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There are a lot of young MLS players who need minutes. I wish every one of those kids got sent to a U.S.L. Championship team, even a U.S.L. league one team, where you're just playing against men. These are good environments for people to learn and develop and grow, and that's what's best for the player. Unfiltered soccer with landing in Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America, and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for over five years. Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer with landing and Tim, presented by Volkswagen LD. Good to see your hands on face. What's happening, bro? Yes, sir, you're back. How are your travels? You know, we go over to England with Premier League opening weekend. It's like a whirlwind. We're like every stadium, not every stadium, but we're at three stadiums and just travel, travel, travel. It's been good. We went to Arsenal, Coventry, on Friday night. Awesome atmosphere, of course. This is sort of the first time. Well, really, they won the title at Crystal Palace last year. So this is sort of like the first time they got to see their champions. That's cool. Yeah, we're at Brentford at the GTEC. That's London as well, right? That's London. Yeah, it's almost on its way out to London, Nitro. And then we flew up to Newcastle, Newcastle, Liverpool, which was Newcastle in St. atmosphere. It's one of my favorite students. You guys train, take the train up there? We flew up there. We flew up there. Yeah. And then just car service back down. That's good. It was a big trip. But then I got here yesterday. So I don't even know what time it is. How are you? Yo, I just checked something. I'm going to need to give a shout out to your daughter. My daughter, let's go. A couple of games, we didn't talk about this, but a couple of games ago, she came into the game, did really well and he said, hey, she may even start the next one. So I just looked it up. August 20th, they played Northwestern. Starts the game. 44 minutes. Amazing. Then I'm like, okay, well, maybe she got her start show. Starts the next game at Princeton. 49 minutes and gets an assist. Got an assist? Yeah. She's a baller. All right, welcome to the show. As always, follow us on social media, unfiltered soccer. We are just under 8,000 away from 100,000 subscribers. That's pretty amazing. Help us get there, tell a friend, hit that subscribe button. Please and make sure you follow us on Apple podcasts and Spotify. If you love what we're doing, you can rate us, review us. Let us know how we're doing. And then as always, you can email Jordan Feedback at unfilteredsocker.com. Okay, later in the show, Tim, really exciting interview we had. President and CEO of the USL, Paul McDonough. Why is that relevant? Because he's talking to us all about promotion, relegation, how they are going to implement that. And what that looks like, what the challenges are, really, really exciting. We're only a few years away from that. Two years away from that starting in our, it's a monumental time in our country and soccer. And we had an amazing chat with him. Make sure everyone sticks around for that chat. Because I always go, you know, promotion relegation in America, I always go into those conversations. As you know, I'm not really for it yet in this country. And I learned so much from Paul. I have these conversations bringing me sort of back to the middle on my thinking of whether it could actually work. So we're excited to share that with you all. Yeah, you guys are going to really love that. Later on, we will give our first impressions of the Premier League's opening weekend. But first, let's start here domestically. MLS, a lot of good games this weekend, a lot of interesting games. Nashville, Columbus, Nashville are just on a tear. And they are finding every way to win. So trailing 2-1 in stoppage time would have been their first home loss of the season then they score in the 93rd and 95th minute to win it. They're now nine points clear of Vancouver for the supporters shield and 10 clear of Miami who we will get to who did not have a great weekend. They are on pace now to top Miami's 74 point record. I believe they're on pace for 79. Wow, 26 points from a possible 39 to set the new record. Best team in the league. My question for you is, do teams like this, this is always an MLS, this is the thing. You can be a great team in the regular season. No, no, no. But when it comes to shove in the playoffs and it's a knockout, is this a team that can win it? Yeah, I know the question. I know where it's coming from. It's a good question. Yeah, I do think this Nashville team can win it. They've done such a great job in Nashville about keeping the continuity of the team together, keeping their big players happy. And you know how important that is. So well coached by VJ. I just think that, yeah, I think the upper echelon teams now and MLS, you can correct me if I'm wrong. They sort of are, I feel like that's old MLS. You know, we have this good regular season and sort of get bounced. Not that it doesn't happen because the playoffs system encourages that. But I still sort of think the upper echelon teams and MLS who are like, hit the ground running in the season, they're sort of like, they're sort of like one and two throughout the year in the East or West. And when the supporters shield, I still think these teams are really groove to go on and do well in the playoffs. For me, it seems that the better teams and MLS can do that now. They don't like sort of just falter. But again, the playoffs system is sort of in operation to create that drama. So, but you ask me specifically about Nashville, so I do think they have a really good opportunity to make a run for sure. I do think even though they're going to have home field advantage through the playoffs, Miami would scare me if I'm Nashville, for sure. Sure. And LAFC would scare me, if LAFC on the fine, because they just have killers on their team. And so that's in the playoffs a guy who can pull off a special play changes everything, everything, everything. You could be the better team, be heavily on a messy or you have Belonga or Sonny on it that makes it all different. Vancouver Thrash Dallas 5-0. They've struggled since the break, since Berholtz were left. Brian Whiteback, after being injured, which is great. I believe this was my sincerest, this result notwithstanding, losing Sebastian Berholtz is devastating for them. I know they have a lot going on with the stadium and maybe they're leaving, maybe they're not. But letting him go, I think, will prove to be a massive mistake. I just think players like that make you win. You know how it is. You have a guy like that. You cannot let him go. In the end, he wanted to go, but I think originally he was happy to stay, but that is going to end up being a thorn in their side, the rest of the year. Right. Well, but you say he can't go. He wanted to go. He was out at the end, though, Tim. Like, in the beginning, he was happy to stay. It was just there was all this tumultuous stuff going on, a stay and whatever. And they were like, well, we can't deal with that right now. We got to know who's going to be the owner, and so I get it, but I just think they're going to look back at some point. Go, damn, how do we let that go? Well, at some point, look, we don't. Yes. I think here's the issue, the overarching issue. I take on more what you're saying. In America, we don't, we don't produce gems. We don't produce products that we can then sell on. We do sell players every now and again. But if you're looking at an English club, a Dutch club, an Italian club, a German club, a Spanish club, year on year, they're producing young players. That they have to make a decision, ILD. Every year, do we keep this player and give them a four-year contract? Or do we sell them on? Because actually, we can sell them on because we've got a kid who's in the academy with him, who we think is better. So we'll sell this one. Like, right, I'm making a sense there. In America, for Vancouver, Sebastian Burhol to come out, they sold off onto Davies, right? A couple of years back, a few years back. But like, it doesn't come around every year. So I sort of think I'm less seems often times operate under this, like this little, this sense of allusion where Sebastian Burhol should, as you said, like, I know there's ownership issues. He should have been sorted moons ago. This kid's a gem. You can't sell him. But if you're looking at him going, okay, in 2026, how are we going to go to work up? Probably not to sell him. Let's invest in someone else a year from then, or two years from then, so that when we inevitably have to sell him, we have someone to replace him, right? That's a good point. Thinking isn't, isn't, as long as it comes around every like five years and then the clubs go, shoot, what do we do? Right. If you're iax, it's like every six months, there's one of these happening. Or you're just like, try. I remember when I was at Unic on loan, at the end of the loan spell, I was like, okay, not very good. Okay. And there were, there were some talks like, maybe you, maybe you'll stay till the end of the year. And I remember them not saying it to my face, but like through my agent, they were like, we got this like young kid coming up through the academy. We'd rather like, probably give him these minutes than whatever. It was Thomas Muller. That's like, yeah, that's probably a good idea. But like they just have these guys like one after the next. And in MLS, we just don't have that yet. So I think teams, they end up making sometimes good decisions, sometimes bad decisions. Sometimes we just, they're just not used to. Yeah. It sticks up on four million dollars. We should take it. You know what I'm saying? Well, should you? Should you not? All right. Anyway, Inter Miami, Toronto, Inter Miami at home, stunning loss to your boy, Robin Frazier, and his Toronto FC. Josh Sorge, Sergeant Scored, which was great for him. Only his fourth goal. And his first since the World Cup resumed. Interesting. We'll get to Miami in a sec. But his thoughts after the game were an interesting. He said, of