The US men's national team got their heads kicked in last night four nil final score. On Next Guest was on the broadcast team for TNT. Good friend of the program. Always great to catch up with. Brian Dunseeth Wednesday afternoon. Donny, how we doing man?
You caught me at the perfect times, Spence. I got home from Nashville this afternoon. I'm off to Atlanta tomorrow for the start of the FIFA Club World Cup. Busy summer of soccer and super looking forward to that. But yeah, last night was what did the kids saying? Not great? Bob? Yeah, it wasn't too great.
It definitely was not great, Bob on a scale from zero to Alexi Lawless crying about patriotism on TV after last night.
How high is the panic meter today?
You know, we did a pregame segment about the panic meter and I put you know, he was, are you panicked? Do you not panicked?
That?
Sarah Walsh was teeing us up and we're using the USA logo as like our heavy paperweight in front of our deskt He pressed that button and I was kind of I put my hand over it, and I was joking with Kyle Martino. I had the Martino shakes because I wasn't ready to panic, but I wasn't ready to say I wasn't panicking. And that really does come down to a calendar year ago. Our coverage was out in
DC and we're getting ready for Columbia. A couple days later down in Orlando against Brazil, and that was the lead into Coba Medica, and oh how things have changed. Things going completely sideways against Panama, it leads to being dumped out of the group stage of Coba Medica. Greg Berhalter loses his job to transition moment over to Marisa Bochettino. A couple of months ago, we go into the Nations League Finals out in Los Angeles, the fourth consecutive Nations
League final. We're looking to lift our fourth consecutive Nations League trophy. We lose to Panama again, then we lose to Canada in the third fourth place match, and then we head into a Gold Cup where we always understood that at the end of the domestic European campaign there were going to be players that needed to take a break, whether that be for injury or mental fatigue. We knew there was plenty of wear and tear on the tires
for a lot of these guys. We also knew it was going to be an opportunity for Marisa Puchtino to continue the evolution of players like Jack mcgleh, like Diego Luda from Real Salt Lake, like Patrick Agimond from Charlotte. But I think the conversation and the narrative took on its own set of circumstances. When a player like Christian Polisic his exclusion from the US men's national team, it takes on a life of its own because the story was dictated through US Soccer, not by Christian politic and
his representatives. And then it gets turned into he doesn't want to be here. I'm not sure that's the case, but in the public domain of argument, if we wouldn't have had the year that we've had, nobody would care if Christian was a part of this Gold Cup roster or not a part of this Gold Cup. But the reality is he is Captain America. He is by far our best player. He is as of I would assume,
still the captain of the team. And when you have back to back losses against Turkey in Switzerland, which I thought they were actually much better than the result showed against Turkey, but yet we judged teams on wins and losses and heavy rotation. And I said, when I was doing the lineup for the game against Switzerland the other night, Racio Pochettino told us he wanted to give players opportunities to prove that they deserve to play significant minutes in
the Gold Cup. He made nine changes to his starting eleven and unfortunately, in the first forty five minutes a majority of those nine changes I think probably proved to Mauricio Biligitino and to the world that maybe they weren't ready for an opportunity to play at the full US men's national team level in a way that maybe we
were all predictive and hopeful for. So second half was much better, but still four no losses, four no loss against US Switzerland's side that was coming off what was it eight games without a win ahead of a Luxembourg win and a win in Salt Lake City against Mexico, And now the gloves are off and this group is taking a beating ahead of what is it next? Sunday's game out in San Jose Agan's Trainia today kick off the twenty twenty five Gold Cup.
All right, your referenced Polisic who was not present, Sir Genio Dust wasn't either, Weston McKinney, Tyler Adams. Off the top of my head, you know, those are kind of the main guys that weren't available. So help me understand how many players that we will see play for this team in the World Cup were not present for the game last night and we will not have for the Gold Cup.
