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To Hire You Need Indeed! Don Garber, hope you're

1:01

listening right now. If it bleeds, it leads.

1:03

If it's pink, it leads. And if it's

1:05

messy, you're damn right, it leads. Hello

1:21

sunshine. I'm Alexi Lalas and welcome to

1:23

the State of the Union podcast, where

1:25

we look at the beautiful game on

1:28

and off the field through the lens

1:30

of red, white, and blue colored glasses.

1:32

This show will be talking a US

1:34

women's national team rebound, Florida pink, snow

1:36

game, referee drama, skiing, dune, MLS rebrand,

1:38

the US men's national team AI version,

1:40

American playing time, and so much more.

1:42

But first joining me is always my

1:44

friend, my colleague, my guiding light, David

1:46

Mossi, a soccer savant and a Fox

1:49

soccer researcher and writer extraordinaire, Mossi, how

1:51

you doing on this Monday, March 4th

1:53

in the year 2024? I'm

1:56

doing well. We have a blockbuster show

1:58

today. We have all sorts of stuff.

2:00

stuff. And even though you might not

2:03

believe it, we actually get together and talk about the show

2:05

before we do it. There was all sorts of stuff that

2:07

we're trying to cram in there, but we will endeavor

2:10

to get all of it in because there was all

2:12

sorts of stuff that happened. How was your weekend, my

2:14

friend? Did you watch anything, do anything of interest? I

2:17

did. I teased this on our last

2:19

podcast. I did go see Dune 2

2:21

this weekend, which I thought was absolutely

2:23

terrific. Two thumbs

2:25

up, great. Better than the last

2:29

one of this series, of this modern

2:31

era. Even better than the last one,

2:33

which I liked as well. And Sean Sullivan concurs. We

2:35

were texting about it. He saw it as well, and

2:37

he's fired up about it. Yeah. Okay.

2:39

You saw it in the theater, right? Correct. And

2:41

the senior experienced producer Sean was telling us that

2:43

he was in one of those theaters, maybe

2:46

the IMAX or whatever, where your

2:48

seat shakes and you experience it as

2:51

well as visually. I saw

2:53

it that way as well. You did. Okay. Cool. So

2:55

two thumbs up over there. Okay. I'll see it. I

2:57

don't know if I'll go to the... Yeah, maybe. We'll

2:59

see. We'll see. I don't have

3:01

anything necessarily to talk about when it comes

3:03

to what I watched, but as I mentioned

3:05

last show, I went skiing this weekend. I

3:07

was in Beaver Creek, Colorado. And for those

3:09

that have listened and watched this show over

3:11

the years, you will know that last

3:14

year I attended this incredible event, the

3:16

American Airlines Celebrity Ski Weekend, which is

3:19

just an incredible weekend, incredible event that

3:21

raises money for cystic fibrosis. Last

3:25

year was my first time skiing ever. And

3:27

they take you down the mountain and you're

3:30

skiing. There's a race. There's all these kinds

3:32

of things. So this is my second time

3:34

skiing. So I ski once a year, and

3:36

it is at the American Airlines Celebrity Ski

3:38

Weekend to raise money for cystic fibrosis. And

3:40

keep in mind that when it comes to

3:43

cystic fibrosis, way back in the 80s,

3:46

the life expectancy was in the teens. And now

3:48

here we are in 2024. And

3:51

a lot of these folks with

3:53

cystic fibrosis live into their 50s. So

3:56

the end is in sight, but they

3:58

keep raising money. Unlike

4:00

a lot of other diseases out there,

4:02

unfortunately, you can see how quickly success

4:05

has been achieved, but they still got a long

4:07

way to go. And wonderful people, including Rob Stone

4:09

was there, Carli Lloyd, our Fox

4:12

family when it comes to Urban Meyer, Mark

4:14

Ingram II, he was there skiing

4:16

for the first time ever. Not only was he

4:18

incredible, low center of gravity, big muscles when it

4:20

comes to the running

4:23

game that he has, but he also

4:25

went down the actual course, finished it,

4:27

didn't fall, got his time recorded. So

4:29

the star of the weekend was, without a

4:31

doubt, Mark Ingram, our colleague over

4:33

there when it comes to college football. So

4:35

fun weekend. I'm

4:38

getting better at skiing, but I certainly would not

4:40

claim to be a skier, especially since I just

4:42

do this kind of once a year. But it

4:44

was fun. All right, should we light this candle,

4:46

my friend? Let's do it. Where should we start?

4:48

We begin with the US Women's National Team.

4:50

They are back on track. They've

4:53

picked up a comprehensive 3-0 quarterfinal

4:55

win over Columbia at the Gold

4:57

Cup. Lindsey Horan from the penalty

4:59

spot, Nye Swanger, and Jaden

5:02

Shaw with the goals. The US setting

5:04

up a semifinal date with Canada on

5:06

Wednesday. This was obviously

5:08

a much more comprehensive type of

5:10

performance. The result stands for itself.

5:13

They kicked the crap out

5:16

of Columbia. And this was

5:18

a Columbia team that, if you remember them

5:20

from the World Cup, had gone to the

5:22

quarterfinals, if I remember correctly. And this is

5:24

a team that has fight and bite, almost

5:26

too much so when I'm looking at Columbia

5:28

and I was standing a great

5:30

talent like Linda Cacedo. But

5:33

it's almost as if the Columbia Women's National

5:35

Team would rather fight than actually win the

5:37

game. And if they spent as much energy

5:39

and resources into actually playing the game as

5:41

they do to wanting to kick

5:43

people and to fight people, they might do

5:45

a whole lot better. The US

5:48

was the better team on the day, and

5:50

it was wonderful to see them rebound from

5:52

that historic loss to Mexico, which was they

5:54

got played off the park when it comes

5:56

to Mexico. So

5:58

a couple of things. I think

6:00

that we are seeing the emergence of a

6:02

star not just for the future But right

6:05

now when it comes to as you mentioned

6:07

Jenna nice longer over there on the left

6:09

hand side Wonderful left foot a true left

6:11

back and crystal done is gonna go

6:13

off and be a legend But I think that time

6:15

has come to transition to Nice

6:17

longer and I think that she's gonna be a

6:19

force to be reckoned with going forward when it

6:21

comes to that that left hand side this was

6:23

a team with I Know

6:26

we saw it say this a lot but this was

6:28

a team that with bite with With

6:32

desire and this is a team

6:34

that I think a lot of people out there

6:36

that are still looking Sideways at

6:38

this US from this national team over the

6:40

last couple years and certainly over the since

6:42

the World Cup This is

6:45

a team that you can root for this is a team

6:47

that is exciting and this is a team that ultimately gets

6:49

the result But does it in a way that draws you

6:51

in when you mentioned the rising

6:53

star? I thought you were going Jaden Shaw

6:55

because she has also been a breakout Star

6:58

in this tournament and you look at

7:00

the US's options up front also on

7:02

Sunday Katharina Makario scored in her first

7:05

game back after an almost two-year injury

7:07

layoff She scored for Chelsea who are

7:09

managed by Emma Hayes Ironically enough if

7:11

Makario is as good as she was

7:13

before the injury Mallory Swanson comes back

7:16

from her injury Well, you've got Sophia

7:18

Smith Trinity Rodman and now Jaden Shaw

7:20

the options up front are ridiculous and

7:22

they started Alex Up top

7:24

and I think when Makario comes back and

7:26

you know this force that's coming back into

7:29

the national team program They're gonna be a

7:31

lot of different options, but Alex played well

7:33

in this in this game But

7:35

I don't think that she is going to be the go-to

7:37

when it comes to a number nine I don't know if

7:40

she's ultimately going to be on the the Olympic team. Keep

7:42

in mind There's only 18 players that are allowed on the

7:44

Olympic team So that's kind of where this group right now

7:46

with the additions that are gonna come back are fighting for

7:48

one of those very very Selective

7:50

type of spaces when it comes to the team, but

7:52

it was it was it was a good result and

7:54

they move on I don't know

7:56

if it necessarily makes that Mexico game Complete

8:00

anomaly. I think there were some warning signs out

8:02

there. But again, I go back to and you

8:04

know, you mentioned Jaden Shaw

8:06

and nice longer It's

8:09

not just play the kids but it's it's

8:11

move on and and in

8:14

doing so I think you're going to have you

8:16

know foster this new generation You're gonna bring

8:19

a lot more people in that are excited

8:21

about a new generation doing something different And

8:23

I think you're still going to get the

8:25

results and this was evident here today They

8:28

might get a shot at revenge versus

8:30

Mexico because the other semi-final is Mexico versus

8:32

Brazil Mexico beat Paraguay in a 3-2 thriller

8:34

in the quarterfinals Brazil hammered Argentina 5-1 at

8:37

least we can beat him on the women's

8:39

side Still and so fast.

8:41

I mean, you know, they still got to get

8:43

there, right? No, no I'm saying Brazil beating Argentina

8:45

on the women's side. It was a little quip

8:48

about Brazil. Oh, yeah And our inability to beat

8:50

our gentlemen say And

8:52

so the other semi-final be Mexico Brazil also on Wednesday

8:54

also in San Diego So do you want Brazil in

8:57

the finer you want another shot at Mexico fast? You

8:59

got to get past Canada. That's correct, right?

9:01

Okay Do

9:03

I want Brazil or Mexico? I want it for the ability to

9:06

show that Hopefully

9:09

that Mexico game that they lost was an

9:12

aberration But I also want

9:14

it because it's us Mexico It's and even even

9:17

though this is you know The women's side of

9:19

the game there is still a rivalry and certainly

9:21

that game other day the other day fueled the

9:23

fuel the fire So yeah, I don't I don't

9:26

want Brazil on Mexico Canada beat Costa Rica in

9:28

extra time in their quarterfinal Costa Rica team that

9:30

advanced thanks to a coin flip Did you follow

9:32

this after the group? Oh, I try to follow

9:34

it. So can you explain it because you're the

9:37

savant over there Yeah at the

9:39

conclusion of the group stage Costa

9:41

Rica and Puerto Rico finished tied

9:44

on everything They obviously were

9:46

in different groups so they didn't play each other head-to-head but

9:48

they finished tied on goal difference goal scored and Points

9:51

and all the rest and so yeah According to

9:53

the rules that came down to a drawing of

9:55

lots and all the years I've been covering tournaments

9:57

at Fox I always check the regulations beforehand. I

9:59

always see way down there drawing of lots and part

10:01

of me always roots for it to come down to

10:03

that just so we could experience that here at Fox

10:05

and we haven't been able to but it

10:08

did happen at the school. I can imagine

10:10

how badly I never experienced it but how

10:12

badly it must suck to not go on

10:14

if you're the team that actually loses because

10:16

of literally a coin toss. Oh

10:19

my goodness. Alright so anyway happy days

10:21

are here again when it comes to the

10:23

US Women's National Team. Moving on in terms

10:25

of the the tournament here and this is

10:27

the type of team this is the type

10:30

of performance this is the type of result

10:32

that we expect and want and unfortunately over

10:34

the last few years this is the type

10:36

of performance that we have not been given.

