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I will get back to some of the college football storylines of the day today as we're ten days away from kick for the utes for the Cougars.
For the Aggies as well, it's week zero in the.
World of college football, so we actually have games this weekend. We also have a match this weekend in Sandy, which is a big one for the lads. RSL welcomes in Minnesota. Our next guest, the head coach over Al saw Lake. On a Wednesday, Pablo Mastronni pops, Happy Wednesday, Man, how are we doing?
Everyone just spends doing well, buds.
I hate to start it out this way, but you know where I'm going. And I'm certainly no soccer expert, but my soccer pee brain says when a player kicks a ball and the defender hits that ball with his hand, typically that is what is known as a handball. I don't know, man, I hate to continue to harp on this officiating stuff. But it seems like weeke in and week out, you guys have to feel a little hard done.
Is that fair?
Yeah? Yeah, I think I think that's absolutely fair. And the other way just affects the group. Is this momentum, you know, And I think it's like Murphy's law, those things that you think might happen end up happening. You know, two games in a row where we're just on the wrong side of some calls. But I really like the
Warrior's point. You know, I talked to him before getting on and he says, you know, they always say everything always evens out at the end, and because you guys have taken so many bad calls this year, it's going to come down to the last games and making a great run to the playoffs. So I really like that positive spin.
Well, he stole that point from Dunny yesterday.
Look at you quarter, at least get any credit if you're gonna try to brag the Pablo Donny did bring it up.
Okay, all right, If it does ring true, it's gonna swing real fart. No, all good, all good.
Hey, Look, we need to give Porter some love because when he makes a good point and he it makes him feel good to to acknowledge it.
So I'm glad you brought it up.
Okay, let's move over to the tackle on a Mecca also like in real time, because here's the thing, Like a Mecca is a sturdy kid and he doesn't dive.
Okay uh.
And so when I saw the tackle and like, I need to see a replay, then I saw the replay like that to me clearly is reckless and violence.
I mean that that felt like a red card to me.
Yep no. And again his arms across his neck chest area and he's throwing him down and and again the weird thing is the subjectivity part is you know, we'll see all these replays and we're gonna, i think, star in the in the referee preseason video of all the calls that they do differently, because again, you know, we get feedback from the refs every week and Kurts on the call, and you know, I jumped on last week. I didn't jump on this week because again, they're not
going to change the results. And I think that's the biggest thing for me, is like, you know, what, what areas can we look into in the game state And obviously that affects players. You know, when calls don't go your way, obviously you get frus your initial reactions frustration. It's like we're being cheated here, and then you start to lose sight of the game. And so I think it's really important for my part, you know, because that did look like a red card, and we've been red
carded for a lot less than that. I mean, Diego is red carded the two games before in New York where the other guy grabbed his put his arms around
Diego's neck and he still got red carded. So I think for us, it's really thinking about the details and and and how we can incorporate you know, Ruan Cruz and Victor Olatunji and and really make a strong run here because we have a great opponent in Minnesota at the weekend who's a flying and it just takes one moment and and like you know, Porter and Donny or any pointed. I think we're going to get a break this weekend, and not a break that's not fair, because
I don't want that either. I just want a well officiated game and with good momentum, you know, I think we'll make a run here to the playoffs.
I'll ask you one more thing about this and we can move on and talk about how the team is coming together. But when you do some simple math, because here's here's always it's always been my issue with officials that I don't think they fully understand what's at stake when they bought a call. Because if you miss the playoffs and you're a coach, there's an owner that might say, Okay,
that's not good enough. Or if you're a player that doesn't have the opportunity to tally a goal that he deserves, then that looks bad on him and his stats and suddenly he can't like there's a lot at stake when
calls are made that that directly affect outcomes. It's one thing to miss a call here or there, but when points are taken off the table the way they've been with you, maybe six or seven matches, you do some simple math, pops, and if you get half of those calls, you're in the top six or seven, you know what I mean? So how do you how do you reconcile that when you're talking to your players about this dynamic?
