MLS 2025 Season Preview, USMNT Injuries, The Merseyside Derby, and USL's New First Division

Speaker 1 You have to be playing going into a World Cup.

Speaker 2 You and I would have died to play a World Cup in our country. I would have given everything to play in my country.

Speaker 2 Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S.
soccer for the past five years.

Speaker 1 My guy, LD, what's happening? We are back.

Speaker 2 We are back.

Speaker 1 You look like you might be playing golf after this show.

Speaker 2 You know, mate, it is is going to be 72 today.

Speaker 2 A bit warm, so I didn't put the sweater on. Yeah, it's a normal February day here.

Speaker 1 You are. It's not normal February day here.
Maybe it is. It's like

Speaker 1 I went between snowstorms in New York. It's absolutely Baltic outside, but

Speaker 2 you chose to live there, just as a reminder.

Speaker 1 Best city in the world, so I'm here.

Speaker 2 No, I mean, agree to disagree.

Speaker 2 Agree to disagree.

Speaker 1 What's been going on?

Speaker 2 Nothing.

Speaker 2 You know, these ski weeks, I don't know if you ever had had that with your kids they give you like a week it's i don't know maybe it's a california thing wait wait that's like a real school yeah yeah yeah they take a week off and then the problem is is i don't know who set this up they should be fired immediately they set it up so you have the ski week and then it goes into the weekend and then it's what's say president's day and then it's president's day so now you have an extra day with your kids at home and you're like you don't like the dump no you should do it saturday sunday president's day is part of the ski week and then you go up now we have an extra day because they do it at the beginning of the ski week.

Speaker 2 So, like,

Speaker 2 I'm about to kill my kids.

Speaker 2 Listen to all this story.

Speaker 1 Don't do that. For all of our listeners, I am a man of the people.
I don't get ski weeks, don't have that. Landon is posh.
This is what we've always known, but that's what makes us a dynamic duo.

Speaker 1 I'm actually headed over to

Speaker 1 London tonight.

Speaker 2 Are you going tonight?

Speaker 1 For two weeks. Yeah, I'm shooting a neurodiversity documentary.
Gonna sit down.

Speaker 2 A what?

Speaker 1 It's unsurprising. A neurodiversity documentary.
What is that?

Speaker 2 What's that mean?

Speaker 1 You're gonna have to Google that because you should know.

Speaker 1 And then going to sit down at Finch Farm at Everton with David Moy, Jordan Pickford, Leighton Baines, Seamus Coleman on something separate.

Speaker 1 Probably going to call the or be on the desk for the Everton Manchester United game. Yeah, doing a whole bunch of stuff, man.
So it's all cool.

Speaker 2 All right. Safe trip.

Speaker 1 Thank you, brother.

Speaker 2 As always, follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer.

Speaker 2 Subscribe on on youtube follow on apple podcasts and spotify as always please leave a comment likes we had lots of comments and questions this week we appreciate that and we'll try to get to most of them you can email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer.com where jordan will solicit your questions and take care of them in the at t fan connection mailbag so all right tim this weekend We're back.

Speaker 2 Tim Last is back. It's crazy how fast that goes, huh? I know.

Speaker 2 I know they're in their off-season mode, preseason mode, and now all of a sudden it's here again.

Speaker 2 Most of the teams went to this Coachella Valley Invitational that's out a couple hours from where I live. Beautiful sunshine.
It's a really cool event.

Speaker 2 Fans get great access to the players. It's a lot of fun.
Lot, lots and lots and lots of preseason games. So let's just remind people where we left off.
The galaxy.

Speaker 1 Your galaxy.

Speaker 2 Let's go. MLS Cup champions

Speaker 2 starting the season this weekend against San Diego FC.

Speaker 2 Very interesting matchup there. Inner Miami won the Shield.
Messi won the MVP.

Speaker 2 That's where we're at. So first thoughts coming into the season?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, look, I think jealousy, number one, you know, I think Coachella Valley Invitational is like,

Speaker 1 I wish I had that when I was playing or when we were playing, you know,

Speaker 1 your team would just try and figure out where you could pitch up in in a hotel for two weeks and play possibly one other MLS team, maybe a college team. I know.

Speaker 1 So yeah, the fact that it's moved forward.

Speaker 1 We both said crazy when we're talking about the MLS preview, like it's back. When you're not on the grass, like when you're not a player or a coach, like in inside of it, it seems so short.

Speaker 1 Now, when you're a player, you're like, oh my God, I can't believe

Speaker 1 it's not been long enough. But this.
on the outside, I mean, we were just talking a couple of shows ago, right? It feels like a couple shows ago, we were talking about the MLS Cup final.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, I'm excited for a multitude of reasons going into this season.

Speaker 1 I think we're seeing what we're going to get into,

Speaker 1 which should have happened probably a decade ago, but we're starting to see some real big names changing clubs within the league for big fees, which again, I think is the way forward.

Speaker 1 And that's the way the global market works, you know, interleague-wise.

Speaker 1 I'm excited about that. Obviously, excited to, you know, I think that Galaxy are really well poised to make another run.

Speaker 1 I think Miami is poised to make another run again at the Shield and possibly the Cups. So,

Speaker 1 yeah, there's a lot of really good storylines in MLS.

Speaker 2 Your Dynamo, there's an early rivalry. Houston, FC Dallas.
Love that. That should be good.
FC Dallas, new coach.

Speaker 2 Lucho Acosta just went from Cincinnati to FC Dallas.

Speaker 2 Lots in that one. Are your dynamo ready?

Speaker 1 Yeah, you know, we're ready.

Speaker 1 It's been a good offseason. I think when you feel good about where you are as a club,

Speaker 1 every club has to trim the fat. You know, for us, we didn't feel like

Speaker 1 there needed to be a massive overhaul. We felt very, very good about things.
And obviously bringing in Jack McGlynn, I thought was a real coup for Pat Onstad and our club. So we feel good about that.

Speaker 1 And Ponce, you know, getting a full preseason under his belt and feeling like he can hit the ground running.

Speaker 1 So some more pieces to be added, but early on, really excited for kind of the group that we have, you know, that we've given Ben Olson. So looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it should be good.

Speaker 2 This is a very off the radar, I think, for most fans, but one personally I'm excited about is San Jose Salt Lake.

Speaker 2 So I've talked about my old assistant coach Nate Miller at Salt Lake. They lose Chicho Arango to San Jose.

Speaker 2 in the offseason uh and the earthquakes bring in bruce arena so this is this is just gonna be really interesting Salt Lake have to go Wednesday to Hediano in Costa Rica for a Champions Cup game and then straight to San Jose.

Speaker 2 But I'm really excited to see. Yeah, San Jose now with their front four,

Speaker 2 including Pellegrini, Chicho Rongo, Christian Espinoza. They've got like some real firepower now.

Speaker 2 And Bruce, like, this is such a Bruce. It's classic Bruce, right? The team has been totally mismanaged.
There's been terrible players brought in.

Speaker 2 He comes and makes four or five veteran moves, brings players in, and all of a sudden, like, I expect them to be good this year.

Speaker 1 And you, and the interesting thing about the San Jose Bruce Serena marriage is

Speaker 1 you've been an attacking player in his system. I have

Speaker 1 obviously as a goalkeeper. But the one thing Bruce does above anything else is he gets players to run through a freaking wall for him.

Speaker 1 And by the way, once you do that, and anybody who's played for Bruce knows, once you do that, do what you want.

