MLS Playoffs, Champions League Action, and Weston McKennie | Sunset Soccer Club

Alright, welcome in. This is episode two of the Sunset Soccer Club. We are so happy that you are here. Thank you so much for checking out episode one. If you missed episode one, go back and check it out. There's some great stuff in there.
The player profile of Christian Policic, the probably the biggest name player on the U.S. Men's national team and a bunch of other things.
But more than anything, we're really, really happy you're here. We have a great episode lined up for you. We're going to be talking about another U.S. Men's national team player.
Today, Weston McKenney, that's going to come in the second half of the show. We'll also get to some news. We're going to talk to Armanca Fai about the MLS playoffs that are going on right now.
So much drama happening in the playoffs. So if you're not a big MLS person, you'll want to tune in for that interview because there's a lot of great stuff happening. A lot of drama, a lot of exciting matchups that we're going to dive into.
You've got Leo Messi in the playoffs and so much more. So you want to stick around for that interview as well. We'll also have some news here in just a moment.
But first, a reminder, you can reach out to us at any time. Hit us up on Instagram at the Sunset Soccer Club. You can also find us send us an email Sunset Soccer Club at stolenwatermedia.com Sunset Soccer Club at stolenwatermedia.com.
Welcome to the club. We're really, really happy you're here. We're excited to talk soccer. There's so much going on as always. And so let's dive in and do some news.
Alright, for the kickoff today, we're going to start off talking about the Champions League. Champions League is delivering you all. If you don't know about the Champions League, it is exactly what it sounds like.
All of the best teams from across Europe from the previous season get put into a big tournament. And during that time, they played a figure out who the best club team in the world is for that particular season.
It always delivers you get these massive matchups. I put a post out on Instagram because there were two huge matchups yesterday as we record this show today.
We had Liverpool up against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich taking on last year's champion PSG. So two incredible matchups in the Champions League yesterday on Tuesday as we record this here on Wednesday. There's more Champions League action today.
But the soccer world just keeps spinning. We have to record these episodes at some point. But let's look back at yesterday. Liverpool got off the mat. We talked last week about how they've been losing quite a bit.
Four straight losses in the Premier League where they will they finally won a match on Saturday. And then they played Real Madrid yesterday in the Champions League and won yet again. And so they won 1-0.
If not for Tibo Courtois, the goalkeeper for Real Madrid, who might be the best keeper in the world, Real Madrid probably would have lost that match worse than they did at just 1-0.
And so Liverpool had three or four incredible scoring opportunities and Courtois made some outstanding saves to keep Real Madrid really in that match. But this was the best that we'd seen Liverpool play so far this season.
It doesn't matter the opponent that we're talking about doesn't really matter the different competitions. This is the best that we've seen Liverpool hear so far into this season, let's say the 2025-2026 season.
And it came against Real Madrid. So we know that that level is there for this particular team. We hadn't quite seen it up until this point, but it was all clicking for this club taking on Real Madrid who typically owned the Champions League.
This is their competition. And granted this match happened at Anfield, I'll be very curious to see what happens when the shoe is on the other foot and they travel back to Madrid for a match up in the Bernabéu.
But for this particular match, Muhammad Salah was locked in. You got really good performances across the board from this Liverpool squad.
And I think that's something to build on. We'll see if they're able to carry that momentum into the Premier League as they face off against Manchester City and a little spoiler alert for our weekend look ahead.
It's Liverpool Man City this weekend, which for the last few years has been a Champions League, excuse me, a title race decider in the Premier League. And so we'll see if this launches Liverpool forward on a little momentum and whether or not they're able to carry this forward, but this was by far their best performance of the season.
In the other marquee matchup yesterday in the Champions League, we had PSG up against Bayern Munich. Now PSG won this competition last year and they look poised to be a contender once again in this iteration of the tournament.
But Bayern Munich, the question always is, they're going to dominate in Germany, right? Bayern Munich wins year in year out. They win. It's almost the given that they're going to win the Bundesliga title outside of a couple of years ago when Bayern Liverpool doesn't want it.
But the question always is, how do they stack up against the European elite competition and how do they stack up against these best clubs in Europe?
Because we know they're going to dominate Germany, but that doesn't tell you a whole lot about where they stack up against the Real Madrids, the PSGs, the Liverpools, the Manchester Citys.
