Pulisic's On Form, Philly Chase the Shield, and Chelsea's Keeper Sees Red

Summary

Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard

Episode: Pulisic’s On Form, Philly Chase the Shield, and Chelsea’s Keeper Sees Red

Date: September 23, 2025

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Episode Overview

This week, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard break down standout USMNT performances in Europe—including Christian Pulisic’s red-hot form—before surveying MLS’s intense Supporters’ Shield race and peeling back the curtain on some dramatic Premier League moments, most notably Chelsea’s keeper Robert Sánchez’s costly red card. They sprinkle in insider player anecdotes, a deep-dive into the EA Sports FC 26 ratings (with plenty of banter), and take fan questions ranging from offside rule reforms to the unsung heroes of soccer. The hosts keep their analysis conversational, candid, and often hilarious, making this a must-listen for American soccer fans as anticipation for 2026 World Cup builds.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. USMNT Latest & FIFA Rankings

• US drops to 16th in FIFA rankings:
  • Tim: “These things are so weird, man.” [02:44]
  • Landon: “I mean, in short, don’t care about the FIFA rankings…” [03:57]
  • Landon critiques the artificiality of rankings, suggesting the U.S.’s spot flatters them, and questions Panama’s ranking (29) as well.
  • Players benefit financially from better rankings thanks to CBA clauses (Landon: “If you win that game, you then get more money.” [04:20])

2. US Nationals’ Strong Runs in Europe

• Christian Pulisic’s Electrifying Week:
  • Tim: “That’s the Christian everyone loves to see.” [05:06]
  • Set a new USMNT record (59 goals in Europe’s top five leagues), surpassing Dempsey and Wagerly.
  • Landon: “He told us in the summer, when he plays, he scores. So not surprising. He’s obviously the top player and best player the U.S. has.” [05:31]
• Other USMNT Highlights:
  • Malik Tillman impressing at Leverkusen, showing resilience amid changing management. Landon emphasizes the challenges players face with managerial changes in Europe. [06:19–07:24]
  • Ricardo Pepi rebounds from Champions League gaffe with two PSV goals, while Aong debuts promisingly for Derby, and Haji Wright ties for most goals in the Championship alongside Josh Sargent. [10:16]
  • The U.S. is developing a “decent firepower” among strikers as the October national camp nears. [11:14]

3. USMNT Player Updates and Concerns

• Jedi Robinson (Anthony Robinson/Fulham):
  • Missed a game, raising fitness concerns. Recent comments from manager Marco Silva confirm there’s no injury relapse, just a cautious return to fitness. Both hosts agree Fulham relies heavily on Jedi’s athleticism. [09:36–10:16]

4. Player Banter & Trivia: EA Sports FC 26 Ratings

• Extended, humorous trivia segment testing Tim and Landon’s knowledge of the new EA Sports FC 26 player ratings:
  • Top-rated American: Christian Pulisic (84) [14:22]
  • Suprises: No Tyler Adams/Chris Richards among top four, but Malik Tillman, Jedi, Johnny Cardoso, and Tim Weah are. [15:03, 15:14, 15:29, 15:42]
  • Matt Turner is top-rated goalkeeper [15:57], Cameron Carter-Vickers highest center back (contrary to their expectations). [16:18]
  • Highest overall American: Sophia Smith (88, women’s team) beats Pulisic. [17:14]
  • Messi is MLS’s highest-rated (86), but Tim: “He’s like 107.” [17:25]
    Memorable banter:
    • Landon, upon learning Tyler Adams isn’t top four: “Do me a favor. Come on.” [15:25]
    • Re: rating creators: “It’s the same people who do the FIFA rankings.” [17:39]

5. MLS Focus: Supporters’ Shield Race & Week’s Stories

• Philly’s Big Win, But Recent 7-0 Battering Questioned:
  • Landon: “I have, Tim, I’ve been a part of a lot of really good teams... A really good team never ever, ever loses 7-0.” [23:39]
  • Both describe the mindset in lopsided matches: “Like, three-nil is fine… let’s make sure it’s three-nil.” [23:57]
• MVP Race: Dreyer vs. Messi:
  • Dreyer has 15 goals/16 assists; Messi, 22/10. Landon argues Dreyer must be MVP if Philly wins the Shield, despite Messi’s stature. [25:20–25:57]
• Vancouver’s Late Surge: Two or three games in hand could see them clinch the Shield – Landon now tipping them. [26:26–26:54]

6. Unfiltered Refresh: Matty Freese's Extension

• NYCFC keeper signs through 2030; both see it as smart business and validation for US goalkeepers (could be USMNT #1 in ‘26). [27:26–28:40]

7. Premier League Highlights–Key Matches

• Arsenal 1:1 City—Pep’s Tactical Oddities
  • Landon marvels at Guardiola’s unpredictability: “He has just like a laboratory. He’s the mad scientist.” [30:45]
  • Tim ponders if Pep’s tactics are necessary adjustments or “just being bored.” [31:34]
• Goalkeeping Decisions—Donnarumma & Sánchez
  • In-depth analysis of Donnarumma’s role in Martinelli’s goal, and how keepers must let defenders defend unless absolutely necessary. [33:31–35:26]
  • Robert Sánchez’s red card: Tim breaks down why keepers shouldn’t always come out and parallels with Donnarumma’s error. [41:56–45:01]
• Liverpool’s Habit of Winning Late
  • Tim credits fitness, mindset, and habitual belief: “If you score enough times at the end, you then believe you can.” [36:53–38:26]
  • Both discuss how late-winning cultures create “team psychology” that feeds itself.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

On FIFA Rankings:

• Landon: “Don’t care about the FIFA rankings… could probably rattle off 15 European teams... better than Panama…” [03:57]

On Pulisic:

• Tim: “That’s the Christian everyone loves to see.” [05:06]
• Landon: “He’ll continue to smash that record.” [05:31]

On team mindset in lopsided losses:

• Landon: “This stays three-nil. It doesn’t go to four, doesn’t go to five. There’s absolutely zero conversation about how do we get back into this game… The game’s dead at that point.” [24:16]

On Matty Freese’s extension (NYCFC):

• Tim: “Neither of us expected this to happen. For him to be the national team goalkeeper right now, it’s his spot to lose.” [28:40]

On Guardiola’s tactics:

• Landon: “He’s such a counterpuncher. Just when you think, ‘I got this guy sorted out,’... he goes, ‘nah, we’re gonna sit behind the ball.’” [31:34]

On letting defenders defend:

• Tim: “At the highest level, windows open and close really quickly... If you even think you might react in a certain way and don't do it, you get punished.” [33:49]

On team belief:

• Tim: “Liverpool just believes they can win at the end. Like it’s become a trait of theirs.” [38:26]

On offside rules:

• Landon: “I like where the current rules are... I’m not really sure what the massive issue is.” [57:47]
• Tim: “Soccer has become for the most part so boring... Just get rid of the rule!” [57:49]

On unsung heroes in soccer teams:

• Tim: “There are a lot of players that fans get really frustrated with... Those players are so valuable in a soccer team... When they were on the field, we won exponentially more than... so fans sometimes like, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t... guess what, you win, so shut up.” [64:34–66:40]

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Notable Anecdotes

• Player-Coach/Owner Rivalries:
  Tim recounts a heated exchange when playing at Memphis 901 FC at age 40, taunted by Birmingham’s players:

  • “Bro, I’m 40. I can barely move… you guys are good, but you’re not Brazil.” [53:34, 54:10]
  • “Here’s the thing. I would never sign you. You’re a loser.” [54:10]

• Training with Moyes at Everton—No Offsides:
  Landon fondly describes “old vs. young” games with no offsides:

  • “We’d have guys standing like in the corner flag and it was just... chaos.” [59:05–59:27]

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Fan Q&A Highlights

• USL Cup Final Picks:
  Landon: Sacramento Republic at home. Tim: Hartford’s good, but LA’s travel edge is key. [51:46–53:03]

• Life as Player, then Owner (Memphis):
  Tim: “My body was like... what are you asking me to do?... I’m so fiery and competitive, I lost it so many times.” [53:33–54:10]

• Pro’s appreciation:
  Landon and Tim both cite courage—and guys who always want the ball, even after mistakes—as subtle qualities only experienced pros fully appreciate. [63:31–66:40]

  • Tim: “You learn more about it when you coach and when you retire... Guys who always wanted the ball, no matter the situation, were really valuable.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:57] — Landon and Tim on FIFA rankings' true meaning
• [05:06] — Pulisic’s record-setting week and broader impact
• [10:16] — USMNT striker updates & attacking depth
• [13:55] — EA Sports FC 26 trivia segment
• [23:39] — Philly’s 7-0 loss: discussion of locker room mindset
• [25:20] — MVP race: Dreyer vs. Messi
• [27:26] — Matty Freese’s extension & discussion on keeper value
• [30:45] — Premier League: Arsenal v City & tactical chess
• [41:56] — Sanchez’s red card: goalkeeping analysis
• [56:53] — Offside rule debate and VAR’s future
• [63:31] — The “player’s player”—what pros value most

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Tone and Style

• Highly conversational and unfiltered, with plenty of good-natured teasing.
• Candid personal storytelling—especially about locker-room realities and life after retirement.
• Analytical yet accessible—always breaking down complex moments for fans without overusing jargon.

