Wes scores again, Tyler Adams is Back, and Atletico Dallas Has a Manager

Welcome in. Hello. This is episode nine of the Sunset Soccer Club. I am Tyler Kern. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the show.
As always, there's just too much to talk about in the world of soccer, but we are 120 days from the 2026 World Cup kicking off right here on our shores in North America.
It's going to be incredible. We are ready for it. We are getting you prepared for it here with this show. It's why we've done eight episodes so far.
That's why we're going to keep doing them all the way up until and through the World Cup just to make sure that you have a base of knowledge for what the US is doing in the World Cup.
What some of these other teams are going to look like and everything in between. So it's been a busy week of soccer.
We would need a daily show to keep you updated with like everything going on in the world of soccer. So this is our best attempt on a weekly basis to get that done.
So without further ado or without further Freddie ado in the world of the Schengardian, let's dive into the kickoff.
Alright, shortened version of the kickoff today because we really just want to talk about a couple of things. First, the game of the weekend was Manchester City against Liverpool.
Now this match over the last several years has been a title decider, you know, one of those matches that the winner of it has always gone on to win the Premier League.
It feels like over the last, you know, five, six, seven years or so, not so this time around with Arsenal kind of really jumping up and, you know, sticking a claim to the top spot in the Premier League this year.
But Liverpool Manchester City still always gives the drama still brings just the crazy plays incredible goals.
You think about the the John Stones clearance off the line a couple of years ago that gave Manchester City the title in the end.
It was literally millimeters away from Liverpool scoring a goal in a match between these two teams a few years back and had Liverpool scored.
They would have won the league instead. Manchester City able to clear the ball off the line, just millimeters to spare.
They end up winning the league. That's how close these two teams have been over the last several years when it comes to splitting hairs between who's winning the Premier League between Manchester City and Liverpool.
But this time around, though, that's not the drama, but the stakes still always feel high between these two teams.
There's just so much history there now from the last few years that anytime these two teams play, it feels like big things happen and big goals and big momentous occasions are kind of tied in and looped in with this, this kind of budding in new rivalry.
And this game was no different. It featured an incredible free kick goal from Dominique Sub-Azloui, the midfielder turned kind of pseudo right back for Liverpool scored an absolute bang over free kick from well outside the box.
He's done that a couple of times this year. Just one of the better free kicks you're ever going to see. I just let out a scream. I was holding my son let out a scream as it went into the net and it scared him.
He started crying. It was it was a wild occasion. But what an incredible goal for Liverpool to make it 1-0. But then oh my gosh, Sub-Azloui goes from being the hero to being the villain for Liverpool all at once.
There's a penalty that's given away. Manchester City scores. It's and then Bernardo Silva scores another goal. It's it was just a really unfortunate ending for Liverpool to a game that looked so promising when they scored that goal.
But City scores two goals from the 85th minute on ends up winning this match two to one. It was an absolutely incredible match over the weekend. There have been games since then, but that's the one that's still on my mind and it feels like this is just the type of season Liverpool are having where they score an amazing goal.
The bounces don't go their way. The players that they've been relying on year in year out Van Dyke Sala to just be outstanding incredible players that lifts them a level above everybody else aren't doing that this year. And so what do you do if you're on a slot in this particular position?
I know that there are some people that are calling for his job. I just don't necessarily agree with that because I think you're in a really, really tough spot of trying to integrate these new players in.
I think guys like Hugo Agatique have done a great job of that. You're now seeing Florian Verts kind of at that doing what he is able to do and what I thought he was capable of doing when he was brought in from the Bundesliga, but you now have Florian Verts kind of integrating into the team well.
But these guys that have kind of been the stalwarts of Liverpool for so long now aren't playing the way that you would maybe expect them to especially given their success from last year.
So just a wild up and down season for Liverpool, not at all what anybody was expecting when they spent big in the transfer market over the summer after just winning the league handily last year.
It's been a wild ride. Manchester City gets the win on Sunday, two to one. Just in an incredible match. If you haven't gone back and watched the highlights of everything that goes on in that match, it's well worth your time.
You get a Sub-Azloy red card pulling down early in Holland in the box. I mean, there's just drama all over the place all the way through stoppage time. So you want to make sure to check out that the highlights of that one if you didn't catch it on Sunday as it happened.