Yeah, I mean, off the top of my head. Christian obviously is not there. Anthony Robinson Jedi Robinson from Fulham had knee surgery, so he was getting cleaned up for a problem that he had had. Serginio Dusk there's still risk management with him coming back from his ACL tear over at t SD Iron Hooven. Obviously, Gio Reina is with Brussia Dortmund, tim Waya and Wes McKinney or with ub those two teams are participating in the FIFA Club
World Cups, so they have priority. Uh, there's a there's a there's a narrative out there and it's it's completely wrong. Maricio Putstino on his staff wanted to give the group of players the opportunity to play in all of these games, and they did not want to bring in Geo or Weston and Tim to this game because they knew that they weren't going to be there for the Gold Cup, so they thought it was probably better that they stayed
and focused on their opportunity. But then you kind of get into the weaves when you're thinking about Joe Scale, you're thinking about Ricardo Peppy, you're thinking about Joss Sargent, you think about Santa Tessaman, you think about Joe mcalboos here,
you think about Aiden Morris. Who else am I missing in this group that's kind of the core group of guys, and then you kind of have guys that are fringe guys around the world that you know, Twitter takes a liking to and thinks that they should be called in. So I would say, arguably you're missing seven to eight true starters and then probably collectively somewhere around twelve realistic
players that would be on a World Cup roster. But again, Spence, I think, you know, a year ago, I think every average US soccer fan could probably name a majority of the players that they would think would be starting eleven players for the US going into the World Cup. And I think that number is probably open for debate based on what we've seen me in these last twelve months.
Okay, So operating off that premise with the group of players you just listed, is it fair to say that the people that believe this guy is falling just need to pump the brakes based off the fact that maybe the US men's national team and Pochettino was without the majority of their best players. Is it fair to say that maybe there's some overreaction because based off of what you just outlined, the World Cup team that we'll see next summer was not properly represented last night.
Is that fair to say, oh, one hundred percent. I mean, everybody knew. Well, let me tell you this. The Turkey team, the Turkey ice team that they played out in Connecticut. The only player they were missing two players, one of the starting center backs, which is debatable, a guy named Bardaki, and then Hawkan Shinnanaglu, who was their captain and played for Inter Milan in the Champions League final. He had picked up a Knox so he did not travel to
play for Turkey. A and Vincenzo Montella. So they were arguably arguably missing one absolute difference maker and the rest of this was, you know, teams that had lost to one at the Euros semi or quarterfinal against the Netherlands and were coming off a six to one aggregate win against Hungary a month and a half ago. There was some rotation in Switzerland side that up at rice Ecles eat Mexico for two and absolutely took them apart, smashed Mexico.
No one saw that result coming, But then again no one saw them beating the United States four nil as well, and that team was probably the strongest possible team that Murac could put together for Switzerland. So in terms of experience and full squad, both of these teams these past two losses were definitely Turkey and Switzerland were the much better team, much more experienced team, and much more closer to full strength than this US group could have ever been.
But again, even though there's nuanced in the conversation stence, the reality is that we judge success and failure by
wins and losses. And unfortunately, again when you go back to calendar year, the dry run for hosting the twenty twenty six World Cup was the Copa Medica and to see US and again, this is football, this is sports in a moment in which an individual player can make a mistake, a referee's involvement, var intervention with technology, all of these things can go sideways and horrifically upend any opportunity that you had to try to make a run
to lift a trophy. If we were to say, if you were to ask me, Donny, has everything gone horrifically sideways? My answer would probably be yes. In its last twelve months, to the point where now Mauricio Pochettino in ten games in charge, he has five wins and five losses. That wasn't projected, that wasn't expected. And I think right now Mauricio Pochettino is probably looking at this the full concept of what the US men's national team roster looks like
and has way more questions than answers. And this is again, you're a Spurs guy. This is his first foray into coaching international football and this will be the first time. The benefit of having a roster to get for the better part of thirty days is hugely beneficial for he and his staff, but it will come at a cost because it won't be with his first choice froster.
