Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS

Speaker 1 Weston, Tim Weya, and Gio Reynold. In this matter, it's important that U.S.
soccer and Mauricio Polchetino say absolutely zero chance I'm playing without those three.

Speaker 2 It's not going to be pretty mana. Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, presented by Volkswagen.

Speaker 2 Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.

Speaker 1 LD, what's up, brother?

Speaker 2 Listen, I just want to start by saying it was so good having you on my side of the country you don't often come this way to new york city because you are very much a cali boy did you enjoy it please tell me why i cannot explain to people how cold it was we had it was so cool we got to do uh times square takeover shout out to the marketing team at sinclair yeah nicole etc for setting that up um really cool having the led banners behind us if you haven't seen it you can check it out on the social media channels but

Speaker 2 tim it was so cold cold, dude. Like standing there for 45 minutes, I could not wait to get out of there.
And honestly, it took me 45 minutes inside in the warm to stop like showing.

Speaker 2 I don't know how you did that, dude. I don't know how you did that.
At one point,

Speaker 1 you were trying to talk to me and your jaw was like starting to freeze and you

Speaker 1 couldn't speak, which is a real thing.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 1 It was fun, man. You know what I love?

Speaker 1 I think maybe, maybe

Speaker 1 pre-one of our World Cups, we did something in Times Square. But I'm also thinking, like, I feel like you and I have had a decent amount of success in the game.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, I'm not sure I've ever stood in Times Square with like my name, with my name plastered on a moving billboard. You might have.

Speaker 2 You know, landed on MVP trophy.

Speaker 1 That's cool. It was awesome.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Really, really a lot of fun. Reminder, guys, follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer.
Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Speaker 2 If you love what we're doing, please send comments.

Speaker 2 You can ask questions. We love to get your feedback.
You can also email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer. All right, Timmy, should we start with US LNT on the USMNT? Quite a weekend.

Speaker 2 Our guy, Gio, who I've had a lot to say about and has been in the news, Gio Reyna,

Speaker 2 started two games this week, scored an absolute bomb on the weekend in Dortmund's draw, 1-1 draw.

Speaker 2 I just want to say,

Speaker 2 you know, like when people see headlines or they see things we say, this happens all the time in my life, and I'm sure for you too. People say, oh, why did you do that? Or why did you say that?

Speaker 2 And I'll say, what are you talking about? And they'll say, no, I saw the headline that did. And I say, well, did you read what I said? Or did you read the article?

Speaker 2 No, no, no. I just saw the headline.
I said, no one ever does. Go back, read the article, read what I said, and then let's have a conversation.
So

Speaker 2 I, by the way, I am in Geo's corner. I want Geo to succeed.
I want every national team player to succeed. We're fans of

Speaker 2 the sport. We want to see the sport grow.
I was on our group chat saying LFG when he scored the bomb, right?

Speaker 2 That makes me happy.

Speaker 2 It doesn't mean we're not going to be honest, and it doesn't mean we're not going to be unfiltered.

Speaker 2 So everyone's excited about that. I'm excited about that.
I just want to remind people, and this is not to be a Debbie Downer. You know how many days it's been since he scored his last club goal?

Speaker 1 Tell us.

Speaker 2 583 days. Okay.
so I'm happy for him. Amazing and a great goal.
But everything I said last week still stands true. If that's the way he's going and playing well and scoring, great.
Stay at Dortmund.

Speaker 2 If not,

Speaker 2 find a place to play, whether it's MLS or Holland or Mexico or wherever, I could care less. Go somewhere where you are playing, especially leading up to the World Cup.
So happy for him.

Speaker 2 Let's hope knock on Woody can stay healthy now. He clearly deserves to start again, to play again.
And let's hope this continues.

Speaker 1 Yeah, look,

Speaker 1 I'm so excited for Gio Reyna because

Speaker 1 he's a kid, right? So he'd hate me for saying he's a kid because he'd probably look at me and say, no, I'm a grown man, because this is what kids do, right? I tell my daughter the same thing.

Speaker 1 She's a little girl. She's like, no, I'm not.
I'm going to college. She still has a lot to learn, right? As they all do.
Why I'm so excited for Gio Reyna is because he's a generational talent.

Speaker 1 You know, people constantly come up to me and you, I could, if I clicked on a search engine right now, they'd say, when's America going to produce the next great world-class player?

Speaker 1 And when are we going to win a World Cup? That's the question on everybody. This is a world-class player.

Speaker 1 He has generational talent. He and Christian and maybe one or two other have generational talent that we've rarely ever seen.
I'm excited for him because

Speaker 1 he's 22 years old. He's a baby.
Do you know how much pressure he's had on his shoulders? His dad,

Speaker 1 who we played with, is a captain of the U.S. men's national team.
Those aren't easy shoes to fill. You then have to go over to Europe.

Speaker 1 You then have to carry the weight of

Speaker 1 a non-goalkeeper, right? Because goalkeepers had a U.S. goalkeepers a ton of success in Europe.

Speaker 1 You've got to be the one to go over and you have to start in the Champions League and you have to start in Bundesliga. It's hard, man.
It's hard. And he's young.
I'm excited for him because.

Speaker 1 Over the next couple of years, his growth and maturation, I think, is going to skyrocket. And he now has an opportunity to go, no, this is mine.
This isn't my dad's. This isn't any expectation.

Speaker 1 This is just me. And I'm figuring out, because by the way, he's figuring out how to play football at the highest level.
He's figuring out how to be an adult.

Speaker 1 I mean, these are all, we all dealt with this. It's impossible.
And most people fail. And I'm just so excited for him.

Speaker 1 You know, that he's back playing. I love that he's got another opportunity to play again.
And he produced because that's what it's about, LD.

Speaker 1 It literally is about saying, particularly as an American, I've said this quite a lot about myself, about Christian when he was at Chelsea,

Speaker 1 about so many of my teammates. It's different when you're an American.

Speaker 1 You'll never convince me otherwise, which means every single day you've got to go out and train and perform like your life depended on it because that's the only thing that's going to get you in the team.

Speaker 1 So, I was super happy for him that he produced. And you know what? He was rewarded for it.
So, long may that continue because I think it's awesome.

Speaker 2 Yeah, let's hope it continues now. He's got to stay healthy first and foremost.
That's been his biggest issue: like staying healthy. So, long may it continue.

Speaker 2 Two other Americans at Juve, what a goal. If you have not seen this, go check it out on YouTube.
Weston McKinney scores off a Tim Way across.

Speaker 2 If you're an American soccer fan, you were jumping around your living room.

Speaker 2 You know what my biggest takeaway is, though? Yeah.

Speaker 2 When I watch that and I see the clips on social media, et cetera, I'm excited, but I'm not like out of my boots over the moon. I can't believe this.
And you know why?

Speaker 2 Because those guys have gone over now and done it consistently. And so you don't get overly crazy.

Speaker 2 And by the way, French players, Brazilian players, Spanish players, people aren't going crazy when two of them link up for a goal in the Champions League now because they're used to it.

Speaker 2 And we're starting to get to a point where we're used to it. Kudos to Timway and Weston for a great goal.

Speaker 2 Beat City, by the way, 2-0 in the Champions League, which I think everyone's beating City these days. But still, congrats to them.
What a goal.

