Gabe Hoffman-Johnson from Hearts of Pine, USMNT vs Ecuador Review, & A Lesson In Soccer Chants

The majority of the chance U.S.

fans in MLS, they're just boring, or they're old and used, or they're so uncreative.

I feel like this is one of those places where we have to bow to the English superiority.

Tim Timony, Tim Timmini, Tim Tim Taru.

We've got Tim Howard, and he says, You swear in a minute.

He's going to swear in a minute.

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 over five years.

Oh,

L.D., my man, we are.

I can't do that.

Unfiltered soccer.

Stupid.

This is not the first time, by the way, that I've been inspired by you.

Don't, don't, don't change a channel.

This is Landon, Donovan, and Tim Howard.

We both have hair.

For those who are

playing like on a radio or whatever,

it's got this wig.

Well, we both have a wig.

Kind of.

Kind of.

Tim like went to Party Plus and I spent like five grand on it.

And

just go look it up.

Can you take that off, please?

No.

I get what you were saying.

I think bald is beautiful, but like I see what you mean.

Like having hair.

It's pretty cool, right?

I've got to keep trying to get out of my face.

This is wild.

You know, the cool part is when you actually get to like style it.

So

I bought hair gel, dude.

I bought hair gel.

I I haven't had hair gel in 30 years.

So I'm like, every night, I'm like messing with it, playing.

I'm like, well, tell my wife, what does this look like?

She's like, you're a clown.

Please, please chuck that on your social media, like you getting up, having a bad head.

I can't wait to see this image of you all over social media.

All over.

This needs to be on a t-shirt.

Okay, can you take it off, please?

Oh, gosh, hang on, hang on.

I can't take it.

This is just mine, might be better than yours.

Just saying,

Jesus.

Oh,

so much better.

There we go.

All right.

All right.

Can we start now?

Yes.

All right.

All right, guys.

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

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Okay, let's dive right in.

USMNT on USLNT.

So I was at the game in Austin.

Great city, by the way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And there was this music festival at ACL.

I think it's Austin City Limits or something going on.

So there's people everywhere, but it was so fun.

Stadium is gorgeous.

If you haven't been, God, it's beautiful.

The Austin FC people were awesome.

They gave jerseys for my kids.

It was an awesome weekend.

So the game

started, I think, pretty well.

I'm going to give you my perspective and then you tell me.

Started pretty well.

And then Inter Valencia, I don't know.

This guy's still playing soccer.

It's a wild, right?

When I read the lineup, I know.

I'm like, this guy's still playing soccer.

Where did I play against him?

Was he at Wigan?

Oh, yeah.

I think Wiggins.

But we probably played against him with a national team, too, at some point.

Maybe.

Anyway, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So we go down a goal, and it was, it was really against the run of play, but we played well in the first half.

Second half, I thought we were really good.

Like really, really good.

It was the first time, Tim, since Pochatino's been there where we were playing a real team.

And I was like, okay, we look now like a top 15, top 20.

We look like a real team.

And we should have won the game.

So I thought the performance was excellent.

I can't think of someone who didn't play well.

Chris Richards got beat a little for the goal, but otherwise he was great.

I thought Tanner Tessman was excellent.

Flo Baligan and in the flesh Tim, he is a very good player.

Very good player.

I thought there were a ton of good performances all over the field.

So I thought it was a big positive.

Yeah.

Look,

I completely agree with that.

I think when I look at this team, start, yeah, I'll start up top.

Flo Baligan for me is like he's our, he's our number one go-to strike.

For sure.

For sure.

He has to be healthy and playing for us.

He has to.

Yeah.

And in the first 20 minutes,

he had two chances.

I'm trying to think of the first one.

The second one was where he ran the channel, right?

So he gets the center back isolated.

He's in a deep line position, right?

So he probably

should like lay it back to a winger, but he goes on his own, right?

So he goes on the inside.

He does a little hesitation, drops his shoulder, and ends up getting an angle where he bends it and just misses it.

And what it made me think about,

and even though the U.S.

team is evolving and has evolved over the years, we still always need, and you and I will talk about how Josie Altador did it, right?

But we still need to be able to go, holy crap, we've been defending.

We need an outlet.

We lump one over the top.

You chase it down.

By the way, we're like a a million yards from you because we've been defending just do something to help us win us a corner get us a shot on goal and that like in that one little snapshot that's what i thought i thought that's a striker there who can control the center back with his body he can face you up you talked about making him making defenders scared i also thought it was really good he had a bunch of moments where he came short to tillman right he was like pop pop and then he went and he's like and to your point if the center back didn't come with him he faced him up which was a problem for the center back and if the center back came with him which they did a lot to try and be physical, he then spun and went the other way.

So I thought that was really good.

Look, the concern in the back three, and it happened on the goal, and it wasn't, they did, it showed a really good replay of the goal.

And the goals get conceded.

So I'm not saying that it's a problem just because we conceded.

When I look at our, us in a back three.

In the really good games, right?

And I would say this is a good one.

Like Enna Valencia, I mean, God bless him, he's still going, but I'm talking about the biggest games, right?

There was a moment where the actual number eight gets the ball.

So he receives it behind our midfield, right?

And he gets turned.

At that moment, Tim Ream,

he's like, I don't really want to get tight.

Now I have to drop off.

Right.

And there's like a, there's a, there's a snapshot.

And our three center backs, right, Robinson, Richards, and Ream, were all one versus one, right?

And if that's Tottenham, or if that's Liverpool, they're like, yeah, we're going to advance numbers and we're going to allow our horses in the back to defend man versus man right

at that moment i went oh boy this is a problem right and so if if we're gonna play in a back three and we're gonna ask our three center backs to be man for man at the highest level i think that's a problem

because and and then and then the goal gets because of i mean because of the profile of those players right correct correct i mean in an ideal world right and this and tim ream and tim ream is a guy i know well in a perfect world he'd be the center of the three right you you you want you want the more athletic, younger.

This happens, right?

You have, you have the elder statesman and the general, and then you have the younger guys.

So Chris Richards would be on the outside, but really Chris Richards has shown to be so dominant, he has to be in the middle of a three.

So I think from a profile standpoint, it worries me like if we're set in a back three plus the fullbacks and we have a bit of a base, okay, that's not, that's not an issue.

I'm talking about when we're attacking and those transition moments happen, we get a little bit caught out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, but overall, overall, good for you.

And that's without the ball, right?

So, but with the ball, Tim just provides so much on the left side of the three, right?

And so that, that's like a tricky,

I'm not sure exactly how you deal with that.

Going to flow, man.

Um, he

did everything well.

So, I, you know, that was the first time I've really sat and clearly in the flesh, but just watched a guy.

And I can't tell you how many real soccer plays he made.

And even the plays, I mean, Ecuador, physical and athletic in the back, where he's just fighting and battling.

And he doesn't necessarily win the ball, but the ball drops down right there.

So you can pick up the second ball.

And man, he was fun to watch.

And like, he just has to be on the field.

Well, we've been saying that.

Way different.

Yeah, we've been saying that.

Like, we, this is

seeing it live.

You, you don't even realize just how impactful he is.

Well, I mentioned, I think I mentioned it last

time we were talking, maybe last week or the week before.

Like this team excites me when we're, when, you know,

in theory, when I look at our, like, what's our best possible 11, like that team excites me, right?

My, my issue, and I said this to you this week after the game, I'm so, I struggle so much trying to like rate this team, right?

Like, like, what do I put as the ceiling for them?

Because we just don't know.

We just haven't seen them together enough in the vital moments when guys have to make plays, when we're up against it, right?

We just haven't seen it.

Now, we've seen snapshots of good things, right?

Like the gold cup.

You can take some really good stuff from that.

You can take some good performances from

the game in September, certainly the game this past weeks.

But like overall, we don't,

because I think about our, I think about our team, like under Jürgen Klinsman, that was the first time I felt like there was so many different changes, right?

