinson or Musa.

They're all in the same boat for me, but you in particular, those three.

Well, no, look.

So look, there is nuance between them, right?

Because they're all unique situations.

Right.

And then with Scally and Sargent, and some of these were also soccer decisions that Pochtino said, I'm just, I don't want to bring them in.

Tessman, right?

And he said that publicly.

So with Christian, so I understand

very clearly what it's like to need a break.

Okay.

As do you.

Okay.

I got in 2013, I had played

probably 14 straight years of

11 plus months of soccer,

40 plus games a year.

And I don't, I've have never said this publicly, but I was on the verge, and I think I've mentioned this to you, like I was on the verge of a real breakdown where it could have got scary for me.

Okay.

And I'm just, I'm going to leave it at that, and you can, you can understand where I'm going with that.

Sure.

I want to say the caveat to all of these guys needing a break and not coming in.

If there's something serious going on in your life, in your family, mentally, whatever,

I get it.

Okay.

So I'm going to, I'm going to assume for sake of this conversation that's not going on, but I am admitting I could be wrong with that.

If they would actually come out and give reasons, it would help us, but none of them want to say anything publicly.

I think it would help them publicly to say this is why.

Sure.

It would help people understand.

So I'm going to preface it with that.

That being said, with Christian, I think the hard part with him is he is, whether he likes it or not, the leader of this team.

Okay.

He doesn't have to wear the armband.

It's not easy being a leader, by the way.

It's not.

And everybody is watching everything he does.

Okay.

And so the example I'm going to use is Eunice Musa.

I don't have info on this.

I don't have any inside info on this.

I can imagine, and I could be wrong, that over the last few months, Christian and Eunice were sitting talking in the locker room multiple times and Christian saying, you know, I'm just thinking about

maybe not going to the gold cup because I am tired.

And Eunice, a 22-year-old, impressionable young man, could also be saying, shoot, I'm tired too.

I want to spend the summer with my family and not have to go.

play for six more weeks.

And that's the kind of influence a leader has.

Other guys here get wind of Christian not going and they say, oh, maybe I don't want to go.

Maybe Jedi says, yeah, I don't want to go.

Okay.

So with Christian,

I put him separate because he's played a ton of games.

He's been a leader.

He's been the man and he's performed and he cares.

It shows that he cares when he's with the team.

Okay.

So I'm going to put him over here.

The problem I have with Christian in the last few weeks is he's still playing for Milan.

Oof.

Yeah.

Here we go.

Okay.

So if you're, if you're tired and you're burnt out and whatever, if you guys are still playing for a Champions League spot, fine, fine, I get it.

They had Tim, nothing to play for this weekend.

Zero.

They had the same thing to play for that you and I did.

Zero.

Yeah.

Right.

So that's my one thing.

Okay.

So I'm going to put Christian there.

Let's get in.

Eunice Musa.

I, I'm, I don't even have words because he's 22.

He's played 16 games this year and he's tired and wants to spend.

Now, again, with the preface that.

or the caveat that maybe there's something serious going on.

If there is, I apologize.

I'm going to assume there's not because I haven't heard anything from you.

So I'm just to me that's not even worth talking about yeah the jedi robinson thing so if people remember he took time off during nations league because he needed to get his his knee right yeah you know what he did the next weekend tim

played he started and played for fulham

okay so he also now said he's not going to go to the gold cup yeah he doesn't want to go to the gold cup Fine, you've had a long season.

You've performed great.

Why are you starting and playing 90 minutes the last two games for Fulham if your knee's so messed up?

Yeah,

what are you doing?

What kind of message is that sending?

If you are really injured, and that's no problem, you're totally fine.

We respect that.

Everyone has to make the decision that's best for them.

What the hell are you doing?

Yeah.

So, my biggest thing, Tim, and then I'll stop.

No, my biggest thing with these guys right now is

the national team is not a priority for them.

Correct.

It's not.

And I'm not going to say they don't care.

There's levels of caring.

It's just not a priority.

If it was, Anthony would have said, I'm not playing these last four games because I want to play in the gold cup.

Period end of story.

So, all right, I'm off.

Well, I appreciate your take.

Appreciate your honesty about mental health and what it took, the place that you were at when you had to step away for a time, because that's real and honest.

And I appreciate that.

I will say that our listeners, and we have a lot of them, thank God

you make our show go.

I think our listeners right now are slightly gobsmacked that you said that the Gold Cup isn't a priority.

One, I agree with you, by the way.

I agree with you.

But when you look at this tip,

all consuming, you then begin to realize it's impossible for the Gold Cup to be a priority.

If all of these decisions are starting to trickle down, then it shows that.

Do I think U.S.

soccer thinks the Gold Cup is a priority?

Yes.

Do I think that the coaching staff and or the players think it's a priority?

No.

Look, I also, I also, because

the internet trolls who we do love, actually, they will be onto us quickly.

So yes, I stepped away from the game.

Let me give you context.

Played in three World Cups.

I played for my country 110 times.

And after the 2004 World Cup, I took a year break.

14, 2014.

Sorry, sorry.

2014 World Cup in Brazil.

I took a year break i then came back into the team uh in the summer of 2015 during the copa america i prioritized the importance of major tournaments and knew that after a world cup the games are meaningless right there's for the for the most part person play like myself the friendlies are if there was ever a good time to take a break it was then and also i was 35 years old so um there's that part Oh, and by the way, just in case anybody wants to try and knock me off my high horse, I was the starting goalkeeper for the U.S.

national team by a mile.

And in that year, because I chose to take off, the manager demoted me to number two, even though I was number one.

So there was consequences for my decision, which I knew going in, right?

That's how this works.

So I think you make a really interesting point, you know, with Christian and

Anthony Robinson.

Both players, I think, are phenomenal players.

And I've been on record as saying that.

The decision is perplexing when you begin to realize that these players are telling us they need rest.

So we have to accept that.

What I would then throw back to you, which you've said, is both of your teams are mid-table.

And I'm not saying, by the way,

you should bottle club games because

take it from me.

I took every injection and tablet there was in the world to make sure I was on the field for both club and country.

But if you're telling us you need rest for injuries,

to get fist, fit, then you need to rest.

These are meaningless games, essentially, because I think,

and many of our listeners think the Gold Cup

is vastly important because it's our last chance to compete as a team.

These friendlies are going to mean nothing.

We could say they're going to mean something.

They're not going to push us to the limit that a tournament competition would push us.

I just,

I think about even my own time, I know you were the same.

Like begging a manager, like you get wind of things, right?

Whether through group text or you get wind of who's who's going in and who's not.

Begging my manager, hey, I might not call senior players in this summer.

I'd call the manager and go, yeah, I'm fit.

I'm ready.

Were you planning on bringing me in?

Like just trying to egg him on to make sure that I was in.

And by the way, I don't know if I, and I think that, I think the generation slightly above us who we, you and I were in at the back end of, I think they had some good leaders.

Absolutely.

I certainly think that we played with a lot of leaders.

It was actually one of our biggest strengths and weaknesses was the fact that we had so many leaders that

there was a time we yeah we needed a sports psychologist remember to come in and basically say like hey i you know all this all of this energy tim i can't have that jermaine jones landon michael bradley josie clint like i need you to bring a lot of this but not all of it right so so we had that and i remember there being group texts where literally guys

for lack of a better word we'd bully each other to go into to go into camp like if we got a message that like Josie wasn't coming in, Michael would side text us and we'd all text Josie like, hey, I saw you come off in the 60s, Come in.

