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I find a goal from a set piece as creative, as beautiful, as enjoyable, as emotional, as any other goal that I see. You can bet if they were in your shoes, they would not be the romantic that they claim to be. Hello, sunshine. I'm Alexi Lawlesson. Welcome to the State of the Union podcast where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue colored glasses. This show will be talking, oh, flow MVP, a return of Jedi again, EPL over question mark, set piece ridiculousness, open cup stories, best pure US men's national team goal score, world cup poster, Paul McCartney, drops of God, and so much more. But first joining as always my friend, my colleague, my guiding lights, David Mossy, a soccer savante, a Fox soccer researcher, and writer, extra Mossy, how you doing on this? So what are we looking at here? Wednesday, March 4th in the year 2026. Doing well yesterday, I had a little blast from the past. I was eating ice cream at that bot show, the latte place in Brentwood, the same place where I ran into Steve Trudeau in the low ones. Yep. And I get a tap on the shoulder I look up and it's our former producer, Alex Dowd. Alex Dowd. Yeah, the original producer of the State of the Union podcast back in 2018. We chatted for a few minutes. He seems to be doing well. He sends his regards to you. It was great to see him. I mean, you know, he did his time, as they say. That was wonderful. Well, that's awesome. I'm glad that he is doing well. By the way, for those that are watching, you can see I am wearing one of the power rankings when I did my power rankings of jerseys. This was Atlanta. They were in my top five. This is the spirit of 96 referencing the 96 Olympics and an Olympics that I was in. So I had an affinity for it and they sent me one and I said, all right, I'm not always going to wear it. Just send me something. Doesn't mean I'm going to wear it. You'll never convince me that there wasn't some quid pro quo here because it seems like all the ones you put in your top five, those teams sent you them to wear in Atlanta's defense. It was after I had extolled the virtues of the jersey and they said, oh, we should get you one. And they also said, it's on us for not recognizing and remembering that, yes, you were actually part of the Olympic team in 1996 so that there would be that connection. Should we, should we like this candle? Let's do it. Where should we start my friend? We have plenty of midweek action to recap and weekend games to look forward to. The big one in Sadiya, this upcoming weekend, Milan, Inter in the Darby, Inter have a 10 point lead in Sadiya. So it's probably over. But if Milan were to win and knock it down to seven, they would maintain some hope. But more importantly, from an American perspective, Christian Policic zero goals, zero assists this calendar year. This would be a pretty good match to end that drought. You think he starts in this big game? I can't believe we're asking this question right now. And I know some of it has to do with physically where he is and everything like that. But in a year when he was arguably the best player in Sadiya, now we're asking is he be going to start in the biggest game here? I think he does, but it is the beta. Right. You're right. That's okay. I'm not, I'm not going to let it worry my little brain going forward. But I am going to watch. And I do think that it's a bridge too far when it comes to the, the, the Scudetto, but this is a classic matchup. And from a US perspective, obviously, seeing Christian hopefully starting and getting back on the score sheet or just being dangerous is something that we want to see. I know you wanted to address this yesterday marked a hundred days out until the World Cup. So a lot of shows on this network that don't normally talk about soccer. We're talking about it yesterday, which led to some clunky pronunciations. There was a clip that went viral. Somebody referring to Christian Policic is Pousillic. And then I believe they called Puccettino Puccino. And a lot of people in the soccer world were having a laugh about that. I know you're a big believer in soccer fans being more welcoming to people inside the tent. So you wanted to say something about that. Yeah, one of the big problems over the years when it comes to American soccer is we have at times been gatekeeper when it comes to the sport or our sport, which we should never actually refer to it as our sport is the world sport. And so yeah, I, maybe in my older age, I'm less sensitive to it. I get I get sometimes we are protective and insecure. We talk about the insecurity out there. So, you know, especially around big tournaments and certainly around a home world cup, there's going to be a lot of people coming into the tent. Yes, a lot of fans and viewers, but also a lot of media that we know as far as we have come and we have come very, very far, there is still a whole swath of media that is going to come and cover soccer, maybe even for the first time in their careers. And that's that's okay. Again, if you sit there and gatekeep or you turn your nose up or you ridicule, you risk turning them off. And from a soccer perspective, even like I said, as far as we've come, we cannot risk turning people up. Now you can easily say, well, you had one job, get the get the name right. It doesn't it doesn't bother me as much as maybe as it did before. And again, I'm not I'm not just being passive just because I don't I don't care anymore. Yeah, I want people to treat soccer in the same way that they treat other sports, but I also recognize that beggars can't be choosers and we are still begging for as much attention as possible. So, I'm willing to let it go. I'm willing to forgive and forget and it's all across and the mass media now, whether they're not even sports, just general media is going to cover World Cup. It's going to be pronouncing names. It's going to a times be mispronouncing names. It's going to get facts wrong. That's just kind of the way it is. It's okay. But just let it go and embrace the fact that people are actually caring and talking about this sport. And Marise do was a guest on the show and those mistakes were made. I texted with Mo afterwards. He did a great job keeping a straight face at his credit. Now you were a guest on several shows yesterday. You were all over the place. Well, I mean, for the 100 day, obviously, you know, it lends itself to doing appearances and promoting it. You know, it's interesting. A lot of people have been saying, well, you know, there's not that much promotion and not that much talk when it comes to the World Cup. There will be and it certainly will ramp up and 100 days out. It's ideal for doing promotion. So, yeah, I