← Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
LA Galaxy GM Will Kuntz Talks the Financial Side of Soccer
01:11:59
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- [00:00]
Landon Donovan
The LA Galaxy general manager Will Koontz.
- [00:03]
Tim Howard
The toughest thing about MLS is that the rules make it impossible to have deep rosters. If you lose a guy like Ricky Pooch, it's impossible to replace them with a guy like Jovalich. In any other league in the world, a club like the Galaxy and where we sit relative to spend, it's like you just. You just re. Sign.
- [00:21]
Landon Donovan
Unfiltered soccer with Landon and Tim presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of US Soccer for the past five years.
- [00:31]
Will Koontz
Ld, my good man. I am super excited to be here. I got a beard trim yesterday. Woke up at the crack of dawn two days in a row, covered a premier league on NBC, which is amazing. And I get to come to you. I'm getting on a flight after this, and I'm heading to San Diego. Sunny San Diego.
- [00:50]
Landon Donovan
God's country, baby.
- [00:50]
Will Koontz
God's country. I know that's what you say. And for people who don't know, with unfiltered soccer, we have lots of things we need to do. Content shoots, all the rest of it. And Landon oftentimes obliges and comes to New York City. So this time he gets his way. And we're going to San Diego. So I can't wait to see you, bud.
- [01:08]
Landon Donovan
Cannot wait to see you. My weekend was awesome. My dad came out to visit, watched my. All my kids play sports all weekend. Flag football, soccer, baseball, all the things. Awesome weekend. I was exhausted, as you know. You wrote a book?
- [01:27]
Will Koontz
Yes.
- [01:28]
Landon Donovan
And that process. I'm in the process of writing a book, and it's almost done, but just the editing part and reading it and then reading it again and deleting and every. You want every word to be like, perfect, you know? Dude, what a grind. Nobody tells you this. You're like, oh, it's great. I'll write a book now. I'm like, this sucks, dude.
- [01:45]
Will Koontz
Dude, it's a labor of love. Isn't.
- [01:48]
Landon Donovan
Has to be.
- [01:49]
Will Koontz
I. I remember. I remember. I remember writing the book with Ali Benjamin, who was my ghostwriter. And I just. I just remember thinking, there's. I've buried some. I've buried some crap way down deep. And I was like, I don't really want to bring this. Like, it. It's, like, arduous to have to relive some of that stuff.
- [02:05]
Landon Donovan
And. And it's like, what do you put in? What do you don't. How deep do you want to go? And I. At the end, I was like, whatever. Dude, let's just throw it all in and we can cut it out. But now we're just.
- [02:14]
Will Koontz
Well, I'm. I'm excited to read. I've been. I was a small. A small part of that journey. And I know you're, you know, from beginning to end of your career is incredible. So I'm. I'm looking forward to getting a signed copy, which I know you'll give me. So that's awesome. That's exciting.
- [02:27]
Landon Donovan
All right, well, if I make it to that, I might just say, forget it. It's just exhausting. All right, guys, as always, follow us on social media. Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. A lot of people subscribing now, and it's making the show more popular, getting in front of more people. So follow on Apple podcast, Spotify. If you love what we're doing, please rate it. Um, and as always, email us at feedbackunfiltered soccer. Com. All right, Timmy, let's jump in this weekend. MLS first game. That lot of talking points for a lot of reasons. Minnesota hammered Miami. I know short history for Miami, but that was their worst loss since Messi's been there. 4 1, they lost. Minnesota's great because I hate watching them. I hate watching Minnesota play. I think they had 27% of the ball in this game, and they could care less. Sure. Home away, whatever. And what's happening in world soccer now, Tim, is it's like the Barcelona, have the ball, have the ball. Pep Guardiola, have the ball, have the ball. And now teams are going, don't care. Some teams are just saying, that's great. You can be sexy and have the ball, don't care. And Minnesota does it every week, and you know they're going to do it. And then they wait for their chance and they go score and they score and they score, and they've been good, man. They're second in the West. Miami. It feels, Tim, like schedule starting to catch up a little with them. And that's. That's the MLS problem, right? Is 1st, 11, 13, 14 are good enough. But when you get deep into your roster and you have to fill in some spot, it's just not good enough.
- [03:59]
Will Koontz
We have some interesting, interesting comments on. On this episode about. About roster depth, which we'll get to later. Look, I think it's the narrative that I've been. I've been shouting for forever, and I'll. And I'll continue because I believe it wholeheartedly. There's more than one way to win a football game. You've heard me say this. So this concept of, oh, it's ugly, doesn't matter. Winning is not ugly. Winning is not. Winning is great. So if Minnesota wants to do it in a certain way, have at it, do exactly what you want to do and they're getting the results. I mean, in terms of Miami, look, I think that, I think the worry is you and I have talked about this since the beginning of the Seals preseason this year. Like it's, it's MLS cup or bust for Miami, right? Like that's success. They had, they won a supporter Shield last year, so absolutely nail that onto the, onto the wall, into the trophy case. That's a successful season. But as you know, you've won multiple MLS Cups. That's what they're, they're thriving and driving for. So if it doesn't happen, that's a big issue. But particularly because you know, we're seeing the best of Messi in the MLS and if they don't get that, then it's a little bit of a, not a stain. But, but people will be underwhelmed, so. Yeah, but, but I also, I also think they, you know, I'm still not counting them out. I still know on their day they can figure some stuff out and single handedly Messi and others can take over a game in the mls. So I'm cautious when I talk about Miami.
- [05:25]
Landon Donovan
It's going to be interesting with Messi because coming up this summer, and this is for all players worldwide now there's a FIFA date beginning middle of June, so he's going to go. I mean they've had a really congested schedule already with Miami and now Argentina have qualified, so maybe they don't bring him in. But if he goes back to Argentina, South America comes back playing in club World cup plus MLS games. I mean, we've talked about it a lot, but how he gets managed is going to be really important and a lot of their roster, to be honest.
- [05:53]
Will Koontz
I think if he goes on international duty, I think minimum on the, on a return, minimum two weeks break, right? Like I, maybe I, they're going to manage him and that's, that's just a, you know, and I wouldn't be surprised. And I know, I know it's not, it's not amazing, but I wouldn't be surprised if they manage him even more coming out, coming out of the summer and just going, look, we know all our eggs are in what basket, so let's just try and be fit and, and cross our fingers that, that the magic can take over in the playoffs. Like, ah, we'll see.
- [06:22]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, but Tim, the. The challenge will be then how seriously do they take the Club World Cup? Because he's going to come. If he goes away to international, dude, he's going to come back. Club World cup starts bang. And so that's going to be a challenge because there's, you know, it's like you get in these moments and when you plan out the calendar in the beginning of the year, you go, ah, this isn't that important. That's not that. And then you get into the league, you lose 41 in Minnesota. Now you're like, oh, now the next game's important, you know, so it's just, it's a challenge.
- [06:49]
Will Koontz
The part you mentioned, and I don't think I'm speaking at a turn here. I think I'm interested to see how important the Club World cup is to everybody. Yeah, no, I do like Manchester City and Inter, Miami and all the rest of the teams. Like, this is as. As a player who played for 13 years abroad and was exhausted at the end of the season, I then went in with the national team probably a week later, sometimes two days later, and you could get up for those games. I. I'm not so sure from a club standpoint that I'm, I'm super excited about it now. That's just me. But I also know that's how players think. So we'll see. I'll reserve judgment, but we'll see how seriously these teams take it.
- [07:33]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Yeah. We don't know. Vancouver Whitecaps LAFC tied to 2. This is a reminder from our friends at NITSA. Buckle your seatbelt to make it home safely. Don't risk it. Click it. Or ticket paid for by nitsa. NHTSA is always reminding us, Tim, to get strapped in every time we get in our car. And someone who is most definitely strapped in right now is our man, Brian White in Vancouver. Two more goals. They draw with lafc. He's on his way, dude, to probably getting called in to the Gold cup. And he just keeps going, man. And it's fun to watch. And it's one of those stories we talked about. Goes into January camp, makes a little name, has a huge year. We'll see where it goes.
- [08:13]
Will Koontz
Yeah, he's off. Look, he's off to a great start. L.D. you know how, you know how I feel about strikers. Get the goals, the goals. When you can make some noise, make the manager look, have a, have a look at you. He's done that. I Think he's in the shop window. I. I'd like to see him get called in. It's not. It's not a. It's not a strong point of ours. We talk about that all the time in terms of. Of a country, you know, we don't produce. We don't produce top strikers. Every now and again, one comes through. So I think he. I think he should get a chance. If you're scoring, you should get a chance.