And so this is a great benchmark to see, can Bayern Munich, can this current iteration of the team stack up against the team that won this competition last year now?
It was Monday and Bayle came back in this match for PSG and then left about 23 minutes in after re-aggravating an injury it looks like.
And so there's a little grain of salt there, but Bayern Munich, by and large, looked like a club that can keep up in these gigantic competitions against these massive European clubs.
And so I think that puts them firmly in a position where they expect to qualify and sorry, challenge to win this whole competition this year.
Bayern Munich, again, a perennial powerhouse, but with the way that Germany's kind of roster mechanisms work and the way that they spend money in Germany, they don't quite do it on the level of a PSG or of a primarily side.
And so you have to look and ask, like, how is this club built? Are they going to be able to withstand the rigors of the Champions League? And this club certainly seems like they're going to be able to do that, especially on the backs of a 2-1 win over PSG yesterday.
Both goals coming from Luis Diaz who previously played at Liverpool. He also ended up getting a red card late on in the second half.
And so a very eventful game for Luis Diaz, but all around a great performance from Bayern Munich.
Joshua Kimick said that was maybe the most intense half of soccer who played in his career in that second half, which I think just goes to show the level of competition in Champions League.
And so if you have a minute in your midweek schedules, whether it's at work, whatever the case may be, flip on a Champions League match in the afternoon, you will not be disappointed.
And so that kind of is a little Champions League wrap up. We did have some Americans scoring goals in the Champions League, Ricardo Pepe scored a stoppage time equalizer.
That's homegrown FC Dallas player Ricardo Pepe scored a stoppage time equalizer for PSV in their match up yesterday.
And Florian Baligan, another striker for the United States.
Score to goal from Monaco in the Champions League yesterday. So nice to see Americans on the score sheet in the Champions League, because again, this is the top of the top European competition.
And so anytime you have two strikers who are battling it out for really a top place for the US at next summer's World Cup.
Anytime you get both of those guys scoring goals on the same day, it's a really, really good sign.
You love having that kind of competition for those roster spots and for that spot as the starting striker for the US next summer.
It really looks like it's coming down to those two guys, Baligan, who plays at Monaco, Ricardo Pepe, who plays at PSV.
Both scoring goals in Europe is a wonderful sign.
We would have, I don't know, traded an arm or a leg as US men's national team fans about 10 years ago for a guy to score goals in the Champions League the way these guys are.
And so that's a really good sign. Also Tyler Adams, who does not score very much.
He's a defensive midfielder who playing for Bournemouth in the Premier League. He got his first ever goal in the Premier League in English football on Saturday taking on Manchester City.
At the time that level that match at one in a big match for Bournemouth, Manchester City ended up winning that game three to one.
But Tyler Adams able to get a scrappy little goal in the box and all around playing very, very well for Bournemouth side that is outpacing maybe expectations this year in the Premier League.
So really good to see out of Tyler Adams.
And we'll wrap up in the Premier League by just taking a quick look at the table with Arsenal six points clear at the top of the table.
We're going to be able a lot of Arsenal fans here in the United States. Arsenal has finished second the last several years under Miguel Arteta.
Everyone wondering when are they going to be able to take that next step and actually win the league and win the Premier League and grab that title that's been elusive these past several seasons.
They've been so close. They've been really, really freaking good and just not able to get over the line this year.
Six points clear at the top of the table looking really, really strong. And so it'll be interesting to see how Arsenal is able to carry that forward.
With as always Manchester City Liverpool are going to be nipping at their heels maybe a couple of other surprise contenders this year, but it really looks like it's going to be those three like it has been the last several years.
So Manchester City Liverpool chasing right now in Arsenal team that is well out in front.
We'll see what they're able to do with that lead. But this could be the year for Miguel Arteta and Arsenal.
It's something to keep an eye on as you're watching Premier League games Arsenal at the top of the table right now.
We'll see again with with Liverpool and Manchester City facing off this weekend.
It's another opportunity for Arsenal to perhaps gain some points on those teams that are going to be going to be chasing them at the top of the table.
All right. That's going to do it for the kickoff for our little news segment coming up next.
We're going to be talking to our mom Kaffai. He writes the soccer analytics musings for sub stack.
This is a great job. Breaking down stats analytics gives you a different perspective on the games in Major League Soccer.
He's going to join us to talk a little bit of the action going on in the Major League Soccer playoffs right now.