10:38

But if this is a harbinger of things

10:40

to come wonderful wonderful wonderful

10:43

wonderful so onward and upward

10:45

for the US Women. Just to recap they've played

10:47

four games in this tournament they won the three

10:49

you did not attend they lost the one you

10:52

did attend. Yes exactly exactly so I will stay

10:54

away from the semi-final and final. Yeah.

10:56

Alright should we move on to MLS?

10:58

Yes the second weekend of the season

11:01

lots of storylines we picked out some of the more

11:03

notable games. Inter Miami with a

11:05

5-0 demolition of Orlando Luis Suarez and

11:08

Lionel Messi each with two goals. Florida

11:12

is pink my friend as good as Inter

11:15

Miami were. Orlando was as

11:17

bad so opposite ends of

11:19

the spectrum however I think that this

11:21

was a real message that Inter Miami

11:23

sent to their own fans

11:25

but also

11:28

to others out there and a lot

11:30

of people who are not quite and

11:32

still might not be yet convinced as

11:34

to how good this Inter Miami team

11:36

is. I'm not still I'm not

11:39

yet I don't think

11:41

that I can give them elite status yet

11:43

in the league but this is pretty

11:45

impressive through albeit only three games here.

11:48

Luis Suarez scoring scoring

11:50

two that's a that's a big

11:53

deal because I think myself and many others

11:55

looked at him and looked at him as

11:57

a potential liability now he still may become

11:59

a liability. And his first goal that

12:01

he scored was this stumbling, bumbling, typical Luis Suarez

12:03

type of goal. Took it well, ultimately, but how

12:05

the ball ultimately got to his foot, and you

12:08

take your chances, and you know the soccer guy

12:10

has some smile upon you, and he did finish

12:12

it well. This is, so this is good for

12:14

him, this is good for Inter Miami, and let's

12:16

be honest, this is good for MLS. I

12:19

thought both were sensational center forward goals.

12:22

Stop sensational, come on. The tackle was

12:24

made where 99.9% of the time he

12:26

gets stripped of the ball. By

12:29

the way, trying to beat somebody one on one,

12:32

and then the ball just kind of falls

12:34

into his pathway. And he finished it, he finished

12:37

it great. So I did not think that that

12:39

goal was just the most amazing thing that you're

12:41

talking about. He then scored another that

12:43

was chalked off because of a marginal offside. He was involved

12:45

in other goals, got an assist, so I thought it was

12:47

a pretty great performance for him. You know, it's interesting, on

12:50

Saturday morning, Tim Vickery, who's

12:52

an English journalist who covers South American football and

12:54

is based in Brazil, he wrote a column about

12:56

Suarez bringing up the exact same issue that I

12:58

brought up on our last podcast. It's almost like

13:00

he listens to us. He

13:02

mentioned that in Brazil, people are dismissive

13:05

of MLS, and if Suarez

13:07

were to perform much worse in MLS than he did

13:09

in Brazil, how would Brazilians reconcile that? And he said

13:11

through two games, it's early, but he hasn't looked great.

13:13

And then he goes out and drops that performance. So

13:15

we'll see what he does moving forward.

13:18

But that is an interesting subplot to Luis Suarez this

13:20

season. And look, while we

13:22

led with the U.S. women's national team from

13:24

an MLS perspective, we're leading with Messi and

13:26

Inter Miami. I don't know if that's lazy,

13:28

Mossy, but it's how we're rolling. And by

13:30

the way, the postgame on Apple, which I

13:32

watch, the first 15 minutes,

13:34

because I looked at it, were devoted

13:36

entirely to Inter Miami and

13:39

to Messi. All right, Don

13:41

Garber, I hope you're listening right now. If

13:43

it bleeds, it leads. If it's pink, it

13:45

leads. And if it's Messi, you're damn right,

13:47

it leads. It is interesting, though,

13:49

there is some shot and fraud going on. Some people

13:51

are put off by this whole Inter Miami thing. They

13:53

don't want to believe it's going to be this easy.

13:55

And so they put a lot of stock in the

13:58

preseason results and also that performance against the galaxy. last

14:00

weekend, but this was

14:02

a bad day for those people because they

14:04

looked every bit the juggernaut that they're purported

14:07

to be. Also this is your look, you're

14:09

considering them elite. I am. Okay,

14:11

cool. Let me look. Again, this

14:13

is fun to watch and this creates incredible

14:15

amount of content and attraction when Messi is

14:17

doing well, when Inter is doing well. They

14:19

are going to have their ups and downs

14:21

going forward and whether it's the team or

14:24

whether it's your friend Luis Suarez he's going

14:26

to too. I'm not wishing it because I

14:28

like goal-scores and I like him and I

14:30

like big bold personalities and he is without

14:32

a doubt one of them in the game.

14:35

They did make an interesting move.

14:37

They've traded DeAndre Yedlin to Cincinnati,

14:39

Yedlin joining Myles Robinson there, some

14:41

people wondering if that's opening the

14:43

door for yet another former Barcelona

14:45

or its current Barcelona player but

14:48

Sergio Roberto could potentially be arriving

14:50

to fill that right back slot

14:52

but that was a notable move by Inter Miami.

14:54

Yep. Another American out. We're

14:57

going to talk about actually the phenomenon

14:59

of Americans playing in Major League Soccer

15:01

later on in the pod here but

15:03

they don't yet have someone to replace

15:05

him there. So on

15:07

the surface and initially this

15:09

looks like a win yet another win when

15:11

it comes to to Cincinnati unless they replace

15:13

him with somebody of better stature and better

15:15

ability going forward which they certainly possibly could

15:17

but right now there is kind of a

15:19

hole over there but you don't do something

15:21

unless you have something planned. Also

15:24

this weekend Real Salt Lake with

15:26

a 3-0 home win over LAFC

15:29

Gomez got to Arango got the other against

15:31

his former club. This match was played in

15:33

blizzard like conditions much to the chagrin of

15:35

Steve Turundalo who said afterwards it was an

15:37

absolute joke we had to play today the

15:39

game could have and should have been called

15:41

off it was an absolute disgrace to play

15:43

I don't understand why on earth we'd count

15:45

a game like that. Okay.

15:48

Whether it's Steve Turundalo or anybody else

15:51

in this position he or

15:53

she has to protect as a coach here

15:55

she has to protect the players And

15:57

has to make it look like this.

16:00

Was an anomaly. This is

16:02

a throwaway type of performance

16:04

and game and result relative

16:06

to be. Adds

16:08

to the weather. I

16:11

thought that this snow game. In

16:13

Salt Lake. Was. Awesome! I.

16:16

Thought it was unique. And.

16:19

I thought ultimately it was pretty

16:21

interesting. And it was interesting

16:23

to see. These. Players in

16:25

this. Environment This adverse environment.

16:27

And I've said this before: Sports and

16:29

this is what I'm about. Soccer, but

16:31

sports in general. Like. Life.

16:35

Isn't always perfect, It isn't always

16:37

easy. It is and always ideal.

16:40

And the ability that players in all

16:42

sports. The ability that

16:44

they have to adjust and to adapt. Is.

16:47

A skill and it's something to be valued just

16:49

like trapping the ball or passing the ball or

16:51

shooting the ball. And. In that you

16:53

toss know the other day. We.

16:55

All Salt Lake had that skill.

16:58

And L A X F C didn't. Am

17:01

I saying that This is Annette. Experience.

17:05

Or. A circumstance that

17:07

you are going to confront. A

17:10

week in week out basis. Know. I'm

17:12

not by any stretch of the imagination. But.

17:14

In this moment you have to. Like I said,

17:17

I. Just. In. The wig that

17:19

you actually play the game. And

17:21

so I can value and I

17:23

can praise Father Must ronnie company

17:26

over there and Rsl. Who. Saw

17:28

this situation recognized a potential opportunity

17:30

because they have the talent and

17:32

skill to a just as opposed

17:34

to their ah their competition out

17:36

there that. You. Know

17:38

and I I was some. Over

17:40

the years must you know? I've talked about. The.

17:42

roofing of stadiums and the potential for

17:44

that to change not just the business

17:47

but also changed the competition and kind

17:49

of creates a consistency creates an ideal

17:51

the problem is that it costs a

17:53

lot of money to put roofs are

17:55

not on stadiums and see you're not

17:57

going to be able to do that

17:59

going for And so there's a lot of people that look

18:01

at this as a romantic notion of

18:03

hey, this is an outlier But it's something wonderful

18:05

that's gonna be celebrated and when you talk about

18:08

games this year in Major League Soccer in

18:10

2024 This is going to

18:12

be pointed to because it is so unique because it is

18:14

so different and again I don't want it to be the

18:16

norm But every once in a while, you know

18:19

You have these situations especially relative to weather and

18:21

you could make the same argument that Steve Ferendle

18:23

is making when it comes to a game That's

18:25

played in the rain or a game

18:27

where it's blistering hot and there's plenty of

18:29

those that happen in the summer And it

18:31

does change the quality. It does change the

18:33

ability to have a Situation

18:36

and a field in this case that

18:39

is conducive if you will to

18:42

what normally happens But

18:45

and I get why Steve Sorendle is staying that saying

18:47

that but I completely disagree Yeah There's

18:49

two issues that prompt Postponents in situations like this

18:51

health and safety of not only the players but

18:53

also the fans in the stands and also we've

18:55

seen when it rains Enough and the field gets

18:57

flooded if the ball isn't moving and it's getting

19:00

stuck in puddles and it reduces the game to

19:02

such a farce That sometimes they postpone it you

19:04

didn't have an issue with either one of those counts

19:07

here you thought there was still like a Viable

19:09

game to be played even in those so first off go back

19:12

to the health and safety If people

19:14

are getting frostbitten in this in the stadium

19:16

because it is so it's because it's so

19:18

cold First off you can anticipate cold. Okay,

19:20

so if you're in the stadium, I'm assuming

19:23

that you are preparing for a potential cold

19:25

situation I don't want anybody to

19:28

experience hypothermia or

19:30

get frostbitten whether you're on the field or

19:34

Or off the field, but when people talk about safety,

19:36

I'm assuming that's what they're talking about I mean,

19:38

what else are they talking about? Player

19:41

sliding that normally wouldn't happen when you're sliding because

19:43

that certainly can happen, you know, you talk about

19:45

oh by the way the The

19:48

artificial surfaces that teams play on Steve

19:50

Terundal you could insert artificial surface and say well

19:53

This isn't the game because the ball bounces differently.

