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Welcome to the Total Soccer Show! This is our in-depth look at the USMNT roster for the upcoming international window. Yes, we're going in-depth on Mauritius Pochettino selections, all those young guns. Maybe we'll talk about those guys who didn't make the cut as well. We're going to get into it over the next 45 or so. My name's Ryan Bailey. Join me today. Oh, Taylor Rockwell. Fancy seeing you here. Hello. Hello, Ryan Bailey. It's lovely to see you. Are you excited to talk about another international window? Another US roster? Is it your favorite thing? I know that it is, but I want to hear you say... Yes. Yes, it is my favorite thing. Thank you for asking. Yes. Good. Oh, Christian Policic is not in Italy anymore. He's at Ryan Bailey's house threatening him to say positive things about this window. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Rolled up in his Mustang Shelby. We have conversations. Very good indeed. It's every drive. Hello. How are you? Yeah. Yeah. He had it at the... You don't mean to tell my Policic Mustang story, do you? Right now. Do you want that? I think at this question... If you want for Joe gets to speak in any elaborate way. Sure. Yes, please. Joe Lara, shut up in a second. I'm telling my Mustang story. You can't. I'm always a good star. So there were pictures of him at Chelsea with a Shelby GT Mustang, which you cannot buy in the UK, which he also had shipped over. And when I met his dad, I asked him about it. And he's like, yeah, it's with me. Because you basically can't import any cars like that to Italy. Because that's a struggle I had, not be able to get my one into Italy a few years ago. So we had Kindred spirits there. Yeah, we both love Mustang. So it's his dog... And not bringing him to Italy. His dog at one point, I'm assuming still. And his car are both in Pennsylvania. Are they still in England? Pennsylvania. Okay. Yeah. That makes worse. Oh, Florida. Wherever they... I'm not going to dox anybody here. Let's talk to Jerry Larry. Hello. How are you? You're not going to dox anybody or dox. I mean, either way, really. It can't be the direction. I'm great, man. I am thrilled with so much of this US roster. I am actually genuinely stoked to get into this. This is the core sports fan experience, right? The core US fan's national team experience, especially. Of going through the cycle of these guys can save us. Oh, no, never mind. And then you repeat it all over again. We're at the start of the cycle. Literally the 2030 cycle, but also that cycle of fandom. This is great. This is what gets me juiced, fellas. Let's go. Excellent stuff. Well, plenty to discuss. And I'm going to give you a little polite golf clap both of you for the discussion we had on the feed yesterday, naming a lot of the players who've turned up in this here roster. Yeah. Well, we'll get into it very shortly indeed. Where's the first? Before we get there. Before we do, though. Patreon.com slash total soccer show. If one loves a URL at the top of the show, particularly that one, it's where you'll get our bonus materials, bonus episodes, access to our discord, and the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the total soccer show. Patreon.com slash total soccer show. Thank you to everybody who is part of that community. Come say hi. We're talking USMNT and so much more. Okay, so Joseph Lowry, we had the big drop of the roster today on this very Thursday, as we record for these four games that are upcoming. As a reminder, we've got Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada coming up in this window. The key headlines here is that it was more than 26 players as we suspected, as we discussed on the yesterday show. 28 players called up. Kevin Sullivan made the cut. As you were, as we've outlined as well, Christine Pulasik did not. Western McKenny also not there. And former and Balagan also absent Balagan yet to serve as a monocodish year McKenny injured as well. 13 of the 28 players are new to the senior setup. 13 uncat players brought into this window. That's terrific. Four of the five forwards are new kids on the block for the senior team as well. So, Joe, you've seen quite pumped about this. What's your big picture overview of the selections here? Yeah, youth is the headline and some of the emissions that you mentioned Ryan already, of course, in that group as well. I think a lot of those can be explained quite simply and will maybe do that as as we go through this episode. In terms of the the use side of things, I thought we would see a lot of young players in this camp because there's a lot of young American players that are playing really well right now. Like, I don't remember there being a volume of young US men's national team prospects all rising up at the same time that seemed this promising. And that's why I've talked about I'm quite bullish. I don't think we've seen this much talent coming through it once since the policy McKenny Adams generation right as they were coming up at the end of 2017-2018. I even underestimated though just how many Pachina would call in and maybe he didn't call in all the ones that I would have thought but it got pretty darn close. So, I will say that much. I think I underestimated just how many he would bring in because I didn't factor in exactly how much US soccer seems to care about the Olympics. And we talked about that on a recent show, but Pachina was on his press conference earlier today. He mentioned we want to win a gold medal in 2028. Are they going to win a gold medal? Probably not, right? Do I think it's a good idea for US Soccer to prioritize another tournament at home soil? You bet I do. Like, I think it's an absolute must for US Soccer to do. I think it's brilliant. And so part of this is there is no Olympic camp this month. There is one next month under New Manager Steve Toronto. They'll suit up and play a couple games in November. But Pachina said that Toronto will be in camp with them for this window. And so now is the time for them to go and look at a lot of these young players. There are 12 U23 Olympic eligible players on this roster. There are 13 uncapped players on this roster. My suspicion is that then as a result, we'll see fewer of these young guys next time around in November. But it's still an audition time. Like, we could still see a lot of these players back with the senior team in November rather than with the U23. So the door is open. Pachina talked about that in his presser. This is a new cycle. Like, clean slate. The door is open. You just move this back in town. We're not winding about that stuff anymore. It's a young group. So these players are going to have a real chance to go and decide, hey, am I going to be able to perform at a level that means Pachina can't ignore me with the senior team? Or am I going to be more of a U23 guy? And I suspect we'll see sort of the fork in the road. And some players go one direction, some go another direction. But in the meantime, it means we get to see a pretty fun quartet of games with a lot of players vying to impress Pachino. And I suppose by extension, the U23 staff as well. Yep. I am surprised by some of the names, specifically some of the names that are not there. But I am very excited about the ones that are for all the reasons that Joe has already enumerated, including with that eye on the Olympics. And I think with a lot of these young guys, now they have a senior camp. Now they're maybe going to get senior minutes. Now they are maybe then going to that Olympics camp with just another notch, whatever it is, like another level of expertise, another level of familiarity with the US system. And so I think that can only be a positive thing. Plus, if a few of them show out well in camp or train really well or have a good cameo appearance or