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Final Note

This episode combines tactical analysis, humor, and deep player insight, reflecting both Tim and Landon’s unique vantage points on American and global soccer. Whether discussing European form, MLS races, video game ratings, or the finer points of courage and character on the field, their honesty and chemistry make the pod a fun, insightful ride for soccer diehards and casuals alike.

Transcript

[Landon Donovan]

Birmingham were kicking our butt or something. I can't remember what it was. We had a good rivalry. They're talking mad nonsense to me, right? And I'm like, Bro, I'm 40. I can barely move. I'm like, what? You guys are good, but you're not Brazil.

[Tim Howard]

You're Birmingham Legion, bro.

[Landon Donovan]

So then I lost it, and I was like, here's the thing. I would never sign you. You're a loser. Like, I'm just like. I'm giving. I'm, like, losing my mind.

[Tim Howard]

As if he cared. That's so good. 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.

[Landon Donovan]

LD yo, what's happening, my guy?

[Tim Howard]

Yo, yo, yo.

[Landon Donovan]

How was your weekend?

[Tim Howard]

Oh, man. Do you really want to know?

[Landon Donovan]

Sure.

[Tim Howard]

My wife went to Boston to have, like, a. Not a reunion, but a trip with her old college roommate things. So guess who was home alone with three kids.

[Landon Donovan]

Daddy daycare.

[Tim Howard]

Dude. Kids. Tim, you remember these days on Sunday. This is not an exaggeration. My kids had eight sports games. Eight.

[Landon Donovan]

I believe that. Eight.

[Tim Howard]

What did you do? I mean, I was like. It was taxi landing all day. All day. My. My wife's like, how were the games? I was like, I don't know. I wasn't even watching. I couldn't. I was going here. Yeah, yeah. Snacks, the dog. That. This.

[Landon Donovan]

I was like, like, geez, good for you. That's.

[Tim Howard]

It was actually fun. Like those. It's fun because you're just zoned in like nothing else matters.

[Landon Donovan]

You're like, all right.

[Tim Howard]

I'm just dad right now. That's right.

[Landon Donovan]

Right. You have to.

[Tim Howard]

What about you?

[Landon Donovan]

Which. My moms are so great. I'm always like, oh, my God. I don't know. They rule the world. They can just figure it all out. I was in Kansas City, which was awesome for.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

The fan for fan fest. It was such a cool. We've done a lot of fan fests, and, like, sometimes they're in the park. Sometimes they're like, you know, on the steps of town hall or something. This was at Casey Live. You. You've. You obviously.

[Tim Howard]

Is that that power and light or what? Power and light. Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Power and light is the. Is the area. But then Casey Live, you know, I don't know how long ago they built, like, it's all, like, bars and restaurants, so it actually creates, like, a amphitheater style. It was really cool.

[Tim Howard]

It looked good on tv.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. Really really, really good fun.

[Tim Howard]

That was fun. That was awesome. All right, good to be back, guys. As always, follow us on social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the Show, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Leave a review. Keep following us. It helps other people find us. And then you can always email jordan@feedbackfiltered soccer.com. all right, let's get right in. Timmy to us MNT on us. LNT. Interesting. The latest FIFA rankings came out and we were talking about this. This is interesting. So Spain moved up to number one. Absolutely deserve it. Yeah, the U.S. i believe we dropped a spot to 16Y. These things are so weird, man. I remember in 06, because of our performance in 02, we into the World cup as the fourth ranked team.

[Landon Donovan]

Did you.

[Tim Howard]

I think it was, it was such a joke.

[Landon Donovan]

Wait, wait, wait. Say that again. Because of this, because I think we.

[Tim Howard]

Were successful in 2006 and I think we went through qualifying because those games got. Sorry. We were so good in 2002. Going into 06, we were the fourth. Fourth ranked. I know, so stupid. And, and it was just, we just. I just remember saying, like, this is a joke. Like this is a joke. So the US right now, we are 16th.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Some teams around us. Germany 12, Colombia 13 Mexico 14. Uruguay 15. Switzerland 17. Senegal 18. Japan 19. Denmark 20. Yeah, we were saying, Tim, like off top of my head, I can think of 10, 12, 14 European teams that if you actually just looked at are probably better than we are. Four or five South American, four or five African, four or five Asian. So like this is all whatever. It's just interesting. I know people kind of get worked up about this stuff, but I don't put much.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I mean, I mean, in short, don't care about the FIFA rankings because again, I look at Panama, with all due respect to Panama at 29. You just said it. I mean I could probably rattle off 15 European teams. You know, as you mentioned, a couple African teams, definitely a handful of South American teams who are all better than Panama and probably gets. Gets me over at least 30.

[Tim Howard]

Right.

[Landon Donovan]

The good thing for, for our US men, which I'm happy about, is I don't know if this is the same, but there'll be something in their collective bargaining agreement where the higher, the higher ranked you are on. On a given day or going into a given game, if you win that game, you then, you get, you then get more money. So yeah, that, that's, that's what I would care about. Our guys are.

[Tim Howard]

May continue then.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's about it on that.

[Tim Howard]

All right, so let's talk about some individual performances over the weekend. So have Christian Pulisic, what a game he had. They were away to. I forget Udinese. Two goals, an assist. He was. He was like. That's the Christian everyone loves to see.

[Landon Donovan]

Sure.

[Tim Howard]

He was really after it from the beginning. He. This is a wild stat to him. After his two goals, he now has 59 goals. While playing for Dortmund, Chelsea and Milan, he surpassed Deuce, Clint Dempsey and Roy Wagerley for the most by US Men's national team ever while playing in Europe's top five leagues.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. Incredible. Incredible.

[Tim Howard]

And he's, by the way, he's 26, seven.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. And he'll continue to smash that record. I mean, you know, he'll probably get to, I would think, at least 100. Yeah. He told us in the summer. He told the world in the summer. When he plays, he scores. So not, not surprising. He's obviously the. The top player and best player the U.S. has. Yeah. He continues to do it on the club level, which is.

[Tim Howard]

And we. Yeah, we need that form.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Continuing. And then we need that obviously, for the national team. Right. So he's. He's, he's well on his way to getting back in full form and. And we need that to continue.

[Landon Donovan]

Definitely.

[Tim Howard]

Malik Tillman went to Leverkusen in the summer. There were some questions. Is that jump too big for him? Doesn't look like it. He scored his second goal of the season now for Lever Kusin, and he's off to a good start. So that's important for him.

[Landon Donovan]

The thing about, you know, the, the one thing that I thought about with, with Tillman is it's great that he, He's a good player. So I, I wasn't surprised that he would find his feet. The one thing that I worried about with the whole ten Hog saga is.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, yeah, he was brought.

[Landon Donovan]

You know what, what a lot of people don't quite get is like. Like you're. You're Landon Donovan and you're at the Galaxy. They could bring in 10 coaches. Your position is not under threat. You're playing right. And what happens in Europe is if you get brought in with ten Hag, maybe the sporting director brought him in, but ten Hag was part of that regime. He would have signed off on that. As soon as 10 Hag gets sacked, by the way, all bets are off the next coach that comes in. When you play for a European club in a top four or five league, they might look at you and go, yeah, I like you or. Oftentimes, no, not part of my plans, particularly in the attacking areas.

[Tim Howard]

Yep.

[Landon Donovan]

Like, oh, no, I'll bring in my own guy. So the fact that obviously it's outside the window, but, but the fact that he's playing, being selected and playing well under the new manager is, is a big thing. It's a huge thing.

[Tim Howard]

So I agree.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I'm glad he's. I'm glad he's off to a good start.

[Tim Howard]

Tanner Testman scored winning goal for Leon on Friday. It feels like the ship has sailed a little with him because Pochettino was so high on him at first, and then over the summer he didn't get called in and feels like other guys are just moving ahead of him. It's gonna be interesting to follow. I, I mean, this, this camp and we'll get into this more as the next camp comes in October. But from what I heard internally and a little bit externally, that September camp, the Japan, South Korea games were the last time PO was, quote, looking and evaluating players. And I know we've heard that, but, like, but now this camp is like, this is all our guys and this is what we're riding with, so it's going to be interesting to see.

[Landon Donovan]

But that being said, I. There's still a lot of experimentation, a lot of balls getting juggled in the air. Like he might, Is it, is there a possibility? You said Potch really liked him, didn't come in the summer, didn't call him in September. He really liked him. Does that mean, does that mean he was evaluating other talent outside?

[Tim Howard]

Well, yeah, it could have been. That's what he said about Weston. Right? Like, we know Weston, we know what we're getting. They know Testman, they saw him a bunch. So I don't know.

