Ep. 19 - The USMNT Exits the World Cup (Match Reaction, Balogun Fallout, Player Performances, Stock Up/Down and Tournament Ramifications)

Brandon and Shaun meet to discuss the embarrassing exit for the USMNT after their 4-1 defeat to Belgium. 

We break down our immediate reaction, the game itself, what players impressed and which ones disappointed before wrapping up with the consequences to this disappointing performance.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hello, friends, and welcome to another episode of the Friends on Football Podcast. I'm one of your co-hosts, Brandon Johnson, and I'm here today as always with my other co-host, Mr. Sean Boyle. Sean, I always start off with asking you how you're doing. I think I know the answer, but just just let me hear it.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Still alive, but I'm barely breathing, Brandon. That would be how I would frame it. Uh, we're down pretty bad here at the Friends on Football. Thank goodness we didn't record the episode last night because we I specifically might have said some things that I would have regretted. We'll get into some of that. Yeah, it's not gonna be the most fun episode here, but it is a necessary episode. So I'll return the question to you, but I think I know the answer. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

In a very similar boat, Sean, just I I feel like it hasn't happened yet. I feel I feel like it hasn't hit me. I'm still waiting to to watch the next game on Friday, and then I'll watch on Friday and it won't be the US. And I think then it'll really hit me. But just just unlucky. Just not a great day. But like you said, this you took a uh script lyric. I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathing. I like that, Sean. I'll I'll copy that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I've got some more if you need them. Hello Darkness, my old friend. There's a few that come to mind in times like this. Yeah, it's it's bleak. It's it's not exactly enjoyable to talk about another round of 16 exit for the United States men's national team in a World Cup. But if we wouldn't do it, who else would, Brandon? So we must talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

We must. We move, we we'll we'll break it down, Sean. We'll we'll go over the game, what we saw, what we thought, and looking forward to what's next for this team. Four years from now, are we gonna have the same conversation, Sean? Are we getting better? Are we getting worse? How are things looking there? But Sean, just to start, your immediate reaction. Obviously, you mentioned if we would have recorded this immediately after the game, like we have with the with the last wins, uh, it would be probably cancelable. So we decided to let some time go by and sit on it, but just give me your immediate feelings, reactions, thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, I think a hand up, first of all, first and foremost, a hand up apologies in order for listeners of this program. Uh tough prediction by me. I said not only with the United States win, I said I think the word dominate came up. I really thought we were flying and we're gonna play them off the park. We'll get into some potential reasons why that didn't happen, but I think it would be disingenuous of me to go any further without apologizing for believing in these boys, because let me tell you this, listeners, I will not believe in this group of players again. It may be a different group, but these guys are not fooling me a third time, I'll tell you that for free. So it is it is an I'm sorry, but it's also it won't happen again. We learn from our mistakes here at the Friends on Football.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

I like that, Sean. I think for me, it still hasn't really sunk in. Part of me, and we'll get into this as we get deeper in this episode, Sean. I think on paper we got it, we got a good opponent. We had an opponent that was very beatable. However, the grand scheme of things, the US doesn't really make it past this round. And so there's a little bit That was an oversight in my thinking, we did make it past this round, but we don't. So I think there's a little bit of that history that's creeping in as well, and it's it's just an unfortunate, unfortunate loss, Sean. I I guess to start, let's talk Flo Balogun. Flo Balogun gets a red card in the previous game. Everyone expects him to be suspended and out for this game as the typical red card procedure. FIFA steps in and turns out there was an appeal, and Flo Balogun was able to play for the US. This is a very unprecedented situation. Uh, usually when red cards happen, they are not taken away unless it was a clear error, and those red cards are rescinded. This red card was actually just suspended. The suspension was suspended, which I had never ever heard before in soccer. But it turns out there's some deep bylaw that is there and and FIFA executed it. We can get into the the politics and how that all happened, Sean, but just just the reaction to that. Do you think that that had any sort of impact on the game from the US side? You know, you were in practice the last few days, probably expecting Ricardo Pepe or somebody else to step into that role, and then all of a sudden your your top number nine starter gets put back into the game. Do you what impact do you think that that had on this situation?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, and first and foremost, Brandon, I I did issue an apology, but I don't think I actually answered your question when you threw it to me earlier. So, my just for the listeners, my reaction and how I currently feel is bummed out, very sad. I don't feel great about how anything happened. I think what happened on Monday night wasn't a true reflection of this team, but ultimately will be what this team is remembered by, which is a tough pill to swallow. But a big factor in this, in my opinion, I'm not gonna say it's the only factor, I'm not gonna say it's even the the biggest factor, but I think there was a big influence on this game because of how the narrative around this team shifted in the 48 hours leading up to kickoff. Maybe it was only 40 hours, whatever the case is, from the moment that we heard rumblings of the red card being suspended until a future tournament, there just seemed to be an entire shift of the vibes. So for me, I just wish this situation never happened. First of all, I wish there was never an original red card shown. That was a mistake that happened because they used the incorrect footage, they used still photos, they used slow motion to in VAR, and that led to an incorrect refereeing decision, which led to eventually us having to resort to some crooked politics, it seems, to try to get this reversed, or at least find out a way that Flow Balin can pro Flow Balcon can participate in the game, which ultimately does happen, but we went from being this country in this host country that was kind of seen as a dark horse in the outside world. We weren't really offending anyone, our guys are pretty likable. Even if you hated the United States as a country, which many of you have the right to do, you seem to be at least kind of getting behind the notion of our national team making a bit of a splash. As with Canada, as with Mexico, people like to see the host countries involved deep in the tournament. It creates a better atmosphere. So we were kind of darlings in that sense. We had good vibes amongst the group, we were still seen internally as underdogs, we were still punching above our weight, even if the competition wasn't that good. What I think happened in this whole red card situation was that whole narrative switched on its head, and we immediately became hated by everybody outside of this country. We immediately heard things about corruption and rigged, and it turned us into the hunted instead of being hunters. And I think that's the explanation I'm choosing to believe as to why our guys showed up in the first half of this game in the way that they did. Because all tournament we had not seen a US side like this. We were a completely different team in this first half, Brandon. We were timid, we were scared, we weren't aggressive, we lacked confidence. It was a completely different team. And you could chalk that up to being because we're playing Belgium, and that's the best team we've seen so far, and there's definitely a part of it that that's the case. But I think there's also a part of it that mentally something switched, and we were not in the hundred 100% right frame of mind entering this match. I'm interested in hearing if you agree with that, or if you think these are two separate things and they're acting all independently from one another.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Stron. I've gone back and forth on this. I think it's two independent things. I do agree with you. Nobody really cared about the US men's national team overall coming into this tournament. It was like, oh, cool, you're playing this soccer thing on home soil and go have fun, basically. Like you would tell your, you know, your young child to to do before one of their games. But as the tournament progressed and people saw full stadiums and the atmospheres and the tartan armies and all of these groups coming into f to the US and enjoying themselves, people were like, oh, this seems kind of fun, let's get involved. Then you go and have the round of 32 game and you win that and you win that pretty handily, even with a man down for half the game. So people are like, Alright, we might be good at this thing. So coming into this game, I still think there was a little bit of alright, let's see what it's about. And Belgium, I feel like people just hear any major European team and they're like, oh no, it's over. But I'm sure they heard the rumblings, Belgium's getting a little bit older, it's not really the golden generation anymore. Uh but of course the red court issue loomed, and then when that gets resolved, resolved, quote unquote, with Balican being able to play. I think people were like, oh wow, like we're kind of like throwing our weight around a little bit here. Like we're we're kind of the big dogs. And and maybe you're right. The we went from, like you said, the hunted to the hunter. And I I don't know if that got to them, but those first 45 minutes, Sean, it didn't look like anything we've seen before. It didn't even look like the Turkey A match with the second team squad. It they just looked completely different and out of sorts, and maybe it's Balogun and the news and the headlines and the attention, but I just I I think this team just had a bad day, and and I know that's a silly, crazy excuse to use because it's the World Cup, but I think key players didn't play to their potential and it and it shows. And we'll get into that as we kind of go through this game, Sean. But my final question to you before breaking it down is Is there a world in which, of course, hindsight's 2020, we're we're past the game, it's done and dusted, but is there a world in which the US should have started Pepe because of how they had probably, I assumed, game planned and strategized with him and the team to then see that Balogun's eligible to play about a day and a half before the game comes about.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

