Live From Charlotte, NC!

Hello, hello, hello everyone. You feel that in your bones? That is, there's an LFC conversation because we are into the final game of the first round of the playoffs. It's elimination week, everyone. Do we feel good? Do we feel great? All right. I got it. Did you feel the vibes? I think that that was a clear good, not great. That's how that felt to me. I don't blame it. It's an elimination game. It's always there.

And it's an elimination game. It's going to be the biggest game of the year. And it's coming up tomorrow night at Bank of America Stadium. We have a very cool situation here, which is the game is selling fast. Tickets are expensive, but if you come to the table on the second floor and you talk to Izzy and Claire, who are off to our left, there are still $30 tickets available only here and only right now.

So if you want to be a part of that, you can go and talk to Izzy and Claire. And if you're anywhere in the bar and you want to go to a playoff game, elimination game coming up on Friday night against NYCFC. I got you guys. Don't worry. then you have to come here and you have to come and talk to the two of them. I am David Goss. This is Tom Bogert. We are the hosts of SoccerWise, one of the National Major League Soccer...

And when I say one of, I would say the only one. We are for sure the best. So one of one is the key that my parents have told me to always strive for. We love talking Charlotte FC. We had Zoran Cranetta on the show a few weeks ago. He is in the building as well, as is the head coach. Dean Smith. So if you want to say hi, you want to take a picture, you want to go hang out, Dino is here on the second floor, out on the deck as well. Tom.

We've got a lot to be excited about. You are going to be in the building tomorrow at Bank of America Stadium as it all jumps and bounces, Pepos and everything else. What have you made so far of what we've seen in these first two games?

I've seen it's a classic playoff series. Both teams, I think, are very good. It is a 4-5. I thought it was going to be very tight. It has been. Everything has mattered. Every kick, every tackle, every fan in the building for both teams, to be fair. I was here. You were here as well.

well for the inaugural home game in charlotte i was blown away by the support i was blown away by just being around the city before the game a lot of times at some of these events particularly the first one at a football stadium it's a lot of soccer fans going which is awesome This was Charlotte FC fame from day one.

I was back here for the home opener this year. That was electric. That was so much fun. They beat Atlanta. And now here we are waiting for a playoff game. My expectations are through the roof for this crowd. Yeah, Friday night, a nice late game to come to. Two games already. We talked to Christian. and Kalina earlier today, he does not like NYCFC. I don't know how all of you feel about that team. He has a very specific opinion, and he was very honest about it, which I appreciated from this.

The one nice thing of this three-game series, which we are not the biggest fans of, and putting games on Tuesday night to open the series, we are all not the biggest fans of as well. Although, I don't know, maybe 6 o'clock, 5.45 would have made it even worse. is that there is that tenacity. There is something there, and watching Kalina celebrate in front of the NYCFC fans at Yankee Stadium, a pretty iconic place to do it, shows that energy and shows those vibes.

Yeah, and Christian Kalina, big personality, big-time goalkeeper. For him to be doing that, to step up the way he did over this series in that shootout, to have that moment, that celebration, those are the things that are going to live on, particularly if Charlotte are to continue advancing. But those moments in the MLS Cup playoffs, those are what it's all about. It is so much fun. I love when a little bit of animosity builds up. By the time we're at Game 3, like you said, hatred's here.

I love the playoffs. I love public transit. I love breweries. This is like all my favorite things in one place at one time, and I am so happy that everyone is here. We will have some Q&A coming up. a little bit later. So if anyone has some questions, think of them. You can come with us. We've got Eric Krakauer in the building. Everyone knows and loves him. That was the best year we're going to get.

And we also have some other special guests. Do they want to come join us for 10 seconds or do they want to watch us and listen to us break down the game that they're going to coach and manage? And set up. Jordan, are you doing a deal back there? What's going on? Tommy Scoops is always working.

Tam Centerback, breaking news from Tom Scoops. So we have this third game coming up. And I was on TV across Charlotte today. No big deal. Not a brag, just a fact. No big deal. And I was asked about what this game is going to be and what we expect and all of that. And I think the big moment that we talked about on our show is with Wilfred Zaha available but also at home, this should be the biggest performance for Charlotte of the three-game series. Exactly.

Wilf is a big game player. You saw it in his debut for Charlotte. He knew the moment. He was jet-lagged. I don't even think he trained with the team. Maybe if he did, it was just a bit of a walkthrough. He showed up for that game. That was a lot of fun.

I'm firmly expecting a big-time Wilfred Zaha performance in Game 3 tomorrow night. Yeah, it is going to be a key to the game. NYCFC have done a good job closing things down, making things difficult. They are not the most experienced team, so I've been a little surprised. how clean they've been so far in this series but i think the vibe i got from kalina today is

The expectation is that breaks. There's no way across three games that it holds. So he said, I don't know exactly how the goal is going to come, but the goal will come. And I think that's the vibe that we've gotten as well. And I think that is a smart way to look at it.

Like taking away the emotion, just being like, hey, how many times throughout the season or any year would we be shut out three games in a row? What do you think the chances are? Right. And I thought that was really smart from Kalina. And the chances are higher than a defensive performance. continues that way because of how good this team is defensively because of how good that goalkeeper is

So he's looking forward. He's like, yeah, all we need is one. And on the West, the 4-5 game also. A PK shootout in the first game, a bizarre game in the second. It just shows throughout the standings throughout the year. that this is correct, which means these two teams have very little to decide between them, which is why it's so big that Charlotte is going to be the home team.

