Mbappe's Red Card, Salah's Contract Signed, & the CONCACAF Gold Cup Draw

Speaker 1 My initial thoughts when I saw the draw for the U.S. is, I don't care.
You're basically looking at a Costa Rica, Mexico crossover.

Speaker 2 Why would they do that? That's a great question. I've seen it, Tim, in lots of tournaments where one slip up and you go, oh no, now it's U.S.-Mexico in the quarterfinals.

Speaker 1 Now that I said I don't care, I'm backjacking.

Speaker 2 I got you.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 1 LD, what's happening, kid? How are you?

Speaker 2 Good morning. It's early.
I'm tired, Timmy. I had a long weekend.

Speaker 1 What did you do? I had a long weekend. What did you do?

Speaker 2 No, no, I had a long weekend.

Speaker 2 It's early here, by the way. People don't realize the things I do for you.
It's 6 a.m. here.

Speaker 1 What did you do?

Speaker 2 I went to LA with a group of seven guys,

Speaker 2 golf guys. So we played golf in LA, and then we went to dinner, drinks after, and then hung out all day, and then went to the Dodger game yesterday.

Speaker 1 You do realize our listeners,

Speaker 1 yeah, yeah, could care less could care less because you went on a golf trip. How many bottles of red wine did you have over the steak?

Speaker 2 There's a lot out there. A lot.
There's a lot.

Speaker 2 There's a lot. What about you? What did you do?

Speaker 1 I went and visited.

Speaker 2 Oh, you went to see your daughter, huh?

Speaker 1 I went and saw my son. He goes to the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
So I flew down to Chattanooga on Thursday, spent a couple of days with him.

Speaker 1 He's clever. He always gets his big shopping in when dad's there.

Speaker 1 We do a lot of like Whole Foods meat section, you know, like the expensive cuts. And then

Speaker 1 I went, yeah, I went to

Speaker 1 Knoxville, drove to Knoxville.

Speaker 1 My daughter and her recruiting class were there because there was a bunch of spring soccer games. So

Speaker 1 Tennessee played Virginia, Virginia Tech, Alabama was also there. So they have an amazing facility at the University of Tennessee.
Also went to the orange and white spring football game.

Speaker 1 Massive drama on campus because they're quarterback.

Speaker 2 I saw that. I saw that

Speaker 1 wants, what, $4 million a year in NIL.

Speaker 1 But currently, by the way, he has an NIL contract from the university that pays him $10 million over the course of his career, which the payments, by the way, started when he was a

Speaker 1 senior in high school.

Speaker 2 By the way, are these, do they write contracts for these NIL deals? Many contracts. Did he get the $10 million up front? He's going to be

Speaker 2 four months up.

Speaker 2 He gets like two. So he won't get the rest.

Speaker 1 He won't get the rest. So he entered the portal.
Anyway, it was chaos. But like,

Speaker 1 it proved to me that like

Speaker 1 it's funny, you know, these things always happen where

Speaker 1 they're having to put safeguards in place after the fact, right? So now these kids are getting these big contracts. And then they're like opting out as free agents, but there is no free agency, right?

Speaker 1 So now the universities have to kind of, or the NCA has to kind of go back and go, no, no, no, you have to, you've got to play out a certain amount of years before you can opt out of a contract, right?

Speaker 1 Like if they're going going to treat these kids like pros, they got to treat them like pros. So, anyway, fun weekend.

Speaker 2 It's wild, wild west, too. Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 Uh, as always, guys, follow us on social media, unfiltered soccer, subscribe to the show on YouTube, and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Leave a rating helps people find us, and you can email us, email Jordan at feedback at unfiltered soccer. All right, Timmy, let's start in MLS.

Speaker 2 Big weekend in Vancouver. Geez, they've had a week, man.
They advanced with late goal in the Champions Cup. And then this weekend, Brian White, four goals against Austin FC.
Yep.

Speaker 2 They're top of the table after eight games. They're in the semifinals of the Champions Cup.
Good things happening in Vancouver. I think, I'm trying to remember.

Speaker 2 I think I scored four goals one time in my careers with the national team against Cuba.

Speaker 2 Scoring four goals.

Speaker 2 You may be. You probably didn't do much that day.
I think it was like 7-0.

Speaker 2 Scoring four goals in a game at any level as a professional is a big deal, man. Big deal.
And it's just every, it's one of those things where everything has to go right.

Speaker 2 Because generally in a game like that, if it's a good game for you, you're going to get three, four, maybe five pretty quality chances. And so everything's got to go right.

Speaker 2 So congrats to Brian Wright. Congrats to Vancouver.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 If you are

Speaker 2 Mauricio Pochettino,

Speaker 2 I mean, you got to pay attention, right? A guy who's in form. I mean, he's the opposite right now of Brandon Vasquez, a little, who we haven't heard much of and ironically played in that game.

Speaker 2 But Brian White's doing the business, dude.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Look, we hope.

Speaker 1 We hope that there's a lot of attention being paid by the U.S. Men's National Team staff to MLSers who aren't necessarily, you know, at the front of mind, right? So what am I trying to say there?

Speaker 1 I'm trying to say, you know, U.S. soccer in general, American soccer is lazy when it comes to identifying talent, right?

Speaker 1 We just take the people who are at the top of the list and then we forget about everybody else. So Brian, you know, Brian White, hats off to him.
He is, he and Vancouver.

Speaker 2 By the way, I hold my hand up.

Speaker 1 I'll always tell you when I get it wrong, I got it wrong. I mean, you did too.
I won't throw you on the bus quite yet, but

Speaker 2 we got it wrong. We got it wrong.

Speaker 1 I thought Vancouver, given all the, you know, how they finished last season and the turnover, I thought, not really sure about this team.

Speaker 1 Hats off to them for having a good offseason and a fine start to the regular season. Again, they do it quietly.

Speaker 1 they're up there up in canada people seem to forget about them by the way the best one of the best cities in north america easily easily and so look they're doing the business and as you said four goals is yeah to the to your main point four goals is special because like

Speaker 1 sometimes you don't even get four chances in a game right so you've got you maybe as a team you don't get four chances like that right so your percentage your your percentage has to be really high on that day so look hopefully if he can

Speaker 1 if he continues to do the business should he be should he have an opportunity to go to the Gold Cup?

Speaker 2 Absolutely.

Speaker 1 We are not a country, as you and I continually talk about. We are not a country who produce goal scores, natural goal scores.

Speaker 1 So, if there's somebody who's firing him in, absolutely, he should be in contention for the Gold Cup squad.

Speaker 2 Well, definitely keep track on how they keep doing. NYCFC beat Philly 1-0.
The big news, I think this was before the game, the union traded Daniel Gazdag, their all-time leading scorer.

Speaker 2 Well, I say traded, transferred him for $4.5 million in cash to the Columbus crew.

Speaker 2 As you know, Houston brought Jack McGlenn earlier

Speaker 2 in the offseason, I believe, and paid a healthy sum for him. So they lost Jack McGlenn and Daniel Gazdag.

Speaker 2 Here's my take on this. So I like when clubs have an identity.

Speaker 2 And I think Dallas is a little bit like this too. FC Dallas is.

Speaker 2 If that's who you are, then develop players or bring players in and make money on them. And I got no problem with it.
And I'm sure fans probably hate it.

Speaker 2 I'm guessing coaches hate it because all of a sudden your top goal scorer is leaving. But that's fine if that's what you are.

Speaker 2 And then you'll develop the next one and he'll play for a few years and help you. And then you can sell him too.
So they can't get, they can't use the money

Speaker 2 to help their roster build and that stuff.

Speaker 2 But if you're an owner who's, you know, not one of the wealthiest in the league, you're going to take 4.5 million chips off the table and put it in your pocket and reinvest it maybe into the academy or whatever.

