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what's going on everybody welcome to episode 92 of lobbing scorchers folks we got a very special show for you today We finally made it happen. We got the man himself on the show, Tommy Scoops. We got Tom Bogert from Give Me Sport and Soccer Wise on the show. Tom, thank you so much for the time this morning. How are you doing, man?
Thanks for having me. I love talking to you guys. I'm glad that, you know, after you ran through as many guests as you could, like episode 92, things are getting stale. It's like, all right. We'll bring on Tom. Somebody's got to be a middle reliever kind of innings eater here. You threw the closers. You brought up your top prospect. All right, man, it's July 15th. We need somebody to give us five.
Let's go. You know, to be fair, we did try to make it happen sooner, but this East Coast time zone is just a little hard to manage. You know, we're laying down it. 7 30 p.m pacific and then uh out there it's already 2 a.m so i don't know how we're supposed to do that but we made it happen we made it happen we got we got our asses up at uh 7 30 a.m pt to make this happen so that's how dedicated uh we are to the content um
tom let's just get right into it because we got a lot of stuff we need to hit with you obviously you're one of the most connected people in the game so got insight on all kinds of behind the scenes stuff and really got knowledge of the whole league so happy to get the chance to pick your brain and we're going to start with uh
some Seattle Sounders because that's the team that we cover primarily and are most interested in. So whenever I have a national pundit on, I'd like to get their perspective on what they think of Seattle because I feel like... how we perceive it locally like following the team every day is uh is one way and then you talk to someone who views it from the outside you might get a different perspective so i'm always interested to hear about that
And I guess let's just start off with the biggest story surrounding the Seattle Sounders at the moment, which is Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent has officially been signed, got announced yesterday. Seattle has a new edition that they... Went out and got after this Paul Areola injury. And, you know, I've been learning a lot about Ryan Kent the last couple of days. Liverpool Academy guy, which, you know, I know speaks to your heart. So I guess.
I wanted to ask you, what was your first reaction when you saw the links and the potential of the Seattle Sounders signing Ryan Kent? What do you make of the addition? What do you think he can bring to the squad? Do you like the addition? I love it. And I'm shocked that the Sounders found enough allocation money roster space in the couch cushions to make it happen. This was one like he's been a free agent since October or the end.
Like this guy screams would be an excellent MLS signing, but I figured, okay, nothing happened. somewhere else in Europe in the winter, then that didn't happen. And it was like mid-February. I was like, why are not, why aren't more MLS teams connected?
Why aren't I hearing more about somebody who's at least trying to talk to him? Usually in this scenario, when you think like, oh, that should be an obvious signing or people should be at least calling. It's like, oh, he must be asking for $5 million and somebody would be telling me that. That clearly was.
and seattle end up getting this deal done i didn't think that they had the space on the raw I'm sure that a little bit of the accounting from Paul Areola on the season, any injured list will help with that. and I'm not a cap wizard here. So I think it's a great sign. He, like, this is a team that was already really deep. Even without Paul Areola, they had enough to go by. They wanted more, of course, and Ryan Kent comes.
It's a really good addition. And again, I'm just surprised it was Seattle because I thought that there's going to be more constraints. I thought there'd be somebody else to outbid them. Like if you're Toronto FC, if you're Houston, as they were scrambling to try to fill their attack. And I know that they've made. But there was a number of teams where I was like, dude, he'd be a no-brainer starter for this team, I think.
Yeah, I'm interested to know, and I mean, obviously, I don't know if anyone's going to know here, but it's the reality of playing in Club World Cup and being Ryan Kent, a guy who... kind of crashed out in dramatic fashion, uh, out of, out of favor at Fenerbahce and Fenerbahce. Sorry. We literally, this is the mispronunciation podcast, by the way. So you will, yeah, we will not pronounce anything.
nor am i turkish but like to to crash out of europe so spectacularly and you know also to own alligators like just this are we 100 sure that that's true like i don't even i'm just saying that genuine No, I don't know. And I just, anything that's on, like, troll football or needs to sport, like.
