Pepi's Out, Sargent's Tantrum, Palace Rocked, Heaps Returns | Unfiltered Soccer

Summary

Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard

Episode: Pepi’s Out, Sargent’s Tantrum, Palace Rocked, Heaps Returns
Date: January 13, 2026

---

1. Episode Overview & Main Theme

This week’s episode dives deep into the challenges and storylines surrounding U.S. soccer stars Ricardo Pepi and Josh Sargent, examines the implications for the 2026 USMNT roster, highlights Lindsey Heaps’ NWSL return, and recaps a wild FA Cup upset. Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, in their candid, banter-filled style, explore not just the headline injuries and transfers but further analyze the culture of team dynamics and transitions both in the U.S. and abroad.

---

2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

---

A. Ricardo Pepi’s Injury and USMNT Striker Dilemma

[01:48-08:12]

• Pepi’s Fractured Arm: Broke his arm after a “weird, unathletic” fall in a recent match, likely missing critical USMNT friendlies versus Belgium and Portugal and up to two months out.
  • Donovan: “He’s logged 16 minutes from the beginning of 2025 when he got injured till if he doesn’t play in March, he’ll have played 16 minutes.” [02:58]
  • Howard: “Is he the number two striker? He’s played 16 minutes. I get injuries. He’s played 16 minutes.” [03:57]
• Larger Theme of USMNT Injuries: Repeatedly referencing the “curse” or bad run of injuries plaguing the men’s team.
  • Donovan criticizes overspecialization: “When you watch kids who play one sport their whole life, they don’t learn how to use their body in all different ways and situations… it didn’t seem athletic, the way he fell.” [05:31]
• Status in National Team: Both hosts agree: “We talk about him, but he’s not really a national team player [right now].” [07:10]
• Roster Implications: Sargent’s and Ajimang’s form will put Pepi’s default selection at risk, unless others truly falter.

---

B. Josh Sargent’s Transfer Drama & Professionalism

[08:12-15:21]

• Sargent “Refuses” to Play in FA Cup: Sargent texted manager—citing “transfer things in his head”—and didn’t play. Toronto FC rumored to have bid $18 million.
• Texting the Manager—Bad Form:
  • Howard: “You don’t text. Get all the adults in the room... That’s how you handle it. You don’t send a text and say, if that’s true, and say my head’s not in the right position.” [09:00]
  • Shares personal stories (asking to leave Man United & Everton) to emphasize the importance of mature, face-to-face discussions.
• On “Broken Relationships”:
  • Donovan: “I want to just remind people… you build relationships with all the people… so that when these moments come, you can have an honest, real conversation.” [13:01]
• Sargent’s Future: Both agree sitting for six months would be disastrous — hope for an amicable solution.
  • “The last thing he needs is to be sitting on the bench for six months, not going anywhere.” [14:51]

---

C. USMNT Roster “On the Team, On the Bubble, On the Outs”

[15:21-23:17]

• Patrick Ajimang:
  • On the team, likely benefits from Pepi’s injury. “Game on here… this is my opportunity.” [15:50]
• Miles Robinson:
  • On the bubble. “He’s had enough time to sort of solidify himself.” [18:20]
• Christian Roldan:
  • On the team. Lauded for intangibles and leadership:
    • Donovan quoting Pochettino: “Christian is a good example of how you need to be involved and defend and fight for your place...” [20:51]
• Joe Scally:
  • Firmly on the bubble but versatility may help his chances.

---

D. Lindsey Heaps’ NWSL Homecoming to Denver

[23:40-25:43]

• Celebrated for winning everywhere—from NWSL titles to Olympic gold.
  • Donovan: “She’s a winner. She just wins… She’s going home, and she’s gonna… fill a stadium… That was never even a thought for her. Now she can tie a bow on what’s been a brilliant career.” [24:43]
• Hosts get heartfelt, reflecting on how much the game has grown to allow such stories.

---

E. Major MLS Transfers and The DP Problem

[28:50-34:14]

• Chucky Lozano’s San Diego Exit:
  • Donovan details front-office overreach: “People who started San Diego FC who are not technical people… said we need a Mexican player…” [29:38]
  • Howard warns: “You cannot miss on big DPs because when you miss… the player basically has the power, right? 7.6 million a year...” [31:00]
• Espinoza’s Free Agency Fluke:
  • Shocking administrative mistake in San Jose allowed a top player to walk for free to Nashville. “Talk about fireable offenses, like, this is unacceptable.” [34:14]
• Interleague Moves Key for MLS Growth:
  • Howard: “The best players in the MLS are already in the MLS… Go get one of the top 10 players in the league versus going outside.” [35:26]

---

F. Inter Miami’s Recruitment Power & “Beckham Pull”

[35:41-38:12]

• Miami attracting top talents, creative deals, and benefitting from “no state income tax, playing with Messi, winning trophies, living in Miami.”
  • Howard (joking): “You saying, Sir David’s cooking the books down there, no chance.” [35:52]
  • Both agree—the “pull” is real and “location, players, successful club” factors are stacking up.

---

G. Coaching Carousel & FA Cup Magic: Palace Shocked by Macclesfield

[38:12-45:23]

• Eric Ramsey leaves Minnesota for West Brom:
  • Both skeptical: “I just don’t get it… What are you doing?” [38:37]
• FA Cup “Magic”:
  • Macclesfield Town’s 6th Division upset over Crystal Palace:
    • Howard’s personal story about Everton’s visit to Macclesfield: “He got us off the bus and it was so surreal… entire town… frantically making preparations to cover the pitch… People had, like, their curtains that they laid out.” [44:21]
  • Howard on FA Cup’s impact: “That type of money… may keep people in jobs. And I don’t just mean the players… the cooks and the janitors and the people around the club.” [41:13]

---

H. Premier League News & Player Incidents

[45:52-50:05]

• Xabi Alonso/Rumors: Possible move to Man United; speculation about whether his Liverpool past would bar such a move.
• Managerial updates: Chelsea’s new director-led approach; Michael Carrick likely to finish the season.
• Martinelli/Connor Bradley Incident:
  • Howard on Martinelli’s aggressive injury incident:
    • “We wouldn’t even be talking about this at all if the guy took a knock… It’s because it’s serious. What I think is Gabriel Martinelli, any day of the week, would never have done that if he knew how serious it was.” [48:23]

---

I. AT&T Fan Connection: Listener Q&A

[54:15-68:19]

• On NCAA regulations restricting summer training groups:
  • “I don’t think they want soccer to be very good… You don’t get time to train your players.” [56:44]
• Refereeing & Perceived Bias:
  • Donovan: “The funny thing about it is… they remember everything the person didn’t… It’s not like, just stop.” [57:44]
• Rapids Coaching Turmoil:
  • Likely a combination of contract/value dispute and miscommunication.
• Can pros succeed in another sport?
  • Tim jokes about waiting for an NBA contract. Both agree that had they specialized young, maybe, but acknowledge the rarity.
• VAR & Offside Rules:
  • Both advocate for giving attackers “the benefit of the doubt”, referencing the ‘clear daylight’/Wenger proposal.
  • Donovan: “Make it more feasible to score more goals.” [67:22]
  • Lamentation of lost celebrations due to VAR.

---

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tim Howard on Professionalism in Transfers:

  “You don’t text. Get all the adults in the room, the manager, director of football, your agent and you say, guys, I get paid to score goals… But please, with respect, I’ve given everything to Norwich Football Club…I’m now asking you to do this. That’s how you handle it.” — Tim Howard [09:00]

• Landon Donovan on Youth Specialization and Injuries:

  “When you watch kids who play one sport their whole life, they don’t learn how to use their body in all different ways…It didn’t seem athletic, the way he fell. It was bizarre.” — Landon Donovan [05:31]

• Tim Howard on FA Cup Magic:

  “That type of money…may keep people in jobs. And I don’t just mean the players…I mean the cooks and the janitors and the people around the club. This is so interesting to me.” [41:13]

• Howard on DPs & MLS:

  “You cannot miss on big DPs because when you miss, the player basically has the power…” [31:00]

---

4. Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:48 – Pepi’s injury and roster fallout
• 08:18 – Josh Sargent’s “tantrum” and transfer standoff
• 15:21 – USMNT Roster “on the bubble” game: Ajimang, Robinson, Roldan, Scally
• 23:40 – Lindsey Heaps returns to NWSL/Denver
• 28:50 – Chucky Lozano/San Diego FC drama
• 34:14 – Espinoza’s free agency mishap
• 35:41 – Inter Miami’s transfer magnetism
• 38:12 – Eric Ramsey jumps to West Brom
• 41:13 – FA Cup “magic” and Macclesfield’s upset
• 45:52 – Premier League managerial moves, Martinelli/Bradley incident
• 54:15 – AT&T Fan Connection: listener questions
• 65:36 – The “Arsene Wenger Rule”/offside debate

---

5. Tone & Style

Genuine, irreverent but insightful—Landon and Tim mix light banter (“The key to life is a friend with a private [jet]”) with candid and practical perspectives, sometimes referencing their own playing careers. The mood is honest and occasionally nostalgic, especially regarding the growth of soccer in America and the quirks of club operations abroad.

