LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase

He's the best player in the league. That doesn't default you into winning the Landon Donovan MVP award.
Until I do something to get canceled on this show, then I'll be the Tim Howard MVP award. No chance.
Welcome everyone to Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S.
soccer for the past five years. LD, I see your VW swag going strong in the back.
I'm glad you got it. Got my mug.
They sent me a shirt to me. I will wear it at some point.
I also have a jersey. When it's National Team Week, I will.
I see your mug in the corner there. I'm going to get it its own Instagram account.
Tim's mug. Listen, I'm going to wear my jersey on National Team Week as well.
Proudly, by the way, because that's all I get now is just to be a fan. How are you? All good? Good, man.
What a weekend. We'll get into it in LA.
Saw all my old buddies, Janinho, Omar Gonzalez, Mike McGee, AJ De La Garza, Robbie Keane. I couldn't take it.
I couldn't take it. I know.
It probably made you sick, but it was so fun. I was watching the game, and then the love fest came on after, and I was just like, oh, my God.
Here we go, Galaxy again. But it was good to see you.
Oh, it was amazing. All the staff.
It was one of those moments in life where I just enjoyed it. I was just sitting there enjoying it the whole time.
Proper football club, man. It was amazing.
Don't forget follow us guys, social media, Unfiltered Soccer subscribe on YouTube make sure you follow on Apple Podcasts Spotify. If you love what we're doing leave a message.
It helps other people find us you can also email us at feedback at Unfiltered Soccer. So what do we got today, Timmy? Something special.
We got something special. For the first time on the unfiltered soccer podcast, we have our first guest and it is my, it's my honor to introduce Bolton legend, Houston dynamo legend, U S men's national team, world cup member, lead soccer analyst at Fox sports soccer dad, and all around a truly amazing friend and person, Stuen yes yes honored to make my debut boys uh in the podcast you know i heard you talking about your sponsors volkswagen but timmy is that a louis vuitton soccer ball up there are you trying to it is a little louis i mean that would be on brand for you bro it would be i appreciate the shout because i don, but we're working on it.
We're working on it. I would have thought you did by the amount of bags you have.
Let's go. Come steamrolling in my guy.
How you been, bro? Everything good? I'm good, man. You know, I was at Dignity Health Sports Park for the Galaxy win on Saturday.
So it was fun to see the Galaxy back, and it was a great buzz in that building. But otherwise, man, you know, I'm being soccer dad.
I know you boys are both soccer dads as well. I'm running around from soccer practice to dance, to gymnastics, to like, this was a nice break.
I actually, by being on this podcast today, I get to skip school run. So if we can, if we can film for like two hours, that would be great.
Weekly guest. Yeah.
Weekly guest, 7am. Thanks.
Sorry, Kara. You can do a daily shoot are you doing boys Landon you done gloating if you had like you know 48 hours actually I brought I wanted to show you guys something just because you guys wouldn't really know I mean so I got my ring I'm going to wear it just I'm just going to wear it okay well I'm going to go grab my tooth if you give me a second well I, I don't have enough fingers for mine, pal.
Oh, wow.

Yeah, that's fair.

I mean, you can share, Atlanta.

I don't have any, clearly.

So, you know, we'll just pass them along.

Tim, I was also just wondering, are Landon and Ricky Pooge, are they like the same human at this point?

I mean, they're wearing each other's shirts.

Ricky comes out for the parade.

He's got Landon's shirt on. Landon came

out with Ricky's

shirt. I was like, oh my gosh.

I said it. I said it's gross.
It's absolutely

gross. I get it.
We get it.

Can we just talk about the game?

All right. Jump in.

Jealousy comes in all forms, guys.

I don't know what you expected here, Landon.

I don't know what you expected having me on.

All right. So you called the game.

Let's just dig into the actual game.

Tim said last week, it was a great quote.

He said, finals are often disappointing.

Like semifinals are often way better than finals

because finals can be cagey, et cetera.

So just from you, we didn't hear the podcast.

I didn't hear the broadcast.

Tim heard the broadcast.

I was in the stadium. So just what was your take on the actual game and how it played out? Yeah, I actually thought the first half was a really good game.
You know, we had the, the two goals from the galaxy, I think in a neutral, well, not a neutral venue. Uh, once MLS got away from the neutral venue, it really was to incentivize teams in the regular season.
And so you get to host cup and it's a huge advantage. I thought the crowd was fantastic.
As we said, just jokingly a minute ago, the galaxy were back, but in order to truly be back, they had to win that game. And so I think there was a bit of pressure for LA.
I think the fans were a little antsy as well about, you know, knowing that they needed to win the final. So having that early goal in the ninth minute, what a goal it was.
I wasn't really sure how the Galaxy would look without Ricky Pooge in a big final where I knew New York were going to defend. They played with five in the back, but Brugman and Delgado and Cerio, I thought were fantastic, the three midfielders.
And that was, that was kind of the unknown. You knew Paints was going to get chances.
You knew Gabriel Peck was going to be dangerous on the right.

And then Jovulic has been just a total stud up front,

20 goals on the season and 21st.

And I just love how he told us in an interview,

we interviewed him post-game 2019,

and he was saying, I am the future of the Galaxy.

When he knew if he got that opportunity,

he was going to score goals.

And so I just thought the Galaxy got on top of him early. New York Red Bull looked a little shell-shocked.
And then second half, they kind of came back into it. But then I was impressed that the Galaxy had to show another side of their soccer.
And they want to just beat you 5-4 as opposed to 2-0 and shut the game down. But they did really kind of shut it down.
And Greg made some good defensive subs and they were deserving winners. I thought on the balance of, of the full game.
Yeah. I, you know, it was interesting.
I was, I was watching it and it's just thought like, I couldn't, to my, to my comment last week, LD, like finals are cagey because basically you have each team has one hand on the trophy. So you're like, we're afraid to lose this.
And that's how teams play. It's just natural.
And I just remember thinking the second half was so chaotic. I literally couldn't believe it.
I think both sets of teams, like you get into these games and oftentimes say like, it's easy to say like control tempo. Sometimes you get into like this back and forth like basketball match and you can't stop it.
Like it's just the ball gets lumped. They're on top of second balls.
You try and play it, it gets nicked. And it was so chaotic that I was like, I was utterly thrilled at the environment that it was.
I love the fact that it was in LA. And look, off the field, I heard all of the post-game speeches.
I have so much respect for the Galaxy organization. You've been a part of it for forever.
They are the benchmark in MLS and the way that they didn't rest on past history. Things went sour over the last couple of years.
And for me, it would have been easy to say, yeah, but we're the Galaxy. It's fine they they they took it personally what lafc had built they took it personally that they weren't good enough and they and they decided to get back to their standards and raise it and they did it in a very direct uh intentional way and i just thought wow i was blown away by that and really impressive and happy for greg vanney i was um so two things one just field, I was shocked.
And I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was expecting to see the Galaxy I've seen all season. And like, it was like the, whatever, six minute ball goes back to McCarthy.
He's got zero pressure on him. And he just smashed the ball at the field.
And I'm like, oh, they're not messing around today. So it was interesting.
Early on, they played like, they were way more direct, way more vertical, and then picked up a few second balls. And all of a sudden, they were 3v3 at New York's back line.
And you're like, whoa, what is New York doing? But it was, I thought Vanny handled it perfectly. By the way, that guy has been through so much crap over the last three or four years.
Job on the line consistently. Everyone calling for him to be gone.
And he just persevered. I was so happy for him.
After the game, I saw him. And you know, like with coaches, they don't even celebrate.
They're not even, he was just like, oh, thank God we won. You know, like you couldn't even celebrate.
The players are dancing around. But Stu, you know that feeling like he's, he just, you could see in his eyes.
He's like, thank God. You know, we, we, as we do on the broadcast, you meet with the coaches and players the day before.
And I asked him, I said, when you took this job in 2021, did you ever doubt that you could get back here with the Galaxy? You know, and he'd done it with Toronto and he came in and he was going to be the guy that was going to flip this team and this franchise around and man you you referenced it landed that i we called many of greg vanney's games over the last couple of years and i just saw a guy sometimes that look exhausted and he's getting it from every angle and his big stars get injured you know chicharito tears his acl and yada like everything that could have gone wrong for him i think went wrong it also goes hand in hand. And I'm interested in your thoughts on this land.
And as we also met with Will Koontz and, you know, I think he deserves a ton of credit because the fans walked out and, you know, they demanded change and they felt what was in the front office at that point. And the way the club was going was inadequate and it was in the wrong direction and they demanded change.
They got changed, But you also know when it's a coach, the coach is also only as good as his players oftentimes on the field. And I think Greg, we all know Greg Vanney is a very good coach, but clearly that wasn't manifesting on the field and winning cups.
All of a sudden you bring in a good GM, sign the right players, all the pieces come together and he's able to win. So I just think like for the galaxy too tim you talked about it like they they're used to it was beckham donovan keen ibrahimovic you know like chicharito it was always kind of the big stars i would argue i mean ricky puge he played at barcelona but he wasn't like the big star i think the galaxy have changed their ethos but yet have still found a different way be successful.
And in today's MLS, I'm curious what both of you guys feel about this. Like, I don't know, what's more important to have the stars and to have like in a city like LA and try to stand out a little bit? Or is winning championships clearly going to be more effective for the Galaxy brand.
I think winning championships is what, yeah.

