Kickback Committee & Soccerwise USMNT vs. Portugal Postgame Reaction Show

Hello everybody, welcome to a soccer-wise kickback special episode. We are live. We have two

different titles together. We've got a whole host of guests host alongside me. Everything about

this is special except for the performances of the teams that most of us do for on the soccer field,

which I don't know. Maybe that's unfortunately not special anymore because we are getting used to.

The sadness that is we have now 41 of the 42 teams locked into the World Cup. The U.S.

men's national team has played their last game as they head towards what will be the roster

announcement from Mauricio Pochettino. Canada is currently on the field in their last game

that we can touch on as well and I have two incredible guests with me. I have one of my co-hosts

on the kickback committee, a central midfielder for the Chicago stars as well as one of the reasons

the World Cup is happening here in the U.S. as we showed her incredible speech that she gave to

get it here. Brianna Pinto, what's up Brianna? In San Diego. I'm so happy to be here. It's good to

watch this game and have our feedback so happy to join you guys. On the other side we've got

someone who stood on the sideline for the U.S. men's national team unfortunately only at one World

Cup that has covered two and has been as plugged into this program as anyone and one of our favorite

tier Michele Giannone. What's up Michele? What's up David? Hi Brianna, nice to meet you. It's great

to be here. Good to meet you as well. Sorry about the loss of spring meeting. For everyone listening,

they did not just speak for the first time. Michele goes with that energy off the bat and if you can

tell from the way I pronounced his name Michele Giannone is partially Italian as well. So it's going

to be a long show but I appreciate you still being here Michele. That's how much I love you.

I woke up from my fetal positions that I've been for the last five hours and I'm here. Let's see

how it goes. I'm here, but I'm hurting. At least it was 12 years. Yeah. Wow. I just had to make

it worse. Twisting that hurt. That hurt. Also, let's be clear, you said to me earlier actually the

only reason I'm doing this is for the distractions so that I absolutely have to worry about what I'm

worrying about right now. So I feel like we're doing you a favor. You guys are for sure.

Well, we're going to talk about a lot here on this show. We're going to do some of our special

segments that we always do on kickback committee. We're going to talk about our favorite second

teams coming up and help people pick them going towards the world cup from Michele. Unfortunately,

it might be a first team. We're going to look at our favorite stories from around the soccer

world because we had this incredible week today was something I can't really remember experiencing

watching all these qualifiers from all these different corners of the world, these atmospheres,

the fan bases, the players. It felt like the games really had the energy that you want to have

for the moment. It kind of helped connect the Mauricio Puchettino. I don't call them Friendly's line

where you're like, oh, yeah, the difference you can feel like if you watch the two games,

if you watch a World Cup qualifier and you watch a friendly, you can feel the difference. And it's

pretty hard to sort of break that. So we're going to talk about some of the great stories.

We've seen some of the great moments. But of course, we're going to start with the U.S.

men's national team and the reactions from the two games. So the five two loss against Belgium

on Saturday, me and Doyle sort of went through what we thought the lineup would be. That was a

fool's errand. It turns out Mauricio Puchettino doesn't really care what other people think or what's

conventional or anything like that. So he throws out a different starting lineup against Portugal.

It ends up being a two zero loss both games in Atlanta this time against the six best team in the

world and the reigning UEFA nations league winner. And there was some positives. And then also

obviously a two zero loss some negatives. Brianna, big picture of like, what do you sort of take

out of this game? What do you remember from it? I just think there really wasn't enough

edge from the U.S. I think, you know, coming into this game, you really have to put a strong

foot forward and kind of materialize into the team that you want to show in the World Cup. And

it still seems like, especially the center back role that they haven't found like their best

partnership. It does seem that Chris Richards is the lock for the World Cup, but it just wasn't

sharp enough like defensively. And then in the attack, it seemed like everybody was a step slow

where they weren't ready to hit the ball on the first touch or organizing their feet in and

around the box. So like it was just a little bit of something was missing, especially since we're

so close to the major tournament. And I think the most frustrating part about that is Michele,

all of that felt better than it did on Saturday. So it was still, it was slightly better,

but still not where we wanted to be. And I think that's the most frustrating part of where

everything stands right now in the final game, heading towards a World Cup roster.

Yeah, I want to zoom back and not just take this game, but take the whole camp, the whole two games.

And I think it was a reminder of the gap of talent and how do we need to adjust expectation

with this group and with this team when we're heading into a World Cup, right? I was part of the

whole Berhalter process. So that was kind of different because we didn't go to Russia and it was

like a rebuild, right? And in 2019, 2020, you started hearing the rumblings, the rumblings and seeing

on the field, these young kids that now are in their prime, like Pulisig, Makani,

Adams, etc. By the way, Tyler Rams was greatly missed these two games. And when they started

getting labeled as the Golden Generation, the Golden Generation. And I remember an interview

that I did with Toni Meola in 2019 looking, trying to look up to 2026, right? And see where this

group projected, all of them projected themselves as a group, as a team, as a generation. And he said,

something that I go back at it, especially in the past few months. And especially after the failure

of Copa America that originated all this change, Berhalter to Bogotino. And he said, if we get to 2026

with Christian Pulisig, not being our best player, then we are in a good position. And that's not the

case today. So I think this is a reminder. And it's a link to what we're talking about early

with Italy. There's no talent. There's no world class talent. Italy today is not better than

Bosnia, than Ireland, than Norway, than Russia, than Ukraine, than Czechia, than Turkey, etc.

The US is not as good as Portugal, as Belgium, as the big teams in the world. And I think we need to

adjust our expectations, because if the expectations are semi-final, winning the World Cup, I think they're

wrong. So for me, when I see these two games, what I saw, it's something that I was expecting.

So I know it's maybe harsh to say that way, but the time is over. The World Cup is here. And the

next time that Maurizio Pochettino and I was just a roster, these guys are going to be the 26 that

are going to play at the World Cup. So I think we need to adjust expectations and realize that

this team is not where we thought they could be at this point. Yeah. And I think that's part of like

some of the fumbles in the process and going back between coaches and then Pochettino not having

as much time and whatnot. But then it felt like last fall, we got this pop of like even if maybe

talent wise is not always there, right? What do we go back to when we think of US men's national

team succeeding at high levels? It's effort and grit and like fighting all that stuff. And we're

going to felt like it had come. And then as you talked about in this game, it's gone again. And it

it's really hard to put your finger on what's going on externally from inside the group of

lack of consistency of that true like effort. Well, it seems like a lot of new players have come

into the fold and have been giving opportunities to make a name for themselves because to your

point, Michael, we talked about how wanting to see like the next big thing, who was going to be

the difference maker on the field. And in that search for the player that was going to be the

difference maker, it left a lot of question marks on what chemistry looks like with this group.

