Landon Donovan
Appearances
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
The Intercontinental World Global Championship Tournament Cup. Wow. I mean, we need more soccer. Who needs more soccer?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
And I wouldn't say led his team, but was a huge part of his team winning the Euros. And then finally, Jose Lu scoring in the 88th minute. And then again in 90 plus one. Versus Bayern Munich to send Real Madrid to yet another Champions League final.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
All right, guys, that will end the first annual Unfilty's. You guys let us know who should win. What did we miss? I'm sure we missed a lot. Let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to preview what's to come for soccer in 2025. Some predictions, our ideas. right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Yeah, it should be fun. Follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube. Anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, if you like what we're doing, please leave a comment. It helps other people find us. You can also email us at feedback at unfilteredsoccer. All right. So first thing, Timmy, just a few questions. Let's go back and forth on this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Soccer. Since 2019, Volkswagen has been on a mission to drive the future of the sport we all love, and VW is committed to making it more diverse, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I've seen firsthand how VW are connecting with fans and driving the sport forward. From working with them on clinics to being part of their incredible campaigns, it's clear. U.S. soccer is truly powered by the people.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Yeah, and some days, the ball just passes you by. Right here on Unfiltered Soccer, we know that no matter how much you love the beautiful game, nothing on the field is guaranteed. Thankfully, AT&T is introducing a brand-new guarantee, the AT&T Guarantee.
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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AT&T. Connecting changes everything.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Yeah, so there's a few things to unpack here. So Garber has hinted at it. Commissioner Don Garber has hinted at it. I know internally the league has been looking at this very seriously. Currently, there are so many challenges with the way the schedule is. So one, in the latter part of the season, you're going up head-to-head with the NFL, which is a nightmare for every sport. Anybody talking...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
What so far have you enjoyed about the podcast?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
sports in this country knows that that is the biggest disaster so the challenges are the weather i think that's the biggest challenge every time i talk to someone at mls they say it's the weather right the weather is the challenge in january february december even march whatever totally but i said this previously on our podcast i think the league is mature enough now where if it's
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
where if it's 31 degrees or 26 degrees or 12 degrees in Kansas City or Toronto, whatever, people are still going to come out and support the team. I mean, look, people have been coming out to Dallas and Houston at 103 degrees within a few minutes, and DC and Kansas City and everywhere, Chicago in the summer. So I don't see that being that much different.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I like it mostly for the players because it's really hard to coordinate international breaks with the way the mls schedule is now and it just it would streamline everything so i'd be curious i'm sure they've done um a study to to monitor the fiscal impact and how much it's going to impact the league in that way but i'm for it and i think it'd be great
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Well, it happens in the NFL, right? I mean, Miami Dolphins go play in Green Bay and they just can't handle it, right? And they can't deal. And it's a big advantage. So the TFG takeover at our former club, Everton, I believe is now final. I hope, you know, I'm like cautiously optimistic, Tim, because we've talked about this. The grass isn't always greener. And when Everton were a mid-table club,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Top eight, top seven, top six club. The fans wanted more and more, and we need to spend money, and we need to spend more. Okay, so bring in new ownership, spend more money, and now look where Everton are. So cautiously optimistic, but what are your thoughts?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
They got dot points, right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Well, let's hope it turns around. Club, we obviously both love dearly, and you spent a lot more time than I did, but I think our feelings for it are very similar. Totally. All right, let's move into, this is fun. We are going to do fake headlines. So these are going to be fake future headlines. What I'm going to do, Tim, I'm going to run through each one
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
And I want you to tell me then yes or no if you think this headline is going to hold up, and you tell me why. And then I'll give you my thoughts, okay? Okay. First fake headline will be in May of 2025, and it will say, Chelsea have won the English Premier League. Yes or no?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
There's no levels of fake.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Okay. Now, would you say they are the most likely to challenge Liverpool? Yes. Obviously right now. Yes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I really, really want to go out on a limb here and say it's a real headline. Yeah. I just think they're just a little young and immature. If this was a year or two from now, I'd say I think they could do it. It's a fake headline, but we'll see. Maybe it'll be real. We'll see. All right, next one I got for you. FIFA announces... Another FIFA tournament.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It is called the Intercontinental World Global Championship Tournament Cup. Do you think this will happen?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Yes, and they were citing a lack of funds at FIFA. They needed to bring in more money. That's the reason they decided. That's amazing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
We need more soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
No. Massively fake headline. All right. Forget the name. I love the name. It's a brilliant name we came up with. We have to trademark that. Is there a chance that FIFA somehow comes up with yet another tournament? No. We said no two years ago. Yes, yes. Nations League. Yeah. World Cup expanded. I mean, who the hell knows, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
But I know. I know. Slightly did away with all the friendlies. Yeah. Okay. Last one. Yep. U.S. men's national team. Fake headline. I believe I'm just going to say it right now. This will be a real headline.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
USA wins the Nations League and Gold Cup double. Yes or no?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I have to say, man, I've been really surprised at the reaction. When I was at MLS Cup, there were a lot of obviously all soccer people, MLS people, et cetera. almost every single one of them came up unsolicited and just said, hey, I'm loving listening to the podcast. And I'm like, you're listening to this podcast? These are people like in MLS circle. I'm like, why the hell are you listening?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I think they will too. All right, you guys let us know. Will Chelsea win the Premier League? Will FIFA announce another tournament this year? And will the national team win the Nations League and Gold Cup double? You guys let us know. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, last segment of 2024, we're going to face off in a little bit of trivia that Jordan has for us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
We have no idea what she's going to ask. I'm kind of scared. And then we're going to get into quite a few mailbag questions. You guys have left a lot lately, so we're going to try to answer your questions right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I'm just throwing that out there. JR, bring it. I love trivia. I love trivia. Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I don't remember anything. I try to forget it. All right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
You didn't think through this very well. It's just like, whatever. All right. Here we go.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
But I guess the reality is, is, people can't, they've said to me, we can't go anywhere where people can just give an honest opinion. There's so many things they say, I'm so glad you said that about him or that team, because nobody will say it, but it's so true. So that's been really fun for me. I had my buddy that I golf with yesterday. I had no idea. He said, I'm loving listening to the podcast.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I'm going to say Tata Martino and Bruce Serena.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
All right. It's hard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
God, out of sight, out of mind, huh?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I know. I know. Go. Come on. Liverpool.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Arsenal, Chelsea, and Arsenal were ahead based on alphabetical order.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It's fine. Sometimes this big forehead carries a lot of knowledge.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
What a guy he was, huh?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
86. Yep. All right, I'm up one and a half to half for those keeping track.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Nine. I was going to say eight or nine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I told you I'm good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
LD, you're getting house right now. I'm still winning one and a half, too.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
And I said, okay, well, give me some feedback. What do you want to hear more of? What do you want to hear less of? He actually said something interesting, and you and I have debated this. He said, I want to hear more stories about, like, can you guys do an episode on your time at Everton and just everything that happened, how it happened, everything that went down beyond the scenes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Hey, listen, pal. If you want your players' names mentioned, then win some trophies.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
So good job, Tim.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Congrats, Tim. Thanks, brother.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
That's ridiculous. Okay, go ahead, J.R.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Hmm. Wait, say the first part again? How do we know? Or when we were playing?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
We're taking note of all that, guys. Totally. And, you know, whatever you guys want to hear, we're going to talk about. So it's been really fun.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Yep, same. And yeah, to get to the top, that's just part of it. The media part's interesting. Tim and I played in a time where social media wasn't as prevalent. Thank God, because now anything you say or do is under crazy microscope.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
And so, and you're also just, if you could sit on, I could sit on Twitter today and read hours and hours and hours of people telling me how crappy this show is or how big my forehead is or how, it could just go on and on and on. And so fortunately we didn't have that, but you have to find a way and hopefully it happens quickly for young players now to just either stop reading it
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Or just you can read it and almost just laugh at it because actually you just feel compassion for these losers sitting in their basement, like typing things on Twitter.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Oh, good question, Johnny. Tim doesn't read, so it's going to be tough for him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
He's got lots of books. He's got his Volkswagen. He has his Volkswagen. Oh, yeah, you wrote a book. I'm in the process. This show is going to feature heavily.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I like a lot. I don't know if you read Soccernomics. That was interesting. Mm-hmm. I have read a lot of biographies or autobiographies including Tim's. I'm trying to think what would be my favorite. Do you have a favorite?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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26.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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The book actually... Yeah, that's a crazy story. The book I'm reading right now is... rest his soul, Grant Wall's book. And it's not a soccer book, but there are a lot of soccer stories. So it's a lot of his stories or it's all of his stories that he wrote. And a lot of soccer stories in there that are really good. So that's what I'm reading right now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Go on, Jer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
Totally. Well, not Arsenal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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We've talked about a little bit, certainly offline, but we wanted to get into this arena for a while. I'll speak for both of us. We've both had many offers from people to try to... get us involved in this world. We're both selective about things we do, and we both care about the product we put out. I think that was exhibited in our careers. And so
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
We have the same agency, different agents that we've both had for a long time, and it all kind of came together quickly. Would you be interested in Landon? Yes. Would you be interested in Tim? Yes. And we kind of talked through structure, format. You guys were involved in the process, Sinclair, and it just felt right. And I guess that's the simplest answer for me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It felt right and the right timing. leading into the World Cup in 26, giving people a place where they can ask questions like this and get really honest feedback in a way that they haven't before.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It's going to be great. It's a new way to help grow the game. So I think it's been a lot of fun and we'll continue. All right, we're going to start, do something a little fun today. The first annual, hopefully not the last annual, The Unfiltees. So we got a few categories here and we'll lay out some nominees.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Great question. So let me take you through. This is crazy how tournaments work. So I'm going to start. This might be a long answer. 2002 World Cup, my first World Cup. We lose our final game. So we have four points in the group. We win our first, tie our second, lose our third. We lose our final game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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The only reason we advance out of our group is because South Korea beat Portugal at the end of their game. Otherwise, we would have gone home. Portugal were the favorite to maybe even win the World Cup, but to win that game, certainly. Next thing you know, we beat Mexico. We get to the quarterfinals, and it's the most successful World Cup ever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It all hinged on another team's results, or we could have been going home, and it would have been a failure. 2006, lose our first game, tie our second. Miraculously, had we beaten Ghana in the third game, we would have gone to the next round, we end up losing on a really bad penalty call. But it all could have been way different based on one play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
2010 World Cup, the Algeria goal, we are minutes away from going home. Instead, it turns into a successful World Cup. So just so people understand how tournaments work in the US's case, it always comes down to a play or two. So in that Confederations Cup, our final game against Egypt, we had a minus, correct me if I'm wrong, Tim, I think we had a six-goal goal differential.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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It was six or seven, yeah. Six-goal goal differential, meaning we needed to win our game and have Italy win their game, and a combined six goals change. We win 3-0, Italy wins 3-0, and that means we advance. So we shouldn't have advanced. We shouldn't have gone on. But we end up advancing and then we play Spain. And in my opinion, that's the best game I've ever been a part of for the Nationals.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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The best overall game we ever played against Spain. Spain hadn't lost in 35 games at that point. And we beat them 2-0. Went to the final. We were up 2-0 on Brazil. They ended up coming back to win 3-2, but phenomenal tournament. But I just want people to understand, when you're watching tournaments, we're not a team that wins three games in the opening round yet. We will be someday.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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But they all hinge on one play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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You guys feel free to chime in on YouTube, give us your comments on what you think, but we're going to give our opinions and then we'll go from there. So first one. Your favorite, I think. Best shithousery, best actor, best just deceiving deception. So potential candidates here. Jamie Vardy mocking Spurs fans over Leicester's Premier League title. That was great.
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I'm still trying to figure out and we're trying to figure out what you guys value the most, right? What do you want us to speak about the most? What do you care? When we do our production meeting, there are 15, 20, 25 stories we could talk about. And we end up trimming it down to things we're passionate about or think that you guys are going to be passionate about.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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But we want to know what you guys care about. What do you want us to speak about? And I have anecdotal evidence and feedback from people I know. We read comments. You get your emails. But you can feel free to tell us. And if there's things you don't want to hear about, tell us. It doesn't mean we're going to always listen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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But we want to, as Tim said, create a community here that is inclusive and everyone feels a part of. What I'm most looking forward to, honestly, is... getting to go places and do this live together and in person and with you guys around, fans around.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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So whether I'm not committing to anything, but I don't want to make Jordan nervous, whether it's Nations League, Nations League, Gold Cup, maybe go to a Premier League game, go to an Everton game, go places and be there on the ground with you guys where we can do this live and in person. I think that'll just be, that'll be really fun.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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If you don't remember that, go back and take a look. Um, Holland, I think Holland getting the last word on Mark Kukurea.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Saw that earlier in the year. We have to throw in now a little bit of the Kyle Walker the other day. Kyle Walker. Now there's been a lot of them and I'm sure we're going to miss some, but, um.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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That's really good. And Tim, I was just saying, as you were saying that when we were with the Galaxy, being in LA, obviously a lot of stars, whatever. The two for me, I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it now. We would have people come into the locker room sometimes after the game, mostly after David Beckham arrived, because they all wanted to meet him, see him. But I was a benefactor of that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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But Wayne Gretzky came in with his son one day after a game, which was really cool. And then God rest his soul, Kobe Bryant came in after a game one day. And you don't realize that they're soccer fans, right? But everyone who has kids... Almost all of them play soccer at some point and the ones who really love soccer and are part of it want to be there and be part of it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
So getting to speak to people, I know Patrick Mahomes now with Kansas City Current and it's just, there's so many people now involved in the game, which is awesome.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
You've had some moments, be honest.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Wishing you and your family the very best for the holidays. Thanks to all of you guys for everything. Remember, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. I know I'm a broken record, but it helps people find us. Follow the show across all the social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Lots of bonus content. But thank you all. Happy holidays to all.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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It's just fun to watch him because he's a guy who should never have been where he is. The odds were so stacked against him. And he doesn't care. He couldn't care. And that's the best shithousery is when you just don't care. Also, the one I just thought of was when Erling Haaland chucked the ball at the back of...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Amazing. Is Hell's Kitchen because of the area in New York?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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of uh was it was it the arsenal game it was an arsenal game was it maybe gabrielle or something like that he grabbed the ball out of the net just threw it at the can't figure out just can't figure it out he's a machine um all right let's move on to team of the year yeah this one's hard team of the year right here are the candidates the nominees buyer leverkusen uh people forget they won
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They won the Bundesliga, beating out Dortmund, beating out Bayern Munich. Spain at the Euros, I was there. They were phenomenal. U.S. women winning the Olympics. Yeah. And then Orlando Pride, who would have gone undefeated all year. They rested their starters in one game, but then went on to win the NWSL trophy. They were phenomenal all year. So your thoughts?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
I did. Many games.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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This show today- Wait, did you ever see Wicked?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
It's incredible that that's the standard now, right?
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didn't supposed to be good what about book of mormon yeah yeah that's dangerous i think i've watched that like seven times book of mormon like people told me it was wild like i can do wild and the more you know about the mormon religion right there it is i dated a girl in high school who's mormon fantastic maybe that's what do you think of my sweater bud look at this it's amazing by the way like i
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It is. It's remarkable what they've done. And that's my vote too. And I'll tell you why. Women's soccer has caught up to the U.S. national team, right? The rest of the world has caught up and in some ways had surpassed it. In the last few years, there was a lot of talk internally and externally in US soccer circles about what are we doing wrong? And Emma Hayes came in.
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And by the way, Tim, she had like a couple months to prepare the team, right? And we talk about how long it takes new managers are looking at Ruben Amorim at United, how long it takes teams to start to play in a certain way. And she made hard decisions. She left Alex Morgan off the team. And she said, here's my front three. I got a few
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I got a few reserves that were going to come in and play, but I'm playing the same team seven games in a row and we're just going for it. And we're six games in a row, seven games in a row. We're just going to go for it and we're just going to win it. And yeah, I mean, you talk about unapologetic with Xabi Alonso. I mean, she just went in, it was her way.
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And now all of a sudden she's just grabbed that team. They will do anything for her. And now the future looks much brighter. And by the way, it wasn't a bunch of 33 year old women at the end of their career. There's a bunch of young, women who are going to be there for a long time. So I thought they were phenomenal.
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That blew our mind.
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What? I'm reading that.
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I know.
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That'd still be crazy.
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Well, look, there's a lot of shocks here. I'm just like, I'm still reading this. 20 years of losing. 20 years. Can you imagine? I mean, there's probably guys on that played there for 12, 14, 16 years. 20 years of losing. So San Marino, congrats to you. You get my award for biggest shock here. The first unfilty for biggest shock. Congrats on winning a game against Lichtenstein. Poor Lichtenstein.
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For sure. You take it. You have it.
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All right. Biggest. We're going to call this biggest red card of the year or biggest fail. So it doesn't have to be a literal red card. It could be. We've got a couple on here. Yeah. You know, we're trying to rack our brains. How do we define biggest, et cetera? So literal red card. Yeah. Tim Wehs versus Panama. And that because... There were a lot of dominoes that fell from that.
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Obviously, Greg Berhalter gets let go. Pochettino comes in. I always say, Tim, in life, some of the worst things that happen end up being the best things. You learn from them, and you grow from them. So I ultimately think that was probably the best thing that could have happened, maybe for Tim Weah personally and for the national team. He learned a lot from it. He's been in incredible form since.
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The other one we have on here, the Canada drone scandal. And if people don't remember, Canada got found out in the Olympics, women's Olympics, for having drones fly over their opponent's field, training field during training. And head coach Bev got let go. John Herdman sits from Toronto who was...
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implicated i would say and all of that got let go from toronto fc because he was the former men's national team coach for canada and if you talk to people again internally they say they've been doing this for years yeah and i guess my first thing is like can we just talk about this what the hell were they thinking right i mean this is crazy
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Fox gave it to us. It was like a whatever. holiday present they gave us. It's cool. It's got my name on the back, so I can't wear it out, but it's really cool.
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Yeah, right. So there's the CONCACAF piece. There's the FIFA piece. And FIFA, same thing goes. It holds true for you, FIFA. But yeah, I mean, what people don't know is when we travel anywhere, There'll be some guy in the corner fixing a brick in the stadium. And you're like, oh, that's great. He's here working on a Friday before the Saturday game.
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And next thing you know, he's pulling out a notepad, writing stuff down. And you're like, oh, wait, what's this guy doing here in El Salvador?
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Yeah, exactly. And the next day, goalie guesses the right way on the penalty. I'm like, what the hell? So there's all kinds of now. Yeah. deception that goes on in day before game trainings. You'll put out a different team in pennies. You'll definitely take penalties a different way. Don't do set pieces the same way. But Canada took it to a whole nother level. So for me, that's a big red card.
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You just can't. How dumb are you, by the way? Flying a drone over? If no one's going to notice a drone flying over? Right. So anyway. All right. Last one here for the first annual unfilties. Best performance. Best performance. So we're going to start May 4th, 2024. Take you guys way back, about seven months.
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Lionel Messi had a goal and not one, not two, not three, not four, but five assists for Miami against your New York Red Bulls, Tim. Go Metro Stars, yeah. That's number one. Number two, 16-year-old Lamin Yamal, who I watched at the Euros, had a goal and four assists. A 16-year-old, Tim. As a 16-year-old, a goal and four assists.
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And so no brainer at that point.
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Yeah. Okay. Well, good for them. And yeah, After scoring last weekend against AC Milan, Tim Weah got a start again for Juve, a nil-nil draw with Club Bruges. It'd be interesting to see how Champions League now develops. A few guys have real chance to play in the next round, in the playoff round, and it's going to be fun.
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Christian Pulisic played a few minutes off the bench, which was good for him. So we'll keep an eye on that. Regarding Tim Weah, there have been some rumors, and we don't talk too much about rumors because they are just that. But there are some thoughts that Everton might be interested in. As we know, Moise loves an American. Yeah. Uh, what do you think about that? Good move.
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All right, let's get right in, Timmy. USLNT on USMNT. 3-0 win yesterday, as we're recording this on Thursday, against Costa Rica. Give me your overall, I guess, just takeaways from the game, the camp. Let's dive into this.
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Yeah. I, I, I, Always hesitant when things are going well, especially ahead of a World Cup. The grass isn't always greener. On the other end of that spectrum is when things aren't going well, we've talked about this, Tim, you've got to make a move. You have to make a move and do something to change your career. One national team...
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player who's been on the fringe in and out, was part of the last roster, was Luca De La Torre. He went from Salta Vigo to San Diego FC right here in my hometown. Really interesting. 12-month loan. I think this is a fantastic move for a million different reasons. Number one, he needs to play. Number two, he wasn't playing at Salta Vigo. He gets to come to his hometown.
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He is going to be absolutely beloved here. People are so excited that he's coming. He only made two appearances last year for Salta Vigo. this was, I think, necessary for him if he wanted any chance of playing in the World Cup next year.
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I think in the summer, we'll see a lot more of this, right, for guys who are right on the cusp. Matt Turner's a guy to keep an eye on. There are guys who need to be playing. I just want to, we'll touch this later, but when we get into our MLS preview later, just San Diego FC, really interesting. I've been following, obviously, closely. It's here in my hometown.
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The beginning part of their roster build, I was like, eh. not great. There's not a lot going on. It's interesting. I know there's something, there's a shoe to drop somewhere, but between Luca De La Torre and then they just signed this guy, Anders Dreyer from Anderlecht as a DP paid $5 million for him. They're starting to look quite interesting.
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So now with Luca De La Torre, Dreyer, Chucky Lozano, now you're looking at a front line where you go, oh, That's interesting. So we'll get more into that. But good week, Champions League. Good week for the U.S. men's national team. This was a very successful January camp, Tim.
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Excited to see Nations League in March, to see how the team progresses and see who's on the field. Now Pochettino has some difficult decisions, which he wants. He wants difficult decisions, and guys are starting to make it hard on himself. All right, bud, we'll take a quick break. When we come back, it's the AT&T Fan Connection on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
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AT&T. Connecting changes everything.
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Yeah, I agree.
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You mean for ABS?
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Well, there you go. Whoever that came from, there's this thing on your desk. It's called a mouse. And on that mouse, if you scroll as you're listening on YouTube or if you're listening to a podcast on your phone, if you just touch the screen on the little two bars, you can either pause it or you can double click and scroll up and you can just stop the recording right there.
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Glancing over. Hold on a second. Hold on. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. If you want me to talk about the Chicago Fire… Be good? Be relevant. Don't even be good. Just be relevant. Good point. Who sent that in? I mean, look. I love… I want Chicago to be good. Yeah. I want them to be good.
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That was Greg Berhalter.
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That old chestnut hat. Hero behind the keyboard. No, but listen. No, listen. Listen. To be fair, they are more relevant now that Berhalter's there, right? They are. So you want to, yeah, be good. Let's go.
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Great question. Josh, well done. Boy, are we talking men, women, both?
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I was going to say bees. Yeah.
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Yeah, I would agree with that.
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But I'm sure I'm missing… I feel like… Let me say this.
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Ricky Pudge.
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That's great. Great question. So I'll try to keep this somewhat short, but I will. definitely get into this more if anyone wants to hear it. So when David first came to the Galaxy in 07, we were a terrible, terrible, terrible team. We were either second to last or last in the league.
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And so if you put yourself in his mindset, he was playing for, he had played for United, Real Madrid, he hadn't played for AC Milan yet, and England. And if you think about the success of those teams and what he was used to, and then he came to an inferior league with inferior players, and we were the worst team in the league. So in the beginning, he was committed. He was dedicated. He was there.
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Yeah. Yeah. You know, like if you just take the overview, you say this was an absolute, almost perfect camp, right? There was a few guys he probably would have liked to seen, you know, Jesus Ferreira, Tolkien left, maybe Jalen Neal. But other than that, everything went well. And You know, the Diego Luna thing is so funny.
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He was energetic. But he soon realized, this is a bad situation. Bad. And... I don't blame him for this, but it frustrated me that he started distancing himself. So he would show up, you know, we were supposed to be there at nine 15. He would show up at nine 14 minute training was over. He was off the field and gone. And my, that really bothered me.
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But my big mistake was I didn't just pull him and tell him this is not okay. And this is bothering me. And you got to be part of the solution, not just, just being here. I instead set it to Grant Wall, rest his soul, who was writing a book. And in my vulnerable moments, I shared more than I should have. I didn't keep it off the record and it got put into that book.
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And so when the book came out, as you can imagine, it was pretty uncomfortable. So that day the book came out, Bruce sent, can you imagine how uncomfortable that was?
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Bruce sent us both a message and said, you know, we need to meet in my office in the morning and speak. And when we got into his office in the morning, Bruce started speaking and I said, Bruce, let me, just let me stop you. I said, David, I'm sorry. I should have never done that publicly. I stand by what I said, but I should have just told you and just been a man and just told you about it.
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And to his immense credit, he said, no problem. I get it. I know it's frustrating. And let's move on and just make this good. And from that day, I mean, it sounds crazy. But from that day, we started trending upward again. We were successful. And then ultimately, we won three championships in four years. And I realized we wanted the same thing. We wanted to win, be successful.
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I did it in a bad way, but ultimately it worked out where we were all just honest with each other and then we were successful.
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Appreciate that.
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So the first thing that reminded me was Brian McBride in 2006 in the Italy game in Kaiserslautern getting elbowed, his nose bloodied, broken, whatever. And he's just out there like a war. And people love that. And to your point, the last thing you want to be in this camp Is anonymous. Yes. Right.
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Yeah. It's actually complex for me because I grew up with Mexicans. In Ontario, where I grew up, it was a lot of Pacific Islanders, Samoans, Tongans, a lot of black people, and a lot of Hispanics, Latinos, Mexicans. So Hondurans, El Salvadorans, Costa Ricans. So when I started playing professionally and I was playing against Mexico,
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There was a natural rivalry between me and all the guys I played with that would come out. And then there was the rivalry that started to be created by playing them, winning games, losing games, saying stupid things, getting in the press there, and how that all evolved. So for me, it was way deeper than just a US-Mexico thing in general.
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I actually lived it and grew up with it and have many Mexican friends. So it's always been this unique... kind of love-hate relationship. But the beauty is when I'm home, you know, even I was in New Orleans recently and a lot of Hispanics, a lot of Mexicans there, and they always say the same thing. They're like, God, I hated you on the field, but I respect you so much.
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And it was so fun to watch those games. So it was fun to be a part of for all those years.
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So even if you're terrible and they thought you were better, at least you are something and you're on their, you know, on their radar in some ways. But Diego Luna now did something memorable. And I just want to remind people, we played against Diego Luna a few times when we were in USL with San Diego Loyal when he was at El Paso. El Paso? Yeah, I think El Paso. And this kid is, he's hard, dude.
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You've seen this beautiful mug a lot lately.
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Awesome. Love that. Jordan, you stay right there. You're not leaving. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we'll have more questions. More questions to answer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
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Like where he grew up, And where he came from, a broken nose and nothing to him. And the reason I'm bringing this up is, you know, who else is from a pretty tough place? Argentina is Pochettino. Like when you grow up playing soccer and you're around soccer, they really respect guys who just get on with it and are tough and can handle it. And, I give Diego so much credit.
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Yeah. Great question. Uh, this, I've seen this evolve and I think Tim has too, a lot, a lot over time. So there was a long stretch of history, not only in sports, but in American society where it was, you know, deal with it, get on with it, pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Um, and you know, as a parent now, there's some level of that, that I think is valuable right in the right moments.
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However, sports are really hard. Professional sports are really hard. And in society today, they're infinitely harder than when we played because the feedback and criticism is instant and it's nasty. And you see it. And so it's really hard. I mean, people... People think the equalizer in all this is, oh, well, you make them a lot of money. So you should just have to deal with it.
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And it's like, hold on a sec, man. Nobody comes to you when... You mess up a report at your office and there's not 10 million people watching and hammering you because you made a spelling mistake on a piece of paper. You didn't account for something and something at work. So that argument is just bullshit, right?
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And just because people make a lot of money or are famous or whatever, it doesn't allow you the opportunity to just berate people. Now, it's going to happen. So what's happened over time, I saw this in NWSL. I think it's happening now. Tim's alluded to it, I think, in other leagues as well as there are people now on staff who are there to help.
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And it's become a role within a club that I think is really important. And those people are crucial because there's a fine line, very fine line, between, okay, what's going on? Let me help you. Let's talk about it. But I also want to start building resilience in you so that that doesn't hit you the same way. That's their issue, not yours. And you can go out and perform.
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And then the other side of it is just anxiety around playing. There's a lot of players who I didn't realize this in my career, Tim. I learned this at Everton. We had a player one time and you know who he is. And he was always at home games. He would, right on Friday before the Saturday game, in training, he would say, oh, my hamstring's bothering me. Oh, my back's bothering me.
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When he knew he was going to start because he was anxious about playing in front of the home crowd. And that, to me, was crazy. But that was a real thing for him. And so David Moyes was so clever. One time he started to walk out to training and he said, ah, turn around, go back in and get treatment.
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You're going to start tomorrow, but you're not training today because he knew what he was going to do. But that was a real thing for him. And that was, he had real anxiety about performing in front of a home team. So I think it's evolved. Again, there's a fine line. You don't, there is an element of professional sports where like you got to get on with things. It's hard.
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But then when you get off the field, having someone there to help you is really beneficial.
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many many many many great ones yeah i have a um i have boxes full um honestly my favorites are the guys i played against um or played with sorry guys i played with growing up so i have a lot of guys from my under 17 team when they became pros so i have you know bees nelson aquari dj countess yeah um I don't know if I have a Gooch one, Kyle Beckerman. I have guys that I played against.
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Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
And those, honestly, those ones are the most meaningful because those are special to me. Did you and I ever swap jerseys? I don't know. I was just thinking that. I didn't really want yours to be a pair.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
I know my first car. I do too. I had... Go. I'll go. I had a... A BMW. It was used. I can't remember what. I'm not a car guy, so I don't know. I have some memories. I don't know if they're safe for this environment, but I have some memories of that car.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
The first car actually that I drove, drove what I didn't own. It was my mom had a, um,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
mazda mpv like minivan oh yeah and so in california you can get your license you can get your permit at 15 and a half and then you have to drive with an adult till you're 16 and then you can drive by yourself so i'll never forget it was nighttime it was my first drive i was gonna my buddy and i were gonna i just turned 16 we were gonna drive somewhere so i turn we're in this little like community i turn right i turn right and as i'm going this is my first time driving a car by myself
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
All of a sudden, this car goes honking, beep, flashing lights coming from the side as I was going through an intersection. And I like slammed on the brake stop and like started crying. And I'm like, what the hell is going on? I hadn't even turned on the headlights. So they didn't even see me. I didn't even have my headlights on. They didn't even occur to me. And I was like, this is not for me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
I bought a Maserati when I was in San Jose. Jesus. What an idiot. Good for some. What a waste of money. Good for some. That's amazing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
That's so good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
All right, JR. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. All right, guys. Thanks for being with us today. Remember, as always, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show across all social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for bonus content. That was a lot of fun, guys.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Yeah, it's been fun. We're traveling a bit for the next few weeks, so we're doing... Doing a lot here, getting some interesting episodes out for you guys. Won't be as time sensitive, but I think you guys are going to like it a lot.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
And I'm like- That's two and two now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
That's right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Yeah, there's a few of these guys, Tim, now who will get called into the next camp. When it's real. And then guess what? You got to do it again. And you got to do it a level up. And you got to keep going. We're going to read a lot of quotes because Pochettino had a lot to say after the game. To TNT after the game. So he said, regarding Diego Luna, this is great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
I was very surprised because it was broke, you know. But I didn't want to say nothing with too much drama because it might scare him. I was like, nothing's scaring Diego Luna, bro. Don't trust me. He said, how do you feel? And Diego said, please, coach, let me keep playing because at least after the half, I go out. The doctor said, yeah, OK, OK, you go in. And the first action, assist.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Big balls, said Pochettino. Unfiltered. Poch is unfiltered. He is unfiltered. And we'll have him on the pod. So good. And then another guy, Tim, I thought he was great. Zach Steffen was great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
So just talk me through, you know, he's been out of the picture for a while. So what does that mean for him?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
You know, he wasn't making those good decisions under Greg. He just wasn't. He got caught out a lot of times giving away bad passes. And, you know, he was trying to do what Greg wanted, but there is an element of, like, I'm sensing danger here. This is going up the field. And Pochettino said after the game, he said... For me and for us, I think the keeper needs to save on the goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
I think, you know, keep the ball out of the goal, basically. And today was great. And then we can add different areas to work with the keeper. But the most important is the clean sheet. The keeper needs to save. And he showed his quality. And I'm happy for him. So Pochettino's also saying, just keep the ball out of the damn net. We'll work on the other stuff.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
But we obviously can score enough goals. We scored three goals. We don't need you making every little silly pass.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
And our producers hate it. Follow us, guys, on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe. YouTube. Make sure you follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Please leave a review, a rating, a like, comments, et cetera. It helps people find us. And from what I hear, what you hear, Tim, people are enjoying it. I saw a comment someone said the other day.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
All right, one last guy I want to give some credit to, Emeka Nelly, who it's a name a lot of people never heard of because he plays in Salt Lake. Young kid played lots and lots of minutes, played almost every game for Salt Lake this year. Gets no attention, no credit. They clearly, like you said, Pochettino's not lazy. He's done his homework and his staff has done his homework, their homework.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Bring him into camp. I mean, you said Zach was the man of match. I thought Emeka was the best player on the field. And just a name I want people to keep at the forefront of their mind. That is the type of kid, and I know a lot about him because of Nate Miller's at Salt Lake and with Pablo as an assistant coach. And I've heard a lot about him and followed his progress this year.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
That's the type of player who could find his way on a World Cup roster if other people slack at all. Congrats to Mecca. Probably never imagined he'd be playing for the national team this early in his life. And it's just fun to see people take advantage of their opportunities. I don't know if we got sent this. Oh, yeah. By someone from U.S. soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Mauricio Pochettino was asked to name his three all-time favorite U.S. men's national team players.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
What did he say, Tim? He said, well, for me, the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper must be Tim Howard. Yeah. Howard. And then he said, and I think Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. So I just want to give a little shout out to us. We're old, Tim. We suck now. But some people respect us still. And look, if that doesn't change in the next five or ten years, US soccer is not doing its job.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
But let's take the credit for now. Pach, thank you. Thank you, Pachita. I've always said he's a genius.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
Well, it ain't going to be a goalie. So it's got to be me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
All right, let's move on to UEFA Champions League performances. Really interesting couple days in the Champions League. So, Yunus Musa, CCV, Kim, Carter Vickers, Austin Trusty. With them starting, Americans have now made a total of 34 starts. That's incredible. in this season's UEFA Champions League, equaling the most in a single season in the competition ever, which was in 21-22.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
So it's just so fun, Tim. It used to be like a huge deal when someone was playing in Champions League, and now we're littered throughout. I'm just proud.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
I can't believe Landon, who is the most boring guy ever, is actually bringing me entertainment on this podcast.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
And they've done very well. They beat Young Boys 1-0 in the advance to the playoff round. So it kind of begs the question, they're obviously building chemistry. They're playing together. And this is a deeper topic. Do guys playing together have an advantage when they come in a national team camp? And I think so. I mean, there were times with, I'll remember with Brian Ching.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
So when we were playing together at the Earthquakes, We played together every week. So when we went into national team camp, inevitably, if there were four strikers, five strikers, we were looking for each other, playing each other, understood each other, played off each other well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
And next thing you know, there were games where we were starting together because Bruce was like, well, why would I not play these two? So do you, I mean, there's an argument for them right now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna Goes Hard, Zack Steffen's Clean Sheet, USMNT's Centerback Pairing & An Extended Mailbag
You wrote that? Okay, cool. I'm not known as the most entertaining, but I think people are enjoying what we have to say.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
There's no divine right to win a game. You have to go earn it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And now I'm like, it doesn't matter what we do. If you don't get that first part right, you have zero chance of competing at Ohio. You'll win some games because you're more talented and you'll get through it. But at the highest level, when it really means something to these other teams, you cannot get away with it. It's not sustainable.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And I wonder if in the Gold Cup, Tim, we're going to see some interesting omissions where he just says, ain't good enough. You, Tim, you have to earn the right to get your next cap. You have to earn your right. Let me tell you a story. I went to, I was early in my career. We were playing a gold cup and Bruce, Bruce was our coach.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And I was going to, I asked him if I could go come in late because I was going on a vacation trip to Tahiti. Okay. So I wasn't as fit. I wasn't whatever, but I came into camp. He plays me. I think we were playing Haiti. It was in, it was in Miami. I think it was at the orange bowl. We play in this game and I was shocking. But at that point, I was doing well. And I just assumed it would be fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Right. Well, then, I mean, maybe some of those guys aren't the guy then. I mean, you have to, as a coach, you have to trust your players. You have to trust that they are going to at least give you a 7 out of 10. And you know that every time they step on the field. Maybe they're crap on the ball. Maybe they can't complete a pass. Maybe that whatever. But you know you're getting this effort.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
You have to be able to do that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Just give a shit about actually playing. But when you play for your national team, and I have chills just talking about this right now, there is such a responsibility. You know what we used to do, Tim? One of my first trips ever with the national team, we went to South Korea. because we were going to play in the World Cup. I was on that trip. So we went the year before. And we went to the DMZ.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I had a really good conversation this morning with someone I respect and I think is the most brilliant football mind in our country. And he said... Two things he said that really resonated with me. He said, like you say, Pep Guardiola's ruined football. Okay. So every player now, not every player, sorry.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
There are many players around the world who play in a system that's similar to what Pep does at City. The problem is they don't have the best players in the world. Correct. Okay. So they're trying to play in a certain way and they're getting accustomed to playing in a certain way, but they're not good enough to do it. Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
So let's take the top five club teams and the top five national teams in the world. They can do it should they choose to. Then you have the other end of the spectrum, the Panamas, right? They're like, we ain't good enough to do that. So we're not going to try. We're going to be Panama. We're going to be in a 5-4-1.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And I'll tell you what, if you try to come to the box and score, you're going to get your leg broken. Okay? You score a goal, great. Your leg's going to be snapped. And we're going to do that, and we're going to do that really well. Then you get everybody else in the middle who thinks they're over here and they're the best, but they ain't good enough to do it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And we fall into that category, right? And so now, and this is not a slight on Greg Berhalter or Pochettino or whatever. It's just the way soccer is going. But we're not good enough to be that, Tim. You know when we were at our very best? Yeah. When we got to a quarterfinal in 0-2 and we sat and defended it and we had a few guys who could go make plays and we were great at it. And that's it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And so the identity piece in that way is very real and that's true. And we need to determine, and I think yesterday it should have been determined or three weeks ago, this is who we are and this is who we're going to be. Because when you get against the good teams, they just do it better than we do. The other thing he said, and this is so true and we've talked about this before,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
There are, and I refer to them as captains, but there are not enough guys on this current team who are captains for their clubs. And the way he said it, and this is so good, is there are not enough guys who are responsible for the result of their team. Well said. OK, so and again, we can be the old guys, whatever. And back in our day and all this crap.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
But when we were on the field, there were guys on the field all over the field who if they didn't perform well, their club team probably lost. OK, if you had a bad game at Everton, you probably lost. If Clint Dempsey didn't play well for New England or Fulham or whatever, not great. If I didn't play well for the Galaxy, we're going to lose. Michael Bradley didn't play well wherever he was.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Bees everywhere he was. Guys who were responsible for getting a result. And you know, in a weird way, Diego Luna, even though he's young, if he doesn't play well, RSL's not as good. At Charlotte, Ajumang needs to play and play well and they're a better team. But there's not a lot of guys who fall into that. So when it's hard and it's dirty and it's nasty and whatever...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Most of our guys are kind of going, okay, where's the captain and where's the Dutch international and where's the French international that always carries us? We don't have a lot of that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
For people who don't know, the DMZ is the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea. And you walk, there's this little building. And you walk in the building, and halfway through the building, you're in South Korean territory. And halfway, the other half, you're in North Korea. And you have these armored guards, Korean, American, North Korean, standing there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
All right. I should have done this at the beginning, but I just, I don't know. I'm emotional today. Sorry. Follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show, please, on YouTube or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what we're doing, maybe you hate what we have to say today. That's fine. If you like it, follow us, rate us.
