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Welcome to the table soccer show and USMNT Weekly, it's our regular fray into all things on this episode, we're digging into Maurizio Pocciotino's recent comments about young players, about the Olympics and much more. We look at some potential wild car picks for the upcoming roster and we're looking at dual nationals, there's so much to come. On this episode, do join us, my name's Ryan Bailey, hello Taylor Rockwell, how are you? I'm doing well Ryan, I appreciate that you always do a good job in the introduction of explaining everything we're going to be talking about. And then I also appreciate that you implore the listeners to continue to listen, because I do picture somebody tuning in and be like, they're talking about what? No, I've done enough of these Americans, I'm out. So thank you for keeping listeners tuned in and locked in. What they stick around for is you deconstructing the intro immediately after it's happened. I mean, I don't see why they wouldn't and I don't see why they should. Indeed, let's deconstruct that as well. Let's just keep this going and we'll introduce Graham Ruff and hello Graham, how are you? I'm good, Ryan Bailey, how are you? How are you feeling now that the longest international break from a season in history is just around the corner? Do you not have any juice at all for? Do you know what I went in to look at England's fixtures? And I really badly wanted like an England North Macedonia to throw at you here. Do you know what England's first game in the nation's league is in a tournament? England Spain. You've not got any juice for that at all. Is it nation's league or is it friendly? It's nation's league. Okay, sure. I'll get around to that later. Okay. You'll rewatch that. You're on time. I'm deciding in real time right now. I'm rebranding Graham. I'm an international soccer guy now. I can't wait for this really long window that prevents us from watching domestic soccer for four weeks. I think it's going to be awesome. Sure. Okay. Is that because AFC went with the Northern Perlite? No, I watched you on the big sky on Monday night and you won? I'll wait to Bromley and your nation's red carpet. We did. We won at the home of the London city lionesses and also Bromley. Wonderful. What a time to be a live group. Yes. Indeed. Joe Larry's also here. Hi, Joe. How are you? Hey, Ryan. I'm great. I am actually quite looking forward to this international break. I think maybe after the World Cup, I needed a little bit of a break. And I think I've had enough because I am really, really excited about this next gen of US prospects. I'm excited for US Mexico and my own backyard. Well, like 52 minutes away from my own backyard. I am stoked. Let's let's do this thing, man. Why not? We've all been told about Taylor's backyard all this time. Joe's backyard is a stadium. Wow. My backyard's a floating stadium. It takes me 52 minutes to get off the shuttle really down to the actual earthbound stadium. All right. Why did Joe and Ryan both sound like robots trying to feign enthusiasm? Like you both got really close to authentic enthusiasm. But both of you had a vibe of like, yes, I'm I'm really excited to be back for international soccer. There you are. I can't wait. I read that thread this morning about how they're all going to kill the all human guide within the next 10 years. And that guy's resigned from anthropic. And this is the start of it. It started with Ryan and Joe. This is this is going to go in the history books. This moment right here. That was a contract wasn't it? Joe wasn't AI all along. Oh, man. You're asking questions. I don't have the answers to. Okay. For the record, Taylor, I'd never sounded enthusiastic. Just so you know, yeah, that's true. You were you stayed on brand. Joe, however, now I am slightly worried about actually not even AI can imitate that. All right. Well, AI has not yet replaced a total soccer show. Or has it? Hmm. Could be some Westworld stuff going on there. It's just very silent. I'm just saying. He's processing. He's thinking the whole time. I've been trying to think of how to do like an impression of how chat GPD sounds when you ask a question. And I just cannot I cannot figure out a squeeze into a bit. I've been trying to load a bit this entire time. And I'm just it's not working out. Oh, international break loading. I think that's how it sounds. That's right. And it says bleep bleep bleep. Was it one of the initial giveaways that like it used a lot of hyphens or like M dashes. Yeah. Yeah. Joe, just insert those into your speech and then say the right. See, see, that was rough for me because when I write, I like to use those two dashes already. And now I feel like they're ruined. Yeah, absolutely ruined for me or making any sort of not this, but this comparison. That's how air writes all the time is not this, but actually this. And it's like, well, just shut up and leave the writing for the humans. You know, yeah, shut up. All right. I don't know. Well, we'll just act natural. Just be cool, Joe. Just be cool. Just be cool. Patreon.com slash total soccer show is our bonus feed. By the way, if you want to get bonus episodes of this here podcast and access to our discord server, where all the cool kids and no AI's are hanging out, patreon.com slash total soccer show, we're going to be talking much more US soccer, maybe some US Open tennis, 22 Robbins boyfriend doing very well in the older, flushing mid o's. Let's talk about that and much more on our bonus feed. Do join us there. But for now, Joe, should we start off with Mauritius Pochettino's recent media availability? Can I start and ask why did he have this media availability? It was just random afternoon movies like gather around US soccer journalists for I have proclamations. I know I don't know exactly. I mean, you're a more PR guy than me, but presumably there's just a lot of storylines about the US right now coming out from the World Cup. This is the first post World Cup availability for Pochettino. At least since he's now really got into the meat of this next cycle. And there's a lot to talk about. So if you can get some things out of the way now, then the presser later on will be a little bit more about the actual players that are around and not about as many of the big picture storylines. So I think the sheer volume of stuff right now that's coming through US soccer meant that this is probably a good idea. Maybe. Or maybe they just called Poch back into the office. You've been gone since July, come and come and do zoom. Yeah, do zoom. So he talks about two things, Joe. We can dig into those. He talks about the young kids at MLS clubs. He talks about working towards 2030. He talks about the Olympics. Where should we start? Maybe with the youth? What do you think? I think that is the most exciting bit of all this for people that missed it. There's a lot of great summaries of the conversation out there. Paul Tenerga in the athletic have some really good stuff. Jonathan Tannenwald in Philadelphia, Doug McIntyre go go read around. The thing that was the most clear to me through all this is that Pochettino is ready to turn the page in a real way. And the most exciting bit is the young players coming through that Pochettino now wants to turn his attention to a quote from his media availability is we're going to do a mix experience players with young players that can fit together and start to work and help how the young kids start to manage the pressure to play in the first