USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline

Speaker 1 What I all often think about when I watch the women, how exciting they are. One, they're the best in the world.

Speaker 1 They constantly have one to two women in the conversation of world's best player every single year.

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, my guy, what's really good? How was your weekend?

Speaker 2 Is that a pullover?

Speaker 1 It's a cardigan.

Speaker 2 It's a cardigan.

Speaker 1 Thanks for asking.

Speaker 2 Nobody knows that reference. Dumb and dumber, if you haven't seen it, 90s, go watch the movie.

Speaker 1 If you haven't seen it, you live under.

Speaker 2 How could people not. Oh, dumb.
Okay, anyway. How was your weekend? I had a great weekend.

Speaker 2 Yesterday, do you ever have those days? You probably don't. You're so busy.
Do you ever have those days? I woke up, I looked at the calendar on Sunday, and I had nothing to do.

Speaker 2 Literally nothing to do.

Speaker 2 So I went,

Speaker 1 what did I do?

Speaker 2 I went for a swim in the pool. And I took my boy to see Snow White.
We were going to see the what's it called movie? Minecraft, but it was sold out completely. So we went to see Snow White.

Speaker 2 Really well done. It was, it was actually really fun to watch.

Speaker 2 And then we went to one of those,

Speaker 2 you know, those like Beni Hana type places,

Speaker 2 Tepanyaki, whatever it's called. I don't know.
That was really fun too. The kids love that.

Speaker 1 Love that. Because we do the fire and the

Speaker 2 whole thing, the volcano,

Speaker 2 onion volcano and all that.

Speaker 1 Well, it's funny that my daughter and I saw the preview for Snow White, and we looked at each other like, yeah, we'll come back. Because

Speaker 1 we try and go see the movie, and it's not even like

Speaker 1 you recline in these big chairs, you can get a glass of wine and some popcorn. It's just like spending time with your kids is great, but they got a ceased.

Speaker 1 I worked all weekend, so soccer, soccer, soccer.

Speaker 2 Soccer, soccer. You love soccer.
Well,

Speaker 2 let's start with everything you saw all weekend. So Premier League, before we get there.
Don't forget, Jordan gets mad at me. Don't forget to follow us on social media at unfiltered soccer.

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Speaker 2 You guys have great questions, as always, at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, it's so, this is so important. Our whole show is about engagement.
And

Speaker 1 you all have been incredible keeping us honest,

Speaker 1 agreeing, disagreeing, being critical, praising. It's all

Speaker 1 these engagements are amazing. So keep it up.

Speaker 2 All right. Now Jordan's happy.
At the top of the table, the title race. So Liverpool dropped points at Fulham.
Arsenal were not able to capitalize on. I think it's over anyway, Tim.

Speaker 2 But it was interesting to like, I wasn't watching in the beginning and I saw Fulham up. Were they up 3-0 at one point?

Speaker 1 3-1? No. So Liverpool scored first.
Alexis McAllister bopped. That's right.
Crucial.

Speaker 1 And then, yeah, then it was 3-1 by halftime.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And so I was like, oh, I better watch this.

Speaker 1 So I turned on the second half and Liverpool were poor, poor huh yeah they were they were poor defensively um it was really interesting because because um

Speaker 1 i think both the the pre-match interviews of slot and van dyke were like it's a really uh tough it'd be a tough game and obviously marco silva has fulham playing well and we we laughed and joked on air because off air i said like Fulham's one of the best places to play in the Premier League because it's

Speaker 1 a day out. It's easy.
They don't give you any stick. And then Rebecca pushed me on it

Speaker 1 on air. And I was like, yeah, it's just, it's fun.
They don't give you stick. You get like the whole back stand is the away stand.
It's like, it's a nice day out. And Liverpool's like, oh, it's tough.

Speaker 1 And I think, I don't know, they got in their own heads,

Speaker 1 kind of took their foot off the gas a little bit, but like two or three bad defensive like mistakes. So they paid the price.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's hard, Tim. Over the course of a season, it's hard.

Speaker 2 Like in MLS, for sure, I had times where either you were running away with the league or you were bottom of the table, I did both, or you're in a spot where you can't go up or down in the table.

Speaker 2 And that's where it's really hard to get motivated because you just have, you feel like you have nothing to play for. Fulham have a lot to play for.
Fulham are still knocking on the Champions League.

Speaker 2 And they're good.

Speaker 1 And they're good.

Speaker 2 And they could get there. Like that was a that was a game they probably said: if we get a point out of, we can make a run at being a Champions League team.

Speaker 2 Now they get three and they're like, okay, maybe we're on the doorstep. So it's going to, it's going to be interesting to follow them.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the problem, the problem with

Speaker 1 the title race is you know where arsenal have messed up this year is they just

Speaker 1 they needed to keep pace like right now so they lost uh they drew yeah we'll get to the ever they they drew to everton but liverpool lost they needed to beat everton right and then at some point i don't know which date it is they go head to head with liverpool right they if you if you can go ahead and then beat beat them then it starts to get a little bit touchy not to mention all the points that

Speaker 1 um arsenal have dropped and it's just like they needed to keep a tighter pace because what you just said you have to anticipate that the leaders are going to are going to drop points somewhere now look if the arsenal of 2003 and the invincibles go all the way you hold your hand up if the man cities of the world that win 14 on the bounce leading into the into the championship sunday you hold your hands up but most teams aren't that they're going to falter at some point we've seen liverpool do it knocked out a champions league um lost the league cup final dropping points in the premier league it's there but arsenal aren't close enough yeah it it feels like it's a foregone conclusion now.

Speaker 2 And at the other end of the table, officially now,

Speaker 2 officially over, Southampton relegated. Sad because it is a good Premier League club and

Speaker 2 they lost away to Tottenham 3-1, which is nothing to scoff at. But

Speaker 2 it's sad to see them go. And you think they come back up right away or not?

Speaker 1 I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 1 I don't like, you know,

Speaker 1 I have my opinions on

Speaker 1 how relegation

Speaker 1 should be run from here on out, because what happens in the Premier League is the product,

Speaker 1 the product gets diluted if, if all of a sudden we're having teams that can't even barely reach double digits and points, right?

Speaker 1 And so, I think, I think teams, and this is for a larger conversation about relegation and parachute payments, but I think teams should have a percentage of their parachute payment taken away if they can't reach 10 points or 15 points.

Speaker 1 I mean, think about this. Think about this.
Teams, we talk about how great the Premier League is now.

Speaker 1 40 points used to be the target

Speaker 1 it's going to be half of that probably not but it'd be close half of that you know 25 yeah i mean you can you should be able to get you should be able to get 20 points with your eyes closed it it's it's it's not great and you're saying because just because they didn't they're not spending right i mean they're not they're not putting together a product that's capable they're not spending and i think you know my other big and and nobody i mean obviously we we we look forward to your comments but nobody will convince me that there aren't a number of ways to win football matches.

Speaker 1 What they basically did was they came in, the owners came into the club and created an ethos of how we're going to play.

Speaker 1 So we're going to play, we're going to do the pep style, we're going to be expansive, play in between lines, right?

Speaker 1 And we're going to hire managers that

Speaker 1 fit that train that way. We're going to sack one manager off because he's not getting results, but then we'll bring another manager in who plays that way.
We still don't get results.

Speaker 1 The bottom line is when you get into the Premier League, you stay in the Premier League by hook or crook. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 And if at a certain point you get enough years in the Premier League and you have enough money in terms of investment, you can then go buy higher quality players.

Speaker 1 What nobody is telling people in the world of football, if you want to play like Pep Guardiola, you have to have stars. You have to have stars.

Speaker 1 You cannot play like Manchester City or Barcelona or the other couple of teams in the world that play that style and have average Premier League players. You just can't do it.

Speaker 2 So what, Tim, what happens if in the championship,

Speaker 2 Southampton under Russell Martin are playing this way and they're, they just destroy the championship. So you're suggesting now they come up to the Premier League and they've got to change everything?