You can do it both ideally.

But you have to win.

And Tim said last week, and I never thought of it this way,

and he's getting his Houston Dynamo owners

are going to be spending a lot more money after this.

He said getting a big national team star,

U.S. national team star, and a big Mexican national team star

and playing together, he thinks, is the way forward.

And I thought that was really good.

But if you think back to your successful Houston teams, you guys, well, first of all, you didn't have like big, big stars, but you had all these guys who genuinely cared about the club, like genuinely cared about the club and Houston and doing right by Houston and wanted to succeed for that city. And Ricky hasn't been here long, but that's why I know you guys are giving me crap for it, but like, I wanted to honor that I can see in the way he plays in the way he cares about the club that it's genuine.
And it was devastating for him not to play in the final. I spoke to his dad after the game, his dad was like beside himself with joy, even though his son didn't play, like they love the club and probably growing up in that Barcelona environment, they get that.
They understand what that's like. And so Greg brought that back.
The players brought it back. But then to your point, Stu, Nelson, Yoshida, Garces, who, by the way, was absolutely the best player on the field.
Yeah, he was amazing. Incredible.
And so just what they were able to do defensively, bringing Marque Delgado a few years ago, like they were just, they were much more stable and they still gave up, you know, lots of chances and some big chances because of the way they played McCarthy and goal. So Wilkins and Greg just built a team that was finally capable of actually winning.
It wasn't just all attacking. And they won games 5-4 and 6-3 and all that.
But on Saturday, it just showed that they could do it in a variety of ways. Yeah.
I mean, I think the interesting part about it is we're all of a similar generation and we've seen different iterations of MLS. And what we have to do now is we have to respect the American soccer fan.
There's no team in MLS that wants to be crap, but have this amazing DP. No one wants that.
That used to be MLS, right? It used to be, don't really care if we win, bring the star from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, wherever, and we'll clamor around this one player, even though we stink. Fans don't want that anymore.
Fans would much rather have no household names and win than one or two massive stars to go see every now and again and lose. To Greg Vanney, again, I can't give him enough flowers because here's the thing, Lenny, you talked about him being under so much pressure.
Do you know how it's difficult to win a championship? It's nearly impossible to be the guy who's won championships and come into an organization and be the one who's supposed to be the savior. That's, that's nearly impossible.
It's nearly impossible. And the fact that he was able to weather that storm, I just, even after the game, he's a very humble guy, in my opinion.
And even after the game, I was, I was thinking, I would love to hear him say, yeah, like he didn't do it. He was very humble.
He took, he took it in How you like me now. Yeah.
It was actually the last part of that conversation with him, Timmy. I didn't finish or close the loop on it.
When I asked him the question, he said, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I knew we'd be back here. And, you know, I guess it's one thing to say it now.
It's easier to say it once you're in the final. But look, I mean, all three of us are involved in club ownership in some different capacity.
And the reality is to try to recruit

those types of guys that you're talking about, Landon, with Ricky Pooge and loving the city.

MLS has gone through these iterations, as you're talking about, Tim, but also in a period,

I would say over the last, I don't know, five, six years, really starting with Atlanta United's

kind of growth and explosion in South America, where they would get these younger, you know, Argentine, South American guys, 19, 20, 21. Hey, we will bring you to MLS.
We'll develop you. We'll give you a platform, you know, and then we're going to sell you and we're going to make money on you.
You're going to get to do this. So then MLS and really the problem that's happened in Atlanta is that that model really worked and then it didn't work.
And then all these guys were expecting that and it was just a stop. They weren't investing in the club and in the city and in the league and saying, I'm here.
Now, look, Ricky Pooge is getting paid a lot of money. So I think that helps.
And I think that's part of it. You have to pay these guys to want to think like, I got to go somewhere else after this.
And there's going to be those guys like Gabriel Peck is probably not going to be an LA galaxy lifer. Like he's going to go to Europe.
He's a young Brazilian guy. He, you know, he, he's had a great season.
He's probably thinking about the next stage, but that's the challenge. I mean, and I know you're dealing with that in Houston, Tim.
It's like, you know, how do we complement like a really solid core group of American players and guys that get it and a coach that gets it and then add these pieces and fit this puzzle together to have success on the field. But like the signs are there in Houston.
Like it's been a much better trajectory than it's been in the past. And it sounds so simple.
Hire good people, hire a good sign good players. There you go.
There's your blueprint. Everyone gets it wrong.
The chemistry is hard. The puzzle is very difficult.
But when you get it right, you do realize how special it is. We saw that in LA this weekend.
How do you guys feel about MLS? It Galaxy, this is a John Strong stat. I mean, the last three MLS Cup champions all missed the playoffs the year before.
I mean, that's pretty exciting to me. That gives you the tools to change it over.
Yeah, that used to be standard in MLS. But what it shows you, I mean, we all make fun of the crazy rules in MLS and whatever.
But what Don Garber has always done is he came from the NFL and the NFL's number one thing is parody, right? So any, in any given, when do they start the league? August. Every NFL team believes this is the year and they, they do in baseball.
You know, the Pittsburgh pirates don't go, this is our year, right? Because the Yankees and we'll get to the Mets and Juan Soto, they're spending more in the Dodgers. You have no chance.
But the NFL, and so Garber always wanted to have parity in NMLS. Some teams spend more, obviously.
But Ralph Salt Lake was second or third lowest spending team in the league this year, and they finished near the top of the West. So there's parity and there's opportunity.
Last thing, just to tie a bow

on the Galaxy.

It's pretty interesting and I want to get you guys

quick thoughts on this.

If you guys remember last

year, fans were calling for

Chris Klein to be out

in the middle of the year. They were boycotting games

and if you just think about that versus a year ago.