was up at five o'clock in the morning doing what I've done for years and years and years. And that's just talking about the game every single station across the country. I'm really good, Marise, yet coming on after the weather. And here's a little trick of the trade when you're doing this because basically it's just you go from one station to the next station, one city to the next city. And a lot of them are kind of cookie cutter in terms of the way that they put their content out there. And you know, they go to traffic and they go to weather. And now, hey, the World Cup's coming and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And oftentimes if you listen and you can listen to the previous segment, if you can reference something that the talking heads that you are about to talk to have been talking about and make it as personal as you possibly can, it endeers you. And so, there's a little trick of the trade for going forward in terms of promoting. But I love it. I love it. And again, I will explain anything to anybody. I don't care if you mispronounce it. The fact that you are talking about it during a morning zoo or during morning drive time or anything like that, that's a good thing. All right. So we'll see what Christian Policic can do at the weekend for Milan against Inter. Inter also involved in the Copa Italia semis on Tuesday. They played to a no-no draw away to Como. Today in the other semi-final, Lazio and Atalanta played to a two-two draw. Atalanta scored a late equalizer courtesy of Eunice Musa, his second straight game with a gold memory scored against Saswell. Yeah. Wow. All right. Well, Eunice Musa. And you know, we've talked so much about the fact that I think most of us believe that Eunice Musa, it would be a bridge too far for him to return, which in and of itself is an incredible indictment about where he is and how it just has not gone as planned and as foreseen by a lot of people. But at least he's reminding us now on, yeah, in a very short period of time, though. But at least he's reminding us that he's around. And I know goals are goals and they will always get people's attention. But I'm not sure if Mauricio Pochettino is now having a come to Jesus moment, changing his view on him. The goals in and of itself don't mean anything, but you hope it gets in more plane time with Atalanta, and then he can show the things in the midfiel that we like, progressing the ball, distributing it, recoveries, et cetera, and then maybe that gets him back on the team. Pochettino is not going to call him up for his goal scoring. But listen, you know, we'll talk about Nokai Banks in a second. But if people are adamant that Nokai Banks should be called up to the national team, who knows? Pochettino might say whatever happened before that's all fine and well. And it's it's part of the calculation. But what have you done for me lately? Janet Jackson, if you're good enough, if I believe you're good enough, I'll call you in. One US midfielder with no trouble scoring or assisting in city I is Western McKinney. Juventus back out at this weekend. They host Pisa. Juventus trying to get into the champion's league right now. They're sixth. I don't think Italy is going to get that fifth spot. So you very are going to have to finish in the top four. And Weston's officially now signed his deal, right? I have to say, with all due respect to our producer Sean and Trip, this new Weston deal has appeared in several straight rundowns now. I mean, we at some point we have to just move on. No, no, no, no, but I also I want to mention because somebody had asked me, I don't know where I was, but somebody asked me like it's kind of a personal question about the money that you made in your career. And you know, the money that some of these players now are making. And as I said before, I love it. It makes me incredibly proud. I don't begrudge them at all. I hope they're smart with their money. I never forget when I went to Italy. In Italy, they always talk netto, right? Net. Whenever you see numbers in the media or anybody's talking about it, it's always net. Taxes are always already taken out of as opposed to other countries, including at times England and other places where they're talking, talking gross. My point is, again, you don't want us to, you know, talk anymore about this, but this is a good thing. This is a good thing for him. Post, post-World Cup to have this firmed up. And this is a good thing where if he places cards right and continues on here, he, as will other American players, they will make enough money to be able to live on if they choose to do so and not do anything or do very little for the rest of their lives if they're smart. And that, to me, is progress. And that, to me, is a good thing. It can have its problems, but I think it's ultimately a good thing. So I think that's still a little cake thing to include in our rundown. We won't talk about Weston's deal anymore after this. This is it. I was going to say on Mondays, Pod, when we recap this match, you'll have another occasion lingering thoughts on this new contract. We go to Spain next on Tuesday, Barcelona hosted Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semis. They were looking to overturn a three-nil, I'm sorry, a four-nil deficit. They were hoping to conjure up the same magic from that famous Remontada against PSG in the Champions League in 2017 when they turned around a four-nil deficit in around a 16. Also, a lot of people were bringing up and leading up to this match. There was a famous Barcelona-Petico Madrid Copa del Rey quarter-final match back in 1997. The first leg of that tie finished two-two. Then in the second leg, it came new. Atlético raced out to a three-nil lead, but Barcelona ended up winning five-four, the Brazilian Ronaldo bag, the hat trick that night. That's a famous game. So that was in the air going into this second leg. Barcelona played well. They felt just short, but now, twice, Raffinha from the penalty spot, La Minha Maua was sensational, but it was just three-nil. They needed four, so Atlético advanced four, three on aggregate. Johnny Cardoso started when all 90 minutes for Atlético. But the damage was done, right? So you don't give them that much credit for the three-nil. You screwed up. I guess it's like a pad on the head that, hey, even for a great team like Barcelona, it's still a pad on the head and saying, hey, at least you made it interesting, but why did you even put yourself in that position in the first place? The fact that Johnny Cardoso started this match speaks to the fact that Simione does trust them. Also, Pletti advanced to the final, which is April 18th, and there's debate about whether Griesmann is going to play in that final or