Phil Neville talks Timbers Slow Start, David Moyes, Sir Alex Ferguson & the United Class of '92| Unfiltered Soccer

Summary

Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard

Episode: Phil Neville talks Timbers Slow Start, David Moyes, Sir Alex Ferguson & the United Class of '92

Release Date: March 24, 2026
Guests: Phil Neville (Portland Timbers Head Coach, ex-Man United/Everton/England)
Hosts: Landon Donovan, Tim Howard

---

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a rich blend of thoughtful analysis on current USMNT and MLS narratives, raw opinions from two US soccer legends, and an in-depth, wide-ranging conversation with Phil Neville. Timbers’ slow start, international player dilemmas, and iconic Premier League stories are all covered. With the 2026 World Cup looming, Donovan, Howard, and Neville break down roster controversies, the evolving US soccer landscape, and timeless lessons from the legendary Ferguson era.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. USMNT March Roster Controversies

[02:52–07:33]

• Gio Reyna’s Inclusion:

  • Despite playing only 28 minutes in 2026, Reyna is selected, surprising both hosts.
  • Donovan: “I was pretty surprised. He’s played like basically 00 soccer in the last few months.” [03:12]
  • Howard: “It sort of makes me feel vindicated… The list is not long for our country [of creative players].” [03:32]
  • They debate talent vs. form and agree Reyna’s “superstar quality” is rare, thus his place is justified if attitude is right.

• Noah Kai Banks’ National Team Dilemma:

  • Dual national undecided between US and Germany, declined recent US call-up.
  • Donovan (Fired up): “If someone does not want to play for your country, good riddance. Goodbye. And I’m not mad at him… But now I don’t care about you anymore.” [08:14]
  • Howard and Donovan agree US Soccer shouldn’t “beg” for players’ allegiance.

2. Transfer Drama & MLS/CONCACAF

[12:30–14:24]

• Ricardo Pepi/Fulham Saga:

  • Confusion over conflicting reports (Fabrizio Romano shout-out), Fulham’s hesitancy, and PSV’s firm stance.
  • “Don’t get it fast, get it right,” Donovan says about the rush for scoops.
  • Players like Pepi must push deals as clubs will "move on." [14:23–14:24]

• CONCACAF Champions Cup Fallout:

  • Inter Miami exits to Nashville—a “devastating” and surprising blow, despite Miami’s prior focus on this trophy.
  • Nashville praise: “They are becoming a very good together — good team, good support and all that.” [15:51]

3. Premier League & Carabao Cup (Unfiltered Refresh)

[16:13–18:54]

• Man City beats Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final, ending Arsenal’s shot at the quadruple.
• Focus on City’s Nico O’Reilly and Arsenal’s team management choices.
• Emphasis on the difficulty and rarity of trebles/quadruples.
• Howard shares a Sir Alex story about being dropped for big matches—“at a big club, it's about winning.” [17:33–18:54]

4. World Cup Playoff Predictions

[19:10–21:07]

• Quick-fire picks for final qualification spots.
• Donovan: “Bolivia will win, Jamaica win, Italy win, and Ukraine win.” [20:49]

---

FEATURE INTERVIEW: Phil Neville (Portland Timbers Head Coach)

[22:53–64:38]

Phil Neville on Timbers’ Rough Start & Manager Life

[26:15–27:54]

• International break offers a "mini preseason" to reintegrate injured players and regroup.
  • “It allows us to breathe, get players back, just reset a little bit.” [26:34]
• International absences as a managerial “torture”—constant worry about players’ fitness abroad.

Lessons from Sir Alex Ferguson & David Moyes

[27:54–29:37; 34:10–35:33]

• Sir Alex never coached training but had an unmatched ability to “manage different personalities” and sustain hunger.
• Moyes provided relentless intensity and was “phenomenal with standards.”
• Both succeeded by doing “the simple, basic things elite every single day… and managing people.” [34:26]

MLS vs. Europe: Adjustments and Surprises

[29:37–32:01]

• Cap system & roster management described as a “jigsaw” that can force managers to compromise on talent for budget.
• “I kept asking for a center back in Miami… [but] it was a forward, it was a forward.” [31:23]
• Travels, climates, and tactical sophistication exceeded Neville’s expectations.

Portland Timbers: A Special Club

[32:01–34:10]

• Parallel drawn to Everton’s community passion—a “family club” with relentless fan engagement.
• “Portland Timbers… is Everton.” [32:38]

On Locker Room Standards & Generational Change

[35:33–38:33]

• Recalls Everton blowing a 2–0 lead at Arsenal: “Before the manager walked in, you guys blew up at each other… Moisey didn’t say a word.”
• Now, he sees global tendency for less self-policing, more “suffocation” by coaches, and “pampered” generations.
• “We control, we suffocate, you know, the growth in a lot of people.” [36:38]

Manchester United’s Class of '92 & “Winning with Kids”

[39:44–42:58]

• Initial fearlessness and mutual belief turned skepticism into legendary success.
• Team-building over tactics: “We never practiced set plays. We never did formations…We competed every single day.” [41:44]
• Neville tries to replicate this focus on youth and relentless standards with the Timbers.

Tactical Trends & the Evolution of Football

[45:11–47:07]

• Sees a shift away from luxury players towards physicality, running, and competitive mentality—exemplified by Arsenal in 2026.

On Punditry and Media Pressure

[47:17–50:52]

• Blunt condemnation of modern English punditry: “Punditry worldwide, especially in England, has got to the point of being a disgrace.” [47:17]
• Players suffer psychological impact from social media and constant scrutiny.
• “I think it’s bullying what’s going on with Liam Rosenior now.” [50:06]

Neville’s Role Player Experience at Man United

[52:37–54:28]

• “The games where, like, it was on the line, I was always involved…he trusted me in any position." [53:18]
• On being left out: “He used to say, ‘We don’t win league titles without you’...I felt a million dollars.” [53:54]

Vivid Stories:

Everton vs. Ronaldo; Eggy Boff; Locker Room Antics
[54:28–59:35; 61:03–63:59]

• Laying a “turning-point” tackle on Ronaldo: “That was probably the most important, probably action I ever did at Everton, because…I almost became one of them after that.” [55:18]
• Hilarious tales of locker room pranks (freezing water, open doors), team traditions, and “eggy boff”—loyalty-testing games where players can't move without permission; featured in both Everton and England squads.

MLS vs. Premier League Comparison

[59:42–61:03]

• Inter Miami could “compete to stay up” in the Premier League but cap restrictions are severe.
• “The level of the MLS is, I think, rising every single year…MLS is an unbelievable place to work, to coach, to play.” [60:00]

---

Memorable Quotes

• “If someone does not want to play for your country, good riddance. Goodbye…Now I don’t care about you anymore.”
  —Landon Donovan, on national team dual-nats [08:14]

• “We never practiced set plays. We never did formations…We competed every single day.”
  —Phil Neville on Man United’s ‘92 culture [41:44]

• “Punditry worldwide, especially in England, has got to the point of being a disgrace.”
  —Phil Neville on media’s impact [47:17]

• “He made you feel the most important person in that squad.”
  —Phil Neville on Sir Alex Ferguson’s man-management [53:54]

• “You don’t remember the games. You actually remember those moments.”
  —Phil Neville, on team camaraderie and eggy boff stories [63:49]

---

Important Timestamps

• Gio Reyna debate: [02:52–07:33]
• Noah Kai Banks rant: [07:34–12:12]
• Ricardo Pepi transfer saga: [12:30–14:24]
• CONCACAF Champions Cup: [15:07–15:54]
• Premier League, Carabao Cup, and manager/locker room stories: [16:13–35:33]
• Class of ’92 discussion: [39:44–42:58]
• Eggy Boff and locker room pranks: [61:03–63:59]
• MLS vs. Premier League: [59:42–61:03]

---

Additional Segments

Fan Questions / AT&T Fan Connection

[67:33–81:54]

• Discussion on USL/MLS pyramid unification: “It’s not gonna be easy…But if the right money and conversations happen, there is a merger at some point.” [70:59–73:30]
• Debate on players ‘retiring’ from national teams vs. being phased out.
• Hosts’ “Mount Rushmore” of music artists for light-hearted banter (Boys II Men, Billy Joel, etc.).

---

Notable Moments

• Phil Neville relives carrying squad traditions from Everton to Manchester United—highlighting how culture, trust, and “winning every day” are what players remember most.
• Emotional stories about player loyalty, trust, and the importance of being more than just “a starter”—echoing a humility missing from many sports icons today.
• Unfiltered takes on dual-nationals, player recruitment, media drama, and shifting soccer trends prove the “unfiltered” mantra at every turn.

---

Tone and Energy

• Warm, candid, and often hilarious—banter between old friends forms the backbone, punctuated by blunt positions and storytelling.
• Deep respect for managerial greats (Ferguson, Moyes) and the traditions that shaped their winning cultures.
• Passionate, sometimes blunt, advocacy for American soccer’s integrity and evolution.

---

Summary

This episode showcases vintage Unfiltered Soccer: heated takes on player allegiance, honest criticism of modern soccer culture, and priceless inside stories from the heart of English football. Phil Neville’s guest spot elevates the episode, offering managerial wisdom, humility, and hilarious anecdotes about the hidden glue of great teams. Soccer fans—especially US and EPL aficionados—will find both lively debate and genuine nostalgia for what makes the game special.

Essence: If you want pure soccer talk—no fluff—and lessons from the legends who built and lived it, this episode is a must-listen or, thanks to this summary, a must-read.

Transcript

[Phil Neville]

Was with the England squad. And we. It was tallest building in Chicago. We had this, like, function dinner and we all got in the lift with Svengar and Ericsson and Peter Crouch went eggy boff. Nobody get out the lift. So there's 15 players in this lift going up to the 140th floor of the tallest building in Chicago. And we're going up and down in the lift. And Sven keeps saying, why? Why you stay in the lift? We must have been in there for an hour, and I was literally perspiring. We went up there 20 times, up to the top and bottom. Eggy boff. Nobody out the lift.

[Landon Donovan]

Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for over five years.

[Tim Howard]

Welcome into Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen ld I had the weekend off. That's all you need to know.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, what you do Hamptons?

[Tim Howard]

No, I flew to Louisville to watch the Lady Vols play Notre Dame. It was like the halfway point. Louisville between South Bend spring soccer soccer team.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, I forgot. They play in the spring.

[Tim Howard]

Five games.

[Landon Donovan]

Aren't they changing? They're changing soccer.

[Tim Howard]

Eventually.

