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Hello, sunshine. I'm Alexi Lallison. Welcome to 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. This live show will be talking Oh, yeah, Puchotino's roster. Some burning US questions ahead of the window. Cabin's rolling. Burr Halter. McGlin. Dest. Grisma. Messy. Politics return. College soccer. Mayday and so much more. So let's light this candle. But first, joining as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding lights. David Mossy, a soccer savant and a Fox soccer researcher and writer, extraordinary. I must see how you're doing on this Monday, September 14th in the year 2026. Doing well. I don't mind wearing the Michigan hat this week after a nice win over Oklahoma. Yes, you, your team won after all the hoop lines, stuff that went on with the Wolverines. And so has it, as it calmed down a little bit from your perspective over there? It has. Yeah. And one note on Ohio State's collapse against Texas, Stu Holden and his wife were in Europe for a wedding. When they got back to the hotel room, Stu's wife was a devoted buckeye's fan was watching the game on her computer at like three o'clock in the morning. I know because I was texting with Stu at the time. And he told me that she went to sleep at 233 thinking he was in the bag, only to find out the next morning what happened. I wish my wife had gone to sleep before what happened happened. She unfortunately watched the whole thing. So she was grumpy for the rest of the day, although I'm and correct me if I'm wrong here. I think the sentiment out there is that the strength of schedule in this particular moment for Ohio State works to their advantage. Even though it's a loss, even though it was painful, at least they're playing somebody of quality. So it's not going to hurt them that much. Absolutely. It deserves credit for scheduling a game like that. Exactly. All right, my friend. So I should we like this candle? Let's do it. Where shall we start? On Thursday, Mauricio Pochettino will name a US squad for upcoming friendlies against Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. The US's first matches since the World Cup. We will do a live roster show that day, which by the way will be the beginning of the second show each week, moving to Thursday. You've identified some burning questions ahead of that window. But before we get to that, just give me an overall thought on what you're looking to see. What would constitute a successful window? Yeah, so I think in my ripe old age or the way that I'm finally maturing, Mossy, that I like to think that I've been able to evolve and see some of this in a different light. All of that is to say is, again, a reminder, this window is an expanded window. It goes from September 21st to October 6th. Four different games like you mentioned Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. So a wide array and some talent and certainly some competition. Four different cities including Orlando, St. Louis, Glendale, Arizona, and St. Paul. In general, as I look to this window, again, the first window after this amazing summer and the World Cup here. And part of me, Mossy, it's not that I don't care because no matter what when this team steps on the field and represents what I feel is the greatest country in the world, I care. But I think especially in the next months, I am going to care much less about the result and much more about seeing some sort of progress. And I think I and a lot of people out there kind of equate progress with a change in personnel. And I think that there is a real desire right now to see something different, especially given the fact that the last game and the most important game in, well, I guess US men's soccer history, although you could argue that the Germany game back in 2002 was. But the most important game, certainly under Mauricio Pochettino, that you know what the bed. And it left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. And I think it highlighted some things. So I think that there is, like I said, a growing consensus that especially now that we are post-World Cup, we should see some changes. And some real kind of big bold moves to take us into whatever this 2.0 version of Pochettino is going to look like. So that's kind of where I'm starting as we head off into this window. And that leads perfectly into your first burning question. Yeah. So the first one, and I think a lot of people out there, is will these changes or evolution, whatever you want to call it, involve young players? I think it will. And I think it has to. And I think it's kind of just set up in Pochettino's hand for him to knock out of the park. The question is, how many of these youngsters that we are talking about are actually going to get called up? If I had my way, you know, I think what Chettino has talked about having a balance. And I guess that's kind of what you have to say as a coach. Again, because for me, the results, and I can't believe I'm saying this, is much more secondary than it has been, I just want to see them. I want to see something new. Four years now, Pochettino has. We're going to talk a little bit more about Pochettino's philosophy and culture here. But he's got a four year cycle right now. It's going to include qualifying for this next World Cup. If not now, then when? And I don't want you peace-mealing them in. Let's go. Again, this is over a two-week camp. All right. This is a long period of time. This is, we don't have camp cupcake anymore in January. But this is a two plus week camp. And so it should almost be a tryout for these players that are coming. And I'm not saying you throw out the baby out with the bath water with some of these great players. It certainly will be a part. But I think you can and you should see a huge group of players that are hungry, that just saw what happened over the summer, that are hungry, and that are of quality to challenge if not take places going forward. As much as I like, young players like Hall, Mamedi and Gozo, Kevin Sullivan is a case apart. He has become the story in American soccer right now. A lot of US fans feel like he's not only ready to be in the team, he should be a starter. His latest performance this past weekend against San Diego, two goals, including an outrageous back heel. He had three assists, the game before that, against Cincinnati. This kid is on fire. And I think more than anybody else, that's the name that you're curious to see if he's on the list on Thursday. Yeah, it's wonderful and fun to see. We talked so much about pathways, Mossy, and I've said this before. I had to do it kind of backwards. When myself and guys like Kobe Jones stepped on the field back in 1994, we had never even been on the books of a club. We had never played club soccer. The traditional pathway is you start in a youth system, traditional around the world for the most far. You start in a youth system. You get called up to the first team. You do well with the first team. Maybe then you start getting more time. You start starting with the first team. You start raising eyebrows and getting attention. And then the national team calls for you. Well, this is, albeit at a very young age at 16 years old, he has taken that pathway. And he is