[Landon Donovan]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Tim Howard]

We'll.

[Landon Donovan]

We'll, we'll see because I'm confused.

[Tim Howard]

Okay, so there was some concerning news or, or thoughts around Jedi. Anthony Robinson didn't play, didn't dress for Fulham this weekend. And it was weird. Tim. He came off the summer. He played, I think, 28 minutes in his first game back, 23 minutes. Then he was on the bench, but didn't dress. I'm sorry. He was on the bench, but dressed. And then in his next game this weekend, he didn't dress at all. So the first thoughts were like, is this can't be a selection thing, right? He's been the captain. He's, he's a leader of the team. He's. Of course they're going to have him on the bench, but we did just an hour ago, we got some news from his manager, Marco Silva. He said it's not an injury setback. He's come from a surgery and he's a player who needs to be in physical conditions almost perfect because this game comes from his athleticism and all that stuff. We're going to have another session before the game and after that we're going to take a decision on. On Jedi. Probably it's going to be Jedi in contention for the game. That was our aim before the Brentford game, to give him some more days to keep working on his fitness and all of that stuff, his confidence and to be able to try to have as many minutes as he can tomorrow. So it's a chance for him tomorrow, he's saying, to play in the Carabao Cup. So I guess that's. I don't know if that's good or bad.

[Landon Donovan]

No, I mean, I take that. I, you know, I. I guess I trust that. I think he's such a big part of. Such a big part of. Of Marco Silva's team and them having success that I. Yeah, that doesn't. That sounds about right.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. Okay. So I guess it's good it wasn't a selection decision or at least on the surface what he's saying, it's not a selection decision, but let's hope it's not serious because, you know, coming off a knee surgery, you need to want to make sure that's good for him.

[Landon Donovan]

Yep.

[Tim Howard]

Okay. All right, let's move into the attacking players. So it was a. It was a good weekend for national team striker. So. Well, Ricardo Pepe had a hell of a week. So in the Champions League he had a rough outing. He gave away a penalty, gave away a pass for a goal. But he. He did come back and he scored two goals back in the arisier in his start for psv. So that was good. Aong had a really positive performance in his debut for Darby and. And was. Got praise from his manager. Almost scored a goal. Haji Wright is now tied for the lead in goal score in the championship with of course, Josh Sargent. So those have been good developments as. As a. As the strikers go again, this camp is going to be so fascinating to see who gets called in now. Right? It's. It's going to be really fascinating and as we get closer, we can dig into that more. But it was a good. It was a good week overall for the strike.

[Landon Donovan]

Yes. No, I think that you look at Ricardo Pepe is so funny because I Obviously really like him. But it made me think back to my playing days when like, strikers, they're so irresponsible in their own penalty area. And I can just remember saying to people like strikers, mate, go away. We don't. We're actually better defending down a man without you in the box. Because the things they do, they dangle a leg, they get the wrong side of a player. You're like, this is not meant for you. Yeah, I think. I mean, when I look at Pepe Ajamang, Haji Wright, whether it's Sergeant who comes in or obviously flow, there's some. There's some, you know, some decent firepower there. If one of them can get going, if. If having them all in together, kind of iron sharpens iron and gets a fire lit under some of these guys. Not that they're not motivated, but to. To be scoring on a regular basis, like, that's going to be a huge thing as we move into October, November.

[Tim Howard]

To your point about strikers being irresponsible. So it was my. Probably my third or fourth MLS game ever. 2001. I'm 19. We're playing away to Colorado, back at whatever they call Invesco at big stadium. I swear, Tim, I'm not joking. There were 1100 people in the stands. It was a 75,000C stadium. So I get a ball, I come like, deep into the midfield to receive a ball, and I take a touch and I try to play this, like, clever ball out to the left fullback with the outside of my right foot, and I like, mishit it, and it rolls right to somebody on their team. And now they're like 2v1 running at our goal. They roll a ball to John Spencer, he takes a touch and buries it. And I was like, oh, my God. And I vowed to myself, juan, I'm never coming that deep again ever, for no reason. And so I'm never trying anything that stupid. Like, I will just kick the hell out of ball. Because you learned that lesson once and you're like, no, nope, totally ain't gonna feel that again.

[Landon Donovan]

I can literally remember having conversations with managers and saying, like. Like, you know, you'd set up and then you'd have a striker, and obviously you have to use all 11 players sometimes, like, put. You'd have to use your striker doing something. And I can remember saying to managers, like, Gaffer, he doesn't even want to be in the box. Like, why are we. Why are we asking him to defend the near post? Like, he doesn't want to be here can we get him up the pitch? That's amazing.

[Tim Howard]

All right, so we'll keep following every week with the national team players, but I would say overall a good week. The Jedi Robinson is. Jedi Robinson thing. Little concerning, but let's hope he's back and, and playing well. All right, so Andrew producer wanted to have some fun with us. So we do not know any of these answers. Just for the record. Okay, so last week EA Sports released this year's FC 26 game. My kids love this game.

[Landon Donovan]

Do they?

[Tim Howard]

God, they're on it all the time. And they released. I'm sorry, they didn't release the game. They released the player ratings. All right, so we're going to have some, a little trivia here. Who is the highest rated U. S Men's national team player? You go first. Andrew, will you put it in the chat? Right.

[Landon Donovan]

Overall it has to be Christian Pulisic.

[Tim Howard]

I think we both agree it's Christian.

[Landon Donovan]

Has to be.

[Tim Howard]

Okay, 84 overall. There we go. Okay. All right. Number one for one.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

There are four American men with overall ratings above 80. 80. Okay, can you name them?

[Landon Donovan]

Yes, I can.

[Tim Howard]

Okay, go ahead.

[Landon Donovan]

So Pisic, right?

[Tim Howard]

Yep.

[Landon Donovan]

Chris Richards.

[Tim Howard]

Good shout. I agree with that.

[Landon Donovan]

Anthony Robinson.

[Tim Howard]

I agree with that. Tyler Adams.

[Landon Donovan]

That's easy. I nailed that for sure. Do you disagree?

[Tim Howard]

No, I agree. I, I mean, yeah, I think, I think, I think the game is going to have. No, I think the game is going to have. Depending on when they did it. I think that's what the game will have. No Richards and no Adams.

[Landon Donovan]

Nah, Come on, man. No Adams.

[Tim Howard]

What about Malik Tillman?

[Landon Donovan]

It'd be Timothy Weah.

[Tim Howard]

Malik Tillman? Yes. You got Tim Waya.

[Landon Donovan]

I'm getting. No way. No way. That's actually funny. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Tyler Adams, bro. The guy plays every single week in the Premier League.

[Tim Howard]

I don't know.

[Landon Donovan]

Do me a favor. Come on.

[Tim Howard]

Josh Sargent.

[Landon Donovan]

No, that's not.

[Tim Howard]

So who do we have? Pulisic, Tillman, Jedi, Johnny Cardoso. Oh, that makes sense. I mean the guy plays every week in Spain. Now he's Atletico. All right, fair enough.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, we got that, Rob.

[Tim Howard]

Which. All right, this for you. Which U.S. men's National Team goalkeeper has the highest overall rating?

[Landon Donovan]

It's not freeze. You know, because. No, it's not because I, I again, I don't know when the game. It'll be. It'll be Turner.

[Tim Howard]

Has to be Matt Turner. Correct. Okay, good.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, good.

[Tim Howard]

Which center back has the highest overall rating? We thought Richards would be top four but he wasn't. Well, no, but overall.

[Landon Donovan]

Overall, it has to be. It'll be Chris Richards.

[Tim Howard]

I would think so.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Nope, not Chris Richards.

[Landon Donovan]

Come on.

[Tim Howard]

Cameron Carter Vickers. He's in my lineup, dude. He's in my line. By the way, I like. I like ccv. I think he's gonna.

[Landon Donovan]

I know. I know you do. Yeah. I know you do.

[Tim Howard]

Who makes these things? This is. That's the bigger question. Maybe we should have that person on. I don't know. What a role that must be, huh? Can you imagine all the hate you get? Okay, both again. Among both. Let's try that again.

[Landon Donovan]

Try it again.

[Tim Howard]

Okay. Among both men and women, who is the highest rated American overall?

[Landon Donovan]

Us. Men.

[Tim Howard]

So the highest rated is Christian.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

For the men. And he is an 84.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

God, we just get crapped on. By the way, he's so much better than an 84. The women would be Trent Rodman.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Or Soph Smith. I'm gonna say Trin. Oh, Sof. 88.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim Howard]

There you go. So sorry, Soph Wilson. Sorry, Soph. Okay, I agree with that. Okay. Who is the highest rated MLS player? Gee, let me think.

[Landon Donovan]

Do we have to guess?

[Tim Howard]

All right, Messi. What's he like? He's like 107.

[Landon Donovan]

He's a 99.9.

[Tim Howard]

86.

[Landon Donovan]

Huh.

