Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag

Speaker 1 Keep the ball out of the net because there's a lot of goalkeepers that I see today who are brilliant footballers, but they might as well have their gloves on the other hand because they can't they couldn't save a stamp

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.

Speaker 1 soccer for the past five years LD, bloody heck, I have seen you so many times

Speaker 2 seen this beautiful mud a lot lately.

Speaker 1 I usually don't enjoy that, But we've been knocking out a bunch of episodes recently, giving the fans what they want.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's been fun. We're traveling a bit for the next few weeks.
So we're doing

Speaker 2 a lot here, getting some interesting episodes out for you guys.

Speaker 2 Won't be as time-sensitive, but I think you guys are going to like it a lot.

Speaker 1 You know what's funny, LD?

Speaker 1 I love how... much we talk about the U.S.
Men's National Team because it's it's what everybody wants to hear, you know, and so

Speaker 1 the challenge of always making sure that we're getting up-to-date episodes after every U.S. men's national team game is fun and challenging.

Speaker 2 And I'm looking forward to this. And our producers hate it.

Speaker 2 Follow us, guys, on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe, YouTube.
Make sure you follow an Apple Podcast and Spotify. Please leave a review, a rating, a like, comments, et cetera.

Speaker 2 It helps people find us. And

Speaker 2 from what I hear, what you hear, Tim, people are enjoying it.

Speaker 2 I saw a comment someone said the other day, day. I can't believe Landon, who is the most boring guy ever, is actually bringing me entertainment on this podcast.

Speaker 1 Wait, I think I wrote that. You wrote that, okay.

Speaker 2 I'm not known as the most entertaining, but I think people are enjoying what we have to say.

Speaker 1 But also,

Speaker 1 if you have bad things to say, sentiment. We like reading those, too.
No problem.

Speaker 2 All right, let's get right in, Timmy. USLNT on USMNT 3-0 win

Speaker 2 yesterday as we're recording this on Thursday against Costa Rica, uh, give me your overall, I guess, just takeaways from the game, the camp. Let's let's dive into this.

Speaker 1 Yeah, um, success, huge success. I mean, we've been talking about January camp.
We dove in a previous episode. What does it mean? What are the takeaways? What are the hopes?

Speaker 1 I, you tell me, I think this was like a 10 out of 10 January camp. Yeah, I agree.
Um, from

Speaker 1 performances, which we'll get into, from results to the positivity that we see in the players' performances, the positivity that Pachatino is showing us in the press and the media. This feels

Speaker 1 like it couldn't have gone any better. And so, again, hats off to U.S.
Soccer, to Pochitino

Speaker 1 and all the players. I mean, I think about like Diego Luna.

Speaker 1 This is how you impress your new manager. You and I talked about it.
Like, what are you going to do to just get into the manager's view? Like,

Speaker 1 what are you going to do? I mean, he takes an elbow to the face, breaks his nose, blood everywhere, literally pleads with the manager to stay in the game.

Speaker 1 Medical staff clears him, and then he goes back in and sets up Ryan White's goal, you know? So, like,

Speaker 1 that, I mean, again, couldn't be more proud as a fan watching the game,

Speaker 1 as an analyst, as you and I analyze the game. This is perfect.
I mean, the manager couldn't talk highly enough about his players. Fantastic.
Well done.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
You know, like, if you just take the overview, you say this was an absolute, almost perfect camp. Right.

Speaker 2 There was a few guys he probably would have liked to have seen, you know, Jesus Ferreira, Tolkien left, maybe Jalen Neal. But other than that, everything went well.

Speaker 2 And I, you know, the Diego Luna thing is so funny.

Speaker 2 So the first thing that reminded me was Brian McBride in 2006 in the Italy game in Kaiser Slaughter and getting elbowed, his nose bloodied, broken, whatever. And he's just out there like a war.

Speaker 2 And people love that. And to your point, the last thing you want to be in this camp is anonymous.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 2 Right. So even if you're terrible and they thought you were better, at least you were something and you're on their, you know, on their radar in some ways.
But Diego Luna now did something memorable.

Speaker 2 And I just want to remind people, we played against Diego Luna a few times when we were in USL with San Diego Loyal when it was El Paso.

Speaker 1 El Paso?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think El Paso. And

Speaker 2 this kid is, he's hard, dude. Like where he grew up and where he came from a broken nose is nothing to him and the reason i'm bringing this up is

Speaker 2 you know who else is from a pretty tough place argentina is pochatino yeah like when you grow up playing soccer and you're around soccer they really respect guys who just get on with it and are tough and can handle it and i give diego so much credit um yeah pause pause for a second because you bring up a good point this is not for this episode but God, we need more players like that in America.

Speaker 1 We do. We do.

Speaker 1 Our players, because of the youth system, which we continue to promise we'll get into our players are so pampered and they are so i i my daughter god bless her she is the most amazing little girl in the world

Speaker 1 she knows get up don't matter get up when i when all these other parents are going referee that's a purple card or a yellow card or a red card get up get up the next time someone hits the ground it ain't you and and and She's tough as nails.

Speaker 1 And this isn't about my daughter, but it's about young athletes, soccer players

Speaker 1 being tough as nails.

Speaker 1 you need it and they're pampered in this country so well done to him it's really good to see him and look i think on the game when you do the job you're asked to do you give yourself a chance like if you're a striker score the goals that's right if you're a goalkeeper keep a clean sheet if you're a defender head it and kick it connect passes like do what you're asked to do and you'll have you'll have an opportunity um you know i i think of um

Speaker 1 Ajamang, Patrick Ajamang.

Speaker 1 He's gotten, gets put in the game, gets a goal, right? Gets put on late, gets a goal.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, that's two and two now.

Speaker 1 Yeah, two and two. So, by the way, is he going to start in the World Cup?

Speaker 1 I think the odds are against him, but you know what he does?

Speaker 1 He gives himself a really good opportunity because when he has, as you know, we hate these individual meetings, no matter what they say to him, he could say, Okay, I'm going to work on it.

Speaker 1 But by the way, when you put me in, I score, right? We see this with Ricardo Pepe, which I love. I ain't a sub, put me in, I score.
So, players really put themselves in a good place.

