← Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
MLS 2025 Season Preview, USMNT Injuries, The Merseyside Derby, and USL's New First Division
01:07:55
Loading summary
Transcript258 lines
- [00:00]
Landon Donovan
You have to be playing going into a World Cup.
- [00:03]
Tim Howard
You and I would have died to play a World cup in our country. I would have given everything to play in my country. 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 the past five years.
- [00:20]
Landon Donovan
My guy, L.D. what's happening?
- [00:22]
Tim Howard
We are back. We are back.
- [00:25]
Landon Donovan
You look like you might be playing golf after this show.
- [00:28]
Tim Howard
You know, mate, it is going to be 72 today. Bit warm, so I didn't put the sweater on. Yeah, it's normal February day.
- [00:37]
Landon Donovan
Here you are. It's not normal February day here. Maybe it is. It's like we're in between snow. Snowstorms in New York. It's absolutely Baltic outside.
- [00:45]
Tim Howard
But, you know, you. You chose to live there. Just as a reminder, best city in the world.
- [00:49]
Landon Donovan
So I'm here.
- [00:50]
Tim Howard
I mean, Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree.
- [00:54]
Landon Donovan
What's been going on?
- [00:56]
Tim Howard
Nothing. You know, these ski weeks. I don't know if you ever had that with your kids. They give you, like, a week, I'd say, I don't know. Maybe it's a California thing.
- [01:05]
Landon Donovan
Wait, that's like a real school?
- [01:06]
Tim Howard
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They take a week off, and then the problem is, is I don't know who set this up. They should be fired immediately. They set it up. So you have the ski week, and then it goes into the weekend, and then it's what's the President's Day? And then it's President's Day. So now you have an extra day with your kids at home, and you're like, you don't like it? No, you should do it Saturday. Sunday. President's Day is part of the ski week. And then you go up. Now we have an extra day because they do it at the beginning of the ski week. So, like, I'm about to kill my kids is moral of story.
- [01:37]
Landon Donovan
Don't do that. For all of our listeners. I am a man of the people. I don't get ski weeks. Don't have that. Landon is posh. This is what we've always known, but that's what makes us a dynamic duo. I'm actually headed over to. Over to London tonight.
- [01:52]
Tim Howard
Are you going tonight for two weeks?
- [01:54]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. I'm shooting a neurodiversity documentary. Gonna sit down? What? It's unsurprising. A neurodiversity documentary.
- [02:04]
Tim Howard
What is that? What's that mean?
- [02:05]
Landon Donovan
You're gonna have to Google that because you should know. And then gonna Sit down at Finch Farm at Everton with David Moy, Jordan Pickford, Leighton Banes, Seamus Coleman on something separate. Probably going to call the OR be on the desk for the Everton Manchester United game. Yeah, doing a whole bunch of stuff, man. So it's all cool. All right.
- [02:24]
Tim Howard
Safe trip.
- [02:25]
Landon Donovan
Thank you, brother.
- [02:26]
Tim Howard
As always, follow us on social media Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe on YouTube, follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. As always, please leave a comment Likes we had lots of comments and questions this week. We appreciate that and we'll try to get to most of them. You can email us at feedbacknfilteredsoccer.com or Jordan will solicit your questions and take care of them in the AT T fan connection mailbag.
- [02:50]
Landon Donovan
So.
- [02:50]
Tim Howard
All right, Tim, this weekend we're back. MLS is back. It's crazy how fast that goes, huh? I know, like these teams are all in. I know they're in their off season mode. Preseason went and now all of a sudden it's here again. Most of the teams went to this Coachella Valley Invitational that's out a couple hours from where I live. Beautiful sunshine. It's a really cool event. Fans get great access to the players. It's a lot of fun lot. Lots and lots and lots of preseason games. So let's just remind people where we left off. The Galaxy.
- [03:22]
Landon Donovan
Your Galaxy.
- [03:23]
Tim Howard
Let's go. MLS cup champions starting the season this weekend against San Diego fc. Very interesting matchup there. Inter Miami won the Shield, Messi won the mvp. That's where we're at. So first thoughts coming into the season?
- [03:43]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, well, I mean I look, I think jealousy number one. You know, I think Coachella Valley Invitational is like I wish I had that when I, when I was playing or when we were playing. You know, your, your team would just try and figure out where you could pitch up a, in a hotel for two weeks and play possibly one other MLS team, maybe a college team. I know. So yeah, the fact that it's moved forward. We both said craz crazy when, when we're talking about the MLS preview, like it's back when you're not on the grass. Like when you're not a player or a coach, like in inside of it, it seems so short now when you're a player you're like, oh my God, I can't believe, you know, we just, you know, it's not been long enough. But this on the outside, I mean we were just taught a couple shows ago, right? It feels like a couple shows ago we were talking about the MLS Cup Final. So, yeah, I'm excited for a multitude of reasons going into the season. I think. I think we're seeing which we're going to get into, which should have happened probably a decade ago, but we're starting to see some real big names changing clubs within the league for big fees, which, again, I think is the way forward. And that's. That's the way the global market works, you know, interleague wise. So I'm excited about that. Obviously excited to, you know, I think that Galaxy are really well poised to make another run. I think. I think Miami is poised to make another run again at the Shield and possibly the Cup. So, yeah, there's a lot of really good storylines in the mls.
- [05:11]
Tim Howard
Your Dynamo, there's an early rivalry. Houston, FC Dallas. Love that. That should be good. FC Dallas. New coach Lucho Acosta just went from Cincinnati to FC Dallas, so lots in that one. Are your Dynamo ready?
- [05:27]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, you know, we're ready. It's been a. It's been a good off season. I think when, when you feel good about. About where you are as a club, every club has to trim the fat. You know, for us, we didn't feel like there needed to be a massive overhaul. We felt. We felt very, very good about things. And obviously, bringing in Jack McGlynn, I thought was a real coup for Pat Onstad and our club. So we feel great about that. And he's so good. And Ponce, you know, getting a full preseason under his belt and feeling like he can hit the ground running. So some more pieces to be added, but early on, really excited for kind of the group that we have, you know, that we've given Ben Olson. So looking forward to it.
- [06:09]
Tim Howard
Yeah, should be good. This is a very off the radar, I think, for most fans, but one personally I'm excited about is San Jose Salt Lake. So I've talked about my old assistant coach, Nate Miller. At Salt Lake. They lose Chicho Arango to San Jose in the off season and the Earthquakes bring in Bruce Arena. So this is. This is just going to be really interesting. Salt Lake have to go Wednesday to Hediano in Costa Rica for a Champions cup game and then straight to San Jose. But I'm really excited to see, yeah, San Jose now with their front four, including Pellegrini, Chicho Arongo, Christian Espinoza, they've got, like, some real firepower now. And Bruce, like, this is such a Bruce. It's classic Bruce, right? The team has been totally mismanaged. There's been terrible players brought in. He Comes and makes four or five veteran moves, brings players in, and all of a sudden, like, I expect them to be good this year.
- [07:04]
Landon Donovan
And you. And the interesting thing about the San Jose Bruce Serena marriage is you've. You've been an attacking player in his system. I have. Obvious, obviously, as a goalkeeper. But the one thing Bruce does above anything else is he gets players to run through a fricking wall for him. And by the way, once you do that, and anybody who's played for Bruce knows, once you do that, do what you want, like, front four, go express yourself. Go enjoy. Like, there's like a blueprint and a foundation that he implements. And then after that, I mean, those. That front four is really going to enjoy themselves.
