CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns

There's no divine right to win a game. You have to go earn it.

They have to win the Gold Cup. After the Gold Cup's over, there's no more competitive games prior to the World Cup.

Does anybody understand that?

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.

LD, what's happening, bud? Usually we have a little bit of banter at the top. Today feels like a day of mourning.
We're not going to banter. No banter for me, bud.
There's a lot. No, this is CONCACAF, Nations League, wrap-up, and it's not a lot of fun.
It's not a lot of fun. I'm going to start us off by reading a quote from none other than yourself that went viral um because people like to hear unfiltered takes and you said after the game i'm sick of hearing how talented this group of players is and all the amazing clubs they play for if you aren't going to show up and actually give a shit about playing for your national team, decline the invite.
Talent is great. Pride is better.
On that note, I'm going to let you go. Well, let me just, you know when you go through like either a breakup or a hard time or you go through all the emotions right and so I was expecting this

morning because last night was the Canada game I was expecting to wake up much more calm much more relaxed and I'm like I'm frustrated as someone who dedicated not only his adult life but his entire life to helping soccer grow, as you did, at the attitude and the demeanor and the effort. Now, I want to be careful because words matter.
There were players on the field who cared, okay? But caring about playing a sport that you get paid to do should be the absolute bare minimum. The absolute bare minimum.
Just give a shit about actually playing. But when you play for your national team, and I have chills just talking about this right now, there is such a responsibility.
You know what we used to do, Tim? sometimes you know one, one of my first trips ever with the national team, we went to South Korea because we were going to play in the World Cup. I was on that trip.
So we went the year before. And we went to the DMZ.
For people who don't know, the DMZ is the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea. And you walk, there's this little building.

And you walk in the building and halfway through the building,

you're in South Korean territory.

And halfway, the other half, you're in North Korea.

And you have these armored guards, Korean, American, North Korean,

standing there.

And it hits you in the face, dude.

And you're like, whoa.

These guys are protecting something way bigger than themselves. And they're putting their lives on the line for our country.
Okay? When you put on your jersey and you see the stars and stripes and you hear the national anthem, I don't care if there's one person in the crowd or six million people. You have an obligation to give a shit.
Okay? And be proud about playing for your country. And there were too many guys the last two games.
And before that, by the way, there was the Mexico away game that we watched a few months ago. I'm like, do they even want to be out there? Are they willing to do something to put themselves on the line, to risk something to get a result? Now, look, we're talking about soccer.
It's not the end of the world, okay? But if you can't do that, just don't come into camp. Anthony Robinson wasn't feeling physically right.
There's something going on. He said, you know, I appreciate it, but I can't.
Fine. Fair enough.
Fine. If you're going to go, you're going to do all the social media shit and all the posts and all that and take all that, then show up and perform.
Okay? And that's it. That's a starting point.
If you lose, you lose. We all lost games.
So I'm just, I'm so sick of it. They're so talented.
They play at these great clubs. I'm like, who cares, dude? You know who doesn't play at great clubs? The Panamanian players.
Yeah. You know? And by the way, Tim, and we'll get into all this,

and I'm going to go on a bunch of tangents today. I apologize in advance if people hate it.

No apologies.

That's what we do.

Mauricio Pochettino grew up in Argentina, okay?

Can you imagine Argentina playing Uruguay

and eight or nine of the players on the field

gave that kind of effort?

Listen, they would not be able to leave their hotel room to get back on the plane. They wouldn't, the fans wouldn't let them.
They'd say, you ain't leaving. Sorry, bro.
And our guys are just like, Oh, home. Okay.
I'll get back to my club and make my millions of dollars. I'm sick of it, man.
I'm sick of it. I am.
Yeah. I, I hear you.
I mean, I think when I i look when i look overall at the two games massive disappointment massive because here's the thing this is from an overall view this is from a fan yes i analyze soccer for a living but as a fan i'm hugely disappointed because none of this feels or looks good u U.S. soccer, and I've got some dear friends at U.S.
soccer, and they ain't going to want to hear this. Do I watch the game yesterday? Again, I'm not the crowd-controlled police, but I'm going to continue to wear the hat.
There's nobody there. I played in the most bang average summer friendlies at the most terrible time of the day in God knows what city.
And there was more people than there was for that game. So the planning for both the semifinal and the final and third place game were horrific.
They're playing in front of nobody. So let me jump in real quick to that because I got clarity on this this morning.
So this is a CONCACAF event, okay? Yeah. So CONCACAF controls it.
Okay. So as far as that goes, that's a CONCACAF issue.
However, that being said, U.S. soccer is obviously CONCACAF's most important partner.
Yeah, of course. With Mexico being 1A.
Of course. Right? So you figure out a way to not play the opening game on Thursday.
Of course. And, by the way, CONCACAF and with US, they're having these conversations.
Don't make the lowest ticket price $100 because it's ridiculous. Make it accessible so people can get in and watch.
It's a joke. It's a joke.
Now, I just want to give U.S. soccer some grace there.
However, if I'm U.S. soccer and you're having these negotiations and Comcast's like, we're going to make the lowest ticket price, $100.
You're like, no, you ain't. You're going to play at 3.30 in the opening game.
No, we ain't. We're playing at 7.30.
Totally. Okay, continue.
100%. So that was an issue, right? But believe me, not the biggest issue.
There's no divine right to win a football match. So this isn't a concept of like, they should have won both games and to hell with them.
No, that's not the case. But the idea that my firm belief is if we're in big games, and these were big games, these were semifinal and competitive third place game,

if we're going to get beat, you're going to walk off the field limping.

That's the exchange.

We don't get beat and you cruise.

Ain't how it works.

If we're going to get beat, you're going to earn it,

and you're actually going to be desperate to get off the field.

Because, listen, I've played in games where my team's chasing shadows,

but we've actually gone kick the lump. People don't want to that that's the thing football's too expansive now play between lines get the ball in the six yard box and play no it's about everybody everybody in the world the best game in world football is el classico or it has been right barcelona versus real madrid please the next time you have an opportunity watch the first 20 minutes of that game.
There's nothing pretty about it. It's the best footballers in the world, and there's nothing pretty about it because it's a mentality.
It's a siege mentality. It's draw the lines, fight for what you're going to get, and then the game opens up.
I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that it took for Gio Reyna to come on the pitch and take a guy's knee off.

And then there wants to be a kerfuffle and a coming together.

That needed.

Ever watch hockey? Ever watch hockey when you're playing a rival? Sometimes a puck isn't even, isn't even touched before someone draws the battle lines. And so there's a, there's a competitive element that's missing with this team.
Yes, there's talent in certain areas. Of course, there's talent in certain areas.
What we love, and we talk about it all the time, but we have to talk about the other side of it, the competitive nature, the leadership. That's a big issue for this team.
And Mauricio Pochettino was saying, I think he was quoted as, we have time. I tend to disagree with him a little bit because here's the thing, LD.
This group of players got a manager sacked, lost three of the last four to panama have an abysmal showing in the nation's league abysmal to finish fourth is is a crime and now and by the way by the way before anybody and we love your comments so bring them in before any of the current players get upset with me, I've gotten coaches sacked as well.

I've been a part of groups.

You've been a part of groups.

Yeah.

But you don't perform well enough.

Your teammates don't perform well enough.

Well, you get your coaches sacked.

It sucks.

But this group got a coach sacked,

lost three out of four to Panama,

finished fourth in the Nations League.