Like there was, he was someone who was like tinkering with trying to bring in all these different German-American and Mexican-Americans.

But even then, we still knew what the team was about.

Right.

Does that make sense?

Like, so even though he's trying to incorporate all these different players, you're still like,

yeah, but

can still name eight or nine guys every week or every time we every time we go out so i'm having a little bit of trouble rating this team in terms of where that ceiling could be but they excite me when they're all together the but the biggest reason tim is really beyond pochitino's control and it's it's the injury stuff right so it's just the reality so now streginho's out Tyler's not there because he's having uh his wife's having a baby understandable but then the day before the game I was sitting with someone from U.S.

soccer and they said, by the way, Jedi Robinson is out, Christian's out, Zendejas is out.

And I'm like, Jesus.

So it's just, I don't know what it is.

And I have just come

to find peace in the fact that we are never going to arrive into camp with everyone healthy.

I just, I hate it.

I don't, it's, people like to say it's unlucky.

It's not unlucky.

Sometimes it's unlucky.

Sometimes you step and you roll an ankle.

I think Christian rolled his ankle or something.

That's understandable, but for whatever reason, we are just never healthy.

And so we just have to deal with that.

That's just, that's just what it is.

Yeah.

And now we're going to have, yeah, we're just going to have these mixed lineups.

It's going to put something else out to you because you've been there and this is this is going on

personal experience.

The sad part about all of this

is that a month out before the roster needs to be submitted for the summer, everybody will be fit.

No, no, no.

You know this.

You know this.

There will be

every injection or tablet that a player can take to make sure that they're ready and fit and on the roster for the World Cup, they will take.

You can agree with that, right?

Yeah.

So there's no question in my mind that if I look, now unless someone has touched wood, a season end injury, right?

I can tell you.

that the best players, the guys that you just named, the players that we haven't seen will 1 trillion percent because of legacy and because of career, will be fit for the World Cup.

And that's the travesty.

So we'll get our best team, I think, at the World Cup.

But the travesty is we haven't had it for a year and a half, two years.

Yeah, but then...

Yeah, okay, yeah, fair enough.

Yeah, because they'll find a way to be there.

And the fact, okay, and the fact of the matter is we are not good enough of a country.

So you probably see this with England.

I use that example all the time, right?

There might be someone.

who's in better form scoring more goals in the Premier League.

And then like one of your blue bloods is like, oh, I'm fit for the World Cup.

And a manager goes, yeah, not taking you.

Yeah, sorry.

Pagetino, in my opinion, I don't think will, if

one of our major players who hasn't been a part of the run-up because of whatever reason is fully fit, I think he takes him 100%

100% because he's better than

the other options.

Well, Balogan's a good example, right?

He has a little knock or something.

Like he's taking him.

Of course.

Okay, so.

It was good to see Weston back in.

I didn't think he was amazing, but he was really energetic Again, watching live.

He was very active.

He's played a lot of different roles.

So it's hard right now at this point in his career to say where he's best, but

he can be impactful.

And I think when he's at his very best, he's still a guy we want in the team.

So it was good to have him back.

The pairing of Tessman and Aiden Morris, I thought was pretty good.

All things considered, pretty good.

Aiden Morris had some good moments, some rough moments, but that's to be expected.

It was his first time with the group.

I thought Tanner Tessman was really good.

And, you know, now with Tyler, and my takeaway from this is the guys who weren't there, Tim, Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear that you play and you play well, you earn the chance to play again.

The guys who weren't there now, they're going to fall behind a little bit, right?

Like Tyler, Serginho, Jedi now, little.

We think of them as like they're a step above.

He thinks of it as who's playing well right now and who's available.

And that is the way he views it and he's made it very clear so those guys are going to fall behind a little bit if there's another great performance again australia against australia those guys are going to be in again and starting again in november right no that's right i think that's just the reality that's right i think it's reality and i think i think weston is

he's

talked about he's energetic what's his best best position maybe maybe just doesn't have one because he can play so many different areas of the pitch but he's still

when we look at our best 11 he has to be on the pitch for me personally

Look, I like Tessman.

I think he's got good passing range.

It gets about the midfield really well.

Ultimately, and again, my mind is constantly just on the World Cup, right?

So like, so when I make decisions or I make a comment about the team, it's about those three games in the World Cup that mean everything.

And then if you get out of that, right?

And my point in saying that is it's It's not impossible.

It's very unlikely you're going to feel the same 11 for all three games, games, right?

Because of wear and tear, because of Knox, because of yellow cards, because of whatever alignment.

So it's really, even though I think our best midfield is certainly Tyler Adams, certainly Weston McKinney, not just because they're household names, but because I genuinely believe that.

And then

depending on what formation you play, but you're still going to need at some point minutes from Tessman, minutes from Morris if those guys are selected.

They're going to have to come up Trump's

in the group stage at least.

They're going to have to play significant minutes.

So I think it is good to get those pairings.

Yeah, I agree with that.

So a couple guys who weren't there or who were who were out injured, I was surprised when I heard the night before that Jedi and Christian were out.

Let's talk about Jedi first.

So

I am now, Tim, genuinely worried about his health.

I am.

So he had the operation in the summer.

Took him some time getting back.

If you guys remember, he was with Fulham on the bench, started to play some minutes, and then he wasn't dressed for a game, and then he played in the cup game.

And then he came into camp, and everyone was like, Okay, he's moving in the right direction.

You know, at Fulham, manager says he's, you know, he's getting back fit.

He needs to be fit.

He's didn't talk about the injury at all.

And now he doesn't play in the game.

And, you know, from talking to people behind the scenes, it's now, it's a real issue.

And so

I'm worried.

Like, he is a guy that at his best makes us way better.

And to be fair to Max Arfston, he's really really growing.

Like he did not look out of place at all against real players the other day, real players.

And so I'm just worried about him.

I am.

And he needs to, in my opinion, pause, stop, go see a specialist, do whatever it takes in the next two months, three months, four months, get this thing right so that he can be.

And that's my selfish.

He's got his own

agenda and whatever, but that's my own selfish national team outlook.

Yeah, I mean,

I would think that that's right.

And he's probably on the cusp of figuring.

It'll be really hard for him to,

I think something, again, without knowing a ton, like I think something is going on because he had the surgery.

It doesn't seem as if he's back fully fit.

Needs to obviously get a hold of that, whether that's just shutting it down and

either getting another surgery or what have you.

He is one of those players.

But also, I've played with guys who, and it doesn't always come at the end of your career because that's the obvious one, but I've played with guys who their body just starts to break down and it really just becomes managing, managing moments and minutes.

And yeah, you might not be able to play 90 minutes every single week, but I do think he might be one of the guys I'm talking about.

Like, come, come roster time for the World Cup.

He has to be on that roster because by the way, even if he can give you two games in the World Cup.

That's way better because he's super talented on that left back, left wing position.

So he's one of the guys we're talking about.

Tim, big picture.

My biggest takeaway from this week, biggest takeaway in talking to people behind the scenes and seeing all this stuff live is that Pochatino now

has complete control of this group.

And I'm going to tell you why.

I felt it in talking to people.

I was,

what's the word?

I was a little skeptical that like I, that he really did have a grasp of this group now and that they were in his control, I'll say.

And then what happened in the game proved it.

So, one, the performance, right?

And I'm not talking about, you know, tactically or what they just like the effort and the compete was real, like very real.

There was nobody out there kind of messing around, taking it for granted at all.

Nobody, period.

And then

the thing that solidified it for me, the night before the game, I was told by a U.S.

soccer official, Christian's out for the game.

He got hurt in training and he's out.

And I was like, oh, okay.

I'm watching the game.

I walked over to the Volkswagen suite.

I'm sitting there watching.

It's whatever, the 75th, whatever.

And I see number 10 warming up on the sideline and walking over to

the center circle.

And I'm like,

is that Christian?

Or is someone else wearing 10 tonight?

And sure enough, it was Christian.

So this is what happened.

Christian was hurt.

Clearly, probably.