You're coming in, aren't you, bro?

And like, we'd have a giggle.

Or Josie would text one of us, like, don't tell me I'm not going to see you in Chicago this summer.

And you're like, you start getting this feeling like, oh, I feel like tons of pressure.

I got to go in.

My boys are giving me stick, right?

And so there was a camaraderie and a leadership about the group.

And I just wonder if the senior players are within this current.

group of U.S.

men's national team players are holding each other accountable.

Forget holding the younger players accountable.

That's secondary right now.

Are they holding each other accountable?

You know,

I also think it's generational, LD, and this is the good cop in me.

I think it's generational.

And because your guy, LeBron, right, he's a Laker.

And my guy, Jordan, right, when you look at right and wrong, or you look at generation.

So what happened with Michael Jordan was, and this is well documented, he got his ass whooped in the Eastern Conference, right?

The Pistons bullied him.

And he played 82 games.

You know what he did in the summer?

He went, I have to get stronger.

I have to get nastier.

I have to hire the best personal trainer in all of sports.

He did that, right?

He bulked up.

He got meaner.

He got nastier.

And by the way, I have a feeling he had a few niggling injuries.

I just have a feeling about that, right?

And he's the greatest.

Fast forward to the other GOAT in the conversation, LeBron James.

He is in the era of load management, right?

And rest.

And so I'm just, hear me out here.

I'm just trying to throw that out.

And by the way, LeBron James plays all the games too.

I get that, but there is, there is this,

you know, load management that's creeped in, and they've actually had to make a rule in the NBA about that, right?

And so they want, they want players to play more.

So maybe this generation is cut differently.

I'm not saying that that's good or bad.

Maybe I am, but that's clearly.

They are.

Look, look,

I try hard, Tim, not to be the old guy like the old grumpy.

I really do.

I really do.

And I take in all the, I talk to tons of people during the week to try to get context and

understand this.

One thing, look, from Mauricio Pochitino's standpoint, this is where I have a problem with what some of these players did.

So Mauricio Pochitino was forced into a decision.

Okay.

When your best player calls you and says, I don't want to come in this summer, what are you supposed to do?

Okay.

So your options are, you say, I don't care.

I don't care how you're feeling.

You're coming in.

Now your best player is pissed off at you.

Oh, by the way, way, what happens if your best player then gets hurt while he's there?

Now he's blaming you, and we're all blaming him.

Or he has to do what he decided to do, which is, okay, I'm going to leave you off and risk our team not doing as well and risk not having you here, right?

And he had to do that with multiple players.

So multiple players ended up tying his hands, and it just makes it difficult for him.

It makes it really difficult for him.

What is he supposed to do, Tim?

Well, yeah, okay, but let me ask you.

You can't tell Christian.

No, you're coming in sorry um i mean you can

um but

i i tell you what you can do my my my thought was and still is but that's going to waver in the next month if if things don't go well that mauricio pachattino is much much bigger than u.s soccer and i don't mean that negatively he's a big name he's coached big characters so

So

my hope would be that there was this plan in place that says,

this is last chance saloon to get all of my guys together to see what I have.

By the way, you're talking about evaluating.

When the Gold Cup ends, Mauricio Pazzertino will not know.

Hear me out.

I'm going on record as fact.

He will not know what his best team is made of in the most difficult moments.

Do you understand?

Let me say that again.

He will not know what his best team has in the most difficult moments.

Think about that for a second.

So my thing is, there had to have been a plan in place that says we are prioritizing the Gold Cup.

We're going to win the Gold Cup.

We're going to, you and I have been in rooms with managers on the U.S.

national team that have said, they have said to us this exact thing.

Listen, boys, we're going to play this tournament exactly how we're going to play next year's World Cup.

We're going to use the same substitution pattern.

We're going to use the same travel pattern.

We're going to use the same training sessions.

We're going to mimic.

You and I have heard this, Landon.

We're going to mimic what the World Cup is going to look like so we have an idea of what that looks like next year.

That was easily Confederation's Cup in 09 was the first thing that came to mind.

Exactly the same.

So we don't,

we, as a country, Mauricio Pontatino, does not have that.

So I'm saying this needed to be a priority.

Okay.

So when you ask what's he supposed to do because the player's tied to his hands, he's bigger than U.S.

soccer.

He makes it a priority and then says to, you know what, you know what's more important to Kristen Pulisic and Anthony Robinson and Musa than having this summer off?

What's more important is that they play in a World Cup.

So if the manager says, look, guys, this is how it's going to be, they're not going to throw their toys out of the pram.

And if they do, they're going to miss a World Cup.

They're not going to miss a World Cup.

So they're going to fall into line.

The fact of the matter is we need everybody there.

Now, look, within the team, and like we've always said, they're not beholden to us and we're not beholden to them.

Within the team, they're going to go, Tim, go jump in a lake.

You don't know what you're talking about.

Obviously, I know what I'm talking about.

And the fact of the matter is, they need to be there.

And by the way, we've been in gold cups.

I've seen the first round.

Listen, for everybody, for everybody here, I'm holding my hand up.

I don't care about the first round of the gold cup.

My daughter's high school team could get out of the first round of the gold cup.

And I'm not being funny, even though I know you're laughing.

So, so

bring the players in.

We have actually, in fact, LD, I've had a gold cup where I've come in.

It was the last, it was the one that we won in 2017, where Bruce, Bruce basically said, the senior players,

you're not coming in.

I'm coming for the knockout round.

Yeah, so the last game of the, of the opening round, you're going to be around the team.

Everyone's going to high five.

We're going to cruise to the first round.

And when the stuff really hits the fan, you boys are coming in.

He said that to us.

This isn't unprecedented.

So the fact that they can have their rest.

It was actually, Tim, it was one of the things I wrote down is I was thinking through that.

You could easily, right?

So let's say their season ended last weekend, right?

What are we at?

End of May?

Yeah.

So you could have said

you're not even coming in for the friendlies.

Well, don't play your, don't play your last two club games.

Well, first of all, start by don't play your last two club games.

Yeah.

So now you've had since mid-May, all the way through, let's say,

first week of June, we're going to get you moving and running and doing a little bit on your own, but you're not even coming in with the group.

And we'll see you on June 10th.

Four days ahead of the first game.

You're not playing in the first two games, period.

If by some reason we need you for the third game, which we shouldn't, we might suit a few of you up, put you on the bench, and get you going.

And then you're going to play in the knockout stages.

Or even if you want to do that, you're not playing the whole time, but you're going to be here around the group with the team so we can continue to build culture.

You can see what the expectations are, et cetera, et cetera.

That's another compromise that could have been made.

Totally.

And look, we don't know the conversations that were had or not had, right?

But that could have been an easy, an easy one.

And by the way, yes, it is an easy conversation.

Speaking of conversations, which is important to me, I'm not putting the blame necessarily on Marino Partitino.

What I'm saying is all of these conversations needed to be had with the global sporting directors at these clubs.

So I'm putting a ton of this.

And a long time ago.

A long time.

I'm putting a ton of this on U.S.

soccer.

There needed to be people on planes at restaurants in Milan, at restaurants in London, buying bottles of red wine for sporting directors, saying, listen, I understand you have priorities.

Let me tell you about my priorities.

My job's on the line.

The Gold Cup in 2025 is my priority.

Now, I know there's going to be a bunch of things in between there that you're going to say are hurdles.