Speaker 1 My suggestion is, and we see this with Andrew Postakaglu at Tottenham, which we'll get to.

Speaker 1 Top world-class players, which you and I both were,

Speaker 1 enjoy the challenge. of different formations and different ideas.

Speaker 1 If on your best day, your team was playing a 4-4-2 and all of a sudden, right, someone changed and said, Landon, today we're we're going to play a 4-3-3 and you're going to be on the wing and you're going to do, this is the new job for you.

Speaker 1 You'd relish that.

Speaker 1 You can take these ideas on board. What these managers do is they marry themselves to formations and then they go, this is how we're going to play no matter what.

Speaker 1 And by the way, if the stuff hits the fan and I have to change, now I look weak. So I won't change.

Speaker 1 No, you're actually saying, hey, we're going through an injury crisis a la tattenum or We have to match up with Manchester City today. So guess what? We're not going to play the same way.

Speaker 1 We're actually going to try and like be a bit more stout defensively and give ourselves a chance to hang in the game no we'll go toe-to-toe with it and we'll be expansive because this is the way i play the managers have got a responsibility to be more flexible or hire a manager that has the ability to play you know nuno uh nuno spirito santo is a perfect example of that he has a flexibility sometimes we're in the back three sometimes we're in a back four um thomas frank he all thomas frank always says when we play teams that we think we can beat, we play one formation.

Speaker 1 When we play the top six, we play a different formation. He doesn't look weak.
He doesn't look weak. So the manager's got to do a better job.

Speaker 2 I learned this coaching that when you were scouting for an opponent, a team that played the same way consistently all the time,

Speaker 2 they might be really good, but they're easy to prepare for. Right.
The days that were hard were when you're like, I have no idea what they're going to do.

Speaker 2 And they might be a bad team, but you just have no idea. And that would make it really challenging.
So good point. All right.
So on Tottenham,

Speaker 2 fans organized a protest of the club's ownership the enoch group and chairman daniel levy and said uh prior to the match they had a change for tottenham march into the stadium seems like everything's gone wrong since they fired our national team coach now pochettino

Speaker 2 is you know is levy the problem is the enoch group the problem it seems like i mean when you get

Speaker 2 when you have this long of a period of not having success, eventually you have to point to the top, right?

Speaker 1 Yep.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So,

Speaker 1 you know, it's interesting. A dear friend of mine is a Tottenham season ticket holder, and he has been for many moons.
And

Speaker 1 as much, as much as he's critical of parts of the club, which supporters are, he also, you know, he wrote me, we had a long chat back and forth on text, and he wrote me a long text about so many of the good things that have happened at Tottenham Football Club under Daniel Levy.

Speaker 1 And so there's a balancing act. I think you have to

Speaker 1 I think you have to figure out as a supporter, like, what are you willing to live with, right? Because no ownership group is perfect.

Speaker 1 So, I know you get a lot of these protests. And I think sometimes fans, they feel this sense of ownership with the club.

Speaker 1 And I get it because they're passionate and they do invest at a certain level into the club, you know?

Speaker 2 Well, it's also, it's also on expectations, right? They expect to be a top-top club.

Speaker 2 And then, you know, similar to Manchester United, which we get to in a sec, they're just not. The players on the field, they're not.
They're not a top-top club. So it is what it is right now.

Speaker 2 And they want to get back to that glory.

Speaker 1 and and to your point tottenham as a whole from the hierarchy have said have told the the the global public they are a big six club we are a top club in the world so they've set the bar yeah that way all right so referencing united that awful

Speaker 2 awful derby i put in our chat this is a woeful game woeful um i don't even want to dig into the game because it was just it was garbage but yeah kevin de bryna before the match announced he'll be leaving city at the end of the season a few things all immediately this conversation i know you guys talked about it on air is he you know someone's saying is he the best midfielder in premier league history and i was like are you crazy have you watched the premier league like i mean he is a top top top top player yeah but some of the guy i mean i wrote down a list lampard gerard coles skeen ryan giggs total different position vieira robert pierrez fever fabergas essian i mean i'm missing a ton you guys tell me who i'm missing but i mean he is he's he's a top player, but I don't put him in the top three, five, 10 of all time.

Speaker 2 But he is a top player.

Speaker 1 It's kind of crazy because, like, on one hand, I do agree with you. I mean, like,

Speaker 1 you can start ratting off the best midfielders in Premier League history

Speaker 1 and quickly get to like eight without even like batting an eye, right?

Speaker 1 And then you're questioning, like, could he, could he even get in that team, which speaks to the power of the Premier League, but also like, hang on a minute.

Speaker 1 He's won like 14 trophies or something, you know, in his time at City,

Speaker 1 Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup. Like, he's done it all.
And he's been the captain, and he's been brilliant and sensational regarding assists and goals, like,

Speaker 1 and some of the spectacular variety. So it's like, wow, like, how great is the Premier League and how great is he? So those debates are always, are always really fun.

Speaker 1 I had the interesting thing about De Bruyne, and I think most solids, the only one, I think there's probably

Speaker 1 three that I can really name that have ever done this to any real extent is Kevin De Bruyne, to use English terminology, failed in England. He was at Chelsea, wasn't good enough, right?

Speaker 1 Went to Germany. Very few people re-enter the Premier League and have this sort of career.
People come and go in the Premier League and like, oh, yeah, he played on a certain team and now he's okay.

Speaker 1 But to do, to basically fail, Mosala was the same.

Speaker 1 Mo Sala was the same at Chelsea, right? Then he ended. I think he went to Roma.
And then like, you couldn't have seen this coming.

Speaker 1 I played against Kevin De Bruyne at Chelsea, Wolfsburg, City, and with Belgium. I mean, to see the rise, you know, it's absolutely incredible.
So, hats off to him. I mean, what's next for him, LD?

Speaker 2 Importantly, he didn't say he was retiring, he said he's leaving City. So, there have been a lot of rumors about him coming to San Diego FC.

Speaker 2 And I have to be honest, anytime an older aging player comes to America, I'm skeptical.

Speaker 1 Now, I have to seen a lot of them.

Speaker 2 I have to take myself out of that mindset because there have also now been a number who have done it. And I'm just a couple off to Benteke.

Speaker 2 Zaha looks like he's going well at Charlotte. Messi, obviously.
Suarez at Inner Miami.

Speaker 2 There's a lot of guys now who have come and done a good job. And so I watched him the other day and I saw him pick up a few balls in midfield and start running.

Speaker 2 And I was like, oh, on that team, which we're going to get to,

Speaker 2 that works. Right.
And the question is, though, that team's going really well right now.

Speaker 2 And between Godoy and Lukatore and Sverkov, who do you take off? Who do you take out of there?

Speaker 2 Luca de la Torre or Godoy, maybe? I don't know. But who do you take out of that team to put him in? And that causes whole different dynamics.

Speaker 2 But I have to say, I think he would make that team a playoff team 100% right away. And then really with a chance to compete.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, we're talking based on

Speaker 1 some substantiated rumors, right, that he'll go to San Diego.

Speaker 1 I love it. I got to be honest.
I know 34 years old, but

Speaker 1 he's fit as a fiddle, right? Let's start there. He's really easy on the eye.
You know, you are one of those players who kind of glide across the grass. He does that.
He operates.

Speaker 1 He's very efficient, right? He's very efficient and tidy in his touch. He lets the ball do the running form a lot.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 you know, Pep's weird. Pep Guardio is weird because he didn't play a lot this season, right? And so with Pep, he falls in and out of love with players very quickly, right?

Speaker 1 Phil Foden last year had a career year.

Speaker 1 Now everyone's getting, he's crap he's been dropped right so he falls in that love don't don't mistake the fact that kevin de bruyne can play 35 games in the premier league easy right like easy this season so i think he goes there and the other thing is and miami is a perfect example of this

Speaker 1 they've got some real talent in in san diego that team's going well you all of a sudden put a guy into a team that's going well it's That's a different story. Like so many of these big players, right?