Speaker 1 Front four, go express yourself, go enjoy. Like there's like a blueprint and a foundation that he implements.
And then after that,

Speaker 1 that front four is really going to enjoy themselves.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they're not, Bruce is never the guy who's, you know, there's so many new coaches who are defining the way soccer is played now and changing the way it's played. Bruce is very simple.

Speaker 2 I mean, there were not a lot of patterns, a lot of movements that we needed, but he had good players.

Speaker 2 He had smart players. He had veteran players who knew how to win.
By the way, they also signed Joseph Martinez, another one. So I expect that he'll get them going.
And if they stay healthy,

Speaker 2 I think they could be really, really good. Yeah, agreed.

Speaker 2 Do you have just early, early predictions

Speaker 2 on any favorites, you know, the Miamis, LA galaxies of the world? Anybody who might surprise you going into the season?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think the surprise for me, which will,

Speaker 1 again,

Speaker 1 we'll circle back to so many of these topics, is

Speaker 1 Columbus. I'm really interested.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 you look at their overall body of work in the last two seasons. It's been phenomenal, right? Last year, okay, they had a blip and they got knocked out.

Speaker 1 And that's kind of the ups and the downs of what MLS playoffs are. Like it's the highs and the lows.
And if you can upset Columbus, it's amazing.

Speaker 1 But like if you're Columbus, you're saying, hang on a minute, we've had an amazing 24 months. And last year we have nothing to show for it.
But I still think when you look at that team, it's arguably.

Speaker 1 one of the best teams in MLS based on what they've done over the last few few seasons consecutively. So

Speaker 1 I would imagine they're going to be there thereabouts come the end of the season.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Wilfred Nancy's, I think he's, I think he's brave. I think he's so good.

Speaker 2 I didn't realize this till yesterday. I was looking up, you know, there are 12 new head coaches in MLS this year, 12 out of 30, which is insane.

Speaker 2 It's almost half the league has turned over their head coaches. So

Speaker 2 it'd be really interesting to see how quickly those teams get going. I want to talk real quick about your former coach, Robin Frazier in Toronto.
And

Speaker 2 just what do you expect? You know, they've got this roster that is, it's such a weird roster. They've got some homegrown talent.
They've got big, big stars.

Speaker 2 They're just an interesting team. So how do you think he handles that?

Speaker 1 Well, I think, I think I'm speaking to Robin. One of the things is you talk about Bruce and being someone that you want to play for.
That's what Robin is.

Speaker 1 He is straight between the eyes. He doesn't make you guess on what he wants.
He's got a really good football brain in terms of how he wants his teams to play and set them up.

Speaker 1 And look, the good thing about hiring Robin back in Toronto, because he has such a history with Toronto, is we don't really know what Toronto is, right?

Speaker 1 So when you go back to when they snatched up Michael Bradley and Josie Alstore, they're like, we're spending big money. We have cornerstone pieces and this is who we are.
And that was successful.

Speaker 1 And then kind of coming out of that as, you know, Josie and Michael and a few others that started to come to the end of their career, were they they still about the big money signings?

Speaker 1 Were they trying to bring homegrown players through? That, by the way, nothing wrong with that. That's a natural progression of any football club.

Speaker 1 And you try and hang on to what you used to do, but maybe it doesn't work. And so what I like about Robin and having him in the door, Robin Frazier at Toronto FC, is

Speaker 1 he can sit down and has sat down and said, right, what does this look like for us? Who do we want to be? Let me know. And I can transition the club to have success going forward.

Speaker 1 So I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 2 I always say, Tim, the teams that are successful have a very clear identity. And that can be whatever you want it to be, right?

Speaker 2 And we talked about Bruce, like that's way different than Pep Guardiola or Jürgen Klopp or whatever someone else looks like. The teams that have identity, Seattle Sounders have an identity.

Speaker 2 Like you know what they are every year. And that's it.
Philadelphia, you know, under Jim Curtin. had an identity.
You knew exactly what they were going to be and what they were about.

Speaker 2 And that's great. Miami now is building an identity, right? It's kind of different, but that's okay.

Speaker 2 But the teams that are just constantly in flux are the ones that struggle especially in mls and i bring that up because the galaxy went from last year almost in last place sorry two years ago to winning mls cup however you could see if you were paying attention and if you were speaking to people behind the scenes you could see that there was an identity being recreated and it was in homage to the past identity which is yes big stars but not right now it wasn't crazy big stars.

Speaker 2 It wasn't Zlatan and Chicharita, that kind of. It was just big players, good players, big stars.
And then they had a coach in Greg Vanney who understands the culture too.

Speaker 2 They had Dan Kalichman there, people who know the club and know the soul and the spirit of the club.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I really want that for Toronto FC too, because it's a massive club in our league when they're doing well.

Speaker 1 Totally. Yeah.
And what you're saying is

Speaker 1 there's more than one way to win football matches. I think we get so caught up.
And you talked about the Pep Guardiola effect across global football.

Speaker 1 You get so caught up and you have to do it this way. No, you don't.
You have to do it in a way that wins football matches, but that can look, it can look 10, 10, 20 different ways. So, yeah.

Speaker 2 And we're going to get to David Moyes later, but he's a perfect example, right?

Speaker 2 You know, he's not, it's not the sexy young coach.

Speaker 2 He just wins. He knows how to win, right? And so exactly right.
Let's talk bigger picture now, MLS. So 30 teams is a lot, right? It's the same as basically all the other major sports.

Speaker 2 And so pretty much outside of maybe Vegas and Phoenix and San Antonio, it's every big market, you know,

Speaker 2 Cleveland, every big market in the country and a few in Canada now have teams. So what does that say about the growth of MLS?

Speaker 2 I know we both saw it in the beginning days that it didn't look like it does now. So just, you know, thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 You know, hats off to the MLS and the owners, you know, and the players that

Speaker 1 built this league. And again, the commissioner's office, because

Speaker 1 when you have the luxury of

Speaker 1 where you and I sit and having been in the earliest stages, I mean,

Speaker 1 I entered the league 24 months after it first started. So it started in 96.
And my first game, you know, or I first signed in 98, like that wasn't a football club that I signed for.

Speaker 2 It was like

Speaker 1 some people put some team together. Like it was, it was crazy.

Speaker 1 And so like the growth of this league, you know, and look, it took some real hard decisions,

Speaker 1 a steadfast vision and

Speaker 1 time. And wow, we've gotten to a place that is just so impressive in terms of, in terms of valuation of clubs, stadiums, fan base,

Speaker 1 the Apple TV, television contract, the big name that currently messes playing in the league, right? Like,

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 you couldn't have imagined it other than the fact that there were a few people who did imagine it and made it happen.

Speaker 2 So, you know, I didn't, I don't know who said, I actually might have been you. I don't know who said this the other day, but like.

Speaker 2 With all due respect to England and the Premier League, like

Speaker 2 it's a small country. It rains most of the time.
People aren't going there because it's an amazing place to be. They go there because the money's great and the competition is great, right?

Speaker 2 In America, if we get to that point, everybody's going to want to be here. It's the reality, right? And I think that has been the slow progress of the league.
Is it still a ways away? Yeah, of course.

Speaker 2 But the progress of the league is moving towards that. And eventually you're going to see people say, okay,

Speaker 2 I get the same offer at, you know, Crystal Palace as I did. And this is happening already, as I do at Charlotte FC.
I'm going to choose Charlotte, right? Because they, because they want to be here.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 for, I think for so long, the,

Speaker 1 and you, you live this more than I did, but you constantly saw big global stars come to MLS, come to LA. What did they come for?

