Jason Kidd talks Everton FC, Liverpool Win the League, and Barcelona Win the Copa Del Rey

When you played for the Olympic team, there were a lot of guys that you battled against every week in the NBA.

Now, practice was fun because guys wanted to get after it, talk about Kobe and LeBron.

They were, you know, on separate teams.

Coach K knew that was going to be an incredible practice.

Kobe and LeBron going out in practice.

I mean, when's your book coming out?

Because I'm reading it.

You got stories for days.

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 man, LD, another week, another episode, another opportunity for me and you to hang and riff on all things soccer.

How's things, bro?

Tell me where you just were.

I'm jealous.

Yeah, little, I'm almost over the jet lag.

Last week, I was in England, had a phenomenal trip.

So I went to three games.

I asked on social media if people could

guess the games, but I don't think anyone did.

By the way, if you did,

let me know.

I couldn't go through hundreds of messages to check what you guys said.

But I went to

three games.

So I landed on Friday.

I went to Reading

to watch Reading versus Lincoln City in League One.

I have a very, very dear friend who is a shareholder of Lincoln City.

Oh, great.

So I watched Lincoln City win there.

Spent the night in London, went up to Liverpool on Saturday to watch our beloved Toffis.

Unfortunately, I lose to Man City, but amazing to be back there.

And then I went to Lincoln from there and saw them play Monday against

Bolton and win that game as well.

And then went home Tuesday.

So amazing trip.

It was a lot of soccer.

It was a lot of soccer.

It was an amazing trip.

Before I press you on some Everton stuff,

the English football pyramid's crazy.

You just said Redding and Bolton.

I played against those teams in the Premier League.

Totally.

And now they're in League Score.

I'm scored against Bolton.

I did score again.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

But that's, yeah, it's incredible how the pyramid works.

Um, so how was it being back?

Did the grass and all the same?

Oh man, it was phenomenal.

And the best part, Tim, the best is like you'll see a face and you go, I mean, you way more than me, but I'm going, I recognize that face.

And I go, London, it's brilliant to have you back.

Welcome back, London.

You know, and like, even up in the hospitality area, this woman, I don't remember her name, but I just know her face.

And she's so sweet.

And she was there when I was there.

She's probably been there 30 years.

Yeah.

So sweet.

Like, oh, man, I I just, I loved being back there.

That's great.

I saw Moyes as well.

He wasn't obviously in the best mood after losing, but uh, his dad was there.

Oh, wow.

So he had his dad, him, his son,

and his daughter,

his wife, and his grandson.

Wow.

And his dad sat down and I said, How old's your dad?

And he said, 91.

And then he goes, Dad, do you want a wee bit of scotch?

And I said, scotch.

And he goes, he goes, I.

So he poured him a scotch.

He's 91.

I was like, go on, Moisey.

and he looked amazing i was like good for you man so it was great it was so good to see him yeah he's he's he's the best you have a good week

yeah it worked man it worked i was on the desk it was uh a lot of games in the premier league f a cup as well so it felt like a big weekend and uh obviously clearly with with liverpool clinching it was um you know exciting times for the premier league Yeah, we're going to get into all of that.

We got a good show today.

Really good show.

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

I'm imploring you guys, please subscribe because people are finding out more and more about it.

Lots of people, I've played in a golf tournament this week, and the guy said, Oh, I love your podcast.

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Email us at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.

All right, Tim.

Um, our guest last week, Bruce Arena,

caused quite a stir.

And I don't know if you realize these things in the moment.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

But he said something in the moment, and I was like, oh, that was pretty bold.

And Bruce is 74, so he doesn't care.

He just says what he feels.

He's always been that way, just says what he feels.

Made a comment saying he believes the U.S.

national team coach should be American.

And

that was the headline of the show last week.

And it got tons and tons of feedback.

I did some research because I was curious about this.

So I don't know if you know this.

So in 2014, World Cup, 15 of the 32 coaches were foreign, almost half.

2018, only eight of the 32 were foreign.

So only a quarter.

In 2022, nine of the 32.

had foreign coaches.

But I guess the point is anywhere between a quarter and half, which is way more than I would have thought by the.

And I was going through the list of all the national team managers currently.

It's way more than 50% are foreign, actually.

And that really surprised me.

Pochatino, just,

he spoke on ussoccer.com

recently about the pride thing that we've been talking about.

And I want to make sure we talk through all the sides of this.

He said, We need to be intelligent in the way that we're going to select the players and not just choose based on talent alone.

We need to have the right characters to be really competitive.

It's not just about showing up in your home country and trying to play nice soccer.

No, you must be proud.

You must fight for the people that would love to be in your position for the millions of kids that are going to see us and dream to be one day where we are.

This is the type of responsibility and commitment we need to show.

And we didn't show that in the Nations League in L.A.

So he clearly understands that side of it.

But let's

let's just let's hear your opinion and I'll give mine on, you know, does the, should the national team coach be an American?

Well, I think you said you started by saying like in the moment, you don't, you don't realize things could possibly be polarizing or inflammatory.

What I would say is

if you, if you're being 100% honest and you're just having a conversation and you, you're, you're, you're giving it straight and keeping it real, as the kids say, you don't think it's inflammatory.

We say that we, we have conversations on unfiltered pod.

soccer podcasts all the time and we're just talking real there's no agenda and next thing you know, it blows up, and people are people are screaming about it.

And you're like, okay, well, after the fact, it sounds kind of controversial, but it's just how I feel.

It's not like a not trying to start any pots.

Look,

when it comes to whether or not the national team coach should be American or foreign, I don't care.

I don't care either way.

I genuinely don't.

What I care about, and I've seen this in

my experience with the national team for how long was it?

I don't know how long it was, 15 years or something.

What I've experienced is

when you're an American coach,

you care about your legacy.

It's where you live.

It's where you've grown up.

You're going to be forever attached to that country, win or lose.

Some of the foreign coaches that we've had,

they don't really care if their legacy is tarnished in America.

They're not American.

It's not, the buy-in isn't the same.

And that's no disrespect to any of the individuals.

That's just just a that's a cultural thing.

You're going to care, you're going to care more about how your country people feel about you versus not.

And

I have seen

managers for the U.S.

Men's National team,

particularly foreign managers,

they use it as a stepping stone.

They use it as the opportunity to get another job.

They use it as a payday, right?

And look, money is real.

It's important.

I'm not suggesting it.

What I'm saying is U.S.

soccer has the ability to pay and it's high profile.

And I think that

that's different than when you get a manager like Bruce Serena, like a Bob Bradley, who all they've ever done is dream about coaching the national team, right?

That's a huge difference.

And

the buy-in is just, it's not the same.

You know, it's not the same.

We've even had, we've even, you know, Jürgen Kleinsman, and this was, this will be hugely controversial.

So I'm going off script and telling you, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of blowback from this the fact of the matter was he tried to

say i don't know if the american player is good enough so i'm going to scour the globe and he did for

for

american players abroad who had who had the a u.s passport or the potential to get a u.s passport that backfired beyond belief.

You and I were a part of that team.

There were people in there, like I just said about the manager, who are like, I'm not good good enough to get in the Mexican national team.

