McKennie Flying High, MLS Transfer Fact & Fiction, and United Rock Arsenal | Unfiltered Soccer

I think it's brilliant what they're doing in Miami. Is it just simply the messy effect? Like, I'll give up my firstborn to go live in Miami and play with Messi? It's a good question. It's a fair question, right? This is a club that has had sanctions for cheating in the past. I'm also wondering if there's another side to this where, and I'm calling it like the messy mafia, where he basically goes, sit down, pour my mate. How much does the club offer you? Here's a pen. Sign the contract. unfiltered soccer with landon and tim presented by volkswagen volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in america and has proudly been a partner of u.s soccer for over five years welcome to unfiltered soccer presented by volkswagen he's landon i'm tim ld i'm bunkered in bro it's snowing no shit no time to get to the studio just at home it's wild i know you don't get oh i realize that's why you're not in the studio yeah yeah you're not allowed to leave when it snows I don't want to leave. I was I was I did that yesterday. I'm staying in. I'm bunkered into my wife is currently in Vegas with my son and his two friends for their birthday. We're all going. I'm flying this morning up to San Jose to go to this place called Crunch Labs with this guy named Mark Rober. If you haven't seen this guy like these people are crazy, dude. They live in this universe where he gets like hundreds of millions of views on videos. I'd never heard of him. But every 10 year old kid who's into engineering and science and all that loves this guy. But anyway, he was kind enough to invite us all up. So we're going up there, but I'm bunkered in because I have my two youngers. One of them was throwing up all night. Anyways, so we'll stop complaining, get to the good stuff. Follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Make sure you hit that subscribe button to the show on YouTube and make sure you follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you love what we're doing, please leave a review. We've got a big, big summer coming up. It's going to be a lot of fun. As always, you can email Jordan feedback at unfilteredsoccer.com to get your questions on the show. all right timmy what do we got today got a guest we got one of our favorite guests he is a writer for the athletic mls insider and all around good guy but big friend of the show we love returning champion that's right tom bogart welcome in we've got lots of things to pepper you with about mls man it's it's coming up hot and heavy how are you what's going what's going on guys i'm good i i am down the jersey shore i am also bunkered in we uh shoveled four times yesterday uh tim's good Landon, it's good to hear the parenting stories. My wife is expecting our first kid soon. So I'll keep some of those tips in the back pocket. My condolences. To serial complaints, and we'll get going from there. I love your Jersey Shore connection. It's amazing. Tom, do you go by Bogey, by the way? Do people call you Bogey? Yeah. I was calling you Bogey this morning. My dad had that nickname more than me, but yeah, that definitely stuck in the athletic arenas. All right. We're going to call you Bogey. Okay, let's dive in. So this TFC stuff with Josh Sargent in Norwich City, what's the latest? Why only Toronto? It seems like there's a lot of places that he could potentially go, maybe St. Louis now. I know they're from there and with Jal Klaus leaving, and we'll get to that. Why Toronto? Will it happen? What's the latest? Yeah, there's a lot to unpack here. So Toronto FC and Norwich have been negotiating over Josh Sargent since the beginning of December. Josh Sargent wants this move. He wants to return to North America for family reasons. Him and his family just welcomed their third kid. And this is why he didn't go to Germany when there was a bid accepted for Wolfsburg. If he was going to leave Norwich, he wanted to come back to MLS to North America. Toronto FC is what he has his heart set on. There's reports of interest from Nottingham Forest or some other places. Like, it's immaterial because he has made it clear to North City. He's made it clear to other clubs. I only want to go to Toronto. And a quick sidebar, you brought up St. Louis? Yeah, maybe. But this is all hypothetical. Like, well, this is not a team that spends the kind of money that it would require to either sign him both for a transfer fee or the salary. I'm assuming the club does not spend that much money at the moment. Toronto FC is the team that Josh Jarzler wants to go to. It is very fluid. There's a lot that we're going to get into. I'm assuming that it will happen eventually. Things are very tense, but it's starting to thaw a little bit. Okay. Interesting. Yeah, it's like Timmy talks about this all the time and how do you get a move and what way do you get it and how can you make it happen? And it seems like at this point they're doing fine without him now. Everyone needs to just move on and copacetically just get a deal done. So, yeah. So just to follow up to that, what's the temperature then like? Obviously things are thawing, but he's one of the highest earners, probably one of their best players. So they can't really – can they be seen to not play him or keep him in the reserves, which I know he's in the reserves at the moment until the end of the season? Because surely if they're not going to play him, they've got to get some money for him. Yeah, so their stance is obviously Norwich are digging their heels in the same way Josh Sargent is. The $18 million bid from Toronto FC that opened negotiations, Norwich are pretty much saying that's not enough. They've used the tack to go publicly and said, no, he's not for sale. He's not for sale. And then kind of in the same quote will be like, well, you know, definitely not for this price. So I think that that kind of lets you know where the status is. And Toronto's leverage is, one, he only wants to come to us. And two, there's a relegation release clause in his contract that he would either be, if not free transfer, very, very discounted from even the $18 million. I understand Norwich's position. They just had a bid accepted in the summer for $28 million, why they might want more. But, Tim, to your point as well, I think Norwich are prepared to say, like, fine, you can just stay in the U21s for the rest of the year and we'll pay you to not play. but again i really just think that all parties will uh cool off a little bit and uh if toronto raises the bid again i know that talks are ongoing again even when the club are saying he's not for sale talks are very much ongoing between toronto and nords so i think that um just logic should win out here but doesn't always happen that's interesting um what's going on with what happened with the tristan blackman stuff this was fascinating to me because it got announced that the deal was done and then you quickly jumped on it and said no the deal's not done and and now the deal clearly was not done um so what happened there and then is there still interest can that still happen will it still happen is it dead now where's that at so inter miami submitted a bid to the vancouver whitecaps of it ended up being around three million dollars which would be a league record for a center back moving within the league for the reigning mls defender of the year i'm told the first bid came in during the playoffs like this is something that miami was interested in like it wasn't after the final it was as they were planning for 2026 vancouver don't want to sell them they've been public about that as well saying we're not negotiating and and they're by the way being very very clear to say inter miami are not doing anything underhanded they're not they're they're being completely respectful they're allowed to bid for players and we're allowed to just not negotiate if we don't want to sell them so they were kind of clear on that um tristan blackman winning defender of the year. I believe he was like the 39th highest paid or 20. He was not one of the highest paid defenders in the league. And when you win defender of the year, obviously you're asking for a new contract. Those contract talks have not gone super well. And Tristan Blackman got to the point where he said, OK, like I'm supposed to show up for preseason. I'm not going to until I get a new contract. His holdout lasted one day, which probably doesn't help in terms of leverage for the contract talks continuing. But Vancouver Whitecaps are insistent he is not leaving they're not negotiating he will be here on opening day and let's see if they get a new contract done but he's under contract for another couple years as as people who have been in in and around this league for a long time i think this is sort of the next apron for the league and i really like it players the best player what mls used to be i'm not telling you anything you don't know tom is mls used to be oh you have a really good player well he's your player we're not paying for