Speaker 1 If they had a checklist and it was a one, two, and a three,

Speaker 1 soccer would have been under number three,

Speaker 1 right? It was for everything else. It was for lifestyles, for all the other things.

Speaker 1 We have that draw and that allure. So,

Speaker 1 you know, once we continue to get to where we hope so, hope we are, like money-wise, competition-wise,

Speaker 1 yeah, I think people will float, will flood through the gates for sure.

Speaker 2 Well, the money is getting close, right? The money is getting close. When you look at some of the contracts, you're like, geez.
And it is getting close.

Speaker 2 So the competition needs to continue to improve, but it is well on its way.

Speaker 2 Lots of off-season moves this year, Tim. I was writing down some of them and then I just, I just forgot about a bunch of them.
So Jovalich goes to Kansas City. Ferreira goes from Dallas to Seattle.

Speaker 2 Lucho Costa goes from Cincy to Dallas. Miguel Amaron back in the league with Atlanta United.
Luca de la Torre comes home to San Diego FC, which we'll talk about in a second.

Speaker 2 Chuki Lozano, Mexican star to San Diego FC. Evander goes from Portland to Cincinnati.
I mean, I can go on and on. And I talked about Chicho Arango, Joseph Martinez.
This is insane.

Speaker 2 I mean, the movement in the league now, and I don't understand exactly the mechanism that they or what they call it or whatever, but it's basically transfers within the league.

Speaker 2 It's incredible.

Speaker 2 This is going Brandon Vasquez, sorry, coming back into the league. I mean, there's just so many.

Speaker 1 And look, I think this is going to, I really do, I think this is going to change the trajectory of the league

Speaker 1 because we're able to, you're able to now give these guys options.

Speaker 1 within the league. Like before, before what would happen, right? And we've seen this, if you're really good at Cincinnati, you're a top player, you're like, I want more,

Speaker 1 the option was always to go abroad. They'd shop you abroad.
Someone would give you a low ball offer. And well, the transfer is not high enough.
And then you got to stay here at Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 I'm using Cincinnati as an example. And then the player gets upset and he gets his head turned now, which again, you've heard me bang this drum.
This should have happened years ago.

Speaker 1 If you're Seattle and you look at Cincinnati's best player and you go, hey, we want it.

Speaker 2 We want to pay him.

Speaker 1 We're going to pay $4 million for him because we're going to go pay $4 million for a guy in Slovenia as as a striker, but we want the striker in Cincinnati who scored 20 goals last year.

Speaker 2 Go pay for him.

Speaker 1 People were so afraid to do that within the league because God knows what I have my own opinions, but I think that

Speaker 1 they didn't do it because they thought they could do better. They thought they could go abroad and do better.
Some of the best players in MLS are already in MLS.

Speaker 1 So go get them. And for me, I love it.

Speaker 2 Tim, it's just a money thing, right?

Speaker 2 Like it's cheaper, or the league has thought for a long time, it would be cheaper to go get a young Central American, South American, African, whatever than to pay Brandon Vasquez more money to stay in the league, which he should have never left the league.

Speaker 2 Like there was no reason why Cincinnati should have ever had to let him go.

Speaker 2 And so the good news is, is hopefully the league is now understanding that you need to keep good players and especially good American players in the league.

Speaker 2 Like don't don't push them out so they have to go to Monterey in Brandon Vasquez's case. If Portland or Austin or whoever it is wants to buy them, let them stay in the league.

Speaker 2 That's better for the league. So,

Speaker 2 this is a move in the right direction. I'm really happy to see it.
All right, last thing I want to talk about before we get into a break is

Speaker 2 my hometown now. I have a team, San Diego FC.

Speaker 2 I have my thoughts. I've watched them build their roster, and it's been very slow.
It's been a very, very slow build. But in the last four or five weeks, it's accelerated significantly.

Speaker 2 My thoughts are

Speaker 2 there have been teams in this league that have competed right away and done well.

Speaker 2 But that was when the league was pretty immature. It's much more mature now, and it's really hard to do well.

Speaker 2 So when I look at their roster, Chicolozano, Luca de Latorre coming back, they made a lot of good interleague signings, meaning people who know the league and play and married it with a lot of.

Speaker 2 new foreign players who don't know the league at all and a head coach who has not coached professionals, right, or been in the league. So I'm really fascinated.

Speaker 2 I don't even have necessarily an opinion on which way it's going to go because there's too much,

Speaker 2 there's too much volatility involved. But in some cases, you could say, wow, this could be lightning in a bottle right away.

Speaker 2 And in other circumstances, you could say they're going to really struggle because they don't know the league. So

Speaker 2 just from your, I guess, experience with expansion teams.

Speaker 1 I think your point is fair that there was a MLS 1.0 and 2.0 when it comes to expansion teams and that the league wasn't as mature. I agree with that.

Speaker 1 What I would say is there's been, we've seen so many,

Speaker 1 I say so many, enough to convince me that an expansion team can compete. You know, as recently as St.
Louis,

Speaker 1 who was in the, you know, hubs made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals.

Speaker 1 you know the the original was chicago fire 1998 under bob bradley who were a bunch of world beaters like the team that team that bob put together like what like i i i can honestly say this to you and and and it's so hard to compare generations I'm one of these people who finds it difficult I can assure you Bob Bradley's best team could step on the field in its prime this coming MLS season and be near the top they had some no question they had some bad guys and when I say bad guys they had some absolute winners Armis remember oh my god Stoichkoff I mean a young Josh

Speaker 2 Brown

Speaker 1 they were amazing Zach Thornton and goal um Seattle Sounders competed LAFC has competed Atlanta United under the tutelage of our dear friend Carlos Bocanegra. They competed early on.
So

Speaker 1 we'll see. I mean, I think San Diego is such an interesting one because

Speaker 1 it falls into the LA, LA, New York, Miami box. People are going to want to go there.
It's a destination.

Speaker 1 For you, look,

Speaker 1 we know that you bleed Galaxy, right? Are you, do you have, will you support the, will you support that team? And I don't mean, will you go there and take your kids there?

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 It's the same thing. It's the same thing with the Dodgers and the Padres.

Speaker 2 Like, I grew up watching Vin Scully and listening to him my whole life on KCAL 9 in L.A., I had a little TV in the corner and every night I would go watch the Dodger game.

Speaker 2 And the same with the Lakers. And so I am a through and through diehard Dodger fan.
But when I moved to San Diego 10 years ago, my kids grow up and then

Speaker 2 my kids love the Padres. That's cool.
So how do you go to the Padres and root against the Padres? Right.

Speaker 2 And they used to be the rival. It's going to be the same.
I mean, I love San Diego. I know a lot of of the people either involved in the soccer side or the not soccer side at San Diego FC.

Speaker 2 Our old president from San Diego Loyal, Ricardo Campos, is there. I want them to succeed and do well.
It's hard for me, though. I played for the galaxy.

Speaker 1 It's not like I watched them.

Speaker 2 I mean, I lived and breathed it and lifted championships. So I'll root for both.
Don't ask me who I'm rooting for this weekend. I'm not going to answer.

Speaker 1 Are they playing at Snapdragon? Is that the

Speaker 1 home stadium?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah, they're playing at Snapdragon next week and they open against St. Louis, maybe.
Beautiful stadium. Yeah, it's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1 I saw a NWCL game there right before the World Cup or Olympics, and it was Seattle versus San Diego, like the send-off game before. And it was an ECNL tournament for my daughter, and it was sold out.

