Sports
Pochettino delivers strong message & USMNT players with most to gain in October camp (Soccer 10/7)
In this episode, the hosts dive into Mauricio Pochettino's strong message regarding the US Men's National Team roster for the October camp, highlighting key players with the most to gain. Th...
Pochettino delivers strong message & USMNT players with most to gain in October camp (Soccer 10/7)
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Interactive Transcript
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Hi, hello, welcome to your favorite average, good podcast.
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Call it what you want.
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If we were a salsa, I feel like we'd be what?
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Mile to a little bit spicy.
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I don't know how that works.
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So, a little bit of bite.
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Whatever.
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All right, everybody else figured out from home.
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I'm Jimmy Conrad alongside Tony Mjola and Charlie Davies.
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And we've got a great show for everyone.
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We are talking about Chuck and Tony's roster thoughts
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since they worked here last week.
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The players are the most again and potentially lose
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in this camp in October.
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We have our US Ben's national team striker of the week,
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US versus Italy at the U20 World Cup in the round of 16.
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And then Philly, the union clinched the supporters shield.
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But are we backing them to win the MLS Cup?
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Now before we get there though, Chuck,
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you weren't a Vennetzi of Jersey.
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A goalkeeper jersey?
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It's looking pretty sharp.
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I'm going to say dare I say maybe even fire.
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Thank you, Juan.
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This is kind of like an ode to Tony Mjola.
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It feels like this is a 90s goalkeeper kit.
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The ones that Tony made famous when he was standing
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on his head in goal.
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But ultimately, Vennetzi, they do it right.
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We took our first honeymoon to Vennetzi.
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No, we went to our first anniversary in Vennetzi.
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So this kind of a special meaning to it.
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Plus, it's fire.
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So appreciate it.
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It is fire.
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Show me shoulders.
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That's all that's good.
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It's nice little touch.
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So Tony, Chuck said standing on your head back in the day,
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we can argue standing on your ponytail.
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Because that ponytail was next level back in the day.
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I think it's back to the ring now.
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What's next in the ring now?
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Tony Segal, let's go.
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Tony Segal.
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Tony Segal.
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All right, Tony.
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All right, all right.
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We'll keep it moving.
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We'll keep it moving.
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What are your thoughts on this roster for the USman's
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national team in this October window?
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And what stands out for you, first and foremost?
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Well, the first thought is that it's the strongest roster.
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I think we've seen from Risha Pochettino in his time
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with the national team, trying to think of a stronger one.
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Of course, Tyler Adams not being here,
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but that's for personal reasons.
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And we know that bringing a new child into the world.
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So obviously, he's got to stay there.
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There's some guys that are reintroduced
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like a Mark McKenzie, Anthony Robinson coming back
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into the mix here, Miles Robinson coming back
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in the mix who, oh, I think said some really good games
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this season so far.
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And then I think we're going to continue
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to have a conversation and Chuck can chime in better
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on this about the forwards, right?
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And about who it is.
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And I think Balagan comes out of this thing
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and is the number one guy.
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But I think it's those spots behind him
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before Ricardo Peppy gets a fully 100% integrated
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into this group.
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Who follows up?
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Because one thing we know about going into the world cups
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and it's the unfortunate part is oftentimes
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we see an injury.
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And who are those backup guys?
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So those are kind of initial thoughts, Jimmy.
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On the other side.
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Now, here.
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OK, before we get to the forwards and before I hear from Chuck,
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four goalkeepers coming into this one.
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Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Patrick Schulte, Matt Turner.
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Are you good with four goalkeepers?
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Do you feel like we should have maybe used a spot
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in a different area of the field?
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Well, he could have brought in other guys.
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Like if he wanted to bring in a ninth defender,
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he could have done that or a ninth midfielder.
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I think what it's telling me right now
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is that we don't know who the number three guy is.
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Zach Stefan seems to be out of the picture for now.
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So is it Chris Brady?
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Is it Patrick Schulte who's been there for a couple camps?
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So I think that's what four tells me.
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OK, OK.
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I'm picking up what you're putting down.
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Let's go to the forwards then, Chuck.
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So we have Patrick Ojuman in Flow Baligan in Christian
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Pulasik listed as a forward Tim Weyell listed as a forward,
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though, I get the sense we might see him as a right wingback.
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We play it back three, because there's a new desk isn't in.
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And then Haji writes, who has been absolutely crushing it
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and the championship with eight goals leading the league right now
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at Alex and Dehats, the kind of our attackers.
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Is there, are you good with this?
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Ricardo Pepi's obviously hurt, so he can't get called in.
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Would you like to see anybody else?
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How are you feeling?
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I feel great about this roster, because I
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like the fact that Aiden Morse is brought in because he's
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playing every week and he's playing well.
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So for me, it's finally, you're getting guys
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who are being brought back into the fold because of how well
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they're playing.
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So their club form has been spot on.
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So it's not only that they're playing, but they're playing well.
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So like a testman, for instance, who's been lighting it up at Leone,
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he's messed a few windows.
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He's back in and rightfully so.
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So for me, I think Baligan is the clear number one.
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Pepi would be here if he was fully going and he is the clear number
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two for me.
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And so similar to the goalkeeper position,
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there isn't a clear three.
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So Ajimahn has done well actually since he's come into the championship.
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So I'm happy that he's starting to thrive and adjust to the level there.
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Hodgy writes has been, I think, consistent under Frank Lampard.
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And Frank Lampard trusts him.
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I think that's a good manager player relationship at the moment.
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And can Frank continue to push Hodgy in those areas?
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And remember, Frank Lampard played with Didi a drug,
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but one of the greatest strikers of our generation.
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So if he can continue to push him and say,
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hey, this is where you need to be.
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This is what Didi did using his size, his body shape, anticipation.
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I think that's only going to help him as he continues to mature in that position.
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Because remember, he's been playing a lot of left forward, left wing.
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And in different systems, he hasn't been predominantly a nine.
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So now he's back to being a solid nine,
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which I think will translate well with this group in the US and the US national team pool.
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In terms of the midfield, outside of the Tyler Adams,
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who obviously isn't available, same with Cardoso, I like what I'm seeing.
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This puts a lot more pressure on Yunus Musa to come up to a level where,
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I think, Puchotino expects him to be with club form and playing time.
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And then, like you said, Sergenia Dess is out.
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So Timothy Wei, I think, is the natural fit because he is playing
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right back, right wing back at Marseille.
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So the key with Wei is he's flexible,
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but it's about finding the right spot for him.
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And if you're talking about it back three,
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then I think that right wing back spot is a perfect fit.
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So now it's competing against Sergenia Dess for the spot.
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Yeah, I'm excited to see how this all plays out.
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And obviously who the starting 11 is going to be for the Ecuador game.
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Now, there were a couple notable admissions, big tones.
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And two, in particular, Yunus Musa and Joe Scali were left off for a coaching
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decisions. They are completely healthy and Marseille Puchotino
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elected to go a different direction.
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And when asked about it in the press conference, he gave a bit of a prickly
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answer. He said this, there are not too many players around the world
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that they don't depend on the level.
