The Sullivan Threshold: USMNT Midfield Realities and the Pepi Paradox

Welcome to the SCUF Podcast, we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey everybody, the newsmakers continue to be the newsmakers in the U.S. men's national team scene, so we're going to be talking about some familiar names right off the bat here. Anyway, I got Vince with me and Ryan told Mitch, Ryan, how are you? Good, good, how are you guys, huh? Doing great, man, couldn't be doing any better, you know, football's back, which usually doesn't mean much of my life, but I got out and about yesterday. I mean, people were, it, Kroger, Kroger was lit and buzzed for the NFL season starting off. People, people with jerseys everywhere, there was this group of girls, three different girls. All had different teams, colors, I think one had a Lions jersey, one had a Ravens jersey on and another one had something I'm forgetting. But anybody they saw in the store with some NFL paraphernalia on, they were roasting them. Bingo's fan, they were giving them the business, Steele's fan giving them the business. It was fun. I don't know, just seeing that whole little scene just once again, you know, you just think of what it can be when we get to that point when people are walking around in Miami, jerseys roasting somebody with a, you know, Columbus crew. I was going to say, did you, did you know that Major League Soccer is also still in full swing every week with, with multiple goals and playoff chases abound and supporter shield races? There are, the league's cup, unfortunately, is behind us, but there are, there are many exciting things that, that put this, this silly little national football league. That's right. That's right. You, you could keep, again, you know, you can keep your Sundays as Don Garber said, we'll, we'll take it from here. We got, we got this, we have, it has been taken. Yeah. So yeah, we're good, we're good. I just somehow, the Kroger on Breckenridge Lane in Louisville, Kentucky did not get the memo, did not get the memo. MLS has not, has not taken over that particular plot of land, unfortunately, yeah, unfortunate, yeah, tough. Give it, you know, a few more cabin solving goals and we'll be talking about that. One or two more cabin solving backheels and that Kroger will be lit up in union. That's right. We know it. I got, I got to tell a quick American football story. I took my six year old son to his first college football game a weekend ago. We were in Iowa. So we went and saw Iowa play Northern Illinois. And I thought it would be magical for my boy to be there. But it turns out it was 97 degrees and we were in the direct sun the whole time. And I mean, he was literally hiding in the shade beneath the feet of the people in front of us. At the time we were there at the end of the first quarter, which Iowa dominated, you know, this is my homeland. He goes, he goes, oh, man, this is so hot. It's barely even fun. And then it turned out a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes marching band died on the field after collapsing in the heat. So I'm like, man, these TV schedules, this was like, this was dude, this is the hottest I have ever been in my life. It was so, so, so miserable. We left a half time. So did everybody on my side of the stadium. Yeah, I was, I went to dinner with friends on Saturday and we were talking, I mean, everybody at the dinners, like my similar vintage, me and Ryan's similar vintage, about 33, 34 years old. But I was talking to them to your point about it being as hot as it's ever been. It's like I cannot deal with the sun in the same way that I used to be able to deal with the sun. Yeah. It's like, it hits me and I'm like, where's the shade? Like I got it. Bro, the fight or flight hits immediately. Bro, that Antoine Griezmann clip that went viral last week where the dude, dude looks like he's like with the Fremen in dude, like just margin through looking for shy hallude out here. And it's just like, yeah, man, welcome to, welcome to American Soccer, man, there's no, there is no break from this. So yeah, like football, whatever it is, man, it's hot outside, everybody stay safe. I just moved up to Connecticut. It's a little less hot up here. I like that. Yeah. Yeah, pray for the leaves to start to fall, man. Let's get like fall, please arrive in this country. Let's start with Kevin. Kevin Sullivan, you mentioned him already, right? Talk about heat. Yeah. Yeah. Philly rolled into San Diego and hung five on Mikey Varus's boys. Kevin scored the first one with a croifflick on a cutback. We're going to have to revisit that in a moment here. And then he scores the second early in the second half by five hole in the keeper with a strong left foot, just, you just put it right through his legs. He then created the third goal with a smart drive and a lofted ball into the cutback zone for Frankie Westfield. Totally dominant performance from the teenager. He has nine goals, nine assists in all competitions this season. More importantly, Philly hasn't lost a league match since the World Cup. I mean, come on, think about that. Sullivan has five goals and two assists in his last five matches. The team is in a playoff spot now. They're probably going to keep rising in the standings. Nobody can beat him. Kevin Sullivan's their best player. I mean, what? What are we talking about? What are we looking at? It's getting real hard to avoid the Charles Barkley. We need to start a dialogue meme because I've been trying so hard to just be like, all right. Again, let's be rational here. This is a child. He is a young player. Again, all summer. Again, you hear that Kevin should have been on this team and it's like, let's, you know, let's not be silly. This is, again, this is a high school-aged child that is learning, learning very basic teenager stuff, like how to drive and all these fun things. And it's like, maybe we don't throw him out there at the World Cup, but then he comes out of this World Cup break. And it's like, yeah, dude, maybe he should, maybe he maybe could have done something. And it's like, this is, it's wild because again, it's one thing where it's just like, one, this kid is, is a really good soccer player. And two, he seems to have that right blend of confidence and arrogance that he knows he's a really good soccer player and is willing to just try shit. And I'm going to plug my colleague Tom Hindle recently did an interview with, with Kevin. And one of the things that was, I thought this was a great question from Tom. He asked him is like, was there a point where you realized that like, you could kind of cook in MLS? And Kevin was saying there was a game against Nashville where like he spent all week leading up to that game working on this like little flick. And then he did it in the game and like completely like snatched a defender soul with it. And was like, oh, yeah, like I guess I could kind of just like learn how to do things mid week and then do them at this level on the weekend. And it's like, yeah, man, like that's, that's, that's something. And it's like for a 16 year old kid to, to be able to have the confidence to even try it. You be able to be like, yeah, man, I just started doing that on Wednesday and on Saturday. I did it to a grown man. Like that is impressive. So yeah, again, maybe, maybe it is time to have the dialogue about, you know, Kevin coming to this fall camp because it's, it's looking very real right now. Yeah, at this time, it's, it's beyond like like if you try to start the dialogue, you should just get shut down because it's like, you know, it's, it's already like, it's already in the back. It should be. And there's no dialogue. Yeah. Yeah, there's no dialogue to be had. It should be wasting hot air at this point. Like it's, he's here. He has arrived and like, you know, he just does not go gently into that good night ever. It's like he, he didn't start off this game like hot, you know, first 20, 25 minutes. It was like, you know, he wasn't doing too much, but it's like, he just pops up with these moments, like basically from the go on. It's like, it's just moment after moment, after moment, like, and you know, he has the quality to provide, once again, to provide those moments and actually execute and be decisive in the final third. But also it's just, it's just the relentlessness of the whole thing, man, like, yeah. That first goal, transition moment, you don't got to worry if, if caverns, like a transition moment late in the first half, you don't got to worry if cavern has a, a busted tire or if he's out of breath, his VO2 maxing up the par or whatever. Now, he's on a full sprint. He's getting in that box in a goalscoring position. The second goal, you know, he's playing on the right in this match. He pops up. He's on the left. Yep. You know, he starts off in the kind of like the middle of the pitch, kind of like zone 14 at first and then sees that they're over there on the left having a good time. He's like, you know what? Let me show up. Let me show up. I'm going to pop up. We're going to play some one-tools here and then, like, we're going to kind of let them to sleep and then once I see that space and the availability to kind of make that bending run in behind, I'm going to make it and I'm going to receive that ball and I'm going to score with that left foot and not make the keeper. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's just, he just doesn't stop. I mean, we went on about this multiple times at this point, but to continue to see it, when I'm looking at other players, I'm not going to name any names right now. Name all of them. Name all of them. No, but because, I mean, we're talking about different levels and all different types of stuff. Yeah. I don't want to draw Mauricio Paschino's eye as well. You know, he's going to get on me talking about Cavist, not Messy, etc. I don't want that text from Pasch, but you're getting taxed. No, no, no. Crazy. I was like crazy, dang. No, of course not bad. But I was just thinking about the, you know, the Jay-Z. This is Hove text that he sent to Kanye. Yeah. I feel like Mauricio Paschino's going to pop up like that in my phone one day if I keep talking too crazy, especially since he's already laid down the law about young people getting too carried away, etc. But it's just, I'll go and name a name. When you see a Malik tell me and play a week after week for his club, specifically, and it's like, bro, you just want to shake him. Yes, where are you? Where are you, Malik? Even Jorana, even as he's continuing to get these minutes, but still. I still just want to shake him. You know what I'm saying? You are on the pitch. Make your presence be felt. Let it be known that you are Malik tell me, you are Jorana, you are Kevin Sullivan, and I have arrived on this pitch and I'm going to do everything in my power to make it mine, you know, essentially. I'm here to dominate you. Just to add, just to add something to that, the relentlessness thing. At 16, and he's still 16 for two more weeks, he turned 17 at the end of the month. At 16, the intelligence that he displays on the field is, I would say, pretty remarkable. Like the movement that you discussed on that second, the second goal, you know, the way he bends his run to stay on side, and then, I mean, he's just, he's working at it every single moment with the ball, without the ball. That run that he makes, he makes that he makes the full sprint to be there for the cup back on the first goal, and then he stops dead at a good spot where he can get the cutback, and then just instinctively croifes it into the net from a fair distance, like 10 yards away off the post. Then the third goal, right, where it's like, he's carrying it, he's easy as Frankie Westfield out to his right, he's like, all right, let me get this, let me bend in a little bit with the ball to get this like left back to kind of come with me because it's like a transition situation, defense isn't fully, fully settled, they're not within their defensive block fully. So let me drag this left back with me, and then just release Frankie over the top, boom, he has all the time in the world that made that cutback, like it's just, it's those little details that make all the difference. Yeah. It's such an interesting thing to me, especially because like you said, we have this camp coming up, and it's just like, he's shown so many things, like you said, the intelligence, the presence, the aggressiveness, the confidence, like all that stuff, he is shown that he could literally and metaphorically get punched in the mouth and be okay with it, like he is, he is showing these certain things. But then like again, you go back to like you said about Risa Pochettino saying, like, hey, let's be a little patient, and it's like, we have these four games coming up, which means there's four games, they're all very different, you could experiment a little bit, you could do some different things, it's like, is Kevin ready to get chucked into a US Mexico game in Phoenix yet? Like, that's a, that's a different ask, then like, hey man, like play in this little friendly good chile. Like, so it's like, you have these different types of games where you could see different types of players in them, and if since there are four games and we won't have any more for a little while, like it, again, it's becoming harder to deny that he should at least play in one of them, because it's worth, it's worth taking that look based on the things he's on for. Again, if you put player A and player B and you took the ages out of it and said who determines, like, who needs to call up? There are a few players that deserve one more than Kevin's holding right now, so it's getting tougher to argue against. Yeah, I think he should play an all four of the friendly. Run about 90 minutes, get him out there. Like, like, we're going to do mud, I guess we're going to do mudded or not at the end of the show, but you know, who's mudded? Everybody who was on the field against Belgium, I know I've said it like 50 times, but like every single one of those dudes is mudded until further notice. So like, I mean, what are we going to do? Let's throw a new guy out there against Mexico and Phoenix is my view. See what happens. Might as well, bro. Also, before we get off of this match, specifically, I do want to shout out Neil Pierre, just because he continues to impress for me, just, first of all, I mean, I've mentioned this before, but the aerial stuff is like, that is a just a plus plus skill that he has. I mean, even in this match, he gets his head on like two more set pieces, did not turn into goals, but just so you know, he's not getting lucky on these set piece goals. He is truly dominant in the air, like, it's just not like, and he's a good athlete too for 6.7. Like, very fluid in the hips can move, has great balance as well that I saw in this match. You see the way he was dribbling around people down on the in line? Yeah, like a winger. Look, I have always been a big believer that on any tournament team, especially 26 player osses, you need a big fella that like, man, either it's late in the game or it's early in the game and there's a goal between it and you want someone you can just loop one up to and just do some weird stuff with it. After he develops into an elite center back or not, like Neil Pierre has real good big fellow potential in that like, again, US is down a goal late and it's just like, yeah, dude, if we get a corner and we have this 6.7 beast that we could just like cross it to. Yeah. And if he turns out to be a hell of a soccer player, which he might end up doing anyway, like, oh man, that's, that's just extra, like that's lovely. But right now, like, that's a, that's a weapon right there and it's been fun watching, again, filling like actually wake up and be like, yeah, dude, we should just do this every time because it's a pretty, it's a pretty good idea where it's just like, again, like we watch Arsenal to primarily do this where it's like, yeah, man, we're just going to like score a bunch of corners and then watch Philly go, yeah, we could probably just like score a quarter every game because we have this 6.7 demon to go get the ball every time. Like it's, you know, sometimes soccer is real easy. You know, we don't have to get into false fullbacks and pressing and all this stuff. Like, yeah, sometimes you just, you just kick it in the air to a tall guy, you know, let's call it that. Right. Right. And that's the thing. He makes it look easy. Like, ball is in the air. I'm going to get it, you know, it doesn't matter. I will not beat a nod. He's already sick. But, you know, you see kind of those people that have those like height advantages, kind of like a tan attachment or something, who's like 6.3. He's not a demon. They don't use it. Yeah. They don't use it as well. He's already using it. Yeah. Like, it, to the point to where, to your, to your point Ryan, like, he's a weapon right now. Like, if we had a game that we needed to win, I wouldn't be mad at throwing a kneeling there for it. It's all a 10, 15 minutes just to be the big lad. Why not? Why not? Yeah. But, but to the, the center back stuff, I think, yeah, I, I just, I become more impressed every week just because, yeah, just that, that criticism is off the charts. The recovery speed is probably like the least impressive bit of that, I would say, but it's still okay. You, I saw him kind of thwart some transition opportunities multiple times in this match. And he's 18 years old. I think he's turned in 19 soon. I want to say, but, but this is like prime, like athletic development stage. Like, the speed is not going to be an issue for much longer. I don't think. And it's not really that much of an issue right now. Like I said, his hips are, his hips are real nice and flint. Like he moves very well for a 6, 7, 2 on a soccer pitch. The only thing we're waiting to see come around is the, is the passing. And you know, I have no reason to doubt Marcus Shadez. And