World Cup Draw Reaction Livestream with Matt Freese

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Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer, the World Cup draw live stream edition. I have the amazing fortune of being next to Matty Freeze, the U.S.
number one.

Oh my god, what it's the draw is here. How did that happen?

Yeah, wild scenes, Tim.

Matt, what's up? What's up? Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for joining, man.
Where did you watch, by the way?

I watched Times Square, and I was outside for three, four hours and then walked in the warmth here. And I love it here.

He got paid to be at a watch party like you did. He's a smart man.
I didn't get paid. I was sitting there lying dealing with like

pageantry and people and music. Like, it was wild.

We're going to get to that in a second, LD. Um, group D, USA, Paraguay, Australia, and then some crazy one-off playoff, Slovakia versus Kosovo, and Turkey versus Romania.
Go, the floor is yours.

You've been waiting for this. What's this like?

It's, I mean, the first, the first thing off the bat is kind of, you know, what are the chances that two out of the last three teams that we just played are the two teams that we know are in the group?

I mean, kind of, you know, crazy chances of that happening, but also,

you know,

something we're going to be familiar with. And I've been saying this all day.
I didn't care who was going to be in the group. You know, the plan, the ambition is to win no matter who it is.
100%.

I mean, LD, you were there. Can you give us a sense of place? I mean, we all watched it, but

you were in the building. That seemed crazy with all the names and the people and the pageantry.
What was that like? I was in the room where it happens. It was wild, Tim.

You know, you're in this, first of all, you're in this Kennedy Center. I've never been in.
There's this big reception area, it's like more than a soccer field long.

Yeah, and everybody you can imagine in the soccer world, literally everybody, everybody at U.S. soccer, MLS, and then just the soccer world writ large.
Every legend, Ika Casillas is there. Yeah, um,

Asimoa Gian, who we played against with Ghana. There's just like there's mega stars.
Sit Ronaldinho's there. Like, it's, it's crazy.

And then you get to the actual draw and i don't know what it's like on tv i mean i've seen it before but like there was so much buildup and you're just waiting like just give me the ball like i want to know who's there was a lot of buildup bro there was so much buildup and it was a wild scene but it's really cool in the moment because it happened so fast and so rio and samantha are trying to explain it live yep we're all trying to figure out like what oh so we got ghana and they're like no no no they have to go here and then you're like oh, we got Iran.

No, no, no, they have to go here.

So there's all this drama around. And then when you finally figure it out, I'm sure as Matt, you're sitting there, like, it sinks in.
And then it's just so fascinating. This happened in 2002.

We played South Korea in the Gold Cup. And then next thing you know, sorry, we got drawn with them before, but then we end up playing them in the Gold Cup.
So familiarity, I love.

Like, I think, Matt, I want to hear your feelings, but is it not better to play play a team you know than a team you don't? I don't.

I think familiarity, yeah, it's helpful, but my immediate thought is also they're more familiar with us.

So, you know, I feel like it's it

has two sides to it, I guess. But I'd like it.
I'd like it, OD, because here's why. In 2002.

When I was watching from home, and I was an alternate, Bruce forgot to put me on the roster. And I'm watching you guys cheering you on.
And then we drew Mexico. And you know what?

I was like, yeah, this is great because Mexico is going to think they can win, but sure as heck, we thought we can win.

So I like the familiarity side. You know who else likes it? I think Chris Richards.
I'm going to be glued to my phone.

I can't wait.

He wants another crack at Australia. And I'm thinking this is going to be good.
Now,

Matt, I'm interested in, and Alana just said, there's so many legends. that were that were at the World Cup draw because they did it on the biggest stage.

And your rise to this moment, it feels lightning fast, right? You go from being on the outside looking in to getting an opportunity in the Gold Cup.

You took advantage of it all the way through the friendlies. Now you're number one.
It's yours to lose.

And do you ever allow yourself to like, yeah, you're going to your first World Cup, but you can also become a legend?

And I know that seems far-fetched, but all it takes is you perform well in this World Cup and you get the U.S. Like a 16-save performance against a certain team, maybe?

It can happen. Do you allow yourself to like even go that far? Like, this is what dreams are made of uh

i allow myself to dream yeah i mean the the goal is to

the goal is to help the team advance as much as i can um

and in the process of doing that if you can become a legend have a fantastic few games and uh and make a name for yourself absolutely um but you know do i take time to like think about it too much not a lot um i'm not one to like really reflect until after the moment um i'm much more on like much more focused on maximizing that moment And I'm probably not going to reflect much until I'm 40, 41 years old.

Our age. Now, let me ask you this real quick.
This is a little bit off topic.

How many tickets are you going to need? Like opening game of the world, you're in LA. What's your family size? So how many are you going to get, first of all?

We had 15 people across my extended family apply for the lottery.

We got one person, my girlfriend's sister, who got accepted to the lottery and she was trying to max out the ticket as much as she could. It's wild, man.

It's probably as cool for your family as for you. I'm telling you, it's a really, really awesome opportunity.
Okay, Matt, I think we have Jordan's putting out a question. You have that, Jordan?

All right, Matt, do you train differently for the World Cup matches? This is from Kevin Longano. Differently for the World Cup matches than MLS.

Is the World Cup harder because of the talent level or the coaching? So would you train differently? That's a good question, Tim. Like, yeah, Matt, how do you?

I mean, I think,

obviously, there's different, there's different managers, right? Uh, for your club team, and then, and then the national team.

