USMNT Advance in Nations League, Aguirre Assaulted, Pulisic to Premier League?

It's very rare when I'm in my house where I say, oh my God, what a goal. He finishes with his left foot and he almost kind of like skip hops to the right.
Inching closer to my record really fast here. Unfiltered Soccer presented by Volkswagen.
Welcome into Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. We are your co-hosts.
And we're coming to you, not live, but after the U.S. men's national team versus Jamaica second leg.
We decided we'd watch the game and give you our thoughts. And when we go back to the rest of the show later on, that was recorded this morning.
So LD, interesting game. Interesting game, bud.
It's been a long day. Reminder for everyone, follow us on social media, unfilteredsoccer.
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Email is feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com. We have mailbag questions that came from you guys this week great questions keep them coming in so yeah interesting game i'm glad tim it happened the way it did let me explain that so we score early we're all over them early it's three nothing at halftime i don't get on twitter but i'm sure if i did everyone would be talking about how we're the best team in the world we're're going to win the World Cup, et cetera, et cetera.
Settle down. Second half was a little sloppy.
Still a lot of chances, but giving up to not great goals. And honestly, we talked in the first episode about goalkeeping, defending, midfield, strikers, depth, where's our squad at? And honestly, it all played out exactly the way we think of it is goalkeeping still a little suspect defensively not great midfield was awesome Christian was outstanding attacking still TBD on a nine even though everyone's going to go crazy and say Ricardo Pepe's now the nine and then the depth was not great yeah and that's kind of just that's kind of the way it unfolded today.
Well, yes. You know, the worry for me, and I feel great about the result.
The worry for me is this was a conca calf, two leg, home and away, exactly the way it was supposed to look. Going down to Jamaica, the pitch is terrible.
Everyone complains about the pitch, which by the way,, is by design. If you've been in the game long enough, they know.
It's actually the best I've ever seen that field. I was like, what are you talking about? It looked amazing.
These teams know that we get on these pristine pitches in America and we play them off the park. So what do you do? You leave it long.
You leave it nasty. You make it a dogfight.
Okay, so that's fine. Everybody is wanting to like, what, what is Pochettino going to change? What's his mark on the team going to look like, right? You want to have an identity of a team.
And when you look at Poch at his best, it's a solid, some sort of semblance of a, of a four, four, two, this team kind of lends itself to having maybe three, three attackers up front. But he likes to play through lines.
He likes to be systematic and, and pragmatic. And I, and I, I tend to think, or I tend to like about Pachisino, he relies on his best players to go win the game, right? He's not trying to, he's not trying to overcomplicate it.
And yes, Christian Pulisic, as we already know, has been in sensational form. He's done that again.
Our midfield is our strength. There's no doubt about it, which again is a positive sign because so often in the past, it's always been staunch defensively and trying to make a goal from somewhere.
There's some creativity and there's some, there's some real ideas in that midfield. Look up front with Pepe, he's getting the goals, which is important.
And with flow being out injured, winner stays on for me, right? Can you score consistently? If you can score consistently, then you keep the shirt. And right now, he's scoring the goals.
He keeps the number nine shirt. And for the foreseeable future, until Flo can get healthy and challenge back for that.
And look, defensively, again, as an overarching thought, that was not great. I won't say poor, but if I'm Pochettino, I think he's going in there, and you saw him on the bench a little bit after the second goal goes in.
He scratched his head a little bit, right? Because for all the people that think that this is going to sound dour, it's about growth and maturity, right? So to be winning the game so big in st louis is great but you forget this isn't about winning a game in st louis this is about what that looks like when you play the biggest teams on the biggest nights and and that means as you know getting a lead protecting the lead and then at a certain point going we're shutting up shop we're not even giving this team a sniff if we if we happen to get a fifth goal yeah we'll celebrate it and everybody will be happy but right now we're just going to chill and to be that open and exposed because by the way there was it wasn't just the two goals that Jamaica scored they had other opportunities to capitalize and just didn't do it so that needs to be looked at but I'd rather look at that having one four two than maybe drawn to two drawn to two, if that makes sense. Yeah.
And if, if you look at the two legs, the first leg to me was a very mature, responsible, professional performance. They limited really Jamaica to one or two chances, the penalty, obviously a big play, big save by Matt Turner.
Other than that, it was dominate defensively by having the ball. Basically they were very mature in how we had the ball, kept the ball, but gave them nothing.
Tonight was a little lackadaisical in the second half, feeling yourself a little too much. And look, any way you slice it, Jamaica's not a great team.
They have some good players who play in some decent clubs around the world, but they're not a good team, and you should not be conceding twice at home to a team like you just shouldn't look. I love Tim Ream.
If that's still our best option at center back at 36, you know, he's still, he's still a great player, world-class player in on his best days, you know, but is he the one who's really going to be our center back in the world cup in 26? No chance. And so if you know i just wonder if pochettino was like look this is the best we have right now leadership wise too but right now there's still there's still question marks defensive yeah well i think that's interesting because for me when i when i think about like a tim rehm and we we've both been through this process we've been on both sides of this process.
We've been the young kid and we've been the old guy. I certainly have.
And so you have to remember Pochettino's coming in, right? Probably doesn't know all of the players with respect to him. He's also, he's looking at it probably thinking, I need some soldiers.
I need some guys I can trust, right? I need some experienced guys. And so this Tim, so Tim Ream playing might not be a, I have, I haven't thought he might start in the World Cup.
This might be a, I need some experienced guys and so this tim so tim ream playing might not be a i have i have a thought he might start in the world cup this might be a i need some glue i need a soldier for now for now um the problem with world football which then trickles down to the u.s team is there there becomes ideas and thoughts right about how the game should be played you could look at a false nine comes in to play a false nine. Well, that's good, but sometimes a number nine just needs to hold the ball, right? Forget the tricks.
You talk about being expansive, and I'm going to get to the fullbacks. You go, we need fullbacks who are expansive.
If we take the ball wide, chalk on your touchline, get forward, cross the ball. Agreed, right? Because that's what football asks.
But in the biggest moments, when you look at the biggest, best teams, it's not about the spectacular cross that a fullback puts in. It's about defending the back post, tucking in on the shoulder of your center back, making it nasty and hard to beat, right? And I just don't know if right now our fullbacks have that in them.
There's still this idea to be, which again, the game's going to ask you to get forward and support the attack, no doubt. But the basic principles of defending in big moments still for me is a question mark.
Let me jump in real quick because that's an interesting, I'm just thinking about this as you said that. So, between Scali and Anthony Robinson and Serginio Dest when he's back, we actually are probably more suited to those players being true wingbacks.
Yes. Right? And actually playing with a back three, we built in a back three tonight.
And it was really interesting because Anthony Robinson basically played as a six almost the whole game because we had the ball the whole game. And he played as a six.
And I think in games like tonight, that can work. I don't think he can do that against the best teams in the world.
That'd be a bit too much for him. But they're probably more built to be wingbacks.
And I think if you played with a back three defensively, you'd be much more secure. So it'd be interesting to see if we defend going forward, maybe in a three and get another center back on the field to deal with dangerous moments.
And Serginio, Anthony Robinson, Scali, probably not as much, but are probably more suited to playing as wingbacks, to be honest. And I'm just thinking of that through, as you said that.
But to that point, right? So, so, you know, Man City globally is, is, is the benchmark where you look at a Brazil and how they constantly play. These are teams who are always on top of games.
They don't, not saying they win every game, but they're always on top of games. And my big worry for the US, and people are going to say, this sounds pragmatic, take it for what it is.
This is the truth until someone can prove me otherwise. That works really well in perfect scenarios.
You know, when the sun is shining and you're playing Jamaica or tonight it was

raining,

but when,

when you get into,

when you play that type of system and you get into a world cup and

you're playing England,

you're playing Brazil,

you're playing Argentina,

you're playing one of these world powers,

which you ultimately will.