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CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
You can always email us. We've got a ton of questions over the last 24 hours. Feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com. All right, let's take a break. This is what we're doing all day. So if you don't like it, you can turn off. But this is what we're talking about. This is on our minds.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
this is what's important so we will be right back on the other side continuing to talk about the us men's national team failure in the concaf nations league right here on unfiltered soccer with landon and tim as always presented by volkswagen stick around
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
It's just visceral. I'm trying to figure out why I need therapy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Yeah, so the first game, so we went, if you remember, Tim, the preview episode, the lineup we thought was going to be the lineup was the lineup minus, I think we had Anthony Robinson in. So Scali played left back in the first game and Moussa played right back against Panama. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I'd said I was fully intending to go re-watch the games, break it down analytically, try to figure out what they're trying to accomplish, da-da-da. But there were plays early in the game where it was like a ball high in the air, and I would see a Panamanian midfielder go sprinting towards the ball, jumping, and literally just putting himself on the line to win a header. And our guys kind of
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
backing out and kind of you know turtleneck and what and i was like oh no like because once you break the spirit and soul of a team like that then your talent comes through yeah of course right that's right it's a good point and and and but you have to earn that you've said it like you have to earn that right to play you have to earn the right to play and with panama we never did and they were never threatened the expected goals for us was like
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
It was less than one. It was abysmal. And it was just, there was never urgency to go make the play. It was like, oh, we'll make the play. The play will come. And even with the coaching staff, it was like, oh, and in extra time, we'll put on Diego Luna and Gio Reyna. And it's like, no, but it doesn't happen that way, right? Like the game can be over in a moment.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And as you said earlier, there's no divine right to win a game. You have to go earn it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And it hits you in the face, dude. And you're like, whoa. These guys are protecting something way bigger than themselves. And they're putting their lives on the line for our country. Okay? When you put on your jersey and you see the stars and stripes and you hear the national anthem, I don't care if there's one person in the crowd or six million people. You have an obligation to give a shit. Okay?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Yeah, we were both shocked, right, to see Matt Turner start?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And be proud about playing for your country. And there were too many guys the last two games. And before that, by the way, there was the Mexico away game that we watched a few months ago. I'm like, do they even want to be out there? Are they willing to do something to put themselves on the line, to risk something to get a result? Now, look, we're talking about soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Meaning nobody had spoken to them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Yeah, so look, so the illness doesn't explain the first game. Correct. Right, why Matt Terrell. Whatever, every coach has their, it's their prerogative to choose whoever. Totally. I'm not even going to ask you because I know how you goalkeepers all protect yourself. There is zero doubt in my mind of a few things. One, Zach Steffen makes the save. for Panama's goal right now. Zero.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Matt Turner, when he's playing and sharp, zero doubt he makes that save. This is what I'll say about that. If I turn just inside the 18 at that angle and hit that shot and it went in the goal, I would feel like I just robbed a bank.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Great. And I'd celebrate like crazy, but I'd be like, Jesus, I got away with that one.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
It's not the end of the world, okay? But if you can't do that, just don't come into camp. Anthony Robinson wasn't feeling physically right. There's something going on. He said, you know, I appreciate it, but I can't. Fine. Fair enough. Fine. If you're going to go, you're going to do all the social media shit and all the posts and all that and take all that and show up and perform. Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And that's it. That's a starting point. If you lose, you lose. We all lost games. So I'm just, I'm so sick of it. They're so talented. They play at these great clubs. I'm like, who cares, dude? You know who doesn't play at great clubs? The Panamanian players.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
You know? And by the way, Tim, and we'll get into all this, and I'm going to go on a bunch of tangents to apologize in advance if people hate it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
That's what we do. Mauricio Pochettino grew up in Argentina, okay? Can you imagine Argentina playing Uruguay? And eight or nine of the players on the field gave that kind of effort. Listen, they would not be able to leave their hotel room to get back on the plane. They wouldn't. The fans wouldn't let them. They'd say, you ain't leaving. Sorry, bro. And our guys are just like, oh, I'm okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Bruce used to say to us, a coach shouldn't have to coach effort. Correct. It's such a Bruce comment, but it's so true. You shouldn't have to coach that. That should be easy. Can we talk real quick? Gio got called into camp so that Mauricio and the staff could see him. I feel like I always pick on this kid. But he barely played.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
He barely played over two. And Mauricio Pochettino said he's not fit enough to play in the way we want to play, which you had to know because he's not been playing games, right? There has to be more going on, man, because at least you would have given him 45, 60, 90 minutes just to see what he's about. And there's so many coaches, Tim, now that have not played him everywhere he's been.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I just want more for this kid. I do. And I'm just disappointed every time.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I'll go back to my club and make my millions of dollars. I'm sick of it, man. I'm sick of it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Minimum. Minimum of one half.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Me too.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Because otherwise, bring someone who you can put in and who can be effective.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
The problem is it was in the 91st minute. We didn't want to waste three minutes of time.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
That was the problem.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Well, just in the Canada game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
all right let's take a break we have lots and lots and lots of comments questions uh feedback and we will get to it in the att fan connection on the other side maybe won't even do anything but soccer just so we can get more questions and you guys had a lot to say so we'll be right back right here on unfiltered soccer with landon and tim as always presented by our friends at volkswagen stick around
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Who's on it? Talk to you. It better be.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Well, to be honest, one of my, I don't know if concerns is the right word, but I have been thinking about with, with Pochettino and his staff, there are no Americans and this is not a xenophobic thing. There's just, you need to have context around the American player, the American system, MLS. I think that's very, very, very valuable.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
There are, this is not a self-promoting, but there are many of us who would love that opportunity to honestly to speak to them. Having Clint Dempsey walk in and be a part of your staff and talk to you after performance like that is, I think, infinitely probably as valuable or maybe more valuable than hearing from your head coach.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
We've talked a lot about how players hold players accountable more than coaches do. I think that would be really powerful. So I would certainly not hold back if I was in that environment. But to that point, I think you can get ahead of that. So you say it before the Panama game. These guys have played in some of these games, but not a lot of them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
and say, this is what this game is going to look like. You can throw the soccer out the window for 20, 30 minutes, and this is how you have to perform. This is how you have to compete. If you don't, we might lose today. If you do, we're going to win. And that's, you know, that's powerful.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
It doesn't even have to be… Well, it should be American. It doesn't have to be American, but somebody who understands what that environment in CONCACAF and all that is like.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Well, to your point, unless you have skin in the game, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
We have emotional skin in the game. But someone who is there on staff, I'm not saying walk in once in a while and go speak. Someone who is there on staff who understands what all these battles are like, I think is highly valuable.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And yes, Tim, to your point, that should absolutely be a mandate from U.S. soccer that, look, you can bring your staff up, but here's this one man or woman who's been through this, and they're going to be part of your staff too. Mm-hmm. Or here's five of them. You interview them and you choose one.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
He was like the manager.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
no but it's in Tim it has to be in camp with skin in the game it has to be in the dressing room like it has context because we're talking about but we don't have context we don't know if Zach Steffen really was sick or not we're just we're guessing right so you need to be there and be like hey Mauricio you know we know Zach's sick put him in his room for 30 hours he's going to be fine play him you know what I mean so like
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Okay, so let me jump in real quick to that because I got clarity on this this morning. So this is a CONCACAF event, okay?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Right now it falls on the players. If this continues, then it falls on the manager. So the manager and the staff, Pochettino and his staff, now have decisions to make, important decisions for the Gold Cup. And it doesn't have to be in the roster selection, but in who's playing in that first game, you're damn right. And it better be guys who are really committed and really willing to go to war.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And I think he's given them grace and he's given them opportunities, but now he's got to say, okay, I need to know the guys who are willing to do it. And I got to see it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
So CONCACAF controls it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
So as far as that goes, that's a CONCACAF issue. However, that being said, U.S. soccer is obviously… CONCACAF's most important partner.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Mexico being 1A.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Right? So you figure out a way to not play the opening game on Thursday. Of course. And, by the way, CONCACAF and with USI, like, they're having these conversations. Don't make the lowest ticket price $100. Right. Because it's ridiculous. Make it accessible so people can get in and watch. It's a joke. It's a joke. Now, I just want to give U.S. soccer some grace there. However, if I'm U.S.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I think every week we got to bring that in somehow to the show. Yeah, it's a CONCACAF deal. But like I said earlier, have conversations and say, guys, we got it. Or don't play it at SoFi. Fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
No, no, no. I said that. I mean, I said, if you're U.S. soccer, you got to have the... And by the way, we're not playing at 3.30. We're playing at 7.30. That's for sure. By the way, I do know, too, you had to buy one ticket for both games. So if 100 was the lowest ticket price, that was supposedly for both games. But it was trying to get people to buy for both games.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
But they didn't buy for the American game, so...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I'm going to hope for what I was hoping for against Canada, which was terrible performance against Panama. And I even, in our group text, I said, I don't know what's going to happen, but I think it's going to be a great game because Canada lost to Mexico. They hate our guts. our guys just got beat by Panama.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
soccer and you're having these negotiations and CONCACAF's like, we're going to make the lowest ticket price $100. You're like, no, you ain't. You're going to play at $330 in the opening game. No, we ain't.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
So our guys are going to be like livid and cannot wait to get on the field and kick someone. And then they didn't do it. They didn't do any of the Canada held up. They're part of the bargain. We didn't, I hope that we get into camp and the coaching staff has learned a lot from it. And the tone is set very quickly. And I'm more than that. I hope the players now are,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
leading into the camp, when they get into the pre-camp against Turkey and whoever else they play, I hope they sit together and say, guys, that was shit. And we owe our country more than that. We do. If we're going to wear this jersey, it's got to be more. Forget about the coaches. Christian, you're a leader. Tyler, you're a leader. Weston, you're a leader. Tim Rehm, if you're there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Matt Turner, this ain't good enough, guys. And let's make it right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Can't fool me again.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
That's why I said I hope. I know.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
I know what would have happened to your Everton teams. I know that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
These poor people are just turning into the national team for the first time. Rock bottom. I'm going to be optimistic, Tim. You weren't today, but I'll hold you to it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Otherwise, you'd just be like, haha, you lost.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Thanks, JR. All right, Tim. That was, I wish I could say it was fun. It was interesting. Let's hope next time we're dissecting U.S. soccer, U.S. men's national team games, that it's much more pleasant. I do enjoy, however, hanging out with you, Tim, and with all you guys listening, so thank you. We appreciate all your support.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
We'll go all over the place, but let's just start with Pochettino and what he's learned. Again, I'm going to use a dating analogy. If you're dating someone and they're crazy, you'd rather find out after the second date that they're crazy. You don't want to be three years in and go, oh, he's crazy or she's crazy, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
So my guess is he's going back, watching the games, watching individuals and some of the performances and some of the ways the effort, like the full effort wasn't there and going, I got to think about this one. Because you know whose effort was there, Tim? The guy who nobody's heard of until three weeks ago, Diego Luna, or in January. That guy cares. He cares.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
He was chasing down the goalkeeper at the end of the game. It meant something to him. It meant something to him. More than just a normal soccer game. And there's lots of reasons why something can mean more to you. It doesn't have to be because you have this crazy, amazing American pride, okay? Yes, they do, whatever. Maybe it's, I need my next paycheck. I need my next contract. That's fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
No problem. You know, guys, especially before us, and some of the guys during ours were making 80 grand a year, and they were like, that $4,000 extra bonus to win this game, I need it. I got bills to pay. I need it. Guys now, they don't need that, okay? So the money motivation is out of the equation for these guys. It just needs to mean more to you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
And I don't know how you find that, where you find that, but you better find it. Because it means more to Panama. It meant more to Canada.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Let me just... You know when you go through either a breakup or a hard time, or you go through all the emotions, right? And so I was expecting this morning, because last night was the Canada game. I was expecting to wake up much more calm, much more relaxed. And I'm like, I'm frustrated.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Let me follow up on that. Our producers found a great quote from Walker Zimmerman during the Olympics. He said this to Sam Borden. He believes the biggest thing his younger Olympic teammates will take away is appreciation for representing the USA. That gives me chills. Something he said has begun to slip with this US men's player pool. raw candor from the veteran.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
His quote was, I think to some degree, we've gotten away from that and feel like just because we're whoever you are, that you just can get called in. That stuff pisses me off. I think guys need to, every time they put on the jersey, I don't care how talented you are, you want to play with pride. And I think we have the characters to do it, but we don't always do it, which is exactly what I said.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
as someone who dedicated not only his adult life, but his entire life to helping soccer grow, as you did, at the attitude and the demeanor and the effort. Now, I want to be careful because words matter. There were players on the field who cared, okay? But caring about playing a sport that you get paid to do should be the absolute bare minimum. The absolute bare minimum.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
that's so you know we can be the old men yelling at the clown this guy was in the locker room Tim he's in the locker room and he's saying it and again we're going all over the place but I wanted to go back and watch these games and analyze it and get to a point where I'm like, how is Mauricio Pochettino trying to get this team to play? What are they starting to look like?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
I went to Leverkusen, and the first day I was there, nobody passed me the ball. I'm like, why are they not passing me the ball at 16 years old? And he goes, why would they want you to succeed? That versus a college environment, totally different. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
So. And is that Rob, that is now, this is an ignorant question, but that is really seeping into soccer as well. Now, like players are getting offered money now to go to other schools.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah, of course it is. And to some extent, you can't blame them. But I like what you're doing is you're saying – look, you either want to be here, you don't, right? If $5,000 is going to convince you, then you can go somewhere else, right? But you're right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
At some point, do you believe, I'm using smaller schools in quotes, but not a national perennial powerhouse like Vermont, are you going to have to now start playing in that game?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Rob, last few things and we'll let you go. We know you're busy. We appreciate you taking the time today. Who were your, outside of Caleb, who were coaches maybe you looked up to, even if they were in other sports or people that you either try to model yourself after or idolize?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
You don't need advice from me, but I think a lot of times people get I've had a lot of conversations with coaches and young coaches and you get caught up in the level or the, is it a national team or is it, you know, in the CPL, Canadian Premier League or the MLS and you get caught up in the level and you forget about the important thing is that you get to coach in the way you want every day.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And when you win the way you're winning, I don't know if power is the right word, but it gives you more and more influence to do things the way you want at Vermont. And that's really valuable, right? Versus going somewhere else. I have close friends who have gone up in levels, but they have way less influence over what happens.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And it's not as enjoyable for them as just where they were before at a lower level. So it's a cautionary tale, but I'm sure no matter where you go, um, it's very clear that, um, you, you know how to be successful and we're really grateful, Rob, that you took the time here. Um, we are, we are fans.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
I get it. Rob, first question. So I made a conscious decision during my career not to have any children while I was playing. You either made a conscious decision to have a child right during an NCAA tournament run or accidentally had a child during. What's it like when you are? I think it was right before your third round match.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Um, we were all watching together at the end when you guys, uh, beat Marshall and it was, it was fun to watch. It was enjoyable to watch and wherever it takes you, whether it's, you know,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
vermont like coach k was at duke for 30 years or anywhere along the way um we're excited for you and and we appreciate you taking the time today yeah been an honor thanks for coming on thanks guys any lasting words rob any lasting words that you want to leave with the fan base
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
There you go.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
All right, guys, we're going to take a break. A huge thanks to Rob Dow again and the university of the catamounts. We'll be right back with more NCAA soccer discussions right here on unfiltered soccer presented by, by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years. Timmy, we're back, back at it. For everyone's knowledge, we are recording this on Valentine's Day. Yeah, we are. You got plans tonight?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Correct.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah, we've been around, obviously, lots of teams. And you know it when you see it and you feel it, where the culture is right, and you know it when it's wrong. And my first day I walked into the Everton dressing room, I was like, oh, yeah, this is right. They know what they're doing. And how many times did he say, my assistants got it right, my seniors got it right, right? He's humble.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
He clearly knows how to lead. I think the most important thing he said was he said, when we recruit, our seniors are recruiting them and deciding whether or not they want them on this team or not. Right. And I can guarantee you, Tim, there's a lot of times he's probably had a top player come in and they went, not for us. Sorry. Totally. We're just not going to sign you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And that is so like when you can flip it on its head, because most of these, you know, Bill Belichick right now is going into a 17 year old's house and begging them to come play for North Carolina. Right. Until he gets that right, which he will eventually. But when you can flip that and say, well, do you want to be here or not? You show us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
All of a sudden now you've got a phone call from your significant other saying we're about to have a baby. Can you walk us through that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Well, and it is right from what everything we hear, there is some version I'm going to totally butcher this. And so I don't even want to pretend like I know what's going on, but there is some form of a,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
revitalize revamp college system that is going to allow a european type calendar to happen so it goes from august to whatever may and for people who don't know right now college season now goes basically august through december is that right they finish in december so they play three months a year and if you think about 16 and 17 year olds in mls academies or in youth academies they're playing 10 or 11 months a year against high quality competition
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
To play three months a year, you have zero chance to develop. If you're at college for four years and you've played three months during the year, that's it. You're way behind. Way behind. And so U.S. soccer has taken the lead on this conversation. We'll get more into this later, but U.S. soccer has taken the lead and said...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Let's make an August all the way through May calendar and use college soccer as a form of semi-pro soccer that helps bridge that gap from an 18-year-old to a 22-year-old. Because around the world, Tim, you know this. If you're 18 and you're not starting to train, at least train with the first team. your chances of playing or being a real pro are way down.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And if you're 22 and you're not playing, you've got almost no chance, right? So I think this is a positive step once it gets there. And I'd be curious if our fans know more about this because, you know, we're kind of learning as we go here. Please let us know. But there is reform coming.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Part of the NCAA.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Look, my overall take on this is whatever's happening and going on right now is not working still. And when people say, why haven't we won a World Cup? I am always, always, Tim, the person who says, we are so young in this country. Major League Soccer is a few decades old. Give us time. However, as I start to see...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
the last five years, 10 years, what's happening in MLS, fewer and fewer Americans in MLS, what's happening when kids come out of college, fewer and fewer college kids now going on to play professionally. It's not working, right? It's not working. So if we have to flip the thing on its head and see if something new works, I'm all for it. I have no issue with it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
I mean, do you think a longer college season will ultimately then lead to more of those players being pros or is this kind of pie in the sky?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
We need – Yeah, I mean, I guess it's still about the coaches.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And then it goes half of those hours are just, you're just warming up.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
You have a very small geographic footprint, but you have hundreds and hundreds of clubs, almost 100 professional, or league clubs, and then you have a bunch of semi-professional, right? And so there's so much opportunity for players, and I know he's the anomaly, like Jamie Vardy, right? Come out of nowhere. And we don't have that capability right now. We don't. And it's...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
it makes it challenging because you get this small group of players who have basically been picked since they were 12 or 13 and all the resources have gone into those kids. And then you just hope some of them make it, right? As opposed to casting a much bigger net, which this would do.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And hopefully you get a kid who's maybe goes to college for two years and was missed by the system who then becomes a national team player.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
um yeah the the geography has has butchered a lot of this uh you know the development in u.s soccer what's your take i know we've talked about this briefly on on kids going into the portal and and and transferring and i i i really struggle with it but i also understand a kid who's not playing and this is their one chance to find an opportunity like what's your take on that
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Wow. So you actually did get to see you were there and then you had to get on a plane and leave. Yes. Which I'm sure went over really well in your household. Super popular. See you later.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Well, not only a transfer portal, but they can also pay players now. So really the recruitment, like you said, comes with a bag in your hand, right? Here's a bag of cash and it changes the whole conversation versus, you know, Vermont's a great school. Vermont has a beautiful camp. It's like, okay, here's some money. Do you want to do it or not? But you know, who's going to win Tim at the end?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And this is, This is always in life. There will be all these different iterations, all these different mechanisms. Things will change. The people who win are the Rob Dows of the world because they create, and we'll talk about it again, culture where people want to be there. And ultimately, you know, I learned this in USL, right, with San Diego Loyal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
When we were with San Diego, a couple years we were a top six spending club. Other years we were middle of the table. But we always finished near the top or in the playoffs because, one, San Diego. People want to be in San Diego.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
But if you're offering a guy $80,000 and he has an offer for $95,000, but you can provide so many other things that you know will help them and you can prove that over time, they're going to come to you. And that's what's happening with Rob. And at Vermont now, he can say, look, like I said earlier, if you don't want to be here, don't come. We're not begging you. Before, you had to beg.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And he still has to do some of that. He alluded to that. But it allows you the opportunity to flip the script a little bit. And people like that will always win, no matter what changes around them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah, and look, everybody values different things. So again, I'll reference Loyal again. When we would talk to a free agent, we would intentionally ask, what do you value? If it's money, just say it. I don't care. If it's money, just tell me. We don't have to have this like, I just care about the club. And it's like, bullshit. Just tell me if it's money. For some people, it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Some people grew up with a lot of money. 80 grand isn't going to change their life. So it's living in San Diego or it's the club or it's the ownership or it's whatever. So as long as there's clarity around that, no problem. And if it's money, then just tell me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Here's your ticket to Indy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah. All right. We will tie a bow on it with that. Going to be interesting to see how it unfolds because there are changes coming. And basically what a lot of these – top division one schools have said, or these conferences have said is if the NCAA doesn't get on board with changing this schedule, we're just going to leave, right? We're just going to leave the NCAA.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
So there's going to be, there'll be a power struggle there. And, and the schools have made it clear that at least in soccer, three months isn't enough. Like they need to have a real season in order for, for these players to develop coaches, to develop people, to be more involved in the sport. I think it's good for everyone.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll get into your questions in the AT&T Fan Connection and talk anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. So stick around.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Tim, go ahead. You have a daughter in this world.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah. I don't have, I don't have too much to add. I just, the system's broken, right? Like we have to admit that and very few systems are perfect. So you have to accept that as a starting point. I don't, I don't know this world very well, but I do see it. I have seen it. Lots of men's collegiate soccer programs have gone away and it's just a byproduct of what happens.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
It's weird because in some ways you want to say, let the market dictate what should happen. But the NCAA's mantra is to help all sports, right? And so it's just, it hasn't, it probably hasn't worked out the way everyone wanted, but there's enough creative people and there's enough money where there should be a solution. Like sports should not be going away out of, out of collegiate schools.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
It doesn't make sense.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
I don't know the answer. I mean, that's an interesting, it's a great question. It's an interesting idea. He said to take football out of, But I would be curious to see what that then looks like.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah, because who else? Well, college basketball, perhaps. Sure, sure. But then there's not enough money still probably to fund all these things. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And we just talked about the NCAA as an institution doesn't care about soccer. And to be honest, they only care about football and basketball because it makes them a lot of money. Let's just call it what it is. So you can't make collegiate soccer that much better unless you have people who are invested and care about it, who are the governing body, which is the NCAA.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
And the challenge now with US soccer is that is the governing body. I think people at the top do care, genuinely. The problem in our society is there's too many fractured parts of youth soccer in America, and there's no commonality between any of it. And that's where the problems are. When you go to Everton, it's all about Everton. All about Everton, up and down the system.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
You go to Liverpool, it's all about... And in MLS clubs, it feels that way too. But the Premier League as a whole, the governing body... is all about promoting the sport and making it better. In this country, we don't have people at the bottom who care about the sport and making it better. They care about money and that's all there is to it. And that's, you know, that's just the way it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Well, he's what George, he or she is suggesting is that We changed the whole system to be American, right? And if that is how it had started here, and that's how the rest of the world did it, it would be more accepted. There would be a functionality that would work. And in the women's game, to some extent, it does work, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Now, there's not the influx of money, but it does work that way because that's the way it's been. But that's probably going to change, right? It's probably going to change and go more towards how the rest of the world goes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yes, players get overlooked. What— We talked to Rob about this, Rob Dow, and he said 30% to 35% of his players are internationals. The players that get overlooked are really like Ajumang, like a Division III or an NAIA kid. Those kids get overlooked because those are some kids, and Tim and I talked about this before the show started today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Those are kids who were in professional academies until they were 18, maybe then tried to make it as a pro somewhere else for a year or two. But these are good kids, like very good players. Just because they're not as good as the top kid at Man City, they're not Phil Foden, doesn't mean they're not good players. They just don't get signed by Man City. But these are good players.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
It's less so with Americans. I think Patrick is the anomaly in that way. But there are a lot of international players who then, by the way, can still be signed by MLS clubs out of college and get green cards quickly, could also become Americanized. But yeah, we alluded to it with Philly. They don't value the draft. And that's okay because they have a fantastic youth system.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
But there are a lot of players who get overlooked. There's no question.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Let's tie it back to the collegiate landscape, soccer collegiate landscape potentially changing. So in that way, as you're talking through that, I'm thinking, okay, there is a chance because now if you're playing year-round, But that's a starting point. The other crucial factor, and I cannot overstate this, is being in the environment of professional soccer versus college soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
They are complete opposites. When you are a 16-year-old and I went to Leverkusen and the first day I was there training, nobody passed me the ball. And I went to my dad. I'm like, why are they not passing me the ball at 16 years old? And he goes, why would they want you to succeed? This is their livelihood. This kid's from Bulgaria. He has nothing else. He needs to succeed here.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
That versus going to a college environment where everything's fun and happy and we're bros and all that. Totally different. And so if you've been a 16-year-old in that environment for three or four years, you are miles better than a 20-year-old who's been playing three years of college soccer. Miles. Even if you're not as talented, you're just hardened. And you are a much different player.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Yeah, that's right. Good job, JR.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
All right, we'll see you later. All right, Tim. That was fun. I enjoyed that. Rob was great, huh? Yeah, he was awesome. Yeah, he was great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Fan now forever of the Vermont Catamounts.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Oh, that'd be sick. Right? Maybe by saying that, they'll send us some. I would love that. All right, guys. Thanks for being with us today. This was a lot of fun. It is Valentine's Day, even though you're hearing this a little bit later. So have fun. Enjoy yourselves. If you're alone, no problem. Find love, friends, family. Enjoy the evening.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Follow the show across all social media at Unfiltered Soccer for lots of bonus content.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
See you, guys.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Rob, can you help us understand? So we were talking before the show, um, my family grew up very close to where you're from in Nova Scotia, Canada, and probably every one of our listeners is like, where the hell is that? So far East end of the earth in North America is Nova Scotia. a province in Canada and you grew up in coal Harbor. My family grew up a little further North on Cape Breton.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Fair enough. You, we've got, uh, no kiddos don't exist today. We're going to a spa, getting massages, going to dinner. So I'm not a big fan of these like made up holidays, but to get away from the kids, I'll do anything.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
My dad's family from there. How does a person who presumably grew up with hockey and a hockey stick in their hand end up in the soccer world? How did that come about?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Did that make you want to then get into coaching?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
No, he took them with us. Are they any good? Yeah. Kids get good fast. Yeah, quick, man. It's amazing. I'm scared to death to ski. Because they're like, their learning curve is so steep. So like once they get it, bang, they go. They're so good. It was good. Happy Valentine's Day, bud. You too, bud. All right. Follow us, as always, Unfiltered Soccer. Be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Rob, can you walk us through some... You're talking about...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
guys that you have that are leaders and can you a lot of our a lot of people who listen to the show probably aren't super familiar with the collegiate world right they follow their professional team or the apl or the national team can you walk us through how do you recruit players to go to vermont right i mean if you have a lot of international players as well yeah right
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Right. So you would think, you know, kids want to, they know if, if they're international, they know New York and they know LA and they know Chicago and Florida, but how do you get them? How do you convince them, I guess, to, to go to New York or to Vermont? Sorry.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow, make sure, um, if you like what we're doing, leave a comment, review us. It helps other people find the show. You can also email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer. Tim, we've got a special guest today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
NCAA Soccer with guest Rob Dow, Head Coach at the University of Vermont
Now, the beauty of that, Rob, is that If you do that from the beginning and you're not successful, people are like, well, you don't get to just choose who you want to be there. But now that you've had success, now you say, okay, you don't fit into what we're doing, then you can go somewhere else and we're fine. We're going to be fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
They didn't play well one step forward, two, three, or four steps back. They have no divine right to be anything other than just another team in the Premier League. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Good for you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
You got to send a recording of this. No, it was fun. All right, guys. Welcome back. Good to be here. Make sure you guys subscribe to the show on YouTube. Follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. As always, please leave a comment, like, review. It helps people find us. The show's doing really well and we want to Keep making sure people find us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
in Copa America. Yeah. That, you know, ultimately ended up to the U S ultimately getting knocked out and Berhalter getting fired. Yeah. He's just seems like a changed player, maybe in person. And again, I'm not, I'm just seeing, saying what I'm seeing from him. Yeah. But sometimes those moments, Tim, those are the best thing that can happen. I had, in 2002, we had a great World Cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
In 2006, I had a terrible World Cup. And sometimes those down moments, you find out what you're made of. And it seems like he's come back. My response in that moment was like, I'm not letting that happen ever again. And it seems like he's got that same mentality. Like, you know what? That's not good enough, and I'm not going to let that happen again. So he's been on a tear, man.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And when he's in this kind of form, you just think about as you're putting together a team moving into the 2026 World Cup. If you have he and Christian on either side of whoever, who's playing well, Pepe or whoever, you start to get some real quality. And you get Weston, Tyler Adams, whoever, Moussa. there's some real quality now, and the front part of the field starts to look pretty good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
You can also email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer. We have our AT&T fan connection that we answer questions every week from you guys, so please keep that coming in. Big news on the weekend, Tim, Saturday. We're going to start with USLNT on USMNT. US played Venezuela. I would say overall, solid result.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
I see this too with college football player. We forget these are their kids. They're 18, 19, 20, 22. Weston McKinney had the same thing in Nashville a couple of years ago when he made some bad decisions off the field and got sent home from camp. And we all made those dumb decisions. I did it too. You did too. And you got to learn from it and grow.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Just one other quick note on the bad side of things. Malik Tillman suffered an ankle injury, it looks like, at PSV. And his manager, Peter Bosz, says he's probably going to be out for a while. So wishing him the best. And hopefully that doesn't last too long because he's been in good form too. And US Men's National Team fans definitely want that to continue. Yeah, wish him well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll take a look back on what was a really big few days in the Premier League right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Since 2019, Volkswagen has been on a mission to drive the future of the sport we all love, and VW is committed to making it more diverse, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I've seen firsthand how VW are connecting with fans and driving the sport forward. From working with them on clinics to being part of their incredible campaigns, it's clear. U.S. soccer is truly powered by the people.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
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USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
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USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
People don't know how difficult it is to be fit and get through 70, 80, 90 minutes after only training for two weeks in preseason. So I thought overall it was a really... solid performance by the team. I think Pochettino will be pretty happy. Big standout for me, Jack McGlynn. He's interesting. Here in San Diego about It must have been six or seven years ago. I went to a U.S.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
go um all right so i was watching the everton game which we'll get into up the toffees um and i was watching you know that on nbc they've got in the corner the scores up there so actually you don't even see that because you're working but so i saw united 1-1 and then i saw united 1 brighton 2 and And then it went back to 1-1. So I figured there was some VAR or whatever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And the next thing I know, I look and it's 3-1 Brighton. And I was like, what is going on? So here's, I've said this over and over, Tim, and I'm going to say it again. They just aren't, they just don't have good enough players. It's like, again, I've compared them to the Dallas Cowboys, but the You just have this idea that they're supposed to be wherever they are, and nothing is given in life.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
They have no divine right to be anything other than just another team in the Premier League. They have no divine right. And people have these crazy expectations of why are they this, why are they... Look at their roster. They're just not good enough. And so more than what Ruben Amorin said... The way he looks right now, he looks defeated, dude.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Like, when I watched the press conference versus his first press conference, and he knew. Like, he's not stupid. When he came in, he probably was looking at other rosters and going, oh, boy. But... Now, he's seeing it up close every day, and he probably thinks in his mind, Tim, he probably thinks he's got like three or four decent players for him. I mean, honestly.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And the rest, he's probably just not good enough.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
There's a, there's a fundamental issue when new managers come into a club that's struggling. Here's the fundamental issue. Generally speaking, you go after a type of manager who has been very, this is what's happened in modern soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Very successful, unique, creative in the way they do things, very system oriented or, or doing the things they like to do. And the challenge is when you drop that, you take that manager and drop him into a team or her into a team that doesn't have the right ingredients to make the meal that you want, now there's a huge problem because you need to get results now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
under-17, like, identification camp.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And so my question for you is, when he first signed this deal, did he go to them and say, this is going to take one year, 18 months, two years. And if you're not okay with that, do not hire me because we're going to suffer in the interim. Because he's not David Moyes, and we'll talk about him, is the other end of that spectrum.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
You can drop him in almost anywhere, and he's going to find a way to get results. Now, is it creative and new and progressive and everything that sexy managers are? No. But he will get results. And so... Did he say that? Is Manchester United willing to suffer now and take its blows now? And I've said this about other sports, Tim, too. I see it a lot in the NBA.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And I remember seeing Jack. He was one of the names there, and he was the Eastern Region whatever guys. And I remember seeing him there, and I was like, God, he's talented. But he seems like he's kind of frail, thin. I don't know if he's going to make it. Clicked to the last few years. This kid's been on a pretty meteoric rise, and he capped it with a great performance on Saturday.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
The Galaxy went through this for a long time. You try to plug one hole. And then you try to plug the next hole and then you try the next thing, you know, you're playing whack-a-mole all over as opposed to just blowing the whole thing up and starting over. So do you think he's had those conversations? Are they aware of, I mean, are they willing to wait and suffer?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
All right, let's move on to the other team in Manchester. Manchester City are back!
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
They absolutely battered Ipswich 6-0. Phil Foden was scintillating. They are unbeaten since Christmas. So four wins and two draws. They look better. It's Ipswich, so you're not getting too crazy about it. But do you feel like maybe it's turning a bit?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
I was going to say, are they looking at that or are they just looking at Champions League, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
People don't realize that. To your point, the difference between three and six is massive psychologically. And fans are like, oh, it's only three. Let's get one back. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Just don't get distracted. We had a game actually in Houston. You'll appreciate this. We had a game one year with the Galaxy in Houston. And after like 14 minutes, we were down 3-0.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And I was like, and we were not at it. You can't win. You know you can't win. No chance. Zero. And I remember I was the captain, so I pulled the team in and I just said, guys, I was picking my words carefully, but I was like, have some pride. Basically saying, don't get destroyed. But there was no like, we can still do this. I was like, we're losing today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
But let's just make sure this, I think it finished 3-0. But I was like, let's just make sure this doesn't happen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
That's such a classic American story. You know, like when I listen to games, when I listen to English commentators, when it's 2-0 and there's like, it's getting into extra time or added time, they're like, oh, win for Manchester City here. And in my mind, I'm like, no, no, they could still lose this game. Like, you know, like Americans are so dumb. But sometimes you do win when you're down 2-0.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Not 5. No, not 5. Yeah, go ahead.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
So help people understand. So a lot of times people have relegation clauses, right? which nobody expects City to ever get relegated. They also have, a lot of times players have a release clause, meaning if you pay a certain fee, the player's free. So it could say, the player can say, $100 million release clause. If anybody, my uncle, Real Madrid, my mom gives you $100 million, I am free.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
But if all those have been removed, you're right, he's not going anywhere. So that's an interesting commitment because at some point Pep's going to be done.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Right. And you don't know who the next manager is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
I didn't think. Can you imagine Erling Haaland making like 600 grand a week playing in the Champions League?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
73.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
He's been making money long into retirement. All right, let's move on to our tough A's. Up the tough A's. So David Moyes back at Goodison Park. God, it was such a... I mean, imagine... I know how I felt. I can imagine how you felt watching David Moyes at Everton again. It was just such a throwback. Absolutely destroyed Spurs in the first half.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Spurs got back into it a little bit at the end, but Everton won 3-2. I have a lot of thoughts about Everton, but let's start with Spurs. Sure. They've lost 12 of their last 22 league matches as a starting point. Last year, they lost 12 games total. We just have to ask the... How much longer are Spurs fans, management, ownership going to deal with this?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
He's got like, he's like a little brash.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And Ange Postacogo seems like a very likable guy. But at some point, man, they're down at the bottom. I think they're 15th. They're just ahead of Everton. How long can they deal with this?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Cocky.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
And... For all his sins.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
It's really hard, Tim, for people. I see this in all walks of life. People who are extremely successful getting to the top have done it a certain way. And then when you get to the top and there's adversity, they don't want to change. And it happens at every level in all types of businesses and professions. And you see it all the time. And the reality is, is
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
In soccer, man, you have to have some ability to adapt. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, some man, there's a spectrum, right? So when I was coaching, most of the time, most managers are on the end of the spectrum where it's like every week they're changing everything about their team based on the opponent. Everything. How they train, everything they do. And over time, players are like, what are we?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
What are we? We don't know what we are. But then there's quite a few managers now in world soccer who are on the other end of the spectrum. It's like, we are doing what we're doing. Amram is like this now, right? No matter what. Russell Martin at Southampton. No matter what, we are going to do this. And it feels like now there will be some coming back to the middle because you have to adjust.
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USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
Now teams are so good. When teams try to build out of the back, teams now have adapted to go after you so hard and so well-structured that they can pick you off and score goals. And that's the hardest thing to do in the sport. And you can score goals quickly and create big chances. So he's got to adapt, dude, or he's going to be gone.
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Pride cometh before the fall. Sure does. And yeah, we'll see what happens. All right, let's move into some MLS news and notes. First on the coaching front, Tim, NYCFC announced earlier this month that Pascal Janssen will be their new head coach. I don't know anything about him, but it sounds like you've spoken to some people who are high on him.
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Okay. Vancouver Whitecaps announced Jesper Sorensen as their new head coach. He coached at Brunby in the Danish Superliga. Interestingly, he finished fifth his first season. Then he finished second last year. And then they sacked him when he was in fifth this year. So interesting. Well, I don't know anything about him either.
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I see a big trend in MLS where European sporting directors come in and then they want to hire a European coach. And for the most part, hasn't been crazy successful, but we'll see how both of those go. And then some interesting player news. Sounds like Charlotte FC are in talks with Wilfried Zaha. Yeah. I don't like it personally. I don't know how you feel. Not a fan.
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I just, it just seems like he's passed it once he went to Galatasaray. Yeah. Felt like that was the end. But, God, is he talented, man.
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Yes, we were.
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Yeah. So we said last week, I said last week, there'll be two or three guys that you start to recognize in this camp. And if you're a U S national team fan, but not really an MLS diehard, you would have shown up and said, Oh, it's Jack McGlynn's. All right. And there will be two or three guys who come out of nowhere and just keep your eye on him. Right.
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It'd be fun to watch. Yeah, for sure. It felt like once he left Palace, he was like, all right, I'm on my way out.
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We thought for a few weeks here that Neymar might go to Chicago. It sounds like, I don't know if it's confirmed confirmed, but instead he's going to go to Santos in Brazil. Which means it's time for Carnival. Yes, the holiday. Sounds like he's going home to party.
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Look, that had the classic, you know, a few exciting moments, good games, and the rest was total disaster. And his Saudi coach even said physically he can't do it anymore. And that's in Saudi, right? And so it's like, yeah, I mean, I think that was a bullet dodge there.
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It also sounds like, and it's a little complicated, but it sounds like Atlanta United might be bringing back Miguel Almarone, who hasn't been playing as much at Newcastle. That seems like a good fit. He would love to be back there. It could be really interesting.
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Well, he always felt like a guy who...
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didn't matter where you were playing what the stakes whatever like he just came to play yeah it just feels like he just always comes to play and so it feels like a good fit there totally totally all right let's take another break when we come back we'll get into mailbag anything but soccer right here on unfiltered soccer with landon and tim presented by volkswagen
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If he maybe gets another opportunity and does well, and then next thing you know, you can end up on a world cup roster. So Speaking of his brashness, there was an interesting moment with the penalty. So Marko Miljevic and Miljevic. There's a penalty in the game if you didn't see it. So he and Jack McGlynn get into a little tussle over it.