- [08:44]
Landon Donovan
I agree.
- [08:44]
Will Koontz
The crazy. The crazy thing about strikers is you. You get one game or two games, which is not a lot. There's not a lot of games left before the World Cup. You score, you bang one or two goals, and you're asking to get put on again, you know, and so as long as he does the business for Vancouver, there's nothing holding him back from getting a call up.
- [09:02]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, we will definitely keep our eye.
- [09:04]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [09:05]
Landon Donovan
We are going to discuss The Red Bull, L.A. galaxy result, 1 I'm sure you reveled in. I did not. But we will have Wil Koontz, the GM of the LA Galaxy, on after the break. We recorded that interview on Thursday, FYI. So everyone keep that in context. But we will get into that later in the show. All right, let's move on to the Premier League. The fight for fifth place. City drew away at Southampton. Reuben Diaz was fuming after about Southampton didn't try to play and they didn't do this and that. I'm like, don't care, dude. Don't care. I don't care. By the way, if Southampton had done this all year, they might still be in the Premier League next year. Right. So give them credit. And City, it's like, don't whine. That's. That's. What. What do you expect them to.
- [09:48]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [09:48]
Landon Donovan
How do you expect Southampton?
- [09:49]
Will Koontz
You're right.
- [09:50]
Landon Donovan
You come out and play and get beat six now.
- [09:52]
Will Koontz
Totally. And look, that's on City. I mean, obviously, that was our future match on the weekend on one of the days, whenever. A Saturday. And you know, it's interesting, ld because what you see at the end of the season, we saw this a little bit with Lester as well. You're so fearful of going down and then it becomes official.
- [10:13]
Landon Donovan
True.
- [10:13]
Will Koontz
And these players are almost like. We see it. They're actually playing like more free relief. Yeah. You're almost relieved. Which is a. It's a crazy sort of, you know, human nature behavior. But you. You see it. They're more relaxed and more free. The other part. And Southampton sacked their second manager of the season. So they're on another interim manager. But you. That's been my point. And we've talked about this in depth, right? Like these teams come up and you mentioned it, everyone wants to play like Pep and Man City. They don't have the quality of players. So their center backs are some guy you'd never heard of. Not John Stones and Ruben Diaz, right? And so you're like, let's play expansive football. We give the ball away, we get punished. Southampton parked the bus and they got a result. And I'm saying all they've. They spent the entire year playing a certain way, playing expansive, wanting to play between lines, and they got cooked every weekend. So I'm saying, well, why don't you earn the right to play in the Premier League incrementally, Grab some points and then open it up a little bit when things start to go pretty. Okay.
- [11:13]
Landon Donovan
But they didn't do Forest. Forest a little bit. I wouldn't say open it up when it. But they're just more free. They're more. Yeah, totally. Bournemouth did it. As they got back in the league, it was just. Yeah, that's right.
- [11:21]
Will Koontz
It's. But anyway, so, yeah, interesting result there.
- [11:24]
Landon Donovan
Just the result. Bournemouth nil. Villa 1. So big win. Ollie Watkins get the goal. Big win for Villa. Newcastle. Chelsea. Newcastle were good. Chelsea not good. They seem to have hit a wall. And bad moment for Nicholas Jackson. I saw what you said, Tim, on the weekend. I think people, you know, people have these comments that he's like, he's trying to elbow him and he's lining him up and it's hard to judge intent. Of course, he definitely knew where he was, right? And he. And he puts his elbow up and that's when you're going to get into trouble.
- [11:56]
Will Koontz
Yeah. I mean, I think we certainly covered it this weekend. I think people are wrong when they say, like, he. Only the pictures tell a really interesting story because when you slow it down, he raises his arm and he looks at Sven Botman. Now what I would say is, and I stand by, if you raise your arm, you're giving the referee a license to make a decision. And that decision might go against you, but what ends up happening in every single direct long ball up to a striker, right, There's a. There's a confrontation with the. With the center back. So what ends up happening is a striker looks at the ball, looks at the defender, edges back some. Some strikers bottle it and they go, I ain't going up with him. Right? But if you do challenge, we're taught ld and you Know this. We even unfortunately don't teach our young kids to do this. But you're taught to bring your arm up and then the defender is going to bring his arm up and you're just trying to gain leverage, right? And when you watch Sven Botman, he actually goes down and then he goes to lift off and. And Nicholas Jackson just mistimes it by a half a second. Because what he wanted to do was get his arm up and basically share airspace with Sven Botman. When Sven Botman goes up, he wants to go up with him and challenge for the ball. As it was, Sven Botman never got off the ground because he just mistimed it and his elbow ends up going to his chin. I don't believe for one second that Nicholas Jackson thought, I'm about to take his chin off. No, that wasn't his intent. So he just mistimed it. And like I said, you. You give the referee license to send you off.
- [13:25]
Landon Donovan
It's. It's been tough to watch for him. Cause he had such a great start to the season and you know, it just keeps getting worse and worse. Yeah, Liverpool, Arsenal. I don't. The result didn't matter. No, the fans, Tim, we talked about this. Booing Trent Alexander, Arnold and obviously we're both blues and we love Everton. This was embarrassing. I mean, this phenomenal season you've had and now this is the talking point. Are you kidding me? You're booing. This guy played out his contract, grew up there, given everything. Maybe he wasn't everything everyone wanted and yes, he's leaving, but that absolutely. It shocked me, honestly, it shocked me. And it was so disappointing. It was so disappointing. So poor.
- [14:05]
Will Koontz
Yeah, so poor.
- [14:06]
Landon Donovan
I don't have anything else to say.
- [14:07]
Will Koontz
It's just. I do, I think, you know, I think for. For a football club who fancy themselves as being incredibly classy, it was a very classless act. You know, Trent Alexander Arnold has given this football club everything. He grew up as a Red, he came through as a Red. Like this concept that he owes them anything. Liverpool fans are joking themselves. Two Premier League titles, a Champions League and countless other cups he's brought to that football club. He doesn't owe them anything. And I know the comments are going to come in, so I'll get ahead of it. So they're going to say, we get nothing for him. This is a player worth £60 million. We get nothing for him because he's going to leave on a free. Here's how this works. If you have a decent player, any type of player, Anyone have to be decent. By the way, it's good business that with 18 months running on their current contract, you renegotiate. Okay. If you can't come to an agreement, usually what Landon, 12 months prior, then you just think, I'm going to play this thing out right.
- [15:19]
Landon Donovan
Both sides know it. Both sides know it. Yeah.
- [15:22]
Will Koontz
What the issue is, it's always all these players are money hungry. And you want I can assure every single Liverpool fan, any football fan, because I've been in dressing rooms where players let their contracts run down. The player doesn't come in every day and go, guess what guys, I'm going to hold this club hostage and they're going to get nothing for me. That's how it works. Either you disagree on the terms of the deal or the money or the, or the length. Someone doesn't agree and sometimes it doesn't work. And then when you get to 12 months, you just, you didn't do your job from 18 months to 12 months as a club and as a player to get the deal done. Now that's it. But to think that he owes them Nothing. Like he's LD. Who are they kidding? In 14 days time they're going to lift a trophy. And that trophy goes from the captain, Virgil Van Dijk, to every player. He's going to lift the Premier League trophy, the one that takes Liverpool above Manchester United in the trophy count. He's going to lift it up to the cop and they're going to boo him. I'll tell you what, Liverpool fans, they better not. We've always had a love affair, but do one. I mean, that's a joke.
- [16:27]
Landon Donovan
Shocking.
- [16:28]
Will Koontz
That's a joke.
- [16:29]
Landon Donovan
All right. Champions League elsewhere in Europe. I know we're a little far removed now, but PSGB Arsenal 31 on aggregate. Arsenal. Arteta was kind of complaining about, you know, the best team not in the final. Da da da. But PSG deserved to be there. They were, they, they were the better team over two legs.
- [16:44]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [16:44]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, they've been the best. I think they've been the best Knockout team. Knockout stage team.