So over the past twenty four hours or so we've heard Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, the aforementioned Patriot Lexi Lawless be very critical of the group that we've spoken about who've elected not to be part of the Gold Cup. Now, it's interesting because the Gold Cup, historically speaking, has been a place for players that maybe aren't part of the first choice World Cup group to get some exposure. It's how It's how Kyle and Nicky broke into the group, and they of course went on to play in the
World Cup. Tony Beltran was on a Gold Cup team as well. But is there an extra layer of criticism that these players deserve based off the fact that the World Cup in our region is only a year away? Do you think they should have looked to play based off the fact that the World Cup's right around the corner.
Well, so again there's nuance to this. So let me take you back ahead of twenty twenty two World Cup and guitar. The United States had two international friendlies. They were empty stadiums over in Europe, and I believe they played Japan in Saudi Arabia and they were horrific in both of those games, to the point where you know, something I said went viral and I made the mistake of questioning that group and their preparation, habits and ultimately
what they could do at the World Cup. And I was dead wrong specific to performances and leadership by Christian Polissic, because when that tournament started, Greg Burholter got the squad right, he got the starting eleven right, and that team was incredibly impressive. And that's where the Golden generation Moniker really took hold. They were fantastic in the group stage. And if they would have and nobody would have ever predicted that Holland would sit back, defend and just hit in
the transition, score goals at the back posts. Louis van Hall. We thought it was going to be style and substance, identity possession and they were just going to bury the United States. Instead, they played cat and mouse instead of playing them straight up. After that World Cup, then you had the obvious conversation of Giorana, Greg Burholter, Giorana's parents, and that horrific off the field issue that led to a determined amount of time that Greg Burhlter wasn't the
usmnters national team coach. Besides that, Ernie Stewart and Brian McBride. Both we leave leadership roles behind the scenes and US Soccer goes out and hires Matt Crocker who had come over from Southampton and experience with the England national team. There's so many layers to this conversation. And then okay, so we're really talking about Christian. Here's the reality. In the last two years, I've pulled the stats on Christian Polistic.
He's played one hundred games for Acmelon. It's something like thirty six goals, twenty assists. He's played somewhere around seven two hundred and fifty minutes in two seasons. When you compare and contrast that to the five years he played for Chelsea it was one hundred and forty six games and somewhere roughly around eight thousand minutes. So in the last two years he's almost already matched the five years
he was at Chelsea Football Club. It's so you know, you go back to those years he was injured, dealing with hamstrings, groins, the stop start nature, substitute coming off the bench. He's a full time starter. He's an absolute number ten and in a dark season for a simulon points wise, table wise, he was the absolutely one of the shining stars, and it felt like monthly he was up for Player of the Month in City Off Football.
So I can understand the idea of resting this tournament to make sure he's one hundred percent focused for the summer and next season. I think that's what gets lost in this conversation, because if the United States doesn't fail a Copamatica, and it doesn't fail in Nations League, nobody
gives a flying squirrel. If Christian Polistic takes off this summer after two hectic, busy years and gets himself right, gets himself physically right, and make sure that by the time the World Cup comes, he's flying Landon, there's nuance to that conversation. I don't think he's wrong in some of the aspects, but people are also pointing out that Landon took that what it was a six to seven month mental health break where he walked away from the
LA Galaxy in the national team. It was something that Clint Dempsey referenced and ultimately at the desk the other night working with DeMarcus Beasley, four time World Cup veteran, I said in postgame, after knowing him for almost thirty years, I've never seen him so dumbfounded and at a loss for words based on what happened. So there's so many different bullet points that are happening currently around this team.
But unfortunately, because it's Chris simplistic, he's been the face of US soccer for the better part of the last two World Cup cycles, and we understand how important he is on the field. The fact that he's not here and the fact that he and his camp haven't taken control of the narrative. I think that's why there's such a significant uproar and frustrate about the situation.
All right, concerning Pochettino.