Speaker 1 Because this is what we do in the MLS, you get this player from abroad, he's a star, and you're like, sell some seats, be our savior. That's different because that is going to gas these players out.

Speaker 1 They're going to be like, I ain't got time for this, bro. I passed the ball to a guy and they can't even kick the ball, right? That's different.

Speaker 1 You're putting a guy, and your galaxy teams did this a lot, really good teams, and now you're inserting a world-class star. That's different, and I like it.

Speaker 2 That's Robbie Keene in 2011.

Speaker 1 We were a good team.

Speaker 2 He came in in the summer, and it was like,

Speaker 1 we were not losing.

Speaker 2 And that was it. And yeah, he's got that feeling.
So, they uh absolutely pummeled the Seattle Sounders. Yeah, they do.
So, just I want to dig into San Diego a little bit.

Speaker 2 Um, Chicka Lozano back had a goal and two assists, looked really good. They have four wins from their first seven, they've only lost once.

Speaker 2 They've had an interesting early schedule, not a lot of away games. Yeah, the teams they've played, and this is my only caveat with them right now.

Speaker 2 My two things are: they have to stay healthy because they're not deep, but now you add De Bruyne and maybe one or two in the summer. Now, you're a deep team, now you're a real team.

Speaker 2 The second is they've played a bunch of teams this year who have been playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. So they've had a bunch of these midweek games.
So they played LAFC.

Speaker 2 They've played the Sounders. They've played Salt Lake.
They've played the Galaxy. So that's at least four.
I'm trying to, there might be one more, where you get them after they've traveled midweek.

Speaker 2 They're traveling to San Diego. It's a good environment for San Diego.
They're not ready. Bang, three goals before halftime, which they did to LAFC, and now they've done to the Sounders.

Speaker 2 So I want to see them as it continues through the summer when it gets harder, when teams are healthier, have less games.

Speaker 2 But they're in a really good way, man.

Speaker 1 And they look very good. They look good.

Speaker 1 What I would say is, and for all of our listeners who've never had the opportunity to cross the white line, is

Speaker 1 when you're a footballer, and I take on board what you're saying, like they've had a little, it's been favorable for them early on.

Speaker 1 But I think that's great because you know as well as I do, when you're not winning football games, you just think you stink, right? Which isn't fair to you.

Speaker 1 And when you're winning football games, you think, bring on Brazil. Like, we got this.
And so you think you're better than you are. But that's a healthy thing, right?

Speaker 1 And so now, whether the schedule has been favorable for them or not, they think to themselves, we've only lost one game, one, four.

Speaker 1 Like, this is a brilliant start of the season, and we're a really good team. And so that's only going to give them confidence.
And confidence in football is everything. I mean, what's it been like?

Speaker 1 I was watching the game. What's it been like in San Diego? Like, is there like a real vibe? Their supporter section looks great.

Speaker 2 So I think I'm in North County, which San Diego is a massive place. Right.
So I have friends who have season tickets. And ironically, they both got season tickets.

Speaker 2 No, all three of them got season tickets separately, but ended up sitting literally next to each other. And they're all friends.
So it was totally random.

Speaker 1 That's strange.

Speaker 2 They said, I haven't been yet, but they said it's phenomenal. The atmosphere is phenomenal.
The one thing they need to get under control is the fan behavior stuff. They had the initial chance.

Speaker 2 They had the initial chance that first week that subsided. But after the LFC game, there were fights in the park, like real fights in the parking lot after the game.

Speaker 2 So they've got to get a handle on that because that's what's making headlines and it's taking away from what the team's doing on the field. So

Speaker 2 I'm confident they will, but it's been fun to watch and it's great for San Diego.

Speaker 1 For sure.

Speaker 2 Over in the Rockies,

Speaker 2 Diego Luna. They used to call him Moon Boy.
I think they're going to start calling him Moon Man,

Speaker 2 scored twice against the Galaxy, who, again, look really bad but a good win for salt lake and diego luna i mean he has been the big winner we said in january camp there will be someone who comes out of that camp or maybe two or three

Speaker 2 who will make a name for themselves and might find themselves on the world cup squad and i have to say tim if if pochatino was picking a world cup squad today he's on it right luna's on it yeah yeah he's on it i

Speaker 1 so so i watched I watched him and I just think feet are tidy. He sees a pass.
We know he's tough as nails, right? So

Speaker 1 this is all praise.

Speaker 1 Love him. I do.
I love him. I love what he's, what he brings.
And you take him on your team all day long.

Speaker 1 My first question

Speaker 1 to you would be, where do you play him for the national team? And my second question, and this is real, and I hope, by the way, he gets an opportunity to answer it, but it's a real question for me.

Speaker 1 I often say, and you'll hear me often say,

Speaker 1 You can be really, really good. You can be a really great Premier League player

Speaker 1 and not be quite up to to par for the, for the, you know, England national team. You can be a really good MLS player, like top of the, you know, top of the picks and not be international level.

Speaker 1 Like that's a real thing. Even though we, as fans, we say like, look, he's doing brilliantly.
Call him in the national team.

Speaker 1 So I just wonder, like when, when the fur starts to fly in a World Cup and you're talking, we're playing Italy. or like, is, is he out of his depth at that moment or can he compete?

Speaker 2 Here's my, so my answer to that is the type of player he is i think allows him to get a spot on the team yeah he's got a spot and because he's different right so we were talking about guys in the past who you know would score some goal taylor tallman right but taylor wasn't different he was really good in the box and whatever but he wasn't like diego brings something different and by the way the kid isn't scared of anything yeah i get that he could give an f who he's playing against where it is he's not like odd by it so that to me is why i don't think he's starting.

Speaker 2 I don't, you know, athletically, he's not nearly as good as some of the guys we have.

Speaker 2 But if you're in a game and it's 0-0 and you need a play for 10 minutes, you throw him on and he'll do something unpredictable and make a play.

Speaker 2 And that's where I think you, and maybe he doesn't play at all, but I think if it started today, he's on the team. Fair.
Fair. Miami tied at home to Toronto.
We don't need to dig into that.

Speaker 2 Messi scored again. What else is new? But actually a big point for Toronto.
They've been in a bad way. So really good point for them.

Speaker 2 But I think inner Miami right now, their focus is on Champions Cup. They lost midweek at LAFC C10, and they have the return leg this week.
So

Speaker 1 interesting about that game is, well, I spoke to Robin Frazier this morning, and he just said, look, things are starting to come together, which, which, you know, it wasn't a good start.

Speaker 1 So it looked that way. Like, that kind of checks out.
The other thing,

Speaker 1 you're going to love this.

Speaker 1 I'm watching the intergame,

Speaker 1 Inter Miami Toronto game. And Messi did like one or two things that I audibly laughed, like I chuckled.

Speaker 1 If it was a save, I'm not sure who was watching saw it. He's on the end line and he sold this guy a lollipop, right? And then he goes by him and smashes it, Sean Johnson saves off his chest.

Speaker 1 But I, I rewound it and I was like, this guy like spun around and, and like, you got the line there. Like, keep the line there.

Speaker 1 Whatever he, and it's easy for me to say defense, but I, I was on my couch and I laughed. Like, I chuckled.
And I was like, that's so funny.

Speaker 2 It's because like when you, you know, when you've been in between the lines, it's, it's a play that like should never happen.

Speaker 2 you should never wiggle out of there, and that's why you just go, you know, what he's it's like Arian Robin when he used to do that, like, he's going to his left, hello, yeah, the guy we played against Preck he used to like, he's gonna chop you, yeah, you know, it's coming, he just can't stop it.

Speaker 1 It's great, but it's like he's still doing things that are making me laugh. That I'm like,

Speaker 1 good for you.

Speaker 2 All right, last one I thought this was interesting.