I wonder

from a fan standpoint how people now view that. And, you know, there's got to be a little bit of like, look what we did, right? We got him out.
Will Coons came in. Everything changed.
Tom Braun is now the president. And now we're back to winning.
And, you know, it's just an interesting dynamic. and you guys saw this in Europe more than I did.
But how much power in those situations fans have? And is that coming now to America? Yeah, I mean, I think it is. I'm a little torn on it because I am a fan of, you know, there's sometimes where I'm a fan and sometimes I'm an owner and sometimes I'm an analyst.
But, you know, there is power in that. And we've seen it for the good, right? We saw it for the good when, when the European super league was, was trying to form and fans were like, that ain't happening and over our dead bodies and, and they've single handedly like stopped it almost.
And so we see that for, for the good look, sometimes it gets a little bit nasty, but what I would say is, and I'm tilting this conversation to the positive. What I would say is, again, I started MLS.
You guys started MLS when there was nobody there. They didn't care.
So I'd much rather have to navigate a fan base that is passionate and cares than one that just doesn't turn up and could care less about our team. So that's from my perception.
Pressure and accountability are good things to have. And I think it holds the organization accountable.
And then it, it then forces you as ownership or front office to make a decision and to filter out the noise, but understand like, what is, what is real. And I think part of that is having to listen to your customer, which is the fan and the fan are your you they're your most loyal customer that you're going to get they invest in everything that you do and so you would be ridiculous not to listen to them and they have an opinion and they should they're in it more than anybody else and so I love that the Galaxy fans did that it's nothing new and as you said Landon and in other parts of the world where they'll you know turn up in hundreds of thousands and throw rocks and you know all kinds of crazy stuff and you don't want to see it to get to that level but I think it was important clearly that the Galaxy fans did that they made their voices heard there was change in the front office and you know what that change should have come for many years and maybe that pressure and accountability didn't exist or I'm not sure why those changes weren't made previously I'm sure sure when they're looking at this now saying, man, we're MLS Cup champs and we should have done this earlier.
But, you know, it's the Galaxy are in a good place. I said this on the broadcast that MLS needs the Galaxy to be what they are.
They're the winningest franchise in the league's history. Them versus LAFC and kind of, you know, being almost second fiddle for the last five, six years since LAFC has just ran rampant.
Like that's going to be fun now if both teams are good. And you know what? Galaxy need LAFC, LAFC need the Galaxy and the league need both of these LA teams.
So I'm, I'm, I'm excited. Definitely.
Me too. Did you see the, uh, Stu, the reports want to get your opinion on MLS league attendance? Yeah.
I believe they were second in the world in attendance. Yeah.
And a lot of people like, you know, we get into this a lot on this show. A lot of people like to crap on MLS and how it's not great.
I argue that the in-game experience in an MLS stadium is almost second to none in the world. The Premier League is still probably the gold standard, maybe the Bundesliga.
But when you go to an MLS, I mean, being there Saturday, the entertainment value, if I knew nothing about soccer, how could you not love being there? And I know it's a final, but how could you not? And so Stu, you're there every weekend, every few weekends. You're in this stadium, do you agree with that? I mean, you've played everywhere, you've been everywhere, but that's my perception.
Yeah, look, it's three dads here. The best way to quantify this is my wife and daughter were at the game on Saturday.
My wife texts me after the game. She goes, can I watch the whole game? It's amazing, right? An eight year old, an eight year old watched a 90 minute soccer game.
I game. I mean, that speaks volumes.
Yeah, look, it's an interesting conversation because MLS is, at times, struggling in the TV landscape in the United States versus NFL and college football and NBA. These are behemoths.
you know, I mean, like the, the, the NFL is a juggernaut when it comes to TV ratings and MLS have long trying to like poke their way through and take some market share away from even what you do every week, Tim at the, at the premier league. I know it's on at different times, but like, you know, the numbers you guys do consistently versus like, how does MLS become that on, I'm talking on a national level regionally.
I mean, MLS is crushing it. You think about the fans guys.
I was joking with somebody before MLS cup. My, my first MLS assist was in Arrowhead stadium versus the Casey whiz in front of 5,000 people.
And like, that's generous. 5,000.
Yeah. Might've been my parents that that traveled and were celebrating that moment.
And I could hear them and knew exactly what seat they were in. We've played in an old college football stadium.
I played on a baseball park in Kansas City. It's crazy to think where that has come, where now, Don Garber should tout this.
The attendance being second in the world, being where where they are right now, the amount of soccer specific stadiums, like the in-game product, I absolutely agree with you. I think MLS have really figured that out.
And they've really catered and developed these deep bases with supporters in their cities. And that's very important.
The challenge is going to be now, how do you go from like regionally being so strong and relevant in your market to now making it a nationally broadcast TV product? So it actually pairs back, Tim, to a conversation we were just having about like, how do you balance these stars and your product on the field and trying to win? But yet we all know on TV, like stars sell. And when Ibra was playing for the galaxy, people wanted to watch that weren't really soccer fans or galaxy fans, but they wanted to see the main event.
People will always want to see messy. Um, and I just think that's going to be kind of the continued challenge and evolution of like, still, do you have some super clubs that you're like, go spend money and spend a ton of money and get the big stars.
And then everybody else tried to do it different ways. But there's no doubt.
Like the attendance has been awesome. The in-game product is there for everybody to see.
Yeah. I mean, I think to piggyback off that, it's one of those, when you look at, and we keep talking about over the next 24 months, which is now 18 months, essentially.
And what we've built in this country from a soccer standpoint, from sponsorships, television, NWSL, MLS, I mean, the landscape couldn't be brighter. And the people that want to go into their pockets and be a part of soccer, and that starts with MLS, but they also have an eye on the World Cup and NWSL.
And so it's pretty, you know, some of the franchise numbers for even NWSL clubs now are through the roof. And it's like you could have never thought that 10 years ago.
So like where soccer is right now is healthy. I do agree with you.
I think we need some really dominant teams in MLS. I'm one who, look, parity is good.

I also love the fact that there's going to be villains and heroes

and you're going to chase the villains at the top.

So I do.

I think big, big players at certain clubs are good.

I think just solid organizations all around who aren't built around big stars

are also good.

So I think the balance is starting to get evened out.

All right. Well, since you're not taking the lead on this, Tim, I'm going to uncomfortably take the lead on this.
I can tell you're being quiet on purpose. I'll get to you.
So Leo Messi was named the MVP this week. Which MVP? I'm just going to leave.
Leo Messi was this year's recipient of the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award. We'll get to that part in a second.
But Stu, when you look at his numbers, they were ridiculous. 20 goals and 10 assists in a regular season.
This is how the top five looked in the voting. Messi, Kutcher Hernandez, Evander, Benteke, and Suarez.
The problem is, for some some people is Messi didn't play a lot of games. So go.
I want your take. You seem very passionate about this.
I'm cool. Like I'm good.
Like if you can, if you can score the goals and the goal involvements that he had and play like, what was, I think it was 19 games or something. Yeah.
You're, you're, you're, you're valuable to me. You're the most valuable.
Yeah. So I voted for Lionel Messi as MVP and I, you know, my, I'm sure I'm going to get shredded after this.
That's what we do on this show. Yeah, but I did, I used my media vote and voted for Lionel Messi because I, I personally feel now it depends on how you want to define

most valuable player or Landon Donovan,

most valuable player.

Because really, like I had this debate

with John Strong about this as well.

He's saying, well, the most valuable player to me

is that if you took that player out of the team,

that team would not be nearly as good.

And I get that.

And Messi, in this case, Miami, without Messi, they still were pretty good for a large chunk of the year. Now, it does help that they have Suarez and Alba and Busquets and all these studs.
But the reason I voted for Messi is because Miami were the best team in the league in the regular season. They set a record for the supporter shield.
I feel that the most valuable player in the league should come from the best team in the league. And Messi, when he was on the field, was undoubtedly the best player in the league.
His stats were insane. The goals, the assists.
I mean, he was on pace at the beginning of the season to absolutely shatter every single record. And then he picks up the injury in the Copa America and had to miss some time, but he's the best player in the league guys.
I mean,

he's the best player in the world.

