Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup

Speaker 2 He scored second most goals of any player under the age of 25. 53 goals.

Speaker 1 Do you know who's first on the list?

Speaker 2 Who? Landon Donovan, 56.

Speaker 1 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 2 What's up, LD?

Speaker 2 Wow, we have to start the show with

Speaker 2 all of the news and the fires in LA. such horrific scenes that we're having to witness.
For me, I'm having to witness so far away, but I know

Speaker 2 you're there. You're in Southern California.
You have so many family and friends.

Speaker 2 How are you feeling?

Speaker 1 Yeah, man,

Speaker 1 it's been a crazy week.

Speaker 1 We're in San Diego and

Speaker 1 you watch on TV, you talk to people. But what's happened in our town is we're just flooded with people from LA.
So

Speaker 1 you see the devastation devastation on TV and then you forget people actually have to go somewhere. They have nowhere to live.
Right.

Speaker 1 And so it's, we're used to seeing wildfires in Southern California, but generally, Tim, it's a lot in, you know, in canyons and big open areas and whatever.

Speaker 1 You are not used to seeing big structures just decimated. It's crazy to see.
And

Speaker 1 it's been pretty crazy. Like there.

Speaker 1 There are people we know

Speaker 1 as friends, whatever. There are famous people all over that people know, Carlos Val Ali Riley, um, two MLS and NWSL people had their homes burned down.
Yeah, it's it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 And I think what people forget in times like this is that for a week or two, it's on everyone's mind

Speaker 1 and then it'll go away, but those people are still dealing with it.

Speaker 1 And if you're going to rebuild your home, that's two, three, four years, or if you're going to find a new place to live, this is a long process. So I hope people

Speaker 1 keep either donating or helping in any way because this is going to be a long, long long rebuild.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, I think that the keeping keeping the people and the residents of LA and the surrounding counties kind of at the forefront, right?

Speaker 2 We live in this world where everything goes quickly, man. The news cycle happens fast.
And you're right. You know, the donations will continue to

Speaker 2 help and support, whether they're today, yesterday, or four weeks from now. So very well said.
And I've actually listened to the LA Rams head coach Sean McVay.

Speaker 2 They've had to move their Monday night game to Arizona. And it's so hard making this transition from tragedy to sports.

Speaker 2 But he mentioned like it doesn't fill the void, but it does present an opportunity to

Speaker 2 get people to smile in the midst of chaos or talk about

Speaker 2 sports and their favorite teams when the world seems upside down. So we're certainly going to try and do that today.

Speaker 1 It's one of the things, Tim, we love about sports, and we've seen it through my life. I've seen it after 9-11.
The Yankees can't get goosebumps, like watching the Yankees play again.

Speaker 1 And like, there are moments where it helps people start to recover through sport. And let's hope tonight is, is that a little bit.

Speaker 1 But just a reminder, keep everybody at the forefront and they have a lot of stress and anxiety. So if you can help, please help.
Yep.

Speaker 1 Reminder to follow us, social media, unfiltered soccer. Subscribe to the show on YouTube.
Make sure you follow an Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Speaker 1 If you like what we're doing, please leave a review, rate us. It really helps other people find our podcasts.
You can also email us at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.

Speaker 1 Okay, never an easy transition from that, but let's move on.

Speaker 1 Barça Madrid Super Cup on the weekend.

Speaker 1 Barcelona absolutely tore Madrid to shreds.

Speaker 1 I'm trying to figure out why Madrid aren't going to and consistently don't invest money in some defenders and strengthen that part of their

Speaker 1 roster. But Barcelona, I mean, watching La Mina Mall,

Speaker 1 is there a fee that they would even accept for this guy? I mean,

Speaker 1 you could say he's worth a billion dollars. He's 17, right? So, like, I think he's 17.

Speaker 1 You could, any Premier League club could justify, you're going to have this guy for the next decade, and he just keeps doing it. And he's one of Euros now.
He's, I mean, he's 17.

Speaker 2 It's insane. What's that? I mean, I would say, what's that like?

Speaker 2 You were playing at the top at 17. It's just so hard.
Well, not that level. Well, it's still insane at a world level.

Speaker 2 And I just think it's, um, it's good to see some of these these global rivalries back you know like like barca and and and real madrid were selling for a while then they were getting like older european players that weren't like up to par and now this feels like this rivalry el clásico if like if there has to be one rivalry in the world that's back it's this one so yeah i'm happy to see that another good rivalry on the weekend let's move to the fa cup uh arsenal united so

Speaker 1 I sent you guys a text in our group chat and I said, you know, is our Arsenal, what's going on with them?

Speaker 1 And then I had to kind of check myself, Tim, because they're still in second place in the Premier League.

Speaker 1 They lost to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup in the first leg, and then they lose against, let's just call it an average United team

Speaker 1 after being up a man for what, 60, I mean, a long time. Long time.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 A long time. And they couldn't find a way to win the game and then end up losing in penalties.
So is there something going on there? Is this an anomaly?

Speaker 1 I know the XG said they should have won the game by four goals, but what's going on there?

Speaker 2 So I was speaking to a friend in the know

Speaker 2 about Arsenal. And

Speaker 2 I've been plugging Arsenal to win the Premier League for the last few years. I thought they were on the upward trajectory and they still might be.

Speaker 2 The hard part for me, because we talk about analytics and the XG and we'll get to that. And I was saying to my friend who's a, who's a, in the, in the business, massive Arsenal fan, and I said, like,

Speaker 2 sometimes the eye test and the gut has to count for something, right? And the eye test test and the gut and my gut for me, forget statistics for a second.

Speaker 2 It's like Arsenal went very quickly, like within the course of a year from silky and smooth and sexy and being on top of the game to being completely reliant on soccer and set pieces.

Speaker 2 And I'm like, I'm like, that's what my eyes seeing, right? And I'm thinking, how did that happen? Now, do they need a number nine, right? That's been kind of in

Speaker 2 the peripheral for a while. And Hovertz goes from the eight to the nine and he does really well.

Speaker 2 And people are are like, Okay, we can kind of get away with it, but to the point they've dominated on expected goals in the last two games, they haven't got the firepower in those games.

Speaker 2 And now, and now everyone's kind of saying, Even those people who I speak to are like, No, we're good, we're good, we're good with Havertz, good with Jesus coming off the bench, even they're like,

Speaker 2 Yeah, maybe it's time, like maybe you have to, you have to invest in that. So, um, but again, out of the, out of the Carabout Cup,

Speaker 2 uh, no, out of the FA Cup,

Speaker 2 could be, could be, could out of the carabout cup.

Speaker 2 And then, yes, they're in second, but it's like,

Speaker 2 you know, they're in, this is going to ebb and flow. If Liverpool drop points and Arsenal can go on a run, then they're in it.
If Liverpool just keep going, then they're, yeah, they're in second.