Speaker 1 And you know what it does, LD? It gives them an opportunity to compete with the best, right?

Speaker 1 These aren't,

Speaker 1 this isn't the A team. Well, some players are, but this isn't the A team for the U.S.
men. But what it does do is it gets them into an A-team camp.
That's right. And now

Speaker 1 it can compete and show themselves. And so.

Speaker 2 Yeah, there's a few of these guys, Tim, now who will get called into the next camp when it's real. And then guess what? You got to do it again.

Speaker 1 Totally.

Speaker 2 And you got to do it a level up and you got to keep going.

Speaker 2 We're going to read a lot of quotes because Pochtino had a lot to say after the the game, to TNT after the game. So he said, regarding Diego Luna, this is great.

Speaker 2 I was very surprised because it was broke, you know, but I didn't want to say nothing with too much drama because it might scare him. I was like, nothing's scaring Diego Luna, bro.

Speaker 1 Don't trust me.

Speaker 2 He said, how do you feel? And Diego said, please, coach, let me keep playing because at least after the half, I go out. The doctor said, yeah, okay, okay, you go in.
And the first action, assist.

Speaker 2 Big balls, said Pochitino.

Speaker 1 Unfiltered.

Speaker 1 Poch is unfiltered.

Speaker 2 He is unfiltered.

Speaker 2 we'll have him on the pod yeah um so good and then another guy tim uh i thought who was great zach stephan was great yep so just talk me through you know he's been out of the picture for a while so what does that mean for him

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 zach zach is who was brilliant last night man of the match um it's interesting because pochettino is showing me what i think i already knew is he's not lazy when it comes to player selection.

Speaker 1 In this country, we get lazy. I see it.
You see it at every level. A guy has a falling out with another coach, and then the next coach comes in and just kind of follows suit.

Speaker 1 I've said all along, the U.S. has one and a half top-level international goalkeepers.

Speaker 1 If Matt Turner and Zach Stefan are both playing at the highest possible level they can compete at, then we have two.

Speaker 1 That's it. We've got some good goalkeepers in the pipeline, sure, but none that can start in a World Cup, plain and simple.

Speaker 1 And for me, I've always said Zach Stefan in his toolbox possesses more talent than any U.S. goalkeeper in the history of the U.S.
men's national team.

Speaker 1 Putting that all together is the challenge for any goalkeeper. And I just love LD that Pachetino gave him an opportunity.
He took the opportunity. And when I start to look at things that

Speaker 1 Pachetino said,

Speaker 1 it speaks to Zach being in that window. He's going to get opportunity.
Look, I do. I think Matt Turner is very good.
He's not playing.

Speaker 1 What happens between now and the World Cup, I think he'll have to make decisions that will impact his international future.

Speaker 1 But Zach, when you talk to the goalkeeper coach at Man City under Pep, and I've said this before. He talks about goalkeepers playing big and playing small, right?

Speaker 1 Zach Stefan, he said, plays big.

Speaker 1 He naturally does things that keeps his team in the game. And Pachatino said that.
I feel like we can trust him. He made big saves, amazing saves.
And

Speaker 1 I think that's what Zach does. I even think about

Speaker 1 the minutiae of goalkeeping, right? They want to play. You saw they take the ball at the back.
They played at a goalkeeper. They played through the center backs.
They take risks.

Speaker 1 There were moments where I'm watching the game and teams overpass.

Speaker 1 There were moments where I thought to myself, this ball's coming back to him. I see angles.
He's getting closed down. He's probably going to be asked to play another pass.

Speaker 1 And he made a bold decision and he said, I'm putting my foot through it. We're going to move our lines.

Speaker 1 That might not be the perfect pass that the manager wants, but I'm going to play mistake-free football. I thought it was a fantastic performance.

Speaker 1 When I speak to Chris Sharp at Colorado, his goalkeeper coach, he says, He's in a great place.

Speaker 1 His training has been good. He speaks to him every day.

Speaker 1 This performance doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 2 You know, he wasn't making those good decisions under Greg. He just wasn't.

Speaker 2 He got caught out a lot of times giving away bad passes. And, you know, he was trying to do what Greg wanted, but there is an element of like, I'm sensing danger here.
This is going up the field.

Speaker 2 And Pochitino said after the game, he said, for me and for us, I think the keeper needs to save on the goal. I think you keep the ball out of the goal basically.
And today was great.

Speaker 2 And then we can add different areas to work with the keeper, but the most important is the clean sheet. The keeper needs to save and he showed his quality and I'm happy for him.

Speaker 2 So Pochettino is also saying, just keep the ball out of the damn net. We'll work on the other stuff, but we obviously can score enough goals.
We scored three goals.

Speaker 2 We don't need you making every little silly pass.

Speaker 1 Listen,

Speaker 1 one caveat to end the goalkeeping part. I think I know a lot about goalkeeping, but there's a lot of people who continually.

Speaker 1 beat me over the head and they try and tell me, no, you have to be good with your feet. The goalkeeper, and you just heard it from a genius in football terms, Pachatino, keep the ball out of the net.

Speaker 1 Yes, connect passes when it needs to. Keep the ball out of the net.

Speaker 1 Because there's a lot of goalkeepers that I see today who are brilliant footballers, but they might as well have their gloves on the other hand because they couldn't save a stamp.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, end of story. Pachatino said it.

Speaker 2 All right, one last guy I want to give some credit to Emeka Nelly, who it's a name a lot of people have never heard of because he plays in Salt Lake.

Speaker 2 Young kid played lots lots and lots of minutes, played almost every game for Salt Lake this year, gets no attention, no credit. They clearly, like you said, Pochettino's not lazy.

Speaker 2 He's done his homework and his staff has done his homework, their homework. Bring him into camp.
I mean, you said Zach was the man of match. I thought Ameka was the best player on the field.

Speaker 2 And just a name I want people to keep at the forefront of their mind. That is the type of kid.
And I know a lot about him because of Nate Miller's at Salt Lake and with Pablo as an assistant coach.

Speaker 2 And I've heard a lot about him and followed his progress this year. That's the type of player who could find his way on a World Cup roster if other people slack at all.
So congrats to Omecca.