I'm not good enough to get in another national team.

Sure, I'll take a cup of coffee with the U.S.

Now, that produced players like Jermaine Jones, who was awesome, who cared, who'd run through a wall for you.

John Brooks,

Fabian Johnson, yeah, 100%.

So out of that experiment of God knows how many players, we got a couple of really good ones who cared about their country, who cared about winning.

But for the most part, it was the same thing.

It was kids who are like,

my first time stepping foot in

is when I get called into the national team.

So

there is a sense of pride and a sense of ownership in what we do.

But if you're asking me, I don't give a good god darn if the manager's foreign.

What I care is if a foreign manager comes to manage our national team, that he's all in, that he cares, that all he wants to do is win.

And this is his singular focus.

Okay, well said.

You know,

the player side of that is interesting too, right?

That players who were not,

we would say they are officially American, but don't feel American, right?

And you know it when you see it.

It's hard to quantify or describe it accurately, but you know it when you see it and feel it.

And there were differences between some of those guys that you mentioned and then other guys that weren't.

There is just a level of pride when you are born in that country that is different.

There is.

And it doesn't, I'm saying born in, but that you really really feel a part of that country.

There are kids who were born in Mexico, in Tijuana here in San Diego.

And at one years old, their family moved to San Diego, right?

And so they feel still American.

They have a tie to Mexico, but they feel American.

I spoke to someone this week.

He had a really interesting, I said, what's your opinion on all this?

Should the national team coach be American or not?

He said, Landon, not only should the national team coach be American, every single member of the staff should be born in America and American because everything you do then just means more to you.

And I agree with that, except I've seen people who are not born here feel the same way.

You remember Pierre Barriou, our fitness coach?

He was born in France, but like he would do anything for us to win because he was so connected, right?

So I understand it.

My problem with all this is,

especially on the player side, we're kind of

going off on a tangent here.

But

if you wanted to just cut out all the BS, all the lobbying, all the your grandma was born here, your grandpa was born there, whatever, you just say, whatever country you were physically born in is who you're going to play for.

That's it.

And then there's no ambiguity.

There's none of this, you know, oh, well, I couldn't make the, you know, the French team, so I'm going to go play in the Caribbean for a French island.

And, you know, they're just, it would just all be cut out, right?

That would be the easiest way to stop the conversation.

Now, as far as national team coach being American, I believe the national team coach should be American, but my reasoning is we need to give opportunities to coaches

to get better

and learn and get better.

And actually, my, my issue, I don't, first of all, I don't have an issue with Pochettino

being here.

I think it's less about.

where he's from and more about he's never coached the national team.

I think he's learning on the job right now.

Sure.

And And it's way different.

Every, I mean, Bruce said it last week.

He said, it's a totally different job, totally different skill set.

You have guys for two days.

You're not training.

You're not teaching them.

You're not producing a game model.

It's just getting them going and fired up and caring about their country.

And that's where you have Christian Pulisic born in the middle of Pennsylvania versus someone who's born in France or Germany.

You're way ahead with Christian because he's already there.

You know, the other guys, you got to bring him along.

You're going to have the national anthem printed in the background of the rooms.

You know, he was teaching the guy.

I was like, you have to spend time doing that.

You don't have time for that.

You're just trying to get the players going, right?

Not

just printed, standing up after lunch as a group and just randomly.

I never saw that.

We had sheets with the national anthem.

After lunch,

everyone had to stand up and together sing it.

Stop it.

That's not true.

I obviously wouldn't say anything possible.

There's no way that's true.

I think there's probably 18 other

players that were in that room that might go,

okay.

Keep going.

Anyway, keep going.

I digress.

Yeah.

Anyway, it caused a lot.

Look, it caused a stir.

I like reading.

You know, I do this.

I don't.

I haven't been on social media in years.

I'm loving reading your guys's comments because some of them are just funny, but some of them are really thought out.

So send comments.

I'd like to hear more of what you guys think and give us something that's interesting.

Don't just say the same old BS

because I want to, I'm just curious how people feel about it.

And I think we will get there with this national team.

I'm still optimistic, but there are challenges for sure.

And I think the biggest one is just

the lack of pride that we've talked about before.

And how do we get there?

And then coaching a national team for the first time is very difficult.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think

I do.

I think what Paul Cattino said recently um

is important you know that that it's about pride and that we need people to fight for for their position and millions of kids would love to see that dream like i i think now that's a different tune um that i'm hearing from him and that's a good one by the way if he means that and he's sticking to it and he's going you know what i've seen i've seen enough now i've got enough of a of a litmus test and i'm now i'm saying

i need people who are willing willing to go through the fire for me who are willing to

suffer more for the shirt.

Now I'm saying, okay, I like that.

I appreciate that line of thinking.

And hopefully we'll see it kind of as the next couple selections are made.

Well, one guy who has shown that very clearly, let's move on to MLS, is Diego Luna.

Scored twice for Salt Lake in San Diego right here in my backyard this weekend.

They beat San Diego 3-1.

He's on the verge now, Tim, of having one of those seasons where you just go, okay, the guy, you're watching the guy become a real player right in front of your eyes.

And key for him,

stay humble.

He is a humble kid, humble beginnings.

But it was really interesting.

I've been watching San Diego FC closely, actually.

And what's happened now, and I said this in the beginning, I said,

they're not deep.

And as teams start to figure them out, will they be able to adjust?

So teams have figured them out now.

So they're very,

very good at what they do in build out but they're very open when they lose the ball extremely and what's going to be interesting now is you have a coach there who is mikey veris who's there who is put there to sort of implement the the northellin style which is where the ownership group and and the soccer side came from and they're very

adamant about playing the way they play but mls is a different beast it's a different game and teams are starting to figure them out salt lake ripped them apart could have been four or five.

Um, a few big chances they had just because they're so open in transition.

And so now the question will be: are they willing to adapt?

Because they have a good team.

Are they going to keep doing this and

get exposed defensively at times?

It'd be really interesting to follow.

Well, well, adaptation is everything.

We see managers who stick to one plan and one plan only and they get found out.

You called it, though.

You said San Diego doing really well.

And the real challenge is when teams get a second look at you and

they get more tape on you and they can figure out, hey, there's, you know, it's a copycat league.

Everyone can kind of figure out where your weaknesses are.

And it's up to you to adapt.

So that part, you certainly called.

I think the Diego Luna topic is an interesting one for me because I like him a lot, but it's twofold, right?

This is the exact point that we were just talking about with Pachatino.

There may be an argument.

Well, one, one, is,

can Diego Luna step up to the next level

real time?

Yes, he's had some cameos and he's done fantastic and he's earned the opportunity to get there, to the, you know, to play in the big games, to be on the team sheet.

So can he step up to that consistently?

I think he might be able to, but I don't, I don't know the answer to that.

The bigger, more important question is.

Diego Luna isn't nearly as big a name as the other ones, right?

So if Pachatino is saying there's a couple of the big dogs who I don't know if they're performing or giving me enough, you're going to put them on the bench.

The big call is, you know, who is?

Diego Luna.

So there's a number 10 pocket or a number eight pocket.

You're going in there.