Speaker 2 But you know what I mean? It just doesn't, they don't feel the same.

Speaker 1 No, they don't. And along with relying on sock and set pieces, they've moved to like gritty,

Speaker 1 defensive. And

Speaker 1 I don't like watching it as much. I'm trying to figure out if it's going to to be as effective.
Right. And, and at some point,

Speaker 1 you know Mikel Arteta much better than I do.

Speaker 1 I love him as a human.

Speaker 1 At some point, and we've been around coaches who there's a lot of like, I don't want to say just raw rock because he obviously has more about him than that.

Speaker 1 But I was watching them during the penalty shootout and it was just, he was so animated and so part of it. And I was watching some of the faces.

Speaker 1 And I was like,

Speaker 1 I don't know if they're starting to like, it's starting to sound a little old to them. You know, it just kind of felt that way.
And so I wonder if there's a bit of that going on.

Speaker 2 Well,

Speaker 2 it's an interesting point because he is a disciple of Pep Gordiola.

Speaker 2 And one of the things, you know, there was up until this point, there was this theory, and Pep never tried to debunk the theory.

Speaker 2 There was like a three-year, four-year self-life with Pep because he was so harnis players, so demanding, so in your face every day, not on a touch, on a touchline, every day in training.

Speaker 2 And it just ran its its course. Yeah.
And so he would then go from Barca, then he would go to Bayern Munich.

Speaker 2 And then people were actually thinking, you know, he's been in a decade, but like people were like, oh, three years at City's gone because that's what he always did. And he's so hard on his players.

Speaker 2 I remember talking to Vince and Company about that. I'm like,

Speaker 2 how do you deal with that? It's every single day. And he's like, it's a challenge.
You know, it's a huge challenge. But I wouldn't like to think that the message is

Speaker 2 getting stale quite yet.

Speaker 2 But when you have a manager who is so all in, which a lot of these newer style managers are um it's a really interesting concept to you know are these players is it starting to get a little bit dull to them is the message yeah let's um just for people who don't fully understand the fa cup and what we love about the fa cup so it's a separate tournament from the premier league where every

Speaker 1 league and non-league team right it's can starts it starts in the very early rounds with teams in the seventh eighth ninth tenth tier of English soccer.

Speaker 1 And they play a knockout tournament until they get to this, well, until they eventually get to the round where we're at now, which is the third round of the FA Cup proper.

Speaker 1 And at this point, this is where the Premier League teams come in.

Speaker 1 So you get these incredible matchups where you'll have a team that literally has guys on the field that are plumbers and dentists and playing against Premier League teams.

Speaker 2 Right, right, right.

Speaker 1 And it's really cool.

Speaker 1 It's, you know, for other sports, it'd be like a AAA baseball team playing a knockout game against, or a single-A baseball team playing a knockout game against the Yankees and maybe upsetting the Yankees somehow, some way.

Speaker 1 And you get a few of those every year, and so it makes it really, really fun. There was a few really interesting matchups.
Tamworth, who were,

Speaker 1 I think they're non-league.

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 1 non-league, played a home match against Tottenham.

Speaker 1 played them to a draw over 90 minutes and had a chance right at the end to win the game, which would have been insane scenes had they scored. In the end, Tottenham 1-3-0.

Speaker 1 They scored three goals in overtime as Tamworth just kind of fell apart a little bit. But it's the beauty of the FA Cup.
And

Speaker 1 you played in a lot of those games. I played in a couple when I was at Everton.
It's really fun, man. Like, can you just explain to people what it's like?

Speaker 2 I mean, you know, you hold in this podcast duo, the dynamic duo of Tim and Landy, you hold most of the records.

Speaker 2 But I think, and our producers will tell us in the chat, I was the first American to win the FA Cup.

Speaker 2 And I remember feeling like that was such a badge of honor because i was like one i could win fa cup here and then two being the first american to do it but um it's it's magical you hear people say that that word will keep creeping up when you go to england they'll say the the magic of the fa cup can't lose the magic of the fa cup that kind of thing and it is

Speaker 2 you you don't quite you don't quite get get it until you either hear us take a deep dive on it or you read the history of it or you go experience it.

Speaker 2 It's as you said,

Speaker 2 great, you gave a great comparison, like a single A baseball team going to play the Yankees and the Bronx, right?

Speaker 2 But take that a step further because you talked about the Tamworth almost getting a winner. Imagine in the bottom of the night, and by the way, the Yankees are playing Aaron Judge.

Speaker 2 They're playing last year. Soda, they're playing all the big guys.
They're trying to win, right?

Speaker 2 You step up to the plate in the Bronx and you take a fastball down the middle and bang over the left field wall.

Speaker 2 You're a single A kid. You trot around the bases, walk off, and you knock the Yankees out.

Speaker 2 And by the way, imagine not only

Speaker 2 these guys, this is what they do. In England, so many of these guys are plumbers, are bricklayers.
They only train three times a week, right? They don't have the funding to do that.

Speaker 2 They have to work on it. Yeah, they're not even, they're not pros.
No, imagine a G-League team going into LA, playing against LeBron, right? Because LeBron has to play and these guys have to play.

Speaker 2 And you knock down a three-pointer at the buzzer, and then you got to go back to your, to being a fireman in Chicago somewhere like can you imagine it's it's it gives you goosebumps talking about it and that's what happens in the fa cup um when you get these lower teams and it used to be you know i i played a few replays the one i can remember was at united i think again i need some fact checking because i'm getting old but i think we played against barnett um and barnett at the time was also maybe a non-league team um and they come to old trafford and they get a draw is 1-1 or 0-0, right?

Speaker 2 The scenes were amazing because LD, but they've done away with replays because of fixture congestion congestion but these guys were like one at a mold i'm at old trafford never was never meant to be here two we got a result three i'm about to exchange jerseys with roy keen and rude venestroy and four the chairman's going oh my god we're getting them back to our place we're getting a payday which by the way so many of these paydays in the replay which again is null and void it used to like pay their entire salaries for the entire year.

Speaker 2 Like there's so much magic in the FA Cup. It's brilliant.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it is sad to see the replays done away.

Speaker 1 And for people, just to give context, so if you drew the first, if you drew the game, if you tied the game, then you would play at the other team's home ground.

Speaker 1 So at an late, and then if it was tied, then you would go to penalties, I guess, or extra time penalties. Yeah.
But they had to do away with that.

Speaker 1 It's just too many games, but that was the magic of it. But it was so fun to just sit on

Speaker 1 ESPN Plus all weekend and watch.

Speaker 1 And the cool thing about this round is that it's early enough for Premier League teams where they say, we're not necessarily going to start all our players, all our real players.

Speaker 1 We'll have them on the bench.

Speaker 1 You know, Tottenham had Son and Kulasevsky and, you know, on the bench, but it gives you a chance if you're a lower division team because you're not playing the top, top stars who are in great form and fit and all that.

