📜 View Full Episode Verbatim Transcript
57,696 characters
Hello, Sunshine. I'm Alexey Lawson-Wolfman, the state of the Union show. This is where we look at the beautiful game all in and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue colored glasses. All right, let's see. This live show, oh yeah, we're live. We will be talking the U.S. men's national team roster drop with Sasha Kluschen. Kevin's playlist, Europa League action. Do these U.S. games actually matter? Question mark, messy versus Garver. Alpha Bravo rescue and so much more. So, let's light this game. But first, joining as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding light, David Mossy, a soccer, savant, and a fox soccer researcher and writer, extraordinary. I'm gonna see how you're doing on this Thursday, September 17th in the year 2026. I'm doing well, very excited for today's show. Big show, roster drop show. You mentioned excited. It's been, I don't know how many days, a month and a half since the World Cup, and we've been up and down in terms of our emotions, but I got up this morning with a little excitement and fun about what is about to happen here. Why don't you take us through the roster before we welcome in Sasha Kluschen here? So everybody, you might have seen it earlier, but let's just go through and find out what, the gentleman that are going to represent us going forward here in this first camp after the World Cup from Richard Pochettino. So the future is now for the U.S. men's national team today. Mauricio Pochettino named a 28 player squad for the upcoming friendlies against Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. It is a youthful squad, average age 22, 13 uncapped players. We'll take it back to front for goalkeepers, Matt Freese, Chris Brady, Diego Cochin, Brian Schwachy, 10 defenders, Serginio Des, Alex Freeman, Frankie Westfield, Jedi Robinson, Peyton Miller, Chris Richards, Miles Robinson, Austin Trusty, George Campbell, Neil Pierre, nine midfielders, Tyler Adams, Sebastian Burhalter, Audrey Mehmeti, Eunice Smusa, Brooklyn Reigns, Xavier Gozo, Malik Toeman, Gio Reyna, we're going to put Mattis Albert in this group. We're going to always more of a forward. And then forwards, Kevin Sullivan, Cole Campbell, Justin Ellis, Julian Hall, and Ricardo Peppy. All right. Do you realize, I want the people to know, I'm going to deviate a little bit from the script here. You were staring in my eyes the entire time that you just did that. You weren't looking at anything. Did you just memorize this? It's such an exciting roster. I've been thinking about it for hours. Now let me just go through the presidents. George Washington and John Adams. Well, let's look at that call back. He was awesome. All right, listen, we mentioned him. We want to welcome him in Sasha Kleschen. Yeah, you know him. You love him. The face of Apple's MLS coverage. Proud member of the FIFA World Cup now team here at Fox. So basically, a colleague of ours, also, this summer you saw him around Fox, played all over the world, including Los Angeles. Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls and Andelec over in Belgium. Don't forget also, FIFA Coverboy as well. But welcome to the show. Sasha, you look wonderful. You got yourself all set up there with the microphone. Listen, do you share my enthusiasm and excitement relative to not just this roster, but what this roster represents going forward? And people, you haven't talked to you. So I guess give us your big picture thoughts on Mauricio Pochettino coming back. And what you expect from this team, I guess going forward as it relates to, obviously, what we saw this summer. All right, first of all, thank you guys for having me excited to be here. Overall thoughts Mauricio Pochettino coming back. I was not a big fan of Pochettino coming back to coach the team again. He did nothing different than what Bruce Serena, Bob Bradley, Greg Berhalter have done. Jürgen Klinsman have done all those coaches were rewarded with second contracts. All of them either failed the second time around or were fired before they got to their next World Cup. So I don't know why we keep doing the same thing. But I'm still a supporter of this team and I'm very enthusiastic about this roster. I'm still going to support the boys and Mauricio Pochettino the best I can for the next four years. I hope that he sticks around and builds this team the way that he wants to. I love this roster, a lot of young players, a lot of really exciting young players. And I hope they get a lot of time to play on the national team over the next, so that they're ready for the next World Cup. Yeah, I mean, Mossy, when I, when I see this roster and look, we were kind of set up for this to happen. Like Sasha mentioned with this youth brigade that's coming in for those that remember the old Camp Cupcake. I don't know. Sasha, do you ever do a Camp Cupcake in the January camp? I had plenty of those. Okay. So those are the remember the rest in piece, Camp Cupcake. If that's on one side in terms of a bunch of young inexperienced, obviously, predominantly MLS players on one side of the spectrum. And then you have maybe on the other side, you have camp steak, if you will. That's just the, you know, the, the usual suspects and the grizzled vets, everybody in your, quote, unquote, best possible roster. This falls somewhere in between, you know, so like, all right. So we had Cupcake and steak, so it's like a salad. This is camp salad here. And keep in mind, it's a reminder. It's important because we have two plus weeks, and this is a real, you know, anomaly when it comes to a window here. And I think that also reflects the fact that there's four games, two plus, two plus weeks. But this is essentially a camp where it's a, it's a, it's a tryout. And I too, I am, I don't know, I don't know about in love, but I am excited. I'm cautiously optimistic about the amount of talent, the amount of young talent coming in and coming in off of, you know, this relatively successful summer. And what Mauricio Pochettino to your point, Sasha is going to do now. Sasha, the good news is I think the Tottenham and Manchester United jobs are going to open up soon. So you won't have to deal with Pochettino for much longer. But on this roster, I know you recently put out a list of the five best USMNT prospects in MLS. You had Kevin Sullivan, Neil Pierre, Hall, Mimetti, and Frankie Westfield. All five got called up. Are you buying that this is a golden generation? And specifically on Kevin, how excited are you for him? Do you think this is something extra special we haven't seen before from an American player? Too early to tell if this is a golden generation, but it's not just those five guys. Either there's a few others that have, that have been called up as well in this group that could be part of that generation. Let's hope is part of a golden generation that end up doing really good things. Kevin is the star for sure. He's 16 years old. And I think the way that he carries himself, even some of the things that he said. I