- [16:49]
Will Koontz
Yeah. Yeah. And I don't look, I think, I think Arsenal were very, very good. P.S. p.S.G did the business and you know, certainly Mikel feels, Mikel Arteta feels that way about his team. I've got no, I've got no beef with that. They were very good. But ultimately, you know, PSG did advance and they did the business. Interesting. Interestingly enough on. I want to bring something to your attention which I know you've heard, David Beckham and Friends, which is a show surrounding that. He was asked a question about whether Declan Rice should be Arsenal's captain or not, because obviously Martin Odard is. Is the club captain. But that then. That then brought him to talk about when he went to la, and kind of the interesting juxtaposition of when he got there and you were captain and he regrets taking the captain's armband from you, which I just thought was. I mean, that dynamic is so interesting, but the fact that, you know, he was talking about the situation and the regret and obviously you were. You were at the forefront of that, I thought was very interesting. How did you feel?
- [17:52]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, I got. My phone kind of blew up, and I wasn't watching, so my phone blew up. And, you know, it's. It's funny when you play with a guy for seven years, you know, this Tim, he's. He's not just another teammate, but he's. He's one of your teammates. Right. And that's the way you view him. You forget that. How famous. You just forget how famous.
- [18:10]
Will Koontz
Sure.
- [18:11]
Landon Donovan
And especially as time's gone on in the moments like when we would travel and people are crazy and.
- [18:16]
Will Koontz
Sure.
- [18:16]
Landon Donovan
You know, all around him and whatever, but now you just see him as, you know, he's David. Right. And so. But then you realize when he says something and he references you, that it becomes a huge story. So I really. I reached out to him after and said, thank you for making those comments. We've never actually spoken about that, but I also then was putting myself in his shoes again, which I've tried to do since. We had some tough beginnings in la, and it's a tough situation he came into. Right. And I can understand why either he or the club or the team or everyone thought it would be best for him for all the reasons to be the captain. But it was interesting to hear him, upon reflection, say that was a regret and it was the right thing, ultimately, because the team needed to believe in him and have him guide in that way. And I think it helped him sort of settle in more quickly, and ultimately it all worked out. But it was nice for him to.
- [19:19]
Will Koontz
Say, how did you. In a moment. How did you feel?
- [19:22]
Landon Donovan
I was not happy.
- [19:23]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [19:23]
Landon Donovan
No, I was not happy.
- [19:24]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [19:24]
Landon Donovan
It's funny because I was telling you about earlier, about, like, grinding through my book this weekend, and I was going over those chapters, because we talk about that in the book, and it's just interesting to hear him speak about it. What my perception was at the time, and go back over that time frame. But then when you look back to him, like on all these things, you're like, who cares? Like, we ended up winning three out of four years championships, right?
- [19:44]
Will Koontz
It's like, who cares?
- [19:45]
Landon Donovan
You know, I just, I was, I was not, I was not happy in the moment. But in the end, if it all works out and you win, like, it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.
- [19:52]
Will Koontz
So I think that's classic on your part because I, you know, it's interesting when you talk about how, how alphas react, right. And, and that's your club and he's a big name and it's going to help you, but ultimately it's still your club and you have. You feel a certain way and I like the way you handled it. And obviously after the fact, he's able to come out and say, that is brilliant. But it's, it's. The captaincy is always an interesting thing and not everybody who should be a captain is. So.
- [20:17]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, most of the time.
- [20:18]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [20:19]
Landon Donovan
But if you really genuine. I'll just. Last thing, like if you genuinely care about winning.
- [20:24]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [20:24]
Landon Donovan
It's like your kids, right? Like if you really love them and for whatever reason, they don't call you for six months, but they are just living their best life and joyous and what, you're happy, you're happy for them, you want them to call you, but it's not about you.
- [20:39]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [20:39]
Landon Donovan
And so if you really genuinely care about winning and you're like, look, I'm going to be a leader on this team, whether I'm wearing that, that strap or not. Sure, sure. Then who cares? Like it doesn't matter. We'll touch briefly on the Europa League. To be honest, Tim, I don't really care. United, Tottenham, I really don't care because they're both so disappointing to me. I'm not going to watch the game, you know, unless it's kind of just on and I have nothing to do. I just don't really care about the game. They. They. Congrats to both of them for getting there. I know it's not easy. I'm not belittling it. I just don't care. I, I just have to tell you, I'm. Honestly, I just don't care.
- [21:11]
Will Koontz
Yeah, I mean, I, I care for the fact that they're both, they're both, you know, Premier League clubs and, and important Premier League clubs. You know, you talk about Big Six, certainly not this year, the big 16th and big 17th, but not big six, but, but, but also kind of the, the the soap opera and drama behind it. All, right. Like you look at Tottenham, right, in 17th place, they could very well win. They're a better team in Manchester United. I think United will win on the day. Agreed to, but they're a better team, better squad than Manchester United. They could win. And Angel Kaggle could lose his job. Very, very possible. So there's a lot on line. If he loses, he loses a job straight off. Right? Manchester United are interesting because I think it's good that they have. As they build and we know they're building under Ruben Amaram. This, this. In 18 months, this team won't even look the same. I mean, the player. There's so many players will be out the door new play, right? But as you build and you've been a part of this, it's important that you have these mile markers that, like, we're not great, but, boy, it was good to win that and that feeling of winning. And so Ruben Amarin's downplaying it a bit and I don't. I like Ruben Amaron. I like the way he speaks. He's kind of like, yeah, we could win this, but boy, we have a long way to go. Whereas Ange Postecoglow, on the other hand, is like, he knows his job is under threat and he's banging that Ange's drum saying, like, I'm the guy. We're in this. We're in this final and not a lot of other people are, so give us credit. So it's. There's interesting drama. There's.
- [22:35]
Landon Donovan
To be honest, I think if you gave Ange some truth serum, like in the darkest moments, I'm not sure he wants to be there anymore. Like, do you really want to deal with this? We'll see what happens. But maybe wins a trophy and goes off.
- [22:47]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [22:47]
Landon Donovan
And that's it for sure. Very. Just. Just. We're going to do real quick USLNT on usmnt. We're not going to dive into all the players this weekend. We just want to give our Kudos to Daryl DK, who came back after two Achilles injuries. 750 days between starts for him. Scored last weekend for the first time in well over a year, about a year and a third. And just want to say congrats. And another guy is off the radar, but you never know. Tim. And so just happy for him and. Yeah, well deserved and happy for him.
- [23:19]
Will Koontz
Happy for him. And I think it's important for, you know, you. You read some of that, like, what, 750 days between starts to Achilles, right? Like, what happens in these moments is your. Your entire work. And I know we can talk about mental health and we can talk about why, why your worth shouldn't be just in playing. When you're an athlete, your entire worth is, can I lace my boots up, get on the grass and contribute? And when you're out for, like almost two years and you have these debilitating injuries that you just there, you spend most of your days thinking, I'm not good enough. I'm never going to get back. Am I ever going to be able to compete? I know how good I was, Will. I like those. Those thoughts haunt you. So the fact that he got back on the grass, banged the goal and, like, that is incredible. Incredible. So, you know, hats off to him.
- [24:07]
Landon Donovan
It's hard to go two weeks, Tim.
- [24:08]
Will Koontz
I know.
- [24:09]
Landon Donovan
You know, like, much less two years. I'm just, I'm really happy for him.
- [24:12]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [24:12]
Landon Donovan
All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we are talking. We already referenced this to LA Galaxy GM Will Koontz. A reminder again. This was filmed on Thursday before they got destroyed seven zero by Red Bull. So he's in a little bit more of a jolly mood than you would expect from a GM who just lost 7 0. We will come back with Will Kuntz right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. As always, presented by our friends at Volkswagen. Don't go anywhere.
- [24:46]
Will Koontz
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
- [24:51]
Landon Donovan
Since 2019, Volkswagen has been on a mission to drive the future of the sport we all love. And VW is committed to making it more diverse, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.
- [25:01]
Will Koontz
They're not just talking about it, they're out there doing it. VW's partnerships, programs and soccer clinics are unlocking opportunities for the next generation of players and fans.
- [25:10]
Landon Donovan
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I've seen firsthand how VW are connecting with fans and driving the sport forward. From working with them on clinics to being part of their incredible campaigns, it's clear U.S. soccer is truly powered by the people.
- [25:23]
Will Koontz
Thank you to VW for being our presenting partner. Learn more about how VW are supporting US Soccer at vw.com driving without a seatbelt could cost you everything. But despite that, there are still drivers on the road who just won't buckle up. Some of those drivers will be pulled over and given expensive tickets by law enforcement.