Speaker 1 So as you get later in the fourth, fifth, sixth round, or quarterfinals, all that, you get the real squads. But at this point, the teams are like, you know what?

Speaker 1 We'd rather lose in this round if we're Manchester United. or if we're Tottenham than lose four rounds later and still not make the final and have all those extra games, right?

Speaker 2 And part of that, LD, and I remissed if I didn't add this tidbit, part of it is, and I'm not sure which games you played in, but I played in so many of them over the course of a decade and a half

Speaker 2 in England. When you get that away draw as the as the home side,

Speaker 2 it's agony, bro. I don't care.

Speaker 1 You mean as the higher, as the better team?

Speaker 2 Yeah. So

Speaker 2 we had it.

Speaker 2 In our cup run, which I think was the last time Everton went to the final in 2009, in our cup run, right

Speaker 2 we when we got to the final we lost to chelsea

Speaker 2 we started again everton versus macclesfield and it was macclesfield away and macclesfield's in in and around manchester area david more we got on the trained had lunch got on the bus drove it's not that far i'm probably less than an hour from from the everton trading ground to macclesfield and before we even got to the hotel ld we went straight to the ground straight to the ground because he said you will not turn up tomorrow and be shocked because you as soon as as soon as you see this for the first time you will be shocked so sure enough we get off the bus right we walk into the dressroom and by the way i swear to god as my witness the corridor is this big we we we walk through we walk through the corridor we go into the dressroom by the way dressroom is no bigger than this little home office i have guys are looking around like oh my god we walk out on the pitch They have, you know, and in Premier Lee, we have undersoul heating.

Speaker 2 They've got tarps all over the, over the pitch because it was, it was frozen.

Speaker 2 And if they don't get the game played they have to get it played so literally local townspeople from macclesfield they don't have staff bro they don't have staff they don't have campaign staff local townspeople it was on the news were just there helping with the tarp helping remove snow and it was great that he did that because had we gotten off the bus after a team meal on the day of the game and saw that we'd have been like nah bro this ain't not having it leon osmond credit to ozzy he got the game winner in the 43rd minute so all right well speaking of everton so a lot going on this week so everton played peter borrow at home and the big takeaway from that game was 39 year old ashley young was hoping to play against his 18 year old son tyler who happens to play for peterborough at the end of the match darren ferguson the peterborough manager kept tyler on the bench even though they were losing 2-0 he had a chance to put him in to play against his father

Speaker 1 I have a lot of mixed views on this.

Speaker 2 I think you're passionate about it.

Speaker 1 I mean, I would have liked him to put him in, right?

Speaker 1 right now this is professional soccer you have a job to do but if you're losing 2-0 and there's 30 seconds left put the kid in like if you have a sub like put the kid in so your thoughts

Speaker 2 thank you for setting the table uh i'm annoyed i'm annoyed i'm annoyed because

Speaker 2 the most important people here in this in this uh conversation are third nine-year-old ashley young because

Speaker 2 i retired at 40 but goalkeepers played forever You retired before 39, right? When did you retire?

Speaker 1 32.

Speaker 2 So you know how hard it is.

Speaker 2 He's playing in the Premier League at 39 years old. Credit to him for keeping his levels up, for keeping his fitness up.
And credit to his son, 18 years old, chasing his professional dream.

Speaker 2 This reunion should have happened on the pitch. It's the thing stories are made of.
And I know it's the FA Cup. I do.
And so you play to win, right? But they weren't winning. They were losing.

Speaker 2 And at that point, in the back of your head as a manager, not in back of your head, he knows you've got to make some sort of concession to think: if it gets down to it and we're out of this game, and I know people say, 2-0, you're not out of the game, put the kid on.

Speaker 2 Here's why. The Peter Borough manager, Darren Ferguson.
You know who Darren Ferguson's father is? Sir Alex Ferguson, the great, one of the greatest managers in the history of world football.

Speaker 2 So Darren Ferguson has stood on the shoulders of giants. You can make of that what you will.
But when it comes to a father and son reunion, he more than anybody should understand what that means.

Speaker 2 And so disappointed, disappointed. Happy everything went through, but disappointed Ashley Young and

Speaker 2 Tyler didn't get an opportunity. Because guess what? That opportunity will never, never, ever, ever come around again.
So

Speaker 2 by the way,

Speaker 2 this isn't LeBron James having his agent call every NBA team and say, if you draft this kid, my son, I'm sending him to Australia, right?

Speaker 2 He got an NBA contract when all of the experts know he's not an NBA player to do what?

Speaker 1 To play with that.

Speaker 2 And guess what? LeBron earned that right. He earned that right.
So and this was happenstance.

Speaker 1 This wasn't like nobody had to manufacture.

Speaker 2 This was a draw out of a ball and like two balls.

Speaker 1 And it's like, yeah, let it happen.

Speaker 1 All right. So Everton, lots going on.
So Sean Dyitch gets sacked.

Speaker 1 Our old manager, more yours than mine, much more yours than mine. David Moyes is back at Everton.

Speaker 1 I am, it's like, I'm trying to separate Tim, the emotional, like thrilled for him and the club and myself and you and us from, okay, what does this actually look like? Is he going to help? Yes.

Speaker 1 How much is he going to help? And what's that going to look like? Is this a long-term thing? I know he signed a long contract. I think through 27.
So is this like a

Speaker 1 more permanent thing? Is this a just get us through the season thing? But it seems like it's a more permanent thing.

Speaker 1 So I'm trying to decipher all that, but most of all, just emotionally taking out the practical, I'm just thrilled for him. I'm thrilled to now go back there and see him and watch the club.

Speaker 1 I think it's going to be awesome. So give me, I mean, you know him a lot better than I do.

Speaker 2 Yeah, well, I think you have to start with standing up and applauding Sean Ditch. What a job.
What a job he did. Agreed, man.

Speaker 2 And there's going to be some people who just blinked when they're listening to this. What a job he did.

Speaker 2 PSR, 10-point deduction, having to sell players, not having the quality to maybe stay in the Premier League. And he kept that team afloat.
He kept them in the Premier League.

Speaker 2 So by the way, anybody, I don't care if you're an Everton fan or not, if you scoff at the job that Sean Dych did, shame on you.

Speaker 1 You're a moron. You're absolutely.
Dude, he absolutely deserves so much. And he probably didn't deserve to be fired, to be honest, for what he's done, with what he's had.
Totally agree.

Speaker 2 And I think from what I was hearing was, look, the new ownership group took over, right?

Speaker 2 Anytime an ownership group takes over, I think it's your investment i think you're allowed to then say i want this sporting director or i want this coach that's normal so i'm okay with that and look the fact of the matter is from what i was hearing look the team the team was just kind of floundering and they don't have a ton of quality they've got a couple little good players in decent areas they don't have a ton of quality and that's why they're down near the bottom and have been for the last couple of years the idea was with going into the new stadium the new ownership group didn't want to just kind of stumble over the line going into the new stadium.