Speaker 2 That's great.

Speaker 1 It's amazing.

Speaker 1 I know you love it. I do too.
And

Speaker 1 I think it's

Speaker 1 for another episode that you

Speaker 1 can't use the money that you produce. Okay.

Speaker 1 That's yeah, that's a problem in MLS, but we'll get there at some point or another decade, but whatever.

Speaker 1 The fact of the matter, and I had actually had breakfast this weekend with a good friend of mine who's an owner of a USL team. And we were talking about this GASDAC trade.

Speaker 1 And I just thought to myself, I don't like using the word stupid, but I use it a lot. So I think it's stupid that

Speaker 1 in this country and in our league, and yes,

Speaker 1 we did it at Houston by paying cash for Jack McLennan.

Speaker 1 It blows my mind.

Speaker 1 The best players, I've said this all along, the best players

Speaker 1 in MLS are already there,

Speaker 1 right?

Speaker 1 There's levels and there's thresholds, Landon, right? So, so is Messi in the top? Like, who are the needle movers? Messi, Mbappe, Holland, maybe De Bruyne, they're going to cost you a ton, right?

Speaker 2 There's a small layer.

Speaker 1 Go beneath that layer where most everybody else operates. And then there's a third layer to buy a player from South America, Europe.

Speaker 1 And by the way, we're getting players in MLS in European leagues like lower European leagues, like right?

Speaker 2 Poland. Right, sure.

Speaker 1 So your scouting network has to be so vast, and we don't pay a lot in terms of how building out our scouting networks,

Speaker 1 constantly getting it wrong, right? Like that's not me. That's not me talking.
Just look at the designated players. And it's kind of an eye test.

Speaker 1 But if you go back to DPs across the league over the last 15 years, there's a lot more flops than there are successes. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 So, so my point is we're willing to go, oh, oh, I found this really good kid in the Romanian league. And, you know, I know he was at Bayern Munich as a kid, but he's kind of falling out of favor.

Speaker 1 So we

Speaker 1 pay $4 million for him. He's going to come in and do a job.
Why not go to Cincinnati? Why not go to LA Galaxy and go, hey, you're second best player. I'm going to give you $4 million for him.

Speaker 1 I'm going to spend the money anyway, right? These GMs and technical directors are so hell-bent on trying to unearth the next gem. They're already in the the league.
Just go get them. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, I think, I believe that's what this mechanism is being set up for, right? And so you're starting to see it now.

Speaker 2 And when you see it the first few times, you're like, four and a half million dollars?

Speaker 2 They just gave, but the reality is, is if you had to go, you know, buy a player in Ecuador or whatever, it's going to cost you that all in for sure.

Speaker 1 And you don't know. And by the way, you don't.

Speaker 2 And you know nothing. And you don't know if he's going to make it or not.

Speaker 2 You don't know how he's going to adapt. You don't know if he fits the league.
You don't know. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 to that point, it's done all over the world. The conversation right now is

Speaker 1 Alexander Isak at Newcastle and what he's going to cost north of 100 million this summer,

Speaker 1 probably 120 million. And we're talking about Arsenal going to get him.
And well, they're going to overpay. Yes.
But if they buy him, they guarantee themselves 20 Premier League goals at least.

Speaker 1 And that's probably the title.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 Or you can go into Europe and get someone and they might not adapt to the league. You already know that this player is in the league and he's going to to score you goals.

Speaker 1 And so the bottom line is it's done everywhere else in the world. We're just in the MLS slow to the boils.
So I'm glad it's happening.

Speaker 2 Yeah, hopefully it changes.

Speaker 2 The other news at MLS was that they are continuing, they didn't make the decision to change to the universal calendar, meaning the games would start, the league would start August-ish, take a break in December, January, and then come back and finish in May like the rest of the world does.

Speaker 2 They did not decide to implement that, but it almost feels like a little bit like a trial balloon, like they're floating it out there to get people used to the idea of it, and then they'll make the decision to do it.

Speaker 2 So they're, they're going to continue to evaluate all of it and see, you know, they're going to hire professionals to do us analysis on it, studies, whatever, and they'll consult with all the stakeholders who, who it means something to.

Speaker 2 And I think the key things here, the reason why they can't do it yet, and they have to make sure is we've talked about the weather.

Speaker 2 Yeah, which is which is the point that everyone goes to first, which is fine. The weather, which is fine.

Speaker 1 But this week, you brought up some

Speaker 1 a couple of factors to me that I'll be honest, I didn't even think about because I didn't dig deep enough.

Speaker 1 But I was blown away the initial part of it. So why don't you explain to the listeners

Speaker 1 what you found out?

Speaker 2 The other piece of it is this also has to be approved by the Players Association.

Speaker 2 Because if you think of it now, every contract runs through December. So if your contract's up this year, it's December 2025, December 31st is your last payment.
right or December 15th or whatever.

Speaker 2 Now, if you change the schedule, what happens to that player?

Speaker 2 Do they become a free agent then if they started it next year in 2026 and your contract was up december 2026 now you only have a five or six month contract from december 20 or august 2026 to december 20 so there's all these permutations plus sponsors have deals right through december yes um so there's there's lots of things that have to get changed and it's a big deal i mean you and you have to give people time to plan for it think about it get their contracts sorted out whatever so there's a lot to this but I do think the league will move there.

Speaker 2 Ultimately, it feels like, yeah, it just feels like it's going to happen.

Speaker 1 Yeah, ultimately, I think so too. And, you know, when you talk about the sponsorships and all the contracts, at a certain point,

Speaker 1 they're going to have to add a mechanism to it, right?

Speaker 2 Where they either

Speaker 1 true people up with their contracts or they just extend by six months.

Speaker 1 It's not a straightforward process.

Speaker 1 So they're going to have to add some sort of clause or mechanism to, obviously, the bylaws to to figure out how to get how to get from august to basically january and as always it'll come down to money

Speaker 2 all right let's move on to premier league um or premier league as you like to say

Speaker 2 the correct city beat palace 5-2 they were down 2-0 after 20 minutes but they uh you know in the end

Speaker 2 it looks like they will still be a Champions League team. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 A little caveat.

Speaker 1 Did you see the, I mean, they obviously they were down but then they steamrolled them in the end um did city but did you see pep gordiel i don't know if you saw the antics but anybody who watched the game it's like it's hilarious you want to talk about like a guy who is larger than life teflon untouchable so he's over the years he's like had this like love hate thing with the city fans and like most of the time that sounds like oh it it's it's unsettling it's not he just wins and he doesn't care right so there's been times where he's been like yo where where's our fans like why aren't you showing up like everybody else knows that like city fans there's only like 30 000 actual city fans you know um and which i can only imagine the comments that are going to flood in from this but that's the reality and so he's he's oftentimes talked about like oh yo where's our fans like like it's a champions league game wednesday night and they just don't they're not there anyway they're down 2-0 so he must have been getting pelters on the touchline So his team comes roaring back and he's just starts giving it to people like behind the bench, like pointing to people like, cheer now.

Speaker 1 Okay, not now, cheer. Like just like just all sorts of like cheeky banter.
I love it.

Speaker 1 He is definitely special.

Speaker 2 That's so good. I think the biggest, yeah, the biggest talking points the rest of the year will be these Champions League spots.
So Villa won away at Southampton 3-0. Good for them.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but good for them. That was a really important win.
Forrest lost to our Toffis.

Speaker 2 That's a bad loss, man, at home. Everton are obviously playing well, but that's a bad loss.
And

Speaker 2 they've got to be careful. They have to be careful.
They've had a great year, but they could slip.

Speaker 1 They've had a great year. I think a great win for Everton because the city around there

Speaker 1 at Nottingham Forest is an awesome place to play. I've never been, but just seeing the scenes every week is crazy.
So obviously it's a big away win.