Speaker 1 I mean, I think that what you said is

Speaker 1 so poignant.

Speaker 1 The fact that we expect two Americans to just be on the field for Juve and to perform is like, wow, we've come a long way. We've come a long way.
And that's not a we thing.

Speaker 1 That's a massive credit to Weston and

Speaker 1 Tim Waya.

Speaker 1 I mean, they are putting that work in every day. Also, what I love about them is they've got that pizzazz, man.
They've got that arrogance that I just love in,

Speaker 1 you know, particularly attacking players. But,

Speaker 1 you know, Weston for me is special, man.

Speaker 1 He's got an engine like no other. He breaks things up constantly.
He's always on the go. You know, he gets the ball off of our center backs and our goalkeeper and our fullbacks.

Speaker 1 And then the next thing you know, that's your expectation. And then he filters things, he creates tempo.

Speaker 1 Next thing you know, he's getting on the end of a header at the back post, like constantly being dang like goal dangerous.

Speaker 1 And I just thought, you know, we throw this, we throw this turnaround box-to-box midfielder, and I think it's lost its luster a little bit because of your double six and the pivot, your false nine.

Speaker 1 Like, he's he's really very much a box-to-box midfielder. And um, yeah, I was super stoked for those guys.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they were they were great, and another good weekend. Um, interestingly, FIFA announced, and this will impact both of them.
This could impact Gio Reina as well.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Dortmund, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that they are not requiring clubs that participate in the Club World Cup to release their players for national team duty during that time.

Speaker 2 So that means the three of them, conceivably, for Juve and Dortmund, respectively, could play in the Club World Cup. and then not be available for the national team in the gold cup.

Speaker 2 my my first take on all this is at what point is fifa gonna just stop throwing more games and more tournaments and more and the players are suffering right physically now it's fun to play in some of these tournaments and it's it's novel right to play in a club world cup now is exciting in some regards but the coaches suffer coaches from now pochetino is like okay now i'm gonna miss three of my best players for a national team

Speaker 2 camp that is in a in a tournament that is our only opportunity now before the world cup to play in meaningful games totally the fans suffer how are they going to pick where to go which games to watch they can't follow their best players necessarily it it just feels like it's it's just too much man yeah i mean look it's a lot we know we know that the fixture buildup and we can go back to the the rodre injury and and quotes and all that we know we know the fixture buildup is ridiculous

Speaker 1 look money money makes the world go around i know nobody wants to hear that but it's it's more money it's more games it's more eyes uh tv rights are going up like like

Speaker 1 there's an issue here like there's a there's a there's a log jam at the top and uh there's more games being added because there's more money involved now what i would say is you touched on it the biggest issue for me because look i think if my team's if my team's in the club world cup and i'm playing on one of the biggest teams in the world I mean, I'm probably in the moment, I'm probably excited to compete at that level.

Speaker 2 A trophy's on the line.

Speaker 1 So, you know, I can get myself excited for that.

Speaker 1 I think the difficult part, LD, is at the end of every season, right? In England, it was

Speaker 1 the Premier League being finished, no matter where you placed European places or winning the title or staving off relegation. Maybe you're in a cup final in the FA Cup.

Speaker 1 Maybe there's a Champions League final, but then you're done. And you're like, I'm going to go with a different group of guys.
I'm going back with my national team. I'm going to refocus.

Speaker 1 It's hard to continue on that road even further with your club team because you need that break.

Speaker 1 But more importantly, for the U.S., right? Because this is US LNT.

Speaker 1 where there is no World Cup qualifying, there is

Speaker 1 very limited availability to get your best players in the trenches together when it matters.

Speaker 1 Being on the road, playing back-to-back games, three games in the course of 10 days, getting into the next round, regrouping, trying to get advanced, get to a final. There's no opportunity for that.

Speaker 1 This is the opportunity.

Speaker 1 The gold cup is the opportunity. When this opportunity goes, and if potentially three of our best six players, Weston, Tim Wea, and Gio Reyna, are missing from that, that for me is a problem.

Speaker 1 And forget me, I got a nice, amazing studio in New York. That's a problem for Mauricio Pochettino.

Speaker 1 Huge problem. So I wonder if there's going to be any wiggle room.
I wonder how much power and influence U.S. soccer can have.
I hope U.S.

Speaker 1 soccer can have the influence and just say, look, we're going to flex our muscles here. And if we need to create some sort of dust up with the clubs, so be it.

Speaker 1 Because I think in this matter, it's important that U.S. soccer and Mauricio Pochettino say absolutely zero chance I'm playing without those three.

Speaker 2 Absolutely. Guess what, Tim? Guess what? FIFA just sold the rights to the Club World Cup for a billion.

Speaker 2 Yes, I said a billion, a billion dollars. That's right.

Speaker 2 So guess what FIFA's doing? They're calling all the clubs and they're saying, hey, Gio Reina and Weston McKinney and Lionel Messi, and they better be in the tournament.

Speaker 2 Like they better be playing because we just got a billion dollars and everybody's going to to be telling us, hey, those guys better play.

Speaker 2 So there's going to become a war and it's not going to be pretty, man. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out with national teams versus club teams over the next few months.

Speaker 1 My argument would be

Speaker 1 we agree on what the rights fee was for the Club World Cup. What I would say is I'm U.S.
soccer and I got...

Speaker 1 Just as much money involved in the 2026 World Cup as they do, and it matters more to me. And so they, so U.S.

Speaker 1 soccer and Pochitino have to fight their corner as strongly as FIFA's going to fight their corner.

Speaker 2 No, they will. But guess what? It's the FIFA World Cup, too.
So FIFA's invested in. I don't see the U.S.
having

Speaker 2 all just in it together, and it's kind of a mess.

Speaker 2 Curious what you guys think. We've been doing poll questions now.
It's actually a fun way for us to engage with you guys. So, which is more important to you, the fan?

Speaker 2 Club World Cup, if you're a national team fan, or the Gold Cup?

Speaker 2 So, would you rather see wes and tim waya playing for juve against you know whoever or you want to see them in the gold cup i'd be really curious to hear everyone's thoughts um can we touch real quick just

Speaker 2 he's starting to get some publicity now um but anthony robinson yeah um

Speaker 2 his star is shining as bright as ever My opinion is after Christian and, you know, Christian's injured now, I don't think there's a better player on the planet that's American than Anthony.

Speaker 1 He's doing every week, Tim, up and down up and down forget about like the providing assists he's just consistent defends well um he's got to be close to the first name on the team sheet at fulham every week oh yeah yeah so he i mean shout out to anthony robinson um former teammate of mine at everton many people probably don't know that did you was he there when i forgot that no yeah he was um he was on the fringes of the first team um when we were there good kid man really really good kid um someone who's easy to root for uh but playing well yeah as you said just his ability to get up and down the flanks and continuously put in dangerous crosses again, two assists this weekend.

Speaker 1 It was,

Speaker 1 yeah, you know, you talk about oftentimes the special players coming from the spine of the team, right? Like in the heart of the midfield or goal scorers, but

Speaker 1 his ability to contribute on both ends for

Speaker 1 Fulham in the Premier League and for the US Men's National team.

Speaker 1 I mean, can't say enough good things about Anthony Robinson and another player, you know, Touch Wood, but he seems to be not only consistent, but constantly available,

Speaker 1 constantly playing big, big minutes and big moments. So that's a, that's a big one for us.