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What? They're not good? They're too filtered?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
We're ready.
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I'm happy, baby. Thank you, Vince. I'll start. As we've talked about many, many times, the key in MLS is getting into the playoffs and then getting in healthy. And you have to say everybody stays together. Most of the team stays together. And Ricky Pooja is back at the end of the season. As long as they're in the playoffs, it'd be hard to bet against them. I feel like the Galaxy could go anywhere.
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and win a game, especially with that front four. And so far, we haven't dived in a lot yet, or dove in, dived in, dove in, a lot to MLS offseason. We will at a later date as we get closer to the season. But the Galaxy, in my opinion, made a massive upgrade and huge pickup by bringing Sean Davis over from Nashville, central midfielder who's just really, really good.
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And so he's going to help them a lot. He's a classic MLS veteran who just helps you win games. So I wouldn't bet against him. Obviously, I'm biased, but I wouldn't bet against him.
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um ben olsen is going to uh lead the charge so save it could be tough it could be tough for them but uh repeating is always hard i think it's always repeating is is extremely because there's psychologically just so people understand it is so hard to be motivated excited and up for every game for a year and then when you win there's a natural it's just human psychology like oh we did it
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And to then have that same chip on your shoulder and go after it again when you have a target on your back, because now everyone's like, oh, we're playing the champs. Oh, the champs are coming to town. It's really hard.
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And ultimately, Jack McGlynn loses out and Miljevic ends up missing the penalty, right? And I got to tell you, Tim, I absolutely hate when this happens. First of all, I hate, hate, hate this. I've always hated it when guys fight over a penalty. Because, and I'll tell you why. What is the ultimate goal of a soccer game? To win the game. Yeah, of course. To win the game.
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Great question. Yeah. Well, outside of Dignity Health Sports Park, because that was that was home for so many years for me. I would say Kansas City, supporting Kansas City for me. The close confines, the crowd was fantastic. It gets a little like dark and shadowy because it's kind of set in a little bit. So I just, I loved playing there. And that would be my answer for when I was playing.
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What new stadium? Um, Nashville's was pretty cool when I went to visit, that'd be a cool stadium to play in. Um, maybe Cincinnati and Austin also looks really cool too.
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All right, here's my feelings. This is complicated. And we live in a society now where everybody wants to take a side. Everyone wants black or white or paper or plastic or red or green or whatever. And this is very complicated. So I'm going to give you fans' perspective, which I think fans love this tournament. I'm going to give you a player's perspective.
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Players in MLS, until you get to the quarterfinals, are like, this is annoying. It's just annoying because we don't have the history. They don't feel the same way they feel about the FA Cup in England. Players from San Diego Loyal, when we were in the second division, loved it. The teams we played below them in NPSL or in lower divisions loved it because they had a chance to do something special.
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MLS owners hate it because they lose money. Now, maybe there's some sentimental like, oh, we can grow this and this can be special. MLS as a whole, as an entity, hates it because they lose money. There's not a lot of prestige behind it. There's nobody in the stands until you get to the final.
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And then it's just fixture congestion where they could fill those dates with something like the League's Cup. So it's a really complicated dynamic. Me personally... I love it, and I would like to see actually more money put into it. MLS teams take it more seriously and help it grow together.
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So I could care less if my grandma or grandpa take the penalty. Just put it in the net and let's win the game. Now, I took penalties a lot. But I couldn't care less. Sometimes I gave him to Robbie Keane. Sometimes I gave him to Clint Dempsey. It didn't matter. Let's just score the goal. And I hate that. And this is why I hate goal bonuses too.
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I understand MLS's side of it, but I think overall the right thing to do would be to invest money in it, U.S. soccer, MLS, and make it bigger and better and more valuable. And then in 30 years, we'll look back and go, thank God we did that. And the last thing we want is for this thing to peter out.
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We need questions. So send in questions, guys. Even basic, like what is it? What does it mean? Super important. Or as complicated as you want so that we can dive into it and talk about it. We're going to have some. guests on and we're going to do a big thing on it. So it should be fun.
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I hate it because guys are like, oh, I got six grand riding on this. I'm going to steal the ball. I just hate it. And I'll just say Pochettino's done a great job. He said after the game, We didn't say anything about who would take the penalty in case we had one, but it was good because I think the argument showed the character. I mean, he was protecting the guys.
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Bye guys. All right, Timmy, anything but soccer ABS this week. Um, couple interesting things. First thing I want to talk about. All right. I love this stuff. Alright, so I was watching the NFL games this weekend. Kansas City Chiefs win at home. Patrick Mahomes is... I love him. I love everything about him. I know he's very polarizing. And you know why people are so annoyed by him, Tim?
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It's because he's so good at winning. Totally. He's good at winning. He is good. But I love it because when I played... I cared about winning. I cared about winning. Like I wanted to win. You can have all your goal scoring and all this BS and all that. I wanted championships, right? And like, he doesn't care if he goes 11 for 18 and has a pick, but they win. He couldn't care less.
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And most people and young players in our society are now like, I want the Instagram photo of me scoring the goal and all that. And like, even if we lose 4-1, I scored the goal and here's the highlights and all that. And it's just BS, right? And so he just cares about winning. Now, what comes with that is he's always stretching the line, dude.
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He's always towing the line of what's legal, what's not. And so there are a lot of calls that he gets, the Chiefs get, that drive people absolutely crazy. And he puts the refs in tough positions.
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He puts himself in positions where he might get hit a second late. He might just be about to step out of bounds, but then stop for a second, get hit, and go flying. He dove this weekend on the sideline, which I don't want to hear anyone tell me that soccer players dive anymore because he dove too, and I don't want to hear it anymore. But I love him, and it was interesting during the podcast because
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when he got two Houston Texans, Will Anderson and someone else, came together on him to hit him and actually hit each other. It looked pretty bad in real life. And the ref threw a flag. They can't review it in that specific instance. But during the broadcast, Troy Aikman goes, oh, come on, man. And Troy was a quarterback. And so he hated it. And it's a part of the game.
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But what I would say to people who don't like it, is then go earn it the way he has and the Chiefs have. Right? Michael Jordan used to get all those fouls, too. Like these little hand-check fouls and whatever. And it's like, then you go be that guy. Josh Allen, go into Kansas City this weekend and beat them and win a Super Bowl. Crazy. And you'll get all those little calls, too.
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But your job as a coach is to tell someone you're taking the penalty. You have to because this situation is really ugly. I think it's really ugly. I just, I hate it.
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We both played with a guy, defender Jeff Agus. Goose. Goose was so good at this, Tim. I played with him in San Jose. So long ball gets hit over the top, and he would be chasing it down, and the forward would be chasing, and the forward was behind him. So Jeff had the angle on the ball. He would slow down. He would wait till the striker, barely any contact.
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And he would just fall straight on the ball. And he's running back towards his own goal. And people have to remember, referees are human first. Yes, it's their job, whatever. But there's so much subjectivity. It's not black and white. So he would just wait for contact, fall on the ball, grab the ball with his hands. And the ref had no choice. I swear to you,
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Maybe once in four years did that not get called. And he did it five or six times a game.
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So you wait for the contact. You fall down. And it's like, okay, is that cheating? No. Is it using the rules to your advantage?
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I'm here for it. Yeah. So if you don't want it, then don't touch him.
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It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. I am actually, incidentally, I just told my son last night, I'm going to the game this weekend. Wait, in Kansas City? In Kansas City. Oh.
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So I'm taking my boy, who is a huge Patrick Mahomes fan. Shout out to the Hunt family, who are the owners of FC Dallas, because they were able to hook us up with tickets. So it's going to be so funny.
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But you know what he said to me last night? So I told him last night. He was like, what? We get to go see Patrick Mahomes play live? I said, yeah. And he said, a couple times we've taken him to New York. Or one time we took him to New York. And one time we took him to Cabo. And we are not like this. But it just worked out where… We brought him and he sat in first class with us.
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So he goes, dad, are we going to, we're going to sit in one of those seats, right? With the big seats and they bring us food the whole time. And I was like, you know, Tal, no, we're flying Southwest this time. But we're sitting there. He was devastated. He's like, what?
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All right, last thing. I just want to real quick. The Eagles game yesterday, I don't know if you noticed, but A.J. Brown, wide receiver for the Eagles, showed up to the game in an old-school Honda Accord. I was just thinking to myself, like, dude, he's just like one of us. Yeah, good one. Except I ain't.
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except he ain't but i love that dude he showed up in the honda accord i can't imagine like side note did did he get stuck in the snow because i'm guessing that honda accord yeah i don't have did not get make it out of the parking lot no chance i guess he made it but i just love that dude like i love that guy and and look i mean you kind of get to a point and you probably deal with this too like
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It's nice to have great things, whatever, but you just want to be comfortable. And he probably just loves driving the car. He just drives it. I had a teammate, Todd Dunavant, who drove, I don't even know what it was. Some old car. It had like 300,000 miles. Literally, Tim, for 10 years at the Galaxy. And I'm like, Todd, you're making a couple hundred grand now. Can you just buy something?
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Like just something decent? It doesn't have to be like nice, but like you just did. So I'll give one good story about cars. I think you have one too.
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We had a guy in San Jose. We drafted him. I don't know. I think it was the first overall pick maybe or second overall pick to us. And Chris Carrieri. So he shows up.
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Yes, exactly. So he shows up his first day. And it's like preseason. It's like February, March. Top down this like bright red Corvette. And like for a guy who was making like 30 grand, we were like, where the hell did he get all this money? So we were all humble. Like nobody was making money back then in MLS.
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He shows up in this bright red Corvette strolling in and it was like, dude, you really, that's the first impression you want to make. So we called him Corvetti forever. I think he played in the league for like two years.
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It's absolutely Corvetti. All right, guys, it's been fun. Thanks again for all the feedback, all the questions, and the AT&T fan connection. We appreciate all you guys being with us. Remember to subscribe, like, comment on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again, everyone.
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Yeah. Young kids. Yeah. Go ahead.
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USMNT vs Venezuela Recap, Everton Shock Spurs, and the Worst Manchester United Team Ever?!
I'm going to apologize to all of our fans ahead of time in Orlando and also New Orleans where I was. Also not my favorite place. I went to New Orleans one time for the Super Bowl.
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Then during the week, you know what? Go up to the coach and say, I'd really like to take penalties. Right? Or can we take some penalties? And whoever misses first doesn't get to take it. Sure. Don't do it on the field. There were two times, Tim, that I remember off the top of my head giving up penalties. One was we were beating Mexico 2-0. Yeah. Very end of the game.
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And Clint had had a phenomenal game. And I was like, Clint, you want to take it? And of course, Clint was like, hell yeah, dog.
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The other time I did it was at the end of one of the finals in LA. We were up 2-1 against New England. And it was in extra time. Wow. And I hit a long ball from like midfield. And I think Robbie Keane or somebody went down and got fouled in the box. And I was so tired, dude. I couldn't even run to the 18 or the… I was like… I just looked from like 40 yards away. I pointed at Robbie.
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And I was like… Your leg must have been gone. Same thing with Robbie. He's like, don't have to tell me twice.
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Anyway, but otherwise, I mean… Yeah, I just… I didn't like that. It was unnecessary, I would say. An unnecessary way to put a little… damper on the game. But ultimately, I think great performance. Pochettino clearly had the team ready. They're motivated. And then they got another one again on Wednesday.
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Yeah. A couple guys left camp. We just want to mention this quickly. So John Tolkien got signed with Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga. He left camp early. My assumption is he left so he could get there, get into preseason, get ready. So I totally understand that. Jalen Neal had a little injury. So he left camp. Understandable. The interesting one was Jesus Ferreira left.
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And I was down there at like 6 a.m. the morning after down on Bourbon Street. And they had this machine, this vehicle, and they have this hose. And they go down the street and they literally just hose all the crap that's been sitting there all night into the gutters and the drains. And I was like, this is so disgusting, dude. It was so gross.
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And we talked about him a lot last week. Um, the, the quote was so that he can return or so that he can focus on returning to fitness. Um, so I was trying to dive into this. I spoke to someone at us soccer and they said that that is actually the truth. You know, they, they wanted him and he wanted to get up to full fitness ahead of the Sounders season. So, um,
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It's an interesting one because I don't know if that means he didn't come in fit or was he carrying an injury? Because this was a big opportunity for him, Tim.
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But I will just say, I don't know whose decision it was, more his, more Pochettino, more Seattle, whatever. But then Ajumang scores, and now it's like, okay, you left the door open, right? And this is the way soccer works. It'd be interesting to see how those two progress throughout the year and what that looks like. Let's move over to Europe. Really, really happy all of us were if you're a U.S.
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men's national team. Tyler Adams starting to get minutes again. He played really well against Newcastle. I thought he was – he's been very good, and he's helped Bournemouth a lot. in the last few weeks. So it looks like he is knock on wood, getting back to fitness, starting to play well. And if you're a national team fan, this is, this is crucial.
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And this, this needs to continue for the next 18 months.
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I had a speaking engagement. Actually, I did a really cool, there's a really bizarre, but an insurance company called We The People. put on this event every year. And insurance is just boring by nature, right? But it was so exciting. These people were so into it. They were partying all weekend. So I came in and did a keynote speaking.
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Yeah, let's just, there's a part of me in the back of my brain is like, you're almost just waiting to just make sure he gets through the next game and gets through the next game. I just, I just hope it can continue. There was a US Derby in Italy, Milan and Juventus. Christian Pulisic didn't play. Constance Howe said there's nothing serious. They just didn't want to risk him. He's still, you know,
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recovering. But Weston McKinney was fantastic. Tim Weah came off the bench and scored a great goal. Weston played right back, which is interesting. He's got, in my opinion, all the qualities to be a great right back, too. Kind of like Tyler Adams, to be honest. I feel like both of them could do that in a pinch, no problem.
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The interesting thing for people to understand, so when you play as a central midfielder, you have people behind you that can put out fires too. So you have a little more leeway to take risks, take chances, go into tackles that you might not otherwise. When you play as a, not as a central defender, but when you play as an outside back, it's really interesting because
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There are certain things that are very similar and very easy. The hardest thing, and I wasn't a defender, but the hardest thing people had to pick up was making sure you were with your line all the time. So the other three defenders or four defenders, depending on what system you're playing.
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But you have to be watching across the back line all the time, knowing where you're, in this case, his left winger is defensive, the guy he's playing against.
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where he's at and then making sure you're staying with the line all the time. And that's not an easy thing that takes like lots and lots of time to practice, but he fit in perfectly. They got a shutout and I thought, I thought he was excellent.
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Now it's a real game, real competition, FIFA competition, trophy at stake. Now it gets real. God, I'm so excited now for this. I can't wait for this weekend. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
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If they do it once, then they're going to have to do it again with a sold-out American crowd in the final. And that's just really tough. I think Mexico sneaks by. I don't think they're the better team. I think Mexico sneaks by. And then everyone gets what they want. Everyone wants to see U.S.-Mexico. And that would be the final.
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What do you mean, who organized? I can tell you who organized it.
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As the Mexicans are walking in.
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We had to buy tickets for both.
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Well, by the way, tickets are going to be switching hands as people leave. Here you go. Give me 300 bucks.
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It's going to be interesting to see. I believe it's on CBS. I believe it's on CBS. We will tune in. Let's take a break, Tim. I want to really dig into the roster. It just came out this morning. We saw the roster. I listened to the presser. We talked about it a lot. So we got lots and lots of comments, lots of interesting news on the roster. Let's take a break. We'll be right back talking U.S.
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men's national team CONCACAF Nations League right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Stick around.
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Oh, yeah. I showed you. For the people at home. See if you can see. This is my American Outlaws shirt. I'm officially a member, although I think I need to renew.
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Well, I think what's interesting is the January Kemp roster, everybody was like, okay, which kind of mostly MLS guys is Mauricio Pochettino interested in? Yeah. Just as a starting point. So then we get past that and it's like, okay, now it's a real game, real competition, FIFA competition, trophy at stake. Now it gets real, right?
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And so let's walk through this, Tim, and we'll just talk through all of these. Let's start with the goalkeepers. So Schulte, Patrick Schulte from Columbus, Zach Steffen from the Rapids, and Matt Turner. with now Crystal Palace.
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You think so?
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Oh, 2020, I'm a member. I should probably renew. It's been five years.
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And do you think it, can he do that at a Premier League club? Is there a club that he could go to where he would be the nailed on number one?
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Can I ask you a quick question about Schulte before we move on? Why then, if that's the case, one, do you think he is the third best goalkeeper that America has? And if not, why would they bring him? Why bring him to a World Cup? Because knock on wood, something crazy happens and he's playing. You have to think someone has more experience, is more prepared for that.
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Yeah, I think that's right.
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You just have to prepare for, yeah. Okay, well, we'll see. We'll follow it and see how it goes. Okay, center backs, Cameron Carter Vickers, Mark McKenzie, Tim Rehm, Chris Richards, Marlon Fossey finds his way on the roster, Anthony Jedi Robinson, and Joe Scali. Oh, and Austin Trustee, sorry. My guess is, pretty strong guess, is Robinson and Scali are the outside backs.
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Chris Richards is going to play. And then who is going to pair with Chris Richards?
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Yep. And I spent, look, I've been here 10 years now in San Diego. So I spent a lot of time with the outlaws, um, different pubs around town, hanging out, watching games. It's fun. It's fun just to be a fan. So shout out to them. This is going to be a nice few weeks for them here in SoCal.
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You know what? So just to your point. So obviously Tim Rehm and Jedi Robinson have played together a lot. So there's a connection there. Also, Tim Rehm is left-footed and he's really good on the ball, right? So depending on how Mauricio Pochettino plays, thinks at least the first game, we're just talking about the first game is going to play out. That can make a lot of sense, right?
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If you're going to dominate the ball, then Tim Ream's a good guy to have because he's a really good, he's the best passer of all of them.
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No, no, no. Serginio Dest did not get called in. He's just coming back from injury. So that would have certainly strengthened it. But we'll see. I mean, Chris Richards playing at a really, really high level. So maybe it's enough to get by both games. Okay, let's move into the midfield. Tyler Adams! Welcome back. Thank God. Really happy for him. Bournemouth Player of the Month.
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That team is playing so well, and He is just one of those guys, Tim, you almost can't put data on it or stats on it. He just helps you win. He just helps you win. So welcome back. Johnny Cardoso at Betis. Diego Luna gets a call back in. Weston McKinney. Gio Reyna called in. And Tanner Tessman, who's been playing and playing well now at Lyon.
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Didn't have him, but played against him.
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And so he, it's interesting. So this is what I was thinking about with you. So we talked about earlier guys who were in January camp and there were six of them. Diego was one of them. And if you remember in January camp, he broke his nose, stayed in the game, made a play. And I want to remind people, Pochettino's Uruguayan, Argentinian? Uruguayan. They love that, dude.
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Because you talk about dogs and like Argentinians and Uruguayans, they are nasty. Yeah. And they have a lot of that in them. And when I, I bet you when he saw that, it was like, oh man. I like that. That's my guy. And Diego Luna is, he grew up in a tough, tough neighborhood. And he's a tough kid.
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And so I bet he said, look, even if he doesn't step on the field, I want to show everybody else in this camp that you do that and you got a chance here. Yeah, of course. And he is a good player. But I mean, yeah, he played well when he performed. Mauricio Pochettino was asked about Tyler Adams today on the call. Mm-hmm.
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And the phrasing of the question was, you know, with Tyler there, are you going to play Weston higher? Are you going to, who else are you going to play? You have Eunice Moussa listed as a forward in this roster. Are you going to play Eunice Moussa there? And he said, well, it's an open competition. And there's a lot of guys who have played.
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I mean, he basically said, Tyler's just not guaranteed to start. Remember, he's never seen Tyler. And I, my takeaway from watching the press conference was he really values people. He has seen in the flesh and can trust. He really does. And so Tyler's going to have to prove it to him. Now, was that just bluff? I don't know.
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But I'm trying to figure out how this midfield is going to get put together. Because he also really likes Tanner Tessman and he trusts him.
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He's seen him in the flesh. So you got to think Wes is playing. You would guess Tyler's playing. And then after that, what does it look like?
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But, but, but I know why I do Tim, let me just stop you there. You know, I listened to him. Why take it more at face value is because English isn't his first language. And so it's hard. I remember speaking Spanish or speaking German and, You can't really skirt around things or be clever when it's not your first language. And so I give him so much credit because he just takes all the questions.
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He knows his English isn't perfect, but he answers them, and he's honest about it, and he's trying clearly to say what he means. But I understand what you're saying.
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I bet you some of your English fans are like, who the hell is that?
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All right. All right. Nations League preview, Tim. So Thursday, 7 p.m. Eastern. It is the early game, I believe. I believe the other game's after it. So 4 p.m. here on the West Coast in L.A. I may go up for that. I'll definitely go up for the final if the U.S. is in it. Camp starts. What's up? Sidebar, sidebar.
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Massive, massive opportunity. Just real quick. Let's we'll get into Gio, but three of these guys, I just realized are playing Sunday. Yep. So that is what we were just talking about in the first segment. I mean, they might not even recover well. So that might make his decision for him. So Johnny Cardoso, Weston plays Sunday, and so does Tanner Tessman.
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And so to that point, so he was asked a lot about geo. When you leave other people out. Brendan Aronson was left off. Alejandro Zendejas left off. Guys who are playing consistently, performing well. So why do you bring Gio, who hasn't played? And he said, I mean, he basically said, and I'm also reading between the lines, but he is not going to get to see Gio in the Gold Cup.
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So Gio's playing in the Club World Cup with Dortmund, potentially, unless he moves. But in his calculation, he didn't see him in January camp. He's not planning on seeing him in the Gold Cup. He needs to see him. This is the only real game competition he can see him. So to that point, don't be surprised if you see Gio on the field getting minutes.
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even though he's not playing like basically everyone else on the roster, don't be surprised because he needs to see him. And so to your point, this roster was not made purely 100% on the best soccer decision for this game. He is thinking just like we're talking about, big picture. And that's why Gio's there.
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Well, they're going to have preseason, which is best for him probably to be in preseason. Yeah, so it's a tough situation.
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So let's move on to these strikers, the forwards. It's an interesting one. So Patrick Ajiman made it. Congrats to him. He had a fantastic January camp and we said it, there's going to be a player or two in that camp are coming in the coming January. Who's going to make the world cup roster. Keep your eye on him. Eunice Musa here listed as a forward.
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Pochettino was also asked, why did you list him as a forward? And he basically said, I think what he was saying is, I didn't do it. Someone else did it. But he said, I could see him play as a 10. He said, don't pay attention to that, whatever it is. Christian, Josh Sargent, Timothy Weah, and Brian White from Vancouver Whitecaps, who also was in January camp. So congrats to him.
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So not a ton of surprises there. The only one is Brandon Vasquez now wasn't in January camp, not getting called in here. We talked about making a move.
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but you've got to play and you've got to perform. There's no goals now in three games for Austin. It's a big miss for him because he needs these chances if he wants to play in a World Cup.
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And he's happy to just be in front of the goal, be in the ball. Brian White's like that too. Totally. You don't need to combine and play. Just get in front of the goal.
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So if it's at Galaxy Games, it's in the owner's box with Dan Beckerman, who owns the Galaxy, and the executives. It's really nice because it's got an outdoor seating area, but it's quiet. It's got food inside so I can bring my kids and they can run around. It's nice. I've never been to SoFi. So I, you know, I'm glad you asked because now maybe someone can reach out and give me a ticket.
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How's things with you? Yo, we just talked yesterday. It is Tuesday, March 11th. We recorded a pod yesterday, but we are doing a special recording today. When this drops, we will have recorded this six days prior. But just got off. I listened to the press conference with Mauricio Pochettino for the Nations League. Um, yesterday I was really tired cause I just finished my Vegas trip today.
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Yeah, I mean, maybe then you don't have to play Tyler twice, too, right? He's still, I mean, he's working his way still back in because he's been out for so long. All right, let's do this. So you said Zach Steffen, Robinson, Ream, Richards and Scali. Okay, give me your midfield three and give me your three straight. What you think will be the lineup.
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Not what you want, but what you think will be the lineup against Panama.
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You think he's going to start?
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I kind of do too. It's crazy to say, but I think he is. I mean, assuming he comes into camp, he plays Sunday, he comes in, he's good, he's healthy, he feels good.
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Because he has to play Sargent, right?
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Yeah, I mean, I think it's Christian, Wes... Tyler Adams and Timothy Way. I think Tyler can play in a double pivot like that.
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Well, I don't know if he's going to start him. I think he'll bring him on and see some minutes. He's also not fit. He hasn't played a 90-minute match in I don't know when.
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But you, I mean, there's like form matters and being fit and playing matters. Right. And he's not so like, you can be very talented, but you know, this, you come back from preseason or you come back from the off season and you're crap. Like, dude, I took me three weeks to score a goal after being off for a while.
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You just want you to play.
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No, you said Gio. I said no. I'm not agreeing.
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Okay, so I think it's Tanner and Tyler together, Wes ahead of him, Krishna on one side, Wei on the other, and Sargent. I think that's the safe. Tanner Tessman's going to be the one. If they see him, they're going to go, people are going to go, what the hell? But he was really good in January. And I just have a feeling Pochettino likes him. I totally agree with that.
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From this group, before we take a break and get to questions from the fans and the fan connection. Give me like two or three players who this is most crucial for. I think we can both agree on Gio.
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So I have to pay 400 bucks for it. I don't know. I hadn't even thought about it.
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Okay, give me two or three others who you would say this is a critical moment.
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Yeah, he can't be bad in this game.
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Okay, so with Tim Rehm, though, I keep saying this about him. God bless him. What a career.
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There's no way he's starting in 14 months, 15 months in a while. There's no way. So why would you play him here?
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So maybe he doesn't, maybe he doesn't. Maybe he will. Like maybe I'm the idiot and maybe he will be.
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That's the question for Pochettino is like, Do you really, really deep down, are you willing to forego something in the future to win this tournament right now? And in front of the mirror at night, I'd love to know in his mind how he feels about it. Because you don't listen to what managers say, remember? Publicly. By the way...
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Just speaking of Tim Green, 67 times he's put on the jersey for our national team.
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What a phenomenal career.
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And by the way, when you're a center back, you're not subbing into games. That's probably close to 60 plus starts for the national team. Like what a career he's had. Okay. I think the one other guy, one other guy has to be Josh Sargent. because Balogun will be back. Pepe will be back.
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If they start playing well, doing well, we've said it over and over, Pochettino and listening to the press conference today, he values guys he's seen in person, been around, and can trust. Josh comes in and really plays well, scores a goal or two or three. It's going to be hard to take the job, to take the spot from him. It will be. And so it's a really important camp for him. Really important.
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That's the hard part about being a striker for a good team that should win definitely this first game. It's like, great, you played well, but it doesn't matter. Everyone else is going to play well too. Sure. Everyone else is going to do that. You need to do your job. Yeah. Yeah, it's a big moment for him. Good point, though. All right.
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On the other side of the break, we'll get into your questions and the AT&T fan connection. God, I'm so excited now for this. I can't wait for this weekend. We'll be right back here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. We are, as always, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
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Time to connect.
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Great England stuff.
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How cool is that? You know what I'm going to do? I'm actually going to go into my, it's in my garage. I have a few big cartons of jerseys and I'm going to grab that one. I think I have it. And I'm going to bring out old vintage. I mean, vintage, like, you know, do you remember the jerseys, Tim, like late nineties, how big and baggy they were? Oh yeah. Dude, I have one that's totally, it's gnarly.
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Okay. So camp starts on Sunday. It's coming Sunday, the 16th and an interesting, just, I just want to help people understand this. So a lot of guys, I think there are nine players on this roster and we're going to get into the roster in the next segment. Nine of the guys on the roster will be flying in Monday because they have Sunday games. Okay. So I just want people to process that.
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You never kept one? I think I might have kept the black one. I remember that.
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I like the red with the – is it with the blue sash or the white sash?
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Agreed.
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Questions.
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Oh. CONMEBOL is South America. The South America Confederation, for what people don't know. I actually don't hate that. The problem is the travel. The problem is the travel. I wonder if they're saying merge, fully merge, meaning qualifying would be together, too.
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Okay, are they just saying for Gold Cup, Copa America? They didn't specify.
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I mean, for Nations League, instead of having Gold Cup and Copa America, you combine them, which they're starting to do because everyone's getting invited to everything now. I actually love it because I just like more competition against different teams. I hate playing the same teams over and over. So I don't hate it at all.
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What do CONCACAF and FIFA care about? Money. Totally. Right. And so when Copa America has the U S and Mexico in it, and when the gold cup has Mexico and whoever else in it and Brazil and Argentina, it's a whole different story. Totally different.
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Say Kazakhstan.
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You did? I never played Kazakhstan.
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It was Bekistan.
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I think Anonymous said – By the way, can we just talk – why do you put Anonymous when you're asking a question? You could make up a name.
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Unless your name is Anonymous.
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Elon Musk's kid.
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The roster's 23, so 40% of the roster is going to fly Monday, which means if you played Sunday, you are shattered on Monday, flying all day. Tuesdays, you're doing nothing. You get to train Wednesday, and then the game's Thursday. So this is a piece of it that people don't understand because if you play basketball or hockey, they play every night. Baseball, they play every night.
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Wait a minute. The best US 11?
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In one game? Against who? The current team?
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Correct.
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That's what he's asking. This is what the problem with people who just started watching soccer six years ago is they think everyone else used to suck. One guy asked me the other day, he goes, it was about basketball, he goes, Do you think Michael Jordan would have been as good in the NBA today? I was like, bro, do you have no idea?
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These guys who score 35 a night now because nobody defends them wouldn't have scored 12 in the NBA in the 90s because they would have got beaten into the ground by these guys. Joe Dumars and Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman would have eaten the crap out of these guys. I'm like, this is crazy.
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So let's do the 11. Let's go.
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It's so true.
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Okay, so.
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I think in fairness, okay. Well, let's name the 11, and then we'll see where the advantage is in every instance. Yeah. So you're in goal.
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So let's say Trundle on the right. Let's say B's in his prime left back.
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And then we'll go Eddie Pope and what do you think? Goose? Pogonagra? Lowe's, probably Lowe's. Yeah. Probably Lowe's. Then midfield, Claudio. Michael Bradley, I guess, in his prime, right? Yeah. Me and Clint. Stryker, Stryker. Josie or McBride? We can play them both together.
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Is there anyone else we're missing? Like Tab in his prime.
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Or Hugo Perez in his prime. Like who in their prime? I'll tell you what. Tab, wow.
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Jesus. Who's missing out here? To be honest, you could make a case for Kobe in his prime too. Kobe in his prime. Kobe was nice in his prime. Then you could put Miracle in up top with Josie or Brian. All right, let's just go with some version of that.
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All right, so the pre-2018 goalkeeper is for sure on our side. Yeah. Left back, I love B's, but Robinson right now is so good. They might get to tilt with Robinson, yeah. Yeah, but B's in the midfield would have been better. Eddie Pope is better than Chris Richards. Lowe's and Tim Rehm push-ish? I'm not sure it's a push. No, it's Lowe's. Yeah, it's Lowe's. Turandolo versus what, Serginio Dest?
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He was so good, man. All right, we'll say push, whatever. Me and Clint are the top two scorers of all time, so it's hard to get outside of that. Christian has to be for the post-2018 in there. Wes and Tyler versus... Michael Bradley and Claudio. Claudio was so good, dude. Okay, even if we said push-ish. And then the strikers pre-18 are better than they are now. Totally. For sure.
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But in soccer, this is a really big deal. So I'm curious and wondering if that went into Pochettino's decisions, but clearly not if you name nine of them.
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People are going to go crazy probably listening to this. Just go to YouTube and watch a few games, guys.
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Yeah. Which basically means they don't win the game. They don't win the game. Yeah. Ben, there you go. Also way more experience in the pre-18 group. Claudio and Michael Bradley had like 700 caps. What, Jordan?
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We got deep down that rabbit hole. It's going to be tough for them to score. They might sneak a goal, but it would be tough for them to score. Very tough for them to score. And I fancy myself against that back line a bit. So I'm going to say 2-0 probably. Dos acero.
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We could talk all day about it. No problem.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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I got mine. I want to hear yours. Go. Okay, so mine is not even close. Costa Rica at Saprissa.
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We played a game there. I mean, we played a few times there. We played a game there. When you show up to the stadium two hours before the game, it's packed. Completely packed. And it's bouncing. They are jumping and partying and there's music. The whole stadium is shaking. We get into the locker room and they put our locker room strategically right underneath their supporters section.
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So the whole locker room shakes the whole time you're in there. You can't hear each other. It's just shaking. And it's not a nice stadium, by the way. It's old and you're a little bit worried that walls are going to come in. And then walking out on that pitch and it was turf.
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Yeah. Like fencing? Cage, yep. It was dark, always dark. The lighting was terrible.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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And you would be like warming up and I swear to God, Tim, like if I'm lying, lightning strike me, there'd be bugs the size of like, like bigger than tennis balls, like Big with wings and whiskers. Like you didn't, you've never seen anything like they just be chilling on the field as you're rolling over them as you're passing. It was gnarly dude.
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And you, that was the only time even more than Azteca or anywhere else we played. I was like, dude, just get me out of here. I don't even care what the score is. Just get me out of here. I do not want to be here.
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Hey, you know what I didn't realize, by the way? But I don't know if it was San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa, one of those two places in Honduras. It's the second most dangerous airport in the world to fly into. Like the most difficult landing or whatever. And thank God I never knew that. I mean, as if it wasn't bad enough.
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We didn't win.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Oh, that might have been. You know what? That might have been a game where I scored. I might have scored a penalty right at the end. How the hell did they give us a penalty, by the way? That was pre-VAR. They weren't giving us any.
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I'm getting goosebumps. That's a great question. So one, yes, you do feel the camera. Um, I, it changed a little as I went through my career, depending on the game. It's not like every single national team game was like the crazy goosebumps, crazy pride swelling, whatever. However, there was always a sense of like immense pride.
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But if we were playing a January game at then home Depot center and, you know, it was half full and whatever it was against Denmark. It's not the same as in a world cup whenever, but. I would close my eyes and almost meditate. I didn't sing, but you're singing it in your head. But that feeling is hard to describe. And you'll never recreate it. Ever. Ever.
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Well, for me, because I'm Canadian too, the Canadian national anthem, but the one that comes to mind right away is Jamaica. Jamaica land we love. It's amazing. When the whole stadiums sing it, they go Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica. And I've played them like 12 times in my career. So I just, it's a cool national anthem.
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Do yourself one other favor. The euros last year, we did the Scotland Germany game, the opening game of the euros.
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Go listen to flower of Scotland. For that game, I'm going to do it right after we get off here. Go YouTube it, and there were like 40,000 Scots there singing. It was incredible. Awesome question.
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Wow, what a great question. Oh, I know mine. John O'Brien. John and O'Brien in 2002. So John's struggle was staying healthy during his career. But when he played and he was at his best, people will tell you who played with him. He was the most talented player they ever played with. Definitely. And he was so nice. He was so good.
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And with him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Happy producer, happy life to me. That's true. Very true. All right, that was fun. Nations League coming up this week, hopefully Thursday and Sunday for the U.S. team. Tune in. I believe it's on CBS. I don't want to say that for sure if it's not, but I believe it's on CBS. Thank you all for being with us today. Great questions again during the AT&T Fan Connection. Appreciate it.
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Thanks, as always, to Volkswagen, too. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Follow the show across all of our social media. Lots of extra content there, too.
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That's right. And, and again, just so people understand just the sports science. So after you play a 90 minute match, it takes your body give or take a few hours, but 72 hours to fully recover. Right now, when you throw in, transatlantic travel, you can add another 24 hours to that. So literally by game time, they'll be recovered. So this is a big challenge.
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Look, all the teams will have players dealing with this, probably none more than the US, maybe Canada. So this is a big deal. But I referenced the press conference and Mauricio Pochettino spoke about this earlier, but to him, this is a really big deal, right? This is his first opportunity in a real competition to to show what the team is made of.
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And we'll get into the roster, and it's clear he valued guys he knows versus guys he doesn't know because he doesn't want to take a chance right now. Because what we just alluded to, they only have a couple days to prepare. So this is, he said it's a massive opportunity to win a trophy, and that is our clear objective. So he's not mincing words. He's very clear. But there are good teams.
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I feel great. More energy today. Good. I'm still sick.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Panama, US Panama. Panama's beat us two of the last three. Yeah, I know. This is a big deal for us. And Panama is one of those teams. I think outside of Mexico, we have not played a team more than Panama in the last whatever decade or so. It's a team that always causes us problems. They're always difficult to play against. They will not have the crazy travel that some of our guys will.
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Our team, I saw this stat today. Our roster has an average of 14 caps in international real competition. I'm just going to repeat that. 14 caps on average in FIFA real competition. So not counting friendlies. So the average player has only stepped on the field 14 times in a real game. Now, I don't know the exact number for Panama, but it's way higher than that.
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Those guys have been together a long time. They are veterans. They are hardened. They know how to play in these games. So if people turn it on and go, oh, it's Panama. This is a walk in the park. Uh-uh. Ain't going to happen. So this is a big moment for our team. We've talked about this, Tim, for a long time. Outside of the Gold Cup in the summer, this is it for real competition.
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So it's a bit too much of me. I get it.
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It happens.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Yeah, they're just... I've said this before. When one of these countries beats you in America, the fear factor is gone. And forever and ever and ever, they get excited. They would come, you know, El Salvador, Guatemala. This is the time, this time. You score in the 12th minute and they just tank. They go, oh man, here we go again. But now Panama's beat us and they've beat us on home soil.
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So that fear factor is gone, no longer there. And that makes it challenging because they actually believe they are going to come in and win this game.
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So it depends on who you ask. Yeah. So good. This can be a good episode, fun episode. We're going to preview the nation's league semis and hopefully finals with the U S in it. U S plays Panama. Canada plays Mexico. As always guys, please follow all of our social media, unfiltered soccer, subscribe to the show. It helps everybody find us. You can watch on YouTube.
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I mean, that's going to make it challenging.
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Yeah. So, and by the way, just this tournament's new. It's novel for you and me. We never played in it, right? This Nations League. We have won all three editions so far, which is nothing to scoff at. I mean, it's a version of... a gold cup essentially. Right. And for you and me, the gold cup, so many incredible memories, right. Lifting that trophy and playing in those games.
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So this is meaningful for the players now too. I think when it first started, everyone was kind of like, ah, another FIFA competition. Now they're starting to gain meaning behind like that. People will be there. They will show up. This is another important, it's become an important tournament and FIFA has done a good job of tying nations league into, you know,
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qualifying or qualifying for the gold cup, they've made it meaningful. So it's not just another game. So everybody understands that this is, this is a big deal. And again, the biggest thing is I agree with you, Tim, like, I want them to play well. I want them to win. Fans should be most excited about the opportunity to play games that matter before the Gold Cup and then before the World Cup.
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And individuals, and we'll get into this in the roster, have a big, big opportunity. There are some who are in the January camp. who now got called here. And then if they do well here, they get called into the gold cup. And if you do well and play for your MLS team, guess what? You're playing in a world cup in front of your home fans.
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So let's – I'm not going to assume anything, but let's say we get through Panama. In your opinion, Canada-Mexico, who's the more difficult matchup if we get there? And I have a clear choice, but you tell me.
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Make sure you follow an Apple podcast and Spotify and rate and review our Any comments you want to leave, any questions you want to leave, feedback at unfilteredsoccer. And we try to get to as many of your questions every week as possible. Lots of good questions.