Speaker 2 They kind of wanted to go from where they are right now which is near the bottom of the table to kind of like maybe this runway into like the top of the table where you can go oh we feel really good about this because again it's an investment right they want people to get excited about it so um

Speaker 2 the fact that they brought david moise back like that's the interesting move because

Speaker 2 I think David Moyes has been linked over the last couple of years. Every time there's a managerial change and it was, what, seven and eight years under Moshiri, he always seemed to kind of be linked.

Speaker 2 I spoke to him every now and again, and I would just send him a cheeky text like, Are you in? You know, this is like a couple last couple of years.

Speaker 2 And sometimes it would be like, no, and other times it would be like, there have been conversations. So, you know, there's always been kind of talked about.
The Everton fans are amazing.

Speaker 2 I became an Evertonian at the time that I was there. And that's a lifelong thing.
And I, I know you feel that. And now I'm an Everton fan.

Speaker 2 You know, you can't not support the teams, that team that you played for.

Speaker 2 But the fact of the matter is, like,

Speaker 2 even with inside the fan base,

Speaker 2 there's part of them that are like, we don't want Moyes and it's old school. And what I would say to people is just stop.
Stop talking. Let me do the talking because it's our show.
But

Speaker 2 you have,

Speaker 2 there's so many ways to play football and to win football matches, right? Everyone thinks you have to do it the Pep Guardiola way and you have to do it the Portuguese way. That's, you know, you don't.

Speaker 2 You don't. We just win the football match.
And David Moyes, he showed at West Ham, was a winner. By the way, here's my rant.
West Ham said, we want to play the West Hamway.

Speaker 2 David Moyes went in, played David Moyes way, and won. You know what West Ham said? We want to play the West Hamway.
They sacked David Moyes. They got Lopateggian.
Lopategi played the West Hamway.

Speaker 2 Guess where he is? Out of a job. Sacked.
Right. And so what I would say to the Everton faithful is,

Speaker 2 you want someone who plays progressive football? Marco Silva. You had him.

Speaker 2 He's at Fulham. You want someone who plays progressive football? Roberto Martinez.
You had him. You called for his name.
He got sacked.

Speaker 2 You know what he went, you know, he went on to do coach Belgium and Portugal. So, you just got to be careful.

Speaker 2 David Moyes is a brilliant football manager, and the fact that he's still getting these type of jobs is awesome.

Speaker 2 And look, I think he is bullish and he knows Everton Football Club inside and out, and he'll restore some glory. Rant over.

Speaker 1 I want to remind people, and we've said this before, I've said this before on this show.

Speaker 1 When I was there in 2010 and 2012, I always heard rumblings when Bill Kenright, Rest His Soul, was there about

Speaker 1 fans would say, we just need more investment, more money. We're a top seven, eight, nine team, but we really want to become a Champions League team.

Speaker 1 And I always thought to myself, like, do you realize what you have here?

Speaker 1 This club to be this high every year is phenomenal. So what do you do? Bring in new ownership, more investment.
And now for the last three, four, five years, you're fighting relegation every year.

Speaker 1 Just be careful what you wish for, as you just said, about how you want to play, what you you want it to look like. Would you take a mid-table finish right now if you're an Everton fan?

Speaker 1 You're damn right you would. Absolutely you would.
Correct. So just chill out.
David Moyes knows how to win soccer games. He has shown that over and over and over, and I'm excited for him.

Speaker 1 The FA Cup, Tim, this weekend was fun to watch. There'll be some more matchups coming in the future, a few for people to pay attention to.
Exeter City, who are League One, home to Nottingham Forest.

Speaker 1 That'll be an interesting one. Plymouth Argyle.
This is so interesting. It's so funny how these things work out.

Speaker 1 Plymouth Argyle, who just sacked Wayne Rooney, who is an Evertonian, are now home to Liverpool. So imagine he had still been there.
What a match that would have been.

Speaker 1 Plymouth are last in the championship. So that'll be really interesting to watch.
Birmingham City, who are first now in League One,

Speaker 1 home to Newcastle. That should be.
So there are a lot of other interesting ones, some Premier League matchups, but those will be really fun for people to watch if you like rooting for the underdogs.

Speaker 1 All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we'll be talking to U.S.
men's national team on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.

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Speaker 2 LD, it's time for US LNT on USMNT.

Speaker 2 January camp.

Speaker 2 January camp. It's so polarizing and complex for so many people who don't quite get it because they're like, wait a minute, there's a national team camp in January, but where's all our players?

Speaker 2 So these are a lot of

Speaker 2 players.

Speaker 2 You know, it falls outside of the FIFA window.

Speaker 2 I think what people need to also understand is when it comes to, and I didn't know this for a very long time, but when it comes to like the television contract over the course of a full year, year there are a certain amount of slots and two of those happen to fall in january and so that those have to be fulfilled um contractually which is obviously part of it but the other part is so many of these players that get called in predominantly mls type players um have an opportunity to get you know some time under their belt training

Speaker 2 shop window, be in front of Pochatino. And Pachatino, of course, gets more time with his team, right? And some of these players, when you look at it LD, will feature at some point.

Speaker 2 And this, this to me, is just a great opportunity to like shine, right? Like if some of these players were in a full camp, they might be on the peripheral. But Ned, they're probably the best players

Speaker 2 in the camp, you know, the top five or six players. And it really gives an opportunity to be in front of manager and go, oh, I like this kid.
I like him even more.

Speaker 1 Let me explain something to people who don't, who don't get this camp. This camp.
is crucial for right now. Let's start with Pochettino.

Speaker 1 Every day he gets with these guys, whether they're on the periphery or they're Walker Zimmerman or someone who's going to be in the World Cup or not, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 Every time you get a chance when you only have 18 months now to get in front of the team, it's crucial. But for the players, let me take people back 2001, 23 years ago, 24 years ago, January.

Speaker 1 I had made my debut three months earlier in October for the U.S. national team.

Speaker 1 So I get invited to this January camp by Bruce. In my mind, I'm thinking, this is my chance.

Speaker 1 And there's a lot lot of guys there now in Florida, I think they're in Florida, who are saying, this is my chance, right, to make a World Cup.

Speaker 1 I had a good January camp there in 2001, scored a few goals.

Speaker 1 I think we won the Gold Cup that year.

Speaker 1 Got started playing with the national team because of that. It led me into playing for the national team in 2002.
Same thing. We go in in January and I'm like, okay, I got six months.

Speaker 1 before the World Cup. I got to play well in MLS, but this is my 30 days to do it.
So come in as fit as you can. You're flying ready to go.