Speaker 2 Probably never imagined he'd be playing for the national team this early in his life. And it's just fun to see people take advantage of their opportunities.

Speaker 2 I don't know if we got sent this

Speaker 2 by someone from U.S. soccer.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we did.

Speaker 2 Mauricio Pochettino was asked to name his three all-time favorite U.S. men's national team players.

Speaker 1 And what did he say? What did he say, Tim?

Speaker 2 He said, well, for me, the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper must be Tim Howard.

Speaker 1 Must be Tim Howard.

Speaker 2 And then he said, and I think Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. So I just want to give a little shout out to us.
We're old, Tim. We suck now.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 2 some people respect us still. And look, if that doesn't change in the next five or 10 years, your soccer's not doing its job.

Speaker 1 Listen. But let's take the credit for now.
Poch, thank you.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Pochita. I've always said he's a genius.
He's a genius.

Speaker 1 Thank you. But no, but

Speaker 1 I thought the same thing. I have a feeling that after the 2026 World Cup, Poch is going to have, at a minimum, two favorite players to displace us.
But because he's got some fantastic.

Speaker 1 Well, it ain't going to be a goalie.

Speaker 2 So it's going to be me.

Speaker 1 So you're out. I'm still in.
I like this. All right.
I like this segment. Fair enough.
All right.

Speaker 2 All right. Let's move on to UEFA Champions League performances.

Speaker 2 Really interesting couple days in the Champions League. So Eunice Musa, CCV, Kim, Carter, Vickers, Austin Trustee.

Speaker 2 With them starting, Americans have now made a total of 34 starts.

Speaker 1 Incredible.

Speaker 2 in this season's UEFA Champions League, equaling the most in a single season in the competition ever, which was in 21-22. So it's just so fun, Tim.

Speaker 2 It used to be like a huge deal when someone was playing in the Champions League, and now we're littered throughout.

Speaker 2 I'm just proud.

Speaker 1 I'm proud. And I think we have to say

Speaker 1 there's a lot of things broken on the machine that is soccer in America, but we got to give credit all the time when great things happen. You're right.

Speaker 1 I just remember thinking like when a guy would play in Champions League, right? And you're talking about Claudia Reyna played and

Speaker 1 Bees was playing.

Speaker 1 It was like, it was like, oh my God, it's amazing. It was such a novelty.
It was Christmas morning. One of our guys was playing.

Speaker 1 And now, like, it's old hat for these guys 34 appearances by by american players 34 starts incredible starts i mean to those to those players who are starting and playing in champions league like hats off to you man what what an incredible achievement and by the way for it to the the greatest compliment we could give to american soccer is that yeah you you want to you're going to turn on champions league midweek and you're going to see a us player

Speaker 1 and that's just normal like holy hell how did that happen

Speaker 2 yeah so for celtic let's dive in a little deeper so cameron carter vickers and austin trustee were the centerback pairing yeah and they've done very well they beat young boys 1-0 and advanced to the playoff round so it kind of begs the question they're obviously building chemistry they're playing together and this is a deeper topic totally do guys playing together have an advantage when they come into national team camp yeah yeah and is that you know and and i think so i mean like i there were times with uh i'll remember with brian ching yep so when we were playing together at the earthquakes we played together every week.

Speaker 2 So when we went into national team camp, inevitably, if there were four strikers, five strikers, we were looking for each other, playing each other, understood each other, played off each other well.

Speaker 2 And next thing you know, there were games where we were starting together because Bruce was like, well, why would I not play these two? So do you, I mean,

Speaker 2 there's an argument for them right now.

Speaker 1 There's an argument. Yeah, as you, as you mentioned, football is about partnerships all over the pitch.

Speaker 1 Like, how do you link up with the striker, the midfield, the six and the eight, the two center backs, the wing backs pulling in? It's always about partnerships, left and right side. And

Speaker 1 what I would say is, yes, this helps Carter Vickers and Trustee. I would be shocked because in today's coaching, nothing gets past you.

Speaker 1 I would be shocked if in the upcoming games, I don't know when, I can't name the game, that if CCV and Austin Trustee aren't partnered together

Speaker 1 in the center of the U.S. defense, because I think Pachatina will go, well, I see it there.
I want to see it here. Because by the way, if I see the same thing, this is good.
right?

Speaker 1 It's a no-brainer at that point.

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 1 I think we will see. I'd be surprised if we didn't see that partnership.

Speaker 2 Yeah, okay. Well, good for them.
And

Speaker 2 after scoring last weekend against AC Milan, Timway got to start again for Yube.

Speaker 2 Nil-nil draw with Club Bruges.

Speaker 2 It'd be interesting to see how Champions League now develops. A few guys have a real chance to play in the next round, in the playoff round, and it's just going to be, it's going to be fun.

Speaker 2 Christian Pulisic played a few minutes off the bench, which was good for him.

Speaker 2 So we'll keep we'll keep an eye on that. Regarding Tim Weya, there have been some rumors and we don't talk too much about rumors because they are just that.

Speaker 2 But there are some thoughts that Everton might be interested. And as we know, Moisey loves an American.

Speaker 2 What do you think about that? Good news?

Speaker 1 Yeah, look,

Speaker 1 It's always interesting because I think, you know, he's at a club, Juventus is one of the most historic clubs in world football right like that's not that's not overstating it and yet the premier league in and of itself the prestige and the money is so high that players it's so tempting it's so tempting so i know do i think but but you remember he also as well as he's doing it juventus he also goes to everton and straight away he's the main man straight away right and so yeah probably So, so that is tempting as well.

Speaker 1 Probably more money, probably

Speaker 1 really easy to be tempted.

Speaker 1 I sat in a hotel lobby,

Speaker 1 an unnamed hotel lobby with David Moyes back in 2006, and he convinced me the place for me to be was Everton. And I was playing at a historic club at Manchester United, in and out.

Speaker 1 And he said, Here's the keys to the car. You're going to play 40 games next year.
And I went, All right. Like, where do I sign? So

Speaker 1 if it's a room rate, I'll stay that as now, but uh, I'll be interesting.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I

Speaker 2 always hesitant when things are going well, yeah, especially ahead of a World Cup. Yeah, you know, the grass isn't always greener.