course, I think a lot of things haven't been going my way. Haven't been playing to the best of my abilities. But I'm very confident myself at the same time. Hopefully now that I scored this goal, they keep coming. And most of all, I'm happy that the team is playing well and hopefully can get some more results. He's had a really rough eight months. You know, everything at Norwich, he was beloved. And then all of a sudden, he wasn't. And the move to Toronto was kind of off and on and off and on. And he had to go through like a pretty hard time. You've seen a lot of guys go through this. I think in England, it feels like it's just sort of more normal. Like guys understand that this is part of the game. For American players, I just think we're just not that used to it. Like we don't grow up in the system knowing how cutthroat it is. And so, I guess, how do guys deal with that? Right? I mean, that's why are they so why are they so able to deal with it, in England? Ah, because these things happen all the time. And the guys are just like, eh, what like ESAC? It's like, eh, I'm just going to be a jerk eventually. I'll go and like it is what it is. And then you just move on. So there's a mental health aspect to it, right? You just have to you go to this dark place and you have to harden yourself. And you know, you and I have had conversations about this. Look at it. On one hand, Josh Sargent, you know, these, these his comments and quotes are like so honest and so like open. And in the media, the I am now full-time in the media. And so from a media standpoint, you go, yeah, we love it. Give us more. Give us more. I still think, though, like, like in this moment as a player, and I'm like, you never give anybody ammunition. Bro, I would stand in front of a microphone in my playing days. With the national team and with my club teams. And I could have, I could have be having like five stinkers in a row. And it happened, believe it or not. And they asked me to direct point blank about my performance. And I go, yeah, yeah, it was, it was okay. I mean, I thought it was fine. And I keep giving up the clean sheet and six. Yeah, but you know what, we're doing some really good things. I would never, ever admit to like, yeah, I should, I should be better today. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it because that comes back to haunt you. So, um, yeah, you know, Bob, Bob Bradley said to me one time, he was, when he was a national team coach, I was playing with, he was the galaxy. And Frankie Alp was there. And we'd had a bad run. And we won a game. We were a little fortunate, whatever. And in the press after I was like, you know, we got lucky today, but it was great to get the win called me. He there called me our next time he saw me. He said, landed. You know, hard. This has been for Frank and for you and the team. Do not tell people this was lucky. There's no, he's like, don't ever tell people it was lucky. This was how it was scripted meant to be. This is tactically how you're so. And you went out and he's like, don't tell people it was just some. Right. And I was like, huh? All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can eat. Josh, it's true. But anyway, because it's a couple of years old for minor. Concerned at all about Miami or just whatever. I end up, I mean, they don't, they don't, they don't seem to have that edge. Right. Um, that we've seen. Yeah, no, they don't pass, you know, and what does that look like? And feel like it. We just know that in the past, it had a real strong edge, the end of games pulling games out. You know this, Tim, after a World Cup, people don't realize this emotionally. It is so draining. And it really takes some time to get going messy. All he dealt with plus his father's passing. There's a lot going on there. So he, it's going to take him a little bit of time. I think they'll be fine. But yeah, right now, they're probably going to struggle a little bit along the way. Austin Philly, Kevin Sullivan scored a, again, another goal after his red card was overturned. We never talked about that fight, by the way, with Miami. What do you make of that? Sixteen-year-old, like, getting into it? I'm right about this kid. What do you want me to tell you? He's got, he's got Moxie. He's got, he's got, he's got, Pazazz. He's not going to be, he's not going to be, you know, pushed over and, you know, him and his brother throwing down, like they do in the streets of Philly, you know, like, I'm okay. I mean, look, I think on the football pitch, you got to stand up for yourself. I love it, dude. John Ellinger, my old under 17 coach, would always, so we would play, we'd play MLS teams in preseason, and we were 16-year-olds, and Bruce will tell you this, too. Like, a couple of us would just MF, these men during the game, know, we'd, like, hit them and smash them, and yell at them, what are, and these guys would look at us like, they're you. That's how they're supposed to go. But the few of us who were like, I remember Kyle was like that, Kyle Beckerman, too. Like, those are the ones that end up making it, because you got to, like, be nasty and stick up for yourself, whatever. And I love seeing that from, I do not want to see him shy away and go into a hole in the, I want him to stand up, getting people's face and be like, yeah, I'm the man I'm here. Right? Like, that's how you, that's how you gain respect from everybody. Absolutely. So, yeah, I loved it. He's a good player now. Keep saying it. Yeah, I mean, okay, so I want to get back to this. So you said last week, and it got a lot of attention on one of my life. News feeds, it was like Tim Howard says. I know. He's playing like shit. Okay, so I'm starting to change, not change my mind. Look, I think you have to earn the right to play for the national team. I really believe that. But I do want to say, I was thinking back at my career. I had not quote-unquote completely earned all the playing time I got early on. But Bruce was like, you know what? This kid's got something about him. I'm going to give him whatever, four or five games. Let's see how it goes. First game I score. Our next game, you know, Gold Cup. We win the Gold Cup. And then it kind of went, right? And so with Kevin was Xavier Gozo with some of these kids, I think maybe you say, yeah, I think I'm agreeing with you. I think you say, look, let's play these guys and some of these friendlies. See what they have about them. If they're good, you know what comes next? Qualifying, right? Copa America. Let's put them in the fire and see, can they do it at the next level? Not because you got to be thinking about 2030. And the more times and the more experiences these guys get in hard games, the better it is for them. It really is. And so I'm here and what you're saying. You and I have had multiple of these conversations. I'm not saying, and for all the naysayers out there, I'm not saying gift this kid something he hasn't earned on a silver platter. You don't deserve to be on a national team, but we're still going to give you games. No, I'm saying this kid, we don't, I don't know how many times I have to speak to these naysayers. We don't, we are not Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Spain, England, Germany. We don't produce these players. We produce you. Sixteen. We produce a Christian policy. Sixteen. We don't produce these players. So when you have this player, well, Man City already said, you know what? We can get any play in the world. There's a kid in Philadelphia. We really like. And when he's not VH, he's coming to us, whether he plays for them or gets moved on to another team alone to then come back. Like, this kid, this kid is incredible. He's tough. He's nasty. He has the skills to back it up. And what I'm saying is, for all those people saying, don't gift Calvin Sullivan an opportunity. In the next four years, we're going to keep a track, a tracker. I swear we're going to keep a tracker. Do you have any players? They're going to play for the national team and get opportunities. But there's going to be like 115 players that play for the national team. Why not look who's better than this kid? Not me. Who's better than this kid that doesn't deserve an opportunity to play in a position? I'm not saying he plays every game, but he should be in the conversation, be playing every game. Why not? I have to say like Tim, going through, I remember going to some of these games, not playing, just traveling to some of the qualifiers in Barbados and in El Salvador. Those experiences helped so much. And so him just being in the environment, seeing what it's like, even just watching the game from the sideline, you're like, whoa, that's a different speed. That's a different intensity, right? All of those experiences, if you really believe, and this is only for Pochettino to decide, that he could be a part of 2030 or Xavier Gozo or any other young player, then you say, okay, let's go. Let's give him the experience. This is what this is my point, because you said like, I've been in this environment, so I can speak to it as I've you. Can you imagine Kevin Sullivan at 16 years old, being a part of it, being a part of a national team might be 17, work out qualifying, and you're down the San Pedro Sula, and you're warming up, and it's the 70th minute, Christian Bliss has been getting the kicks, the lumps kicked out of him, Wes has been getting kicked, all of our top players are getting kicked. We've not got one call, by the way, you've been in these games, you're not got one call, and your number gets called, you're now going into a game thinking, I gotta play quick, I gotta play fast, I'm not getting a call, I'm gonna stand by the way, I'm gonna stand up and be counted when I get chopped down, and there's gonna be probably like, three or four hundred players around, like the amount that that teaches you in those moments, then carry over. So, is he ready for it? Does he deserve it? Well, I don't know, but I know he needs to be in that moment in order for him to get to his full potential. That's what I believe. And for us to find out, I might surprise us, he might just crush it. Okay, here we go. He will, and goes out too. Okay, quick, Cowan Banjo