- [25:40]
Landon Donovan
Some of the drivers not wearing their seatbelts will be involved in crashes. Some will survive, but some won't. Wearing your seatbelt could be the difference between making it home to your loved ones and not making it at all.
- [25:52]
Will Koontz
Every day when you get in your vehicle and decide whether to buckle up, remember that it's the single most effective way to protect your life. In the event of a crash, make.
- [26:00]
Landon Donovan
It home safely to the people you care about. Don't risk it. Click it or. Ticket paid for by nhtsa.
- [26:08]
Tim Howard
Lowe's knows to bring your vision to life, it's important to find the right color. That's why Mylo's rewards members get a.
- [26:14]
Will Koontz
Free paint or exterior stain sample to test your look and find the perfect.
- [26:18]
Tim Howard
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- [26:23]
Will Koontz
Offer Valid in store only.
- [26:25]
Tim Howard
5, 8 through 514.
- [26:26]
Will Koontz
Limit 1 per customer while supplies last.
- [26:28]
Tim Howard
Discount taken at time of purchase. See associate for details. Program subject to terms and conditions.
- [26:32]
Will Koontz
Details@lowe's.com Terms subject to change.
- [26:39]
Landon Donovan
All right, Tim. I lobbied hard in our chat not to talk about the Galaxy this week, but it's in the name of the show. Unfiltered soccer. So Galaxy go to Red Bull, lose seven zero. That is not misquoted. Seven zero to Red Bull. I'm sure you are reveling in it. Go ahead, give me your thoughts.
- [27:02]
Will Koontz
I was not. I was not. If it was the Metro Stars, I would. You know what my thought is? So this LA Galaxy team is winless in 12 games. It's an MLS record, an unwanted MLS record. And I think back to a couple of heavy defeats. I took a couple five Nils and one six nil. And I remember coming away from that. That game, Landon, as a team, but certainly as a goalkeeper in the defense thinking, like, we stink. Like, we should. We should stop playing soccer. Like, that's how heavy those defeats are. You're like, I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can go play the next game. Like, that's how bad I think I am. And so you. A lot of times those, those, Those results are like an anomaly. Right. Like, they kind of happen on, like a regular run. This team's on a horrific run.
- [27:46]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [27:47]
Will Koontz
And then that happens. And I. So I worry for the team a little bit in terms of, like, it's not like they can pull from, like, oh, don't worry, guys. We. We. We've. We performed really well. That was just a one off. This has, like, been a trend. I. I'm curious. I mean, I know it's. I know it's. You're so close to this thing. With the Galaxy, given your history, like what? Give me your raw thoughts on this.
- [28:07]
Landon Donovan
Overall, I think your. Your point is great. So in the course of a season, if you are a good team or even just an average team or whatever, and you have a four, nothing, five, nothing, six, one, whatever, you come in. And a lot of times on Monday, the coach will say, not watching film, literally throwing in the trash. And we're going to move on. Okay, we, we know it's not good enough. Let's move on right now. With the Galaxy, when you're in this form, and then that happens now you start to go, do the guys really care? Have they stopped playing? That's the question. Have they stopped playing for the coach? And that's what's worrisome. Greg is, I think, a great manager and a great coach, but when you get to that point, he's been there a long time now, do the players start tuning out and he pulled them around on the field and berated them after the game, the question will be, Tim, now what is the response? And. And sadly, I hate to say this, but it's it. They don't even have to win the next game. They just have to show that they care. If they don't, now you're like, okay, something's going on.
- [29:16]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [29:17]
Landon Donovan
And that's what I worry about. So.
- [29:19]
Will Koontz
Interesting.
- [29:21]
Landon Donovan
All right, as I referenced, we did speak to Will Koontz on Thursday of last week. So we will be dressed differently. You will see that and just want you guys to have that context as you listen to the interview with Will Koontz. And here's that interview. All right, Timmy. We get really good guests on this show. We're very fortunate and we get an eclectic and wide range of guests. And this man who's going to join us today has a really unique story, a really interesting story that we're going to get into. He has been a part of Major League Baseball at the highest level with the Yankees. He has been a part of Major League Soccer at the highest level at the league office, and then both part of both MLS teams in my former city in LA and has a lot of interesting perspective and can talk about a lot of things that I think fans have genuine questions to but don't understand. And this will give them the opportunity to understand and then also ask questions on the back of it. So, without further ado, the LA Galaxy general manager, Will Koontz. Welcome in, Will. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. It looks like you are not in the office, I take it.
- [30:39]
Tim Howard
Yeah, thanks for having Me, guys, I'm here in my childhood bedroom in Brooklyn, New York. So came back ahead of our game against the Red Bulls.
- [30:46]
Will Koontz
Keeping it, keeping it grimy in Brooklyn. I love that. Will welcome and it's awesome to have you on. I echo everything that Landon said. It's. Your path to the top has been incredible. It's kind of the way it should be. And we're excited to pick your brain and hear some of the anecdotes that helped you get there.
- [31:05]
Landon Donovan
So well, can you dive in? So for people who don't know, you have an interesting story. So can you tell us how you got started with the Yankees? It's a, it's a cool story. I was, I was reading about it again this morning and just fill people in because it is, it's, it's quite unique now in this world because most people would just turn you away without even thinking about it. And. But back in the day, this is, this is how people got started. So fill us in.
- [31:26]
Tim Howard
Yeah, no, I got really lucky. I was a freshman at Williams College at Western Mass. Played basketball there, and it was Friday night during the season. We took our basketball really seriously. And so while the rest of the school was out doing whatever college kids do on a Friday night, I was thumbing through an alumni directory and I saw that George Steinbrenner, the late owner of the Yankees, was a Williams alum. And I was like, you know what? Let me take a shot, right? So I wrote him a letter and asked for an internship. I lied and said I was a Yankee fan. I grew up like a lifelong meth fan. But, you know, like, I wrote this letter. I didn't want to just send it to Georgetown, Yankee Stadium. So I emailed the school president and introduced myself, said, hey, I have this letter. Do you have an address? And that turned into an internship working for the Yankees. And I was in the baseball operations department at 19 and, you know, like, summer job working for the Yankees in the Bronx. Like, wow, Brian Cashman, like, just, just the dream, right? But a really, like, eye opening experience to see what everything is like at the highest level. And you guys know this. You know better. You know as well as I do, right? Like, just because there's all the money in the world doesn't mean that you've got the best people necessarily or that people are working hard, right? You've got lazy people everywhere. You've got people who are checked out everywhere. And it was just a really good way to understand how, you know, an organization runs, especially because as an intern you got to run to the ticket office and drop off tickets. You got to go to the marketing department for X, Y or Z. And you get. You get a feel for how everybody at the club interacts. And then you also, you know, work for Brian Cashman. You get a sense for, like, what it's like to put together a roster of hyper competitive guys at the highest level. Every little, you know, percentage point matters.
- [33:00]
Landon Donovan
Oftentimes you learn, well, all things that you want to do if you ever get there, and things that you would do, but equally as important things that you wouldn't do or you don't want to do or how you don't do things. And so you being at a young age, starting there, I'm sure shaped, you know, the way. The way you do things now. And so how do you then go from Yankees in baseball, playing basketball growing up, to then Major League Soccer? How does that happen?
- [33:27]
Tim Howard
Yeah, you know, I've always been a big soccer fan, right? And just always followed, always loved it, thought there's something really romantic about it when you're working in baseball, because the, you know, the soccer, the international soccer off season is the summer. You have all these clubs from Europe who come through Yankee Stadium. And, you know, when you're talking to other baseball teams, you're really guarded when you're talking about scouting or player development. But these soccer teams, they didn't care. They're like, you guys are a baseball team. So you sit with, you know, guys from Premier League clubs or La Liga clubs, and you talk. You talk shop, right? And it's different sports, but you kind of get a feel for how they do things and what their scouting process is like. And I had just turned 30, and I had. I went to law school. At night when I was with the Yankees, I passed the bar, and, you know, a buddy of mine worked at MLS with Tim Bezbachenko, right before he had gone to Toronto, right? And this is my buddy who's a lifelong soccer fan. We'd watch Premier. You know, we saw you guys play in England, like, every Saturday. And I was just like, hey, what's going on with this guy in Toronto, right? He signed Michael Bradley. He signed Jermaine Defoe. And he was like, oh, that's my buddy Bez. He just left the league office. I was like, well, what do you do? He's like, well, he worked on contracts and salary budgets. He has a law background. And I'm like, well, I work. I work on contracts. I got a law background. You know, I do salary stuff. I was like, you got to, you got to get me in there. And he was like, all right, yeah, sure, you know, so he threw my name in and it came back like a quick no from mls. They're like, you tick all the boxes. But. But no, because we want somebody who's got soccer playing experience. And then I kind of just, you know, said, no worries. And they called me a few months later and brought me in and I was, I was like, look, if I don't leave baseball now, this is my life. And it's sexy and it's fun, but I was worried that I'm always going to wonder what if, right? Like, if I could work for a team in Europe, if I could work like a high level MLS team as the sport continues to grow. Like, I never want to be regretting that, right? And then so I was really excited to like, go work at the league office and I get to the league office and it's really cool because you're working with different clubs on different issues all the time, right? So I got Bruce arena yelling at me and telling me I'm dumb, you know, no surprise. And then I've got, you know, Garth.
