The Governance Fractures and Tactical Paradoxes Shaping Modern American Football

Welcome to the SCUF Podcast, we talk about U.S. Soccer. Hey everybody, let's get after it, last to discuss August 10th, 2026, the U20's lost in the Azteca last night in front of 36,000 fans, but they do qualify for the U20 World Cup next year in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, right? Would you guys think of that red card against Apple White? Vince, go off. Well, brother, let me tell you something, I'm not like that, so I don't know what's going on. I heard there was a red card, I heard it might be a phantom foul. I'm watching the fellas that were not released for this tournament. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I was locked in either, I just like kind of had it on, and then the Philly game started and I locked into that, but I was kind of following what was going on with the other game. Shout out to this, you know, it's like a U19 team, right? So shout out to them for qualifying, despite not having as many guys they did. I know there's a few interesting players in that team. Such Java White, such as Cooper Sanchez. Yeah, absolutely. I thought Vince, you had seen it and we're ready for a Mexico... Mexico, Mexican soccer take. I mean, that was crazy. And after that, I kind of stopped watching that and just focused on... So what happened? It was a very stout sliding challenge. But no contact. Right. So, I mean, I could see a yellow card. Maybe they called it a dog, so I don't know. But a red card is crazy for that in a tournament final. However, little meaning it has. Well, I mean, we saw the same thing happen in the World Cup, right? In the Azteca, in England match. Then, like, Quanza, he didn't make contact, did he? I thought I was crazy or people that I was crazy for saying that shouldn't have been a red card. Everyone I talked to was like, nah, that was a red card. His foot kind of rolled on the ball and I don't know, I mean, the game. I tweeted something about how the game... It's not totally gone, but it's way way softer. I would have gone to jail if I played soccer now. Like, this is a challenge like that. It's insane. All right, Grandpa. So... No, I didn't think it was a red card foul. But yeah, it was our C team. And, you know, Mexico fans on social media hate to hear that. They always bring it up. Like, it's an excuse. But the reality is the best U20s are the ones we're going to talk about here shortly. And none of them was involved. Yeah, that's what it comes down to. And, you know, I went on my campaign on... We got a win, we got a win, et cetera, et cetera. I'll make an exception for this. You know what I'm saying? I wondered. The goal here is to qualify for the U20 World Cup. Now, when the U20 World Cup comes, then that's official winning time. You know what I'm saying? Let's get... You know, the players that we can get. Yeah, who's even going to go to that? That'll be interesting episode. It's going to be tough. I would say maybe like... Just thinking on some kids like... Justin Ellis may be available at that point in time. I'm a lot of skies. Yeah, yeah. Some MLS guys, but like a Kav and Matisse probably still off the table. I would think. But we can... We can tool up more than... We definitely did for this tournament, you know what I'm saying? So... Yeah. Yeah. It was a pass-fail. Get into the U20 World Cup. And so we did that. So it just says what it is. Yeah. Let's talk about... I mean, let's start with Gozo. The headline of the week is he's heading to Crystal Palace. Sanjay, what do you think of this move? I like it. I think there's this... You know, there's been this over-correction about players making ambitious moves to a top league or, you know, any team in the premp. Obviously, minutes are crucial this stage of their career. But there's a lot of things to like about this. And if it doesn't work out, if he doesn't hit the ground running, it's not like his career is over, right? They can find somewhere for him to go, maybe somewhere else in England where he can get some more minutes and adjust the intensity of a ball over there. So they obviously have a good history of developing attacking players. Sounds like he's going to be in an attacking role that's not a wingback role, right? According to Sky Sports, he's going to be in the 10 slash wide roles. Behind the striker is what we've heard so far. So I think that is really interesting. Yeah. People talk about Gozo as like a winger type. And he has... I interviewed him for back years earlier this year. And he said that is his best position. That's where he thinks he's best at. But he's also versatile and can play as like a second striker or inside. He's not just like a wide guy running up and down. So again, does he have... Is his game refined enough to do something like that anytime soon at a level like the Premier League? I don't know. But it's intriguing for sure for him and how he could fit with the U.S. It definitely gives us a lot to think about. Me picturing Zavier Gozo playing as a... A tucked-in winger. Yeah, I don't know. I kind of... It kind of takes a little bit of the excitement I have for the move. It kind of... It turns it down just a little bit. Because I... Okay. The way I feel like... This could work, especially like in the first year. Like this year. You know, it's like you get him in... You get him in the lead-back position. You kind of let him run up and down, show off his athleticism a bit. And he kind of just treads water while he adjusts to the speed of play. And that type of thing. In a less load-bearing position than being a tucked-in winger would be for an attack. You know what I'm saying? I mean, you're really like... You really got to orchestrate things, bro. If you're receiving the ball in and about, you know, zone 14. The half spaces that pop up in your attack and half, et cetera. Um, so... That does kind of get... That does kind of give me a little bit of pause. Because I don't know if I've seen... If I've seen Xavier Gozo really imposing stuff in them areas, in those areas. As much as I have out wide, obviously. But, you know, I'm choosing to lean on Crystal Palace's... Crystal Palace's history, for identifying and developing young attackers. That has been, you know, quite exemplary. Um, in the past five, six years, especially these last, like, three, four. Where, like, bro, they just... They're just... Got dudes coming out the woodwork. Yeah. Um... Consistently. Quite consistently. It's, like, at least hang on as they gone. You know, here comes another one. Here comes another one. Like, they just... Their hit rate is pretty damn high. And we know Xavier has the... Has that athleticism to stay? To hack it in the prim? I would, like I said, I just... Especially early. Just kind of like the same. Just run up and down, man. Run up and down. Get your wits about you. Understand what's kind of going on out there before they put you in the middle. Kind of where the bullets are really flying. So... But less defending, though, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. It is a big jump, though. And he's not going to play wingback over Daniel Munoz, right? Definitely not. There's no chance of that. To Vince's point, like, you're expecting production there, right? And that probably won't happen soon. So let's see how he gets acclimated and where things are, like, in the winter time. Because if he's, like, just not playing for a few months, you know, then we're in a different spot. That's what I'm saying, that's going to be a nice window. But no, I think, to your point, yeah, like... Is he, like, a tight spaces guy? Like, no. But I think the idea is to have him be, like, gold dangerous near the goal of striking the ball or making runs in behind. So I see it from that... Because we have seen those, right? We have seen if you get him around the box and let him get a shot off. You know, he has a banker or two in him, right? It really strikes the ball. That's what I was just going to say, man. I was... I was... He hasn't played since the end of July, because of, like, a little knock, right? He's good, though. Like, he was supposed to start that game recently. And then it was, like, you know, as a precaution last minute. Like, he's good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm not saying I'm worried about the injury I'm just saying. Like, he hasn't