---

6. Listener Takeaway

• USMNT’s striker depth for 2026 is in flux, with Pepi’s injury and Sargent’s missteps opening opportunities for others.
• Transfer drama and professionalism remain core challenges for US stars abroad.
• MLS, despite its growing stature, must avoid DP flops and administrative blunders to thrive.
• The “magic” of cup competitions lies not only in results but the communities and dreams they support.
• Off-the-field, the importance of human relationships and honest communication is as vital as technical skill.

---

Follow @UnfilteredSoccer for socials, new eps every Tuesday.

(Ad reads, intro banter, and sponsor mentions omitted from above content synopsis.)

Transcript

[A]

You don't send the text.

[B]

The first thing I wrote down was, don't text.

[A]

What do you do?

[B]

First of all, it's not a great way to interact with your manager if it's something serious, but that's not. That's not how you have a serious conversation. 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.

[A]

Welcome into Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan. That's him. And Tim Howard. That's me. Presented by Volkswagen. Another fresh episode. LD what's happening?

[B]

What's up, bud? I was in Cabo all weekend.

[A]

Gee, again?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How often do you go to Cabo?

[B]

It's a lot.

[A]

Private chat commercial.

[B]

This time, we did actually take a private. But it wasn't ours. It was a friend's. And the key to life is finding a friend with a private mate. If you have not learned, dude, that is the key to life.

[A]

You're not lying. You are not lying.

[B]

What about you? What are you up to?

[A]

Tell you what I did. I had to weekend off because after cup weekend, so, right, we. We were off the desk at NBC, so I was like, I'm gonna go get my beard trimmed. I'm gonna mob around Soho, do some errands. And it was chucking it down with rain, and I was like, oh, no, going back in the house. And then yesterday, you'd be proud of me. I worked out, which I always do. But that. Not because of that. I went to my buddy's bar, Rocco, Shout out to Rocco's, and watched football all day.

[B]

Oh, cool.

[A]

All day.

[B]

Great. Football day.

[A]

It was super great.

[B]

All day.

[A]

Just hung out, man. Did nothing.

[B]

Hey, when they trim your beard, what's like, how does this happen? Do they. Is it just with, like, clippers and they just go through and clip it?

[A]

Clippers.

[B]

Why wouldn't you just do it straight razor?

[A]

Because you get the whole. You get the whole hot towel treatment. You're in the barber's chair. I don't got to worry about it. Just kick back, and that's cool. It's great.

[B]

All right, whatever. All right, guys, as always, follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. If you have not subscribed, we probably have a big problem with you. So just hit that button. Make sure you follow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast, you can leave a review and as always, email Jordan Feedback. Unfiltered soccer. All right, let's start Timmy with USMNT on uslnt. Terrible weekend for Ricardo Pepe. If you haven't seen this clip, go watch. Ball gets played wide, it gets rolled across the middle of the goal mouth. He's all by himself. He has this weird sort of motion where he tries to. He just taps it and he's two yards out, but he falls backwards and then he's in bad, bad pain and you can tell ends up he fractured his arm and he's expected to be out for two months. So it seems it's going to be difficult for him to be ready for the Belgium Portugal game. Portugal games? Yeah, for the national team in Atlanta. This is an interesting one. What, like just take on that quickly and then I've got, I got some things. Sure. Let me.

[A]

My take is, it's unfortunate. Obviously you saw the, the amount of pain he was in, so that's, it's not great. So hope that obviously his recovery is quicker than was. Is expected. But then the but comes. It is. It's another unfortunate sort of recurring occurring theme that's been going on with this, with this men's national team and I think I have it. So he had an ACL injury last year, got himself fit and ready, playing well for PSV over the summer in terms of getting his preseason right. But he hasn't played for the national team. He hasn't played for the national team. He's logged 16 minutes from the beginning of 2025 when he got injured till if he doesn't play in March, he'll have played 16 minutes.

[B]

That is a wild stuff.

[A]

Yeah. And it's. Again, you know, I harp on this, but it's constantly being in the shop window for your club, right? It's constantly like banging on the door of your national team manager. And what I mean by that is, like, sometimes you have to be a brat. Like, sometimes you have to be in the ear of the assistant coach going, why, why isn't he playing? I should be playing this next game. I. I've done that. We're going, hey, hey. Going into camp. Like, am I. Am I going to play this camp? Like, ask the, ask the assistant manager to sort of get answers from him and needle the manager, like for. To not like we're having this conversation, like, what does it mean for the squad? I would throw that back to you, Landon, and go, do me a favor. Could you imagine, could you imagine us talking about Italy, England, Spain and saying like, hey, the number two striker has only played 16 minutes over the last year. Is he going to. Is this is this our number two striker. You'd slap me. You'd never, you would never talk about that in football terms. Yet on this show, we're talking about, hey, hey. Where does Ricardo Pepe fall in, in the pecking order? Is he. Is he number. Is he the number two striker? He's played 16 minutes. I get injuries. He's played 16 minutes.

[B]

It's a wild stat. I didn't realize that till Andrew told us this morning. And it's weird because we talk about him almost. Not weekly, but almost every week, every other week, because he's doing well in scoring goals. But he's not a national team player right now. He's just not. And so, you know, my other, My other thought when I first saw this, and look, I want to, I want to be mindful here and careful, like, what happened is terrible. It was in some ways fluky. I get a little irritated when people say injuries are bad luck. They're not all bad luck. But this, this reminds me of. It brings me back to. And I can't speak to this for Ricardo Pepe, but I'm going to assume. And if I'm wrong, he can tweet about it or tell me or can call us or whatever and say, that's not true. But when you watch kids who play one sport their whole life, they don't learn how to use their body in all different ways and situations. The way he fell was really interesting. And it was like, it, it didn't seem. It didn't seem athletic, the way he fell. It was bizarre. He kind of like just, he felt like, like an old man would fall in a Sunday league game, you know, it was like, it was like ungraceful, unathletic. I don't know if his foot got caught or something, so I'm going to give him some grace there. But it just felt to me like a moment where. Because again, if I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong, but because you only played one sport, you don't. You've never liked it slid into second base, or you've never been trying to catch a football and you fall and brace your arm, or you've never fallen on a basketball court and it just felt bizarre.

[A]

So sports specification, you're saying it feels like that.

[B]

It feels like it was just like this unathletic movement and all of a sudden that's what happened. And so, and I get it, like some people are athletic in different ways and all those things, but it just felt weird to me. And at some Point you got to say, why so many injuries? I know we've harped on this here, but, like, it feels like every week there's an injury and there's something bizarre happening. And look, I wish him the absolute best. Speedy recovery. But right now he's. He. We talk about him, but he's not really a national team player. And by the way, Tim, the biggest thing was in the last camp. I think it was the Paraguay, Uruguay game. He played, I think, the last 16 minutes. That was his 16 minutes that he's played of the Paraguay game. And then the Uruguay game was three days later and he didn't play at all.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

He didn't play at all.

[A]

So we found that weird at the time, didn't we?

[B]

Yeah, we did.

[A]

And. And.

[B]

And now if you're Pochettino, it's like, okay, now I'm probably gonna miss him for another camp. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know.

[B]

I think his chances now are getting slimmer and slimmer. He's going to find himself on the team because if ajumon keeps going, if other guys. You know, we'll talk about Sergeant in a bit. If other guys get going, I mean, he's probably.

[A]

He might make it by default. And I mean that with respect, but, you know.

[B]

Yeah, and it's sad because he's been really good for psv.

[A]

Absolutely has.

[B]

He has.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

All right, let's move on to Josh Sergeant. So interesting stuff going on here.

[A]

I.

[B]

We just saw this. He apparently refused to play in the FA cup game, which I think has been verified. He told the coach, and I believe he texted the manager. He's got transfer thing, quote, transfer things in his head. And he's been rumored to go to Toronto FC, I believe. Toronto FC, again, rumored to put in an $18 million bid for him. It's a lot of money. Yeah, it is. The club has said obviously not something we want, and there will be consequences. And the club has made it really clear to Josh and his agent that he will not be leaving during the summer window.

[A]

So what's your take on all this winter window?

[B]

I'm sorry, the winter window? Yeah, this winter.

