The World Cup Draw, MLS Cup Final, and Mohamed Salah Drama | Sunset SC Ep.05

All right, welcome in to episode five of the Sunset Soccer Club. I'm Tyler Kern. Thank you so much. As always for joining us here for the show got a little bit different set up today, because that's just how we roll. Also big show news. We added a new show member. Oh, I think I had our first child. And so that's why we didn't have an episode last week. Trying to catch up with you.
We didn't have an episode last week trying to catch up on sleep trying to adjust to a whole new life, but here at my house and really excited to bring you a very jam packed full show. I mean, we had a World Cup draw. We have drama in the Premier League. We have an MLS Cup final to talk about.
So we're going to talk about all of those things here on the show today. First and foremost, we'll start off with the World Cup draw. We know who the US is playing. Mostly for their first three matches. So we'll dive into that as well as some of the other big matchups that we're excited to see coming up in the World Cup here next summer.
And then we'll talk to Armand Kaffai, our friend who covers a major league soccer. We're going to talk to him about the MLS Cup final saw Leo Messi win his first MLS Cup. So we'll talk about that. And then finally, we'll wrap up the show talking a little bit about some comments that most solid made to the media after Liverpool's three three draw against leads on on the weekend. It was a little bit of a disaster to say the least. So we're going to cover all of that in the show. But for the kickoff, we're going to talk about the World Cup draw.
Alright, this is the kickoff when we're going to be talking the World Cup draw. Now this took place last week. And I mean, it was quite an event in Washington DC. I don't know if you watched it. If you did, you certainly saw a lot of pomp and circumstance. You saw the president up on stage. You heard from a lot of different people. There were a lot of notable figures in American sports as part of this World Cup draw. But when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, we now know who is in what group outside of the playoffs.
We still need to play out that will then finally kind of fully determine the field for the World Cup in 2026. So let's just go group by group. In group A, you have Mexico, South Africa, South Korea. And then the winner of the UEFA path D playoff in group B. You've got Canada, the winner of the UEFA path A playoff. And then Qatar and Switzerland group C Brazil, Morocco, Haiti and Scotland group D is where the United States falls. You get United States Paraguay.
Australia and then the winner of UEFA path C. In group E, we've got Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador group F is Netherlands, Japan, UEFA path D, excuse me, path B winner and Tunisia. In group G, you've got Belgium, Egypt, Iran and New Zealand group H Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay group I, which I think is a very interesting group to keep an eye on. It's France, Senegal, the IC path to winner and Norway.
And then group J, Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan group K, Portugal, the IC path one winner, Uzbekistan and Colombia. And then finally group L, you get England, Croatia, Ghana and Panama. So those are the groups for the World Cup coming up. Don't worry if you didn't follow all of that.
But more importantly, we need to talk about group D for the United States. Now the US now knows that we are in the group with Paraguay and Australia. And then the winner of the European playoff group C winner.
So that comes down to Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia or Turkey. So a big, it's big news now knowing who the US is going to be in the group with. Right. So let's take a look first and foremost at Paraguay. Now the US is played Paraguay and Australia, interestingly enough in in
the last couple of months. And so we've seen these two teams fairly recently. The US played a borderline full strength Paraguay side to a two one win.
And Paraguay ranks 39th in the FIFA rankings. They finished sixth incommable qualifying that South America's qualifying and they had some impressive wins throughout that qualifying cycle.
So this is a team that can be really dangerous on their day. Now they play a little bit more scrappy, a little bit more defensive. You saw the US kind of push back with a little bit of that scrap towards the end of that match.
There was a big scrum in at the end of that friendly that resulted in a red card for Paraguay. There was a lot going on at the end of that match. But they present an interesting challenge going into the World Cup. And so that is worth keeping in mind as we look ahead towards 2026 is that Paraguay is going to be.
A challenging team to beat because they're going to want to sit back. They're going to play defensive and hit you on the counter with guys like Miguel Almarón, things like that. And so that is.