Speaker 1 I mean, that's an awesome stadium. It's really, really cool.

Speaker 2 They did a great job there. All right, we're going to take a break.
When we come back, we are going to talk USMNT. Lots going on.
Champions League in the leagues in Europe.

Speaker 2 All sorts of stuff. injuries going on.
Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Don't go anywhere.

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Speaker 1 Yo, what's happening? Back. Yo.
US LNT on USMNT.

Speaker 1 Big segment for us. We love trying to keep up to date with all the U.S.
men's national team players, both home and abroad.

Speaker 1 Big interesting news, both on the injury front and the performance front. The injury front has my eyes really wide open.

Speaker 2 We were gone for a few weeks, so we didn't get into the Riccardo Pepe injury.

Speaker 2 He's going to be out a long long time, out for the rest of the season.

Speaker 2 Probably Gold Cup-ish.

Speaker 2 Flo Balagan having shoulder surgery back in December. Malik Tillman still recovering from an ankle.
Serginio Dest has started to train a little bit after his ACL. So

Speaker 2 not

Speaker 2 good news on the not playing front. You know, we've

Speaker 2 beat this drum quite a bit.

Speaker 2 Gio Reyna, and the reason we talk about him is because he's such, you've said this word, like he's a generational talent. And

Speaker 2 we were running the stats now in the 12 league games this year. He has one start for Dortmund.
His average, Tim, average minutes on the field per 90 minutes on the field is 2.1 minutes.

Speaker 2 So he comes in for three minutes here, doesn't play the next three games, comes in for four minutes.

Speaker 2 He's got to move, man. He has to move.
This is too important a time. And

Speaker 2 there's so much opportunity there for them for him that's why it's so frustrating yeah look i think with

Speaker 1 um like i said i love gio man i i love him as as

Speaker 1 as the the the player one of the very few players we can hold up and say people ask us all the time landon who's a who's an american world-class player who's going to make like he's one of them he's one of like a few players who have the talent the natural talent to make it at the top level.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 for that reason alone, you want to see him playing week in, week out having an impact.

Speaker 1 Now, look, I know, you know, Claudio, who we both know and played with and is, is heavily in charge of his career and steering it, which is, I think, a good thing. And

Speaker 1 what I would say about that is Geo and his representatives and all of these players who aren't quite getting a sniff literally land and have, what are we, in almost March.

Speaker 1 Yeah, about four months to figure out like, hmm, okay, I've got a massive, massive career-defined decision to make in the next four months as to where I'm going to be next year.

Speaker 1 Right. Because that's it.

Speaker 2 Well, the reason, Tim, the reason why is because in 14 months, you have a once in a lifetime. You and I would have died to play a World Cup in our country.

Speaker 2 I would have given everything. And I'm like emotional talking.
I would have given everything to play in my country in a World Cup.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 you think you have, you have to imagine, you know,

Speaker 1 so many of these players will, I'm hoping, and if they're, you know, if they're listening, please talk to your agents and your representatives and figure it out because you have to be playing going into a World Cup.

Speaker 1 And you, and that move has to be made in

Speaker 1 the summer. And look, I think regarding the injuries,

Speaker 1 I was bummed, man. I was really, really bummed with Ricardo Peppi's injury because

Speaker 1 Flo's been out and Flo before he got injured was looking the part as a nine, right?

Speaker 1 And then then he got injured and Ricardo Peppi kind of grabbed that shirt with both hands and both fists and kind of made it his own. So like, okay, this is good.

Speaker 1 And now both are injured. Tillman recovering, Sergino Dess recovering.
Look, the only good part about this is, and you've dealt with injuries as well.

Speaker 1 The good part about it is these are young, these are young men, right? These aren't players who are over the hill and you don't know if they're going to come back.

Speaker 1 These guys will hit the ground running and they'll be one, excited to be back on the grass because everyone hates being injured, but also like they understand, I believe they understand that time is of the essence.

Speaker 1 And like if they can come back stronger, fitter and healthier, sometimes that injury layoff is actually the rest you needed. Nobody wants it.
Nobody wants it.

Speaker 1 But like imagine coming back 14 months before the World Cup with a renewed sense of optimism, spirit, health. Like I think we'll be okay.
But right now,

Speaker 1 joy for playing. But right now, I'm like, bummed, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Well, one guy, thankfully, who has been playing and is playing at an elite elite level is weston mckin yeah somebody sent me a text uh this morning actually tim and they said can you believe that we had a guy an american wearing the captain's armband for juventus in a massive game against intermilan and i was like wow and i and we've talked about this before I didn't even really bat an eye because you're getting used to it, especially with him.

Speaker 2 I was like, that's insane. An American in Italy wearing the armband in a massive game for a huge club.
It's not like, you know, he's like Hellas Verona or some small club. Like, this was insane.

Speaker 2 And I'm just, it's so fun to watch, man. He and he and Wea and like, they're just, they are absolutely so fun to watch.

Speaker 1 It's fun to watch. And I, and I think, look, I think that's what

Speaker 1 big credit has to go to Weston McKinney because

Speaker 1 you hear a lot, you see him on the pitch and his attitude and his energy is infectious, right? And then

Speaker 1 if you, if you're close enough to the inside, you and I aren't on the inside, but we're close enough to the inside to hear stories about like his attitude and his personality and how bubbly he is and how much he affects the group in a positive way.

Speaker 1 And then you say something like that, he's a Captain Juventus, and then it all checks out.

Speaker 1 Because if you can be an American and be and wear the captains aren't banned in Juventus, even for a short period of time, you're doing nearly everything right.

Speaker 1 So, look, I think what gets everyone excited about

Speaker 1 this group is

Speaker 1 the ways and McKinney and Christian Pulisic and tyler adams

Speaker 1 back you know these are these are players where you're like god if everyone can be healthy and everyone can get enough games under the belt together anthony robinson my god um then then you're like yeah we should feel optimistic about having a good run in in 2026 so yeah fingers crossed everyone gets healthy on the pitch and playing regularly in the next 14 months but this is a continual story yeah it's great um and you know we're only a year or so removed when weston mckinney got kicked out of camp yeah in Nashville.

Speaker 2 I believe it was Nashville for making some bad decisions.

Speaker 2 And sometimes I say to him in those moments, and I was very critical of him.

Speaker 2 Sometimes those are the best things that can happen because it's a wake-up call. And now, next thing you know, he's wearing the armband for Juventus.
Like, good on you, Weston.

Speaker 2 Like, learned from it, grew up, and so happy for him.

Speaker 2 Okay, can we move on to the Premier League, please? Because last Wednesday.

Speaker 2 God,

Speaker 2 I was sitting in Colorado. We were skiing last week.

Speaker 2 I was watching the Merseyside Derby, Everton at home against Liverpool. It's 2-1 Liverpool in the last minute.
I'm about to throw something at the TV.

Speaker 2 Ball gets clipped across the box, headed on,

Speaker 2 full volley by Tarkovsky into the roof of the net, and I absolutely exploded. And my wife looks at me and she's like, what the hell is wrong with you? And I'm like, you don't get it.
You don't get it.

Speaker 2 She's like, it's a game in the middle of the season. I'm like, you just don't get it.
So Everton tie two to the last game, last Merseyside Derby, ever at Goodison. God, it was so fun to watch, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you know, I think that

Speaker 1 I was on the desk for that game. I was in the studio for with NBC.
And yeah, it was, it was a great game. I thought that Liverpool handled themselves well.
I, you know, prior to the game,

Speaker 1 my initial thought, which, which kind of came to fruition in the game, was that

Speaker 1 Moyes was back and he was going to, and

Speaker 1 he would know that hit that Everton team can't go toe-to-toe with Liverpool. They can't just play play him off the park.
That wouldn't happen. Liverpool's too talented.