saw him say recently that he doesn't like the way the American player is viewed because they think only about grit and determination and athleticism. And he plays the game a different way. And so I think to land in, I think about Clint Dempsey specifically who played the game a different way. Those were guys from my generation who, yeah, did did shit, tried stuff, right? Like did stuff on the field that was different than everybody else. And that's what set them apart and ended up being two of the best Americans to ever play the game. And so at 16 years old, yeah, I'm really, really excited about what Kevin can do. And it's not just what he can do. It's what he's doing right now, like he's fully earned this call up based on his place since the World Cup. He's been one of the best players in the entire league over the last 10 games since the World Cup ended. It's been really, really fun to watch. Do you think that Kevin Sullivan is a different player now than, I don't know, a month and a half ago, or for that matter, two months ago, when the US team came together, my point is there's a part of me that wonders if all of this young brigade in this roster comes into this camp and lights it up and is incredible. Isn't there a part of us that is going to say, well, what has happened? Now, I know this camp lends itself to making changes and to experimenting here. But if they come in and they are awesome, I think I will. I think a lot of people will say, well, couldn't some of them at least have helped us out this summer? So I guess my question to you, Sasha, would be how much has he changed even in the last two months as a as a player? Are you extrapolating it out like a lot of us are and saying what he could possibly could be when he would be what 20 years old come the next World Cup? Well, I think before the World Cup, there were some of us who cover MLS weekend and week out that we're saying that, you know, Gozo has a wing back and maybe Julian Hall as a third string striker were players that probably could have been given an opportunity before the World Cup just to see where they stood within that group. And so now I'm excited that they are getting their chance now for Kevin. Yeah, you know, you start to dream about what possibly can be, but he's he's so different right now. Yeah, it's two months ago because now when I watch him play, there's so much confidence within his game, but there's also so much trust from his teammates that he's able to, you know, he starts playing off the right in a 4 4 2, but he has the ability and the freedom to drift all over and get on the ball and then he demands the ball. He's dribbling at guys now. He's taking players on. And most importantly, he's getting goals and assists, which we weren't seeing in the first half of the season. So you know how it is with attacking players and how confidence reigns supreme. And when you're feeling good and feeling consistent, you're playing at your best, Julian Hall had a super hot start to the season. I think he's gone 12 or 13 games now without a goal. And so you're going to get that with young players. Kevin's hot right now, for sure. No Christian, Policic in this squad, he's yet to start a game from Milan this season. He didn't score the second half of last season. The World Cup went the way it went. He turns 28 tomorrow. How concerned are you about Policic? Where do you think he's at in his career right now? I'm not concerned about Policic, really. I know him and I trust him. I know the World Cup didn't go the way it wanted. I hope that Pochettino has had a conversation with him and just said, listen, you haven't started the season in the right way. You obviously haven't been playing and he's going to reward other players. I don't know if they've had a conversation or not. I hope they have because I do still think that over the next four years, Christian Policic is one of our best players and still is the face of the national team. I think he just has to find his way again and get his confidence back because yeah, he's not the same player that he was nine months ago when he was in the first half of the 2025 season with Milan, where he was one of the best players in Italy. Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into the omission of Christian Policic or for that matter, Baligan or West and McKinney. He makes a bunch of needle knows what he has when it comes to those players and to your point, they're coming off of injuries and nothing's necessarily going to change. I do think that they're going to be involved but to your point, Mosque, maybe the dynamic and who they are for this national team changes over this next cycle. You I know are very concerned, Mosque, about the goalkeeping situation and I think I know it fascinates you here. I think it is wide open. We both know that over the last couple of cycles, we haven't had a goalkeeper, the likes of which we have seen in the past and that hurts because of the great goalkeeping that we have had in the past. I don't know if it's something that we have done or not done, but that's the reality of situation. What it means is even with the Matt Fries who is back in camp here, I think it is wide open right now. Sasha, any thoughts on the goalkeeping position? I mean, you love him, you hate him, whatever, you know, you can't live with him, you can't throw him off a bridge, but you know, they save your ass every once in a while and over the course of history, as you know, and we all know, it has happened and we haven't had that guy. I'm asking myself, like, when was the last time a US men's national team goalkeeper? Actually, one of us points or saved our ass in a game and it hasn't happened in a long time. Well, it's been a long time, but think back to the last five great goalkeepers that we had, right? And I think Brad Gazan and Tim Howard from my era and then I think from your era you played with, I'm sure Brad Friedle, Casey Keller, Tony Miola, like all five of those guys have big personalities and that's what I want out of my goalkeeper. Somebody that's a big personality back there, sorry, but Matt Fries is not a big personality. He is boring and he is not, he is not it for me, okay? And so I don't, I'm not sure Matt Turner is either. And so I'm excited about the youngsters and somebody to get a new opportunity because you need somebody to grow into that position to be a leader and to have a big personality and I agree with you, Lex, I don't remember the last time. Maybe Ethan Horvath saving a penalty against Mexico and what was at the nation's league final? Like, that was a massive moment for a goalkeeper. Other than that, I'm with you. I can't remember a big one. Sasha Noah, Noah Kai Banks in this squad, there are reports that he's going to accept the call from Germany to play for their under 21 team. If that happens, you would have to file a one time switch. So that would be the end of this saga. What do you make of this whole Noah Kai Banks situation and dual nationals in general? And does the emergence of thunder like Neil Pierre