[A]

All right. So. So with. With. I. I have. I have experience in. In. In. I had a lot of longevity in my playing career, as did you. In terms of being like, at. At. At particular clubs. I didn't move a lot, but when I did, I had. I. I have the experience of asking the manager to leave. And I. I just. From what's been reported, ld. This wasn't handled in, in, in in what I think is the proper way. And you know, we talked about Alexander Isak moving from Newcastle to Liverpool and the way he sort of down tools and, and we, and I've spoken about this, the way that you operate and, and I talked last week or a week before about Chelsea and Manchester United. Get the adults in the room and be mature. Right? If you're Josh Sargeant, you, you want to leave, fine, fine. What you don't do if it was sent on a text, you don't text. Get all the adults in the room, the manager, director of football, your agent and you say, guys, I get paid to score goals. I love scoring goals. I'm going to give you everything all the time. But. And again I sound like a broken record. I said it on the show, but don't mistake my effort and my half hearted smile for you thinking I want to be here. I want everybody in this room and collectively look at each person. I want everybody in this room to do everything in their power to, to get me out of here by January 31st. Speak to Don Garber, speak to Toronto. Everybody be on their best behavior. Get me out of here. As for me, I'll put my socks up, I'll lace my boots up and I'll go score goals. Don't worry about that. But please, with respect, I've given everything to Norwich Football Club. Everything I got. So I'm now asking you to do this. That's how you handle it. You don't send a text and say if that's true and say my head's not in the right position. That's just. You don't do that. Right. And I get it, it's not easy. Like ld When I went to leave Manchester United, I remember and I've told this story countless times, they brought in Edwin Vanishar, who was brilliant. Best goalkeeper in the world at the time. I wasn't going to play, so I was pissed off. I was arrogant. I knew I could make it. I was right in the end, but I knew I could make it. And I marched upstairs. Lg I think you know the story. Probably for a week. I got, I got the nerve up after a weekend game. So I'm gonna, I'm going to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson and I traipsed up those stairs past the canteen and his door was closed. And his door was closed every single day that week. And I went, I'll come back tomorrow. It's busy. I was scared shitless. But I finally knocked on the door and I said, look, after I, I, I want to play, I think I can play in the Premier League. They said, look, we don't want to lose you, but we'll, we'll, we'll try and, we'll try and move you. If we can get, if we can get someone in, we'll try and move you. That was it. Okay. I wasn't going to dictate my terms of Sir Alex Ferguson anyway, but like, my point is the same. When I left Everton, my beloved Everton, and by the way, Roberto Martinez, who I love, I adore, I think he's a brilliant manager, I went in and sat in his office and said, look, the timing's right. I need to move home. I need to go back to the mls. And there was consequences. That was my club, ld, it was my club. And he basically said, okay, Tim, I'll grant you that wish now with that means you're going to go sit next to me and I'm going to play another guy. And it broke my heart, but that was the consequences, right? And, and, and you. And it's not easy. And so what I would have liked to have seen Josh Sargent do. And again, I don't, I just had the reports. I'll get some, I'll get some inside information at some point, but you don't send the text.

[B]

So that's the first thing I wrote down was don't text.

[A]

What do you do?

[B]

First of all, it's not a great way to interact with your manager if it's something serious, if you're like, hey, gaffer, like, what a goal, huh? Or what, you know, that's fine, but that's not, that's not how you have a serious conversation. So that's, that's rumored, but you know, we're going to assume that's true. So that was my first thing if, unfortunately. And I, you know, this has evolved over time and it's become more so I think in the last five or 10 years. Soccer, international soccer spot is such a business. And you hear in the NFL all the time they just say it's business, it's business, it's business, it's a business decision. And it really is. And that's okay. And it's okay if it's on Josh Sargent's side and it's okay if it's on Norwich's side. But I want to, I just want to share. Part of the reason why you and I are on this pod right now is because I went to Everton and I want to just remind people over the Course of four or five years with the Galaxy before I went to Everton. You build relationships with all the people. With Chris Klein, the president, with the coach, Bruce Reno, with the owner, Tim Leiwicki and Phil Anschutz, Dan Beckerman. You build relationships so that when these moments come, you can have an honest, real conversation. Right. And there's respect on both sides. When I went to them and said, look, I have this opportunity to go to Everton, they could have said, go pound sand. You've got, you've got. You're not going anywhere. It's our off season and you need to rest. Yeah, but because of the relationship, I said, I really want to do this. And they granted me that wish and it, you know, it helped, it changed my life. It helped me in so many ways. And then, by the way, because they were so gracious, Moyes brought me into his office at the end and said, look, is there anything we can do to keep you here? I said, I would love to, but I made a promise and we have a relationship. And so I can't. What I can't understand is someone who's been so valuable to that club, why is there not some sort of relationship built where they can just go have an adult conversation and clearly there's a strained relationship, it's broken down somewhere or. And look, we don't have all the context. Maybe Josh Sargent and his agent have gone in 15 times over the last two years and said, I want out. And they've said no. So I don't know exactly, but this, it's not a great look, let's just hope for everyone involved.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It gets resolved because the last thing he needs is to be sitting on the bench for six months. Not going anywhere.

[A]

No, he's good. He's a good striker. He scores goals.

[B]

Very good.

[A]

Scores goals for them. And. Excellent. Yeah, yeah. No, your points well taken. I mean, you're given what he's been to the club and vice versa. And look, and. And maybe it's a. Maybe it's a money thing, right? Like, maybe they're like, you're too valuable to us. We need, we need X amount of money to get you outdoors. Sure. But that, that happens. But.

[B]

Well, 18 million seems like a pretty fair price.

[A]

Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot of money.

[B]

Yeah, it is. All right, let's play little game that we did before. On the team. On the bubble or on the outs. Okay.

[A]

Don't want to be on the outs.

[B]

I'm going to name the player, you tell me. And then I'll tell you. Okay, on the team, on the bubble or on the outs? Patrick Jamong. And before I get there, his stats this year with Darby are 23 appearances, 19 of them start, six goals, three assists. On the team, on the bubble, on the outs.

[A]

So can I. Before. Well, I'll give you my opinion. Can I tell you about the dark side of the game real quick? Sure. Pepe got injured. I bet you Patrick Ajimang sent him a text. I bet he sent him a. Tough luck, bro. Like, that sucks. I saw it. Hope you're okay. You know what he did after he said if you press sent? He rubbed his hands together. And I know, I know that sounds. That sounds dark, but he rubbed his hands together and thought, game on here. Because what we're, what we're saying, what he's saying is now, now it's my chance. Now I'm going to play. I'm definitely going to play in March. I'm playing. I'm playing well for, for Darby County. Let's go. I got, I got. This is my opportunity to like, lay the cement and the brick and the mortar, and I'm on this team.

[B]

Well, this is, remember, this is the last two chances for that, for that team's name.

[A]

So for me, he's on the team. But also, bearing in mind, I think you've told me, in a regular roster, we bring how many nines? Four. Four out and out strikers. Usually.

[B]

Yeah. Depending on your formation and how you. But like, I think there'll be at least three. And I could see four being on like out and out nines.

[A]

I mean, the pro. The problem is, which we've touched on is Poch might actually say my best players are in the midfield. Yeah. And if I don't have four guys who I. Who I think can even see the field at a nine, then there's a good chance he only brings three.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then. You know what I mean, False nine. Who knows?

[B]

Well, we just talked about Brandon Aronson. Right. So, like, would you rather him in this form or Pepe, who you're not sure of, or Sergeant, who he's not been high on? Right.

[A]

So that's interesting.

[B]

Yeah, you can see that. Okay, I agree. Yeah. He's on the team. And look, not only he's on the team, I think given, like, if you're. If you're in Pochettino's shoes, he's. He can only judge what he's seeing. Right. And so when Pepe's out injured again and Pepe's out Injured again. And Pepe's out. Injured again. Now he has to say, okay, I. I just can't rely on him. Even if he, like, I don't know how he feels about him, even if he loves him as a player. So you gotta. You have to start to, in your mind, move on a little bit. And so I think if something happened to Balagun, I mean, Haji Wright, of course, is the logical other pick there, but, like, he's. He's got to be right in that conversation.

[A]

Yeah, I think for sure.

[B]

Okay. Miles Robinson.

[A]

Bus. And the only reason I say bus is because he hasn't really on the bubble. Oh, did I say bubble?

[B]

Bus.

[A]

Bubble. Bubble. That's what I meant.

[B]

Bubble. Bus.

[A]

It's a bubble.

[B]

Bus may stop, it may not.

[A]

Yeah, it's on the bubble. Okay. So. Only reason I say he's on the bubble is because he. He's had enough time to sort of. We're gonna play three in the back, right? Or three, three, seven.

[B]

Seems that way.

[A]

Yeah, seems that way. He's had enough time to solidify himself. Right. Because right now we're saying Tim Ream, lock. Chris Richard, definitely lock. And we. And we're. We're not really sure about the other two. We could. We could. We could probably conclude you're saying there's.

