0:00

Before we begin, a reminder to please

0:02

rate and review our show. It helps new

0:04

listeners discover us and grow the program.

0:10

With the World Cup rapidly approaching, we check

0:12

in on some of the U S M n T players

0:15

and how they've looked so far for various clubs

0:17

from the Americans who have made Leeds United

0:20

a lot of fun to watch. In the course of getting a lot

0:22

of run to one big name American

0:24

who's been marginalized with Chelsea and

0:27

to do it all, we bring in one of our absolute

0:29

favorites, Luis mcguel at you Garai

0:31

from the k GLOSSO podcast and

0:33

CBS Sports. I'm

0:35

your host, John Gonzalez from

0:37

Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio.

0:40

This is Sports Illustrated Weekly.

0:49

Luise, Welcome back to Sports Illustrated

0:51

Weekly. It's always good

0:53

to come back to my Amma mater, my man. How

0:56

are you. I love to see your smiling face.

0:58

I love to talk soccer with you.

1:00

You're one of our favorite guests on this program.

1:03

We thought we would discuss with you how some Americans

1:05

are performing for their clubs ahead

1:07

of the World Cup, and I think

1:09

what better place to start than with Leeds United.

1:11

We've all seen the memes major leads

1:13

soccer Leeds United States of America. Jesse

1:15

March jumping up and down in skin tight

1:18

jeans, the American head coach on the sideline.

1:20

But Brendan Aronson, the Medford

1:22

MESSI they call him shots to New Jersey and

1:24

Tyler Adams. What have you seen from those two guys

1:26

that have the World Cup? Well, Leeds

1:29

United is it's just a great story all

1:31

over right. It started with the Marcello yes

1:34

uh, the famous Argentinean manager who

1:36

comes to this working class

1:39

town and kind of revolutionized Leeds

1:41

United, a team that used to be a giant, was

1:43

in the Championship for a long time, and then it came

1:45

back to the Premier League. Then BLSA leaves and then

1:48

that energy, that euphoria that the

1:50

Leeds United fan base had for so long

1:53

goes away and leads are very nervous

1:55

about what's going to happen next, and incomes

1:58

the wonderful Jess E. Marsha. I

2:00

know him personally, I've interviewed him,

2:03

I've talked to him both professionally and as a friend,

2:05

and I can tell you that he is everything

2:07

that you see. He's just a great

2:09

human being. Who loves

2:12

the sport, loves the unity of the

2:14

sport, loves to

2:16

create a family within

2:18

every club that he manages. He

2:21

is extremely experienced. You know,

2:23

when he arrived to Saltzburg,

2:26

the first thing he did was he wanted to learn the

2:28

language straight away. So like there's all these stories

2:30

about how great he is, and and

2:32

it doesn't surprise me that he's

2:34

doing well with Leeds United because it's

2:36

a club that just wants heart.

2:39

They just want passion, They just want

2:41

you know, They're kind of like your Eagles. They just they're

2:43

working class town that just want

2:46

I don't care if you lose, just lose

2:48

like with everything that you have inside of you. And that's

2:50

Jesse Marsh. And again it's

2:52

no surprise to me that the Leeds

2:55

United States of America decides

2:57

to recruit Tyler Adams,

3:00

probably the smartest U s m m T member,

3:03

and he's got support for about it. I'm

3:08

trying to just wear the help of any flagship.

3:11

And Brendan Aaronson I call him three

3:14

lungs because he just doesn't stop running. And

3:16

the whole team doesn't stop running. Yeah, they don't.