And the person he drops, we're all going to go, oh, whoa.

Whoa.

Now,

is that what Pachatino is talking about in his comments?

And if so, okay.

But we'll see.

Good point.

Yeah, I can't wait for a gold cup now this summer.

And you'll get, we'll get a view of it in the friendly games leading up to it.

And we'll see.

The other interesting game from MLS this weekend was Inner Miami home to Dallas.

What a game.

They're up 3-1 at half, and Dallas comes storming back and win 4-3.

Messi Suarez and Alba all sat this one out, which you can understand.

As you've said many times, they're all in on.

Champions League, Champions Cup, and all in on the championship, and they could care less about the supporter shield.

So they sat sat those three and they're looking ahead to Vancouver this week in the second league at second leg at home on Wednesday.

This is the scary thing for me about Miami.

Like they're teasing us because we all know, we all know who Miami is.

So like, yeah, they're up 3-1 and then they lose 4-3 and it's a barnstormy kind of finish.

It's amazing.

But the fact of the matter is, what we do know is when Messi and Suarez and Alba are on the field together at the same time, this team is unbelievable.

And we all know what they're doing.

They're just pacing themselves.

And it's like there's going to come a moment when they're all fit and they're all healthy and they look at each other and go, okay, the lights just turned from red.

See you later.

And you're like,

we know how good they are, which is crazy.

It's crazy.

So, yeah, it's, I mean, it's fun to watch because, you know, we talked about it.

They won the support, won the supporters' show last year.

Check, cool.

They've got one thing in mind.

Well, two.

Two.

They got a champions cup, but in the league.

Yeah, that's right.

Obviously, the league is always important.

Before we move on to the Premier League, quick shout out.

If you haven't seen the Kevin Denke goal from Cincinnati, watch it.

Phenomenal.

Cross bike.

It's like the level of difficulty is just insane.

So go watch it on YouTube.

All right, Tim.

You were following this weekend.

As much as I'm a blue and an Everton fan, I have to say, watching the scenes, particularly at the end of the game.

And

I thought you guys, Rebecca, NBC producers, did a phenomenal job because

who, I forget who was calling the game, but he called the game,

put his stamp on it, and then they laid out and they just let the scene speak.

And Rebecca basically every minute or so would come in with a little tidbit about someone or a little tidbit about that person and then lay out for a minute or two.

And I just sat there and I was like, this is awesome.

Yeah.

Just watching the scene.

And I'm not a Liverpool fan, far from it, but it was really fun to watch.

Yeah.

We've got a great team of producers at NBC and we've got the best in the business, Rebecca Lowe.

She's absolutely brilliant and sensational.

And

as you learn,

if you're paying attention enough, as you start to learn TV, when you have good scenes, shut up.

Shut up.

There's a couple of times that I was ready to come in and I just thought, nope, I'm going to leave that there.

But

yeah, look, no matter where your allegiances are, what Liverpool are doing and

what they've put together.

is it's football at the end of the day.

And they have earned the right to be respected and feared

and given

their flowers.

I mean, the one thing you realize when, you know, as a former Manchester United player, which is a hated rival of Liverpool and an Everton player, a hated rival of Liverpool, you realize that Anfield,

Anfield recognizes moments and they recognize big moments because they've had so many of them.

being down in the Champions League, second leg, storming back, winning titles, winning European Cups, Champions League, et cetera.

The culture around the club understands those moments.

And yesterday was one of those moments.

And those scenes, by the way, just for the record, they didn't even lift a trophy yesterday.

That's right.

You know what I mean?

Like that's that's still to come.

The scenes were incredible.

They deserve it.

What they've done under Arna Slot has been just incredible.

They've, they've gone from strength to strength.

Nobody picked, why would you pick them?

They're one of the best managers in world football and he just left.

And history tells you that you're going to go downhill after that.

Absolutely.

And by the way, that's history.

It's history.

And so, yeah,

it's a really good team.

And

I said that this was, it was strange for Klopp to leave because he basically built his 2.0 team.

This team was a championship caliber team, whether it was this year or not.

But the difficulty was Slot then came in, kind of changed things tactically, which I thought was going to be really difficult.

And credit to him and the players.

They understood each other.

They understood what was asked.

He got the best out of players, which means when he's on the grass in training, he's making players better.

You know, when you look at gakpo when you look at ravenberg i mean ravenberg was a was a a pretty good number eight turned into the best six in in probably the premier league you know so like um

yeah big big credit to to liverpool they deserved it um and they deserved it from from beginning to end they were so good i read a few i was reading some comments about why they were able to go from clop to slot so successfully and he said and and and players said some players said

he's making play individual players better, spending time making them better.

But they had a good roster and he changed a few things.

They were more happy to not have the ball at times with Klopp, but now they were just wanted to be more dominant with the ball.

And it was so seamless.

And they were just,

they fully deserved winners.

And you know, the other interesting part is when you look at Liverpool, they've been on top of the Premier League for 206 days this season, 165 more than any other side.

And you know this from being a champion.

it's it's easier to chase.

They've been, they have been chased, they've been the hunted the entire season.

That's more difficult, and that's why you think about like

how they, how they handled Virgil Van Dyke and his contract, and Mosal in his contract, and Trent Alexander Arnold in his contract.

Like, they kept playing well, and kept playing well, kept producing.

Like, yeah, you know, you talk about a deserved champion.

Uh, hats off to them.

Uh, the FA Cup semifinals were also this weekend, city into their third straight final.

They have said publicly, look, this keeps us having a decent year, right?

They obviously want to get into Champions League, and that chase is going to be tight as it comes down to the end of the season.

But it feels like,

you know, these teams, man, they have such a terrible season

and they could still win the FA Cup, right?

Which would be phenomenal.

And we're going to have an American represented on the other side, Chris Richards.

Congrats to him.

Palace,

Walloped Villa, 3-0.

And,

you know, you have to say the odds on favorites are city, but cup final.

You never know.

Listen, I think, you know, Man City,

they set the standards so incredibly high that finishing in a Champions League place and winning an FA Cup is a really horrific season.

Wow.

I mean, your standards are incredibly high, but that's okay.

That's what it is.

And that game, by the way,

Forrest in the second half piled on the pressure, hit the post like three times, crossbar.

I mean, it was a good game of football.

City's amazing, by the way.

City is amazing.

They didn't even sell out their allotment.

I've got a new rule for the FA.

If you go to a semifinal at Wembley and you leave 5,000 tickets unsold, you don't get those for the final.

Like, that's, it's a disgrace, but that's how it goes.

Crystal Palace, yeah, I didn't see that coming.

I thought they'd be in the game because they're a good team, but I thought Phillip were the better side.

And

Credit Palace, man, they played awesome on the day.

They were fantastic.

1-3-0.

So, yeah.

And

Matt Turner as well and Chris Richards.

So that'll be exciting for,

you know, hopefully it'll be, they'll be underdogs, but what a moment for Crystal Palace Football Club.

All right, let's move on to US LNT on USMNT.

Just a couple highlights this week.

One big one.

Christian just keeps doing the business, man.

