Podcasts by Scuffed | U.S. soccer, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America
An in-depth show about the U.S. men
Further podcasts by Adam Belz and Greg Velasquez
Podcast on the topic Fußball
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Episode 2: Optimism vs Realism for Andrew Carleton, MLS is back, and the March USMNT friendly roster from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.144061
We lay out the cases for optimism (Belz) and realism (Velasquez) on Andrew Carleton's future. We get into the MLS and CCL excitement a bit. Greg wants Gregg Berhalter called up to the USMNT. We ta...
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Episode 5: Is Dave Sarachan doing a good job? Plus Marky Delgado and George Bello from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.140973
We talk about Sarachan's decisions against Paraguay, what the point of these friendlies is, try to dispense with the word "meaningless," talk a bit more about what we learned in the friendly, and d...
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Episode 9: Should the USMNT go heavy metal Klopp-style? And USL vs the European academy for American teenagers from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.136644
Klopp's gegenpressing Liverpool is a game away from the biggest crown in club soccer, so naturally we discuss whether the USMNT should adopt a full-throttle pressing style. Then we get into the vir...
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Episode 14: Ireland 2, USA 1, and a look ahead to France from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.131291
Long episode alert: we talk about the 2-1 loss to Ireland. It was a real test for a young American side, and yet our veteran fullbacks were the biggest problem on the field. Hmmm. We try to break i...
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Episode 19: (Scuffed Lite) Concacaf's time in Russia comes to an end from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.120226
A vacation-truncated mini-episode acknowledging the end of Concacaf's time at the World Cup.
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Episode 24: Chris Richards joins the pod, and a non-Bundesliga Yanks in Europe preview from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.076545
Chris Richards joins for a conversation from Bavaria, where the 18-yr-old is on loan at Bayern Munich, getting ready for his first regular season U19 game this weekend. Then Greg and Belz run down ...
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Episode 28: USA v Brazil preview from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.072507
Dave Sarachan's roster, omissions, our starting XIs for Brazil, and a solid (IMO) discussion of Pulisic's absence.
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Episode 29: USA 0, Brazil 2, and a 4-1-4-1 that neither attacked nor counterattacked from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.071570
Sarachan surprised us with a 2-centerback formation and some shuttling specialists on the wings, and the U.S. lost 2-0 to Brazil in a limpid but not disastrous friendly on Friday night.
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Episode 33: Beyond Trapp — The USMNT Puzzle in Central Midfield from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.067927
Sarachan released the 24-man roster for the friendlies with Colombia and Peru on Oct. 11 and 16. The big question is who will play in which capacity in the midfield, and we talked about that for a ...
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Episode 34: Lining up against Colombia and Peru without Adams, McKennie and Pulisic from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.066919
Let’s start with the bad news. Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic will be absent for the upcoming friendlies against Colombia and Peru, but there are still a bunch of interesting pl...
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Episode 39: Assessing the U20s in World Cup qualifying, and Alex Mendez joins the pod from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.062604
We talk about the soccer being played by our U20s in the Concacaf Championship, assess individual performances in some detail, give the new USMNT roster a once-over and welcome Alex Mendez to the p...
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Episode 44: Former Crew beat reporter joins to talk Berhalter, and a breakdown of the Nike Friendlies from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.058558
Andrew Erickson, the former Crew SC beat reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, joins the pod to talk about covering newly announced USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, and then Belz and Matt Hartman discuss...
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Episode 48: Interview with Brian Clarhaut, a young American manager making his way in Europe from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.055434
Clarhaut is the 32-year-old manager of Nyköpings BIS, a club in the Swedish third division. He’s taken the road less traveled. Grew up in New Jersey, played college soccer, was an assistant coach a...
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Episode 49: Transfer season, January Camp, and an interview with Real Salt Lake academy director Martín Vásquez from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.054455
We talk about the Pulisic move to Chelsea and lots of other moves, run down what we’re looking for from January camp, and then (don’t miss it!) interview Martín Vásquez, the dean of the Real Salt L...
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Episode 54: USA 2, Costa Rica 0, and January Camp ends on a high note from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.050419
The USA beat Costa Rica 2-0 on Saturday in San Jose, California, with a couple of goals in the last 10 minutes. This was a Costa Rica side that was a bit stouter than the Panamanian opponent a week...
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Episode 55: Interview with Ted Kroeten, an evangelist for free play in youth soccer from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.049612
Ted Kroeten is the founder of Joy of the People, a non-profit in the Twin Cities focused on free play as a way to develop more instinctive, resourceful soccer players (and people). A former player,...
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Episode 59: MLS rundown, March friendlies roster, young Americans in USL preview with Phill Grooms from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.045955
Quick rundown of U.S. youngsters in MLS on opening weekend, an abridged discussion of the March friendlies roster (due next week), and then Phill Grooms of the USL Show joins to discuss young Ameri...
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Episode 65: A quick U17 roster discussion with Travis Clark from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.039990
Travis Clark joins us in our hour of need to discuss the latest U17 roster, the first called by new manager Raphael Wicky and the last before U17 World Cup qualifying in May. We run through the ros...
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Episode 70: The U.S. U20 World Cup Roster (with or without Sargent & Weah) from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.033331
The U20 World Cup begins May 23 and the U.S. roster will drop in just over a week. Matt Hartman (@mattshartman) joins to chat about that roster — who we’d like to see on it, who’ll miss out, and wh...
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Episode 71: A U.S. U17s Concacaf group stage recap with USMNTVideos from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.031931
US Soccer Twitter legend @USMNTVideos joined the pod to help me recap the group stage at the Concacaf Championship for the U.S. U17s. This is the qualifying tournament for the U17 World Cup, Raphae...
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Episode 77: U20 World Cup — USA v France review with Franco Panizo from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.025563
No spoilers! Joining me to break down the Round of 16 match is Franco Panizo, a New York-based reporter who covers the USMNT, MLS and all things American soccer for SBIsoccer.com and other outlets.
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Episode 78: Stock down! For almost everyone! But not the U20s from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.024681
Greg and I break down the Gold Cup roster, talk as quickly as possible about the 1-0 loss to Jamaica, and move on briskly to the U20 World Cup.
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Episode 79: U20 World Cup — USA v Ecuador review with Matt Doyle from 2022-02-22T09:37:23.023823
No spoilers! Doyle, senior writer for MLSsoccer.com, joins me to break down the quarterfinal showdown with the South American U20 champions.
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Episode 85: Gold Cup — USA v Curaçao from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.982123
The USA faced a composed, savvy Curaçao side in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup. We take a look at the game while airplanes fly overhead and children shout in the background. It’s a busy week at ...
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Episode 86: Gold Cup — USA v Jamaica, plus a look ahead to Mexico from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.981135
Easily the most pleasing to the eye performance from the USMNT in the Berhalter era. We break it down and look ahead to Mexico on Sunday.
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Episode 92: A new monthly USMNT player pool Top 40, and several listener questions from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.973940
The Scuffed Top 40 makes its August debut, as we run through a (highly debatable) list of the top 40 players in the USMNT pool if we were to start a World Cup qualifying campaign tomorrow. Then we ...
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Episode 96: USA v Mexico preview -- how to attack El Tri & how to use Dest from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.970026
We’re going to talk about what Mexico will probably look like, and then talk about how Berhalter could line up the U.S., with special emphasis how we might attack, how we could set up the midfield,...
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Episode 97: USA v Mexico recap, and Berhalter's stubbornness from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.969104
Woe is us. Greg V lays this one at the feet of Gregg Berhalter, and this dogmatic commitment to play through a recklessly high press.
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Episode 101: Projecting the Nations League roster, and an interview with Orange County SC GM Oliver Wyss from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.964811
Quick rundown of Gregg Berhalter's likely roster choices for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Cuba and Canada, and then an interview with Oliver Wyss, the general manager of Orange Coun...
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Episode 102: Projecting the U17 World Cup roster from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.964018
The U17 World Cup starts on Oct. 26 in Brazil, the U.S. has a tough group consisting of the Netherlands, Japan and Senegal and the roster should be released any day now. Scuffed regular Matt Hartma...