team. Pochettino has has been watching the kids and he likes what he sees. He had a quote about how Philadelphia has some good young players. Good kids that maybe they're going to call a few of. I think if you say maybe we're going to call a few that probably means you are going to call a few. So keep an eye on maybe the Kevin Sullivan Neil Pierre, Frankie Westfield trio down in Philadelphia. He mentions New York, probably referring to Adrien Julian Hall. He mentions Orlando with Justin Ellis, presumably, mentions Nashville, which I'm not exactly sure who he's talking about there. He doesn't know he's English. That's right. Honey Mooktar. Let's get him naturalized. All these options. Atlanta talks about, I mean, presumably talking about Cooper Sanchez, they're starting to midfield for Tatumartino. He said quote, I can keep going. No, because I think yes, we're so excited. I think we can add young kids that can bring a fresh start and you can feel something different. It's time. It's time for the next generation. The kids are ready to start being integrated. We've seen consistent quality performances from so many of these young players. To me, this this generation of young talent looks special and it looks like they're of the quality that we haven't seen since the Christian policy, Western McKenney, Tyler Adams generation and those players have been national team pillars ever since they integrated into the senior team. I think we could be looking at another generation that has more breadth of talent that could do something similar in it. It seems like Paschino agrees with that. Okay. Is that not a thing that most coaches would do. Try and bring bring in young players with experience ones. It's not exactly reinventing the wheel. Is it if I'm going to be cynical about it? No, for sure. It's not reinventing the wheel. I think it's the only logical course of action, but that Paschino is basically confirmed that he's going to bring in young players. We didn't know, right? He could come out of the World Cup and bring in like two young guys and keep the rest of the World Cup squad. We didn't know exactly what his approach to integrating those players is going to be. And we still won't until the roster comes out next week. We won't have a full picture here. But I think it sounds like he sees a lot of talent in this next generation. And there's a lot of players in that generation. And what I took from these comments is that Paschino is thinking about and planning to bring in a huge number of these young kids. Maybe I'm going to be disappointed by that. And it won't actually be huge and it'll be four. I don't know. But it sounds like given the number of teams that he referenced there and how much he talked about this next generation of talent that he is pretty willing to turn the page and start giving some auditions out. Right. What do you want? Do you want to call in a toaster? Is that what you're looking for? To be innovative, to be groundbreaking? What like does that spark your fancy? Is that just your cynicism towards the international game? No, I just I thought you know, a big thing's been made of bringing talking about the young players who are coming through. But I don't see that as being something that's not typical. Right. It's not saying I'm going to entirely have this roster of young inexperienced players or anything like that. Like my guess would be that I think like in reading some of the comments, it feels like some of the concern with like the second cycle syndrome. If that's a thing. Is that the coach will be overly loyal to the players that were there previously. And that's the thing that was like a lot of Greg Berhalter. Certainly, Clint's been a little bit Bruce Arena, even in 2006. And so I think maybe seeing that he is, it seems like watching a lot of youngsters and doing a lot of dual national recruitment at the same time, maybe speaks to there is more to this rehire than just yeah, I'll stick around until something else better comes along. Maybe there is something actually to him being involved in youth development and the youth setup. We'll see what actually comes of that. But I think starting off by calling in experienced players and then a lot of young players and maybe a couple dual nationals or a couple players that were on the outside looking in is a good way to show that this is indeed like a fresh start or a reset. Yeah, how how pointed do we think the Calvin Sullivan comments where we're pretty kind of talked about? Yeah, the context here is Calvin Sullivan either last week of the week before went on Alexial Alice's podcast. And he gave a quote that was to the effect of I believe I could have made a difference for the US against Belgium at the World Cup. And it seems like Potch is a good one or a bad one. Well, I guess we'll never know. I presume he meant a good one. But he's got way better on goals. Potch didn't name, he didn't name Calvin Sullivan in his comments, but very much seems like some of his remarks were directed towards Calvin Sullivan. That was the most interesting because I'm I guess messy and like a bit of gossip. That was the most interesting thing of the whole interview, the whole press call from me from Potch. Do you know where those comments? And it's at this point that I'm going to kind of own my own sense on Calvin Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan, which is in the past, I have feared that his cockiness because he is a little bit cocky and could tip over it into being like the wrong sort of thing for his career. And what we'll say is right now those fears are laid by a run and form, which has made him like one of the most impactful players in MLS. And also like cockiness and soccer and in sports, not necessarily a bad thing, like it can be a very positive thing for a player. So it is something that I myself have like spotted about Calvin Sullivan. And it seems like Potch Tino is as way of it as well. Let's just see. He is. I thought his answer was was interesting. All be it a little bit difficult to parse Potch Tino, but I think that's what I like about him is it seems like he is trying to give real answers while still protecting the players, but still sort of actually speaking to what he feels. And I think it was telling that he began those comments, I think by saying like we are seeing everything we are observing everything. And to me, that is a way of saying like yeah, you make a comment. We're going to see that comment. But within that like to your point, Graham, he talks about like how you have to have confidence. You have to have a little bit of ego. You have to have a little bit of self belief. But then there's a moment when you have to be able to pull that back and be aware of what you're saying or like I think he was trying to make the nuanced point that like you have to have ego to be a world class footballer. But you also have to have the ability to check that ego to make sure that your functioning is part of a team and part of a unit. That's that was my rough takeaway. And I think it's a good point to make given that we do tend to massively overhype looking in my own direction when it comes to young players who could break through and we kind of feed that narrative. We feed into it. And when they don't meet those expectations, we pull the rug out from under them and we criticize them. And then we move on to the next one. And I think that can be really frustrating for players and for coaches. And I think it can be really negative for their career. And so like I think