fun to watch. The train, like we said, has left the station when it comes to that hype train. It's okay. We're not going to break him. He will have ups and downs. But there seems to be this collective worry and fear that we are going to break someone like Kevin Sullivan or that he is going to break our hearts, mossy. And I think we should guard against that. I said it's the biggest story in US soccer. It's even resonating with non soccer fans. I know your pal Clay Travis trying then this weekend. You had an interesting back and forth with him on X. Yeah, he kind of made the point that he, and look, Clay is not, he would be the first to tell you that he's not a soccer expert, although his kids have played and he has been around soccer. And to be fair, he has kind of immersed himself in it. So he actually knows a whole lot more than he may, may let on. But I think he is right to point out that him and a whole generation kind of grew up with the Freddie Yadou phenomenon. And his point is that I don't want to get my heart broken. I don't want to get my hopes up. We all know that, you know, the hope will kill you. But, you know, when I, when I think of something like that, I think of, you know, someone that says, well, I don't want to fall in love because I may get my heart broken. All right, that's not a reason to not fall in love. Yeah, you may get your heart broken. Yes, Kevin Sullivan may not live up to the hype. And in doing so, you may kick yourself for having bought into it or having what I feel is a romantic notion about young talent when it comes to sports. And really, I think that that is what sports fandom is at times being irrational, but at all times being passionate, being emotional and believing in the positive. And it could be the positive for an individual player whose young and has talent and you're extrapolating it out could be, you know, being irrational for the fandom that you have for a team that you believe, hey, this is, this is the year, but don't ever apologize for it. And I don't think you should ever tamp something like that down. It is, it is fun to be excited about a team. It is fun to be excited about a player. And in this case, when it comes to Kevin Sullivan, come on board. There's plenty of room. Be romantic. Risk getting your heart broken because I think the risk is worth it because if that reward comes through and he ends up being incredible, you know, you're sitting pretty. And even if he does, it's a whole lot better than the alternative. And it's a whole lot more fun than the alternative. On my way to the studio today, I ran into two of our colleagues, Nick Rago and Fran Arthur. And they immediately started asking me about Kevin Sullivan. And Nick posed the question, where is he on the Freddie adieu LaMini Amal scale? In other words, Freddie is now sort of the reference for Prodigy Gone Wrong or LaMini Amal is the reference for being successful. Yeah, I think, you know, Freddie was a talent from a very young age. But I think we extrapolated it out much more with him. As I said, and that's natural, that's what sports fans do. I think what Kevin Sullivan is doing, and I know it's still a small sample size here and knock on what he stays healthy. I think both of them share a personality that I think draws a lot of people in. Very different. You know, Kevin's much more of a 16-year-old in the way that he acts. Freddie was much more mature and kind of, you felt like they both get it, but in different ways, when I say get it, they get it off the field and what's going on. But I like in Kevin Sullivan as a person and much more so as a player to someone like Landon Donovan than I do to a Freddie adieu. Now, typically, the last person to come around in these situations is the manager. And Mauricio Puchotino made some comments recently that seemed indicated he did not love what Kevin said in his interview with you about how he could have made a difference in 26 in the World Cup. How much would it annoy you if Puchotino left him out just to humble him, just to bring him back down to Earth? Well, it would hurt me if it was because of the conversation that we had, because I thought it was benign. I didn't think it was anything. I think I said this a couple weeks ago when it all kind of came out. I didn't think that there was a problem at all. And I know it wasn't specifically directed at him. It was kind of a blanket statement. But I understand what Puchotino is saying here. But I hope, I just, I hope that we don't tamp down that type of personality. I mean, look, the reason why we're talking about him and the reason why you're walking down the hallways here at Fox and Fran or anybody else is asking about him is because he's doing it on the field. All right. It's not because he's got a, you know, an incredible marketing campaign around him or anything like that. It's he's doing it on the field. He is scoring goals. He's scoring goals consistently. And he's he's feeling it. When you watch him play, if you don't know that he's a 16 year old, you can't point out there and say, Oh, that's a 16 year old running around playing. So in that sense, there is a maturity already to his game of grabbing hold of the opportunity here and not letting it go that I'm not saying islaminia mall. But that type of maturity on the field where, yeah, there's some swagger. And I'm going to take you on. And I don't care how old you are. I don't care how experienced you are. I don't care what you or others say I should be doing. And that includes Mauricio Puchotino. And I think Puchotino kind of maybe secretly respects that. We'll talk MLS in the Ask Alexi segment. But Philadelphia on fire, 5 nil over San Diego, 5 nil over Cincinnati, the game before eight wins and two draws in their last 10 to surge up the standings. One quick thought on Gozo before we move on. It's interesting. Nobody doubts that long term for his career was the right move to go to the Premier League. But in terms of this window, I think he actually heard himself. If he had stated RSL and kept playing the way he was playing, he would have been a surefire name on this list. But now he's gone to palace. He's going through an adaptation period, not playing that much, not playing that well when he does get on the field. And so I've seen a couple of US fans on X say, well, maybe he's not quite ready yet. It's interesting how the perception changes. And I think I think they're ready because of what I said before. And going back to the two week long camp that we have here, I understand that you have to be sensitive to players, especially young players that are going over and that are playing overseas and betting in and trying to figure out on and off the field where they fit in and they're fighting for positions. And does it benefit them to be with their club team training day in and day out, albeit with no games, but kind of being in that environment for those two weeks, or does it benefit them more to come into the national team, even as a young player for this extended period? I don't know. I guess you have to make a decision back and forth. But anyway, as far as the youngsters, I mean, that is a burning question. I'll be really interested to see what the makeup is, what the balance is between your usual