Good morning, USA! It is a terrific morning to be an American soccer fan, or a soccer fan in general. The World Cup so far has been inspiring, and that is a key word— inspiration. I woke up today really proud. Proud to be an American, which is, you know, these days a fleeting feeling sometimes, but also proud to be a devoted U.S. soccer fan and All the years, all the heartache, all the, the hope, all the disappointment for one magical evening in Los Angeles. All of that seemed worth it as the U.S. men's national team put in an inspired performance against Paraguay. The U.S. were aggressive in their attack, but they were also intentional. You know, we've had a lot of managers come and go and try to change the culture around U.S. soccer, going from a a counter-attacking nation to a national side that would take the fight to you with mixed results. And sometimes we'd run against a team that plays a lot like Paraguay and it wouldn't go our way. This was an intentional direct attack from the UN's men's national team. In previous years, you'd see them pass the ball, you know, horizontally, uh, try to get somebody by the touchline, make a deep run and whipping across very little aim or intention.
Last night they trusted their playmakers to take on defenders, uh, sometimes multiple defenders. I'm a big believer that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and the US, uh, got that message too. And I thought Christian Pulisic last night was dynamic, was incredible, really. Balogun showed his class, but I think the rest of the US men's national team made his life easy. The back line didn't really get tested. Everybody looked incredibly fast. That was the one thing that really jumped off the screen. And I think in the second half we all saw that energy naturally died down. The pace last night that the US Men's National Team played with was unreal. It was like Russia 2018. They looked juiced to the gills, quite honestly. Like, it was insane, the, the effort and the passion that they played with. I want to get into this match with all of you in the comments. Comments lighting up right now as we are live. But I want to bring in my good friend Nate Bukaty. Now, if you watch MOS, you know this man's voice is also a voice on SiriusXM, and he's got a brand new book out.
Uh, he's a caretaker of the sport in Kansas City, which is the American heartland and the heartbeat of soccer. His new book, Perfect Pitch: How Kansas City Became the Heart of American Soccer and Landed the World Cup. Nate, I've known you for several years. You are always the optimist when it comes to the U.S. men's national team. You are always good vibes. You really appreciate these World Cups. You understand that these moments are fleeting. Last night had to be— I'm going to venture a guess— was last night the single greatest night in your U.S. soccer supporting life?
Man, um, I don't know that I've even unpacked my emotions enough yet to, to to, to say that. I'm trying to think of the highest points in my life. So here in Kansas City, we made these watch parties in this area called the Power and Light District famous. You know, the footage gone all over the place for the Women's World Cup, the Men's World Cup. At the, the height of that for me was in Kansas City 2014 in Brazil when the U.S. survived the Group of Death and they had that draw against Portugal, right? The amazing goal that, um, Uh, we, we scored in the second half of that game, and our hometown hero Matt Beasler, the only Kansan to ever play in the World Cup, knocked Cristiano Ronaldo on his ass. And there's this famous picture of him standing over Ronaldo, and that was, that was about as big as I've ever seen it here in Kansas City. I hadn't thought about how last night compared to it because I think I've just been so wrapped up in it, but That was certainly the most dominant performance in a World Cup that I can remember ever watching for the U.S. It was all the things you just said about the decisiveness.
I'm gonna give you a number here, Mike. This, this one blew me away. Um, my buddy Paul Carr, who's another proud Kansan, he lives in Topeka, Kansas, and he runs the company that runs the stats for this World Cup. So I texted him this morning and I said, I don't remember the U.S. ever being this confident on the dribble, just taking guys on. You mentioned Pulisic, but it wasn't just him. Dest had a couple times where he dribbled 2 or 3 guys and earned a foul. They just seemed to know they could take on anybody from Paraguay and win. So he's— I, I said, you know, am I right? Did— was it— was it that good of a performance? It was better than I even thought. Listen to these two numbers. Last night, the US had 22 successful 1v1s, the second most game in the last 15— the second most in a game in the last 15 years for the US, the most since 2018 against Bolivia. But it's even better than that. It's not just one of the best performances in U.S. history. That's the most successful dribbles by any team in the World Cup since 2014.
We're talking like 3 cycles ago. Brazil didn't do this, Tandy, but the last team to do it was Brazil against Chile in, in 2014. That's how dominant the U.S. were, and they were knocking the ball around. The goal that led to, you know, the, the sequence that led to Reyna's goal involved 26 consecutive passes. I do think Paraguay had some to do with all this. You mentioned how fast the USA looked. Paraguay looked slow too. And, and I want to say that was all because of the US, and maybe it was, but I've never— I mean, that's a Paraguay team that beat Argentina in qualifying, you know. That's not a pushover. And they made them look like a pushover. It was incredible.