What we are hoping will be a sold-out Bank of America stadium, and the vibes will be very, very high. I hope everyone here will be in the building. Feels like they will be. And if you're not, come talk to Izzy and someone else whose name I can't remember right now. And Claire. And also, not just the tickets. They got a lot of fun. So for anybody who's not upstairs yet, they have a lot of fun and cool stuff up here. I keep buying some of those koozies. There's a couple flags.

They got some good stuff over there. So it's not just tickets. So if you already have tickets, you should still stop by. All of it's free giveaway, except for Tom, who's going to pay for it. And no one knows why. And no one knows how. Resell. Resell, yeah.

That's absolutely the key. When we talk about these games, when we look forward to these games, we talk about the lineup a lot. We're going to have Dean come say hi in a minute. We're not going to ask him. I don't really want to talk about my thoughts on the lineup. No, I think you should do it. I think Dean will actually be really, really curious what he has to say. For Charlotte, there's not a lot of questions, right? And that's one of the advantages for this team, which is...

They know who they are. And at this point of the season, we just did an episode covering every game. We'll talk about some of them. Everyone has a lineup question mark except this team. Yeah, you kind of know what you're getting. Unfortunately, without Pep BL, that would be... major piece to have but without him that takes away a lot of questions in terms of how do you fit in three central midfielders or where do you put him or where does that go so while there are a lot of I think deserving

starting level players in this team, they've really settled in on the preferred starting 11 that they're going to live and die with here in the playoffs. The big controversy is this. Archie Goodwin mustache. How elite is that mustache? Really good. It puts mine to shame. I'll tell you that much. How do you keep a mustache out of a starting lineup, though?

That's true. But he comes in off the bench, and then there's a lot of big moments that happen at the end of the game. I'd rather be in at the final whistle than the starting whistle. Wow. Spoken like a true professional and a true adult. Okay. If Dean and Zern want to come say hi, we'd love to have you guys come up. I keep saying it, and they keep absolutely not doing it. So we're going to have the Chief Soccer Officer.

And the head coach of these teams come say, hi, we've got two microphones here for you. Zorin, yours won't go up as high as you'd like for it to. You have to get that to our level. Are you the tallest chief soccer officer in Major League Soccer? Are you offended that he's close to as tall as you? No, I'm happy that I gave him, sold him, Marco Reus for a cheap amount of money. You watched that on site of the documentary. There's some good scenes.

Dean, we were talking about it a little bit. What's the vibe right now going into tomorrow? Everybody's looking forward to it, you know. We'd have liked to have put in a better performance in the first game, certainly in the first half.

and got it done at the Yankee, but it brings you back here where it'll be a special night tonight if you go and get the result. What was that game too, being able to go on the road facing an elimination game and stepping up the way that the boys did, particularly defensively, particularly with Kalina?

Yeah, I think a lot of people make a big thing out of it, but it's going to be an elimination game one way or another, isn't it? So for one of the teams. So we knew that we could go there and take the game to them. I felt we did that especially in the first half and we knew we could bring it back here. That was the big thing. And there was a collective...

It was a collective from the players that wanted to put right the first half against them at home. For someone from England who maybe never thought you'd coach here, what's it like working at Yankee Stadium for an elimination game? did you jog out and wave to the first base line I made sure I had a quick run to first base see if I could make it so you know

Listen, I've been there to a baseball game and, you know, it was actually Yankees against the Red Sox this year. And for me, my son, Stag Week, Stag Weekend. And, yeah, it's a great place to go and play baseball. But it is what it is. And it's tough for them to, I mean, they've got the new stadium that's been built. And it looks like I had a walk around City Field last week because we stopped in Queens.

You can see it going up and it looks like it's going to be fantastic for them. Man, you're doing like the full New York tour. You and everyone. Let's go to Brooklyn Bridge after that. Yeah. Zoran, for you, for a week like this, I mean, there's not as much you get to do.

How big are the nerves? I mean, it's okay. I mean, this is a big, big, big game and big moment for us. It's a historic, if you like, but we've done everything we can, being and coaches.

done everything they can the players know exactly what they need to do so it's okay to be honest i'm not that uh stressed as i would be during the season this is it this is this is a small margin game we you know similar as you just said earlier the teams not much between the two teams and you know we'll see i think it's a bank 35 000 hopefully so i think i think we're going to win that's it

So I know that this isn't obviously the first playoff run. You guys came pretty close last year. I know that you have some thoughts on the way that that series ended. But in general, since you've gotten here, I remember coming before the home debut for this club. I was speaking to you looking at the field, looking at the stadium, and you were imagining probably nights like tomorrow night, right? These big games of consequence in the playoffs where you have your team and a raucous home crowd.

Yeah, I mean, this is it. This is why they're all playing. This is why we're all here. We're all here for big games. The league is long. The season is long. And, you know, this is why, you know, we want to kind of give the fans back for their support the whole season. It's a massive game for us, but also a massive game for them, a big game for the city as well.

So I think we're ready. It's fine. I mean, yeah, we're good. What's the message like today? The message is, you know, keep doing the right things, you know. What we've done to hurt them at their place, what we didn't do so well at our place, just fine-tuning really. There's only going to be tweaks of systems that you're going to do now.

Both teams know each other pretty well. I think you know what you're going to get from both teams as well. Both quite strong defensively as well. Probably explains the lack of goals in both the games. You know, so yeah, he's pretty much, you know, fine-tuning. Are you even watching tape at this point? I mean...

We go over some of the bits that we've done really well and how we feel we can hurt them and show them bits of that and threats that they've got and how to defend that. But not loads of it, that's for sure. When you talk to people about what it's like here, I mean, tomorrow is going to be the night, right? 32,000, whatever it is. What do you tell people about the experience?