we'll go find someone else and well no tristan black news a really good defender so guess what go pay market global value for him and keep everything in the league circulating so i i personally like where this is going yeah but you can't by the way if you're vancouver you can't say no we're not letting you go and we're not paying you right at some point you got to say okay and there and there has to be real conversations that i think that's that's the next part of it right because that's how it happens in the rest of the world when you when you score 20 goals for for man united and you're on i don't know call it 50 50 grand a week and They won't let you go to Chelsea. They have to give you a contract worth $100,000 a week. That's just the way it works, right? Or else you're going to go. Anyway, so, all right, we're going to dig into this a little bit, Tom, and I need your expertise because it's a real talking point around the league. So Miami lost Alba, Busquets, but they've gotten better, I think, right? Sinclair, Reguillon, Ayala, Moura. Then there was the Dennis Buonga thing, which we'll get to. is there the talk around the league right is i love sir david beckham i love you know landon has an affinity for him too i think it's brilliant what they're doing in miami but my question is how is it simply is it you know no no one is accusing him of cheating but how are they doing this is it just simply the messy effect was like i'll i'll give up my firstborn to go live in miami and play with Messi because they're doing moves like other teams can spend money too. Other teams have shown they can spend money too. They're not doing these sort of moves. So what is, what's, how are they doing this? It's a good question. It's a fair question, right? This is a club that has had sanctions for cheating in the past. They signed Blaise Matuidi. They claimed he was a TAM player. He was actually a DP and it actually wasn't really close. And part of those sanctions, they had another player, a center back named Andres Reyes, who ironically wasn't very good. So he was their fifth designated player so it is fair i understand why people would ask but if for me it's more interesting to go deal by deal to either explain or have questions um so david ajala one of the new signings u22 player those players hit the cap at a fixed number easily explained done mikhail the center back he's on loan very easy to explain why you can get that done without being a dp deal because there's no transfer fee okay done german bertrambe the center forward, they're signing for Monterey for $15 million. DP, again, that's just money coming out of the owner's pocket. It doesn't have to do the salary cap. So those three are very easily explained. Dane St. Clair, free agency. Miami is limited to 90% of whatever Minnesota United ultimately offered Dane St. Clair. Again, another easy explanation. And we can talk about free agency stuff. Let's say, again, not to just keep using Miami, but Justin Hack was one of the most valued free agents on the market at in his entering his prime 24 career best season he signed a one-year deal with the la galaxy that's interesting miles robinson signed a short-term deal with fc cincinnati a year and a half later he's got a new dp deal because they weren't allowed to give it to him in free agency right like those those are fair questions but that's if that's what's happening with dancy clear i don't know that for a fact i want to be very very clear but if that's what's happening that's not a miami specific thing right sure so then you go you keep going further and the one that I completely understand is Tadeo Agende. Tadeo Agende was on loan last year making about a million dollars on the salary cap. He had broke a record for most goals in the playoffs. He ends up having, I think, 20 goals across all competitions. They have to sign him on a permanent transfer from Celta Vigo and give him a contract. So if he didn't get a raise, which you could ask, like, well, he just broke a record for MLS goals in the playoffs and he had a great season. Okay, let's say even he didn't get a raise. What would the transfer fee be? Because that gets factored into the salary gap. Allende is not a designated player. And we'll see when the figures comes out. I haven't heard personally what the transfer fee was to Celta Vigo. I haven't seen it reported in Spain. I'll tell you, that's also interesting. These things usually get reported eventually. So we need to find out what the fee is and what the contract is. Again, I'm not saying with any evidence that there's something going to work happening here. But when I talk to people around the league, that's the one they point at. They don't point at Bertram or Dane St. Clair or Mikael. Right. So with that one, with Allende, so if they had a bunch of – let's say the transfer fee was $3 million and his salary is one, so it's a $4 million nut altogether, and they had enough GAM. If they had $3 million a GAM, can they buy him down with the transfer fee as well? They can use that. I don't know the mechanisms. And not to bore everybody. I can already feel the plus 15, plus 15 for MLS roster rules here. But the way that the salary, the budget number is calculated is salary per year plus the transfer fee divided by advertised over time. Let's use round numbers, five million transfer fee and a five year contract. That means he can be paid about a million. Right. And so that's the argument for how it happens. But again, they are fair questions to be asking. Interesting. I mean, I'm also wondering if there's another side to this where – and I'm calling it like the Messi mafia where he basically goes, sit down, pour my mate. How much did the club offer you? Here's a pen. Sign the contract. A bit like Nottingham Forest if you've read the reports. And then Messi's just getting everybody – I joke. I'm joking. Yeah, but that is – I mean, that is a real factor. I mean, people want to play with him. Of course. And I don't blame him. can we move on to my guy um ricky pooch so you and i talked a little bit about this tom um what are the feelings around him and his future and then it feels like the stuff is a response to that um where where does that lie in general so ricky pooch uh it's heartbreaking man like one of the most talented and joyful players it's beyond his like quality and technical ability it's the way he plays it's how central he is to the galaxy not just their success but like the way that they play and man like before Messi arrived I think he or Danny Buonga my two favorite players to watch in the league and like he's still up there and he is one of the very very best players in the league tours ACL in the conference final in 24 he played another 30 minutes or so on a torn ACL. Set up the goal, the game's only goal, to get them to that last cup. He's rehabbing all year. He's supposed to come back by the end of 25, and he didn't, things got delayed. The Galaxy weren't very good, so they weren't rushing, and it turns out same knee, he needs another surgery this winter. He's out for the season, which is awful. The club are still firmly behind him. The club are still very much expecting him to be back in 27, and we'll be building around him again. They put him on the season-ending injured list, which takes away his, opens up rather, his DP spot at international slot. The club have now, are finalizing a deal to sign a Brazilian forward, João Klaus, from St. Louis. I'm told that's like a $2 million cash deal. And he will become the club's third DP, as far as I understand, unless that there's a new contract, which I don't think that there is. But my understanding and safe assumption is that he would be a DP for right now, which they're only able to do because they're opening that spot with Ricky Pooch's injury. And they'll change a little about how they play and and there's a conversation so they've signed justin hack they've signed uh traded for jacob glessis from the philadelphia union they're going to be better than last year greg vanney when he was with toronto fc in the like giovinko bradley altidore days he would kind of regularly go to a three at the back situation and maybe they could do that this year and and maybe that lessens the reliance on like a true number 10 because marco royce can still play in one of those forward spots but the team needs to change the way that they play because without ricky pooch there is no replacement correct yeah it's interesting because i always defer to landon who is is you know obviously a club legend there and has sort of his finger on the pulse but i i've said all along like it's devastating with ricky pooch but i don't i personally don't know if you can bank it if he comes back and he's brilliant amazing but i don't think you can bank on that so i actually think the pressure's on the galaxy to say let's let's let's get better let's be really good and by the way if he comes back and he's and he's firing amazing but like they have to sort of move on respectfully and then plug them in if things work and so that