I think presents a defensive challenge for the US where they're going to be more on the front foot. It's going to be more about breaking down a defense that's going to be tough to beat.
And now let's look over at the other side of Australia. Their FIFA ranking is 26th. They qualified through Asia. They got to buy in the first round of qualifying for the Asian Federation. And so they go straight into the group stage for the second round and in that second round that they won their group in. They had a group with Palestine, Bangladesh and Lebanon. So they won that group fairly easily and got drawn into a third round group with Japan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, China and Bahrain.
They had a record of five wins for draws and a loss. Good for second place behind Japan and an automatic qualification. This is their sixth consecutive World Cup to qualify for.
And then finally, we have those four teams in UEFA that are playing in a playoff that will round out group D for the US. So those are Kosovo, who's ranked 80th in the FIFA rankings, Romania, which is 47th, Slovakia, which is 45th and Turkey, which is 25th.
Now, out of all those teams, obviously Turkey is the highest ranked team. They are a team I really would like to avoid if possible for the US as we look ahead to the World Cup next summer.
If the US can avoid having Turkey in their group, I think that that would be a good thing. Now the high end talent on Turkey, it can be really dangerous. And as a team that I think presents a little bit of danger and they would come in as the fourth team in the group.
I think I would I would very much like it if they would lose before they get into they get into the World Cup if that is at all possible. And so those are your World Cup groups. Some other interesting spots kind of throughout the throughout the draw that I noticed.
I'm very interested in watching group I with France, Senegal and Norway. So Norway, you have a team that is led by Erling Holland, Martin Oda Gard for Arsenal. And so you have some really, really talented players there on Norway in a group with France, who is obviously always stacked, you know, your 2018 champions.
They made it to the final in 2022, only to lose to Argentina. So this is a fully stacked France squad as always with the stars that killing them.
And so that's that's a team that I'm always interested to watch. But could they be upset? Could they fail to make it out of this group? That would be a massive upset, obviously.
But Senegal is also a really good team coming out of the African Federation. The playoff team that could get end up in that group will come down to Bolivia, Iraq or Seranam.
Don't expect a ton from any of those three teams, but there's always room for surprises in the World Cup group K. I think presents an interesting matchup with Portugal and Colombia. That's certainly a match that I would want to watch group H as well with Spain and Uruguay.
Both of those teams figure to get through in that group with Cabo Verde and Saudi Arabia in group H. But I'm always interested in watching two really, really strong teams end up in the same group and watch them battle it out for who wins the group.
What happens to the team that doesn't win that group and who do they have to play as the bracket moves along and all the different permutations that can happen. And there are always upsets.
You always look at a group and say, oh, this is the quote-unquote group of death. There's almost always ends up being a different spot, a different place in the draw that kind of ends up being having much more intrigue.
And so a lot of people asked as soon as the draw dropped, like Tyler, how do you feel about where the US sits in this World Cup draw? And to be honest, I think that it's a pretty ideal case.
I don't want to undersell any of the teams in the US's group. I think Paraguay is a very good team. I think Australia is a good team and certainly worthy of respect and to not be overlooked.
However, I think as far as pot two teams go, drawing Australia was about as good as the US could have hoped for.
And again, I don't want to short-change Australia. And a lot of ways they remind me a little bit of former US teams that can be defensive and then try to hit you on counterattacks and things like that.
And they're going to scrap and claw and make the most of every ounce of talent that they have on the field.
So I in no way want to short-change that. But the US comes into this group clearly as the top dogs, I think, for the first time that I can remember in any World Cup, expecting to, I think, win the group, not just get through, but to win the group.
And so it's a new added level of pressure and it's a new challenge for this group that I don't think that they've had before. They've never had a group where there's not another major team.
If I think back to 2014, there's Germany and there's Portugal, massive teams from countries that expect to do well in the World Cup. 2022, there was England.
And so this is the first time I can remember the US going into a World Cup where there's nobody else in the group that you look and say, oh, that's the top team.
It should be the US, which shifting that mindset from being scrappy underdogs who've got to scratch and claw and make sure that you make the most of every opportunity into the team that's supposed to be playing on the front foot and dominating these teams.