Speaker 2 He's also, Tim, he's worn the armband now. And, you know, Stu said last week.
Yeah, Stu said last week something really interesting.

Speaker 2 National teams and our national teams in the past were best when we had a lot of guys wearing armbands and being leaders on their team.

Speaker 2 And this is another point where it's great to be at a big club, but if you're a fringe player, you don't understand how leadership works at that level.

Speaker 2 And so even if you're on a quote smaller club, if you're a leader or a captain and you can bring that into a national team, it's a whole different level.

Speaker 2 If you have seven or eight of those guys starting on the field, your national team looks a whole lot different. So he's

Speaker 2 winning.

Speaker 1 It's a really interesting point you make.

Speaker 1 Let me dive into that a little bit. So when you're, when you're playing a little bit, and I can attest to this when I was playing at Manchester United, I was a fringe player, right?

Speaker 1 So my only thought was like, how do I not screw up so that I can trot me

Speaker 1 that I can play next week? That's right. Right.
When I got to Everton and I was like, I'm putting in performances every week. I'm going to play every week because I'm consistent.

Speaker 1 My thought became less about me and it became more about the fans and the performance and the internal struggles of a team and how do I be part of the solution instead of the problem.

Speaker 1 And that only came through consistency of playing, ownership of the team, responsibility.

Speaker 1 When you play a lot, other players look around at you and you're like, all right, well, he's got to have the answers. What are the answers, Tim? What are the answers, Landon?

Speaker 1 And so when you start to play those big minutes and it starts to become less about you because you're like, I've already figured me out. I know I'm going to be on the team sheet.

Speaker 1 It then becomes about problem solving and leadership, right? And then you, and then you crave that. Most, most athletes crave that.
And then you want more. So then you go into your national team.

Speaker 1 You're like, no, no, hang on. I got a voice.
I know how to fix this problem. And you step up and you stand out.
So I think the leadership aspect is a really good one.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's great for him. Yeah.
Another

Speaker 2 news that was

Speaker 2 not swept under the rug, but I think all predictable.

Speaker 2 FIFA announced the next two World Cups after 26.

Speaker 2 As anticipated, hold on, this is going to take me a minute. 2030 is in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Speaker 2 For people who don't know yet, the reason is I think it's the 100th year of the World Cup and it's originated in Uruguay.

Speaker 2 So they want to have the opening game in Uruguay. I'm sure Argentina and Paraguay will play also in home games there.
And then the entire tournament will shift to Europe.

Speaker 2 I personally love this. You love it.

Speaker 2 Well, I just think having multiple games on multiple continents, forget about the logistics, because whoever has to deal with that, I pray for you. But I love it.

Speaker 2 It gives the opportunity for the game to be seen all literally all over the world in different time zones, different times.

Speaker 2 Um, I know there's a bit of a challenge for the players, and I know you feel passionately about this, but I think it's waiting my turn.

Speaker 2 Go ahead, I hate it, I hate it.

Speaker 1 You and I talked about this. Um, why? Well, yeah, so I hate it because ultimately, and this is not us talking here in 2024, this is going to be the same conversation on everybody's lips in 2030.

Speaker 1 The travel, that distance of travel is going to wear on teams now i know i i know the teams that have to come from south america in those opening games will have quote unquote ample rest but the fact of the matter is when you get to the later stages and i'm talking last four or get to a final i think there'll be a team if there's a team from that started the tournament in south america who i think is going to have a disadvantage because of that travel for teams who don't so you mean like cumulative a cumulative yes because those guys do this all the time.

Speaker 2 They go from there up and back. Totally.

Speaker 1 Totally.

Speaker 1 But it's but in the midst of a tournament where these gay, look, when you when you travel back to, if you're Brazilian and you travel back to somewhere in the Premier League in London, or you travel back to Paris and play for Paris St.

Speaker 1 Germain, whatever the case is, the fact of the matter is you don't actually have to perform on the one-off. You can.
Maybe you take the week, the weekend off.

Speaker 1 It's not going to be the case with these teams. And so I just, yes, I know they know how to travel on first-class planes and charter planes and get their sleep right.

Speaker 1 I just ultimately think travel is a disadvantage. In 2014,

Speaker 1 we traveled more than any team in Brazil as the U.S. team.
We had the most miles logged, and it was hard. It's not the reason we lost in that particular case, but it could be.
And I don't love it.

Speaker 2 Well, thanks for the reminder about 2014. I was

Speaker 2 watching it. Sorry.

Speaker 1 Appreciate that.

Speaker 1 The other World Cup that was announced was 2034 in Saudi Arabia. And it's an interesting one because Qatar was not that long ago.
I mean, from today, it wasn't that long ago. By 2034, it will be.

Speaker 1 But playing a World Cup in the winter has its drawbacks.

Speaker 1 But then there's also a benefit

Speaker 1 for the European players in the middle of their season. It's not at the end.

Speaker 1 It throws scheduling into a little bit of a fur loop in terms of league schedule. But what's your thoughts on the winter World Cup in Saudi Arabia?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 I was there in Qatar.

Speaker 2 Weather was perfect in the winter. So that was a big plus.
Qatar was amazing because you could literally drive everywhere.

Speaker 2 So we were doing game a day on Fox, and you could just drive, drive back to hotel, drive to the game, drive back to.

Speaker 2 And that's not going to be the case, certainly in Saudi Arabia, nor is it in any World Cup usually.

Speaker 2 What I used to find interesting, and I was playing in MLS.

Speaker 2 during the time.

Speaker 2 When the World Cup came around in June, I always remember you guys would finish in like May and maybe you a little longer if you had a cup final or something like that.

Speaker 2 There was so such a challenge from when Bruce was there and Bob.

Speaker 2 How do the coaches manage you guys from Europe when you get in? So you might have played 48 games that year. And now it's the end of the season and you have to be tired.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's your body gets used to playing a certain number of games and then shutting down for a month or two. But in World Cup years, it's like, guess what? You're going straight into a tournament.

Speaker 2 So I remember with Claudio Reina in the early days, I think maybe in 02,

Speaker 2 and Bruce, I think he just shut him down for like seven or 10 days. But then there's a risk, okay, do you lose rhythm? Do you lose fitness? And how do you get it back? And it's this huge challenge.

Speaker 2 So what I saw in 2022 was the inverse, the total opposite. And me as an MLS player, we would start our season in March.
So by the time June came around, I was flying.

Speaker 2 I was fit. I was hitting my stroke.

Speaker 2 But now it was the opposite. So MLS guys in Qatar were like, they were tired.
Like, you can see they'd been through a long season, now they're at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 And the European players, conversely, were great. And I actually think it made the World Cup better.
I think just the energy of the players was better because it was not at the end of their season.

Speaker 2 So, I expect the same

Speaker 2 with Saudi Arabia. It's going to be interesting if you watch the

Speaker 2 event. And I've been in one of those rooms in, I don't know what year it was, but we were bidding,

Speaker 2 we were bidding on the 2018 World Cup.

Speaker 2 I was in the room in 2010 when

Speaker 2 Seth Blatter opened the envelope. And of course,

Speaker 1 where was this?

Speaker 1 It was in Switzerland.