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So I think Canada are the better roster right now, better team, the challenges they're playing in LA against Mexico and that stadium will be, you know, the U S plays, we play first. So my guess is after the game, it's going to empty out with us fans gone and it's going to be 98% Mexican fans. And I just think that is a really tall task for this Canadian team. And by the way,
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You have to be playing going into a World Cup. You and I would have died to play a World Cup in our country. I would have given everything to play in my country. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
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And I, for me, I love it. Tim, it's, it's just a money thing, right? Like it's cheaper or the league has thought for a long time, it would be cheaper to go get a young Central American, South American, African, whatever, than to pay Brandon Vasquez more money to stay in the league, which he should have never left the league.
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Like there was no reason why Cincinnati should have ever had to let him go. And so the good news is, is hopefully the league is now understanding that you need to keep good players and especially good American players in the league. Don't, don't push them out. So they have to go to Monterey and Brandon Vasquez's case.
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If Portland or Austin or whoever it is wants to buy them, let them stay in the league. That's better for the league. So this is a, this is a move in the right direction. I'm, I'm really happy to see it. All right. Last thing I want to talk about before we get into a break is my hometown now has a team San Diego FC and, Um, I have my thoughts.
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I've, I've watched them build their roster and it's been very slow. It's been a very, very slow build, but in the last four or five weeks it's accelerated significantly. Um, my, my thoughts are there have been teams in this league that have competed right away and done well. But that was when the league was pretty immature. It's much more mature now, and it's really hard to do well.
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So when I look at their roster, Chico Lozano, Luca De La Torre coming back, they made a lot of good... inter-league signings, meaning people who know the league and played and married it with a lot of new foreign players who don't know the league at all. And a head coach who has not coached professionals, right. Or been in the league. So I'm really fascinated.
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I don't even have necessarily an opinion on which way it's going to go because it's, there's too much There's too much volatility involved. But in some cases, you could say, wow, this could be lightning in a bottle right away. And in other circumstances, you could say they're going to really struggle because they don't know the league. So...
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just from your, I guess, experience with expansion teams.
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No question.
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RMS, remember? Oh, my God.
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CJ Brown. They were so good.
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Of course.
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Yeah, yeah. It's the same thing with the Dodgers and the Padres. I grew up watching... Vin Scully and listening to him my whole life on K Cal nine in LA, I had a little TV in the corner and every night I would go watch the Dodger game and the same with the Lakers. And so I am a through and through diehard Dodger fan.
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But when I moved to San Diego 10 years ago, my kids grow up and then my kids love the Padres. That's cool. So how do you go to the Padres and root against the Padres? Right. And they used to be the rival. It's going to be the same. I mean, I love San Diego. I know a lot of the people either involved in the soccer side or the not soccer side at San Diego FC.
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Our old president from San Diego loyal Ricardo Campos is there. I want them to succeed and do well. It's hard for me, though. I played for the Galaxy. It's not like I watched them. I mean, I lived it, breathed it, and lifted championships. So I'll root for both. Don't ask me who I'm rooting for this weekend. I'm not going to answer. Are they playing at Snapdragon? No, it's in L.A., in L.A.
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No, but the home stadium for us. Oh, yeah, they're playing at Snapdragon next week, and they open against... St. Louis, maybe? Beautiful stadium.
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That's great.
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MLS 2025 Season Preview, USMNT Injuries, The Merseyside Derby, and USL's New First Division
They did a great job there. Yeah. All right. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we are going to talk USMNT. Lots going on. Champions League in the leagues in Europe. All sorts of stuff. Injuries going on right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Don't go anywhere.
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We were gone for a few weeks, so we didn't get into the Ricardo Pepe injury. He's going to be out a long time, out for the rest of the season. Probably Gold Cup-ish. Flo Baligan having shoulder surgery. Back in December, Malik Tillman still recovering from an ankle. Serginio Dest has started to train a little bit after his ACL. So not good news on the not playing front.
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All right. Safe trip.
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You know, we've beat this drum quite a bit. Gio Reyna, and the reason we talk about him is because he's such, you've said this word, like he's a generational talent. Yeah. We were running the stats now in the 12 league games this year. He has one start for Dortmund. His average, Tim, average minutes on the field per 90 minutes on the field is 2.1 minutes.
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As always follow us on social media, unfiltered soccer, subscribe on YouTube, fall on Apple podcasts and Spotify. As always, please leave a comment likes. We had lots of comments and questions this week. We appreciate that. And we'll try to get to most of them.
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So he comes in for three minutes here, doesn't play the next three games, comes in for four minutes. He's got to move, man. He has to move. This is too important a time, and there's so much opportunity there for him. That's why it's so frustrating.
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Yeah.
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Well, Tim, the reason why is because in 14 months, you have a once in a lifetime. You and I would have died to play a World Cup in our country. I would have given everything. I'm like emotional talking. I would have given everything to play in my country in a World Cup.
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You can email us at feedback at unfiltered soccer.com where Jordan will solicit your questions and take care of them in the AT&T fan connection mailbag. So, all right, Tim, this weekend, We're back. MLS is back. It's crazy how fast that goes, huh? I know, like, these teams are all in, I know, they're in their off-season mode, pre-season, and now all of a sudden it's here again.
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Yeah. Well, one guy, thankfully, who has been playing and is playing at an elite, elite level is Weston McKinnon. Somebody sent me a text this morning, actually, Tim, and they said, can you believe that we had a guy, an American, wearing the captain's armband for Juventus in a massive game against Inter Milan? And I was like, Wow. And we've talked about this before.
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I didn't even really bat an eye because you're getting used to it, especially with him. I was like, that's insane. An American in Italy wearing the armband in a massive game for a huge club. It's not like, you know, he's like Hellas Verona or some small club. Like, this was insane. And I'm just, it's so fun to watch, man. He and Weah, and like, they're just, they are absolutely so fun to watch.
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Yeah, that's great. And, you know, we're only a year or so removed when Weston McKinney got kicked out of camp in Nashville. I believe it was Nashville for making some bad decisions. And sometimes I say to him in those moments, and I was very critical of him.
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sometimes those are the best things that can happen because it's a wake up call. And now next thing you know, he's wearing the armband for Juventus, like good on you, Weston, like learn from it, grew up and so happy for him. Yeah. Okay. Can we move on to the premier league, please? Because last Wednesday, God, I was, I was sitting in Colorado. We were skiing last week. Yeah. Um,
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I was watching the Merseyside Derby, Everton at home against Liverpool. It's 2-1 Liverpool in the last minute. I'm about to throw something at the TV. Ball gets clipped across the box, headed on, full volley by Tarkovsky into the roof of the net. And I absolutely exploded. And my wife looks at me and she's like, what the hell is wrong? And I'm like, you don't get it. You don't get it.
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Most of the teams went to this Coachella Valley Invitational that's out a couple hours from where I live. Beautiful sunshine. It's a really cool event. Fans get great access to the players. It's a lot of fun. Lots and lots and lots of pre-season games. So let's just remind people where we left off. The Galaxy. Your Galaxy. Let's go.
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She's like, it's a game in the middle of the season. I'm like, you just don't get it. So Everton tie 2-2, the last game, last Merseyside Derby ever at Goodison. God, it was so fun to watch, man.
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Yeah, go Google that.
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So yeah, it was ugly and fighting at the end too. Like I love that. They need to care, man. It was so great. Everton won again on the weekend, by the way. I don't know. What's that? Five and seven? They won five and six or something. Well on their way. Who would have bet money?
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Who would have even given you odds on Everton being level with Spurs on points and ahead of United 25 games into the season?
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City dismantled Newcastle. We're not going to spend too much time on them because they still have a ways till they're back in our good graces. But Marmoosh with the hat trick. Very impressive. Yeah. He's been so good. Lester Arsenal. So the big question with Arsenal is how are they going to do without a striker? Apparently pretty well. Mikel Marino. Yeah. The late brace.
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MLS Cup champions starting the season this weekend against San Diego FC. Very interesting matchup there. Inter-Miami won the Shield. Messi won the MVP. That's where we're at. So first thoughts coming into the season?
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Yeah. And look, I, when you're in a team that has the ball all the time and is, has a lot of possession, a lot of chances, but like, especially if they're playing at home, it's not take this the right way. It's not the hardest position to play. Right. It's hard to score goals.
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But to be somewhat effective, you just occupy center back, stay in front of the goal, in the box, good timing with your runs, and then he's a good finisher. I mean, he's a high-quality player. It's not like he's a center back up there who's never scored before. So it's not that difficult.
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Now, if you're on the road and you don't have any possession and you have to do all this other dirty work, it's harder. But in this circumstance, I think he's on a good team that has the ball a lot, will create a lot of chances. No problem with it. Yeah, yeah. I think he's a good option.
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Uh, Spurs United, they don't deserve any of our time. Unfortunately, just two bad teams, nothing really in the game. Um, Spurs do win, which is huge for Ange, but not a lot there.
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Yeah. Agreed. Okay. Let's switch gears here. Some really, really interesting news last week. Andrew, one of our producers sent us on our text saying, and I got this from a few other people too, this New York Times headline. I think it said something like, move over MLS. There's a new division one coming. I'm kind of rolling my eyes, like whatever.
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We are back. We are back.
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So USL, who is currently in second division, also has a third division and fourth division league. So USL Championship is the top of their pyramid. USL League One is next, and then USL League Two is under that. They have plans, and we're going to have to dig into this more, to start a new Division I professional league in the 2027-2028 season. So people understand there are...
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Metrics you have to meet to be a D1 team. I believe it's 15,000 seat stadium. Correct. You have to have owners who are capable of spending X amount of money, meaning their net worth is at X amount. So they're capable of losing X amount if everything goes upside down. So this is big news if they can pull it off. Obviously, it's big news for MLS, too, who have
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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not really been competing against usl for a long time but now might be so what's your take on all this wow um yeah so the good thing about this is is
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That's a big one.
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It is the case.
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Yeah, right. Like a heck of a lot of money. $700 million at least.
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Okay, so yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on all this. So promotion relegation, someone asked me, what is going to differentiate this from MLS, right? If USL is able to pull this off. My first thought was, well, if they can do promotional relegation. That is a differentiator. You and I know, being in USL meetings, there are quite a few owners who want to go crazy and want to go spend.
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And there are quite a few owners who are like, I want to charge $4.25 instead of $4.20 for the hot dog because I need the money. And so what this could do is allow those owners who want to go crazy, go. Definitely. The problem is, Tim, is if you're going to implement promotion relegation, you need everyone on board. Because from one year to the next, Louisville, great, has their own stadium.
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They have a bad year. They're going to be dropped down to the second division. That ain't good for them. And by the way, whoever comes up, if it's Tulsa or Oklahoma City, if they don't want to spend that money and now they have to build a 15,000 seat stadium, that ain't going to happen. They're not going to drop $100 million to build a stadium.
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Sometimes they don't want, that's not why they're in it, right? So I like the premise of USL saying, we have these owners who want to go crazy. And we had it. And teams would spend three, four, five times more than we did on salaries when I was San Diego. And you know this with Memphis. Great, go do it. Go do it in your own league, in your own division. You can compete against each other.
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That's fine. But the promotion relegation piece then becomes virtually impossible because you need... Every team from the top in the division one to the bottom in division three, willing and capable and able to do all those things that you just mentioned.
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Well, last thing on it, just as you're saying that, I was just thinking, well, if some Saudi Arabian or whoever, could be from anywhere, comes in and says, here's $3, $4, $5 billion, I'll fund the whole thing. As teams go up and down, I'll fund the whole thing. And that's not out of the question. that's a drop in the bucket for people like that. So that's, that is possible. Okay.
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I'm sure you guys are going to have lots of comments on that. So please ask questions, leave comments on your thoughts on that. Is this good for soccer, bad for soccer? Is it possible, viable, et cetera. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll do the AT&T fan connection. All of your questions. There were tons of questions this week.
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Anything but soccer as well, right here on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
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Hey, everyone. JR, connecting changes everything. Yep, that's what I heard. A lot of hands tell us. A lot of new hats. A lot of new hats, Jordan. A lot.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Where'd you get that, by the way?
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You know, mate, it is going to be 72 today. A bit warm, so I didn't put the sweater on. Yeah, it's a normal February day here.
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Uh, no. Okay. To the second one, I think this is what I would say. Without a high profile, not high profile, without a top quality DP, I think this team probably finishes just outside the playoffs. I think with a quality DP, very good chance San Diego FC makes the playoffs.
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And by the way, you could get a good player and a terrible locker room guy. or someone who hurts your culture. And that happens over and over and over. And so to get that all right is very difficult.
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No.
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I mean, it's a start, but no.
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That's Red Bull, Dallas.
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And what was the third? Chris's actual... Yeah, he mentioned the question that he's... Wow, you're a Rebs fan. It's been tough. How do I say this the right way? Um... Now in MLS, the only way you do that is you have to spend. Back in the day, you could get away with sort of being the New England in the past where like Cheeky didn't spend and even spend up to the cap what they could have.
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They spent less than that because they like to be the team that didn't have to spend to compete, but then they never got over the line. Who's that? New England. Yeah. I mean, you just nowadays, you have to. Look at Colorado last year. Like, great run. Salt Lake last year. Great run in the playoffs. When you face the big boys with the big, big players, you're going to get run over in the playoffs.
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Well, yeah. What's it going to take to get over the hump?
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Yeah, but they spent, Tim. I know, I know. The example is Colorado last year. They were great. They get into the playoff. Was it a two-game? Well, it was a two- or three-game series. They go to the Galaxy, and bang, it's 5-0. Like, Peck and Paintsill and Yeovil. They just can't compete with that.
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He's trying to get out of it.
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Yeah, that's right. And you had cracks when there were like 10 teams in the league. 10 teams.
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Your Dynamo, there's an early rivalry. Houston FC Dallas. Love that. That should be good. FC Dallas new coach. Lucho Acosta just went from Cincinnati to FC Dallas. So lots in that one. Are your Dynamo ready?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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It used to be.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
MLS 2025 Season Preview, USMNT Injuries, The Merseyside Derby, and USL's New First Division
So can we do a – I would love that. I would love that back because – and I'm a Southern California guy. So Northern California, Southern California, everything, Dodgers, Giants – Warriors, Lakers, Kings, Lakers. All these were huge.
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Yeah, I like that.
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I don't know. It's the, it wouldn't need the name. It's the sand Darby or something. Yeah. And you know what they do? The first game they play each other this year, they all take their cleats off and they fight first three minutes. Amazing season. Yeah. All right. What else, Jordan?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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It might be a Houston angle. I don't mind that, Bees.
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That's a great question.
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Thanks for following the show, Bees. Dear friend of ours. After all we've done for you, it's about time you reciprocated.
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Yes, he has.
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There's one that comes to mind. He wasn't there his whole career, but most of his career, and that was Kyle Beckerman.
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in salt lake he kind of epitomized maybe ramando too to be honest he epitomized what salt lake were for a decade plus um because it doesn't have to be like that you know some attacking genius no no goal scorer i just need someone who means something real to their club i like the mcbride shout that's a good one a knife do you have a statue outside mate you do
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I mean, I could send you pictures if you want. Oh, yeah. I didn't know if it was Beckham or you. Let's let the fans answer. Guys, do I have a statue outside the Galaxy? Jesus. You're on Mount Rushmore.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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It's a good life.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Beas, I'm going to think about this. Can we come back to this next week?
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Great. Beas, come on the podcast. You've been shouted out by Jordan. Trust me, if you say no, there will be wrath. I got another one for you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Echeverry could be Jaime Moreno. That's what I mean. Yeah, I think Echeverry. That's a great shout.
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Awesome. Thanks, guys. All right, JR. Thank you. All right, Timmy, anything but soccer. I cannot wait to get into this. I am a massive hockey fan. I grew up, the hat over there is from Nova Scotia. We are interviewing legendary coach from the University of Vermont next week, Rob Dow, who also grew up in Nova Scotia. So we watched this USA hockey game against Canada.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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By the way, I just saw 4.4 million viewers. Wow.
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on abc the other night incredible for a hockey game insane and i was glued to the tv fasting my family was so into it and for people to understand they're playing this four nations cup so it's the middle of the nhl season everybody else gets a break which is nice and then sweden finland us and canada are playing this round robin and the top two teams will play in the final this coming thursday the usa if they had beat canada
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uh, whenever this was Saturday, they advanced to the final automatically and Canada would have to play in, uh, play another game and win another game to get there. And the USA one, two, one, this game, Tim was insane. It was so fun to watch. You watched, right?
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It was so fun to watch, and this morning my dad sent me a text, and he said they clocked Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid's first goal was insane. He receives the puck in the middle of the ice, and for people who don't know him, he plays for the Oilers. He's this Canadian sensation. And when you watch him, it looks like he's playing against high school kids because when he goes, he just goes.
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And I remember playing Cristiano in our prime, and when he would – It was a friendly at the Rose Bowl. And when he decided to just take the ball and run by you, you could have jumped on his back and it wouldn't have mattered. He would have just kept going the same speed. And Connor McDavid, they said they clocked him during this goal. He blew by the U.S. defense.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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They clocked him at 35.4 miles per hour, which I believe is the fastest a human has ever skated. And he had the puck with him. It was just, it was insane. The game was insane. It was 3-1, by the way. There was an empty netter at the end. Oh, it was so fun. And they play. So if Canada wins tonight, when the episode drops, uh, the U S Canada will be the final on Thursday in Boston. Let's go garden.
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I cannot wait. Let's go.
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All right. Great show today. Thank you guys for being with us as always. There were a lot of great questions last week. So keep them going. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts, follow the show across all of our social media at unfiltered soccer for lots of bonus content.
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Yeah, it should be good. This is very off the radar, I think, for most fans, but one personally I'm excited about is San Jose-Salt Lake. So I've talked about my old assistant coach, Nate Miller, at Salt Lake. They lose Chicho Arango to San Jose in the offseason, and the Earthquakes bring in Bruce Arena. So this is just going to be really interesting. Salt Lake have to go...
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Wednesday to Herediano in Costa Rica for a Champions Cup game and then straight to San Jose. But I'm really excited to see San Jose now with their front four. including Pellegrini, Chicharongo, Christian Espinosa. They've got like some real firepower now. And Bruce, like this is such a Bruce, it's classic Bruce, right? The team has been totally mismanaged.
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There's been terrible players brought in. He comes and makes four or five veteran moves, brings players in and all of a sudden, like I expect them to be good this year.
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Yeah, they're not. Bruce is never the guy who's, you know, there's so many new coaches who are defining the way soccer is played now and changing the way it's played. Bruce is very simple. I mean, there was not a lot of patterns, a lot of movements that we needed, but he had good players. He had smart players. He had veteran players who knew how to win.
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You chose to live there, just as a reminder.
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By the way, they also signed Joseph Martinez, another one. So I expect that he'll get them going. And if they stay healthy, I think they could be really, really good.
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Um, do you have just early, early predictions on any favorites? Um, you know, the Miami's LA galaxies of the world, anybody who might surprise you going into the season?
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No, I mean, I agree to disagree. Agree to disagree.
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Yeah, Wilfred Nancy, I think he's brilliant. I think he's so good. Um, I didn't realize this till yesterday. I was looking up, you know, there are 12 new head coaches in MLS this year, 12 out of 30, which is insane. It's almost half the league has turned over their head coaches. So I'd be really interesting to see how quickly those teams get going.
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Nothing. You know these ski weeks? I don't know if you ever had that with your kids. They give you like a week. I don't know. Maybe it's a California thing.
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I want to talk real quick about your former coach, Robin Frazier in Toronto. And, um, just what do you expect? You know, they've, they've got this roster that is, it's such a weird roster. They've got some homegrown talent they've got big big stars um they're just an interesting team so how do you think he handles that
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wait wait that's like a real school yeah yeah yeah they take a week off and then the problem is is i don't know who set this up they should be fired immediately they set it up so you have the ski week and then it goes into the weekend and then it's what's today president's day and then it's president's day so now you have an extra day with your kids at home and you're like you don't like this is the dump no you should do it saturday sunday president's day is part of the ski week and then you go up now we have an extra day because they do it at the beginning of the ski week so like
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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I always say, Tim, the teams that are successful have a very clear identity. And that can be whatever you want it to be. And we talked about Bruce. That's way different than... Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp or whatever someone else looks like. The teams that have identity, Seattle Sounders have an identity. You know what they are every year and that's it.
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Philadelphia, you know, under Jim Curtin, had an identity. You knew exactly what they were going to be and what they were about and that's great. Miami now is building an identity, right? It's kind of
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different but that's okay but the teams that are just constantly in flux are the ones that struggle especially in mls and i bring that up because the galaxy went from last year almost in last place sorry two years ago to winning mls cup however you could see if you were paying attention and if you were speaking to people behind the scenes you could see that there was an identity being recreated and it was an homage to the past identity which is yes big stars but not right now it wasn't
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crazy big stars. It wasn't Zlatan and Chicharito, that kind. It was just big players, good players, big stars. And then they had a coach in Greg Vanney who understands the culture, too. They had Dan Kalichman there, people who know the club and know the soul and the spirit of the club.
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And, you know, I really want that for Toronto FC, too, because it's a massive club in our league when they're doing well.
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Let's talk bigger picture now, MLS. So 30 teams is a lot, right? It's the same as basically all the other major sports. And so pretty much outside of maybe Vegas and Phoenix and San Antonio, it's every big market. Cleveland, every big market in the country and a few in Canada now have teams. So what does that say about the growth of MLS?
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I know we both saw it in the beginning days that it didn't look like it does now. So just thoughts on that.
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So, you know, I didn't, I don't know who said, I actually might've been here. I don't know who said this the other day, but like with all due respect to England and the, the premier league, like, It's a small country. It rains most of the time. People aren't going there because it's an amazing place to be. They go there because the money's great and the competition's great, right?
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In America, if we get to that point, everybody's going to want to be here. It's the reality, right? And I think that has been the slow progress of the league. Is it still a ways away? Yeah, of course. But the progress of the league is moving towards that. And eventually you're going to see people say, okay,
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I'm about to kill my kids is the moral of the story.
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Well, the money is getting close, right? The money is getting close. When you look at some of the contracts, you're like, geez. And it is getting close. So the competition needs to continue to improve, but it is well on its way. Lots of off-season moves this year, Tim. I was writing down some of them, and then I just forgot about a bunch of them. So Jovovich goes to Kansas City.
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Ferreira goes from Dallas to Seattle. Lucho Acosta goes from Cincy to Dallas. Miguel Amarone back in the league with Atlanta United. Luca De La Torre comes home to San Diego FC, which we'll talk about in a sec. Chucky Lozano, Mexican star to San Diego FC. Evander goes from Portland to Cincinnati. I mean, I can go on and on and on. I talked about Chicho Arango, Joseph Martinez. This is insane.
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I mean, the movement in the league now, and I don't understand exactly the mechanism or what they call it or whatever, but it's basically transfers within the league. It's incredible. Oh, Brandon Vasquez, sorry, coming back into the league. I mean, there's just so many.
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah, it's great for him. Another news that was not swept under the rug, but I think all predictable. FIFA announced the next two World Cups after 26. As anticipated... Hold on, this is going to take me a minute. 2030 is in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
For people who don't know yet, the reason is I think it's the 100th year of the World Cup and it's originated in Uruguay. So they want to have the opening game in Uruguay. I'm sure Argentina and Paraguay will play also in home games there. And then the entire tournament will shift to Europe. I personally love this. Well, I just think having... multiple games on multiple continents.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Forget about the logistics, because whoever has to deal with that, I pray for you. But I love it. It gives the opportunity for the game to be seen literally all over the world in different time zones, different times. I know there's a bit of a challenge for the players, and I know you feel passionately about this, but I think it's going to be great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Reminder, guys, follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you love what we're doing, please send comments. You can ask questions. We love to get your feedback. You can also email us at feedback at unfilteredsoccer. All right, Timmy, should we start with USLNT on the USMNT? Quite a weekend.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So- You mean like cumulative?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
They go from Europe and back.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Well, thanks for the reminder about 2014. I was watching it. I appreciate that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So I was there in Qatar. Weather was perfect in the winter. So that was a big plus. Qatar was amazing because you could literally drive everywhere. So we were doing game a day on Fox and you could just drive, drive back to hotel, drive to the game, drive back to, and that's not going to be the case certainly in Saudi Arabia, nor is it in any World Cup usually.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
What I used to find interesting, and I was playing in MLS during the time, when the World Cup came around in June, I always remember you guys would finish in like May and maybe you a little longer if you had a cup final or something like that. There was such a challenge from when Bruce was there and Bob. How do the coaches manage you guys from Europe when you get in?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So you might have played 48 games that year. And now it's the end of the season. And you have to be tired. I mean, your body gets used to playing a certain number of games and then shutting down for a month or two. But in World Cup years, it's like, guess what? You're going straight into a tournament. So I remember with Claudio Reyna,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
In the early days, I think maybe in 02, and Bruce, I think he just shut him down for like seven or 10 days. But then there's a risk of, okay, do you lose rhythm? Do you lose some fitness? And how do you get it back? And it's this huge challenge. So what I saw in 2022 was the inverse, the total opposite. And me as an MLS player, we would start our season in March.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So by the time June came around, I was flying. I was fit I was hitting my stride but now it was the opposite so MLS guys in Qatar were like they were tired like you can see they'd been through a long season now they're at the end of the season and the European players conversely were great and I actually think it made the World Cup
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
I think just the energy of the players was better because it was not at the end of their season. So I expect the same from Saudi Arabia. It's going to be interesting if you watch the event. And I've been in one of those rooms in, I don't know what year it was, but we were bidding on the 2018 World Cup. I was in the room in 2010 when Sepp Blatter opened the envelope.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Our guy Gio, who I've had a lot to say about and has been in the news, Gio Reyna, started two games this week, scored an absolute bomb on the weekend in Dortmund's draw, 1-1 draw. I just want to say, you know, like when people see headlines or they see things we say, this happens all the time in my life, and I'm sure for you too. People say, oh, why did you do that? Or why did you say that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So we were in the room and us stupid, naive Americans, we actually thought we had a chance and this thing had probably been baked in years ago with Qatar. or Russia and Qatar. And so, oh, it was the 2022 World Cup we were bidding on. But being in that room and they opened the envelope, at least there was some anticipation. Like, what is going to happen? What's the envelope?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So Gianni Infantino was there. And after they announced Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Everybody knew that then it was going to Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia in 2034, nobody else bid on it because they knew they were going to lose. Australia pulled out a long time ago. So he had to uncomfortably open the envelope and go, Saudi Arabia! Some surprise to everybody.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
It was a little awkward, but I think it's going to be fine. I know people have a lot of issues around Saudi Arabia for a lot of different reasons, but I think it's still good. to grow the sport wherever you can. I think that's right. So I'm fine with it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
All right. Let's take a break. When we get back, we will talk about the Premier League. A lot of stuff going on this weekend in the Premier League. I'm excited to pick your brain on it. You didn't work this weekend. Nope. But we all watched and it'll be fun to dive into. We'll be right back. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And I'll say, what are you talking about? And they'll say, well, I saw the headline that day. And I say, well, did you read what I said? Or did you read the article?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Manchester's red, my friend. The game I was watching in New York, it was boring. It was boring for a long time. And I just kept thinking to myself, this is sad that these two clubs have come to this, where they're both fearful. like not to lose the game. But out of nowhere, you have to give Ahmad so much credit. He's kind of been thrown in under Amarin, and Amarin clearly trusts him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And he keeps performing. And it was impressive. It was impressive to watch. Twice now, Amarin has beaten Pep in the last whatever month and a half, when he was back in Portugal and now with United. So... I don't, I'm kind of running out of things to say for City, Tim. Sure. Like, I don't know where they go. And Pep looks the same. He's like, he just doesn't know what to do.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Mateus Nunez has an absolute shocker the last five minutes. And he just doesn't know what to do.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
I just saw the headline. I say, go back, read the article, read what I said, and then let's have a conversation. So... By the way, I am in Gio's corner. I want Gio to succeed. I want every national team player to succeed. We're fans of the sport. We want to see the sport grow. I was on our group chat saying, LFG when he scored the bomb, right? That makes me happy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
My old assistant coach at Loyal, Nate Miller, used to say, the right player in the right place, the right time with the right coach. He's now in the right place. He probably thought for a while, is this the right place for me? Is this the right time for me? Is this the right coach? But it all came together perfectly. You see that all the time.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
A player you did not expect all of a sudden playing all the time because he fits what they do. Remember, these are all world-class players. Even if you don't agree with some of the signings that your top clubs have, they're still very good players. And there's a reason you're going after them. So congrats to him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
You know, it's always funny for me, Tim, and I know it because I did it. You know, like if you really got hit or you didn't. Of course. Like, you know. And so he goes down, but then quickly he's like, Oh God, I'm going to look like an idiot. And like with social media and everything now, everyone's going to kill him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And they, you could see in his brain, like he just knew in that moment, I got to get up. And it's like when a guy like thinks he gets fouled for a pen, but it's not a penalty. And then they quickly go, okay, I better get up. Cause I'm going to look like an absolute idiot.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Oh, this is so good. Okay. So, so Hoyland goes on social media on Instagram, I think. And he's got a picture of him and Kyle. He and Kyle Walker coming together. And he says, Manchester is red. Violets are blue. What a brilliant performance. But the Oscar goes to... Very good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Whoever his PR team is, congratulations to that. Why do you hate it? What's wrong with that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
It's not his fault.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
It doesn't mean we're not going to be honest, and it doesn't mean we're not going to be unfiltered. So everyone's excited about that. I'm excited about that. I just want to remind people, and this is not to be a Debbie Downer, You know how many days it's been since he scored his last club goal? Tell us. 583 days. Okay, so I'm happy for him. Amazing and a great goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Someone paid that much for him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Just perform. That's fine. Interestingly, before the game, the news was, so watching the NBC broadcast, everyone was surprised, two Robbies and Rebecca, that two players were left out of the squad altogether and not due to injury. That was Garnaccio and Marcus Rashford.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And I was thinking to myself, Tim, during the game, okay, this is one of those moments as a coach where, and I give Emram a lot of credit for this because this is a hard thing to do. It's almost a make or break moment because you go into the game, they're losing for majority of the game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
I can promise you at some point, even if he goes and looks in the mirror, Amram, at night, and said, if they had lost that game 1-0, I'm sure at some point on the bench he would have said, maybe use Garnaccio right now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Even of whatever's going on off the field, and it's clear there's things going on off the field, how they treat each other, their teammates, there's something going on there between Rashford, Garnaccio, and the rest of their teammates. I'm sure at some point he said, maybe Marcus Rashford can pull a goal out. Because guess what? Players in the end, Tim, care about winning.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Now, they want their teammates to be good teammates. They want them to be fun to be around, nice to be around. But at the end, you'll put up with a lot of crap if the guy performs. Now, those two haven't been performing over the last few years at the level that everyone expects. But I'm sure at some point he was going, did I get this one right? Then all of a sudden they win the game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And now I can promise you, today, when they're walking back in the locker room after a day off, he's going, see, guys? Told you. See? We don't need them. And if you don't do things the way I want, you're not playing. And so now Rashford and Granaccio have a decision to make. Do they just say, I'm done? I'm done. I'm over it. Fine. Move me out. Or they get on the bus.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And if they don't get on the bus, I promise you they're going to be gone.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
But everything I said last week still stands true. If that's the way he's going and playing well and scoring, great. Stay at Dortmund. If not... Find a place to play. Whether it's MLS or Holland or Mexico or wherever, I could care less. Go somewhere where you are playing, especially leading up to the World Cup. So happy for him. Let's hope, knock on wood, he can stay healthy now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And there's probably other things that he doesn't want to say publicly, but what he's doing to him is he's sending a message to the whole team by what he did with them. And so when you send that message to everyone, it's powerful and it carries a lot of weight.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Well said. Let's move on quick. The team that nobody still wants to talk about and they just keep flying under the radar, Chelsea. And by the way, if you haven't looked, they are two points back now of Liverpool. Liverpool have the game in hand, the Merseyside Derby. But they won again, 2-1 on the weekend. Yeah. And they just keep going. And just talk to me, Tim, about the Todd Boley approach.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And when he first came in, everyone was kind of befuddled by it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
He clearly deserves to start again, to play again. And let's hope this continues.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
But it's happening and it's real. And Chelsea seem to keep an eye on. Real quick before break. So Forest come from behind and beat Villa 2-1. I just, the only thing that, Forrest, congrats. Great season. The Emi Martinez save, if you have not seen it, Tim, just real quick. For me, I can't remember seeing a better save because the ball's behind him. I'm not even sure he knows it's there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
He reaches back and pulls it off the goal line. And just as a goalkeeper, just how difficult is that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
There's very few times in my life where I'm watching a game and I say, wow, what a save or what a goal. And I was like, my son was with me and I was like, what a save. And he's like, what, what, what, what? I'm like, just watch this. This was phenomenal. That save was certainly surprising.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
I think what was not surprising, two sackings on the weekend, Gary O'Neill and Russell Martin for Wolves in Southampton, respectively, kind of saw it both coming. Russell Martin actually left the field
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
for the whistle blew yeah um halftime and i think he knew it was over yeah they knew it was over it was it's always tough to see that but now there's opportunity um so every manager now is contacting those clubs and saying all their agents are contacting and saying how great of a manager they would be there and be interesting to see where what happens there
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And maybe willing to go down with them, stay down with them and come back up, right? All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we will get into mailbag questions and anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Jordan, by the way, you were so cold too at the Times Square. Oh, you poor thing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Oh, you poor thing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
She braved it. Oh, that poor girl.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, there are lots of guys on the field I absolutely hated. I mean, there were guys, Kyle Beckerman, I played with when I was 16 on the U-17 national team. And every time we played Salt Lake, every time, for 90 minutes, he would just bitch and moan at the referee. I mean, every call, he was like, what are you talking about? It wasn't.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And I'd say, Kyle, dude, you can't complain about every foul, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Kyle can.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Okay, he can. I absolutely couldn't stand him, but that's why he was a winner. Like, he just cared so much. And of course, we would trade jerseys. Now, we were good friends, so it's a little different. But yeah, I mean, the beauty of sports for me, Tim, and JR is like, you can go through that and all those battles and then you leave it right there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Like I love hockey after every hockey playoff series, after all the things they do and they're fighting and literally fighting all that, they take the gloves off and they shake hands. And I love that about sports.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
We could do a whole episode on jerseys and stuff, but the best thing was back with the Galaxy. Anytime we played Real Madrid or Barcelona in a friendly, guys who were like the 28th guy on the roster, the minute the whistle blew, were sprinting to Cristiano and Messi and be like, can we trade jersey? And they look at him like, no, bro. I don't mind the effort, though. I love the effort, but go on.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
All right, J.R.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
James, you want to open a can of worms, huh, bud? The question is, do we see it happening? My gut is that it will happen in some form eventually. Now, I'm not sitting on the fence. I'm not trying to be vague. Right now, the Vancouver Whitecaps, for example, James, are up for sale. And I think the price I saw was $475 million. Let's call it $500 million.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
If I'm a multi-billionaire and I pay $500 million for a franchise... And the next season I could get relegated and lose all my revenue and my valuation gets cut by whatever, 50%, 70%, 80%. Why would I ever sign up for that? I mean, it's just like, that's just an easy business decision.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So they would have to find some creativity, Tim, but I think eventually that system is really enticing and exciting to sports fans once they understand it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Just so people know, Jordan, it's in Tim's contract that he can't work more than four weeks in a row.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Great question. If you love the game, Parker— The easiest way is to talk to people about it and try to get them, what I always say, try to get them to go to a game. The game on TV for people who don't appreciate all the nuance and what the game is about can be boring. It can't. And there's a lot of sports I feel like if I watch cricket on TV, I'm like, this is so boring.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
If I go to a cricket match, which I haven't, or if I talk to people who know about it, it becomes much more interesting. I might not go and I might not love it, but give them an opportunity to go with you to a game. I have never once had someone go to a game and not say, wow, I loved it. What an experience.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So get them to go with you to a game, teach them about the game, all the nuances, and you got a good chance of getting them involved. Great question.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
All right, Timmy. Last, but certainly not least, anything but soccer. All right, so I like to tie a lot into the NFL, as you do. So I was watching the Eagles-Steelers game yesterday. Yeah. Okay, and the Eagles coach, Sirianni, Nick Sirianni, said,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
There was a play in the game, Jalen Carter, defensive tackle, gets an unnecessary roughness, like a, whatever, stupid 15-yard penalty called against him, right? The Eagles defensive lineman.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So he comes off the field, and when he gets off the field, Sirianni, who's the head coach, walks over to talk to him about it, and I'm guessing he wasn't going to say nice things about it, how it was unacceptable, etc., Before he can get there, the defensive line coach for the Eagles stepped in, and who knows what was said.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Hopefully they have audio on the sidelines, which I know they do, because I see a lot of clips with NFL audio, so they better release that. And in no uncertain terms, told the head coach, like, leave him alone, basically. And I'm watching this, and I've been a head coach, right? And I'm thinking to myself,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
The message that sends to your staff that you're allowing a staff member to come in and cut in front of what you want to say to one of your players and to the rest of the team is crazy, right? You have to have in organizations like this And with macho, egotistical men, you have to have hierarchy and you have to know who the boss is. You have to. And if you don't, there are big problems.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
The crazy thing, the Eagles are 12-2. They won the game. But I can tell, and it's not a secret, like people who follow the team or whatever, It's a bit of a house of cards that's ready to crumble.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
And I could not believe, Tim, can you imagine one of the assistant coaches or Chris Woods, a goalkeeper coach, getting in front of Sir Alex Ferguson when he's trying to talk to you and say, hey, hey, hey, I got it, pal. Leave him alone. I mean, he would have lost his mind. So I could not believe it watching it. And it just makes me wonder, like, how long is that sustainable?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
It was so disrespectful, that whole interaction. I was thinking, how do you come back from that as a good coach?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Well, I will say, Tim, and we can end on this. We've been in the game a long time. We're in touch with people all involved in the game on different levels. On many different occasions, I have seen teams succeed where stuff like that is going on behind the scenes. Win championships, et cetera, where it's a disaster, but they're just so much better or so much more talented that they can still win.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Now, it's not ideal. But it happens, dude. Agreed. All right, guys. Thank you all for being with us today. Quick note, no show next week. Boo, it's in Tim's contract. We'll be back on New Year's Eve with a New Year's Eve special. Meantime, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah, let's hope it continues now. He's got to stay healthy first and foremost. That has been his biggest issue is like staying healthy. So long may it continue. Two other Americans at Juve. What a goal. If you have not seen this, go check it out on YouTube. Weston McKinney scores off a Timway across. If you're an American soccer fan, you were jumping around your living room.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Follow the show all across our social platforms at Unfiltered Soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. All the things to everyone celebrating.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
See you guys.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
I cannot explain to people how cold it was. It was so cool. We got to do a Times Square takeover. Shout out to the marketing team at Sinclair, Nicole, et cetera, for setting that up. Really cool having the LED banners behind us. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out on the social media channels. Tim, it was so cold, dude.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
You know what my biggest takeaway is though? Yeah. When I watch that and I see the clips on social media, et cetera, I'm excited, but I'm not like out of my boots over the moon. I can't believe this. And you know why? Because those guys have gone over now and done it consistently. And so you don't get overly crazy. And by the way, French players, Brazilian players, Spanish players.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
People aren't going crazy when two of them link up for a goal in the Champions League now because they're used to it. And we're starting to get to a point where we're used to it. Kudos to Tim Weah and Weston for a great goal. Beat City, by the way, 2-0 in the Champions League, which I think everyone's beating City these days. But still, congrats to them. What a goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah, they were great and another good weekend. Interestingly, FIFA announced... And this will impact both of them. This could impact Gio Reyna as well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah, that they are not requiring clubs that participate in the Club World Cup to release their players for national team duty during that time. So that means the three of them, conceivably, for Juve and Dortmund respectively, could play in the Club World Cup and then not be available for the national team in the Gold Cup. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
My first take on all this is, at what point is FIFA going to just stop throwing more games and more tournaments and more? And the players are suffering, right? Physically. Now, it's fun to play in some of these tournaments and it's novel, right? To play in a Club World Cup now is exciting in some regards. But the coaches suffer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Coaches from now Pochettino is like, okay, now I'm going to miss three of my best players for a national team. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