It is a very tricky challenge for the US. And I hope that Mauricio Pachitino and the coaching staff understands what it's going to take to have that mindset shift to go in and to be okay being the favorite.
We've seen at times in ConquerCalf qualifying even in past World Cups where the US plays down to its competition and will play up against other teams.
And in this case, you can't underestimate any of these potential opponents and you have to go in feeling like you can and should win these matches and make it through on.
You can't get through without feeling too scaved, for instance. So again, I don't want to underestimate any of these opponents.
I think that they are all quality teams. Paraguay, Australia, and whoever comes out of that UEFA path, see a playoff, I think any of those teams can and will be very, very dangerous.
You have to go in feeling like you're the favorites in this group and that you should play on the front foot and be able to dominate these three matches and get through this group stage without being pushed too, too hard.
So we'll see if they're able to make that happen, but that's what I'm looking for as the World Cup now starts to come into clearer focus as we begin to know exactly who the US is going to be playing in these first three matches.
If you look at some of the other groups, you know, there was some debate who out of the host nations of Mexico, Canada and the US, who got the easiest group who has the best path.
If I'm Mexico, I don't mind a group with South Africa and South Korea, but I think South Korea is really, really good. And then the winner of the playoff, D winner from UEFA, Chechi, Denmark, North Macedonia, or Republic of Ireland, if it's a team like Denmark,
man, that's a talented and dangerous team coming into a group that already has South Korea, which I think is a challenging opponent. So that's to me, a little bit of a dangerous spot for Mexico, who's not in a good position right now with their national team, having lost a number of friendlies lately, just look a little bit out of sorts.
So I think that that presents an interesting challenge in group A from Mexico. If you go over to group B for Canada, they have the UEFA path A winner and then guitar and Switzerland, Switzerland.
Really good team toward the US to pieces in a friendly in a friendly in the in the spring, if I'm remembering correctly, but then that playoff a winner is Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Northern Ireland, or Wales.
And so if it ends up being Italy, now that's a big if because Italy is lost in playoffs for the last two World Cups and failed to actually qualify. But if it is Italy and Canada goes into a group with Switzerland, Italy and guitar.
Boy, that's that's a big challenge, big, big challenge for the Canadians. And so I do think that in group D, the US has the best of all possible scenarios. Look, it's the World Cup. You can't expect to go in and to just have a bunch of cupcakes that you just roll right through.
Now, I think the US should play well and should dominate these matches. I would really, really love to see that. But it's quality competition. Everyone has earned the right to be there. And so you don't you don't sleep on any of these teams.
But I think I would take the US's path over Mexico and Canada as we sit here right now looking at these groups. And so so much to talk about.
We're going to dive in and do deep dives on all of these teams that the US is in the group with, especially once we know who that third and final opponent for the US will be.
But if we just look at the schedule for the US for the next summer, we now know the US will play Paraguay on June 12th at Sophie Stadium in Los Angeles.
They'll play Australia, June 19th at Lumenfield in Seattle. And then they'll wrap up against that playoff winner June 25th back at Sophie Stadium in LA. And so those are the dates for the three matches and where they're going to be played.
If you are here in DFW like I am. And I think many of our listeners and viewers are. We now know the teams and the games that are going to be played as part of the group stage here at AT&T Stadium.
So a lot of games are going to be played here. There's also knockout around matches will get more into that further down the road.
But the first match that will be played in Arlington will be June 14th. That's going to be the Netherlands versus Japan. Incredible matchup to kick it off at AT&T Stadium.
And then Wednesday, June 17th, England versus Croatia, by goodness, that's another just incredible matchup right there right off the bat. And then we get our Argentina.
Oh, excuse me, Argentina, Austria on June 22nd. It's a Monday. Another incredible matchup. You get messy at AT&T Stadium more than likely against Austria, who always fields a strong team.
And then June 25th, you get Japan versus a playoff winner between Ukraine, Sweden, Poland or Albania. And then finally, June 27th will have Jordan versus Argentina.
