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Hello Sunshine, I'm Alexi Lollison, welcome to the State of the Union show. This is where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue colored glasses. This live show will be talking, well, US versus Peru, instant reaction. Not Man City Cheaters, Potsch's Summer Regrets, Kane's NFL Dream, Nations League, Unabomber, and so much more. So, let's light this can. First, joining me as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding lights, David Mossie, G. Sockers, Savant, and a Fox Socker Researcher and Writer, extraordinary! Mossie, how are you doing on this Saturday, baby? Saturday, September 26th, in the year 2026. I'm doing well. Another cycle is often running for the US men's national team. Yes, we are, well, into this extended window here. Four games for the US, and we are coming off of, I mean, just seconds ago, the whistle was blown, a US victory, a United States versus Peru. We are going to delve into that. Thank you for joining us. Thanks to everybody that is joining us here, especially those of you that are joining us live. It'll be in your feed, too. So if you're coming to it late, that's okay, too. But live, instant reaction. This is raw, visceral type of stuff after a win. Four to one win from the US first game after this summer's World Cup from Mauricio Pochettino We did effort, John Strong. He was unavailable, and Stu Holden was a late scratch. So it's you and me, honey, bunch. Okay, baby. No problem. This is what the people want. We'll give the people what they want. All right, where should we start when it comes to this game? Lots of good stuff to talk about. We don't want to go overboard, but I think in general, some good stuff, individually and collected. So the US with a four-one win over Peru in Orlando, the starting lineup, Matt Freese Ingoal, Alex Freeman and Peyton Miller were the fullbacks. George Campbell and Austin Trusting in the center of the fence. You had Tyler Adams and Yunus Musa sitting. Georena is the 10. Malik Toman on the left. Kevin Sullivan on the right. And Justin Ellis up top of four, two, three, one. Kevin Sullivan becoming the youngest US player since Fredia doing 2006. Well, we knew coming in that the story of this, well, not just this game, but this camp was going to be and is the youth and the inexperience. And I think that there's a real desire out there for people to see this new generation in action. And Risa Puccettino, I mean, he gave us, and then the people, what they want by starting Kevin Sullivan. Now, it was a balance. It was a mix of experience and youth out there starting just in Ellis up top. We talked about him last week, the Orlando City player starting him up top. Like we said, Kevin Sullivan, the return of Yunus Musa. In general, today, Mossy, I'll probably say this a couple of times as we get through the show here. What I am excited about and what I am happy about is that when it comes to the young inexperienced players that we saw, and by the end of the game, we saw almost all of them. None of them looked out of place. That is a good thing. They didn't look odd or awestruck by the emotion, and many of them contributed. And if you didn't know, in many cases, that they were, in many cases, teenagers, obviously very, very experienced, many of them for their first cap ever, I'm not sure that you could have pointed that out. So that bodes well for the future. I will say this. In general, today, what I liked was the attack, and obviously the score. We've talked before about how important or unimportant the score is. Yes, winning is good. And I'm glad that the US won, and then the way that they won it, and then the way that they, and the way that they attacked. I was much, I'm much happier with the attacking element of this 11. I'm not convinced when it comes to the defending. I agree. The US was on the front foot for most of the match. But the few times that Peru pushed forward, they did find some joy. There were some holes in that US backline. Obviously, George Campbell had a bad giveaway that then resulted in the Peru go by La Padula across that US let drop into the middle of the box. So that's a concern. But yeah, going forward, I thought the US played very well. It was interesting with the lineup. The engine room had some experience with Tyler and Moosa and Geo and even Tillman. So those guys sort of controlled the game. And Brian Dunstuth pointed this out on the telecast. None of those three behind Justin Ellis are wingers. They're really number 10s in Kevin and Geo and Tillman. Tillman started on the left, but he was drifting into the middle. And Kevin was drifting into the middle from the right. So you sort of had three number 10s there. So you were relying on the full backs. Alex Freeman and Peyton Miller to bomb for it and provide that with. So it was interesting the way Puchotino set up the team. All right, I thought that Geo Rayna and Tyler Adams were great. But that's who they are. They are very, very good players. I thought that Eunice Moosa was nice to see him back early on. We did U and all when that classic, if you will, Eunice Moosa breaking the lines, making a wonderful turn, even in the midst of other players and under pressure. I've missed that. So I'm glad that he's back in the fold. If that's what he's going to continue to give. And it looks like he hasn't lost to that. And to Mauricio Puchotino's credit, he has opened that door once again for him. Looking, Justin Ellis, as I mentioned, you get in there and you score a goal right off the bat. And while this team has turned a new page, there is still some old school when it comes to the set pieces. Wonderful ball in from Geo Rayna. You know, into a dangerous area. And Justin Ellis does a nice little flick and you're off to the races. His first cap, his first goal. Kevin Sullivan, although he didn't get on the score sheet, I liked his activity. I liked, especially when he was one on one, but didn't look afraid to get involved. That was good. Leaked home, and like you said, had another very, very good game, put, apparently, later on. The back line was interesting. I'm not having Campbell and trustee. I think they are what they are, but I don't think it's an improvement. And in many cases, I think you could argue that it's a regression. But, and I know it's not necessarily fair in a game where you have so much possession and you have a abundance of opportunities. Yeah, you mentioned, you know, the goal. And it certainly could have been dealt with better. Alex Freeman was, wasn't, you know, a great game for him, but it wasn't a bad game for him. Peyton