[Landon Donovan]

College soccer.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, eventually.

[Landon Donovan]

You get.

[Tim Howard]

Don't change. But anyway, went there and then I flew back to New York and I spent yesterday in Central park because it was glorious. And you. You get good weather all year round. We. We're just breaking the spring.

[Landon Donovan]

So I was in New York last week and I was. I mean, you'll appreciate this because you like the finer things. I was at the Ritz Carlton, had this amazing room overlooking the park. You know what? I didn't realize they have a lake in the park.

[Tim Howard]

I never knew that Jackie Onassis Reservoir, I think, is what you're referring to.

[Landon Donovan]

But I actually never knew that.

[Tim Howard]

There's a lot.

[Landon Donovan]

I looked out the window and I told my wife, I'm like, there's a lake here. Just like, yeah, you idiot. It's gorgeous.

[Tim Howard]

Tell the people. So also tell the people. So you were. You were in New York for a book signing, and I think at one point it was Union Square. And when I mapped that for me, it was like half a mile. And I just thought I. I scrolled through my text and I was like, landon, Landon, Landon, Landon.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, you didn't get it.

[Tim Howard]

I didn't get the text. Oh, I didn't get.

[Landon Donovan]

Sometimes when you don't have service happens like that.

[Tim Howard]

This is what people don't realize. We can be Literally in the same city, in the same town. We probably don't see.

[Landon Donovan]

It's a lot going on, man.

[Tim Howard]

Lot going anyway.

[Landon Donovan]

All right, guys, please follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show on YouTube. Make sure you follow on Apple podcasts and Spotify, and as always, you can email Jordan at Feedback. Unfiltered Soccer. All right, Tim. Exciting week. I am flying later in the week to Atlanta.

[Tim Howard]

Are you.

[Landon Donovan]

You're going to be there or. No, I'll be there.

[Tim Howard]

I'm going San Francisco, Atlanta, Minnesota. So I'll be in Atlanta with you.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, great. So two games this weekend, Belgium and Portugal. Is that right? I get them all mixed up.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Belgium and Portugal. The US USMNT on uslnt. So let's go a little bit into the roster and we're going to dig into this more again later. The first thing, there's a lot of talking points, which I love. I love when this happens because there's just opinion and lots of stuff going on. So first thing, let's talk about our guy, Gio Reina. Yeah. I don't know your reaction when you saw he was on the squad. I was, I. To be honest, I was pretty surprised. He's played like basically 00 soccer in the last few months.

[Tim Howard]

I mean, going back to his move to Gladbach in, in August, he hasn't played a ton.

[Landon Donovan]

Right. Like very little.

[Tim Howard]

28 minutes in, in, in this calendar year, it's. It sort of makes me feel vindicated. I know that sounds crazy because I'm thinking he ain't played a lot of. Ain't played a lot of soccer. I still, I still think, and you and I could argue this, that, I mean, what can he offer right, in a player who hasn't played a lot? But for me, talent wise, I've gone through the list on this show a thousand times. Tab Ramos, Johnny o', Brien, yourself, Clint Dempsey, his dad, Claudio Reyna, Christian Pulisic. Like, the list is not long for, for our country. I mean, other, other countries are just like a laundry list for our country. Talented players with sort of the, the football I IQ and the. We don't produce those type of players with respect. So. But to, to your point, Pochettino, see, must be seeing this the way I see it because he's a coach and he's basically lays down the law and goes, you're playing, you're not playing. You got to do better for your, for your club. Whatever the case is, he's given Gio Reyna another shot, which I think is very impressive.

[Landon Donovan]

Well, I, at this point, I don't even think it's another shot. I think he's going to be on the roster really well, if he's here.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

I mean, he hasn't played soccer since the last time they saw him. So here's my thing. When you have a 26 player roster, I've said this over and over, you have a few guys who have some sort of superstar quality that are different. And the. The comp here, and the guy who got left off, in a lot of people's opinion, is Alexandejas, who's in Club America. And I was down in Mexico City doing a shoot this weekend, and I was with a guy named. Or last weekend with a guy named Luis Garcia, who played for the Mexican national team for a long time. And I asked him about Zendejas and he said, Landon, he's really good. He watches him week in and week out. He covers the game. He's a broadcaster.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

And.

[Landon Donovan]

And he said he's really, really good. And this guy plays every minute for Club America, big club in Mexico. But I think, you know, with Pochettino, I thought he had said or he had alluded to, like, you need to be playing if you're going to be on this roster. But clearly that's not the case. And that's okay because Gio has a superstar quality. He can do things that other guys can't do. And so you don't need, you know, in. Zendejas is a good player, but you don't. We don't need another central midfielder. We don't.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Or that type of attacking midfielder. You need someone who's got something different. And I get it.

[Tim Howard]

I think you're. As I read through the notes that we sort of went over in our production call and listened to you talk. Now I think he's on the roster. And you know why I think that? Because you made a good point. So since he got to Glodbok, five starts, 14 appearances total, zero goals, zero assists.

[Landon Donovan]

Right.

[Tim Howard]

No, but hear me out. If you. If you're a Pochettino and you're. And you're now saying he has. What did I say, 25 minutes in 28 minutes in this calendar year, your assumption then, as a manager, you're basically saying there's a likelihood that Gio Reina doesn't play more than 60 minutes between now and the end of the season for his club. Right. So he's.

[Landon Donovan]

So.

[Tim Howard]

So Pochettino has resigned himself to that. He understands that. But I think to your point, if he knew, if he, if he believes that, then he wouldn't bring him into this camp. He'd just go, well, you're not going to play the rest of the season for glob. I'm not bringing it. Why would I bring in a march that makes no sense? So I think to your point, if he's going to bring him in, he's on, not only on the radar, but he's on the roster. Well taken.

[Landon Donovan]

And he, he proved it last camp, right? Yeah, I mean he scored a goal, he had an assist and he, you know, he was good.

[Tim Howard]

He's on my, by the way, he's on my squad.

[Landon Donovan]

If I'm in your squad, he's on my squad. As long as he understands from off the field attitude, all that, as long as that's good and I have to assume it is now, then he's absolutely on my squad too.

[Tim Howard]

Good.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay.

[Tim Howard]

I can't wait for this next one. I can't wait. You're fired up.

[Landon Donovan]

Ah, man. I, I, So Noah Kai Banks.

[Tim Howard]

Noah Kai Banks. Okay, so it says he's unavailable for this game.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Way.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, whatever. So Noi Banks deciding between the US and Germany. And we've had this discussion before he got called into camp. He declined the offer. Po's quote was, he's in a situation that's not easy for him at the moment. He was very clear in the situation that he's not available to be selected because he has still not made his decision who he wants to play for. I hope for the usa that the decision will be for our side. The whole Federation is supporting him and not trying to convince him because it's not about convincing. It's about showing that we, the Federation, really care about him. Okay, So I have a lot of problems with this. I have a problem with Go Pochettino. I understand. Sure. He, he may or may not be here when Noah ever makes that decision. So he's, you know, he's, he's saying what the Federation wants him to say and the Federation standpoint, and in particular Matt Crocker, who, who makes these decisions. If someone does not want to play for your country, good riddance. Goodbye. And I'm not mad at him. I'm. And I, he can make his decision. But now I don't care about you anymore. I don't, I don't care about Noah Kai, if, if he does not want to play for the U.S. totally fine. I get it. If he feels more German. I've always said make the decision where you're passionate, whatever. Clearly, if he wanted to be a part of the US Team, he's been in many camps, Tim. He's been in camps. He's been in youth camps. The federation has been on him for a long time. And this whole notion of us, like, begging him to play for our country is bullshit. Yeah. Like, dude, if you don't want to play for us, don't play for us. That's fine. And stop this game. And like, I don't know, you know how many times we've been through this story. I'm going to tell people a name. I don't even remember his name. I think it's Jonathan Gonzalez. Maybe. He was this young kid who was, like, playing for Monterey and he's like, I don't know if I want to play for the. Guess what? Never heard of him again. And he, by the way, he didn't play for Mexico either. Sure, sure. Just stop this game, dude. If you want to play for us, play for us. If not, go away. I'm totally fine. I don't. I don't begrudge the kid. I'm just done with it. Done with it.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, well, I knew you were fired up about this. Look, I, I've said this before, and again, you and I have worn that shirt hundreds of times and love the, love US soccer and everything that it's about. The fact of the matter is, and you and I continually say this, US is second fiddle to a lot of people. Like, like, we love it. Our, our listeners love the US Men's national team. We love it. But there are kids out there who very. There's a likelihood he doesn't play for Germany, by the way, of course. And, and he's choosing that. Think about this. He sort of. He plays a position that we need, that he could go and play in a World cup and be a part of a team that goes to a World cup and be. And be an impactful player. And that's going to. What that says for your career. He's declining that to. For a maybe. For a maybe.

[Landon Donovan]

Well, by the way, it's clear, though, that what the federation is telling him is that the door's still open. This is just a classic, like, negotiation because they've left the door open for him. Now he's like, okay, then I won't choose. I'll take my time. They should have said, I need to know right now. In fact, I need to know yesterday. Totally. You're either in or you're out.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

And if you're not in, you're out.

[Tim Howard]

How about this one? Yeah, but if he. If he choose. And you and I have talked about this, if he chooses to play for Germany, right, And let's say that doesn't work out. He has a. He has a one time switch.

[Landon Donovan]

No, no, no, no. Don't, don't.

[Tim Howard]

I'm just saying. I'm just saying if you're US Soccer, once he chooses Germany, move on. Move on.

[Landon Donovan]

If he chose Germany and then decided there's no. No way.

[Tim Howard]

There's a way given Tim.

[Phil Neville]

Not.

[Tim Howard]

Not in my book.

[Landon Donovan]

I will lose it. No chance.

[Tim Howard]

I know you will. I'm just saying there's a. So anyway, U.S. soccer, you know, make sure that that's the case that we. Because it has to be a. We can't be someone second choice. Simple as that.

[Landon Donovan]

No, I. This is your country. You're not. This is not playing for your club team.

[Tim Howard]

I agree.

[Landon Donovan]

You either care or you don't. About. I mean, it's just.

[Phil Neville]

I.

[Landon Donovan]

This one boggles me. I don't. I. A lot of things I see like as gray and not black and this. It just blows my mind. Anyway, let's move on. Okay, so this Ricardo Pepe stuff, first of all, what's the guy's name? The reporter's name? Fabricio.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. God.