I like my brain is like programmed to like ignore it slash if it makes it way to my timeline. I'm like so far of like defending my parameters that like I get angry when it breaches like the text that I'll send people. No, I mean, I have no clue, but we're here to proliferate the fake names. Well, what I read was that when he was looking for a new club before he went to Rangers, Part of his criteria for the new club that he was looking for was that they had to accommodate his
It's either one crocodile or multiple crocodiles. Yeah. I think there actually was. We'll get to the bottom of this story. I don't know if he still does, but it means that he did own a crocodile. Tom, with the Ryan Kent stuff now finalized and we're six match days into the MLS season here, how do you size up where Seattle is at right now? Out here, the vibes have been pretty...
negative the last few weeks, I would say. The goals haven't been coming. The injury situation is pretty brutal. But I do think with this signing, people are, I know I'm intrigued. buy it. And they also, their last game against the Quakes wasn't a super great result, but it had a nice little ending. And I think there's a bit of a boost going into this San Diego game. But from a national lens, how do you look at this team?
So I still look at them as one of the best teams in the league because MLS is such a long season. And like, look, last year they were disaster. At the start of the season, like it took them. And I was saying this around now of like, yeah, they're still going to be one of the best teams in the league. And then at some point by like, I think June or July, I was like, I might need to accept the fact that I might've been wrong.
And then, so that made me double wrong because by the time I finally gave up, that's when they started playing as one of the best teams in the league. I hope that that's not what happens this year. I hope that they figure it out sooner. This team has too much talent. The coaching staff is too productive, entrenched.
good right like all these positive words of they always figure it out and usually it's pretty straightforward and this roster seems like it should be generally straightforward there's a lot of very good players a lot of players who can play multiple positions that will help with rotation But generally speaking, it's either going to be the 4-2-3-1 or the few times that they need to go back three. And then the principles should be similar. So I'm again confused why it's starting so soon.
And you kind of look at the underlying numbers, and it's too early to really be looking at XG and an expected goal difference. Because it's six games, weird things happen. But they're within the top five in MLS and expected goal difference. Those other teams are Minnesota. Very good. San Diego have played very well. Vancouver obviously played very well in Philly. And then the fifth is Seattle and Seattle are the only one who are really trained.
making that turn into actual points longwood way of saying i think that they're going to be very good i'm disappointed by the slow start and i don't have you know a great read Well, I think one thing to, that's kind of a good segue into. The next thing I wanted to ask you about, which I think one reason for the downturn in form.
is obviously the injury situation. And they're in a situation with De La Vega again where he wasn't able to stay on the field. And it's honestly even more frustrating this year because he was... fit in preseason and for the first few games of this season and in champions cup and he looked he actually looked like the player they thought they were getting last year he would play and uh
It just didn't look quite there yet. It's kind of like what they're going through with Jesus Ferreira right now, trying to integrate him. And it just never quite got there. This year, it looked like he was actually getting there. injured again uh when you look at a situation where a team spent a bunch of money on a talented guy who looked like he was coming into his own but he just can't stay on the field like
How do you think they should handle this, or what should they do about it? Because I do think, as talented as he is, it has been holding the team back, really dating back to last year. No, it's so tricky. It's such a conundrum because, like you said, when he's on, he looks like a legitimate DP in this league. He looks like somebody that you'd spend $7 million on.
But that has been so few and far between, just in terms of availability. And then, like you said, sometimes they're shaking off rust. He's in the zone for me now where, like, I'm looking at my, like, depth charts on soccer-wise, like Seattle and, like, before we, I was, like, trying.
really get into the the sounder zone here before we started talking and i'm looking at it and i'm like i have pedro de la vega as a starting winger should i but i was like well if he's fit he probably but he's not really ever fit and like i'm like staring at ryan kent i was like do i put him over him do i does jesus stand like because there's so many different options
I think where they should be at right now is you try to do your best. You try to manage him. Don't like, it seems like he can do, you know, three days of training in a row and that's maybe it. And I mean, you do your best to manage them, but like. He, you shouldn't kind of sacrifice anything else around the team. The way you look at it for me is attitude.