this is in a way, Potsatino, maybe checking that just a little bit or speaking to that a little bit before it becomes too big of an issue before it boils over. But ultimately, I think trying to make sure that he is like steering the team in the right direction as he's fit. Yeah, it felt like just classic, poch old school coach vibes here, right? I mean, like stay quiet. Young pup is basically the TLDR of the comments with some nuance tale that you said. He talked about how we need to be careful because when you're young, of course, you need to be confident and you have trust in yourself and believe you can do well. But there's also a limit. And he's basically said, if you're not messy and you have one eight bound doors, keep your talk to a minimum. It was what's basically the summary of those comments. And it's not just Kevin Sullivan, who's sort of been in the media with this sorts of thing, although it does seem like Potsatino answered this question with this when he was specifically asked about they filled off a union youngsters rather than the pool at large. So I don't know how you could read this any other way than he's primarily talking about Kevin Sullivan, who, as Grimm said, has been awesome and very much should be in this camp. Last month, Xavier Gozo was asked point blank if he thought he should have been at the World Cup. And he said, quote, I do think I deserve to be there. So it's not like Kevin Sullivan's the only one talking about how he thinks he could have made a difference. All these professional athletes think like this, you can talk about the wisdom of saying what you really think or not in the media. I don't think we should lambast people when they say what they think. I think that's that's great. I think it's really helpful. So I appreciate that these young guys have come out and said this. And also the US team needs some personality man. Like we just made it to a World Cup with a milk toast, like personality roster. I mean, the biggest US star in the planet has no appetite of being that whatsoever. Like we could sure use a few of these young players to have a little bit of edge to them to captivate like the general American sports audience. So soccer tries to make a bigger, bigger imprint on those kinds of people. Like as someone who just cares about this sport in this country, I love this kind of stuff, man. Yeah, I watched a video of Kevin Sullivan talking through his A A A A S C ratings. And I just watched that video and thought, pull us it can never pull this sort of thing off. So yeah, personally is personally isn't a bad thing. And Kevin Sullivan has it in in bag. So I'm interested to see how he translates that. For those of us who have not seen that video, can you say more? What was it that you found captivating? So basically the way that they do these things is A A A F C or FIFA and back in the day. As you'll know Taylor, they have like a rating for pace, for shooting, for passing, and they like get they give him this big sort of shield and cardboard shield and they cover up each rating. And he has to guess what he's going to be for each rating. And then they cover up and he pulls it, it pulls away one by one. And there's some he's genuinely like quite gutted. I think it was his shooting, he thought was going to be a lot better than like 65 or whatever it was. And it was just it's just good social content, man. And yeah, pull us like that in his thing. And so that feels like saying I've applied a failure, making revealed those numbers when they thought maybe I did a couple of times. Yeah, he was pretty measured about it though. Like he was pretty realistic or like you know, he had some specific critiques for where he thought that maybe maybe things were a little bit wrong. But I think he was like in the ballpark on most of them, which I appreciate it as well. I don't think I've ever seen a single player be like, yep, that looks right. They're always annoyed that they weren't faster or like goalkeeper numbers seem to always be one that makes them annoyed. I'm like, I'm better than a 10 goalkeeper or whatever, because those numbers are always super, super low for outfield players. I remember one back in the day when Ramele LeCacoo was doing that because they do this every single year with players. And they'd rated him much higher than he was like 95. And they went sprinting around the training ground. And then they came back and the FIFA guy went, well, you're going to clearly not that fast. We'll thank you for that. One thing I don't know about this, like I think maybe it's because I like Bochettino. Maybe there's like bias there. Maybe with a different coach, I would feel differently. But I like this because it does signal to me that he's calling in Coven Sullivan. And I think is going to give him an opportunity in camp, whatever happens with that opportunity. We'll see. But I think you also want to maybe like preemptively check a little bit and just see how players respond, but also make sure that they do respond. And to the points that have already been made, like the way you make it to Crystal Palace in the Premier League at a young age is to believe in yourself and be very confident. So I don't begrudge the year goes or Kevin Sullivan or whomever else for saying like, yeah, I should have been there. I think I'm good enough player. I don't have that wiring, which is why I'm sitting where I am. I would have been like, no, whatever the coach wants, you know, it's, it's their, it's their job. And that's why I'm not an elite football or the world class level. That's the only reason, by the way. But, um, but I think that it will be interesting to see how players respond to similar questions in the future. If there is more deference given to the coaching staff or just more awareness of that because that does signal to me that there is an impact, but it's not overly impactful. It's not making players be silent, but it is showing that they're willing to kind of tow the line as the coach sets it to make sure that everybody is kind of on the same page. And I don't have a huge problem with that. But I agree also that I do want there to be personalities in this team and be player, players who do back themselves and have that confidence to go out and want to be the figure to make something happen. I don't think that's the worst thing for this team. Agreed. We watched this game for entertainment after all. Yeah, personalities are entertaining. We need to take a quick break, but we've got a bit more to say about Pocchus comments coming up after this short pause. We're also going to pick our wild cards for the September roster. Hey, stick around. Total soccer show, welcome back to USMNT weekly. We've got a window coming up as a reminder. It's the US taking on Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada in September and October. Is it the Peru game? Joe, that's happening in your in your back. So you'll open the windows to see Aguirre and Co. That's right. In the backyard. Wonderful. Yep. Good to see. Excellent stuff. All right. So there's been some prep happening for that with Pocch, taking these this media session. Joe, knockout banks is not going to be among the contingent in this roster. We understand at this point, still got some some decisions to make. I guess so, but, but no key banks has also put sort of a timeline on his own decision here where he talked about how he needed to make a decision. If not by this upcoming international window, the one after that, so that'll be the November window. And