[Landon Donovan]

This one. Jesus. It was on. It was all. It was like, dude, don't get it fast. Get it right. Because he said it was on and then he said it was and I just can't listen to this guy anymore. Okay. So it looked like. This is just bizarre. Looked like he was set to go to Fulham. PSV Director of football affairs Ernest Stewart. Ernie played with Ernie. Ernest Stewart said the clubs could not agree on when the deal would be made official. So Fulham wanted to wait for him to get through this part of the season before they officially signed him. And PSV was like, no, you're. You're signing him. He's your player now in case there's an injury or something. So I actually agree with Ernie.

[Tim Howard]

I agree with Ernie. Yeah, yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

It's like you signed him, you're paying with. He's yours. Right? So like. But it also tells you with Fulham, like, you're obviously concerned about his. His injury or his injury history. So, you know.

[Tim Howard]

Well, the interesting part. The interesting part is, you know what popped into my head?

[Landon Donovan]

It was.

[Tim Howard]

And you know, I don't necessarily agree with the outward sort of demonstrations, but this is very. This is very much a case of. Do you remember when Alexander Isaac down tools at Newcastle and like, no, I'm. I'm going to Liverpool again. I don't suggest you down tools, but this is a, this is an instance for me where if I'm Ricardo Pepe, I'm, I'm. I'm raised in hell. I'm saying, look, everybody, let, let's just get this right. I'm going to be in London, make sure those papers get signed. Somehow, somehow, whether that's, whether that's pushing your agent through the door and saying, like, get like. I'm not saying that Ricardo Pepe was sitting on his hands. I'm saying sometimes in, in these situations, you got to go full tilt. Because by the way, he needs to be in the Premier League if that's where he wants to be. Like, he, like. And it's not like, oh, ho hum, we'll see what happens this summer. Because like, by the way, Fulham will move on.

[Landon Donovan]

Yep.

[Tim Howard]

Full of will move on.

[Landon Donovan]

They'll find someone else. Yep. So. And Josh Sargent just did that, by the way. He was like, look, I'm going to Toronto, so let's figure out how we're going to make this happen. And he did all right. Curious how you guys feel about the squad for the friendlies, Tim. Not as excited. I feel okay about it. We will have another special podcast released later this week where we're going to go even deeper on all this and then talk about the upcoming friendlies with Belgium and Portugal. So make sure you do not miss that. All right, Last thing here. CONCACAF Champions Cup, Inter Miami. Go out to Nashville. You've said over and over, Tim, all their eggs were in this basket and yikes. I mean, they did back it up with a win at New York City this weekend, but you could feel the devastation, man.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I, you know, I stood by that because I just thought it was. It was a trophy they didn't have in the trophy cabinet. And yeah, I'm sort of surprised by it. But, you know, the. It's hard as. You know, it's hard to continually win every single year. And they've won every single year. Well, last couple anyway, so that part, I think is difficult. Can I say Sam Sturch, massive fan of his, by the way. Yeah, he's a really, really talented player. I mean, I. It's not like, that's not like, news. He was really good last year as well, but I'm just.

[Landon Donovan]

No, but the addition to Christian Espinosa has made that team, like, really nasty. We have to give credit to Nashville, too.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

It's not like Miami played like Nashville Are becoming a very good together.

[Tim Howard]

Good team.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Good team. Good support and all that.

[Landon Donovan]

Yep. So the quarters will be Nashville, Club America, lafc, Cruz Azul, Tigres against Seattle and Toluca against the Galaxy. So all Mexican MLS matchup,

[Tim Howard]

It's time for the unfiltered refresh. Sponsored by Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to Coors Light.com USLNT all right, LD, it's pretty easy to figure out who chose Chill this week. You go.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, yeah. City beat Arsenal 2 nothing in the Carabao cup final. I didn't realize because I'm not like in the Arsenal stratosphere all the time. They could have done the quad that is now reduced to. Could do the treble, but they lost two. Nothing to see. I know it is hard, but for City, look, they want to win the league, of course, but this is a nice feather in the cab, our guy, Nico O'Reilly. Both goals. You forget about him. He's a good player, man.

[Tim Howard]

Well, you forget about him because Pep started him out, you know, with Pep doing the inverted fullback. So he always playing the back four. One of the. One of the fullbacks would go inside of partner Rodri as the six, and they basically play with three at the back because they dominate possession. So that's what Nico O'Reilly was doing as a left fullback. He was inverting and then all of a sudden we're doing lineups like, I don't know, a month or two ago, and we're like, wait, Nico Riley's a midfielder? Like, he's put. He. Peps played him as a midfielder, so obviously he sees something in him day to day.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, he has the quality and he has.

[Tim Howard]

He has good qualities running going forward. So, yeah, pretty impressive.

[Landon Donovan]

Do you think this impacts Arsenal at all? Going for. Is it just a. Whatever and whatever do you think this is like, oh, shoot, I think they have enough.

[Tim Howard]

I think they have enough of a cushion in the league that's not going to affect them. They wanted to get this trophy. Look, when people talk about the quadruple and the trouble, I'm like, just. It means nothing. It's. It's a pie in the sky if you can win the treble. A treble. Liverpool's done a semblance of a trouble at one point. City's done a treble recently, man. United 99 did it. But like you, no. No one's in trouble. So, like, if you're in. If you're in four competitions at this point, you hope to win two you know, or you should. And I thought this would be one that. That they'd like because it's the first. It's the first one, right? It's early on. It's in April, so you're like. You're like. Or March. You're like, can we. Can we get this in our pocket? Which, like, sort of propels us to. To get some more, but didn't happen. But I think they're okay in the league. I. The interesting part is with Kepa playing, which I didn't. I didn't like that decision. Kep, David Raya. And I just remember when I was at Man United and I was playing in the cup, it was a league cup, which I think we went on to win that year. And Vanisar was playing in league, Edwin Van de Sar. And I was getting to, like, the semi final, and I was, like, buzzing, I'm gonna be playing the semi final. And Sir Alex Ferguson was like, come, come sit here. Come sit next to me. And I was. I was bummed. I was so angry. I was so angry. But it taught me, like, big club winning. It's about winning. So I was surprised. The decision.

[Landon Donovan]

Well, they might not get the quad, but I think they're going to win a title or two, so they'll be fine. But cheers to you for choosing Chill City and congrats on Carabao Cup. All right, it is stoppage time. Sponsored by FanDuel. New to FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can score up to 300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days from bets that don't win. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. All right, amazing week this week. The World cup playoff games happening. We're going to find out who the final six countries in the tournament will be. I love this. This is so exciting. Matchups. Bolivia, Suriname, New Caledonia, Jamaica, Italy, Northern Ireland and Ukraine. Sweden. Okay. Bolivia and Suriname. This is a sneaky one. And Suriname do have a chance. I do think Bolivia win. They're the better team. They're the more experienced team. But don't count out Suriname. There is. There is a scenario where they could win, but I still think Bolivia win. New Caledonia, thanks for coming, but you're not beating Jamaica. Jamaica are not great, but they are certainly better than New Caledonia. So I expect Jamaica to advance. Italy, Northern Ireland. This is a great one. We keep putting faith in the Italians. We all want them to be part of this World Cup. It would be incredible. And I am going to pick Italy to win this one. Ukraine, Sweden. This one's tricky. Ukraine obviously don't get to play at home, so it makes it more of a neutral site. I, I think Ukraine are slightly better and I think they end up winning this game, but this one's very tight. So in summation, Bolivia will win, Jamaica win, Italy win, and Ukraine win. Don't forget to check out the full list of unfiltered soccer parlays on our socials later this week. All right, guys, remember to subscribe, as always, please. We're going to take a quick break. We're. When we come back, we're talking to our former teammate and Portland Timbers head coach Phil Neville, right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. As always, presented by Volkswagen. The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen. It's really easy to become a passenger in life, to sit back and watch life go by day after day.

[Tim Howard]

Of course, it's hard to do your own thing when everyone is following everyone else. But this is a call from me and ld, from Volkswagen and from all the other drivers out there. Make the most of every day.

[Landon Donovan]

Choose a different path, Take control, grab the wheel and get in the driver's seat of life. Because honestly, what are you waiting for?

[Tim Howard]

Live life in the driver's seat. Learn [e-mail] LD MLS is back.

[Landon Donovan]

Yes, it is. And you know what that means. Saturdays are once again all about soccer.

[Tim Howard]

Walmart is making Saturdays of soccer even more glorious with Walmart Saturday showdown. From early practices to late night watch parties.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, Walmart and MLS bring every emotion of the beautiful game to Saturdays. Joy, nerves, excitement and unforgettable colossos.

[Tim Howard]

Walmart plays on Saturdays. Who knew Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. All right, LD we oftentimes have guests, but we very rarely have guests who are amazing friends. One of the funniest people we know and a legend. And because I know him so well, and because you know him so well, I oftentimes forget, and I mean this with respect, six time Premier League champion, three time FA cup champion, was a member of the famous, world famous Manchester United team that won the treble in 1999, capped by England 59 times. None other than, than our dear friend Phil Neville. Phil, what's happening, man? It's good to see you.

[Phil Neville]

Amazing friend.

[Tim Howard]

I mean, that's the best.

[Phil Neville]

I mean, you've not called me in about four years. Tl.

[Tim Howard]

Well.

[Phil Neville]

And you call me an amazing friend.

[Tim Howard]

I. It was every day for 10 years, I had to put up with you. Like, I can go a few years without calling you. It's.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Can I just say, I swear on my life, I still have nightmares about hearing Phil go, landon, Landon back, right, left. I mean, I had, it's like ingrained in my head. That's fizz. Honest question, who was the best right midfielder you ever played with at Everton?

[Tim Howard]

He's not on this call.

[Phil Neville]

How many games did you play, Lander? I mean, you used to come for Jet in January and earn about $3 million and then go back to America, didn't you? About a month's work and I was on. I was in about 50k a year. And you just came in for six games and everyone loved.

[Tim Howard]

Also a lie.

[Landon Donovan]

That's smart. I'm smart.