camp that is Anna and a tournament that is our only opportunity now before the World Cup to play meaningful games totally the fans suffer how are they going to pick where to go which games to watch they can't follow their best players necessarily it just feels like it's it's just too much man yeah I mean it's a lot we know we know that the fixture build up and we can go back to the the Roger injury and quotes and all that we know we know the fixture build up is ridiculous
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Like standing there for 45 minutes, I could not wait to get out of there. And honestly, it took me 45 minutes inside in the warm to stop like sugar. I don't know how you do that, dude.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Absolutely zero chance.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
But guess what, Tim? Guess what? FIFA just sold the rights to the Club World Cup for a billion dollars.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yes, I said a billion.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
A billion dollars. That's what I started with. So guess what FIFA's doing? They're calling all the clubs and they're saying, hey, Gio Reyna and Weston McKinney and Lionel Messi, they better be in the tournament. They better be playing because we just got a billion dollars and everybody's going to be telling us, hey, those guys better play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So there's going to become a war and it's not going to be pretty, man. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out with national teams versus club teams over the next few months.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
But guess what? It's the FIFA World Cup, too. So FIFA's invested in the U.S.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
Yeah, of course. So it's like they're all just in it together, and it's kind of a mess. Curious what you guys think. We've been doing poll questions now. It's actually a fun way for us to engage with you guys. So which is more important to you, the fan, Club World Cup, if you're a national team fan, or the Gold Cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So would you rather see Wes and Tim Weah playing for Juve against, you know, whoever? Or you want to see them in the Gold Cup? I'd be really curious to hear everyone's thoughts. Can we touch real quick, just... He's starting to get some publicity now, but Anthony Robinson, his star is shining as bright as ever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
My opinion is after Christian, and Christian's injured now, I don't think there's a better player on the planet that's American. He's doing every week, Tim, up and down, up and down. Forget about the providing assists. He's just consistent, defends well. He's got to be close to the first name on the team sheet at Fulham every week.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
He's also, Tim, he's worn the armband now. And, you know, Stu said last week, yeah, Stu said last week something really interesting. national teams and our national teams in the past were best when we had a lot of guys wearing armbands and being leaders on their team and this is another point where
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
It's great to be at a big club, but if you're a fringe player, you don't understand how leadership works at that level. And so even if you're on a, quote, smaller club, if you're a leader or a captain and you can bring that into a national team, it's a whole different level. If you have seven or eight of those guys starting on the field, your national team looks a whole lot different.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Club World Cup vs Gold Cup, Drama in the Manchester Derby, and Promotion/Relegation in MLS
So he's now leading and…
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
He scored second most goals of any player under the age of 25. 53 goals. Do you know who's first on the list?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Thank you for setting the table. I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed because the most important people here in this –
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
conversation our third nine-year-old ashley young because i retired at 40 but goalkeepers played forever you retired before 39 right when did you retire 32 so you know how hard it is yeah he's playing in the premier league at 39 years old credit to him to keep for keeping his levels up for keeping his his fitness up and credit to his son 18 years old Chasing his professional dream.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
This reunion should have happened on the pitch. It's the thing stories are made of. And I know it's the FA Cup. I do. And so you play to win, right? But they weren't winning. They were losing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And at that point, in the back of your head as a manager, not in the back of your head, he knows, you've got to make some sort of concession to think if it gets down to it and we're out of this game, and I know people say 2-0, you're not out of the game, put the kid on. Here's why. The Peterborough manager, Darren Ferguson. You know who Darren Ferguson's father is? Sir Alex Ferguson.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
One of the greatest managers in the history of world football. So Darren Ferguson has stood on the shoulders of giants. You can make of that what you will. When it comes to a father and son reunion, he more than anybody should understand what that means. And so disappointed, disappointed.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Happy everything went through, but disappointed Ashley Young and Tyler didn't get an opportunity because guess what? That opportunity will never, ever, ever come around again. And by the way, and by the way, this isn't, This isn't LeBron James having his agent call every NBA team and say, if you draft this kid, my son, I'm sending him to Australia, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
He got an NBA contract when all of the experts know he's not an NBA player to do what? To play with his dad. And guess what? LeBron earned that right. He earned that right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, I mean, I think that keeping the people and the residents of L.A. and the surrounding counties kind of at the forefront, right? We live in this world where everything goes quickly, man. The news cycle happens fast, and you're right. The donations will continue to help and support, whether they're today, yesterday, or four weeks from now. So very well said. And I've actually listened to L.A.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, well, I think you have to start with standing up and applauding Sean Dyche. What a job. What a job he did.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And there's going to be some people who just blinked when they're listening to this. What a job he did. PSR, 10-point deduction, having to sell players, not having the quality to maybe stay in the Premier League, and he kept that team afloat. He kept them in the Premier League. So, by the way, anybody, I don't care if you're an Everton fan or not,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
if you scoff at the job that Sean Dyche did, shame on you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And I think from what I was hearing was, look, the new ownership group took over, right? And they
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
time an ownership group takes over i think it's your investment i think you're allowed to then say i want this sporting director or i want this coach that's normal so i'm okay with that and look the fact of the matter is from what i was hearing look the team the team was just kind of floundering and they don't have a ton of quality they've got a couple little good players in decent areas they don't have a ton of quality and that's why they're down near the bottom and they have been for the last couple of years the idea was with going into the new stadium the
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
the new ownership group didn't want to just kind of stumble over the line going into the new state. And they kind of wanted to go from where they are right now, which is near the bottom of the table to kind of like maybe this runway into like the top of the table where you can go, Oh, we feel really good about this. Cause again, it's an investment, right? They want people to get excited about it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So, um, The fact that they brought David Moyes back, that's the interesting move because I think David Moyes has been linked over the last couple of years. Every time there's a managerial change, and it was, what, seven and eight years under Moshiri, he always seemed to kind of be... I spoke to him every now and again, and I would just send him a cheeky text like, are you in?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
This is like the last couple of years. And sometimes it would be like, no. Other times it would be like, there have been conversations. So there's always been kind of talked about. The Everton fans are amazing. I became an Evertonian at the time that I was there, and that's a lifelong thing. And I know you feel that. And now I'm an Everton fan. You can't not support the team that you played for.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But the fact of the matter is like, Even with inside the fan base, there's part of them that are like, we don't want Moyes and it's old school. And what I would say to people is just stop. Stop talking. Let me do the talking because it's our show. But you have... There's so many ways to play football and to win football matches, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Everyone thinks you have to do it the Pep Guardiola way and you have to do it the Portuguese way. That's, you know, you don't. You don't. We'll just win the football match. And David Moyes, he showed at West Ham, was a winner. By the way, here's my rant. West Ham said, we want to play the West Ham way. David Moyes went in, played David Moyes way, and won. You know what West Ham said?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
We want to play the West Ham way. They sacked David Moyes. They got Lopetegui in.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Lopetegui played the West Ham way. Guess where he is? Out of a job. Right? And so what I would say to the Everton faithful is, you want someone who plays progressive football? Marco Silva. You had him. He's at Fulham. You want someone who plays progressive football? Roberto Martinez. You had him. You called for his name. He got sacked. You know what he went on to do? Coach Belgium and Portugal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So you just got to be careful. David Moyes is a brilliant football manager. And the fact that he's still... Getting these type of jobs is awesome. And look, I think he is bullish and he knows Everton Football Club inside and out and he'll restore some glory. Rant over.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Rams head coach Saul McVeigh. They've had to move their Monday night game to Arizona and say, it's so hard making this transition from tragedy to sports. But he mentioned like it doesn't fill the void, but it does present an opportunity to get people to smile in the midst of chaos or talk about sports and their favorite teams when the world seems upside down.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
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Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
LD, it's time for USLNT on USMNT. January camp.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's so polarizing and complex for so many people who don't quite get it because they're like, wait a minute, there's a national team camp in January, but where's all our players? So these are a lot of players that falls outside of the FIFA window.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
I think what people need to also understand is when it comes to, and I didn't know this for a very long time, but when it comes to like the television contract over the course of a full year, there are certain amount of slots and two of those happened to fall in January. And so those have to be fulfilled contractually, which is obviously part of it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So we're certainly going to try and do that today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But the other part is so many of these players that get called in predominantly MLS type players have an opportunity to get, you know, some time under their belt training. shop window, be in front of Pochettino and Pochettino of course gets more time with his team. Right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And some of these players, when you look at LD will feature at some point in this, this to me is just a great opportunity to like shine. Right. Like if, if some of these players were in a full camp, They might be on the peripheral, but they're probably the best players in the camp, you know, the top five or six players.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And it really gives them an opportunity to be in front of the manager and go, oh, I like this kid. I like him even more.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, I mean, look, I look at the goalkeepers. Important for Zach Steffen. Look at the defenders. Shaq Moore, Tim Rehm, Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmerman. Important for those guys. Midfield, Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn. This is an opportunity for them to really showcase themselves up front. You know, I'm looking there. Jesus Ferreira, another opportunity. Huge opportunity for Jesus, by the way.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, we're thin at that spot.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Huge opportunity. And again, we talk about Jesus Ferrer struggled a little bit last year. Some injuries, just scoring five goals. But, you know, going to Seattle from Dallas, Seattle is a winning franchise. Seattle knows how to win. They know how to build a team and bring players in the right spots. This could be really, really good for him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
He's, you know, he scored second most goals of any player under the age of 25 with, let me look at this, 53 goals. before turning 25. Second on the list. You know who's first on the list?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
My guy, Landon Donovan. 56 goals. I think you could have done more.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
You did a lot of the dirty work tracking back in those early days.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
funny little tidbit about January camps. Cause I was, you know, I was, I was in England for so many of them. So I didn't, early in my career, I did a few January camps, which was again, great because you can showcase your young talent, like not, and not have the big guys in. And at the end of my career, I was so greedy. I wanted more caps.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
I remember calling the coach and be like, can I, can I, can I, I'm free. I'm free in January. Can I come in? Yeah. Cause I'm playing back in the MLS. And I can't remember like getting the phone hung up, hung up and just like, we're not calling you and we know what you can do. So I'm like, yeah, but I want another cap.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, I'm over the moon for Robin. I spoke to him a lot through this process. You know, I, I, I think Toronto FC must listen to the podcast, but hopefully, hopefully they do. Um, but look, I, one of the biggest regrets of my career and I, it wasn't in my hands.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
I only got six months to play with Robin and I, and I remember Robin was so good to me at the end cause I was at the end and I, and I just, I, I remember how great of a manager he was. Um, He's a brilliant football mind. He connects with his players. As you said, he'll get backing. I think he got the short end of the stick in Colorado because he's a very, very good manager. It's funny.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Something sticks out, and he's a good human as well. At the end, his first game that he took over, we played at Red Bull. And my body, LDS, you know, at the end, it gets so broken down. I could barely finish the game. I was in tears. We won 2-0, and I was like, this is the end. I was supposed to finish...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
the end of the season but here we are in like july or august i'm like i'm done and i remember going i remember going to see him um knocking on his door and just saying look robin i'm i'm my ego is not so big i'm not going to hamstring you like the fact of the matter is if you play me if you start me you're going to have to use a sub on me and this is just going to get ugly and i don't want to do that to you and i just remember saying like look let me try and get fit i would love to
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
what's up ld um wow we have to start the show with um all of the news and the fires uh in la such horrific scenes that we we're having to witness for for me i'm having to witness uh so far away but i know you're you're there you're in southern california you have so many family and friends um how are you feeling yeah man it's been an it's been a crazy week um we're in san diego and
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
be fit enough to play the last home game or, and the last game of the year, and then just, you know, be done. And so there was a couple of week stretch that I just didn't play for about a month. Cause I, I had to be honest with him and he was brilliant with me. So, um, but beyond the personal side of things, he's a, he's a brilliant manager.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Um, given the time and given the resources, which he'll get in Toronto, um, look out. He's a, he's a really good manager.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Arango and Ferreira. I mean, change is good. It's amazing how you get a good player, gets a little bit stagnant, a little bit injury prone, and next thing you know, boom, hit the ground running at their new club. It'll be good for them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow soccer in the U.S. is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connection with you will help grow the game. Jordan, welcome to AT&T Fan Connection.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Get on in here.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
What shirt do you have on today? Let's see.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
You need a third kit for sure.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, very well said. I don't think it is, but this sounds like my friend, JB Bickerstaff, head coach of the Detroit Pistons. His son, Blade, is a stud, stud goalkeeper, young kid. He's got pictures of athletes on his wall and wants to go pro. So I'm guessing this isn't him, but I'll hit him after the show. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But no, on a serious note, JB, I think I've just lived this with my own daughter and she's on an incredible trajectory for herself. But I constantly asked, you asked a really good question, but in all seriousness, I constantly asked her what she wanted. Constantly. Because by the way, I know how to become a professional. I thankfully have the means to help her become a professional.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
I would say, what's that like? You were playing at the top at 17. It's just so hard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So I kept asking her, what do you want? Dad, I want to be great. Okay, what do you want? I want to play Division I soccer. Okay, cool. But if she said to me, I don't know, I want to go to the dance. And if I miss a couple of training sessions, that's cool too. I'd say, yeah, fine. I'm going to support you with whatever you do. So this was never about me as a parent.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
You know, I read something recently. Derrick Rose asked his son, Derrick Rose of Chicago Bulls fame. They just retired his number. He asked his son, do you want to be good or great? If his son says good, then he treats him as if he wants to be good. If he wants to be great, he pushes him to be great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And so I think that conversation about where your child wants to go, because by the way, and not many people say this, because Landon gets his name on MVP trophies and we all get paid a lot of money and the fame. Being a professional is hard. It's hard sledding. It's hard sledding. But forget when the lights come on in front of 60,000 people. To get there, it's rough. It's rough mentally.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's rough physically. It's rough socially. It's hard. So ask your son if that's what he wants. And if he does, then you support him in every way you can.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's insane. At a world level. And I just think it's good to see some of these global rivalries back. You know, like Barca and Real Madrid were selling for a while. Then they were getting like older European players that weren't like up to par. And now this feels like this rivalry El Clasico. If there has to be one rivalry in the world that's back, it's this one.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I, I think for me, it's, it's, I agree with all those things you said, Landon. For me, it's cut and dry. Men have ruined the women's game for so long. Go all the way back to the start of it, right? And there was no women's leagues. And so when there was a women's league, it was, well, we need someone who knows how to coach professional football. A professional team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But women weren't given the opportunity because there wasn't any league. So who coached those initial teams? All men, right? And so that's the starting point. And since then, for various other reasons, men have ruined the women's game. And I think that there's a big rebuild that's happening and trust that's being built in terms of both financial trust and otherwise.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But look, there's been a higher fire culture in women's soccer. And they don't quite have... the same opportunities. And I think you have to create intentional pathways, um, for women to get in. If you want to hire, be intentional. I mean, the, the, um, the Rooney's in Pittsburgh were very intentional on hiring an African-American coach. They didn't make any bones about it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And then the Rooney rule got implemented and Tomlin has been brilliant at that, at that franchise for nearly 20 years or however long. Right. And so, um, you have to be intentional and whether you hire, uh, A person of color, a male, whatever the case is, a female, that's fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But at certain point, you have to be intentional in terms of who you put in place and how you help foster that because you can't continue to hire and fire people without building the process underneath, right? So you bring in assistant coaches, you bring in assistant technical directors and GMs and what that might look like, giving them a pathway to say, you know what?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
When it's time for change, we want to be able to have invested in you so much that boom, you're ready to go. You're ready to become the head coach. You're ready to become a GM. Or maybe we lose you to another team because you've done so well here. So being more intentional and stopping this like higher fire culture that exists in women's soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Well, well, let me say this. I was initially for the last couple of years against college athletes being paid for various reasons. And we won't get into that right now. I was against it. I am what I'd like to call an insubordinate subordinate. I'm going to ask questions, and I'm going to kick and scream, but I'm eventually going to fall into line. The fact of the matter is college sports is over.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
This is a second division professional league. In no world, I'm 45 years old, so in the last 45 years and beyond, nobody, And there's a guy, Trey Lieberud out there who's listening, who's literally going to fall off his seat. Nobody would leave the University of Georgia, which is basically the top of the pyramid, second only to the Tennessee Volunteers Go Bulls.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
the top of the pyramid, to go to Miami. Like no one, ever. So this comes down to money. And by the way, these schools, whether it be through alumni or private equity, these schools have boatloads of money. Boatloads of money. BYU, Brigham Young University, is one of the biggest NIL universities uh, funds in all of college sports. They kept this all world, all all-star kid out of Utah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
They kept him at BYU. This kid should be going to Duke and, and all the blue bloods. He ain't going, he's staying at BYU. If this is about money, the entire landscape has changed.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So I was speaking to a friend in the know about Arsenal, and I've been plugging Arsenal to win the Premier League for the last few years. I thought they were on the upward trajectory, and they still might be. The hard part for me, because we talk about analytics and the XG, and we'll get to that, and I was saying to my friend who's in the business, massive Arsenal fan, and I said, like,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah. Well, look, let me just riff for the next 30 seconds on this is the parent in me, right? Something has to change or we just have to all accept that this is going to spiral out of control, right? Because you now have the transfer portal. Back a few years ago, you couldn't transfer without sitting out. Now you can transfer to any school you want, whenever you want.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
They can pay you whatever they want because of the NIL. I just hope That the adults in the room, whoever they are, are not only paying these kids boatloads of money, but they're giving them access to financial advisors. They're helping them with the money. They're helping them make decisions. Because as we know, you can give kids money, but it doesn't often end well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And so look, I think there's a, do they need a cap on it? Do they need to slow it down? Do they need to go back to having to sit out a year if you transfer? Because even, forget money aside, LD, the transfer portal is changing the landscape. Kids aren't staying in school for four years anymore. Kids aren't loving a school and staying there one year and done.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
They transfer to another school and you're creating these powerhouses, which is fun to watch from a sports standpoint. But ultimately, all of these things combined, say goodbye to college sports. Simple as that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Yeah, thank you, everybody. Always a pleasure spending this hour with you and LD. Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, and our new fan connection sponsor, AT&T. Have an amazing week. We'll be back next Tuesday. Can't wait to see you on another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Sometimes the eye test and the gut has to count for something, right? And the eye test and my gut for me, forget statistics for a second. It's like Arsenal went very quickly, like within the course of a year, from silky and smooth and sexy and being on top of the game to being…
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Completely reliant on socket and set pieces and I'm like I'm like that's what my eyes sing right and I'm thinking how did that happen now? Do they need a number nine, right? That's been kind of in the in the peripheral for a while then Havertz goes from the eight to the nine and he does really well and people like okay We can kind of get away with it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
But to the point they've dominated on expected goals in the last two games They haven't got the firepower in those games. And now, and now everyone's kind of saying, even those people who I speak to are like, nah, we're good. We're good. We're good with Harvard's good with Jesus coming off the bench. Even they're like, yeah, maybe it's time. Like maybe you have, you have to invest in that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So, um, but again, out of the, out of the care about cup,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Out of the FA Cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And then, yes, they're in second, but it's like, you know, this is going to ebb and flow. If Liverpool drop points and Arsenal can go on a run, then they're in it. If Liverpool just keep going, then, yeah, they're in second. But, you know what I mean? They don't feel the same.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Well, it's an interesting point because he is a disciple of Pep Guardiola. And one of the things, you know, there was up until this point, there was this theory and Pep never tried to debunk the theory. There was like a three-year, four-year shelf life with Pep because he was so hard on his players, so demanding, so in your face every day, not on a touchline, every day in training.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And it just ran its course. And so he would then go from Barca, then he would go to Bayern Munich. And then people were actually thinking, you know, he's been there in a decade, but like people were like, oh, three years, the city's gone because that's what he always did. And he's so hard on his players. I remember talking to Vincent Kompany about that. I'm like, how do you deal with that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's every single day. And he's like, it's a challenge, you know, it's a huge challenge. But I wouldn't like to think that the message is getting stale quite yet. But when you have a manager who, who is so all in, which a lot of these newer style managers are, it's a really interesting concept. Are these players, is it starting to get a little bit dull to them is the message.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
I'm almost sure they are.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
You, I mean, you know, you, you hold in this, in this podcast duo, the dynamic duo of Tim and Landon, you hold most of the records, but I think, and our producers will tell us in the chat that, That was the first American to win the FA Cup. And I remember feeling like that was such a badge of honor because I was like, one, I could win the FA Cup here.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And then two, being the first American to do it. But it's magical. You hear people say that. That word will keep creeping up. When you go to England, they'll say the magic of the FA Cup. Can't lose the magic of the FA Cup. That kind of thing. And it is... You don't quite... You don't quite get it until you either hear us take a deep dive on it or you read the history of it or you go experience it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's as you said, you gave a great comparison, like a single-A baseball team going to play the Yankees in the Bronx, right? But take that a step further because you talked about the Tamworth almost getting a winner. Imagine in the bottom of the night, and by the way, the Yankees are playing Aaron Judge. They're playing Soto. They're playing all the big guys. They're trying to win, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
You step up to the plate in the Bronx, and you take a fastball down the middle and bang, over the left field wall. You're a single-A kid. You trot around the bases, walk off, and you knock the Yankees out. And by the way, imagine not only these guys, this is what they do. In England, so many of these guys are plumbers, are bricklayers. They only train three times a week, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
They don't have the funding to do that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
No, imagine a G League team going into LA, playing against LeBron, right? Because LeBron has to play and these guys have to play. And you knock down a three-pointer at the buzzer and then you got to go back to being a fireman, right? in Chicago somewhere. Like, can you imagine it's, it's like gives you goosebumps talking about it. And that's what happens in the FA cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Um, when you get these lower teams and it used to be, you know, I, I played a few replays. The one I can remember was at United. I think again, need some fact checking cause I'm getting old, but I think we played against Barnett. Um, and Barnett at the time was also maybe a non-league team. Um, And they come to Old Trafford and they get a draw. It's 1-1 or nil-nil, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
The scenes were amazing because LD, they've done away with replays because of fixture congestion. But these guys were like, wanted them all. I'm at Old Trafford. Never meant to be here. Two, we got a result. Three, I'm about to exchange jerseys with Roy Keane and Ruvenus Roy. And four, the chairman's going, oh my God, we're getting them back to our place. We're getting a payday.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Which by the way, so many of these paydays in the replay, which again is null and void, it used to like pay their entire salaries for the entire year. Like there's so much magic in the FA Cup. It's brilliant.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Landon Donovan, 56.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And part of that, LD, and remiss if I didn't add this tidbit, Part of it is, and I'm not sure which games you played in, but I played in so many of them over the course of a decade and a half in England. When you get that away draw as the home side, it's agony, bro. I don't care.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
So we had it in our cup run, which I think was the last time Everton went to the final in 2009. In our cup run, right, when we got to the final, we lost to Chelsea. We started again, Everton versus Macclesfield. And it was Macclesfield away. And Macclesfield's in and around Manchester area. David, we got on the, trained, had lunch, got on the bus, drove.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
It's not that far and probably less than an hour from the Everton training ground to Macclesfield. And before we even got to the hotel, LD, we went straight to the ground. Straight to the ground because he said, you will not turn up tomorrow and be shocked because you, as soon as you see this for the first time, you will be shocked. So sure enough, we get off the bus. Right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
We walk into the dressing room. And by the way, I swear to God, as my witness, the corridor is this big. We walk through the corridor. We go into the dressing room. By the way, the dressing room is no bigger than this little home office I have. Guys are looking around like, oh my God. We walk out on the pitch. In the Premier League, we have undersoul heating.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
They've got tarps all over the pitch because it was frozen. And if they don't get the game played, they have to get it played. So literally, local townspeople from Macclesfield, they don't have staff, bro. They don't have staff. They can't pay staff. Local townspeople, it was on the news, were just there helping with the tarp, helping remove snow.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
And it was great that he did that because had we gotten off the bus after team meal on the day of the game and saw that, we'd have been like, Nah, bro. This ain't happening.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Arango and Ferreira on the Move, Moyes Returns to Everton, and Arsenal Out of FA Cup
Leon Osmond, credit to Ozzie. He got the game winner in the 43rd minute. All right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
He's had a Renaissance, huh? Chris would the big Kiwi. It's like you watch that team and you're thinking, okay, does he, does the other pieces really fit with him on it? But they know, put it in the box and he's proven he can score a goal. He's obviously very good in the air, but he's just banging and goals for fun. It's fun to watch.
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah. You know, um, I, I was checking the scores.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
in vegas and i looked at halftime of the liverpool southampton game and southampton were up one now at halftime and i was like whoa yeah what's going on so i mean i can imagine what the game looked like but in the end all was set right but i was shocked that was a shocking yeah i think it was i think it was kind of short-lived it was off of southampton throwing um small bone ends up like
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
So it's really fun, but it lasts a long time. So it's nice.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
So 15 points clear now, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
It's brutal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
They, um, can focus now on champions league right for the most part and their game last week at psg was insane uh they had no business no business getting anything out of the game and they end up winning the game so now they'll come back home and they've got a one nothing cushion but they got battered by psg psg looked really good really somehow lost the game so that's uh
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
It's probably too bad because it's hard to imagine PSG goes to Anfield and wins that game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah. It's gonna be fun to watch champions league this week. It'll be fun to watch now these second legs with, with everything at stake, uh, United Arsenal. We don't spend a lot of time there. I am as disappointed as I am in United. Arsenal, too, they've just kind of petered out. Never really made a run at it. And so it's, you know, the game didn't mean much, right? It didn't mean much.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
And it's not good for the league, right? The league's way better when both those teams are flying.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah, and you can take risks with players who don't play in the league currently. Sure. Or you get a guy who you absolutely know, if he's healthy, is going to score you. You said 20. I think he scored 30 with Arsenal. Yeah, sure. I think it's a must. Chelsea, Leicester. Chelsea back into the top four. They've kind of had a weird season, huh? Really good early, really poor through mid-stretch.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
They're starting to find a little bit of form back in the top four, but good for the league again when Chelsea are strong.
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
All right, dude. Good weekend in the Premier League. Champions League fixtures. When this comes out, it'll be Tuesday. So Champions League and lots to watch this week. We're going to take a break. When we come back, talking U.S. men's national team. We're only a few weeks now, Tim, from Nations League. So keep an eye on. We're keeping an eye on everybody.
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
And we'll be back to talk about it right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Yes, sir.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Welcome back, Serginio. 11 months, by the way, Tim. They took their time. I'm actually really happy to hear that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
And you never know if it was the player who needed a few more months or whatever, but everyone's in such a rush. They want eight months, nine months. And... I don't know the data on this, but the longer you take to come back, the more chances you have of staying healthy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
And so if it needs another month, just take the month. I know it sucks in the short term, but he's 24. Take your time. Get back. So hopefully, knock on wood, he stays healthy. But great to have him back.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Funny, real quick story about Tony Miola. First time I went to national team camp was after the earthquakes won with him in 2001. It was my first year. And I was like, dude, Tony, I was 18. I was such an idiot. I go, Tony, I don't see why we wouldn't just win the MLS cup every year. We're so good. And he looked at me and he goes, Landon, you have no clue what you're talking about, dude.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah, it was when we talked earlier in past episodes, it was a position of weakness, right? The back line. And with Serginio back, nobody really threatened to take that role permanently. So if he's back and he's playing well and he's healthy, now you have two very, very, very good. You could argue at points of their career, world-class outside backs.
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
And now you say, okay, that's a good starting point. Chris Richards now starting to solidify himself. So really good to have him back. On the other side of the field, another guy who needed a boost, and that was Christian Pulisic.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Two goals. They were down, I believe they were down 2-0. Came back in the second half. He scored twice. They won 3-2. Big win for the club. They just needed some relief. And for him personally, really good to see him back and scoring. He really needed that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
We're leading in a couple weeks here to Nations League. Tyler Adams, we continue to talk about. It's going to get to a point where we don't even need to talk about him because he's just in the team doing well, playing well. So as long as he stays healthy, as always, that's the caveat. Stay healthy. He was named Bournemouth's Player of the Month.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
This month, which is an incredible honor to think about an American going into a Premier League club, ingratiating themselves with the fans, their teammates, the coaches, and then becoming a player of the month when he just got back.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Um, all right, let's move into NWSL officially open last weekend with the challenge cup Orlando lost, uh, in penalties at home to Washington. Uh, but, The real season starts this weekend. I want to start Tim with a player that I coached last year, Naomi Germa, uh, moved to Chelsea in the off season for a record $1 million fee. Actually, I think it was over a million dollars.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
I think it was 1.1, uh, transfer from San Diego wave to Chelsea. I have a lot of thoughts on all of this. Candidly for Naomi, I know she wanted to go. I don't love it for NWSL. Probably the best center back in the world is leaving and wants to leave now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
I understand all the reasons, but in my opinion, having watched a lot of the games now and coached in it, the NWSL top to bottom is the best league in the world. Some of the top clubs in the world play in Europe, but their leagues are not great. Chelsea can walk through four or five of those teams without breaking a sweat.
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He's like, just give it a few years. You're not winning MLS cup every year.
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So I get disappointed when a player of Naomi's quality doesn't want to stay here. But I understand it. The sad part for Naomi, and she's dealt with some injuries in the past, is in her opening match, she waited a long time to come back to play her first game for Chelsea. They played her 60 minutes. At the 60th minute, she got injured again. So she hurt her calf, so now she's out again.
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So it's TBD to see how that goes. She's going to be fine. She's still a top player. But there's been a number, I think the number one a talking point for me for NWS over the off season is they've had, there's so much change in the league and the league still feels a little unstable in that way. And what I mean is very few players get signed to three, four or five year deals.
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was that a serious comment from you yeah it was a serious comment like dude we're so good bro we're so good we won the oble he's like shut up oh my god all right guys follow us as always on social media at unfiltered soccer subscribe youtube you can watch on youtube subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts apple spotify etc if you like what we're doing rate the show review it um
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So most players from year to year have the freedom to move.
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And historically in the league, and I'm just going to put this out there historically in the league, players have crazy,
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crazy power that if they're not happy they can leave and it reminded me a little bit of mls in the early days it's like if someone wasn't happy with something whatever you just call your agent and be like get me out of here yeah and that doesn't happen in mature leagues around the world so i do want to see that change um but you know we'll walk through some of these um i'll get your opinion first but
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All right. So we'll walk through a few of these. So they actually had a great first season last year, made the playoffs. They signed one of our players, Abby Dalcomper, middle of the year where we traded her there. And she was fantastic. Unfortunately for them, they're going through some turmoil now.
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Their head coach, Albertine Montoya, currently under investigation by the NWSL after players from 2024 lodged formal complaints against the coaching staff. And Tim, I'll be quick. This has become and has been commonplace in this league. I do want to say this. we don't know what happened here. And so let's be careful. Let's see what happened. Don't jump to conclusions I've learned in life.
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There are multiple sides to stories. I'm not saying it did or didn't happen or anything did or didn't happen, Let's just be cautious and see how this unfolds.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Down the I-5, up the I-5, for me, Angel City, strangely still no permanent head coach. They got rid of Becky Tweed at the end of last year. Larry Earnshaw is serving as the interim. This feels, Tim, this when they came into the league, it was such a massive deal.
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And, you know, the sister club to LAFC and everything going on with the beautiful state and whatever.
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and they've just kind of been it's been tumultuous forever and they need to figure out a path forward that makes sense that is sustainable and this is back to what i was saying earlier this club is a it's a really big club for the league and they've just felt like a kind of an afterthought because there's so much uh change let me ask you something and yeah so
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Got some feedback that some people are not happy about. Some comments we made, particularly about New England Revolution. That's okay. If you want to review that and say that, no problem, guys. Email us, feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com. We can take all of it. Tim likes the heat.
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No, here's what happens. So it's a great question and a great point. So the challenge is all the excitement, all the bluster, everything going on, whatever. What makes a club great, and you know this with Everton and clubs, me with the Galaxy and Everton, what you do every day is what makes your club.
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It's not about a press conference or an announcement or a slogan or a mission statement or whatever. It's what you do every day that makes your club great. And a lot of clubs, I'll just talk, I can't speak exactly specifically, 100% sure with every club in a new BSL, but a lot of clubs, get a lot of the promoting and the marketing and stuff right.
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And they do a great job and whatever, but they're still struggling with just people, boots on the ground, people who know what they're doing and are competent to get things done and it's getting better. And it's part of the problem, Tim is in our country, we're still immature in soccer in general. So you had for a long time, MLS sort of leading the way with,
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Quality people, quality workers, quality executives, whatever. USL then struggles because there's only so many. NWSL struggles because there's only so many. NASL, when it was going to struggle, there's only so many people who know what they're doing and it's getting better. It's going to take time, but you have to start by hiring people. the right people at the top who then can start the process.
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That's what it takes. And speaking of right people at the top at your club, Houston dash, Fabrice got dropped new head coach. They were bottom of the league last year. I saw just with my own eyes, things start to change at the end of the year, Tim. So I will be definitely keeping my eyes on Houston as I know you will.
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How are you?
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
All right, MLS weekend, Timmy. So in Vegas, I did actually watch the Sounders LAFC game. It's fun to watch when you're just sitting around and there's a bunch of people who presumably have bet a ton of money on it and they have no idea what they're watching, but they're excited about or mad about the game. So Seattle looked great.
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Up in Portland, congrats to Sophia Smith-Wilson. She and her husband, Michael Wilson. Just announced that they are pregnant, which is awesome. So very happy for her. She's a top, top, top player. It'd be interesting to see how she gets back. I'm always amazed, Tim, that these women are able to be pregnant and continue their careers and then stop and then come back.
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And having lived in a household where My wife was pregnant three times. And like the last thing on your mind would be like, you can go play at the top level professionally soccer. It's incredible. So to see when she gets back, how she gets back, but really excited for she and Michael. It's, it's an awesome moment.
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I'm back. I'm a little tired. I'm a little tired, bud. Why?
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I mean, sadly I had to deal with it in person watching. I did not enjoy it as much as you in those moments, but she, yeah, she is special. Lastly, Gotham FC, they lost Lynn Williams, Biandolo to the rain. Jenna Niswong went to Arsenal. Yasmin, as you just talked about, Yasmin Ryan went to Houston, Crystal Dunn left.
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So they've got, they are a well-run club and their roster is really good, but they lost a lot of pieces. And so now how do you, reshape that revamp that. That'll be interesting to follow. So NWSL starts this weekend. It'll be a lot of fun to follow. Lots of new player movement, San Diego wave here, right in my backyard, lots and lots of change felt like a reset for them. So interesting to follow.
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All right, let's dig into one last thing before we take a break. World cup expansion for 2030. I can feel people getting pissed off.
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You know, all right. So FIFA doesn't have enough money. So that was my comment. A proposal to analyze a 64 team. Yes, you heard that right. 64 team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030. The first one was in 1930. was spontaneously raised by a FIFA council member. I'm sure nobody talked about it.
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In the miscellaneous agenda item near the end of the FIFA council meeting held on March 5th, 2025, a FIFA spokesperson said... The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its council members. I'm sure this was spontaneous. I'm sure nobody talked about this or thought about this before this moment. But let's get past all that.
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I'm going to say this and I think people are going to hate this. I actually love the idea of having 64 teams. Love it. Why is that? Love it. Because this is why, Tim. I've been to a World Cup as a player three times, and I've been as a fan, and I've been as a commentator.
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Nobody cares about the late night.
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And the greatest thing about a World Cup, the greatest thing, forget about what happens on the field, I mean, it's amazing, whatever, is sitting at a bar or sitting in a square or sitting outside with people Someone from Ireland hanging out with someone from Zimbabwe, hanging out with someone from Peru, hanging out with someone from Iceland, and they're all drinking beer.
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None of them understand a damn word they're all saying, but they're drinking a beer. They're hanging out. They're watching the game. They're celebrating their teams, and they're all doing it together, and they're brought together because of this tournament. And so right now, if it's 32 countries being represented, give me 64. I want 64 fan bases represented.
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40,000 people traveling wherever it is, Uruguay, Morocco, whatever it is, and I want them there celebrating it. I love it.
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I guess the real question would be, because I don't want to be too cynical here, but the fact that someone spontaneously brought it up and the fact that they have said this to the press, they let the press know. Obviously, it's a bit of a trial balloon to see how people react. My guess is that. there's a good chance this happens and they're not just putting it out there for fun.
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They just don't want to, they're not going to create controversy just to do it. So my guess is they're trying to get people used to it. So the question then becomes, how do you actually make this happen? Right? You can't have a, my math is terrible, but you can't have 16 groups of four, can you? And then maybe the top two, and then you have around a 32 and,
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round of 16 quarterfinals semis finals maybe or do you make it a not you can't make it a knockout tournament that would go against everything that the world cup is right yeah because group play is so important so i don't know logistically what that means and by the way tim if they do it once and it's successful they're doing it again they're doing it again in 2034 and 38 and forever right so i don't think it's a you know they said to
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as a one-time team, a one-time thing. I don't think it's a one-time thing.
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So I'm sure people are going to have opinions on this. Guys, let us know. Do you want a 64-team World Cup? Do you want to keep it 32? Would you go to 48 like it is this time? Or would you cut it down? I don't know. 24, like the Olympics. And let us know. Let us know your thoughts. All right. Let's take a pause. When we're back, we will get into your questions on the AT&T Fan Connection.
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We'll talk anything but soccer. right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. We'll be right back.
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It's called what?
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Well, at least someone's talking about New England. Jesus.
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I had a belated birthday weekend. In? In Vegas. That's good for Sunday. Yeah, man. I tried to catch up on sleep last night, but the time changed. We're recording this a little earlier today.
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Give it to us. What do you got? People are talking about them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Listen. Is that a question? All right, go ahead, Tim.
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They don't have a warming area.
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Well, he did, to be fair. He showed up.
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All right, David, let me give you a history lesson, bud.
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I've been in many MLS, USL, NWSL meetings, and people in these meetings after the game, sometimes it's right after the game, we're sitting around and they'll say, hey, Michael, the janitor who's cleaning up. pick a number between 22 and 27,000 and just give me a random number. And he'll go 24,612. And they go, okay, that's the announced attendance tonight. And they put it out there.
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So whatever the announced attendance is, you can just throw that out the door and don't worry about it. You can see what you see. We can see what we see on TV. I'm not saying that New England didn't have a decent amount of fans. That is a...
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bigger problem is why are they spreading it out that way there's lots of stadiums that put fans on one side of the field only and the field the side of the field that should be on is where the camera is facing right so whoever's in charge of that sort that out new england i'm not saying that's your fault as fans but sort that out or just put all the fans together put them in the lower bowl you don't have to open the whole stadium i know it's a massive stadium nobody's saying you're atlanta and you need to sell out 70 000 every week
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But there's lots of issues there, dude. So you can be proud of your team, and we want you to be proud of your team, but there are problems. And if you don't acknowledge them, it's going to get worse. And the team is bad, and they need to sort it out. And I care about it because New England's one of the originals when I was in the league, and you want them to be good.
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It's not fun for anybody when it's bad. So don't protect it. Try to help solve it.
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Great question. You go first, bud.
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there's yeah is there too much influence i i don't know you don't want to stop people from being passionate speaking their mind right the the key here is the decision maker at the club yeah right because that's the person who either allows the influence to impact them yeah Or just says, I don't care. Let's use Arsenal as an example. You know who they wanted fired after the first season?
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Mikel Arteta, right? And the fans were going crazy. A few years later, they're top of the league, near the top of the league, fighting for championships. And now it's like, wow, what a great hire. But in the beginning, the person influenced had crumbled. He might have been fired, right? So the person who makes the decision is the person that either gets influenced or doesn't.
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And you got to be real careful because that's a slippery slope.
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Yeah, look, but to that point, Jordan, That's great. And, but you need then responsible people who are even keel, not reacting emotionally because then you can make decisions that really hurt you longterm. So, you know, people who are hired to do this as a job and paid money, take it very seriously as do the fans. I get it.
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But then you need to have a representative for the fans that really, really understands the big picture.