- [35:29]
Landon Donovan
Lago, take a number. Yeah.
- [35:30]
Tim Howard
Garth Lagaway in Salt Lake trying to pull an Okie doke on me with some, you know, some technicality on a rule. And it was, it was really great and interesting. The one thing that just killed me, though, is that, you know, we weren't competing, right? Like Friday, 5 o' clock comes, you know, we're, we're dip daddy as a Monday. And after 10 years in baseball, the Yankees, I was, I, I missed that, right? And I really believe this world breaks out, like, really cleanly into like, you know, two camps at different times. And one of those is like, you're either a league person or a club person, right? And there's. I was just like, man, I'm a club guy and I need to get back to a club. And that eventually turned into, you know, my, my time at lfc.
- [36:07]
Will Koontz
Well, just a quick one. If I take you back to your start, like, I, I'm 46 years old and, you know, I know what generation I'm a part of. And so I often talk about the kids and everybody wants a shortcut. And anybody who's successful will tell you there's no shortcut. It's boring, boring getting to the top. And I think about that climb you at Williams College and saying, like, I'm willing to go to the bottom, basement level to work my way up and you and I share. Share a mutual, really good friend, Ben Tulabitz at the Yankees. And I'm just curious on how relationships kind of are important to you and impact the roles. I mean, I talked about starting at the bottom. You're now at the top, and you've been at the top in a couple different organizations. How important are relationships to you both upward and downward within those organizations?
- [36:58]
Tim Howard
You know, for me, it's everything, right? Like, this is a relationship based business. And again, you guys know this better than I do because you've been in locker rooms. Sports are unique, right? Because the rest of the world kind of sees it as a one or a zero. If you won, it's great, and if you lost, it's terrible. And there's so much external pressure, right? And so much of what makes a team great or an organization great is that ability to come together and like, face that external pressure together. And so, and you guys, again, you know this as well as I do, like that. So much of that is based on trust, right? Like, do I trust you to have my back? You know, can you trust me to have yours? How do we get there? And I think understanding where people are coming from is, is key. And I really take a lot of pride in grinding my way up, you know, from an intern, because it let me see kind of what everybody goes through right now. If I'm walking through the front office, if it's, you know, people in the, you know, the supporter relations department, I'm like, I know what you guys are going through and, and I apologize because maybe it's my fault, right? But you know, you have to be able to connect to people. And then, and then it's also like, sports is a really small pond. And so there might be somebody that I worked with 10 years ago who comes back around now and you're like, yeah, I remember what it was like work with you on something totally different ten years ago. But, you know, it's. It's somebody you consider for this new role, right? And keeping that Rolodex of people you like working with, people that, you know, show up. You made a point, like, grinding is boring, right? I say it's not hard, it's just hard work, right? And everybody, I think in this age of social media, like, well, I could do that. Yeah, but the reason you're not doing it is because you haven't done it, right? Like, there is just a value in, you know, just doing it. Repetitions, right? But so much of that, like I said, is relationships and connecting with People and making sure that, you know, I set the standard, right? Like, if I can't be approachable, if I can't relate to you, like, then we're. We're lost, right? Because it starts from the top down, and you've just got to find a way to make people feel comfortable, know that this is a crazy world, right? It's not real estate, it's not finance. Like, we deal with wild stuff, and mls, it's even wilder. So making sure that you set that. That kind of steady, open, you know, encouraging environments, really important.
- [39:03]
Landon Donovan
So you talk about setting standard, and part of the reason I think the Galaxy were so good last year was the standards were high and you could feel it. It felt different for me as someone who's obviously a lifelong fan and played there. By the way, we're going to skip over your time with lafc, because there's only one team in LA that matters. So a lot of times, and you said being approachable will. And a lot of times people want to accept an invitation like this to come on a podcast when everything's going great, you won the championship, and everyone wants to talk about you and everything. And we, you know, for a few weeks, maybe a month now, we've reached out and been wanting to have you on, and you could easily said, no, we're good, right, and just shy away. And the Galaxy's having a terrible, historically terrible start to the season, right? And. But you're being approachable and you're facing it, and I give you credit for that. Can you walk people through, as a Galaxy fan myself, the challenges of one, going from 23, 20, 23, last or close to last in the league to winning a championship, and now starting the season and being in last place. And why that can happen because fans are like, well, I don't get it. You know, why does he trade Jovalich and why didn't he do this? Or why did they. So just. So there's nuance. And I get this, and Tim does, too, because we've sat in these meetings and we know how these things go, but for fans, they don't really get it. So can you help explain how that can happen so dramatically?
- [40:36]
Tim Howard
No, definitely. And look, let me just say, Jamie Alvarez, our comms director, she told me, you guys want to talk to me about the Knicks. So I was like, oh, yeah, Jason Kidd on. Great. Look, mls, you know, it's. It's a really difficult league because it's got such strict rules that are, I think, really difficult from the outside to understand. And having been inside, I understand why they exist, but sometimes that doesn't make it any easier to live with. And I think, you know, the, the toughest thing about MLS is that the rules make it impossible to have deep rosters, right? I mean, think about the, the teams you guys had, you know, Manu and Everton, like so many like good players and on that roster. And that means that not just you have a good team, but like the quality and training is high every day, right? When you got 16 dudes fighting for 10 spots every day, like, you know that, that constant pressure and competition makes the group better and gives results. And that's not to say that we don't have really good players who try hard, but the reality is if you lose a guy like Ricky Pooch or If you have DPS like, you know, Chicharito and Douglas Costa in 2023 who aren't playing, it's impossible to replace them, right? So we have no way of replacing a guy like Ricky who's, who's kind of irreplaceable to begin with. But you know, there's, there's no mechanism for doing that. And then, you know, with, with a guy like Yovalych. So you know, we, it's a really crazy thing, but again, I'm going to get maybe into the weeds here. But he was a U22 player, so his budget charge was a fixed number, right? But because he turned 26 this year, his budget charge jumped $500,000. And so even if I gave him $1,000 more, he's still a half a million dollars more expensive, right?
- [42:14]
Landon Donovan
So he's on the cap.
- [42:15]
Tim Howard
On the cap, right? So he's sitting there being like, hey, I just scored 20 goals, whatever. Like I, I want a contract raise. And, and that's totally.
- [42:23]
Landon Donovan
He deserves it.
- [42:24]
Tim Howard
Yeah, he deserves it, right? Like I would give it to you if I had it. But the reality is to, to give you a ten thousand dollar raise, that's a 510, 000 raise on the salary, right? And so any offer I make you in the while trying to keep this team together is going to be. And I told him this, I was like, look, I can't offer you what you're worth. I'll make you my best, I'll give you my best bowl. You're not going to love it, but it's, it's just a math problem, right? And we're kind of having this conversation and all of a sudden Tigris comes in, is like, well, good news, we'll triple your Salary, right? And, and now we just can't compete, right? There is literally no way for me to triple day on salary. And then Kansas City comes in and it's like, we'll quadruple it, right? And, and it's even further away. And, and look, on the one hand, it's a great thing for Dayon. He gets life changing, you know, Bump and, and he deserves that. But in any other league in the world, a club like the Galaxy and where we sit relative to spend, it's like you just, you just resign them, right? You, you sign the guys you have and you add on top of that, and it's the depth piece for me, right? So if, if Ricky then gets hurt and you have to sell Dan. Although we'll say Christian Ramirez has come in and done a really good job and really productive for us. And, and a guy like Marco Royce is dealing with knee issues and you've got schedule congestion early. It's like, all right, well, you're down your, your dp. You're down your highest paid TAM player. You can't replace either one. And you had to sell, you know, your 20 goal striker. And then, you know, you also have to make decisions on guys like, you know, Marquis Delgado and Gaston Brugman. And that's the way the league is designed, right? We don't. We want to have sort of parody and want to make sure that nobody gets dominant, but it just becomes crushing in depth and if you lose the wrong guys, it becomes impossible to catch up. Last year on the flip side, we were really healthy, right? And we were able to run out Ricky and Joe and Gabe and the whole group a lot. And there's a continuity that comes there. You know. The other piece of it too is because the roster is so tight, if something happens to a guy like Joe Painsale, then. All right, now we're using Diego Fagundes on the wing, which means we're not using him inside, which means, you know, you then have to sort of go further down the depth chart. That's one thing I think is really difficult because. Because we have owners that are willing to invest and I think even with the money we're spending now, you can have. And you guys are talking about this the other day, you can have deeper rosters, but man, it's, it's really punishing if you have the wrong injuries in mls.