And to your point, falling back on the grit, the tenacity, the effort that our American values,

that I feel like was overlooked in the process of trying all these different things and trying to

establish like a new identity post the burr halter era. Yeah. And it's, it's one of those things where

if Michaela is right, then like that's going to be the difference maker in some of these matchups.

Now, someone in the YouTube chat says, well, they had against Paraguay last fall. So like,

Michaela, it's not a thing that doesn't exist in this group. It just seems to be something where

they put Paraguay is not Belgium, Paraguay is not Portugal, Paraguay is not France, Germany is

Spain. Like, what are we talking about? We're trying to make Paraguay what? And so, and to your

point, Brianna, and also to your point, David, obviously you can win again. The USMNT can win

90 minutes again in Spain on a good day, right? But and I go back to Mauricio Pochettino press

yesterday. He repeated the word intensity a hundred times. That was such a long hand. So how do you

compensate the lack of talent when you're facing much better teams with that grid? Like you said,

Brianna, with intensity. And we clearly didn't see that against Belgium, because you're Mauricio

Pochettino saying that on the presser over and over again, we saw a little bit of that at the

beginning of this game, because the USMNT started the game with a couple of good chances.

The final third was a problem. It was a complete shock to everyone that he played with a false

9 to 8 having three good number 9s on the roster and on the bench. But at the end, at the end,

you can have the intensity, the grid. But at the end, talent trumps everything. And on the games,

when you're when you don't have the talent and you don't have the intensity, the grid and the

disposition and the final third, these are the results that you get. And these are the performances

that you get. So it was honestly this window was again, my expectations were as high as maybe

yours, Brianna or David or the fans, etc. Because I'm not maybe emotionally tied to this team as

all of you are. But I was more disappointed that I thought if I consider that in that way.

Yeah, I mean, I said coming into it last week, like I had felt there had been a culture set

last at the end of last year, where I was not nervous about these conversations we have.

Who's the starting center back parent? Who is the center forward? Because it felt like everyone

what we had seen was a large pool of player that understood what that speed of play was and what

they were going to do. And that no matter who the characters were, there was a pretty good chance

that at least the team was moving in the right direction. And I feel that I don't feel that way as

much. Roberto Martinez yesterday was like, you can't take anything from March friendly. And this

is the Portugal coach talking. But he was sort of saying like in watching the US, yeah, I don't take

anything from a March friendly. Like it's a friendly, you can't take too far into it. It's really hard

to come out of, you know, seven to aggregate across two games and two losses at home and not take

anything from it. But I do want us to dig into that opening 20 minutes because it was the brightest part

of the two games. And I think there was a sign of why Pochettino went with a false nine. There

was a lot of rotation. Policic goes out to press. McKinney goes up high way. It comes alongside him.

Now, politics making runs over the top with runners underneath him. There was a lot of that. But you

also see the lack of having that nine, which is you didn't have one player to play into and you

didn't have that one outlet. And I think as the half or along, you start to saw those restrictions.

We're going to you left. You've lived the false nine life a little bit. Well, it's interesting

because it feels like coaches are trying to reinvent the wheel. A lot of players are inverting

now, whether that's from an outside position or like an inverted 10. And I think it can be done

very well. But I think it leaves a lot of questions over who's responsible for what and which

spaces that they're occupying. So if you're trying to get a team to build effectively, they've got

to know like whose ground is what and kind of have a good read on the movement off the ball and

the timing in order to like break down an opposition. And like in the first 20 minutes, it seemed

like things were going to go in a positive direction, but it sort of broke down like as we made

changes and like personnel like came into the fold because when you bring on new players who are

strictly like a number nine, you're not going to have that fluidity that they aim to show at the

start of the scheme. Yeah, I have a question for both of you because Kalmartino said something

interesting in the broadcast. I think he mentioned it twice when he was talking about the surprise

of not starting with with a with a number nine, starting with a false nine. And then he said it again

I think the last 20 minutes or something and talking about what Bochettino was trying to do

or maybe trying to guess what he wanted to do on this window. Because it's it's kind of late

right to start doing all these experiments. So I remember Kalmartino said something of like

this I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact what he said. I think that Bochettino

already knows what he wants to do and and what are his 26 and what is he starting line up

for the woke up. So basically the experiments against Belgium and against especially against today

were just like it's not panicking. He already knows what he's going to do but see he wanted to try

some stuff. I don't know how you guys see it. So he said that in the second time he said that

for sure. He said that in the context of he was asked like how do you think Bochettino is going to

watch club form now to decide and Kyle Martino was like I think he already knows which I kind of

agree with. I think maybe there's one or two decisions to be made or obviously if an injury occurs

then you you have to be watching or maybe if Patrick Ozzyman scores 14 goals in his next five

games then like it's something you can't ignore and you have to figure out how to deal with.

I think that part's kind of true. If that is the case and he said so let's try something different

and let's see what we have in this and you do that in a sold out stadium in in a home game in the

last game going up to the final roster it feels like a mess of an understanding of what the

job is overall. And he would be underestimating the power of home field advantage because it's like

we're going to be playing on our own turf so you want the crowd to be behind you in a you know

hopefully round of 16 game and that's what success looks like for the US. Actually I would like

to pose that question to you. What is success for the World Cup for the US for you?

In your opinion. At this point I would say a strong quarter final appearance. I would have told you

semi-final 10 years ago maybe not six years ago coming out of failing to qualify and then over

the last four years I would have tried to say semi-final except for when Timway punched someone and

then they got knocked out of a couple American all that. Michele. I agree. I'll say right now if we

make the quarter finals it will be a good tournament again 10 years ago five years ago six years ago

or even when Bochettino was named mentioning semi-final. He mentioned semi-final in the last

interview he did I think. And again I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to be so negative

because we saw what Morocco did in Qatar right into a semi-final. But to your points on the talent

things he came is the best right back in the world. I was going to finish my idea of like I don't

see this I don't think this team is as talented as Morocco. Yeah. But it's yeah. And I

strongly agree with Brianna saying like taking these two games for granted I don't think he did

but that's the that's the taste that that that we're getting right now and what he did today with

this massive experiment before naming your 26th World Cup that tells me and I agree with Martina

with you David that I think he already knows of course again like you said a injury or maybe

a striker that goes nuts in this last two months could change his mind I don't think so.