he said, like, you know, as a youth player, he could pass the hell out of the ball. So we're just waiting on that to come around. Hasn't quite yet, but it's, he's a good player. It was Windows get a little tighter, don't they? No, but it does, but players can adjust. So, and his ambition has not gone away. Okay. You know, it's not like he hasn't like turtled into a shell or anything like that. So it seems like he's still getting the coach in it. Like go ahead and be aggressive on the ball. We know what you can do type of thing. And I just love to see that. Do we want to talk about all the pundits criticizing Kevin for being cocky or should we just skip all that? I mean, it's just like, again, there's, there's a line between like arrogance and confidence and whatnot. And I think it's fair to say that the, you know, current group hasn't always walked it the best. And that there hasn't been, you know, there have been times where they've, you know, fallen on either side of it or lacking confidence or too much. And it's like, yeah, I was like, where's the confidence? Where's the air? It's always been something of both. It's been like a weird point about how confident or unconfident or there's always this talking point. And I don't know if you've had anyone on this team that has the, the, the, the cabin level of what it seems. Where again, for a 60 year old to be like, yeah, man, I think I could have changed that Belgium game, considering how shit everything was in that Belgium game to think that you could have changed it by yourself is a lovely, but irrational, but fantastic bit of confidence. Because one man changing that is unfathomable, but he believes it. And that is, I think a good thing because I think every, I think to reach a certain level in this sport, you have to have a high enough ego and it seems like he might, he might just have the right amount of it. So good for him, man, until, until someone proves him wrong, you know, who are we? And I think he has, every time I hear him talk, I think he has a great deal of, well, I don't know. It's not. Yeah, for your point, Ryan, you, if you see an in print, I feel like I could have made a difference in that Belgium game. And that's all you take from it, you're like, oh, that sounds really cocky. But if you actually listen to the clip of him saying it, it's not, it's not, it doesn't come off that way. But we had a similar thing with, so Xavier Gozo just did our podcast with Raheem and Chad Ocho Sinko, the late run. And he said, like, I felt like I belonged on that World Cup team, and, you know, but I respected the coach's decision, but like, I, you know, I felt like I had done enough to get my chance. And hopefully I'll get a chance in 2030. And again, you see that in print and it's like, yeah, this kid said he belonged on the World Cup team, but it's like, no, the kid backed himself that, you know, if he had gotten the chance, he would have made the most of it. It's like, I think that's a good thing for young players to think that they can make a difference instead of being scared, scared as hell about what that's like. And again, it's nice because it feels like there's, there's a good group in there that are really willing and able to start kind of pushing those things. So again, as someone who is in this line of work, and we always complain about players saying a whole lot of nothing, it's like, it's a little bit nice to hear some players say that they believe in themselves instead of being like, yeah, man, the team did it. So like, again, go ahead and if you're doing well, go ahead and talk about it because you deserve it. That's a, that's my two cents on it. Yeah, but, but it's not just always me, me, me, with Kevin. No, it's like he had it all. No, he, he has a little bit more, like, like, I'm thinking about myself when I was like 16 or 17. He just has a broader perspective. Like, you know, I'm saying, and you can hear him, like, even in the situations where he's saying things like, you know, I feel like I decayed in the Belgian game and changed it. You know, he's still making sure he gives out the necessary caveats. You know, as a level, as a level of polish there and, and it seems like, and it's coming from a place of, like, he really believes it. He's not just, he's not just saying these things. He's like, I want to say this. So let me throw this in here so I can get this off kind of thing. Like, everything I've seen from him, he seems just like a genuine person. Yeah. And I like that you mentioned, again, thinking about yourself at 16 or 17. I think I was talking about this with Sanjay this summer, where it was like at 16, we were taking zip ties and zip tying friends belt loops to lunchroom chairs so that they wouldn't be able to get out without dragging their chairs to the lunchroom. You know what I mean? So it's like, that's what, so everybody's again, so like, we should both give this kid a little bit of grace when sometimes he says things that are outlandish. But also, I don't think he said anything outlandish. You keep saying that, Ryan. What is all landish? Well, I'm just saying, what are you talking about? If he does say something outlandish. Again, people were saying the red card, he shouldn't run it, which I disagree with. That's BS. It's his brother, screw it. But it's like, give him the grace to make mistakes and put him in a place where he can make those mistakes instead of easing things in because again, like he's, he's risen to every challenge so far. So until he makes a mistake, keep giving him the chances to do so because instead holding him back from hypothetical mistakes, instead of letting him make them, I don't know if that really helps because again, he's clearly much more mature than most people are at that age. That's right. It seems, it seems like hypothetical hypothetical damage that he might do to his future teammates, psyches, hypothetical cold. You know, I'll tell you something. Like some people thought it was cocky that he did the, he did the game, he did that game where you're the interviewer names a bunch of people and he's supposed to like speak up when he hears the one that he thinks is the greatest USMNT player of all time. And he stayed quiet past pool sick. And he stayed quiet past a bunch of people until it got to Clint Dempsey, who he thinks is the greatest, the goat, you know? And like some people thought that was cocky. He's like, I don't know. It's a pretty rational take. It's kind of like that. Yeah, it's a pretty rational take. Again, it's just, I think everyone's out waiting for him to fall flat and say, oh, he's 16 year old, you messed up, let's say thing. But it's just like, again, he hasn't done that yet. And he's scoring goals and whatever stuff that you're worried about him being cocky, like, it doesn't matter. Let him, let him try. You know, I think that's, I think that's where we're at right now. Ultimately, it just all comes down to like, where has this prior school of thought gotten us so far? You know, I mean, we've been in our wheels in the same, and we're in the same place that we were as far as world cup results. Yeah. Yeah, that we've been for, we've been for a long time. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I guess, I guess my feeling on it is, I'm just like really to, like to your point Vince, really impressed with the way the kid actually talks on camera. And in the press. Right last night, last night, after he put on that dominant performance, we're just talking about, he spent most of his interview talking about his teammate, Yakopovich, who scored his first MLS goal. And like, he might be an absolute sociopath, Kevin might, but he's not showing it. He's not, it's not, it's not evident. He is, if he is that, he is really good at pretending to be a person who cares more about others than himself. And so I just think it's crazy that people are like, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you know, it's like, he did, he's, he's handled everything way better than I would. I'm 44 years old, you know, exactly. It's again, where I think everyone is just, again, holding past examples over his head when it's like, let's look at this example. And at this example, he's saying the right things, he's scoring goals every week. And if, if we didn't have so many like horror stories hanging over, what this would look like, what would your, what would your response be to this? Again, if you put his resume up against a 22 year old and you said, like, who would you rather take, you would, you would take his resume. So like, again, if age is just a number, um, what are you going to do? This is, this is what it is with him right now. All right. Well, the yin to his yang, Christian Pulisic is back. Uh, Milan gets a draw to two at Lazio, um, at the studio, Limpico, it's actually a really good, there's a really good afternoon for the Americans because they both came on at the half down to zero, Pulisic was lively, drew a good save at the near post from the