Speaker 1 And I ended up making a World Cup team and the rest is history. For these guys, this is crucial.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Absolutely crucial. And for people who are like, oh, it's stupid.
They're playing Venezuela and Costa Rica and these games mean nothing to bullshit, dude. This is a huge, huge opportunity.

Speaker 1 And there will be one or two or three players, I promise you, in this camp that you weren't aware of. that will make the World Cup team next year.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, look,

Speaker 2 I look at their goalkeepers. Important for Zach Stefan.
Look at the defenders. Shaq Moore, Tim Reem, Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmerin.
Important for those guys. Midfield.
Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn.

Speaker 2 This is an opportunity for them to really showcase themselves up front.

Speaker 2 You know, I'm looking there. Jesus Ferreira, another opportunity.

Speaker 2 We're thin. Huge opportunity for Jesus, by the way.
Yeah, we're thin. We're thin at that spot.
That's right.

Speaker 1 And so that's, you know, look, we had, we talked about this last week. Pepe playing well right now.
Okay, but who knows? I mean, we're 18 months away. We don't know what's going to happen.

Speaker 1 Brandon Vasquez just gets a move to Austin FC, so he's going to be playing all the time now. Flo Balogan, whenever he's back, but then it's like, okay, who's next? Sargent, is it who's next? Right.

Speaker 1 And for Jesus Ferrera, Jesus Ferreira, now you get a move a fresh start in Seattle, but you get a whole month to show the coach not only what you do in the hour and a half at training, what you're like in the meal room, what you're like in the locker room, what you're like behind the scenes, what you're in the treatment room, how you treat people, how the group likes you or doesn't like you.

Speaker 1 It's a huge opportunity.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and huge opportunity. Huge opportunity.
And again, we talk about Hazes Ferrer struggled a little bit last year, some injuries, just scoring five goals. But,

Speaker 2 you know, going to Seattle from Dallas, Seattle is a winning franchise. Seattle knows how to win.
They know how to build a team and bring players in the right spots.

Speaker 2 This could be really, really good for him. He's,

Speaker 2 you know, he scored second most goals of any player under the age of 25. With,

Speaker 2 let me look at this: 53 goals before turning 25. Second on the list.
You know, who's first on the list?

Speaker 1 Who?

Speaker 2 My guy, Landon Donovan, 56 goals. I think you could have done more, but

Speaker 1 he only has three left.

Speaker 2 You did a lot of the dirty work tracking back in those early days. Early days.

Speaker 1 You know what's best, though, Tim, about this move frame, honestly, and this is all due respect to FC Dallas.

Speaker 1 When you play in Seattle,

Speaker 1 there's real pressure, right? Like they're writing about you every day. The fans, if you're not doing the job, he was a little comfortable, I'm sure he would admit, in Dallas.

Speaker 1 And this happens with a lot of players when they come up and they start with one team. At some point, you got to get away, especially if you're a homegrown.
You got to go away.

Speaker 1 You got to get out of there. It's not good for you.
You're right. So I think this will be good for him.
Real pressure on him to produce.

Speaker 1 And I think this will help him a lot. So I think the future for him is bright and hopefully gets himself the opportunity now to play in a World Cup.

Speaker 2 Funny little tidbit about January camps because I was, you know, I was, I was in England for so many of them.

Speaker 2 So I didn't early in my career, I did a few January camps, which was, again, great because you can showcase your young talent and not have the big guys in.

Speaker 2 And at the end of my career, I was so greedy. I wanted more caps.
I remember calling the coach and like,

Speaker 2 can I come? I'm free. I'm free in January.
Can I come in? Because I was flying back in the MLS. And I can remember getting the phone

Speaker 2 up and just like, we're not calling you in. We know what you can do.
So I'm like, yeah, but I want another cap.

Speaker 1 So I'll tell you the worst, though, Tim, about January, the worst, man, is especially back, you know, decades ago, is the fitness.

Speaker 1 And we had a fitness coach, Pierre Ariu, who was there. And dude, every January camp, it was like, it was hell, dude.
It was like going to boot camp. So you come in as fit as you can.
But

Speaker 1 I have nightmares about some of these fitness drills we did, dude, just to get, because you're just, you're, if you're there January 2nd or 3rd, you have a game, I think they play on the 18th.

Speaker 2 18th, yeah.

Speaker 1 You have two and a half weeks. People don't realize that is not a lot of time, right? Generally, you have six weeks, five or six weeks in preseason.
Yeah. So you're ready for your first game.

Speaker 1 That's right. So now you have two weeks to try to play 70, 80, 90 minutes.
It's brutal, dude.

Speaker 1 And so they're like, well, we either we take our time and we build you in and be ready for February or no, Pochatino's like, no, man, we got to play well. We got to perform.
You got two weeks.

Speaker 1 We're going to kill you for the first week. And you got, sadly, you got a lot of injuries and it's not the right way to introduce yourself to a season, but it's just the reality.

Speaker 1 So hopefully, and I'm sure. All these guys came in very fit.
So they were ready for it. A few other MLS notes.

Speaker 1 Your guy, robin frazier you have been beating that drum you must have been in somebody's ear at toronto at least they were listening to the pod uh really happy for him he is the next head coach of toronto fc

Speaker 1 um i think he's look you you know him better than i much better i just that franchise needs stability um they've made a lot of bad decisions um they've made bad decisions with their gm in the past the gm's made bad decisions with some of the hires who have gone there john hurdman obviously with the canadian drone scandal, and

Speaker 1 he just wasn't great there.

Speaker 1 So I hope this brings stability. And Robin Frazier, this is the first opportunity that he's going to have financial backing, a club that's ambitious.

Speaker 1 Remember, he's been at teams that were just didn't spend money, were not ambitious. So I'm really excited for him.
I think he's going to do a great job.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm over the moon for Robin. I spoke to him

Speaker 2 a lot through this process.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 I think Toronto FC must listen to the podcast, but

Speaker 2 hopefully they do.

Speaker 2 But look, one of the biggest regrets of my career, and it wasn't in my hands, I only got six months to play with Robin. And I remember Robin was so good to me at the end because I was at the end.

Speaker 2 And I just, I remember how great of a manager he was.

Speaker 2 He's a brilliant football mind. He connects with his players.

Speaker 2 As you said, he'll get backing. I think he got the short end of the stick in Colorado because he's a very, very good manager.
And it's funny, something sticks out, and

Speaker 2 he's a good human as well. At the end, his first game that he took over, we played at Red Bull.
And my body, LD, as you know, at the end, it gets so broken down. I could barely finish the game.

Speaker 2 I was in tears. And just, we won 2-0.
And I just was thinking, I think, I was like, this is the end. I was supposed to finish at the end of the season, but here we are in like July or August.

Speaker 2 I'm like, I'm done. And I remember going to, I remember going to see him.