Speaker 2 On the other end of that spectrum, is when things aren't going well, we've talked about this, Tim. You've got to make a move, yeah.
Right.

Speaker 2 You have to make a move and do something to change your career. One

Speaker 2 national team player who's been on the fringe in and out was in was part of the last roster was Luca de Latorre. He went from Celtovigo to San Diego FC, right here in my hometown.
Really interesting.

Speaker 2 12-month loan. I think this is a fantastic move for a million different reasons.
Number one, he needs to play. Number two, he wasn't playing at Celtaviga.
He gets to come to his hometown.

Speaker 2 He is going to be absolutely beloved here. People are so excited that he's coming.
He only made two appearances last year for Celtavigo.

Speaker 2 And this was, I think, necessary for him if he wanted any chance of playing in the World Cup next year.

Speaker 1 Well, look,

Speaker 1 there have been outspoken critics of you and I on this show,

Speaker 1 wrongfully so, but outspoken critics that will, that will,

Speaker 1 you know, when we talk about when you go to Europe and you're not playing and you should be one of the better players in the U.S.

Speaker 1 men's national team, a move back to the MLS makes a ton of sense for a ton of reasons. And so we will probably be seeing this over the next 18 months in the lead up to the World Cup.

Speaker 1 And look, I'm excited for him and for the U.S. men's national team.

Speaker 2 I think in the summer, we'll see a lot more of this, right? For guys who are right on the cuss. Matt Turner is a guy to keep an eye on.

Speaker 2 There are guys who need to be playing. I just want to, we'll touch this later, but when we get into our MLS preview later, just San Diego FC, really interesting.

Speaker 2 I've been following, obviously, closely. It's here in my hometown.
The beginning part of their roster build, I was like,

Speaker 2 not great. There's not a lot going on.
It's interesting. I know there's something.
There's a shoe to drop somewhere.

Speaker 2 But between Luca de Lator and then they just signed this guy, Anders Dreyer from Anderlecht, as a DP, paid $5 million for him. They're starting to look quite interesting.

Speaker 2 So now with Luca de La Torre, Dreyer, Chuki Lozano, now you're looking at a front line where you go, oh, that's interesting. So we'll get more into that.
But good week, Champions League.

Speaker 2 Good week for the U.S. men's national team.
This was a very successful January camp, Tim. Yeah.
Excited to see Nations League in March, to see how the team progresses and see who's on the field.

Speaker 2 Now Pochatino has some difficult decisions, decisions, which

Speaker 2 he wants. He wants difficult decisions and guys are starting to make it hard on him.
So all right, bud, we'll take a quick break.

Speaker 2 When we come back, it's the AT ⁇ T Fan Connection on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.

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Speaker 1 It's time for the fan connection presented by ATT. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions.
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And on US LNT, our connections with you will help grow the game. Jordan.

Speaker 1 Where are you at? Get on in here. You got questions for us.

Speaker 1 What's happening?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 3 last week, you asked me for some spicy feedback. So

Speaker 3 I went into the YouTube comments to find some.

Speaker 1 Are you prepared? Are you prepared? Are they prepared? I don't know if anyone's prepared. You come at the king.
Don't miss.

Speaker 3 Okay. So before we dive into our questions, because we've got a really long mailbag this week,

Speaker 3 here is some feedback from YouTube. Please don't shoot the messenger.
Oh, geez.

Speaker 3 Usually tune out for the last segment, but the discussion on NIL was fantastic. Well done.

Speaker 1 So good.

Speaker 2 You made for ABS?

Speaker 1 Oh, yes. That's great.
Here's the thing. Here's the thing.
We're both very well-rounded and huge sports fans.

Speaker 1 And it's funny because when you get... When you get certain personalities who play a sport, people think that they don't have opinions on other sports.

Speaker 1 And and they do, right? Like, I've got friends in the NBA and NFL, and I get a lot of inside scoop on a lot of those things. So, like, I, and I'm a fan more than anything.

Speaker 1 So, like, we have an opinion. We're going to give it, but always appreciate the feedback.
Well, don't tune out, by the way.

Speaker 3 There's a little more. It says,

Speaker 3 get rid of ABS and the constant mentioning of other sports to explain things. It's not needed.
Other than that, the pot is great.

Speaker 1 Well, there you go. There you go.

Speaker 2 Well, let me, let me, whoever that came from, there's

Speaker 2 this thing on your desk. It's called a mouse.

Speaker 2 And on that mouse, if you scroll as you're listening on YouTube, or if you're listening to a podcast on your phone, if you just touch the screen on the little two bars, you can either pause it or you can double-click and scroll up and you can just stop the recording right there.

Speaker 1 But we don't want you, we want, we want, we want you to listen all the way through. Well, I have a little bit of feedback that I

Speaker 3 suspect is geared toward Landon.

Speaker 3 It says, it's good to see the LA Galaxy podcast seems to have moved on to other soccer teams.

Speaker 3 Still always glancing over my Chicago fire who beat the Galaxy this season.

Speaker 1 Hold on a second. Hold on.
Hold on a second. Hold on a second.

Speaker 2 If you want me to talk about the Chicago fire, be good.

Speaker 1 Be relevant. Don't even be good.

Speaker 2 Just be relevant.

Speaker 1 Good point.

Speaker 1 Who sent it in?

Speaker 2 I mean, look, I love, I want Chicago to be good.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I want them to be good.

Speaker 2 Who sent it in?

Speaker 1 That was great. Burhalter.
Burhalters.

Speaker 3 No, not everybody includes a name.

Speaker 1 That old chestnut

Speaker 2 hero behind the keyboard.

Speaker 1 I remember. No, but listen.

Speaker 2 No, listen. They are, to be fair, they are more relevant now that Burhalter's there, right?

Speaker 1 They are.

Speaker 2 So, like, you want to, yeah, be good.

Speaker 1 Let's go.

Speaker 3 Whoever wrote this question or comment in, you stand a fair chance to get mentioned more on the

Speaker 1 team.

Speaker 1 Jordan, I live the days when Bob Bradley had the world-beating world-beating Chicago fire in 1998.

