← Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Mexico Wins Gold Cup, Wild Club World Cup Goalkeeping, and Has Poch's Stock Gone Up?
01:09:06
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- [00:00]
Tim Howard
Before we get started, we wanted to express our deepest condolences over the tragic passing of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre last week. LD it's so sad on so many levels. A wife lost her husband, his three children lost their father, and his parents lost their only two children. And it is tragic. He was a beautiful footballer for both Liverpool and Portugal, but I would say the overflowing of tributes across the footballing world speaks to the character of the human being that he was.
- [00:34]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, and look, we. You longer than me, but we both played on the other side of Liverpool. And so you get in these rivalries and sometimes you forget that it's still life, you know, and you get caught up in the. In the soccer. But the way Liverpool has handled it, the way everyone has handled it, has been phenomenal, and it just really shook us. I'm sure you more than me, but that was a very. That was a difficult week. And just wishing the best for his family. Kudos to Liverpool for then honoring his contract so everybody there can continue to take care of his, his wife and children and wishing them the very best. Well said. 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 U.S. soccer for over five years.
- [01:26]
Tim Howard
My guy, L.D. what's happening to me? I'll tell you where you're in. You're in Houston.
- [01:33]
Landon Donovan
We'll get to that, sir.
- [01:34]
Tim Howard
I am in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the Volunteers Lady Vols. I've moved my daughter into her freshman dorm. They start preseason today. I was like, that's wild.
- [01:46]
Landon Donovan
Good luck with that. Ask a question.
- [01:47]
Tim Howard
Yeah, tell me. Why do.
- [01:48]
Landon Donovan
Why do. I mean, I don't have kids that age yet. Why is it always that the parent moves the kid in? Can't the kid just move them? You know, people are always like, I'm going this weekend to move my kid. And I'm like, they can't put the bed on the floor.
- [02:02]
Tim Howard
And like, my daughter's amazing, but it would be impossible. And these kids nowadays. These kids nowadays, they have tick tock and they have Pinterest and, like, their room has to be a certain way, bro. I was hanging pictures and for all the people who out there who don't know, I can't. I can't screw a light bulb in. I'm terrible. Like, I just. That I'm good at some things and I'm not great at others, but the things we do for our kids, particularly little girls.
- [02:25]
Landon Donovan
So God bless you.
- [02:26]
Tim Howard
Yeah. So I'm here. Preseason.
- [02:28]
Landon Donovan
All right. I'm in Houston. Yeah, we did the game yesterday, leaving this afternoon to head back home. So if you see a different setting for both of us, you know why. But we will get into the game in a sec. Remember, guys, follow social media unfiltered soccer. Subscribe YouTube. Make sure you follow us, Apple podcasts and Spotify. Spotify. Please leave a rating if you like what we do. It helps other people find us. And as always, you can email Jordan at feedbackiltered soccer. All right, USLNT on usmnt Right away, Timmy. So the game. I'll start because I was here.
- [03:04]
Tim Howard
Yeah, you did a great job. Coverage was great.
- [03:08]
Landon Donovan
That awesome.
- [03:08]
Tim Howard
It was. Atmosphere looked incredible, by the way.
- [03:11]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, it was awesome. It was. You know, I described it in the pregame, man, as you. It just feels different. I know. Like when you did Liverpool, Everton, when you show up that week, you show up at the stadium, everything feels different. And so when we got to the stadium, it just felt different. And what was really cool, really cool for me is there were so many people there, Tim, outside of the set, who were wearing. They had. Someone had made and were selling there these like, half Mexico, half US shirts.
- [03:38]
Tim Howard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [03:39]
Landon Donovan
And it was really cool because you speak to people. Some of them speak full Spanish, but They got the U.S. some of them are like, you're like, you are American, totally American, but you clearly have Mexican descent. And so there was like that kind of vibe around the whole stadium, and people were just, I think, genuinely happy to be there and see US Mexico. And it was a really good vibe. So it was fun to be there.
- [03:57]
Tim Howard
I mean, there's nothing. There's nothing like US Mexico. I mean, when you. You actually mentioned it, you were like, I mean, as a. As a players, we know how amazing and. And scary and awesome that game is. But then you also, when you're around it as a fan sitting at home watching or you're there working, it's. It's such an incredible moment for both sets of players.
- [04:17]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, it was awesome. Okay, so let's dig into the game. So incredible start. Burhalter. Another really good set piece. Chris Richards gets on the end of it. I gave the linesman ton of credit because they don't have goal line technology.
- [04:35]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [04:36]
Landon Donovan
In this term. Which, whatever. That's a whole nother conversation. But that ball, I mean, barely crossed the line. Barely. And if. If they had called no goal, I'm not sure they can go back and overturn it. So I give the linesman a Ton of credit, but a phenomenal start and another set piece goal for Chris Richards. So you felt like, you know, sometimes, Tim, in those games, though, you go, did we score too early? Cause you knew what was coming on.
- [05:03]
Tim Howard
The back of that.
- [05:04]
Landon Donovan
And so it felt maybe a little. Did we score too early? But it was a perfect start.
- [05:08]
Tim Howard
Yeah. I mean, I kind of. You described the goal really well. I. I was. I was thinking, not that so much that it was. We scored too early because I think we were always going to be put on the back foot with how. How brilliant Mexico plays in between lines. But I thought. I thought going into the game, I did think we could win the game, but I thought going into the game, we were going to need at least two goals to win. So in my. In my opinion, it was like, that's one. Now, look, it's going to be cagey. It's going to be tight. We're still going to need to find a second from somewhere. But for me, it was like, okay, there's one of the two that I think we. It seems like hindsight because I know the score, but it just felt like that was going to be what we needed. But again, you know, Chris Richards has grown in stature for me, this tournament. We've heard a little bit from him. We've talked about how much he wants to be the guy. And I like when players come out and say that ld. Because then it, like, it kind of stamps the authority of, like, okay, now he's also willing to take the criticism, too, if things don't go well. And he had a really good tournament, so hats off to him.
- [06:10]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. And then about 15, 20 minutes in, it felt like the momentum really started to shift and Mexico started to put us under a lot of pressure, and it culminated with the R.A. jimenez goal. This was an interesting goal. So I. I was saying we were sitting in the green room. We had, like, unfortunately, we couldn't stand on the field side and watch the game, so we had to go into, like, a green room and watch from there on tv, just like everyone else did. And there were a bunch of moments where Mexico were playing on one side of the field and Tyler Adams stayed very central. Yeah. And it was almost like I asked Maurice Adu. I said, is. Is Pochettino telling him to sit right in front of Chris Richards and Tim Reeman, make sure that there's no service into Jimenez? And so I said, I. I just assumed maybe that's what happened. And then, I swear, next thing you know, the ball gets played on the Mexico's left side, and Tyler drifts all the way out over there and kind of gets caught in this no man's land. And next thing you know, Marcel Ruiz slips behind him. They roll a ball in, Freeman's too late to tuck in. Chris Richards gets pulled out, ball gets slipped in behind Ream, and Ralph Menez hits an absolute bomb into the top corner. So it was a weird sequence. I give Mexico credit, you know, what they do and how they try to pull you apart like that. But the finish also was just phenomenal.