Speaker 2 um knocking on his door and just saying look robin i'm i'm my ego is not so big i'm not going to hamstring you like the fact of the matter is, if you play me, if you start me, you're going to have to use a sub on me.

Speaker 2 And this is just going to get ugly. And I don't want to do that to you.
And I just remember saying, look, let me try and get fit.

Speaker 2 I would love to be fit enough to play the last home game or in the last game of the year and then just, you know, be done.

Speaker 2 And so there was a couple of week stretch that I just didn't play for about a month because I had to be honest with him. And he was brilliant with me.

Speaker 2 So, but beyond the personal side of things, he's a he's a brilliant manager.

Speaker 2 Given the time and given the resources, which he'll get in Toronto,

Speaker 2 look out.

Speaker 2 He's a really good manager.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the key is the time now, right? Because he's been out of it for a little bit as a head coach. So he needs time.
And hopefully clubs are learning that

Speaker 1 these things don't turn around in six months or a year or 18 months. You need time and hopefully he gets it.
Yep, totally. One other piece of note, piece of news, Chicho Arango, who was at Salt Lake.

Speaker 1 I follow Salt Lake closely because my former coach Nate Miller is the assistant there and with Pablo has done a phenomenal job turning that team into just a really fun, attractive team to watch.

Speaker 1 Goes from Salt Lake to the Earthquakes where Bruce is. So Bruce got on the horn.

Speaker 1 They traded for $1.4 million in GAM, general allocation money, which we'll get into that another time about what that means and an international roster spot.

Speaker 1 So I think the biggest thing for Salt Lake there is getting rid of his salary. It was time.

Speaker 1 Just watching that team a lot, it was time for him to move. He had a tough stretch through the middle of the season.
I think sometimes these things happen to him and it's good for everyone.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. Absolutely.
San Jose is getting a a striker who will now have a fresh look on things. There's good leadership there with Christian Espinoza, who's there.

Speaker 1 They have a good front four, by the way, Pellegrini, Lopez, Renan Lopez. Yeah.
Now Chicho Arongo and Christian Espinoza. So that's a pretty nasty front line.

Speaker 2 Arongo and Ferreira. I mean, change is good.
It's amazing how you get a good player. It gets a little bit stagnant, a little bit injury prone.

Speaker 2 And next thing, you know, boom, hit the ground running at the new club. It'll be good for him.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it'll be good. All right, one more break.
When we come back, we will dive into questions.

Speaker 1 Lots of questions again this week in the new AT ⁇ T fan connection and talk about anything but soccer here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.

Speaker 1 This episode is brought to you by Airbnb.

Speaker 1 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 2 Honestly, I've lost track at this point.

Speaker 2 You know, just this summer alone, I was all over the place.

Speaker 2 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 1 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 1 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 1 They get immersed in the chants, the songs, that incredible feeling of seeing the game up close and personal.

Speaker 2 Well, I mean, I think that's where the game has changed. These trips have become a big deal for soccer fans.

Speaker 2 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 1 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 1 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.

Speaker 1 We know they're not cheap, or maybe to help your kids pursue their soccer dreams.

Speaker 2 Yeah, your home might be worth more than you think. So find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.

Speaker 2 LD, for me, the holidays are all about connection to family and to friends. We host a lot.
So we got a lot of people over the house.

Speaker 2 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 2 I crack open a Coors Light.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's my favorite time of year. It gets cold,

Speaker 1 not quite as cold as New York, but it's cold outside. It gets dark early.
Kids are playing. We turn on the jacuzzi, relax in the hot tub with a Coors Light.

Speaker 1 Choose chill, relax, have family, friends, good food, good memories. My favorite time of year.

Speaker 2 When you embrace a chill mindset this holiday, it's a good time to choose chill and crack open a Coors Light.

Speaker 1 Choose chill this holiday season and then reach for a Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door.

Speaker 1 Visit CoorsLight.com slash USLNT, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

Speaker 2 Celebrate responsibly. 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 2 Like your crisp new jersey waiting for you in the locker room or a perfectly set up wall for a free kick.

Speaker 1 Yeah, as we on Unfiltered Soccer get ready for next summer, we know that very little in the beautiful game is guaranteed.

Speaker 1 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 2 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 1 Learn more at ATT.com slash guarantee. ATT, connecting changes everything.

Speaker 2 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 2 Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com slash guarantee for full details.

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

Speaker 2 is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At AT ⁇ T, Connecting changes everything.
And on US LNT, our connection with you will help grow the game.

Speaker 2 Jordan, welcome to ATT Fan Connection. Get on in here.

Speaker 1 What's up, guys? What's up, JR?

Speaker 2 How are you? What shirt do you have on today? Let's see.

Speaker 3 Uh, the FC Simpali third shirt.

Speaker 2 She walks in her mind straight. Amazing shirts.

Speaker 3 Everyone's very, very good to me this year.

Speaker 2 They have amazing scenes.

Speaker 1 It's great. They do.
It's impressive.

Speaker 3 You get to the Bundesliga, you know, you need a third kit for sure.

Speaker 1 All right, what do you got for us, JR? What do you got?

Speaker 3 Okay, our first question is from JB via email. My youngest son loves soccer.
How do I support him going pro and one day earning the Landon Donovan MVP Award?

Speaker 1 All right, JB. Take it away, Landon.
Well, we don't know how old your son is.

Speaker 1 I'm going to,

Speaker 1 this is very simple for me, and I'm going to dumb it down for people, and it's never what anyone wants to hear.

Speaker 1 The easiest way to continue loving soccer and getting better at soccer is by having fun and playing. And I'm going to break that down because you're like, what an idiot who says that?

Speaker 1 I now have kids who play soccer. And a lot of times they have three or four or five organized practices in a week.
And it's great. They get to play a lot.

Speaker 1 But I watch my kids learn the most about soccer when we go in the backyard and we play or when they watch a game on TV.

Speaker 1 And they just love to do that. So, JB, my advice to you is one, make sure you're backing off a little bit, letting your son or daughter or whoever play,

Speaker 1 love it, have fun, have the ball around them all the time.

Speaker 1 You can learn a lot of other things later. You never get these years back where you're just touching the ball constantly.

Speaker 1 But if they're not having fun at some point, JB, they're going to look at you and say, you know what, I don't like this anymore. I don't want to do it.

Speaker 1 And then maybe your dream is crushed, JB, and maybe their dream is crushed. So you need to make sure they're always loving it, enjoying it.

Speaker 1 And your job as a parent is to foster that, but not be overbearing. Because I see it all the time now with the parents who are overbearing, and eventually the kids fall out of love with the sport.

Speaker 2 Yeah, very well said.

Speaker 2 This sound, I don't think it is, but this sounds like my friend J.B.erstaff, head coach of the Detroit Pistons. His son Blade is a stud, stud goalkeeper, young kid.