Speaker 1 Oh, you went Switzerland? Switzerland.

Speaker 2 So we were in the room and us stupid, naive Americans, we actually thought we had a chance and this thing had probably been baked years ago with Qatar

Speaker 2 or Russia and Qatar. And so, oh, it was the 2022 World Cup we were bidding on.

Speaker 2 But being in that room and they opened the envelope, at least there was some anticipation. Like, what is going to happen? What's the envelope? So, Gianni Infantino was there.

Speaker 2 And after they announced Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, everybody knew that then it was going to Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia in 2034, nobody else bid on it because they knew

Speaker 2 Australia pulled out a long time ago. So he had to like uncomfortably open the envelope and go,

Speaker 2 Saudi Arabia!

Speaker 2 Some surprise to everybody.

Speaker 2 So it was a little, it was a little awkward, but I think it's going to be fine. I know people have a lot of issues around Saudi Arabia for a lot of different reasons, but

Speaker 2 I think it's still good to grow the sport wherever you can.

Speaker 2 I think that's right. So I'm fine with it.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 All right. Let's take a break.
When we get back, we will talk about the Premier League. A lot of stuff going on this weekend in the Premier League.
I'm excited to pick your brain on it.

Speaker 2 You didn't work this weekend,

Speaker 2 but we all watched it and it'll be fun to dive into. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 1 OLD, the Premier League. Yeah, it was Derby weekend weekend in Manchester, my former home, good old city of Manchester.

Speaker 1 It was a big one. It was a big one for so many reasons because City had to win, right? Like they had to get back on track.
And Man United under new manager Ruben Amerin, they need something, right?

Speaker 1 They need a marker as you start to build your team. You have to put a marker down and feel like you're building towards the right things.

Speaker 1 You know, for all of you who didn't see the game, and I'm guessing most of our listeners saw the game, it was fairly dull.

Speaker 1 You know, it was kind of a little bit of a shadow boxing match, but then it exploded into life, as you saw.

Speaker 1 Ahmad with the winning penalty, awful giveaway from Mateus Nunez, Bruno Fernandez, obviously equalized. And then,

Speaker 1 you know, City, of course, trying to push for the winner, but in the end, it was a red weekend.

Speaker 2 Manchester's red, my friend. Yeah.
The game I was watching in New York.

Speaker 2 It was boring.

Speaker 2 It was boring for a long time. And I just kept thinking to myself, this is sad that these two clubs have come to this, like where they're both fearful, like not to lose the game.

Speaker 2 But out of nowhere, you have to give Ahmad so much credit.

Speaker 2 He's kind of been thrown in under Amarin, and Amarin clearly trusts him.

Speaker 2 And he keeps performing.

Speaker 2 And it was impressive. It was impressive to watch.

Speaker 2 Twice now, Amarin has beaten Pep in the last, whatever, month and a half, one in, when he was back in Portugal and now with United. So

Speaker 2 I don't, I'm kind of running out of things to say for City Tim. Sure.
Like,

Speaker 2 I don't know where they go. And Pep looks the same.
He's like, he just doesn't know what to do. Mateus Nunez has an absolute shocker the last five minutes and he just doesn't know what to do.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, look, Nunez gives a pass away and then he, and then, of course, you try with all your might to make up for it and then give away the penalty. Compound mistakes lead to goals in soccer.

Speaker 1 So, you know, that's not something that, you know, Pep Guardiola can legislate for.

Speaker 1 Ahmad Diallo, I think the great thing, and you know this, is when a new manager comes in, it gives everybody

Speaker 1 a new opportunity. And oftentimes flowers bud from that we didn't even expect.
And Diallo, Diallo, because of the way the system works,

Speaker 1 there are crucial pieces in Amrim's system. And one of those is the wide areas, in particular,

Speaker 1 the wing back, the winger, depending on what he plays, but Ahmed has seemed to pick the system up really quickly, right? And so he's had a ton of good performances

Speaker 1 to the extent where you're looking at it. And I would argue that since Amram's come in, he's been the best performer of anybody.

Speaker 1 Obviously, there's been some good performances through Bruno Fernandes, who we expect, and Hoyland, you know, he's kind of come to life.

Speaker 1 But Ahmad, for sure, has been one of the big bright spots for me.

Speaker 2 My old assistant coach at Loyal Nate Miller used to say, the right player in the right place,

Speaker 2 the right time with the right coach. And like, that's what he's now in the right place.
He probably thought for a while, there, is this the right place for me? Is this the right time for me?

Speaker 2 Is this the right coach? But it all came together perfectly. And that you see that all the time.
A player you did not expect all of a sudden playing all the time because he fits what they do.

Speaker 2 Remember, these are all world-class players, right? Even if you don't agree with some of the signings that your top clubs have, they're still very good players.

Speaker 2 And there's a reason you're going after them. So congrats to him.

Speaker 1 That's why I need to manager who can pull that out of particularly a lot of these young players. Look, so much to unpack here, topic by topic, when it comes to the Derby.

Speaker 1 First one for me, Kyle Walker, and most of us saw this, Kyle Walker and Hoyland. There's a coming together where you see this a lot in soccer, right?

Speaker 1 You get angry and

Speaker 1 you're not supposed to fight because there's violent contact, right? So if you raise your hands on someone, you're going to get red cards.

Speaker 1 So oftentimes players in their anger, they come together and they like put each other's head on

Speaker 2 so much.

Speaker 2 I'm going to headbut you.

Speaker 1 Right. And so Hoyland initiates the

Speaker 1 movement, but it's not a headbutt, it's a coming together. And Kyle Walker leans in and as they're touching foreheads, Kyle Walker then goes down like a sack of potatoes.

Speaker 1 Which is, you know, it's shithousery, which is one of my favorite words and actions. And so,

Speaker 1 you know, I think they both got booked if, if I'm, yeah, if I'm not mistaken, but yeah, I mean, Kyle Walker, I was just like, bro, come on. I actually don't, I don't mind it.
I think sometimes when,

Speaker 1 you know, I think the referee in those moments, I like when the referee is like strong and basically looks at him just like, get up, like, stop this nonsense. Everybody, get up.

Speaker 1 There was nothing in it. You're getting a booking.
You're getting a booking. Let's go.

Speaker 2 So, you know, it's always funny for me, Tim, and those, and I know it because I did it.

Speaker 2 You know, like, if you really got hit or you didn't, of course. Like, you you know, of course.
And so he goes down, but then quickly he's like, oh, God, I'm going to.

Speaker 2 And like, with social media and everything, now everyone's going to kill him. And they, he could see in his brain, like, he just knew in that moment, I got to get up.

Speaker 2 And it's like when a guy like thinks he gets fouled for a pen, but it's not a penalty. And then they quickly go, okay, I better get up because I'm going to look like an absolute idiot.
So

Speaker 1 anyway, there's a follow-on from that after the match because

Speaker 1 Hoyland wasn't ready to let it go. I'll let you read the quote.
Oh, this is so good.

Speaker 2 Okay. So Hoyland goes on social media on Instagram, I think,

Speaker 2 and he's got a picture of him and Kyle, he and Kyle Walker coming together. And he says, Manchester is red.
Violets are blue. What a brilliant performance.
But the Oscar goes to

Speaker 2 very good.

Speaker 2 I love it.