Yeah, I think Spence, that's the hardest thing because the last thing I want to do is point to something that we have no control over, you know, and and so I don't think I you know, in this last time, I didn't even acknowledge this Charlotte game, you know, because
it's futile. And the thing is is that I'm left, you know, fuming over all these these situations as opposed to giving my energy to things that we can control and things that we need to look forward on, because you know, as life happens, you know, it's that's in
the past and now we have to move forward. And so I think again, I'm always trying to be an example of how I want the players to behave And obviously, after the game, we're frustrated, you know, we end up conceding on a on a set piece, something that's that that you know, we're completely in control over, and and did that moment fifteen minutes earlier affect us? And so the more I bring it up, the more I feel it's okay for the players to feel the way they do.
And what I want to do is like, let's get on with it. It's not fair, but no one cares. It's on us to rectify that. So it's really tough. It's not easy, especially when it's been so many this year. And but but again, I'm going to go back to Porter's point, it's going to come back to us in droves.
He's going to be so insufferable after this interview he's doing as he's doing a fist pump in the studio. Okay, all right, now I like it. We can give our guy a little credit here. All right, you reference Rawan and Victor. We've seen both of them. Now, just give us an update on how it's going to integrate them into the system, and then tell us about how training is going. Are they grasping what you're asking them to do as we get familiar with these two new acquisitions.
Yeah, and again, I think this is why there's been talked about changing the season around, and it's it's it's so difficult to integate, integrate guys with eight games left, right, and there's so many variables in our league. And I think I touched on it last week. But as far as you know, our tactics are going to be different than the way either of them played. And then understanding how they you know what their teammates qualities are, right,
and who you're playing alongside. And but they've today, they were awesome. Both of them are awesome, and you see with every training session that they're getting a really good understanding of both the team tactics and more importantly, how how they can play off each other. They're both really sophisticated thinkers. They you know, I think in but in the game, both of them had really good chances, uh
to score some goals. And and so that's coming from not knowing a whole lot and just playing, you know, from from a place of field really because we only had a couple of days to prepare to get them both on the field. But I think with every training session they get sharper and what you're all, what I'm also noticing and training is the level of confidence that the players around them have having those two guys on
the field. And so, you know, I think they're they're you know today, uh, you know, we had a meeting with Hun Cruz as far as the tactic in the pockets that he can really hurt teams with. And again, both great students of the game, great teammates, wonderful people, and I think that these guys are going to be flying here soon, and so I'm really excited That's why
I'm really excited for the weekend. We're up against a very stingy Minnesota defense, and if we can get both Want and Victor on the score sheet, will be fined.
Always hesitate to say this, I don't want to sound like the ugly American, but I'm always curious about, you know, the communication between players who come here and the language barriers. And you know, I know you have found a way to kind of circumvent some of that stuff, but how's the English, How's how's the communication with the two new players communicating with the other guys on the roster.
That's a great point. You know, what's been really fascinating is Victor's completely fluent in English, and he's a big time reader, so he's you know, he he loves easily integrates into the into the team. And Huon as when we talked him on the zoom, he was really hesitant to speak English. But what I've come to realize is his understanding of the English is really really good and he wants to learn, so he's going to start taking classes.
But whenever the coaches talked to Huan and you know, and he understands obviously speaks and understands Portuguese like his first language, but his ability to listen to the coaches and be able to implement what we're asking is incredible given the zoom that we had where he was really hesitant to speak English. So the language piece isn't isn't
an issue with either of them. But the one thing that we real positive and we talked about is they understand football and they understand space and so when teammates have the ball, you're always looking at angles and options to be able to play off the other ones. And they've played off each other really well in the last couple of days, so I think we won't have any problems with the language barrier.
So you're without Diego again this weekend, right, and then Gozo as well as let's see, I think it's Willie okay, okay, So without those three, what's that attack going.
To look like?
Yeah, So we looked at a couple of guys, uh, you know, in those positions, Johnny Russell being one of them, Ari Fuel being another, and you know, I think it's a it's a good opportunity for guys like Goan in victory to go distance, right, you know, with with a few games left. We've got to make sure that we give him a long enough runway to be fit for these important games.