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But you can talk about it.
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I don't know. Maybe you can ask me why Messi's not in the roster.
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No, this type of player like Manardona, Palais, I don't know.
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But when you were talking about different names, I think you need to
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respect the players, respect the players that are here.
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So so ultimately, what he's saying is like, yes, of course,
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Messi and Palais, Maradona aren't in the team.
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Then I'll answer that question as to why they're not in camp.
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Because those guys are aliens.
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They're the best of the best.
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But we're just talking about, and this is what me and Paul
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Tornado talked about on Thursday.
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If you're just asking this about regular guys, like, I don't need an answer
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of rice. I don't need to explain myself, but just like regular dudes.
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What are your thoughts on his answer, big tones?
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And then ultimately, are you surprised you left off,
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Eunice Moosa and Joe Scally?
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His answer is a little bit odd to me.
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Right, we've seen managers, including Mauricio Pochettino,
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who have answered that question before this camp.
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Right, I think he kind of said, okay, now it's time to just talk
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about the guys that are here moving forward.
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That's kind of what I got out of it.
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Thomas Tuchel's had the answer, why I feel phoned and Jude
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belling him, Arning Camp, and a couple other guys, Jack Relish,
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as well, and he's answered those questions.
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Right, you know, I don't know if you caught him in the moment.
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I don't know if you caught him at the time in his career
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where he said enough is enough.
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It was a little bit surprised.
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But with regards to the guys that are left off, just my opinion,
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is I'm not surprised about Eunice Moosa,
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because he really hasn't settled in just yet to become the player
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that we think he can be.
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At Alante, he's still got some work to do there,
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although he's getting some minutes now.
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Joe Scally, that's the one that surprises me,
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because we're just talking about this has been sort of a merit-based roster.
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Right, this is guys have earned this.
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Joe Scally plays weekend and week out in the Bundesliga.
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And he's, I'm getting the sense,
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I don't know, could it really come down to a golf cart ride in the end?
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I don't know, maybe a can.
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Maybe that's a sign for a manager that says,
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this guy's not good for my locker room or something.
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I don't know.
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I'm just throwing ideas out in my head,
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because the Scally one to me is the one,
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you don't bring him into this camp.
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When he's played already, essentially in a back three for you,
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that one, I'm a little bit surprised.
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I think if he doesn't come in in November, Joe Scally,
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and he's still playing at his club, Chuck,
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I think then maybe we can start to read
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that he's not a Mauricio Pochettino guy.
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Yeah.
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Yes, so do you want to give any context to the golf cart incident apparently?
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Yes, but there's a story out there that there was some doughnuts being done
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on a golf cart.
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I will say this.
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I can see how managers around the world
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would take that as like this respectful.
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Now, again, they're rumors.
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They're out there.
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If it's that or it's something else,
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they're something, Jimmy.
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Yeah.
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Because we got this new show.
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I'm going to steal the title of the new show that we have.
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Our numbers don't lie, right?
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The numbers don't lie in that Joe Scally's playing every week.
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He's healthy every week.
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He's played for a couple of years now every single week.
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So that's why they don't add up.
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And in the end, it could just be,
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hey, that's not my kind of player.
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It doesn't matter.
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How much is a player in this club team?
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It's not the guy that I like.
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So we have to take all of that into account.
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I just thought this camp.
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I don't know.
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I'm thinking you guys both had them on your roster projections.
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I know I did.
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And I'm pretty sure you guys did too.
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I can't remember, but that was the one that surprises me.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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OK.
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That's a big one.
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How about you, Chuck?
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Give us your thoughts on Eunice Musa, Joe Scally.
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You know, just the comments.
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I don't know if you want to jump in here on that.
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I will say very quickly, Joe Scally
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plays for Bruce, she's a bunch of Gladbach.
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And they are terrible this season.
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Absolutely terrible.
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They are terrible.
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And so it doesn't geo-arena.
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So geo-arena has been a hard to get.
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I do have plays there too.
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He's just saying it.
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And a different situation is he just needed playing time.
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And he needs to just find a rhythm and find joy and find
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health as he's still battling, you know, it's just staying fit.
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So unfortunate situation for him.
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But can he come by March?
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Can he put two months together of consistent playing time?
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That's going to be the challenge for him.
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Because when you've been out for so long,
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there's so much you got to catch up on in terms of your body
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adjusting to training every week,
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to matches every week, recovery.
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So the balance of pushing yourself, getting stronger,
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which he needs to do, he needs to get,
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build back his strength in his legs.
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But at the same time,
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monitoring your situation after you've depleted yourself
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and you've pleaded your muscles post-post matches.
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It's a really delicate balance.
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And typically the balance that I got wrong more times than not
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when I was coming back from all the surgeries
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that I had to come back from.
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So it's one of those things where we're hopeful,
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you know, you got to be patient,
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but it's a long road ahead of him.
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In terms of Eunice Musa, we had him on the show.
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He asked for a break.
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I don't think that went over really well
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with Mauricio Pagettino to Tony's point.
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There are some things that maybe he doesn't really appreciate
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or respect or agree with whatever the situation is.
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And so now you're on the back foot.
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You got to figure out a way to get to the front of the line.
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And so for me, not only did he go back to Milan
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when I think there were a lot of questions,
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like does he return, does he not?
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He goes back, he plays, but then he still moves.
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And he's lost a whole preseason of adjusting to a new team
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of eventually that's what was going to happen.
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So he goes to Atalanta, which was inevitable,
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inevitable that he was going to leave.
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He was never going to be the first choice at Milan at this point.
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So you go to a side that is already set in that position
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with veterans.
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We're talking the captain at Anderson,
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who was, you know, linked to some of the biggest clubs
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in the world.
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And...
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Possilich.
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Possilich is someone who can also play in that deeper role,
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but he's also playing more advanced role.
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So he's in a really difficult situation.
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So for Eunice Musa to really get back into the picture,
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he's got to play.
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Yeah.
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And to break into that side, enough,
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you got to say, hey, job well done,
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because that is a really difficult midfield to break into.
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So he went from one pretty bad situation to another
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in terms of, man, this team is pretty much set in the midfield.
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And so he's got a lot of work to do to get back into the picture.
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I think also...
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And we've seen this.
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We've probably been, or suffered from it at some point.
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When a coach makes up their mind about you,
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you know, maybe you didn't play particularly well,
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maybe you're kind of on the fence about whether he wants you
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and then there's something else that happened,
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whether it's doing donuts in a golf cart
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and being disrespectful, like Joe Scally apparently did,
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or Eunice Musa saying he wanted out.
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Now you've given that coach a little ammunition
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to kind of connect a dot, like a red dot
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in this particular instance where like, hey, you know what?
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Maybe this guy isn't for me,
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and this is solidified for me.
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And that's a tough spot to get out of.
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I just want to throw that out there.
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All right.
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Well, but before we even do that,
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this is the thing that kind of,
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I'm trying to, I've been struggling with to understand.
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If you're in a position where you need to move on, right?
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You have a feeling, things haven't gone well.
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Wouldn't you say, you know what?
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I got to play in this gold cup to boost my style.