No, they have 3 attacking talents that I think I'd favor in a US men's starting 11 depending on, on the opponent. Paraguay is a, a good team from a great qualifying region. I, I expect disconnected, two teams kind of feeling each other out, your typical host nation opener. And that was not the case. And for all the concern that we've had over the years about these home crowds and the ticket pricing, one match down and Los Angeles Stadium was vibrant, and it seemed like the players really fed off that energy. And it was a pleasant surprise. I, I think that, look, we've all felt the negative vibes around this entire experience last night was a huge decompression point for everybody. I think, um, life has been a little crazy, and it was really good to just wrap yourself in the flag, understand that this is a global phenomenon, and this tournament is a very special thing. That performance last night is going to inspire generations. We, we are going to feel the impact from that first half in particular for years to come. There are so many people watching this that are going to sign up for a streamer and, you know, pick Brighton as their favorite team because they can now.
There's so many kids that are going to go out with their friends and try to dribble a soccer ball and see what that's like. So many young children— we know how soccer excels at the youth level— so many young children turning to their parents saying that they want to play soccer. So many Pulisic jerseys purchased. Last night was a hugely impactful night for U.S. soccer on the whole. Thank you so much, Tom Cruise. God, man, you fix everything. Let's talk about— for my money, he only played a half. He got kicked in the calf and, um, he was taken out. It was a precaution, but with Christian, you always got to be a little worried, right? It's not nothing. But, um, Pulisic really struggled, had a lot going on this past season, which is a shame because for most of his time wearing an AC Milan shirt, I, I'd venture to say he was AC Milan's best and most consistent attacking threat. Really fell off. And now we have a redemption arc for a 27-year-old man who's been in our lives as someone that signified hope for so long. Now he's a finished product. It's, it's time for Christian Pulisic to rise to the occasion.
And I thought last night he met the moment spectacularly, Nate.
He did. And I have to say, his, his character arc is a fascinating one because there has— we talk about the negativity for this team in so many ways. He's just been— he has been, like it or not, the face of this generation of players from the start, right? And he's been a part of some of the lowest moments in American soccer history. He was on the field that day in, in Cuba when, to me, the most disastrous thing that I can remember as a U.S. soccer fan— they failed to qualify for that World Cup. And he was just a young guy, and he might have been the best U.S. player on the field that day. And my buddy Matt Beasler, who was there too, Told me about—
he did the foreword on your new book.
Yeah, yeah, he did. And, and Matt, for this, he started every game in that 2014 World Cup, but he was also on the field in Trinidad and Tobago when they lost. Same thing, highs and lows. And he told me, you know, Pulisic was a teenager sobbing in the shower after that game. It meant so much to him. And think about then the pressure of, okay, you're the guy, you're carrying the flag for this golden generation that's got unfair expectations heaped upon them. From the start. He's done some incredible things for the team, but he's also had his, his bad moments, and, and he's had his critics, right? Because he doesn't go to play in the Gold Cup when people say that he should, or, you know, whatever the case might be, the war of words that happened there. Then the way that the season ended in Milan this year, there's just all this negativity. And he had a, you know, he had this quote, and I hated the quote. I have to be— I still hate the quote. When he was asked about like the, the pressure and and all that, that, that goes with this generation playing these games in America in the World Cup.
And he, and he said basically, uh, it's not that different for me, it's just another big tournament. And I hate that, you know, and, and I, and I hate— and here's why I hate it, because you can tell he's tired of people talking about the pressure, he's tired about, you know, the negativity and the criticism. But what I would love to hear him say and I'll get to the most important part, because what you say doesn't really matter in life, it's what you do. I would love to hear him say, I don't care about the pressure, I care about the opportunity. We as a generation have an opportunity to do what you just said, Mike, which is capture millions of Americans, old and young, but particularly the young ones that are going to be the future of the sport in this country. We have the chance to, to lay out a legacy that changes the game globally forever and makes the rest of the world even appreciate us respect us. He didn't say that with his words, but he said it with his play last night. And I'll take that, man. I, I don't care what he says.
And it's kind of like all the friendlies leading up to this. We didn't— anyway, I'm wondering, what is Poch doing? Like, every day it's a different formation. We have no identity. We don't know where we're going. But you know what? All my buddies from Argentina that I get to work with at MLS are like, dude, you got to understand, his mindset is the mindset of Argentina and other places. Friendlies are not there to won. Friendlies are there to work on things. He will have the best team ready to go when the games matter. And I kind of was like, I hope so, but boy did it look like it last night, and Pulisic was the leader of it.