So another opportunity to potentially see messy and the former, excuse me, the defending World Cup champions in Argentina. So a lot going on locally, we're going to talk to people who are part of the, of the Dallas 2026 bid to bring these games to AT&T Stadium.
We're going to be talking to a lot of those people and just hearing a little bit more of the behind the scenes of how these games ended up in Dallas.
The work that's going on behind the scenes to bring the tournament here and to bring all of these matches to you. And so that's going to be incredible conversation.
You won't want to miss that when we're able to talk to some of those people, Gina Miller, others that were really played a massive role in bringing the World Cup to Dallas.
And so we're going to be having those conversations down the road and diving into all of these groups, looking at the teams, looking at some of these matchups because we now have a much clearer picture now, just 144, excuse me, 184 days out from the 2026 World Cup.
So that is the World Cup draw.
Boy, we're going to be just need deep in all of this for the next six months.
But when we come back, we're going to be talking to our Monkify, our friend who covers Major League Soccer.
We're going to talk MLS Cup. We're going to talk Messi. We're going to talk everything that it took for Messi to win his first MLS Cup when we get back to stick around.
We'll be right back.
All right, welcome back to the show to our Monkify. He is here to break down.
The MLS Cup final between Inter Miami and Vancouver Whitecaps. We had our Mon earlier on earlier in the playoffs to talk a little bit about the MLS playoffs and how they were all shaken out.
I think when we discussed it, I think we talked about these two teams potentially kind of like being the two best teams. I mean, this was it was going into knowing that Vancouver was going to be playing.
L.A.F.C. But as it all works out, Inter Miami wins their first MLS Cup final three to one over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Arman, welcome back. How you doing, man?
I'm doing good, man. How are you?
I'm doing great. Doing great.
It's been it's been a crazy couple of days like, you know, in the soccer world, right?
We had our beautiful World Cup draw, which made beautiful is a very strong way to describe it.
I don't think it was that beautiful. It took so long and I was almost falling asleep at some points.
At the moment, I have a beautiful MLS Cup and now it's now we just have nothing for domestically for a couple of wins.
Now it's just time to analyze all of it to death and that's I think what we're going to do.
We'll get your thoughts on the World Cup draw before we get out of here.
But let's talk MLS Cup final three to one. Inter Miami are your MLS Cup champions for the 2025 season.
How did this game play out? How did Inter Miami end up taking the crown and and winning the trophy?
It's funny to you, K, because genuinely, I'd probably say that Miami wasn't the best team in this game.
If you watched it, they start off really bright and early with a good press, kind of forcing Vancouver beyond comfort with them.
And Cooper kind of settled into the game and Miami kind of the survive for a bit.
There was a triple post that happened where I think it was Ahmed or Sabi hit both posts and then on the follow up also hit the post as well too.
I mean, that's that is hilariously like karma for the LFC triple post that Vancouver survived to advance.
So it was funny.
There were a couple of guys who are LFC guys fans and they were like, look man, you live in the eye by the sword.
So overall up until the Andres Kubas error that led to which is ashamed that that error is what people are going to remember from Andres Kubas is excellent season as a ball recovering defensive mid.
There was an error which was messy tracking back, winning the ball off of his feet and then finding Rodrigo DePaul for the goal, kind of sprung the game open after that.
When you're kind of desperate and endless cup that's in a game, Miami really pounds is on that because again, they have messy, they have Alba, the I end day was absolutely excellent as well too.
And they're all taking advantage of spaces that you're providing them, which you wouldn't be providing if you weren't chasing the game right.
So after that after that happened after desperate as it kind of went downhill for the ever Vancouver, but overall, again, I don't think Vancouver was a was a bad team in this game, but you can't make a mistake against the little messy in Miami.
They're going to punish you no matter what.
They are and I wonder how much like the state of the game impacted what the game looked like.
I guess it would have been easy for Vancouver to fold after that early own goal and just like a kind of a disastrous start.