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Episode 109: Netherlands 4, USA 0, and a U17 World Cup postmortem from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.957383
The US U17s’ trip to Brazil was cut short on Saturday night with a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands. That’s it. We’re out, after a 4-1 loss to Senegal and a 0-0 draw with Japan. Scuffed regular Matt Har...
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Episode 110: Roster and XIs for Canada and Cuba, and a whole bunch of listener questions from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.956485
We talk about who should start for the USMNT against Canada and Cuba, without tailoring our preferences to Berhalter’s tendencies. Then we read and try to answer several listener questions.
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Episode 115: The December Scuffed Top 40 from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.952022
We choose our Scuffed Top 40 for December, the last one of the year. Pretty straightforward episode, we start with our #1 player in the pool and work our way down to a spitballed #30 through #40. I...
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Episode 121: USA v Costa Rica, and Berhalter plays some kids! from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.945499
An 18-yr-old got a USMNT goal on his debut, another young attacker played quite well, and the U.S. beat an experienced Costa Rica side 1-0. We’ve been pleased with January Camp. We talk about all o...
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Episode 125: MLS is back! A domestic rundown from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.941797
A US-centric MLS opening weekend recap, plus a look ahead to USL opening weekend and some discussion of the USWNT U20s and the She Believes Cup.
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Scuffed Vol. 129: Interview with Ken Richards (father of Chris Richards) from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.880479
Ken Richards, the father of Bayern Munich II centerback Chris Richards, joins the podcast to talk about George Floyd's death, being black in America, Chris’s choice to play soccer instead of basket...
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Episode 131: Christian Pulisic is good at soccer from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.878626
A discussion of the red-hot American winger at Chelsea and Frank Lampard’s praise of him for his ability to “arrive in the box.” Friend of the podcast John Muller pitches in to help us make sense o...
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Episode 134: Return of the Future Draft, where we pick XIs of un-capped U23s from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.876227
American heroes Sanjiv (@usmntvideos) and Chris (@watke_) join the pod for a draft of starting XIs from the ranks of un-capped male American soccer players.
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Episode 138: McKennie to Juve, Weah returns, and an MLS youth bonanza from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.872307
A quick run through McKennie's incredible transfer news, Weah's return from injury, and the ongoing MLS youth bonanza, plus we covered some patron questions. We recorded the afternoon before Wednes...
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Episode 142: The copy-paste USMNT cohort and Savior Committee concepts, revisited from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.868548
You didn’t need more reason to be hyped, but we will provide it anyway. This movement of U.S. players to bigger and better clubs — it appears repeatable. The Savior Committee is deepening in number...
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Episode 145: Emergency Pod! The best USMNT roster ever from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.865911
Thank you Gregg Berhalter. Greg and Belz slap out a quick and dirty reaction broadcast on Election Day 2020.
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Episode 146: How we line up against Wales and Panama from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.865177
It’s time for some national team soccer! Greg and Belz talk about how Berhalter might line up the boys versus Wales. The Panama lineup will flow, of course, from that. Hard to imagine a non-interes...
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Episode 150: December Camp from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.861860
Berhalter called in a young group of domestic players for a December national team camp, but no, it's not an Olympic camp, says Greg. This is just the new normal. The USMNT is young.
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Episode 151: El Salvador preview from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.861063
Greg takes a good look at this El Salvador team we face on Wednesday, and may well face in World Cup qualifying, and we try to answer a few patron questions.
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Episode 154: A January Camp Battle Royale from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.858555
Twelve senior team call-ups and a bunch of U23s angling to join them by the end of the month. Call it a Battle Royale.
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Episode 157: The T&T friendly, and a 3G mind-reading exercise from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.856254
We summed up the scoring, Greg ran a victory lap on Ferreira, and we tried to figure out what Gregg Berhalter might be thinking about a few key things. For a full tactical breakdown please visit th...
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Episode 160: The Olympic Qualifying Roster from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.853596
Lengthy discussion of who's in, who's out, how it compares to Jason Kreis's roster a year ago, and what a banger a true first-choice U23 roster would be. Also some discussion of the Jordan Morris's...
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#169: Nine USMNT takeaways from the March window from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.845655
Aaronson as an inside winger, Reyna and Musah as ball-hawking, ball-retention warriors, and much more. Also a couple patron questions.
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#172: The Big Summer Roster Episode from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.843235
A 4-game window for Nations League in late May and early June, and then a likely entirely different group of players for the Gold Cup in July. The Nations League roster is pretty easy to figure out...
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#177: USA-Honduras recap from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.838533
Long, detailed breakdown of the action from Denver.
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#178: USA-Mexico recap from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.837711
The first-ever Nations League final vs Mexico delivered! What a night! We've got a full recap including a detailed timeline and a few big picture thoughts.
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#182: Gold Cup roster reaction from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.834077
Lots of new faces, and a couple of faces we just can't quit. A look at Berhalter's 23-man roster for the Gold Cup, which kicks off for the U.S. on Sunday, July 11.
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#183: A transfers rundown and the Gold Cup group from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.833253
We talked about transfers -- the done ones and the undone ones. Then we got to the Gold Cup. The Haiti match on Sunday is kind of the "big one," if there is such a thing. Berhalter should run out h...
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#189: USA-Mexico Gold Cup Final recap from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.828081
The US men faced Mexico in the second tournament final in less than two months, with a B squad and frankly nothing to lose.
#190: The dual national dilemma with Herc Gomez from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.827289
The latest news on the dual national front is that David Ochoa, the promising young Mexican-American goalkeeper who’s played for the US youth national teams since he was an adolescent and was the s...
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#194: Michael Lewis on away qualifiers in Concacaf from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.823560
Michael Lewis, the editor of Front Row Soccer and a reporting veteran of eight World Cups and seven Olympics, joins to talk about the USMNT playing away in Honduras, and other parts of Central Amer...
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#195: El Salvador-USA recap (WCQ1) from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.822483
The USA men opened their World Cup qualifying campaign in San Salvador on Thursday night. Full look at the meta-interpretations, full timeline, and an assessment of the team under Berhalter now.
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#196: USA-Canada recap (WCQ2) from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.821615
First home qualifier of the cycle, in Nashville, Tenn. Trouble in Music City.
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#204: October Window Rotations from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.780546
Who should play in which of the three upcoming games? Who shouldn't? We sketch out a very malleable plan for that.
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#205: Jamaica, Panama & Costa Rica previews with Jon Arnold from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.778826
Why was Michael Antonio invisible vs Panama in Kingston? Is Panama for real without Andrade and Carrasquilla? When is geriatric Costa Rica gonna give youth a chance? Lots to dig into from Jon Arnol...
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#206: Office Hours, Vol. 2 — Jamaica gameday, Busio song, legislatures, etc. from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.584857
Almost too much to summarize. Edgar Moreno and Watke join Belz for a sprawling conversation and the release of a new song about Busio.
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#207: USA v Jamaica recap (WCQ4) from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.583949
A pleasant night in Austin, even without Pulisic and Reyna. Ricardo Pepi season is in full swing. Musah is a huge asset. Dest and Robinson playing well.
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#215: Monday Review — Wes scores again, Scally shines, Brooks gets a new coach from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.576956
A deep dive review of the USMNT player pool in action (or inaction) over the past week with Chris Russell (aka @watke_) and Jordan, the moderator of the Scuffed Discord (@NatFan9). We start with Ty...
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#216: The November WC qualifying roster from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.576162
No Brooks! No Luca! But Scally and Ferreira get the call and Pulisic returns. Greg and Belz walk through the squad that Berhalter has selected and pick XIs to face Mexico next Friday.
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#217: State of the men's youth national teams and upcoming U20 camp from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.575366
Matt Hartman joined to tick through the U20 player pool in detail, lay out the bumpy (at best) transition from the DA to MLS Next, gets enraged at me for suggesting Cade Cowell could be a right bac...
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#218: Monday Review — Big win for Adams, Tuchel wants Pulisic to control his emotions from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.574259
A run through roughly the Top 20 players in the US pool and how they did over the past week with Chris Russell and Jordan Boddie.
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#219: Mexico and Jamaica previews with Jon Arnold from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.573395
Jon Arnold gives us a deep dive on Mexico’s roster and Tata’s lineup choices ahead of Friday’s showdown, including the short-term problems in the back line and the long-term problems in the midfiel...