Miller was interesting because I think what we saw here is that he's really, really good at getting forward. And I got a lot of time for him. I'm very excited about what he is going to be. I'm not sure that he is the defender that that we want him to be or that he can be. So I don't know, maybe he would have been better. This was kind of a back four. Maybe he's better in a kind of a back five situation. We did see Jedi Jedi come in. And then Matt Freese, we know who Matt Freese is. Even on the goal, he kind of want to say, come on, Matt Freese, come on. More command of the box. Just clean house. You know, I mean, that ball was in the air for a long time. Still finished, finished well. So that's the starting 11, the way I see it. But I think it applies also when the substitutions came in in that the best part is that nobody looked out of place. Nobody looked odd by the situation. One last comment on the starting line. But you gave us your projected 11 in the last show. And you put Sergenia desk at right back. I was reading the comments. A lot of people disagreed. They thought it would be Freeman. And I'm starting to wonder if Pogetino views deskt as a winger. And Freeman is going to be the starting right back in the cycle. And it was Frankie Westfield that came on for him in the second half. So deskt's role moving forward is going to be interesting to me. Yeah. I mean, well, it's a champagne problem to have deskt if you're going to push him up the line. Because you can certainly play in that right back position. I'm just saying, Alex Freeman is still raw. As great of a summer as he had and the glow up that he has had, there's still a rawness to the game. And yeah, that may change and may change very, very quickly. If and when he's getting more playing time and doing those things. And he still has room to grow. Now Pogetino made 10 subs over the course of the second half. So I think it's easier if I just say the lineup that finished the game. Diego Cochin came on from Matt Freese at the start of the second half. And then Frankie Westfield came on for Freeman at right back. Jedi Robinson left back. Neil Pierre came on for George Campbell. So Austin Trusted was the only starter that finished the game. And in the midfield, he had Audrey Mehmet, he Brooklyn Reigns and Sebastian Burhalter. And then Xavier Gozo and Mattis Albert on the wings. I know they were calling him Mattis Albert. I'm only willing to go French on one of those. If you're playing for America, we got to anglify at least your first or your last name. And then Julian Hall up front. You're David Moss, right? If you say it into that microphone, America, Nate, the world hears it. And that's what it is, my friend. So if we're going with Albert, let's go with Albert, all right? In any event, that was the lineup that finished the game. And a lot of standout performances there. Mattis Albert earned the penalty. The foul might have been outside the box, but the referee gave a penalty. Malik Tillman converts. By the way, I'm not sure in a friendly. I need Sebastian Burhalter to grab the ball and do that little flight of hand deal. And then three subs combined on the third goal. What a ball from Anthony Robinson to Burhalter, who then puts in a lovely cross. Julian Hall gets on the end of it. And then the last goal was Jedi Robinson to Burhalter and what a neat finish there. So yeah, I thought that the subs, there were some really impressive performances there. Yeah, I think Marisa Pochettino recognized that this was a game where he could make those, they were allowed 11 subs if they wanted to make 11 subs. And with all of this talent and this opportunity in this particular game, I think he'd recognize very quickly. Listen, let's just get these guys and get them on the field. The agriculture didn't have much to do. If anything to do, but it was at least nice to see him on the field. Again, we know who Matt Freese is. I still think it's wide open when it comes to goalkeeping. I enjoyed almost the joy in which he was obvious when he came on the field. Yeah, Mattis Albert. Yeah, if this was a VAR game, maybe this is a different type of score line and that penalty isn't called or it's called the back, but you know, it's what you, I don't know of you, but other people out there want. This is the true organic old school form game without VAR. What ends up happening is you get calls wrong and we show them on television. Julian Hall coming in, I know a lot of people were excited to see him, by the way, you can't talk about Julian Hall without Burr Halter. Burr Halter was wonderful and just his personality, but it's not just about personality, it's about execution when he gets on the field. You mentioned that incredible ball, cross field ball from Jedi off of a corner. So then Burr Halter gets it and just whips a beautiful cross into that back post. And I love the fact that it went off of Hall's knee. They don't ask how they all count the same and that's a poacher and a goal scorers type of finish there. So that was wonderful. And then Burr Halter followed up with a goal of his own from way downtown, downtown Orlando. So that was good. Anthony Robinson, we know who he is, didn't see much of Westfield when he came in or reigns for that matter. Wonderful to see Neil Pierre come in. I think my concerns when it comes to that center back position or those multiple center back positions going forward, we know Chris Richards is going to be there, but who is the other one? Good to see Neil Pierre, but we're not going to be able to judge the defense really truthfully until they are up against better competition. Who knows, maybe that's later this window when they get up against, I don't know, a Mexico or something, something like that. And then Mehmeti, who a lot of people were excited about, but the game had fundamentally changed when those guys come in. So it's not always fair to judge those players that are coming in in that moment. What note on Peru, they are coached by Brazilian Monument Esses, who previously coached Brazil from 2010 to 2012. I attended his first match as Brazil coach. It was a friendly against the United States in August of 2010 at MetLife Stadium. Neymar made his international debut that day and scored. Brazil won 2-0 on goals by Pato and Neymar. Oh, look at you. It always comes back to you. Yeah, goodness. Well, I mean, it would notice how long if he keeps up with these results, how long he's going to be there. What do you want to talk about now when it comes to this game? So next up for the US on Tuesday will be Chilean St. Louis. Who are some of the players that maybe didn't start today, didn't