Two part question here is it time to maybe look at the Greg Burholter stuff a little differently as well? Because I've always believed and look, it doesn't matter the sport. I mean, the Knicks just fired Tom Thibodeau after the Eastern Conference finals. Coaches are the ones that typically fall on the sword because players aren't a contract, and players are the ones that essentially run the thing, because there's no such thing as a great coach without great players.
And so it does feel like the US Mets national team has punted on Bob Bradley, Jurgen klinsman Greg Burholter. So I'm wondering what's fair to say about Potchettino based off the results for straight l's five and five and ten, and whether or not we need to look at what Greg did a little differently.
Now you know, I played, I played with Greg Burholter at the us N national team level. I had worked with Greg Burholter, and I'd seen and covered him for a long long time. And I've said this multiple times publicly. There was a moment, and it's not the place blame on Tim Way in any way, shape or form, but because there's a lot of moments in that game against Panama Coba Medica, they beat Olivia, to know, they go into the Panama game, they score at Weston McKinney goal, aheader,
he's judged to be offside. A few minutes later, a Panamanian player absolutely demolishes Matt Turner. Not a yellow card, no foul called. Matt Turner is forced to leave the game at halftime. That's how heavy the collision was. And in that moment, Tim weya, you know, off the ball, you know, pops a chicken wing and next thing you
know he's been shown straight red. So there was a lot of When everyone talks about what Greg Burholter did, writer Greg Burholter did wrong, The reality is that that moment, that red card shown to Tim Weya is the perfect example of a split second decision where the tide turns and everything goes sideways. Just a quick reminder, Greg was neither a better coach or a worse coach based on
that singular moment. But US Soccer decided to go in a different direction because it was deemed a failure, and going out in the group stage of Copa Medica with all of the momentum and the hype and the opportunity, was probably the right decision the way that Matt Crocker and company looked at it. But now with Marisa Pochettino, I don't think you put the panic button on Marisa Putchettino in the staff, because I can promise you they
care more than people. I mean, from an egotistical standpoint, do you think they want to come to the United States and fail after getting fired at Chelsea Football Club a couple of months ago. No, that's certainly not the case.
So big picture, I think that right now they've got to figure out what's the right steps going forward to make sure they can get this back on track, because the reality is you got a calendar year until the star of the World Cup, and I think all of us former players, all of US pundits, all of US media members, and most importantly all of US fans don't have a lot of faith for what this group is capable of doing in a World Cup. It's not just a generational World Cup, but this is a World Cup
with an opportunity to create legends. And what a wasted, missed opportunity for the general public to not be able to get behind, you know, our US men's national team in a similar manner that we see every four years with the Olympics.
Let me ask you about Diego, who I actually thought came into the second half and showed well, now they were getting smoked, so it was too late. But Poachettino has said in the past that he likes him. Does Diego have a shot to make the World Cup roster not just the Gold Cup roster?
Diego Luna, in my humble opinion, I predicted this. I think he's going to be I think he's going to be a starter at the World Cup. Oh wow, nice, Yeah, I don't. I don't. I know, Marisa Putsatino and his staff absolutely adore him, and we all saw the images when he got his nose broken and he had to
fight through and his grit and determination. I said this during the pregame show when obviously, you know, when our group covers not only the US men's national team because of you know, my affinity and respect for what Diego has done, but also on the women's side with Ali Sitinoor, which they absolutely adore Ali because she's been incredible and she's such an incredible human being. But in the pregame show, I was explaining once again just to remind people that
Diego Luna has always bet on it himself. He's a guy that came from a world in Northern California in which decisions were made and he wasn't. He left, He went to Texas, played for pulled the trigger to bring him to Salt Lake. He worked on his fitness, he worked on his psychology, the mental side of the game, the physical side of the game. He changed his body profile, and he, without a shadow of a doubt, dealt with despair of missing out on the Olympics and turned it
into I'm an MLS All Star. I'm an MLS Young Player of the Year and I'm going to take this opportunity with both hands. And I can promise you that if Marine Cio Pochettino had twenty six Diego lunas heading into a World Cup, I think we would all feel much more comfortable about our chances of not only having a decent World Cup, but potentially having a great World Cup.