played for a little while. So the last game you can watch of him playing is July 26th. And, you know, I pulled up some of the footage from that. Dude, dude can, like, dude can generate a dangerous shot in a lot of different situations. And I think that... I mean, I'm hoping that can sort of carry him a little bit, like, because he had in that game, which I think they lost the timbers two to one. He gets the ball running out of defender, two defenders in front of him, and then, you know, uses the defender in front of him as a... to keep the goalkeeper on-sided and just rips one from 20 yards. Top corner, excellent save from the keeper. Only thing that keeps it out. So I love that he is genuinely dangerous in that way. And I think that will translate. We'll see. Okay. I mean, look, in the fee, it's a fee that's... I think significant enough, even though we're talking about a Premier League team, you know, still. Like, 15 mil. You know, he's not coming over to play school as a Cardinal Jones, what's it? You know what I'm saying? I would think he would get a shot at me on the pit. I meant to do the math on this, because I was talking to this transfer with someone recently. I think the dollar's a little weaker, so I don't know if it's... Yeah. Okay, Mattis Albert. Mattis Albert, 30 minutes off the bench at Arsenal yesterday. He's played in all the friendlies. He started a couple of them. What do you guys see him with him? This is the best he's looked so far in this preseason. Like, I watched some of his... They were in Japan, I think. They played a couple J League teams. And he was just kind of treading water. But this came, you know, gets Arsenal. I was like, okay. You know, you can really see how he could... How he could potentially fit in that team and earn some minutes and maybe look influential in those minutes, you know, possibly. Because I thought he... And fit in with the US, too, right? In that similar kind of inside-winger role? Yeah. I love the way he... I love his first touch in the, you know, in the last few appearances. You know, he coming back to the ball in that tucked-in spot. Some nice little, like, one-touch redirects to people or to, like, to, you know, how Pulisix good at, like, coming back and then cutting in with his back to a defender. Some of that... That really sticks out to me that he's able to handle tight spaces, at least in these games. And he looks stronger. I don't know. Did I see something about how he added some muscle over the summer? It seems like it. He looks stronger. Yeah. I still don't know if he can separate yet at an elite level to the point where he's playing, you know, against defenders in the Bundesliga, but... That's a kind of question I had. Because I, like, from the stuff I was watching, it was like, here, there was one. He had an opportunity. He kind of got the ball, was in front of a defender. And, like, so he receives it, turns, and you think is kind of in a position to get off to the races. And, really, did not get off to the races. So, I was wondering a little bit about kind of his burst and where he is athletically right now, after seeing that. Even at the U17 World Cup, I was wondering about it. Like, the technique and sharpness is obviously there. The quality is there. But, yeah, physically, I'm not sure I have the same expectations for him just yet as a few of the other guys. When you're just talking about Goz and we'll talk about Kevin later. Like, I'm not sure he's in the same role in different spots, and I don't know about him being the national team and getting real minutes just yet. He doesn't look real comfortable going, he's often plays on the left. Like, he's been playing on the left in this preseason. He doesn't look super comfortable going to the end line and, you know, making something happen with his left foot. He likes to cut in. And, yeah, I mean, guess we'll see, again. But, I share your guys' concern. He's not like, he's not like roasting people. Yeah, I'd be surprised if he's getting a ton of minutes. It would be nice to see you roasting. I think we're a bit away from that. I don't know how much he'll play in this first half of the season. And then we got to see, you know, Kenny break in in the winter. In the winter camp or is alone or something. Does that make more sense? Maybe he will be available for the 20 World Cup. Who knows? Marbella. That's where, that's where Dortmund goes every winter. I just want to throw that out there. I know that because of the Cole Campbell story. That's where they was going when he got on the plane with the Louis Vuitton bags, man. Everybody started hating on him. It seems like a lot of teams go to Marbella, you know? Yeah. That innocent Cole Campbell to a German town without even a, they don't got a half-bred half. Bells, Elvis Berg. They don't got a train station. Oh, they don't even have a train station? No. I wonder if they have any of those restaurants where you can get the baskets full of fries with all the meat in the cabbage on it. Which sounds really not that good as I describe it out loud, but it's delicious. Sounds good to me, I'm hungry. One of those Turkish joints. All right. Kevin Sullivan. He's, I think he's, I'm curious what you guys think, but he's, he now starts every game for Philly. He's playing well. I think he started every game since coming on as a first half sub for Yovon Lukic on May 13th. So, you know, the, the minutes that were promised last year didn't materialize, but they've definitely materialized this year. He still has, he's still not 17. He doesn't turn 17 till the end of September. Yeah, I guess that means we can't call him up. Hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm not going to lie, man. Kevin, I'm making, I'm making an exception for Kevin. I was talking about all the Willie Nilly. We just throwing up call lips to, to whoever. Just because, you know, your birthday is in 2003 or whatever. But Kevin though, I have to say, I have to say I've been impressed. Like, particularly like the, uh, who they play. Cruze the zoo. Yeah. The match before this one yesterday. I mean, he started off a little slow. And it's like, even when he starts off slow, it's like, uh, he's still going to give you his best Brindow impersonation. Like, he's everywhere. He reads like deflections of the ball well. Like, you know, he'll pop up if like your past got deflected by the person that's like marking you or whatever. And Kevin's on defense. And you might, and it might just been a slight deflection. Like the ball had the passes intended for you and it's still coming your way a little bit. Kevin's jumping in that lane. He's taking it boom, but going out the way. You know, uh, he's just throwing itself into situations, whether they be advantageous for yourself or not. He's throwing itself into him. You're going to know that he's on the pitch when he's there. And then like, so that was like the first 20, 25 minutes of Cruze the zoo match. And then he started to turn it on, man. And especially that second half, I'm like, that shit was that I was impressed, man. I was impressed. I sat up in my seat. I'm sitting in the seat that I podcasted right now, but like I got like two monitor setup, whatever. Um, and just as it kept going, it's just making play after play. Dangerous, dangerous move after dangerous move. It's like, you know, this is this is what I like to see, man. When you're an attacker, I want you to attack. What Michael Irvings say, Michael Irvings say, you got to be my playmakers. To all my playmakers, man, we must not feel the temperature in the room. We must be the thermometer and Kevin Sullivan. I'm here to tell you after getting these minutes in, um, getting some confidence under his belt. Um, and assimilating to the level of MLS and and League of Mekis, I guess. Um, that boy's a thermometer. That boy's a thermometer. You know, I come on here. We're talking the Monday review about, you know, people, uh, uh, Malik tell me, for instance, like last year when it's like, you know, he has his ability. He has all these abilities and he has opportunities in these games to push the game forward. But he's just not doing it. He's relaxing. You know, whatever. You know, you see players, um, they kind of want all the situation with everything around them to be perfect before they make a play. You know, I've checked my shoulder three times. I know where everybody is. Um, in the past that I'm receiving on the half turn is coming to my favorite left foot. I'm my right foot. If it comes in my right foot, I'm passing it back. It's coming to my left foot. It's a boom. I'm a turn right here. I know where he is. So then I can make something happen. Kevin never turns down the opportunity to make something happen. Every, he's relentless. Yeah. He's relentless. Some of the ideas may be good. Some may be bad. Whatever. But he has a damn idea. And he backs himself to execute in the moment. And as more time goes on, he's executing more and more in these moments. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like it's, uh, that's like a half in particular. Like it's cool to do. I was like, hell yeah. Yeah. Which is a legit little legit team, by the way. They're not some random team. Like they're, they're a good Mexican team. Always good. I don't think it's fun to play against him. You know, right. It's, it's, it's a, it's a pain in the ass to play against Kevin Sullivan for so many reasons. But let me just give a couple of things. Even in the first half, he had that little nutmeg and then the slide rule pass for Westfield to cut it back. That was a gorgeous pass. It skipped not just two defenders, but it skipped a teammate who was open. And, um, and it was just perfectly weighted for Westfield. Westfield's cut back was a little behind the last year, whoever it was in front of goal. Um, also a little reverse pass to set up Alito early in the second half. That one was nice, man. It's like just a, just a clever little like one touch pass. You know, eliminates everybody on the defense. And Alito could have scored. Kevin could have scored two at the end. Uh, he missed both of the chances. You know, they weren't, they were good chances, especially the second one. Um, not like, not like he missed sitters or anything. But I just love how he went on the broadcast afterwards. And he said, he was apologizing up and down for missing those chances. He said, I'm going to, I'm going to, it's going to keep him up at night. He apologized to the fans. He said, I already apologized to my teammates. I'm like, man, this guy, he's coming, you know, he's coming. And you got, you, everybody better get ready. He's going to continue to come. That's right. He knows that I present himself for sure. So one other play I wanted to highlight, I think there was a clip of this online. Shout out to the Compers, by the way, the Comstars. Uh, making sure everyone is, is abreast of, of these happenings. Um, but yeah, the, there's a transition moment. Uh, and Philly gets it out to him on the, on the right side. And he accelerates. And there's a defender coming at him. Uh, like, kind of behind him. Like to his side. And there's one coming like across the field. And he splits them with the dribble and gets past them going, going the other way. And it's like that. Like the awareness to do that. And also the acceleration, the burst and like, like, taking, like, doing it at the right, the correct angle. Um, that's really encouraging to see. So he, he should be in camp in the fall. We had a, I was surprised. We had a very, uh, spirited, uh, debate in the, in the discord. I'm usually not in the USMNT channel because some things are too addictive and I try to stay away from it. But we were talking a bit about call-ups for the fall. And there was some pushback to my philosophy. A lot of people taking Vince's side. Uh, and I'm fine with that. Uh, I wouldn't have it any other way. You look fine, you look fine with it. Yeah. I mean, give it, give it six weeks. We're talking about him after another like week. Give it another six weeks. I wonder if he'll be ready to play against Mexico and her friendly, you know, at the very beginning of the World Cup cycle. Uh, I mean, uh, I don't think so. The way the, the way discussed is turning the corner of your mouth right now is really a beautiful thing. Like, what would you do this? We'll do this again. And we'll, we'll do it in a different language, like, closer to the window. But I, I don't get not beating a legit team at the World Cup since 2002. And thinking that what we're doing makes sensor is working somehow. Not that none of it is. But it's been decades since the selection strategy has, has made sense. And we got to shake it up now that the pool is in transition. But no, he deserves to, he's shown enough to be on a field in a game like that. And if it doesn't work out for him long term, whatever. What, what are we losing? What do we have to lose? We have nothing. Yeah, I, let's call him up. Why not? And, um, I'm with you. Sounded you on that one. Sounds like Vince's too. Um, he should start against Mexico. Uh, Vince, what do you think? Probably not. If he stays on this, on this, on this trajectory, we get a bit more production, which, people are like, oh, we need to see goals and assists. Have you ever created anything from open play since when? Since Obama's first term? Oh, Obama's first term. Um, it's, it's, it's a, it's a little, it's a little. Um, so I, I think the man with the plan would have, would, would take Umbridge with that, with that state message. That's all I'm saying. So, chances, chances from open play. If you want to stay within the good graces. I'm talking about when your team is the ball, generating chances. Not counter pressing, not set pieces. Consistently creating chances. Even against teams that you're better than. And I'm not blaming, I'm not blaming the man with the plan. It's, it's in diamond of the player pool. And how we produce players here. Not not. But what I'm saying is, I think the man with the plan would take Umbridge with what you said. Cause I, I think, um, let me see. Yeah. He, he saves credit. The team takes more risk going forward. So, so that's good. That, that's an improvement from, from Greg. But is the chance creation there yet to where we'd like it to be? Uh, it probably will never be, you know. But it needs to be better. And cabin is one of the ways we can do that. Yeah, he's, he's a chance creator. I mean, that's, that's the, that's what's so exciting about him. Let me, let me read you guys a tweet. I don't even know who this is. Curtis Murray. Kevin is so good. I think a lot of you guys are going to eat crow soon. I can think of a few people are going to have to eat crow about him. Um, he's starting to grow beyond what I see in a typical US prospect. I did not ever see young, politic play like how Kevin does. Now this was, uh, a little baby. Cause a lot of people are like, hey, pool sick was playing in champions league when he was 17. Yada yada. But I do think it's an interesting thing. Like what? Let's compare and contrast pool sick and Sullivan as players. And as, uh, personalities. Can we do that? Personalities. Let's get that one out of the way. That's an easy one. Uh, Kevin is charismatic, has swagger about him and is ready to be the face of American soccer. If his talent puts him there and his performance is put him there as a pro. Like if he's consistently good, uh, he is what people have been waiting for in terms of personality. Christian's a nice guy. I think he's, you know, there's, he's been unfairly attacked, especially recently. But yeah, he's not a cabin personality wise in terms of playing. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we move on from personality. So I, when I saw Kevin apologizing for missing those chances, it did occur to me. Would pool sick ever say something like this? I don't think so. I think he would, I think he would say, no, I think he would say, uh, that's just soccer. That's just football and, um, you know, we go again. Whether a cabin is sincere about it, it's like apologizing up and down for missing a chance. Is, uh, is different, I think. It's a different approach. It is a little bit of a different approach. And, you know, as we kind of discussed before, I'm not one to come down on pulley for his approach. But, but it is different. It is different. And this one that will, you know, you talk about face of the face of the franchise types of things. Um, it's the type of thing, type of sentiment that people want their face of the franchise to convey. Yeah. You know, I, I, I fell short here. Um, I will do everything into my power to make sure we don't fall short. Next time type of thing, whereas Christian policy will be like, you know, it's just a moment in time. Yeah. If we want to get really, we'll get really nuanced about this as we do on this podcast. Uh, I think there's a difference between Christians like tone and body language, which no one, uh, really appreciates. And what he actually says, like, I think he will actually say the words like, I needed to play better. I needed to do this. I should have done that. Like he does say that, but people will take something you said out of context. And then you, you package that with the way he carries himself a lot of the times with, with the media and like, just how he is. And I think he's unfairly attacked. Yeah. But I'm not trying to attack pussy. But like you said, though, it's about, it's about tone. It's about how you deliver. And it's about the, uh, vigor and, and what you say. And when you say it, you know, kind of thing. And so, yeah. If you are unwilling slash, unable to, what a, like I said, I'm not comfortable with this. I don't care how he delivers these sentiments. When it's especially clear, they say he doesn't want to. You know, but, uh, yeah, I could just, uh, people respond better to it. You're going to respond better to a cabin doing that than a, than a Christian policy. Just. Yeah. It's also funny. I just thought about this. And now it really sound like a, a grandpa. Some of these younger kids coming up, you know, we heard, we heard Audrey recently on the pod. Um, goes, goes as a good guy, like talking to a guy. Uh, you think these people are just, you know, on their phone on TikTok, which Audrey says that he is. But, uh, now they've got personality. There's a confidence to him. And I think people are going to like this younger group of players lot. Yeah, you know, uh, that's a good point you made about the Audrey thing. I was listening to him talk. I was like, yeah. Somebody can get behind. Yeah, he's got some charisma too. Yeah, for sure. As players, uh, what do you think the differences are between them? You know, from what we can tell right now, let's start with Vince. I mean, I wasn't around for a Christian policy 17 years old. Yeah, but I'll tell you this. He hasn't really changed that much. He's better at, he's better at attacking the box. He's better attacking the box off the ball than he was when he was 17, for sure. But when he's on the ball, it's pretty similar. He was dynamite. He was, Christian was, I think we talked about, you know, when we're talking about his legacy in that post-mortem and how people were talking about him. And I raised the point like we failed him when he was maybe best position to go off at a World Cup. Like when he was, when he was in his teens and he was just dusting guys, no problem. Like this guy starting at the Bernabéu receiving the ball in the wing and just beating the first and second defenders. Like, easily. Like when I saw that, I didn't care about goals as this, the same way now, like with Kevin, I'm sure it'll come. But when I saw that, it was like this is insane that an American person can do this at any point in a game. Yeah, we were talking about, we were talking about how Mattis Albert isn't really eliminating anybody. Pulsik was eliminating everybody when he was 17. Like he, dynamite's the right word for it. He was so explosive, so dangerous on the dribble. And you know him and him and Usman D'Ambelli were D'Ambelli were coming from each wing. It was a beautiful thing at Dortmund for a while. Yeah, let the record show. People tried to come at me with advanced stats about Sancho when they compared him to Pulsik and Sancho was really good at one point in time. But I said Christian was, I said Christian. I backed Christian in that debate. Remember Christian getting to England and people asking me interviews about Sancho repeatedly and I was like, what is this? But anyway, like... He was going crazy. Sancho had a moment. Yeah, but Christian, he just needed to stay healthy. He sort of done that. Not really. But when he was in his teens, yeah, I think he's more of a... I think he's more direct getting behind the defense and maybe getting across in. Then Kevin, to me, does project as a ten, not because he'll slow down or something. But because he can pass the ball and do creative things around the box that Christian maybe doesn't do when the play is more static. You know, when you're parked in and they're have trying to lock thick. Christian was always a stretcher, profiting off of space. Yes, yeah. Pulicic was liquid mercury on the ball. And Sullivan's a little... I would say a little lumbering as he tries to dribble past people. But it's those ideas. You know, the one touch ideas that he's always looking to kill you with a pass through the lines or over the top or the little reverse pass. I mean, he just wants that so bad. And Pulicic takes three beats to come up with those ideas. And then he still doesn't execute. So that is the difference to me. One thing I want to say about Pulicic, like... I'm early on, Jürgen Klopp talked about when he was training with the first team. And he singled out his ability to pass the ball. And we don't really think of him like that. But there was, you know, once upon a time where he'd played more centrally, right, with the youth national teams at least. And I think we're all waiting for this maybe transition to him being more of a second striker, 10 kind of thing. Who's already obviously like a pocket winger in Podge's system. But yeah, I wouldn't discount his ability to once he's like no longer able to do hero ball at all. Like once he physically knows he can't do that. And yes, he has to be more creative inside all the time. I'm intrigued to see what he can do in this next phase of his career. I'm not like writing him off because he's losing his face. Okay. I think he has more quality than people realizing that sense. Otherwise, he wouldn't be, you know, where he's been for a long time. I mean, we've seen some of the ideas come off inside where, you know, I mean, I'm trying to think of something for the USMNT. Maybe not. I mean, maybe the, you know, the same way I go against Wales. But even that's like that's like him running there, right? I play starter with him. Yeah. Get in the bow down from someone and like go into the defense. I'm saying like even when everyone's parked in their third, doesn't mean he's a useless player. No, no, no, I'm not saying he's a useless player. I just think I just think what you see from cabinet 16 in terms of idea passing ideas really is like a totally different category from what you saw from Yeah. Yeah. If you just watch like that whole, that reverse pass sequence to, to Alado, like the way he sets it up with his movement, his relation to Alado, like the way he could kind of gets into the way he gets, the way he positions itself in relation to Alado to receive that ball and lay it off, you know, first time or whatever, like, you know, it's just, there's a lot of intelligent design there. And the idea to find the opportunity to make the play and then execute the play. Yeah, there's just a, like I said, a lot of intelligent design there that I'm not necessarily sure that Christian does. As far as like just orchestrating the whole, the whole chance, like not just the execution, just, but the creation of it as well through his movement, through his positioning. And understanding where his teammate is and where the defense is, et cetera. Also, one more thing. And I'm not saying that Kevin is some like silky liquid dribbler, but there was a, it was a nice moment when he was double team against Cruz Azul. And I think he, he's on the wing. Two dudes are on him. I think he nutmegged the guy to his, his right got to the in line and I think he cramped up. And couldn't serve a ball in. I mean, he was kind of rubbing on the shins a little bit as he, as he went down. But, you know, he got, he got that too. No, he can beat people for sure. It's just, it's not, it's not the, it's not that like really liquid quality. Is that a burner? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but nice to see though. Yeah. We forgot to mention, I think he did score and got an assist last night against Nahaqa. Nahaqa. How do you say that? Is it Nahaq? That's what I always, I mean. I honestly don't know. Oh, man, I resident. Nahaqa. Nahaqa. I, I forget what to do with the, with the X. So he got a, you know, pretty strict, like he just led somebody on the overlap. It was Nathan Ariel, by the way, former USM and T player. Nice shot down the far, far left corner. And then he got a goal in the second half, receiving a ball on his chest and then doing it like kind of a jump volley. Thrashed it past the goalkeeper. So. There's your production, folks. Yep, production has started. You know, real quick, before we leave, young people in MLS, I do just want to talk about just an Ellis real quick, because Bells, I don't know, I'm going to formally introduce them to you. And like, like I know that Bells, Bells is making a face. I know you probably haven't watched any Justin Ellis, but Bells, I'm selling you right now. You need to get on that. Okay. You would, you would like them. You would like them. This is a, this is an Adam Bells type player. Um, can you give me the basic details? Like, what position does he play? Where does he play? Yeah. It will behoove you to listen to the podcast episodes that you're not on. So many things would behoove me. Um, but okay. He's an attacker, a forward, right now mostly playing center forward for Orlando City. Okay. All right. I think he's, I think he's a Uruguayan American, maybe, um, something like that. But he's a, like I said, center forward, but like, really a playmaker more than anything. I think at the end of the day, he might even profile more as like a, a 10 or a second striker than like an actual center forward. Cause like, I mean, he doesn't have. Gaudi like goals and assist totals. I don't even think he gets like many shots in games, but just his ability to receive the ball and make things happen, whether it's on the dribble, whether it like, I mean, bells, his back to goal game is hold up play immaculate, immaculate, bro, they, they, he can receive the ball in any situation, whether it's back to go with a center back on them, whether it's in a half space, tight, tight space situation, like his first touch is great. His close control is great. His, his, um, physical tools are not great. It almost doesn't matter because his, his first touch and his, um, close control is so good. Who just glad past people dribbling past people? No problem. Like there was a play, do they play, was it the Monterey match? I think it was Monterey. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When, or let no city played Monterey, um, Antoine Griezmann went, wins the ball back like in the Monterey have, they kind of get a, uh, a counter going the other way. Justin Ellis went with the lack of athleticism, you know, very high IQ type of player, you know, gets in a, in the transition moment, gets in the center backs, blind side, blind spot, kind of cuts, cuts to the ball, receives it, center back realizes Justin Ellis is here. He dribbles past them, then plays a, uh, like a ball in the Tyree Spicer. I want to say who then, like, wins a penalty for, uh, for Orlando City that they score, they, uh, scored the second goal, they ended up winning that match one to two. But I just think, like, as I'm, as I continue to watch them play every week and watch them apply his tools, I think it's somebody who is going to be a nice dance partner with Kevin Sullivan. If we get to that point, um, you know, somebody who just, like I said, Adam, like when you, when you watch them, it's like, you, you know how Harry Kane drops in and play him. It's, it's essentially that, like he has that type of, he has that type of quality on the ball. I mean, all the time he's finding people in behind whenever he drops back and receives in the midfield, like I said, silky, smooth on the dribble. Like people just, uh, they kind of can't touch him. You know, who sees it face up in, and like, like I said, not a burner, but the close control is just so immaculate to where he can just do whatever he wants with it. Um, and yeah, I mean, I shadowed him out on the, uh, on the market episode. But as I just continue to watch and watch, he continues to hoop, man. And, you know, his ball playing ability and all the stuff on the ball is already playing up into my list. So I, I do have questions about his, where he can go kind of because like I said, just the, the physical isn't necessarily there. But even if he, even if he's like a, I don't know, even if he's a career in my lesser, maybe there's a stint in Belgium or something like a Allah, um, what's my do? That does commentary and he does TV, MLS or MLS. He played in Belgium. Was it underlicked? Sasha, Sasha question, Sasha question. Exactly. And if he has a little salsa, questions career path, I think just another somebody going to help us, somebody who actually provides us something different, you know, not, not just, um, in theory, maybe looks like somebody different. And so you say they provide something different, he, he's somebody who's actually going to provide us the ability to navigate in, um, in congested areas, entice spaces to play, you know, intricate, uh, one, two's in attacking spaces, et cetera. So you're telling me he's, we are, we are the ball, aren't you? That's right. Um, is he going to, is he eligible for the U20s? He is, right? Cause he doesn't, he doesn't turn 20 until 2027. Not that it really matters. I mean, if he's, if he's really good, then he's probably not going to play at the U20 World Cup. If he continues to play well, he probably won't play at the U20 World Cup, I should say. Yeah, I noticed we had an eligible cause he's turning 20 in 2027. Yeah, so, uh, I, I also noticed on our lineup at the, in the U20 game last night, we have an OER, I thought, all right, yeah, I think Marcus Raidson. He's, he's from the Basque region. Or I mean, he plays for athletic bobao. So, um, anyway. It tells you how you need to go. Yeah. Let's, uh, just to put a wrap on the MLS kids. Um, what do you guys think about Frankie Westfield? So I really go ahead. I was going to say I haven't really been moved necessarily, but I probably, it's, he plays a position where you kind of got to lock in a little bit more to fully understand what he's about. Um, but like in the moment, so you know, I'm going to watch a cabin watching a photo of you and your games like different things, um, he just seems okay. I like his, I mean, I talked about this with Marlon LeBlanc a couple of weeks ago. Like he is a real, you get the sense he's a real competitor and he, he's a, he's a, he's a battle and that is sort of a foundational thing. As, you know, as Cristiano Ronaldo said, the hunger is the hardest part. And you could see that he has the hunger. Uh, he had a, he had a rough like, like, moment in front of goal against Chris Azul, right? Where he like kind of fell over as the ball came across. That's not obviously doesn't disqualify anybody from anything. Everybody makes mistakes, but I like Westfield VAR saved him there, I think. That's right. That's right. The barge clearance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's a, he's, I just don't know like how we'd fit with the US with the senior team because he's like just kind of a traditional fullback. His technique is pretty good. I think he does interesting things in the ball. Is he elated that where, where he, you know, played a high level in Europe or do it for the US, you know, like as a starter, probably not. But he's too small to be a center back, I guess, height wise. Like he's a strong guy, but Marcus, uh, correct to me on, on Twitter, um, about his, his height, like I assumed he was like taller, like like 5, 10, 5, 11, 6 foot, um, he's not. So yeah, I don't know if he could be like a elbow back kind of thing defensive fullback for the US, but I think he's a good player. I just don't know where he fit. Yeah. And I was just looking up Freeman there. You know, he's, he's what coming off the bench for VAR and their, um, and their, uh, preseason games, but it's hard to see him surpassing somebody like Freeman, who is not, you know, is not, who's not like a super high ceiling player. He's just, um, he's just quietly pretty effective. I think, I think Freeman is, I think Freeman's got a pretty high ceiling. Like I think it'll be a good prime player at some point. And if Westfield is just his backup, that's, that's fine. You know, competing with Scally, that's, that's fine. But, uh, I'm just thinking about, you know, the chronic center back shortage and how we can get people to maybe deputize there. We'll talk about testman soon. I don't know if that, that's, uh, when