Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes

Messi should have never been playing in this game, period. Because of what happened last week.
He gets a yellow card right at the end for dissent. Then he walks over and grabs the neck of one of the NYCFC assistants.
He got fined, which I don't know what the exact rule is, but you can't put your hand on someone on an assistant's neck. 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.
Yeah, baby, we are back, LD. It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks.
We've been traveling, doing all sorts of crazy stuff. You were in England, weren't you? I was.
I was in England. You saw that new stadium.
I was in England. You know what I did? I went to the Tottenham Hotspur game against City, and I went i went with my dear friend my good mate lyle hardy who's a legendary world famous tattoo artist in london and uh yeah i was like there's not many people i would like go and sit in the terraces and in the stands with i mean i saw that video you're in like you're with the people i went to be i'm a man of the people so i was like lyle if like do you have an extra ticket for the city games like yep let's go so went yeah dude climb the stairs at the new stadium i mean spurs stadium's awesome yeah i've been actually you went that place is sick how was the everton stadium oh dude it was majestic so like i went over i interviewed uh david moise and jordan pickford for a piece on plp and um they they they were like you want a private tour the stadium like yes i want absolutely it was incredible like literally uh you know they had a group of people there with me who i who i've known at the club and like it was unbelievable it was the first time ld that i was like it's going to be sad leaving goodness and everybody's going to feel that but i remember standing outside and then standing at the center circle and walking on the terrace and I was like, it's going to be sad, leaving goodness, and everybody's going to feel that.
But I remember standing outside and then standing at the center circle and walking on the terrace, and I was like, this is actually a stadium we can be really proud of. And I think a lot of the supporters felt the same way as they've also toured the stadium.
So yeah, I'm super stoked, man. What have you been up to? I was in New York, actually, in your hood for just a day or two doing an appearance.

And then back, been doing a little bit of travel, but chill weekend with the family.

My son's team there, it's insane.

My son's soccer team has, they have a kid on their team, Tim.

Like, you know this because you were watching your daughter play, and I don't know if your son played.

But they have a kid on their team. He plays like a professional and what I mean, and he's there's seven years old.
So I watch him play and like he moves and he sees passes and he anticipate like a pro does. And you don't see that with kids, right? They're just kind of out there doing their thing.
Totally. And every time I watch this kid, I'm like, dude, if the, and he's he's physically his dad i think was on the verge of being like an mls player and so and he's physically really good too he just dominates i mean he must be by far the best seven-year-old in the country and i'm just every time i watch him this kid is insane so they played in state cup they just dominated everyone one state cup they were like whatever not that matters.
But this kid is so fun to watch. And you were, which is amazing, especially at that age.
And you were in New York, in my hood, doing Tim Howard things. Did you? Someone said they saw you at Bang Bang Tattoo Studio.
What were you doing there? Cannot confirm or deny I was there. But you might have been there.
No, I got a tattoo. I got a tattoo that's symbolic of my kids.
Oh symbolic of my kids oh I love that some point will show it's actually not done yet because it took 10 hours to do half of it so oh you went you went deep bro that's crazy a while he was so good the guy was so good and so detailed so it's amazing time yeah I mean you know it's one of those in the moment you're like dude can I just get out of here and then after you're like thank god he took his his time. Totally.
Oh, I'm at the point now where I'm super heavily tattooed where I tap out after like two hours. I'm like, I'm bored of this.
This isn't fun anymore. All right, let's get on to it.
Make sure to follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods.
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And we appreciate that. Also, I had a family member, I'm not going to out this person yesterday, said to me, you know, if I wanted to submit a question to your podcast, how would I do that? And I said, first of all, you're listening to the podcast.
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All right, let's get right into it. MLS this weekend.
Yeah, there was a lot. So it's, it's classic, like two weeks in, everyone's overreacting to everything um first we had chicago fire dc united greg berhalter um not the perfect start he will get it right eventually but i don't know if you saw there was a goal i saw at the end of the game this bike at the end of the game off a corner kick jacob morrell um if you didn't know who he is now you're gonna going to know.
Go Google it. This is an insane goal.
The way the ball was coming and the ability just to make contact would have been difficult. And he looped it into the back post.
Phenomenal goal. I'm guessing it could be goal of the year after week two.
But what a phenomenal goal. I mean, the timing of it i mean big shout out to jacob morel i i was watching and thinking that's i i'm thinking shirt off into the stands like go crazy it was especially because it was an equalizer as well it's not like his team was just i mean that would have been a brilliant goal no matter what i mean a proper bicycle kick he meant every ounce of it like sweet contact let the goalkeeper no chance it was uh yeah massive massive shout out to jacob morel all right time for me to eat a little bit of crow so i said philly why are you hiring a former red bull coach yeah looks like it's working out well so the first two games they beat orlando 4-2 now they beat cincy 4-1 so scoring goals clearly not an issue again we're gonna overreact uh but damn they look good they've got a lot of good pieces as well like i i think you know i think your your take on it was probably in the preseason accurate because you just don't know um you know what are all the moves that they make the right ones are they gonna gel they they look really i mean baribo by the way what a player you have to have a goal scorer in this league and he just looks bang on it man like he yes he's scoring the goals but he's also like dangerous and hungry and like i'm like wow he's a really really good player but again they've got good pieces around with sullivan on the wing um there's just some there's a good makeup of this team that feels right and and look, I think when you score goals like that and back-to-back games, there's not a coincidence to it.
Yeah, teams are a little bit more sloppy in the beginning of the season, but they're knocking on the door often when they have the ball. There are times of the season where you score four or five and you're like, okay, everything went in.
But when you do it back-to-back games early, you're like, okay, there's something right here. So they're good.
All right, so shame on every club who passed on Bruce Arena over the past 12 to 15 months. Again, overreaction Monday here.
Bruce is getting it right. They went to Kansas City in 1-2-1.
They were down, I think, 10 men for like 30 minutes or so but grinded out a result um they look good man they look good joseph martinez and

and arango look good together they got christian espinoza playing as a right wing back that's working out well for him they're good defensively so yeah i'm with you on the bruce arena hot takes man you just like you look at the team and they're so scary in the attack like i look at that front