Speaker 2 So, um, San Jose, DC, oh boy, uh, so they were commemorating the match, was commemorating the 30, 30 years of MLS, the first game ever was San Jose Clash against DC United.

Speaker 2 Eric Winalda scored that day.

Speaker 2 Jordan, our producer, was trying to see if we could get the starting 11 for the teams. I have no absolute clue.

Speaker 1 No idea. No clue.

Speaker 2 For the San Jose, no clue. Maybe like a few for DC.

Speaker 1 I could get a bunch from DC.

Speaker 2 You could, go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 1 No, let's do this first, and then I'll do the best of the 11.

Speaker 2 The game was a disaster for DC. And 6-1, San Jose won.
Joseph Martinez, hat-trick. I just want to, this is a time where

Speaker 2 we need to hammer DC a little bit because we've been hammering New England and just down the east coast there, DC is a disaster.

Speaker 2 And they need to figure out,

Speaker 2 and it starts with ownership for sure. Do you really care about this? And if not, take your profit and get out because the league is too mature now.
to have teams like this. They're just a mess, man.

Speaker 2 There's

Speaker 2 few people in the stands. People don't care the way I used to hate going to DC to play, dude, at RFK and like with the Barra Brava.
And it was a nightmare. And their teams were good.

Speaker 2 And now it's like, they're just a shadow of themselves and they're cheap and they don't spend money. And by the way,

Speaker 2 you know who DC could have hired at any point in the last year and a half?

Speaker 1 Who's that?

Speaker 2 Bruce Arena,

Speaker 2 right? Like he was ready to go. I mean, you talk about David Moyes going back to Everton.
It's the same thing, Tim. Same thing.
They had a chance to hire Bruce.

Speaker 2 They didn't want to for whatever reason, whatever your reason is, but they're just a mess. They're just a lack of leadership.

Speaker 1 They're a total mess.

Speaker 2 And they've been admired in this for years and years now. And those of us who love the league and know the league from the early days, we want to see DC get back to prominence.

Speaker 1 It's good for the league. Yeah.
You know, the interesting thing is, you make a great point. You really do.

Speaker 1 And I think the I go back to Southampton and hiring Russell Martin and then Yvon Urich and the mess that gets created.

Speaker 1 It's so interesting because you always hear me say, there's one way to win a football match. It doesn't have to be super ultra progressive.
And

Speaker 1 you just need winners to win. Hire a manager, give him autonomy of the squad and let them go.
And that's what San Jose is doing with Bruce. And like, duh.

Speaker 1 So I oftentimes think when it comes to these sports franchises who just kind of like are.

Speaker 1 they just wallow away in the in the muck and the bottom it shouldn't be that hard it's okay to have a couple like three down years totally like that's you're just human, but it shouldn't be that hard to like figure it out, get yourself out of it.

Speaker 1 Like you shouldn't be in this run for this long.

Speaker 2 It's just, it's not, it's not. But now in MLS, Tim, and we talked about it with Southampton, you have to spend some money, right? So I know Troy LaSan, who's the coach there, he was in New Mexico.

Speaker 2 We coached against him. Fantastic guy.

Speaker 2 He is a very smart guy and a good coach.

Speaker 2 He has no pieces to work with. I mean, it's like, it's so, it's just a mess.
They need to figure it out and figure it out fast because it's, it's bad for the league. And to be honest, Tim,

Speaker 2 the other team in D.C., the Washington Spirit, and we're going to talk about Michelle Kang and what she's doing, they're the opposite. She's investing.
She's committed.

Speaker 2 She's got a superstar on her team who people talk about Trinity Rodman. And

Speaker 2 she's doing it right. And right now,

Speaker 2 they're the advertisement for soccer in the city, not D.C. United, and they should both be.
So let's take a break.

Speaker 2 When we come back, we're going to talk men's national team players back with their club teams. We're going to talk women's national team who played Brazil

Speaker 2 and Washington Spirit owner, Michelle Kang, who's doing amazing things for women's soccer in this country. Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

Speaker 2 Stay right there.

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

Speaker 2 As the U.S. gets ready to host the world for soccer's 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.

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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.
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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, AT ⁇ T will proactively credit you for a full day of service.
That's the AT ⁇ T 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 Using your phone while driving could kill someone. Put the phone away or pay.
Paid for by NHTSA.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you're right, Tim. You definitely don't want to be distracted while driving.
And you know, who's not distracted and who's focused on what they're doing right now is Michelle Kang.

Speaker 2 We referenced her earlier. She has announced that in addition to her $30 million contribution to U.S.
soccer last year, she's now donating another $25 million.

Speaker 2 And with that, she has turned over her Conisca innovation hub to U.S. soccer.
So total investment now, Tim, $55 million to help women soccer in this country. Incredible.

Speaker 2 And I had a conversation this morning

Speaker 2 with Tracy Messier, who helps

Speaker 2 facilitate all this for U.S. soccer.
And she gave me

Speaker 2 some more info on it. It's really fascinating.
So U.S. soccer has a soccer forward foundation where they're trying to innovate, try new things, see how they can improve the sport.

Speaker 2 A lot of it for sure around injuries with women, ACLs, things like that. And then just research on how they get better.
So here's something that's incredible.

Speaker 2 So more camps, player identification, more money to develop coaches and referees, all women.

Speaker 2 And so I tried to dig in a little. So what I found is double.
the national team camps for youth national teams now on the women's side.

Speaker 2 So if they had three a year, now they're going to have six camps per year per age group, which is incredible.

Speaker 2 They will now be reaching 12 times the number of players they would have in the past as far as identifying players, which gives them access now to over 100,000 female athletes. This is incredible.

Speaker 2 You have a daughter. I have a daughter.
Amazing. They're going to double the amount of female coaches that are being able to be helped by U.S.
soccer, as well as female referees.

Speaker 2 And she said a big part of this, too, that helps is the new national training center that's coming to Atlanta.

Speaker 2 A lot of the camps will be there now, so you don't have to pay for the facilities, the meals, all that. That's all baked into the training center.
So, this is a massive,

Speaker 2 massive investment from Michelle King. Kudos to her.

Speaker 2 Her statement was: by working together, we're ensuring that players at all level benefit from innovative insights and best practices.

Speaker 2 Women's soccer is experiencing historic growth, but there's still work to be done to break down systemic barriers and secure the investment needed for female athletes.

Speaker 2 So, my first comment, my first thought was, incredible.

Speaker 2 My second thought was, can we get someone on the men's side to do this too?

Speaker 2 Can we get because the women, last time I checked, they're still winning everything and they need to keep pace with the rest of the world, but we need this on the men's side. But

Speaker 2 Michelle Kang is a hero, and I'm,

Speaker 2 it's an honor to have someone like that investing in the sport.

Speaker 1 It really is. Hats off, hats off to her for having the foresight, the

Speaker 1 investment. Couldn't praise her enough for what she's done and what she's doing.

Speaker 1 You know, it's going to drive women's soccer in this country to levels that were once probably thought untouchable.

Speaker 1 What I would say is, and I think this is an important point, when you talked about all of the list of things that

Speaker 1 are going to go into that investment, one of the trickier pieces for me is, yes, they're going to be more young women identified, right?

Speaker 1 But with the current model,

Speaker 1 the ones who are getting identified are still the ones who are basically paying to play the game, right? So

Speaker 1 we still have an issue with the sport not being accessible to

Speaker 1 all young boys and girls. And so I think hopefully with the soccer forward component of U.S.
soccer, that they will use some of this investment.

Speaker 1 to subsidize the sport for youth that haven't otherwise had an entry point.

Speaker 2 You know what's happening, Tim, is we're reaching a tipping point. I feel it.

Speaker 2 And there's going to be a point where all of the greedy

Speaker 2 clubs, youth clubs, who are taking money hand over fist from people,

Speaker 2 there's going to be a change and there's going to be

Speaker 2 a new opportunity and a new option for people. And once that takes off, it's going to take off massively.
And we're right at that, I could just feel it. We're right at the tipping point.