[Tim Howard]

All right, someone's getting in trouble. We're getting the. Can you guys work on getting the person or people at EA who make these ratings?

[Landon Donovan]

It's the same people who do the FIFA rankings.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Same algorithm.

[Tim Howard]

Last one. There are six MLS players with ratings of 80 or better. Can you name them? Six players.

[Landon Donovan]

It's a lot.

[Tim Howard]

With.

[Landon Donovan]

It's a lot.

[Tim Howard]

There's only six.

[Landon Donovan]

I'm surprised. No, I thought six would be a lot.

[Tim Howard]

Of 88 out of 10. A B minus. Come on.

[Landon Donovan]

I'm just. Well. Well, to be a 90, you gotta be. You gotta get. You gotta be like.

[Tim Howard]

Well, Andrew, just put in the top rated players in the game. Have a 91. That's Mo Salah, Killian, Mbappe Alexia Puteas and Aitana Bonmati. God, she's good. Okay, so those are 91s. Okay, so that's a good reference.

[Landon Donovan]

That's what I'm saying.

[Tim Howard]

So above 80 of Messi.

[Landon Donovan]

Messi. Yep.

[Tim Howard]

You have. Son. You have Thomas Mula. Still no.

[Landon Donovan]

Maybe.

[Tim Howard]

I think Denny Blanca should be.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, yeah. For me. 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah. Dryer.

[Tim Howard]

He should be. I bet he's not. Who else would be? Who are the big DPS? How do we 6Evander Messi, Sun Moore are correct.

[Landon Donovan]

Bawanga apparently is not. Not. You think Lozano? No.

[Tim Howard]

Chuki? No. What about the kid from Atlanta, the striker? I wonder if he is. No.

[Landon Donovan]

Is it Is. What's his name? Suarez is Suarez.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, what about Busquets or Jordi Alba?

[Landon Donovan]

We're just chucking all the money. All of my name.

[Tim Howard]

Okay, that's four.

[Landon Donovan]

Six.

[Tim Howard]

What about Gabrielle Peck? Oh, what about my guy? Ricky Pooj?

[Landon Donovan]

He might be. He might be.

[Tim Howard]

He might be.

[Landon Donovan]

Ricky Pooch is in.

[Tim Howard]

Let's go.

[Landon Donovan]

Ring the bell. Ring the bell. Landon said Ricky Puj.

[Tim Howard]

Rodrigo DePaul. That's the other one. Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. So Messi's son, Rodrigo de Paul, Thomas Mula, Ricky Puj and Sergio Busquets. Okay. Interesting. All right. That was fun. I kind of enjoyed that trivia. Andrew, Good job. All right, Tim, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk MLS and Premier League right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen. Stay right there.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

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[Landon Donovan]

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[Tim Howard]

As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I'm excited to support them in their mission to increase visibility of all forms of soccer. I was recently on set with them shooting their new campaign to do just that.

[Landon Donovan]

Keep an eye out for that launching soon alongside the all new redesigned 2025 Tiguan. It's a beautiful car. We've even had one with us at our recent live show. Make sure to check it out in person and learn [e-mail] There's a certain energy to soccer in Latin America. The footwork, the creativity, the passion from fans. It's more than a sport. It's a rhythm. That same spirit shows up in Cafe Bustello. Bold, vibrant, smooth. Turn up the Latin flavor Cafe Bustello has been bringing for generations. You can't miss this iconic staple anywhere. From the bodega to your local grocery store, they are everywhere. And now there's even more to love. They released a whole new line of roast to match every mood light roast, medium dark and dulce de leche. Each one with its own vibe. Available in pre packed bags and K cup pods. Delicious, hot or iced. However you take your coffee, Cafe Bustelo shows up strong. I like mine black. Strong every afternoon. Cafe Busello is more than coffee. It makes you feel alive. Try the new Cafe Bustello roast today.

[Tim Howard]

All right, Timmy. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Virgin Atlantic.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, we're here at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at jfk. Honestly, it makes you rethink what an airport lounge can be.

[Tim Howard]

It's beautiful. It's what Virgin does. They've been bringing joy back to flying since day one.

[Landon Donovan]

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[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I know you travel back and forth across the pond all the time. The food's amazing, all the little amenities. They have their mile high tea. If you want tea at 35,000ft, you can have the jam, the scones, the finger sandwiches, all the things that you loved about British times when you were playing.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, and speaking of the food, you can pre order your meal before you fly. Not just talking about the chicken or the fish. I had the Thai curry last time and it was absolutely amazing.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, everything's been thought through. It's flying the way you wish it always was.

[Landon Donovan]

So if you're headed to the UK soon, do it in style. After the pod, go to virginatlantic.com to learn more about their amazing experience.

[Tim Howard]

All right, let's transition into mls. So all the headlines this week are around the supporters shift race. There are some playoff races that are interesting too, but. So Atlanta draw at home with San Diego FC who are in the in in contention in third place with 57 points. Understrier scored again, by the way. Philly beat New England one nil. They are top of the table with 60. Can we digress real quick, Tim? Sure. This seven seven nothing beating Philly took.

[Landon Donovan]

We're not digressing this. We need to talk about it. This is wild.

[Tim Howard]

I know they rotated their squad a little, but I have, Tim. I've been a part of a lot of really good teams, a lot of bad teams too. A really good team never ever, ever loses. 70 ever. And I just can't figure like that tells me you just quit in the game. And Tim, you and I have been in plenty of games where you're like down three nothing after 20 minutes and you go, guys, this is not going to be four or five or six. Like three nothing is fine. We're not, we don't have it today. Let's make sure it's three nothing. Yeah, right. Like, forget about getting back in the game and all that. But like, one time I said this in our production, I said, yeah, we're not doing that.

[Landon Donovan]

I, I, I, we had this in our production call. And I, and I made the point where like, to the outside it might actually like, be a foreign concept. But like, you and I have been there where you start getting pumped like three nil before halftime, right? And, and you see like, guys coming together and like, and like having a conversation. And I think the outside world is probably like, yeah, they're giving each other a rah rah. How do you get back in this? And I, in those moments and guys are literally looking at each other and going like sheep. We. This, this stays three nil. Like, it does. It doesn't go to four, it doesn't go to five. There's absolutely zero conversation about how do we get back into this game. It's actually, this cannot, we, we cannot let this go to four or five. Like, and then the game, like, the game's dead at that point. It's dead.

[Tim Howard]

So, and you know, sometimes you have.

[Landon Donovan]

Those days and you're, it's such a funny concept.

[Tim Howard]

I just don't, I, I mean, I don't know. It was lack of leadership or, I mean, Bedoya started the game, so you would have thought at some point he said something. But whatever, they flushed it away and they beat New England. So they're still top of this standing. So if, you know, all's well, that ends well. But that was just, that was such a bizarre result.

[Landon Donovan]

So, so, so two things about the, the supporter shield and obviously like mvp. So Dryer, you and I have had this conversation on record. So Dreyer right now has 16, 15 goals and 16 assists. Messi has 22 and 10. Right. I had said, like, if Dreyer, what did I say? Dryer gets to like 20 and 15 and they win a supporter shield. He, he has, he, I mean, I don't know if he'll get 20. He might, he won't.

[Tim Howard]

He only has three games though. But yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

So if they win a supporter shield, he has to win mvp. Surely don't. Messi's. He's God.

[Tim Howard]

Right, but like, how do they vote on the mvp, by the way?

[Landon Donovan]

That I'm not sure who has, who has a vote?

[Tim Howard]

I have no Idea.

[Landon Donovan]

I. I tell you.

[Tim Howard]

I can tell you. I know.

[Landon Donovan]

I was thinking the same thing.

[Tim Howard]

And it's not a vote. It's the vote.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. I think there's one boat. Okay, well, so. So the Supporter Shield thing. Right. I'm looking at it. And. And Vancouver. Where are my notes? Vancouver has two games in hand.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. I think.

[Landon Donovan]

And they're on three, and then they're on 55. Two games. If they win, they win both of those. They get like, they potentially.

[Tim Howard]

They would go top.

[Landon Donovan]

They would go top. Enter. They're on 52 points. So they would. Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Three in hand.

[Landon Donovan]

They have three in hand. So they. They be joint. I have a feeling, which goes against everything I said. Preseason. I think Vancouver's going to win the sport of Shield. Am I crazy?

[Tim Howard]

No.

[Landon Donovan]

It's going to go down to the last weekend.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. Which is fun. I mean, ideally. And this is what's good about now, the Supporter Shield and the playoff races, both parts of the table you're looking at with interest. Right. So hopefully there's meaningful games across the board because that's what. That's what we really want. All right, Timmy. That brings us to the time for our unfiltered refresh. Sponsored, as always, by Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to Coors Light.com USLNT all right, man. In MLS this weekend, who chose Chill.

[Landon Donovan]

Can only be one.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Maddie Freeze.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Matty Freeze at NYCFC. He sent a new contract extension through 2030.

[Tim Howard]

Congratulations.