Speaker 2 Whoever his PR team is, congratulations to that. Why do you hate it? What's wrong with that?

Speaker 2 Here's why.

Speaker 2 Because

Speaker 1 Hoyland, his price tag's too big for him, and he's a young player, right? Price tag's too big.

Speaker 2 Maybe.

Speaker 1 I would say. What do you mean?

Speaker 2 Maybe. It's not his fault.
Someone paid that much for him.

Speaker 1 He's underperformed.

Speaker 2 He's underperformed.

Speaker 2 Okay, God. Well, it's his fault.

Speaker 1 He's underperformed.

Speaker 2 100%. Yes, that, but not that.

Speaker 1 I like him as a young striker. What I would say is, since you've gotten to United, your team is stunk.
You've underperformed.

Speaker 1 And by the way, if they had won this Derby last season, he wouldn't have said that. It's really easy to kick cities when they're down.
So this

Speaker 1 social media, I think it was on Instagram, wherever it lives, it's very convenient to me. What I'd prefer is that he just keeps doing the business.

Speaker 1 And look, you can say whatever you want on your own social media.

Speaker 1 Again, it's for me to judge at this point, but it's not for me to do it. If you want to do it, that's fine.
It's just a very convenient manner.

Speaker 1 I think he got caught up in the emotion of it because, as I said, had they beat a title-winning city last season in that season and they won the Derby, he wouldn't have said those things.

Speaker 2 No, there's no.

Speaker 1 Okay, you're right.

Speaker 2 That's that's my point. I agree.
Just perform. That's fine.

Speaker 2 Interestingly, before the game,

Speaker 2 the news was, so watching the NBC broadcast, everyone was surprised.

Speaker 2 Two Robbies and Rebecca that two players were left out of the squad altogether and not due to injury. That was Garnacho and Marcus Rashford.
And I was thinking to myself, Tim, during the game, okay,

Speaker 2 this is one of those moments as a coach where, and I give Emrem a lot of credit for this because this is a hard thing to do.

Speaker 2 It's almost a make or break moment because you go into the game, they're losing for majority of the game.

Speaker 2 I can promise you at some point, even if he goes and looks in the mirror, Emerim at night, and said, if they had lost that game 1-0, I'm sure at some point on the bench, he would have said,

Speaker 2 maybe use garnacho right now yeah even if whatever's going on off the field and it's clear there's things going off the on off the field how they treat each other their teammates or whatever there's something going on there between rashford garnacho and the rest of their teammates i'm sure at some point he said maybe marcus rashford can pull a goal out because guess what players in the end team

Speaker 2 care about winning now they want their teammates to be good teammates they want to They want them to be fun to be around, nice to be around.

Speaker 2 But at the end, you'll put up with a lot of crap if the guy performs.

Speaker 2 Now, those two haven't been performing over the last few years at the level that everyone expects, but I'm sure at some point he was going,

Speaker 2 did I get this one right? Then all of a sudden, they win the game. And now I can promise you,

Speaker 2 today, when they're walking back in the locker room after a day off, he's going, see, guys, told you. See, we don't need them.
And if you don't do things the way I want, you're not playing.

Speaker 2 And so now Rashford and Garnacho have a decision to make.

Speaker 2 Do do they just say i'm done i'm done i'm over it fine move me out or or they get on they get on the bus and if they don't get on the bus i promise you they're gonna be gone yeah it's an interesting one for me ld because

Speaker 1 these aren't the same decision was taken but they're not the same for me um because what do you mean well i think two i think i think going forward it's not going to be the same right i think just two players at different points yeah of their united career so yeah i mean to your point there's going to be a time in that game where amarin's saying i wish i wish i could have them But I think when you're a manager and you take such a strong stance about player selection,

Speaker 1 you know that going into it. You basically are telling yourself, this is a big decision and there's going to be some fallout from this, but I have to, for the greater good of the team.
And

Speaker 1 I think his quotes, and one of our amazing producers

Speaker 1 will probably put this up on our screen at some point. There was a quote from Amerin.
He named a number of things that you have to do to get in his team. Right.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 any number of those things

Speaker 1 is what Garnacho and Rashford were doing.

Speaker 2 And there's probably other things that he doesn't want to say publicly, but

Speaker 2 what he's doing, Tim, is he's sending a message to the whole team by what he did with them. And so when you send that message to everyone, it's powerful and it carries a lot of weight.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And look, here's the quote.

Speaker 1 He said, for me, it's important, the performance in training, the performance in games, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you engage with your teammates, the way you push your teammates, all of that's important, right?

Speaker 1 So what he's basically saying there is

Speaker 1 either one or all of those things, probably most of those things, are something he doesn't like and he's not seeing. The issue, what I would say, and this is, this speaks to the

Speaker 1 enormity of the job and the task that Ruben Avrin has is this club has been littered with mediocrity for so long, the standards have dropped. There's not a lot of leaders.

Speaker 1 By the way, for the record, I was at United three years. You can say I was amazing or I sucked.
It doesn't matter. What I do know is I was inside those walls for four years.

Speaker 1 And I can assure you, Sir Alex Ferguson, let me scroll, would never have had to say the performance in training isn't good in games. The way you dress, the way, you know why?

Speaker 1 Because Gary Neville and Roy Keene would have been like, what are you wearing? That ain't correct.

Speaker 1 You eat like crap. Sort yourself out, right? Because the leadership structure at Manchester United was so strong within the dress room.

Speaker 1 So that would have never had to, that would have never had to been said on the outside. And so look,

Speaker 1 I think when I look at Marcus Rashford, he's a player I really like.

Speaker 1 I think he's a player who at one point in time, a couple of years ago, did some things on the pitch that we thought this kid is world class. He's playing for England.

Speaker 1 He's going to continue to be world class. I think what we've seen is maybe he's not the guy who just always wants the ball.

Speaker 1 Maybe he's a squad player who wants to kind of fit in, get in the slipstream, and be a really, really good Premier League player.

Speaker 1 And by the way, that's actually okay because I think some of the things he does off the field are brilliant. I think he's a top talent, whether that's at Manchester or not.

Speaker 1 His time at Manchester United feels like it could be coming to an end. That's my personal opinion.
Now, Garnacho, supremely talented, young player.

Speaker 1 He's got magic in his boots, can play on the left side, can play on the right side. This is a matter of he's not been schooled since he's gotten to the club.

Speaker 1 There's been zero leadership internally in the dressing room. He's somebody who needs direction and boundaries.
And I think Amaram could be the guy who gives it to him.

Speaker 2 Well said.

Speaker 2 Let's move on quick. The team that nobody still wants to talk about and they just keep flying on the radar at Chelsea.

Speaker 2 And by the way, if you haven't looked, they are two points back now of Liverpool. Liverpool have the game in hand, the Merseyside Derby, but they won again 2-1 on the weekend and they just keep going.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 just talk to me, Tim, about the Todd Bowley approach. And when he first came in, everyone was, you know, kind of befuddled by it, but.
All of us.

Speaker 1 I mean, you know, I think why I give Todd Bowley so much credit is because I was one of those people confused, right? We're all confused by,

Speaker 1 you know, he comes from a baseball background, right? And so we understand when you look at City currently, you look at Everton and Nottingham Forest, right? These are teams that were

Speaker 1 knocked back by profit and sustainability rules, right?