And so.
You know, Johnny looked really bright today. He's a guy that can make plays, and I think that's another aspect that that we were talking about, is within the tactics, you still need to make plays in other words, like whether it's the really crisp final pass or it's shooting from you know, from an angle with a with a cultured technique to hit the back of the net. And I think that's that's one of the things that Johnny Russell brings with his experience and his quality. So you know,
we'll finalize things as we move towards the weekend. But those two guys in place for Gozo and then obviously Diego has been doing better, and I think now that he's got players ahead of them, has really changed the way he's played, you know, because oftentimes we were looking at him to always be the guy to score goals this year, and what I've seen with the introduction of these two players has been he's got a great final pass and maybe what we were missing is just the
runners ahead of him to really see Diego's quality.
So every time I and look, I mostly just watch RSL, mostly just watch you. But every time I watch Minnesota just seems like a total pain in the ass. They just seem like such a pain.
What is it?
Is it?
Is it personnel? Is it coaching? Is it schematics?
Like?
Why are they so stout defensively? Why are they so hard? Let's say they seem like such a tough nut to crack.
Yeah, you know, they're almost contrarian spence in that the modern game of football is primarily how are we going to attack? They flipped the script and they say how are we going to defend? And so where teams to place maybe a seventy thirty emphasis on.
Pieces?
Right, So it's it's the mundane part of the game that they they're excellent at. So they're almost comfortable giving you the ball and then they'll say, we'll catch you on a counter attack, or we'll catch you on a long throwing, right. So they use these set pieces. You know, if there's a foul in there and they're attacking in their defensive half, they will literally move the whole team forward and have their goalkeeper punt it and use that as a way to keep you pinned in and so
they play for a battle of territory. So it's it's kind of an old school way of thinking, but they do it to the nines and that's why they make every game so difficult for any team because there they're there. They excel at areas where teams are like, well, that's important, but not as important as the way we want to attack. Well, long thrownes are important, but you know, defending them, you know, is or miss and you're usually playing not necessarily for
the first phase. But like I said, they played for territory, and how can they build two or three shots on goal from a long throwing which is not something most teams will even focus on. So what they do is they do very well. Obviously, that's that's coaching and and it's really buying from the from the players, and that's
always been my thing. It's it's very difficult to have a group of guys that are committed to not playing with the ball, because in modern football, from the time you're five years old, you're doing goal goalkick builds and and you're you're in the love of the game comes with the ball. So they bought into it, and I think it's hard to not buy into it when you
can get results. So areas that we've been really you know, working on, but throwing a wrinkle in there as to how we can kind of throw, you know, throw something at them that looks a little bit different than they've they've seen all year from the way they want to attack the game from a set piece perspective. Is hopefully we ask some questions as to whether or not they're going to continue to throw. To have many numbers forward.
Feels like a bit of a must win pobs. You've got eight games left with five at home. Have you done the math as far as where you think you need to be to get over the line and make the playoffs?
Yeah, you know, I think, you know, if we take care of home and win the five home games, I think it puts us in a position to compete for the playing game, and then you know, we got to squeak one or two one with a draw. So somewhere around eighteen points, I think Jesus in a in a playoff position, and I think fifteen points sees us buying for that playing game. So and you know how I think about that, Spence is like the only way to get to the future is to go through the present.
And so we got to walk the walk and really hit this game head on. So it must win. I think it's pretty close. It's pretty close to must win game that we need. And you know, and I always look at our training sessions like with the vibe, like and these guys were flying today and committed, and you know, one of the things that you know, we have great
leadership group. One of the things that you know, we're going to throw a tactical a pretty big tactical tweek into the into what we're doing this week in lieu of Minnesota, And the leadership group said, Coach, like, listen, we believe in what we're doing. We're literally one set piece away from getting results, one PK not being called from getting results. We believe in what we're doing. We've enjoyed what we're doing. Well, let's let's keep it the same.