- [07:32]
Tim Howard
Yeah, they're not. Bruce is never the guy who's, you know, there's so many new coaches who are defining the way soccer is played now and changing the way it's played. Bruce is very simple. I mean, there were not a lot of patterns, a lot of movements that we needed, but he had good players, he had smart players. He had veteran players who knew how to win. By the way, they also signed Joseph Martinez, another one. So I expect that he'll get them going. And if they stay healthy. Healthy, I think they could be really, really good.
- [08:00]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Agreed.
- [08:02]
Tim Howard
Do you have just early predictions on any favorites? The Miamis, LA galaxies of the world, Anybody who might surprise you going into the season?
- [08:14]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, I think the surprise for me, which will, again, we'll circle back to so many of these topics, is Columbus. I'm really interested. You know, you look. You look at their overall body of work in the last two seasons, it's been phenomenal. Right. Last year, okay, they had a blip and they got knocked out. And that's kind of the ups and the downs of what MLS playoffs are like. It's the highs and lows. And if you can upset Columbus, it's amazing. But, like, if you're Columbus, you're saying, hang on a minute. We've had an amazing 24 months and, you know, last year, we have nothing to show for it. But I still think when you look at that team, it's arguably one of the best teams in MLS based on what they've done over the last few seasons consecutively. So I would imagine they're going to be there thereabouts come the end of the season.
- [09:04]
Tim Howard
Yeah. Wilfred, Nancy's. I think he's. I think he's brilliant. I think he's so good. I didn't realize this till yesterday. I was looking up you know, there are 12 new head coaches in MLS this year, 12 out of 30, which is insane. Almost half the league has turned over their head coaches. So it'd be really interesting to see how quickly those teams get going. I want to talk real quick about your former coach, Robin Frazier in Toronto. And just what do you expect? You know, they've. They've got this roster that is. It's such a weird roster. They've got some homegrown talent. They've got big, big stars. They're just an interesting team. So how do you think he handles that?
- [09:44]
Landon Donovan
Well, I think. I think in speaking to Robin, one of the things is you talk about Bruce and being someone that you want to play for. That's what Robin is like. He is. He is straight between the eyes. He doesn't make you guess on what he wants. He's got a really good football brain in terms of how he wants his teams to play and set them up. And look, the good thing about hiring Robin back in Toronto because he has such history with Toronto, is we don't really know what Toronto is. Right. So when you. When you go back to when they. When they snatched up Michael Bradley and Josie out store, they're like, we're spending big money. We have cornerstone pieces and this is who we are. And that was successful. And then kind of coming out of that, as you know, Josie and Michael and a few others, that. That started to come to the end of their career, were they still about the big money signings? Were they trying to bring homegrown players through that? By the way, nothing wrong with that. That's a natural progression of any football club. And you try and hang on to what you used to do, but maybe it doesn't work. And so like about Robin and having him in the door, Robin Frazier at Toronto fc is he can. He can sit down and has sat down and said, right, what. What does this look like for us? Who do we want to be? Let me know. And I. And I can transition the club to have success going forward. So I'm looking forward to that.
- [10:57]
Tim Howard
I always say, Tim, the teams that are successful have a very clear identity, and that can be whatever you want it to be, right? And we talked about Bruce, like, that's way different than Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp or whatever someone else looks like. The teams that have identities, Seattle Sounders have an identity like, you know, what they are every year, and. And that's it. Philadelphia, you know, under Jim Curtin, had an identity. You knew exactly what they were going to be and what they were about. And that's great. Miami now is building an identity. Right? It's kind of different, but that's okay. But the teams that are just constantly in flux are the ones that struggle, especially in mls. And I bring that up because the Galaxy went from last year, almost in last place, sorry, two years ago, to winning MLS Cup. However, you could see if you were paying attention and if you were speaking to people behind the scenes, you could see that there was an identity being recreated and it was an homage to the past identity, which is, yes, big stars, but not right now. It wasn't crazy big stars. It wasn't Zlatan and Chicharita, that kind. It was just big players, good players, big stars. And then had a coach in Greg Vanny who understands the culture, too. They had Dan Kalachman there. People who know the club and know the soul and the spirit of the club. And, you know, I really want that for Toronto FC too, because it's a massive club in our league when they're doing well.
- [12:15]
Landon Donovan
Totally, yeah. And look, and what you're saying is, is there's more than one way to win football matches. I think we get so caught up and you talk about the Pep Guardiola effect across global football. You get so caught up and you have to do it this way. No, you don't. You have to do it in a way that wins football matches. But that can look. It can look 10, 20 different ways. So.
- [12:31]
Tim Howard
And we're going to get to David Moyes later, but he's a perfect example, right? You know, he's not. It's not the sexy young coach. He just wins. He knows how to win. Right. And so let's talk bigger picture now. MLS, so 30 teams is a lot, right? It's. It's the same as basically all the other major sports. And so pretty much outside of maybe Vegas and Phoenix and San Antonio, it's. It's every big market, you know, Cleveland, every big market in the country, and a few in Canada now have teams. So what does that say about the growth of mls? I know we both saw it in the beginning days that it didn't look like it does now. So just, you know, thoughts on that?
- [13:12]
Landon Donovan
You know, hats off to, to the MLS and the owners, you know, and the players that, that built this league and, and again, the commissioner's office. Because when you. When you have the luxury of, of where you and I sit and having. Having been in the earliest stages, I mean, I was. I entered the league 24 months after it first started. So it started in 96 and I. My first game, you know, or my first sign in 98, like, that wasn't a football club that I signed for. It was like some people put some team together. Like, it was, it was crazy. And so, like, the growth of this league, you know, and look, it took some real hard decisions, a steadfast vision and, and, and time and wow, we've gotten to a place that is just so impressive in terms of, in terms of valuation of clubs, stadiums, fan base, the Apple TV television contract, the big name currently, Messi playing in. In the league. Right? Like, yeah, I mean, you couldn't, you couldn't have imagined it other than the fact that there were a few people who did imagine it and made it. Made it happen.
- [14:17]
Tim Howard
So, you know, I didn't. I don't know who said. Actually might have been you. I don't know who said this the other day. But, like, with all due respect to England and the Premier League, like, it's a small country, it rains most of the time. People aren't going there because it's an amazing place to be. They go there because the money's great and the competition's great. Right. In America, if we get to that point, everybody's gonna want to be here. It's the reality. Right? And I think that has been the slow progress of the league. Is it still a ways away? Yeah, of course, but the, the progress of the league is moving towards that. And eventually you're going to say, see, people say, okay, I get the same offer at, you know, Crystal palace as I. And this is happening already as I do at Charlotte fc. I'm going to choose Charlotte, right? Because they, because they want to be here.
- [15:02]
Landon Donovan
No, for, I think, for so long. The. And you, you live this more than I did. But you constantly saw big global stars come to mls, come to la. What do they come for? If they had a checklist and there was a one, two and a three, soccer would have been on a number three.
- [15:22]
Tim Howard
Yeah, right.
- [15:23]
Landon Donovan
It was for everything else. It was for lifestyles, for all the other things, we have that draw and that allure. So, you know, once we continue to get to where we hope so. Hope we are like, money wise. Competition wise. Yeah. I think people will float, will flood through the gates for sure.