Yeah. But definitely it was disappointing the sense of it was a really good opportunity to send

the team off to a World Cup in a good way now everyone is deflated. Yeah. And I think a lot of

people feel the same way that I do that this team honestly is really far away from what we thought

this group could be especially with all the hype because this is not from yesterday or last

week or last month within talking 2026 since 2018 when this was announced right and then we started

labeling this kid as the goal this kid as the golden generation and we hype everyone that comes

through through that pipeline so it's it's it's truly disappointed hopefully I'm wrong they have

a great World Cup but obviously the vibes are not are not great right now. Yeah. Brianna did you

have an answer? Just like well yes around around a 16 I think this is success and I want to be

like optimistic like heading after that so I'm going to set the bar low and then be excited about

it because I'm always rooting for the US but to the point about confidence like obviously I don't

know anything about coaching I've never been a coach but as a player you want to play every player

to their strengths and let them do what brings out the best in them on the field and this experiment

didn't seem like they did that and like if you want to have a team ticking in the way that they

need to be at the level and the intensity that they talked about ahead of a World Cup like confidence

is everything because you have to be like as an attacker you have to be willing to go out people

want to be one on the dribble and create opportunities to score and I didn't feel like we saw that

out of policy who we've relied on for so long to be like a spearhead of this group. And even if

and even if like okay because they played well in the seconds of this maybe it's not an experiment

maybe he does use it. Patrick Aja Maung and Ricardo Papi they've not been here before so let's say

you end up in a situation where you need them. Having played 60 minutes against Portugal or

having success against Portugal could be the difference in their experience between being confident

in a World Cup round of 16 match or being forced into the starting lineup or maybe you decide

that the matchups better right maybe you look at things and you say against Australia we're going

to start Aja Maung because it's going to be physical and the centerbacks are tall and we want someone

who can deal with that and we maybe we don't want to have Balagin sort of like worn down by that

experience in the middle of the group stage. And these this is an experience that you kind of didn't

get for those players which is where I thought the rotations in this game. Now I would say you did

with Aiden Morrison smash and Burrhalter. I think they got a chance to play against one of the

best midfields on the planet Michele was texting about Vittinia and how perfect every touch is and

how beautiful everything he does is he's he is like watching a little fairy float around on the

field he's incredible and I think Aiden Morrison Burrhalter can look at themselves and say we stood

up against this and we belong on the same field as them and I think that's a huge step for them. I

think Chris Richards had another another really good night. We're not 100% sure who his partner is but

at least we've got one of the pieces locked in which maybe wasn't the case in the past and I think

there are other pieces you could say had good games coming out of this but it's nice to have as many

of those as possible heading towards a world cup and I'm I'm not sure that that's the case coming

out of these two games and I think I think you you mentioned a word that is key it's confidence right

and we are clearly not seeing the best not not even close of the best version of Christian

politic and you see it on the field he's not confident he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't it seems

that he doesn't trust himself at some moments of the game and it's not new with the USMNT we've seen

the whole year with Milan something clearly is happening there and at the end you mentioned

Berhalter and Ada Morris and Christian Roldan or or Johnny Cardoso the last that the first

especially the first half against against Portugal but at the end at the end this team is going to

live or die with what your best players do and those are Antonio Robinson Christian

politic in Wesson McKenny this team cannot allow itself for or this team cannot survive if they

don't have an A game against this type of competition right so after these two games I don't believe

the confidence is super high and and and and and I think that's that's a that's a big big problem

because it's also part of the intensity discourse from Pogetino the great what he wants to see on

the field I don't I if I would have to bet if I'm Pogetino right now I'm more I'm right tonight

right now I'm more I'm more concerned with that that with the soccer itself and and and that's a

huge problem when when when when the next combo it's it's it's a workup already yeah and I think

you could say the two goals you know one comes out of a mistake then a few players are out of

position against the ball and rest defense that you didn't think what happened because you're

still in your build out and you know it's great Bruno Fernandez is a great player it's a back heel

that I don't come or it feels like what else is he going to do it's like yeah but no one else

executes that there's like seven people on the planet that execute that and the finish is good

and then the shall feel at school I mean we're gonna you text me like crazy he had the time but

he also hits it pretty perfect I mean he hit it perfectly but for the ball to bounce inside

your 18-yard box on a set piece is unacceptable the first player that's closest to the ball has to

get something on it to either block it or to make sure he doesn't even get the shot to begin with

yeah because you could see that they were set up so one of the things that we talk about as

players is being suspicious having your head on a swivel seeing where the areas of danger are

and if you have them at the top of the box like he's a player to be wary of and those are the

intensity things about this game where it's like that feels like not everyone's turned on even in

just setting up marking I think everyone on the US was in a line across the six and there was four

Portugal players on the top box which means I get it zonal but multiple US players are in the same

zone then you have to think on the fly and you have to be able to adapt because even though you

were told like the assignment is the zone these players are intelligent enough to identify where

open space is to get a quality attempt on goal and and they did just that and so those are the two

goals and you know I don't think anyone walks away saying like oh wow shall feel explored and

that's a total failure I think for the US the chance is to be created and you mentioned a brand

of like that half bit of clean touch or preparedness that first chance for a policy like it's slow

and then he chooses to hit it with his right because it's more comfortable the the window is with

his left like there was no space coming off that left side for him to hit the shot with his right

foot and get it on goal and it's like are you locked in and ready and prepared for a chance to fall

to you two minutes into the game it didn't feel that way for him although I thought trusty did

really well to step forward and and build that play thought him and Freeman had some really nice

moments overall in this game okay big thoughts anything that we haven't hit yet before we get into

some of the wild games over the course of the day Michele you can go first so we can avoid talking

about Italy as long as possible I think this issue is going to get resolved a little bit hopefully

knock on wood when Tyler comes back with Tyler Adams comes back and he's and hopefully again

knock on wood he's healthy for the World Cup because against Portugal and against Belgium on the

first goal I think the US suffers a lot when it's time to to defense in transition transitional

defense like I mean it's it's not looking good and and their highways especially against Portugal

you saw it on the midfield right and and pochettino said it like on at least on two or three goals

the midfield didn't do a good job covering for for for for for the for one on on one side for Jedi

on the other side from from where I think that's gonna get better obviously when when Tyler Adams

gets gets healthy and I don't I don't know man I don't I don't know and I've been trying to get

thoughts on this but I don't know how Yunus Musa just became completely invincible for

for pochettino well he's invisible at Milan and Alalanta so it makes it a little bit harder he's been

playing at Alanta a little bit the last few weeks and I think Yunus Musa on one leg it's it's a

better option that a lot of things that that we have right now without feeling disrespectful that's

that's that's my belief especially in that area of the field when when we are lacking physicality

intensity and especially when you get the ball knowing what to do with it and this is an issue that