four hot takes man it just like you look at the team and they're so scary in the attack like i look at that front four and i'm like man goals can come from anywhere they're playing between lines as you said like the wingbacks fullbacks are getting forward and it's just a you know it's just a a reminder to everybody if you give a good football manager the right pieces, you'll get performances. Like, forget formations and, like, style of play.
Like, stop with all that. There's so many ways to win a football match.
And if you get a good manager, the right players, top quality players, you're going to win games. And that's what Bruce Serena does.
So, hats off to San Jose. They look really good.
I was having this conversation with someone the other day. And it's the same with David Moyes, right? And obviously, we're biased because we love both of them.
But the most important thing is people are like, oh, change the formation and move this guy here. And it's about having principles.
And your principles can be physical and on the field and tactical. They can be how you treat people, how you get the players to play, but you have to have core principles that you stand by, that you believe in and you stick with.
And when you vary is when you see problems. David Moyes is a principled man and he's principled in how he plays and sets up a team.
Bruce Arena is the same way. So you know what you're getting.
There's zero ambiguity, zero. So they don't have to worry.
What do I feel? Where am I at? They're going to tell you, you know, you're not starting today. Here's why you're starting today's zero ambiguity zero so they don't have to worry what do i feel where am i at they're gonna tell you you know you're not starting today here's why you're starting today if you do well you're gonna play next week and there's no bs they just get it done and it's starting to come to fruition and for san jose it's been a great start looks good they've been great um and you said give player give a manager players but bruce went out and brought in all those yeah right so like you have to give it yeah yeah no i know but like a lot of coaches have someone above them doing that but he just said no no this is how we do it um okay let's get into the not so good from the weekend one right here in my backyard that we'll get to and one on the other side of the country new england you sent a picture tim to our text that was a you watching the-New England game.
And, I mean, it looks like a preseason game in the middle of nowhere. There might have been, I think I was trying to count, there might have been 200 people on one side of the stadium that I can count.
On the shot that I sent. This was home in New England.
And it's not good. I mean, the team is poor.
They look all out of sorts. And then when you see what's going on in the stadium yeah i don't i i don't know what's going on there man well i sent you that because i was like they okay let's they announced the announced the attendance and i'm using air quotes at 22,274 so 22,000 people oh sure if they're gonna announce that we're gonna go with that for a second but i mean you saw what i saw like you you read things online like it's cold you know what you know where else is cold buffalo everywhere the buffalo you ever heard of buffalo bills let me tell you something like number one number two it show show me a football fan in the.
You can't stop them from going to their team's home opener. That's the one game that they're so desperate for all season.
And New England fans, who, by the way, live in that weather, are going to say it's because of the temps. Honestly, Lennon, I looked at it, and I remember MLS 1.0 because I was a product of that.
And I'm there playing for the Metro Stars in the old Giants Stadium, and it looked exactly the same. To your point, you can count to 200 and see how many people in the stands.
Like, man, New England, show up and show out because that's not great. Look, there look there's nuance here right robert craft along with phil and shoots and the hunt family kept major league soccer afloat for a long time and they deserve credit for that but now we're 30 years in and the stadium is an hour from downtown there's nobody there they're playing on turf that they don't spend on the team uh it's just a nightmare yeah it's a nightmare and and by the way and this is not to harp on the bruce arena stuff but you had a really damn good coach who had started to turn things around there and you didn't stand by him through a tough situation he ended up getting let go and it's just a mess man it man.
It's a mess. And it's hard to watch.

And when you watch all these other games and people are lined up and we'll get San Diego,

you know, tailgating for hours ahead of time, filling up the stadium.

And then you see that and you're like, what the hell are we doing, man?

Totally.

That cannot be allowed to continue.

Yep.

Something's got it.

Something should change.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's move on.

Late night, Saturday night, MLS after dark, San Diegoc with their first ever home match against st louis city um snapdragon very cool stadium coach there been there um it's still desolate around the outside so people who show up there it's a long process to get you know trees and make it look but in the stadium it's beautiful yeah and it was a tough night for them um the game was shocking i think the total xg between the two was just over one or maybe one and a half um 30 minutes in chucky lozano goes out with a hamstring injury which is just a disaster and then the real ugly in the second half there was a um every time saint louis not every, but multiple times when St. Louis goalkeeper was taking goal kicks, this traditional, it's either Mexican or Latin in origin.
And they use a really nasty word in Spanish that I'm not going to repeat here. Um, and it happened once happened again, happened a third time to the point where they had to put up on the big screen, listen, stop this is not acceptable and i i'm not sure really where to go with this except that san diego has to be better and like this community tim i i know i live here now for 10 years is probably the most accepting community i've ever lived in right if you go along coast, you got surfer bros, skateboarders, whatever.

You go inland, you have families.

And you go North County, and there's more affluent wealth.

You go into downtown, there's more hipster, liberal.

You go south, it's like the whole Mexican vibe.

And you get near the border, and it's really cool.

You go east and inland, and you get more rural America.

And everybody loves each other.

And there's no hatred here. And it doesn't happen.
It really doesn really doesn't everywhere you go people are just happy because they love San Diego it's an amazing place to live and then the first home opener ever for an MLS team and this happens and credit to San Diego Sea obviously they denounced it quickly but this was really nasty it was really ugly to see yeah so I mean obviously your take on living there is such a poignant one. You know, I look, San Diego's head coach and sporting director both condemned.
It's a homophobic chant and slur and they condemned it. Um, look, what I would say, anybody who knows me knows I don't, I don't put up with any of that crap.
Like I am. I, none of those things should things should be said.
I don't like it. What I would say is my hope is, and I like that the sporting director and the head coach came out and condemned their own fans for the homophobic slur.
My hope is that moving forward, what happened was a group of fans got overzealous, and it was the first home game, and they were trying to, in their own way, albeit wrong, create this San Diego atmosphere-style thing, and they got it completely and utterly wrong. And I pray moving forward that in the second home game, in the third and the fourth and beyond, that that doesn't get mentioned again.
If it does, obviously, San Diego is going to have a problem and they're going to need to fix it. So let's just leave that there.
And hopefully it stays there. So here's how it stops immediately.
Chucky Lozano comes out during the week. He is a Mexican legend, idol.
During the week, social media, before the next home game. He's on the microphone, not acceptable.
Don't do it. I promise you it won't happen again.
So I'm going to urge him to do so because they love him. They idolize him and that would help it go away quickly.
Good point. Let's move up to your team, LA galaxy lost to Vancouver.
Yeah. Two one.
How are you feeling? I have to say, Tim, I'm not surprised, and I think this is going to continue for a while. This is why.
So before the final last year, I was really taking a deep dive, and I know we make fun of it with the Ricky Pooch stuff here, but he is not only their best player, he is their most impactful player in everything they do. Okay.
So every time they build, everybody is trying to find him wherever they can. And he is always going to get the ball.
Now that's a good and a bad, right? Because when he's on the field, you win an MLS cup. He's not on the field.
How do you adjust? And so this is, there, there, there are a lot of analogies I can use here. A little bit like when Michael Jordan, right? Like you get in a pinch, just give the ball, Jordan, get out of the way.
He's going to make a play when he's not on the court. Okay.
Now you actually have to play and you have to, you know, the triangle that was built by Tex Winter and Phil Jackson, you have to actually execute now. And it's a lot harder when you have a guy who's a cheat code and can get you out of problems really helps you.
But I anticipated and using or losing Jovalich, a big one, Paintsal being injured starts. So these are big, big misses.
I think long-term they will be fine. Sure.
They just need to get in the playoffs. They can go anywhere and beat anyone with Ricky Pooj if they get a striker who's effective, which they might do in the summer window.
And then from there, they'll be fine. But early on, they are going to struggle.
I mean, they're just, they're an average MLS team right now. They are.
That's just the reality. No, I give you that.
And I think the interesting thing for our listeners is like, when you have, you just mentioned it there, when you have someone so dominant who has a cheat code, you give them the ball, right? And it's like in anything else, and I've been on these teams, players are so dominant. And even in a leadership role, there are some times where I can remember there being such strong leaders that you're like, I don't have to say anything or do anything.

Like, this is going to take care of themselves.

Boom.

