0:00

No more important game and

0:02

no more important win in

0:04

American soccer history when it comes to the

0:06

men's team. Music

0:21

Hello sunshine. I'm Alexi Lawless and

0:23

welcome to the State of the Union podcast. We

0:25

look at the beautiful game on and off the

0:27

field through the lens of red, white and blue

0:29

colored glasses. This show will be talking podcast people,

0:32

the US women's national team roster drop, stutter

0:34

step, anonymous executives, referee deal, Olympic

0:37

team, final euro spots, MLS restructuring,

0:39

the matrix, top five USA goals

0:41

versus Mexico and so much more.

0:43

But first join me as always

0:46

my friend, my colleague, my guiding

0:48

light, David Mossi, a soccer savant

0:50

and a Fox soccer researcher

0:52

and writer extraordinaire. How

0:55

are you doing on this Wednesday, March 27th in the year

0:57

2024? I'm

1:00

doing okay. I do feel like a little bit

1:02

of a loser after you and I came away

1:04

empty handed last night. Yes.

1:07

Last night we

1:09

attended the Ambi Awards.

1:13

I think I got that right in downtown L.A.

1:16

We had mentioned a few weeks ago that we

1:18

were fortunate enough to be nominated for

1:20

one of these awards and that was the one that

1:22

recognizes excellence in podcasting.

1:28

We were up against a formidable group of nominees, including

1:30

one of your idols over there with

1:32

Julia Louise Dreyfus, who

1:36

ultimately ended up winning. And while we lost,

1:39

my mom was quick to point out when

1:41

I informed her of our loss that in

1:43

her eyes, I

1:48

was not able to give the acceptance

1:50

speech there. But had I been

1:52

able to, I would have thanked everybody that

1:55

makes us look good, Mossi, each and every time

1:57

we step on this set. the

2:00

men and women behind the scenes, that like

2:03

I said, it takes a village. But

2:05

we had a good night out anyway with

2:08

Sean Sullivan and Aaron Schechter who joined us

2:11

at the event. And it

2:13

was fun, but it was

2:16

a little interesting to see a gathering

2:18

of all podcast people. They are a,

2:20

and I guess we are, a special breed.

2:23

How good did Sean and Aaron look? They clean up nice,

2:26

huh? So nice. And

2:28

it was wonderful to spend some time with

2:30

them. We had some drinks and some laughs.

2:33

And then immediately when we lost, we

2:35

stormed out on Moss and

2:37

went and had some food. We were like the Pistons

2:39

against the Bulls in 1991. We

2:41

didn't stick around until the end. Now that

2:44

JW Marriott where the event took place, that's

2:46

a great hotel. I ought to know. I

2:49

went there twice in the last 12 hours. Alright, so

2:51

you have to tell the folks this story. We're going

2:53

to go a little bit long in this opening segment. If

2:55

you want to speed ahead, go ahead. But you're going to miss

2:57

a quintessential

3:00

mossy story here. Yeah, so tell the folks

3:02

what happened. Yeah, Sean Sullivan bailed on us

3:05

early. Aaron Schechter hung around until what she

3:07

thought was the end of the night. But

3:09

little does she know, there was a whole

3:11

other chapter for the evening because

3:14

after she dropped us off back here at Pico,

3:16

I realized I didn't have my car keys with

3:18

me. And so we

3:20

went back to the stalking horse to look for

3:22

it. It wasn't there. And we

3:24

called the JW Marriott. They had it. It was in

3:27

the lost and found there. So,

3:29

yes, we got home taking Ubers. And then this

3:31

morning I had to go back to the hotel

3:33

to get my car keys. My

3:35

favorite part was, so Aaron dropped us

3:37

off in the underground parking garage here

3:40

at Fox so that you could get

3:42

your car. And

3:44

I was going to get my bag out of your car that I

3:46

had left there. And as

3:48

we dropped, as she dropped

3:50

us off and we got out of her car

3:52

and started walking towards your car, you looked at

3:54

me with that sheepish look. And I knew something

3:57

was up because you're never going to believe this.

4:00

and you proceeded to tell me what was going on, but

4:02

you made it very, very clear that I was

4:05

in no way to embody movement or anything that

4:07

I said, let Erin know that this had happened.

4:09

The one thing I did not want to happen

4:11

is for her to offer to drive me around

4:13

and look for it, which she would have done

4:15

because she's the nicest person in the world. But

4:17

at that point, I wanted her to be free

4:19

to go home and move on with her life.

4:21

And we were like, just keep walking, just keep

4:23

walking and keep walking. Let her go, let her

4:25

go. We'll sort this out ourselves, which we did.

4:28

Oh my goodness. I told you this, when

4:30

I went to the JW Marriott this morning,

4:33

I caught the March Madness crowd because

4:35

there's a regional at crypto

4:37

arena across the street, sweet 16 and

4:39

elite eight. And the

4:41

crowd had arrived for that. So it was a

4:43

zoo in that lobby with college basketball fans all

4:45

dressed up and excited about their school. Well, like

4:47

my mom said, we're all winners anyway. Have

4:50

you watched anything my friend? Not

4:53

really, all I've got is last

4:55

night. So I also

4:57

have nothing, but I'm throwing this out

4:59

there. I was driving into work and

5:02

some people were talking about The Matrix.

5:04

You know this movie, The Matrix? I

5:07

do. It seems to be seminal.

5:09

It seems to be a cultural touchstone

5:11

for a generation. If

5:16

you can believe this, I have never watched The

5:18

Matrix. And there are a couple

5:21

of Matrixes, I think, maybe more than that that have

5:23

come out after it, but I have never watched this

5:25

movie. So driving into work today, I said, you know

5:27

what? I'm gonna find a way

5:30

this weekend or some point this

5:32

next couple of days to watch

5:34

The Matrix. And I will give

5:36

you my verdict on

5:38

how good or bad this is.

5:41

But it just, it never goes

5:43

away. And people constantly are referencing

5:45

and talking about it. And not

5:47

even necessarily as the movie, as

5:49

almost a premonition type of story

5:52

and the way that it talks about the future and

5:54

all that kind of stuff. At least that's what I

5:56

hear. So I'm going to watch The Matrix and I

5:58

will give you my review. review next week.

6:00

Have you seen The Matrix? I actually

6:02

have not. Oh for god's sake! That's one of the

6:05

big holes in my movie. Well we can both, let's

6:07

both watch The Matrix. I know there's people right now

6:09

that are listening to this in their car or they're

6:11

walking or something. How is it possible that these two

6:13

morons have not seen The Matrix? But I have not

6:15

seen The Matrix so I will watch it. So that's

6:17

my homework assignment for our next. There we go. That

6:19

is your homework assignment. All right, should

6:22

we light this candle? Let's do it. Where should

6:24

we start, Maasie? We begin with the

6:26

U.S. Women's National Team. After winning the Gold

6:28

Cup, their next order of business is the

6:30

She Believes Cup which is set up like

6:33

a Final Four this year. The U.S. will

6:35

play Japan April 6 in Atlanta

6:38

and then either Canada or Brazil

6:41

April 9th in Columbus. These

6:43

will be the final matches under Twyla

6:45

Kilgore before Emma Hayes takes over in

6:47

June and Twyla Kilgore named a 23-player

6:51

roster for these games. The headline, both

6:54

Katarina McCario and Mallory Swanson

6:56

are back after lengthy injury absences.