And

midweek they got to the copatalia final with a three nothing win away uh uh versus inter

um

and then he scored this weekend against venezia in the fifth minute he is one of only three seriot players to have been directly involved in at least 50 goals he has 31 goals and 19 assists in the last two seasons in all competitions alongside aramola lookman and lautaro martinez

um He just keeps going, man.

And when he has a little dip, he's back and it's really fun to see.

and i'm just now as a national team fan yeah need the rest of the team to get on board like do not waste these years of him being so good yeah

get on board i mean look i think with with christian pulisic we know that he's talented and we know that he

has produced and will continue to produce um

goals and assists that's obvious but you know in in the copa italia second like his manager sergio constanto said about his performance that he sacrificed himself for the team He had a good game, but there was balance in the central areas.

He ran his socks off.

That's what, that's the thing that stands out for me.

My expectation of Christian Pulisic is that he's going to turn up on the day with the ball at his feet and produce magic.

He's done that, but it's in, it's in the, in the moments when it really matters.

That's right.

Second leg of a of a final or

a World Cup that he, he is willing to do the dirty work and he's shown that.

And that's the thing that stands out for me.

That it's a a huge moment, Tim, for him that

he recognizes that.

He's aware of it.

And he wants to win.

And I'll just speak from experience.

There were many times in my career where I could have thought,

I can score today.

I could score today.

And

we might win.

We might not.

Or I can put all my energy into being in good spots defensively, helping my teammates doing the little things.

And I know we're going to win.

And you sacrifice that.

And I'm really glad to see him do that and then get acknowledged for it.

I think that's a big part of being a real leader.

So congrats to him.

Really quickly too, Brendan Aronson back in the Premier League as

leads get promoted.

Awesome for him.

He has had a phenomenal season.

I know he's disappointed to miss out on Nations League, but if he keeps going, man,

wouldn't be surprised if you see him in the Gold Cup team.

Yeah, you keep earning.

I mean, and again,

Leeds belongs in the Premier League as a club.

Obviously, Burnley are up as well

with their American ownership.

So that's exciting.

But yeah, Brendan Aronson is someone who can clearly be counted on in big games.

And he's shown that for leads.

And whether he's Pochatino's cup of tea or not, the more he plays, the more consistently he plays, I can see him at least getting a sniff and being in.

Yeah, he's got to make himself totally his cup of tea, right?

That's his job.

All right, Timmy, it is time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light.

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Jules Kunde, take a bow.

You chose chill this week.

116th minute winner sends Barcelona and their fans into rapture as they beat Real Madrid 3-2 in the Copa de Rey final.

Wow, what a goal.

Stepped into midfield, picked the ball off, banged it into the corner.

Very subdued celebration.

Very chill, if you might.

Barca has absolutely dominated Real Madrid this year, Tim.

They scored four goals, five goals, and now three goals.

They've just battered them.

I was not expecting Barca to have this kind of rebound of a year.

Um, sad way for Anchilotti to leave Madrid, but congrats to Barca.

Yeah, listen, you're definitely choosing to chill if you bang a winner against Madrid in El Clásico in the Copa del Rey final.

I mean,

there's some awesome, awesome rivalries in world football.

I'm not sure that that it gets better than than Barca, Real Madrid.

Like, I mean, the scenes after, like,

I kind of, I feel like, well, there's probably a lot of heydays for El Clasco, but I mean, you know, watching the Messi Ronaldo era and the absolute desire and hatred, I mean, even the tunnel after the game,

it's always boiling over.

Like you can, you can guarantee box office.

You know, there's going to be goals.

You know, there's going to be rough tackles.

You know, there's going to be some afters.

it's guaranteed and there's going to be quality yeah like that that's unique to you know some rivalries you're like oh yeah.

But this is.

Well, I always say about El Clasico, like, people think it's the best.

It is the best.

But

I always caution them.

I go, just watch the first 15 minutes.

You think there's all this talent and lovely first touches?

Watch the first 15 minutes.

They batter each other just to just to make sure the line is drawn that they earn that right to play.

It's it's incredible.

But yeah, Barca couldn't have imagined they would.

kind of turn the tables the way they have this season.

So, but

realma did recognize that.

Angelalti's out and they're going to hope for better things.

Yeah, and they're going to have to, it's going to be interesting to see how they adjust now going forward.

Obviously, it didn't go perfectly according to plan with Mbappe coming in and you know, they still had a decent season, but how is the next manager now going to, you know, is it Javi Alonso?

How are they going to incorporate him?

How are they going to change because they've had one voice for so long?

So, it's going to be interesting to follow.

But, congrats to Barca, Jules Conde, chose chill.

Good job, my friend.

All right, we're going to take take a break.

When we come back, we have a very,

very special guest, Tim.

Thanks to you, a relationship you've developed over the years.

He's recently joined the soccer world.

He's not traditionally a soccer person, although he's more into soccer than you think.

We will speak to him when we come back right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

You don't want to miss it.

This episode is brought to you by Indeed.

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

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

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

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

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

Drive sober or get pulled over.

Pay for bonets.

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

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

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

It's beautiful.

It's what Virgin does.

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

It starts with the people.

The crew makes you feel seen.

You're not just seat 31A.

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

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

The food's amazing.

All the little amenities.

They have their mile high tea.

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

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

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

Yeah, everything's been thought through.

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

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

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

LD, as you hinted last segment,

couldn't be more excited for our guests today for a multitude of reasons.

This man is a legend, and

he will be on the tip of everyone's tongue in the soccer world to come.

He is a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, two-time NBA champion, one as a player, one as an assistant coach, five-time all-NBA first team, four-time NBA all-defensive first team, NBA rookie of the year, was named to the NBA 75th anniversary team.

He's third on the NBA's all-time career assists and steals list.

He's a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and he is currently the Dallas Mavericks Mavericks head coach.

And slightly more important to our show, LD, the newest investor owner to join Everton Football Club with the Freedkin Group, none other than Jason Kidd.

Jason, welcome in.

Man, I appreciate that.

I owe you money for all those nice things that you did.

I appreciate that, Tim.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me, guys.

This is an honor.

Nice shirt, Jason, first of all.

Second, Timmy, I'll let you start because you have a relationship with Jason.

And we know when we prepare for the show, Jason, we obviously do our research.

I didn't realize, I grew up with you watching you the same timeframe as I was playing.

I didn't realize all these things you accomplished.

So my apologies for not knowing how good you were.

I used to hate you as a Laker fan.

And then I liked you when you're an assistant coach.

But congrats on an incredible career.

And Timmy, take it away.

Thank you, Landon.

Thank you.

And

Jay, just for.

for the public, I owe you nothing.

You bought dinner two weeks ago here when we were in New York.

So

sounds about right.

I'm indebted.

Yeah.

The shirt looks great on you.

Over dinner, we spoke about your investment in Everton Football Club.

And I just want for our audience who is so excited that you're on, what is it that drew you to Everton Football Club specifically?

Like what excites you the most about this project and the future, really, as you embark on this ownership journey?

Well, I think it's, you know, I don't know.

A lot of people don't know that soccer was my my first sport.

That was the first sport that I was introduced to.

So it's really my first love.

And so just understanding when I had this opportunity

with the freaking group to be able to invest,

I wanted to jump at it just because of the relationship that I had with that group.