get on the field as much as you would have liked to have seen that you're really hoping to see more, right? I would assume Audrey Mehmeti would be one of them. Mehmeti, well, I mean, Hall obviously got on the field and scored. But again, especially when it comes to, we know that Balagan and Opepe are out there. But even when we talk about Balagan and Opepe, again, sometimes it's unfair in a substitution type of role when the game is already different and changed to come in. So I would like to see at some point the halls and the gozoes and these types of players. And I think there will be a rotation for this next game and then maybe almost a tryout for the first two games and then the Mexico and the Canada game, much more of a, all right, this is starting to be our best 11 in the moment. I'm not saying that Pochettino is going to use plenty of subs, he is right now. But if you're Pochettino right now and you're sitting in the locker room after this game, you're saying, this win as well as it possibly could. Not perfect and plenty of things to work on, but this is kind of fulfilling what he has been talking about. And as I said before, what a lot of people are expecting, which is a closing of the summer chapter, not throwing them baby out with the bath water, but a recognition that he wants to do some things differently and he wants to inject, not just a little bit, but inject fully this team with youth. And at this point in experience and so far, proof of concept, they've come good. With the exception of map free starting, that was a little disappointing. I hope it's the only game in this window he starts. I want to see the other goalkeepers in camp get minutes. That's a position that I think needs to be viewed as wide open right now. Yeah, and I think that it is, but again, it's so hard because a goalkeeper in that position, yes, he led in a goal, but there's so few opportunities that the opposition has, you know, the possession was massively in favor of the US, the chances were the most in favor in the US. So it's hard to gauge what that goalkeeper is, especially, you know, we talked about it before in that we haven't had a goalkeeper that has saved us in a long time and that we've been confident if everything goes, you know, to crap that someone's going to find a way to stand on the head. And until you get into a situation like that, it's hard to judge if you've found that person. Go listen to our interview with the Sasha question. I thought you did a really good job of breaking down. The need for a goalkeeper, not just to save the ball, but kind of have a larger than life type of personality and we just haven't had that in a long time. So that's why it is wide open. Now, Flo Balagan not in this camp, but his red card, Misha Ghaz at the World Cup continues to reverberate. Mauricio Pochettino had some interesting comments. I know you wanted to discuss. Well, I mean, this continues on as Mauricio Pochettino now into his second cycle, if you will, but his second fight at the US men's national team in Apple. He continues to talk about what happened over the summer. And I think rightfully, he is incredibly proud of much that happened, certainly not that last game. But, you know, the story with Balagan and how it all played out. It was interesting to hear him talk about that, especially when you compare a contrast with how someone like Tyler Adams talked about it where he was adamant that this team was incredibly happy at the news that Balagan, by the way, arguably our best player and certainly our best goal scoring player was going to be available because they didn't think he was going to be unveiled. But in hearing Mauricio Pochettino talk about it, you know, and again, we have to be so careful because there is stuff that's lost in translation. And I think over the last couple of years, we have given Mauricio Pochettino some grace when it comes to the language barrier out there. But talking about that he was disappointed and he regrets not being more involved in what happened over the summer. And again, this is not a knock on Mauricio Pochettino. I had mentioned this a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about the national team, in that, you know, these epiphanies that he is having, it happened on our watch. It happened on a homeworld cup watch when we were paying him a tremendous amount of money. And for him to have to go through that learning process, it just, it's strange to me that that happened in this particular moment, the most important moment, arguably in American soccer history and that you had somebody that was on the fly learning these types of lessons. And again, it doesn't mean that Mauricio Pochettino or any great coach for that matter can't continue to learn. But I thought the whole point was this is vital, this summer, it's terms of 2026. And we come to find out that he would have done so many things differently and that he regrets that he wasn't more involved. That to me is a little disappointing. Now, he's changing things, okay, fine. But why are we changing them now? Why didn't they change in the moment? Were you not able to do it? Did you not have the experience to be able to recognize that things needed to be different? And if that's the case, again, it's not on Mauricio Pochettino. It's on those that hired him. So, and I don't think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill when I talk about this stuff, but it is interesting, again, to hear Mauricio Pochettino talk about these big mistakes that were made. And I can't help thinking if you had had somebody else who maybe did have more international experience with those same mistakes have been made. And I think that that's a fair question to ask. And in doing so, it doesn't mean that I don't support Mauricio Pochettino going forward or even the changes that he is seemingly going to make. I'll be interested to see what that new org chart, even if it's just in his mind looks like and what some of what being more involved now entails. I hope ultimately it's a positive and I hope that those mistakes are made again. It's just a pity that in the most important moment in American soccer history, he had to learn those mistakes from those mistakes in that moment. What's now my friend? I'm still to come in this window, Chile, Mexico and Canada. Canada and Chile are about to square off in Toronto. And later tonight in Baltimore, Mexico will face Colombia. It's going to be fascinating coming November window when the U.S. plays their first competitive matches of this cycle in the Konka Cup Nations League quarterfinals. What that squad looks like because