Transcript of Liverpool Lead Manchester City, Messi Steers Miami, and MLS Conference Finals Preview

When you have a players-only meeting, it means you've hit rock bottom. And I have a saying in life, be careful of rock bottom because rock bottom oftentimes has a trap door. Hey, everybody. Welcome in to unfiltered soccer presented by Volkswagen. We are your host. He's Landon Donovan. I'm Tim Howard. Ld, tell everybody why you kept me waiting today. Where have you been?

Well, Well, I went on a little vacation to Cabo. It's a tough life. Someone's got to live it. You were working all weekend, right? I saw you at the Red Bull game.

That sums us up.

Well, someone's got to work around here and someone has to enjoy it.

How was his vacation?

It was nice, man. Getaway. Cabo is an amazing place. I love that place. It's so close to San Diego. For you guys, I don't know. I guess it's the New York, Caribbean or something, but it's an hour and a half for us, so it's so nice. Just get away, relax, and it's nice to be there, but nice to be home.

All Before we get into the soccer, make sure as you're listening, you follow us on social media at unfilteredsoccer. Be sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow us on Apple podcast and Spotify. If you like what we're doing, let us know. If you don't bring the heat, we love the heat, we don't mind it. It's all good fun for us. We love discussing soccer and all of your opinions. You can email us as well at feedback@ unfilteredsoccer. Com.

All right. So we are going to start with MLS. And in a a little bit, we got US National team. We're going to talk about that pool of sick dance a little bit more. We don't want to beat a dead horse, but some time to think about it. A lot of Premier League talk. But first, you were at, I guess it was City's Home Game. So whatever that's called, that stadium. And Red Bull City. How was it? It was good.

It was good. Yeah. City field with the New York Mets play. I must say, the atmosphere was awesome.

Was it? Yeah. I love that.

You think like, okay, baseball stadium. No one likes playing soccer in a baseball stadium. We get it. The atmosphere was awesome. And it's really cool. I think it was the first time it was a Hudson River derby in the playoffs. And it's like, man, if you could get that, you could get that every year. It was good. It was cool. And of course, the Red Bull fans weren't outdone because it's right across the river. So they showed up. It was a weird game. New York City FC, at some point in the season, beat the snot out of Red Bull because Red Bull was trying to match the passing, orientated play of New York City FC. And that's New York City FC's bread and butter. So they played them off the park. They beat them bad. And it was at that game, I heard that there was some internal meeting where they're like, No, we're going back to the Red Bull way, which is like blood and thunder, charge forward, get it forward, pass forward, run forward. And in fairness, I think both teams were worried about the other for those exact reasons. And Red Bull didn't have a lot.

They didn't have a ton of chances. They scored on their two real good opportunities. I thought New York City played them off the park for the most part, had really good opportunities, and just didn't capitalize. But 2-0, credit to Red Bull. Really good game.

I have to say, just watching the games over the weekend, it's just fun to watch. First of all, there were derbies, like real derbies in the place, which make it amazing. But every seating every stadium is full, at least in the stadiums where their MLS teams play normally. It was just really fun to watch. Also really fun to watch the stepsister, red-headed stepchild in LA, get taken to task by Seattle. I don't like either team for the record. I had a lot of fun wins in Seattle.

This is not going to like you for this.

It was just good to see them. On the back of that, we saw the Galaxy absolutely dismantle Minnesota. I watched that game closely, Tim. I was thinking something, put you on the spot here. Can you remember an MLS team that had a better front four in their prime than the Galaxy right now between Ricky Puj, Jovalich, Peck, and Petzl. I was racking my brain all week and I'm like, has anybody been better? There might have been two, maybe three players better before in their prime.

Yeah, Look, you bring up a great point. And the fact that the fact that the only team that comes to mind is that first DC United team. Was it Hark's Echeverry, Hyme Moreno? That's right. And then one of them was Roy Lasseter. But to your point, it's been decades, right? And so it's a really good... I mean, watching them is exciting. Greg Vanning, the way he has them playing, they are bullish and they are in your face and they know exactly who they are.

And by the way, they know they're going to concede chances, concede goals and whatever. And they're like, if you score three, we'll score four, you score five, we'll score six. And they just don't care. Man, they were good. But Sounders, by the way, the Sounders are their last, I don't know if it's 17, 18, 20 game. I think they've lost once. Maybe they are. They just seem, for whatever reason, they're like the Chiefs right now. They can mess up and do everything wrong and they just win. So that game next weekend is going to be phenomenal.

Yeah. And let's go back a little with since we're on the Sounders, that LAFC game. I know they're your hated rival, so I love the hate, but there's obviously respect in that and credit LAFC for what they've been able to build on the back of... Galaxy is traditionally the best franchise in MLS, so credit to LAFC. But I have to give people flowers, man. That's something I do. Seattle is a tough out, bro. Seattle, you go there, it's a proper football, soccer town. They're educated. They know what they're doing. They support their team through good times and bad times. There's been a lot of good times. And it's one of those griny, tough places where, yeah, they can play a bit of football, but they're willing to dig in. And the amount of big moments they've had in big moments It's not coincidental anymore. Winning an MLS Cup, winning a big moments in Western Conference finals. Jordan Morris, a friend of ours, Jordi, we play with him. The fact that he's still doing it, still getting it done. Big credit. Stephen Fry. I mean, you want to talk about MLS goalkeeper legacy. Hats off to him.

I mean, he plays big. Well done.

Happy for him. And yeah, that game is going to be awesome next weekend. Sunday, Orlando beat Atlanta. I think it's what we predicted Tim. Atlanta just flat after that. Emotional, super emotional high three-game series with Miami. I think we predicted this one. And Orlando, comfortable.