Speaker 2 And he's got pictures of athletes on his wall and wants to go pro. So I'm guessing this isn't him, but I'll hit him after the show.

Speaker 2 But no, on a serious note, JB, I think I've just lived this with my own daughter,

Speaker 2 and she's on an incredible trajectory for herself. But I constantly asked, you asked a really good question, but in all seriousness, I constantly asked her what she wanted, constantly.

Speaker 2 It was all, because by the way, I know how to become a professional. I thankfully have the means to help her become a professional.

Speaker 2 So I kept asking her, what do you want? Dad, I want to be great. Okay, what do you want? I want to play Division I soccer.
Okay, cool.

Speaker 2 But if she said to me, I don't know, I want to go to the dance and if I miss a couple of training sessions, that's cool too. I'd say, yeah, fine.
I'm going to support you with whatever you do. So

Speaker 2 this was never about me as a parent.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 I read something recently. Derek Rose asks his son, Derek Rose of Chicago Bulls fame, they just retired his number.
He asked his son, do you want to be good or great?

Speaker 2 If his son says good, then he, then he treats him as if

Speaker 2 he wants to be good. If he wants to be great, he pushes him to be great.
And so

Speaker 2 I think that conversation about where your child wants to go, because by the way, and not many people say this because landon gets his name on mvp trophies and and we all get paid a lot of money and the fame being a professional is hard it's hard sledding it's hard sledding but forget when the lights come on in front of 60 000 people to get there it's rough it's rough mentally it's rough physically it's rough socially it's hard so um

Speaker 2 ask your son uh if that's what he wants and if he does then you support him in every way you can Okay, a question from Katie via email.

Speaker 3 I've seen a lot of complaints of women's teams hiring people from the men's game and not from within the women's game. What are your thoughts on this?

Speaker 3 What are the differences between the men's and women's game that you have learned by joining ownerships and by coaching?

Speaker 1 That's a great question, Katie.

Speaker 1 Okay, so I want to, I'll start tackle this delicately because I want to be really clear on this.

Speaker 1 My opinion is that

Speaker 1 the most qualified person

Speaker 1 based on whoever's making that decision, is the person they should try to hire, no matter what they look like, where they come from, et cetera.

Speaker 1 That being said, having been in the women's game now, there for

Speaker 1 decades and decades have been a massive lack of opportunity for women to get better as coaches, GMs, technical directors on the business side, et cetera.

Speaker 1 So it's not as simple as just saying, well, just hire the most qualified person. Okay, we'll get Pep Guardiola.
Well, Pep's had a lot of opportunity that a lot of women haven't had, right?

Speaker 1 So in the end, whoever's making that decision needs to make the best decision for their team.

Speaker 1 There are many men who coach in women's soccer who are great. There are many women who coach in women's soccer who are way better than the men are who are coaching.

Speaker 1 And I've seen it up close and personal. So I think the key here is more opportunities to to learn and grow.
And now there's better licensing.

Speaker 1 And I see when I went through my licensing, more women in the licensing courses than I ever saw before. So more opportunities there and then given chances

Speaker 1 to either succeed or fail the way men are. And that's, that's the only, I think that's the only way you can do it.
But you can't blame people for making a decision.

Speaker 1 that that they think is best for their the San Diego Way is a great example they just hired a male coach who who failed at Arsenal. So they brought him in and hired him.

Speaker 1 Now, a lot of fans were probably like, well, why aren't we hiring a female? Well, okay, but that's their decision, right?

Speaker 1 And there's, by the way, there's a woman who is running that ownership group, right? So she made that decision. That's her prerogative.
But I think we need more opportunities.

Speaker 1 And that's not just women. That's any type of minority or anybody who's not, you know, what we're accustomed to seeing on a sideline.

Speaker 2 right in in in professional soccer yeah yeah i mean look i i think for me, it's, it's,

Speaker 2 I agree with all those things you said, Landon. For me, it's cut and dry.
Men have ruined the women's game for so long. Go all the way back to the start of it, right? And

Speaker 2 there was no women's leagues. And so when there was a women's league, it was, well, we need someone who knows how to coach

Speaker 2 a professional team. Well, women weren't given the opportunity because there wasn't any leagues.
So who coached those initial teams? All men, right? And so

Speaker 2 that's the starting point. And since then, for various other reasons,

Speaker 2 men have ruined ruined the women's game and i think that there's a big rebuild that's happening and trust that's being built um you know in terms of both financial trust and and otherwise but look there's been a higher fire culture uh in in women's and women's soccer and it does they don't quite have the same opportunities and i think you have to create intentional pathways um for women to get in if you want to hire

Speaker 2 Be intentional. I mean,

Speaker 2 the Rooney in Pittsburgh were very intentional on hiring an African-American coach. They didn't make any bones about it.
And then the Rooney rule got implemented.

Speaker 2 And Tomlin has been brilliant at that, at that franchise for nearly 20 years or however long, right? And so you have to be intentional. And whether you hire

Speaker 2 a person of color, a male, whatever the case is, a female, that's fine.

Speaker 2 But at a certain point, you have to be intentional in terms of who you put in place and how you help foster that because you can't continue to hire and fire people without building the process underneath, right?

Speaker 2 So you bring in assistant coaches, you bring in assistant technical directors and GMs, and what that might look like, giving them a pathway to say, you know what?

Speaker 2 When it's time for change, we want to be able to have invested in you so much that boom, you're ready to go.

Speaker 2 You're ready to become the head coach, you're ready to become a GM, or maybe we lose you to another team because you've done so well here.

Speaker 2 So being more intentional and stopping this like higher fire culture that exists in women's soccer.

Speaker 1 And you need to set, you need to set people up for success, right? You don't just hire someone because

Speaker 1 they, you know, played a few years in the league and now you want to make them a GM, like you just said, okay?

Speaker 1 Start as an assistant GM and learn and grow so that when they become a GM, now there's a lot of women in women's game in NWSL in either coaching roles or GM roles who had no experience before.

Speaker 1 So if you're going to do that, fine, but then you got to stick with them two years, three years, four years. Let them learn and grow and get.

Speaker 1 make mistakes, et cetera, or start as an assistant, let them learn and then give them an opportunity. That way they're set up for success.

Speaker 3 Those are two very deep answers to two very deep questions. So I'm going to let you guys move on to anything but soccer, but thanks for that.

Speaker 1 Thanks for joining us. All right.
Thank you, JR. Appreciate you.
All right, ABS, this week, Timmy, I was,

Speaker 1 I had a conversation with one of my golf buddies the other day after we played on Friday. And we were sitting down, we were talking about NIL.

Speaker 1 And for people who don't know, NIL is name, image, and likeness, which has come into collegiate sports, mostly basketball and football.

Speaker 1 And players now are given money by the universities or by wealthy donors to play for their universities. And we were talking about this quarterback, Carson Beck, who was at Georgia.