I tell you what, tell you what,

if you thought all eyes were going to be on the Gold Cup,

by God, by God, they have to win.

They have to win the Gold Cup.

I don't know.

Thank you. I'll tell you what.
Tell you what. If you thought all eyes were going to be on the Gold Cup, by God.
By God. They have to win.
They have to win the Gold Cup. I don't know.
After the Gold Cup's over, there's no more competitive games prior to the World Cup. Does anybody understand that? I know there's friendlies.
And by the way, the way this group is going, they're not going to all be together. They're not going to all be together for these friendlies.
There'll be certain guys pulling out. That's okay.
That happens. But guess what? You've run out of time.
So unless the entire group is together and wins the Gold Cup, I'm worried. But yes, I think Pochettino, when he says there's time, I think there's probably like another another month month and a half in terms of time after that there's no more competitive games simply put all right we're gonna we'll go all over the place but let's just start with with pochettino and what he's learned right so again i'm gonna use a dating analogy if you're dating someone and they're crazy you rather find out after the second date that they're crazy.
You don't want to be three years in and go, oh, he's crazy or she's crazy, right? So my guess is he's going back, watching the games, watching individuals and some of the performances and some of the ways the effort, like the full effort wasn't there and going, I got to think about this one, right? Because you know whose effort was there, Tim? The guy who nobody's heard of until three weeks ago, Diego Luna, or in January. Like, that guy cares.
He cares. He was chasing down the goalkeeper at the end of the game.
Like, he cared. It meant something to him.
It meant something to him. More than just a normal soccer game.
And there's lots of reasons why something can mean more to you. It doesn't have to be because you have this crazy, amazing American pride.
Okay? Yes, they do. Whatever.
Maybe it's, I need my next paycheck. I need my next contract.
That's fine. no problem.
You got you know guys especially before us and some of the guys during ours were making 80 grand a year and they're like that four thousand dollar extra bonus to win this game i need it i got bills to pay i need it guys now they don't need that okay so the the money motivation is out of the equation for these guys yeah it just needs to mean more to you. And I don't know how you find that, where you find that, but you better find it.
Cause it means more to Panama. It meant more to Canada.
It means more to Mexico. It should never.
I mean, here's the thing, right? So, so we agree on this. Tyler Adams was quoted after the game.
And it's really interesting because sometimes it's when you, when, when you read something that that a player says or a manager says, you then have to dissect it. Tyler Adams said, I mean, listen, it's hard for me to judge.
I think my mentality is a little bit different. I'd agree with that.
I think we need to have every single person buy into exactly what we're doing and why we're trying to do it. But it's just the little things for me.
Duels, tackles, leaving your mark on the field, not being naive in certain moments, being a little bit more clever. All the details of the game that I feel when I watch people play with their clubs, we do.
Right? So, and then he finishes the quote and says, and then we come here, sometimes I think we forget a little bit what the games are going to give us so that's what he said right ld my issue with what he said is he's a little bit different he was no no no but but he was saying and i agree with tyler adams he's saying he is different his mentality is different he'll leave something on you right so basically he's talking about the players around the players around him, and he's saying, I'm a little bit different.

But we need everybody to buy in,

which means that not everybody's buying in.

And by the way, this is what I just said.

The duels, the tackles, leaving something,

that's a prerequisite.

As soon as you cross the line, you should be like,

I don't know if we're going to score today,

but I'm going to win my challenges.

I'm going to put somebody on the ground, and they're going to know they're in a game. Done.
Right? The rest of it, we don't know. And so I just, you know, I think about, I think about is, I like what he's saying.
I'm wondering how much of that is translating into the dressing. Let me give you an example.
When we were, and we played, I think we probably played a hundred times together. there were times where I would call someone to a cord

but Let me give you an example. When we were, and we played, I think we probably played a hundred times together.
There were times where I would call someone to a chord, but players, brothers of mine, who I love dearly, would get their finger this close to my face and say, you ain't performed today. You ain't done good enough.
And because of the personality I had, I stood up, I bowed up, we got to grips with each other, right? But you know what happened? I went back out on the pitch and I thought, that shivered me to my core. I hated that feeling of being called out and letting somebody down.
That will never, ever happen again. But I needed that reminder.
And players that I was around were big enough, bold enough, and strong enough to say that to me. And there's been times you've looked at the classroom at me and said things.
And I thought that hurt because I respect this guy. But leaders, the problem is leaders can't be liked.
If you want to be a leader and be liked, you're in the wrong profession, right? Because I had players yourself, more nasty was Clint and Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley. These are all people that I call friends and brothers.
But you know what? I tell you something. They would prefer to win first and lose my friendship than to keep my friendship and lose a game.
That's a matter of fact. I love Michael Bradley.
He is eternally my brother. But I can tell you this.
He'd give up dinners and wine with me to win. And that's the difference between being a leader and not being.
Let me follow up on that. Our producers found a great quote from Walker Zimmerman.
During the Olympics, he said this to Sam Borden. He believes the biggest thing his younger Olympic teammates will take away is appreciation for representing the USA.
That gives me chills. Something he said has begun to slip with this U.S.
men's player pool. Raw candor from The Veteran.
His quote was, I think to some degree we've gotten away from that and feel like just because we're whoever you are that you just you just can get called in that stuff pisses

me off i think guys need to every time they put on the jersey i don't care how talented you are

you want to play with pride and i think we have the characters to do it but we don't always do

it which is exactly what i said um that's so you know we can be the old men yelling at the cloud

this guy was in the locker room tim he's in the locker room and he's saying it. And again, we're going all over the place.
But I wanted to go back and watch these games and analyze it and get to a point where I'm like, how is Mauricio Pochettino trying to get this team to play? What are they starting to look like? What things are they... And now I'm like, it doesn't matter what we do.
If you don't get that first part right, you have zero chance of competing at a high... You'll win some games because you're more talented and you'll get through it.
But at the highest level, when it really means something to these other teams, you cannot get away with it. It's not sustainable.
And I just... I wonder if in the Gold Cup, Tim, we're going to see some interesting omissions where he just says, ain't good enough.
You, Tim, you have to earn the right to get your next cap. You have to earn your right.
Let me tell you a story. I went to, I was early in my career.
We were playing a gold cup and Bruce, Bruce was our coach. And I was going to, I asked him if I could go come in late because I was going on a vacation trip to Tahiti.
Okay. So I wasn't as fit.
I wasn't whatever, but I came into camp. He plays me.
I think we were playing Haiti. It was in, it was in Miami.
I think it was at the orange bowl. We play in this game and I was shocking,

but at that point I was doing well.

And I just assumed it would be fine.

You know what he did?

He subbed me.

I think it was the only time he ever subbed me on the national team,

subbed me after like 58 minutes.

And he said,

if you ever perform like that again,

you ain't getting called in again.

Don't ever do that again.

And I was like,

okay,

I'm going to think about this next time.