Speaker 1 But I still think Forest are, you know, and I don't mean this like, oh, it's,

Speaker 1 they'll creep over the line. I think they're a good enough team where they've showed they can rebound from difficult

Speaker 1 outings. They've done it all season.
I think they'll stay in the hunt. And I think ultimately they'll be a Champions League team.
But that's my personal opinion.

Speaker 2 Arsenal, Drew Brentford.

Speaker 2 They rested a bunch of players. Their focus is on the Champions League.
I just, I need to say something real quick. I know we talked about this.

Speaker 2 I don't want to be a hater here, but the Declan Ferris free kicks from the Champions League midweek. If you haven't seen them, go Google them.
Look. Very happy for him.
Huge win for Arsenal.

Speaker 2 It was great.

Speaker 2 But both goals, and you know,

Speaker 2 you can say I'm an idiot or whatever, but I've been on the field. I've seen it.
I played, by the way, with the best free kick taker in the history of the sport, David Beckham, for seven years.

Speaker 2 So I know what it looks like. Okay.
Both of them, first one, the wall is disaster. Yeah.
And that's on the goalkeeper. Yep.
Second one, it's to the goalkeeper's side of the goal. Right.

Speaker 2 So people don't understand when you put a wall in front of you as a goalkeeper. You're telling your wall, you protect that side of the goal.
I got this half. Yeah.
Okay. Right.
Am I right?

Speaker 1 Yes. Okay.

Speaker 2 I got this half. So, what we would always say is goalkeepers should never get beat to his side of the goal.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 2 Ever. Because that's why the wall's there.
Otherwise, put the players somewhere else and just take the free kick straight up. Like, let's go.
Mano and Mano.

Speaker 2 So they're great free kicks and he hits them well, but like all of a sudden, this is so the internet, dude. This is so the world we live in.

Speaker 2 It's like, is he one of the best free kick tickers in the world? And I'm like, are you kidding me, dude? Like, stop. He hit two good free kicks.

Speaker 2 I'm not taking that away from him, but get out of here, dude. Yeah, that's just ridiculous.

Speaker 1 I agree with that.

Speaker 1 I love Declan Rice. I mean, he's

Speaker 1 top for me. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 But in terms of that conversation,

Speaker 1 I'm going to come back to something you said because

Speaker 1 we're fans of the game, and I obviously am a huge fan. So I'm going to come back to something on the Dave Beckham thing.
Look, the Arsenal Brentford

Speaker 1 draw 1-1. We know Michel Arteta rested players.
We're totally okay with that. They're not going to win the league.
That ship has already sailed. They're going to finish in Champions League place.

Speaker 1 They want to obviously finish second, of course.

Speaker 1 But that's slightly below progressing in the Champions League, right? And so

Speaker 1 he has to chop and change his squad and rest his players. And totally okay with that.
But I'm curious. So with David Beckham, and this is a serious question.

Speaker 1 He was the best ever in terms of set pieces.

Speaker 1 Would he train them every day after training or no? Like, how often in a week of training would he just put the ball like a few days.

Speaker 2 Bang. But a few days.
Tim, to see it in a game is great. But when you just sit there and watch rep after rep after rep, it hits the same spot every time, you're just like, this is wild, dude.

Speaker 2 It's like watching Steph Curry shoot threes and warm-ups. Yeah.
You're like, what the hell, dude? This is insane.

Speaker 1 So he would just be out there and would you set the mannequins up? Yeah. Yeah.
And every time?

Speaker 2 Yeah. I mean, not every time.
No, I know. Way more than anybody else ever.
That's like by a long shot. That's amazing.

Speaker 2 incredible did you would you be like maybe i'll like join him or are you just like nah and get why would i join him you're gonna go shoot threes while steph's just knocking down everyone like just look like an idiot just clank clank clank that's amazing no

Speaker 2 join him just sit and watch i should love it that's incredible bro that's incredible all right timmy it is time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by our friends at cores light choose chill get cores light delivered go to coreslight.com slash

Speaker 2 L N T. All right, so if you are a Liverpool fan,

Speaker 2 you are refreshed because Mo Sala finally has agreed to a two-year extension. And remember, Tim, there was a long time here where it was in the media.
He was talking about it.

Speaker 2 He was saying, I'm more out than I am in for next year. And this was a whole ordeal.
So congrats to Liverpool fans.

Speaker 2 The wrong side of Liverpool, unfortunately, for us, but Mo Sala has been an absolute legend in the city for Liverpool and refreshing to everyone involved.

Speaker 2 Cheers to you guys that he will now be there for two more years. And it sounds like Virgil Van Dyke is close on his heels with a new deal, too.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look, credit to Liverpool Football Club, because what I would say is they've done their business in a way that we don't often see

Speaker 1 in today's game, right? So the Jürgen Klopp. information about him leaving got leaked, right?

Speaker 1 So they had to then figure out a way to get themselves through the rest of those whatever six months it was and they did it in a classy way then this year the big talking point was trend alexander arnold virgil van dyke and mo sala those contracts are up three biggest players at the football club and how do you deal with that and they've not only chased down a premier league title but they've done it with this kind of hanging over their head and naturally you're thinking oh this is gonna this is gonna be a problem they've kept it quiet other than for you know one or two comments by mo sala which i'm okay with at the end at the end of the day he's a a big player.

Speaker 1 I think you should always kind of keep things under wrap. But he came out once or twice and said something.
But ultimately, they've done the business in a great way.

Speaker 1 And by the way, I always find social media to be interesting. It was so cheeky.
I don't know if you saw their social media rollout because he obviously said

Speaker 1 I'm more out than in.

Speaker 1 Well, they had him on this throne and the caption was more in than out. And it was clever.
So yeah, look, hats off to them for getting that across the line. And then if they can do Van Dyke,

Speaker 1 it looks like that. That's great.
And then even if they, even if they they sell Trent Alexander Arnold, fine.

Speaker 2 They're fine.

Speaker 1 Fine. But you do it in the right way and everyone's happy.

Speaker 2 And by the way, and Virgil Van Dyke spoke to this too. They're going to bring in some players.
I mean, he's alluding to the fact that they're going to bring in players in the summer too.

Speaker 2 And so their transition has been, it's what people should study going forward when a legendary manager leaves because they win the title, they're doing well, they keep players, and they're going to go spend money.

Speaker 2 I mean, Arnest Law hasn't even had time now to really properly build his squad, like a proper transfer window. So this will be

Speaker 1 very cops team, isn't it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, right. It is.

Speaker 2 Interesting. So, very refreshing for all Liverpool fans.

Speaker 2 Should be a long and good and fruitful many years to come. Moving to a little further north, Newcastle United.
Oh, boy. Wallop.
Manchester United. Tim, this is,

Speaker 2 you know, we have places, like we talk about this stuff and where we want to go with it.

Speaker 2 And I was just thinking to myself, literally, as I'm saying it right now, what a sad place we've gotten to where I expect, I look at a 4-1 scoreline that united's on the other end of and i'm like yeah that's about right like can you imagine them ever losing 4-1 and people would like be going crazy yeah yeah and you're just like ho-hum another loss it's yeah look and we just talked about about slot inheriting jury and klopp's really good team and what that looks like reuben amarin inherited

Speaker 1 like

Speaker 1 It's so hard. I think when I say the things that I said, and other pundits have said this as well, when you say it, it sounds so blasphemous and so like that sounds dumb.
Get out of here.

Speaker 1 But this Manchester United team, in order to compete, and we know how tight the Champions League spots are this year and how many good teams are going for.

Speaker 1 In order for Manchester United to begin to compete in the top four, and dare I even say, go for a Premier League title,

Speaker 2 this squad

Speaker 2 needs

Speaker 2 eight

Speaker 1 at least eight premier starting players.