Yeah, I want to follow up on that Poach point in a moment, but quickly on Pulisic, uh, he's always been a lead-by-example kind of guy. We've seen the results when he wears the captain's armband, and, and some guys just aren't cut out to be a captain. I thought Poach made a wise decision with Tim Ream, kind of taking that pressure off some guys. I know there are a lot of Tyler Adams fans that are wondering, well, I I think he can handle it. But, uh, Christian— and I've had the opportunity, uh, the awkward opportunity to interview him a couple of times, and he's, you know, it's tough, but, uh, you know, he's not the most charismatic dude, um, but his passion for the country— that's why that quote didn't really make sense, because I know Christian to be hugely patriotic and understand typically the weight of that international crest. Um, but last night he was a demon. He was just phenomenal, as everybody pretty much was with the ball at their feet. And that is a stark change. Again, when Berhalter tried to institute this, this, you know, we're America, we're gonna— when we play Panama, we're gonna take the fight to them.
It still was side-to-side passing, right? It wasn't, you know, all right, let's use our athletes, let's put our head down and dribble through traffic, because Americans historically haven't been that way. And I think That performance last night showed how much we developed and how much those players individually and collectively have matured. It's rare when an intangible like maturity jumps off the screen, but that's exactly what happened. This was a very immature group that went through a lot, a lot of drama, well documented, and that moment was big. The pressure there was immense, and they thrived. They fed off of that moment over there. They were having fun. It was pretty wild and inspirational to see, and it's got people thinking crazy things. But to your Poach point, yeah, I think now it's pretty obvious that Poach just wanted these, um, these friendlies without the stress of a qualification process to see what his options were. And I think with the, the team that he selected, we were still trying to figure out, all right, what, what's our formation here? And Poach I, I think optionality is the name of the game. Versatility. It's not just the fluidity and formations, but these players can play a lot of different positions if needed.
Um, and one match in, it seems as though that bet has paid off. Now, I do think that there is a difference between, uh, best and most dominant and most impressive performances. Like, I, I know that there's a debate right now. I think it's pretty inarguable that that was the best, uh, performance in U.S. men's soccer history when you consider everything that was on the line there. Host nation in the World Cup. I know that people can say, oh, 2 against Portugal, when you consider the opponent. Look, I was a U.S. soccer fan. I watched much of that World Cup. That match was at 3 AM. I didn't watch it live, and it was a different time, you know. That was a real building block for the future, and no one really expected us to win that one. Confederations Cup against Spain, Brother, that felt like we survived. That, that was very clearly a cag. It was great. I would say I haven't felt that way, like, holy crap, are we good, are we a wagon, since the first half of the Confederations Cup against Brazil. That, that final in which the US led there and Clint Dempsey hit the, the Michael Jackson Selly, where I'm like, oh my God, are, are we gonna do this?
Are we legit great? That was a pretty good generation. Brazil ended up winning that match. But now this is an expectation changer for the U.S. men's national team. I mean, Balogun, he's got a shot at Golden Boot, right? Like, we're talking crazy here. We're projecting, all right, I think we could take Belgium in the round of 16. This is pretty wild stuff considering where we were just, you know, 3 matches ago, Nate. That Senegal match, we were like wondering, well, is Senegal bad? And then Germany scores right away. I'm like, ah, foolish for me to fall for it again. And then they grew into that game and started taking the fight to Germany. And then Paraguay is a good opponent, a hard-nosed opponent, and Siso was available to them.
Yeah.
And they looked like they didn't have a snowball's chance in hell last night up against this wagon, Nate.
Yeah, they didn't create hardly anything. I know they got the goal, um, that made it 3-1 at the time, and maybe Tim was a step slow reacting to that. And I think we do have to be watching the game. Um, I was lucky because we were, um, some of our buddies, you know, Whittingham, uh, Jimmy Conrad, Benny Feilhaber, Charlie Davies, we were all watching the game together. And Benny and I are long friends. He's, you know, he lives in Kansas City as well, and he's a guy that sees the game really, really well. And as we were leading up to this tournament, we— he was saying to me this team's not going to be keeping clean sheets, you know, that's not the way this team's going to win. So he wanted to see an aggressive approach and get your good scoring options out there. You're going to need to score a couple goals if you want to win these games, and that's what played out last night, you know. And they kept on the front foot, their counter-press was really good, and I, I thought that was going to be important because Paraguay are a good organized defensive team.
To go back to kind of your point about Greg Berhalter, I always felt like he believed that the system needed to create the goals. Like, it had to be a pattern of play that generated a goal, and the players kind of played robotically because of it. And I think Poch seems to have found a great balance of, okay, we can play together, we can combine well, but express yourself, you know, take guys on, break people down. And, um, you know, I'm a big basketball fan. I went to University of Kansas, and I think there's a lot of similarities in the game. And You're trying to unbalance an opponent when you're on the attack, and there are different ways to do it. Sometimes you can do it through incredible ball movement, but a lot of times it's through get past your man, you know, get your shoulders past your man, and now the defense has to react. They have to shift in, in some way which unbalances them. And then if you pick the right moment after that, the right pass or shot, you get a chance to score. And they seemed not only free to do it, but they knew they could.