And it all came from from playing golf, which is funny in a way.

And so maybe they felt bad for my golf game.

But I think when you talk about having the opportunity to, when you talk about a historic club, the history,

it's rich, it's exciting.

When you talk about Goodison Park and the Darby's, just the excitement, the passion.

And that's kind of like what I am.

Not as a coach.

When you talk about coaching, I'm more reserved.

I'm always watching.

How can I help the guys?

And so when you talk about being able to be at the right place, but at the right time, but it all comes from relationships.

As you know, Tim, we have a great relationship.

I bought dinner last time.

You're going to buy dinner next time.

Don't count on it, by the way.

Don't count on it.

You're invited and we're going to order everything.

That sounds good.

No, so you said, so you were, I'm assuming you were at some golf event, whatever.

You get introduced to these folks.

And then how does it progress into a relationship where then either they invite you or you say, I want to be a part of Everton?

Well, when you talk about Ryan,

we were at a crew cup playing golf and we were playing against each other and we were just talking about the love of golf and he's actually involved.

They're actually involved in Roma.

And so he was like, hey, you got to come over.

You got to come over.

But he was serious about coming over.

And, you know, unfortunately, my schedule didn't let me get over, but we kept in touch.

As I said, relationships, you never know what can happen.

And so we stayed in touch.

And I started to hear rumblings about them getting involved in Everton.

So I asked,

I wasn't shy.

I said,

Ryan, are you getting involved?

And he goes, I think we might.

And so that's where I left it.

And he came back and goes, hey, do you have any interest?

And I said, I would love to.

I was honored that he thought about me.

And so when you get the opportunity to invest

with not just in a good, a great team, but also great people.

And so I'm very excited to go along this journey with them.

Yeah, I mean, you talk about great people.

Obviously, Landon and I both play for the club.

It's in our hearts.

And,

you know, Landon can, and we both can, but he, Landon was just over there at a game and he can attest to the fact that the heart and soul of that club is in the people, is in the people.

The people who work there,

the people who are supporters of the club.

You touched on, Jason, you're a calm coach.

When I see you on the sideline, arms are folded, you're taking everything in, it's the point guard in you.

How does your experience as a coach influence your approach to ownership?

Since you obviously spoke about relationships being so vital to the success of any team?

I think it's really important first to, you know, in life, write down your visions, write down your dreams.

Being able to have an opportunity in ownership is something that I wrote down a long, long time ago.

But also

understanding patience in the process.

I think the process when we're young, we only think about Landon wasn't worried about what I was doing on the court.

I wasn't worried about what he was doing on the soccer field.

He's the goat of U.S.

soccer.

And so he achieved everything because you're working.

But if you take a time out to fill your dreams of what you really want to accomplish,

being able to understand ownership.

is a very powerful thing and nothing to take for granted.

And we've all have been players that have had great owners and owners who maybe didn't live up to what we thought could be possible.

And so I've taken notes of being around the Cubans of the world, of understanding what it means to be a successful owner.

And hopefully I can do that, have that opportunity with the freaking group.

That's awesome.

How do you, Jason, how do you compare?

My dad grew up playing hockey.

And so he's always, he's always watching, he always watched my games through a hockey lens.

So he would always say to me, Tim, I don't think I ever shared this with you, but he always say, why don't you shoot more?

Just shoot more.

And I'd say, dad, if I'm 30 yards out and I shoot and it goes over the goal, now they have a goal kick and they have the ball.

And in his mind, he's thinking it just hits the back of the boards and it stays in.

So it's worth shooting.

And so I'm like, no, I'm not going to just shoot from anywhere.

But how do you compare?

Soccer and basketball that way almost like tactically and the way the game flows.

Are there comparisons?

oh land great question i think there's a lot of comparisons uh growing up soccer being my first sport um dribbling right uh with your feet now with your hands um understanding passing uh playing in small spaces um unfortunately when i was i wanted to score like you um and so uh being a forward center forward i wanted to uh just kick it and i tried to use my speed i thought i was fast and could outrun everybody and try to you know i wanted to score It's almost the opposite of my basketball game.

I was just going to say, that's not what you were.

And so when you, when you look at the things I learned in, in soccer about passing,

you know, give and go was something that I learned in soccer.

It was one of the oldest plays in basketball as a third grader.

And so,

and then just taking dribbling from my feet to my hands.

And so being able to be coordinated with the lower half of your body as a third or fourth grader, a a lot of times we're not, right?

It's the other way around.

We learn how to use our hands first instead of our feet.

So I felt I had the advantage of coordination.

And so there is a lot of similarities when you talk about angles, passing, creating space,

being able to create lanes, and then patience, being able to execute, you know, the play.

And so that goes for both soccer and basketball.

Yeah, it's interesting.

You and I talked about that.

And Landon and I beforehand were also speaking of it.

It's like being able to dribble and

be in tight spaces, but also defensive principles: pressure on the ball.

Are you one pass away?

Are you two pass away?

Because if you're one pass away, you have to cover.

You know, it's very, it's all very, very similar.

Um,

we have a picture, uh, Jay, from from your, from your playing days.

This is when you're a little bit older, and we're gonna pull it up, and you can tell us where this was.

I think it was 1998.

You do look like a soccer player.

Oh,

I think this was

a rocking soccer celebrity game.

Look at those cleats, by the way.

Oh, those are fresh.

It's amazing.

Where was that?

You know what that is?

I think that's Nash's soccer game in

the park in New York, I think.

It's something.

Anyway, you look good.

You look like a striker.

You actually look like a soccer player.

I got to be honest.

I look young.

Once upon a time, we were all.

Did you guys fill in the hair?

Yeah, a little bit.

It looks good.

It looks good.

Jay, we want to talk to you about our listeners are so dedicated and die-hard U.S.

men's national team, and

they bleed that.

And I know Landon in particular wanted to talk to you about your Olympic experience because there's so many similarities between our U.S.

men's national team and obviously our Olympic dream team.

And go ahead, take it away, Landon.

Yeah, so actually, I was happy to watch this week.

Is Is it Pistons Knicks who are playing?

Yep.

Yes.

And, you know, I turned on the game, I think it was yesterday in the fourth quarter, and it was like 76 to 67.

And I'm like, thank God.

It's usually like 104 to 101 at this point in the game.

And then just watching the game and how chippy and nasty.

And I was like, thank you.

That's the NBA I grew up watching and I loved.

Right.

And so my question is, when you won, played for the Olympic team, and I'll get around to why this is relevant to soccer, but when you played for the Olympic team, there were a lot of guys that you just, most of the guys, you just battled against every week in the NBA.

And to the point, you just like can't stand each other, right?

But then, how do you set that aside?

Because this is obviously with soccer, it's very common, right?

Because you play for your national team a lot.

Come together and then put that aside and play as a team.

And how did you have to consciously do that?

Did you guys fit naturally back in together?

How did that work?

Yeah, I think,

one, anytime you're asked to represent your country, I think it's an honor.

And any ill will or hard foul or,

you know, a buzzer beater, those things are put, are never brought into the meeting room day one.

We all leave that out.

I think there's a great story with Coach K in 08.

