David Mossie on Alexi Lalas State of the Union: "If I look at the national team right now, the most important players...

What Mauricio has to do now is win. That means winning goalcups, that means winning and competing in Copa Americas. Would it shock me if Barcelona decided to sign Flavolgan? I think he could be successful there, for sure. And one of my biggest criticisms of this national team group for the past four years, there's not enough leaders. If I look at the national team right now, the most important players for me, and who should be the face of the team, it would be Weston McKenney, Malik Tillman, Volgan. Those three should be the three that I would be investing in and buying stock of. Not Christian. No. Hello, sunshine. I'm Stu Holden and welcome to the state of the union show where we look at the beautiful game through the lens of the red, white, and blue color glasses. On this episode, we'll be diving into my thoughts on Mauricio Pochotino staying through 2030, way versus geo, the $70 million battle for Flavolgan, messy falling, Kevin Sullivan surging, and so much more. But first, joining me is always my friend, my colleague, my guiding, my David Mossie, a soccer savant and Fox soccer researcher and writer, extraordinary. David Mossie, how are we doing, my friend? I'm doing well. I do have a bit of a cold. That's how like Nas today, so bear with me. Sometimes the cold can be good for the microphone though. It gets you a little raspy. That is true. You know, we text almost every day, but I actually haven't seen it in a long time. It's good to see you too. I know, man. It's, when was the last time that I saw you actually? Was that some point during the World Cup? Was that mid tournament when I was doing a game back in LA? I'm trying to think. It must have been, yeah, and let me start there. You've had about a month to reflect on this. How was it covering a World Cup? Oh, man. It felt like a dream quite literally. People have asked me a lot since the tournament, how was it? And it almost felt like a blur because when you're in the middle of it, you're just as we all are, everybody in front of and behind the camera, just kind of grinding and going from game to game. I did try to make a point though, honestly, this last World Cup to slow down a little bit in different moments, not overcommit myself to stuff outside of our general work commitments and being focused on that. And so I had time with John Strong on the row. We got out to some nice meals. We were traveling from city to city. We were bouncing around. We absorbed some of the fan scenes. We were bumping into people and airports. And what a ride. It was incredible. Honestly, for me, the most rewarding and the best thing I have ever worked on workwise in this industry as a broadcaster. And I look back very proud of what we did at Fox Sports. I think back to the games I was involved in. And I've had this question quite a bit where the games that stood out the most. The US games, obviously, I think those ones stand really above just the atmospheres that I felt. But Cape Verri Argentino was one that I'll never forget being in that stadium. And then, of course, the final. It wasn't the best of soccer displays, but I think after seeing the audience that we had, the energy, the buzz, the feeling, and also just a recognition that it was just a wonderful tournament from start to finish. So who knows, I hope we get to do this again. So we'll find that out hopefully in the next couple of months as well. In the classy way that Argentina handled Lucy, I was inspired. Those bands came down. Those were incredible. Wow. But yeah, we're back, man. I felt, look, MLS, we're, we rolled right into MLS after the World Cup. And then now was the beginning of the European seasons. And it felt like for me that now soccer was, was really back in a big way. It was really nice the other day. I just, I put the TV on Saturday morning and it was English Premier League into La Liga, into MLS at night. And I did absolutely nothing but watch a lot of soccer, which we're going to talk about here. So where do you want to start, my friend? Well, the big US soccer news since the World Cup as we light this candle is the fact that Mauricio Pochettino will remain as coach you signed it for your contract. We haven't had you on since then. What did you make of that news? So I am a fan of Mauricio Pochettino staying with the US national team. I think there's a couple of things that come into play though now of what he came into, which was a program that was in a little bit of a disarray had gone out of the Copa America. A little bit of pressure heading into a massive home World Cup to go and make a big hire. We did that. We went out and hired Mauricio Pochettino and he took about a year, year and a half to get the team to where he felt that team was ready. And I think by all intents and purposes, he was very honest about the team was where he wanted them to be heading into the World Cup. Generally speaking, it was a good World Cup. I think it was the way that the team played some of the performances, the one against Paraguay, the one against Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, very, very good. But ended unspectacularly, which I think left us in that position now when it came to Mauricio Pochettino about him staying or not staying. Perhaps push some people back away from saying, should we really make a now four-year commitment at this type of money? And is this the best use of money for US soccer heading into now the next four years? What I would say is that what Mauricio has to do now, Mauricio Pochettino and his staff is win. And that means winning goal cups, that means winning and competing in Copa Americas if we get a chance in two years to be a part of a joint Copa America, potentially in North America. But the time from, and potentially some of the fallback excuses that you could have of saying, look, this is what I inherited. I'm in a sprint here to get to a World Cup in less than two years. I don't have the time to do all the things that everybody would do with a full cycle. Those are now gone. So that development of the cycle now has to turn from not just how you're playing and some of the performances that were better than what we saw previously, but now turning those performances and the way that you play into winning. Because that is what we need to be doing at least in this part of the region. But again, being competitive against the best teams in the world, that is what it has always been about. We know we can win goal cups. We've done that plenty of times before. We know we can win Nation's League. But then when that big test came for Mauricio Pochettino and everything, we don't need to rehash what happened before the Belgium game. But he's still culpable and responsible for ultimately what then ends up going out on the field and happening. And that was a massive failure against a big European team. Those are the games now we need to be competitive in and evolving the pool, breeding that next generation of player that can compete and push the guys that have, or they're not young anymore. Policic McKenny, Georena, these guys aren't young by young international standards. When you look at guys like 19 years old that won a World Cup was Spain. So this is going to be the challenge for Mauricio Pochettino. I think he can do it. But the pressure to me is going to be a little bit higher than I think it really was in all those throwaway games you think about heading into the World Cup. It was all, remember when Lexi was screaming in Yellen saying, we got to fire this guy? And we were all saying, look, it's about the World Cup. Well, the World Cup happens. He didn't win the game really that he needed to win. We didn't go any farther than we had gone before. So I think a little bit of that charm and luster will not be there. And he'll have to work a little bit more to earn, I think, what is a pretty high bar for expectations going forward. Pochettino played for and coached Espanol. He was there this weekend to take in their two-on-home lost around Madrid. Jude Bellingham, early Carlos S.B. late. Jose Modinho making a winning start to his second spell in charge. Modinho's been a big topic on this pot of late because of the Netflix documentary. He's trying to dethrone Barcelona, who have won La Liga the last two seasons. Barcelona opened up with a five-no win over El Che Raffia Fermín Lopez, each with two. Hayda Yemmi got the other. Anthony Gordon came on for La Mínia Maga to assist Roger didn't play. Before we get to Yanks abroad, give me your thoughts on the top of La Liga this season, Real, Barça, Modinho, et cetera. I'm intrigued by Real Madrid with Jose Modinho, I think just again, because of Modinho, he's interesting. It's Real Madrid. They're always interesting. I watched the game for them and it was uninspiring to say the most. Actually, when Drew Belliam scored early, I thought, well, Drew's coming in off a heater off the World Cup, he's going to be flying and Bope had a great World Cup, he's going to be flying and that would be smooth sailing. But I think then what you saw was some of what is to be expected at the beginning of the season where a lot of players were at the World Cup, changing coach, changing system, not everybody that will be starting for that team had started that game. They brought a lot of firepower off the bench as well. So it was