[Landon Donovan]

Get paid. That's a nice long contract. Oh, by the way, he saved another penalty kick this weekend as well, because as he says from his own mouth, it's what he does, which is incredible. So I'm starting to believe that that's what he does. Look, I'm glad he got paid. It's actually the right time, I think. I think he's earned it. There's a good chance, or as good a chance as any, that he'll be number one at the World Cup. Smart. Smart by them. Because, you know, if he then gets sold on or has a good World cup or whatever the situation is, they'll be compensated on the back end for that. Right. And for Matt, this will give him really good stability. I'm guessing. I haven't seen the exact numbers yet, but it'll give him good financial stability moving forward and then again protects the club because he's on the rise. Right. And there's not a ton of good goalkeepers out there in the world. And if he's. If he's on the world stage playing and does well, people are going to be interested. So I think it's a great thing.

[Tim Howard]

I love this in MLS now because the league has now morphed to. In the past, they would say, oh, yeah, well, you're a good goalkeeper. You're playing for the national team now, but we have you under contract for X number of years, so you're just going to. And it's like, no, no, no, that's not how the world. If a guy does well, you reward him. And look, look, it's smart business by NYCFC if he blows up. If he has a Tim Howard tournament or game like he did in 2014 against Belgium, like the world's his oyster and they can sell him for a lot of money. So it's great for him. The penalty was Wilfried Zaha learned that that's what that freeze does. But more than that, I'm just happy that a guy is getting rewarded in the right way. And kudos to NYCFC for taking care of a player who's been good to them. And look, neither of us expected this to happen. For him to be the national team goalkeeper right now, it's his spot to lose. Absolutely. So we'll see how this unfolds. But congrats, Matty. I cheers to you. Oh, wait, Matty. Ice is taken.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay.

[Tim Howard]

Cheers to you, man. Good job. Choosing Chill. Okay, let's transition to the Premier League. So you were at Fan Fest in Kansas City. There were some really good games this weekend, some under the radar games, but we'll focus on the three big ones. So the first, Arsenal City, which ended up being the. Not the last. Arsenal City finished 1:1. Yeah. It was the last game of the weekend, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Arsenal City finished one one. City. This was really interesting for me to watch, Tim, because City were basically doing what Arsenal have been doing now. And Pep, I mean, at one point I think they had five center backs on the field. Pep was just like Holland off. They had to sub. I think they took. Do they take Doku off at the end? I don't know if they subbed him. No. I thought he maybe was going to come off anyway. He was just like Doku was playing as a launch striker and he was just trying to pack it in and basically do what. What Arteta has been doing. In the end, it didn't work because of good goal by. By Arsenal. But yeah. Thoughts on.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Well, I. I just think. I used to think Pep Guardiola had like a coach's office he has just like a laboratory. He's the mad scientist. Like, just when you think he's not going to change, how does he, how does he. How does he do something different? He comes into this game and he basically goes, we're going to essentially concede possession. We're going to sit behind the ball like it was. So. And by the way, he named the. The third. The third straight, same lineup, which I don't think he's ever done before, certainly not at City. So like, like he's, he's doing things that you're like, well, Pep doesn't normally do that, right? So he's always like, he's such a counterpuncher. Just when you think, like, I got this guy sorted out, we know what he's going to do, he goes, nah, we're gonna come sit behind the ball. When's the last time I did that?

[Tim Howard]

So do you think he does it, Tim? Let me just. Do you think he does it? This is going to be. Sound like a weird question, because he really believes that's the best way to win and I know that's a dumb thing to say. Or is he sometimes just like, you know what, let's just try to do something different so he can just like be different?

[Landon Donovan]

Good question. No, no, it's a good question. I think he spoke in his book. I can't remember, was it, was it. It was either with Barca. I think it was with Barca, or Bayern Munich. But anyway, he went into the Champions League final and he made it. And he made it. He convinced himself he needed to make a tactical adjustment and he did and he lost. And he remembers like, like somewhat second guessing himself. He said, I'm never going to do that again. I just think with. With when I had Roberto Martinez at Everton, he was brilliant because every game he did something different. Now it was in the overall scope, Landon. So we have like, he would never run us out and be like, you guys played really well against Arsenal last week. We're gonna do the same thing. He would say, position's the same, it's the same team we're putting out, but today we're gonna let so and so roam free. And then you're gonna pull off into the left space every time. And it was just one minor tweak. But for him, in his mind, he was such a tactical genius that he had to. He couldn't let things stay the same. So I do think Pep maybe, I mean, listen, he's had so much success, there might be an argument where like yeah, I'm just getting bored. I'm going to flip a coin here.

[Tim Howard]

That's what I'm saying.

[Landon Donovan]

But I doubt that. I think there's. I think he's so far above everyone else that he. He has to tinker because he knows he can. And I think I. I just think he. And he always has to freshen things up. Right? Because anyway, it worked. Well, essentially, it worked. I think there was tired legs and Martinelli, it was a. You know, there's a. That's a good little rivalry that we have, a big rivalry.

[Tim Howard]

I was thinking this in the moment. Should Donnarumma do better there? Like, he's. He's out in no man's land, right?

[Landon Donovan]

So. And we'll get on to this with Robert Sanchez in the other game as well, Donald Ruma, because he comes off.

[Tim Howard]

His line and he's just stuck. I mean, there's nothing.

[Landon Donovan]

I think what ends up happening is you. You get like, you know this as well. At the highest level, windows open and close really quickly. So as you progress through the levels of. Of football, you have time to do things. When you get to the highest, highest level, the World Cup, Premier League, Bundesliga, whatever, you. You don't have time to react. If you even think you might react in a certain way and don't do it, you get punished. Right. And so I think when that ball, when that Martinelli is so fast, obviously Donna Ruma, one of the best in the world. He knows his personnel. Martinelli's so fast, that man city line was so high, right. He's thinking, there's only one winner here, right. Which is going to be Martinelli. I have to. I have to. Hopefully his first step would have been to advance, and he did. And then in an instant, that ball's on Martinelli's toe. So he probably shouldn't come. But if you're reading the situation from behind like he was, you're thinking, this ball, I have to come for this ball. Hopefully it skips through.

[Tim Howard]

So you would have come as well. You would have come for that ball as well.

[Landon Donovan]

Possibly. I don't think the positioning was horrific. I think it ended up looking. Looking bad. But look, I'll get back to this with Robert Sanchez. I do think there's.

[Tim Howard]

Because.

[Landon Donovan]

Because of the way the ball was, and it was a long ball and it was a lot of. A lot of distance. I would have. I normally live by the creed that you have to let your defenders defend.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, Right.

[Landon Donovan]

Like if they're cooked, they're cooked. And you have to. But if they even have an inkling that they can recover, you have to try and let them recover. But yeah, I don't think, I don't think it was terrific. I think there's. I think it's more of a really good Arsenal goal as opposed to like horrific goalkeeping.

[Tim Howard]

So let me give you from Martinelli's standpoint. Yeah, So I, I always use this phrase, Tim. I always wanted the goalie to make up my.

[Landon Donovan]

Sure.

[Tim Howard]

And in that moment, Donnarumma makes up Martinelli's mind. Because when he's running onto. I can promise you, as he's running onto that ball, his first thought before he looks at Donnarumma is not, I'm going to lift this over. His first thought is, I got to get there. I've got a defender tracking me. I got to hold him off. Where's my next touch? And he looks up and he goes, oh, shit. Where Donnaruma is, this is easy. And you just flick it over his head. So I think Bruce always used to say, and this is true, time favors the defense, right? So if he has to take a touch and take another touch and he's got a defender closing, that's a much harder finish than just looking it over. Donor room. And so look, I'm, I'm.

[Landon Donovan]

I don't know, I take that.

[Tim Howard]

But I'm just saying he made up his mind for him and it made it easy. And anytime a goalkeeper made up their mind, made up my mind for him. It was like, bang, you're gonna get punished. Okay, let's move on to Liverpool. Everton. Tough one. We have to talk about it though. They'd won their. Liverpool had won their four previous league matches and their Champions League match with goals. After the 80th minute, they won this game a little more comfortably. But let's just dig in. Is that like, as, as when teams do that, sometimes people are like, wow, what a lucky stretch or what a lucky runner. You know, what's your opinion on teams winning games that late? And I have a thought on it too.

[Landon Donovan]

Well, I listened to Slot in his, in his presser and. Or maybe it was post match or something and he was asked about and he just said, look, we are fit. We are fitter than a lot of other teams and we're willing to run to the end. And so what I think happens is it becomes this continuum of I think they're winning. There's a lot of luck involved when you win that late. But I think they are willing to. They're just fitter than some of These other teams are willing to run harder and longer. And then what happens? And you know this, right? Then what ends up happening? If you score, if you score enough times at the end, you then believe you can, right? Like you're convinced if you're on a team that doesn't score late or hasn't scored a late goal in six months, you're like, I don't know. We hope we can, but I can guarantee you Liverpool is saying, just keep going, we're going to get this. And I'll give you a small example of this. In my time, I went through that. I was at Everton 10 years. There was this really long time, Landon, where, I don't know, five, six, seven years, where we always won at West Ham, the old Upton park, right. And so it became this like not, not running joke. But no matter what the score was, we'd go in at halftime and go, guys, relax. We know we'll win. And literally you get 22 guys going. Yeah, because we did, all we did was win at Upton Park. And so you, you start believing. And so Liverpool just believes they can, they can win at the end. Like it's, it's become a trait of theirs.