3:18

And Brendan Aronson is is the pivotal example

3:21

of that, Arenson going

3:30

Chilse, the pressure

3:33

literally tying off. And

3:36

I've interviewed both of them as well, and it's

3:39

no surprise to me that it's all clicking in

3:41

more ways than one. And the number

3:43

one thing is identity. You know

3:46

who they are and it's a great thing to see

3:48

for both Jesse marsha and and Aaronson

3:50

and Tyler Adams. I

3:52

love when you talk about identity and what teams

3:54

are and apologies because I know you talked

3:56

about the reverse with your beloved Aston

3:59

Villa, but it's only is working out with the A

4:01

team Aaronson and Adams

4:03

in leads. But then you look at another American

4:05

as we approach the World Cup, Kristen

4:08

Pulissa not going great for him

4:10

in Chelsea. He's played just a hundred and

4:12

one minutes through the first five matches as we record

4:15

this, he hasn't started a game this season. There were

4:17

rumors Elami that they might

4:19

loan him out. You know, man, you was mentioned

4:21

Newcastle clubs in Italy and Spain,

4:23

everybody you know, or maybe he'll go somewhere

4:25

and get some minutes ahead of the World Cup.

4:27

He certainly could have used the playing time elsewhere.

4:30

Did you want to see him go somewhere before the World

4:32

Cup? Well, you know, if I was a

4:35

U S sevent t fan, And obviously I

4:37

have a lot of love and support for this

4:39

country of yours. I live here and

4:41

my wife's Americans. Also, I pay a lot of attention,

4:43

so obviously I want to see these

4:45

talented players do well. Christian

4:48

Polistic unfortunately, is not going through a

4:50

good time from a football perspective.

4:52

And you know, as we speak, actually

4:56

there's a hashtag on Twitter called free Polistic,

4:58

Like that's just of course, that's just that's

5:00

just how my family probably

5:02

started it. Yeah, including of course

5:04

his father, who has been very public about Thomas

5:07

Tooho and Chelsea. Look, listen, here's the thing. This

5:09

is not new that Polistic

5:11

is not necessarily plan a for Thomas

5:14

Tooho and Chelsea. It's been known for

5:16

a while. Part of it is

5:18

just a system itself. Thomas

5:21

Toohol likes to be a little bit more fluid

5:24

from a wingback situation and

5:26

then making everything in possession

5:28

more central. That's why it didn't really

5:30

work with Lukaku. He wants more of a fluid,

5:32

so to speaks, and it forward like Kai Hards and

5:34

then Mason Mount behind him, they brought in Raheem

5:37

Sterling. So now Pallistic is now kind

5:39

of lost and he's wanted to go

5:41

for a while for a few reasons. He once minutes

5:43

obviously the World Cup is coming up. He wants

5:45

to play. It doesn't matter where he is, he

5:48

wants to play. And the

5:50

added problem to this is

5:52

that now that Chelsea have an owner

5:54

and Todd Boli, Todd Bowli, an

5:56

American, doesn't want

5:59

to long now Christian Polistic

6:01

and doesn't want to learn out Christian Polific specifically

6:04

to a Premier League club to arrival like

6:06

Matchester United were interested, Newcastle

6:08

were interested in Boli was like, no, I'm sorry,

6:11

I'm exing this and per multiple

6:13

reports, including some of our own with

6:15

fad To Romano and my friend Bolton Area

6:17

from the Athletic Polistic was not happy

6:19

about this. And he feels like he's just

6:21

been impeded to do what he wants

6:23

to do, which is just play. And and it's a shame

6:26

because you know, Chelsea in many ways it's

6:28

the perfect place for him, but at this moment

6:30

it's not the case. And he's not any minutes and that's a worrying

6:32

thing when you are talking about

6:35

Christian Polistic and the World Cup year. Yeah,

6:37

it is a worrying thing. I meant to ask you about

6:40

that. What you think What kind of form do you think we'll

6:42

see from Pulistic when we get to

6:44

the World Cup, because obviously, as you mentioned,

6:47

Tougle doesn't look like he's inclined to play

6:49

him anytime sooner, at least not any any meaningful

6:51

minutes. I'm gonna be very honest,

6:53

if this continues all the way up to the World

6:56

Cup, why would Greg bar Holter start

6:58

him? Why would he risk that? Especially

7:01

when you have Brandan Aaronson. We're going to talk

7:03

about some striker opportunities

7:05

for the U s M and t if timulte

7:07

Awaya, maybe it gets a few more minutes as well, because

7:09

he's also dealing with a few minutes

7:11

percentile when it comes to playing

7:14

for his club and stuff. So you know, depending

7:16

on how this form goes, Greg b Holter

7:18

has to be worried about do I even start

7:21

Polistic? Which is kind of an insane thing to think

7:23

about. After the last few years he's been

7:25

the leading man for this American team.