We've seen some of those in MLS cups in the past where it's all kind of snowballed on the team after that.
Who was I think it was Columbus that had the really.
Yeah, yeah, and like you just can't recover Vancouver actually I think recovered really nicely like you mentioned and scored the next goal put some pressure on enter Miami.
It was just too many mistakes in the end, right?
Yeah, and I wonder.
I was talking to another guest of this podcast John Arle about this, but I wonder if you know playing Miami and messy causes errors to happen if that makes any sense.
You're so hyper focused on you can't make a mistake.
You're so hyper focused on where is messy on the pitch that sometimes like errors happen.
I mean, to give you an example, you were going to see Dallas Jersey, right?
When FC Dallas and Miami played in the leagues cup, what was one of the goals that was really big for Miami?
It was the Marco Farfan own goal, which just look like a complete defensive like meltdown teams.
I feel like sometimes hyper focus on messy and sketch and album all these amazing players that it just kind of forced them into uncharacteristic mistakes and also decay.
It was really hot too. It was about 84 degrees out there.
Vancouver plays in a dome, you know, they're not necessarily used to this as well.
They're long travel as well to not make excuses, but these things do play a role.
That's I guess you can make an argument that the regular season was important because if Vancouver doesn't drop that game against FC Dallas in the last game of season.
It's Miami flying to Vancouver at BC place as Vancouver is hosting that game.
It made us circumstances are a little bit different, but you can't again, you just can't make a mistake because we saw what happened.
Messy gets the ball one through world to Paul and they're in and they're in and that was and that was a game.
So again, it's just really tough because I thought Vancouver again was had such an excellent season and all they're going to show for it is a.
I mean, they got there were finalists, but just a Canadian championship that's going trophy. They won.
Well, I think if you're like you're looking at the narratives that are built off of this game, right?
There's the star studded team of inter Miami. And then on the Vancouver side, like, yes, they have Thomas Mueller.
But for the most part, that's more of like a collective team that kind of brought in a star as like the season had already like was.
Well, it's already like well underway and Vancouver was already like this really, really great team that just brought him in and added him as like a final piece of the puzzle.
Whereas Miami is just like so thoroughly built through Messy and like the stars and like the star power of that team.
That it it's almost like two different versions of MLS like competing for who was going to win out in win supremacy of the league and in the end.
It's the star studded team. What does that mean for Major League Soccer going forward? What lessons are people going to take away?
Or is this just simply like inter Miami's just in a league of their own? They they have you know back him as an owner and Messy there.
And you know, there's rumors every day of another star wanting to come and play with Messy there, whether it's Neymar or Mo Salah or you know whatever the case may be.
Is it my image is so far in a way in a different league or is this a story of kind of what MLS is going to be moving forward where there's these star teams and the not.
I think we are pushing to a little bit of the have and have not situation but I think it's more reflective on Miami and Jorge Moss.
They spent so much money and time to get to where they are that they built it in a really great project.
I know some MLS fans have been kind of been I would say very not happy that Miami have won and very unhappy.
I mean there was that reader survey I think of I think three four thousand fans that talked about how they're unhappy with the coverage of Messy and how like their teams were being slided throughout the process.
But they are kind of I would say a team that why wouldn't you want your team to emulate them right like why wouldn't you want to be a team that goes after the star players that's building a brand new stadium that is also utilizing a bunch of the roster mechanisms as well.
Well look they're like cap situations actually really good they probably won't be what the galaxy were last year and a lot of their success comes from okay who is who was I end they going into this year.
No one knew who he was who was Mateus Silvetti maybe who's a prospect but no one really knew who he was until recently when he's been called up to the Argentina with I think under 20s and playing and playing there who is Yannick Bright who had who was a draft pick by Miami who's had a lot of success.
Ian Frey, Noah Allen also had big roles in the two overall yes Messy and Bousquet and Alba played amazing and key roles that and of course adding to Paul with another ambitious addition but
TK must say every MLS team can do what they did I don't think that's possible but they can definitely I think attempt to do what they did if that makes any sense.