uninspiring, it was disconnected. It wasn't what I would expect is the best version that we hopefully will see of Real Madrid. I say that meaning that I hope we get a little bit more of a fight between them and Barcelona for the title because on the other side, for Barcelona team that also had a lot of players at the World Cup, they looked absolutely unbelievable. They were just sharp Anthony Gordon, what a debut for him. I thought it was actually a really important moment for him where he gets in behind some great work from Pedri, slips him in, then he lays the ball across for just an easy tap and goal for Firmin Lopez. And instead of trying to be the guy saying, look, I'm going to score on my debut. He had back-to-back assists. And that's almost the Barcelona mantra. So that's a pretty great debut for Anthony Gordon off of what I think caught a lot of people by surprise his move there. Rodry wasn't on the bench, as you mentioned. He didn't play. They'll get stronger, they'll get better. I think Marino's got a lot more work to do whereas Hunsey Flick and Barso, they're just rolling with the same system, a lot of familiarity. Although they don't have a number nine an out-and-out striker quite yet that maybe they're going to still be active in the transfer window. A lot of rumors always with Barso. But a much better start for Barcelona than Real Madrid this weekend. Real Madrid, they're trying to rationalize the Rodry situation. They started Valverde and Bernardo Silva as a double pivot this past weekend. So they could have used Rodry. And a window of Dumfries, Cucurea, Conate, Bernardo, Rodry and Espie would have been one of their best in years. But none of those were sexy enough for Flodentino Perez. So they had to go out and spend 125 million euros on Yandio Monday. And they took their eye off the ball with Rodry. He goes to Barcelona instead where he's going to fit like a glove. I thought that was a major blunder by Real. I agree because when you think about Valverde in the middle with Bernardo Silva, neither of those players are a pivot player, a number six with the intelligence, the ball playing capabilities that Rodry had or just an ability like he has to take over a game. They've lacked that type of player in years. Luca Mondritch looking his prime with Casamiro and his prime. That was the best version I would say of that midfield when you looked at Real Madrid. But they haven't had that type of player really since. Camavinga hasn't quite lived up to that. He's not going to show him any. So yeah, it still feels like that was the biggest loss outside of all those other players. Cucurera started on the bench. That will be a really big player for them, I think, is a type of toughness and the mentality that he brings. Denzel Dumfries, really good outside back type player. So I think the Madrid team is going to take some time to gel, I think, is the easiest way to put it. And how quickly can they do that while still picking up results? But the team's pretty stacked on paper, though. But I think what you're saying is there's still more wild cards as opposed to, if you had signed Roderie, that's a known quantity. You know that guy could fit into that team with his eyes closed and do a better job than some of those players in midfield. Yeah, and Barcelona do need a center forward. They want Julien Alvaro as a pettico not budging. Our still have entered the picture. We'll see if Alvaro ends up there instead. And if that's the case, who Barcelona would pivot to more on that in a minute. But this past weekend, a pettico played to a 2-2 home draw with Viera Alvaro as it was booed. Johnny Cardoso and Alex Freeman, both unused subs for their respective sides as we transition to Yanks abroad. How concerned are you about the lack of playing time for those two guys? It's concerning, for sure. Because for Alex Freeman, last season, you give him the benefit of the doubt because you move midseason to a European club that was competing for the top four, competing for Champions League places, very good team, very deep team in Viera Al. So then the expectation is, look, okay, you go to the World Cup. I thought Alex Freeman was excellent during the World Cup, really for his age, the goal he scored against Australia. But beyond the goal, I actually thought that he performed really, really well, which was a little bit concerning going into the tournament because of the lack of minutes and the lack of potential sharpness for a guy that was playing every single minute for Orlando City. He was an ever-present ever since the goal cup last year for Mauricio Pochettino. But he showed that he is the maturity and the ability. But I will say this is a big season for him to find out if he will sink or swim at that level of a club. I don't doubt that Alex Freeman can be a contributor in La Liga. And in fact, if Viera Al were trying to say, look, we're not quite ready for you to be in every game starter. He was on our list at Mallorca. So that shows you the type of fan that I was of Alex Freeman. He was just priced out of a move to us at that moment in time. But he is a player that I think has a big ceiling. He's still very young. So it's not a panic type situation as far as if I think he's going to be successful. But I think it becomes a pretty important period for him to prove how successful can he be at that level of a club. And that means can you push to the level that maybe Weston McKenny has been playing at Juventus? Where you become one of those guys when the coach looking at the team sheep for the week and he says, look, we've got to have this guy, we've got to have this guy and we need to have Alex Freeman at a right back. That's what McKenny is to Juventus. It's, well, McKenny's going to be on the field. It's just where is he going to be? That's what we need as far as the US men's national team for our pool to be even deeper and more successful and better against the best teams. We can't just have guys that play at sexy clubs. You have to have guys at big clubs that play serious minutes. So Alex Freeman's got time. I'm not worried about him from that perspective. And then on the other side for Johnny Cardoso, it's just been the story of his young career and that every time you think he's kind of getting going and that train starts to pick up some steam and everybody gets excited. We jump on the train in the bandwagon. Then he goes into the World Cup, heading into that, he gets an injury. Then he goes back and then he's out of form. Then he's now starting the season on the bench. So this is another season for him but both of these teams will be playing in European competition. There's going to be minutes to be had. It's just can you make an impression that sticks and then when you get that chance, can you keep that shirt? League on, got underway this past weekend. Monaco who are now managed by Brazilian Philippa Louise claimed the one-nil away win over Bob Bradley's former club Leov. Eric Dyer with the only goal, Balagan did not play. He's been in the news a lot this summer. PSG was sniffing around at one point. Then you heard Tottenham and now there are reports that he's actually on Barcelona's list as a potential option if they have to pivot away from Alvers. What do you make of that? What I would say is Flow Balagan who changed agents over the course of the summer, high profile agent. Now I would say that they are earning their potential money here by marketing Flow Balagan, by getting his name out in the press, all of which I love, by the way, that's what an agent should do and that's what somebody's team should do off the back of, he had a phenomenal World Cup. And it's interesting with Flow Balagan because I had a lot of friends that I talked to post-tournament who are just sports fans that loved the World Cup, loved what the US team did, loved some of the performances they saw. And I said, who was somebody that stood out to you? And it was a mix of that Balagan guy who they'd never heard of before too. That guy, our striker, the guy who had the red card and they couldn't quite name him. And to me, that's a miss, right? From everybody on everybody's team is that if you're a star in the World Cup for the United States, all sports fans, all soccer fans should know your name. So he's being marketed a little bit better, but clearly his name is being floated now in any conversation with any different team that needs anybody in that position. Is Barcelona his level? I think he's got the ability to play at that level, but he has to be given that opportunity to show that. I don't think anything he has done at Monaco in the last year, year and a half would jump off the page to me to say, well, that's a guy that Barcelona is going to sign and that's a guy you can't miss out on. But World Cup has a crazy way for different players and it's been fun off the back of the World Cup seeing some of the names from teams like Bosnia, Herzegovina, Cape Verde, for example, with Vozina getting his move. But it can elevate you to a level of perception of what your ability can be against top level teams and that you can score goals and that you're good enough. So would it shock me if Barcelona decided to sign Flobalgan? Those numbers that are being talked on aren't actually ridiculous by today's standards. And I think he has a lot of ability on the ball. He's shown that he can score goals at a high level. He's played Champions League, he's got