7:27

But this is not the gold cop, John, This

7:29

is not a friendly. This is the World Cup. And

7:32

at the end of the day, you need a player that's confident,

7:35

that's had minutes, that's ready to go, and

7:37

at this moment, none of those boxes

7:40

take on Christian policy. Yeah, you have to

7:42

pick the best team, regardless of the name on

7:44

the back of the jersey. You mentioned some of the striker

7:46

options that burr Halter might

7:48

have to choose through, So the center for

7:51

spot, I'm wondering whether

7:53

you think that's in question because he started

7:55

five different number nines during Conker Calf They

7:57

combined for just four goals in fourteen qualifier.

8:00

Ricardo Pappy had three of those and they in

8:02

two games less fall. Since then, has

8:04

not scored for club or country as we

8:06

record this. Some names to rattle off

8:08

for you for Rarera Vasque as sergeant, Right,

8:11

what's your burr Halter do upfront? What do you think he'll

8:13

do? Well? That's always been

8:15

his conundrum, I think, and that's always

8:17

been the U S M T S conundrum. But you

8:20

know, I have my own thoughts about it. I feel

8:22

like he could use it to an advantage. When

8:24

you think about Ericton hag Manchester

8:26

United manager and total Football

8:29

of the Netherlands. They almost don't even need

8:31

a striker. It's very fluid and you know,

8:33

attackers up front can move around.

8:35

So I feel like there could be a combination of that

8:37

with the U S M and T. When you ask me specifically

8:40

about our number nine, I mean listen,

8:42

like like you said, there's a few names. Ricardo

8:45

Peppy. Yeah, it hasn't gone well. Now he's

8:47

on loan to groningun He's no longer

8:49

in the Bundesliga, so obviously that's gonna be either

8:52

a regression or maybe something for him to wake up

8:54

on. I'm still a fan of Josh Sergeant.

8:56

I think he's probably the most natural number

8:59

nine, to be honest, US M M T has but again,

9:02

consistency has been an issue for him and now is

9:04

in the Championship with Norwich, so he has

9:06

to figure that out. But to me, you

9:08

know, maybe now you're focusing about

9:11

three people, two of them in MLS random

9:13

baskets. To me, I mean, why not?

9:15

Right, sixteen goals in twenty seven MLS matches

9:19

into the box, Upereta

9:23

fifteen goals in twenty seven MLS matches ch

9:27

ch check

9:30

four and

9:32

p focus. See what you fourteen goals

9:34

in Those would be my three choices.

9:37

I don't think that it should matter that you

9:40

know you're thinking no, is MLS

9:42

gonna be perhaps too much of an

9:44

early kind of judgment

9:46

called for great browth, and when you're trying to put him in the

9:48

most prestigious soccer competition out

9:50

there. But there is talent and there

9:53

is some hunger. The good news

9:55

is that he has choices. The bad

9:57

news is that none of them are consist

10:00

it so he has to figure out who

10:02

it is. To be honest with you at this

10:04

very moment, no matter what league your

10:06

plan, there is nothing like confidence.

10:09

There is nothing like confidence. It doesn't

10:11

matter where you're playing, the Premier League or MLS.

10:14

If you're confident and you're scoring goals left,

10:16

right and center, you go with the hot hand. And

10:18

to me at this point it would be Brandon Baskets. I

10:22

can't believe that you would say that the U S M

10:24

and T is looking at a bunch of inconsistent

10:26

players. Shocker.

