Oh, come on, man, yeahs.
Scoop for dude gets Friday.
Day a little difficult when you have a computer keyboard and you're trying to like balance ninety eight different things. So it is Friday, and John hear you there. Every time the time I have to close the computer and open it back up. That's why I have to adjust everything. So once again, welcome one final day to a hotel room in Making, Georgia. And so as we go here, we're gonna get you ready for the weekend. We'll lay out everything for you, and it is previews and previews
and previews of all the things. And I mean that seriously because it's all the previews. So coming up in just a little bit morning, Dgram And here's the rundown of the day. So rundown of the day is obviously opening kickoff coming up in just a little bit. And then from there we'll see if our friends from a Beyond Girls Mentoring can join us at nine point thirty and we will catch up with them and find out
what's going on in their world. Right now, we're in the heart of the we're in the heart of the high school season. So I imagine that there's a lot of mentoring on a bunch of different levels going on right now, and we'll see if our friends from beyond Goals can join for the Friday free kick coming up at the bottom of the hour. Then after that, once again, as always, our number two is we can whip around patent pending trademark coming sooner hopefully rather than later, and then we'll
get you through everything in Major League Soccer. We'll get you through all the news of the morning, We'll get you through everything on the preview.
Side in.
England and believe it or not, And if you remember earlier this week USL Championship USL League One getting started, there's some storylines there. If you missed, Kaylor Hodges and our buddies at the USL Show, their Wednesday night program dealt with the season premiere of that league. We'll go through some of the juice boxes and some of the matchups, specifically in League one involving teams on our footprint and the new teams that are coming forward in USL League One.
But if you're a hardcore and you're a die hard in those two leagues, go back and listen to our friends with the USL Show and with Kaylor's segment that he did back on Tuesday, the ten thirty segment where we kind of broke everything down to get you ready for twenty twenty five in USL Championship. USL League One NWSL has their Challenge Cup going on and that is this weekend as well, and also MLS Next Pro. It is another go round of MLS Next Pro that Land
United two. You will get your action at the fraction
tonight involving Red Bulls two and Landy United two. And I like the idea at least from it from a travel standpoint where you have either before or after, and obviously since the season hasn't started yet, so it's before in this particular instance with it land United two and Red Bulls two, where you have the lead in and you have the second team come in and it's ahead of time, and so if the first team needs any reinforcements, if it's a road match, then you have that particular
opportunity for a Red Bull so coming into town early, Red Bulls two taking on a Lanty United two of the Fraction Tonight pregame show at seven o'clock on the SDH Network over on our Mixler site Soccer down here dot mixler dot com, or you can go to Soccer down here dot net. Go to the listen tab, click that and you get the Landy Knighted two where the proud home of the twos and we'll continue to be
that for the twenty twenty five seasons. So all of your matchups with at Lanty United two that we can cover with manpower, we will have. Otherwise we'll have postgame reports and things like that. But once again at Lanty Nighty two kicking off tonight action at the Fraction at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw seven o'clock pregame with Madison Cruise. Jason will have the call for you at seven thirty if you missed it yesterday, Jason was up
in LJ. Big shout out to our friends up at Gilmer and the Bobcats were hosting Heritage Catoosa last night and it was I think it was once again it was a great environment. You know, we can get Jason to come on and maybe talk about the tacos that we have up there, but now, I was great to see our friends up in LJ last night morning, David, and so it was that continues with the High School side of things, presented by our friends at Kaiser Permanente.
So this weekend, once again, it's the TWESDA Tonight on the SDH Network on our mixer site and you catch all the recaps and everything after the fact. And also once again Atlanta United hosting Red Bulls tomorrow night that's at Mercedes Benz and that is on Star ninety four. I believe we'll get Jason to cut the promo for me in a second morning Abbey, and then when Jason comes on slated for ten thirty, we'll have him go over everything that's on his mind when it comes to
both the twos and with it Landy United. So it'll be these kinds of previews coming up when Jason drops in on Friday, so we'll go over the twos and we'll discuss what's going on with it Landy United. So Atlanta United Saturday Night the twues tonight once again either in Kennesaw or on our mixed lore side at Soccer Down Here dot mixlert dot com. And then we're going to kick back things on Monday. We'll be back to normal.
I'll be back in the studio and we will get your role in there with the high school schedule, and so literally here's.
How it's gonna go.
You know, I'm down here and making for and I guess this is technically opening Kickoff, brought to us by our friends at Kickoff Coffee and Kickoff Coffeeco dot com. QR code to be found someplace else. Just go to the website and you can buy out the store. We'll get to that in a second. So I'm down here and making for the basketball championships for high school and so I will be coming home Sunday afternoon. Two more days.
We have today and we have Saturday. Saturday is our earliest start at eleven o'clock in the morning and we go until maybe nine, nine thirty or so. And today it's the same thing, Kickoff, tip Off, Kickoff. Yes, we start one o'clock on GPB and all the GPB sports elements and all the social medias is the kids Say and sports app, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, GPB Sports, you name it, we're there on the end on the app. So today lower divisions, actually Division one is going to be held
today and tomorrow. We have D two today with Washington, Wilkes and Wilcox County and we have the boys side Savannah and MCA. That's today, and I think division one is tomorrow is a part of the discussion, so that's your lower division. I can go over them at the end of the show and we'll let you find out what's going on. So it is today and tomorrow, and then once tomorrow is over, drive home. But I have been told I'm supposed to stop at the Fresh Air
Barbecue location here in Macon. Traditionally what I do is I will go to Old Clinton Barbecue on the Gray Highway, which is about a twenty minute detour, so twenty minutes northeast and then you get back on the road and then you head north and then you head home.
I've been told.
That Fresh Air Barbecue, who is like the number two barbecue in the state of Georgia, top twenty in the country. They now have a making location. So what I may do is stop there on the way home on Sunday. So get home Sunday with all the barbecue, the Brunswick stew, the banana putting, all that stuff.
Usually it's pulled pork.
It's a boatload of pulled pork with sauce and Brunswick stew and banana pudding. So that's traditionally how this journey ends. Then Monday, we are in studio and we get you ready for the new week. We'll let you go with reaction Monday and find out what happened with everything there and Atlanta United Red Bulls and the Tws and Red Bulls too, and so on Tuesday, it is a show from the studio. Then I drive to the Pinelands, which is Middle Georgia. It's about three hours away from the
studio Tuesday night for our high school coverage. It is Appling County and Jeff Davis really looking forward to that one. A great rivalry in Friday night football and now it's carrying over now into Tuesday night football. And so the Tuesday night throwdown is going to be in Hazlehurst. And there's some backstory to that as well, because of what they've been able to do to build the program and so on, and how the community is trying to rebuild
after Hurricane Helen came through. And so there's a couple of different reasons that we're going down there, and it's a great region rivalry Appling County. Jeff Davis, that's Tuesday Night in the Pinelands. Wednesday LB in a hotel room in Dublin, and we are going to be doing both the morning show and finding a way to do in session on the road. So we'll have that on Wednesday, and then we have Thursday and Friday activity with Eagles Lane Hampton, Eagles Landing, so it's a bit of a
homecoming for somebody morning Alex. And then Friday it is a home game with Johnson, Gainesville and GAC. So that's next week and then everything gets back to hitting and running as we go there. So that is next week, but once again, so it's like literally, I get home on Sunday, do the show on Monday, Tuesday, do the show, drive to Middle Georgia, then do the Wednesday show and in session from a hotel room in Dublin, turn around and come back to Atlanta.
So there you go.
That's the early part of next week. But my opening kickoff this morning, and this is once again going around in circles to try to get to a morning question. And I don't know if this happens to you as well, but I still to this day have issues in trying to figure out what is too hot for a beverage, And I will explain. So trying to keep something of a voice for four days and do the morning show.
What I had, what I what I do is I don't know how many of you do this when you start to have throat issues or whatever, but Traditional Medicinals has throat coat tea. And we are best friends, trust me, this time of year, we're best friends. And so here in the hotel, you have you know, you go microwaves
and fridges and everything. And so I'll put hot water in the microwave and it will go for you know, two minutes or so, and then I'll get the tea and I'll steep it, and you know, we'll have, you know, we'll have our tea to try to make sure that the pipes at least stay functional through this four day marathon. To this day, I have still yet to figure out when to take the first sip of hot water when
I'm making tea out of the microwave. Day one here, in making I burned the ever love in daylights out of my tongue and I have yet.
To recover from it.
So this is, this is my major problem when I'm trying to save my voice, is that you know, you sit there and you'll you'll hold. You'll hold the cup or the mug or whatever, and you know it feels okay to the hand. But then the second that you try to take a sip of the tea that you have out of the microwave, you burn the crap out of your tongue. And that's just it's what I end up doing. I swear to God every single time that I have a situation like this where I'm dealing with a foeign microwave.
It's like a back at office HD.
I'm fine because I know that two to two and a half minutes depending on which mug and which cup and everything, and I'm fine, and I let it steep for a while and then I can hold it, and I'm good. When I'm in a hotel room and it is water into a microwave and things like that, I don't my my my gauge for figuring out what is what is good and what is not and what will work and what won't. It kind of gets thrown, you know, into the blender because I'm in a foreign place. It's
water that I don't use. It's a microwave. I don't use that kind of thing. So literally, day one, when I got down here. I burn the crap out of my tongue from using the microwave, and I still have yet to recover from it. So I'm stilling. Every single time that I, you know, will have hot tea, then I always end up screwing it up. And so that's where Okay, so David might have David might have a solution here. So so here's David's solution. And thought different
microwaves equal different wattages. Hotel microwaves I would think are less watts, but also mugs could be different. Well, what I'm using, sadly is is this. I'm using the uh well, and since they're not sponsoring, I'm just gonna go ahead and hold it in the light. It is the hotel that I'm staying in, and they are named after a very rich individual whose last name is tied to the hotels. And so I'm using paper cups and going into the microwave with the water.
So that's my proble.
I think that's one of my first issues because once again everything's kind of thrown because I traditionally use mugs when I'm at home, and I left my mug at home for this particular run, and so de Grams is always heats the water for a minute, then steep it and reheat it. So okay, So now Bart, it's not a career ending injury. It's just me being stupid. I know that that's a shock. But now, well see what
de Graham does. De Graham builds apparently when he has his t de Graham builds to his level of heat tolerance. I just go with the information that I've used in the past, and go with traditional times and traditional timings. But if David says that different microwaves had different wattages, I think I truly am screwed. So de Graham builds to his proper temperature to where he doesn't burn his tongue. I just go into the microwave, throw it in there, and then work my way down.
I let it.
You know, Abby says it needs to steep for a minute and a half. Because what I've traditionally stick my pinky in it to test the temperature.
I've never thought of that.
I literally have never thought of that, to stick my pinky in it to test the temperature. Never thought of that legitimately, So I may do that from now on, especially when I'm on the road. I mean when I'm at home, I'm fine. But when I'm on the road, I think I may have to do this from Abbey where I stick my pinky in it to test the temperature.
I like that idea.
Okay, So I've come up with something of a of an on the road solution. And then this is why I do these kinds of things on opening kickoff, so we can kind of workshop something.
You know.
It's like, okay, I have an issue, we workshop it. You guys are smarter than I am, and so now I have this information going forward. So that's I mean, that was that's good. That's good stuff.
Okay.
So Abby's idea of sticking my pinky in it to test the temperature, combined with d gram on the slow build with starting with a mark time and then going forward. I think these are the two solutions here. So uh so Bart de Graham heat steep and reheat. Don't microwave the tea bag. No, I don't do that. I just do the water. Uh that's the one part that I don't do is I'll do the water then put the tea bag in for the hot tea. I don't I don't do like the tea and the hot water all
at the same time. So that's the one thing I don't do, so at least I'm I'm on the same page with all of you when it comes to heating the water.