And watching him play, you could tell he was a little ginger.

Should not have been playing in the game.

And a month ago, Tim, he would have said, I can't play in the game.

I'm sorry.

Now he's like, damn right, I'm playing in the game.

Right.

And so that shift has happened.

And it was very clear in the actions, what I heard behind the scenes, and then seeing it in the game.

And so I give Christian credit.

He did not have to do that, but he showed that the national team in that.

game was a priority.

He wanted to go in and win the game for the team.

And I'm like, let's go.

That's exactly what I want.

That's what I want.

Give him credit.

Give Pochuccino credit.

That's right.

Taking him, you know,

he obviously had an idea of when he would do that.

Maybe his hand got forced, but

I get that sense from talking to you that he seems to have things under control at the moment.

Yeah, and

his decisions are backing it up, right?

So

all right,

we're going to do a lot more on just big picture stuff with the national team.

We have a live stream again coming Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Eastern.

Yep.

Wednesday afternoon.

Yeah, 1 p.m.

Yeah.

Yeah.

1 p.m.

afternoon.

That's 10 a.m.

Pacific.

So we're going to do a live stream the day after because the game is late on Tuesday, but we'll talk more big picture stuff.

But overall, very good performance and a lot of positives.

Yeah, really good.

And again, credit as always to our guy, Tom King.

I saw him at the game

these games, and he filled me in not public information yet, but on some games that are coming next year in the Windows.

And this guy's just killing it.

Like these are going to be great high-level games leading up to the world because he's just killing it as always good um

yeah yeah i'm gonna say yeah well now i'm gonna talk about the under under 20 world cup because i know you have a lot to say about this

a lot um

u.s youth national team uh lost to Morocco in the quarterfinals 3-1.

Give me your thoughts on the tournament, on

players, because you feel very strong.

You and I both played in U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup throughout the years, and we understand what this looks and feels like, but

you have some strong thoughts.

Well, look, there was this excitement, myself included, and being at the game on Friday night, a lot of the U.S.

soccer staff were getting on a plane the next day to go to Chile to watch the quarterfinal against Morocco.

So everyone was like a lot of hope and excitement.

And friends of mine and people we know texting, and they were so excited about, you know, they beat France, they beat Italy.

And I kept reminding people, guys, beating France and Italy in in the 20s, it's an accomplishment.

Okay.

I'm not taking away from that.

But these teams don't send their best players.

There are 18 and 19-year-olds playing in leagues in Italy, France, et cetera, who are top, top players.

They're not like La Mina Mall was not here for Spain.

Sure.

Right.

For Spain's under 20 team, right?

So

it's not that important to those countries.

It's way more important to us.

And I thought, okay, this Morocco team is good.

Morocco's youth, the way they are

doing with their youth national teams, the Olympics last year, which you saw so, like they've, they're very good.

And this 20s team is very good.

So I was thinking to myself, okay, we win this game, this is a real win.

You know, due respect to France, Italy.

They're good teams, but not like top, top, top at that level.

So we lose the game 3-1.

And it was like, it was just a tactical masterclass from Morocco and just naivety.

on our side.

And it was, it was, you could see the difference in

the tactical now some nuance from our players to their players and then just their coach versus our coach and just like the level of superiority in that way.

They just sat in, they absorbed pressure, got a few counters and made us pay.

And it was frustrating for me to watch Tim because it's the fifth straight time now we've lost in a quarterfinal.

And I'm thinking to myself, okay, this is.

We've been at this 20, 25 years where we've really had some good youth teams and we're not getting over that hump.

I know these things aren't linear, right?

It's not like you make the quarters, then you make the semis the next time, then you make the, but I just watched the games and there's,

there's still something lacking from

our players at that level.

And it's a big miss.

U.S.

soccer has really done a terrible job with the youth national teams, I have to be honest, on the men's side.

you know, in who they hire and what the teams look like and how they're structured.

It's just still a miss.

And I want these guys to make the next step, playing in a semifinal, playing in a final.

It's huge for their careers.

Ben Kromasky was phenomenal, but he didn't get a chance now to play in another semi.

So I know I'm ranting here.

But the Olympics were the same way.

We couldn't qualify for Olympics for forever.

So our players are missing out at the youth level on big moments.

And the rest of the world has that leg up on us.

Okay, we'll dive real quick into MLS.

Messi, two goals and assist.

For Inter Miami, they beat Atlanta 4-0.

I love Understreyer.

I want him to win the MVP.

I don't know how Messi doesn't get get it.

It's just, it's just stupid.

Like, the stuff he does.

Yeah, it's wild.

It's just for the video.

So

is he your MVP?

I'm with you.

I mean,

again, it's going to, it's going to, sometimes it's a popularity vote.

Not that Messi, by the way, doesn't stack up in terms of statistics, but it would be interesting to see Dreyer win it, right?

Because it's going to take a season like this.

to beat Messi.

Right.

Who else is going to do it?

Yeah.

Right.

It's the only one.

Jordi Alba and Busquets now have announced their retirement.

So it'll be interesting to see how Miami fills those DP slots.

It sounds like they already have Jordi Alba's replacement with Sergio Reggillon

close to signing, although he's not a DP.

So it'd be interesting to see.

I mean, they have money for days.

I'm sure Mr.

Beckham is on the phone to lots of people right now to see.

Reggiona,

he'll be an interesting one because,

you know, watching a lot of Tottenham,

good player, fits the profile, to to be honest.

More of a attacking winger who can also defend at times.

But like in the MLS, that should be a big quote.

But the fact that they don't have to spend DP money also is like, yeah, they're doing something.

It's a big deal.

And I forgot Rodrigo DePaul will fill one of those spots, presumably.

So they'll have one other to spend.

Yes.

Vancouver, big away win at Orlando.

That was a big win.

So they are now top of the West.

It'll be interesting to see how this final little

this last weekend plays out.

It'll be really interesting.

Vancouver playing very well.

And then the playoff line on the west side in particular with Colorado, really Colorado, Salt Lake, and Dallas.

Two of those three will get in.

So that'll be interesting to follow.

So we'll keep our eye on that.

And then as the playoffs come, we will obviously spend a lot more time on MLS.

RLD, it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light.

Choose chill.

Get Coors Light delivered.

Go to CoorsLight.com/slash USLNT.

this is a fun one this is a fun one for us because

it's a former teammate and a friend of ours so who you got only one this week dude um darlington nagby announced this week that he is going to retire

this is one of those guys tim

that we talk about sometimes goes under the radar if you're you know in watching national soccer or the national team or whatever you know his name a little but not really not really he has won four mls Cups with three different teams.

Okay.

As a starting point, anyone who can go to different teams and win MLS Cups is valuable.

You could argue that he's the best midfielder in the history of MLS, given everything he's done, his longevity, and what he's done.

So there is only one man who chose Chill this week.

I'm really proud of him, too, as someone who did this too.

announcing it at least a little bit early so he could just enjoy the last few weeks playoffs etc get his flowers but what a career and and kudos to kale porter who found him at akron and then you know brought him to portland and what a career he had um yeah just i love the guy and i'm just really happy for him i i am too he's he was he was an incredible teammate hats off to you daunton enjoy retirement whatever that looks like you know it's really interesting because the the level

europe isn't always a benchmark you know but i look at certain generations i look at eddie pope who decided to not go play in europe and he could have he could have been fantastic yourself you dipped your toe in in in the european scene show showed you could do it you could have had an entire career in europe darlington is also one of those players for me where on a lot of the teams i played on when i was in europe if you'd have plopped him into the midfield He'd have bossed the midfield.

He was that good.

And he was a really great teammate as well.

Good family man.

So excited for what is to come.

And, you know, obviously here, we're willing to give you your flowers.

He will be interesting to watch as he retires, Tim because he's a really smart guy he's really smart really intelligent has beautiful family yeah he's the type though I could see just going off into the distance and you don't really hear from him but he has an amazing life and lives or he could get into soccer in different ways and like have a real impact and he just

he just really he came out of nowhere nobody really knew him and then you plug him in anywhere into any team and he's successful yeah special i mean he's one of those guys like you're playing 6v6 on a Friday, you want him on your team.