Last year for me against Orlando, for the home game, that was an elimination game as well. The crowd were up for it and they got us through it. I know it was on penalties on the night. So we've had that experience, and we played Miami with a full lower ball, 1-3-0, great performance. And now we've got New York City now with a full lower ball, so it's going to be some atmosphere tomorrow.

How do you keep Archie Goodwin's mustache out of the starting lineup? I brought him a new comb for it, to be fair. Why don't you do that for me, Gus? Well, should we start him? No, you shouldn't. Zoran, do you have a specific story about Tom that you hate and the time that he broke news that you want to go through? We've had someone call him a snitch on this show in a person. I have some stories with Tom, but it happened.

in the places where he has to stay there. I'm sorry. It happened in Coachella. A couple of stories. On a preseason. We're big Super Bowl fans. That was not only one or two beers that he... As Tom places his latest beer down. They look like they're going down well. It's a nervous stick.

All right, any last message for everyone out here? Just a big thank you for everybody, for the support that you've given us. And I just have a big feeling that we'll be back at the bank after this game this season still. Looking at the other games and everything, I feel like a final at the bank would be, Eastern Conference final would be amazing. So let's hope for that. All right.

Thank you so much. Good luck tomorrow, Coach. Thank you for joining us. Yeah. We got you up here finally. You can go sit in the back. We'll talk about your team some more. You can get more tips off of Tom. Tom, do you have any new soccer advice for Dean as he walks along? I don't. I don't.

They said that something we said wasn't the worst thing they've ever heard. So I feel like that's a compliment. That's the bar that I aim for. That is the bar that we aim for. Two great personalities in MLS. We had Zoran on the show a few weeks ago.

It's amazing to hear their points of view from outside the league coming in, but really engaging with it, right? I think sometimes we have people we meet who are working in the league, come from outside the league, playing in the league, whatever it is. I had the same conversation with Kalina today. Kalina watches more MLS than almost any MLS player I have ever met.

And that's not someone who's from here. He's not watching his academy friends or his college kids. He loves the league, and I think both of them, it's really cool to hear their points of view. It is a great point. And, again, those two are so accomplished in what they've done throughout their career, what they're doing now, of course.

They love this league. They care about this league. They want this league to continue to grow. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with Zoran about rules and what we need to do. I know from people around the league, he's somebody who's pushing, trying to push these things forward and trying to take off training wheels.

And then Dean has been a great ambassador for the league, for the club, super serious, obviously successful, everything else. This is a well-run club with two good leaders.

four MLS. Yeah, and that is a big part of where this club is going and who they're going to be. Just to make sure, because Dean was growing. Everyone's going to be in the building tomorrow, right? Alright, good. Everybody but Gus. I just want to make sure. My sister's getting married, so I will actually be stepping away tomorrow and will not be at the game. Tom will be there. Can we get a Tom chant at the stadium? Is that a possibility? No. There we go.

It's growing. It's growing. It's taking over. It's growing. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere. It's going to be an incredible game. It's going to start the weekend really, really well. Five elimination games this weekend.

And Dean brought up the experience with Orlando last year. And for them, they've been in the playoffs. They've not had the success they want. But it feels like that's the type of thing that gets you to an experience level where a lot of these NYCFC guys have not been there before.

Exactly. There's not a lot of holdovers from that 21 Cup team. Just Maxi. Pretty much. For the next 15 years. Yeah, he'll be here forever. What a player he is. No, but this is more standard in traditional American sports than it is in...

MLS and particularly because of how much player movement there is. But there is a real value to getting your playoff warts, going through those battle tests and feeling the emotions of walking off the field against Orlando, questioning a referee's decision, thinking that

Watching the next game saying we would have won that game and we would have gotten a cup. Feeling those feelings and that anger and just everything that comes with the playoff run, that helps build for the future. And we're here now. That's why I wasn't surprised that this team was able to go on the road.

and beat NYCFC because they've been battle-tested. They've been through these things. They're mentally resilient and tough. Hopefully that shows up tomorrow as well. I think that that's an experience that they'll be able to lean on. Any specific X Factor we should be talking about?

I mean, it's boring. It's boring to just say Wilfred Zaha, but it is Wilfred Zaha. He is here for this reason. He's performed in so many big games, again, this year with Charlotte, but obviously throughout his career. This is what he's here for. Yeah. And, again, I really imagine he knows the stage and he steps up when the lights are brightest. So those are my expectations. I'm going to go to the other wing and say Vargas. Yeah.

Because he literally is an X-factor. When he performs, the team performs. He has not been as consistent as Azaha. But that's the gap they need. They're looking for something that takes you from the 0-0s to that 1-0. And then Kalina is the other one. Because if he stands on his head, man, that gives you a lot of leeway. What's the nickname? Eric, what's his nickname? What's Kalina's nickname? Yeah. Thank you.

Eric wasn't even ready. I thought Eric was going to be lost by the word that we said. Thank you. I appreciate that. And it is real, and it has been the case so far in his time. In MLS, I talked to him about Goalkeeper of the Year, won it last year, not this year, and amazing to see how locked in he was on all the stats and everything else that's going on. Let's talk about the overall season. Eric, why don't you join us up here when you get a chance? Whenever you're done,

Hold the court. I don't want to get in your way here. No, no, no. Mr. Bayer. Mr. Bayer. We're clapping for her, not for you. Yes. The only one of us that's wearing Charlotte FC gear, so you know he's one of our own. Let's give another applause for her. Contractually obliged. Hello, everyone. Eric, how you doing? Good, good. It's good to see you guys. You too. It's great to be here.

