USMNT Starting XI for the World Cup, Version 1.0 | Sunset SC Ep.06

All right. Hello and welcome into the sixth episode of the Sunset Soccer Club. I am Tyler Kern.

We are 175 days away from kickoff in the 2026 World Cup right here on our shores in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It's going to be a thrilling time. It's going to be an incredible time.

And this show is meant to get you ready for all of that. We're covering the US men's national team. We'll talk Mexico.

We'll talk what it means to be a host city here in Dallas for worth. There's so much to dive into and so much to talk about. As I mentioned on the last episode, I have a newborn at home.

So I'm a little late in giving you this episode. We're just we're squeezing in soccer when we can right now. And that's just life.

And we are living it. And so excited to bring you this episode here. As we kind of round out 2025, we finally got in a better picture of what the US men's national team kind of looks like.

Right. And so this episode is going to be a breakdown of what I believe the starting 11 will look like for the US when they take the field against Paraguay on June 12th when they take the field for their first game in the World Cup in 2026. This is what I think the lineup will look like now.

These, you know, building your starting 11, building your, you know, your roster for the World Cup next summer. It's kind of a fool's errand. But I think it's fun for two reasons.

One, it's just it's just fun to talk about, right? Nobody really knows what this team is really and truly going to look like because so much time is going to take place between now and then a lot of games, a lot of injuries can happen. A player could go into great form.

A player's form can dip. However, we only have a few more times to kind of get a look at these players for the US men's national team before then. And so I think we have a decent idea of what Mauricio Pochettino wants to do with this team.

We have a decent idea of how he wants to use certain players. And so I think we can start to build a starting 11 based on some of the information that we have. So is this a fool's errand?

Yes. But also I am a fool. And I think this is going to be a fun exercise and something that maybe we can track as we go along and just see how players are playing.

Maybe who falls in? Who comes out? All of those sorts of things as we look at this starting 11.

So let's start here. This is a challenging operation because we need to kind of choose a formation. Now, formations are often discussed in soccer.

What is your starting formation? The base formation for the longest time was just like a 4-4-2 stack, right? Four defenders, four midfielders, two kind of striker attacker type players.

In recent years, things have started to get more exotic. And look, there's a whole book called Inverting the Pyramid based on the history of soccer tactics written by Jonathan Wilson. So if you really want to dive in and get super, super nerdy about it, like I did a few years ago, I probably need to reread it.

But you can do that for the sake of time. 4-4-2 was kind of the base for a lot of the Premier League, the 90s, that sort of thing. Johan Groife played a 4-3-3 at Barcelona and actually more of a 3-4-3.

Let's not dive too deep into that. What you need to know about formations is that they are a starting point. The where we're going to start talking about a player's position.

Now, each player is going to interpret that position differently and it's really just an area that you're occupying on the field. And it's amorphous, right? It's going to move and shift with the game and move and shift as the game demands and as the opponent demands.

And as you assert your dominance upon an opponent, your formation is going to morph and change as you maybe push more players into the attack. And so what starts off as one thing is going to look entirely different in practice once a game has started. Maybe an opponent is forcing you back.

And all of a sudden, if you have three defenders and then a line of four midfielders in front of them, maybe those outside two midfielders end up forced all the way back into your back line. And so you actually look like you have five defenders instead of three, like you started off with, right? That's an example just of how formations can change.

At least in my understanding in recent years, one of the things that has come into vogue for managers, and maybe this was always happening, but now we're actually putting a name to it and calling it something is managers have started to have different formations for the attacking phase of play and the defending phase of play. At least in my understanding and the way I was watching the game previously, and maybe this is just an evolution and how I'm viewing the game, but it feels like it's an evolution and how we're talking about it as well. It used to be, if you had a formation, you attacked and defended roughly within that framework.

Now we are starting to name and label our formations differently, depending on the attacking and the defending phase of play. And so again, the formation just morphs all over the place, but it's the framework and the starting point that we can use to kind of place players on the field. And so there's a lot of debate around what formation the US actually plays.

What do we employ once we actually get on the field? For the sake of this conversation right now, I say all of that, which was way too long-winded of a way of saying that I think that what I'm going to go with for our starting 11 formation for the first game against Paraguay is going to be a three, four, two, one. So that's three roughly, let's call them centerbacks, three defenders in front of a goalkeeper, obviously.

You don't often list the goalkeeper. So goalkeeper obviously in the back. And then three, we're going to call them centerbacks in front of the goalkeeper.