I ain't going on vacation next year. I, you know, and some of these guys need that.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, look, you, you hit the nail on the head with the Walker Zimmerman thing. You, you and I are two old guys who have the number one soccer podcast in America.
That's fine. But guess what? Walker Zimmerman was in the trenches.
When we start talking about like, hey, this is what I think, but I don't know what's happened on the inside. Walker Zimmerman just told us, not just a couple months ago, told us what's happened on the inside.
Now he's not a part of really the setup anymore, but these are the same guys who he was in the dressing room with. And so that was a direct hit.
He didn't have to say that, by the way. There was a whole bunch of other avenues he could went with with Sam Borden about the about the young players yep but he took the opportunity to take a stand and and leave a little bit of a marker on with these guys and so look that obviously is is cause for concern I think it needs to I think it needs to happen soon what I would say about the goal cover is I would I would even I take your point I would even go the other way and here's why.
I look at the lineups and we'll get to the lineups of the Panama game and the Canada game. We're not good enough, Landon.
We've never been good enough. And I don't see a time in the future where we will be good enough to not constantly play your best players.
And you know what? When you need to give a, I hate using this, like a throwaway cap, or I need to see a guy to see if he can perform at this level. You do that after you've had a successful run of like six, seven games.
Okay, now this feels like a lesser opponent. We'll plop a few guys in.
We'll chop and change. But they don't get that right.
The best, you should have your best 11 available. Okay, Anthony Robinson's example.
Wasn't there. Shardino Desk, Desk not there no problem but your best current 11 should be playing back to back to back to back games like the best 11

there shouldn't have been as many changes I'm questioning the manager he might have other

reasons he might have needed to see players I'm simply saying we're not good enough to do that

we've got to figure like our our our goal cup should be our best 11 13 players everybody else

Thank you. simply saying we're not good enough to do that we've got to figure like our our our goal cup should be our best 11 13 players everybody else go sit over there i'll let you know when when it's time for okay there's we're up four nil here's five minutes like we don't we don't have any time we don't like we don't have any time and i was worried about this going into the last world cup i remember saying our best players have not played together whether that be through injury or the club club versus country they haven't played so you get into a world cup and your best players haven't played together this is an issue this is an issue because i said once it's a huge issue once the gold cup comes there's no more measuring stick there's no more opportunity to get the guys together and go huh i wonder how a group of our best players is going to perform in a tournament.
Because normally you'd have Gold Cup, then you'd have World Cup qualifying.

We don't have it.

I'm like, it's a broken record.

So if that doesn't happen, and I know you said about omissions and I get sending a message,

I almost think it's too late to send a message.

We don't have the time.

Right.

Well then, I mean, maybe those just aren't, some of those guys aren't the guy then.

I mean, you have to, as a a coach you have to trust your players you have to trust that they are going to at least give you a seven out of ten and you know that every time they step on the field right maybe they're crap on the ball maybe they can't complete a pass maybe that whatever but you know you're getting this effort maybe you have to be able to do that maybe but i've said've said to you in the past, and I've been very open with this publicly, in America, our best 13 players are our best 13 players. That's it.
If they're not performing, if they don't care, if the crest doesn't mean anything, fine. Put somebody else in, but they're not up to standard.
Now, when you go to Holland, or you go to Spain, or you go to Brazil, and you go, oh, this guy's chucked it in. No problem because I got a striker.
Yeah, he won't play again. Yeah.
I got a striker at Liverpool who's banging goals and knocking down the door. Fine.
We don't have that. So like, I've said this all along, our best 13 players, that's it.
There's a massive decline after you get past that. There is.
So like, yeah, I guess you can send a message and you can play guys who care more but you're gonna lose something somewhere and i just yeah it worries me it worries me i had a really good conversation this morning with someone i respect and i think is the most brilliant football mind in our country and he said two things he said that really resonated with me. He said, like you say, Pep Guardiola's ruined football.
Okay? So every player now, not every player, sorry. There are many players around the world who play in a system that's similar to what Pep does at City.
The problem is they don't have the best players in the world.

Correct.

Okay, so they're trying to play in a certain way,

and they're getting accustomed to playing in a certain way,

but they're not good enough to do it.

Okay?

So if you take, let's take the top five club teams and the top five national teams in the world.

They can do it, should they choose to.

Then you have the other end of the spectrum, the Panamas, right? They're like, we ain't good enough to do that. So we're not going to try.
We're going to be Panama. We're going to be in a 5-4-1.
And I'll tell you what, if you try to come into the box and score, you're going to get your leg broken. Okay.
You score a goal. Great.
Your leg's going to be snapped. And we're going to do that.
And we're going to do that really well. Then you get everybody else in the middle who thinks they're over here and they're the best, but they ain't good enough to do it.
And we fall into that category, right? And so now, and this is not a slight on Greg Berhalter or Pochettino or whatever, it's just the way soccer is going, but we're not good enough to be that, Tim. You know, when we were at our very best, when we got to a quarterfinal in 02 and we sat and defended it, and we had a few guys who could go make plays and we were great at it.
And that's it. And so the identity piece in that way is very real and that's true.
And we need to determine and I think yesterday it should have been determined or three weeks or whatever. This is who we are and this is who we're going to be.
Because when you get against the good teams,

they just do it better than we do.

The other thing he said, and this is so true,

and we've talked about this before,

there are, and I refer to them as captains,

but there are not enough guys on this current team

who are captains for their clubs.

And the way he said it, and this is so good,

is there are not enough guys who are responsible

for the result of their team.

Well said.

Okay?

So, and again,

we can be the old guys, whatever,

and back in our day

and all this crap,

but when we were on the field,

there were guys on the field

all over the field

who if they didn't perform well,

their club team probably lost.

Okay?

If you had a bad game at Everton,

you probably lost. Okay? If Clint Dempsey didn't play well for New England or Fulham or whatever, not great.
If I didn't play well for the Galaxy, we're going to lose. Michael Bradley didn't play well wherever he was.
Bees, everywhere he was. Guys who were responsible for getting a result.
And you know, in a weird way, Diego Luna, even though he's young, if he doesn't play well,

RSL's not as good.

At Charlotte, Ajemang needs to play and play well and they're a better team.

But there's not a lot of guys who fall into that.

So when it's hard

and it's dirty and it's

nasty and whatever,

most of our guys are kind of going,

okay, where's the captain and where's the

Dutch international and where's the French international

who always carries us? We don't have a lot

of that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, okay, where's the captain and where's the Dutch international and where's the French international always carries us. We don't have a lot of that.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I know you're going to take us to break in a second, but look, let me just finish on this. You pointed out the person you spoke to today, the U.S.
identity. There are so many coaches in this country who are a bunch of jokers who continue to tell me, you know, we play between lines.
we connect. Yeah, you can have a profile of how you want to play tactically.
You will never, never convince me that a U.S. team, first and foremost, has to be dominant and nasty and hungry.
The football, great. That can do, that can be amazing.
If we have the football and we don't have the nastiness as a country, when we step on the field, that we'll never, we'll never make it. That's our profile.
People want to get away from that. Now, do you want to get away from that bunker and mentality? Yes, you do.
But you can never get away from the physicality side of the game as a U.S. player.
Cause as you mentioned, we fall into that middle ground where we think we're the best, but we're not quite. All right.
I should have done this at the beginning, but I just, I don't know.

I'm emotional today.

Sorry.

Follow us on social media at unfiltered soccer.

Subscribe to the show, please on YouTube or Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

If you like what we're doing, maybe you hate what we have to say today.

That's fine.

If you like it, follow us, rate us.

You can always email us.