And this team is deep enough and good enough and has the high-end talent that if he gives them nothing, they're still going to be one of the best teams in the league. So you look at it as additive, and I know that that might be difficult to get the best out of him where he's just kind of off to the side and, hey, give us what you can give us, but we're not going to sacrifice.
for this so it's a really tricky one and you hope that he's able to find more consistent fitness and availability because that'll help him perform better and it's just sad to see injuries kind of slow a player down but If you're Brian Schmetzer, you can't be building anything around him because you can't rely on it. Yeah, I think that's an interesting point too.
Pedro is apparently still the most inquired about player that the Sounders have. So I think it's interesting to like, do you preserve his value, look to move him on, especially as... I said this on the last podcast. This is a team of wingers. Like, I swear, every single player on this goddamn team is a winger. We're signing another winger. We're not signing another nine. Jesus Ferreira has not been performed. Yeah. Exactly. And Jesus Ferreira, I think this is maybe...
I guess let's let's say the Pedro thing first of like, do you think that this is kind of where it's going to go where they might have to just move off of them and hedge their bets there? Yeah, I'd be. So I'm trying to think like every time I think that a transfer fee going out is like, oh, they're going to have to lose money on that. And like, that's fine or whatever. Easier said than done. Like it's ownership's money. Right. Right. And then if you're the front office.
$7 million player and it's going to work. But every time I kind of said that about some other players last week, Argentine clubs went out and spent 10 million dollars with Sebastian Giussi? Austin almost would have driven him to the airport. 3 million, I was going to say. Look, he's had some good times, particularly that 22 season.
Just getting his salary off the books and just say, all right, like that's cool. And they, they made 10, they got $10 million. I couldn't believe it. Alan Velasco. I love him as a player. I think that he has potential to be what Boca Juniors paid for him, but it was still like whatever, 10 million in add-ons and a sell-on and everything else. So that being said, maybe they could get $7 million for Pedro de la Vega from an Argentine team. And if that happens...
I think you do it, but it's a lot of ifs. And again, what I would say is I would doubt that that offer comes. But I said the same thing about the money that the Velasco deal ended up going to. And I said the same thing about Driuzzi. I don't even go back to like Alejandro Gonzalez-Pierrez. Who is the Austin FC? They signed a DP10 from Tierra. like their first season. He was bad. Immediately, a South American club bailed him out.
Gregory went to Botafogo. All this money, like, I know this is Brazil. Like, every time that I think that, oh, man, like, they're going to have to lose a lot of money on this. Somebody from South America is like, here's $5 million. And I love that as a trend in MLS. So if you could do that for Patriot, it would be. I just don't understand why River Plate did that with...
Drew UC. I was very confused. It seems like it would be such an easy negotiation to be like, everyone knows that this guy doesn't want to be on your team. We'll give you like... $1 million or $2 million for my guests. And if you don't want to take it. Keep them and see how it goes having a disgruntled player on your team. But they just shelled out the 10 mil. Well done by Austin. Again, I don't know how that they really like. They got a bid from Estudiantes, which had an ownership that...
it didn't matter what number they said. They weren't ever going to pay it. Like, over the winter, it slowly became realized that, like, just don't even take this team seriously. And that's, like, that's what held up the Lucho Cosa situation is because, like... I think that they, like Estudiantes offered Cincy something in the realm of like 10.
which was just like way more than you should ever be paying for, again, a 31-year-old who desperately wanted to leave. Lucho's a great player. $5 million is much more fair. So that's why Dallas were like, oh, you guys got $10 million? Like, well done. We're not going to match. And then all of a sudden, like they're like negotiating for contract. And it's like, wait a minute, that was way too easy. And then like.
it became clear. It was like, oh, they haven't paid Udinese. They haven't paid this team for this player. They can't register this one. So I guess River Plate was like, crap. Like, he might actually go to Estudiantes. that they don't have any money. And Drewsy literally has a River Plate tattoo on him. And I guess they blinked first. Yeah, I want to just jump back quickly to the Jesus Ferreira. It's the biggest discussion in Sounders fandom right now.
What the hell is he is the question, I think, more than what the hell isn't he. We all know he's a talented player, but... He's not quite fitting in the role that they're trying to wedge him in at the nine. And like I said, a team full of wingers. I don't know if you've been watching it closely, but let's get some Jesus Ferreira takes out of you if we can. Yeah, no. So I wanted you guys.