You could tell when they— and maybe that'll be different when the competition level increases. But again, Paraguay is a great defensive team, yet when Pulisic had the ball, when Dest had the ball, when Robinson had the ball, they were like, I got this guy. And I remember Kobe Bryant used to say, when I get the ball, I'm not thinking about if I can get past the guy guarding me, I'm thinking about what's the pass I'm gonna make once I get past him, where's the rotation coming from. They were playing like that last night.
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right where Burrhalter wanted the system to, uh, to be the reason we had this golden generation, right? Individually, this is arguably in the attack certainly the most talented group we've ever had. Trust them with the ball at their feet. These guys are playing over in Europe right now. I know that there were maybe some moments where the, the touch betrayed us a little bit, but in terms of technical skill, that's as skilled as I've ever seen the U.S. men's national team. And now we're right in this momentum and You're headed to Seattle against Australia. Australia, we'll get a glimpse of them at midnight, a sicko's delight. But where are your expectations now for the U.S. men's national team? And I, I know it's just one game, but I do think that there are things that we can learn from Germany and Senegal. This looks like a proper host nation threat right now. This looks like a team that you don't want to see in their home country. That was a message to the globe, I felt. So where are your expectations now, Nate?
Yeah, I'm trying to not get ahead of myself because it's very easy to right now, to just be like, holy cow, you know, the sky is the limit. Um, I was very angsty before this performance because of all the stuff we just talked about. I didn't see a team that seemed particularly unified. I didn't see a team that felt very optimistic just when you saw what they were saying Then you hear the stories about Pochettino interviewing for another job. Does the manager have a foot out the door? You know, like, where is this team collectively? I was really worried about it, honestly, and I'm usually a very optimistic person. All of those things that I was worried about are gone now. Gone. I mean, this team, clearly they're optimistic, clearly they're confident, clearly. And if they weren't together, those moments— and we've talked about this, you and I, off the air— that All it takes in a competition like this is a moment that brings the team together, and all of a sudden they're together. And that's the challenge of international competitions, is you don't have an entire month-long preseason to work on all the— you kind of throw the team together and then you got to figure out that, that chemistry.
So I am very optimistic. I, I think they're— I'll be stunned if they don't advance out of the group, but I think now you're dreaming of winning the group and having a good match.
It feels like we're through already off of that performance.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, with the new format where 3 teams advance in 8 of the groups, it's like, I don't know how they couldn't advance. But now you're more like, okay, they're going to win the group. I mean, I, I went into this thinking, are they the favorites against Türkiye in that final game? I'm not really sure. I think they will because they're on home soil. But we saw what happened against Türkiye in that friendly, that they're a really good team with their top-end talent's incredible. Now I'm like, they're going to win the group, and if they win the group, they have a good— they should have a good matchup in the, in the knockout rounds. And now you're dreaming of a team that can make a run. How far is that? Is that quarterfinal? Is that further? I don't know. Some of that probably is going to depend on matchups. But yeah, this team, what we needed, like those of us that want to see the game grow in this country, that want to see the— all of our friends that people like you and I spend time, you know, proselytizing to about soccer that are maybe willing to give it a chance.
All it takes is a little run, you know, and I think that run is coming now. I do. I believe that run is coming because of what we saw.
It's the magic of the World Cup. It is all immersive, and I think a lot of people last night who were either casual observers or just curious are now wrapped up in it. You know, that's the performance that U.S. soccer needed. I wanted to highlight Chris Richards because I thought he was brilliant yesterday. Um, I think he went 83 for 83 on passing, uh, We all got excited when we got the all clear that Chris Richards was indeed playing a high-end ceiling for this player. What'd you make of his performance last night? And really, on the whole, like, what do you think that this guy is fully capable of?
Yeah, I think his journey through the friendlies leading up to this and all the talk about whether or not he was going to be fit enough to play is analogous to what we talked about with the friendlies and the team as a whole, where it was almost like Poch was ropE-A-Doping us, you know. He was letting us all think that, yeah, I don't know, he, he, he wasn't putting his best hand out there at any point in time. And he talked about, you know, he was frustrated that maybe he indicated that this injury was maybe worse than we thought. He was really cryptic about some of the things that he said, and I didn't buy it. I just felt like this guy's ready to play. They're not going to play him in a friendly because he needs that time to rest and be recovered. Is he going to be 100%? Obviously not. He's going to have that to deal with, but it's not going to affect the way he plays if he's rested and ready to go. And man, he was great. He was great. Now listen, I think— and this, this is a little tangent here, Mike— but you mentioned earlier the, the versatility of the team, right, and the ways that they can go about things.