Speaker 1 It was a mess for some of these clubs. They're getting fined and docked points and all that.

Speaker 1 Todd Bowley's come in and he's basically said,

Speaker 1 we're going to only sign young players under a certain age. We're going to extend these contracts.

Speaker 1 Instead of giving them two you know three-year contracts with an option these are like seven eight nine year contracts we've never seen that right and to add to the confusion right with todd bowley it was it was he had grand potter as a manager lampar was in there tuchel pochatino right so it was chaotic and maybe by design but the thing about toddboli that i found interesting was when you're in the position like he is and things aren't going right, you automatically come out and defend yourself, right?

Speaker 1 He didn't do that,

Speaker 1 which added to the mystery, right?

Speaker 1 When you get, when, when your team stinks and what you're trying to put in place isn't working, these young players weren't working, this, this bloated squad of 30-plus players wasn't working.

Speaker 1 You continually bring in managers who have to deal with this bloated squad, and then you sack them very quickly. This sounds and feels like chaos.

Speaker 1 Now that the dust is settling, and Mareska, by the way, ends up Mareska, hats off to you. I mean, you can already probably have manager of the season.
I mean, he's doing that good of a job, is

Speaker 1 he trimmed the squad. He basically said, your Raheem Sterlings and your people who I don't have any use for, which is fine, your surplus requirements, feel free to move on, right?

Speaker 1 He did it at the beginning of the season. Then he basically said, look, we are, we are in a European competition, a Premier League competition.

Speaker 1 I'm going to have a Premier League 11, more than most likely, and then I'm going to have a midweek 11, right? And the two aren't really going to blend. I'm not going to chop and change too much.

Speaker 1 These are going to, and that's what those young players needed. They needed a belief in, because what was happening before was the squad was so big with these talented young players.

Speaker 1 It was always, okay, well, this will be my center back pairing today. And then next week, I'll do another center back pairing.
And then you'll play on the wing one week. It didn't work, right?

Speaker 1 And Enzo Maruska has come in and has been so incredibly strong and said, if I'm the manager, this is how we're going to do it.

Speaker 1 And we're starting to see the success of the youngest team in the Premier League. I mean, absolutely flying high.
And look, the talent is there. Clearly, Todd Bully wasn't signing bad players.

Speaker 1 He was signing really talented young players. But with that

Speaker 1 comes some worry. worry.
And right now they're getting it right. And I mean, there's a lot of surprise in this season, Cities downfall being one of them.

Speaker 1 Where Nottingham Forest is, and we'll talk about that in a second. That's a surprise.
But I mean, Jesus, Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table battling it out.

Speaker 1 That for me is just like, you would have never thought it.

Speaker 2 But it's happening and it's real. And Chelsea team to keep an eye on.
Real quick before break, so Forrest come from behind and beat Villa 2-1.

Speaker 2 I just, the only thing that, like, Forrest, congrats you. Great season.

Speaker 2 The Emmy Martinez save, if you have not seen it, Tim, just real quick, for me, I can't remember seeing a better save because the ball's behind him. I'm not even sure he knows it's there.

Speaker 2 He reaches back and pulls it off the goal line. And just as a goalkeeper,

Speaker 2 how difficult is that?

Speaker 1 Well, by so many accounts, he's certainly the top goalkeeper on the planet for a lot of reasons, club and country, but in the top three, of course.

Speaker 1 I jumped out of my seat when I saw it. I just think when

Speaker 1 there's a reaction save and that save is basically behind the goalkeeper, so a goalkeeper has to, in a last ditch effort, reach behind themselves to claw a ball out. That's when, that's when the save

Speaker 1 starts to gain momentum and kind of

Speaker 1 become otherworldly. And for me, that was that.
It was, it was, it was a reaction. We know his reactions are really good.

Speaker 1 And for him to be able to claw it out when it was clearly behind his body, nearly behind the line, those are the most impressive.

Speaker 1 So I thought, I thought my hat's off to him again, but he makes, he makes so many of those that you're almost like, this, this somewhat becomes routine.

Speaker 1 But yeah, look, Nottingham Forest, fourth place in the Premier League.

Speaker 1 I could have never imagined that. I mean, when I think about before the season, what you'd have got better odds on or what would have surprised you more? Would it be Nottingham Forest

Speaker 1 in fourth place or would it be Manchester City's downfall?

Speaker 1 I'm not sure you get odds on either of them.

Speaker 2 There's very few times in my life where I'm watching a game and I say, wow, what a save or what a goal. And I was like, my son was with me in New York and I was like, what a save.

Speaker 2 He's like, what, what, what, what? I'm like, just watch this. This was fun.

Speaker 2 That save was certainly surprising. I think what was not surprising, two sackings on the weekend, Gary O'Neill and Russell Martin for Wolves and Southampton, respectively,

Speaker 2 kind of saw it both coming. Russell Martin actually left the field before the whistle blew

Speaker 2 halftime, and I think he knew it was over.

Speaker 2 They knew it was over.

Speaker 2 It's always tough to see that, but now there's opportunity.

Speaker 2 So every manager now is contacting those clubs and saying all their agents are contacting and saying how great of a manager they would be there. And it'd be interesting to see what happens there.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's interesting because you never want to see managers get sacked or lose their job.

Speaker 1 The fact of the matter is in the Premier League, with the business being so high and the financial structure that is global football, managers will get sacked in the Premier League.

Speaker 1 And the fact of the matter is Wolves in Southampton are firmly rooted in the bottom three and they're just not playing well. And,

Speaker 1 you know, I think it's a cautionary tale. And

Speaker 1 this is a big debate is do you go and play expansive football or do you just try and stay in the Premier League by hook or by crook?

Speaker 1 And I think you have to have a plan A, B, and possibly C going into the season so that it doesn't feel like a radical change when you do it.

Speaker 1 Look, what I would say is I'm very interested to see what names pop up for these jobs because both of these teams, although there's still time because of

Speaker 1 when the sackings happened, both of these teams are going to struggle to stay up. And so you now have to find a really good manager who's willing to take that challenge on.
Not easy.

Speaker 2 And maybe willing to go down with them, stay down with them and come back up, right?

Speaker 2 All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we will get into mailbag questions and anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.

Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Airbnb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 1 I crack open a Coors light.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaker 2 But as we prepare to bring our unfiltered brand of non-stop soccer coverage, it's good to know AT ⁇ T has your back with the AT ⁇ T guarantee.

Speaker 1 Staying connected matters. That's why in the rare event of a network outage, AT ⁇ T will proactively credit you for a full day of service.
That's the AT ⁇ T guarantee.

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

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

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Speaker 1 Okay, time for everybody's favorite segment of the week. Well, if it's not everyone's favorite, it's certainly Jordan's favorite because she gets to have airtime.
Mailbag questions.

Speaker 1 Jordan, get on in here.

Speaker 2 Jordan, by the way, you were so cold too at the Times Square. Oh, you poor thing.
I was bad for you.

Speaker 3 So bundled with my hat and my scarf.

Speaker 2 Jordan was there, but I was braved it. Oh, that poor girl.

Speaker 3 And I was kneeling on the ground because I was trying to take pictures.

Speaker 1 I know, I know. But you know what? Then you also got your own airtime because I think there was quite a number of times we had to take pictures with you.