even get a start and look comfortable. I mean, that's certainly a positive because it adds another player into the pool. It adds a little bit more depth. And it creates just that much more competition for the next round, friendly. So I think this is a really exciting roster, even if it's one that is a little bit provocative in certain ways. My understanding of the NFL preseason is that you play well, three or four games, whatever it is. And you get more and more of the first team sort of introduced minutes wise as you go through those that preseason, right? Do we think Taylor is there going to be a similar thing here where in those first couple of games in the window, Peru and Chile, of course, the fan appreciate appreciation match and the impact match as we must call them. We're going to see more of the the uncat players get them in it's in those games and then maybe Mexico and Canada more of the experienced players will come in. I asked that because that seems logical. And also putting quite a lot of these inexperienced a lot of teenage kids up against the neighbors to the north and the south might be more of a daunting prospect. Yeah, it's a very fair point. My honest answer is I have no idea what he's going to do with these I think probably some combination is likely where we'll see youngsters given maybe cameo appearances. I feel like we'll see some get starts in those initial games. But yeah, I think like going up against Mexico and to some extent Canada like those are grudge match games. Those are games you don't want to lose. Those are games that I think if you do lose are amplified that much more even if they are friendly. And we've seen that in the past. We saw that under Greg Berhalter when the US gets beaten by Mexico pretty resoundingly. And he goes out talking about, you know, we're building like out of the back and we're learning how to possess and we're learning how to attack with the ball. That doesn't really go so well when you've gotten thumped by one of your regional rivals. So it will be really interesting to see how Potch balances that because he's got the renewal. He has four years to build a team. I don't know how much he cares about friendly results. I don't know if he sees these as like meaningful games against regional competition and like maybe potential prep for work up qualifying as challenging as that's going to be with. However many teams are from Conkey Cap involved. But like I think we'll get a good idea of is this an opportunity for youngsters to truly stick a claim or is this yeah, we're giving you some minutes and then you go to the Olympics camp next time. I think we'll find out very soon. Yeah, we will indeed. And Joe, well, we mentioned some of the emissions already also Christian policy probably being the headline there mechanic and Barlequin as well. We can mostly chalk that up to injury like the playing time domestically. Is there anything else that surprised you? Maybe some other players or we can get into it later. I think you mentioned injury. I think that does explain a lot of this. I will say Potch was asked about Christian Policic right out of the gate about why he's not around. And it's basically like guys we're not doing this. Like I would get to talk about why a hundred different players are not in this roster. Let's talk about the guys that are here, which is the classic coach line, right? It failing to recognize that obviously Christian Policic is failing to admit that Christian Policic is of course in a different category than those players. Policic hasn't really played a lot from along this season. He has been dealing with injuries ever since the summer. I don't think there's a story here. But it's just worth mentioning that Potch, you know, pretty much refuses to go and actually put these sorts of things to rest, which is always a bit odd. Lesson McKenney, we know hasn't been playing for Juventus. This season as he's been working his way back. And so that is not a surprise. And then Balagan, he talked about the Potch, you know, mentioned in his press, I should say. He's failed deadline day, moved to Everton that the players ready to move on. Talked about how Balagan had been dealing with an issue in his one of his legs, but that he believed he was back in training. And we've seen pictures of Balagan back in training. I think all those are pretty explainable. There's also some other guys like Tim Leia's not in this camp. Brendan Aronson's not in this camp. Tim Rhee, maybe a little more expected, but also I think we sort of thought he might be around still because he hasn't had a really an off ramp yet for the men's national team. But I think it's a lot of players that very much can be brought back in for the competitive games in November. If Potch, you know, thinks that they're better options to win games that matter and the nation's league over some of these young players. So I think eventually, till you were getting to this too, we're going to arrive at sort of a melding of these things, right? A melding of, hey, a few more guys are at the World Cup and a few of these young players, rather than 13 guys uncapped it. I mean, by that, it'll be fewer naturally. But of this pool, maybe we'll see half of them or a third of the next time around or something. I think we're going to see this group winnowed a bit. But I think it's a good thing for Potch, you know, to leave some of the more established guys at home to give himself a chance to actually evaluate. I don't, I don't disagree with anything Joe said, which is a way of saying that I agree with Joe. But what I am curious about Joe is what is it? Like what do you prefer a manager say? Or what would you say? I guess in that situation. Just give us, give us the reason. Right? Is he not here? Just say, I mean, I suppose maybe he's protecting politics because the narrative, I mean, maybe there's going to be more backlash in Italy if he comes out and says that he hasn't been fully fit. I mean, maybe there are more considerations there than I've given. I just would like him to not do the song and dance about how like, oh, you know, politics is just like every other player. You know, we don't, politics is not the same as Joe Scali. Like, I forget the narrative. Just for an on-field perspective. He's got a Mustang first up. He's got a Mustang. I mean, we don't know Joe Scali's car situation unless Ryan, you haven't shared that information with us. I always read him more as a canry man myself. I mean, nothing wrong with a canry. Oh, really? But I'm just saying, it would be nice to hear a little bit of the truth rather than patch, you know, just like, bon, it's mobs. I mean, clearly what he's doing. Yeah, and it leads to a scenario where almost every roster breakdown I read mentions his comments from 10 days ago where he talked about players not playing at the gold cup and how like, you know, you've got to show up, you've got to be willing to compete. And now all of those linked to politics again, because the one who very publicly opted out of the gold cup last summer. And so like, again, I don't think Puchty, no necessarily cares about any of this. This feels more so like a thing that, like we the media and we the fans will spend a lot of time talking about. But it's just, it's an obvious talking point and it's an obvious one that if you don't kind of answer directly or as directly as you feel comfortable, it invites speculation and it does invite a lot more like murmuring and rumoring than we would get otherwise. Did he get any other questions about any other omissions, Joe? From what you saw. Balligan was asked. I don't believe you was asked about McKenny. And I think those were the main ones that he brought up. There's some reasons that he talked about why players are on the team, but we can get to that later. And were you just