We're at a really exciting time of the year. The MLS playoffs are best of three in the first round.
And so no aggregate scoring. And so it's just who the first team to win two games is the team that's going to move on.
We had eight first round matchups. Five of those are going to a third in decisive game and all of those games are taking place this weekend.
So our mom is going to join us coming up next to break down all of that action.
Stick around. We'll be right back here on the the Sunset Soccer Club.
All right. Joining us now here on the Sunset Soccer Club is our mom Kaffai.
He writes the newsletter football analytics musing on sub stacks. You can go subscribe. I know I'm subscribed.
You can look at his MLS teams of the year. He's got first team, the second team.
We're going to be talking all things MLS here as the MLS playoffs are fully underway.
We have five out of the eight first round matchups are going to a third in decisive game.
So we're going to talk about that. Kind of break it all down here on the show.
So our mom, thanks so much for joining me. How you doing, man?
I'm doing good. I don't know the backdrop is amazing. I'm in my car right now.
But I'm excited to be on such as the life of like writing and like enjoying talking about.
Sockers that you have to have like a real job also. And so we had to like pull our mind out of the offense.
Yeah, we're not all John Arnold. We don't have a nice setup like he does.
Geez. I know if only we could all be John Arnold.
Here on the on the Sunset Soccer Club. But our mom. Okay. So five out of the eight first round matchups.
Like I mentioned, we're going to a third and final like decisive game.
MLS has to be pretty stoked about like their playoff format, right?
Because there's going to be so much drama this weekend. We've got a game on Friday.
Three on Saturday and one more on Sunday. So drama all throughout the weekend.
This is what they were shooting for, right? With this formula.
I mean, yeah, I hate the format personally. I think it sucks.
But I mean, they're getting everything that they want, right?
Like each team is getting a respective home game.
You now have messy on the ropes for a second straight year.
You have Cincinnati who's never top team also on the ropes as well.
So it crit least so much of excitement.
And then I think they've actually scheduled it pretty well.
I didn't think they did the good job. The first couple rounds.
But, you know, Friday, one match Friday, three on Saturday and one on Sunday.
I think they did a really good job. And again, yeah, like you said, like,
I think MLS is really excited about this because they're going to have a lot eyeballs on these games.
I mean, we saw what happened last year again with messy and co.
I know I think we're going to talk about that a little bit more.
But, man, messy gets knocked out again.
That's going to generate some clicks on eyeballs for sure.
No, no kidding. And so you mentioned some of those kind of high profile matchups that are taking place
where we could have highly seeded teams going down to lower ranked teams,
messy getting knocked out in the first round, all of those sorts.
And what do you think is the most compelling matchup here that's coming down to a third and final game?
I don't want to be the guy. It's like, oh, messy and all that stuff.
But definitely one that I think is a very high chance of upset alert is what we sing in Ohio
with Columbus and Cincinnati going to that decisive third game.
Cincinnati hasn't been impressive at all during this season.
Look at their advanced numbers. They've survived games and with a vendor leading the way
and just kind of bailing them out in big moments. Kevin Denke as well.
But Columbus is always having their, their, their Thor remember when Columbus won MLS Cup in 2023,
they beat Cincinnati in a route to MLS Cup.
That is their biggest rival. The hell is real Darby is what they call it.
And again, I think since that is shown vulnerabilities.
And I think if you're Columbus, you smell a little bit of blood as well too,
especially after winning 40 in the second, in the second game and drawing a red card with Kubo.
So for me, that's the game. It's interesting just because there is a rivalry aspect to it as well too.
These two teams do not like each other.
Yeah.
And to place face off in the third game where the fan bases don't like each other, the city is don't like each other.
And again, historically, we've seen Columbus knock off Cincinnati and we're since they thought they were going to make MLS Cup that year.
That's the game I'm intrigued by, but obviously after the Master game is just its own right as well too,
is something that's super fascinating as well.
Well, so with Cincinnati Columbus, you mentioned Columbus 1-4-0 in the second leg of that, of that three leg tie.
Was this a situation of Cincinnati being garbage, Columbus being really good, a little mixture of the two.
Maybe some of the regression, like you were talking about with Cincinnati,
if they're scraping by all season, at some point the luck is going to fall out, right?
The bottom falls out of all that luck.
What was it in that game that really caused it to be such a lopsided score line?