He wanted the egos to come into the room.

He felt that he can, you know, manage those big egos when you talk about, you know, Kobe,

LeBron, D-Wade, Mello.

he wanted that because he felt that we needed that to be able to be successful.

And he was 100% right.

But I think it's when you can have one goal and that's just winning the gold medal.

There is no who's the leading scorer, who's the leading assist, or who leads in rebounds or minutes.

The one goal is just to win the game, and that's it, and move on to the next game.

And to you, are holding that gold medal and listening to that national anthem.

And so I've been very fortunate to play on two national teams in 2000 in Australia and then 08 in China.

And I thought that both teams had one goal and that was just to win a gold medal.

And it was, now practice was it was fun because

guys wanted to get after it.

Guys wanted to prove that they were better than the next.

When you talk about Kobe and LeBron, they were on separate teams.

Coach K knew that it was going to be an incredible practice.

And so when you talk about the chippiness that you see in the playoffs this season, I love it.

I love that the officials are just out there getting cardio.

I love that they're letting the players

decide the game.

Now, was that a foul or not a foul that last shot by Timmy?

They said they made a mistake and missed the foul.

But I think up to that point, that was an incredible game

by both teams making big and difficult shots.

Like the shot making in that game was incredible.

And Kobe, Kobe and LeBron going out.

I mean, when's your book coming out?

Cause I'm reading it.

I mean,

you got stories for days.

You know, I often wonder, you know, in terms of mindset, something Landon and I had to do, which, and clearly you did too.

You play this long, long season, right?

And your body's beat up.

Mentally, you're drained.

The only thing you want is a break.

And then bam, the Olympics come or the World Cup comes.

What was it like for you to kind of refocus?

Okay, NBA season ended, either get to the finals, get knocked on the playoffs, whatever it is, and then you immediately got to go into training camp and go again and physically, too, right?

Physically, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I think uh, you bring up a great point.

Um, I think a lot of it is mental, right?

I think when you're around um, talent um, and you believe you're one of the best, you you get over being tired because you know when you go to practice, uh, Chris Paul or Darren Williams, they're coming after you.

When you talk about Gary Payton, he's going to embarrass you.

And he's going to do a lot of talking anyway.

He's going to tell you about it.

Exactly.

So I think when you have those opportunities to play for your national team, even if a long season, if you win a title, if you lose a title, I think just when you love competition, you're getting the best in the country.

And so I think you kind of turn into

another gear.

And the best comes out.

Whenever you can go against the best, you tend to find out what you're made of.

And then also, it answers a lot of questions on what do you have to work on to be great.

Jay,

I want to ask you about, because you're a coach and I can't tell if this is a generational thing or if it's a...

cultural thing or whatever.

And I think you know where I'm going, but our national team, certainly recently and over the, I would say the last five to seven years, we have a lot of moments now with our national team where I'm not in the business of judging intent or pride or care, but it looks like what you talked about, the honor to represent your country, doesn't mean quite as much when they come into national team camp.

And we've seen that a few times.

I know you're not a national team coach, but in the NBA now, generationally, the way, you know, we just followed the Shador Sanders saga, and, you know, there's, there's so much attention.

Do you think we're missing?

Um,

players are missing that, that, that pride needed to play at that level?

Is there, what do you see in players?

Is there too much focus on everything off the court?

What, how would you, I guess, explain what you see now in this generation?

That's a great question.

When you, when you look at

things can be different, athletes change in both games, faster, athletic, you know, they're bigger.

And so I think

when I, when to give a real answer to this question, I think it's our fault, really,

when you talk about the spokesmen or women of the past to be able to educate our youth.

And I think we have not done a great job.

of storytelling.

I would love, you know, to see the 2010 or 12,

you know, Cup teams, you know, the story behind in the locker room of winning.

But the one thing that we have not shown, we always show winning, we have to show losing.

It's all right to lose.

It's all right to fail

because we will learn from that.

And I think we've all been in that, you know, game or in that locker room where we just felt like we could have done a little bit more and we maybe let the team down, but we learned from it.

We were sponges.

We absorbed that feeling and said, hey, we don't never want to feel like this again.

So you get right back to work and guess what?

The others will follow.

And that's, I think,

being able to be leaders for our youth is something that I think we need to lean into more.

Does this, Jason, does this generation feel that?

And right when you said that, my mind went to, you know, I don't know how closely you followed, but we had a Nations League of tournament about a month or so ago.

We lost a semifinal game to Panama, which would be like the U.S.

basketball team losing to, I don't know, Puerto Rico or something, right?

Just unacceptable.

And then three days later, we play Canada, which is a pretty good team.

And then we lose again.

And it's the kind of the same effort.

And so you talk about losing and learning from that, but do you see generationally, generationally, it's different now?

Because, I mean, if Kobe lost a game back then or LeBron, it was like, or Michael, it was like, we ain't losing again.

We're not losing again.

So, is do you see that same fire?

Am I, I'm trying to learn here, is what I'm asking.

Yeah, no,

I think this is a great community,

you know, question in the sense of what's wrong?

What can we do to help?

You know, when you bring up LeBron, LeBron and them lost, you know,

when they were on Team USA early, and

it didn't go well.

And then things, you know, started to change.

But I think, again, I think it comes back to us

where we have to spend more time in that locker room.

Because in our sport, in basketball, there's a lot of texting in the locker room.

There's no more conversation like, hey, you know what?

You know, look for me on the lob on the fast break because I know when we're coming, they forget about me.

Okay.

You know, hey, when I have the ball at midfield, it's just a little give and go, right?

Because I know once I pass it to you, they're going to relax and then I can go.

I just, there's, I don't think there's enough conversation.

And I know people will disagree with this, but I just think there's not enough conversation between player and player.

Yeah.

And I think, and I think that's, that's where, when we lose to Panama, okay.

Looks, that wasn't our best effort.

What can we improve on against Canada?

And do we check the boxes?

Do we improve or do we get worse?

Because if we got worse, then we are letting ourselves down, but we're letting the country down.

And I think that's, I think the pride of our country is starting to be lost.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's very insightful, Jay.

And I know we agree with you and so many of our listeners do.

As we close this and we bridge the generational gap, when I talk to you about Goodison Park and the new stadium, Landon and I had the good fortune of playing there and knowing what Goodison Park is to us and to the community and to the Premier League as a whole.

Do you have

any opportunity to get over there before the end of the season?

And if so, are you also going to try and get a tour of the new stadium, I would imagine?

Yeah, I hope the goal is, the plan is to get there on May 18th for the last game.

Yes.

Awesome.

To experience the history.

It's going to be excitement, sadness.

It's going to be a roller coaster of emotions when you talk about Goodison Park.

I'm excited.

And then, yes, I would like to go see the new stadium,

but I would love to just sit there and listen to the songs and everyone cheer and cry after that game on May 18th and just, you know, just sit in there and just absorb and be a sponge because this is where this has been for a lot of years.

Yeah, that's the best place for you as a new owner to take it all in, to bottle that emotion, that passion, and then move it forward.

And we are really excited.

I know everyone at Everton Football Club is really excited to have you as part owner.

We know that great things are going to happen in the future.