frantically, like, muted by them but trying to demand answers for Matt Turner's omission? That's exactly right. I am, I am surprised. I guess I get this into the goldkeeper combo to just take Ryan's job from him. Yeah, this is what real power feels like. Are you kidding me? But the four goldkeepers at Puchty, you know, brought into this camp, Chris Brady, Chagafire, Matt Freeze, NYCFC Diego Cokin at Lingby and the Danish top flight on loan from Barcelona and Brian Schwaakie, the 25-year-old national goldkeeper. I thought we would see Matt Turner. Am I super bothered about it? No, like in my heart of hearts, I truly do believe that Matt Turner is still the best US goldkeeper playing soccer right now. So I'm not thrilled that he's not around, but it just doesn't matter that much. There's not a whole mess of difference between some of these players. And so getting to see Schwaakie come in as a real option. I like getting to see Matt Freeze redeem himself. I love that, man, like I'm not a big believer in Matt Freeze as a national team goldkeeper, but I feel like you gotta have a heart sometimes. Like what a low moment that must have been for Matt Freeze and to get himself back into camp, I think it's pretty cool. And then the two young goldkeepers in Brady and Koken, who are two of the better young options in that spot, still maybe not great, but potential. I think Puch checked a lot of boxes, even if I would have preferred to see Turner in this group. It's just a tacit... Knowledgement that this position is completely not decided, right? Yes. In fact, we've got these four and Turner left out, isn't it? That is an issue in itself. I think so. Taylor, we've talked about this over and over again. Goldkeeper is just still a question mark. Like not enough time has passed since the World Cup for someone to have emerged and for you to feel great about. I mean, Koken is the one to be most excited about. I think Brady is shaping up to be a quite good Emma Lask goldkeeper. He could still make a move abroad, but I don't know that he is matured and developed at the level that maybe I would hope to would from a shot-stopping standpoint to be like obviously the next one in line. I think he's in the hat. And there's a whole bunch of goldkeepers named on a slip of paper in a hat. You can pick a name out of that hat. And I don't think I'd be really upset at any of them starting games in this window. How old will Matt Turner be at the next World Cup? Does anyone know if they're out of their head while I scroll back and try to find it? That's probably his older from now. Yeah, he is currently 32, so he will be basically plus four at the next World Cup. Yeah, so it's like around 36. I do sort of read into that a little bit. His lack of inclusion here. Because everything we've talked about on MLS weekly with you and Jeff has been very positive that Turner said such a strong season. And I think also was a veteran player, a leadership figure for the team even as he wasn't starting in the last World Cup. And then there's little intangible things that definitely do not matter, but I still give weight to. Like it was Matt Turner. It was the one who taught Pochettino how to throw a baseball so that he could throw out the first pitch at the Mariners game I think it was. So it just felt like there was an existing connection there that maybe would then lead to Turner being included. So I'm inclined to read that as, yeah, I want to see what other younger options they are. You're going to be 36, who knows what will happen. But there's some names that we want to see and some guys that haven't gotten minutes that maybe should get a little check in and see how they're doing. So here we are. And I like it because, yeah, Diego Coconut especially is a name we've talked about for like seemingly 24 years even though that's also older than he is. Because he's been around for a while. I think he became the next, next big thing after Gaga Slanina kind of stalled out. So in comes Diego Coconut and long may he reign. Indeed. Yes. Yes, long may he reign. Excellent stuff. Very good. Why don't we take a quick pause and when we come back, we'll go through the rest of the positions. We'll go through the rest of the defense and much more. Ask the big questions. Stick around gang. We'll be right back. Total soccer show. Welcome back to our USMNT roster discussion before we get there. Joe, I've asked you this before. I just need to know if there's an update to this question. Are you the kind of sports fan that wants to dig into the story behind the stats? Yes. Yes, yes I am. Actually, yeah. 100% I am. Why not? Taylor, same question, your name instead. I am. Joe, you want to get into the story behind the stats? I don't believe you. And the numbers don't tell you everything. Come on, don't be a spreadsheet nerd. All right. I won't be at your suggestion. I won't be. Thank you, Joe. Thank you. Well, if you are such a person, it clearly you both are. I think you should check out the athletic live on YouTube. It covers all the sports stories. You can't stop talking about on game days. They're watching the biggest matchups alongside the athletics most tapped in reporters. We'll be there soon. I'm quite sure. You can become part of the show in the interactive chat as well. As you can, by the way, streaming on the total soccer show and our YouTube's right now, go find us there. Why are you on the YouTube? Just subscribe to all the cool stuff, including but not limited to the athletic live. It's presented by a Google Geminier. Check it out. Go and subscribe. Smash the like button. And thank you to everybody who subscribed to that. And to us on our YouTube, we are there in glorious technicolor right now. Excellent stuff. Back into the USMNT roster discussion. Taylor, we got up to the centerbacks. We've got George Campbell of West Bromber. I believe you were highlighted yesterday. We've got Neil Pierre. Chris Richards heard of him. Miles Robinson. And Austin trusty in there as well. But no, Timothy Reem here, Taylor. And it's a travesty. I'm furious. I think we, as a show, should riot and also stop talking about the national team. I am like a little bummed to not get to see Tim Reem. Mostly just because I hope that he does get a final like send off game wherever he would like that to be. St. Louis is his hometown, right? He asks to Joe specifically knowing that Ryan is less familiar with Tim Reem's hometown. More of a show. Maybe he's both. Maybe he does a send off series in Charlotte and St. Louis. He's the same as me. Charlotte and London are his hometown. I mean, kind of. So I would, I would like him to get at least one more game. You know, he's been a faithful servant. But in lieu of that, I like this group mostly. I think it would also be hard for me to dislike this group. Because ultimately I want to see a lot of new names and a lot of minutes given to those new names. And we got a few of them here. Chris Richards obviously we want to be heavily involved early and always. But yeah, somebody like George Campbell is a player that I spotlighted yesterday. I'm assuming some of the people watching and listening heard that show. But to reiterate, he makes the move to West Brom. He's now starting as their captain and is a like a good reliable player for them in a position where the US needs good reliable players. I would prefer that be a higher ceiling player or maybe a younger player with a higher ceiling. But it's a beggar's choosers sort of situation for me. And I think casting a wide net and seeing what every option is capable of is really smart. And did know that for the younger players that are called in here. Because I think it's going to be really exciting to see specifically Neil Pierre how he does if he gets minutes, which I would assume he will. But how does he kind of blend in with that center