Speaker 1 Right now, now, again, that sounds idiotic because when we, when did we look at a Liverpool, a Man City, a Manchester United, a Chelsea and say, well, Chelsea's done it in a different way with all young players, but say this team needs eight starting players to compete and probably more, eights being polite.

Speaker 1 Like, we've never said that before. So, like, this whole concept of like Ruben Amron, like, he's had to, his conundrum has been come in, try and get results.

Speaker 1 Now, everybody would say that's the priority. I think he's looked at it, and I could be proven wrong over the next couple of years.
I think he's looked at it and gone, I can't,

Speaker 1 even if I try and grind out results with this team, it pales into competing in comparison to me setting out my stall and playing in the way I want to play because ultimately I'll get the players in that I want, and that's more important.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 by the way,

Speaker 1 his team is letting him down because they keep losing and they aren't very good.

Speaker 2 Yeah. I always tell people winning is contagious.
Yeah. Losing is also contagious.
And they just walk onto the field right now and they expect to lose. They do.

Speaker 2 I mean, there's zero fight left in that. And everyone's resigned themselves to the fact that the season's gone.
It's just sad, man. But congrats to Newcastle doing the business.

Speaker 2 They have a midweek game now against Palace. So these are, this is where all the interest is going to be.
Villa, Forest, Newcastle. Maybe just Fulham get on a little late run and

Speaker 2 that chases for Champions League spots are going to be really fun to watch.

Speaker 2 Speaking of teams that are disaster, Spurs lose 4-2 at Wolves.

Speaker 1 That's crazy.

Speaker 2 The only way to say this, Tim, is, I mean, is this, I know we've said it a million times, but it feels like Ange, even with his comments, the manager, it just feels like he's done after this year.

Speaker 2 It just feels like, I don't know, you might have a better feel on it. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 Sway talks. It's like, you know, he said, I was watching this week and he said, a report, he said to a reporter, he's like, you know,

Speaker 2 whether I win a trophy or not doesn't matter. I'm out in the summer, as you guys have said.
And, you know, that's the sentiment. I'm like, geez.
Well, he's.

Speaker 1 He's been cheeky and that's fine. I think you can,

Speaker 1 you're a manager. You're the, you're, you're kind of the figurehead of the football club.
You can deal with the the media however you want, right? Whether we agree with it or not.

Speaker 1 I think ultimately he's, you know, what I've said on record is, look, I think he's out in the summer, Postakoglu. I think, you know, do they win a European trophy? Maybe.
Does that save him?

Speaker 1 Maybe we saw it with.

Speaker 1 Eric Ten Hog last year.

Speaker 1 He was probably out in EOS and Surgeon Radcliffe and his crew did a season review, decided that the FA Cup, Manchester United beating City in the FA Cup, saved his job, but ultimately your team is your team and he's the manager and that didn't work out.

Speaker 1 He got sacked, right? And so I don't,

Speaker 1 I think if they win a trophy, I think that gets taken into consideration when Daniel Levy and the board do kind of an overview of the season. But I don't know if that saves him in the end.

Speaker 1 I really, truly don't.

Speaker 1 So it's gotten a bit nasty when you look, when you look at the Spurs fans, and I have a few good friends who are Spurs season ticket ticket holders you just the the feel and the vibe um there's a big clash there so i i don't know i don't know if it works because ultimately i mean here's the other thing and we talk about squads you know united man united not having it liverpool having the really good squad tottenham squad's really good by the way i'm not saying it's a complete piece yeah they they are better at that they've got really good players um

Speaker 2 and this is this is not it so i i think i think well they've been hurt there've been a lot of injuries sure but yeah absolutely everyone has injuries Yeah.

Speaker 2 Who would have guessed, Tim, that 32 games into the season, Everton would be above United and Spurs in the table? Yeah, it's crazy. That is incredible.
Incredible. All right, let's take a break.

Speaker 2 We will talk U.S. men's national team on the other side right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
Stick around.

Speaker 1 The Unfiltered Soccer Podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S.

Speaker 2 Soccer. As the U.S.
gets ready to host the world for soccer's biggest moment, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S.

Speaker 1 From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, VW is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem.
They're working with talent from across the U.S.

Speaker 1 soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward.

Speaker 2 As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I can tell you they're really making a difference, opening up new turfs and new possibilities here in the U.S.

Speaker 1 Thank you to Volkswagen and the Tiguan for being the presenting partner and for bringing nice things to everyone. Find out more about how VW is supporting U.S.
soccer at vw.com.

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Speaker 2 Yeah, as we on Unfiltered Soccer get ready for next summer, we know that very little in the beautiful game is guaranteed.

Speaker 2 But as we prepare to bring our unfiltered brand of non-stop soccer coverage, it's good to know AT ⁇ T has your back with the AT ⁇ T guarantee.

Speaker 1 Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, AT ⁇ T will proactively credit you for a full day of service.
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Speaker 1 Credit for fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or a wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more, caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers, must be connected to impacted towers at onset of outage.

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Speaker 1 Okay, exciting day. US LNT on USMNT.

Speaker 2 The Gold Cup draw.

Speaker 1 That was last Thursday. Like anything, as fans, you just get, you get excited for the games, but when the games aren't there, there, you get excited for the draw.
Yeah, big draw. Big exciting news.

Speaker 1 Group A,

Speaker 1 Mexico, Costa Rica, Suriname, Dominican Republic. I think that's the most difficult group.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Suriname is actually a good team, like a sneaky good team.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Group B, Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, Caraçao.
Also, I think a decently difficult group. Group C is Panama, Jamaica, Guatemala, Guadalupe.

Speaker 1 Group D, U.S., Haiti, Trinidad, Tobago, and Saudi Arabia.

Speaker 2 The only question I got from from all of my friends is: how the hell is Saudi Arabia in the gold cup? Right. I said, Why do you think they're in the gold cup, buddy? You're so cynical.
Oh,

Speaker 2 they have a lot of money. So I said, Yeah, that's how they get.

Speaker 1 And there's always an invite, right?

Speaker 2 So there's always an invite. So you go make as much money as you can from, like it was Qatar last time.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 So whatever.

Speaker 2 Saudi Arabia is a decent team, by the way. Like that is not a walkover.
Trinidad, not great. Haiti are a sneaky good team.

Speaker 2 So, my eyes went to this first, and I

Speaker 2 shame on me because I didn't do all the due diligence. But my guess is that the Group D winner would play the Group C runner-up.

Speaker 2 And so, this is aligned just the way CONCACAF wants it and just the way hopefully us U.S. fans want it.
But my eyes jumped ahead, Tim. I couldn't help it

Speaker 2 to a potential U.S. Panama or U.S.
Jamaica

Speaker 2 in the next round.

Speaker 2 That is under what is now, unfortunately, an assumption that we can

Speaker 2 at this time not make that we get out of the group. So, do I think we should get out of this group? Absolutely.
But Haiti is a sneaky good team.

Speaker 2 Saudi Arabia is a sneaky good team. And the way the two performances we last saw from the CUS group, they could absolutely not win those two games.
So I think we will.

Speaker 2 I think there will be a response,

Speaker 2 but certainly adds more intrigue to this Gold Cup. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look, my initial thoughts when I saw the

Speaker 1 draw for the U.S. is, I don't care.

Speaker 1 And for our fans of this show and all U.S. fans, we're going to do everything we can to preview the Gold Cup.

Speaker 1 uh to give you insight and and do all of the interviews we're gonna we're gonna do it right for you. I don't care about this draw because I am not judging this U.S.
team based on this first round.