not. It sounds like he is, but the Spanish meat is talking as if it's a given that he is going to go to Orlando City. It's just a matter of when is he going to go now or stay until the end of the season. With Atlético still in so many competitions, they're still in the Champions League. They face Tottenham in the Round of 16. I would think this would be trending towards him staying through the end of the season. Nevertheless, the way the articles are being written, it's as if it's a given that he's coming. It's just a matter of when. Let's say they had lost. He would come immediately, like, how would that work? He could let out of his contract. I'm struggling to understand why wouldn't he stay until the end of the season regardless, but I suppose they could have at a respect for him say, okay, you can go now, we'll figure out the rest of the contract. You're a free agent, you can just go or terminate your contract now so you're a free agent and go forward. But regardless, I mean, I think sticking around to possibly raise another trophy, that's a cool thing. So whatever Orlando ultimately gets him that fine. We also know this strange MLS season with this massive break and hell, next season is going to be strange too with the switch of season. I think it's just going to be a segmented type of 2026 for MLS anyway. And remember, Grease has been retired from the France team. So he's not going to be at the World Cup. He'll be resting while that tournament's going on. So he'll be rare and a go. I think it'll still be a big factor in 2020. Well, he's a big sports fan. So maybe he'll just, you know, tool around and check out games. Yeah. So I pledge to come redrid we'll face Royale Sociedad in the Copa del Rey final. Sociedad today claimed a 1-0 home win over Athletic Bill Balder, Basque Rivals or Yathabaal with the goal from the penalty spot. So they complete a 2-0 aggregate triumph. Sociedad, remember, managed by an American Pellegrino Matarazo. He becomes the first American manager to take a team in Europe's top five leagues to a final. So it'll be Sociedad and Athletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Quincidentally, those two meet this upcoming weekend in La Liga Athletico hosting Sociedad, right? But how about an American manager doing great things? Great things we've talked about before. If there was a short list going forward, he would certainly be, is it the final single game? Single game. Single game. All right. Well, we'll see ultimately who comes out there. But either way, that's good stuff for Americans, both on and off the field. We go to France next, the upcoming weekend. PSG will host Monaco. You might recall these two just met in the Champions League playoff round a wild tie PSG prevailing five-four on aggregate. Bologna scored two goals in the first leg of that tie. He was just voted. Monaco's player the month for February. So he's in great form. We'll see what he can do against PSG in La Liga. I mean, there's a there's a long list of players that are not just playing, but they're playing well for those that are attacking players. They're scoring goals. And, you know, I think from the mentality of a player, as you get closer and closer to a world cup, oftentimes there is a kind of taking a foot off the gas. And it's often associated with not wanting to be injured. And we can all understand that. We've had some injuries even this week. And we will have more, unfortunately, that preclude players from playing in the world cup. But then there's others that, you know, I think recognize that there's a competition going on from a national team perspective. And I don't know if they're trying harder or if it's just this moment, but, you know, Flobaligan is asserting or reasserting himself as the starter. And I've yet to see a starting 11, including mine that I that's out there that I did last week or a couple days ago that doesn't have Flobaligan as a starter. I'm sure there's people out there and let us know if you don't have Flobaligan starting up top. But I think almost almost all of the lineups that I've seen have flow starting. And for good reason. Another player you had in your starting lineup was Antony Robinson. We go to the Premier League next. Robinson has been sideline through injury, but he came back today, started for a full of them in their 1-0 home defeat to West Ham. Good to see him back on the field ahead of this March window. Yeah, I mean, this is this was a hell of a year of injury and, you know, stopping and starting and scratching our heads at times, even Puchotino at times, scratching his head about, you know, where where is he. But speaking of starting, this is this is what we want to see and it's where I think we're all cautious because as we said before, Jedi Robinson, I think is if he is good, he's in pen out there on that left hand side, range to be seen whether he's left hand side of a back four or a back three and he's moved up higher in the midfield. But I mean, I just knocking on wood. Tyler Adams started for Bournemouth on Tuesday in their 0-0 draw with Brentford. Tyler in the news, the Daily Mail reporting that Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all considering a move for him in the summer. That got our producers thinking if you could choose one of those three clubs for Tyler to join in the summer. Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool, which one would you prefer? Oh, let's see. It would probably be... There's part of me and maybe this is driven by ego and I'm sure that this is the case when it comes to coaches, when it comes to, given some players out there, that as much as the Manchester United brand has suffered given, you know, the, well, it's not even recent now. It's a consistent type of utility and failure. And this is obviously relative to the elite status that they have cultivated over the years. There's still a part of me that would love to see a player or even, I can't, I'm too old, but be that player that is part of the resurrection. Because whoever is at the helm as a coach manager, whatever you want to call it, and the players that are involved that bring Manchester United back, I mean, there's statues. That's legendary types of stuff. I don't know. So that, so that, that's a long way of saying, I don't want to see him Manchester United and to be part of that. To have an American on the field that brings them back to their former glory. That would be kind of cool. Remember, Castamera has already announced he's leaving the club at the end of the season, so Tyler would be the heir apparent. Now, I mentioned it's the Daily Mail report in this every British person I've ever heard refers to the Daily Mail as a rag. That's a bad thing, right? That's a bad thing. So