It's interesting because honestly, before the match, I was all for them starting Floor and Balogun. But I did say at the beginning of this episode of how I reminded everybody how confident I was last time we recorded and how much I was looking forward to this game because I really, really firmly believed the US would win. If I were to tell you how I felt an hour before kickoff, it was way different. And that was with the benefit of knowing the lineups and how Belgium made some really key adjustments to how they set up, and it was just the general vibes. And listen, I'm looking at this from 10,000 feet removed, it's a bird's eye view. I don't know the inner workings of their minds, I don't know what happened in that camp, but from the outside the vibes shifted, like I said. And I honestly think it's crazy. I don't think we would have won the match if Ricardo Pepe started, but I don't think we would have came out in that first 45 as shell-shocked and as shy and as timid as we did if we had played Pepi, because then that chip is still squarely on our shoulders. We are still trying to prove something where we can beat you without our best player or one of our best players. We don't need presidents to step in or FIFA to step in. We don't need any of that. There's still a hunger that comes with that if Pepe was in the lineup that we didn't seem to have with Balogun out there. And here's the weird thing: it was to no fault of Florin Balogun. He barely had a touch in the first half. It was almost inconsequential that he did play. But it was just a mindset thing. And for me, I my nerves, I got a lot more nervy. Maybe it was just knowing the gravity of this game and how much it meant right before kickoff that my tune completely flipped. But I was sending text kind of covering myself saying, whoa, whoa, I don't feel as good about this one as I did. And I wish we recorded the podcast like a half hour before because I was very scared. But, Brandon, to transition to talking about the actual game, Belgium made three key changes, in my opinion, in how they played, and they completely outclassed us, at least early until that first drinks break. We were on the back foot just trying to stay alive. They benched Yeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne, which was a pretty shocking decision. Take some big balls from Rudy Garcia to do that. I mean, that's that's a real big deal decision. And what their whole strategy was was they dropped deep into their back line so that our press was basically ineffective because they were not trying to play through it. So they had extra numbers building out from the back, and they would just hoof it long and try to get the ball into those wide areas. Like we talked about, they got the ball into those wide areas and they were super successful. I said they were gonna try to pin our wing backs back deep and make them defend, and the first and second goals come from situations where our wing backs couldn't defend. So there I think if we just break down what happened on the pitch, there's lots. The main theme, there's lots of examples of time and time again, a lack of aggressiveness, a lack of competitiveness. That's something I had not seen from this group under Pachettino recently. I thought we had turned a new corner in this World Cup with those basic fundamental type things, and it was just a complete relapse on almost all fronts against Belgium, where we reverted back to four years ago, where we just failed to do the little things right consistently, and for this match we failed to do them right basically throughout.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, Sean, I think you're you're definitely right. And I'm thinking of the the first two goals specifically, but the wing backs, like you said, were getting pinned deep and they're having to defend, and they just didn't look comfortable. And I get it, you're a wing back, especially in this modern day of football, you're basically a winger that just has to sit a little bit further back on the field. So defense is not necessarily your first uh whatever you want to call it, your first responsibility. But at the end of the day, you still are a defender. So, like, what did you just forget how to play? And and that's the part that worried me the most because it just looked, even though we were playing essentially the same, same formation, same style, pretty much, we didn't look the same. And I don't know if that was just Belgian's Belgium's great planning, strategic uh makeup of their team, like you said, sitting Doku and Dubrana. But Tielemans at point looked like a a Ballon d'Or winner. I and don't get me wrong, Tielemans, great player. He's he's a fantastic, fantastic player, but he is not as good as the US made him look last n uh on Monday night. It just it it it's so it's so upsetting because I think that's a game where you play them 10 times and okay, we lost one right there, but I don't know if they beat us more than half. If they play the way we played on Monday night, yes, absolutely. But if the US played like they played Bosnia or Australia or Paraguay in the earlier rounds, I mean the US beat Paraguay four to one, and Paraguay is almost beating France, and it's like there is quality in this team, Sean, and what happened to it, where did it go, I don't know. So definitely worried about that, and and definitely that first 45 minutes was shocking.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