Pocchus comments about him recently, and this be the availability lined up with what Banks has said, of course, he said that he's spoken to banks and that they're in contact with with him and all the other dual nationals, whatever that means. And that banks still isn't ready to commit. The quote is no guy didn't change his mind in his waiting. Still no decision. And of course, we cannot consider him for this next camp, the one, that you just referenced with those four games. So it seems like Banks is really the one who's put the the clock on himself here, rather than US soccer and Pocch Tino. Banks said that I told both of them both sides, Germany and the US that I just wanted to concentrate on the start of the season, but I know that I have to decide by the next the next one now, the one after this, this current one. Who knows? Who really knows what's going to happen here? It's clear that Pocch Tino is in discussion with Banks. It's clear that Banks hasn't made up his mind. He said he watched the the World Cup sort of a split loyalties and he was leaving like, you know, celebratory comments on US players Instagram posts throughout the tournament, but clearly that didn't mean they actually made a decision yet. I do wonder if there's a point in which Banks realizes that that the US door is going to close for him because if he just keeps them waiting around like the second option, then then maybe Pocch Tino and his staff are going to move on. I don't really think US soccer could afford to move on from from waiting around for a new like I banks. I think you could wait till after the 2030 World Cup darn it for all for all I care. I think he is that important in a position of need for the US, even if you still have quite flawed young player, but no banks in this upcoming window, at least I think stand now. I suppose this could change, but it really does look like November is the earliest we could see him in a US shirt and I think US fans should still very much be hoping that he opts to wear red, white and blue instead of Germany's far superior uniforms. Yeah, I mean, the concerning thing for the US right now is there is reporting in Germany that Jürgen Klopp has personally been to watch Ausburg's games to start the Binsliga season and Banks has played 180 minutes out of a possible 180 for Ausburg in their first two games, which Ausburg have won handsomely. So that's a little bit worrisome and it seems like, and look it's still rarely in the season and also big disclaimer, I haven't watched either of those games. It could have been horrible in both of those matches, but the fact they played 90 minutes suggests they hasn't been. It does on the face of things who professionally seem like he might have taken a step up in the pecking odds at Ausburg and Germany needs new defenders after the end of the World Cup and a couple of defenders being faced out, people like Antonio Rudiger. So that's a concern for the US. It does kind of feel like, potentially, now we're never for the US to get in the OK Banks. Yeah, if we find out that Banks is using Travago instead of Expedia, then we're in right on the wall. I mean, center back is still just the position of need. The center back and goalkeeper are the real concerns. Gokeeper just kind of is what it is. There's nobody really rising to the pipeline right now that looks like a savior. Banks is not a savior level talents. I think he's a very, very good young player. Defensively, he's still poor a lot of the time. So there's still some rough edges that need to be sanded, but he would add something in a position of need that the US is just desperate for. Good stuff. Taylor, Parch was positioning this as a project for 2030. Now's the time to start thinking about 2030, which is quite right to do, but something stood out to me was 2028 and the mention of the Olympics. And it seems quite unusual to me for a national team coach to put as much emphasis as Parch did in this session on the Olympic program, which is typically runs parallel to the FIFA national game, if that makes sense. So I thought I was interesting that there was this desire. I suppose it speaks to the youth that they want to bring through, right? So I thought I was interesting to bring out the Olympics so much. Yeah, I can't tell if it's a combination of two things or one of the other, but I think it was Sanjay Joe, who I saw mentioning this on Twitter, that there was at one point speculation that there would be or at least like reporting or maybe US soccer had even said that there would be two different camps or a couple different camps. Just speculation, I believe. Okay. That like we would get one sort of Olympic age there about camp and then one for the more senior players. That doesn't seem to have happened. So I do wonder if maybe there was a talking point of like mentioned that you're bringing through a lot of the youngsters and the potential Olympic players and that they're going to be part of this team. And there is a chance that the squad we're going to see called in is 32 players or something over what we would expect the squad to be and that you're going to have a kind of giant pool of players training together. It's a distinct possibility. They might also go with just a few youngsters, but either way it does seem like there is attention being paid to that Olympic team and what that team might look like. It does seem like that is the thing that US soccer is if not outright prioritizing because we would assume it's going to happen the same time as a potential Copa America. It seems like it's a thing that they recognize as being on home soil another opportunity to get some interest and other opportunity to kind of correctly bill it as the next big things could already be here. Let's see what happens at these Olympics with a lot of you 23 players. Always fun to think about who the overage players will be, but it does seem like there's going to be a lot of youth with an eye towards that Olympics in these next four games. Yeah, I'm surprised that Potsino as a person is placing such an emphasis on this because obviously he's not going to be the coach for this this tournament is going to be Steve Trandalo. I'm not surprised that US soccer as a whole is placing emphasis on obviously they do they place a big emphasis on the on the women's tournament and every Olympics. Different kind of dynamic there of course, but not even on the men's side not overly surprised that it's going to be a big focus because pretty much every time a host nation, you know, the Olympics is hosted by a nation. They do put an emphasis on the men's soccer tournament like France did it in 2024. Terry on re was the coach of that team off the top of my head. I seem to remember and they had a good number of like star players in that team. Brazil did it in 2016. The UK did it in controversial fashion in 2012 creating an entirely new team for that that tournament. So it does kind of continue a trend of horse nations putting some form of focus on the men's soccer tournament. Yeah, fair enough. And yeah, of course it is a big event for the US this coming Olympics. Hey, Joe, what state we move on to this September roster and we maybe select some wild car picks and plays. We haven't necessarily been part of the Pots pool so far. Would you like to nominate anybody? I would. I mean, I have guys at East position. So I'm curious how everybody else went about this. I referenced center back in goalkeeper earlier. So maybe I'll do my guys there and then I'm curious to hear who