19:55

So there's a million different things that you can

19:57

argue against but I just didn't

20:00

have a problem with this game. And evidently,

20:03

Steve Terrendel and Pablo Mastriani met before

20:05

the game with the referees and they

20:07

determined, yes, we're going to play this

20:09

game. And then as the game progressed

20:11

and the snow started coming down, yes,

20:13

the circumstance changes, but you're

20:15

already in it. So as far as RSL was

20:17

concerned, we're in it to win it. We

20:20

do sometimes see in these like Green Bay Packers

20:22

games when it's freezing cold, you do have these

20:24

nut jobs in the stands without their shirt or

20:26

rank enough beer. So fans don't always come prepared

20:29

for the cold. Yeah, and there's a lot of

20:31

people, again, that looked at it from a romantic

20:33

notion as, hey, this was awesome. This

20:35

was something to be remembered, not just

20:38

in terms of the result, but there we talk about

20:40

the snow. Classy Co years back, and even the game

20:42

that we had in Minnesota just a few years back

20:44

when it comes to the national team. So this

20:46

has happened before. So I'm

20:49

sorry, Steve Terrendel and L.E.F.C. Suck it up, Buttercup,

20:51

figure it out. I could see Sean Sullivan being

20:53

that kind of guy that would go to a

20:56

game in freezing temperature and not wear a shirt

20:58

and drink enough beers to be able to kind

21:00

of jump around. Absolutely, Sean would be there without

21:02

his shirt screaming and yelling. The

21:04

other LA team fared well this weekend. The Galaxy

21:06

with a 3-1 away win over San Jose, Paintsill

21:09

with a goal and an assist to Jovalich, Ricky

21:11

Poosh on the score sheet as well. The Galaxy

21:13

have a little something going on right now. They

21:16

do, and so the question after the game, and

21:18

rightfully so, is, are the Galaxy

21:20

back? Because we've been talking about,

21:23

you would be amazed, Mossy. I talked to a

21:25

bunch of people over the weekend that are

21:27

based in Los Angeles, and they

21:29

were talking about the LAFC and

21:32

LA Galaxy dynamic. And I've said

21:34

this before, but what's

21:36

been most disappointing from a Galaxy

21:38

perspective, and I obviously have a history and

21:40

a past with the Galaxy, what's been most

21:42

disappointing to me is that while

21:44

I thought when LAFC came into market, they were

21:47

gonna light a fire under the Galaxy's ass to

21:49

not just compete, but say, no, no, no. This

21:51

nouveau riche coming into our market is not going

21:53

to pass, and we're going to up our game.

21:55

And they didn't, they went the opposite way. And

21:57

doing so, by the way, they lost market, they

21:59

lost. business and a lot of people

22:01

with the new stadium and the successful

22:04

team. So the question is, is this

22:06

version in 2024, once again under Greg

22:08

Vani, who has been given a very

22:10

long leash, is this the return to

22:12

greatness that I think a

22:14

lot of people, well not everybody

22:16

wants, but certainly people are expecting given

22:19

the LA Galaxy's history. They're back in

22:21

that this is a very very small sample size

22:24

and it's been very very good and so I

22:26

think you can be cautiously optimistic that this is

22:28

going to be a better season for the Los

22:30

Angeles Galaxy. You mentioned Pencil, who I think is

22:32

the real deal and gives that

22:35

width, but in a much

22:37

more effective and ruthless way than

22:39

who was the guy before, Cabral,

22:41

or you know that side of

22:44

the field and he's a lot more lethal and

22:46

so far so far so good.

22:49

But the Galaxy has been built

22:51

on being great, winning trophies, being

22:53

champions, being titles, being elite, and

22:57

doing it with a bravado and a

22:59

swagger. That's going to take a little

23:01

longer to get back to. Portland,

23:03

DC, United, finished 2-2. Portland jumped out

23:05

to a two elite thanks to Gols

23:07

Baspry and Moreno, but then Click

23:09

from the penalty spot made it 2-1 and

23:11

Fletcher the teenager made it 2-2. This

23:14

was such an interesting game because we talked

23:16

before about how both of these teams, Portland

23:18

and DC, had it easy in the first

23:20

week and this would be a much better

23:23

type of competition. And

23:25

look, you're flying across country. Benteke evidently

23:28

scratched right before the game so

23:30

they did this without Benteke who we know had

23:32

the hat trick in the first game. So hats

23:34

off to DC for coming back and Portland out

23:37

of the gates it was great. Everybody's screaming and yelling, they're cutting

23:39

the logs up, they're doing all that kind of stuff and then

23:41

they took the foot off the gas and they let this DC

23:44

team back in. So

23:46

I don't know if I thought I was going

23:48

to get a better idea of what these teams

23:50

are and yet I'm still left scratching my head

23:52

as to how good or not

23:54

bad but how mediocre they may be

23:57

going for it. But if to

24:00

nothing at home in that type of environment and now

24:02

you let DC come back in. You got to be

24:04

kicking yourself right now. So that's a lost report as

24:06

far as I'm concerned and a huge win for DC

24:08

going across country getting a point in

24:10

that fashion. SKC Philadelphia 1-1 of

24:13

all terror scored for SKC in

24:15

the first half, Badoya equalized late

24:18

in second half stoppage time, too late for

24:20

Peter Vermees. He felt like the game should

24:22

have been over by then and also in

24:24

the build-up to that goal there was a

24:26

throw-in that should have gone SKC's way and

24:28

went Philadelphia's way. So that this was the

24:30

replacement ref's controversy of this weekend. Yes. To

24:33

be fair, I didn't think there was

24:35

a lot of controversy other

24:38

than manufactured controversy and that's a whole other subject. I

24:40

think there's a lot of people actually

24:42

out there that

24:45

are not secretly, I think even publicly, wanting

24:48

the refs to mess up because

24:50

they have ulterior motives and

24:52

interests out there. I don't think anybody,

24:55

I don't think anybody should want the referees to mess

24:57

up. I don't think that they had a bad weekend,

24:59

but this is, it's a mistake. But

25:03

when it comes to mistake, you don't have

25:06

to be a replacement referee to make a

25:08

mistake as was evidenced multiple places around the

25:10

world this weekend. In this situation, as applies

25:12

to the other things that I know you

25:14

want to mention here, if

25:16

you are sporting KC and Peter Vermees

25:18

out there, you

25:21

can go back and you can complain and

25:23

blame the throwing. You

25:26

can go back and you can complain when it comes

25:28

to time. But

25:31

the reality is, is you didn't

25:33

close up shop and you didn't do the job.

25:35

And by the way, you didn't do it at home. And

25:38

because you didn't, you lost

25:41

out on two points there. It's not because

25:43

of the referee. It's because

25:45

you weren't mentally and physically tuned

25:48

in and turned on in the

25:50

most important moments of the game.

25:53

A mistake is going to happen. Whether you have Colina

25:56

referring the game or whether you have

25:58

a 10-year-old who's

26:00

in his or her first refereeing

26:02

capacity, refing a game. Mistakes are

26:05

going to happen from referees. In

26:07

this case, right there, it's easy for Peter

26:09

Rermis to blame the mistake. Just to fend

26:11

better and finish out the game. Yeah,

26:14

we're gonna revisit refereeing in the next

26:16

segment when we talk Forrest Liverpool and

26:18

Valencia Real Madrid. I'll save my stoppage

26:20

time rant for Valencia Real Madrid. But

26:22

as far as MLS, I know this

26:24

caught your attention, this athletic piece about

26:26

how MLS broadcasters are approaching the replacement

26:28

rest. Yeah, so the

26:30

good folks over there at the

26:32

athletic, and they're wonderful

26:35

over there, and they get a lot

26:37

of scoops over there. So they reported,

26:39

let me make sure this was Jeff Ruder over

26:41

there, that MLS

26:44

had advised the talent,

26:46

which is what you call people on

26:48

television, that are broadcasting the game in

26:51

a memo that was sent around. They advised all of

26:53

these men and women that broadcast the game on the

26:55

weekend that, quote, fans

26:58

tune in to watch and listen to the

27:00

game. The memo read, in part,

27:03

quote, they aren't focused on the officials,

27:05

therefore, we don't believe it is necessary to

27:07

belabor the point during the match. It is

27:10

best to mention the situation in the pregame

27:12

and move on, end of quote. Now, what

27:15

this memo referred to was the

27:17

ongoing back and forth and negotiation

27:19

and the lockout of the

27:21

referees when it comes to Major League Soccer, which is

27:23

why we have talked about replacement referees over the last

27:25

couple of weeks. Now, a

27:28

lot of people looked at this and

27:30

screamed and yelled about it. I

27:33

didn't think this was that big a deal when it

27:35

comes to Major League Soccer, in that it's

27:38

your business and you want to put

27:40

your best foot forward. And this type

27:42

of memo or directive, I

27:44

think that you could apply this and

27:46

this would happen in numerous situations when

27:48

you have a company, an

27:50

entity out there that is trying to

27:52

put its best foot forward in this

27:55

situation. And so I don't think that this

27:57

is beyond the pale. I don't think that this is problematic. I'm

27:59

a less... going to do what they need to do

28:01

to put out the best product when

28:04

it comes to their game. So

28:06

I didn't think that was such a big

28:09

deal, but I wanted to mention it out

28:11

there because it is an ongoing challenge

28:14

and it could turn into an ongoing

28:16

problem because the more this goes on,

28:18

the more opportunity there is for

28:20

mistakes to be made and for

28:23

those mistakes to be equated

28:26

with the replacement referees. Whether

28:29

it's true or not, and we'll talk a little bit

28:31

more about that later, whether it's true or not,

28:33

they are going to be blamed. The replacement

28:35

referees are going to be blamed for mistakes.

28:38

It's if those mistakes would happen no matter

28:41

what that it gets lost in

28:43

this conversation right now. But

28:46

from a referee perspective and the ones that

28:48

are being locked out right now, they may

28:50

even benefit from the longer this goes on

28:53

because just by the amount of games, there

28:55

are going to be mistakes and they, in

28:57

terms of the replacement referees, are going to

29:00

get blamed. And there is this

29:02

general trend in sports media. I've read

29:05

multiple think pieces about this. The relationship

29:07

between networks and sports leagues is becoming

29:09

one of partners who are promoting a

29:11

product. I know ESPN has been

29:13

criticized at times for the way they treat the

29:15

NBA. We've been criticized at times for the way

29:17

we treat some of our properties. I

29:19

know the world, soccer talks to the world, are always ready

29:21

to pounce on stuff like that, but I just think it's

29:23

a general trend of the way sports media is going. Well,

29:26

first off, the people that pounce, especially

29:28

those that work for big corporations or

29:30

big entities out there, big companies out

29:33

there, they're being hypocritical

29:35

because there are directives that come all the

29:37

time from the top and from the leadership

29:39

in terms of messaging, in terms of what

29:41

you want to do, in terms of what

29:43

you can do and what you can't do.