Speaker 1 I mean, they were incredible, and they set a, you know, Bob Bradley set an amazing standard for that city and club. So, um, yeah, be better, and we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get in, we'll get into it.

Speaker 1 Landon will mention the galaxy for sure, and I'll try and talk him off that. But, um, well, they are the champions.
So,

Speaker 3 here, here's a piece of feedback that also includes some questions. Um,

Speaker 3 why do you guys have an EPL segment? I'm aware of your history at Everton, especially Tim, but given your U.S.

Speaker 3 men's national team history, both of your involvement with U.S.-based youth soccer and your desire to grow the game here, why not have a segment on U.S.-based players in the USL or even up-and-coming college players?

Speaker 1 I like it. I mean, I think this, this,

Speaker 1 and we, and we, we love all the feedback and, and what we do on, on this podcast is we try and service what most everybody wants to hear. Now,

Speaker 1 your point against up and coming, up-and-coming USL players players is well taken, and certainly we can touch on that. But the fact of the matter is,

Speaker 1 you know,

Speaker 1 most of my life was spent in England with Everton and Manchester United. And the fact of the matter is, the English Premier League is

Speaker 1 the most successful, most watched league in the world. So we have to touch on that.
And it's exciting. And they have the world-class players and drama.
So

Speaker 1 most of our fans do want to hear about that. But that's certainly a really, really well-taken point.

Speaker 3 And finally, my personal favorite, last piece of feedback, all caps, nobody cares.

Speaker 1 Nobody cares. That's it.

Speaker 3 That's it. Is that anything? That's all it says.
Nobody cares.

Speaker 1 Ratings would say someone cares, but this person, let me guess.

Speaker 3 They care enough to write this comment on

Speaker 2 it.

Speaker 2 I'm sure they put their name. Of course they put their name.

Speaker 1 Every review is an engagement. I'll say that a couple more times, but thank you.

Speaker 1 I do.

Speaker 1 I think the smoke is important, the good and bad feedback. So

Speaker 1 that's what makes us,

Speaker 1 that's what challenges us. So appreciate that.

Speaker 3 All right. Let's start with what I think could be a tough question.

Speaker 3 This one's via Josh via email. Who do you guys think the Mount Rushmore of U.S.
soccer would be?

Speaker 1 Great question. Josh, well done.

Speaker 1 Boy.

Speaker 2 Are we talking men, women?

Speaker 3 both he didn't specify so i say whatever whatever you guys want to do put your own parameters parameters on there

Speaker 2 or no parameters.

Speaker 1 I would say this one's pretty easy for me to get three.

Speaker 1 I would say

Speaker 1 men,

Speaker 1 Mount Rushmore is

Speaker 1 Landon, Clint,

Speaker 1 myself,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 four is hard. Four is harder for me.

Speaker 1 I tend to lean towards Claudio Reyna.

Speaker 1 I tend to lean towards him. So

Speaker 1 that would more than likely be my four.

Speaker 1 B's, Demarcus Beasley, certainly

Speaker 2 bees, yeah.

Speaker 1 In that conversation, in that conversation. But that if you're asking me for my four, um, it's Landon, Clint, myself, and Claudio Reyna.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I would agree with that. And if we're doing women, I would say Mia,

Speaker 2 Abby.

Speaker 2 Oh, geez, this gets tough now.

Speaker 2 Probably Carly Lloyd

Speaker 2 and Michelle Akers, probably. Shout out to Jersey.

Speaker 1 That's so hard. Can I say that? Shout out to Jersey.
Who did you say?

Speaker 2 I said Carly, Mia, Abby Wombach, Michelle Akers.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 But I'm sure I'm missing.

Speaker 1 I feel like, let me say this. I feel like the

Speaker 1 women are way harder. They've been so much more successful.
And you've had. You've had our U.S.
women have

Speaker 1 constantly in the world's greatest player conversation year on year, right? Like we haven't been, we haven't earned that right as the men. So like, I think, I think of

Speaker 1 this isn't just a goalkeeper, me, but like Hope Solo.

Speaker 1 What she did on the field for the national team,

Speaker 1 like astounding.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 Alex Morgan, like just so many names. Like it's really, really difficult.

Speaker 1 Michelle Akers has to be on there. Mia has to be on there.
Mia Ham has to be on there.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Carly. Yeah.
I mean, Carly for sure.

Speaker 3 Do you think there's a world in which Christian Pulisic is one day on Russia?

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 I think if Christian Pulisic even, yeah, if he even just rides out the rest of his career doing just maintains doing what he's doing now, he's on Russia. Yeah,

Speaker 1 but then who does he replace?

Speaker 1 You're looking at him, pal. I'm looking directly at him.
He's in San Diego right now. Right at him.
That little golden cat behind you. Big borehead right there.

Speaker 1 It's good.

Speaker 1 Good conversation. Love that question.

Speaker 3 Here is a question that's for Landon, and it is from Brendan via email.

Speaker 2 Ricky Pooge.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 3 it's not about Ricky Pooge. Brendan says, I read Grant Wall's book, The Beckham Experiment, and I saw Beckham's series.

Speaker 3 The relationship between the two of you was a major part of the book, but did not get much time in the documentary.

Speaker 3 Can you describe how your relationship changed over time and what it was like having him on the team? And I just want to include one thing. He gave us some feedback on the show too.

Speaker 3 He wants to hear more about youth soccer in the U.S. and he wants to hear less about Manchester United.
And he wrote in parentheses, sorry, Tim.

Speaker 1 So there you go, Brendan.

Speaker 1 That's great.

Speaker 2 Great question. So I'll try to keep this somewhat short, but I will definitely get into this more

Speaker 2 if anyone wants to hear it. So when David first came to the galaxy in 07, we were a terrible, terrible, terrible team.
We were either second to last or last in the league.

Speaker 2 And so if you put yourself in his mindset, he was playing for, he had played for United, Real Madrid.

Speaker 2 He hadn't played for AC Milan yet, and England. And if you think about the success of those teams and what he was used to.

Speaker 2 And then he came to an inferior league with inferior players, and we were the worst team in the league. So in the beginning, he was committed.
He was dedicated.

Speaker 2 He was there, he was energetic, but he soon realized this is a bad situation, bad.