Without the tea bag.
Tea bag doesn't go in until it's done and it's deeps and all that kind of stuff. Yes, and so yeah, yeah, at home, that is true. Abby's absolutely correct.
At home.
You know your microwave, you know your mug, you know, you know your situation. But Alex, I think has has the true point into this that Alex also uses. Alex also uses Abby's pinky to test the temper drevis beverage.
Okay, that's good to know. I mean, is she on call? Is she does? She figure?
It's like, okay, hey Abby, I need you to come here or I'll meet you at a midpoint. Is that how that works? Is Abby on call for you, Alex when it comes to hot hot temperatures and testing them for for beverages.
I need to know.
This is the kind of stuff we always tackle here. In opening kickoff, so uh bart with a with a thing?
Uh? Okay? Refereeing down here. A soccer match was called off after a young child of a player bites her whoa.
Just reading the link hang on total totalprosports dot com. I mean, if I could type it, I mean, come on, man, that that's just uh huh no no no, no, no, no, no, no.
No, that is just uh uh mm hmm m wow.
I mean, I mean, that's that is that's that's rash. That that is rash. I mean, and this is I mean, it's a four day old story over it to Total Pro Sports, and I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of thumb through it and see if I can read some of it, if not most of it. Bizarre incident leads to an abrupt cancelation pregame routine check. Stephan Coller had a small child bite him in a place.
That bite.
The ansual injury forced officials to call off the eighth Division clash between FC Toxi Juiceburg two and s V s v Rothewismulheim conducting the standard pre match ID verification.
The child, reportedly an offspring of an FCY Toxi player, warming up alongside the team, moved closer to the ref and in the official match report, he says, while I was checking the FC Toxi player's ID, a small child was doing warm up exercises along the players came closer and closer, and then suddenly gave me a sharp bite in a body part. Obviously, it left the gentleman in severe pain, making it impossible for him to officiate the match. He had no choice to abandon the fixture now rescheduled
for a later date. No word on whether Kler will be willing to oversee the rematch or if you'll consider a total Yeah, thank you, sir.
It's protective gear.
Yeah, Toxi Juiceburg two currently third and Rothwece Muelheim yet to comment on the incident or explain the.
Child's unusual behavior. Yeah. I would say that that's unusual behavior. All right. Wow.
So wait, wait, wait, So people have been going up to Barton asking him how he would how he would handle this. Fourth person to ask him about it. This week, red cards for both parents, all four grandparents and the child. Calling off the match is the only option. And I think Derek has this, Uh, Derek has this lockdown. Football is a wild place. Yeah, football is a wild place. Morning, Harry, I mean happy, he's happy, He's like, what type of
fine happens with this one? I would hope that it's a suspension, first and foremost, that there's a suspension, that there is a banning of the young and from that field and every other field in the lower the eighth tier. Ever, again, frankly, if it was me, the youngin would be getting a suspension from every possible venue in the country. It's like, no, you're not allowed here anymore. And then he sits there and he goes to his parents and he goes, why, Well,
it's like, well, you bit somebody. You bit somebody on the field when you weren't supposed to. You bit somebody.
Period.
David, No, no, David, it's a Friday. No, absolutely, there's nothing wrong with There's nothing wrong, absolutely nothing wrong with this. And so sharing chaos is never a bad thing. We share chaos here a lot, but Friday being Friday and getting you ready for the weekend, this seems like one of the more interesting opening kickoffs that we've had in quite some time. And so, yeah, the biggest thing for me is a what was the kid doing on the field in the first place. He's warming up. I'm guessing
he has a ties to one of the players. So if he has ties to one of the players, cool. When it's time to go, it's time to go. I don't know why he was out there right up to the point of player introductions, unless he was going to be like warm up kid turned mascot for the day. Don't know yet, Abby. We have put out the siren song for our friends that beyond goals, and so we will see if either Cap or if Greg will be
joining us in just a little bit. Traditionally what we do if they're traveling the planet, we always send out this note. You know, hey, nine nine thirty is theirs. Nine thirty is the time slot for our friends that beyond goals. Mannering, we can talk about a bunch of different things, but if they're globe trotting, then they let us know if they're globe trotting or not, and then
we navigate from there. But I think that if this, if this young and was warming up and he has parental ties or familiar ties to one of the players, I get it. When it's time to go, it's time to go. Unless he turned in too be a part of the walkout and everything. What compelled that particular youngen to exercise that behavior, I don't know what compel what compelled the young and to that particular action that that to me is the larger the larger point. That to
me is the larger point. And once again the all of you breaking news and things like that. Once again, Ricky, good morning. And by the way, Ricky reminds us that a place that we have frequented a great deal. So, yeah, the kid doesn't need to be anywhere near a soccer pitch ever again in the country of Germany. And there
also needs to be pictures. It's like, okay, if if this particular club goes anywhere, beware of this young and so he doesn't need to be anywhere near a pitch anymore, and his parents are probably going to be responsible for something akin to an assault chart. But brew House Cafe best soccer bar in the US. How's that for blank and awesome? Now, brew House in Little Five, we've had avoin events there in the past. But you know it's
going to be interesting heading back. So brew House Cafe Little Five voted best soccer bar in the US according to the results of a contest conducted by Men and Blazers. Results in the results released this morning. And so now Roger Bennett's going to come back March twenty fifth to watch matches with soccer fans. Live show with Rory Smith slaved just started seven o'clock. I guess you better get
there early. So contests started in September twenty three thousand votes, sixteen hundred bars and a lot of the emails and ten finalists came in December, and the number one brew House open in ninety seven. It's been great when we've been able to do things there at brew House. So Mozeltov congratulations and Wahoo and Yahoo for the brew House Cafe Little five voted the best soccer bar in the US. Very very cool. And apparently the International Broadcast Center for
twenty six goes to Dallas. Yeah, that's disappointing. Uh okay, So going to that particular story, So our friends at FIFA Media are now saying that it's going to be in Dallas, and I guess that means I should follow them now as well. Dallas hosting the IBC for the twenty six World Cup.
The K.
Bailey Hutchison Convention Center becomes the global media hub for TV, radio and digital coverage, welcoming thousands of journalists.
And so that was May.
That was announced at nine oh eight Eastern time this morning. So uh, I guess I guess that means that we're going to be spending time with our friends in Dallas come twenty six when we're not going to be here. Okay, So I see, I see, I see, I see the travel plans.
Now we we at SDH already have we are blessed to have connections in Dallas. We have one of our.
We have one of our friends on the other side of the aisle when it comes to college football based in Dallas.
So we're cool.
We actually believe or not if we can figure out a way to get out to Dallas. Way you studio space, so we'll be you know, studio spacing it if we make it out to Dallas in twenty six. I heard the magic noise. And so as we're going through everything opening kickoff, we can you know, we can continue opening kickoff by talking to our resident mogul and training because it is year two, not year one, but year two
of the expedition known as Rhode Island FC. And so this is where we bring in Michael Parkhurst and our friends of Beyond Goals Entering's up, dude, Good morning, John, You're I am in a hotel room and making Georgia. Sir, I am doing the the high school basketball championships. And so what I do is I start my day doing SDH and then at like eleven oh five, slam the computer shut, throw on the dress clothes, and drive to the arena and I'm there for like the next ten
or eleven hours. So yeah, so it's running around, babe, that's a I'm not as busy as you by any stretch of the imagination, but nevertheless running around so as you can see the palatial, the imitation, palatial upbringing and background that we have here in the hotel here in Macon, Georgia. Yes, absolutely true. You're you're sporting your Demon Deacons gear as I see this morning, and you know you're getting ready
for the weekend. But this is also a very very busy, slash important, oh my god important weekend for you as a resident mogul and training. It is season two of Rhode Island FC.
Yes, well it's season two of our USL go round. But we've got a week one by so our season doesn't get kicked up till next week.
Rat farts.
I was gonna we'll then find we'll discuss it a week early, since the next time I see you, the season will have already begun. So actually there's kismut and karma here with this discussion. So as as things have gone on, how many folks have wandered up to you who are ORIFC faithful and have grabbed you by those demon deacons lapels there on that warm up jacket and said, hey, what are you gonna do for an oncre Man? And that reminds me. I need to get my Eastern Conference
championship year. That reminds me, So what do you gotta do for an oncre Man?
Good question, TVD. We'll see. Hopefully we can have a better start to the season. We'll start there, you know, because everybody remembers the run that we made. But you know, the first half of the season, we had about thirty five ties in our first ten games. Correct set that record in USL. I'm going to try not to repeat that. But we do start off with the first eight weeks of the season. We've got two buys and six away games as we wait for our stadium to be complete.
So it's not going to be the easiest of starts, that's for sure. But so we approved last year we can win on the road. So you know, we'll see there's some teams in the East that got better. I mean, shoot, every team tries to get better, right, but like Birmingham for sure down there got a lot better. They signed two top players for the USL Championship anyway, So yeah, it's it's you know, we'll have our work cutout for us for sure.
Well and at the same time, I mean, you guys didn't sit on your laurels. I mean it was it was funny the way that it kind of worked its way out in the media where it had been long discussed that Maxi Rodriguez, what was you know, heading your heading your way, and I mean you're in the collective Rhode Island f C. And it's like, yeah, he's heading over there, but it's like he's still in the roster for Detroit City. It's like, well, wait a minute, how
is this possible? He's still on the roster for Detroit City. And then literally the simultaneous news releases come out Maxi Rodriguez and Detroit City part ways.
Maxi Rodriguez signs with Rhode Island f C. How does this happen? How does this. How is this Simultan Aniut news releasing happening?
Yeah, I mean we had signed him before the season was over, right, because you know, free agents can sign you know, six months prior, as most of us know, and so we had signed him and so yeah, it just becomes like the league optics. So the league kind of controls a here's signing day. Uh, And obviously you usually try and let the other teams say goodbye first before you announce, you know, just try and be nice about things.
So there it is.
Oh, yeah, there's there it is.
What's it been like? What's it been like to see all of this come together there at Tide Waterland.
Yeah, it's been pretty crazy. Uh, pretty crazy just to see from when did I start with this project four years ago?
Wow?
Yeah, four years ago? Just I mean there's just been endless speed bumps and aches and naysayers and just doubts and things, and there was a million reasons why this couldn't, wouldn't shouldn't happen. And yet the stadium is up, the guys are training in it. It's not fully open yet, but yeah, we are on target here for our opener,
and yeah, it's going to be pretty crazy. We expect obviously a full house on May third, and yeah, it'll be a pretty sweet day, that's for sure, because I know how much work a lot of people have put
into making this day come about. And I think that we've got still a lot of people to convince up in Rhode Island that this is going to be the place to be, and you know, it's going to be a really welcoming place and a place that a lot of kids growing up in island are going to make a lot of good memories over their childhood, and so we're excited for that.
Does it seem like it's been four years ago when you started with all this stuff to today? Does it seem like it's been that long? Or does it seem like it's been a snap of the fingers?
In general, time is flying by, it's crazy, But when I think about this project in particular, there, yes, it's it's felt like four four years just because of so many hoops, so much drama, so much political red tape and headaches and yeah this I think a lot of people on this project have aged more than four years in these so in life in general has flown by, I can't believe it's been five seasons since I've retired. But yes, four years on this project seems about right.
I'm gonna reserve the question about being five years since you've retired and whether or not you feel like you still have some minutes in you. If somebody ever gave you a call.
And you sit there your heads back, you're cackling, You're like, no way, bro, that is not happening.
No way, no way.
Uh.
You mentioned, and so this is where I want to get in to start discussing things about mentoring with you. This morning, you mentioned that it's been four years that you've been engaged in the process there at Rhode Island. So how much growth do you get to experience on
a yearly basis with your mentees? I mean, do you have mentees that have been with you and Greg since day one that you've been able to mentor all the way through a process and have been with them for you know, six months, a year longer or is it more just kind of like one season for a mentee and then they kind of go their own way. Do you get the chance to mentor someone annually through their process some of them?