I think for it— for a team like the United States, that's where they are in the national rankings, if you think that that's a relatively— and I think it's relatively accurate where they where they are in the national rankings. They're not a top-tier team, second or third, whatever you want to call it.
That means— I thought Hawaii was actually low entering that game.
I did too. I did too. But for the US, I think that's about where they are. And that means you're going to play some games like last night where you're the protagonist, you have the ball, you're on the front foot. That's going to happen again against Australia. But as you progress, you're going to have other games where that's not going to be the case. You're going to have to play in a different way. You're going to have to find a different way to win. And that part excites me a lot. And the fact that you have a guy like, like Richards there to anchor a back line— where, let's be honest, that's, that's all of our biggest concern about this team, right, is the back line and goalkeeper.
Um, yeah, having him there, pace is gonna— I mean, we saw it last night, like, it's gonna put us in bad spots if he's playing against some of these upper-tier teams.
Yeah, and they're gonna have games where they have to defend more. They didn't their defending that they were doing last night was more like proactive defending, right? Like making sure that they didn't give anything away on the counter, um, counter-pressing and winning the ball back. He— I thought he made an incredibly good foul.
I—
boy, the whole game's running together on me. When it looked like Paraguay had gotten away with a foul, winning the ball back, and they were about to come the other way on a counter, and he just put one on, and it was like Man, that's exactly what you— that was exactly what the game was calling for.
That was a profile.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was great.
Yeah, he, he was terrific. Mulligan is a guy that probably became a star in the eyes of many. Uh, that is a star-making performance. You know, chicks dig the long ball when you put the ball in the back of the onion, uh, bag. And Mulligan showed his class. Now, I, I think his life was made incredibly easy. Um, it looked like that second goal, he just put a little extra swag on it for fun because he didn't really need to do any of that. Um, this guy, if he's going to be able to have that much space to operate in after his teammates break other people down, look out. He has like— I, I know it's crazy talk, but you take this opponent, he already has a brace. The next opponent, he can put some more goals in the back of the net. If this team goes on a run, Balogun is going to be among the top scorers in this tournament, especially if the US plays that well. Now, I don't think we can count on the US playing that well. That's about as well as I've ever seen them play. But Balogun here, he is a skilled goalscorer, especially when his team helps him out like that.
What do you think he projects to for the rest of this tournament?
Well, you know, I just saw a stat this morning that blew my mind. He's already in the top 5 in US soccer history for goals in a World Cup. With the 2 goals that he just scored. So he's 5th all time. So hey man, you know, he doesn't have to get that much more to, uh, to climb up the ladder really fast. Um, yeah, you, you touched on the 2nd goal. To me, it was almost like he was sending a message, you know, because he had gotten himself into the penalty area and, and he, and he almost had the whole entire goal to shoot at. And he was like, I'm going to show you that I can curl one with venom into the very top corner, just so everybody knows that if I need to, I got that. I, I don't know, that's the way I saw it when it happened. It was like, I'm just gonna do the— I'm just gonna show off here. And I'm sure that was— he wasn't going through that deep, you know, complicated of a thought process at the time. But he is a finisher, you know. And, and, and so is Pepe, by the way.
I, I mean, I love the depth there. Pepe came in and I thought was really good.
I mean, you're a Pepe guy.
Yeah. And so he's where we talk about our concerns. I think that the goalkeeper situation's maybe as unimpressive or uninspiring as we've had that I can remember. Usually that's like our biggest strength. It's like the opposite now. The guys in the attack are—
Are you surprised to see Freese?
I, I wasn't surprised.
I thought we were gearing towards Turner. Like, it's just hard to read coach.
Yeah, I mean, he did— I think he kept everything— he— I just almost like he wanted to keep everybody guessing that whole cycle because it looked like Freeze had taken the job. And then like you said, all of a sudden Turner comes back to MLS and is playing well, and he works back in, and you're like, well, if it's that close, the guy that's got the World Cup experience— one guy is way better than the other. I just hope that if it's Freeze, let it be Freeze and let him be the guy so that he has the confidence.