- [44:37]
Will Koontz
Yeah, well, let me ask you this because you are. I mean, that insight is incredible. And our listeners are going to be like, just drooling because we are as well. There there's so much that on the outside, people don't understand. Now. Now, my next question, though, I want to paint a picture for you. So I've been. I've been in MLS since 1998. I'm slightly older than Land, and he then came slightly after me. But we've seen it. I was part of the group that said, to hell with this. We're going to take you to court because single entity is not fair. And then the court said, shut up and go play soccer. And it is fair. Right? And so we know that in order. And lan has talked about this a lot from. From its inception, in order to keep the league together, it was very few owners. You had to kind of keep things by the book or else this league, mls, would end up like all the other North American soccer leagues and just go bust. But as you said, we now have owners who are willing to invest. This sport is alive and well and more prosperous than it's ever been. And I'm an owner in the league. And we know valuations are incredibly high. You use the word mechanisms. Everybody does. And that's right. There's so many mechanisms to build a roster. What stops MLS as a whole from saying, here's a fixed budget. I'll make up a number. 10 million per squad or 20 million per squad. It doesn't matter what the number is. You have 20 million to build your squad.
- [45:55]
Tim Howard
Have at it.
- [45:56]
Will Koontz
Build it. However, spend 19 million on one player and then. And then figure out the rest. But do it how you like. What. What is stopping MLS from allowing someone like you to say, forget mechanisms, forget age, forget vehicles of getting players into the team and into the league. You have a cap of 20 million. You can do whatever you want. If you stink and waste your 20 million, guess whose fault that is. Your own. What stops a league from doing that?
- [46:25]
Tim Howard
Like, I think it's in all these things, it's our ownership, right? And that's a group of now 30 owners. And that's a really. That's a big pool of people. It's the biggest ownership group in any international football league in the world. And they all need to be aligned. It's like a majority or super majority in order to affect something like this. And it's difficult. Right? You have some people who've been in the league for a long time who say we need to keep the structures in place to protect growth. You've got some of these new ownership groups that have paid 150, 300, $500 million just to get into the League or like, hey, I just stroked this big check. Let me do it what I want. Right? And you have people who are in the middle. I think the issue becomes, when you've kind of been around these conversations, is what's the right sort of, like, loosening. That doesn't totally create an imbalance. Now, look, you're talking to a GM of. Of a team in Los Angeles. I would just, you know, make it unlimited. Right. Or really raise that ceiling. Because I think the reality is most GMs would tell you you'd be better off with a team of like, 18 to 20 guys making one and a half million dollars team, three guys making 20, and 15 guys making, you know, six and a half between them. Right? It's absolutely. This is a weakest link sport. It's a depth sport. You know, I think part of it, too, is, you know, 32 years ago, the issue was that soccer wasn't popular. Right? We needed the World cup here to. To kind of grow the game. But everybody younger than, you know, I'm a little bit younger, you guys, but everybody younger than us, like, they've grown up with. With soccer, on PlayStation and Xbox, you can watch whatever Premier League game you want. Like, yeah, like RAI in New York. When I was growing up, you could watch, like, a random Italian League game. Like, same Champions League final on, like, a Wednesday. Right? But now, like, you could. You can watch whatever you want. And the issue isn't that people aren't watching soccer, is that people are watching really, really good soccer. Right? And that dynamic has flipped, and that's a great thing. Right? And you guys get a lot of credit for that. But we're now in a different world where, like, we don't need to justify ourselves in the league or soccer anymore, but we need to find ways to increase the product. Because I'm a big believer in better teams, make for better product, make for better league, make for better revenue. But that's a big shift and an uncomfortable shift for a lot of our owners to come to.
- [48:38]
Will Koontz
Yeah, I think that. Sorry, real quickly. And I think the big miss to your point, Will, is simply this. When the league started, there weren't enough. And this is no disrespect to the founding fathers, there weren't enough knowledgeable soccer people. We didn't have enough growth. Right. You're now talking about. And there's three of us on here, but even our broader listeners within the mls now, there are geniuses. There are geniuses on the pitch, There are geniuses in the front office who Know who have connections worldwide. The name brand of MLS is global. We now have the ability to not worry that the league's gonna fold because someone's gonna mismanage a team that's gone out the window. And I still think there are some people who believe that that can happen, and I'm not one of them. This league is so healthy now.
- [49:27]
Tim Howard
Yeah, they just put out these valuations, right? It's like. It's like AC Milan, Inter Milan, LAFC, Miami Galaxy. Right. I mean, like, we're top 15. I mean, that's 30 years ago, 25 years ago, that would have been unheard of, right?
- [49:38]
Will Koontz
Yeah, sure.
- [49:40]
Landon Donovan
All right, well. Well, you've given us a lot of time. I feel like we could sit here for hours. So many questions, but I don't want to get you fired, so we're going to stop now. Congrats to your Knicks. We're happy for you. It's early, there's a long way to go. But next time we'll talk about your Knicks last real quick, just few seconds. We've referenced him a lot, but is there update on Ricky Puj's injury? I know Galaxy fans want to know how he's doing, where he's at in his recovery, etc.
- [50:07]
Tim Howard
Yeah, Ricky's. Ricky's progressing really well. Right? I mean, it's. He did his ACL in late November, Right. And got surgery in December. And there's a. There's a pretty fixed timeline for what ac. Luckily, you know, these days it's. There's not like a lot of, you know, question involved. Ricky's a little bit of a slighter guy. You know, he's. He's got a slight build and his game is a little more based on agility and, and being shifty and deceptive. So I think that there's some, you know, just. It's going to take him some time to get fully comfortable on it. And you guys know, like, usually you come back 100% before you fully trust it. Right. So, you know, Ricky will be in town for the LAFC game next weekend, so we'll get to touch base with him. And, you know, he's working on his move back over to LA from Barcelona where he's been doing his initial rehab. So. But he's been. He's been over a couple times already and we check in with him on a daily basis. We've had trainers go out there, so the most important thing for us is that he comes back fully healthy. If you let Ricky decide, he push himself back on One leg, right.
- [51:03]
Landon Donovan
Never let the player decide in December.
- [51:06]
Will Koontz
Well, that's. That's great news. And we. We wish him continued success in that recovery. And for the record, we don't speak about Ricky a lot. Landon speaks about Rickula. I think he's a great player. But Landon is in love with him, and rightfully so.
- [51:21]
Landon Donovan
We have a bromance.
- [51:22]
Tim Howard
It's fine. Galaxy legends stick together, you know?
- [51:24]
Landon Donovan
Amen. All right. Well, it's been awesome, man. Enjoy Brooklyn. Good luck this weekend against Red Bull. Let's hope get off the schneide and get the season going. But thank you very much. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we will get into your Questions in the AT&T fan connection and talk anything but soccer right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Thanks, Will. Stay right there.
- [51:48]
Tim Howard
Thanks, brothers.
- [51:57]
Landon Donovan
Timmy. Hard to believe, but this year will be 25 years since I first wore the jersey for the US Men's National Team. Crazy. I still remember it, though, giving me goosebumps. Just a think about it.
- [52:07]
Will Koontz
Yeah, there's nothing like it. The pride you feel, the pride your family and friends feel watching you. I remember making my debut for the national team in Birmingham, Alabama. My mom was there in the stands. It was just amazing knowing that she was there watching me accomplish my dreams.