I'm saying those are nothing to me.

I need to have my best team.

I need to give the manager that I'm paying how much?

$6 million?

The manager that I'm paying $6 million to, I have an obligation to get him his best team.

on the field.

Now, that might not mean anything to you, but it means a world to me.

And that's more important.

So how do we figure this out?

That's dialogue.

And I don't necessarily know that those, that that dialogue has been had with sporting directors.

And by the way, if it has,

then it just shows that U.S.

soccer has no gravitas and no power.

Because if those conversations were had with sporting directors in Europe, then those sporting directors basically said, who is this?

I don't have time for this call.

I'll see you.

I'll speak to you never and hung up the phone.

Because that's.

Or they said yes, or they said yes and just did the opposite.

Wow.

Just did whatever they wanted anyway.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

I mean, look, to your point, when the whole process of hiring Pochatino, all the emphasis was on getting the coach, getting the coach, getting the person you want, whatever.

Was there enough consideration, thought given to how the process was going to look over the next year and a half?

Probably not.

Probably not.

I mean, look, we both know people in U.S.

soccer.

you know given what we know my answer would be probably not because they would be definitely not the most impressive definitely not yeah so this is a problem.

This is a massive, massive problem for where we are.

I think the biggest takeaway before we move on here,

because I do want to try to get to the positive

is one, now Pochitino's making a bet, right?

He's saying, fine, leaving all those guys off.

I'm leaving other guys off intentionally.

So I can look at certain players

and we'll get to them in a second.

And I'm taking the risk.

that this could all go belly up and the gold cup could be a disaster and we're going to have more piles of pressure coming in the hopes that these players are rested, recovered, ready.

But by the way, Tim, last thing for me here is

these guys are going to play 50 games next year.

So, what's going to happen at the end of next year?

And by the way, there is something to your body getting used to doing that.

Of course, I went into every January camp for 15 years, every single one.

So, we played till December 7th with the Galaxy.

January 1st, I was in camp.

So, I had three weeks off.

I had a week to go swim and chill and go on vacation, and then I was training again.

But my body got used to it.

My body got used to it.

So now, if your body's used to taking the summer off, and now you got to play next year in the biggest tournament of your life, how does your body react?

I don't know.

Yeah, no, it's Paul.

I think there's a lot.

I mean, this is,

there's a lot to this.

And I think that.

this is just scratching the surface.

And as you said, unfortunately, unfortunately, these,

you know, when

these are big moments, big conversations, these are big boy adult conversations.

And I just think we don't hear oftentimes from, you know, from these players publicly.

Yeah, you're right.

And

I think that's a miss.

It's a miss,

particularly when you're supposed to be a leader and be counted on and we don't hear from you.

That's, you know, it's obviously their choice not to speak, but it's...

Yeah,

it ends up having to be speculated about.

And oftentimes, some of that speculation in our case, isn't actually speculation.

We know

we have a lot of friends and

we're going to have to talk about it because this is what everybody wants to hear.

Whenever a door closes, another opens, right?

So reminder from our friends at NHTSA, buckle your seatbelt to make it home safely.

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Click it or tick it.

Paid for by NHTSA.

So to me, NHTSA is always reminding us to get strapped in.

for every time we get in our car and for every opportunity.

And for a lot of these guys, this is now an opportunity.

And Mauricio Pochtino said that in his press conference, and I believe him.

I think he said the guys who came into the last few camps are on the same level as some of these guys in Europe.

And that's all he has to take.

Right.

And I know you don't agree with that, but

all he has to take is what he sees in camp and what they give him.

So guys like Luna, Brian White, Sebastian Berhalt are now coming in, Quinn Sullivan, Alex Freeman, Luca de la Torre.

Big opportunity for them to get strapped in and take advantage of this opportunity.

It is.

And I know you don't think they're good enough.

And I, or some of them are good enough.

And I know you think

you want to see your best players there, but this is what it is now.

I mean, that ship sailed, right?

So that ship sailed.

So for these guys, do they take advantage of it?

And to be honest, Tim, I hope they do, man.

I hope some of these guys get punished for it.

I do.

And I'm not in a nasty way, whatever, but it'd be good for them to have some competition now.

Well, I mean,

you say you believe what Marcia Partitino is saying.

Look, I suppose we have to take it at face value

until proven otherwise.

When he has his full complement of players,

will he look at a guy who's been in and say,

I trust you?

And look at a player who on paper is better and plays at a bigger club.

And will he sit that player down and go, look,

I don't trust that you're all in.

So go over there on the bench and walk you away.

Maybe, maybe.

I don't know that.

I don't know that to be true.

You know, again, you prefaced it.

I personally, and this is why our fans are so up in arms about it, why I am.

I want our best players.

I want Belisic and Robinson and Musa and Gio Reyna and Weston McKinney and Wea.

I want these guys on the pitch, to name, and there's a few others.

I want them all there.

So I don't actually want them to get punished.

I just, you know, because the best chance that we have of getting a result, a positive result.

in the World Cup is to have our best players.

And so look, look, do I think genuinely not because we had Diego Luna on the show and everybody in America, as we do have a love affair with him, but

I think this is a moment where if he's able to say

it fit, he's hungry, he's in MLS.

So thankfully he's in the middle of his season and it just says, Gaffer, I'm here.

I'm running my socks off.

I'm going to score the goals.

I'm going to be tough.

I want to play.

I want to play every game.

Don't leave me out.

When he gets left out, he knocks on the manager's door.

Don't leave me out.

Right.

And he can get six, seven games under his belt this summer and have positive performances.

I think that then starts to tilt the balance of things.

And that then, because naturally, right,

he'll then have gained more trust.

Right.

And he'll have more stock.

And someone else who didn't come into camp will have less stock.

Right.

And then, and, and then even if that person with less stock starts ahead of him, they get it, they get a much shorter opportunity, right?

When things don't go well, they go, well, I can play, I can play Diego Luna because I know I can count on him.

So I think in that case, but you know what?

It's one or two cases, Landon.

It's not across the board.

It's not across the board.

That's fine.

Okay, that's fine.

I will tell you, having coached, one of the things, probably the most important thing for a coach is trusting your players.

100%.

It is,

you will take a guy who's a six and a half out of 10, who you know is a six and a half out of 10, versus a guy who could be a nine, but might be a four.

Every day, every day of the week.

And so far, a guy like Diego Luna is showing he is going to bring it every time.

And it's like, you know, you're dating a girl and she doesn't really want to be with you, but she kind of does.

Are you going to just keep chasing and chasing?

And for Pochettino right now, he's like, look, you don't want to be here?

Fine.

This guy does.

So, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to give him a chance.

And look, look, we're going to, we're, we're, you know, get a chance to, to

ask Pochettino.

And I think these are, these are real questions and concerns that we have.

And that.

that the public has and the fans certainly have, right?

And so it will be interesting.

I think there's a lot of navigating that pochetino is going to have to do um you know over the next certainly 10 months 12 months all right leave us your comments and questions we'll have a lot for the mailbag next week and for the live show um lots of there'll be lots of good feedback and we want to hear your opinions last thing before we take a break tim um i'm just i'm gonna i you can comment on this if you want i'm gonna just i'm gonna make a plea here publicly

San Diego FC, over the weekend, there was some really nasty fights with Galaxy fans in the stadium outside the stadium.

some really bad i saw some really bad images one guy punched a girl in the face um it was really ugly really ugly and i just want to say first i'm going to say to la galaxy and you know laf lafc fans don't care what i have to say but this also happened with lafc yeah um galaxy fans please cut it out like we are way better than that way better than that and i don't

You don't want this to end where something really bad happens before it stops.

so just just please go to the game cheer the game cheer your team and walk out peacefully and leave people alone okay i'm gonna i'm gonna start there i know there are two sides to this story sure second half of this is san diego fc this is a city i live in now yeah and i love and what i see happening in the stadium is not san diego it's really not tim and it's it's starting to piss me off um san diego is a town full of people that come here to live here on purpose because they want to be here.