Presumbe you would have guys like Policic, McKenny, Bologna back, how many of these youngsters stay. What does that starting lineup look like in those games? We'll see obviously how these youngsters perform over the course of next three matches. We'll probably have a better idea coming out of this window which guys are going to stick. Yeah, and it's important. And I think you mentioned this last show about how Europe doesn't miss a beat. They go right into incredibly competitive games, which is why you see all of their top rosters and all of their top players. It's also since we don't have that. And not only do we not have that, and I'm talking about the United States men's national team, not only do we not have it, but it's specific to the U.S. as we wait for those competitive games that are coming. So other teams, even in our region, have competitive games where they can't afford to test things. But this window is an opportunity for Museo Pochettino to do exactly what we saw today. But when you're comparing and contrasting with what's happening around the world, it's because the U.S. has four games, and it's not that they don't mean anything, but they are not competitive, they are not qualifying us for doing anything. The Conca Calf Nation's League is up and running. We had some interesting games in this window, Jamaican, Suriname Victorious. Did you see Costa Rica, Curacao, and Suprisa? Remember Costa Rica not at this last World Cup, Curacao was, Costa Rica had a three-no lead, Curacao came storming back with four and answered to take it four-three. Is it at strange mercy that at the moment, when Conca Calf, which we know has been dominated in terms of qualifying for World Cups, obviously by the United States and Mexico, you throw Canada in there, and then over the years you're talking about your Costa Rica's, Jamaica's, and these types of teams and teams that have come up and down. But a lot of the Caribbean teams and a lot of the lesser teams in this moment when it was their opportunity, they stepped up. And in a moment where many of these traditional teams that have qualified in the past for World Cups, that aren't the United States, Canada, and Mexico, they you know what the bed, and yet they keep doing that. So there is kind of a changing of the guard maybe that is happening when it comes to the Conca Calf hierarchy going forward, not at the top, but certainly when it comes to that second level. And if you're Costa Rica's, and if you're Honduras's, and if you're El Salvador's, and even your Jamaica's out there, if they don't get their house in order, other people are going to pass them by and people we don't traditionally associate with doing well, especially when it comes to these one-on-ones that we have with teams out there. So I'm here for it. The more competition, the better off. Again, there's 41 members in Conca Calf, and there is, over the years, traditionally been an incredible disparity between the top and the bottom, and there still is. But the more the merrier and the more competition and the more, quote unquote, upsets out there, the better off it is for Conca Calf. In the UEFA nation's league, we covered this game on FS1 on Thursday, Norway with a 3-2 victory over Denmark in Oslo, Arlen Holland scored twice, Oscar Bob got the other Norway goal, make that 64 goals in 56 international appearances for Arlen Holland. The big theme was, what could Norway do as an encore after their incredible World Cup? There was so much excitement in Oslo, and they pick up a victory over their neighbors. And they do it, you know, through this massive star. I was talking to someone the other day, and it is still, and we have talked about it on state before, but it is amazing what Arlen Holland became. And how many people, obviously us in soccer, we knew who he was, and it was a massive star, and yet his brand, if you will, just completely blew up this summer. And yet he understands his responsibility on the field for club and country for that matter. And with or without hair, he constantly provides the people what they want, because now as more and more people are tuning in specifically because of him, you sit there with your arms crossed, and you say, all right, do what you do, provide that magic. And that's what the definition of a star is, and you need no further than someone like Messi, who everybody comes and says, all right, I've heard so much about you. Let's see what you do. And then he continually provides, which is what Arlen Holland for the most part is done too. It was interesting reading the stories and the lead up to this game, how Denmark is coping with the fact that they used to be the big brother in this rivalry, and now Norway is clearly better than them. Now, next up for Norway, they host Portugal, that's Holland against Ronaldo, Ronaldo started for Portugal, and they went over Wales, you won't Felix with the only goal, interestingly enough, Holland was going to do the press conference ahead of that match, and Norway decided to swap them out for another player. Why, because of the Man City story breaking, they thought he was going to get bombarded with questions about that. They saw Rodri's press conference in the lead up to the England Spain match, and apparently there were loads of questions about it, so they didn't want Holland to be subjected to the same. Give us a quick primer when it comes to what has happened to your Messi. Yes, so Man City had been charged with 115 financial fair play violations, the case took years to be litigated, but the primary league of apparently found them guilty on 114 of those 115 charges. I want to know which is the one that they run. All right, we'll let you go on that one. I mean, look, this is a story that's not going away. I think it's fascinating about what it says about, obviously, Man City and the ownership, but also what it says about the Premier League, and what it says about England, because there is a lot of, well, to borrow a phrase from another country, shot in Florida going on right now. There are a lot of people that are using this moment, I think, to get out all of their anger and angst when it comes to these noisy neighbors that moved in, and in doing so, spent a tremendous amount of money. You got to be careful, because people are talking about now, like 50 point deductions, 100 point deductions, multiple years of no transfers, or sending them down two divisions, and all this kind of stuff. Now, that has happened before, depending on how serious you think these are, but you got to be careful, because there's a lot of people, including us, and many people that are watching and