back line? How does he deal with international pressure and flying on that level of a stage? And then I feel like some of them are kind of more known quantities Miles Robinson and Austin Trusty specifically. I have less enthusiasm for those inclusions. But I'm not like mad at them either. I get why they're there. The pool just isn't very deep there. But that is one position group that I think doesn't fully move the needle for me. But does have reasons for optimism or at least enthusiasm. Yeah, I mean George Campbell's a why not sort of option in this. I mean, we've seen enough of Mark McKenzie and Austin Trusty and Miles Robinson and that group of players to understand what they're going to bring. I don't mind those guys being around, but I think we need to see new options in that part of the field as well. And Potschty knows done that, right? With Campbell sort of a why not pick here. I would have maybe prefer Justin Che. If I had to pick one of them, the Red Bull New York center back, but I'm not I'm not mad at Campbell being around. It's it's more of the same outside of that. And then it's Neil Pierre, which is easily the most exciting bit of this whole position group. I think Neil Pierre I was thinking about this earlier is probably already without having played a game. The US men's national team's biggest set piece threat of all time. What he's doing to defenders and MLS is ridiculous. Like he is dunking on players almost every single game. If it's not Christian police are taking set pieces and it won't be this window, there's going to be some way opportunities for somebody to serve the ball up to the dome of Neil Pierre. It toss on his actual defensive ability where he's incredibly rangy at six foot seven. He's good in duels. There's lots of like about him. I mean, he's a top prospect for the US right now. He's still got some things to improve on when it comes to his distribution. He's raw. He's not the finished product by any means, but he's been playing very well for one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer and he should get minutes in this window. So I look at this center back group as we need to see new blood that there are two new options here along with the mainstay and Richards and then a couple more veteran options in Robinson and trustee. I think Patchett came very, very close to just totally nailing this position group or at least to say it in a different way. He did it almost exactly how I would have done it. I don't know if that's nailing it or not. Excellent stuff. I for one hope we see George Campbell, by the way. It's just one of those classic vintage names I enjoy. You can imagine there was a George Campbell on the beach in Dunkirk back in the 40s. And also weirdly for Wimbledon in the 90s. I think there must have been a George Campbell hard man. That's right. That's right. Is George a name that's like dying off in popularity a little bit? I mean, because of the Kings. Yeah. That's it. That's why. Well, like, yeah, like, right. I don't know. There are a lot of George's running around your kids' school. I feel like I don't know many young George's. I was like, no, it's like this. I think he'd be named Rick. I feel like George and Rick are both born 29 years old. When was the last baby George? When was the last baby Gary? That's what I wanted to know. It's been a while. These are the questions we need to answer. Yeah. I learned from football weekly a long, long, long time ago when it was James Richards and still there that the name Gary derives almost exclusively from Gary Cooper, who himself named himself as like his acting name because he was from Gary Indiana. So he took that name as his first name and then like the popularity of Gary spread from there. Strange. But I don't know what the case is. It's probably a king in there, yeah. Yeah, that feels right. That feels right. Anyway, we digress. We should talk about the right backs we've got in this squad. Taylor, we've got Morgan's son, Alex Freeman. And we call Frank US failed making the cut in that position. How's that feel for you? They took me way too long to figure out what you've done there. I like it because it feels firstly like what Joe wanted, which is therefore what I wanted when it comes to Frank US field. But it is also best being in a spot where I thought he would be and then probably not playing in that spot at all in any of these friendlies. Like maybe he plays as an actual fullback, but I think we're going to see what this feels like to me with the roster construction as it is, is that we'll see Desk as like a nominal right wingback who doesn't do as much defensively. And then Alex Freeman is sort of that right center back who can become a right fullback. And then maybe Frank US field doing a similar job if and when he gets the opportunity, which we would assume he will over four games, which is again, the beauty of this window. Yeah, I think, I mean, I think we know how Potschino has used Desk. Not so he can't change it. But he's played Desk as a winger, right? And he's not, he's not been a fullback really at almost it all under Potschino. So I think we should just think about him as a winger rather than as any sort of wingbacker or back at all. We know Freeman's role as well. And Potschino has been right back to the stay-some in possession. So I think we have some clear ideas of how those players are used. Westfield love the call up. I think he is a top young player very much someone that I think about as being a good option at the Olympics for the US who also could put real pressure on Alex Freeman in this cycle to go and take some minutes from him. He's a different profile than Freeman. Though Freeman can be dangerous going forward. We saw that on MLS both for Viral and the US men's national team. He's been more of that stay-at-home option. Westfield for the union gets up and down. And he is allowed to serve really good balls into the box. I think that is a plus trait that I don't think Freeman has that that final ball from Westfield is maybe good enough that you wanna tweak how you might use him compared to an Alex Freeman. So just something to watch as we see different right backs get minutes. It's not like Alex Freeman's gonna play 360 minutes in this window. No chance of that for any player. So getting to see Westfield and how Potschino thinks about using him. I'm really interested in that. I think he's absolutely warranted a call up. As far as the omissions here just to mention briefly, no Scali, no Tim Wea for Scali. He'll be around anytime. You need to call him. So I don't think there's really a lot of pressure to get him in camp over someone like a Frankie Westfield personally. And Tim Wea has been playing as a full-time right back in Liga. Potsch, it seems like it's perfectly happy to give him a window off. I don't think that means he's done with the national team. But like Aaron's and like some of the players we already mentioned, it's with Wea. He's given this window off. We should note that I don't know how Potschino views Wea like more than some of those other guys. He's used him on the left. He was bad on the left of the World Cup because he's not very good on the left period. Doesn't seem like Potsch really has a clear picture of all this. I think way at this stage of his career as best as a right back. But who knows what Potsch thinks really? Are we, should we be more surprised that Wea isn't there, Joe? No, well, I don't think given the context of some other players that aren't there, frankly. Like, no Cardo so, no Aden Morris, no Tanner Testman. Okay, Testman, maybe he's a little bit different category. No Christian Polizik, no Brendan Aronson, no Florian Balagat, like a lot of the guys that were at the World Cup and played at the World Cup aren't here. Like some of them are, some of them aren't. I don't