They get a long-term injury or they get submitted.

Now you turn up at the game and you're in the dressing room and no one's talking. And you're like, you know why? Because this guy did everything for us.
And it's the same thing on pitch. I get into trouble.
My back's going, I don't know what they're. I know my mates around the corner.
I just played to him. He'll sort it out.
And by the way, he's got two people on him. I'll still give him the ball.
And so when that happens, it's hard one to replace, to replace that person with a, a like for like. It's impossible.
And I'm a, it's impossible. Right.
It's impossible. But it's also, then you're, you're now asking other players to take more responsibility when they're like, wait a minute, I'm not taking responsibility.
I just give him the ball. You know what I mean? It's a different dynamic.
They'll get it right. The galaxy will get it right, but obviously slow start.
It's also in the dressing room too, Tim, to your point. So from coaching, I learned this.
If you add one new player to a team, the whole dynamic of the dressing room can change. You take one player away who's not on the field or who's gone or whatever.
The whole dynamic changed. Like different people take different roles.
Some people step up. Some people shy away.
So there's going to to be a there's going to be an adjustment i know greg vanney will get it right he's bright and they'll figure it out yep okay now to your well not team you played for but team you're part of now funny how our producers did that back to back but your team they're not stupid are they okay so houston dynamo um i'm gonna lead this and then i want to hear your thoughts and i'm sure everyone wants to hear yours more than mine because you're part of this so houston dynamo put out a message on saturday that said you know we welcome inner miami on the report for who's available leonel messi was not included he will not be traveling to houston will not be playing in the game he didn't play in the game i'm going walk through the whole thing first, and then we'll get into it. Didn't play in the game.
That certainly didn't matter. Inter-Miami were dominant.
4-1 win. And then after the game, Houston Dynamo offered all of the fans, I believe, who had a ticket to the game, a free ticket to a future match because messy did not show up.
So I have my thoughts, but people want to hear yours first. And then I'll jump in.
I want to hear your thoughts. That's great.
Yeah. It's, it's an interesting dynamic when it comes to Lionel Messi and the MLS and Apple TV.
And I mean, it's, it's, everyone knows the story.

Look, I think, I think as an organization,

we did the right thing in terms of compensating for, you know,

our fans who bought tickets in the hopes to see Lionel Messi by,

by giving them a, you know,

allowing them to come to a game complimentary of the Houston Dynamo at some point in the season. So again, I think we did the right thing.
That being said, Lionel Messi missed 15 games all competitions last year. My expectation is that Lionel Messi will miss 15 games all competition, if not more, in all competitions this.
That's just the, that's the pink elephant in the room, you know, no pun intended with their pink jerseys. Like he's going to miss games.
And I don't know, you know, well, I do know that's not, that's not on the away organization when he doesn't turn up, um, in your city, that's not a reflection of the away organization, in this case, the Houston Dynamo.

But, you know, we're certainly sensitive to our fan base and felt, you know, felt the need to try and compensate them in the best way we could. But ultimately, someone recently mentioned to me that, well, if Erlen Holland for City doesn't turn up because he's been rested for playing Tottenham, Tottenham doesn't, um, compensate their refund.
Right. But, but I, you know, I get the argument.
I hope Tim, that this is a growing moment for the league and in a lot of ways, number one, if you are an organization, I understand you have one of the greatest stars in the world and maybe the best player to ever play coming potentially to play a match at your stadium here's where clubs get it wrong the average ticket price was a hundred dollars now they charge people a thousand dollars so people go okay well i'm gonna really commit to this by the way i you and i talked about this i almost took my son to the game this weekend in Houston, right? And I was considering doing it. Thank God I didn't now.
But I was considering doing it, right? Because of our connection. I thought it'd be great, whatever.
But that would have been an expensive trip, right? For the weekend. So clubs, you can't be on both sides of this, right? You can't take both sides.
You can't say, okay, we're going to charge you $1,000 now. But if he doesn't show up, you're just screwed.
So in that way, Houston, yes, did the right thing because those people paid a lot of money. But I hope it's a growth moment where when you're on the phone, and I know it's hard, ticket salespeople are trying so hard to fill out the stadium.
It is a hard job. I've watched it in person.
But we got to get to a point where you say, here is the price for every game, regardless of it's Messi or Toronto or Columbus or San Jose. Yes, maybe there's flex pricing based on who you're playing.
Every club in the world probably does that. But with the caveat, hey, by the way, Messi missed 15 games last year.
We cannot promise he's going to show up and we're not refunding if he doesn't. You make the decision.
And I tim people are still going to go all right i'll take the chance as long as you have the info so grab the info and then you can make the point yeah or make take the take the risk yeah um one this happened when i was playing with the galaxy one year we went up to seattle uh we talk about this all the time still on our galaxy group chat we went up to Seattle, we battered them 4-0. It was like a Saturday afternoon, like 2 p.m.
game, and we absolutely battered them 4-0. We go back home.
On the Monday, they sent out a message to all their fans that they would get refunded for the game because it was such a poor performance by the team and showing by the team. So we forever will be like, remember the refund game? So every time we talk, every time it's Galaxy Seattle, we go, remember the refund game? But I also thought that was a terrible precedent.
Like it's the sport things happen. You know, you can't just then refund.
So this is a messy one. No pun intended.
It's tricky. Is Beck's group chat no or is he opted out does it say like yeah every time we write he says who dis um so no anyway it was it was it was difficult but i will say this about that game messy should have never been playing in this game period because of what happened last week oh right so last week he gets a yellow card right at the end for descent then he walks over and grabs the neck of one of the nycfc assistants which at a minimum should have been a yellow card so that should have been a second yellow then when you go back and review it you should be suspended right he got fined which i don't know what the exact rule is, but you can't put your hand on an assistant's neck, right? So I think justice came out in the world and that he shouldn't have been a part of that game anyway because he should have been suspended for what happened last week.
Yeah, well, the problem, first of all, first of all, the powers that be ain't retroactively suspending Lionel Messi. I know they're not.
No, I know. No, my point, my point, my point is though, that creates its own problem because there's going to be a melee of some sort in the MLS this season.
And that's going to happen. And they're all going to get suspended and they're all going to get suspended.
You can imagine Lee's going to get flooded with like pictures of, did, did, did Messi get suspended for that NYCFC game?

But yeah, anyway.

All right, let's move on.

It was a good MLS weekend.

There was lots to talk about, lots of talking points.

All right, we'll take a pause.

When we come back, we're going to talk to the U.S. men's national team.

There's a lot going right and some not going very well.

Also on the women's side.

So right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim,

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See after details. Oh, yes.
USLNT on USMNT.

A lot of people's favorite segment.

One of our favorites as well.

So let's hop right in with Josh Sargent.

Talk to me, LD.

On fire.

On fire.

He didn't score this weekend, but that's now seven and seven.

He's got seven in his last seven. I want to talk about about a couple things where he fits in the national team, but his manager

at Norwich, Johannes Hof

Therup. Hope I got that right.

I don't know if this was

a mind games thing or something. He went to the media.

He said he needs to run more.

He told the Pinkun,

whatever that is,

website,

magazine.