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I agree. I agree.
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I agree.
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To show.
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To show your honor.
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I know.
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I'm ready for the next move.
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Instead of taking a break when you didn't play that much,
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when you come back to the same situation,
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and then you got to move,
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and clubs are kind of unsure of where you are,
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because you didn't really play that much,
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where you could add a whole summer
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to play international football.
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not to get you out to tough position.
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And you wonder what the communication was like.
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And there's a lot of talk,
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a lot of narrative around the communication
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and lack thereof from Reese Pochettino to the players.
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But before we get into that part of it,
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Mark McKenzie was on Morning Foodie a little bit earlier
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and spoke about some of this communication.
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Let's take a listen.
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And a big conatopical conversation has been
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the communication preferences from the coaching staff
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with the locker room.
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So was there much conversations with Pochettino staff
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between missing camps or coming in?
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And what's it been like, I guess, since in the brief time?
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I know that you just got in last night,
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but in the brief time since you got back.
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No, it's ultimately rekindling everything.
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It's been, we had a long summer together.
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So I think going through a tournament together,
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you figure out little nuances and ways to go about.
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Meeting with each other, ways to communicate with one another.
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So I think through these experiences of work
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with them over the last year, you figure out what works
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and what doesn't work.
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And naturally you build a connection.
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And sometimes it's more communication.
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Sometimes it's less communication.
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But I think each player is different.
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But at the end of the day, work has to be done with pitch.
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So whether you're in camp, whether you're not in camp,
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I think that speaks for itself.
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You just want to get back here into the team
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and do everything you can to put the jersey back on.
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All right, that was Mark McKenzie.
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I'm warning footy a little bit earlier today
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from Tommy Scoops, Tommy Bogart, asking that question.
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So we had a little production call yesterday,
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and we had a nice, healthy conversation, big tones
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about the kind of communication we received back in the day
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from our respective national team coaches.
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And I remember, I'll go first.
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I had gotten in my first camp at 2005,
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OK, January, I did well and went with the team down
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to turn it at for a World Cup qualifier.
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And I was cruising.
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Got some good feedback from Glenn Meyer, Nick Mooch,
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Reston Pisa, and Bruce.
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And I was like, sweet.
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I feel like I'm part of this a little bit.
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I'm part of the conversation now.
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And then March came, there was a game against Mexico
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in Mexico City at Estadio Estecca.
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And I didn't get a call.
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I didn't get nothing.
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And then I see, Oguchen, Yewuzin, Bokenegres,
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and Burhalters, and Corey Gibbs'in.
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And I was heartbroken.
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We lost that game 2-1.
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And I actually just watched the highlights this day.
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We got thumped a little bit.
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They had a lot of chances.
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So maybe that actually worked out for me.
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So sometimes maybe that getting called
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is the worst thing.
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But I just didn't receive any communication from Bruce.
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And that was pretty much how it went.
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If they wanted to use you, you were going to hear,
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you're going to get an email from Pam Perkins,
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shout out to Pam.
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And if you didn't, you just had to wait your turn
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and hopefully play well enough in the next window of time
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with your club team to hopefully get back on the radar.
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Yeah, Pam Perkins, shout out to the goat.
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The goat.
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The goat.
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I want to go and do everything.
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Yeah, you needed anything.
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That's where you went.
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This isn't really a surprise to me.
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I thought, and I will say, when Greg Burhalter was there,
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and we heard all of this communication and videos
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and clips and all of that stuff being traded in between camps,
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that I just thought, oh, that's the new way managers do things,
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I guess, because I'm not there.
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Who knows, right?
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It's 2025.
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Maybe that's what everybody does.
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But it seems like that's not.
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I didn't have communication.
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Matter of fact, we waited for faxes, believe it or not,
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to come in.
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That's not long ago.
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I started with the National League.
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You had a, you had a major.
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It was like, that was true.
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Boris Pager me.
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But the kids listening have no idea what a fax machine is.
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I know.
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It's just going to look at all.
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Yeah, go look at it.
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On the internet, you'll find it somewhere.
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I think you had a carrier pigeon for your first camp.
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But yeah, but there was no communication in between.
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I will say this.
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Of the coaches, like Bob Gantzler,
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I'm the ones that were there for a while.
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Bob Gantzler, Boramilitinovich, oh, forget it.
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Zero, I was the captain.
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I told the story.
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I didn't talk to the guy for two and a half years.
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So I was just, I'm not a conversation with the guy, right?
spk_0
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But, and then Bruce Arena, I think if you would have called Bruce and said, hey,
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why am I not in camp?
spk_0
Like he would have told you.
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You might not have heard what you wanted to hear, but he would have told you.
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And I'm guessing that if you called, but I don't think it's set up that way now.
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I think this is, I think this is more normal.
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I'm getting it than maybe what we saw under Greg Berthold.
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And I will say this to N. Chuck.
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I don't know that anyone is right or any, like any one way is right and any one way is wrong.
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This, what we're seeing now is more my experience when I played than what Greg was doing with
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the national team before.
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Yeah, I would just add that you got to think about different circumstances.
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And so, you know, Greg was pretty hands on because you got to remember most of the players
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were kids.
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They had no international experiences.
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And so he was thinking, okay, how do I continue to push them in between because they have to catch up?
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And, you know, he had a certain style that he wanted to implement.
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Similar to his club, because club career is a coach because he had never coached internationally either.
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So there is a number of essentially rookies in this spot.
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And he thought, okay, this is how I can really move the group forward in the interim before we get back together.
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Now, Pocetino comes from the, from the camp of, I've coached Harry Kane and Son Hong Min and Messi and Mbappe and Neymar.
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I don't have time to be communicating with you.
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You, you either know you're coming into the camp because you received an email or you didn't come.
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And you also know why you're not coming because you're not performing because if you were performing in this manner,
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then you'd be coming in.
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And that's how it was when we, when I was playing with the national team, if Bob Bradley did, if I didn't get an email, I knew was because,
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hey, I'm not doing, I'm not playing as well as I need to be playing.
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And I could look at the mirror and say, I'm not because look at the amount of goals I'm scoring or not scoring or chances I'm creating.
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So you could look at yourself and mirror and say, I'm not doing enough or maybe there's guys who are doing more than what I'm doing.
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I'm playing well, but these guys are scoring, you know, 15, 20 goals.
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So you're saying, okay, I need, I need to catch up.
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So ultimately, I think every manager has a different way of coaching and this kind of puts more pressure on the players to take care of business so that they do get that email.
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It was almost reading a little bit of how we, how we,
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you reacted to me, we get those emails of being like, yeah, you know, it's brought the excitement back because you, you didn't know.
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Nothing was guaranteed until you saw that email, you had no idea.
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So I like the fact that Puchotino is kind of bringing that back into the fold of, man, it's a really special to get that email.
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Hey, Jimmy, sure to jump in in two in 2002 when the World Cup team was announced.
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If you remember, I was a third goalkeeper on that team.
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It was between me and Tim Howard, right, that we're going to be the third goalkeeper on a team.
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Do you know how I found out?
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I found out.
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Facts machine.