I mean, I think it's a combination of things.
I think this series is also very close as well too when it comes down to the actual teams themselves.
I think it's one of closer series, even though the seating is since Cincinnati has a two-seat and Columbus has a seven-safe.
Usually, you'll see those as really close up matchups.
But to me, I think the matchup was really close.
I think Cincinnati was really great, but Columbus has shown signs of being who they are.
Just not forget, the Columbus still has will for non-see as their coach.
One of, I think, the best coach, if not the best coach in MLS right now.
And he figures out ways to win games.
Since Cincinnati, I would say survived game one, I would say.
I think it was a lot more tighter, but Columbus pulled away in that game too.
And really, they made Cincinnati look pretty amateur to be honest with you.
But part of it's also, if you're Cincinnati and you're down 203,
what's kind of going through your mind where the score doesn't matter, right?
Like, it's not aggregate, right?
It's just based on, hey, you win or do you lose?
For Cincinnati, you're down 2-0, you got a red card at that point.
All right, well, I mean, we could try to win, but do we really need to?
We're going to go back home in a week and play anyway.
So I think all those things came into the picture.
But I mean, for me, Columbus, I think, was absolutely excellent on the day.
And I think, since Cincinnati had 0.01 expected goals, which is like...
I was talking about with one of my friends, history.
And it's like hilariously almost worse than getting zero.
Because like zero, okay, you're just bad.
But 0.01 is just like, I mean, maybe you tried.
It's like hard to do almost.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Exactly.
A game where you're able to attempt a shot, but that's kind of it.
Is it really low expected goals?
Exactly.
Rating.
So no, that's a funny thing to bring up.
Let's pop over to the West Coast and to the Western Conference.
There you have the top seed in San Diego.
Going to a third and decisive game against Portland.
Portland able to pull out that second leg.
And what's kind of been a feisty series?
What's going on there with San Diego?
And can Portland actually pull this upset?
I know Diego Chara is still playing in the midfield for Portland.
Like, I don't know.
It's going to be 20, 55.
And he's still going to be manning the midfield somehow in a majorly soccer match.
But talk us, talk us through that matchup.
Well, that matchup is, it's...
That one's a lot closer than I thought it would be.
I thought that would be a 2-0 sweep for San Diego to be honest with you.
But that one's been a lot closer.
And it's...
It's the fight of Portland to be honest with you.
They scored that goal super late on in game two.
I think the 97th minute, like deep into stoppage time.
They scored and then they want to penalty shootout.
And they actually hung around in game one as well too.
I still think San Diego will pull it off.
But I think it's a lot closer than I think they would like it to be.
Keep in mind, game one, they didn't have Chucky Luzano.
They didn't start Chucky Luzano in game two, if I remember correctly.
He's the score.
They brought him off the bench.
Now you have to start him, I think, in this decisive game three.
If you're Mikey Varis.
And if you're Portland, you must be feeling pretty good about yourself.
You have to go into the play in game.
And now you're pushing it to a decisive game three.
I still think San Diego will pull it off.
But Portland has made this a lot closer than I thought it would be.
I thought this would be a lot more like what we saw with the LSD Austin series.
Where that game ended two.
It was one kind of and then one decisive game.
But this has just been tight all throughout.
So I still think San Diego will pull it off.
But I think Portland definitely has the pieces to pull off the upset.
If that makes any sense with, you know, I'm not the biggest fan of Phil Neville.
But I think he knows how to set up a team in the proper way to go after and.
Attack especially attack the vulnerability of San Diego, which is.
Hey, we're going to build out the back because that's our style.
It's our mentality, et cetera.
But building out the back of MLS, a lot of teams are prone to making mistakes as well too.
And that's where Portland can capitalize on those.
All right.
I think we've gone as far as we can without talking about messy talking about inner Miami.
Like you mentioned, this could be the second year in a row that.
Messy runs into trouble early on in the playoffs.
What are we thinking about inner Miami here?
And all of the pieces they have.
And everything that they've kind of built there.
Especially around kind of aging stars from from Europe.
What do we think about what inner Miami is doing?
And what would it mean if they weren't able to get past Nashville here in the first round?
It would be a failure again, because technically they have a fourth designated player on your team in Rodrigo de Paul.
Now MLS salary cap, they were able to kind of go around a little bit.
Not go around it, but they're able to play it the right way.