Yes, you were at the very first home game, were you? Against the Galaxy? So were you. I was in the press box, capital J. I would like for it to be known that I was there. I was in the upper deck. I bought my own tickets. The guy in front of me yelled about Ben Bender the entire time, which was epic. A lot of people did at the time. Yes, and I don't remember any of the rest of the night, which is why I love Charlotte. I heard a stat.

When I was away, I got a delayed flight the next day trying to leave. I heard a stat at one of the local establishments. The day of the Charlotte FC home opener, they sold more jello shots than they have ever before on a single day. Well, I've never heard that before. That's an amazing statistic.

Where's Tony? He needs to bring that out in the commentary tomorrow. Tony, you're welcome. Tony's having too much fun over there. He's not listening to anything. We'll put it on the radio. Yeah, exactly. Tony's soaking it all in.

Tony Husband calling the game, by the way. Tony, one of the best. So we're going to talk about the season that was, right? Fourth place. And this has been a conversation we've had all year. Context for everyone. Fourth place this year. was almost better than it was to win the Eastern Conference last year. That's how much harder it was. What was it like watching this team week in and week out, see the results, but then also see the standings?

fighting against them. I have to be careful with what I say, although they're not listening, so I can be completely honest. Well, there was a point in time when there was a little bit of concern because there was a dip in May and in June. But what's interesting about that is that if you heard Dean in press conferences and just from talking to him in the training facility,

He was never worried about that. He always says, never too high, never too low. And he was never too low. He was steady throughout that. He said it was a game of fine margins, essentially. Fine margins, my words. But I think from the outside...

You had to be concerned because you saw other teams climbing up in the standings. Although if you looked ahead into the schedule, you saw that there was going to be... long run of home matches and over the last two years this team has been among the what top three in the league when it comes to home form so there was certain certainly optimism still as well

So what do you think clicked? Was it obviously in part the home run? It is much more advantageous to be playing at home in this league and across the world. But what else kind of clicked? I think the fact that they played so many games away from home was definitely a detriment. And so when you got a win at home and then you looked at the calendar and you saw we have another game at home, that improves confidence. So I think it had a lot to do with mentality.

I sat down with, uh, Dean Smith a couple of days ago. There was this sort of fireside chat without the fireside for the, uh, it's always a fireside. There was tea. It was a tea with Dean Smith. And I asked him about a waveform because, you know, he's never made excuses for waveform.

He says, you know, when people talk about travel or distance, we say in good hotels, we have our own, we don't have our own plane, but it's a charter flight. It'd be nice if we, Zoran probably has his own plane. Helicopter. Yeah, helicopter. He talked about mentality the other day. Mentality when you go into away games. So I think that when you look at the fact that the team was doing well at home, that has something to do with mentality as well. But, I mean, the fans, some of whom are here.

That is an incredible place to play a home game. The last couple of years working at MLS and traveling around the league and talking to players from other teams, they always mention the fact that coming to Charlotte is an intimidating place. Or awe-striking place to play. Yeah, and I had this conversation on one of the shows I did this week about how Charlotte's been this, like, difference maker. I think when you look at the expansion list and where teams are.

Charlotte is one where, okay, is there a soccer city? No. If you do things right, every city is a soccer city. People are big fans. And you can get people in the building and have a great experience. But that's credit to the club, by the way. Oh, my God, yeah. Because right from its inception, the club was reaching out to the fan base. Yeah. And that was consistent. So there was already a fan-based pool. It was about cultivating it. When you have Sir Minty, do people come?

That's the best thing that they did. Your fave. You're his fave. I've been looking around the corner at all times. He probably doesn't know. You know how you have a picture of Sir Minty behind you? He's got a picture of you on his desk. It's unfortunate we got the B&C celebrity.

Tom, Eric mentioned when this team came into the league. Came into the league, started off, and has slowly grown. Without knowing tomorrow fully what it is, what's the report card on where this team stands and what this season was? I think this season was extremely important, and it's one that I had high hopes for, and they absolutely delivered.

They have a really strong foundation. I don't want to keep saying too many nice things about the guys who are here. It sounds like I'm kissing ass. They have that set up. The foundation in the roster, in the squad, Kalina is a guy who's really good. They've done some... Ambitious and good things with the second team. When I talk to people in Europe, when I talk to people around the league, Crown Legacy is always the first in the top tier of examples of this is a team.

that is ambitious with the second team. They're trying to do good things. This is a soccer area that will produce a ton of professional. They already have produced a ton of professional players, but through the Charlotte FC Academy, more will come. It is not easy to do that. As an expansion team, it takes time. And you're saying that, by the way, as Nifasha Benkimas is playing at the Under-17 World Cup. That's a player, man. And the U.S. got their...

First win against Burkina Faso. By the way, Portugal doing very well as well. I just had to say that. But, you know, speaking of crown legacy, and this was something that Dean and I talked about the other day. When you have a secondary team or a reserve team or whatever you might call it, very often the onus is on winning. And there should be, you know, winning is a priority, right? But he mentioned the word education.

The education of the player, preparing the player to make that step up into the first team. And we've seen that. It has been a pipeline, right? You talk about Juri Tavares went to Croatia. lot of players who because of that education have an opportunity to step up into the first team and then deliver. And the other key with the whole thing is do you have a plan?

Many teams are, oh, we'll do a little bit of this. We'll sign a U-22. We'll collect draft picks. We'll have homegrowns, and we'll push some through. Charlotte has a clear plan, and I think for me, we talk about this all the time on the show.