29:46

So screaming and yelling about it,

29:48

unless you're, I guess,

29:50

a complete body

29:52

unto yourself and you answer to no one

29:54

out there, we all have

29:56

bosses. And we all, like I said, have directives

29:58

out there. And I don't

30:00

think that that's necessarily a problem. I think we

30:02

all understand it and we put

30:05

it into our assessment of what we are

30:07

watching. And so when you're watching an Apple

30:10

production and you're watching MLS

30:12

out there, the understanding

30:14

coming from the athletic here that these

30:16

men and women have been told, hey, listen, don't

30:18

dwell on it. Does that

30:20

change your experience?

30:22

Is that a problem that they're not

30:24

bringing it up every two minutes? No,

30:28

it's not a problem. You know it. If

30:30

you want to talk about it, go ahead and talk about

30:32

it. If you want to scream and yell about it, go

30:35

ahead and scream and yell about it. If you don't want

30:37

to partake in this when it comes to the product that's

30:39

being put out there because of this specific reason, then

30:41

don't partake in it. Very

30:44

quickly, Liga Mex this past weekend, Cuba,

30:46

America with a 5-1 win over Atlas

30:48

Zendejas with two goals there. Chivas

30:50

got drilled 3-0, awaited Cruz-Asu, Cade

30:52

Cowell started, was replaced by Chicharito

30:55

in the second half. Then

30:57

Monterey with a 3-0 home win over Pumas,

31:00

Brandon Vasquez with a beautiful goal, his sixth

31:02

in all competitions. How great

31:04

has it gone for Brandon Vasquez over there in terms

31:06

of just what he's doing,

31:08

obviously from American perspective and the stock.

31:12

It is kind of nice too, we were talking

31:14

earlier about this dynamic

31:16

of leagues and how

31:18

protective we are and how sensitive we are. Luis

31:22

Juarez comes over here and what it says or what

31:24

it doesn't say about that league. Now

31:26

you have Brandon Vasquez going over there

31:29

and scoring consistently and just eating

31:31

it up and a couple years

31:33

ago he was phenomenal. It wasn't

31:35

great last year and wasn't scoring

31:37

at will right there. So Monterey,

31:40

what does this say about MLS

31:42

versus Liga Mex? MLS

31:45

is at least as good and arguably

31:47

better. Alright, anything else my friend? We

31:50

talked about MLS, we talked about Liga Mex.

31:52

So naturally next we go to the CONCACAF

31:54

Champions Cup, the round of 16 gets

31:56

on their way this week. We have 3

31:58

MLS versus Liga Mex. matchups, Philadelphia

32:01

Pachuca, Orlando City Tigres,

32:04

and Cincinnati, Monterey, Brandon Vasquez

32:06

facing his former team. We

32:08

also have two all-MLS matchups,

32:10

Nashville, Inter Miami, Houston vs.

32:12

Columbus, and a tasty all-Mexican

32:14

affair, Chivas, America, Cal vs.

32:16

Andejas, the Super Classico. So yeah, this competition

32:18

is really going to start to percolate here.

32:20

Yeah, I don't even know where to... I

32:23

mean look, the Chivas America thing, that's

32:25

awesome. I'm really interested in the Nashville

32:27

Miami, given what we've talked

32:30

about, what Miami is and Mossy's very

32:33

quick pronouncement that they

32:35

are the elite and the cream of the crop

32:37

when it comes to Major League Soccer. Of all

32:40

the trophies they're going for this season, to me

32:42

this is the likeliest one because it's only eight

32:45

games and it's early in the season. They haven't

32:47

put a lot of miles on those legs, so

32:49

if they prioritize this, I think they're the favorites

32:51

to win it. And again, if you

32:53

win it, I get so confused sometimes. But as

32:56

you win it, they... You go to

32:58

that expanded Club World Cup next year.

33:00

Wonderful. All right, so all sorts

33:02

of stuff midweek when it comes to MLS

33:04

and League MX. And a programming note, the

33:06

following Tuesday, we have

33:09

a triple header on FS1, round of 16 second

33:12

legs. We're going to do Pachuca,

33:15

Philadelphia, Columbus, Houston, Antigua's Orlando City.

33:17

I know you're involved with John

33:19

Strong's, Tuhold and Keith Kosigan. Kobe

33:22

Jones, Moe Duh, Johnny Arai and Brad

33:24

Wymer producing. Zach Kenworthy coordinating. I'll be there. It's

33:26

going to be kind of getting the band back

33:28

together tonight at Fox. Exactly. It's been too long.

33:30

It's been feast or famine with us, and so

33:32

I'm ready to feast, my friends. So that'll be

33:34

fun Tuesday. All right, anything else? That is it.

33:36

All right, let's take another quick break. Let's take

33:38

our first quick break, and when we come back,

33:41

ooh, we head abroad to recap a

33:43

huge, huge weekend for US Men's National

33:45

Team players over there in Europe and

33:47

other schools. See ya. Okay,

33:50

welcome back. Let's head around and

33:52

check out some games over there in Europe, and

33:54

especially the ones that involved some US Men's National

33:56

Team players. Should we start over there in Italy?

33:58

Yes, on Friday, AC Milan. claim

34:00

the one nil away win over Lazio

34:02

Okafor with a late goal. Crazy game

34:04

in which Lazio had three players sent

34:06

off and Christian Pulisic was directly involved

34:09

in two of those red cards. In

34:11

the 50th minute Pellegrini committed

34:14

a foul on him and picked up a yellow.

34:16

Then seven minutes later Taty Casallanos

34:18

is down on the ground and so Pellegrini

34:20

who had the ball wanted to play it

34:22

out of bounds. Pulisic didn't realize that he

34:24

stole the ball from him and dribbled

34:27

towards the goal. Pellegrini reached out and

34:30

grabbed him and got himself a second

34:32

yellow and a red card. Lazio were

34:34

absolutely livid and then in stoppage time

34:36

when Duzy had the ball Pulisic grabbed

34:39

him, committed a foul and when Duzy

34:41

shoved Pulisic off of him and onto

34:43

the ground but the referee then gave

34:45

Guinduzi a second yellow and a red

34:48

card. The incident with Pellegrini was a

34:50

real talking point here in the post-game

34:52

press conference. Stefano Pioli passionately defended Pulisic

34:54

against charges that it was unsportsman behavior.

34:57

He received death threats on social media afterwards.

34:59

His teammates are rallying around them so crazy

35:01

stuff. I mean

35:03

where do you start with this game? So first off as

35:06

an actual result this is a great result for Milan

35:09

going to Rome and beating Lazio so

35:12

congratulations to Christian Pulisic. Christian

35:14

Pulisic was such a protagonist

35:16

in this and such a pest in

35:18

this is wonderful. Now

35:21

specifically on the play and this is

35:23

a bigger discussion here it

35:26

drives me nuts. I

35:28

love Christian Pulisic for a number of

35:30

different reasons but this particular play made

35:33

me love him even more because

35:35

in this instance what you

35:37

saw was what players

35:39

and what teams and what soccer should

35:42

be in that you play to the

35:44

whistle. Too often there are players that

35:46

take it upon themselves to

35:49

decide when the game should start or

35:51

finish and then they hide

35:53

behind this injury or

35:56

what they perceive as an injury and oh

35:58

above the game and this is in

36:00

the spirit of the game and this is being

36:02

a true professional and

36:05

all of that. I looked at this

36:08

and I have absolutely no sympathy

36:10

for Lazio. Absolutely

36:13

none. Christian Polisic did what

36:15

any player not any

36:17

player, but what players should do. And

36:20

in that moment you

36:22

can look around and say, oh no, we've stopped playing,

36:24

we're not doing that. No. You just

36:27

keep playing. Because in

36:29

this game, as you know Masi, if

36:31

I had a nickel for every single time somebody

36:33

came up and told me, well

36:36

why are they rolling around? Why are they faking it? I don't

36:38

have an answer to

36:40

that. And so in this day and

36:42

age where I think it's even become at times

36:44

worse, I

36:48

love that Christian Polisic, and in

36:50

this case Milan, said no, we're just going to

36:52

play. And if the referee blows the whistle to

36:55

stop the game, that is because that referee is

36:57

in the position to do so and has been

36:59

given not just the

37:01

right, but the responsibility to

37:03

blow it. And if they don't do

37:06

it, game on my friend. And

37:08

that's what Christian Polisic said and I love him

37:10

for it. I agree 100%. If

37:12

a player is down on the ground injured, it should be at

37:14

the referee's discretion whether you stop the game or not and if

37:16

he doesn't blow the whistle, you keep playing. It shouldn't be incumbent

37:18

on the players on the field to decide whether the injury is

37:20

serious enough to kick the ball out of bounds and then you

37:22

have to give it back to them and then

37:25

the game situation matters. A

37:28

team is more apt to be sportsmen if

37:30

they're winning and it's earlier in the game versus

37:32

if they're losing late. So you get into all

37:34

that nonsense and so just leave

37:36

it up to the referee. Exactly.

37:38

There are no saints in this

37:40

game, Asi. There are only sinners

37:43

and often times we see the

37:45

sinner hiding behind that saint when

37:47

it comes to the

37:49

stoppage of the game and the belief

37:52

that the players should be able to decide that.

37:54

They kicking the ball out of bounds and all

37:56

that kind of stuff. It just drove me crazy.