Yeah, I just had one not too long ago where it was the first time I had connected with them, and probably like six to eight months or so, but we I mean, I've worked with them a lot in the past and probably since he was about twelve, and now he's about to start as freshman in season, and I was like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe you're in high school. This is crazy. Yes, And to abvious question, yes, my oldest is in high school as well, and yeah,
she's a freshman. So yeah, it's it's unbelievable, But that is It is really cool sometimes to see the growth of players over a longer period of time and see where their journey has led them. So there is definitely a bunch that we've mentored from over the course of like three years or so, you know, obviously a bunch of new ones.
When you mentor over time, is it you know, okay, well, we have our baseline of stuff that we need to discuss, whether it's on the field, off or both. And then as it goes, is it fine tuning, is it finding other things to mentor them over what's the is it you go down a road and then over time are there more you know, are there stop signs and off roads and things like that or is it just kind of tweaking and fine tuning that individual on the field and all, Yeah, I think.
The fine tuning and I think that reminders, right, and no matter what level we get to, right, some of the things are still the same. Just reminders of like what we can control and what we can't, and you know, what's important and what's not and how do we come over and how do we view things that are coming up? Right, Like a freshman going into high school right now, all of a sudden, you might not be a starter. You're planning against kids that are four years older than you, Right,
how do you approach these types of things? How do you have conversations with seniors on your team? You know, how do you act in the locker room? Like all these little things that's new. So I think there's always new obstacles and new things that will be occurring, and it's just kind of reminders of how to get through those, how to deal with those things, and how to put your best foot forward.
How much of a reminder is it for you and Greg about how to handle growth processes for young athletes, because it seems like it's at one point it seems like it could be a refresher course for you about how to reset with these individuals. But at the same time it opens those other windows about Okay, they're giving me this issue that I get to tackle for the
first time, or this issue. So how much of it, you know, is a learning experience for you and for Greg about handling other mentees that may not necessarily be the one you're talking to.
Yeah, it's it's always growth. I mean, I spoke to a family yesterday whose daughter is involved with youth national team stuff and not quite getting the level of training she needs at her club team, you know, because she's in a small town and and just that dynamic, Right, what do you do when you know you've got an elite athlete yet they're not on an elite team and you want them to continue, right you know. So it's just there's so many different journeys, there's so many different
aspects to it. And yeah, it's cool for me to hear about everybody's journey because you know, it's one of the things we talk about, how everyone's journey is different. But when I get to like hear how these journeys start, right, because we just hear usually at the end, like oh, what was your journey to become a professional, right, But I'm hearing all these journeys as they're going through it here at at a young age, and of course you don't know who's going to go on to play even
in college, but you never know. So yeah, it's it's super interesting and it allows me to grow too and open my knowledge as well. Of like we all know, youth soccer is just ever changing in the landscape and what's going on. But it's good for me to stay up to date as well. Like some of these times these parents are teaching me about what they're going through and these leagues and who's who and what goes on and you know, so it's just ever learning for sure.
And I want to at a future time, I want to bookmark the whole thing about parents teaching you about these things. But you mentioned something that I thought was really interesting, where you have mentees in smaller towns that aren't near you know, the big metropolitan areas. I guess by comparison, and the troubles I would imagine for them are geographical in addition to all of the.
Other issues that they're facing.
Because if they are a fantastic student athlete, in a town that is detached away from larger operation basis, like you can't just you know, turn a corner and go to a you can't you can't go to like top Hat, you can't go to ECNL, you can't go to someplace right around the corner. For those in big cities, I would imagine that the issues and the conversations might be a little different because someone's in a smaller town that's detached from all of that, where they have to travel,
you know, ninety minutes to do something one way. I mean, that seems like it's a different conversation entirely at times.
Oh totally. And this family travels three hours one way for training and they only go once a week because of the distance. But yeah, it's that's that's crazy. As a parent of youth athletes, that's insane, right, I'm like, oh god, this game is an hour away, or this game is forty minutes away on a weekday, you know, And yeah, some families are making that type of dedication, and so yeah, how do you how do you continue
to grow? Because what they realized was when they went to this national team camp was you know, the level at the camp obviously was high and the coaching was really good, and and then it makes you like look at what your own situation is and like, shoot, I'm not getting anywhere near that here. And I always say like, well, the bright side is you're at that level without the
coaching right now, without the environment. So that's amazing. Right, So you know, we just just just just we just discuss different options, right, Can you train up with other female teams? Can you train with boys and you know, go through that dynamic of playing, you know, with players that are typically faster and stronger than you. So different options.
And then one of the things I learned was about guest playing and tournaments and I need to find out more about that, but that is allowed in e CNL as far as guest playing with a team in showcases and things. So there's different options.
Well, and that was since you mentioned these different options, is going to ask how you close the distance of that three hours and I didn't know that the idea of you know, playing up makes sense and something like that. But also crossing over and if you're a female playing with you know, if you're a female you're playing, you can play with males. You play with the boy athletes that are out there if you're on the girls side
of things. So I guess part of the mentoring in that aspect is trying to you're troubleshooting in a way, but it's a different kind of trouble shooting where it's an off the field trouble shooting trying to help. So the on the field troubleshooting can get advanced, So you're having to do things a little differently and you're having to go on the field and off when it comes to these things.
Oh yeah, for sure. And that's what mentorship's about, right, It's it's holistically and so many of these things off the field affect on the field performance, So yeah, for sure, and you know that's the why we enjoy it and that's what keeps it always fresh. And you know, of course on the field stuff is is more straightforward for us. It's it's easier because you know, game is game basically,
it's just different levels to it. But off the field everything's so different and to each person and to each family. So that's it's interesting.
Friday free kick with our buddy Michael Parkhurst here at Beyond Goals Mentoring at MF Parkhurst on the two hundred and eighty character app at bg mentoring on the two hundred and eighty character app at Beyond goalsmenoring dot com, How are you getting adjusted to doing the video analysis and just talking into a camera and doing the self the self reporting and the self discussion. How are you at talking as the only person in the room. How is that evolving for you?
Pretty good that it does happen frequently that I will go to record things and my dog will think that, oh, now is a great time to get up from her bed where she usually is right here next to me, all see, and get up and PLoP down onto the hardwood next to me. So there's just a massive thud right in the middle of my best continue on for now. I think people just need to know.
I see no issue with a thud, and okay, so please, if you would, sir, please return the camera to your copilot's position and explain who your co pilot is.
This is Deacon obviously, yes, and she's our almost five year old COVID pup. You still call her a puppy even though she's five almost five Golden.
Retriever, sweetest little girl out, yes, see, I imagine, So let me see, let me see if I can, if I can gauge the morning for Deacon.
So one or both of you, as the leaders in the Parkhurst household, you get up earlier than the other. One gets up earlier than the other. Deacon sees that as a sign to hey, it's time to go outside. Depending on the temperature, Deacon will do either one or two things. Deacon will want to go out on the long walk of the morning, or sit there and go door gets open, front door, back door, whatever Deacon goes.
It's too blank and cold out here. I'm gonna do my thing, and I'm hopping back inside, and I'm going back to bed now that I've awakened. To the rest of you, I'm going back to bed. Am I close, You're not too far off.
She always starts in bed with my son, and always in the middle of the night will come wake me up and I put her in the crate. This is a routine. She finds comfort in her crate.
Huh.
She won't put herself in the crate, but she will wake me up and she will go over to the crate, and I have to lock the crate.
Huh.
So I have now started waking up in the morning John, I used to sleep in a little bit, but now I wake up at six with the rest of with my wife and my daughter and I go work out and then I get her out of the crate at like six thirty six forty. And she always wants to go outside. It doesn't matter the temperature, the colder the better unfortunately for me. Yeah, but yeah, and then of course, and then she'll sleep for you know, neanks three hours.
The rest of the day, it's like, oh, it's lunchtime. It's time for me to get up and get lunch.
She lives a very very nice life. We tell her all the time. She's very lucky.
Oh.
Absolutely, the same way as well, Hey, the same way it is with the rowdy man in our place. I know I'm third in that house. It is the boss, it is the rowdy man.
It is me. I know I'm third. I knew that going into the equation. So that's the easy one for me.
So you mentioned changing routines with you getting up in the morning with the deacon sitting there and it's like bruh, time to go out.
Yeah.
When it comes to talking to your your mentees about okay, what is your standard day, Like you know, and then they may They may walk you through their day and you may sit there and say, okay, stop, you need to change this behavior. You may be successful, you may be your game may be great, you might be improving,
you might be on a path. But when they walk you through your their day, how much adjusting to maximize their potential do you go through in these kinds of situations where it's like, Okay, I see something that can be fixed here that can make you even better. How much day adjustment and lifestyle adjustments do you guys do off the field when you're talking with the mentees.
Yeah, not a whole lot, because we want them to want to make the adjustment right. We don't want to say, hey, you do this right, But we more talk about, okay, what routines and habits can you create? Right if you are struggling to sleep, or you're struggling to wake up in the morning, or you're eating habits aren't good, right, Okay,
what could be some possibilities? And we try and say, hey, everyone's different, there's no set routine for that's going to fit everyone the same, right, But okay, can you do X y Z, you know, after dinner, before bedtime, Can you do this in the morning, can you you know, getting a routine of this or that? And we're just trying to give them options and ideas of like, hey, find a routine, like these things help. Doing these things over and over again, your body just gets used to
it and it can be so helpful. So we really try not to say, hey, you need to be doing this, versus hey, think about these different options and what they could do for you.
How well does today's men tea take care of themselves because I know that when in the days of black and white television back in the late sixteen hundreds, when I was young, you literally could eat anything.
It would burn off.
You could you could have you know, you could have chili dogs, you could go out and you could play for your team. Everything fine, it burns off and then you're okay, how much lifestyle adjustments and consultation do you guys have, Because we've all lived through it, you know, it's like, okay, metabolism changes when you're thirty. Then you
have to start paying attention to things. How much lifestyle adjustments do you sit there and encourage It's like, okay, well you might need to work on this a little bit not sitting there and saying cut the chili dogs out. Basically yeah, but how much adjustment do you sit there? Do you notice it's like, Okay, you could be better if you did this. What about lifestyle adjustments and things like that.
Yeah, it's definitely something we talk about. I think that in general, athletes are way more knowledgeable and in tune to nutrition than we were when we were young. And I think that some of it is because parents these days are way more in tune to the nutritional side
of things than our parents were. So I think that in general, they're in a better starting place, you know, And so we always try and say, start with sixty forty seventy thirty right where you're at least focusing on what you're putting in your body.
And so.
It's it's something we definitely speak about. But in general, I think that they're doing a pretty good job at a younger age of being cognizant. And we never like, hey, yeah, is Chick fil a good for you?
Now?
Is it amazing taste?
Yes?
So if you want to eat Chick fil A, go ahead and eat Chick fil A, right, but okay, maybe eat something healthier the next meal. You know, So it's like such a balance, like with everything.
What is this balance that you talk about? Come on now, I mean no, it's we're all supposed to be like John Belushi in the Olympics eating the chocolate donuts. That's how we're supposed to win. Everything is making sure that we are ready for the Cathlon eating chocolate donuts.
That's how this works.
Man, Gosh, you'd still be playing if that was the case, if it was like chocolate donuts and everything.
Just to answer a couple of questions here in the chat, Harry, Yes, our Tidewater Stadium is ten thousand seats right now, but we did build it with the knowledge that we might go D one in the future, so it can be increased to five extra five thousand pretty easily if that needs to be the case down the line.
Blue Sky, I think.
I haven't account to Blue Sky. I haven't made the switch.