100%. You said Tielemans he ran the game, he looked like a Ballon d'Or candidate. He he was the best player on the pitch by a country mile, and he was almost never bothered. He immediately in the eighth minute of the match, first of all, he could have had a goal too. He whiffed a chance in the eighth minute where I was like, oh boy. Well, don't worry, a minute later, a ball is bouncing in the box, and I think it's completely reflective of our performance. A ball, Alex Freeman does a good job kind of blocking the cross from coming in out wide against Troussard, and then the ball is bouncing in the box, and Tyler Adams and Serginho Des just kind of have a look at it, and they're like, oh yeah, it's nice, it's a nice ball. And meanwhile, while that's happening, a goal a goal, a ball is being played across the face of goal, and a run happens right in behind Tim Reim and Jedi Robinson, and Charles Decatelier scores the opener, and it's just like, well, from there, oh boy, shit. I didn't really see that coming because we had flirted with giving up a goal early, but we hadn't actually done it in previous matches, so I was like, oh shit, okay, let's respond. It didn't get much better from there, Brandon. We really didn't do much. We do score the next goal of the game. It comes from a Malik Tillman free kick. I think he was one of the lone bright spots. I say bright kind of loosely because the goal was great, took a big deflection off a free kick, but we'll take him however we could get him. But there are some moments where Malik, too, is just a little bit laxadaisical getting back on defense or not in the right area, or taking too long on the ball. But he also was one of the only ones who showed a bit of class about them on the evening, so you can't criticize him too much, but we score, it's level 1-1, we're like, okay, we're back. Instantly, before celebrations had even ended. Belgium score again. And this one is just a Serginho Death's disaster class. 1v1 didn't have a Scooby-doo what was going on, just gets cooked. And then Tim Reem, we knew he had it in him. One of these absolute stinkers, and he dropped a stinker all evening, Brandon. He was he was bad. He looked his age. But that's our fault. That's not on Tim Ream. He's out there trying his hardest. We have to know that Tim Reem and to we'll get to it later, Matt Freeze are gonna give us a couple moments like that, and we just got them all in one match at the worst possible time. So yeah, first half disaster. Second half, I wanna I hope you maybe think the same thing as me. I thought switching to a back four, more traditional back four, we looked better to start the second half. We had more of the ball, we were in control, Belgium weren't getting as many opportunities going forward. We grew into a bit. I'm like, okay, this isn't too bad. This isn't too bad. We're gonna get the next goal. I was confident in that. And then I'll let you talk about what happens, but it's it's among the worst things I've seen.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Sean, I don't know if I've ever seen anything like this before at the pro level. Belgium essentially, I don't know what you want to call it, clears the ball, plays a deep Route 1 pass, which they had been doing all night basically. And there seems to be a bit of confusion at the back. The ball is, I would argue, 30 yards away from the goal. Matt Freeze is coming off his line. Our defenders are pushing back. Matt Freeze first touch is controlled, and you expect him to just boot it back up the field or boot it out of bounds. Honestly, just kick it anywhere because he's 30 yards out of the net and we just want to be safe. Instead, he Rosed. That needs to go to Rose Ed. Exactly. Rose Ed anywhere. Honestly, anywhere in that stadium would have been acceptable. Give him a corner kick if you want. Turn around and kick it out of your own corner. But Sean, I don't know if he got nervous or something spooked him, but he goes to kick it with his left and essentially pump fakes and doesn't kick it. Bell Jump steals it from him, and they shoot on an empty net from about 30 yards out, and uh our guy again, Tim Ream, gets stuck in the crossfire trying to protect the net, deflects off of him, goes into the net 3-1. It felt like a balloon popped and the air was just out of the game. Because as you mentioned, Sean, the first 15 minutes before that, the US looked like they were on the front foot a little bit. Uh, Christian does get hurt during this period, but I'm sure we'll we'll mention that in a second. But they did have a couple of half chances, and you could tell the US was really pushing. But that goal went in, Sean, and I remember looking at my wife, she's looking at me, and she's just like, what happened? And I didn't even know how to answer her because uh you don't see that in football at all, and it's unfortunate, of course, for that to happen, and of course, it happens in the round of 16 round of 16 game at the World Cup, but that I think for me was the moment that I realized, all right, tonight's not our night.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah, uh, we lost any shred of momentum that we gained. It was all gone, and then some my soul left my body. I couldn't believe the things I saw. I just couldn't believe it. And you mentioned Pulisic being hurt right before this goal as well. It was a couple minutes before he tried to run it off, but he's still limping around, was not fit, and knew that he wasn't gonna be able to continue, and he didn't go down, which Sue Holden on the broadcast was saying he should do. It it seemed like a pretty logical thing to do. We're basically playing with 10. I know you don't want to look soft or whatever in that moment, but well, we we conceded the goal, and it wasn't your fault at all that we conceded that goal, but at the timing of it really does suck because the game essentially ended at that point, so it's a big deal, in my opinion, that though those things happened around the same time. I also think I think part of the reason we got a little bit better in the second half was Serginho Desk came out. Geo Reyna came in and Death was absolutely horrible, both in attack and on the ball, or both on the ball and in defense. And then Reyna came and you know, he he was not horrible, I guess is the compliment we could give him. There wasn't much to be done at that point, it was just bad. The goal that Freeze gives him, you said.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

never seen anything like it i couldn't agree more i don't want to i know it was an honest mistake he's trying his best but like you just can't have that at the international level in the round of 16 of a world cup you just can't have it and expect to win a game so it's just it's just bad just needs to be better and Sean I wonder if we mentioned it previously freeze hasn't really been tested in this world cup but we mentioned it going to that third game group stage game against Turkey and we said hey we should leave him in get him some touches because he hasn't really seen many shots but even after that there really wasn't much that he had to face and this is his first game where he kind of has to be the guy and unfortunately didn't step up however Sean and maybe this is just patting ourselves on the back a bit but we said defending and goalkeeping were the two areas that we had massive question marks about we don't have the Tim Howard anymore the Casey Kellers the Brad Friedels the guys who you know are going to be our goalies and then same in defense and and I think it showed on Monday night.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

A hundred percent Brandon I had in my notes Tim Reim and Matt Freeze are who we thought they were and it's not even beating them up too badly it's not their fault they're limited players they're probably not good enough to be international football players at a team that is trying to make a quarterfinals or trying to win a World Cup. They probably shouldn't be the guys they were because of a lack of options and it came back to bite us in the biggest moment. And I I saw a stat we we allowed 11 shots in the first half to your point about not being tested much in this tournament we allowed 11 shots in the first half against Belgium we had only allowed 10 shots all tournament until then. So it was just night and day and allowing the shots isn't Matt Freeze's problem. He makes a tremendous save which we should point out in the first minute of the game as well. So he he can do some good but you can't throw the ball in your own net and expect to win against any team let alone a good team and that just was the icing on the cake. It was like okay we're going down and we're not even swinging I the rest of the game brand and we won't focus on it too much because we couldn't stop passing it to Belgium. We were addicted to it. It was just uh hey it was like it was a buffet of hey here take some more take some more of the ball I know we need two goals come on and have another round are you still hungry yet come on everybody hop in it was a disaster I don't know it got into the boys on this occasion but it was like we said it was the worst possible performance at the worst possible time and here we are left talking about it on the podcast looking forward to four years from now it's so it's so so unfortunate Sean especially in this tournament where the format was so forgiving early throw that stinker up against Paraguay to start then we can rebound and get back and and be stronger but to throw your first and have your worst game probably since probably since the last time we played Belgium in March before the World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah uh so maybe Belgium just has our number but you've been playing you know four or five months of of good football and getting results and and doing the right things and then to have that is just it's really disheartening.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