[Phil Neville]

No, I, I think, well, I mean, we had Leon Osman, Stephen P. He was obviously. You was obviously high level. I mean, the first time you came, I think we didn't know what to expect from you. You didn't know what not know. You didn't know what to expect from us. And, and it was just. Seemed like something just clicked straight away with the club, with you, with us, with the boys. And we had a great team at that time. And no, you wasn't bad. London, to be fair. Yeah. And you did, you did track that. I remember playing Arsenal away and they had, I think it was Robert Perez on that left hand side and I said, landon, you just need to double up here a little bit. This, this French guy is not bad on this left.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. You're like, listen, this isn't la. You have to. This is Everton.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Howard]

David Moyes, we're gonna defend for a bit. Okay? Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Can I tell you, the first, literally the first training, so I don't even know if you remember this fizzer, but like the first training session I had, so I was like buzzing around, running and whatever, and I came and I sat down. I was like feeling good about myself and I was like, good training, lad. And, and to somebody. And Phil walked in, he said, landon, did you not train today? Were you injured? I said, what do you mean? I was. You didn't say. And I went, oh, you idiot.

[Phil Neville]

Do you know, in them first couple of weeks, I remember, I remember obviously Tim Kale was there. I remember going to Tim, I said him, I don't think he gets me landing at this point. I don't think he gets my joke, my banter I think he thinks I'm, like, a little bit weird. You know what I mean? And then obviously you realize I was.

[Tim Howard]

To be fair, it wasn't just a week or two. Most people thought. Most people thought you were weird and didn't get you. That's amazing. What was his. Do you remember? I mean, part of Landon coming to Everton was just banter. We just got to banter him. Do you remember what he wore the first day? And then every day, and then every day for the rest of the week.

[Phil Neville]

Can I tell you something, Tim? I remember what you wore the first day at Man United. You wore a suit. Suit that must have been passed down the. The family from, like 1882. It was that baggy on you. It was unbelievable. If there was any wind, you would have flown off in that. Honestly, it was the most horrendous.

[Landon Donovan]

Your first day too, Phil.

[Tim Howard]

I've signed for Man United. I hit the lottery. It didn't matter what I wore.

[Phil Neville]

Tie was. Your tie was dripping down to your knees, honestly. And I thought, what the. Have we signed here? I think Bex looked around and thought, no, he's not for me. You.

[Tim Howard]

Wow.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, that's so good.

[Tim Howard]

Amazing. Good times.

[Landon Donovan]

Fizz. Let's. We have a lot to talk about and we could just talk all. All day, but what's. So you guys are now in the international break, right?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

So what's that like now, as a manager? I always wondered this, because as a player, you kind of get to get away for a bit and so, like, where's your head at now, as. As you go into this? You have two weeks, right?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, we have two weeks. It's. It's really weird because if. If you was like in the top four, you'd be on the golf course today. You know, you, You, You. You'd probably be a bin. But because we've. We've started the season not great. We've. We've had a lot of injuries, so all the injuries are back sort of like this week. So it's really a week where. Yeah, it's really a week where we're integrating six, seven players into the group. So it's almost like a mini preseason. So. But what it does do, it allows you just to breathe a little bit, you know, like when you're going from game to game, you know, it's the same as a player, you just. You're on that train, you're not getting off that treadmill, and it allows us just to breathe, get players back, just reset a little bit. And the Big thing for a manager is, is seeing your players go away and hoping that they come back. We've got four or five away, four or five starters. You hope that coming back from say for instance from Africa or from New Zealand. These are long flights and you want them back. You know that's. Watching your players play in international games is a torture for the managers. You just think like we need Finn Cernan back or we need Alexander Ravini to come back or whatever, whichever player it is because you're building your team around that player for the next game. Do you know what I mean? So it's double edged sword. You get to spend a little bit more time with the family, but it's still, there's still some intense work to be done. So it's hard to switch off really.

[Tim Howard]

How much of that, Phil, when I think of the managers you play for, legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, clearly one of the greatest or the greatest managers in the history of football. David Moyes, who you had a really close relationship with as the captain of the club. Some really good England managers, some really interesting England managers. How much of that do you sort of take into your own career in moments like this?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, well, you do because you know the, I mean we've all, we've all played for David Moyes. He doesn't switch off. The best managers don't switch off. They always say, you know, you got to switch off, you got to find a hobby. You have no time for a hobby when you're in this job as a player, you know, time for a hobby. And as a, and as a manager you've definitely not, not got time for a hobby. So I think it is a 24 7. I learned from the best. And I put David Moyes up there with Sir Alex Ferguson because he's. His longevity, his consistency is phenomenal. And you just got to be relentless in anything that you do. And I think that's for anything that you want to do in life. You just got to be relentless. And I think the trends in football nowadays are moving that fast. Within the last, I'd say six months we've gone from, I don't know, a pep style to a more PSG style to a set play style. So you've got to be, you've to be ahead of that trend all the time. Do you know what I mean? So, and that means you can't that, that means you got to be watching football from all over the world. You know, the good thing about being in North America is, you know, I was watching, I was watching Tigrez vs. FC Juarez last night and, and that's like, oh, why are you watching that game? Well, there's trends from all over, all over the world. And I think that's, I think that's what sets like the managers that have longevity apart from those that are coming and drop out the game very quickly, you know.

[Landon Donovan]

Phil, what was your. When you came to America? What, like, what were the biggest differences? Just in, in football or in obviously as a manager? Like, what did you notice? Right. I remember when Becks came and at that time, MLS was not what it is now, and there was just, there was a lot of shock for him. So, like, what were some of the things that surprised you or that were unique to America, do you know?

[Phil Neville]

You know, the biggest thing, the big thing was the cap system. I struggled to get my head around the camp system at the time. And, and what I, I had a brilliant GM at the time at Miami called Chris Anderson, who's now at Atlanta, who was at Seattle. And it, you know, it was, it's like a, it's like a jigsaw. And in some positions you've got to give up on talent just to fit that player into your office. So I think, I think the first thing was the, the roster and the second thing was just the size of the country, the travel, the different climates. I think, you know, people warned me, oh, you'll get frustrated with certain sort like players that, you know, like from the supplementary roster to the max town. And I was never, I was never sort of like, for me, I thought there was a really good standard. I think the standards have been great. People said to me, oh, you know, tactically you don't need to do much. I think tactically in this league, it's been unbelievable since day one that the amount of coaches that have come into the league. So I think the big thing for me was the cap system is, is how you can maneuver. I think you've got to have geniuses working your cap system to actually help you win. I think you've got to find ways around that kept system. You've got to, you've got to be clever in the positions that you invest in. There's a lot of top heavy rosters where the forwards that, you know, everyone wants to put the money into the forwards and not. And the forwards who are being paid millions are complaining against players that are earning the less money. That, that just didn't make sense at the time for me. You know what I mean?

[Tim Howard]

We talk about this.

[Phil Neville]

It was that it was that bit that I wanted. I kept asking for a center back in Miami and it was like, no, no, it's. There's a forward, it's a forward. Yeah, but I want a center back that can be like my yacht Stam or you know, like that kind of. No, it was a supplementary roster player as a draft pick. And, and that bit, I kept thinking, well, if we keep the goal out the back of the net, then that'll give us a great chance of winning games of football. But I got it, you know, and, and there's a moment when I speak to a couple of English coaches that are coming over now. There's moments when you think like, like, like what's happening? You just got to go with those moments and say like that's the adaptation to the league.

[Tim Howard]

You know, I find it fascinating the league. We've both. Landon and I've been in the league for, for a long time. That being said, you're in a play. So your indoctrination into the league was Inter Miami. And there's fanfare with, with what that looks like. But Portland, Portland's a special place, Phil. I mean the Thorns and the Timbers, I mean they're selling out. That, that. That city is crazy. And there's not many like, there's not many cities like that in. No in, in America. So what's that sort of been like? Has that surprised you? Because it surprised me as a player.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah. Do you know, it's, it's Everton. I, I feel like, I feel like Portland Timbers when I came in that day and, and the owner, the owner, you know, we had Bill KE guys, didn't we, who was just like that. That guy was, was in love with his football club. And we've got someone similar in Merritt Paulson. And I just think that like everything about the club is, is like our experience at Everton family club, it's part of the community is passion. The home games, you can, you can go to some away games like some games in Miami. When I first got there, you know, the atmosphere was just okay. And every home game, every home game at Providence park is like, is intense. It's like. Oh, it's, it's. You know, the phones played on Saturday. I think there was the highest attendance in the, in the NWSL yesterday before kickoff. The. The. It's a, it's a passion and, and that's why I've fallen in love with, with the club because it just reminds me of that. You know, you think about the Gladys street and you think about those times when you walk up to the stadium and there's people there and the passion and they live for this football club and they're demanding, but that, I think that's what American soccer clubs need. They need demanding supporters that put pressure on their manager that, you know, that are not happy when you lose. You know what I mean? And I think that I've played for two polar opposite clubs in the, in the mls. Both had incredible strengths. One, one club wanted to take on the world and, and this club here wants to just be a special club, you know what I mean? So it's been great.

[Landon Donovan]

Phil, we talked about Fergie and Moisey, what I guess what were their greatest attributes as managers. I, you know, I spent little time with Moisey but what, what made them special, what makes them different and special?

[Phil Neville]

I think they were brilliant at managing people. I really do. I think, I think so. Alex. So Alex could walk into a room and tell you how you felt. He could have a sense of how you feel whether he was up or down. He could manage, he could manage you. Landon different to Tim. He could manage Tim different to me. He had this special quality. Never coached a training session, never did, never did a drill. He just had this knack of picking the right players who were hungry. He believed in young players. And I'd say that when I went to Everton, my first talk with David Moyes was exactly the same. His passion, his hungriness, his intensity, his standards were incredible. Sir Alex and David Moyes standards were just through the roof. You know, if you weren't at that level every single day, then you weren't part of his group. And you look at him now and you know, I speak to the same people you speak to in terms of his longevity. He just does this. They do the simple, basic things. Elite every single day. And I think that is a special quality to have. And they manage people as well as the. Obviously the great coaches as well, you know. And I think they know how to build great football teams and that's, that's a special skill.

[Landon Donovan]

Let me follow up on that fit. So yeah, Tim and I talk a lot about this and I don't know, I can't speak to. It's the same in England, but in America there is. I'm generalizing here, but I want to tell a story. When I, the, the first game I play, we play Arsenal away at the Emirates and we're up two nil, if you remember. And they scored two goals late and when we walked back into the locker room, I'm thinking Part of me is thinking to, you know, getting a point away at the Emirates is not a bad result. Right. And then as you guys walked in, before the manager walked in, you guys blew up at each. Not YouTube, the whole team. This is unacceptable. We cannot do. We just gave away two points, blah, blah. And I was thinking, whoa. And it was so much so that Moisey didn't say a word. He didn't have to. Yeah, because you guys all controlled the locker room and you were letting everyone know how you felt. This generation, it feels like that is lacking. And do you experience that? Have you experienced that as well? And if so does it also happen in England? And what is that in your opinion?