10:28

It was ever thus, all right, so we go from MLS

10:31

potential strikers to prem defenders.

10:34

Fulham. You've got Tim Reem and

10:36

Anthony Robinson. They've gotten a ton of

10:38

minutes so far this season, have they

10:40

looked well? I've been impressed

10:43

with Fulham. Actually it didn't start

10:45

well of course, and it's never gonna be easy when

10:47

you're a newly promoted side returning to the

10:49

Premier League. But Fulham right now are eight. I've

10:52

always been a fan of those two players, specifically

10:54

Anthony Robinson. I think he has a lot to offer.

10:56

You know, Tim Reems, I

10:58

worry a little bit us because uh

11:01

e really he's fine, but positional

11:03

based. I worry a little bit. You need to

11:05

be quick footed in this group in

11:07

the World Cup for the U S M M T. I don't know if

11:10

he's the answer, but the solution right

11:12

now is the fact that you know, there are a

11:14

few players as well that are struggling to

11:16

either fine minutes or even a club like you know, John

11:18

Brooks, his move to MAJORCA was

11:21

broken down, So that's an issue. So

11:24

as long as you play competitively

11:26

as a defender, and in this case you are

11:28

a Film in the Premier League, then that's going to be

11:31

nothing but a helpful thing for you. And as

11:33

long as Film continue to compete and doing well

11:35

in the Premier League. There's no reason to think that

11:37

great Holter should either ignore them

11:40

or be not start them. So it's good for them

11:42

for sure, but it all depends as well.

11:44

We have to also think about the type of opponent

11:46

that the USMNT have in the

11:48

World Cup and what kind of striker you're

11:51

dealing with. And one of them, of course

11:53

is England, so I tend to be pretty good

11:56

exactly, and one of them is Harry Kane. An

11:58

opportunity here done,

12:02

what a goal toward its So

12:05

is it better suited to be a defendant that's playing the

12:07

Premier League that knows the Harry Kane

12:09

types. Of course that's one thing. Then Wales

12:11

and Garrett Bell of course you know,

12:13

playing an MLS, So there's a lot to think about there.

12:16

But as far as Timory Montony obins, I'm not

12:18

concerned. It's good that Philima doing well

12:20

and it's good that they're doing well in such a good league

12:22

like the Premier League. They're getting minutes,

12:25

they're getting confidence. Those are important things. As

12:27

we've mentioned. On the flip side, you've got Chris

12:29

Richards the palace, he's buried on the bench. You've

12:31

got Matt Turner, who's buried behind Ramsdale at

12:33

Arsenal. What do you mean You said it right,

12:36

You're not starting, and that's always going to be an issue.

12:38

I remember talking to um

12:40

Lancarloso Saudio, the former manager

12:42

of Mexico, in respect to Mexican

12:45

players, and you know, I would ask him like, what

12:47

what do you prefer? Do you prefer a Mexican player

12:49

that's playing constant minutes and league Amikey's

12:52

or do you prefer a player that's in

12:54

Europe but not giving him that many minutes?

12:57

But he's in Europe and he's in a good club and a good

12:59

league in Europe, but the bench, what what do you prefer?