You know and I forgot they even scored a fourth goal. I forgot that even happened. I was gonna and then Lukaku kind of acknowledged that he heard the bell ballogan noise he was kind of doing a little bit of gesturing to the crowd and I don't blame him. Maybe that's because people get on his case a little bit but honestly he deserved it. He came in made an impact all they when you're able to bring Doku Lukaku and then not even bring DeBruyne in off the bench it's like well yeah that's a class above we needed to be in control of that game how we were in other games of this World Cup come out and dominate that first half knowing that they had some horses in the back and the complete opposite happened. It was just a beatdown start to finish we could never grow into the game we could never grow in terms of confidence I just think it's one where it's gonna sting for a long time knowing that we didn't put anywhere near our best product on display to a whole bunch of people tuning in for maybe the first time that's not what US soccer should be about unfortunately it was what it was about on Monday night. So I guess moving off this game the final thing we have to touch on is just like any good performances any bad performances that we need to specifically highlight I feel like one guy has gotten off pretty easily so far and I would appreciate you maybe getting into him a little bit before I just savage him.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Christian Captain America Brandon Sean Yeah Captain America Sean it's it's tough he has not had honestly a a great two three years with this team from last summer and the whole drama where he skipped out and playing because he wanted to rest and didn't come with the boys to the Gold Cup and all of these things happen and you know I think he had he had an assist in this World Cup and that's it. No goals I think he scored one goal in the last three years for the national team one goal and three assists in the last 16 games I believe and for a guy that is one of already he's already one of the best US men's national team players of all time and he's still at the prime age like he's he has everything for him you have to question health I don't know if it's a health thing and he just was not a hundred percent and just tried to play through it because he knew all the eyes were on him and he needed to do that. I don't know if there's other outside pressures I don't know if he's just in really bad funk but he didn't have it this tournament and unfortunately when you have a team that doesn't have a lot of superstars we're starting Tim Reim like you mentioned at center back Tim Reim would probably not make the the the quarterfinal teams that are left he may not make any of those rosters so for him to start for the United States keeping taxis in Argentina what what are we talking about? Yeah he's he's an accountant in Argentina Buenos Aires Tim Reim works nine to five in accounting and that's not to say anything bad like Tim Reim I like you I like your mentality I thought you're a decent captain would have some control on the pitch Monday night but overall I really don't think it we're really bashing into Tim Reim the player he's maximizing his skill set and his ability yeah it's just not it's just not there and unfortunately you lean on a guy like Christian and maybe he felt the weight of that too much and felt like he had to do a lot for the for the US for us to win and yes he probably did need to but he also may have overdone it in my opinion he he lost the ball way too much he was in my opinion pushing too hard to get that goal back or to or to make that play instead of playing the simple pass and he he just really did not have the game or the tournament that we had all expected. He's in every I mean he's in every commercial Sean in between the games he's on every ad every billboard and it's it's hard to see because you never want to see that but it's it's wild because all the other quote unquote superstars in this tournament are showing why they're superstars. And so for him to just not really show up it hurts. And I again maybe we'll find out more in the coming days or weeks but my prediction is that there was a health issue and he just wasn't wasn't fully fit.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Well Brandon your prediction's gonna come true because whether there was a health issue or not they're going to say there was that's just PR management that's what's going to happen. And there's no doubt that he wasn't 100% fit but the problem with Christian Pulisic is that he's never 100% fit. So how many times could that be an excuse you know what I mean like you can't be quote unquote Captain America even if you didn't give yourself that nickname and choose to not play in the Gold Cup which is okay it's a lesser tournament by a wide margin to the World Cup. But it's the year before it's on home soil it's a chance to get with the group it's a chance to really impress the manager Pachettino they still had he still hadn't seen a ton of Christian at that point. And he said you know what no I'm gonna opt for prioritizing my body and getting ready for a club season that's important for my career at AC Milan and we have the World Cup next summer I need to be 100% fresh going into it. Okay you made that decision and then you had a shit club season at AC Milan that was injury plagued and also when you did play you just were not good enough. And then you came to the World Cup and you laid an egg and Russell got hurt again another injury plagued dud of a competition for you Christian. And listen I'm I don't want to get too into lambasting these guys because I know in theory they're trying their best and they're fighting for our country good great I get it. Like you said Brandon he's in every commercial he's everywhere you can't escape him. If you're gonna be in as many commercials as Leo Messi score a goal at the World Cup. You know just one just one don't get hurt every time you take a tackle or get kicked in the shin. And if you do get hurt go down so we don't concede a goal. And then don't come off it with your head in your hands for the next 40 minutes act acting like oh what could have been no what could have been was you could have scored a goal for your country in the World Cup of your lifetime on home soil. The one the generation that was touted as golden all built around you the most talented player in United States soccer history and you threw up a complete stinker in the biggest moments. I didn't think he was horrible throughout the tournament but he didn't do anything near his level either. And then in the biggest game he was absolutely horrendous like you said just giving away possession I think his first three or five possessions all resurged and resulted in a turnover. He lost possession 11 times during the match I mean what are we doing? You can't win with that you can't win with that it it's bad. I'll transition to another very bad player in this game and another one who kind of failed at this tournament would be Serginho des for me. I thought he was decent in some games we mentioned sometimes the connection with him and Wes building up was nice there were some good moments but never resulted on in him getting on the end of anything you know he didn't score didn't assist he's a liability on the other end trying to guard 1v1 can't do it. I thought he was poor we talked about Reem and Freeze you don't really need to lay into them too much but in the game against Belgium I I'm honestly gonna call out Chris Richards Tyler Adams and Weston McKenny too. You guys it's like the it's like the parent talk when you sit your kid down, you say we're not mad, we're disappointed. I'm disappointed in the boys. Those are my guys I expect a lot from you you know and you just didn't give us a lot in that match and because of that reason and all the other reasons we've talked about we're having a pretty miserable time recording a podcast talking about these yahoos instead of celebrating what could have been a great week leading up to Spain in the quarterfinals.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Sean it's so unfortunate and I agree with you those guys you mentioned just didn't have it and maybe there is a little bit in the locker room Tyler wasn't named the captain Tim Reim was and I don't want to read too much into that but Tyler and Weston like you said and and Chris Richards those are supposed to be guys that are leading the team and they're supposed to be the ones pulling them together and bringing them out of these tough moments. And I think you saw that at times especially from Weston on Monday but overall no it just wasn't there and to not have those guys going those guys are your horses they may not score all the goals they may not make all the flashy plays but they're the ones that are doing what it takes to win. And when they weren't making plays it's like oh no like we are severely severely limited I think Tim Reim we've already harped on Tim Reim but we knew what his ceiling was and we knew what his floor was and on Monday night he he played much closer to the floor than the ceiling and you know he gets dunked on for the one goal he basically bats the other goal in into its own net and it just wasn't his night and and look Sean we never expected him to be a star but it points to a bigger problem and I had this conversation with Brianna on Monday night after the game she said is Tim Reim really the best center back we have and she's so frustrated after the game and I get it I'm frustrated too and I'm like we can have this conversation tomorrow but honestly kind of yes like we don't really have anybody else we could have thrown Austin Charcy we could have thrown a McKenzie in there but I think Tim still a little bit edges those guys out and unfortunately that's just the best we have and she's like there's 300 million people in this country and we can't find a better center back and I'm like hey I hear you like we can start the scouting department tomorrow but right now this is all we got girl so we're just gonna have to stick with no you're right the thing that that's the worst that's the most telling sign is it's honestly like yeah I know he's not good Tim Reim's not good but we should see the cars we have in the back they're not much better they're without engines like we've got some headlight issues I mean it's bad.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