else who else is on the table. I do think in goal and patch, you know, specifically reference Nashville. I do wonder if he was referring to Brian Schwachy, who is not a kid. He's like very much in his mid 20s at this point, but he's been brilliant for the best team and I'm less this year. The team that is the favorite to win the supporter shield coach by BJ Calhan, the big east legend himself. I do think that Schwachy belongs in this next US camp. He feels like a guy that if he's not brought in is going to end up following sort of a Bradstuver esque trajectory where he's just consistently one of the best goalkeepers in the league, but doesn't get the look. I think he will though in this upcoming window. Like I said, he's been quite good as a shot stopper this year. Third and goals prevented MLS just behind Matt Turner, who should also be in this camp, but he's been around before. I think Schwachy and then Diego Koken are the names that I think about as being new entrants in the goalkeeper spot. Koken's had some some good moments and some down moments for Lingby over in the Danish top flight. I think that's to be expected. His first taste of first division soccer coming this season. Then at center back, it's just two names for me because if you take banks off, it's not a really long or promising list. Neil Pierre is the big one. The teenage showed off a union center back literally the big one six, but seven we talked about him on the show before. He's been just dominant in the air. He is a good defender. I think there's still some seasoning that could happen there. His own ball play is the weakest bit, which is super rare. I feel like for a center back a young center back these days. I think in the US and really all over the world, the thing that we're seeing from players in that position is we're seeing guys who are finesse filled on the ball, but struggle to handle their business defensively and Pierre is like the flip of that where I think he has a bit more passing in his bag than he's shown for the union senior team so far, but defensively he's been a big plus for them and in the air he's the most dominant aerial player on the continent. Neil Pierre should be there and then just one more name briefly that I don't feel strongly about, but the center back position needs help. So you think about names that maybe are a little deeper down just in shape for the Red Bulls looks like he is basically he's has been a full time center back all year for Michael Bradley and he is slight like he's not a he's not a big guy, but he is quite savvy on the ball and he's been around the national team picture before in the youth levels and he is he's like quick. So I think he can bring something on both sides of the ball, even if he is like Gary Medell level undersized, but those are the two names at center back that I would think about maybe being brought in for this camp that we haven't seen from the US before. Okay. Tyler? Yeah. So a couple of things. Potch mentioned right that he like with players that have just moved in that in that press conference are in the in the round table with a select few journalists as those selects few journalists have mentioned a couple times in their articles. He mentioned that what he wanted to leave some players who've moved or recently moved, he wants to give them the opportunity to get familiar with their clubs. If that is the case, I wonder who that affects like Xavier Gozo. You would assume that maybe that's a player that he wants to leave with Christopher Palace to get some reps and some training. I wonder if I wonder if all of them basically if it is like you leave the three and then maybe you just leave a more is just to be a bro with them, but other ones like Mathis Albert. Like he's he's in the conversation right for potentially making it like he's with the senior Dortmund team now. He doesn't play in the Champions League this week, but has gotten minutes for them seems like he's going to be in the conversation. But I think for that reason, maybe you leave him with Dortmund to give him more reps and more opportunities instead of pulling him out and kind of making him adjust to a US camp. I also wonder and Joe would be better positioned to speak to this. I also wonder if there will be some hesitation to pull key players from MLS teams that are playoff bound or contesting for the playoff spots that maybe you don't want to ruffle too many feathers. You don't want to make somebody come play for international games and then return injured for the playoff push. So that made me think of names like Josh Sergeant playing for a Toronto team that I don't know what the expectations are for them for the rest of the season. Though I think Joe and Jeff in our show yesterday. I didn't write down what you all said about Toronto. I apologize Joe. They're mid. They're mid. Are they are they a sprint season or they a next season team? Probably next season. There you go. So it's an upgrade, right? But meantime, he's scored a bunch of goals. Seems to have settled well finally. Seems to be taking his chances with Toronto. So like, maybe that's a player who goes to Major League Soccer. Pochettino has talked about and praised Major League Soccer before. Maybe that's somebody who was on the outside, but now you give an opportunity, especially if you're leaving other options at home. One that we all know, but I just want to note, I really hope Florian Balligan is there. I feel like given the way things have gone in the chance window, obviously, given that he's out of Monaco's conference league squad, maybe just getting him in with the US, giving him some reps, giving him an opportunity to get away from the club situation for a moment. I think that might be in his best interests. And I want to say again, not even saying that he was necessarily right, Balligan, I just have a ton of respect for him walking away from that Everton deal, even if it leaves his career in a bit of chaos at the moment. But I feel like I wouldn't have had the guts to do that to recognize that this just doesn't feel right. This isn't what I want. And so I don't know if it ends up being the right decision, but I think it was for him and I respect it. So credit to him. But I hope he's there. And then I think there's a few other, like, maybe more wilder card options. I apologize for going along. I'll just give you the one who I think counts because he was very much on the outside looking in, if looking in at all. But Eunice Musa is now a regular starter in the center of good field for AC Milan, an AC Milan team that have been good so far, good enough. And there are still injuries. So maybe other players end up taking that position. But at the very least, he is done enough to stay in Ruben Emmerheim's plans with some of those injuries. But I wonder if maybe even when those players return, it's not like it's a Milan team that has an insane amount of depth there. So I feel like we might see Eunice Musa getting a lot of minutes this season from Milan. And I don't know how that can happen and how he can still be left out of a US camp. So he would be one that we haven't seen in quite some time. But I think could very well be in the conversation this time. Great. Any nominees? Not any fresh nominees. I think everyone's been mentioned from my list. I had Gozo, a Kevin Sullivan, Eunice Musa. Neil Pierre was top of my was top of my list. Just because I think he is someone who could immediately contribute to this team. Like Kevin Sullivan feels like a bit of a project