might mean changing tactics yeah let's let's stay out west um plain and simple where do things go wrong with with san diego fc and chucky lizano oh man so i don't have all the details on this but um so he was not thrilled with playing time um the genesis of him being suspended was it things were building throughout the year it was more or less like just the kind of the last thing that happened and it was a big explosion they were playing houston dynamo in october it's they hadn't scored any goals at halftime head coach mikey varus says chukisano you're out so taking you out the game chuki blows up screams at him and and and and within the locker room what i was told is that it wasn't just a chuki versus mikey varus situation it seems that the other players weren't thrilled with his reaction. Ironically, Chucky Lozano goes out of the game. They score four goals in the second half. They did really, really well, kind of keeping this under wraps. Nobody even noticed because that went into the international break. Then the next game, Chucky's just not in the team. And it's like, okay, well, he's had hamstring issues. Like maybe it's either rest or maybe it's just a small tweak. And then like Mikey Vars just kind of says like, yeah, not interrelated. And then like that kind of set off alarms. And it turns out it was an internal suspension. He gets brought back into the group. But by the playoffs, like he's not starting. and San Diego are saying this is just like a personnel decision, that we don't see a prominent role for Chucky Lozano this year, and Chucky's going to want to be playing more ahead of the World Cup just in general. He was very productive when he was on the field I believe he had like 18 or 19 goal contributions and his underlying numbers were solid too So it has to be more about the personality side of things and the way it is in the locker room because he was a productive player. Maybe not quite up to the transfer fee and the salary that they were paying him, but I think it just makes sense for all parties to move on. But San Diego were in a really tough spot. He just signed this long-term contract, and the sporting directors come out, and I respect the transparency, but he's like, hey, he's not in the plans this year. So if you're – so Cruz Azul has been reported to be interested. Last I checked with San Diego a week ago or so, there hadn't been any contact from Cruz Azul. If you're another team that is considering Truiki Lozano, where would you start the bidding, guys? Because I would say free transfer, and we'll cover a million of his salary because we're saving you. You look at it as a sunk cost. If we don't take him, you probably have to buy him out or you just have to pay him no matter what. So we'll give you a million dollars every year, and that saves you money. So I'm very curious to see where this ends up. I respect the transparency too, but I think it was a mistake. I think doing it, you put that out publicly and now all of a sudden all your leverage, all of your leverage is gone, everything. You do it privately and say, look, we're happy with him, but, you know, it's just not the right fit, whatever. Let's get a deal done, whatever. But now when you say he's not in our plans and in that way, now it's, you have no leverage. And so it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. Well, it's what I always, what I always say in MLS, you can't miss on DPs. there's nowhere to put them anywhere else in the world you can miss on a big player you can you can shift them that's right my my pushback there like i i generally agree and and mostly that's correct but san diego did just finish first in the west because they nailed their other dp signing and and whether or not like i if they don't finish first in the west i don't want to see people taking like a victory lap like oh no they they were frauds or they weren't that good because literally any like back-to-back years having 60 plus points i believe before this year like maybe one team had done it in like the last 10 or 15 years so it's not it's not easy to say at the top like i think that they were completely for real but that doesn't mean that they're going to finish first in the last no no no i think what what yeah i agree with you what my pull my point is you can't miss on a dp nothing you can't be good they were good there's no there's no exit plan to get said dp out good point like you said you got to pay him up and you have to you have to imagine what could have been right had you got that i mean had you got anything productive at the end of the year out of that kind of money spent, right? And we'll see. Maybe they do get rid of him and then someone really big comes in. A couple more for you, Tom. Where do we want to go? Let's go real quick with the Wilfred Nancy stuff. When he went to Celtic, Tim and I disagree on all this. I didn't think it was the right thing to do. He said you have to take it. When he went, then when things went poor, we heard these rumblings of like, oh what maybe columbus want him back or maybe lafc were like shoot we signed mark dosantos but now we got wilfred nancy was there anything you heard behind the scenes where those were actual conversations thinking like shoot we might have this outside chance of getting wilfred nancy there's nothing that i heard that indicated that even on the columbus side um and i mean maybe that maybe somebody thought it and i just haven't heard it like that's obviously very possible but just from from my understanding there was nothing and and i think too for nancy he's he's a proud guy and he's determined um it did it went terribly right it literally could not have gotten worse at celte i would have i would be surprised if his next job is an mls and maybe that's a little naive from me because you'd be surprised if it is yeah because oh interesting again maybe that's naive because he could have his pick at any job he'd become one of the highest paid managers in the league he would um he would have a lot of control because of what he's earned what he did in columbus and montreal but he he's always wanted to go to europe he's always wanted this next step so for him to go to celtic and it go just disastrously after a month and then be like all right i'm back to mls i'd be a little bit surprised just from what i know about him but again that's probably naive because the most money and the most control and the most security would be an mls rather than going to mid-table the gun club yeah i just yeah i look i i don't disagree with you other than the fact that there is i say this freely there's global snobbery when it comes to when it comes to how people view american players and coaches who have based their success in in america whether you're american or not and then all of a sudden like like the easy thing to say is not to dig into him and go oh he's actually a good coach they'll go i had success in mls and failed miserably at done like they're just a snobbery around around global football thinking but yes uh i'd like to see him have success the only thing i'd say is um i don't see him going to a club in the in the uk again i don't i don't think that fans of any club like if a championship club try to hire him yeah i don't think that the fans would like to happen just because how bad it went at sure sure yeah that's right um all right last one for me uh tomas muller and and sunny came in um last year are there any big names that you're hearing could be potential moves this coming year either in the winter now or well it's almost done but or in the summer anything you're hearing behind the scenes yeah the robin levandowski chicago fire is very very real um they have the money they have the infrastructure now and they more importantly probably yeah that but but they have the team that's good and yeah greg berhalter and chicago have tried neymar and they tried kevin de bruyne they they were serious on both they weren't like the second team with with neymar but they were one of the finalists and he ends up going back to santos uh kevin de bruyne like if he like he they were second there and and there was there was a while where i thought that was going to happen so they have the money they have they have um the recruitment that they can do and talking to greg berhalter about that he's like when we go to like yeah we talk about the city of chicago of course we talk about our facilities we think that's top he goes we talk about the football like we talk about how you'd fit in the team why this would be good for you like low and dowsie you put him in literally any team he's going to score goals but for that team i think it'd be a great fit um they're not the only team that's interested in him in mls they would be kind of the first option at the moment and given the money the polish connections to the city that's something i would see getting done josh sargent i know we just talked about him um i think that there's going to be some surprises after the world cup because you're going to have a lot of guys who are just tunnel vision