And it's a town that gets along and loves each other.

I know there's hatred towards LA.

There's the, you know, sort of inferiority complex, all that stuff.

This is not the way to show it.

So cut it out.

Stop.

You're ruining a really good thing in San Diego right now.

You really are.

And Galaxy fans, you're complicit in this and we're better than that.

So let's stop.

And that's all I want to say.

Well, well, so my take is San Diego FC, I know what

they're trying to do.

They're a new team.

They're trying to create a history and an environment that may not have existed before.

And they're probably going over the top.

There's been some homophobic chance that they've needed to wind back in and rightfully so, and they haven't done that.

And I know in our comments, people have argued, given the translation between Spanish and English, that it's not a homophobic chant.

I'm going on the basis that it is.

And even if it isn't,

it needs to be reined in.

That being said,

as a club owner,

both previously and currently, San Diego is probably thinking like, we've got momentum here.

Like, how much of this

do we want to stop?

So on the surface, I don't know if they're doing enough.

And what I would say is, and I've tested Don Garber's resolve and lost, and I thought I was above the law.

And I was subsequently hit with a league at the time, unprecedented league high suspension for something that happened off the field.

And Don Garbo will be on the phone soon enough if he hasn't already been.

So yeah, I would say San Diego, make sure you're doing a good thing at the moment, but some things need to kind of be reined in.

So pay particular attention to that.

Yeah.

And unfortunately, what we're not talking about is that San Diego are second in the Western Conference standings, right?

Because this stuff is taken.

So Chuki Lozano, other leaders on the team, get out there and say it too.

It's not okay.

It's not acceptable.

There's ways to be fanatical and passionate.

This is not it.

Yeah.

And

from what I think we know, Lozano had the opportunity to go out and address the fans, and he chose not to, which again is a huge miss.

It's a huge lack of leadership and a big miss.

So

that needed to happen.

Hopefully, it subsides.

Agreed.

All right, let's take a break.

Thanks for sitting in a long segment.

A lot going on there.

And obviously, we're passionate about it.

When we come back, we'll be talking Premier League, other things going on in the soccer world right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by our friends at Volkswagen.

So stay right there.

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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, that's a wrap on the 2024-25 Premier League season.

But before we get into that,

we here at Unfiltered Soccer need to take a moment and extend our condolences and thoughts to the city of Liverpool.

As you saw yesterday during the Liverpool celebration parade, tragedy struck.

A man has now been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after following an ambulance into a closed part of the parade route on Water Street and driving into the crowd.

50 people were hospitalized and as of this morning, 11 are still receiving treatment.

Obviously, this is a horrible way to end a big day for the city and the fans.

And we hope for a speedy recovery for everyone impacted.

There's no easy way to segue out of that, but let's talk about what those fans were there to celebrate yesterday.

And that was the joyous scenes at Anfield and a season well done and well played to Liverpool Football Club, the Premier League champions.

Yeah, it was fun to see you there, Tim.

And then the scenes after were:

look,

we don't like Liverpool soccer club, Prayer Football Club as athletes,

but that town is so special.

And the rivalry there meant a lot to both of us.

And it was really horrible to see.

Hopefully, it seems like knock on wood.

Everyone has escaped without too serious of injury.

And let's hope that everyone gets back healthy.

It was great to see you there.

It was great to see you on the sideline, all the interviews, and just the energy was pretty special.

Even as an Everton fan, it was pretty cool to see.

Yeah, look,

all the people of Liverpool are dear to me.

Um,

and I think, you know, when I was able to be at the game, I've always said because I've talked about the rivalry, I think

you can't have a love-hate relationship with a club if you don't have respect for them.

And

you know, I think that's having, having been a Manchester United player and an Everton player, you definitely feel that hatred, that passion, that, that respect for that, for that rivalry.

You know, Anfield, as I've always said, is

they recognize moments.

They've had so many big moments there.

And it was really interesting to be in the stadium and feel that, you know, it was the first time they've lifted the

trophy

with fans, because remember back in, was it 2020?

They lifted the trophy and there's no fans in the stadium.

So this is the first time that this generation.

has had an opportunity to do that.

And

it was impressive.

It was impressive and

you always knew it would be.

Arna Slott did such a great job with this team that Jürgen Klopp essentially built.

I mean, he brought in, I think he brought in Kiesa,

but he never really played and he was injured.

So the team that played and the team that was internally restructured on the pitch was Jürgen Klopp's team.

And I think Erna Slott deserves just so much credit for it.

It was,

you know, when you're at the

When you're at the stadium, when you're there, I mean, our seats for NBC.

So we were at a pitch side desk.

And then when when the game starts, we're essentially next to the Liverpool bench, a row, not behind the bench, next to the bench.

So we're like, you know,

we're as close as Arna Slot and the substitutes are to the field.

So you get a really good vantage point.

You know, some cool moments where Crystal Palace, because of how fate would have it, won the FA Cup, which we talked about.

So you're talking about two champions on the same pitch.

And so therefore,

both teams gave each other a guard of of honor, which is the guard of honor is special in and of itself

and just pretty awesome to see.

But for both teams to do that was really, really an awesome measure of respect and a spectacle when you, when you witnessed it live.

You know, I couldn't help but think when with Trent Alexander Arnold now, they booed him a week ago or two weeks ago.

And Jürgen Klopp, you talk about leadership, and we were just talking about this with San Diego FC and like what we think Chuki Lozano should be doing and what their,

you know, maybe their president should be doing, or the owner should be doing.

Jürgen Klopp comes out and says, this is not us.

Stop booing him.

And what happens this weekend?

They applaud him, right?

They don't boo him anymore.

I mean, that is leadership, and that's the power that he has over that fan base.

And I just give him a lot of credit for that because Trent Alexander Arnold, I think we can all agree, deserves to be celebrated for what he gave to that club.

Sure, we talked about that.

And, you know, it's really interesting because

before the game, you know, it's obviously, you know, he's on the bench.

You had a feeling he was going to play, you know, like he wasn't left out of the squad or anything.

So you're like, oh, he'll probably get on.

They actually needed him to get on because he changed the game a bit.

They dropped Pravinberg back to a back three and put him on as a right fullback, but essentially it went into the six.

And, you know, his passing range and his ability on the ball is special.

And I just.

I had so much respect for Alexander Arnold in the way that he handled himself because I said a lot of things.

I said a lot of things that I'm sure he felt.

Like he's given the club everything.

Don't you dare boo him.

Like, who do you think you are?

But he's never said anything.

He celebrated a goal, a last minute volley at Leicester a couple of weeks ago and took his shirt off.

And there was kind of this like stern look at the crowd.

And it was just very cinematic.

And people were like, well, what's he thinking?

Is he going to stay?

That kind of thing.

But the booze hurt him.

The booze hurt him.

And

And they, it was always going to be a case.

Well, he was going to get a medal.

He was going to lift a trophy.

Like, what were they going to do?