Speaker 1 Do me a favor. I'm judging this team on the semifinal and final if they get there.
That's it. They've given me no reason to get excited about Haiti or Saudi Arabia or Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaker 1 It's just not. It's not.
It's 2026 is going to be here before we know it. And that competition

Speaker 1 is scary. It's frightening.
The games that I want to judge this U.S. team on are the tough ones, not the layups, the tough ones, because they have not proven

Speaker 1 yet that they can band together and give an effort, a sustained effort consistently over the course of

Speaker 1 five, six games. I think that's fair.
I'm sure the players will tell me that's unfair. That's fair.

Speaker 1 So all of our best players together, fighting together, fighting for the manager, the manager fighting for them, and winning the Gold Cup, that's when, that's when

Speaker 1 I'll be really interested.

Speaker 2 Well, I want, I'm

Speaker 2 asking this U.S. group as a fan.

Speaker 2 Give us something to get excited about ahead of next summer, right? So like give us a real performance in the Gold Cup. Get us excited.

Speaker 2 And we're going to spend a lot of time breaking all this down as we get into the Gold Cup. You guys tell us, by the way, what players do you want to hear from?

Speaker 2 Who do you want us to interview, talk to?

Speaker 2 Maybe Pochatino, who do you want to hear from? And we'll do our best to get them on the show so we can talk to them ahead of this.

Speaker 2 Let's agree that they need to give us something. to get excited about as we head into next summer because the last few games were really demoralizing.

Speaker 2 And so let's hopefully get to the end of June, Tim, beginning of July, and say, all right, now we feel good about this team and now we can be excited going into 26.

Speaker 1 So let me, yeah, let me also

Speaker 1 correct you. The crossover games for group D,

Speaker 1 we just got this in our chat. The crossover games for group D are with group A, oh, boy.

Speaker 2 Oh. Oh, boy.
So

Speaker 2 the winner of, of the U.S.

Speaker 1 group will play the runner-up in group and group A, which again, you're basically looking at a

Speaker 1 Costa Rica, Mexico crossover.

Speaker 2 Why, why would they do that?

Speaker 2 That's a great question. Because it's like maybe like as they as they play it out down the road, then U.S.
Mexico don't play in the final. Because for people who don't know, CONCACAF, USA, U.S.

Speaker 2 soccer, Mexican Federation, everybody wants U.S. Mexico in the final.
It's the most money. It's the highest prestige, everything.

Speaker 2 That's, I mean, I've seen it, Tim, in lots of tournaments where one slip up and you go, oh, no, no, it's U.S. Mexico in the quarterfinals.
Well,

Speaker 1 here's the problem, right?

Speaker 2 For now that I said I don't care, I'm backjacking.

Speaker 2 Ah, gotcha.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you got me hooked because

Speaker 1 now

Speaker 1 you have to, you have to avoid, I don't care what anybody says. We've been in there.
You have to avoid Mexico, right?

Speaker 1 So you're assuming for a second, Mexico is going to finish first,

Speaker 1 Costa Rica is going to finish second. Second, I know

Speaker 1 we're projecting out here. That means, by the way, there are no, okay, let me rest all my players.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 Because normally in a gold cup, let me look at, let me look at it again. Normally in a gold cup, we're like, all right, Haiti.

Speaker 2 Third game or fourth restaurant. First game, right? Right.

Speaker 1 Right. You take a draw in there.
You're now saying, no, no, no, we've got to win out.

Speaker 1 And so there aren't going to be, in my opinion, if all this stands, and we're assuming Mexico finishes first in group A, there are no give me games unless, of course, you batter, you know, the first two games, you get six points and you batter them on goals and you're like plus 10 in goals or something like that, right?

Speaker 1 Then maybe you can rest, but still the job has to get done. Really interesting, that crossover.

Speaker 2 Well, also to your point earlier that there are only so many games, right? We've said this so many times. So do you even really want to rest guys?

Speaker 2 I mean, I want them playing six games together as a group

Speaker 2 in a tournament that matters. I know.
So, yeah. All right.
We're going to have plenty of that. We got long lead up next few months into the Gold Cup.
Let's go to some notable U.S.

Speaker 2 MNT performances over the weekend. Christian was awesome in a 4-0 dismantling of Yudenese.
He had another assist. He's now got 10 assists in Syria, the most by any player in the league.

Speaker 2 That's a matter of period. Incredible.
He's also, thanks to our stat people, leads all players and chances created 59 key passes. So he is the heartbeat of that team offensively.

Speaker 2 He's not always on the score sheet. He often has been, but he, you know, everything goes through him.
And he's just had an awesome season.

Speaker 2 And I've said this before, Tim, it's why with the national team, I've, I feel bad for him because he cares. He's invested in it.

Speaker 2 And when he has to be a part of some of those performances, I'm sure it's devastating. But he's had a phenomenal year and I hope it continues out through May from a lot.

Speaker 1 I mean, hats off to him. Congratulations, Christian.
And 10 assists in any league is huge, but to lead Syria, it's a big, big deal. Obviously, that's one that as a U.S.

Speaker 1 player and then fans of the team and of him, they get really excited about and kind of can puff their chest out. But again, the chances created,

Speaker 1 that's not surprising because the way that he plays, one, he has vision, right? But

Speaker 1 in order to execute, you have to have the ability to get yourself in key positions to make the pass.

Speaker 1 And I think that's where, when you look at his profile, his ability to kind of like skate past the defender, dip a shoulder, unbalance the defender, and then get the pass away.

Speaker 1 Okay, he's incredibly impressive. So, yeah, having a fantastic season.
Long may that continue.

Speaker 2 Also in Italy, some disturbing news. Weston McKinney played.
They won their game. I believe they won 2-1, but a really disturbing article came out.

Speaker 2 He is one of 13 players being investigated for illegal online betting in Italy. Now, I want to clarify, they were not betting on...

Speaker 2 I don't think they were betting on sport. I think they were playing online poker or something.
They were doing something.

Speaker 2 But it is prohibited. It is illegal.
No, he will not be going to jail. He'll get fined.
fined.

Speaker 2 I don't think they'll they'll suspend the players,

Speaker 2 but it's just one of those things where it's like, what are you doing?

Speaker 2 What are you doing?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, I think that, I think, contextually, I think Tonali and the other Italian player, which I'm blanking on his name that was at Juventus, they, they were involved in like illegal betting like online sites.

Speaker 2 And I think they were getting, you know, they were getting weighed in and backhanders to like bring other players onto the site kind of thing so it's an illegal betting yeah i think it was poker um and obviously weston got himself involved so you just don't need you just don't need that in your life so hopefully it's hopefully it's in the past and move on but in scotland ccv cameron carter vickers had a phenomenal goal that was crazy the goal is great tim i'll be honest i don't really care when a defender scores it's like an instagram thing It's amazing.

Speaker 2 You know, like, that's great, whatever. Just keep the ball out of the net, right? Like, and I'm not, by the way, I'm not hammering Cameron Carter.
I'm just saying in general, like, oh, great goal.

Speaker 2 It was a great goal. And I'm, and I'm happy for him.
Yes. But I want him to show up next camp with the national team, play games and help us get four shutouts out of six games, right?

Speaker 2 Like, that's where I, that's where I want. So,

Speaker 2 but congrats, Tom.

Speaker 1 Amazing strike. That was a great goal.
As a defender who scored a goal myself,

Speaker 2 I, I, I, I, I do think it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 Um, it's brilliant. The scenes, the scenes as well are brilliant after the strike.

Speaker 2 So Google Tim's goal, by the way. I was I was on the field that day.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you celebrated with me, so you didn't have much of a problem doing that, but I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 It was great.

Speaker 1 Awesome.

Speaker 2 A little concerning news in Hall and in the Netherlands. Serginio Dess missed both this week and last week's game.
And we've been digging Tim trying to figure out what's going on.

Speaker 2 I don't know what's going on there. He came back after his ACL and has been playing a little bit.
So a little concerning, just we're just going to keep an eye on this. I hope it's nothing.