Speaker 2 You and I have tons of ideas on this. I've said publicly and privately, if there's anything I'm going to put my time and effort into going forward, it's going to be that.

Speaker 2 And so if we get the right people investing like Michelle Kang

Speaker 2 with bravery to really

Speaker 2 to really change the system,

Speaker 2 I think there's big opportunity. So kudos to her.

Speaker 2 On the field, we will now move to US LNT on USWNT, and then we'll get into the men's national team. So the U.S.
beat Brazil the other night.

Speaker 2 Speaking of Michelle Kang, Kang, her superstar, Washington Spirit player, Trin Rodman, after five minutes. What a goal.

Speaker 2 The only way I can describe this is when I watch her play, and I've said this before, when I watch her in person, she just plays differently than 90%

Speaker 2 of any player I see and 98% of the other women's players that play. And she like the way she just received the ball and just kind of like flicked it into the corner.

Speaker 2 And she's fast and she's technically sound and she's her mentality is so good. Like she is a, she's a winner and she's a warrior.
So she was phenomenal.

Speaker 2 Just so fun to see her back on the field.

Speaker 1 It's fun to see her back.

Speaker 1 And to our listeners, let's get her on the show. We're going to reach out to her.

Speaker 1 You all get into her inbox and tell her

Speaker 1 she's got to come on. I want to hammer her inbox to pick her brain.
She is awesome. And it's interesting.

Speaker 1 I was talking to a friend of mine who's a, who's a women's college coach at a very, very high level. And he said to me, it's almost been taboo to have a nasty, hungry dog up front.

Speaker 1 It's become, how do we get these kids to play tippy-tappy between lines, false nine, right?

Speaker 1 And his point to me was,

Speaker 1 why are we not accentuating the forwards and the strikers who can just run and be tough and be nasty?

Speaker 1 right because it because because we've gotten away from that in this country and to the bigger to the bigger point it's like, careful what you wish for. Because that's what we always were, right?

Speaker 1 And now it's a bit like, well, we want to see the nice football. Well, sometimes

Speaker 1 we can do all the buildup. And that's what we do in this country.
It's great. We've figured out how to do all the buildup in the pieces, but you need someone at the top end.

Speaker 1 And that's what Trinity Robin is doing. It's awesome to see.
I mean,

Speaker 1 you know, long may it continue. There's another game coming up here shortly.
So looking forward to seeing what they can do. Yeah.

Speaker 2 There was an interesting clip going around when Emma Hayes was about to sub Avery Patterson in, who got her debut in the 88th minute. And she asked her, what would your 10 year old?

Speaker 2 I get goosebumps because it's like what my mom used to say, what would your 10-year-old self say to yourself? And Avery said, have fun. And Emma Hayes said, then do it.

Speaker 1 Congrats.

Speaker 2 So really cool. I love Emma.
I think she's doing a phenomenal job.

Speaker 1 Big, big, big shout out to Avery Patterson. She's awesome.
Super psyched for her.

Speaker 1 It's funny because

Speaker 1 many of you don't know this about me, but like, if my coach would have asked me that, I'd have been like, have fun. I was shit scared every time I went on the field.
It was a, it was just a bad thing.

Speaker 1 I had to go to a really dark place, and I would not have said to my manager, have fun.

Speaker 1 I don't know. That's great, Avery.
Amazing. Well done.

Speaker 2 Also, good news: you asked to host the 2031 Women's World Cup. It was the only viable bid.
So just think of this. It's crazy, man.

Speaker 2 2026 Men's World Cup.

Speaker 2 2028, the Olympics. 2031, the Women's World Cup.
What a decade to be a soccer fan and a sports fan.

Speaker 1 2025, FIFA World Cup. FIFA Club World Cup.

Speaker 2 Oh, Club World Cup this year, right?

Speaker 1 Dude, there's so much soccer in the country.

Speaker 2 There's so much, man. And it was only a matter of time.

Speaker 2 But I cannot, cannot wait for that, Tim. I know.
As excited as I am to take my boys next year

Speaker 2 to go see the men. I can't.
My daughter will be, she was born in 28. She'll be 13.
I mean, I cannot wait to take her to the women's world

Speaker 2 it's going to be incredible incredible all right let's move over to us lnt on usmnt uh latest fifa rankings were announced they have a little more credibility than they used to tim the rankings but it's still kind of a joke we're 16th in the world we're not even fourth we're barely fourth in our region yeah we're 16th in the world but andrew asked a good question he said if there were a panel of voters let's just say coaches okay for every national team yeah and they were you know like in college football like the ap top 25 coaches poll where do you think they would put the us yeah i mean that's the thing like the algorithm that gets used for for

Speaker 1 these rankings is um certainly i've never seen it and nobody has no one else that's fine it's it's it's they locked it up

Speaker 1 through the key away but i look i i think i think if you're if you're arbitrarily doing it right you'd have to look about you'd have to go around to the top who you think are the top teams and think like, could the U.S.

Speaker 1 beat that team?

Speaker 2 The answer is probably no to like the top 20 teams at least right like top 20 well it's not could they beat them it's are they the better team over 10 games okay could they who's going to win more over 10 games is probably because on any given day you can win at soccer right right but right but what i'm what i'm saying is to the to the point

Speaker 1 and we mentioned this about like nations league like england's in a 10 game run england are playing far stiffer competition than the u.s is playing over 10 period 10 game period right so um where do you think they put them i don't i think they put them just outside the top 25.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I was going to say 25 to 30 is probably.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Whatever.

Speaker 2 All right. You guys tell us where do you think we should fall?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 2 Not 16, though. That seems, that seems a little high, but you know, whatever.
It's all subjective anyway. Okay, AC Milan, good news for Christian Pulissic back, had an assist, played well.

Speaker 2 Happy to see him just get back right into it and do well.

Speaker 2 Bad news, on the other hand, for Eunice Musa. So had a really bad error, which led to the Fiorentino goal.
And then he was subbed off right after in the 23rd minute.

Speaker 2 And I kept thinking, is he injured? Is he like, what's going on?

Speaker 2 No injury. He didn't shake the coach's hand, walked straight into the tunnel.

Speaker 2 This is those moments, Tim, are really bad. I never saw much of that in MLS for whatever reason.
Just wasn't like a thing, but I'm sure you saw it a bunch. in England.

Speaker 2 And it's just, it's never a good thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I just, I feel a bit, I feel a bit for Eunice Musa because like you see that oftentimes and I'll give a I'll give a manager a pass if a guy is just a bad egg, right?

Speaker 1 Like if a guy's a bad egg and he's been crapping training, they've been doing the same things and you trust him to start the game and he messes up. I'll give you a pass.
That's not Eunice Musa. No.

Speaker 1 That's not who he is. So like, I hate when coaches have this like, soccer is not a game where you're a starting pitcher, you give up a home run, next pitch, you're getting hooked.
That's normal.

Speaker 1 That's not how soccer is. You can make mistakes in soccer, right? And then be allowed to continue to go.

Speaker 1 Now, look, if you just, if you're just rolling one bad play after another, of course, 60th minute, halftime, you're going to get hooked. But like,

Speaker 1 it's just, it's messy. It causes a problem where there isn't, doesn't need to be one, right? Like, if you know, if you know Eunice Musa, he's not trying to make a mistake.

Speaker 1 And by the way, probably not going to make another one. So let him ride that out and let him, let him work through it.
It just seems like you sub a guy.

Speaker 1 right after a mistake and you're looking for you're looking for a problem that you don't need to actually have totally yeah and you know what happens now tim is

Speaker 2 next time he gets the ball in that same situation yeah he's going to do something unnatural he's going to hook it up the field 40 yards because he's scared yeah right and that just it solves nothing i always had a rule when i was coaching i never ever criticized a technical mistake okay now if i told a guy 15 times during the year don't make this pass here It's not worth it.

Speaker 2 And then he did it in a game, I'd be pissed.