Are they going to boom?

He's going to come on.

There was some booze and jeers when he came on.

We were listening for it pretty intently.

But for the most part, it was more love and more cheering.

And then, Landon, it was really interesting.

After the game, they basically put up a wall.

So you have the Premier League trophy lift and all that.

And then the media goes behind like a gate.

They put up like they put up like this gate and you can have everyone has their camera and their desk.

And so we were like right around the 18-yard box.

And then after they lifted the trophy, they then went over to the cop because we're like, you know, 20 yards from the cop.

So that's kind of where they did all their celebrating.

And at one point, as you know, you've celebrated a lot of things.

There's just tons of celebration.

All your family's there.

It's all the different people lifting the trophy.

And they did a team picture, whatever.

And at one point, they went and celebrated again.

You're talking, it's like an hour of celebrating.

At one point, Trenton Alexander Arnold sat on the 18-yard box, his butts on the 18-yard box.

He's looking at the cop, very stoic.

And you knew that was his moment.

We've seen other players at other clubs do that in their home state.

And he was very stoic.

And then his mom and dad, his brother, his wife,

and someone else came on the pitch.

Bro,

he basically melted in his mom's arms.

Streams of tears.

He was inconsolable.

His family huddled around him and he just, he cried and he sobbed for like, I don't know, what seemed like 10 minutes.

And you just realized at that point what the football club meant to him, how much it would have hurt him for them to, you know, for certain sections of Liverpool supporters to boo him.

It was a really like,

it was a really pivotal moment to see that.

And it was, you know, again, it was, it was done the right way.

It finished the way it should finish.

And so, you know, you know, you look at a player fat a lot, he's a classy individual.

So that was cool.

And then, you know, we had,

we had, it's, we had

Virgil Van Dyke at our desk, Mo Sala at the desk, Andy Robertson and

Arna Slott.

Arna Slott.

And it was just, you know, again, they go to a lot of the different channels, global channels and

broadcasters, and they do interviews, but it was really interesting.

You know, I find it as someone who's played on the pitch and gone to battle with these players, just like, I still find being there in the moment,

it's pretty...

It's pretty amazing.

It's pretty intense.

Like I send you off camera this week, like Virgil Van Dyke came over to the desk and he has an aura about him.

And he's the captain of a Liverpool football club

of the Netherlands.

And he's a big boy.

And I'm a pretty decent size.

And I just kind of remember

perking up a bit, like

trying to feel, I don't know if it's the alpha in me, but like trying to feel like bigger, you know, at the moment, because this guy's so

larger than life.

And Mo Sala then comes to the desk and I mentioned this to you.

He's very diminutive.

He's small.

There's not a lot about him.

And you're looking at him and it's like the conversely you're like this is the best this is the best player in world football by the way like you can argue but he's he's one of the best players

and you're like how you know like he's he's that good and that skillful but you look at him like like how um so it was you know it was interesting it's interesting to be in those moments i'm very lucky i'm very lucky to have the job that i have and um you know you can you can see sort of you know when it comes to the global game of football really in interesting intense poignant moments um so yeah it was

it was good.

It was good to be there, close the chapter on what was another fascinating Premier League season and

lots of good things to come in next year.

That's awesome.

It was, again, it was fun to watch.

And

congrats, Liverpool, as much as we hate to say it.

They deserved it.

They were the best team.

Yeah, they were.

The only other

competitive games.

were around Champions League spots.

The relegation battle was over.

Man,

we could have predicted who was going to get in.

City, Chelsea, Newcastle.

We could not have predicted, I don't think, Tim, how the games went.

Villa, Newcastle, and Forest all lost.

Yeah.

Right.

And so if you are Villa and Forest now, you're kicking yourself because all you had to do was win a game.

Yeah.

Just win a game.

And for Villa, it was tough away to United.

Forrest home to Chelsea, also difficult.

I felt for Forest because they've had a phenomenal season.

They really have.

And if they had crept into Europa League, at the end, you'd say, okay, amazing year.

But because they fell out of a Champions League spot, you just feel like, ugh, you just feel bad for them.

Yeah, obviously, something, yeah, I won't go too much into it, but some things happened at Villa.

Referee got a call completely wrong.

Villa had the opening goal.

They were down to man.

It would have given them something to like hang on to.

You know, what I would say, what I would say is when you look at the building blocks of it, LD,

top five, Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Newcastle,

you kind of like those teams.

You kind of would say that those are the strongest five teams.

Yeah.

Um,

Forest is a, is a, is an example of the more you have it, the more you want.

They finished 17th last year.

They're in the Champions League places for so long this year that like, it feels like they lost something, but ultimately they're back in Europe in some way, shape, or form.

So like you obviously want Champions League, but it's not a failure.

It's an absolute massive success.

You know, the worry with Villa for me is

I really, have you played at Villa Park before?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Villa Park, for those of you who don't know, you talk about like

Goodison and Anfield and Old Trafford, like

St.

James Park, Villa Park.

If you talk to people around England, Villa Park is like, it's one of the crown jewels and like it deserves it.

Had amazing Champions League nights this year.

They had an incredible run.

And so you just think about where this team is.

They kind of needed Champions League because that's how they're building.

That's how they're buying.

They almost needed Champions League to one, by the way, they've got a brilliant European competition manager in Una Emery.

He's won the Europa League countless times.

You saw what he did this year in the Champions League.

Like anybody who's at that level may want him and may pinch him.

Secondarily, and this may all come out in the wash.

There are rumors, for lack of a better term, that says Villa are right up against PSR, profitability and sustainability, right?

And so they've spent big,

needed, they needed that championship money.

So you start to think, like,

where does this go?

So for Forrest, it would have been a fairy tale.

Still think, what a phenomenal season.

When it's all said and done, those guys are on the beach in San Trope and all that.

They'll be like, what a time we had.

And by the way, we'll go again.

So

they'll buy good.

They have seen, you know, Morgan Gibbs White might leave, but

they'll get a King's ransom for him.

So they'll be able to replenish the squad.

But just for me, I thought Villa needed it more.

Just the last couple of things with the Premier League.

So I just, do we think Ange stays now?

I know it's been a huge talking point after Tottenham win.

Did you know, by the way, I didn't realize this till Andrew put it in our chat this morning.

They lost 22 Premier League games this year, Tottenham.

22 Premier League games.

They finished 17th, by the way.

That's incredible.

It's incredible.

That's the most without ever without getting relegated.

22 times Tottenham lost.

Yeah, well, that's the relegation part of it at some point.

Yeah.

Look,

it's funny how, it's funny how

human nature and

the joy and the pain of winning and losing can tilt how you feel about something.

Like, and I think we'll get to this later in the show, but like, I felt like Anne's is definitely gone, right?

He's definitely gone.

And then they win and you see the euphoria and you see the bus parade.

And then they're, I don't know, they're somewhere in London and there's thousands and thousands of people.

My best, one of my best mates is there sending me videos and I'm like, nah, he's staying.

But then you're also like, they lost 22 games.

And I don't know.

So I'll reserve judgment for a second.

But yeah, what do you think?

I mean, I have the same feelings.

It's crazy how sports work.

In every sport, you watch it.

And then all of a sudden, a team that's like, should be good and they sneak in, they barely sneak in the playoffs and then they win it.

And you're like, oh, yeah, he's got to stay.

He's got to stay.

Right.

Just, I don't know.

It's always like that.

All right.

Before we take another another break, let's dig in real quick because the Champions League final is this weekend.