- [52:21]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Mine was in the Coliseum against Mexico. It was crazy. I was nervous, certainly overwhelming anxiety all leading up to it. But in moments like that, it's really, really important to stay grounded and find time for yourself to. To choose a chill mindset.
- [52:34]
Will Koontz
Yeah. When you embrace a chill mindset, it's a good time to choose chill and crack open a Coors Light.
- [52:40]
Landon Donovan
When these moments in your career are right around the corner, you got to find some quiet time to relax with the people you love who know you the best. To enjoy the moment. Just drink it in. Choose chill, crack open a Coors Light.
- [52:51]
Will Koontz
Make the most out of the times you choose to chill. Choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit Coors Light.com US LNT.
- [53:01]
Landon Donovan
As always, celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. Beer.
- [53:06]
Will Koontz
There's a lot in life that feels like it should be guaranteed that just isn't your team winning the championship. The weather being good on game day, your friends remembering who has the tickets. Some days you're just a goal scoring machine.
- [53:17]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. And some days the ball just passes you by. Right here on Unfiltered soccer. We know that no matter how much you love the beautiful game. Nothing on the field is guaranteed. Thankfully, AT&T is introducing a brand new guarantee. The AT&T guarantee.
- [53:31]
Will Koontz
The AT and T guarantee means connectivity you can depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or they'll make it right.
- [53:38]
Landon Donovan
Whether you're in the stands, watching with friends or just cheering from home, you can count on the ATT Guarantee.
- [53:44]
Will Koontz
Learn more@att.com guarantee terms and conditions apply.
- [53:49]
Landon Donovan
AT and T connecting changes everything. I know every operating system.
- [53:56]
Tim Howard
And have worked with several people from your company. I've been recognized for my passion. My team is everything. LinkedIn delivers candidates who rise above the rest with an up to date view into shared connections, skills and interests you won't find anywhere else. See why 86% of small businesses who post a job on LinkedIn get a qualified candidate within a day. Post a job for free@LinkedIn.com achieve LinkedIn. Your next great hire is here.
- [54:26]
Will Koontz
It is time now for everyone's favorite time of the week. The AT&T fan connection with everybody's favorite person. Jordan, how are you?
- [54:35]
D
I'm wonderful. Thank you so much for asking.
- [54:37]
Landon Donovan
Jordan, how'd you feel about the Liverpool fan?
- [54:40]
Will Koontz
Yeah. Yeah. She took a Liverpool shirt off.
- [54:41]
Landon Donovan
Since you are such a die hard.
- [54:43]
D
No, I'm wearing my FC Sampali shirt because it looks like they're actually going to stay in the Bundesliga this season. So I have more than one favorite team.
- [54:50]
Will Koontz
But I love your soccer knowledge.
- [54:53]
D
How do I feel about.
- [54:54]
Will Koontz
How you feel about your. No, not him going. How do you feel about.
- [54:58]
D
I don't.
- [54:59]
Will Koontz
Your fans, your people.
- [55:00]
D
I don't like the booing. I don't. I like.
- [55:03]
Landon Donovan
She doesn't like booing in general. She's like so positive.
- [55:07]
D
That's not true.
- [55:08]
Will Koontz
I.
- [55:08]
D
There are some things that I would boo, but I just feel like, I don't know. I don't speak on behalf of all Liverpool fans, but I didn't, I didn't love that.
- [55:17]
Will Koontz
How do you feel about Trent going?
- [55:20]
D
I don't really love that either, if I'm being perfectly honest with you. But at the same time, like he's a person who's entitled to make decisions that are best for him and if he wants to leave, that's totally fine.
- [55:29]
Landon Donovan
Like you said from a man, he's.
- [55:32]
D
Still going to lift the trophy and he still helped get us here. So that part is good. And, but that. I also don't think that anybody should not tackle him when we play Real Madrid in the Champions League next year.
- [55:44]
Will Koontz
The voice of reason, Jordan Agreed. What do you got for every once.
- [55:49]
D
In a while I get it right.
- [55:50]
Will Koontz
Every once in a while.
- [55:52]
D
I've got some what if questions for you this week. Okay, we're going to start with one that we got from Chris via email. I've always wondered, if Hugh Dallas had awarded the handball in the 2002 quarterfinal against Germany, which US player would have stepped up to take the penalty?
- [56:13]
Landon Donovan
That's a great, great question. So in 2002 World cup play, Germany quarterfinals, there's a handball on the line by Torsten Frings. It's not called by Hugh Dallas, the referee. Who would have taken the penalty? I'm trying to remember who was on the. On the field because it was the fifth game. I was. My gut was going to say Claudia.
- [56:33]
Will Koontz
Claudia.
- [56:34]
Landon Donovan
I think Claudio would have taken it because the only other person on the field who would have really taken it was. They wouldn't have given it to me. And I guess it would have been McBride.
- [56:44]
Will Koontz
I think. I think Claudio takes it all day long.
- [56:46]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Claudia. Claudio takes it. Yeah.
- [56:48]
Will Koontz
Good question.
- [56:49]
Landon Donovan
And we go to the semis and we beat South Korea, and we go to the final, beat Brazil, and I have a World cup trophy.
- [56:54]
Will Koontz
Wow, what a day. What a day. Hugh Dallas, you ruined it. You ruined history.
- [56:58]
Landon Donovan
What a great question.
- [57:00]
D
Dan via Instagram has a similar question about the 2002 World cup quarterfinal match. What if Eddie Pope's late header goes in?
- [57:09]
Landon Donovan
Same thing. We would have lifted a trophy.
- [57:12]
Will Koontz
Eddie Pope, man.
- [57:13]
Landon Donovan
It's all your fault, Eddie. Just kidding.
- [57:15]
D
Jonathan via Instagram, wants to know what if Greg Burhalter had been replaced a year or two earlier?
- [57:21]
Will Koontz
I think there's a cautionary tale here. What. What if Jurgen Klinsman was replaced two games prior to. Right at the beginning of the cycle? What if Greg Portholtz was replaced a year earlier? Like, you have to bear these things in mind. Now, Greg's a little bit different because he took over with, what, three years prior to the last World cup or two and a half years, I can't remember because I know that. I know Dave Sarakin was interim manager before that or something, but I think.
- [57:44]
Landon Donovan
It was three years.
- [57:45]
Will Koontz
Yeah, but. But, yeah, you have to be careful of that because, you know, what ends up happening with the national team is you don't lose. Like, if you. If you're a club team and you stink, you only lose, like, half a season and your manager can, like, rebuild. You know, when you're. When you're a national team manager, you don't have a lot of games over the course, of course, of four years. So. So when you sack a manager after a short period of time into a cycle, you lose a lot of games. You lose a lot of opportunity to develop a team. And so, you know, the Runway is really short. So I think the team. The team would be in a better place preparation wise if. If another manager was given the opportunity to have longer. With this team.
- [58:23]
Landon Donovan
You just need more time. And I think what we're learning is probably one cycle is enough, generally speaking, because if you get into the second and there's problems now, you have to make a really hard decision and you just need more time. So I would say if they were thinking about. Thinking about doing it, then you just move on. You don't. You don't. If. If it's absolutely. This is the guy or woman and we're staying with them, then you stay with them. But if you're like, I don't know, should we. You should probably just move on.
- [58:50]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [58:50]
D
So then by the same token, based on an explanation you guys gave about what happened in the run up to 2018, that probably would have been beneficial.
- [59:03]
Landon Donovan
Unequivocally.
- [59:04]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [59:05]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Because. And also, there's inevitably, especially with the national team, a new voice comes in. Newman, you're going to respond. So, like, having. Even if you just got one result there, because it's just the new manager, you're not gonna learn how to play differently or whatever. It's worth it, right?
- [59:21]
Will Koontz
Yeah.
- [59:22]
D
One more World cup question from Drew via Instagram. What if USA did beat Belgium in the 2014 World cup game?
- [59:32]
Will Koontz
I think we got worked because the next game is Argentina, right? I think that's. I think that's right. I think the next game was Argentina. We were. We were spent. We were spent. After that 100 and whatever, you guys were exhausted. I mean, we just. The. The boys put in such a shift. I mean, we were. We were getting pulled from pillar to post that we couldn't get near the ball. And, like, the amount of running we did was incredible. I mean, so I. Unlike Landon, I don't think I'd have a World cup trophy had we gotten past.
- [60:03]
Landon Donovan
But you might have made 17 saves.