Because that's the type of body language, that's the type of leadership, that's the type of technical ability and skill, and that raw emotion that we all wish we see from every single player, the moment that they pulled that jersey over their chest and they see the cress loud and proud over their heart.
Ahi, Dottie before he you lose.
So let's get a little RSL in DC in town on Saturday. Only two matches in June, and it is getting late early for this club. Sitting on fifteen points, four ten and three maidestein gold differential and without Diego for a minute, it's gonna be rough. I wonder if Ali can play for RSL. She's the best striker in the state. And it's not close. We got the somber transfer wentdo coming up, and then after that, I think there are thirteen total matches combined league play in League's
Cup play. So your thoughts on where we stand with RSL and does it feel like this season might be too late to salvage already?
Unfortunately, it does feel like that because this group continues to figure out ways to creatively lose to some of the worst teams in Major League Soccer. And that's my concern against DC, And iied, you know, when you lose against Toronto SC at home, when you lose against an LA Galaxy team that hasn't lost in sixteen games, it
doesn't give you much hope. And I understand the complexity and the nuance to ownership switch, you know, from Blitzer and Smith to the Millers and Blitzer, but this team was financially woefully prepped for what this season was going to be. You know, you go back, I had this to learn on my phone a week ago, and it
was a year ago. It was like fourteen games without a loss, and you think about Anderson Julio, you think about Andres Gomez, you think about Cucurito, you think about Matt Crooks, all these guys, and they're all gone, and then you transition and Diego is the loan standout in this group this season, and you're waiting for somebody else to alleviate the pain and frustration of what's happening, and it just isn't there, and so it's starting to feel
like lost season. You know, take off my affinity for Real Salt Lake and the success because I always kind of say they're anywhere between a third place team and a tenth place team, dependent upon the nuclear arms race of spending in Major League Soccer. But I'm hoping that very swiftly this team has the financial wherewithal to be able to go out and find some difference makers and
do it in a timely manner. That's similar to what we saw when Chicolroongo showed up and already had six weeks underneath his belt of being in market training with the team and being incredibly prepared for the opportunity to step on the field and be the immediate difference maker. This team needs help, but as I say that, Pablo and Pablo needs help. But as I say that, there's a very capable group of players inside of that locker room, and they got to figure this out because if they don't.
I hope there's someone inside of that locker room that has the stones or kahonas to say, hey, by the way, if we don't turn this around, there's many guys without jobs. You're gonna have to say your homes. You're gonna have to, you know, bust tail and get out of town because this hasn't been good enough. And once again RSL can't. There was so much hype and so much momentum spence everywhere I went last year, everybody was asking me about RSL. Dude, what's going on? How are they so strong? How are
they so consistent? Pablo has been incredible, and this year it's the opposite. It's what in the world is happening out there? And I don't think there's there's one hundred percent correct avenue to try to explain what's happened this year without placing blame on the players first and foremost, because these are professional players making a boatload of money, and quite frankly, outside of Diegaluna, they're just not showing up.
Donnie and my friend, I appreciate the time, excellent work on the broadcast. I know you got a busy summer, so hopefully you can chat with you soon, but until then, safe travels my friend.
Okay, anytime you me and my man have a good.
One, all right.
Brian Dunseeth, RSL original MLS VET ten years played for the US men's national team. As they got stomped last night. It was embarrassing. Gold Cup coming up on Sunday. Hopefully they can figure something out between now and then. Donny stops by today courtesy of our friends at outlaud Istilling, new partner here on the ESPN Sports Network. Outloud Distillery is a homegrown grain to glass, nitty gritty whiskey, vodka, rum and moonshine distillery right here in Salt Lake County.
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