6:59

Swanson hasn't played for the U.S. since April of 23,

7:01

McCario not since April of

7:03

22 and they are part of

7:05

a loaded attack that includes Alex Morgan,

7:07

Sophia Smith, Jaden Shaw and

7:09

Trinity Rodman. Yeah, there are

7:12

a couple of standards

7:14

if you will in the form

7:16

of Crystal Dunn, Alyssa

7:18

Nair, but I'm excited

7:21

about this. I'm excited about whether it's

7:23

names that we were

7:25

denied because of injury when you're

7:28

talking about Mal Swanson and Katarina

7:30

McCario, whether it's young

7:33

players. This is I think a much

7:35

more of a turning of the

7:37

page and I hope that it pays off. What do

7:39

you think, how do you think

7:41

it goes with Emma Hayes now from afar?

7:44

Do you think that Twyla and Emma get

7:46

on the phone ahead of time and go

7:48

through this? I mean this is while it's

7:50

under Twyla, this is Emma right? I

7:53

think so yeah and there are two interesting

7:56

newcomers that speak to that. There's 21-year-old PSG

7:58

this Evva

8:00

Gatino and 16 year

8:02

old Ajax midfielder Lili Ohanas. She's

8:05

somebody who was born in the US, moved to

8:07

the Netherlands at the age of 10. There's been

8:09

a question as to which country she was gonna

8:11

play for and keep in mind, Ajax just faced

8:13

Chelsea in a Champions League quarter final first leg.

8:15

So Emma Hayes got an up close look at

8:17

her and here she is on this list. So

8:19

I think that one is definitely Emma. Keep

8:22

them coming. We talked about Jenna Nyswonger and

8:24

this new generation that has grown up watching

8:26

this team and now wants their chance. I

8:28

love it. I love it. I

8:31

love it. I'm excited about these games and

8:33

then obviously how this relates to what's gonna

8:35

happen with the Olympic team going forward and

8:37

what that's going to look like right now.

8:39

So good things in terms of

8:41

the players that are back from injury and

8:43

some of the, like we said, some of the young players. Some

8:46

bad news though when it comes to Midge

8:48

Purse. Yes, she has torn her

8:50

ACL. So she obviously is not on this

8:52

roster and will be out a long time. This

8:54

continues to be an issue in the women's game.

8:56

There's so many injuries like this and Midge Purse,

8:58

the latest victim. Oh my goodness. All

9:01

right, well, hopefully she comes

9:03

back and her injury

9:06

keeps her out for as little as possible

9:08

but that's just another gut

9:11

punch for a good player that we wanted to see. Where

9:13

should we go now? We transitioned to the

9:15

US men. Before we get to the Olympic

9:17

team, any lingering thoughts on the senior team,

9:19

Jamaica, Mexico, Greg Berhalter and all the rest?

9:22

Yeah, so as we get further and

9:24

further away, it's

9:27

kind of like politics in that while

9:30

we make big deals out

9:32

of these things, it's

9:34

also a mountain out of a molehill in that

9:36

I don't think a lot of people have

9:38

changed their mind one way or another. It goes back

9:40

to what you said, which was

9:43

so smart about people made their

9:45

mind up about Greg Berhalter a

9:48

long time ago. When it comes to this team,

9:51

I do think that coming out of this window,

9:54

there is an increase

9:58

and an uptick in optimism

10:00

about what can be. That doesn't

10:02

mean that there's not

10:04

plenty of pessimism and cynicism

10:07

and anger as to whether

10:11

what we have seen is going to

10:13

continue under Greg Berhalter. But I

10:17

think that one good thing to come

10:19

out of this is

10:21

a general consensus that the

10:23

United States is not

10:26

only advanced and far advanced when it

10:28

comes to Mexico, but that

10:31

for us to fulfill this

10:34

prophecy or whatever you want to call it from

10:37

this generation of doing things, the likes of

10:39

which we haven't seen before, it

10:41

is good to celebrate

10:44

when we win, but with

10:46

perspective and understand that this

10:49

team we expect to do well against the

10:51

elites. And until we actually see them on

10:53

a consistent basis coming up against the elites,

10:56

many people I think are still going to reserve judgment. And that's

10:58

fair. I've mentioned this before. foxsoccer.com

11:01

has an incredible one-two punch right now.

11:03

Both Doug McIntyre and Lakin Littman wrote

11:05

excellent pieces after this nation's league final

11:07

four, so everybody should check those out.

11:10

I feel there's like a little bit of a messy Rinaldo rivalry

11:12

between those two. They try to one up each other, so that's

11:15

an interesting subplot as well. Doug also just came

11:17

out with his interview with Christian Polisic, and then

11:19

we'll talk a little bit about him later on.

11:22

So that was interesting, some of the things in

11:24

terms of his wonderful moment right

11:26

now. All right, should we go to

11:28

the baby Nats, if you will? Yes,

11:30

the US Olympic team played two friendlies

11:33

during this window. First, they beat Guinea

11:35

3-0, Gianluca Buzio among the scorers

11:37

there. Guinea could end up in the US's

11:39

group, and then the US faced France, who

11:41

we know definitely will be in the US's

11:44

group. Outplayed most of the match down too

11:46

late, but then Griffin Yao and Cade Cowes

11:48

scored two to the final. Yeah,

11:50

I mean this is a perfect example

11:52

of substitutes coming in and doing what

11:54

you want, and if you had watched

11:56

the game before the

11:58

substitutes and before the substitutes, for this final

12:01

third of the game. I don't think that you

12:03

would have felt that there was anything in the

12:05

offering when it comes to a comeback from this

12:07

Olympic team. I, I they're,

12:10

they're not as good as France and they're

12:12

going to have to have one hell of

12:14

a day in the Olympics to find something

12:17

out of that game against France. France is

12:19

stacked both at the senior level and certainly

12:21

here for Thierry Henri at the Olympic level,

12:23

and then they will be one of the

12:25

favorites going into the Olympic tournament. But it

12:28

was wonderful to see that confidence and

12:30

that fight back of this team and

12:32

to kind of put that

12:34

on the table leading into the Olympics. Some

12:37

other international action. The field is

12:40

set for Euro 2024. We

12:43

had the last three playoff

12:45

finals on Tuesday. Georgia

12:47

beat Greece on penalties after a nil-nil

12:49

draw into Blisa. They are off to

12:51

their first ever major tournament. Ukraine

12:54

came from behind to beat Iceland to one in

12:56

a match played in Poland, mudrik with a late

12:58

winner there and then Poland beat

13:00

Wales on penalties after a no-nil draw in

13:02

Cardiff, Chesney denying Daniel James and that shootout.

13:04

That's the game we covered on F S1,

13:06

but we had our eye on all of

13:08

them. Yeah. Go wherever you want.

13:10

All right. So the Georgia Greece game. So

13:13

first off, you know, as much as it hurts me,

13:15

uh, to, to say

13:17

it, congratulations to Georgia. Uh, they become the

13:19

only team in this summer's, uh,

13:22

the euros that are debutants.