I that that that I heard you were talking with with with with with Doyle after Portugal

Johnny Cardoso doesn't give you that if Johnny Cardoso has to turn with the ball most likely you're

in trouble or it's gonna be in trouble Yunus Musa is it's and and and I think it's the best ball

progressers in and it's not the best in in the whole in the whole group but clearly pochettino

doesn't see anything on him and I think that's a big miss on his part so hopefully when Tyler

comes back and he's healthy this is gonna get better but the midfiel is a big worry for me right now

before you go right I just want everyone now I'm watching Canada in the background and every

Jesse Mars game is like every player's hair is on fire so if you thought the transition defense

was bad it could be technically worse although maybe on purpose if Jesse Mars coached this team

yeah I definitely agree with that in the midfield I think McKinney's at his best when

Adams is on the field because Adams that stay at home six who's going to be box-to-box covering

ground winning balls and then distributing starting the build so I feel like that was definitely

missing at times today but it is sad to see a player like Musa fly under the radar because I think

he just does such a good job with his positional awareness like when there are gaps on the field he

fills it and then in the build the way he positions his body so that he can play forward or has his

head on a swivel so he can play around the man and then moves again to get it because progression

is not just making the pass it's advancing with it to get the team forward so that they can build

in numbers in the attacking third and it felt a little bit disjointed but again like a world cup

you need players who are gonna play all 90 minutes they can't just be on one side of the ball and

he's someone or Adams or someone that is going to fight tooth and nail to make that last

ditch defensive effort to clear the ball out of the box and it just seems like we are missing that

but hopefully push the no can find a way to plug those holes ahead of the world cup because at this

point we're we're at the moment that it's going to count still a lot of work to do as we've heard

he will not be calling in extra players to that camp going into the world cup so we're gonna get

the 26 when we get the announcement if everyone is healthy there are still some question marks

at the bottom of that reina got what about 40 minutes all in across the two games we don't expect him

to play a ton with his club team so we will see what that means to put you to know what he wants to do

some question marks on the back end of what the options will be at center back at center forward

and then sort of who will be the mix in that central midfield i have to think barhalter did

himself a couple of favors i think he safely on that roster now and now it's can he push for more

playing time especially getting the opportunity coming out of being the sub to start in that second

game and get a ton of minutes over there i cannot even explain to you what is going on in this

candidate game it is so unhinged it was a three on oh break for Tunisia i don't know how that

happened and someone recovered and was able to block the shot for canada and then they all got

up screaming and everyone's pushing each other it is like red bull to the core at this thing

let's jump in though to our to the best things we saw around the world as we got through our qualifying

i decided i wrote down we'll do this like when you have a kid you eat your vegetables first

then you get dessert so dessert is going to be the good stuff which means mikaela we could start with

Italy you kind of already put some of it out there the frustration with the talent level now i

don't know that the italy us compass perfect mainly because they're coming from two different spheres

but two year point about where they sit right now this is the third shit world cup they failed to

qualify for they took a one zero lead best only gets the red card early for kind of a moment of

madness on the tackle and at that point they kind of did everything you'd hope for and it just

wasn't enough across what a hundred minutes playing down a man 89 minutes whatever it was

of course we're going to we're going to just see two ace game and blame bastoni or blame moise

again that he had the one-on-one against the keeper when the game was one zero to put it away to zero

and blame it on them or blame the two players that that missed the peak case or blame it on the

referee for not taking a red car at same play as bastoni but but that both the defender got a yellow

car etc it's been three world three world cups in a row and this is a systematic problem

that compared to a us and credit to a us when it happened for russia 2018 change were made

in italy changes were made the same federation the same people that were in charge

of destroying the italian soccer pipeline and the way the teams work with youngsters

and the academies and and everything around and you see and you see it saidia was the best

league in the world during the 80s or in the 90s or early 2000s and now it's what the third

fourth best league if in in the world it's and it's sad to see that that the same mistakes are

being made and nothing happens I think that's the biggest frustration that you see it and and

everybody knows what the solutions are but the same people are still in charge the same people

that were in charge 12 years ago when it first happened I'm happy that I was a functional adult

when italy was I saw I saw my nation and my team win a world cup in 2006 I was 22 years old

there are kids in college right now or getting into college that haven't seen italy in the world

I think I produced there Douglas put together something the driver for

Kimi Antonelli yeah Kimi Antonelli has been alive with italy playing a knockout game let alone

winning they haven't played a knockout game since they won the 2006 World Cup final the last game

that Italy played a World Cup was when Luis Suarez beat Kalini that's that's insane so

time ago yeah it's but again we're not even going to get into the fact that you probably don't have

a kind no I do I do remember that I do remember that was probably the first World Cup that I can

remember but but sees it's not the three World Cups that Italy has missed if we go back it's it

it was after the generation that won the 2006 World Cup then those players start to to

retired 2010 out of the group stage 2014 out of the group stage and then the next three you

didn't qualify yeah so it's actually five World Cups right in a row that Italy has been a mess

and not even qualifying so again this is our I could be here all night but um but at the end I

think it's uh developing talent in Italy teams don't trust the youngsters and I was talking with

um I think I saw I put it in in the group chat that yeah one of the group like I'll give an

example Brianna there's there's a super talent called Francesco Camarra he's 17 years old and he's

already scoring goals for the U21 at 17 he started last year with 17 16 he's he plays at Milan what

does Milan do they loan him to leche to sign Santiago Jimenez the mexican striker instead of giving

the the youngsters who's already scoring for the U21 for the national team the U21 and he's

considered the biggest talent that has emerged in Italy in the last uh decade right so there's

there's an issue with the clubs developing youngsters and when they strike gold they they haven't

been able to to manage it right today the best player on the field um was uh um I'm blank in the name

the the the right back that came in the second half is 21 years old palestra he's again one of the best

young players in elady everybody was begging the coach to put him in starting but no he has to start

on the bench because the mediocre 32 year old that plays at his position has to play above him

is that a cultural issue though it like that's maybe like maybe that could be an issue like a

cultural issue where you've heard it's not a cultural issue it's a it's a it's a federation issue

it's a people in charge issue because when Italy pirlo goto so that generation that won the

2006 World Cup they won a European U21 so there was a a structure that was developing talent

and given that talent the opportunities at clubs at teams now it's it's it's it got lost somewhere

and the people making decisions are they are it's it's sad it's sad because I don't know this is