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No, no, no, we were passed that by that point, but I know you're going, I found out.
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This photo is amazing.
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For everybody listening, it's telling, holding a facts machine.
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You guys are funny.
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But Jimmy's a good one.
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They did a reveal show on another big network, sports network.
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And I found out during that reveal show, standing at my island in my kitchen with my wife.
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I found out I found in 2006, Bruce Arena went on another big sports show and did the same thing.
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And the story about mine was that the day of this was when AOL I instant messaging was around AIM and land in Donovan.
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Sent me a message goes, Hey, I got great news.
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And I was like, Oh my God, land in Has to know whether I'm in or not, right?
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So I get this message and I go, Oh, yeah, what's up?
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He goes, you can save a bunch of money with your car in terms of switching to Geico.
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You know, like, and I was like, what a dick, you know?
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So, so he ended up like totally teasing me.
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I feel like he had to know you could not do that to somebody if they don't actually make the roster.
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But yeah, I found out the same way.
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I found out on television that I ended up making the team and then my, my cell phone melted.
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So, so, because everybody was so excited.
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But yeah, ultimately I got it the same way.
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So Bruce definitely has a style and keeps you in suspense.
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I do want to get into a little bit more of, of Mauricio Puchotino's understanding and communication
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with the clubs and not the players, but we're going to do that right after this break.
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So don't go anywhere.
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All right, welcome back in to call what it is.
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Johnny Bernstein's favorite average, a good podcast.
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I'm Jimmy Conrad alongside Charlie, check chasing Chuck Wagon Davies and Tony Big Tony,
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Miola and I did want to finish a little bit part of the conversation, but we had to get to that first break.
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What I did find interesting with Mauricio Puchotino and his coaching staff is that he is having dialogue
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with the clubs of these players.
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So, so he has talked to Brian Schmetzert at Seattle Sounders.
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He wanted to know what's going on with with Christian Roldon.
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How does he fit in?
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What's he, what's his training habits like, right?
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If you talk to a player directly about that stuff, we could all probably predict what the answer is going to be.
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But when you talk to the coach, you get different.
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Yeah, I'm the best.
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I think I'm as good as Messi.
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Exactly right.
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Right.
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So then you have the coaching staff probably reaching out to Max Allegri at Juventus and,
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and, excuse me, at AC Milan, that was previous and Igor Tudor at Juventus and,
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and at Bruce and Munchen Glodbach, maybe talking to them.
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I mean, everybody's, they're having conversations and now it's up to the player to perform
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to the point that I think we're starting to see a little bit more method to the madness of
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Risa Pochotino.
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You need to be performing day in and day out and conducting yourself at the highest level possible.
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And if you're not, we're going to find out.
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So, so I did, I did appreciate that there is some dialogue happening.
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It's just not directly with the players, Chuck.
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By the way, Jimmy, what coach is going to say?
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No, my player's not good.
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You know what I'm saying?
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True, true.
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If, if, if, if, of course, you know what's a call in the Schmetzert.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think we rolled on has been training like, like terrible, right?
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Just crap.
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You think Schmetzert's going to get, you know what?
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Uh, yeah.
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I wouldn't call him in because every coach is going to defend their player.
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Every coach is going to say, Hey, this guy's a national team guy because think about it.
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They're also are trying to raise a stock because worst case scenario, they sell him,
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but they get rewarded so they can go and reinvest that money, right?
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If they're playing in Europe, we're playing an MLS in the
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Chinese race value, right?
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Or it's just saying I coached a World Cup player, you know, I, I raised the level of a
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player so that he got included.
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So there's a number of reasons.
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A coach is not going to come out and say, this guy should not be there.
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I don't know.
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You could, you could, you could sandbag a player so that you make sure they don't go
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into camp and that way you have.
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Yeah.
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That ever came out, you are done for.
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You were.
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That's, so for everybody listening, that's what Jimmy's going to do.
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He's going to sandbag one of his players.
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I wouldn't call him in.
spk_0
But he doesn't train well.
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But listen, listen, Tony, you've been around from a coach to coach.
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When you have a, like a real talk between coach to coach, some insight does come
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out like, hey, this player is incredible in games, but in practice, I wish they gave
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me a little bit more.
spk_0
Right?
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I don't think that's sandbagging a player.
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I don't think it's.
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I think that those, some honesty does seep into those comments.
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Now, if there's no one's going to tell you anything about.
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That's what they fare.
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If you're the national team coach and I do want to say this before
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I forget, I think it's fair to say no player has made a real big deal of this
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that they don't get communication and you know, and every one of them has said
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during camp, the communication is great.
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Like Mark McKenzie and that interview, we just did an morning footy.
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He talked about that time at the gold cup.
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And this is a guy I think that played less than 20 minutes.
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I forget we had the number yesterday, but I think it's less than 20 minutes
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in the gold cup.
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And he talked about how important the information, the communication during the
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camp, what he learned.
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So I think it's fair to give that side of it as well.
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With regards to talking to another coach, I'm thinking if you're the national
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team coach, right?
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You're going to let's use Schmezzer, Charlie brought up Brian Schmezzer.
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Let's use that example.
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I go to Brian Schmezzer.
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I don't need to ask Brian Schmezzer about something I already saw.
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The reason I'm talking to you about Christian rolled on or anybody else is
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because I think that he's a guy that can help the national.
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I want to learn more off the field or about his training habits and all of that
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stuff, not necessarily his play.
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I don't need Brian Schmezzer to tell me about what I need for the national team.
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I need him to tell me about the things I haven't learned yet, right?
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Because I'm making a decision based on not all of the life facts, if you will.
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So I, we've seen that in the article, right, that we're talking about in the,
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I thought it was a Paul Tonario and Henry Bush now, right, that wrote the article
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where his assistant coach, have a year went to Schmezzer and they're talking
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about other things about Christian rolled on.
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So I don't know that they go there and ask him about,
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about his tactical awareness and is that you've seen that already.
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Right.
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No, it's good inside.
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I appreciate that.
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Hey, I love this comment from Kevin.
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He's a little upset.
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We're spending so much time speaking about how much talking and communicating is
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done.
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It's formation and tactics that's going to make the difference.
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Not if you text with someone.
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How do you feel about that?
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Yeah, I get it.
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I understand.
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But, but if you want people to run through a wall for you, right,
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to execute your tactics and formation at the highest level, there has to be some
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trust and there has to be a buy into how you believe in people.
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Buy in is everything for a coach.
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Yeah.
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So, and, and to talk about communicating, he's trying to figure out if this guy
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doesn't play, is he a problem?
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Because Ruscio Pachitino has already talked about that.
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If this is towards the end of the roster, we hear it from every cycle.
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If you're a player 23, 20, 20 to 26.
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Now, if you aren't playing, you're not involved.
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What value do you bring to the group?
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What value?
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Because if you take away anything emotionally, if you bring down the level in
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practice, if you're sulking, if you're all about doing X, Y, Z that is a
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distraction, you are not going to the World Cup and you have to get those
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decisions right.
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Look at every big team.
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Yeah.
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I look at France, for instance, France, World Cup winners in 98,
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Oh, two, that locker room was not right.