speed, he can create goals for himself, his back to goal play is good. So I don't know, I'd be intrigued if he had the opportunity to get a move to Barcelona and would be not, I think he could be successful there, for sure. What makes him appealing, he's the one player in the world that when he picks up a red card doesn't have to sit out the next game. You're a dog. Also in league. Hey, by the way, last week. Serginio Desk played for Barcelona and played a good amount of games there. And that's not a knock on Serginio Desk. But if we're saying that Desk can play at Barça and have success, I think Flobalgan is of an equal caliber, if not better. Now I know Striker, there's more pressure in that position, but I know you suggested this. Do you think that's crazy though? Well, on our last pod, I brought up ballad into Barcelona in a somewhat tongue in cheek tone and Alexi was offended by that. He said, what's so crazy about ballad in a Barcelona and the more we talked it through, you're right. It's not that crazy. I think they're going after Julian Alvers. I think he's better than Flobalgan. So that would be a bit of a come down from the player they were targeting, nevertheless, it's not the craziest thing in the world. Yeah. Also in league on this past weekend, Marseille, Hammered, Strasbourg, 4-0, Tim Mewey has started and Captain Marseille, Giovanna came on as a sub for Strasbourg. I love this for Tim Mewey, honestly. Tim Mewey was such an interesting World Cup for him. We had a chance to speak to him ahead of the USA Turkey A match where he was more than likely going to start. This was before we knew he was going to start and his demeanor was, it just fell down. I think because in his mind, he was hoping to have played a bigger role than he was playing. If you go back four years before, he was in every game, every minute player for the United States under Greg Berhalter. And then he goes under Pochettino. He goes into this World Cup and he's really just kind of a guy who's in this middle zone of, is he going to play? He's not going to play well, positions. He's going to play a right-winger, is he defender? I don't know. And I think just seeing his body language, even when he was subbed out, well boy, he had a really poor game against Turkey. I think he was off side seven or eight times. He didn't play or see the field in the tournament after that. And I was curious of where is he at in his career now? He's been at some big clubs. He's now transferred a couple of times, comes to Marseille where his dad had played many, many years. He's almost carrying this heavy shirt of his dad being a legendary player, even though he's carving out his own path and his own journey. But this is a pretty important recognition of who he is as a guy. And he's a high character guy. But to get the captains armband at a team like Marseille and to get that type of praise from your coach, that sets the stage now for what could be a pretty monster season for Tim Wei. And one of my biggest criticisms of this national team group for the past four years, there's not enough leaders. There's not enough leaders on the team. There's not enough guys when I went to one to 26 that are captains and our leaders have big responsibilities at their teams. And that's what I always compared back to the teams of my age, of we had Charundolo, Boca Negra, Michael Bradley, DeMarit, Tim Howard, Landon and Donovan, Clint Dempsey, all guys that were captains on their teams. And why I think that is important is when those guys step on the field in any given moment. If anybody needs to pick me up, you look to guys like that, that just that have the confidence that have been there, have seen it in our level headed. So this is what we need more of. And I see this now from Chris Richards. I see this from Tim Wei. These, I want to see more of these types of situations. This is really good. On Georena, someone on X posted a compilation of all his touches. And it was pretty good. And you scroll down the comment section. It's a very positive, encouraging start. And not to be a jerk, but I just kept thinking, you take a step back. This kid is a teenager. It was shining for Borussia Dortmund. We all thought the next move was going to be around Brigitte de Barcelona. And here we are, he's coming on as a sub for Strasbourg. And we're trying to extract positives from that. I don't know. I have a tough time getting excited about it. Yeah, it's a good substitute, cameo for Strasbourg. Geo still carries the hope, I think, of what you're talking about. And alluding to what we saw at the beginning when we were covering the Bundesliga here at Fox. And Georena was just flying through defenses. And he's scoring. And it was, well, this is policy 2.0. And now with Georena's even better. And he started well in a lot of potential. I remember that mesmerizing run. He had against Mexico in the Azteca, right? And that just went and caught him into what I think, sometimes we get drawn into. I saw the same clip as you on X, the clipping of all the different touches. And I have to, when I'm helping scout for Mallorca, there is a tab even you can hit best actions of a player. And sometimes I do that, the first thing to say when I'm scouting for a game that I'm working or covering or a player that I'm looking at, it's a good way to get a little bit of a sense of what the player is about. But the only way to really understand how a player has been is to watch the full game. First of all, in person, if you can. But then watching the full 90 minutes and watching every touch, how they are off the ball on the ball, positional, all those different things. And so that's the big thing, I think, for Georena. To your point, doesn't start the game, not a great sign for a summer signing, who should be fit and pretty good shape at that point. And yeah, he had some good touches. So let's see what he can do at this season. But boy, it does feel like this is last chance saloon for him to have any type of meaningful impact in Europe before it would be probably more likely a look at coming back to this part of the world. If I had asked you about five years ago, who were going to be the two best U.S. players at the 26th World Cup? There's a chance you would have said, Georena and Yunus Musa had a good weekend as we transitioned to Sadiah. He started and went all 90 minutes for AC Milan and their two won away win over Torino. Musa played a part in one of the goals. Policic and unused sub will attribute that to lack of fitness after the World Cup. He had that injury. Not too concerned yet there, but Musa got your attention. So what you're saying is that there's still time for my Yunus Musa takes from a couple of years ago to age well, is this what I tell you what, this is what I'm hoping for. Because when I saw Yunus Musa, if we just quick recap for those who have followed his journey, ghost AC Milan, high hopes expectations, doesn't play a lot, goes to Atalanta, really out of nowhere, big price tag doesn't play a lot. Comes back to now AC Milan. New coach, new opportunities, starts the game at the weekend in the center of the field, which I think is his best position. I don't think he's a right winback. I don't think he's an attacking fullback. I don't think he's an offender. I think he's a center mid. He had a pretty solid performance. Not great, not bad. What we saw again though and watching him was what he is really good at. And if you saw the opening goal for AC Milan, it was created by Yunus Musa and his ability to get out of pressure. That's something he's spectacular at. He has great low balance. He can shift the ball really well. He can accelerate in his first couple of steps and then he can drive with the ball. He can get his head up and make five, 10 yard passes. This season, the challenge for him now is going to be, if you're gonna play in the middle of the field, you have to have defensive responsibility. You have to understand the tactical side of the game and you have to have some end product. Whether that's gonna be assists or goals or getting into the box. But if what we've seen from Ruben Amarim, the coach who was at Manchester United, he's a tactical coach. He likes flexibility. He likes players, I think, like Yunus Musa that have different tools in their bag. It could be a really, really great set up in a season for him, but he's not gonna have a long leash. But man, I love seeing him on the team sheet. I love that performance from him. Go in 90 minutes and for AC Milan to win in the opening day, really positive sign. Where does he stand for you though with the US men's national team picture? Oh, I think he can work his way back for sure. Yeah, if he's playing regularly at Milan and doing well, I think Puchotino will take a look at him for sure. I know as somebody got under your skin on X by immediately saying he should have been at the World Cup instead of Christian rolled on and you detected a little bit of Euro, Snobbery, anti-MLS sentiment there. So you went after the guy. But no, I think Musa could absolutely get back in the picture. Yeah, I think the reason I punched back at that guy was less about Christian rolled on. More so, the notion that just because Yunus Musa was this guy that was playing overseas and because we know he has some ability at a high level that he should just all of a sudden, he should have been in the roster. He did nothing last year that should warrant a selection