for the 2026 world cup and a lot of people will be here they're going to see the facilities yeah and you know i like i've talked to some of the teams that are hosting big countries at their training facilities and they're like dude like this is this is a recruiting pitch for yeah there's all these guys are going to get blown away by this so that's where i'm at i think that's great i mean lewandowski is brilliant i think you know having watched katie kdb for the last few years like That's a guy who just is – he'd never down tools. He'd be so good for a team like Chicago. My big question about Neymar, we know what a global superstar is. That would scare me. That would scare the life out of me to sign him just because of why everybody knows. You're like, what's the purpose of his coming here? But anyway, it's not our problem. That would be fun to watch. Last one that we'll get you out of here, Tom. Bulldog reportedly submitted a bid of $38 million for Ricardo Pepe. how how is that close is that what is that accurate where you where do you stand on this yeah yeah sources told me that that second bid came in at 38 million dollars around 32 million euros because the sides are close this bid is not enough but the way it was described to me is kind of figuring out final details and if fulham up their offer a little bit um and maybe work around with some add-ons or whatever like the machinations the final deal there's optimism that this one gets done and fulham are obviously a longtime suitor for ricardo pepe and obviously they really really want him not just for right now like he's got a broken forearm he's out for around two months right like for them to they submitted their first bid right before the window opened and since then is when he broke his arm and they're still pushing and pushing again so i would be optimistic that this one gets done but it's going to require a little bit more money from fulham and there's optimism and that's going to happen anything to get done before the before the window shuts yeah yes yeah great well let's hope so for everyone's uh everyone's sake it'd be great for peppy too but he's got to get healthy first and foremost yeah ld it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by coors light choose chill get coors light delivered go to coors light.com slash uslnt i was gonna ask you who chose chill But there's quite literally one person on the planet this week that chose chill. Only one, Timmy. That is the one and only Trinity Rodman who officially resigns now with Washington. She got paid. She got paid and becomes the highest paid player in the world, according to her agent. Who knows? That's real. I love that. I like it. She also yesterday in L.A. scored in her return to the national team and captained the team. You can call her Captain Trin now. honorable mention by the way and huge shout out to michelle king for ponying up the money i was at this event with her um in new york and they asked her at the end it was all these like donors prospective donors to to donate money to u.s soccer whatever and there's like is there anything you would say to everyone out here and she's like open your checkbooks get your checkbook out and start spending money and she did it she did it with trinity trinity congratulations to you um she's amazing to me we both love her yeah look i think that when when we talk to emma hayes and we look at look at trina robin and she went through some injuries it just it for me you can't and i believe this you know i believe this you can't treat every player the same some players get special treatment that's how it works and by the way you earn it and uh she's earned her keep she's quite literally changing the face of women's soccer. And we've seen a lot of women do that over, over time. And she is, she is the latest installment of that. So congratulations to you, Trinity. You got paid, you're playing, scoring, captain, long may that continue. Long may it continue. Cheers to you, Trin, for choosing chill. All right, Tom, thank you very much. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll be talking Ajemang McKinney, Reina and more right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannan and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen. All right, LD, one of our favorite segments, as always, USMNT on USLNT. Where do you want to start, kid? Let's look. Let's go to Pepe stuff. That was interesting, huh? It seems like it's imminent, like it's going to happen. What do you think? yeah i like it not like it i like you know i think ricardo pepe when he's healthy has shown at psv that he can score goals he can do the business whether that be as a substitute or a starter i think he's a starting player i would like to see again this is the selfish side of me i would like to see an american get a run in the premier league i think fulham's a really good club for him you know from a stroke from an out and out number nine they have they're trying to upgrade obviously Raul Leonez has done brilliantly for them he really has um but they obviously need to create competition they see Ricardo Pepe as the guy to do it um it's been a good fit for a lot of American players as well down the years so um yeah I like it I like it and again it's a it's you know it's the toughest breeding ground there is and if he can do well there he'll be off to something i really do want it to go well i do i don't want to be like a wet blanket um my concern is that so many people score goals in the dutch league yeah and then it doesn't transfer and i mean we can go through not only americans but i mean michael bradley scored like 30 goals in the dutch league right yeah so it doesn't always transfer because that league is sort of just made to attack and create um attacking players because then they want to sell them and it's just part of the ecosystem so i do want it to work i do hope it works um it's really crucial like it was for me having you there that he's got jedi there sure um if it happens that's a really really big deal that people don't think about so let's hope it works um i'm jealous he gets to live in west london i was in manchester for 13 years enjoy west london bro he's gonna love it um okay so patrick ajumang uh eighth goal of the season for darby eight goals and three assists in 27 games um actually first curious what the what you guys think out there have you changed your tune on him how do you feel about him um i know when he was at charlotte he was you know people had a lot to say about him when he's playing games for the national team you and i were much higher on him than than the general public but are you guys starting to change your tune a little bit and then timmy what are what are your thoughts now um where does he stand i guess in the pecking order too and we just talked about peppy sure well i think when you're in the position that we're in we oftentimes are asked or are willingly giving our opinion on everything teams managers players and i i was i was high on him for what he i thought i thought there was a rawness about his game but i thought there was definitely something um about adjaman that i really liked and and so in order to develop you have to take the next step right you have to go to the next step which is the championship can you perform there eight goals three assists in 27 games i believe that's that's a decent return and by the way we're halfway through the season right like if he if he even if he gets 12 goals this year and six assists that's a damn good season by the way yeah it is right and so first year yeah first year so i you know i i'd be again i'd be interested to see what our listeners think of course where do i where do i put him in the pecking order so if i'm saying you and I agree that Flo is first, right? I'll tell you what. I don't even care where I put him in the pecking order because I got Flo. We got Pepe. He's going to go to Fulham and bang in goals, we hope. Right? We've got Ajimang. Haji Wright. And Haji Wright. I'm thinking if those are the four that go to the World Cup and they all are singing a tune going into the summer, happy days, man. Because, again, I think they play differently. they're completely different and you know he's one stronger back to goal physical sort of battering ram at times but obviously clearly in front of goal you know he can pick he can pick out a corner so i'm i'm here for it he's on my roster all day long yeah because because the word i use with him is he's impactful doesn't always look pretty doesn't always you know you know show like he's you know flow or some like top top top class elegant striker but he impacts the game so much watching the final against mexico over the summer like he just really impacts the game so he's on my roster all day long definitely all day long a guy who has been incredibly consistent and probably the best player in syria over the last few weeks excuse me is weston mckinney and every time i look he's just been better and better he's man of the match he's playing well he's starting he's playing