- [60:07]
Will Koontz
I mean, I played. I played against Messi twice and he didn't score. So maybe. Maybe who. Who knows? But it's a great question.
- [60:14]
D
Here's one for Landon from Eric via Instagram. What if Landon never left Everton? There would be one fewer statue outside of.
- [60:25]
Landon Donovan
Well, there would be one fewer statue outside, but maybe there would be a statue outside Goodison. Just Kidding. What? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, my, my. What I always asked myself is how long each year could I maintain that level of output? Because every match was like at least 11 kilometers. So whatever, seven miles, which was the most I would ever do in an MLS game. And by the end of my 10, 12, 13 game run, I was shattered. I mean, shattered. Like, needed a couple weeks to just. And now, granted, I was coming off the end of an MLS season too, so I had no break, but, man, it's so demanding. So I would always ask myself, like, when you know there's an end, Tim, you got 13 games, like, you can put it in. But by the end I was like, yeah, like, you gotta go again and again and again. And it's. That league is brutal.
- [61:19]
Will Koontz
It's great insight because the players who do it year and year out, I.
- [61:22]
Landon Donovan
Have so much respect for that, man. So much respect.
- [61:25]
Will Koontz
It's crazy.
- [61:26]
Landon Donovan
And Champions League and FA cup and their national team, and I just like, wow.
- [61:31]
Will Koontz
I think the answer is maybe we would have won an FA cup.
- [61:34]
Landon Donovan
Maybe, right?
- [61:36]
Will Koontz
Maybe something push over the attacking.
- [61:38]
Landon Donovan
I mean, we could.
- [61:39]
Will Koontz
We.
- [61:39]
Landon Donovan
We beat the big teams.
- [61:41]
Will Koontz
Yeah, yeah.
- [61:42]
D
And then the show would be hosted by two FA cup winning.
- [61:46]
Will Koontz
Speak on it, junior. Speak on it.
- [61:48]
D
Okay, last one. This one's from Michael via email. And I think it is a direct correlation to the earlier part of the show. How long do you guys think Greg Vanny holds on to his job? He's a G for sure. And I hate seeing anyone lose their job, but 70 is embarrassing.
- [62:09]
Will Koontz
Well, I think my take is is what Landon mentioned is what is the response? Because what you have to realize when you're. When you're Will Koontz or you're any GM and you're. And you hopefully have enough distance, right? So you're in touch with the coaching staff and technical staff, but you have enough distance to. So you can kind of create clarity. You're looking at. We all look at results as fans. We look at results. When you're on the inside, you have to look at, what is it? What does it smell like? What's the. Are the body of the players shoulders hunched? Are they bright and lively?
- [62:39]
Landon Donovan
They still listening?
- [62:40]
Will Koontz
Do they still listen? What. What's the feel? What's the pulse? And we don't have that Landon Mike, because he's closer to it, but we don't have that pulse. And so the results aren't the be all, end all when it comes to deciding whether someone gets sacked or not. It's Certainly a narrative and it's certainly optics and sometimes optics win out. But I would suggest the best player from the championship team is out. Second or third best player went to Kansas City. Right. That's not excuses. I mean look, LA Galaxy are the haves, not the have nots. So sure they hold, they're held to a different standard. But I, I would pump the brakes a little bit on, on the Greg Vanny situation because I think he's a good manager and he just, just brought you a championship. And we have to take some of this into context. Now all that being said, that's not an excuse to not win in 12 games. That's not an excuse. So there's, there's an issue there and it's just a matter of how big.
- [63:35]
Landon Donovan
It is so important to remember the galaxy still have 2, whatever 10 million dollar wingers on their team, Right. I think about Salt Lake, a team I follow closely, they don't have anywhere close to that, right? Not nowhere close. So that is context that matters. Ricky Pooj is unique in everything he does. Jovalich was really important to the team and you don't have either of them, but that you could get away with being like 10th or 11th place right now with that all being said, not winless in 12 and Tim said it perfectly. Majority of coaches, managers get fired not because the results are going poorly, but because of what the feeling is and the culture and the environment in the, in the locker room. That is so right now, before this weekend I would have said he's not getting fired. Like they're going to, they're going to hold on to him and he, you know, he's, they're going to wait till Pooj is back and they're going to work their way back and everything's going to be fine. You lose 70 and the team kind of quits on you. Now you start now you now your antenna start to go up and you go, oh, what's going on there? There's something more going on there. And importantly, and this is an important part and people have to remember this, where a coach is in their contract plays a huge part into this. So after last season and this is public, Vanny and the Galaxy could not agree on a new deal. So he's playing in the last year of his contract, junior, so he now does not have a contract for next year. So if the Galaxy decides either a let him go or play it out, they don't have to pay him anything. And I know these are billionaire owners, but like you have to pay a couple million dollars to release a coach. It's a real thing. So that plays a huge part. If he had a three or four year deal right now, they'd go. We ain't letting him go unless it got. Unless they lose 7 nil 3 or 4 times in a row. But that also plays a big part of it. So that makes it a little interesting right now. And I love Greg. I think he's done a phenomenal job. Definitely don't want to see him lose his job either. But, you know, just being real, that is. Those are all factors that play in right now.
- [65:46]
D
All right, that's it. Thanks, guys.
- [65:49]
Landon Donovan
All right, Timmy. Last but certainly not least this week, anything but soccer. And this is a soccer story, but it's a human story. Savvy King from Angel City. She plays with Sid and Alley on. On Angel City. Had a really scary moment, 74th minute last week of their game. She collapsed on the field. She was under supervision for 10 minutes before being taken to the hospital. Don't have a lot of answers as to what happened. We do know she is awake and responsive and communicating many days after this happened. Glad that she's doing well. I think it's important for our listeners to understand when something like this, unfortunately for both of us, nothing this serious has happened. But when something like this, this happens, what it's like on the field. And just for context, they did end up finishing the match. We were a little confused as to, you know, why, why they would or wouldn't. Generally, if someone is responsive and getting carted off and okay, then you say okay, everyone feels okay finishing. If you remember the Demar Hamlin incident with the Buffalo Bills a few years back, that match was abandoned and they, they said they would come back and play it if they needed to, but it ended up being irrelevant in the playo. We all remember when Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field and that match was resumed quite a bit later. The MWAMBA incident that happened quite a few years back and that match was abandoned. So just look, I haven't been in that situation, but I have been on the field training sessions in particular where someone does their ACL or someone. I saw a guy's ankle get dislocated and it's. People have to remember we're human timing. And when you see that in person, someone you love and that you go out and battle with, it's really jarring. It really is. It's a tough moment to watch.
- [67:43]
Will Koontz
It is, you know, I don't have a ton More to add to that other than. Yeah. I have been on the field when a teammate has snapped their leg, you know, and it's hanging off, and it just. You. It's moments like those that you realize, like, you get so excited and you get so invested in the game, and that's what's asked of you. And then those moments happen, and literally soccer doesn't matter anymore. So it's a. You know, to Savvy King, obviously, we send our love and our well wishes and, you know, hopefully the road to recovery and health is at the forefront. And, you know, the rest of it, the soccer side is completely secondary.
- [68:21]
Landon Donovan
You're so emotionally invested. Testosterone, adrenaline, everything's pumping. And every time you go on the field, you just. You have to forget. I've heard NFL guys say this. You have to forget that you could get seriously hurt. It doesn't even. It never came into my mind ever. But you can get seriously hurt, and I think people need to appreciate that. Yes, these athletes make a lot of money and they're famous, all these. But, like, you are putting your body at serious risk every time you go on the field. And so Savvy get well. Hopefully she is okay. Hopefully she is able to continue playing, you know, because sometimes you can have issues, you know, heart issue or something where you just can't play anymore. So we are wishing you the best. We thought it was important that we speak to that this week.
- [69:08]
Will Koontz
Absolutely.
- [69:08]
Landon Donovan
All right. Great show. Thanks to Wilkuntz for coming on even in the midst of a really hard time for his club. I give him a lot of credit for that, as always. We appreciate you guys listening. Your support is awesome. We missed not being with you guys last week. Please Remember, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify everywhere. You get your podcast and follow all across social media for lots of bonus content.
- [69:32]
Will Koontz
Yeah. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, Will, for coming on. You're a gentleman. So much incredible insight and knowledge. We certainly appreciate it, Landon and I, and we know our listeners will as well. Thank you to our presenting sponsor, BW and our fan connection sponsor, AT&T and our unfiltered refresh sponsor, Cors Light.