I think what you're saying and and I think you're right is even though the stars might be bigger brighter the names are bigger and more recognizable it is reminiscent of almost like what Atlanta United did and I mean other teams have done this right where they effectively used every roster mechanism that exists in Major League soccer to better their roster right I remember when Atlanta won their MLS Cup and obviously massive deal and like the stars of New York.
Joseph Martinez and Miguel Almarón were obviously massive but that's they also had you know a Michael Parkhurst on that roster you know and like you have to have kind of all of those sorts of pieces and be able to pull all of those sorts of strings in Major League soccer because you do have all of these different avenues available to you and using them effectively is how you create a team that can win MLS Cup that seems to discount the fact that they have you know the greatest player of all time on their team.
But it does it does still take that because it is still 11 guys out on the field and you know inner Miami had messy last year and they didn't win it so it's not just about having that guy and we saw a team TK and Atlanta who spent a absolute metric on money and be terrible.
Yeah.
Not make the not make the most generous playoff system it probably like that we that we've seen in North American sports and North American sports like why was generous playoff systems.
They spent what I think what 23 million on Emanuele Latte Loth they spend there are 13 million or 10 to 13 million on Miguel Almarón they had spent another 10 to 12 million on Iran Chuk they did not make the playoffs again it's all about spending the proper ways and I do think look
I'm less has these roster rules right Miami can't just jump ahead of everyone else they're still confined to these roster rules and I'm not saying again I'm not saying every unless they can copy what they did because a big benefit of having messies you have these Argentine players that come in for a lot less because they want to play with Leon Messy
but you're telling me that LFC can't try to do that with some young men son right with attract Korean players that may want to play with the best great Korean players ever you tell me that other teams can't go and spend decent amounts of money I mean even look at our local club FC Dallas right they spend big money on pet or moosa and he's been absolutely excellent being called to creation national team scored hit the post in the next game etc.
These players are available in teams are going to spend it but it's all about spending them in the proper ways and it's it's to me it's more of a lack of willingness to spend from some teams in MLS.
The union I think could spend that money there's choosing not to they've had success right but the success is going to be sustained as well it's about effectively how do you spend that money in a much more effective way than it is I would probably say just spending it but also you
to invest in infrastructure in these things too and I think Jorge Moss and coach should be applauded for pushing the boundaries of MLS and building this team that they have here and that's not a discreet event.
I think Vancouver at all because I think Vancouver is another element of the story too where they build a collective where they also use every roster mechanism right Ali Ahmed is a player from their academy
Tate Johnson was a draft pick Thomas Muller was added in some makes for Ryan Gold's been a part of the team for four or five years now before that Ryan White was acquired in a trade with the Red Bulls back in 2021 for allocation money
Burr Halter was acquired for what 100k in allocation money Tristan Blackman as well too acquired for trades so again a special way Vancouver was made any team could do with Vancouver the way Vancouver was made specifically and they had an excellent point when the best season in the MLS history you know when you kind of look at obviously in the trophy but their style of play their points you know their advance metrics are absolutely excellent
and it's like you can build these teams you're just choosing not to by maybe spending not spending these mechanisms in the proper way.
So this is obviously the kind of the end of the road for certain inter Miami players right Jordi Alba has gone if I'm not mistaken.
Busquets is gone so this club will look different next year from how it's currently constructed what's what's next for both inter Miami and Vancouver.
Well start with inter Miami so when it comes out of inter Miami I think they could they have a chance to be better is that a is that a crazy take that's crazy but look like think about a signal from a roster perspective it's going to be a big
can they keep I end day is going to be interesting because I is on loan.
His budget charge is going to have to be a certain amount I don't think they're going to make him a designated player they have one
designer player spot left I guess I should have started with how the team is going to structure out so right so they're going to lose boost gets an Alba so they have one of the three
deep spots available essentially but here's the key thing the Paul is going to become a DP so now you only have one spot available within this mix.