And then ahead of them, two center midfielders with two outside, let's call them wingbacks, because they're going to go all the way vertically up and down the field. So one on the left, one on the right. So we're going to call it three, four.

So four across the middle, the two guys that are outside and the two in the center. And then we're going to have another line of two. So those are going to be our attacking midfielders.

They play in the half spaces. We can maybe talk a little bit more about what that phrase means and what we mean by that. But they're going to play in the half spaces beneath one central striker up top.

So you're going to have a single striker up top beneath him to attacking midfielders. Let's call them below them. There's going to be a line of four.

So outside back, two center, two center mids, and then another outside back, and then a back three of three centerbacks. So that is the base formation that we're going to use to discuss who I think is going to be starting for the US men's national team come June 12 against Paraguay. So again, this is a fool's errand.

This will almost certainly look ridiculous. Come next summer. But that's the fun of this.

We can all look back and we can all have banter about it. You can tell me I'm wrong, you can tell me I'm so smart and so wonderful and so great, which I hope I am and I hope you do. But I don't think that that's going to happen.

So let's dive in and talk about it. In goal, I think this is probably the easiest call that we have on the board right now is Matt Frees. Now, Matt Frees has started the majority of the matches for Mauricio Pochettino since the Gold Cup.

He's really become the first choice goalkeeper for the US men's national team. Over the last let's call it six months or so. He plays for NYCFC in MLS and he he sees this role in the gold cup.

And I think that I think for many people when you think of the US men's national team, you think of really elite staunch goalkeeping, right? You think of Tim Howard in 2014 against Belgium. Just one of, if not the outstanding goalkeeping performance in modern world cup history, right?

Just incredible amount of saves, outrageous play from Tim Howard and he really just had the goalkeeping position locked down for the US for quite a while and was elite at it. And even just beyond him, Brad Gazon had an incredible career before finishing up in the last year. And then you go back further, you had Casey Keller.

I mean, the US has had such a wonderful history of goalkeepers of the last let's call it 20, 25 years at this point. You could probably even go back further than that. That's not where we are right now in terms of elite goalkeeping.

We tend to think of ourselves as a country that always has that great goalkeeper because we kind of always have. In this case, we don't really have that right now. Matt Turner's club situation has been I think a bit of a mess to put it mildly.

A disaster if you want to go really drastic. And he's the guy who started for the US in the last world cup back in 2022. And his club situation has just kind of been all over the place.

You can dive into that a little bit deeper if you want to explore what's been going on with Matt Turner. But suffice to say, it's not going well. And that lack of consistent playing time at the club level, I think caused his play for the national team to suffer and I think caused him to drop in Mauricio Pachatino's eyes.

And so in comes Matt Freeze, he had some good performances. But again, he's not he's not outstanding. He's not great.

He's not somebody who really has grabbed the position and I think run away with it necessarily. It's just that I don't think that there's another really strong competitor for that spot with the US men's national team right now. So Matt Freeze, I think is pretty locked in in this spot.

One of the easier calls that you have to make on the board right now. There's no one really challenging him. And the amount of starting time that he's gotten under Mauricio Pachatino, it would be a massive shock, maybe the biggest shock of anybody outside of Christian Pulisic, not starting for this team, if it's not Matt Freeze and goal on June 12th.

So goalkeeper Matt Freeze, I think that's a that's a pretty easy call. Our three center backs. Now this is going to be maybe a little bit more interesting.

I think on the left side, we have Tim Rehm. Tim Rehm, 38 years old. He and I were actually born in the same year.

So that's that's kind of wild that he is he is considered like the old man of the group. But 38 years old, I think he's going to be the left-sided center back. He has so much experience.

He started a ton in the last world cup for the US and had an incredible career for Fulham at one point leading up to the last world cup. He even had Pep Guardiola saying that if Tim Rehm were younger, he's a guy that he would totally have brought into Manchester City because he's such a good passer, so calm on the ball, things like that. Now, obviously just at his age, he has lost the step or two.

He plays in Major League Soccer now after that incredible career with Fulham and now he is he's at Charlotte and I think that it's fair to kind of wonder about him playing against the elite level competition on the international stage. But I don't think anybody is jumping up and taking that spot from him. You could have maybe an an Austin trustee or Mark McKenzie have a good of next few months and challenge for that spot.