think it really says a whole lot about Wea other than like he's maybe not rated quite in the same way than a Tyler Adams or a Mouli Tillman is rated, which I don't think is a surprise, frankly. I think maybe the difference for me might be that you seem more comfortable with way as a right back and that's where he should be used or like an attacking right back or whatever it ends up being. With a lot of those names that you mentioned not being there, it feels like they're more known quantities. We know where Balagat is going to be like when he's fitting back in the team. We know where Aiden Morris is going to be if he's allowed to play for the US under Pacitino. I think that's the case for a lot of other players. The reason why I was excited to see way in this camp is because I didn't want it to be a fully clean slate or a fully fresh start or a full reset, but I did want it to be a, let's figure out some other ways of doing things. Let's figure out some other ways of being if we only have certain personnel and way I would be one of those were like, could he still be a wide attacker? Could he be used in different areas or is he just a full back? I think I wanted to see him moved around a little bit in this camp or maybe just in training. I guess we would have been able to see that, but it felt like an opportunity to get more of a look at way in a less pressurized situation. We're like, we've got to find our best starting 11, we've got to find the best options behind those guys. Now it does feel like we have more time to experiment and play around. So I think that's why I was hoping way it would be there and why I am slightly more vomit that he's not. Okay, update from the comments, we are streaming at the moment by the way. Justin Odin says, I know a cat named George. I know a monkey named George, he had a lot of questions. Yeah, I've heard of that guy. We also, apparently, we've got a son named George, who's the ninth grade and he's got another George in his class. There we go. Okay, I mean, George's are popping up all over the world right now at our back in call. And I'm not, I'm not talking trash here because I'm fully aware that when I was born, I think Taylor was like a 50-50 name and a certain performer because I think move that in the other direction. So I don't know how many boy tailors we're getting. Taylor Loutney, imagine. That's the one that's from the first year in all, so yeah. Ah, yeah, of course, they were good. Left, backs. We've got another Robinson, Anthony Robinson, Joe, and we've got Peyton Miller making the cut in this one. And I think as previously mentioned, no stupid sexy max often here. Yeah, because we did mention yesterday that the middle's bros are getting some quality time on T side. It seems that way, except Abe Morris has already had enough time there to come into this camp Taylor where you said about him, I think is fitting from earlier. Yeah, Pachin mentioned that some of the guys that moved, he maybe would just leave. What do you think is clever work on his part like that quells some of the discourse around all this? I thought some of the guys he might leave you brought in. So I really don't know exactly how he thought about that whole process, but I have no notes for this position group. I think today I would take Peyton Miller of a Max Arfton as a player, not even factoring in the superior potential that Miller has. I love him as an option. Now this is a case of me somewhat selectively reading into how the roster was announced, where positionally Peyton Miller was listed as a defender for this US team when they released the roster. He's been playing as a winger, almost all year long from Archimitch Rich and the Rebs, but he is at his best as an outside back. Like he's not really a one-view one dribbler, he doesn't move East West very much Miller. He's much more of a North South guy, and I think that really limits you as a winger in a lot of ways. So I think he's clearly best as a left back. Left footed gets up and down, has a lot of physical traits. Solid defender already, really, really promising player. But in that same roster release, Desk was viewed as a defender, and I know I just did that whole thing about how he's not played as a defender in a project, you know? So I admit, I am picking and choosing the bits of information I want from the roster release, but I'm choosing to be encouraged that Potch has viewed him as a left back and also if not Miller, then who else? Robbins is not playing 360 in this camp, so he's gonna get minutes in that spot. I feel very, very sure of that. I love to pick. I think he's another guy. I look at him now, Olympic starter in 2028, and an option very much to be on the World Cup roster in pushing and see Robbins and along with, I think, Lendon Mallow for that left back spot in 2030. And in terms of where he has been playing this season versus where he might be in this team, Joe, is that not similar to Max Arstin with Columbus where there was a bit more attacking play from him, but then he is primarily being used as a left back slash left wing that definitely some parallels there. Yeah, very much so. Okay, so not without precedent. Yeah, I think so. Excellent stuff. Okay, why don't we look at the defensive midfielders? We've got Tyler Adams. Yeah, heard of it. We've got Adry Mehmeti, yeah. And my second favorite name on the roster Brooklyn Reigns, who does sound like a WWE star, I just have to say, but it's terrific. There we go. No Johnny, no Aiden Morris in the DM position, Taylor. How are we feeling about the selections here? Love it. I really do. Like, I think I wouldn't have been surprised to see Johnny included. I had him on my roster. He's like, he's back with Adleti. He is like getting cameo appearances to my knowledge. So you could have seen him, but also it feels like a little bit, and I don't mean to be disciratious to him, but it feels a little bit similar to what we talked about with some of the centerbacks where I feel like we kind of know what we're getting from Johnny Cardo. So when he comes, when he plays for the US, I feel like we still haven't seen a game where he was like, oh, that's why he keeps getting called in. That's what we need from him. And I feel like oftentimes he gets surrounded by like, the second string team, and then that doesn't really work well for him either. So by contrast, I think to see established veterans and then like returning veterans and then to see some newbies thrown in there too, plus just like some unexpected names, like Brooklyn Reigns, as you mentioned, who I learned is the third Liberian born player to ever play for the United States. Oh, can we do it? Can we do the quiz? Do you have all three? I can find it, I don't know the first one. Okay, well presumably it's Nagby and Brooklyn Reigns. I have no idea who the third one is. I don't either. I will try to find it as I frantically scroll through. Not a famous judge, too way as dad. Could we have that? Oh, it's close. I would love it. I would love it. That would be good. But no, I mean, I think this one is going to give us the combination of experience and like ability to play strongly or have a good amount of options that are strong and getting first team minutes at a high level with players who are like, getting those minutes in a majorly soccer, with players who are kind of just breaking through. And it's a really exciting position group and I think it's a really smart selection. Looks like according to the internet, maybe Haji Wright has some Liberian ancestry, but I'm not 100% sure if that's true. So don't don't hold me to that. I'm just doing some preliminary googling as far as this position group goes. Mehmedi is the one I wanted to see most. I think he is right up there with Kevin Sullivan as like, man, he is class among this next generation of players. I'm