And I can't ever remember going to a game where we were,

but we weren't the underdog,

right?

You're going to have to defend so many of those moments, or you're going to have to ask your wingback who's playing in a six to play like John Stones. And I don't think we have those players.
We don't have the quality in depth across the board. So in certain moments, and yes, you do need wrinkles.
Tactically, you need wrinkles. You need to figure out moments where you can switch the game.
I agree with that. The concern, and it showed itself again, is we were a little bit too open and exposed at the back in moments where we actually didn't need to be.
Yeah. You know what? And again, as you're saying that I was thinking about, so we in our day had, I'm going to sound like an old man, but we did, we actually did play different ways based on who we were playing and we could adjust quite quickly.
With a national team, I think you almost have to because you don't have enough time to really build your true identity as to how you play. Now, you can build an identity as to your mentality, et cetera.
But if we were home to El Salvador, we could have the ball and play. And then if we were playing Brazil in a World Cup, it was like, we ain't going to have the ball.
So it doesn't matter if we try, we ain't going to have the ball. So you have to learn.
And maybe this is part of that process, but you're right. It does feel like in hard moments defensively for a number of years now, we just haven't been good enough.
We haven't. And again, for all of our listeners, this is coming from a happy, sometimes concerned U.S.
soccer fan. Like I'm a massive fan of this team, right? And like want them to do well.
And, you know, I think when you look at you and myself, our records are solidified and our legacy has already been written. So I've got nothing left but joy and hope for this team.
And so when you look at the schedule sometimes of how I always, because I played in England, I'm always, I always look out for the, in the England national team and I'm always following them. And like every game they play is hard, right? Like every game, whether if they have an off, if they have an off month and an open window, they go to Italy and play or they go to Spain, like their friendlies aren't like easy.
Right. And so when I look at the U S and in terms of like not having to qualify, which we will continually talk about for the next year and a half and how that's a detriment, we believe to the team of, of not being hardened and, um, and sharpened.
And then, and then because of the way the international calendar is when the U S tries to go get these big friendlies, those friendlies already taken. Right.
And so, you know, you, we, we talk about the hard, tough games that they're going to have to face in the world cup. And it's like, when are they going to get a run of back-to-back friendlies that are really difficult? When are you going to get a run of back-to-back tournament games? You that's a big worry for me because you then are under this illusion like we can play good football at times and we're not under pressure.
And then it's like, boom, the big moment happens. The bright lights come on.
You're on the big stage. And that's obviously a concern.
Yeah, that's going to be a concern for Paul Chattano too, because if you think about going forward, friendlies rarely happen anymore because of Nations League now. So now every team is playing Nations League and or qualifying except the US, Canada, Mexico, right? With the qualifying stuff.
So in those windows, who are you going to play? Maybe they play each other. If you just play Canada and Mexico every window for the next year and a half But otherwise, you can't get a big team because they're playing in qualifying.
So it's going to be challenging. Let's get back to, I want to get back to just the actual game and talk through the game.
So the goal, Christian's first goal, the second one I think was taken away, which I'm not too mad about because he's inching closer to my record really fast here.

I'm sure Clint isn't mad either.

But this first goal, Tim, people have no idea.

It's very rare, by the way, when I'm in my house,

I was watching with my boys where I say, oh my God, what a goal.

Because I've seen a million goals in my life.

So I'm like, yeah, okay, I can see.

What a goal that was.

The ability to take that off the half volley, off a bounce like that with your weaker foot on a surface that's probably wet, goalkeeper charging at you, and to smack it in the side netting. I mean, I don't want to be hyperbolic, but I'm not sure I've seen too many goals that are more difficult to score than that.
Just the pure difficulty well yeah I think and I I don't disagree with you I think the it speaks to the form that he's in because you know he finishes with his left foot and he almost kind of like skip hops to the right really like in rhythm and motion and it was like that was never in doubt like his his body control before the finish during the finish after the

finish it just speaks to you know he's in that zone and when you're in the zone as an athlete we you know the famous michael jordan said it everything just slows down everything's that goalkeeper who's on rushing yeah whatever it's a pink jersey i can see it boom slotted pass everything slows down he's just in he's in sensational form you make a great point because when I ever scored a goal where I was like, wow, but I wasn't in great form, my celebration was like, wow. And your teammates would be like, wow.
And he knew it was going in. The moment it fell to his foot, and I was like, Jesus, man.
I love that goal. It's incredible.
Pepe's got some big stones on him. When he turns inside and Christian's running to his left, and he says, no, no gonna take this and i was like whoa you better score bro because if you don't score i am ringing your neck well that's the funny thing is i i thought the same i thought we he took it in real time i was like oh this is a good goal and then i see the replay i thought wow good on you good on you because because christian wants that ball and And actually, it's the better choice.

For sure.

It is the pass.

But it's really, really interesting because let's stay on Pepe for a second.

He's had a lot to say, which I'm okay with for right now.

ESPN, Jeff Carlisle wrote about SuperSub.

And is he considered a SuperSub?