watch, there's been some great performance illustrations. So, team of earners scored again, they lost five one at home in Minnesota, Yikes. According to MLS's statistics, it's now on six goals, seven assists. Okay. You're getting a bit nervous, bud. I'm not, because here's why, I deserve this, because it's a service. I spoke out of turn. Like, I should have never, this is not, this is, you know what I'm going to say. I like team of earner. Like, why, why I would say that? I just respected a fellow road. Battling, I love this. No, I'm not. And I'm like, and why, why would I have said that? I didn't, I shouldn't have said it, but I said it. I laid my marker down. I never said it, but it was reported. And anybody who knows me, who knows, I won't, I won't backtrack. I hope he breaks it. And here's the other thing, since we announced Cowan Banjo watch, the tattoo illustrations have gotten better. Originally, I was, originally I'm thinking, if he gets 10 and 10, I'm, I'm going to have something on my back side, that's just not great. Some of the new illustrations, I'm buzzing off from there, actually. I'm actually going to go and watch and support and hope he gets 10 and 10, because if he gets 10 and 10, maybe we let people vote on which one they want. No chance for him. There's been some terrible. I don't know. Well, we'll let you narrow down to three and then they choose. All right. Bear. Maybe. All right. The Prem is back. So some really bad first impressions united, losing the whole city. Somebody on this pod said, don't give an interim manager who's a former player who has a few good games. The gig. He's still holding true to that. Is this a one off or are you concerned? Did I say that? Yeah. Yeah, Michael Carrick's won the over. I mean, I think originally, because of how it was a trend with united. You know, you get you get four players who are the boys through the door. Percy. Yeah. I've not been per se a finistory. I mean, finistory, sorry. Yeah. But and so and so my initial thought was your Manchester United. If Michael Carrick drives this team to third place and they finish the scene as strong, he should absolutely be in consideration. But you're Manchester United. So you can go interview the top managers in the world. So that was what I initially where I was. Okay, he sort of won me over. He won the fans over. We won the team over. But like he did a good job. They obviously had Champions League. That was a worry. If you get Champions League a first-time manager who's managing in Champions League, balancing the squad, etc, etc. So that was the worry. The worry on the day. No, I mean, Michael Carrick is going to do a good job with Manchester United team. This Manchester United team is a very good team. I think the concerning thing which we didn't really see under his care last year was like they went, if you're Manchester United and you're going to hall, like half of your team talk should be guys. It's going to be physical, match their physicality, match their strength. Get through the first 25 mentions, which is going to look incredibly ugly, stand up to the challenge. And so like these players, these Manchester United players who were very experienced by the way, did not be surprised that they're lumped in balls into the box. You know, I said on the first goal which came from the corner, ball gets whipped in. Click, click, hitter at the front post by a whole player. All in the burning at the back post, right? Slides in, second contact. Third contact was a giant. He just lands it home unmarked. And I'm saying, you know, there's three points of contact for the ball in the penalty area. And not one time did a Manchester United player get a touch on it? Like, that's his effort. That's something like this. Desire. Desire. You know, and so, I don't know. It was, it was a lackluster performance. But I, and one that is, if you're in the United fan, not great, but ultimately, you know, Manchester United didn't have a good season. You feel the same about Spurs? Yeah, that was Tim. I mean, Brent Fred are good, but did you not have PTSD from last year if you're a Spurs fan watching that? I was like, this looks exactly the same as last year. It looks exactly the same. I know. I think Spurs, and this is hard if you watch the game. I think Spurs are going to you know, finishing European places. I think flip and hack. I think European places. Yeah, I do. I do. Here's what? Like the inner total cup. No, set the thing. No, no, no, no, no. You know, the, I at one point was so high, I was like, oh, they can finish Champions League. But I do think it's, you know, in six, seventh, here's why. Roberto Deserbes are really good manager. His style is intricate. If we look back, if you look back at the numbers and the reality, at Brighton, it took Brighton a little while to get going. Okay, it's a really intricate system. He keeps four up landing. Like, Lily, why say four up LD when you watch it? When they put the ball down for a ball kick, they've got four players on the midfield line. As far as they can go. And then he, the way that he plays out of the back, his keeper is his plus one. Right? And at Brighton, once they finally figured it out, there are, and we talked to the Brighton players, when they get the ball, they're like a quarterback, option one, option two, option three is into the striker, right? And so they're, pressure them all you want. They're plus one is their goalkeeper. No one's marking the goalkeeper. So if they don't like it, they start again. And that's not like rocket science. But what is rocket science is LD. The two strikers in that formation come to the ball. So now the center, so now the centerback's got to go. We have to go to the ball and his system then always allows the wingers to run beyond. So there are two versus two. So quite literally the goalkeeper or the centerback, when he gets under pressure, the two strikers back in the, in the best part of Brighton, it was Yelp Pedro, right? The two strikers come short, okay? And then the two wingers go long. You're one versus one in the front line. So the centerback either wraps it into the striker or he goes long into the winger, who's now running free. And, and when the ball went into the Yelp Pedro, it was, it was really an act. That's how he got into the Chelsea. He got her under control. He dipped and he died. He turned her shoulder and now he's, now they're plus one. Now, when Charleston came to the ball and every time he got the lumps kicked out, I mean, he didn't hold it. Well, we don't hold it. You fumble it. They're on the break. And, and it didn't look great in the end, LD. If they get, you know, subignal through the door, if they get more moosh through the door, if they get GACPO, I mean, even if they don't get those guys, they're going to be okay. But they, they make some really good signs. This is going to take a minute. To boil, but I'm telling you, it's going to be okay. I truly believe it. I guess we'll find out. And you're right on the goal. I think it was, I think it was that goal, where Charleston got lost the ball and then Burjuan kind of went in. Half past and yeah, and then that was it. Okay. Got an old ball. Brighton hammered Villa. Jesus. Well, I think we both, I think you said it though, Villa are going to struggle. I mean, you can't lose that, that many players in struggle. We'll keep an eye on them. On the good, Arsenal City eventually won. Arsenal, I think Tim, I think they're better than last year. I don't see anyone getting anywhere near them. I really don't. I think they're so good. I agree. Yeah. I think they're really good. They're like, it's hard. You know, fans get like knee jerky. Like they've been waiting for football. It's like, it's crazy. And like, but honestly, as a pundit, we laugh about it me and the two robbies and becks. Like, you go there. To Johnny Rinders last year, Man City played at Wolves, and we were like, this kid's player of the year. He was amazing. They beat Wolves like 4-0. He's not even on a team anymore. He didn't play. So like, it's so easy to get caught up in this like hype, even though you're like, it's not supposed to. Yeah, Arsenal look good, man. They look, they look so incredibly sharp. So at least looks like a world leader, by the way. He looks so good. You know, I think Declan Rice, and we're talking to my colleague Lee Dixon, who obviously is an Arsenal legend. You know, he was, he made the point like, I think Declan Rice played like 60-someone games last year. It was some crazy number. And the idea is like, okay, there's a World Cup hangover, but he's excited. They're defending champions. So like, let him go. If he gets burnt out in November, no, no, no, give him a break. Give him a couple weeks off. But right now, let him go. Because this Arsenal team, my god, LD, they just, they do no holes. No holes. Yeah, and you don't, you don't, like some of these teams are like, oh, well, it's the first game. It's a whole city. You're not going to be like over like, but Arsenal done it. So we've seen it. And now they just look more refined, more continuity. They, I don't think Mekara Teta has much to cite. Like everybody knows what they're doing. And so it just makes it so easy every week for them to go. And they're not going to win every game, but they just go in knowing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. And that is so valuable. You know what, it's funny to say that because you hit the nail on the head out. You're watching this team and you're starting to go like, they know Mekara Teta. And this was, this was our David Moise teams that you and I played on. And the ones that are really well-matched are Teta is carcullily break down and go, lads, I can't make it to the game. You know what would happen? Nothing. They would literally play and do the same thing. And somebody would act like our Teta on the field. And like the one that said, the one that's a trick. So it's impressive. And I also think it's about how many losses, right? And they'd be invincible. That's nearly hard, hard to do. But like if Arsenal drop a game, the next week they're going to bounce back. They're not going to change. They're going to go again. And they're going to