- [15:38]
Tim Howard
Well, the money is getting close, right? The money is getting close. When you look at some of the contracts, you're like, geez. And. And it is getting close. So the competition needs to continue to improve, but it is well on its way Lots of offseason moves this year, Tim. I was writing down some of them and then I just. I just forgot about a bunch of them. So. Jovalic goes to Kansas City. Ferreira goes from Dallas to Seattle. Lucho Costa goes from Cincy to Dallas. Miguel Almiron back in the league with Atlanta United. Luca De La Torre comes home to San Diego fc, which we'll talk about in a sec. Chilizano, Mexican star to San Diego fc. Evander goes from Portland to Cincinnati. I mean, I can go on and on. And I talked about Chicho Arango, Joseph Martinez. This is insane. I mean, the movement in the league now, and I don't understand exactly the mechanism that they. Or what they call it or whatever, but it's basically transfers within the league. It's incredible.
- [16:32]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [16:32]
Tim Howard
This is Brandon Vasquez. Sorry, coming back into the league. I mean, there's just so many when we.
- [16:37]
Landon Donovan
And look, I think this is going to. I really do. I think this is going to change the trajectory of the league because we're able to. You're able to now give these guys options within the league like before. Before what would happen? Right? And we've seen this. If you're really good at Cincinnati, you're a top player. Like, I want more. You're. The option was always to go abroad. They'd shop you abroad, Someone would give you a low ball offer and, well, the transfer is not high enough. And then you got to stay here at Cincinnati. I'm using Cincinnati as an example. And then the player gets upset and he gets his head turned. Now, which again, I. You've heard me bang this drum. This should have happened years ago. If you're. If you're Seattle and you look at Cincinnati's best player and you go, hey, we want it. We want to pay him. We. We're going to pay 4 million for him. Because we were going to go pay 4 million for a guy in Slovenia as a striker, but we want the striker in Cincinnati who scored 20 goals last year, go pay for him. People were so afraid to do that within the league because God knows why. I have my own opinions, but I think that, you know, they didn't do it because they thought they could do better. They thought they could go abroad and do better. Some of the best players in MLS are already in mls.
- [17:49]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [17:50]
Landon Donovan
So go get them. And for me, I love it.
- [17:52]
Tim Howard
Tim. It's. It's just a money thing, right? Like it's cheaper or the league has thought for a long time it would be cheaper to go get a young Central American, South American, African, whatever, than to pay Brandon Vasquez more money to stay in the league, which he should have never left the league. Like, there was no reason why Cincinnati should have ever had to let him go. And so the good news is, is hopefully the league is now understanding that you need to keep good players and especially good American players in the league. Don't push them out. So they have to go to Monterey. And Brandon Vasquez's case, if Portland or Austin or whoever it is wants to buy them, let them stay in the league. That's better for the league. So this is a, this is a move in the right direction. I'm. I'm really happy to see it.
- [18:35]
C
All right.
- [18:35]
Tim Howard
Last thing I want to talk about before we get into a break is my hometown now has a team, San Diego fc. I have my thoughts. I've. I've watched them build their roster, and it's been very slow. It's been a very, very slow build. But in the last four or five weeks, it's accelerated significantly. Yeah, my, My thoughts are there have been teams in this league that have competed right away and done well, but that was when the league was pretty immature. It's much more mature now, and it's really hard to do well. So when I look at their roster, Chico Lozano, Luca De La Torre coming back, they made a lot of good interleague signings, meaning people who know the league and play and married it with a lot of new foreign players who don't know the league at all, and a head coach who has not coached professionals. Right. Or been in the league. So I'm really fascinated. I don't even have necessarily an opinion on which way it's going to go because it's. There's too much. There's too much volatility involved. But in some cases, you could say, wow, this could be lightning in a bottle right away. And in other circumstances, you could say they're going to really struggle because they don't know the league. So just from your, I guess, experience with expansion teams, I think your point.
- [19:56]
Landon Donovan
Is fair, that There was a. MLS 1.0 and 2.0 when it comes to expansion teams and, and that the league wasn't as mature. I agree with that. What I would say is there's been. We've seen so many. I say, so many enough for. To convince me that an expansion team can compete. You know, as recently as St. Louis, who was in the, you know, obviously made it all the way to the Western Conference finals. You know, the, the Original was Chicago Fire, 1998, under Bob Bradley, who were a bunch of world beaters. Like, seeing that Bob put together. Like what, Like I, I, I can honestly say this to you, and, and, and it's so hard to compare generations. I'm one of these people who finds it difficult. I can assure you, Bob Bradley's best team could step on the field in its prime this, this coming MLS season. And being at the top, they had some question, they had some bad guys, and when I said bad guys, they.
- [20:45]
Tim Howard
Had Peter Novak winners, remember?
- [20:48]
Landon Donovan
Oh my God. I mean, a young Josh Brown.
- [20:52]
Tim Howard
They were so good.
- [20:53]
Landon Donovan
They were amazing. Zach Thornton. Goal. Seattle Sounders competed. LAFC has competed. Atlanta United, under the tutelage of our dear friend Carlos Boca Negra. They competed early on. So we'll see. I mean, I think, I think San Diego is such an interesting one because, you know, it falls into the, the la, la, New York, Miami box. People are going to want to go there. It's a, it's a destination, um, for you. Look, we, we know that you bleed galaxy, right? Are you, do you have, will you support the, will you support that team? And I don't mean will you go there and take your kids there and.
- [21:26]
Tim Howard
Yeah, yeah. So it's the same thing. Look, it's the same thing with the Dodgers and the Padres. Like, I grew up watching Vin Scully and listening to him my whole life. On KCAL9 in LA, I had a little TV in the corner and every night I would go watch the Dodger game like in the same with the Lakers. And so I am a through and through, die hard Dodger fan. But when I moved to San Diego 10 years ago, my kids grow up and my kids love the Padres.
- [21:52]
Landon Donovan
That's cool.
- [21:53]
Tim Howard
So how do you go to the Padres and root against the Padres? Right, and they used to be the rival. It's going to be the same. I mean, I love San Diego. I know a lot of the people either involved in the soccer side or the not soccer side at San Diego fc. Our old president from San Diego, loyal Ricardo Campos, is there. I, I want them to succeed and do well. It's hard for me though. I played for the Galaxy, it's not like I watched them. I mean, I lived it, breathed and lifted championships. So I'll root for both. Don't ask me who I'm rooting for this weekend. I'm not gonna answer.
- [22:23]
Landon Donovan
Are they playing at Snapdragon? Is that.
- [22:25]
Tim Howard
No, it's in la.
- [22:26]
Landon Donovan
In la, no, but the home stadium.
- [22:27]
Tim Howard
Oh yeah, they're playing at Snapdragon next week and they open against St. Louis maybe.
- [22:32]
Landon Donovan
Beautiful stadium.
- [22:33]
Tim Howard
Yeah, it's gonna be awesome.
- [22:35]
Landon Donovan
I saw a, I saw a NWL game there right before the World Cup Olympics and it was Seattle versus San Diego, like the send off game before. And it was, it was an ECNL tournament for my daughter and it was sold out. I mean, that's an awesome stadium. It's really cool.
- [22:49]
Tim Howard
They did a great job there. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we are going to talk usmnt Lots going on Champions League in the leagues in Europe. All, all sorts of stuff. Injury going on right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Don't go anywhere.
- [23:14]
Landon Donovan
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
- [23:19]
Tim Howard
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.
- [23:29]
Landon Donovan
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.
- [23:37]
Tim Howard
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.
- [23:50]
Landon Donovan
Thank you to VW for being our presenting partner. Learn more about how VW are supporting U.S. soccer. At VW, 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.
- [24:09]
Tim Howard
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 and T Guarantee.
- [24:23]
Landon Donovan
The AT and T guarantee means connectivity you can depend on, deals you want and service you deserve, or they'll make it right.
- [24:30]
Tim Howard
Whether you're in the stands, watching with friends or just cheering from home, you can count on the ATT Guarantee.