So if you have one spot available within this mix where are you going to do it sounds like they want to get surgery or really own like that's the kind of hot rumor that's been going on outside back but they have one spot of they have one spot available can they keep I end day on a
Tam deal we don't we don't know that's going to be really interesting to see if they can keep him within the mix can they go ahead and you keep Suarez are they going to keep Suarez I don't think they will that's
an open up more cap space to and moving the Paul from a Tam deal to a DP deal because right now is budget charges close to $1.7 million if you move into a DP deal that's actually going to
reduce his budget charge against a cap by 900k so that plus Suarez that's going to open up a room are they going to keep all these guys are going to sell Benjamin Kermeschi if they sell him and get something back then they
could get more allocation money in that regard as well too so Oscar Ustarry is on like 800k or something like that okay we're moving from the picture you have you more space
so I think Miami actually might be able to retool steam really well around guys like I end day Sylvetti or if they can keep I end day but a guy like Mattane Sylvetti as well too
Sagovia in the mix I when they got when they benched Suarez TK they were better and now they're going to remove from the books it's going to just open up more room for them so I think that they I think they have a chance to be
better to be honest with I think restructure a club and refresh them the right way for Vancouver though this core is going to stay the same my big question for Vancouver is where they're going to do with Ryan Gold
because he's been a key part of what they did but he's been recovering from an injury he's now not really a key part of the team anymore if you think about it I think maybe you can add him as a winger and that might help if you if they maybe part ways to alley on med
but they would have to change roster construction models and give up some some that allocation money that you get from being in the two plus four roster construction mall for your listeners there's two roster construction malls
and I'm the last the three plus three which is three doesn't have players three you 22 initiative slots and the two plus four which is two doesn't have players for you 22 spots in the second one the two plus four you get two million dollars of extra money to actually build your roster
I don't know if Vancouver would give that up and I wonder if they're looking for a spot for Ryan Gold especially you know if they want to keep Andres Kubas there's a lot those two are the key things because I saw Kubas was linked in rumors as well too
so overall I think the core of Vancouver is going to stay the same but they might lose one or two of those key players that you know got them to where they were
So let's tie a bow on mls cup three to one for inter Miami winning their first mls cup messy winning maybe like the most meaningful trophy of his entire career you know absolutely there's no doubt about it
yeah nobody nobody go fact check that I'm on real quick while we're talking about the world cup what are your thoughts on the U.S. is draw of being in group D with Paraguay and Australia and then having that that playoff C from from you a for winner of Kosovo Romania Slovakia and Turkey what are your thoughts just real briefly on on the group D that the U.S. has been drawn into
I think it's a great group for the U.S. and I think they should be expected to win the group to be honest with you we saw that against Paraguay and the friendly we saw that against Australia in the recent friendly we have data points
we also saw that you know they weren't necessarily at their full strength when they played Turkey and they lost that game and Turkey I think also is going to be if they want other ones advanced out of the group they are going to be the ones going to be the toughest one by four
it's going to be a tough third game I think it would be the third game yeah of the of the group stage but I think it's a great group for the U.S. and I think now you have expectations right now you really need to win your group if you win your group you play a third place team but if you get second a group for us they'd be kind of cool because we'd see them in Arlington and Jerry World
but you have to play a group G team that could be pretty tough right could be Egypt it you know things go weird it could be Belgium it could be Iran you know like these are teams that will make it very hard for you to beat them essentially so I the U.S. got a good group TK I mean I was pretty I was pretty excited by the group I saw Australia was my pot two team that would like because I don't think there's the strongest team no respect to them but the way they said I think the U.S. can beat them and they did we saw that
in Colorado but I think overall I think it's they should be actually a top of the group man I I'm with you I'm with you it'll be it'll be exciting to watch and we'll get to dive in and break it all down and actually take a deep dive look at all of these
I'll be at U.S. Australia so I'm super happy there we go there we go and if if it ends up to somehow the U.S. plays a run in Arlington oh my gosh I can't I can't imagine that you missed that one either so no I would probably have to
