Stu Holden
Appearances
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
He's the best player in the league. That doesn't default you into winning the Landon Donovan MVP award.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
pressure and accountability are good things to have. And I think it holds the organization accountable. And then, and then it, it then forces you as ownership or front office to make a decision and to filter out the noise, but understand like what is, what is real. And I think part of that is having to listen to your customer, which is the fan. And,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
The fans are your, they're your most loyal customer that you're going to get. They invest in everything that you do. And so you would be ridiculous not to listen to them and they have an opinion and they should, they're in it more than anybody else. And so I love that the galaxy fans did that. It's nothing new.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And as you said, Landon and in other parts of the world where they'll, you know, turn up in hundreds of thousands and throw rocks and you know, All kinds of crazy stuff. And you don't want to see it to get to that level. But I think it was important, clearly, that the Galaxy fans did that. They made their voices heard. There was change in the front office. And you know what?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
That change should have come for many years. And maybe that pressure and accountability didn't exist. Or I'm not sure why those changes weren't made previously. I'm sure when they're looking at this now, saying, man, we're MLS Cup champs and we should have done this earlier. But... you know, it's, uh, the galaxy are in a good place.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I said this on the broadcast that MLS needs the galaxy to be what they are. They're the winningest franchise in the league's history, them versus LAFC and kind of, you know, being almost second fiddle for the last five, six years since LAFC has just ran rampant.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Like that's going to be fun now if both teams are good and you know what galaxy need LAFC LAFC need the galaxy in the league need both of these LA teams. So I'm, I'm, I'm excited.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yes, yes. Honored to make my debut, boys, in the podcast. I heard you talking about your sponsors, Volkswagen. But Timmy, is that a Louis Vuitton soccer ball up there? Are you trying to speak a little Louis?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, look, it's three dads here. The best way to quantify this is my wife and daughter were at the game on Saturday. My wife texted me after the game. She goes, can I watch the whole game?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
An eight-year-old watched a 90-minute soccer game. I mean, that speaks volumes. Yeah, look, it's an interesting conversation because MLS – is at times struggling in the TV landscape in the United States versus NFL and college football and NBA. These are behemoths. The NFL is a juggernaut when it comes to TV ratings.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
MLS have long trying to like poke their way through and take some market share away from even what you do every week, Tim, at the Premier League. I know it's on at different times, but like, you know, the numbers you guys do consistently versus like, how does MLS become that? I'm talking on a national level.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Regionally, MLS is crushing it. You think about the fans. Guys, I was joking with somebody before MLS Cup. My first MLS assist was in Arrowhead Stadium versus the KC Wiz in front of 5,000 people.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
It might have been my parents that traveled and were celebrating that moment. I could hear them and knew exactly what seat they were in. We played in... old college football stadium. I played on a baseball park in Kansas City. It's crazy to think where that has come. Don Garber should tout this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
The attendance being second in the world, being where they are right now, the amount of soccer-specific stadiums, the in-game product, I absolutely agree with you. I think MLS have really figured that out. And they've really catered and developed these deep bases with supporters in their cities. And that's very important.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
The challenge is going to be now, how do you go from regionally being so strong and relevant in your market to now making it a nationally... broadcast TV products. So it actually pairs back Tim to a conversation we were just having about like, how do you balance these stars and your products on the field and trying to win? But yet we all know on TV, like stars sell.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And when, when Ibra was playing for the galaxy, people wanted to watch that weren't really soccer fans or galaxy fans, but they wanted to see the main event. Yeah. People will always want to see messy. Um,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
and I just think that's going to be kind of the continued challenge and evolution of like, still, do you have some super clubs that you're like, go spend money and spend a ton of money and get the big stars. And then everybody else tried to do it different ways, but there's no doubt. Like the attendance has been awesome. The in-game product is, is, is there for everybody to see.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I would have thought you did by the amount of bags you have. Oh, come steamrolling in, my guy. How you been, bro? Everything good? I'm good, man. You know, I was at Dignity Health Sports Park for the Galaxy win on Saturday. So it was fun to see the Galaxy back, and it was a great buzz in that building. But otherwise, man, you know, I'm being soccer dad.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