I've got a ton of questions over the last 24 hours. Feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.
All right, let's take a break. This is what we're doing all day.
So if you don't like it, you can turn off, but this is what we're talking about. This is on our minds and this is what's important.
So we will be right back on the other side, continuing to talk about the U S men's national team failure in the CONCACAF Nations League right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always presented by Volkswagen. Stick around.
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
Since 2019, Volkswagen has been on a mission to drive the future of the sport we all love, and VW is committed to making it more diverse, inclusive, and accessible for everyone. They're not just talking about it.
They're out there doing it. VW's partnerships, programs, and soccer clinics are unlocking opportunities for the next generation of players and fans.
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I've seen firsthand how VW are connecting with fans and driving the sport forward. From working with them on clinics to being part of their incredible campaigns, it's clear.
U.S. soccer is truly powered by the people.
Thank you to VW for being our presenting partner. Learn more about how VW are supporting U.S.
soccer at VW.com. Sergeant and Mr.
Smith, you're going to love this house. Bunk beds in a closet? There's no field manual for finding the right home.
But when you do, USAA Homeowners Insurance can help protect it the right way. Restrictions apply.
This episode is brought to you by San Pellegrino.

A meal isn't just

about what's on your plate.

It's about what you bring to the table.

San Pellegrino

believes the table is where the best

of life happens. That's what

makes gathering around it so rich and

rewarding. And with their unique

sparkling natural mineral water,

San Pellegrino brings its best so you can bring yours. Okay, so we had to pause and I had to tell Landon, open the back door, go for a walk, calm down.
I'm so angry. It's just visceral.
I'm trying to figure out why I need therapy. And I think our, well, I do too, but it's not about soccer.
Look, I think our fans and listeners appreciate the passion. I know they do.
We're going to dive into a little bit more of the changes, the personnel, what we saw, what we thought, what we think should happen in the future games, which are obviously vitally important, being the Gold Cup. So let's kind of take a little bit of a deep dive into that.
Yeah, so the first game, so we went, if you remember, Tim, the preview episode, the lineup we thought was going to be the lineup was the lineup minus, I think we had Anthony Robinson in. So Scali played left back in the first game and Moussa played right back against Panama.
I'd said I was fully intending to go re-watch the games, break it down analytically, try to figure out what they're trying to accomplish. But there were plays early in the game where it was like a ball high in the

air.

And I would see a Panamanian midfielder go sprinting towards the ball,

jumping and like literally just putting himself on the line to win a header.

And our guy's kind of backing out and kind of, you know,

turtleneck and what, and I was like, Oh no.

Because once you break the spirit and soul of a team like that, then your talent comes through. Yeah, of course.
That's right. That's a good point.
But you have to earn that. You've said it.
You have to earn that right to play. You have to earn the right to play.
And with Pano, we never did. And they were never threatened.
The expected goals for us was like, it was less than one. It was abysmal.
And it was just, there was never urgency to go make the play. It was like, oh, we'll make the play.
The play will come. And even with the coaching staff, it was like, oh, and in extra time, we'll put on Diego Luna and Gio Reyna.
And it's like, no, but it doesn't happen that way. Right? Like the game can be over in a moment.
And as you said earlier, there's no divine right to win a game. You have to go earn it.
Yeah. And look, when we break down these lineups, we'll talk goalkeeper in a second, right? But I break down these lineups and I'm not really so concerned about Scali and Moussa.
Moussa is a kind of a utility player, right? Which I think hurts him a little bit because he could play as a fullback and in a pinch robinson and desk when healthy lockdown on either side so okay with that right um you know i think chris richards is is our best center back and then you then it's a plus one then who plays alongside him in the best games right for me we're missing our strikers you know we both of our strikers, which, by the way, at the best of times is still a weak spot for us. So we have to have Ricardo Pepe or Flo Balagan healthy and fit.
We don't have that. You know, and ultimately, I think tactically, again, with that jack of all trades, I think Tyler Adams and Weston McKinney have so many good facets to their game that sometimes it's too much here here's what i'm saying there's oftentimes with with our group as an example we were told internally as our group and you'll probably remember this we can't all go out there and give all of ourselves because it's going to be too much it's going to be too robust for the group right they needed a little bit less from me a little bit less from jermaine jones a little bit less from you now we're still going to give 100 but we it's all not going to fit in the box if we're all on a 10 right right and so weston can drive forward we know tyler can tackle and spring forward and they like to get in the box.
I genuinely think you get your best goalkeeper in and your best back four.

And you tell Tyler and Weston,

you're going to sit in a double six and you're going to protect,

you're going to protect,

right?

Because then what that allows is it allows.

And that's when you can use their physicality and their ball winning and

their ability to pass between lines,

because then that allows you to get your,

your four best attacking players on the field.

Right?

Like, in the moment Weston is considered one of the best attacking players but this goes back to my original point we need him to be his best ball winning energetic self do I think he can make a late run in the box if everything is settled behind him sure but I would I would like to see weston and tyler sit as a double six which then allow us to get our best four attacking players on the field that gives giorena a spot on one side that gives way a spot on the other

kristen pulisic it gives him basically a license to roam because he's got two dogs behind him

right so he can vacate the middle of the park he can make a run onto the wing he can go forward with as a double striker he can go help help the midfield but he's got two dogs behind him, right? So he can vacate the middle of the park. He can make a run onto the wing.
He can go forward as a double striker. He can go help the midfielders, but he got two dogs behind him, right? And then ahead of him, you put your best striker, whether that's Ricardo Pepe or, as we said, Flo Balligan.
That makes me think, okay, that excites me. That makes me think we have it.
But again, I need to see that lineup for 10 games in a row. Consistently.
Six games in a row. I mean, look, the goalkeeper is a big talking point.
It was a big talking point going into this set of games. Yeah, we were both shocked, right? To see Matt Turner start.
Yeah, I was shocked because I think the world of both Matt and Zach and I think they are very similar in terms of talent, but they're both, they're, they're different from a talent standpoint, but they could both do a job for you. And the biggest issue, which no one can argue is that Matt hasn't been playing for his club.
Now that's not, people will, people will, and they did this with me at the moments when I wasn't playing, they're going to try and bones out of him go well if he was playing he would have saved this and i don't know that's somewhat circumstantial my my thought is you touched on this earlier if zach stefan is in really good form which he is and he's playing he had a brilliant game leading into this camp for for colorado man of the match i think it was against san jose or something i can't remember and and matt's not playing well we know matt is a really good goalkeeper you don't you don't as as pochettino you don't need to you don't need to see if matt can perform at this level what you need to do put Matt on the bench when he earns his spot right and and he's playing every week then you play for national because there's no question on what that mac turner playing for national team he's played in the world cup so you don't actually have to see if he can perform at that level in fact you reward the guy in zach stefan who's been playing and playing well until the competition heats up. Now, look, I've been told that the goalkeeper, Zach Steffen got sick.
He was, he fell ill before the Canada game, right? And so there's this idea, there's this notion that he wasn't playing against Canada because he fell ill, which is probably right. But the fact of the matter is, from what I'm hearing, there were the the goalkeepers that went into camp there was no discussion of what was going to happen and who was going to play which game and i mean nobody nobody had spoken to them nobody whether that be goalkeeper coach or head coach no nobody had spoken to that that's what i'm hearing because and the reason that's weird is whether i was a senior established goalkeeper or i was one of the young kids every time time I go into camp, either a phone call the week before I came into camp or when I landed and we're in a training session, goalkeeper coach or the manager would say, hey, Tim, I'm thinking about playing in the second game.
Or that was when I was younger. Or, hey, we're thinking about playing someone else in the second game.
To which, by the way, when I knew there was a two-game window and the manager was thinking

about playing another goalkeeper,

you know what I said to him?