Speaker 2 But if you're trying to do something and you make a mistake that we want you to do, fine, you make a mistake, get on with it.

Speaker 2 You can't criticize that. Right.

Speaker 2 And then the ultimate, I mean, you can say, hey, that was a bad decision, but the ultimate, to me, the most disrespectful thing you can do to a soccer player is pull them off before halftime. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And to your point, if you didn't have another option, it's a bad person or his effort was bad, the effort's bad. Then you say, okay, you're out of here.

Speaker 2 But as long as you're trying and you're trying to do the right thing, you make a mistake, you make a mistake. I think it's, look, we don't have all the context, but it begs the question:

Speaker 2 what happens now? Like, is this reparable or is this irreparable? Like, is this going to be

Speaker 1 hopefully, hopefully, they can

Speaker 1 solve it. And this happens a lot at the highest level.
Funny, funny story to kind of tack on to that. Roberto Martinez, or as you would say, Roberto Martinez, or everybody would say.

Speaker 1 He, when he came to the club, I'll never forget it. So, David, he replaced David Moyes.
Um, and he came to the club and he started.

Speaker 1 he had, he, the way he, he sets up his tactics are very specific, and, which are great.

Speaker 1 And the first game, he hooked someone after 35 minutes, right? I don't remember, I don't remember the scene, but he hooked someone after 35 minutes. And then he did it again the next game.

Speaker 1 It wasn't the same person. And we started talking in the dressing room.
We were like, who's next? Yo, don't be the guy who gets hooked after 35 minutes.

Speaker 1 Because basically what he was, he was saying was, it was his way of saying, like, we're going to do it my way, right? Which is fine.

Speaker 2 Trying to put a stamp on it, put a stamp on it.

Speaker 1 And he's also trying to like light a fire on everybody. So that probably we had the conversations of, like, don't be the dude who gets hooked at 35.

Speaker 1 I just remember thinking, oh, the first time he did it, everyone was looking around, like, what? It's yeah, as you said, before halftime is always like a

Speaker 1 oh, dude, it's brutal. Although, I wish I would have got, I wish I'd got hooked before halftime on a lot of occasions.
Well, I should have been for sure, but that's all right.

Speaker 2 Uh, also, also in Italy, Juve, uh, Drew won one with Roma, Wes and Timothy Wea both started at wing back for you.

Speaker 2 I swear, every time I turn on FOTMOB Tim, when I look at the Juve game, Wes is in a different spot on the field. And sometimes it's like FOTMOB trying to get their algorithm figured out.

Speaker 2 But now I'm like, I think he just plays him all over the damn place. And it's, you know, my opinion is his best position is in the middle of the field.
But he just plays everywhere. Yeah, he does.

Speaker 2 And Wea does too a bit.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Italian football is fun.

Speaker 1 If you ever worked under an Italian coach or someone who has that ideology, it's so rigid. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 But it's fun.

Speaker 1 They have a way of doing it. And so, yeah, I mean, for me, Weston in the middle of the park is

Speaker 1 where you should be. I like Timway

Speaker 1 wide and high. You know, I guess

Speaker 1 you can achieve that in the wing back role, given the team. Yeah.
But we think about U.S. team, obviously, high and wide is where I like them.

Speaker 2 I'll never forget in the 20. 2002 World Cup.

Speaker 2 Bruce came to me at one point. I think I started the first game as

Speaker 2 a striker or right midfielder. It was one of those.
And then in the second game, he said, would you be open to playing?

Speaker 2 And I was like, yes, before the words got out of his mouth, I'm like, yes, I want to play.

Speaker 1 Book what you're doing.

Speaker 2 I don't care where I play. And now I see kids, young kids are like, I play the 10.
And I'm like, you play where the coach puts you. Otherwise, you can sit on the bench.

Speaker 2 Like, I play, I'm like, you're as a pro. 100%.
Very few people are playing the 10. So you're going to play wherever you play and just shut up and get on with it.

Speaker 1 You know what? That's such a good point for all the young players who are listening, all the parents who are listening. I've said this, and I can hold my hand to God and tell you it's true.

Speaker 1 If the manager at Everton, I was the goalkeeper, everyone knows that. The manager of Everton has said, I'm sitting you today, Tim.
I'm starting someone else, but I need you to play left back.

Speaker 1 Obviously, that would be very dumb for him to do that. But hypothetically, I'd be like, dope.

Speaker 2 I've been working on my left coach.

Speaker 1 I can ping it down the line. Like getting on the field, who cares? Who cares? Like, it's a great point.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 And for those two,

Speaker 2 they just need to keep playing. And it's good for them, for their development, just to play in different spots.
Good.

Speaker 2 Moving west, PSV Malik Tillman, finally returned to the starting 11 over the weekend and also scored a great goal. So I think he's another one of those guys who's definitely on the roster.
Yes.

Speaker 2 Assuming he's healthy. And then, you know, can he work his way into minutes? We'll find out.
In the championship, our two strikers keep scoring. Josh Sargent.
and Haji Wright.

Speaker 2 Again, it's just, it is kind of frustrating with Josh Sargent. And he's comfortable there.
He's playing well. He knows they count on him and depend on him.
And he just, he scores some goals for you.

Speaker 2 Like, Jesus, what a goal.

Speaker 1 Can Josh and Haji

Speaker 1 bring that to the next level? Because they are showing that in the championship, which is a really good level that they can score goals consistently. So that's a good thing.

Speaker 2 I know. And it is a good level, man.
And we need to see that. Hopefully, if they get another chance in the Gold Cup,

Speaker 2 see that continue. Another pause here.
When we come back, we'll get into your questions and the AT ⁇ T fan connection. And we also, the return of anything but soccer.

Speaker 2 It's been a while because we had a lot of fan questions the last few weeks. Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannon and Tim, as always, presented by our friends at Volkswagen.
Stick around.

Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Airbnb.

Speaker 2 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 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's 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 Coors Light.

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

Speaker 2 not quite as cold as New York, 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 USLNT, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

Speaker 1 Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing 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 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.
That's the AT ⁇ T guarantee.

Speaker 2 Learn more at ATT.com slash guarantee. AT ⁇ T, 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 It's time for the fan connection presented by ATT. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions.
The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S.

Speaker 1 is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At ATT, connecting changes everything.
And on US LNT, our connections with you will help grow the game.

Speaker 1 Okay, LD, time for easily our favorite time of the week. The AT ⁇ T fan connection.
Without further ado, Jordan, get on in here.

Speaker 3 What's up, guys? What's happening?

Speaker 1 Oh, I like that shirt.

Speaker 3 Thank you.

Speaker 1 It's from Leal.

Speaker 2 I can't read. Leal.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Leal.

Speaker 3 Leal Olympic Sporting Club.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Oh, is that why it says Losk?

Speaker 1 Yes, Losk. League Old.
Got it.

Speaker 3 What's that? Yeah, I think they finished top of the league a couple of years ago, right?

Speaker 1 Something like that. All right.

Speaker 2 No, that's probably PSG.

Speaker 2 I'm probably so wrong.

Speaker 3 It's always PSG.

Speaker 1 What do you got? All right, go on, Joe. You got some good stuff?

Speaker 3 I do have some good stuff. Okay, so Chris via X or Twitter, depending on how you

Speaker 3 asked, I have to ask this to be on this week's podcast. Congratulations, Chris.
You were successful in making that happen. U.S.

Speaker 3 women's national team in a friendly had what some are saying is five times more attendance than the U.S. men's national team semifinal in the same stadium.
Thoughts on why?

Speaker 2 Great question.

Speaker 2 Well, interestingly, the U.S. game, women's game was a friendly.

Speaker 2 The men's game was meaningful,

Speaker 2 which is also part. Now, one,

Speaker 2 did they play on Saturday?

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 2 So a weekend is part of it, for sure. There's nuance here.
It's not one easy answer. But his point's right.
I mean, to be honest, if...