we'll take it with the brand. We'll take it. Yes, we will take it with the brand. So we have FA Cup to look forward to this upcoming weekend. One of the more interesting ties, Rexim will play host to Chelsea. That is an American owner or G. You have Ryan and Robin one side, Todd Bolley and that whole gang on the other. So we'll see if Rexim can play giant killers here against Chelsea in this fifth round matchup. Yeah, I don't think that Rexim is going through on this one, but they've made some good money. They've made certainly news and I think they will be excited and there'll be a lot of people excited to kind of see this given all the David and Goliath still that Rexim is relative to even Chelsea. Incidentally, I read today that Liverpool are planning to tour the United States this summer after the World Cup. One of the matches they're going to play is against Rexim at Yankee Stadium. For those of you watching, I'm rocking a Yankees hat right now. Okay. Rexim obviously hoping that's a battle of Premier League teams. They're in six place right now in the championship. The last promotion playoff spot. So if they can get up, that would make that game even juicier as they head into the Premier League for the first time. Yeah, and there'll be there's still plenty of people that are kind of looking to laugh at them or push them down and stuff like that. But even if they don't go up this year, the rise has still been incredible. The story is it incredible. Chelsea incidentally, I have to mention this before we move on. They won 4-1 away to Aston Villa today. Brazilian João Pedro with a hat trick. Very happy to see that. I think he'll be in the squad this summer. Also, FA Cup fifth round is upcoming weekend. Brendan Aronson and Leeds will host Norwich. Norwich a team we no longer care about because Josh Sargent is gone, but you still have an American. Norwich or dead to me. We also have Wolves hosting Liverpool. The interesting thing about that is those two squared off on Tuesday in the Premier League. Wolves 1-2-1. Brazilian midfielder André with a stoppage time winner. He's a player Liverpool tried to sign way back in 2023. He rejected them because he wanted to stay with Fluminense to win the Libertadores, which he did. He ended up going to Wolves instead and he comes back to bite Liverpool in this one. All right. Well, let's get to the, you know, the real story here. Well, the big one, the upcoming weekend, Newcastle will host Manchester City. Both those teams were in action on Wednesday in the Premier League. Newcastle, despite going down a man, beat Manchester United 2-1, so that halted United's recent momentum. I ran into United Superfan Danny Terrace in the bathroom before we started taping. He was not happy. He was fuming. Like he said, don't even talk to me. Well, there's some real emotion with the connection that people have in this building with their team. And you have to pick your moments carefully and then don't poke the bear too much. But there were also developments in the title race, which made producer trip very happy. Arsenal handled their business today. 1-0 away to Brighton. The Arsenal goal, by the way, not off a corner. We'll talk about that later in the show, but yeah, Bukayosaka took a shot at Total Haller by the Brighton goalkeeper. But that's all Arsenal needed. 1-0 to final there. And then City dropped points at home. They led twice, but Forest came back and equalized both times. So 2-2, the final at the Etihad. It was Cementio and Rodriguez for City, Gibbs White, and Anderson for Nottingham Forest. So that gives Arsenal some breathing room. The gap is now 7th City of a game in hand. Even if they win that, though, it would only knock it down a 4. So this was a big day for Arsenal in the title race. Yeah, but as opposed to before this where Man City could have won out, won it now. They no longer control their own destiny. Let's say that Man City wins that game in hand. So now it's down to 4. They also have a game against Arsenal 2, right? If they were to win that, now it's down to 1. But still now, like you said, it's breathing room, but far from over, but they've got a little bit of breathing room. We're not ready to pronounce anything at this point. Now, I criticized Trip before for inserting the McKinney contract note. So to make it up to him, I'm going to read this question. I previously wasn't going to. He included this as part of the rundown today. Alexi, with all this cup talk, do you have any good stories from playing in the US Open Cup? Did you ever come up against a giant killer? What was the most random town's pitch you found yourself playing on? Let's see. By the way, we were talking about Copa Italia earlier in the show. My part of a team, number one, Copa Italia, but we certainly did play in it. I actually scored in the sense zero against Inter Milan to win one nothing in Copa Italia. So that's my Copa Italia story. US Open Cup, and we won that. When I say we, the Los Angeles Galaxy, it was with the Galaxy, so that would have been 2000 and one because we were, we lost it in 2002. And I remember because we lost it in 2002, because we had one MLS Cup. And back then they had Open Cup after MLS Cup days after MLS Cup. So we flew from New England where we had just won MLS Cup, the first MLS Cup ever in Los Angeles Galaxy history. And we were trying to do the double and we landed in Columbus. And I swear to God, there were definitely some of us that were still a little tipsy from celebrations of winning MLS Cup. And we ended up losing to Columbus in Columbus. So we weren't able to turn it around there. But the previous year we had won. I remember scoring at Fullerton. We used to play a lot of games with the Galaxy Cup games down at Fullerton. Remember scoring against Bob Bradley's Chicago Fire. And I think would have been the semifinal of the 2001 Open Cup, the Marcon Open Cup, and then running up the back, they have a bunch of like IV or Kutsu. I don't know what it is in the back there, but running up, I couldn't make it all the way up the top. It was just so deep. But we played a bunch of games. Oh gosh, I played so many different places. I don't know if it was Open Cup. I remember playing a game up in San Francisco against, I think the team was called the Seals or something like that. And it was actually wonderful. The weather was Open Cup or not. It was just wonderful in that it was like that's even the way when San Francisco was like a small town thing where the fans were lined up all the way around the field. And it was just like almost a village type atmosphere of a game. And so that was fun. And there's a million others. I just can't remember all the different places that we played. I always felt that and I know it