Comfortable, but credit to Atlanta. They've overachieved, right? I mean, they Slate the Dragon in Miami and Messi, and then looked at one nil against Orlando. Of course, they wanted to advance to the conference finals, but ultimately, they gave a decent showing themselves. But I mean, LA Galaxy beating Minnesota, and Minnesota had a very good season to beat them 6-2 in that fashion, impressive.

Yeah. I'm not sure the league is super thrilled with Orlando Red Bull, but on the other end, Galaxy Seattle should be a lot of fun. Yeah, The team Atlanta knocked out made a very, very fast and interesting decision. Sure did. Well, apparently, Tata Martino made the decision. I think we all know who really made the decision. Who might that be? Yeah, maybe one of the players. But he's out as a manager. Usually, I say to him, when a manager says he's stepping away or she's stepping away, that means the club pushed you out, right? I will say someone as experienced and older in age like Tata Martino, I could see a scenario where he said, I truly just need to step away for all. However, that all changed when all these Mascherano links came up. John for the boys. Yeah, because if he steps away and you have a decision the next day, guess what? That decision was being made for months and months ahead of time. I think it's pretty clear what happened here. Leo and whoever said, Look, it's been great, but if we don't win it, this is what's going to happen.

He's going to resign, and we're bringing in our boy.

And look, I think from my end, we joke a little bit about Messi making those decisions in the background, but I'm okay with it. I'm not overarchingly in favor of player power, because I think that can disrupt things. But when you lean on Messi and you have the experience you have, you almost get a say in having a seat at the table. And what I would say to back that up is later in my career, I went banging on the GM's door and I had all these ideas. And in fairness to him, he just told me to go sit in the corner because those things weren't happening.

Take a day off now.

I didn't have that pull, but I wanted it. When you get a player who's a God, quite literally a footballing God, I'm okay with it.

I'm okay with that. Let me give you the problem with that. In 2011, I'm going to take you behind the scenes a little bit. You were probably involved in some of these, too. So 2011, Bob Bradley gets fired, right? And behind the scenes, there are conversations being had with a few of us players. I was 29 at the time saying, Hey, what do you think about this potential manager, this potential manager? And one of those was Jürgen Klinsman. And all of us at the time, not all of us, I'm speaking for myself, but a few of us said, Oh, my God, it's Jürgen Klinsman. Like, legend, absolute legend, soccer player. So we said, Yeah, that would be amazing. Having no clue, right? And to be fair, I was much younger, less experienced than Lionel Messi making a decision like that or giving input like that. But it turned out to be a total disaster for US soccer and for everyone involved. So that's the challenge and the danger with that. Like, yeah, as he boys with Mascherano, yes, it seemed exciting and great and whatever. But what It happens the first time they lose three in a row?

Yeah, it's massive. And now all of a sudden there's real problems. Now what do you do?

Look, I don't doubt that. What I would say, and it's hard when you talk about mess it because, again, I reiterate, we're talking about a God, and I'm not being flippant when I say that. The difference when you and I, because we had a long career on our team, when there was a coaching change, the right thing to do as someone at the top being President of US Soccer or people involved in the decision-making process is talk to the people with boots on the ground, the senior players. That's normal in the process. We didn't pick the coach. We gave an opinion on someone, on candidates that were brought to us. That's natural. That's part of the process. This is more of What it seems like to us anyway is, Messi probably had a ton of input in this. The caveat to all that is there's one person in all of this conversation that you better keep happy, that you don't want to... No, no. That you don't want to go war with, that you don't want to go to war with. So one part is his boy gets tired in Mascherano and things go pair-shaped and they have to make a tough decision.

The other part is going, No, bro, we're not going to listen to you and we're going to bring our own guy in. Well, guess what? My guy down tools and is like, I'm out. So there's issues both ways.

Yeah. I mean, look, Jorge Moss, who ultimately made this decision, I'm sure David Beckham had input in it, and Messi, they're all smart about the way they went about it. So Messi didn't go in and bang on his door and say, We have to hire Mascherano. He probably said, Hey, you know who'd be an interesting one? Jorge Moss probably said, Oh, that is interesting. Wink, wink, knock, knock. Again, we don't have all the context, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Again, none of these guys are getting any younger, Busquets, Jordialba, Messi, Suarez. Let's hope it goes well. It's great for the league when Miami is doing well and they're all playing well, et cetera. So let's hope it goes well. All right. Those matchups are next weekend, MLS matchups. Let's move on to your other day job, Tim, the Premier League. You watched a lot of games this weekend. The biggest one, Spurs. Absolutely pummeled City. Yeah.

No one saw it coming. If you had a bag full of money, you wouldn't have put it on Spurs to beat City 4-0. You probably wouldn't have gotten odds on that. City is interesting because it's very easy where everyone sits. What's the problem? Raji's injured. That's the problem. Yeah, that's a big chunk of it. When I start to look at the team, for me, when you look at Pep's great reign, there was always one player that he would dip in and out, or he'd change a formation based on a player tactically. But it wasn't wholesale, right? It's like, Grealish comes out, Foden comes in. Maybe I put John Stones at the right fullback, and he goes as inverted number six, whatever. He chops and changes. This team feels a little bit like there's four or five things that need changing. So Rodri's out, Got that. Holland, he had a rough game. Okay, so the Holland thing, missed a ton of chances. Goalkeeper, Vacario made a bunch of saves. But the thing for me about Holland was he still leads the league in goals, and he was in brilliant positions, LD. You know as a striker, he was in brilliant positions.