He said, when we look at the best nines

in the league above us, they run

more and they are more involved than he is

in the league above us, they run more and they are more involved than he is in the game. There are still moments in the game where it seems he can be out of it for five or 10 minutes where we need him to be involved because when he is, he's very good for us.
What do you think about that? Well, and as I say this, our producers will frantically tell me, I think one of the games recently scored like two goals or something on like seven touches, something crazy like return, right? And I think what the manager is trying to say is essentially like, that's 12 touches, two goals and 12 touches. But hey, if you get 30 touches, imagine what you could do.
I think that's kind of what it is. Yeah, but it doesn't work that way.
No, it doesn't. But I think the other part, I'm not, I think he sees a striker in form.
This guy, clearly the manager knows what he's talking about. He sees a striker in form, and I think he's trying to get more out of him.
Maybe he knows the character and makeup of Josh Sargent and knows that he can handle it. Yeah, but Tim, say that, just say that in private then.
Yeah. Why is he saying it publicly? Yeah.
No, I, but that part I don't. No, that part I get.
No, I'm asking. Why would he say that publicly? I don't get it.
Maybe he had the conversation with Josh. Maybe he genuinely had the conversation with Josh.
Maybe Josh effed him off. I don't know.
The other part, and I say this to all younger players. I certainly say it to my daughter.
Here's the thing don't leave anything to question and this is actually quite good because if josh reads this and he's playing well and he's and the manager says need to run more need to be involved in build up whatever it is now there is no gray area and if there is go to your manager and go i heard what you said like how do i implement it in your eyes what does running more look like running deeper running beyond vertically getting side to side like talk to me and now now he'll have like a checklist of like one two and three things that i can do right and i think and i think that's helpful because what ends up happening is there's always and you know there's always a miscommunication between players and managers and i don't know what he wants and he's always on he's always on. And it's really easy.
If you're a player, ask the manager what he wants. And in this case, you didn't have to ask him.
He actually said it. So I think this is a good thing.
Josh is in a good vein of form. I know you don't love it.
No, I don't like it at all. If you have a relationship with someone that you can speak to them in that way, you don't go like it.
You wouldn't go talk. If you have something to say to your significant other, it to them don't go say it to their friend right and then it gets back like just say it to him and why he needs to say this publicly is bizarre to me so it leads me to believe either he by the way this was not an off the cuff oh some random reaction oh i shouldn't have said that like i mean he knows what he's saying he knows what he's doing he knows so something interesting is going on there he's not going to sit josh like the guy's not seven and seven form but yeah i'm totally fine with him saying this in person like hey man you want to play at the next level this is great here's your running numbers here's isoc's running numbers you want to play it for newcastle you better do that right or here's rory dilap or uh dilap or whoever you think is that next level that he can be like so just interesting um i have to think that balagan and peppy out that sergeant you would assume he's going to be starting in the nation's league semis and hopefully finals in a few weeks yeah i mean if he doesn't start now he's never's a really good point.
That's a really good point. And look, it's a great time for him to be in this form.
No Balogun, no Pepe, which stinks for the team and for the depth. But next man up, Josh Sargent is playing really well.
And this is, again, an opportunity to kind of get in there. And look, you get into the Naps team and you score in Nations League.
Now you have more of an argument. Well, we said this about Pepe, right? He was crazy for him.
He gets in, does well with the national team. Crazy for him.
Unfortunately, he got hurt. But all of a sudden, we were like, yeah, he's the guy.
Yep. He's the guy right now.
100%. Until he's not, right? That's right.
Big moment for this is, again, falls into the headline of things you don't even bat an eye at anymore because of where we've gotten but johnny cardoso scores a header against real madrid yeah i mean i don't know the stats but how many americans have scored against real madrid and not many not many i mean what if any of any yeah i feel like maybe but big moment for him i mean jesus big moment for anybody to score against Real Madrid. So that's obviously, we'd love to highlight those.
Other things going well for national team. Tyler Adams just continues.
I mean, I don't know their exact form of late, but they won again in the FA Cup. Basically, when he plays, they win.
I mean, it just, it just all there is to it. And he is one of those guys.
Every coach will tell you. I'm sure Jesse Marsh will tell you this when he had him.
When he plays, your chances of winning go through the roof. And he's not going to show up on the score sheet.
He's not doing anything flashy. He's in the right place, right time, does all the little things well.
His coach, Andoni Areola, is very high on him. He's been speaking about him publicly, full of energy.
We think he's a player that fits well in our system. We hope we can keep him in a place where he's healthy because when he is he's he's very good for us yeah i mean i think the thing thing for me has always been like i love seeing american players thrive abroad but also more than anything i i read between the lines playing well being a part of a team is check number one when your manager is talking about you publicly about like how great you are for the team and how, how important you are for the team, it's like, that's a different level.
That takes you to another level. Publicly.
Right. Again.
So that's the opposite of the start. Like when they go out publicly and that means they trust you because it means it's not going to your head.
Cause a lot of times you're like, Oh man, I'm invincible. I'm going to start it.
So when they say that publicly, you're like, okay, that's good. I'll actually, I'll never, I'm just going to, I just triggered a story in my head.
The first week I was at Everton, we played, my first time we played Arsenal away. Yep.
And I played like 70 minutes in the snow. And that week in film, you won't remember it, but I totally remembered it.
In film, there was a play where like the ball turned over, we were attacking in there and I was in top of box. And it turned over, and I sprinted back 60 yards and tackled the ball out of bounds off the guy.
And we got the ball back. And Moyes showed it to the team.
And he was like, that's what it means to it. And I was like, this is my first week.
But in some cases, you would say, oh, my God, that's going to go to your head. And I was like, oh, my God, that's a big responsibility.
like i better do that every time and i wanted to do it every time because he showed me yeah and so tyler's thinking my manager's got my back he's talking about me put like let's go but you're right it's a great story and it's also but with tyler's no surprise man jesus i feel like every coach thinks that way of him which means this isn't an accident he doesn't just turn up every now and again like that's a that's a kid who every single day at training, every morning for breakfast, and is like, let's do this. And he can be counted on.
That's a really special player. Let's keep him healthy, man.
Just need to. Oh, Christian Pulisic scored against Real Madrid.
Okay. Unsurprising.
What a shock that is. He scored against everyone.
Okay, so let's move on to Christian speaking of Christian. So now he is.
This is crazy i didn't realize this goes fast nine games without a goal tim um they were eliminated from champions league by fire nord he missed his first penalty of career which is going to happen if that's not a that's not a slight on him once you goalkeepers have more information on you as someone who took 60 or 70 penalties it's hard man it's such a mind game so it's hard uh their ninth place in syria nine points back of fourth place latio who they lost to i believe this weekend um he posted this on instagram last week really tough week hate letting down this amazing fan base will give everything to finish the season on a positive note um that was before two losses to bologna and latio so do do you think there's something there going on? Is this just a hiccup? What's going on now? I mean, look, he'll probably tell you, look, nine games without a goal is probably kicking the wall in this house, right? But Milan just haven't been in a good way this season. Things seem off with them in terms of on the field field in the dressing room uh we're obviously not there but you can you can tell with some of the changes that were made and and obviously what's been going on in terms of results look you know this as well as i do when you're playing in a team that's a bad form like it's it's hard to stand out you know it's i mean his job is to score goals defenders it's their job it out, but you've been in teams.
You've been in teams that just have no vibe and no flow and it's, and it's difficult. So no, I don't, I don't put that on Christian Pulisic at all other than the fact that his team just isn't where they obviously need to be.