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#226: The dual national dilemma with political scientist José Marichal from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.566846
Marichal, a Cuban-American professor of political science at California Lutheran University, joins to talk about recognition, mis-recognition, identity, and some of the deeper themes underneath the...
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#227: Belated wrap-up of the U20 Revelations Cup from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.565964
Matt Hartman graciously joins again to talk through what we can have possibly learned about the U20s after their three matches against Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. This one's for the diehards.
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#228: The December camp roster from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.565087
Quick reaction from Greg and Belz on the 26 players called up for Camp Candy Cane, including the apparent lack of experimentation in midfield. Greg also goes on a rant about St. Paul as a location ...
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#229: Monday Review — Marsch out, Gio in training, Konrad v Brenden, Matt v Zack, etc. from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.564113
Belz, Watke and Vince in Louisville convene for a new look Monday Review and we think you'll probably like it. A full rundown of all the news that's fit to talk about with the USMNT this week.
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#236: Monday Review — Puli v Liverpool, Pepi to Augsburg, Dike to West Brom from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.557268
A transfer window and listener question-heavy episode with Watke and Vince and Belz.
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#237: Interview with Vince Ganzberg on coaching youth soccer from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.556481
Vince Ganzberg, the associate director of coaching education for United Soccer Coaches, talks youth soccer coaching, coaching philosophy, and the place of college sports in American soccer.
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#247: Tuesday Review — Honduras pre-game, Canada rumination from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.546713
Belz from Minneapolis, Vince from Louisville, Watke from New York wind their way through an extended discussion of Pulisic, the striker position, Canada, Miles Robinson, Alberth Elis's baffling pre...
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#248: USA v Honduras recap (WCQ11) from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.545794
A crazy night in St. Paul. Luca gets his shot. Striker position remains unsettled. Set pieces carry the day.
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#249: Monday Review — Reyna’s return, Walker’s goal celebrations, Aaronson’s spot from 2022-02-22T09:37:22.544786
Belz, Vince and Watke run through the weekend's action and take several listener questions.
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#254: Interview with Eryk Williamson from 2022-02-21T03:49:04
On the brink of his return from an ACL injury last August that sidelined him for all of World Cup qualifying, Portland Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson joins the pod to talk about cold showers in...
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#253: Herdman’s secret plans & Berhalter’s last interview from 2022-02-18T03:57:35
Greg and Belz got a pretty detailed look into Canada's tactical approach from a couple of private video presentations conducted by John Herdman, which were leaked to us. We talk through those and t...
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#252: Interview with Jay Hernandez from 2022-02-17T07:00:57
Jay Hernandez, low-key one of the easier-on-the-ears pundits in this U.S. men's national team niche of ours, joins the pod to talk about the upcoming window, his path to USMNT fandom, his experienc...
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#251: Monday Review — Signs of life from Pulisic, striker watch, fullback watch from 2022-02-14T21:06:09
Watke, Vince and Belz talk through a middling weekend of action for Americans abroad.
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#250: USMNT transfer window recap from 2022-02-10T18:33:34
Greg and Belz talk their way through the transfers of the past window, everything from George Bello to Arminia Bielefeld to Kobe Hernandez-Foster to HamKam, with a special focus on the players who ...
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#246: Canada v USA recap (WCQ10) from 2022-01-31T21:50
The rollercoaster ride continues, and it's gonna continue through at least the middle of the next window.
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#245: USA v El Salvador recap (WCQ9) from 2022-01-28T23:50:45
We (Greg and Belz) go long on the game in Columbus, and what we think we learned.
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#244: El Salvador, Canada & Honduras previews with Jon Arnold from 2022-01-25T17:50:04
Jon Arnold gives us a closer look at how things look from the El Salvador, Canada and Honduras points of view, and also a quick update on Panama.
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#243: Monday Review — The qualifying window is upon us from 2022-01-24T22:20:37
The Brooks omission, Weah's blessed return, Dest getting scraps from Xavi, and Sargent's move on the parabola with Watke and Vince, all in the context of El Salvador on Thursday to kick off what Be...
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#242: Roster Reaction from 2022-01-21T23:43:57
The pivotal window of World Cup qualifying is upon us and Gregg Berhalter announced his roster today. Greg and Belz get into it. Don't worry, we don't spend much time kvetching.
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#241: Monday Review — Pepi starts, Dike debuts, Sargent gets a W from 2022-01-18T00:56:01
Vince, Watke and Belz walk through the weekend of the inconclusive American striker, plus McKennie's continued excellent form, a question about whether Pulisic should be considered an elite talent,...
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#240: Interview with Luca de la Torre from 2022-01-17T16:53:27
Heracles Almelo midfielder Luca de la Torre, hoping for a USA call-up this week, talks about the evolution of his game under Frank Wormuth, the Fulham years, the key to ball security, and his abili...
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#239: The roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers from 2022-01-13T21:11
El Salvador, Canada and Honduras await, and about half the USMNT player pool hasn't seen a ton of action lately. Greg and Belz talk through it all, with Greg diving into how the spreadsheets on how...
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#238: Monday Review — Thriller in Rome, Pepi’s debut, DeJuan Jones & Alex Mendez from 2022-01-10T20:05:16
A rundown of the action from the weekend with Vince, Watke and Belz. McKennie plays a key role in a huge win for Juventus, Pepi debuts for Augsburg, Dest's camp signals he wants to stay in Barcelon...
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#235: Annual Review 2021 from 2021-12-30T11:00
Vince, Belz and Watke convene to run through some winter break news, hand out annual awards for the USMNT in 18 categories, and spotlight the top 5 moments of 2021. Happy New Year!
#234: Jonathan Gómez interview from 2021-12-21T18:05:02
Jonathan Gómez, the 18-year-old left back who played for Louisville City in 2021, joins the podcast. He discusses his USMNT debut vs Bosnia, his pending move to La Liga club Real Sociedad, his conv...
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#233: Monday Review — McKennie returns, calendar year records, coolness from 2021-12-20T20:04:08
Let's be honest. Things are slowing down. Vince, Watke and Belz convene to talk about how much the 17-win record means, reassess USMNT player coolness, and review the action from the past week. Use...
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#232: USA v Bosnia recap from 2021-12-19T17:13:58
Quick recap of USA-Bosnia, the final USMNT match of 2021.
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#231: How to solve the midfield sans MMA, plus a look ahead to Bosnia from 2021-12-16T21:04:20
What do you do if McKennie, Musah and Adams are unavailable? We run through a lot of the possibilities, settle on some pretty clear (and perhaps obvious) favorite options, and then talk about what ...
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#230: Monday Review — Dest’s rough patch, bing bong, Ledezma’s return, etc. from 2021-12-13T21:09:12
Vince, Watke and Belz convene for the Monday Review, a full rundown of the news of the week, the action of the USMNT player pool in the past week, and a handful of listener questions.
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#225: Monday Review — St. Paul in February, new Top 40, leaked kits from 2021-11-29T19:39:17
Quick recap of the latest USMNT news and the action from the weekend with Watke and NatFan9. We covered St. Paul's weather in February, ranch sauce on pizza, Tim Weah's excellent form, etc. etc.
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#224: Monday Review — Pulisic False 9s, McKennie flies, the Busio Discourse from 2021-11-22T19:15:10
Quick recap of the weekend's action for Yanks Abroad with Belz, Watke and Jordan. Join the Discord so you can vote in the next power rankings and determine the format of the Monday Review episodes.
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#223: USA v Jamaica recap (WCQ8) from 2021-11-17T23:45:55
Weah, Antonio, goalkeeping minutia. MMA midfield alternatives, a bad field, a bit of a wilt, and a 1-1 draw in Jamaica. Lots to talk about it turns out.
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#222: More Dos a Cero revelry + the rest of Concacaf with Watke from 2021-11-15T21:29:57
The anthem, placing this victory in historical context, the eye-gouging incident, Mexican newspapers, Panama's miracle comeback, Canada's win, Jamaica's draw and a little bit on the U20s.
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#221: USA v Mexico recap (WCQ7) from 2021-11-13T22:20:57
Time to bask in the glow of a historic night in Cincinnati.
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#220: Quick US-focused USA-Mexico preview from 2021-11-10T19:01:40
Greg and Belz talk about what they'd like to see in the massive match on Friday, and what they'd rather not see.