Speaker 2 And I don't blame him for this, but it frustrated me that he started distancing himself. So he would show up, you know, we were supposed to be there at 9.15.
He would show up at 9.14.

Speaker 2 The minute training was over, he was off the field and gone.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 my.

Speaker 2 That really bothered me, but my big mistake was I didn't just pull him and tell him this is not okay. And this is bothering me and you got to be part of the solution, not just

Speaker 2 being here.

Speaker 2 I instead said it

Speaker 1 to Grant Wall,

Speaker 2 rest his soul, who was writing a book. And in my vulnerable moments, I shared more than I should have.
I didn't keep it off the record and it got put into that book.

Speaker 2 And so when the book came out, as you can imagine, it was pretty uncomfortable. So that day the book came out,

Speaker 2 Bruce sent, can you imagine how uncomfortable it is?

Speaker 1 Oh, God, I'm uncomfortable right now

Speaker 2 Bruce sent us both a message and said you know we need to meet my office in the morning and speak and when we got into his office in the morning Bruce started speaking and I said Bruce let me and just let me stop you I said David I'm sorry like I should have never done that publicly I stand by what I said but I should have just told you and just been a man and just told you about it and to his immense credit he said no problem I get it I know it's frustrating and like let's move on and just make this good.

Speaker 2 And from that day, I mean, it sounds crazy, but from that day, we started trending upward again. We were successful.
And then ultimately, we won three championships in four years. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 And I realized like we were, we wanted the same thing. We wanted to win, be successful.
But we, we, I did it in a bad way, but ultimately it worked out where we were all just honest with each other.

Speaker 1 And then we were successful. Communication is key.
I mean, you just hit the nail on the head.

Speaker 1 So often in a team, in any business or even family, but in a team, the lack of communication you when it all gets said and done you're like wait a minute we do want the same things it's crazy that's right it's crazy great story

Speaker 3 um now i have one for you tim this is from luke via email i try to keep it balanced you know appreciate that luke wants to know is brandon austin still eligible for the us he looked pretty decent starting for spurs in the premier league earlier this month a game you obviously watched yeah so given the drought at goal it seems like we ought to be considering him if he's still U.S.

Speaker 3 eligible.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a good question about the eligibility.

Speaker 1 I'm going to lean on one of our other producers in the chat to tell me that. But the interesting part about it is

Speaker 1 I was in studio during that game, and I remember coming away from it thinking, this kid's really good. Like he has, he, he, based on the background, he hadn't played a lot of football.

Speaker 1 You know, for, for being, I think he's 25, he hadn't played a lot of first team football like at all, not even at Spurs, like just hadn't been on loan.

Speaker 1 Normally like a younger keeper who's maybe third or fourth will go on loan.

Speaker 1 And it does look like he's eligible.

Speaker 1 And they'll get games at a lower division. I think he went to Orlando at one point and played a bit, but irregardless of that, steps in.
with like no sort of notice, plays in the Premier League.

Speaker 1 And I remember thinking, wow, he's given a really good account of himself. Like his movement, his saves, his aerial ability, distribution, like all in this 90-minute snippet.

Speaker 1 I'd be shocked, even given Pachatino Spurs connections, he must certainly be on the radar, but time will tell.

Speaker 3 So this one's from Anonymous via email. I know we'd love to hear from Anonymous when they write into the show.

Speaker 1 Annie.

Speaker 3 I would love to hear about the USA versus Mexico rivalry from both of your points of view.

Speaker 3 Having grown up on the border very closely in San Diego, I lived in both worlds and follow both national teams closely.

Speaker 2 It's actually complex for me because I grew up with Mexicans. In Ontario, where I grew up, it was a lot of Pacific Islanders, Samoans, Tongans,

Speaker 2 a lot of black people, and a lot of...

Speaker 2 Hispanics, Latinos, Mexicans. So Hondurans, El Salvadorans, Costa Ricans.

Speaker 2 So when I started playing professionally and I was playing against Mexico,

Speaker 2 there was like, there was a natural rivalry between me and all the guys I played with that would come out. And then there was the rivalry that started to be created by playing them.

Speaker 2 winning games, losing games, saying stupid things, getting in the press there and how that all evolved. So for me, it was way deeper than just a U.S.-Mexico thing in general.

Speaker 2 I actually lived it and grew up with it and have many Mexican friends. So, it's always been this unique

Speaker 2 kind of love-hate relationship. But the beauty is when I'm home, you know, even I was in New Orleans recently, and a lot of Hispanics, a lot of Mexicans there, and they always say the same thing.

Speaker 2 They're like, God, I hated you on the field, but I respect you so much. And it was so fun to watch those games.
So, it was fun to be a part of for all those years.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 i think my my history with the rivalry dates back to being a young kid and being a fan and watching our

Speaker 1 our men's national team

Speaker 1 1989 like i remember i remember paul calgeri's goal in trinidad like grainy tv i either watched it or watched some sort of vhs replay of it um

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 Those U.S. teams were my heroes and they got steamrolled everywhere they went.
They got steamrolled. And Mexico, they weren't just the best.
They were a dominant beast

Speaker 1 in the CONCACAF region. We couldn't touch them.
We couldn't touch them tactically. We couldn't touch them technically.
They were so superior to us. Their football IQ was

Speaker 1 another world.

Speaker 1 We couldn't touch them. And then

Speaker 1 late into,

Speaker 1 you know, I'm thinking of Claudia Reyna wearing a captain's armband. I'm thinking of like Fox Bowl.
I'm thinking of different games, but like

Speaker 1 we started to, we started to punch above our weight a little bit and we started to not be dominant, but leaving a foot in the door and feeling like we can win some games. And

Speaker 1 so my

Speaker 1 love for that rivalry started early on as a young soccer player and as a fan. And then when you're immersed into it,

Speaker 1 if you are me or if you're Landon, you realize,

Speaker 1 playing for your national team is amazing. That first U.S.-Mexico game, you'll never forget because you remember thinking, we have to win this game.
This is how we'll be measured.

Speaker 1 And I grew to

Speaker 1 hate the Mexican team and the players. And I needed to put myself in that headspace in order to compete because that game was nasty.