[Phil Neville]

I think it's worldwide epidemic. I really do. And what I would say is, is that I think, I think we're part of the problem. I think, I think we as like managers or as managers, fathers, parents, adults, I think we spoon feed, we control, we don't give any freedom to, you know, like I, I actually yesterday I always do sort of like in and out of possession, game plan slide before the game. And I went in there and I said guys, you know the game plan. They all noticed I'd write no slides to the today because really the slides were for me really just to make sure that I've told you so, you know what I mean? So I think and what that means is, is that in situations on a football field when things do change, players are like they're looking over at the bench all the time thinking what do we do now? Rather than just finding a way to win a game of football, finding a way to survive in life, finding a way to earn money, you know, and I think, I think this is the society nowadays means that we, we control, we, we suffocate, you know, the growth in a lot of people. And I think that's something that we, we try and work really hard at training scenario planning, we work hard at training, even just training character, you know what I mean? We, we had a situation in training on Wednesday when you know, we've been on training grounds and, and there's been arguments, there's been fights or there's been nearly those type. We had a trade on, on Wednesday when one of the players smashed into one of the young ones. Somebody went over and sort of like, you know, had a go and called him out and I was loving it. And the whole like club went oh, no big problem. This is actually quite healthy, you know what I mean?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Phil Neville]

And it created this panic. Oh, there's no spirit no togetherness. I went, no. This shows that there is spirit, togetherness, you know, So I think, I think we're a victim of how we've changed as a society. Really where. And, and I, and I, and I put down this, is that.

[Landon Donovan]

There's, that.

[Phil Neville]

It's, it's our, it's our fault. We've created this pampered sort of like, approach to this generation.

[Tim Howard]

You know, that's a really good segue because when I think of. And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this, because I want to give you the floor and our audience deserves sort of listening to you pontificate about this. When I think about Sir Alex Ferguson, and for those who don't know, there's a famous quote in the British media when he was bringing the class of 92 through you, Gary Scalzi, Nikki Butt, Ryan Giggs, Becks. And people said, you can't win with kids. And that's a very famous British quote. And we know what happened. He won with kids. So sort of retrospectively, can you. Because as a kid, you probably were raring to go and he, he gave you guys this license. But now that you're older and you look back, talk us through that time, like, you weren't. You kids weren't supposed to be in the Premier League doing what you did and like, what that relationship was like as you came through. And then ultimately, if you, if you can get us to the treble season where all of you are essentially together and that's the culmination of. Not kid. You can't win with kids. Led to winning with kids. And what's. What was that like?

[Phil Neville]

Well, I think, I think at the start, what, what you have as a youngster, you, you've, you've obviously not failed, you've not bumped down, so you have, you have a little bit of a fearless attitude. Attitude. You need people to believe in you, which we had. And, and I'd say at the start, it, it didn't seem real. We, we all went in for our first game, we lost, we're 3 nil down after 20 minutes in Aston Villa. And, and I'll be honest with you, when you think at the time we, we sold some great players, even, we were probably thinking, or I was thinking, oh, this manager. What's this manager doing? I'd prefer Lee Sharp in the team or Andre Konchelski or whatever. But, but when you have people that believe in you and you have people that believe in, in, in what they're doing, You. You then start to form these incredible bonds and friendship and, And Tim, I relate it back to what, what David Moyes did to us at Everton. We had. We. He put together a young team of Lescot, you, Arteta, Cahill, myself Fell, Jagielka, Lescot, Baines, Hibbert, Peanut. Like, he. He didn't just do that because he won. He went to a bingo shop and just. No, he put the right people on the right boss with the right mentality and then said, we formed a bond that was almost unbreakable. And that's what, that's what sort of like happened with us. We went. It wasn't just one kid going into a team, there was five or six of us went into a dressing room and then what that meant was, is that we bled Man United, we fought for Man United, we had a manager that believed in us. The club ethos was all about bringing through young players and, and then all of a sudden you sprinkle that in with the most important players, which were the players that were coming in from the outside. The Van Nistelrooys, the Yorks, the Coles, whoever. You then had an incredible, incredible spirit and people even nowadays. My owner asked me about tactics and all that. It wasn't tactics. We never practiced set plays. We never did formations, we never did. We never did patterns. What we did is we competed every single day. That was the ethos of our training at Everton and at Man United. We competed every single day. We. Everything was a competition, everything a. Was a. Was an intensity to our work. And, and I can't remember a session at Man United in Everton where it was just like, right, you go there and then you roll in there. No, it was like, whoever's nearest the ball, get and go and sprint to the ball. And if he's going to the ball, you've got to cover and do you know what I mean? It was like in, in the first part of the game, if London comes short, spins in behind, plating behind, squeeze. It was like. And you see, you see nowadays where I was saying to my coach yesterday about, oh, we want to build in a three at the back, you know, which is the modern thing. Oh, well, well, back then we never used to say that, but if one fallback went, the other one stayed. So you have three, it's just out. There's that much rubbish on the Internet and tactics from pundits and all that is that we just, we just lose track of the actual. It's a competitive sport and you get the right people on the Bus. And I'd say that what happened at Man United was. Was. I've got to say something that we're trying to replicate here at Portland. They say you can't win the MLS with kids. We've invested in young players. We believe in young players. And. And I believe that we can win now, whether that's this year or next year, but I really believe we can. And for that, you need, from top to bottom, you need an ethos of everybody believing in the project. And at Everton and Man United, we had that. We had the greatest.

[Tim Howard]

It's really interesting because anecdotally, I remember. I remember a team talk, Phil, and you would have been in it, and it wasn't much of a team talk, but we, you know, we'd come to. We'd get to Old Trafford, we'd have our lunch, and then we went into the players lounge. And I remember the manager coming in, turning the lights off. And this is like my first, you know, first week I got there, two weeks, he turned the lights off. I think we were playing Villa, I can't remember. And he puts the. He puts the. The. The video on for, like, the tactics and what we're going to do for the day. And no one said anything. He let. He let it run. So it was the offensive play and then it was a defensive place. And then the lights came back on and he went run forward pass, forward tackle. And it was. And I was like, this is the greatest manager in world football.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tim Howard]

And I was like, okay, that's how it goes. And there's a trust.

[Phil Neville]

He did a session, the only session he ever did. Sir Alex. I think Brian Kidd was away, or Steve McLaren was away. He put. He put four columns out in each corner, you know, like, so it was not, like looking sexy when he put phone calls out in each corner. So, right, possession, that was. It never blew a whistle. Wasn't like four times two minutes with one minute in between. It was just an hour of possession and everyone was going, what? The ball kept going over the line. There was no cut. And it was just like. It was just. And I thought to myself, the greatest manager of all time. You think about stories about Ancelotti, Angelotti was just a genius of a manager. Why? Because he does the simple things really well. He manages people. He manages people. Every club that he goes into, he doesn't talk about philosophies or principles. He gets a set of players and says, right, these set of players can do this or. And that. That's for me, is I think we're going away. I think there's too many people trying to go away with. Trying to talk and act a good game when really football is really simple, that the coach is actually complicated, you know.

[Landon Donovan]

Do you think, Phil, that the pendulum now is beginning to swing back with Arsenal's success? Maybe, because there it. You know, I don't. You guys know Mikhail a lot better than I do, but they, of course there's tactics involved in what they do, but they basically compete really well, really good on set pieces, hard to. Hard to score against, hard to play against. And so I. You see these trends, right? When Pep squadio or when Peps Barcelona started, everybody started doing it. And now if Arsenal win one or two or three trophies, do you see other teams will start to adapt?

[Phil Neville]

I do. I think when PSG got rid of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi, I thought that the pendulum swung. Then it was almost like you can't carry passengers anymore. You can't have players like you, Landon, that just stay up the field and just wait for the counter attack, you know what I mean? And I thought it. Because it came back to being a running, athletic, exciting, rather than a static sort of like possession game. So I thought, I thought it changed then. Mikel definitely is invested in a certain profile of player, an athletic discipline, tall, physical, you know, that can compete at both ends of the pitch. And, you know, I think. I think he's. He's invested really well in his team. I think they'll win the Premier League by. By. By a mile. I think they're just the best team in the country with the best depth. And, And I think they are. They are real competitors, you know what I mean? And I think that's the way that football's going really now, where people. That the luxury player is going out the game for sure.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I want to. To. Because I think the Premier League is the best league in the world because it has the most money. When you have the most money, you can buy quality and abundance. Right, we see that.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

And you can invest in your youth system and you can bring players through. I sort of. When I, When I watch and cover the Premier League now, it. I sort of feel like it's gone back in a really good way to a bit of the old school. A bit of like, the games are hard and rough and tumble and yes, long throws help add to that.

[Phil Neville]

Right.

[Tim Howard]

Keeping the ball alive in the box adds to that. But you're sort of seeing now there was a bit in the middle where Pep came In, you know, again over the last decade. And football. Football is a copycat, so it starts from the top. So if Pep does everything, every other manager, even the poor guy at Southampton, who decided, I'm going to play like Pep Guardiola even if I lose 16 games. Right. But as opposed to. As opposed to sort of really being physical. So you. You would. You would sort of agree with how that's gone back to basics, really?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, I think. I think it has gone back to running, physicality, athleticism. I've got to say, there's a lot of the Premier League games I don't like watching.

[Tim Howard]

Yes.

[Phil Neville]

And I've got to say, some of them. I've been really disappointed in the level this year. Now, I. I think that there are. There's a lot of fear and you can understand that, Tim. You're obviously at the sharp end of it. There's a lot of fear. Three, four games and you're out with job or. And. And players. I think players are being suffocated because of the weight of expectation. I think I've got to say my big, big. My big bugbear, being out in America and watching what goes on. I think Pondatree is a disgrace. I honestly think punditry is gone. Not, not, not you, Tim. I think. I think NBC do a great job. I think Ponder Tree worldwide, especially in England, has got to the point of being a disgrace way. I think to myself, those pundits back in England I don't think could play today. I really don't think those pundits could be players today with pundits like them, you know, and. And that's where I think. I think some of it's disgusting. I honestly, I really do. I think it's like you, You. You wear something and your performance gets blamed on what you wear. You go somewhere, you have a car, and I'm like, guys, you just need to. You just need to remember that you are part of that family of footballs that you. We need to protect these young kids that are coming through. You know what I mean? I look at the Anthony Gordon situation, I think it was last week, and then when the truth comes out that he had been vomiting for three days and people was questioning whether he had. And I'm like, that. That, for me is just. Ponder, for me is. Is almost part of the problem with the Premier League at this moment in time. And I said, you say, well, it shouldn't affect you. Imagine the influence that those pundits are having on social media, on. On clickbaits on newspapers and I really think it's a big problem. And, and I do sometimes watch and I feature myself. I, I, I think you should shut your mouth type thing, you know what I mean? Because there's too much.