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#214: TSS Crossover Part 1 — USMNT questions galore from 2021-10-28T19:41:10
Taylor Rockwell and Joe Lowery of the Total Soccer Show join Greg and Belz to discuss Berhalter’s regret about the Panama lineup, the US men’s midfield, how to play away Concacaf qualifiers, midfie...
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#213: Office Hours, Vol. 5 — U20 camp, Captain Turner's Rebellion from 2021-10-27T19:04:30
Watke and Belz talk briefly about the U20 player pool, Carli Lloyd's retirement from international soccer, interview the people behind Captain Turner's Rebellion, and take a bunch of questions.
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#212: 9 things we learned in the last international window from 2021-10-21T19:41:24
Anywhere from 8 to 12 things we learned in the October window, including the preeminence of the MMA midfield, the ascendance of Antonee Robinson and our strong depth on the wing.
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#211: Office Hours, Vol. 4 — Songs and chants, Pepi, chess, nicknames, etc. from 2021-10-20T18:31:29
A highly-focused investigation of several a baker's dozen soccer-adjacent topics, including a philosophy of songs and chants, the paucity of USMNT nicknames, a rough power ranking of chess ability ...
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#210: USA v Costa Rica recap (WCQ6) from 2021-10-15T05:56:13
A massive timeline full of triangles, goalkeeping questions, the MMA midfield, key moments in the final 22 yards, and overall a good strong showing from the first team of the USMNT.
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#209: Office Hours -- Is the USMNT fanbase the worst in the world? from 2021-10-14T03:19:59
Watke and Belz talk about a few different things live on Discord. Very little about Costa Rica.
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#208: Panama v USA recap (WCQ5) from 2021-10-11T19:07:27
Fecklessness in Panama City. Full timeline and then Greg goes in on Gregg in the final 15 minutes. You won't want to miss that.
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#203: Office Hours, Vol. 1 — Live roster reaction, the golden age of piracy, etc. from 2021-09-29T18:12:04
Chris Russell (aka @watke_) joins for a live roster reaction on the Discord, a dive into the philosophy of little brothers, a look at the first ever pirate and the ballad mongers who made him famou...
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#202: The October Qualifying Roster from 2021-09-27T19:53:28
We talk about who we'd like to see called up, and try to project who actually will be called up. Greg goes for a lean roster, Belz goes for the full 30-man roster. Berhalter's roster will come out ...
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#201: TSS x Scuffed Crossover Part 2 from 2021-09-22T13:03:11
This is the second part of a more than two-hour collaboration with Joe Lowery and Taylor Rockwell. Part 1 is in the Total Soccer Show feed. For this episode we just kept that conversation going and...
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#200: Buzz Carrick on all things FC Dallas from 2021-09-17T18:32:35
The founder of 3rddegree.net, Buzz Carrick, who knows more about FC Dallas than anyone, joins to talk about Pepi, Pomykal, Ferreira, Che, the academy pipeline, the connection with Bayern Munich and...
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#199: Grant Wahl on covering the Octagonal from 2021-09-13T19:52:21
Wahl has launched a new Substack and he's cranking out podcasts, and short and long pieces, as he covers all 14 of the USMNT's World Cup qualifiers in person. He joins to talk about San Salvador, N...
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#198: Monday Recap from 2021-09-13T16:29:58
Jordan (our esteemed Discord moderator) joins Belz for a quick rundown of the club action in the player pool. These have typically been available only to patrons, but I might start putting them on ...
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#197: Honduras-USA recap (WCQ3) from 2021-09-10T05:57:09
Berhalter disasterclass in the first half, followed by three good changes at the half and a rout of Honduras in San Pedro Sula. What a crazy night, with an 18-year-old Mexican-American from El Paso...
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#193: The September roster, rotations and exhortations from 2021-08-26T19:56:06
Berhalter called up 26 players for the first three World Cup qualifiers of the 2022 cycle. The time has come! We discuss the selections (mostly pleased) and spend quite a bit of time trying to figu...
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#192: September World Cup qualifiers roster projection from 2021-08-23T20:42:49
Who is Berhalter likely to select, who could be his cute selection, and who do we wish he'd select that he probably won't. The overlap between Berhalter's choices and ours is much heavier than it w...
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#191: El Salvador, Canada & Honduras previews with Jon Arnold from 2021-08-17T19:03:25
The US faces El Salvador, Canada and Honduras in the first window of the Ocho, the first week of September. Jon Arnold, arguably the leading expert on Concacaf as a region, joins to help us underst...
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#188: USA-Qatar recap from 2021-07-30T20:05:04
The US faced the Asian champs in the semifinals of the Gold Cup. A well-organized opponent with ways to score goals. We came out with the same lineup that battled its way to a 1-0 win over Jamaica....
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#187: USA-Jamaica recap from 2021-07-26T19:41:43
Back to the 4-3-3 with Sands, Busio, Hoppe and Dike getting the nod in a knockout quarterfinal in the Gold Cup. Full chronology and more.
#186: USA v Canada recap from 2021-07-19T18:59:52
A two-striker setup for the first time in the Berhalter era! Yay! Plus we talk about injury replacements, and then suggest fantastical non-injury-related roster changes.
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#185: USA v Martinique recap from 2021-07-16T20:43:02
Classic Gold Cup group stage contest, with a fun lineup in a 3-4-3 of sorts.
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#184: USA-Haiti recap from 2021-07-12T19:21:08
Yueill and Lewis start, Busio makes his NT debut, Shaq Moore comes back into the picture, and the Gold Cup is underway.
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#181: Gold Cup roster wishlist and projection from 2021-06-24T20:30:58
Long episode on the Gold Cup roster, who we’d like to see from the 60-man preliminary roster, and who we think Berhalter is likely to select.
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#180: A Nations League sh*thousing review w/Watke from 2021-06-14T18:51:24
Not a very serious episode, as you might imagine, but I'd argue it's a practical matter, especially with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon. Chris Russell (aka @watke_) joins to talk about the big...
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#179: USA-Costa Rica recap from 2021-06-10T19:05:56
A sunny evening for a victory lap in Sandy, Utah. Wingers with ideas, a hold-up striker, and Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah in the midfield.
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#176: Switzerland-USA recap from 2021-05-31T18:06:16
A mostly full-strength USMNT faced a solid European team away. What did we learn? @USMNTvideos (Sanjiv Damadoran) joins Greg and Belz to pick through it.
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#175: Now is a good time to pay attention to the U.S. men’s national team from 2021-05-25T20:21:01
A sharable opening 10 minutes in which we try to persuade casuals to start paying attention to a USMNT program that up until today has mostly produced bad news. Also a dive on the Nations League ro...
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#174: Switzerland Roster Reaction, and the big summer ahead from 2021-05-21T18:27
It's all coming to a head, and the upcoming Nations League window is a dress rehearsal for World Cup qualifying to which we should all pay close attention. Plus our reaction to a very pleasant rost...
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#173: Patron questions on strikers, Berhalter competence and NT logistics from 2021-05-14T16:41:15
We solicited questions on the Scuffed Podcast Patreon and got a lot. Matt Hartman joined to plow through as many as possible. There were five categories: The Number Nine, Berhalter’s competence, Br...
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#171: Catch-up week, Chris Richards, Justin Che and Caden Clark from 2021-04-23T20:11:16
News roundup led off by Richards' big performances lately, and two new features: Fourth Eights and Second Sixes. We'll see if they last into next week.
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#170: Nine U.S. players to watch this MLS season from 2021-04-15T20:10:55
OK we talked about more than nine, but we tried to keep it pretty focused on players who have a chance to contribute to the USMNT in this World Cup cycle. Competition ahead of them, and fit in Berh...
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#168: Friendly — Northern Ireland v USA from 2021-03-29T20:28:43
An A squad minus McKennie, Weah, Adams, Brooks and a few others went to Belfast to play a Championship-caliber Northern Ireland squad.
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Episode 166: Olympic Qualifying — USA v Mexico from 2021-03-26T20:45:38
Third group game. Result didn't particularly matter but it was a high-intensity match and there was still stuff to learn.
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Episode 165: Friendly — USA v Jamaica from 2021-03-26T20:36:51
A long one on a game full of encouraging stuff.