suspects and some of these new players when it comes to Marisa Pochettino and this lineup. So that's my first burning question. My second one, Mossy, unless you have anything else here when it comes to this. Now go ahead. My second one is, and let's be honest, this has been an evergreen question now for multiple cycles, is goalkeeping. And when years ago, when Matt Turner burst on the scene, and you thought that this was going to be a goalkeeper, probably for the next 10 years, given the lifespan of a goalkeeper, didn't work out that way, all right? It happens. But as we said, it is wide open right now, because while Matt Freeze then went and Matt Turnered, Matt Turner, we still don't have that person in goal. And you know, your Chris Brady's and your Pat Shulti's and your Solentanos, and you know, there are certainly others that are out there. And we're told that they are bringing four goalkeepers as they should, again, a two week window with four different games, bring them all in. I mean, who steps up and who takes it, or who keeps it as the case may be when it comes to Matt Freeze. I don't know if Turner is going to continue to be involved, given where he is right now. He might be one of those where we say, all right, we're moving on. You're not going to suddenly become the goalkeeper that we thought you were going to be. You had your chance, you lost it to Matt Freeze. I guess you could say the same thing about Matt Freeze, although he could certainly get better. But who are those four goalkeepers going to be, and is it going to be a surprise? I find this fascinating. I asked Doug in our interview, do you think it's wide open, or do you think Freeze has an edge as the incumbent? And I'm curious to see who's on this list. I'm Thursday. And then with four games, how Puchotino manages that, could he start a different goalkeeper in each of those four games? Again, goes back to what I said. I think that all bets are off. Use this almost as an open tryout. And if some of the old guard bristles at that tough, all right, this is where we find ourselves. And by the way, the start of a new cycle, which is for all sense of purposes, that's what this is, should always be a kind of growth and a change. Usually it involves a change of coach, and therefore, no matter what, you're going to have a certain change of philosophy. In this case, it doesn't. We're going to get to that here in a second here. But you, you should be able to visually see that this is a very different type of team going forward than the one that we saw bomb out against Belgium in the World Cup this summer. Next burning question. All right. So it comes down to Christian policy. We've talked so much about the young players, but Christian policy, I still think is and will be an important component of this national team. What does Christian policy look like in this next cycle? We know he was hurt this summer. We know he started off being hurt at a simulon right now, and has gotten very limited time, although that seems to be changing here this past week. And hopefully going forward, you know, here's, here's another one, Masi. When it comes to injuries, right? He's coming off of an injury, which is why he hasn't played. There's this two plus week window now. If you're a simulon, do you want Christian policy going to this, what amounts to a training camp for two, two and a half weeks with the national team? Or do you hold him out and give him that much more? Because I do think that they that AC Milan still believes in him, as does Mauricio Pochettino, but is, is policy still the man or have others taken over? I think that's going to be interested. So my question isn't, I think whether Christian policy is going to be part of the national team, it's just what does he look like now after being the poster child for so long, not having lived up to it this summer, but still with the potential to do some great things. And remember last cycle, Pochettino was very willing to acquiesce to club demands much to your chagrin. You felt like he was a little too generous whenever an European club asked for a player not to be selected. He generally complied. We'll see what he does with policy care. It's interesting because I don't want to step on the yanks abroad segment coming up, but he did play 45 minutes this past weekend. Now Milan have a Europa League game against Benfica midweek and then Lecce at the weekend. So if he plays in those games, he might not be that undercooked. I think he will have spent enough minutes on the field that it would be plausible to bring him. And you know, Pochettino, he's still salty over pull a sick sitting out the 25 gold cup. He even mocked the idea that well, you did that so you could be fresh at the World Cup and look at all the injuries you had there. So if he's trying to instill this mentality that every game matters, it would be somewhat contradictory to leave him out. And I almost feel like if he's not injured and playing for his club and why wouldn't you bring him. So Pochettino has put himself in a little bit of a box there regarding policy. And look, it four games. They're going to come in, I think to Atlanta, you know, the new training center down there and all that kind of stuff. Bring in a big group. I mean, bring a lot of people in. That's fine. That's okay. I mean, you can visually make it look like a training camp, I mean, much more so than anything in the past. You mentioned Pochettino, Mossy. And again, whenever we talk about Pochettino, you have to give him some grace because when he speaks in English, sometimes his meaning can be lost. However, the way that he has talked about this new cycle that he has been given. And again, four years as opposed to two years. At times, Mossy is rubbing me the wrong way in that he seems to be saying that there is a change, not the change that I'm talking about in terms of personal, but a change of culture that is coming. And in saying it, he seems to be admitting that in the last couple of years that he has had this team, he got it wrong. And that's, and again, I, it doesn't matter what Pochettino anybody else, you definitely evolve. And you definitely change. And yes, you make mistakes along the way. But again, this was a higher that the United States soccer federation made $6 million a year for a, you know, a coach with, yes, a wonderful resume, except when it comes to the international game in which he had not coached a single game. And they hired him two years before a World Cup and not just any World Cup, but the home World Cup. And so my question is, what did he get wrong? And why did he have to learn those lessons? In this, arguably the most important higher and the most important moments for a US men's national team coach leading up to a home World Cup. And if he is kicking himself now for not having done this, and now going forward, now he's not going to, you know, suffer fools. Look, you had the opportunity. If you didn't think Christian Policic and his attitude was the right part of the culture, then you leave his ass at home. He had the opportunity to leave anybody off the roster that he wanted or to bring anybody for that matter. He had the opportunity, even though it's only two years as opposed to four years, he had plenty