[Landon Donovan]

It's way different now Phil, than when we played, right, because we didn't have social media where every little piece and it used to be where you don't, your job was not to like protect and say something nice about everyone every time. But you did your homework, right? So the Anthony Gordon things are great. You did your homework and then you said it in a, in a nuanced way where you say look, he knows he's not played well today and he knows he has more quality than that versus just going off and saying whatever comes to your mouth without any pause or thought. I totally agree. And you know, in England this was, this was alarming to me. When I went to Everton, first of all nobody was writing about soccer in America so it didn't like matter at that time. But when I went to Everton, of course every newspaper, the sun and all like it's, it's, it's everywhere. And in the morning when, when we would eat in the cantina, all the newspapers would be spread out on the table and I would think to myself, well of course nobody's going to read that garbage. And every, almost every one of the players was sitting there reading through it and I was like, oh my. So it does have an impact.

[Phil Neville]

You're right. You can feel, I don't know if you remember that is that on a Monday morning. Used to get graded, didn't you? Used to get like a mark out of 10 and if you got, got, if you got a six out of 10 off a reporter that was a local reporter and you thought you played well, you would go for that reporter next time you saw him. And, and, and, and, and that's why I think about like the modern day pundit now. They couldn't, they couldn't put up with being given a 6 out of 10 in a newspaper. Never mind some of the abuse that them, their families, their wives, their girlfriends, that, and I'm like, and I know that, you know it's the way of the world but I'm like it must be incredible. You think about Marcus Rashford or Jude Bellingham or, or Saka, you know, some of these, even Liam Racing you now, I think it's bullying what's going on with Liam Racing. I just, because the way he speaks, you got an intelligent English coach that's speaking really really intel that's been abroad, that's done his homework, that's done. And now he's just being bullied. And I just think to myself, like, it's, and, and you say, oh, it's just social media. No, it's this Influences from all those media outlets and pundits are just filling people's heads with the narrative. And I just think, like, it, what makes me really enjoying my time in America. People say, oh, do you want to get back to England? Well, you know what? You know, I love my work out here. I can work. I could. I've got a great owner. There's obviously pressure and expectation, but Jesus. Everyone I speak to in England, every top manager that I speak to in England say, phil, it's horrible. You know what I mean?

[Tim Howard]

So the Liam Rose senior one is interesting. Phil, I want to take you back. I ask you this because I had the, I had the good fortune of being in and around you in these moments. For people who don't know, and this is probably a backhanded compliment, but for people who don't know, Man United, when you were there, they could buy. You talked about the class of 92, but they could buy the biggest, best players. Anybody who wanted. If Man United was in for you, you didn't go anywhere else. You went to Man United but in the biggest games. And Man United played in a lot of big games, particularly around Christmas, particularly at the back end of the season. Yeah, you were always in Sir Alex Ferguson starting 11, but you would always play in the six. You'd always play as a fullback. And in the biggest games, he had to name a team that he trusted. Did you fe. Did. And you always featured. And after you left Jisung park, became that player where not the fanciest but, oh, we're playing Arsenal, we need a result. We're playing the Champions League. This guy's going to play. So did you feel, did you feel that responsibility when Sir Alex Ferguson gave you that shirt in those moments?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, because, you know, I didn't play every game. And I remember going away with England once and the late Svengar and Eriksen was there and he said, oh, do you get frustrated at Man United when, you know, you play in every other game? I went, I went, no, I play 45 games a year. You know, we used to play 60, play 45 games a year, you know, for the, for the best clubbing. And I knew that every time it came to the game, you know, whether I'd play in the final or not, I, I, it was always 50, 50. The final, it was Dennis O and Gary. I accepted that. But the, the. The games where, like, it was on the line, I was always involved. Whether I came onto the pitch, you know, Inter Milan, away Juventus, at all, whether I knew that you could have like six or seven, six or seven subs on the bench. But I knew that I used to warm up all game because I could go on in any position. He trusted me in any position. He would. He would put me on there to do any kind of job. And. And so that meant that he used to. He used to. You. You've obviously been pulled by Sri Alex to be left out the team, Tim, at times. And he used to pull me in and he used to say. He used to say, I'm not playing you today, but we don't think. We don't win league titles without you. And I was like, he bullshitted me earlier, both. But. But I. I actually, I asked. I went home and I felt a million dollars and I went to my wife, high five there. And I said, well, we don't win league titles. But, you know, he had this way of making you feel the most important person in that squad. And, you know, everybody had a role. Olega Solskjaer had a role. And he said, you know, everybody had a role. And. And if he was part of that inner circle, be part of that trust, then it was. It was a really special place to be. And you know what? You know, you didn't really care whether you played or not, because he was part of something bigger than just starting on a Saturday. That's how I always felt. He was part of something bigger.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. It's interesting because I think you. And then I want to bring you that. Then that anecdote about how Sir Alex Ferguson, man, managed people, was incredible, and he really was. And then you took your experience, all of the experience, and you brought it to Everton. You had a brilliant Everton career. I want to take you to one moment that I want to ask you about. It's. The sun is shining. We're at Goodison. We're playing Man United. I can see the blue, I can see the red. And the great Ronaldo was on the other side and you laid a tackle on him. It was a vicious tackle, Phil. It was an. Early in the game.

[Phil Neville]

It wasn't that vicious, Tim.

[Tim Howard]

It was. If anybody can watch it for your level, it was vicious. And so what was the mindset going in? This is your former team. You played them before. We're at home, it's Ronaldo you clearly were trying to do something in that moment.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, I wanted to win. You know, it was like just a competitiveness, you know, I. The only thing I remember about that tackle wasn't the tackle, because if you. If you watch it back is that Ronaldo just gets straight up. Ronaldo rolls over and then he just gets straight up. Because we trained together, we knew that that's how we trained. Geek skulls, Ferdinand, three really close friends comes charging at me and, you know, you think, I remember Osman, I think it was after the game, said, I thought they were your mates. And I was like, well, yeah, yeah, they are. But this. This is competitiveness, you know? I mean, Tim, how many times have we just gone, like, effing this, effing that, and then your game's finished and it's done. It's like, that's. That was like. That was what drove us on. And that was probably the most important, probably action that I ever did at Everton, because all of a sudden it flipped to. I almost became one of them after that because they always saw me as an ex Man United player who loved the club, who had a brother at the other club. Club. And that moment was really. It was really a turning point for me. And, you know, but it was just. That was. That was what it used to be. You go out there and fight for. For 90 minutes. You go in. You go in the shower after the game, and you're all. You're all sort like, have a beer and. And just move on with it, you know?

[Landon Donovan]

I love that fizz. Last thing for me and then last question for me. I remember. I don't know if you're. Well, of course you remember this. I just want to share a story. I think it was the first day. I was in the locker room as well, and I went into the. I went into the. To the toilet, to the bathroom. And I remember Tim. Tim walked. You guys already know. Tim walked by and he said, hey, man, I just gotta tell you, leave the door open. And I said, what are you talking about, leave? I'm not gonna leave the door open. Someone else walked by. They said, landon, just. Just please leave the door open. I was like, hell's wrong with these guys? So I go into the bathroom, I close the door. I'm there for like 15 seconds, freezing cold, ice water on my head. And I was like, oh, I should have left the door open.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Where did this come from?

[Tim Howard]

Like, Phil hated this, by the way.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, I hate it.

[Phil Neville]

Seriously. I thought it was the most disgusting. The most disgusting. I loved it thing, and I'll tell you a funny story, right, is that there was a. There was an ex Everton manager that came to work at Man United called Walter Smith, right? Brilliant, brilliant person. So we were. He was at Man United for, like, three months, and we were playing Manchester, Man City away. And Scalzi goes into the toilet, I think, and Walter Smith's got the door open while he's. While he's taking a number two. And like, Walter's obviously an older coach, and he comes back out and goes, what the. Going on in there? So then three months later, I go to Everton and. And obviously the water comes over and I'm like, oh, it's an Everton tradition. And that's where. And I. I used to think to myself, like, people used to just go to the toilet. Tim, you. Was the word go to the toilet. You come round and he's got his paper. And I'm like, tim, go to the toilet. Down the road, just go to the Little Chef. And I'm like, I could never go to the toilet before a game.

[Tim Howard]

Here's the funny thing, honestly. So there's a bunch of people in America listening to this podcast who have no idea. So Alan Stubbs, I think it was Stubbs or someone before, sort of made this rule. And who knows why the rule was made. If you went into the stall and you closed the door and it was closed or locked, they'd pour water over the top. So the rule was you'd have to have the door open. But what made it even worse, Phil, was like, when it was the boys, it was fine. Every now and again, the gaffer would walk by and you'd be reading the paper and going, all right. Morning, gaffer. Morning, boss. Sitting on the toilet.

[Phil Neville]

But he also understood the chef going by with the.

[Tim Howard]

He. He also understood, like, yeah, this is sort of. This is sort of how it was.

[Landon Donovan]

Like, it's so stupid.

[Phil Neville]

Just disgusting, you know, Like. Anyway, but. But. But before Tim used to go onto the training pitch, he used to go in the stall. I used to come from a wheat. And Tim would just be there, not butting an eyelid, just going, hey, how are you doing, Tim? Shut the door, William.

[Landon Donovan]

All right, last question. In any given MLS season, I just carry this. Curious. This from your standpoint.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

The best team. So let's say Inner Miami last year.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

How would they finish in your. In your opinion, in the Premier League? Would they stay up? Would they?

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, I think they compete.

[Landon Donovan]

I really do compete to stay up.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, they compete to stay up. I Think they've. They've obviously somebody like Inter Miami, a really good team. You looked at their performance in the Club World Cups. They, they. They performed really well. Now, I think the cap system would make it almost impossible to stay in the Premier League. But what I would say is, is that the level of the MLS is, I think, rising every single year. I think it's. I do think it's the place to actually be now, honestly. I think when people around the world, I say players are looking at destinations to go and play with, great stadiums, great, great everything, I think the MLS is. Is an unbelievable place to work, to coach, to play. And obviously you. You. You've been here for a long time, and the growth of the league has, in the last three years has been frightening. Now, I think if we keep pushing the cap limits up, I think Inter Miami are doing an incredible job just to keep pushing, pushing boundaries. Because what's happening is, you know, like, when you get these billionaires, they. They see that and they want a piece of it. And so their clubs. Clubs lifting, you know, like the. So I think. I think it's. I think it's really good. I think it's really good.