keeper and then got an assist, clipping a rainbow to the back post for Morera, this, uh, this left-footed signing who just bought, like, pretty nice, volley on a skyfall. Good finish. Yeah. Yeah, good finish. Like all credit to him there. Yeah. And then Musa, who had also come on on at the half, help create the second goal with a cross that got laid off for another pretty excellent Morera goal. So good, good afternoon for the yanks in Rome. It's beautiful to see because, you know, the thing that I'd kind of been, I don't know, I, I, I knew this would happen. Like, basically, where Robbie would drop back into the band of two alongside Maudredge and they play Ruben Laftes' cheek ahead. That happened in this match. Eunice Musa loses out. Does not get the start for the first time this season. And then they promptly go down, too, Neil. You know, I'm saying in that first half. And for the first time this season, Amorum, you know, when Eunice comes on, he's been playing kind of like that eight position next to the holding six, whether it was a Jashari or Maudredge. Eunice is the true holder. He was the holder. He replaced Maudredge in this, um, in this match. And they absolutely blitzed La Tseo in the second half. And especially the first period before like the water break. And Eunice was just, Eunice was going crazy. I tweeted on the scuffed account. I think that 45 is like the best minutes he's put up in the midfield for, for club as a professional to me. Like, I mean, they absolutely blitzed La Tseo. And he was at the center of all of it, you know, they, I mean, they camped in their own half and when they tried to get out of their own half when the attack broke down, there's Eunice Musa for the tackle. Eunice got the ball back counter pressing for that second goal. You know, that's how he got the ball to cross to Robbie O'Rabeo laid it off to Morera. And yeah, just everything was working, bro. He's kind of, I mean, knock on wood. He's eliminated those, those, the Cardoso's, those backbreaking turnovers. Um, he's, he's eliminated the Cardoso's, man. And it's like everything else that we know Eunice for is coming out to play. Like all the good stuff remains. And the bad stuff has been limited. And yeah, I'm just, I'm just really excited, man. I'm just really excited. I was watching those. I watched that half this morning. And what? I just want to make a plug for the Patreon real quick, but before you talk about this, the half this morning, because like, when you say it's the best half he's played as a professional for club, it made me think like who has actually watched Musa as closely as a club player, as Vince Irvin has in the world. And I don't think there is anybody. I doubt it. I doubt if there is anybody. I mean, maybe some film, some, somebody in the film went Milan, but I doubt it. His brother, maybe. It's like, but other than that, it's probably like real close. See it out like, it's probably like one A1B, man. Like totally, totally. And Vince is cranking out these clip notes videos every week, sometimes multiple a week of these players' actions, which are available to $5 and up subscribers on the Patreon. Please consider joining the Patreon. Please continue, Vince. Oh, yeah, I was just watching that second half. And my excitement was just growing and growing with like every play that he was making. Audible excitement from me. You know, some Chris Burman, whoops, etc. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was like, it was that type of performance he was putting on out there. And like I said, just to be at the, to be the true holder, like not the, not the eight that can kind of like buzz around. He pops up a few places every once in a while, does something nice and you're like, yeah. Like, no, everything was flowing through you, Musa. And, and he, and he turned the game around for his team. You know, like Christian Policic also did a thing. Like Christian was looking very lively. He looks like if you had any concerns, you should not have them after, after this 45 minutes. But for me, the real star of that second half for Milan was, uh, was Eunice. Yeah, I think Eunice is such an interesting one for me, just because I think so many people sold their stock on him without like remembering what the reality of this is and that it's just like, Eunice is younger than Diego Luna, you know, like he's, he's only like a few months older than Alex Freeman, I think. You know what I mean? It's like, so like you have this like bracket of young players and like you forget that Eunice Musa is in that bracket, just because we've been watching him for so long. And like, has he had his flaws and faults and like some, some not so fantastic career decisions? It's like for sure. But it's like, again, there's just like such a raw talent. But also the fact that like, again, like you mentioned too, where he's gotten better at the things that have always been the knock on him. And like, I remember I talked to him before, the really big bad nations league games in LA. And he was just like, I know that I've been real bad in front of goal. And it bothers me because I know when I'm in training, I score. And then I get into the game and I just overthink it a little bit. And I mess up and that leads to me overthinking the next one and the next one. And I need to fix that. And it's just like having the ability to like, recognize that is good. So again, when you think about where he is as a 23 year old player, if you took anyone's career and you said, yeah, at 23, they'd have played at Valencia and AC Milan and Atalanta. And you know, maybe they messed up for a season, but they're 23 and they're playing real minutes at AC Milan. You'd be like, yeah, dude, that kid's killing it. So like, maybe, maybe we take that perspective a little bit more instead of just being like, move on. So again, like that's, that's what's good to see for me. Because again, like you said, he comes into this AC Milan team and actually makes a difference in a game like this, which just shows that he's a pretty damn good player. Yep. And I've been sitting here. I've been pleading with the listener to try to please get them to listen to me. You know what I'm saying? This is the point of the clip notes. Because I'm showing my work. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's all there, you know? That's the whole thing about the clip notes. It's like, I'm trying to show my work. If you want to understand, how do events come to this conclusion on this player? It's all right there in the video. It's like, I'm watching this video anyway. While while I record it and put it out to the people. So anyway, and I've actually given people the actual games where, anyway, I don't need to, I don't need to be in this whole situation. But for the people that lost their stocks, if you do, who sold their stocks, if you do listen to this podcast, shame on you. Because I was telling you. I was telling you. Yeah, shame on you. I hope you get a call from the Council on American and Islamic Relations, too. A letter. That's right, brother. And that might include, you know, the barbecue king, Mr. Mauricio Paschino. So I'm going to come collect. Lucky not to be in the crosshairs. But anyway, you know, we can make it all, what's in the past in the past, baby? We can make it all, and we know Eunice Musa being the, being the very strict, religious man, and, and joyous man that he is. You know, he's, he's not going to love doesn't keep record of wrongs, baby. You know, love does not keep a record of wrongs, or at least it's not supposed to accord him to, I think that's first Corinthians. Yeah, I think that's, uh, well, a different reaction. I was about to say that's a whole new word. I think we're mixing the things up here. I think we're, hold on a minute back, right? This guy's a Google a new quote here. Oh, yeah, the point remains. The point remains that bygones can be bygones here. I think that's also not quoting the right thing. But Eunice Musa should probably get some national team in it too. And I think we could all, I don't know what scripture says that Eunice Musa should return to the national team, but like, that one is, that one is the one we're, we're kind of getting to here. We can find a scripture. We just got to get on it. Leverkusen drew Augsburg two to two. Uh, Malik got an assist, I guess. Tell us what happened. Um, assist on an equalizer. Leverkusen basically had an attack breakdown. Cross was cleared only to the top of the box. Right to Malik. He kind of lines it up and takes what I'm pretty sure is that like, 95% sure was a shot. No, it was a shot. It was a shot. It's going well. Why do the goal? But Patrick's, Patrick Schick sticks his right foot out and kind of, and basically backhills it into goal with, with no key banks right on his, uh, right on his backside. Not a whole bunch of anything. But you're not digging no key for this, right? I mean, Patrick, this is a fantastic play by Shade. It's, it's a, it's a fantastic play. But