- [07:28]
Tim Howard
Again, very eloquent on your end. The. The goal. Well, first of all, let me give a little bit of credit to Moadu, because Mo. Mo was. He glided across the pitch. And I. I remember the game we won against Mexico in Mexico at Azteca, 1 nil. And Mou could play either center back. He was naturally a six. He was good on the ball. He was tidy, he was physical, he was rangy. Like, it puts a smile on my face when I think about the way that. That Mou used to get about the pitch. But it's so difficult. Like, I'm watching that game and you and me and our production group, we're texting a mile a minute, right, like we always do. And I just remember, think like that. Watching that didn't make me upset. It just made me feel like I understand this. Mexico are. Whether they're a top 10 team in the world or not, they're top 10 in finding pockets and space and putting you in horrifically uncomfortable positions defensively, particularly in your defensive final third. They're so brilliant at it. And the way I described it to our group is like, they get the ball, they get in their final third, they take their backpacks off, they go, right, everybody pitch your tent, because we're going to be here a while, right? And when you lump it, you're one. Your. Your attacker is one versus three. We're going to win that ball, which we'll get to Aja Main in a minute, and then we're going to get it back. And you're going to be here for another five minutes, and we'll probably get a corner. You'll head the corner out, we'll recycle it. It's horrific, right? And so it seems like there was 11 black jerseys on the field, but to those players, it probably felt there was 25 of them because they go off your shoulder, you know, this ld. You don't want to track back, but you're forced to track back and you're pinned back. And now Like Tyler Adams, who I think is a sensational player for the US he goes into a position he likely, when he looks back, probably didn't want to go into. But guess what? They're asking you to solve problems constantly. It's not like we're bunkered in and they're just playing really nice and neat across the, across your face. They're getting in positions where you're like, God, dog, I got to make a decision here. And I don't like either of these decisions. Right. You could see that sometimes.
- [09:38]
Landon Donovan
And so you make the wrong one one time and it's.
- [09:41]
Tim Howard
They crush you. And they're so tidy. They're so tidy. Look, they're fun to watch. I don't care who, what side you're on. Mexico's fun to watch. So that was, that was tough, but it was. You know, I was even mentioning to you at one nil, I'm like, I'm so nervous at one nil right now. Because you just felt that goal was coming.
- [10:01]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. I think people, people don't understand. Pressure mounts and it mounts and it mounts. And when you. To your point, it's a great way to describe it when you can't get out of the pressure. You, you need the first and second pass to be clean and break pressure and get out and just relieve some of it and get some territory back.
- [10:22]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [10:22]
Landon Donovan
And we couldn't do that. And there were a few times in the second half this happened a lot, where ajamong would get fouled. Sure. And then we'd actually have a moment to breathe. But then we just couldn't get a hold of the ball and keep it for long enough to just relieve the pressure. And over 90 minutes, man, it's just hard to keep defending like that.
- [10:39]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And it's interesting, Stu Holden made a great point in commentary where he said at one, at one point he was illustrating, because it was the. We didn't see the pictures. He was saying that like Tyler Adams and Burholtz and De La Torre, there's so many conversations going on and they're trying to get a grip of each other. And I just, I kind of chuckled because I was like, what people don't realize in these games, you got this game plan right. LD and we're so comfortable on the training ground and we're like, all right, cool. Then we go into a nice meeting in the air conditioned room in the hotel. Like, cool, this is how we're going to do it today. And this is where they're going to be. And Then you're laughing because you know what I'm saying? Then you get on the field, and we're like, well, the gaffer said there was gonna be three here, but there's like, when did they get six over here? He never told me this was gonna happen. And I'm saying that facetiously, but it's true. So those conversations were happening because, like, Tyler Adams is probably trying to get like, hey, listen, I. I know what we said we're supposed to do, but I need some help here, you know? And so I. I was. I was. Yeah. I wasn't envious of them in that moment, because I know what that felt like.
- [11:39]
Landon Donovan
Yep. All right, let's move to this handball that was not called a handball. So we were watching as well, by.
- [11:46]
Tim Howard
The way, again, keep going.
- [11:48]
Landon Donovan
And Moadu, he said, okay, what do you think? And I said, mo, I have no idea what the threshold is anymore. And I know all the, you know, former referees and video experts and all this say that, you know, if it's your plant hand and it's not deliberate and blah, blah, blah, blah. But I just. I get so fed up with this, because I feel like every single game, there's a moment where you go, was it or was it not? Was it or was it not? Was it or was it not? And I've. I don't think I've ever seen a play where a player literally just puts his hand on top of the ball. It was like if, like, Shaq was palming a basketball, he just put his hand right on top of the ball. And so in my. Like, just from a soccer standpoint, I go, well, that looks like a handball to me.
- [12:39]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [12:39]
Landon Donovan
But then there's all, you know, all the rules and all the laws of the game would suggest otherwise. I don't know anymore. It was really interesting. After the game, I want to read Marisa Pochettino's quote, because I thought this was really, really interesting. He said the truth was that if it happened in the opposite half, in their box, for sure it's a penalty. And I. I want to hear your thoughts on this, because he either picked up on something really fast because this is his first. Oh, that's his second U.S. mexico game now, but his first real one. Or just. I don't know if that's like an Argentina, Brazil feeling, like that would happen for. And. And it was a really interesting comment.
- [13:18]
Tim Howard
Yeah. What I'll say is what you're not saying. Poch gets it now, but he. You know, I think he. I think that's right. I think when you look at us, Mexico, we probably always feel like that we've, you know, even when you and I are playing, feel a bit hard.
- [13:30]
Landon Donovan
Did you feel that way? I didn't.
- [13:31]
Tim Howard
I felt a bit hard done by you. You didn't, you didn't think, really, you didn't think that, that Mexico rub of the green.
- [13:37]
Landon Donovan
I didn't. I mean, remember, there was. Was it. I think it was the 07 Gold Cup Final in Chicago. Like, the guy called a penalty.
- [13:45]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [13:46]
Landon Donovan
Getting pulled down, you know, and. And so, I don't know. I didn't feel that way. But it's interesting that. Well, it's interesting you feel that way, and it's interesting he felt that way.
- [13:55]
Tim Howard
I pick fights with everybody in my brain, so maybe I just. And I do. It's just how. It's. It's what motivated me. But look, the handball, initially, I. I didn't think so. Because you can't, you know, I. I believe in the rule of, like, when. If you're bracing your fall with your hand and hit, hit your hand, whatever. But these still photos now, you know, you look back at some still photos, you're like, but how is that possible? It didn't hit your hand. It actually. So I don't know. I just don't know. Yeah.
- [14:22]
Landon Donovan
Pochettino actually made a good point, too. He. He clarified too. He said it's not like his hand was on the ground and the ball, like just rolled into it and hit it.
- [14:29]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [14:29]
Landon Donovan
He said he actually put his hand on top of the ball, which I, again, I don't think I've ever seen. So again, Joe Macnick and Christine Uncle, I think, chimed in too, and they said it was not a handball. And that's fine. I understand by the rules of the game. But I do wish, and I don't. I know this will never happen. I wish we just across the board said, if it hits your hand, it's a handball, or if it hits your hand, it's not a handball, just one way or the other. So we can just stop all the ambiguity because it feels like every single time. And by the way, if that happened in the group stage, I bet it's a handball for sure. Right. Because it's a final. The reflect the game. Yeah. So I just. Anyway, okay, so then, 77th minute.
- [15:09]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [15:11]
Landon Donovan
The set piece goal for Mexico. You know, Mexico did a good job. And again, just this is how you put teams under pressure. So they did a good job. The first. They had two people out over the Ball. First guy fakes it.
- [15:24]
Tim Howard
Yep.
- [15:25]
Landon Donovan
And it causes. All you need is one. We would always say with San Diego, low would say, you just need one guy to drop, drop. And it. And it impacts the whole integrity of the offside line. And Freeman dropped a little bit, got a little bit out of position. I think Johan Vasquez then flicks it on to Edson Alvarez, who. Who times it, right, and he's just kept on side by Freeman in the back of your net.