So it was an off day. So I'm like, if a striker is getting in a good position and getting good chances, they're going to score. So never mind that. But they sold Julian Alvarez, who I think, if I remember quickly, added a high double-digit number of goals. So you could play him with Holland, you could play him on his own, but they didn't replace him. And then they bring Gündoan back from Barcelona, who, by the way, God bless him, he's a brilliant player, doesn't look like himself. No. He was slow. He wasn't charged around the midfield. Kyle Walker at one point, and by the way, Kyle Walker, brilliant footballer for England, for City, I mean, rarely puts a foot wrong on the pitch. And he was out sprinted. There were times he didn't sprint back. That's not what we- Timo Werner ran by him.

Pace them. What?

Yeah. And for the first goal, didn't tuck back. And one of his biggest strengths is tucking on the shoulder of the center back. So again, not blaming Kyle Walker, but there's just a bunch of little things going on. And you know this, with Rodri, he's He's everything. This guy is colossal, right? But what people forget, when you and I stand in the tunnel, and I can say this honestly, when you're maestro, when your main man isn't there, the vibrations are throughout the team. When we're in a tunnel in a big game, you weren't there, or Clint wasn't there, you start like, Yeah, we have a chance today, but we don't have nearly as much as of a chance, right? And so big players hold other players accountable, and he is Pep Guardiola on the pitch. And so there's There's a lot to unpack with City. I don't know if you see it the same way, but that's a bunch of the things I see.

One of the things that I think people don't realize about dominant teams or teams that are at the very top is the margins, even at the top, are still very thin, very thin. They still have world-class players all over the field. One of the takeaways, obviously, injuries has been a theme, and Pep went on a big run about all the things that are going wrong or that people think are and why they are. When you play this many games over this many seasons with the same players over and over and they're playing for their national teams, eventually you're going to get a stretch where there's a bunch of guys out, and they're just going through it. I'll tell You know what, though, for people who are saying, Peps lost a step or he's not smart, you know what the most brilliant thing he did in the last two weeks that just got brushed over because of their failures on the field?

Tell us.

He signed an extension to him. Him. So guess what? He saw this coming. He saw this little slide coming and he said, You know what? Let me talk to my agent. Let's get this thing done real quick. Like, real quick. And now you want to... They lose seven or eight or nine in a row and you want to fire them? All right. You got to the tune of 40, 45, 50 million dollars to pay. He's not an idiot. He knows. And he knows they're going to go through a little patch and they will be fine long term. But in my opinion, and maybe you disagree, I think the title race is over. I can't see them now. It's 11 points, is it, today?

It's eight now. They play each other next week. Sorry.

If they lose, then it's 11. I don't know how Liverpool just looked. They looked too powerful to give up that many points.

So a couple of thoughts. Look, on the contract side of things, whether they go on a bad run or there's no break clause in the contract, the fact of the matter is, congratulations to Pep Guardi on Manchester City. You have done your business with each other fantastically. The only thing I can think of is the relationship between Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United, and Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. There was never going to be a rift between-I was going to say privately. And privately. And so if there's no break clause, guess what the break clause is? Hey, guys, it's not going anywhere. Pay me a little bit of money. We'll go away quietly. This has been an amazing decade. That's the break clause, right? Even though it's legally not a break clause. Here's my take on the title race. Right now, Manchester City have given us no reason, literally no reason, other than the last five weeks, to suggest they won't at some point come good. What does come good mean, win the title? No. They will get everybody healthy, and they will make a charge for the title. Now, hear me out. It's eight points. It's real precarious because we talk about six pointers and must and all that stuff.

If City lose, the lead balloons to 11 for Liverpool.

You change your mind then?

Yes, because then there has to be a capitulation by Liverpool. Liverpool will have a dip. Unless they become the Invincibles or semi-invincibles, they'll have a dip. So with an 11-point cushion, you can have an amazing dip. You can have an amazing dip, as long as it's not a capitulation. So yes, at that point, it's done and dusted for me. If City win... By the way, City can win at Liverpool. Come on, it's still Manchester City. I know things are going... They're trending in opposite directions. If they win at Liverpool, number one, they still can do the old Pedro Martina is like, Who's your daddy? Because we're at our worst in the last five years and we still beat you. But then it goes to five points. Five points, you sneeze and you can lose a five. Yeah, I get it. So for me, I will make a real abrupt final decision. Final? Got a long way to go after next weekend because it matters to me. It matters to me if it goes from 8:00 to 11:00 or 8:00 to 5:00. That, to me, is a big difference. All right.

We'll follow up after next weekend, and we'll see where we're at. All right, let's move to the other team in Manchester, united under Ruben Ammarin for the first time. So they score after whatever, however many seconds, less than a- Under two minutes or something. Under two minutes into the game. But from that point on, I would say not real inspiring. I just want to, for United fans out there, take a deep breath. This is going to take so much time. I'll tell you why, Tim. I watched the game and I was curious why his lineup was the way he was. It was a pretty old, mature, seasoned lineup. He came out after. Not his best friend. Yeah, not his best friend. He came out after and said, Look, I want the guys who are here with me all week, not away on international break. Totally get it. But the reason Manchester United signed him and brought him on board was because of what he did in Portugal. What he did in Portugal took a long time. It takes time to develop a way of playing. I'm going to have a little dig at your commentators on NBC.

I was waiting for them to walk us through what exactly they did besides saying, They're in a three, four, three. Okay, I can see that with my own eyes. Can you tell me what's going on on the field? What I found interesting is, so first, just positionally where they lined up. Moussa Raleigh played as a right center back, Diego Dalo as a left center back. They were almost like double width with he and Garnacho there on the left. There were some moments where Dalo would start really high and come down to receive the ball. It made it tough because Ipswich were basically pressing man-to-man. So Raphsford, you see why this will help Marcus Rashford long term if teams come after them because he gets isolated 1v1 or he can run in to out and run in behind defenses. But their problem early is going to be personnel. He does not have the players that fit the way he wants to play. I wouldn't be surprised if Maynu comes in, Mason Mount comes in. I mean, Luke Shaw is a left center back. I really like in that sense. So he needs players. Zerxee, I think, help.