listening, that oftentimes have tuned in specifically because of what Man City is, and what they have brought to the party. So you got to be careful not to kill, well, not the only Golden Goose, but at least one of the Golden Gooses, when it comes to what the Premier League is, without Man City, will the Premier League be the same? 30 years ago, 20 years ago, you might have said, yeah, whatever. But what they have become and what they represent, I think, I mean, this is gonna be fascinating. I'm just here with the popcorn, watching everybody implode and go crazy and scream and yell, and whether it's the protectionist side of Man City, and what they have done, or whether it's the other side that just wants to beat them down, and use this moment to kick out what they feel is their rival. Can we do a, if they really are guilty of all of this, wouldn't it mean that we were tuning in to something that was fraudulent, that was corrupt, and therefore, couldn't we have a class action against the entire Premier League, or at least against Man City, for what that will be tuned in? My, I know I'm being flipped here, the point is that I don't care, to be quite honest, I don't, so make me care about why this should be used when it comes to the purity test out there. I have a lot of friends who are Liverpool and Arsenal fans, they've finished second to the Manchester City and many of those seasons, so they're wondering if they're gonna get some Premier League titles thrown their way. I mean, that's fine, go ahead, take them if that's what you want. By the way, asterisks. By the way, I refer to Norway and Denmark as neighbors, they actually don't share a border. All those Scandinavian countries are close to each other, but that's probably not the absence. The neighbors aren't necessarily the houses next to you. Your neighbors are in your neighborhood. That's true, okay. Elsewhere in the UEFA nations league, the Netherlands hosted Germany, interesting coaching matchup, Shavi and Jürgen Klopp making their respective debuts. Germany scored first with Nymetje, but then Cody Gackbo and second half stoppage time equalized, ironically enough, a Liverpool player denying Klopp winning debut. There was also some great scenes of Klopp hugging Virgil Van Dyke before the match. Klopp is still the coach though, right? The manager, right? Nobody pressed his challenge to him. Therefore, he hasn't quit yet, right? Yes, okay. Well, that's good. I'm glad that he's still around. Any other scores you want to talk about? France with a 1-0 away victory over Turkey, Mbappe scored, but got hurt. Lots of concern in Madrid. The latest I saw is that it's not too bad, only going to be out a couple of weeks. They have an eye on the first Classico, which is about a month from now against Barcelona. It sounds like the initial test he could be back for that. Again, it is that age-old conversation. I know it drives the clubs crazy when a player gets injured on an international duty. Yeah, it's going to drive the clubs crazy. I will say, who was I talking to? Well, I was in Miami for Soccer X, one of the big conventions down there. So there were a lot of different people. I can't remember who I was talking to, but the general thought was that for international coaches, this is awesome. This is obviously much more time than they've ever had. More games than they normally is. The expanded window. The expanded window. But for clubs, in general, clubs always scream and yell about the international one. That's even longer and with more games, they're worried because it's that much more chance that their assets are going to be hurt. This was Xenadine Zedans. They'd be on the French bench. You know, John Strong made a good point the other day. All these guys that were club coaches for so long, your pochotinos and tucos and enchilotes, it's interesting to see them on the other side of these club country debates after spending all those years whining about the players going away at international duty. Now they want to have them for that time. So yeah, it's funny how the dynamic flips. That's the way that it goes. But which one now, too? And then a great game today, England, Spain, at Wembley, La Minima, early, and then Gordon and Cain turned it around for England who led to one. Cain then misses a penalty that could have made it 3-1 and the World Champs come storming back by Anna 2-2. Oh, yeah, it's about 3-2, Spain take it. Yeah, it looked like what we kind of would have wanted for a type of final, this back and forth with these two incredible teams, wonderful, wonderful talent. England also gave them some gifts when it comes to Spain, especially early on. But I mean, the class of Spain, not to panic and the back and forth. Cain, I'm going to talk about here a little later on in the show and his ability or his aspirations when it comes to what he does. But just, yeah, England losing in home isn't great, but they lost against a really, really good team. And ultimately, especially from a neutral perspective, it was just a fun game to watch. By the way, my phone is blowing up. Michigan has apparently lost to Iowa, so not a good day for me on the mission. You came in and you told me, don't let's not talk about it. I want to watch it when I get home. I was recording the game, but I knew that was impossible. I have so many friends that texted me during the day. I wasn't going to put out a message to all of them to leave me alone. So is that a, is that mean they're, they're never going to be on the playoffs or that this is just one? This is a very damaging loss. Well, we're officially three and one, one could argue we're really two and two if that whole last second Michigan guys against Michigan. I didn't want to bring it up with. But getting back on the soccer tip, another one of my teams that's not doing too well these days, Brazil, we played our first match of this cycle. A one-one draw away to Australia, Idan Kunda with a lovely free kick to give Australia the lead. And then Hayah, who came on as a sub, heads in an equalizer late off a Rafinha corner. You might recall listeners of this pod that early in the last cycle, I predicted doom and gloom for Brazil. I didn't like the outlook. I thought Brazil was heading into some rough times. You fought me on that a little bit because it's hard to imagine Brazil ever being that bad. It ended up being proven right. It was a complete doom and gloom. Fifth out of 10 teams in South American qualifying out in the quarter finals of the Copa American out in the round of 16 the World Cup, earliest exit in 36 years. It's being talked up as possibly the worst cycle in