Speaker 1 So sometimes, as we talked about, you have to tell your team to roll your sleeves up and go earn the right to play. And by the way, get in their face, dump them on the floor and see if they like it.

Speaker 1 Because most of the teams at the top don't like that. And that's what Everton did.
And they made it tough. Made it tough for the midfielders to have a clean look into the strikers, which we know is

Speaker 1 Liverpool's front three is sensational. And it was a good game of football, and Liverpool handled that and took the lead.
And I thought it was great.

Speaker 1 I thought the emotion in the stadium, both the reds and the blues, was fantastic. And then, uh, an epic winner by uh, excuse me, an equalizer by Tarkovsky.

Speaker 1 And I was on the others, I was on at Anfield, I think in 2015 or 16, I can't remember exactly, but Phil Jagielka hit a screamer

Speaker 1 into the cop end of golf in 2014 into the cop end, and it was from 22 yards out. It was one of the most amazing feelings.

Speaker 2 Yeah, go Google that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, incredible. So it reminded me of that.
And it was, you know, what I said on air was this.

Speaker 1 Darbies have, the emotion of Darbies has gotten lost. Guys are friendly.
Everyone's on TikTok and Instagram. Their home is hugging in the tunnel.

Speaker 1 I remember the days you walked down the tunnel, you didn't look at anybody.

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 And you walked out the door. Now it's like

Speaker 2 your best mate.

Speaker 1 You're giving a high five. And that kind of, that kind of renewed a sense of optimism of like, okay, Darby's aren't dead.
Like there's still, there's still some goodness in it.

Speaker 2 So yeah, it was ugly and and the fighting at the end, too. Like, I love that.

Speaker 2 They need to care, man. It's great.
It was, it was so great. So, Everton won again on the weekend, by the way.

Speaker 2 I don't know, what's that? Five and seven. Yeah, I just thought they won five and six or something.
So, well on their way. Who would have bet money?

Speaker 2 Who would have even given you odds on Everton being level with Spurs on points and ahead of United 25 games into the season? That's

Speaker 1 I think it's four wins, one draw, and one loss. Um, unbeaten in five, I think.
So, yeah, well done, David Moyes.

Speaker 2 City dismantled Newcastle. We're not going to spend too much time on them because they still have a ways till they're back in our good graces.
But Marmouche with the hat-trick, very impressive.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. It was a good idea.
He's a good hat-tricker. He's been so good.

Speaker 2 Leicester Arsenal. So the big question with Arsenal is, how are they going to do without a striker?

Speaker 2 Apparently, pretty well. Mikhail Marino.
Yeah. The late race.
It was interesting.

Speaker 1 So soccer we know has been out for a bit. Martinelli's out.
Jesus and Hovertz are center. Their two number nines are out.

Speaker 1 Havertz, Havertz, like tore a hamstring on like warm weather training in Dubai. Like, I'm thinking, every time I was at warm weather training, I didn't even get out of first gear.

Speaker 1 So I'm not sure how, I'm not sure how he did that. But unfortunately, they didn't have a striker.
So leading in, it was like, who are they going to be?

Speaker 1 Are they going to play Raheem Sterling at the false nine? It ended up being Tressard at the False Nine, Sterling to the left,

Speaker 1 and Wanieri out to the right, the young 17-year-old. It just didn't really work.
Nothing really clicked. And then at the end of the game, which was interesting, LD, because we had heard

Speaker 1 we within our, within our NBC group and heard, we don't even know, like there's people that were saying like, hey, Mikel Marino can play striker. And he hadn't played striker in his career.

Speaker 1 Like there was no games where he played as a recognized striker. So the only thing we could really think of was like, you know, in training, some guys are like really good.

Speaker 1 Like Jack Yelka and Wayne Rooney would put the gloves on and they jump and goal. And you'd be like, yo, in a pinch, these guys could be third goalkeeper.
Like these kind of crazy rumors.

Speaker 1 So we had heard on the inside that like, hey, Mikel Marino could be an option. We're like, all right, we'll keep that in our back pocket.
Sure enough, that front three didn't work.

Speaker 1 He brings on Mikael Marino late on in like an ugly nil-nil and two brilliant, brilliant finishes. A header where he just snaps it into the corner and then a left-footed strike that just guides in.

Speaker 1 And I'm thinking this, I think, is their number nine for the running because they have to win.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And look, I, when you're in a team that has the ball all the time and is has a lot of possession, a lot of chances, but like, especially if they're playing at home,

Speaker 2 it's not, take this the right way. It's not the hardest position to play, right?

Speaker 2 It's hard to score goals, but to be somewhat effective, you just occupy center back, stay in front of the goal, in the box, good timing with your runs. And then he's a good finish.

Speaker 2 I mean, he's a high-quality player. It's not like he's, you know, a center back up there.
He's never scored before. So it's not that difficult.

Speaker 2 Now, if you're on the road and you don't have any possession and you have to do all this other dirty work, it's harder. But in this circumstance, I think he's on a good team that has the ball a lot.

Speaker 2 We'll create a lot of chances. No problem with it.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 I think he's successful yeah i think it's a good option uh spurs united they don't deserve any of our time unfortunately just two bad teams nothing really in the game um spurs do win which is huge for ange but not a lot there no um look i think i think spurs both both mid-table below mid-table teams uh united is a complete overhaul for me um and we've seen that under ruben amarin he'll get hopefully he'll get some time to do that i think he will and fastakaglu fun exciting team to play one way um He's getting a lot of players, big players back fit.

Speaker 1 I expected Spurs to kind of run away with the game, but in the end, it was 1-0. So, yeah, again, a long way to go before both of those teams are relevant.

Speaker 2 Yeah, agreed. Okay, let's switch gears here.
Some really, really interesting news last week. Good news, man.
Andrew, one of our producers, sent us on our text.

Speaker 2 And I got this from a few other people too. This New York Times headline.
I think it said something like, move over MLS. There's a new Division I coming.
I'm kind of rolling my eyes, like, whatever.

Speaker 2 So, USL, who is currently the

Speaker 2 in second division,

Speaker 2 is also as a third division and fourth division league. So, USL Championship is the top of their pyramid.
USL League One is next, and then USL League Two is under that.

Speaker 2 They have plans, and you know, we're going to have to dig into this more, to start a new Division I professional league in the 2027-2028 season. Now, so people understand there are

Speaker 2 metrics you have to meet to be a D1 team. I believe it's 15,000-seat stadium you have to have.

Speaker 2 You have to have owners who are capable of spending X amount of money, meaning their net worth is at X amount. So they're capable of losing X amount if everything goes upside down.

Speaker 2 So this is big news if they can pull it off.

Speaker 2 Obviously, it's big news for MLS too, who have you know,

Speaker 2 not really been competing against USL for a long time, but now might be. So, what's your take on all this?

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so the good thing about this is

Speaker 1 this is going to be an ongoing conversation. It's targeted to start in 2027, 28 season.
This is this, we're going to get big news about this constantly, and that's good because we can talk about it.

Speaker 1 Look, you and I will, you, you

Speaker 1 and I have been, have been owners in the USL. I'm currently an owner in MLS and NWSL.
I attack this conversation, not with any bias, but with a history in this country at every level.

Speaker 1 And you and I share that.