I went, no, I'm fit.

I'm fit and ready.

I want to play both games.

I lobbied my case.

And you know how many times

I ended up playing two games?

Because you wanted to give somebody else

an opportunity to play it?

To hell with them.

Yeah.

So it's an interesting one, the goalkeeper.

Yeah, so look,

so the illness doesn't explain the first game. Correct.
Right, why Matt Turner? Whatever. Every coach has their...
Yep, yep, yep. It's their prerogative to choose whoever.
Totally. I'm not even going to ask you because I know how you goalkeepers all protect yourself.
There is zero doubt in my mind of a few things. One, Zach Steffen makes the save for Panama's goal right now.
Zero. Matt Turner, when he's playing in sharp, zero doubt he makes that save.
This is what I'll say about that. If I turn just inside the 18 at that angle and hit that shot and it went in the goal, I would feel like I just robbed a bank.
Okay. Fair, fair.
Great. And I'd celebrate like crazy, but I'd be like, Jesus, I got away with that one.

Period. End of story.
That ball should never,

ever, ever go in the net at a senior

international for a top 20 team in the world.

Zero ever. I love Matt

Turner. This is not personal.
I mean, I was going to say

it's not his fault. It is his fault he's not playing, but

he's got to be playing somewhere and he makes

that save no problem. And I bet you

if he looks in the mirror at night, he'll tell you the same.

Sure. Second thing is

you're trying to wind me up. I know.
I never wind you up. I don't care if you're sick.
What do you mean you're sick? You're sick and you can't play a game as a goalkeeper? Now, maybe it wasn't his choice. Maybe they kept him away.
Maybe they didn't let him play. Whatever it is.
Dude, you're standing in the goal for 90 minutes. You're doing some things.
No, I'm being serious here. It's not like you're running eight miles.
And by the way, and this is not me only, everybody I know played sick all the time. Robbie Keane played through things you can't even imagine.
I watched Clint Dempsey the day before a game

get his toenail

pulled off

with no painkiller.

No, he just sat there like

a man and took it.

I know.

And I saw him take his toenail off and you know what he did

the next day? He played and scored a goal.

So don't tell me because you're sick

you can't play again. I'm like, this is ridiculous.
so i don't know the circumstance i'm i'm i'm giving it context i'm just saying just play like it's a national team dude play the game well here's the thing i i take your point you put him in the game if you're the if you really want to play put him in it's fine you you and i were talking about this uh either last night or earlier this morning and i you brought up the point because i'll give you the example uh you talked about the clean example and we all have them but i'll give you personals but maybe things have changed because of covid you mentioned that to me right like maybe protocols within the team have changed and that and and the only reason that I take that on board is because there were multiple times, particularly in my national team career. Because when I was home and I was living in Manchester and playing Premier League, it was like, I was home, right? And so the manager would always be like, you know, David Moyes, our beloved manager, would be sick on like a Thursday.

He'd send the doctor around and he'd say, doctor would say, yeah, I'll give him meds and, you know, he'll be able to play Saturday, but I can't train Friday. And the guy would say, okay, stay home, but then come to the match.
In the national team, you fly in, you get sick, you get the flu, whatever, stomach bug. I remember having conversations with the physio in our hotels, Landon, and I'd say,

Doc, I, stomach bug. I remember having conversations with the physio in our hotels, Landon, and I'd say, doc, I ain't well.
I need you to call me an antibiotic. I need you to give me something, right? And by the way, I need to be in my room for the next 30 hours, but I'm going to play.
I just need to be by myself in my room for the next 30 hours. Then I'd speak to the manager with the physio and I'd say, Gaffer, I'm good to go.
I'm good to go. But I can't leave my room because I need rest.
I need fluids. I need someone to stop it coming in or out or whatever the heck is going on with my body.
But don't you worry. By game time, we'll have that part figured out.
And yeah, you go in and you play at not at not your a hundred percent best self, but you, you drive yourself over the line. And again, that's not a reflection on Zach Steffen.
I have a feeling that that's probably the new way of, of what, what, you know, COVID left and not only a COVID, but in terms of the protocols and the way we treat the players. And yeah, like you said, you, you naturally will play through anything wouldn't you you would have begged to totally i would have begged i would and by the way you know who begged last time to play was diego luna when he got his nose broken yeah and he said please just please leave me in the game yeah please leave me in yeah but that's why that's why i don't think it's a reflection on on zach stefan i think it's a reflection on protocols and whatever else is going on.
Or maybe it was an easy excuse. Maybe they didn't want to play him.
I don't know. Yeah, yeah, maybe.
I don't know what the… I hope not. Look, okay.
So, there's so many places to go. I want to talk about what? Where do you want to take it? For everywhere.
So we've talked about this problem, right? That we have identified. And I'm to the point now where I am secure that this is a problem.
And it's the passion and the pride to play for your national team. I'm careful with my words.
I'm not saying guys don't care, right? I'm using quotes. They care.
It's a soccer game. It's their profession, whatever.
But there is something more when you're just playing, going through the motions. And I did it plenty of times in my life with my club team where it was a Wednesday and there's an empty stadium and you're like, okay, but you're out there.
It's 90 minutes. You compete the adrenaline, but you're not like, I'm willing to die for this.
Every time, 150 plus times I put on the national team jersey, I was willing to die for it. I was like, this is it.
I appreciate this opportunity. I ain't letting it go.
Never. Okay.
So there is a problem there. Now I'm trying to think, and I did a lot of thinking in the last 24 hours, of how do you remedy the problem and what's the root of the problem?

And in my opinion, I don't have any data on this, but we've talked through some of it. Not a lot of leaders on their club teams, not guys who are responsible for the results.
There's no question generationally, these guys just aren't

as gritty and resilient and used to difficult times. Part of that, and I don't want to open too much of a Pandora's box, but is the way these kids are treated from the time they're eight years old and told how great they are in youth soccer.
Nobody tells them anything they need to hear. And that extends then as professionals to their friends, their family, their agents, the people around them who need to pull them aside after this week and say, hey, that ain't good enough.
And you know Rich Motzkin, my agent. There were so many times, Tim, where I would call him on the way home, and he was at a game, and he'd say, how do you think you played? And I'd go, you know, pretty well.
And he would go, no, you didn't. You're terrible.
And I'd go, really? He goes, yeah, you were terrible. Because the player always thinks it's everyone else's everyone else's fault and you know, they were fine and whatever.
So that is part of it too. And I'm, I'm just calling these people out and you know, agents are a big part of it too.
Like stop kissing your client's ass, tell them what they need to hear. Sometimes tell them that it ain't good enough.
Tell them they don't run the world. Tell them to stop doing stupid stuff off the field.
Right? to hear that. And it's all just a part of this whole system that has created players that are not resilient, not tough, not willing to buckle down when it's really hard.
And it's all part of it. It's not black and white.
There's nuance everywhere, and there's lots of pieces to it, but I've just been trying to dissect what is going on that that kind of effort is what comes out of these teams. Let me piggyback on two things you just said.
I agree with that. I also agree with Pochettino being a very good manager, being from Argentina and having nastiness in him.
I've seen it in his coaching career as a player he was. So I'm sitting here watching these two games, and this wasn't just these two games.
We've seen other. January camp was good, but we know what the January camp is.
And then so you're looking at it. And I'm starting to wonder, like, is there going to be a moment where we see who Pochettino is? Like that ruthlessness, that nastiness, you know, is he still in the, in the valuation period or evaluation period? Excuse me.
Like, because, because so much of what you're saying doesn't feel like Mauricio Pochettino to me. I know what I've witnessed what he is.
I've covered him as a manager. And it's just kind of like, okay, when is that going to come out? Cause this feels a little bit too laid back for what you're saying, right? You're saying like, it does, there's, there's something missing here.
I don't think that he's not seeing that. Like that's what my soccer brain says.
I know he's seeing it. This guy is clever.
He's a very good manager he's been around by the way bigger players nastier players players who down tools he's been around all of it right and so i'm just thinking is there going to be a time and he mentioned it you know in terms of omissions what's how's he going to name the squad what's he going to do in in the gold cup like those big, big questions. So, Tim, you're right.