of time to establish whatever culture it is he wants. And for him to have this epiphany or consistent epiphanies of, oh, now I'm going to do it this way. That's a little, that's a little strange to me. But if he's learning now great, it's just why did it take this for him to learn? And by the way, I don't know if we want to go down this rabbit hole today, but he had some interesting comments recently about this new contract and how easy it would be for him to walk away and take a club job. So to me, that's an issue that overhangs this whole cycle for the US. Yeah, I mean, again, when he talks about things, you kind of have to read between the lines and at times give him the benefit of the doubt. But yeah, to your point, he's talking about this new relationship and this new structure that they have that enable both of them to kind of go their separate ways. But that's always the case. I mean, you get fired or you quit or whatever, you can certainly go go different ways if it's not happening. Now, you hire him because you believe that he is the best person to take this forward to be successful in the next world cup. And that's why, look, I love gold cups. I love Copa Americas. I love anytime the US men's national team is playing. I get excited for it. But the reality is that it's about the world cup. This US men's national team, it's not about making America and soccer better or anything like that. It's about this team, whatever it looks like, whatever those 11 men are that are on the field, actually competing to win a world cup. That's your job. That's always been your job. That's the most important part. And guess what? You can do a bunch of different things, you ask, great, Burr Holtter, you ask, Clint Smith or anybody else, you can do a bunch of different things. But what you're really going to be judged on is what happens in the world cup. Tottenham and Manchester had it both off to slow starts in the Premier League. I'm just saying, Puchatino, what are you doing this? Now, it was a busy weekend across Europe, a trip who was producing his first show since the World Cup had set up the perfect segue going, pull us sick to pull us sick. But then we went off on a tangent talking about Puchatino and other things. But we are going to, we, you know, we screw up all the best laid plans anyways. We are going to lead off with Lachio AC Milan at the Olympic, Lachio led 2-0 at the break. Milan made a triple sub, bringing on Pulisic, Musa and Moreda. And lo and behold, Moreda scored twice in a second half. One of those assisted by Pulisic who played well. At Pulisic and Musa, if you watch the game, you saw it. And certainly the press afterwards recognized that they fundamentally changed the game and got them a point when they came on the field. They were very, very different when they were off the field as opposed to when they came on the field. So this is this is a great look for both of these players. Now Musa has been off to a roaring start over there after coming back from the loan. He's done really, really well. I don't know if that translates into Mauricio Puchatino looking at him differently. But this goes back to, you know, something that I think all players need to understand. And it's, you know, it's age old, right? Control the controllables. You can't control who the national team coaches. And so therefore, you can't control anything other than playing well. And if he or she likes you, they're going to bring you in. And if they don't like you, then they're not going to bring you in. But they're more apt to like you if you're playing well. Musa, you know, I think in this moment, Mosse, I think this was as important for Musa as it was for Christian Pulisic, although I think Christian Pulisic will get a lot of the attention right, rightfully so. But for a guy that wasn't on the field, to get on the field and to make that instant impact and to remind people, hey, you need me. These were Pulisic's first minutes of the season. Here's what Ruben Emoting said ahead of this match. Christian Pulisic is not happy because he didn't play so far. But I like him a lot as a player. Remember, he was injured this summer. I will never pick my starting 11 based on big names. These are my principles and won't change. But I like Pulisic a lot. Tomorrow, he will get minutes. That was talking about the lots of game. And sure enough, he came on the start of the second half. Well, I mean, I like the fact that Christian Pulisic is a big name in the way that he is framing it. That's a good thing. In the same way that I think, you know, McKenny has become a big name too. So leaving him off, there is there is pressure. That's a good thing. That comes with cash. And you you earn that over time. We go to Germany next. A leverage Houston trailed Augsburg two to one in the second half. They brought on Malik toman and he assisted the equalizer by Patrick Sheik. It was really a shot by toman that she redirected into the back of the debt. Nevertheless, impact as a sub there for Augsburg Noah Kai Banks went all 90 minutes. What do you think is going to happen here with the no no Kai Banks stuff? Sean Sullivan, as you know, has his ear to the streets. Yes, he does. And he claims there are rumblings that banks is going to get called up by Germany in this window. All right. Well, as we said before, if that happens, I do. I wish him well. Being in that position to choose and last couple of weeks, we talked a lot about how it's time to fish or cut bait for with him. And to be fair to him, I think in the public comments that he has had, he has said, yeah, it's getting to a point here where I have to kind of decide. And I think Germany understands that and the US understands that. And if it happens here that, and again, it goes back to what I was talking about the US, maybe Germany is in the same way saying, all right, we need to go in some different directions. We need to freshen this this grew up. And so maybe this is the perfect time for something like that to happen. And if it does, I wish him all the best. By the way, in that same conversation with Nick Rago and Fran Arthur in which we discussed Kevin Sullivan, we also discussed the Novokai bank situation. And Fran said, you got to get off a little bit of this. He has to really want to play for us. Fran thinks it's okay. If you're clearly somebody's second choice, if that other team is one of the giants of the game like a Germany. Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, that's that's practically recognizing that I can't play. You know, for example, um, you know, back in the day, Thomas Dooley, all right. He wasn't going to play for Germany. But he could play for the US. But there's not a there's not a moment that I played with Thomas Dooley where I felt that he was acting in a mercenary capacity. And so I think that's that's what I'm talking about. And if you just think, okay, I can't play for them, but I'm just going to play. And like a sloppy second type of thing. And therefore a level of disrespect, I think that can manifest. If you just think, all right, well, I'll just go here and everything will be everything will be easy and fine. I do think no matter who you play for, you have to want to do it. It has to be more important than the actual goal scored the games that you win. It has to you have to feel something when that song plays and you put your hand over your heart. And you represent this country. I don't want mercenaries representing my country. I want people that care as much as I do. It doesn't mean that they have to have the same upbringing. It doesn't mean they have to have taken the same pathways to get there. But ultimately when there's 11 men or women standing up there with their hand over their heart saying in that song, I think that they have to feel something that supersedes all of the other competitive stuff. And Fran is somebody who is Venezuelan and roots for Argentina against Venezuela because of Messi. So her concept of nationalism and patriotism is let's go. Let's go to France next. Strasbourg, Monaco, 11, Gio Reina started, played 81 minutes. Balagan's still not involved. The player starting up front for Monaco, Paris Bruner got another goal. So I keep saying, Balagan's going to have a fight to get that starting position back. Yeah. I mean, but you say that as if it's a bad thing. I mean, every coach will tell you that competition is good and you want to have that. And especially if you're Monaco, you're like, all right, this is great. We got the best of both worlds. Now you don't have the best of both worlds. If Balagan is hurt or not able to actually compete in that in that situation. But even Gio not having an impact, still getting a point against against Monaco, but more importantly, 81 minutes. Gio's playing consistently, Gio Reina. And that's, I think that is massive, in that I think he has found a place where he feels valued and I think where he feels comfortable. We go to the English Championship next, Middlesbrough, 4-3, win over Nord city, Sebastian Burhalter with two goals. Well, I mean, let's be honest. It's a step down to the championship. And so it's no wonder that someone who starred in MLS is going over not missing a beat when it comes to the championships. Matt Doyle said the same on X, which got people riled up. Listen, I have made my thoughts clear on the championship. And that's that you think it's a ridiculous league. Yes, the English love to mock other leagues when the most overrated league in the world is right there underneath their noses. But I digress. But still, nice to see Burhalter get two goals. One of them was kind of redirecting a shot with an interesting part of his body. They all count. I mean, look, we've talked over the years about, you know, you pack your bags and you get on that flight and off you go to, you know, the tarmac over there at Heathrow and you land at this different country and different world. And then you're asked to play the game that you've been playing as a kid. And sometimes it goes, well, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you hit the ground running and he has hit the ground running. I think he is endeared himself through his play, through his infectious type of character and personality and attitude that he brings to this play and that he is scoring goals and getting a brace here. This could not have gone better early days for Sebastian Burhalter. And for those that were kind of introduced to Sebastian Burhalter over the summer, those have known him and watched him for years. You know what I'm talking about. It's a wonderful story. It's fun. This is a guy that you want on your team because of his ability, his talent, his work ethic and his character. And to see him, I mean, you can tell that he's eaten it up, Moss. You can tell that he is completely embracing this opportunity and that it's translating into wins into goals and obviously starting and playing and becoming a huge part of this team is wonderful to see over there at Middlesborough, which is, you know, basically just an offshoot of America at this point. Another American shining in the championship, Jack McGlin with a great goal for Stoke City and their two one away went over Watford. Yeah, young player going over there and again, attacking players, we often talk about them doing things in attack, obviously scoring a goal, it helps. And it's just, it's such a huge way to kind of shut doubters up to ingratiate yourself, not just to the fans, by the way. But even in the locker room, you know, there's different cultures and there is still, regardless of how far we have come. And I say we, American soccer, how far we've come, they're still skepticism. And so players coming in and while they might look at you first side-eyed, when you score and you score a really good goal, they're like, all right, kid can play. Let's go. Staying in England, but moving up a level to the Premier League, the big one was the Manchester Derby, two controversial decisions, Phil Foden sent off in the first half for kicking out at Bruno Fernandez. And then Erlin Holland scored the winner in the second half, a goal that the Premier League has since come back and apologized to the United and said shouldn't have counted because Enzo Fernandez was clearly involved in the play and an off-sized position when the cross came in. But let's do Foden first because that generated strong reaction on X. Some bloke named Austin Benin said, why can't this sport ever fix this? If you wonder what holds it back in America, it is this part of the culture, pour officiating, pour accountability, mechanisms, pour sports, love the sport. But let's be real about this glaring issue. And you responded to him by saying, fix what? It's a subjective decision made by humans and aided by technology that involves interpreting the law. We can agree to disagree, but there is no fix. Well, I'm going to answer my question that I asked Austin over here in terms of fix what? The quote-unquote problem with VAR is not a VAR problem. It is an England problem. This is a situation where this is why England can't have nice things, okay? You give a child the calculator, and then you get all irritated that that child can't do it, you know, addition or subtraction on it. They on a consistent basis now have shown that they have problems with VAR. When I say problems, people not just disagreeing, but it being the story on a consistent basis year after year after year. And it's not that there aren't controversies elsewhere, but VAR is all over the world right now. And yes, each every week, I'm sure you could point to something in each and every league where people like, ah, this or that, but it's not the consistency and the extent that happens when it comes to the English Premier League. So they need to get their VAR sorted out, if you will. But what does sorted out mean? How are you actually fixing something like this? That is, while it's in the laws, and you can read the law, it is left open to interpretation. Now, these human beings, so far as human beings, are interpreting this law, albeit with being aided with much more technology than ever in the past. And yet to a lot of people who see this, they are still, quote unquote, getting the call wrong. Now, if fixing it just means that your view and your interpretation is affirmed, that's not fixing. That's why I asked, what are you actually fixing here? Now, we come to find out that after the game, the pro referees over there, they reached out to Manchester