Obviously.

Every single time.

And congrats to you, Darlington.

Cheers to you, my friend, for choosing chill and happy retirement.

All right, Timmy, let's take a break.

That was fun

getting into the U.S.

stuff.

Again, Wednesday, 1 p.m.

Eastern Time, we're going to have a live stream to talk post-Australia and then also big picture.

When we come back, awesome guest again.

We are falling in love with Northeastern soccer, aren't we?

Hearts of Pine founder Gabe Hoffman Johnson will be with us.

Awesome interview with him.

We will have that right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannon and Tim.

As always, presented by Volkswagen.

The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S.

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As the U.S.

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All right, Timmy, you've allowed me to intro our guest for once.

I guess he must be special.

We have, I guess, fallen in love with the Northeast a little bit and what they're doing in the soccer world.

Specifically, the Portland Hearts of Pine, they sent me an amazing kit.

They sent you a really cool.

Hang on.

Do you have that thing?

Goalkeeper jersey.

Look at that.

There you go.

It's got bricks in it.

That's amazing.

That's so cool.

We are now with the founder, and we've seen a lot of founders and owners in our day, Tim.

This must be the youngest-looking founder.

So we're going to get into it.

With the lumberjack, that's what Telemachus is.

And the Lumberjack.

He's what we expected from Portland, Maine.

None other than Gabe Hoffman Johnson, the founder of the Portland Hearts of Pine.

Welcome, Gabe.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Gabe, we're going to get into a lot of good stuff.

The first problem we have with you is you have a dog named Anfield.

It's always a problem.

Can you explain this, please?

Yeah, so

yeah, I mean, I love different origin stories into people supporting clubs.

Mine with Liverpool was the goal that Michael Owens scored in the 98 World Cup against Argentina.

You know, as a young kid, and at that moment in time, I wanted to be him.

You know, and then you fall in love with the club itself.

And

yeah, she goes by Annie, but yeah, she'll never walk alone.

She's just nauseating.

Whatever.

Have you not figured out, Tim, by the way, that Jordan only books people with a Liverpool affinity?

It's easy to, listen, congratulations.

Been a good run.

Historic club.

It's easy to support Liverpool.

It's very hard to support Everton.

Not everyone's built to support Everton.

I get it.

It's the People's Club.

All right, Gabe.

So let's dive in.

So

give us a little bit of your background and then ultimately, you know, the abridged version of your life, but then ultimately how you end up in Portland and then how you found this club.

and also more importantly, the why.

Like why, why did you want to do this?

Yeah, no, 100%.

Yeah, so

I'm the son of a coach.

So my father, you know, he actually played in college and then coached for 30 years.

You know, so grew up around the game since before I could walk.

And that's a big piece of who I am.

And, you know, played for, you know, 25 years, something along those lines.

And, you know, was a decent player, played in high school here, played in college um and then had one year in the usl championship but you know that that piece of my career didn't evolve um you played at dartmouth is that right played at dartmouth yep yep captained the the team at dartmouth and and was with st louis fc in their inaugural season um

and uh but unfortunately had a had a pretty bad bat back injury um you know that cut that that period of my life short um so you know sort of son of a coach but you know my my mother she's a international peace builder so her foundation um predominantly reconciliation and conflict resolution work, mostly in Sierra Leone.

So, it was sort of raised by soccer and social good, social impact.

And it's really molded me.

And I think as I was on the tail end of my playing career and trying to decide what was next, it happened to mirror the growth of this game, and especially in the USL.

And I spent two years working in New York and in finance and was sort of looking for what came next.

And that's when the USL announced USL League League One.

And it was just sort of the right time.

This club is sort of just a manifestation of who I am.

But it's the best way that I know how to make the most impact in the city and state that I love.

So that's sort of the why.

I'm a big soccer for a good person.

And I think

there's this belief in the ability of this game to change people's lives.

And that's sort of the calling that I had to, you know, to build something super special.

So, Gabe,

can we dive in just specifically?

So

you're working finance and you have this idea at some point, like, oh, let's maybe we start a USL team in Portland, right?

Yeah.

And then what's that process like?

Do you just pick up the phone and call the league office and say, hey, let's, you know, we're interested in this.

How does this, so people understand how this works?

Great question.

I mean, that's more or less how it happened.

I was still.

I was still living in New York.

Our office was on 56th Instant.

I have this beautiful view of Central Park.

And I remember reading the announcement that the USL made about starting USL Elite One, right?

So targeting tertiary sized cities like Portland.

And I think that is when those sort of wheels started spinning a little bit.

And I think early on, some folks from the USL took a trip to Portland.

They're sort of in their expansion process, trying to visit different markets and meet with different people and sort of sell this, you know, here's what pro soccer can do for your community.

And that's when, you know,

I was like, yeah, of course, of course, this should work.

And of course, I can be the one to pull it off.

I sort of mentioned,

I was a good, good youth soccer player.

I was twice our state player of the year in All-American in high school and sort of was known as this like soccer guy.

And then you combine that with my mom's work and her background and this love of contributing

and being a part of the solution and giving back.

But I had no idea how to do it.

Right.

I think

you have conversations with the league and they have a, you know, they do a phenomenal job, their expansion, you know, teams.

And, you you know here's the things that you need to solve for um i had a had a phenomenal partner here um sort of a founding partner local developer who understood the process with you know the city and and working through potential stadium solutions and um you know drew on a lot of you know sort of best practices from around the league you know had had you know numerous conversations with other clubs and you know hey we're looking to to start a club in portland maine you know what are the things we need to be thinking about what are the key considerations um i do think what was maybe a little unique is i had this idea.

You know, I really wanted to treat it like a movement, right?

So how do you include the community in the process?

How do you, you know, facilitate this sense of agency and ownership so that when the club does come, you know, they feel like they're a part of it.

But a lot of that's born out of this, like, in order for this to be as

successful as it can be, it has to be born of mainners, right?

Like I have my own thoughts and ideas, but there's, there's no ego.

There's no pride in what I think this should be, right?

How do we include other people in the process?

So, you know, it was brick by brick.

You know, we hosted, you know, numerous events and watch parties.

We did brand building work.

I dropped three apparel collections before we had a club name.

You know,

and, you know, meanwhile, you're chasing down, you know, the franchise agreement with the league and you're working with the city on a place to play and raising capital as well.

So those are sort of the three things that you need.

But it was.

Yeah,

it was a journey and

there was no concrete straight path, but there was always this light at the end of of the tunnel and a belief in what this club could do uh

so it's it's an interesting one because you know landon and i have experience in the usl myself with memphis 901fc and building that from the ground up and and and and landon um with san diego loyal and and obviously his ownership and coaching and everything that he put into that as a as a gm as well i just one of the things that that

shocks everybody is kind of that support i know the club is community-based um i i think i read it that the team announced that a U.S.

sell League One record, 96% of its season ticket deposits had been purchased like before your first game.

So

one of the hardest things that Landon and I talk about is putting butts in seats in America.

Like

MLS, yeah, MLS is amazing.

And Atlanta do it right and Portland do it right and

Seattle do it right and the LA teams.

But like you talk about best practices, like I'd like to challenge you on that because from where I sit, it's like,

yeah, there's teams that do it right.

Well, if you go talk to those teams and then try and implement it in your town, it doesn't always work out.

And the proofs and the pudding that

we're not seeing enough butts in seats.

And so like, were you surprised by it?

Obviously, your methodology worked, but like

if when Land and I look at it and the country is starting to understand what's going on there, we're all shocked by how you're doing this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I get the question all the time.

You know, are you surprised?

Like, you know, did you ever expect this?

And I think the,

I mean, the short answer is no, not really.

You know, I think there's, there's so much about Mainers and who we are.

And I think our philosophy around starting a soccer club, you know, was different in two ways.