I'm curious to see again, like the on the ground day to day feelings, but for me, Jesus has been at his best in his career. when, like, Ricardo Pepe was the center forward ahead of him. Like, when he's a second forward type of player, like, that's why I figured that Jordan Morris was going to stay at center forward and Ferreira was going to be this, like, inverted winger. But that doesn't make sense with Nuhu because Nuhu isn't an overlap.
And so it all comes around and like, I don't, the best thing for Jesus Ferreira, and I honestly think this might be the best 11 for Seattle. A 3-4-2-1 where you have Jordan Morris as a center forward. Jesus is kind of in that half space underneath. And then the other player is, you know, probably Rusnak or if you need to move.
And then maybe Ryan Kent can be a wingback. If not, obviously, Roldan can be. You can put Rothrock as a wingback on the other side. It makes it difficult when then you're not playing with traditional wingers when you have 75 wingers. But I do believe that that 3-4-2-1 is their best 11. The defensive structure, no matter what, is going to be great. But I think at the back three with New, who has a left center back.
That gets the best out of him as well. And then you just have to say, Hey, Ryan Kent. Hey, Georgie Manungu. Hey, Paul Rothrock. You're going to play wingback and you're going to get forward all the time, but you need to also defend a little bit. And that's just what it's going to take to get on the field. So that's where I see it. But again, like.
There's been a lot of times with Jesus Freire in particular and like these Dallas teams of the past, the last two years, I was like, this team makes so much sense. Jesus, Velasco, and Moose. And it took Musa a little while to get going. Then he got going. And then they were going to do it this year, even with just like Musa and Velasco. Then Velasco's gone. Then everything else. So it's always been a bit of like a quandary with Jesus.
I see it like that. Like he needs a more traditional forward around him, or at least somebody who's going to stretch the lines like Jordan Morris would. So he has more space to operate in underneath because he can get in behind. He wants the ball to feed. I think the plan was to play him as a second striker off Jordan, to be fair. But that still has a winger, and if he's on the left, which makes more sense with Pedro de la Vega on the right, you don't have an overlapping fullback of news.
So like that works as a solution, except not quite with this group of players. And not to mention he's. The problem when that was playing out was he's getting in the space of Albert Rusnak, who I'm sorry, like respectful respect to both of the players, but Albert Rusnak is going to beat you out on that depth chart every single time he is. In practice, a higher performing player, and that is his role to lose, which he's not going to lose that right now. That's Brian's guy to start it and play.
So I feel like he's... just in this weird odd man out scenario but he's also in this situation where you can't You know what keeps me up at night? No, not Albarosnak and definitely not the latest Sounders loss. It's the fact that right now, shadowy data brokers are collecting and selling your personal information online. Your address.
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but he knows how to like operate in that same space. And literally once that happens, it unlocks all of those specialties of Jesus Ferrer when he's out on that wing, his service, everything. It was like night and day. I totally agree. But so even with that, too, it's like if he's the nine, then again, you have Rusnak. They want to operate the same spaces. And like there is no vertical threats on either wing the way that that's structured again without Morris.
And I think that's another reason why Ryan can't is going to make sense because whether he's as a wingback or a winger, and like, again, I'm assuming that they're going to play the four, two, three, one more than anything else. Like Ryan can't, we'll go vertical and he's going to fit really well. And I think that's why like.
We haven't seen him play since October. And, again, you said he wasn't shredding it at Fenerbahce. And he was really, really good for Rangers. But, like, let's be careful. Rangers and Celtic would be two of the best. And it was the third best team in Scotland. I don't know where they were. So like, just be careful with that. I think he's going to be really, really good.
but maybe it'll take a little time. That being said, when he gets up to full speed, I think stylistically he makes more sense for this group, for Jesus Ferreira, for some other players, for Rusnak. Like, that's going to open up so much. Yeah, the vertical threat was Paul Rothrock, at least in the San Jose game, which actually was working quite well, but it was like a little one-dimensional. I think you're right, like Ryan Kent.