[Tim Howard]

And we're gonna get you out of here in 60 seconds. And this might be a social clip. Let me set the scene. This. This goes. This goes sort of hand in hand with the. The bathroom thing. For people who don't know, in England, there's some really stupid game, and it's called eggie boff, right? And so let me. People. People listening. Phil won't. People listening won't know. Let me set the stage. So someone calls an eggie Boff. And let's say you go out and hang out with your friends, and they say, eggie boff, Tim. That means you can't speak to Tim. You can't look at me. You can't answer me until the person who said it cancels it. So I want to take you back to a time we're on the bus, the bus pulls up somewhere. And you might remember I was on the bus.

[Landon Donovan]

I remember this, okay?

[Tim Howard]

And Tim Cahill, because this is what Tim Cahill does. The gaffer gets off, goes inside, backroom staff gets. Goes off. And Tim Cahill goes, eggy boff. No one gets off the bus. And to speak to team camaraderie, everybody looked around and went, we're just not getting off the bus. And you started to shit yourself. Cause you're the captain, you were Moisey's favorite, but you also knew you couldn't get off the bus. So. So. So the gaffer sends one of the staff to come back on the bus and say, right, lads, off the bus. And everyone looked at him, went, we can't get off the bus. And now we're begging Tim Cahill to cancel. Tim, just cancel it. Just cancel. But the problem with Tim Cahill was the only person, the only person who Moisey liked more than you was Tim Cahill. Tim Cahill could do no wrong. So he was like, do you remember. Do you remember that, Buster?

[Phil Neville]

Do you remember, Tim? When I was going around to all the young bikes. Right, Seamus, come on, let's get off the bus. No, no. Hey, T out. T out. Come on. This is unprofessional. This is. I was sweating. Aspiring with. We. We was in with him. We was with the England squad. And we. It was tallest building in Chicago. We had this, like, function dinner and we all got in the lift with Sengar and Erickson and Peter Crouch went, eggy boff. Nobody get out the lift. So there's 15 players in this lift going up to the 140th floor of the tallest building in Chicago. And we're going up and down in the lift. And Sven keeps saying, why? Why you stay in the lift? We must have been in there for an hour. And I was literally perspiring. We went up there 20 times, up to the top and bottom. Eggy boff. Nobody else. Honestly.

[Tim Howard]

Honestly. It is so airtight. We say, and you can appreciate this, Rebecca listens to the show. Rebecca Lowe. We say to all the time we're going to Eggy Buff Bex. When we come on air, just eggie buffer. So she asked the first question we don't answer. I mean, we'd get fired. We get fired. Pierre would basically go right off your pop.

[Phil Neville]

But, yeah, no, that was love you back. But that, that, that's. That. You don't remember the games. You actually remember those moments.

[Landon Donovan]

That's right.

[Tim Howard]

The lift band. That's amazing. It's amazing.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah, that was good. Well, this is a life story, by the way. Jesus Christ.

[Tim Howard]

Hey, I'm just trying to save you from going to the training.

[Phil Neville]

I'm doing this for nothing, by the way. I'm doing this for nothing.

[Tim Howard]

We're saving your job. Don't worry about that.

[Phil Neville]

This might get me a commentary gig in the World cup base somewhere, you know, Maybe on Fox London. Yeah, maybe on Fox.

[Landon Donovan]

I'll see you there.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, mate.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. All right, Fizz. Thank you so much, man. This is awesome. We'd love to do it again. And as always, the best. We joke, but we're, we're proud of you and, and always excited to watch you and support you and thanks for all the help you had.

[Tim Howard]

Thanks for the time. Definitely love you both guys.

[Phil Neville]

Keep up the great work.

[Tim Howard]

We will do.

[Landon Donovan]

All right, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll get into your Questions in the AT&T fan Connection right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.

[Tim Howard]

Foreign.

[Landon Donovan]

This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. Happy New Year, my friend. Time to ring in 2026, the year of soccer right here in the U.S.

[Tim Howard]

happy New Year, LD 2026 is going to be amazing, but you and I are going to have to put in some miles this year. There's so much going on, not just this summer, but all year.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. I love it, though, man. Getting to travel to see soccer all over the country, all over the world. It's one of my favorite things to do. Sitting with people in the bar, hanging out. I meet so many incredible people. They remind me why I got into the sport in the first place. They're so passionate, welcoming. They love this game the same way I do.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I completely agree. Not only do I love getting to travel to meet local fans, I love meeting people who are also traveling from somewhere else to support their club or their country's national team. It's very cool watching this sort of soccer culture swap between the home and away fans at a game. They bring the spirit of the game wherever they go.

[Landon Donovan]

Yes, they do. And that got me thinking. What if these soccer ambassadors could turn their homes into an opportunity while they're away? If you're traveling to support your favorite team, let your home play its own role by hosting it on Airbnb. It's an easy way to earn a little extra. Whether that means saving up for your next international match or helping your kids chase their own soccer dreams, your home

[Tim Howard]

might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] Host now at the Home Depot. Receive 12 months special financing and free

[Landon Donovan]

basic installation on carpet projects with Lifeproof. Lifeproof with Peter Proof technology.

[Phil Neville]

Home decorators, collection and traffic.

[Tim Howard]

Master carpets bring a new look to

[Landon Donovan]

your floors or give them a durable

[Tim Howard]

surface that stands up to life's tough messes.

[Phil Neville]

Get 12 months special financing on installed carpet projects right now at the Home Depot.

[Tim Howard]

Offer valid March 12 through March 29, 2026.

[Landon Donovan]

Exclusions and additional charges may apply for licenses.

[Phil Neville]

See Home Depot.com license numbers LD Things

[Tim Howard]

are about to get really hectic. End of the Premier League season, summer soccer tournament coming up. It is just like all soccer, all the time, tons of travel. I feel like now is a time where it's important to relax and choose chill.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, this might not make sense, but for me, choosing chill, I talk to my wife about this all the time, is not like sitting on the couch. For me, choosing chill is actually choosing chill by going to play hockey, which is cold and freezing and, like, exerting a lot of energy. But by the end, it's so relaxing. It feels so good. It's a connection to my Canadian roots, to my dad. I love it. And that's when I choose chill.

[Tim Howard]

Choose chill and then reach for 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.

[Landon Donovan]

Yes, sir. As always, celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado beer.

[Tim Howard]

It's time for the Fan Connection presented by AT&T. Every week, we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your question. At, AT and T. Connecting changes everything. And on uslnt, our connections with you will help grow the game. Time now for the AT&T fan Connection. That means it's everyone's favorite time of the week, but it's also our time to talk to Jordan. Jordan, welcome in.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Hello. How's it going?

[Tim Howard]

Interesting. It's good. It's interesting.

[Landon Donovan]

Is that the Waldo jersey?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

This is Firelands United. They are a team in Ohio. The Firelands region of Ohio. Yeah, they said this is League awake. I think it's usl, I want to say.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, maybe.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Maybe. Could be.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, it's like a dreamsicle kit.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah. This is their. This is their away kit. This was their 2025, was their inaugural season.

[Landon Donovan]

So they're still a young homage to the 94 kit, too.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

It also has. It's hard to tell, but it has like a stripe. Like a diagonal stripe, like the.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, cool.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah, like a.

[Tim Howard]

Barely see that. Yeah. So. So, more importantly, that's a really nice kit. Firelands of Ohio. Have you decided? Have you gotten any further? I have football investment.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

A bone to pick with you, Tim Howard, because now there are people on the Internet saying things like, junior makes enough money to invest in a USL club.

[Tim Howard]

People on the Internet. People on the Internet don't know about football investment. They just spewing nonsense. That's not my question. My question to you is, have you. Have you and your financial advisor given any more thought to who you're going to invest in.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

We are still fielding suggestions from our audience. Somebody actually sent me a pitch with videos and like. Like a full blown pitch.

[Phil Neville]

That's awesome.

[Tim Howard]

It's amazing.

[Landon Donovan]

I see how she's negotiating publicly to get.

[Tim Howard]

I know.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

I'll say I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't. I literally mentioned the Rough Riders and they're from Long island just like me, and didn't hear from them at all. Nothing.

[Landon Donovan]

Crickets.

[Tim Howard]

You could leverage. You could leverage saying their name on the show as part of your investment package.

[Landon Donovan]

Correct. You could get it in on every episode.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

See, Ricardo Pape. This is the kind of negotiation help you need.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. Air Jordan, you want to get.

[Tim Howard]

You want to get to Fulham or Long island, you let us know.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Okay? Here is a question from Anukul and he gave me a pronunciation key, so I know I said that, right?

[Tim Howard]

What's his name? Anul.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Anul. Emphasis on the first syllable. Anukul, via email, says, I'm looking Forward to the USL's new Premier Division, but I wish USSF, MLS and USL could get their act together to focus on a connected pyramid. Any thoughts on how this could come about?

[Tim Howard]

Right. I mean, we've talked about ld. I mean, it's. It's. It's sort of. Sort of how. What's. What's the next phase? People keep asking, like, what. What comes from the World cup and money and grassroots and all those things. We do have to find a way to unify that. It's not gonna be easy. I have my thoughts, but, you know, it's. I. It's not going to be easy.

[Landon Donovan]

Do you think it's possible?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Anything is possible.

[Tim Howard]

What do I think? That unification.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. Here's why. Because money makes the world go round. And I'll. I'll take you to a sport that you love. Golf. Right. There was a time. There was a time when. When the PGA and live golf basically said, fu. Fu. We're never going to talk. Guess what happened? You know, what brought them to the table to talk? Money.

[Landon Donovan]

D. Narrow.

[Tim Howard]

So. So I think that. Yeah, go ahead, go.

[Landon Donovan]

No, no, no, I agree. I. It. To me, it's a. It's not a microcosm. Is. There is a macrocosm. A word. I don't know. Youth soccer is a microcosm of what's happening at the top. Right. It's like everyone wants their own piece of the pie. They only care about themselves. They don't care about the greater good. And I get it. But for someone who loves the sport to his point, like, we want to see unification, but they do in other countries and, and they succeed. So I would love to see it. I just, I'm skeptical on all of it.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Quick follow up. When we had Don Garber on the podcast back in December, he shout out Don Garber. He talks a little bit about what the relationship used to be between MLS and usl because it's changed over the years. Right. So it was like a closer relationship. And now it's.