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Episode 164: Olympic Qualifying — USA v the Dominican Republic from 2021-03-22T19:00:03
Second group game in Guadalajara for the U23s. Full timeline and analysis.
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Episode 163: Olympic Qualifying — USA v Costa Rica from 2021-03-19T20:29:45
No spoilers. You just gotta listen to the episode.
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Episode 162: European Camp roster discussion from 2021-03-16T19:30:54
We take a look at who's likely to be called in, and who we'd like to see called in, for a tight two-game window with matches against Jamaica and Northern Ireland. Likely going to be two different t...
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Episode 161: Olympic qualifying preview from 2021-03-12T19:56:28
Big picture the USMNT player pool is in great shape, but Jason and the boys have their work cut out for them over the next couple weeks. We make some points about that and take a good look at Costa...
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Episode 158: February USMNT Top 40 from 2021-02-11T20:42:48
We finally did it. Sort of. There's a twist. But I think you'll enjoy the full rundown of the player pool.
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Episode 156: January Camp/European Campaign check-in from 2021-01-26T20:05:13
It's been a while so we talked about the latest cuts from January Camp ahead of the T&T friendly on Sunday, and checked in on the ever-expanding European pool.
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Episode 155: How one proud Mexican-American became a USMNT fan from 2021-01-15T18:27:43
This is a conversation with Beto Lopez, a good friend on Twitter. The story of his conversion from apathy to serious USMNT fandom in 2002 was fun for me to hear. We also discussed Eddie Guerrero, t...
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Episode 153: Sell sell sell! MLS's pleasant evolution from 2020-12-18T20:53:56
We talk about the reported Bryan Reynolds to Roma deal, him as a player, what it means for the national team, and a BUNCH of other stuff as we took on a baker's dozen or so questions from Twitter. ...
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Episode 152: USA v El Salvador from 2020-12-11T20:02:39
Gleanings from an ephemeral night in Fort Lauderdale.
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Episode 149: Interview with Chris Clark, Caden's dad from 2020-11-20T15:56:41
Chris Clark, the father of 17-year-old prospect Caden Clark, joins the pod. Caden, an attacking midfielder for New York Red Bulls, probably made as much noise as any young player in MLS this season...
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Episode 148: USA v Panama, Concacaf in Austria from 2020-11-17T21:39:43
It was a Concacaf meeting in Wiener Neustadt, southern Austria. Second friendly syndrome. Despite all the goals and the young debuts, it just didn’t have the same pop as that 0-0 draw against Wales...
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Episode 147: Wales v USA — the full treatment from 2020-11-13T18:37:52
Might not be interesting to most of the world, but it sure was interesting to us! Debuts galore, we pressed, we built out with something like a 2-3-5. As Greg says in the pod, it’s almost like we’r...
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Episode 144: November USMNT camp roster projection from 2020-10-28T20:26:41
We talk about who we prefer to be called in for what we hope will be two friendlies next month in Europe. As usual, we would be happy with lots of different possibilities. Just can’t wait for a USM...
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Episode 143: USMNT vs El Tri, position by position from 2020-10-14T20:18:19
We watched El Tri so you didn’t have to, and we have some reports. Also, a wishlist of players we would have liked to see in a domestic October camp.
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Episode 141: McKennie, Adams & Reyna shine, so let’s talk Berhalter’s midfield from 2020-09-24T06:02:47
Big weekends for McKennie, Adams and Reyna, and a lot of people think they should be our three-man midfield. Not so fast, says Greg Velasquez. We go deep in the weeds on the midfield setup, Reyna’s...
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Episode 140: The September USMNT Top 40 from 2020-09-14T21:47:51
One through forty. Pure science. From Christian Mate Pulisic to Shaquell Kwame Moore. Sprinkled with discussion of our centerback situation (an embarrassment of riches when it comes to average cent...
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Episode 139: Big weekend ahead for Yanks abroad from 2020-09-11T05:11:12
Competitions kick off in England, Germany and Holland. France's Ligue 1 already underway. Italy next week. Did you know McKennie plays for Juventus now? Plus cargo shorts and a Dutch-Calvinist theo...
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Episode 137: Tutul Rahman on the USL-MLS transfer market disconnect from 2020-08-24T17:53:58
Tutul (@tutulismyname) walks us through the mechanics of why it’s difficult for an MLS team to pick up a USL prospect like Jose Gallegos or Jonathan Gomez. He also talked about why FC Dallas has go...
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Episode 136: Nine young Americans worth watching in USL from 2020-08-19T17:01:36
The busiest domestic league right now is the United Soccer League, the USL. Matt Hartman (@MattSHartman) joins the pod to discuss nine young Americans honing their craft in the league, and the stil...
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Episode 135: Way too early projection of the Summer 2021 rosters from 2020-08-14T15:06:15
Gregg Berhalter will likely need substantially different squads for World Cup qualifiers in June, for the Olympics and for the Gold Cup next summer. There’s also likely to be a U20 World Cup in May...
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Episode 133: A bunch of MLS is Back scouting reports from 2020-07-31T21:24:31
We dive deep (and occasionally not-so-deep) on 14 USMNT-eligible players who’ve been busy at Disney World over the past month.
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Episode 132: A starting XI on Berhalter’s revised template from January from 2020-07-24T03:46:56
A center forward who drops deep to pick up the ball, wingers tucked into the channels, fullbacks bombing past them wide, two true box-to-box center mids and of course the deep-lying center mid dist...
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Episode 130: Return from COVID and a Bundesliga rundown from 2020-06-23T19:14:21
The bulk of this podcast is a discussion of the decisions facing Berhalter with World Cup qualifying thrown into uncertainty, and a run-down of what we’ve learned from the Bundesliga.
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Episode 128: A deep dive on the U20 player pool from 2020-05-13T05:10:11
Matt Hartman and Belz recorded almost 80 minutes on the (quite talented, imho) U20 player pool. The bad news is we had this conversation in early March. The good news? It’s up to date, since almost...
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Episode 127: TSS-Scuffed Collaboration part two -- Tyler Adams interpreting the #6 role and the USMNT's top scorer in 2020 from 2020-03-14T05:02:10
This is part 1 of the Total Soccer Show-Scuffed collaboration episode. Part one is in the Total Soccer Show feed. (Link below.)
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Episode 126: The Olympic qualifying roster — this time (the player pool) is different from 2020-03-10T22:42:44
We talk about the men's Olympic qualifying roster, Greg V goes on a rant about how much better the men’s U23 player pool is than at any time in US Soccer history, and we give a consensus XI for the...
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Episode 124: A March rosters breakdown from 2020-02-26T06:37:18
Olympic qualifying kicks off March 20 for the U-23s and the senior USMNT goes to Europe during an international window at the same time for friendlies against the Netherlands and Wales. Lots of mov...
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Episode 123: What’s John Pranjic’s problem with American soccer? from 2020-02-25T00:11:32
John Pranjic, the host of the 3four3 podcast, joins for a conversation about the need for promotion/relegation, his problem with most American soccer media, and the best USMNT XI right now. I made ...
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Episode 122: The February USMNT Top 40 from 2020-02-14T02:04:21
There’s enough in here for everyone to find a few things to disagree with. Enjoy! (And yes, Gio Reyna made the cut.)
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Episode 120: Abel Meszaros — a European view on Americans in the Bundesliga from 2020-01-28T17:04:50
Our guest today is Abel Meszaros, a newsletter writer, TV analyst and occasional guest on the Talking Fussball podcast whose specialty is German football. Abel does a weekly show for SportTV, the H...
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Episode 119: Ten good things that just happened for the USMNT from 2020-01-21T20:39:04
Tyler Adams dominant return to the RB Leipzig midfield and Gio Reyna's professional debut headline what's been a pretty encouraging run of news for the U.S. Men's National Team. We picked out 10 th...
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Episode 118: Brian McBride, a January news glut, and the “need-a-move” crew from 2020-01-13T22:50:14
We run down the big news of the past couple weeks, including Brian McBride’s hiring as USMNT general manager and Josh Sargent’s great weekend, and work through a list of American players who need o...
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Episode 117: January Camp! A new roster and a fresh batch of patron questions from 2019-12-31T21:24:46
We discuss the January Camp roster from bottom to top and try to answer several questions from patrons on Patreon. Not a bad episode! Happy New Year and thanks for listening.