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They crash out of the group stage.
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2006, they get to the final.
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2010, debacle.
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And it's all about the right characters.
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And if you don't get the right groups and you can look at those rosters,
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full of world class players.
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It's not about the ability.
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It's about the locker room and the right mix of players and getting the
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players who aren't playing, who aren't going to be happy.
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They're not playing still bought in to what the coach is is pushing.
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So I think that's what why we're talking about communication is because you
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want those guys to fight for you.
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Of course, they're going to it's a World Cup home soil.
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They're going to be motivated.
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We want them to go the extra mile.
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And that's what the great coaches can do.
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We'll see if Marisa Puchecino squeezed in the team in the right way.
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All right.
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Let's get into Americans abroad.
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We're getting some notable weekend performances.
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Haji Wright scored his eighth championship goal of the season in a five zero win
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versus Sheffield Wednesday after scoring a brace against Milwall the game before
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that.
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Patrick Haji Bond scored his first goal for Darby in a one one draw versus
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Southampton, a little dunk at the back post, a little header.
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Flo Balagan subbed on for the second half in a two to draw versus Nice.
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That's for Monaco.
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Noah Kai Banks started and scored at the back post, sliding in a little half
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volley.
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Good goal at the start of their three one win versus Wolfsburg.
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He got subbed out a little bit later.
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Little raw at some of the decision making.
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I watched a portion of this game and I think he's a next cycle guy.
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I know some people are calling for him now, but I think he's
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going to be a next cycle guy and then Rokas, Pukstash scored in a one zero win
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versus Vukovar, a very well taken goal at the top of the box.
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Be the couple players and slotted it back to the near post across the goalkeeper's
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path. Very, very good goal.
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That was the game winner.
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And I guess the American striker of the week, there's only one choice.
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It's going to be Haji Wright.
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That's a, that's our very brief segment that we like to recurrain segment that
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we have here on college.
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What?
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So Haji Wright on fire leads the Golden Boot Race.
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In the championship for Coventry Coventry is absolutely crushing it right
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now and and look hard to beat.
spk_0
They've won 3040 and 50 on their last three games.
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Frank Lampard got that special sauce and Haji Wright is definitely a
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beneficiary of that of his last three goals, two were tapens, but
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hey, you still got to be in a good spot to make it happen as Chuck knows quite
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well.
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All right, let's go back to the camp though, Chuck.
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Excuse me, tones.
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I'm going to go to you on this first.
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What's what's one player that stands out for you of the names that we've
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talked about and discussed over the last two shows or show and a half?
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Who do you think has the most to prove or the most to gain in this October camp,
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especially because some key names are out.
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I'm looking at the midfield, but maybe you have somewhere different.
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I'm looking at Brendan Ayrinson right now because I feel like Brendan Ayrinson's
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been in and out.
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He's, you know, obviously last year a really good one run with Leeds playing
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40 plus games in a number 10 position for a team that scored to most goals in
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that division.
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Now on the Premier League, a little bit different.
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He's, you know, it's got over 50 caps with the national team.
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He's got World Cup experience, but I don't know that he's broken in just yet to
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Mauricio Pochettino's kind of thinking where, okay, because no matter what,
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Pochettino and his staff, they have, they have whatever the number is.
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10, 12, 15 guys in their mind right now.
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Like these are guys going to the World Cup.
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If everything stays on track, I don't know that he's one of those guys right now.
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So Chuck, that's where I'll go first.
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Brendan Ayrinson is a guy.
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So, so, so very quickly kind of using what we were talking about before, Chuck,
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with with being a guy that is just going to be a good team guy.
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What does he bring?
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What's the number 23 guy roster bring up Brendan Ayrinson for me?
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I look at him and think super sub.
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He screamed super sub to me.
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You got a tired team on the other side.
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A good attitude.
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Gonna run through a wall for you no matter what.
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So, so I don't know if he's necessarily on the team to your point,
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right tones, but I feel like he's he's taking a few important boxes for the,
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let's say the end of the roster.
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Okay, Chuck, your two to sorry, Chuck, two things stick out with Ayrinson.
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The new formation with two guys underneath and then Zendai has his performances
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in the last match, right?
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His performance in the last match and what it did to our thinking.
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Those are the two obstacles for me that he needs to get over right now to,
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to become one of those guys, Chuck, for me,
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that's where I'll start with Brendan Ayrinson.
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Okay.
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I would say Brendan Ayrinson, when you're playing it back three, it does fit.
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If it's him more so than playing it back before with wingers,
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because he's not a, he's not a winger.
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But if you're saying, oh, he did a tuck inside, that's actually his best position.
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Yeah.
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Is is almost like that free roll 10.
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And that's where he wants to be.
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And that's his best position because he has the ability to make those runs.
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He's, he's not necessarily tied to one wing.
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He's not tied to beating people.
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One B one out wide.
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So that's where he can lose track of his markers is more central with his
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late runs because he's such a busy bee.
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But for me, if I'm looking at this roster, I'm going to, okay, who,
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who's one of those guys?
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I think Diego Luna is one of those guys.
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How many times have we, we talked to him and he's just, he's hard working.
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He's humble.
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He will throw, he will put his body on the line.
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And I think he's already pruned that to Mauricio Pogetino in a big way.
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Just to start taking a elbow to the nose, broken nose, blood everywhere.
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Hey, throw me back in.
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Don't even think about taking me off and then contributing, right?
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So I think for me, um, Diego Luna is one of those guys.
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If you're saying, hey, 20 to 20 to 26 in that range.
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If, if everyone's playing at a high level, he, he probably fits in that, in that bucket.
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He could come on.
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He can fight.
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He's grown the ball.
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Um, you know, that's one of those players.
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And I think he, he fits the, the perfect attributes and mentality to be in a squad
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as the 20 to 26 in that roster spot when, when you're talking about Tillman's backplanks.
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And Dejas is, is in the best form of his life.
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Um, you know, obviously Christians, one of those positions.
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So there's not too many spaces available when you're talking about it back three.
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And Luna's one of those two guys that plays underneath the striker.
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Um, in terms of spots open.
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Yeah.
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So those are two names that, yes, I think we should be discussing.
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I'm surprised that Tyler Adams is not in camp.
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This is a wide open audition.
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Johnny Cardoso is not in camp.
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And so this is, take it with both hands opportunity with Aiden Morris, Tanner Tessman, James
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Sands, a Christian role, Don has another audition here to prove why he should be in the team as well.
spk_0
Yeah, but who's your 20 to 26 guy?
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Well, yeah, that's why I think, I think if Christian role Don, pick one.
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Well, I think you're going to get two out of that group.
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I have this is a big opportunity for West McKinney to get back into the team and, yeah,
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but he's on the team.
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He's going to be on the team.
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He's going to be on the team, but like, okay, but in the back three, where does he fit?
spk_0
Right?
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Where does he fit in that midfield and where we?
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He's one of the two.
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It's an easy one.
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Six is in the tens.
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If we play a box, he's one of the sixes or becomes an eight.