[B]

Going to be four center backs.

[A]

I'm just saying we're going to play three. Right, right, right, right. I'm just saying, like, we would. We would. We should be able to now, like, almost definitively say, like, the third center back in the starting position will be. Will come from this one or this one.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But we. We don't really know that definitively, which tells me that. Well, Poch might know, but I. He hasn't. He hasn't shown his hand, which tells me that Miles Robinson's probably on the bubble, leaning towards team. If I had to. If I had to guess.

[B]

Yeah, you. Yeah. So I'm. I'm looking at it, like, really through a coach's lens. If you. Again, if. If the rosters are 26, that's three extra players than you used to have, and you're playing three in the back, you have to carry at least five real center backs or five guys who can play center back. If you're. You can't. You can't play three and only bring four. I don't think. No, I think you have to bring a fifth. So because of that, I think he has to be on the team. So between Ream and Richards, there's two. MacKenzie, I think is probably on the team. Miles Robinson probably on and then the fifth, who knows? I mean, I don't know where you, who knows where you go from there, but I would think he has to bring five.

[A]

I'm still interested with the, with the. Anthony Robinson, can he play center back?

[B]

Maybe in some games.

[A]

Some games. But then it's two left footers. I don't know. They always can't really play two left footers anyway.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Christian Roldan, actually, you could.

[A]

All right, I want to say it. He's on a team.

[B]

Yeah, I think so, too. I think so, too.

[A]

I just think that, you know, the bulk of your players on your roster are going to come from the midfield. I think he's shown enough in games that he belongs there. And then I just think his intangibles, I think his, I think his, I think his grit and his leadership, his experience, you know, how do you, how do you infuse experience into a young team? Well, you do it in this regard, right? You bring in Tim Ram, you bring Christian Roldan. So I think he's in for those reasons.

[B]

I'll tell you the other reason why I think he's in Poetino in October. I want to quote this said Christian is a good example of how you need to be involved and defend and fight for your place. You need to arrive and show your personality and your character and then be available always. And if you play, you behave the same, same way as if you don't play. And I've said this multiple times, there will be one or two or three guys who make this team because they're good humans, good teammates. Yes, they can play if needed, but they bring the whole group up and make the whole thing better. And if he's saying this about him publicly, this is not like he said it to you and me. That means he trusts that he can say it and that Christian's not going to get carried away with it and his ego's going to get. And he believes him. He also said Christian is an example of how if you want to build your perfect player, he has a little bit of everything. So I think he's on the team. I think he's on last one. Joe Scally.

[A]

He falls in the Miles Robinson category for me because he's a, at best, he's a wing back, right? Like, are we saying. Yeah, he's on the bubble for me, like firmly on the bubble. I don't think he's, he's leaning into the team. We have a lot of really Good wing backs. And I don't think that's a position again where as you and I will continue to build towards a World cup, we will talk about, continue talk about roster construction. Like that's a real thing. Right. It's a. You'll have a few gimmes at the end. But like as we just talked about, it goes position by position. If I'm looking at our wing backs, wing backs to me seem a little bit interchangeable. Meaning like I say that too, like Max Arson to me is a left wing back. Do I see him potentially in a pinch being able to play right wing back? Yes. Right. And so like, so based on that alone and. And I don't think you're bringing. I don't think you're bringing five specific wing backs. I don't.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

So that could work against Joe Scally.

[B]

Personally, the only thing I would say, because I think he's firmly on the bubble too. I, I would say leaning in only because he can play right back in a four, right wing back in a three. He can play on the left side, which he's shown. And he could probably play as a right center back too.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

If needed in a pinch. And I. And that's really valuable when you're building a roster.

[A]

Sure, sure, sure, sure. That's good.

[B]

All right, you guys let us know. Where do you think these guys stand? Which players would you be curious for our thoughts on? Let us know because we'll keep doing this as we go throughout the the time. All right. It is time for the unfiltered refresh. Sponsored as always by Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to coors light.com USLNT Timmy this week. Very, very good. Influential. I think historically good US Women's national team player is coming home. We've been talking a lot about players leaving, wanting to leave the whole Trinity Rodman deal. But Lindsay Heaps is coming back to Denver, to Colorado where used to play. She is from Golden Colorado.

[A]

How about for a tie in. Makes sense.

[B]

Pretty good. She's won an NWSL championship with the Thorns. She won the Shield. She won four consecutive Premier League titles and an Olympic gold medal and a World Cup. I love when I say, like every time I see the women's national teams player, I'm like, you've won a World Cup? Yeah, it's just ridiculous. Like I, I got to the quarterfinals once. Just congrats to her. Really happy to see players coming back to the league. And it's a really big win for the league. It really is.

[A]

Yeah. This just made sense, man. Lindsay, in my eyes, is a legend. I. I've spent time with her in Denver. She's just, she's a special human being. She's amazing person. She's.

[B]

She's a winner, man.

[A]

She's a winner.

[B]

She just wins.

[A]

She's a winner. And like, you know, you just think, and not everyone can do this, but she's going home, you know, and she's gonna. This is. And for, you know, I'm getting a little bit sort of romantic here, like you're starting to get to. And we've sort of been in a place with soccer in America where this is a young girl from golden Colorado who never in her wildest soccer dreams, kicking the ball in Denver, thought, I will fill a stadium one day and I will captain and play for a club that's in my backyard. That was never even a thought for her. Totally right. And she's been around the world and she's won everything. And now she can tie a bow on what's been a brilliant career and play at home. And there is just. I get goosebumps talking about that. I'm super psyched for her, for the city of Denver, because the city of Denver is dear to my heart and I absolutely love them. So I'm really, really excited. That's awesome for Lindsey.

[B]

Perfectly said. Lindsey. Haran Heaps. Lindsay Heaps, congrats to you for choosing Chill. All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll get into some of the recent significant MLS off season moves. Right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.

[A]

Foreign. The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.

[B]

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 deaf.

[A]

And power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, VW is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're working with talent from across the U.S. soccer Extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward.

[B]

As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I can tell you they're really making a difference, opening up new turfs and new possibilities here in the US thank you.

[A]

To Volkswagen and the Tiguan for being the presenting partner and for bringing nice things to everyone. Find out more about how VW is supporting U.S. [e-mail] the winner stretch of.

[B]

Soccer is here with wall to wall fixtures, Derby days, Cup clashes and so much more. You can get in on every match with FanDuel because right now new customers can bet $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right, make a $5 bet and if you win, you'll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use on goal scorer markets, assist markets, match result over unders, same game parlays and so much more. With the matches stacking up, there's never been a better time to make your move. Stay tuned to FanDuel stoppage time to hear our updated predictions for the EPL, download the FanDuel sportsbook app and get started. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. First online real money wager only $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See [e-mail] gambling problem call 1-800- gambler or visit fanduel.com rg call 1-888-789-7777 or or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny in New York.

[A]

All right, LD MLS news and notes your neck of the Woods San Diego FC Chucky Lozano not back or not in the plans for 2026. Your thoughts? And I know you have a few.

[B]

Yeah, this is an interesting one because when Chucky Lozano first came in San Diego, casual fans and soccer fans were so excited. And this is one of those ones, Tim, where you say how is this going to be? And unfortunately what happened with Chuki Lozano is people who started San Diego FC who are not technical people, not the soccer people, people who started the club said we need a Mexican player and we need to sign X, Y and Z because and ended up really pushing.

[A]

To which is valid to a extent.

[B]

Which is valid as long as the player can perform.

[A]

Understood.

[B]

And Chucky Lozano was the name they landed on. They signed him against the wishes of certainly of the the sort of technical staff at the time who didn't include Mikey Varys yet, but certainly against the wishes of the of people who wanted to run the soccer side. But they were Sort of forced to, to sign him. And you sign up, you kind of saw this coming. And then just the way they play and the emergence of Anders Dreyer, what he did at the end of the season, Chuki Lazana was like, I forget what he did at the end of the season, but he was something internal that was not looked well upon. He got benched at the end of the season. So ultimately, and I think Mikey Vera said this the right way, we respect him as a player. It's just not the right fit. And for Chicky Lozano, if he's not the right fit and he's not going to play. Yeah, he wants to play because he wants a chance of playing in the World Cup.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

And for San Diego fc, they waste, I mean, I do say that they wasted, you know, a DP spot. They're paying him $7.6 million a year and now they got to find a way out. And it's messy because he has a long term deal. So it's messy. But hopefully if both sides are on the same page, you can find a way to, to make amends for this.