player. It's exciting. If he does, if he does get the call up, we know that his ceiling is incredibly high as a player. But he's not someone you would think is going to come into that lineup. Even for like 23. That seems to be too soon for Kevin Sullivan. You don't think Joe? Not at all. But keep going. How old will he be in 23? So that's four three. He'll be two and a half. Okay. It's possible. Actually, when I think about it, but yeah, like Neil Pierre is someone because that position is such an area of need for the US. Like if he comes in and does well, like he's potentially a like a starter for the US straight away, we presume that Rem the Dream is finally going to get faced out of this. I don't know. The squad. Well, never say never. And yeah, having watched the union recently, like it's impossible to miss Neil Pierre one because he's six foot seven. I was reading how he has had he's a rarity in that his growth spot has come really late, apparently. And he's got to six foot seven fairly recently. People are thinking like, whoa, now's a good time to stop because there's a point like athletically, where it's particularly in soccer, where like there's a height where it becomes a negative, like it becomes detrimental to you athletically and six foot seven feels like the tipping point if you're an outfield player. So yes, I would like to see him on this roster. And just finally, Brian Schwache, who has been terrific for Nashville. I've spotted that in the fantasy app this season. I did not think I would see him in on a US roster when I was watching him play Sterling Albion in Scottish league two, like three seasons ago. What an upward trajectory he has had. What's the story there? So he was at Levingston, and he went on Lunds, Ed and Brasetta. He bounced around the Scottish lower leagues and there's not one of the best goalkeepers in MLS. So good for him, man. That feels like a man, another, that feels like a Matt Turner story, like lower, lower division soccer player turned like star at the MLS level. Maybe the national team. That's cool. I never realized that. The only thing I'll mention, I guess two things. So we believe the roster is coming late next week. I think we will have time then as a result, we haven't talked about this before of us, but to do a roster predictions episode next week. So I have a bunch more names that I want to get to, but I will hold them in hopes that we will talk through those things next time around. I just did want to say Taylor in response to your question about MLS guys. I just looked at the schedule because I hadn't yet. I was being negligent. MLS takes a week off, like a weekend off for for this international break. So players who are called in from MLS teams will have to miss some, but they will not miss like game after game after game for their club outfits. So I don't think, especially given all the time and energy and verbal praise, Pachito has given a lot of MLS coaching staffs. I don't think there should be too many feathers ruffled by kind of giving him whoever he wants from these games, but it's still a good thing to flag nonetheless. I do have Joe. I think you're right to do the roster prediction show, but I have two more names I want to throw out because one of them, guess who played 14 minutes for a team that lost three Nile this past weekend. It's a name we haven't said in a very long time. Johnny Cardosa was back. Oh, yeah. So maybe Johnny is back in the plans. So I think he's still only just returning. And then the man, the myth, the maybe definitely a myth, but a potential legend, Luca Colio show, Joe, Duel Nationals were mentioned. He's starting and playing well for Paris FC in the French League. You never know. Pachito mentioning Duel Nationals does make me wonder how many different people he might be speaking to or if that is maybe the one that we know he's speaking to and then maybe a couple other ones who are further down the packing order. Yeah. I've given up trying to understand if Colio show still us eligible. I think he is because he played the two games readily. And I believe they both came outside of official competitions, but it's a bit murky. So someone out there listeners or commenters, let us know the official Colio show status. I believe it's still a go, but I don't know for sure. And then I have one more question for Joe. Like, I'm really excited for Kevin Sullivan. I think it'll be there. I think Mehmeti as well. Obviously, how are you feeling about Julian Hall these days? Because it seems like the hype around him has cooled significantly and it feels like it has shifted to actually, he wasn't that good. You guys just wanted to hype another striker. That seems to be the rhetoric back and forth, but that's the internet, which is probably probably bots that exist to fight each other. So Joe, who is Polish funds is pulling that can call him. Yeah. I was just going to point out once again that we don't know if Joe isn't a bot and is a real person. But Joe, for now, a presumed real person. Where are you on Julian Hall? I'd be thrilled for Hall to be in this camp. I'm not going to be really bothered if he's not. But I think that's how it all the way through for me anyway, because I think the US has striker depth the first time in a long time. And I don't think Hall is as good as Ricardo Peppie. I don't think Hall is as good as Florian Baligan. That same logic applies for a number of these young players, though. So I would select to see them brought into camp for us to get a little bit of a B testing here. Hall has been a really bright MLS prospect. So I think has a bright future. I think you could have a really impressive European career. I don't think the US is crying out for production at that spot right now, which is a really nice place for the team to be in. But yes, he is on my list. He was one of the guys that I did mention who I would really like to see in this window, even if I don't think he's going to be really at all in this cycle, like a step up over what the US already has. Barring injury, which of course does happen. Excellent stuff. All right. Let's take a break and by the way, on our bonus feed on Patreon, we will be performing the cheering test on Joe to ensure that he's a real boy. So do tune in on our bonus feed for that. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're talking dual nationals. We picked out a few who we're going to spotlight. Join us then. Total soccer show. Welcome back to USMNT weekly. We're going to focus on a few dual nationals who are floating on the perimeter of the program at the moment. Graham, if you could start off telling us a bit about Brian Oko sent about calling in Texas, who's wrapped Switzerland at youth level. Pray tell us more. Yeah, so this is a name that I don't believe has been mentioned on this show before. I don't know how realistic this is. I'll come on to that a little bit later on, but he certainly deserves a mention. As you say, Ryan 23 year old central defender who plays for Oxer in league on born in Texas. So that's how he is eligible to play for the US. His dad is Nigerian, his mum is Congolese grew up in Switzerland. So he's got a few choices there. And it was in Switzerland where he began his youth career at FC Lausanne, who I believe now have links to who's is that? That's the NEOs club, right? I was going to say the Chicago Fire Club, but I think that's the Jim Ratcliffe NEOs club FC Lausanne. But anyway, he was there before joining the Red Bull Salisburg Academy, made his professional debut for