So, two years ago, Tim, this is crazy to think about.

Two years ago, PSG had Leonel Messi, Mbappe, Neymar, and they went out in the round of 16 in the Champions League.

And there is nobody, and I mean nobody before Champions League started that would have said they were going to be in the final and be the favorite this year.

There's no way.

Inter

has kind of backed in a little bit into this final.

Not that they backed in by way of winning, but they lost the Scudetto to Napoli.

They lost AC Milan in the semis of the Copatalia,

squeaked past Barcelona in that awesome semifinal two-leg series.

They're older, and

it's a really fascinating.

It's like this young, energetic, exciting PSG team versus like these wily vets.

What do you think?

Well, you know, interestingly enough, so your first point is well taken.

Like

I pose the question to you, and don't take more than three seconds to answer it, but like, has anybody gotten the Galacticos right?

Aside from Real Madrid,

has anybody, like on the global, yeah, you can have a Galacticos and win your league, like you can win your league sleepwalking, right?

But like, has anybody gotten that right in global football?

Like, I don't think so, right?

And so PSG tried it with Messi and Mpape and Neymar, and it was kind of a failure because they didn't do what they set out to do, right?

Like they can win.

Of course, it was a failure.

Yeah.

So they can, they can win the friendships.

Three, maybe three of the best four or five players in the world yeah right yeah so um so that doesn't work out um

but yes as you said they're incredibly exciting the the problem they're gonna run run into and anybody who is a soccer nerd like you and i if you know italian football

they just went listen give them 90 minutes to figure it might not be pretty by the way that they can that's why they're such so good in cup competitions they can grind out a result, systematically grind out a result.

And if not grind out a result, keep themselves in the game long enough to find a way to win,

which is the brilliance of Italian football.

And so,

you know, I think we saw that a few years back now with

Josie Mourinho when he led them to the Champions League title.

So it's interesting.

I kind of like, it's a chess match.

Finals are always a chess match.

And I kind of like matchups and styles make finals.

And so this feels like that.

You know, it's like, I think PSG are going to have a ton of the ball.

I think they're going to create the excitement.

I also think Inter will have their opportunities.

So I mean, just like against Barca, though, like they were ruthless on the counter, like ruthless.

And just what is predicate and Barca's high line and like that was fun to watch, actually.

I just, I hope the final is fun to watch again.

Well, you know, it's interesting.

You make a really good point.

Hang on.

I think it will be exciting.

You make a good point.

And let me, let me try and like put some human, humanize the Italian football, right?

When you and I are playing in a game, yeah, and our backs are against the wall, you and I, and I mean this because you and I have been in games, right?

We're like, oh, we feel like we're going to concede and this does, this feels really uncomfortable, and you're having to defend and you're, you're a right winger, but you're all the way back on your 18-yard box, right?

The Italians delight

in that deep line.

Like, like when you're, when you're at home, you're going, oh my God, they haven't gotten out of their end in 10 minutes.

They're just looking at each other like, they're just smoking a cigarette in the back of the

problem.

Right.

Because they know we don't, we're not going to win the game.

We're just going to, we're going to win the game on a break and we're going to get a break.

We just don't know when it's going to happen.

So like, just relax.

And so it's a fascinating tactical battle.

Tim, in, I think it was 2015.

So do you remember after your career, you probably played in some of these like charity games where they get a bunch of old players together?

Yeah.

So I'm playing this game in Vegas, right?

And it's like a lot of, you know, some pretty high-level players.

And the other team's back line, and I don't even remember exactly.

It was just two Italian center backs that you would know, right?

Like it wasn't like, I don't think, well, Maldini was a left back, but I don't think it was like Cannavaro, but it was like two guys who were like, oh, actually, you know, I think

Chiellini might have been in it.

Okay.

It was two Italian center backs you knew.

And I was playing against them.

And this is a charity game.

Everyone's old.

Nobody can run, whatever.

These two guys, dude.

the way they handled the back line and just moved and felt every situation, read every lung ball, moving together, pulling guys offside.

It was like second nature, dude.

And these guys hadn't played for a long time.

And I was watching this going, I mean, Keelini, obviously, it wasn't Keelini because he was still playing.

Yeah.

And I'm going, dude, this is like, they could do this in their sleep.

Yeah, yeah.

They could do it in their sleep.

And they had just so drilled in them from the time they're like six years old.

So to your point, I mean, they will not be uncomfortable with PSG having all the ball.

But again, they are nasty when they break, dude.

And so the best scenario, in my opinion, inner score early, and it's just a all out psg trying to equalize for like 60 70 minutes just back and forth and like just super fun yeah so

we will be following along and we will uh obviously come back with our analysis and breakdown after yeah all right ld it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by cores light choose chill get cores light delivered go to cores light.com slash uslnt yeah tim a team we did not get to during all the commotion the last few weeks who definitely chose chill not only this season but the past three seasons wrexham with their third consecutive promotion so they went from league two now to the championship next year

my question my first real question is can they do it again can they now jump from the championship to the premier league which we know is the hardest jump yeah it's the hardest jump uh half by the way Hats off to Wrexham.

Agreed.

Big clap.

Agreed.

They say the hardest jump in all of the

promotions is championship to um premier league why because there is just more money in that league right there's more money in the championship and than any other league and um

you're you're likely well we've seen this right you're likely to even if you can't pay for players the premier league is happy to give to to loan you their

up-and-coming stars right so we saw that with burnley a couple years ago they won the championship based on the fact or they got out of the championship based on the fact that they had a ton of loan players right so So you start to see that you can actually balance out spending with some loan signings.

That being said,

Wrexham are doing the impossible.

I mean, three consecutive promotions.

Look, money makes the world go around when it comes to football or sports.

And they are pumping a ton of money into that team.

They're just better.

If they continue to do that and they have that financial plan, sure.

I mean,

I think they could possibly do that and it it's it's kind of mind-blowing if you think about it like

with with the the show

and the celebrity owners and the like by the way this could have easily gone the other way ld this could have easily gone really bad they could have spent a ton of money on the wrong players and not and not got this success so yeah

and i think i i want to say we saw this with like huddersfield and maybe maybe like hoffenheim did it a few years ago where they just they kind of come from nowhere spend all the money and they get to the top league so look i i hope because the premier league is filled with all sorts of crazy stories i hope they are able to do it because can you imagine the thing is if you watch the show you think it's some miracle right and it's not a miracle it's an amazing story but they also have spent at the top of every one of the leagues they've been in sure now the question is can they do it in the championship my first thought was no but i did see a report last week that they were willing i don't know who the player was they were willing to offer a player 50 000 pounds a week to play in the championship right So the thing is, is they clearly have the money to do it.

Are they going to take the risk?

Because now it's a big risk.

It's not, you know, losing $6 million or pounds like they did last year.

Now you could lose 30 or 40

and not get promoted.

So it's going to be interesting to watch, but most of all, cheers to them.

They've been phenomenal.

They deserve it.

And it's going to be really fun to watch going going forward.

So, Wrexham, you chose chill.

I've got my cores on ice, Timmy.

I can hear the

cheers.

How about a cheers, director?

Cheers, directly.

Cheers, guys.

All right, Tim, let's take a break.

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

As always, lots of good questions in the AT ⁇ T fan connection right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

Stay right there.

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.

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

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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.

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Oh, yes, LD.

It's that time of the week, the AT ⁇ T fan connection.

Everyone loves this.