I think the, you know, the typical model of, you know, you buy a franchise, you plop it down in a city and you try to build a community around it.

You know, we almost inverted that, right?

You know, we started with the community.

It was, you know, it's almost inside out.

You know, and over a prolonged period of time.

So, you know, that piece helped.

I mean, we had thousands and thousands of followers on our social media before we had a, you know, a brand.

You know, and then I think the

in general, if I could distill down how we think about ourselves as a club, like, I don't really even think about us as a soccer club.

You know, to me, to me, we're a lifestyle brand of Maine and we're a community organization.

And we happen to be a pro-soccer team.

And a lot of the work that we do on the marketing side and the brand building side and the community side, it's not about soccer at all.

I mean, it is a little bit, but like, you know, but the soccer is the medium, right?

That's the connective tissue.

It's, it's the, the conduit for everything else.

But a lot of the work that we, you know, that we are focused on is how can we contribute?

How do we, how can we bring people together?

How can we, you know, invite people in to be a part of the process?

And all the stories that we tell, you know, we made this incredible short film about an oyster farmer up in the mid coast of Maine.

And it's about hearts and his son brought him to a game and he didn't want to come and his son bought him a ticket and he falls in love with it.

But it's more about, it's like, it's a story about intergenerational healing and relationships, right?

I mean,

I've loved this game my whole life, as have you both, but you know, my favorite pieces about it, you know, generally are like what transcends the actual soccer.

And I love the actual soccer, but it's the relationship with the game, it's what it means.

And I think, you know, that's why, you know, we want to get the people who aren't soccer fans.

I think we always felt like, you know, if I grew up and I love this game, I'm going to be curious.

I'm going to come and I'm going to want to support this club.

But how do we get the people that aren't sports fans or aren't soccer fans, but they love Maine and they love being connected to things and they want to be a part of something special or bigger than themselves.

And so that's where

our focus on that.

And then to have this, I mean, Portland, this is the coolest small city in the world.

Right.

And I think Maine is the best state in the country.

Right.

So we have all this, there's so many different layers and details and people and so much to play around and talk about and tell stories.

Yeah, Gabe.

So to that point, I have two questions to follow up there.

So when we were researching,

there was an article written written in a local paper, a local column in Portland, and one of the lines was, you don't have to like soccer to enjoy the hearts of pine.

Right.

And so

you kind of answered the question for me, but I want you to dive a little deeper if you can.

So are there, there have to be die-hard soccer fans in Portland and in all of Maine, right?

Do, you know, this was something we talked about a lot with Loyal.

Do you alienate some of those by being, quote, more than a soccer team, right?

Because some people just want the they just love soccer, right?

And maybe the byproduct is they feel part of something bigger, but then it's not even conscious for them.

They just think they're going to a soccer game.

So just a little more about why it's clearly you have embraced that, that you don't have to love soccer, right?

And you do love soccer.

Why is that important to Mainers, I guess?

And

I'm assuming you're pulling people from all over the state, right?

And there has to be a sense of pride involved in your state and your city, too.

Totally.

I mean, we have this massive pride of place in Maine.

But yeah, when we have season ticket holders in all 16 counties, there's people driving three and a half hours to these games.

That's awesome.

And part of that's just geography, right?

Like we're so far up in northern New England, there's like nowhere else to go.

Right.

So like, you know, versus, you know, you don't.

Everyone's here on purpose, right?

You're not on your way anywhere else if you're in Maine.

You are here on purpose.

So, yeah, there's, there's that pride of place piece.

And we do have, I mean, the soccer matters too, right?

It is a, it's a yes and, and,

you know, and we have our supporters group, the, you know, Deargo Unions.

It's incredible.

You know, and a lot of the work in the early days, you know, it was in the soccer bars, right?

It was, it was with the, you know, the local supporter groups of whatever clubs trying to facilitate this, this connection and buy-in to what we're trying to do here.

And there's, I mean, there's, there's a number of different battles you're fighting too, right?

Because you'll have people that like, I'm not an American soccer fan.

I just like watching games in Europe.

You know, you're fighting.

And then it's just like, I hate that.

But it's true.

I think people feel that way.

And so we're trying to combat that as well.

But yes, I think the quote that you used is

super special.

And

there's a lot of different things that you can do to help support that.

And some of it's just game day, right?

Where we have this, it's a pro soccer match, meets a street festival, meets a farmer's market.

It's sort of like this fair environment.

you know, this community living room where, you know, there's 6,000 people, you know, you're seeing people who look like you and don't look like you.

And there's this like collective community joy

that is expressed in those

90 minutes or two hours, depending on sort of like gates and some of those pieces.

But this shared experience, I think, what we're sort of tapped into.

People are starving for that in their lives, right?

I think in the sort of chaotic, in the digital age, and all those pieces, it's this human experience,

you know, that I think people are drawn to.

And we've been able to extract that and provide that, which I think the game does anyway.

And all we do is do our best to put those pieces in place.

So you talked about the branding.

And in my opinion, the brand is fantastic.

I haven't been to a game.

I can't speak to that.

Clearly, it's been successful and you've done a good job.

And we'll touch on the on-the-field in a minute too.

How do you come up with Hearts of Pine?

Where does that come from?

And what's the process?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, for years, I didn't have a good name.

It was one of those things.

It's the first thing everyone wants to talk about, right?

I'm trying to start a club.

Oh, what are you going to call it?

And I was like, I don't, you know, like, what do you think?

You know, and I think that I was pretty, pretty strong.

I had a strong opinion of, you know, I didn't want to be Portland United.

I didn't want to be Portland FC.

I think,

you know, yes, there's like the, you know, what.

what United means historically and all that.

But I think that,

you know, for me to adequately represent our sense of place, it had to be, it had to be unique.

I was sort of searching for novelty, which is difficult.

Yeah.

And it wasn't until, so we, with this incredible tradition in Portland has been going on since the 70s,

where under the cover of darkness on the night of February 13th, somebody,

this bandit, would cover the entire town in hearts.

You can see one right here, actually.

So those will pop up.

thousands of them all across Portland

and went on for 50 years and it inspired other cities to do the same.

And it's this incredibly Portland, this incredibly Maine tradition.

It was anonymous, right?

Just spreading hope and love and joy, you know, at a time of, you know, the year in Maine where it's dark at 3.30 and, you know, everyone's just sort of, there's this grittiness to who we are as well.

But that gesture, super powerful.

And the gentleman who was sort of the, you know, the lead bandit actually ended up passing on.

And the family sort of introduced and made known who he was.

And the community really rallied around it.

I mean, it made national news, but the community sort of took it upon themselves to say, we have to continue this legacy.

So the hearts started staying up year-round.

And for us, we felt this

remarkable

sort of continuity of, okay, well, there's something there.

And then as the son of a coach, I have a...

like a 2002 hearts jersey you know and i've and i've you know been to edinborough and been to games and there was this okay well there's there's something there um to lean into there's a there's a global soccer nest to hearts uh and then you know dove into where we're the pine tree state um the most forested state in the entire country actually um and and so combining all those pieces and and and hearts upon wow that's cool when we actually with san diego loyal when we were going through a very similar process to you and the name is so hard right because even then you find a name and then there's copyright issues and there you know and and so it just it's so frustrating and we were just i remember we were writing names up on the board and we were writing things that were important to San Diegans.

And for San Diego, historically, soccer teams have left always and other sports team, the Clippers went up to LA, the Chargers are now in LA.

And people just kept saying over and over, just please just be loyal to San Diego, right?

Don't leave us.

Don't leave.

And they kept right.

And then someone someday was like.

Loyal just comes up over and over.

And what about loyal?

Right.

And that's how those things happen.

So that's such a beautiful story.

And I didn't know that actually about the hearts.

That's, that's incredible.

And, and people clearly have connected with that in a meaningful way.

And it's spread.

I mean, the, the, the,

you can have an amazing brand, but you also have the merchandise, the visuals that go with it, the story behind it, right?