incredibly excited about him. We should get to see him make his full senior national team debut for the US. And I think people are going to like what they see. Book and Reigns was a surprise to me. He is easily the name I most surprised to see on this roster. This to me is a clear sign, the 21 year old, that there are some players that Steve Trondolo got to have some input in the squad for, right? Or that Pachi was very willing to go and say, hey, let's get some U23 eligible players into this team and see what they can bring ahead of 2028. Reigns has been pretty good for the Rebs. I don't think he's been spectacular for the Rebs. I don't think he is really on the same level as a lot of these other young players coming through. He's pretty well rounded. He can cover some ground. He's not the biggest player. Coverage ground can win the ball in duels. I can progress a little bit on the dribble. I don't think his passing is great. He's not a problem passer, I wouldn't say. But I think that's the area of his game that he can grow in the most. But he's the guy that I look at and think, maybe not a US men's national team type of career, or at least not like a big role. But he could be a guy, especially when you think about the lack of options at the six pot for the U23s beyond the Medi, who I think will probably be too good for that team that that's just where I'm coming from. I think Reigns makes sense if Trondolo wanted to get a number six for that U23 team into this game. Quick update, very important update. Doc Lawson, we all know him, right? Three caps in 1979 for the USMT when they famously were not good and not qualifying for tournaments. That's, I think that's what Ryan was mentioning when he said I don't want to dox anybody. I don't want to dock Lawson anybody. There you go. That's what we were talking about. Yeah, I just said it quickly. Good. Yeah, yeah. Very good. Let's look at the central midfield pack show. We've got the Middles Pro still represents Sebastian Behrhalter. We've got Eunice Musa, Georena, Malik Tillman, all Europe-based players in the middle of the park there. And as I think you mentioned, Joe, no Tana Testman or Jack McLean. Yeah, selection there. Yeah, I don't think any real issues on the admissions front for me. I mean, McKenny sort of straddles the line between center mid and attacker who's mostly an attacker at the World Cup, but it's a little nuanced there and I can go either way with that sort of thing. And he doesn't make a whole lot of sense to bring him into this camp because he's just betting back in with the eventers. I think it's fine to leave him at home. I don't have any issues with these options. And I think it's more than that. It's exciting to see Eunice Musa back in. And Poch talked about this in his press earlier today. He was asked about Musa and he said, you know, the door's open. Like, door's always open. Door's open for anybody. Maybe that wasn't so true towards the end of the last cycle. I don't know. But news cycle, door's open. Musa's back in this team. I think on talent and merit, he absolutely deserves to be here. I don't have any notes about this center mid group. I mean, I think it makes me really excited because I like Eunice Musa the player. I like it. You interactions I've ever had with him. I like him as a person. And then I like what it says that, like, yeah, you can be on the outside looking in when it came to the last World Cup cycle. But same coach, new opportunity. And so Eunice Musa comes back in and I think has obviously justified it with his play at Milan. But I think to Joe's point yesterday has been a very good player. Maybe it was like timing and circumstance where against him. But this position group just feels very strong. And especially with Georena back in the team and back in the team with good form, which we like never see. Really? Like it's either maybe he's gotten a few minutes at Gladbach or maybe a few minutes at Dortmund and like, okay, this could be the side of something. Whereas with Strasbourg, he is a regular player at minimum, but general usual starter. He's gotten a goal or two. He's gotten an assist in there. It feels like that is the move he has needed to get him some confidence, to get him some minutes. And I can't think of the last time, now that might be because I have a goldfish brain. But I cannot remember the last time Georena came into the US camp, into any US camp, in like strong form and with maybe a bit of confidence. I feel like it's always a lack of minutes, sitting on the bench, injuries, failed moves, moves that didn't quite work out. So I want to see what this group looks like with an informant and confident Musa, an informant and confident Reina. And then the youngsters kind of nitpick at their heels, pushing them to see what they can do in training. It feels like it's going to be highly competitive. Plus Malik Tillman, who the thing is easy to overlook because he's just quietly good and competent for Leverkusen, where he is still getting minutes, isn't an ever game starter, but is still in a strong position there. So it feels like a very good and talented and deep group. I know you didn't attend a debut, so I was very excited. Plus Malik Tillman, which did might be a chocolate movie. I mean, he still has those like, I would hesitate to call it like a Tillman moment, but Joe and I have talked about this at length, that maybe I think he did end up having one, right? Before the World Cup, tune up games, maybe that was it. But like he would always have opportunities, but it's like, here we go. Malik Tillman's going to score this goal and is going to cement his like, oh, no, he's shot wide. Oh, no, he shot right at the goalkeeper. And I feel like he does still have a little bit of that, but I feel like we saw enough of him at the World Cup and we've seen enough of him with Leverkusen over the last year to know that he does have extra tools in his bag, should he need them? Mm, and need them, he may. Let's take one more quick break. And we come back, we'll look at some of the forward options that have made this roster and some that haven't as well. Hey, join us then. Total soccer show, welcome back to our USMIT roster discussion. We're getting to the, the attacking fielders and the strikers now. Let's start off with those, let's call them non-strikers. Hey, look who's here. Mathis Albert, Matisse Albert, if you will, makes the cut for this one. Cole Campbell making the cut. So Junior Desi, the aforementioned, Zavia Goso, just in Ellis and Kevin Sullivan all of his 16 years will be in this group. Joe, this is a very interesting little group of players we've got here. It really is. I mean, there's a lot of names to be excited about here. A lot of names that I didn't know that we were fully gonna see from Potsch, you know, here I thought Goso might stay at Palace after just arriving there. I'm excited to see him in this camp. I think he absolutely deserves it. Cole Campbell, was it fully on my radar, but he's been doing some impressive things at Elversburg. Still quite raw, but very, very fast. We saw that against Bayern Munich the other day in Diop and McConnell, who is also incredibly fast in the open field. So Elversburg Rep, I suppose, Albert, I didn't know we were gonna see yet from Bruce Udortman, but I'm not mad at that either. I mean, there are a lot of really promising young players. I did think we would see Dest in this team. He's sort of part of the establishment now. And then just in Ellis and Kevin Sullivan, at both really, really rates, Sullivan, it seems like a different level than Ellis, but Ellis, I think there's probably a lot of people out there that haven't watched just in Ellis play yet. Maybe who are listening or watching this episode right now. He's not the typical player that US soccer develops. Like if you squint, you