Speaker 2 I hope they're just smartly bringing him back into the fold, but that's not good news. Usually you want minutes starting to increase now.
And let's hope that it's nothing serious. Yeah, agreed.

Speaker 2 Also, there, a goal from Malik Tillman. He keeps scoring, man, and keeps playing well.
And so it's huge.

Speaker 2 He's going to be an interesting one to follow, interesting one to follow in the gold cup, assuming he's there because not talked about a lot, kind of off people's radar, but he's playing, playing lots of minutes and playing well.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Look, I think, again, again,

Speaker 1 from the goal scoring side of things,

Speaker 1 having Christian Pulisic playing really well, scoring goals, assisting Timothy Way on the other side, that's really good.

Speaker 1 But ultimately, what we're concerned about and what we often talk about is we still need a striker who is going to put the ball in the back of the neck consistently, right? In a tournament like this,

Speaker 1 or Nations League or whatever else,

Speaker 1 a U.S. striker has to be in the hunt for the golden boot, right? Like, they have to be the top one or two goal scorers in that given tournament.
Like, that's a must. And we don't quite have that yet.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, look, if Malik Timmin can be the guy who helps with that, absolutely.

Speaker 2 All right, last thing. Elsewhere in Europe, if you didn't see, if you're living under a soccer rock,

Speaker 2 Kilian Mbappe was shown a red card. It was so, Tim, this was so bizarre.
Again, I wasn't watching it live, but I get the clip and I'm like, Mbappe did that?

Speaker 2 If you, you know, just go Google it and YouTube it, it's bizarre. It's such a violent challenge.
Yeah. It's such a violent challenge.
And it was, I mean, unequivocally a red card. You cannot,

Speaker 2 in any league, any time in history, it's a red card. It was just bizarre.

Speaker 2 What do you think he was thinking? He just lost his mind for a minute.

Speaker 1 Listen, the backroom staff, the assistant coach for

Speaker 1 Real Madrid came out and said, Killian isn't a violent lad for sure. I don't know if he is.
I don't think he is. Doesn't seem like that tackle was naughty.

Speaker 2 I mean, wow.

Speaker 1 Wow. The force that he went in, by the way, that's an ankle breaker.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 1 I mean, it's, it's wicked.

Speaker 2 It's a wicked challenge.

Speaker 1 And yeah, I mean, I don't think you have to be a bad lad, as this guy said, or a violent lad to stick one on somebody. But by God, what, I mean, what a naughty tackle.

Speaker 2 Incredible. I'm just, yeah.
We all have moments, Tim, where you just like a rush of blood to the head and you do something you normally otherwise wouldn't do. But man, I just, it was bizarre.

Speaker 2 It was bizarre. Let's hope, let's hope that doesn't happen again.
And like, will it impact the title race now, right? And

Speaker 2 it'd be interesting. All right.
Let's take another break. When we come back, we'll get into your questions.
JR told me before the episode that she has some heat for me.

Speaker 2 Usually they come after you too.

Speaker 1 Come after me. I'm going to enjoy this.

Speaker 2 And just so people know, during the ATT fan connection, we do not hear the questions beforehand. So we want to get them live.

Speaker 2 And we're going to talk about all that right here on unfiltered soccer with lannon and tim presented by volkswagen stay right there

Speaker 2 this episode is brought to you by airbnb all right tim between your work your daughter, your son, or maybe just your own enjoyment, how much traveling do you think you've done to see soccer this year?

Speaker 1 Honestly, I've

Speaker 1 lost track at this point.

Speaker 1 You know, just this summer alone, I was all over the place.

Speaker 1 But it is, it's a beautiful thing to see how many soccer fans and how soccer has been embraced no matter where we go.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, I was just in Austin. I'll be traveling to New York.
Everywhere I go, I meet fans. Whether I'm going to see a game myself or just on vacation, I see people everywhere.
I hear stories.

Speaker 2 I hear stories about their pilgrimage to Everton to go watch a game, to go see the new stadium, to go see their favorite team.

Speaker 2 They get immersed in the chants, the songs, that incredible feeling of seeing the game up close and personal.

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, I think that's where the game has changed. These trips have become a big deal for soccer fans.

Speaker 1 And this summer is going to be no different as we'll see the soccer community make their way to 11 host cities here in the U.S. to support their favorite national team.

Speaker 2 It's going to be incredible. I can't wait for it.
And what if those fans could turn their homes into an opportunity while they're away at the game?

Speaker 2 Hosting your home on Airbnb while you travel is an easy way to earn a little bit of extra cash, maybe go towards tickets for your game that you want to go to. We know they're not cheap.

Speaker 2 Or maybe to help your kids pursue their soccer dreams.

Speaker 1 Yeah, your home might be worth more than you think. So find out how much at airbnb.com/slash host.

Speaker 1 LD, for me, the holidays are all about connection to family and to friends. We host a lot.
So we got a lot of people over the house.

Speaker 1 Oftentimes, when it starts to get chaotic and the turkey or the ham is getting burnt and the kids are running around playing with their new toys, I go out back by the fire pit and I choose chill.

Speaker 1 I crack open a corslet.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's my favorite time of year. It gets cold,

Speaker 2 not quite as cold as New York, but but it's cold outside. It gets dark early.
Kids are playing.

Speaker 2 We turn on the jacuzzi, relax in the hot tub with a Coors Light, choose chill, relax, have family, friends, good food, good memories. My favorite time of year.

Speaker 1 When you embrace a chill mindset this holiday, it's a good time to choose chill and crack open a Coors Light.

Speaker 2 Choose chill this holiday season and then reach for a Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door.

Speaker 2 Visit CoorsLight.com slash US LNT, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

Speaker 1 Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brew Company, Golden, Colorado.
There's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done even without you having to ask.

Speaker 1 Like your crisp New Jersey waiting for you in the locker room or a perfectly set up wall for a free kick.

Speaker 2 Yeah, as we on Unfiltered Soccer get ready for next summer, we know that very little in the beautiful game is guaranteed.

Speaker 2 But as we prepare to bring our unfiltered brand of non-stop soccer coverage, it's good to know ATT has your back with the ATT guarantee.

Speaker 1 Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, ATT will proactively credit you for a full day of service.
That's the ATT guarantee.

Speaker 2 Learn more at ATT.com/slash guarantee. ATT, connecting changes everything.

Speaker 1 Credit for fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or a wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted towers at onset of outage.

Speaker 1 Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com/slash guarantee for full details.

Speaker 1 Okay, it's everyone's favorite time of the week. Certainly, Jordan's favorite time of the week.
ATT fan connection.

Speaker 1 I hear, Jordan, I hear you have some heat for Lincoln.

Speaker 2 But before we get to that, how are you?

Speaker 3 I'm wonderful.

Speaker 1 Thanks so much for asking. No soccer jersey today.

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, I just noticed that.

Speaker 3 Well, you know what? Last week you forgot to ask me, so today I didn't even bother.

Speaker 2 Oh, are you feeling bad? Okay, my bad.

Speaker 3 Today feels like casual mondays is that what it's all black everything monday is what we have going on yeah love it it's my goth look all right

Speaker 2 uh

Speaker 3 okay i'll give you something nice just to warm you up a little bit before the naughty so this one's from adam via email he says as a lifelong fan of dc united i appreciate you shining light on the horrible ownership as fans we have little impact on affecting ownership changes aside from boycotts and not buying merch so for your program to put dc united on blast on how awful and pathetic these owners are may be the only way to get the ball rolling to get them to sell.

Speaker 2 He said Adam.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, he said he's a lifelong fan, right? And so he's seen what this club can be. And that's what's hard.

Speaker 2 If this is who you were for 30 years in MLS, you're just kind of like, eh, that's what it is. I mean, I hate to say it to him because you played for him, but like the Rapids have a little bit of that.