37:58

The referee is there. To make

38:00

that this decision and determination like you said,

38:03

so let them do that and just keep

38:05

playing Also

38:07

this weekend Napoli claimed a 2-1 home

38:09

win over Juventus But at Scalia scored

38:11

in the first half then Kiesa equalized

38:13

late But Raspadori scored the winner

38:15

even later. Wes and McKinney did not play because

38:17

that shoulder injury Timmy Wayak came on as a

38:20

sum Do we have

38:22

a timeline yet on on Western McKinney because

38:24

we talked about his shoulder situation here I

38:26

don't think it's gonna be long term But

38:30

it's you know when I see Weston

38:32

Mc-or what now when I see Juventus play and

38:34

play without Weston McKinney It just it's

38:37

not the same and from a result results perspective

38:39

It's obvious you need Weston on the field in

38:41

order to win you wonder why Shawn Sullivan is

38:43

winning awards He got in my ear right away

38:45

gave me the Western news guys at the Delos

38:47

sport reporting They hope he's back for the next

38:50

game. There we go. There we go. So listen

38:52

Juventus needs Weston McKinney that he's American is

38:55

just you know a part part of the

38:57

story All right. What else we

38:59

go to the era divisie a

39:01

next PSV Feynord finished to two

39:03

Destin Tillman started peppy was an

39:05

unused sub Tillman scored a sensational

39:07

goal Santi Jimenez on the score

39:10

sheet for Feynord alright,

39:12

so Alec Tillman Sensational

39:16

a nutmeg and then okay nice finish. That's

39:18

it as good as Luis Suarez I

39:22

Will say I'm Malik Tillman. He's on

39:24

loan from Bayern Munich You

39:27

wonder if he's played well enough this

39:29

season at PSV for Bayern to give him another shot

39:31

there now this is

39:34

Do you think that this is a bad result for PSV? No,

39:38

this keeps them ten points in front

39:40

and they remain unbeaten. Remember they're vying

39:42

for an invincible. Okay. All right All

39:44

right. Yeah, convinceables in that they haven't

39:46

lost. Correct. Got it. Should we go

39:48

over the to England? Yes,

39:50

we go to the championship first Norwich with

39:52

a 1-0 win over Sunderland Josh Sargent with

39:54

another goal He's now up to 11 goals

39:57

and 15 championship matches this season

40:00

Yes, and now you got Josh Sargent who's killing it right

40:02

now in Wonderful and scoring

40:04

goals we mentioned early with Brandon Vasquez

40:06

doing what he's doing You

40:09

know Pepe coming in and out and getting his goals and

40:11

playing Who's missing out

40:13

there? Oh, what's balligan balling you better keep up

40:16

my friend. I will mention him in a minute

40:18

I'm starting to see the first

40:20

sergeant transfer rumors. I read Brentford

40:22

this weekend Ivan Tony

40:25

probably gonna leave this summer. They've already

40:27

signed this Brazilian Igor Tiago from

40:29

Club Bruges She's played a lot of money for him,

40:31

but Vettilin. They're also interested in sergeant Well,

40:33

there's nothing more valuable than goals in

40:35

the game And there's nothing more valuable than the

40:38

people that score goals and whether you're a big

40:40

old red-headed American or anybody else people will come

40:42

Calling when you do it on a consistent basis,

40:44

which is what our friend Josh Sargent is doing

40:47

Now we stay in England but move up

40:49

a level to the Premier League Nottingham

40:51

Forest suffered a 1-0 home defeat to

40:53

Liverpool Gio Reina did not

40:55

play because of a minor injury and obviously neither did

40:57

Matt Turner who was on the bench the

41:00

Liverpool goal deep in stoppage time Darwin

41:02

Nunez and there was some controversy in

41:04

the lead-up to it because Conaté

41:07

picked up a head injury while Forest had

41:09

the ball the game was stopped and then

41:11

when it restarted They gave the ball to

41:13

Liverpool. So our colleague Mark Clattenberg who evidently

41:15

works for a forest as a referee analyst

41:17

I didn't even know that was a thing.

41:19

It's a brave new day for Well

41:22

done for being able to carve that

41:24

I guess new job out that

41:27

exists out there Yeah, he's talking about farce

41:29

launching some sort of protest. We know that

41:31

never leads to anything But nevertheless, we talked

41:33

in the opening segment about replacement referees catching

41:35

a lot of grief You're

41:38

wondering why the actual referees Don't

41:41

face the same criticism quote-unquote the best league

41:43

in the world How is it possible that

41:45

an error was made like this? How is

41:47

it possible that these these referees at the

41:49

highest level that have all of this experience?

41:52

Are able to go on the field and make

41:54

such an error. How is it possible? They're

41:56

not even replacement referees. Oh my goodness

42:00

I will say this back to the Mark Clattenberg

42:02

thing. If this job is something that takes

42:04

hold and other teams are doing this, it's

42:07

basically you're just doing it to have

42:09

somebody advocating

42:11

for you out there publicly to

42:14

maybe just the situation to maybe get a point

42:16

here or a call here along the way and

42:18

who knows maybe to these teams they got a

42:20

lot of money, maybe it's worth them to have

42:22

something something like that. Again,

42:25

in this situation a mistake was made

42:28

and ultimately you

42:31

can go back which is certainly what

42:33

not only the players but the owner

42:35

of the forest did, you can go

42:37

back and blame the mistake over

42:39

there. But there's still a lot that has

42:41

to happen before that ball goes

42:43

in the net whether it's for Nottingham Forest

42:45

or whether it is for Sporting KC over

42:47

there. There's a lot of stuff that can

42:50

be done to snuff out the

42:52

fire and to recognize and smell the

42:55

potential for problems along the way that

42:57

wasn't done. And we can just keep

42:59

rolling it back until you find a

43:01

situation where you feel aggrieved and

43:04

say well that's the reason why the ball went in the

43:06

net, that's the reason why we tied the game, that's the

43:08

reason why we lost the game. On

43:11

Sunday Manchester City claimed a 3-1 win

43:13

over Manchester United in the Derby. United

43:15

actually took the lead in the first

43:18

half, Rashford with a sensational strike and

43:20

in the second half Foden equalized with an

43:23

equally sensational strike then Foden again made it

43:25

2-1, Holland in stoppage time sealed it, 3-1

43:27

the final for the citizens. So

43:29

I think a couple of things come out of this game. One

43:32

and not that he's just bursting

43:35

on the scene or anything but Phil Foden and

43:37

what he has I guess

43:39

become and matured into and

43:43

especially in light of all the other stars that have

43:45

been bandied about when it comes to Man City and

43:47

others out there, this was kind of his game. I

43:51

saw a lot of people talking online

43:53

and social media out there about how important

43:55

he has become and how great he has

43:57

become and look he's doing it. on

44:00

a field with Erwin Holland and the Broynas

44:02

and these types of the players out there.

44:04

So I think this was his game. You

44:07

can't say it's a coming out type of game because

44:09

he's been there all along, but he grabbed a hold

44:11

of this game with both hands and showed why he

44:13

is one of the great players in

44:16

the world. I think the other side of that story

44:19

is just how poorly Manchester United played.

44:21

Notwithstanding the wonderful goal from Rashford, and

44:23

that's a whole other conversation of what

44:25

Rashford is and what he isn't, but

44:28

in the same way that I talked about finally

44:30

seeing a better version of the US

44:33

Women's National Team that came out this weekend, you're

44:36

waiting for that better version of Manchester

44:38

United to come along and it is

44:40

yet to materialize. And it was graphically

44:42

illustrated how it is yet to materialize

44:44

in this game. Now we have

44:47

the Euros this summer. I keep thinking about that England

44:49

team with Harry Kane doing what he's doing at Bayern,

44:51

Jude Bellingham doing what he's doing at Real Madrid, Saka

44:54

and Foden having the seasons there, having Declan Reiss at

44:56

Arsenal, and even Rashford who hasn't had a great season

44:58

still shows you these flashes of how good he is.

45:00

It is scary. Yeah, they're stocked. They are stocked. And

45:03

they'll be one to watch and they will rightly be

45:05

the favorites whether it comes to the Euros and if

45:07

they continue on and this continues to progress, then certainly

45:09

in 2026. So in the Premier League

45:11

Liverpool at 63, City at 62, we're

45:14

taping this on Monday morning, Arsenal face Sheffield

45:16

United later today. If they handle their business, they'll be at

45:19

61. The Premier League,

45:21

all things being equal, is already the most

45:23

entertaining league and they have by far the

45:25

best. So next week,

45:27

Liverpool host Manchester City later in the month,

45:29

City host Arsenal. So it's really gonna start

45:31

popping off here in the next few weeks.

45:33

We've seen in the past where Man City

45:36

have gone on streaks and really rattled off a

45:38

bunch of points. And there's still some really big

45:41

games to be had here. Do

45:43

you see missteps? Are

45:45

they just inevitable? Because these are three

45:47

pretty money types

45:49

of teams when it comes to their results. And will it

45:52

really just come down to whenever they're

45:54

playing each other in those types of moments? Yeah,

45:56

I don't- Next points, they call it work. I

45:58

don't see either City or Liverpool. pull dropping

46:00

too many more points. I think it's going to

46:02

be an incredible eyeball to eyeball race between those

46:04

two. And I had dismissed Arsenal and

46:07

their ability to keep up with those two, but I'm

46:09

even wondering about them, the way they're playing. They might

46:11

be in there until the end too. So it's going

46:13

to be absolutely incredible. It's fun. It's

46:15

a fun title race. It's one that I think

46:17

other leagues would love to

46:20

have, but oftentimes oftentimes don't. And to your

46:22

point, the rich get richer in terms of

46:24

the eyeballs and the popularity and the entertainment.

46:26

And there it is. All right, what else?

46:29

Next up, UEFA Champions League round the 16

46:32

second legs this week on Tuesday. Bayern Munich

46:34

play host Alazio needing to overturn a one-nil

46:36

deficit. I mentioned the Premier League has by

46:38

far the best title race. It is over

46:40

in Germany. Bayern stumbled again this past weekend.

46:43

They drew Freiburg while Leverkusen handled their business

46:45

against Cologne. It is a 10-point gap with

46:47

10 to play. So it is over there.

46:49

So all Bayern have to play for the

46:51

rest of the season is trying to win

46:54

the Champions League. It may not even get

46:56

passed around on the 16. Is that enough?

46:58

Because obviously, like you said, they put all their eggs

47:00

in this UCL basket here.

47:04

They're down one nothing. Playing at

47:06

home. What do you got? Bayern,

47:08

Alazio. I think Bayern will advance.

47:10

Oh, I do too.

47:12

So I'm there with you. All right.

47:14

Then next one. Then also on Tuesday,

47:17

Raoul Sociedad hosts PSG, Sociedad looking to

47:19

overturn a two-nil deficit. The interesting note

47:21

on PSG is this past weekend, they

47:23

were away to Monaco to finish. No,

47:26

no. Balagan started for Monaco, by the

47:28

way. Mbappe started, was subbed off at

47:30

the half, got changed in

47:32

the dressing room and watched the second half from

47:34

the stands with his mother. That situation gets weirder

47:37

by the day. Wow. When you run into your

47:39

mother, then you don't think I'm good. Oh boy.

47:41

Oh boy. We talked about it last week about

47:44

this punitive way that they are going about it.

47:46

But I kind of like the pettiness. All

47:50

right. So you got Sociedad, PSG, PSG

47:52

leading two-nup and going to Sociedad.