dive into the savings a little bit yeah mortgage mortgage the future to be able to get to that one Armand can fire he writes football analytics musings
on sub-stack he's also on the hex podcast with our buddies John Arnold and Daniel Robertson Armand thanks for joining us man
thanks for having me man this is fun always absolutely absolutely we'll have Armand back for sure down the road when we get back we're going
to talk about Mo Salas comments about Liverpool it's a disaster we'll dive into it next
all right welcome back we're going to wrap up talking about Mo Salah now Liverpool drew with leads three three
over the weekend there's this was a match that Liverpool was leading two to nothing and then three to two and then
lead score to Scott stoppage time equalizer to make it three to three but the big story is what Mo Salah had to
say in the mix zone afterwards this is where players come and do interviews with members of the media following the match
now Mo Salah is not a frequent visitor to the mix zone but this time he came in with a lot to say he was left on the bench for the
entirety of this match and he wasn't particularly happy about that this wasn't the first time that that's happened to him this season
and it's safe to say that the relationship between Mo Salah and Liverpool especially the head coach Ernest Lot has
suffered to probably in irreparable position so these are Mo Salah's comments following the match he says I don't know why but it seems to me how I see it
someone doesn't want me in the club it seems like the club has thrown me under the bus that is how I am feeling
I think it is very clear that someone once wanted me to get all of the blame this club I will always support it my kids will always
support it I love the club so much and I always will but the situation is not acceptable to me to be fair I don't get it
it's like I'm being thrown more under the bus I don't think I'm the problem I've done so much for this club I don't have to go every day fighting for my position
because I earned it I'm not bigger than anyone but I earned my position it's football it is what it is he said a lot more
but it seems like this relationship has soured to like I said in irreparable position where I don't see how you bring him back in following especially following the
Africa cup of nations so it seems as though Mo Salah's days at Liverpool are done this is a guy who last season was going to be out of contract
and play just the most outrageous season that we've seen anybody at his age really really play a 32-year-old and just dominated the Premier League
and everybody unanimously said you have to give this guy contract he's been the best player in the Premier League this season
and now for it to have turned so quickly and so and gone so poorly it's just really sad to see and I don't have a gigantic hot take about this
like oh it's all our nice lot's fault or oh this is all Mo Salah's fault more than anything I just think it's sad when we get to this point
and I think so much of the conversation that we have in the media when there's a player like Mo Salah who needs a new contract
like he did last year everyone was unanimously saying you cannot let this guy leave you absolutely have to give him a contract
if you're Liverpool well now here's the downside of that right and Jamie Caragher who's former Liverpool great he's a legend at the club
and now a TV personality was talking about how distasteful Salah's comments were and just how disrespectful to the club
that all of this was but I remember Jamie Caragher last saying last year saying that the club absolutely had to sign Mo Salah
and so it's really interesting how quickly we can flip the narrative to you absolutely have to pay this guy to
oh my gosh this guy is a cancer on the team and it's really ashamed that this is how this relationship is going to end up
he's won two Premier League with Liverpool won a Champions League title and it seems like this relationship has really really soured
and it's taken the focus away from Liverpool drawing with leads three to three and just in this historically bad slump for the club
especially for a team that won the Premier League last year but no one comes out looking good at this in this whole situation
be it honest lot be it Liverpool be it Mo Salah and it's really just a shame to see things get to this point for Liverpool
that's going to do it for this episode of the Sunset Soccer Club
thank you so much again to our Mon for joining us thank you all of you for tuning in thank you so much to producer Yvonne for being here
and for making everything look and sound good boy this whole thing is quite an operation and just tying all
tying it all together is a big job so thank you so much to Yvonne for doing that
we have so much more coming up for you we're going to dive into the World Cup being here in Dallas
what that's going to look like we're going to have profiles of all the teams that the US is going to play
we're going to have on a bunch of incredible guests down the road so stick with us share the show with a friend
if you're enjoying it we are enjoying bringing it to you and just sharing the world of soccer with everyone
and so stay locked in we're going to be bringing you a lot going forward and we will be back very very soon with new episodes
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