Yeah, I thought it was going to be Freeze, and then the way that Poach approached those, those final two matches had me worried. And then you started hearing some Matt Turner buzz, and then, you know, he's on the team sheet like, like everybody kind of expected weeks ago. But it did take some twists and turns, and we haven't really seen him be tested. I do think he's a talented shot stopper, you know, at the— with the ball at our feet, you know, uh, it's an American, what do you want? But that's not really where we're going to be, uh, cutting our teeth here in this tournament doing. It seems it's as though it's going to be these attacking wingers, um, playing, playing the ball, uh, into space and then taking on defenders. That seems to be our identity here with some direct play, which is something that I like. You know, I don't like, uh, the, the passes side to side with no real intention. Uh, the United States of America were intentional last night. Um, the pace, let's get into that because I don't think I've ever seen the US play that fast. I mean, I was getting tired watching these guys And it seemed as though everybody was game for it except for possibly Weston McKinney, which, look, cardio isn't his strong suit there in the final third, maybe a little clumsy at times and certainly wearing the pace of that game.
I think they fed off the crowd there. They looked possessed. I mean, as you mentioned, Paraguay is a tough team to break down and they looked so slow by comparison. You're watching that. And if you're like, you know, a Bill Simmons guy wondering why our best athletes aren't playing soccer, well, that match, it looked like we had some pretty damn good athletes out there. We, we were getting by on athleticism and skill.
You know, there's a lot there what you just said, and I think, um, I used to always get my back up about that, that whole argument, if our best athletes played soccer. And I would say athleticism wasn't our problem today, almost never was. We had usually the better athletes on the field that wasn't the issue. It was they had better soccer players. Um, I will say, if there's a case to be made to back up his point, I think it's Freeman. Um, I've been watching him since he first broke into the league, and I had a lot of Orlando games for the, the 2 years that he was there. And, and I thought, this guy is going to be special. And I thought I I mean, I don't know if I remember thinking actively he's going to be on the national team, but I remember thinking he's headed for Europe at some point. He's skilled, but that athleticism does jump off the page at you. He's big and strong and fast, which makes him a great defender because it's hard to get past him. He's physical enough to also stand up for challenges. And then when he goes forward, he can win headers because he just— he can fly and he's strong.
So yeah, maybe if we get some more guys like that that can play soccer well too, because look, the Kylian Mbappés of the world are big, strong athletes. Those guys are becoming more of a thing across the world in soccer, and we've got them. But the, the speed part to me, Mike, is it kind of goes back to what we were talking about. And I'm not trying— I'm not here to slag off Greg Berhalter. I think he's a very good coach in many ways. I'm just talking about like the— my opinion of we almost forgot our strength in trying to become a better footballing nation, which I think is a good goal. Like, it's— we don't want to just be the team that gets by on athleticism and that's as far as it can take us. We want to become better at playing football. But I almost feel like we went so far the other way that we took our own athleticism away as a strength. And I do think Poch has kind of seen, okay, what do I have here? If we're going to beat teams, we overwhelm them. And I don't mean to draw this back to Kansas City, but it is a frame of reference that I have very well.
When that team was being built and they won the MLS Cup in 2013, I interviewed Peter Vermees about it, and they used a high-pressing style, and they had Teal Bumbury, Kai Kamara, and CJ Sapong, these big, athletic, strong, fast guys. And their thing was exactly what the USA did. We're gonna overwhelm you in the first 20 minutes. You're gonna feel us. You're gonna feel exhausted after 20 minutes because you're gonna feel our crowd, and you're gonna feel the weight of our athleticism on top of you. And, and it's a pretty good approach if you've got guys like Bolligan and, and Freeman out there and Tillman and all that. And I think that if it's your strength, lean into it.
Right.
And that's what they did last night.
Nate Bukaty, author again of a brand new book, Perfect Pitch: How Kansas City Became the Heart of American Soccer and Landed the World Cup. Nate, you have a book signing here coming up in moments, so I'm going to let you go. Before we wrap things up here in Morley Abhorrent. So I give you time to head out there. And if you're ever in the Kansas City area or if you're in a nearby bordering state, the Power and Light District is iconic. I saw videos and Nate, you're basically the caretaker of the Power and Light District, right? You got the keys.
I mean, I've hosted every watch party there going back to 2010 and it's been cool to see that. It's just like, I think we got kind of lucky. We built that venue. We— the city built that venue hoping to be a great— like, to kind of revitalize the downtown area. They had no idea that it was going to be made-for-television watch party type material. But then once we figured it out with that World Cup in 2010, the Landon Donovan goal was kind of the moment. Um, the expectations in town are we know where to party. We've had Super Bowl watch parties there, 3 victorious ones with the Chiefs, but the biggest ones have always been the U.S. men's national team. And that's, um, and that was huge. That was key to the bid. Kansas City, smallest market by far to have the World Cup, and, and it was because we showed there's a passion here, and I, and I think it's been reflected. So yeah, it's gonna be fun. And, uh, the book signing event will be fun too. We got a— we— store called Maiden KC where I'll be, and if you buy a book, you get a drink.