Brazil history. I'm not going to go there yet. Let them play a few games here, but not a great start to this cycle. And they're going to play Australia again? Is that what's happening? Yes, very weird this window. Australia again in an India playing three games in this window. Oh my goodness. I think Brazil as a national team is kind of over the past 25 years or whatever, kind of led the way when it comes to the marketing and the branding of a national. Especially when it comes to the international and the global aspect of it. But they do chase some money and do some interesting things when it comes to their opponents. But all right, well, let's see if they can get past Australia in the second game. Anything else you want to hit here? That takes us to Azkalex. It's time for Azkalexie for those that have watched, or listened over the years. You'll know that this is where you send in your comments, questions and concerns. Keep in mind that our handle out there on the old social media platforms is SOTU with Alexa. You can use that hashtag Azkalexie if you want on all the different platforms out there. Or you can call into our state of the union podcast Hotline, which is 657-549-2297. That's 657-549-2297. Mossy, what are the folks want to know today? And I know we're doing a live show here, so who knows? They might be sending stuff in as we speak. Our good friend at James underscore handle on X. No US men's national team player has ever been nominated for the ball on door. Even Landon Donovan was never nominated. Who will be the first? Where does the problem lie? Well, I don't know if it's necessarily a problem. I think it's just a reality. And keep in mind, and please correct me and fact check me here if I'm wrong, Mossy. The award started where you had to be a European. Then it came, you had to be playing in a European team. And then it became just anybody. But correct, that was the evolution. But for the most part, except I think Messi a couple of years ago was the only one. And that was even that one, you know, was like a when he showed up in MLS. The first non-European player to win it was the father of a current US player, George Wayne, 1995. Yeah, but the first player not playing in Europe was Messi a couple of years ago. Technically he was in MLS at the time. And it was a technical thing. But the reality is that players are going to come to Europe. So that's the first step, all right, from American players playing in Europe. Now we have a lot of players that have played in Europe. And the second step is playing at a place in Europe where you're going to get the recognition and the cache. And the third is making that incredibly difficult transition of being valued and having credibility by ultimately the people that are making the decisions over there. And the reality is that nobody, I mean, the closest anybody would have gotten would have been maybe a Christian policy at his height. So is it a problem? I don't think it's a problem. I just think that it's the challenge. And it is what we have to strive to be. And we're talking today about all these young players. In that, there is a promise and a belief in the future. And I think it's justified right now. But hopefully, I'm still around when I'm able to look out and see a player who says, you know what? I am as good as anybody in the world. Now, I can see that maybe, and I can say that. But ultimately, the people in Europe have to believe that that's the case too. And we're just, we just have not been there. I believe that at some point, we will. And by the way, we're talking about this from a men's perspective. I believe that at some point, we will. Back in the day, we would have put our chips in on goalkeepers because of how good and how plentiful and how impactful those goalkeepers are. But who knows? Maybe we saw some players today playing in the game for the US men's nationality the first time that can break that ceiling, if you will. I remain positive and confident that at some point that that will happen. Hopefully it happens in my lifetime. What else we got, Mossy? Next up, at the Miller's 8555, Frito Keller, Howard, Guzan, can turn her get back there? Don't think freezes that guy. We need a goalkeeper. Yeah, I mean, I think the Miller's are saying exactly what you said. Matt Turner not being here. That's probably not a good thing for his future, given the fact that they took four goalkeepers. I don't know if Puccettino reached out. I'm not saying he should or shouldn't have done something like that. You can deal with the dynamic the way that he wants. But Matt Turner hasn't been a game changer for the US in a long time. And I don't think that that's changing anytime soon. And he had that difficulty when he went overseas. And when you're mentioning the likes of Keller and Howard and even Guzan and obviously Frito, and even if you go back to Tony Miola, yeah, nobody has even come close to getting on that level of not just saving the ball, but bringing that personality that makes you say, you know what, that position is sorted. We don't have to worry about that. I'm skipping the man's city. One, hopefully that message was heard in the control room because we already touched on that earlier. So the next one is going to be at Mike D6523. Policic is not the future. Keep him out, even though he is back with Milan. I mean, look, this is easy to say as we are, you know, head in the clouds and kind of breathing in this wonderful, rarefied air or at least new air of young talent that we have. And you got to be really careful. And to Marisa Pochettino's credit, I think he recognizes this. I don't think this isn't epiphany that he's having or that he needs to learn this lesson in that you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. And while it may be tempting for a coach or a fan base for that matter, or for all of us to say, you know what, out, you know, the chapters over, we're starting new and we're all going to start from scratch. Now, you don't want to do that. Yes, you have four years. Yes, you have more opportunities than you had this past cycle if you're Marisa Pochettino because you're going to have four years as opposed to the two years and you're going to go through a qualifying process. But you just got to be careful. Prision Policic, yeah, he's still part of this team. Now, his role and his impact may be different going forward. And Marisa Pochettino and Policic for that matter are going to have to navigate that as he gets integrated back into the team and he's going to get integrated back into the team. And don't let this window fool you. Yes, take heart and be excited. I'm