soften the blow of losing the banks? Yeah. Listen, if Banks wants to play for the US, we're going to welcome him with open arms. If he doesn't, then the good luck with whatever you choose. I want players who want to be on the US national team and want to be part of this group. And it's an exciting group. So whatever he chooses, yeah, good luck. If he goes to choose Germany, I really like Neil Pierre as a player. I'm excited about his future as well. You know, he's got to obviously toughen up and defending and keeping his lines tied and not making mistakes. But that's normal for an 18 year old center back. What I do love about his game is something that we haven't seen from my generation of Gooch and Carlos Boca Negro were center backs who could score, right? Center backs who got you goals. And he's got four or five goals in 10 games or something like that. He went on loan earlier in the year to Denmark in the second division. He had four goals in 10 games there. He's a problem on set pieces and he's an exciting young prospect. And so, yeah, do all that. Yeah, I want them to choose to play for the US. If that's how they feel, they're going to go all in. If they're not all in, then, then so be it. Go do your own thing. You know, they're small margins when it comes to assessing a national team. And when it comes to assessing a coach of a national team, Sasha, you mentioned earlier that Richa Pochettino hasn't done anything that hasn't been done before. And as a matter of fact, if you go back to 2002, more has been done. When you think of the game against Belgium, which obviously looms large this, this summer. And yeah, you have to take into account everything that happened up there. But a lot of it is going to be compared to what happened in that game. When you think of this US team and this new US team that's being created here, what enables us to win that game? What enables us to become an elite team? I mean, sometimes we kick ourselves for what we are. It's also good at times to pat ourselves on the back without with recognizing that we can still go further for, you know, for this US team. And we are firmly in that second tier and in the top 20. We want to get to that consistently in that top 10. What needs to be done with this group or part of this group here going forward under Mauricio Pochettino in order to get us there where we are considered elite. And more importantly, we demonstrate on a continual basis. I think if you look at the rosters of all those top 10 to 14, maybe nations in FIFA rankings are the teams that are always there at the end. If you look at their rosters, majority of their players play at the biggest clubs in the world and in the best leagues in the world. And so if this group of youngsters over the next four years moves themselves up the pecking order within MLS and then two big clubs in Europe and then you've got 20 guys, not just five guys on our roster, better at some of the best clubs in the world playing in Champions League and Europa League every season, I think that's how we get to be at the same level of a country like Belgium and be more competitive against them or like the Netherlands that we saw in 2022. I think that recipe is pretty simple. We've got to have more players playing at the best clubs in that. That's, yeah, it's easy to say it's harder to do, but the doors are opening now for young American players. And this group, particularly, they're getting so much experience in MLS at such a young age that they can now pop over to Europe at 18 to 20 with already 50 to 100 games under their belt of professional football. That's important. You're an honest guy, which is why you're very good at what you do. But you're also, I don't think that you're a cynical guy, but Mossi and I on the previous show, we had talked about the possibility that there are American fans out there, whether they just came to the sport this summer or whether they've been around a long time that are worried about getting their heart broken. They're worried about getting their hopes up. I guess give us a realistic assessment of how people should approach this window and obviously this next cycle under Mauricio Pochettino. Because I said before, I'm a romantic and I did feel something this morning, a pep in my step, knowing that there was going to be a roster drop here. Is this going to lead yet again to heartbreak for either those of us that have been around a while or for those of us that have come into the tent early? Well, I think us as Americans, we think that we should win everything, right? We think that we should be the best at everything. So yes, 2030 is going to be heartbreaking because if we get excited and we get to a quarter final or we even make it to a semi-final, we're still going to get our hopes dashed by Spain or France or England, probably at the highest level. So yeah, but wouldn't you rather be optimistic and have fun and be excited about the team and dream for these four years and then get excited about the World Cup and watch some cool performances? And then yeah, ultimately we are going to get let down for sure. See, he's a romantic. He's a romantic. I told you. Yeah, I'm super optimistic and I'm always looking at the bright side. And I think that these youngsters hopefully play a lot like I said over the next four years, but also leading into LA Olympics, 2028. How many of these guys can we say see play in a home Olympics and hopefully take home a medal? And obviously, again, leads to big moves in Europe, play at bigger clubs, continue to grow. That when they get to the biggest stage in 2030, they're not afraid of the moment and they put themselves out there in a really good way. Yeah, it's a good point. You mentioned in terms of the Olympics and Steve Toronto, who is going to be evidently involved in this camp and obviously assessing the players that are eligible and keep in mind that the Olympics also, you're allowed to have three overage players. So who knows? Maybe he starts planning some seeds with some different players out there that might also be taking some of those overage spots going forward. There is a priority also on the Olympics for this team too. Sasha, both Eunice Musa and Geo Raina are sort of the cautionary tale for these young players coming up now that progress isn't always linear and you're going to have ups and downs in your career. But both those guys off to a strong start this season, Musa starting games for Milan, Geo starting games for Strasbourg. They're both on this list. What's your take on those two guys? You think they can be pillars of this team in this cycle? It would be hard for me to call them pillars just based on the inconsistency to their careers so far. Are they highly talented? Yes. I really like both of their players and the qualities that they have. I thought Musa would be a mainstay for the national team forever after we saw him burst onto the scene before 2022. I'm happy to see that gone back to Milan, new coach, new opportunity and he's grasping it. Now, can he continue that and be consistent