United and they kind of apologized here, but this is why Manchester United has fallen, because this is a game in which they were up a man, and they still weren't able to figure it out. They still weren't able to figure out how to get this win. And so, what is the problem? Well, it's because of VAR. It's not because of VAR. This is just one of these, one of these types of situation. Did you think I would have no problem, by the way, if it was two yellow cards in that moment? It's worse to get kicked in the front than it is to get kicked in the back. But did you think, first off, that this was a red card, and if it wasn't a red card, did you think that anything should have been done and how it should have been laid out? Yeah, I would have been okay with two yellows. I hate spoiling games in the first half of red cards, unless it's something totally egregious. And the second mistake to me is inexcusable. To me, it was pretty clear, right away, that Enzo Fernandez was involved in that play, that I goal should not have been given. So, I do think United were really hard done there. But to your point, they did play most of the match at home up a man and couldn't score. So, I mean, that's a real indictment on them. Just one win and four primarily games. You know, there were a lot of questions. They're getting left off the hook here. Yes. A lot of question as to whether they overreacted to care of having a successful interim spell and giving him the job permanently. It's too early to render a final judgment, but not off to a great start. Not off to the great start. But, you know, again, the Premier League, if you don't want to have VAR, then don't have VAR. By the way, that opens up a whole other can of worms that you're not going to want to deal with. But if you want to quote-unquote fix it, then fix your house. Get your house in order when it comes to VAR. Whatever the hell that is, because every single weekend there is a VAR hoopla going on when it comes to the Premier League. That doesn't exist everywhere else around the world. We can't be that much smarter that we have figured it out. Or can we be? Before we move on, one post script to our ballon dorsho, the English very salty over the number of Premier League players in that nominees list. It's only five who currently play in the Premier League two who are involved in this match. Ellen Holland and Bruno Fernandez. And then three Arsenal players, Declan Rice, William Salib and Gabrielle. Now, to be fair, Cucuré and Rodri were Premier League players during the period that spans this award. They've since moved on to Spain, Cucuré with Real Madrid, Rodri with Barcelona. Nevertheless, I saw in the comments section to our pod, there were Premier League fans railing about it. It became a big topic in England. I heard multiple podcasts talking about it. So the English feeling very disrespected it. We're the best league in the world. How could we have so few players in this 30-player nominee list? How can you be the best league in the world? You can't even get your VAR sort of. You don't even have technology. You're like a backwoods type of Lee. You can't even figure out how to work technology. How many Premier League players did you have in your 10? I remember it was Dembele, 10, VAR at Scalia, 9, Jude, 8, Lameen, 7. Who did you have? Olise, it's six. And then you had, and Bob Bay, five, Holland, four, so you had one. And then Messi, Rodri and Kane. So you only had one in your 10. But it's still the most popular. And for many people, the most entertaining league, despite all of its problems that we've just mentioned. I love it. I watch it. I think it's wonderful. But whatever your cup of tea is. In terms of continental action, let's circle back to last week, because we taped our last pot on Wednesday. We never got to talk about this. On the Thursday, PSV played to a 1-1 draw, which shocked our in the Champions League. Serginio desh with the PSV goal, continuing his incredible start to the campaign. It's just awesome. And there's a part of me that's kind of painful, because we didn't get the best of Serginio desh this summer at the World Cup. And as a matter of fact, at times, especially in that last game, we got the worst of Serginio desh. So I'm happy for him, but for the U.S. team, well, in this new version, where is Pochettino going? Where does he see him? Literally, where does he see him playing on the field in terms of his position? But if all you're asking is, do well at your club and put yourself in the best possible position, I mean, this is back to Prime Serginio desh right now. That was the Champions League. As we've talked about, the Europa League is really the competition this season loaded with prominent Americans. The league phase gets underway this week. Two of the marquee matches, AC Milan will take on Bengfika, a politic mousin company. And then we're also sure that who remember or managed by an American Pellegrino Matarazzo, they faced Tyler Adams in Bormuth. You've also got Crystal Palace facing a Polish side lec post-non could be playing time for Xavier Gozo there. Leverkusen are in this Marseille, Juventus Celtic, so loaded with U.S. International. Listen, bring them on. The more Americans, the better and gives us more to talk about. And as we said from the beginning of, well, when we first started doing this show, but certainly each and every year, especially when we kick off these leagues, we'll be focusing on these types of players as they go through their ups and downs and their good times and their bad times because they give us a lot to talk about. And thankfully, we've gotten to a point where we have more and more of these Americans to be able to talk about as well as the Americans obviously playing here domestically. And a reminder, the second show each week is moving to Thursday, which will give us a better opportunity to cover the Europa League this season. That takes us to ask Alexi. Ask Alexi. That part of the show where you send in your comments, questions and concerns. Keep in mind that our handle out there on all the old social media platforms is SOTU with Alexi. You can use that hashtag Ask Alexi, or you can call into our state of union podcast Hotline 657-549-2297-657-549-2297. You can call in and scream and yell at me or do whatever. But what do we got today? Well, I see what the folks want to do today. On Ex Go Union says empty seats with the two top teams playing. This doesn't happen at any other MLS stadium. He was alluding to the Inter Miami Nashville showdown, which finished 2-2 message scored for Inter Miami, but surged with two goals for Nashville, including a late equalizer. It was a fun game. And and yet Inter Miami just they can't figure out the the proper recipe at home. And it's not just home. It's it's a brand new stadium and they just haven't gotten comfortable yet. Playing down there. I'm going to actually be heading down there in a couple weeks. So I'm going to actually see the new stadium and see what it's like. Maybe I'm there good luck charm. I'm going to go down there and check out what's going on. I don't think I'll be there for a game, but you know, I'll just, you know, weave my spell over there or take off, you know, the hex that obviously is going on right now