already excited when only one game in. But if it continues like this, yeah, this is good stuff, but it doesn't mean that there aren't other players that aren't involved in this window that can't help and not just help, but can be better than what we have here. And so that's the integration that is going to ultimately have to happen and whatever that final version of this US team looks like, it can take this wonderful new blood that we have and mix it with some of that old blood. And I think Prision Policic is as much part of that old blood as anybody out there and rightfully so. For those of you watching us, you can see reaction pouring in. One guy said, Policic should be a super sub. Another guy said, he's still the US's best player, period. Yeah, I don't think he's at that point where he is a super sub. What would concern, what would concern me is, what is Mauricio Pochettino going to do to motivate Christian Policic? Look, Christian Policic has reached these heights. And as I've said time and time again, I think he is still going to, when all is said and done, be looked at as the best male American soccer player in history for what he has done. But when Christian Policic comes back, what is your motivation? Oh, look, that's what Mauricio Pochettino is being paid to do is to find a way to use Christian Policic to get the best out of him. And the interesting thing is maybe the motivation is that you know what, Christian, for everything that you've done and it's so much and it's so wonderful, but for everything you've done, I still don't think we've seen the best of you. And maybe that's the prodding that he needs to provide that version of Christian Policic that we've all kind of had, but I think everybody would agree and maybe even Christian Policic, at least in the middle of the night when we are at our most honest saying, yeah, we haven't seen that. But I'm still, I still have faith that there is something there and I'm not ready to throw that baby out with the best. We mentioned earlier that Harry Kane missed a penalty in England's loss to Spain. And I know Mr. Kane is the subject of your one for the road today. Yeah, you know, Harry Kane, like a lot of actually a players, you look at Griezmann and these types of players, Harry Kane has long talked about his love and his romance with America, with American culture and certainly when it comes to the NFL and American football. And this week more talk about Harry Kane and even his maybe wild fantasies and dreams of potentially kicking someday when it comes to American football and obviously the NFL. I don't know ultimately how serious he is, but he is certainly not the first when it comes to soccer players looking at American football and obviously the kicking aspect of it and saying, hey, I kick a ball for a living, I'd probably be good at that. And you look at, well, in current day, you're looking at, you know, Brandon Aubrey for the Dallas, what are they called? The Cowboys, right? Or you look back in the day, a Matt Bar who came from soccer and was an incredible kicker. Want a Super Bowl if I'm not mistaken. Tony Miola who tried out and had a little flirt with the jets, I think, when it comes to NFL. Devon Barkley with Ohio State. So this is nothing new. But I think all of those that I mentioned there and every soccer player that has ever flirted with this idea when they finally get to the reality and we just saw some footage there of Harry Kane kicking a ball. So he has done it and he recognizes it. Oftentimes, and I think Harry Kane will talk about the pressure of taking a penalty kick for that matter and comparing contrasting that moment. By the way, Harry Kane missed a penalty today. I think it would be very, very difficult here for it if that's something that he wants to do. But, you know, even back in the day when I thought about this and I went out and kicked, you very, very quickly realize that it is a very, very different practice than what you do on the soccer field. And it requires very different type of timing and even requires a very different type of trajectory than a soccer ball. Now soccer has, as I mentioned from a player perspective, been a part of American football history. Even the way that the ball is kicked in the soccer style and for those that know their history, back in the day they used to kick it straightforward and off the toe and then the actual soccer style, they recognized that they had more aim, you had more control, you had more power. But the act of kicking a field goal or the act of kicking a point after or even the act of punting for that matter, it's very, very different in terms of the limited space that you have, the power that you have to generate and not for nothing, but you got a bunch of 200, 300 pound guys at times that are six foot and more trying to kill you and jumping that you have to get up and over. So all of that is to say is if Harry Kane is to come here at some point and play in the United States, I would assume it would be for Major League Soccer. I'm here for that. If kicking in the NFL is something that he wants to make as a potential dual job, I'm here for that. Or if he just wants to come over here and try the kicking part and not even do the soccer part, I'll watch too, just to see ultimately what it looks like. And he is obviously a smart person, he is a smart player. I'm not sure that he has what it takes to be able to do that kind of stuff, but it's fun to see. I'm just saying that there's plenty of people out there nodding their heads right now saying, yeah, it's a very, very different action. And a lot of soccer players have sat back and looked at it and said, yeah, I could do that. And I'll raise my hand at times I was one of them. And then you get out there and the reality comes, becomes very, very apparent of what it is and what it isn't relative to soccer. And maybe you start thinking twice about it. Tomorrow, the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys will square off at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, a lot of excitement in Brazil for that. They love the NFL. So that's going to be interesting. Oh my, a hallowed venue hosted the 2014 World Cup final between Germany and Argentina, Mario Gutsa. Also 1950, the quote unquote final, it was a funky format. So everybody talks about that Brazil Uruguay match as if it was a final technically wasn't, but nevertheless, one of the great venues in soccer will now host an NFL game. Well, you look at it, it's, you know, it's funny. It's a little bit of a world's colliding. There's been this issue with the pitch at the Maracana, the clubs that play