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Is that what you're saying?
spk_0
So if we're talking about the back, the back three spots, let's say we have a box in midfield with two.
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10 to six.
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It's two.
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It's two.
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It's two sixes.
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That's what, okay, he would play.
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All right.
spk_0
It's no problem, but I just think it's a big opportunity is for him to come.
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Okay, this is me.
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I'm going to be here.
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I'll be off of Tyler Adams's shoulder at the start of the World Cup.
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Okay.
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Let's see what that looks like.
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And then, and then I think you're still going to get two midfielders here.
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So it could be a role Don who, who he has that veteran experience clearly is
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liked by Marisa Pochettino and the staff.
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And then, and then you got ten or testman.
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It's a big opportunity.
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He's been on fire this season for Leon.
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And, and
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I thought are we not supposed to just pick one player?
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I know.
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I'm just trying to say I'm just, I'm, you're going down the whole roster, bro.
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Anybody else, Jim?
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Hey, Jim, I do.
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Jim, hey, wrap it up.
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Wrap it up.
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Let's wrap it up.
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Listen, what's funny is I just brought that up because I think that I, I
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surprise you guys didn't go there first.
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Because we're talking about 20 and 26.
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We're talking about who's one of those guys who's going to add value and not playing.
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You're, you're now you're going down.
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I'm just saying every starter.
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We're missing Adams and Cardoso.
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And there's no, you have testman, sans.
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So I'm out of those guys right now.
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Eight and more.
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Testman.
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I think we'll don't I think we'll don't.
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I think we'll don't.
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I think we'll don't be in.
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So he'll be that 20 and 26.
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I think, yeah, but I think testman's going to make the team anyway.
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So testman will be in and then we'll don't be there.
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Both be in that 2026.
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Who's going to want to talk about 30 team, Jim?
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Noah Kai Banks can make the 2030 team.
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Listen, let's go to defenders.
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Because listen, you have you have Tim Riggs, Chris Richards, CCT,
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C.C.
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Cameron, I think it's back in.
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I just a big opportunity.
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Who's going to be that third center backs?
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Miles Robinson.
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It's nice to see Anthony Robinson back into the team.
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So anyway, I just I just thought I'm actually most curious about the center back
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because I'm a former center back.
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But I was surprised you guys just didn't jump into the midfield.
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That's all I was there.
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So I'm a boss.
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All right.
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No, Tony.
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So Chris Brady, he's in goal.
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He's got an awesome opportunity here.
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He's coming into camp.
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We got Matt Fries.
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He's on the starter.
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We got Patrick Shulti.
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He hasn't been in the camp now.
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He's back in the camp.
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Matt Turner.
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He was in the camp.
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He's back.
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This is a crazy opportunity.
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It is.
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Three goalkeepers.
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I'm excited about this.
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I'm so excited.
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Okay.
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Now we got Max Sarveson, camera card pickers.
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Freeman McKenzie.
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I can't believe.
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Listen, listen, hey, it sucks to give me a hard time.
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But he brings up.
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You know, Luna.
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Diego Luna is making the team, dude.
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Pick somebody else as a 20 to 20.
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He's as a 20 to 26.
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Where were we?
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We start the 20 to 26.
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Where did that ever come into the conversation?
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We need something.
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It's a big opportunity.
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We were talking about players who will add value.
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Who will be at the end of the roster.
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Not guys who are going to be counted on to start.
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And certainly not the guys who come one, two, three
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off the bench to change a game.
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Now, if you're talking about the biggest opportunity
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in this camp, regardless of your situation,
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I think it's Western McKinney has the biggest point to prove
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to Marisa Puchettino.
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There we go.
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Left out.
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There we go.
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Ignatian's league.
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He didn't go well.
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So he hasn't been back in since now.
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He had the club World Cup, which prevented him from even
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getting the opportunity to come in the camp.
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But I think in terms of restamping himself,
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re redefining his importance in the squad, it's Western McKinney.
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I think in this camp, this is the biggest camp for him to say,
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Hey, not only am I important to this team,
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I'm essential for us moving forward because I'm grinding in
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Syria at UVA, grinding minutes, champions league, Syria.
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So if we're talking about as a whole,
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I think this is a camp at Western McKinney needs to show out in.
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All right.
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Any other names, tones you want to bring up?
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I think we covered everybody.
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I think I think we got a mic.
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Tony, there's no more oxygen left for you, Tony.
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Tony's over here like this.
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I love it.
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I love it.
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It's, look, I think all these camps are important for all of these guys.
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Now, right, I don't know that Pocetino has a starting 11.
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I think if we pick the starting 11, we could probably agree that Chris Richards,
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Tyler Adams, uh,
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Flo Baligan and Christian,
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Policic and Anthony Robinson, right?
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So you might have one or two more.
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The point is that there's still a lot of spots in the 11 from,
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from probably seven to 26, Chuck or eight to 26.
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There's still a lot of guys that need to,
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to establish themselves in this group.
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All right.
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That's a good way to end this segment.
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We're going to take our last break and call what you want.
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When we come back, we're going to talk about the U 20 world cup.
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Maybe I'll get to talk this time because Chuck clearly wants more of the mic.
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Don't go anywhere.
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Welcome back in to Jimmy talks, the lots.
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I'm Jimmy Conrad alongside Charlie Davies and big tones.
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And we are talking about the US U 20s,
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big tones.
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You have a lot of experience with this particular age group over the years,
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coaching this with Tab Ramos for a couple of cycles.
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If I'm not mistaken.
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And are you 20s started off hot,
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they beat New Caledonia nine to one,
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they beat France 303 late goals in that particular game.
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They ended up losing to South Africa, two, one after going up one, zero.
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I gave up two goals before half time and just couldn't find their way back into it,
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but still finished the top of the group.
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They're now slated to take on Italy who finished second to Argentina and their group in the round of 16.
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What have you seen in this particular U 20 world cup from the US that gets you excited, big tones?
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Well, I think we were excited going into it.
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We had a chance to talk to Ben Kramowski yesterday about this group.
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He's captain this side and has done a really, really good job.
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I think the expectation going into these youth tournaments now is a minimum of
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getting to the quarter finals of this, looking at this team and the way that they've played.
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I could see them go further than that in this competition.
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Italy is the next opponent opponent in the round of 16.
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I don't know how the bracket matches up after that.
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I think it's a fairly tough bracket from there, but it's an opportunity for Marco Mietrovich in this group
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to make some noise at the under 20 world cup.
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And at some point, we're going to have to find a youth team that gets to a finals of a world cup.
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I don't know that this is the team, but this is as good an under 20 team as we've put in the tournament.
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It's guys that everybody is familiar with because they're playing professionally,
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which was never the case with past U 20 teams.
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I covered a bunch of them before I actually coached in the cycles and just to find out information on these guys
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was really difficult because they were playing at colleges and club teams.
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Now they're in a different environment now.
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And Marco Mietrovich has done a good job with them.
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The big result, obviously, Chuck is the three-nil over France and they left it at 80.
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I think it was 80 plus minutes before they scored their first goal and they ended up winning three-nil.
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But that's a massive result against a really good French side.
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Who's the best 20 side that you coach, Tony?