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It probably it's you probably can't justify it from a business standpoint unless you can find other ways to create revenue. But as it just as a fan, I love it. I think it'd be incredible. Love it.
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You're seeing Tim and I know Seattle's in it too, but these teams that are in the champions cup too, they're playing these midweek games and then LAFC had to travel whatever, two and a half hours up to Seattle afternoon game, which just hard, like emotionally to get up for that. Again, they had LAFC had, has some injuries in the, in their defense. And then they had an injury during the game.
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And it's trending this way, but eventually you want them having their own stadiums that are special. So regardless of if 12,000, 15,000, 20,000, you want it in that stadium because of the history that's been created.
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Well, I'll tell you what, Tim. Kansas City does it here in America, and that stadium is phenomenal. Absolutely. And the thing is, 11,000, the fan base, totally sold out. It's phenomenal. So that should be the gold standard. Absolutely. It's incredible. Totally.
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You think that should be an entrance out the stadium onto the field?
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Of course they do. By the way, it blew my mind when I was with, with Loyal at the beginning. The first opening day, all of our team photographers or whatever are standing at the top of the stairs before we walk down. It's like 4.30. The game's at 7.30. I said, what the hell are you guys doing here? He said, the guys are coming in soon. I said, so?
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And their options were go from a back three to a back four and play with two center backs or bring on a rookie who's never played a minute against Seattle away. And they chose not to do that. And they got battered. But they'll be fine. But Seattle looked good.
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He said, well, we've got to photograph what they're wearing. I said, what they're wearing? What the hell are you talking about? They have a game in three hours. You're not the most fashion forward guy, so you don't care. Well, I mean, that's the understatement of the year. All right, let's do it. I have sneaking suspicion I might know who this Mimi is. So I think I'm going to be quiet now.
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Family member? It's tough to say, bud.
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Thank you guys.
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All right, Timmy. Yep. ABS. Anything but soccer. Soccer. All right. This was interesting. I did not see this live, so I had to go back and look. This Stephen A. Smith, LeBron James thing. Yeah. And for people who don't know, Stephen A. Smith, big commentator on ESPN, just signed a new massively lucrative deal to stay with ESPN.
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He's been talking a lot about the LeBron James and Bronny James, LeBron's son, deal. At one point he said, I believe his quote was, LeBron, can you just make this stop with Bronny James playing in the NBA and everything going on? So LeBron confronted Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith was at the Lakers-Knicks game the other night.
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And I'm sure somewhere somebody has audio or lip read or something, but LeBron was not happy with Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith's comment on first take after that was, that was LeBron James coming up to me unexpectedly, I might add, to confront me about making sure I mind what I say about his son.
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I can't repeat the words because they aren't suited for FCC airwaves, but that's what he was doing. That wasn't a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent. That was a father. Your thoughts?
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I don't know exactly. I think in the 130 range, 140 range.
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We have this tendency in our, in our world to take sides on things. Right. And we forget that there's all kinds of nuance and you can, you can be on, you can understand both sides. Right. Like, and truly appreciate both sides. If I'm a dad and anybody talks about my son that way, they're going to hear from me.
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Right. Anybody. I don't care who it is. And they're going to hear from me. So I get that from LeBron. I get that. Stephen A. Smith knows what he's doing, dude. He's not stupid. The reason he just signed a hundred plus million dollar deal is because he does things like this, right? So he knows when he shows up at crypto.com arena, whatever it is, LeBron's going to see him, right?
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He knows, he knows. So he knows what's going on. He, and fair enough. He took it. He, you know, they probably had a brief conversation or whatever. So, you know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of the,
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um the chris rock and will smith thing it's like you know what's gonna happen if you're chris rock and will smith sitting right there in the front row and you're talking about his wife something's probably gonna happen right they're both not dumb and they both know they get attention also it's one of those things like they get it and i understand all the sides of it it is what it is like um
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Wando.
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Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
It's probably done now, I hope. But it's just interesting. It was interesting to see. And I get it from a dad standpoint. Like, that ain't okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Wait, I think it's Wando now. Or did Kai Kamara pass him? Oh, Kai passed him. Did Kai pass for first all-time? I don't know. Someone in the chat will tell us. Someone will tell us. But Jordan, I mean, look, Seattle started late, right, in the league. You know, they came in. I forget what year they came in, but it's been a while. But to score 87 goals, dude, it's a lot of goals. A lot of goals.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Oh, dude. Yeah. For sure. For sure. All right. Another good week. Another good show in the books. Thank you guys all for being with us today. Thanks for the great questions, comments. You don't like what we say. That's okay. No problem. We can handle it and we'll have conversation with you. Happy to drink a beer with you. You new England fans.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
If we see you in Boston one day, let's, we can talk about it. Remember always subscribe on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods, follow us across all of our social media at unfiltered soccer for lots more content.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Have a good week, guys.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
He'll get more.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
All right, I'll tell everyone I'm the leader.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Okay, that's fine. Say it so people believe it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
um all right miami yeah um i did see they were down miami was down a man for a long time keeper got sent off didn't he yeah and when it's i'm just always impressed with teams when they're able well the best is when you go down a man and then you score and then you're able to win a game that tells me a lot about a team but miami down a long time um but one at home in a
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
I'm kind of mad at you guys. I apologize. Where do you stay? We stayed at Encore this time, which was fun. Did gambling, nice dinner. That was it, actually. But it was a fun trip. It was just a long, long, long night, Saturday night.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
in a rivalry match against Charlotte. Well, it's becoming a rivalry match in that Southern corridor. Another, another important win for Miami without messy. He was on the bench. Do you think he was going to play?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
I think they succumb to social media pressure and just throw them on the bench.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah, I mean, fans hate it, right? Because even if you're in Miami and you get 17 or 20 times the chances a year to see him, you spend all the money, you do all the things, you prepare, you go to the game, and then he's sitting on the bench for 90 minutes. And you're like, this sucks. And for away teams, we've talked about it. It's an absolute disaster.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
But their job as a team and their job as a front office is to try to win, right? I mean, on the soccer side is to try to win. And they're trying to win MLS Cup, so.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
I thought we confirmed I was the leader.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Think about this for a minute with Wondo. You know what people don't know about Wondo is he started, like really started his career in like 23 or 24 years old. Oh, yeah. I was playing at 18. Yeah, yeah. And Wando scored, I'm just doing the math right now, 30. He scored 26 more goals, and he played so many less games.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
The guy's probably the most underrated MLS striker ever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
He's a shred. A team that could use a striker right now, Tim.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
My LA galaxy. What's going on? Oh my God. This is tough. This is getting tough to watch. I told you last week.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Don't be surprised if it continues. Yeah. I think people are just going to start waking up to the fact that this is going to be a common struggle for the galaxy. And you just cannot, the part of MLS that's hard is when you succeed, you get punished. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
what i mean by that is when you win you can't keep players right so jovalich they couldn't make him a dp because they don't have a dp spot but he deserves you know based on performance to probably be a dp kansas city could so you've got to move him he's not gonna he's not gonna turn down doubling his salary so it's it it's just part of the game but
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
galaxy are struggling man and without ricky it's it's the struggle's very real um they lost uh marky delgado too um they've they've lost some big pieces that that were really important and they're struggling And I think it's going to continue. I wish there was an easy way out, but I think it's going to continue.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
No, now it's one. 36 hours one day.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
You know what I like to play now? It's kind of a weird game. Um, is pie gal poker. Have you ever played that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah, this is human psychology, Tim. And that's when we repeated from 2011 in 2011 and 2012,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
in my mind that was the best the biggest feat ever for us as a team because there is a natural human cycle from everybody by the way from ownership to go we won we can relax from front office to coaches to players it's natural it happens and it's hard to like go again and go again and go again especially in a league where in like in the premier league which we'll get to in a second
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
you're fighting the table right there's no playoffs so for the galaxy it's like oh we can chill we've you know halfway through the season we can turn it on and get into the playoffs but to your point that could be gone fast and the problem is now is two losses at home to two teams they really should have beat san diego and st louis and it's not a knock on those two teams but it's not like you lost a derby to lafc or you lost to miami coming in or a good philly team or
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
All right. So it's weird because in one of the casinos, they literally don't play it anymore because the odds are so tiny for the casino.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
They're losing games they should win, and you don't get a chance to get those points back. So it's going to be a slog, man.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Well, just like I said, Tim, Philly's going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Can we go back and can we re-film that? And I'll just say what a great hire Bradley Cornell was, and this is going to be a great team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Um, by the way, saying it real quick, San Diego FC also, um, unbeaten still went into salt lake and they won late. They, it was, it was a one, one game, but they won a couple late goals, uh, when salt lake were pushing the game. So big credit there, if they stay healthy. They can, and they lost Chico Lozano, but if they stay healthy, they got a chance to make the playoffs and do something.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
Yeah, for sure. Keep your eye on that. All right, Premier League. I'm going to let you lead this, dude, because I was in Vegas and flying, and I didn't watch live any of the games. I saw the results, but what did you see this weekend?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Galaxy's 4th Straight Loss, Forest Upset City, Sergino Dest is Back, and the 2025 NWSL Preview
So it's, it's, I won't explain it because people are probably already tuning out. You play a hand, the dealer plays a hand, and there's two parts to your hand. So if you win both, you win the money. If they win both, they win the money. Or if you each win one, you push. And so you can sit there for like 45 minutes and just keep pushing because the odds are you're going to push.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
That's Robbie Keane in 2011. We were a good team. He came in in the summer, and it was like we were not losing. And that was it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
So they absolutely pummeled the Seattle Sounders. So I want to dig into San Diego a little bit. Chico Lozano back had a goal and two assists. Looked really good. They have four wins from their first seven. They've only lost once. They've had an interesting early schedule. Not a lot of away games. The teams they've played, and this is my only caveat with them right now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
My two things are they have to stay healthy because they're not deep. But now you add De Bruyne and maybe one or two in the summer. Now you're a deep team. Now you're a real team. The second is they've played a bunch of teams this year. who have been playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. So they've had a bunch of these midweek games. So they've played LAFC. They've played the Sounders.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
They've played Salt Lake. They've played the Galaxy. So that's at least four. I'm trying to, there might be one more. Where you get them after they've traveled midweek. They're traveling to San, San Diego. It's a, Good environment for San Diego. They're not ready. Bang, three goals before halftime, which they did to LAFC, and now they've done to the Sounders.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Soccer, soccer. You love soccer. Well, let's start with everything you saw all weekend. So, Premier League. Before we get there, don't forget. Jordan gets mad at me. Don't forget to follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube. Follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And please leave a rating. Tell your friends about us. It helps everybody find the show.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
So I want to see them as it continues through the summer when it gets harder, when teams are healthier, have less games. But they're in a really good way, man. And they look very good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
So I think I'm in North County, which San Diego is a massive place, right? So I have friends who have season tickets. And ironically, they both got season tickets. No, all three of them got season tickets separately, but ended up sitting literally next to each other. And they're all friends. So it was totally random.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
They said, I haven't been yet, but they said it's phenomenal. The atmosphere is phenomenal. The one thing they need to get under control is the fan behavior stuff. They had the initial chance. They had the initial chance that first week. That subsided. But after the LAFC game, there were fights in the park, like real fights in the parking lot after the game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
So they've got to get a handle on that because that's what's making headlines and it's taking away from what the team's doing on the field. So I'm confident they will, but it's been fun to watch and it's great for San Diego.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Over in the Rockies... Diego Luna, they used to call him Moon Boy. I think they're going to start calling him Moon Man. Scored twice against the Galaxy, who, again, look really bad. But a good win for Salt Lake. And Diego Luna, I mean, he has been the big winner.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
We said in January camp there will be someone who comes out of that camp, or maybe two or three, who will make a name for themselves and might find themselves on the World Cup squad. And I have to say, Tim, if Pochettino is picking a World Cup squad today, he's on it, right? Luna's on it?
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USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And then you can also email us. You guys have great questions, as always, at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Here's my, so my answer to that is the type of player he is, I think allows him to get a spot on the team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And because he's different, right? So we were talking about guys in the past who, you know, score some goal, Taylor Twelman, right? But Taylor wasn't different. He was really good in the box and whatever, but he wasn't like... Diego brings something different. And by the way, the kid isn't scared of anything. Yeah, I get that. He could give an F who he's playing against, where it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
He's not like awed by it. So that to me is why. I don't think he's starting. Athletically, he's not nearly as good as some of the guys we have. But if you're in a game and it's 0-0 and you need a play for 10 minutes, you throw him on and he'll do something unpredictable and make a play. And that's where I think you...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And maybe he doesn't play at all, but I think if it started today, he's on the team. Fair. Miami tied at home to Toronto. We don't need to dig into that. Messi scored again. What else is new? But actually a big point for Toronto. They've been in a bad way. So really good point for them. But I think Inter-Miami right now, their focus is on Champions Cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
They lost midweek at LAFC 1-0, and they have the return leg this week. Interesting.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
It's because you know when you've been in between the lines, it's a play that should never happen. You should never wiggle out of there. And that's why you just go. You know what he's like. It's like Ari and Robin when he used to do that. He's going to his left. Hello. The guy we played against, Precky, he's going to chop you. You know it's coming. He just can't stop it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
All right. Last one I thought. This is interesting. So San Jose, D.C. Oh, boy. So they were commemorating. The match was commemorating the 30 years of MLS. The first game ever was San Jose clash against D.C. United. Eric Winalda scored that day. Yeah. Jordan, our producer, was trying to see if we could get the starting 11 for the teams. I have no absolute clue. For the San Jose, no clue.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Maybe like a few for DC.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
The game was a disaster for DC. And 6-1, San Jose won. Joseph Martinez hat trick I just want to this is a time where we need to we need to hammer DC a little bit because we've been hammering New England and just down the east coast there DC is a disaster and they need to figure out And it starts with ownership for sure. Do you really care about this? And if not, take your profit and get out.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
All right. Now Jordan's happy. At the top of the table, the title race. So Liverpool dropped points at Fulham. Arsenal were not able to capitalize on it. I think it's over anyway, Tim. But it was interesting. I wasn't watching in the beginning. And I saw Fulham up. Were they up 3-0 at one point? 3-1?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Because the league is too mature now to have teams like this. They're just a mess, man. There's few people in the stands. People don't care the way... I used to hate going to D.C. to play, dude. At RFK and with the Barra Brava. It was a nightmare. And their teams were good. And now it's like they're just a shadow of themselves. And they're cheap and they don't spend money.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And by the way, you know who DC could have hired at any point in the last year and a half?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Bruce Arena. He was ready to go. I mean, you talk about David Moyes going back to Everton. It's the same thing, Tim. Same thing. They had a chance to hire Bruce. They didn't want to for whatever reason, whatever your reason is. But they're just a mess. They're just a lack of leadership. They're a total mess. And they've been admired in this for years and years now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And those of us who love the league and know the league from the early days, we want to see DC get back to prominence. It's good for the league.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
But now in MLS, Tim, and we talked about it with Southampton, you have to spend some money, right? So I know Troy LeSanne, who's the coach there, He was in New Mexico. We coached against him. Fantastic guy. He is a very smart guy and a good coach. He has no pieces to work with. I mean, it's like... So it's just a mess.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
They need to figure it out and figure it out fast because it's bad for the league. And to be honest, Tim... The other team in DC, the Washington Spirit, and we're going to talk about Michelle Kang and what she's doing. They're the opposite. She's investing. She's committed. She's got a superstar on her team who people talk about, Trinity Rodman. And she's doing it right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And right now, they're the advertisement for soccer in the city, not DC United. And they should both be. So let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk men's national team players back with their club teams. We're going to talk women's national team who played Brazil. and Washington Spirit owner Michelle Kang, who's doing amazing things for women's soccer in this country.
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Yeah, you're right, Tim. You definitely don't want to be distracted while driving. And you know who's not distracted and who's focused on what they're doing right now is Michelle Kang. We referenced her earlier. She has announced that in addition to her $30 million contribution to U.S. soccer last year, she's now donating another $25 million.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And with that, she has turned over her Kineska Innovation Hub to U.S. soccer. So total investment now, Tim, $55 million to help women's soccer in this country. Incredible. And I had a conversation this morning with Tracy Messier, who helps...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
facilitate all this for us soccer and she gave me some some more info on it it's really fascinating so us soccer has a soccer forward foundation where they're trying to innovate try new things see how they can improve the sport a lot of it for sure around injuries with women acls things like that and then just research on how they get better so here's something that's incredible so more camps player identification more money to develop coaches and referees all women
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And so I tried to dig in a little. So what I found is double the national team camps for youth national teams now on the women's side. So if they had three a year, now they're going to have six camps per year per age group, which is incredible.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah, and so I was like, oh, I better watch this. So I turned on the second half and Liverpool were poor, huh?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
They will now be reaching 12 times the number of players they would have in the past as far as identifying players, which gives them access now to over 100,000 female athletes. This is incredible. You have a daughter. I have a daughter. Amazing. They're going to double the amount of female coaches per that are being able to be helped by U.S. soccer as well as female referees.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And she said a big part of this too that helps is the new national training center that's coming to Atlanta. A lot of the camps will be there now so you don't have to pay for the facilities, the meals, all that. That's all baked into the training center. So this is a massive
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
massive investment from michelle king kudos to her she she her statement was by working together we're ensuring that players at all level benefit from innovative insights and best practices women's soccer is experiencing historic growth but there's still work to be done to break down systemic barriers and secure the investment needed for female athletes so my first comment my first thought was incredible yeah my second thought was
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
can we get someone on the men's side to do this too? Can we get, because the women that last time I checked, they're still winning everything. Right. And, and they need to keep pace with the rest of the world, but we need this on the men's side. But Michelle Kang is a hero and, and I'm, it's an honor to have someone like that investing in the sport.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
You know what's happening, Tim, is we're reaching a tipping point. I feel it. And there's going to be a point where all of the greedy clubs, youth clubs, who are taking money hand over fist from people, there's going to be a change and there's going to be a new opportunity and a new option for people. And once that takes off, it's going to take off massively. And we're right at that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I can just feel it. We're right at the tipping point. You and I have tons of ideas on this. I've said... Publicly and privately, if there's anything I'm going to put my time and effort into going forward, it's going to be that. And so if we get the right people investing, like Michelle Kang, with bravery to really change the system, I think there's big opportunities. So kudos to her.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
On the field, we will now move to USLNT on USWNT, and then we'll get into the men's national team. So the US beat Brazil the other night. Speaking of Michelle Kang, her superstar Washington Spirit player, Trin Rodman, after five minutes, what a goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
The only way I can describe this is when I watch her play, and I've said this before, when I watch her in person, she just plays differently than 90% of any player I see and 98% of the other women's players that play. And she... The way she just received the ball and just kind of flicked it into the corner. And she's fast and she's technically sound. And her mentality is so good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
She's a winner and she's a warrior. So she was phenomenal. Just so fun to see her back on the field.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Just hammer her inbox until she comes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah. Uh, there was an interesting clip going around when, uh, Emma Hayes was about to sub, uh, sub Avery Patterson and who got her debut in the 88th minute. And she asked her, what would your tenure? I get goosebumps. Cause it's like what my mommy say, what would your 10 year old self say to yourself? And Avery said, uh, Have fun. And Emma Hayes said, then do it. Congrats. So really cool.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I love Emma. I think she's doing a phenomenal job.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Also, good news. You asked to host the 2031 Women's World Cup. It was the only viable bid. So just think of, this is crazy, man. 2026, Men's World Cup. 2028, the Olympics. 2031, the Women's World Cup. What a decade to be a soccer fan and a sports fan in this country.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Oh, Club World Cup this year, right. Dude, there's so much soccer in the country. There's so much, man. And it was only a matter of time. But I cannot, cannot wait for that, Tim. I know. As excited as I am to take my boys next year. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah. It's hard, Tim. Over the course of a season, it's hard. In MLS, for sure, I had times where Either you were running away with the league or you were bottom of the table. I did both. Or you're in a spot where you can't go up or down in the table. And that's where it's really hard to get motivated. Because you feel like you have nothing to play for. Fulham have a lot to play for.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Fulham are still knocking on the Champions League door.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And they could get there. That was a game they probably said, if we get a point out of, we can make a run at being a Champions League team. Now they get three and they're like, okay, maybe we're on the doorstep. So it's going to be interesting to follow them.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Thank you. Thank you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And the reality is, Jordan, people decide where they're going to spend their money. And they're making it very clear. It's not just our opinion. It's everyone's opinion.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Great. No question.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
More than Champions League.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I was going to say, let me push back because City, they've won a gazillion leagues. So now is it the Champions League?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I know, it's the anomaly.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Nobody knows that reference. Dumb and Dumber, if you haven't seen it, 90s, go watch the movie. If you haven't seen it, you live under a rock. How could people not know? Okay, anyway. How was your weekend? I had a great weekend. Yesterday, do you ever have those days? You probably don't. You're so busy. You ever have those days I woke up, I looked at the calendar on Sunday and I had nothing to do.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Great question.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Great question. And that's very much a thing of American sports in general. Certainly in MLS. Yeah. I have an opinion on this. And this is just a general opinion about... coaching in general and in life. The difference between being an assistant coach and a head coach is massive. And it's not that one's easier, harder, whatever. They're just totally different skill sets.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
If you are a ticket salesperson and you're amazing at selling tickets, that doesn't necessarily mean you should get promoted. I'm using air quotes. to becoming the manager of ticket sales who's now managing personalities under them. That's a whole different skill set than selling tickets. So my opinion is it's a weird way to hire people. It doesn't mean it's not successful sometimes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I just think you'd be much better off hiring someone who's been a head coach, whether in MLS or in US. I'm using USL example or in USL or somewhere else around the world. than hiring an assistant coach. Now, it doesn't mean that assistant won't be good. It's just a totally different skill set.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah, it feels like it's a foregone conclusion now. And at the other end of the table, officially now, officially over, Southampton relegated. Sad because it is a good Premier League club. And they lost away to Tottenham 3-1, which is nothing to scoff at. But... It's sad to see them go. And you think they come back up right away or no?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
You got receipts.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Like that Walmart receipt.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
We also played in a time, Chris, where I talked to him and I talked about this on Friday. As long as you got the ball. you could basically do anything, right? I mean, within reason. But that, especially during a derby like that, that was just, go back and watch games from the 80s, 90s of the Merseyside Derby. That was a play on. Like there was nothing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And that's just, and so it's not that we're not evolved and we're dinosaurs and all that. It's just in those games, Tim's been in them. And it's like, okay, get on with it. And by the way, Liverpool's going to do the same thing and you get on with it. Yeah. But it was a red card, by the way.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
He didn't know your name.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
No, but also, yeah, I feel the same way because the people I feared the most were the people you didn't want to let down. They didn't scare you, per se, but you were like, I cannot let this guy down. He has done so much for me. Literally, the first film session, of course, you don't remember this, Tim, when I got to Everton at Finch Farm.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
We're sitting there watching film on, I think, Arsenal because we played away that week. And Moyes kept saying, and Mbidi, Mbidi do this. And Mbidi going to do this. And Mbidi going to do that. And I was looking around going, what the fuck is he talking about? Mbidi? Mbidi? And then I realized he was saying anybody.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And so like for the whole 30 minutes, I had no clue what he was talking about because he threw that word in every 30 seconds.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
This is going to be interesting.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
All right, Tim. Been a while, but back to anything but soccer. There was really only one after this weekend. We were waiting on Ovi, Alexander Ovechkin. to score his record-breaking goal to break Wayne Gretzky's incredible, incredible record. Wayne Gretzky has so many. Go Google Wayne Gretzky and see how many records that guy has. He was the absolute GOAT. But congrats to Ovechkin.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
What stood out to me, Tim, is that his teammates were just as happy as he was. That's a guy, one, he's been at the same place forever. He is so ingrained in that club and I love that. That's so rare in modern sports, but his teammates loved it too. I don't have much to say except congrats. Yeah. To break a Gretzky record, is a really big deal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I think, I think I saw him. I don't know if it was that day or so.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Your point's so good about the longevity piece because for really talented, high quality players, getting to the top ends up being the easy part. And staying there long time or right near the top for a long time were the people I admire the most. Those are the people. I'm like watching Marta still go in Orlando. I'm like, she's been incredible forever. And she just keeps going.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And you have so much respect for people like that. So congrats to him. What a stud, man. And hopefully he keeps playing. I mean, obviously he can still play. And hockey is a sport where for a 45-second bout, you're out there on the ice. But you can play into your 40s, no problem. He will.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
for sure hopefully it keeps going all right another great show thanks to all of you for being with us today remember to subscribe on youtube apple podcast spotify anywhere you get your podcast follow across all social media platforms at unfiltered soccer for lots more bonus content yeah thanks everyone ld that was fun man uh thanks to our presenting sponsor vw and our fan connection sponsor at&t have an amazing week have fun uh do something you love and we'll be back with you next tuesday for another edition of unfiltered soccer
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Fit that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
So, Tim, what happens if in the championship, Southampton under Russell Martin are playing this way and they just destroy the championship? So you're suggesting now they come up to the Premier League and they've got to change everything?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Literally nothing to do. So I went, what did I do? I went for a swim in the pool and I took my boy to see Snow White. We were going to see the, what's it called movie? Minecraft, but it was sold out completely. So we went to see Snow White. Really well done. It was actually really fun to watch. It was pretty good. And then we went to one of those, you know, those like Benihana type places.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
I learned this coaching that when you were scouting for an opponent, a team that played the same way consistently all the time. Yeah. They might be really good, but they're easy to prepare for.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
The days that were hard were when you're like, I have no idea what they're going to do. And they might be a bad team, but you just have no idea. And that would make it really challenging. So, good point. All right. So, on Tottenham, the fans organized a protest of the club's ownership, the Enich Group, and Chairman Daniel Levy, and said prior to the match, they had a change for Tottenham.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
March into the stadium. Seems like everything's gone wrong since they fired our national team coach now, Pochettino. Is Levy the problem? Is the Enoch group the problem? It seems like. I mean, when you get... When you have this long of a period of not having success, eventually you have to point to the top, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah, so...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Well, it's also on expectations, right? They expect to be a top, top club. And then, you know, similar to Manchester United, which we get to in a sec, they're just not. The players on the field, they're not. They're not a top, top club. So it is what it is right now and they want to get back to that glory.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
All right. So referencing United, awful. Awful derby. I put in our chat, this is a woeful game. Woeful. I don't even want to dig into the game because it was garbage. But Kevin De Bruyne, before the match announced he'll be leaving City at the end of the season, a few things. Immediately, this conversation, I know you guys talked about it on air.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Someone's saying, is he the best midfielder in Premier League history? And I was like... Are you crazy? Have you watched the Premier League? I mean, he is a top, top, top, top player. But some of the guys, I mean, I wrote down a list. Lampard, Gerrard, Coles, Skeen, Ryan Giggs, still in a different position, Vieira, Robert Pires, Fabergast, Essien. I mean, I'm missing a ton.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
You guys tell me who I'm missing, but... I mean, he is, he's a top player, but I don't put him in the top three, five, ten of all time. But he is a top player.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah, Hibachi. Teppanyaki or whatever it's called. I don't know. That was really fun too. The kids loved that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Yeah, the whole thing. The volcano, onion volcano and all that. So.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
Importantly, he didn't say he was retiring. He said he's leaving City. So there have been a lot of rumors about him coming to San Diego FC. And I have to be honest, anytime an older, aging player comes to America, I'm skeptical. Now, I have to... You've seen a lot of them. I have to take myself... out of that mindset because there have also now been a number who have done it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And I'm just a couple off to Benteke. Zaha looks like he's going well at Charlotte. Messi, obviously. Suarez at Inter Miami, right? There's a lot of guys now who have come and done a good job. And so I watched him the other day and I saw him pick up a few balls in midfield and start running. And I was like, oh, on that team, which we're going to get to.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
that works, right? And the question is, though, that team's going really well right now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
USWNT Win, Liverpool Lose, De Bruyne on the Move, & DC Decline
And between Godoy and Luca Torre and Sverkov, who do you take off? Who do you take out of there? Luca De La Torre or Godoy, maybe? I don't know. But who do you take out of that team to put him in? And that causes whole different dynamics. But I have to say, I think he would make that team a playoff team 100% right away and then really with a chance to compete.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
You know what? My kids play the FC25 game and they can unpack these like legend cards and whatever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
But if they had lost that game somehow unluckily, I mean, things can get bad fast. You know how it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right, two more to go. Liverpool have a, actually, trio of contract negotiations, I think, going on. So what happens first? They extend Mo Salah, they extend Virgil van Dijk, or they extend Trent Alexander-Arnold?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Hmm. Uh, I think I agree with you. The Mo Salah thing is really disturbing to me. And because there are two people. I don't know if it's Mo Salah. I don't know if it's his agent. I don't know who it is at Liverpool. I don't know if it's Arna Slott. There are two people, one on each side, whose ego are getting in the way. And it could be on one side that's really pissing off the other.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Maybe Mo Salah's agent's saying we need a million pounds a week or he's not staying and being outlandish. Or maybe Liverpool's saying, no, we'll give him 100 grand a week and that's it. And somebody somewhere is just their egos getting in the way and it's preventing this from happening. And this is crazy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Whoever invented school in the beginning, like now you know why. It wasn't like, oh, let's make our kids smile. It was like, get the hell out of my house before I kill you. Thank God they're back to school today. Thank God. Reminder guys, follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
There has to be a coming together point where everyone says, okay, it's not exactly what we want, but it's good enough. We're both okay with it. Of course it is, but this should not be happening. He's having the best Premier League start to a season ever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I think there's room for creativity in there somewhere, right? Incentivize it like crazy. Of course, of course. That needs to happen. All right, let's move on MLS, Tim. Yeah. Just coaching carousel going on. Bradley Carnell was appointed at Philly. Yep. The current teams without a head coach are Toronto FC, New York City FC, and the Whitecaps, Vancouver Whitecaps. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Some recycled coaches in MLS. I want to hear your thoughts, and then I got some opinions. No, I want to hear your thoughts. I know you're hot about this. I know you're hot, hot about this. So Ronnie Dela went to Atlanta United. He was at NYCFC before. Nico Estevez, this one's bizarre. now at Austin FC after getting fired by FC Dallas in the worst season last year. It was so bizarre.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Greg Berhalter now at Chicago Fire, was at Columbus before, of course, and our old coach Bruce Arena at the San Jose Earthquakes. He coached Red Bull Galaxy and New England Revolution. So thoughts on all that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
If you like what we're doing, please leave a comment. What were you going to say? I cut you off.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I lived at three times and, you know, maybe at some point we'll get into this more, but I, I three times interviewed for roles that I, I, at the time really wanted. And in the end, other people were hired and I was, I, I remember coming out of it thinking to myself. did they hire that person?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I'm thinking like that guy's been, you know, failed in MLS or never had never coached before or never this or that. And I had to go look in the mirror and say, you know, these people must've just interviewed really well and I must've interviewed really poorly. And you just start to realize in all walks of life, I remember a story, a club early in the 2000s was looking for a new GM.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And I was sitting with the owner and he said to me, you know, this guy presented a 300 page presentation on how he was going to turn our club around. And I was thinking to myself, there's no way this guy's going to be a good GM, dude. I know him. We talk to anybody in the game. It's not going to work out. And he was going on and on.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And I didn't know the guy well enough to say that to him, but I was thinking in my head. Next thing you know, they hire him. It's a total disaster for a year or two, and they end up firing him. And I'm just thinking, why didn't you just call some people and ask around? It's not the only thing, but it could be a thing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I'm good, dude. I think you'd be a great hire. I'm done playing the game. I'm done playing the game, dude. I'm done playing the game. Because I don't want to... Tim, I don't want to do that. And I don't want to go into some interview and bullshit and do all that. I would just say, guys, talk to people. Here's what I'm about. Here's what we're about. Go look at our record.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
See you later.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I am. I'm a terrible interviewer. I just had to figure it out. Okay. I want to read this. I did my research over the weekend. Okay. Awesome. Great. All right. So... These are the clubs that hire. So Ronnie Dela going to Atlanta. So I was curious. So I looked up his all-time winning percentage. 50% winning percentage. Now, that doesn't seem like a lot. That's a really high number as a manager.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right, Timmy. Well, you were working this weekend for the league. Let's start with Liverpool United. First half a little boring, but second half, God, it was so fun. I love watching that when you're a fan and you're just sitting back watching.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
To win half of your games is a really big deal. So kudos to Garth Loggerway and Atlanta for hiring someone who was adequate and good. Now you move to Nico Estevez. Now he's young and he's less experienced. 39% winning percentage. That's below average. Not great. He didn't have a great roster. Great team. We'll see how he does. I'm kind of on the fence on that one. Berhalter to Chicago.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
He has a 43% all-time winning percentage. Which is about average. Probably a little... Right about average. I like Greg. I like the way Greg sets his team up. How he coaches and all that stuff. Bruce Arena... You know, people are, oh, why would you hire Brewster? You know how many times... He's won 49% of the games he's coached in his career. In his career?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah, everywhere. I mean, he's going to win half the games. He's proven, right? So, this is the one that just... This is so bizarre to me. The Bradney Carnell one, right? So, he's at Charlotte. He took over NYC for a while. Or, sorry, New York Red Bull for a while. Goes to Charlotte. And now they hire him at Philly. Guess what his all-time one percentage is? Over Jim Curtin, who...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And I'm thinking to myself, Philly, why the hell are you hiring this guy? And why are you getting rid of Jim Curtin? And by the way, I don't know Jim well. I have no skin in the game here. I'm just saying, this is so dumb to me. What do you think? And by the way, so now Aaron Stanner and Bradley Carnell are both New York Red Bull guys, the GM and the head coach.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
taking the Red Bull style to Philly, who's your arch rival. If I'm a Philly fan, I'm thinking to myself, why the hell are they bringing Red Bull people? We don't want the Red Bull way. We want the Philly way. Right. And, and Jim Curtin was a Philly guy. It's just, none of this makes sense to me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I'm just like, If I'm, can you imagine Manchester United saying, you know what, Ruben Amram's not working. Let's bring Pep over. People would be like, no, no, no, no. We'll take, even if we're going to win forever, we'll take anyone else but that. You know, it just, that was such a bizarre, such a bizarre hire to me. Yeah. But what do I know? Um, anyway, let's go to break.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
When we come back, we got us LNT on us MNT. Um, we got an American striker on the move, big time American striker. We'll tell you who it is and where he is going next, right here on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
pretty awesome pretty awesome what do you think about it he just you put his name on as i said the other week he's probably the first name on the team sheet right now at fulham you put him there when you're walking i'm getting goosebumps because honestly that's how i used to feel about you when we were walking down the tunnel you look back or you look forward and you see that guy and you're like yep we got it like no problem he's dialed in don't have to worry about him
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And he has been phenomenal. I'm so happy for him. Under the radar, for everyone else we talk about, under the radar, he just does his business, shows up, does his job every day. I'm so happy for him. Congrats to you, Jedi, Anthony. Congrats. Fully, fully deserved and really happy for him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
If you took out Andy Robertson at Liverpool and put him in, they're at worst the exact same team. At worst. And I think they're probably better. Yeah, I think he does well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
In a big team. And you can see him in City, no problem.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Do goalkeepers count? No. I don't think so. This is, I'm probably way off. But I'm going to say Alexi in like 96. Way off.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Gooch?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
One player of the year?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
My phone. I love Gooch.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I mean, I love Gooch, dude. I've known him since I was 16, but I was not expecting that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Actually, to be fair, he was really... They had a really good run at Standard. And he must have been great for the national team. And he was scoring a bunch of goals. He was a rock. Every set piece, you were like, yeah, he's going to score. Yeah, it was at Standard Liège.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Our guy. Christian's back. Thank God from injury. He scored the penalty, which was good. One, not just scoring the penalty, but he took the penalty. He's very happy that he took the penalty. 71st minute, four minutes later, Yunus Musa had a deflected cross that went in and Milan now into the Supercopa final. It is today, actually.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Incidentally, in a few hours here, we'll watch against Inter Milan, the Milan derby. So it's great to have him back. Curious for you, Tim, coaching change you just had. He's had a bunch of coaches, man. I saw a stat on it. I didn't write it down, but like
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
in his career he's had at least 10 i think maybe a dozen or 15 coaches in his career and just curious what do you think now it's hard to know what exactly it means but Is this good, bad? I don't know. He's playing at the best he's ever played, so I don't know if it's great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I was just thinking like, I hope, I really hope he doesn't, you know, he doesn't take it personally, but like he's playing out of his mind. So it has nothing to do with him. Like he can't play any better. So I guess just systematically, what does it look like Sergio? How's the new, the coach in now with Paula Fonseca out?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Um, training wise, everything they like, everything changes with everything. Right. So whatever was happening. Yeah. Whatever was happening before was working well for him. Maybe not the team, but for him. So how does that change? Is that good? Bad? I guess, you know,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
You know what? My kids watch videos and a little aside here, they'll watch like soccer videos in the morning. And they'll be like, they play the FC 24, 25 game. And they can unpack these like legend cards and whatever. And they'll be like, God, look at this old legend. I'm like, I played against him. Shut up, dude. Like this morning, he was like, Michael Bullock.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I'm like, yeah, I played against him. He's like, you played against him? Anyway. All right. So US men's national team striker, Brandon Vasquez, finally, after weeks of rumors, on the move, leaving Monterey after just one season.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
and going to austin fc um i had big fee big fee i think 10 million 10 million something yeah uh he will now be the highest paid american in mls so congrats to him um for you tim where does he rank right now on the pecking order strikers um he had 14 goals in in 49 appearances for monterey um look i
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Well, also a new coach, right? New coach. Just a lot of new, too. But it's good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah, look, this goes back to what we've been talking about. You've got to go somewhere where you're going to play. And he wasn't playing a lot at Monterey. There's now 18 months to him, 18 months to the World Cup, which means every time you step on the field, it is an audition. Like you said, you're in the shop window. And so he is going to play every week.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
You don't pay $10 million and make him the highest paid American in the league to not play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
whether it was MLS or anywhere, another Mexican league team, anywhere, he needed to go where he was playing. It was the smart thing to do. Now, if you think Pepe is number one on the list, maybe flow healthy. And then if he's playing well and scoring well, he might be number three, you know, like he might be. And so we'll see, time will tell, but he's coming into his prime.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
So then that begs the question, like, what is the issue, right? Why are you getting smacked by Newcastle and then you go away to Anfield and do that? And look, I know soccer is a unique sport, right? Like, in a league where there's a decent amount of parity, anybody can win and anybody can compete on a day. But it just doesn't make sense to me sometimes, like, That should be the minimum standard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
So I think this is a great move for him and excited to watch him go. Absolutely. All right. Let's take another break. When we get back. mailbag. Um, we've had a few weeks now of mailbag time for you guys to submit lots and lots of questions. I've seen a lot of them on YouTube as well. So stick around. We'll be right back on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Howdy. Happy New Year.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
That's a bottle of champagne. During the whole celebration? Thunder and lightning?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah, the whole evening.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
That's ominous. Imagine sitting in Times Square with no bathrooms, no umbrellas. Tim, you could not pay me enough. I see when they open the gate and I'm like, are you crazy? You could not pay me enough.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Oh, wow. Okay, I'm going to – I'll start, Tim. All right. I think there's every chance he goes. This is like the classic Premier League type of player, type of club that is going to move to a bigger club, right? He's not up and coming, but he's in his prime doing well. Someone wants to get him for three or four years to be a top, top left back. I think there's every chance he moves.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Now, should he? I'm torn, right? Because he's the man. He's playing every week. He's the captain at times. He's leading. Does he go somewhere where he's battling and fighting it out every week? Let's just use Liverpool as an example. Andy Robertson ain't going to lay down the red carpet and say, go ahead, pal. You can take my spot, no problem.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Good to see you, man. Good to see you. Happy New Year.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Of course. That they compete that way. And if you look at their roster, Tim, again, they're just not very good. They're just not. That's right. I mean, they're just not compared to other teams.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I don't know if he should, but I think he will probably end up doing it. You?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
You know, where he should go is United. I mean, he like as a wingback, he absolutely perfect. Uh, is he in the top three of all time? I'm trying to think of, give me some of the, I think he's at the top. I think he's at the top. Give me some of the best. Well, Fabian Johnson, when he was at his best was really good, really good, but very short lived, very short lived.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Uh, Vanny was there a long time. Um, was very good. Yeah. Frankie Haddock played left back. Oh, Bees. Yeah, Bees was the best left back. When Bees played left back, yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Great question.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
That's such a great question. When a team is in a bad run of form. Well, you need, I say historical, but you need many years of context to know it's the ownership, right? So the Jets are a prime example in the NFL. Right now... United are a decent example of it. Manchester United. But they're starting. It seems like they're starting to get it right. But it starts with the owner.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