- [24:35]
Landon Donovan
Learn more@att.com guarantee terms and conditions apply.
- [24:40]
Tim Howard
AT&T connecting changes everything.
- [24:44]
Landon Donovan
It's winter and you can now get almost anything you need for the coldest months of the year delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get A ski slope delivered, but you can get dish soap delivered. Sunshine, that's a no. But a bottle of wine, that's a yes. A snow angel. Sorry, no, but angel hair pasta. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See up for details. LD yo, what's happening back yo USLNT on usmnt. Big segment for us. We love trying to keep up to date with all the US Men's national team players both home and abroad. Big, big interesting news both on the injury front and the performance front. The injury front has my eyes really wide open.
- [25:40]
Tim Howard
We were gone for a few weeks so we didn't get into the Ricardo Pepe injury. He's gonna be out long time out for the rest of the season. Probably Gold cup. Ish. Flo Baligan having shoulder surgery back in December. Malik Tillman still recovering from an ankle. Sergino Dest. He started to train a little bit after his acl. So not, not good news on the not playing front. You know, we've, we've beat this drum quite a bit. Gio Reyna and the reason we talk about him is because he's such, you've said this word like he's a generational talent and we were running the stats now in the 12 league games this year, he has one start for Dortmund. His average, Tim. Average minutes on the field per 90 minutes on the field is 2.1 minutes. So he comes in for three minutes here, doesn't play the next three games, comes in for four minutes. He's got to move, man. He has to move. This is too important a time and there's so much opportunity there for them, for him. That's why it's so frustrating.
- [26:48]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, look, I think with, like I said, I love you man. I love him as, as, as the, the, the player. One of the very few players we can hold up and say, people ask us all the time, Landon, who's a, who's an American world class player who's gonna make like he's one of them. He's one of like a few players who have the talent, the natural talent to make it at the top level. And, and for that reason alone, you want to see him playing week in, week out, having an impact. Now look, I know, you know, Claudio, who we both know and played with and is, is heavily in charge of his career and steering it, which is I think a good thing. And what I would say about that is Gio and his representatives and all of these players who aren't quite getting a sniff, literally, Landon have. What are we in almost March, about four months to figure out, like, okay, I've got a massive, massive career defined decision to make in the next four months as to where I'm going to be next year. Right. Because that's it.
- [27:53]
Tim Howard
Well, the reason, Tim, the reason why is because in 14 months, you have a once in a lifetime. You and I would have died to play a World cup in our country. Yeah, I would have given everything that I'm like, emotional talking. I would have given everything to play in my country in a World Cup.
- [28:09]
Landon Donovan
So, yeah, so you think you have. You have to imagine, you know, so many of these players will. I'm hoping. And if they're, you know, if they're listening, please talk to your agents and your representatives and figure it out, because you have to be playing going into a World cup and you in, and that move has to be made in. In the summer. And look, I think regarding the injuries, I was bummed, man. I was really, really bummed with Ricardo Pepe's injury because Flo's been out and Flo, before he got injured, was looking the part as a nine, right? And then he got injured and Ricardo Pepe kind of grabbed that shirt with. With both hands and both fists and kind of made it his own. So, like, okay, this is good. And now both are injured. Tillman recovering, Sergino, Dess recovering. Look, the only good part about this is, and you've dealt with injuries as well, the good part about it is these are young. These are young men, right? These aren't players who are over the hill and you don't know if they're going to come back. These guys will hit the ground running and they'll be one excited to be back on the grass because everyone hates being injured, but also, like, they understand. I believe they understand that time is of the essence. And, like, if they can come back stronger, fitter and healthier, sometimes that injury layoff is actually the rest you needed. Nobody wants it. Nobody wants it. But, like, imagine coming back 14 months before the World cup with a renewed sense of optimism, spirit, health, like, I think we'll be okay.
- [29:39]
Tim Howard
But right now, joyful playing.
- [29:40]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, joyful playing. But right now I'm, like, bummed, you know?
- [29:42]
Tim Howard
Yeah, well, one guy, thankfully, who has been playing and is playing at an elite, elite level is Weston McKinnon. Somebody sent me a text that this morning, actually, Tim, and they said, can you believe that? We had a guy, an American, wearing the captain's armband for Juventus in a massive game against Inter Milan. And I was like, wow. And I, and we've talked about this before, I didn't even really bat an eye because you're getting used to it, especially with him. I was like, that's insane. An American in Italy wearing the armband in a massive game for a huge club. It's not like, you know, he's like Hellas Verona or some club. Like, this was insane. And I'm just. It's so fun to watch, man. He and he and Weah and like, they're just, they are absolutely so fun to watch.
- [30:30]
Landon Donovan
It's fun to watch. And I think, look, I think that's what big credit has to go to Weston McKinney because you hear a lot. You see him on the pitch and his attitude and his energy is infectious. Right. And then if you, if you're close enough to the inside, you and I aren't on the inside, but we're close enough to the inside to hear stories about like, his attitude and his personality and how bubbly he is and how much he affects the group in a positive way. And then you say something like that he's a captain, Juventus. And then it all checks out. Because if you can be an American and where the captains aren't even for a short period of time, you're doing nearly everything right. So look, I think what gets everyone excited about this group is the Wayas and McKinney and Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams back.
- [31:16]
Tim Howard
Tyler Adams back.
- [31:17]
Landon Donovan
These are players where you're like, God, if everyone can be healthy and everyone can get enough games under the belt together. Anthony Robinson, my God, then, then you're like, yeah, we should feel optimistic about having a good run in 2026. So, yeah, fingers crossed. Everyone gets healthy on the pitch and playing regularly in the next 14 months. But this is a continual story.
- [31:38]
Tim Howard
Yeah, it's great. And you know, we're only a year or so removed when Weston McKinney got kicked out of camp.
- [31:44]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [31:45]
Tim Howard
In Nashville, I believe it was Nashville for making some bad decisions off the end. Sometimes I say Tim in those moments and I was very critical of him.
- [31:52]
Landon Donovan
Yep.
- [31:53]
Tim Howard
Sometimes those are the best things that can happen because of course, it's a wake up call. And now, next thing you know, he's wearing the armband for Juventus. Like, good on you. Weston, like, learned from it, grew up and so happy for him.
- [32:03]
Landon Donovan
Yep.
- [32:03]
Tim Howard
Okay, can we move on to the Premier League, please? Because last Wednesday, God, I was, I was sitting in Colorado, we were Skiing. Last week my, I was watching the Merseyside Derby. Everton at home against Liverpool. It's 2:1 Liverpool in the last minute. I'm about to like throw something at the tv. Ball gets clipped across the box. Headed on full volley by Tarkovsky into the roof of the net. And I absolutely exploded. And my wife looks at me and she's like, what the hell is wrong with you? And I'm like, you don't get it. You don't get it. She's like, it's a game in the middle of the season. I'm like, you just, just don't get it. So Everton tied to, to the last game, last Merseyside Derby ever at Goodison. God, it was so fun to watch, man.
- [32:52]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, you know I think that I was on the desk for that game. I was in studio for with NBC and yeah it was, it was a great game. I thought that Liverpool hand handled themselves well. I, you know, prior to the game my, my, my initial thought which, which kind of came to fruition in the game was that Moyes was going to, Moyes was back and he was going to. And he, he would know that that Everton team can't go toe to toe with Liverpool. They can't just play, play him off the park.
- [33:21]
Tim Howard
That wouldn't happen.