- [15:49]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I was going, honestly. And I don't have. We keep receipts. You. And I don't have receipts of this because I didn't press send on the text because I was, like, so superstitious. I'm like, don't send that. But I was going to text you and say, like, you know, once you see the foul given and the dust settles and now two people are standing over the ball, and then there's a line, and I just remember thinking, oh, there's a lot of black jerseys. That this feels really uncomfortable. You can tell in certain moments. And ld it might only be a difference of, like, two yards, but given where this. The foul was. Was. And I don't like where that is. And then they. They pan to the wide. The. The wide shot. And I was like, God, I'm gonna be happy if we clear this. Because it just felt like this is a really dangerous, dangerous position given their set pieces, given their aggressiveness and attacking those set pieces in and around the penalty area. And I. And, yeah, I mean, it was on side. It's a tough goal to concede was difficult, but we were, you know, we were under it. And look, my. I, I again, I mentioned this to you, and for those who don't know, Landon and I don't just speak on this show. We talk soccer all the time. But I, I remember the pressure we were under. We were always going to be on the back foot. I said that that's how the game was going to pan out. Were we going to have certain moments? Sure. And we did have a few moments. But ultimately, what needed to happen at a certain point, maybe at 1:1, when we were super under pressure, or maybe at 2:1, we needed. We needed to get the ball up the pitch. Yeah. And we needed to. Whether it is ajamang or Tillman, we needed to start a mass confrontation. Right. And this is. This is what Roy Keane taught me and, and many others in moments like that. We. We weren't going to break their. Their momentum. Ld by saying, like, get on the ball, spread out, play through lines let's calm things down. We were under it. They were pressuring us. They understood that there were moments where you can play at the back, but our pressure is better than your possession. Okay? Then the ball needed to go up front. They needed to win a foul, create. Create a, a out of nothing, a mass confrontation in front of Mexico's bench. And just so you could get three minutes back, just so you can come. It's not emotional, it's intentional. Okay? Everybody comes together. There's 22 players, there's referees, there's coaches, and now everyone. You just calm things down and people, people at home will be like, well, that seems like you're escalating. You're actually not. You're de. Escalating the football, right? And so we couldn't get a grip of the game. And that leads me to, to Aja Mang. I. I thought, I thought this was a great game for him. Learning from a learning standpoint, right? He's going to go to Darby county, all right? And Chris Richards is a perfect example of this. He's unfazed now in big moments, in big games, because week in and week out, ld his windows are open and closing, open and closing as quick and as fast as possible. He's playing against the world class players every week. And he's tested. So now he's like, you have. I just played like, okay, not Every game is USA and Mexico, but I played like 60 of these games over the last 18 months. Like, I know what this feels like. I know what big moments feel like. And Aja Mang is young. He's not been in these moments, right? What I would say to him is, and so many strikers. And I think of my daughter because I've tried to, I've tried to drum this into her and she listens a little bit. And she's learned this for certain strikers, okay? Ajamin last night could have been a hero. Ld without even having a shot on target, okay? The ball goes up to him, it sticks, you win a foul. And he did that a couple of times, but not enough. Right now all of a sudden you look at the stats, you go, he didn't have that many touches. He didn't score. He didn't get a. He didn't even have a shot. But guess What? He earned 10 fouls. Seven fouls.
- [19:40]
Landon Donovan
He actually earned the one that led to the first goal. Correct?
- [19:43]
Tim Howard
Correct. And then, and then another one late on. So, like, it's in those moments where you just think, hold the ball, dig in, just make it nasty. Just make it nasty and he'll learn from that. But again, we need more of these games. This has been ld. This has been a narrative all summer. This is why we were so disgruntled, and this is why fans were so upset that we didn't have our best team in. I mean, you want to talk about. About sounding redundant, like we don't have any more competitive games. We. I would. I would have loved to have every single one of our players. Top players. In that moment. Yeah, in that moment. Because we don't get any of those. We get. We got no more of those.
- [20:26]
Landon Donovan
Tim, think about. Think about Mexico, right? Their best player, their captain, their leader, Edson Alvarez, scores the goal. That wins it. Right? Right. That is the difference. That is the difference.
- [20:36]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [20:37]
Landon Donovan
Like, you can slice it any way you want. And to your point, about. About ajamong, there were so many guys in that same situation yesterday. Diego Luna had a really bad game.
- [20:48]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [20:49]
Landon Donovan
He's not been in a game like that. Burhalter has not been in a game like that. Freeman, Arston, these guys have not been in a game like this. Right. And so you need to. I said it after. In the post game. The only way to gain that experience is to go through it. There is no other. You can't watch on tv. You can't talk to Tim Howard about his experience. You can. You just have to feel it. You have to feel what it feels like. And get banned. That's what Chris Richards has done with his time there. So let's continue on this theme of the. The tournament overall. So.
- [21:21]
Tim Howard
But real, real quick. Sorry. So before we jump in the. Luna. So what I would say about Luna, in a second. Freeman, his stock rose for me early on. I know there's some criticism. These are big moments. We keep saying that. I thought. I thought he came. I. I came away from this thinking, okay, here's a kid who will continue to grow if Sergino Des is the starter, which he is. I mean, I think if he's playing, he is. He's. He's out. Now it's a starter. But this feels like one of those moments. Ld, you know, when you have to chop and change or Des gets a yellow card or maybe he's got a niggle and he can't start the game. And Freeman plays. I'm like, okay, I feel. I feel comfortable here. Like, I feel, again, he's not a world beater yet. He's young, but his stock definitely rolls. For me, the interesting thing about Luna is so Pach is Basically saying when we need to be a bit more cautious, we're going to play it out of a 4, 4, 2, right? We saw that the lines were clear. I like that at the end he switched Luna and Tillman. And I think what I learned is if you're going to play in that 4, 4, 2, Luna is wasted wide left. Because here's why. Because ultimately, and there's players like this, there's players, you know, again, the easy one is Clint Dempsey, right. It is a perfect example. We have others throughout the years. You're going to get. Diego Luna is going to get frustrated out there. Like he can buy this time and tuck in and do all things. Ultimately, he's going to go look for the game. He's one of. He's one of a special talent that us has. He's going to go look for the game and ultimately he needs a bit of freedom in and around those pockets. I actually would have liked. And Tillman drew some fells. I would have liked to see Luna in that pocket earlier. With ajmeng until and Tillman on, on the y, on the wide area, he's a bit more robust. He kind of fits that, that wide position a little bit better. Luna, to me, can't play there, don't want to play there, isn't comfortable there, did a job. But ultimately he's lost there. So, yeah, I, you know, why else.
- [23:17]
Landon Donovan
You know why else he can't. There were so many plays in the second half where he was on the left and he was tracking.
- [23:22]
Tim Howard
Yes, yes.
- [23:23]
Landon Donovan
Their right fullback and like on top of our box. And I was like, oh, God, this is not a good spot for him because against real players, that's tough, dude, to have to defend like that for long stretches. Not his strength.
- [23:35]
Tim Howard
So ld, it's time for the unfiltered refresh sponsored by Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to coorslight.com USLNT okay, who chose Chill from the US Mexico British Gold Cup Final? For me, there was a bunch of contenders, but Raul Jimenez, the Mexican striker, number nine, played so well, took his opening goal really, really well, led the line, held the ball up, was a nuisance, did so many things well. And, and of course, when he scored the goal, such a fitting tribute to Diogo Jota, his former teammate that he played with at Wolves. It was very touching. And for me, he is someone who chose Chill.
- [24:21]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. And you have to remember we did a big segment on Raul Jimenez in the semifinal. Remember he had his skull fractured open. He didn't know if he was going to play again. He had a very scary moment in his life and he's come back to play. He's come back really good. He scored a few great goals. I think that was his third goal in the final. I thought he was the best striker in the tournament by a long shot. I think he, he is a leader on that team. You can tell when you're. When you're there on the sideline and you see him up close, you can tell that how much respect there is for. For that man. And now he gets to play a World cup in his home country next summer. Yeah. In the prime of his career. He's playing really well. I thought he was fantastic in the game. I thought he was fantastic all tournament. He absolutely chose chill.
- [25:04]
Tim Howard
It's incredible. Ld people forget how horrific that head injury was.
- [25:09]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [25:09]
Tim Howard
It was coming together with, I think. Was it David Luiz from Arsenal at the time?
- [25:15]
Landon Donovan
Correct.
- [25:15]
Tim Howard
I mean, scary, scary signs. And you watch him come back and you're like, I don't even care if you play well. You know, I remember as a Premier League fan thinking, like, just playing back.
- [25:25]
Landon Donovan
And he's got this massive scar. Tim. On his head. Sure. Like, anytime he needs a reminder, it's right there.
- [25:30]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And anyway, he's, he's, you know, he's done brilliantly, so well done to you, Raul. Congratulations to you and your team.
- [25:39]
Landon Donovan
Now the tournament's over, let's talk about Pochettino.