over the course of a whole season? We haven't seen yet that, but we haven't seen that yet, but I have high hopes. And Geo as well. I think there's a few exciting players, you know, if we continue to play in a kind of similar formation, I think when our best team is out there, it's probably going to be balladging up front, Christian Policic on one side and then on the other side, is it going to be Geo? Is it going to be Tillman or could it be Kevin Sullivan eventually? And so there's an opportunity there for one of those players to become the face of the national team if they have really good club seasons and continue on with all the national team games. Well, you mentioned the face of this national team. And I think it's everybody would agree that over the last cycle, the face of the national team, whether you, well, whether it's right or wrong, has been Christian Policic going forward. I think you can continue to be, but I think you can make an argument right now in terms of the excitement and even the visibility right now that it's wide open and even you can make an argument that right now there's so much attention on Kevin Sullivan. And because there's, I mean, look, with all due respect to the Tyler Adams and the West of McKinney, it's still, it's very fleeting. We all know that and things can change very, very quickly, but there is an argument and a discussion to be had as to who the face of this team. And maybe it just means that it's, that it's wide open right now, which is a great place for these young players to be, certainly Kevin and others out there to kind of say, all right? Well, this is our turn. They just saw what happened this summer. They, I think, are fueled by the opportunity that they are getting. And very, very quickly, I think the face could change for this U.S. men's national team. That's not a, that's not a bad thing. That's just the reality of how quickly it changes. Sasha, I do want to talk MLS with you as well, because last night, Inter Miami beat Kruz Asu 2-0 to win the Campionist Cup, Messi and Casamera with the goals. From Messi was his 100th goal for Inter Miami. Weird moment with him and Don Garber afterwards. I don't know if you have a take on that, but just in general, Inter Miami trying to win back-to-back MLS cups, new coach now. What's your overall take on Messi and Inter Miami right now and looking ahead the rest of the season? Well, first of all, such a bizarre moment, right, with Messi and Don Garber, which I believe is over-referring and that Messi has had complaints about the referees in MLS. And I don't really know why he's going at Don Garber in that moment. I don't know if Don can control the referee and the quality of refs that we have. Listen, we all want better refereeing. Of course, in every league in the world, people complain about refs. Every athlete I've ever met complains about refs, for sure. It's just weird to see Messi going at Commissioner Garber about that. And I'm sure we're all hopeful that the refereeing continues to grow and continues to get better. Inter Miami, though, I think when they get to the playoffs, we'll be the favorites to win MLS Cup again. You see how good not Messi is still at this age in knockout games, in tight games where somebody needs to make the difference. He can create something out of nothing. He's still an unbelievable player. I'm very intrigued to see where he finishes in the ball-owned or voting this year after he had such a great world cup. To be honest, I only see a few teams that can win MLS Cup this year. Nashville, Miami, and probably Vancouver are the only ones right now that I could have confidence in. Well, we all know that Messi loves to talk to the press and loves to articulate and illuminate when it comes to things that he's thinking. So I'm sure that maybe even before we get off the air, he will have explained the situation. But I agree with you, sorry. It has to do with the referee. Although I didn't watch the game yesterday and think that the refereeing was a problem out there. So yeah, look, players' wine, that's just what happens. Sasha, you mentioned Inter, but when you think, give us a little primer, a really quick little primer as we sit here on September 17th, obviously heading into the end of the season and into the playoffs going forward, who we should have an eye on when it comes to the teams and who we should have an eye on when it comes to the individual players going forward. Who's exciting you right now? Well, three teams I mentioned. So Miami, Nashville, Vancouver, and the West, you know, you can always, you can always say that LAFC is probably going to be there just with the firepower they have in Denny Buonga and Hengman. But Nashville is really the class, I think, team right now the most consistent and they're kind of getting this budding rivalry within to Miami that I'm really starting to like. You know, they came into the league at the same time. They played in the first year, MLS Cup playoffs against each other. Conquercaf Champions Cup, Nashville knocked out Miami, Miami beat Nashville in the league's Cup Final 2023 and Messi's first season. Miami knocked Nashville out of the playoffs last season. So I like this rivalry and I expect those two to be playing in the Eastern Conference Final when it's all said and done. Who do I like? My favorite player to watch right now is Kevin Sullivan. I think that he grabs the game, every game he wants the ball. He demands his teammates to give him the ball in tough positions. He's not afraid to dribble at people. He's not afraid to get into a fight and back up his brother. He's very filly in that way also. I think he's just a very exciting talent and honestly, Philly from as bad as they were in the first half of the season, they are now probably the hottest team in the league right now. They've been super fun to watch. And I got to give a shout out to St. Louis City who knew head coach, Johan Dameh, who's the youngest head coach in MLS. He worked with Wilfred Nazi at Columbus, so his team kind of plays in the same way in that three, four, three formation. And he's doing a lot with a little, now I know they just spent $12 million on Raffa Navarro to get him from the Colorado Rapids, but other than that, he's doing a lot with a little in terms of the roster and the spend that they have had and they're playing great football. They've made it to the US Open Cup final last night by winning the semi-final against the Rapids. They've been very exciting and he's probably, he's probably the coach of the year at this point. I'm going to finish before we get you out of here when it comes to Major League Soccer. You're an honest guy. I don't want you to bite the hand that feeds you. I recognize that. Obviously, you can see Sasha over there on Apple Broadcasting. MLS, by the way, you're wonderful in the studio and you're wonderful in the booth. If I were to put you in charge of MLS and keep in mind, MLS is changing the season up here. They started to let teams spend a little bit more money. What are some of the