It always starts with the owner because they make the biggest hires. They do. The Cowboys right now, Jerry Jones, you have to say he's the issue because he has too much control and he's micromanaging everything. So if there's multiple years, in my opinion, that's the owner. Within the run of a season, my biggest red flag for when it's a manager is when you go through long stretches of being bad.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Because very good managers, after two or three losses, everybody's in the room, sit down, we're sorting this out now, we're not leaving until we get it sorted. And when it's a bad manager, it'll go four losses, five without winning, seven without winning, eight losses, ten without winning. And that's when you know it's really bad. And that's also when you know there's bad leadership on the team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And so generally it's a mix because a good leader will go to the coach also and say, this ain't working. We got to figure this out now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And they don't respect it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I think the important thing for him is a club and more important, a city and a culture that fits who he is, right? He is a blue collar working man, like going to LA or New York isn't going to work for Moyes. Going to Philly works. Going to Salt Lake works. Going somewhere tough and rugged and that's what works for him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
So he, because the town would be galvanized by that because that's who he is as a human being.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I struggle with clubs marketing to America and how they do it effectively. And I'll tell you what I mean. So I've been a part of a few different ownership groups in Europe. I was also part of Everton, right? And so how do you, without just saying we want to expand ourselves into the US market, how do you actually put that into effect? It's hard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I don't know that there are that many... I'm not sure winning one season does it. I don't know that there's that many Leicester City fans now in America, Tim. You go to the FanFest and you see it's still Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Spurs. Um, I don't know how you do it effectively without spending tens and tens of millions of dollars marketing and just pushing it that hard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And in the end, I don't know if it's worth it then to a club to do that. So you have to, I guess it's all part of the calculation, but I guess the best way is just years of success on the field. Not one year, years and years and years and seeing them in champions league or Europa league at the top of the premier league every week. I guess that's, that's the, that's the only answer it seems like.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah, they were good. All right, let's move on. So there are a couple of controversial VAR decisions, and this is starting – not starting. Some people just can't stand this stuff, and I'm confused. To be honest, Tim, I'm confused. I've been out of the game a while, but just watching. So the Joel Linton apparent handball that leads to the attack for Newcastle that leads to the Anthony Gordon goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
I was a little bit sick. A little under the weather. The family was too. So I went to bed. I mean, I always go to bed at nine on New Year's. I'm boring. We watch... I didn't even watch the New York ball drop.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
You're leaving us. You're leaving us, JR. That's it. That's all you got. Thank you. All right, Timmy. Anything but soccer. I'm excited for this one. This is going to be fun.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right. College football playoff. Don't even have anything too specific. Let's just talk about it writ large. We were watching it last week. We were watching it the week before. I can be specific. Well, we can talk about the format. We can talk about the games. I watched so much of it over the last two weeks. Consumed a lot. So go ahead. Okay. Here's the headline.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Ohio state, Oregon, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
But you're comparing it to what you're used to. So it's not that many games. It's a few extra games. Now, if you say the bowl season as a whole, it's good for me because my son wants to sit on the couch and watch it so I don't have to do anything and just say, hey, babe, he wants to watch the game. You're passing time until they go back to school.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
He's watching Texas State against Texas, North Texas. What the hell are we doing? So I get that. The bowl games have nobody there. It's so sad. The other thing to your point, Tim, with NIL now, a lot of these guys are, if they're going pro, they just don't play. Like they just don't play the game. They don't want to play the game. I know. Now, a few other things.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Ange was not happy after the game. Tottenham manager. He said he's really angry. Angriest I think I've ever been in my career. That they were denied the right rewards for a fantastic performance. Don't keep asking me about the decisions. If you guys have no opinion about it, that's fine. I know you just want me to say something, but I'm not going to. And he went on and on and on.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
When we were watching the Rose Bowl, my boys were like, oh, look at that. They get roses. And I said, yeah, do you know why? And they said, it's the Rose Bowl. And then my boy goes, what do they get when they win the Sugar Bowl? They just love sugar. So I think. Here's the problem with the format. Here's the problem.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
It is a big deal for, I'm going to say amateur athletes, even though they're getting paid now. Yeah. It is a big deal for amateur athletes to know how to stay ready to play for three weeks. Every team that played the week prior in the first round beat the team that had been off for three weeks. And they slaughtered them in most circumstances. So that is a big, big advantage.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And for pros, we would struggle with that if we had a week off or two weeks off. But for amateurs, they have no clue. So they have to figure out how to fix that. I'm confident, Tim, after next week, when you watch the semis and the finals, you're going to be reinvigorated. You're going to love college football again.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
No, I know it's sad.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right, here's one thing I want. All the schools, stop promising NIL deals without a contract. If you want those players there for the bowl games or whatever, you put it in their contract, right? These are professionals now. They're professional contracts. I don't want to hear about, I'm suing him because he promised me a million dollars. Well, guess what, dude?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
If he promised you a million dollars, get it in a contract, get an agent, stop complaining. All right. Great to be back, Timmy. Happy New Year. Happy 2025. Going to be an amazing year, bud. Appreciate all of you here today. Leave us comments, as always. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
So he didn't think it was a handball. Your thoughts? It's the angriest we've seen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah, my biggest issue, Tim, is I still don't know and I've been in the game my whole life, right? And so there's still too much subjectivity because 100% that has been called a handball in the Premier League at some point this year. Sure. And probably multiple, multiple times. And so that's what pisses off coaches, players, fans, whatever, is when is it and when isn't it?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And ultimately it is subjective. And I personally, I hate that about sports and refereeing is there's too much subject to it. I watch the NFL. You could call holding on every play, offensive holding. And sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. And you're like, whatever, maybe I need to get over it. Maybe it's part of the game, but...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
The other, um, you know, I'd be curious to hear what the fans think. Obviously, if you're a Spurs fan, you're going to be on one side of it. Uh, Joe Pedro and, and William Saliba with, uh, they clashed in the box. Um, it was a really interesting play and Joe Pedro gets the ball, gets a slight head on it there. They then get, they come together. Um, their heads come together.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Saliba trying to head the ball as a second late and heads him. Um, Penalties awarded. Mikel Arteta, again, on the wrong side of it, said to the BBC, we're really disappointed with the decision that leads to the goal because I have never seen something like this in my life. He touches the ball as well. So what was your take on that one?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
There was an interesting play in the Euros last summer with England. And in the game, the ball, I think, bounced across. I think it was Harry Kane. And he goes to strike it. And I forget who it was against. But they slide or extend their leg to block it. So Harry Kane gets the shot away, but as he does, the defender then follows through, doesn't block it, and just smashes Harry Kane.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
And what we're used to as players is that that's just given as a goal kick. Like, you know, sometimes you're on a break, and a guy comes sliding in, and you shoot it and miss it, and in the follow-through of his slide, he just wipes you out.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
My point in that one, and it went to VAR and there was a penalty ended up given, is you don't have free reign as a defender to just go flying into someone and smash them. And this was the same thing with Saliba. You have to time your challenges right. If you're in the box, it's hard being a defender. I get it. It's hard being a goalkeeper, but you have to time it right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
In this one, he was a split second late, and so... you know, when I first watched, I'm like, eh, I don't know if that should be given, but also defenders and anybody in the box needs to know you cannot just go smash someone after the play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
But anyway, I joke. But New Year's scares me too. Like, I don't like to be out, man. And you were in New York? Yeah. I don't like to be out. In New York, it would scare me. Like, it just, it would scare me. I got to say, I love my kids. I love my kids. Here it goes. Here it goes. I'm ready for it. But the only thing I love more than my kids...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Well, I think the reason is, too, is they don't want people getting hurt. They don't want attacking players getting hurt. And they want attacking play happening, right? And that's the same in any sport you want. That's what people are paying to come watch. All right, we're at the midway point of the season. Biggest disappointments this far, I think, are pretty clear.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
United, City, all of Manchester. It's been pretty disappointing for me. Any other ones for you? I mean, Spurs have been disappointing too.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Yeah. Biggest positive surprise for me, Forrest. I think that's a pretty obvious one. Anyone else?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right, let's do a, these are real quick. Just answer your gut. Don't need to explain. Okay. What is more likely? This is going to be interesting. What's more likely? City finish top four or our beloved Everton get relegated? City finishing top four for me. You know, Everton are only a point ahead of the drop now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Okay. I think I agree with you. And I think it's more about the other teams falling off than City. City will make a run, but other teams will force, will struggle at some point, etc. Okay. Ange Postakoglu gets the sack or Tottenham win a trophy?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
is the Monday morning after a break when they go back to school. I'm like, get out of here, bro. Anybody who has kids and young kids, like, God, dude, they drove me absolutely crazy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
It's almost always a kiss of death.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
Okay, but at some point… At some point… How long can this go on where they're just a mid-table team? With the way they spend?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Antonee Robinson Gets Honored, Manchester United Get a Point at Anfield, and Brandon Vázquez Gets His Bag
All right, Manchester United get relegated? Or Forrest win the Premier League? Who's more likely? These are amazing questions. You go. I think it's more likely United get relegated. In history or this season? No, no, this season. Not in history. United are, their roster's just not that good. And if it continues to go south, I mean, they fought the other day. They really did.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
messi should have never been playing in this game period because of what happened last week he gets a yellow card right at the end for descent and he walks over and grabs the neck of one of the nyc fc assistants he got fine which i don't know what the exact rule is but you can't put your hand on someone on assistant's neck unfiltered soccer with landon and tim presented by volkswagen volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in america and has proudly been a partner of u.s soccer for the past five years yeah baby we are back ld it's been uh
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Like you get in a pinch, just give the ball to Jordan, get out of the way, he's going to make a play. When he's not on the court, okay, now you actually have to play and you have to the triangle that was built by Tex Winter and Phil Jackson, you have to actually execute now. And it's a lot harder. When you have a guy who's a cheat code and can get you out of problems, it really helps you.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
But I anticipated, and losing Jovalich, A big one. Paints all, being injured, start the season. So these are big, big misses. I think long-term they will be fine. Sure. They just need to get in the playoffs. They can go anywhere and beat anyone with Ricky Pooj if they get a striker who's effective, which they might do in the summer window. Yeah. And then from there, they'll be fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
But early on, they are going to struggle. I mean, they're, they're just, they're an average MLS team right now. They are.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's impossible. And I'm like, it's impossible.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's also in the dressing room too, Tim, to your point. So from coaching, I learned this. If you add one new player to a team, the whole dynamic of the dressing room can change. You take one player away who's not on the field or who's gone or whatever, the whole dynamic changed. Like different people take different roles. Some people step up, some people shy away.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So there's going to be a, there's going to be an adjustment. I know Greg Vanny will get it right. He's bright and They'll figure it out. Okay. Now to your, well, not team you played for, but team you're part of now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
They're not stupid, are they? Okay. So Houston Dynamo. I'm going to lead this and then I want to hear your thoughts. I'm sure everyone wants to hear yours more than mine because you're part of this. So Houston Dynamo put out a message on Saturday that said, you know, we welcome Inter-Miami on the report for who's available. Lionel Messi was not included.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He will not be traveling to Houston, will not be playing in the game. He didn't play in the game. I'm going to walk through the whole thing first and then we'll get into it. Didn't play in the game. That certainly didn't matter. Inter-Miami were dominant. 4-1 win. And then after the game, Houston Dynamo
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
um, offered all of the fans, I believe who had a ticket to the game, a ticket, a free ticket to a future match because messy did not show up. So I have my thoughts, but people want to hear yours first and then I'll jump in. I want to hear your thoughts. That's great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Uh, I was in New York actually in your hood for just a day or two doing an appearance. Um, and then back, um, been doing a little bit of travel, but chill weekend with the family, my son's team there. It's insane. My son's soccer team has, they have a kid on their team, Tim, like you, you know, this cause you were watching your daughter play.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I hope Tim, that this is a growing moment for the league. And in a lot of ways. Number one, if you are an organization, I understand you have one of the greatest stars in the world and maybe the best player to ever play coming potentially to play a match at your stadium. Here's where clubs get it wrong. The average ticket price was $100. Now they charge people $1,000. So people go...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
okay, well, I'm going to really commit to this. By the way, you and I talked about this. I almost took my son to the game this weekend in Houston, right? And I was considering doing it. Thank God I didn't now, but I was considering doing it, right? Because of our connection, I thought it'd be great, whatever. But that would have been an expensive trip, right? For the weekend.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So clubs, if you can't be on both sides of this, You can't take both sides. You can't say, okay, we're going to charge you $1,000 now. But if he doesn't show up, you're just screwed. So in that way, Houston, yes, did the right thing because those people paid a lot of money. But I hope it's a growth moment where when you're on the phone, and I know it's hard.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Ticket salespeople are trying so hard to fill out the stadium. It is a hard job. I've watched it in person. but we got to get to a point where you say, here is the price for every game, regardless of it's messy or Toronto or Columbus or San Jose. Yes. Maybe there's flex pricing based on who you're playing. Every club in the world probably does that. But with the caveat, Hey, by the way,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
messy missed 15 games last year we cannot promise he's going to show up and we're not refunding if he doesn't you make the decision and i promise you tim people are still going to go all right i'll take the chance as long as you have the info so grab the info and then you can make the point yeah or make take the take the risk yeah um one this happened when i was playing with the galaxy one year we went up to seattle uh we talk about this all the time still on our galaxy group chat
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
We went up to Seattle. We battered them 4-0. It was like a Saturday afternoon, like 2 p.m. game. And we absolutely battered them 4-0. We go back home. On the Monday, they sent out a message to all their fans that they would get refunded for the game because it was such a poor performance by the team, showing by the team. So we forever will be like, remember the refund game?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And I don't know if your son played, but they have a kid on their team. He plays like a professional. And what I mean, and he's, they're seven years old. So I watch him play and like he moves and he sees passes and he anticipate like a pro does. And you don't see that with kids, right? They're just kind of out there doing their thing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So every time we talk, every time it's Galaxy Seattle, we go, remember the refund game? I also thought that was a terrible precedent. Like, it's the sport. Things happen. You know, you can't just then refund. So this is a messy one. No pun intended. It's tricky.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
No.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah. Every time we write, he says, who dis? So, no. Anyway, it was difficult. But I will say this about that game. Messi should have never been playing in this game, period, because of what happened last week. So last week, he gets a yellow card right at the end for descent, and he walks over and grabs the neck of one of the NYCFC assistants, which at a minimum should have been a yellow card.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So that should have been a second yellow. Then when you go back and review it, You should be suspended. Right. He got fined, which I don't know what the exact rule is, but you can't put your hand on an assistant's neck. Right. So I'm I think justice came out in the world and that he shouldn't have been a part of that game anyway, because he should have been suspended for what happened last week.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right, let's move on. It was a good MLS weekend. There was lots to talk about, lots of talking points. All right, we'll take a pause. When we come back, we're going to talk to U.S. men's national team. There's a lot going right and some not going very well. Also on the women's side. So right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
On fire. On fire. He didn't score this weekend, but that's now seven and seven. He's got seven in his last seven. I want to talk about a couple of things where he fits in the national team, but his manager at Norwich, Johannes Hofthorup. Hope I got that right. I don't know if this was like a mind games thing or something. He went to the media. He said he needs to run more.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And every time I watch this kid, I'm like, dude, if the, and he's physically, his dad, I think was on the verge of being. like an MLS player. And so he's physically really good too. He just dominates. I mean, he must be by far the best seven-year-old in the country. And I'm just, every time I watch him, I'm like, this kid is insane. So they played in state cup. They just dominated everyone.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He told the Pinkun, whatever that is, website, magazine. He said, when we look at the best nines in the league above us, they run more and they are more involved than he is in the game. There are still moments in the game where it seems he can be out of it for five or 10 minutes where we need him to be involved because when he is, he's very good for us. What do you think about that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Why is he saying it publicly? No, but that part I get. I'm asking.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
No, I don't like it at all. If you have a relationship with someone that you can speak to them in that way, you don't go like it. You wouldn't go talk. If you have something to say to your significant other, say it to them. Don't go say it to their friend. Right. And then that gets back. Like, just say it to him. And why he needs to say this publicly is bizarre to me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So it leads me to believe either. By the way, this was not an off-the-cuff, oh, some random reaction. Oh, I shouldn't have said that. I mean, he knows what he's saying. He knows what he's doing. So something interesting is going on there. He's not going to sit, Josh. No, not 7-7. But I'm totally fine with him saying this in person. Like, hey, man, you want to play at the next level? This is great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Here's your running numbers. Here's ESOC's running numbers. You want to play it for Newcastle? You better do that. Or here's Rory DeLapp or whoever you think is that next level that he can be like. So just interesting. I have to think that... Balogun and Pepe out. Sargent, you would assume he's going to be starting in the Nations League semis and hopefully finals in a few weeks.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I mean, if he doesn't start now, he's never starting for Maurice.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
One state cup. They were like, whatever. Not that that matters, but this kid is so fun to watch.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Well, we said this about Pepe, right? He was crazy for him. He gets in, does well with the national team. Crazy for him. Unfortunately, he got hurt. But all of a sudden we were like, yeah, he's the guy. Yep. He's the guy right now. Until he's not, right? That's right. Big moment for this is, again, falls into the headline of things you don't even bat an eye at anymore because of where we've gotten.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
But Johnny Cardoso scores a header against Real Madrid. Yeah. I mean, I don't know the stats, but how many Americans have scored against Real Madrid? Not many.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
What if any have?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Other things going well for national team. Tyler Adams just continues. I mean, I don't know their exact form of late, but they won again in the FA cup. Basically when he plays, they win. I mean, it just, it just all there is to it. And he is one of those guys.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Every coach will tell you, I'm sure Jesse Marsh will tell you this when he had him, when he plays your chances of winning, go through the roof. And he's not going to show up on the score sheet. He's not doing anything flashy. He's in the right place, right time, does all the little things well. His coach, Andoni Areola, is very high on him. He's been speaking about him publicly, full of energy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
We think he's a player that fits well in our system. We hope we can keep him in a place where he's healthy because when he is, he's very good for us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I'll actually, I'll never, I'm just going to just trigger a story in my head. The first week I was at Everton, we played my first time we played arsenal way.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And I played like 70 minutes in the snow in that week in film. You won't remember it, but I totally remembered it in film. There was a play where like the ball turned over, we were attacking in there and I was in top of their box and it turned over and I sprinted back like 60 yards and tackle the ball out of bounds off the guy. And we got the ball back and Moyes showed it to the team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And he was like, that's what it means to, and I was like, this is my first week and he showed it. But in some cases you would say, Oh my God, that's going to go to your head. And I was like, Oh my God, that's a big responsibility. Like I better do that every time. And I wanted to do it every time. Cause he showed me. And so Tyler's thinking, my manager's got my back.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He's talking about me, but like, let's go.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Let's keep him healthy, man. Oh, Christian Pulisic scored against Real Madrid.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
What a shock that is. He scored against everyone. Okay, so let's move on to Christian. Speaking of Christian. So now he is... This is crazy. I didn't realize. This goes fast. Nine games without a goal, Tim. They were eliminated from Champions League by Feyenoord. He missed his first penalty of his career, which is going to happen if that's not a slight on him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I got a tattoo that's symbolic of my kids. Oh, I love that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Once goalkeepers have more information on you as someone who took 60 or 70 penalties, it's hard, man. It's such a mind game. So it's hard. They're ninth place in Serie A, nine points back of fourth place Lazio. who they lost to, I believe, this weekend. He posted this on Instagram last week. Really tough week. Hate letting down this amazing fan base.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
We'll give everything to finish the season on a positive note. That was before. Two losses to Bologna and Lazio. So do you think there's something there going on? Is this just a hiccup? Is what's going on now?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's actually not done yet because it took 10 hours to do half of it. Oh.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
other than the fact that his team just isn't where where they obviously need to be and that you know they made that coaching change right with paul fonseca leaving and concessio coming in and i think they just gotten worse and i'm you know christian before i think joe felix came in joe felix yeah he was comfortable he was in a role that he was clearly thriving in now he's been moved around a little on the front line he's moving positions and i'm thinking to myself
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He was so good. The guy was so good and so detailed. So he took his time. Yeah. You know, it's one of those in the moment you're like, dude, can I just get out of here? And then after you're like, thank God he took his time.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He's the best player on your team by a mile at that point. He might be the best player in the league right now. And remember during that time, every week it was like a goal, a goal, an assist, two goals and assist. Why are you messing with that? Just leave him alone. You can work on the other things, but why are you messing with that?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
What else do you have to do except being a prominent starter for a successful team in the Premier League as a center? I mean, you're playing, you are playing the best players of the world every week, every single week. So I think Jordan wrote in our chat, he said, you know, is Chris Richards name written in ink?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And I said, well, I think it's probably still in pencil, but that eraser might be getting lost pretty soon. It's starting to be where you're like, okay, he's playing every week.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah. And what else do I have to do? Yeah, correct. There's nothing else he can do. Yeah. So no, he's been fantastic. And that is, that is a position of weakness. When we went back and talked about the national team, um, that has been a position of weakness. And if, if that can be a guy who is doing it consistently, that's a huge, huge boon leading into the world cup. Totally. Okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So let's switch over to the women's side. Uh, been a, been a while since the women played. So this is USL and T on USW NT. They lost their first game, Tim under Emma Hayes on Wednesday. It was actually here at Snapdragon. They lost to Japan, who, by the way, are so good and so fun to watch.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Allie Centenor scored. She's a young player. She's a really good player in the 14th minute. First goal and first appearance for her. My question is, is this concerning at all? It's their first loss under Emma Hayes. What does that mean? Because we've been a part of teams where things go really, really well, and then you have the first hiccup. And then what does that mean?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right, let's get on to it. Make sure to follow us on social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. If you like what we're doing, please leave a review. Lots of reviews already, and we appreciate that. Also, I had a family member, I'm not going to out this person, yesterday said to me,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah, and there's two sides to this. One is outside of the Olympics and playing Japan, it's not like they've been playing these top, top teams, right? So there was going to be a loss along the way. The other side of that coin, though, is No Malpeu, no Trinity Rodman, no Soph Smith, maybe a few.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
But even just those three who were so dynamic as a front three in the Olympics and were literally unplayable. So you don't have those three. It's going to be tough to win, right, against a good Japanese team. So I don't see any issues here. I just wanted to just broach the question, and they'll be fine. They do have qualifying, I believe, starts in October for CONCACAF Women's Championship.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
FA cup. Yeah. Interestingly, I, I, I never know when these FA cup weekends are coming. Cause I like, I turn on my fat mob app and I'm like, yeah, let's go to my premier league fantasy first place, by the way. And then I'm like, Oh, there's no. But then there's FA Cup games.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And when there's FA Cup games on a weekend where there's no Premier League games, they're really good games because they play all the players. It's a real game. So outside of one game that we'll get to at the end, Palace we talked about beat Millwall. I'm sure we saw this tackle on Mateta.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You know, I have to be honest. My first perception of it was everyone was freaking out about it. I was like, okay, like he's got his foot high, whatever. The more I watched, I was like, oh, God. That's pretty bad, man. Like I've seen some bad, it's not the worst I've ever seen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I mean, you might think it's the worst you've ever seen, but maybe from a goalkeeper, it's not the worst tackle I've ever seen, but it was, what could have happened was really dangerous.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You know, if I wanted to submit a question to your podcast, how would I do that? And I said, first of all, you're listening to the podcast. Second of all, if you're listening, you should know every week. So anyway, so for this person who I'm not going to disclose and for everyone else, you can also email at feedback at unfiltered soccer.com. So there you go.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I'd be curious, actually. People ask me a lot. did you ever get injured in your career? Like seriously? And I said, no. And they said, well, how's that possible? I said, well, a few things. Well, you definitely have to be lucky, take care of yourself. But to me, the biggest thing is having like this, and this is just genetic, a spatial awareness of what's coming.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So like you feel the tackle coming. You're like, I ain't going for that. And coach at Bruce, Bruce arena used to hate this. He'd be like, get stuck in and tackled it. And I'd say, Bruce, dude, Do you want me to break my leg on that play at midfield? Is that really worth it that I'm out the rest of their season? Totally.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And maybe one out of 50, I break my leg, but that one's going to happen. Right. And so, and I was just hoping that he could like feel the goal key, Liam Roberts coming and this one ain't worth it. Right. Like this one ain't worth it. Now maybe it's a world cup final and you're like, okay, maybe that one's worth it. But some of them, they just ain't worth it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah, that's true. That one, like when the ball's coming over your head in the box and you're like, I know the goalie's coming out. And then you kind of chicken out of it. And the goalie was still standing on his line. You're like, God dang it. Why didn't I just watch the ball? So anyway, let's hope. I think he got a bunch of stitches, but it sounds like he got released from the hospital.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
He is going to be okay.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
A couple more red cards. Kunia got one. He'll miss their next three matches. Pretty ugly red card against Ipswich. He saw red, not actually like red card.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Newcastle-Brighton, Anthony Gordon sent off, and he will now miss the Carabao Cup final, which is a big loss for them. So that's going to be impactful.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Your next club game, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right. Last one, just because I kind of secretly love this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
United lose to Fulham on penalties. Losing on penalties at home, missing your last two penalties is tough. This felt like it was the last thing United had this year. And now it's just kind of like they're just going to finish out the season in the Premier League and be a mid-table team. And, you know, it is what it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Interestingly, of all people, Eric Ten Hag decided to open his mouth this weekend. Or last week, sorry. He had an interesting comment. He said, this generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism. Criticism really gets to them. The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin, agreed. You could be much more direct, agreed. I was approached much more directly, same.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Now, you know, so send in the, send in the questions. All right, let's get right into it. MLS this weekend. Big weekend.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If I would do that with my current group of players, I would demotivate them. If you do that to the current generation, they find it offensive. So I have a lot to say about this. First of all, you don't have a current group of players. You're out of a job. Second of all, that's BS to me. I think people take that... I think coaches now... They're just afraid to confront.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And if you have a demeanor and an attitude and a way about you that says you ain't taking that, the players are going to fall in line. And this is so like David Moyes, a great example at Everton. I can promise you the first day he walked in, everyone was like, okay, I ain't messing with him. Right. And that's just the way it is. And it's fine. And it's not good or bad or whatever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
yeah there was a lot so it's it's classic like two weeks in everyone's overreacting to everything um first we had chicago fire dc united greg burr halter um not the perfect start he will get it right eventually but i don't know if you saw there was a goal i saw at the end of the game this bike at the end of the game off a corner kick jacob morel um if you didn't know who he is now you're gonna know uh go google it this is an insane goal the
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's just the way it is. But again, To say that you can't criticize, that you can't be hard, I don't think that's accurate. I think people are just chickening out to that, and you're allowing that to be and perpetuate.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Okay. Why? Why? What do you think it is? Because I have a very clear opinion on it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So I think it's two things. One, it's parenting. right so these kids grow trust me dude i see it where i live i see it all over parents are like afraid of their kids to discipline their kids right and that has been a generational thing and in our generation you and me I was scared to death of my parents because they would wallop me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And now kids, I hear kids speak to their parents and I'm like, what? Like what? I feel like an old man here yelling, but that is one. And two, I think social media, right? I think everybody's so hypersensitive of how they're viewed and likes and comments and all that. So they're like, oh my God, you said I'm not running enough. Am I fat? Am I this? Am I that? Am I, you know, I'm not good enough?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Whatever. And it's like, no. I'm just trying to help you out. So I just think it's interesting that a manager at that level feels like he can't walk into a locker room and command it or else he's going to. And by the way, I used to, I said this to our owner, Andrew Vassiliadis at the loyal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If there is a player who does X, Y, Z and is acting that way or whatever, do I have your permission to just cut the contract out the door? Because I know he's bad. Yeah. And he said, yes. Now that was, you know, $50,000, $100,000 when it's, you know, terminating contracts, that's $10 million a year. That's a different story, but that's, you ultimately hold the Trump card, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
In that, in that case, because you're the manager. And you decide whether they play or not. And you can impact their career. And so if they're going to do that, you say, okay, fine.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Totally.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Totally. Yeah, okay. All right. We're off our soapbox. Two old men yelling at the cloud. All right. Let's take a break. When we come back, AT&T fan connections. So to my family member who wanted to submit questions, I don't think it'll be this week. It'll probably be next week. And then we'll also talk anything but soccer right here on unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Do not go anywhere.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
The way the ball was coming and the ability just to make contact would have been difficult. And he looped it into the back post. Phenomenal goal. I'm guessing it could be goal of the year after week two, but what a phenomenal goal.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Oh, is that an Everton shirt? No.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You just got paid by Umbro, didn't you? You got such a crazy vintage collection. Tim, do you remember that color Everton shirt? Do you remember that one? Vaguely, yeah. I have one in my garage.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It was a third kit or Away. Yeah, I know which one it is. It's cool. Like, that color is really cool.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Well, it seems. All right, should we do some questions? Yes, let's do it. Did you listen, Jordan? By the way, my family member is saying, where do I send a question?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
No, I know, but I was like, one, why are you listening? Two, you really want to submit a question? So I'll tell you offline what their name is, so if you see it, you know.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You don't care what the rule either.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's a joke because when that first, I mean, I was playing during when the six second rule came in and I would count to like 18 in my head and the ref wouldn't do anything. And I'm like, what's the point of having this rule? Because the last thing a ref wants to do is give an indirect free kick right there. At that time, that's what it was. Leads to a goal. The game's over.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's like, so it's going to be the same thing. Like they'll do it a few times and then it'll go away. And it's the same with the mass confrontation thing now. People must confront the ref now. They should be throwing out yellows everywhere then, according to the rule. And I'm actually a big fan of that. Yeah, agreed. But they're not going to enforce it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
How deep do we want to go here? Go deep.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
There's just a bigger, yeah, this is a deep connection. There's a bigger, deeper problem in that there's just way too much content in the world. And so all these companies are producing way too much content and they can't afford to do it. So they then have to pass on the feed of the subscriber. It's like, dude, we pay enough money for either cable or direct TV or dish or whatever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I'm a, I have by myself, Peacock, Paramount, Apple TV, ESPN plus,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
maybe one other and it's it it's not even the money it's just like dude are you gonna keep gouging me every time for all these like i'm just trying to i'm trying to support you i'm trying to watch the games and it's getting it's getting to a point tim where like i don't have netflix right so i can't really the women's world cup in a couple years unless i get i'm not gonna be able to watch right and i just i'm sick of it but i get it i get that they're trying to they're trying to justify all these platforms streaming platforms that they've yeah
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You, you were in England, weren't you? I was, I was in that new stadium.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I do drink matcha, but not a lot. I don't know. No, I get it. I get it. I would have paid for a month of, I get it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I get mad at your employer, NBC, for like, they'll have like City Liverpool on Peacock. And I'm like, you don't want that game on. And I get it. There's all sorts of nuance involved. I get it. But I'm just, you know.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I'm old. What do you want me to say? Old and jaded. I'm old and jaded.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
There you go. Love that. There you go. Support a team like Manchester United. That's why you're here, Jordan. That's why you're here. Or Tottenham.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right, time for me to eat a little bit of crow. So I said, Philly, why are you hiring a former Red Bull coach? Looks like it's working out well. So the first two games, they beat Orlando 4-2. Now they beat Cincy 4-1. So scoring goals, clearly not an issue. Again, we're going to overreact, but damn, they look good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Good question. I was bored. Um, no, you're you. Okay. So there's a few for a few and we, we don't need to mention names, but we know who they are. It's about ego and being relevant and hearing their own voice and hearing themselves speak. For others, it's a way to stay a part of the game. I find it enjoyable. I never knew I would find this as enjoyable as I have. I could really enjoy it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I never thought I would find commentating and studio work as enjoyable as I do. I've tried other things. Coaching is enjoyable to some extent, but a lot of stress. Tim and I both do appearances, which can be enjoyable. Sometimes it's whatever. But it's what I find joy in, personally. But there's not that many jobs in that way, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If you're not going to go into a football club or a soccer club and be a part of a club. So you have to find what you find passion in. But also, players are getting smarter and smarter about starting that process earlier, even while they're playing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Dude, you were watching New England Columbus in an embassy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
But you also have other skill sets, right? And some players don't have much of anything, right? They just have. They didn't go to college. It's all they have. So we are fortunate in that way that we have other abilities to do things. But yeah, it's fine what you're passionate about. Definitely.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
This feels ominous.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Fourth and the sixth. That's why we connect. Happy birthday to us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If that Larry piece ever airs, everyone on here is fired. Just for the record.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I don't know where it came about, but sometime in like the 17s or the 20s or something, I started calling him Mark. And he started calling me Larry. And Larry stuck. He's not a Mark. You're definitely a Larry. No, he's a Mark. He's the Mark. The Mark.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Everyone knows that. I think someone left onions in here.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right. To all our crew who we give a lot of crap to. Thank you. That was awesome. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Thanks, Jordan. A lot of feels here, Tim. All right. Let's be professional here. How old are you, by the way?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
43 does not feel good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Same thing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
All right. That was certainly a unique, uh, AT&T fan connection. Um, A lot of connecting there. Thank you, guys. That was awesome. I enjoyed that. Okay, little ABS, anything but soccer. First thing, we both want to give a shout out to Diana Taurasi. You know, the word goat gets thrown around too much, but she is absolutely. I'm just going to run through her stats so people can understand.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
For young people who don't understand. So she was, in my opinion, the greatest WNBA player of all time. And probably greatest college basketball player. All-time leading scorer, WNBA. The only player to ever exceed 10,000 career points. Three-time WNBA championship with the Phoenix Mercury. Five-time WNBA leading scorer. 11-time All-Star. Two-time final MVP. Six-time Olympic gold medalist.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
It's one thing to win a gold medal and how hard that is. Think about she did it over the span of, what would that be, 20 years to get you through 24, 20 years and to play at the top and win six times. It's just a stud.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Yeah, it's one thing to do it one year or two years or three years. But when you do it that long, that consistently, it's not just because she was talented, which she was. She just had more about her that other people don't. And.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
absolute legend so congrats to her on an amazing career all right really good show that got a little emotional at the end there i'm not gonna lie we appreciate all of you for being with us again uh subscribe on youtube apple podcast spotify wherever you get your pods and always always follow on social media unfiltered soccer for lots of bonus content
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
There are times of the season where you score four or five and you're like, okay, where, you know, everything went in. But when you do it back to back games earlier, like, okay, there's something right here. So they're good. All right. So shame on every club who passed on Bruce arena over the past 12 to 15 months. Um, again, overreaction Monday here, um, Bruce is getting it right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
They went to Kansas city and one, two, one, they were down, I think 10 men for like 30 minutes or so, but grinded out a result. They look good, man. They look good. Joseph Martinez and Arango look good together. They got Krishna Spinoza playing as a right wing back that's working out well for him. They're good defensively.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
The most important thing is people are like, Oh, change the formation and move this guy here. And that it's not, it's about having principles and your principles can be physical and on the field and tactical. They can be how you treat people, how you get the players to play, but you have to have core principles that you stand by that you believe in and you stick with.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And when you vary is when you see problems, David Moyes, is a principled man and he's principled in how he plays and sets up a team. Bruce arena is the same way. So you know what you're getting. There's zero ambiguity, zero. So they don't have to worry. What do I feel? Where am I at? They're going to tell you, you know, you're not starting today. Here's why you're starting today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If you do well, you're going to play next week and there's no BS. They just get it done and it's starting to come to fruition. And for San Jose, it's been a great start. It looks good. They've been great.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
um and you said give player give a manager players but bruce went out and brought in all those yeah right so like you have to give it yeah yeah no i know but like a lot of coaches have someone above them doing that but he just said no no this is how we do it um okay let's get into the not so good from the weekend um one right here in my backyard that we'll get to and one on the other side of the country new england you sent a picture tim to our text that was a
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I saw that video. You're in like, you're with the people.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
you watching the Columbus England, New England game. And I mean, it looks like a preseason game in the middle of nowhere. There might've been, I think I was trying to count. There might've been 200 people on one side of the stadium that I can count. This was home in New England and it's not good. I mean, the team is poor. They look all out of sorts.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And then when you see what's going on in the stadium, I don't, I don't know what's going on there, man.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So I was like, wow.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Look, there's nuance here, right? Robert Kraft, along with Phil Anschutz and the Hunt family, kept Major League Soccer afloat for a long time, and they deserve credit for that. But now we're 30 years in, and the stadium is an hour from downtown. There's nobody there. They're playing on turf. They don't spend on the team. It's just a nightmare. It's a nightmare.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And by the way, and this is not to harp on the Bruce Arena stuff, but you had a really damn good coach who had started to turn things around there. And you didn't stand by him through a tough situation. He ended up getting let go. And it's just a mess, man. It's a mess and it's hard to watch. And when you watch all these other games and,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
People are lined up, and we'll get San Diego tailgating for hours ahead of time, filling up the stadium. And then you see that, and you're like, what the hell are we doing, man? That cannot be allowed to continue. Something's got to change. Something should change, yeah. All right, let's move on. Late night, Saturday night, MLS after dark. San Diego FC with their first ever home match against St.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
That's sick. How was the Everton stadium?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Louis City. Snapdragon, very cool stadium. Coached there, been there. Um, it's still desolate around the outside. So people who show up there, it's a long process to get, you know, trees and make it look, but in the stadium, it's beautiful.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
And it was a tough night for them. Um, the game was shocking. I think the total XG between the two was just over one or maybe one and a half. Um, 30 minutes in Chucky Lozano goes out with a hamstring injury, which is just a disaster. And then the real ugly in the second half, there was a, um, Every time St. Louis, not every time, but multiple times when St.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
Louis goalkeeper was taking goal kicks, this traditional, it's either Mexican or Latin in origin. And they use a really nasty word in Spanish that I'm not going to repeat here. And it happened once, happened again, happened a third time to the point where they had to put up on the big screen. Listen, stop doing this. This is not acceptable. And I'm not sure.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
If you go along the coast, you got surfer bros, skateboarders, whatever. You go inland, you have families and you go North County and there's like more affluent wealth. You go into downtown, there's more like hipster, liberal. You go South, it's like the whole Mexican vibe and you get near the border and it's really cool.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
You go East and inland and you get more like rural America and everybody loves each other and there's no hatred here and it doesn't happen. It really doesn't. Everywhere you go, people are just happy because they love San Diego. It's an amazing place to live.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So here's how it stops immediately. Chucky Lozano comes out. He is a Mexican legend, idol. During the week, social media, before the next home game, he's on the microphone. Not acceptable. Don't do it. I promise you it won't happen again. So I'm going to urge him to do so because they love him. They idolize him, and that would help it go away quickly.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
I have to say, Tim, I'm not surprised, and I think this is going to continue for a while. This is why. So before the final last year, I was really taking a deep dive, and I know we make fun of it with the Ricky Pooch stuff here, but he is not only their best player, he is their most impactful player in everything they do.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Messi Skips Houston, San Jose Undefeated, FA Cup Red Cards, and USWNT First Loss Under Hayes
So every time they build, everybody is trying to find him wherever they can, and he is always going to get the ball. Now, that's a good and a bad, right? Because when he's on the field, you win an MLS Cup. He's not on the field. How do you adjust? And so there are a lot of analogies I can use here. A little bit like when Michael Jordan, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
These teams are willing to spend really quickly, and then they just yo-yo. Not good enough for the Premier League, they're too good for the championship, and they get stuck in this kind of middle ground.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Well, I couldn't be more excited for today. And here's why. So many of our listeners are desperate to talk about and want to have knowledge and debates about promotion relegation. We talked about doing this episode, but LD, you and I wanted to do it with someone who was at the top of their game with knowledge of promotion relegation. And I couldn't be... more excited about our guest today.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Adam Crafton, the genius writer for The Athletic, a friend of ours, a friend of the show. Just so incredibly excited about what this means to our listeners and to the subject at hand. So Adam, welcome. Welcome, Adam.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Yeah, it's a great point because it's life-changing for you to make that point, Landon, is you take it a step further to the glory lane, which is the Premier League, right? You and I have played with some of these players. There are championship players that get into the Premier League and they run their socks off and they can complete a couple passes.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
And then all of a sudden, they just figure out a way to stay in the league. And all of a sudden, they're a Premier League player and their next contract now changes their life. Literally changes their life. And they wouldn't, as you said, outside of getting promoted, not a single Premier League team would have ever thought to sign them. Right. And so there's, there's, we talk about dreams.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
There's an aspect of that as well.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Good English banter. I love it. I love it. Adam, the interesting thing, we're going to jump in. The interesting thing about promotion relegation, and I'll talk from my standpoint, is I'm Again, wholly, I'm against promotion relegation, and we'll get into reasons why.