- [25:42]
Tim Howard
Sure.
- [25:43]
Landon Donovan
Tell me where you are with him. Obviously, it's tumultuous summer for him. Where's his approval rating? I guess. How do you. How do we feel about him now?
- [25:52]
Tim Howard
Yeah, nothing's changed for me. I'm, I'm. I'm a fan of what Pochettino is trying to do. I think we see the. I think. I think we see the identity of the team and how he wants them to play. And then again, being a bit more flex against an opponent that he feels tactically inferior to. Right. And setting us up in that four, four, two. Like, I don't. I'm okay with it. And, you know, the substitution patterns, which are so subjective, I don't even get into those, but people hit me with tons of, like, complaints about his substitutions. What I would say is our players, our best players yesterday looked leggy. Okay. They looked tired. They played a lot of minutes. I. Pochettino hasn't said this, but I'll say it and I agree with it. I would rather continue on into the 75th minute with my go to guys Then put on players who are average or below average. They're not going to change the game. They're just not right. Push that forward when we get some of our senior players perceived to be our best players back. Now he understands and trusts Freeman and Tillman and Diego Luna and Burhalter. He trusts these guys. Arfsen and now he can say, you know what, I need to make a change. I'm going to make it earlier. Why? Because I trust these guys to come on and be difference makers. So it's hard to judge. This team wasn't very deep, this Gold cup team. As we move forward into the next couple months, I think we'll see some of those changes. But nothing's changed for me in terms of Potch and you know, I actually feel better about it. The fact that the group didn't roll over, they actually came and they fought. So, yeah, I feel okay about you.
- [27:26]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. So I said before the tournament, what he needs is clarity. He needs more clarity. And I think he got a lot of clarity. And I think if you are one of those whatever 8, 9, 10 guys who, when he looked down the bench, he went, don't trust him. You're concerned, right? Because I don't. This was your chance. This was your chance. Now with a 26 man roster, I was just thinking through, there are probably eight or nine guys who you would say are definitely in the squad who were not here this summer. And then there's probably 11, 12, 13 during this tournament that he really rode with that. I think he would say, for the most part, I trust these guys in my squad. So maybe that gets you to 20 or so. So there are going to be probably five or six other spots now, I don't know who knows where that comes from. But if I'm one of those guys, I mean, time after time during the tournament, even when guys were tired late in the game, he was like, I'm going to stick with a tired Diego Luna who's been really bad today. Instead of bringing you in, whoever, you know, Quinn Sullivan or whoever you are. And so I would be concerned by that. And I think he, he has gotten a lot of clarity about that, about the depth of this group.
- [28:36]
Tim Howard
Yeah, you're right. And we'll, you know, we're going to, we're going to do a fun exercise, me and you, with, with our, our listeners kind of on a, on a semi regular basis about, you know, we're going to kind of create a following this, following this tournament, we're going to create a what we think is a roster.
- [28:52]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [28:52]
Tim Howard
And that'll be, that'll be fluid. But we'll, we'll, we'll talk about, and we'll do a fun exercise about who's in and who's out. And I honestly think right now, Landon, I, you, and I could probably say, barring injuries and a couple things, I, I know who our best 20 players are. Like, if you give me a list of 40 players, I can say, all right, there's, there's a cutoff right there. Like, I, I, I kind of know who's going to make the team and.
- [29:17]
Landon Donovan
More importantly, who Pochettino thinks are. Yeah, I think we can, I think we can figure that out now.
- [29:24]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And look, overall, and this has been going around, and you guys mentioned it on air, I mentioned it in a post last night. But there are no moral victories. I get that, especially against Mexico. It hurts like hell when you lose. But ultimately, and I said this going into the tournament, a win is paramount. But I'll tip my hat to this team and give them a ton of credit if they lose in the final to Mexico and they give everything they had and that came to fruition. And so for that, I think the team deserves a ton of credit. And again, as you said, more than anything, they got clarity, and that's a win for me. Pochettino has much more clarity on his team and the state of things around US Soccer after this tournament. And so that's a win.
- [30:10]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. And getting to play six really meaningful games was crude. I mean, thank God Canada, Panama bowed out, because those are, those are the only three real games we were going to have. Mexico, Canada, Panama, the rest of them. I mean, the Guatemala game was good from a atmosphere standpoint, put you under pressure because of the crowd, all that, but they're not a good team. So we saw the first time they played a real team, and, you know, we saw there's a gap still.
- [30:34]
Tim Howard
We need more of that. We need more of that, that real team stuff. And look, here's, this will be an ongoing conversation. We don't have long left in this segment, but this is an ongoing conversation because of, like, Nations League mostly, where we're having to play some inferior, inferior opponents. I look at England as the best example or the most likely example. They're, they never play an easy game, right. Even if they get Scotland in their group, they have to win it. Right? National pride. If they get, if they get, I don't know, the Faroe Islands or somebody. Like, they still have to win, win the game to get through in the group, but they never step on the pitch and have an easy game. And when you look at this, even though the six games were really good as an exercise, there were only a couple really tough, tough games, and we just don't get that enough.
- [31:23]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. And now, sadly, that's. That's really it until the World Cup. Right. So, last thing before we take a break. So as we spin forward to September, the friendlies. This is like, I am so fascinated with this now, because one who gets called in, who doesn't get called in is going to be fascinating. And then who plays, like, how much trust have these guys earned? And how forgiving is Mauricio Pochettino going to be with some of these guys? I'm fascinated. I don't have an answer because I, you know, usually you get a lot of clarity on these things, and I'm like, dude, I got my popcorn. I'm. I can't wait for the roster to come out and then to see the lineup.
- [32:05]
Tim Howard
Lineup. Because you. Because you know as well as I do, a manager can. A manager can. Can hide behind his starting lineup in September and go, well, I'm going to reward these guys for a really good Gold cup run, which. Which actually means the guys who weren't here. You're going to sit over there for a little bit and I'm going to teach you a lesson.
- [32:23]
Landon Donovan
That's right.
- [32:24]
Tim Howard
Don't know what's going to happen, but I'm obviously, most importantly, looking forward to getting our best group together. And I think now we'll kind of know who our best group is, and we'll have the players who are big, senior players who are missing this summer, plus some of the best players from the Gold cup. And that will be fascinating.
- [32:41]
Landon Donovan
Really going to be fun to watch. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we will get into news around Club World cup that's still going on, which is crazy, given everything that was going on yesterday. And we'll dive into that right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. As always, presented by Volkswagen.
- [33:07]
Tim Howard
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
- [33:12]
Landon Donovan
As the U.S. gets ready to host the world for soccer's biggest moment. Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the US from.
- [33:22]
Tim Howard
Deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, VW is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They've signed U.S. soccer talent from across the portfolio of the federation and will be helping to give these less popular forms of soccer a platform moving forward.
- [33:38]
Landon Donovan
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I'm excited to support them in their mission to increase visibility of all forms of soccer. I was recently on set with them shooting their new campaign to do just that.
- [33:49]
Tim Howard
Keep an eye out for that launching soon alongside the all new redesigned 2025 Tiguan. It's a beautiful car. We've even had one with us at a recent live show. Make sure to check it out in person and learn more@vw.com all right, Timmy.
- [34:04]
Landon Donovan
It's summertime. You remember these days, kids are home. It's exhausting. You're babysitting all day. I know you don't think it's babysitting. It is babysitting. In order to choose chill, I'm on the golf course, man. My wife knows when it's time to get away and choose chill. See you later. I'm gonna go play golf.
- [34:23]
Tim Howard
I gotta be honest. I choose chill a lot in the summer. Going to concerts, family barbecues. I spend a ton of time on the beach. I reach into the cooler, get a Coors Light. For me, I choose chill very, very often.
- [34:36]
Landon Donovan
Coors Light is mountain cold refreshment, crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies make the most out of the times you choose to chill, choose Coors Light.
- [34:45]
Tim Howard
Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit coorslight.com USLNT Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Co. Golden, Colorado Beer with.
- [34:56]
Landon Donovan
A Venmo debit card, you can Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything.