13:24

So congratulations on going for

13:26

the first time. You know, Greece has a history when

13:28

it comes to the euros. This is a

13:31

difficult and disappointing way to go out. Yakumaki

13:33

missed not only his penalty, but missed

13:36

the entire goal. He came on as

13:39

a substitute, but the scenes were

13:41

just wonderful. And you, you see

13:43

how much it means to

13:45

not just the fans of the game,

13:47

but to the country to represent that

13:49

country on this, on this

13:51

type of stage. So that was, uh, that

13:54

was wonderful. Uh, the Ukraine comeback against the,

13:56

against Iceland gives us and sets up a

13:59

wonderful storyline. for this summer given

14:01

what Ukraine has

14:03

been through as a country. And

14:06

they will be a kind of

14:08

sentimental favorite given

14:10

the situation there. And

14:13

that was fun to see. The

14:16

Wales-Poland game, it remains

14:21

to be seen, I'd ask

14:23

you, who would you rather

14:25

have in the tournament? Wales or Poland? I'd

14:27

ask that just six and one half a dozen of the others.

14:30

Six and one half a dozen of

14:32

whatever they're saying. Yeah, but that's my

14:34

point. We

14:37

saw Wales in the World Cup and the Men's World Cup. And

14:40

while the story

14:43

was fun, they

14:45

don't add or take anything

14:47

away from the tournament going. And

14:50

the same thing with Poland. Maybe Poland gets

14:52

the slight edge because of Lewandowski in this

14:54

twilight type of period. And this goes back

14:56

to storylines. I mentioned

14:58

Ukraine and you could

15:01

add Germany. And we talked about

15:03

that on the previous pod on Germany as host. That's

15:05

going to be a big thing. Also players

15:07

in the twilight of their career, not just players,

15:09

but legends in the twilight of their career getting

15:11

maybe one last go when you look at Cristiano

15:14

Ronaldo, when you look at Luka Modrić, when you

15:16

look at here, Robin Lewandowski for

15:18

an opportunity. I know producer Sean was

15:20

a little miffed at the penalty when

15:22

it came to Robert Lewandowski. Yeah,

15:24

I mean, we've had this discussion before. You're not

15:27

supposed to be able to come to a complete

15:29

stop. And Sean feels

15:31

like they're way too lax with that. If they're

15:33

going to be sticklers about goalkeeper staying on the

15:35

line for penalties, they got to uphold that part

15:37

of the rule too, because you're

15:39

allowed to do a little stutter step. But

15:41

Sean feels like Lewandowski came to a complete stop

15:44

here. What do you think? Well, I think you're

15:46

not allowed to come to a

15:48

complete stop in the kicking of the

15:50

ball. OK. So

15:53

if you're watching it here, you can see it

15:55

was like a bunny hop and a horse jump

15:57

and up and down. And producer Sean,

15:59

thank you. Sean thinks that this is beyond the pale and that

16:01

this is, I don't,

16:03

I don't care. If you wanna do a pirouette

16:05

and a splits and then kiss

16:08

yourself or do whatever the hell it is, go for it and then

16:10

put the ball in the back of the net. Yeah,

16:12

Pele's, Pele kick style involved doing this

16:14

little stutter step that was called the

16:16

Patagena in Brazil. And it's a

16:18

style that other players have tried to emulate over

16:20

the years. But yes, some of them don't get

16:22

it quite right. The way Pele did it, he

16:24

never actually came to a full stop in his

16:26

motion of kicking the ball. So I actually think

16:28

Sean has a point there that was a questionable.

16:31

You're gonna tell somebody how to approach,

16:34

or what real running is

16:36

or what real running isn't? No, do whatever you want,

16:38

I don't care. What if somebody turned around in a

16:40

circle? Would that be a problem for you? Turned

16:43

around in a circle? Yeah, turned around in a circle and

16:45

then kicked the ball. I guess no,

16:48

that wouldn't be an issue. No, why? But

16:50

the bunny jump from Lewandowski is a problem for you?

16:52

Yes. So Georgia

16:55

slot into group F alongside

16:57

Turkey, Portugal and Czechia. Ukraine

17:00

slot into group E alongside Belgium, Slovakia

17:02

and Romania. And Poland slot into group

17:05

D alongside the Netherlands, Austria and France.

17:07

The field is set, we have our

17:09

2014s. Speaking

17:11

of Germany, by the way, pretty good window

17:13

for Germany, huh? Yes, so a few thoughts

17:15

on the international window as a whole. Germany

17:17

followed up that win over France by beating

17:19

the Netherlands to one full crook with a

17:21

late winner assisted by Tony Cruz who had

17:23

a tremendous return to international play. A lot

17:25

of people coming around to your view that

17:28

beware of Germany this summer. Yeah,

17:30

so when we're going through those storylines,

17:33

Germany now kind of revitalized.

17:35

And it was just one window and a

17:37

couple of games and they still will have

17:40

their problems, but they can certainly harness

17:43

a summer in Germany where everybody's gonna be

17:45

the focus. And so it wouldn't surprise me

17:47

in the least going forward. And

17:50

things changed rapidly. I mean, look at your Brazil team.

17:54

Yeah, so we'll go there next. Spain and

17:56

Brazil played through a three-three draw at the

17:58

Bernabéu, a couple of teenagers leaving their... mark

18:00

in this match. 17-year-old Hendrik for Brazil

18:02

days after scoring the winner at Wembley

18:04

against England scored here in what will

18:06

be his future home. He's joining Real

18:08

Madrid this summer while 16-year-old Lamin Yamal

18:10

was the best player on the field

18:12

had a sensational match so we got

18:14

a sneak peek at the future here.

18:16

Two players that are likely going to

18:18

be big stars in the coming years.

18:21

So we're still you know some some days

18:23

off but it's coming quick in terms of

18:25

the summer and this incredible summer

18:27

like another incredible summer of soccer that we

18:30

have morning to night when

18:32

it comes to Euros and into Copa

18:34

America. As we

18:36

sit here today Masi give me

18:38

your top three for

18:42

favorites when it comes to Copa America and give me your top

18:44

three favorites when it comes to the Euros. France

18:49

England Germany for in that order France

18:51

England Germany okay and

18:53

then Argentina and then

18:57

either Brazil or Uruguay two

18:59

or three I'd have to think about it. Colombia

19:01

nowhere in there right? That's where I was gonna

19:03

go next actually. Colombia had a great

19:06

window they knocked off both Spain and Romania

19:08

now Spain played their B team the rest

19:10

of their starters for Brazil but nevertheless Colombia

19:12

have won their last six games or unbeaten

19:14

their last 21 they haven't lost in more

19:16

than two years and that is the US's

19:18

next opponent friendly June 8 at FedEx Field

19:20

and a possible US opponent in the knockout

19:22

stage so you're right. But you're not putting

19:25

them above Uruguay. You could make a case

19:27

for putting them up there you're right right now I guess I

19:29

have them sort of tied with

19:31

the US at fourth. Given what we've

19:33

talked about the more good elite teams

19:36

that are potentially opposition

19:39

for the the US the better off we are.

19:41

Amazingly enough james radriguez wallowing on the bench at

19:44

Sao Paulo but still playing great for Colombia obviously

19:46

we've got Luis Diaz so they've got a little

19:48

something going on right now. I mean and you

19:50

know james is a little bit different but this

19:53

last go-around for some of these guys and

19:55

you know you talk about Messi and and

19:58

you know as I mentioned Cristiano and and

20:00

Modric and all these guys. It's gonna be fun,

20:02

but it'll be interesting to see if

20:04

this is the last go around and how many actually wanna

20:06

push it to 26 of those guys

20:09

that we are talking about. But the Renaissance of

20:11

Hammes. Remember Hammes, man, oh man. Is

20:13

there anybody that has parlayed a great

20:15

World Cup into more opportunity

20:17

than him? Besides this guy? I

20:19

don't know. This summer will

20:21

be the 10 year anniversary 2014 World Cup

20:23

in Brazil when he won the Golden Boot.