Yet, even though I need to at some point. I'm on both, Yeah, I need.
To at some point. The other one just keeps sucking me back in somehow.
I think that was it.
Okay, So at Lanta United, you know, obviously I have to you discuss it Land United before you get out of here it. Lanta United is hosting Red Bulls this weekend, and well, you know what red Bulls brings to the table. They're gonna they're gonna try to pressure out of the bill and create short fields. They don't care about possession. The ball has cooties. You know, it's like, we don't want it. We just want it only a short period of time. We're going to be clinical, We're going to
try and finish. It's going to be pressure, pressure, pressure from as many as five coming at the back line of Atlanta United. How different of an animal is facing Red Bulls versus everybody else?
Different so much so that you know you need to adjust, you do when a team is that good at pressing, And honest and honestly, I don't know the Red Bulls this year how good they are at pressing. If it's changed, but in years past, the risk rarely outweighed the reward in that you could break the press three out at ten times, five out of ten times, even if even seven out of ten times, but that it might only
create one or two chances. If they win the ball three times out of those ten, they are getting three chances. So it's very different against the Red Bulls. And you know, they, to your point, don't really want the ball, which I always found like, okay, let them have the ball to turn things around. Let them have the ball, don't press them, and then counter attack. So yeah, it's it is different. It's challenging, but yeah it'll be exciting hopefully, Crazy John.
When I was watching the game last week, I thought Zaha was terrible.
Yeah, he was mad. Edwards had Zaha in his in his hip pocket for the first.
And even the second half, like people were like, oh, you know, the assist wasn't an assist. You know, it was a blocked shot or a bad shot. It doesn't count in my book. And the goal, it was a very good He had one good touch all game and it was the goal, right. He took it very well, but he did not create anything. Honestly, if I'm a Charlotte fan, and I was thinking about tweeting this, but I was like, he was so bad that I'd be nervous,
like because I didn't think he moved well. And I like Zaha, like I thought that was a great signing. I was like, man, this guy's gonna crush it. I don't know if it was jet lag. I don't know if it was the turf or what, but I thought he looked terrible and that was kudos to Edwards as well. But man, we'll see. I mean, I know he plays in Miami this weekend on grass so if he doesn't look much better, and it's it's crazy because everyone says, oh,
a golden assists. You know, he's all over MLS soccer dot com and I'm like, dude was brutal, But that's soccer, isn't it. I mean the other way to look at it is, oh, he was brutal, yet he had a gold and assist, so wait till he's good mm hmm.
Yeah.
So if he's brutal and had a gen and a then you know, hey, wait wait until he figures everything out at the bouncy house and Charlotte with the trampoline turf.
That they have there. Yeah, so what do you? What are your So? May the sixth is the opening at Tidewater Landing May third, May third, thank you?
All right, I'm writing this down and I'm trying to see if what our schedules may be. So yes, I'm already playing. So yeah, so yeah, we look when somebody floats me a picture of what tidewater Landing looks like, and it's this gorgeous looking thing. And uh, you know, we got to figure out what's going on with United and the twos on May third. But yes, okay, it is in pencil, or it's in green sharpie pen but I've written the date down. As always, my friend, it's
great to see you. It's great to find out what's going on, especially with what's going on with Beyond Goals and you being a mogul and training and Rhode Island f C and all the topics, all the things I think is Deacon still sleeping, hasn't moved. That's what I figured, all right, So maybe you can sneak out of the room. And then the second you sneak out of the room, Deacon's gonna sit there and go, broh, where'd you go get back here? So please have a safe weekend with
Deacon and everybody. Enjoy your watching and your viewing habits, and you know we'll catch up with you soon. It's great to see you, great to get all the updates and find out what's going on with you on the Freddy Free Kick, with Minering and with your Rhode Island.
F C. Be safe, my friend, have a good weekend.
Thanks Sean, good get to talk to you. Enjoyed the basketball today, Yeah.
Yeah, you got it. Brother and me and basketball. We're like, we're like this, we are we are all over the place.
So, uh, that's Michael Parkers with a couple of different things that we got to to discuss this morning. Uh, differences in being detached from everyone else while you're trying to learn, uh, the lessons of geography, routines and habits, those kinds of things and so and what Michael and Greg continue to learn at beyond goals minnory and the fact that Deacon likes to wander into the shot and just sit there and go the red light's on, it's time for my close up.
Five year old golden retriever.
Deacon very very cool, and Deacon and the rowdy man probably have a lot more in common than they than they realize with. Uh, with Kapa and Columbus and us here all right, Uh once again, that's our number one. So let's see who else is here this morning and say hi, and we'll get rolling into our number two. We'll get you into the weekend whip round with all of the game aims and all the things and everything
going on in Major League Soccer. Run through the juice boxes and championship in League one, and you know, we got the challenge couple once again in NWSL and what's going on in the in the in the prim as Nick says, So we got some juice boxes to get into what to watch, where to watch it, how to watch it, all that kind of stuff. We may do that early so we can focus on weekend whip round late for the rest of our number two. So let's see.
So Bart's booing Dallas hypnotic Donuts. According to d Graham, See, this is all of the other stuff important. When we go to these markets, we've got to find it. Like when we go to Providence, it's about finding the Italian food. No, Lie, you go to Providence, it's Italian food on the hill in Providence. Massive, just great restaurants with Italian Uh, they're in Providence.
So that's another thing.
So May the third, I've circled the date and we've got to cross grid everything. Okay, So morning morning, kung Fu and let's see so yes, so as Abby says, as you know from the first season with United. You know how waiting to play in your new stadium is build up and d Graham thanks for your question involving the possibility of moving up into D one in the stadium. Harry says he wishes the budget would be allowed to travel him to go see San Antonio at Tidewater against
Rhode Island. Great day for US soccer. Absolutely true. So Wiley is in this morning, and Wiley is petitioning does anybody need two tickets in section one twenty six face value because he's got a jet out of town. So keep an eye out and reach out to Wiley in the discord or wherever you reach out to Wiley. So Wiley's got two and one twenty six for tomorrow if anybody wants them. Also spring break, two college kids both agree to the same thing. And so Abby's talking about blue Sky morning.
Alex and.
So let's see Able ables the morning Able captain lost the not Charlotte winning Land United home game Nashville.
Oh, Bart, you had to say that, rats Okay.
So it's a home game against Nashville, so we will be otherwise occupied. So we're gonna have to find a We're gonna have to find a time that agrees with everything, where we field trip up to Tidewater Landing for a home match. Okay, so that's already settled. May the third, thank you, Bart. Bart's already crossed referencing schedules because I know that Bart wants to go. So May the third home game at Land United in Nashville, and so there
you go. All right, So what we'll do is this, We'll kind of slide weekend up around a little bit. We'll go through all of the gossip er mininu into what to watch, here to watch it, how to watch it in the juice boxes for the weekend. We'll get that in the other divisions, and then spend the rest of the time talking about at Land United and Red Bulls coming to town on Saturday night. All right, so juice boxes and matchups and getting ready for weekend number one.
Once again, Remember if you haven't had the chance and you want to pursue what's going on in USL Championship League one and Next Pro we'll say the next Pro discussion as well to the segment when we talk about it Land United. But you can go to the USL show Kayler Hodges and our friends there they go into the big, big old deep dive about everything and what's going on. So we've got juices for Major League Soccer, and that's not the one that I want to click onto.
So USL League one, remember in the discussion with us L League one, they've got a bunch of new franchises too, Avy, ALTAFC, Naples, Portland, Hart's, and Pine you know in Westchester. So keep an eye on all of those.
We actually do have juice boxes in USA, a juice box in USL League one, Tormenta and the Richmond Kickers tonight in Statesboro, and it's a seven o'clock kick.
Richmond Kickers Tormenta. Tormenta is a home favorite at a plus one twelve and Richmond on the Road is a plus one ninety n And by the way, Richmond has retooled, I think in celebration of their twenty fifth anniversary, they have redesigned their kits. So Hazazen horays it's pretty cool. It's a pretty cool design that Richmond has. Sebastian Gwenzati was mentioned that by Kaylor about Detroit City signing Gwenzati. Gwenzati goes from Tampa Bay to Detroit City, but once again.
It's a thirty three year old Sebastian Gwenzati. Sergio Revas signs with New Mexico United Ltree Youth International. Vigo Ortiz gets his first year deal, first pro deal at the age of sixteen. And it is Ben Martinez signing the twenty two year old keeper with the River Hounds after spending two years in Hunt City and Birmingham. Legion acquired
rome On tores Onlane from Minnesota United. So looking at the schedule as things are all laid out so Saturday, it is Lexington and Hartford Miami, the MIAMIFC and Detroit City, North Carolina FC and the Pittsburgh River Hounds Charleston and Low City out of the block seven thirty Saturday night. That's a big matchup in USL Championship at Patriots Point, Birmingham and Louden, San Antonio, Monterey Bay, El Paso and Colorado Springs, Phoenix and Tulsa, Orange County SC and Oakland Roots.
That's going to be an interesting one. Keep an eye on those two in the Western Conference, Sacramento in New Mexico United and Las Vegas and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. So Vegas spending money in investing playing Tampa Bay. How does Tampa Bay look after losing some of their firepower? But honestly, right now you'll look at these matchups in week one, seven thirty Saturday night. I know you'll be busy, but you can go back and watch it in other ways.
So right now, your marquee matchup in Championship Charleston lou City out of the block. That one's going to be big. So looking at the schedule in League one, once again we mentioned that tonight it is Tormenta and the Richmond Kickers. At seven o'clock. Tomorrow, four o'clock it is Greenville and west Chester f C. Naples and Charlotte Independence. That's your opening weekend. And then things kick back in on Wednesday and it starts to get to further and further full song.
Greenville and Omaha are playing. So Greenville's got two out of the block. So they play Westchester on Saturday, come back and play Union Omaha on Wednesday. So that is USL League one. But they get off and run and Tormented tonight in Statesboro. If you're close, go watch them Greenville Saturday afternoon at four o'clock against west Chester and that one is at Paladin Stadium on the campus of Furman University. So USL Championship, USL League One and the NWSL Challenge Cup.
So that's what you have going on this weekend.
With all of that now, gossip, broomer and innuendo, what to watch, where to watch it, and how to watch it. So we'll get the gossip, broomer and innuendo out of the way, get you into your juice boxes in the prem and get you into everything sliding overseas before we dial it back here and discuss everything going on. I still have to promot all the things I haven't had a chance to promote. That's how busy we are on
these fridays. By the way, Messi and Friends beat Cavalier two nil last night, and a lot of folks were saying that Cavalier should have had a goal on the board and it was reviewed and pulled off the board, so that turned out not to be the case. So it ended up being a two nil win for Messi
and Friends. And Javier Mascherano is paying attention to the local physios with Messi and Friends as to whether or not Messi will participate in the return fixture at Cavalier at the National Stadium in front of thirty five thousand.
So he says that I'm paraphrasing. He says, listening to the doctors, there's a lot of wear and tear, and at the same time looking down the road and this is stuff that we knew and navigating the schedule because you have multiple competitions, you have international play and all of the stuff compressing in on itself and you're looking out for you know, Messi as well as the other end friends and what you're trying to do with your lineups.
So keep an eye.