And so, the, the trainings themselves are different, um, for sure, um, from a you know, what type of drills you're doing perspective as well as a load perspective.

Uh, but the mentality that I bring, no, it's it's 100% the same.

Um, really, every time I step on the field, I'm uh, my personality just changes a little bit, and uh, not a little bit personality totally changes.

Um, and so I think from an intensity and mentality perspective,

it doesn't change.

Tim, Timmy, did you,

at what point were you comfortable enough as like the starter that you would come in and say, I understand what you want to do, but this is what I want to do and what I need.

Is that, was there a change in that? Like, is the goalkeeper coach running the training or are you saying, no, this is what I need and I want? Because I'm 35, I know.

Well, yeah, when I, when I became, so when I became the starter for the national team, that was 2007. So I had had already been in the Premier League for a few years.

I kind of felt like I knew what the heck I was doing. So like, yeah,

I tried to throw my weight around just a little bit because I just knew that my training was what got me to where I wanted to be. So I didn't want to change training.

So how is that for you with, obviously being young with the national team? Is your goalkeeper coach with the U.S. dictating the training? Is he asking you for input? How's that work?

Yeah, I mean, I think

every goalkeeper coach has a philosophy that fits in with the managers,

you know, more group philosophy. And so I think just adapting to that is really important, especially in a very, you know, short amount of time with a national team.

You have to adapt very quickly and then also see how that fits in with your own style and

see, maybe not compromise, but

see the right ways of influencing that philosophy yourself. Yeah.

Yeah, it's interesting because LD, you and I talked about it on the pod, I think a month or two ago, where we were saying like in the lead up to the World Cup, like in your league league season from, let's say, January to May, you're so hyper-focused on knowing the World Cup is there that, like, you're doing everything you can to be fit, to play every game, to play well, because you know that

you have to do that. And you want to be at your optimum when the World Cup comes.
Yeah, it's, it's, um,

it's a, it's a, Matt's in a tricky situation. And, and, because when I went back to my first World Cup, you are so desperate to make the roster, right?

And I think we all think, and you don't have to answer answer this, Matt, but or talk about it, but we all assume you're not only going to be there, but you're going to be the starter.

But in your mind, I know you're humble and you're still thinking, like, I still need to make sure I make the roster, right? And so forget about all the other stuff.

And so, but there is a change in your career where you go, I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to be on this team and I'm going to be on this roster.

And so when you're not on the team yet, you're fighting every week like hell just to get on the roster. And for a field player, I mean, it means a little bit more putting yourself at risk for injury.

But once you know you're going to be there, it's always in the back of your mind, like, okay, I'm going to play hard, but I got to make sure I'm being smart because in a month or next week, we're going to World Cup camp.

So it's an interesting dynamic.

One question. So,

well, two questions. We have a fan question about the matchups with Australia and Paraguay.

Which team just you played them both. So which team?

concerns you more, worries you more? How do you, and we don't want the diplomatic, okay?

I know you're a politician right now, but like in reality, who who scares you a little more from as an as a goalkeeper?

The non-diplomatic, honest answer: no one scares me. When I'm asked out on the field, no one scares me.
Um, well, just be glad you didn't get drawn with Erlington.

Dude, if you walk out on the field with Chris Richards, you feel secure. Yeah,

that's right. You know, the interesting thing, LD, is I look at it and Paraguay, I think, was missing a couple of players when we played him last time.
if yeah and so that might be the one

i think we're a better footballing team than than

australia i think we're stronger than them that doesn't worry me i think the i think paraguay will be a more even matchup even though i i tilt the balance towards us if if they're fully fit one of the things i want to ask you right so we're talk we talk all the time on this show you

we we keep saying you're how many caps do you have now total 13 13 right so you're young in in in terms of your experience with the national team tim reams is we know is a leader chris richers has become an absolute monster you couldn't love the guy more right proper leader and but as a goalkeeper you still need to lead your back line yeah and the wing backs we're not sure because wing backs have been in and out you've played in a three so you've had there's been it's chopped and changed how much of that how much of that are you still finding your voice how much of it is you feel really comfortable back there marshaling and commanding that back line like where is that balance for you at the moment the the the balance is in a good spot

This summer, I think it was, to be fair, it was new to me.

And, you know, I was just still getting used to Chris and Tim. And now we're in a spot where I feel comfortable.

I'm barking orders. I'm loud.

And honestly, I think that's what they want.

Before every game, we're talking, saying, Maddie, continue to communicate, continue to communicate.

And it's not just verbal communication. It's also the presence that you bring.

You're walking down the field. You got your shoulders back.
You're the first first one screaming, let's go, let's go, let's go.

You know, and so it's a lot of nonverbal communication that's important as well. Great.
Love that.

Matt, there's one of the things that people love most and I love most about the draw is the storylines that develop right away. So like there was a, I think a Senegalese Federation person behind us.

And when it was like their turn, I think they got drawn with France. Is that right? They did.
They did. So they were saying like, this was just like, I don't know what year, maybe 2002 or something.

They got, and they were waiting for it. And so now there's a storyline of past and history and all that.
The interesting thing about this group for the U.S.

is, you just said, these two teams, two of the last three games. And not only that,

in the Australia game, they go after Christian a little bit. He ends up coming out injured.
In the Paraguay game, there's this bench clearing brawl that happens, right? Like this intense, crazy brawl.

And so immediately there's these like storylines of, wow, wow, these teams know each other. And it's not like it's a huge rivalry we've created, but there's like animosity, like real stuff happened.