And Pepe had an interview response. The way I take it, obviously people are noticing the things that I'm doing whenever I come in as a sub and it makes them say the word, but at the same time hearing the word, it makes me want to punch, I'm paraphrasing, punch something because at the same time, I just want to play more minutes.
I want to get to the point where I'm a starter. And I like this from him.
I like this from him because when I watched the goal, he created the goal. If you go back, he chased down the left center back, chases down the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper flubs the clearance. He then, after one or two passes, gets it back, and he's got the wherewithal to turn, strike, shoot, score.
And I think you have to have a bit of nasty. You'll always hear me say, I personally want my strikers to be nasty, arrogant, and selfish.
I do. I do.
I want them to hate everybody. I want them to spit on the ground.
I want them to be nasty. And that's okay because their job to – my job isn't to score.
My job is to organize a team behind them and give them all the support and all they should be worried about is scoring. You know, the, my final thought on Pepe is this, because I've, I've given this advice to myself, to my daughter who plays, I've given it to younger teammates, coaches at, at the level he's at playing with the U.S.
men's national team, coaches are scared to death to lose their jobs. What does that mean? They're going to play the people who think that they can win them the game, right? So if you're a striker and you're scoring and you're not playing, my advice is your manager probably has an office and on that office, I'm almost certain he has a door.
You go knock on that door and you simply say, Gaffer, I enjoy playing for you. I know you like me because you're giving me a bit of an opportunity, right? But I'm scoring goals and I can't get in the team.
What can I do to get in the team? And by the way, it's not talking in the press and it's not saying I should do that. It's just going up to your manager and going, I'm scoring goals.
Yeah. What else do you want me to do? And there's something else because your job's on the line every game and you're not picking me.
And I want you to pick me. If you get what I'm saying.
Who were guys, curiously, who were guys you played with that had that, like strikers that had that? Well. Because Clint comes to mind right away.
Clint, Clint. Dude, Clint.
It's like he would kill you to score a goal. Literally.
He was as nasty as they come. He was as nasty as they come.
And, you know, the one that comes to mind because he's in the press is Rude Van Isteroy. And, you know, his goal scoring record at Manchester United was amazing.
Watch Rude Van Isteroy. Every time he gets the ball, you know where he plays it? Wide.
You know why he plays it wide? Because he wants it in the box. Because he wants it back's not playing he's not playing anybody through the lines to score he's playing it wide and again and you train with these guys and it's not just in the game you train with them and they're nasty and they want you know you're thinking you're close range don't hit it like we're in training no they're Wallace they try and take your head off and it's like these these are the these are the players at the top level you have to be nasty and it's and's the, for me, that's the best trait.
It really, truly is. Robbie Keane was like that too when it came to Gallup.
I mean, he like, first of all, he just hated, hated losing. Hated losing in any game.
And then on the field, like if you didn't give him the ball, you were going to hear it. You know, like unless you score, but if you, and even so, sometimes you score and you're still going to hear it.
Like if you didn't give him the ball, you're going to hear you know like if unless you score but if you and even so sometimes you score and you're still going to hear it like if you didn't give him the ball you're going to hear it and he came through every time so it was like all right might as well give him the ball yeah yeah the peppy stuff's interesting there's a lot of guys tim who have made a lot of money in their life being great for 30 minutes off the bench yeah yeah and usually it happens later in your career and you have to come to grips with it and make peace with it. If he ever gets to a, say a team that is always dominant, always had the ball, like the way tonight's game was, sometimes you are better off coming on later in the game when teams are tired and the team's worn out.
And now tonight he did the job in Jamaica, he did the job and full credit to him yeah our question now is going to be okay can you do it in the big games against big teams right and let's wipe the slate clean a little bit because pochettino's new and there's going to be all kinds of changes happening but like you said you know you win the game you stay on yeah you know right you win the game you stay on you score you stay on and for right now you got to say he's earned it and he stays on. Yeah.
And look, the advice to him is simply this. I think what people forget on the outside, I think what good goal scorers forget, you know, at times, even at that level is goal scoring is important.
It's the most important. It's the hardest thing to do in football, right? But holding the ball up, which I thought he did well tonight, bringing your team into play, running the channels, chasing and tackling.

Again, I thought he did that really well tonight.

So this is his opportunity.

And like I said, I'm OK with guys talking.

I am.

As long as you're backing it up and as long as you're saying, I want to play, I'm hungry, I'm selfish, get me on the pitch.

I got no issue with it.