Not really sure that Messi is going to play in the reverse fixture at Cavalier, but we will certainly keep an eye on that, okay. Manchester United considering a move for Jean Felipe Matteta in the summer three letter paper take the information at your own peril. Real Madrid and Byron, Chelsea and Spurs all interested in Bournemouth's U twenty one defender Dean Houston, who would cost fifty million pounds. Once again, the four letter paper, west Ham Crystal Palace among the
clubs looking to sign Southampton defender Taylor Harwood. Bellus This summer. Harwood Bellus is not looking forward to staying at Southampton if they get relegated. He once out and so it's going to be a matter of time Southampton gets relegated. So Taylor Harwood Bellis is looking to leave Southampton in the off season. Athletico Madrid expected to bid about sixty million euro to sign Mason Greenwood at the end of
the season. Mason Greenwood also declared for Jamaica to be a Jamaican international and not be with the three Lions that also came out. Joshua Kimmick looks set to stay at Bayern the summer, despite interest from Arsenal and PSG. Chelsea interested in Raal bettiste U nineteen winger Haesus Rodriguez, who has a forty two million pound release clause. Liverpool
also monitoring four letter paper. Manchester United and Liverpool have asked about the availability of Atalanta midfielder Edison, although Manchester City also have a strong interest in the fifteen million pound rated twenty five year old. Manchester United hope to make summer sales before activating the eighty million year old release clause in the contract of Urbi Leipzig striker Benjamin Seshko.
Liverpool also is chasing after Seshko as well. Liverpool could send Harvey Elliott out on loan next season so he plays more first team minutes. Barcelona are prioritizing a new contract with Frankie DeJong after interest from Arsenal. So that
is gossip, brumer and innuendo on the day. So juice boxes in the Premier League before we get into what to watch, where to watch it, how to watch it to start off your weekend, and remember you have only a handful that you've got everybody's back up and running this weekend in the Premier League, you have six matches on Saturday, three on Sunday and Monday night. Football's West Hammon Newcastle Forest hosting Manchester City the early game tomorrow morning.
Manchester City's a minus won ten. Forest is a plus two to eighty, so is the draw. Brighton part of the ten o'clockers. Brighton minus one o three hosting Fulham and a plus two seventy seven Crystal Palace a minus two thirteen hosting Ipswich. They need to win bad Ipswich is a plus five point fifty eight ten o'clock Liverpool minus seven sixty nine in the composite courtesy of our friends at Odds Portal going up against Southampton twelve thirty.
Brentford is a plus one to twenty three at the g Tech hosting Aston Villa three o'clock late night for Overseas eight o'clock kick Wolves and Everton Wolves a plus one sixty three, Everton a plus one eighty one. Draws a plus two thirteen. Apparently Everton and the Freakin Group can save fifty million dollars in the restructuring of a loan for the Brandley Moore Dock facility, so that also came out as well. Sunday it is Chelsea and Leicester.
Chelsea's a minus five hundred. Leicester is a plus ten sixty eight. Spurs hosting Bournemouth. Spurs is a plus one seventy and Bournemouth is a plus one thirty seven on the road at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium.
That's a bit of a surprise.
Also, it is a Manchester United arsenal arsenal on the road of minus one forty one. Manchester United at Old Trafford a plus four thirty four Your draws a plus two fifty two. West Ham is an underdog at home to Newcastle Monday Night Football Newcastle right now plus one eighteen and west Ham at home is a plus two nineteen. Your draw is a plus two fifty two.
Want to watch? Where to watch it? How to watch it?
And we're just going to cover today because everybody knows what's going on on Saturday. I know all of you are going to be at Mercedes been Stadium. So what do you do in your daytime? What do you bring with your monitor with you your your favorite streaming device? What do you do on Saturday? Walled You know a lot of you'll be watching the Premier League from lot seventeen.
Please celebrate responsibly and do so on my behalf as well, since I will be in make and for the matchup and leaving Mercedes Benz in good hands with the hoff today being an Espanol Liga A two forty five to LUSI Montpelier. If you don't have the b ns, you can get all the b inswstern l A CEO Tayse for the fans LEGA one LEGA one Max Pro and our buddy notors at Gold TV, at Finates, FNTZ, dot co slash soccer down here helps us out, helps them out, helps you out, to turn you into a true degenerate.
Jason got me hooked. I blame him now. The League that we neither condone, nor endorse nor promote is a game at two o'clock on Fox Deportes. They also have Lega Emeki's at eight, Tigris and Cadetro Gold TV, Torque and the Plaza Colonia Defense are Sporting Liverpool at five thirty. Double header on Gold TV from Uruguay two to Na late tonight, Puebla and and Pumas ten o'clock now. Beginning of MLA Next Pro season happens tonight Los Verdos, Austin
FC two and Colorado Rapids two at six thirty. Messi and Friends to CHATTANOOGAFC at seven o'clock Ventura County and to Come a Defiance is at ten o'clock on Apple TV and MLS Season Pass. ESPN Plus has your Tormento match at seven. They also have the Bundesliga Get two thirty, Munchein Gladbach and Minz. Fox Soccer Plus also has the matchup in the League that We neither condone, endorse, don't promote at two o'clock. Colossal Network Championship North City and
Oxford United that's at three. Mlsnexspro dot Com has the video side of Atlanta United two and Red Bulls too. We have the matchup on Soccer Down here on the SDH network starting at seven o'clock. Pregame seven thirty kick Maddie has your pregame, Jason has your call, Crown Legacy and NYCFC two that's at seven o'clock. Those are on mlsnexpro dot Com. Paramount Plus has Syriac Callery and Jenow at two forty five, as well as the English Championship
match at three o'clock. Universo Liga Mxfeminials at eight oh five, Guadalajara and America. Amazon Prime has the Challenge Cup tonight in the NWSL Orlando and Washington. The Zone USA has a couple of different matchups for you if you have the Zone two from the Saudi Women's Premier League doubleheader there and one in the German Frau and Bundesliga Eintracht Frankfurt against Essen at twelve thirty.
That's just today.
There's a lot to talk about, as we always have on to talk about in these kinds of things. So okay, so bart is targeting June seven for Tidewater Landing and June fourteen is a Rhode Island home match two days after Atlanta plays Red Bulls.
Oh at Red Bulls.
Ooh okay, that might be worthy because that's going to lead right into Club World Cup.
Is by the way, so Abby has switched over to Blue Sky. I have both because I need both for promotional purposes.
So all right, So that gets you through your juice boxes and everything in the Premier League and all that kind of stuff. All right, let's get the promos out before we start talking about the rest of Major League Soccer and the weekend. With prom all right, you can get your jersey at Olivi and York, our first ever presented by our forensic kaiser Permanente Beyond Goals Soccer for
Good Olivi and York Navy jersey. You can get it personalized and you can either have it in the Carolina Blue letters and numbers or in the white letters and numbers. And you can help out our Soccer for Good causes by going to Olivi York and getting the jersey. You can go to the Marshall Island Soccer Federation help them out continue to build their soccer federation from scratch. You can get all the other gear, the bucket hats, the jerseys, everything.
You can get that from them that comes from England. You want the scarf that Maddie is modeling on the website, you get that from me. I've got about a dozen left in the storage closet for mailing purposes. So if you want a Marshall Allen scarf, you order it and send the money to England. I send you the scarf from Office HD. Also, you can go to Grady Baby Grady Baby Co. And you can get the soccer is just better in Atlanta gear in the red or the
black with the gold lettering. Sweatshirts are both in my house. T shirts don't have them yet because weather wasn't cool enough for that to happen. So you help out middle school soccer programs attached to Atlanta public schools when you invest in the collaboration that we have with Grady Baby, Gradybaby Co. You can go to Soccer down here dot net get all the SDH network gear. You can also
get retro gear involving the ruckus in the attack. Just as an homage to stuff in the past, so uh oh a fanatikos, Yeah, you got to becoming a fanatico is also part of it. Ten dollars a year and I always ask you, what can you do for ten dollars a year? Well, what you can do is become a fanati coo And how do you do that?
Once again?
When you become a fanatico on the SDH network, and once again you can do that through chant And as I sit here and dial up my phone and try and find the chant app, then what you do is you can go to a website and I'll give you the website here in a second. But here is here is chant and here is where we are. sEH is on the chant app. I'm trying to do it so
there's no shine. So you can start your day having conversations with everybody here on the chant app, on the SDH section of it all, and you can chat with everybody else who's a finati co and go through the schedules and find out all the partners and what you can do and be a part of the interactive experience that we have on our chant app.
How do you do it?
You may ask, well, for ten dollars a year. You can be a part of our Finati Coast Membership program get access to exclusive discounts all over Atlanta breweries, pubs, soccer. Retail stores like Lloyd's has a twenty percent off discount for select at Landa. United Gear Hotels. Moxie Midtown is one where you can get discounts on your drink tab and your food tab. I believe comedy theater is much
much more. If you want to go to Costa Rica, if you want to go to Costa Rica and go on vacation and what you can do with one of partners is at the Chateau r and L. If you want to go and see either the Conca caf Hemispheric Extravaganza and stay at the Chateau r and Al, or if you just want to go see Herediano Alivelenza or Soapriso and just it's like, yeah, I want to go to Coasta Rica. I want to see the Coasta Rican Premira.
You can stay at the Chateau r and All. But you can get a discount if you are a Fanati Coo. So that's all part of it too. That's one of the more high falutin things you get tires plus from Alpharetta, a bunch of breweries, Wildly Battle and brew Dad's Garage, O'Sullivan's and Fideau Midtown Keys to Flavor Catering. You get a discount from them, Social Fox, Round Trip, Hard sid Or, slow Port, South Maine, Schoolhouse, Brass Tap and Marietta. They're
all partners and you can get special discounts. By becoming a member of the Fanati Coast program at SDH for ten dollars a year, you can get all these discounts all these different places, exclusive access to the group on the chant app, staying connected to what we're doing at SDH.
How do you do it?
Group dot chant dot fan, group dot chant dot fan dot dot fan slash soccer down here. As you hear me typing and I'm trying to not then trying to spell it correctly, soccer down here, slash join. Let me see if I did it right. So let's see what happens. Group dot chant dot fan slash soccer down here, slash join. You can be a Fanati co ten dollars a year.
Go here, group dot chant dot fan slash soccer down here, slash join, and you get it all laid out right there being a part of our Fanati coos program, a lot of cool places, a lot of great discounts. Become a Finazi co here at SDH and you'll love it and we'll love you for it. Once again, continuing all of our Soccer for Good ideas for twenty twenty five
and beyond. All right, we can whip around time patent pending trademark coming sooner hopefully rather than later, going through all the juice boxes and all the matchups, and when Jason comes and joins us as he traditionally does on Fridays, we'll go through at Landy and I will go through the twos specifically because the Twos are playing tonight kicking
off MLS Next Pro season. One of the five matchups I want to say in Next Pro for the twenty twenty five season, and we'll break all of that down just a little bit, but let's go through all the other matchups in Juleague soccer. Go ahead and throw your predictions into the Twitch pitch and we will. We'll rock
and roll there as well. So it starts off at two thirty, and I got to figure out do we have the announcer assignments and like I said, I ask this out loud, wondering if anyone has seen them, and we can do the end. We can also do the referee assignments as well, so we can roll through all of that. So free newsletters and no assignments as yet, nothing there.
So what about here?
And do we have those notifications here? Boardroom talks expected goals and the answer is no.
So we do not have.
The matchups and the announced teams for the matchups this weekend. But here we go, all right, starting things off, it is the early matchup on Saturday, Crew in Houston cruise of minus one twenty eight. Houston on the roads of plus three eighteen draws a plus two to eighty. I want to see what the lineup is. I don't think it's going to deter Columbus all that much, but I think that Columbus of the minus one twenty eight at
home traditionally very tough. I think Columbus gets a win here, and there's going to be more early season questions, however, unwarranted with what's going on in Houston. Seattle in LA at four forty five, which means four to fifty five, so two thirty means two forty four to forty five I think mean for fifty five. Seattle and LAFC. We had our buddy Nico Moreno on yesterday to discuss. He is somewhat concerned about the lack of firepower that he's
seen so far from Seattle. So Seattle coming off conker CAF Champions Cup, going up against LAFC at home midweek weekend, mid So weekend, midweek weekend, Seattle's a plus one oh four, so they're close to even money. LAFC once again they played in the midweek as well, They're a plus two to fifty six. Nico was learning more, leaning more toward the draw at plus two thirty five, once again saving Atlanta United in Red Bulls. We're gonna put that one off to the side. Start at your seven thirties. DC
and Sporting Kansas City. D C is a minus one fifteen at home. I can't remember the last time DC was a minus at home. DC a minus at home hosting Sporting Kansas City. Sporting is a plus two sixty three and your draws a plus two ninety two. I've still we've got early season questions about Sporting and it's surrounding the offense Obviously DC might be a favorite by default in the juice boxes.