Does that, I know you were farther away from it in goal, but is that like, is that a real factor? Well, you were, I know you were in it. I know you were in it.
I got in there fast.

Seth got in there, and then I was the next one in there.

No one's ever, no one's ever seen me move that fast.

But yeah, I mean, that's part of the storyline. And

in the end of the day,

we can't be thinking about that past game

when we play them next summer. I think that it's fully focused on

whatever the game requires.

We've already shown that side of us.

And so it's also super important to just implement our style and our quality on the ball.

And if the game calls for it, then.

yeah, obviously, obviously get involved and do that. But, you know, we have shown that that's already been a part of our DNA now.
Yeah,

I love that side of this

current team because it's been the same group for a while, but the tanat you said, Sebastian,

he's becoming one of these players, LD, who can start a fight in an empty house, as I always say.

I love the fact that he's scrappy.

Question about the roster, and

I won't put you on blast because you could never answer this.

But Landon and I, when we, our teams, so when you're saying, like, we're going to a World Cup, we're going to a game, a big game, Landon and I could both sit in a room and go,

this is is the 11 we need. If we want to win today, this is the 11 we need on the field.
So I'll ask you this without naming names.

Is there an 11 with you and goal, so plus 10, where you say, on the opening game of the World Cup, if these 10 are in place, we'll win.

Like, do you, in your brain right now, when you look at the team, you're like, these are the, these are the 10 other guys, and I know they're subs, I get that, but these are the 10 other guys

that if they're on the field, I know we win. Like, do you, do you have the best player at every position in your brain?

Yeah, but, but

the tough part about that thing is, is

there's more, there's more than 10. You know what I mean? Like,

yes, there's a, there's a best player in every position, but I think also each player brings their own attributes. So whatever that specific game needs is important.

The other thing to consider is that, you know, how many different lineups have we played over the last five games?

And they've all worked.

And so,

you know,

I think this is going to be one of the true tournaments where the 23 or the 26, that's what matters more than the 11. Agreed.
Do you think

just a back four, back three question, do you feel more comfortable with this team in a back three or a back four? I know Pachatino has changed a bit.

Where do you think it's strongest?

I think it's been quite flexible.

You know, in possession, out of possession has been changing, which is in modern football quite a common thing that's been happening.

As a goalkeeper, I love five in the back.

You can't really complain with that, but also four in the back, I have, you know, full faith in them and myself to get the job done as well. Yeah, good, good.

Matt, we have a question from our Aussie fans down under. I can't wait to read this.

It seems, Tim, you'll love this too. You guys popping that.
Okay. At first glance of the comments section on social media, our socceroos down under feel they have an easy group.

What's your take on that, Matt? Is it an easy group? First take is what time is it in Australia right now?

They've been out there.

No, I mean,

any group with us in it is not an easy group. Atta boy.
Yeah, and there's no chance. There's no chance that

Australia thinks that's an easy group. Well, that's what they're saying.
Maybe someone's trying to rile us up. Yeah, they are.
I will say this.

You know, there are clearly groups that are going to be a little more challenging for sure. I mean, France, Senegal, Norway, I think.
I mean, yeah, those are good teams.

But my learning from all this, and Tim, we were a minute away from not qualifying in a group with Slovenia and Algeria.

Nobody thought that was a group of deaths or a hard group or whatever. So you just, you never know, man.
And teams change over the next six months. Things can change.

People get injured, all that stuff. So we'll see.
I think the thing about the World Cup is you're just getting, you're getting everybody's best punch. Yeah.

You know, like if every like guys that aren't fit for a friendly and don't feel like traveling to you know like i'm not saying the paraguay players weren't injured but like they'll be there for the world cup right like everybody's fit and ready and wanting to as i said create this legendary status for them so you're getting everybody on like uber focus

yeah all right let's get a question about playing in a world cup at home

Does playing on your own country's soil give you an edge or

is the battle the same anywhere? And actually, I would also say, that's from Danny. Is there also a pressure? Like, is there a flip side to that coin that there's also a pressure?

How do you feel about that? Yeah, I mean, I think certainly there is a pressure, but I always say this, I love pressure. Pressure makes diamonds.

You know,

pressure brings the best out of me. I don't know about other people, but I love pressure.

And certainly playing in front of the fans,

playing in

it's a little bit more pride, if that's even possible.

You know, there's so much pride associated with putting the jersey on, but playing at home,

you really can't. I was saying this earlier today.
Someone was like, oh, is it a dream come true to play at home

in the World Cup? No, because when I was five years old dreaming about this, no one knew that it was going to be at home.

It was so long.

It wasn't even a thought.

Yeah. You know, interestingly, we've talked about that.
And I

get goosebumps thinking about this team.

I'll be at the first game wearing my Landon Donovan jersey with a scarf wrapped around my head. Like it's going down.
But

I just think that what I've seen traditionally,

the home country gets had

a ride to crest the way. France in 98 win the World Cup.
Germany, sorry, South Korea in 2002 got to the season. Got to the semis.
Yeah. Germany got to the semis in 2006.

We were there in South Africa, Bafana, Bafana, that opening game. We were watching it together.
Electric. And it's like, this country is on fire for this team.

And I just think, I think we're, I mean, I like the group first of all. And really, what, what, a, what a group that I think we can win does is it creates momentum.

So if you guys win the group, you get on that plane and you're like, yeah, whoever, who we got? Like, we'll, we'll take anyone's best punch. Like, that's how you're going to feel.