think about this guy to develop in Argentina or in Spain. He's so smooth in tight spaces. He combines really well, hits passes in the final third, not a lot of players hit. And it's just been a brilliant complimentary piece to Antoine Griesman in Orlando. So I'm thrilled to see him in this team. The one name that I am bummed that it's not here. And I don't really quite know why, because there's already more than 26 players in this team. So I don't know why you couldn't have just brought one more as Nico Shakira's for the San Jose earthquakes. The dude has been one of the best players in MLS all season long. Whenever he's been on the field, he's healthy right now. He's been dominating teams in the last few weeks just like he did to start the season. His level has not dipped at all post injury. I think he is phenomenal. And I think it's a mistake not to have him in this team. But again, so many fun players are here. I don't think it's a huge problem. But I hope we very much see him either in a U23 camp or ideally in a senior team moving forward. With the agreement that desk probably is a winger for this team. Joe, can we run through the other names that are in that position group really fast? Because it's, unless I'm just in the Mathis Albert Col Campbell. Yep. Justin Ellis, Kevin Sullivan, Xavier Gozo. Yes, sir. Like, that's crazy. I mean, just do think about that for a moment. The oldest player in there is Col Campbell, who's 20. And then it's, what, Justin Ellis is 19. Xavier Gozo is 19. Mathis Albert is 17. Kevin Sullivan is 16. But pretty much no matter what we're going to see teenager or just about teenagers starting in the attack for the United States. And I feel pretty confident we're going to see Kevin Sullivan if not start, then definitely get minutes. So we're going to see a 16 year old play for the US, which I think would be the fourth youngest player to ever play for the United States. And I think that again is really exciting. We've seen lots of really exciting attacking prospects come through and maybe not be ready for primetime or not really be ready for like primetime club level either and fall off. But the, and it stands to reason that some of these guys won't end up kind of making it in the way we hope they will or like kicking on to even higher levels. But there's just so much potential and talent. And it's really fun to have young, exciting attackers who could move on to bigger and better things or could be really capable and exciting players for the United States. It feels new to me to have that many youngsters who could be making moves and could be doing big things. And I think it's something that people should be pretty stoked about when it comes to these friendlies. Hmm. I think exciting part is it feels like all of these players who can do once here could get a decent amount of minutes as well, given the musicians are in, right? Yeah. So that's exciting. There's actually maybe there's a general question of the 13 uncat players. Do we suspect all of them will get on the field? Oh, maybe not both of the goalkeepers in Shwaki and Koken who have not both played for the US so far. I mean, maybe, right? Full goalkeepers, maybe one for each game. I'm not going to rule that out. I do think we'll see both Westfield and Miller and Pierre, actually all three of those guys. Again, four games. Like we should be cycling through different players here from a USMMT perspective. Miller is the only backup left back, nominally in this squad and same for Westfield to expose it right back. Although you could factor deaths into that equation. There aren't enough defensive midfielders. I think for Mehmeti not to get a look and I think he's earned it. Then you get to the attackers and I suppose it's possible that maybe one of those two guys wouldn't get it an extended run or maybe wouldn't play. You think about Ellis and Sullivan and Campbell and Albert and we've talked about Julian Hall yet put toss him into this list as well. I do think though, there's basically two windows where the international game smushed into one. You only have one roster unlike your club in Germany. I think we're probably going to see all these guys. Mm, I'd love to see it. All right, a couple more players to discuss from this roster. The aforementioned Julian Hall Rebels getting some good representation this time around. And Ricardo Peppie, who at 23 years old will be shepherding the youth in the front lines and scenes. Feels light. It feels real light. This position. Yeah. Makes me think that Justin Ellis who's played quite a bit of his minutes this season as a striker, maybe most of them, at least right about half of them. And he was also listed as a forward. We should note, in this team, it's always called Campbell. So again, grain of salt with this sort of stuff. But I think Ellis is somebody that if the US needs a third striker, we could see get some run there. I mean, does that mean we think Peppie starting three games, four games? I mean, no, I don't think anybody's going to start four games in this window. I think Peppie could get a game or two. I think Hall could get a game or two. And maybe there's a game looked over for somebody else like Ellis. Who would you most like to see Peppie start against, Joe, if you had to? Wow, I actually have not really thought about how I would rotate whatsoever for these upcoming games. I mean, my last answer is, I don't really care. Like, I don't know, none of these games really matter that much more to me than the others. I will say the conca-caf games would feel a little sweeter. I think for this US team, to God and perform well in. So I will say the Mexico game for Peppie, just because he could have represented Mexico and that feels like there's some fun narrative juice. For that, I don't know exactly though how poch will manage this. Nor do I really know exactly how I would manage it. That's an interesting thing to think about for some shows that we'll do later on, I'm sure. I think it's that position specifically, I think reinforced is that there are just certain areas where it is pretty wide open. And it's the thing I was talking about in the preview show that like, you can go through the list of eligible number nines and then that list gets shortened pretty significantly due to injuries because there's plenty of potential strikers who can't be here due to injury. Then you take out the Alligan. Suddenly, there's really not many options. And so this does feel a bit like, yeah, we'll give it to Peppie. We'll roll the dice with Julian Hall. Maybe Justin Ellis will get some minutes. But also, we as a nation better hope that some more number nines start developing quickly or maybe some other players find some form and can start kind of further challenging that group because it's exciting to see Ellis and it's exciting to see Julian Hall. But like, I'm less familiar with Ellis than Joe is certainly. I don't feel like Hall is necessarily ready to start for the United States. It will be interesting to see how he looks. But that's why I say like, this feels light in terms of numbers, but also in terms of experience. So we'll get to see if these players can kind of rise to the occasion and look comfortable. But I guess like Stryker and Centerback still feel like the area is where there is the most, like, I don't know. Let's just call some guys in and see what you can do. What? I don't, I don't think I agree. I mean, I definitely agree about Centerback. I goalkeeper is the other one that for me is like far above those two positions, Centerback and goalkeeper. I think Stryker's in a better spot than it's ever been, which is not to say that it can't be in a better spot. Of course it can. This is the US men's national team. We're talking about not Spain, but Balagin's an in Penn starter. And if this was a game, a