And thank you so much for taking the time to come on Unfiltered Soccer.

We appreciate you, Jay.

No, I appreciate you guys having me.

I got the Secretary of Defense, you know, and then

I got the GOAT.

How could I not say yes?

I could be on here all day.

You're the best.

Thanks, Jay.

Well, Jason, I look forward to the dinner that Tim's going to pay for.

I also look forward.

All I do now is golf.

So I look forward to golfing at some point.

Hopefully with the Friedkin group as well.

We appreciate you coming on, Jason.

We wish you the very best going forward.

Have a great offseason.

Y'all, we're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, we will get right into your questions and the ATT fan connection, and then we'll talk anything but soccer.

Really good one this week.

Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon 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 to chill very, very often.

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

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

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It is time for the AT ⁇ T Fan Connection.

I say every week because it's true.

This is everyone's favorite segment because we get to talk to Jordan.

Hi, Jordan.

How are you?

I'm great.

I'm really wonderful.

And we get to hear from our fans and listeners.

So what do you got for us?

You don't want to ask me about what I'm wearing?

Hang on.

Your mic's covering it.

Scooch.

Scooch.

Wait, not this.

Oh.

Oh, they unveiled.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

That's ridiculous.

How dare you?

How dare you?

We are having a post-production.

This is a Liverpool jersey and jacket and sky.

We're having a post-production meeting, and you will never, ever step foot on the show again.

Can we cut this out?

Congratulations to you.

If you're a Liverpool fan, congratulations.

Thank you.

I spent yesterday crying.

I'm good now, though.

Oh, my God.

Okay, should we talk about some questions?

Sure.

Yeah, please.

Yes.

Okay.

It's ridiculous.

First of all, we actually got a message from Joey's dad.

He said, just sharing that Joey took Landon's answer to heart.

And after his practice, he demanded that we celebrate the season at a local pub.

That's seriously.

He loved the answers.

Great show.

And we will all keep listening.

That's awesome.

Love it, Joey.

Great stuff.

We have an email from Brian.

Brian is into some of the history of the U.S.

men's national team.

And so he just wanted to say that he heard an incorrect statement that he wanted to address.

Oh, it was incorrectly stated on our show that the 2002 U.S.

men's national team World Cup had the best U.S.

men's national team finish ever.

I think it is important for the U.S.

soccer history that everyone knows that the 1930 U.S.

men's national team made it to the semifinals.

Fair play.

There weren't four teams, were there in that tournament?

But maybe like eight.

No, I'm being, I'm not being funny.

I don't.

Maybe eight.

I think you're right.

I think the four, I think the format's slightly different.

Point taken.

Absolutely.

Point tank taken.

That is inaccurate.

We'll say in the modern era.

How's that better?

That sounds better.

Post-1931.

Yeah.

All right.

Fair enough.

Yeah, fair.

In the last 50 years.

How's that?

Yeah,

we need to probably know how many teams were in that World Cup just to give us some sort of context.

But yes.

We got an email from Kelly who asked, do you think we put too much pressure on some of these younger guys at such a young age?

I ask this because I feel like we're seeing it about to happen again with Kevin Sullivan.

Everyone talks about the kid as if he is the greatest player we've ever produced.

And while that may turn out to be true, what happens in five years if he just levels out and is an average or slightly above average player?

13 teams in 1930.

Thank you.

Okay.

That's not bad.

No, not bad.

I have two sides of this, and I don't sit on the fence often, but there's two sides of this.

One is, yes, absolutely we put too much pressure.

Um,

but

the world and the world we live in puts too much pressure.

So the social media world.

So this minute he steps on the field, it's like, oh my God, a 14-year-old on the field.

Now, the other side of that is, you know where else there's a lot of pressure?

Being a professional soccer player.

So yes, it's a lot of pressure, but you got to deal with it.

Right.

So like you can't shy away from it when you're standing over a penalty in the 90th minute and it means a lot to your club or your country.

There's a lot of pressure.

So you got to learn to deal with it.

I don't like the way the world is in that way and that everyone's glorified before they've done anything, but it's the reality.

Right.

So don't like it.

Wish it weren't the case, but he's going to have to learn to deal with it.

That is the reality.

Yeah.

I mean, look, Atlanta, I'm not on the fence with this.

I agree with the one side of it where this is just hard.

This is just hard.

I think if you have a, you know, you yourself were a prodigy and a generational talent.

And I think when you see a young boy or girl who's starting to go down that road where they look different, they're better than everybody else.

And they start to kind of ascend to that level,

you have to ask them a conversation.

You have to have a conversation with them, both coaches and parents.

And you have to have a conversation and say, look, do you want this?

If you want this, this road is going to get hard.

And by the way, you don't have to choose it.

You can play club soccer, ODP, go to a smaller college party, use soccer as a vehicle, no doubt.

But if you want it, this is going to get really difficult.

And the fact of the matter is, you have to be, you know, in order to be a professional, you have to have a good skill set, you have to be a good decision maker, and you have to be able to handle pressure.

That's it.

Those are the things that will make you a successful professional.

So I don't think we're too hard.

I think what I would say is, and I've done this, I use myself, but also my daughter as a reference.

There are moments where I try and be her voice of reason.

And she's like, well, dad, I want to go to this.

She sacrifices everything, my daughter.

And so when she says, I want to go to this dance or i want to go to a megamaroni concert i say well go yeah but i might miss a training well go you still have to be a young you have to be a teenager like so so it's important for the parents and and the coaches to help balance that but ultimately the road to being a professional athlete is really difficult and filled with pressure and now it's different the the one big difference from when we were is the social media aspect too that's the huge you know what it's interesting landon that i wasn't gonna riff on this but it's a huge part of it.

I didn't have it.

You didn't have it.

Right.

And so

when you played a bad game as an 18-year-old, and I had a few of those, my coach would tell me what he thought of me, maybe the fans.

But that was it.

That was it.

I didn't, it wasn't like I could, I got, I got on the team bus and I was just littered with outside noise and people tell me how terrible I was, right?

And so you have to be able, that's not going away.

So you have to try and help them manage that.

How about a question or a comment rather that came after some of the clips we posted from the Bruce Arena interview from last week?

Javier via Instagram said this guy, who I assume he's talking about Bruce specifically,

forgets his disastrous 2006 World Cup and 2018 failure.

Klinsman only coached two games that cycle.

2002 was great, but we got lucky with sneaking out of the group and only had to beat Mexico to move forward.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

When people do that.

You said 2002 was lucky?

Oh, I was lucky.

It was lucky, man.

Okay.

Let me explain to you how qualifying works.

Okay.

So the final round of qualifying is 10 games, or was at that time, 10 games.

When you say Klinsman only lost two games, he lost the first two games.

Okay.

One of which was at home.

So qualifying is just a mathematical equation.

And when you win at home, you earn three points.

But guess who else doesn't earn any points?

The team you play against.

When you go on the road and you get three points, it's the same.

Or if you get a point, you're basically stealing two points from another team playing at home.

Okay.

So the goal for us in qualifying was to win all of our home games, which would get you to 15 points.

Win a game or two on the road, draw a game or two, and you're in.

And that's it.