- [33:21]
Landon Donovan
Liverpool's too talented. So sometimes as we talked about, you have to tell your team to roll your sleeves up and go earn the right to play. And by the way, get in their face, dump them on the floor and see if they like it. Because most of the teams at the top don't like that. And that's what Everton did. And they made it tough, made it tough for the midfielders to have a clean look into the strikers which we know is Liverpool's front three is sensational. And it was a good game of football and Liverpool handled that and took the lead and I thought it was great. I thought the emotion in the stadium, both the Reds and the Blues was fantastic. And then an epic winner by, excuse me, equalized by Tarkovsky. And I was on the others I was on at Anfield I think in 2015 or 16, I can't remember exactly but Phil Jagielka hit a streamer into the coffee. 2014 into the cop end and it was from 22 yards out. It was one of the most amazing feelings.
- [34:13]
Tim Howard
Yeah, go Google that.
- [34:14]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, incredible. So it reminded me of that and it was, you know what I said on air was this. Darbies have. The emotion of Darbies has gotten lost. Guys are friendly, everyone's on TikTok and Instagram. Their home is hugging in the tunnel. I remember the days you walked down the tunnel, you didn't look at anybody.
- [34:34]
Tim Howard
No.
- [34:34]
Landon Donovan
And you walked out the door.
- [34:35]
Tim Howard
Now it's like, no chance.
- [34:36]
Landon Donovan
Your best mate, you're giving a high five. And that kind of renewed a sense of optimism, of, okay, darbies aren't dead. Like, there's still, there's still, there's still some goodness in it. So, yeah, it was ugly.
- [34:45]
Tim Howard
And the fighting at the end too. Like, I love that. They need to care, man.
- [34:49]
Landon Donovan
It's great.
- [34:49]
Tim Howard
It was, it was so great. So Everton won again on the weekend, by the way. I don't know, what's that? 5 and 7? Yeah, they won 5 and 6 or something. So well on their way. Who would have bet money? Who would have even given you odds on Everton being level with spurs on points and ahead of United 25 games in of the season? That's.
- [35:09]
Landon Donovan
I think, I think it's four wins, one draw and one loss. Unbeaten in five. I think so. Yeah.
- [35:15]
Tim Howard
Well done, David Moyes City dismantled Newcastle. We're not going to spend too much time on them because they still have a ways till they're back in our good graces. But Marmouche with the hat trick, very impressive.
- [35:26]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, he's been a hat trick or something.
- [35:28]
Tim Howard
He's been so good. Lester. Arsenal. So the big question with Arsenal is how are they going to do without a striker? Apparently pretty well. Mikel Marino. Yeah, the late race, it was interesting.
- [35:39]
Landon Donovan
They, you know, they. So, so soccer we know has been out for a bit. Martinelli's out. Jesus and Hobart, their two number nines are out. Hovers Havert's like tore a hamstring and like warm weather training in Dubai. Like I'm thinking every time I was at warm weather training, I didn't get out of first gear. So I'm not sure how, I'm not sure how he did that. But unfortunately they didn't have a striker. So leading in it was like, who are they gonna, are they gonna play Raheem Sterling at the false nine? It ended up being Trisard to false nine, Sterling to the left. And when Yeri out to the right, young 17 year old, it just didn't really work. Nothing really clicked. And then at the end of the game, which was interesting, ld because we had heard we. Within our, within our, our NBC group and heard we don't even know, like there's people that were saying like, hey, Mikel Marino can play striker. And he hadn't played striker in his career, like there was no games where he played as a recognized striker. So the only thing we could really think of was like, you know, in training some guys are like really good. Like Jack Yelka and Wayne Rooney would put the gloves on and they jump in goal and you'd be like, yo, in a pinch these guys could be third goalkeeper. Like these kind of crazy rumors, so we had heard on the inside that like, hey, McCom Marino could be an option. Like, all right, we'll keep that in our back pocket. Sure enough, that front three didn't work. He brings on Mikel Marino late on like an ugly nil. Nil. And two brilliant, brilliant finishes. A header where he just snaps it into the corner and then a left footed strike that he just guides in. And I'm thinking this, I think is their number nine for the run in because they have to win.
- [37:04]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And look, I. When you're in a team that has the ball all the time and is. Has a lot of possession, a lot of chances, but like especially if they're playing at home, it's not take this the right way, it's not the hardest position to play. Right. It's hard to score goals. But to be somewhat effective, you just occupy center back, stay in front of the goal, in the box. Good timing with your runs. And then he's a good finish. I mean he's a high quality player. It's not like he's, you know, a center back up. There's never scored before, so it's not that difficult. Now if you're on the road and you don't have any possession and you have to do all this other dirty work, it's harder. But in this circumstance I think he's on a good team that has the ball a lot, will create a lot of chances. No problem with it.
- [37:44]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, yeah, I think, I think he's successful. Yeah, I think it's a good option.
- [37:47]
Tim Howard
Spurs, United, they don't deserve any of our time, unfortunately. Just two bad teams. Nothing really in the game. Spurs do win, which is huge for Ange, but not a lot there.
- [37:58]
Landon Donovan
No, look, I think, I think spurs both, both mid table, below mid table teams. United is a complete overhaul for me and we've seen that under Ruben Amren. He'll get, hopefully he'll get some time to do that. I think he will. Angelou, fun, exciting team to play. One way he's getting a lot of players, big players back fit. I expected spurs to kind of run away with the game, but in the end it was one Nil. So, yeah, again, a long way to go before both of those teams are relevant.
- [38:26]
Tim Howard
Yeah, agreed. Okay, let's switch gears here. Some really, really interesting news last week. Big news, Andrew. One of our producers sent us on our text and I got this from a few other people to this New York Times headline. I think it said something like, move over MLS, there's a new Division 1 coming. I'm kind of rolling my eyes like whatever. So usl, who is currently the in second division is also as a third division and fourth division league. So USL Championship is the top of their pyramid. USL League one is next and then USL League two is under that they have plans and you know, we're gonna have to dig into this more to start a new Division 1 professional league in the 2027, 2028 season now. So people understand there are metrics you have to meet to be a D1 team. I believe it's 15,000 seat stadium.
- [39:24]
Landon Donovan
Correct.
- [39:24]
Tim Howard
You have to have, you have to have owners who are capable of spending X amount of money, meaning their net worth is at X amount. So they're, they're capable of losing X amount if everything goes upside down. So this is big news if they can pull it off. Obviously it's big news for MLS too, who have, you know, not really been competing against USL for a long time, but now might be. So what's your take on all this?
- [39:53]
Landon Donovan
Wow. Yeah. So the good thing about this is, is this is going to be an ongoing conversation that's targeted to start in 2000, 20, 27, 28 season. This is this. We're going to get big news about this constantly. And that's good because we can, we can talk about it. Look, you and I will, you and I have been, have been owners in, in the usl. I'm currently an owner in MLS and nwsl. I, I attack this conversation not with any bias, but with a history in this country at every level. And you and I share that you talked about some of the requirements. So let, let's just start. There has to be a minimum of 12 teams at launch, expanding to 14 teams by year three. Teams must be in the Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones. 75% of teams must be in metro areas with 1 million plus people. Stadiums as you mentioned, must be enclosed with at least 15,000 seats. That's a big one for me.
- [40:53]
Tim Howard
That's a big one.
- [40:53]
Landon Donovan
Ownership groups must demonstrate financial viability to sustain operations for at least five years. Okay, so those are the main talking points, if you will. It's going to be hard it's going to be hard to, to compete. You know, look, now I think there's two sides to this. MLS started, right? There's been a bunch of iterations of what soccer looks like in America. 1990, 1994, the World cup comes here and then MLS starts in 1996. There is no soccer in America, no real soccer in America to speak of. There's teams. You now have, we've talked about this at the top of the show. We, we now have. Have one of the more amazing leagues in the world, right? In MLS. You're now going to start a 12 team league and compete essentially for eyeballs and viewerships with the mls and people will say, no, that's not the case. Kind of is the case.