And it connects everything.

So it's, it's really beautiful.

Yeah.

And, and on the pitch, obviously, ultimately, you are running a football club.

And so, you know, kind of take me into your mind or the mind of the soccer brains within the club.

And you look at, you start to think about your inaugural season and what is success.

We understand the success of the club.

What does on-field success look like for you and for your team?

Yeah, you know,

it's a fun challenge.

I think, you know, this entire

inaugural year has been a challenge, right?

I mean, you're starting this something from scratch and there's a lot of work that comes along with that.

you know and the sporting side you know finding the right person to you know to lead that and and i think

to bring Bobby in and who's done an incredible job for us, there's,

for us,

I mean, we want to win on the field.

That's very important to us.

But I think for the sporting side to be bought into the rest of the project and what we're doing here and the community,

that's important to us too.

And to be able to do both is hard, but I think that's a requirement for...

you know, for this club as well is to be in this community and to be available

and to understand that you know there's other pieces as well, which that might not work for everybody, but I think that's something that's important to us at the leadership level for this club.

And if you'd asked me early on, I think what does success look like for year one?

I would have said, let's make the playoffs and

then anything can happen.

I think as a former player, you know how hard it is to win.

And I'm not the kind of person that would say like, you know, championship or bust.

I think there's, there's, you know, it's about putting the work in.

It's about assembling the right, right group of boys,

you know, and being competitive.

And I think, and I think to a large extent, we've, we've done that.

You know, we've, we've had our ups and downs, and, um, you know, but we're, we're well positioned sort of, you know, in the playoff push here.

And then anything can happen.

I think, you know, we've proven over the course of this season that we can compete with anybody.

And, you know, I wouldn't bet against this.

But

yeah, and I think the only, maybe the only other thing, you know, I am a believer, and it's maybe overly poetic, but, you know, for the community to see themselves in in the way that you play on the field.

Right.

You know, so we're, we're a great group of people up here.

And I think there's, there's a level of work.

There's bring your lunch pail mentality.

You know, and I want, I want our fans to see that in the way that the boys play.

There's no ego.

There's no pretense.

Like, and there's, there's talent.

Don't get me wrong.

And, you know, we still play very good football in moments.

you know we want to outwork everybody we want to be in the front foot we want to make people uncomfortable and i think that's that's important because that's who we are as people.

And that connection, I mean, the entire, whether it's the brand or the marketing or the soccer itself,

how do we blur the line between, you know, club and community?

And I think that's, that's, that's the ultimate goal.

God, you should be an Everton fan.

I don't know what you're doing, Tim.

I swear

that other team.

Tim, I was just going to say, if you're basically the anti-Liverpool, you know, like with their ego and the champagne football.

Yeah.

And then Everton across the road

grit and hard and work and determine.

They're not just on Everton Fence up this way.

I mean, it is a community that mirrors that pretty well.

If it wasn't for Michael Owen and that goal, I probably wouldn't be in Everton Fence.

All right, fair enough.

So, as just a couple more, and we really appreciate your time, Gabe.

This has been really enlightening, and it's an incredible story.

So, as USL has publicly mentioned that they want to go into the promotion relegation world,

how do you guys view that?

You know, we talked to Vermont Green and they're in League Two and how they view that.

How do you view that?

Is that something top of mind for you?

Do you care?

Do your fans care?

Because clearly you're selling out a stadium.

Everything's going well.

I always warn people the grass is rarely greener, right?

But is that something that interests you as the competitive side of you, as the fan, as someone who's followed European soccer?

How do you view that?

Yeah, you know, I think, I think it's very exciting, right?

I think it's good for the game.

I think it's good for American soccer, right?

There's this meritocratic system that exists around the world that doesn't exist here.

And I think as we, as an American soccer fan, I think as we look to grow this game and fill gaps,

I think it's important.

I think our fans do care.

I think it's nice to have aspirations and goals.

I mean, there is a lot about where we are as a club right now that it's just like, okay,

let's get through at the end of year one and how are we going to get better next year and some of those things.

But I think in general, it's very good for the USL.

It's very good for American soccer.

And

yeah, I think for us, for everyone to be able to sort of like lift their head up and

have a pathway to something bigger and better.

And along with that comes more investment into American soccer and some of those things.

I think it's all.

So you're definitely open to that.

Yeah.

No, I think there's a world in which, yeah, I would love to see where this club can go.

And there's, I mean, again, there's lots of things that we have to figure out along the way.

I mean, if you can't be a second first division club playing, you know, with a tracker on your stadium and some of those pieces.

But all that's, those are, those are longer term, you know, things that we'll work to solve.

I think our, our main focus now is, you know, be the best version of ourselves, you know, who we are today and, you know, how we continue to evolve is going to be important to get right.

Well, yeah, I mean, the logistics of it in terms of track and all the rest of it.

Yeah, I agree with that.

But

my concern or my question to you is, and people who have listened to our show

loyally know that I'm against promotion relegation in this country.

Not against promotion relegation in general.

I've lived that, but I worry, I worry big time about what that does to our soccer communities.

You know,

when you look at your, obviously promotion would be amazing because you have a great following and people would understand what that means.

If the relegation side were to happen, which nobody ever wants to talk about, right?

I almost get the sense from you listening to...

you talk that your club's probably going to be okay regardless you know it's a silly thing for me to say because nobody wants to get relegated and obviously that's not the goal but if if that happened my concern across the country is you're going to lose a lot of fans we we know that that happens everywhere but it might not seem the case with your club no because they're more about soccer right i mean they're more than just soccer right yeah yeah go ahead sorry yeah yeah well i was just i mean the sustainability piece i think has to be important right well for clubs i think that like that that's first and foremost and um Yeah, I mean, I do think it's a valid concern, right, Tim?

But yeah, for us, I mean, at at the end of the day, my general perspective is it shouldn't matter what, what league you're playing in.

You know, I think Vermont has shown that, right?

The connection that that community has with their club.

I mean, they're selling out their stadium, you know, and it's, it's not professional soccer,

you know, and ours is.

And we're selling out ours.

And, you know, there's, there's challenges that, you know, a number of clubs face in this ecosystem.

And, but in general, I think, you know, over the life of psych, over the life cycle and where this game's going in this country, I think, you know, hopefully hopefully

it's a benefit.

So, one more for me, Gabe.

I know you talk so much about the community and what this means for the community.

I think you're aware, Vermont Green FC just announced that they have intention to form a women's team as part of a Northeast division in USL.

And I believe the league requires five teams for a new division to be formed, AC Connecticut and Hartford Athletic, also.

So that's three of five.

Do you guys have plans for that?

Is there, you know, people

theoretically, of course, starting a USL team is amazing or starting a women's team.

Obviously, there are very real financial implications.

It's logistics, where you play, all that.

But have you guys talked about that, thought about that?

Where are you on that?

Yeah, it's definitely something we'd like to do.

You know, and we've been pretty vocal in our interest in doing that.

You know, the win is what we're working through now.

But I think we've started conversations with, you know, the city of Portland.

It's a municipal stadium that we play in.

So what would it look like for us to add a women's team?

We've started some conversations with the USL as well.

So I would say we're right at the early stages of the path to that.

I think it's pretty unlikely we'll be in

that group for next year.

But as we look towards 27, it starts to become more of a legitimate possibility.

But it has long been the plan of

what this club should be in Portland.

I see

the city probably always get mistaken for the other Portland on the other coast and what they've done with the thorns.

Or the original one.

I know, I know.

I get it.

But yeah, it's just they've done such a phenomenal job there.

And it just feels like that is a market that is ripe for it.

Yeah, no, 100%.

I actually spent some time out there with them in the early days of, you know, what we were trying to build here.

And

yeah, lots to admire there, but what they've been able to do.

Great.

Listen, Kate, we can't thank you enough.

This is, I'm fascinated.

I know our listeners are going to be fascinated and excited to hear you speak about the club club and appreciate all the generosity you've shown to our show.