let me introduce you to another sports, um, another sports saying that I've come across in my time. This one from basketball. Okay. You know, I got a lot of, there's a lot of football things I bought on here. This one's from basketball. You got to do your work early, Adam Bells. Hmm. Got to do your work early. In situations where position is paramount, whether you're, I don't know, banging on the low block, whether you're coming off of, uh, setting yourself up to come off, uh, a screen to pop out to the wing, something like that. You want to do your work early. So in this situation, as this cross is played in, and as it comes out to Malik, you know, no key basically finds itself marking Patrick Schick. And what does he do? He just lets Patrick calmly get between the, I mean, they're in the box. I mean, he's like, what? Right to the right of the penalty spot. Maybe, maybe that far out. Maybe a little bit closer. I don't know. But Patrick Schick just walks right in front of Noki. And Noki's like, oh, okay. Yeah, I'm supposed to be marking you, but you can just go ahead and stand right there. What I would like for Noki to do, put a little forearm shivering on him or something. You know what I'm saying? Like put a shoulder in the, jockey for a present. Don't let the man just, he's in between you and the ball now. And now if Malik just made a regular pass to Patrick Schick, I mean, Noki would just automatically be in hell, because Patrick Schick has a position on him. You know what I'm saying? And now you got to deal with this, like, six, three, two, who's like a mountain of a human. And apparently, you're basically quick feet as well. Yeah, and you're essentially at his mercy, because you allowed him to gain position. And you know, when it came time for him to back you all that ball on the goal, he's under no physical duress or pressure from Noki. So that's the thing, you know, that's the stuff I like to see. It's like if you're in the box, you're marked up with somebody, especially as a center back. Like you need to be making contact with that person and making it just a little bit more difficult. Give them something else to think about. You know, other than I'm just standing here on this way of the grass, and if this ball comes to me, I'm gonna score this goal. Like you, you need the, he needs to, he needs to feel you, you know what I'm saying? So either way. Yeah, I love that. Do your work early, because it's like, because the dominoes, the way the dominoes fall in a soccer game, at every level, it's just so fascinating. You know, like one person doesn't do a little bit of early work, and then all of a sudden disadvantage, disadvantage, disadvantage. Go. We're downwind. It's real. Yeah. Right. And then you can always, you're always in the situation, because obviously, like I've said before, soccer's just so kind of nebulous, where you can always be in this position where, where people like, not to come down on you at a bills. But you could, somebody could be like, oh, that's not no key. So I'll look at the play. Yeah. He's just one second decision. Like, come down on me. It's fine. You can, you could have mitigated that situation by doing your work earlier. So that's, that's why I met on that. All right. So other than that, though, Malik in this match, they did not do much of anything. Hey, to see it. Kind of assists the shot. They, they count for something. Yeah, they do count. They do all count. They all count. They, you know, I don't know what I'm taking that away. I don't know what the assist bonus looks like in the paycheck, but it'll count like whatever it is. Like, it, they count. But yeah, it said, I don't know. He's just such an interesting one right now, because it felt like he was so obviously going to like, take a huge leap after the World Cup and be all confident. Everything's going to go great. And then like, he doesn't interview in August where he's like, yeah, man, like, everything's kind of mess here. It was tough. And then like, the season starts off. And it's like a little up and down. And it's just like, ooh, it hasn't quite kicked off. Like, it hasn't, it's been a meteoric rise in the months since. Still could happen. A lot of season left. But yeah, it's just been like a weird one, because it seemed like he was like the guy coming out of the World Cup. There was going to like benefit so much. And it didn't really. It hasn't really worked like that yet. Yeah. And I'm not like, I know this fandom. We always like to come down on the, on the managers, on the clubs. Like, oh, like, oh, look, look what you're doing in my sweet baby boy. And like, I understand the sentiment. But for me, it's like, Malik, you still got to show me something, man. You know what I'm saying? It's like, because so far in this club, outside of PSV, and Rangers, I guess. You know, as far as being a viable top five league, attacking midfielder, I just haven't seen it yet. And I would like to say, as soon as I see it, then I'm picking up my sword and shield. We're going to war for you whenever I see the, the slightest of slides coming your way. But it's just like, bro, just come on, man. You know what? They paid 40 million euros for him. They want to play him. You know, they don't want to have him on the bench. I don't think, I don't think that's how, I don't think that's what the front office wants out of a 40 million, a 40 million euro player. Got to look in the mirror, buddy. Look in the mirror. Jack McLean for you. Yeah. Jack McLean scored a, well, I guess we should, I should ask, was banks, how's banks in the business handling department? Um, no, no, no, no notable improvements so far. And you know, like, if you want to make that commitment to Germany, look, look, I'm not, I'm not going to say don't let the door hit you with the good looks, put your type of thing, but, but, just, just know, like, based on how I'm seeing and assessing this play right now, Jürgen Klopp maybe, Jürgen Klopp maybe has a totally different opinion. And I would defer to him when the evidence is laid bare in front of me. But I've never, I've never seen him break down tape the way you have. Yeah. So one would have to wonder what his thought if he's watched as much you as Moosa, that would be, yeah, the question. But, you know, we'll see. I just look, if he commits to Germany, he can find himself in the, in the wilderness of the Black Forest more times than not. As far as, you know, getting on that team, as it stands right now, as it stands right now, just watching that bullet train move through the forest to, yeah, Robert. Okay. Jack McLenn scored a right footed banger for Stoke as they beat Watford 2-1. Right. I would just like, I would just like to say, our dear friend Sanjay texted me at 12-13 in the morning last night saying, when you record, make sure you don't skip McLenn's goal. So just wanted to say, Sanjay, if you're listening, like we're here. We've arrived. You could fast forward to this part. We're here talking about the Jack McLenn goal, which was in fact a very Jack McLenn goal, except with the wrong, it was like a mirror Jack McLenn goal with the right foot. But it was like, man, this guy's like, it is bossy, bro. Come on. Yeah, you know, he's giving me again. I got the show notes I got was make sure you talk about the Jack McLenn goal. San, we're here. And again, if this is the thing, it's like, I'm sure you guys, but like it was funny watching all of the Stoke City folk on social media like discover the Jack McLenn highlight real and be like, yeah, man, this guy scores the best goals ever. And it's like, he sure does. And the question is going to be if all the other stuff is going to like kind of work out. And as long as he keeps scoring really fun goals, I think everyone's going to be really happy. Because I think that's that's good. And it's nice to see him just continue to hit the hell out of the ball with his with his two feet. Because that's that's that's a good that's a good skill in the sport of ours. It's just the ability to hit the ball hard with your two feet into the back of the net. What she he tends to do. So yeah, it's good. No doubt about it. I mean, first of all, I mean, so Stoke got him playing like right wing basically. But he he does like him maybe maybe drifting to the midfield a little bit. Half space stuff as well. I mean, obviously the goal came from the half space. But yeah, I just I don't think he's going to have a problem with the championship. And to say the cut because first of all, I'm going to repeat this once again. I stood next to the man in Morristown, New Jersey. When he was available, like it was a little mix zone thing. They had four players and four different corners of the room. Ryan, you were there. And I stood next to Jack McGlin. I didn't say a word to him, but I kind of stood maybe like five feet away. I stood next to him. I looked over. I was like, hold on. I looked over about two or three times. I am I am six two, even I think maybe. And Jack McGlin at the at