[Landon Donovan]

Let me give you an analogy, Jordan. I have two boys. When my oldest son was like four and my youngest son was two and a half, they would like play and have fun. And my older son was like, oh, it's so nice to have a brother. Now they're ten and eight and a half and they're competing for everything, attention and soccer and all the things. They don't like each other as much anymore. And for mls, it was like, oh, it's like the little brother who's like. And now they go, oh wait, this is kind of a serious competitor. Like we're not, we're not going to play with them anymore. And that's kind of what's happening. Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

And, and, and usl, USL has, you know, having, having both of us worked in USL and been in ownership. USL used to be sort of rightly or wrongly seen as a second division. And USL will, will tell you we're not a second division. We're. We're a thriving independent league that we wants to rival the mls. So it doesn't matter what you think about it or what I think about it. That's what. Who, who they are as a business model. So Landon's point, there's a rivalry there. Obviously when you look at valuations of the league and teams, MLS is, sits high above that. But is there a world. I still, I still believe that there's a world where, where with the right money and the right conversations, there is a merger. I don't know when that is.

[Landon Donovan]

That'd be right.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Okay, next question is from Michael via Instagram. I just saw the news of Kyle Walker announcing his retirement from the England national team. Can you add your perspective on why players choose to retire early from their respective national teams rather than just allowing themselves to be aged out through a natural quote unquote deselection process?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, go ahead, Tim. You.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, well, it's a really interesting. Wanted because. Because of it. As soon as you said that, it drew me to a story that with our dear friend Phil Neville and I remember saying to Phil at the time he Was at. At Everton. And I remember saying to Phil, like, are you gonna. Are you gonna retire from England? Like, he. He was. Obviously he wasn't getting called in anymore, right. And I don't know what competition there was in the summer. So are you gonna, like, retire like you're who you are? And he's like, hell, no, I'm not gonna. What? What? I'm putting an announcement out. Like, it didn't. It never crossed his mind. He was like. He had his time, he had his. He had his moments with England and that was it. You know, I. I don't have. I don't have a strong opinion either way about it. I think there. I think if you feel so inclined. It's a personal thing. If you feel inclined to put that out. And we're. By the way, we live in a whole different world now. I mean, you have the ability to sort of control the narrative. And if you want to put out an announcement, do it. If you want to have a party, do it. Whatever, you know, if. If you're good enough in England, want to recognize you at a game at Wembley, great. But it. Whatever. It's. I don't have a strong opinion either way.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I kind of agree with that. I never thought about it that way, but it's like, you don't really need to. To do it to retire, but if you want to, then, you know, up to you.

[Tim Howard]

It's also self. I don't mind it because it's self recognition. Like, to Jordan, you were saying, like, get fa. Like, get phased out. Like, that feels kind of like, wait, I've given 50 caps to my country. I've got a hundred games in my country. I've given everything. And the idea that now I'm just gonna. Oh, Tim. Tim Howard didn't get called in that camp. All right, well, that's the last we ever heard of him like that. That seems like strange. Well, I'm certainly gonna make sure you heard. You hear the last of me, you know, like, so I don't. I don't know if I love the fa. If you're a big enough player, and whether he is or isn't, that's debatable. I just don't love the idea of being, like, phased out. I think you should have. You should be able to put a cap on it.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Okay, how about a fun non soccer question?

[Tim Howard]

Fun non soccer.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

This one is from Josh via email, and he does start the question off by addressing me directly, but you'll understand why in a second. Greetings, junior. That's me. Hope this message finds you well. It did, Josh. Thank you. We have heard some of your music likings. And then in parentheses, he put My Chemical Romance to prove that he does in fact listen to this podcast. And I love when Tim quizzes LD on music artists he should know. And then in parentheses, he put A tribe called Quest and Wu Tang. So my question is, what are lds? Go to artists. We can do Everyone's Mount Rushmore of music artists. We haven't heard from ld Mount Rushmore of his life. Yes. Yes.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay.

[Tim Howard]

That's hard.

[Phil Neville]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

He wants him out from everyone.

[Landon Donovan]

So you go Boys to Men. For sure. Wow.

[Tim Howard]

Wow.

[Landon Donovan]

There's a.

[Tim Howard]

You chuck the Boys to Men in.

[Landon Donovan]

Is it Brett Evans? There's a country song called in case you didn't know. It's so good. And I just saw this thing pop up of him doing it with Boys to Men. Oh, dude. As good as it gets. Boys to men. For sure. Billy Joel, Morgan Wallen.

[Tim Howard]

Okay, this is not your Mount Rushmore. This is who you like.

[Landon Donovan]

No, this is my Mount Rushmore.

[Tim Howard]

You only get four, bro.

[Landon Donovan]

I know. I gave you three.

[Tim Howard]

No, give you five. How many did you say?

[Landon Donovan]

Boys to Men. That only counts as one.

[Phil Neville]

Not.

[Tim Howard]

It's amazing. By the way, I love that Boysman is on your mouth. That's incredible.

[Landon Donovan]

Boys to Men, Billy Joel, Morgan Wallen. Where's my last one? I can't think of the last one right now. Oh, maybe it's not that I love her music that much, just her voice is the. In my opinion, the best of all time. Whitney Houston.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

But it's not like I love every song. I mean, they're all catching.

[Tim Howard]

Whatever. I love every song.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Tim, what about yours? Mount Rushmore, NAS100.

[Tim Howard]

My Mount Rushmore, which I have just. Just as a disclaimer. I have the ability to change one of these at any point in time in the history of.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Here we go.

[Tim Howard]

A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Bob Dylan, and Whitney Houston.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Wow.

[Landon Donovan]

Bob Dylan.

[Tim Howard]

I could change that.

[Landon Donovan]

What about you, junior? Mcr.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yes. Mcr. I feel like probably Jeff Buckley.

[Landon Donovan]

Really?

[Tim Howard]

All right.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Hallelujah.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Did you hear him do that?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Well, he's been dead for a long time, so I've never. I never got to see him live. Yeah, he died in, like, the late 90s. Yeah. Very tragic story. There's a really great documentary about his life that came out last year, if anybody's interested. So mcr, Jeff Buckley, probably Billy Joel.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

And

[Phil Neville]

I don't know.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

That fourth one is so hot.

[Tim Howard]

It's hard.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

I think the Cure. I think the Cure probably really. I'm very goth, very dark, in love.

[Landon Donovan]

Did they sing Friday I'm in Love?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

They did, yes. Good job.

[Landon Donovan]

One day you could fall apart.

[Tim Howard]

One of my favorite things is, Landon, you and your music. You like, you know. You know bits, but you, like, know nothing thing, right?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Actually, this is a great opportunity for us to tell people that we started doing an unfiltered playlist that I share on. But. But I've been sharing it on social media.

[Landon Donovan]

Is that public?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Nice.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah. So it's like songs that we talk about. Sometimes music comes up on the show. Right. You guys were talking about A Tribe Called Quest a couple weeks ago. We've talked about Mike M. But I put the most recent episode of the podcast at the top of the list. This way, it's kind of like you might hear some Easter eggs. Like, if you listen to the playlist, you'll hear reference to some of the bands or songs in the episode, and then you populate it from there. So I don't have them change them out.

[Tim Howard]

We need Rick Astley on there.

[Landon Donovan]

Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down. Is Boys to Men on there?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Well, I'm about to add everybody we just named on this. You and I'll have to decide which Billy Joel song goes on the what a shout.

[Tim Howard]

Piano man, obviously.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

I mean, one of my. One of my best friends put out a thing saying I can't decide what the better Billy Joel album is. Turn Styles or the Stranger, which I think is a very hard. I think it's the Stranger.

[Tim Howard]

The Stranger's good.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

I can't tell you how many people listen to this show to hear us talk about Billy Joel, our core audience.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Okay. If you would like to tell us who your favorite bands are or ask us actually a soccer question, which is what we're.

[Landon Donovan]

We should let a fan get a song on there, of course. Oh, yeah, Good. One of the ultras gets a song on there.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yes. But you have to. I need the song title and the artist, because sometimes song titles, you know,

[Landon Donovan]

many artists have done and the reason why.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah. And then we'll mention it on next week's episode and it'll. So it'll go in next week's playlist.

[Tim Howard]

Can I. Can I. Can I put a request into you, Junior?

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Sure.

[Tim Howard]

And our audience. I'm not feeling the heat. Not feeling the heat. Like, it's been nicey nicey. And I know there's some bullshit out there in those comments. So, like, Jordan. Jordan, I think you've gone soft. I think you've gone soft. I think you're protecting people from something. I need. We need some, we need some thunderous, like bring us some heat.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah, we also.

[Tim Howard]

We know we're unliked. We know we're unliked. And that's okay.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

Yeah, I think we need some more hot takes. How about that? Let's get some hot takes in the. And this is where you would send it to. You would send it to feedback@unfiltered soccer.com. so there you go.

[Tim Howard]

That's our debate. We love it.

[Jordan (Fan Connection Host)]

All right, thanks, guys.

[Landon Donovan]

Bye, junior. All right, Timmy. Fantastic show. That was fun. Big, big week ahead for U.S. soccer and the national team. We appreciate all you guys for being with us. As always, please remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere else you get your podcasts and follow the show across all social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer. For all the bonus thanks to our presenting sponsor, VW, our Fan Connection sponsor AT&T, and our stoppage time sponsor, FanDuel.

[Tim Howard]

Thank you also to our unfiltered refresh sponsor, Coors Light, and our additional sponsors Airbnb and Walmart. Have an amazing week. Go usa. Looking forward to some wins and we'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.

[Landon Donovan]

Jackson Hewitt has a great tax prep deal. $149 or less. Missing out is like ignoring the check engine light in your car. You'll regret it. Seriously, the price is only $149 or less, no matter how complicated.

[Phil Neville]

So don't wait.

[Landon Donovan]

Like when you get a password expires today alert or you're shopping online and

[Phil Neville]

there's only one item left.

[Landon Donovan]

It's like your taxes are in the cart. Just complete the purchase.

[Phil Neville]

Hurry.

[Landon Donovan]

This deal for $149 or less is like your phone at 1%. It's about to power down. Limited time offer for new clients on federal returns. Participating locations only. [e-mail] 149.