And that, you know, they made that coaching change, right. With Paul Fonseca leaving and Conceição coming in and I think they just gotten worse.
And I'm, you know, Christian before I think Joe Felix came in Joe Felix. Yeah.
He was comfortable. He was in a role that he was clearly thriving in.
Now he's been moved around a little on the front line. He's moving positions.
And I'm thinking to myself, he's the best player on your team by a mile at that point. He might be the best player in the league right now.
And remember during that time every week, it was like a goal, a goal, an assist, two goals, an assist. Why are you messing with that? Just leave him alone.
You can work on the other things, but why are you messing with that? That's always a clever part. Managers trying to overthink things.
I guess. Real quick, I want to give a shout out to Chris Richards.
He's a player who, you know, I really like, he started going back to the primarily started 12 straight matches for palace in that time. They've only lost two of the 12 conceded eight goals.
They play in a back three, you know, he's on, he's on either side of that center back. So it's, he's kind of found a home there, which is great under, under Oliverasner and palace and you know it's he was kind of in kind of out but now again a player really being counted and i'm just curious as it will punch uh you know in nations league will he think that you know that's nailed on as well are you i mean written into the starting lineup what else do you have to do except being a prominent starter for a successful team in the Premier League as a center? I mean, you are playing the best players of the world every week, every single week.
So I think Jordan wrote in our chat, he said, you know, it was Chris Richards' name written in ink. And I said, well, I think it's probably still in pencil, but that eraser might be getting lost pretty soon.
It's starting to be where you're like, okay okay he's playing every week he's playing every and if you're him and if you're him you're like who's gonna play ahead of me like yeah and what else do i have to do yeah correct what else there's nothing else he can do yeah so no he's been fantastic and that is that is a position of weakness when we went back and talked about the national team um that has been a position of weakness and if if that can be a guy who is doing it consistently, that's a huge, huge boon leading into the World Cup. Totally.
Okay. So let's switch over to the women's side.
Been a while since the women played. So this is USLNT on USWNT.
They lost their first game, Tim, under Emma Hayes on Wednesday. It was actually here at Snapdragon.
They lost to Japan, who by the way, are so good. It's so fun to watch.
Yeah, they are. Allie Centenor scored.
She's a young player. She's really good player in the 14th minute.
First goal and first appearance for her. My question is, is this concerning at all? It's their first loss under Emma Hayes.
What does that mean? Because we've been in, we've been a part of teams where things go really, really well. And then you have the first hiccup.
And then what does that mean? Nothing. I think it's good for the team.
We always say we judge the women's national team by a higher standard because they win. They win all the time, right? And so it's not about, you know, when you have a loss, it is magnified when you're part of the women's national team.
So look, Emma Hayes a fantastic coach she has won everywhere she's been she's won with this team you know protecting talking about the gold medal and as you form this new group like you know as well as i do and emma's a really good coach she'll take that loss and use it to their advantage because by the way in order in order to grow as a group, you need to have adversity, right? Like you can't just be great all the time. No one ever is.
Right. And so more than anything, the quality of your team is, is oftentimes measured on how you react to adversity.
So, um, you know, adversity sounds like a really dramatic word given that they, they lost that game to one, but, uh, I think, I think the manager will use it to their favor. And I think obviously everything will be fine because there's some incredible talent on the team.
Not just the same old faces that we know that are household names, but like Ali Sentinel and some of these women who are coming through really trying to make a name for themselves. The pipeline is really healthy and strong.
Yeah, and there's two sides sides of this one is outside of the olympics and playing japan it's not like they've been playing these top top teams right so like there was going to be a loss along the way the other side of that coin though is no malphew no trinity rodman no soph smith yeah maybe a few but even just those three who were so dynamic as a front three in the olympics and literally unplayable. So you don't have those three.
It's going to be tough to win, right? Against a good Japanese team. So I don't see any issues here.
Just wanted to just broach the question and they'll be fine. They do have qualifying, I believe, starts in October.
That's right. For CONCACAF Women's Championship.
FA Cup. Yeah.
Interestingly, I never know when these FA Cup weekends are coming because i like i turn on my fap mob app and i'm like yeah let's go to my premier league fantasy yeah first place by the way um and then i'm like oh there's no games but then there's fa cup games and when there's fa cup games on a weekend where there's no premier league games they're really good games because they play all the players everybody like it's real game. So outside of one game that we'll get to at the end, Palace, we talked about, beat Millwall.
I'm sure we saw this tackle on Mateta. Yeah.
You know, I have to be honest. My first perception of it was everyone was freaking out about it.
I was like, okay, he's got his foot high, whatever. The more I watched, I was like, oh, that's pretty bad, man.
I've seen i've seen some bad it's not the worst i've ever seen i mean you might think it's the worst you've ever seen but maybe from a goalkeeper it's not the worst tackle i've ever seen but it was what could have happened was really dangerous i guess yeah it looked nasty i mean liam roberts was a middle wall goalkeeper and yeah comes flying out you know you oftentimes see with goalkeepers and i've been guilty of this like these compound errors of like oh i made a really bad decision and all right i got an idea i'm gonna fix it by making another really bad decision like but also it's like it lives in the psyche that every goalkeeper coach i don't know if they do it now but every goalkeeper coach for forever would constantly say once a week like take everything if. If you make the wrong decision, take everything.
Like that was the thing. Like if you come off your line and you've made a bad decision, just clatter into somebody like literally it's, it's, it's common knowledge.
And so, but yeah, obviously keepers flying, like literally like a karate kick with his studs up catches with Teta in the face. You know, the only thing I would say, actually, again, I referenced my career and like my daughter and she's a striker and she was, she's tough and she's strong and she'd always go into tackle with, with goalkeepers LD.
And I said to her, you can probably appreciate this. There was a point in time where she was getting injured.
And I said, yeah, if you see the goalkeeper coming, get at like, get out of the way. And I'm telling you this, it ain't worth it.
I'm looking in the eyes. I'm telling you, get out of the way.
Like, because it's not worth it. And when, in that case, you're like, oh my God, you just wish, yes, it's a goalkeeper, Liam Roberts fault, but you're just like thinking, oh, my tent, I wish you just protected yourself.
There was nothing there for you. You know what I mean? Totally.
I'd be curious, actually, just like people that ask me a lot, did you ever get injured in your career? Like, seriously? And I said, no. And they said, well, how's that possible? I said, well, a few things.
You definitely have to be lucky. Take care of yourself.
But to me, the biggest thing is having like this, and this is just genetic, a spatial awareness of what's coming. So like you feel the tackle coming.
You're like, I ain't going for that. And coach at Bruce Arena used to hate this.
He'd be like, get stuck in and tackle. And I'd say, Bruce, dude, do you want me to break my leg on that play at midfield? Is that really worth it that I'm out the rest of the season? Totally.
Really? And maybe one out of 50, I break my leg, but that one's going to happen. Right.
And so, and I was just hoping that he could like feel the goal key, Liam Roberts coming and be like, this one ain't worth it. Right.
Like this one ain't worth it. Now, maybe it's a world cup final and you're like, okay, maybe that one's worth it.
But some of them, they just ain't worth it. The only problem is sometimes, and I get this spatial awareness, but it's also in your peripheral, like there's a defender there.
So he's looking at the defender. At what point did he take the snapshot of the goalkeeper? Was it a couple of steps before? Yeah, that's true.
That's true. That one, like when the ball's coming over your head in the box and you're like, I know the goalie's coming coming out and then you kind of chicken out of it and the goalie was still standing on his line god dang it why don't i just watch the ball so anyway let's hope i think he got a bunch of stitches but it sounds like he got released from the hospital um he is going to be okay big jp mateta be all right a couple more red cards kunya got one he'll miss their next three matches pretty ugly red.
Red card against Ipswich. He saw red.
Not actually like red card.