in the national team. And if anything, the amount of stick that Christian policy got, because he became the face of the players that said no to the goal cup, now I know Yunus Musa had a baby and he said, look, I wanted some time off. But if anything, he kind of hid behind the public criticism of Christian policy. When he in my mind is just as culpable for a guy of me saying, look, Yunus Musa, what have you done for the national team that you were in a position to turn down a call up by Mariso Puchotino and turn down the opportunity to play in the goal cup and just assume that that's gonna have no impact and I'll be back for the World Cup. So I actually think he's got more work to do personally with Mariso Puchotino. And we'll see if Puchotino's a guy that doesn't hold grudges and is open to opening that door again, but I think some of that door to be a jar for Yunus Musa has to come and has to be earned by his field, his play on the field once again for Milan. To almost say to Puchotino, look, hey, I'm back. I'm bought in. I'm ready to be a part of this project going forward and I'm gonna be your guy for the next four years. Weston McKinney went on 90 minutes for Juventus and they're one nil away whenever Frustinoni Bremmer got the goal. Both Alexi and I are predicting a big season for Weston. It's the first summer where there have been no rumors of him leaving. He's very settled there, Spaletti likes him. So do you buy a big season for Weston? I'm buying the season, I'm buying the stock with you guys for Weston McKinney. I do have some intrigue though about positionally, where's he going to be? I was never a guy quite frankly that thought Weston McKinney would end up as a number 10 that can play in the pocket and can play back to goal and can score all these goals. I always expected him to be a more of a two way midfielder but he last season showed me something that I hadn't seen from him before and so I would like to see him now again. I've used this term a lot though, the taking of the steps and the pushing of your career but he has become a really important player. I would actually say if I look at the national team right now, the most important players for me and who should be the face of the team, it would be Weston McKinney and Malik Tillman and Balagan. Those three should be the three that I would be investing in and buying stock of. Not Christian. No, policy has fallen down the pecking order for me after the World Cup and I think for policy to show that he can be a player that can perform in big moments for the national team, you have to perform in the big moments and I thought the guys that did are the guys that I'm really excited about. And Malik Tillman is a guy that boy, he just elevated his stock and so I'm excited to see what comes from him this season at Labor Cousin. There's a young American drawing comparisons to Christian policy. We'll hit that in the Ask Alexi segment. By the way, another U.S. midfielder and city Ajahn Luca Buzio, he helped Vinescia get promoted. He's captained them this season. They did lose 2-0 to Lecce and the opening round but he played pretty well. Buzio just has been flying under the radar since, well, I would say from when he first moved to Syria and then they got relegated and he's playing in the second division there. And with Tanner Tesseman, Tesseman moves on. Buzio stays, signs a new contract. Clearly he's found a place that he feels comfortable. They love him, he's the captain there. He's having good performances. We'll see what Vinescia can do back in Syria now. Can they hang with the big boys? Can they perform? Can he have a good season? But I would say again, when you're playing in those leagues and playing in those types of roles, you're going to catch the eye of Pochettino and he wasn't in the picture for the last camp. That's a position where I, historically, would have said we have a lot of depth when it comes to the red, white, and blue lens. But we saw when there was a couple of injuries during the World Cup and it was thinking, who's going to play in that role? Because it was Johnny Cardoso, it was out. And then it was Aiden Morris or Sebastian Burholtz or mostly that has been Tyler Adams' position to lose. But I would love to see a little bit more competition there of guys that could potentially push him a little. In the Netherlands, PSV, 5-1 over Granagan, Ricardo Pepi, scored from the penalty spots or Gino Desk got one as well. Both those guys, it looks like you're going to spend another season at PSV. Are you good with that? We know Pepi tried to go to Fulham several times. Couldn't get that move to go through. So Fulham, San Gonzalo Garcia instead. How do you feel about Pepi spending another season at PSV? I think both Pepi and Dest have got to move. I think that the air to visit is too low of a level for what those guys are capable of. And at the same time in a transfer market that's as crazy as the one is right now, I think sometimes you get caught in this position where in Pepi's case, I think the price tag is very high. And he scored a bunch of goals last season, but the air to visit is always one of those leagues that I think sometimes can create false positives and your ability to then translate those goals to the bigger teams. And when you end up becoming appealing to as a team that is on the middle to lower end of the buying market or teams that are perhaps a little bit more desperate, that then are willing to pay a little bit more over the odds. Santi Jimenez is a good example. How many goals he scored in the Netherlands and then he goes to AC Milan and has been relatively anonymous, didn't play much, didn't score many goals. And now he's in a position where we're not really sure what's going to happen with him. I think that will give some team some pause for concern from Pepi's standpoint, but then you don't blame Ernie Stewart, the American technical director there, I'm saying, look, this is our price and that's what he did with Philum. Philum, the move was on, then it's off. So what headspace is Pepi in? Is he going to keep scoring goals? Is he going to get a move in the winter? But I don't know. I watch the air division. I don't really watch the league if I'm honest. I watch those guys play. I'll watch some of their games. It's not a league that's particularly competitive or appealing to me unless those clubs are playing in European competitions. And I think, if again, now you're going to try to make something of your career at that next level. And for Pepi, I think he's yet to show he can score for a top team and a top league. And if there's a time to do it, it's now. The Premier League got on the way this past week and Everton, 2-0 over Crystal Palace. I saw you post an X about this. You notice something interesting about the role Chris Richards played in that palace back line. Well, Chris Richards, the last couple of seasons for Crystal Palace has played as a right center back in a back three. Now that role is very different to being the center of the center backs. The center of the center backs is more of the organizer, the positional type play where you're reading the plays, you're dropping off, you're getting tight to the big center forward at times. And a lot of times you're having the guys either side of you stepping into the midfield, being more aggressive. What I liked is that Chris Richards now with a new coach, Oliver Glazner has gone, that now he's at the center of the back three. But the other side of that is, you've got to be strong in the air. You've got to be a guy that is constantly aware of when the ball is being crossed and your positional play becomes even more important on both goals for Everton. He was the defender that was the closest to the guy that scored. I wouldn't say the first goal was particularly his fault. Could he be a little bit more aggressive in trying to block that shot? Yes. The second goal, absolutely. He missed times his jump. The ball lands about an inch over the top of his head and then it's headed in right behind him. So not a great day for Chris Richards, but I know in talking to some players within the US camp, he preferred actually playing previously on the right side of the center back because he liked to be aggressive and uses that letticism to really challenge and play one V1. So you might see a little bit of an adjustment in what he has to do, but he did play there for the US. This is a position though where he can become now a pretty well renowned defender in global terms. If he can perform really well as a center, think about Virgil Vendig. That's a type of a comparison of a defender that you can be that type of commanding, winning tools, organizing your team, tracking back, putting out fires, things like that. That's what I'm looking for now from Chris Richards. We know you're a big Xavier, a Gozo fan. You were banging the drum firm to be on the World Cup squad. This past summer, he moves to Palace. They're starting him off with the under 21s. He scored in his first game there, but hopefully it's not too long until he's with the Palace first team. I wouldn't imagine it's going to be too long for Gozo. I was on the late push and to my understanding, Gozo was a part of the preliminary roster that then the US did not select him for the final 26. It was a long shot. It was a shot in the dark. I still think he could have made some interesting things happen and would have loved