the worst, he's six one and a half. You know, I'm not in the six. So everyone looks a little tall to me, but he's going to say, man, you're six to you. You might as well be seven and a half feet tall to me. You just towering up there. Six two is all you are. That is my official height without shoes, yes. When I had a report to football camp every year in college, I wanted to be taller than that, but I was never six two on a dot. I even tried to grow it afro. They press that thing down flat to my head, messed up the hole, had to repick my any, anyway, yeah, and I made sure I looked at him like three times, make sure I went tripping. I'm like, let's do it as six because like, you know, I don't know, it's just like you hear about his physical shortcoming. Surprisingly short when you see them in real life. Right, of course, of course. And then you hear about his physical shortcomings and all that different type of stuff, which are still there. I mean, the do the do slow as hell. But funny story on that. So I did an interview with him at the goal cup and I asked him about that. I was like, yo, what do you think about the fact that everyone thinks your slow as hell? And he was just like, he was like pretty upset. He was just like, I'm not that slow. Like, he was just like, look, I'm not Vinnie or Mbappe. He's like, I get that. But he's like, I don't think I'm slower than everyone else. And he's like, it does like, he's like, it bothers me a little bit that everyone thinks that, like, I don't know how to run. So he's like, it's like, he's like, I'm fine. Like, you know, and it's not like, you know, again, he, he, you know, he, he, he in a burner, but like, he, he, he, he says he's like, I can run a little bit. Um, and again, I think he's shown that at points where it's just like, yeah, man, he's not just like walking around out there like, you don't run like me. So again, I think that's, it's, it's going to be crucial to kind of prove that as we continue to evolve here. But like, I'm going to go ahead, let's go ahead. I mean, I just kind of want to move on to the like, so he, he's playing right wing, maybe four in a four, two, three, one. Is it or is he okay? So how many goals do you guys think he's going to score this season? Is he going to score 10? Oh, that's, they play a lot of game. They play a lot of games, but that's a lot. I was going to say, like, I was going to say, I'll give him like seven. I think, I think he'll pop in and get, he'll get his few where he just like, pings him. But I don't think 10's like an outlandish thing to be like, hey, that'd be a pretty good season. Like, I don't think, like you said that number. And I didn't like winse as much as I thought I would. Like, it's pretty like, that's not outlandish. So yeah, I think fair benchmark. If he does that, then I think everyone was called this a pretty good, pretty good season for him to be honest. Yeah, what we've done, 46 games. A lot. Yeah, they play, they play like an NBA, if 82 games, you know, and it's just like, all right, man, like, they got, two days, there's day Saturday, two days, three days. It's like, oh, man, they got, they got, they got the back-to-back in LA this weekend. Like, you know, but it's, it's a lot of games. But again, like, if he gets in that like seven to 10 to 12 sweet spot, whatever, like, that's a good season. We'll take it, especially because you know that like five of them are going to be like on your social media feeds, because they're from like 40. Oh, yeah. So like, it'll be, that's good too. And then just some of the other stuff he did, I mean, there was a sweet, like, little back heel layoff he did as he's kind of like, I guess he's like kind of running in behind though, the wad for defense a little bit. He kind of, he kind of receives his ball, does something nice with it. So like, bring it, bring it under his control. And then he's like, moving towards the end line. He just, without stopping his momentum, just kind of leaves it behind him for a teammate to run on across the ball in. And then also just all his other work and possession. Like, the wad for dues couldn't really get close to him. You know, it's like he's receiving the ball, touching it with his right foot, passing it with his left, and he's, and he's off, you know. He's silky. And when the windows are a little bit bigger, man, he's scoring 15 goals this season. It's gonna, the numbers, now the end of the show, it's gonna be like, man, Jack will win 30 at least. Like, you know, I can just gonna keep going up every time we talk about it. I mean, if Sanjay was here, he would, he would push that thing up to, yeah. Also in the champo said, Berhother got a brace against the vaunted canaries of Norwich City. Hmm. Yep, brace and delivered the set piece that turned into their, game winning goal as they beat Norwich for three crazy match. The first game, first goal came from a cutback in the box that he blasted off the crossbar into the goal. Just primed. Set Berhother ball striking. Just ball exploded off his foot. Not sure how much you knew about the second one. It was kind of a cross to set, but who found like an acre of space right in the middle of the Norwich box? And he, somebody was keeping him on side. Somebody was keeping him on side there. Kind of chested slash needed into the goal. But hey, like Ryan said, they all count. They all count. If that goal bonus is in there, comment is coming. The rest of this match, just for anybody that thinks that maybe he got the champo on cheat code mode, not quite, not quite yet. The rest is just some typical Sanjay Berhother stuff. A couple of times you got caught in a possession, a little bit too slow with it. Here's some very nice diagonals. You know, once again, the ball striking is just immense. And he's still a committed, but ineffective defensive presence as well. And also, also enthusiastic, but hapless. Yeah, I would say I'd love that description for like other facets of life. You know, I mean, we're just like, yeah, I'm in the gym. I'm committed, but I'm pretty ineffective. It's a bad room, brother, but ineffective, you know, like there's, you know, in terms of just like my whole, my work ethic, you know, with my job, committed, but ineffective goal correspondent here. You know, we're trying our best, right? We're all doing our best, right? And look, that that'll get you a long way. Yeah, that'll get you a lot. That'll get you everywhere you need to be. You know, I'll make sure you take care of your kids, your family, whatever. You know, I'm saying just being committed, but, but maybe kind of ineffective. But it, and also said, made me laugh. You talk about it. This is another person in the, um, I would like to see a race between Jack McGlin and said, bro, I'll put it that way. Um, there was one time he tried to run behind the backline. A Norwich. He was, he was pumping his arms and putting and picking up and putting down his legs at a rapid pace, but said was not moving at a rapid pace. Um, so in the wrong way, I'm not walking with the moving walkway, kind of. Yeah, it was, it was, it was fighting to see. But yeah, uh, let me see Max Arstin came in. I think he played maybe like 14, 15 minutes or something like that. Uh, put a couple crosses into the box. Um, eight in, eight in the, the general was controlling the, uh, controlling the proceedings as usual. So that's Middlesboro. Middlesboro. Up on the North Sea, I think, isn't it? Yeah, uh, mudded or not? No, well, Giovanni Rainabrella. Man, continue to run in the start lineup. Went 81 minutes as Strasbourg drew Monaco 11. Moly note here is, I have to say, it's been, it's, it's becoming pretty boring to watch you open soccer. I saw, I saw the, I did not watch his minutes. But I saw the headline from, um, soccer America, they said, they quoted some, some French publication saying, let me just mark this and say what they said, because it's funny. Oh, yeah, um, invisible and slow was the assessment. Somebody in the French, not quite as good as enthusiast or committed, but ineffective, you know, this is what I'm saying. Yeah, there's, there's levels to these descriptions here. Um, again, I know you said it's, it's boring, but it's, to me, it's still not boring, because there's been so little of it the last like four years. Yes, so it's just like, again, it's like, let's, let's shake the cobwebs off a little bit, you know, like, still, I think we're still in that process. Again, if like, by like December, it's not like wildly exciting, then maybe a concern, but like, let's, let's get them, uh, you know, it's like, I hate this, a dated reference, but like, you know, the Tin Man, the Wizard of Oz, you got to like, you know, get those things, you'll put the oil on it and whatnot. Like, I think that's like where we're at with it, because it's just been the, yeah, we got it. We got a couple games in a row and, you know, you got to get the, you got to get those everything moving again. So it's, uh, there's a step. We'll, we'll call it