Speaker 2 It's like, you know, I'm not going to go crazy and spend and just be, but they've seen the glory days. Adam's seen the glory days.
He knows what this can be.

Speaker 2 And so, like, we're not here to effectuate change. We just, we say it like we see it.
It's, it's not good, man.

Speaker 2 And I don't like it because I love that club and I, and I love when they're a good part of the league.

Speaker 3 Okay, Landon, here we go.

Speaker 2 This one,

Speaker 3 this one's from Bethany via email. Okay, Bethany.
Landon, you hit a nerve. So I clearly needed to send y'all a quick note regarding Michelle Kang's investment.

Speaker 3 I'm bothered that in the same breath, you praise her support and all that it will do for the women's game and then add, hey, can we get this on the men's side?

Speaker 3 Haven't you had it from the jump? U.S. women's national team have been the standard bearer for U.S.

Speaker 3 soccer for decades, despite lack of resources and support from its federation to the point that they had to sue just to get equitable treatment. You want an investor? Go get one.

Speaker 2 All right. So let me break this down, Bethany.

Speaker 2 So you said it yourself. You said, haven't they had that support from U.S.
soccer, the men?

Speaker 2 Yes, they have from U.S. soccer.
What they haven't had, to my knowledge, and I've been in it my whole adult life, is a Michelle Kang who came in and said, and Tim said this perfectly last week.

Speaker 2 Here's the money. But guess what comes with the money? My ideas, my decisions.
I'm going to tell you how to invest it, what to do. U.S.

Speaker 2 soccer has given the men's team plenty of resources and has not adequately, in my mind,

Speaker 2 provided the women the same resources. And I've publicly changed my mind on my whole view of that.

Speaker 2 What the men's side needs is somebody who's willing to come in and say, this is not working, especially from a youth development perspective. And this is how we're going to change it.

Speaker 2 And here, if you don't want to change it, fine, but that 55 million isn't, it's not coming in. So

Speaker 2 I understand why it hit a nerve, but you're, you're, you're conflating two completely different things. U.S.

Speaker 2 soccer needed to and finally did support the women in the right way, but we need an investor, in my opinion, on the men's side.

Speaker 2 And by the way, there's lots of wealthy people in the world who donate lots of money to lots of things. There has to be wealthy

Speaker 2 U.S. billionaires, millionaires, whatever, who are willing and would like to invest that kind of money as well and be a pioneer the way Michelle Kang is.
So

Speaker 2 we agree on some things,

Speaker 2 but I think you're conflating two different things there.

Speaker 1 Fair. Well said.
A little heat.

Speaker 2 Don't mind it. Hold on, Bethany.

Speaker 1 Challenge LD. That's what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 You can challenge, keep me honest. It's fine.

Speaker 3 Okay, here is a question for both of you from Twitter or X, depending on who you are.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 2 It's whatever we want it to be. Last week you told me it's not X.
It's a call it Twitter.

Speaker 2 You did say that. No, I said it's not.

Speaker 2 Oh, I'm sorry. I'm flip-flopping.
Bethany got Bethany struck a chord.

Speaker 2 I'm still, I'm still like, okay. All right, fine.
It is.

Speaker 2 It is called Twitter.

Speaker 2 Whatever you want to do.

Speaker 1 It's how the world works.

Speaker 3 Okay, so on whatever platform that is, George asked, can you ask the guys why in the world CONCACAF still exercises the away goal rule in the Champions Cup? If UEFA got rid of it, why can't we?

Speaker 1 I mean, it's a good question.

Speaker 1 I tend to like BOA goal rule, but

Speaker 1 maybe that's just because I'm used to it, I guess. So

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 1 I get it, George. I get what you're asking.

Speaker 1 Sometimes trying to figure out why CONCACAF makes certain decisions is going to take a lot of brain power that

Speaker 2 will ultimately be fruitless.

Speaker 1 So I don't know. I don't know the answer to it.
It's a great question. I don't know the answer to it.

Speaker 2 For all the things we want CONCACAF to change and do. And now I'm to the point where I'm like, don't ever change.
Like just do CONCACAF, do CONCACAF because it's fun, dude.

Speaker 2 Now that I'm not in it, when I was in it, I was like, this is a disaster. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And now I'm like, let's go, dude. Like, let's just madden this.
I love it. Let the chaos ensue.

Speaker 3 Okay, this is a great question, and I'm very excited to read it. This question came to us via email from Joey, who would like you to know that he is seven years old.

Speaker 2 All right, Joe. Joe.

Speaker 3 Landon and Tim, what is your favorite memory from your playing days?

Speaker 2 Great question.

Speaker 1 I was hoping Joey had like heat force.

Speaker 2 Imagine like a seven-year-old

Speaker 2 russian heat.

Speaker 1 Favorite memory from playing days.

Speaker 2 Go ahead, Landon. I mean, Joey, there are so many.

Speaker 2 So I'm assuming hopefully Joey is a soccer player. If you play enough years, you're going to have tons of amazing memories, like tons and tons.

Speaker 2 I was just reminiscing, this is one not on the field, but after the 2010 Algeria win in the locker room

Speaker 2 after the game, because

Speaker 2 first of all, FIFA, when in a FIFA locker room, there is so much security and it's so hard for people to get into the locker room or be around because of all the obvious reasons, security, et cetera.

Speaker 2 I think at one point I walk in and like Reggie Bush is in there, who's the former Heisman Trophy winner. Bill Clinton's in there.
All of the U.S. soccer people, there's just random people sit.

Speaker 2 And within minutes, it's just a party. Everyone's just drinking beers, shotgunning beers, partying.

Speaker 2 It was the most bizarre scene, Tim.

Speaker 1 It was so bizarre.

Speaker 2 But that's one of the, I just popped into my head right now, but there's just so many moments where

Speaker 2 you almost think, like, this can't be real. And especially the way like our lives started, you're like, this is a joke.
Totally. Right.
So that was an amazing moment.

Speaker 1 What a, yeah. And to add on to that experience, obviously, I was in the locker room.
And,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 you're so emotionally high after scoring the late goal, the way in which we did the crazy celebrations. And yeah, by the way, give Reggie Bush back his Heisman if you haven't already.

Speaker 1 Bill Clinton's in there.

Speaker 1 I think Carlos Bocanego's Bocanego's captain. So Carlos is captain.
He's got his shirt off. Guys are like completely exhausted.

Speaker 1 We're already like two beers deep, which means if you ever played a game and drank a beer afterwards, you're like already buzzed. You know, just because you have nothing in your system.

Speaker 1 And he puts his arm around or on the arm of

Speaker 1 Bill Clinton and says, we, you know, just basically gives a speech and says, we'd be honored if you'd have a beer with us. So like Bill takes off his blazer.
I'm calling him Bill's, my guy.

Speaker 2 And he takes off his blazer, hands it to like his

Speaker 1 secret service, right? Rolls up his sleeve and like cracks a beard. And I'm thinking, as Landon said, like, there's no way.
There's no way. Excuse me.

Speaker 1 But, but I think my

Speaker 1 favorite moment, Joey, is I think of you as a young, I'm guessing, young soccer player, seven years old. My first cap was in Birmingham, Alabama at Legion Field, legendary Legion Field.

Speaker 1 I don't know if U.S. has played there before or since.

Speaker 1 And I'm thinking I'm 22 years old. My mom flies into town.
She's nervous as hell. Jesus.
I mean, she's making me nervous.

Speaker 1 And, you know, the national anthem plays, and you pull that shirt on and you sing the national anthem thinking, like, this is everything I ever hoped for. Yes, I wanted to go to Europe and play.

Speaker 1 Yes, I wanted to do all those things.

Speaker 1 But Landon will tell you, and any soccer player will tell you, the one singular moment that they think about before they go to sleep on most nights is playing for your country.