And the country will be galvanized. Like, we'll be moving with you.
Like, the plane takes off. Everyone's going to go to that game.
So

this could be one of those moments where we definitely, the momentum carries over and it's and it becomes less pressure and more motivation it's so well said and my

my biggest learning from being there today and being on this side of it now it's the first draw i've ever been at is

the the shape and the course of this tournament was decided largely today and in the past as a player and matt i'm sure you're you're just okay the game the next game australia paraguay Kosovo, Turkey or whoever, you're just thinking about that.

But as a fan and someone who's now been through this a lot, our path could have been a lot more difficult. Maybe it could have been a little easier, but could have been a lot more difficult.

And now you start to think, okay, if you win and win, and now you're a first-place team, and now you're playing a third-place team, and then what does that look like?

And now you go, oh, this becomes very exciting. And I'm going to hesitate from what everyone is saying, that the group is relatively easy and all that.
Every game's hard, man, in a World Cup.

And like, it is, but it could have been worse. Right.
Rubber course. It really could have been worse.
But I just, it's exciting. All right, Matt, we have a question

about how far into the tournament we need to go.

So

that's what I was going to say about what you were just talking about. Yep.
You can say what you want about a group, but for me,

and Mauricio has been saying this as well, the goal, the dream, the ambition is to win the World Cup.

If you win the World Cup, you've got to beat all the teams no matter what. So

in my opinion, not that the group doesn't matter, but you're going to be playing hard teams and the best teams at some point in the tournament if you accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Yeah, but Matt, to Tim's point,

momentum matters. 100%.
Like, over the summer

before the gold cup, the momentum was mattering in a bad way. And now, right now, the momentum is mattering in a good way.
Now, I'm assuming after you batter Uruguay 5-1, you're like, bring on anyone.

I don't care. Right.

And so, that is, I think, where you get value in in that okay pop that back up jordan i want to hear matt's opinion on this okay from glenn how far in the tournament is far enough to be proud of that's a good way to state it how far is to be proud of obviously we want fight for the crest but how far is good enough or is it just about the pride of the crest well it's always about that but yeah what's your take on that

my take is

I'm someone that

I'm someone that thinks it's a huge honor to wear the crest.

But I think that if you wear the crest and don't put on performances and don't honor the crest and improve the

history of the crest and the history of the U.S. Soccer Federation,

you're doing it a disservice. And so,

you know,

my thought is to

leave the team, leave the history of the team in a better place than I found it. Not that it was in a bad place, but you know what I mean, just continuously improving and improving the team.
And so,

you know, I don't know where that translates into like a goal of where to be. You know, I'm just going to say it again, the goal is to win the World Cup.
Like that's, that's the mentality. And

I'm not going to say anything different. Yeah, this one's tricky, right? Lennon.
So we talked about with the added teams, there's an added round,

right? And so

we kind of have to factor that in as this team grows and starts to climb and get through the tournament.

There's an extra layer, which makes it way more difficult in terms of like creating history for this team,

they can do. Obviously, we've seen, you know,

at your best, I think that there's an opportunity to go pretty far. Yeah, I just think

there's something about the draw today that gave not our specific draw in terms of the group, but something about the overall draw, seeing all the teams just felt really good.

It felt like this, this, this team has an opportunity to go really far. You know,

as far as your team did in 2000, 2002, maybe. Like, maybe I did that.
That's a real thing. And so really exciting for U.S.
fans. Matt,

I'm so refreshed to hear you speak that way about like leaving it better in the history. Bob Bradley said to me once after he got

fired from U.S. soccer, it was like 2011 or something when Jergan came in, maybe.
And I was like, you know, are you upset?

He's like, Landon,

I carried the ball as far as I could. And now it's time for someone else to carry it.
And we just keep doing it. I was like, God, that was such like a mature way to look at it.

And for a young man like you, Matt, I really, I really like you're, you're very grateful. And like, that's really refreshing.

I'm grateful, but trust me, I'm competitive. But I get out there.
I know.

I know.

All right. We have the last one.
I think the most important question popped out up, Jordan.

Who does Freeze like more? Wait, who Freeze like more growing up out of the two of you? Okay, who did you like more growing up? I mean, it's an easy question. It's a guy who doesn't have any hair.

I don't have any hair either. It's fake.

We'll let him ask the question. It's fine.

I like both of you. Growing up, I like both of you.

But I have a few Tim Howard jerseys already. It's amazing.
Actually, crazy story.

My dad bought me a ball assigned by you when I was like 15 or 16.

And I was like, I didn't say this to him, but I was like, dad, like the way I want my career to go, like, I'm going to know Tim. That's amazing.
I love him.

You don't need to like buy me a ball-side pipe. I'm going to refund your dad that $10 because I'll tell you what, you've made it.
You've absolutely made it.

And listen, Landon's a goat. We all think he's number one.
So I looked up to him as well. You know, his little rat running around us.

All right, Matt, look, we know you've had a long day, man. Get home, get some rest.

This was so helpful for. American soccer fans to hear your reaction live.
It feels wild, man. Australia-Paraguay teams we just played, but six months from now, it'll be novel again.
It'll feel new.

But man, we are continuing to wish you the best. You keep growing with every challenge.
It's been so fun to watch, man. So you get out of here.
We're going to take a break.

When we come back, we'll talk about the rest of the draw, dive in deeper. It's going to be a lot of fun right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen.

Stay right there.