Speaker 1 You talked about some of the requirements. So let's just start there.
It has to be a minimum of 12 teams at launch, expanding to 14 teams by year three.

Speaker 1 Teams must be in the eastern, central, and pacific time zones. 75% of teams must be in metro areas with 1 million plus people.
Stadiums, as you mentioned, must be enclosed with at least 15,000 seats.

Speaker 1 That's a big one for me, Landa.

Speaker 2 That's a big one.

Speaker 1 Ownership groups must demonstrate financial viability to sustain operations for at least five years. Okay.
So those are the main talking points, if you will.

Speaker 2 It's going to be hard.

Speaker 1 It's going to be hard to

Speaker 1 compete. You know, look.

Speaker 1 Now, I think there's two sides to this. MLS started, right? There's been a bunch of iterations of what soccer looks like in America.
1996, 1994, the World Cup comes here, and then MLS starts in 1996.

Speaker 1 There is no soccer in America, no real soccer in America to speak of. There's teams.

Speaker 1 You now

Speaker 1 have, we've talked about this at the top of the show. We now have one of the more amazing leagues in the world, right? In MLS.

Speaker 1 You're now going to start a 12-team league

Speaker 1 and compete essentially for eyeballs and viewerships with the MLS. And people will say, no, that's not the case.
Kind of is the case. No, it is the case.

Speaker 1 You will compete with MLS,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 it's going to be really difficult, I think, to

Speaker 1 create momentum in

Speaker 1 those cities

Speaker 1 and create stadiums. By the way, a 15,000 seat stadium costs a heck of a lot of money.

Speaker 2 Yeah, right. Like a heck of a lot of money.
$500 million at least. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 what I would say is there's probably a lot of loss going into that.

Speaker 1 So you're going to have to have investors very similar to how it was in MLS in the early days, where you have to be prepared to lose before you win.

Speaker 1 And I think going back to our promotion relegation conversation, if

Speaker 1 USL in their statement said

Speaker 1 that is a possibility, but not really at the start, I like it. You know, you and I said that.

Speaker 1 Like maybe promotion relegation in this country does actually originate in USL and then becoming a viable first first division that they say will rival the MLS and they create a promotion relegation model because then it's not pie in the sky.

Speaker 1 Then you have real metrics to measure whether that can live or die here in America.

Speaker 2 Okay, so yeah,

Speaker 2 I have a lot of thoughts on all this. So

Speaker 2 promotion relegation,

Speaker 2 someone asked me, what is going to differentiate this from MLS, right? If USL is able to pull this off. My first thought was, well, if they can do promotion relegation, that is a differentiator.

Speaker 2 You and I know being in USL meetings, there are quite a few owners who want to go crazy and want to go spend.

Speaker 2 And there are quite a few owners who are like, I want to charge $4.25 instead of $4.20 for the hot dog because I need the money. Right.

Speaker 2 And so what this could do is allow those owners who want to go crazy, go.

Speaker 2 The problem is, Tim, is if you're going to implement promotion relegation, you need everyone on board. Because from one year to the next, Louisville, great, have their own stadium.

Speaker 2 They have a bad year. They're going to be dropped down to the second division.
That ain't good for them.

Speaker 2 And by the way, whoever comes up, if it's, you know, Tulsa or Oklahoma City, if they don't want to spend that money and now they have to build a 15,000 seat stadium, that ain't going to happen.

Speaker 2 They're not going to drop $100 million to build a stadium.

Speaker 1 To know they go back down.

Speaker 2 Well, just

Speaker 2 period in general. Right.
Sometimes these, they don't want. They're not.
That's not why they're in it. Right.
So

Speaker 2 I like the premise of USL saying we have these owners who want to go crazy.

Speaker 2 Sure, and we, we had it, and you know, teams would spend three, four, five times more than, than we did on salaries when I was San Diego.

Speaker 2 And you know, this with Memphis, yeah, great, go do it, go do it in your own league, in your own division, you can compete against each other. That's fine, sure.

Speaker 2 But the promotion relegation piece then becomes virtually impossible because you need every team from the top in the division one to the bottom in division three, willing and capable and able to do all those things that you just mentioned.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think it's, you know, and again, we don't, we sit here now. We have the same, we have the same statement from the USL that everyone else in America and the world can read.

Speaker 1 We don't have the ins and outs, but, you know, I start to then piece together what can they do differently, right? I think what I'd like to see as an example is create a luxury tax. Say, hey,

Speaker 1 you five want to go spend super big. go spend super big.
We're going to create a luxury tax and parachute payments and a pyramid that we can actually utilize this.

Speaker 1 and so if you're the new york yankees spend and we'll trickle it down to the milwaukee brewers and and oakland athletics like i i'm i'm okay with that like start create another another sort of system that works differently than mls and see if it works and people look people ask is it is that then the if there's success is that then um the steps towards like a merger um

Speaker 1 What I would say is right now, everyone's going to tell you no. The example that I would give is PGA golf is the epicenter of the golf universe.

Speaker 1 No way

Speaker 1 some wild golf league named Live Golf is going to compete.

Speaker 2 Well, guess what?

Speaker 1 Well, guess what? We ain't that far removed from the launch of Live Golf. And I think there's going to be a merger coming soon, right? So

Speaker 1 on the surface, everyone's going to say no. And I think that's probably the company line and probably the more accurate line.

Speaker 1 But if there is some success with a USL being a first division and some sort of luxury tax or promotion relegation,

Speaker 1 there's always a conversation at the table. But again, we're far from that.

Speaker 2 Well, last thing on it.

Speaker 2 Just as you're saying that, I was just thinking, well, if some Saudi Arabian or whoever, could be from anywhere, comes in and says, here's three, four, five billion dollars, I'll fund the whole thing.

Speaker 2 As teams go up and down, I'll fund the whole thing. And that's not out of the question.

Speaker 2 That's a drop in the bucket for people like that. So

Speaker 2 that is possible. Okay, I'm sure you guys are going to have lots of comments on that.
So please ask questions, leave comments on your thoughts on that. Is this good for soccer, bad for soccer?

Speaker 2 Is it possible, viable, et cetera? Let's take a break when we come back. We'll do the ATT fan connection.
All of your questions, there were tons of questions this week.

Speaker 2 Anything but soccer as well, right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.

Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Airbnb.

Speaker 2 All right, Tim, between your work, your daughter, your son, or maybe just your own enjoyment, how much traveling do you think you've done to see soccer this year?

Speaker 1 Honestly, I've lost track at this point.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 1 I crack open a Coors Light.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 1 Celebrate responsibly.

Speaker 2 Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado.

Speaker 1 There's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done even without you having to ask.

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

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

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

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

Speaker 2 Learn more at ATT.com/slash guarantee. AT ⁇ T connecting changes everything.

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

Speaker 1 Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com slash guarantee for full details.
It's time for the fan connection presented by AT ⁇ T.

Speaker 1 Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S.

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

Speaker 1 Yeah, ATT fan connection time, as you know it.

Speaker 1 Also, Jordan's favorite time of the week because she gets airtime. Jordan, welcome in.

Speaker 2 JR

Speaker 2 time. Hey, everyone.
JR connecting changes everything.

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 2 Tell us.

Speaker 1 A lot of new hats.

Speaker 2 A lot of new hats, Jordan.

Speaker 3 We've got a galaxy hat right there.

Speaker 2 That is cool. Where'd you get that, by the way?

Speaker 3 I got it for my birthday.

Speaker 2 It's amazing.

Speaker 1 Happy birthday.

Speaker 2 Happy birthday, by the way, Jordan.