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Episode 116: Taking stock of the year for the USMNT from 2019-12-13T22:09:51
We wrap up the year — what went right, what went wrong, what went reasonably ok. Actually a lot of good stuff happened! Mostly with the player pool.
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Episode 114: Young Americans in MLS season wrap-up with Matt Doyle from 2019-11-27T06:55:08
Who played, who played well, and who has a future with the USMNT? Freed from the constraints of things like “producers” and “brevity” and “Andrew Wiebe,” MLSsoccer.com analyst Matt Doyle joins the...
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Episode 113: Cuba 0, USA 4, and a wrapup of the int’l window from 2019-11-21T04:44:40
A "professional" win in the Cayman Islands. Where do we stand now? Are we still trying to disorganize the opponent with the ball? Is that possible with the players Berhalter seems to prefer? Not ou...
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Episode 112: USA 4, Canada 1, and a new defensive shape from 2019-11-17T08:48:14
The USMNT defeated Canada 4-1 on Friday. The big news is Berhalter dramatically adjusted his defensive tactics. Meanwhile, the boys still can't play out of the back. Dest is cap-tied. Lots to cover...
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Episode 111: USA v Canada, a referendum on Berhalter only in our minds from 2019-11-13T05:06:38
We do actually think of a couple tweaks Berhalter could make that would inject this game with some hope and joy. Before that we talk about Earnie Stewart’s assessment of Berhalter’s performance in ...
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Episode 108: U17 World Cup — USA v Japan review from 2019-10-31T08:00:14
Joe Lowery (aka @joeInCleats) joins the pod to talk about the US U17s’ second group stage match, this one against Asian champion Japan.
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Episode 107: A primer on some of U.S. Soccer’s dysfunction, including its problem with Latinos, from Mike Woitalla from 2019-10-29T05:00:58
Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, who broke the story about the Youth Soccer Diversity Task Force that includes almost zero people of Latino descent, joins the podcast. He disc...
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Episode 106: U17 World Cup — USA v Senegal review from 2019-10-28T06:28:10
Chris Russell, aka @watke_ on Twitter, joins to recap the USA's first group stage match at the U17 World Cup.
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Episode 105: A 5-step (at least) plan for Berhalter to rescue his tenure as USMNT coach from 2019-10-22T20:26:29
We lay out some loosely-numbered ideas for Gregg Berhalter to get this thing turned around, and then conclude that it's very unlikely and implausible. We also briefly discuss the U17s ahead of the ...
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Episode 104: Canada 2, USA 0, and Berhalter takes the USMNT to a new low from 2019-10-16T06:04:12
Horrible night in Toronto. Failure, embarrassment. Once again the citizens of the United States of America are encouraged to forget about the U.S. men's national team entirely, and comprehensive ir...
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Episode 103: USA v Cuba review from 2019-10-12T05:09:16
The first Nations League game ever for the USMNT was in D.C. against Cuba. No spoilers, this is our quick review of the match.
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Episode 100: An interview with LAFC academy director Todd Saldaña from 2019-09-27T19:52:03
Todd Saldaña joins for a wide-ranging discussion on the early success of the Los Angeles Football Club academy, how they're developing players, what kind of outreach they've received from the Mexic...
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Episode 99: The September USMNT Top 40 from 2019-09-20T15:33:33
It’s actually a Top 45 because we broke goalkeepers into their own category. We do the goalkeepers, lay out some rationale because we think a lot of people will dispute our ranking, and then go 1 t...
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Episode 98: USA v Uruguay, the friendliest of friendlies from 2019-09-11T19:12:49
It was a hot, sleepy night in St. Louis, but by golly we learned stuff. Different challenge, different lineup. We break down the big moments of the game and assess individual performances.
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Episode 95: Berhalter announces his roster for the September USMNT friendlies from 2019-08-28T19:46:15
Dest, Pomykal, Sargent! World Cup qualifying is now officially 12 months away and it's time to buckle down. Full breakdown of the roster, some preferred lineup discussion, and a dose of what lineup...
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Episode 94: The roster for the upcoming Mexico and Uruguay friendlies from 2019-08-21T05:22:10
We start up top at striker and work our way back to goalkeeper, giving our preferred rosters. And then we talk about Berhalter's likely roster, which is not entirely the same.
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Episode 93: Earnie Stewart’s new job, Kremlinology, and 4 young players Berhalter should call up soon from 2019-08-14T04:14:56
Earnie Stewart has a new job, Kate Markgraf has a new job, and we've got clips from the conference call with them and Carlos Cordeiro as they discussed their new roles. Greg and Belz get into that ...
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Episode 91: An early look at the player pool for the *next* U20 World Cup cycle from 2019-07-31T06:12:33
A deep dive into the pool of players born in 2001 or later, and thus eligible for the 2021 U20 World Cup. Joey Anthone (@USAprospects) and Matt Hartman (@MattSHartman) join me to give an early look...
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Episode 90: An interview with Raphaël Wicky, coach of the U.S. U17 men's national team from 2019-07-25T04:28:31
The U17 World Cup starts in three months! Wicky kicks off a camp in California this week as he and the boys prepare for the tournament in Brazil. He discussed how the team improved at the Concacaf...
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Episode 89: 17-yr-old LA Galaxy right back Julian Araujo joins the pod from 2019-07-23T18:19:18
Our guest today is Julian Araujo, the young, pacey, aggressive right back for the Los Angeles Galaxy, the U.S. U20s, the U.S. U23s and hopefully, soon, the USMNT. He’s a top right back prospect who...
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Episode 88: Club status run-down for the European USMNT pool from 2019-07-17T05:45:59
First, Greg gives his 5 biggest needs for the USMNT roster, and Belz lists his preferred changes ahead of the fall international calendar. Then we hustle through the European player pool, talk abou...
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Episode 87: A Gold Cup postmortem and look forward from 2019-07-10T04:43:35
A long episode breaking down the loss to Mexico, the opening flurry from the US, the gradual annexation of the game by Mexico, and that 20-minute period of utter helplessness in the second half cul...
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Episode 84: Gold Cup — USA v Panama review with Henry Bushnell from 2019-06-27T18:10:27
Henry Bushnell, a sportswriter for Yahoo Sports who covers soccer regularly, joins to break down the USMNT's final group stage match at the Gold Cup. Rotation, rotation, rotation. But did we learn ...
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Episode 83: Gold Cup — USA v Trinidad review from 2019-06-24T21:48:42
You know the drill. Lengthy chances and scoring summary, followed by a series of thoughts on what the game taught us. In this case, we pose several questions and answer some of them.
Episode 82: Gold Cup — USA v Guyana review from 2019-06-19T08:12:16
No spoilers! Except that Gyasi Zardes was in the starting lineup, Greg and Belz got loose for the game, and then they recorded real late at night.
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Episode 81: Interview with Eric Quill, head coach of North Texas SC from 2019-06-17T19:52:59
FC Dallas has arguably the best academy in Major League Soccer. Four players who came through its doors were on the 21-man U.S. roster at the U20 World Cup in Poland. The national teams at younger ...
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Episode 80: U20 stock report, and the USMNT stumbles into the Gold Cup from 2019-06-12T15:57:24
Velasquez and Belz go through the U20 World Cup roster in detail and assess each player’s performance, their likelihood of breaking into the USMNT and the likely timing of that breakthrough, when a...
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Episode 76: U20 World Cup — USA v Qatar review with Brian Sciaretta from 2019-05-30T22:01:10
This is going to be more encouraging than you think. Brian joined me from his car, in the middle of a New Jersey thunderstorm. He made a good point about McKenzie starting at right back and project...
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Episode 75: U20 World Cup — USA v Nigeria review with Daryl Grove from 2019-05-27T23:36:29
The U.S. U20s faced Nigeria in a game that was, if not must-win, at least a must-draw. The Total Soccer Show's Daryl Grove, a great friend of Scuffed since the beginning, took time to join Belz to ...
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Episode 74: U20 World Cup — Ukraine v USA review from 2019-05-24T22:23:36
No spoilers here, but we talk about the game and the game ahead against Nigeria. Tab trotted out a lineup with some head-scratchers against a very tough and organized Ukraine side. Possession for t...