And we're so happy to give that love back.

And we will be up there at some point.

We're going to get

drink some beers with the supporters.

It'll be a rocking good time.

We know a guy now.

We can get tickets.

Yeah, exactly.

Hit me up.

And I got to tell you guys before we go, I think

you guys combined for my favorite soccer memory ever, probably.

And I think, you know, Landon gets credit for the goal.

This is the Algeria game.

I appreciate you taking your distribution.

Just fucking throw that.

Oh, that was Tim threw that.

People forget about that.

That was Casey Keller.

I didn't even realize.

Look, I certainly appreciate the love, and we do, we do as well together.

So thanks, man.

Yeah, he doesn't get enough appreciation.

It's awesome.

All right, Gabe Hoffman Johnson, the owner of Portland Hearts of Pine, who has now sent us two incredible jerseys.

And despite the fact that he is a Liverpool fan, we will still support you.

We wish you the best, Gabe, and thanks for coming on, man.

Thank you both.

See ya.

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

Like fans who start to sing and chant at the exact moment their team needs to rally.

A coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win.

A keeper, you know, is defending your goal.

Or a forward who is always ready to receive the ball.

At Unfiltered Soccer, Tim and I know all too well how important it is to be sure someone out there has your back.

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All right, Timmy, I want to tell you about a time I had to choose a much chiller path.

2009 in Seattle, we're playing Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup final.

We go to penalties.

Who misses a penalty?

This guy.

You.

Got back on the bus.

I was crying in the back of the bus.

And I had this moment where I had a realization that, yes, I missed the penalty.

Yes, we lost chance at winning in MLS Cup final, but I had really given everything that year.

It was a time of my life that was really tumultuous.

And I really put everything, everything, everything into my career and my sport.

And I said, you know what?

Like,

I did everything I could have.

I tried my hardest and it didn't work out.

And so it was time in that moment to really chill,

Appreciate what I did.

Appreciate that moment.

Doesn't always go your way, but you got to choose chill sometimes and just relax.

And when you embrace that chill mindset, it's a good time to choose chill.

And as always, crack open

of Coors Light.

Absolutely.

Make the most of the times you choose to chill.

Choose Coors Light.

Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door.

Visit CoorsLight.com/slash USLNT.

Celebrate responsibly.

Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado.

Beer.

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It's time for the fan connection presented by AT ⁇ T.

Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions.

The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S.

is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love.

At AT ⁇ T, connecting changes everything.

And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game.

All right.

It's everyone's favorite time of the week, AT ⁇ T Fan Connection.

And Jordan, it's always your favorite time of the week.

What have you graced us with?

What's your, oh, that's Brooklyn.

Brooklyn jersey, right?

Brooklyn.

Yep.

Yep.

USL.

Brooklyn, what?

What's the...

Brooklyn FC.

It's the USLW League, right?

USL Super League.

They have liquid death on their jersey.

Yeah.

That's cool.

Dope.

Dope jersey.

That's cool.

It was fun.

I had a, I think we went there in like March, maybe.

It was cold, man.

Yeah.

Where do they play?

What's the stadium?

Oh, Lana, and they play in like the coolest place ever.

So they play, they play at a baseball stadium but it has Coney Island right like the amusement park right behind it so when you're watching the game you're just like watching people on the cyclone and stuff it's isn't that where they do the hot dog thing yeah did you have a nathan's famous frank

i i didn't i think i was just like too cold to even eat anything while we were there in march but i want to go back questions sure ld i have a question for you yep this one is from ben via youtube landon how do you feel about mls overstepping san diego loyal to create SDFC separately?

Will you still support them?

This question is obviously from a long time ago, but I'm still interested to hear what you have to say about that.

How do I feel about it?

It was frustrating.

It's like the analogy I use is if you own a like mom-and-pop coffee shop that's really successful, but Starbucks moves in across the street, you know, it's hard to keep your business going.

And

selfishly, I would have loved if Loyal could have stayed afloat still and had its own market and its own fan base and whatever.

But I also understand our owner

wanting to pull the plug because it was just going to be such an uphill battle.

So obviously, you guys know how I feel about MLS.

Love it.

It's done so much for me.

I understand it from Garber's standpoint.

I think the way it was handled was poor from SDFC people.

I think they could have done a better job incorporating many of us who have, you know, tried to help build soccer in san diego but that's beyond our control right and so i'm still happy for the city i'm still happy that it's um it's it's been great for our city it really has been but i i miss loyal and i wish it was still around ld let me ask you is there is there a world i know initially on the surface finances dictate and probably say no is there a world where loyal could have existed

sure yeah i actually it look it's hard to it's hard to predict what would have happened right But our fan base,

it was interesting to hear Gabe Hoffman Johnson talk about it because our fans and the fan base were built on,

yes, soccer, and there's deep love for soccer, but it was more like this connection to San Diego and to what we were doing.

And they all felt, they genuinely, Tim, felt part of it.

I know everyone says that, and it's a lot of times it's bullshit.

you know, MLS is a machine, right?

And there's not that same, you know, there's not that same connection with the fans to SDFC.

There's just not because they were never part of it, right?

In the beginning process.

But it's a great product.

It's a great entertainment option.

And the team's great too, right?

So people are going to go.

There's just not that genuine connection.

Financially, it was just hard for our owner because

he was losing money.

If you take the risk and half of your fan base leaves to SDFC and doesn't come anymore, now you're losing a lot of of money and you took that risk.

So I understand from his standpoint, I wish it could have stayed, but it's just the reality.

Sure.

Okay, let's talk about goalies.

This next one is from Justin via email.

Do you guys know anything about goalies?

I was just curious, what are some things that go into selecting a goalkeeper for the U.S.

men's national team?

It seems to me like Pachatino is dead set on selecting younger guys like Matt Freese or Matt Turner.

However, there are some great contenders when it comes to MLS that are a little older that seem to get no recognition at all.

Is it just overall saves, experience with PKs, or the competition they face on their club teams?

Are younger players prioritized for the goalie position because it requires laying your body on the line more?

Tim, you answered.

That's actually a good question.

I have follow-up questions.

That's a good question.

I used to think I knew, but I clearly have no idea.

No,

you don't select younger goalkeepers.

You always select older goalkeepers who are slightly in their prime,

unless they're just a complete generational talent, because you learn, you know, basically why it's why goalkeepers get better with age because you just continually fail for like a decade or more.

And then you have this like catalog of experience to draw from.

So, no, and obviously you can be athletic as you get older.

But

I don't know.

And to answer the question about being athletic,

the nuances and the sage that comes through the that that experience is far more valuable to goalkeepers than being an athlete that obviously helps but um i i don't know i don't know uh you know i was actually going to ask this um in our opening segment i'll d i just kind of think you know if if for me

If Matt Freeze plays against Australia, I don't know if you have inside information,

then I think he just plays every game now between now and the World Cup.

Does that make sense?

that's kind of my benchmark.

I'll be wrong because there'll be a game where Pachino will give one of his goalkeepers something.

But I also then go back to the fact, and I've said this to you: like, I can't imagine Matt Freeze starting in the World Cup with so little international experience.

That being said, like, I think if he plays against Australia, then you're like, all right, you got to get every game between now and the World Cup just to give you more experience.

So I don't know.

It used to be a kind of a,

we haven't had this for a while, but when you look at goalkeepers, and Landon, you can attest to this, oftentimes

you have you have a number one right that plays all the time and then you bring through one or two others and they they're along for the ride to gain experience and then when the number one goes either because of age or because you've gotten better than them then you take over right and so there's this long progression we look yeah we probably see it with donna ruma and and gigi buffon you could probably talk about edwin van dasar and stecklenberg who came after him i could probably name a ton of them right um

But we, and we've had that in America for a long time.

We haven't had it this time.

Yeah, you're right.

Because there hasn't been like a firm, Matt Turner for a while, but not like a firm number one.

And then

firm number two, who you knew this was the next guy.