put that to bed. And it's, I think they run away with it. I do, I do. I do too. I do too. And you know, city were, in the end, they got the win. But I think they're going to struggle. And new coach, just like Spurs, it's going to take time. For Arsenal, though, they're just, they're a well-owned machine right now. As much as it pains me to say that. All right. What did you guys think? What was your biggest first impression from Match Day 1 of the Prem? Let us know in the YouTube comments or you can always email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer. Real quick, Brennan Aronson, new three-year deal with Leeds. Really happy for him. It's good to see a player like that, you know, as you know, like get a new deal, continue on. Another good performance from him this weekend. So just great to see. Yeah, it speaks volumes out. You know, this is a Premier League club who's given him a contract extension. That's great. It's great for him. Great for American football. It is Stoppage Time sponsored by Fandall. Every match brings new opportunities. And Fandall gives you plenty of ways to get in on the action. Download the Fandall Sportsbook app to get started. All right. This week, Premier League, Palace hosting Manchester City. This is a really, really interesting game. City, I think we're very fortunate to win on the weekend. Palace at Everton played really well, had some big chances. Definitely didn't deserve to lose the game. You could argue they deserved to win the game. I think they're better than that result showed. And I think City are still going to struggle. In the end, Cherokee came on and made the difference to get them the three points. But I really like Palace in this game. Erling Holland was quite quiet in their first game. I expect him to get back to form and score a goal. I do believe this game will have a lot of firepower, a lot of goals in it. Cherokee, again, I think he probably starts the game. Now he had massive impact on the game. And it feels like he's due first start now. So I think Palace win. I know a little surprising there. Erling Holland gets on the score sheet. They will go over four and a half goals. I know it's a big number, but I feel like this is a three two game written all over it. Cherokee will get a goal or an assist. So to recap, unfiltered soccer's same game, Parlay this week. Palace to win. Erling Holland to score over four and a half goals. Ryan Cherokee goal or an assist. Don't forget to check out the full list of unfiltered soccer's same game, Parlay's on our socials later this week. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, as we mentioned, really, really, really exciting guests. Paul McDonald has the CEO and president of USL talked to us all about promotion and relegation and how that is going to work in our country for the first time in a couple of years. Right here on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there. As you guys know, we are all about spreading the love of this amazing game and access to this beautiful game across the US. We want you to get involved to join to play to enjoy it. We care about you. We care about the game and we want you involved. This is also something Volkswagen cares deeply about. They have long been a supporter of soccer in America and have proudly been a partner of US Soccer for over seven years. Yeah, that's right. And this summer is a massive opportunity for you all to get involved in the game and not just by watching the matches. L.D., I think it's important that people enjoy the matches, but that they get a ball at their feet and they participate whether that's in the street or a park. It doesn't matter. Like, I think it's so important that they fall in love with the game. It's the beauty of what's going to happen this summer is you're going to have the opportunity to be a part of this sport in a unique way and we want you involved. So consider this your call from L.D. and I, from Volkswagen to get off the sidelines and make the most of it. Get swept up, tune in, play for at the very least, always keep a ball in your trunk. Follow at VW on social to see how they are getting in the game this summer and check out the Volkswagen Tiguan. Learn more at www.com. To me, the World Cup may be over, but the way America loves soccer that is just getting started. Every Saturday's soccer takes over the day. Maybe you're playing in the morning, then throwing on your jersey, grabbing snacks and watching a match later with friends and family. And Wal-Mart has exactly what you need to keep those traditions going. From soccer balls to kick off snacks and everything you need to bring match day together week after week. America is a soccer country and Walmart is helping us live like one every Saturday. Who knew? LD really, really excited for our next guest. Partly because he holds the key in the magic to what could be a massive pivotal turning point in soccer in America. He's a friend of ours and someone we truly respect and are looking to get on the show for a long time. USL president and CEO Paul McDonough welcomed to unfiltered soccer. How are you, Paul? Good, guys. How are you? Great. Great. Paul, good to have you, man. And full disclosure, Paul, used to work with our agent. And our agent, Rich Mottskin always says, or at least my agent, says former agents make great front office executives because they understand both sides of it. Players think about players. Agents think about players and the agents. The clubs think about the clubs and what's best for them. But when you have, I think, had the ability to dip your toe in all of them, it gives you a unique perspective. So we're going to dive, of course, we're not going to bury the lead because the promotion relegation thing is what most people want to hear about. But what's your, I guess, aside from that, what's your overall vision for the league and how this, and maybe it is, primarily based around promotion relegation. But what's the overall vision for how you take this forward? Yeah, I mean, I think it's really interesting, right? The league's been around for 15 or so years. We've had the same leadership, you know, I've stepped in a couple of months ago. And I think any time you have had a long, tenured leadership group, you know, you get kind of laser focused on how you run things. And I think you have to respect how you got to what you got to. But, you know, really spent the last couple of months just evaluating the business where we want to go in the next phase. And I think it's important. So promotion relegation is definitely a big, big part for us. Coming out of the World Cup, you know, successful World Cup, right? And as we look to the Olympics and the Women's World Cup, how we can play more of a role and grow in the game throughout the country. So we're actively involved in all that. Our mindset probably changes a little bit as we get into the next phase of our growth. Because, you know, coming out of the World Cup, everyone says, you know, what, how can we become a true soccer great nation? And I think all stakeholders have to participate and collaborate in that. So we're going to try to be a little bit more active in the collaboration as we look to go forward. Well, so when we talk about promotion relegation, right? I have, I have been outspoken, like I played 13 years in the Premier League, I have lived from motion and relegation. I understand how great it can be on one side and how bad it can be on the other. I have been outspoken just based on my views and from the American standpoint that I am against it. When I say I'm against it, I hope it works. I have concerns. I'm guessing my concerns are the same ones that your stakeholders have brought to you. Let's talk about why it'll work and why you're so excited that you think promotion relegation in the USL and the American landscape can work. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, when we did this a few years ago, when we started down the journey, we were looking for something that was a differentiator for us in the marketplace and how to grow the game. And I think when you have to look with your time, being in the Premier League, you know, the Premier League have done an unbelievable job about showing people what soccer in England is like. And, you know, more and more people are now growing up watching it on the weekends. And they're growing up with promotion relegation and they're starting to see it. The differentiator for us, right? In our country, how do you get every match to matter? And we were, because when you start going through the business metrics of teams, you know, and like what we would call dead rubbers, right? And if you have half of your games that don't matter, how do you expect people to invest their harder and money to come out to a game? So we kind of tried to really drive something and everything we were doing from a sporting side that it was all based on meritocracy and every match would matter, whether it's, you know, kind of our interlead cop or as we get into promotion relegation, but it's certainly, it's a very big lift, a lot harder than any of us ever thought. But we just keep pushing it in and we're trying to find it so it's authentic, you know, when we launch this. Is it going to mirror what we see in other leagues or are there variations? I didn't even thought about this till you said that. I think there's challenges, right? You know, because we've grown up so much in with playoffs, right? The playoffs map, and you know, do we continue to have playoffs? Do the playoffs matter just for promotion and relegation? Or do you just have a separate standalone regular season and then you still have playoffs which American fans are very used to? We continue to have those conversations with our board of team owners and you know, kind of ebbs and flows a little bit. Most important thing is you have to make sure the business is taken care of and they have game counts. So if we can do that, then we could probably just get into kind of almost like an English championship postseason. So you're saying if, so if you have USL, what's the top league going to be called Premier? USL Premier, yeah. Yeah, and then you have USL championship clubs