- [35:02]
Tim Howard
Need gas?
- [35:03]
Landon Donovan
You can Venmo this. How about snacks? You can Venmo that. Your favorite band's merch. You can Venmo this or their next show. You can Venmo that.
- [35:11]
Tim Howard
Visit Venmo Me Debit to learn more. You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that. You can Venmo this, so you can Venmo that.
- [35:19]
Landon Donovan
The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the.
- [35:20]
Tim Howard
Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license.
- [35:21]
Landon Donovan
By MasterCard International, Inc. Card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.
- [35:27]
Tim Howard
All right, LD Club World cup time. It feels like it's always Club World cup time this summer.
- [35:32]
Landon Donovan
It's been going on forever.
- [35:33]
Tim Howard
I'm actually doing some stuff around the semifinal and final. But yeah, some crazy, crazy results. I mean, I think I'm actually excited about about the semis you got Fluminese, Chelsea, Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid. So like. Yeah, don't mind that. Don't mind that at all. I mean, the Brazilian teams have played really well and you know, three top European powers.
- [35:57]
Landon Donovan
So yeah, I actually like that this point in the tournament. Now there's some big teams, but then there's one Cinderella, right? It makes it. That's like the Final Four. Like, you don't want all Cinderellas and it's just not great in basketball, but you want one, right? And so this is kind of playing out that way and it's been fun to watch. Did you. I don't know how much you saw because we had a lot going on. Did you see the goal that Weberton let in Palmeira School? Did you see the play? Yeah, yeah. What's your take on that? Is that it was kind of a weird play where it gets deflected. It feels like it was too quick for him to.
- [36:33]
Tim Howard
It does. And the deflections with in goalkeep is really weird because it looks like some slow motion and it actually is slow motion. But like at home you're like, why don't you react? And like, you know you get £185, £200 going one way, right? You got to try and scramble back. And again it looks like it's slow motion, but it happens actually so quickly that. Yeah, I got no. I got no blame there.
- [36:59]
Landon Donovan
Is that why you guys do. I used to watch like in goalkeeper warmups, they like put stuff all around you and like they'll take a shot and it hits here, hits here. Totally like. Yeah, it is okay.
- [37:08]
Tim Howard
Yeah, it's like you just, just reaction. Try and train deflections. Cuz it's so like you. It's impossible to train deflections so you just like put some stuff in the road and it hits it and you just react and you hope, you hope you sharpen your hand eye coordination enough that you make the big save in the game. So it's hard.
- [37:25]
Landon Donovan
Psg. They're. They are so good, man.
- [37:28]
Tim Howard
Yeah, they're very good.
- [37:30]
Landon Donovan
Beat Bayern Munich. The big talking point was the play late in the first half with Donnarum and Musiala. So we both watched it. Give us the take from a goalkeepers and I'll give you a take from attacking player. It's. It's a. They come together. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Or don't. Or don't.
- [37:48]
Tim Howard
It's a horrific.
- [37:49]
Landon Donovan
It's really hard to watch. But Donaruma goes musiala's leg is planted there. Yeah, they go for the. He goes for the ball and then he gets a really bad broken leg. So what's your take as a goalkeeper?
- [38:01]
Tim Howard
It's twofold, I think. You know, when you watch, watch it back down, room has every right to go for that ball. I mean, the goalkeepers coming and sliding out, and when the goalkeeper slides out, you're going to get the ball or give away a penalty. Like, that's. It's risky, but it's, It's a calculated risk and you see this happen hundreds and thousands of times. So. So Don Roman is well within his right to go for that ball. What I would say to any striker, and I always say to strikers, don't go in, don't go into the challenge. If you see the goalkeeper coming, bail, like, maybe if it's there, like poke it past. I win a penalty or poke it into the goal. But it's a, it's a lose, lose for most strikers because you're just so vulnerable and the goalkeeper isn't doing anything illegal. Right. And so it's one of those odd moments where I just think, like, if you're a striker and there's about to be a coming together, do what you can to try and get the ball, but more than anything, bail out, bail out, because stuff like this happens and it's, it's not worth it.
- [38:55]
Landon Donovan
You almost took the words out of my mouth. So I, I used to get. No, you're right. So Bruce arena in particular used to get so mad at me because, like, in the middle of field, there'd be a play like that where I got a 6 foot 4, 200 pound defender coming to slide in. And at the last minute, like, I can put my leg in and maybe draw a foul or something, but I can also get it snapped. And so I'd pull out and he'd be like, what are you doing? And I'd say, bruce, do you want me out for the next eight months or do you want me to win this tackle in the middle of the field? Yeah, Right. And so with Musial, it's a little. It's a little weird because he's also got a defender on his. On his hip. And so he kind of just gets caught in between and his leg is planted. And that's the problem. And normally in those situations, as a, as an attacking player, you get there and there's a way you can. There's a way you can manipulate and maneuver your body where you can touch it, but you jump you touch it, but you avoid. And so I think he's trying to, but he kind of wants to like get in the way and create the contact and then it just all goes wrong. And to your point about Donaruma, he didn't do anything wrong. Like that's a, that's a ball he absolutely is entitled to go for. And so it's, it's terrible. Yeah, but it can happen. And I think people giving him stick, that's. He has every right to go for that. Of course he does. No question. Of course. Hopefully with Musiala, it's obviously bad and it's not about the time it takes now, Tim, to get back. It's. It's. Can he get fully back, fully back mentally? Four months, six months, eight months, doesn't matter. It's just can so. And obviously we all hope that we wish him well, that it goes well. I have seen that type of injury before and guys come back 100% so he can do it and let's hope he does. Especially ahead of the World Cup.
- [40:38]
Tim Howard
Definitely.
- [40:41]
Landon Donovan
Real Madrid, Brussia Dorman. So I was watching it yesterday morning before I went to, to NRG Stadium here in Houston for the match and I was like, ho hum, it's two zero. Madrid could have had the third a gazillion times. They were on cruise control. And then all of a sudden at the end, the game totally turned on its head. Dortmund score, then Madrid score. And then literally 20 seconds later, Dortmund score again. And there's a sending off. It was wild. Man, what a fun game. It was a fun game.
- [41:08]
Tim Howard
Those are the games, that bathroom, you know, you watch a trillion hours of football, which we do, and you're like, why, why does a game grow to life in like at it, you know, added time, stoppage time? You're like, this game, as you said, it was kind of ho hum, it was over and like it was over. Football is a funny old game. That's why I think we're all so addicted to it.
- [41:27]
Landon Donovan
And you know what's fun, Tim, is that this, we're going to see this next year in the World cup too, because it's hot and because these games are way more open than like a Champions League night game would be way more open. I mean, sometimes it's like 5v4 and half the field. You're like, what is this a FIFA game? Or what is going on? I mean, you know, like this is a FIFA video game, right? And it's bizarre, but you're gonna see it in the World Cup. As it gets hot and end of games and games get stretched and, you know, people always give MLS crap for, you know, like, oh, the games suck, and they're slow, and where I'm like, go watch those games. Those games are pretty damn slow, too, right? So it's going to. It's actually going to be really fun to watch. All right, it's now time for control your game. Presented by nitsa. When you speed, you have less time to react. Follow the speed limit to keep other road users safe. Speeding catches up with you. Paid for by nitsa. All right, so player who is definitely in control of their game through the quarterfinals of this tournament, and a guy who's, I think, was a little under the radar for. For most of us, even those of us who fall lock. And Zala Garcia from Real Madrid scored again. He's had a fantastic tournament. Four goals now, and with Xavier Alonso there, it's been fun to watch them already, Tim, evolve, because Ancelotti was, like, very much kind of do your thing. I'm gonna manage you manage person. And Xavier Alonso is, like, very detailed in how he wants to play. And early on, it looks like Gonzalo Garcia is really the beneficiary of that.
- [42:51]
Tim Howard
Yeah, yeah. Special player. He's young, but as you said, the manager, there's. There's some. There's some good stuff going on at Real Madrid.