So I voted for Lionel Messi as MVP. And I'm sure I'm going to get shredded after this. That's what we do on this show. You have no idea. But I did. I used my media vote and voted for Lionel Messi because I personally feel now...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
it depends on how you want to define most valuable player or Landon Donovan, most valuable player, because really like I had this debate with John strong about this as well. He's saying, well, the most valuable player to me is that if you took that player out of the team, that team would not be nearly as good. And I get that. Like, and, and messy, uh,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
In this case, Miami, without Messi, they still were pretty good for a large chunk of the year. Now, it does help that they have Suarez and Alba and Busquets and all these studs. But the reason I voted for Messi is because Miami were the best team in the league in the regular season. They set a record for the supporter shield.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I feel that the most valuable player in the league should come from the best team in the league. And Messi, when he was on the field... was undoubtedly the best player in the league. His stats were insane, the goals, the assists.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I mean, he was on pace at the beginning of the season to absolutely shatter every single record, and then he picks up the injury in the Copa America and had to miss some time. But he's the best player in the league, guys. I mean, he's the best player in the world. He's the best player to have ever played soccer. That doesn't default you into winning the Landon Donovan MVP award.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
But it also, when you're scoring and doing what you've done on the field, he's the best player. You can't argue that. Kucho Hernandez is a phenomenal player, but the crew, you know, they didn't have as good of a year this year. They go out in the first round of the playoffs. Like the playoffs doesn't count in this award, but yeah, I'm okay with it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I know you boys are both soccer dads as well. I'm running around from soccer practice to dance to gymnastics. Like, this was a nice break. I actually, by being on this podcast today, I get to skip school runs. So if we could film for like two hours. That would be great. Weekly guest. Yeah. Weekly guest, 7 a.m. Thanks. Sorry, Kara. You can do a daily shoot. Amazing. Landon, you done gloating?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Guys, I mean, remember the uproar when Pochettino and AC Milan requested Ballistic to come back for that second game? And I would have loved to have seen Christian play against Mexico. And I didn't think it set the greatest precedent, but I also understood...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
these guys these days are being asked to play more minutes more games travel more miles than in the history of of soccer and there's a reason that like sports scientists and you know these these medical teams have a really hard job now to try to understand like how can we get a guy rest before they they hit that they're in the red zone right now can we push them a little more do we need them for the champions league do we need them for that international game and
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Have you had like, you know, 48 hours?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Look, Christian had a period of a couple of years ago when he was at Chelsea where it was like he was in and out of the team. He'd get in the team. He was injured. And then his rhythm, his flow, everything was interrupted. And so my fear is that we get back to that again. I believe that's in Christian's past. He's played so many more games now. His body's... adapted more. He's more grown up.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
He's grown into his body, but it is a little bit concerning and you hope that they handle this in the right way because he was in such great form. His fitness was off the charts. He was just, he's in that zone, you know, where you're just, you're playing game, playing game, you're feeling good. It's like the best feeling in the world. Nothing can go wrong.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And then now all of a sudden he's just picked up this little niggle. So I don't think this is like a huge thing. I just want to make sure that he gets this right and takes care of his body. And it's the hardest thing sometimes now to be like the advocate for your own body and knowing that like, you know, I'm tired because it's seen as, it's seen as a weakness, right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I need to, I need to practice off. I'm, you know, I've got a little bit of a niggle. I've got a knock and it's, it's impossible to know like when that is coming and trying to avoid it if you can still play. So that's, that's what I'm a little bit worried about with Christian here.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Okay. Well, I'm going to go grab my tooth if you give me a second.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, I live that, by the way, just quickly. My first ACL tear... Was the gold cup final 2013. And then I, you know, I went back to Bolton after that and I'd rehabbed here for in the U S for, for four and a half, five months, got myself to a really good point where I felt like, you know, I'm, I'm good to go back. I'm going to be on this kind of path to getting back to playing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I went back and Bolton saw me and I, They were like, wow, I mean, you're flying. Your health, your strength is good. You look good. Your fitness is good. Let's run you through some tests. So I went through these tests and they're like, all right, we're going to get you back into practice in the next three weeks and we're going to put on this