So we didn't have anything really I would have uh in hindsight I wish Austin Trusty had become the starter a year or two ago in the national team and grew into the role because I think his performances of late have been really strong. But Tim Reim he was the captain so like obviously people thought he was the best center back in the pool that saw him every day. And he's definitely one of the best on the ball he's probably our best progressive passer in that group so he does offer some things and against weaker competition we didn't have many Tim Reem notes. I didn't think he was really a problem but when the competition stepped up he got dunked on and that that's I think unfortunately it's also a ream meme moment where that was an ugly ugly piece of tape that third goal that's I mean between him and Freeze that that's a laughing stock moment for the United States as a footballing country and we hate to have that on our billboard. Not good. Brandon anybody that you want to shout out in terms of overall World Cup performances as we get let's stop talking about that damn Belgium game please let's move forward to some maybe happier times or at least an outlook on what's next. Is there anybody you want to talk about that had a stock up throughout the World Cup? We've talked about a ton of stock downs there are some guys I think that had really good World Cups all in all that deserve some credit.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

I agree with you Sean and for me I'll I'll give you the the secondary ones first but I think Flo Balligan takes a step up step forward. He has been our number nine for the last few years but those first couple performances you really saw a different forward and I hope it turns out well and I hope he can continue on that trajectory but I definitely think he took a step forward I think another player who took a step forward and you'll probably laugh but that's how I feel but Sebastian Berhalter I coming into this tournament we did not have high hopes for Sebastian Berhalter but he became our first sub most games and in his appearances performed well I don't know how his game translates at a higher level I I do think he has the skill to potentially go to a European like a championship side I don't think he's playing in the Premier League or anything like that but I do I do think he has more room to grow and I think he took a step forward and it'll be interesting to see how he turns out but for me my top stock up for this world cup was Alex Freeman. I think I've harped on him before and I've been singing his praises the whole World Cup and of course last night he didn't play a great game we didn't talk about it Sean but he's a little bit at fault for that first goal he blocks the the cross but then heads it right back in the middle and I'm thinking like I coached you wasn't the best I've coached you soccer and I'm like don't clear the ball to the middle like that's like the one the one rule they tell kids because it just creates chaos and of course in the heat of the moment he's just trying to get ahead on it and he heads it and it ends up going in the middle and of course his teammates don't have his back which whatever but he took a major major step up in this tournament and I know he's playing in the La Liga but his ceiling's got to be so high he's only 21 and so he's somebody that four years from now I'd expect to be a starter on this team and maybe it's him and a Mark McKenzie and a Chris Richards or him and an Austin Trustee and a Chris Richards. So I do think our stock up for him is his stock is high but I also think the positional sense the US can get very very much better defending four years from now.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

So I think those are kind of the guys I wanted to highlight as uh stock ups believe it or not Brandon I had the same three including Sebastian Bearhalter. Wow in my eyes he he was one of our biggest positives in my opinion he outperformed the very little expectations I had for him almost every time he was on the pitch now we had Taylor Twellman this morning saying that he would take 10 more Sebastian Bearhalters Taylor I'd like you to walk that one back I would not like any more we are good on Sebastian Bearhalters it's like it's like too much salt already you know what I mean we don't need any more but but I will say he has a mentality about him that I admire and I think if we had a couple more guys with that mentality in the game against Belgium maybe it looks a little different. So completely agree I the only other person I wanted to add into that mix that I think it's weird because he had a pretty poor club season and his stock was at an all-time high last summer in terms of his club move where he moved from PSV to Bayer Leverkusen but he had never really played well for the national team and that's Malik Tillman and I'm a big believer in club form will eventually translate to the national team it's just so infrequent that you get into these camps and play with these guys that I think the sample size that we judge these guys on rightly or wrongly is pretty small sometimes and we can overreact it taking someone a while to really grow into a role at the national level. I thought Malik Tillman did that in spades. I think he's a nailed on guy now in this mix which is encouraging to see a similar example and he wasn't able to play in this World Cup due to injury is Johnny Cardoso a guy who plays at a high level in La Liga. He plays at Atletico Madrid and he's never the best player for Atletico Madrid but oftentimes he puts in a good six and a half seven out of ten performance for them and there's a role for a guy like that on the US men's national team. I mean that's just a fact but what we've seen from Johnny Cardoso hasn't been good. So it gives me a little bit of faith that one day it'll click for Johnny in the US outfit as well I think overall Malik Alex Freeman Sebastian Berhalter I think they they were the ones who really really stood out this tournament in a positive way I just wish there was a few more names on that list.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Yeah me too Sean do you would you say you have anyone that was stock down at this tournament overall and for me the only one I really truly have was Christian. I think we we harped on Matt Freeze we harped on Tim Ream but again we knew what those ceilings were coming into this tournament Christian's ceiling when on his day Sean is top top level player he's playing at AC Milan and when he's on his day at AC Milan he looks like one of the best four w wingers in all of Italy. So I think for me his stock went down and he's in an interesting spot where you know he might get this little uh injury prone label attached to him and now clubs are clubs backing out are they looking at him differently he's somebody who unfortunately did take a little bit of a step back for me. I think everyone else pretty much played around where I where I where I expect them to those guys we mentioned obviously with the stock ups but he's the only one I I gave them kind of all letter grades but he get he got a C minus in my book. It just didn't look right it didn't look put together and I'm interested to see how he rebounds from this in his club football.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