Speaker 3 She said, guys, guys, I was like, guys, can I get a selfie? I'm a big fan.

Speaker 1 Everything's about, it's about you. This segment's about you.

Speaker 2 Roll in. All right, what do you got?

Speaker 3 Okay,

Speaker 3 so my first question comes from Tyler via email.

Speaker 3 He says, in David Beckham's Netflix documentary, he shared a story about the conflict with Diego Simeone, but ended up swapping jerseys with one another, which showed great sportsmanship given the history between the two.

Speaker 3 Do Tim or Landon have a similar story with an opposing player?

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. There are a lot.
Like there are lots of guys on the field I absolutely hated. Like could not, I mean, there were guys, Kyle Beckerman, I played with when I was 16 on the U17 national team.

Speaker 2 And every time we played Salt Lake, every time for 90 minutes, he would just bitch and moan at the referee. I mean, every call.
I was like, what are you talking about? It wasn't.

Speaker 2 And I'd say, Kyle, dude, you can't complain about every foul. Right.
Kyle.

Speaker 2 Okay, you can. I absolutely couldn't stand him, but that's why he was a winner.
Like, he just cared so much. And of course, we would trade jerseys.

Speaker 2 Now, we were good friends, so it's a little different.

Speaker 2 But yeah, I mean, the beauty of sports for me, Tim, and JR is like you can go through that in all those battles, and then you leave it right there. Like, I love hockey.

Speaker 2 After every hockey playoff series, after all the things they do and they're fighting and literally fighting all that, they take the gloves off and they shake hands. And I love that about sports.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean,

Speaker 1 the one that stands out is I don't remember if, and I have traded jerseys with guys who I didn't like or didn't like me. And because again, it is, as we're saying, it's the ultimate sign of respect.

Speaker 1 Like it's literally, forget anything else. That's like, okay,

Speaker 1 this person and I understand each other. And I remember

Speaker 1 2015, Diego Costa and I at Goodison Park. Diego Costa was a brilliant striker for Chelsea at the time.

Speaker 1 And he was always mixing it up. And we were getting pasted.
And so I just thought, here, this was a perfect day.

Speaker 1 This was one of the stories where it was like the perfect day where I'm like, I suck so bad today, but I really want to get sent off because I am so tired of being out here sucking.

Speaker 1 And I think we lost 5-1 or something like that at home. It might have been opening weekend.

Speaker 1 And he had said something to Seamus Coleman, who was my right back and friend. So I got to grips with him and I gripped him up and I was begging for a fight, begging for it.

Speaker 1 And like I couldn't be separated. And after the game, they, like I said, whooped up on us and we hugged it out and hugged and kissed and walked off the field arm in arm.

Speaker 1 And it was like this, you just kind of understand that there's just part of the show, yeah. It's part of it, right? And you, you appreciate the competitiveness.

Speaker 2 We could do a whole episode on jerseys and stuff, but like the best thing was back with the galaxy.

Speaker 2 Anytime we played like Real Madrid or Barcelona in a friendly, guys who were like the 28th guy on the roster, the minute the whistle blew, we're sprinting to Cristiano and Messi and be like, Can we trade Jersey?

Speaker 2 And they look at him like amazing, nah, bro. Absolutely,

Speaker 1 I don't mind the effort, though.

Speaker 2 I love the effort, but go on, all right, JR.

Speaker 3 Here's a question from James via email: Do you see the relegation system implemented in soccer in the U.S.?

Speaker 2 James, you want to open a can of worms, huh, bud?

Speaker 2 Uh, do the question is, do we see it happening?

Speaker 2 My

Speaker 2 gut is that

Speaker 2 it will happen in some form eventually. Now, I'm not sitting on the fence.
I'm not trying to be vague. Right now, if you are the Vancouver White Caps, for example, James are up for sale.

Speaker 2 And I think the price I saw was $475 million. Let's call it $500 million.

Speaker 2 If I'm a multi-billionaire and I pay $500 million for a franchise,

Speaker 2 and the next season I could get relegated and lose all my revenue and my valuation gets cut by whatever 50%, 70%, 80%. Why would I ever sign up for that?

Speaker 2 I mean, it's just like, that's just an easy business decision.

Speaker 2 So they would have to find some creativity, Tim, but I think eventually that system is really enticing and exciting to sports fans once they understand it.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So, so, James, great question.
We

Speaker 1 at Unfiltered Soccer promise, because we've already talked about it internally, to have a much larger discussion on promotion and relegation at a much higher level

Speaker 1 than just a short blurb, because it's an awesome conversation. It's one that I can tell you for, so

Speaker 1 I don't think promotion relegation can work in America. And I'll give you loads of reasons why I think that

Speaker 1 as we go forward in these podcasts,

Speaker 1 a lot of it starts with the conversation about what Landon just spoke about in terms of valuation

Speaker 1 losses and profits.

Speaker 1 What I would say, and this is the fun part about it,

Speaker 1 I have had multiple conversations. I'm still on the side of no.
I've had multiple promotion relegation conversations with people who I trust and who I respect and who I love.

Speaker 1 These are agents, these are head of leagues, these are owners. And I've staunchly argued my point against, and I've walked away from that conversation and thought, I can see it happening.

Speaker 1 I can see it happening for the reasons I've been told. So it's a debate that, look, I would happily jump on board with anything that continues to grow the game of soccer in this country.

Speaker 1 So that's hands down. If that means yes or no, I'm on board.
I just currently, for my own feelings, think that it won't work.

Speaker 1 And I, you know, there's some valuable conversations around that that we'll have.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 3 Before I read the last question, I just would like to mention to people that we don't have an episode next week.

Speaker 3 We're taking a week off for the holiday, but we will be back with a special episode on New Year's Eve. And we would love to get lots of interesting questions from people.

Speaker 3 So don't forget to send them to us on social media, or you can email me if you want to. Feedback at Unfiltered Soccer.
I do read all the emails.

Speaker 2 Just so people know, Jordan, it's in Tim's contract that he can't work more than four weeks in a row.

Speaker 2 Not in my contract. So I do like that.
I work at ABC. That's right,

Speaker 3 okay. So, last email is from Parker, and he wants to know, what can I do? I also want to know this question, Parker.
What can I do as a U.S.

Speaker 3 men's national team fan and a fan of soccer in general to help grow the game in the USA?

Speaker 2 Great question.

Speaker 2 If you love the game, Parker, the easiest way is to talk to people about it and try to get them. What I always say, try to get them to go to a game.

Speaker 2 The game on TV for people who don't appreciate all the nuance and what the game is about can be boring. It can.

Speaker 2 And there's a lot of sports I feel like if I watch cricket on TV, I'm like, this is so boring.

Speaker 2 If I go to a cricket match, which I haven't, or if I talk to people who know about it, it becomes much more interesting.

Speaker 2 I might not go and I might not love it, but give them an opportunity to go with you to a game.

Speaker 2 I have never once had someone go to a game and not say, wow, I loved it. What an experience.

Speaker 2 So get them to go with you to a game, teach them about the game, all the nuances, and you got a good chance of getting them involved. Great question.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Great question.
Great answer, LD. Look, for me, it's about

Speaker 1 individuals creating community around the game. And what is creating community around the game?