I only care about one soccer team and it's the the Italian national team it's it's it's everything

for me and again I was lucky to see them winning a World Cup and then winning a Euro in 2020

and but it's it's frustrating that that a World Cup that now has been played in a backyard and

I could have seen my national team live I don't get the opportunity so again I won look too long

here already one of the things that's mind blowing and you said okay Italy's not better than

Bosnia and Wales and named other teams which you could argue about on each one they're not

worse though and you'd think you'd accidentally pack into results over the course of if we take

all five 20 years and then the part that is so wild is that they won a European championship in

the middle of all this you have no idea what you're supposed to do with that like in the context

of all of this it felt like they played to young players right they pushed borella through and

yeah time kiesa and whatever and they want a thing and then it all fell apart again

there's also an issue with with the league and the way that italian teams play and those players

like borella like kiesa like i don't know like calafiori like pastoni etc most of them play in the

italian soccer league and the league by itself and and and and the way that teams play and the way

that teams are developing players the league it's a very slow league and when and you see it now

when the italian teams go to play european competitions they get annihilated physicality the pace of

the game now the the italian the italian teams have been have been how do you say it like they

they they they have lost grounds on on that sense right and that has translated to the to a national

team and and now you see for example who's the best defender in Italy right now calafiori he plays

in arsenal he's used to to the to the intensity to the to that next level right the rest of the team

plays in the italian um in the italian league and and then the league has started to fall down

at the level of playing intensity physicality etc and then when you go compete and like you

went on to compete in like hostile environments like today and then top of that you don't have the

mental strength to manage the pressure because you are freaking Italy and you saw it on their faces

every guy except on Ali that plays in the Premier League when they were to take the p-case

you could see it in their faces they were gonna miss they were scared and then you see the the

Bosnian players yesterday yeah we got this we got this and then you you have you have that mental

blockade that you have that history on your back and you didn't make it again so today you were

fighting Bosnia you were fighting the hostility you were fighting playing away you were fighting

the lack of talent you were fighting against those ghosts of what Italy was right a four time

world champion and now those players are also dealing with that and it's it's it's just it's just

it's just a perfect storm and hopefully something changed i'm not expecting anything to change and

that's that's that's all i can say do you think we'll see more of an influx of player like

of a salient players going to the Premier League hopefully hopefully because well the first thing

that i want to see is changes internally right i want to see the italian league being the best

league in the world again i want to see the teams working the academies and at one point we had

Roberto Bajo Francesco Toti and Alessandro del Piero in the same 11 or backline was Fabio Canavaro

Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini like what where's that talent development now it's it's it's

we have one world class player and it's the guy on on on on goal which is to Naroma that you can say

he's the best goalkeeper in the world the rest we have a zero world class player that that's

something that that that it's unforgivable in embarrassing for for for a country like Italy

and that's in at the end is talent talent talent talent um all right well now now that we got that out

we can go we can go into some of the fun stuff and some of the good stuff i will say this one of

the most ridiculous parts of the this week as i tried to process it was the draw occurred for this

UEFA playoffs and somehow the scenario was the team that won in one of the single eliminations would

host no matter what so you had all these teams go away in the first game win and then they host

the second game like Bosnia Herzegovina was not considered good enough to host the first game

against Wales but then no matter what if they won they'd win the second they'd host the second game

we saw that with coach well i don't even understand how that happened i've literally never seen

this before in my life where it's like oh yeah no matter what the team that wins on this side

then why would they not have been drawn against one of the worst teams but that is for another day

uh on another topic let's do the best things we've seen over the last week uh in the world of soccer

i will give michelle a little breathing space here so we'll go to some other topics first Brianna let's

start with you uh it would definitely have to be the Denver summit game um seeing over 63,000

people at an end of his cell game is super special um i my first end of his cell game is actually in

2013 um i went to a Portland Thorns game when i was at a youth national team camp and

i don't think i like i don't think i knew that like women's professional soccer was relevant

um so to see the first like the end of his cell come together and people really get behind

and support it and then see an organization like Portland at the time was so special so now

all these years later breaking records in massive stadiums it was just really empowering to see

how far this league has come um and see so many different soccer fans across the country

just support it in a way that it deserves so um it gave me hope um for where we're headed and

my greatest hope is that this summer we can continue to capitalize on on like the world cup coming

and just the growth of the game and hopefully that will um parlay into the women's game as well

and it continued attendance uh i love having it on this show as one of our co-host but i'm going to

do the player thing now and ask you like what was the vibe across the league for players who weren't

at this game like talking about this and experiencing it from afar well it's it's more like a sense

of pride so i'm actually a part of the end of his lpa and we talked about like you know field standards

like when my first year in the league we were establishing a cba and um at the time we were playing

in like minor league baseball fields so um for them to be playing in colorado at the bronco stadium

which is so cool um and it makes it makes us want to do the same things at our own clubs and push

our own ownership groups to help us make this marketable but again we have to continue making the

product on the field exciting i think the only drawback was i wish there were goals in the game

because you know 63,000 people seeing his zero zero ties it's never exciting but um i think

there was just a men's pride just for the players that got to experience that for the players that

were honored i actually heard that Kristen Hamilton she was honored um as one of the players from

Denver um and obviously she had such a great career in the end of the sell so just to see the way

they gave an ode to the past but also our celebrating the future was really beautiful thing so yeah

our walked past the group of Kansas City current fans in the tailgate outside the stadium

and i wasn't like shocked 63,000 you know it's coming like people travel and as i was walking

i looked back and i realized they all said Hamilton and was like oh okay that makes more sense

than the casey current fan section at the Washington spirit Denver opening game um but yeah

i think Jordan said it was 32 different players from Colorado history who had never gotten a

chance to play professionally in front of their home fans that got a chance to be at the game

for this so setting the attendance record Jordan went through we recorded our synchronized

episode earlier all the records they set because it's basically the highest attendance for any lead

game in women's soccer history there are championship finals and world cup finals the Asian cup

final in Sydney was i think 80,000 last week when Japan upset them but to have like a regular season

game for any team anywhere on the planet it's the largest crowd in history and this is the third

straight year that the records have been set so feels like there's a clear runway for the next record

to be set at some point soon so it is an awesome one Michele you wanted to follow up i think with

some end of the result i'm gonna stick with the end of ESL i'm sorry Briana i'm gonna take

my San Diego wave signing Katarina Makario great news incredible news amazing news

three wins in the first four games i for people that don't know i used to live in San Diego i was

there when the wave uh were founded i was a season ticket holder for the first two years and i