He was looking

for a fight and there was no stopping him.

I've been there before. I get it.

It happens. It was nasty.

Newcastle, Brighton, Anthony Gordon

sent off. And he

will now miss the Carabao Cup final

which is a big loss for them.

That will be impactful. Let me say this i i and you saw the anthony gordon it was just frustration at the end i mean shoves he shoves the brighton defender over he ends up catching him a little bit like in the neck area there wasn't a lot in it but when you when you put your hands up above the neck you can't do it but here's what i hate and i know i know the argument i'm not dumb to the argument.
It's the same governing body, the FA. But I hate when red cards carry over to different competitions.
I'm all for him being suspended for the next FA Cup match next season or whatever. I'm all for that.
And I know it's the same governing body. I get it.
But when you get sent off in a World Cup, you're not going to miss Premier League games. league games club game right yeah i don't like it but whatever it's part all right last one um just because i kind of secretly love this you and a lot of people united lose to fulham on penalties losing on penalties at home missing your last two penalties is tough this felt like it was the last thing united had this year and now's just kind of like, they're just going to finish out the season in the Premier League and be a mid-table team.
And it is what it is. Interestingly, of all people, Eric Ten Hag decided to open his mouth this weekend, or last week, sorry.
He had an interesting comment. He said, this generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism criticism really gets to them the generation that i grew up in had much thicker skin agreed you could be much more direct agreed i was approached much more directly same if i would do that with my current group of players i would demotivate them if you do that to the current generation, they find it offensive.
So I have a lot to say about this. First of all, you don't have a current group of players.
You're out of a job. Second of all, that's BS to me.
I think people take that. I think coaches now, they're just afraid to confront.
And if you have a demeanor and an attitude and a way about you that says you ain't taking that, the players are going to fall in line. And this is so like David Moy is a great example at Everton.
I can promise you the first day he walked in, everyone was like, OK, I ain't messing with him. Right? And that's just the way it is.
And it's fine. And it's not good or bad or whatever.
It's just the way he is. But to say that you can't criticize, that you can't be hard, I don't think that's accurate.
I think people are just chickening out to that. And you're allowing that to be and perpetuate.
I hear that, bro. I'm on both sides.
I see it on both sides of the fence.

Yes.

Question has been asked.

Okay.

Are players hypersensitive to criticism more so now?

Yes, absolutely.

You want to get the best out of me?

Give me tough love.

Drive me.

Criticize me.

That's how I thrived.

But no, I think players today have struggled with that based on a whole host of things. But yes.
Okay. Why? Let's do it.
Why? What do you think it is? Because I have a very clear opinion on it. I think some managers, you know, popular managers have kind of allowed that to creep into the game.
So I think it's two things. One, it's parenting.
Right. So these kids grow.
Trust me, dude. I see it where I live.
I see it all over. Parents are like afraid of their kids to discipline their kids, right? And that has been a generational thing.
And in our generation, you and me, I was scared to death of my parents. Yeah.
Because they would wallop me. And now kids, I hear kids speak to their parents.
And I'm like, what? Yeah. Like what? I feel like an old man here yelling.
But that is one. And two, I think social media, right? I think everybody's so hypersensitive of how they're viewed and likes and comments and all that.
So they're like, oh my God, you said I'm not running enough. Am I fat? Am I this? Am I that? Am I, you know, I'm not good enough? Whatever.
And it's like, no, I'm just trying to help you out. So I just think it's interesting that a manager at that level feels like he can't walk into a locker room and command it or else he's going to.
And by the way, I used to, I said this to our owner, Andrew Vassiliadis at the loyal. If there is a player who does XYZ and is acting that way or whatever, do I have your permission to just cut the contract out the door? Because I know he's bad for culture.
And he said,'s great. That was, you know, 50,000, a hundred thousand dollars when it's, you know, terminating a contract that's $10 million a year.
That's a different story, but that's, you ultimately hold the Trump card, right? In that, in that case, because you're the manager and you decide whether they play or not and you can impact their career. And so if they're going to do that, you say, okay, fine.
Then leave. Right.
Look, they still have something to play for. You know, they play Real Sociedad in Europa League on Thursday.
Sticking with Ten Hag though, I think the managers have a lot to be responsible for as well. Like so many managers who put on this brave face, they're not that behind closed doors.
They're afraid to have like one-on-one conversations and have confrontations. Like it's okay to disagree.
Like I think one of the, one of the greatest coaches in the world is God's gift to coaching is Thomas Frank at Brentford. And if you watch the way he operates and he talks to his players and the way he recruits his players.
He has an understanding that things aren't always going to be great.

And he gets his arm around these players.

Ultimately, like I said, I do think there's some tough love involved.

And if we're talking about Man United, I remember them saying, and you talk about parenting, which is a reason, social media, which is absolutely a reason.

One of the other things that they've taken out of, and certainly in England, was the team and this is going to be based on laws and and children and and work and labor but they used to clean boots and people like what does that mean like literally you know phil neville would have to go to the first team and get eric canton's boots totally and you have to clean them and every day it wasn't the kit man it was phil neville so you're learning these lessons right and then and then canton i gave you a shirt or put his arm around you and gave you a a money bonus at christmas but like you learn these things these young kids now don't have to do anything they think they're god's gift to soccer it says it on their social media they get a really nice car and they post you weren't allowed to do that back then you were put in your place and you were told to earn destroyed totally Oh, you would have been destroyed. Totally.
Yeah, okay.

All right, we're off our soapbox.

Two old men yelling at the cloud.

All right, let's take a break.

When we come back, AT&T fan connections.

So to my family member who wanted to submit questions,

I don't think it'll be this week.

It'll probably be next week.

And then we'll also talk anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim

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And you know what else Landon loves it? Jordan. We always say her favorite time of the week.
And we to have air time. Get in here, Jordan.
How are you? Hello, Jordan. Hello.
What shirt are you wearing? You always have something crazy. Oh, is that an Everton shirt? No.
It is. And this is like Umbro did a thing with Factory Records.
And I'm a big You just got paid by Umbro, didn't you? No. You got such a crazy Tim, do you remember that color Everton shirt? Do you remember that one? Vaguely, yeah.
I have one in my garage. Was it an Away shirt? It was a third kit or Away.
Yeah, I know which one it is. It's cool.
Like, that color is really cool. Yeah.
Well, it seems. Welcome to it.
All right. Should we do some questions? Yes, let's do it.
Did you listen, Jordan, by the way? My family member saying, where do I send a question?