And tonight, from what he said about the super sub moniker to tonight and him putting the performance in, if he keeps that up, no issues at all. Yeah, fair enough.
And just to tie a bow on this, what I've seen so far, my first impressions, these are the first two real games under Pochettino. The mentality in the away game and the professionalism in Jamaica I thought was excellent, And that was Pochettino immediately putting his stamp on this team.
The other thing tonight we saw pressing, running, chasing from the beginning. We got into this with, with Burr Halter, we got into this just this weird place where it was like overthinking tactically how we were going to defend and sitting off a team that you're way better than, way better than.
And I kept going, what are we doing? Just go press. They will give you the ball.
And Pochettino just, you know, either that's in his DNA or he's realized that he's like, no, we're not, we're not sitting off against Jamaica and trying to, you know, tactically defend them smart. It's like, no, go after them.
And we went after them. And so those two things are a sign of Pochettino immediately having his stamp on this team.
And then the other thing, just tactically, they used Christian, he's used Christian now in a really interesting way. And I really like it.
He's basically, when we have the ball, Christian has the freedom to float and go anywhere he wants. And tonight, I don't know if it was by design, but tonight he veered left way more often than right, but he did join on the right a few times, but between Weah, him, Weston McKinney, Anthony Robinson was on this side, Pepe would come over.
All the numbers were on the left and they just killed Jamaica and made it really hard. And then then on the goal obviously when it switches back he's in a great spot to make a vertical run which he's really good at and the scores the goal so i like the way pochettino's using him so far and you can see that freedom and the form christian is in right now have made him almost unplayable so and tactically he prefers the profile drifting left and he kind of dances on ball, and he drags people with him.
Look, I think the midfield is stout enough and robust enough to kind of handle it when he drifts away from the middle. And my final takeaway, as you said, we're putting a bow on this, is, and this can't be understood because it's going to sound basic, we all and Pochettino would prefer to dissect all of this having one for two yeah having having one away from home right and i know that sounds simplistic but it's true when you're not getting results in fact let me let me speak to to where he was at chelsea he had ideas at chelsea but he wasn't getting the results yeah right and when you're not getting the results the pressure the scrutiny it comes on even when you're doing the right things and by the way by the end of his tenure at Chelsea at the end they were playing really well right but he didn't get enough results and so when you look at when you look at this U.S.
team we can dissect things and we can break it down which we are and everybody will the fans and the coaches and and pundits alike but it's much better to do it from this lofty perch than having lost and going, oh boy, we got to change something. So speaking of Greg, Greg Berhalter was at the game with Bruce Arena.
How do you feel about this? It feels a little bit too early. I mean, Greg's my guy, but it feels a little bit too early.
Yeah, it's like you got a girlfriend, you dump her, then you all have mutual friends and she shows up at your birthday party and you're like, what are you doing here? It was a little bit weird. Look, Bruce and Greg have a great relationship.
Greg was an assistant coach for Bruce, played for Bruce. It was interesting.
I don't think I would have been there, but you know what? Give him credit. At least he's showing up and I'd be curious how everyone else felt about it.
I'm not going. I'm not going.
How do our fans feel? To hell with my former employer. I'm out.
I want him to lose every game. I've said it here.
It was bizarre. I mean, he's found his footing.
He'll be in Chicago and good for him. But I guess last question for me, Tim, is the hype around Pochettino.
Everybody I know who cares about soccer would come to me and say, hey, what do you think about the hiring? And I would always say the same thing. Look, we had a big-name manager come in in 2011 that we were all excited about, Juergen Klinsmann.
He was a total disaster. He was just a bad coach.
So Pochettino's at a much different level yeah but i'm cautiously optimistic what i've seen so far i like i like the reaction of the team yeah but i think it's still early for me and i don't want to get crazy hyped so yeah i i think with i think pochettino is a very good coach and he's a right coach for this group you know the when it comes to quality throughout the squad that's where he's going to earn his money right is is trying to get the best out of not the best players our best players have been doing really well by the way um you know uh and credits by the way we haven't said his name credit to tim weah i mean the strike you want to talk about a guy in form as soon as it came off of his his thigh, I thought night, night, he's still rising. It's incredible.
So, you know, you know, get getting the best out of the, out of the complete squad, not just our best players is going to be where his mark is left. So is he the right manager for the job? Yes.
Is he a really tough manager? Yes. Um, but as we, as we go, we'll see, we'll see how he can lift up the base of that squad.
Yeah, okay. All right, Timmy, well, that puts a bow on it.
Great. 5-2 advancement.
Not perfect. We, by the way, have now qualified for the Gold Cup.
Who we play next in the semifinals is very CONCACAF. We have no clue um a lot of it depends on the mexico result um canada if they got eliminated there's it's you know based on seating and rankings and all that so we'll see who we play next but certainly going to be harder than jamaica yeah by the way does that oh i guess maybe that doesn't mean that canada would or mexico would be eliminated if they lost because jamaica was not eliminated so there'd be some some mechanism can i can i tell you can i tell you something if you're if you're a betting person bet the house that mexico somehow will be everything the gold cup there's not a good there's not a scenario where mexico would allow to not be in the gold cup let me tell you i think there's a rule that if your coach gets hit with a beer can, you get automatically in the gold cup.
And we want that. We want the best team to do it.
No, we want Mexican, but there's literally a 0% chance they're not in the gold cup. There will be a way to find it.
All right. So we're in the gold cup, advance past Jamaica, onto the semifinals.
Reminder that on the other side of this, we recorded the second part of this earlier today. So we will look a little bit different.
Still bald, but we will look a little bit different. All right.
Good win for the U.S. and we'll see you guys on the other side.
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men's national team. To continue on with that theme, LD, around CONCACAF, big story.
We could probably call this segment Blood and Thunder, but we won't. In a not-so-funny way, Mexican manager Javier Aguirre gets hit in the head.
I mean, incredible scenes, hit in the head with a beer can as they lose to Honduras, but massively splits them open, blood everywhere. Like, just go.
There's your runway. Tell me your thoughts on this.
Yeah. So if you haven't seen the video for just go see the, watch the video.
There's different angles of it. But he's walking over to shake Honduran manager's hand.
And you can see stuff flying. And we've seen plenty of stuff fly in those environments.
But all of a sudden, you see something hit him. He kind of moves for a second.
And then as he turns towards the camera, there's blood just gushing down his face. And he clearly got hit.
He said it was a beer can. What's interesting though, Tim, is he handled it really, really well.
And I'm not sure how I would have handled it, but he handled it, I think, in the right way. They asked him about it, obviously, after the game.
And he said they were better than us in areas. They were the better team.
They deserved to win. I've got nothing left but to congratulate them and try to lift my team's spirit.
The other thing, there's no point in talking about it because it's football, and I'm not one to complain. I just want to say from my personal experiences with Javier Aguirre, when he used to be the manager for the Mexican national team a long time ago.
Always very respectful, kind man. He's very well regarded throughout the world.
My problem actually is not with that. It's in the statement from the Mexican Federation.
Let me read that too. This just got my blood boiling.
The FMF, the Mexican Federation, unequivocally condemns the acts of violence that occurred tonight at the stadium in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Such behavior has no place in our sport.
We demand that CONCACAF take immediate and decisive action to address this matter in accordance with its regulations. And tell our listeners why you have such a problem with this.
Okay, let me just finish because this is, I just can't, this makes my absolute blood blood. Soccer should be a celebration, not a battleground.
We urge all parts, including institutions, managers, players, fans, and the media to work together to create a safe and respectful environment for everyone involved. Really? Really, bro? Really? How many times you and I had dead chickens thrown at us in Azteca and Mexico City, rocks, coins, batteries, bags of urine.
How many times did they come out and say, this has no place in our sport. This should be a suck.
Get out of here. This is such a joke.
So as I'm reading that, it made my skin crawl. I'm like, this is a joke, dude.
Well, I think I remember recently, like in the Nations League final or something, or a couple of times when we played Mexico recently, I remember on corner kicks, Christian Pulisic having to like stall to take the corner because he's getting things thrown at him. So like, I totally agree with that.
Aguirre has handled himself brilliantly better than I would. And, you know, I remember a time when Manchester United was playing Man City at Man City and Rio Ferdinand goes to celebrate a goal and someone throws like a pound coin, bro, from the stands and it hits him in and around the eye area.
I'm like, if that's a centimeter lower, he's blind for life. This is stupid.
I just don't understand. Well, I know it's the the mom mentality but for all these people that think it's funny which by the way it's crept into college football in a big way which is really really really bad and matthew mcconaughey came out and talked about it at the university of texas recently like you can't do it and the thing that annoys me the most is i i'm i'm somebody who's really big on like be you are all the time.
If you're a tough guy all the time, be a tough guy all the time. I don't care.
I could care less. If you think I'm the biggest a-hole, say it.
Don't ask for my autograph. Just say, I don't like you.
I'm cool with that. I'm super, super cool and respect people.
But this kind of like, these people throwing things, particularly like they wouldn't in the grocery store, pick up a can of soup and throw it at you. No chance.
And by the way, if they were, if they were facing you face to face, they wouldn't do it either. It's like they're behind the guardrails and the cage in the stadium where it's just cowardice.
Right. It's cowardice.
It's cowardice. And the crazy thing is I actually would rather get hit with a soup can and, and the grocery store than like having a projectile from the upper deck.
That's like, that's just a warp speeding at my face. Right.
So it's incredible curious actually if something will happen i mean if conca calf now of all the things that have happened right over the years and you and i have been a part of so many i've got hit with things like you don't even know what it is it's like but like parts of bodies of animals like you don't even know what the hell it is if they now all of a sudden decide that they're going to do something about this like the irony would just be ridiculous and just the mexican federation like i get it you got to put out a statement whatever but don't that's pot calling the kettle black dude don't cast stones if you live in a glass house and interestingly enough ld to our listeners hit us up at unfiltered soccer and throw some comments in there actually throw no pun intended but have you been next to somebody in the stadium who's thrown things? Have you thrown things yourself? Like, what are your thoughts on this? Because I think it has to get eradicated at a game just for simply safety reasons. And by the way, just by the result, I mean, they lost 2-0 in Honduras.
Now they have a big hill to climb back home. So I wonder, you know, how does Aguirre use this as maybe motivation? Are the players pissed? You know what happens? But that's going to be a really fascinating second leg in that series with Honduras up 2-0.
Totally. And the players, as you said, how does he use it? Can they rally around their coach? Speaking of rallying around your coach or not, Harry Kane had some interesting things to say about his fellow England players withdrawing from the national team.
And obviously we know that this is the last game under caretaker Lee Karsley. Thomas Tuchel comes in for the next round of games as the New England managers.
But nine players pulled out of the England squad to face Greece last Thursday and Ireland on Monday. Harry Kane, the England captain, as we know, this bothered him.
He's got a very long quote about this. And to summarize, under Southgate, the last manager, Southgate's brought the joy back to playing for England and guys wanted to be around each other.
They were excited about coming into camp. And then there's a little bit of this in between, right? So Lee Cars is the caretaker.
Who's going to be the next manager? Tuchel gets named. So there's kind of that gray area now where I think what Harry Kane is saying is, hang on, we're taking a few liberties here.
It's supposed to be a joy to play for England anytime, whether I'm the manager, you're the manager, Lee Carsey, whomever. And he's saying he didn't appreciate that.
And by the way, for me, as a captain, that's your right. In fact, that's your responsibility to speak up on behalf of the country, which continues the debate.
And you've dealt with this and I've dealt with it. Club versus country.
You hear it as like a blanket statement. Club versus country.
But now is an actual time where our listeners and our fans can really get stuck into like, this is a real thing. Like the debate that players feel, the pressure that players feel to be available for club and country is a real thing.
It used to be easy, Tim, because there's a lot to unpack here. You used to play 6, 8, 10, 12 national teams games a year, and you would play 28, 30, 32 club games a year.
So you had, it was a lot of games in the 40s, whatever now Now the problem now is there are so many games, right? And there's so many games. So if you're a player now saying, how am I going to manage through 60 games this year? These are top players, right? That play on big clubs that are in all in champions league and all the cups and they go deep into the tournaments and all that.
The, the challenge now is how do you find a time to get a break, if at all? And just a few things. If Tuchel was the manager right now, they would not have foregone that camp.
They would have all been there. The fact that Lee Carsley is there right now and Tuchel's not in yet, played into it.
The other part is if this was a qualifier or the Euros or the World cup they they definitely would have played um the challenge now though is that these clubs pay a lot of money they pay their players a lot of money and it is absolutely an honor as we know to play for the national but you're playing you're paying these guys hundreds of thousands of dollars a week to be available and then when they go away play a couple games come back injured, you're like, hold on a sec. So that's where the business side comes in.
Yeah. I mean, there's so much here.
I think the fees, particularly at Premier League clubs around the world have always been somewhat astronomical. Yes, they've gone up, but the argument was still the same when the market value was less than a hundred grand a week, maybe with 50 grand a week, these were still top dollars for these teams and they want their players fit.
But also playing for your national team, right? Like, so there's a business side of this, which you mentioned. Playing for your national team and being a star for your national team, if you're a Newcastle player, also allows your fee to go up so I can then sell you on to Liverpool or whomever, I'm making that up, right? So it's still important for these clubs from a business standpoint that their players are available.
It's a delicate balance. It's one that's really difficult to get right.
Look, from my own personal experience as LD, and we were together for, gosh, a long time on the national team. I played most of my career in England, and I lived in Manchester for 13 years.
And I was always available. There was a greed to me.
I want wanted to be the greatest U.S. goalkeeper in the history of U.S.
soccer, right? So I knew I had to, number one, be available. I had to be available so that I can play and I had to play so I could be putting good performances, right? Like there's a concoction there, but there was never a time, and you know this, you play on a Saturday, you get on a transatlantic flight on the Sunday morning.
There was almost never a time, maybe one time I can think of that I didn't allow myself to get on that plane, even if I was hurt. I said, I'm going to go get on that plane.
I'm going to go to Chicago or LA, wherever our camp is. I'm going to get seen by our doctors.
And most importantly, LD, I'm going to give my body five days to recover. And even if I was injured, I could say, take the first two days off, work with the physio, get myself back in light training.
I was going to give myself every single opportunity to be fit and available for the selection on the whatever, Saturday or Friday or Saturday. Because it was so important to me to win as many games, win as many caps, save as many goals for the U S men's national team.