things that you think MLS needs to do? As earlier you mentioned, in order for the US to be elite as a US men's national team, they have to play in the biggest and best leagues in the world. What are some of the things that you would suggest if I put you in Don Garber's position right now or the next few weeks or whatever it is? What are some of the things you would do to make MLS better either on or off the field and make it one of those great leagues if not the greatest league in the world? I mean, the easy thing to say is to eliminate the salary cap and so I don't think that's going to happen totally, but can we raise it to maybe a ceiling in a floor, can we get more spending to bring better players to our league and not just these older players, but going out and getting more players that are in their prime, which I think is going to create more competition within teams. It's going to create better teams of more quality so that we are not just going toe-to-toe with Liga MX and beating them sometimes and losing a lot when we play away, but when we play against Liga MX teams in these international tournaments, whether it's League's Cop or Cup Champions Cup, that we start wiping the floor with them. So open up the spending right now is the easy answer for me to continue to grow this league. Anything else for Sasha? One last one, Sasha. We do have tomorrow NYCFC against the Red Bulls. You experienced that rivalry firsthand when you played for the Red Bulls. It's an eternal debate. We always have what do you think right now is the single best rivalry in MLS? The best rivalry for me is El Trafico and LA Galaxy against LAFC. Things always matter more when you get really good playoff series and these teams have had it. They hate each other. Ricky Pooch is a great villain that everybody outside of Galaxy wants to absolutely hate and it's much deserved. And so you need these villains. You need these rivalry and those games produce goals, right? Soccer is entertainment and we love to see goals. And so when Galaxy plays LAFC, I think that series averages like five goals a game which is amazing. That one is hands down the best. It's hell is real. Cincinnati against Columbus is second best for me right now. Well, my friend, you're the best. All right. I love what you are doing over there on Apple. And certainly when you come over here and hang with us on Fox, continue to do that. Thank you so much for coming on today and gracing us with your presence and more importantly with your knowledge. Thank you for your question, everybody. Thank you very, very, very, very much. Mosse, where should we go to now? First off, what do you think folks in Seattle and Portland are going to think of not even being mentioned in top two best rivalries by Sasha Klesher? They'll wine. That's what they do. We had tons of Europa League action the last couple days and as we've talked about, that is the competition this season that's loaded with prominent Americans, AC Milan, suffered a two-oh-home defeat to Bengfika. Look at Bacchew, scored one of the Bengfika goals, remember him from that Belgian demolition of the US in March. Unis Moussa went on 90 minutes. Christian Polosik for the second straight game came on at the start of the second half played the last 45. So when it comes to Unis Moussa, right, I think that his inclusion on the US men's national team is warranted relative to the way that he is playing. I mean, he has started off the season on fire after being out in the wilderness with those low and all that kind of stuff, but I don't think I'm saying anything that anybody doesn't know. Obviously, Rob Mauricio Pochettino wrong last summer with, you know, his decision not to play and go, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I think in a certain way, it's good that Pochettino is saying, hey, all that matters is that you are playing and that you are playing well. But even if you are on my bad side, there is a way back. But you know, keep in mind, Christian Polosik did the, did the same thing. Now, obviously, they are a little bit different, those two players, but it's going to be interesting to see Unis Moussa back for the US, given everything that transpired. On Polosik, Milan plays Lecce at the weekend, if he doesn't start that game, then as far as I'm concerned, he's a backup for a C Milan and we need to react accordingly. I mean, I'm kind of losing my patience with, well, he had an injury, we're working his way back. We're managing him. It's starting to feel a little hollow. You also can't have him out. And then when he comes in, see a marked change in a positive way. And I know he didn't have a great game the other day. But it is an upgrade when Christian Polosik comes in. And so if you're constantly saying, no, he's not going to be a starter and you're not getting the results. That's a bad look for the team. That's a bad look for the coach. But yeah, I'm still not worried about Christian Polosik, unless there is a real injury that is long term type of problematic. And with Christian Polosik, we all know that could possibly happen, although we thought we had gotten out of the woods there. But you know, another loss for AC Milan. Western McKinney back in our lives. He started for the event to hammered any C5-0. Western assisted one of the goals. I like Begavitch scored it. Those two squared off at the World Cup this summer, USA Bosnian Herzegovina and they combined for a goal today. So happy to see Weston back. And I was talking earlier about the face of the team. And I do think Weston has been and will continue to be a face of the team. But the one face that you actually think, I thought that Weston was going to be more prominent after this summer was going to kind of harness this summer in a way where he was going to become much more of a household type of name. And it's not anything that he did or didn't do this summer. But look, when it comes to what Western McKinney has done in Italy and for Juventus, multiple coaches, multiple years, season after season, he just proves his value. Now he's, you know, being just brought in carefully here, but it was wonderful to see him back on the field and contributed to a game that was well in hand and was always going to be. You may have Atalanta the weekend. Crystal Palace 4-0 over Lecht Poznan, Chris Richard started and scored one of the goals. Xavier Gozo not involved. Yeah. The Gozo thing is interesting. Well, we'll talk obviously more about him when it comes to the national team in this roster. When I mentioned earlier about Steve Trundle, the Olympic coach being involved in this camp coming up and eyeing the Olympic eligible players, but also eyeing maybe some that will be part of the three overage players. Chris Richards could possibly happen. A lot of times you'll go down the spine and a Chris Richards in prime Chris Richards. He scored a really nice goal today, peeled away to the back post that big old throw was right there and he just beautifully knocked it back with wonderful placement and wonderful power back to where