I think a C minus is probably fair but I also think it's generous because I'm giving him an F. And that F is for fragile. Slap that on all those commercials put the little fragile like the shipping label right next to him in all those commercials. It should he should wear like the captain's armband a fragile tag I'm I'm just so sick of him Brandon I can't do it. I don't want it to come out anymore but yeah stock down hugely for him I no further comment your honor I don't really I don't really have any other stock downs to be honest Matt Freeze I mean he would have been a neutral for me if he just avoided disaster in the last game like if we got pumped 4-1 but none of the goals were directly his fault I would have said it's a huge nothing tournament for him didn't really learn a ton didn't really stand out in a good or bad way I think that goal that he allowed pretty much sums up that he can never play or start in a World Cup for the national team again. We're in a real bad spot if that's the case. So I guess maybe from that sense Matt freeze a little bit but no honestly the guys like Wes and Tyler I thought they were having great tournaments until this game. So out of the five games we played they played one really bad one. So I'm not gonna really beat them for that. It just happened to be the biggest one. So it stinks but no mostly I would say we had more stock ups and stock downs and I think that's a good lens to look at this next conversation we have to have Brandon how does this loss affect the future I think we just need to talk about what it looks like for the rest of the United States who tuned in for this tournament what it looks like for this group going forward. I guess I would start the conversation off with we didn't do enough to capture the hearts and minds of the masses for a long enough period to make the dramatic change that we wanted in this country. So we did a good job coming out, playing attacking football and looking the part and getting people bought in and we advanced past Bosnia and it was a good start but But this was the swing game where you could really get that momentum and use it as a runway and take off. And we just left so much on the table. Even winning one more game, even just winning that Belgium game, you get so much more out of this week in terms of more eyeballs and more conversation and more people caring and more people buying in. And you get that two-hour window against Spain on Friday to showcase another good, even if it was unsuccessful, effort from United States soccer, and you just didn't clear that final hurdle to get to that point. So ultimately, I think that is what I will remember this tournament for, but I'm interested to see if you have a different take on just how our team is going to leave a taste in the public's mouth.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Sean, I don't disagree with you. I think we were definitely one game away. I think that game goes the other way on Monday night, and you play Spain, and even if you get thumped by Spain, people general the general person knows Spain and they understand that they're probably very good at soccer. So it's like, hey, look, we're just playing with house money at that point. Deal. But I don't know if this game really shifted any narrative for the future at all. I I think the attention was great, and I think the tournament was run really or is being run really well in the US and in Canada and Mexico, but I still think people have this thought that we're just the little brother. We're always always a bridesmaid, never a bride. And maybe that's just the reality of US soccer, but I think the American the average American fan can't totally comprehend that because the US is typically so good at everything else, they're like, why can't we put this soccer thing together? And we can get into that. That could be a whole segment, that could be a whole podcast episode by itself, Sean. But I do think there's that, okay, like soccer, this thing's over with, let's go back to our regular lives. And we didn't do enough to say, oh my gosh, where does Chris Richards play at club football? I would love to watch them come the fall. I would love to see these guys. Oh, that so-and-so is playing a friendly in the US. We gotta go watch them. That's just not there. And it's unfortunate because I I saw it was the most watched men's US English broadcast game ever. And you have all of those eyes, and they're general eyes, there's diehard eyes. But you probably did lose a decent amount of general eyes following that. And and maybe you play that game differently and you still lose, but you're fighting tooth and nail for 93 minutes, so people can at least say, Alright, damn, that Belgian team's really good. And and maybe they don't know that Belgium's actually not the greatest team in the world right now, but they can leave saying, Alright, look, we are just not as good as them. But you leave that game with just a sour taste in your mouth, and I don't think it did very No, it feels like a huge opportunity missed.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

You had you sat down for the best dinner of your life at a five-star Michelin star restaurant, and you got through the appetizer and you were stuffed. You know, you were just stuffed. Couldn't even dive into your entree. And it's like, well, that was that was a good entree. That's why you came. Well, sorry, we couldn't make it. We couldn't make that re we we too, we got too many chips in our belly, you know? Too much bread and butter. It was just we we really botched it on that front, and that's gonna always linger, unfortunately. The other question that people will talk about is because of the fact that we exited in the same round that we normally do, even though the tournament was structured differently, was this team better than any other teams, actually? Like, or was this just a case of we had we're in a tournament with 48 teams, and therefore we had an extra knockout game? I will go first here, Brandon. I think this team was better than most other United States teams. I think there was a higher talent level, even if we didn't see that against Belgium. And I will say the way we went out was way worse than every other US team because we always used to go out fighting, and in this game it seemed that we didn't go out fighting. But I think it was better. It did not go further. It ultim is that ultimately what matters? Yes, of course. So I could understand anybody who says, no, this team wasn't better. You know, we went to the same spot, they were the same or worse. But I think we dominated matches in a way that we haven't in the past. We won three games at this World Cup, and we had only won eight in our history coming into it. So even if it was against some weaker teams and teams that you should beat, we still hadn't been beating those teams in the past. We would always have a draw that was inexplainable. We hadn't won back-to-back games in 96 years. There's things we did that feel and looked better than usual. And I'm not gonna say we've rounded the corner, rounded their base and are heading for home. But I do think we if even just a little step when a whole runway was in front of us, I think we took a little step forward.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

I'd agree, Sean. I do think there was a bit of a step forward. The quality in this team, just based on the roster names and where they're playing club football and and their stats at those teams, shows that we're better. In most World Cups, it's I would say probably half MLS guys, half European guys. The MLS guys aren't really there anymore. And you know, we had Sebastian Berhalter and Freeze and Tim Ream. So besides Berhalter, the other two, I'm like, huh, well, you get what you pay for.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Get back to Biden. It goes back to who they are. The Bears are who we thought they were. Yes. We let them off the hook. Yeah. No, the Tim Reem and Freeze are who we thought they were.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