Because for me,

it was about what that looked like personally,

which was on a selfish level,

but then I wanted to be a part of greatness.

I wanted to be a part of world cups and qualifying.

So always,

always try to make myself available.

So I appreciate what Harry Kane said.

In fact,

in fact,

I texted him just,

just the other day.

And I said,

listen,

mate,

go well,

good luck.

But I also 100% agree with you. And he, and he sort of chuckled and was just like i don't really know what the big deal is like it's kind of what it's kind of what we all think so yeah he's a little old school in that way too but do you did he need to say it publicly you think could he have just you know called all these guys and you know i well look i i think and you know this I think, you know, Gary Selke did such a good job of being front facing with the media,

which is really difficult.

And I think Harry Kane gets asked those hard questions and I don't think he's

as the England captain.

I don't think.

Yeah.

I guess what's he going to say when he gets asked, right?

I don't think you're in a position to bat it back.

You could, I don't think you're wrong in that, but I think he believed what he

was saying.

And it wasn't like a, it wasn't like a stain on one particular player. It was like, look, I just don't think you should pull out of England squad.
So I, I tend to agree with him on that. You know, there are, I was just thinking in my head, are there players who actually put their club ahead of country and it's happened a lot, you know, like Vela, Carlos Vela for Mexico.
He, he just said, I'm done with the national team. And he played on his club team for a long time.
He just didn't want to deal with all the BS. And there are players who do that.
And I know it's hard for anybody who's proud of their country and for us proud to play for our country, but there is a human side too, where Carlos Vela, every time he came back, he was criticized, the media destroyed him. He just was like, I'm over it.
That's a a really good example let me give another example because i'd be remiss if i didn't say this like the club versus country is is everywhere you and i can speak to what we know and what we know is the u.s man's national team and the fact of the matter was you know big shout out to manchester uk it rains every god darn day i was just gonna say you were happy to come back to chicago i was delighted to get on the plane. I know it sounds funny, right? Like I wanted to play for my country, but I was like, you know, I got, I get a week and a half with my guys.
And by the way, that's important. My guys, I wanted to see you.
I wanted to see Jay DeMarit. I wanted to see bees.
I wanted to see all my guys. And the fact of the matter is I've been in the dressing room with guys who didn't, they were that bothered to play for england because as harry kane said this is important southgate brought the joy back so from 2002 when i got to england 2016 when i left they had a multitude of managers and and and the england players talk very very strongly and openly about at england camp there was a Manchester United table at dinner.
There was a

Liverpool table at dinner. They didn't like each other.

The divide between

clubs was so strong that it infiltrated

their national pride. You and I didn't

have that. We couldn't wait to get on.
So I

knew players that were like,

don't feel like going in or went to the

physio and said, I've got to knock.

Hamstring's too tight. Knock on England.
Can you ring them?

Right? Which we,

conceptually, we didn't have that because we truly, I mean, you look at the picture behind me, there was love on our, on our team. We loved each other.
There wasn't this club loyalty that blocked us. So I think you experienced that as well.
I'm curious now going forward, will this, will there be resentment right in the camp towards some of those guys? Obviously the, I'm guessing Harry Kane, if he's willing to say it publicly,

he's willing to say it privately to them too.

Totally.

And talk to them and have conversations.

I do remember, I could feel it a little bit.

This was not a club versus country, but when I took a break from the sport in 2013, I took a four or five-month break.

And obviously, the coach at the time, Juergen Klinsmann was not happy about it and ultimately held it against me. I could feel a little bit from the players, like, hold on a sec, you know, and I don't know if you, we've never talked about it, but hold on a sec.
You're not, you know, you're not committed to this. Cause I missed a qualifier.
Right. So I'm actually curious.
Actually, I'd just like to know this is like a therapy session.

Did you, what did you hear from the players during that time?

Because I never asked you about that.

Yeah.

Well, it's interesting because I'll answer that question. And after the 2014 World Cup, I took a year out for the national team as well.

So I know that's right.

In our, in our comments, I'm going to get slaughtered for that.