- [41:49]
Tim Howard
No, it is the case.
- [41:49]
Landon Donovan
You will, you will compete with mls and it's going to be really difficult, I think, to, to create momentum in those, in those cities and, and create stadiums. Because by the way, a 15,000 seat stadium costs a heck of a lot of money.
- [42:10]
Tim Howard
Yeah, right.
- [42:10]
Landon Donovan
Like a heck of a lot of.
- [42:11]
Tim Howard
$500 million at least.
- [42:13]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, yeah. And, and, and what, what I would say is there's probably a lot of loss going into that. So you're going to have to have investors very similar to how it was in MLS in the early days where you have to be prepared to, to lose before you win. And I think going back to our pro promotion relegation conversation, if USL in their statement said that is a possibility, but not really at the start, I like it. You and I said that maybe promotion relegation in this country does actually originate in USL and then becoming a viable first division that they say will rival the MLS and they create a promotion relegation model because then it's not pie in the sky, then you have real metrics to measure whether that can live or die here in America.
- [42:59]
Tim Howard
Okay. So yeah, I have a lot of, I have a lot of thoughts on all this. So promotion, relegation, Someone, someone asked me what is going to differentiate this from mls, right? If USL is able to pull this off, my first thought was, well, if they can do promotion, relegation, that is a differentiator. You and I know being in USL meetings, there are quite a few owners who want to go crazy and want to go spend and there are quite a few owners who are like, I want to charge $4.25 instead of $4.20 for the hot dog because I need the money. Right. And so what this could do is allow those owners who want to go crazy go. The problem is, Tim, is if you're going to implement promotion, relegation, you need everyone on board because from one year to the next, Louisville great has their own stadium, they have a bad year, they're going to be dropped down to the second division. That ain't good for them. And by the way, whoever comes up, if it's, you know, Tulsa or Oklahoma City, if they don't want to spend that money and now they have to build a 15,000 seat stadium, right. That ain't going to happen. They're not going to drop $100 million.
- [44:04]
Landon Donovan
To build a stadium to know that they go back down.
- [44:06]
Tim Howard
Well, just period in general.
- [44:09]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [44:09]
Tim Howard
Sometimes these they don't want, they're not, that's not why they're in it.
- [44:12]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [44:12]
Tim Howard
So the, I like the premise of USL saying we have these owners who want to go crazy. Sure. And we, we had it. And you know, teams would spend three, four, five times more than, than we did on salaries when I was San Diego and you know, this with Memphis, great, go do it. Go do it in your own league, in your own division. You can compete against each other. That's fine, sure. But the promotion relegation piece then becomes virtually impossible because you need every team from the top in the Division 1 to the bottom in Division 3 willing and capable and able to do all those things that you just mentioned.
- [44:45]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, I think it's, you know, and again we don't, we sit here now, we have the same, we have the same statement from the USL that everyone else in America, in the world can read. We don't have the ins and outs. But you know, I start to then piece together what can they do differently. Right. I think what I'd like to see as an example is create, create a luxury tax. Say hey, you five want to go spend super big? Go spend super big. We're going to create a luxury tax and parachute payments and a pyramid that we can actually utilize this. And so if you're the New York Yankees spend and we'll trickle it down to the Milwaukee brewers and Oakland athletes, like I'm, I'm okay with that. Like start create another, another sort of system that works differently than MLS and see if it works. And people look, people ask is it, is that then the, if there's success is that then steps towards like a merger. What I would say is right now everyone's going to tell you no. The example that I would give is PGA golf is the epicenter of the golf universe. No way some, some wild golf lead named Live Golf is going to compete. Well guess what? Well guess what? We ain't that far removed from the launch of Live Golf. And I think there's gonna be a merger coming soon. Right? So on the surface, everyone's going to say no, and I think that's probably the company line and probably the more accurate line. But if there is some success with a USL being a first division and some sort of luxury tax or promotion, relegation, there's always a conversation at the table. But again, we're far from that.
- [46:22]
Tim Howard
Well, last thing on it, just as you're saying that, I was just thinking, well, if somebody, Saudi Arabian or whoever could be from anywhere comes in and says, here's 3, 4, 5 billion dollars, I'll fund the whole thing. As teams go up and down, I'll fund the whole thing. And that's not out of the question. That's a drop in the bucket for people like that. So that's. That is possible. That is possible. Okay. I'm sure you guys are going to have lots of comments on that. So please ask questions, leave comments on your thoughts on that. Is this good for soccer, bad for soccer, is it possible, viable, etc. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll do the AT T fan connection. All of your questions. There were tons of questions this week. Anything but soccer as well, right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.
- [47:23]
Landon Donovan
At New Balance. We believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way.
- [47:42]
C
And that's what running is all about.
- [47:44]
Landon Donovan
Run your way@newbalance.com Running.
- [47:50]
Tim Howard
This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate First. Like you know to check the date of the big game first before you accidentally buy tickets on your 20th wedding anniversary and have to spend the next 20 years of your marriage making up for it. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate Savings. Vary terms apply. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.
- [48:21]
Landon Donovan
This is a message from sponsor Intuit.
- [48:23]
Tim Howard
TurboTax Taxes was getting frustrated by your forms.
- [48:27]
Landon Donovan
Now Taxes is uploading your forms with a snap. And a TurboTax expert will do your taxes for you.
- [48:33]
Tim Howard
One who's backed by the latest tech.
- [48:34]
Landon Donovan
Which cross checks millions of data points for absolute accuracy. All of which makes it easy for you to get the most money back guaranteed. Get an expert now@turbotax.com only available with TurboTax Live full service. Seek guaranteed details@turbotax.com guarantees 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 and T. Connecting changes everything. And on uslnt, our connections with you will help grow the game. Yeah, ATT Fan connection time as you know it. Also Jordan's favorite time of the week because she gets airtime. Jordan, welcome in Junior everyone.
- [49:23]
Tim Howard
Junior Connecting changes everything.
- [49:27]
Landon Donovan
Yep. A lot of new hats.
- [49:30]
Tim Howard
A lot of new hats, Jordan.
- [49:33]
C
We've got some a galaxy hat right there.
- [49:36]
Tim Howard
That is cool. Where'd you get that, by the way?
- [49:38]
C
I got it for my birthday.
- [49:39]
Landon Donovan
It's amazing. Happy birthday.
- [49:41]
Tim Howard
Happy birthday. By the way, Jordan.
- [49:43]
Landon Donovan
We did that on our text chat. Happy birthday.
- [49:46]
Tim Howard
Kept that very quiet from us.
- [49:48]
C
You know, a lady never reveals her.
- [49:50]
Landon Donovan
Age, so you don't have to, but you can still say it's your birthday.
- [49:52]
Tim Howard
Say it's your birthday.
- [49:54]
Landon Donovan
All the Houston swag is coming. Don't worry, it's in. It's in a box in the mail.
- [49:57]
C
It's okay. The weather's been bad, so I'm sure it's just delayed.
- [50:00]
Landon Donovan
Don't give me that.
- [50:01]
Tim Howard
All right, what do you got for us?
- [50:03]
C
Let's do a couple of quick hits. First, we've got all of our questions this week came from Instagram. So our first question is from Katarina, who wants to know what you think San Diego FC are going to do this season. Do we need a designated player and are either of you available?