And get him as a target allocation money player, a tam player.
But he should be and will be next year one of their three designated players.
They basically afford those name player on the roster.
It's Sergio Biscuits and Jordi Alba's swan song.
You have the greatest player of all time.
And still playing at a very high level in Lee and L messy for them to lose.
It would be.
It would be really bad, man.
I think it would be really bad.
But Nashville has kind of what we talked about with Portland by thing on greater scale.
Nashville has the makings to pull off this upset.
You have Hany Mukdar.
You have Sam Surridge.
Two really good players.
You have any of the hard outside back who's been absolutely outstanding playing balls into the box.
You have a good defense.
You have a good midfield that's feisty as well.
Any of a good coach in my opinion that, you know, I think some people, you know,
on US men's national team Twitter wish was the head coach in some aspects of BJ Callan.
Who's played this kind of fun free flowing soccer.
And if you look at the advanced metrics of Nashville, it's actually been excellent throughout the year.
Excellent.
I actually want to top teams.
You're running into the bus.
Although that is Leo Messi and we've seen Leo Messi perform in moments, you know,
they're much bigger than the MLS Cup playoffs as we've seen the World Cup as we've seen in Copa, America as well.
That one, if I want to be cliche and go, you know, Miami, you know, being the most intriguing matchup.
That's the one where I'm like, man, that is going to be such a good game because BJ Callan,
the first game in game one, they came out kind of naive.
They can't sat back in Miami Tournament part.
Game two, they put a little bit more pressure, they pressed a little bit more.
And they still kind of hung on at the end.
They kind of swung in Miami's favor very late on.
It's going to be interesting though, man, because we do have Honey, Mukhtar and Sam Surridge as your guys up top.
I mean, those guys are really good players and they can score.
And it's not like they're playing a bad team in Nashville.
The quality team, I think they're playing any other team.
I think I'd have them the favorite advancing to the semi-final of the Eastern Conference,
but I mean, you're playing Messi and Co.
So it'd be a colossal failure for those guys not to make it to the next round,
especially when you have a guy like Leonardo Messi.
And like how we talked about, they're essentially playing with four Disney players.
Yeah, yeah.
Getting around some of the funky MLS rocker, roster mechanisms to load up that squad.
That's for sure.
Let's talk about a team that has already advanced Vancouver.
Beat up on Austin FC, moved through, they're going to take on L.A. FC in the next round.
From my perspective, and I'm not as deep into the MLS weeds as you are,
but this season came out of nowhere for me with Vancouver.
Did you see this coming and what does Vancouver gotten so right this year that they are moving on
and taking on a team in L.A. FC that we kind of expect to be in this position?
So Vancouver will be FC Dallas or precious FC Dallas, but not the Austin FC.
So.
Oh, sorry, that's, yeah, my bad L.A. FC took out Austin.
Yeah, you're good.
Well, the thing with Vancouver is they hired just for soreness as a coach,
and no one really expected much out of them to be honest with you.
Vancouver was kind of expected to be okay, it's Vancouver.
You know, there'll be a good team.
They just got firing Vanysartini, who's a popular figure as well too.
And you're like, I mean, why do you fire this guy?
It'll be like a four or five stick seed or something.
But to come out like the way they have where.
I mean, we kind of, I kind of forget about this sometimes.
They haven't been playing as a full roster for like almost two months now.
Tristan Blackman has been hurt.
Brian White's been hurt, right?
And Vesalinovich, I think, is hurt as well too.
They sold Pedro Vite.
They had to kind of put on together a team together instead of playoffs where.
In, you know, in that round one game against FC Dallas and game one,
they were playing, you know, with backup,
you know, with their fifth string center back in a round three.
So who's the center mid by the way?
And it's all about what I think just for so long since installed into this team.
He's installed, hey, well, it's a matter of who's playing.
We're going to play our brand of soccer.
We're not going to change the way we're playing.
We're going to do how we're going to play, how we play.
Sebastian Burholter has been a pleasant surprise.
And he's got some US national team love as well too.
The team overall has been absolutely outstanding into buying to just for so long since vision.
And I think these first two games of playoffs really exemplify that.
Again, they're down there guys in the, in game two of the first round.
They go, it's FC Dallas was hungry for a win.
FC Dallas matches them in the mouth physically.
They come in there.
They play out the play when the first first house that's in them play.
And what does Vancouver do?