there in Brazil have been complaining about it. Mike Francesca, whose podcast I listen to every week, he's very anti these international NFL games and he went on a rant about how greedy the NFL is by holding this game in Brazil and he talked about how, and there's even concerns with the pitch. I know the soccer clubs down there have been complaining about it. I did not think I'd ever hear Mike Francesca reference Flamenco and Fluminense complaining about the pitch at the Maracana. Now, is his concern that the globalization of, in this case, the NFL and American football is cheapening it back home and it's greedy, depriving it, all the games should be here in the United States where the fans of those two teams can more easily access it. Yeah, I mean, well, that's the argument also with all the clubs that want to have games here in the United, I mean, already have games, but I want to have actual games being played here in the United States when it comes to the soccer. But, you know, that's the, that's the final frontier. And actually, there was a lot of talk about that when it came to, when I was down in Miami, it's soccer, it's about a lot of different things. I had some really interesting panels down there, Mossy, about the business of soccer and representatives from Bundesliga and Liga Mx and Conca Caff and La Liga and Lisco's on and on and on about how they think about the continued penetration of this market and obviously monetizing and drawing out this market. And it's not easy, if you're an individual team and what your brand wants, if you're a league and how you market that brand to this, you know, this, this market that exists out there and you cut through all the clutter and all the other teams and all the other sports that are out there. So, I had a good time down there. Have you watched anything, my friend, that you want to tell the folks about? Well, one thing I do want to tell you about is my good friend, Scott Norwood, who used to live in Marina Del Rey has moved to Manhattan Beach, which is yours and Rob's Tone of the Woods. So, I'm going to be spending a lot more time down there beginning on Monday night, dinner at MB Post. Ooh, look at you. So, don't be surprised if you and I run into each other and there's a lot of these things. There's a lot of these things. There's a lot of good things. All right, cool, whoa. That's nice. Well, come on down to Manhattan Beach. We'll have a good time. All right, so nothing to watch because you're too busy, you know, hobnobbing around. I think I'm going to check out this movie prime time about Chris Hansen to catch you up. I was just wondering about it. But that's actually in the movie theaters, right? Yes. All right, for now it's in the movie theaters. One thing that's not in the movie theaters over there on Netflix, Unabomba, starring Russell Crowe, just dropped, as the kids say. I can't say that anymore. I've watched every documentary, seen every mini series about the Unabomba. I don't know how much more there is to understand about him. This tried to do something different in that it went back and forth in time where it was, well, what would be present time of the capture of the Unabomba Tedkizinski. And then it went back to his time at Harvard when he was a 16 year old at Harvard and the psychological tests that were done on him that he volunteered for and how that may have affected the way that he thought. The big problem that I have is stars Russell Crowe and a bunch of other folks, some that you recognize, some that you don't. The big problem that I had is as I'm getting going through this, there's a character mossy in this that is a female FBI agent and she is vital to finding the Unabomba and identifying him and going out and see him and then ultimately arresting him. And I thought, wow, that's interesting. I get to the end of the movie and they start to, you know, at the end of the movie, sometimes they'll show real pictures and they start to show the real pictures of what happened and the real people involved. And I'm waiting for the picture that has this woman in it and I come to find out that she's made up. She didn't actually exist in the thing, which is very strange because this wasn't billed as, you know, just a background of the Unabomba and we're just gonna, you know, take dramatic license and do some different things. So I'm not having that at all. She was an interesting character in the thing but what was interesting to me was then completely blown out of the water in that she didn't exist anymore. So she didn't exist at all in what happened. And I just thought that that was kind of strange and threw me off of the whole thing. So not two thumbs up, but, you know, it's worth the hour and a half that ultimately is. Again, called Unabomba over there on Netflix. Anything before we go, my friend? No, so next up for the US Tuesday night, they will face Chilean St. Louis. We will do a post-game pod that night. We're hoping Stu Holden will be with us. We'll see if he backs out again or if he sticks to his word. He had originally told us he'd be available for all of these and he already backed down to one. I mean, he's been all over the place. So at some point, he has to, you know, be back at work, right? By the way, today I had to do a show while a Michigan game was going on. Tuesday night, the Yankees are going to be playing the Red Sox in a wild card game. Got to suffer for your craft, my friend. Okay. All right, well listen, off to a good start when it comes to this new version of the US men's national team. We'll see if it continues on. By the way, I will next weekend be in, what is it, Phoenix? I guess it could be Glendale, Arizona for the US Mexico game. So I'll actually be on site. So I'll see what this team looks like then with my own two eyes. But as Masi said, we will continue to do the live shows and the reaction shows immediately after. So come join us, come join us on all the different social media platforms out there on all the different platforms that we have out there when it comes to the state of the union. And thank you, thank you for joining us. Thank you for downloading and reviewing and subscribing and rating and doing all the different things that you do. All right, smash those buttons, left and right up and down, subscribe, subscribe, double-fisted on the old YouTube channel over there and all the other channels all over the place. Yeah, smash those buttons out there. We will talk to you then after the next game. Who they playing Masi in the next game? Killy. Killy! I'll talk to you after the chili game. And until then, and as always, my friends, size the deck.