This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. Tim, nothing like MLS playoff season.
My favorite time of year. End of August, September, it's cold.
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It's freezing for the game. I love this time of year.
Yeah, totally. LD.
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Thanks to Matt Freeze. He's such a stud dude.
Like, that was so fun to just hear his fresh perspective on it. And he's had a long day.
So thanks to him for coming in. All right.
Let's

get into the rest of the groups. Again, the cool thing, man, about just being there live is you're watching not only the Federations and like their reaction, but you're watching the legends.

Ali McCoyce, the famous Scottish legend,

was sitting behind me. And I mean, listening to some of his commentary as his group got

panned out was just so funny. And we'll get to that.
Okay, let's start through.

What did we say? A through J? A through J. Okay.

A through F. Sorry.
A through F. Okay, so here we go.
Mexico, South Africa, Korea, and then a UEFA team. Canada, a UEFA team, Qatar, Switzerland, Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland, our group C.

Our group, group E is Germany, Coraçao, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ecuador. And then Netherlands, Japan, another UEFA country, and Tunisia.
Okay, what stands out for you, Tim, in those groups?

Well, I'll tell you that in one second. Can I say something blasphemous? Uh-oh.
No, no, yeah, yeah.

It's not uh-oh, but it's you and I disagree on the tournament format because you love the Cinderella romantic side, right? And I've been saying all along that, like

this, and I watched it today. This is my feeling.
This feels watered down. I know, I know, but hear me out, and I'm being serious.
This just feels watered down.

There used to be like a group of death, and then there was like a bunch of hard groups. Like, you didn't have to be a group of death to be a hard group.

And I'm looking at these groups, LD, and I'm just kind of like,

Mexico is going to win the group.

I don't know about Mexico, dude. They're really bad right now.
Well,

really bad.

Okay, but the point, my point is, like, none of the. Yeah, no, I get it.
No one's in danger.

Like when you look at some of the bigger teams, no one's in danger of not qualifying out of the group, you know? And so

that's

what I would say this, but the alternative is Scotland, like look at Group C. Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland.
Scotland are thinking to themselves, can we snag a point again?

Probably not Brazil, maybe against Morocco. Can we snag a point and beat Haiti?

And now all of a sudden, not only are they coming to the World Cup, they're thinking, we might qualify for the next round as a third round.

I hear you on the romantic side of it, and

I'm not sure that's going to happen. Say again? You're not romantic.
I mean, maybe not. I just,

oh, I don't know. I don't know.
Yeah.

I think the layer of

that extra round takes away from, and you know this from from your from your experience. It takes away from like

the blockbuster matches, like just so many blockbuster matches. You know that.
Like, you come in.

There will be one or two. No, no, no, Lands.
I know.

I'm saying

prior to this format, as soon as you made it out of the group, tighten those gloves up because there's going to be a ton of just rock'em-sock'em games. And I don't know if we're going to get that.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah.
Okay. So, what stands out to me here in Group B? So, this was kind of overlooked, and I don't think people realize this.
Yeah, group B.

So, Group B is Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland, but the fourth team is the winner of the Italy. I think it's Italy, Wales, Ireland, or Northern Ireland.

And so,

everybody kind of assumes, and of course it can change, but that will be Italy. Guess where Canada's first game is, and guess who it would be against if Italy qualifies? Toronto, isn't it? In Toronto,

against Italy. There are a gazillion Italians

in Toronto. That could be absolutely electric.

And that's like where I love these storylines because I'm, you know, as being half Canadian and thinking about what that could be in Toronto against Italy would be absolutely insane.

And so that's, that's like, that would be absolute beauty, pageantry.

The other, you know, the other one you, you, the other interesting one that you asked me about, if we can pop the graphic up with all the groups, Group E as an echo and F

are interesting because I Ivory Coast are, I mean, they're one of the most athletic, talented team, just historically.

You know, that, you know, and they had their golden generation, you know, during the DDA Drugbaugh days, but they're a force to be recorded with.

Ecuador is super talented, like physical and athletic as heck. They're probably the most athletic team in

Common Bowl and South America.

Obviously, Germany is the best team in the group.

The Netherlands, Japan,

those are really good. Tunisia,

I actually looked at the playoffs, and I'm thinking, if Sweden or Poland come out of there,

those are difficult games. And so I think those groups, say again? Yeah, yeah.
No, you're right. I think E and F are interesting to me.

I love this about the World Cup is the stylistic differences. Yep.
Think about the Netherlands, who are so

unique in sort of the traditional 4-3-3 and football and how they, and then you think Japan, who are just like energetic, running, scrappy.

Tunisia, like a little bit of African flair, but also a North African sort of toughness. I mean, we played Algeria, who were similar in style.
Yeah, yeah.

Whatever you get in the other team, if it's Swedish, like a Scandinavian team. And so it's just, I love the stylistic differences because it's so unique.
to what you do in qualifying. Yeah.
Yeah. I

matchups make this.

Yeah. I don't know.
I'm just, it's funny. You've got me, you've got me like reminiscing and thinking about the pageantry of it, LD.

Like when you even, like, when you talk about flair and I think about like,

I don't know, maybe this is the first time in a very long time that I'm going as a fan. And I'm kind of excited to see like.

the fans of Ivory Coast, you know, and the dancing and the drums and the flags and all the face paints that go on. And I'm just, it's going to be, I mean, wow, we are in for such a treat, America.

My God. I can't wait, man.
I can't wait. And if you don't, if you're thinking about like, I can't get to a USA game or I want to watch a USA game and something,

I would strongly recommend having seen them in the Euros,

find your way to a Scotland game. Oh, yeah.
And they're not sexy. They're not that light, but their fans are insane.
Insane. They had 100 plus thousand people flood into Germany.