didn't make sense necessarily financially from a business perspective. I get that, but I always felt like it was better for the atmosphere of the cup for the bigger team. And oftentimes I was on the MLS team to play away and to have that advantage given to the lesser team to try to equal things up a little bit. And I always enjoyed going into much more hostile types of environments. And oftentimes from a U.S. Open Cup, that's what was created. The trip is vindicated. We got a lot out of that question. I don't know if anything of it was true, but is it possible? I am the one that's out of touch. I don't know what the people want or where you want to talk about. Is it what? Is it possible? I'm the one that's out of touch. There are things in the rundown that I question. And then when we do them on the air, it actually ended up being great content. Well, it's very possible that you just underestimate the esteem and the intellect when it comes to the men and women that are sitting behind us. I'm going to get you back on my side. How about a trip referring to field as pitch? Is he one of those Americans that's at Sound Authentic? Does he going to grab his mobile and go back to his flat tonight? I've talked about the insecurity. This is a constant type of struggle in order to rid people of it or just to cut it off at the past before it even gets into them. And there's a whole generation. And he's from a previous generation that still kind of carries around that insecurity. But it's dissipating and we're working on it. So maybe at some point we'll have some sort of, you know, prophylactic or, you know, shot to give to people. One more European league. We want to hit the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich will host Gladbach this upcoming weekend. Giorane is back. He came back from injury last weekend. It was an unused sub for Gladbach against Union Berlin. We'll see if he gets on the field. But it's at least the possibility. Back in our lives. He's played a total of 26 minutes this calendar year, by the way, between injury and being not used in matches he's been available for. But this calendar year, I mean, obviously it's not it's not the dramatic fall of a politic. But, you know, at the beginning of the season, he was getting on the field at least. Absolutely. So he's got to figure that out. Also in Germany this upcoming weekend, Leipzig will host Alex Berg, a good test for Noah Kai Banks, who we've talked about plenty on this pod. And this will segue nicely to MLS. Noah Kai Banks, a 19-year-old looking to get into the US World Cup squad. There are also some teenagers impressing on this side of the pond. MLS this upcoming weekend, the Red Bulls will face Montreal. Last weekend, Julian Holt scored again against New England. I know you were posting about it on X, the 17-year-old continuing to impress. That's three goals in two games. Also, the Red Bulls have a 16-year-old mid for the ad dream and metty that everybody's falling head over heels for. Philadelphia will host San Jose. Kevin Sullivan, recently on our air in a Kunkakav Champions Cup match, had two goals, two assists against defense force. That got us thinking. And this will take us into our home team update sponsored by Zillow. Some day starts today. Is there a chance for one of these teenage prodigies to do so well the next few months that Marisa Pogestino might be compelled to take one of them to the World Cup, whether it's a Julian Hall, an ad dream and metty at Kevin Sullivan, or this World Cup is too soon for all of them. No, I think it's too soon. I mean, keep in mind, and we're going to hold Pogestino to this here in a couple weeks. He said that the World Cup starts for them in March in these friendlies. Now, obviously, the results don't figure into the group stage, but if that's true, then we should see the players that he thinks are going to go to the World Cup, and we should see a starting lineup as if the World Cup was starting in these next couple of games. So, yeah, I don't think that that's happening, but that's not to say that Michael Bradley and the Red Bulls don't deserve praise, and it's still very, very early days. We all understand that. I think Michael Bradley will be the first person to tell you that, but it also does bring up something that's important. I've over the years, multiple times, talked about the challenge of putting together a national team relative to the unique aspect of the United States, and all of our diversity and therefore our diversity of thought when we think about the game, and our upbringings are incredibly diverse and different, sometimes it's relative to ethnicity, sometimes it's relative to geography, you know, a million different things. And so, when you have young players that you have cultivated from a young age in your quote-unquote system, oh, by the way, by the coach now that was part of that system and part of that development, there is an understanding and there is that buying in and there's that collective experience that I was referring to is necessary in a national team type of situation, but is very, very difficult to do in a national team type of situation. So, that's a long way of saying, I'm here for this experiment in MLS with the bread bowls right now, and it doesn't mean that they're not going to have good players or players aren't going to come into the outside, but that collective understanding of how to play and more importantly, that acceptance of this is how we play and this is how I play within that system, you know, that takes time and that ultimately is development and that's sometimes very very difficult to do from a national team perspective, easier to do it from a club perspective, but it doesn't mean that it's assured. I was scrolling through X the other day and I came upon a clip of Matt Doyle and Tab Ramos, your former teammate, doing a podcast together and I listen briefly, so maybe I heard something out of context, but it seemed like they were talking about these red bowls kids and the possibility of one of them actually cracking the squad this summer, that's what made me think it was something legitimate to bring up if two smart guys like that or at least entertaining the possibility, it's at least the conversation that's in the air, but I agree with you, it's unlikely. If somebody honestly believes that it's going to help us win this summer, then okay, that's that's fine, but you know, and this is, you know, it goes back to Neal Kai Banks when we were talking about, I thought he was actually pretty mature and saying, I don't want to base my decision simply on playing in the World Cup this summer at home, and I know that's difficult, that's a difficult thing to say, maybe even more difficult thing to