They weathered a storm.
They're down.
Tate Johnson.
They're outside back.
He goes out.
Matthias LeBorder comes in.
Daniel Rios has to come out as well to do the injury.
But they keep chugging along and they keep playing their brand of soccer.
And eventually they get their game time goal.
One of the penalties shoot out to advance.
That's the answer to that Vancouver.
The way that they've continuously played on just for sorensen's vision.
And they play some most pretty soccer.
I've seen in MLS.
Just combinations of passes.
Just building.
Okay, one, two here.
All right.
We're going to progress up the field.
They are just excellent with that.
And I think it's just down to their mentality and their identity.
Just for sorensen saying, hey.
We're going to play the way that we're going to play no matter what.
And I got Thomas more to the mix.
Keep in mind, Tyler.
This was a team that was kind of in flux to begin the year.
Their ownership was, you know, talking about selling the team, right?
We, there was rumors that Vancouver could be moved.
Now they play this brand of soccer.
They're the second seed.
They're hosting in the Western conference.
My files.
They added Thomas Mueller, who's been absolutely excellent.
There's a new buzz about them.
I mean, what a story.
I mean, they conquered.
The championship final.
And they lost.
But from the final, they had to knock off two league.
I make his teams.
What a story Vancouver has been.
It's been.
I mean, I'm talking about right now.
It even now it's hitting me.
How amazing it's been.
Yeah.
No, I mean, it's been incredible.
And I think it's always a sign of like a good coach and a great plan.
When you're able to take a guy and Tristan Blackman, who.
I think most of us felt like we, we knew who he was as a player in Major League Soccer.
And he made one of your MLS best 11s, right?
Yeah.
Either first or second team.
I always love a story like that where you take a guy who.
Yeah, I think I think most of us knew who Tristan Blackman was and thought we kind of knew what his ceiling was.
And turned him into an MLS best 11 kind of kind of center back.
And the best player in the year.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So we love, we love seeing stuff like that.
And we love, we love stories like that.
Okay.
So we'll, we'll have you back on kind of as the playoffs progress.
And so we can keep talking about this.
But gut reaction right now.
Who do you, who wins this thing?
I'm in love with LLC right now.
I'm in love with him and so on.
I'm in love with Denny Belonga.
They're absolutely amazing.
When that we play.
And it is smash opponents.
I mean, look what it's Austin.
Yeah.
Absolutely smashed him.
And he goes down his camera game said.
We played naive.
We played absolutely naive against a team that's absolutely excellent.
I am so excited.
I, I, I know we have this international breaking between which kind of sucks.
I am so excited for Vancouver LFC.
I think that's your.
You know, people are like, oh, that's my, I'm less cup found.
That's my, I'm less cup final.
Vancouver LFC should be a Western conference final match.
Fortunately, the stars in lineup as such due to Vancouver dropping that game against FC Dallas.
Uh, where they had a chance to clinch the number one overall is a seed in the Western conference.
But now we get it one round earlier.
It's going to be excellent.
These places going to be rocking.
But I'm in love with LFC.
They just, they just are looking so excellent through.
Son, I mean, home and son is a level above.
He's like messy when it comes to where they are like, I'm compared to MLS.
Because you're a complete level above is complete elevate.
Denny.
Blongo's game to be that level above as well.
We can't have questions.
How they were paired together.
I don't know why I had any questions.
He has been just amazing with Blongo and both of them have formed this kind of partnership on the field that's like you can see the chemistry.
It's like a Batman and Robin type thing except both just can take over a game and all it takes is one mistake.
All right, Vancouver, you're possessing the ball.
All right, we make a turnover.
It's son and Blongo coming right down your throat.
I mean, come on man.
I, for me, it's LFC.
But it's not LFC, it'd be Vancouver.
I love it.
I love it.
We saw Son do that for years in the Premier League.
It's really exciting getting a chance to watch him do it in MLS right now.
And pair with a player with such quality in Belonga.
I think it's, it's pretty special to watch.
It's a, it's a treat.
Anything else standing out for you for many of these five matches is that we're going to watch this weekend that you're going to keep a particular eye on that our viewers and listeners should maybe just watch for.
This NYCFC Charlotte FC game is just very bad or whatever series is very cagey.
Like both teams.
I just want to penalty shootouts.
I think that'll be interesting to see if it's going to continue to be cagey because you have Dean Smith who is to be the coach of.