But I think personnel right now is going to be the biggest issue. But if you're a Manchester United fan, just take a breath. This is going to take time.

Manchester United fans are brilliant because they always back their manager. They do. They're traditional for backing their managers, sticking with them. Ruben Amaran, as of right now, is the right guy for the job. And I'm not saying that after one game, because here's the thing. I think he's gone from what he says, and I really like the way he speaks about the club. He talks about doing it his way. And his postgame comments, he said, We can try and get through right now, and then we get to next preseason, and we're starting all over again in the same spot. He's right. So he's going to implement his ideas. There's going to be growing pains. They'll maybe bring one or two players in the window. Don't know, right, if they can do that in terms of profit and sustainability rules. But obviously, as the next big transfer window opens up in the summer, they'll They get some players out. They'll bring his players in who understand his ideas and his philosophy. And I think at a certain point, Manchester United need to just, and they do, they stick by their managers, but they need to give him the time he needs.

I think the hierarchy structure with any else, so Jim Radcliffe and Omar Barada and everyone under Dan Ashworth and the people underneath him is in a really good place. And as long as they give him the time they need, this will get better. You can already see the identity. You can already see the identity. He speaks very well about the club and what he wants from his players. And in fact, so much so that he said, We scored the goal early on. I want longer possession after that. And what he means by that is in the past with Tenhanec, they were a sit, lie in wait, and counter attack team. His point is that's natural. So as soon as they score a goal, what do they do? They set off the ball a little bit. So he's basically saying, That's going to happen, but I want my teams, and we're going to get better at this, is we score one goal, then we get on the We go back again and we go again. And so I like where it's going.

Curious what you guys think. Is the title race over? You happy with the direction United is going? And even after a lackluster first game, I actually, I personally like it. I like the ideas. Personnel is going to be a big deal. But is the title race over? I think it is. Tim, maybe not so sure, but we'll see. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk US Men's National team. But yes, we will talk about Christians Dance from a unique I think, that we are uniquely qualified to talk about right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

We'll be right back. This is a segment we like to call USLNT on USMNT. I've had a lot to say about Christian Polisic and the post-yes, you have. Celebration. So I want to hear, before I speak again, what you have to say about the matter. Ld, take it away.

Yeah, look, we don't want to beat a dead horse, but this is important. And it all happened really fresh last week. So he scores a goal against Jamaica. He runs to the corner, does the Trump dance that's become popular in sports culture. I just want to say, look, it is about politics, but it's not about politics for me right now. This is about being a leader and being a captain of a US national team. I want to take people back, and you remember this, Tim, February 2004, I'm in Olympic qualifying. You dealt with it with the men's national team. I'm in Olympic qualifying, and we're in Mexico playing a semifinal game, and Mexican fans are there. This was after 9/11 and after we had had then started going after Osama bin Laden. Fans throughout the stadium, as we were losing to Mexico, were chanting Osama, Osama, Osama. This was one of the most tragic days in the history of the United States, September 11, 2001. First of all, you're losing a game that you care about. You're not qualifying for the Olympics. But on top of that, they're just throwing that in your face. Guess who was the captain of that team?

Me. I cannot tell you how many things I wanted to say after the game. I cannot tell you what I wanted to do in that moment, go into the stands and just go off on people. I understood in a hard moment, that was not the right thing to do. Now, I'm not saying this is exactly apples to apples. What I'm saying is, Christian doesn't have to be, in my opinion, does not have to be a role model. I like my professional athletes to be role models, I get it. Everyone has their own thing. He does, however, he needs to be aware of what his actions do. You said this great in your column that you wrote for the Daily Mail. You said, and you've said this to me many times, and I really respect this. You say, if you're going to be whatever you're going to be, no problem. Just own it. Just own it. So if you're going to do the dance, one, make sure you know what you're doing. Two, if you're going to do it, you better be all in because is you're going to cause a stir with this. But then don't come to the podium after the game and say, oh, I didn't really know what I was doing.

It was just a cool dance I saw people do. That doesn't cut it for me. That's not okay. If you say, look, I believe Trump was the best candidate, and I voted for him, and I'm supporting him, fine, no problem. That's your prerogative. You can do what you want. Just like we talked about with Joey Bosa and others who are showing their Make America Great, make America again had and then going to the press conference and saying, Oh, no, no, it wasn't political, or I'm not taking questions about that. No comment. Come on, bro. Don't do that. Again, in that way, it's not about politics. It's about being aware of your situation. Guess what's coming in 18 months to the US? The World Cup. You do something like that on the stage where hundreds of millions of people are watching, you could have a real impact in the world. I'm getting goosebumps talking about it, but you got to be careful. And I'm not saying he will, and this is a learning lesson for him, and I'm sure he has learned from it because he's a really bright kid and he's a nice young man.

But you got to be careful.

Yeah. Well, I mean, Look, LD, well said. I feel compelled because this is a different platform to clarify my comments. But the fact of the matter is in my Daily Mail column, which I've taken a lot of heat for, and I'm happy to live and work in the kitchen. So if you have things that you want to say to me good and bad, bring it on. I welcome all of that. I don't mind it. But the fact of the matter is, if you've ever been to Walgreens and you get that long receipt. I've got receipts as long as Walgreens regarding Christian Polisic. When he was getting torn down by everybody about who he couldn't cut at Chelsea, there was a ball-headed guy with a beard who went on TV and said, You know what? Don't think he's put a foot wrong for Chelsea. I think he's getting a raw into the deal because he's American. He's getting hooked all the time before the end of the game. And I think it's absurd because I think he's that good. I have more respect for him or as much respect for him than any current or former US as a national team player.