He's the best player to have ever played soccer that doesn't default you into

winning the Landon Donovan MVP award,

but it also when you're,

when you're scoring and doing what you've done on the field,

he's the best player. You can't argue that.

I agree.

Hernandez is phenomenal player, but the crew, you know,

they didn't have as good of a year this year.

They go out in the first round of the playoffs. Like the playoffs doesn't count in this award, but yeah, I'm okay with it.
Yeah, we agree on that. Landon, you don't get a vote on this, but what you can do, and this is not a piss take, although every time I start something by saying this is not a piss take, people think it is, but it's not.
Like because Stu and I, who we think, we both think we had decent careers, there is nothing named after us. How does that come up? Like, is there, is that a phone call? Seriously, is that a phone call from the MLS that says we'd like to do this or like walk us through that process? I'm trying to remember the year.
I don't remember the exact year. It was, I don't know, five or six or seven years ago.
I got a, well, first it went through Rich, my agent,

and he said Don Garber would like to speak to you about something.

And I said, oh, crap.

What did I do this time?

It's never a good thing.

So Don gave me a call and just straight up,

he just said, we'd like to name the MVP award after you.

And first of all, what the hell are you going to say to that? I didn't even have a response. Did you ask me, was that like an annual fee or something? Did I get anything for it? No, but look, I love this league.
I get a lot of crap for sticking up for this league. And I spent the majority of my career in this league.

It's not perfect. Like there's a lot of, there's a lot of faults and a lot of errors and a lot of mistakes that we've all made trying to grow soccer in this country.
But I am very proud of, of my career here and I'm, and I'm proud that I got to be a part of the league. So when that happened, it was, I mean, you can imagine the feeling when someone says they want to do that.
And that's an historical, I guess,

a... I mean, you can imagine the feeling when someone says they want to do that.
Right. And that's an historical, I guess, accomplishment we'll say that will last forever.
Right. So that, that, that's not going until I do something to get canceled on the show.
And then it'll, then I'll be the Tim Howard MVP award. No, no chance.
But listen, listen, we're, as many people will say, we're in awe of you. And like to, again again to be immortalized that way um while you're still here jesus that's always a that's always after you're gone kind of thing maybe they know something no i hope not stick around kid um we're gonna move this along to one of our favorite segments because this is what so many of our listeners want to hear us lnt on us mnt this is where we talk about the us men's national team uh players teams that they're on in europe and here in the u.s and never mind that milan lost more importantly i think for all of us is that christian pulisic took an injury and that is not a great thing uh it sounds as if he's going to be out for an extended period of time ld maybe maybe like January.
Is it a torn? Has it been confirmed? Torn calf? I think they said torn calf, right? Yeah, that's tough. That's really tough.
So not great from the standpoint. Hopefully he can get himself fit because he has a little bit of time until the spring internationals, but obviously that's not ever something you want to see.
Yeah, Stewie, your thoughts, just curious. Yeah, your thoughts on where he's at.
Guys, I mean, remember the uproar when Pochettino and AC Milan requested Ballistic to come back for that second game? And I would have loved to have seen Christian play against Mexico. And I didn't think it set the greatest precedent, but I also understood these guys these days are being asked to play more minutes, more games, travel more miles than in the history of soccer.
And there's a reason that like sports scientists and, you know, these medical teams have a really hard job now to try to understand like, how can we get a guy rest before they hit that? They're in the red zone right now. Can we push him a little more? Do we need him for the Champions League? Do we need him for that international game? And look, Christian had a period of a couple of years ago when he was at Chelsea where it was like he was in and out of the team.
He'd get in the team. He was injured.
And then he's like his rhythm, his flow, everything was interrupted. And so my fear is that like, we get back to that again.
I believe that's in Christian's past. He's played so many more games now.
His body's adapted more. He's more grown up.
He's grown into his body, but it is a little bit concerning. And you hope that they handle this in the right way because he was in such great form..
His fitness was off the charts. He was just, he's in that zone, you know, where you're just, you're playing game, playing game.
You're feeling good. It's like the best feeling in the world.
Nothing can go wrong. And then now all of a sudden he's just picked up this little niggle.
So I don't think this is like a huge thing. I just want to make sure that he gets this right and takes care of his body.
And it's the hardest thing sometimes now to be like the advocate for your own body and knowing that like, you know, I'm tired because it's seen as, it's seen as a weakness, right? I need to, I need to practice off. I'm, you know, I've got a little bit of a niggle.
I've got a knock and it's, it's impossible to know like when that is coming and trying to avoid it, if you can still play. So that's, that's what I'm a little bit worried about with Christian here.
Well articulated. I think for me, and we all got to this point, Stu, you battled through a ton of injuries, but I hope that even though he's young, he's very experienced and he is the most important player on Milan, he's the most important player on the US Men's National Team which is incredible you know I I hope that not just because of this injury injuries happen and he as you said he's had this incredible ability to to sustain this run and this consistency he's been on what I would like for him now is as he starts to get that seniority again even though he's young is to start having conversations in those rooms where it's his voice and go, nope, nope, not, not, not playing today.
Can't because you know what? You need me. And right now my body, whereas we know we've been in rooms.
We're just like, I can't play today, but I just got to say yes. I just have to say yes.
And the more senior you get, the more clout you get by being great. You can then say, nah, if the guy upstairs wants me to play next week, then I need rest.
And by the way, I'm not training Monday. I'm not training Tuesday.
I'll be in the physio room because you need me on the weekend. So I think he's getting to that stage, but I hope the injury isn't bad and that the rehab goes well.
Yeah, I lived that, by the way, just quickly. My first ACL tear was the Gold Cup Final 2013.
And then I went back to Bolton after that. And I'd rehabbed here in the US for four and a half, five months.
Got myself to a really good point where I felt like, you know, I'm good to go back. I'm going to be on this kind of path to getting back to playing.
I went back and Bolton saw me and they were like, wow, I mean, you're, you're flying. You're, you know, your health, your, your, your strength is good.
You look good. Your fitness is good.
Like let's run you through some tests. So I went through these tests and they're like, all right, um, we're going to get you back into practice in the next like three weeks.
And we're going to put on this, uh, this, this, this reserve game at the stadium and make it a big thing. And it's going to be your comeback.
And in my head, I was like, wait, that's not even six months since I tore my ACL. But then I started to believe myself and like convince myself.
But then it was also feeling the pressure of the World Cup was three months away. My coach was like, we need you back in, you know, we're pushing to get promoted back to the Premier League, all this stuff.
I played my first game back from that ACL, man. And I succumbed to that pressure.
Even though I probably was experienced enough, I just got emotionally invested in like, okay, I can do this. That's where I should be.
22nd minute against Everton Reserves. Bang, ACL goes again.
And that's me out for a year. And that was just like, that kind of was the beginning of the end.
And I just didn't have the, like, I needed somebody to tell me in that moment, Stu, don't do it.

No, it's not worth it.

You need three more months.

Your knee hasn't healed inside.

Instead, I was like, yeah, these doctors are telling me I'm good.

I'm good.

I think I'm good.

Yeah.

All right.

I got to play. And then, you know, that was it.