it came from. So he continues to be, I think, a real star for the, for the, for the U.S. and I think going forward, he's going to have a lot of options. Palace away to Brennan-Arenson and Leeds at the weekend. Cameron Carter-Vickers started for Celtic today. He was suffered a 3-1 home defeat to Fedance Vados. Celtic in bad form. They're coming off a 3-0 leak cup defeat to Rangers. They face Rangers again at the weekend, but yeah, bad stuff for something. Will they play? Rangers, the old firm. Oh, in this game, Fedance Vados, a legendary club, my friend. If you know your history, some of the greatest Hungarian players of all time, Kubala, Coaches, Florida and Albert played for Fedance Vados. You know, we talked all summer about how Ruce Fontaine holds the record for most goals in a single World Cup 13. Sonner Coaches second, he scored 11 in 1954 and he played for Fedance Vados. Well, still not a good result for Celtic. Yeah, for Celtic, despite the storied history. Marseille got hammered by Besiktus 4-1, a bad day at the office for Timmy Wei, who kept in Marseille. And life doesn't get any easier. They host PSG at the weekend. It's going to be a hell of a week for Marseille. And then Bournemouth with a 2-1 away win over Pellegrino Matarazzi's Ralph, Sociedad, Clivert and Hayam with the goals for Bournemouth, Tyler Adams started that one. At the weekend, Bournemouth host Liverpool facing their former manager Anduinit Iraola. Well, first off, great result. Tyler Adams, back to his old tricks in the best possible positive way. So that was wonderful to see and they got to be coming and flying now against Liverpool. Not just their old manager, but feeling good about themselves. We also had some midweek La Liga action, a pletico Madrid, four new winners over Ossasuna. Johnny started, played really well, got an assist, earned praise from Simeone afterwards. And this sets up at the weekend, a pletico Madrid hosting Rao Madrid. I expect Johnny to start that match. Really? Yeah. Okay. Well, look, the, I mean, now it just seems to be the constant theme of, yes, he's good, but can he help this U.S. men's national team? By the way, did you see Jonathan David, I know it doesn't matter for him, a U.S. national team perspective, but he's, he's, he's flying over there. I was somewhat surprised, Johnny wasn't on the list today. Yeah. Puchatino likes him. He's playing for a pletico. I wonder when he's going to get back in there. I, he, everyone keeps, it's, there was almost, there's a bit of geo in him, not, not, I'm not saying, you know, the things that he has done, but there's a bit of geo in that everyone kind of looks at this is what he should be, especially relative to his club resume. And yet it, it just hasn't quite clicked and it hasn't quick consistently. But I don't, I, I think he's going to be given every possible opportunity. So I wouldn't worry too much about this, this camp. By the way, both around Madrid and a pletico Madrid looking up at Barcelona, the La Liga standings, Barcelona continued to be lights out, seven, two over Rossing Santander, with a hat trick, he's up to 11 goals in all competitions this season. They're, they are flying. My parents bought me a Brazil jersey ahead of this last World Cup, and it didn't have a name and number on the back. So I went to the store in Santa Monica, Cuto Football, which customizes jerseys. And I wanted to put Vinny Jr. seven on it. And they said, we don't have that. I always have his 11, Rafinha. I said, I'll pass. I'm going to try to find Vinny Jr. somewhere else. But I'm starting to have second thoughts about that. I might circle back to that place and just get Rafinha. What do you mean they don't have it? They only have certain players at any given time, like their name and number. They come specific to the player number. Okay, I thought that was just they had a bunch of numbers and a bunch of letters and they were able to know, okay, got it. All right. But your, your, your heart set is on, on Vinny. Yeah, because he's the man for Brazil right now, had a great World Cup. Is he the man for you? But at the start of this season, Rafinha, 11 goals, Vinny Jr. one so far this season. Gabrielle Jezuz has more goals than Vinny Jr. He scored twice for Barcelona already. He scored a great goal in this Rossing Santana. So you can be tempted here. He could be the man or becoming the man. Yes, I am second-guessing myself on that. All right. That takes us to ask Alexi. Ask Alexi over there and keep in mind that on social media, I know a lot of you are falling along live right now over there on social media. Our handle is SOTU with Alexi and you can use that hashtag Ask Alexi. And this is where you're sending your comments, questions or concerns. And then, you know, we, I want to say we, we, all of us, including producer Sean and everybody else, we, you know, we pick some out here. Or you can call into our State of the Union podcast Hotline, which is 657-549-2297. That's 657-549-2297. Mosse, what are the folks want to know today when it comes to Ask Alexi? First up, we have a voice mail. Let's take a listen. Okay. Mike from Brooklyn here. Just wanted to thank you, first of all, for a great summer of soccer. Please make that studio show happen again. I know you need the World Cup rights, but fox is amazing. I love Lex Lollis. Man, you are great with Latin and Rebecca and Henri. You are the star, but I had a great time with the studio show. My question for you, Lex, is this agreement here? You said, and maybe you're getting old, and I'm getting old too, but you said the four games in this friendly schedule, which coaches said we should never call it a friendly. Every game is meaningful, but you said the four games don't matter. And I beg to differ, my friend. As famous book the night, Al Davis said, when baby, when? That's what they're being called up for. I don't care if they're 16, I don't care if they're 36. I don't care if they're first time, or they're last time on the squad. When you show up to the national, it can be objective is to win. I don't want to have a mindset of, oh, we're just trying out. We have different players. I want these guys in there treating every game like it matters. That's what coaches said. That's the culture we're trying to build. And Lex, I'm shocked that you said, of all people, the results may not matter. My friend, the results always matter. Have a good one, guys. Oh, I love it. I love it, Mike. Wonderful call. Thank you so much for the kind words at the beginning. And look, we can agree to disagree when it comes to something like this. I want to make sure that I'm not saying the games don't matter. As a matter of fact, I think they matter. And maybe as we get further and further from this window, we might find out that they mattered a tremendous amount in terms of exposing us and giving opportunity, like we said, and have said all this entire show to these young inexperienced players that we have that not only do, I think, a lot of people want to see, but also to your point that Mauricio Pochettino has