Only 20,000 of them could get into a game. But Tim, they're just there and they're loud and their national anthem.
And if you get a chance, man, try.

I feel like on one of our shows during the World Cup, I don't have to wear a kilt and

a Scotland jersey. I played with a bunch of Scottish players, so I'm sure I can find one somewhere.

Stu Holden was telling me that if we drew Scotland, he was going to wear a kilt during the broadcast on Fox. That wouldn't be the first time Stu's worn a kilt.

He had a fancy dress party, I'm sure, at some point. All right, let's move on to the

what is it, G through L county? G through L. How many groups there are? Okay, G through L.
So I'll go through quickly: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand.

H is Spain, Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, France, Senegal. One of the intercontinental playoff teams, Norway.
The A group, I call this, Argentina, Algeria, Austria, and then Jordan.

Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia, and another playoff country from the non-European. And then England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama.
What stands out to you there?

Let me ask you this.

We have, at some point,

the experts will tell us what the group of death is.

Is it group I? Yeah, or is it group L?

Well,

with a historically stronger Ghana, it could have been L. But

I think Ghana are not as good as we think because we have this bad history with them where they just beat us. So I don't think they're as good.
But the France, Senegal, Norway is insane.

Yeah, in the intercontinental playoff, I don't know if someone, if one of you guys can correct us, my mind is fuzzy, but who that potentially could be.

I don't know if that's a CONCACAF potential team.

Well, I guess it could be Iraq or Congo. I'm not sure which one.
But if it's one of those teams, like those are not easy games. Yeah.
Iraq, Congo, either of those are not going to be easy games. So

the Suriname, Bolivia, Rock group. So if that's Iraq.

That's a much better team than Bolivia or Suriname. But that's not easy either.
No, that's not.

It's not a given. That's my group of death, I think.
Has to be. I mean, Senegal, really good team, and Norway,

really good.

The England group is interesting, too, because Panama are there. And I was looking down and Jaime Pinedo was in the room.
A guy I used to play with the Galaxy Goalkeeper. Lovely, lovely human.

And you're trying to read everyone's face, Tim, when you're in the room.

And like, when you sit and watch it on TV, they'll panda someone and they're trying so hard not to be super giddy or like super bummed based on what they just just got.

But Jaime, I could just see like his body slouch a little when they went into that group because it's like

God. And if go back to the graphics, guys,

to your point, Tim, I will give you some credit here. Thank you.
This group, G, if you're Belgium, the amount of Belgian beers and waffles you're drinking tonight is insane because you are ecstatic

with this group.

I was sitting next to Ryan Nelson, who's a former Kiwi New Zealand international, and he kept saying, anytime our name gets called, someone's going to be cheering loud because everyone wants to play against us.

It was so great. But then this is the flip side.
Why can't New Zealand get a point or beat Iran? Totally. Or get a point and beat Egypt.
Like Mosala has a bad day.

They can absolutely, they could finish second. I mean, that is not far-fetched.
They're not a terrible team.

So I said to him, I'm like, that's the best group you could get. Totally.
That's the thing. And the other thing is, the other part is, is I believe eight third-place qualifiers go through.

So, like, this is, well, this goes back to what I was saying about the tournament being a little bit of a cupcake, but it's great. Yeah, you're right.

It's great for eight of the 12 groups, I believe, are going to get the best third-place finisher. Which means, Tim, which means practically, if you think through it, when these tournaments happen,

there are some teams that go that are finished third with four points, but there are going to be a bunch of teams that finish with three points.

So it means either you don't lose a game, so you tie all and then your goal differentiance

differential is even, or you win a game and you don't get blown out in the other games. And you have a very good chance to get through.

What you just said there, half of these teams are currently talking about. Literally.
The coaching staff and the technical staff of these teams are literally saying,

we win one of these games. Scotland, perfect example.
We win one of these games and we nick a draw somewhere or we lose, but we don't, as you said, don't lose badly. And then you go through.

I'm looking, obviously, I always have one eye on England because I spent so much time there. And this is so interesting to me because

this England group under

Garrison, well, Garrison prior,

you know, got, you know, did well in the Euros, did well in the World Cup, got deep in those tournaments and didn't quite get over the hump.

And all my England friends always tell me that it's coming home.

And so I'm really curious as to like what this, how this england england team fares i i always i always root for them i always have one eye on them um

yeah you know it's a it's a group that this isn't for for an england team it's not about getting through the group they they should win that group um but there's a lot of potential within that within that team we know that yeah let's dive in a little more we have a question about um

about what coaches are doing. So pop that up.
So Robert said, curious what the coaching staff is doing. So you just talked about that.
Are they reaching out to players?

They won't be reaching out to players right now, but the coaches, my guess would be, Tim, tell me if you think differently.

For the teams

that were not the U.S., Canada, or Mexico, because we already knew where we were playing.

We knew where we were playing before today started, but everybody else was in the dark.

So my guess is there are a few things, figuring out where we're playing and what that looks like, where do we want our base camp to be, et cetera, because they probably had a few options just in case.

You don't want your base to be in Boston and you're playing your games in LA. Of course not.
Of course not. So they're figuring that out.
But then I think they're doing what you just said.

There are a group of teams, 10 or 15, who are like, we think we can win our group.

And then there are a bunch of teams going, if you're New Zealand, hey, I mean, maybe we like to play this like progressive, open, attacking play, but we're just going to try not to lose.