Cause I'm going to, you know, on one, on one hand, I said, I'm always available. And then now I'm sad.
Except for that year. Listen, I listened.
I got, I'm going to get slaughtered for that because on one hand, I said I'm always available. Except for that year.
Listen, I got divorced. Life was hell, and I needed to see my kids.
So that was my reasoning. And I appreciate anybody who has those comments and gives me heck for it.
I'm okay with it. On the outside, it was nothing.
I think as players, you understand. I think as players, certainly myself and some of the other top players, you're like, damn, I kind of wish I was landing.
I could use a break too, right? Like there was no hate. And also, by the way, you, myself, I could probably name on that team four other players, five other players who probably deserve the right to say, hey, I need to exhale here for a second.
Give me the problem is Jorgen Klinsmann, which we can touch on in many more episodes, isn't a great coach. Um, I've got a big problem with him as a person and yes, he holds grudges against players.
Um, but that's his prerogative and, and thankfully we, we somehow got through it. Um, but no, for, from our end, from a player standpoint, there was no beef.
There was no, we were just delighted to get you back healthy, fit and ready to rock and roll. And by the way, I think we're ahead of our time because you know what people are talking about in 2024? Mental health, taking a break.
So I'm just putting it out there as we were progressive ahead of our time. Well, another guy who at some point here is going to need a break is Christian Pulisic.
He's been playing a lot of soccer and he's like us from a young age. There are some reports out of Spain, and I think verified a little bit, that I believe West Ham, Liverpool, United, Man United, all interested in him.
Thoughts? Back to the premise for Christian?

Yeah. Somewhat awesome, but precarious position.
I mean, there's a lot of paper speak in England,

if you don't know, and agents, I'm not necessarily throwing his agent under the bus, but agents

have a lot of power in the media. I think for Christian, it's a tough decision because he was

in England at Chelsea. I thought he did some really good things at Chelsea.
They were a little bit of a mess, to be honest, at the time when he was there. Got to short end of the stick.
He left. He's then gone to, by the way, it's not like he's gone to a wishy-washy club.
He's gotten one of the most world-renowned clubs in the world, AC Milan, doing brilliantly, a star player for them. When he was at Dortmund, he was playing really well really highly thought of so this is kind of kind of he's much he's much more mature now right you went through this he's now he's now a big player at a big club like does he have something to prove he's going to be the you know captain of the national team going to the next world cup you know or there they're about so like he might be sitting at home going what go back to England where I didn't have a great experience for what? Like my, my bread is buttered.
I feel good now. Maybe, maybe the desire to play at a Liverpool or Manchester United, we know what that means to legacy and, and, and to your, to your bank account.
He's in such a good position. And what I would say is, is under Ruben Amarin or on a slot, particularly at United or Liverpool, if they're saying, look, we've got big plans for you here.
Yeah. How do you say no to that? I think he goes.
Yeah. My biggest thing with Christian, as with all the national team players, is whatever you're doing in the next year and a half, you have to be playing.
Right? The highest level possible is great, but you have to be playing. And I think it'd be amazing at some point to see him in MLS, but I understand now why he was excited to go there.
It's clear that they had a plan for him and that he was going to get lots of playing time and he's absolutely taken advantage of it. The grass, Tim, is very rarely green.
And at Milan right now, he's, it's it's crazy to say this but he's he's verging legendary status already with that club because of what he's done this season and how he's how he's catapulted them in the league and champions league etc so i'm of the opinion that he's in a great place right now and he should stay there. It's hard to turn down Liverpool, Man United.

I get that, but I don't think he should leave.

Right.

So you and I have strong opinions on this,

but I'm going to put you on the spot.

You're not Landon Donovan.

You're Christian Pulisic.

I wish.

And Liverpool come in.

They talk about the big plans they have for you,

playing in front of Anfield.

They give you, by the way, they probably.

I don't want to play for Anfield.

Good point.

They probably double your wage, but you're not you.

They double your wages.

Are you going or staying?

Jesus.

Honestly, I'm probably staying.

I'm probably staying.

You're probably going, especially if they double the wages.

You're all in.

You don't care if it's Liverpool either.

I'm off, mate.

I'm off. Fleetwood Town, Macclesfield, Plymouth, double my wages.
I'm off. Listen, we have to take a break.
Coming back, we're going to talk about MLS second round matchups. One of our favorite segments, mailbag questions where you get to hammer us or not.
And then anything but soccer. There could be boxing and streaming and buffering getting talked about.
We'll be back. And by the way, before we go, leave us your comments, thoughts on Christian.
Should he stay or should he go? Should he stay or should he go? Let us know. All right, we'll be back.
Thank you. I couldn't have completed this project without a little extra coffee.
And since I brushed with Colgate's Pro Series toothpaste with an expert-level whitening for a vibrant glow, I could show up to set each day camera ready and smiling wide. Well, Kelly, looks like a little Colgate gave you a lot of confidence.

Colgate Optic White.

Find it at all major retailers.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

USLNT presented by Volkswagen.

Timmy, let's talk a little bit MLS second round matchups.

We got the Hudson River Derby.

Let's go.

NYCFC Red Bull. We got LAFC Seattle.
I don't know what the derby name is for that. We got the Dirty South Orlando Atlanta and the Galaxy Minnesota United.
You know, as I was thinking through this, Ricky Pudge said it a week ago, 22 days in between the Galaxy's last game and their next game because the international break. This is really hard, man.
Three weeks without a game. That's three full weekends, meaning usually if you have one weekend off, it's hard.
And how do you stay fit? So in the past when you had these moments, we would try to schedule a game. I don't know if you can play a college team or something, but it's just not the same, is it? No, it's not.
This just to be part of the u.s landscape when it comes to scheduling i was always an advocate for like let's figure out a way to play a game right if we play a play a usl team or a college team it's not the same but my point was like let's let's pull our socks up let's have a dressing room team talk let's walk out of the dressing room onto the pitch with music let's have a referee let's do something that feels similar obviously the counter to that and you know this it's like you know imagine if you're if you're starting left back gets a knock then you're kicking yourself but i still think it's worth the risk because you still have some time to recover um because you know as well as i do that rust is a real thing like that that whistle is going to blow for these guys and it's going to feel like 22 days ago that the last whistle blew and it's going to take a while. And like, I would imagine in some of these games, we're going to see, you know, one or two early mistakes, which could cost you your season.
So I don't love it. Yeah, agreed.
Well, I'm, for obvious reasons, paying attention to the Galaxy game and I hope they continue this remarkable run and remarkable return to prominence, which we've all been wanting for a long time. Any game you're paying attention to? Look, I think the Dirty South Derby, as we've dubbed it, Atlanta did the impossible and the unthinkable, knocked off Inter-Miami and Messi.
And so I think for Atlanta, I'm'm really interested in like one there's been a 22 day layoff but but also by the way have they exhaled because i wouldn't i wouldn't fault them if they were like we just knocked off messy we did our job that's what i'm curious about like is it it would have been better if they played three days later maybe or five days later because they're just like let's go again totally and now they're probably like feeling themselves a little bit and relax a little and you know and you know the skipper

brad guzan was that like on the boat fishing just chilling you know with his feet hanging out so

is he back obviously i'm kidding he was brilliant nearly mvp of that uh that first round so yeah i'm

excited to see what atlanta has in store all right let's jump into mailbag we actually have some

good feedback i was following all the social youtube comments all week and there was some