Speaker 2 After watching that performance from the women versus what I saw from the men, if I'm spending my money, I'm going to watch the women.

Speaker 1 I am.

Speaker 2 And so that is part of it. And yeah, I mean, we've talked about this ad nauseum, but that is part of it for sure.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I mean, I think there was a, there was some sort of, you talk about nuance, like, you know, conquered calf being the ones to kind of hold the

Speaker 1 rights and run the event versus U.S. soccer, but whatever.

Speaker 1 I think that's probably unfair to the women. You know, what I all often think about when I watch the women and how exciting they are, right?

Speaker 1 So you get one, they're the best in the world consistently, right? Whether they're one or two or three, they're the best in the world. And then you get the other side of it where,

Speaker 1 and we talked about this a lot on this podcast, they constantly have one to two women in the conversation of world's best player every single year.

Speaker 1 It might be the same player, every couple of years it changes. The other part about it is their...
their conveyor belt of young women coming through along with their stars is also incredibly exciting.

Speaker 1 Think about it. When they change and they play half of a call it B team,

Speaker 1 people like us, fans get excited about like, who's this next young star? Right. And by the way, they still win that game.
Oftentimes when the U.S. men will play a B team,

Speaker 1 probably don't win, or they play such a low competition that they win and it's not really even that fun. So I don't know.

Speaker 1 I just think there's an excitement about the women currently or certainly for a while while now

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 get people excited and put butts in seats and then

Speaker 1 the proofs in the pudding. So I like it.
I love it. I mean, hats off to them.
Hopefully they'll have another really good showing.

Speaker 2 And the reality is, Jordan, people decide where they're going to spend their money.

Speaker 2 And they're making it very clear. So it's not just our opinion.
It's everyone's opinion.

Speaker 3 I will also say, I just looked. You can get tickets to the game that's happening tonight, if you're listening to this on Tuesday, for less than 100 bucks.

Speaker 3 So that might also have something to do with it.

Speaker 1 Great. No question.

Speaker 3 I have a question from Trent via email. How should we think about the relative importance of the various cup competitions? Is a Premier League title more important than a Champions League title?

Speaker 3 Does a Care About Cup or an FA Cup championship equal a successful season for a team that is in the middle of the table in the Premier League?

Speaker 3 Which competition is given preference?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 1 There's layers to it. So again, depending where you are, right? Like if you're Fulham, you never win in the Premier League.
Well, not anytime soon. Could you win a cup?

Speaker 1 Could you win a league cup or an FA Cup? Absolutely. You could.

Speaker 1 So it's not really a priority because you're probably not going to win the Champions League or even be in the Champions League for so many of the Premier League teams.

Speaker 1 You're probably not going to win the league. So like domestic cum competitions start to have.
higher priority.

Speaker 1 If we're talking about, and I think the question is probably angled at the winners, the champions, the top teams, right? So we're going to talk about Liverpool, Man City, whomever.

Speaker 1 Always, always, always, and forever, the Premier League title is the Holy Grail.

Speaker 2 Okay? More than more than Champions League.

Speaker 1 More than Champions League. And I'll give you an example.
In the city of Liverpool, they win European compet, they've won, they've been super successful in European competitions,

Speaker 1 you know, also mainly Champions League. When Sir Alex Ferguson took the mighty Manchester United and overtook Liverpool for league titles, the only thing that Liverpool fans wanted was a league title.

Speaker 1 That's all they wanted, right? They won the Champions League in there and they loved it and they celebrated it and they thought this is really freaking good.

Speaker 1 But what they really wanted was the Premier League. So always and forever league title trumps that.

Speaker 2 Again, if you're Manchester City, as an example, I was going to say, let me push back because City, they've won a gazillion league. So now is it the Champions League?

Speaker 1 Yeah. So

Speaker 1 that's where I was going next, right? So City decide the Premier League, that ain't really hard to win. We'll just win that every year.

Speaker 1 That then became they're chasing this Champions League that they can't seem to freaking win. So that was, but, but Landon, that example is there's only like one team, you know, I know,

Speaker 1 maybe Byron is that way, maybe

Speaker 1 Barcelona, Real Madrid are that way, and maybe Mancery. PSG.
PSG. PSG, but everybody else,

Speaker 1 you know, the rest of the other 99%

Speaker 1 won a league title. But yeah, really good question.
Great question.

Speaker 3 We have another Premier League question here. This is from Justin via email.

Speaker 3 When managerial jobs open up in the Premier League, why is there never any conversation about promotion from within like there is in some American sports when the head coach leaves?

Speaker 2 Great question. And that's very much a thing of American sports in general, certainly in MLS.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I have an opinion on this. And this is just a general opinion about

Speaker 2 coaching in general and in life. The difference between being an assistant coach and a head coach

Speaker 2 is massive. And it's not that one's easier, harder, whatever.
They're just totally different skill sets.

Speaker 2 If you are a ticket salesperson and you're amazing at selling tickets, that doesn't necessarily mean you should get promoted, I'm using air quotes, to becoming the manager of ticket sales who's now managing personalities under them.

Speaker 2 That's a whole different skill set than selling tickets. So my opinion is it's a weird way to hire people.
It doesn't mean it's not successful sometimes.

Speaker 2 I just think you'd be much better off hiring someone who's been a head coach, whether in MLS or in US, I'm using USL example, or in USL or somewhere else around the world, than hiring an assistant coach.

Speaker 2 Now, it doesn't mean that assistant won't be good. It's just a totally different skill set.

Speaker 1 The stakes, when you have promotion relegation, the stakes become so much higher.

Speaker 1 If you're a major league baseball team, and I can name 15 of them, but I won't. There are some throwaway seasons.
Now, they'll tell you there's not, right?

Speaker 1 But you can hot, the guy who was a third base coach, who's like, he's hot,

Speaker 1 he's ready to roll, he's ready for his time

Speaker 1 in the managerial dugout, they promote the third base coach to the manager. But by the way,

Speaker 1 they might be 70 games out by the all-star break, right? So then they go, well, we'll give this guy an opportunity to see how he manages players.

Speaker 1 And so you see more of that in the Premier League and in most of the European leagues, promotion relegation, the threat of that is so high that you couldn't possibly give the job to a guy you don't know what he's capable of.

Speaker 1 Like Landon said, I don't know if this guy can manage personalities. Because by the way, everybody loves you when you're an assistant coach.
Exactly. You're their best friend.

Speaker 1 You're not managing anything.

Speaker 1 Right? It becomes much harder when you're the head coach. And so I think the threat of

Speaker 1 relegation is something that teams owners

Speaker 1 aren't even prepared to.

Speaker 1 You have to get hopefully a tried and tested manager through the door.

Speaker 3 Okay, my next question is directed at Tim Howard specifically.

Speaker 2 Let's go. Let's go.

Speaker 3 This comes from Chris via YouTube.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 3 Tim, man,

Speaker 3 I'm so baffled by your thoughts on Tarkovsky's challenge into McAllister not being a red. I mean, why be coy? I know you are all Everton in your blood, but honestly, dude, it was a straight reckless.

Speaker 3 Oh, it was straight reckless. Even Mike Dean was emphatic that it was a straight red.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Chris, dude, bro, man, whatever you said.

Speaker 1 I get it.

Speaker 1 But I think you got to be careful when you speak to me about being biased because I'm on television every week, every weekend.

Speaker 1 And if you look at my comments about Liverpool and about Everton over the last five years, I think you'll see how wrong you are.

Speaker 2 You got receipts.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I always have receipts. So, Chris, you got to keep up.

Speaker 2 You got Walmart Walmart receipts.

Speaker 1 Um, so yeah, look, I

Speaker 1 got if I if you think I got it wrong and the referee and VAR got it wrong, and that, yeah, that's fine. I like I've said what I said about the red card, um, and and I thought I

Speaker 1 you obviously listened to the pod, which we love, so we appreciate that. Um, I riffed on it and I and I went in depth about examples of a similar tackle and what I thought about it.