Maybe we see them again in those those March friendlies that the US is going to have. But for now, I think it's Tim Rehm on the left in the center of those back three, I think you're going to have Chris Richards. Now, Chris Richards is starting for Crystal Palace, a gaming game out that is a Premier League team.

He regularly is playing along that backline for a team that is challenging for a Champions League spot in the best league in the world, right? So Chris Richards is obviously an incredibly talented guy, a guy that is more than capable of starting at center back for the US men's national team. Where this gets tricky is that he is not playing gaming game out as the center of a back three in the middle of a back three and that position requires that you're the one kind of manning and organizing everything for your back three.

And so I think that there's a little bit of added responsibility and it's just a it's just different positionally to be playing in the back in the middle of a back three as opposed to on one of the the wings, right? And so I think that it's not his strongest place, but he is the best center back that the US men's national team actually has right now. And so I think that that's where you play your best center back is right there in the middle of that back three.

So I'm hoping that with a couple of more friendlies, hopefully that group can play together a little bit in jail and we get to see Chris Richards play consistently in that spot for the US and they're able to develop a little bit of cohesion there along this back three. Now on the right side of this back three, I think is maybe maybe maybe the maybe the most surprising of the choices here. And I think it's Alex Freeman Alex Freeman scored two goals for the US against Uruguay in that five one win and the last friendly that we saw from the US.

And it's not because of the goals, but it's because of I think his athleticism and his improvement over the course of the last year for Orlando City puts him in this position where I think he can start on the on the right side of a back three. Now that means that you stay at home a little bit more, but he's providing cover for that right side of the field that once we get into the wingers and who I think is going to be playing on the outside of that of that group before in the middle of the field, I think it'll come into focus why I think somebody who can be a good one on one defender is good at that right center back position. And I think that that's what Alex Freeman is going to need to be.

He is an elite athlete in my mind. And I think that having that athleticism is going to allow him to cover the amount of ground that needs to be covered on that side of the field. And so I think that with what the rest of the formation is going to be asked to do, I think having somebody that is versatile in that right center back role is important.

And that to me is Alex Freeman. Again, just 21 years old playing for Orlando City. And I think he has improved a ton over the last year and really kind of vaulted himself into this position.

Another guy that played in the gold cup and then looked really, really comfortable playing for Mauricio Pochettino. And that's something that Daniel Robertson and I talked about on a previous episode, just that these guys that have played a number of games under Pochettino really seem to have grasped the system and what they're being asked to do. And even if they aren't the guys that are playing for the elite leagues in Europe, understanding what your manager wants of you, I think is a really crucial aspect of being able to function and play within a team setup and being able to succeed at a World Cup.

And so that's why I think an Alex Freeman is a perfect person to kind of plug into that position. Again, Austin, trust your Mark McKenzie could jump up and take this spot. Somebody else, along those lines, I think, could be that guy.

Even a Joe Scally for Borussia Munchen Gladback, who got called into the last camp. I think could play his way into that position. But right now, I think it's Alex Freeman's to lose.

All right, so that is your back three. So we have Goldkeeper, Matt Frees, Defenders, Tim Rehm, Chris Richards, and Alex Freeman from left to right across that back three. All right, let's jump up into the midfielder now.

So we're going to take this the left and the right side and then the two that are going to play in the center because they're being asked to do vastly different things for the guys that are going to be on the outside, the left and the right. They are going to be tasked with getting into the attack and when the U.S. is in the attacking phase of player, they are going to join the two attacking midfielder and the striker to form a group of five in the attack.

So when the U.S. has the ball and are really on the front foot, I think that the U.S. is going to morph into three at the back, two center midfielder and then five across the top forming your attacking line.

So these guys are going to have to get up into that attack. But then they're also going to have to drop back and support defensively at times. And I think that that might happen in a lopsided way with the left side dropping further back than the right side just simply because of skill set and what they're going to be asked to do within this formation.

But that's what the left and the right side of these this group of four are going to be asked to do. Whereas the two center midfielder are going to be protection for the back three and also advancement of the ball in possession and then cover in defense. And so very, very different roles, different types of players are going to be asked to do these sorts of things.

So let's talk about the left and the right side first. On the left side, we're going to have Anthony Robinson, nicknamed Jedi, plays left back for full him and was largely thought of as maybe the best left back in the Premier League last season. And one of if not the best left back really in all of Europe last year.