[A]

Well, my, my take is, is similar. Like, look, I think that from an exit strategy, they handled it well. You know, obviously front facing wise, I think they, they handled it well. The, the, the issue is, and this will never, well, never not be an issue is you know this as well as I do. You cannot miss on big dps because when you miss on big dps, this is what it looks like. The player basically has the power, right? 7.6 million a year. Like when you're, when you're, when you're not in mls, right? And I can think of, I can think, I can think of a laundry list of examples in England, big clubs, big player, arrogant. He said, I ain't doing nothing. I'm down in tools and I'm taking my money because you owe me 200 grand a week. What happens is they go because they have a reserve system set up. You're not even training with the reserves. You're going to go train with the 18s. You're going to do double sessions with the 18s. And if you don't do every single session, we tell you we're going to whack you, we're going to fine you, right? They embarrass you. Then they say because of the structure, LD teams actually get let off the hook because you get a big name player and everybody thinks they can, they can, they can turn a big name player who's got a bad attitude into a top striker at their club. So you've got all these clubs pandering for, like, loan moves. Right. So there's all these different options to put this guy. And I'm not saying Lizano's a bad guy, but when something just doesn't go right, you have all these places to put them in mls. There's not a single place to put a guy who you just get wrong.

[B]

Yeah, you're right.

[A]

So it's really.

[B]

Yeah, you can't just, what team now is going to touch him in mls? It's like, what? Right at that number, you might. You might give them 500 grand and say, let's see if it works. But you're not. You're not using a DP spot. You're not paying them 7 million a year. So, I mean, we could be wrong. Maybe someone will help, but I highly, highly, highly doubt it. So I think it's best for all parties. Let's hope that it gets sorted out for everyone's sake. And by the way, look at the season they had. I know, with him being that bad.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, it's phenomenal. So if. Imagine they had gotten that part right and they had a real stud, like number nine or a winger or whatever, like, they could have been really nasty. Big news. Christian Espinosa, I think he is one of the most underrated players in the league. He was with the Earthquakes for a long time. Went to Nashville as a free agent. Very interesting there. And by the way, the story with San Jose is wild. I want to stress this. This was not Bruce arena who did this, but someone who was running the technical side before, literally just forgot that they had to trigger his option and. Or at least triggered the option to trigger the option. And so all of a sudden, he became a free. I mean, this is. You talk about fireable offenses, like, this is unacceptable. And so he became a free agent and. And I know they tried hard to keep him and resign him, but in the end he said, all right, well, like, guess he didn't want me. So I go to Nashville, and it makes Nashville really good because he's a really good player, too.

[A]

Really? Well, look, I. I mean, just. Just. I don't. I don't have that inside information as you do. But ultimately, what I do like about where MLS is going, we've sort of seen this over the last two years, is you're starting to see real big in interleague sort of transactions, movement. And that could be through purchase, it could be through free agency. And to be Quite honest. I think that's where. I think that's where this league is going to thrive. I do. I've always said. I've always believed this. The best players in the MLS are already. Are already in the MLS now. Can you go find one? Sure. But the amount of players that we've gone to find and failed is a really high number. Right. The ones who have succeeded the best players are already within the league. Like, I would argue that you should go get one of the top 10 players in the league versus going outside the league to bring in a player way, way better. And I don't mean messy. That's a dumb one. Oh, let's go get messy. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, if you start to look at the best players in league, Espinosa as an example, he makes your team really good.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Can you go find him somewhere? Well, I think a lot of GMs think they can.

[B]

Well, you. You can, but you probably got to pay 20 million. You probably have 15 million.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now, in MLS, the interesting thing is, like, he was a free agent. They didn't have to pay anything for him. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, it makes interesting Inter. Miami continue to add talent. Teams around the league must be livid watching this all happen. But, you know, as long as it's.

[A]

You saying, sir David's cooking the books down there, no chance.

[B]

No, I'm actually not. I'm just saying they're creative and I think people want to come play here. And we had it in la, Tim. I know we did. We had players. We had a. We had some guys who would like. Some Swedish guys. They were probably making five or six hundred grand in Sweden, and they're like, I want to live in LA. I'll take 200 grand. My family wants to live there. I'm at the end of my career. And so they signed a Palmeira center back, Mikel alone, with an option to buy. Also, like, young, young South American players are cheaper. And if you do it on a loan with an option to buy, you get them for a year or two at a really good price. They signed David Ayala from Portland for a $2 million transfer. Again, to your point, within the league, if that's the best place to get it, that's where you get it. They tried to get Tristan Blackman. Reportedly, they offered 3 million. It was actually reported in Miami that it happened and it didn't. Our guy Tom Bogert cleaned that up. So Tristan Blackman not moving to Miami. But they're getting better, man. They're Improving.

[A]

You had it. And, and as much as I think Sir David Beckham is literally a footballing God, I don't even know if. And you talked about. I don't even know if he had this pulling power. But, like, quite literally. And I don't know the books. Down, down Inter Miami. I don't. Obviously we could, we can get all that information, but there's a, There has to be a level of, like their technical director and their front office and their ownership are so much in the driver's seat. They go after a player and they go. You get to live in Miami. Oh, and by the way, you get to play with Messi. And we've won, we've won major trophies.

[B]

The last two years and there's no state income tax. And it's like there's all these things that just pile up.

[A]

You know how many people are going, yeah, yeah, just, just, just put whatever you want on the check. I, I want to play with Messi. Right. I'm not suggesting that it happens, exactly, but, like, that's a thing.

[B]

No, but there's a, it is a big piece of it. There's no. It's. It's location, it's players, it's successful club. I mean, all that.

[A]

But also, let's, let's get. Let's tip our hats to Inter Miami. They've. They've won a supporter shield, they've won the cup.

[B]

Oh, I'm not saying that.

[A]

No, no, no, I know, I know you are. But I'm just saying in general. And now they're making moves to get better, like, well done.

[B]

And, but by the way, all of that doesn't mean you win just automatically. And they've won, you know, so congrats to them. Eric Ramsey, the coach of Minnesota, went to take the West Brom job in the championship. They are currently 18th in fighting relegation.

[A]

Don't ask me.

[B]

You know how I feel.

[A]

I got my popcorn. I got my popcorn for you.

[B]

This.

[A]

How do you feel about this?

[B]

Oh, man, this is. This is bizarre. Really bizarre to me. You are now considered the man in Minnesota. You've had two good years there with a team that does not spend a lot. Why are you going? I know it's exciting to go to England and overseas, quote, unquote. But, like, what are you doing? I hope I'm wrong, Tim. I hope I'm wrong. I hope West Brom get promoted and he's the man and they do amazing. I just don't get it. And I don't get it at this point. Of the season. They are struggling right now. So what happens if he struggles? They struggle, he gets relegated. Now you're either coaching in League 1 or you're fired. And you had a great thing going in. Minnesota has great ownership group. I know people who work there, Ben Grossman there. Like, they have phenomenal people there. I just don't get it. But I hope I'm wrong. I do. I hope I'm wrong.

[A]

Well, yeah, I mean, you hope that he's making the. Eric Graham's making a move to, you know, to obviously do take the West Brom job and get him up table. Look, I. I won't. I don't suggest that they're going to get relegated, but when you take over A team in 18th place in the table in January, I think the odds are 50, 50, you know, but look, it's hard to say if, you know, the. The lure or the pull of going back home was important to him.

[B]

Yeah, maybe. Who knows? Maybe there's a personal reason.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. And I know, you know, I have a friend there that's. That's at West Brom on the board, and I. Look, it's a good football club. I played against him a bunch of times. Obviously, dropping down out of the championship is really difficult for everybody. So clearly they're making the move, know, to sort of kickstart their season. So hopefully that. That can go well. Obviously, we. We'll watch the space, but I will.

[B]

Say, yeah, I will say stylistically, he's like. They're not aesthetically pleasing the way his Minnesota teams played, but they're really effective. And so they might be saying, like, look, we don't need to be pretty, we just need to survive.

[A]

Yeah, very much so. Very much so.

[B]

Okay. Elsewhere, it's Premier League, but there were FA cup games this weekend. The big one, Macclesfield, I didn't realize him. I thought they were League two. They're like. They're like National north south or something, right? Sixth division. So Macclesfield beat the defending champions, Crystal Palace. You were part of this so many times. Like, what are your thoughts on all.

[A]

There's a magic to it. I mean, look, and. And this is sort of, you know, when we get in these promotion, relegation talks, you know, you and I, and everyone's talking about it like, this is like a Macclesfield town is. Is sort of the team I'm thinking about, right?

[B]

The.