And so I think this team becoming more European football-wise, and growing and playing at higher levels is good. It's gonna help the national team. Did we take a huge step forward? No. But I don't think we moved backwards, and I don't think you know it's it's panic, reset, the whole nine. Because I also think other countries are are are getting better. Like it sounds it sounds so goofy, but look at look at the continent of Africa. We had 10 African teams in this tournament, which is an all-time high, and nine of which made the knockouts. You I never would have predicted that. We we put together prediction, Sean, before this tournament, and I think we had maybe five or six going through, but to have nine out of ten going through, and now you still have you still have one in the quarterfinals, it's it's huge. And and I think the rest of the world is starting to catch up and and the US needs to make some decisions. I think all the way at the grassroots level is are we gonna be this country where football American football is still our sport, or are we gonna shift and start to put more resources into soccer and not have pay-to-play systems and all these other things that we can get in more depth about? But I do think the team is on the right foot, and four years from now, you don't lose all of your key players. So I do think this team, the nucleus of this team, will be back mixed in with maybe you have a Cabin Sullivan at 21 on this team. There's some other names, Diego Luna, obviously, who who barely was on the outskirts of this team. There are some young guys that are in the system that are coming through. So I do think we took a step forward. Not the step that maybe you or I expected to take, but I I do think we're still moving in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

I think that's an interesting point that you brought up in regards to we often frame the conversation as the United States needs to catch up to other countries that have been playing football for longer and have had better institutions in place and have had it way more involved in their culture than we have for hundreds of years, where it's relatively new to us in some ways, or at least developing the game in a smart way at club level is new to us, and making the right decisions that have such an effect on the long-term prospects of a national team, we're still getting so many things wrong with youth academies and how we bring players through American-born players, and our academies don't operate all the same way, and that's something, like you said, we could do a whole episode on. And we likely should at some point, just to deep dive into the grassroots and where we're going wrong that other countries are getting right. But you look at a team like Argentina, and I always go back to them because I'm obsessed with their culture around the sport, and I I probably know the most about them, so I bring them up as an example. But they everywhere you go, there's just free soccer, free football happening in parks and pitches, and you just don't see that in the United States. Almost anytime you see somebody playing soccer, it's either really low-level school level that you're playing for your school in, or it's we are paying as parents or as uh friends and family, we're paying thousands of dollars for our kids to participate in a club and actually get some good competition. Until that shifts for a 20-year period, we're not going to be as good as those other countries at the sport. We talk about how we want the United States to improve. Well, I was just watching some recap some highlights of the 2022 France versus Morocco semifinal. The French side have improved dramatically in four years. And they're already among the best in the world. They lost in the World Cup final in that year, in case you forgot. So it's like, yeah, nobody's standing still. You're either moving forward or you're getting left behind. And I do think we're moving forward, but we missed the on-ramp to really accelerate that process in this World Cup. So I think that's the point I want to hammer home.

SPEAKER_01 53:09

I agree with you, Sean. You don't see American soccer being played without a referee. There's always a referee, official uniforms, kit, fancy a thousand dollar Adidas Triunda soccer ball, and all these things, and you don't see the local park, and it's just hey, 10 guys, shirts and skins, or pennies and you know, shirt, whatever. And it there's just not that sort of mentality in the US soccer. I do have a question for you though, and I saw this online, and I would love to get your your thoughts on this, Sean. I saw something that said the US, and of course, I don't know how this happens, I don't know the functionality, but because FIFA seems like they'll do whatever we want, we may as well ask. Should the US move into like a Connumble and play against the Argentinas, the Brazils, the Chiles, all the South American teams, rather than playing in CONCACAF? And look, CONCACAF, you get a crazy CONCACAF night and away night in Trinidad. There's few things that you can replicate that can replicate that. But how about we take a trip down to Argentina? How about we take a trip to Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and and try to play these teams more often? I do again, Sean, I don't even know if this is possible or allowed, but if the US could finagle their way into this, do you think that would be a good idea?

SPEAKER_00 54:29

100%. I think we should play in any opportunity we have to play against those giants of the sport, we should take. We should try to be included in the same bracket as them. I think it would also be more fun for us Mexico. Wump us all in. You know what I mean? And it creates a better product in all of those countries if you're trying to match a higher talent level. You're striving towards something, you're trying to get better at something. And I think this leads me to another point, Brandon. I a lot of the discourse after the fact, I'm sure you were in group text as I was, and the casuals are in there and they're saying some ugly things, things along the lines. I have some exact texts pulled up. I have a quote, hold that L potch, soccer irrelevant again, basketball country, I'll care about soccer again in four years. And that did work to transition some of my sadness and emptiness into just anger, because those are my friends sending those texts, and I want to fight all of them. But it it I don't know how in America we maybe it's just that you hate the sport and haven't given another chance, but everybody's watching this World Cup, and to a person, everybody's loving this World Cup. It's been unbelievable theater. It shows you what this sport can be and what it can mean to so many people. And like you said in Conmobile, those countries have it, they know it, it's in their culture, they get it. I don't understand why our guys and girls in this country are just so reluctant to embrace the sport, wrap their arms around it, and admit we're not that good at it right now. We have a long way to go, but part of it, part of the fun part, and what we were hoping for in this World Cup is we could be part of the change and getting us to that next level and have a sense of pride, immediately saying basketball sport or hold that L potch. What are you what do you be to deport somebody who says that? Hold that L potch. He's he's a coach of our team. Were you rooting for the loss? What are we talking about? I I just can't do it. So I don't want to gatekeep the sport. I want to do the opposite. I want you to come in, but I want you to understand we have a long way to go and we could all do a little bit of making it a bigger deal in this country if we just care about it a bit more. Have a sense of pride. If you lose, if we lost in the gold medal match to France, we were we were coming back saying next Olympics, we're winning that in terms of basketball. Well, of course we're now it's soccer. The script has flipped, and it's like, well, we'll see you again in four years. I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