You're dead on.

It almost seems like he's just analyzing.

You know when there's a big scuffle on the field

and the referee walks away and removes him or herself

and just watches?

It looks like he's just going, okay.

Okay.

And I'll tell you what.

Sorry, I'm cutting in.

No, good.

He made a triple substitution against Canada. He made a triple substitution.
You know who he brought off? Pulisic, McKinney, Tyler Adams. And when it first happened, I was like, oh, he's probably had a conversation with their club teams and they have to get ready.
And then I was like, wait a minute. It's a Sunday.
They don't play again until at least next weekend. And if you don't have an FA Cup game, you have even more time.
And I'm like, oh, okay. Because if you're going to win a game, you're not taking those three off.
If you need a goal to win a game, you're not taking them off. So, yeah, continue.
But I think there's – he's not stupid. The thing that struck me me and this is a big talking point for this segment that triple substitution of holistic way and adams i almost no mckinney and adams sorry sorry holistic mckinney and adams i remember watching it thinking i hear what the because the commentators could see what we couldn't see right they could see who's warming up who's warming up, who's stripped and ready to come on.
And I was like, ain't no way. They must have one or two of these wrong.
Because those are out and out. We don't care if you've watched a team one time.
Those are the best three players we have in America, right? And so I'm thinking, there's no way. And then I'm looking at the score i think they were i think they were down a goal or it was even yeah they were down we were down and i'm thinking you're chasing the game and and and our producer can correct me if i'm wrong i think what minute of the game was it like 60s 65 or 70 right so i'm like there's a lot of game left here by the way i can't like i think of it i always put myself in those shoes and i like, if I was on the pitch and I saw your number come up, Clint Dempsey's number come up, and Michael Bradley's number come up in a game that we're chasing, I'd be like, no, something's going on here.
There's no way. And then, by the way, to the point of this entire podcast, I wouldn't have even been able to focus on the game because I'd have been looking at who who does clint dempsey have a grip of who is michael bradley kicking on the sideline because that wouldn't have went over very well you know what i mean like i just thought that's an impossibility and to your point these guys don't play again anytime soon the sub was in the 69th minute and and never mind when they play by the way this is the whole concept of playing for the crest who cares about your club like pochettino should be trying to win the game which i know he was right and that's why he made the substitution but i'm looking at thinking this is the strangest substitution in a competitive game that i've seen in a long time and what was the basis of it bruce used to say bruce rini say to us a coach shouldn't have to coach effort yeah correct and i was like it's like it's such a bruce comment but it's so true like you shouldn't have to coach that that should be easy yeah can we talk real quick um geo got called into camp yeah so that mariso and the staff could see him i feel like i always pick on this kid.
But he barely played. Yeah, I know.
He barely played over two. And Mauricio Pochettino said he's not fit enough to play in the way we want to play, which you had to know because he's not been playing games, right? There has to be more going on, man, because at least you would have given him 45, 60, 90 minutes just to see what he's about.
And there's so many coaches, Tim, now that have not played him. Everywhere he's been.
I just want more for this kid. I do.
And I'm just disappointed every time. Because he's so special.
I mean, look, the one thing, again, I'll always, if you ever have questions or comments, send them in. If you ever read something and you're like, I can't figure this out.
I'm the figured out guru. Let me tell you because I can read between lines.
Just so you know, and Landon said, goalkeepers, we don't do much. That's true.
We don't. But we can keep ourselves fit.
Any other soccer player, any other player, if you're fit, you are fit. What it takes to play in a position like you did, Landon, or anywhere else on the field, essentially, you have to be able to run between 10 and 11K, and a certain percentage of that needs to be high-intensity sprints.
That's not positional. That's every player.
So when a manager says he's not fit to play in this, you can pick 20 different tactical styles. The fitness level is the exact same.
So you either are fit to run and to play and to jump and to kick, or you're not fit. So again, I don't even know what that means, what I'm saying.
I saying i'm just saying in in general marissa pochettino when he says that just for our audience a player is either fit or they're not that there is it's a myth it's a myth for someone to say he's not fit to play in our style yeah so there's that but what i would say is i don't quite know matt turner's not playing right and he he got to start i don't know of i don't know of a professional player right because you said he didn't play much our producers will tell us exactly how many minutes he played over the course of two games but what i would say to you what i would argue to you is is he fit enough to play two times 90 minutes if you want to argue no no i'll accept that i'm saying if you if you're a professional football player and you have a contract as a professional yeah you are fit enough to it and you're not injured you're fit enough to at least play 50 60 minutes over the course of two games minimum minimum of one half okay minimum bare minimum so so i think you know the selection disappoints me like geo doesn doesn't disappoint me, but I'm disappointed in the fact that he, if we're giving players opportunity to play and the prerequisite isn't you have to be playing for your club to play for this national team, then I'm disappointed that we didn't see him. Me too.
Yeah. Me too.
Because otherwise bring someone who you can put in and who can be effective. Because otherwise, I mean, look, let's just hope there's a bigger… But Gio, very much like his father, and he'll probably hate the comparisons because he always gets compared to his father, very much like his father, has a nasty streak in him.
And we saw that. And that's kind of what we've been talking about, you and I, this episode.
When he came on, right, and I spoke about it earlier, he's laid into one of those players on the sideline, got past him, took his knee off, and then started this confrontation, this kerfuffle of sorts. That's what we wanted to see.
The problem is it was in the 91st minute. I know, I know.
We didn't want to waste three minutes of time. It's a massive problem.
It's a massive problem. What's the problem? But, but he, but, but you know,

this is,

but yeah,

fair enough.

He's super talented.

He played 21 minutes over the last two games.

Um,

you know,

just in the Canada,

just in the Canada game.

So like,

he's got talent.

He's got a nasty streak to him.

But why is it?

I'm not sure why he's not playing.

All right,

let's take a break.

We have lots and lots and lots of comments,

questions, feedback,

and we will get to it in the AT&T fan connection

on the other side.

Maybe won't even do anything but soccer

just so we can get more questions

and you guys had a lot to say.

So we'll be right back

right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim,

as always presented by our friends at Volkswagen.

Stick around.

I think you're on mute.

Workday's starting to sound the same.