Like you did it too, right?

You were about to do it.

It's almost like Casey.

It's almost like this, we're going to give it to this guy.

He knows, you know, he's got to play well for his club.

He's got to bide his time.

And then he's going to kind of grow up that mountain.

I don't understand.

So, my question, Tim, for you is, how much with the national team, how much impact or voice or influence does the goalkeeper coach have versus the manager?

Does it vary based on the staff?

Is the Matt Freeze decision, is this the goalkeeper coach or is this poach a team?

Yeah.

I always wondered that.

I think it

depends in every situation how much trust the manager has in the goalkeeper.

Because look, people will be surprised at this.

I know top, top level coaches, like some of the best in the world, that literally LD will go,

I don't want to know, I don't know anything about goalkeeping, I know nothing about goalkeeping.

You tell me who to play.

My goalkeeper, but tell me who to play.

That's a fact.

Wow.

But I also, but I also sort of kind of think that like

when it comes to

the question, one of the questions, part of that question was like, there's MLS goalkeepers who are doing well.

Landon, you know, I believe this.

You can be a good goalkeeper.

When it comes to a particular country, there's only like two or three international level goalkeepers.

Like America doesn't have

four, five, six really good goalkeepers who are playing in the MLS or playing abroad that could play for the national team and succeed.

It's such a different level.

And so I, so when I look, when I look, and we saw that, you know, there was, and I won't, and I won't name names, but I could probably name five guys that are from our era that were outstanding MLS goalkeepers.

Brilliant.

You play with a couple of them.

They weren't national team goalkeepers, but every year they were a candidate for goalkeeper of the year in the MLS.

So

yeah, it's a, it's a, it's kind of a, it's a weird, it's a weird old balance.

Okay.

How about a, I mean, I think all the questions you guys answer are fun, but this is a, what I think is a pretty fun one.

This one's from Brian via email.

What are your guys' thoughts on the chance for the U.S.?

Not chance, chance.

The Kelsey brothers said on New Heights, the I believe chant is not all that great.

Some of the chants around MLS are kind of cringy, to be honest.

I've heard some crowds doing a rendition of If You're Happy and You Know It.

Should the American Outlaws start singing the Team America theme song?

Brian, I just want to say if we can get the fans at a US M ⁇ T game to start going America, fuck yeah, that would be amazing.

I'm gonna play.

I'd love for that.

Wait a minute.

Did you just say Travis Kelsey's talking shit about me?

What?

What?

You.

Holy teaser.

See you going, Adam.

You trying to say that?

You got to come on our show?

You want me on your show?

I dare you.

Let's go.

No.

Actually, he had a beast of a game last night, by the way.

Jesus.

It was unbelievable.

Yeah, there's some chance that might need a little bit of spicing up, shall we say?

LD?

I'm generalizing, but the majority of the chance U.S.

fans in MLS,

I don't want to say like good or bad because it's all subjective.

They're just boring or they're old and used or they're so uncreative.

And so, like, chanting someone's name, Timmy Howard, it's like, guys, do something fun.

If you scroll through your social media or Instagram and like you come across something that's like fun or famous chants in the UK,

they're so creative and brilliant, whether you like it or not.

At least people sat down, thought about it for a long time,

and made a really good chant that's funny.

So, like, people used to,

uh,

talking about my hair, people, I remember this in Dallas.

These guys were so boring.

I'd be warming up and we'd be shooting.

And behind the goal, they'd be going, Rogan,

Rogan.

And I'm like, all right, kind of fun.

But like, make up a fun song about how I'm bald.

You know, like be creative.

And so my, yeah, JR, I don't know how you feel, but like, I'm like, just be creative.

Think of something new.

I feel like this is one of those places where we have to bow to the English superiority because like there, there was a really funny meme going around the internet for a while that was like American fans, like

something very simple that involves a lot of clapping.

Right.

And then it was like English fans like, all right, we're going to do a whole song about the goalkeeper's arrest record to the tune of Frankie and Johnny and the Claire Deloon.

I'll count us in.

And it's like, they're so different.

It's amazing.

Like, yes, there are a lot of teams teams that have like their own songs and stuff like that but just the creativity behind it i think is yeah the interesting part of like it's really funny because the interesting part about like the english fans is as you said it's it's it's constant right so every time every time you let they like sign a new player they'll like have a chant form like ready-made like they score a goal and then all of a sudden it's like this new guy that came from like France, they already have a song form.

And then like, and they also do clever moments, right?

So that lives in infamy.

and and like that's right if they score a goal against a particular rival they have this song and it and and they're it's about that singular moment but the the song lasts for forever and the other part that which which is i i i only learned this when i when i moved over there it's such a part of the culture jr so like if My team at a certain point, or I've even seen it beating the pants off of another team, and they're losing three or four, nothing, their crowd just starts singing songs about the because they're like, We've lost, I've paid good money to come here.

I've had a few few beers.

I'm a bus to go home, still want to have fun for the last 20 minutes.

So they just start singing songs about their team and their club.

And it's like, there's just so much thought.

It's clever.

I don't know.

Yes, we could spice it.

And sometimes they're not even singing good songs about them, you know.

It's like

you beat us, and like, so does everybody.

You're not special.

So, so, Andrew just said, This is so true.

He put it in the chat.

The fan where people say, You can't do that.

Like, if you get, I'm like, that's so dumb.

Okay.

So, to your point, Jared.

So, when I was at Leverkusen,

Mainz is a team in Germany.

And Mainz every year has this huge carnival.

And it's like, it's in Germany, it's very famous, right?

And so they were like bottom of the Bundesliga.

They were losing to Leverkusen.

I remember, and I would think I was sitting in the crowd or something.

And they were singing, Wirzin nur ein Karnivas Verein, and which means we are just a carnival, a carnival club.

Like we're not a real soccer club.

So they're getting their ass kicked.

And that's what they're singing, right?

And it's so good.

Like it's so clever.

And then the other one, Timmy, I'll never forget when you went to United.

And you know this, and you've been open about like Tourette's and written about it in your book or whatever.

And so when Timmy was at United, I remember them hearing them sing one day, Tim Timmini, Tim Timmini, Tim Tim Taru.

We've got Tim Howard and he says, fuck you.

Right.

So it was like, they're so clever and like even on their own players.

And it was so brilliant.

I just love it.

You know what?

You know what's funny?

So a lot of times I'm thinking of Goodison Park.

So

in the first half, the stance to the right would all be, would all be the supporters or sorry, away supporters.

So they would constantly, I kind of caught on at the end.

They'd start singing, swear in a minute.

He's going to swear in a minute.

Right.

So I'd look over and I'd lip, I'd go, right?

Like jokingly.

And they'd all start cheering and they'd start going crazy.

And I'd let it build a little bit.

And then I, and then I would obviously

lip a curse word to them because if they want it, they'd go, but

it was so funny.

They'd start like getting crazy.

All right.

So be more creative, U.S.

be more creative.

Come on.

Just go sit in a bar, have some drinks and like start writing.

Start figuring stuff out.

Like be better.

Right.

Easy.

I agree.

All right.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, JR.

Man, what a good show that was.

All right.

Good recap on the U.S.

Again, Wednesday, 1 p.m.

We will have a total recap of the Australia match and sort of big picture where we're going going forward.

Thank you to Gabe Hoffman Johnson for an awesome interview.

That was really great.

Doing amazing things there at Portland Hearts of Pine.

Thanks to all of you for being with us.

Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods and follow us across all social media as...

at always at unfiltered soccer for bonus content yeah gabe thank you thanks for being real wearing a lumberjack on the show I mean, honestly, you just crushed it.

What you're doing up there in Maine is really special with Hearts of Pine.

So I appreciate it.

That was enlightening.

Thanks, everybody, for listening.

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, our fan connection sponsor, ATT, our Unfiltered Refresh sponsor, Coors Light, and our additional sponsors, Cafe Bustello and Virgin Atlantic.

Have an amazing week.

We'll be back next week with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.