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
uh this this this reserve game at the stadium and make it a big thing and it's going to be your comeback and in my head i was like wait that's not even six months since i tore my acl but then i started to believe myself and like convince myself but then it was also feeling the pressure of the world cup was three months away my coach was like we need you back in you know we're pushing to get promoted back to the premier league all this stuff i played my first
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
game back from that ACL, man. And I succumbed to that pressure, even though I probably was experienced enough. I just got emotionally invested in like, okay, I can do this. Like that's where I should be. 22nd minute against Everton reserves, bang, ACL goes again, you know? And that's me out for a year. And that was just like, that kind of was the beginning of the end.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And I just didn't have the, like, I needed somebody to tell me in that moment, Stu, don't do it. No, it's not worth it. You need three more months. Your knee hasn't healed inside. Instead, I was like, Yeah, these doctors are telling me I'm good. I'm good. I think I'm good. Yeah. All right. I got to play. And then, you know, that was it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Hey, Tim, I was also just wondering, like, are Landon and like Ricky Poods, are they like the same human at this point? I mean, they're wearing each other's shirts. Ricky comes out for the parade. He's got Landon's shirt on. Landon came out with Ricky's shirt. It's gross.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
My injury history is a lot more complex than what Christy's got going. But like, same emotions apply, you know?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, I long felt that Flo Baligan had the highest upside potential, I think, based on raw skill and athletic ability and all the other stuff. But you guys know as well as I do, and we've experienced this with the national team as well, it's who's in form and who wants that jersey. And look, to me, it's Pepe right now. Pepe deserves it. He does need to make... I think an important next move.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Now, he could stay where he's at. He's at a good level right now. And I heard you guys have this discussion on one of your previous pods about finding the right club. It has to be the right fit for you. Is MLS a better option sometimes? Do sometimes we fall in love with this idea of being in Europe? But what I would say for Ricardo Pepe, it's pretty obvious and evident.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
He made the wrong move initially by going to Augsburg. But at the same time, that was the club that was going to pay FC Dallas the most money. And it was one of the best options for him in that moment. In hindsight, it wasn't because he was going to a team that was relegation battle. He's not getting chances. And then his development at that period in his career really, really faltered.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And he kind of just stood in neutral. But now I think what you're seeing, we always knew Pepe was a really good raw finisher. He has the tools to be that number nine, but he was lacking some of that confidence. But also I still felt like mentally and tactically, he wasn't at that next level. And I think he's learned some of that from being in Germany and then also now from being in Holland.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
But the question to me is if he makes that next move and when he does make that next move, is he in a position in a team where he's getting chances consistently and scoring goals? Like that's the most important thing for a final. And then I'm totally fine with Pepe being in this starting nine for US men's national team. And then all of a sudden we got a bit of a
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
It's absolutely gross. I get it. We get it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
you know, competition up there between he Bolligan and Sergeant, but I love what I've seen from Pepe. I think he's shown like he can bounce back mentally from being cut from the world cup in 22. He can, he can bounce back from being completely discarded by a team in the Bundesliga. And he's got a bit of that Clint Dempsey dog in him. He's, you know, he's got that, like, I want to fight for this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And I love that I've seen that. And I think it's made him a better player because of that. So if we were starting a game tomorrow, I'm playing Ricardo Pepe up front.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I don't know what you expected here, Landon. I don't know what you expected having me on.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
No, if we can go another like 20 minutes, kids are about to leave the house.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, I think we are in a better place because, you know, naturally these guys now that made up this team are two years on in their development and they're more experienced. Some of these guys are playing more consistently now at their clubs. And I think that was the thing going into 2022.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