[Tim Howard]

Yep. It becomes habitual and losing does too. And there are also times where you'd be like, you concede in the first 15 minutes of seven straight games and you're just convinced. You know what I mean? And it's just a weird thing, but there's also a piece people, teams that are dominant in possession and dominant in like the flow of the game over time. There's this idea that you just break teams down and wear teams down. There's, you know, every team will come into a Liverpool match or a city match or whatever and say, look, just keep everything in front of us. Stay tight. We've worked on it all week. This is how we're going to defend where that's all great, but when you get into the 60th minute, the 70th minute, you're tired, there's new guys on the field, the pressure is just mounting. You're in, you know, you're going against the cup end or the cop ends behind you and you're just, all of a sudden it just feels like the world's crumbling on you. And yeah, we used to say this at, at Loyal Sick Jersey, by the way. Jersey. We used to win a lot of games late too, because we would always have 60, 65% of the ball. And you would just wear teams out. They were just running, running. We had a guy on our team, to me, Moshe, on who we would say to him, look, you're going to score a lot of goals coming off the bench because teams are worn down and you have energy and at first players are like, yeah, right, you just don't want to start me or whatever. And then he went through a year. I think he scored 10 goals and I think six or seven were off the bench and then you can start telling that story. And so with Liverpool, like, they just know now, like, look, whoever it is, if it's East Ekatike, whoever's coming in, you're going to get big chances and we're going to score late. And it's become, it's become a habit and, and I don't think it's, I don't think it's fortune. I think they're creating it.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, they really do. And, and, and the derby was good. It was a good one. You know, I think from Everton's standpoint, you know, the, the goal, you know, Jack, it's what you want. You want Jack Grealish lined up one on one with his defender on an island and he does the business, gets a crossover element. Njai, lovely little setup for Adrisa. Ghana Gay. So like that those connections are starting to happen.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

And ultimately they got spread because. Because Liverpool outnumbered Everton in the midfield which then meant they were always late to get pressure. And then when you're late to get pressure, you start getting spread out and that's kind of how the goals came. They were just spread out. And that's very unusual for Everton because one of the things they are really good at is being very compact and stout and stodgy on the edge of their box. They don't allow really good opportunities. So yeah, unfortunately it happened for them in the derby, but overall it was well played.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. And then last one, United, Chelsea. This was a fascinating game. So I walked away. I was, I was doing stuff in the house again. I had all three kids at home by myself and I walk in at like the 8th or 9th minute and I just see United pummeling Chelsea. I mean they've got them pinned in and I'm like, God, I haven't seen this from United. Like I was not expect, I was expecting the opposite. And I'm watching, watching. And then I go to my phone on Fat Mob and It's like the 30th minute and I look and then I realize United had a red card or Chelsea had a red card. I was like, oh, now it makes sense. So can you walk People through. So Robert Sanchez comes off his line and. And makes a really bad decision.

[Landon Donovan]

Sure.

[Tim Howard]

Can you just. Yeah, because it's similar to the Donnaruma. It's not as Donna room is not as egregious in that moment. So what are you thinking in that moment? Ball gets flicked on, right? And it's coming at you, it's got pace, it's skipping forwards, running at you.

[Landon Donovan]

So, so you know, to paint the picture for, for the audience. So the, the striker goes up Shesco and he flicks it on. So there's a. There's a center back and a Shesco and he flicks it on, which means Mbumo runs through and there's two recovering Chelsea defenders. Not the defender who, the center back who was up against Cesko, but Fafana on the. On the right hand side. And then I don't remember the other defender who was chasing Mbumo. And Sanchez makes the decision to. Not only unlike Don Ruma to come to advance, but fully advance. So he's outside the box. So there's going to be a coming together, there's going to be a challenge and he's completely late and gets himself sent off. And this is a perfect moment where I say you have to read the situation, which he clearly read it wrong, and allow your defenders to defend. What do I mean by that? His defenders were second best, right? His defenders were second best, but given the distance and, and by the way, it's chucking it down in Manchester, it's like, I mean, it's boring. Right, so now the flick on and I think maybe Mbumo's first touch, just by nature he's having to like touch it. But the ball, and you know this, as a striker, the ball is still like knee high, ish, like as he's running the ball. So he has to take, he probably has to take. I think the collision was like 25 yards out, out from the goal. He still probably has to take one to two more touches.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

And maybe the second touch is a finish, but he has to take one or two more touches. And I'm just thinking, even though his defenders are in a recovery position, I think they just get there. I think they just get there and probably put him off. If nothing else, two defenders converge. If your goalkeeper comes probably to the penalty spot and spreads and he gets beat, and he gets beat, no problem, you can accept that. But in the end, and this is the problem, hindsight's 2020 as a goalkeeper, when you make that decision, it's all or Nothing and he got nothing. So he gets, gets himself sent off. But you have to, I think you have to let your defenders defend as much as humanly possible up until the danger moment, which is probably like 18 yard box penalty or penalty, you know, penalty spot.

[Tim Howard]

When anytime I see a red card or a penalty. Right. Or both. My thought is, you know, when I was coaching, you start to go into just the data around it because you're like how, how valuable is being up a man for a team or how unvaluable is it for being down or how valuable is a penalty? And the conclusion you come to is 999 times out of a thousand you should never get sent off in those moments. And 999 times out of a thousand you should never give up a penalty. And the reason why is if Mbumo goes by him and he doesn't touch him, maybe the defender gets there, maybe. But the chance, the XG on the chance is not as high as people think if the defender's there. Right, right. Your chances of winning the match down a man are significantly worse than being down a goal.

[Landon Donovan]

Sure. Right.

[Tim Howard]

So even if he scores, fine, he scores. But you still have plenty of time to get back in the. Once you get sent off, Even if it's 00, your chances of winning the game, way even getting anything.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, but you're, we agree on that, I think, but the, the, the human nature element of it, like the decision making of it.

[Tim Howard]

No, Tim, I understand that, but what I'm saying is if you beat that into a player's head, never give away a red card in that moment. Never. It's not worth it. Never give away a penalty. Sometimes penalties happen that hits your hand or whatever. Don't go sliding in ever because the, his XG from scoring from that eight yards is 0.45. A penalty is 0.75. Right. So the. Just, just, if you just look and I'm not like a data nerd, trust me, I'm like, no, I know, I get it. But if you just look at it that way, you say you should never ever do that. You should never do it. The one exception was like Luis Suarez in the World cup, the handball. And like it ended up working out, but at the time you could still say it was dumb until they miss the penalty.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I just don't know. I, I hear you. You can maybe train that into, into players, but I still think it's, I think.

[Tim Howard]

Well, of course players are going to make the decision in the moment. I get that. But I'm just saying, if you can beat that into their head, I think it's. I think it's. I think it's valuable.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

All right, Timmy, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we will get into all the Questions in the AT&T fan connection right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, as always, presented by Volkswagen. All right, Timmy. I want to tell you about a time I had to choose a much chiller path. 2009 in Seattle. We're playing Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup Final. We go to penalties. Who misses a penalty? This guy you got back on the bus. I was crying in the back of the bus. And I had this moment where I had a realization that, yes, I missed the penalty, yes, we lost chance at winning an MLS cup final, but I had really given everything that year. It was a time in my life that was really tumultuous, and I really put everything, everything, everything into my career in my sport. And I said, you know what? Like, I. I did everything I could have. I tried my hardest, and it didn't work out. And so it was time in that moment to really chill, appreciate what I did. Appreciate that moment doesn't always go your way, but you gotta choose chill sometimes and just relax. And when you embrace that chill mindset, it's a good time to choose chill. And, as always, crack open a Coors Light.

[Landon Donovan]

Absolutely. Make the most of the times you choose to chill. Choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit coorslight.com USLNT Celebrate responsibly Coors Brewing Co. Golden Colorado Beer there's nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done without you even having to ask.

[Tim Howard]

Like fans who start to sing and chant at the exact moment their team needs to rally.

[Landon Donovan]

A coach who can change strategies at halftime to help their team win.

[Tim Howard]

A keeper you know is defending your.

[Landon Donovan]

Goal or a forward who is always ready to receive the ball.

[Tim Howard]

AT Unfiltered Soccer. Tim and I know all too well how important it is to be sure someone out there has your back. And that's precisely why AT&T has a new guarantee.

[Landon Donovan]

The AT&T guarantee is all about having your back. When you're with AT&T, if there's a network interruption, they'll proactively make it right with a credit for a full day of Service, guaranteed.