My injury history is a lot more complex than what history've got going, but like same emotions apply, you know? Yeah. The conversation around it is the same, you know, people being able to advocate for yourself and being able to have people around you who are advocating for you, because we talked about this when Christian went back to Milan, it was club versus country is real.
You are an asset to both and they, they want everything. And as you said, they can see you in the red zone and they're still going, how do we get more? Because I need more because what happens with the US men's national team is more important to me than what happens at Milan and vice versa.
So, um, having, having strong advocates, I think is important. Um, we want to get your take on something PSV beat 20-6-1.
Tillman and Ricardo Pepe both scored. The interesting conversation that we're having, both Landon and I and everyone in America, is we need a number nine.
Flo gets injured. Flo's a number nine.
But Ricardo Pepe, like, God bless him. He's arrogant.
He's hungry. He wants the goals.
He's getting the goals. Like, it's his time.
Give us your thoughts on where we are with the striker position, what you think about Pepe, and kind of the order of things that I know Flo's out for a little bit. Yeah, I long felt that Flo Balogun had the highest upside potential, I think, based on raw skill and athletic ability and all the other stuff.
But you guys know as well as I do, and we've experienced this with the national team as well, it's who's in form and who wants that jersey. And look, to me, it's Pepe right now.
Pepe deserves it. He does need to make, I think, an important next move.
Now, he could stay where he's at. He's at a good level right now.
And I heard you guys have this discussion on one of your previous pods about finding the right club. It has to be the right fit for you.
Is MLS a better option sometimes? Do sometimes we fall in love with this idea of being in Europe? But what I would say for Ricardo Pepe, it's pretty obvious and evident. He made the wrong move initially by going to Augsburg, but at the same time, that was the club that was going to pay FC Dallas the most money.
And it was one of the best options for him in that moment. In hindsight, it wasn't because he was going to a team that was relegation battle.
He's not getting chances. And then his development at that period in his career really, really faltered.
And he kind of just stood in neutral. But now I think what you're seeing, we always knew Pepe was a really good raw finisher.
He has the tools to be that number nine, but he was lacking some of that confidence. But also, I still felt like mentally and tactically, he wasn't at that next level.
And I think he's learned some of that from being in Germany and then also now from being in Holland. But the question to me is if he makes that next move and when he does make that next move, is he in a position in a team where he's getting chances consistently and scoring goals? Like that's the most important thing for a final.
And then I'm totally fine with Pepe being in this starting nine for the US men's national team. And then all of a sudden we got a bit of a, you know, competition up there between he, Balogun and Sargent.
But I love what I've seen from Pepe. I think he's shown like he can bounce back mentally from being cut from the World Cup in 22.
He can bounce back from being completely discarded by a team in the Bundesliga. And he's got a bit of that Clint Dempsey dog in him.
He's, you know, he's got that, like, I want to fight for this. And I love that I've seen that.
And I think it's made him a better player because of that. So if we were starting a game tomorrow, I'm playing Ricardo Pepe up front.
Totally. Yeah.
And I, and look, I think, I think for, and we've all been there, right? We all, we've all of trying to make a World Cup team, trying to be relevant. And right now he has 18 months to do that.
And if I'm in his camp, I'm just simply saying, look, you've now proven you can score goals on this level. Anything you do now between now and the next 18 months, just be in a position to score goals.
If that means go on loan to MLS, if that means go to another club, if that means stay at PSV, I don't care. At this point, all you need to do is consistently score goals between now and then.
And then you get yourself in a shop window and you're in a World Cup and here you go. So I totally agree with that.
So Stewie, last thing before we let you get out of here and thank you for taking time. We know you're happy because you didn't have to do drop off today.
If we can go another like 20 minutes, kids are about to lose. So last thing we'd like to, we want to pick your brain on.
So we had a conversation last week. Where are, it was two years to the day since the Netherlands game in the world cup.
Are we better off today as a national team or not and why and then you know where are we going and and how does it look for the next couple years obviously for next 18 months yeah that i think we are in a better place because you know naturally these these guys now that made up this team were are two years on in their development and they're more experienced. Some of these guys are playing more consistently now at their clubs.
And I think that was the thing going into 2022. A lot of, you know, Weston was playing, Christian was playing, Tyler was playing in healthy, you know, Tim Ream was.
So what I think has happened over the next two years is that – and really in the Copa America, the leadership council or the passing of the baton for Greg Berhalter to try to develop some of these guys into leaders, I don't think it really happened because these guys weren't playing at their clubs. And I recently just wrote an article on this on Fox Sports about like when I thought about our team in 2010 and I pulled up the lineup against Algeria.

You know, Landon, you were a captain. on this on Fox Sports about like when we, when I thought about our team in 2010

and I pulled up the lineup against Algeria,

you know, Landon, you were a captain.

Tim, you were a captain.

Bocanegra, Demerit,

Chirondolo, Bradley,

like all of you guys were captains

and you were captain personalities

and individuals,

but also you were playing like

big roles at your teams.

And Tim, it's going back to something

you talked about at the beginning of the pod about like being able to walk in that locker room and know that like, you just have a different confidence and also a, an authority to it. And when you're looking around in tough games on the field, like I would look to you guys to be like, Oh man, these guys are fine.
Like we're good. We're going to get through this.
And I think that this team has really lacked big individuals that are willing to take that responsibility. And I've been happy with the way that Pulisic has developed.
He's not a natural leader vocally, all the gesticulations, but he would lead by example by performing, but he still kind of wants to do that. I call him a bit of a reluctant leader, but you know, outside of Tim Ream, there wasn't really like, you know, somebody that was just the calming influence on the team outside of Tyler Adams.
And so Jedi Robinson's in a much better place. Pepe's playing a lot.
And so now that would be my challenge to this group is I think talent wise, we're in a better place. It's just like, can we now the core of leadership develop genuinely within that team? Then I think we'll be in a good spot for 26.
And I think that's the challenge for Mauricio Pochettino is to empower some of these guys, but also push them at their club level. Like, Hey guys, don't just be okay with being a like leader on the national team.
Go be a leader in your club in these European locker rooms where you walk in and these guys are like, who's this American kid? You earn that by playing. You have to earn that right to do that by being an impactful player on the field.
Then your voice develops, you develop, your experience develops, and I think the national team will be better because of that. I think we're in a better place than we were in 22 because these guys were all 21, 22, 23 years old.
But yet for the U.S. to be successful in 26, it's leadership.
And then it's the guys 12 through 18 pushing the guys in front. And that we have like real competition for that starting 11.
Then that's when I think we could be talking about quarterfinals or semifinal because we have the talent to do it. If that's realistic or not, we'll probably know that in a year or so, I think.
Well said. Stewie, it's been an honor, man.
We could not have thought of a better first guest ever. You kicked off the guest.
It's all downhill from here, boys. It's all downhill.
Now, thank you, man. We would love to have you back if you have time.
Best of luck to you in everything you do. Thanks for everything you do to help grow the sport, too.
Happy holidays, my friend. Thanks, Ricky.
Thanks, Ricky. I mean, I'm landing.
Let me show you that ring one more time. All right.
Timmy. Timmy, always a pleasure, bro.
Good to see you, brother. All right, let's take a break.
When we get back, we'll talk more about the Premier League here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S.
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LD, let's jump into the Premier League. A little bit chaotic.
So Liverpool and Everton at Goodison Park was postponed due to crazy weather, particularly in that area. So with them not playing, you then get Man City drawing to Crystal Palace 2-2.
Arsenal draw 1-all with Fulham. They didn't take advantage of that, and we will talk about someone who did take advantage of it in Chelsea.
But Forrest then beats Man United 3-2, which is just like when you start to think about the new process under Ruben Amarin, it's going to take time, and you're like, that's okay but we just we need to get some results and then that doesn't help like that really really hurts when it comes to like yeah they're like they're trending upward right and then it's funny if you just if you knew nothing about the Premier League this year you'd say they lost to Forrest yeah but Forrest are actually a good team sure good good team. And they're kind of lingering up near the top, like much higher than they should be.
But this was a bad result for United. It's a bad result for United.
It's a really bad result. But again, it's like, I know Forrest is doing well this season, but as a new manager coming in, you still need to get those results, right? Because part of it, as we've talked about, is so many, you know, stripping away the old ideas from Ten Hag and putting in your new ideas as Amirim.
And as you do that, you need to get some results. And that didn't happen.
But also the performance, although it wasn't totally flat, it was a little bit, it left something to be desired. Look, you can see the patterns.
You can definitely see the ideas. I don't think the players are there.
So like, you're almost looking at this now as like, let's maybe, this season's kind of a wash. Europe's probably gone in terms of like top four.
We're not going to win. We're not going to win the league.
So maybe we just take it on the chin and we just keep working at getting better in terms of philosophy knowing that there's going to be players but that's so hard tim because that is the right approach in every sport you know the lakers for a while we're just down you're not doing the celtics down the right approach is you just start over you start clean and you you build, and you build. But it's so hard because every weekend

feels like a must win when you're in the Premier League.