Speaker 1 Uh, this has nothing to do with being a blue or a red, um, that's absurd. So, yeah, um, I think we put that to bed.

Speaker 1 I said what I what I thought about it.

Speaker 1 Again, it's one of those plays, which again, we see not every weekend, but really often where everybody is torn. The internet's torn.
The referee VAR is torn.

Speaker 1 Former officials and former players are torn. And on another given day, a call can go the other way.
So that's not like outrageously egregious, what I said.

Speaker 2 We also played in a time, Chris, where I talked to him and I talked about this on Friday. As long as you got the ball, you could basically do anything, right? I mean, within reason.

Speaker 2 But that, especially during a Derby like that, that was just, no, go back and watch games from the 80s, 90s of the Merseyside Derby. That was a play on.

Speaker 2 Like there was nothing. And that's just, and so it's not that we're not evolved and we're dinosaurs and all that.
It's just in those games, Tim's been in them. And it's like, okay, get on with it.

Speaker 2 Next, and by the way, Liverpool is going to do the same thing and you get on with it. So, but it was a red card, by the way.

Speaker 3 Okay, last one. And maybe, Tim, you'll like this one better.

Speaker 1 Tim,

Speaker 3 which Scotsman scared you more, Sir Alex Ferguson or David Moyes? And which one did you understand better when they spoke?

Speaker 1 Neither. I didn't understand either of them.

Speaker 1 Because

Speaker 1 when you have a really strong Glaswegian accent, the name Tim sounds like Tom because I say, arai, Tom.

Speaker 1 And see,

Speaker 1 I thought Fergie was calling me Tom for a long time, but he wasn't.

Speaker 2 He didn't know your name.

Speaker 1 Which he might not have known my name. But no, David Moyes, because I was such a young pup at Manchester United, and I was brought in in such a big team.

Speaker 1 And, you know, from day, so, so he, was Sir Alex Ferguson scary? He's scary as hell. I've got amazing stories about

Speaker 1 what scared me about him. But ultimately, when David Moyes,

Speaker 1 I wasn't counted on at Everton. I was, I was just one of many, right? And I was down, I was low on the totem pole.

Speaker 1 When I went to Everton, I sat down with David Moyes the first day in a hotel in Bolton.

Speaker 1 And this was before the 2006 World Cup when I was, when he was wanting me to bring me to Everton and the trust that he gave me and my desire to never let him down, he became a father figure to me.

Speaker 1 He became,

Speaker 1 I feared him because I feared letting him down. And that's.
That's way more powerful than actually being afraid of someone.

Speaker 3 When your parents say, I'm so disappointed in in you, and you're like, Oh, man.

Speaker 1 Totally.

Speaker 2 No, but also, yeah, I feel the same way because the people I feared the most were the people you didn't want to let down.

Speaker 2 Not, they didn't scare you per se, but you were like, I cannot let this guy down. Yeah, he has done so much for me.

Speaker 2 Literally, the first film session, of course, you don't remember this, Tim, when I got to our 10 at Finch Farm. We're sitting there watching film on, I think, Arsenal because we played away that week.

Speaker 2 And Moyes kept saying, And

Speaker 2 Embody, do this, and Embry going to do this, and Embody going to do that. And I was looking around going, what the f is he talking about?

Speaker 1 Embody? Embody?

Speaker 2 And then I realized he was saying anybody. Yeah.
And so, like, for the whole 30 minutes, I had no clue what he was talking because he threw that word in every 30 seconds.

Speaker 1 The Glaswegian accent is. This is going to be interesting.

Speaker 2 Embry.

Speaker 1 And then, you know,

Speaker 1 everyone shall remain nameless. But my first season at Everton, to kind of put a bow on this,

Speaker 1 there was a player who, after the game, game, you know, everybody run. Like, we won the game.
Everyone's buzzing. Manager comes in, gives us chat, and then it goes out.
Guys get in the shower.

Speaker 1 And then the guys who didn't play have to go on the pitch and run. You see it every weekend.
They got to run. They got to get their stats up.

Speaker 1 They got their running stats up to, you know, with the guys who played in the game. So we had this one Joey on the team.
And

Speaker 1 he said, I ain't going to run. I'm not running.
And the fitness coach is pleading with them. So finally, the boys go out to run.

Speaker 1 And obviously the fitness coach is like, Gaffer, listen, we're going to, we got to go do our fitness, but so-and-so is not running.

Speaker 1 But we won 4-0. Everyone was jovial until Moisey came back in the dressroom and he got to grips with this fella and just starts pinning him up against the wall.

Speaker 1 And he says, you're not going to do what? You and I, this guy was talking big before the gaffer got in. Anyway, he got his clothes and left and said he's going to call the police and whatever.

Speaker 1 Anyway, jogged on, mate. It was great.
So good. So I was scared of Moisey for sure.

Speaker 3 I will personally take with me from this experience, having to write the transcript of the David Moyes interview for the closed captions took me hours, hours and hours to do.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 3 Thanks, guys. That was great.

Speaker 2 Thanks, Jair. All right, Tim, been a while, but back to anything but soccer.
There was really only one after this weekend.

Speaker 2 We were waiting on Ovi, Alexander Ovechkin, to score his record-breaking goal to break Wayne Gretzky's incredible, incredible record. Wayne Gretzky has so many.

Speaker 2 Go Google Wayne Gretzky and see how many records that guy has. He was the absolute GOAT.
But congrats to Ovechkin. What stood out to me, Tim, is that his teammates were just as happy as he was.

Speaker 2 And that's a guy, one, he's been at the same place forever. So he is,

Speaker 2 he's so ingrained in that club. And I love that.
That's so rare in modern sports. But his teammates loved it too.
And I just, just, I don't have much to say except congrats. Yeah.

Speaker 2 To break a Gretzky record is a really big deal.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And Gretzky was there, right?

Speaker 1 Am I correct in saying that? I think he was.

Speaker 2 I think I saw him. I don't know if it was that day or something.

Speaker 1 I know that's on the day before. Look, I mean, Ovechkin has been incredible.
I mean, his name's in hip-hop songs for crying out loud. Like, he's incredible.

Speaker 1 I often think about these goal, these records, these goal records, and like, yes, you have to be talented, but you have to have longevity. You can't, you can't, you can't have one or the other.

Speaker 1 You have to have both. And I think the longevity piece for me, like to be that good and that consistently good

Speaker 1 so many years, like more than a decade, it just, it blows my mind.

Speaker 1 Your hat goes off to him and you're just kind of speechless. Like there's not many of these guys out there.

Speaker 1 And to break the record of, you know, not only does Gretzky have the record, Gretzky's the greatest ever. Right.
So like that, that to me was pretty fun.

Speaker 1 And yeah, I think that's the cool thing about team sports, man. Like you feel it when you're, when one of your teammates breaks a record, like, you feel like you were a part of it, you know?

Speaker 1 And so, yeah, that was fun to see.

Speaker 2 Your point's so good about the longevity piece because for really talented, high-quality players, getting to the top ends up being the easy part.

Speaker 2 And staying there long time or right near the top for a long time are the people I admire the most. Those are the people I'm like watching Marta still go in Orlando, right?

Speaker 2 I'm like, she's been incredible forever and she just keeps going. And you just, you have so much respect for people like that.
So congrats to him. What a stud, man.

Speaker 2 And hopefully he keeps playing i mean he can obviously can still play and hockey is a sport where you know for 45 second bout you're out there on the ice but you don't you know you can play into your 40s no problem so he will for sure hopefully it keeps going all right another great show thanks to all of you for being with us today remember to subscribe on youtube apple podcast spotify anywhere you get your podcast follow across all social media platforms at unfiltered soccer for lots more bonus content yeah thanks everyone ld that was fun man uh thanks to our presenting sponsor vw and our fan connection sponsor sponsor, ATT.

Speaker 1 Have an amazing week, have fun, uh, do something you love, and we'll back with you next Tuesday for another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.