- [42:57]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, he's. He's been very good, so certainly in control of his game. All right, so, semifinal matchups. Tuesday, 3pm Eastern, Fluminense, Chelsea, and then Wednesday at 3pm Eastern, PSG. Real Madrid.
- [43:13]
Tim Howard
Big one.
- [43:14]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, that's going to be fun to watch. So there was a lot of, I don't know, consternation before the tournament. Good word. Yeah, apropos. But I. I do think the tournament's been a success. I think FIFA got the ticketing part wrong. The price is wrong, but they've slashed prices. There's some really cheap seats, and it's just better to have people in the stands. It's been fun to watch, and I've enjoyed it, and I think the semifinals are going to be great. Last thing here. There was an MLS game last night. It was Seattle, Columbus. It finished 1:1. I just want to really quickly. And I know you know Steph, too, there's a really bad incident at the end of the game. Steph Fry got, I think, kneed in the head. And in my opinion, and I played against him a lot of times, I think he's might be the most underrated goalkeeper ever in our League people don't talk about him. You don't if for whatever reason, he just goes under the radar and he's a phenomenal human being and he's been there forever. So he was taken off the field in an ambulance. Um, it was very scary and we've seen these incidences a lot. And fortunately last night he did put on social media. He's so great. So he said. Still trying to figure out what happened at the end of the game with like a laughing emoji. But I'm incredibly grateful to all the staff that looked after me and I'm happy to be back home resting now. What resonates is all the messages, calls and love I've received from so many of you. So I, I'm just really glad obviously that he's okay, but he's had a phenomenal year and it was, it was scary to see and I'm really happy for him.
- [44:45]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I've known Stefan a while. He came into the national team a little bit when he was younger. He's a winner. You know, he's a winner. And you said underrated. I think about, I think about like, like Nick Ramondo, right? A friend of ours, like Nick Romonda probably should have won Gold Cube of the year like every year, but people just got tired of like voting for him. Like, we gotta pick somebody else. This guy's like, steady, keeps clean sheets, saves penalties, gets his team in Western Conference finals. Da da da da. So like, he's a bit boring. Stefan's the same way. I mean, he's been, he stands on his head. He's a, he's one of the very few goalkeepers who can make himself big and win his team games single handedly. We've seen it over the years, but more importantly at the end, I mean, sometimes as a goalkeeper, when you dive, you know, in and around people's feet, those things happen. And, and there was a collision with a player's knee and, and his head and it was horrific. It's scary and it reminds you as, as teammates, as soccer players. You're just like those moments like they jar you to see your, your, your best friend laying there. So again, he had, he had a bit of humor there on social. And I'm happy for him that he was able to look, obviously seem alert and, and that people are reaching out to him because he is a, he's a legend in the league and up in Seattle, I know they adore him. So, Steph, if you're listening, hope you're resting well and get well, soon.
- [46:05]
Landon Donovan
All right on that, we'll take a break. When we come back, we'll get into the fan questions and the AT and T fan connection and talk anything but soccer. Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
- [46:25]
Tim Howard
There's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done without you even having to ask.
- [46:31]
Landon Donovan
Like fans who start to sing and chant at the exact moment their team needs to rally.
- [46:35]
Tim Howard
A coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win.
- [46:39]
Landon Donovan
A keeper you know is defending your.
- [46:41]
Tim Howard
Goal, or a forward who is always ready to receive the ball.
- [46:43]
Landon Donovan
At Unfiltered Soccer, Tim and I know all too well how important it is to be sure someone out there has your back. And that's precisely why AT and T has a new guarantee.
- [46:53]
Tim Howard
The AT and T guarantee is all about having your back. When you're with AT and T. If there's a network interruption, they'll proactively make it right with a credit for a full day of Service guaranteed.
- [47:04]
Landon Donovan
Visit att.comguarantee to learn more. Terms and conditions apply.
- [47:10]
Tim Howard
AT and T connecting changes everything.
- [47:13]
Landon Donovan
Credit for Fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details. When you speed while driving, you have less time to react to whatever comes across your path.
- [47:33]
Tim Howard
A sharp turn could take you by surprise, causing you to veer off the road.
- [47:37]
Landon Donovan
Another car could turn out in front of you, leading to a fender bender.
- [47:40]
Tim Howard
A truck could break, suddenly injuring you and the other driver.
- [47:44]
Landon Donovan
A pedestrian could be walking their dog, and your foot on the gas might lead to a tragedy.
- [47:48]
Tim Howard
You may not think any of these things can happen to you, but you won't see them coming until they happen. When you're speeding, you don't have time to course correct, and it only takes an instant for disaster to strike.
- [47:58]
Landon Donovan
The speed limit isn't just there to protect you, but everyone around you, too.
- [48:03]
Tim Howard
So slow down, obey the law, and keep everyone on the road safe.
- [48:07]
Landon Donovan
Speeding catches up with you Paid for.
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C
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- [48:42]
Tim Howard
It's time for the Fan Connection, presented by AT&T. Every week we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow the game of soccer in the US Is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. AT, AT&T. Connecting changes everything. And on USLNT, our connections with you will help grow the game. LD time for the AT&T fan Connection. That also means it's time to welcome in Jordan. Jordan, how are you?
- [49:11]
Landon Donovan
Hello, Jo.
- [49:12]
C
I have some complaints.
- [49:15]
Tim Howard
Well, hang on, hang on, hang on. Before you complain, you got the memo. Black tea every day, all black, everything.
- [49:21]
C
I'm very goth.
- [49:24]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I dig it. I dig it.
- [49:26]
Landon Donovan
Wait, wait. What are your complaints?
- [49:27]
Tim Howard
What are your complaints?
- [49:29]
C
Well, I would like to complain about the fact that I have been wearing different football kits on this shirt every week since the beginning of the show. And no one has sent me a kit in the mail. They only send kits to the two of you. And you guys could start your own kit like museum with the stuff that you've got.
- [49:47]
Tim Howard
So it's a fair point. I. I will say it's been overlooked.
- [49:50]
Landon Donovan
That is a fair point. You know, the.
- [49:51]
Tim Howard
Oh, go on, go ahead, go ahead.
- [49:53]
Landon Donovan
The Portland Hearts of Pine.
- [49:56]
Tim Howard
Yeah, not pine.
- [49:57]
Landon Donovan
Are sending me a shirt.
- [49:58]
C
I heard about that.
- [49:59]
Tim Howard
Am I getting one?
- [50:00]
C
They. They may be sending one for Tim as well. Anyway, not for me.
- [50:04]
Tim Howard
Please. This is a. This is a psa. If. If you're going to send shirts into the show, which we want, because this is going to be an amazing collaboration. We're going to shout out some teams and give you some respect and love. Make sure you send Jordan one too. That's all. Or scarves or hats.
- [50:19]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, all the things. Portland Hearts of Pine. Can you please send Jordan one there and ten first?
- [50:25]
C
I would like to go up there because it's not. I mean, it's a few hours drive.
- [50:29]
Landon Donovan
But I feel like I drove through there. You know, I drove through there cuz I drove from Boston to Nova Scotia a few years ago with. To. To go visit where my dad grew up. My dad's family and I drove through Portland. It's a pretty cool little town.
- [50:42]
C
Yeah, I like Portland. If you like lobster, it's the.
- [50:45]
Landon Donovan
The place.
- [50:46]
Tim Howard
I love a lobster live podcast. Eating. Eating lobster. Let's just.
- [50:52]
C
That sounds amazing.
- [50:53]
Tim Howard
Sounds amazing.
- [50:53]
Landon Donovan
I know.
- [50:56]
C
Okay, should we get into some questions? All right, let's do it. This One's from Carlos via email. On the topic of chopping blocks, should Potch be more critical of the players who decided not to play the Gold cup in the friendlies we have remaining? I feel like you guys talked about this a little bit earlier in the show, as in send a message and solidify the idea that this team needs fight in them. And if you want to start, you have to earn it, not just expect it.