As you know, when you're in the Premier League.

And you're the biggest team, the biggest name.

Yeah, that's right.

That's how it works.

You know, he's going to have,

Ruben Amarim's going to have,

he's got a PR management on his hands, right?

That to him is one, two, and three.

Internally and externally. How do you handle it

internally with your players? Look, I know

we lost. We're getting better.
We're doing the right things.

Externally, we lost, but we're getting

better. This is going to take time.
This is a process.

It's going to be interesting

to see. Meanwhile...

He's a state-like figure, as

every United manager is.

You have to try and manage things on and off the field. Speaking of off the field, go ahead.
I know you were going to jump into that. I was going to say, meanwhile, Dan Ashworth exits United as Sporting Drive.
I think it was happening while you were on air or during that time. So what was going on on air? So tons of background here.
So obviously Dan Ashworth, he was so highly coveted at Newcastle as a technical director. And United wanted him and paid a couple million pounds for him.
And they put him on gardening leave, which obviously then that meant he couldn't work for five or six months. Wait, can you explain gardening leave? What the hell does that mean? You know, it's kind of- Goes in the garden? It's almost like a non-compete, really.
Where- But why do they call it gardening leave? That's a good point. Does he go gardening for a while? He does.
He doesn't go gardening. He probably spends a lot of time in his garden.
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, probably.
They identified their guy. They went out and got him.
They jumped through all these hoops because he's that highly sought after. And Sir Jim Radcliffe and then Omar Barata that they brought in at the level.
And then he gets there. I'm trying to think when he arrived.
He ends up, they agreed a compensation deal in July. and then he hits the ground running.
And as you know, after the Man City, Man United, FA Cup Final, Man United win, they do a season review, right? And then they extend, not extend Ten Hag, they keep him on as manager, right? That's obviously a collective decision. It has to be, right? Everyone has input.
And then when you do do that you have to back the manager we've always talked about that we we we understand that that's how it works and so dan ashworth was in charge of going out and signing xerxi yarrow masrawi which are players delict which are players that ten hog won it that's naturally that's how you should do by the way. And Dan Ashworth said, these are my signings because we've backed the manager.
We brought him back. We want to get him in signings.
Then obviously it doesn't go well. And here's the problem.
Because this information, by the way, in a perfect world, got leaked. Here's why.
Because United would want this to maybe come out at worst on Sunday during the Tottenham Chelsea game, right? You can kind of bury it somewhere in there Sunday afternoon. At best, it comes out Monday morning.
None of that happened, right? So this information was leaked and they talked about him leaving by mutual consent. I can assure you, Dan Ashworth didn't leave Manchester United five months after he got there by mutual consent.
Here's a, here's a, here's a key factor. Let me, let me read this to you.
United were beat by Liverpool in September three nil. Ashworth tells a reporter that he played no role whatsoever in retaining 10 hog in a joint interview with essentially his boss, Omar Barada.
Oh boy. Who says 10 hog has our full backing.
So now this becomes, this becomes probably untenable. Essentially.
This is, this is like, I've been Dan Ashworth probably in that moment, undermined Omar Barada. And then it was just a matter of time.
Right. Um, which is, Oh, I'm just not sure you do that.
I'm back. I certain you don't undermine the person who's directly above you.
And if you do, you have to be ready for these consequences. Tim, there's an old saying, you get hired for your talent, you get fired for your inability to get along with people.
So no matter how good you are, how talented, if you can't get along with the person that matters in the club, it's only a matter of time, like you said. And so this is tough to see.
Not good for United who were hopefully stabilizing and now just throws upheaval in all of this. So the team, you know, I'm watching from afar.
You're more in it. But the team that nobody talks about who all of a sudden is four points back, five points back, four points back, is Chelsea.
Right? And they're just kind of under the radar, doing their thing. They went away to Spurs.
It was more comfortable than a 4-3 victory. Well, they're down 2-1 at halftime, and both you and Gary Neville at halftime went out on a limb and said, I think Chelsea are going to win.
Totally. Chelsea won, and they deserved it.
And so, I mean, while Liverpool sat back and were happy with the Arsenal and City results, I think the team now they have to be worried about is Chelsea. Yeah.
Look, it's incredible because the reason no one talked about Chelsea is because Chelsea hadn't gotten it right. This is now becoming very, very right.
What do I mean by that? Todd Boley comes in, they sign a ton of young players, right? Too many young players. And the entire squad has ballooned.
They sign them all of these very lengthy contracts. No one can figure out what's going on.
It's manager after manager after manager, right? And then Mareska comes in. And Mareska right now has the magic wand.
He's doing so many things right with this team. He's got them aggressive.
He trimmed his squad. I mean, Raheem Sterling went out, right? He trimmed his squad.
He said, I don't want these players. I know they signed.
I don't want them. They're out.
Then he took two teams and he said, I'm going to have a weekend team in the Premier League and then I'm going to have a midweek team. That's it.
And he's been very direct. Mattaweke, who's been brilliant, he didn't start him because he said, I know you scored, you're playing well, but you're not working hard enough.
Brilliant from a manager, right? Plays Jadon Sancho, Sancho ends up scoring. So now he's got this magic wand, things are going.
And the reason no one thought that was because why would we? Managers couldn't get it right. Why is Maresco, who hasn't had any Premier League experience, going to get it right? These are all kids, except for the fact it's now working.
They've got the best player in the Premier League and Cole Palmer alongside with Mo Salah, of course, at Liverpool. And things are working really well.
And so I think he's downplayed it, you know, in terms of they're not in the title race. They're absolutely right in the thick of the title race.
And I think the great thing is that's his job is just to downplay it, continuing to drive his team forward because you know, which I'm sure you'll say, but as players, they'll be on the chat group. I said, yes, they'll be on the chat group going, we're in this thing.
You know, and so no matter what the manager says inside that dress room, they know they're in it. Yeah.
So I think the reason why you know this way better than I do, but being in England, there's so much garbage going on in the media all the time. And they haven't had, they've had United's disastrous things going on, city falling apart, you know, Arsenal's always grabbing headlines, you know, Ange and Tottenham and everything.
And they've just, they've been under the radar. Nobody's paying.
So now the question is, now that people starting to pay attention, now all of a sudden they're second at the table. Now, how do they handle it? Because people will start talking.
And if they creep closer, people start talking to them. And they've been able to go under the radar and it's been pretty impressive.
And one of the things about, you know, just to dovetail off that, one of the great things about youth is naivety. These players don't know any better.
They're expressing themselves. They're in a title chase in the Premier League.
They're like, this is what dreams are made of. And it's great when you're not experienced and you don't have to worry about your past ghosts and demons.
These kids are like, let's go. It's in front of us.
Let's fight. And so I think that's pretty awesome.
So last thing I want to talk about Premier League. This was interesting off the field.
So fans always complain about ticket prices. And you and I have talked about this.
You have an interesting opinion on this. So I think it was Chelsea fans are complaining that their season tickets are like $1,000.
Everyone's complaining. Yeah.
Everyone's complaining. Everyone's complaining.
$1,000, $1,200. Can you compare that to US sports

for people to understand across the pond?