Speaker 2 We did that on our

Speaker 1 text chat. Happy birthday.

Speaker 2 Kept that very quiet from us.

Speaker 3 You know, a lady never reveals her age.

Speaker 1 You don't have to. We can still say it's your birthday.

Speaker 2 Say it's your birthday.

Speaker 1 All the Houston swag is coming. Don't worry.
It's in a box in the mail.

Speaker 3 It's okay. The weather's been bad, so I'm sure it's just delayed.

Speaker 2 All right, what do you got for us?

Speaker 3 Let's do a couple of quick hits first. Okay, we've got all of our questions this week came from Instagram.

Speaker 3 So, our first question is from Katarina, who wants to know what you think San Diego FC are going to do this season. Do we need a designated player? And are either of you available?

Speaker 2 No, to the last one.

Speaker 2 To the second one i think this is what i would say without a high profile not high profile without a top quality dp i think this team probably finishes just outside the playoffs i think with a quality dp very good chance san diego fc makes the playoffs like if they got a kevin de bruyna they can make the playoffs a kevin de bruyna could work yes um

Speaker 1 I'm absolutely not available. If it's pickleball, I'm in, but if it's soccer, completely out.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Yeah, I tend to think, again, without a ton of knowledge with the team, just looking at the roster additions, they can compete for a bottom end playoff spot. But,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 I would say that would be success because I'll get a ton of momentum from being a first-year team in that in that city with the fans behind them.

Speaker 1 Look, do you need a DP?

Speaker 1 What no one tells you in this league, and Landon and I will tell you, like, everybody needs a DP. Good DPs are really hard to find.

Speaker 1 Like they caught, they, you know, and I can tell you this from experience, teams from mid-level European leagues will basically,

Speaker 1 they know you're an MLS club and you'll overpay. So they hike the fee up for a mid-level DP, which isn't an instant impact type of DP.
So now you're overpaying for what?

Speaker 1 For a guy you don't really know much about.

Speaker 1 And then if you want to go get a big, big, big player, you have to pay money. So, that mid-range where most of the teams are operating in is really tricky to bring in a good DP.
So, just be patient.

Speaker 2 And by the way, you could get a good player and a terrible locker room guy or someone who hurts your culture. And that happens over and over and over.

Speaker 2 And so, to get that all right, it's very difficult. Okay.

Speaker 3 This next one might just be a yes or no answer. This one's from Benjamin.
Is Lucha Acosta the answer for Dallas to return to MLS Cup contention?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Good question, though.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's a start, but no. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Chris wants to know: there are only three original MLS teams that have never won the cup.

Speaker 3 What can they do to get into the picture?

Speaker 2 That's Red Bull,

Speaker 2 Dallas. Yep.

Speaker 2 And what was the third?

Speaker 2 Chris's actual

Speaker 1 question that he's wow, you're a Revs fan. Yeah.

Speaker 2 How do I say this the right way?

Speaker 2 Now in MLS, the only way you do that is you have to spend.

Speaker 2 Back in the day, you could get away with sort of being that, you know, New England in the past were like cheeky, didn't spend, didn't even spend up to the cap, what they could have.

Speaker 2 They spent less than that because they liked to be the team that didn't have to spend to compete, but then they never got over the lines. Who's that? New England.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, so you just nowadays, you have to look at Colorado last year, like great run. Salt Lake last year, great run in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 When you face the big boys with the big, big players, you're going to get run over in the playoffs. That's a good point.

Speaker 1 What was the question? I know the original teams, what was the question? Oh, can one of them get over the hump?

Speaker 2 Well, yeah, what, yeah, what's it going to take to get over the hump?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, it's hard to argue with Landon's point about like. Can you be a good team and have a good run and get into the playoffs and feel really good about yourselves? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And then

Speaker 1 you run into the buzzsaw of what is

Speaker 1 LA Galaxy. And then you're like, Jesus, you know, like,

Speaker 1 but that was built in a very short period of time too, right? Like the most recent Galaxy success. So yeah, but they spent Tim.

Speaker 2 Like

Speaker 2 the example is Colorado last year. They were great.
They get into the playoff that was it a two-game, well, is it two or three-game series?

Speaker 2 They go to the galaxy and bang, it's 5-0. Like tech and pencil and you have it.
They just can't compete with that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 1 the one, one question I would have is, am I still a part of the Red Bull? Like, am I a part of this history? Because I was a Metro star.

Speaker 1 I don't know if that's gone away.

Speaker 1 What I would say, though,

Speaker 1 the negative for those three teams,

Speaker 1 we said Dallas, New England, and Red Bull is

Speaker 1 you've had more cracks at it than anybody else.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's right. And you had cracks when there were like 10 teams in the league.

Speaker 1 10 teams. And by the way, and you went through moments where you spent.
Red Bull spent, by the way.

Speaker 1 Marquez, Henri, Cahill, like they spent and and still not no success like big success to speak of so um hopefully they get that right

Speaker 3 um here's a question from jake what's one mls matchup you'd like to see become a derby that currently isn't

Speaker 1 i got one i got one let me ask you before i answer because you you're well more versed in this LAFC, LA Galaxy is huge, yes?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, relatively, yeah.

Speaker 1 Is San Jose, LA Galaxy, big

Speaker 2 it used to be right used to be yeah so can we do a can we do a i would love that i would love that back because the north and i'm a southern california guy so northern california southern california and everything dodgers giants um warriors lakers kings lakers like all these were huge

Speaker 1 right let me say this right if if you're clever right and you now have bruce arena up in the north and you now have san diego you know

Speaker 1 allow la to do their the la teams to do their thing oh yeah good and almost, almost bypass it. Almost.
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 If you're San Jose and you're, and you're San Diego, be like, these teams in the middle are crap. They're not.
But like, like, create a marketing scheme that says we own out, we own California.

Speaker 1 And it'd be, and it could be clever and do San Jose, LA, because obviously San Jose, San Jose, San Diego, because I feel like San Jose, LA Galaxy, which used to be big, has kind of dissipated recently because of the LA Health Traffico.

Speaker 2 I don't know. It's the, it wouldn't need the name.
It's the San Darby of some sort. Yeah, yeah.
And you know what they do?

Speaker 2 The first game they play each other this year, they all take their cleats off and they fight the first three minutes.

Speaker 2 Amazing seasley. Yeah.
All right. What else, Jordan?

Speaker 3 I have a question here from someone named Demarcus Beasley.

Speaker 2 Get out of here, Beasley. But Marcus Deasley?

Speaker 3 No, it was actually Demarcus. And he said, yeah, it was.
He had a little blue check mark, and it looked like him.

Speaker 2 So I hope it really is him.

Speaker 3 It says, after Kobe, who else in the MLS alumni deserves a statue outside of their MLS club?

Speaker 2 Oh, what a question. Great question.
Bees, is he lobbying for himself, by the way?

Speaker 1 He might be.

Speaker 1 It might be a Houston angle.

Speaker 2 It might be a Houston angle. I don't mind that.

Speaker 2 I don't mind that. Bring that to me.
Tim, make it happen. Come on.

Speaker 2 That's a great question.

Speaker 1 First of all, thank you, Bees,

Speaker 1 for the love.

Speaker 2 Thanks for following the show, Bees.

Speaker 1 Dear friend of ours.

Speaker 2 After all we've done for you, it's about time you reciprocate.

Speaker 1 He's carried us on occasion.

Speaker 2 Yes, he has.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 2 Very good.

Speaker 1 Ooh, I know of one that jumps off the page for me.