Do you have a clear system and do you have a clear plan? Then you can go out and you can win against the margins by finding players that fit into that. First, we just want good soccer players. Isn't good enough? You know, Gus, I don't think there are many people, if any, that know more about this sort of... player pathway than you do in this country. Because as I told Woody Wilder who deserves a shout out. Woody Wilder as well. You guys are legends. Everybody at Charlotte FC.

You know, I said we were talking about you today, and I called you a U.S. soccer savant. And that's because you know... Or nerd. Not what I say. Okay. I'm nicer. And... I think there's something to be said not only about having a plan, but also understanding where you are in the pecking order.

in certain pecking orders, and one of them is market. What is your market? You guys did your show yesterday, and I was listening to it, and you talked about Mark DeSantis taking over potentially at LAFC, and the fact that it doesn't matter who takes over, there's the market, the team's already succeeded in so many ways, they can attract big stars. Maybe you can here, maybe you can't. But if you can't, you still have a pathway for players and you have a plan to mitigate.

whether you're able to get a bona fide start or not. And they were able to because Wilfred Zaha plays for Charlotte FC. Yeah, so I think that's what... gives me the most optimism moving forward. Again, you have the leadership in place, but also this isn't a team that is only trying to take big swings on DPs or stars or whatever, or like, let's see what we can outspend with ownerships with a deep pocket.

No, they have the academy up and running. They have utilized the super draft. They traded for players within the league. They go get a guy like Ashley Westwood. They are very diverse and eclectic in the way that they build a roster, which... Again, this sounds obvious, but not all teams try to use every available pathway. Some teams think, okay, I can just do it with the academy, or I can just do it with DPs, or I can just do it with the collective. For me, Charlotte...

is at least trying in every one of those pillars. And not every year will every single one pay off, right? Sometimes you're going to miss on a signing. Sometimes the academy is going to run dry for a year or two. But if you're firing all of them...

The likelihood and the floor is raised. It increases your chances. By the way, a name that we haven't mentioned, Idan Toklamati. Yes. So he's brought over. He's playing for the Crown Legacy. He moves up. Very quickly. Very quickly. Scores 11 goals. And I remember talking to fans when Patrick Ajiman was initially rumored to be moving to another team. I would say reported. Smatched. I would say reported. Smatched. I would say rumored.

No, no. Okay, fine. Report it. If it's in England, it's a weird one. There was some talk within the Queen City here that he could potentially lose, and there was concern. So who replaces him? I'm lucky enough to go to training every once in a while when I'm given permission. I don't want to be shown up by you. And I remember watching Tokomani in the beginning and thinking, wow, there's something very special here.

So when he hit the ground running, I wasn't necessarily surprised, but it speaks to what you were talking about. If you have a variety of ways to bring players into the first team in order to achieve success, he's one of those names that you need to focus on. And should maybe, maybe, I know I'm biased, should have been in the top three for Young Player of the Year. Let's not begin talking about Christian Kalina. I already got that text. You already got that text. Speaking of pipeline.

We're going to talk a little bit about offseason and what's coming up. And one of the big questions for this team is going to be center back, right? Melanda's been one of the best in Major League Soccer. He's been sold for a huge number because it's a success of the team. The question is, what's next? Am I on Andrew Privet Island with everyone else here? Am I getting Andrew Privet love right now? Oh, sixes and sevens. Six sevens over there. Okay.

To me, that's the answer, and that to me is an advantage, which is if you have a guy like that playing at that position, you can spend money in other spots, and you can build in other ways. There are not a ton of huge question marks, though, as Tom chugs his beer.

But there are still ways that this team can get better going into next year. Yeah, for sure. Pepio is staying. Pepio will be a DP. I think that is very – it wasn't obvious this time last year that they were going to be able to keep him. Yeah. He's an extra DP. Right. And you give credit to Olympiacos. You give credit to the club. You give credit to his camp as well. Everybody made that happen. That made the most sense. And now it's all going to pay off even further.

That wasn't a given, so now he stays. There should be, depends on what happens on U22 initiative front. There are optionalities with this team, but the core, for the most part, is locked in. Again, Melanda's leaving, that's a big part. But that's part of the game. Ajimang in the summer, Milan in the winter. That's a global football team that is in the food chain in the transfer market. The way that you buy players from somewhere else, you're going to sell sometimes. So that's constant.

There's a lot here that's going to continue here. That's really strong. Can I veer off course very quickly? Because you mentioned Pepiel and the fact that he's going to remain with the team. He's a... He is part of what I think is a really interesting subplot of Charlotte FC in 2025. He comes into the team. By the way, he told me last December that he wanted to stay. Yeah.

We were chatting. He goes, I really want to stay. I hope it works out. So when you have a player who wants to remain at a club, that shows you that the club has done well by that player and that there is a greater chance of success because you want happy players in the place where... they want to be but if you think about it from a tactical point of view he played what 26 games the last few games that he played

I don't know if he was 100% healthy. I don't have that information. I hope I'm not breaking any news. It's going to get me fired. Just say Tommy. Tommy Scoop did it. 10 goals, 12 assists. was on the team of the week a few times. All the time. Sorry, just to interject real quick, we were talking about the season that it ebbs and flows.

They don't finish fourth without what Pep Yel did at the beginning of the season. He's a DP level player. We would be talking, we are now, but if he was playing in the playoffs... We would be talking glowingly. When I'm talking about Zaha, it would have been Zaha and Pep. So I'm glad that this is coming up now because of how important he has been to this team this season. I think if he doesn't get hurt, he's got a chance to be in the year-end season awards. I think so too.