to potentially see the Zen Dejas position go to a guy like Gozo who I thought has more ability. I'm a big fan of him. I think he's got a huge potential in future in front of him. This is pretty typical though. When you get over to England, to start to get your feet wet a little bit and to get some minutes started with a reserve team gets a goal. I'd be lined through my teeth if I said that I watched Crystal Palace reserves to watch Xavier Gozo. I did see his goal. I hope he gets minutes with the first team soon. This is a team that will have a lot of minutes to go around. So let's see if he can nose his way in there and be an impact player. Palace has been renowned for developing wingers and having guys in his type of position. And so I'm excited for the Gozo train and the hype train to keep on rolling here. For those of you watching us, we did just show the Gozo goal. Leeds united 1-0 away, went over nodding him far. Brendan Aronson started. He just signed a new contract with Leeds. He's had a nice turnaround at that club. He's had a nice turnaround. Look, I think it's understand for Aronson as well. When you get a fan base that jumps on top of you the way that Brendan Aronson did and he was part of that relegation for Leeds and he and Tyler Adams were pretty high profile or big money signings for Leeds and then they get relegated at that point. Then you become kind of the face and associated with that. And then especially then when you go down and both of those players then left the club and went to play in different places. Aronson went to Germany. And a lot of the Leeds fans were like, I don't want this guy part of the club. Get him out of here. And what Brendan Aronson did was he came back to Leeds and was a big part of them getting promoted again. And then has not only shown that he could be a part of the championship but then being a part of the team and the Premier League and being a contributor. And he's a player that can endure himself to a fan base. I think by the way that he plays and what I would say for Aronson even on the national team level, he kind of feels like the squeaky wheel that doesn't always get the grease. He performs and had a great season I thought last year in the Premier League. He started the season again. But is he a guy I'm still thinking that has to be a starter for the national team? Do you have him in your 11? Alexi and I were talking about this on the last pod. If you start to bring in the Cavins and the Gozos and we'll discuss Martin Ask Alexi, it's this and they has the Aronsons that might have to be sacrificed if you want to bleed in these young guys sooner than later in this cycle. So it becomes an interesting dilemma for Puchotino. But I love Brennan Aronson. I want that guy in my team. But do I want him starting every game? That's would I have started him over anybody in the World Cup? I mean, hindsight, yeah, over, policy against Belgium. But outside of that, you wouldn't have taken anybody out of that lineup. That team was playing phenomenally well until that game. So it's it's a good thing that we have competition at the national team level in his position. But I don't know how much more he can do it leads that would that would change that conversation beyond just being a 10 goal a season type of guy. By policy catching some strays on today's pod. Jedi Robinson started for full of today and their three two home defeat to Chelsea. Josh King Gonzalo Garcia scored for full him. Jerome Pedro Morgan Rodgers and Cole Palmer for Chelsea. Jerome Pedro and Cole Palmer talk about two guys that have a point to prove after the World Cup snubs. I still have not gotten over a carlo enchilante not taking I blew up your phone during that gel and then multiple times during the tournament. I think you you ignored me after a point. In one of our group chats, it was like, yeah, Massey's done taking strays from Stu. I'm glad we took eager Thiago played 45 minutes against Morocco the first game and then wasn't heard from again. And then Jalvedro scores today. And Thiago missed a penalty yesterday for Brentford. Jal Pedro, I think, is in line for a big season. I'm intrigued by Chelsea, honestly. Gerald Hato was flying up and down the wing from that left wingback position. They signed a bunch of players. Morgan Rodgers, that was a huge transfer fee. But for him to start the season with the goal. Cole Palmer looked great today. That's not an easy place to go. Full of them. I know they're working through some different things and they transferred a couple of different players. But if Jalpedro scoring, if Paul Nerdy didn't have a great season last year, he was down on goals, down on assists. But I might be having to transfer him back into my lineup on my fantasy English Premier League team here. It's interesting that Shabi Alonzo, after the way things went around Madrid, accepted the Chelsea job. That's risky. But if things go well there, he could quickly rebuild his race. Now this might not be true. And so what I'm doing is clarifying and quantifying my following statement. But there was something I read as I walked in here today that was a report internally from Chelsea apparently that they undervalued how important aura was when it came to hiring coaches. And specifically pointing to two coaches that they felt were good coaches and Graham Potter and Lee and Racinear. But didn't carry the aura that, I don't know if Maresca had it, but that Shabi Alonzo clearly has because of who he was as a player. And look, quite frankly, what he's done at as a coach outside of Real Madrid. Now, you could even argue, though, that he didn't quite have the aura necessary to manage the Real Madrid locker room because he paired it more so with trying to be this tactician, modern coach that maybe he didn't pair that back enough because we all know he has the aura hands down as his playing credentials. But Real Madrid is just its own beast. And that's why they've gone back to Josie Marino. But do you prescribe to that? Because I have some thoughts on that, too. And like Chelsea, I think there definitely is something to that. You don't? No, I absolutely believe it's true. And that's why I think those coaches in Potter and Racinear didn't work. And it's hard to explain. But I have teammates of mine that are still good friends of mine that played for Chelsea. And they said that no matter how many players that they will buy and how many coaches they go through, it still is a carryover from the Obramavitch era of players in that old Marino team where that Chelsea locker room, the way it's built and the training ground and all of that, is that there is still an aura to this team and this club and an expectation that whether right or wrong, that all of a sudden by signing for Chelsea, it's a big club. They see themselves at a big club, even though they had a horrible season last year. And it is a big club. And I think to manage a team like that, especially with their strategy, where they're spending a lot of money on young prodigy talents and signing them to long contracts, I think you still need a coach that comes in and says, hey, I'm in charge, okay? You guys are not in charge. I'm running this ship. And I think Javi Alonzo could be the guy. So I think Chelsea's gonna have a big season this year. By the way, it's early, I'm a little bit concerned about Esteval. We know last season started, started great. It fizzled out because of injuries. He misses the world cup. And then just reading the tea leaves this preseason and now the start of the season, there's no vibe anymore that he's one of their two or three franchise guys that they're gonna build around for the next decade. He just feels like another player tossing a pile with a bunch of others. So we'll see what his role is at home. It's another Brazilian these days, you know? Born with, we're leading Manchester City late in the second half. They brought on Tyler Adams to protect the lead. It went horribly wrong. Gahey 11, Vardial 21, Cherokee assisted both goals. So Manchester City prevailed a tough one for Tyler Adams in company. Interested to see what happens for Tyler Adams this season. Honestly, he was a big ariola coach, a big guy for them, but in the way that they played very high intensity, very high pressure type system. Tyler Adams fits that role, I think really well, where he can go and chase and he can hunt down the ball. He's not a type of midfielder, I think that's gonna make the game from deep at all. So now with a change of coach, I am interested to see, it's not a great start when you're not starting the first game, came off the bench and was a part of that. But let's see how big his role will be this year. And it's also not great for him that he comes on to try to protect the lead and the giveaway, the lead end up losing 2-1. But I'm not making any wild predictions for Tyler Adams, but it's a season of intrigue, I would say, for how important he can be this season. On Manchester City, I know they won, but I'm gonna repeat a comment I made on a recent pod. I like all the young players they've been signing the last couple of years, your Cherokees and Semenos and Kusanovs, it sounds like bladdies on the way, that young Moroccan we love. Oh, I love Cup. But with each passing window, they shed more of their championship DNA with Mara's, the broina, Gunnu and Bernardo Silva, Rodry, John Stones, Kyle Walker, obviously Pep being gone. I don't