That's the exact kind of skill set that he can provide and hopefully add a boost to the team. And I like just looking into him a little more. I kind of I like the fire that he plays with. It seems like he's running at 100 miles per hour. Hard worker, which Brian Schmetzer is going to like. And it seems like, you know, a little bit of an eccentric personality with the crocodiles and some of the other stuff you've heard about him.
has probably worked against him at some points, but I think for this locker room, it actually could be a good thing to have a character guy like that. Listen, if it can handle Dempsey, we can handle the crocodile guy. Yeah, it's kind of a similar idea in some ways. All right, let's move to some national stuff because we did have a couple headlines we wanted to hit with you, Tom. Tom Bogert from Give Me Sport Soccer Wise on the show. Very exciting.
Tom, the biggest story in the last couple days was the departure of Peter Vermees from Sporting Kansas City, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts. have parted ways with the longest tenured manager in MLS. I didn't think they were going to do it. It was funny. Noah and I were recording a pod the day before it happened. And we were predicting if it was going to happen. And I said, no, like we had to put out the pod with me saying no after. But like.
To be fair, there's been situations in the past where people thought it might happen. The fan base was calling for it. And it just seemed like ownership had unyielding faith in him. Might have been justified at one point, but clearly they felt it wasn't anymore. The streak they're on right now of 13 of 14 losses with the other one. They haven't won in 14 matches, I think. That's hard to do in this league. It is.
and now now that it's happened it doesn't surprise me that uh it reached a breaking point But even so, it's the departure of an MLS institution. Definitely, he's a league legend, you know, as much as I give them a hard time about them suplexing other players on the soccer field. He is a legendary coach and he's had a lot of success in the league. What's just your kind of read on what's going on with them as an organization right now and why now was the time for them to part ways with.
Yeah, it's going to be a mess moving forward and trying to kind of pick up the pieces here because he is an institution. This club owes him just about everything. He's the only person that won MLS Cup as a player and then as a coach for the same team. He wanted... and KC Wizards, and then took over as technical director in 05 or 06, and then head coach in whatever, 08 or 08.
Like that's 20 years where pretty much every big decision is coming through Peter Vermees. And he's been incredible to take them from the Casey wizards. in their new facility, the stadium, and then the training center after that. Their run from 2011 to 18, they made the playoffs every year. They won four major trophies, one MLS Cup and three Open Cups. They finished top of the West.
In that, you know, eight year span or however long. They have been absolutely incredible. And they owe it all to Peter Vermees. All of them. He gets the blame for now, as he should. He hired Mike Burns. It was made clear to me in interviews for other people who were interested in listening to that job or talking about it that you work for Peter Vermin. And you're not getting the top sporting director candidates who go in and like the head coach is my boss.
They've like, they have not transitioned out of MLS 3.0, whatever you want to call it. The ownership doesn't spend enough. And now he's out again. This has been a long time coming. I think he deserved all the leeway. And maybe I'm too much of a romantic about this. And that's why I'd be a bad owner president. or whatever um and like on the merit of He absolutely is like, should have gone.
Still that all being said, like, I'm looking at the positives of what it was in totality. Worried about this team moving forward. Like, how do you be the guy who comes in after Vermees? Every major and minor decision, again, funnels through him for the last 20 years. So people, like, somebody was like, oh, what about Jim Curtin? I was like, why in the world would Jim Curtin take this job? Why in the world would he? Why would, like...
It's ahead of Montreal right now in the pecking order of the open jobs. Congratulations. Let's have the trophy parade. I feel like it isn't even like that, though. Over Montreal, like, I don't mean to take Montreal out with a straight here, but that is a no contest. That's a no contest. But still, like, this, like... Mike Burns said they hired a sporting director. Now he's going to, him and ownership will be leading the.
for. You look at ownership. There have been like two single seasons where they've spent money. The Alan Polito year and then this winter. And I love the Dayan Yovlich signing. I like what Manu Gar... For six years, they haven't replaced Matt Beasler or Ilya Sanchez. And, like, so, like, that's cool that they have a good 10 and a good striker, but it doesn't matter. Like, this team is not close to being competitive.