promised. But for example, Mike, if the US goes out in these games and loses four to two to Chile or to Mexico or something like that, but Kevin Sullivan scores two goals, tears it up throughout the entire game. Yeah, we lost the game. Am I happy about that? No. Do I want to win every single game? Yes. But sometimes, especially when it's a moment, and I think this moment, I think you'd agree with me, is a moment of development. Yeah, sometimes, you lose the battle, but you win the war. Now, instilling a winning mentality, I completely agree with you, okay? But if in these next four games, this US team, regardless of what it looks like, whatever the 11s are that get thrown out here, whether it's the same ones or just a mixture of ones, what if in these next four games, we win one nothing, all four games, we play the most dire. And for a lot of people, what they would view as regressive way, by the way, these aren't just closed door scrimmages. These are games that people are selling money to. And we come away with four wins. Now, you might say, Mike, that that is establishing a winning culture. Okay, maybe it is. And so maybe in that sense, I am being a little bit too easy on this team, or maybe a little bit, like I mentioned before, maybe a little bit too romantic in what I'm talking about here. And keep in mind, and I think this is where your surprise comes from, Mike. Yeah, at times I have said, look, we need to find a way to win because if we were to win a men's world cup, I guarantee you, the American public, whether they've been in soccer or just came to soccer, is not going to give a flying, you know what, how we end up doing it. But that's within a tournament type of setting. This is a moment where yes, the score is going to matter. But if we get even two or three or four players that come out of this camp, where you say, you know what, my heart is justified in believing that these are players that can get us to that point where they are grinding out a win against much better competition in actual competition going forward. And I think that's ultimately what I met. Don't think for a second, Mike, that I'm going to be happy if this team loses. But you know what, I will be okay if there are some losses, but in those losses, we find players that are going to take us further than we have ever been before. Nobody's going to remember September of 2026. If four years from now in the summer of 2030, we have a team, the likes of which we've never seen before. And so this is that first step because as it grows back to what I said before, what is the only game that ultimately matters? It's the game against Belgium in the World Cup. That's the way it is. Might not be fair, but that's the reality of the situation. Mike, no need to tell us where you're from. We could have figured out you're from Brooklyn. By the way, if Mike was from Queens, Bronx or Staten Island, he would have said New York. People from Brooklyn, they have this independent streak. Each of the burls used to be separate cities. And then they merged in 1898. It's known as the Great Consolidation. But Brooklyn has always had this independent streak. They act like they're separate cities, though. Do you look down on them? Now Mike, Mike praised our coverage this summer. Next up on X at JDI underscore Stefano asks, Alexi versus Lotton in a 400 meter sprint, or a one mile race, who wins? Interesting. So Z made it very, very clear whether you wanted it to know or not about how much he works out. As a matter of fact, he would get irritated if any of the work that we were doing was going to interfere with his daily routine. Now he does a lot of kickboxing and that kind of stuff. And then he would show me pictures of what he did. I mean, you can imagine how this was going. So I do think, and he's had some knee problems. I have a knee replacement. And I've had different surgeries over the years. I think because of his strength, his in a sprint, we're both almost the same height. He's a little bit taller than me. I think in a sprint maybe, he would get me, and I'd only say maybe. Keep in mind, I'm 15 years older than him, something like that, maybe, maybe more. I don't know, I mean, I even looked. I think in the sprint he could possibly get me. But I think over distance, I think I would get him. It would be a tortoise in the hair type of thing. He would go out hot and then fade, and then I would catch him in the end. But you know what I know, maybe we'll check it out and do it for charity or something. I still crack up thinking about that day where he turned to you in the studio and he goes, do you prefer Alexis or Alexi? As if it's like Dave or David. It's like, no, literally one is my name and one isn't. What do you mean, which do I prefer? Because you had been calling him Alexis after that. Well, it was kind of him and I appreciate respect that he asked, even though I know he was gonna do what he was gonna do anyway. So, I love him, I love him, I love him. Thank you for the question. What is it, Stefano over there? Yeah, so that's my answer. But who knows, maybe you'll get that race at some point. Anything else? That takes us to one for the road. All right, one for the road, for those that know me and for the years, this is, well, first off, this is the end of our show, only at the end of each and every show, I give you my one for the road. And as I said, if you have followed or known me, you know that I have always been into music for a long time. Also, if you watched our show a couple of weeks ago, where we interviewed Cabin Sullivan here on the state of the union, you will know that a certain point we started to talk about music and he actually came up and was telling us about his love for a lot of different music, very eclectic. But his love of music, including Dewap, some questions as to whether he was being serious or not. But music is obviously a big part of Cabin Sullivan's life. You need to look no further than even videos that are out there where he's playing harmonica and I think his brother's playing guitar. And so music is a big deal. And he's come out with a playlist, if you will, not if you will, an actual playlist over there on Spotify called Cabin Sullivan, The Warm Up. And it is eclectic in that I recognize some, not all. I mean, he's got some, it goes all over the map. He's got some cold play and he's got some radio head, some Beatles, some Smiths, some luminers. And the list goes on and on and on. First off, I think this is a warm up playlist. I think any type of collection of songs, especially over there on Spotify, limited to 10. Actually, this is soccer, so let's limit it to 11. But it's fun to go in and to see the type of music that he likes or anybody, because it is kind of a reflection on who you are. And I love that. And we've talked a lot about Cabin Sullivan. And this goes back to what I said earlier about him, potentially being the face going forward of this team. Even only at 16 years old, there's a lot of excitement, I think, fairly and rightly so, who knows if he lives up to the