20:26

I was there at the Maracaná, ran the

20:28

16 against Uruguay when he scored two goals,

20:30

including that volley that was the goal of

20:32

the tournament. Judy Boyd was also in attendance

20:34

that day. Right, that's right. This summer, yeah,

20:36

this summer's the 30th anniversary of the 94

20:38

World Cup too. I haven't heard anything

20:40

about that. I don't even know if we're doing anything. Get

20:43

the guys together, have some drinks or something like that, I

20:45

don't know. Whatever. Anything,

20:47

Masi, anything before we take a break here?

20:49

That is it. Okay, let's take a break,

20:51

like I said. And when we come back,

20:53

we got some EPL action coming up this

20:55

weekend. It's a serious. No more, no more,

20:57

no more. Okay, welcome back. All

21:00

right, Masi, we got some good stuff coming

21:02

up this weekend. What do we want to

21:04

focus on here? Yeah, we transitioned back to

21:06

club play and we have a massive game

21:08

in the Premier League on Sunday. Manchester City

21:10

will host Arsenal. Right now, Arsenal and Liverpool

21:12

level on points atop the table. Arsenal ahead

21:14

on goal difference and City one point behind

21:16

those two. And

21:19

what happened over the break? Are we losing

21:21

any players for these teams? Both

21:24

Kyle Walker and John Stones came out of

21:26

games for England, but that doesn't sound like

21:28

the injuries are serious. So I haven't seen

21:30

whether they'll be available or not. Arsenal did

21:32

beat City at the Emirates earlier this season.

21:35

One nil on a goal by Gabriel Martinelli.

21:37

Interesting note, I asked our boss, Zach Kenworthy,

21:39

a big Liverpool fan, would you rather this

21:41

game end in a draw or Arsenal win?

21:43

And he said Arsenal win, which speaks to

21:45

the fact that he doesn't respect Arsenal that

21:47

much. If he feared both these teams, then

21:49

he'd want to draw. So they both dropped points, but

21:52

all he's worried about is City. So he wants them

21:54

to drop as many points as possible. Oh,

21:56

interesting. All right, well, I

21:58

think Man City is gonna beat Arsenal. Should

22:01

be a good one. All right. Tapped against

22:03

Arteta. Liverpool, by the way, home to

22:05

Brighton this weekend. That game is

22:07

early on Sunday, and then they'll sit back and watch

22:10

City Arsenal and see what happens there. We

22:13

go to Italy, where the

22:15

Americans have some tough games this weekend.

22:17

AC Milan, a way to Fiorentina. Remember

22:19

Pulisic scored in last four

22:21

games, entering the international break. Didn't

22:23

score for the U.S., but had a good window.

22:26

So we'll see if he can keep it going.

22:28

Moose as well, as they face Fiorentina and Florence.

22:31

Yeah, it was interesting reading Dougie Mack's interview

22:33

with Christian and the way that he... Doug

22:36

had asked him, you know, are you doing anything

22:39

differently? What's the secret sauce right now? And

22:41

maybe it's just a pasta sauce or something

22:44

like that, because he couldn't put his finger

22:46

on anything other than to say

22:48

that the,

22:50

I guess, the frenetic pace,

22:53

not even necessarily on the field,

22:56

of being in London and juxtaposing

22:58

that with kind of a much more

23:00

laid back, relaxed type of

23:02

environment that he has found in Italy

23:05

obviously suits him. And

23:08

I think he attributes that to why he's playing.