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Episode 73: Sorting through all these USMNT rosters, and a U20s v Ukraine preview from 2019-05-23T05:18:41
Greg makes his long-awaited return to the pod, and we’ve got the 40-man provisional roster for the Gold Cup and a summer training camp roster to pick through. Then we quickly preview the U.S. v Ukr...
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Episode 72: Deep dive on our U20 World Cup group opponents — Ukraine, Nigeria & Qatar from 2019-05-14T04:21:04
Opposition research! This week we hear from journalists on three continents about the nations the U.S. U20s will face in the group stage in Poland. Vadim Furmanov, a Ukrainian-American living in No...
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Episode 69: GA Cup/MLS academies breakdown with Bobby Warshaw and David Gass from 2019-04-27T19:57:22
Warshaw and Gass called much of Generation Adidas Cup from the booth, the spoke to a lot of the coaches, and they’re brimming over with thoughts about the tournament, which saw its first ever MLS a...
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Episode 68: David Ochoa joins the pod, plus the U17 World Cup qualifying roster reaction with Hartman from 2019-04-25T05:28:55
Real Monarchs, RSL and U.S. U20 goalkeeper David Ochoa joins the pod to talk about how he learned to be a goalkeeper from his dad, his path from Oxnard, Calif., to Chivas, to Real Salt Lake, his de...
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Episode 67: Chris Gloster on his year in Germany, the U20 World Cup & racism rearing its head in soccer from 2019-04-18T17:12
Chris Gloster, the left back for the Hannover U23s and the U.S. U20s, joins the pod to talk about his 2018 move to Germany, the transition to life there and his development as a player. He discusse...
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Episode 66: The USL pathway w/Darren Powell, plus Kleiban's ouster and Leyva’s signing from 2019-04-11T05:34:03
San Antonio FC head coach and technical director Darren Powell joins the pod to talk about the signings of teenage attackers Ethan Bryant and Leo Torres to the club, the viability of USL as a pathw...
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Episode 64: USA 1, Chile 1, and no Trinity, a bit of a slog, lessons learned from 2019-03-28T03:53:10
The U.S. played to a draw with Chile on Tuesday night, and the match is actually kind of hard to summarize. It wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t great. We were missing Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams and ...
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Episode 63: An interview with Paxton Pomykal, the 19-yr-old FC Dallas midfielder from 2019-03-26T05:20:09
Paxton Pomykal was a standout performer for the U.S. U20s at the Concacaf Championship, and the creative central midfielder has come out swinging in 2019 for FC Dallas. He's started 3 of 4 games fo...
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Episode 62: USA 1, Ecuador 0, and a low-block test of patient possession from 2019-03-22T07:29:50
The U.S. beat Ecuador 1-0 in Orlando on Thursday night. It was not a match that quickened the pulse, but the U.S. out-possessed Ecuador, a respectable South American opponent, 62 to 38, and Berhalt...
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Episode 61: Ecuador on Thursday, Berhalter’s pedagogy, and a U20 roster from 2019-03-19T05:21:23
Greg lays out his best rationale for the roster decisions that had us scratching our heads last week. We try to predict Berhalter's starting XI vs Ecuador (we recorded before it was reported that A...
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Episode 60: Roster Reaction -- Berhalter shades domestic and old with his March call-ups from 2019-03-13T05:23
Gregg Berhalter announced and explained his 24-man roster for friendlies later this month against Ecuador and Chile. First big chance for Berhalter to have the full squad at his disposal and he lea...
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Episode 58: Young Americans in MLS preview with Matt Doyle from 2019-02-27T03:00
The 2019 MLS season kicks off this weekend. Ready yourself with a thorough look at which young Americans to watch for in the league. Matt Doyle of MLSsoccer.com joins the pod to help invent some ca...
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Episode 57: Mark McKenzie joins the pod, then a pool report and news rundown from 2019-02-22T19:39
19-year-old (almost 20-yr-old) centerback Mark McKenzie joins the pod for a conversation about centerbacking, his breakout 2018 for the Philadelphia Union, January Camp, and the U20s' dominant show...
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Episode 56: Mea Culpas, and three burning USMNT questions from 2019-02-12T05:44
Belz goes under the knife for his garbage predictions about Miazga and Weah, and then the hosts discuss three key questions about the USMNT in the interim between January Camp and the March friendl...
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Episode 53: USA 3, Panama 0, and a positive start to the Gregg Berhalter era from 2019-01-28T07:58
Yes it was a Panama B team, but the U.S. is likely to face several similar sides at the Gold Cup in June, and the win on Sunday was a coherent, competent, even dominant, performance. Compared to US...
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Episode 52: The Bundesliga returns! A look ahead to the Panama friendly. France downs the USWNT. from 2019-01-23T06:55
We run down the action and inaction in Europe over the weekend, Greg explains what worried him about the USWNT’s 3-1 loss to France, and then we talk about who the 6 is going to be for the USMNT vs...
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Episode 51: An interview with Brian Kleiban, the LA Galaxy academy coach from 2019-01-17T05:54
LA Galaxy's academy is one of the top talent centers in American soccer, and U19 head coach Brian Kleiban is in the middle of it. He's now got former players all over the U.S. boys' youth national ...
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Episode 50: Sergino Dest joins the pod, and then a few spring predictions from 2019-01-16T06:41
Ajax and U.S. U20 right back Sergino Dest joins the podcast from the Netherlands for a chat. And then Greg and Belz gin up predictions mostly to honor this coming weekend's return of the Bundesliga.
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Episode 47: The Future Draft — picking teams of un-capped American U21s from 2018-12-26T07:06
Joey Anthone and Matt Hartman join for a draft of uncapped U-21 Americans with the goal of assembling hypothetical teams for the 2026 World Cup. The three of us each picked a 20-player roster (or 6...
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Episode 46: Preseason player pool worst case scenarios, revisited from 2018-12-18T06:41
In August, we recorded a catalog of worst case scenarios for USMNT players abroad in the first half of the European season. This week we check in on those (a disconcerting number came true). Then w...
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Episode 45: Catch-up week. Berhalter, January Camp, MLS Cup, Sargent’s debut goal from 2018-12-11T05:13
A lot happened over the past couple weeks in American soccer. We take it on piece by piece. Check the show notes.
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Episode 43: Tab Ramos joins the pod, plus a USMNT interim era wrap-up & a U20s breakdown from 2018-11-28T08:41
U.S. men's U20 coach and youth technical director Tab Ramos joins to talk about the Concacaf Championship and a few other things. Then Greg and Belz talk briefly about the Italy friendly, evaluate ...
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Episode 42: A U17 Player Pool Review ahead of the Nike Friendlies from 2018-11-20T06:42
Belz, Joey Anthone and Matt Hartman take a deep dive into the pool of players born in 2002 or later and therefore eligible for the U17 World Cup next year. We talk about how this age group stacks u...
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Episode 41: England 3, USA 0, and a tactical disaster-class from the Americans from 2018-11-17T02:04
It was a pretty bad performance from the Americans at Wembley, but hiring a coach should help. Don't worry. This is not as sad of an episode as you might think.
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Episode 40: Lining up the USMNT to face England at Wembley from 2018-11-13T23:12
The USA will face England on Thursday afternoon and Italy on Tuesday, and we’re here to talk about the roster and who we’d like to see in the starting XI. Might be the first time we get to see Puli...
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Episode 38: Richie Ledezma joins the pod, plus U20 World Cup qualifying and the USMNT roster for England and Italy from 2018-10-30T19:49
We roll through the American soccer news of the week -- MLS Decision Day, U20 World Cup qualifying, Sargentwatch and USWNT and USMNT rosters -- very quickly so we can get to an interview with Richi...
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Episode 37: Who can be the 10 in this 4-2-3-1? And Atlanta United 2 Coach Scott Donnelly joins the pod from 2018-10-24T05:52
The 4-3-2-1 seems to work better than the 4-1-4-1, but nobody’s claimed the central advanced midfield role. We run through the candidates, and the future candidates, for the job. Then we discuss th...
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Episode 36: USA 1, Peru 1 — All Hail the Youngs! A mostly encouraging night in Connecticut from 2018-10-17T21:44
The USA drew Peru in Hartford on Tuesday, but the big story was the US lineup. We got a starting front three of Jonathan Amon, Josh Sargent and Tim Weah. Reggie Cannon got his debut at right back. ...