[Tim Howard]

Visit att.com guarantee to learn more. Terms and conditions apply.

[Landon Donovan]

AT&T connecting changes everything.

[Tim Howard]

Credit for Fiber downtime lasting 20 minutes or more or wireless downtime lasting 60 minutes or more caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com guarantee for full details.

[Landon Donovan]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning.

[Jordan]

App, it's nice knowing you have help.

[Landon Donovan]

Finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. It's time for the Fan connection presented by AT&T. Every week we invite you, the listener, to connect with us by submitting your questions. The best way to grow the game of soccer in the US is to keep asking questions and keep talking about the sport we all love. At, AT and T. Connecting changes everything. And on uslnt, our connections with you will help grow the game. Ld you know what time it is?

[Tim Howard]

Yes, Sir.

[Landon Donovan]

It's the AT&T fan Connection where we get to hear from our fans, both good and bad. All the. All the fun stuff. We answer your questions and it's also an opportunity for Jordan to make her weekly appearance, which she loves. Jordan, welcome in.

[Tim Howard]

Hello. Your hair, I love that.

[Landon Donovan]

It's amazing.

[Jordan]

Thank you.

[Landon Donovan]

I'm so jealous. And love the shirt and the color. That's amazing.

[Jordan]

Wait, can we. Can we talk about my shirt for a second?

[Tim Howard]

Mcr.

[Jordan]

So we are recording this on Monday and this morning they announced a new US Tour for next year.

[Tim Howard]

Where are they going? Are they going to San Diego?

[Jordan]

They are.

[Tim Howard]

They are. They are doing a live podcast.

[Landon Donovan]

Are we doing a live podcast from the state?

[Tim Howard]

No, we're not doing a live podcast.

[Jordan]

They are also, Tim, for you and me, for the actual MCR fans, they're playing Citi Field, so they are also playing at Anfield.

[Landon Donovan]

You can I go.

[Jordan]

They're playing in the middle of the World Cup.

[Tim Howard]

That's a convergence of two of your favorite things.

[Jordan]

Yeah, it's like a Venn diagram. It's just a big circle and it's a picture of me.

[Tim Howard]

So, out of curiosity, where did they play in San Diego? At Petco. I don't believe they sell out these st.

[Jordan]

I feel like maybe, let's see, Petco Park. Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

No, but I don't see no Disney. I don't see them as like a selling out.

[Jordan]

Baseball, The Alamo Dome.

[Landon Donovan]

San Antonio. I keep that thing still standing.

[Jordan]

They're playing like Three or four nights in the Hollywood Bowl.

[Tim Howard]

That'd be rad.

[Jordan]

Okay, let's talk about though. That's what we're really here for. I have some questions for you guys. Okay, this one's from Mike via Instagram. Who you got in the USL cup final, fellas? Hartford Athletic is super informed and I don't see anybody stopping them right now. And for, for everyone's information, they're playing Sacramento Republic FC in the final fourth.

[Tim Howard]

Is that that Jagermeister Cup?

[Jordan]

Yep.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, interesting. Okay, where's the game?

[Jordan]

Let me see. Heart Health Park.

[Tim Howard]

That's in Sacramento, right?

[Jordan]

Yes, Sacramento, California.

[Tim Howard]

They love their hearts and their health there. Sacramento wins. No question. So Hartford is really interesting. Hartford, very talented team. This guy Michigan, who used to play Colorado Springs, was just a menace. They've. They've been better lately, but Sacramento is a way better team. And playing at home, I think Sacramento wins. Tim has no idea about any of this.

[Landon Donovan]

So I do, I do have said. I do have some inside information, so I just can't say who. But I do think. No, it's. True story. I do think Harford, they are in, they are in good form. But, you know, I'm tempted to not get too overdrawn into like the home versus away. Like, I do think it's real. And we talked to Vermont Green and their, their home field advantage is real. I'm not sure that a ton of teams possess that where like Hartford will go there and go, oh, we're on.

[Tim Howard]

That's pretty good though.

[Landon Donovan]

No, I know. I'm not saying it's not good.

[Tim Howard]

And that's a long trip, by the way.

[Landon Donovan]

That's Maybe that's the part that.

[Tim Howard]

Not a lot of direct flights from Hartford to Sacramento. In fact, there's. It might not even be.

[Landon Donovan]

Can we look that up, please? Can we look it up in the chat? There's 00 direct flights from Hartford to Sacramento.

[Tim Howard]

Sacramento and a walk.

[Jordan]

Okay, this one is from Bryce via email. And it's for Tim. Tim, what was it like playing for the Memphis901FC? I was a season ticket holder since the inaugural match in 2019. I sat right behind the goal and watched you play. After your role as a player, can we get some insight as to what you did as a sporting director slash minority owner?

[Landon Donovan]

It was horrific.

[Tim Howard]

My body, baseball.

[Landon Donovan]

My body was like. My body's like. What are you. What are you asking me to do? This is wild. No, it was good. I remember. I do remember. Have we. We had a really good. We had a really good Rivalry with Birmingham, who was. Jay Heaps, was a general manager. Tommy Stone, actually, our daughters played together. Ecno, he was a head coach, so knew those guys really well. We had a really good rivalry. So it's kind of funny at the end. So, like, I remember being like, sporting director.

[Tim Howard]

Slash goalkeeper.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, slash goalkeeper. And like, the problem. The problem was I'm. And Landon, you know this because we've been in the trenches. I'm so fiery and so competitive that, like, I lost it so many times. Like, there was a. There was a guy. Birmingham. Birmingham were kicking our butt or something. I can't remember what it was. We had a good rivalry. And this kid is this English kid. He comes over and he's giving all sorts of lollipops the midfield, right? They're just running circles around us. And I remember. And I remember, like, they're talking mad nonsense to me, right? And I'm like. And I'm like, Bro, I'm 40. I can barely move. I'm like, what? And then. And then I. I think there was like someone. Someone went down. So there's like a coming together. LD And. And. And one of the guy. One of the. One of the kid. This kid, anyway, he. He's like. He's talking mad nonsense and I'm like, bro, you guys are good, but you're not Brazil. Like, you're. You're talking. You're talking like you're Birmingham Legion, bro. And then. And so then. So then I lost it. And I was like, here's the thing. I. I would never sign you. You're a loser. Like, I'm just like, I'm giving up. I'm like losing my mind.

[Tim Howard]

If he cared because I.

[Landon Donovan]

Because I don't have. I don't have it anymore, you know? So, like, I'm like, old. But it was. No, it was.

[Tim Howard]

It was never.

[Landon Donovan]

It was good. It was. The. The. The part about running the club was so interesting, I think. And Landon, you experience this on a USL level. You get an opportunity just by nature of budgets and all the restraints. You get a chance to see every operation of the club, the marketing side, the business side, the ticketing, the fans, the going to the supporters pubs and having a drink with them and talking about season tickets and everything. Like, where if you get hired by an MLS club or you don't have the time or the ability to touch all of those things. And so I really.

[Tim Howard]

There's a beauty to that too, by the way. Oh, there's a real beauty to it.

[Landon Donovan]

Ye was great. And then we Just, we just lost steam. You know, Covid hit and we, we were getting some really good fans. We were getting like 6,8000 people in a 10,000 seat baseball stadium. Baseball conversions are really hard. A lot of USL teams see that and, and then, you know, our downtown kind of got run down through Covid, which happens across America, and lost a lot of steam. It was unfortunate, but we had a little, little bit of a good run, particularly in the back, the back end.

[Jordan]

Okay, let's talk about one of my favorite things in all of soccer, the offside rule. This question is from Brian via email. Love to hear your thoughts on FIFA's potential new offside rule and VAR's place with it as both a goalie and a goal scorer. How do you prefer offsides be called and is there any room for improvement? Will this rule make offsides much clearer and easily identified? Or will we still be analyzing hairline differences six months from now?

[Tim Howard]

Wait, what's the new, they come up with a new rule every like three months.

[Jordan]

So they're talking, they're, the Internet has been talking about them potentially changing it. Where your whole body has to be all over the line.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, geez.

[Landon Donovan]

I, I, I, look, I can go first real quick. I was, I, I like, I like currently where the new rule where, where the current rules are and my own, I think, I think Arson Vanger said something about it as well. Right. Like a clear gap or distance. I, I tend to think I like the new rule that, you know, we have, we now are in 2025 and we have the ability to have like semi automated technology. So we can, we can read the line between, you know, a centimeter or an inch. I'm okay with it. I'm not really sure what the, what the massive issue is. I mean you can, you guys can tell me if I'm wrong. I don't know.

[Tim Howard]

You know what I think?

[Landon Donovan]

Yep.