I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn.
With LinkedIn Job Collections, you can browse curated collections by relevant industries and benefits, like FlexPTO or hybrid workplaces, so you can find the right job for you. Get started at linkedin.com slash jobs.
Finding where you fit. LinkedIn knows how.
Roll baller Lonzo ball for buzz balls. Ready to go cocktails.
Take 12. Buzz balls just dropped their biggest blue balls.
Script says biggies blue balls Lonzo. Take 13.
Blue balls just dropped their biggest buzz balls. Let's try a vocal exercise.
Buzz balls, biggies, blue balls, buzzballs, biggies, blueballs. Big balls just drop.
Get blue balls this season with Buzzballs. Please be responsibly.
Buzzballs available on Spirit Wine and Malt. 15% alcohol by volume.
Buzzballs LLC, Carrollton, Texas. At the Hyundai Getaway Sales event, get deals so right, it almost feels wrong.
Now's the best time to get that Hyundai you've always wanted. Plus, every new Hyundai comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of limited complimentary maintenance.
Don't think you can get away with all that? Think again. The Hyundai Getaway Sales Event.
Visit your local Hyundai dealer today. It's a great day for a new Hyundai.
It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. 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. is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love at AT&T connecting changes everything.

And on USLNT,

our connections with you will help grow the game.

It is time LD,

the AT&T fan connection.

One of our favorite times of the week,

because we get to talk a lot of stuff,

nonsense or otherwise. And then our wonderful fans get to write into us,

comment questions and concerns.

And we get,

boy,

did they have a lot to say, have at it. And you know, Jordan, welcome.
Your favorite time of the week too. What kind of heat you got? A little AS Roma? Oh, yeah.
I had to. I couldn't stop myself.
It's a third kit from like 99, 2000. I just like the sleeves.
The wolves, yeah. It's crazy.
Plus, it's one of the few ones I have with a name and number on the back.

Who's on it?

He's on it.

Totti.

It better be.

Numero D.H.

Francesco.

It better be.

There's no other.

What a legend.

All right.

Wait.

Really quick.

Yes.

When Michael Bradley was playing for Roma, I called him and I said, Mike, can you get

me a Totti jersey?

No, you didn't.

Bro.

Bro.

The next camp, he comes in with a signed Tati jersey for no way that's amazing anyway keep going alright as you mentioned we've got quite a number of comments and questions for you guys so let's dive into some of the things you've already talked about about to see if we can expand on some of them a little bit. I know you guys talked about a tweet that Landon put out.
Somebody commented and said, Landon, how are you not allowed to go into a USMNT locker room and to tell them to their face? It would be great to see the past USMNT go and check on these guys. Well, to be honest, one of my, I don't know if concerns is the right word, but I have been thinking about with Pochettino and his staff, there are no Americans and this is not a xenophobic thing.
You need to have context around the American player, the American system, MLS. I think that's very, very, very valuable.
There are, this is not a self-promoting, but there are many of us who would love that opportunity to honestly, to speak to them. Having Clint Dempsey walk in and be a part of your staff and talk to you after performance like that is, I think, infinitely probably as valuable or maybe more valuable than hearing from your head coach.
We've talked a lot about how players hold players accountable more than coaches do. I think that would be really powerful.
So I would certainly not hold back if I was in that environment. But to that point, I think you can get ahead of that.
So you say it before the Panama game. These guys have played in some of these games, but not a lot of them.
And say, this is what this game is going to look like. You can throw the soccer out the window for 20, 30 minutes, and this is how you have to perform.
This is how you have to compete. If you don't, we might lose today.
If you do, we're going to win. And that's powerful.
But do you not think that there's a flaw in the hiring process if as a U.S. Soccer Federation, you pay $5, $6 million a year for Pochettino and okay yeah he can bring a staff but you've got to be able at some point to mandate that look we have to have an American not for the sake of having an American but there has to be some sort of connectivity to I would just say Tim too it doesn't even have to be well it should be American it doesn't have to be American but somebody who understands what what that environment in conca calf and all that is like so we actually have a sorry before you go on we actually have another question from mike the email who said my question is about having an american coaching the u.s men's national team after the panama game a lot of fans were questioning whether or not pochettino is all in on the u.s job i know also like just as an aside there was a lot of conversation because I think he went on TalkSport and was talking about wanting someday to go back and coach in the Premier League.
And so maybe that's where that is coming from a little bit. But he just said, Mike's asking, do you think it's important for the coach to have American skin in the game? I think Pochettino's all-in.
it's nice if you get settled here and have roots, but I do think Pochettino is all in, absolutely. And look, going back to having an American on staff or in the camp, not just a single camp, but in the camp, it has to be someone who is committed and dialed into the team because you have to be able to suffer day to day with the team this concept like by the way these these current players as we were they don't give a good goddamn about me walking into a dress room and telling them what i think and pontificate and in fact most of them hate what i say on this podcast because nobody wants to i didn't want want to be criticized.
I didn't like it. Well, to your point, unless you have skin in the game, right? We have emotional skin in the game, but someone who is there on staff, I'm not saying walk in once in a while and go speak.
Someone who is there on staff who understands what all these battles are like, I think is highly valuable. And yes, Tim, to your point, that should absolutely be a mandate from U.S.
soccer that, look, you can bring your staff up, but here's this one man or woman who's been through this, and they're going to be a part of your staff too. Or here's five of them.
You interview them and you choose one. Yeah.
Right? It's a miss. I remember, I always remember, because i i remember like looking up to some of these giant european players but you remember when oliver bierhoff was part of the german setup where he was like a manager he was like a go-between like yeah it was a manager general manager or something yeah and i think we tried that didn't we with with was it with brian mcbride or with it wasn't ernie stewart but we tried it with some but for whatever reason, that's gone out of the game.
But like, to your point, on the point of the question, like there has to be somebody in U.S. soccer on the general manager level, the day-to-day that's in, and maybe that's, you know, maybe that's Oguchi Onyewu.
You know, I know there's some people there, but there really has a real influence. No, but it has to be in camp with skin in the game.
It has to be. In the dressing room.
It has context. Because we're talking about it, but we don't know if Zach Steffen really was sick or not.
We're guessing, right? So you need to be there and be like, hey, Mauricio, we know Zach's sick. Put him in his room for 30 hours.
He's going to be fine. Play him.
You know what I mean? So like, yeah.

We have a question from someone else called Zach via email.

And he said,

Zach S.

This speaks, I think, to kind of the overall feeling of this episode.

Zach said,

The U.S. men's national team has seemed to lack fight and pride in some of the recent international windows.

Do you think this issue falls more on the manager or the players?

Are there any players you would like to see called into camp over the next year who might be able to help remedy this and bring some intensity back to the team? Right now it falls on the players. Yeah.
If this continues, then it falls on the manager. so the manager and the staff Pochettino and his staff now have decisions to make important decisions for the gold cup and it doesn't have to be in the roster selection but in who's playing in that first game you're damn right and it better be guys who are really committed and really willing to go to war.
And I think he's given them grace and he's given them opportunities, but now he's got to say, okay, I need to know the guys who are willing to do it. And I, and I got to see it.
It always falls on the players. And here's why I'm talking specifically with your country.
You don't get to play for your country very often. You get to play for your country 10 days out of every year.
Okay? When, if you're talking about the mundane of playing in the Premier League and then a cup game in the midweek and then another game, and then you're like, oh, it's dark and it's dreary. It rains every day.
Maybe the manager, every now and again, you need a swift kick up the backside. Sure.
Yeah, absolutely. I always believe a player should be self-motivated.
Certainly the leadership core should motivate the group. But when you play for your country, it has nothing to do with the manager.
You have to envision a scenario of, holy heck, we don't know where the manager is, but we're kicking off in two hours. You go to that game without your manager, it doesn't change anything.
Yeah, you're right. It doesn't change how… It wouldn't change a damn thing.
It wouldn't change your mentality. It has nothing to do… Your manager can't save you when you walk across the lines.
Only the 11 guys that are on the field can give that effort.