Yeah.
Asin Villa.
Am I correct?
Where that coaching Charlotte at Steve with Wilfred Salha, comming you're seeing us, yeah, it's going to play out in Charlotte.
And in the final match with Seattle, Minnesota.
Look Seattle.
I would say is also a game good team as well.
I think they could make the Western carbs finals if they survived this game work.
Minnesota has made it hard for them.
And Dave St. Clair has been an amazing goalkeeper.
I'm definitely going to be locked into all the games.
I think Saturday, I'm just going to sit on my couch
and watch soccer all day.
So I think it's a nice little Saturday for me.
But I'm excited for it.
I mean, they've, you know, again, I don't like the format,
but it seems like these five games
are going to be super exciting to watch.
It's going to be a great weekend full of soccer.
Armon can fight.
Joining us, he writes the football analytics
musing newsletter on sub-stack.
You can follow him also on social media.
All the different places, Armon.
Thanks so much for popping out of work
and joining us for a little bit here today.
Thanks, DK.
Appreciate you guys.
All right, it's time for our US men's national team player
profile of the week.
This week, we're talking about Weston McKinney.
Now, he's a local guy from Little Elm, Texas, homegrown player
from FC Dallas, who never actually played a first team match
for FC Dallas, because before he had the opportunity
to do that, he signed a contract with Shalka
and moved over to Germany and played in Germany.
He spent some of his childhood there in Germany as well.
And so it makes a lot of sense.
It was a culture he was comfortable with
and signed that pro contract when he was 18
and made the move.
But an absolutely outstanding midfield player.
He is also 27 years old, much like Christian Policic,
who we talked about last week.
And these guys are kind of playing
for these gigantic Champions League clubs
over in Europe.
It's really what gives US men's national team fans
so much optimism about this current iteration
of the team.
You've got guys that are in their prime, 27, 28 years old,
playing for these big clubs, competing for gigantic trophies.
You've got Weston McKinney at Juventus,
which is traditionally one of, if not the kind of marquee club
there in Italy.
They're in a downspel right now,
but you're in, you're out Weston McKinney
manages to make himself an invaluable member of that club.
And that's one thing that we really want to talk about
and focus on when we talk about Weston McKinney
is everywhere that he's been.
He's been utilized as a little bit of a Swiss army now.
I forgot that can play all over the pitch.
He thrives as a midfielder, right?
But managers have, has loved his versatility
and his ability to play in a lot of different positions.
I mean, I remember a match when he was playing at Shocka
where he ended up playing center forward.
I know he's also played wing back at times
and played on the outside, played inside in a double pivot.
He has played all over the pitch for the different managers.
And it's been interesting because in his time at Juventus,
he's played for a number of different managers.
And every time a new coach comes in,
he initially kind of gets put to the bench, cast aside.
For whatever reason, managers don't come in
and immediately fall in love with Weston McKinney.
But the longer they're there, he has won over
every single manager that has come through that club.
And it's kind of been wild to watch.
Every time a new manager comes in,
pushes Weston out, sits the bench for a minute
and then something about his work ethic
or the way that he plays or what the club needs at the time.
Weston is able to endear himself to a new manager,
make himself invaluable.
And once again, he gets back into the starting lineup.
So Juventus is looking for a new coach as we speak.
And so it'll be interesting to see
if that process plays out once again.
I would kind of put money on it.
But as we look at Weston McKinney
and really what he does well,
it is that Swiss Army knife kind of approach.
But he is very good at playing in the midfield.
He's not going to be the most creative midfielder of all time.
He's not a guy that if you play him further up the pitch,
he's going to be always picking out
that incredible final ball.
But he does have a little bit of that in his game.
And so for the U.S. men's national team,
head coach Mauricio Pochettino has been playing him
a little bit further up in the formation,
giving him the abilities to impact the game on the offensive end.
Now, he does not lose out on headers.
He's six foot one.
He's a well-built guy.
And so he is a guy that dominates areaally.
And so in his 62 games for the U.S. men's national team,
he scored 11 goals,
and a lot of those have come off of headers.
So that's a valuable asset to have a little bit further up the pitch.
He's going to win headers.
He's going to get into the box and create a little chaos.
And he's a guy that generally you love to have on your team.
He has in the past been part of maybe a deeper,
deeper lying double pivot for the U.S. men's national team.