underneath that. And you're saying for USL championship clubs, potentially some form of a playoff that gets them into USL championship. I mean, USL Premier. And then you would also have some version. I know this is all still being worked out. So potentially some version of playoffs for the lower teams in the USL Premier that then get relegated. Yes. Got it. So we're looking at that. And so you're trying to bring some value to the regular season. So one or two winners would automatically go up and then maybe that third team that could go up or down, you play off. And then there's a second chance or there's some type of playoffs there. But there's so many iterations. And we've done a lot of things since we announced promotion relegation because listen, it's a great country, but it's a really, really big country. And when you look at the size of the country, right now in our championship, we have East and West. We're going to go away from that. We're going to do 20 teams in Premier, 20 teams in championship, which is important. We'll play a balanced schedule and then we'll figure out the mechanisms are going up and down. And then kind of our league one, which is more of our smaller markets, we'll build that out more into an East West and a regional model. But when you start moving teams around with geography, it gets really, really interesting. Right. I didn't think about that too. So your promotion relegation, Paul, we'll go from Premier and championship, but not league one yet. No, league one, league one will start right away too. Yeah, it'll be all three leagues will start at the same time. I think, you know, when we start Premier, we could have 12 to 14 teams. So doing three up three down from there probably is a little too extreme. So we may start with two and build as we build it out to 20, then we'll get to three. You know, I think the common thing, right? And you'll know this really well from your time in England. But everyone's the first reaction is, well, when you look at teams that get relegated out of the Premier League, down to the championship, the loss and value. Sure. You know, and that's the TV contract. And unfortunately, we don't have that, right? We're not thinking in terms of power shoe payments. Our bigger concern is about teams that get promoted, because the cost of doing business, one league higher, you know, players cost more, referees cost more, travel is going to be more. So we're trying to offset the cost for the teams that get promoted, especially initially, of how they can keep a good business going. That was, yeah, that was my next question. Paul is how, then just the mechanics of it, right? Because when, you know, Tim references this all the time, when Lutentown gets promoted, they have to now, they have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a new stadium. On new facilities, whatever. And US Soccer has standards by which USL Premier will be a tier one league. Brilliant, tier two. Yeah, it'll be our top tier, it'll be our top tier. So there will be standards too that have to be met there, right? So if you're playing, I mean, if you're a USL league one team, and you're playing in a high school football stadium for cost, and you get promoted, and then you get promoted again, then the mechanics of it, I mean, you have to then build a stadium eventually, is that the, is that how that works or? No, our talks with US Soccer have been, right, that the drive for outsized stadiums doesn't really make sense. You can do it in England because the TV money, it's worth doing, right? Because you can get all of a sudden get 120, 160 million pounds, right? Our argument, right? And I use the, the example all the time of Charleston, right? Charleston's a smaller market team in our championship now. They will stay there. They always outperform themselves on the field than they do kind of in the size. It would be wrong of us or US Soccer to try to think that for them to now go compete that they have to put 40 million dollars of capital into a stadium so that they can compete. So this is one of our asks of US Soccer, right? If we're truly in this to grow the game and make soccer more relevant in the country, you can't ask teams just because we want to get into a, a system of meritocracy to go and invest 40, 50 million dollars. Like that, that doesn't make sense. That'll put more teams out of business. So our ask of US Soccer is to evaluate that because the, the 15,000 seed stadium came in a long time ago when US Soccer was looking for places for you guys to play, right? There wasn't enough, there wasn't enough right-sized stadiums, so they said, listen, let's go and get an MLS did a great job of it, right? They built Crew Stadium, red teams played a long time, sporting Kansas City, things like that. So, you know, that is kind of an outdated, you know, regulation as far as like we think, because if you look at Boise, Boise is in league one right now. They're selling out 7,200 people a game. They're doing great, strong business, everything like that. If they go up, you know, they can add some more seats, but the business has to stay strong. So if we're in this to grow the game, you know, we can't put financial restrictions that hurt teams because they want to compete. And I think that's one of the big hang-ups for people, right? They equate to Luton and say, well, this is going to break teams. And if that's the requirement, it would break teams. Yeah, right. And US Soccer has been receptive to that. They've been open to having conversations. It's a very, I'd say it's a very open leadership group at US Soccer. You know, they really want to get involved and sometimes a little too much. And they spread their wings a little too far. But they are very open to trying to make the game better. So they are much more involved than I ever remember a leadership group. That's great. So Paul, so we talked about, okay, so teams coming up, I'm on board with that. I like that. You're not making them spend them's over in a cost to try and keep up with the Joneses and build the stadiums to just maybe go back down again, right? Okay, we've seen that. So what about conversely? So we talk about parachute payments in England, right? So for teams that go down, television revenues sort of, they get these payments over the course of, I don't know, three years or you know better than I. Over the course of a couple of years and it's supposed to soften the blow of getting relegated so you don't tumble all the way down. Okay. So if Landon and I, as an example, and you have these shareholders, Vlandon and I said we're going to put in a ballpark in this, $25 million. And we want to go buy a franchise in USL. And we want to run, we want to play, we want to play in the Premier division. Yep. Our worry, right? And I'm guessing this has been brought to your table a thousand times. My, my landland's worry would be, yeah, but our, our $25 million investment could take a big hit if we go down into the championship and there's no parachute payment. So what's, what's sort of been those conversations with ownerships? How have you gotten them on board? Yeah, they, they actually, they're not too worried about it, right? Right? It's, it's, it's, it's really, really interesting. The initial response is everyone always thinks about England. And we have some owners, right? Brett Johnson, Kevin Eagle, who have been in England and they have tasted both sides of promotion and relegation. And they kind of helped us, right? We don't think if a team gets relegated in our system as it stands today, that there would be a massive loss devaluation. Because really, right now, we don't have big TV contracts. Right now, there's not, there's not a large part to share from national revenues. So it's all based on local. And if you look at some of our teams and the communities we're in, teams that aren't qualifying for the playoffs are still doing pretty well attendance-wise because it's something for the family to do to go out in their communities and they support their local club. So it's, it's, it's not really that bit. And when we talk to the owners about it, you know, the guys that are invested in money in Detroit, then Sacramento, you know, they want to do promotion relegation and they understand that if they get relegated, then they have to run the business. Yeah, it's actually a good point, Paul. I hadn't, I didn't think about it that way. So the reason the fall is so big in England is all TV money and sponsorship money, of course, too. But if you don't have that, and you know, you can make an argument, MLS doesn't have relatively to the, to England, big TV money either, right? So it's not going to dramatically impact. If Boise goes to the championship next year and then in two years goes to Premiere and then falls back down, nothing's going to change because the community's already shown in league one that they're going to show up and go to the games, right? So a few years ago, I had a conversation with Brendan Flutter at Burnley and Burnley kind of had that traditional yoyo, right? They go up and down and Brendan, you know, we had a conversation and, you know, it was really interesting for me to talk to him because he said, listen, we know exactly who we are. We buy players, we get promoted, we don't go crazy, we put money into infrastructure, you know, and I think their valuation stays flat because on top of everything you just said, Landon, I think high contracts, people that really want to go and spend big to try to stay and then you get relegated again, that's the problem, right? For those types of things, you have big CAPX investor, big player investments, you know, you go up, you have sponsors, all those things take a hit when you get knocked down again, we don't live in that world yet. I hope someday we do, right? I think that's a, that's, that's, that's very ambitious for us to want to, you know, emulate what goes on in England. Practically now, from today through, is it 2028 that you're going to launch? Looking to launch in 28, March of 28. So assuming it does happen in 28 or 29, whenever it happens, what does that practically look like now? Are you starting already now to build teams that will be in