It's amazing to me that we are talking about effort.

And not just us, because apparently fans of the show and the fans of the U.S. Men's National Team are also talking about it.

So people are seeing it.

And that's a crime.

It really is.

I'm also curious, since you're talking about managers and what a manager does for the game, what do you think it did for the Canadian players to see Jesse Marsh get red carded? Jesse's got a real buy-in. Jesse's got a real buy-in from that group.
Jesse's a good manager. He is one of the most stand-up human beings that i've ever met and he in that group you know whatever whatever they're cooking over there they they look at the u.s and and we are we are their number one target and they play like it they perform like it um even jesse with you know jesse's very calculated.
I'm not surprised. I'm sure he didn't want to be sent off, but he knows how to motivate his team.
And fair play. Hats off to Jesse Marshall and the Canadian team.
And not just for this game, the way they've been going over the last year or so. We had a comment on Instagram where someone mentioned about the order of the games for the semifinals.

They said, what other federation has their team play as the opening act of their biggest rival?

That's so true.

Who asked that question?

We didn't capture what the person, sorry to whoever the person was.

Incredible question.

Incredible question.

I mean, think about, because landon was quick to

correct and say like it's not on us sorry it's on concacaf and i agree can we for a second like stop it like we're 12 months away almost from a world cup we're showcasing our nation totally this is this is the concacaf nations league in one of the biggest cities in america did you watch the game? Like, how can FIFA or CONCACAF or US or whomever, how can they live with this? How can they be okay with this? Because, by the way, we're showcasing what America can do. It's what we do best.
No one puts on live sporting events like we do, dot, dot, dot, until it comes to the Nations League. Like, it's crazy.
It's a great question. I'm sure they'll they'll post and i know so far by the way i've been there for the super bowl it's huge i get it it's freaking ginormous and i'm sure they'll post numbers that say there was i don't know one of our producers can get us a number i'm sure it'll be there was 35 000 people there no i guess they have the same counter as the New England revolution don't start the revs fans

the rev fans

we're already

trying to give

them a week off

I think every week

we gotta bring that

in somehow to the

show

yeah it was

it's a CONCACAF

deal so it's

but like I said

earlier

have conversations

and say guys

we gotta

or don't play

it at SoFi

fine

play it somewhere

else

yeah but again

okay Landon you said that US soccer we let US soccer off took a little bit, but I'm also saying, hang on. It's a CONCACAF thing.
If it's in Jamaica, it's like, oh, it's in Jamaica. That's your fault.
This is U.S. soccer's problem.
No, no, no. I said that.
I mean, I said, if you're U.S. soccer, you got to have that.
And by the way, we're not playing at 3.30. We're playing at 7.30.
That's for sure. By the way, I do know too, you had to buy one ticket for both games.
So if 100 was the lowest ticket price, that was supposedly for both games, but it was trying to get people to buy for both games, but they didn't buy for the American game. Okay.
One last question, guys. This one was a long one, but I feel like I can pretty much get to the point quickly.
This is from Eric via email. Could you guys give your unfiltered thoughts? I will answer for them.
Yes, they can. On what the Gold Cup really means at this point.
Well, yeah, okay, I'll go first. So as I'm thinking about this episode, this could change, but I don't think it will.
I'm going to be, I think I got really excited about the Nations League. I did.
I'm going to be far more calculated and pessimistic is not the right word, but I think this group, this group needs to show everyone more. and so I think I'm going to be slightly more calculated as we build up to

the Gold Cup and the preview of what that looks like. Because, yeah, I think it's a must win.
A must win because I, again, it's the same thing I continue to say. This group needs to be together in a tournament format where it really, really matters, playing every three or four days, and they need to win.
This is their last opportunity to do that before they go into the World Cup, which is all the things I just said. So for me, I think it's incredibly important.
Incredibly important. I think you need to see six wins.
I think you need to see a couple of them where they dig in. You need to see three or four wins that are emphatic, and then they need to win.
I'm going to hope for what I was hoping for against Canada, which was terrible performance against Panama. And I even, in our group text, I said, I don't know what's going to happen, but I think it's going to be a great game because Canada lost to Mexico.
They hate our guts. Our guys just got beat by Panama.
So our guys are going to be like livid and cannot wait to get on the field and kick someone. And then they didn't do it.
They didn't do any of it. Canada held up their part of the bargain.
We didn't. I hope that we get into camp and the coaching staff has learned a lot from it and the tone is set very quickly.
And more than that, I hope the players now leading into the camp, when they get into the pre-camp against Turkey and whoever else they play, I hope they sit together and say, guys, that was shit. And we owe our country more than that.
We do. If we're going to wear this jersey, it's got to be more.
Forget about

the coaches. Like, Christian,

you're a leader. Tyler, you're a leader.

Weston, you're a leader. Tim Ream, if you're there.

Matt Turner,

this ain't good enough, guys.

And let's make it right.

Here's why I like you, because you

forgot that George W. Bush

said, there's an old saying in Texas,

fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice.
Can't fool me again. Can't fool me again.
Well, we've been fooled. We've been fooled because here's why, Landon.
I agree. The Panama game should have been a slap in the face.
Ain't going to happen against Canada. Guess what? It happened.
So now what you're saying is, okay, this group needs to take a hard look in the mirror and come out fighting well guess what i remember a couple guys getting sent off not having accountability manager gets sacked remember you remember all the post-game interviews when uh when uh when greg burholzer got sacked it's on uh it's accountability we ain't seen that what have we seen what have we seen from this group that tells group that tells you they're going to hold each other to a court? We haven't. Now we haven't.
So this is why I'm saying That's why I said I hope. I know.
I know. I know what would have happened to your Everton teams.
I know that. This is not a soccer podcast unless somebody says it's the hope that kills you.
So be real careful with that. These poor people are just turning into the national team for the first time.
I'm going to be optimistic, Tim. You weren't today, but I'll hold you to it.
I'm so mad, dude. I'm so...
Why do I care so much? I should just go golf. Why don't I just golf? You do both.
You care and you golf a lot. I love golfing.

All right. I do think though, it's like I, as a fan, I take a lot of comfort in that because like one of the things that makes me really crazy.
And I think we got a comment like this somewhere on our socials is someone saying I support the U.S. men's national team, whether they win or lose.
And my response to that is,

why are you making it sound like

criticizing the team after a lot,

two losses,

is not supporting the team?

Like, we're upset because we care.

Right, exactly.

Otherwise, you'd just be like,

ha ha, you lost.

Yeah, 100%.

Right.

All right.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, JR.

All right, Tim. That was, I wish I could say it was fun.
It was interesting. Let's hope next time we're dissecting U.S.
soccer, U.S. men's national team games, that it's much more pleasant.
Yeah. I do enjoy, however, hanging out with you, Tim, and with all you guys listening, so thank you.
We appreciate all your support. Remember, please subscribe on YouTube,

Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

wherever you get your podcasts and follow us across all social media

for a lot more bonus content.

Yeah, so much love to our fans and our listeners.

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW

and our Fan Connection sponsor, AT&T.

Have an amazing week.

Look forward to getting back with you next Tuesday

with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.