I don't know.
I'm thinking more draw here at a plus two ninety two. I think both teams may equally frustrate their fan bases out of the blocks, and I think that's why you might end up with a draw once again. At plus two ninety two, Cincinnati hosting Toronto. Toronto is a plus three sixty five, no surprise, pushing plus three hundred on the draw depending on where you look, and Cincinnati's a minus one forty seven. I don't think we need to
discuss this a whole lot any further. Toronto's in trouble in a bunch of different ways, and.
I don't know.
I mean it's looking pretty bad. So obviously go with Cincinnati here. And I will say this using this match as the marker. Check your fantasy teams. Check your fantasy teams. Check your fantasy teams. But also with Cincinnati, check your lineups, because once again Conker caf midweek, so we'll see what that looks like for Cincinnati. But Cincinnati favorite of minus one forty seven at home, so we'll see what happens there.
Did you see did you see.
The story out of New England. Did you see the story out of New England. We'll get into that in a second as we're rolling through everything. Jarrett joins us here at twenty five after the hour, Jared, we're rolling through weekend whip barown and I had stopped at the matchup involving New England in Philadelphia, and it was a story that came out from Sam Minton. Sam Minton, Well, I was just rolling through the games in order, so I had stopped when you had come in at the
New England Philadelphia game headline the Blazing Musket. Caleb Porter responds on ninety eight five to report of argument with Richie Williams, So our friends at the Blazing Musket. Earlier this week, a report surface saying that the New England Revolution head coach KAELA. Porter had a disagreement with Revolution two head coach Richie Williams during a scrimmage. Porter addressed the report during his weekly interview with ninety eight five
The Sports Hub. According to w prro's Tom Quinlan, Porter and Williams had an argument in front of players during a scrimmage. Quinland later added Williams wanted to switch sides at halftime. During the scrimmage, which later led to the argument. The report was noted on ninety eight five's Zolak and Bertrand show. So I imagine Scott Zolac, who sounds like he's gargled glass for the last twenty five years, and Bertrand, during the Porter's Weekly interview, asked about the reported argument.
Worse.
It's worse than Scott's. Yeah, Scotty Z's worse is worse than Farrell's. And the thing is is that Scott that Farrell just talks. Zolac yells and has that voice, so he Zolac is color for the New England Paige. It's also so he's instantly disgusted on air a lot of the time, and he lets you know that too. So Caleb Porter says, yeah, it's pro sports. So it turns out people disagree sometimes in pro sports. I don't really think it's a big deal at all. At the end
of the day, it's pro sports. And I'll leave it at that end quote. And there's a link to the interview at ninety eighty five the Sports Hub with the conversations with Caleb Porter, Anda and Zulac and bertrans So.
You know, I'll sit here and say, look, it's it's coaches.
They're they're talking, they're doing their thing, and sometimes folks are wound up a little tighter than normal.
Apparently your volume is low. Can you adjust your volume? Sir?
Yeah, I can actually give me a minute?
Yeah, okay, so that is the Is that better? Will? You're fine to me? So?
Will said your volume was low? But so but yes, So New England is apparently having coaches that are squawking at each other. I mean it's New England, so not really necessarily a surprise that coaches would squawk just in general in the Northeast at one another and be somewhat heated. But we have this happening at practice with Richie and with Caleb Porter uh here early in the season for the Revs.
Like that's just what they do. Yeah, yeah, it's it's kind of their thing.
Uh. And the Revs are favored, by the way, how how this is? This might be what they refer to as a line mistake. The Revs are favored at a plus one. Philadelphia is a plus one seventy with current MVP candidate Ty Barbo and your draws a plus two fifty seven. I have the feeling that this is a line mistake right now with these two clubs.
Would agree? I agree? I don't. I don't know how you end up with the how? How? How? How do you how?
I feel like Ross all of a sudden, I'm friends, How how do you end up with the Revs as a favorite against Philadelphia in this matchups. I'm just saying, it's a line mistake. That's what I'm staring at here.
Uh No, I know it's it's early. It's to me, it's a line mistake.
And I think that if anyone has any juice boxes of a decent flavor that they don't mind parting with, you might want to look at Philly. NYC is hosting the Purple team at seven forty. N y C is favored at home at a plus one sixteen, Purple teams a plus two thirty one and draws a plus two forty.
Jared's just like, keep right on rolling.
Jared's trying to fix the headset. Okay, so I'll tell you what apparently, Oh wow, Okay, Austin and go for it.
I'st yes and no.
When Caleb has been like my guy of my first gone manatures who be gone Yeah, I mean that's yeah, literally, that's uh that that's kind of what I'm staring at.
Uh, Purple Team, big underdog heading north to take on in my sea at a plus two thirty one. In my CEA is a plus one sixteen. I'm like, Okay, Orlando City's probably shown more offensively, but once again, you're on the road. Okay. So we got that one, and uh, well part of part of so we got that part of he'll hear me trying to fix the heads. Ah, yes, yeah, really, I mean so so that's uh, you know, that's that's where that one is. Austin and Colorado minus one thirty two.
Austin is favored at home no surprise at Q two two and your draws a plus two eighty nine. So there's there's that one with their Dallas and Chicago. Dallas and minus one twenty eight plus two ninety six on the draw. Chicago is a plus three hundred. Nashville and Portland natural at home is a minus one twenty three and uh it is plus two eighty two, and Portland is a plus three oh four. RSL hosting Salt Lake
RSL's a minus one o six. San Diego FC is a plus two fifty seven, draws a plus two seventy one, and Vancouver is a minus two thirteen plus three forty nine and Montreal is a plus five twenty four. San Jose a plus one thirty three, draws a plus two sixty one, Minnesota a plus one seventy nine. And on the weekend, Messi and Friends are hosting Charlott to minus two oh four plus three sixty six is your draw.
Charlotte is a plus four forty four, Galaxy are a minus one twenty two, Saint Louis City is a plus two ninety three, and your draw is a plus two to eighty five.
So that is the.
Rundown for the week in any of those matches. Do any of those matches peak your interest in any manner, way, shape, or form.
Yes, Yeah, okay hit me.
The Galaxy lost to Editiano in the midweek in concap Jamis League. They're punt on this game and go be Editiano. So this feels like a classic. We lost in the midweek. We're gonna make it worse by losing on the weekend because we cannot afford to lose in the in the midweek next week against Editdiano.
So give me that one. That's fun.
Also, Vancouver, the the Rise of Vancouver will continue to be fun for everyone involved. One draw with Raotas is not anything to sneeze at the other ones. For me, in the name of chaos, I'm a firm believer that I'm a firm believer that my two favorite non Atlanta trophies for twenty twenty five will be Chicago winning a trophy because I want to watch everyone have an aneurysm when Greg Berhalter wins a trophy. I want to watch
you all suffer. I want to see the I want to see like the blood shooting out of your eyes like a lizard. I also would be very tickled if Bruce Arena drags what has been a listless lost in the desert for forty years level quakes and win a trophy with the quakes, Because if two of the trophies for twenty twenty five go to Chicago and San Jose, I can't think of a better excuse for you never to bet on this stupid ass league.
Oh that's funny, I'm glad you agree.
Yes, No, but chaos is always chaos. I mean that's the that's the fun part and apparently you sound like you're you're you're at your best that you've been you know, the the whole, the whole, the whole segment. You you have finally increased.
Uh So, So the background here is I'm working on a new headset. I just haven't finalized everything on it, so I'm still tinkering with set up on it. Ah Okay, so yeah, it's this is this is like the backup piece now that I'm using the one that is stable. I just haven't configured the new one all the way and messing with some of the audio settings and they're they're just not there yet, which is fine. It'll it'll
take time. Actually I used it last night with Maddie when we did the six pack and it worked fine. It'll just it's just going to.
Be a matter of tinkering.
So that's that's kind of the it's kind of the the the off stage information on it.
Okay. Uh it is ten thirty five.
We're in the last half hour of the show, and it is time to meet it just it means that we got a bunch of folks that are hopping in here on a Friday. Bart has decided to drop me in from the soccer for us pod and apparently he's in some coastal deal.
With his uh, with his uh what do you call that? This? Pitt avatar? John, thank you avatar? That's the word I'm looking for.
And that Jared is actually on camera because Bart is showing an avatar.
Jared is on camera.
I had to throw it off. We have to find some sort of balance in this world.
Mm hmmm. So welcome Jon. What is happening?
Well, Well, for one thing, you left us last night and allowed me to.
Do the Oh boy, Yeah, that's how it goes, Jared. We allow you to do stuff and you disappear.
Oh well, I think I think that the lords, the lords of soccer have hit a button, and so so Jarrett once again, he's gonna try it. Did you hit a did you hit a button?
Sir?
No, it kicked me. I'm assuming, I'm assuming Jason remembered that, Like he allowed me to do the six pack last night without guardrails and he was like, nope, not doing that again because he was up there.
Credit for kicking you out this time. Give it time though. We've got about ten to fifteen minutes here. That's fair anyway. So how long do we have you, Jason, it's fifteen minutes ors.
Huh okay, First and foremost, the Twos kick off tonight and that's on the network seven o'clock pre game with Maddie and you and you have the call starting at seven point thirty from your time at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. What has what have you seen with the twos and Steve Cook getting ready for this one against Red Bulls too.
I mean it's a little bit different kind of grew for the twos this year. We'll have a preview coming up on the SDH network early this afternoon. You'll hear from Steve Cook. You'll hear from new attacker Ryan Carmichael. You'll hear from Ronan Wynn, who fingers crossed will get his visa in time to be able to participate tonight. You also hear from Cooper Sanchez, who somehow grew again in the offseason. The kid is gonna be a giant by the time we're all said and done. But no,
it's a little bit different kind of group. I think it's a little bit older group, kind of an in between I think you see some teams in MLS Next Pro treat their second team truly like a reserve team to the first team, and you see some treat it as an extension of the academy. I think Atlanta had kind of trended towards the latter in the last couple of years, very very young group, and now I think
it's a little bit in between. I like the mix of some guys like Carmichael Moys's Tablante who have played at this level and are very good players at this level. Javier Armas is going to be the captain this season. You've got guys who know what it takes to win and succeed at this level. And then you have guys who are like Cooper and Dominic chong Que and others who are on Atlanta United two deals or on academy deals playing at this level, who are figuring out what
it takes to be at this level. But when you have some guys who have been there and done that, it helps ground the group a little bit more and I think it helps the younger guys have a chance at success. And Steve Cook has said it, this is a group that he wants to see reach the postseason in twenty twenty five something. Atlanta United Two's never done. Doing that doesn't guarantee success at the first team level, but it can help some of those guys along the way.
I think we've seen guys have success from the twos at the first team level. Caleb Wiley, George Bellow, guys that you saw come through the twos play get a lot of time, Noah Cob, plenty of others. There's different ways to do, but I think if you get guys who get those playoff kind of games at this level, whether we're talking academy, whether we're talking Next Pro, when you get into those moments with the first team, not the same, but it's a little bit of a helping
step up the ladder to do that. Jared, your question for Jason as we roll things here.
We talked Jason last year about guys who needed to step up for Atlanta United too. A lot of it was centered around guys like Luke Brennan, e Fra Morales. It was a look, you're gonna probably be on the outside looking in. I need you to go out there and put up like MLS Next Pro Best eleven performances and show that you are part of this conversation going forward.