Send it to feedback in a filtered soccer. No, I know, but I was like,

one, why are you listening?

Two, you really want to submit a

question? I'll tell you offline

what their name is, so if you see it, you know.

Well, I was just going to say, please let us know that

you are Landon's relative in the

subject matter, in the subject line,

so that I can prioritize that.

Just a side note, because I want

to make sure we get clarity. If any of my

Thank you. Tim, this first question is for you.
What are your thoughts about the new goalkeeper rule about awarding? Oh, sorry. This is from Mel via email.
What are your thoughts about the new goalkeeper rule about awarding a corner kick if a goalkeeper is time-wasting after eight seconds? Don't care. I don't care.
I think it was. You don't care.
I don't care. It's a dumb rule.
You don't care what the rule either. No.
So what's the evolution? It was when I started playing, you pick it up. You have four seconds.
Sorry, four sorry four steps right and they change it to six seconds and then now it's eight seconds they they're going to enforce it for i don't know like what are they going to do are they going to

count like a like a like a nba referee like i'm fine with that by the way if the referee like one

two like it's good it's so subjective and like right and by the way you know what's going to

lead to to lead the managers on the sideline going one two three and they're like so who's

Thank you. but like it's good.
It's so subjective and like, and by the way, you know,

it's going to lead to,

to leave the managers on the sideline going one,

two,

three.

And they're like, so who's players too?

Yeah,

of course.

So the whole crowd's going to be like,

what?

Which probably will happen,

which is good.

I mean,

if it speeds it up,

to be honest,

I didn't read who,

who,

who,

who made that rule?

Like who brought that in?

I don't know.

Landon,

would you say that like goalkeepers have held the ball as long? They waste time when the ball's got to play. Here's my thing.
It's a joke. It's a joke because when that first – I mean, I was playing during when the six-second rule came in.
And I would count to like 18 in my head, and the ref wouldn't do anything. And I'm like, what's the point of having this rule? Because the last thing a ref wants to do is give an indirect free kick right there.
At that time, that's what leads to a goal the game's over it's like so it's going to be the same thing like they'll do it a few times and then it'll go away and it's the same with the mass confrontation thing now people mass confront the ref now they don't they should be throwing out yellows everywhere then according to the rule and i'm actually a big fan of that like yeah agreed but they're not going to enforce it. Yeah.
It was, I fab international football association board, but look, ultimately as just give my, my big thing with wasting time, which I always wasted time. Right.
At some point, then I'd be first half, but at some point, like mid second half, when, when the team's winning, just book the keeper, man. I'm telling you now, if I got a booking, right.
You ain't going to, I'm going to get the ball and I'm and I'm not getting sent off. So like, yeah, don't care about the rule.
Thanks, Mel. Our next question is from Joe via email.
He says, with MLS and the Premier League being aligned with Apple and NBC slash Peacock, what are your thoughts on pay-per-view and how streaming affects fans trying to follow these leagues and specific teams? Okay. How deep do we want to go here? Go deep.
There's a fan connection. There's just a bigger, yeah, this is a deep connection.
There's a bigger, deeper problem in that there's just way too much content in the world. And so all these companies are producing way too much content and they can't afford to do it.
So they then have to pass on the feed of the subscriber. It's like, dude, we pay enough money for either cable or direct TV or dish or whatever.
I'm a, I have by myself, Peacock, Paramount, Apple TV, ESPN plus maybe one other. And it's, it, it's not even the money.
It's just like, dude, are you you gonna keep gouging me every time for all these like i'm just trying to i'm trying to support you i'm trying to watch the games and it's gets it's getting to a point tim where like i don't have netflix right so i can't really the women's world cup in a couple years unless i get i'm not gonna be able to watch right and I'm sick of it, but I get it. I get that they're trying

to justify all these

streaming platforms that they've

brought about.

Here's the thing. You're going

to watch the Women's World Cup, so you will

have Netflix.

Yeah, you're right.

And also, your

$8, $9

matcha latte that you got this morning in San Diego

also would have

paid for... drinks.
I do drink matcha, but not a lot. I don't know.
No, I get it. I get it.
I would have paid for a month of, I get it. Kind of the way that things are going.
It's a tough one. It is.
I mean, look, I hear what people are saying.

I watch everything and I subscribe to, I think, double the platforms you subscribe to.

Because there's shows I want to watch and things I want to see on all these different ones.

And they're getting us.

But I mean, I think there's also good back.

Did I get mad at your employer NBC for like, they'll have like City Liverpool on Peacock.

And I'm like, you don't want that game on. And I get it.
There's all sorts of nuance involved. I get it.
But I'm just, you know, you do get it. I'm old.
I'm old. Old and jaded.
I'm old and jaded. I have a suggestion for Joe, support a team at the bottom of the league so that you don't have to worry about champions league and Europa league and all that stuff.
And that's one less streaming platform that you have to sign up for. There you go.
I love that. There you go.
Support a team like Manchester United. That's why you're here, Jordan.
That's why you're here. Yeah.
Or Tottenham. This one's from Chris via email.
What causes players after they retire to become an analyst or to work in management or to step away from the sport completely? Why did you each pursue the path after you retired that you did? Good question. Great question.
I was bored. Okay, so there's a few.
For a few, and we don't need to mention names, but we know who they are. It's about ego and being relevant and hearing their own voice and hearing themselves speak.
For others, it's a way to stay a part of the game. I find it enjoyable.
This, I never knew I would find this as enjoyable as I have. I could really enjoy it.
I never thought I would find commentating and studio work as enjoyable as I do. I've tried other things.
Coaching is enjoyable to some extent, but a lot of stress. Tim and I both do appearances, which can be enjoyable.
Sometimes it's, you know, whatever, but I find it's, it's what I find joy in personally, but there's not that many jobs in that way, right? If you're not going to go into a football club or a soccer club and be a part of a club. So you have find what you what you find passion in but also um players are getting smarter and smarter about starting that process earlier even while they're playing yeah i mean i think that for me like i love like i love football it's who i am it's my identity i love everything about it it's gonna be the greatest joys of my life.
Dude, you were watching New England Columbus in an empty stadium. That case in point.
I don't enjoy playing anymore. One, because it hurts and I can't.
I don't know. That bucket is empty for me.
I don't get any joy or satisfaction of playing the game anymore, but I love being around. I love watching.
I love watching my daughter play. I love being involved in soccer conversations at ownership level, at analyst level.
I love it. So I look at the other side of it.
I think, Jordan, which is a great question. People oftentimes are like, you're an athlete.
What do you do next? And I'm like, nobody ever asks a lawyer after they went to law school and they've practiced law for 15 years to go, what are you going to do next? And they never asked a doctor after they've performed thousands of surgeries. What do you, this is who we are.
Right. Or you would never ask that question.
Cause you'd be like, that's a dumb question. So the same thing goes for me.
I've had friends where like, I'm going to pivot. And I'm like, yeah, but why? Like, this is who, like who like you you have you have your phd through through incredible life experiences in soccer why would you pivot to real estate now some have it's fine but like i look at them like that doesn't make sense to me no one else does that so i'm going to naturally stay in my lane which is football and soccer because i love it i adore it i can't play anymore so what's next

and yeah i find as lannon said trial and error some things in the game you like i don't like coaching don't enjoy it never really wanted to do it so i kind of ticked that box and said that ain't for me um but yeah i love the game but you also have other skill sets right and some players don't have much of anything right they just have they didn't go to college didn't, that's all they have. So we are fortunate in that way that we have other abilities to do things, but yeah, it's fine.
What you're passionate about. Definitely.
Before I go, I just thought I would mention something. As this episode is released, it will be the 4th of March.