- [50:24]
Tim Howard
No. To the last one. To the second one. I think this is what I would say. Without a high profile, not high profile. Without a top quality dp, I think this team probably finishes just outside the playoffs. I think with a quality dp, very good chance San Diego FC makes the playoffs.
- [50:45]
Landon Donovan
Like if they got a Kevin De Bruyne, they can make the playoffs.
- [50:48]
Tim Howard
A Kevin de Bruyne could work. Yes.
- [50:52]
Landon Donovan
I'm absolutely not available. If it's pickleball, I'm in. But if it's soccer, completely out. Yeah, I tend to think again, without a ton of knowledge with the team, just looking at the roster additions they can compete for for a bottom end playoff spot. But you know, I would say that that would be success because I'll get A ton of momentum from being a first year team in that, in that city with, with the fans behind them. Look, do you need a dp? What? What no one tells you in this league. And Landon, I will tell you, like everybody needs a dp. Good dps are really hard to find. Like they caught, they, you know, and I can tell you this from experience, teams from mid level European leagues will basically, they know you're an MLS club and you'll overpay, so they hike the fee up for a mid level dp, which isn't an instant impact type of dp. So now you're overpaying for what? For a guy you don't really know much about. And then if you want to go get a big, big, big player, you have to pay money. So that mid range where most of the teams are operating in is really tricky to bring in a good dp. So just be patient.
- [52:05]
Tim Howard
And by the way, you could get a good player and a terrible locker room guy or someone who hurts your culture and that happens over and over and over. And so it. To get that. All right. Is very difficult.
- [52:16]
C
Okay, this next one might just be a yes or no answer. This one's from Benjamin. Is Lucha Acosta the answer for Dallas to return to MLS cup contention?
- [52:26]
Tim Howard
No.
- [52:27]
Landon Donovan
No. Good. Good question though.
- [52:29]
Tim Howard
I mean, it's a start, but no.
- [52:31]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [52:33]
C
Chris wants to know there are only three original MLS teams that have never won the Cup. What can they do to get into the picture?
- [52:44]
Tim Howard
That's Red Bull, Dallas.
- [52:47]
C
Yep.
- [52:48]
Tim Howard
And what was the third?
- [52:50]
C
Chris's. Chris's actual. Yeah, he, he mentioned Chris. The question that he's.
- [52:54]
Landon Donovan
Wow, you're a Revs fan. Yeah.
- [52:57]
Tim Howard
How do I say this the right way? Now in mls, the only way you do that is you have to spend back in the day. You could get away with sort of being the, you know, New England in the past where like Cheeky didn't spend, didn't even spend up to the, the cap. What they could have. They spent less than that because they like to be the team that didn't have to spend to compete. But then they never got over the line.
- [53:21]
Landon Donovan
Who's that?
- [53:22]
Tim Howard
New England. Yeah, I mean, so you just. Nowadays you have to look at Colorado last year, like great run. Salt Lake last year, great run. In the past, when you face the big boys with the big, big players, you're going to get run over in the playoffs.
- [53:35]
Landon Donovan
That's a good point. What was the question of the original teams? What was the question? Oh, can one of them get over the Hump?
- [53:42]
Tim Howard
Well, yeah. What? Yeah. What. What's it going to take to get over the hump?
- [53:44]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, I mean it's hard to argue with Landon's point about like, can you be a good team and have a good run and get into the playoffs and feel really good about yourselves? Yeah. And then you, and then you run into the buzzsaw of what is LA Galaxy and then you're like, Jesus. You know, like. But that was built in a very short period of time too, right? Like the, the most recent Galaxy success. So.
- [54:08]
Tim Howard
Yeah, but they spent Tim, like I know I example is Colorado last year. They were great. They get into the playoff. That it. Was it a two game. Well, is it two or three game series?
- [54:16]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, yeah.
- [54:16]
Tim Howard
They go to the Galaxy and bang, it's 5,0. Like tech and painsil and. Yeah. Like they just can't compete with that.
- [54:22]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. I mean the one, one question I would have is, am I still a part of the Red Bull? Like, am I a part of this history? Because I was, I was a Metro star. I don't know if that's gone away. What I would, you know what I would say though? The, the, the, the negative for, for those three teams we said Dallas, New England and, and Red Bull is you've had more cracks at it than anybody else.
- [54:45]
Tim Howard
Yeah, that's right. And you had cracks when there were like 10 teams in the league.
- [54:48]
Landon Donovan
10 teams. And by the way. And you went through moments where you spent. Rebels spent, by the way, Marquez, Henri Cahill, like they, they spent. And, and still not no success. Like big success to speak of. So hopefully they get that right.
- [55:05]
C
Here's a question from Jake. What's one MLS matchup you'd like to see become a Darby that currently isn't.
- [55:15]
Landon Donovan
I got one. I got one. Let me ask you before I answer, because you're well more versed in this lafc. LA Galaxy is huge. Yes.
- [55:24]
Tim Howard
Yeah. I mean, relatively. Yeah.
- [55:25]
Landon Donovan
Is San Jose, LA Galaxy big? It used to be, right?
- [55:30]
Tim Howard
It used to be, yeah.
- [55:32]
Landon Donovan
So can we do it? Can we do it?
- [55:33]
Tim Howard
I would love that. I would love that back because the north, and I'm a Southern California guy, so Northern California. Southern California and everything. Dodgers, Giants, Warriors, Lakers, Kings, Lakers, like all these were huge.
- [55:48]
Landon Donovan
Let me say this though, right? If, if you're clever, right, and you now have Bruce arena up in the north and you don't have San Diego, allow LA to do their, the LA teams to do their thing. Oh yeah. And almost, almost bypass it. Almost.
- [56:00]
Tim Howard
I like that.
- [56:01]
Landon Donovan
If you're San Jose and you're in your San Diego. Be like, these teams in the middle are crap. They're not. But like. Like, create a marketing scheme that says we own. We own California. And it could be clever and do San Jose L. A, because obviously San Jose. San Jose, San Diego, because I feel like San Jose L A. Galaxy, which used to be big, has kind of dissipated recently because of the La. El Trafico.
- [56:24]
Tim Howard
I don't know, maybe we need a name. It's the Sand Darby of something.
- [56:29]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [56:29]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And you know what they do? The first game they play each other this year, they all take their cleats off and they fight. First three minutes.
- [56:38]
Landon Donovan
Amazing season. Yeah.
- [56:40]
Tim Howard
All right, what else? Jordan?
- [56:42]
C
I have a question here from someone named demarcus Beasley.
- [56:49]
Landon Donovan
Get out of here. Beasley.
- [56:51]
Tim Howard
Marcus Deasley.
- [56:52]
Landon Donovan
What is it?
- [56:53]
C
No, it was actually DeMarcus. And he said. Yeah, it was. He had a little blue check mark and it looked like him, so I hope it really is him. It says, after Kobe, who else in the MLS alumni deserves a statue outside of their MLS club?
- [57:11]
Tim Howard
Oh, what a question. Is he lobbying for himself, by the way?
- [57:16]
Landon Donovan
He might be. It might be. Might be a Houston angle. It might be a Houston angle. I don't mind that, Beast. All right. Bring that, Tim.
- [57:22]
C
Make it happen.
- [57:24]
Tim Howard
That's a great question.
- [57:25]
Landon Donovan
Good. Thank. First of all, thank you, Beast. For. For. For. For the love.
- [57:29]
Tim Howard
Thanks for following the show. Bees.
- [57:30]
Landon Donovan
Dear friend of ours, after all we've.
- [57:32]
Tim Howard
Done for you, it's about time you reciprocate.