a step forward. But yeah, in December, if it's like, yeah, he's sitting on like one goal and one assist in a thousand minutes or something, it'd be like, yeah, you know, but we'll see where we're at. Yeah, and I'm committed to giving Geo this time, just to kind of find himself, for all the reasons that you mentioned Ryan. So I'm not coming down on him too hard yet, but I would like to start seeing this with stuff soon. Yes. Come on, man. Like, like, let me see some of that, some of the, some of that, you know, shout out. Let me see some magisterial play from you, from your boy, man. Yeah, please. Yeah, do do that. What's the name of that guy? Ray Hudson. Yes. Go. I was about to say Ray, but you know, I mean, he used to be on being a sports back in the day. I don't know if he, I don't know if he still is. But if we could get Geo Reyna doing some vintage Geo Reyna things, a Ray Hudson on the call. Come on, man. My life would be complete. Yeah. Well, yeah, just helped me justify all the time I spent watching you play soccer in my life. You know, Geo. Come on, man. Can you? Mudder or not? Ballot. So flow by like a no minutes sense project in Everton. It does not look like he's going to Saudi. It does not look like he's going to Turkey. As far as we can tell right now, those dates are passed, right? I mean, I think so. Yeah, I think so. So is he mudder than that? Right. It's he's it's a weird. Because again, like it's supposedly dealing some injury stuff now. And also, Monaco seemed to like have what they wanted their striker position, but also like Monaco's not a club that could just be like, oh, no, we don't want that guy. We were about to sell for 40 something million because we're too good for that. It's like, no, dude, you could probably use him. So again, I imagine they got to reintegrate him soon because you can't just like, what are you going to freeze him out? You're going to just let's make this asset even worth even less. Like, you know, so like, again, they got to figure something out there. And there's some time to figure that out. But yeah, it's just like so awkward and weird, you know? It's like, again, another dated reference of Seinfeld. Like when George Costanza quits and then shows up again on Monday, pretends he didn't. Like, yeah, dude, like flow like was like, yeah, I'm leaving this club. And then like rolls back in. He's like, actually, I'm back. Like so, uh, yeah, it's, it's a weird one, man. I have somebody do that at my actual job. Do this man a piece of party and everything. Again, I'm shooting that Monaco, yeah. So just clarify for me, this mudded doesn't, isn't a permanent status, right? It's not, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. No, he's mudded for sure. Yeah, you might hear if I yourself and the waters like me to talk of for sure. You know that about it, bro. So he's mudded. You just got me the Pokemon. Okay. Valor Mudded, uh, Tana Testament, 17 minutes and three matches, since they crashed out of the Champions League, uh, minutes have been taken by, I think it's named as Matt Sabidstrup. I think it's a signing Swedish dude, it's playing in the midfield now. Mudded, yes. It's just like, it's, he just, his, everything about Tana Testament just kind of confused me. Cause like you, like you said earlier, like big dude, like seemingly has like all of these things that like someone should be able to like really make it work. But it just like hasn't really happened. Um, at Leone, it didn't really happen with the national team in the way that everyone kind of thought it would. And it's just like certainly someone will figure this out. And I don't know like when and if that's going to happen. But yeah, like he said, it's concerning that like, again, they haven't really found something to do for him. With 17 minutes is just not very helpful for, for much of anybody. So I don't know, at least he's, he's been in the mudded phase. I would say that for a little while now. And he needs to, needs to like minute talk of waters real bad. Thing is he was starting lineup, he was in the starting lineup when, when they were trying to qualify for Champions League. Yeah, and, and now he's not anymore. So that to me indicates some mud has been. He's in the mud. Okay. I understood. Um, I, I know like, like Italy, Italy is going to come calling for that man. Um, as soon as it, as soon as this next transfer window opens up. If, uh, if he's still in this position, uh, also fixture congestion will be coming soon. I guess once the Europa League starts, um, so whatever. But, but he is my, I mean, because I don't think at really any point last year, until he got hurt, was he actually out of the starting lineup. I think you could say right now, he's definitely out of start. But he's not a starter for Leon. So mud that man next up. We got his godfather, dabble, swinny, mudder, do not. Clemson's, Clemson stinks. Do that. They, they, they, they are not where they, they are not what they used to. They did, they did, they did, they did get smacked around by LSU, but LSU has like. LSU is not getting a different, they're playing a different sport than everybody else right now. So it's a little bit. A little bit tough, but like, I would say dabble might be more mudded at the moment if you were to compare. Yeah, for fresh, I would agree. I think that was going to be on his way out of there. I would think if Clemson wants to get back to where they, where dabble took them to at some point. But anyway, I just thought I'd throw them in there real quick. Next, Crystal Palace. One win, three losses and four. Primarily matches so far this season. Currently in 16th place, two points from relegation. Xavier Gozo did get 12 minutes this weekend at center forward. As Crystal Palace were down to 10 men, and they just kind of threw them out there and said, go run around and press a little bit. And that's what he did. They lost to Ipswich Town this weekend, three to two. I don't know. Chris may be somewhat a little bit cold, both for the second goal. But I wouldn't put too much blank, but anyway, Crystal Palace. A little bit, Lily, maybe like a little bit of dirt on them. Little bits of mud. Because it's just like, you give them a little grace because like new coach lost most of your defense, except for Chris. And like, you're definitely going to have some like growing pains with that. But it's also like, brother, this was, I hate to disrespect our good friends at Ipswich that are listening to this show. But like, this is not, you didn't lose to Arsenal here. You know, like these are still games that like you should be doing some stuff in. See, like a little bit concerned, but like, again, it's one of those where it's like, you got a new coach, like, check back in a few weeks. If this is still like a disaster, then we can smash that panic button. But like, right now, we're in like minor stages of panic at the moment. Because like, you still shouldn't be losing these, but like, eh. Yeah, fair. I think they, they got Europa League this year too. I want to say. And they're, they're, they are a European bound team. Yeah, which is not helpful in this, in these terms of like, this lifestyle is not, yeah, they're, they're playing, they're playing left Poes non this week in the Europa League. Yeah, it's just like, yeah, man, there's the one thing you want to do when you're fighting relegation potentially is fly all over to, to these various European countries. That's stony and shit. Yeah, it's just like, yeah, man, we, it's like, oh man, we got, we got more door away this weekend. Dammit. Right. And we got to come back and play Liverpool at Anfield tough. But alas, you know, these, these are the challenges that, that happens when you succeed, you know, so we will see. Well, hopefully we can see Xavier Gozo succeed in a more door. So next, Cole Campbell, pulled at half against Byron Munich, had an absolute firecracker of a goal called off due to a teammate doing, I don't know what, as far as just being just blatantly offside for really no reason. I mean, so it's a long ball that an Elvarsberg center back plays out. So I guess, I guess they're center forward or something. First ball is lost and I guess the center four things this ball is going longer than it does. So he's offside for the first ball. He's not in, he's not in contest for that second ball. He tries to get on side real quick and challenge forward, but he was clearly off. Anyway, and so the center back, Byron Munich center back, they're like a week header towards the Byron Munich goal or towards the Elvarsberg goal, I guess you want to say. Cole Campbell pounces on to it, absolutely dusts up a McConnell in a foot race, speed for speed, black man against black man, and Cole Campbell absolutely smacks the ball with his left foot, tucks it into the top right corner. Hmm, you know, I was, I was, I was excited. I thought, you know, this is here we go. The area of Cole Campbell is upon us. Call back for offside, unfortunately, it was, it was very