in different positions. His manager, Tim, however, Luciano Spoletti, advocating for Weston to play in a more offensive position, and he said, and I quote, McKinney is a perfect central striker. I don't know where this came from. He fights, he's strong in the air, and he can jump high. He plays to get results because he makes decisions. He would be a perfect striker. Thoughts? my thoughts are i'm curious to see what the next lineup is and if you place him at central striker so um yeah i'm not sure that uh i've ever considered him a striker i think he's a he's a midfielder with a with a nose for goal for sure um but i i don't know i i just love when he he is very polarizing weston bckinney and he's a bit of an enigma because he has these stretches where whether he goes to leads and falls out of favor uh you know with his with his manager at juventus and we know italian clubs they change their managers like their underwear right and so um it doesn't work out or the national team whether he's in or he's out he i mean you could argue ld we we always talk about christian palisic as the best out and out most talented u.s soccer player right now and and and he's he's there he's number one you can make a very strong argument that weston mckinney is in terms of talent and ability like if he were to play at his optimum all the time we would be having a completely different conversation about him because he's that good and he's that talented which is what he's showing in spurts and now he's maintained that consistency so he's for me it'd be hard to argue who's more talented on the football pitch. But I don't know if he's a striker. Does that mean he's going to play him there? Wait and see. This weekend we're going to look at that lineup and see if he's the number nine. The thing is you can't just all of a sudden start playing as a striker. There's so much nuance to playing in that role that you just don't understand. And for central midfield, look, I've played all over the field. When you're a midfielder, a central midfielder, or a wide midfielder, most of the time you're facing the goal. And when you're a striker, a lot of the time you're facing away from the goal. And that whole dynamic is very very different You see the field literally through a different lens because you don know what behind you when you a striker You don know Sometimes you turn and face up and you running and sometimes you just facing the field with your back to the goal And it's a whole different dynamic. And what Weston's really good at is arriving late, face it like Clint was, like just facing the field, facing the goal, and going and making plays. So it's just a bizarre comment. It's interesting. The only comparison, I don't have many, is at Arsenal recently, and I had a bit of a striker crisis, Mikel Marino, the midfielder, who admittedly said, I'm not a striker. Apparently, he was doing some wild crap in training, and they were like, yo, this guy could be our striker. And then he bangs in some timely goals for Arsenal as a striker. But that's just like a stopgap. So I think Weston will be in the midfield. But anyway, great that he's doing so well. Yeah, agreed. All right, let's do a little head-to-head. Let's pit two – well, we're not actually pitting them against each other, but two national team players playing in a similar position. And tell you – tell me, Tim, who is ahead on your depth chart, your personal depth chart. Let's start with Tim Weah and Malik Tillman. That's an interesting one. That's an interesting one. See, I don't personally see Tim Weah and Malik Tillman as a like for like. I mean, he could play in and around the same area on the pitch. They do different things for me. They do. And I feel like Way is a proper winger. You know, he's someone who's going to stay wide, cut in, get beyond. And he does it well. Malik Tillman, maybe he can do that and be asked to do that. He's really good in pockets, though, in terms of when you come from the wide area, like drifting inside, starting to make the game. Again, not that Timothy Way can't do that. Malik Tillman is just better at that. And I think Timothy Way is better at stretching the field. So ideally I would have them both in my team. Can we get them both in the team? I mean, you asked me to pick one. Well, if you had to start one, one's starting and one's not. Who are you starting? Probably Tillman. But again, I think that's just based on sort of like tactical formations, trying to get the ball and feeling like he creates more possession. But again, that's not a knock on Tim Ware. Well, I think, too, Tim Ware has been playing as a wingback a lot. And I think between Serginio and Freeman, that's covered. And I think we need more of probably what Tillman has. So I think I agree with that. Yeah. Speaking of Destin Freeman, let's do those two. You could also put Tim Way on that conversation too. Sure. Thoughts? I like what Alex Freeman's done over the last 12 months. um i i i think the i think serginio dest is i used the word enigma before he's still he's still someone that i i'm i like a lot of other people are just hopeful that and maybe this is a microcosm of a team where i'm thinking our team is really good like when they're all at it at their best clicking this is a really good talented team we don't see it often enough but they're a really talented team and i sort of feel the same way about serginio des like i think there's a lot more there i think there's a super talented player there can he match that with being fit and being driven and being determined and if so he's he's my starter yeah interesting i i think this is um not apples to apples but it feels like a similar trajectory to what DeMarcus and I had, Beasley and I had going into 2002 is every time Bruce gave us a challenge, we met it. And then another challenge, we met it. So we get our debut, we meet it. Playing the Gold Cup, we're great. Playing the friendlies, we're good. Playing the games before the World Cup and next thing you know, we're starting games in the World Cup. And it just feels to me now that Alex Freeman's on. Every time Pochettino gives him a challenge, he hits it. And I don't know how you keep him off the field right now. I think he's going to start in these games in March. and if he plays well i don't know how you keep him off the field he's been and that's just not that's not just me talking that's i think pochettino feels that way too sure it's gonna be really interesting to see because you don't want to leave serginio dust on the sideline either yeah all right last one here christian roldon or johnny cardosa who started for atletico this week and he started three of their last four games it's kind of like he's so weird because he kind of gets lost in all the fray the guy's starting games for atletico madrid i mean that's a real thing it's a real thing it is a real thing um you know neither of these players are starters for me so these are this is is this a squad question and if this is a squad question then it's christian rodan because uh yes he started for atletico um but but again i with with how i look at some of these players and their participation over the last two or three years it's stopped starting they've been in the nasty and they're not been and and they kind of disappear and then they come back it's hard to get a gauge on these guys it really is and i think again if that's the case it's what else do you bring what intangibles we know who christian roldon is we know what he's going to do pochettino knows what he's going to do so uh for me it's christian yeah i can't say it any better i totally agree all right i'll do it let's hit the uh premier league uh biggest game of the weekend oh yeah used to be the biggest game on on the calendar over the last couple decades. Arsenal, Manchester United. Arsenal was at the Emirates. It looked nailed on. Manchester United only in their second game under new manager, new head coach, excuse me, Michael Carrick. And they won. It was a brilliant win. Brilliant performance, by the way. Manchester United away. They won 3-2. Great game of football. I mean, you want to talk about like a throwback. They were building it up as like, where has this game gone? Well, it came back. It came back. I'm sure you watched it. but it was pretty interesting. Arsenal, you know, there's a four-point gap now. It was seven at one point, and it could have gone to 10, and now it's back down to four. And, you know, Man City and Aston Villa are playing really well. Man City are playing okay, given their standards. But yet here we are with a four-point gap. It's wild. It's wild. Is this like a turning point game for Arsenal where they lose? They're not going to lose a few in a row, but they drop some points in the next few games because they felt invincible. And now they're very mortal now. Yeah, so I still think when you look at it, they're the best team. They're the best team from the attack, defense, set pieces, transition. They're brilliant. They really are. um every team's gonna have a bit of a blip my my