He'd been suffering from an injury and just came back this past weekend. And so it was really, really good to see him on the field. I personally was was pretty nervous about whether or not Jedi was going to be back and playing regularly in time for the for him to kind of work his way back into full fitness and be ready for the World Cup next summer.

It looks like he's going to be able to do that. And that's a huge sigh of relief for the US. Not that Max Arfsten who was playing in that role for the US wasn't doing a good job.

But Anthony Robinson's elite, right? And when we're looking at players in these positions, you have some guys that that set a really nice high floor for you at a position. But then you have other guys that really raise the ceiling and raise your expectations for the team and for what you can expect from this particular position.

You'd great to have role players guys that are solid that are going to go out there and do a job for you. It is a completely different story to have guys that are elite at a particular position who you can rely on to be game changers at times and to do special things for you in tournaments like a World Cup. And Anthony Robinson to me is just one of those guys.

And so having him on the left side is crucial. He gets up and down. He runs tirelessly.

He is incredibly athletic, really fast, really fast player and combines really well over on that left side. And I think he and Christian Pulisic over the years of playing together for the national team have really developed an understanding on that side. And so I think it's important for him to be healthy and to be starting for the US.

And I think this is an ideal role for a guy like Anthony Robinson to give him the the ability to go forward. He'll have some defensive responsibility tracking back. But he'll also have a little bit of cover with that back three behind him.

And so I think this is an ideal position for him over on the right side. I'm putting Serginio desks right now. And Serginio desks playing for PSV.

He previously played for Barcelona a bit of an enigma as a player. He can do some just really, really special things on a soccer field that not too many other players for the national team can do. However, he also sometimes does puzzling things on a soccer field.

And there are also times when he doesn't look particularly interested or capable as a defender, despite the fact that he spent his entire career pretty much as a right back. So I'm putting him on the right side in this formation and how we've seen him be used by Mauricio Pachotino so far is almost exclusively as a right winger without having the responsibility of tracking all the way back to play right back. That's why I said earlier that these guys are going to be unbalanced in terms of who's going to be asked to defend.

Anthony Robinson is going to be asked to come back and defend more often as a left back. Serginio desks is going to be asked to stay high and continue to play as a right winger. And so that's going to ask Alex Freeman to shift over to the right from that right center back spots kind of act as a de facto right back when the US is defending.

And so I think that is going to utilize Serginio desks skill set the best while minimizing his deficiencies. He will occasionally give the ball away in bad places. But if he does that further up the field, you have more opportunity to cover for that than you do if he's doing that as a right back and you're trying to build out of the back.

I think he can be really special and I mean there was a goal and I think Daniel and I were talking about this a couple episodes ago where he cut in from the right onto his left foot, which is his non-favorite foot and just curled in an absolutely incredible goal for the US back a few years ago. So this is a guy that can do amazing things for you. And I think it's smart of Pachotino to play him in this way because I think what you're doing is again, minimizing his weaknesses and maximizing his strengths.

Again, he plays for PSV with a number of other American players. Again, enigmatic player, very interesting guy, but I think this is the way to get him on the field. So he is over on the right.

Now, as your two center midfielders, I have Tyler Adams and Tanner Tessmann. Now, Tyler Adams I think is a given as long as he is healthy, which is a big if these days and has been for his entire career. But he's playing wonderfully for Bournemouth.

He scored two goals this year. His first two goals in English soccer. And I'm really, really happy to see him healthy and playing well at Bournemouth.

He is a true center defensive midfielder. Again, his strength is breaking up opponents plays. He is wonderful with the defensive metrics, right?

He recovers possession very well for his team. He shields a backline really, really well. He's incredibly athletic and he uses that athleticism for defense, right?

For breaking up opposing attacks, reading plays, seeing where they're going, getting there and snuffing it out, making tackles, um, and bustling up opponents attacks. That is how he employs as athleticism around the field. His weakness is really forward passing, um, for lack of a better term.

And now that sounds like I think that Tyler Adams is a bad soccer player. I think he is incredible outstanding. I think he has to be on the field for the US if he's healthy.

And I don't think he's able to be replaced by anyone in the US men's national team player pool. So I think it's incredibly important that he's there and healthy. I think that who you pair him with is very important because you need somebody next to him who can do a good job of grabbing the ball from him and playing forward passes.

Now, this is where I think I go with Tanner Testament. Now, I really liked what Sebastian Burhalter did in the last camp. I think he's a candidate here.