Thank you. Atlanta has in store.
All right, let's jump into mailbag. We actually have some good feedback.
I was following all the social YouTube comments all week, and there were some really, really good comments, questions. Mostly agree with us, but a lot of people don't.
So let's get Jordan in here. Where's Jordan? Let's go.
Jordan, howdy. Hello.
All right, what do we got? Okay, so we have one question that kind of ties into what you guys were just talking about. A couple of different people on YouTube were asking what you prefer, the playoff format that we have in the MLS or the way that it's played in the Premier League.
Meaning, okay. So a table or a playoff form.
Well, I was the beneficiary of solid seasons, not the best team, and then winning six championships. I don't know if you know this, Jordan, but combined, Tim and I have won six MLS Cups.
Amazing. Yeah.
We're so good. He worked really hard at that.
Well done, Tim. So I preferred that format, but I believe the best team is the team that does it.
So I would say the best team this season is Inter-Miami. It's my opinion.
Yeah. I prefer single league table uh the way they do around the world in the premier league um that being said and i'm and i'm almost someone who never ever uh sits on the fence i was part of an mls run we got to the western conference finals and like lost so yeah it hurt i'm hell yeah i'd rather, right? Like after, after going on a long playoff run.
So overall, I think I prefer a single table, but the excitement of winning a championship is like second to none. So.
All right. Let's stay in the U S a little bit.
So Matt on YouTube asked, what are some changes that you think need to be made within the U S youth system that would lead to our pro leagues reaching the same level as those in Europe? I mean, this, honestly, Jordan, this is going to be a whole episode that we'll do at some point, but I'm going to give a 30 second. People ask, and I'm sure they ask you this all the time to me, when will the U.S.
win a World Cup? And my response is always the same. It's not when will we win a World Cup? It's when will we be competing every four years to win a World Cup? Meaning every World Cup, Brazil, you go, they could win it.
Spain, they could win it. Italy, they could win it.
France, they could win it. Argentina, they could win it.
When are we going to become one of those teams? The only way you do that, there's only one, it doesn't matter the coach, doesn't matter the facilities, the setup, none of that matters. You have to have the players that can do it.
It's simple. You have to have, and we don't develop players anywhere near the level they do in other countries.
And we'll dive into that on a full episode one day, but that is the easy answer. It's a great answer, LD.
Matt, thanks for your question. Very quickly, I'm an expert at this because I went through it as a young player.
And then I've just gone through it as a father with my daughter, who's 17 years old, and just committed to the University of Tennessee, go Vols, to play soccer. But the U.S.
youth system is completely and utterly flawed. And I don't say that to be dramatic.
It's just that's the facts. It's the facts.
It's a disaster. And, you know, one of the great things about where I am now in my career is I have a passion to help try and change that.
Not easily done, but certainly lots of conversations around having it. Look, the simple part is that I went and watched my daughter's ECNL game this weekend, which I drove four hours for.
So that's another talking point. And the best players get to 17 years old and they're still doing the same old dumb crap.
Right? Why is that? Here's why. Because when you're in Spain, when you're in Holland, when you're in England, you as a U16 coach, your job is to get that one particular kid ready for the U18s.
It's not to win. It's to get Ross Barkley at Everton who plays on the U16s to the U18s.
When the U18s coach gets him, it's to get Ross Barkley to the under 21s. The under 21s coach, his job is not to win under 21.
Make him a pro. It's to get them to the first team.
When you have young kids in America, right?

All the directors of football who are getting paid $100,000, $200,000 at their respective clubs around the country, their job is to win.

So they take a young girl like my daughter and her teammates and they don't coach them.

They don't tell them what's right and wrong because I know parents call in and then they call the director of football and say, my daughter is being talked to the wrong way.

Their job in America is to win.

So you don't criticize your number one, two, and three best players.

You know what I mean? the director of football and say, my daughter is being talked to the wrong way. Their job in America is to win.
So you don't criticize your number one, two and three best players. You don't criticize them.
You just make sure they're on the field doing what they do. Yeah.
So they don't leave to another club. You make sure they're happy.
Correct. So the system's flawed.
Great question. We'll touch more on that longer.
Okay. You've kind of set me up pretty well for the next question too.
You started a hornet's nest here. So you're talking about Ross Barkley and Everton.
So Tyler on YouTube wants to know, what are your thoughts on the current state of Everton? And if you were director of football, what would you think needs to be done to put Everton among the greats of English soccer again? You start to me.. Look, Moshiri owned the team, bought the team from Bill Kenwright, God rest his soul.
And I think in eight years had seven managers and three directors of football. And obviously we know what happened with the profitability and sustainability rules that were breached.
So big problems. Look, I think when you run a football team, the issue around the Premier League is, and fair play to all these owners, they think they know best.
And so they run the club like they run probably their other businesses. And I think what needs to happen is the money needs to get put in.
Then you have to bring in some really great people at top. And I do like, to answer the Everton question, I do like what Manchester United is doing.
Sir Jim Radcliffe and Ineos bought 25% of the club, right? And part of that was, hey, look, they went to the Glazers. We need to have control of football operations.
Boom. They got it.
They then put Omar Barada in under, you know, underneath Ineos and then they brought Dan Ashworth in and so on and so forth. So they created this football hierarchy that's just in charge of making football decisions.
And, and if I was director of football, that would mean I was part of that. I was part of that vertical hierarchy.
And I think that that's, that's the starting point that from there you can name the right coach and style of play and all that, but you have to get the board level, right? Yeah. It's leader.
It's leadership, right? And there's, there's been a severe lack of leadership we were talking about kristin pulisic earlier the grass is very rarely greener when i was at when i was there for the brief stints with you tim everton were a top six seven eight nine ten club and everybody then all of a sudden thought well now we can make a push and be a Champions League club.

And it's like, be careful what you wish for because a huge influx of money bought tons of players and it just all went pear-shaped and it all went bad. And now every year, they're now a relegation club every year, basically, right?

Fighting for survival every year.

So the grass is very rarely greener, but there's been a severe lack of leadership that hopefully will change going forward yeah landon and jordan let me tie a bow on that um i talked about bill kenright he was he was dear to me in my in my um career in my personal life and landon i know you had amazing interaction with him he was the chairman for most of my 10 years everton and to landon's point when bill kenright was in his final days as chairman before he sold, he was taking pelters. The fans gave him grief like you wouldn't believe, right? Sell the club, all these things.
And in my private conversations with Bill Kenwright, he basically told me, I grew up on the terraces. My grandfather brought me to the terraces to watch Everton Football Club.
He says, I'm going to sell the club, Tim,

but I have to find the right buyer who's going to take care of this club.

And, and, and his, it,

it was prophetic because he was basically saying all the fans want bring

money in.

Okay.

Well, we brought some money in what happened.

So he, so his,

his worry and his caution was great was warranted because he didn't want to

sell to someone who was just going to pump money in and lead the club in the wrong direction and in the end certain fans got what they wanted but didn't work out okay last question is a follow up from last week's episode so David on YouTube was wondering Tim if you could tell us a little bit more about the U.S. goalkeepers that you think are being overlooked.

Yeah, I think I think to clarify, when it comes to the to the U.S. goalkeeping situation, I think we have one and a half international level goalkeepers.

What that means is Zach Steffen and Matt Turner are the best goalkeepers in the country. Hands down, simply put.
Which one of them is playing regularly? Which one of them is at the top of their game? That's why I say it's one and a half, right? I like Schulte. I think he's a good goalkeeper.
I watched him in the Olympics. There are levels.
There are levels. And there are, you know, you can be on the first floor.
You can be on the 16th floor. You can be in the penthouse, right? Just because you're a good goalkeeper i watched them in the olympics i there are levels there are levels and there there are you know you can be on the first floor you can be on the 16th floor you can be in the penthouse right just because you're a good goalkeeper doesn't mean you're a good goalkeeper at the international level right landon you've played with some good goalkeepers in mls and i would say those guys are lights out i take them on my team all day would i want them in a world cup qualifier no no and so if i had one game right now in azteca and we had to win, I'd play Brad Guzan.