big challenge basically is sort of like to arsenal internally right now because of the competitions they're in right around january february is when everyone's like can they win the quadruple can they win the treble shut up just shut up like if you win one amazing if you're lucky to win two great stop chatting this nonsense like get focused Not that they're chatting and everyone else around is chatting. But I still think they're the best team. I do believe that Villa, with the four-point gap, I do believe between now and the end of the season, Villa and City will drop more points. And I think Arsenal, this was sort of a blip, but we'll see. Yeah, and United have, of course, the new manager bump there. He's just simplified everything. Everybody's talking about this culture piece. And you were there. You lived it. So I'm curious to hear your thoughts. So how important is that vis-a-vis Manchester United? Because I'm very strong about how I feel about culture. And I think it's really, really important. But I don't know. Does that still exist? I mean, Sir Alex has been gone so long. So is that a real thing? Or is this just like new manager, simplified, they won a few games? yeah uh that the latter part uh manchester united and i i played for three seasons for sir alex ferguson and i am so honored that i had that in my career if the club and the culture at that club that was built by sir alex ferguson and those brilliant teams is incredible like to experience it is it's so impossible to even like trying to explain it it has been explained very it's amazing you got over the years yeah and i feel so thankful for it but that's gone by the way the club itself is is a brilliant football club but you go 12 years and countless managers and underperforming you don't get you don't then get to go yeah culture now is michael carrick a culture guy does he know the club did he play for shogs ferguson did he win everything yes yes yes and he's a and he's a good young manager but he hasn't automatically instilled club culture in to a bunch of guys, by the way, who didn't know whether Sticker Twist had no leadership. I wouldn't say knew the club culture because otherwise they'd have done that for the last however many years. What happens is a new manager comes in, Ruben Amorin, who I think is a good manager, threw so much at them, right? That it became almost robotic. You could see it in their performances. What Michael Carrick did, and I'll give you a tangible example. What Michael Carrick did his gun right not square peg around holes we're not a back three with two wind backs we're back four right we're simplifying this stay in your slots don't go very far if one of our full backs goes the other one tucks around we learn this in under six soccer right we're gonna put we're gonna play two holding midfielders again protect if one of you wants to go if we have good possession go you don't both vacate the midfield right so he started simplifying this and when i was in when i was at manchester you know we would sit in pre and by the way we had the best players in the world at the time right because that's what sir alex ferguson did he said we'd sit in a pre-game a pre-game meeting he'd show a video he'd turn it off and he'd say run forward pass forward play forward that's it that was his team talk that was it and everybody understood and so i think that's what michael carrick did and i think he probably said by the way when you get into the forward area express yourself we're going to play off we're going to play on the break when you break don't come back express yourself and that's what to do it i'll give you an example roberto martinez who i think is a brilliant manager had him at everton played for three years it tactically he's a savant he's brilliant right we fell on hard times he got sacked david unsworth who used to be the captain of the club unzi came in he was under 21 manager he took over the team for the remaining three games we got onto training ld he took the pitch he had he had the groundsman put two lines like like a football hash right one here and one here and he said if the ball's on the right-hand side all 11 players on the right-hand side if the ball's on the left-hand side all 11 players on left hand side compact when you get into the forward areas do what you do best attack and it was like bang we won like three games in a row right it's like it's amazing it just takes the shackles off these guys have been overthinking things characters come in and he's basically simplified everything and said go and they're enjoying it you can see they're enjoying it And it's funny to me to see how, and I love hearing you talk about that. It's funny to see how soccer just keeps evolving over time, right? Because that's what it was for so many years. So like me growing up, that's all soccer was, was like man management, get the most out of your players. Very simplified. And the game has become a lot more now about coaches and managers in that way. And the players are sort of interchangeable. And you see it at the youth level. You see it with youth soccer now because it becomes very robotic and like we're doing this and the past goes there and then it goes here and then this is what we do. and you sort of lost that art of it and i wonder now you're starting to see a little change where teams that are more pragmatic are getting results in these coaches who are like these brilliant like tactical do something different and change the game a little bit are starting to not phase out but they're starting to get found out a little bit and it's it's really interesting and i think there's room for both but it's going to be really interesting to see how this sort of this plays out well it's interesting because as lds we start to talk about this and i said this on air at mbc this weekend i said talking about this exact topic i said i got a lot of coaching friends we're gonna blow up my phone because here's the thing they chat some shite i believe in tactics but they chat some shite this is how we're gonna play this way and we're gonna do this and they got the board behind it and by the way by the way it ain't about that yeah you need you need you need a structural setup but the amount of times that these coaches talk themselves over and over and over. It's like, get the best players, set them up, give them an idea and a structure. And I'm not saying throw tactics out the window. Tactics are important. But I look at Arsenal. And do I think they have tactics? Yeah. Do I think they have the best players? Yeah. And I think Mikel Arteta basically says, play from a... They defend their... Arsenal, Silky Football, they defend their box better than any team in Europe. Literally. yeah so there's tactics and then there's also like setting your team up to have a good strong base and allowing your best players to go express themselves when you take your coaching licenses here it's funny that the biggest thing they want you to do is have a game model a way of playing that is not there's very little if no time spent on how you manage players how you deal with situations how you get people to produce and how do you motivate and those things it's really interesting it's just become i think a little too far skewed the other way and we'll see how it comes back over time well listen listen for all of my for all of you who love soccer and haven't seen it there's a movie in england i saw it like my first week there it's called mike bassett england manager and in and in and in the movie he someone asked him a question and he goes four four fucking two and that's it and that's the reaction you'll get so anyone who hasn't anyone hasn't seen it mike mike bassett england manager it's a must watch if you're a football fan that's okay all right speaking of movies our guy adam crafton uh at the athletics said that united united have agreed to deal with north american production company company lionsgate to create a dramatized retelling of the club's history the production remains in development phase blah blah blah it's going to be based and similar to the crown which was a six season historical drama series on netflix which chronicled the life of a british monarch named queen elizabeth ii um what are your thoughts dude my thoughts are one am i in it and two who's playing you and two who's playing me here's the thing i'm i'm not getting anywhere near that and anywhere near that but i think it'd be cool you're not getting near it if they call you and say we want what if they want you to do a cameo obviously i'm let's get me on screen i'm saying i'm saying when they're writing the script this bald head american fella ain't making the cut i'm on the end he's the one Oh, I see. He's the one who was cleaning the boots for Van Der Saar and others. I think it's cool. I mean, the history of the club, I'm shocked that it's 2026. We haven't had this yet. So, yeah, really cool. All right. It's stoppage time sponsored by FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. All right, it's the final week of the UEFA