- [51:22]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. I mean, that should be the case with your national team. Always the. The reality. But let's just be honest. The reality is Christian is the best player on the team. And the problem is it's not even close. In a lot of instances, he given his resume, what he's done and what he continues to do every week. So the. I would. Let me just make this really clear. The only reason he was able to do what he did is because he is the best player by a long way. Now, Eunice Moo. You'll say Eunice Musa also did it. That's just a bizarre. Everyone's perplexed by that one. But that's the reason he was able to do it is because he knows, maybe not in the first camp, but eventually you need him. And we saw it yesterday. We need him on the field. Of course, you know, Edson Alvarez is their best player. He scores, they win, Christian's there. I don't, I can't say for sure we win the game, but our chances go up a lot. Yeah, right. And everyone knows that, including Christian.
- [52:18]
Tim Howard
Well, I think the part of it ld is the question is being asked about, like, chopping block and is Pachettino doing the right things? He is. Six million dollars we're paying him.
- [52:30]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [52:30]
Tim Howard
He is going to earn the bulk of that now.
- [52:34]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, right.
- [52:34]
Tim Howard
Because what, what he has to do, this isn't about omitting people. What he has to do is figure out a way to send the right message and continue to build the right culture with Robinson, Pulisic, Moussa. Who am I missing?
- [52:50]
Landon Donovan
Des weah, McKinney.
- [52:51]
Tim Howard
McKinney. Right. Six players.
- [52:55]
Landon Donovan
Well, Baligan, Pepe.
- [52:57]
Tim Howard
Baligan, Pepe.
- [52:58]
Landon Donovan
Eight or nine.
- [52:58]
Tim Howard
Okay, eight or nine players. That's a lot of players. Ld like, we need them if we want to succeed and get out of the group and beat a world powerhouse and get beyond the these stages in the World Cup. We need those players. So then really what. What Ponch needs to do is figure out the best way and I don't know the best way, but whatever's on the inside is it send a message Is it tough love? Is it looking at them in the eye and going, hey, have you guys gotten the message yet? Okay, you have? Maybe. I, I don't. It doesn't have to be tough love. I don't know the answer, but that's where he's going to earn his money.
- [53:30]
Landon Donovan
That's right. I agree.
- [53:31]
C
Okay. I have one. I'm just gonna put this out there. It's really spicy. And if you don't want to answer it and we'll cut it, that's fine.
- [53:38]
Tim Howard
Oh, no, no. We go up the chimney.
- [53:42]
Landon Donovan
That what you just said in the show too.
- [53:43]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [53:45]
C
This one is from Chris V Email who identifies himself as the warming zones revs guy. Chris says, I thought it was all noise, but Pulisic posting pictures of his vacations while the U.S. men's National Team is having huge moments just shows he is doubling down. Not even a mention of how they're doing in the Gold Cup. Just, hey, look at me on this jet. I'm kind of done with him.
- [54:12]
Landon Donovan
Do you post a picture of him on a jet?
- [54:14]
C
I think there was a picture earlier in the tournament of him, several pictures of him, like traveling with his family. And then most recently he was in some kind of tournament for Puma. I think that he posted yesterday while the.
- [54:26]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [54:26]
C
Final was going on.
- [54:28]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [54:29]
Tim Howard
I'll take, I'll take the range. Shout out to Kristen Pulisic. I mean, flying on PJs is a flex. And I, I mean, seriously, he, he, he works hard, he earns his money. You know, he has to. The players are human. They have to go on vacation in the off season. They have to do these things.
- [54:44]
C
And if you're like a Puma athlete, you have to do, you have to.
- [54:47]
Tim Howard
Right. You have to earn your money and he has to do that. And those things fall on certain days. And look, we can continue to pick the bones out of it. The fact of the matter is I wouldn't care either way because the opposite is true for who asked the question, Chris. Yeah, I mean, the opposite is true, Chris. I see a bunch of these players because you know what? I was actually, what I would actually expect is like a picture of him winning against Mexico saying, go, guys, you know, go win this thing. It's like all that's fake to me. So I, I don't know, social media, you can't really make heads or tails of it. He's well within his right to go on vacation. And it obviously, given the nature of things, I think some, like, I think sometimes you can just Shut it down and kind of fly under the radar and do it quietly. But this is a different generation. Everything has to be posted, and that's kind of normal. So, yeah, I don't. I don't. I don't have any qualms with it, but the PJ's flex, for sure.
- [55:44]
Landon Donovan
My only thing is, I keep coming back to this is who's advising these guys? Because can you not wait a week to post the Puma thing? I know sometimes they're like, we want to make sure during the Gold cup and on Gold cup final day, because that's when most people are watching, we want you to post it. I get that, but can you just wait a week or can you wait till the tournament's over? Can somebody saying, you know, maybe we don't put the picture of the PJ up while the team is. Is suffering against Mexico. Right. And I'm not saying that's the exact timing, but just who is. Who's advising? That's. That's my thing. Because we all make dumb decisions, too. I do things every day. And Rich, my. Our agent Rich would be like, no, Lanny, you're not doing that. That's. Why would you do that?
- [56:30]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [56:31]
Landon Donovan
I go, oh, okay. Yeah, good one.
- [56:33]
Tim Howard
Yeah, look, that's my thing. Yeah. I think the. I think the other part of it is there's been so much noise and criticism towards Christian Pulisic and some of the other players that. Like that. That also is a way to fire back. Right. Subtly or not so subtly. That's just how things work. And that's a. That's a form of communication nowadays, social media. So again, no issue with it.
- [56:56]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [56:57]
C
Speaking as the producer on the show, we also have to navigate things like when can we record versus? Like, when is stuff happening? And so who knows when some of that stuff was even captured versus when it was posted on his social media. Social media is not real, everyone. Hate to break it to you.
- [57:13]
Landon Donovan
Sure.
- [57:14]
Tim Howard
Our account is. Our accounts real. Our accounts real.
- [57:16]
C
Extremely real. Very, very. Tim's a man of the people, so it's a very real Instagram account.
- [57:22]
Landon Donovan
Clearly.
- [57:23]
C
Okay, last question is from Julie via email. I'm just gonna completely admit to this. Her question is making it into the episode because there's a PS on her email that says, jordan, you are amazing, and I love Liverpool too.
- [57:36]
Tim Howard
So there'll be two things. Two things I'm gonna hold against you, Julie, but keep going.
- [57:41]
C
So first, Landon and Tim, you have been two of my favorite players. I listen to this podcast because of You, Landon. I even named my youngest after you and he loves soccer, so. Wow, she's laying it on really thick.
- [57:52]
Tim Howard
Of course she's gonna be in the episode.
- [57:54]
C
Second, I want to apologize to you, Landon. When you took your time off of the national team. First, I blame the coach for not picking you, and then I wondered what would keep you from playing for the national team. Thank you for sharing your story. My question stems from that. Do you guys feel that as players join the leagues, younger and younger, will burnout and mental health become more of a problem due to not having the skills to, to deal with the pressure?
- [58:19]
Tim Howard
Great question.
- [58:20]
Landon Donovan
Very good question. Great question. I'm not sure I know how to answer that.
- [58:25]
Tim Howard
I'll take a crack at it if you want. Well, yes, I think that's, I think that's fair. You know, so, so often with athletes, you know, I wasn't one of them. I mean, I still felt young. I mean, I want to, I, I started my career at 18, but I really hit the, hit the spotlight like 23, right. So kind of a late bloomer. I, I was, I was trending that way. So, yeah, look, when you get thrust into the frying pan at 16, it's hard. So naturally, yes, you're going to have more games under your belt at an earlier age and, and the burnout might happen quicker. You know, I use the example of a player that, that Atlanta knows really well. But I, I was, I was in the team, I was a senior player at Everton when Ross Barkley broke through at 16, right? And Ross was, His birth certificate might have said 16, but he was built like an ox and, and he could hold his own, right? And so he, he then got held to a different standard and now he's in the first team dressing room, right? And now he, you know, he has to take care of his mom and his sister. I've talked about this, right? 16 year old, he's the breadwinner, he's a brilliant kid, he's got a wonderful family, but he's the breadwinner. So now he's got to go in the dressing room with 35, 36 year olds, right? And he's got to buy the same car that they have, he's got to buy the same wash bag, accessories and watch that they have. So he's trying to keep up with a pace that like no 16 year old should have to keep up with. Also, like when I got ridiculed and people sang songs about me, I'd tell them, I'd tell them where to go and what to do with themselves. Right. But I was 35 years old. You get Russ, who's a young kid who comes in and now he's taking criticism from the papers and he's taking criticism from the fans. And he's a local kid, right. So that. That they double down on that. It's really difficult from a mental health standpoint, and it's really hard to deal with that. And then we label. Then he goes to Chelsea and then we label him a failure when it doesn't work out. And I'm thinking Everton, Chelsea, he went to Nice in the French League, Luton in the Premier League, Aston Villa, that's a winner to me. Right. And so, like, the lines get completely blurred and skewed. And so having a strong foundation as a young player is important. You know, good people around you landing. We keep talking about who advises these kids. Ultimately, there's going to be burnout if you start at a much earlier age.