I think so too. And at the time, I don't remember exactly when he went down, but that was... It's like Leaks Cup. Was it Leaks Cup? It was before All-Star. It was before All-Star. And I thought that based on what he did... He could have been in the conversation as an all-star pick. The problem is it was so top heavy. So many tens. So many tens. So many stars. He should have rebranded as a left back. But the point that I want to make about him, not necessarily about him, but the team.

All of a sudden, he goes down. He was such a crucial part, as you said, to what happened. So when was that? Before Cincinnati, which was a 1-0 win. By the way, that was a huge result. That 1-0 win. against Cincinnati, the header from Toclamati for Wilf to score that goal. But that's a whole different matter. He goes down. You need to change the team.

How do you restructure the team to succeed? And I think that's where Dean Smith's pragmatism was really, really important. Not stuck to one particular way of playing, but figuring out how you're going to get the best out of the collective. Yeah, and there are a few teams. I mean, we're doing the conversations around...

MLS. Vancouver is like the one that has had injuries and maintained. Where if you lose a player of that quality, it's very hard for teams to maintain. You look at it, it's become more direct. It's become faster for them in the attack. And a lot of that is Zaha and Vargas are now...

The bulk of it and then his second runners coming out of midfield. Yeah, so I want to, Eric, you're here all the time, every game. What have you seen in the evolution of Zaha within this team and maybe the subtle nuances of how he's found his best footing? Well, I think one of the things is he had to get up to speed with the leak. Yeah. This is...

Every foreign player that I speak to always tells me that there's an adjustment period to MLS. It's very transitional, even though that's changing a little bit. It's very athletic. There are not many lulls. So I think players need to get used to that. But also, when Pep goes...

down and this is my way of looking at it I think he took even more responsibility upon himself to Make it happen for the team to get them through difficult periods One of the things that perhaps he doesn't get credit for he got 10 goals and 10 assists, but when the team is under duress

He is always an option, and he's able to hold on to the ball. There's a reason why he gets fouled so often. It's not always in the attacking third. Does Wilfred Zaha get fouled a lot? He's well aware of that statistic, apparently. It's because he becomes an option when the team is against the ropes a little bit. Find him, he'll take the pressure off the team. So it was about sort of lifting his game when they needed him the most. And that's important.

You're right. We're going to talk about the goals, the assists, as we should. That's what the players are here for, particularly at that level. Yeah. But the other side of it, too, is like, all right, we're in a tough moment. You're in a tough spot. I'm always checking. I don't care if I got somebody on my back. Give me the ball. I'll bail you out. Have you seen him spin up close?

Only on his debut, and I know he wasn't anywhere near 100%. You know, I have a place where I stand during games. I stand right next to the VAR monitor. I got kicked out. I tried to stand with you. Where's Woody? We worked on a better credential for you. And you would have one too, so you could be there. I'm in the upper deck with my people. I stand there by the bar monitor because I like listening to conversations and very often Wilf is playing on that side.

And the elite level with which he is able to turn his defenders. We're expecting him to turn. But the way he steps on the ball and just spins either one way or the other. And almost always beats them. It's incredible.

Before we finish up here, if anyone has any questions, we're going to take some questions because we want everyone to get involved. So if you have any questions, think of them. We are going to have someone who works here who's going to help us out. I also want to hear your favorite moments from this season as well. This has been such a fun season for Charlotte. A lot of ups, particularly on that winning streak early season.

I want to hear your favorite moments of this year. So if anyone has any questions, think about them now, and we'll get to you in a couple minutes. We have a mic right here. You can grab it. But it's not a wireless mic, so you can't go anywhere. I was going to say, you might have to be in this little radius. Well, I don't know. That's pretty long.

Lead. Cable. Let me ask you this. I'm not going to ask him because he's got the jacket on. Winner, loss. What's the grade of this season for Charlotte? What is tomorrow night? Plus, what is the... the viewpoint of where this club sits right now? So, I hate to do the thing where it's...

Oh, like if you win, like what if it's a penalty shootout? Like it's such fine margins. You need a little bit of luck. I know that coaches, executives, they don't ever admit that because you want to be able to control everything you control. So I'd feel weird really changing the answer if it's a tight game tomorrow night and it doesn't go their way. I still think it's a B+. Because of the foundation laid for meeting expectations, the Eastern Conference is an absolute buzzsaw this year.

And for them to finish fourth, to have that historic winning run, absolutely bare minimum B+. That's easily into the A if they get to the next round. So for context, because you guys know this league better than just about anybody. This is the toughest Eastern Conference we've ever seen. It's the toughest conference we've seen outside of one year in the West about 10 years ago. The top has been big, right? Montreal, Philly making the run against LAFC in 2022.

but not the depth that we were seeing this year, which is why, to me, that grade makes sense because last year was a good year for Charlotte. Coming to this year, you don't know how it continues. Now we know the floor is fifth. The floor is fifth for this team. And if the team gets better, the conference isn't the same. We're talking home games. We're talking Supporter Shield race, which is...

feels like a guarantee for this club, which was not the case 12 months ago, and it hadn't been. And the club is trending in the right direction, right? Every season has been an improvement on the last. The big question for me is, how do you replace Adil Malanda?

There was no dollar for dollar replacement on the salary cap. No, absolutely not. And I think that's a really important point. His name is Andrew Privet. If you want to get somebody like Adil Malanda, you have to pay for him, right? Or you have to search wide and far.