do, but as much focus as we have on this summer and rightfully so, there's going to be another World Cup, and that might be where you shine, that might be your moment. A kid I was really excited about watching and play for the U17 and U20 was this named Fasha Betakeema, I thought he was a guy that had a legitimate chance and could really change the calculus in 26, he's not getting on the field for Charlotte, but I'm not crazy because he's being linked to Bayern Munich, so they see something that I see two and a lot of other people see, but yeah, it doesn't look like he's in the mix at all, but the U.S., and actually I was asked to come up with a list of teenagers that the U.S. has for a potential feature this summer on what's the next generation of guys to look out for, and I included Betakeema on that list along with Kevin Sullivan and the Red Bulls guys, so there is a fun group emerging to your point, it might be more for 2030. But Pochettino's job is not to worry about the next World Cup. If I'm Pochettino, I bring a bunch of kids this summer, use this summer as a stepping stone for 23rd. Anything else, Mossy? One last MLS game we want to hit, DC and I did will face Inter Miami, I want to do a little of me a culpa here, this is like three shows ago, but it's been eating at me. Okay. I'm the opening round DC and I did beat Philadelphia, bodybo scored against his former team, you used that as a jumping off point to rant about guys who don't celebrate against their former teams, but when I teed you up for that on that show, I said Barribo didn't celebrate, he actually did, you were commending him for celebrating and saying, hey, why can't other guys do the same? So my apologies to Barribo, if he's listening, he did, he did the right thing, he celebrated against his former team, I said he didn't. Boy, thank God you got that out, I mean, we would never want to have Barribo coming after you. In any event, DC United, Messi might be doing a little bit of celebrating this upcoming weekend because he showed against Orlando City, that guy's still got it, and we'll see if DC can shut him down. This is in DC, this game, I think. Oh, that's why aren't they possibly going to the White House? Is that the rumor that was out there? Yeah, we'll see how that goes over with the soccer fans out there. Paint the White House pink, let's see what happens there. All right, are we done here or we got more? That's it on the men's side. We're taping this on Wednesday afternoon. By the time you hear this pod, this game, we're already taking place, but we do want to mention it, the US women right now taking part in the She believes Cup, and tonight they face Canada in Nashville, that's a big one. And you know, men's world cup is sucking a lot of oxygen right now. We're only like 15 months away from a women's world cup in Brazil. So yeah, it's starting to feel real too there. We're starting to enter the stretch run for that one. Yeah, there's oftentimes, and even more so in the previous world cup when we were at Qatar, where it was in December, it was even closer, and I know people, while they were incredibly concentrated and did a great job on the men's world cup, it was like, oh my gosh, we have to have everything in place here in a matter of months. This next women's world cup will be on Netflix, so that's their problem to figure out. But, you know, I will say, when it comes to this US women's national team under Emma, she has done everything right, I think, everything that she has touched has turned, I mean, when it comes to Olympics, you know, literal gold, but more importantly, I think what she has instilled in this national team was so fundamentally necessary. The change in terms of the personnel, but I think also a change in terms of the way they go about their business, and I think that that will provide dividends, because Olympics are all fine and well, but when it comes to the US women's national team, it's about winning the world cup, and especially after their previous failure. So I think they are heading in the direction where it's absolutely a possibility, and more than a possibility of them winning the world cup, I think that they will be favorited, I think they will have depth, I think they will have new hungry players, and certainly players that have been there, but a turnover, again, that was necessary, and I think we'll lead to a whole nother generation of introduction of stars and creation of stars, but ultimately, what this has always been about is winning. And a lineup is out, you've got Gurma at the back, Trinity Rodman's in there, Rose Lavell, Alyssa Thompson, so it should be a fun one, US Canada, again, we're talking about this, the match is about to kick off, so yeah, but we're spending it ahead too, they are headed in the right direction, I think, and that is it. All right, quick break, we'll come back. It's time for Ask Alexi. Okay, welcome back, it's time for 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 a new old social media platforms is SOTU with Alexi, you can use that hashtag Ask Alexi, or you can call our state of the union podcast hotline, which is 657-549-2297, that's 657-549-2297. Mossy, what are the folks want to know today? First up, we have a voice, Mel, let's take a listen. Hey guys, this is Dave from Wisconsin. I am just curious who you think is the best natural goal score in men's US history, whether it was a national team legend or someone who wasn't able to hit their full potential. I just wonder who you think was the best natural goal score. Thank you. That's interesting. I thought a little bit about this, and when I think the definition of natural goal score in it of itself is, I think, an interesting conversation, because the way I see it is that somebody who at least looked like it took no effort for them to score goals. We're not saying it didn't take a physical ability and a talent to do it, but there was a beauty, almost an innate way of being at the right place at the right time, and then finishing it. For example, Cherry Enri, our colleague this summer, I think he is a natural goal score in the way that he scores goals. If you're looking at, if you look at the all-time list, we got Clint Dempsey, we got Landon Donovan, we got Josie, Eric Winalda, Christian Policic. It's not about the amount of goals that you scored necessarily, but I'm trying to think of the beauty in which he scored them. Landon was a little more robotic in the way that he scored goals. Dempsey was a little more, I guess, for lack of a better word, romantic and creative in the way that he went about it. I would put Clint above Landon in terms of a pure goal score. I know all goals count the same, but this is all subjective, so get your own list or best, because