47:55

I'll say PSG, but I wouldn't put a pass on

47:57

to screw this up. Really? I'm not even going to

47:59

qualify. It's weird fun. Yeah, then Real

48:03

Madrid will host Leipzig around legit with a

48:05

1-0 aggregate lead you would expect them to

48:07

finish off Leipzig there But

48:10

the big story with round Madrid is what happened

48:12

this past weekend. They were away to Valencia They

48:14

went down to nil then Vinicius scored twice to

48:16

make it to two and then

48:18

deep in stoppage time Real Madrid

48:20

earned a corner and the referee evidently indicated that

48:22

the corner was going to be the last play

48:24

of the game But then the corner

48:27

was always sort of half cleared and Raheem Diaz

48:29

put it right back into the box Bellingham

48:31

headed it in for what he thought was the winner But

48:33

the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game

48:36

while the ball was in the air And so

48:38

Real Madrid were absolutely furious Bellingham complained so

48:40

much. He got a red card He's gonna

48:42

be suspended for upcoming games. But again, it's

48:45

triggered this larger debate about stoppage time I talked

48:47

about it with my father this morning and

48:50

of all the things that non soccer fans

48:52

asked me about with this sport this is

48:54

the one I have the hardest time defending

48:56

the ambiguity at the end of the game

48:58

is Ridiculous as to when

49:00

a game is gonna no other sport has this The

49:03

New York Times wrote a column about it today and the guy

49:05

suggested I think it was a pretty good suggestion that When

49:08

the referee indicates how much

49:10

stoppage time is gonna be played from

49:12

that point forward You put that amount

49:14

of time on the scoreboard and any

49:16

stoppage after that the referee Indicates

49:19

that you stop the clock right there and then

49:22

you started again when play resumes And

49:24

so everybody knows they can see the clock they can see

49:26

when the game is gonna end You can do a countdown

49:28

like every other sport three two one boom end of the

49:30

game We have to do something I fad

49:32

instead of worrying about blue cards, which by the way, it

49:34

sounds like they're gonna scrap That's a

49:36

conversation for another day This is something you need

49:38

to fix this ambiguity as to when a game

49:41

is gonna end is leading to so much controversy

49:43

and I'm sorry It's correctable MLS had

49:45

the right idea when they first started the league and

49:47

then they sort of got peer pressured into Conforming with

49:49

how the rest of world does it but remember how

49:51

the clock used to count down and the referee would

49:54

stop the clock Whenever there was any sort of stoppage

49:56

and started again. I'm sorry that this this is something

49:58

that needs to be addressed question for you. Were

50:01

these replacement referees that were being used? No, they

50:03

were not. They were the real referees, the

50:06

experienced referees, the men and women

50:08

that have studied and

50:10

have had all of this game time and

50:13

in this moment. Oh my

50:15

goodness. I do think that a

50:17

proper compromise is to in that

50:19

moment, not during the first

50:22

90, but in that moment actually make it

50:24

stop time so everybody can see it. We've

50:26

talked about how in MLS stadiums right now,

50:28

at least the clock is now visible because

50:31

that ambiguity they talk about. And let's be

50:33

honest, the confusion that people have. Now there

50:35

is a part of me that

50:37

kind of likes the fact that

50:39

it is a unique aspect of soccer.

50:42

I know it's a frustrating aspect of soccer

50:44

for you and for many others there, but

50:47

the fact that all of that

50:49

power is in that one person

50:51

at that time to just kind

50:53

of arbitrarily say, well, this is

50:55

the point where I

50:57

feel that it's been fair in

50:59

terms of the time that I have. That might be

51:01

too much power for any one individual and it might,

51:03

if it's a whole lot more clarity when it comes

51:06

to stop time with a clock there. So I would

51:08

advocate for that. That's just, that's smart. And I think

51:10

that that would be something that a lot of people

51:12

would jump on to. I don't know who would push

51:14

back on something like that. And the historical

51:17

reference everybody is making is in Brazil's opening

51:19

match against Sweden at the 1978 world cup,

51:21

the score was 1-1, Zico

51:24

headed in a corner at the end of the game and

51:27

the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game

51:29

while the ball was in the air. And

51:31

that result, that game finishing tied versus Brazil

51:33

winning made it where Brazil ended up

51:36

in the same side of the bracket as Argentina and

51:38

affected the whole rest of the tournament and

51:40

how it played out. Argentina ended up winning that world

51:42

cup. But so yeah, I saw Gary Lineker referenced that

51:44

on X and in the New York Times article, they

51:46

referenced that that's kind of, everybody was old enough to

51:48

remember it. That's kind of where their mind goes when

51:50

they see an incident like that. Yeah. I mean, again,

51:52

it kind of goes back to what we were talking

51:54

about in terms of playing to the whistle. And

51:56

this is something that coaches and parents and people

51:58

have talked about for years. playing to

52:01

the whistle. But you're on the field when it's, when

52:03

again you don't know, and it's not just in

52:06

the stands, the players don't know when it's going

52:08

to actually happen, and you're screaming and yelling at

52:10

the referee saying, blow it, blow it, it's done,

52:12

do it now, do it now, and then

52:15

they might decide that it's going to happen in

52:17

the middle of a cross or they might decide.

52:19

Now most referees try to find

52:21

a neutral or benign type of moment

52:23

to blow it, so there's not that

52:25

type of blowback. But if and when

52:27

somebody actually adheres to, albeit

52:30

their own personal clock that they are keeping,

52:33

it's hard to blame them. I mean, they are

52:35

going by the letter of the law, literally the

52:38

laws in the game, that give

52:40

them that autonomy to make that decision. So

52:43

I don't know. I think to your point, we

52:45

get the stop clock on

52:48

the field, you can even sponsor the stop clock sponsored by

52:50

whoever it is and make some money out of it and

52:52

have a whole lot of clarity on and off the field.

52:55

Man City also in action this week and the

52:57

champs like they host Copenhagen, they have a 3-1

52:59

aggregate lead, so they will finish

53:01

off Copenhagen and for sure advance there. All

53:03

right, so we're Real Madrid and Man City to go

53:05

on there. Yep. All right, let's take another quick break.

53:07

When we come back, it's time for Ask Alexi. Okay,

53:11

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

53:14

of the show where you send in your comments,

53:16

questions, and concerns. And keep in mind that out

53:18

there on the social media platforms, our handle is

53:20

S-O-T-U with Lexi. Use that hashtag Ask Alexi out

53:22

there on the social media platforms, or you can

53:25

call into our State of the Union podcast hotline,

53:27

which is 657-549-2297. That's 657-549-2297.

53:30

Masi, what other folks want to know this show? First up, Mike on X asks,

53:38

is there any possibility of MLS going through

53:40

a rebrand whether they buy U.S.L. or not?

53:43

Oh my goodness. So I had mentioned, I don't

53:45

know, a few weeks back about big

53:48

type of bold actions. And one of the things

53:51

that I talked about was MLS buying

53:55

and acquiring, if you will, in terms

53:57

of an asset, U.S.L. And

53:59

become a all MLS with everything that

54:01

happens and kind of bringing everything into

54:03

one tent and one brand. So

54:06

whether they buy it or not, we

54:09

have in the past seen MLS

54:11

rebrand and when you talk about

54:13

a rebrand there could be the

54:15

aesthetic rebrand and that

54:17

comes down to your brand,

54:20

your mark, your logo, whatever you want to talk it

54:22

for people that are watching they can see our old

54:25

MLS logo which was of

54:28

a time as a lot of brands are

54:31

and while some of them become timeless, MLS

54:34

didn't feel that this was what

54:36

they needed going forward and it was you

54:38

know a 90s type of artwork

54:40

and aesthetic when it comes

54:43

to Major League Soccer and they moved on

54:45

to something better, something that was actually had

54:47

the ability to be used by in multiple

54:49

ways and was much more functional going forward.

54:52

What didn't change was

54:54

Major League Soccer. Now

54:57

and when you're talking about

54:59

rebrands the potential to actually

55:02

rebrand the actual league in

55:05

terms of what it is called that could be

55:07

on the table. I don't see that

55:09

happening. While we have seen teams, many

55:11

teams rebrand in terms of what

55:13

their team name is and very few of the

55:16

originals still exist, for the

55:18

most part when it comes to what Major

55:20

League Soccer is an MLS. It's

55:22

a known league around

55:25

the world and I think it would be problematic to

55:27

go and change it although who knows you could you

55:30

know call it football or something like that

55:33

or an association which we know

55:35

is where soccer comes from it. So you

55:37

could do creative things but I don't think

55:40

that it would be prudent from a

55:42

business perspective changing what Major League Soccer

55:44

is. Whether people like or don't like

55:46

MLS they still recognize when you say

55:49

Major League Soccer when you say MLS

55:51

what it is and globally which is

55:53

very very important to to

55:56

Major League Soccer. But it does bring up I

55:58

see a whole lot of ideas about what

56:01

MLS and I

56:03

guess soccer in general looks like going forward.

56:05

We've talked about how important 2026. Um,

56:09

and I guess it's a good time also to mention that

56:11

the U S open cup, some news

56:13

that we've talked about over the last couple of

56:15

weeks and the back and forth. And

56:18

MLS is threatening to withdraw all of

56:20

their teams and their first teams. When

56:22

it comes to the open cup, it

56:24

has been, I guess settled

56:26

right now in that you open cup going forward

56:28

here in 2024, at least now for this year.