hype, but we are going to see. But he also got, we talked about Mauricio Pochettino, kind of a veiled warning to him and to young players to make sure after he had come on our show and talked about a lot of things, including how he felt that he could have helped the team this summer. I love that about him. I love that Cabin Sullivan is giving us different sides to him as a player, but more importantly, as a person. I don't think that he is overexposed. I don't think that this is problematic because in certainly the times that we have had with him and the times that I see from afar, he looks incredibly comfortable. And in doing so, I think he is endearing himself. Now, ultimately, it's about kicking the ball and that's what's going to really drive him forward. But all of it matters. And his gregarious and interesting and funny and witty and energized type of persona that is being, let's be honest, marketed right now. For a lot of people, that's catnip, especially as we go into this point in this moment, as we've talked so much this show about where it's a turning of a new page, a new leaf, and leaving behind what has happened and going forward. And I do think that Alexa Cabin Sullivan and some of the players that we have talked about and probably some players that we haven't talked about yet are going to be important and lead us to that promise land. And that's a good thing. I know Cabin's taken some international press talking about how this would never happen over in our culture or anything like that. No, well, tough. This is what we're doing. This is an American kid who grew up in an American culture of not just soccer, but American culture of sports and entertainment and culture. And that's what he kind of wants to be. And he is incredibly comfortable at being that. But for a lot of people, I think they're going to get their first look if they don't follow MLS right now. And maybe they'll come back into the tent here in this next window. They're going to get their first look at not just Cabin Sullivan, but a lot of these young players. And I think people are excited to see this new generation. I'm excited to see this new generation, which is why I said, I woke up with a pep in my step this morning because of this roster, because of this team, and again, because of the potential and the romance that it is right now. And so as our good friend, Sasha Kluschen, who you heard earlier said, don't be afraid of it. Embrace it. Has Freddie Adu spoken about Cabin at all? I'd be curious to get his take on Cabin. Seen or heard from Freddie Adu in a long time. And that's maybe by design, but it'd been interesting to see if he has a take on him. By the way, as you mentioned, Cabin has a couple of Beatles songs on here. Chuck Closterman has a book coming out. It's an alternate reality. What if the velvet underground had become a commercial juggernaut and the Beatles had become this underground success? How would that have changed music and culture over the, in suing 60 years? Oh, fostering, yeah. Forge of rock city and all that. Yeah, that would be interesting. You know what, Mossy? Maybe we'll do a, a state of the union Spotify playlist or something like that, huh? How about that? But when we're going to keep it to 11? All right, 11 songs. So just you and I are two people like Sean and Gabe and Christina get us a, I'm just spitballing here. Maybe we'll do something like that going forward and maybe we'll have, maybe something each week. This is our 11 relative to, I don't know, playing against this or something like that. I don't know, who knows what we'll do. Anything before we go, my friend, because I know you've been watching some stuff. Yes, I already ripped through Fowda, terrific season, waiting for Gabe to finish so we can discuss it. He's a big fan of that show. I've started the new season of Slow Horses, which Sean Sullivan loves. So I can't wait to talk to him about it. The first episode dropped yesterday. I watched it, terrific this season. That's Gary Oldman, it's his British spy show, but with kind of a comedic twist to it. So yeah, I find it very enjoyable and this season looks like it's going to be really good. I have nothing when it comes to, you usually talk about TV or movies out there. I guess this, you know, this would be TV, but I watched the 60 Minutes interview with, quote, unquote, Bravo and for those that don't know Bravo and his co-pilot Alpha were the Americans that were shot down over Iran and ultimately rescued. And it is, it's an incredible story. I'm sure that it will be made into, you know, a movie in there where there will be books about it. But here this, you know, he's not a young man. He's been flying for a long time as a matter of fact that at a point during the interview he talks about the fact about how long he has been doing this. But here, to hear him talk about getting shot down and having to eject and in the moment that he ejected the parachute not opening and breaking and hurting himself as he crashed to the ground and then making his way up a mountain. But to hear him talk about never for once doubting that his training and that the men and women that he trained with were coming to get him. I mean, if you don't watch and listen to this and feel a sense of pride and respect for not just this man, but all of the men and women that protect us and that go out there and risk their lives to protect this country, then I can't help you. I can't help you. So it was just a really, really moving and fascinating piece, describing him getting shot down and then ultimately getting rescued. And he couldn't have been more articulate and humble and the sheer belief and faith that he had in himself and like I said, the men and women that he served with and that he trained with in his country, in his faith. I mean, the list goes on and on and on just a phenomenal watch if you get a chance. I think it's over there on YouTube. There's the one that aired on television and then there's an extended version also with I guess some more content over there. Amazing. Anything before we go, my friend, that is it. Again, thank you to Sasha Kleschen and everybody who is joined us here. We continue to do these live shows. I like them. I think they have a little bit of energy and maybe a little bit more energy out there and so we'll continue to do that. Speaking of continuing, keep continuing to download and to rate and to subscribe and to review and do all the different things that you do out there. Keep smashing those buttons. Keep smashing those buttons left and right up and down, double fist and smash that button over there on YouTube and Spotify and Apple and X and Insta and all the different platforms that we have out there. We will talk to you again later on this week when it comes to the state of the union. It's gonna be fun. This is gonna be fun, my friend. So enjoy it, celebrate. We have a roster full of young and talented plays going forward. So here's the good things on and off the field. So until then, and as always, let's size the game. All right.