Salisburg before joining their feeder team for five seasons. I remember that this guy is still only 23. He was a part of the Salisburg squad at 16. After that, he went back to Lausanne before joining Oxer in January. And by all accounts, he was very impressive for Oxer in the second half of last season. Now, the reason I say the second half of last season and not this season, there's something important to note here. And that is the ligament injury that Oco sustained in May. He hasn't played this season. He hasn't had a preseason. And it's difficult to find any English language information on how long you'll be out for. So not one for the September roster, probably not one for any roster in 2026. Go on Taylor, have you found something? What I read is that he tore his LCL, the lateral collateral ligament, which I have heard is like, like my doctor once told me his borderline impossible to tear. That's the one that runs on like the, as I understand it, the one that runs on like the outside of your leg that is enormous and really difficult to tear. So I imagine that's really difficult to repair if it's a full tear. All I'm hearing is this guy did the impossible. Get him in the chat. He's accepted. So he'll be out for a few weeks. But watching, yeah, let's get him, oh boy, let's get him to do a bleep test before we come up. But yeah, watching him play, he has some clear strengths and also some weaknesses. He's not so great covering space behind him. So that is a bit of a concern. But he has very good at what he's good at. So his penalty box defending is strong. His biggest strength is, and this is a thing that should really pique the interest. He has an excellent left footed distributor. And as the US looks to move on from the aforementioned room, the dream that was his role in the team, feels like finding an excellent left footed distributor right now would be pretty useful. And for the second half of last season, Oko was among the top U23 center backs in Europe in terms of both progressive passing and aerial ability. That's another quality as he's good in there. But I watch some compilations of Oko in some games last season like his every involvement in like three games I watched. He has got this magnificent long range ping on him. This long range pass. So it's easy to envisage how the US could could make good use of that. As I've already mentioned, he's got that interest. That's an issue. The other issue is that Oko has been capped at youth level for Switzerland. Haven't found any comments about him playing for the US. It's not a kind of an Ok bank situation where there are quotes aplenty about keeping the door open. Haven't seen anything like that. So maybe this is a bit of a long shot. But I also do not see a senior Swiss cap next to his name. So it's still on the table for the US. And it wouldn't surprise me if his name is on some sheet of paper at that fancy new training facility in Atlanta. To be capped in cynical Graham, 23 years old. Well, one not expect he would have been called up for a first team cap for one of the multiple nations he is eligible for at this point. Sorry, and that means he's not very good or late as that. Yeah, I'm trying to say, would he not have got some call up at 23? Is he not kind of past the point? He said youth call up. But if the guy is playing at a level that can help the US, I'm not really bothered about that. Like just because Switzerland have passed on him or a couple other countries that they can play for. Like the US has benefited from that in the past. And also 23 is, that's like as a georena age right there. So still plenty left and left in the tank for Brian Oco. Yeah, and Oco is a guy who's been connected to MLS at times in the past. I think the report was in recent time last year that's warning Kansas City wanted to get him in the door. So I think he's somebody that US clubs have been looking at and Graham, I think to your point, US soccer would certainly be aware of him as well. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I should say Graham referenced the bleep test. I don't know if that's actually something that's in American parlance. No, we call sure it's the beep test over here. Beep test. Ah, run until you talk about cursing. I see. Um, yeah, Graham's I called it a bleep test. I did the beep testing college and it's so we said it's a school. Yeah, yeah. Next World Cup, TSS for some live streams, that's for doing the beep test. And we all called Graham and I bow out first, then Ryan, then Taylor, then Ryan. Congratulations, Ryan. Ryan is going to when not quite easily. I don't know, man, Taylor was doing sprints up the world's steepest driveway when we were in in Los Angeles together this past summer. I think it could be closer than people think. That's all I'm saying. Very well. Uh, Jo, Montreal Calbreath. I think that I know. I liked it. Go ahead, but yeah, I would love to say about Montreal Calbreath. Um, please, he is a player that I've been waiting to dig into. And so I'm glad that we had a chance to actually do it. Nineteen-year-old right-winger playing as a wingback or did last year plays wingback for a bioreleviacucin team that used wingbacks. But really, I think with this change of system for this year with it's a little bit more of a back-forward times for levercucin. I think his spot will be on the right wing. Speaking of injuries, we've been seeing him at all this year either because he suffered a foot injury, apparently in preseason, not a long-term thing it doesn't look like. So we will see him sooner than later. I would imagine any somebody whose trajectory was climbing at levercucin. Nineteen-years-old born in Germany to an American father and a German mother previously played for the USU-16s before representing Germany at youth levels was just starting for them in the U-19 Euro final for Germany this past summer against Spain, where Spain won and looked really good as your expectate Spanish youth team. To look, he started nine games to levercucin last year. He scored one goal along the way that goal came in his debut in December, also played well against Bayern back in March. He is a very quick player. Five foot eight, right foot, it accelerates well, has good top end speed. He uses that speed to run in behind. I think his off-bow movement is very clever, not just stretching, but also dropping in between the lines at times when he does play as more of a right-winger in a front three. He uses this speed as well to be dangerous as a 1v1 dribbler. I think he still got more work he could do to refine that part of his game, but he is better at it than already better at it after his 900 Bundesliga minutes last year than probably any attacker in the US pool who we've already seen get capped than anybody other than Pulisic and Desk, I would imagine. I think Cole Breath is a guy who could bring some real 1v1 value for the US. I think his best skill, at least on the ball skill, is that he serves a really good ball into the box. The bend he puts on his crosses, the weight of them as well, he just has it. Some players don't have it and he very much has it. I think there are things that he can improve. There's not a lot of end product to his game right now, but again, he was playing as a wingback last year, so I don't think that's a huge surprise, but he wasn't really gold-dangerous in his Bundesliga minutes. Again, maybe it's a positional thing, but really you would like to see that improve. The decision making in the final third I think can improve as well, and that's just