Simple as that.

Okay.

When you lose your first two and one of them's at home, you are so far behind the eight ball because of the points the other teams picked up that you are in a race that you almost can never win.

And the fact that Bruce got the team back to a place where they just needed to win in Trinidad, and everyone will say that game was a failure, no question.

But to say Jurgen only lost two games and that it was just so easy for those remaining eight games.

By the way, one of those games was going to be Mexico Away.

Those remaining eight games, which is almost never a win or even a point, is ridiculous.

So that's a that's just a dumb comment.

In 2002, to say the team was lucky at the level that we are at with our national team, and we're still there, you have to have some element of fortune throughout

a tournament to advance.

That's still where we're at.

We're not Brazil, Argentina, or Germany, or France, or Spain.

We still need an element of fortune along the way.

But to then say that it was lucky to get to the quarterfinals, I would encourage you to go back and watch the games.

Um,

we did have some fortune, but we had some great, great performances too.

Um,

so yeah, that's uh, yeah, that's my take on that.

Javier, I feel like we're friends.

I want to call you Javi.

So, Javi, listen, don't go back and watch the games, as Landon suggested.

Um, you're just completely and utterly wrong.

So, we're not going to have that conversation for a team, any team,

U.S.,

England, Spain, to get to a World Cup quarterfinal,

you can't be lucky.

It's impossible.

It's impossible to be lucky.

That team was incredible and they performed incredibly well.

That's the end of that story.

What Landon said about

Bruce Arena coming on board, everything was 100% accurate.

The chips were so far stacked against him once we lost as a team, once we lost those first two games.

in qualifying.

I am not a decision maker at U.S.

soccer.

I've never been

but i was a part of and this is you earn the right as a as a senior player who's given everything for your country that in these dire crisis moments when a manager gets fired you are part of big conversations right landon so you're part of conversations with the heads of u.s soccer doesn't mean you make the final decision but they want to know what's going on on the inside Yeah.

And as the conversation started to surface about who would next take over, I was certainly certainly one of the powerful voices that said,

If it's Bruce Arena, he gives us the best possible opportunity to drag ourselves out of this hole.

And we were under no illusions of what hole we were in.

What I would say is,

that team didn't qualify based on performances on the field.

That's on the players.

That's completely on the players.

And

that was a failure on our part, but Bruce Arena gave us every opportunity to succeed, and we nearly and we nearly did it.

And by the way, if we had we had we gotten the result in Trinidad, it wouldn't have been like we were world beaters, it would have been like

we we just barely scraped by and we and we did what we hoped to do.

But I mean, even the game, like you're saying, the Mexico game, that was the Michael Bradley chip from like midfield or something like that, right?

Like, but it's still not a game you expect to win going down there because it's so difficult.

If you win and put the performance in,

you're happy.

But ultimately, we had to be perfect and we weren't.

And that's as simple as that.

I mean, I don't know how to put a better cap on that.

I have one last question for you guys.

This question came from Jason via email.

And Jason wanted to ask us about an offer that I think has, he received an insider email about it, but I think has become public on social media.

U.S.

soccer is offering the opportunity for fans to buy a commemorative brick that will go into the new training facility in Atlanta.

Don't get me started.

Don't start.

Don't start.

So Jason says bricks come in multiple sizes and price levels start at $350.

Oh, wow.

He said $350.

U.S.

soccer cannot offer affordable national team tickets, but now they're trying to sell me a Faberge brick.

They've turned their backs on ordinary fans.

What do you think?

Would you advise me to buy a brick and can I buy one next to yours?

Go ahead, Lynn.

i know you feel a certain way about this this is called unfiltered so jason i feel your pain i really do i actually received that email too and i was thinking i think i've done enough for you soccer you don't need my q50

um i too received that email the reality is

the decisions that Matt Crocker has made, who is the general manager of the national teams or general manager of U.S.

soccer, I guess, is

Emma Hayes,

who did not come here cheaply, and Mauricio Pochitino, who did not come here cheaply.

I don't know the details of their contracts.

It might be public info.

I don't know, but it's right up there with the most of any national team coaches, certainly women's in the world.

They have to find ways to pay for it.

And I hate it.

I don't like it.

I really don't like it because,

you know, we've seen so many games lately where there just aren't people in the stands.

And it's hard for me to tell you that you should pay $100, $150, $200 to go watch a game.

I don't agree with it.

I understand why they're doing it, but I don't agree with it.

I would much rather our stadium be sold out and rocking every time than people feel like they're getting.

gouged.

So I don't like it, but those are the decisions that have been made.

and it's like any any industry right if you have to pay a hundred dollars for an item in your store then you got to sell it for 200 to make your margins and and that's what u.s soccer is trying to do so

um i don't know should what should we do tim

i i i i do not play golf i do not jet around the world like you do.

I'm a man of the people.

So I have an offer.

I have an offer that Jordan is nervously laughing about about because she's scared of our bosses and legal at Sinclair.

I'm not.

I am.

I am.

I am.

But if we can get it approved, here's what I'll tell you.

We at Unfiltered Soccer will buy a brick.

Landon will buy a brick and we'll name it Unfiltered Soccer.

And we will somehow figure out a way to do a giveaway or two.

I don't know.

I'm making Jordan nervous.

And we'll get some bricks for our listeners.

That's what I suggest.

Landon, I agree.

Money has to be made.

Money has to be made somewhere.

I don't know.

I didn't get that email.

Maybe I did.

I didn't check it.

I've got, I'll tell you.

Hang on.

I have.

My question is, how many bricks?

Because, like,

I have, hang on.

How many in my inbox?

I have.

Well, you don't answer phone calls either.

You just like.

I only have.

That's right.

I've got a lot.

Oh, no.

I have a hundred.

I have a hundred and four.

105,000 unread emails.

So I think I'm.

I'm having nervous breakdown, right?

I think I might I think I might have gotten it, LD.

It's in there.

All right.

So what I'm trying to discern here is, does Jason want a brick?

He just doesn't want to pay for it.

Because maybe we could just buy Jason a brick.

No.

I don't know.

It's unclear.

He's asking for your advice.

So if you're saying Jason doesn't want to be a bad person.

Jason, my advice is save your money and go buy a ticket in the upper deck of the next U.S.

men's national team game for that $350.

Or buy three tickets to three different U.S.

women's national team games.

Great show.

That would actually be a better idea.

Great show.

I don't like it, Jason.

I'm sorry, dude.

I feel your pain, but this is the reality of the world we're in.

All right.

Long show today, but a great show.

Thank you so much to Jason Kidd.

Phenomenal interview.

Thanks to you, Tim, for putting that together.

He was great.

We appreciate all you guys, as always.

Please, again, subscribe to the show on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods and follow the show, as always, across all of our social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer.

Jay Kidd, one of the best to do it.

Thank you for coming on and sharing your wealth of knowledge.

And congratulations on Everton investment and ownership.

Thank you, everybody, for today.

We always love being with you and speaking with you.

Thank you to our presenting sponsors, VW, and our fan connection sponsor, ATT, and our Unfiltered Refresh sponsor, CoorsLight.

Have a great week, and we'll be back in two weeks with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.