The idea of doing it now is to maybe preserve the idea of 2025 won't be a lost year, like essentially the last few have been. But I think that this is going to be too. And, like, Kerry Zvagnin, he has been at this club since 2000. He was a player. His first season as a player was 2000. He retired in 08, 09. He's on the coaching staff. He's been here as long as people. And I just don't think the roster's good enough, and I don't think ownership's going to-
And the structure of the front office is going to make it difficult to get the top candidates. Like, that doesn't mean that nothing can happen, nothing can change. But I'm worried about how long is it going to take to set a new course? Like, what Vermees has done, it's not like you need to throw it all out. You need to get out of his shadow if you bring in a new person and they're going to have to make some changes. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm I am really interested to see how they like.
get dragged up kicking and screaming into the modern era of soccer because when like I worked there for as an intern and like it's a it's a great place to work they have a great facility one of my favorite stadiums in the entire league the training center is amazing the training center is where they train like all of the refs for the u.s like they have yeah they have like such a great
system there great for coaching too like they have all their you know you can do certifications and everything it's a great soccer city it's just like they suck they suck so bad and I think, what, the last trophy they won was Open Cup? what was it like yeah yeah 2017 or something that's that's basically a decade ago like and and i guess I want to put a Seattle twist on this because...
Sometimes I get scared about Seattle mirroring the sporting Kansas City look, right? Like you have an ownership group who isn't necessary. We are not Atlanta. We are not Atlanta by even any stretch. And, you know, there's been reports here and there that Brian Schmetzer has a lot of pull in the way that decisions get made, especially over Craig Weibel. And I don't know, do we worry as Seattle fans that maybe this is...
A situation that we could get into at some point? That's an interesting angle. Any time that an incredibly successful manager who's been there for a long time eventually... There's going to be the worry. I don't have it as much, I think, for Seattle. A lot's going to depend on how much money that they're going to put in the team because while you say no, Seattle haven't been Atlanta in terms of the investment on the field stuff.
salaries they haven't been what kansas city has been where true like i like and like what they did to get dempsey like that was real over family i know like we're using examples from a long time ago but even pedro de la vega they got him for seven million I think it's pretty clear that by the additions and where the additions came from this winter, that there wasn't any money for transfer. Because that's why there was a couple of trades and you find what happens when you buy the rain.
And, like, I think that that was a fine. Like, that's going to work out. It's just that can't be every year. And I'm not suggesting that it's going to be. But that would be the bigger worry because, again, like, Brian Schmetzer, yeah, he has a lot of pull. As he should.
But there was Garth Lagoway here before that helps set everything up. Again, Adrian and the ownership is where it starts. And I know that him and Schmetz are close. Again, he's been there forever, as he should be. Like, he's earned all this. I don't want any of this. I'm less worried about Seattle in, again, the inevitable.
you know, 45 years in the future when Schmetzer isn't coaching the team, that they're going to, it won't be the same concerns. There will be questions because that is what's going to happen in any of these scenarios. But I think that there. I have to ask, too. Sorry, Ari. I'm going to ask one more here. What is your favorite Peter Vermees press?
He is our favorite flaming hot presser. Oh, it's a big content loss for us. It is. It is a big content. I'll tell you, first and foremost, I'll miss the sideline gym. Like I was just staring longingly at the fuck off. Yeah, you love that game. I was just like looking at it. Good night, sweet prince. I hope that he goes to like MLS 360.
recreate some of these things oh my god he would be such a good broadcaster dude i think he would yeah like how they had geo he's low-key funny like he looks like a military guy with again the his demeanor his on the field his haircut everything He's a funny dude. Like when you get him in off the record moments or like in low, like again, not on the field, he's funny. And like, I've heard this from a lot of people. So I think that that'll be nice.
Like, if he wants to be a manager again, and I'm sure he will because he's crazy competitive. One, he should based on merit. He shouldn't do it immediately. You need to have a little bit of time go by because I don't think a lot, like, fans of, like, another team wouldn't be, I don't think, thrilled in this. be if he are if he has five six months doing media i think fans are going to be juiced when he whenever you
I totally agree. All right, Tom, we have one more national storyline we wanted to hit with you. Club World Cup, the Seattle Sounders are playing in it. Famously. And it was reported in the last couple days. Which club got kicked out? Leone. Leone got kicked out. So to replace Club Leone, they're apparently going to have LAFC and Club America play a charity match to see who gets the charity spot. I think the idea is it's a one-off. They're dueling for it.