A lot of, you know, Weston was playing, Christian was playing, Tyler was playing in healthy, you know, Tim Rehm was... So what I think has happened over the next two years is that...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And really in the Copa America, the leadership council or the passing of the baton for Greg Berhalter to try to develop some of these guys into leaders, I don't think it really happened because these guys weren't playing at their clubs. And I recently just wrote an article on this on Fox Sports about –
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Like when we, when I thought about our team in 2010 and I pulled up the lineup against Algeria, you know, Landon, you were a captain, Tim, you were a captain, Bocanegra, Demerit, Chirondolo, Bradley, like all of you guys were captains and you were captain personalities and individuals, but also you were playing like big roles at your teams.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And Tim, it's going back to something you talked about at the beginning of the pod about like, being able to walk in that locker room and know that you just have a different confidence and also an authority to it. And when you're looking around in tough games on the field, I would look to you guys to be like, oh man, these guys are fine. We're good. We're going to get through this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And I think that... this team has really lacked big individuals that are willing to take that responsibility. And I've been happy with the way that Pulisic has developed. He's not a natural leader vocally, all the gesticulations, but he would lead by example by performing, but he still kind of wants to do that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I call him a bit of a reluctant leader, but outside of Tim Rehm, there wasn't really somebody that was just the calming influence on the team outside of Tyler Adams. And so Jedi Robinson's in a much better place. Pepe's playing a lot. And so now that would be my challenge to this group is I think talent wise, we're in a better place.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
It's just like, can we now the core of leadership develop genuinely within that team? Then I think we'll be in a good spot for 26. And I think that's the challenge for us. Mauricio Pochettino is to empower some of these guys, but also push them at their club level. Like, Hey guys, don't just be okay with being a like leader on the national team.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Go be a leader in your club in these European locker rooms where you walk in and these guys are like, who's this American kid, you know? And you earn that by playing for, you have to earn that right to do that by being an impactful player on the field. And then you, Your voice develops, you develop, your experience develops. And I think the national team will be better because of that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
So I think we're in a better place than we were in 22 because these guys were all 21, 22, 23 years old. But yet for the US to be successful in 26, it's leadership. And then it's the guys 12 through 18 pushing the guys in front. And that we have like real competition for that starting 11. Then, you know, that's...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
That's when I think we could be talking about quarterfinals or semifinal because we have the talent to do it. If that's realistic or not, we'll probably know that in a year or so, I think.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
It's all downhill from here. It's all downhill.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I mean, Landon.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Timmy, Timmy, always a pleasure, bro. Good to see you, brother.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, I actually thought the first half was a really good game. You know, we had the two goals from the Galaxy, I think in a neutral, well, not a neutral venue. Once MLS got away from the neutral venue, it really was to incentivize teams in the regular season. And so you get to host Cup and it's a huge advantage. I thought the crowd was fantastic. As we said, just jokingly a minute ago,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
The Galaxy were back, but in order to truly be back, they had to win that game. And so I think there was a bit of pressure for LA. I think the fans were a little antsy as well about knowing that they needed to win the finals. So having that early goal in the ninth minute, what a goal it was.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I wasn't really sure how the Galaxy would look without Ricky Pooj in a big final where I knew New York were going to defend. They played with five in the back. But Brookman and Delgado and Serio, I thought were fantastic, the three midfielders. And that was kind of the unknown. You knew Paints was going to get chances. You knew Gabriel Peck was going to be dangerous on the right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And then Jovilich has been just a total stud up front, 20 goals on the season and 21st. And I just love how he told us in an interview, we interviewed him post-game 2019, and he was saying, I am the future of the galaxy. And he knew if he got that opportunity... He was going to score goals. And so I just thought the Galaxy got on top of them early. New York Rebel looked a little shell-shocked.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And then second half, they kind of came back into it. But then I was impressed that the Galaxy had to show another side of their soccer. And they want to just beat you 5-4 as opposed to 2-0 and shut the game down. But they did really kind of shut it down. And Greg made some good defensive subs. And they were deserving winners, I thought, on the balance of the full game.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