[A]

The team who used to be fighting to try and get up the league. Now they're just rock bottom of the football League. And how do you get out of that? And what does that mean economically? And you know, we, we think about John Rooney's the managers younger brother Wayne Rooney, their center back. Sam Heathcote was. Is a PE teacher. Gym. Gym teacher. One guy works at his friend's candle business. That's Paul Dawson who scored the opener. And it's funny, it's funny other than like this is the FA cup is magical. People talk why it's magical. And for them to. For Macclesfield Town to win and knock out the holders in advance. I think we'll probably get this wrong to the exact amount. But they got like £400,000 to move on right between television and gate and next round. And that type of money, even if it's not £400,000, that type of money changes the outlook of a club that may keep them afloat, that may keep people in jobs. And I don't just mean the players, by the way, I mean the cooks and the janitors and the people around the club. This is so interesting to me. And Macclesfield Town has a special place in sort of my football brain. So in, in 2009, I think that was year eight or nine where we had, we had a magical cup run. Everton, we got to the final against Chelsea. Louis Saha scored in like 15 seconds. And I wish the games were about five minutes long because we'd have won. But we ended up losing 21 to Chelsea at Wembley. It was magnificent day. And the beginning of that cup run was now we drew Macclesfield Town away Everton. And I never forget we trained on the Friday and we got on and we had lunch at the canteen and we got on the bus and he said we're not. We said we're going to hotel but we're going to the ground first. And everyone's flipping moaning ld like, what's this fella doing?

[B]

And this is Moise.

[A]

Moisey.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So lunch, training finishes, lunch finishes, we get on the bus and Macclesfield is like Manchester area ish. Right? So we go down the road, probably 45 minutes down the road from the Everton training ground and we pull up outside this ground and he knew because he had gotten word. So we basically. He basically got us off the, off the bus and it was so surreal. Ld and there was a free. I think there was a freeze on that night. It was like. It was freeze or snow or something. So the entire town, the entire village was frantically making preparations to cover the pitch. So at Goodison in the Premier League, you have undersoil Heating, right? So they were saying, we can't have this game off. We have to play this game. So literally, they were. They had makeshift tarps. Not just the groundsman, not the team.

[B]

People had, like, their curtains that they.

[A]

Laid out over makeshift tarp, right? We turn up, these people are, like, delighted because it's like a Premier League team came to see their ground. He then takes us inside the dressing room, which was clever. Which is clever, because the dressing room was no bigger than the studio I was in, and the studio's a trillion times nicer, and you couldn't stand shoulder to shoulder. And we got back on the bus, and he basically said, like, you ain't gonna be surprised tomorrow. No matter what you do, you ain't gonna be surprised tomorrow. And that's why he brought us there on the Friday. And I remember we won. I think. I think Leon Osmond scored a great goal, but. But it was tight. It was like one nil or two or two. One. And we barely got out of there with a win, then went on to have a great cup run. But I remember thinking, like, this is insane. Like, when you get to the Premier League, you forget what the others don't have. And his. And his point was, you're going to find out. And Macclesfield Town, like, what a crazy little place. So the fact that they went through is amazing. They'll be on. They'll be everyone's favorite team this year. So who they get next and all the rest of it, it exciting.

[B]

That's amazing. It reminds me when I first went to Germany When I was 17, I was playing, like, when I first started playing the reserve games, it was fourth division. And I'm like, oh, I'm a professional now. And, like, you go to, like, Vice Essen, and you walk in the locker room and you're like, what the is this? Yeah, like, this is worse than my high school. It was wild.

[A]

We literally got changed at the hotel for an FA cup game. You couldn't get changed in the dressroom.

[B]

All right, so some managerial updates from the Premier League, because we've been following this, it looks like Michael Carrick, who is now the caretaker manager, is the front runner to be the caretaker manager for the rest of the season. Right? And then we'll see what happens after that. Interesting caveat is just this morning, Xavi Alonso out at Real Madrid. Talk about the grass isn't always greener. I mean, I know you don't turn down Real Madrid, but, like, what a good thing he had at Leverkusen. And I know he'll be fine. But that's interesting. Like, keep your. Keep your eyes on that. If he comes to the Premier League, what does that look like?

[A]

Do you think he's in the fold? Does he have to be considered for the Manchester United job now? Like, is he. Is he a name that's.

[B]

You have to.

[A]

Into the hat. Yeah.

[B]

Would he do it if they offered him?

[A]

I mean, given his ties to Liverpool? It's. It's a. It's an interesting question. I think he has enough. I think he has enough stock in sort of Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Real Madrid. As you know, I'm talking about as players and managers. He might have enough. I don't want to sound naive here because I'm very. I'm very in tune to, like, how how supporters feel about certain players. He might have enough sort of removal from Liverpool. I don't know if anyone could have enough approval from Liverpool for. For to manage Manchester United. But maybe, maybe given. Given the amazing years. And he probably had better years at. At Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as a player. Right. So maybe.

[B]

Yeah. Chelsea hired former Strasberg coach Liam Rose Sr. So that's interesting that. That is a club that is taking the. You are going to coach and we are going to do everything else, so it'd be interesting to watch how that plays out. Last Premier League News and Notes, the Martinelli Connor Bradley incident on the weekend. So I wasn't watching, but you guys were texting at all. And so I went and looked. Connor Bradley unfortunately ruled out for the rest of the year with a knee injury. And the. The interesting thing was Martinelli was giving him a bit and trying to get him off the pitch and thought he was faking it. And I don't know. What's your take on all that? It's. It's a. It's a tricky moment because, like, you're emotional. It's the end of the game, you're like, I want to win the game, get off the pitch. But, you know, and a lot of times guys aren't hurt. Yeah. They aren't seriously hurt. But this just.

[A]

That's the problem.

[B]

It looked bad.

[A]

That's the problem with our sport. Right. We. There's so many injuries that are. That are feigned and faked that like, totally when something like this happens, we. We make Martinelli out to be the devil.

[B]

Yeah. Like in the NFL or the NHL, someone's hurt.

[A]

They're hurt. Hurt.

[B]

Yeah. They're not, like, they're not fake. So, like.

[A]

Right, Like. Like and there's no. There's no draws. Right. So, like. Like what. What sport? You're like, oh, you're away from home. We have a draw. Let me waste time. Like, it doesn't. You don't do that other sports. Anyway, my take on it was exactly what I thought initially. So because we have replay, you can. You can see. You can see right away on the replay that there's a nasty twist of Connor Bradley's knee. So obviously devastating news for him. Hope he. Hope he gets better and hope the prognosis is really good. Gabriel Martinelli, again, he's a fiery player. I actually thought he got away with one because he. He goes and picks up the ball, sort of throws that, drops it on him, sort of throws it at him, and then, like, nudges him with his knee shin to, like, get him off the pitch. Doesn't look great. But you know what? We've seen it a thousand times and we actually, we. We wouldn't even be talking about this at all if the guy, like, took a knock. Who. No one would care like that. We wouldn't be talking about it.

[B]

It's because it's serious.

[A]

Because it's serious. What I think is Gabriel Martinelli, any day of the week would never have done that if he knew how serious it was. He just thought the guy was wasting time and faking injury. And I believe. I believe he's spoken to Connor Bradley and apologized.

[B]

I think he sent him a text or called him. Yeah.

[A]

Like, genuinely. And so for me, then you put it to bed and you go, look, the guy made a mistake and he never would. I truly don't believe in having covered the Premier League and watching these players and knowing these players, there's no way in the world Martinelli, knowing what had happened, would have done that. He wouldn't have reacted that way if he knew the guy snapped his knee. He just wouldn't have. So he only did it. Yeah.

[B]

So it's stoppage time. Sponsored by FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Download the FanDuel sportsbook app to get started. All right, this week is a good one. Really juicy one. The Manchester Darby always attracts a lot of attention, but I think this week in particular, with everything going on at United, not good scenes there, around the United club and locker room. Unfiltered soccer, same game parlay. This week is for the Manchester Derby, of course. And because of what I just said, I think City win this game. There's too much at stake for them. Yes, there's a lot at stake for United, but I think it's going to take United a long time to get this ship right, man. City, win the game and keep within touching distance of Arsenal. Erling Holland to score or have an assist, most likely score. I don't know how you bet against him scoring right now. The guy is in his prime. City, I believe, will be up at half. I think they come out fast and try to take this game over right away and try to end the game by halftime. I could see them scoring even a couple goals by halftime and I think it'll go over two and a half goals. I think in the end, if United are down 1 020, I think they're going to push and that's going to open the field and allow for more chances to score. So I think this game will definitely go over two and a half goals. Don't forget to check out the full list of unfiltered soccer futures on our socials later this week. All right, let's take a pause. When we come back, we will get into your questions in the AT&T fan connection with Junior right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen. This episode is brought to you by Airbnb.

[A]

You know, I travel so often to see my daughter play college soccer and we're going to some of these towns where big sporting events, oftentimes local accommodations are sold out and I'm a last minute traveler. So I, I, I need to be able to go on Airbnb and, and not have to worry about hotels and, and I think for, for locals, you know, you can post your home on, on Airbnb, make some money to then go to your favorite sporting event and also in the process make my life easier.