know, they're kind of headed toward Chelseaville to me. And right down to the fact I have Maresca's the coach now, but it just feels kind of a random assortment of expensive young players that are all talented, but might lack that championship now that you need. 100% I think that's really well said by you, honestly, is I got that same feeling watching City where when you speak about leadership and mentality and until they get the goal from the set piece where Gahey scores and he's playing in the midfield, Maresca's credentials yet to be seen of what he can truly do, those are tough shoes to fill. I would actually challenge you one more in that it almost could feel Manchester United-esque of the follow on from what was Sir Alex Ferguson's championship DNA and championship mentalities and the Gary Neville's and Vittich and Rio Ferdinand's and Burbitov's and Roonies and those types of characters to then a transition to David Moys and Van Hal and whoever was coming after that. So now are the Blues team in Manchester going to become what was formerly the red team in Manchester and do they go into a drought? Because I tell you what, I don't love to say this, but Arsenal look really strong and really good and Arteta has the championship DNA that he built and they finally got over the hump and they've strengthened a little bit more within their team. So based on just one week and I know we do this, okay? I know we make wild conclusions off of one week and one game but an Arsenal played Coventry at home so that was a pretty easy first match but it just feels like it is absolutely Arsenal's title to lose and I don't know if Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Man United, they lose to Halle. Who would you say is the biggest challenger to Arsenal? I'm intrigued by Liverpool with Irawala. They drew a new cast, well not a great start but if Verts and Isaac play well, I think they could be interesting but I agree with you, 100% I've been saying it. Arsenal, I know the community showed as a glorified friendly and then to your point. 3-0 home win over newly promoted Coventry. It was Harvard, soccer in order to guard with the goals but they just have a swagger about them this season where I think they're going to be very tough to beat. It's the best squad top to bottom. Now that they won it last season, they've got past that mental hurdle so to me, Arsenal are clear, clear favorites to me. Yeah, and let me just clarify. I'm only saying that it pains me to say this because I have so many Arsenal friends that just flood my race to do. I know, yeah, and they, yeah, Marisa do Charlie Davies. I mean, just all these guys are just... The interesting thing about Arsenal. Ben Reagan from The Tyrion Rear is they've never won the Champions League. They can agonize when you close last season, lost the final to PSU and penalties. Now that they've gotten the Premier League out of the way, could you see them focusing a bit more on the Champions League? That's really the next step. That's the monkey that Arteta is going to want to try to get up. Yeah, I think so and that's why they spent still some serious money in the transfer market. And I would say why there's still interest potentially for them to try to peep in at the last minute and get Julian Alvarez. I think he's a much better striker to me than Yoker is. I agree. The Arsenal fans are seem to be some debate. They tried to get Vinicius Jr. I think there's a recognition on their part that they could still use a star attacking player. And there's a debate as to whether Julian Alvarez qualifies. I know his goal scoring record isn't eye popping, but I love Alvarez. I think he's a great player. You pop him into the Arsenal team. I think he would fill that void and then they would be absolutely set. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. You mentioned some of the other embarrassing results. Manchester United lost the whole city. Spurs who have spent a ton of money this season grilled by Brent for three know how about that? Man, and Spurs calamity at the back. It was, it wasn't even close that game. I look, deserve it kept Spurs up barely. And then they spent some real money at this transfer window where they've in the last couple of seasons they had not. And that was the criticism from all the Tottenham fans was like, we're not keeping up with spending. We don't have a squad that compete. We have all these injuries. And they still do have guys coming back from injury. But Van Hecke had a really poor debut. Bergval was terrible in midfield. The goals they gave away just poor all around, really poor defending and just lack of days of goal. And it's not great when you're a team that's lacking confidence and you come in with some high hopes and you get, you get thumped, 3-0. Could have been 4-0 if Thiago had scored that penalty by Brentford on the opening day. Savino is on the way. He'll fix some of their goals for him. Marmouche as well, right? Yeah, by the way, this idea that if you explain why it's more for Savino than Marmouche, it's an accounting trick. So I don't have to pay a sell-on clause to Frankfurt. It still preposterous the combined total for these two players. They scored between the two of them four primarily goals last season and Tottenham are spending like a combined 150 million pounds for the two. It speaks to the window, right? This transfer window and the money now is being insane that's being thrown out. I was speaking to our group at Mallorca. There was some defenders, young Spanish defenders that are going for 30 million euros that have played, I don't know, combined maybe 50, 60 games in La Liga. And teams are just, they're trying to keep up. I mean, Lucas Harrington, the young Australian kid from Colorado Rapids. He had a great first season for Colorado. He went for 25 million to whole city and then came on because their defender got injured. Makes his debut against Manchester United. How about that for the kid? Plays in the World Cup at 19 years old, gets transferred to the Premier League and then plays the opening match and he's off to the races for 25 million. Crazy. Last game in the English championship Middlesbrough suffered a two-on-defeat away to Blackburn. Burhalter, Arston and Morris all started. A lot of the bait among US fans when Arston and Burhalter made those moves. How do you feel about at this point, players leaving MLS to go to the English championship? Oh, they instantly get better, don't they? So what everybody told me? Second, you touch down in the UK, you're incredible player. I think for them it is a smart decision, honestly, because of the landing point that you go to. The reason why somebody likes Sebastian Burhalter I think is a really good player. That you go to a team like Middlesbrough is that there's still some skepticism overseas about your ability, let's say, in the Premier League level to be a guy that can come in and have an instant impact for a team like, let's say, full-on or let's say even the whole city's the coventries whoever's of, well, if we're going to spend money and there's a lot of pressure on the signings, are we going to spend the five million on Sebastian Burhalter and is he going to play a lot? Probably not, but if Sebastian Burhalter goes to now, Middlesbrough, a team that's pushing for promotion, there's two things that happen. Either one, you get promoted with Middlesbrough. Now you're Premier League player next year or two, you have an outstanding season for Middlesbrough and now you catch the eye in a different way from teams in the Premier League that are willing to say, okay, this is a guy we can take a chance on now and spend the money to buy him at the Premier League. So some of that comes down to where you are, who you are, circumstance on money and finances but I think it's a good vehicle to get yourself as more of a stepping stone from then Middlesbrough to a bigger club in Europe. Speaking of MLS, that'll be our focus in the Ask a Lexi segment. We'll take our first break. Welcome back, it is time now for Ask a Lexi where you send in your comments, questions and concerns. You can always hit us up on social media at SOTU with a Lexi or use that hashtag Ask a Lexi or you can call in on the state of the union hotline at 657-549-2297. That is 657-549-2297. Massey, what have we got today, my friend? Kevin Sullivan, a big theme, Ron Mexico, the third, says on X, I have no clue if the Sullivan brothers, Kevin and Quinn have a future on the US men's national team but the way they gave zero F's and went after Argentinian North, I hope they are both on the roster in 30 and the entire team has that fight in tenacity, so refreshing America. And yeah, what he's alluding to is, last Wednesday, Philadelphia and Inter Miami played to a 2-2 draw. It was a feisty affair. Kevin mixed it up late, got a red card, the red card was rescinded, he ended up playing and scoring this past weekend against Austin. That prompted McSweeney underscore one to say, is Kevin Sullivan the next Christian policy? Now, based on your comments today, I'm not sure that's a compliment, but a lot of attention on Kevin Sullivan right now, your former teammate Tim Howard said he should play in every game for the US between now and 20, 30 to get him ready. Are you on that page? Are you that high on Kevin Sullivan? Well, first of all, he's got to earn it, okay? I'm big on Kevin Sullivan. I think he's got a lot of potential, but