Let's not let's let's just keep focusing on ourselves and let's kill these guys this weekend. So when you got a leadership group like that, that that's all in and it's reflected in the way the guys have trained this week. I'm really really optimistic about.
This weekend transfer window closes tomorrow night.
My sources, little Bertie, cute little Bertie, the cutest little Bertie that could ever be, indicates that we might might might have some news dropping over the next twenty four hours.
Care to elaborate on that at all?
Yeah, No, I think it's again, I don't know if the documents amen signed. And I'm so hesitant to say anything before because there's nothing you can't go back on that. It's kind of like a referee call, right Svens like, yeah, sorry, it's but if it goes threaten And to be fair,
I talked to the the players coach. He's a good friend of mine in Cincinnati and and uh yeah, a really good defender with with again, I think another part to you know, things that we talked about on the phone were just an unbelievable human being, a great culture guy and a huge leader with a ton of experience.
And I think if if if I didn't tell you the position and I said, these are the qualities this player has, I think, you know, it's it's so welcome with our group again, a young group that's you know gain you know, caught a bit of momentum at the turn. These last couple of games haven't gone our way for various reasons. But now we're we're in the final stretch.
And to add a player of his magnitude and his experience and and the way he leads is it's like the stars the lining for a great rundown the stretch.
Good stuff. Does he have copious amount neck tattoos?
Yes?
He does?
Okay, okay, last thing that I'll set you loose on this and if you need to go, you can be quick on it. But I am genuinely curious. And the nice thing is you're a coach. You don't exist in the media space, but you are a former member of the US men's national team. And there's been this really
weird back and forth. It was a documentary for Polisic where he and I think it was way, if I remember correctly, you are really going at like Landon and Clint and all you know, Taylor, Tim Howard or whoever, like all of the former US men's national team players that are in the media space.
Weaya called them evil.
Polisic said, they're just looking for clicks, and it's like, well, you're literally talking about this during the documentary. You want people to watch. I don't know, man, it's part of the job. When you get into the space with a microphone in front of your face. I hope you coach forever and you never have to do this. But as somebody that once upon a time represented our country, what do you make of this back and forth between the old guard and the players playing now?
Yeah, yeah, I find it really interesting. And and you know, I think I think everyone wants the same thing Spence and and and one side is coming from having played and another side is coming from playing and and but I think at the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing, which is the US team to be successful. And so like I can see through all this stuff.
I think there's points on both sides. You know, I'm definitely not taking aside because I've been a player and the previous generation was like, you know, they are hard on us, But I felt like they were hard on us because they represented the country well and they want we wanted us to do the same thing.
And and so.
You know, and I understand from from you know, Landing and Tim Howards, is when when the amount of pressure that we put on ourselves, irrespective of the pressure that was put out by the fans and proofs at the time, it was immense and we held ourselves to a level amongst ourselves, like hey, if it wasn't good enough in training, it's like, man, we're playing for something huge here. You know, this is a qualifier, this is a World Cup game. There's no bs here. We've got to bring our best
and it was us kind of managing ourselves. And that was a really unique time where we had great players that played in Europe mixed with players in MLS. But there was this unspoken understanding of what it means to represent your country, and so I think there's I'm sure there's a lot of stuff that gets lost in translation between the camps, but I really believe that both camps want the same thing, and that's for the US team to have a successful outing in twenty twenty six.
All right, buddy, will you sound good? I was wondering if you're going to be grumpy, but I'm glad you're sounding good. So I will be there this weekend. You are undefeated when I'm in the building, So best of luck. Let's go get three.
Bablo.
All right, thanks man, appreciate it, Bud.
All right, Pablo Masheroni, head coach of ourself.
They're back at action this weekend against Minnesota in what has to be characterized as a must win game seven point thirty on Apple TV. All right, before we catch a break, we'll get into the five o'clock hour of the program do some college football with Matt Brown. We welcome in Ryan from the Dish Bros. Football is here, and I can tell you you don't have Dish. You're doing it wrong because I did it wrong for years.
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