as far as the the empty seats. A lot of times this can be misleading in terms of seats sold as opposed to people that are actually in there. I don't think the bloom is off the rose. I don't think that people don't want to see Inter Miami. And when I say Inter Miami, obviously, Inter Miami with Messi, I still think that people will pay money. I don't think that Miami as a city has turned its back by any stretch of the imagination on on this team. But you know, when you were inviting them into a new arena into a new home, you want them to feel good and you want them to leave feeling like they have seen something. Now, you know, Messi scoring and all that kind of stuff is great, but ultimately you want the you want the team to win. All of that is to say is that I don't think regardless of how long Messi plays that the thrill will be gone. People will still pay money, including in Miami. I don't know what you were looking at at that point, but you can go in any sport and find empty seats. And you can say, well, this means this doesn't always mean a situation like that. So I'm sorry, go, oh, you're a union fan. So you're you're you're flying high right now. So you want to, you know, come down on on others out there. I get it. There were so many empty seats. I thought I was watching a USC football game. Oh, look at you. Inter Miami, by the way, was coming off a midweek. One one draw. Oh, eight is Chicago. Levantowski and Casamero with the goals in that one. Orlando, this past week and three nil over Toronto. Griezmann got another goal. That's five straight games for the goal. He has eight goals, three assists in 10 games for Orlando. What a signing he's been. Great signing. I mean, I guess it's under the radar, although we've been we were talking about it. And we for years, we talked about his kind of fascination with America, with America culture, and talk about hitting the ground running. And here's a guy that has come in. And you know, with I guess it would be the noisy neighbors down there in Florida with Inter Miami, there hasn't been as much attention. But especially for I guess the second half of the season, if you're looking at MVP potential MVP players here, absolutely, Griezmann. Hey, even, you know, we talked about Kevin Sullivan earlier in the in the in the show here for a second half type of performance. As young as he is, I would, you know, put him in that short list. MLS has become way more judicious about which aging world class stars they sign. And I feel like the success rate has been much higher late. This latest crop of Marco Roy's Thomas Muller hungman son, messy, obviously, Levantowski, Griezmann. Nobody's collecting a check. They're all taking it seriously, all playing hard, all playing well, so that that's been good to see. Yeah, I think that I think I mentioned this last show that the credibility of Major League soccer has improved slowly, but it is improved. And I think, you know, with this world of technology that we live in where, you know, highlights and the painting of the picture instantaneously goes into everybody's hand around the world. I think that there's there's much more to see. There's always been a fascination for players, you know, when it comes to the United States, North America, but certainly when it comes to the United States, that's that's nothing new. But I think they're not going in as blind as maybe they were in the past or as flip as they have been in the past. And then it comes down to also, you know, the character and the personality. Some of these players that we are talking about here, they want to win. They want to win wherever they are. And I'll finish it here. They also, I think, are challenged by being for some of them for the first time in their career in a league where they're not on the super team, the super club, and that they are in a league that has relative manufactured parity from top to bottom. And that is, that is something new when you talk about, you know, Levin Dosc, can we talk about Greece when we talk about Messi, certainly, and the list goes on and on. I mean, these are not just elite players, but they are elite players that have played for elite teams. And that's a very different type of existence than when you are playing in Major League Soccer. SKC 3-1 win over LASC Brazilian André Luis with a great goal. It's been a real mixed bag for producer trip of late. You've got Arsenal flying, but LASC floundering. Yeah, he's yang, yang. You know, life is life is like that for him and for others out there, but anything else here when it comes to ask us, no, that takes us to one for the road. For those that were listening to LASC show, you know, that I hit the road. I hit the road with my son and we did a little college tour. And we were out there in North Carolina, saw a bunch of places out there. And as we traveled around that area and around that state, we finished up one night at an evening over in what it would be Raleigh, or Carolina. And NC State was playing against Duke. You know, Masi, that I am from and a product of college soccer. You also know that college soccer over the last couple of decades, but certainly over the last decade has dramatically changed both on and off the field. I was it warms the cockles of my old red headed American college heart, Masi to go and to see this game because college soccer is alive and well. It has grown. It is evolved in some ways in a healthy and good way. Maybe other plays in a not so healthy and good way, but it is still competitive. It is still fun. It is still representative of the school. And so there is a tribal aspect of it that was on display that night. And I'm sure is many other places. This was a game at six o'clock on a Thursday night evening, beautiful evening, by the way. They have a nice little stadium there. There is a track, which isn't great, but it was packed. And I started looking around at the people at the game. And certainly there were students. And they were there, not necessarily because they liked soccer. And we saw a lot of that effect this summer at the World Cup, but because it represented supporting your school, it was a social and cultural type of event. There was also an organizational aspect of it when it comes to the supporters section that they have that's organized. They're wearing the same thing. They're chanting. They're doing all the different things. There's the musicians and all that kind of stuff that's going on. So that part of the organizational aspect of it was cool to see. But again, for something that is dramatically and drastically changing in front of our eyes, we've talked so much about what college sports are and what they maybe are going to be, especially when it comes to football, but the same thing applies to other sports, including when it comes to soccer. It was just kind of cool to see that college soccer still matters. Now, when I say it matters, I'm not saying that I saw the next great player playing or anything like that. But I saw people on an evening enjoying the game. I saw players putting on a game and in doing so, entertaining people. And this was soccer. And so it did bring me back to my, you know, my college days. And while college takes a lot of criticism at this point, and some of it