56:32

And for this version is going to have

56:34

eight full MLS teams. Now keep in mind,

56:36

the MLS next squads, uh,

56:38

will participate, uh, as well,

56:41

um, for, uh, for other teams, but it means that

56:43

the full teams for a lot of MLS teams are

56:45

not going to be now there's a lot of people

56:47

that are talking about this as a capitulation and this

56:50

is, uh, the United

56:52

States soccer Federation saying, uh,

56:54

whatever you want MLS. Now, what

56:57

it sounds like from the outside to

56:59

me is that nobody got everything that

57:01

they wanted and so nobody

57:03

is completely happy. And a lot of times

57:05

when you're talking about a deal that

57:08

kind of marks a fair deal

57:10

given in particular, these circumstances and keep

57:13

in mind, the United States

57:15

soccer Federation, they need

57:17

major league soccer and

57:20

MLS is a more

57:22

powerful entity MLS leverage that power to,

57:24

you know, to their benefits. In this

57:26

type of situation. And so

57:28

I guess it really comes down to what kind

57:31

of responsibility a league in this

57:33

case, MLS or could be any other league has

57:35

to the Federation. And that's where a lot of

57:37

the discussion, uh, the discussion is, but this

57:40

continues to be a work in process, a work

57:42

in progress. And this

57:44

is not done. There will continue to be

57:46

changes. So you're asking originally about a

57:49

rebrand. I think the sport is going to

57:51

look different off the field and look different

57:53

on the field going forward. That is, that

57:55

is inevitable. They're throwing

57:57

stuff at the, uh, at the wall. saw

58:00

this over there in New England, speaking of one of the

58:02

original team names, the New England

58:05

Revolution. They

58:08

have tried to get into this tradition

58:11

that exists now in multiple markets and in

58:14

multiple stadiums for teams of having a pregame

58:16

where you bring up a celebrity or a

58:19

special guest and have them do something. They

58:21

can smash a hammer

58:23

on this and that. Well, New

58:25

England, given where they are and the history and

58:27

the historic sense, they

58:29

decided to do this tossing out

58:32

of a box of tea, obviously

58:34

in reference to the Boston Tea Party

58:36

and all that history around there. Well,

58:40

it didn't quite come off the way

58:42

I think that they wanted in that

58:44

it was very dry and didn't have

58:47

the panache that others do when they're

58:49

ringing the bell up in Montreal or

58:51

the sledgehammer over there in Atlanta and that

58:53

kind of stuff. It

58:56

reminded me of, I don't know if you've been

58:58

following this crazy Willy Wonka experience that

59:00

they tried to put on that was just so

59:03

bare bones and horrible that it

59:06

actually made incredible headlines around the

59:09

world. Especially when it

59:11

comes to New England, and this is a kind of

59:13

a rebrand or an addition to the brand when it

59:15

comes to things that they are doing and trying to

59:17

establish tradition. Sometimes you want tradition to

59:20

happen organically and sometimes you got to kind of foster

59:22

it. So I don't fault

59:24

them for trying something, but I think

59:26

in this moment it just didn't come off the way

59:28

that they wanted. Who knows? Maybe they're

59:30

smarter than all of us and the bad

59:32

press is better than the no press that

59:34

normally would accompany something like this. But this

59:37

is the New England Revolution. They have people

59:40

that are on the side of this and they have since I

59:42

was playing back in 1996 when the league

59:44

kicked off, musket men. People with

59:47

muskets on the side dressed up

59:49

in historic American garb that

59:51

shoot muskets. Just give

59:53

the special guest or the celebrity up there

59:56

a musket and have him or her shoot

59:58

that. Now that's a cool thing. That's

1:00:00

something that I will watch. That's something that you

1:00:02

can put video and you can have it be

1:00:04

viral and If

1:00:06

we're gonna do something, let's do that Or if you're

1:00:08

gonna if you're if you're dead set on having the

1:00:10

tea party thing then figure out a

1:00:13

way to make it better I think our

1:00:15

friend Taylor Twelman suggested a kiddie pool at the

1:00:17

very least so that the tea lands in

1:00:19

what is the representation Of the the

1:00:22

Boston Harbor over there Anyway

1:00:25

thoughts on this I've rambled on enough Yeah

1:00:28

on the revolution I've talked about how much

1:00:30

domestic travel I want to do this year

1:00:32

I've thought about going to Boston and Experiencing

1:00:36

some of the revolutionary stuff Paul Revere's house

1:00:38

the Freedom Trail Boston Tea Party Boston Massacre,

1:00:40

etc So the concept is cool. I agree

1:00:42

with you. The execution wasn't great and Taylor

1:00:44

Twelman a revolution legend is Criticizing

1:00:47

it so they got to listen to him Yeah

1:00:49

on the open cup the biggest casualty

1:00:51

this whole situation is Stu Holden

1:00:53

has resigned from the open committee

1:00:57

Yeah, I know I know hey listen it's the

1:00:59

best thing that he possibly couldn't do he gets

1:01:01

his get his life back and it was not

1:01:03

going in the way that he wanted if you

1:01:06

if you heard him on the show and And

1:01:08

you could certainly read between the lines in terms of

1:01:10

how that that is going some news breaking as we

1:01:13

come on air here Right. Yes regarding

1:01:15

the MLS all-star game We're

1:01:18

gonna go back to the MLS versus League

1:01:20

MX Format for this year

1:01:23

I've advocated for East versus West but to me this

1:01:25

is the next best thing. I do like this MLS

1:01:27

versus League of MX We covered a couple of these

1:01:29

for Fox. I certainly like it

1:01:32

better than bringing over a European club so to

1:01:34

me, this is actually a positive news, I think

1:01:36

this is the best of both worlds because you

1:01:38

get a competitor

1:01:41

in this instance It's League MX

1:01:44

that is still having to put together a team

1:01:46

as opposed to oftentimes when you're playing a

1:01:48

team And I know that they are often

1:01:50

in preseason when they're playing The

1:01:53

MLS all-stars, but it's hard to just

1:01:55

put a group of 11 players or

1:01:57

22 players together and with with no

1:01:59

training to no training and then go on

1:02:01

the field. And the

1:02:04

MLS All-Stars have been

1:02:06

at a disadvantage because of that playing

1:02:08

against some of these teams. I know that

1:02:10

they're in preseason, but they are still teams and there's an

1:02:12

idea and a philosophy in the way that they play. So

1:02:14

in this case, it kind of evens it out and it

1:02:17

does it with a league

1:02:20

and a fan base out there that we know

1:02:22

MLS has been trying to court,

1:02:24

that we know the partnerships and the

1:02:26

history that exists between these two leagues in the

1:02:29

past now and certainly going on in the future.

1:02:31

So I think this is great and this is something that I

1:02:33

will watch. Next

1:02:36

up, we have a voicemail. Let's take a listen

1:02:38

right now. Hey, boys. This

1:02:40

is Nick. I'm from Alabama.

1:02:42

Getting over, getting sick. But

1:02:47

I've got, I've noticed this trend, like

1:02:50

with a lot of the teams in MLS

1:02:54

is that we hardly have any Americans

1:02:57

on the roster. LASC

1:02:59

is one of the teams that's

1:03:01

quite outrageous with this, in my

1:03:03

opinion, with only long enough to

1:03:07

get the right back name.

1:03:10

But I thought

1:03:12

MLS was to have to be a development league

1:03:14

for the national team. And why

1:03:16

are teams

1:03:18

allowed to do this? Do we not have any roster

1:03:20

rules? I don't know. I guess

1:03:23

not. But things are ridiculous to me. Okay.

1:03:27

Thank you, Nick from Bama. I think

1:03:29

I'm torn on this, Mosse. And I

1:03:32

am, as people that have listened or watch,

1:03:34

you know that I'm a capitalist and I

1:03:37

believe that MLS has a responsibility to MLS

1:03:39

and to MLS alone and to do the

1:03:41

things on and off the field that are

1:03:43

able to grow the business. I

1:03:46

will say this to you, Danny. Earlier,

1:03:49

sorry. Nick, sorry. Nick

1:03:51

from Bama. Nick from Bama. I will say this to you.

1:03:54

Earlier in the pod, Mosse, we were talking about

1:03:57

this juggernaut and this wealth of

1:03:59

talent. that a team like England has.

1:04:03

Now this is happening at a time where

1:04:05

there have been fewer and fewer England

1:04:08

eligible players and English players playing in,

1:04:10

but it is not arguably, it is

1:04:12

the most popular league in the world

1:04:15

in the EPL. So just because you

1:04:17

don't have a lot of players

1:04:19

from the country that

1:04:22

the league is from playing, doesn't

1:04:24

preclude you from having a good national team. However,

1:04:27

I do think that it is a little apples and

1:04:29

oranges when it comes to what America is and

1:04:31

what America wants to be when it comes to soccer. The

1:04:35

reason that I said

1:04:37

Danny is because I wanted to mention Danny McLaughlin over

1:04:39

there at Run Repeat. And

1:04:42

this is a study that they did last summer that

1:04:45

looked at the minutes played by

1:04:47

Americans in Major League Soccer and

1:04:49

the dramatic change. And from a

1:04:51

US perspective, a dramatic decrease in

1:04:54

minutes from Americans. So

1:04:57

over the last decade,

1:05:00

there's been a decrease of 29.53%. And

1:05:06

over, well, since 1996, when the

1:05:08

league started, there's been a decrease of 43.58% since

1:05:12

the first season of Major League Soccer.

1:05:14

So there are less and less minutes

1:05:16

from Americans, if

1:05:19

you will, that are playing

1:05:21

in Major League Soccer. Now that's

1:05:23

not necessarily a bad thing because

1:05:26

the other side of it is, is I

1:05:28

truly believe that the league has

1:05:30

become more competitive. And there has

1:05:32

been more talent that has been brought

1:05:35

in, and let's be honest, they've been able to

1:05:37

bring in because of the changing of

1:05:39

the rules. And this gets back to your question

1:05:41

though, Nick, about what the

1:05:43

responsibility is of Major

1:05:45

League Soccer to American soccer. And

1:05:49

if they become an incredible league, incredibly

1:05:51

successful, make a lot of money, and

1:05:53

they're popular all around the world globally,

1:05:55

but they do it by using all

1:05:58

imported talent. Is

1:06:00

that a good or is that a bad thing? Now the

1:06:03

capitalist to me would argue that you know what? You give

1:06:05

the people what they want and that's really

1:06:07

where the rub is because there are plenty

1:06:09

of people out there that

1:06:11

equate foreign talent with

1:06:14

quality and that's just

1:06:16

going to change with time. But

1:06:19

the reality is that people

1:06:22

will buy tickets, people will get more

1:06:24

excited when a player is

1:06:26

coming in from the outside than when you

1:06:28

are developing a player from the inside. And

1:06:31

so ultimately Nick from Bama over

1:06:34

there, I still think that

1:06:37

MLS talks about having a responsibility to

1:06:39

the American player and they don't just

1:06:41

talk about it because let's be honest,

1:06:43

the pathways and the opportunities that they

1:06:45

have created over the years are incredibly

1:06:48

beneficial and incredibly positive and

1:06:50

fundamentally have changed the trajectory

1:06:52

of young American players here.

1:06:57

And we mentioned the numbers there, it's

1:07:00

gotten less and less over the years.

1:07:02

While there's more teams and therefore more

1:07:04

opportunities, the actual numbers of minutes have

1:07:08

decreased. But I still believe in

1:07:10

the American player. I still believe

1:07:13

that the American player will find those

1:07:15

pathways and will find those opportunities and

1:07:17

will ultimately, when it comes down to,

1:07:19

they will compete. And I also believe

1:07:21

that the American soccer market will

1:07:24

recognize and value and celebrate

1:07:27

talent that is developed in

1:07:30

country and talent that is starring

1:07:32

for in this case, their MLS teams. But

1:07:35

this could apply to USL2. But

1:07:39

ultimately, I don't think necessarily Nick

1:07:42

that this is a bad thing.

1:07:44

There are finally, I'll say this before I turn

1:07:46

it over to you Massey, there are rules and

1:07:48

regulations in place that do, quote unquote, foster

1:07:51

and encourage domestic

1:07:53

talent and protect against

1:07:56

what you're mentioning, where you can have all

1:07:59

players. that are coming in from the outside.

1:08:01

But let's be honest, all it takes is a green card

1:08:04

and you are not counted and you

1:08:06

are able to play. And so we

1:08:09

will see teams

1:08:11

that field entirely players that

1:08:14

have come in from the outside and

1:08:16

don't have any domestic talent on their

1:08:19

rosters and on their starting 11s. And

1:08:22

is that a good or a bad thing? Well,

1:08:24

for MLS, it might be a good thing. For

1:08:27

soccer in the United States, it might not be a

1:08:29

good thing. And I guess that's that bigger question of

1:08:32

how much responsibility do you think MLS

1:08:34

has to the future of American soccer?