I know, look, there's Olympics going on. The Super Bowl was going on on Sunday. You needed somebody to keep an eye on the soccer and that was that was me for you this weekend. So if you missed that one, go be sure to go check out the highlights of that.
And the second thing I wanted to touch on was the piece of news. They came out of Major League Soccer and it's not player related. It's media related and it is Matt Doyle a long time columnist, writer, podcaster, kind of do it all guy for MLS who's kind of gone under the moniker, the armchair analyst for the last 15 years as part of MLS soccer.
He announced on Blue Sky and kind of through his substacking through his blog that he'd been let go from Major League Soccer and I.
I've loved the coverage that Major League Soccer has always had from guys like Matt Doyle and others over the years and it always had this kind of organic feel of these people who really cared about the game really, really cared about MLS in particular.
And who did a great job of covering it just from different angles from tactical angles from history of the league angles, you know, these guys that have been around and remember the inception of the league and have this encyclopedia of knowledge of players and of things that have happened that can be traced all the way back to the beginning of Major League Soccer.
And for me, this is very much like an end of an era like I'm a bigger fan of Major League Soccer because Matt Doyle was part of covering the league in that way and now he's still going to be covering Major League Soccer.
He's monetizing his newsletter, which is fantastic and I'm going to subscribe and I'm going to encourage you to as well.
But to me, there's going to be a piece missing to Major League Soccer's coverage and I think this is the final I'm going to call it step in a transformation from MLS turning from a very homegrown sports organization to feeling more corporate and more NFL and I think that that was a natural progression that was always going to happen.
In the United States, that's just what a professional league is aspiring to do.
And in that, you're going to have a lot of former players who are commentators who are, you know, kind of giving the opinions on games.
If you look at like Fox's like pre and post game NFL coverage, right, you get Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long and Michael Strayhand and all these kind of guys that are former players and I think that they bring a particular perspective, but I think that in not having somebody like Matt Doyle.
I think MLS loses quite significantly just a different type of voice, a different type of perspective that I have always found extremely valuable.
I don't want a short change what former players kind of bring in terms of their perspective, but I do think that it is limited in scope and when you only have former players, you are only getting one particular perspective on these matches and on what's going on in a game.
I think that it is now going to be lacking in Major League soccer and not having a guy like Matt Doyle kind of bring the tactical nuance that he was always able to bring to his analysis.
And so I think MLS is worse off now than they were a few days ago for not having Matt Doyle as part of it, but I encourage everyone go subscribe to the subs.
Go follow the things that he does. You'll be a better soccer fan because of it. You'll be a more informed soccer fan because of it and I think everyone will certainly benefit from the information that he puts out there.
So wishing him all the best in his kind of post MLS soccer career journeys and that sort of thing, but this is certainly kind of I think an interesting shift from Major League soccer in terms of how they're going to be covered.
You noticed that already with the kind of Apple TV deal and what that all looked like and how the product really shifted in that moment.
And I think of that kind of the beginning of the end for kind of the legacy of what MLS and their coverage have looked like up until that point.
But this kind of I think is the final nail maybe in that coffin and I for one and disappointed to see it go.
All right, coming up in the main segment of the show today, we're going to be talking a lot about US men's national team players.
We have a lot of news and information to bring you some updates, some really positive things going on for a couple of US men's national team players around the world.
And then we're going to wrap up with some news here locally. A new manager is hired. We're losing a media member here in DFW that's done a great job for a long time and FC Dallas has a new jersey.
We'll talk about all of that at the end of the show. But when we get back, we're going to be talking US men's national team right here on the Sunset soccer club.
Let's talk a little US men's national team news here on the Sunset soccer club.
First of all, let's start off with Weston McKinney, who throughout the entirety of 2026 so far has just been an absolute tear.
He scored his seventh goal in all competitions for Juventus this year over the weekend in a 2-2 draw against Lazio.
But seven goals in all competitions, four in Serie A3 in the Champions League. He has just been on absolute fire under Luciano Spaletti, the manager there at Juventus.
He's out of contract, like we've mentioned multiple different times on the show, which means that in theory, he could end up signing with a different club over the summer.
But for now, anyways, he's playing out of his mind for Juventus. And you can only hope that he can carry this form forward into the World Cup and be a really, really integral part of the US men's national team come June and July.
I think that him playing well, him playing up to like his fullest fullest potential would be absolutely massive.