I think Christian Roldon is also a candidate here. But I think Tanner Testament gives you the right mix of also athleticism. He's a big guy.

He's six foot two six foot three and a big passing range. And so I think that having that combination gives you a lot of athleticism at the center of the field that you need to break up opposing attacks shield that back line at times. But then also play progressive passes.

And that's what I think Tanner Testament is going to be asked to do. And I'm not I'm not entirely sold on this as a pairing. We really haven't gotten to see it all that much.

I was really hoping to see it in the last camp. But then Tyler Adams got hurt before we were able to really kind of see that come to fruition. And so this is an untested and untried pairing for me.

But I don't think it's going to be Eunice Musa who is kind of struggling to find his place at at at at at at Atlanta goodness gracious struggling to find his place at at Atlanta after leaving AC Milan. So I think that I'm going to go Tanner Testament here to pair with Tyler Adams in the middle. So as a recap, we now have Matt freeze in gold defenders Tim Reem, Chris Richards and Alex Freeman from left to right.

And now from left to right across the midfield, we have Anthony Robinson, Tyler Adams, Tanner Testament, and then on the right side, Serginio Dest. So there we go. Now let's get to the attacking midfielders.

The guys that are going to play in the half spaces. Now the reason I call it the half spaces because it's not wide. It's not central.

It's kind of splitting the difference between those places. And that is a crucial place on the field because you're often receiving the ball and trying to receive passes in between the lines of the defenders. Right.

So in between the lines of a midfield and a back line and kind of between where players are going to be positioned as defenders. And so you can call them. Yeah, they play in those half spaces.

So we can call them attacking midfielders. You can call them something different. I know the total soccer show calls the players in this position.

The half space merchants. I think that's a wonderful name for it. But these are going to be the guys that are tasked with really creating dangerous attacks for the US and setting up a striker who's going to be playing in front of them.

And so this is where I think I'm going to take a big swing and make a bold prediction that will almost certainly be proven foolish here in about six months. But I'm going to go ahead and take the swing. Anyways, I'm going to go Christian Pulisic.

That's the obvious one. He is the best attacking player that the US has maybe ever produced. He is playing at an extraordinarily high level for AC Milan.

And it's just an all around incredible player. And I don't think that there's any ifsands or buts about that. I think he's going to play as the left attacking midfielders.

So if we have a left in a right, I think Christian Pulisic is going to be on the left. It's where he plays fairly often and has almost always exclusively played for the US men's national team. And I think pairing on that side with Anthony Robinson gives them a really, really strong partnership on that side and makes the US really lethal down that left wing.

Now over on the right side, I'm going to leave out Weston McKenny for right now and start Gio Reyna. Now this is wild-ass and kind of crazy. But here's the thing.

There's there's something we're just going on with Weston McKenny and Marisa Pochettino. And I haven't quite figured it out. You know, haven't figured out what it is yet.

And I don't know that anybody really knows. The last camp I kind of thought that hey, it's not a big deal that Marisa Pochettino didn't call him in. You know, he has a new, you know, Weston McKenny has a new manager at Juventus, not a big deal.

Well, other people kind of came along and said, no, this, this actually is a big deal because a lot of other players are being called in from their European squads from their European teams. And Juve is in an international window also. And a lot of their players are going to go out and play for their national teams.

It's not like they're having like full team trainings where Weston McKenny is going to get a chance to like prove himself to his new manager. Plus he was already regularly starting for Luciana Spaletti anyways at Juve leading up to that camp. So it's not like he's trying to change Spaletti's mind or anything like that.

He's already starting already playing. And so why isn't he being called into this camp? And I think that that's a really, really good point.

And we just haven't gotten to see enough of Weston McKenny under Marisa Pochettino yet. And I think at a certain point, you run out of time. And I think that Western McKenny is an incredible player.

I think he probably should be starting on this team. But then there's Giorena, right? And I'm just so intrigued by this guy, by this player.

And I'm not a Giorena fan by any means. I have found him off-putting at times throughout his career. His injury history is lengthy.

And there have been times where I'm not even convinced that he's super even enjoys playing soccer. But he is really a special player for the US when he is actually healthy and on the field. And Doug McIntyre tweeted this recently, a great soccer journalist covering the US men's national team.

Tweeted that Giorena started three consecutive club games for Borussia Munchen Gladbach earlier this month. And that's the first time he started three consecutive matches for his club team since 2021. That is crazy.