incredibly fair, there is still an aspect to it that is fun, that is enjoyable, and that is representative, not just of the school, but of the sport, and the way that the sport has changed over time in terms of our culture. Also, Massey, you will be pleased to know because you are someone that advocates for the clock counting down, which it did. And I'm starting to come around more so to not unlimited substitution, but I've told you before, it drives me crazy that on a roster of players, you can't see all of the players because of the restrictions when it comes to substitutions. And college, if you come out in the first half, you can't go back in until the second half, but it meant that I could see whatever talent that they had. And it didn't disrupt the game. I didn't feel I was, you know, taken out of it because of the substitutions that we're having. So there are some things when it comes to college soccer that we can look at, and we do know that college soccer is also potentially, not potentially, it's going to dramatically change in terms of the season and what is going on for it. So hopefully that's a good thing. Hopefully we continue to have college soccer be part of this emerging structure or infrastructure when it comes to development, but not just development, but also entertaining when it comes to soccer. On the topic of college sports, the aforementioned Nick Rago and Fran Arthur have made their way to our studio. Nick was in Ann Arbor this past week and the whole digital crew went to cover the Oklahoma Michigan game. I sent Christina some restaurant recommendations. I was very happy to hear they went to a couple of my places and loved them. Well, give a, give a focus. I mean, if someone was to go to Ann Arbor, where are you sending them? They ate at Savaz and Frida Batitos. The other place I sent them was Pizza House. I guess they didn't make it to that, but that's excellent to Ann Arbor known for its food, excellent restaurants. But if you're going to send them to the best pizza place, it's Pizza House in Ann Arbor. Where do you have something else up here? No, although it's called Pizza House, it's not really about the pizza there. They've got lots of other great stuff. So it's not the aptly named Pizza House. What is it? Oh, the posters are great and yeah, no wings and all sorts of other stuff. Of course. Flex, one random one. Yeah, you told me your wife got really into the U.S. Hope and tennis. Oh, she's a huge tennis fan. Place tennis, watch it. I mean, she stayed up late the other night and did you watch the end of this final? The player that won, Alexander Ziverov, didn't realize it was match point. He won the tournament and he didn't celebrate. He walked back as if there was another point to be played and a few seconds went by and then he looked around at the crowd and realized, oh, I just won this tournament. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen. And by the way, there is a soccer connection. Brazil had a legendary player named Gahinsha. He was a zany character. He lost his virginity to a goat, believe it or not, Google it. It's true. But there's a story about him which might be apocryphal 1962 World Cup final, Brazil beat Czechoslovakia and supposedly at the final whistle, he turned to a teammate and said, who do we have next? No, no, that was the final. We just won the World Cup. So sometimes you lose track. You know, you're competing and it was such a good idea to do live shows, huh? It was really, you know, I think there's a spark to it, you know, and you can't go back. You can't fix anything regardless of what you say. I like that. Yeah, she was totally into the tennis there. She stayed up, she stayed up late. By the way, tennis should also be even for men's, it should be two out of three. I think that some of these games that go well into the night, it's just ridiculous how long they play. Director Gabe wasn't buying the Ziverov thing. He thought he was faking it about saying it. I mean, if you didn't believe it was true, right? I don't know. He gave interviews after the fact saying, no, I was genuinely confused by what the score was. I don't know, but Gabe's not buying it. Oh, he's not buying it? Well, you know, maybe we'll clean it up next show. Have you watched anything, my friend, that you want to mention? Often running on a new season of Fowda, which is this Israeli spy show, interesting timing to be dropping a new season of a show like that. Nevertheless, I do find that entertaining some watching it. I feel like you've talked about this many times before. So this is a great show. Multiple years of this show, right? By the way, Gabe chiming in again. He loves Fowda. Oh, really? Okay, so that's good. Yeah. I only have one thing over there on the old Apple machine, Mayday, starting Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Brana. It's direct to Apple. So it's made for Apple, Apple films or whatever they do over there. You know, Ryan Reynolds does his normal kind of stuff, which is actually often and consistently funny. Kenneth Brana does a Russian accent, which is horrible, and just kind of comes in and out. But if you watch this movie and for just a real quick synopsis, it's from back in the 80s, a fighter pilot played by Ryan Reynolds, it's a comedy kind of gets shot down over Russia and has to get out of Russia. And Kenneth Brana, who's a ex CIA guy, ex KGB guy helps him get out. But there's there's a weird thing going on. I don't know if it's AI or whatever, but the fight scenes and some of the action sequences are just kind of there's stud, they're weird. There's something weird about it. So if you watch it, look for that and tell me if you had the same reaction to just the visuals of what is going on. Anyway, it's a little weird. It's okay. It's not great. Back in the day, it would be straight to video type of thing, which is kind of where its level is. Anything else before we go? My friend, that is it. All right, well, we've had a good time. As Masi mentioned, we will be going, what, live this Thursday, right? Post-Roster, as we've talked about this first roster after the World Cup from Russia, Pochettino. It's going to be really, really interesting to see who he decides to bring in as we go forward into this next cycle leading up to the next World Cup, especially coming off of what happened this summer. So we will be on the lookout for that. We will have a live reaction show after that is dropped, as the kids say. Keep reviewing and keep downloading and keep reviewing and keep rating and keep subscribing. All the different things that you do out there, double fist and left and right up and down. Smash that button, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe, whether it's over there on YouTube or Spotify or Apple or over on, let's see X or Instagram or TikTok. I know I'm missing someone. One of the other ones, they're a flu sky. I don't even know if that exists anymore or anything else out there. All of the different platforms. We love the fact that so many people are coming into state of the Union tent, the more the merrier. And it's warm, it's friendly, it's loving, and it's romantic, my friends. All right, until this Thursday and the drop of the US men's national team roster, size the day.