23:10

And he also mentioned something that it is

23:12

difficult coming in and out as a substitute

23:15

from a physical perspective. And you

23:17

become, if you're playing game

23:19

in and game out, which he is, and

23:21

you're not getting injured again, knock on wood,

23:24

your body acclimates and

23:26

is ready for it in a strange

23:29

way. It's kind of counterintuitive because

23:31

you're actually playing more. But I

23:34

think he's happy where he is. And

23:36

it makes us all happy in terms of

23:39

how well he is playing and how important

23:41

he has been for AC Milan. I

23:43

love Milan as a city. So I'm jealous

23:45

of him, that center with the Duomo and

23:47

the Galleria Vittori Manueli, the Sforza Castle, the

23:50

Scala, the great theater. I wonder if Pulsik

23:52

has taken in any shows there. Yeah,

23:55

I mean in the hierarchy of cities though,

23:57

I wouldn't put necessarily Milan

23:59

over there. little bit you

24:01

know in terms of your history buff and all that kind of

24:03

stuff but it's all fun sitting yeah certainly

24:05

not Florence when it comes to the history

24:07

well what is Sean Sullivan

24:09

will visit Florence soon we were discussing that

24:11

last night over dinner yes he has said

24:13

even though this is I think his second

24:15

or third time going back to Italy he

24:17

is bypassing Venice an interesting choice there but

24:19

I can understand it I get behind that

24:21

you know Venice is great but there's

24:24

plenty of other places to you

24:26

vent is our away to Lazio we'll

24:28

see what McKinney way and company can

24:30

do their interesting news on McKinney he's

24:33

trying to negotiate a new contract with you

24:35

ventis and they might be lowballing him he's

24:38

not happy and so all of a sudden

24:40

what's been a feel-good season for him there's

24:42

some friction now pay the man I mean

24:45

all right well if they think they can do better

24:48

go for it but I think

24:53

listen don't mckenny is gonna be

24:55

just fine because if if you went this

24:57

doesn't want to pay him then somebody else

24:59

will pay him hands handsomely in terms of

25:01

how valuable he is and and how how

25:04

many positions he can play but

25:06

I think that this is just posturing

25:08

ultimately and you know

25:10

if I was if I was you event

25:12

this I would look at this you

25:14

know bird in hand that they have that is

25:17

West and McKinney you've a really struggling

25:19

by the way Milan are now in second you may

25:21

have dropped a third in recent weeks we'll see if

25:23

they can get back on track a

25:25

couple of other big Darby's to keep an

25:27

eye on this weekend they're classic or in

25:30

Germany Byron Rojos Dortmund Byron 10 points back

25:32

of Leverkusen with eight rounds remaining so it's

25:34

probably all over there and then we do

25:36

have Le Classique Marseille

25:38

hosting PSG in France next

25:41

up we transition to Major League Soccer where

25:44

we have some big news the refereeing lockout

25:46

is over they've come to an agreement with

25:48

MLS on a new collective bargaining agreement until

25:50

2031 so we will have the regular officials

25:53

back on the field this upcoming weekend and

25:56

2031 so that's is this is

25:58

a long-term deal and I

26:00

think they recognized that if they were going to come to

26:02

some sort of agreement, they didn't want to have to deal

26:04

with this for a long time. So this is good. This

26:07

is good. I hope that the

26:09

referees feel that their time

26:12

away benefited them in terms of the deal

26:14

that they ultimately signed. I hope that they

26:16

are happy with this deal. Usually

26:19

when deals are signed, nobody's happy, which means that

26:21

it was a fair type of deal. I

26:24

don't think that MLS has been

26:26

hurt in any way by

26:29

this last

26:32

month of what has happened. And

26:35

now this weekend, by

26:37

all accounts, we are going to see, I guess

26:41

we'll call them the real refs back. So there

26:43

should be no problems, mistakes,

26:46

disagreement, criticism, controversy,

26:48

right? Because they're the real refs that are

26:50

back on the field. Do I detect a

26:52

little bit of sarcasm in your room? Oh

26:54

my goodness. How dare you, Massey? How

26:57

dare you? All right. Well,

26:59

well done. Congratulations. I'm glad that

27:01

we were able to get past that and we can go on and scream

27:03

and yell at real refs now. One other bit

27:05

of news. We talked in our last pod about

27:07

the possibility of Olivier Giroud going to LAFC. According

27:09

to both Tom Bogart and Fabrizio Romano, that is

27:11

a done deal. He is coming. So

27:14

LAFC this summer will add Francis, all time leading

27:16

scorer, who scored in this window for them. He's

27:18

still doing it for France. Greatest hair in the business too. He's

27:20

bringing his hair and his ability to

27:22

score goals to Los Angeles. This

27:25

is great. I'm here for it. I'm

27:27

excited about it. I think he

27:29

will score goals. Like you mentioned, he's

27:32

still scoring goals. And

27:36

this is a big signing. But I think this

27:38

is a smart signing. I don't think that this

27:40

is going to be looked at as over the

27:42

hill and this is a retirement type

27:45

of league here for LAFC. On

27:49

the field this upcoming weekend, Inter

27:52

Miami will host NYCFC. Inter

27:54

Miami got drilled by the Red Bulls last weekend, so

27:56

they'll want to bounce back from that. But they also

27:58

have one eye on the field. on their

28:00

CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg against

28:02

Monterey on Wednesday. So we'll see how

28:04

they play it. We'll see about Messi

28:06

who's been injured. Do

28:09

you think Messi plays? At some point he

28:11

has to come back and play some soccer, right? But

28:13

if they're prioritizing CONCACAF Champions Cup, you think

28:16

you wait to get him fully healthy for

28:18

that game. Yeah, and this is a home

28:20

game. This is against an NYCFC team that's

28:22

not that good. So maybe you say, yeah,

28:24

we can still keep him out. But if

28:27

I'm an Inter-Miami fan that paid

28:30

for a season ticket and

28:32

paid those prices, specifically because

28:34

they were selling and marketing Messi in a home game.

28:36

It's one thing if it's an away game, but

28:39

a home game. I

28:42

don't know how excited I'd be about that. And

28:45

then the LA Galaxy hosts Seattle, the

28:47

Galaxy second in the West Seattle, all

28:49

the way at the bottom, zero wins

28:51

in four games. Yeah, this

28:53

is a surprise, but it also is

28:56

another example

28:58

of how I think that

29:00

Major League Soccer is the most difficult

29:02

league in the world to predict. If

29:04

I find the man or woman that

29:07

correctly and consistently can

29:09

predict what happens in MLS, I

29:11

will take that person immediately to

29:14

Las Vegas or anywhere

29:16

closer, and we will make an

29:18

awful lot of money. And even

29:20

some very, very smart people at

29:23

the beginning of the season picked Seattle as the

29:25

elite when it came to the West and

29:28

not working out so far, but there's still lots and

29:30

lots of ups and downs and twists and turns to

29:32

go in this season. Interesting note

29:34

on the Galaxy, Paul Tenorio conducted

29:36

a survey of MLS execs who

29:38

answered anonymously, variety of different subjects.

29:40

One of them was best off-season

29:42

signing in the league. Joseph Paincill

29:45

was number one. Really? Well, they

29:47

got that one, right? He has

29:49

been a wonderful

29:51

signing so far. A

29:53

few other interesting ones. Enter

29:55

Miami far and away, the favorites to

29:58

win MLS Cup, but Columbus, far and

30:00

away the favorites to win the supporter shield. Really.

30:04

So they think that

30:06

Miami is just gonna lay low, multiple

30:08

fronts, well, Columbus is fighting on multiple

30:10

fronts too though. I

30:13

think that's actually a smart way

30:15

of looking at it because I can

30:17

certainly see a team like Inter Miami

30:19

getting hot and we've

30:22

seen it before as opposed to a

30:24

Columbus that's kind of built for the

30:26

long term type of thing. There

30:28

was one question phrased, Inter

30:30

Miami's roster build, good or bad

30:32

for MLS? 18

30:35

answered good, just four answered bad, the rest

30:37

were in the middle. What

30:40

the rationale was for those

30:43

that mentioned bad in

30:45

that anything that Miami

30:47

is doing doesn't mean that

30:50

you can't do it unless your owner is not gonna

30:52

allow you to do it. There was one

30:54

comment about the retirement league stuff

30:56

and signing all these old players.

31:00

I think some people think their MLS is being

31:02

too lenient when it comes to the rules, but

31:04

others said that this is gonna

31:06

spur on MLS to loosen restrictions are gonna

31:08

see how great it is to allow teams

31:10

to get creative and spend. You mentioned Pansill

31:13

before the season being predicted as the

31:15

best move, Emil Forsberg was number two

31:18

and he's been okay, by the

31:20

way, did you see the story about Emil Forsberg and

31:23

his wife? Ignoring his family, Jesus Christ. What

31:25

a mess, what a mess. Last one,

31:27

there was a question, should MLS teams

31:29

fully participate in the US Open Cup?

31:33

20 said yes, only seven said no. Yeah,

31:36

well, this is, okay, that's fine,

31:39

but we all know that MLS is

31:43

structured relative to the collective and

31:45

if that was the

31:47

desire, that's great, they can make their

31:49

voice heard, but ultimately ownership is going

31:51

to get together and just because the

31:54

workforce or the employees believe

31:58

that something is good. doesn't necessarily

32:00

make it good, let alone

32:02

mean that the

32:05

leadership owners, decision

32:07

makers are going to say

32:09

that that's what they are going to do. That

32:11

is it. All right, let's take

32:13

another quick break and we come back. Ooh, it's time

32:15

for Ask Alexi. Okay,

32:18

welcome back. It's time for Ask Alexi, that part

32:20

of the show where you send in your comments,

32:23

questions or concerns. And you can

32:25

use those, you can use the hashtag Ask Alexi.