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Which one?
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Well, remember, there were three cycles that went to the quarter finals.
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The one that lost to...
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What's his name?
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What's your Serbia?
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The coach in Chicago was coaching in...
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Piano Vitch.
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Piano Vitch.
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His group was a team that won.
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Pano's group is the team that won the world cup that year.
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That was Zach Stefan.
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You know, that group, that was really good.
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And I think we've established ourselves, remember, for a period of time.
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England won the U20s and the U17 World Cup.
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I don't know if they were like that same cycle or it was skip the cycle.
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I can't remember.
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But we were the only team in the world that for those three cycles put the 17s and the U20s
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into the quarter finals at the youth national team level on the men's side.
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The only team in the world, not Brazil.
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The teams that were really good at those levels, the Nigeria's at that time.
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And I know Nigeria's struggling at the first team level now.
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But we were the only country in the world that was doing that.
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And then we'd never took the next step.
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Like the next step.
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I think twice in those 20 cycles, the team that we lost to in the quarter finals was the team that won the world cup.
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I don't know that any consolation, but I'm just bringing it up as reference.
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So we've been good at the youth team levels.
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Now we've got to take the next step.
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And it's going to be this next generation of guys that take that next step
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because of the minutes they're playing professionally.
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All right.
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Italy who were playing beat Australia 1-0 in their first game.
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They ended up tying with Cuba.
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Cuba's first ever point in the U20 World Cup in their history.
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2-2.
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Now Italy were up to zero in complete control of that game.
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Got a red card.
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And then honestly, they kind of self-destructed.
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They gave up two penalties in the last 20 minutes and just lacked some discipline.
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And I think that's something the US can take advantage of.
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And then Argentina beat them in the last group game.
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1-0.
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So they're 1-1-1 going into the knockout rounds.
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If we get past Italy, which based on history,
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since we've made four straight quarter finals,
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we should then we'll take on the winner Morocco versus South Korea.
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Now Morocco beat Spain 2-0, beat Brazil 2-1.
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And then they ended up losing to Mexico.
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Gilbert Amoraz actually scored three goals and two three games for Mexico.
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Mexico goes through as well as the second.
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I didn't know if Mexico was going to get through this group,
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but it was Morocco, Mexico.
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They had the group of death and they came through flying.
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I could not be more impressed with that Mexico side.
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For them to play first game, you have Brazil, you have Spain,
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and then Morocco.
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Top-notch stuff.
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Yeah, it's great.
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And so we're going to potentially play Morocco and or South Korea,
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potentially hopefully October 12th.
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But the US Italy is on Thursday, and that should be a good game against Italy.
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If we get past Morocco, South Korea can find our way into the semi-finals.
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That back half of the bracket on our side would be Paraguay, Norway, Japan, France.
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There is a potential to see France again who might feel a little hard done by
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after we slapped them around there, 3-0 in that particular game.
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All right, let's pivot now.
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That's the U-20 World Cup.
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We're excited to see how that plays out.
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Let's talk MLS.
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And I want to give a shout out to the Philadelphia Union who clenched the
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supporters shield as the best team over 10 months everywhere else around the
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world. That would be League Champion.
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But here you got to fight it out for a couple extra weeks to win MLS Cup.
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Philly, under Bradnie Carnell, his first year in charge,
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taking over for Jim Curtin has done an excellent job of getting everybody
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aligned on the same page.
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But Chuck, you wrote an article on the athletic saying,
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yes, congratulations to Philly, but I don't know if they're the favorites for MLS Cup.
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So yikes, he put it out there.
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You can obviously get a stand behind it.
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But you had L.A.F.C. as one of your legit contenders with the addition of Sun Hing Min.
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I mean, all I can say is, of course, the Philadelphia Union have played throughout
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the full season of the high press and put a lot of pressure on teams and getting the results.
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But the same thing that happened with Bradley Crennell at St. Louis, where they surprised everybody
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throughout the full season. But at the end of the year, one team figured out, okay, we know how
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they play. We know how what their style is and they ran out of gas.
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I don't know if the Union are going to run out of gas per se, but it does feel like
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the way they play, it might be tough in the playoffs, the style that they play,
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because they do leave themselves open now. I watched them play most recently against the
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Philadelphia, the New England Revolution in the game that I was calling. And is it anywhere near
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an attractive style at all? No, it's not. And you don't need to have an attractive style to win.
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But what I will say is when I'm looking across the league, Vancouver, L.A.F.C.
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Right now, you're looking at Son and Bwanga. They've scored their teams last 18 goals.
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That's incredible. That is historic. My article is really about us.
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We've seen some incredible dynamic duos throughout Major League Soccer's history.
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I start with Etchivarian, High-Main Marano. What a duo.
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But think about Jovinka and Elton Dorn. I don't know so much Robbie Keenan and Donovan were
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a duo, but they won a lot of games together. But this in particular, Carlos Vela, DeGaura,
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I mean, that was a little bit of a dynamic duo per se. But when you talk about just two players,
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solely responsible for creating and scoring for your team, and the way that they did,
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I'm talking just two months, August, to now absolutely insane that these two players, 18 goals.
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And we're talking about defend with the rest of the group. We're eight players defend
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low block. Let these two run. Not too many teams are going to stop these two on a counter.
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And now in the playoffs, that's going to be the question is, if I'm coaching, if I'm coaching
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against LFC, I'm going to say, guys, we aren't taking any risks. We are giving up zero counter
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attacks at LFC and see how they can break us down. That's going to be the challenge for them. But
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ultimately, I think Inter Miami are still going to have a say. I think, defensively, that's been
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their fault ever since they've acquired Lannell Messi. But essentially, playoffs, they might be
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different. I think they've saved a little bit extra for this playoff run to kind of send
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boost gets off into the mighty clouds with a trophy. So I think there are just a number of teams
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ahead of field off the union when it's all said and done. Hey, Tons, I think he's named every team.
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He like, I have to do Cincinnati could do it. And Charlotte could do it. And Sandy,
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and I know you're holding on. I know you took all the oxygen out of the show.
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You took all the mid-blank. I got every team. How many teams did I say? How many teams did I say?
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There must be seven, seven teams. How many? I said, LA, Miami,
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I think you were Miami. That's it. I don't know. I said, but I felt like a lot. There's a lot of
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talking there before. A lot of talking there for four teams. Go ahead, Tons. How are we going back
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to his filly? The favorite? I would have said a couple weeks ago. Maybe I still think the east
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is going to be a bear in the playoffs. I think Orlando is a sleeper. Yeah, they could be.
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Five times. We've been saying that all year. They've got some talented players.
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In the Western Conference, I mean, I probably would have went San Diego until about seven or eight
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games ago when someone got to LAFC. What they're doing now, look, I know we're going to go,
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eventually, ten years from now, we'll look at the duo again and they're going to be on the list.
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They're doing at the moment is incredible. We talk about being hot going into the playoffs.
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There is hot as anybody right now. They just keep getting better and better. Finally,
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Steve Toronto on his last couple of weeks here in Major League Soccer, unfortunately,
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because he's going to step out the door. He wanted to become a possession team, a possession team
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finally figured out, you know what? Let's be the best version of who we really are right now.