the premiere? Are there some, you know, Louisville makes a lot of sense, obviously, SACC, you know, some of the legacy team, maybe to Mexico, etc. Some of those teams become automatically become premiere teams and then you join with others, how does that all look? Yeah, it's, it's, we're in the process of it, right? You know, the changes we've had over the last six, nine, 12 months, you know, we've talked a lot with our team owners about this, endeavor, we've talked a lot about the alignment with them. So we're exploring an alignment model with our owners, where we share revenue upside with them as we go forward. You know, we're looking at teams that can do it. We're having conversations with U.S. Soccer. You know, teams are building stadiums. So we're right in the midst of it. So I think, legitimately for us, we probably launched with 12, you know, 12 in premiere, 20 in championship. We'll have somewhat 24 teams probably and lead one. And then there's some, some competition things we have to work out because 12, you know, we believe in the balance schedule, right? Everyone playing home in a way. So that would only give those teams 22 matches. So how do we offset that? But I think in the early stages, we can lean into legacy rivalries and things like that. And we do have an interleague cup amongst ourselves right now. So we can lean into that and kind of build it out as we add more teams into the ecosystem as we go forward. Are you getting solicited by all these clubs saying we want to be in premiere? Yeah, that's what I wanted to make sure we're in for me. Yeah, there is, there is some of that, right? We do have that and we're trying to really raise the standard of who we let in. It's just not about who has money, right? It's who's got a stadium, who sells tickets in their stadium. You know, it's great if you have a 40,000 seed stadium, but if you can only sell 7,000 tickets, like it's just not a great look, right? So we would, we kind of believe in the ethos that if you have 15,000 or 12,000 seats, sell it. And if it's a sold-out house, the atmosphere is better. It's a better experience for fans, better experience for players, looks better on TV. So we're really trying to drive to that. And we've had some guys come in and say, listen, my owner, he'll spend the money. And I was like, well, great, you can't go, though, because you don't sell tickets. So it's those conversations that we're looking at. Now, look, once we get in and, you know, everyone always says this, well, you know, you can just go get an owner and he can just spend money and buy his way up. That's really hard to do. And it doesn't always work. But if someone wants to spend their way up, then we just have to drive them to have certain standards so it looks good on TV. Because that's going to be important for us as we grow, right? TV contracts. Yeah. That's going to be the big driver. Yeah. On the player development side, so you just said, and, you know, Tim and I have had this conversation a lot, I philosophically, I don't disagree. I'm just trying to understand how promotion relegation makes player development better. So from you and I want to hear you too, Tim, like, what does that? Is it strictly because the games are more meaningful? Is it, is that the sort of simple answer? Or does it give players the opportunity now to play at a higher level that may not have or an easier opportunity? Because USL players now, very, very, very few go on playing at a loss, right? It's just the reality. And so that's not going to change with this system, right? Because there is no connection to Major League Soccer. So how does it make those players better? I think, I think playing in pressure environments, day in and day out, does make players better, right? I do think you have to look at the ecosystem in general, right? If the MLS are going to follow where they say and maybe take off some of the spending limits and push to become a top 5, 10 league in the world, there may be more opportunities for young national team players and young domestic players to play in our environment. Well, they're already hard, but it seems. Yeah, they're already hard. But I think, but I think there could be more as we go, right? I think there could be more opportunities as we go. And I think if that happens, then great, like we want MLS to be successful and go be top 5 league in the world, right? That's good for us, right? That's good for soccer in the country. And if we can fill in the gaps and we can provide opportunities for that U-17 national team player that can't play for LAFC because they're trying to win a championship, then great. Like let him go play at Sacramento and let him play in promotion and relegation and feel the pressure of what it's like to have to compete day in and day out. And it's just, it's a good thing for everybody. So Paul, last few things for me, if you were making, you know, Diego Luna's sort of the poster child, right? And I coached against Diego with San Diego Loyal when he was with El Paso. And watching a 16 year old play with men and compete with men was so different than going to an MLS next pro game, right? Where it was on Sunday morning and nobody cared. And there's 12 people there, including your family. Like the games didn't mean anything. And if you have, and there are now many, many young kids who are much more talented than Tim and I ever were at that age, you are pitching to a young kid who wants to go MLS next pro and believes in the MLS stream. What are you saying to them to convince them to come join a USL team, if you were? Go, go, go, going back into the agent days. There you go, sell me. Now look, I think, I think, listen, I think it's important, right? There's no one size fits all. I think, you know, there are, there are examples, Luna. I think you look at Fidel Borajas, right? Fidel Borajas, you know, was in San Jose. He wouldn't have got signed. He went over to Charleston, played really well. And was able to, you know, make a career. And he's been transferred and doing that. Matthew Quarkin, right, coming out of Dallas, all of a sudden, he goes and plays at Birmingham, and gets transferred to Nashville. And he's playing the other night against, you know, into Miami, right? He's playing against Kissinger, you know. I don't know if he would have got that opportunity. So I think, listen, I think MLS next pro makes sense for some kids. Our system is just a little bit different, right? It's kind of, if I was going to sell a kid on it, I would say, listen, it's important for you as a young player to go and test yourself in environments and against older players and in front of crowds. And when you're ready, then we would move you to whether it be the Bundesliga, the MLS, or wherever you want to go. But, you know, to test yourself in that environment, we think will accelerate your growth. Incredibly insightful, Paul. And obviously, our fans are going to be delighted to hear this, because I certainly, you have me very excited for 2028 and the possibilities of what this looks like. And again, coming into this, I had so many questions that you have answered for me. So I know it's going to be a very enlightening episode for our fans. So thank you, thank you for your friendship and your leadership of USL. And we are just, again, delighted to have you. Thank you, Paul, wishing you the best, man, thank you. It's time for the cold moment of the week. Sponsored by Kors Light. More goals, more celebrations. Go to KorsLight.com slash UFS. RLD, who had the cold moment of the week? FC Cincinnati is a vander, absolute tearing up the league right now. 15 goals, Timmy, in his last 17 games, kind of quietly, by the way. I know it is, but it's, I don't know, maybe since he's smaller market, it's, you still hear as much about it. 24 goal contributions in the league this far, so far this year, 13 goals, 11 assists. Okay, so we're going to have some trivia. Earlier this month, he became the fifth fastest player in MLS history to reach 100 goal contributions. Having done it in just 104 games. Who are the four who got there faster? Sort of full contribution. How upset it again? Goal, 100 goal contributions. Who got there faster than he did? He did it in a hundred four games. So there's no way Messi has that many yet, does he? Marco Etcherberry, take that off the list. Etcherberry, no chance. Oh, okay. I'm going to say Joseph Martinez. Yeah, that's a great shot. No. Robbie Keane. Is that Robbie Keane that's coming off? Yeah, Robbie Keane. No, all right. Keane's third. What about 96 games to get to? I've both book before I asked. Do you think, even Al Morones is on that list? No, no. Okay, no, Joseph Martinez is next. Sebastian G. Of Inco. Well, that's a great shot, too. Great. Wow, I don't know five, too. You know five. Number two, 95 games, it took him. Do you think Messi has a hundred yet? He must. Yeah, he must. Messi. Messi. Yeah, definitely. Okay. He got it in like three years. That's what he got. He listened to this. He got it in 69 years to give him 95, so 96, event 104. Okay, who's fourth? Fourth is. I don't know. I don't know what it is. I'm lost. You're on fire here. You got three of the four we need. We got a hint. We got a hint. It's a Mexican player. Mexican player? Blanco? No, I have no idea. I have no idea. Luis Hernandez. I was going to say Hernandez for LA. Also, yeah. No. What? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't hold it. I'm literally lost. Here we are going on bail it. Oh, Bella. Of course, of course. That's a bad mess on our part. Carlos Fella. Well, anyway, Evander, that's not bad company to keep my friend. Cheers to you. Hundred goal contributions in 104 games. Well done. Called moment of the week. All right, let's take another quick break when we come back, answering all of your questions in the AT&T fan connection right here on unfiltered soccer with Lannan and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there. This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. LD, the place I stayed in, it was so cool. Clean, spacious, amazing location in order for me to get to the live podcast. And I just think back about like so much of this tournament this summer for me was just like being amongst the amongst the people. And the people in the street were so excited for soccer. The people, of course, at the live podcast were excited for soccer. It was really special for me. It's been fun to experience and it's a fun way to experience it. One thing that made traveling for our unfiltered soccer live shows even easier was being able to order groceries straight to the door after arriving through the new grocery delivery feature on Airbnb. Having the fridge stocked with your go-to snacks, drinks, or breakfast essentials just made everything feel more comfortable right away. It takes away the stress of logistics so you can start enjoying the trip and making memories right away. When you're traveling with friends, family, or fans and hanging out with them, where you stay really shapes the experience. Having a place where everyone can spend time together, relax between the events, and feel settled into the city, makes the trip feel way more personable and memorable. That'll be a funny story, right? So I was at a college tailgate. This was a few years back. I was at a college tailgate at a TV's on. TV was plugged into the generator. Everyone's having a good time. And I ended up bringing the beer, but it was warm. Bad idea. Bad idea. I made some enemies, but I made some friends. We had his beer fridge, but the TV was plugged in. So I had to unplug the TV, saw it, sorry, but plug in the beer fridge so I can cool the beer, or at least chill the beer. And I was like, look, you want a football, you want beer. I know you want both, but right now you got to choose. No, that's an obvious answer. We chose beer. And look, we don't care how you cool your course down. Just make sure it's rocky mountain cold. TV can go, football can go. We need the beer cold. When the mountains turn blue, your beer is as cold as the Rockies. Face true mountain cold refreshment. Crack open a course light. Get course light delivered straight to your door. Visit courselight.com slash UFS, where you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly. Course brewing company, golden Colorado beer. To me, as you know, in soccer and in life, there are those moments where everything comes down to connection. It's that call to your family right after a big win. The text before kickoff when the nerves hit, or watching the match from halfway across the world. Feeling like you're right there in the stadium. Those are the moments that matter most. And when the connection matters, it has to be AT&T. Because it's not just about having service, it's about showing up when it counts. Whether you're watching the game at home or on the move, AT&T helps keep you connected to what matters most. Yeah, because soccer isn't just about 90 minutes on the pitch, but the highs you celebrate, the losses you write out, and every message, call, and shared reaction along the way. So wherever the game takes you, make sure you've got a network you can rely on. Visit ATT.com slash Y-ATT to learn more. AT&T, connecting changes everything. It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USL and T, our connections with you will help grow the game. Okay, welcome into the AT&T Fan Connection. Jordan, what's the crack? Hello, this is my, my chemical romance. Oh, I'm sorry. MCR, a friend of mine brought this back when she went to see them in Anfield last month and I couldn't go because we were, you know, doing the World Cup thing. Oh, my God, you're two worlds coming together. Yeah, did they, did they sell out Anfield? Like I've been, hmm. Yeah, but she just handed this off to me last week because I just did two of my Cam shows, one in DC and one in Detroit. Wait, I wanted to, can I just tell you a really quick story? Sure. So we're in Detroit. We're sitting on the floor and it's me and two of my friends and there's an empty seat. And we're hoping, be on hope, right, that the seat stays empty. You got a little more room to move around when the end comes on and stuff. And then right as the opener, which is Iggy Pop, by the way, which is wild, just as Iggy comes on, this guy starts walking down the road. And I'm like, damn. So during the break between Iggy Pop and my Cam, we start talking to this guy. He's lovely, massive my Cam fan, which I came out sports. He really got into the world cup over the summer and was telling us that he's been listening to this podcast called Unfiltered Soccer. And my friend who's sitting next to me is like, do you know who this is to the guy? It's a mess of black, you didn't know. And the guy is like, and she's like, this is producer Jay. And he's like, no way. We have to take a picture. My friends are going to find out. That's really very sweet. So shout out to the board who also bought us all water, which was very nice of him. It's important. What a channel man. It's important. That's why you love being, you love the attention. That's why you love being on this part of the show. Uh-huh. Oh god. No, almost easy. Listen, listen. Listen, I love the word, when I didn't have to come on here. It was nice to just get to hang out on the ground. Do they have mosch fits at my chemical? What noise? Yeah, dude, but I'm going to be 40. I can't be getting into mosch fit. Still, is that the, I'm going to make over top. They mush that kind of music. Yeah, some of it's got like heavy breakdowns and something like that. I don't even know people still did that. Yeah, young people. God love the young people who can still get around. I went to, I went to Olivia, I went to Olivia Dina MSG. We didn't mosh, but she was 20 or 10. It was amazing. Listen, I think sometimes those really big shows, there's something on something to behold, you know, those really big like arena shows and stuff. So anyway, um, let's do some questions. Shall we? All right, let's do it. Okay, this one's for a Patrick V email. When comparing Kevin Sullivan and Mathis Albert, who do you think is in the better position for development? Sullivan, who is starting and playing significant minutes in a weaker league or Albert, who is playing fewer minutes but competing in a stronger league? More broadly. Oh, this is a good question. What development path would you recommend for the next generation of USMT prospects? Prioritizing consistent first team minutes in a lower level league or competing for minutes in a stronger league, even if playing time is less? It's a good question. Every, let me just, from my standpoint, and you tell me, Tim, for me personally, I was at levercusion when I was 16. The, the, it's hard for me to say which was the greater value. Playing reserve team games against grown men as a 17 year old. So I would travel and we were playing third division, fourth division games against grown men. Or the actual just training I was getting every day and the individual training. So like, I think that's a part of development definitely in this country that people miss out on. I had my own training sessions twice a week in the afternoon. It was me and maybe one other kid working on finishing different things like that. Ultimately, though, for me, to get better, I had to play games in as many minutes as I could to get that experience. And that was at a lower level in MLS than playing a few minutes for the first team at levercusion. I don't know the answer. I think everyone has a different path. But ultimately, for Kevin Sullivan right now, the experiences he's getting, he's playing Inter Miami's, he's playing its Messi's, playing games that matter, like really matter in lots of minutes. He's being counted on, depended on. And that's a big deal. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I don't think there's a, I don't think there's a right answer now because as you and I have talked about, there's not a direct pathway for these players, right? I'll go back to as the easy one is Jack Wilshire at Arsenal with Arson Danger, right? He came through, he was young, crafty left foot in number 10. They knew he was going to be a first team player. But they're like, okay, in order to get him to play in the Premier League, weekend, week out, we've got a different toe into the Premier League, right? So he's a reserve team player, bring him up to the first team. He'll be in the squad. He'll train with the first team. We'll get him a game or two or some minutes. Then we pull him out of the firing line because it's a lot, right? And then we'll send him off on loan to Bolton. Back your bags, go up north, it's yucky, it's nasty. It's still the Premier League, but these are men, okay? And this is a team, this is an Arsenal by the way. We're sending you down to learn how to fight. And you learn how to fight at Arson, we play beautiful football. Need you to learn the rigors of the Premier League. Go to Bolton and then come back. That was always nailed on. In America to answer the question, it's not a perfect science. So if you can get in the situation where you're in the first team and you're training amongst these men, against just bigger people and learning, that's great for a time. But as Landon said, you still need to play football. So maybe next year, that looks a little bit different. You have to play in reserve. We have to go on loan to a USL team. There's just, we don't have the pathway. We don't have the infrastructure or the pathway. And I'm a less. But I would argue we do. I just, the problem is is that people don't make decisions in the best interest of the player. Let me give you an example. There are a lot of young MLS players who need minutes. They have zero chance of getting minutes with the first team because the first team coach is trying to win on Saturday. Now what happens to those players is they go to MLS next pro. And with all due respect to that league, it is not a real league. It's not. And these guys are not playing real minutes that matter. I wish, wish, wish. Every one of those kids got sent to a USL championship. Even a USL league one team where you're just playing against men. It's the same in England. You go to the championship. Maybe you go to league one. Morgan Rogers and Brennan Johnson were playing in league one at Lincoln City. I know. Morgan Rogers just played in the World Cup. Right? Because he wasn't going to