Champions League group stage. All 36 teams are playing at the same time on Wednesday. Some are trying to make it into the eight spots that qualify automatically to the knockouts, and the rest are playing for the final 16 playoff spots that will face off in February. Our first game is Monaco against Juve. Juventus and Monaco are most likely going to finish in the playoff game positions, but depending on teams below them, and especially for Monaco, a loss could see Monaco tumble out of the competition altogether. Juve, on the other hand, have four wins a draw and one loss in all competitions, and they've been playing very well lately, led by our guy Weston McKinney. I think Juve win this one. Man City, Galatasaray. A win here for City will increase their chances of getting to skip the playoff games, which they need. They don't need two more games added to their schedule. The Turkish side Galatasaray, however, sit right in the middle of those playoff spots at 17th. Any kind of points here could take them from unseeded to the seated half of the table and help their chances when drawing a playoff opponent. I think City win. They're not in great form lately, but I think they win here. All right, Napoli-Chelsea. Chelsea currently eighth in the Champions League, hoping a win against Napoli keeps them out of the playoff spots in February. Since Rossini has taken over earlier this month, the club has four wins and two losses in all competitions. A great win away on the weekend as well. The defending Serie A champions are way down the table in 25th place, and they are absolutely fighting for a chance to get into the playoff game. So they need a win here. I think Chelsea win the game. They're the better team, and I think Chelsea win. PSG Newcastle, the defending champs PSG, are currently in sixth place with four wins, two losses, and a draw. They tied with Newcastle on points and both teams will be fighting with Chelsea to stay out of those playoff games I think PSG slightly better team here Newcastle solid but I think PSG win the game So Unfiltered Soccer's UEFA Champions League parlays this week are Juve to beat Monaco, Man City to beat Galatasaray, Chelsea to beat Napoli, and PSG to beat Newcastle. Don't forget to check out the full list of Unfiltered Soccer futures on our socials later this week. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to get into your questions in the AT&T Fan Connection with JR right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Lannan and Tim presented by Volkswagen. It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. At AT&T, connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game. Time now for the AT&T Fan Connection, where we welcome in Jordan wearing USLNT swag. Jordan, what's happening? Swag. Got my hoodie on because there's like nine feet of snow off. Have you got snowed in? Yeah. Crazy. That's how we do. It's January in New York. What are you going to do? When you say snowed in, does that mean you literally can't get out your door? You don't want to go out your door? No, no. You don't want to go out. It's also really, really, I think it's like 12 degrees outside right now. Yeah, no, no. It's kind of cold where like you're starting to get a little hard to breathe out there for too long. You know what you could do? Move to California? You could move to San Diego. Yeah, okay. It's a good life, bro. I'll get right on that. It's a good life. Yeah. I have a lot of stuff to get through today. Let's start. So I know you guys love when people bring you some heat, but it is actually me who is getting the heat today. And I am going to I'm going to take this one because it's my fault. This one is from Tyler via email. And he said, thanks for putting my question on the air. It was the one about fans thinking referees are biased. It was awesome to hear Landon and him talking about it. But you put somebody else's name on there. my name is tyler not parker it's probably because i'm an evertonian and not a cop i i get it i'm trying to get some street cred around here still love the show love it tyler i'm really sorry i think you probably saw a couple weeks ago i was really sick on the show and so frankly the fact that i mess up one person's name and not the entire show uh is amazing but i am sorry that You should hear what she calls us, by the way. Let's not even go there. Let's do some questions. Let's do it. This one is from Nick via email who actually said in his message that he hopes that I have recovered from my colds. I have. Thank you, Nick. That's so sweet. Very nice of you. Nick said, I see a large free kick issue for the U.S. men's national team heading into the World Cup. I do not believe Pulisic has shown himself to be a strong free kick taker, but we do have an excellent free kick taker in Sebastian Berhalter, who is still uncertain whether he will be on the final roster. Should Pochettino consider starting or giving Berhalter significant minutes in order for us to have an effective free kick taker in the World Cup games? Because we all know that set pieces will be crucial to win some of the games. This is actually a really, really good question. And it's a great philosophical question. I'm curious what you think, Tim. I don't think, tell me if I'm wrong, any manager is going to start a player simply because they're good on set pieces. But if it's close, and even if they're a little bit behind someone else, you might tilt and play them because of that. Do you agree with that? possibly or do you think that ever goes into a manager's mind possibly because i mean the reality is the set pieces are a big part of the game yeah they are they are but attacking and defending yeah okay i hear you here's here's my thing i think it's on the manager or set piece coach or whoever handles set pieces you've got incredibly talented world-class players if you're talking about like national team you'll have one or two world-class players right the idea is that in in your two or three of your players you're starting 11 ld have to be able to take free kicks at a very high level right and that means training them having having the bravery to take them like this is you know declan rice by the way and i know arsenal is the best set piece team in the world his his his balls like every time he swings a ball in it's literally perfect but that's a good player i get it but soccer from the other side when soccer takes it it's inch perfect so i i don't know if i subscribe to like the free the better free kick taker wins out i think the game is is too dynamic for that but obviously i take i think the point is i don't know if the question was about like direct free kicks in terms of getting it up and over the wall to score or more like wide free kicks no i think he's saying in general right because in the course of a game you're going to have three four five ten either corner maybe more yeah and and let's be honest the the delivery from sebastian versus christian for example is not even close sebastian's far superior now you're not going to start sebastian over christian right no way right but it is something that's that's really interesting to think about as you're putting together a lineup if Sebastian is someone who you're maybe considering starting right I don't know if he is or not but it's it's just an interesting philosophical I mean like yeah David Beckham right he was a top top player but as he got older if he was maybe on the bubble whether he's going to start or not something you got to think about right yeah i mean if we we we need to get better at free kicks i don't know i mean i still i think weston can take one i think i i do i just think there's i think the game is again too dynamic too long yes set pieces are important but it's also you know there's two sides yeah put it in a good like well go on no i'm just yeah you're right like then just work on it yeah like right now pochettino or jesus say look weston you're going to be on well they're not going to say it but like you you are likely going to be on the field we need you doing this every day for the next four months and getting really good at it and i yes and i also have a very simplistic view of set pieces and i which i truly believe and and the fact of the matter is you put a decent ball in a good area and you attack and you attack it with vengeance true but the quality there is differences in the quality of service of course yeah of course that give you a higher percentage chance to score no question. Okay, this next question is from Ian via email. Is the ability to use both feet underrated? It's so surprising to me that professional soccer players, even at the highest level, often seem incapable of using their weak foot. You can see in the game that one-footed players often miss opportunities, passes, shots, dribbles, because they didn't want to use their weak foot. It puts them at a disadvantage and makes them more predictable. So for me, it's refreshing to see two-footed players who have properly trained their weak foot totally agree i think it's very very you