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That's a counter attacking side and he brought in the perfect forward to fit that formation.
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So I'm picking right now LAFC to win this thing. If you're asking me today, Jimmy, for sure.
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That's no injuries. As it gets moves forward, we might change that if there's an injury or so
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down the line, but they are solid, man. What do you think about and you brought them up,
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Vancouver Chuck, with Ryan Galt, who is one of their best players last season, now back healthy.
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And he just came in and played the Canadian Championship recently and scored.
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You have Thomas Buller and there's obviously going to give you some experience. He's got a
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little bit of that fun enthusiasm that I really like that he brings to the table and got that clutch.
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There's something about Vancouver. They're one of the top defensive teams too. Me and Tony,
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in particular, we'll say the defense wins championships because we've seen it to be true.
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But they're one of the best defensive teams. Philadelphia, actually, the best defensive team in all of
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MLS. Then he had Minnesota who are really difficult to play against. So I don't know if I would
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hitch my wagon to them going all the way. I think LAFC is in there. Seattle Sounders, did they run
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out of steam? I think you wrote that in their article that maybe they peaked a little bit too early
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this season. Usually they save it for the end. But experience matters and they know that core knows
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how to win big games. This is going to be as wide open of a playoff for MLS and quite some time.
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I know it's kind of the leagues kind of built that way. But this feels really fun to see who's
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going to step up and make the plays over the next couple of weeks. So go ahead. I also like
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Jasper Sorensen as the manager for Vancouver. I think he's done a terrific job of giving them an
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identity and it starts in the midfield. Also remember, they lost Pedro Vite, who is also a top
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central midfielder, goes to Liga Mekis. And we're going to see him with Ecuador in this next window.
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But if you're talking about Andres Kuba's and Buraholt are kind of anchoring the midfield. They've
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done an incredible job in that 4-2-3-1, being the two players that are responsible for providing cover,
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winning up second balls, tough tackling. And then one, they can play on the counter. They're good
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on set pieces. They got all the basics right. They do that extremely well. So when you're planning
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as a team, it's pretty good in transition and then can execute on a counter or set pieces.
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That's what I think makes them very dangerous. And like you said, Gald is one of those players who
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can continually put himself in an MVP conversation when he's fit and healthy because he just finds a
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way to make a difference when he's playing. Gifted on the ball, I feel like he's still underrated
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in this league as much as he's done. So Vancouver are definitely going to be one of the tougher teams
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to kind of go through in the Western Conference. Yeah, it's going to be exciting. And I'm ready for
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it. I'll say Vancouver gets through the West and then in the East. I don't think we brought up FC
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Cincinnati. And I think they have a nice core of players that could do it. They haven't scored
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that many goals though. They've got 49 goals. And you would think because they have Denke up top that.
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Right. You know, but he's been so he was in the back, which was good to seem to get a goal.
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He's been inconsistent though, even when before the injury and then you know, you're thinking,
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okay, is it the adjustment period? But a player like Son Hongmin, there is no adjustment period.
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You know, so you're trying to what happened to that adjustment period. So again, we always know
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it's how teams arrive into the playoffs, the form. And if we're talking about form,
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no one's going to want to step on the field of LFC. Well, how about Inter Miami just really quickly,
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because apparently, Jordi Alba just announced that he is going to retire at the end of the season
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as well. So they're already putting out a kind of like a narrative. Hey, let's win it for Sergio
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Bousquatch who announced that he's going to retire at the end of the season. And now they can
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double down and say, Jordi Alba as well. So there could be some real positive emotional energy to
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make sure those guys finish their careers as champions. But I don't know if that's going to fix their
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defense. I just can't play every spot. You're doing it every morning. He just announced it this
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morning. Apparently, he just announced on a social media account that he's retiring. Okay,
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that's a big game. And they're going to go for it now. Like, I mean, they are going to go for it.
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Yeah. I mean, you got to motivate and messy on top of that. You got two players who are trying to
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do everything they can to go out with the trophy. That just makes Inter Miami that much more dangerous,
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especially given the fact that the supporters shield kind of slipped through their hands at the end.
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But they feel like they've learned a lot from last season, putting everything into the league and
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you know, setting the all-time record for regular season points and then stuttering out and
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sputtering out in the playoffs. They know this is the trophy. So I think that's what makes them a
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little bit more dangerous than last year is the fact that they've saved up a little extra energy
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knowing that this is the real trophy thereafter. Yeah. Well, it's going to be fun. And then I feel
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like we've been sleeping on San Diego FC all season. And they should be in the conversation because
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they've done a hell of a job getting 60 points leading the Western Conference as it stands right now.
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Vancouver have a couple games or have a game in hand. They're also tied on 60 points. So yeah,
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Mikey Varys got a salute. The performances he's been able to do consistently throughout the
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the year, the rotations, the tactics that they play. They played beautiful. And they got some
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players that can make play as man, especially at home. They driers. Excellent. They've really done
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good. He's not going to be playing candidate for sure. Yeah, I think I think Messi may have just
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passed him in the last week. I would have said I would have said Bwanga too. Bwanga. Yeah, I think
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Messi's going to win it for a second time in a row and be the first one ever to do it. But
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yes, there's an MVP candidate man in this week. Yeah, 100%. His goal contributions have been
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ridiculous. All right, lad, one last thing before we let everybody go. There's some big champions
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like action happening today across our networks. It's the women's champions league. We got
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Juventus taking on Benfica, Paris FC taking on Oluven, Barcelona, Bayern Munich. Obviously,
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a bunch of women's national team players. You have Emily Fox on Arsenal. Jenna Naiswanger is on
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Arsenal as well, but she's kind of been on the outs. So that's been a point of contention.
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Ian Wright actually has come out and said, what's the deal? You got to make sure she's playing.
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And then Leon, you have Lindsay Heaps. You got Lili Johannes, who's joined from IACS.
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You have a carbon Albert who recently got married. And so she has a different last name.
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And I can't think of what it is at the moment, but you have a lot of American players who
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can be playing in this one. So if you're going to make any time for the women's champions league
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this week, check out Arsenal versus Leon. And that game will be on the CBS Sports Network. And
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across all of our networks, you can find all these games, specifically the loss of network as well.
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All right, that's it. So I want to give a love. Give some love to the women's champions league.
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And what a show. Thank you guys as always for having some good discussions.
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And for everybody having patients with Chuck, he named a lot of teams there in the MLS playoffs.
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Who is going to win there?
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This is all the air out in the last segment talking about all the teams. He thinks he's
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going to win MLS. He named almost all of them. And that's it. We'll see you guys on Thursday.
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Thanks for having me, guys. Thanks for hanging out with us.
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Thanks for joining, Tom. Thanks for joining us from prison. Apparently,
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somebody said they looked like you were joining from prison.
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Get him an oxygen tank. Thursday will have our regular show. Friday we're going to have our watch
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along US versus Ecuador. So make sure you keep it here and turn on notifications here on the
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Glosso America YouTube channel. Right? See you soon. Later.