13:01

And his answer has always stuck with me, and he said, listen,

13:03

they're obviously like, there's nothing like momentum

13:06

and consistency in playing minutes, but

13:08

people forget that it's not just about

13:11

sitting on the bench. It's also about the environment

13:13

that you put yourself in. You know, when I asked him

13:15

this question, we were thinking specifically about

13:17

somebody like Choky los Ano that had just arrived

13:20

to Napoli. He wasn't starting at the time, but

13:22

he was in Napoli and he was playing

13:25

alongside the likes of Lornzo in Senor Andres

13:27

Martin's. So he was surrounding himself

13:29

with high level competition. So

13:32

does that help you as an American? So

13:34

Matt Turner is not starting, obviously, but he

13:38

is placing himself in the club

13:40

that's the best in the Premier League right now, Like, does

13:42

that help you at least with some kind of level of confidence

13:44

because it's not like, you know, Sax

13:46

Stephan is in the lower league at this point, so that's

13:49

a different situation. So it's

13:51

that sort of decision that Great Bear Holter

13:53

has to do. He has to think to himself, who

13:55

is arriving confident, who is arriving

13:57

competitive and who is getting minutes of

14:00

a little bit of a contradiction when you think about Polistic

14:02

because he's a kind of player that needs to play

14:04

at a very high level. But I

14:06

think Great Bolt has created a family, a united

14:09

group, tightened it enough, close

14:11

enough to really elevate themselves when

14:13

they're arriving Qatar. As we mentioned,

14:16

some friendlies coming up at the end of September,

14:18

so we'll see what he does there. Last one for you,

14:20

Uh, we're recording this on Deadline

14:23

day. I decided to pick the busiest day

14:25

of your schedule to ask you to come

14:27

on the program. Now you and my wife are giving me a nightmare,

14:30

man like, I don't know what you're doing to me. Um,

14:32

that's why you're the bust because you said yes. Anyway, Uh,

14:35

Surgino desk loaned out to Milan. Do you like

14:37

that? Yeah, that's great. Fantastic

14:39

move. Fantastic moves. So Reginia just needed

14:41

minutes. Chavvy wasn't a fan of his at

14:43

Barcelona. I'm not surprised,

14:46

but now he can go to an asim Aland side

14:48

where he can compete for

14:50

that wing wet position. But at the same time he's going

14:52

to the defending champions of Said

14:55

Yeah, and they are a very

14:57

attractive side when they push up with the

14:59

ball, and this is gonna be nothing but

15:01

great for him as a young player

15:04

and as somebody that can elevate

15:06

his game in the league. That's you know, Now

15:08

that he's played in the Arativisy and

15:11

La Liga, I feel like Said Yeah is somewhere in

15:13

the middle where it's much more technical than

15:15

Editivesy, but perhaps not

15:18

as fast as some clubs in La

15:20

Liga. But with Asian Milan the best

15:22

team in said. Yeah, he now has a chance

15:25

to really learn from the best and really test

15:27

himself. And I'm hoping that he's kids as many minutes

15:29

as he can. It's a good move. I'm happy for him.

15:32

I think it will work out. By the way, he's a very

15:34

young player. He's already lived in Amsterdam,

15:37

Barcelona and now Milan. Not bad for

15:39

a young kid. Not bad, not bad. You

15:41

and I could do so well. Uh, he

15:43

learns from the best. We just learned

15:45

from the best with you. Catch him on CBS HQ.

15:47

I just saw him venting about his belove Dustin Villa.

15:50

Listen to him on the Kik Colosso podcast. Seriously

15:52

check out kick Alasso. It is excellent.

15:54

I listened to every episode. If

15:57

you like football, you will love the show.

15:59

He's got our captain's arm band. As far as

16:01

I'm concerned, lay my friend. Thank

16:03

you for this. Thank you brother. I'm gonna venmo

16:05

you now after that. Nice words, thank you to say. Sports

16:14

Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports

16:16

Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For

16:19

more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

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the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

16:24

or wherever you get your favorite shows, and

16:26

for more Sports Illustrated It's best stories and podcasts,

16:29

visit SI dot com.

16:31

This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced

16:33

by Jordan Rizzieri, Jessica Yourmoski,

16:36

and Isaac Lee, who was also our

16:38

sound engineer. Our senior

16:40

producers are Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out.

16:43

Our executive producers are Scott Brodie

16:45

and me John Gonzalez. Our

16:47

theme song is by Nolan Schneider and

16:50

if you've stuck around this long, we leave you

16:52

with this YO.

16:59

You're The action was

17:01

outrageous. I

17:03

was. I just came back from Greece. Was

17:06

amazing. Greece is good times though it

17:08

is. We had a great time. We went with like twenty five

17:10

Greeks. I

17:13

love it.