don't you don't agree tim why don't tell me you keep finish your thought that i'll just speak personally there were there was a point in my career where this i'm not in my career i was like 10 years old and i was playing games and i would get on my right foot and go to my right to score or try to score and at that level it's not that big of a deal because the defenders don't know what they're doing they don't have tape on you etc but i do vividly remember my coach saying like you are going to be infinitely more valuable if you learn to go to your left sure and i started going to my left and going to my left and then i i mean i didn't score as many goals with my left as my right but it wasn't too far off i don't think and i think that makes you infinitely more valuable yeah i do uh yeah a fair point i i the way i see it and i've always seen it this way players aren't good enough on their strong foot to be messing about with their weak foot no that's true i i want i would i would prefer for a young player to master their right foot and be serviceable with their left as opposed to this sort of like trying to equal but i'll give you an example terry henry the best striker in Premier League history. Terry Henry is a god. He uses left foot every now and again, but guess what? It was constantly his right foot. Constantly. David Beckham the same, right? And so I just think you have to have a mastery of your right foot. And yes, of course, be serviceable with your weaker foot, no doubt. I will say this, though. Louis Saha, a funny tidbit, since we're talking about Manchester United, you'll love this, Landon. We drew a loss at Old Trafford, and louis saha was was our striker and he missed he he's he's left footed right strong left foot he takes he snatches that one right foot misses it we lose our draw get into the dress room sir alex ferguson goes crazy louis louis why do you not take it with your left foot why do you not take it with your left foot and i know i've played with louis for forever calm as you like so french to my friend i'm i'm both i'm both and i'm like this over there please don't look at me oh god oh god oh god anyway that was it all right well i think it's valuable personally um dj via email asks a lot of teams have begun announcing where they are setting up their headquarters here in the u.s for the world cup i was hoping the guys could talk about some of their favorite or least favorite places they stayed during their collective world cups and why great question that's a good question so in south korea we stayed in the heart of like seoul at a jw marriott um it was insane uh we had a chef with us oh yeah that was the first time i had sushi so um and then they had this like 160 000 square foot gym that was like insane so we spent so much time in there so that was cool but there wasn't a whole lot to do like we weren't going to go walk around and do too much around there germany we stayed in hamburg which was beautiful it was just sort of like a normal hamburg was beautiful it was pretty though hamburg's a beautiful city yeah and then we stayed at a lodge irene lodge in south africa which was nothing to do which was very intentional from bob i think yeah it was brilliant so i what i remember about so yeah hamburg is a beautiful city which was nice i enjoyed that uh irene which was like this like nature preserve resort and you'd get up and at whatever time it was clint there's like a lake right clint would be out with his like his camo bucket hat on a chair maybe fishing like no no he was fishing right and then and then marcus hanneman was like he was constantly wrestling alligators yeah constantly talking to our security about like when are you gonna take me hunting i want to go big like hunting so he ends up going hunting at one point like it was chaos but it was brilliant because we were so secluded um yeah and we're all together brazil was interesting because where'd you stay in brazil in sao paulo which was in sao paulo i didn't enjoy it like i don't think anyone enjoyed it the traffic in sao paulo is unbelievable and we get in funny fact like i think i'm pretty well traveled and we get in at night we go into the hotel and the hotel would go upstairs you know i arrived late to have a meal for you linden so it's a top it's dark pitch black so have our meal go to bed next morning get up go to the restaurant is at the top of this hotel nice hotel and it's like 360 views of of i don't know 50th floor whatever of sao paulo and i'm like gosh this is a big city right and someone's like yeah it's like the fourth largest city in the world and i'm like oh anyway bro it took it took literally ld no matter what time you know the charters leave at different times two hours from the hotel to the airport five hour flight in and Now, back two hours back. Two hours to the – Google Sao Paulo traffic, and it was chaos. Jesus. Like we had a – So that was to go to games? You were taking a two-hour bus to the airport and then flying? Yeah. Holy Jesus. That World Cup, it's on record, that World Cup, the U.S. team traveled the most miles of anything. I remember. That's right. Yeah, I remember seeing that. And the problem with Sao Paulo is we have escort. Please, escorts. There's nowhere to go. There's nowhere to go. You just can't. You can't get right. That's right. crazy nobody cares anyway great question um should we do a new rule okay new rules everybody like it okay so this new rule comes from jason via email and jason says that he's always hated on throw-ins when a player takes 10 to 15 extra yards of space keeps going until the ref decides enough is enough the player backs up asks if that's the right spot then inevitably moves up another five yards. It's a waste of time. It's arbitrary and it's annoying. Here's what I propose outside of the sideline have hash marks every 10 yards, essentially dividing the field into sections. Whichever 10 yard section the ball went out in, the player can take the throw in from anywhere in between those hashes. If the player steps at all outside of those hashes, the throw in goes to the other team. That's fair. I mean, the funny thing is, is this only comes up like three times a year where something happens and someone like goes really fast and runs up and there's a goal and everyone's like what the hell you know but normally it never matters really um the one that drives me crazy drove me crazy as a player when let's say i get the ball in our attacking half and i go backwards five yards to throw it back to my center back to just start to play in the ref would go no no no no you got to move up five yards where the ball and i said i'm throwing the ball backwards just it's inconsequential but like sometimes refs are so by the book and you're like jesus get a clue dude but i don't hate it did you hear that tyler tyler yeah tyler i think i think there's a better way to i don't hate it either i don't hate it it's a it seems inconsequential as you said ld my biggest gripe with with with referees is there are certain things in the game where I'm just like, just sort it out now and it doesn't happen again. I'll give you an example. If the guy picks up the ball and he takes five yards, referee, blow your whistle and go, mate, back up. When he throws it in again, say, not your throw, other team's throw. If you do that once or twice, people are going to be like, alright, I'm not going to take the piss. I'm just going to throw the ball in. That's it. But yeah. Inconsequential. Inconsequential. But I don't hate it, to be honest. All right. Well, I guess maybe we'll we will consider Jason applying your new. We will consider this rule and implementing it into the world. What about what about kick ins? I told you about my kicking story. I just thought about that, too. Yeah. I played USISO, United States Independent Soccer League in 1997, senior in high school. They implemented a rule inside 35 yards. It was if you had to throw in, you could kick it in. Chaos. They just bombard you. It's decent. I actually don't mind it. Yeah, I love it. Somebody sent in a rule that I wasn't, I don't, sometimes the rules are like over, if it's really long, like if it's like a massive paragraph, I'm like, I don't know if I can cut this down. But somebody was suggesting that if you send the ball to the keeper, the keeper can only return the ball in whatever fashion it was sent to them. So like if you had the ball to the keeper, the keeper has to head the ball out. And I was like, now people are just trying to come up with ridiculous things to get their own. that is it for this week if you would like to send your new rule or question or if i called you by the wrong name you can send me an email at feedback at unfilteredsocker.com thanks guys all right timmy another great week another great show great job there jr mr bogert thank you as always for coming on we will have him on again giving us the lowdown on mls and all the doings happenings ahead of the season. We appreciate all of you for being with us. 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