Have you heard anything about if this is A, confirmed, and B, like, okay, so it's confirmed. As long as Leon loses their appeal. FIFA are assuming that they're going to lose. Okay, so what is your take on a charity duel for a Club World Cup spot? I'm surprised it wasn't another 16-team tournament. for the last spot and then they sell the broadcast rights to apple or espn or fox or whatever right i'm surprised that that's not the case um from trying to report on this
I like my colleague, Ben Jacobs. He was an excellent, excellent reporter. He's got so many contacts. Ben, come on the pod. We love you. And he's, like, texting. So, like, we work on stuff a lot together because we're both at Give Me Sport. And he's, like... He's trying to figure it out, and he's using logic. And he goes, what about Alouense? And I was like, dude, I got no juice for this. And he goes, bro, like...
What about the Philadelphia Union? They're pretty high in the CONCACAF coefficient. Like, do you want to reach out to Philly and ask them if they're hopeful or expecting or anything? And I was like, I'm not wasting my time. FIFA's gonna come up with, again, what I was gonna joke, again, I thought it was gonna be...
multiple teams. It was multiple teams. I would have thought more. I was like, dude, I appreciate that you're trying to follow the logic and they're going to give us logic. And they did. They said, well, Club Leon beat LAFC in the final. And Club America have the highest coefficient. And it just so happens that these are two of the super clubs in the region. Just coincidentally, right? So I was like, I'm not calling Philadelphia, but I'm not wasting my time. I'm not wasting their time.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that they're not going to be in the mix. And or if they are, we'll find out when it happens. So that's my thoughts on it, that they creatively found a solution. And I don't even necessarily hate it because like there's going to be I forget the exact number that.
like multi millions of dollars just for making 9.8 just for playing so like i wanted to joke about like would either team be like nah screw it like they're obviously like they have plenty of incentives so My view of it is just like, man, it's a made-up tournament that I hope is going to go well. It would be exciting to play in, but then how is it going to impact the haves and have-nots in world soccer anyway?
Just, you know, we'll see how it goes and at least that they came up with a logical explanation. as long as it wasn't Alan is here. Yeah, it is nice that... Here's what I'll say. I am so excited to watch LAFC lose another final. That is, for me, everything. That's what I live for. You know, Club America is going to give them the belt. This LAFC team...
Oh, my God. Incredible. I was really hoping that the Galaxy would get the spot and they would just get run over. But whoever gets this spot realistically has a good chance of not only getting that 9.8 million, but for every draw.
in in in this tournament you get 1 million dollars every win you get 2 million dollars they're in a pretty weak group i mean chelsea's not weak but there's some random turkish club no disrespect to turkey again but you know it's uh yeah it's like tunisian tunisian yeah it's flamengo oh yeah tunisian not even turkey yeah chelsea and then the winner of of this and again let's
While I say that this is at least good that they only pick two teams, they have time. While they're waiting for the appeal, they might be in a boardroom thinking, well, what if, what if we expanded this mini tournament for the charity? Tom, we're past half an hour here, so thank you so much for the time. We're going to get you going here, but are you able to stick around for a few minutes to lay down some stuff for our YouTube members, or do you need to jet?
We're going to wrap it for this first segment right here. Thank you so much for joining us. It was a long time coming. And we're going to get you back on here. Maybe a little... Semi-regular Tommy Scoops check-in. Hell yeah, man. We'll probably line it up. But yeah, thank you so much for the time this morning, man. I mean, you're the best in the game. So always great to hear from you.
Yeah, we're going to get you back on soon. What do you want to show before the regular audience dips out? Soccer-wise, soccer-wise. Yeah, join the Patreon. The Discord is fun. I literally need to. remind myself to close out the Discord app, particularly on game days, where I have a couple screens up because I'm trying to watch 100 games at once. And it's like, all right, all my time is texting people in the Discord because this is so much fun. So I think that's my best sell for joining.
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