No, care. Please care. Sean, I the biggest problem, I think, with the general Americans liking soccer is that we're not good at it. And it's that weird catch-22. I think Americans, it's it's the microwave economy. It's the it's we just want to put it in the microwave, heat it up, and be done, and we're the best and we can go eat. There's nobody who wants to take time, make the stew on the stove, put the ingredients in. Nobody wants that, Sean. It's an it's an instant, instant world we live in. The social media. We want to post a hungry man. We want to post it's a dinner, Brandon. We want to post every second. We want everything updated as fast as possible. And the fact that we're so good at basketball and football, and even women's women's soccer is in that level now. People don't want to take the time to see the men's team grow and develop. It look for us, me and you, Sean, this will be incredible 12, 16, 20 years down the line when we're sitting with our families and we're like, that 2026 World Cup, man, round of 16 lost, like couldn't be us. That'll never happen again. And and and we'll get there, Sean. We will get there. I do think we'll get there. But not with guys saying hold that hell potch, we won't. But but if we don't win, those people will not join the bandwagon until we win. We saw it with the New York Knicks winning the NBA finals. How many people are I mean, our girl Taylor Swift? Is she an actual Knicks fan? Yeah, maybe, maybe not, but she's in court side at the game. And it's like all of these people are all of a sudden Knicks fans, and you see the orange everywhere. And I think the problem with Americans, America in general, is like we want everything so quick. We don't want anything to be developed and take time. And unfortunately, we're in that in that window where we're still putting the ingredients in the stew, we're still putting things on the stove, trying to get it all together, and they just want the air fryer, they just want the microwave. And until we get there, Sean, I'm not sure how we fix that.

SPEAKER_00 58:43

And then the worst part is those people will be the ones that celebrate the loudest when we are.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

You know, they'll be I just can't do it. But please, I think the final question, I think overall this will serve as a little bit of a launching pad for Morse fandom in this country. It is not like we said, it's not what we wanted ultimately. We're leaving a lot of food on the table at a Michelin Star restaurant, mind you, a home world cup. But I do think overall it's a baby step to quote my girl Livia Dean. Baby steps right, left, baby steps forward for the US. I have one final question, Brandon. Is Mauricio Pachettino the man leading the United States into the 2030 World Cup?

SPEAKER_01 59:24

I knew this question was coming, and I think my initial reaction is no. The reason being, I think he would prefer to be in a project where he can have his hands on it all the time. And I think that only really comes about in club football, where you can bring in your own players, you oversee the academy, and you're with them nine out of 12 months a year, versus a national team where you have five or six camps slash matches where you're together for probably in total a month or two in a whole year. So as much as I'd love for him to come back, and I think he did sort of, like you said, baby steps right left. We did sort of move a little bit forward. I don't know if he's gonna be passionate enough to to buy into this project for four more years, because the offers for club club opportunities will come about. So I don't think he will be our coach for the next World Cup. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

My first thought on this is that we s we we fucked up so bad by keeping Bear Halter around after the last World Cup. And if we I know Pacitino might not have been available at that point, but if you had given him a full cycle as national team manager, I think this would have gone differently, even. I honestly believe that. I just think so highly of Pacitino as a coach. I always will. I love him wholeheartedly. I'm with you, I don't think he'll be the manager in 2030. I don't think international man management for him at this stage of his career is something that he's going to want to do for four more years. I just think three of those years, even with the Copa America in there, it's just gonna be a little bit unfulfilling for him. He's a guy, like you said, he likes to be hands-on, he's a very good player developer, he he likes to set up a team, and I think he'll do wonders again at clubs in the future. I'm currently planning, in my little brain, Tottenham win the league with Roberto De Zerbi this year or next. De Zerbi's known for having short stints at clubs before he runs hot, he'll blow, he'll blow a fuse. That'll go tits up in two years. That's when Podge comes back. So I would love in my little fantasy, Copa America for the US, stick around for two years, Podch. We win that, take over Tottenham. He's my favorite human ever. So, no, the long way of saying I don't think ultimately he'll be back in 2030. I think it's just a long way away, and it's tough to see him committing to doing this for four more years.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

Sean, I love the the dream and fantasy you just had because that would be incredible for us Spurs fans. But yeah, are there any names? And again, this is two days after we just got knocked out of the World Cup. Are there any names that you'd love to see in the mix for 2030? I know one name who you won't put in the mix for 2030, and that's Jesse Marsh. But any names he are deported, he should not be allowed back in the country. Any names that you potentially could think of? Is there a young homegrown coach or do we go the international route again? I don't know if there's any names you think of, or even just styles or or type of coach you'd be looking for in 2030.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

There's a there's a fella who is jobless right now that I have my eyes on. I'm not sure if you've heard of him. His name is Pep Guardiola. Would love a bit of him. I think it makes sense. He loves New York City, he's a big American guy. Now, is he gonna be is he gonna experience some culture shock trying to teach Tim Reim how to play Tiki Taca? Yeah, he will. Is Sebastian Barahalter gonna struggle with one-twos? Rondo's in the middle of the park? Yeah, he's gonna. So maybe he'll see a training session and be like, well, no, thank you. I'm good here. I could coach anywhere I want. Why would I do this? That's the dream, though. It's a it's a name like him. And when you lure in a guy like Pachettino, who's not Pep Guardiola, but he he's a world-class manager. I think that you need to aim high. And I thought Pachettino's spell was successful. If this is where it ends, I would be looking to build on that and not take a step backwards. And there's really not many coaches you could hire that on paper are a step forward from Pachettino.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

That is a huge, huge name, Sean. And you're right, he is available. And I don't think he's just send a U up text. You up, you you know what I mean? U up. Yeah. It's not, we're not. I don't know if he's coached c uh international football, which is fine. We'll take him as his first uh appointment. We'll take a shot on him. He seems like he seems like a decent guy with a half decent tracker. Yeah, he does love American basketball. I know that. He comes over and watches NBA all the time, and he does like the cold tickets. Oh, free c free tickets wherever he wants. Any NBA game, any game, football, American football, baseball. We'll get him into anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:59

Sean. Man can dream. Honestly, I don't know other names though, Brennan. I think we should aim for the stars and hope hope that whoever we hire keeps us moving in the right direction at hopefully a quicker pace.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:09

Agree, agree. Well, Sean, thank you for that. Thank you for unfortunately having to come on here and do this episode. I know neither of us were looking forward to it. You said you sent the you up text to Pep. It was you texted me earlier today, being like, all right, we gotta do this tonight. So I'm in the same boat as you, my friend. Any last any last thoughts, U.S. men's national team, otherwise, for the listeners?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:34

No, I'm happy to not think about these guys for a bit. We have a beautiful World Cup going on. We're into the quarterfinals now. We're gonna break that all down on the other episode we're dropping. So tune into that. That's a lot more positive, good vibes, a lot of entertainment there. So we did what we needed to do here. We got the job done, unlike the boys in blue on Monday night.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:57

One last little jab from Sean there. But listeners, as always, we appreciate you. We love your support, we love hearing from you. Like, subscribe, tell a friend to tell a friend, be a friend, and as always, take care.