Becoming a bigger goal scoring threat for the US than what he has been in the past, maybe playing in a little bit more advanced position.
I think that Mauricio Pachitino is probably taking notice as far as where Weston McKinney is being played on the field, how he's being utilized at Juventus, and surely taking some notes on how to deploy him in a similar way when it comes to playing for the US men's national team.
So I'm very curious to see A, how that relationship looks in March when we get to the March friendlies.
Is Weston McKinney called in? There's been some weirdness around that in the last several camps for the US.
And so is Weston McKinney called in? If so, where does he play? How often does he play? And how is he deployed when he is on the field for the US men's national team? That's the second question.
And then third, who else is in that camp and how do you build the roster around those different types of people? Is it going to be like a Christian policy Weston McKinney attacking midfield duo in that three, four, two, one formation for the US?
Those are the things I'm really curious to see, but Weston McKinney is clearly just too talented, too good, and in way too good a form to be left off of any sort of US men's national team roster.
And I don't think that even with Malik Tillman playing well for Bayer Leberkuzin, Brendan Aronson playing really, really well at Leeds.
I don't think that there's any way you could leave Weston McKinney out of a starting lineup right now.
If you're building a starting 11 for the US men's national team, I've made that mistake. I proposed my starting 11 for the US back in December with Georena starting of all people.
That looks very foolish now, Weston McKinney should clearly be starting for the US as just a matter of how he's deployed where he's deployed on the field and how do you get the most out of him.
All right, second thing up on the US men's national team agenda, Alex Freeman, the right back from Orlando City, was sold over the winter break to Villarreal in, sorry, in La Liga in Spain.
We're always a little bit weary of these moves that happen in the winter break because it doesn't give you a preseason to kind of bed in with the team, find your role, find your form, impress the manager, you know, kind of be able to get in a groove with that team, you're supposed to be able to hit the ground running.
And so we've seen a couple of different times, young talented players from Major League Soccer or from these different teams in the US, make a transfer move over the winter break and then really struggle to kind of find their footing at that, just kind of ride the bench and see kind of their career, take a massive hit or hit a pothole and struggle to recover from that point.
And so I will say I was nervous about Alex Freeman making this move to Villarreal when he did always a little bit nervous about this winter transfer window, but I would say that it is very encouraging to see him immediately see the field.
He came on in the 73rd minute as a substitute in their four to one win and so kind of a low stakes situation where he didn't look up to speed.
I mean, this is his first match since November, so I think that that's to be expected.
But I think that this was kind of the perfect way to introduce him into the scene at Villarreal.
He came in, he played right back, which is a position he's very, very comfortable with. It's what he played at Orlando City.
And so I'm interested in seeing how that continues to move and develop going forward.
He came in as a like for like replacement for Villarreal's other right back.
So yeah, I'm very curious to see what the what the experiment is and what it looks like for him on a gaming game out basis.
Is he become a regular starter? Is he more of a spot starter? Maybe on two game weeks, things along those lines.
And so we'll see what Alex Freeman continues to do, but so far anyways from the first match that we've had in an opportunity to kind of take a look at the situation.
This is better than most winter transfer movement kind of scenarios. I'm not completely down on it.
I'm in a weight and C mode with this one because that first opportunity that we had to see him kind of was about as good as you can possibly expect.
Finally, we're going to wrap up with more good news for the US men's national team.
And that is Tyler Adams made an earlier than expected return to the bench for Bournemouth in their match yesterday,
which was Tuesday against Everton. He didn't play. He didn't come off the bench, but just even being included in the 18 so early after tearing his MCL.
I think is really, really encouraging for Tyler Adams. This is one that I expected him to be out much, much longer.
I think this gives me a little bit of hope that he could potentially be called into the March transfer or sorry March,
March camp for the US men's national team, which would be a huge boost because what I've been saying all along is you have to know
who's going to play next to Tyler Adams at the World Cup. You have to know which other midfielder is going to slot into that space.
Is it going to be Tanner Testman who's having an incredible season for Leone? Is it going to be Christian Roldon long time Seattle Sounder?
Is it going to be a bunch of other people that it could potentially be, but you have to actually see them play next to Tyler Adams.
You can't have it be appearing that you're not expected to actually see once the World Cup rolls around.
There's nobody that does the job that Tyler Adams does for the US. I think that he is the most unique player for the US in that particular way.