Okay.

Which, if my calculations are correct, is Landon Donovan's birthday.

Wow, your birthday's tomorrow.

And also, two days after that is the birthday of one.

Tim Howard.

Shout it out loud.

Shout it out loud.

Oh, really?

Pisces, yeah.

Oh, you're Pisces, right? Yeah. Amazing.
4thth and the 6th that's why we connect happy birthday to us fan connection so we actually asked some people if they would like to wish you a happy birthday there's some people who wanted to wish me other than that but keep going so we've got we've got some messages that we're gonna play for you now so buckle up you up, you two. Here we go.
Len's so nervous. Yo, what's up, fellas? Larry, Timmy.
Hey, man, just want to say happy birthday to both of y'all. Timmy, when you're back in Houston, man, I owe you a dinner for sure.
Larry, I'm sure you owe me a couple of dinners. The amount of times I pay for all your food.
No, I just want to say happy birthday. Love what you guys are doing with the podcast.
Keep it up. And yeah, man, we're supporting you from here.
So happy birthday. Enjoy it.
We'll catch up soon. Alright, peace.
That was so nice. By the way, very few people know that on the inside we called Landon Larry and that's just amazing.
Also, by the way, DeMarcus Beasley, one of the greatest players and greatest human beings you're ever going to meet. I absolutely love him.
We're doing dinner. If that Larry piece ever airs, everyone on here is fired, just for the record.
I just need you to know that when he sent the video in, we were like, does he think it's somebody else? Who does he think he's talking to?

I don't know where it came about, but sometime in the 17s or the 20s or something,

I started calling him Mark, and he started calling me Larry.

And Larry's stuck.

He's not a Mark.

You're definitely a Larry.

No, he's a Mark.

He's the Mark.

The Mark.

We've got another one for you.

Go, give it to us.

LD and Timmy, happy birthday, boys. Shocked.
Ex-pros, podcasters, all around great guys, great dads. You guys are crushing it, man.
Hope you both have a great day. I was going to do something funny and, you know, whatever.
But, you know, you guys are both great guys. Miss you both.
Hope you have a wonderful day, boys. Happy birthdays.
You know the great thing? God bless god bless stew i love that kid the great thing about stew is you all as a production team have to reach out to people stew just sent that here i got an idea i got an idea let's wish him happy birthday as long as i get some air time love you still we'll always have you on ah stewie one more one more yeah yeah come on tell me it's bruce how you doing boys happy birthday to both of you you. These are both getting older, a bit like myself now.
It's getting a bit long in the tooth. I'm wondering how I'm sitting here doing this job again.
But I have to say, you two are two of the finest USA players, still are. Two of the finest boys I've come to know in my time.
And I'm really proud to say that you are both my players, but also proud to say that you're friends and also people who I respect greatly. So have a great birthday.
I hope that you continue to drop in and see us here at Everton. Everybody thinks so highly of you both.
So when you get the opportunity, do so. Great to see you.
And happy birthday. Amazing.
Wow. he's like a father figure to me everyone knows that i think someone left onions in here crying right like jesus he i got to spend some time with him last week um in england and sat down not just interviewed him but sat down in his office and chatted it was just like god we had so many great days and he i mean the things that he's still doing as a manager and that you can like call on him as a friend and and still get advice he he's he's a 10 out of 10 he's amazing absolutely amazing all right to all our crew who we give a lot of crap to thank you that was awesome yeah appreciate that and big shout out to demarcus beasley stew holden and david moyes and the at Everton for sending us those videos.
We really appreciate it. Awesome.
Thank you. Happy birthday and enjoy the ABS.
Thanks, Jordan. A lot of feels here, Tim.
All right. Let's be professional here.
How old are you, by the way? 43, pal. Are you? 46.
Oh, I'll be 46 sometimes. I don't know.
43 does not feel good. You know what's really funny? Real quick for our audience.
You what's really funny we're three years apart and that like that's like normal we're the same basically the same age when I was in camp with you the first camp you have we ever was it my U20 team landed or something and it was in Chula Vista yeah and you came in because they were like this kid's a wonder kid and he's playing for whatever team we're gonna bring to bring him to training. And I just remember you feeling like you were a baby.

Like that gap felt huge.

And now you're like, oh, it's three years.

Same thing.

Maybe it was then.

Yeah.

All right.

That was certainly a unique AT&T fan connection.

A lot of connecting there.

Thank you guys.

That was awesome.

I enjoyed that.

Okay.

Little ABS, anything but soccer.

First thing, we both want to give a shout out to Diana Taurasi.

You know, the word goat gets thrown around too much, but she is absolutely. I'm just going to run through her stats so people can understand.
For young people who don't understand. So she was, in my opinion, the greatest WNBA player of all time.
And probably greatest college basketball player. All-time leading scorer, WNBA.
The only player to ever exceed 10,000 career points. Three-time WNBA championship with Phoenix Mercury, five-time WNBA leading scorer, 11-time All-Star, two-time final MVP, six-time Olympic gold medalist.
It's one thing to win a gold medal and how hard that is. Think about she did it over the span of, what would that be, 20 years to get you through 20 years and to play at the top and win six times it's just a stud congrats to her on an amazing yeah yeah goat i mean and and by the way one thing you didn't mention about her stats she kept her shorts long she rocked those knee-length shorts all the way through like such a baller like i i think i marvel at you know the goat the best of all time.
I marvel at it because I think there's levels, right, LD? Like, how do you make it to be a professional? That's a level. How do you have one good season? That's a level.
How do you become an all-star or champion? That's a level. When you're doing that consistently over the course of whatever it is, 20 years, like,'s like that just amazing.
I don't care what sport it is, but like she literally, one, she stood on the shoulders of giants, but she also put the league and the sport on her back and like massive credit to her. I mean, I can't wait for her to put her feet up in retirement because she's earned it.
Yeah, it's one thing to do it one year or two years or three years, but when you do it that long, that consistently, it's not just because she was talented, which she was, she just had more about her that other people don't and absolute legend. So congrats to her on an amazing career.
All right. Really good show.
That got a little emotional at the end there. I'm not going to lie.
We appreciate all of you for being with us again. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods.

And always, always follow on social media, Unfiltered Soccer, for lots of bonus content.

Yeah, thanks, everybody.

Always love spending time with you.

Thank you to our presenting sponsors, VW, and our fan connection sponsor, AT&T.

Have an amazing week.

Look forward to seeing you all back here next Tuesday with another edition of

Unfiltered Soccer.