32:27

And keep in mind that our handle out there

32:29

on social media is SOTUwithAlexi or you can call

32:31

into our State of the Union podcast hotline, which

32:33

is 675-549-2297. Masi,

32:40

what do the folks want to know today? First

32:42

up, at Sportsbook Tom asks,

32:45

a couple of players, except

32:47

Keller and Frito, from your era that would

32:49

be in the starting 11 today, just to

32:51

give a little context here. After

32:54

the US's latest win over Mexico,

32:56

our good friend Eric Winolda made

32:58

a comment that some of the excitement needs to

33:01

be tempered because this is the

33:03

worst Mexico team ever. And it spawned this

33:05

whole argument on X about how this Mexico

33:07

team compares to the one that Eric and

33:09

yourself faced in the 90s. And it's now

33:12

blossomed into a whole larger larger debate about comparing

33:15

players from this era to that era. So I

33:17

don't know if this question is related to that

33:19

anyway, but that discussion is in the air right

33:21

now. Thanks to our good friend, Eric Winolda. So

33:23

first off, I love the fact that we are

33:26

at a point in American soccer where we can

33:28

have this discussion, where we have multi generations now,

33:30

I'm not going to say fighting, but

33:32

you know, discussing and I guess

33:34

in a certain way, standing up

33:36

for what they

33:39

did, either individually or collectively,

33:41

or the level of competition

33:43

or the difficulty level, that's

33:45

progress as far as I'm concerned. And so

33:48

whether it's Eric or anybody else, and by

33:50

the way, this is a tried

33:52

and true type of thing. This is

33:54

evergreen in all sports, previous

33:56

generations will always say, but you know,

33:58

it was so difficult back then and we

34:01

had to go through this and

34:03

I'm and again we

34:05

constantly try to put players in

34:07

different eras and then judge them

34:10

and try to figure out what they

34:12

would look like. I'm of the opinion that if you're

34:14

a good player or a great

34:16

player in any era, if

34:18

you get put in a different one

34:20

you'd figure it out. Alright so you

34:22

know Messi playing back in

34:24

the day you know back

34:26

50 years ago or something like that, he

34:29

would still figure it out. Alright and

34:33

someone that played back in the day you

34:35

know a Pele or a Diego Maradona with

34:38

all of this the stuff that they have

34:40

going on today they I think they would

34:42

be that much better but when

34:46

it comes to you know this particular question

34:48

so you mentioned we're leaving out goalkeepers and I

34:50

do think that there are plenty of goalkeepers along

34:52

the way that not only

34:55

rival but surpass Matt

34:57

Turner at this point and whether it's a Tony

34:59

Miola or a Friedel or a Keller and the

35:01

list goes goes on and on and on and

35:04

I think at a certain point Matt Turner might

35:06

become that but I still think that

35:08

they that they were better. A guy

35:10

like Eddie Pope I think would

35:12

start for this team. I think up

35:15

top given what we've said about

35:17

the number nine position being wide open I mean

35:19

then you can have your pick so whether it's

35:21

an Eric Winaldo whether it is a Brian

35:24

McBride you know whether it's

35:27

you know let's see I'm trying to think

35:29

of some other people. I think a guy like I think

35:31

like a guy like Kobe Jones could be

35:33

doing what Wea is doing out there on the

35:36

on the right hand side. I

35:40

could definitely start in the back not a problem. Let's

35:43

see who who else would

35:45

we have bump bump bump

35:47

I think oh alright so and

35:49

I'm being a little flip here but

35:52

if I can only pick one it's

35:55

Tab Ramos. I've told you before he's the best player

35:57

that I played with he was a man out of

36:00

time he was slumming it playing with

36:02

us, Tabremos could walk into

36:04

this team and not only start,

36:07

okay, but with the lens of

36:09

today and the focus and the microscope

36:11

of today, we would

36:14

be oohing and awwing in a way

36:16

that we don't when it comes to

36:18

Gio Reyna or Christian Polisic or anybody

36:20

else. I'm sorry, that's how good Tabremos

36:22

was and that's how good he would

36:24

be viewed through the lens of today

36:26

if you were playing on this national

36:28

team. Yeah, as we've talked about, the

36:31

perception young people have that the players today

36:33

are much better, a lot of it has

36:35

to do with the European club pedigree, but

36:37

there wasn't the same level of acceptance back

36:39

then. Tabremos today would be like a 60

36:42

million pound player for a top European club,

36:44

right? Yeah, and he would have gone over

36:47

at an early age and the specialization would

36:49

have happened and all of those different pathways

36:51

and those opportunities would be afforded to him

36:53

and all of those players from the generation

36:56

that they didn't necessarily had. Now Tab did

36:58

play overseas and had a wonderful career, but

37:00

it would be on steroids if it was done

37:02

in today's American soccer culture. And by the way,

37:04

Eric Winalda had a half season at Sauerbrücken when

37:07

he first went over there in a 92-93 campaign

37:09

that still might be

37:11

the best half season any American striker has

37:13

had in a top European league. He was

37:16

arguably the best striker in the Bundesliga for about a

37:18

four month period there and then tailed off the second

37:20

half of the year. Eric will tell you it had

37:22

to do with the team and he had some injuries

37:24

and whatever the case was, but still it

37:26

was very impressive. Plus he takes free kicks. I

37:29

mean, we've seen Eric

37:31

can hit a corner better than Mr.

37:33

Polisic, that's for sure. So he

37:35

already has a bunch of skills that I

37:38

think would be viewed as very valuable to

37:40

this team under Greg Burholz right now, but

37:42

there's no Eric Winalda walking in that door

37:44

right now. And you know, you

37:46

joke about yourself. I think you were joking

37:48

that you said that, but I

37:50

do look at center back right now as a

37:53

position where the standard is not that high at the

37:55

moment, at least compared to some of the other positions

37:57

on the field. I look at guys like Chris Richards

37:59

and Mike Robinson, Tim Reem, Cameron Carter-Vickers. It's not

38:01

that much of a stretch to say that some of

38:04

the center backs from your era could have. Look,

38:06

I will say this. When

38:09

it comes to the way the game is played today and the

38:12

way the players, the demand

38:14

for players to play a certain way under

38:17

Greg Berhalter and pretty much all across the

38:19

board, I am

38:22

jealous. I would have loved to have

38:24

been given the authority and the autonomy

38:27

to play out of the back in the way

38:29

that happens today on a

38:31

consistent basis because it is completely

38:34

counter to what we were

38:36

told back then in terms

38:38

of that risk-reward type of

38:40

situation right now. And I

38:42

loved to, yes,

38:45

kick people and do all that,

38:47

but I also loved and recognized

38:49

the value of keeping the ball.

38:51

And in this modern game and

38:53

modern day where there is such a

38:55

premium put on keeping the ball, I

38:57

would have loved to have been a

38:59

player in the modern game. What else,

39:01

Mossy? Next up

39:04

we have an Apple

39:06

podcast question. Atkac443 asks,

39:09

with the addition of San Diego next season,

39:11

would you be in favor of MLS restructuring

39:13

to a divisional format and have scheduling like

39:16

MLB where every team plays each other in

39:18

the regular season rather than not getting every

39:20

possible matchup currently? The reason why I'm asking

39:22

this is that on Saturday, March

39:24

16th, was the first time Philadelphia played Austin, and

39:26

this is Austin's fourth season in the league. That's

39:29

not good for the fans. Yes,

39:32

I think I understand the question here

39:34

in that you would, however it ends up

39:36

looking, you would like

39:38

teams to play each

39:40

other that are in the same league, and

39:44

the more that that happens the better off it

39:46

is. It is a little strange to me when

39:49

teams don't play each other and you are still

39:52

in the same league. Now I get it, it

39:54

becomes not something

39:56

that's feasible because of

39:58

the amount of teams that we have

40:01

and MLS is just continuing to get bigger

40:03

and bigger and bigger but I didn't realize

40:05

that Philadelphia is playing Austin for the first

40:07

time in the fourth season in the league.