And we could get through. Right.
And I think that's probably how coaches are viewing this right now. Well, it's that.
It's the,

believe it or not, and you touched on this, the training base is as important. Crucial.
We've been there. Like, this is what people don't quite get on the outside.
The training base,

the player's hotel, the proximity to the family hotel, the proximity to training.

It's all, you know, when we were in, right, when we were in Germany, we stayed in Hamburg, and then, which was amazing. It was amazing because it's a great city.
There's so much to do outside.

There's plazas. The family hotel was a short walk away.
Right. And then we get to South Africa and we're on a lot of these, a lot of the teams like us, we had these like reserves.

I don't even know what they're called, resorts. So you have to know is a reserve.
Like a hotel on a reserve. Everything's kind of enclosed.
And by the way, the family, the family compound was.

I don't know, a million miles away. So we had like one scheduled dinner with family, right?

And then Brazil was similar where the family hotel was a block away, right? But we were in Sao Paulo, so the traffic took us 55 days to get to get to training.

We trained for two hours and it took us another week to get back. And so, like, so there's all these different parameters.
And that actually, because that's where you're spending the most time

is so important. So the logistics of this is incredible.
And if you think about it, I didn't even think about this till you just said that.

If you're in, I don't know if anyone's base would be in New York City or Atlanta or in downtown LA or whatever, like the traffic issue is very real.

Like Chicago or whatever. So like that's a very, that's very different than being based in Kansas City.
Totally. I mean, it is.
It's 20 minutes to training versus an hour. It's a big deal.

And by the way, nobody's based in New York City.

I'm from New Jersey and I can tell you how far outside of the city they will actually be staying.

100%. You don't want your players like hanging out in New York City? No chance.
I want to go.

I mean, it could work. It could work.
I mean, here we are. That's good.
Good question.

All right. So I guess just, I got your high level.

I got a question for you, a World Cup draw question. Yeah.
So this was, this is your first World Cup draw. Yeah.
You had some legendary moments.

When you walked in with a full head of hair to the Kenny Center, I cleaned up. Is there some people like, I think Landon's supposed to be here, but I don't know where he is.
Did anybody recognize you?

Tim,

it's such a great question. You know, when you like, you don't really know.

I don't know a ton of like people in the Hollywood or whatever, but sometimes you walk by and you go, oh, is that? No, I think that is.

And that look, like, people would look at me kind of double take and stare. And like, they wanted to say, like, hey, good to see you.
And I'm like,

hey, it's me.

Did they start channeling? I don't land in the skies.

That's so good. It's, it's actually really true.
Like, that I did get that quite a bit. I love it.
You know what? The hair is popping right now, Tim. It looks great, man.
Like, let's just be.

I can't say I'm jealous, but it looks great.

It was so great, dude, to see so many people. Like Sunil was there.
I saw Carly Lloyd and Heather O'Reilly. And so great just to have so many people that love this game in the same room.

And it was, it was amazing. That's why I'm watching on TV.
And that's what I said to Maddie Freeze. It's like, you have this, you have this opportunity to become iconic.

You know, like I, like, Icarusius is my peer group. But he, he and Buffon, if you're a goalkeeper, they're the greatest.
And so, like, I'm watching him get interviewed, and I'm like, getting giddy.

I'm like, there's Icar Casius, you know, or like Carly Lloyd, who's an absolute legend, also a New Jersey legend, more importantly.

And so, like, you know, you see her up there, and then you're like Roberto Carlos, and you're remembering these moments, and you're like, gosh, it's incredible that these icons are who they are because of, yeah, their club careers, but because of the World Cup.

I am just, I'm just, I'm just throwing out random thoughts now as you're talking about this. And talk about icons.

Like, it was a little weird because I don't think any of them really knew much about soccer, but like having Tom Brady, Shaq,

Aaron Judge, by the way, that guy is so big, Tim.

He is humongous. Because Gretzky's not a small guy.
Yeah. And Brady's a lot taller than I realized, too.
But then Shaq walks out and he's standing next to Kevin Hart.

And it's like, I mean, it's literally like standing next to a 10-year-old because he's being funny. Not being funny.

I am taller than Kevin Hart, clearly. But when I was doing television at some point, Shaq was in the same building and we shared the same birthday.
And I asked him for a picture.

And he put his arm around me. And I was like, this is the same thing as me taking a picture of my son, who was like seven at the time.

I'm six foot two. And like, he was just like, bang.

It was wild. It was, it was cool.
It was, it was cool to watch.

I just want to, I want to riff a little bit about the U.S. LD if I can, and you let us know when the questions pop up.
But

I have a really odd I don't know if this is like I'm buzzing for the draw I have a really odd feeling about this US team like I think I I think at their best they're really really good same I think they can be scary at their best we haven't seen that that's what we've everyone's gonna be complaining about but I look at it and I'm just like

no man like I

as good as as good as that you mentioned it as good as that Netherlands team was in 2022 that we lost to, right?

Not that you can rewind, but if this current crop of players right now, as good as they are, I think they win that game. Yeah, or they have a good chance to.
Yeah, yeah. I agree.
And so

that's where that's where I started to go. And then if I'm saying that, and they can win that game, bang, you're starting to get in later rounds of a World Cup.
And we talked about it with Maddie.

It's momentum, man. It's momentum.
You're going to get, and this is so hard to quantify. You're going to get a group of players, right? Let's say they cruise the group.
Hear me out.

They cruise the group. You're starting to feel pretty unbeatable, right? You play a heck of a game.
You perform over the odds. You win that next game.