We love it.

But you know who else loves it?

Jordan, because she gets to have airtime.

Welcome to Jordan.

She is going to be insufferable today after the Liverpool celebration.

She's one of those, she's one of those, quote-unquote, Liverpool fans.

You know the ones.

You know, you never heard of it.

I never heard of it.

And then they went to title and you're like, oh, Liverpool fans.

I'm a fan.

Excuse me.

Do you not see this 2018 jersey in the background right now?

Excuse me.

Until you get a tat.

Until you get a tat of Liverpool, I won't believe it.

I have a plan for one.

Yeah, you should

talk about it later.

By the way,

say thank you to me.

Say thank you.

Thank you, Tim Howard.

I am a man of the people.

Landon, you know that.

And for everyone that thinks I'm a bad guy, and I am the people in this story.

There are a lot of people out there.

I'm a good guy.

I'm a good guy.

I'll tell you why.

Two things happen.

Mo Salah, we were at the desk and we were getting ready to wrap up.

Mo Salah comes out with like every award.

He's got the Premier League trophy.

He's got like three golden boots.

He's got like another Premier League Player of the Year award.

And he sets it down.

Playmaker of the Play America of the Year.

Anyway, he sets it down.

He goes to take a picture.

And I'm like, I won't be caught dead dead taking a picture of Mo Sala right now.

And sure enough, you know what pops in my mind?

Jordan.

And I was like, I was like, Tim, Tim, swallow your pride and go over there and take a picture and send it to Jordan.

I then deleted the picture, obviously, because I can't have that on my phone.

Sent it to Jordan.

And then someone else gave me something small, but really nice to commemorate the day.

And I looked at him.

I was like, hell am I going to do it?

This

piece of Liverpool.

And I was like, okay, I can either

put it in my patio fire, which I wouldn't do because it's disrespectful,

or I could give it to JR.

So I'm going to send it to her.

There you go.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Tim.

You're welcome.

You know what's really funny?

I was with a bunch of friends and one of them was on their phone looking at like the Liverpool Instagram and they were like, look at this great picture of Mo Sala.

And I literally turned my phone around and was like, that's so weird.

Thank you.

You're welcome, Tara.

You're welcome.

That's all I got to say.

That's awesome.

Oh, God.

Okay, well, this is not actually about me or Liverpool.

It's about the people who listen to and watch the show who have questions for you guys.

So So let's get into some of those, shall we?

All right.

This one is from Stephen via email.

Last week you mentioned that Atlanta United would have been better spending $5 million on four or five proven MLS players instead of the $22 million they spent on Emmanuel Latte Lath.

While I don't disagree, I'm wondering how this is possible under the current MLS roster rules.

To my knowledge, a $5 million transfer fee would make a player a DP, and each MLS team is only allowed a maximum of three dps yeah sorry i was i i was i was hypothetically saying that it's a great question let's like if we could scrap the rules create a salary cap and then maybe create a luxury tax above the salary cap i felt like that would be a way to do that but that was somewhat hypothetical when i was explaining it i thought i thought i might have said that but if i didn't i'm sorry who asked the question jordan stephen stephen great question what i want to do i've been we've been wanting to do this for a long time is get someone on who can actually explain these things because I don't have, all I know now is that you can make internal transfers.

Jovalich went from the Galaxy to Kansas City.

Other players, Vander went from Portland to Columbus.

You can make internal transfers now.

I don't know if you spend $5 million on the transfer, but only pay a guy $600,000.

Does he still count as a DP or not?

I don't know the rules behind that.

It might be that you're allowed to and he's not a DP, or it might be that that 5 million gets factored into it.

So I don't know the exact rules.

What I would say to Stephen is there are creative ways, lots of ways, so that you can have, let's, instead of saying three or four players at $5 million each, you could sign 10 players at 500 grand each.

Sure.

Right.

Instead, or 600 grand each, and that would make your roster much better.

So,

and sorry, Evander went to FC Cincinnati, not Columbus.

It's all the same.

Ohio, it's all the same.

So that's, you know, we will have someone on at some point to explain that because we get confused by it and we lived it.

So.

Yeah, look, and Stephen, sorry.

And I made my point hypothetically.

Landon made a much more poignant point about like another way around it.

The fact of the matter is, Landon and I both wholeheartedly believe that you're better, you're better served instead of taking 20 million.

dollars and trying to scour the globe for a player.

We think you're better served at slicing that down into smaller portions and getting more players.

It's been tested.

It's been tried and tested.

Premier League question here.

This one's from Dan via Instagram.

How much longer do you think Manchester United should hold on to Reuben Amarin before they sack him?

Although the players are not performing, you need a coach who can bring out the best in you.

I mean, not for a long time, in my opinion.

You have to give him time.

If they knew, I promise you, they knew that this season was going to be a wash.

They did.

And so if they start next season and they're down near the bottom again and they're 10 games in or 12 games in or 15 games in, maybe you think about it, but he needs time.

He needs his players and he needs time.

It's simple as that.

So I'm running a list of managers since Sir Alex Ferguson.

Moyes, Ven Hall, Mourinho, Solschar, Ten Hogg.

It was a guy in between Ten Hogg.

What was his name?

Ralph Ranyak.

Ralph Ranyak, yeah.

Ten Hogg.

Robin Van Persio interim.

No, no, Venestroy interim.

I mean, Van Estroy.

And now, and now Amrim.

Amrim,

Amrim's the right guy for the job.

The problem with United

since Sir Alex Ferguson left was it's been a higher fire culture.

It's been a disconnect between what players the manager wants and styles and chief execs and who was making decisions above the manager.

Was it director of football?

It's been a mess.

It's been a mess at Manchester United.

Now they're starting to have this kind of like vertical decision-making process with Omar Barada

and Sir Jim Radcliffe since he took over footballing operations from the Glazers with his 25%.

So like this needs time.

I don't care what anyone says.

Oh yeah, but how much time?

It needs time.

Ruben Ameron, by the way, didn't want to take the job in January because he knew that this was...

this was not good.

Now he had to take it because of Manchester United, you have to take the job when you can't just pass it.

But I think, and I would say, I would sympathize with people who say, like, you just can't come in and be worse.

You got to figure something.

You got to figure out a way to get results.

Like, I get that.

So I would certainly argue that.

But ultimately,

this squad needs to be completely stripped down.

I don't think there's a lot of talented players, certainly not for Manchester United to get them to the next level where they want to be competing for Premier League titles and being in the Champions League every single year.

And PSR, by the way, has stopped that.

You know, Profit and Sustainability Rules has stopped that.

So this is going to take 18 months to 24 months you hope that they get enough through the door this year where they can compete for a european place next year a la chelsea maybe right chelsea was like oh we got a bunch of young kids we don't know who we are yet but like can we get there so chelsea are nowhere near the finished article but they qualified for champions league so i think i think you're still looking at 18 months to two years i have a follow-up question about manchester united because i was thinking about this over the weekend so we've seen what happened with marcus rashford He goes on loan to Aston Villa and does pretty decently for himself over there.

So who knows what was happening between him and the club while he was still playing, supposedly playing for Manchester United.

Then it comes out this weekend that apparently Amrim has told Garnacho to basically take a hike, right?

So I know there's questions about like,

do certain players you need to get rid of just because they're not going to play the kind of football you want to play.

Obviously, PSR becomes a part of the discussion as well.

But like, at what point is it just, it just seems strange that this is all coming out in the press.