40:09

That's, you know, you're right. It is not

40:11

good for fans. The

40:14

marketing behind new teams, the

40:16

excitement whether it's in market or around

40:19

the league when new teams come in and

40:21

you mentioned San Diego but it applies to

40:23

all these other teams, the

40:26

payoff is that now you get to see

40:28

them and they're coming to

40:30

your location and you're going

40:32

to their market, right? But

40:36

if and when that doesn't

40:38

happen, that separation and that division,

40:40

it doesn't

40:43

feel like a league unless each year

40:45

you know because these are the teams in

40:47

the league, these are the teams we're gonna play. It's

40:49

amazing how often the format has changed through

40:52

the years. You go through the standings in

40:54

divisions and different kinds of divisions and then

40:56

no divisions now and just throw everybody in

40:58

two different conferences. So yeah, I mean

41:00

it wouldn't be a stretch to change it again. They've done

41:02

it so many times over the years. And you know the

41:04

people talk about the unbalance

41:07

of a season and so therefore it's a

41:09

little wonky when you try to assess who

41:11

the best team is. Well you didn't play

41:14

this team or you had to travel this

41:16

much and all that kind of stuff and

41:18

if you had, you know, one

41:20

table where everybody just plays everybody home and

41:22

away, what that would look like but it's

41:24

because of the amount of teams it's not

41:26

something that's realistic going forward. So it is

41:28

going to continue to be a work in

41:30

progress, Masi. It's never going to stop. They

41:32

are going to continue to tweak it. I

41:34

don't know if we have already seen the

41:36

best version of it or if that best

41:38

version is to come but to your point

41:40

over there, KAC 443,

41:43

don't be surprised if there are

41:45

continued changes as we go forward.

41:48

But I'm glad that Philadelphia gets

41:50

to play Austin for the first time. We'll see what it looks like.

41:52

That is it. Alright, let's take another quick break. When we

41:54

come back, it's the end of our show. We've got a

41:56

special one for the road. Okay, welcome

41:59

back. It's the end of our show. show and at the end of

42:01

each and every show I give you my one for the

42:03

road and with the with yet

42:05

another win over Mexico we got to thinking

42:07

about the history of

42:09

great goals and memorable goals

42:12

against Mexico and you know

42:14

we love lists over here

42:16

so we put together our

42:18

list of the top five

42:20

most memorable US men's national

42:22

team goals versus Mexico

42:24

according to me and

42:27

I'm sure you will disagree or maybe you'll agree in

42:29

some of these all right coming in at number five

42:32

the great Benny fail-hopper versus

42:34

Mexico in the 2007 gold cup just hits

42:38

an absolute

42:41

screamer and this

42:43

is back when Chicago

42:46

actually was relevant when it comes

42:48

to American soccer but my my

42:50

my what a goal raises his

42:52

hands to the heavens gives a kiss

42:55

I mean just you could just watch this over

42:57

and over again he takes this one out of

42:59

the air wonderful wonderful Bali so that comes in

43:01

at number five must you got comments on this

43:04

one note on Benny fellhaber him and I have

43:06

lived very similar lives he was also born in

43:08

Rio de Janeiro that's right also moved to Scarzo

43:10

New York at an early age which is where

43:13

I moved to I once interviewed him

43:15

and brought that up to me couldn't care less all

43:18

right well let's see if you got anything on this guy here the

43:21

great Peter Vermees a Rutgers

43:24

guy so I loved him even before he

43:26

was starring for the national team in the

43:29

and playing up top a lot of people look

43:31

at him as a defender but they forget

43:33

that in the 1990 World Cup

43:36

he was a striker for the US and

43:38

in the 1991 gold

43:41

cup Peter Vermees got the ball and

43:43

he just dribbled through everybody and then

43:45

this tip this wonderful looping ball into

43:47

the corner and I know it's a

43:50

little bit grainy but you can still

43:52

see the power and

43:55

the skill and the finesse from

43:57

the Jersey boy right there so he comes

43:59

in at number four. That

44:01

was in the 91 Gold Cup semis. The

44:03

U.S. would then beat Honduras on penalties after

44:05

a scoreless draw. A lot of people, including

44:08

Eric Winalda, who we've already brought up on

44:10

this pod, think this game is the original

44:12

docicero that started to turn the tide in

44:14

the rivalry. Yeah, I think that this is

44:16

when that conversation about the

44:18

pendulum and obviously from a U.S.

44:20

perspective starting to swing over, yeah,

44:22

started to happen. Now there were

44:24

still games and there were still

44:26

losses along the way. I

44:30

agree with Eric in terms of

44:32

how important this was, that kind of this

44:34

is the starting line if you will. All

44:36

right, number three, and it's fresh in our

44:39

minds and I think it will go on

44:41

to be looked

44:43

at as certainly

44:45

a memorable goal, epic goal from Tyler

44:47

Adams after a long, long injury. He

44:50

comes into this national team and right at

44:52

the end of the half he hits a

44:55

screamer from outside of the box and this

44:57

is not something that any of us knew

44:59

he had in his locker, but

45:02

this is a wonderful goal and kind of

45:04

a walk off for him because at halftime

45:06

Greg Borhalter took him out, but this changed

45:09

the dynamic of the game and what a way to

45:11

leave your mark in just 45 minutes of work. Some

45:14

people, including the great Matt Doyle, think this was

45:16

a goalkeeping mistake by Ochoa. If you see the

45:18

replay from behind, the shot wasn't as much in

45:20

the corner as it might have looked, so

45:23

it was poor positioning by Ochoa. He had a long time to

45:25

react to it and really didn't. Well, it

45:27

could be poor positioning, but if you

45:30

look at it, what Ochoa does is

45:32

he takes one step to the left

45:34

in order to create the opportunity to

45:36

have a sight line to the ball. The

45:39

problem is that in that exact moment is

45:41

when the

45:43

shot came and so he had to

45:45

react immediately. So the information that he

45:47

got by getting that line of

45:49

sight was useless because his momentum had

45:51

already gone to the left and by the time he

45:53

came to the right, to your point, it didn't go

45:55

upper night or anything like that, but it was still

45:57

moving. number

46:00

three. Number two, Michael

46:02

Bradley, the beautiful bald man

46:04

down there in Mexico City in

46:08

the Azteca, a chip of

46:11

just audacious,

46:13

audacious proportion from,

46:15

I mean, it's gotta be what, 45 yards, 50

46:18

yards maybe, over Memo

46:21

Ochoa. I mean, this

46:23

was, yes, it was altitude aided, but

46:27

it just stunned Azteca

46:30

and Bruce Arena loved it. I

46:32

loved it. Everybody that was there loved

46:34

it. And I think a lot of people

46:36

talk about this to this day as to

46:38

how important and memorable moment it was. The

46:40

important note here, Sean Sullivan was in attendance

46:42

at this match at the Azteca. It's where

46:44

he learned how to throw bags of urine

46:46

at players at the skill he's brought back

46:49

with him to the United States. All

46:51

right, before I give you my number one here, a couple

46:54

of different also-ran's

46:56

that didn't make the top five. And then we'll give

46:58

you our number one, right? So Landon

47:01

Donovan in 2007 in Glendale. I know you wanted

47:03

to mention that. Can we look at that one?

47:05

Yeah, let's look at it. Oh,

47:08

here we go. All right. Okay, what's

47:10

interesting here, this is in a friendly in

47:13

2007 in Glendale, Arizona. What disqualifies it and

47:15

why it ultimately did not belong on your

47:17

list is that it would not have counted

47:19

today because once the ball hits the referee,

47:22

play would have stopped. But what

47:24

came after it? I mean, this is some madadorn

47:26

against England stuff from Landon, right? Well, I would

47:28

disqualify it because it's a friendly,

47:30

right? I mean, the circumstances of

47:32

the actual games, I think do matter in

47:34

terms of being memorable. I was going to

47:36

ask you about that. It's not just the

47:38

aesthetics of the goal. It's also the important.