- [57:35]
Landon Donovan
He's carried us on occasion.
- [57:37]
Tim Howard
Yes, he has.
- [57:38]
Landon Donovan
Okay, let me give this a thought. I. Oh, I know, I know. One that jumps off the page for me. The one that jumps off the page for me is Brian McBride and Columbus, because those two are synonymous. I don't know if that's the final answer.
- [57:54]
Tim Howard
There's one that comes to mind. He wasn't there his whole career, but most of his career, and that was Kyle Beckerman in Salt Lake. He kind of epitomized. Maybe Raimondo, too, to be honest, he epitomized what Salt Lake were for a decade plus. Because it doesn't have to be like some attacking genius goal scorer. It just needs someone who means something real to their club. I like the McBride shout.
- [58:20]
Landon Donovan
That's a good one. Do you have a statue outside, mate? You do?
- [58:27]
Tim Howard
I mean, I could send you pictures if you want.
- [58:29]
Landon Donovan
Oh, yeah. I didn't know if it was Beckham or you.
- [58:31]
Tim Howard
Let's let the fans. Let's let the fans answer. Guys, Do I have a statue outside the galaxy.
- [58:35]
Landon Donovan
I mean, Jesus, you're on mountain Rush. You've got a statue. The MLS cup of MVP is named.
- [58:40]
Tim Howard
I go skiing one week.
- [58:42]
Landon Donovan
Golfing dolphin. It's a good life.
- [58:44]
Tim Howard
All right, listen, DeMarcus, I'm gonna think about this. Can we come back to this next week?
- [58:49]
Landon Donovan
Amazing.
- [58:49]
C
Can we get these to come on the podcast and answer the question himself?
- [58:54]
Tim Howard
You've been. You've been shouted out by Jordan. Trust me, if you say no, there will be wrath.
- [58:59]
Landon Donovan
Well, I got another. I got another one for you.
- [59:01]
Tim Howard
Go on.
- [59:03]
Landon Donovan
I'm thinking. I'm thinking about how great D.C. united was in the early days. Is it like an Echeverry shout? Is that. Who. Who would be the one?
- [59:12]
Tim Howard
It could be Jaime Moreno.
- [59:14]
Landon Donovan
That's what I mean.
- [59:14]
Tim Howard
Like, yeah, Yeah, I think E.T. that's a great shout.
- [59:17]
Landon Donovan
Okay.
- [59:17]
Tim Howard
That's a great shot.
- [59:19]
Landon Donovan
Throwbacks from Tim Howard, by the way. Throwbacks. I'm. That the Bumblebee uniform. I'm a bride. I've got Echeverry with the. The breathe right. Strip on his nose. I got all sorts of things going.
- [59:28]
Tim Howard
I love that.
- [59:30]
C
Awesome. Thanks, guys.
- [59:31]
Landon Donovan
Yeah.
- [59:32]
Tim Howard
All right, Junior. Thank you. All right, Timmy. Anything but soccer. I cannot wait to get into this. Let's talk about a massive hockey fan. I grew up. The hat over there is from Nova Scotia. We are interviewing legendary coach from the University of Vermont next week, Rob Dow, who also grew up in Nova Scotia. So we watched this USA hockey game against Canada. By the way, I just saw 4.4 million viewers on ABC the other night. Incredible for a hockey game. Insane. And I was glued to the TV fasting. My family was so into it. And for people to understand, they're playing this four Nations Cup. So it's the middle of the NHL season. Everybody else gets a break, which is nice. And then Sweden, Finland, US And Canada are playing this round robin, and the top two teams will play in the final this coming Thursday. The usa, if they had beat Canada whenever this was Saturday, they advanced to the final automatically, and Canada would have to play in. Play another game and win another game to get there. And the USA won 2:1. This game, Tim, was insane. It was so fun to watch. You watched, right?
- [60:43]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Well, not only did I watch, I watched a build up. So. So let me. Let me just say I. I am a Chicago Blackhawks fan. I know crazy. And shout out to Chicago Blackhawks. They've treated me amazing every time I've been there. I went on recently, I went on. I went to a Game. They played Edmonton Oilers. And they again rolled out the red carpet for me. And I was on the pregame show and this was prior to the four nations and they were to draw that parallel on the pregame show. Like, what's it going to be like for these players in season, go play for their country? And we just talked about the, how difficult it is in season to kind of stop, pause with your club and then go play for your country. But what an honor it is. And it was a great, great conversation. I watched the buildup to the game and it was, it was PK Subin and Mark Messier, the legend. And Mark Messier was talking about the rivalry, but he was talking about wearing the sweater for Canada. And like, he's like, he's like, I got this. It was 84, 90 or something. Like, I'm getting those years wrong. He's like, I got Gretzky on one side, I've got Mario Lemieux on the other, and I shouldn't even be on the ice. And I'm getting goosebumps listening to this guy talk about like Canadian hockey, right? And then you, and then you watch the game and like, I get that there's rest and there's management and I get all that, right? And you get all that. And we watch the NBA and the in season tournament and what, what that means and whether it's been good or bad or players compete, you and I know that when you play for your team, your club team, right? And then you go into an in season tournament, whether it's, whether it's. You pause and you got to come back to the States to play in a World cup qualifier or you go play in Champions League, whatever it is in season where you're not playing, you know, you're playing a different competition. You and I know you go full tilt. There is no day off and the puck drops for us Canada and these dudes drop their gloves and fight. I'm like, this is mid, this is mid season. And there's three fights inside, inside the first nine. Three fights in the first nine minutes or something like that.
- [62:44]
Tim Howard
Nine seconds. Nine seconds.
- [62:45]
Landon Donovan
Nine seconds. And I'm thinking to myself, well, that was incredible. And then I watched and I remember thinking, I remember watching the first. Obviously the game started to take shape, the first and second period. I have never seen a faster hockey game. Like it was moving at the sound of speed. These guys. And by the way, you've been around hockey players, hockey players for me are the best athletes. The best athletes. They can skate behind the scenes when they're warming up, they're juggling soccer balls, they're shooting basketball. They are the best athletes when it comes to being a professional athlete. It was an insane game.
- [63:19]
Tim Howard
It was so fun to watch. And this morning, my dad sent me. He sent me a text, and he said, they clocked Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid's first goal was insane. He receives the puck in the middle of the ice, and for people don't know him, he plays for the Oilers. He's this Canadian sensation. And when you watch him, it looks like he's playing against high school kids, because when he goes, he just goes. And I remember playing Cristiano in our prime, and when he would. It was a friendly at the Rose bowl, and when he decided to just take the ball and run by you, you could have jumped on his back and it wouldn't have mattered. He would have just kept going the same speed. And Connor McDavid, they said they clocked him during this goal. He blew by the US defense. They cocked him at 35.4 miles per hour, which I believe is the fastest a human has ever skated. And he had the puck with him. It was just. It was insane. The game was insane. It was 3 1, by the way. There was an empty netter at the end. Oh, it was so fun. And they play. So if Canada wins tonight, when the episode drops, the U.S. canada will be the final on Thursday in Boston. Let's go the Garden. I cannot wait. Let's.
- [64:27]
Landon Donovan
Amazing.
- [64:28]
Tim Howard
All right. Great show today. Thank you guys for being with us. As always. There were a lot of great questions last week, so keep them going. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast. Follow the show across all of our social media at Unfiltered Soccer for lots of bonus content.
- [64:42]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Thank you, everybody. Always a pleasure spending time with you. Thanks for representing sponsor VW and our fan connection sponsor AT&T. Have an amazing week. Look forward to seeing you back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.