[B]

And look, Tim, if you love sports and, and you love fans and you want people to experience that real environment, when you host your home, you allow them to be really close to the action in a neighborhood location, which is amazing. So you can sort of give back while hosting your home and making a few bucks on the way.

[A]

Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host all right.

[B]

Timmy, we're into the new year. This year is going to be crazy. You and I can have so much going on with everything going on this summer. It's going to be wild. Stressful too. Lot of photo shoots, appearances, broadcasting, podcasting. So when it's time to choose chill, it's great to Grab a Coors Light. Relax. What I'm going to start doing this year actually is playing a lot of hockey. Got a game tonight and after the game, believe it or not, Tim, they cracked open a bunch of Coors Lights right after the game and it made me think of you and it was my way of choosing chill too.

[A]

Love it when you embrace a chill mindset. This year, it's a good time to choose chill and crack open a Coors Light. Choose chill from the start and reach for a Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit Coors Light.com/ufs or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

[B]

Celebrate responsibly Coors Brewing Company Golden, Colorado.

[A]

There'S nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done. Even without you having to ask. Like your crisp new jersey waiting for you in the locker room or a perfectly set up wall for a free kick.

[B]

Yes, we unfiltered soccer get ready for next summer. We know that very little in the beautiful game is guaranteed. But as we prepare to bring our unfiltered brand of nonstop soccer coverage, it's good to know AT and T has your back. With the AT and T guarantee, staying connected matters.

[A]

That's why in the rare event of a network outage, AT and T will proactively credit you for a full day of service. That's the AT and T guarantee.

[B]

Learn [e-mail] guarantee@&t connecting changes everything.

[A]

Credit for fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or a wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers must be connected to impacted towers at onset of outage. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details. It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT and T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions at. AT and T. Connecting changes everything. And on uslnt, our connections with you will help grow the game. It's time now for the AT&T fan connection. Junior how are you?

[B]

Junior? Under the weather?

[C]

I'm not well.

[B]

I am not well at all.

[A]

I mean, every time we're. Every time we have to deal with Landon, we're not well, this is how it goes.

[B]

You know what, dude? You know that main shirt when I went to Maine after that I got sick too. So I think it's a Portland Hearts of Pine thing.

[C]

I also got a hat.

[A]

There we go.

[C]

Cute.

[B]

It is very. Wear walnut to You Junior?

[C]

No, I. I paid good American dollars for this.

[B]

Hey, Gabe Hoffman Johnson. I know you're listening. I can't believe you made her pay. I'm doing.

[A]

No, she's a supporter. That's how it works. She's a supporter.

[B]

I know. Come on, dude.

[A]

It's good. It's good to support your friends.

[B]

He's going to be. He's going to feel guilty now.

[C]

I really want to go up there. We have family, friends who live up there and used to work for the Beaner. They used to work for L.L. bean. So I have to get up there.

[B]

And see a G. I'm sorry, do they. Did you just call him the Beaner?

[A]

Yes, I, I think we should do Junior. Hear me out here. This is for a production meeting later, but we should rent a cabin and do a live pod from like a cabin.

[B]

That'd be rad.

[A]

And then go to the game and do it from the game.

[B]

That'd be great. I mean, it's beautiful there. And cold.

[C]

I will say, Gabe Hoffman Johnson. Can we get some, like, crew necks or some sweaters or something? Because I'm not. This is a T shirt and I can't. In Maine. Even. Even in the summertime.

[A]

It's up there.

[B]

No, it's chilly.

[C]

Okay, we have a lot of things to get through today.

[A]

Let's go.

[C]

Let's start with some comments. This first one is a just a little factoid. This is From Charlie via YouTube. Tim, about your comment about college players training in the summer with USL2 teams. Last week, NCAA regulates that you can only have a max of five players from one college. In other words, you're going to have to spread your roster to six USL 2 teams. They will get training, but not all together.

[A]

No. The NCAA regulated something. I'll tell you this. I don't think they want soccer to be very good because these coach, like, like a college coach in America sees his players like for three hours a year. It gets. No, like, you don't get time.

[B]

It's actually ridiculous.

[A]

You don't get time to train your players.

[B]

It's ridiculous.

[A]

So I, I. Yeah, okay, sure. I'm sure they regulate it and we. I'm sure it has to be spread across, but, like, who knows? Yeah, fair.

[C]

This one is from Parker via email. The listener question last week about why the guys hate Arsenal so much and the responses to that question peaked. As a referee. These sentiments are exactly how I and almost all referees feel as a referee. Why would a referee care at all about who wins a match if Somebody makes a dumb foul in the penalty area, we call a penalty kick. While there is a ton of gray area in the nitty gritty of decisions, bias isn't involved. Also, the teams only remember missed calls that went against them and have no memory of the ones that went in their favor.

[B]

So true.

[A]

It's so true. And the funny thing about it is, like, I. That's like, a real narrative. When you talk to, like, I don't particularly Premier League fans, they go so hard, oh, this guy doesn't. And they remember everything the person didn't, like, do for them, and you're just like, it's not. It's not like, just stop.

[B]

But it's just like that. In the NFL with Patrick Mahomes, there's. It's just like, this narrative that, like, the refs are giving him every call the league has, like, wants him, and I'm like, just shut up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, God, it's so ridiculous.

[C]

I also just think that, like, no matter what your job is, I hope people take pride in doing it well. And so I would hope that the referees also just want to do their job well.

[B]

So, by the way, they make mistakes, they get fired.

[A]

Like, that's the one caveat to that. I. I would say. But this.

[B]

This.

[A]

No debunks. The myth is, like, do I think referees are swayed by big players, big moments, and big team? Yes, I do. I do. Right? But here's what I would say. The only people that complain about refereeing decisions are the big teams. So I'm like, wait, you're getting. You're getting the calls anyway, like, ld. Have you ever spoken to a Liverpool fan? If you've ever spoken to a Liverpool fan.

[C]

I'm sick, guys.

[A]

The world.

[C]

Can't you be nice to me?

[A]

I lived and played that. The world is against them, against them, and that's. Yeah, but you live for a football club.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

Look at all the things. Like, look at all the things you get. But the world's against them anyway.

[C]

The world is against us. Every time we go somewhere, they treat us horrible.

[A]

It's awful. And you had nothing to do with that? Nothing to do with that. No. I'm just.

[C]

No, I just live over here in America trying to do my job the best I can. Okay, here we go. Some questions. This one is from Ben V. Email. I'm curious. Oh, my God, I love this. I'm curious if you could do some more digging into the Rapids coaching change, why would the Rapids hire Chris Armis and then fire him? After two seasons that weren't that bad, they didn't really give him time to implement his system. Was this a power struggle like you talked about on last week's episode? Is Matt Wells just going to go along? And he sounds like someone who wants to be in charge and doesn't have any experience with the MLS roster model. As you said, he's coming into a club with limited resources. Did Armis choose to leave because of the club budget restraints?

[A]

I think that it's a good question. From what I think I know there was. I think they. I think they were apart on numbers, let's say that. I think from a contractual standpoint, in terms of compensation, I believe that. And then from there. And you'll have to do your own homework. I think there was some miscommunication between parties. Club player, agent, agent, club player, that sort of triangle. I think there was some. I think there was some miscommunication.

[B]

Or maybe Armis, remember, he had a. Like a bad press conference at the end, and that didn't help. And I think. I don't know. I'm. I'm just. I. I would be shocked if Chris Armis, who desperately wanted to be a coach, got a job in Toronto, didn't go well, went to Colorado. You only get really two chances, maybe three as a coach. If you get fired three times, you're not coaching again. Like, you're really not. And I would be shocked if he, on it by. On his own will, said, I'm. I'm not dealing with. Unless there was some personal reason or family reason, or it was so untenable that he just said, I'm not doing it. I don't think he would have just left. That's my opinion.

[A]

And I can say with experience, there's. Colorado. Isn't that type of place where things become untenable?

[B]

Yeah, I think it's. I never got that impression either.

[A]

So, anyway, it's a good question. Yeah. To your point, you know, and when you start to get, you know, three fires on your CV without tons of success, I think that that gives you a mountain to climb. Look, I think Chris Armis is a good coach, so the likelihood is he'll get another opportunity, probably in the mls, if not abroad, if he wants it somewhere. So at what level? I guess we'll see.

[C]

Okay, this next question is from Josh via email. Did either of you ever see yourself as a professional in something other than soccer, or were you soccer all the way?

[A]

As in, like. As in like athlete? Is that.

[C]

Yeah, like another sport?

[A]

Oh, I'm still waiting on my NBA 10 day contract. Like, there was a time, there was a time.

[B]

Tell your boy Jason, kid.

[A]

I could do it. I could have done a job at the end of a bench for 10 days.