moved away i missed it a lot i'm so happy that we're back after uh terrible

couple of years uh but yeah it's incredible that that the team now made such a massive signing

is she now the largest paid player in women's soccer i think it's debatable but she's definitely up

there her and Trinity are one Trinity are definitely so it's it's and Bon Monte is up there too

and it's not that it's my team obviously i'm happy because it's my team but i'm really happy

that that type of investment if it's been done by by american team and instead of a european team

right because that in in the um in the last couple of years um it's it's been the european's

poaching then no it's that right and they took they took my goat David Briana they took my goat

my only now me i have nothing more positive things to say about Briana can i can i can i tell you

my my my hot take can i tell you my hot take i think i i think she's such a generational talent so

i i truly believe she's already the best defender american defender of all time well without a

no without a no whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa yeah with no no without a no this is a conversation

between me and Briana the defender of all time yes and i believe the others that would go up with

like christie rampon i'm back like captain and Becky yeah yeah and for me because defenders are people

too i think i think she's the best player in the world i don't care i don't agree yeah she's

unbelievable and watching her um in san diego was just incredible i i think in the mvp argument you

could argue she affects the game as much as everyone because when you play when she's in your team

you can press in certain ways you can leave you can push numbers in certain ways that no one

else can do we saw it with san diego we've seen it with the us as well even when the us has had

success without her you feel the difference of the way players can take risks and the

way she's able to erase um over the top although i will say can he wasly having a great year

can he is having a right here stand for a long just for killing the game right now uh he

starts out a pretty good year off some UNC players as well so you guys don't stop producing players

at any point uh okay i'm gonna go with mine which is about youth development in the us but on the

men's side uh and it's esmeral barric tear of it who not cuz michelle is here he was the best

player on the field in a world cup qualifier against italy to clinch a spot for bosnia and hurts

a govina to go to the world cup for anyone who doesn't know his family immigrated because of the

civil wars and came to the us and he was raised in wisconsin and he was raised in a bosnian family

raised in wisconsin played in the us youth systems we've all grown up and played in

spent a little time with the chicago fire and then a lot of time with the new england revolution

and he was part of a reset for the revolution academy which now we've seen not just him

what right we saw an old buck go to south hampton for a little while before he came back we think

paint miller uh is headed as well um and he was sort of the face of this but he is you know a kid

who grew up here loving his home country edin jacko his favorite player on the planet he got a

chance to walk on the field and score the winning penalty kick to get edin jacko to a last world cup

at 40 years old from an emotional point of view it is one of the best stories on the planet um and

this is also part of the success of the development that is shifted in the us we see it on the women's

side right the philippines just qualified for the world cup south korea all these countries are

pulling players from the us because development has gotten better and now it's happening on the

men's side as well and the best player and the most in talented up and coming player on now one

of the best nations in europe came purely out of the american youth system and not all of that is like

it's the youth system that created him but the fact that the pipeline exists for talented players to

be able to be found to be able to push their limits and get to the next stage which may not have

existed 10 20 years ago i mean you could think about how many players in was constant that were

talented that just didn't get the opportunity or didn't get seen in the past and now a bozzanine

kid can have the dream that he'll play in a world cup for his country and he can actually get there

through the the pipeline that's built um it was a pretty special moment and it was a cool part of

the day of like i covered this kid's youth 17 games and now he's scoring the winning penalty to go

to a world cup in u a for world cup qualifying eight and more as in Sebastian Brahalter i covered

them playing together in a u 15 game and now they're playing together to start for the usman's

national team so i think developments come a long way an incredible story for him um and it was a

really cool way to end the day for everyone who's not Italian for everyone his name doesn't end

in val i would like to add something real quick to that um with all these kids that are dual

nationals or had multiple options to pick their team and how important is to let them

do that because of all this stupidity that's listened in the last weeks about noakai banks

right especially from supposedly your best player of all time or the best american player of all time

anyways um how important is to let them be yeah it sucks that he picked boznia over over the us

as a usman but it's so happy i'm so happy that he followed his heart he followed what he felt he

felt both more bosnian than american and now and now look at him and i think we should never ever

put the type of pressure that some people are trying to put on banks to two kids like

like him yeah or you could love them both equally and you have to choose one and that's okay as well

i mean it's part of your heritage you can't just like an i1 part yeah um but i will say tagline

for anyone who hasn't listened to us before soccer wise kickback committee we are the show that

doesn't shame people for being dual nationals and having multiple national teams that they can play for

so that will be our tagline yeah that that can be our that can be the tagline of our show versus

other shows that are out there most most i had like five options yeah okay let's run through a

couple of these so we talked about boznia uh with the victory denmark missed three penalty kicks

after coming from behind twice across 120 minutes uh in their walk up qualifier at checker public

they got scored on in the fourth minute they had 77 percent possession on the road in Prague

they ended up scoring extra time chequeous scores again offset piece and then denmark uh equalizes

and then goes to the shootout in four shots christian ericsson was the only one to score and

all three other players missed uh i think on just drier shot was saved and the other two missed

the entire frame so not italy not the only country with heartbreak today uh as denmark not headed

to the world's cup then we had um kosovo losing to turkey uh one zero turkey scoring late in

the second half so now turkey will be the third opponent for the u.s. men's national team uh in the

group that will game will be in la to close out world cup qualifying boznia hurt to go vina by the

way they will play the open arrogance canada in toronto which if it had been italy was going to be

a scene on on its own as one of the biggest Italian communities on the planet outside of italy

and now it'll be boznia hurt to go vina which i assume will also be a vibe uh maybe all of

smr barrack teravitches family friends and entire town of wisconsin will drive up through the

border and go to this game and then the last qualifier was sweet and knocking off poland

this game went one zero one one two two uh and then finally three two with gorkras scoring the

winner for sweeten this was a sweeten team that won one game across world cup qualifying but because

of the nations league they automatically grabbed a spot in this playoffs they beat ukraine in spain

because ukraine could not host in the first game and then again makes no sense to me then after

being on the road they go home and they host poland in this game and they win three to two and then

the only other result we have right now is d.r. kongo scoring an extra time against jumeka down in

guadalajara uh to make it through to the world cup so the reggae boys are out and we are still waiting

on the result from the iraq bulivia game which will be the final spot to put into the world's cup

so a lot of results there a lot of drama over the course of the day besides smr barrack teravitch

anything stand out to you guys i'm very excited about turkey usa because like obviously saying turkey

i wanted to see like a good matchup because i have tickets to that world cup game so i think