Speaker 1 They would leave something on you. They would

Speaker 1 be.

Speaker 1 nasty and physical. And what you realize is

Speaker 1 they felt us coming. They felt us

Speaker 1 gaining an advantage and they didn't like that. And when you're the best, which Mexico was for a long time, you don't like that.
And so they tried everything to subdue our progress,

Speaker 1 which is natural. And

Speaker 1 in the time that I started my national team career and finished it, the U.S. became the dominant team in the region.
And that balance of power shifted and they didn't like it.

Speaker 1 And I think what I learned probably towards the back end of my career is in order in sports, in order to hate something so much, you lose sight of the fact of how much respect you have for them.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I was able to get myself to a place on the surface that I hated playing Mexico so much. And I hated the, I made myself hate them and their fans.
and their players.

Speaker 1 And then when I took a step back, I realized it's because I had so much respect for who they were, for the way they wore the green jersey, for the way the fans

Speaker 1 supported their team.

Speaker 1 And I love it. I'm getting goosebumps now thinking about playing in Columbus, playing in Azteca.
I mean, there is nothing, and I'll speak for Landon on this.

Speaker 1 There's nothing you can do in life that gives you,

Speaker 1 that gives you that feeling,

Speaker 1 that fear, that anxiety, that joy, that pain. Nothing.
Nothing. I mean, it was,

Speaker 1 you know, there's famous memes of me crying after a Mexico loss. That's how much it meant to me.

Speaker 1 They should have memes about all the times I whooped up on that butt, but

Speaker 1 it brought me incredible joy as well. So,

Speaker 1 yeah, it's a special hour.

Speaker 2 Awesome.

Speaker 1 Love that.

Speaker 2 Jordan, you stay right there. You're not leaving.
We're going to take a break. And when we come back, we'll have more questions.

Speaker 2 More questions to answer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

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

Speaker 1 lost track at this point.

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, I think that's where 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 core's 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. Celebrate responsibly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 3 Okay, I have a question from Jack via email. He said, I am a mental health professional.

Speaker 3 He's a social worker, and I am interested in hearing about how mental health is perceived, talked about, and considered by players, staff, agents, coaches, et cetera, on a regular basis.

Speaker 3 Like, do teams hire sports psychologists? Do players go to therapy? Do players talk about the fact that they're in therapy?

Speaker 2 Great question. This, I've seen this evolve, and I think Tim has too, a lot, a lot over time.
So

Speaker 2 there was a long stretch of history, not only in sports, but in American society, where

Speaker 2 it was,

Speaker 2 you know, deal with it, get on with it, pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

Speaker 2 And, you know, as a parent now,

Speaker 2 there's some level of that that I think is valuable, right, in the right moments.

Speaker 1 However,

Speaker 2 sports are really hard. Professional sports are really hard.
And in

Speaker 2 society today, they're infinitely harder than when we played because

Speaker 2 the feedback and criticism is instant and it's nasty. And you see it.

Speaker 2 And so it's really hard. I mean,

Speaker 2 people think the equalizer in all this is, oh, well, you make them a lot of money. So you should just have to deal with it.
And it's like, hold on a sec, man.

Speaker 2 Like, nobody comes to you when you mess up a report.

Speaker 2 at your office and there's not 10 million people watching and and hammering you because you made a mistake or you made a spelling mistake on a on a piece of paper or you didn't you know account for something and something at work so

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 2 that argument is just bullshit right and and just because people make a lot of money or are famous or whatever it doesn't allow you the opportunity to just berate people now it's going to happen so what's happened over time i saw this in nw nwsl i think it's happening now tim's alluded to it and i think in other in other leagues as well is there are people now on staff who are there to help and it's become a role within a club that I think is really important.

Speaker 2 And those people are crucial because there's a fine line, very fine line between, okay, what's going on?

Speaker 2 Let me help you. Let's talk about it.

Speaker 2 But I also want to start building resilience in you so that that doesn't hit you the same way. That's their issue, not yours.
And you can go out and perform.

Speaker 2 And then the other side of it is just anxiety around playing. There's a lot of players who, I didn't realize this in my career, Tim.
I learned this at Eberton.

Speaker 2 We had a player one time, and you know who he is, and he was always at home games. He would, right on Friday before the Saturday game in training, he would say, oh, my hamstring's bothering me.

Speaker 2 Oh, my back's bothering me when he knew he was going to start because he was anxious about playing in front of the home crowd. And that to me was crazy, but that was a real thing for him.

Speaker 2 And so David Moyes was so clever. One time he started to walk out to training and he said, uh-uh, turn around, go back in and get treatment.

Speaker 2 You're going to start tomorrow, but you're not training today because he knew what he was going to do. But that was a real thing for him.

Speaker 2 And that was, he had real anxiety about performing in front of a home team. So I think it's evolved.

Speaker 2 Again, there's a fine line. You don't, there is an element of professional sports where, like, you got to get on with things.
It's hard.

Speaker 2 But then when you get off the field, having someone there to help you

Speaker 2 is really beneficial.

Speaker 1 Yeah, really thoughtful answer.

Speaker 1 I'm on, you know, know, I think mental health is important. I went through a long stretch where I

Speaker 1 didn't believe in using a sports psychologist, and I never did.

Speaker 1 I respected certain sports psychologists that worked within our team and our framework, and I was a part of group meetings, but I would never go to a sports psychologist.

Speaker 1 I just went to a dark place, and I don't think that that's healthy, but it made me successful. And so, there's a balance.
And if I could do it all over again, my career, I would probably,

Speaker 1 I would probably do it the same way.

Speaker 1 Again, in order to perform at the level that I did and to

Speaker 1 hear the criticism and block it out, I had to turn into somebody different. I had to disassociate and

Speaker 1 I went to

Speaker 1 mentally a lot of dark places to get myself on the field. And I don't mean dangerous, well, I don't mean dangerous, harmful places per se.
I just had to.

Speaker 1 I lost a lot of friends. I blocked a lot of people out.
I lost a lot of

Speaker 1 family.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 it hardens you. And LD, you said it right.
Like it's

Speaker 1 it's a balance because a lot of that does create resilience. And I know, I know 1000%

Speaker 1 I was more successful in my career because I had that mentality.