Yeah, I mean,

kind of my shared experience was like,

you know,

I'm a,

for my sins,

I'm a New York Giants fan

and New York Knicks fan.

And, you know,

I always want to go to those games,

but they're like too expensive,

you know,

like any decent seat.

And I'm not talking about the ones

all the way at the top,

but any decent seat is super expensive. you know, like any decent seat.
And I'm not talking about the ones all the way at the top, but any decent seat is super expensive.

You know, when you, when you, when you talk about,

forget season ticket, I couldn't force you to take a loan out for that.

But like per game ticket, I was like, this seems really, really high.

So I get to, I get to England and I'm in the Premier League and I'm young.

And I hear that fans can,

fans complain about ticket rises and season ticket prices all the time, year anytime there's a rise they complain which I guess is their is their prerogative but then I remember digging a little bit a little bit deeper and I was like and I was like well how much is a and I know there's there's different amounts of games and amounts of home games based on NFL and Premier League and NBA but i remember thinking like somebody would tell me how much their season ticket was and it was at the time i think it was like 500 pounds or something and i was like like for for the game or for the entire season that's one game for a next game right so i'm like i'm like well i'm from new york and like if i wanted to see a next game and like have like not have to bring my binoculars i pay $500 for like one seat. And so like it didn't, it never,

it never registered with me. That's like, look, people, people work hard and they spend their hard earned money.
Right. But the product for soul, this is the interesting thing.
The product continues to go up. Television rights continue to go up, right? Value for players and contracts continue to go up.
It's natural in that ecosystem that ticket prices go up. Like everything does.
And so I've never really, look, I understand the plight of the fan. Of course, you want to make things accessible and affordable, but at the same time as fans, and I'm a fan, right? We like to complain about any and everything.
And that's just another thing that fans will complain about with their club. And oftentimes, to be honest, I think the clubs are doing, the clubs are a business and are having to run the business effectively.
And oftentimes you have to raise season ticket prices when it's merit. But I think the challenge people have is if you dig deeper, you say, okay, this is everyone's complaint, right? These are all billionaires.
So why are they charging me an extra $15 a seat? But the owners have to ask themselves seriously. And I think the NFL started to pick up on this.
All of their money, 90-whatever percent of their money comes from TV, right? It doesn't come from, especially in the NFL where there's eight home games, nine home games, it doesn't come from your nine home games, right? So whether you're charging someone $300 or $200 or $100, it doesn't make a massive difference in your bottom line. It might be a few million dollars, maybe $10 million, which in the grand scheme of thing for a club, not that much money, right? When they're getting billions of dollars and individually as clubs, hundreds of millions of dollars through the TV deals.
And it's the same with the Premier League.

I know they have more games.

They have 19 home games

plus cup games, FA Cup, all that.

But is it really worth it?

I don't know.

But to your point,

all you Premier League fans,

come spend a year in the US

and go to sports.

Tim, in the playoffs,

the Padres, right?

Yeah.

Average tickets for Padre games in whatever section, it didn't matter what section, $400, $500, $600, $1,000. I saw people with their families go.
They, by the end of it, they're spending five grand to go to a game. And I'm thinking to myself, where are these people getting this money? I mean, like you talk about taking out a loan, but I'm like, yeah, how did this many people are affording to do this?

Those prices.

Yeah.

Insane.

It's insane.

Insane.

All right.

We are going to take another break.

When we get back,

we will dive into mailbag questions with J.R.

Love a mailbag.

Anything but soccer.

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LD, it's mailbag time.

Everyone's favorite time of the week because our listeners get to have their say.

You know who else's favorite time of the week it is?

JR.

JR.

Jordan, get in here.

Get some FaceTime. We know you love it.
Do you see my hat? Of course. Oh, you got swag.
Of course. I love it.
I do. Is that a Gotham hat? Yeah, it is.
It's a good team. We're going to get you a Houston Dash hat.
Don't you worry about that. I have plenty of room to hang them off, so send them on.
All right. So first thing I want to do is just talk a little bit.
Last week, you guys talked about Landon's cap that's there behind him. So I did a little digging, and I think you guys talked about this a little bit, that it used to be that teams didn't wear matching jerseys.
They wore matching hats. And so that's where the concept for the cap came from.
In the game? But they started, yeah, in the game. What? So this was back in like the mid to late 1800s when the game was first invented.
So in 1886, a gentleman by the name of N.L. Jackson wrote a rule that said, All players taking part for England in future international matches will be presented with a white silk cap with red rose embroidered on the front.

Oh, that's cool.

These to be termed international caps.

So that's where it comes from.

Love it.

Well done, Jordan.

That's great.

That's why we were there.

NL Jackson.

Good for you.

Old Corinthians Football Club, 1886.

All right.

Let's dive into our mailbag with our first question from Michael via email.

What do Tim and Landon think the role of the USL

should be in the overall US soccer

and US men's national team landscape?

I'll go first.

I think it's critical.

I really do.

And for all reasons.

There are 30 markets now in MLS.

But there are lots of big markets in our country.

Now, San Diego was the last sort of huge market,

Vegas, Phoenix, without MLS teams.

But there are lots of great soccer markets in our country

that need to be represented.

And so I think it's crucial from that standpoint.

From a player standpoint,

MLS has tried really hard with MLS Next Pro

and development product. But the reality still for MLS Next Pro is that those environments don't compare to USL environments.
And I lived it for four years coaching with Loyal. So having real professional environments, a guy I saw on Saturday, Miguel Berry, who didn't get into the game, but is with the LA Galaxy.
He was playing early days with Loyal. He came on loan to us and playing in that environment, even only for 10 weeks or 10 games, gave him the opportunity then to go back into MLS and make a real career for himself in Columbus.
So having that is crucial from a player standpoint. And then also off the field, as I said, just having markets represented is crucial.
Yeah. I mean, I don't think Landon has to be one fix, right? USL can feed a lot of different areas.
And I think in Memphis with 901 FC, it was about creating an opportunity for guys to earn a living, right? These were guys who were never going to get to the MLS. And they earned a decent living.
I also think there's an opportunity, as Landon said, in this country, we haven't quite figured out the best path for players at a lower level.

And the problem with USL is they don't want to be seen as a second division.

They're a thriving first division.

And so when you look abroad, as Landon mentioned,

if I'm at Manchester United and I'm not quite ready,

I can go on loan to a championship club and ply my trade.

In fact, they actually do that quite often to young players

just to kind of get them stronger and more equipped to play in like a tough environment. And so it could serve as that.
But I think the USL, again, it's going to depend on partnerships. It's going to depend on whether they want to continue to stay as an independent league.
But ultimately, you have a lot of voices. And for so many owners, it's about creating a product on the field that is profitable and trying to bring the best players in.
What I would say is the top 10 best players in the USL are better prepared to compete and contribute in the MLS than any kid coming

out of college.

And so there's some incredibly talented players,

unfortunately on the MLS side.

And I've seen this throughout time,

they almost look down their noses at USL players.

And it's almost like we shouldn't go dip into that.