that'll be a good team to face um i mean they've got a lot of talent and it'll yeah

there'll be a good way for the u.s. to see where they stand i think the group got

severely more difficult now for the u.s. m.n.t because turquets legit and they have a lot of talent

a lot of young talent yieldees uh are the gulair just too up top gulair got in a fight coming off

the field not in a bad way like he was fiery in this game and sad for jameka my guy am fray he

come on to to the game um he played i think he came up like 87 minutes or something i was talking to

him before the break i i did the new york city Miami game here in new york and i had a chance to

speak to him he was excited and hopeful to join the team and qualify for the world cup uh um bomb

for him and for jameka but um well yeah i think i think i think the uh the u.s. m.n.t group it's

it's it's gonna be more difficult that people realize uh but a wiser good team turquets are

really good team and i don't know what to make of australia but yeah i mean it's it's it's kind of

a walker right yeah um for jameka obviously heartbreak for them for dr kango first time they've qualified

for the world cup since they've been named dr kango first time as a country really since they

were zayar in 1974 um so a huge moment for them they were the dominant team for this entire game the

crowds have been awesome in mexico if you're sitting there thinking oh i'd love to hear more about the

iraq game uh we have someone at the game velar shabilla who has done a lot of stuff with us he's

iraqy american he is going to see them play in person for the first time in his life by the time

he left bagdad they were not really playing games they have not played anywhere close to the u.s.

since then so he is down in monterey he texted me he's gonna send us some videos and footage we're

gonna run it on first touch tomorrow but he texted me and said monterey's amazing the mexico fans

are amazing if he rock qualifies i'm moving here so uh we may not be getting it back after this

but either way he's having a blast he's been posting videos about like being in the rock fan and

and the comment section have been flooded by mexicans with advice of where to go and what to do

and they can't wait to root for them um so i think it's going to be a pretty special game to close

out the night and that will be the final spot at the 2026 world cup to be filled so for to help

everyone one of the things we've been working on is sort of a guide to how to pick a second team

for the world cup even if you are locked into one team there are 48 of them now there's gonna be

four games a day all through the group stage and you're gonna want someone else i think to root

for in whatever way you want to so we've been brainstorming with all of our co-hosts that we

rotate through kickback community which by the way so zana fuller is not here because her husband

is coaching in the u.s. open cup which i probably should have had that up they were down to

nine men and into stop it they won in penalty kicks after getting two red cards against ashville city

they finally got a win so congratulations to one nox and to sezana and Ian on that side but

they've been going through sort of how to pick your second team and i was curious if you guys have

ways that you go about this do you have second teams already locked in i'm kind of a bit of a

cliche and there's always a team i can find that fits into my sort of barriers but

Brianna do you have a way that you go about being like yeah i'll root for them

i think this world cup is unique just because i got to meet people from different

federations as a part of the united bid so i'm rooting for north america okay i think we're

entering the you are captain planet on this we're we're entering the most exciting era of football

in north america with the next couple years so my hope is that it would become the number one sport

in this part of the world so i'm rooting for us first and then canada and mexico second

okay so either of them were or any of them were to win it would be a win for me

if they were to play each other how would you go about that

um well my two buddies alfonso and diego like i guess alfonso will hopefully be playing in the

world cup so i think it would be candid at first then then mexico okay all right i think that's

a fair way to go about it mekele you've got like 500 teams now okay half i have all 48 to pick

obviously i wish the best to us minty but i'm gonna root hard for colombia i have i have a

growing up for people don't don't know geographically colombia and venezuela have always

historically be brothers brothers and sisters um and i grew up part of my childhood was in venezuela

and i grew up in a house where um i had colombian neighbors neighbors and their kids were like

my age so we play soccer together and that was the time of the best national soccer team that i've

ever seen in my life the colombian 93 94 the that if people please go and watch those highlights

for example that team beat argentina 50 in argentina before the world cup 1994 um and then you can watch

the 30 34 30 uh the two ask of ours the two ask of ours to explain what happened and why

that team failed at the world cup but that was peak valderama peak trend valencia peak everything

and that that that's the best national team i've ever seen uh play and i've always had like a

rooting interest in colombia because of my childhood and my friendships and hopefully they have

they have uh the breakthrough tournament that they've deserved because that's a nation that has

so much talent and they always like coming up um it's gonna be hard because i don't think

that team is as good as the one that playing in cop america um in in 2024 that reached the final

and lost to argentina but it's kind of the same group hopefully they get they get good results but yeah

colombia so i love that one and although they don't have the bezarepas because the bezarepas are

Venezuela and they pass i highly recommend it for you guys to try colombian arepas and of course with

with all the respect priana uh colombian women wow i love you all you don't have to all do respect

just because you like to say well i'm from a lady here i'm i'm just i'm just i'm a gentleman

i'm a gentleman so here's the only thing i'll say colombian arepas are sweet corn right yes

Venezuelan too i mean there you can it can be i mean there's there's corn flour yeah yeah

but there's a way to make them sweet yeah i find that most of the rapes i eat for colombian

the difference is what one is stacked on top and the other one is made as a sandwich

yeah and and this and the sweeten and the sweet one it's it's depends of it's where you eat it

geographically um in Venezuela it's like in the south you you find more like the sweetarepa but the

main difference is in Venezuela you open it and you stuff it in colombia you put it on top yeah like

like i like uh yeah to start yeah yeah yeah yeah um you're preaching the choir here another

that i've lived in Miami that's where food has been established as my favorite food

reading tecania it's like five times a week at this point which is getting a little bit dangerous

so let's say you don't have a team locked in regarding you're not already rooting for the two

you're rooting for mekela you're not do you prefer an underdog do you prefer a favorite and a team

you know has a chance to win is there a style that you look for like how would you go about picking

a team you'd root for it would definitely be an underdog or like a federation that's made like

a historical amount of investment in their team so like maracos one that's come up on both the

memes and the women's side um but yeah like i like a compelling storyline where you've got some

star players but you've also got a young and upcoming group that's like got something to prove

so i think that would be like my marker of a way to decide which team to root for

okay mekela do you like to go with a favorite um

that you're telling me do i prefer to watch the favorite i mean some people like this is what i

would say as i'm trying to help people pick their i don't i don't people are like i don't want to

pick a team that's not gonna be there in the semis and i want to root for a team that like i know

has opportunity to win i mean i i have a dark horse for the world cup which is Norway i don't know

okay i don't think you're gonna say it's a good pick but if you're asking me when it's

quarter final semifinal the final i want the big teams like i'm not it's it's the same thing with

march madness i want duke i want kentucky i want i want i want the big names you can on the final

you can say you and see you and see is one of that you don't want you you and see you don't want it

no we want that we want that we want the best team okay answer

rianna rianna is a UNC grad oh okay so so we want we want the we i want the final to be

you want France England yeah and i mean again i i'm rooting for Colombia Norway but

at the end i want i want the big ones i want okay i want the big ones i'm with rianna i want

the underdog story i would if we could see a Cape Verde um i don't know Cape Verde