Who were those guys this year, if not the same guys, who are those guys you're looking at and saying from you, I need stellar performances to show me you're ready to take that step.
Cooper's one. I think Cooper Sanchez, who was with the USU seventeens, helped them qualify for the World Cup, played a good bit with that group. I think he is a guy who has all the tools to be a major league soccer player, and to get there, you've got to perform at this level and not just be part of the group and do pretty well. You've got to stand out at this level. He's one that I think
can take that jump. Dominic Chonkui is another one that you know, maybe we take for granted that because he's been with the first team, he'll be with the first team again this weekend, that he is on that pathway, but he needs to be a standout, you know, at this level, that's what those guys have to be. F Ryan Morales, I would assume we'll play a good bit for the two's, especially early as you've got everybody healthy
at the center back position. Again, no mistakes, got to be solid, got to win all his duels, and got to be show that he can do what Ronnie Daila and Steve Cook want and are they the same coach? No, are they going to be in alignment with how they want the teams to play. Yes, So for Ryan means finding those opportunities to get vertical, to play the ball long, to play the ball into the right channels, get guys forward,
get out of your own half. So these are the things that you're looking for when Brennan gets time with the two's. Yes, he's got to produce goals and assists. It's about production and it's about standing out. At this level, you want the team to stand out as a group, but you're looking for individuals to rise above that and be in a position basically where you can't deny them minutes at the first team level because they're doing so well at the second team level.
Bart Kayler Soccer for us PO D joining the Fray here on the weekend, whip around talking at Landy United too and MLS Next Pro.
United. If you want to yes that game on Saturday, John, it's kind of a big deal.
Well, there's also Richie Williams conversations.
Let's not forget Richie Williams might be getting more people and getting them got watch out. Fine, all right, fine Bart talk a Landy United. We'll go there. Yeah, my question was that.
He's not asking you, he's telling you. You have to talk about.
You know, we have seen not a complete revolution of the way that Red Bulls play soccer, but they have tried to play soccer, which is.
The new, newly formed and newly minted team.
Atlanta United typically struggles against those teams who, look, we saw it against Charlotte last week, who are more than happy to say, okay, you have the ball, will defend with Red Bulls being a little more open, but Atlanta also trying to maybe implement a little bit higher and more intensive oppress. How does that flip of a slight script affect the way that we'll see our especially our who knows what our back line will be back line?
Yeah, honestly, I've had this conversation a lot this week. I'm not as hung up on the back line because you've had a lot of injuries. So we've got to see the group as it's intended to be before we snapped any judgments. You got to see Brookslyn in there, you got to see pedro amedor in there. I thought both looked really good in training on Tuesday where we
got to watch the whole session, especially Brooks. He's not available this week, and I think that is more related to the recovery from the shoulder surgery than anything else, because he looked in mid season form on Tuesday. Hopefully he will be ready to go for next week. Pedroromedor looks like he's ready to go. And the reason why I say that about not judging the back line yet
is it's not purely about them defending. For me, it's about what you do in the attack, because I think this team looks really different if, with all of the development that you've had in the first half in terms of creating chances and opportunities, if you scored more than one goal. I think the team looks really different. If you've got more than one goal on the board in the first forty five in both of those games, I don't think we're talking about the defense after that. Charlotte's
a prime example. Look, they didn't do anything in the first half, no, not a zilch and what did they do. They sent two long balls that you didn't deal with well, and they score two goals and then they look like rock Stars. Defensively, did anything really change. No, they just had the lead and they were able to be comfortable. I think Atlanta's got to go out and get goals. When they have those quality moments in games, They've got
to go get goals. What will help them get goals is more width, and that's something that you haven't been able to get with. I think Ronald Hernandez is probably the closest out of what we've seen to giving you that. But he's going to naturally come in on the right foot when he's on the left side. Matt Edwards, when he's gotten forward, the team's looked better. But he's a young player. You know you're trying to get him comfortable and getting forward more often. Luisa Bram's the center back.
He can give you the defensive side of it left back, but he's not comfortable going high up the field. It's not his position. So when you get wider, then I think the attack looks more like it's intended to look because Miggi and Saba coming into those interior channels, it makes you look like you have five across the front. Yeah, and that's what this team's supposed to look like. They haven't been able to do that.
Frustrating and not blaming Matt Edwards because obviously that's I think we've established that's not his comfort level.
But there were many eperience. Yeah exactly, I think he's capable. I think it's just ignoing when to go. That's it. It was.
It was a little frustrating watching him against Charlotte, where there were progressive passes he probably should have made. But as a kid who isn't experience comfortable, whatever word do you want to use, he's not there yet.
And here's the other thing, though, Martin, this is I do want to say this about Matt Edwards because I feel like, for whatever reason, because of one misplayed bouncing ball, there's been a lot of conversation this week about how Matt Edwards can't play at this level. Matt Edwards shut down wilfred Zaha for forty five minutes, so you know, to the point.
That they quit trying to play down the right side.
Yeah, because they Yeah, exactly, they gave him.
Trying to play to Wilfrid Zaja, so they had to go over the top because Matt Edwards got so inside of Wilfrid Zaja's brain that Zaja was trying to start a fight with a twenty two year old because his feelings were hurt.
So that happened, and you got this situation where I think Edwards was maybe a little more reluctant because of his matchup to get forward, and it did affect the attack and I thought you got a little too narrow at times and it got clogged up. And that's a challenge. I think the other challenges is look Edwards has had a lot of sprints. If you look at the numbers, he's one of the leading Atlanta United players in terms
of sprints. That's different than covering the ground on the offensive side, and you want him higher up the field, you want him positionally higher. But he's putting in the work at a level and at an intensity level that he's never done before. So I think he's he's hitting walls a little bit in the second half as well, and that's just something that you know, you have to
learn how to deal with. You'd be in a much better position if you're able to bring him in for ten or fifteen minutes at a time and then he's good and he's comfortable and he gets it well. Now, look, you've jump started the process and it's going to help you later in the season because we know what Brooks Lenin gives you. He's going to give you absolutely that width that the team needs. He's going to put in crosses,
he's going to pick out Latte lot. I think Brooks Lennon is even with missing some games early on, I think he's poised for a double digitus this season. I really do in this system. But now you've got that
opportunity that maybe you haven't had in the past. Brooks Linen can absolutely run himself into the ground for seventy minutes and he will and he will, and now if you need him to come out, you've got a guy who shut down a premier league winger and is going to be more comfortable when he's in those moments laden games. So you've got more depth. It's not how you want to get there, but these injuries early on have helped you create a little more depth. So I hope it
helps in the long run. And I can't wait to see Lennon back in this group because then I think the attack is better. Then I think you're spacing is better. Then I think you get even better chances and you start to find more goals in the first half of these games where you're playing really.
Well, about another ten minutes with Jason before he turns into a pumpkin here on a Friday.
Uh, not turning into a pumpkin. Fine, you have your very very busy man. Jason actually announces when he's gonna leave.
To be fair, yeah, I don't disappear like some people.
Yeah, uh I yes, sidebar. Michael Parkhurst was not impressed with wilfrid Zaha and his efforts.
Against I wasn't either, And it's so crazy the way that we talk about this league at times, like I don't know, we don't actually watch games. You know, if you see the stat sheet and you try to give him an assist on the first goal, which is fragerous, you know, and I mean even he's like a bruh. It wasn't an assist, and you look at that and you're like, oh, he was great, he stood out and look at it. He didn't do anything. He got shut down by Matt Edwards, shut down to the point that
he's shoving him and losing his head. He scores a decent first time volley that he didn't catch completely on a rebound and Brad's leaning the other way and it has to come back to his left to try to get it rebound. Like he's going to be good. He wasn't in the first match. And I think Charlotte is going to be a good team. I think on paper, they make a statement with this win because they beat a team that, in my opinion, is more talented. I think Charlotte has the potential to be in that ab
tier in terms of the Eastern Conference. I don't think they're there yet because they haven't shown enough to go out and win games. They can frustrate you defensively, they can get jobs done. Can they go out and win a game and hitting a couple of games to start the season, so that would be true.
But they scored three Seattle scored one of them for them.
Well, yes, one of them is an own goal that look, they created good on them. The other two are long balls, and if that's what you're going to rely on, then go buy lottery tickets because hopefully you win them, because that's what a long ball is. You know, this is a team that's very good defensively, but I think you need more in the attack. Zaha should give them that a jumon should give them that. Will they and will
Dean Smith let them go more? That's my question. The East is very crowded, and I'm not really all that convinced by Charlotte yet. I think they have the potential, but I think Atlanta is a better team that needs to get all the way on the field with their starting lineup. Miami is a better team until anybody proves them otherwise. Cincinnati is very good. I still have some questions, but they're very good. Columbus is showing that they don't
need starting strikers. They can just go and do their thing anyway because Wilfrid Zaha is a magician slash warlock. Orlando is pretty good, but I think they're kind of in the same spot as Charlotte. I think the Red Bulls are better than Charlotte. I think this game this weekend is two of the three best teams on paper in the Eastern Conference.
So when you look at Red Bulls, obviously Emil Forsburg in the middle of it all, he's the one that you've got to keep an eye on. And it's going to be a big assignment for the two sixes for Atlanta United whomever they are this weekend.
Yeah, Forsburg is a perfect fit for this system, and he's been in the Red Bull family for a long time, so he gets what it is. And I think he's that guy that they've been chasing since they signed Kaku from Pararaguay, who didn't give them the pressing side that they needed Forstburg gives them both sides of the ball, which is huge. You also signed Chupo Motang. You're talking about a super experienced striker who gets it. As Bart said, this is a team that can play more. They're never
gonna be a team that wants to dominate possession. That's just not their mo but this group's more comfortable with it and it can do a lot more with it. This is a good New York Red Bulls team that I thought last year when they had a mil Forsberg was, you know, the second best team in the East. They showed they get to the Cup final. This is a good group. I think they got better in the offseason.
I think Sandro Schwartz is a really good manager. So tactically they're going to be set up in a really similar way to Montreal just in terms of the shape, but they play it so differently because of that, you know, lack of maybe wonting the ball and keeping it for periods of time. It's when they win it in this shape, this three four two one, it is go time, and it's get forward, and it's get vertical, and it's don't hesitate, don't worry about keeping the ball for a couple of
extra seconds, just go. That's something Atlanta's going to have to deal with. And Forsburg, I think, is so good in those moments because he's done it for so long. They win the ball. Wherever they win the ball, Fordsburg is immediately looking ahead of him to find a pocket of space to get into and to receive the ball, and then he can score wonder goals like he did last week. He can create opportunities for others. He can
do whatever he needs to do. You've got to because I don't think you're going to be in a position this week where you're worried about not worried, you're always worried about it, but being able to really deny service to him, because the way they transition, it's going to be immediate. You want to make sure you're accounting for him at all. Times. So whoever the central midfielders are and Click came back into training yesterday, but he has
been ill for a week. I'm not sure exactly what the issue was, but I would assume he's not at full strength. So I don't know if he's going to be able to start. If it's Jay Fortune, if it's Milliam Bah, if it's Click for a period of time in this one, whoever that is alongside Sleish, you have to make sure you know where Forsburg is in those transition moments. You want to make it difficult for him. You want to make it crowded. You want to because
they go so fast. You want, whether it's Edelman, whether it's Stroud in the midfield. When they win the ball and they look for Forstburg, you want them to have to hesitate. Can I get that to him? You want to make the Red Bulls hesitate because that's not how they're comfortable. They don't like to keep the ball for an extra beat. They don't like to hesitate. They want to go. So if you make them hesitate, they look up and they're like, I can't get it to him
right now? What? Yeah, that's not where they thrive. That's how you have to be in this game, and I think Sleish and whoever the other six is next to him, they're going to have to make sure that Forsburg is just accounted for within You know, you'd like to be with an arms reach. That's probably not going to happen, but you I want to be within enough of a passing lane to where those players decide, you know what, I can't risk play in this ball down, So jarreed
before your Irish goodbye? What's up with you? What else is on your mind this morning?