play for whatever I forget what club he was at. And he went and got big. I wish these clubs would say, okay, it's not MLS next pro. I get it is we're sending the USL who's kind of a competitor, whatever. But they are going to play games against men that matter to these men. That really is not. But it's not a it's not a competitor, whatever. It is the competitor. And that's why American, American soccer is so snobbish that an MLS team will rarely partner with the USL club because they're told not to or they're not allowed to or like it's already nailed on. It's a stadium. It's stupid. It's it's I know it's stupid. I remember Tony Allewashi as I didn't he was at Minnesota. He went to San Antonio. I remember we played against him with loyal like there's a lot of these. Miguel Berry came to us for a while and then went and Brandon Vasquez almost came to us at one point before. These are like these are good Rubio Rubin came to us for a bit. These are good environments for people to learn and develop and grow. And that's what's best for the player. I wish. I wish wish. Every one of those kids got sent to a USL championship team. Even a USL league one team where you're just playing against men. We agree on three. We agree on that. And these kids are not developing because of it. It's like there's gap between 17 and 21 years old where they're not developing. Okay, here is a question about MLS from Chris via email. Chris said I was curious if you could share your thoughts on the Portland Timber's management shakeup that's happened and the announcement of the new head coach was letting Phil Neville go the right move. What do you make of? Is it Marty Cifuenta's his name and his ability to gel within the larger MLS scene. And do you have any thoughts on Jack Cassidy who I think was the interim head coach between them? Interesting. Portland getting some love here. Admittedly, I don't know anything about Marty Cifuenta. I don't know. We know Phil well. Love Phil, he knows at the end of the day you don't get results and you lose your job. I mean, that's just the way it goes. So I don't have much of an opinion on on the new manager specifically. But that city and that club deserve to be good. Like they really do. They support their team so well. And when that team, that club are doing well, it's better for the league. I mean, it's simple as that. I'm in the same boat as land and here, JR, but the fact of the matter is hiring MLS is tricky because what we've seen and land and talks very openly about this like, let's go get the guy who was at Mangan Island or FC Porto and they're a young you know, manager who relies heavily on analytics, but it's never really coached to team and blah blah blah and they come in and they fail, right? And then you start to get the old guard who you get maybe a recycled MLS coach and nobody wants to do that, right? Because you want you want to find the next best thing. Not sexy, it's not. No, it's not so it's somewhere in the middle. But it's somewhere in the middle. Sometimes you hire a Brew Serena for sure. And sometimes you go hire a young upstart. I just, I think where I land on this sadly is where are the young American coaches? Where are they? This, this, these should be jobs for young American coaches who are playing Europe or playing the league who have spent three, four, five years as an assistant, moving up to a second assistant and now they get the job. That doesn't work everywhere else in the world. We don't promote young American coaches. And now someone's going to write in and go, yes, we do. Sure, maybe once in a while. But we don't, there's, I mean, we talk about growing this game. I'm getting off Portland here, but it can be Portland. Talk about growing this game and producing and doing it. We don't give young American coaches opportunities. Like, so we talk about players. Where is that pipeline for these guys? They're not getting jobs either. So, you know, the higher, I don't know. Again, with Bill, it's all about results. You know, it feels a good manager and a great guy. And so, that's unfortunate for him. What happened next? We don't know. Okay, here's a question from Vaden, the email about being a fan. I think these, these questions are always important. Oklahoma is getting a new USL team called the OKC United. What is your advice for someone who wants to get involved with the growth of the sport and the start of a new team? I mean, ultimately, you're going to, you're going to show it with your checkbook and your time, right? So, if you're willing to spend money to be a supporter, to be there by season tickets, by merchandise, and then with your time being there in every way, not just on game days. It's like showing up to training or going to preseason or doing all the things that diehard fans do. So, the beauty of it is this been going on for 100 plus years. So, you can look around the world and find out what it means to be a diehard supporter. And then, as we always say, be willing to suffer. That's all you do is suffer. And it sucks, and it sucks, and it sucks, and you get a little bit of joy at one that's like going to Disneyland with your kids. There's like three minutes of joy in the rest of it. It just sucks. So, are they asking, like, how do they be a fan? Is that what they're asking? I just think, like, this person is really hoping that the team becomes successful. And so, like, what can the fans do to ensure something like that happens? I think the fans need to, I think the fans need to buy into a team wholeheartedly. We see some outliers in hearts of pine. We've been over this, right? Oakland did it a certain way. Portland does an amazing job. Up and down the football landscape, U.S.L. MLS, there are certain teams that just stand out. And what I would say is, I've been around this game a long time, as Landon has, both on the player side and in the front office and the rest of it. The amount of times that I hear fans are correct about what the team isn't doing. Right? Let me just tell you. There's no team that operates in the American soccer landscape that isn't desperately trying to do everything right. Do they do everything right? Not always. They're desperately trying to do everything right. And there are certain segments of fans that will continue to go, the club doesn't do this. And the club, like, it's like, give them a blank piece of paper to just write everything down what the club doesn't do. And I'm like, no, go buy a ticket, go to a game, continue to support the team, support the players, support the club. If the club doesn't get everything right, no, there's ways to tell the club and speak to the club. But like, this concept that people like, say, oh, I'm not doing it again. Do you love this club or do you not? That's it. People ask me about fans. I don't know, I go all the way around the world. And the fans, but like, if you go to Boca Juniors and you go to the Bombonera, it's sold out. It's sold out. If they don't like the manager, the manager's gone. You know why? Because they have the power. You know what? You know what? You know what? Lobonera is not empty. They don't go. We're not turned up today. No, it's, no, it's Boca. Boca is their world. They're going to go and support them. And anybody who tries to infiltrate that will be dealt with. In America, when we get asked questions like, how do I know? You don't support the team. You love me. We're the scarf. You go to the pub. You buy the beer. You walk to the game. You support the players and good times and bad. When the club doesn't do something that you don't love, tell them. Be still support the club. Like the support, supporting is easy. I think. I also think there's a certain amount of evangelism you need to be doing as a fan. Like everybody who watches this podcast knows that I'm an MC or a fan, right? It's not a soccer team. It's a band, but like that has to, when you go out to a place and you start talking to people, you're at a concert. Like the guy who sat down next to us and was talking about, you know, how much he loved the World Cup. That, that's another part of it too, is that you have to find a way to make it part of the conversation and convince us. Take other people. Don't just take your family, take your friend from work and turn them into a fan to you. So that's a big part. That'll definitely cause growth for sure. Yeah, for sure. Okay, that's it for this week. Just reminding people that they can email me at feedback at Unfiltered Soccer. Please continue to send pictures of cows and banjos. There's a lot of good ones. Yes, we've got some good ones. But what do you preview to me? Where did that come from? When did that come in? That was a good one. That came in after last week's episode. So people are listening and they are doing, and I'll receive. Yes, I will just say one thing. If it's okay for me to just say this, don't put it through AI because it's very clear that you put it through AI. Someone sent us one that was the picture of Timo Verner hitting a cow and he, his torso was backwards from his head. And I was like, come on. This is definitely done through AI. So draw it yourself. That's the idea. Tim doesn't want to put the effort in AI on his body. Maybe, maybe I think, maybe we have to get Timo to sign it as well. And then I get back to this. This just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. All right, thanks guys. Thanks, JR. All right, Timmy, another great show. Thank you, my friend. Thanks to Paul McDonough, what a fascinating conversation that was cannot wait to see how that all shapes out. It would be really interesting. Remember, as always, to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods, follow us across all of our social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for all the bonus content. Thank you, as always, VW, our presenting sponsor. Thank you to our fan connection sponsor, AT&T, and of course, our stoppage time sponsor, Fandall. Yeah, Paul is an absolute gent that was really exciting. Glad to have him on. Thank you also to our Unfiltered Refresh sponsor, of course, Light. Our additional sponsor, AirBnB, and Walmart have an amazing week. We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.