clearly offside. But as somebody who's kind of been watching these Cole Campbell minutes trying to figure out what kind of player he is, the data point of him smacking the ball like he did with the, with the left foot was nice. I already knew he was fast. Like, so that's just, that's, I mean, I guess that is kind of some icing on the cake to see that he is like, that he can play soccer. Yeah, he can play soccer. He can always up a McConnell like that. Yeah, it's got some. Not only is he the face of black America, he can also play soccer. Yeah, that's right. And then also he, he dusted up a McConnell one more time. I think it's a transition opportunity. He gets the ball on the left wing. It's him and up a McConnell and Cole Campbell says, you know what? Man, I had this dance and he kind of, he does some and gets into a nice position in the box for a little curler attempt that didn't really curl. I think it just went wide right. But I mean, you know what I'm saying? This is, up a McConnell is a funny because he has, I mean, out of any like elite center back he has probably the most balls of moments that I've seen out of. So his business handle can be a little fluky sometimes. But Cole Campbell gave him kind of a kind of a bad half. But anyway, he got hooked. Cole got hooked after that at halftime and his replacement. Monies. Monies caught in Maka. Score a goal in this match and has scored three goals in the past two matches. So is Cole Campbell mudder than not? I would say wildly not mudded. I think there have been some good, again, like you said, there are some good, he's putting some good tape together, which there has not been, there has not been much good tape for the last like year. Like again, there was like the Dortmund thing sort of started and then like, there was like a real lack of good tape after that. So now we're getting some good tape together, which I think is very important. So because what is he like 20 now? And it's like, yeah, now's the time where you got to like start. You're a young player, but you got to start doing stuff. And like he's he's starting to do stuff, which I think is is a good step for him. Yeah, he really just real quick. Just on the when he roasted up a McConnell from the wing the second time. With the first time being the offside goal. You know, it wasn't just him kicking and running, being very fast guy. It was him taking the ball like his close control is pretty damn good. As far as I can tell, his first touch is already as well. Like the ball's coming to him. He's able to bring it out of control. And he's able to, you know, he's not just a one trick pony, just like turn the speed on. And that's that's all I can do. I'm going to try and get to the end line kind of thing. He has a little, you know, hesitation in his game, some stop start. You know, and that's what he did up McConnell to break itself free for that for that shot. So it's just, you know, I'm kind of I'm seeing these moments and bits and pieces and Elves Berg only play on the transition so far. And I'm trying to see what I can see. But I have to say I do, I do, I do like what I'm seeing. But bells is he money. No, I have to imagine there's room for both Cole Campbell and Maurice Crockett and Maka in Elves Berg, you know, in the great metropolis of Elves Berg. There's probably room for both of them. Who else? I got to get out the door. All right, last one, very last one real quick. Ricardo Peppy was on the bench for PSV's match against Sparta, Rotterdam. And the striker who replaced him scored a hat trick. That's fine because the next game like Peppy will start and then he'll get a hat trick. Like it's just that's the way the road at PSV. It's just like you're just, you know, I think I might be able to get one or two for them in some of these games because they're just like a lot better than everybody. So like again, like we're going to look back. It's going to be like, again, it's going to be January. I'm going to be like, dang, Peppy's on 15 goals already. Is he going to move somewhere this year? And again, I don't think you could really worry about anything he's doing at PSV's. Sean, he's going to score a whole bunch of goals. He'll be all right. Not muddabills, muddid. Yeah, he's muddid. I don't care who cares if he scores 15 goals this season. It's like that ain't doing the same good. And this guy, this Minions or whatever his name is who comes on his score as a hat trick form. Not good news for Rico. Not good news for Rico. Even when it comes to getting his bare minimum of 15 goals this season. You know, I'm going to say not muddid. I'm going to keep the faith. I mean, we got to get through this Champions League campaign. You know, that's when he comes alive. That's when Rico comes alive in the Champions League European night. Yeah, that's right. But when Luke DeYoung was the striker, we used to have to beg him, beg him, please, please, please for for Rico start. You know what I'm saying? And all of a sudden, he's just sitting out random Sparta rider. Like that's what Luke DeYoung made his whole, you know, it's like 40 goals in a season, because he was getting those Sparta rider damn hat tricks. You know what I'm saying? So I'm going to say we're not muddid. But I would, I would love for just a Rico Peppy 30 40 goal season in the air to visit. Run the numbers up. Yeah, it's just that like, yeah, he scored a lot of goals in the air to visit already. Which is, you know, it's great to score goals. But when you, when you watch him play at the World Cup, which is does have a winnowing effect, you know, it has this effect of like, of filtering out. Anybody who's not that good, he looked. He looked out of, out of his depth in his limited time out there. And that's my opinion. And I'm sticking to it. All right. Well, one more really quick, really quick. The USSF, mudder than not, we had Diego Forelon get on a plane and come to America to see Justin Ellis. Seems like you're, you're a guy. I might be putting the, the full core press off for Justin Ellis. Are we mudder tonight? Well, we'll see. Okay, because it's like, there's been no indication with Ellis that like he's, I mean, like he's done like the typical media thing where it's like, I would love to play for everybody. And like, you know, you got to do that stuff. But like, right, right. One, I don't know if you're worried until like he's accepted and you're going to call up. And two, it's just like, are we, he, there's, there's some pretty good data points with him. But like, is there enough data points where it'd be like, if the US lost him, like burn everything down, sort of data points, where like, again, like if you, if the US lost like Kevin, then you'd probably be like, oh, but like it's, there's, you know, some of these guys are going to play elsewhere sometime. And that's normal. So again, I don't know if anyone's panicking or not panicking yet, because it's really hard to tell how much you should panic about like a 19-year-old who's like had a couple good months so far. Um, I'll be very good. But yeah, are we, we're not freaking out quite yet. Well, if the country of your mother's birth brought over one of their greatest strikers to, uh, and, and, and you are a striker yourself, would you be wooed by that or not? I think you'd be, you'd be moved. I don't know about wooed, but you'd be moved. Um, I'd be moved. Uh, I did think I don't think USSF is mudded because of it. I thought you were bringing up the fact that Don Garber is going to be the, uh, head head of soccer forward. Take the skill set to the other skill set. You know how they've been taking basketball courts and making them pickle ball courts? He's going to use that real estate expertise to take those pickle ball courts and turn him into soccer pitch. Okay. All right. Then I'm on board. USSF. From the, the, the, the tea leaves on like, again, reading that it sounds very much like that job is to get in the room with investors and philanthropists and convince them to spend money on soccer. He can do that. And, and as you said, Don Garber has been getting billionaires to spend a lot of money on soccer for a long time now. It is, it is part of, it's in his bag to get billionaires to put money into soccer. So I, I see the logic, um, will it, you know, change? Will we have 75 incredible 13 year olds playing in the youth system pretty soon? I don't know, but, you know, for the shot, like, all right. So USSF not mudded in my opinion. And last one for me, I'm going to give the verdict on this court. Uh, Matisse Albert mudded. I almost called him, I almost called him Corbin Albert. Uh, Matisse Albert, uh, mudded, uh, unfortunately, playing time has yet to come to fruition for this man. Yet, but we'll see when that full period of fixture congestion comes through. But anyway, I'm recording a roster episode with Greg Velasquez tomorrow. And with that, it's me Vince, Bells Ryan told me thank you for joining us so much, brother. Yep, thank you for having me. And we'll see you. You