Japan final i would take it where does um argentina and france like the world cup final

stack up for you all and all the finals that you've seen because i mean that was that was one

that i can remember clear's day i think it's the best one of time yeah i think that might be

the best final of all time yeah yeah to have it be that open to score that many goals um i think

you'll probably will probably look back and say and bobay was before his pure prime and messy

was just after but you still have two of the players of their generation facing off against each

other which is just so rare of you know having that opportunity to have like sort of the next guy

go up against the last guy and messy having to get over the top so yeah i would say that that

is the best final that i've ever seen from like a pure game and it might be the most dramatic we've

ever had yeah i was i was actually watching the highlights of the game he came out on a real or

something the Emiliano Martinez safe the one that at the end it was at last minute of extra time

well isn't france down to zero like the eighty-fifth minute yeah yeah it was it was something

absurd so i think it also the at the adding ingredient of messy winning it and and shorting

down the goat conversation uh forever yeah and then or having them buffet winning back to back

and and become this extra terrestrial thing that at twenty four years old has to work up sort

something or even younger i think about it was like what twenty what twenty i don't know he's so young

so and and the amount of goals the excitement yeah i think for sure it's in my opinion the best

yeah and this is from someone who roots readily and watched them with

because that actually does um back your point about seeing the best teams play because it's

you want to see the best talent you want to see the best players and they put on a spectacle for me

if we're talking not final the best game that i've ever watched on a world cup it's not actual

the final is the two thousand and six semi final that Italy beats Germany that game was

with look at Tony and then that game if you can't find the highlights it's it was just two teams

that were and it was the first time that you saw italy that actually it's like okay we're not

the same defensive Italy right now we're we're gonna match your intensity and your offensive

game and actually i remember marcher olipi coming into extra time he took a defender out

and he put a striker in and everybody was loosening their minds it's like oh no we're going for it

and yeah and obviously that's the last the last great team that have Italy ever put on on the field

so so let me give you the last few things we have in here that people have thrown in and if you

have any ideas of things you'd like to throw in to help us what we're gonna do is one of those

charts where it's like does this matter to you if so then you move towards this team so walker

said underdog story like ability Doyle said cuisine of the country and style of play on the field

and then Suza's mother has said best looking manager those are the things that they've landed on

we've talked about music a little we've talked about whether you've traveled to the place or not

or no people from there i clearly mccalei that's a connection for you is there any other category

that you sort of throw out there to say this is something people should think through and we can

add it to our list that's the airport okay easiest to travel through yes all the all of the travel

nerds are gonna come out of the woodwork and start explaining to child's the goal would be like last

on my list okay good to know oh i'm passionate about airports um i don't know well i've been to some

international reports where i've been impressed so i shouldn't lie about that um mccalei i've always said

i in in life besides Italy or whatever i root for people so i i look for storylines for example

i was rooting hard for Jamaica because he on fry yeah no other reason yeah right and and i think

that those are like my the things that i that i look for like human stories and and and maybe players

that have overcome massive odds against and yeah i don't know or Bosnia boss i mean Bosnia just

you could do the transitive property you can keep rooting for the teams that beat Italy exactly

that means that means that Italy yeah that is really good eliminated but the next world of champion yeah

okay cool um well i don't want to keep you guys for too long so thank you for being here um thanks

for hanging out mccalei it's always a pleasure to have you Brianna you are in the midst of a season

last time we talked to you you had just moved to Chicago um it has been up and down start to the

season for you all on the field what is what have you made of your experience so far before we get

out of here and have you checked things off your Chicago bucket list yes i did go to on this

Chicago architecture tour was it wonderful it was it was wonderful and it was on a such a beautiful day

my parents came to visit it was actually the um the home opener weekend where we beat kc so

the wonderful weather was nice on a day so yeah i went i actually went the day before uh the game

and it was beautiful and then the following day it was like 19 degrees with wind chill in the ball

as far as white caps coming out of that lake no it was it was literally crazy i was i remember

driving to the game when we played against kc and i was like man like sure is looking choppy

things are not looking too hot for us um because the wind sir it's a real thing that is like

the third enemy like it's like you've got the the weather the the opponent and then the wind

a third factor yeah um but anyways like we were really stoked to get the wind um obviously the other

games haven't gone our way and we've led in a lot of goals but we're learning from those mistakes

and then hopefully when we get everybody back um things will be um going in a positive note so

so far i love Chicago uh things have been great uh the team has been they've been just been really

welcoming and um kind and i think we're gonna get better over the course of the season

the u.s. is playing their final quote-unquote send-off game there as they travel from the Midwest

to california just not a bit of a send-off um so we're hoping all get out there for that game so

we can see Brianna and we can see uh one of the great cities which i have not spent as much time

in as i would like the literal only thing i've done is go to one regly game go to soldier field one

time and then oh there's the boat tour and the boat tour is the best there's no better place in the

summer than chicago chicago in the summer everybody says that is the best place i've ever been incredible

everybody says that really they live there or not so i'm so excited to experience it i can't

wait to go to the send-off game um hopefully things will look a lot better in brighter

well you're only six weeks away from summer so at a minimum it's going to be the best place to be

in the world um when we get there so thank you to all of you who we here live with us um in the

chat thank you to frank as always huge legend uh Preston says England or Spain to win the whole

thing England just lost to Japan so you never know and i think Spain drew it Egypt today

so i guess either don't count march friendlies or you never know what's going to happen um i'm

sure more you see a bunch of things i would prefer if you didn't do the first one but uh what

whatever goes you whatever floats your boat use your option uh we've got more shows coming up

this week our NWSL show is going to come out on the sacrifice channels um later on wednesday

myself and jordan reminiscing a little on the denver time and then talking about a lot of what we've

seen we did our first power rankings of the season which we'll keep updating every week

going forward Doyle's going to join me for a little usm and t segment added to this um for some

reaction coming out of the camp and then we've got some interviews coming up for the mls weekend

that is coming back around the corner this weekend so thank you to all of you for being here

thank you to you too so much for joining me for this one um thank you to Douglas for being on the

six late into the night um and uh we'll talk to you all again very very soon