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Episode 35: USA 2, Colombia 4 — We got whooped, but we learned quite a bit from 2018-10-12T17:57
The laboratory was humming Thursday night in Tampa when the USA lost 4-2 to Colombia, with Saief, Bradley, Green and Weah experiments underway, among others. What did we learn? How did the midfield...
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Episode 32: The U20 provisional roster is due in a week. Who's going to be on it? from 2018-09-26T05:24
U20 World Cup qualifying is now just over a month away. Special guest Joey Anthone (@USAprospects) and I do a bare-bones run through the roster options for Tab Ramos. We also discuss the format of ...
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Episode 31: The new USMNT starts to coalesce, and maybe finds a formation! Also, don't miss: Sounders academy chief Marc Nicholls joins the pod from 2018-09-18T05:27
Greg and I wrap up the last USMNT camp and what we learned -- it's quite a bit more positive than our reactions to the games themselves. Then we’ve got an interview with Marc Nicholls, director of ...
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Episode 30: USA 1, Mexico 0: A bad plan from Sarachan, and good Concacafing from Miazga from 2018-09-12T08:36
We won the game. It was not pretty. But Greg thinks we learned a lot. I just wish we’d learned how to get Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie to simultaneously thrive in the midfield, which we did not.
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Episode 27: Who should be called up for the Brazil and Mexico friendlies? from 2018-08-28T04:57
We’re back in our comfort zone and we’ve got a roster episode. The men’s national team faces Brazil on Sept. 7 and Mexico on Sept. 11. We break down the options and in the process conduct a routine...
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Episode 26: Another look into the future with Joey Anthone — the upcoming Development Academy season from 2018-08-22T06:07
Games kick off Sept. 1 for the U19 regular season of the U.S. Development Academy. It is the ocean from which the youth player pool is largely drawn. Joey Anthone (@USAprospects) joins to detail h...
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Episode 25: The Cynic's Guide to the 2018-19 Season from 2018-08-15T06:24
A cold dose of hype kryptonite: worst case scenarios this season for the key Americans playing in Europe.
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Episode 23: An extended USMNT-in-the-Bundesliga season preview from 2018-07-31T18:37
We take a closer look at the league that has become the destination of choice for young American players by interviewing people who regularly talk or write about Werder Bremen, Hannover 96, Schalke...
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Episode 22: Seems like there are a lot of exciting young U.S. players. Is this time different? from 2018-07-27T05:15
European preseason is always a time of inflated hopes and dreams. Players getting chances, and fresh starts, and new contracts. We run down of a lot of the action, and then Greg breaks out some hal...
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Episode 21: U20-palooza! An encyclopedic look at the player pool as U20 World Cup qualifying looms from 2018-07-18T03:30
Joey Anthone (aka @USAProspects) joined the pod to comb through the U-20 player pool and we didn’t stop. Who will be available for November qualifying? We projected that. What are the biggest chall...
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Episode 20: Chris Durkin joins the pod, Jesse Marsch to Leipzig, and Yanks on the move from 2018-07-11T05:19
18-year-old DC United holding midfielder talks through how he thinks about his job on the pitch, his development as a player, and his assessment of the USMNT's World Cup qualifying failure, among o...
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Episode 18: Savior by committee for the USMNT (a shameless depth chart dweeb-out) from 2018-06-27T07:14
U.S. men’s soccer doesn’t need a savior. It needs savior by committee. We take the metaphor to within an inch of its life and run down the USMNT depth chart as we go. Later in the episode we talk b...
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Episode 17: Mexico’s singular Concacaf triumph, and USYNT striker Sebastian Soto joins the pod from 2018-06-19T18:39
Mexico beat Germany 1-0 and we break it down from a U.S. perspective, and then talk about the game, which was really good. Later in the episode, USYNT striker Sebastian Soto joins for an interview....
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Episode 16: Herc Gomez joins to talk El Tri in Russia, then a general Concacaf preview from 2018-06-14T04:09
Former USMNT striker and ESPN analyst Herc Gomez gets on the phone to discuss El Tri ahead of Sunday's showdown with Germany, then Greg and I talk Mexico, make quick work of Costa Rica and Panama a...
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Episode 15: France 1, USA 1, and a happy ending (hopefully) for the Sarachan era from 2018-06-12T05:12
Has American fight been restored? Greg thinks that's "garbage narrative stuff." Did Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie play well? Hmm, not really. But the kids got a result in France, we got a few sta...
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Episode 13: USA 3, Bolivia 0, our late night reactions from 2018-05-29T08:04
Pulisic didn't show up and neither did Bolivia, but everyone else did. Debut goal for Sargent. A goal for Weah in his first start. Strong stuff from Robinson at left back. McKennie was a man among...
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Episode 12: How to get the most out of this Bolivia friendly from 2018-05-23T05:33
We try to rough out a lineup for the Memorial Day friendly in Pennsylvania, and then discuss Efrain Alvarez, Tyler Adams to RB Leipzig, Peter Vermes' contention that U.S. Soccer doesn't have a pla...
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Episode 11: Who should be called up for the three upcoming USMNT friendlies? from 2018-05-18T05:21
We go down the list, and give our locks, our hopefuls, and the somewhat longer list of those we are ambivalent about getting called-up for the friendlies with Bolivia, Ireland and France.
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Episode 10: Vamos Mexico (and Costa Rica)! Why we're rooting for Concacaf in the World Cup from 2018-05-11T05:04
Buck up, America. It's time to root for Concacaf. With no USMNT to talk about in the World Cup, we're going to follow Mexico and Costa Rica, because a better Concacaf is better for us in the long ...
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Episode 8: Jacori Hayes joins the pod, a Michael Bradley forgiveness segment, and the sad end of Toronto's CCL run from 2018-04-27T05:46
FC Dallas midfielder Jacori Hayes joins for a great conversation on his path to MLS, the value of his USL experience last year, why he always tucks his shirt in and what he needs to do to get bette...
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Episode 7: An interview with Justen Glad, and then we get to the Revierderby and a *lengthy* discussion of Pulisic from 2018-04-20T21:26
Justen Glad joins the show for an interview, we talk about the Revierderby and the two Americans involved, and we get to our Major League Update, with special mention of the Atlanta United-NYCFC ma...
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Episode 6: Draft 2022! Belz and Dillon Payne go to fantasyland, pick dueling USMNT XIs for Qatar from 2018-04-11T03:50
With Greg stepping aside on this one because he's too much of a realist, I got on the horn with Dillon Payne (aka @DontTreadSoccer) and we held a draft to each pick a starting XI for the 2022 World...
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Episode 4: The U.S. beat Paraguay 1-0, and we darn well talked about it from 2018-03-28T06:46
Not much happened in the attacking third, but there was reason for encouragement. Good performances from Tyler Adams, Matt Miazga, Darlington Nagbe and Jorge Villafana, a solid showing by the midfi...
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Episode 3: The roster for the Paraguay friendly, starting XI ideas, and more good news from teenagers in MLS from 2018-03-21T04:54
The matter at hand is the friendly against Paraguay on Tuesday. We break down the roster and each give our ideal starting XI. Then we jump into MLS, chat about the upcoming Concacaf Champions Leagu...
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Episode 1: Arena's 3 big mistakes, and is a"braver"style for the USMNT even possible? from 2018-02-23T06:10
We talk about Bruce Arena's three biggest mistakes in World Cup qualifying, and go on a walkabout on the hiring of a new USMNT general manager and what a "braver," as Hugo Perez put it...
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Episode 1: Arena's 3 big mistakes, and is a"braver"style for the USMNT even possible? from 2018-02-23T06:10
We talk about Bruce Arena's three biggest mistakes in World Cup qualifying, and go on a walkabout on the hiring of a new USMNT general manager and what a "braver," as Hugo Perez put it...
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Episode 1: Arena's 3 big mistakes, and is a "braver" style for the USMNT even possible? from 2018-02-23T06:10
We talk about Bruce Arena's three biggest mistakes in World Cup qualifying, and go on a walkabout on the hiring of a new USMNT general manager and what a "braver," as Hugo Perez put it, type of Ame...
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