[B]

I could have been a hype man for 10 days. I never, because I, I played all sports, but not competitively. But I would play soccer competitively, but when I got from home from school, it was baseball, basketball, football, hockey, roller hockey, anything but soccer really. So I played all those, but not competitively. I always wanted to play baseball and tennis as I got older, but it was, you know, that train had left the station and I was, I was all in on soccer, but I would have loved to have played those sports too.

[A]

I also think there's like, like there's like 0.5% of the athletic population that can like do both sports. The ones you hear about, obviously the 0.5%. But like, I was really good at basketball, but like, could I have played at any other level? No, not really. You know, so like it's so hard.

[B]

Although Tim, I would say if you had started at like three years old and you were all in on basketball the way you were soccer.

[A]

Sure, sure.

[B]

But I maybe made it 100, but I would have, not a star or whatever, but like maybe made it would.

[A]

Have put the 10,000 hours in. Right. So.

[B]

Right, that's my point. You know, people ask me, they're like, well, you were just born to play soccer. I, like, I could, if I played tennis from three, with all the things that I have going, the dedication and the work and all that I would.

[A]

Have been a player. Definitely that, that part, yeah. I'm just saying as it, as it was playing both sports coming up through high school and whatever.

[B]

Yeah. But playing both at the same time, no chance.

[C]

So are you saying that somebody who has, who currently is or has been a successful professional athlete was destined to be a professional athlete regardless of which sport was introduced to them at a young age? Or do you think like, there are certain sports that you're like, I don't think I could have been a race car driver.

[B]

I could not have played basketball due to physical constraints.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, I, I, I probably could not have played hockey because everyone's six to two are taller. Right. But if I had started and played tennis or baseball at the same. Because there's so much more that go into the sport to being a professional than just being able to save a ball. Tim had to have all the other things that come with it. And if you can do it in one sport. You can do it. That's translatable, no question.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. But I also think the. You get. You find out a lot about sports. Like my. My. My daughter, God bless her, she did cheerleading for one year. You know what we found out after one season? She's not a cheerleader. Right. But. But she was a soccer player and a basketball player. And. But. But you start to. Any parent sort of figures out you help your kids get into activities. Like. Like a perfect example would be Venus and Serena Williams. Their dad put them in tennis because there was a. A viable avenue for that. Or Tiger Woods. His dad put. Put him in golf because he was at a golf club. But, like, if. If you. If you would have told me, given their background, if the Williams sisters were good at softball or basketball, would they be. Given how their upbringing was, would they have been the best? Yeah, they'd have been the best because they had a father and a mother who supported them, who drove them, and they had ability. So if they had that specific technique. Yeah, they would have been professional no matter what. For sure. Yeah.

[C]

Should we do a new rule?

[A]

Oh, no. I'm kind of enjoying this.

[B]

New rules, everybody.

[C]

So this is not. I. I just want to. This is not a new rule. We didn't get any really good new rules. You guys got to do better. I'm not talking to the two of you. I'm talking to you, listener or viewer. You got to do better with these new rules, get more creative. This one is basically asking you about the. What they're calling the Arsen Vanger rule, right? Changing the offside rule. So this one's from Mike via email, and shout out to Mike because he coaches women's soccer at SUNY Brockport, which is in between Rochester and Buffal, New York. So Mike says hockey's offside rule only requires a part of the body, even just a toe or a skate blade, to be on side for an attacking player to be considered on side. I think soccer should adopt this. It would bring back the spirit of giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacker, result in more goals and even more. Well, let's try that again and even improve the experience of the video review for the fans who won't feel so shafted when a toenail was offside anymore. What do you guys think?

[B]

Love it.

[A]

So the Arson Vanger thing. Remind me. It's called. It's Clear Daylight. That's what he says, right? Clear Daylight.

[C]

You have to be entirely offside to be offside.

[A]

Right. Like a full Clear line between the attack. Yeah, look, I. I would say. And you know, this Landon, that would not create mortals, that would create so many more goals. Like. Like, if you could. If you could be. I mean, when players are. When players are a fraction off Landon fraction, they usually score. If they're a complete body, sort of daylight between them and defender, we'd have. We'd have 20 times more goals.

[B]

I. I love it. I've said this forever. Not Visa, not specifically about what it exactly looks like, but I don't understand why you're trying to eliminate goals from the game. People want to see, especially in our country.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, they want to see in baseball, there's a reason why the tie goes to the runner.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

They want people on base. They don't want you to be called out because you get there at the same time. So I've just. I've always said, like, make it more feasible to score more goals. That's. You don't have to get gimmicky or whatever. But I'm saying the offside role can be adapted a tiny bit so that it gives the attacker a little advantage. Yeah.

[A]

All for it.

[B]

It's hard to score, man. It's hard.

[C]

I really. I know this is, like, not even that important, but I hate when they score a goal and then everybody suddenly looks at the referee, you know, so there's like, no celebration. And even the fans are like, oh, no, they're about to ruin our whole day.

[B]

Like, we didn't play with that, so I don't even know what that joy out.

[A]

It's terrible.

[B]

It is. It really is.

[A]

And I love var. So I. I know you guys.

[B]

I do, too. I agree with that. I just. I would have hate to have scored, went and celebrate, jump into the Riot squad and the ACB and whatever, and.

[C]

You'Re like, why do you love var?

[B]

Because I want to get it right.

[A]

I think it works. It gets it right.

[B]

I know how hard it is to score, and if a goal got called back in or if got called incorrectly, I'd be livid. If it was a good goal, I'd be livid.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know. I like it, but I also. I also think you probably need to, like, given what you're saying about celebration, you almost probably have to, like, allow the team to close, celebrate again. I know it's. I know. I know it sounds crazy, but, like, if everybody's like, if it's one of those long ones where everyone's like, walk back to the center circle. We're like waiting. If he blows for a goal, get down the other end.

[B]

You get a minute to go.

[A]

It's like, NFL shirt off.

[C]

No yellow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Actually, if it's a var and it's allowed, you should get to take your shirt off.

[A]

I just.

[C]

As somebody, and you guys know, I'm such a perfectionist about the show to an annoying degree. I also want to get things right, but I just feel like at some point, like, isn't human error part of the. Part of what makes the game a game?

[A]

No, no. I mean, if you can eliminate it, I'm gonna eliminate. We should have var on this show you're obsessed about. What was the.

[B]

Should var. What was the.

[A]

What was the show? That around the horn.

[B]

Was it. Yes.

[A]

Where they had.

[B]

They could do errors at the end.

[A]

At the end. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I would have to come in here and let Landon know that he earlier said that Connor Bradley was hurt over the weekend. He wasn't. That was Thursday.

[A]

Oh, there an error.

[C]

Yeah, it's an error.

[B]

It's probably time to go, J.

[C]

Just a reminder that you can send me your questions or your new rule. Please get creative. Don't let me down to feedback@unfiltered soccer.com. also, please continue to be polite. I do really love the people who insist on writing their emails to you like I don't exist, which is absolutely hilarious. They're like, hi, Landon and Tim. Here are the things I'd like you to talk about.

[A]

Here's what I would say. This isn't about you, Junior. It's not about. You know, it's not. It's a Tim and Landon show.

[C]

And, you know, one of these days when this head cold just takes me under, it'll be someone else reading these emails anyway, so it's really not relevant us.

[B]

It is about you and Junior. Feel better.

[A]

Feel better, J.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

All right, Timmy. Another show that went fast.

[A]

That was fun.

[B]

I've got a photo shoot today, and then tonight, hockey game.

[A]

Wait, wait, wait. Second.

[B]

Hockey game.

[A]

How excited are you for photo shoots now? Do you style your hair?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That's nice.

[B]

When I got makeup, like, do you need hair? I used to be like, just put a little shine so the forehead. And now I'm like, yeah, you got a lot of work to do.

[A]

Do that. It's amazing. Do they. Do you. Do. Do you tell them you're wearing a wig or do they know it? I know it's.

[B]

First of all, it's not a wig. No, it kind of is. I don't know, actually if I've done one like this now with it.

[A]

Amazing.

[B]

Be interesting.

[A]

See if they find out behind the scenes. Send behind the scenes.

[B]

I will, I will. I. I'll let you know. All right, guys, thank you all for being with us. As Always, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify anywhere you get your podcast. Follow us social media @ Unfiltered Soccer for lots of bonus content. Thank you, VW. We love you guys at&T our Fan Connection sponsor. Love you guys. And FanDuel, our stoppage time sponsor. Love you guys. Thank you so much. We'll see you guys next.

[A]

Week. A lot of love coming from uld. Thanks also to our unfiltered refresh sponsor, Coors Light and our additional sponsor, Airbnb. Have an amazing week. We'll be back next week with a new episode of Unfiltered Soccer.