I think the world of him, and by the way, he's a great kid. I've got nothing bad to say about him. So from a clarification standpoint, all I'm saying is the captain of America cannot, and I'll double and triple down on this, cannot do a celebration or a dance that is connected directly to the President-elect, which is political, and then claim after the fact that they didn't know it was a political statement. That's all I'm saying. So when you write to me and you give me all the hate, which I've already read and dismissed, just know. Chris and Baliza can vote for anybody he wants. We don't have to vote for the same presidential candidate. I don't care about that. I care that, as you said, if you're going to do something, own it. And by the way, again, for the record, I've screwed up a lot in my life. I've screwed a lot professionally. I've screwed up. And I had to own some things. And I had to look back and go, yeah, I'd have done that differently. So this isn't the pot calling the kettle black. This is from somebody who made mistakes on a big arena.

So love Christian Polisic, love everything he's about, truly do, for the fact that I think the captain of America should own it. And by the way, I am putting more onus and emphasis. You've worn a Captain Arnband, Landon, for America. I've walked out behind you as our captain. Yeah, if someone else did If Timothée Wey did this, by the way, right? And I'm going to name names, they wouldn't do it. If Timothée Wey did this, you know who I'd blame for that? The captain.

I would. It's just part of it. I would.

That's part of the responsibility. So end of rant.

Listen, and That's well said, too. And by the way, if I don't agree with some things you say, I'm going to tell you. So I liked what you wrote in the mail. This is not some love session we do here. We're honest with each other, which is what I've always respected about us. This is something he needs to learn from. I am curious, and I think I know the answer. I don't think this could have played well with every one of his teammates in both the national team locker room for AC Milan. That's another part of it. When you do things that are controversial, when I took a break in 2013 from the national team during a qualifier, I damn well knew that some guys are going to say, Hey, what's going on here, pal? The point is, and I think we're on the same page here, it's okay. You can do it. You do what you want, you live your life however you want, but don't back away from it and just be a man and own it. Totally. That's okay. To that point, he then, I mean, we can say benched. He was benched on the weekend by Paulo Fonseca at Milan.

The public line was He had some issues going on. Paulo Fonseca said, he came from the national team with a problem yesterday, and today we tried, but he wasn't well. I couldn't let him play more. If he's injured, you're not playing him. You're not risking him. He still played 20 minutes. I'm not saying there was something behind this, but I am a little curious now. Was something talked about? Was this just simply a soccer decision? I don't know, but it seems a little weird that you would bench your best player in a massive game against a huge rival when you're trying to get into Europe.

Well, look, the other side of that is we have to take that at face value for we know South American Australian and North American players, when they fly back to Europe, oftentimes the manager does take that into consideration that they played two times 90 minutes or whatever and travel. So we have to allow that to also stand on its own as well. So take that. Soccer. Soccer.

All right. On the better side of things, Ricardo Pepe went back to his club and played. Wasn't benched. Banged in a hat trick. I loved his quote after he said people were asking him. He was out, I think, because DeJong was... Or he played because DeJong was out. You think you're going to start the next game? And he said, Well, usually when you score a hat trick, you start the next game. Don't mind it. But we'll see what happens. There are reports of him making a move in 2025. One, do you think he should? And two, where do you think he should go?

Ricardo Pepe. Love your swagger, man. And let me say this because I believe it.

Yeah, I do, too.

I want, and I'll say this forever as long as we have football conversations, I, as a player on the pitch, a goalkeeper, I want my strikers to be arrogant and angry and bold and brash and most of all, selfish. We'll do the dirty work, but if we get you the ball, do me a favor. Stick it in the back of the net. And when you don't get the ball, yell and scream at everybody because you know you get the ball, you put it back of the net. Be arrogant, be brash. I love it. I love the comments. He's in a good vein of form. As we know, flow is out with an injury. Ricardo Pepe can take advantage of that. Continue playing well, bang the goals. And when you get the opportunity, he will. He'll continue to get the opportunity because like I said, I believe it. If any manager has a goal score in good form, he's going to play him or should play him. Now, if he gets in a starting lineup, you stay at PSV because it's a really good club. But the other thing is, if you're scoring goals, people will take a chance on you.

And if a club comes after him, I don't know exactly where he should go, but if a club comes after him and they say, Hey, look, we want you... Here's the keys to the car. Drive it every single weekend. Then I think he has to chase more playing time. So we'll see.

All right. Well, you know my answer. Go where you are going to play. You've got 18 months ahead of the World Cup. It is the only thing that matters. If I'm him I would be a little skeptical right now if PSV says, Look, you're scoring, you're great, you're going to start because five games without a goal, the next thing you know, he's on the bench again. So he's got to be smart and strategic, and all of our national team players right now, no matter where you are, you need to be really clever in the next few months before the window, the next 6-7 months before that window, and then definitely leading into 2026. You have to be playing. I mean, that is crucial. Totally. Us will They will face Panama. We didn't know that last time we were on, they will face Panama in Nations League in March. And Mexico did not have to wait for a special exemption. They beat Honduras on their own, and they will go through and play Canada. That should be a great game, too. So looking forward to those two in March. Should be a lot of fun. All right, we'll take another break.