Speaker 1 And that was, that was, that was my moment. I remember it like clear as day.

Speaker 2 Since we have one of our producers on the show, Jordan, make sure you cut out that first part with all the drinking and beers and buzz for Joey.

Speaker 2 He's going to be like, mommy, what is joey when you get to be 20

Speaker 2 responsibly

Speaker 2 good question joey great that was great thanks guys jr thank you okay

Speaker 2 anything but soccer let's go i'm so i know i know you're pumping so pumped on this i know you're pumped for this what do you got

Speaker 2 so the masters golf yeah i just heard like half of our audience turn off yeah um it's fine there are still absolutely not

Speaker 2 all right so golf

Speaker 2 so yesterday tim and I, you know, if people follow golf or whatever or don't,

Speaker 2 but it's an amazing sport and it's really, really hard. Okay.
It's really hard. And so we're hanging out like at the pool all day yesterday, watching the Masters on and off.

Speaker 2 We get to Dodger Stadium and we're down. There's a part of Dodger Stadium called the Dugout Club where you can, you know, have food and drinks and all that before the game.

Speaker 2 And we're in there and the Dodger game's about to start, but Rory McElroy is on the 18th fairway

Speaker 2 in his normal round. And all he has to do is make par to win the Masters.
He's up by one stroke.

Speaker 2 He hits his second shot from 120 yards. And just for context, 120 yards for a pro, on average, they're about 15 to 20 feet to the pin when they hit their shot,

Speaker 2 which is then if he makes two putts from 15 feet, he's the champion. He hits his shot into the bunker, hits his bunker shot out to about five feet.

Speaker 2 And for people who don't know Rory McElroy's history, he missed two putts at the U.S. Open a few years ago from about five feet.

Speaker 2 So if you think about mentally what's going on through, it's like if I missed a penalty in a World Cup and then the next World Cup, I got a penalty and I'm like, oh my God, no.

Speaker 2 So he's in his head. He misses the five-foot putt,

Speaker 2 makes bogey, and now he goes to a playoff. Okay.
So, and then I'm going to take you back a few hours. He was two shots up to start the day and double double-bogey the first hole.

Speaker 2 So he had this up and down roller coaster where he probably thought he was going to win the tournament four times and probably thought he was going to lose it three times. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Anyway, they go to a playoff on the 18th hole. He makes Birdie

Speaker 2 like stuffs a ball to like two feet on his second shot and makes Birdie.

Speaker 2 And the cool thing about this, I don't know if you saw any of the highlights to me, but right when the putt goes in, he loses it.

Speaker 2 I have like crazy chills right now. And he breaks down and he's bawling his eyes out.
I mean, bawling. And the reason why is because those putts he missed at the U.S.

Speaker 2 Open, the putt he missed in regulation, all of that weighs on you. And I have an important like analogy.
All of that weighs on you. And then the emotion just flew out of him.

Speaker 2 And I love that because one, I love golf, but I love sports.

Speaker 2 And there is nothing, I always say to people, there is nothing that will take you on an emotional roller coaster in real time the way sports do.

Speaker 2 There's nothing in life that compares to that.

Speaker 2 And after our Algeria game that we were just referencing, I broke down. Like

Speaker 2 in an interview, I broke down afterwards because I had gone through a really hard time after 06, having a really bad World Cup, and then a lot of things in my personal life.

Speaker 2 And this was a culmination of an important moment coming to fruition. And so I could feel it in him.

Speaker 2 And if you haven't seen, just go watch his last putt and the emotion that comes out for guys who are generally very stoic and golf and all this it was really cool to watch yeah i love listening to you talk about look i i am not a golf fan mostly well i i don't enjoy the game um

Speaker 1 mostly i've been turned off by by golf because my friends including you they just lie they lie about the shots they make and the round they have.

Speaker 2 They just drink beers and have a good time.

Speaker 1 That's what my friends do.

Speaker 2 Stupid, dude.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 I love sports and I love the competition of sports. And so when there's a major on, on a Sunday,

Speaker 1 I'll usually watch it. And I think with golf, and you talked about the mental side, I think like to win any golf tournament, to win a major, they start Thursday, right? Yeah.
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 So you have four, like...

Speaker 1 Being good for 18 holes is really hard. Like being good four days in a row,

Speaker 1 18 holes. Like, yes, there's going to be ups and downs.
He didn't play amazing on certain points, but like you have to be pretty perfect for four days. Like that's, that to me is hard, right?

Speaker 1 Like that to me is like NBA Finals, I think, is hard, but you get, you get some rest and you can kind of go back. That's like

Speaker 1 being mentally locked in.

Speaker 1 There's no time. Like there's no time, there's not a day off.
And so, you know, again, I think for me as well as you, that's the breakdown at the end was

Speaker 1 joyous for me, right? right? Because I think it's been well documented. Yeah, it's been the misses on the on the putts, but it's also been his personal life.

Speaker 2 He's kind of been dragged through it.

Speaker 1 And when you're an athlete,

Speaker 1 what you're asked to do is because, yeah, you get paid a lot of money and you're in the spotlight and all that.

Speaker 1 You're basically asked to throw everything else aside, which would basically break any other human being.

Speaker 1 right you're you you have to cast that aside and then go out and be perfect and by the way be careful because on the other side of that is ridicule and um and all the pain that comes with failure.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, I know it's the arena we put ourselves in, absolutely, but but man, he was awesome and uh it was it was exciting to watch.

Speaker 2 Really well said, man. Um, it was it was fun, it was an awesome week.
And congrats to him. He now has a career grand slam, so he's won all four majors.
Um, it was really cool to watch.

Speaker 2 Question for you, yeah, question for you:

Speaker 1 How many

Speaker 1 of your MLS cups would you trade for a green jacket?

Speaker 2 It's a fair question. It's a fair question.

Speaker 2 Well, I'll say this: not all of them, but not zero. That's amazing.
I would definitely give away a few to.

Speaker 1 I really thought your answer would be all of the lot.

Speaker 2 Just no. I'm not going to take all of them, but like 05, like, you know, we weren't great.
We kind of snuck in there. And, you know, we didn't even deserve to win in the final.

Speaker 1 And all right, you just chuck that one away.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I could chuck it away.

Speaker 1 Have you ever, have you ever been to Augusta Vibbens?

Speaker 2 I have. Actually, I was just going to say, if you have, have you been? I haven't been.

Speaker 2 I know you don't like golf, but being there, first of all, just the way it's manicured, just the landscape is insane.

Speaker 1 It's amazing.

Speaker 2 It's like a fairy tale. I know.

Speaker 1 I'm boycotting it.

Speaker 1 My buddy was like, do you want to come down? I was like, nah, not really. I'm not going, not just because I'm a golf fan, not a golf fan, but there's other things that play, but it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 It's beautiful.

Speaker 2 It's just cool. And it's cool.

Speaker 2 By the way, you know, like a lot of people aren't baseball fans, but being out on a Sunday at like Wrigley Field or at Dodger Stadium or whatever, like, it's really cool and it's really special.

Speaker 2 So I think it's, it's worth it. Just go and, and even if it's just one day, just go and enjoy it.
It's beautiful. It's sacred.
Like you can feel it and it's, it's really fun. Great.
All right.

Speaker 2 Thank you guys. Another great week.
Timmy, please don't get me up this early again.

Speaker 2 Worked into it, but I was tired this morning, too. It's probably more of my shenanigans on the weekend.
That's that. That's what's about.

Speaker 2 Thanks for everything, guys. Always

Speaker 2 appreciate the feedback. We love your comments, your questions, and thanks for supporting us.
It means a lot to us.

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Speaker 1 And from me, thanks, everybody. I love chatting soccer and certainly with my boy LD.

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Speaker 1 Have a great week. Go enjoy some spring weather.
We'll be back with you next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.