Speaker 1 The one that jumps off the page for me is Brian McBride and Columbus, because those two are synonymous. I don't know if that's the final answer.

Speaker 2 There's one that comes to mind.

Speaker 2 He wasn't there his whole career, but most of his career and that was kyle beckerman in salt lake he kind of epitomized maybe ramondo too to be honest he epitomized what salt lake were for a decade plus

Speaker 2 um because it doesn't have to be like the you know some attacking genius no no goal scorer it just needs someone who means something real to their club i like the mcbride shop that's a good one

Speaker 1 a naive do you have a statue outside

Speaker 1 mate you do

Speaker 2 i mean i can send you pictures if you want oh you do i didn't know if it was beckham or you let's let the fans let's let the fans answer guys do i have a statue outside the galaxy i mean jesus

Speaker 1 you're mountain rushing chairs you've got a statue you're the mls cup of mvp is named what i go skiing one week golfing the next golfing it's a good life all right listen demarcus

Speaker 2 i'm going to think about this can we come back to this next week amazing Can we get Bees to come on the podcast and answer the question himself?

Speaker 2 Bees, come on the cot. You've been shouted out by Jordan.
Trust me, if you say no, there will be wrath.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 I got another one for you.

Speaker 1 I'm thinking about how great

Speaker 1 DC United was in the early days.

Speaker 2 Is it like an Echiveri shout?

Speaker 1 Who would be the one?

Speaker 2 Echiverry could be Jaime Moreno.

Speaker 1 That's what I mean.

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. I think Echivery, that's a great shout.
Okay. That's a great shout.

Speaker 1 Throwbacks from Tim Howard, by the way. Throwbacks.

Speaker 2 I love that.

Speaker 1 Got the Bumblebee uniform on McBride. I've got Echivery

Speaker 1 with the Breathe Right strip on his nose. I got all sorts of things going on.

Speaker 2 I love that.

Speaker 2 Awesome.

Speaker 3 Thanks, guys. Yeah.

Speaker 2 All right, JR. Thank you.

Speaker 2 All right, Timmy. Anything but soccer.
I cannot wait to get into this. Let's talk about it.
I am a massive hockey fan. I grew up.
The

Speaker 2 hat over there is from Nova Scotia.

Speaker 2 We are interviewing.

Speaker 2 Legendary coach from the University of Vermont next week, Rob Dow, who also grew up in Nova Scotia. So we watched this USA hockey game against Canada.

Speaker 2 By the way, I just saw 4.4 million viewers on ABC the other night. Incredible for a hockey game? Insane.
And I was glued to the TV fascinating. My family was so into it.

Speaker 2 And for people to understand, they're playing this Four Nations Cup. So it's the middle of the NHL season.
Everybody else gets a break, which is nice.

Speaker 2 And then Sweden, Finland, US, and Canada are playing this round robin. The top two teams will play in the final this coming Thursday.

Speaker 2 The USA, if they had beat Canada whenever this was Saturday, they advanced to the final automatically and Canada would have to play in,

Speaker 2 play another game and win another game to get there. And the USA won 2-1.
This game, Tim, was insane. It was so fun to watch.

Speaker 1 You watched, right? Yeah. Well, not only did I watch, I watched it build up.
So let me just say, I am a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 1 Crazy. And shout out to the Chicago Blackhawks.
They've treated me amazing every time I've been there.

Speaker 1 I went on recently. I went on, I went to a game.
They They played the Edmonton Oilers, and

Speaker 1 they, again, rolled out the red carpet for me. And I was on the pregame show, and this was prior to the Four Nations.
And they were basically trying to draw that parallel on the pregame show.

Speaker 1 Like, what's it going to be like for these players in season, go play for their country?

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 we just talked about how difficult it is in season to kind of stop pause with your club and then go play for your country, but what an honor it is. And it was a great, great conversation.

Speaker 1 I watched the buildup to the game.

Speaker 1 And it was PK Suban and Mark Messier, the legend. And Mark Messier was talking about the rivalry, but he was talking about wearing the sweater for Canada.

Speaker 1 And like, he's like, he's like, I got this, it was 84, 90 or something. Like, I'm getting those ears wrong.
He's like, I got. Gretzky on one side.
I've got

Speaker 1 Mario LeMieu on the other. And I shouldn't even be on the ice.
And I'm getting goosebumps listening to this guy talk about like Canadian hockey, right?

Speaker 1 And then you, and then you watch the game. And like,

Speaker 1 I get that there's rest and there's management, and I get all that, right? And you get all that.

Speaker 1 And we watch the NBA and the in-season tournament and what that means, and whether it's been good or bad, or whether players compete.

Speaker 1 You and I know that when you play for your team, your club team, right? And then you go into an in-season tournament,

Speaker 1 whether it's you pause and you got to come back to the states to play in a World Cup qualifier or you go play in Champions League, whatever it is in season where you're not playing, you know, you're playing a different competition, you and I know you go full tilt.

Speaker 1 There is no day off.

Speaker 1 And the puck drops for U.S. Canada, and these dudes drop their gloves and fight.
I'm like,

Speaker 2 this is mid-season.

Speaker 1 And there's three fights

Speaker 1 inside the first nine, three fights in the first nine minutes or something like that. Nine seconds.

Speaker 1 Nine seconds. And I'm thinking to myself, well, that was incredible.
And then I watched, and I remember thinking, I remember watching the first.

Speaker 1 Obviously, the game started to take shape. The first and second period, I have never seen a faster hockey game.
Like it was moving at the sound of speed.

Speaker 1 These guys, and by the way, you've been around hockey players, hockey players for me are the best athletes, the best athletes. They can skate.

Speaker 1 They behind the scenes when they're warming up, they're juggling soccer balls, they're shooting basketball.

Speaker 1 They are the best athletes when it comes to being a professional athlete. It was an insane game.

Speaker 2 It was so fun to watch. And this morning, my dad sent me

Speaker 2 a text and he said, They clocked Connor McDavid.

Speaker 2 Connor McDavid's first goal

Speaker 2 was

Speaker 2 insane. He receives the puck in the middle of the ice.
And for people who don't know him, he plays for the Oilers. He's this Canadian sensation.

Speaker 2 And when you watch him, it looks like he's playing against high school kids because when he goes, he just goes. And I remember playing Cristiano in our prime.

Speaker 2 And when he would, it was a friendly at the Rose Bowl. And when he decided to just take the ball and run by you, you could have jumped on his back and it wouldn't have mattered.

Speaker 2 He would have just kept going the same speed. And Conor McDavid, they said they clocked him during this goal.
He blew by the U.S. defense.

Speaker 2 They clocked him at 35.4 miles per hour, which I believe is the fastest a human has ever skated. And he had the puck with him.
It was just, it was insane. The game was insane.
It was 3-1, by the way,

Speaker 2 there was an empty netter at the end. Oh, it was so fun.
And they play. So if Canada wins tonight when the episode drops, the U.S.-Canada will be the final on Thursday in Boston.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 I cannot wait. Let's go, dude.

Speaker 1 Amazing.

Speaker 2 All right. Great show today.
Thank you guys for being with us as always. There were a lot of great questions last week, so keep them going.

Speaker 2 Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast. Follow the show across all of our social media at Unfiltered Soccer for lots of bonus content.

Speaker 1 Yeah, thank you, everybody. Always a pleasure spending time with you.
Thanks to our presenting sponsor, VW, and our fan connection sponsor, ATT. Have an amazing week.

Speaker 1 Look forward to seeing you back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.