When we get back, we will go to the mailbag. I'm sure there definitely were lots of comments, hundreds on the YouTube page. I read through a bunch of them, some good, some not great. Lots of interesting insight, lots of interesting takes from people, lots of questions. So we'll answer some of your mailbag questions, and then we will finish with Anything But Soccer, one of our favorite segments here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

Ld, the big Best sporting news of the weekend, of the week, of the month, of possibly the year. Nwsl Championship. Orlando beat the Washington spirit 1-0. Listen, hats off all the flowers in the world to Orlando. They did the double, won the NWSL Championship, won the NWSL Shield for best regular season record. I mean, Barbara Banda, take a bow. I mean, stand up and take a bow. It was such an impressive year by Orlando Pride and everything they're doing. The game was in Kansas City. Kansas City current owners Chris and Angie Long. Again, what you've built there in Kansas City is phenomenal. You've played there. The crowd was sold out. It's a wow moment. It's a wow moment for the NWSL. I just think about Marta, her mom, her mom being in the stands in America.

First time she ever came to see her play.

Ever. That is literally fairytale. I don't want to say it because I want to try and go get the rights to it. But that's a documentary that's going to fly because what an amazing story for one of the best football players to ever lace the boots up for her to culminate that moment with her mom watching in front of a sold-out crowd in Kansas City. Take a bow.

Incredible. And what Seb Hines and Orlando did all year was incredible. Coaching the Wave for the last few months of this season, didn't have the chance to play against Orlando, but got to play in Kansas City. That stadium, Tim, is phenomenal. Honestly, it's what every MLS team needed 10 to 15 years ago. I think it held 11,000 people every seat, full chance. They know every player's name. They love that team. It's a shame, Kansas City weren't in it, but Orlando were phenomenal. Marta, look, it's weird when you have players still playing that we're paralleling our careers when we were playing. I remember Marta 20 years ago about being the best player in the world. So incredible for them to go start to finish, win the shield. I think they only lost one game, and that was a game, I believe it was in Portland or in Seattle, and Seb Heinz just rested all his players. And so they would have won that game, too. They wouldn't have lost all season. And so phenomenal year. They deserve it. And congrats to Washington spirit, too, getting there. Yeah, totally. Then obviously, you saw the news about Michelle Kang and pledging $30 million to USSF for women's and girls programs.

She is a superstar, by the way. She has put all her eggs into the women's soccer basket, and it's really impressive what she's done.

I mean, did I see it? I barely saw it because I was floored once I saw it. I couldn't believe what a special moment that is. And I don't mean at all to be selfish, but to be the father of a young woman chasing her soccer dreams, going to University of Tennessee to play big time division one soccer, and knowing that she hopes to one day represent this country on that level and play in the NWSL. It's like that pledge of $30 million to the US Soccer Federation. It's like, and oh, by the way, Michelle Kang gets the right to have a final decision on where the money gets allocated.

Yeah, that's crucial.

That's crucial. And it's just such a wonderful, powerful moment for women's soccer, but soccer. And by the way, the women's soccer players, young female soccer players deserve this. And it's just such an awesome opportunity for the game. And the fact that her Washington spirit was in the final, it just felt enormous. It felt enormous for Orlando, but it felt enormous for Washington spirit as well. And I just Thank you. Thank you, Michelle Kang, for your generosity, for your vision. I think it's a very powerful, powerful moment, and it's going to be a seismic shift globally.

Yeah, I have a six-year-old daughter, too. We were just on vacation with her this week, and her getting to spend time around some of the way of players and watch the games and just watching. She now loves soccer. Loves it. And so people like Michelle Kang what they do. You know who she is, Tim? She is the equivalent of someone that I had the pleasure of playing for at the LA Galaxy, Phil Anschutz. He was understated quite literally by himself, kept Major League Soccer alive decades ago when the League was on the verge of folding. An absolute legend in the game, and she is well on her way to doing the same for women's soccer. Thank you from all of us, Michelle King, and long may it continue. All right, let's tap into So mailbag questions. I am sure, Jordan, they are going to be very interesting after a lot of interesting comments we had last week.

Let's go, J-Riz.

Floor is yours.

Talk to us.

Let's start with maybe an easy one. Mario on YouTube said, How does Landon feel about Messi getting to 58 assists with his national team?

You know, he's a small player. So the fact that someone of that stature matched me, it's not that relevant. Like, someone sent me a text. And believe this or not, you guys, but I had no idea that was going on. But someone sent me a text and said, wow, what an amazing tweet. And I opened it and it was like, it's so stupid. It was a picture of me and Messy. And it was something like tied on 58 assists. I'm like, this is an absolute joke. But I screenshotted the hell out of that thing. I'm plastering everywhere. Congrats to him. I have no idea why it took him that long because he probably really had more. I think it's because they used to give me those hockey assists back in the day where if you pass it 50 yards and a guy dribbles eight guys and then rolls it across the goal, I would still get an assist. Anyway, I appreciate you bringing that up.

I know Because he holds onto the ball way longer than you did because he just keeps on dribbling and then scores a thousand goals.

Yeah, he actually had a few more goals than me. No, it's pretty sweet. But please don't get another one, Messi. Let's long-I didn't know that. Let's long, forever be tied.

Okay, how about an email question? Because we're getting some of those, too. I like that. All right. We had a very nice email from Steven who wanted to know, why not encourage elite players to push back at the national team organizational faults. In England, Harry Kane may need to captain, but the injuries, like with John Stones recently, showed likely difficulties that are possible. The history of Roy Keen with Ireland or the Canada Women shows how a lack of professionalism infects these national team organizations.

Okay, that's juicy. So he's saying that their national team environment is not good, and so they should push back on going?

The captain should be speaking out about it.

Okay, so that's certainly not the case with England, right? Because that environment is great. But I know, Tim, and you can speak to this, too. I know lots of players who would say, It was the opposite of what we talked about last week. We loved going into camp. Standards were high, got to stay in great places, great fields, got to go out, have dinners, whatever. But there are lots that it's a joke when they go back to their national team. Like the environment's bad, they train on bad fields, they stay in terrible hotels, they fly economy across the globe. And yeah, it's a really good point. The problem is federations are bound by their resources, right? And so for the longest time, and actually still to this day, speaking of Canada, they just don't have a lot of resources. I mean, it's just the reality. So they have to pick and choose what they can spend their money on.