1:08:37

Well, first off, feel better, Nick. He's under

1:08:39

the weather as he let us know. There's

1:08:41

speculation on our control mess to whether that's

1:08:43

Nick Saban from Alabama, the legendary coach who

1:08:46

just retired. Well, it wouldn't surprise me if he

1:08:49

listens and participates in coming in. I

1:08:51

mean, Nick Saban, what a great career. So many memorable

1:08:53

moments. My favorite Nick Saban memory is when he lost

1:08:55

the Rose Bowl to Michigan this past season. But

1:08:59

as to this question, the premise

1:09:02

is correct. I've talked about this.

1:09:04

I even asked Taylor Twelman a question about it when

1:09:06

we had him on last year. It seems like the

1:09:08

transfer strategy for MLS is it's

1:09:10

a selling league when it comes to Americans, a

1:09:12

buying league when it comes to foreigners. Now,

1:09:15

it should be noted, Mexico has made

1:09:17

a concerted effort to try to keep Mexican players

1:09:19

in league of Mexico. And a lot of people

1:09:21

think it's been to the detriment of their national

1:09:23

team. So you do wanna strike a balance there.

1:09:25

But yeah, it is interesting. The last 10 MLS

1:09:28

MVPs have all been foreigners. It

1:09:30

would be nice if there were a few more

1:09:32

prominent Americans in the league as well. Yeah, it's

1:09:34

all about finding that right balance. But it also

1:09:37

ultimately stems back to the reality of what

1:09:39

soccer is and what soccer isn't in the

1:09:41

United States. You know, I mean, while

1:09:44

we've seen when it comes to hockey and

1:09:46

when it comes to basketball, a huge influx

1:09:48

and increase in foreign talent and some incredible

1:09:50

talent coming in, I don't

1:09:52

think that if it was all

1:09:54

domestic talent playing in either the NHL or

1:09:56

the NBA, I

1:09:59

don't think that they would necessarily... miss a beat.

1:10:01

From a competitive standpoint they have had

1:10:03

to use the world and

1:10:05

go out there and scout and bring

1:10:07

in talent around the world and it's

1:10:09

resulted in incredible players and incredible teams

1:10:11

but because those sports are of and

1:10:15

historically of these countries when you're talking about the

1:10:17

US and Canada I think it would be

1:10:19

different but soccer as we know we are

1:10:22

coming to it later than others and

1:10:25

we have all of the other competing sports out there

1:10:27

and so the perception

1:10:30

of what we are and the perception of

1:10:32

what players outside are what the sport is

1:10:34

outside is very different relative to those other

1:10:36

sports that you mentioned. Alright anything else

1:10:39

Mossy? That is it. Alright let's take a quick

1:10:41

break when we come back at the end of our show and I'll

1:10:43

give you my one for the road. Okay

1:10:45

welcome back it's the end of our show and at the

1:10:47

end of each and every show I give you my one

1:10:49

for the road you know the the industry of jerseys

1:10:52

kits whatever you want to call them uniforms

1:10:54

out there it just continues on and it

1:10:56

it's like catnip to American

1:10:59

soccer fans out there and soccer

1:11:01

fans around the world and the

1:11:03

changes are well documented and the

1:11:05

intrigue and the drama and trying

1:11:07

to get a hold of what

1:11:09

teams whether it's national teams or club

1:11:11

teams are going to look like as a sport in and

1:11:13

of itself so I thought

1:11:15

I'd talk a little bit about what the

1:11:17

potential is here so the folks over

1:11:19

there at footy headlines have evidently they

1:11:21

have a scoop over there they have

1:11:24

figured out what the 2024 home

1:11:26

and away uniforms for the US men's national

1:11:28

team are going to be for those that

1:11:30

are watching you can see them up here

1:11:32

in our our screen. Ah

1:11:35

okay I mean if this ends up being it I

1:11:37

am you know there's

1:11:39

a time where I like simple and

1:11:42

clean but it also has to

1:11:44

pop and while the

1:11:46

white version I guess the home

1:11:48

version it would be is simple and clean

1:11:50

it just doesn't pop in the way that

1:11:52

I wanted there is a classic look

1:11:55

to it but it's not classic enough and then

1:11:57

you have I guess maybe a return to the

1:11:59

bomb pop era when

1:12:01

it comes to the blue one, I guess we'll call it that. The

1:12:04

problem with this one is that, yes, it's

1:12:06

plain, but it's not very exciting, and the

1:12:08

excitement is supposed to be generated by the

1:12:10

bomb pop. But the bomb pop is down

1:12:12

low, and the potential for it

1:12:14

to get obscured just by where it is, or you're

1:12:16

tucking in your shirt, all that, that concerns me. But

1:12:18

again, until you actually see it on the field, you

1:12:21

don't know if it's going to work. But

1:12:24

there is a whole industry out there of

1:12:26

people who think that they can do the

1:12:28

job better than Nike or

1:12:30

Adidas or any of

1:12:32

these huge apparel companies out there. And

1:12:35

in this day and age of AI

1:12:37

and the constant discussion and

1:12:40

the concern as to what AI is going to

1:12:42

be, what it isn't going to be, how it

1:12:44

can be used for good purposes and bad purposes

1:12:46

out there, it does give us an opportunity to

1:12:48

do some different things. So

1:12:50

what ended up happening is people have

1:12:53

their own versions and their

1:12:55

own designs. And I'll tell you what, there

1:12:57

are some incredibly creative people out there. Now,

1:12:59

they don't always have, nor should they, all

1:13:01

of the information at their disposal. And so

1:13:03

while it's easy to say they should do

1:13:06

something like this or this is good, the

1:13:09

practical ability to do it might

1:13:11

be limited. Anyway, US men's national

1:13:14

team versus haters, US MNT versus

1:13:16

haters used AI to generate this

1:13:18

jersey for the US men's national

1:13:21

team. And they asked everybody out there, including

1:13:23

me, what we thought. I

1:13:26

love this. I love this jersey

1:13:28

for a couple of different reasons. One,

1:13:31

it pops. It is

1:13:33

unique. And two, it is

1:13:36

uniquely American. And I've

1:13:38

talked about this over the last couple of years, and

1:13:41

maybe just the times that we live in have made

1:13:43

it much more front and center. But

1:13:47

I love teams, and in

1:13:49

this case, we're talking about the US soccer team,

1:13:52

that lean into, for lack of a better

1:13:54

word, the American-ness. And

1:13:56

can it be looked at as over

1:13:59

the top? and braggadocious

1:14:02

and dare I say arrogant? Yeah,

1:14:06

but I love that and that's what

1:14:08

I want. It can't be too American for

1:14:10

me. And again, maybe it's the

1:14:12

era in which you live in where, let's

1:14:15

be honest, the flag and red, white and blue

1:14:17

and stars and stripes, at times it's been weaponized

1:14:20

and villainized out there. And I wanna,

1:14:22

I guess, take it back. I wanna

1:14:24

capture it and I wanna

1:14:27

use it for, in this case, what is

1:14:29

good. And going

1:14:31

forward, we've talked

1:14:33

about the denim over the years and how that

1:14:35

has resonated. Going forward,

1:14:38

I want something that lives

1:14:41

up to that denim. I

1:14:45

want something that is comparable

1:14:49

and maybe a little bit of an homage to what 94

1:14:51

was. And I think

1:14:53

that our country, I think

1:14:55

the time demands

1:14:58

it. And I think

1:15:00

that it would be incredibly successful.

1:15:02

When I say successful, not only

1:15:04

resonates, but even from a practical

1:15:07

perspective, sell a lot. I think

1:15:09

America and Americans are

1:15:11

thirsty for America in

1:15:13

all different types of representations out

1:15:16

there. I think that we have become exhausted

1:15:19

of fighting our

1:15:21

Americanness, if you will. And

1:15:24

in the same way that we have talked about U.S.

1:15:27

Women's National Team winning back supporters,

1:15:32

this, it can be done in a much

1:15:34

different ways. And the aesthetic going forward of

1:15:36

our U.S. Men's National Team, obviously leading

1:15:38

up to 2026, our U.S.

1:15:40

Women's National Team with all they are doing, even

1:15:43

that, that can help

1:15:45

unite. And in a time

1:15:47

and in a country where we are so divided, we

1:15:50

know sports is often used to unite

1:15:52

and teams can unite. And

1:15:55

the way that you look, you want people to grab ahold of

1:15:57

it. And you want people to be proud

1:15:59

of it. And you want something that screams, you

1:16:01

know what? This is not

1:16:03

just America, but this is an America that I

1:16:05

am proud of. Even with all of

1:16:08

the problems that we have. Certainly,

1:16:10

I'll be the first one to admit, we are less

1:16:13

than perfect. But it

1:16:15

is still like country. And in

1:16:18

the sports perspective, these teams go on

1:16:20

the field representing our country. All of

1:16:22

our differences, all of our disagreements, and

1:16:24

yes, all of our flaws out there.

1:16:27

And the more that it screams

1:16:29

America, I think the better off

1:16:32

it is. So if these end up being

1:16:34

the jerseys, fine. But

1:16:36

I don't think it's leaning into

1:16:38

America enough. And I will say

1:16:40

this to finish off. If it's

1:16:43

not leaning into America, because

1:16:45

you're scared to do it, then

1:16:47

that angers me. And that saddens me that

1:16:49

that is what has happened to our

1:16:52

country. Where, whether it's

1:16:54

an apparel company or anybody else, they're scared.

1:16:57

To be more America. They're scared to be more

1:16:59

red, white, and blue. They're scared to be more

1:17:02

stars and stripes. Anyway, Mossy,

1:17:04

that's my one for the road. Anything before we go. That

1:17:07

is it. Nothing? You got nothing? No,

1:17:10

I mean, I prefer the understated look with kids.

1:17:12

So some of the ones you showed to me

1:17:14

were a little too busy, a little too much

1:17:16

going on there. There I say a little too

1:17:18

American. Wow. Wow.

1:17:22

We could go on for hours. I don't think you can

1:17:24

be too American, my friend. All right, listen, thank you. Thank

1:17:26

you, Mossy. You're wonderful, by the way. Thank you, everybody, for

1:17:28

reviewing and downloading and subscribing. I know we went a little

1:17:30

bit long today, but like we said, we came in and

1:17:33

we were just full of all different things that we wanted

1:17:35

to talk about. We didn't even get to all the stuff

1:17:37

that we talked about, but we appreciate you hanging out. If

1:17:39

you hung out to the end. And if you didn't,

1:17:41

you know, you should, because there's some good stuff that

1:17:43

happens all the way through. That keep reviewing, downloading, subscribing,

1:17:45

rating, doing all the different things that you do, whether

1:17:47

you're listening or whether you're watching out there or whether

1:17:50

you're listening and watching at the same time, whether you're

1:17:52

listening at regular speed, whether you're listening at double speed.

1:17:54

It doesn't really matter. We love the fact that you

1:17:56

are along for the ride when it comes to the

1:17:58

State of the Union. We'll talk to you

1:18:01

again later on this week and until then,

1:18:03

and as always my friend, Thighs the Day.