47:40

Yeah, I mean, we have titled it most

47:42

memorable. And certainly, if it's just

47:45

an incredible goal, like it and this one is,

47:47

yeah, that's okay. A couple of

47:49

other ones, the Polisic Man in the Mirror shirt in

47:51

the Nations League, I think that that was wonderful. And

47:54

not only for the goal, but the celebration

47:56

and how iconic that was.

47:58

Charlie Davies in Azteca. scoring

48:00

a goal. I'll never

48:02

forget that because I was at the time working

48:05

for ESPN and I was I

48:09

was down there with the great Bob Lee

48:11

and we were doing SportsCenter hits from a

48:13

roof across across the way from Azteca and

48:15

Bob had never been to the Azteca and

48:17

it was like a bucket list for him

48:19

and so as soon as the game started

48:22

because we weren't actually televising it we ran

48:24

across the street ran across the parking lot

48:26

went up into Azteca and just as we

48:28

got to this place was basically just a

48:30

place within the press box Charlie Davies scored

48:32

that goal and just to see Bob Lee

48:36

in that environment and he had such an

48:38

appreciation and respect and reverence for

48:40

this incredibly historic venue but

48:42

also to see Charlie Davies score so that was

48:44

certainly one of them and then

48:46

from the other side and we could go

48:48

on and on the Gio dos Santos goal

48:51

for Mexico at the Rose Bowl and the

48:53

Gold Cup I think that is certainly a

48:55

memorable one from a Mexican standpoint. Yeah Bob

48:57

Bradley's last game Gold Cup final at the

49:00

Rose Bowl also that Ambriz Roberto Carlos free

49:03

kick 93 Gold Cup final probably the worst

49:05

day of your life. Oh my god that thing was

49:07

like Roberto Carlos-esque went around us yeah not a

49:09

great wall that we set. All right here

49:12

we go number one and it

49:14

should come as no surprise both in terms

49:16

of the quality of it but also in

49:18

terms of being memorable

49:21

there is still no

49:23

more important game and no

49:26

more important win in

49:28

American soccer history when it comes to

49:30

the men's team than the United States

49:32

beating Mexico dos Osiero at the World

49:35

Cup in 2002 and Landon Donovan's

49:37

goal in 2002 at the World

49:40

Cup is my number

49:42

one goal when it comes to

49:44

US Mexico goals. Here

49:47

it is just feast your eyes on upon it

49:49

and and what it meant what

49:52

we were witnessing and

49:54

for those of us that weren't there like myself we

49:56

were up in the middle of the night watching these

49:58

types of things. This

50:01

was special and this

50:03

team was special and Landon Donovan

50:05

and company This was

50:07

Landon kind of coming out party to

50:09

the world He

50:11

was still very very young and Bruce Serena had

50:14

faith in him and he repaid that by you

50:16

know Scoring huge huge goals. So let us know

50:18

if you agree or disagree. Are you okay with

50:20

that being number one? Yeah, you could

50:23

actually make a case for the other US goal

50:25

in that game Brian McBride That was a thing

50:27

of beauty to Raina down the right wing at

50:29

low cross the cutback and then McBride strikes it

50:32

You know, you could argue the overall play of

50:34

that one was that was the first goal correct,

50:37

right? So this literally was the Dosa Cerro goal

50:39

And again to get back to this point that

50:41

younger generations don't appreciate how good some of these

50:43

past US players were Landon was voted the best

50:45

young player at that World Cup The US had

50:48

somebody that was voted the best young player at

50:50

a World Cup Landon was also

50:52

the Golden Ball winner at an under 17

50:55

World Cup So he did things

50:57

that nobody in this generation has done yet that people

50:59

don't give him enough credit I'm too shabby of a

51:01

player very good player but

51:04

I'm glad that you pointed that out because you know, we

51:07

We we kick ourselves for what we aren't

51:09

and what we haven't done and sometimes it's important

51:11

to remind people to You know we can pat

51:13

ourselves on the back for an Individual

51:15

like Landon Donovan or how far we have come

51:17

doesn't make me rest on our laurels by any

51:20

stretch of the imagination and hopefully that There

51:22

are players coming whether we've seen them already or we're going

51:24

to see them that are much better Than

51:27

Landon and everybody else there I think Landon would be

51:29

the first person to tell you that that's that's the

51:31

goal But we still have a wonderful history Let us

51:34

know if you agree or disagree with this this top

51:36

five out there And if we

51:38

do disagree, let us know where you think other

51:40

ones should appear or a reordering of the five

51:42

that we have Massey anything before we go my

51:44

friend No,

51:46

just bring it back full circle to where we started.

51:48

It was a fun light night last night Although we

51:51

came up short in the end. It was great to

51:53

spend time with you and Aaron and Sean Downtown

51:55

and hopefully next time we come away with a

51:58

trophy to show for it. Well, I will I will

52:00

say this when it comes to the State of the Union. We

52:03

started this little venture

52:06

out in basically a closet, and

52:09

it has grown by leaps and bounds through

52:11

the incredible efforts of a lot of people,

52:14

like I said. Whether

52:16

it's Aaron or Sean, who we were out with

52:18

last night, and the list

52:20

goes on and on and Kat and

52:23

all the different people that we have

52:25

had through the years that have built

52:27

this thing into what it is. We

52:29

are incredibly appreciative and

52:31

thankful that we have so many people like that. A

52:33

couple of notes on last night. There

52:35

is a true crime pod category, so we've got

52:37

to go over that with Kat afterwards and see

52:39

if she agrees with the winners and who got

52:41

nominated because she is the foremost expert on that

52:44

kind of stuff. Secondly, I forgot

52:46

to mention this at the top, but how

52:48

about that Uber driver from Tajikistan that

52:50

we had on our way to the event? You

52:53

want to tell the story quick before we

52:55

go? Yeah, the guy knew everything about soccer.

52:57

We ended up talking to him for like

52:59

40 minutes on the drive. I debated with

53:01

him about a scalliest form for Napoli this

53:03

season. He knew everything. It was insane.

53:05

So we get into the Uber, and I inform you

53:07

because it's on my thing that he speaks both English

53:09

and Russian, so maybe you throw out some Russian words

53:11

there. We ask

53:14

him what he does when he's not driving. He

53:17

goes, oh, I'm a vlogger, and

53:20

I put videos out five times

53:22

a week. It

53:25

was just insane. Videos on what? Soccer?

53:28

It was incredible serendipity or whatever it was.

53:30

We had a really good time, but we

53:32

got our guide when it comes to Tajikistan

53:35

and beyond when it comes to the soccer out there.

53:37

All right, listen. Keep reviewing, keep

53:40

downloading, keep rating, keep subscribing, doing

53:42

all the different things that you

53:44

do. Awards are

53:46

fine, but we would much rather have your

53:48

patronage. We would much rather have you tuning in,

53:50

doing all the things that you

53:52

do. We really appreciate that so many do,

53:55

and so many have grown with us since

53:57

that closet. So many years ago. Have

54:00

a wonderful weekend in terms of

54:02

the soccer that you are watching and

54:04

or playing. We will talk to you

54:06

again next week and until then, and

54:08

as always my friends, size the day.