And I would,

I would,

I would,

I would push to any MLS club,

go out and look at the top 10 best USL players. They absolutely can compete in your team.
Agreed. Second question is from Jamie via email.
What are your opinions on MLS changing their seasonal schedule to something that matches the European calendar? I think it would be look, it's like like a lot of things, like promotion, relegation, et cetera. Theoretically, amazing, because it would help everybody just be more aligned.
From a player standpoint, it helps players be way more aligned with the scheduling, with international breaks, et cetera. The challenge for sure is, for MLS, is the weather.
But my argument to that is there's bad weather everywhere in the world. I mean, there is.
And so if they're worried about weather impacting attendance, in MLS, unlike the Premier League or the NFL, that's actually a real thing because there is a significant portion of revenue that comes through your in-game experience. But I would guess, now, my guess is now MLS is mature enough, the fans care enough, or if it's 17 degrees in Toronto, they're still coming to the game.
That would be my guess. I mean, they do it in the NFL.
You watch Buffalo games. Everyone's there.
Every seat's pulled out. So I think the league is mature enough for it.
I would love to see it. Same.
No, no, I don't have anything to add because I do. I think with the restrictions of weather, they probably pale in comparison to all the benefits of actually being on the full international calendar that every other player gets around the world.
So I think that's important. And you can probably find a way to be really clever and tweak some of the games and where the games are played and that type of thing.
Okay. Last question is also via email, which people want to write in, is feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.
This one's from Andrew. How do you feel about how the pro leagues regulate finances? Do you think the profit and sustainability rules need revision in the Premier League so that Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal aren't the only teams able to fight for a title? Should MLS keep their salary cap as it is now or make it so that teams have more opportunity to draw in top talent while they're in their prime? Well, I think what profit and sustainability has shown in the Premier League is that they are trying to balance things out a little bit.
And Everton was hit with sanctions. Nottingham Forest was hit with sanctions.
Man City could be as well. And so it makes you have to be a little bit more responsible and frugal with your books.
And so I think that is a good thing. We are seeing that.
Regarding MLS, people have to remember MLS is for so long. Back when I started, I started 1998, two years after the league was born, really.
And there was so many failed soccer leagues in America throughout the course of our history that they had to keep things tight. They had to keep the wallets tight.
The spending couldn't balloon. We had to grow this league and a credit to all the owners and commissioners who have tried to grow this league and make it sustainable.
We couldn't go from zero to 100. There had to be these growing metrics.
And we've seen that go up. Look, as far as I'm concerned, I do think spending is good in the right areas, but you can't go top heavy and just spend when some of the other vehicles for profit into the club aren't quite there yet.
So yeah, look, I think that the model right now, and I'm obviously incredibly interested to hear Landon's take on it. And we spoke with Stu a little bit ago about what is it important to bring the biggest player in the world in, or is it important to spread that money throughout your squad and be successful? I'll speak to the MLS perspective.
The league is, like I just said, with the calendar change, the league is mature enough to handle it, right? So every owner in the league is a billionaire, right? So these are not stupid people. These women and men know what they're doing with their money.
So they can make the decision, right? If you want to pay Messi, whatever the hell, who knows what InterMiami paid him, great. That's your decision, your choice,

and that's great,

and that's good for the league.

What I would like to see,

because what's happened

with all these different types of rules,

you know, GAM and TAM

and, you know, Under-22 Initiative,

what happens when rules are made

is people find ways to break it

or manipulate it

or unintended consequences happen.

And the unintended consequence

from all of these mechanisms

to bring players to MLS

This is the first step. to break it or manipulate it or unintended consequences happen.
And the unintended consequence from all of these mechanisms to bring players to MLS is less American players getting chances. So you're incentivized to go out and spend $800,000, $1.5 million on a young South American, but you're not incentivized to keep Brandon Vasquez in the league if right? If you're Cincinnati.
And so he ends up going to Monterey. Hopefully it looks like maybe he'll be coming back, maybe to San Jose, but you want the incentive to be, to keep all those players and bring in other players around the globe.
So I would like to see almost all of those restrictions lifted, have some version of a cap, like a really a hard cap where, you know, what if it's 15 million, 20 million, 30 million, maybe you can still spend on one or two players outside of that if you have a messy or whatever, but let's just open the purse strings a little, not go crazy, but give teams more and more autonomy to make those decisions. Love it.
That's it. Thanks, guys.
JR, thank you. All right, Timmy.

Your neck of the woods.

Yep.

The New York Mets decided to spend, get ready,

$756 million on a 15-year contract for Juan Soto.

No deferred money, unlike the Dodgers with Otani. Thoughts? How much up front? $75 million signing bonus.
So he might be able to buy himself a car or something. Yeah, just crazy.
Look, I want feedback. We always talk about hit us up at unfiltered soccer.

Give us your feedback. Cause I need,

I need like some staunch baseball fans to like weigh in here.

15 million,

three quarters of a billion years,

15 years,

three quarters of a billion dollars.

It's the 15.

I'm almost better with the money than I am with the years.

I don't,

I don't understand.

I know Alex Rodriguez back when signed a,

like a 13 year deal or something. I don't understand the length of these contracts because Juan Soto, if I'm correct, he's probably not giving you 15 years of good service.
Right? Like, I mean, I hope that's not like blasphemous. Like who's giving you, who can you commit to giving you 15 years of production? Right? I know there's an opt-out after five years.
It's the numbers, the numbers make you dizzy. Right? And all, and all I, all I can think about is Bobby Bonilla, for God's sake.
They're still paying him. So 2035 is getting a million per year.
What a guy. So, so here's the thing.
Three, three takeaways. It's good to be Bobby Bonilla.
It's good to be Juan Soto. And it's really good to be Scott Boris, who is his mega agent.
And it's, I guess, great to be in the New York market because it's going to be some, be some big hitters. You know, I think the Mets and the Yankees showed this year that there's their back, not as back as your Dodgers are, but it's fun.
I think it's fun. I love, I would have liked to see them stay at the Yankees, but a lot of fun.
Here's what's interesting to me. Okay, so when you get into levels of wealth, right, I always think about, like, does it really matter if it's 736 million or 756? And you have to, you have to

assume, you have to assume that every team in the running got somewhere close to 756, right? Maybe

it was 650, maybe it was 700, maybe. Now the years, I don't know if the years even mattered.

I don't know how, I don't know if it's, if it's 13 years and 756, does he care? I, you know, I like,

again, if there's someone who's really inside on baseball and knows these things please let us know but if I'm a club why are you committing 15 years but then the reality is Juan Soto had all the power all the leverage and all these things are always about leverage right yeah i'll just when i was doing my last deal with the galaxy i knew i was only playing a few more years they knew i was only playing a few more years and so we're like we're wrestling back and forth is it two and a half million is it three million is it three and a half million but they know i'm only playing a few years so i had some leverage they also knew i wasn't going anywhere anywhere. I'm not going to leave and go play in Spain for the last year of my life.
So they know I love it there. They know I want.
So there's like a respect factor of not taking advantage of that. But they have some leverage.
I have some leverage. But he had all the leverage.
My question for him, and look, I don't begrudge anyone getting their money. So great.
Get your money. But dude, you had a good thing going at the Yankees.
Like you guys could be good forever. And I don't know if the Mets are going to be good.
But I don't know if he cares. But here's to your point, right? So the Mets were 15 years, $756 million.
I think the Yankees offered 16 years roughly the same, give or take, roughly the same, right? So there was an extra year. And I think it speaks to the psyche of us former athletes.
Athletes, like, I personally, on the outside, I'm like, stay with the Yankees. Like, the number's virtually the same.
You're not giving the Mets 15 years. You're not giving the Yankees 16 years.
So, like, stay with the Yankees, right? Build there because you have a great thing. But also, as we know, everyone likes being the highest paid.
Everyone likes being the marquee, right? Because by the way, he's not the marquee name on the stadium at the Yankees. But if he goes across town, he's now the marquee name in the same market.
So it speaks to the psyche of these players and I don't begrudge them at all. Well done to the Mets.
All right. Well, please, please, please give us comments on that because we're confused, just like most of you.
All right. Thanks for all you guys for being with us today.
Special shout out to Stewie, Stu Holden, for talking MLS with us. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods.
Follow us across all social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for extra content.

Appreciate you guys.

Yeah, thanks, Trevor, everybody for listening.

Thanks, Stu Holden.

I mean, what an absolute gent and legend.

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW.

Have a great week.