Yeah, you make a great point. And let me also put in the human element to that, right? Roy Keen, he's a guy who I love and respect, and I'm thankful I have a relationship with to this day. People often use the word one of a kind. He is one of a kind, right? Most people, and I get your point, push back against your country, and a lot of players do. But when you're a player and you have the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to a World Cup, which is what everyone's goal is every four years, when you've got one hand on that dream, man, you have a look in the mirror sometimes and you're like, Maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut a little bit longer because like, Roy Kean walked out of a World Cup. Nobody's doing that. That's an amazing stance. I think a lot of players behind the scenes will do what they can to lobby and try and get things right for themselves and their team, but ultimately aren't willing to sacrifice speaking out over accomplishing their lifelong dream. Like I said, I couldn't fault that.

Yeah, fair enough.

Okay. Speaking of the national team, Christian on YouTube said, I know the Federation won't do it, but it would be nice to hold the September and October camps in Europe and play UEFA Nations in friendlies, which would save our players a lot of travel since most of the team is there and get some fixtures against decent European nations. With the congested schedule as it is, it would be nice to see. Maybe work out something with Ernie Stuart and PSV to have a home away from home.

Yeah, I mean, it's a good point. And that has happened a lot over the years. There have been camps where you play in Poland and then Germany, you play in Switzerland and Sweden. But I think it still holds true what we said last week is most of these teams are either in qualifying or they're playing in Nations League. So it's still going to be a challenge. The idea is right. I don't mind that at all, but it's still going to be a challenge, Tim, because all those teams are already tied up in real FIFA games.

Yeah, look, I think the point of the question is accurate. The fact that everyone's wrapped up in Nations League, time zone, television slots and fixture, It all plays a part. I know it seems simplistic, but big shout out to Bob Bradley, because there was a time in 2007 when he took over the team. He was like, Guys, pack your bags. Get ready to be uncomfortable. He loved it.

That's just because he loved it.

Get ready to be uncomfortable. We're going to Europe. We're going some tough places, and we're going to compete on those nights. And to his credit, one of the best teams in the history of the national team was under his tutelage. So I think players would relish that. Players would relish it to be in Europe to set up camp there. So many of our players play there. It'd be a great opportunity for our younger American players to go abroad and experience that. But the fact that the matter is the fixture congestion, the nation's league. It's really hard now to find a double match window where you're like, oh, we just go to Europe and camp out. It just doesn't happen anymore.

Bob used to always say before every camp, every camp in Europe, he'd say, look, look, guys, look. When everybody, he would say opens the paper tomorrow because people used to read the paper. When everybody opens the paper tomorrow, they want to see the US beat someone big. All right? He would say every time. He wasn't wrong. I'd say, Okay, Bob, good. It's a friendly. It's a friendly. Look, every time.

It was never a friendly to Bob. You know that.

No, he loved it.

He could compete. He loved it. He loved to compete. And he instilled that in us, which is brilliant.

Agreed.

Okay, last one. Give it to us. You guys did some interviews with your former club, Everton, this past week. So Chris sent us an email and said, As a big Everton fan, I'm curious, what is your favorite memory of Goodison Park?

Oh, you're going to have a lot more than me, but... Do you have one-off top of your head?

Yeah, I've got a few.

That's a hard question. I'm getting goosebumps. Jesus. All right, let me start. So my last game ever at Goodison, or maybe it was the first stent, we played Hole. You believe Hull was in the Premier League. Yeah, I do. And I'll never forget this because before the game, we were on a decent run of form. And Moyes in the locker room said, Guys, it's about time we win one of these games like three, four, five, nil. Let's stop like, squicking through these games. So we play the game. It's late in the game, and we're up 4-0 or 4-1. And late in, Baines crossed the ball. It skipped through to me, and I hit the perfect little half volley into the side netting. And it was either Fizz, Phil Neville, or Rodwell, or someone picked me up, and the whole crowd was chounding USA, USA, USA. And I knew it was my last... We all knew it was my last game. And it was just a feeling like that as a soccer player is why people struggle when they stop playing. Because you cannot replicate that ever again in your life. Having kids is amazing, marriage is amazing, all these things you do.

But nothing replicates a moment like that. And I will never, ever forget it.

Yeah. Mine is the beginning and end. And it's impossible to answer that question with just one because in 10 years, I had some of the greatest moments of my life. Everton Football Club, aside from my two children, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. It saved me on many occasions. It gave the greatest highs in life. So when I left Manchester United, bear in mind, I already had the Manchester United Liverpool games are the things of legends. And when I went to Everton, the first thing I was looking forward to was the derby. I was looking forward to derby week because everyone talks about it. If you've never experienced derby Week on Merseyside, you don't know what it's like. So I was like, I was hungry for it. Man, it was a sunny day because the Merseyside derby is always played early. So the pubs don't open, and they get everybody in the ground quickly. And the sun was shining. It was a blue sky. It doesn't happen very often. And we beat Liverpool 3-0. And I was like, Oh, wow, this is easy. It wasn't easy because we had some tussles over the years.

But that was an amazing moment to beat Liverpool 3-0 in my first murder side derby. And then my last game. My last game was spent 10 years at the club. It was emotional. It was the greatest send-off that I could have ever asked for, like Landon said, and just to be, to have a guard of honor of my own players and to be able to speak to the goodest in crowd and have them shower me with love and affection and me to be able to give it back was one of the greatest days of my life.

That was lovely, guys. You're crying, Jordan. Yeah, I'm getting emotional.

Get out of here.

I'm not crying. You're crying. All right. Thanks, JR. All right, Timmy. Anything but soccer, what do you got for us this week?