window that mattered really for Pachitano, he'd be here, right? I think we all, we all would believe that. Peppy is an overqualified backup, but maybe not quite good enough to be a starter. US hasn't had very many of those throughout their entire existence as an international soccer country. And then I think about Hall and Ellis, both emerging as options for the US team at the start of this cycle. I mean, that's a pretty exciting development as well for this team, like, that they're alternatives to the Josh Targent and Brian Whites, like, Haji Wright, Pula players. That's progress for this team. So I think this is the Stryker positions in a pretty good spot right now for the US, especially relative to a lot of the other spots, just to do one beat on Hall. I think Hall is a player that I expect him to start at least one game in this window. And I think he's a guy that could look better with better talent around him. I mean, that's sort of what it's like being a Stryker in general is, I mean, if you have better players around you, you're naturally gonna look better because they're creating better chances for you. But Hall's best skill is his off-ball movement. He's so sharp moving off the ball, like, why is beyond his years? That sort of a fox in the box, not that he can't do other things he can. But that's his best thing. If he has players that are maybe a bit better than the talent that Rebel New York have, a club that is still very, very much at the start of a rebuilding process. If there are other pieces that can feed him the rock, like, yeah, he's got nice cold and MLS the last two months, three months since the World Cup break ended. But with players that can serve him, I think he could impress and actually come out of this camp as one of the biggest winners. He's attracting high-level European interests as you would expect from a guy who's almost scored double-digit goals in MLS and is a teenager. And I do like his game even if I don't think he's quite as transformative of a player as a METI or a Sullivan or maybe a few others in this group. But he's somebody that I am, I'm really excited to see in a different environment. I think the national team's gonna give him that. Hmm, there we go. Tyler, you think convinced? Yeah, I think it is center back in goalkeeper are the areas of concern. I think Joe's made a compelling argument. Not that there can't be others, man. There can. Don't get me wrong. Oh, yeah. I just like, I'm assuming you made that argument while staring off into your mini-postures of Florian Baligan that are on the opposite wall. I mean, the dude was genuinely one of the best players at the entire World Cup. Like, okay, maybe top like 40 or something like that. But for a USman's national team to have a player of his way. Yeah, I agree with Ryan's way. What? Did I again? Top, is saying Baligan, maybe is that too high? I feel like, okay, maybe a little too high. Certainly the US is best player at the World Cup. Malik Tellman probably in that conversation as well. I mean, he was really, really good at the World Cup and has been quite good in Liga for a decent, but not great Monaco team. Like, we don't, okay, let me, I got maybe too mired at my point. Surely we don't need to argue about Baligan being a transcendent USman's national team player. Like, is that an argument that we're having right now? No, transcendent. I agree with that as well. What do you mean by transcendent? For the United States, not for like Spain, right? I mean, this is all relative to the context. Baligan is an in-pen starter for the US in the central. There's no way we come out of the World Cup feeling any other way. That's all I'm saying. I'm not trying to know the definition of transcendent. So I think that's maybe where I'm hung up at present. But either way, I take your point, Joe, and you're right that if Baligan is here, I like those concerns about the striker pool are far less significant. I think it's just without him, it does look a little bit barren because as I said yesterday, like Pepe is just not the same style of player and we don't really have any, I mean, to your point, we don't have any players that are like similar in style and ability. But like, it just feels like if we don't have Baligan, you have to kind of change a lot of what you're doing to suit what Pepe wants to do. Or sorry, we just have a comment. This says, well, Baligan transcended a red card. That's top tier. Sorry, that's absolutely phenomenal. Please continue. So I'll say it's probably like the position group that third most gives me concern. There we go. Nice. I don't agree, but that's quite all right. I think we're closer than we were before. Excellent. One final question before you both from me. At a scale of one to 10, one being not very happy at all, 10 being delighted. What's your overall take on this 28-man roster, Taylor? I think, I think a nine, I think, maybe a 10, I don't know. When you look at the players that were left off, when you remove the ones for injury, I honestly like that he didn't call in politic. He hasn't been in good form. He's been injured, but it seems like there's some weirdness with Milan. He was injured at the World Cup. The opted out of the gold cup. Like I think maybe it is just an opportunity to see who else is out there, but also give him some more time with Milan. So I feel like that can solve like three problems at once in essence. So I like that one. I think maybe the absence of where is the only one that gives me more pause. But otherwise, I really like it. I think it's a good blend of youth and experience with a few of the like fewer than 20 caps, more than zero caps players, thrown in for good measure. So I like the blend of the roster. I like that they are trying different things and new things at the same time. Yeah, I'll say nine and Niko Shikiris would have made it a 10 or like nine and a half or 9.7 or something like that. I mean, basically every young player that I hope to see in this camp is in it and I'm super excited. Like I don't think this is gonna be the US's roster for this cycle or really frankly anything close to it. But if you come out of this window with four-ish young players from this next generation that you feel really good about and impressed you and you wanna bring it back in for November, then you bring back the A guys that you didn't have in this camp and you win or out some of the other options that are currently around. I think you've already improved from where you are to end in 2026 and that's a pretty exciting thing. Terrific, excellent stuff. And one final thing from me, did Potsch in his press conference call these games non-official batches, as opposed to friendlies? I don't remember. But yeah, I don't know, I'm sorry. I'm not sure. It's because Potsch is no game as friendly. They're all violent. Oh, there you go. These games are still official. They're officially happening. They're just no competitive. I mean, it's the supporters game of what's the other one, Ryan? I mean, those... Come on, Joe. Sorry, perhaps on respect. I've found an appreciation match in the impact match and then just two matches after that. That's right. I mean, at least those first two are official. Come on, no doubt about it. That's true. You have to officially appreciate the fans. I think Potsch owes us an apology. That's all I'll say. Very good. All right, plenty more USMD coverage coming up. These games of course kick off next week. And, but for now, Taylor Rockcore, thank you very much indeed for your contributions here. Very exciting stuff ahead for us. Thank you very much, my friend. Very much appreciate it. Joe Lowry, thank you very much. Same thing for you, good sir. Hey, thanks, Ryan. And thank you very much, Lisa, for joining us on this one. We'll be back on the feed very shortly indeed. But for now, bye. Bye.