Yeah, I think I would too.

Is he the U.S. goalkeeper for the next? No, he's not.

Well, he might not even be for next week, but if we had a game tomorrow.

To double down on that, when I was playing, there was a goalkeeper who we both know, Marcus Hanneman.

He was a big old teddy bear, brilliant guy.

Boomer. He was unfazed by anything.
He had a big chew in his mouth. He loved to hunt deer and all that kind of, and he played in the Premier League.
He played in the Premier League, and he was in everyone's cup of tea, but there was a lot of people who said, you know what? There's all these starlets coming behind Tim, and if I had to win one game, and I knew the guy wouldn't be rattled, I'd play Marcus Hanneman that's right. I'm going off a little bit.
I think Zach Steffen and Matt Turner are the two U.S. goalkeepers who I believe have the ability to perform at the international level.
And by the way, FYI, for all the people who are going to slam me, which I love, bring on your comments. Casey Keller, one of the greatest goalkeepers in U.S.
history, told me when I went over to England, we had a brilliant relationship. And he said, you cannot, Tim, judge a goalkeeper until they played 100 senior games.
Once they get 100 games under the belt, then you can say, okay, I know what this person is as a goalkeeper. And so I know we've got some kids in a pipeline and that's exciting, but not really sure.
Can we dig a little deeper on Zach on Zach Stephan? Cause when for a while with Greg, he was the man, right? Like he was going to play every minute, every game. Then he moved to the primary league, got loaned out from city and then just wasn't playing eventually made his way back to Colorado.
But do you think he has more upside than Matt? Zach has the biggest upside. Look, he got left off the World Cup roster, which is crazy to me.
I don't care what you say. Like, Zach Steffen is a good kid.
He's not a bad apple. And he got left off the World Cup roster.
If you're the U.S., bring your best players to the World Cup, i.e. Landon Donovan in 2014.
That was a bad person, though. Yeah.
But you bring your best players.

The fact of the matter is,

Zach Steffen is a physical specimen.

I was very athletic.

This kid is a physical specimen. When you talk to the goalkeeper coaches at Manchester City,

they have a saying,

your goalkeeper either plays big or they play small.

You can tweak some things in between there, but they play big or they play small. Zach Stephan, he told me, plays big.
And that's important. It's important because you can make match-winning saves, and that's what you need.
That's what you need in the biggest moments. And so, yes, he's been written off.
I was hoping and am hoping that under a new manager who is looking at everything with new lenses sees that Zach has has a real opportunity. And certainly Matt has been the number one.
So he has a job on his hands to continue to hold that shirt down. And it's been difficult for him at Palace.
Anything else, JR? That's everything. Thanks, guys.
All right. Thank you.
Thanks, Jordan. All right, Timmy.
Did you watch the fight? I tried. I tried.
Oh, yeah, Netflix, yeah. All right, so this is anything but soccer.
We will not talk about soccer, but we might relate it to soccer. So the Tyson fight, yeah, you tried, and Netflix had a bunch of issues.
Same with me. Just give me your thoughts.
Love Mike Tyson, bro. I was born in 1979.
Same. The heyday.
And Tyson's one of the greatest boxers of all time top you know where are you going to put it um i wouldn't i think jake paul is brilliant i think he's a brilliant businessman he has taken average boxing um and made people buy it you know eight to the tune of 80 million people you know watching this thing so um I wouldn't buy a fight unless he fights Canelo,

in which case I'm absolutely going to buy the fight.

But yeah, I mean, Mike Tyson and everything he does,

you're excited.

You know, naively, I'm hoping he catches him

with a left hook, right?

Because I'm like, Mike Tyson can put you out.

But I mean, you saw there by round three, you know,

he was gassed and, but big credit to Mike Tyson,

his age, getting out there, stepping in the ring. Like what a legend, but it wasn't, wasn't a great fight, but a big payday.
Huge payday. So I don't understand boxing.
It's like, it's weird to me. It's barbaric and weird.
And I can see why people are, it was exciting to watch. Um, I just want, I'm just going to come out and say, is this, I don't want to say fixed, but are they, is there like an unwritten, like, I'm not going to hit you.
You're not going to hit. Cause they didn't even fight.
There was no, like, they're just dancing around. So is that like an unwritten thing? Do you get in the ring and you go, Oh, this guy could really hurt me.
Maybe I'm, you know, cause like you watch the training videos and you're like, Oh, okay. These two are, these two look good.
But that's what, Look, I am a boxing fan, LD. And you're like okay these two are these two look good but that's what look

i am a boxing fan ld and you're right that's that's the hype of it right that's the netflix show where you're seeing tyson hit the heavy bag and you're like oh my god like he could take someone's head off i think jake paul cash is king cash is king sure so when he brings somebody in who is in need of money.

And he says, look, my guy,

I'm guaranteeing you 30 million.

We're going to give you 30 million dollars but guess what's going to happen i'm going to win do we all understand each other so is it a wink wink nod nod yeah absolutely i think so um did you see the undercard or the co-main event that was a proper fight that was a proper and that's why i asked like that was real and that was really fun to watch yeah and i don't you know i think again it's barbaric and weird and all that but it was fun to watch it was awesome and again And credit to Jake Paul. He's promoting women's boxing and sport and all that, but it was fun to watch.
It was awesome. And again, credit to Jake Paul.
He's

promoting women's boxing

and sport and getting them

paid to the tune that they should be getting

paid and bringing eyes to it. And

again, it's a spectacle and

that part is awesome to watch. I don't really want to

watch the main event though. Will there be a rematch

Tyson fight? That's

maybe, but you can't imagine.

Who's going to watch that again? But big credit to Tyson for even getting to the ring this time like I can't listen listen bro I'm 42 with when I was coaching loyal and when I was coaching the wave I would get out and play sometimes it does there are certain things that never go away right like there's some skill and whatever that like you just have the ability because you played at the highest level physically they were miles better than me yeah both the loyal and the way and like it would take me months and months to even be able to play one game at that level just crazy you don't realize the shape they're in so mike tyson was he 58 yeah yeah 58 to go and if anyone's ever boxed for two minutes, just hit a punching bag for two minutes. It is exhausting.
Yeah. And to do that eight rounds in a row.
And the bag doesn't hit back, by the way. Right.
And you're not dancing around the whole time scared for your life. So, like, I give him tremendous credit.
I just wish they would have gone for it. And maybe it was never in the cards.
Maybe it was always going to be that kind of fight. But it would have been fun to watch if they actually just got a fight.
Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing.
I've lied to our listeners, and I promise to never do that. So let me very...
I will purchase Jake Paul and Conor McGregor fight if it's in the MMA. It's in the octagon.
I will absolutely watch that. I'm still confused, but whatever.
All right. Thank you, guys.

We appreciate lots and lots and lots to digest from today.

Give us all your thoughts, comments, feedback on the national team,

how you feel about the two-leg series with Jamaica,

and then going forward, make sure to subscribe on YouTube,

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever else you get your pods.

Timmy, have a great week, bud.

Thank you, brother.