Speaker 1 Landon said, go to a game. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 There's so many levels of the game that you can support, whether that be the highest level or everywhere in between.

Speaker 1 Go to bars, restaurants, watch games with friends, support local soccer teams in your community, play,

Speaker 1 sign up for leagues, anything that surrounds the game.

Speaker 1 It's interesting.

Speaker 1 Now that I don't kick a ball and I can no longer play or don't want to play, if I'm brutally honest, I have so many opportunities in my everyday life to just create community around a game.

Speaker 1 Yes, some of my jobs mean that, but... watch games, talk to coaches, just offline, not official capacities, just connect people within the game.
And I obviously have a platform to do that.

Speaker 1 But in general, in your local communities, I just think you just have to continue to create the community around soccer and people will get excited.

Speaker 1 And the great thing is, you could be the steward for that cause, right? And so you could get people in your office and say, let's go grab a beer.

Speaker 1 Everyone wants to go hang out and be around people they like and then introduce them to soccer, you know. And I think that's important.
Just watch it on TV.

Speaker 2 Love that. Awesome.

Speaker 3 Thanks, guys. Jordan, thank you.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Jordan.

Speaker 2 All right, Timmy, last but certainly not least, anything but soccer. All right, so I like to tie a lot into the NFL, as you do.
So I was watching the Eagles Steelers game yesterday. Yeah.
Okay.

Speaker 2 And the Eagles coach, Siriani, Nick Siriani,

Speaker 2 there was a play in the game, Jalen Carter, defensive tackle, gets an unnecessary roughness, like a whatever, a stupid 15-yard penalty called against him, right? The Eagles' defensive lineman.

Speaker 2 So he comes off the field. And when he gets off the field, Siriani, who's the head coach, walks over

Speaker 2 to

Speaker 2 talk to him about it. And I'm guessing he wasn't going to say nice things about it,

Speaker 2 how it was unacceptable, etc.

Speaker 2 Before he can get there, the defensive line coach for the Eagles stepped in and who knows what was said.

Speaker 2 Hopefully they have audio on the sidelines, which I know they do because I see a lot of clips with NFL audio. So they better release that.

Speaker 2 And in no uncertain terms, told the head coach, like, leave him alone, basically.

Speaker 2 And I'm watching this, and I've been a head coach, right? And I'm thinking to myself,

Speaker 2 the message that sends to your staff that you're allowing a staff member to come in and cut in front of what you want to say to one of your players and to the rest of the team is crazy, right?

Speaker 2 You have to have in organization, organizations like this, and with macho egotistical men, you have to have hierarchy and you have to know who the boss is. You have to.

Speaker 2 And if you don't, there are big problems.

Speaker 2 The crazy thing,

Speaker 2 the Eagles are 12 and two.

Speaker 2 They won the game.

Speaker 2 But I can tell, and it's not a secret, like people who follow the team or whatever, it's a bit of a house of cards that's ready to crumble.

Speaker 2 And I could not believe, Tim.

Speaker 2 Can you imagine one of the assistant coaches or Chris Woods, a goalkeeper coach, getting in front of Sir Alex Ferguson when he's trying to talk to you and say, hey, hey, hey, I got it, pal.

Speaker 2 Leave him alone. I mean, he would have lost his mind.
So I could not believe it watching it. And it just makes me wonder, like, how long is that sustainable?

Speaker 1 Well, I think, I think the house of cards part of it is, is when you look at the Philadelphia Eagles last year, that was a bit of the knock on them of

Speaker 1 why things imploded, right? And so maybe maybe there's a carry-on effect to what you're saying. There's some truth in that.

Speaker 2 A couple things.

Speaker 1 I know people are going to say, and of course, it's not politically correct, nor should you say it, that like, I'm a soft soccer player and all we do is get fouled and roll around. That's fine.

Speaker 1 The fact of the matter is football is so over-aggressive. I'm not talking about the tackling and the hitting.
That's brilliant.

Speaker 1 I feel like I never see a conversation on the sideline that's anything other than some guy being beat red in the face, shouting. It's just such an over-aggressive thing.

Speaker 1 And by the way, if you ever watch me play, I like to shout. That's not the point.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 1 it just, it always surprises me. Like in football, there's so much energy and emotion and like and like adrenaline that that's all they do is like just yell and scream for no apparent reason.

Speaker 2 It's just testosterone, dude.

Speaker 1 It is.

Speaker 1 And so, you know, when I think about, but the funny part of that is like, I always, I always think it's interesting, like on the, on the outside, we only see, we only see it from one point of view, right?

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 1 either maybe we're at the game, but most of the time we see it on television from an angle and it's a replay of the same angle of people arguing.

Speaker 1 But I've been in these, you know, you and I have been in these dress rooms together. I've been in dress rooms where it's all kicked off and things have been said to

Speaker 1 the head coach. And, and, you know, I always think the head coach is that like, that's the top of the pyramid, right? Like that, that sanctity can never be broken.

Speaker 1 And I remember even being in a dressing room where my literally my best friend um on the team who if i stood up to him would literally just go boom and pummel me into the ground like that's how strong he was and i remember there being an argument with

Speaker 1 to your point with uh him who was very much an alpha male for whatever that means in today's society he was like it was his way or the highway this is my best friend and there was a the coach said something that he didn't like did something that he didn't like so my friend stands up and i think, oh, God, and everyone thought, oh, God, this is after a loss.

Speaker 1 He was literally going to hit our head coach.

Speaker 1 And I remember taking, getting up from my stool and beelining it for my best friend and thinking, he's going to have to smash me first, which he would have, but I'm not going to let him.

Speaker 1 Like, even if I agree with my best friend, he cannot do anything to my head coach. You cannot hit him.
He cannot do because once that happens, everything's lost. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Thankfully, I did not get beat up that day.

Speaker 1 Nor did our head coach. At some point, hours later, cooler heads prevailed.
But yeah,

Speaker 1 I agree. If you're the head coach, ultimately, you have carte blanche to say and do whatever you want, whether people like it or not.
So

Speaker 2 you have to be respected, right? Like that, that was so disrespectful, that whole interaction. I was thinking, how do you come back from that? So let me coach.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's hard. What I would say is.

Speaker 1 Being a Giants fan, any dysfunction in Dallas or in Philadelphia,

Speaker 2 I appreciate it makes me happy um so long may it continue sorry eagles fans probably won't be at an eagles well i will say tim and you know we can end on this we've been in the game a long time we've been you know we're in touch with people all involved in the game on different levels on many different occasions i have seen teams succeed where stuff like that is going on behind the scenes win championships etc where it's a disaster but they're just so much better or so much more talented that they can still win now now.

Speaker 2 It's not a deal, but it happens, dude. Agreed.
All right, guys. Thank you all for being with us today.
Quick note, no show next week. Boo, it's in Tim's contract.

Speaker 2 We'll be back on New Year's Eve with a New Year's Eve special.

Speaker 2 Meantime, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show all across our social platforms at unfiltered soccer.

Speaker 1 Yeah, thanks, everybody. It absolutely is not in my contract.
I'm here for all of our listeners every week. Hit me up whenever you like, and we'll connect.
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW.

Speaker 1 Have an amazing week. We'll see you in two weeks for another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.

Speaker 2 Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, all the things to everyone celebrating. Enjoy.

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