I'll— we'll sit at the bar, we'll have a talk, we'll have a drink, relive this game, and let's go, right?
A lot of people in a drinking mood after that performance from the U.S. Men's National team. Nate, a big fan of yours. I saw you were on The S Word with Master Tesfatsion on TalkSport earlier this morning. Enjoy it. I'm telling all my friends that are working in the media, soak this up. This is— this— these are the stories that you share at the bars for years to come. These are where you get the book deals. Nate already beat most of my friends to the punch in that regard, but this is what you live for. A host nation performing well in the World Cup. This is what we dreamed, and hopefully the US can keep this thing sustained. Nate, I'll say goodbye to you. Thank you so much for joining me, my friend. Make sure to support Nate by purchasing Perfect Pitch, or if you're in the area, support him today. Get a drink and, uh, head over to that book signing. Thank you, Nate.
You're the man, Mike. I appreciate you. Anytime. Let's do it again. All right, let's do it after another win or something, you know.
All right, I'll take you up on that. Nate Bukaty, a great play-by-play guy, a voice for the MLS, and truly one of the great caretakers of the sport. Uh, I want to give you some thoughts here. Uh, Nate, you can hop off. Thank you, Rose, I appreciate that. Uh, I want to give you some thoughts here on the other things that we saw from the tournament yesterday. Another host nation, Canada. Man, I, I don't know if you guys caught this in the comments section, but, uh, Fox's coverage has been curious. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm trying to follow what they're doing, but they did a profile on Jesse Marsh, uh, an American manager, former manager over Leeds, um, tried to get the U.S. men's national team job, was always a critic of Greg Berhalter, like many of us, uh, ended up getting the Canadian national team managerial job. And Fox kicked it out to Rob Stone, and Deuce Dempsey was on the dais, Stu Holden was there, it was all former U.S. men's internationals. And I have never seen a network broadcast just tee off on an individual quite like they did with Jesse Marsh.
Uh, Rob Stone like gave you the gambit. Well, he says a lot of things that make you roll your eyes. Uh, Deuce Dempsey was taking personal shots about Jesse Marsh riding a moped. Carly Lloyd then took the ball and ran with it and dunked on him. I, I was just kind of like in awe. I was wondering if anybody else saw that because I have never seen anything like that, man. They pretty much called him the B-word.
It was crazy.
And usually when there is a, a character in a World Cup that has any kind of American tie— we saw with Bosnia, there was a dude that was born in Wisconsin and then they couldn't shut up about it— usually when there is an American tie to anybody, the, the host nation broadcaster will, will put that person over as a means to get the casual American viewer further invested. Nobody had time for Jesse Marsh. It is very clear people hate Jesse Marsh. So Jesse Marsh's match starts, and you know, Canada is just such a, a strange team on the international level. In CONCACAF, they play well, um, obviously performed best in the, in the Copa America most recently out of all the CONCACAF nations. But, uh, they do a lot of talking. Jesse Marsh does a lot of talking, clearly very polarizing. And Canada came out as a host nation, conceded early to Bosnia. Bosnia doesn't have Džeko, who's probably on name brand recognition the most recognizable Bosnian player, but they have some good players and they go up 1-0. And Kyle Lahren, who I thought probably should have started, came in and made an immediate impact.
So I guess credit to Jesse Marsh there for realizing Lahren can change that game. But for Canada, they secure their first ever World Cup point, but you gotta You got to think that was disappointing, especially when you juxtapose it with what the US was able to do with their host nation opportunity, or what Mexico did. I think so far it's pretty clear who had the best performance of the three host nations. Uh, US soccer, uh, by a country mile, uh, looked the best. On today's docket, we have, uh, Switzerland against Qatar. Uh, Switzerland should roll in this match. But I think the match that everybody wants to see is Morocco against Brazil. Morocco made it all the way to the semis in the last World Cup, a highly talented team that I think many people are going to take lightly. And if you're a casual observer, on the surface you see Brazil, Morocco, easy, this is going to be Brazil running through. Not so fast. This is not a Brazil team that we are used to seeing. They have a lot of questions. They do not have the same amount of talent. They have Vinícius, they have Rafinha, But who is their go-to goal scorer?
They don't really have someone dependable up top. They're still kind of counting on Neymar to, to help them out here in this tournament. Neymar, once again, underprepared and unhealthy. So we'll see. Carlo Ancelotti is a great equalizer, though, for some of those deficiencies. Vini played well under Ancelotti at Real Madrid. Hopefully for Vini, he can recapture that form. It was not a great season. For club. I think Mbappé really kind of threw him off there, but he thrived under Ancelotti. So we'll see if Vinicius can, can once again recapture that form because when he is on, he is as fun a player to watch in this tournament. I am really excited about that. And then we have the Sickos Delight Scotland, who from social media, they're winning the day. Their fan base is really enjoying this trip. Check out JJ Bull on, on Apple Music. He has some of the best unofficial anthems out there. But they play Haiti, and as someone that watches CONCACAF regularly, Haiti is not an easy team to play against. Haiti, Haiti is well, well positioned here to certainly surpass expectations, I think. And if Scotland think they're just going to stroll through and just run through this Haitian team, I think they have another thing coming.