That is how much injuries have hampered this guy's career. But also it kind of goes to show you that maybe for the first time in a long time, he's actually healthy. He's actually contributing at the club level.

And we saw what he could do for the US men's national team in this last window when he was healthy, right? He scored a goal. He set up another goal.

He's just a dangerous player. And I think that you have him available. Do I think he's probably better as a superstar?

Yeah, maybe, but I'm taking a wild swing here. And I'm going to say that the US puts out onto the field. Guys that can break games open and be massive difference makers.

I think Western McKinney can also do that. But I think that this is the position he would also be playing in for the US men's national team. And so I think in this case, I'm just going to put Gio Reyna there and see what happens.

I know it's a little wild. And I know people are going to have big opinions about that. But I would love to love to discuss it.

Love to hear from people more because I love Western McKinney. I just see something strange going on here with head coach Mauricio Pochettino. And I'm not entirely positive that the relationship is strong there or that Mauricio Pochettino fully trusts Western McKinney yet.

It's weird. I don't know what's going on. I cannot imagine a world where I would trust Gio Reyna over Western McKinney.

But I think that's what I'm going to predict come June 12th. All right. Last but not least, our striker, Florian Balligan.

I really, really like Florian Balligan. I think he is an outstanding striker. Not amazing.

Not like a world beater by any means. But I think he does a lot of really, really good things for the US. And adds a versatile layer that maybe you don't get from Ricardo Pepe or Haji right now.

I really, really love Ricardo Pepe. He came up through the FC Dallas system. So I saw kind of his development and what he did to get the big move to Europe and all of those sorts of things.

But I think in this case for the way that the US is going to play Florian Balligan is the guy. And look, he's got seven goals and two assists through 18 matches in league and the champion's league this season six, excuse me, three goals and six games in the Champions League, which is a great rate of return. I know Ricardo Pepe is also scored goals in the Champions League.

I just think that the versatility of what Florian Balligan does, playing a little bit more with his back to goal, combining a little bit more with the attacking midfielders that are going to be around him, who I think are going to be the US's most dangerous players. I think gives him a little bit of a leg up over Ricardo Pepe who is less of a back to goal able to combine with players around him to create dangerous attacks and more of a run in behind kind of slasher type striker. It's not that one is better than the other.

I just think that one suits this particular team better than another. So I'm going to go Florian Balligan. If it ends up being Ricardo Pepe, doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

In fact, I love it. If it ends up being Haji Wright, I think I'm also okay with that. Haji Wright scoring goals in the championship.

And I think plays a little bit more similarly to Ricardo Pepe in terms of being a little bit more of a slasher guy that can also at times play over on a wing. So he has that skill set a little bit more, but I think it's going to be Baligan when it comes down to who maximizes the US's attack more. So let's break it all down.

Let's go back to front. We have Matt Fries. And then in sorry, Matt Fries and goal, our defenders are going to be Tim Reem, Chris Richards and Alex Freeman from left to right.

Midfielders, Anthony Robinson and Sergio Dest, why left? Why right? Tyler Adams and Tanner Tessmann in the middle, attacking midfielders, Christian, Pulisic and Gio Reyna and then Striker.

We're going to have Florian Baligan as your lone striker up top. That is my projected starting 11 right now, proven the US takes on Paraguay on June 12th, 2026 in their first match in the World Cup. Let me know what you think.

Who is your starting 11 right now? Where am I crazy? Where am I right?

Where am I wrong? I would love to hear from you on this particular question and on this particular episode. You can, you know, message us on Instagram or leave a comment telling me I'm insane.

You can email us sunset soccer show at stolenwatermedia.com. If you think I'm crazy, we have an email that I need to to respond to on the show at some point about said burr halter and a couple of other players just kind of comparing resumes. We're going to get to that at some point, but not today.

But send us more questions. We will eventually do a mailbag episode where we answer your questions about this roster and about this team. But let me know what you think about this starting 11 send me your starting 11 and I would love to discuss it with you.

That is going to do it for this episode of the show. Thanks for bearing with me. I know that it's just a lot of my voice talking.

We will get more other people's voices on the show coming up very, very soon. But thank you again for sticking with me. Thanks for my producer, Ivan.

He's the man. He's doing it all for us and putting this all together and making it look good. We'll be back soon with more episodes, but have a very, very happy holiday season.

And thank you for sticking with us for the show. We have loved bringing it to you here in 2025 and look forward to more in