tidying up his attacking game a little bit, where his passing can become a little bit sharper and maybe improve the accuracy of those crosses from time to time as well, even though I really like a lot of what he does when he's on the ball. He's a guy that if he was ready to play for the US, I imagine, assuming he was healthy, would get this call for this next window. I don't think he's there yet. Again, he's just starting in a prestigious UEFA youth competition for Germany against Spain, a Spanish team that had a Barcelona starter and a Ramudrid bench player, and that Spanish team and more talent besides that. Like, this is a player that Germany clearly think has something of the future for them. The US, I imagine, would be second choice for a Montrelco breath, but I don't know. And if he does, for whatever reason, decide to play for the US, maybe Malik Tomens, Whisperings, Wheaton, nothing's into his ear. I don't know. Then he is a guy that we will see as a regular in these camps, because I think he's got another season of real minutes for Bio-Levocuse into the Bundesliga coming his way. Excellent. Great handle as well. Montrelco breath. Big fan. That's good. Very good. And Taylor, one other player to look at, Noah Ajaier, and I must full disclosure, I have Noah Ajaier, who this guy is. I didn't until I started prepping for this show, to be totally honest. And I'm still not sure if it's Ojea, given that he plays for Belgium at youth level, or if it's Ohea, given that he has Spanish lineage as well. And I think it's eligible for Spain. We'll talk about eligibility in a moment. But yeah, he's a 17-year-old right-winger left-footed for Underlect. He got some minutes at the very end of last season, which led to him getting more minutes this season, and he has been, and has been playing pretty well by all accounts. I would say from what I've seen of him, he has pretty tight control, pretty good on the dribble, pretty good passing vision. Obviously, he's pretty young, so he can get knocked off the ball somewhat easily by bigger and stronger, more grown players. But then when you look at him playing with Belgium in the U-17 Euros, which he did this summer, he's a pretty strong performer for them, not an ever-game starter, but a regular substitute who scores in the final, which Belgium lost to Italy on penalty. He doesn't take a penalty, so there's that. But I don't know how likely it is that he ends up playing for the US for a couple of different reasons. Number one is that he's already playing for Belgium at youth level in international competitions, so would obviously require the one-time switch if he were interested. But also, is born in Belgium? Raised in Belgium? Has played in Belgium? Has only played for Belgian youth national teams? And that leads to the other point, I don't understand how he's American. And I hope that he is, because I think it would be really interesting. It seems to be that there's a lot of this is rooted in a couple of tweets from a few different people. Marcus Cherez, who Joe says is legit, so I trust AI, non-AI, Joe, whatever he is. Either way, he knows the internet. But Cherez seems to be like a youth development kind of talent scout. And his tweet was, there are rumors from a reliable source that Belgian youth international Noah Ogea, Kobiela, is American eligible. He's been one of the top players at the futures cup with started this weekend in Amsterdam. His ball mastery, game understanding and ability to change pace and misdirect defenders are at an elite level undersized, but quick and highly deceptive. If eligible, he needs to be a top dual national target. But that if is doing a lot of work there, because I'm assuming the only thing I can figure is that his father, I think, is like a lower level professional footballer. And I think that's where the Spanish eligibility comes from. His mother, there is very little reporting on very little written about. And I wonder if maybe she has American lineage at some point. And that's where the eligibility comes about. Either way, it seems to be a few tweets online have led to him being referred to as Belgian American. I don't know why they would lie. I don't know what point that would prove. So I'm assuming he is eligible. I just cannot tell you for the life of me how he is eligible. But I can tell you that he's a really interesting player and is already getting minutes at such a young age. He's definitely wanted to keep an eye on if US soccer isn't already. Yeah, I'll just do a quick if then. If if he is US eligible and has any interest in playing for the US, then US soccer needs to be put on the full court press because this kid looks really bright. He's an attacker. He just does things on the ball in tight spots. And in the final third that most US attackers of all ages don't do. I think he's going to end up any, I mean, kid 17. So we can give him some time here. But I do think over the next year he is going to become a player that more people in Europe are talking about as he goes and impresses an intellect. I'm really, really high on what he what he does on the field regardless of whether it will lead him to the US or not. There's I agree with Joe. There's a there's a specific thing that some players can do. And I don't know how. But when they are a little bit more slight of frame, as I said, he will get bodied. He will get knocked around a little bit. But he routinely has the ability to keep the ball when he does. And that's such a like specific skill set to be able to almost have the ball stuck to your foot. So that even if you do get a shoulder to shoulder barge or someone just kind of kind of comes in and defends you by knocking you in the back a little bit, even if it does send him backwards as it did by straw just then, like a yard or two. He brings the ball with him and then still uses it to lay off. Like he's very good at not just being knocked over or physically overmatched. It seems like he uses that almost to his advantage. And again, that type of talent, that type of awareness is not a thing the US often gets, especially in a 17 year old. So I hope he doesn't actually enjoy Belgium and would much prefer playing for this dozen strips. Belgium's great. If you're not saying in Bruce, they love it. Anyway, just tiny catching strays in that movie, which I won't repeat here. They love the Americans in that movie as well. Yeah. Um, difficult question to finish of these three players we've mentioned, whom is the most likely to declare for the US? Do we have a sense of that? Probably probably Oco would be the just I think he's the the least exciting player of the three with respect to the guy because I think he's still a very good player who could have an international future. I think that Ohea is where he is in the Belgium youth national team pipeline right now. And Colbreath seems to be somebody that Germany are keeping quite close tabs on. Those feel like longer shots, but stranger things have happened. Man, that's all I'm saying. They have indeed. Until what else has happened. USMNT weekly. Let's put a bow on this one. Uh, Ted Rockwell, thank you very much indeed for your contributions to this year episode, and to the beep and bleep tests of the future. My pleasure. Thank you, normal human Ryan Beale. Thank you very much to Graham Rosvin. Thank you, Ryan Beale. And thank you to regular human podcaster Joe Larry. Hey, anytime, Ryan. And thank you again, listen up for joining us. On this one, we'll be back on the feed very shortly. Bye for now. Bye.