And so you have to be able to see what he looks like when paired next to somebody else and be able to compare and contrast A and B.
And if he's not on the field, you're not able to do that. So it's very, very important that Tyler Adams get healthy.
Stay healthy. Be available for those matches so we can kind of do the experimenting that we need before June rolls around.
All right. That's going to do it for our US men's national team segment for the show today coming up.
We're just going to hit a few news and note items from around the DFW Metroplex when we get back. So stick around.
This is the sunset soccer club right here on the stolen water media network in the sunset lounge.
All right. Third and final segment here for episode nine of the sunset soccer club.
Thanks so much for joining us for this episode.
We're going to talk about some some local items here in the soccer scene.
First and foremost, we're saying a fanfare well to Buzz Karek from third degree.
Buzz has covered FC Dallas like nobody else.
Getting inside scoops just being there at the facility, talking to coaches, getting all of the FC Dallas news and information that really allowed people to be a deeper fan of the club.
Buzz has always done an incredible job of that. He's going to continue covering FC Dallas, but he's moving away moving out of the DFW Metroplex.
And so we are going to miss Buzz being kind of a fixture in that press box. He hasn't been in the press box for the last couple of years now, but we're going to miss Buzz covering FC Dallas in the way that he has.
And miss him just kind of being in the DFW area. And so Buzz has done an incredible job. We love Buzz and we appreciate the work that he has done.
If you haven't been following third degree, go do that. He's going to give you FC Dallas news and you should be following the local club, the local MLS team here and and Buzz does that better than anybody else.
And so you want to go follow Buzz. You want to keep up with what he's doing with third degree.
And second, Athletico Dallas, the USL team that's launching in 2027 named a manager and it is Peter Lucine. Peter wants coached FC Dallas on an interim basis. He was an assistant coach for FC Dallas as well as a player previously, but his career has taken him all over the place.
For PSG in the mid arts, this is a guy that I watched play for FC Dallas and then played against him in the FC Dallas media game back in 2018 and saw him just tear media members to shreds out on the field. It was hilarious.
If you think as a like, oh, you know, I played a little bit of soccer in my lifetime. I can maybe lace him up and go and play against some pros. Peter Lucine put that to rest for me forever for the rest of my life. He absolutely torched everybody on that field.
People were grabbing at his shirt as he was running by his shirt is like half ripped off as he just races past everybody to go score a goal. Absolute animal, incredible, just incredible thing to see. That's my Peter Lucine story from the 2018 FC Dallas media game, but more importantly, this is an incredible hire for for Athletico Dallas who has really stepped up in the way that they've kind of presented themselves and announced themselves on the stage of the soccer scene here in DFW.
I'm incredibly excited to see what they're going to do with their facility in Fair Park. They're going to be playing at the cotton bowl. I should be saying like their facility is going to be in the exposition park in the Fair Park area playing their games at the cotton bowl. And now a manager that has MLS experience.
Somebody that has international know how and has played under a lot of different managers has seen a lot in the game and is really going to bring I think a presence and a personality to this role that is really exciting to see.
And if you are kind of in this Dallas area, I think this really gives you something to grab on to and to be excited about for this Athletico Dallas side. And again, they're doing incredible things, everything from the branding to how they're getting out in the community and their plans for the future when it comes to facilities, when it comes to fan engagement.
And now when it comes to who the manager is on the field, I think everybody should be really hyped and amped for what this club is doing and for the future of soccer here in Dallas proper with what Athletico Dallas is doing.
Alright, and third and finally, FC Dallas has a new jersey for the 2026 season. They're calling it the DNA kit. It kind of gets back to their roots a little bit with the hoops going back to 2006. So big horizontal stripes red and blue going down. I'm not a big kit nerd.
There are plenty of other people you could go to to have very, very strong opinions on that. I think it looks fine. I'm not overwhelmed by it, but FC Dallas has a new jersey. If you're interested in that sort of thing, you can go check it out. Well, maybe posted on the Instagram or something for you to check out there.
Alright, that's going to do it for this episode of the program. We appreciate you joining us very, very much. You can always email us.
Sunset soccer club at stolenwatermedia.com. Email us with questions, thoughts. Do you like the show? Do you not?
What do you want us to talk about more? Who should we have on the show as a guest? Let us know all of those things. We'll be back next week with another episode of the program.
But until then, keep watching your soccer and we'll see you next time.
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