let's slow the horse down a little bit. I think what I've seen from Kevin Sullivan, and here I am to poo poo on the Kevin Sullivan train and pour some cold water in it, I'm not pouring cold water, okay? Kevin Sullivan will play for the US men's national team, at some point, but you don't just give a kid a cap because you think he's a good player, and he's played what? 15 games, 20 games for the Philly Union right now. What I love about Kevin Sullivan, and watching him now for the past couple of weeks, and he's getting some real minutes and some real starts, is that if you watch over the course of 90 minutes, what you see is a player that has a ton of ability, maybe more ability than any kid his age around the world, potentially at 16 years old, okay? What you also see is a kid that is 16 years old, and what I mean by that is he makes mistakes, he gives the ball away, he doesn't track back defensively, sometimes he gets caught in possession, but the important thing to recognize with Kevin Sullivan is that I can see, and I think this is what Ron is alluding to. He's got that dog in him. He's got that mentality where he's up for a scrap, he's up for a fight, that that's part of the game. The other part is that when you make a mistake, how quickly you can forget about that mistake, and now you can go and have an impact in the game. Now you can go and score. Now you can make that next play. That is a really good ability. That is high level mentality, and that's something, look, when we're talking about Christian policy, I would say that's actually a part of his game that we've been critical of, and that I would say he still struggles with. He goes through such big highs and lows, peaks and troughs. When he's flying, that guy is flying, okay? And he still can get back to that. But when he's struggling, he goes down hard. And I think the best players in the world, and the best players in the history of the game, they have this incredible ability, just to stay here at all times. And that means you're never lower than a seven. You've got the tens, you've got the nines, but your high level is always there. And even when you're having the game that's not good, the coach keeps you on the field because you can produce a goal. And I watched him play the other night, and he was suspended for that red card, then it was rescinded. He comes back in that game that he played, that he came back for, he scored a goal. He wasn't great during that game, but he scored a goal, and he helped his team. And I think this is what you're gonna see with a 16-year-old is, I just like the bite. I like the energy. I like the rawness that he has, and just his willingness just to try stuff that is different. So I'm ready for him. I think he can get in on this cycle, Masi, but I'm not saying that he should be called up in this next window. I don't think he has earned that yet on the field. Just in general with this crop of young players, you've got Gozo and now Crystal Palace. Matisse Albert was an unused sub for Dortmund this past weekend against Bayern in the German Super Cup. Nathaniel Brown, by the way, scored for Bayern, which had US fans lamenting a dual national that got away. But we'll see what Matisse Albert's role is for Dortmund this season. You've got Kevin Sullivan, you've got Hall Mimetti with the Red Bulls, Hall, by the way, getting linked to all sorts of European clubs and quitting Marseille. Just in general with these guys, how quickly do you want to bleed them in? You have the U20 World Cup, you have the Olympics in 28 on home soil. So you could take it step-by-step and view them a second half of the cycle guys. But there's a school of thought, get them in there as early as possible. The sooner you bleed them in, the better chance that they'll be impact players by 2030. How do you view all that? But I would argue the most development for these players comes from playing at their clubs every single week. And that would be then for Calvin Sullivan. Where's he going to be at in a year and a half for Manchester City? Does he play for City? Does he go on loan from there? That's the real development. It's not a bleeding in process for me with the national team. And that if you get called up in these September matches that all of a sudden, wow, this guy's going to be a real contributor in three, four years. We saw that with the cycle that happened after we didn't qualify for the World Cup. How many of those guys ended up really being contributors for the national team? That's when McKenny came through more so. So you had some of those guys that came into the picture, but that was more of what they then did at Shalca and Juventus and overseas. So that's where the majority of your development ends up coming. Mauricio's Prociotino's job is not to develop players. His job is to win. And the development happens for the most part at other places. Now, you can get experience. The goal cup you can develop players by what he did that. And that's over the course of a month or so by giving guys experience. But Alex Freeman didn't become an infinitely better player because he played in a goal cup. He did that by playing every single week at Orlando City. So that's where the bleeding in needs to happen. And it's on these guys to not just be prodigies, but keep doing what they're doing and keep improving and keep getting better and playing more minutes. So that's what we need here in Major League Soccer is to give more minutes to younger players and give them more opportunities to play. And that's younger domestic players, not younger Argentine players or younger South Americans, younger American players. In terms of, I have my last, that's the perfect segue. That brilliant Bolo is headed to Atlanta. That deal was on and off and on again. We know in this window, Griesman arrived. He scored twice this past weekend for Orlando City against our cell. Levantosky joined Chicago. He's off to a good start there. They play Monterey in the League Soccer quarterfinals this week. Give me your thoughts on Bolo. And in general, this latest influx of stars into MLS. In Bolo for 80 million, that's a strange deal for me. Atlanta right now are shooting in the dark. They, man, they are struggling. They have, the last couple of years, they have fallen off the train. They had all this hype. They had the big crowds. They had championships under Tata. It was Joseph Martinez and Al-Miran. And now it's just a hodgepodge of players struggling to put together any type of performance. They're one of the worst teams in Major League Soccer. I don't know what in Bolo is going to do, honestly. In Bolo's a really good player. But the rumors were that he was signed. And this was a big signing. And then it was the deal was off and he was going to go to the Premier League. And now the deal's back on. So does he want to be here or not? That's the question I have. And I think that's the problem sometimes when it's Atlanta united that you're signing players and you're trying to be relevant again and you're trying to win and you're trying to get stuff done. But then you sign a guy, is he bought in? The best stars that have success in Major League Soccer at whatever point in their careers are the stars that buy in and love being here and love being a part of it and come at the right time. That's what Griezmann did. He didn't come to MLN. He always knew he wanted to come, but he came when he felt he was ready and he wanted to buy in and move his family. And he's been a great signing so far for Orlando. I did want to strangle in Bolo this summer because without that stupid red card, I think Switzerland would have beaten Argentine. Yeah, in the end. Great final. Now one big name that's off to a rough start is Casamiro. This past week an Inter Miami suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Toronto Messi did score the Inter Miami goal. Sergeant got one of the Toronto goals, but you texted me. You were a bit alarmed by Casamiro's performance in this one. I was just a bit alarmed by Miami in general. Now in saying that in Miami every single year, you look at them and you're thinking, how does Suarez have any gas in the tank here? How does that boost gets? Alba, these guys have anything left to go and then they go and win MLS Cup. I think not on the same scale, but you're talking about losing some championship pedigree in the Alba and the Bousquets and that cog in the wheel and that experience. It doesn't feel like Suarez is the type of guy that's going to pull things together for Miami. And then boy, watching Casamiro kind of labor around the field in the heat of summer of Miami, maybe he's waiting for it to cool down a little bit there in the fall. If you might want to tell him, it doesn't get too much down in South Florida. Not that I need to tell a Brazilian that, but they didn't really have much bite. I don't know what we're going to see from Messi down the stretch. He seems so emotionally heavy off of everything that happened with his dad and the back of the World Cup. I think he needs a little time. He's scored in that game and they scrapped around late, but it just felt flat. What about Sargent? We mentioned Coventry City losing to Arsenal earlier. Haji Wright missed the match. He's injured. He's going to miss the first 12 weeks or so of this Premier League campaign. And once he gets on the field, playing for a newly promoted side in the Premier League as a striker can be rough. We'll see how that goes for him. Who knows about Patrick Hajiman staying fit? So is there a way back for Sargent? Maybe leapfrogging those guys in the depth trap behind Pepe and Bologna? I think Sargent's time is done. Unless he does something drastic and is a 25, 30 goal score for Toronto and competing for the Golden Boot, I just don't, I think he's had enough opportunities, honestly. And I think we know who Sargent is. We know who Haji Wright is. We know who Pepe is. And if we're speaking about now the development of the cycle, I'm willing to open that door for some new blood and give some new opportunity and see some new guys at the number nine position. Bologna was the one who took the biggest leap. And I think he's head in shoulders. I think Pepe is still there, but even Pepe when he played against Turkey and when he plays against the big, big teams, does he have something that I'm excited about? I don't think so. I'm much more in the, it's Bologna. And let's see who else emerges from that pool. Back to Inter. My name is there now 10 points back of Nashville and these supporters. Nashville, BJ Callahan. Incredible. Come back this past weekend. They trail Columbus 2-1 in stoppage time, but Baker, writing 2-2, Andy Nahar. 