Yeah. An interesting thing happened in the NBA, right? The Philadelphia 76ers, they've clearly been, yeah, at least, biggest disappointment so far this season. Following a particularly bad loss versus Miami, the players held a players-only meeting. Let me tell you, I love and hate, but also love players only meetings. What I mean by that is there are times when I'm like, Yeah, let's get everybody in here and talk. Let's have some real home truths. Some people need to hear things. And then other times I'm like, Oh, God, who just called a players only meeting? That's so true. The contents of that meeting were leaked to the media. And in particular, Maxi had a go at Joel and Beebe, and he challenged him for being on time. Joel and Beebe, he's the biggest player there, clearly. That he's late for everything and impacts the players. And it was a big, big issue. So let's talk about, one, players only meetings, and two, leaks from within the lockerer. Because there's an It's an unwritten rule.

Okay, so let me start. It's not unwritten. I mean, well, I guess it isn't written. But how the hell this gets leaked is crazy, first of all. Second of all, when you're having a players only meeting, that means there's dysfunction. There's some bad stuff going on, right? Somewhere in the club or with the team, whatever. When someone leaks it, exponentially worse. I mean, first of all, it's so disrespectful. I don't care how pissed you are, how upset you are. You have a players-only meeting, it stays right there. By the way, guess who's not in the players only meeting? Coaches, staff, nobody. It's just players.

It came from inside.

Right. And by the way, a basketball team has 12 players, maybe 15. It's tiny. It's disgusting. First of all, it gets leaked, but it just tells you the state that that team is in is really bad, Tim. Like, really bad. I don't blame Joel Embiid right now, first of all. He's on a mission to go find out who linked it. As you should. I think I have a few ideas. But the other side of it is I do blame him in part for the team getting to this point. Totally. If you're the lead, we just talked a long time about Christian Polisic and being a leader and what that means. Showing up late for everything. The first thing you should be able to show up on time. Minimum, yeah. This is your job. By the way, you're getting paid. How much? 25, 33? Just show up on time, dude. It's not that hard. Show up on time, right? That's a starting point. All the other stuff, I don't know. We don't have context. We don't know if he's hurt, if he's not, why he's playing, why he's resting. But, dude, you got to show up on time.

That's a starting point.

Totally. I mean, the fact of the matter is, I remember it happening, and it happens in soccer, right? Where the managers, and you've been a part of this with me at Everton, the manager will have to balance, does he Does he tell the starters they're starting the night before? And normally, sadly, he's like, no, I can't tell you guys the night before because players tell their agents and they leaked the information. And what happens for our listening public? What happens is players are so temperamental and insecure, and I was, and you were, and everybody is. You want to see a really insecure human being showing an athlete. And everybody wants to be loved. So what you end up doing is you're not in a starting lineup. Even if you get told the day of the game, you go back in the dressing room, you've got your boys on the other team, and you text them, and you're like, I'm not playing today. So all of a sudden, he goes to his manager, and he says, Hey, so-and-so is not playing on the right wing. So boom, automatically, the other team knows. If you get If you have players doing that, things start to leak.

It's stupid. You piece together the lineup.

Yeah, it's stupid. People ask questions. They get hit up by their agent. I love my agent. He's a mentor to me. He's a dear friend. He's a colleague. I've never given him a team. If he'd call me, I'd say, Dan, stop calling me and ask me for the team. But the other side of it is, which I always love, is when you have a players only meeting, it means you've hit rock bottom. And I have a saying in life, be careful of Rock Bottom because Rock Bottom oftentimes has a trap door. And so this concept of the stuff hit the fan, we're so low, we're going to get in there and have a team meeting and figure it out. I was on teams, and I've said this to people because I was a leader, and I rarely called a team meeting because I'm not 100% sure of them. People would come to me and say, Tim, we need a players only meeting. And I would say to them back, just know that if we have a players only meeting, we better freaking figure it out. Because what you don't want to do is have a players only meeting, still suck, and then two weeks later, have a players only meeting.

And then, by the way, that happens a lot.

Look, I spent a lot of years in therapy when I was living in LA. Good for you. That's important. Seven years, almost Almost every week. And here's what happens, because let's be honest, this is a therapy session, right? When you have a players only meeting, some people are more honest than others, but some people just let it go, and it's good to some extent. But what happens is, so you go to therapy, you talk for an hour and a half, some bombs come up, some things happen that you never thought about. You're like, oh, my God, I can't believe I felt that way about my dad and my mom and this and that. Then you go, okay, I feel better. I let it out. But guess what happens when you go home and two or three days later, you go, oh, wait, but what about that? And what about that? Wait, but then my mom said that and my dad did that. And so what you do is a few days later, you go, oh, you know when my left winger said that about me not tracking back? But then what did that mean? So what you need is then you need some level of either individual follow-up or collectively, you actually work through the problems.

And now the problem with the Sixers is now there's a leak. So now, nobody trusts to anybody now. It's a bigger problem. It's a bigger problem. To your point, there was a trapped door and they all fell through it. Now it's a big problem. Man, it's going to be fun for us because I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm not a Sixers fan, but it's going to be really fun to watch as this progresses because it's going to be a total dumpster fire. I don't see how it gets any better. All right, man. Well, appreciate it. Appreciate the time, Timmy. Everybody, thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for watching. Please leave your comments, questions again so we can get to them in the mailbag next week. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your pods, and follow the show across all our social media platforms at unfilteredsocker for lots of bonus content.

Yeah. Thank you, everybody, for listening for all of your comments and all the love and some of the hate. Listen, enjoy the turkey, enjoy the sides, most importantly, enjoy your families, love on each other. Have a great Thanksgiving. We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of unfiltered soccer.