Like,

is it a leak thing?

Is it like a, somebody should be saying, maybe let's keep that internally?

Because I don't, I don't think it makes him look good that these, he's telling these players to bugger off and then they go somewhere and do really well somewhere else.

We don't know the truth behind any of it, Jordan.

We don't know the context.

And, you know, agents are constantly talking and they're trying to make their player look good and all that.

So I just, I don't even listen to that stuff.

The reality is when you have a new coach coming into a new team, there are going to be a number of players who just don't fit for whatever reason.

Could be soccer, could be their attitude, it could be the way you interact with them, it could be how they are in the locker room, it could be at the end of their contract.

There's a million reasons, and you just got to get rid of them immediately.

And it's not easy to get rid of them fast, but I'm sure he has a list.

These five, seven guys got to be gone.

These ones we want to extend.

You know, we were sitting with, I was sitting with David Moyes when I was at Everton, and he said to me, he's like, you know, there's about five or seven guys that just have to go.

Right.

He had to get through the season with them.

And he said, these other five guys, we want to give them contract extensions and then we got to go find five or seven.

So like, they know exactly how that is going to play out in their head.

And it's going to come out because, you know, people are just going to make stuff up and agents will say what they need to say.

And so I would, I would just disregard it.

Yeah, I just think I want, you know, once the thing is, the agents, and once you tell a player these surplus requirements, he's got no loyalty to you.

He'll drop little innuendos on social media.

The agent will talk.

I mean, look, ultimately, I think I'll be corrected here at some point, but I think Arnacho counts as a homegrown player.

Um, I think, which means,

which means for PSR, um, they'll get a full full profit for him when they sell him on.

You know, the only player within that team that I think can play in another top six team is Bruno Fernandez.

And quite frankly, he's probably wasted away his best years or some of his best years.

And so, Saudi, I think there's an opportunity in the deal on the table to go to Saudi.

So, he's probably thinking,

let's go, take the money.

And the club should do that as well.

So, it's not always straightforward and by the book.

So,

yeah, there's a lot of information that you also don't know.

Here's a question from Carlton via Instagram.

While Newcastle have had a great season winning their first trophy in some time, I felt that their season was filled with loads of ups and downs.

How or what can be done to improve on this for next season?

Yeah, I don't, I don't know.

I don't know if I don't know if I agree with the ups and downs.

Eddie Howe at one point went, was hospitalized for quite a number of weeks.

They have dealt with a ton of injuries, which, again, isn't an excuse.

Every team does that.

But they finished the season incredibly strong, like incredibly strong.

They won a cup in the EFL

League Cup, and they finished in the Champions League place.

Ups and downs?

Yeah,

I don't know.

I think every club goes to that.

But I think for Newcastle, it was a very successful season one that they can build on because

I do think Champions League football has kept Isak at the club.

I think if they don't, I think if they finish sixth, he leaves because his price tag is so high.

So I think they've done that.

That allows them to get the windfall of money and add bigger, better players.

You know, it sounds like they might be going after James Tratford from Burnley, the goalkeeper.

So they're going to make big signings.

I know they got a $70 million fee for Mark Gahey last year at Crystal Palace, knockback.

So they'll probably be in for a center back.

They're going to build and they're going to strengthen.

So I'm not sure I agree with the ups and downs of this year.

I would say it's a successful season.

I think people forget, Jordan, how hard that league is.

And so when you say ups and downs, like if you get a Chelsea away, City home, even like a...

Even Tottenham away, which is a 17th place club, it's like, that's a tough run.

You could lose three games, right?

And so it's just a hard league.

I mean, half the league is playing in European football next year.

That's right.

That's right.

And the top, two of the top strength teams historically are 16th and 17th.

Yeah.

Right.

So like, it's just tough.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

So we're going to be off for the next two weeks from the show, which is weird to even think about.

So I have a question for you guys, for some of our fans to maybe think about in those two weeks while we are off.

So I'm sure you guys have seen it too.

There's a lot of like memes that come out after the Premier League League is over.

It's like, oh, suddenly my partner is so excited that we'll be able to do things on the weekend because I won't be sat in front of my TV watching the Premier League.

For the American fans who listen to the show, who are fans of a Premier League side, what would you like to see them focus on over the summer until their Premier League club comes back in August?

It's a great question.

Okay, I got a few things.

I want them to breathe.

No, Tim doesn't care.

You want them to what?

I want them to breathe.

This is going, it's going to come thick and fast.

Your team is at some point going to start releasing players, selling players, buying them.

The fixture list for next year is going to come out soon enough.

Like, just give yourself a chance to breathe.

I got nothing other than that.

I would say

first support your local team.

Like, make an effort to go.

It's not going to be like watching the Premier League.

So whether it's an MLS team or a USL team or an NWSL team, go support that because supporting soccer helps everyone.

I'm not sure I can in good conscience right now tell them to support the gold cup team because I don't know what that's going to look like.

I mean, but we're all going to watch, right?

We're disappointed, but we're all going to watch.

We're going to be paying attention.

I'm going to be covering it.

So I'm, you know, I'm going to be invested, but watch the gold cup team, watch the women's national team.

And then I also think, and, you know, people probably disagree with me on this, but I am genuinely excited to watch the Club World Cup.

I don't know, you know, Tim, you probably disagree.

I don't know how many players are really going to care about it initially, but I think once you get into it and you're playing these different teams and the crowds are there, and I think it's going to be exciting.

So I am going to be paying attention to that quite a bit.

And my kids are going to be off at camp.

So I do not have to babysit.

Let's go.

You know, you know, when you have kids, it's not babysitting.

It's actually parenting.

No, it's babysitting.

I agree with you.

It's daddy daycare.

When you have the kids, it's daddy daycare.

It's definitely babysitting.

So that's it.

Well, they have two weeks to get their questions in about Gold Cup and Club World Cup and whatever transfer window nonsense is going on with their Premier League team.

But we'll be back on the 17th of June.

Can I just drop something in there, Jordan?

Like, I know Landon has mentioned, like, make sure you send us comments.

This is important.

Like, don't hold back, good or bad.

Like, this is going to be pretty polarizing stuff, the Gold Cup with players missing.

How do we perform?

Like, just send us, like, no hold barred, anything, no filter.

This is unfiltered.

just give us your honest assessment even with the conversation that we had today like it's really interesting we're we're incredibly passionate about it we know you are too so make sure you send us your comments and by the way some of the best like recollections and stories come from the comments or from the questions you guys ask so you actually get some of the best feedback because it's things we hadn't even thought about until you sent them so just send them even there's no dumb question a lot of dumb comments but no dumb question Just be nice to me because I have to read them all and decide which ones get on the show.

So be nice to to the producer and be sassy to the host.

That's my advice.

You don't need to be nice to me.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Jordan.

Thanks, JR.

All right, Timmy, another great show.

Thanks for another.

informative and entertaining episode.

I think people really enjoy that.

We appreciate all of you guys, all your support.

As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast.

And make sure you follow across all of our social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer.

Do not forget our live show, June 11th at 5 30 p.m at bmo field in downtown la you can get tickets at unfilteredsoccer.com backslash live should be a lot of fun yeah go get those tickets uh we'll see you there i mean it's live what could possibly happen we're excited for it um can't wait to see you all there thanks so much everybody uh thank you our presenting sponsor bw our fan connection sponsor at t and our unfiltered refresh sponsor chorus light have a great couple weeks we'll be back with you all here on june 17th with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.

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