It's unlikely. I still say I think Privet's the best third center back in Major League Soccer, and for any team, and Bill Tuiloa. And this is good because there's nobody more locked in on the best third center back in MLS than David Gustav. That is true. That term comes up a lot. You know, on Privet,

This guy was a midfielder, right? So he has to adapt to a new position. He has to learn it. The guy who made that move was José Tavares, who was the first coach of Crown Legacy, now the technical director of FC Porto. A rival of mine. We stopped talking. So. I think it's huge credit to the player that he's become as a center back, starting or third center back, whatever it is, whatever you label him as. But the point is, he has a part to play, undoubtedly.

I saw the dog and I knew who it was. Does anyone have any questions that they want to ask Tom? There we go. There was a question. We've got a microphone. I refuse to take questions, Tom. It's not an open forum for me. It's just for you. Got a microphone right here. Tell us your favorite moment of the season and then your question. Yeah, so my favorite moment this year was definitely the Miami game, the Panenka. Nice. We sit on that side, so that was pretty awesome. I guess my question would be,

Defense for us last year was our calling card, right? This year when Byrne got hurt, that changed our offense significantly. We signed Toffolo in the summer. He got hurt, came back. You can see he's starting to jive with the team. I think two wingbacks is very important for our offense. So talking about Privet. Yeah. So Privet and Ream for next year. Is it worth?

spending on a DP for a defender? It is not historically the best situation. I would lean, no. But here's what I would say. It's a good question. If you were telling me, because with MLS, I always like to think of the collective, which is everyone has this pot.

$5 million, $6 million plus DPs that you're spending. How do you allocate it? How can you move it around? If you are able to win against the cap with a privet starting at a high level and Tim Ream being who he is, you could potentially go spend that money in central midfield.

And then you make your team, I think, stronger overall and you make their lives easier. And I think that's where I would say I need it or spend it over doing so at center back. Because as I'm trying to debate with them over here.

I think you're still winning against the margins with Privet and Ream as your center backs. So what is interesting is Milana came on a U22 initiative deal. There are so few U22 initiative center backs because that's a position that you need time to mature. There are so few. Anybody else off the top of your head? Gilberto Flores. Yeah, Gilberto Flores and Adelson Malanza. Yeah. That might be it in terms of – so, like, that was –

Toronto probably signed some guy from England in the third division. We've never heard of him. You can try to go back that way. And we'll never play. Very likely. So with Biel being a DP, Zaha's still here, Abad here. So that speaks for your DP spots. He'll... I'm expecting him to be here. Well, his loan continues through June. So he'll start the year. So that means if Abada would have to be the person to leave for even any DP to come in, and I'd be surprised if, say, Abada left.

and then it was a center back that came rather than an attacker. But I will say the question is good in that. And it's fair to interrogate this too. I get annoyed when people are like, no, no, no, this is how you build an MLS roster, and that's it.

There are so many different ways to be successful. And what I was going to say is you've hit on U22 so well with Toclamati and obviously what Vargas was. It opens the door to potential, which is does a DP center back get us over the top? It's what Portland did with Liam Ridgewell back in the day because they had.

against the cap in the attacking spots. But I think if you find that center mid that makes Westwood and Brant Veronica's life a little better, might be an easy way to do it. Thank you, though. Love that. Love the Panika shout. Do we have another question out there from anyone? That was a great moment.

How are you doing? Favorite moment? Favorite moment. It's more recent. It was Zaha giving the PK to Toklamati. That was nice. I like that. You called that. Same match as well, which just shows how important that match was. Oh, shit, it was. Are you allowed to say that? I don't know. It was great to see kind of that camaraderie and also the fact that the first person that Toklamati went and celebrated with was Zaha. These are the things I love too. Me and Goss are looking at that all the time.

My question for Mr. Scoops. Have you reached out to Sir Minty to christen Baby Scoops? That's probably going to be named after Sir Minty. Boy or girl? Perfect. Middle name. Can't go wrong. Can't go wrong. Trying to sneak that one in there. That's an actual question that I would have. That felt like an actual question. That's the only question. The most important. You touched on it a second ago.

How do you feel about Abada's production this season? And do you think we're saying goodbye to him after the season ends? So... I'm the person whose only thing has ever been named after me is being patient about foreign players coming into this league. Goss Theorem. But he's past Goss Theorem timing now with the other year. So my...

I would be surprised if he played for the team at the start of next year. Obviously, I was part of it here, and I'm saying what I'm saying. I'd be surprised, but I also see the quality. You see the straight line ability. You see when he gets in front of goal, the ideas.

It is, does it fit with the rest of it? Or is it too similar to some of the rest of it where you want a little bit of variance? And so my guess would be that he finds another spot that makes sense for him and the team finds someone else who maybe makes a little bit more sense. I would agree with that too. And again, I'm sure that...

this is a guy who wants to be starting every game like every player does. Yeah. So I think that that could make the most sense for everybody. I do think he's talented. I think Goss did it perfectly. Like you see it. Does he fit right within with the collection of this team? There are so many things. that can go wrong with the signing. And that doesn't mean that the player is bad. It doesn't mean the team – sometimes it just doesn't quite work out. This hasn't quite worked out.

Yeah, but it's a great question. Thank you for coming up. Can I address the... Yeah, Eric's going to address this. If anyone else has a question, come up while Eric addresses this. The Zaha moment with Taklamati. Yeah. It also flew in the face of the narrative that was being built in MLS circles about Zaha being a very selfish player. And I think that's what made it even more of a moment, right? Because most people would have wagered.

that Zaha would take that penalty. Instead, he gave it to Taklamati. And it wouldn't have, it's not like, if he took it, it wouldn't have been a controversy. It would have been like, yeah, Zaha takes the penalty. So that was him going out of his way. And again, these are things that we love. He's charlitifying.