we talk about testman now, let's take a little break. We'll come back in a second and we got testman to cover Tyler Adams. Um, Malik gave a somewhat, I guess controversial interview to the Cologne, to the Cologne or Statenzinger. And, uh, and then there's, there's, there's other things to discuss as well. We'll be back in a moment. All right. We're back. Before we get to, um, testman, let's, let's quickly talk about this Malik Tillman interview. He gave, gave, you know, gave the interview to a local newspaper. And it's pretty good. It's pretty good. I'll put the link in the show notes. One quote is this. Of course, every team says they want to win the tournament. And also he was asked what it was like to be a US player on a home soil world company. You know, he said it was incredible. Of course, every team says they want to win the, when the tournament, but our biggest goal was to change the perception of soccer in the USA, uh, echoes of Greg Berhalter and encourage younger generations to start playing themselves, start playing themselves. I think we made a big step in that direction. We can be proud of that. I love that sentiment. I think it is probably the, going to be the most important legacy of this World Cup outside of, you know, major changes at the top of FIFA. Speaking of legacy of this World Cup, a quick aside, I was in, uh, Saratoga this weekend for, for a bachelor party. He was, uh, we went to a horse race. It was wider than the fish concert. I told you guys about that I went to recently. But the great time. But, uh, you know, you hear, I heard country roads a few times when I was out and about and it's funny how you just hear that and you think of this summer from the team. Yeah. Yeah, and I, you know, I think, I think a lot of kids did enjoy the World Cup and were inspired by it. But we've covered all that before. Another quote is, um, Balligan is an important player. So he was asked about the red card that was rescinded. Uh, he said, Balligan is an important player for us and for the team. In hindsight, though, something, something like that shouldn't happen. A red card is a red card and should stand. I don't know who had how much influence on it, but you shouldn't get involved in a discussion after a red card suspension and try to change the decision. So happened to agree with him there. I do at least, uh, you know, as, as, as Malik talking, you know, I'm saying, he's Malik now. You know, I'm saying, I understand, though, I understand you go over to Germany. You got to turn the Malik back on. But, but just remember Malik that they called you Malik for the first 20 years of your life. And it wasn't until it was not until he embraces America roots and started going by Malik that he, you know, he became a two time World Cup goal score, et cetera, et cetera. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm just don't forget. So forget you don't got a panda to them. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. You don't got a panda too. Yeah. He's probably not a pattern to be, to be clear. Yeah, I don't think he is either. But, you know, who knows? And then the, maybe the part that's the most controversial is he, he had a little bit of criticism for his club. Well, he had some criticism for the fans who leave nasty comments on his, uh, Instagram account, which is why he deleted some stuff. But we're talking about lever cruising fans who did not think he was good enough after a $40 million transfer, um, but he said this about the club. I would have liked to have received a bit more support during the World Cup. Nobody has to write or call every day. But from time to time, I would have appreciated getting one or two more messages. How was, how was, how did the club respond to this Sunday? Uh, it doesn't sound like they loved it. We got a quote from the sporting director. He didn't talk to me about it. For me, if someone doesn't like something, it's important that they talk to the person they have an issue with. He didn't do that. If someone is something serious to discuss, he has to talk to me or close CEO, uh, for now, no car. In the end, it will become clear soon, whether I stay or not. That's what I'm speaking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was, that was an interview. It doesn't, you know, it sounds like he's excited. He parts of the interview, he sounds excited to take on the season and prove himself at lever cruising. And then, but he also did leave open the possibility of a move. So I don't know if you want the lever cruising Ultras on you on your bass. No, no, no. After, after what we saw a bunch. Oh, man. Yeah. After what we saw in Cologne, brother. Yeah, I'd be, uh, come on, Malik, man. Look, I mean, first of all, just if you, if you're going to stay and do something, just do it. Just do it there. Don't worry about. Well, why would you introduce added stress and you like, you got to move, you got to, you know, just just get it done. I like using man. Stocks high, it's a, it's a, like, I guess I'm just saying, like, this is a big enough club for you. This is a, this is a club that kind of fits your talent. A club who at the very least has champions league ambitions, but, you know, want to ship as well. That's probably not going to happen again ever, but just, just make it, just make it happen there, bro. Like, there's no reason for you to leave lever cues. There's no, no reason for you to leave lever cues at, at this point, you would just be leaving to make a lateral move at bass. Maybe a, a Frankfurt or something like that, whatever, like, just make it, just make it happen there, bro. You at the place you're supposed to be. Let's make it happen. Yeah, hopefully this furious war of words between him and Simon Rolfs doesn't, doesn't signal the end of his time there, because I agree. I think I'd like to see him make it happen there. It's a good club. And they have, he'll have, he should have every opportunity to succeed. Ballot. Where's he going? He's going to the Prem. It seems like we're just going to find out where there was a Tottenham rumor recently, and then another rumor about two Prem Clubs being after him. I can't, I'm not a transfers guy. It's hard for me to, like, like, I know desire to track each and every, I don't get a people love this stuff. Like, we, you know, we had, I told you I coached that camera recently. There's like one kid who, uh, blessed me. He got there early every day on his bike, like, loves ball, had a jersey on. Like, you can tell he follows the game. And he was like, he was, he was coming to me. He was like the latest transfer rumors. Just like, go for this player, that player. I'm like, I remember when, when I could maybe do a fraction of this, but I, I never really cared for it. I don't know about you guys. To me, it's, I just want to know where he and, like, I just want to see the official announcement. And then sort of deal with that. Yeah, just let me know. Just let me know where he ends up going. But yeah, they, two separate things. It's high in the rumor. And then the rumor yesterday, the two prim clubs are after where they, where the club was not named as far as I can tell. But he did not play in Monaco's friendly versus Liverpool. So he does seem like he's on the block. Yeah. Yeah, we don't know how much of that is that versus some fitness thing, but I couldn't really. Okay. Disciple there, but. Tyler Adams has been linked to Newcastle and Manchester United. And we'll see. Let's get to, sorry, one more thing about Ballot. It will be cool, right? As a Arsenal Academy guy who winds up there. At, at Tottenham. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It'll be fun for the narratives. Yeah. Okay, Testman started at center back, played a little center back last season for Leone. He was, he played in the Champions League qualifier versus Sparta Prague. The first leg, the second leg is tomorrow, right? Yeah. Is he, is he an answer at center back for us in the future? Hell no. Respectfully. Respectfully. I mean, but somehow some way Leone has found themselves in a center back crisis once again, as soon as their season started. Cause I don't know, I don't know what's going on, but I looked at the bench for this match. And I looked at also who started alongside Tana Testman. It was like him and a left back and Mata, who, who is one of their center backs. Like the other two people that they put at center back just are not center back. So I don't, I don't know what injury crisis they got going on so far. I think I heard they signed two center backs this summer. Maybe they're just not ready to play yet or something like that. But, you know, in this, in this game, Tana was, he tried to, he tried to water. He tried to water that there was just no, no, no obvious business handling in situations where maybe like, you know, him putting out a fire would have presented, would have prevented like a dangerous chance. Like there was one time where a player got kind of played in the cutbacks on. And Tana was kind of, they were kind of even like Esbrows played in the cutbacks on. Tana does well to like, he didn't like, lose him or anything. He tracks them, marks him. Is there as the man meets the ball and as he cuts the ball back. But just, he does not affect the play at all. You know, the cutback reaches a Slavia Prague attacker. And I think the, I think the shot went off the crossbar or something. But it was like a big chance, like a big chance, something that could have been thwarted by some business handling. And like, yeah, it just, there just was no example of that in this match. Both the goals had nothing to do with him. But there was like another play. It's not convincing. There's another play where he was like retreating when he should have closed down. Yes. Not much in the first half. It's not that, look, like he has the, it makes sense using him at center back. Like from a, you know, physical frame, tools and distribution. Like it's obviously enticing, probably too late, but enticing. But the thing about the position, right? Is that like, if you're positioning or instincts are bad for like a moment or two a game, you're not a good center back. And that's why I'm inclined to agree with Vince. Like when I see stuff like that, it's like, you know, it would have to be a really specific situation for the U.S. For it to make sense. But even then, it's like if you're playing against a team where you're dominating the ball. And the only way they can do anything is, you know, countering you. And you need to be switched on at all times, even more so. Like, do you want him back there? The end is probably not. So he moved in the, up into the midfield at the very end of the game. We'll see what happens tomorrow. But like, I'm down to try it. I'm definitely down to try. I'm down to try anything. We got four years, but not an answer. Okay. We have the problem remains unsolved at center back, I think. Yep. I haven't lost any sleep thinking about Tim Ream getting dunked on. But it's a little surprising I haven't. Middlesbrows. They got a league, a league cup win versus Ryan Reynolds and Rexham. Yeah. Now we have three guys there, all Columbus Crew Academy projects, products, Sebastian Berhalter, Max Arfsten and Aiden Morris. It's very cute. Yep. I've been an Arf with the start. In Morris is a minor injury. Sepp got an assist. Could have had another as well. They both look pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had to intended to watch this game on Waskout. But Waskout didn't have it up at the time of recording. So I mean, it just, it just kind of is what it is. Of course, I'll have the championship matches, everything going forward. But yeah, I guess the EFL cup, which I mean, this one is just the league's cup, like the cup of the football league, right? Yeah. Right. Just championship league one league two teams in it. Right. So maybe, maybe Waskout's taking that one off, which I guess I kind of don't blame them. But, you know, obviously we'll have 46 damn matches to lock in to plus whatever else they get into. To lock in for Middlesbrough. I saw some of it live like in there's comps out there too for everyone. They were good. They were like, what you think this would be, you know, like what the level is and like like their fine players. But are we putting a lot of eggs in this basket to elevate the team for the next World Cup? Yeah. I'm definitely not. Not me. Not me. I'm leaving my eggs in a different basket. Okay. I'm leaving them in no basket first. Hey, man, it's a nice, you know, could be a movie. Could be a movie. You know, you got two childhood best friends, you know what I'm saying? Got a bride. Gonna take on the English, I mean, you know, in the same way that Rexham has kind of got a cracking over here. With like draw casuals in, I mean, you know, we always looking for that hook. What if I interest you in a little A to more Sebastian Berholtz or Max Arfton? They got the, they got to get promoted for everyone really sit up. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Maybe. I mean, Rexham, they just had celebrities attached to it, is that what it is? Yeah, and then they got promoted from the National League, which is like 430 teams into that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The interleague three, and then they moved up. But by the way, real quick with Rexham, when everyone was talking about, we were talking about it a bunch this summer about Podge's next move, when we thought he would definitely bolt back to Europe. And someone who I'll keep anonymous, and this is just based on speculation anyway, there was nothing like to this, but we were talking about where Podge could go. So, someone said Rexham, if they get promoted, which I thought was really interesting. Because that would be a big deal if they get up there and Podge might, you know, who wouldn't want to be? It'd be fun. Managing the Hollywood club, yeah. Yeah. Middlesbrough is, I just realized this, like on the North Sea. So it's on the East Coast of England, just a little bit south in Newcastle. So way way up there. It's not in the middle at all, despite the name. Although it's US national team players do sort of fit the name. I really had no clue that it would, I mean, yeah, that's far away from most things. Yeah. I wonder if they can go swimming. All right, Rico went 80 minutes and PSV's opener. He's sticking around. I guess he's sticking around for now. He's not going to England. I mean, they haven't been in any fresh rumors since. I mean, I don't think you guys have been once as me, you know, I'm saying like, yeah. So I think it's, I think it's dried up. And, you know, let's get a, let's get a full season of ball in Rico. We've got full season of ball in and we'll reassess after. Yeah. Oh, Rashman, get some reps, score some goals, go 40 goals this season. Yeah, I don't know. I just, I don't know what to say about Rico at this point. But, um, so I'll just say nothing. Diego Cochin. No. No, Peter Bosch talked about he's, he's happy for. Happy to stay. So, I mean, hopefully does some. They're in champions. They great. Yeah, they want to leave. Yeah. So. Cochin. So on the baby goalkeeper beat, Diego Cochin did not look very good in a friendly over the weekend. I guess he had some air passes out of the back. Anything else? There was one really sauce one and then there was one. One of the goals he should have come off his line, maybe. That's something we should talk about all our keepers, like what we're looking for. When you people can command the box, it's not just shot stopping. It's not just don't screw up with your feet. It's not like, be good with your feet. You got to command your area. Yeah. Right? Like Reem did get dunked on, but could, could freeze deal with that? Maybe. Probably, right? I had to coach you. Always used to say, like if it's in, it's in or near the six, keepers got to do something. And, you know, we need our, we're our basketball players, you know, getting rebounds. We're, we're our seevers going up for a jump ball. What happened to that? High point in the ball. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We needed like a, we needed a Dennis Rodman. Well, I guess we have one on the wing. She plays a winger. She's one of the best in the world. We got, we got Harvard trained, uh, scientists and stuff now, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like this. Cover the shootout. Cover the shootouts. Yeah. Try and pull out his protract. Turn him to fly to the ball. Man, we need to. Um, and, well, real quick, bells. He said a friendly, the Santa, Santa friendly brother. Oh, yeah, he's playing in, in Scandinavia, right? Yeah, Denmark. Um, their season started. Lingby has played three matches now. Um, and have lost two and drew one. Uh, so I mean, at least he's in a place where we can keep tabs. Yeah. Through why it's got to whatever. So starting every week, we will be here to give you all updates. And, and I can't, I can't say I've watched any of these first three matches, but I did, I didn't know that, uh, Lingby season had officially started. But I'm going to go ahead and lock in because I heard a lot, I've heard a lot about Diego coaching. You know, obviously, I mean, he was maybe rated to the point to where he got called up. But, you know, reach out pastino on the boys. So. Is the potential is there theoretically for good things. According to what I've heard. Not what I've seen. Terms of his younger keepers, the one who literally and figuratively stood out. Not because of like his play. We didn't watch so much in practice. But Julian Istone's huge. He's a tall guy and he has amazing hair. Tremendous hair. I like, not that Diego doesn't, but. Anyway, you're talking about stuff you, you saw from, uh, World Cup camp? Yeah, like him and him and Rick was there. The whole time, I think. And then Diego left and Istone came in from remembering this right. And Istone is a, he's tall. He's like six seven, right? Yeah, he's tall. I mean, we just sent someone else to, Stokes went to Brentford. Right? So you get a couple of, a couple of things to keep an eye on there with, with keepers. Um, but. Yeah, and. Go ahead. Oh no, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think August, Lenina got some minutes on Chelsea's tour of Southeast Asia. So. You know, about the Southeast Asia minute. We'll have to, I have to squat. I got it, got the bug. You know, they on the toilet. Oh. Yeah, I don't know about that. But, uh, you know, it is kind of funny. 45 minutes in Kuala Lumpur. And, um, we'll see what happens, you know, one more thing about, um, mentioned, uh, shot. I just want to, I don't, I don't want to overlook this. Uh, there's some interest in, uh, we, we talked about Denmark. So, uh, Norway, Mr. Gabriel Westay. There's some interest online with him. Yeah. Score to goal. Um, he's. I saw the comp. Uh, I didn't, I didn't wire scout him, but I saw the comp and, um, yeah, interesting player. I don't know if he has the, the goal danger, the, I don't know if he's a killer in the final third, but, um, interesting left footed player. All right. Let's keep an eye on him too. Uh, I think the last thing we need to talk about is no guy banks. Uh, I mean, we could, we mentioned this. I also got his first minute since his injury off the bench in a friendly versus man city yesterday. Uh, but no guy banks started a friendly versus a swallow on Saturday. How do you look? Is he still, uh, up in the air about where he's going to play his national team soccer? Yeah. He gave away a pen, um, but other than that, you know, the red side center back thought he was what we've seen from him. He said, you know, there's speculation about where he might go, but he's got to put together a full season there. And I think you know, as I said, my plan is to stay at FC Augsburg. The focus is now fully on preseason preparations and the upcoming season. Like, I think there was some arsenal link or rumor about how they're watching him. A lot of teams will watch him because of his profile. And, and, you know, what he showed to an extent last season, but, yeah, he's got to put together a solid season. Uh, no word yet on the national team stuff. Hopefully he comes in the fall. Um, he can play it friendly. Uh, a call breath would have to do one time switch so you can't play, um, in a game, but he can come and train if he wants to. Hopefully he does, but, uh, yeah. Also, we should mention, um, Eunice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we're real quick. This is kind of a ridiculous challenge from, from Nokia. They give it the pin. I mean, what? What is he doing? Respect. Um, nobody knows. Okay. We keep moving. But yeah, Eunice moves up. Hey, man. That's preseason. Yeah, he's experimenting. Eunice is getting some center of mid minutes and it looks like he might stay at Milan. Yeah. That's what we're hearing. But people are reporting that I think the last thing I saw that is that Eunice is more in than out of, um, what's my man? Former Manchester. Emmer him. Yeah, having heard many flattering things about him from my United people, but at least he's using him as a center mid. I'm not hearing much flattering things from Milan people about him either. So, I mean, but whatever gets you in his moves on the field, taking the brother. Yeah. You guys know my feeling on him. I think he could be a pretty important player for us at the next World Cup. Yeah. Just want to add, before even the World Cup, as we get back to the Konga calf grind and like away qualifying and stuff, Eunice Musa has been in the trenches. So when you compare him to guys who are relatively newer, who have just played games in the United States, like, remember that Eunice Musa committed to this team and went through the grind when it was a real grind, Konga calf, you know, in the mud, and they'll salvage or remember that picture of him. So he's not some hot shot European guy who took off the goal cup because he thinks he better than everyone. He said he had a reason for it. You should believe him instead of questioning his characters, a lovely guy, a nice guy. And he has the Kong, Kong calf stamp already in a way that a lot of guys don't. That's right. Remember that when you're comparing him to the, you know, the grinders, the squad guys, Eunice Musa has done it. Still a kind of hilarious. That's Sebastian Berholt. They got to play every World Cup game and Eunice Musa didn't even make the roster. Last, this is it. And then we're out, then we're out of here. But Pulsox stayed in Milan while the team went to Australia. So he attended Milan and Italy legend Franco Barresti's funeral, who World Soccer caused the, caused this center back the 19th best player of the 20th century, head of Palo Maldini sandwich between Zico and Karincha. So Pulsox went to the funeral. He looked like it was the first time he'd ever put a tie on. Oh, is that what that picture's from? Yeah. Oh, man. I don't know how to see that. The bottom of the tie was like well above his belly button, which, maybe that's a look now. I don't know. But, you know, I'm just having fun about it. That's it. There's a real quick, real quick. Did we talk about FIFA at all? There was a joke before, right? Yeah, let's not. We're at, we're at 80 minutes. No, no, real quick, because this was edited out of the last thing, which was probably for the better when we were talking to FIFA. But keep an eye on this, folks, because if Johnny survives here, we might get to a 64 team World Cup. This, this whole, like, debate that's going on, is kind of bleeding into the older conversations about how much power it should FIFA have to expand competitions and who should be making decisions, you know, the power of European clubs, all that. That matters for the national team, right? If the next one expands or it expands soon. So, keep an eye on that. And also for maybe hosting 2038, could be interesting from that perspective. Well, I don't know if you've seen, but there's been a joint statement put out from UEFA, Kanka Kav, and AFC. I didn't see that this morning. I didn't read it. What did it say? I mean, essentially, that Johnny needs to get out of here. I mean, that's, that's the, and they came down on the whole, you know, the whole thing that got us here, you know, the selling of parts of the World Cup profits or whatever. They came down on that very hard, and it's like, that's not the leadership we need, et cetera, et cetera, Johnny needs to leave. And so, you know, that's where we stand now. So, the baby might get thrown out with the bath water then, huh? Because then part one, you know, the whole part one thing changes too. Like, that is a real domino effect for the cycle. If there is, it's easier to qualify, and part one is that much easier to get in. I mean, I just, from reading all the reporting, I've been of the thought that as soon as this guy leaked and all this came out, and then the thing didn't go forward that the 64 team was kind of dead in the water at that point. But, we'll see. 64 teams, 48 teams, 32 teams. So, we need to get better at soccer. That's right. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see ya.