Speaker 1 And look, I think the mental health side of society has gotten has gotten better in terms of

Speaker 1 help and the ability to have the conversation openly. And that's crept into sports, which is a wonderful thing.
Um, you know, I ought, this is, this isn't right or wrong. I oftentimes say,

Speaker 1 if we looked at the best team in the Premier League or best team in MLS, and you had a player who

Speaker 1 in certain moments wasn't necessarily always available mentally, in the big moments, when you know that there's going to be 50,000 people and you're going through a tough spell,

Speaker 1 that manager might say, hey, please go, you know, absolutely go speak to um the psychologist and take the time you need but i'm not picking you i can't pick you and that's that that sucks to hear but that's also

Speaker 1 that's also a part of the conversation so i think there needs to be resources at clubs and there are that help players get through challenges but yeah when when push clubs are shove it is it is about managing and and manning you hit the nail on the head like this isn't for the faint of heart like like sports when we sign up for it that part of it is they ask us to deal with it they ask landon to deal with it no one ever says to the press i want you to stop writing bad stuff about tim howard they don't like they don't they don't regulate that right because the press is um freedom to do that they say tim howard deal with it right

Speaker 1 so um if you're going to want to become a professional athlete we had this question i think in a mailbag a few weeks ago like if if you want to become a professional athlete at that level,

Speaker 1 it's daunting and it's scary and it's not going to change, right? And so, you have to try and look after your mental health, but that can be done in a multitude of ways.

Speaker 3 Um, here's a more lighthearted question: Michael via email wants to know: did Tim and Landon ever swap jerseys with their opponent? And if so, who would be their favorite swap they ever did?

Speaker 2 Many, many, many, many great ones. Yeah, I have a um, I have boxes full.

Speaker 2 Honestly, my favorites are the guys I played against,

Speaker 2 or played with, sorry, guys I played with growing up. So I have a lot of guys from my under 17 team when they became pros.
So I have, you know, Bees,

Speaker 2 Nelson Aquari, DJ Countess.

Speaker 2 I don't know if I have a Gucci one, Kyle Beckerman. I have guys that I played against.
And those, honestly, those ones are the most meaningful because those are special to me.

Speaker 1 Did you and I ever swap churches?

Speaker 2 I don't know. I was just thinking that.

Speaker 2 And I really didn't really want yours to be.

Speaker 1 I uh, I've yeah, I've got, I've got quite a few. I think I swapped one with,

Speaker 1 I like you, was I love, I love the tradition that that soccer started year, hundreds of years ago about swapping jerseys as a sign of respect. Um,

Speaker 1 I swapped with Wayne Rooney in the World Cup, which was pretty awesome because he was an Evertonian. I played with him at Manchester United.
And so that was cool.

Speaker 1 You know, I swapped with, I think, I think Clint Dempsey when he was at Spurs. I swapped with Carlos Bogenegra, who's one of my best friends when he was at Fulham.

Speaker 1 So yeah, the American guys, particularly over in the Premier League when we were playing, was fun. But yeah, certainly Rooney's is up there.

Speaker 3 Okay. One last question.
This is from Mario via email. What kind of car was your first car? And do you have any funny memories of when you first started to drive?

Speaker 1 Amazing.

Speaker 2 I know my first car.

Speaker 1 I do too.

Speaker 2 I had, go, I'll go.

Speaker 2 I had a

Speaker 2 BMW

Speaker 2 it was used.

Speaker 2 I can't remember what I'm not a car guy, so like, I don't, I don't know. Um,

Speaker 1 I have some memories, I don't know if they're safe for this environment, but I have some memories of that car. Yeah,

Speaker 1 I, you know what, my first car,

Speaker 1 you know, you know how people are like wrapped their cars now, LD, where like they'll get like a matte finish. Yeah, well, I had a 1984 Nissan Centra, and it had a matte finish, but it wasn't a wrap.

Speaker 1 It was like, that was the color. It was gray.
My dad, uh, my dad got it for me. Um,

Speaker 1 I think he paid like 800 bucks for it. Seriously, 800 bucks for it.
Stick shift. No, no one knows how to drive stick shift anymore.
It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1 My only memories are like getting locked out of it because I didn't have there was no remote key. It was just like somehow figure out how to get a hanger in the door and unlock it.
That was about it.

Speaker 1 That's so ghetto.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's where I live. The first car actually that I drove, drove what I didn't own it was.
My mom had a Mazda MPV, like Minivan.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 And so in California, you can get your license. You can get your permit at 15 and a half, and then you have to drive with an adult till you're 16, and then you can drive by yourself.

Speaker 2 So I'll never forget, it was nighttime. It was my first drive.
I was going to, my buddy and I were going to, I just turned 16. We were going to drive somewhere.

Speaker 2 So I turn, we're in this little like community. I turn right, I turn right.
And as I'm going, this is my first time driving a car by myself.

Speaker 2 All of a sudden, this car goes honking beep, flashing lights coming from the side as I was going through an intersection. And I like slammed on the brakes, stopped, and like started crying.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, what the going on? I didn't even, I hadn't even turned on the headlights. So they didn't even see me.

Speaker 1 I didn't even have my headlights.

Speaker 2 It didn't even occur to me. And I was like, this is not for me.

Speaker 1 Follow up from. I don't think I'm ready.

Speaker 1 What's the first car you bought yourself?

Speaker 2 I bought a Maserati when I was in San Jose. Jesus.
What an idiot.

Speaker 1 Good for some.

Speaker 2 What a waste of money.

Speaker 1 Good for some. That's what about you.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer two-door. It was gorgeous.
It was orange.

Speaker 1 What a water car. Amazing.
So good.

Speaker 2 All right. That's it.
All right, JR.

Speaker 3 Thank you.

Speaker 1 Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 All right, guys. Thanks for being with us today.
Remember, as always, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Follow the show across all social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for bonus content. That was a lot of fun, guys.

Speaker 1 Yeah, thanks, everyone, so much. Always enjoy our time with you.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much to our presenting sponsor vw and our fan connection sponsor at t have an amazing week we'll see you all next tuesday for another edition of unfiltered soccer

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