But he's going to be moved up in the formation these days
under Mauricio Pochettino.
And that's going to be something to watch.
How does he look in that final third?
Is he able to pick out some of those dangerous passes?
I know he has a little bit of that in his game.
And so it's going to be fun to watch as we continue
to build towards the World Cup next summer.
What sorts of areas of the pitch is he finding himself in?
And how is he best utilized in this roster?
Most recently, I've been playing further up the pitch.
Maybe he pairs with Christian Policic in that role.
Again, the U.S. is playing a little bit more
of like a four-man midfield.
And so you're going to have two deeper lying players,
which you would almost normally think
Western would be in that kind of pairing
as a deeper lying midfielder.
But instead, he's playing a little bit further up
and might be paired with Policic in that spot,
creating a little bit of an attacking tandem
just underneath a central striker, which could be balligan.
It could be peppy like we talked about earlier.
But those guys are going to be tasked
with creating those opportunities,
getting into those corner areas of the box
and combining with wingers, combining with outside backs,
combining with strikers to be able to make chances happen.
And so that is Weston McKenney.
He also has a really big personality,
one of the more fun people that you see
around the U.S. men's national team.
And so he's a guy that is always cutting up,
always making jokes and see if you see some
of the behind the scenes stuff.
He's a great vibes guy, but he's also a fierce competitor
out there on the field and sure to be a fan favorite
up at this summer's World Cup.
And so again, 27 years old, place midfield at Juventus.
If you get a chance to catch a Juventus game,
Serie A, the league they're playing is on Paramount Plus.
You can also catch them in European competitions as well,
but that is Weston McKenney.
All right, next up, we're going to talk about
the schedule for this weekend.
Again, we have a loaded slate of games.
We have Major League Soccer like we talked to Armon
about earlier.
Again, one matchup taking place on Friday night,
three more MLS playoff matchups on Saturday,
and then finally the last one on Sunday.
And so jam packed weekend full of soccer,
but the biggest matchup of the weekend is going to be
in the Premier League.
You're going to have Liverpool versus Manchester City
like we already talked about.
That is going to be a massive, massive game
for Premier League title aspirations and implications.
And so in the past, this has been a game
that has decided the Premier League race.
This year, Arsenal very much in the driver's seat
in first place right now at the top of the table
in the Premier League, but any time you get Liverpool
versus Manchester City, you have just an incredible matchup
and it's going to matter a lot to the ultimate outcome
for the season in the Premier League.
And so that game is taking place on Sunday.
I'm going to pull out my phone and just double check
what time that matchup is because now with daylight savings
and everything, I'm all thrown off.
So that match is taking place on Sunday.
It's going to be at 10.30 AM central time.
You get Manchester City versus Liverpool.
And like I said, this is just going to be an outstanding matchup.
You think club versus Gordiola back in the day?
Now it's on a slot taking over for club at Liverpool.
But the stakes are the same.
These teams are always loaded with talent.
You get Moasala for Liverpool,
Erling Holland for Manchester City.
Just so many outstanding matchups all across the pitch.
So if you're going to watch one game of soccer this weekend,
I recommend that it's that one.
But you should also catch all of the MLS playoff action,
everything going on across the world of soccer.
There's so much soccer everywhere and so many incredible players to keep an eye on.
But that is my recommendation for this weekend.
If you want to watch one game that's going to be outstanding,
you know you're going to watch two of the best teams in the world.
It's Liverpool versus Manchester City.
10.30 AM on Sunday morning.
All right, that's going to do it for this episode of the Sunset Soccer Club.
Episode number two.
Again, we are just 218 days away from the World Cup in 2026.
And we couldn't be more excited.
Thank you again so much for joining us.
This is going to be a show that we want to keep you updated on everything
going on in the world of soccer and help you be ready for next summer's World Cup.
Get in touch with us.
Let us know if you have questions.
If you have things you want us to cover on the show,
reach out, let us know.
Hit us up on Instagram on X on wherever your preferred social media platform is.
Find us there.
Send us a note.
Also send us an email if you have questions about the game of soccer.
If you see something in the middle of the week and you want to talk about it,
let us know Sunset Soccer Club at stolenwatermedia.com.
Thanks to producer Ivan.
I'm Tyler Kern.
We will be back with episode three next week.
But until then, be good to one another and enjoy your soccer.