Speaker 1 They got knocked out of the college football playoffs. He's, you know,

Speaker 1 a prospective high draft pick at some point when he become, when he comes out and decides to go to the NFL. And he said, it's looking like he's going to transfer to Miami.

Speaker 1 And I said, my first reaction was, why the hell would the starting quarterback Georgia transfer to another school to Miami? And he's like, well, he's going to get paid.

Speaker 1 I said, oh, of course he's going to transfer. So like all these guys now, you spend a year one year and you make a million dollars.
Why not transfer the next year? And why not transfer the next year?

Speaker 1 And why not transfer the next year? You're making millions. And what he said to me, this is what I want to get to.
He said, well, you know, he'll go there and he'll make a million dollars.

Speaker 1 And I said, no, no, no, from what I've heard, and I've got someone who's dialed into the college football game, is he's going to make three or four million dollars. And he said, get out of here.

Speaker 1 There's no way he's making three or four million dollars.

Speaker 1 I said, dude, he's making three or four million dollars. So this report came out.
A Fox affiliate in Miami reported that it was a one-year deal for $4

Speaker 1 million.

Speaker 1 Now, the athletic came out and said it might be closer to $3 million. They're not, nobody's confirming or denying.
Sure, sure.

Speaker 1 But just to give people context, and then I want to dive into this, the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans Titans this year, a guy named Will Levis, who was a second-round pick, made $950,000 last year,

Speaker 2 this season,

Speaker 1 Tennessee Titans starting quarterback in the NFL. Carson Beck's going to go make $3 to $4 million

Speaker 1 in college.

Speaker 1 Go before I rant. Go.

Speaker 2 Well, go. Well, let me say this.
I was

Speaker 2 initially, for the last couple of years, against college athletes being paid for various reasons, and we won't get into them right now. I was against it.

Speaker 2 I am what I'd like to call an insubordinate subordinate. I'm going to ask questions and I'm going to kick and scream, but I'm eventually going to fall into line.
The fact of the matter is,

Speaker 2 college sports is over.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 This is a second division professional league. In no world, I'm 45 years old.
So in the last 45 years and beyond, nobody,

Speaker 2 and there's a guy, Trey Liebert, out there who's listening, who's literally going to fall off his seat.

Speaker 2 Nobody would leave the University of Georgia, which is basically the top of the pyramid, second only to the Tennessee Volunteers Go Vallez,

Speaker 2 the top of the pyramid to go to Miami.

Speaker 2 No one ever.

Speaker 2 So this comes down to money. And by the way, these schools, whether it be through alumni or private equity, these schools have boatloads of money, boatloads of money.

Speaker 2 BYU, Brigham Young University, is one of the biggest NIL

Speaker 2 funds in all of college sports. They kept this all-world, all-all-star kid out of Utah.
They kept him at BYU. This kid should be going to Duke and all the blue bloods.
He ain't going.

Speaker 2 He's staying at BYU. This is about money.
The entire landscape has changed.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 here's the problem. Okay, we agree, of course, the landscape has changed.

Speaker 1 The problem is whenever something new comes into effect, people are going to find ways to take advantage or cheat or move them.

Speaker 1 And right now, it is the absolute wild, wild west because there are no parameters, no boundaries. So in the NFL, you have a salary cap.
Yeah. Right.
So there are limits.

Speaker 1 If Miami said, we're going to pay him $600 million because we have it, they can do it.

Speaker 2 Totally.

Speaker 1 It's like, who cares? Go do it then. Yeah.
Right. And this cannot be good for collegiate sports.

Speaker 1 But like you said, college sports is over. So

Speaker 1 I'm not necessarily, by the way, I'm not necessarily against these guys getting paid because, you know, CBS and ESPN and Fox and everyone is making billions of dollars selling the rights or purchasing the rights and then selling ads to these games.

Speaker 1 Get it?

Speaker 1 And for those at colleges, I spoke to a woman at USC one time about this issue and she said, well, they're getting a scholarship. I said, okay, a scholarship's worth 50, 60, 70 grand.
I get it.

Speaker 1 You're turning around and making millions, if not tens of million dollars on the back of this kid. So like, I get it.

Speaker 1 And I get that they're subsidizing for some of the other sports, but the biggest, the biggest shame in all this, Tim, is somewhere down the line,

Speaker 1 all the other sports are going to get affected. Totally.
Women's sports are going to get affected.

Speaker 1 Sports, maybe even like soccer, but like, you know, the water polos and the track and field, they're going to get impacted somehow because there's only so much money to spend and they're going to spend it where the market tells them they should spend it, which is on football and basketball.

Speaker 1 And so I don't know what's going to happen long term. There's got to be a tipping point at some point where people say this is not sustainable.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Well, and look, look, let me, let me just riff for the next 30 seconds on this is the parent, parent in me, right?

Speaker 2 Something has to change, or we just have to all accept that this is going to spiral out of control, right? Because you now have the transfer portal.

Speaker 2 Back a few years ago, you couldn't transfer without sitting out. Now you can transfer to any school you want, whenever you want.
They can pay you whatever they want because of the NIL.

Speaker 2 I just hope that the adults in the room, whoever they are, are not only paying these kids boatloads of money, but they're giving them access to financial advisors. They're helping them with the money.

Speaker 2 They're helping them make decisions because

Speaker 2 as we know, you can give kids money, but it doesn't often end well. And so, look,

Speaker 2 I think this, there there's a

Speaker 2 do they need a cap on it do they need to slow it down do they need to go back to having to sit out a year if you if you transfer because even forget money aside ld the transfer portal is changing the landscape of kids aren't staying in school for four years anymore kids aren't loving a school and staying there they're one year and done they transfer to another school and and you're creating these powerhouses which is fun to watch from a sports standpoint but ultimately all of these things combined say goodbye to college sports simple as that yeah you know the last thing here, what I can think of is, you know, when you watch NFL games,

Speaker 1 and at the beginning of the game, as they're like introduced, you know, here come the Buccaneers defense, and the guy comes out and he says, you know, Levante David, wherever he's from, Ohio State.

Speaker 1 In the future, it's going to be like Carson Beck, Utah Valley State, BYU, Georgia, Alabama, Miami, and Texas.

Speaker 1 You know, it's just going to be like, it's going to be such a joke because they're going to be going to five or six schools. So, all right.
Thank you to ATT for our new fan connection.

Speaker 1 We will be back with this every week. We love it.
Thanks to JR.

Speaker 1 Anything but soccer was great, and we will be back again with that too. We appreciate all of you for being with us today.

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Speaker 2 Yeah, thank you, everybody. Always a pleasure spending this hour with you and LD.
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, and our new fan connection sponsor, ATT. Have an amazing week.

Speaker 2 We'll be back next Tuesday. Can't wait to see you on another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.

Speaker 1 See you next Tuesday, guys.