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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Right. This is the other side of this conversation, LD and Adam. And that is what all of our listeners oftentimes talk about is how do we have how do we create promotion relegation in America? Again, so many of the things we outlined about England and how they use promotion relegation throughout their tier, I think is the basis of this conversation.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Look, I don't believe that it could work in the US currently because of what we talked about, the pyramid tier system, right? Everything is... Governed by a governing body in the FA, the EFL, the Premier League, they all kind of fall under the same umbrella. In America, that isn't the case, right? When you look at how this system works, U.S.
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soccer is over here, MLS is over here, and USL is somewhere over here, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
In America. And it's not because I'm an MLS owner. I was against it when I was a USL owner, but just based on the principle of it. And I think what I would say about this conversation is I've had two very distinct, specific conversations with high-level people in big positions in football, and I've come away from...
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Yes, they do. Correct. But there's such a divide. in there. We don't have a tier system, right? We have independent leagues. Okay. And so, and so if you ask the USL, their company line would be, we're not a second division. They're seen as a second division, but they, they would clearly state, we are not a second division. We are a thriving first division league within America.
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That's how they, that's how they describe it. And so when I think about the cons, what jumps off the page to me is the finances. And the finances, Adam, as you mentioned, basically start with a television deal, an astronomical global television rights, which is what keeps the Premier League afloat and thriving.
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So first of all, you have to get a lucrative television deal that everyone can buy into, right? And so that's a starting point. The other part of it for me is if Landon and I and you, Adam, were going to say, we have enough money, we want to go buy a team, right? And we buy into the MLS.
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And we're in for half a billion, three quarters of a billion dollars with our stadium and all the things, right? We have an opportunity then after that investment 12 months later to no longer be playing in the Premier League, excuse me, in the MLS, the top league. I think we'd have a powwow and we'd all say to each other, well, I'm not signing up for that.
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I'm not spending nearly a billion dollars. to then, in 12 months, have my asset be depreciated so much that we have to have a fire sale. There would have to be the system in place where there's a tiered system, there's parachute payments. Nobody would sign up for that. The other part, as I continue to think about this, is You laid in talking about Lincoln City, right?
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I can talk about playing against Macclesfield Town or going to Burton Albion, right? And playing in the FA Cup. These small teams, right? Adam, you mentioned they're run by local businessmen, not billionaires, not foreign dignitaries, local businessmen, right? There's a heart and a soul to people in Lincoln City or in York City or wherever, right?
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America has never, hear what I'm saying, America has never adequately supported a second division. The NFL, they've tried to create, everybody loves football. NFL's king. So they've tried to create the XFL in the spring because there's no football. A USFL in the spring because no football doesn't get supported. The NBA fans would never support a G League team. They wouldn't.
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The G League is a second division. Major League Baseball fans, if they got relegated to AAA, they wouldn't. AAA baseball is a dog and pony show. It's fireworks and let the kids run the bases. A second division in America in any sport has never been supported. So are we then to assume that a first division club, an MLS club, let's say, the first division, gets relegated
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Are we to say Americans don't support second division teams? Simply put. And so my argument to end all of this is when I look at the MLS, of all the teams, and Landon, you know this, I think there's probably... maybe four teams, four, that could sustain a relegation because the teams are supported as an institution. The LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, and a possibly think in Portland.
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Like if those teams went down, the crazies in Seattle would still wear their green. They'd still march to the game. They'd still meet at the pubs because it's an institution. The LA Galaxy wouldn't allow their team to falter because it's more than a soccer team. It's an institution within the city.
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But for so many of the other teams, if they go down, I don't believe the infrastructural support from the fans are there. I think they love their team being in the MLS, but I don't think they'll support it. There, rant over.
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Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
the argument, even though I was against it, I've come away from the argument more inclined to accept promotion relegation. That doesn't mean I'm still against it, but I've come away from these amazing conversations feeling like, okay, I see the other side of it. So I'm willing to be convinced and I'm happy to talk about that, but ultimately to start the show, I'm against it.
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Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
LD, we are back. I can't understate or overstate how excited I am for this moment of the week. Every time I get to see your face, it's amazing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
The interesting point you make there is the risk versus reward is bringing in the drama of promotion relegation, which is a foreign concept, but is exciting. I don't think anybody watches a promotion relegation game at the end of a season and isn't excited, right? And that's what you're betting on. You're bringing it into a
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into a foreign market that doesn't understand it, but it's still good watching if you can educate enough of the viewers. The downside to that is getting the investors to buy into the loss, right?
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They're not.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Well, let me tell you about that. It's all about valuations, right? And so as much as MLS owners don't want to lose the money that they've invested, I talked about us having this fake ownership group, and we wouldn't want to lose that, right? And so...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
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In the USL, what you pay for a USL championship club, which is the top league, you're paying more than you would for a league one team in USL, right? But I think the starting point for me would be for USL to adopt promotion relegation because they do have a tiered system, right? They have championship, league one, league two, it's already in place.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
So for them to adopt it, to pitch it to a television streaming service or what have you, and create that drama in and of itself, right? And then have some sort of proof in that, right?
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So you can go from and create the parachute payments based off of television, but you're going to have to make a sacrifice somewhere, but allow a championship club, USL championship club to say, look, if you go down to league one, right? You're not having to make changes to your stadium. You're not having to Um, you can still play in your 8,000 seat stadium that you, that you built. No problem.
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If you come up to, um, you know, the championship, I think that's the starting point for promotion relegation in America. I just don't see an avenue where the powers that be MLS owners, USL owners, and both leagues come together and say, all right, well, we'll, we'll create the system. It's very similar to what you said, Adam, about the, about the premier league and the, and the rest of, uh,
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the pyramid. I don't think you're going to get a lot of people to agree on seeing it the same way. I just don't.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Look, I mean, I think ultimately you could have… The MLS would argue, and rightfully so, American sports would argue, their drama is in playoffs, right? Their drama is in the last place team to get into the playoffs. So let's call it the number eight seed beats the number one seed. That's the drama. And they'd have a rightful argument there, right? Because we love, we watch playoffs.
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That's when things heat up here. Could there be a system where you have a playoffs where with... eight, you know, the top eight teams make it. And then the last place or the last two place teams go down. I suppose, I mean, that's major drama. I mean, I suppose you could, ultimately you have to get, they'd have to get creative.
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And I go back to, I don't believe in the promotion relegation conversation that MLS is budget at all.
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Zero chance. I do believe, and I'm repeating myself, if the USL who already has a tiered model, they already start like this, right? Then I think if they were to be able to do it, and they were to be... It's all about dollars and cents. If they were to be able to gain traction and show real... oomph in their television rights and say, look, we've put this on TV.
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Our figures have shot way up from the last five seasons when we were just the USL and we had a playoff system and not many people watched. If you start to have some proof, then I think you then get MLS to look at it and go, huh, okay, there is an appetite for this. There already is a litmus test. But until then, I'm not sure that MLS budges at all.
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I mean, look, Adam, what I would say... The English fans that listen to this or the American Premier League fans listen to this are going to hate me. But that's how my world works. You made an interesting point. I should know this. It's somewhere close. But I think, is there 10 American owners in the Premier League? I think it might be more now. Okay, it might be more now.
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But to your point, and I want to make sure people understand this. In order to pass any sort of change in the Premier League, you need 14 owners of the 20 to vote. in favor of that. If, if they're, if they're at some point is 14 or 15 American owners, which it seems to be trending that way. And they have, they have ideas to make change. It's 2025. I put nothing past anybody.
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Cause by the way, these are their assets. These are their business assets. And most, most of these American owners are Uber successful businessmen.
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right and so i i don't put it past them and by the way by the way television rights are are only going up only going up nbc paid 2.6 billion dollars for the last rights that's going up globally right so people people are going to want more by the way when when you start to pay this type of money the viewer is then going to expect more and you have to deliver so
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No, but listen, to that point, and you mentioned you could give people in England $100 and they'd question why, right? They hate change. You cannot get anything. I've played in the Premier League. Lions played in the Premier League. You cannot get anything from these clubs. They're so protective, right?
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Brentford now, if you've seen over the last couple of NBC shows, Brentford has put out no sound, no audio, just video of Thomas Frank and his team giving a team talk, pregame, halftime. That's brilliant, right? So, but in order to get these teams to give more, It's like pulling teeth and it's really, really difficult, but that is the way we're headed.
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Something has to change for the astronomical fees. And look, I think, you know, going back to the American side of things, I know we've stoked some fires here, Adam, and having you on and your insight's been brilliant. And I just think, you know, for our listeners,
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You got to keep sending in your questions, keep sending them feedback at Unfiltered Soccer because I know I still have more questions and the answers are what we're all looking for, right? Because promotion relegation can possibly live somewhere in... the ecosystem of American soccer. I just don't think right now or for the foreseeable future, it's going to be all inclusive.
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I think it's going to have to, as you said, LD, someone's going to have to take the bull by the horns and do it themselves before it becomes overarching.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
I think there you have it.
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Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow the game of soccer in the U.S. is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game.
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LD, it's not everyone's favorite time of the week, but it is absolutely Jordan's favorite time of the week. Jordan, get on in here and give us some questions.
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I'm not going to jump in. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, I think the league, I don't know how much more we can grow, but it's by a sheer numbers size, right? I think... You mean teams? Teams, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like number of teams.
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you know, I think that you have, we have to now 50 years is a long time. Right. So I think, I think we have to continue the growth financially, right. You know, in terms of getting the right television deal deals in place, you know, getting the right roots of certain clubs, you know, cause there's with expansion, you have new clubs, right.
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They're, they're, they're, they didn't exist and they plopped down a stadium and create a logo and here we go. Right. And people love that, but As we talk about around the world, these clubs and stadiums are institutions and they're the lifeblood of the community.
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And so although I'm currently against promotion relegation in its natural form, I think you begin to 50 years from now within that timeframe, certainly have to build a pyramid scheme. There has to be a coming together. There has to be a complete overhaul of... the youth system, the pay to play model, right, which is at the foundation and the roots.
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And then that builds all the way up and it has to be one structure and one and one tier under the same umbrella. Do we get there economically because of how America works? I'm not sure, but I'd like to think in 50 years we do.
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Yeah, I mean, I don't have any issues with yo-yo clubs. You know, you talk about Southampton, Norwich, Burnley, Leeds. Not so much Leeds. They were in the wilderness for a while. But West Brom is a great example of that. Look, I think when you own a team, this is the great thing about ownership. You run it how you want, right? And, you know, Norwich is the most recent yo-yo team where they found –
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They found a way to bounce up and not overspend and go back down and then use the parachute payments to be the best team in the championship and then go straight back up. And there was a formula to that. I don't think it's a sustainable formula. I don't think that's something you can do over the course of like a decade. That's a four or five.
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Yeah. I mean, they're not going to come out.
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They're, they're, they're basically, they're basically in that gray area of, of they're, they're not, they're not trying to overspend on players to stay in the premier league. Cause they know that the wind, they can get, they can double dip. Right. So they know they go down and get the parachute payment. Then they go up and get the promotion payment.
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So, um, and, and quite frankly, it's actually not the worst business model.
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but it's risky. That's, that's the thing. It's very risky. Cause, cause as we know for every, you know, I just named five yo-yo clubs. I could, I could name five 50. I can name 50 teams that, that it don't work for.
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Yeah. Cause being, cause, cause, cause to, to Landon's question to me, being a yo-yo club isn't, you're not, you're not getting lucky. You're not like, Oh, we're just really good this year. And we went up and we're really, really stinking the Premier League. So we went down like that's a, there's, that's a planned model. So it's not, it's not about luck.
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Like, Oh, we're just having to be really good this year. Um, so yeah.
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The prestige, to your point, is when you go to the Premier League, you get the money to bring in international or... World Cup-type stars, but they cost money. You get the money from the television revenue. I don't know if I necessarily agree. It's always about finances. Otherwise, it's not that exciting.
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I'm not really that interested in a relegation battle where the team goes down, but they can still pretty much buy the same players. That then just becomes... to almost evenly matched leagues. The whole point of a first tier and a second tier is that they're not evenly matched. They're head and shoulders above the other.
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It's just a conversation that can continue to go around and around. I love having it because I love learning about the other side of the argument. So Adam was brilliant.
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Thank you so much to all of our listeners. We love you all. Adam Crafton of The Athletic, you were absolutely brilliant today.
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Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Yeah, thank you. And the biggest thank you to our presenting sponsor, BW, and our fan connection sponsor, AT&T. Have an amazing week. No episode next week, but we'll be back in two weeks with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.
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Promotion and Relegation with Adam Crafton
Well, Let me ask Adam real quick. There's the financial aspect, right? So getting into the Premier League, there's a huge windfall because of the television money, right? And then once you're in the Premier League, let's go a step further a year later. Once you're in the Premier League, as I knew it when I was playing there,
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For every place you climb in the Premier League to finish the season, whether you finish 14th or 13th or 11th, there's like a half a million dollar payment per place or something to that degree, right? So teams are constantly playing. They're not like resting on the laurels just saying like, we're in 10th place. No, we want to get in 9th.
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We want to get in 8th because that adds a million or a couple million more into the club. But then the other side is when you do fail, right? you get a parachute payment is what they call a parachute payment, correct? And so when you go down, you don't completely free fall.
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If you, if you spend the money unwisely, you free fall, but you, it at least gives you this financial cushion over a certain number of years, which you can speak to that allows you to try and maintain either your championship status or push on to get back into Premier League. Would that be accurate in terms of some of those, those numbers? That's absolutely right.
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You know what? That's amazing. I'm not even going to ask how you play because all my friends say they play great. It doesn't matter. All I'm going to say is I think we should have an episode on how great your life is. I think we should just walk through.
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as an example, the teams you're talking about are like a Burnley, a Norwich. These teams are, are willing to spend very good. There's another one on top of my head that I can't remember. They spend really quickly and then they just yo-yo. They're not good enough for the Premier League. They're too good for the championship and they just, they spend competitive and they get stuck in this kind of
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middle ground Burnley sticks out for me because I remember speaking to Vincent company. Right. And this is, this is gets into some of my, my cons. You know, we talked to Vincent company and he was so candid with us. You did, you know, JJ watt is a American NFL player. Who's now a commentator. He, he, he talked openly with us as well.
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Like they, they got to, I mean, here's a, here's another wrinkle. They got to the premier league. Off the back of tons of loan players, young stars loans from other, from other clubs, right? Those players after a year alone, then go back. So Burnley has to say, okay, this is the profile of player that we want. Now that we're in the premier league, everybody's going to ask us top dollar.
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We cannot afford to go buy the players who are on loan, right? Because being on loan is cheap. Even if you pay a loan fee. cheaper than, than buying these players. So they would tell us in their scouting to go into the primary league, they're going to like the top player can't afford him.
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Second in that position can afford where they were going to like third tier players in that position to come up. And they just, and Vincent company has a certain style of play. And with the players that he had, there wasn't enough quality. Right. And so there are so many perils to this that we're seeing with, with some of those yo-yo teams. You know, one of the other thing about finances is the,
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Oh my god. It's the coldest it's the coldest it's ever been in New York. It's just horrific. Whatever. You don't have to live there bud. You choose.
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the stadium regulations. So I don't think people quite understand the stadium regulations. And I'm thinking Adam specifically about Luton town and Kenilworth road, right? So they come up to the premier league. They have a wonderful season, the championship, they get promoted. And part of the payment that they get from the premier league for being promoted, they have to spend on players. Right.
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But they also have to spend on their stadium becoming up to a certain premier league standard and code, right. And that costs money. And we saw. They had to push one or two of their home games because the construction wasn't done in time. Is that, is that accurate? Isn't it?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Miami on their way. They are, I think, the best team in the league. The question, I guess, is, is this sustainable?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Well, they were talking about De Bruyne.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to get… I forget if Luca De La Torre was a DP or not. Yeah, they're talking about De Bruyne. I don't know if that's the right move. Their midfield three is really good. I think De Bruyne is always the right move.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Well, I know he's good, but you know how it is, dude, when you get the end and it's hard and it's the summer and travel and he's not used to it. And there's going to be an adaptation period, right? For sure. But they are good, man. They're good. They're fun to watch. Last thing on MLS, speaking of LAFC, FIFA, this was such a weird thing. This is so FIFA.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Chlorophyll, alfalfa leaves.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
FIFA are considering LAFC and Club America playing a one-game match to decide who goes to the Club World Cup this summer because Club León was not allowed to go in because Pachuca and Club León have the same owner, so only one team could go in. I guess they found out which team they care about more, but Chico went in. And Club León didn't. So now they're deciding.
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We're hearing rumors that LAFC and Club America may play a one-off. And we were trying to figure out why LAFC and Club America were the next two in. I think I have a theory as to why you want those two teams in. I don't know if it's merit-based. But yeah, just a weird dynamic. Yeah, it's strange.
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Don't be jealous. Despite what people think, this figure is not natural. I have to work hard at it. Oh, man. All right, guys. Follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Please subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. If you love what we're doing, the ratings really help.
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Yeah. Why do you think, Tim, LAFC and Club America were the ones they chose?
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All right. It was not a Premier League weekend. It was an FA Cup weekend. I have to say, I just wanted the Premier League back so bad. Come back. It's fine. Some of these games were good. So Fulham lose 3-0 at home to Palace. And this was interesting for American soccer fans. Because Anthony Robinson missed the Nations League semifinal and final.
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If people remember, he was essentially resting his body, is the way I would say it, because he's had a long season. He's played a lot of games. So he missed the Nations League games. And I was expecting, Tim, if I'm being honest, that he was going to be out a few weeks, and I think I was naive.
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And now I'm kind of coming to grips with what really happened here. Yeah, you don't love this. And then he ended up starting the next weekend for Fulham. And if I'm a national team fan, and I don't really care about Fulham, but I care about Anthony Robinson… I'm pretty pissed off because the team suffered through the Nations League.
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And I'm not saying one player would have definitely made the difference, but he's a big player for our national team right now. And so he ended up not playing Nations League, ended up playing for Fulham, and they lost. And I'm curious. I want to ask this question to our fans, and you guys always do a great job of answering honestly and giving us really good feedback, so please do.
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Are you angry at that? That he didn't know? Do you get it? Do you understand? Do you not care? Are you happy he took the break? I'd just be curious where people fall on this one.
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So look, this is about priorities, okay? And I did this in my career a couple times for friendly games. I remember one time I had a conversation with Juergen. My hamstring was... Not in good shape. I'd been like dealing with it for two weeks. And we had friendlies. I think they were in Florida. There were two friendlies. I think it was October timeframe.
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And it was right before MLS Cup playoffs too. And I remember calling Juergen and I said, I need to rest this hamstring. It's been bothering me for a long time.
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And he, understandably, did not take it well. And it put me in a hard spot. I was hoping he'd say, look, no problem. These are friendlies. I know you. I've seen you a million times.
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Whatever, I get it. So he was not happy. I had to make a decision. I made the decision that I thought was best to not go to the camp. Now these were friendlies. These were not, there was no trophy at stake, but I understand that side of the argument. So this is about priority. So Anthony Robin had, Anthony Robinson had, has three competitions he cared about in the last two or three weeks. Okay.
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I have had so many people, Tim, come up to me in the last week or so and said, one, I didn't know you guys had a pod. I listened to it. I loved it. These are friends of mine. These are people in the streets. Thank you guys for continuing to pass it along, tell people about it. You can always email us at feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com. And after last week's U.S.
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The premier league there, I think four points out of a champions league spot. Yep. The FA Cup, which they were in the quarterfinals. Now they're out of it. And the Nations League, right? So these are all three important tournaments. And his decision was, I am going to not focus and not put my priority on the national team.
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I'm going to put my priority with Fulham for the FA Cup and then the rest of the season. Now... I understand that I've been in his shoes. I get it, but it's your national team and it's your country. And I, I didn't like the decision personally.
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It'll be zero. It'll probably be zero.
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I want to be clear. I respect Anthony. I respect his decision. He's had a phenomenal season. I don't like that you are, this was not, he got, knock on wood, broke his leg the day before and couldn't go. He made a conscious choice, and he could have made it two weeks prior and missed a Fulham League game and come into the Nations League. And I don't like it, but it's over now.
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disappointment, there was so much, and we'll get to that in a little bit.
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And again, I'd be curious to hear what people have to say about it. The other few games, Matt Turner, unfortunately, did not start for Palace. He had started the previous three matches. Just can you walk us through real quick, Tim, before we go to break, how... Because you've dealt with this too, right?
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Where you were kind of the second goalkeeper and you'd play the cup games as a goalkeeper, but then not play the more meaningful games.
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And if you pay him, he'll definitely wear it. All right, let's jump in to MLS. We're going to start with really interesting news we got this morning, Tim, from one of our producers sent a message in the group chat that Peter Vermees and Sporting Kansas City have mutually agreed to part ways. And generally speaking, Tim, I would say he got fired. But this is one of those.
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So, yeah, it's just tougher for national team fans. And for Matt Turner, that was his chance to get some games. Right. So, you know, obviously I'm guessing he's not going to play in the semifinal and, you know, and the final off there. Villa won as well. They beat Preston 3-0 away. And Man City, they could win a trophy, Tim. After all of this, they could win a trophy.
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It's going to be interesting. Normally, I wouldn't put too much into this. However, there's a few things interesting. So Trin Rodman is back. Yep. First time since the Olympics. So that's good. No Sophia Wilson now, and no Mallory Swanson. Soph is pregnant, and Mal, who is out due to personal matters, she's been out with Chicago too. A couple of things that are interesting.
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So Trin first, she divulged that her back, she's had some issues. And she said, honestly, I don't think my back will ever be 100%. Not good. It's an issue. It's not one specific thing. It's just the way my back's structured, and it's more so management than a curable fix.
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So this is a problem because with a lot of things that you have to manage in your career, Tim, injury-wise, a back is not a good one.
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Because you've got, yeah, there's just a lot of things can go wrong.
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I do worry a little bit about that with her, and hopefully she has the awareness and the people around her to make sure that she, like Messi at his age, you're managing it right so she can play.
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Yeah, Tim, seeing her in person, she's insane. I've never seen a woman move like that on the field. It's insane. She is so powerful. Yeah, she is. The other reason I think this is interesting is Emma Hayes had a quote that I thought was awesome. And I'm going to read it. She said, I think it's going to be a hard camp with two really tough games.
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I know for sure I'm going to be really tough and I'm looking forward to how the team react, one, after a loss, but two, to things I want to see from the team that I absolutely am not going to compromise on. And my first thought, Tim, if I'm being honest, is I want Mauricio to say the same thing.
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I mean, if he literally just... Can he just copy-paste that quote and give it to a reporter and say the same thing? And I know Emma a little bit, not great, but she ain't messing around. She's not messing around, dude. She knows. She's not going to say that just to say it.
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He's been there 15 years now. And I think I said early in the season, it just feels like it's time. And it's not a bad thing. It just feels like it's time. I want to run through before we dip into this a little bit. He's been there 15 years, which is a phenomenal accomplishment in and of itself. It just doesn't happen in soccer or sports anymore.
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All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we will share our thoughts on the Alfonso Davies controversy. If you don't know about it, we'll fill you in. It's pretty interesting. And we'll answer lots and lots of questions. We're going to spend a lot of time on the mailbag this week because you guys sent in a lot of stuff about the U.S. men's national team.
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Stay with us right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen. See you soon.
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So congrats to Peter Vermees on what he's accomplished there. So they won the MLS Cup in 2013. And by the way, this is a quote-unquote small market team, right?
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Oof. I got a lot here. Okay, first of all, devastated for Alphonso Davies. Sure. People don't realize, you know, there's 13 months, 15 months to the World Cup. There's no guarantee he's back to, I mean, I think he will be back, but to full strength, I don't know, before the World Cup. And it's a World Cup in his home country. So I'm devastated for him. There's a lot to do. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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They won the Open Cup in 2012, 15, and 17. Made the playoffs 11 times of his 15 seasons. Phenomenal. Four of those times they finished first in the league. The third all-time in MLS wins as a coach. And he's the only person to win the MLS Cup as a player and a manager with the same team. Yeah.
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They've been poor the last couple years, and they've been poor to start this season, so it just felt like it was time. But I want to say before you dive in, I played against Peter. He's a crazy competitor. And what he did at originally the Kansas City Wizards and then at Sporting Kansas City has been phenomenal, and everyone there should be indebted to him for what he's done for that organization.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you. I was like, whoa, you're not watching your national team? But I get it. Like, I kind of get it. If you turn on those two games, if you were a fan for the first time watching that, you'd go, what's the big deal with this? I don't want to watch this. You know, I don't blame them.
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Well... I mean, we just referenced it, but that Italy game in the World Cup was, I mean, I'll never forget Brian McBride getting elbowed. I mean, he got elbowed a gazillion times. I remember him against Mexico in the World Cup getting elbowed and it was baseball on his face. I remember him bleeding down. But just that game, if you have a chance, go back 06.
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I don't know if you can YouTube it or whatever. Google it. Just watch that game against Italy where we're down a man. Another great game that you can watch, and I'm speaking games that I was part of because I remember them more vividly, but there's a lot of others. There's a game in the Confederations Cup against Brazil in 2009, and not the final.
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but the game in the first round that we're losing three zero and we're down a man. And we were like, all right, let's not make it four or six or eight zero. And we ended up losing three zero and on goal difference later in the tournament, because we only lost three zero. We ended up getting to the final. So that game was just like everybody on board. Doesn't matter what it takes.
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The challenge now, Tim, is where do they go, right? Because when one voice has been... So we saw this at United with Alex Ferguson. We saw this with Arsene Wenger. You see it in every walk of life. Bill Belichick with the Patriots. When one voice is the voice everyone hears for 15 years, now what, right? So Kerry Savagnin, who we also played with and against. Yep, yep.
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Yeah, you're right. And look, here's... We've talked a lot about the problems. Here's, in my opinion, what needs to happen. Pochettino's a smart man, smart coach. I have no doubt he will figure out from his perspective how to fix this. I have zero doubt of that. What Tyler Adams said post-game to the media needs to be said clearly and
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bluntly to the other players that he's referencing and he needs to tell them to their face this ain't good enough okay that needs to happen christian pulisic who i feel really badly for in this moment because i know he desperately cares and does play with that pride we're talking about he didn't have the best game against canada or either game for sure but he cares really cares
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Needs to, even though this isn't in his makeup necessarily, needs to sit down with guys and say, this is not good enough and we cannot do this. And hold them accountable. And when it happens on the field, call somebody out. And a few others who are leaders of the team, Anthony Robinson maybe now, need to do the same thing.
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If they don't, I don't know how much it changes because this team has it in them. We've seen in the past Nations League games, they have that in them. They've had games where I'm like, whoa, they are dogs. They're after it. They have it in them. It is there. But it has to be there all the time. And when it doesn't happen, you've got to call it to account and you've got to hold people accountable.
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If that happens, I am confident that this group can get it right. But those things do need to happen. And... I'm going to stop it there. Let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to do more questions. There's, again, a lot. So let's keep diving into this. Jordan, you stay right there. Everyone else stay right there on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
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I actually thought about that.
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What is it? We're not placating you anymore.
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will take over in an interim capacity. He's been there almost all the years that Peter's been there, too. And so now the question is, who will come in and what direction do they want to go? So we'll need to follow that. No insight. This just happened, but this will be interesting to follow. Inter-Miami, Philly. So I was golfing this weekend. I know you're shocked by that. Unsurprising.
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Wait, question, guys. Isn't Brooklyn's different than Queens?
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They were Coney Island.
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Oh, Gerald. Wow. Do you want to take this?
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Gerald, it's a little different than playing full senior national teams that are highly ranked. It's not apples to apples, dude. No. So it's hard to compare that. And I would actually make the case winning 22-0 is worse for those kids. They need to face some adversity and difficulty and hardship. And that will give them more resilience going forward. Yeah.
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Because you beat a team 7-0 and qualifying at 17, there's no correlation to what happens. Now, if they go on and do amazing things in the World Cup, then I'll change my mind. But we will get into U.S. youth soccer another day and probably multiple, multiple times and what a mess it is. But unfortunately, this isn't... They are not the answer right now, sadly, that we're all hoping for.
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Unsurprising. With my buddies, and I stayed the night at his house. We were flipping through all the MLS games, but watching the Inter-Miami game. Philly were good. And Philly, that was, I said to them, I said, Philly could win this game. Like, Miami are a better team. But before the game, I said, Philly could win this game. But they just have, they have too many playmakers, man.
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My opinion is, I don't care if you play your club soccer on Mars, as long as you have pride in playing for your national team and you are playing consistently with your club team. That's it. That's my criteria. Play consistently with your club team, whether it's in USL or a Champions League team.
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I could care less, but be playing consistently and play with pride when you put on your national team shirt. You do that, we're going to be fine. I don't think we're going to win a World Cup yet, but we're going to be fine. But that's my criteria.
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And Messi's ridiculous. He gets subbed on. Two minutes later, scores out what ended up being the winner. He just nonstop, man.
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It's not. And look, would amateur players care more in those games?
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potentially but we also would have lost 30 to zero right so like so there's a balance here i don't want people to get so carried away and like i said earlier these guys have it in them we have seen it we've seen it with their club teams we've seen it with the national team it's not like it's not there and they don't have now there's a few of them but i don't think we've seen it very often and we better see more of it or in my opinion they shouldn't be on the national team anymore
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But I don't care. I said this last week, Tim. I don't care what the motivation is. For some people, and I'll tell you a story, for some people it is money. My first ever national team camp, I was 16, but I was not part of the national team. I was just there. They were bringing me in to get a feel for it. And the U.S.
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soccer and the players were in the middle of a collective bargaining negotiation to see how much the players would get paid. And at the time, the players were asking for about $6,000 as a win bonus if they beat a top 10 team. So they were playing Argentina that day, and I think Precky scored, and we won the game 1-0.
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and I was in the locker room, and I was this naive 16-year-old, and I'm like, yeah, we won, even though I didn't do anything. We won, we won, da-da-da. And one of the players, and I won't say his name to spare him, but he walked in and he goes... Yeah, where's my six G's, baby? And I was like, oh, who cares about the money? And I was like, oh, shoot. It kind of hit me in the face.
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And so for some people, that is the case. For some people, and I think this is Diego Luna, it's like he has just had to fight and scrap for everything in his life. And now he has this opportunity. He's like, I'm not letting this go. I am holding on to this with everything I have because I don't have a plan B in life. If I don't make it in soccer, that's it.
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So for other players, it's just intrinsic, and that was more me. There were things in my childhood and things that fueled that, but it was like I just had it. I see it in my kids. One of them would literally kill you to win a game, and the other couldn't care less if they win or lose. And so there's lots of reasons. I don't care what the reason is, but we need the players that have that.
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What Josh Sargent has done at Norwich this year, and in the last however long, has been phenomenal. There are certain guys who, for whatever reason, it doesn't always add up, but for whatever reason, they're just not national team quality. And that doesn't mean he's not quote-unquote talented enough or good enough. It's just not at that level. It's a different type of game, and it doesn't work.
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The guy, Tim, that you and I played with, Taylor Twelman was that guy. Scored a gazillion goals for New Zealand. Loved the guy. Great around the team in the locker room.
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Revolution. New England. Sorry, did I say New Zealand? I think so. Fine.
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We're in New England, not the New Zealand revolution. With the national team, he scored a few goals, but just wasn't quite the guy, right? And that's fine. He had an amazing career. Josh Sargent, the same thing. For whatever reason, it's either a step up for him that's not quite there, or the type of game or something isn't working out.
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When I watch Ajumang, I think he will be impactful at the international level because of his physicality, his relentlessness. He's so hard to play against. He really is. And so I agree. I think it's a great comment. I don't know if he's going to be the number two or three or four, but he might be the fifth best. You know, he might sneak onto the World Cup team.
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And he's a guy for 10 minutes at the end of the game, you're like, he will wreak havoc. And I would hate to play against him. Yeah.
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So it's a really good question and a good point, Doug. I disagree with you, Tim. I think generational talent is – you are a generational talent and you always will be. Now, whether that manifests itself into anything is to be determined. At the time, Freddie was a generational talent. Freddie Adu was, right?
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And he, for his age, I guess, was just different than everybody else and a talent that we hadn't seen before in a generation. Now, the problem with that is when we talk about Gio's talent, We're talking about specific things, specific pieces of the whole pie. And he has a few specific pieces that are better than almost anything we've ever seen.
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The problem is the rest of the pie right now has been basically empty, right? And there's the mentality piece. There's the staying fit piece. There's the earning and keeping your spot piece. There's the off the field stuff that we hear about and that have happened. There's the stuff with his family and the people around him that have harmed him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
And all those pieces to be a top, top, top, top, top player have to be pretty filled in. And when they're all filled in, you get messy. But those are not filled in at all. But he still has that generational talent piece that we don't see in this country. We don't. So that's not going anywhere. But the question is, will any of it? And I think to Doug's point, he's 22 now.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
We're starting to say, I don't know, man. He's not 18. So maybe this is who he is. Maybe he's showing us exactly who he is. And then we just have to accept it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Thanks, JR. Awesome show. That was fun, actually, doing a lot. It felt like a fun Q&A. Yeah, good. We just got to really dive deep on a lot of that. So thank you all very, very much, as always, for being with us today. I do want to mention Tim. You all, our fans, have made us, we just saw, the number four sports podcast in America.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Let's keep it there. The way we keep it there is by you guys continuing to engage this way. We promise we'll be unfiltered and keep bringing it, and you guys keep bringing it. It's awesome. This is a team effort, so thank you guys. As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods, and then follow all across our social media.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
I don't know what any of that means.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
You know, that game, I tell this story to people sometimes. So that game, I was all, I had my hundredth cap ceremony before the game, all this stuff. So we get into the game and there's a play, Tim, I'll never forget. And there's certain plays in your career, you know, you remember very vividly. There was, I don't know, I don't even remember who was around us, but there were four of us.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
I swear on my mom's life, there were four of us around him and he picked up the ball. And all I thought in my head was, I'm just going to, I need to hit him and knock him down. I'm just going to knock him down. So I go and I try to hit him and he just bounced off me. Next, I tried to hit him and just knock him down and stopped the play. Bounced off him four times in a row.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
I love Mulqueen. Mulchie's the best. No, I'm actually not. I'm in L.A., If you remember when your kids were younger, spring break is one of the worst weeks of the year. I love when you say that. So we decided to get out, spend three days in Manhattan Beach, my old stomping grounds. Bill's? Bill's Pancake? Bill's Pancake House. Did not go there this morning. Might go one after this, actually.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Bing, bing, like a Plinko chip. Just bing, bing, bing, bing. And then he exited with the ball. And I was like, I remember looking at someone. I was like, this is not normal. Usually you can foul a guy. Sure. But you couldn't even foul him.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Well, he didn't speak English probably either.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
I told you all these years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Smile. He could have said hola. Como esta?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Miami on their way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are, I think, the best team in the league so far. So far. The question, I guess, is, is this sustainable? They've got a lot of old bodies, right? Messi, Suarez, Jordi Alba, Busquets. So can they sustain this? Because knock on wood, but if they pick up an injury or two that are serious, it feels like it's going to be tough to keep going.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
You know what else they've made very clear they don't care about is what anyone thinks about managing minutes, right? And obviously you dealt with that in Houston when you didn't go to Houston. And they just don't care. Mascherano doesn't care. Jorge Mas doesn't care. Beckham doesn't care. They're just like, I think they're on a mission to win MLS Cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Which is great for them, by the way. The Atlanta game, NYCFC was pretty gnarly. The defending was shocking. But an exciting game as a neutral fan, just fun to watch. Al Marone back on the score sheet for Atlanta was awesome. This was just, this was a, this was a microcosm, Tim, of what's happened in the league. And we'll get into this at some point with MLS mechanism for spending money and stuff.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Teams, for whatever reason, just do not spend money on defensive players anymore. They just don't. And the mechanisms are set up to go after young attacking players. And also because now... teams are able to flip those players and sell them for real money, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
So the business side takes precedent, but most teams are just not set up to defend, and this game was a perfect example, and the next one, the San Diego FC-LAFC game. Just goals everywhere and really poor defending.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
You should go. Please go. So hanging out in MB, although it rained this morning, it was kind of miserable. But here in the LA studios. It's gorgeous. This place is cool. Isn't it cool? Yeah. I was like, why don't I get this in my house?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
And they don't spend time on it, Tim. My theory now in all of this is that it's a little bit of the trickle-down from the Pep Guardiola stuff that teams now are trying. Around the world, you're always copying, right? Whatever the best teams do. But because City for so long had 80% of the ball, their defending looks very specific.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Their defending is in the opponent's half, 1v1 for a few seconds, win that battle, win the ball, go attack again. And that's what their defending looks like. Now, if you're going to play the way City play and you don't have the players they have, you're going to end up defending like real teams have to defend, like the way teams are supposed to defend. And you don't work on that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
I don't think they care if they finish fourth or first. I think they're on a mission to win MLS Cup. Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for the past five years.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
People don't sit in their own end and play eight against six in training and the six have to just defend and defend and defend for 15 minutes. Teams don't do that anymore because they're trying to build and play the way that City plays. So there's a whole mix of reasons why, but as a fan of the game, I love seeing it. And I'm sure the league isn't, pissed off about it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Goals are great and the attacking's great and it's fun to watch.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Literally forever.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Oh, my juice. Look at this. It's called 50 Shades of Green. Kale, red leaf lettuce, mustard greens, frisee, tango, green chard, red chard, arugula.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
That's right. And that's not that I think eventually that will happen in MLS. But right now it's not happening. Yeah, correct. The nightcap was San Diego FC, LAFC. This was a great game. The first 40 minutes, Tim, honestly, it could have been 6-0 for San Diego. They absolutely destroyed LAFC. And this was classic LAFC. They're getting pummeled, pummeled. And all of a sudden, just bang, bang.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Two plays, they score two goals, and now you go right into halftime, and it's 3-2. And I was with my buddies on the couch. I'm like, uh-oh, here we go. The second half was a little bit of a dud. LAFC got a red card, a second yellow card, and the game fizzled out a little. But the first 40 minutes were absolutely electric.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
And San Diego FC, I have to say, man, if they can stay healthy, and it's a big if, right? They're getting Chucky Lozano on his way back. If they can stay healthy their first 12, 13, 14 minutes, are good enough, definitely good enough to get in the playoffs and good enough to make some waves. If they don't stay healthy, they're not deep at all. But their first 12, 13, 14 are very good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Vermes Out at KC, FA Cup Quarterfinals, Bayern Munich vs Canada, & Your USMNT Comments
Chucky Lozano, Dreyer. I don't know if Luca De La Torre was a DP. I think he probably was.