You know, we, as we do on the broadcast, you meet with the coaches and players the day before. And I asked him, I said, when you took this job in 2021- Did you ever doubt that you could get back here with the Galaxy? And he'd done it with Toronto and he came in and he was going to be the guy that was going to flip this team and this franchise around. And man, you referenced it, Landon.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
We called many a Greg Vanney's games over the last couple of years and I just saw a guy sometimes that looked exhausted and he's getting it from every angle and his big stars get injured. Chicharito tears his ACL and yada, yada, like everything that could have gone wrong for him, I think went wrong, but it also goes hand in hand. And I, I'm interested in your thoughts on this land.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And as we also met with Will Koontz and, you know, I think he deserves a ton of credit because the fans walked out and, you know, they demanded change and they felt what was in the front office at that point. And the way the club was going was inadequate and it was in the wrong direction and they demanded change.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
They got changed, but you also know when it's, when it's a coach, the coach is also only as good as his players, uh, oftentimes on the field. And I think Greg, we all know Greg Vanney is a very good coach, but clearly that wasn't manifesting on the field and winning cups. All of a sudden you bring in a good GM, sign the right players, all the pieces come together and he's able to win.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
So I just think like, For the Galaxy too, Tim, you talked about it. They're used to it was Beckham, Donovan, Keane, Ibrahimovic, Chicharito. It was always kind of the big stars. I would argue, I mean, Ricky Pooj, he played at Barcelona, but he wasn't like the big star. I think the Galaxy have changed their ethos, but yet have still found a different way to be successful.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
And in today's MLS, I'm curious what both of you guys feel about this. Yeah. I don't know. What's more important, to have the stars and to have in a city like LA and try to stand out a little bit? Or is winning championships clearly going to be more effective for the Galaxy brand? I think winning championships is winning. Yeah. You can do it both, ideally.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Yeah, he was amazing.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
It was actually the last part of that conversation with him, Timmy. I didn't finish or close the loop on it. When I asked him the question, he said, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I knew we'd be back here. And, you know, I guess it's one thing to say it now. It's easy to say it once you're in the final.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
But look, I mean, all three of us are involved in club ownership in some different capacity. And the reality is to try to recruit those types of guys that you're talking about, Landon, with Ricky Pooge and loving the city. MLS has gone through these iterations, as you're talking about, Tim, but also in a period, I would say, over the last...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I don't know, five, six years really starting with Atlanta United's kind of growth and explosion in South America where they would get these younger, you know, Argentine, South American guys, 19, 20, 21. Hey, we will bring you to MLS. We'll develop you. We'll give you a platform, you know, and then we're going to sell you and we're going to make money on you. You're going to get to do this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
So then MLS and really the problem that's happened in Atlanta is that that model really worked and then And it didn't work. And then all these guys were expecting that. And it was just a stop. They weren't investing in the club and in the city and in the league and saying, I'm here now. Look, Ricky Pooja is getting paid a lot of money. So I think that helps. And I think that's part of it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Like you have to pay these guys to not to, to want to think like, I got to go somewhere else after this. And there's always going to be those guys. Like, Gabriel Peck is probably not going to be an LA Galaxy lifer. Like, he's going to go to Europe. He's a young Brazilian guy. He's had a great season. He's probably thinking about the next stage. But that's the challenge.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
I mean, and I know you're dealing with that in Houston, Tim. It's like... How do we complement a really solid core group of American players and guys that get it and a coach that gets it and then add these pieces and fit this puzzle together to have success on the field? But the signs are there in Houston. It's been a much better trajectory than it's been in the past. It sounds so simple.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
Hire good people, hire a good coach, sign good players. I mean, there you go. There's your blueprint.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy Wins 6th MLS Cup, Pulisic Injured, and Chelsea's EPL Chase
How do you guys feel about MLS? It gives you the tools. This is a John Strong stat. The last three MLS Cup champions all missed the playoffs the year before. Oh, wow. That's pretty exciting to me. That gives you the tools to change it over.