His soul is becoming Charlotte. He won everybody over that day, let me tell you. He absolutely did. I think he won everybody over when he signed. We've got that, too. That, too. We've got another question here. It's Wilfred Zaha. What's your tweet? It's Wilfred Zaha, dude. Every ad besides your favorite moment. You have a banner in this stadium. I didn't even go see that.

We need another photo. Your name, too. My name is Thomas. Nice to meet you. So my favorite moment of the year was the Zaha goal in Atlanta to take the lead. We were down there. We had a couple thousand people at Atlanta. So that was my favorite moment of the season so far, like in person. My first time going to Atlanta with the whole crew. It's a good year to go while they are the worst team in MLS.

Super nice fans though and pretty humble about it. So I guess my question is more of a favorite atmosphere. I'm not going to put you on the spot to say Charlotte. Okay. But outside of Charlotte, I guess, how do we compare to your other favorite atmospheres? You've been around more than I have, so you go first, unless you want time to think. No, no, no. I would say if you're asking comparison... It's equal. It feels big. It feels important. One of the things I always say is like,

Does it feel minor league when you're around it? Do people feel like they care? And everything about Charlotte equals that. And one of the things that I was talking about someone this week when we talked about the age of expansions and where teams have gone is, I don't know that we thought that was possible with an NFL stadium in a big city. real right you walk around the city you see it and so I think it's definitely equal to

Some of the big ones that I've experienced. Toronto, when they were good, to me, is still one of the best. LAFC, the 2022 MLS Cup. It felt like I was at the La Bomba Nera as close as I will probably get until Eric brings me on the private plane with Zorin and all of that. I'm not allowed in anymore. But, you know, I went to the playoff game in Miami last weekend because I live down there, unfortunately. And it didn't feel big.

Like it was good. I mean, it's great soccer. It's a little messy, but it didn't feel big. And I think what we see tomorrow night will feel big and it will feel big time. And one of the exciting things I think about this market for me as an external is.

We don't know what the ceiling is. And some of the other ones, even like a Portland, which is elite. Oh, my God, yeah. We're at the ceiling. Like, it is what it is. We don't know what Charlotte could be. And I think that's where you see a Zaha come in at this point. You hear the names that continue to be connected. Those will only grow because I think the market will only grow around it. Gossip's been to more games than I have, so I would defer to everything that he says.

Yeah, Charlotte. And so I get to helicopter in for big games a lot of the times. So I'm always getting kind of like the best punch. Yeah. Again, being here for the home opener, the first one, and then being here for this year, those were two really elite atmospheres. Seattle MLS Cup 2019, I think, is the best I've been to. I wasn't at the 22 MLS Cup. No, you missed out. Yeah. But –

I put Charlotte with the fans and the atmosphere. I put them up there in the top tier. This isn't just pandering. If we were talking about it on the show, not right here. When we do the lists of when people ask me these questions. Where should you go? And this city too? It's a gorgeous city. It is so easy to get around.

You go to the game and then you're walking through a park. And that makes a huge difference. It really does, man. Dude, like going to MLS Cup last year. Some people are staying at downtown LA. The game's in Carson. Some people are staying at Manhattan Beach. It's just like everything is – the All-Star game just this year in Austin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Taking the bus. It was also 115 degrees. That's true. Yeah. But it's a great question. Thank you for asking. Do we have one more?

And this person is wearing a sakura hat. It's not a plant. This is the favorite fan. What's up? Favorite moment was beginning of the season, Adilson Malanda tying the game in Seattle. That was a good one. Yeah, we flew out for the game. Great atmosphere. Oh, nice. As a Men's League champion. What advice do you give the boys for tomorrow to go and compete? So you missed the breaking news that we just put out on the show, which is that Tom lost last night 1-0 in his men's league final.

Was it the goalkeeper's fault again? No, it wasn't. It wasn't. 1-0. So it's a great question. It's probably better for someone else. Relax. 19-19. Snap the 19-game win streak. What you do is you have to care about it so unreasonably and so uncomfortably. That you're unhappy no matter what. Yes, yes, yes. And that you never fight somebody with nothing to lose. That's how I go into every men's league game. There you go. Thank you.

Best question we're going to have of the night. And if anyone would like to see that in play for the rest of the night, you could just watch Tom. Yeah, just my mannerisms. I got to play with Eric Krakauer out of the All-Star Game. We played together. Yes, you did. Eric's a very, very good player. I knew that, and I was still impressed. What was also obvious is that we have pennies, and I turn around, and Eric's got his shirt off, just a penny on. They can fit.

We're playing outside at 110 degree weather in Austin. I packed light. I packed light. I also played in vans. Yeah. He was still dicing people up in vans. It was very impressive. All right. We are so thankful to Zoran and Dean for being here. We're thankful to Charlotte FC for helping set this up. We're thankful to all of you for being here. Thank you for the questions.

My best moment in Charlotte of the season was this right here. So thank you to all of you. And we're going to hang out. Reminder. If you do not have tickets yet for the game or you know anyone who wants tickets, $30 tickets still available at the table next to us on the second floor. If you've been sitting in the bar listening to this the whole time and you're like, this sounds like the best thing I've ever heard.

One, you're welcome. Two, listen to SoccerWise. Three, go to the game tomorrow night. Go buy tickets next to us. Thank you to Eric as well. And we'll hang out with all of you right now. Thanks for coming, guys. It's good to have you.