I'm coming to it here. Josie out the door, yeah, I mean, scored goals, I don't know if he's a pure goal score. I actually, I might put our friend Eric Winalda, I mean, the way that he would hit the ball was oftentimes it didn't have necessarily had nothing to do with strength. He wasn't the speediest of players, but he would dip his shoulder, he could get by you, he would have a touch that set him up. So it would probably be between Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. I think Christian Policic, I could make an argument for, but if I have to go between Clint Dempsey and Eric Winalda, I'll probably go Clint. And there's a, I'll finish with this, a pure goal score to me smells the moment. And I think maybe Clint more so than anybody smelled something that others didn't and capitalized on that. When Alda could even score on free kicks, if you're following our digital platforms, we're counting down right now, the 100 greatest moments in World Cup history. And I got to look at the list. I believe that when all the free kick is coming up soon, Sean, next, the next couple days. Oh, really? What a free kick that was against. Listen to you. That's a, that's a good tease. That's a good question, by the way. So thank you for that question. Let us know what you think. Who is the, in your opinion, I know it's objective. Who is the best pure goal score in American national team history when it comes to the men's side? Let us know. What else we got, Masi? Next up, not really a question. The poster has been released for the 2026 World Cup. I saw you posting about it and you were comparing it to the 94 one. I mean, the posters are always, I think, important because they often come to define visually what the World Cups are. And, you know, I think back to 94 and the Peter Max one. And maybe there's a little bit of an homage to this because, you know, there's a real surreal esque type of style to this one. Now, keep in mind, obviously, there's three countries. And therefore, there are three artists that are involved in the 2026 one. And I'll tell you what, there is a lot going on in this poster. And, you know, whether it's kind of traditional from a stars and stripes thing that represents a lot of the US there to, you know, the, you know, there's there's there's birds. There's, I guess, Canadian geese. There's a, I think what is a bear wearing a headset when it comes to the Canadian side over there. So, like I said, there's a lot going on. A lot of people have scratched their heads at this. But ultimately, I think this, this is fine in that it will come to represent what this summer is. And maybe, you know, the, the complexity of it or the almost the visual cacophony that I think this is this represents, at least to me. Maybe that's what this summer is going to be. You know, an imperfect World Cup in, in the best sense. And therefore, this is a visual representation of all of that. But, you know, everybody's going to have their, their own opinion when it comes to the poster many, many years from now, if things go well and if the marketing lives up, then you will see this and instantaneously think about the 2026 World Cup. This feels like Pablo Picasso's Guernica, doesn't have that feel. Look at you. I compare it to one of those MLS jerseys you rated to a Jackson Pollock painting. I'm going to try to slip in some art references. Oh, my God, the pod moving from it. What do you think of the 94 one? Did you like that one? The, uh, yes. Anything else, Mosse? That's it. Okay, cool. Let's take a quick break. Come back, finish up our show with my one for the left. Okay, welcome back by the sight and sound of the van. You know, it's the end of our show. And at the end of each and every show, I give you my one for the road. Mosse, I got a little, uh, irritated over the last couple of days. And I'm going to need you to set this up so I can steady myself before reacting. Earlier in the show, when I mentioned that Arsenal beat Brighton today, well, no, I joked that the Arsenal goal was not off a corner kick. Uh, it's become a big talking point. The fact that Arsenal scored a disproportionate amount of their goals via corner kicks via set pieces. A lot of purists don't like that. They don't think it makes for entertaining soccer. One person who spoke out about it was Peter Schmeichel. He said he doesn't like the way Arsenal play. It seems like all they do is wait around for corner kicks and try to score in that fashion. Good Hullet went off, especially after Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 in a match in which all three goals were scored via corner kicks. Arn Slot, who's a manager in the Premier League currently said the Premier League is boring to watch for that reason. Um, there's also been talk about Arsenal excessive time-wasting Pep Guardiola took a swipe at them about that. They're, manager, they face today Fabian Hutzler of Brighton went off afterwards said he can't believe the way Arsenal behave and he could never coach like that. But let's focus more on this set piece aspect of it corner kicks. Uh, do you think there's any merit to Puberty trying to discredit this Arsenal team on the basis that they team to score a lot of their goals via corners? All right. So first off, a little history. I know people have come to this pod over the years and you will have heard me. And if you haven't, I will remind you that for, I don't know, the last couple of decades I have talked about set pieces, uh, set pieces, set pieces, set pieces. People say that to me sometimes when I'm walking down the street. Um, you know, the set piece is to soccer, what water is to life, all right? You, you need it to survive. But if you're not careful, it can kill you. Um, this is so annoying and insulting. And it's, it irritates me on a number of different levels, not the least of which I'm here defending Arsenal and Pierce Morgan and other Arsenal fans out there. Um, you know, when Michael says, I don't want to insult Arsenal, well, you know, he's about to insult Arsenal. Um, it's so annoying to watch. Goals are goals. Now, how does set pieces come about? Well, set, set pieces come about because you attacked and you were rewarded. Yeah, maybe there was a block or, um, you know, maybe there was a foul. And you were rewarded with an opportunity. And that, in this case, it's Arsenal, but there's plenty of teams out there. You are making hay out of this. That should be something that is praised. That should be something that is applauded. Now, I get it. I'm not naive. It is a subjective game when it comes to what is beautiful about the beautiful game and everybody has their ideas. I find a goal from a set piece as creative, as beautiful, as enjoyable, as emotional, as any