I guess we've talked in the preseason, Jason about toughness of this team and about having grit. This is We talked about it last night, that this is a rivalry that Ronnie Diland knows well. Like he It's a different team obviously, Red Bulls is a different team with Bill Forstburgh than they were with Kaku when he was like
bullseyeing fans in the stands. But I want to talk about the benefit of these early games like this, like getting into a street fight with Charlotte even though you didn't win it, getting into a potential street fight with Red Bulls. Who will And I told Maddie last night. This is my favorite rivalry because it's organic and it feels like the players have internalized it to the point where last year they were getting in each other's face
is and people were getting sent off. I want to kind of get into the benefits of an early game like this in terms of kind of, you know, hardening the steel and the mentality of this team team and being tough for the middle of the season when you're gonna hit rough. How how you can take a rivalry game against a team that can be a bully at times.
I like it because I didn't see enough of that in Charlotte after you fell down to no yep. And this is a really talented group for Atlanta United, and I think at times they're going to be able to just overpower teams with quality. That'll happen. It will happen multiple times this season. Not always going to happen though.
So in those moments where Charlotte gets two goals against the run of play, they weren't I say against the run of play, People will argue that Charlotte wasn't creating more than Atlanta.
They weren't out, they were they were hoof in it. Yeah, it's because Atlanta was counter pressing the smart they were doing what they should have done.
No, no, no, there's nothing wrong with it. It's two moments where they get it right. But it's two long balls. Again, these are coin flips. So they won the coin flips. That's good. But then when they did that, it felt like there was a ten minutes or so of what just happened, and there wasn't the response that you wanted. The four subs came on and I really liked making for it one time. It's not something you normally see, but it was a jolt to the system of this
isn't acceptable. Go make something happen. I thought Shonda Silva came in and did well. I thought Tristian william Bah came in and did well. Musquatter got bottled up a little bit. I like to see them force the ball to him a little bit more to give him some one v one's. But you have to respond when things are not that free flowing, beautiful soccer that I think you're going to see a good bit this season. Red Bulls game is not going to be free flowing and
beautiful soccer. It isn't possible for ninety minutes to do that. It is possible in chunks and to maximize those chunks, but when it's a fight, you gotta throw punches. And that's what I want to see from this group. If the game starts to get away a little bit, and you know, a team gets a couple of goals against the run of play like Charlotte did, Okay, next time the ball ends up with Wilford, Daha put him on
the ground. The next time you have somebody in the midfield on a fifty to fifty ball, go in strong, take a yellow card. It's fine. That's the element that this team has not had over previous years. And I'm I'm really trying to move past the conversation of well, this is what happened last year, but this is what happened in twenty three. But this is what happens. It's not those teams anymore. This is a very different situation.
But they have to be tough mentally as well as physically, and sometimes you gotta show that and take that yellow card. That is absolutely a purposeful yellow card. Go back back to Miami and Houston. Last week, Jeordie Alba gets stomped on by Kawal Chick. Should have been potentially a red card. Joe Dickerson looks at it and I guess, smirks and doesn't do anything. What happens the next sequence, Jeordi Alba decks the guy and he gets a yellow card. And
you saw Jordi Alba's reaction to it. He's like, yeah, exactly, I handled it. You gotta take some of those. You have to take some yellow cards like that, even if it's not where you got stomped on. But to change the energy of the game. This Red Bulls team, as they showed at Mercedes Benz last year, they might not be able to handle that change of energy. They might lose their head. They might take a red card in
that moment where you take a yellow. Good good. But you've got to be able to change the energy at times. And that's gonna mean Bartek Sleish getting a little nasty at times. That's gonna mean Matato's click, Tristan William bah Jay Fortune getting a little nasty at times. It's gonna mean the strikers, the attackers, Miguel Almron's got a mean street. Okay, cool deck, somebody, let's see that when the game is getting away from you, to change that energy especially at home,
because I mean, Bart, you could speak to this. When you get that hard foul from Atlanta where the game is kind of getting away from you, you get a reaction out of the crowd as Bart.
No, I mean, I think you're right to an extent, Jason, is that it's standing up for yourself more than anything. Yeah, and making sure that, especially at home, you're using the fervor that the crowd can give you. No, it won't be the sixty eight thousand we had last week, but it looks like it'll be forty two to five.
So those those people.
Who are, you know, behind each goal on the sideline, some of them on the sidelines. They often go into the club level, but hey, sometimes they're fancy.
I don't blame them. They have good food there. You know, those people down you gotta hit, You gotta hit the buffet occasionally. I don't blame them.
I've been down there and it was hard to stay away. That is a that is a massive advantage that Landing United has.
That look.
Sorry for throwing a little bit of shade, but Charlotte, that was cute that you brought fifty three thousand or whatever.
You couldn't sell after home. How many of them traveled up the freeway though, y'all weren't that loud.
You had your cute little moment where you jump up and down before the goals were scored, and you sounded like nothing, and.
You were relatively loud quiet the rest of the game. I'm sorry.
At Landa United definitely has that home advantage that not a whole lot of other teams can even create because you just don't have I mean, most of the time we have more than double what a team could have in their stadium. So it is important to not let a team like Red Bulls come in and try to be a bully because you have way more people behind you than they will.
It's important to push buttons to I think even beyond the bullying side of it, like if you feel the game slipping a little, which it does, like these games more and more, and this is worldwide. This isn't an
MLS thing. Momentum swings are everything. So when you feel that kind of sliding the other way on the field, if you're in an Atlanty knighted kit again, go in for a hard foul, go in and push that button that you know we're not getting bullied here, but man, I gotta stem this momentum swing that's going the Red Bulls way.
Let me just go and clatter into somebody trying to win the ball back. Broadcast plans for Landy Knighted and Red Bulls Yep, yep.
Six thirty pregame show gonna be Madison CRUI is gonna be Abe Gordon on that. We will have Garth Logerway in the booth with myself and my conti a little bit before seven o'clock. Also have Dallas Austin pay us a visit in the booth on the pregame show. Always cool. Talking about the sonic ID, which I've listened to a lot of them. Atlanta and Houston have the best two I've heard so far. Miami's is horrendous. Well, I don't
know what happened with Miami. That thing. It's like like it should be on Chill Mix, you know, twenty five or something. What is happening Miami? I'm disappointed in you. San Francisco's kind of weird, but Houston's was good. Atlanta's was really good. You can hear from Dallas Austin on the pregame show tomorrow a little bit more about that kick off at seven forty, postgame after that, lots of stuff,
and then tonight at Land United two. We're letting Jarrett in the booth, but grudgingly he'll be on the pregame.
Pre game, it's halftime.
It's still scary here. Anytime you're on a microphone. There are fears that I have that I cannot explain to you. So it's gonna be you and Madison Cruise in pregame and halftime. We'll catch everybody. Post game. We'll have a postgame show that'll be recorded wherever you get your SDH podcasts. But you can listen to the game by going to
Soccer down here dot net clicking listen. It's pretty self explanatory, or you can go on the Mixler app and listen live with our radio call of Atlanta United two and New York Red Bulls two. Very cool.
Have a great to have a great call tonight, have a great call tomorrow, and I will catch up with you all, with you Jason on the flip side of things, and continue with your busy days are away from us here.
Yes I'm not going to turn into a pumpkin, but I will say audios everybody audio Jason.
Yes, so Jason and his massively busy day. We do have some reffing down here before we get out of here, Bart before.
Is this, Are we gonna yell about Joe Dickerson or something else?
Because I don't have to go, but I do have to turn into a pumpkin, Okay.
So I just want to I just want to say that I get angry at Joe Dickerson's existence, mostly because Joe Dickerson. Like every time I get a like every time we get like a super controversial thing, I'm like, who was I was Joe Dickerson to this sera okay, cool, Yeah, you're doing that lineman thing where like I know your name.
And it's not for the reason you want me to know the higher Marufo. In my opinion, I'm not might not be fair, but they both love to be a little bit more uh noticeable than the common referee.
So I still get mad about the Tiago Almada thing where Almada bumped him and was suspended as he should have been according to the rule book. When Almada went like to yell at him, and instead of just walking off the field, he turned around and like basically, yeah, where he like went with Thiago and turned to talk to him and said, just dude, just just walk off man, just just walk away. Yes, and yeah, didn't Thiago made a very supid decision. This isn't too excuse Tiago Almada.
He made an incredibly stupid decision, but I still get mad about that, where I'm like, dude, just just walk away.
Diffuse Yes, yes, diffuse Uh so uh.
The one piece news before we get out of here in reughing down here has to do with a Millwall keeper, Liam Roberts. He has been given an increased six match band by that Regulatory Commission upholding the FA's claim sent off for his spoul Fleet Manteta in the FA Cup. So it's an additional an increase six match band. So that's where we are with.
Yeah, I I you can't argue that. I'm sorry mill Wall.
It was ugly, it was dangerous and it was very much outside of the scope of what soccer should be played like, especially from a goalkeeper.
So yeah, yeah.
Also, Joe Rickerson did have his red card rescinded. I'm still shocked that. I'm shocked that they rescinded the red card. I think they should have given it to the dude from Houston as well.
I think it's fair to qualchick should have absolutely gotten a red for his stomp that was out.
Yeah, well that is absolutely true. I'm surprised that wasn't overturned in the moment.
Yeah, no doubt. All right, So Bart, you'll be back with us for roughing down here and everything on Monday. In the ten o'clock I.
Will be and hopefully have an episode of soccer for us to.
You by Sunday.
So cool, all right, So that'll be up on Sunday, A Ricky, we did not we held the anonymous GM survey because traditionally Friday we're flying around at about ninety miles an hour and doing all the things. So for Jason, for Jarrett, for Michael Parkhurst who was not impressed with Wilfrid Zaha at all, and for Bart, I'm just John. That's another week of SDH. I'm heading over to the
Macon Coliseum and we'll be there today and tomorrow. It is all GPB all the time with the high school basketball Championships, and the biggest thing is just to make sure that on Sunday I don't talk to anybody because I will have talked for four days straight at about ten hours at a clip.
So yes, we're trying. You have better luck making your tea next time. Oh yeah, well, I mean it's I ended up. I still end up drinking it. But it's like, okay, well but it's but it's like the burn is in the middle of my tongue, like literally in the middle of my tongue yea, So it's hard to navigate it with evening, especially with you know, any kind of a food that might scratch. So yeah, it's an adventure. We'll get through it, and so we will. We will persevere here, oh my god. So yeah, we'll.
Persevere with the burn tongue, make our way through it. So for Barton everybody, it's another great week of SDH. Thanks to all the guests, Thanks to all of you, and thanks for everything. Enjoy the twos, Enjoy the first team, and once again, remember it's I think it's on Star ninety four for the first team, So keep an eye on that odyssey app cyber down here, dot net, SDH, SDH Network, all the stuff, all the things. And since it is the end of the show on a weekend,
that means that we get to do this. On our way out the door, played safe, everybody enjoy, be safe, and we'll catch up with you with all of this on Monday.
Plause the keys I'm the typewriter had shot points sticking into our fingers. The dictating equipment starting asking us questions, and our beepers sends electric shocks just through our body like a cattle prod. I'm in the warehouse. The trucks kept banging into the docks, not even thinking about stopping. Our frail bodies were strapped to the chairs, and our chairs were chained to the desks. Our please for justice were ignored, and the.
End seemed near.
But we busted our slave driver's little bitty balls. We've changed lair breakftress the streets, our hearsby guys yet Friday, Fridaday