3-2, Nashville 49 points from 21 matches. They're on pace to break Inter Miami's single season points record. What a campaign for them. Yeah, incredible BJ Callahan showing his credentials. Look, he won the Nation's League as an Interim had coach for the US national team. I think endeared himself to a lot of US fans. I was intrigued, but not at that point, any in any way ready to have him as who was really a long-term assistant before that as a guy that I would be excited or putting his head in the ring for any type of, did I say that right? I butcher that. Putting him in the hat for any type of serious job. Now, well, then what is he doing? He goes to Nashville. He wins the US Open Cup, wins their first trophy. Now he's on pace to go and not only smash the supporters' shield record. We're talking about Nashville as the best team in Major League Soccer. And now BJ Callahan is growing his aura as a potential future head coach that would be considered in the next cycle potentially for the US men's national team. But still too soon to be saying, I think, that just yet. But boy, tip of the cap to BJ Callahan. What a job he is doing. He went on a great run with Nashville as see in the Concubine Cup Champions Cup last year as well, even when they were banged up and without their striker surge. So one to watch. And let's see if they can go all the way this season. Nashville, looking like the favorites to win MLS Cup this season. There's talk of a major change in the playoffs format in the upcoming years in MLS. We'll talk about that in the one for the road when we come back. All right, we are back for one final segment. And as in each and every show we leave you with one for the road. Massey, what is the latest with Major League Soccer expanding the playoffs? We know there's a new commissioner, Larry Berg. And he has some big plans. He's cooking up in terms of changing the playoffs system. The Guardian broke this story and in Paul Tanora and the athletic really outlined the details. So we would go up to 20 teams that would make the playoffs. And if I'm understanding this article right, it is pretty convoluted. You take the top eight. They would play each other. The four teams that win those matches go straight into the quarterfinals. But the four losers get a second bite at the Apple because teams 13 through 20 would play. That would spit out four teams. And those four teams would face teams 9 through 12. Whoever wins those matches, those four teams would then face the losers of those 1-8 games. And whoever wins those matches, join the winner of the 1-8 games in the quarterfinals. Does that make any sense to you? My head's spinning. I need to see it on paper. I need to see it in effect if this is what's going to happen. I think, honestly, the fundamental problem I have with this is that I already feel that MLS has a lot of teams at 30. And I know we have a giant country in the United States. 30 is a lot of teams. I know our other professional leagues have a lot of teams as well, but to have 20 teams make the playoffs out of 30, it's too much. I know you're trying to still put more emphasis on the regular season and prioritize position and saying, look, you get to be a part of that top eight. And that eight comes with incentives to then win. If you win that, then you're into the quarterfinals. It's just, look, soccer already has a problem with being too confusing at times for people. And I say that as a soccer guy. I've lived soccer my entire life. I spend half of my life explaining soccer to people about what this cup means and the Concubine Cup, Champions Cup and the US Open Cup, the Europa League, the European Conference League, the Champions League, the Premier League, the second divisions, promotion, relegation. Sometimes we overthink this sport. And I think this is potentially another one of those examples that it's just, there's too much going on. I think even as it is, there's just too much going on. The best version of the playoffs to me, I know I'm biased. We covered it. The last version that it was like this. Single elimination, man. We did the MLS Cup between LAFC and Philadelphia Union. 2022 heading into the World Cup that year. It's one of the best games I've ever covered in Major League Soccer. You had a one C versus a one C. It happened the way it should happen. You got a great final. You got great games, single elimination. What we're doing here is over complicating things for money. This is about economics. This is about getting teams and more teams playoff games because you get good gate, you sell out stadiums. America's sports fans, we love playoffs. I know, I get it. I love NFL playoffs. I love baseball playoffs. I love hockey playoffs. It's the only time I ever watch baseball. It's the only time I ever watch hockey is in the playoffs. It's fun. It's exciting. There's pressure. I get it. We love tournaments in this country. If we love tournaments so much, let's do a spring tournament and a fall tournament. Let's split the seasons. Let's do it like that. Let's have giant world cups. Let's have group stages. I don't care. Try something other than this. 20 teams out of 30 making the playoffs. It's too much. What are your thoughts? It does sound like an onion headline. MLS execs decide big problem with the league is not enough teams make the playoffs. You feel the same? Of course, it's preposterous. Now you won two MLS cups with Houston and it's the 20 year anniversary of the first of those triumphs. There's some celebrating going on. Yeah, you know what was great when we had like 14 teams, super simple. I don't know what percentage got back into the playoffs in those days. No, just a quick wrap up here on. We brought back our team. 20 year anniversary back to Houston Dynamo. Thank you to the Dynamo. They were awesome in organizing this weekend by our captain Wade Barrett who's back involved with the club, which I love seeing club legends now brought back and being involved in the current iterations of the franchise and the team. We had I think 24 guys between players, staff, front office, the only, you know, we missed a couple of important guys that weren't able to make it because of other commitments that they had with in their current jobs. Dominic Canira had coach and John Spencer are really important and assistant coach they weren't able to be there. But man, it was awesome. On the Friday night, I got to hope a host, drunken story nights at Brian Ching's bar and we let it rip. There was no filming, no cameras, storytelling of locker room fights and all the inner drama. So a lot of f-bombs, a lot of swearing, a lot of funny stories, a lot of laughs, a lot of booze. That was super fun. And then on Saturday, we had everybody out on the field and got to lift the trophy again with our captain, Wade Barrett, but just cool to see those guys. You know, when you're part of a team like that, you realize how special the culture was, the guys were the, and without that team, quite frankly, in which, by the way, my rookie year, I scored a penalty in the final, but I wasn't a every game starter. That was Dwayne De Rosario and Ricardo Clark and Brian Mullen, Brad Davis. That was our midfield. Those guys were incredible. And I learned so much about what it took to win, to train, to play at the highest level. And so without those guys, I would have never gone on to play in the Premier League. And it was a fun special weekend, man. So really, really, really cool to see all those guys again. Stu, we've come to the end of Beefy Pod, but it was great. Pleasure to have you. Nice to light the candle. And as usual, we ran long. And, you know, if you know you see Massey and Stu on the headline, you're in for an hour plus at least. Great to be back, my friend. And Alexi, I hope you had fun wherever you are. All right, take us home. All right. That's it. As always, like, subscribe, all the different channels. SOT, you, I almost say W every time. We're the Lexi and all the different social channels. Massey's the star of the show. Smash that subscribe button. Thanks for watching along and all the various social channels. And remember, as always, size the day my friends and will speak soon.