- [60:43]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, as you're. Thanks for saying that. Because as you're saying that, I think the thing that exacerbates all of that now is social media, too. Right. And so I didn't. Part of, you know, part of my real struggles early in my career, particularly, were after the 2006 World cup, where I had a terrible World cup and we went out in the group stage and then I started hearing people talk about it on TV when I got home and reading it in articles in the paper and whatever. I can only imagine if social media was around, how much worse it would have been for me. And so now I think it's been around long enough now where people are starting to understand they can just tune it out. But at that time, it was like, oh, my God, people are saying this. It must be true and it must feel. You know, and five people say it. It has to be real. And you didn't understand, like, how fake that whole world is. But I think it gets exacerbated by that now, so it makes it more difficult. I think that is the defining factor more than probably even starting at a young age, because kids who aren't professional athletes are struggling with that, with social media.
- [61:43]
C
I also think, like, teams have more awareness of that and are trying to offer support, too, which I think is really helpful. All right, that's it, guys.
- [61:53]
Landon Donovan
Thank you, Job Junior. All right, Tim. Anything but soccer. This is an interesting one. So we've been following two stories that are really interesting. So Malik Beasley, former basketball player, is being investigated. Current.
- [62:06]
Tim Howard
Current.
- [62:06]
Landon Donovan
I'm sorry. Current basketball player is being Investigated for potentially gambling on his own team. Is that right?
- [62:16]
Tim Howard
He's with the Pistons. I'm not sure if it's his own team. He's. He's being investigated for. For betting and gambling.
- [62:21]
Landon Donovan
For betting? Yeah. Concurrently. At the same time, Luis Ortiz from the Cleveland Guardians was being invested. This is such a bizarre story. I think I saw it in the Athletic is being investigated for two specific pitches. He's a pitcher. Pitches he made where there was massive uptake in gambling on those two pitches. And I was like, whoa. So again, we want to clarify. Nothing's finalized. They're under investigation.
- [62:54]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [62:55]
Landon Donovan
But, like, what's your thought on guys involved in the game in. In gambling on either themselves or the outcomes?
- [63:03]
Tim Howard
It's sticky, man. Every time there's an issue with gambling, like, I've seen there's been an issue, like something's not quite right. I play with a guy at Everton, a young kid, and it's like, Premier League contract, right? French kid, and. And he's, like, in debt and he's got, like. He's got, like, gangsters after him. And I'm like, no one just randomly does that, right? You either got you. You. You fall into a bad way somehow. What I would say is, like, don't do it. And here's the. Here's. Here's why not. Because it's wrong. So you shouldn't do it because it's wrong, number one. But number two, you don't get away with this. Ld. You can't get away with it. So, like, so like you said, I'm going to throw two pitches. No one's going to know. Except when the bookies. There's an uptick in the betting. Like, they're.
- [63:47]
Landon Donovan
And by the way, both pitches were, like, not even close to the plate. I mean, he, like, bounced them. I watched them. Like, they're really bad. It's really obvious.
- [63:55]
Tim Howard
So, like, so you like, again, to use your line, like, who's advising these guys? Well, what I would say is, like, no one really that good. Because you can't get away with it. You cannot get away with gambling and betting on your own team or trying to throw pitches or. Or whatever. Whatever it is, it don't do it. It's so strange. It's so strange. Like, I don't know. I. I don't even know where to go with it other than, like, it's. It's bonkers to me.
- [64:20]
Landon Donovan
It makes you realize it's a disease, too. Because, like, this. I don't know how much money Ortiz is Making or Malik bees. But it's not about money. Right? I mean, there's. There are some people who are like this. I mean, I'll have a job I don't have. I gotta just. I'm gonna try to make this work. And, like, I don't judge. I get that. But it's. It's just bizarre. It's always been bizarre to me when people, especially, who are making big, big amounts of money do this. Like, I can never figure it out. And to your point, I mean, I'm sure someone along the way maybe has gotten away with it, but it's rarely. It's. It's very rare. It's. It's just bizarre. I mean, let's look. Hopefully, it's nothing. It feels like when there's smoke, there's fire.
- [65:00]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [65:00]
Landon Donovan
But I guess we'll see.
- [65:01]
Tim Howard
On the baseball thing, I'm. I'm completely throwing a curveball. No pun intended.
- [65:06]
Landon Donovan
Very good.
- [65:07]
Tim Howard
MLB All Star Games coming up in Atlanta. I've always wanted to play in a celebrity softball game. Never have. Haven't been invited. Not really sure why. Not really sure why.
- [65:16]
Landon Donovan
Are you pitching? To get so what? I said, are you pitching?
- [65:20]
Tim Howard
Yeah. I'm throwing this out there to anyone at mlb. Like, maybe it's too soon.
- [65:24]
Landon Donovan
The softball game.
- [65:25]
Tim Howard
Not this year. But, like, I do want to play in a celebrity softball game at some point.
- [65:29]
Landon Donovan
You did all right. I did. In San Diego. Is so fun. Getting hits. Yeah. I had a home run. Well, it was not an actual home run. It was just. I hit it, and there were, like, six errors, and so I. Oh, you're.
- [65:41]
Tim Howard
One of those try hards. Yeah.
- [65:43]
Landon Donovan
So actually. Yeah, you're right. So Drew Brees got mad at me because it was like. It's like, you know, like. Oh, I know why he got mad at me. I just remembered. So I was. I pitched for a few innings, and basically, you're there to have fun, and, like, they want to see people hit. So, like, you're throwing it softball underhand, and you're supposed to, like, just lob it up there. So. And I was throwing these big, high haymakers that nobody could hit because I wanted to win. And he looked at me like, you're such a tool, dude. I was such an idiot.
- [66:11]
Tim Howard
So you.
- [66:12]
Landon Donovan
So I apologize.
- [66:12]
Tim Howard
Drew Brees, you took slow pitch softball and threw some rain.
- [66:16]
Landon Donovan
I threw him, like, super high, you know, so then, like, they can't even. Because you're just trying to throw.
- [66:20]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [66:21]
Landon Donovan
And you're supposed to just, like, not throw it high. Throw it low and let the guy just hit it out because everyone's there to watch that.
- [66:26]
Tim Howard
And you ran extra hard and slid headfirst in the home on a inside the park home run. You're never being asked back if you.
- [66:34]
Landon Donovan
Haven'T figured it out. I'm a little competitive. I'm definitely never being asked back.
- [66:39]
Tim Howard
Amazing.
- [66:40]
Landon Donovan
Whatever. I'm an idiot.
- [66:41]
Tim Howard
Good times.
- [66:42]
Landon Donovan
All right, guys, great show. Thank you as always. As Always, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your pods. Follow us across all our social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for more bonus content.
- [66:53]
Tim Howard
Thanks so much, everybody. Really good wrap up to the Gold Cup. The summer of soccer continues. Thank you to our presenting sponsor VW, our fan connection sponsor AT&T, our control, your game sponsor Nitza, and our unfiltered refresh sponsor, Coors Light. Have an amazing week. Keep up with the football and we will see you next Tuesday for another episode of Unfiltered Soccer. Sam.