I think this is a both teams to score. Candidate. And if you want a real long shot upset pick, this is one that I've kind of had pegged. One of my favorite bets in advance of this tournament was Scotland to finish last. Now that's not because I think they will finish last, I just thought the value at +1000 was too great to pass up because really the, the 4 teams in this group, most people would identify Haiti to finish last. I, I think that's the general consensus, but The gulf between Haiti and Scotland isn't such that you can't just take the fly on the juice, I don't think. And then at midnight we have Turkey A. It's— I've actually grown accustomed to Turkey A already. I think I like it over Turkey. Turkey A against Australia. Australia, no real names on that team unless you're a sicko and watched them throughout qualifying. It's not like they have, you know, some of the Kewells and, uh, Cahills playing over in Europe that you're more familiar with. This is a team that is gonna be gritty, gonna try to not concede, and don't really have talents all that capable of individual moments of brilliance like they've had in the past, but they should be a tough team.
And obviously they're in the US's group, they're the US's next opponent, so we'll be watching that one with a keen eye. Türkiye is a team that you know, headed into this tournament. Most people, certainly in Europe, thought that they would win this group. Most Americans thought the host nation would come through. Now I think live odds reflect, after that performance from the US, that they are certainly favored to, to win this group. So we'll see what we get from that. But a great day of soccer ahead of us, headlined by Morocco-Brazil. Lots of questions that need answering for Brazil. So we will watch that, um, certainly, uh, with piqued interest, no doubt. Thank you all for, uh, stopping by the YouTube page here. Uh, we'll be on demand and, um, we'll be producing this content throughout the tournament. I'm actually going to France-Senegal in New York. God, I hope the Knicks win tonight so I don't have to deal with that mess, because France-Senegal would line up with Game 6 potential championship-clinching opportunity for the New York Knicks. I don't think I want to be there for that. I'd rather just watch France-Sénégal in peace and be all about the soccer.
But I'll be traveling here in the next couple of weeks, so I hope to give you a midweek episode of Morally Abhorrent. And as always, we will be here, uh, in reaction to U.S. men's national team performances. And if they perform like they did last night, boy, this is going to be a much easier job than I anticipated. Hope you all are enjoying the soccer and the coverage. We will have plenty familiar faces rolling through here. Chris Whittingham will be back, I assure you. Uh, we had Master Tesfatsion, Tom Bogert, who's doing an incredible job, by the way. Shout out to Tom Bogert, who is the lead soccer insider in this country. I believe The Athletic soccer coverage— a proud partner of Metal Ark Media with Pablo Torre— finds out— I believe The Athletic soccer coverage is free for the remainder of the tournament. So make sure you're reading up on the latest goings-on with the US Men's National Team. Tom Bogert on the beat, and he will be here on Morally Abhorrent more often, I can assure you that. What was one of the best feelings in US men's soccer history happened last night, uh, a game-changing, a tournament-changing performance from the US inspirational.
That, that is my main takeaway. And finally, we have some good vibes around the tournament that felt very negative. And, you know, hand up, was guilty of that. I really needed last night's performance to really, uh, feel the power, uh, and the high-end joy that this tournament is fully capable of. And, uh, I'm just so proud of that US team core because, let's be honest, they were, they were very immature. They acted like babies and they, they didn't meet expectations. They, they were, they, they had this title of Golden Generation and not only did the talent not match that, but the, um, the maturity certainly fell way short of that. And last night was a super mature performance and a super talented performance, taking opposing defenses on, on the dribble. That, that is high-end soccer talent And we flashed some talent that frankly we never have on this level before. So I am super excited for what's to come for the US men's. Again, Morally Abhorrent will be an occasional contributor to, contributor to the Dan Le Batard Show feeds here. Thank you to Rose who was engineering behind the scenes. Thank you to Nate Bukaty for stopping by, and thank you all for watching.
We will be with you next time.
The United States Men's National Team got its 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign underway with a stunning 4-1 victory in Los Angeles against Paraguay, in what many are calling the greatest performance in the team's history. Nate Bukaty joins Mike Ryan to break it all down, including Folarin Balogun's brace, Christian Pulisic being subbed off at halftime, and Gio Reyna's magnificent exclamation point.
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