Now, all of a sudden, you're like, not that you're playing with house money, but you're just like, we feel great. We're performing.
Why not? You start to get that why not us mentality.

And then you're dreaming about what could be. So I'm friendly.

And

instead of 15 or 20 people million people paying attention, now 50 million people in our country are watching. It's like a Super Bowl.
Like people are like tuned in.

And the whole country's, I'm getting goosebumps. Yeah.
But the whole country's behind you. Bro.
And now like the sky's the limit.

I'm telling you now, and I agree with you. I said this to Matt

when we had him on. Get through that group.

You start traveling, right?

LA, Seattle, LA.

You hop on a plane and you go to the city. I'm telling you, man, it's going to be wild.
Wilde. You know how they, you know, how the Netherlands are with their army, their orange army?

You know how Argentina is for Messi and all the light blue and white jerseys? That's going to be what it's going to be like for this U.S. team.
I'm telling you. You're right.

I'm telling you, it's going to be crazy, man. Tim, you know what else we avoid? I just thought of that as you said that.

We avoided, and part of it's by not being with the big boys because we were in group one, but we avoided like a crazy, passionate type of opponent that has tons of of fans in LA or Seattle.

Like, imagine we had played Japan in Seattle, right? There are a ton of Japanese or Korean people in Seattle. Like, we avoided that.
Yes, there will be Paraguayans. Yes, there will be Australians.

Who knows if it's Kosovo or who, there's not going to be, it's going to be decidedly American. And that's a big deal.
Like, we avoided that, too. And I'll just say this about,

and then we'll get out of here, but like,

because now the spirit feels like it's back to what we are accustomed to as American players and now fans,

there isn't a team in the world that if we are playing well and it's the spirit that we've seen in the last few games, that we would say we absolutely cannot win this game.

There's not a game like that. I mean, Spain are very good.

But we would say on our day, maybe not every day. But we could win this game.

And so that's why, like, I know we're kind of, we're critical and we're hard on these guys sometimes but that is very much a reality it is and i'm not drinking the kool-aid because it's a good draw and all that but like that is possible yeah and that's why we want to kind of see that and listen there's i i think i think in all all that that we

well all that we are on this show and all that the the critics that are out there i think it shows it shows there's a reality to this and we've said all along that like when you underperform you will be judged but the other side of that is when we truly believe that there's an opportunity to praise this team to push this team along we're absolutely in that boat too so um yeah it's it's i'm excited every i mean everyone's excited about this but this is this is now becoming really real um

and we also have to we also have to let our audience know there's going to be right now there's no we don't have pathways we just have groups and so and so on on on next week's show we will we will get to the bottom of like how that pathway works and who

who are potential teams that we can play and others can play. Isn't it exciting to be in a place in soccer in this country where we're not just desperate to hope we get out of the group?

Like we are all assuming, and I'm not trying to put undue pressure, but that we are getting out of this group and most likely winning this group.

And that's such a change from the past. And so now we can actually look down the road.
and say, oh, if we win, we play. If we finish second, we'll get this.
And like, it's so fun to watch.

Like, it's, it's, that's what other big countries in the world do. For sure.
Yeah, and we will we'll recap all that. That's happening tomorrow.

So, FIFA will put all that out tomorrow, and then we'll recap that on Tuesday's show, like you said. All right, man.
Um, damn, it's cold on the East Coast, Jesus. Oh, it's cold, cold.

Can I tell you what? Can I tell you what happened? Just real quick, yeah.

I get, I, I get, I get in the car from my apartment. It's 20 minutes to the studio, right? So I'm chilling.
I got time. I went half a block in 20 minutes.

It's Christmas. Rose are closed.
I'm like, I got to get out. I got to get on a bike.
So I went to the city bike station, get on a bike. No, you didn't.

You did. I had to.

I would have missed our live stream. I get on a bike.
Bro, it's so cold. My hands, my face are frozen.

I miss my stop to like park my bike. I got to go back around the block because

I'm in Times Square.

The things I do for you, by the way, it's amazing. I appreciate it.
I appreciate you. Hey, similarly, by the way, because President Trump was there,

the amount of, I mean, dude, the amount of security, Secret Service, all these people, but then getting out, trying to get an Uber was impossible. So I walked like 25 minutes to pick up an Uber.

Did you? In the car? Yeah, I did. These are the things I do for you.
It's snowing. I love it.
It snowed this morning. Damn, it's cold.
Jesus.

All right, let's get out of here. Thank you all.
Thank you mostly to Matt Freeze for taking the time. He had a long day, but I'm so excited for him.
We will be back with another episode on Tuesday.

We'll break down all the weekends MLS Cup final action. We forgot about that.
Like tomorrow, all these people are like on planes tonight going to Miami. I was like, oh my God, I forgot about that.

And then, you know, as things come up, we think more about the draw.

We'll talk more about it on Tuesday. But remember, as always, guys, subscribe on.
YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast.

Follow us at unfiltered soccer on all of our social media for bonus content. Yeah, we love, love the live stream.
We know you do. Appreciate y'all tuning in, asking all the questions.

One tidbit that I forgot to mention,

I always want to call Matt Freeze Matty Ice, but we know that that's taken. He told me that I'm allowed to call him by his childhood nickname given to him by his brother, and it's Booger.

So from now on, we're going to refer to Matty Freeze. That's going to go viral.

Because he said we can do it. Let's go, Booger.

Yeah, thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW. Have an amazing weekend.
We will be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer. Go USA.
Go USA.