other goal that I see. And I also have an appreciation for what it takes to be able to do that. The preparation and the execution. And so I think it's disgraceful. It's what, you know, some of the insults that are being thrown at Arsenal. And look, you're at the top. So people are going to take their shots. It comes with the territory and you still haven't won yet. Arsenal. So all of these slings and arrows are to be expected. But that they're focusing in on the way you play, or in many cases, the reliance on set pieces. It just shows that they're being petty. And you can bet if they were in your shoes, they would not be the romantic that they claim to be. You know, I don't, that's not how I play football. That's now how that's not what I enjoy about the game. It's not a bunch of bullshit. Okay. Goals get people off their seats, whether they are coming from a 10 pass buildup, or whether they are coming off the back of somebody's head off of a corner kick. And I don't think if the game is boring, it's boring for you. I don't think it's changed and become boring. I love the buildup of a play that happens within the run of play. But I also like the emotional and passionate buildup that exists when you get a set piece. Hey, this is an opportunity. And people get out of their seats. Hey, there's a possibility because we've seen it before that this could be the turning point. And to crap on Arsenal, or a little arson, I can't believe I'm doing this. To crap on Arsenal, not that they need me to defend them. I just, it makes you look petty and it makes you look small. So long live the set piece, they count just as much as any goal. And now what this has made me feel is that I actually want Arsenal to win. Not only do they want them to win, I want them to win specifically because of the slings and arrows that are coming their way right now, specifically because they have our alliance on set pieces. So now, I'm an Arsenal fan. You're welcome. You're welcome. Here's Morgan. The brains behind this, they have a set piece coach called Nicholas Yover, who Gary Neville called the most annoying bloke in football because whenever Arsenal has set peace, they cut him on the touch line. And he's always very demonstrative and giving instructions. And that Rob's Gary Neville the wrong way. A Swiss newspaper blick ran an article a couple of days ago with his picture and they pose a question, is this man ruining football? I'm telling you, this topic is very much in there. I'm wondering, I was actually going to bring this up during our World Cup 100 days out, show I forgot. Is there a national team this summer that's going to hire a great set piece coach and use set pieces to this effect? And perhaps set piece their way to a great World Cup campaign? Well, set piece coaches are now nothing new. We've seen them over the last years. But successful set piece coaches, that's a different thing. And so they, whatever it is, adjust, figure it out. This debate reminds a little bit of their Philadelphia Eagles Tush push. Right. Or smash mouth football. Is that a thing? There's different styles of the game. And just because you don't see the beauty of it doesn't mean it's not beautiful to others. So anyway, it riled me up. And I'm sure it riled some other people up. But got us talking, which is what it was designed to do in the first place. Masi, you watch your Reddit, anything you want to let the folks know about? All I've got is we're down to the final episode of season two of Drops of God, which is this Apple TV show about wine. I've mentioned it before. Season two started slowly, but it gained steam. I got into it eventually. And so I'm excited for this finale. And that, that'll be it for me TV wise. I'll be, I'll have nothing after that. So I have to do a bit of a reset. We do have the Oscars coming up. That's right. And by the way, some intrigue now in the best picture race. Everybody thought one battle after another was a given, but sinners won at the actor awards. Used to be called sag. It's not actor awards. So the fact that sinners won for that makes people think there is a battle between one battle and sinners. And Michael, be Jordan won for best actor. So there could be a battle between him and Shalamey for best actor. So the Oscars, March 15th could have more intrigue than you think. I know we had talked a couple of years ago when that Apple doc on the Beatles came out. There's a Paul McCartney and Wings doc on Prime that is really, really good. I really enjoyed it and called Man on the Run. It, not that he needs to be humanized, but it really, I thought portrayed, and I know it's a documentary. So there's always going to be a slant here or there, but it portrayed Paul McCartney, I think, in a much more favorable light in terms of his obviously post Beatles output, but in terms of his creativity, in terms of the way that he thought about his career and, you know, the pressure, I think we can use the word pressure, even though it's pressure for a multimillionaire, whatever, but the pressure to do things on the same level or better or at the very least interestingly different than what he did with the Beatles and living up to that pressure and a re-examination of that catalog. And you start to hear these songs. If you've heard them, there's a new appreciation for them. And if you haven't heard them, there's an appreciation for some really, really good songs that he wrote after leaving the Beatles. So a band on the run is one of my favorite all-time albums. Really? Yeah. Look at you. Look at you. When he talks all about the making of that and, you know, the constant churning of members in wings and getting out and living out in a farm and all sorts of different stuff, it's really interesting. His relationship with Linda and how important she was to his creativity, but also the criticism that he and she took when she joined the band and all that kind of stuff. So anyway, it's really, really good. I really enjoyed it. All right. Anything else? That is it. All right. Listen, keep downloading and reviewing and subscribing and rating and doing all the different things that you do out there. Keep smashing that button left and right up and down all the different things that you're doing. Smash, smash, smash, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, Spotify, Spotify, Apple, all the different things out there. I know there's all sorts of ways that you get your state of the union. We love whether you're watching, whether you're listening. We just love that you're participating. Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Enjoy your soccer on the field. Enjoy your life off the field. We'll talk to you again next week until then. And as always, my friends, size the day.