[Tim Howard]

I think soccer has become for the most part so boring. Like you have the ball and then we'll have the ball and then you have the ball. Like I went to, even the Everton City game I went to last year, I'm like, it's just, it's the same over because everyone's doing all the same stuff. Just get rid of the rule. Get rid of it. See what happened. Like I want to see innovation, something. When they took away the back pass to the goalie, the game changed. When you could start building inside the penalty area instead of, you had to pat the game change. I'm being like half serious here, but why not just get rid of it and like just get. Take all the ambiguity out. Who cares? If you want to stand in front of the goalie, fine. You're going to play a man down. Can you imagine how much innovation and how fun it would be to see coaches adapt to that?

[Landon Donovan]

But yeah, by the way, but you're kind of joking. It reminds me. So remember on. Do you remember David Moyes on a Friday? So Moyes would say you would go like a Friday pre match was match day minus one. Do you remember? You could just warm up how you wanted. So you'd like, you'd go out with your. You'd go out with your mate and he would give you. I think we had like 10 minutes, right. So you could like jog around the pitch, you could do keepee ups, you could, you could jog around the whole training complex. He didn't care. But when whistleblow you were back together, I think it was like quick boxes and then whatever, speed training. So then he would always play this game where he would do old v. Young. Yeah. Was it old? Young.

[Tim Howard]

I remember.

[Landon Donovan]

So old versus young was. He basically split the team up between, like, I forget what the age just cut off, what he'd be like, here's a. Here's the six oldest guys and whatever. And he'd have these teams and you play small side. It was so much fun. And one of the things he said, it was. There was no offside. Yeah, it was brilliant. We'd have guys stand. We'd have guys standing like in the. On the corner flag and it was just. It was chaos. I don't know if you introduced that as a global law, but you remember.

[Tim Howard]

Can you imagine though, the chaos? I would love that. I would love that. But anyway, I can't. I mean, in all seriousness, I just can't keep up with it. I don't know what they're doing anymore. I always think, like in baseball, the ties should go to the runner. You want more goals? Stop calling goals off, off. When the guy's toenails offside, like, you know. Yeah, I get it.

[Jordan]

How about a question for Landon? We had one for Tim, now one for Landon. This one is from Juan via email. This question is for Landon. Our family has always been proud Leon fans as well as lifelong Galaxy supporters. So when you join Club Leon, it was a dream crossover for us. Can you share a bit about what motivated you to come out of retirement and join the club? Club specifically, what were some of your favorite memories from your time with Lafiera? Why was it so short.

[Tim Howard]

Three things. Certainly a financial factor there was. I always wanted to play in League mx and I wanted an experience with a family experience, a life experience. We had two kids and I wanted to have a fun experience. So it was really interesting. Leon is like proper Mexico. Guanajuato is proper. Like you are right in the middle and it's, it's a very. It's a big. They have a big leather factory there and it's very working class. We lived in a beautiful place, right on a golf course, which was really fun. The training facilities at that time in Leon were shocking. There used to be. I. I'm not kidding, guys. There was a, like a, like a pipe that came out of the ground that was like. I'm showing like the size of my finger, my thumb and my forefinger together. It would come out. Sorry, come out of the ceiling and water would spew out and that was our shower every day. No, I. I wish I was kidding. This trend, it must have been built in the forties. It was disgusting. The toilets didn't flush. I'm not kidding. It was disgusting. The stadium was pretty old, but there was so much history. So like when you played the games, it was really fun. I was too old. I couldn't. Just couldn't compete, couldn't run. It's at crazy altitude. So it was hard. But for four months it was really enjoyable overall as an experience because we, I mean, we really experienced real Mexico. At the end, they could tell I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't do it. And they said, look, let's just call it a day and move on. But it was an amazing four months. We had a. We had a lot of fun.

[Landon Donovan]

So. Sorry, follow up. So you had retired from the galaxy.

[Tim Howard]

Like when I retired in 2014 at.

[Landon Donovan]

The end of the season was.

[Tim Howard]

Lay on 2015 or six? No, it was at 2018.

[Landon Donovan]

Wait, bro, you were retired for four years?

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh my God. Wait a minute. How did you know?

[Tim Howard]

I mean, I started working out again once I knew and like for three weeks I was. I mean I was in decent shape, but dude, you're with like 20 year olds. You just can't.

[Landon Donovan]

How old were you then? So when you.

[Tim Howard]

36. You were like a really old 36?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. You retired at 32. You had a lot of miles.

[Jordan]

Well, but you didn't you go back to the galaxy first?

[Tim Howard]

I did for a couple months, but I was.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Jordan]

So that was 2016 and then.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

God, athletes just can't hang it up. That's so crazy. Nobody can. Nobody can.

[Tim Howard]

It's funny. They called my agent and they said to Rich, they said, look, we're. We're looking for a player, this window, who's like, preferably American, has some name recognition, who can still. Who can play and can help us. But, you know, it's part marketing, part whatever, you know, someone like Landon. And Rich was like, well, what about Landon? And they were like, oh. And that's how it kind of happened. But it was a good experience. I'm glad I did it.

[Jordan]

Okay, last one for both of you. This one is from Dave via email. In a lot of industries, there's the idea of a comedian's comedian or a movie that only true cinephiles love. What's something subtle about a soccer player that other pros might notice and appreciate that the general prop.

[Landon Donovan]

Wow.

[Jordan]

That the general public might not value or even notice at all?

[Landon Donovan]

I think courage, valor, courage under. Under fire. I just think, you know, I, I remember and I think you learn it, like, usually after the fact or like somewhere in the middle. I remember being, I think, like at United and thinking, like, I'm scared out of my wits to like walk out of the dressing. Like, this is this, this moment is big. It's huge. And I can remember, like, guys that, like, I really looked up to, like world class players. And they'd say something, like, anyone else feel that feeling in their stomach? Because, like, and I was like, wait, you, you get nervous too? You, like, it didn't, it didn't. I didn't comprehend it because they were just so good and they always performed. And so I think the, you know, guys, guys who are courageous, who always go out and even despite the circumstances perform. That for me is like a player's play.

[Tim Howard]

That just triggered something for me. So I have two things, but that just triggered something. So there were certain guys, no matter what the scenario, what the circumstance, who you're playing, what's going on, they always wanted the ball. Always, always. They could make a mistake, they could miss a penalty. Like Robbie Keane. He could miss four breakaways and he wanted the next ball and he's pissed if he didn't give it to him. And guys like that, I always really appreciated. You learn more about it when you coach and then when you retire. Because I just assumed everyone was like me, who always wanted the ball, but there are guys who are like, no, no, no, don't give it to me here. Like, I just had a bad touch. So guys who always wanted the ball, no matter the situation, were really valuable. And then the one, I think this is for fans to understand. There are a lot of players that fans get really frustrated with because they don't do the exciting things that they want them to do. Or they're like, he always passes sideways or he always passes or he always does this or he's never. Those players are so valuable in a soccer team. And the analogy I use is there were guys, if you were going to play 6v6 in training, there was one guy you always wanted on your team and it was almost always this certain type of guy because you always won. And conversely, there was a guy you'd be like, he's really talented, but I don't want him on my team because he never wins. And so Dax McCarty was like this. He was more than just a pass it side to side guy, but like Kyle Beckerman was like that. Michael Bradley had a lot more to him, but he was a guy who just, you just wanted next to you because he helped you win. And sometimes fans will be like, oh, he doesn't do this, he doesn't do that. And guess what? His team wins always. We had two guys, Marcelo Sarvas and Junino in la didn't get a ton of credit, whatever, but dude, when they were on the field, we won exponentially more than. And so fans I think really struggle with guys like that because you want everyone to be perfect. N' Golo Kante is like the epitome of it right back in his days at Chelsea and at Lester. All the little things that help you win. And I love guys like that and fans sometimes like, he doesn't do this, he doesn't guess what, you win, so shut up.

[Landon Donovan]

Funny little anecdote to that is I'm not going to name him because ld and I played with them at Everton and I won't name him unless he comes for me. Then I'll. And I'll absolutely blast him. But you know, guys who want the ball are special. Landon said it. We, we play with a guy at Everton who he would always hide in moment. Like you try and give him the ball, he'd always hide. This was like everybody on our team knew we took the piss. He'd always hide. And then the second that you didn't stick the ball into him, that you played wide for the crowd, he'd go.

[Tim Howard]

Give it to me, give me the.

[Landon Donovan]

Ball, give me the ball. And you know if he's listening, when I know he listens, he knows who he is. Hide and seek, that's what we call him anyway. That's good.

[Jordan]

All right, that's it, guys. Thank you.

[Tim Howard]

Thanks, Junior. All right, Tim. Good to be back. Great. Great show. That was a lot of fun. That was episode 37 out of 40 this first season. That's crazy, man. And we appreciate all you guys, as always, for being with us today. Remember to subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts. Follow across all social media platforms at Unfiltered Soccer for bonus content.

[Landon Donovan]

Thank you, everybody, for listening. For your comments, questions, and concerns. Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, our fan connection sponsor, AT&T, our unfiltered refresh sponsor, Coors Light, and our additional sponsors, Cafe Bustelo and Virgin Atlantic. Have an amazing week. We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.